Banana Split Bars

What a fun idea to put the flavors of a banana split into a bar!  I found this recipe at Taste and Tell and as I read the ingredient list, I realized I already had everything on hand.  So, I whipped this up for dessert earlier this week.  We love banana splits, so I was curious to see what everyone thought of Banana Split Bars.  

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup maraschino cherries, drained and quartered
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg, banana and vanilla and mix well. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix into the batter. Fold in the peanuts.
3. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and top with the marshmallows, chocolate chips and cherries. Return to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, an additional 10-15 minutes. Cool completely then cut into bars.

Source Taste and Tell

The Results...
The bottom is like a banana brownie with chopped peanuts baked inside.  The top is ooey-gooey with melted marshmallows, chocolate chips and cherries on top.

The kids really liked Banana Split Bars and gave them 4 stars.  I thought they were OK and gave them 3 stars.  My husband didn't like these at all, which I thought was funny because he does like banana splits.  I guess you could say it was a "split" decision on these bars. haha!  They still get a spot on the family favorites list because the kids want me to make these again.

Before I "make like a banana.........................and split," I want to ask one favor.  If you make Banana Split Bars, I'd love to know what you think.  Leave a comment and tell me what you decide.  Thank you! 

I share recipes at these linky parties.

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2 Ingredient Cookies~Just Bananas and Oatmeal

Really?  Just 2 ingredients?  That's what I thought when I came across this recipe.  It reminded me of our Banana Ice Cream recipe that only has 1 ingredient---bananas.  Banana ice cream was a fun surprise.  So, I wanted to give these 2 ingredient cookies a try and see if they would be a fun surprise, too.

Ingredients (printable recipe)
2 large ripe bananas
1 cup quick oats

Additional mix-ins if you want:
raisins or other dried fruit
chocolate chips
butterscotch chips
finely chopped or crushed nuts
cinnamon

*Since all bananas are different sizes, the needed measurements can vary. If it seems too runny and the cookies would flatten out too much, add in more oatmeal. And make sure to not add in TOO many mix-ins as the cookies won’t hold together very well. The ones in these photos have a handful of butterscotch chips and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mash bananas and stir in the oatmeal. Stir in additional mix-ins if desired.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a Greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. I like to use parchment paper, so there isn't any added grease.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.
Makes about 14-16 cookies

Source The Burlap Bag

Just bananas and quick oats

In this batch I added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a handful of butterscotch chips

Before the oven

A tasty and healthy breakfast or snack

So Good and Good for you!

The Results...
Surprise! These were really good!  The first batch I made with just bananas and oatmeal.  The kids liked them and gave them 3 stars (out of 5).  In the next batch, I added some cinnamon and butterscotch chips.  The kids really loved those cookies and gave them 4-5 stars!  In my opinion, these cookies taste best warm from the oven.

2 Ingredient Cookies are quick, healthy and tasty!  Great for breakfast or a snack.  I will definitely make these again! 

I share recipes at these linky parties.

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Green Smoothie (For Beginners)

There are A LOT of recipes out there for Green Smoothies.  I decided to try this recipe by Vitamix* because in their description it says, "a great starter recipe for those who are new to Green Smoothies."  We are definitely new since none of us have tried a Green Smoothie.

I'm not telling anyone that there's spinach in this smoothie.  Let's see if my family can guess the "secret" ingredient. :)

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 cup green grapes
1/2 cup pineapple chunks (I used canned)
2 cups fresh spinach, packed
1/2 ripe banana, peeled
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ice cubes
Directions
1. Place all ingredients into your blender's container in order listed and secure lid.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve immediately 
Makes about 2 glasses

Adapted slightly from vitamix.com

The Results...
I didn't say a thing about the spinach in this smoothie.  Of course when I handed them their smoothies, they asked what was in them. My reply was, "banana, grapes, pineapple (all things they like) and a secret ingredient.  Can you guess what it is?"

Everyone finished their smoothies, but no one could guess the secret ingredient.  Not even my husband.  My son guessed kiwi---wrong!  They were surprised when I told them about the spinach.  The ripe banana and pineapple were the strongest flavors.

