Best Green Beans Ever!

I made these as a side dish for our Christmas Eve dinner. I LOVED them!

1 lb. fresh green beans
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
1 cup vegetable broth (that's what I use cause the hubby is veg. you could use chicken broth)
salt & pepper
Saute onion and garlic in butter and olive oil. Add the green beans and cook until they turn bright green (about 1 minute). Add the veggie broth, salt and pepper. Turn heat to low, cover with a lid, leaving the lid cracked to allow steam to escape. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until liquid evaporates.

Sorry Girls...

...no recipes from me lately. I'm on a diet. Your yummy goodness has really gotten to my tummy and thighs!

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I got this fabulous recipe out of "Cooking Light." Originally it is for a banana layer cake, but I decided to make cupcakes because I think they're easier, and also, I love the portion control. Plus, they're a lot easier to share and little kids love them! So I will give you the original recipe, but also add that when I made these, I cooked them for about 10-11 minutes (depending on your oven) and I used canned cream cheese frosting, not homemade.

Also, a few tips: if you don't have buttermilk on hand (which I never do) you can fill your measuring cup with normal milk a little less than the 1/2 cup line, and then pour a couple of tsp. or so of vinegar in it til it reaches the 1/2 cup measurement. This will curdle it and voila! Buttermilk. Also, I toast my nuts on a baking sheet in an oven set to about 300-325; toast until brown and you can smell them. To easily toast coconut, spread the coconut on a microwave-safe plate in an even layer, and microwave on high 30 sec. Stop and stir it, then microwave again another 30 seconds. Keep stirring and doing this until your coconut is brown and crunchy, but not burnt.

Cake:
Cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 & 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 & 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 cup mashed ripe banana
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk

Frosting:
2/3 cup (about 5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Remaining ingredients:
2 tbsp. finely chopped pecans, toasted
2 tbsp. flaked sweet coconut, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. To prepare cake, coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray, line the bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar, oil, 1 & 1/4 tsp. vanilla, egg whites, and egg in large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until blended. Add banana; beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans. Peel off wax paper; cool completely on wire racks.
5. To prepare frosting: place cream cheese, and 1 tsp. vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar; beat at low speed until smooth.
6. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup icing, and top with other cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle pecans and coconut over top layer of cake. Store cake loosely in refrigerator. Yield: 16 servings.

mint chocolate chip cookies

1 box white cake mix

2eggs

1/3 c oil

1TBS mint extract

green food coloring

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips





roll into balls and bake at 350 for 7-9 mins



these are best frozen...



Meg, this is how i make it now... turns out amazing every time!! let me know if you bake some!!

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

For Enrichment tonight, I signed up to bring some gingerbread cake. I didn't have a recipe, so I just looked this one up online. And it was pretty good so I thought I'd share! I like it because it's moist and not too sweet, and everyone should already have the ingredients ready to whip up in their pantry (no shopping required.) I sprinkled some powdered sugar on the top, and voila! Nothing says Christmas like Gingerbread.

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg and mix in the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture and add the hot water. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Yummy Chocolate Truffles

My sister-in-law made these for my family a year or so ago, and I recently tried making them myself. They are easy, but time consuming. I think they're a great treat to bring to your friends for the holidays!

1 pkg. Oreo's (you can also use mint creme oreo's for a chocolate mint flavored truffle)
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
1-2 bags chocolate chips. You can use regular, white chocolate, or both!
spinkles-optional

Put all of oreos in a gallon zip lock bag. Crush in to crumbs with a rolling pin, or potato masher.
Combine oreos and soft cream cheese in a large bowl. Mix well (this will take some muscle!)
Refridgerate for atleast 1 hr.
Form into ping pong sized balls and put back in the fridge to become firm
Melt bag of choc chips over the stove using a double broiler
Dip the balls into the chocolate, completly coating them, then transfer to a cookie sheet
Decorate using sprinkles, or melt alternate chocolate chips and drizzle over the top.
Put back in the fridge until ready to eat.