Banana Split Salad

Light, fluffy and full of yumminess. Healthy? Maybe a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. But if you want to try something different, this would fit the bill. It makes quite a bit, so be prepared.

Banana Split Salad

1 (14 oz.) can sweented condensed milk
1 tub of Cool Whip (12 oz. but 8 oz. will work too), thawed
1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
3 medium bananas, sliced
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

Garnish: peancs, coconut, strawberries and chocolate fudge (all optional)

In a large bowl combine milk and cool whip until well blended. Fold in the cherry pie filling, bananas, pineapple, pecans, coconut and strawberries. Garnish as you wish. Serve chilled.

Note: we didn't add the pineapple because I didn't have any. I also omited the coconut because I had to many eyes watching me to add it. Sorry my picture isn't all garnished and pretty, but I am in a time crunch and sometimes... You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Cinnamon Rolls

Here is a new twist on an old favorite. I was really intrigued by these since they have vanilla pudding in them. They went together fast and my family loved the flavor. The dough is pretty soft, but after rising, is a little easier to work with. I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour because my dough was a little on the sticky side. This ended up being the perfect amount.

Vanilla Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

Rolls:

1/2 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons actvie dry yeast

1 Tablespoons sugar

3 1/2 ounce package instant vanilla pudding

2 cups milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs 1 tespoon salt

6+ cups flour (I added an additional 1/2 cup)

Filling:

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

4 teaspoons cinnamon

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups confectioner's sugar

2-3 Tablespoons milk (I didn't use any because my consistency was already good)

In a small bowl combine water, yeast and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Set aside. In large bowl, take pudding mix and mix with 2 cups of milk (per directions on package). Add butter, eggs and salt. Mix well. Then add yeast mixture. Blend. Gradually add flour; knead until smooth. Do not over flour the dough! It shold be very soft but not sticky. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. Then roll out on floured board to 34 X 21 inches in size. Take 1 cup soft butter and spread over surface. In bowl mix 2 cups brown sugar and 4 teaspoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Roll up very tightly. With knife put a notch in every 1 1/2 inches. Cut with thread or serrated knife. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Cover and let rise until double again. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove when they start to turn golden (don't overbake).

Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting.

Combined butter and cream cheese, mix well, then add vanilla and sugar and mix again. Then add milk for desired consistency.

Makes 24 very large size rolls.

Southwest Chicken Salad

1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn

2 large chicken breasts or 4 regular sized (I used 4 frozen ones from Costco)

1 can black bans, rinsed and drained

1 jar of MEDIUM salsa (or hot, but not mild, mild will lose all flavor while cooking)

1 bag corn chips

Garnish with any of the following:

sour cream

shredded cheese

cilantro

avacado

salsa

tomato

onion

lettuce

Place corn on bottom of a crock pot. Follow with chicken breasts. Top with black beans and salsa. Cook in crock pot on high for 5 hours. Remove chicken and shred with forks. Place shredded chicken back in crock pot and mix with corn and beans. Place a handful of chips on plate and slightly crush with the palm of your hand. Place a good sized portion of chicken mixture on top of chips and garnish as you'd like. This really needs the chips to bring all the flavors together. The saltiness of the chips makes it so yummy! Reheats well. You can also you torilla chips instead of corn chips.

This was a once shot picture. Just as I was ready to try another angle my battery went dead. So hopefully the first one was good enough for you to get an idea of what this looks like. My family really enjoyed it, not to mention it was nice to throw together this morning and have something warm and substantial to feed them for dinner.

Brownie Pizza

This recipe is from Wendi. If you like bananas, peanut butter and brownies, this is the recipe for you. I posted this on my blog, but wanted to post it here to0.

Brownie Pizza

1 package brownie mix

1 package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 large bananas, peeled and cut into chunks

1/4 cup coarsely chopped peanuts2 packages (or 4 single) peanut butter cups

Dove ice cream topping

Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Spread batter evenly on a greased 12 inch pizza pan (I put down parchment paper on a cookie sheet and marked a 12" circle then spread the brownie batter just inside the circle). Bake for 20 minutes (don't overbake). Cook completely on wire rack.