My husband thought it was pretty good.  My teenage son didn't mind drinking it.  My oldest daughter was a little suspicious and gave this smoothie only 2 stars (out of 5).  My little 5 yr. old and toddler loved this smoothie.  My toddler drank all of her smoothie and then climbed up on the table and tried to sip any leftovers out of the cups left there. :)

This was a great way to sneak some fruits and spinach into the kids' day.  They get a tasty smoothie and I know they are getting some extra vitamins and fiber.  Win! Win!  I will make this again, especially for my two youngest who don't always eat their veggies.

*I am not being paid by Vitamix.  I don't even own a Vitamix blender.  I just thought this would be a fun recipe to try and add some more fruits and veggies into my family's day.

This recipe is shared at:
 
I share recipes at the following linky parties.

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Pumpkin Banana Muffins

What do you do when you have some extra pumpkin and ripe bananas?  And it's a perfect chilly day for some baking?  Make Pumpkin Banana Muffins!

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or another cup of all-purpose flour if you don't have white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 bananas, mashed
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray muffin tins with baking spray and fill empty cups with water.  Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the bananas, pumpkin, oil, eggs and vanilla, until well-blended.
4. Add banana mixture to flour mixture, gently folding until combined.
5. Divide mixture evenly among prepared muffin cups. 
6. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes for mini muffins / 13 to 15 minutes for standard muffins, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Makes 15-18 standard muffins or 30 mini muffins

Source Alida's Kitchen

The Results...
Moist and full of flavor!  These do have a perfect balance of banana and pumpkin in them.

Pumpkin Banana Muffins are full of good things for you and there's just a little oil because the pumpkin and banana already help create a moist, flavorful muffin.

This recipe has white whole wheat flour hidden inside for some extra nutrition.  I sneak it into other things like pancakes, waffles, bread and pizza dough. When I replace half of the flour with white whole wheat flour, my family doesn't usually notice a big difference in taste.  

Pumpkin Banana Muffins are a wonderful fall treat that you can feel good about eating!

I share recipes at these linky parties.

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Moose Juice by Dr. Seuss

My family is very supportive of my goal to try new recipes.  My older kids even keep their eyes out for new recipes for me to try.  My 8 yr. old daughter recently brought home a Dr. Seuss cookbook from her school library, Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook by Georgeanne Brennan.  This recipe is based on Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book...........

A moose is asleep.
He is dreaming of moose drinks.
A goose is asleep.
He is dreaming of goose drinks.
That's well and good when a moose dreams of moose juice.
And nothing goes wrong when a goose dreams of goose juice.
But it isn't too good when a moose and a goose
Start dreaming they're drinking the other one's juice.

In the cookbook, there is also a recipe for Goose Juice that has kiwi and lime sherbet in it, but we decided we'd rather try the Moose Juice.  The combination of orange juice, banana and orange sherbet seemed like it would be delicious!

Ingredients (printable recipe)
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup orange sherbet
1 banana, sliced
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream  or Cool whip
Candy Corn (optional for garnish)
Directions
1. Combine the orange juice, sherbet, banana, and vanilla extract in a blender. Puree until smooth.
2. Pour into a glass and top with the whipped cream or Cool Whip. Add candy corn if desired.
Makes 2 servings

Adapted from  Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook by Gerogeanne Brennan

The Results...
Not bad.  It was easy to make and doesn't it look fun!  It was cool, sweet and orange-y, but it didn't blow us away.  My daughter thought it was good, but could've been better.  I was expecting it to be similar to an Orange Julius, but it wasn't.  It just tasted like really sweet orange juice.  I have a recipe for homemade Orange Julius that my mom use to make when I was a kid and it is much better than this.  Moose Juice was worth a try, but we'll stick to our Orange Julius recipe.

I share recipes at these linky parties.

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Browned Butter Banana Bread Brownies

It seems like either we don't have enough bananas or we have too many.  My little 1 yr. old has been eating a banana every morning recently.  So, I bought a big bunch of bananas on my last shopping trip.  Then, she decided she didn't want a banana every morning anymore.  So, we had too many bananas!  And they seem to ripen even quicker in the summer. 

I had forgotten about those poor bananas sitting in the kitchen until I came across this recipe for Browned Butter Banana Bread Brownies.  I figured it was meant to be since I had all the ingredients on hand and the bananas were ripe and ready to be used.

