Ripe Banana Remedy

What do you do with speckled overly ripe bananas? I'm sure many of you are thinking banana bread, right? I don't love banana bread (gasp!) so I usually toss them into fruit smoothies or make this strawberry Jell-o salad. I like bananas as a snack, but I like them firm with a little green still on them. Once they turn brown, I'm out! Usually if they're really black they get thrown away. Don't hate me banana bread lovers! I've tried freezing them with and without the peel but wasn't not a pretty site, in fact it made me dislike ripe bananas even more.

This is one recipe that I don't get tired of though and it calls for 2 overly ripe mashed bananas. Since I usually only buy 3 at a time, this works out perfectly so I can eat one and not worry about the others turning colors. And my husband loves it and requests it all the time so it's a win-win situation. I featured this Jell-O salad before on LTBG a couple years ago but it had one lone picture and it was ugly so no one ever commented. ha ha! I'm sharing it again because it really is good and I think you'd like it.

I usually make this in a Pyrex bowl, but I've made them in small clear glasses for a prettier, single-serving presentation as well. Either way you serve it, it tastes the same. The gelatin is more substantial and has body from the banana and crushed pineapple that are mixed into it. The frozen strawberries kinda break things up a bit so not everything is too smooth and baby food like. But it's the sour cream layer that I love. It's not sweetened at all but when you eat it with the strawberry Jello it almost tastes like cream cheese. I hope you'll give this one a try- it's nothing fancy, just good stuff.

Strawberry Jell-O Salad previously seen HERE

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• 1 6 oz. box strawberry jell-o
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed without lumps
• 10-12 whole frozen strawberries
• 1 c. sour cream

In a medium bowl pour boiling water over strawberry jello. Mix til gelatin is fully dissolved. Add in crushed pineapple, and bananas. Add in strawberries and mix.

In a small bowl, stir sour cream til creamy and loosened a bit.

In a medium bowl, pour half the gelatin mixture (see note). Carefully ladle the sour cream over the jell-o, then pour the rest of the mixture over the sour cream.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

NOTE: To help the jello set up a bit quicker, I put the bowl in freezer for 5 minutes before adding the sour cream layer and the additional jello on top. This just helps keep the layers separated but it's not necessary.

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And just because I think it's funny, here's a picture of Mr. H and Autumn sharing a father/daughter moment while taking a break from varmint hunting in our backyard*.

*No animals were harmed in the making on this Jello :-)

Pink For The Cause

It's October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So I dedicate these pink cupcakes to my wonderfully courageous grandmother, who is a breast cancer survivor. woot! She has endured quite the battle since her diagnosis in the fall of 2007. She had her first surgery, a lumpectomy, in February of 2008 and had to have a mastectomy in April of the same year. Her recovery was slow because she's a diabetic and she had some other complications but she is ALIVE and well- thank God!

The thing that I find interesting or miraculous about my grandma's detection is that she had never, in her 66 years, had a mammogram. My aunt (her sister-in-law) convinced her to go get one and that's where they discovered her lump. Her life was forever changed after that. I think part of never getting an exam was that it never crossed her mind to do it. It wasn't something that she thought would ever happen to her. But it did happen to her, and it can happen to YOU or me. Please don't think that you can't be affected. Don't think that you're too young, or too old, or that no one else in your family has/had it so you're exempt. No one is exempt from cancer. Get a breast exam.

Okay, I'm stepping off my soap box. I just think it's important and more and more people are being diagnosed with breast cancer than ever before. I want you to save your own life, so please do a monthly self exam and get yearly checkups.

On to the fabulously pink cupcakes. It's my go to recipe, only this time instead of adding frozen strawberries, I added freshly diced and made them into cupcakes. I topped them with my all-time favorite vanilla bean cream cheese frosting and sprinkled them with pink non-pareils. Strawberries n' cream anyone? Make some for the women and men (they can get breast cancer too!) in your life and remind them of the importance of a self breast exam. Remind them to think pink!

Strawberry Cupcakes adapted from Monica and Joy

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• 1 box white or yellow cake mix
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 small box strawberry Jello
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced
• 2 Tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cupcake tin with 24 paper liners or grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.

In a small bowl or a measuring cup, dissolve Jello in hot water. Set aside and let cool while mixing the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, baking powder, oil, eggs. Thoroughly mix in the gelatin mixture.

Coat chopped strawberries in flour and fold into cake batter.

Spoon into prepared pans and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes for cupcakes and 30-35 minutes for 2 9-inch pans. Bake til toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely in pans before inverting onto a cooling rack or cake platter. Cover in frosting of your choice.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• 5 cups powdered sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy.

Makes enough to generously frost about 30 cupcakes.

NOTE: If you're going to pipe with it, you need all 5 cups of powdered sugar so it's stiff enough to work with.

We think PINK!

