Decadent Banana Pudding

I call this version of banana pudding "decadent" because it is not your typical, run of the mill banana pudding. This pudding is thick and savory. It is so good that you won't recognize it as plain ole' banana pudding! I like to think of this version as the one that you hide and eat in a corner so no one can see you enjoying your pudding so much. When I make a batch of this it lasts for maybe, maybe a day. It is very hard to resist!

Decadent Banana Pudding:

• 1 1/2 bags of any shortbread cookie
• 6 to 8 bananas, sliced
• 2 cups milk
• Big box instant banana or vanilla pudding
• 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 8 oz or small container of cool whip, room temperature

In a tall bowl beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy. Add in your two cups of milk and watch out! When you turn that mixer on sometimes that milk likes to come up and splash you! Mix the milk into the cream cheese and then add your jello. When it is smooth, add in the sweetened condensed milk. I like to hand mix the cool whip in, but you are more than welcome to dump it in the bowl and mix with the mixer. Either way you want to make sure that the cool whip is completely mixed into your cream cheese mixture. If you don't mix it all together you will end up with a mouth full of cool whip or cream cheese mixture. After they are blended nicely grab a large baking pan. I use a 2 quart pan. Line the bottom of the pan with the shortbread cookies.

Slice your bananas thinly and layer on top of the cookies.

Add your pudding on top of the bananas. Layer the cookies, banana slices, and pudding one more time. I cover the pudding and place it into the refrigerator overnight. This allows the cookies to get mushy and gooey! YUMMMMM!

This desert is so good and easy to make! I hope you enjoy it!

Monte Cristo come to Momma!

A Monte Cristo sandwich is one of life's sweet surprises! This is a big kids grilled ham and cheese that brings a smile to my face. I have had it described to me as a funnel cake meets a grilled cheese. I had completely forgotten about this sandwich until this week. I was doing a photo session in the wind and drizzle. We decided to warm up at a little sports bar. I had this ultimate breakfast meets lunch sandwich. I decided that I can make this at home. I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by making this sandwich. I thought it would be a lot of work. WRONG!!!!! This was so easy to make! It was a hit with the kids and I even brought some up to my husbands coworkers and they liked it too!

Monte Cristo:

1/2 quart vegetable oil
2/3 cup half and half
1 egg
2/3 cup flour
1 2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 slices white bread, crusts cut off
8 slices of sliced turkey
8 slices of honey ham
4 slices of Swiss cheese
1/8 teaspoon pepper
butter, spray or stick
confectioners' sugar
strawberry jam

Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat. You want the temperature of the pan to be at 365 degrees. In a medium sized bowl beat the egg and half and half until they are mixed nicely. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper to the mix and beat until smooth. Lay out your bread slices and cut off the crusts. Spray or spread your butter over each slice of bread. On one slice lay out the two slices of turkey and do the same on the other slice with your ham. Top the ham side with the Swiss cheese and place on top of the turkey slice. Dip each side of the sandwich into the batter mix. Place the messy batter coated sandwich into your hot oil and watch it cook. Flip the sandwich over when you see that it is nice and brown. Cook the other side and place on a plate covered with a paper towel. When you are ready to plate the food cut the sandwich in quarters, sprinkle with confectioners sugar and place on the plate. I like to place a little dab of strawberry jam next to my sandwich. The flavor of the jam compliments the sandwich nicely!

Enjoy,

Project Monte Cristo

Monday I had a photo session with one of my favorite families! It was on the beach on a cold and overcast day. So needless to say the two hours we spent taking photos made us a little chilly. We decided to eat lunch at a great little joint on Pensacola Beach called Sidelines. They have the best Monte Cristo sandwiches! I LOVE them! So I have decided that I am going to try to make these at home.....duh,duh, duh! Any one have any good recipes? Well I will post how "Project Monte Cristo" turns out with my results within the next few days. Until then happy eating!

Greekish Pizza

Every once in a while I get creative. This does not always happen on purpose! Sad, I know! After getting home late from work I needed something quick and easy for dinner. My wonderful husband laid out some ground turkey for me. I swear there are days that I would forget my head if it wasn't attached! Thankfully I have him to go behind me and keep me in one piece. But back to my creativity. I decided that I wanted something Greekish. I say Greekish because some of these ingredients are more Italian than Greek, but who is counting? This turned out really tasty! Very, very, very good! A big hit with everyone at my house. That is big. It rarely happens that everyone likes the same thing. So here is my come home from work and throw a bunch of stuff together to make a Greekish Pizza.