Brownie Ingredients (printable recipe)

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C light sour cream

1/4 C butter, browned on the stove*

3-4 ripe ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt 

Directions 

In a small sauce pan, melt butter over medium high heat, watch carefully when it reaches a medium brown color turn off heat, let cool slightly. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray with cooking spray a 10×15 pan (jelly roll pan). Beat together first 3 ingredients, mix well. Add mashed bananas and vanilla, mix well. Add 1 cup flour at a time, then add baking soda, and salt, mix just until incorporated. Bake 15-20 minutes or until springs back with a light touch and golden brown. 5 minutes before the brownies are done make the frosting.

Browned Butter Frosting Ingredients 

1/2 C butter, browned on stove*

4 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp milk

Directions 

In a small sauce pan melt butter over medium high heat, watch carefully when it reaches a medium brown color turn off heat, whisk in 1 C powdered sugar at a time, adding milk as it thickens, then add in vanilla. Pour onto hot from the oven brownies and spread evenly. Cool and serve.

Adapted slightly from What's Cooking with Ruthie

*If you've never made browned butter (I hadn't) here are some helpful instructions from Simply Recipes.  I suggest you read this first.  Otherwise, you might make burned butter on your first try (I did!).

The Results...
This was a delicious way to use up those ripe bananas that my 1 yr. old refused to eat.  She didn't refuse eating these yummy banana brownies!  No one refused eating these banana brownies.  I really liked the extra flavor from the browned butter.  It went very well with the bananas.

Not only does browned butter add extra flavor, it saves calories.  A great tip from What's Cooking with Ruthie is: If butter is browned you can use half the amount and still get the same flavor.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E! 

Just one little thing, I wouldn't exactly call these brownies.  When I think of brownies, I think of dense, chewy bars.  This reminded me more of a Texas sheet cake, but banana flavored.  I know, I'm being nitpicky.  It doesn't matter what you want to call these.  They are simply delicious!

Here are more yummy banana recipes worth trying:
Banana ice cream
Not Your Ordinary Banana Bread
Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

I share recipes at these linky parties.

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Not Your Ordinary Banana Bread

With chocolate chips on top and pineapple inside, this certainly isn't like our usual banana bread recipe.  That's good because I feel like trying something different.  I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipe blogs, the girl who ate everything.  She promises that this banana bread will turn out very moist.  I hope so!

Ingredients (printable recipe)
3/4 cup butter, softened 

2 eggs

1 ½ cup brown sugar

4 medium mashed bananas (2 cups) 

1/2 cup crushed pineapple 

1/2 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinammon

2 ½ cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips (11-12 ounce bag)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and flour bottoms of 3 medium bread pans.*

Cream butter, eggs, brown sugar, bananas, applesauce, crushed pineapple and vanilla with a mixer. Add baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and flour. Mix well.

Pour into prepared bread pans.  Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the batter. Bake at 325 for 55 minutes to 1 hour.

*Original recipe suggests using tin foil pans.  Removing these moist loaves with gooey chocolate chips on top wasn't easy.  I would go with the tin foil pans next time!

    

Adapted slightly from The Girl Who Ate Everything

The Results...
Did everyone like this 'out of the ordinary' banana bread?  Yes, we did!  It did turn out very moist and we liked the chocolate chips on top.  Now we have a new favorite banana bread recipe!


This Recipe is shared at:
Mom's Test Meal Mondays @ Mom's Test Kitchen

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Citrus Cream Smoothie

It's Friday, but we're in no rush this morning to get ready for school.  There aren't any lunches to pack, shoes to find or messy hair to brush.  It's almost 9:30am and we're all still in our PJ's.  The kiddos have the day off (parent/teacher conferences).  Since there's no rush, I thought it would be nice to try a new smoothie recipe this morning.  I saw Giada De Laurentiis make this smoothie yesterday on her show.  I love oranges and bananas together and wanted to see how they would come together in this smoothie.

Ingredients (recipe from foodnetwork.com by Giada De Laurentiis)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups plain Greek yogurt
1 1/4 cups orange juice
2 medium bananas, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup ice
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes.

Pour the cooled syrup into a blender. Add the yogurt, orange juice, bananas, orange zest, vanilla extract, and ice. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Pour into glasses and serve. 

The most time consuming part is making the simple syrup and letting it cool.  This takes about 25 minutes.  In the future, I would make the simple syrup ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator to have it ready when needed.  This would save a lot of time in the morning.  Since I had a BIG bag of oranges, I made freshly squeezed orange juice to use in this recipe.  Of course it would also be faster if I had used already prepared OJ. 