A Retro Dessert and A "Green" White Elephant Gift

This is one of two desserts that I made for the Christmas buffet at my aunts house. I was going to make a sausage, apple, cornbread dressing but my mom said she wanted to make the dressing so she handed off her dessert to me. I also made a cake, but today I will share with you a lovely retro dessert- a Jello mold :-)

I've made many a Jello salad in my lifetime but I've never put it into a mold before. I thought this would be fun though since it was for a special occasion. As if you need a special occasion to put Jello into a pretty dish. ha ha! This mold is actually a cake pan from Kaiser that I got at Goodwill for $3! I think I got a great deal on it as it was brand new and not a single scratch on it. I decided to go with orange gelatin with crushed pineapple, marshmallows, whipped topping and coconut. An Ambrosia mold to be exact.

It was really good and I liked the combination of these flavors in this fluffy salad. I did leave out the coconut because my sister *thinks* she's allergic to it. The only change I would make next time is to use the mandarin juice in place of the cold water and to maybe reduce the amount of overall liquid in this recipe by about 1/4 cup just to firm it up a bit. I'd make this again though with the coconut as I think it would be a nice texture.

Ambrosia Jello Mold from Kraft

• 1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
• cold water
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) orange Jello Gelatin
• 1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip
• 1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained
• 1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Add enough cold water to juice to measure 1 cup. Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in measured liquid. Refrigerate 1-1/4 hours or until slightly thickened.

Whisk in Cool Whip until well blended. Refrigerate 10 min. or until mixture will mound. Stir in pineapple, oranges, marshmallows and coconut. Spoon into 6-cup mold sprayed with cooking spray.

Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Unmold.

Tips from Kraft:

How to Stir Cool Whip into Gelatin:

Spoon Cool Whip into slightly thickened gelatin, using the amount of Cool Whip specified in the recipe.Gently stir the Cool Whip into the gelatin until all the Cool Whip has been incorporated and mixture is a uniform pastel color.

How to Unmold Gelatin:

Dip mold in warm water for about 15 sec. Gently pull gelatin from around edge with moist fingers. Place moistened serving plate on top of mold. Invert mold and plate; holding mold and plate together, shake slightly to loosen. Gently remove mold and center gelatin on plate.

I mentioned in the title that there was a "Green" White Elephant Gift as part of this post. A couple months ago, Laura of Hey What's For Dinner Mom? hosted a white elephant gift exchange between bloggers who wanted to participate. The deal was to send a fellow blogger a gift that we didn't want-- a regift of sorts, which was the "green" part of the exchange. I sent my gift to Laura in Alaska and her postal service took 3 weeks to get it to her- crazy! I got a gift this week from Healthy Wife, Crazy Life.

In my little package was a cardboard birdhouse. Which at first sounded odd to me, but I started to look at it, I think it's pretty neat. It's water resistant and folds together pretty easily. I'll have to try it out this spring when the birds come back to my house. I also got a scented pencil made of recycled newspapers that smells like chocolate, some vanilla bean lotion, a mini bottle of hand sanitizer and a small cosmetic bag. Fun!

Thanks so much!

Spring Celebration Cake

I made this cake for Rach's April Baking Challenge. The theme for this month is Spring! When I think of Spring, I think of warmer weather, pastel colors, and new growth. It also makes me think of my sister because I make this cake for her every year on her birthday. This cake officially marks the start of spring for me.

This strawberry cake comes out of my favorite cookbook: Favorite Recipes For Our Friends. My grandmother gave me this cookbook over 10 years ago. It may have been the only cookbook she owned and she got it from The First National Bank in my hometown back in 1975! In the book are recipes contributed from the towns people for a community fundraiser. I have made several recipes from this book including my all time favorite- Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake (Yoohoo! Food Librarian, this one is for you!)

I have adapted this recipe from the original by cutting down the amount of oil and upping the strawberry factor. Some may turn their nose up to the fact that it has strawberry jello in it that gives it it's color and adds flavor, but it's perfect everytime, and I'm okay with that. Over the years I have made this cake in may forms- loaf pans, in cupcakes, with and without frosting, making homemade cream cheese frosting and with the canned stuff. This by far is my favorite way. Whatever frosting you choose, be sure to add freshly sliced strawberries on the top in a concentric pattern and jaws will drop. This cake is extremely moist, flavorful, and easy and everyone always comments on how beautiful it is.

This would be perfect for Mother's Day. I hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Cake adapted from Favorite Recipes

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 small box strawberry Jello
• 1/2 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl or a measuring cup, dissolve Jello in hot water. Set aside and let cool while mixing the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, oil, eggs, and thawed strawberries. Thoroughly mix in the gelatin mixture. Pour into 2 9-inch cake pans and bake for 35 minutes.