Homemade Greekish Pizza:

Flour Tortillas (this is one reason why I said Greekish)
4 Artichoke Hearts, chopped
2 Tablespoons Pesto
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 LB Ground Turkey
1/2 Cup Sun dried tomatoes
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1/4 cup; 1/4 cup Feta Cheese
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated for the top
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 Tablespoons tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash's Onion and Herb Seasoning
1 handful of Arugula

Add chopped onion into a pan with olive oil over medium high heat. Cook until onion is transparent. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add chopped artichoke hearts and the sun dried tomatoes. Let that warm up for about 1 minute. Add ground turkey to the pan and cook for 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Mix in oregano, Mrs. Dash's, basil, salt, and pepper. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Add in the feta and arugula, recover and let simmer for 5 more minutes or until the arugula is wilted.

 While you are waiting on the arugula, get out a small pan and spray with non stick spray. Place the pan over medium heat and let it warm up. Once the pan is warm place a tortilla there and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Flip the tortilla and warm the other side. You do not want to burn the tortilla, so if 2 minutes is to long cut the time down. You want it to be bubbly and have some brown spots on it.

 When the tortilla is done on both sides, place it on a plate and cover with a paper towel. The turkey mix should be about done. Add your pesto to the mix and give it a good stir. Let the cheese melt into the mix.

Once all of your ingredients are done you get to start the fun process of building your pizza. I take the tortilla, which is nice and crispy by now, and begin my layers like this: pesto, tomato sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano, turkey mixture, feta cheese. You can keep going by adding on red onion rings and olives. I am not a fan of these ingredients, but the sky is the limit here.

These took me a total of 25 minutes to make and I ended up making about 7 of them. The little pizzas are full of flavor and fun to make!


Enjoy!

Thursday's Tip of the Day: Homemade Whipped Cream

Today's lovely tip of the day is inspired by my iced coffee post. I like to make my own whipped cream. By doing this I can make many different flavors of whipped cream for half the price you pay for one can or tub. I like to experiment with the different flavor possibilities. I have even flavored this with cocoa and made a mousse type desert out of it. So the moral of today's story is save the $3 per tub and make your own. I even taste a difference. In my opinion the whipped cream made from whipping cream tastes sooooo much better. Just sayin! It takes a whopping 5 minutes to make and saves you some pennies. Try it, you may not go back!

Plain Whipped Cream:

1 Cup Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Place the whipping cream and powdered sugar in a big bowl. Take your mixer, attach the blades, put it in the bowl, turn it on high speed, and go! When the mixture gets fluffy and doubles in size, you are done!

Variations:

Cinnamon Whipped Cream - add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Chocolate Whipped Cream - add 1/2 cup cocoa (sometimes I add the 1/4 cinnamon too)

Peppermint Whipped Cream - 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

Get creative, make your own flavors!

Enjoy!



Iced Coffee

Coffee is one of my must have's in life! It gets me through the morning and sometimes through the afternoon. Coffee is a staple in my diet. I am eternally grateful for the person who invented coffee. My problem is that I can not drink hot coffee on a hot day. And living in Florida, that is pretty much every day. I have to have iced coffee so I don't sweat to death. (Gross, I know, but true!) The ice ends up melting in the coffee and watering it down so that the last little bit of coffee is undrinkable. There must be some solution to this! I have frozen coffee in ice trays to use as cubes, but it just isn't the same. So I scoured the internet for hours, or minutes thanks to Google, for the solution. Pioneer Woman is a genius! She had the answer. She has a process where you actually steep the coffee grounds in water and keep it in the fridge. So the coffee itself is cold from start to finish. It is nice and strong, but more importantly cold! Here is the link to said genius article (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/comment-page-7/). I tried it, super easy, and super delicious! Yay! Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Enjoy!

Goat Cheese Crab Dip

I tried this new recipe for chicken sliders the other night and I couldn't figure out what to do as a side. We were in need of a new side dish bad! Tired and bored of the same ole' vegetable as a side! I know this isn't the healthiest, but it was a nice change in pace. This will not be an all the time dish in our house, but it was super yummy! Soooooooo goooooood! 

Goat Cheese Crab Dip:

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red onions

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup half and half

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup bell pepper, cubed

1 4oz can green chili's, minced

4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

1 pound crab meat, cubed

1/4 cup parsley

1/4 panko bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Once the butter is completely melted add onions. Saute until clear. Add the bell peppers and garlic and cook for two minutes. Add the half and half and the green chili's mix thoroughly. Add the cream cheese in and mix until smooth. Add half of the goat cheese and mix that until it is smooth. Remove from heat and add in the crab meat and parsley. Place in a casserole dish. In a small bowl, mix the panko breadcrumbs and remaining goat cheese. Mix until you get little balls of cheese covered in breadcrumbs. Spread that mixture over the top of the crab mixture.

 Sprinkle paprika, salt, and pepper over the top. Pop it into the oven for 15-20 minutes. 

When you pull this out of the oven it takes exactly 5.7 seconds for the family to gather around. We had this as a side to chicken sliders one night. It was so good and creamy and yummy! 

Enjoy!
The Froggy Mom