The Results...
2 out of 3 kids at our house liked this smoothie.  My son didn't like it.  He prefers thicker, richer smoothies.  My kids usually aren't big breakfast eaters.  I liked that this smoothie has some protein and vitamins packed inside to get them going in the morning.  Overall, I liked this smoothie.  I thought it was very refreshing and had a nice creamy texture.  But, I thought the orange zest was a little overpowering.  Next time, I would significantly reduce the amount of zest and see if that helps.  Citrus Cream Smoothie was still a delicious start to our "day off."

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Banana Ice Cream

Bananas, bananas, bananas....we always have bananas.  Some weeks they are gobbled up before a single brown spot appears.  Other weeks they sit and sit and I worry about how I can use them before they're totally rotten.  I usually make banana bread or muffins, but I really don't want to turn on the oven when it's almost 100 degrees outside.  Smoothies are a good idea, but then I came across this recipe for banana ice cream from the kitchn.  It has just one ingredient, that's right, bananas!  Just bananas?  And you don't need an ice cream maker.  You do need a blender or food processor.  Here's the step-by-step instructions from the kitchn:

*Peel your bananas first.

*Cut them into small pieces.

*Freeze for just 1-2 hours on a plate.

*Blend, blend, blend - scraping down the bowl when they stick.

*Enjoy the magic moment when they turn into ice cream!

Will my ripe bananas really turn into creamy ice cream!?  

I peeled my bananas and cut them into chunks.  Then, I put the banana chunks into a freezer bag and left them in the freezer for about 24 hours.  Here are my frozen banana chunks in the food processor.  I did blend, blend, blend.  I needed to scrape the bowl pretty often.  The blade was having a hard time turning.  I think I may have put too many chunks in at once.  I took some out and continued to blend until creamy and then added the other chunks back in the bowl and blended some more.

The Results...
The frozen bananas really did turn into ice cream!  It was smooth and creamy just like ice cream.  My kids liked this and they had no idea how healthy it is (no cream, no added sugar, just vitamin packed bananas).  This is a fun and healthy way to use up those ripe bananas on the counter.  Next time, I think I'll add some sliced strawberries on top.  I like strawberries and bananas together.  Who knew bananas could turn into ice cream?!  What a fun surprise!

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Paula Deen's "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding"

After we cleaned our lunch plates we were ready for dessert.  At our home only those who belong to the "Clean Plate Club" are eligible for dessert.  I'm happy that everyone was eligible today, since the second recipe I found on Paula Deen's website that I wanted to try was Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding.  We all love banana pudding around here.  I wasn't sure how this would taste without the use of traditional nilla wafers.  But, the purpose of this blog is to try new recipes and see what happens....

Ingredients

1 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whip

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

2 cup milk

1 5-ounce box instant French vanilla pudding

6-8 bananas, sliced

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies

Directions

Line the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.  In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Servings: 12 servings

Prep Time: 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

I gathered all my ingredients.  Two things are slightly different from the ingredient list.  First, I couldn't find any 12 oz. containers of whipped topping.  Do they even make that size?  I found 8 oz and 16 oz. containers.  I bought the 16 oz container and used 3/4 of it.  I also couldn't find a 5 oz box of french vanilla pudding.  I bought 2 smaller boxes instead.  Everything else is as listed.  Although I recommend 3 bags of Chessman cookies, because they are difficult not to snack on!

After I layered the cookies and bananas I started the pudding mixture.  The larger bowl has the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and whipped topping.  The smaller bowl is the french vanilla pudding.  I made two small packages of pudding.  I followed the package directions and measured out 3 cups of prepared pudding (which is the amount one large 5 oz box makes) and added it to the cream cheese mixture.  I realized later that I shouldn't have followed the package directions.  I should have used less milk to make the pudding slightly denser.  Oops, now I know why the mixture was a little runny.

I poured the whole mixture over the bananas and cookies.  I covered it with the other bag of cookies and let it chill overnight in the refrigerator.  It was nice and cold and ready to eat when I pulled it out today after lunch.

The Results...
I still wondered if everyone would like this banana pudding without nilla wafers.  The Chessman cookies were decorative and fun, but how would they taste?  After we all dug in, we all agreed that this was seriously the best banana pudding we've ever had!  Sorry nilla wafers, but we didn't miss you.  If only I hadn't added too much milk to the pudding.  Then, this would be complete banana pudding perfection!  Next time, and there will certainly be a next time, I will make it right!

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