Allow to cool completely in pans before inverting onto a cooling rack or cake platter. Cover in frosting of your choice.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Meringue Buttercream from Cafe Johnsonia

• 1 cup pureed strawberries
• 1 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 5 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Beat the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until fluffy. Chill until cold.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer and fit it with the whisk attachment. Turn mixer on medium speed until egg whites are foamy. While the mixer is running start preparing the sugar syrup.

In a small saucepan, stir together sugar and water. Bring to a boil and let cook, without stirring, until it reaches 235 degrees (sea level) or 230 degrees (high altitude) on a candy thermometer. At this point, turn the mixer on high and beat the egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry.

Continue to cook the syrup until the syrup reaches 240 degrees (sea level) or 234 degrees (high altitude)** (see NOTE). Remove it from heat and carefully pour the syrup against the side of the bowl into the egg whites while the mixer is still running. Continue beating on high for 3-5 minutes, or until steam stops rising from the mixing bowl.

Turn the mixer down a bit and add the chilled butter and cream cheese mixture a spoonful at a time. Don't worry if it becomes curdled. Just keep beating it and it will come back together. When all the butter/cream cheese has been added, add the extracts, beat well again. Then add the strawberry puree. It will separate a bit--keep beating and it will come back together.

Use it immediately, or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 or 3 days. It will also freeze well for about a month or so.

Arrange sliced strawberries on top of the cake, starting from the outside and working your way in. Place a whole strawberry in the center.

**NOTE: I live at sea level and cooked my sugar syrup til it reached 240 degrees F. It continued to heat in the pan even after I took it off the flame and crept up several degrees, reaching the Hard Ball Stage. I added it to the egg whites and the sugar syrup turned stringy and clung to the side of my bowl. I continued to whip it and it had chunks of sugar in it. I dumped it and had to start over :-( The second time around, I heated the sugar syrup to just over 230 degrees F (sea level) and it rose up to 240F off the flame and it was perfect. Keep this in mind when making this so you don't overcook your syrup.

Visit Rachel to see her Spring creation!

The Great Bribe

Mr. H and I have struggled with infertility for the last 2 and a half years. We've had two stillbirths (Sam- August 06 and Jack- February 07) and have been waiting til the time was right to try again. It's been a very long journey, but we've made the decision to try to conceive again. We're hoping this time we come home with a live baby.

What does this have to do with gelatine hearts? Well, Mr. H's grandmother used to make him Knox Blox when he was a little boy. He hasn't had them since then and his grandmother has since passed away. When my grandmother had breast cancer and was in the hospital last February, I found a pristine 1974 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It was so surreal to glance through and I almost stole it from the waiting room, but I thought it needed to be shared with others. But while flipping through the pages, I came across an ad for Knox Gelatine and a recipe for those famous blox.

Mr. H asked me to make these for him and I refused. I made a deal with him 1 year ago that he would get his Knox Blox when he got me pregnant (you see for a long time I wanted to try again and he didn't). I am not pregnant, but since we're one step closer to getting there I figured I'd finally make his gelatine. The only stipulation was that they had to be hearts.

Fruit Juice Knox Blox

• 4 envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatine
• 1 cup cold fruit juice
• 3 cups fruit juice, heated to boiling
• Few drops food coloring (optional, see note)

In a bowl, sprinkle gelatine over cold juice; let stand 1 minute. Add hot juice and stir until gelatine is completely dissolved.

Pour into a 13x9-inch pan, chill until firm. Cut into 1-inch squares or cut into shapes using cookie cutters.

NOTE: Make sure you use clear juice. You can use orange juice or other nectars, but you won't get that shiny translucent effect that the clear juice gives. Also, make sure the juice is the color you want. Hold the jug up to the light in the supermarket to see the true color of the juice. I used cherry juice and it was a little pink so I added a few drops of red food coloring to make them more vibrant.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flashback

I love jello salad- pistachio with cool-whip and nuts, lime with cottage cheese, orange with marshmallow- mmmmm!

I came across a recipe in a newspaper several months back and decided to make it. When I was little and wasn't feeling well, my grandmother would always make something warm and comforting, like soup. My husband was under the weather today so I decided to make him some homemade chicken and noodle soup and strawberry jello salad. All very comforting and yummy!

Strawberry Jell-O Salad

• 1 6 oz. box strawberry jell-o
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed w/o lumps
• 10-12 whole frozen strawberries
• 1 c. sour cream

In a medium bowl pour boiling water over strawberry jello. Mix til gelatin is fully dissolved. Add in crushed pineapple, and bananas. Add in strawberries and mix.

In a small bowl, stir sour cream til creamy.

In a medium bowl, pour half the gelatin mixture. Carefully ladle the sour cream over the jell-o, then pour the rest of the mixture over the sour cream.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

NOTE: This is not the prettiest of salads, but it's super simple, quick and delicious. This would also be great with orange jell-o and mandarin orange slices. Or cherry jell-o and frozen cherries or...