Fruit Salad by Terry Smith

 Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 Bananas
• Mandarin Orange slices (1 can or the fresh equivalent)
• 1 Apple, chopped 
• 1 to 2 cups of Grapes
• 1 Peach, fresh or canned, chopped
• Pineapple (optional, really any of the fruit is optional, pick the ones you like)
• 1/2 cup Mini Marshmallows
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1/8 cup granulated Sugar

Directions

Mix the sour cream and sugar in a separate bowl. Place all the fruit and marshmallows in a big bowl. Add the sour cream sugar mixture. Stir.

Sloppy Joes

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup diced onion
• 2 ½ pounds ground beef or ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• ⅔ cup BBQ sauce (we usually use Sweet Baby Ray's)
• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Rolls or buns, for serving

We usually half it: 1/2 INGREDIENTS =

• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 1/4 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce (we usually use Sweet Baby Ray's)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Rolls or buns, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

• Brown ground beef in a nonstick skillet set over medium heat. Drain excess grease. Add the onions. 
• Stir in the tomato paste, BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, and soy sauce and a pinch of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer ,and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper, to taste, if needed.
• Serve the sloppy joe meat warm on buns or rolls.

See: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/the-best-sloppy-joes/ 

Breakfast Cake / Bisquick Coffee Cake

 Cake Ingredients:

• 2 cups baking mix (such as Bisquick®)
• ⅔ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping:

• ⅔ cup baking mix (such as Bisquick®)
• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions Instructions

• Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a deep 9-inch pie pan (see note below).
• Step 2: Combine baking mix, milk, sugar, egg, and cinnamon in bowl; mix well. Spread into the bottom of the prepared pan.
• Step 3: Mix baking mix, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon together in a separate bowl using a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Spread topping mix over cake batter; drag a butter knife across the top as if making a tic-tac-toe board several times.
• Step 4: Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

Notes: We don't like the cake to be as thick as is called for in the recipe. If the whole family is home and we want a lot, we double the recipe and put it in a 11x13 pan. But generally we can single it and use an 11x7 pan.

Source: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/274198/bisquick-coffee-cake/

Pumpkin Bars

 1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

Mix above ingredients together and set aside.

2 c. sugar

2 c. pumpkin pie fillings

4 eggs

1 c. oil

Mix above ingredients together and then combine and mix with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased jellyroll pan. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

3/4 c. butter

1 tsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

4 0z. cream cheese

Combine above ingredients and beat thoroughly. Add more sugar or milk for desired consistency.

Banana Bread Recipes

 Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 bananas, mashed
• ¾ cup white sugar
• ⅓ cup melted butter
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 mini muffin tins with cooking spray.

Step 2: Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.

Step 3: Blend bananas, sugar, butter, and egg together in a separate bowl. Add to flour mixture; stir batter well to combine.

Step 4: Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 of the way full.

Step 5: Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

See https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/246624/best-yet-banana-mini-muffins/ 

March 2021 - Turned out a little dry for me. It wasn't bad, but I think I will try a different recipe next time. Maybe next time try this one: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20144/banana-banana-bread/, which is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 ⅓ cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Step 3: Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Other Recipes I've Tried:

Oct 13, 2016 Made this recipe: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ 

It was good. Maybe not the best banana bread ever, but good. 

Dec 21, 2016 Tried this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe.html 

I omitted the cinnamon and only put in 3/4th cup sugar. I liked it, I think a little more than the previous one. 

Jan 14, 2017 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23426/almost-no-fat-banana-bread/

It's ok. Especially considering its low fat 

May 24, 2017 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/20144/banana-banana-bread/ 

Felt like something was missing. not my favorite recipe. 

July 1, 2017 https://www.google.com/amp/www.food.com/amp/recipe/best-banana-bread-2886 

I liked it

June 12, 2018 https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/the-only-banana-bread-recipe-you-will-ever-need 

I liked it. 

Dec 30, 2021: I (Jimmy) created my own recipe. It turned out okay, but it still needs improvement. It was a little dry. Also, it made twice as much as we needed. It went as follows:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• about 2 cups of bananas, mashed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter softened
• 2 eggs
• ½ tspn salt
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• Baked at 350

Bacon Ranch French Bread Pizza

 INGREDIENTS

• 1 loaf about 12.5 ounces French Bread or Sourdough Bread
• 2/3 cup Hidden Valley® Simply Ranch Classic Ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 4 cups shredded cheese cheddar or mozzarella or a mix
• 6 slices cooked bacon crumbled
• 2 green onions sliced small, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Slice loaf of bread horizontally. Place two halves face up on the cookie sheet.
3. Stir together ranch dressing and pizza sauce in a small bowl. Coat each bread half with sauce.
4. Sprinkle with cheese, then bacon, then onions.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
6. Serve immediately. May be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days, but best the day it’s made.

Source: https://www.crazyforcrust.com/cheesy-bacon-ranch-french-bread-pizza/

Golden Grahams S'mores

Ingredients

• 8 cups Golden Grahams cereal
• 8 oz miniature marshmallows (4 cups)
• 1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips (9 oz)
• 5 tablespoons butter or margarine 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup

1.5 Recipe Ingredients

• 12 cups Golden Grahams cereal
• 1 bag (10 oz) miniature marshmallows (5 1/2 cups)
• 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (12 oz)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup light corn syrup

Steps:

• Grease 13x9-inch pan (13x11 for 1.5 recipe)
• Measure cereal into large bowl
• In saucepan on the stove, melt the butter
• Add the chocolate chips and corn syrup over medium heat
• Stir occasionally and bring melted chocolate mixture to a boil
• Remove from heat; stir in vanilla
• Pour chocolate mixture over cereal in bowl; stir until evenly coated. 
• Stir in marshmallows one cup at a time (reserve 1 cup of the marshmallows to sprinkle on top)
• Pour mixture from bowl and press firmly in pan
• Cool until firm and then cut into bars and enjoy!