Mix cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter with an electric mixer until well blended. Spreak over cooled brownie.Arrange banan slices over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with peanuts, peanut butter cups (or whatever other toppings your family likes). Heat ice cream topping until stirring consistency (you can heat in microwave with lid off at 20 second intervals, stirring in between). Drizzle chocolate sauce over the top of bananas, peanuts and pb cups. Cut into wedges and serve.

Strawberry Cream Trifle

My mom made this for Easter dinner. I told her she needed to put it on the blog, so I am now helping her do it. Okay I am doing this while they do the dishes. I just wanted you to think what a great daughter I am when in reality I am just getting out of work. This is very good and would be a perfect light dessert for summer. So we wanted to share it so you could add it to your list of things to try as the weather warms up.

CONTRIBUTED BY DORIS BUTLER



Strawberry Cream Trifle

This pretty pink trifle showcases the summery combination of strawberries and cream.

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 pkg (10.75 ox) frozen pound cake, thawed
1 qt. fresh strawberries
1 container (16 oz.) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed
1 lemon
3 conatiners (8 oz. each) blended strawberry yogurt
1 pkg (3.4 oz) cheese cake instant pudding and pie filling
1 container (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping
Powdered sugar

1. Coarsely chop almonds. Cut pound cake into 1 inch cubes; set aside. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull remaining strawberries and cut into quarters. Combine fresh and frozen strawberries; mix well.

2. Juice lemon to measure 2 tbsp. of juice. In a bowl, whisk lemon juice, yogurt and pudding mix until smooth. Immediately fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.

3. To assemble trifle, place one third of the pound cake cubes into bottom of trifle bowl. Top pound cake with one third of the strawberry mixtures. Top with half of the yogurt mixture, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with one third of the almonds. Repeat layers one time. Top with remaining pound cake cubes and remaining strawberry mixture.

4. To garnish, spread remaining whipped topping over top of trifle, forming a flat surface. Sprinkle remaining almonds over whipped topping. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Create strawberry fan with reserved strawberry; place into center of trifle.

Makes 12 servings.

Award Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you like your chocolate chip cookies soft, this is a great recipe. I do find that the dough needs to be at room temperature for them to turn out. So if you freeze the dough, let it sit out at room temperature until it is soft. Or if you have had it in the fridge, again, let it sit out. It is not a great freezer to oven recipe. I think Steff has a good one for that?

NOTE: I think is what makes this so good is the use of the pudding mix. I usually just use one large package as apposed to the two small. But it is nice to know you can half it and use only one small package as this does make a lot of cookies. Also make suer you only cook it for 10 minutes (depending on your oven). They should just be turning light brown around the edges and soft in the middle. Take them out and let them sit for a few minutes on the warm pan. That way they don't over cook and stay soft.

AWARD WINNING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Oreo Dessert

This is very rich, but yummy. If anyone lives in Utah, my brother-in-law LOVES peanut butter and would love this. So someome make it for Matt :)

Note: I heard of people using chocolate pudding instead of vanilla. I only used half of the powdered sugar called for in the cream cheese mixture and none in the pudding mixture. It was to sweet the first time I made it following directions.

OREO DESSERT

* 22 Oreo cookies, divided
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted
* 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
* 1 (16 ounce) carton frozen whipped topping, divided
* 18 miniature peanut butter cups, chopped
* 1 cup milk
* 1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix


Directions

1. Crush 18 cookies; mix with butter; press into bottom of an ungreased
2. 9x9 dish. Beat cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup powdered sugar
3. until creamy. Stir in half the whipped topping; spread over crust.
4. Sprinkle with the chopped peanut butter cups.
5. In second bowl, beat milk, pudding mix and the rest of the powdered
6. sugar on low for 2 minutes. Fold in remaining whipped topping.
7. Spread over the peanut butter cups. Crush the 4 remaining Oreos;
8. sprinkle on top.
9. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.