Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting

The other day I was cleaning out my freezer and found 4 frozen bananas that I needed to use up. Since we are still in temporary housing, I don't have my baking pans. I only had one pan for banana bread and my recipe makes 2 loaves. I did have a 9x13 pan, so I decided to find a recipe for some type of banana cake. I adapted this recipe from several others, it turned out delicious...and I love the caramel frosting on top!
Here's the recipe:

Banana Cake

1 c butter

2 c sugar

2 eggs

4 very ripe bananas, mashed ( I usually have them frozen and thaw before I need them)
1 c milk

3 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I don't add if I use salted butter)

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, add bananas and milk. Combine flour, soda, salt. Add to other mixture. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

Bake 350 about 45 minutes.

Caramel Frosting

1/2 c butter

1 c brown sugar, packed

1/4 c milk

3 1/4 c powdered sugar (add gradually, I only used 3 cups)

Boil butter, brown sugar and milk over med heat for 2 min. Cool, (I let mine sit out for a little bit, it was still warm, I didn't want it to get too hard by cooling it).  Beat in powdered sugar until it's desired consistency. Pour over cake and spread.

I frosted mine when it was still warm, (because I'm impatient like that!) my frosting got a little stiff but it was still yummy!
~Simply Angie

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

Another recipe from Grandma's 1929 recipe book. I copied the recipe from Grandma's book and wrote on the back of the recipe card that I was 9 years old. I still remember writing it - I love that! If you've been following you know I use organic and homemade ingredients (such as homemade peanut butter, organic sugars, etc) but this is the original recipe, feel free to substitute as you like or use the original. These are soft, chewy and amazing! If you need a gluten-free peanut butter cookie recipe, we posted one earlier that is almost as good as Grandma's! Here's the link Simply Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies.
Ingredients:
1 c butter, softened
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c creamy peanut butter
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla together. Add the peanut butter and beat on low just until blended. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until blended. The dough should be fairly cool. I used a small cookie scoop and placed each round cookie on parchment lined baking sheets. Dip a fork into some sugar and flatten with a fork on each cookie. Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes. Let cool on cooling rack and store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Homemade Soft Flour Tortillas

Here's a little story of my meal plans when I try to plan too far ahead. I finished grocery shopping on Friday with my weekend menu in mind. Sunday afternoon, I started to make chicken and noodles when I realized I wasn't really hungry for that anymore. I was hungry for chicken tacos, so I decided to make chicken tacos.
I had just finished boiling my chicken so I poured the chicken stock into quart jars and put it in the refrigerator. I shredded the chicken and let it cool in the refrigerator. Then I started getting the rest of the ingredients ready for chicken tacos. I discovered I was out of soft tortillas and salsa. At this point it crossed my mind to give up and go back to the chicken and noodles idea because I did not feel like going back to the store again, but I was not going to give up! So I decided to make homemade tortillas, grab a few tomatoes and peppers from the garden and make some salsa. Luckily I always keep shallots on hand and I had cilantro from the farmer's market, I was ready to make salsa! Then disaster nearly happened - I suddenly remembered that I had thrown my electric griddle away a couple of weeks ago. Something scary with the wiring was happening and I decided we didn't really need a fire.... so off it went! And since I am also trying to decrease the number of small appliances around here, I decided to use my lefse griddle and it worked perfectly! You can also use a skillet.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

6 T cold butter cut into small pieces (you can use lard or shortening also)

1 cup warm water

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together except the water with a pastry cutter, blending them together like a pie crust. 
• Start adding the water and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands (it's sticky). 
• After all of the water has been added, knead the dough with your hands to form the dough into a smooth ball. 
• Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover for 30 minutes (so the dough can rest).
• Knead the dough again for a couple of minutes and separate the dough into small balls, I made about 16 balls.
• Place the balls back into the bowl, cover and let them rest another 15-20 minutes.
• I sprinkled some flour onto my counter top and began rolling the dough flat with a rolling pin.
• Tips on rolling - roll in different directions, keep rolling because you want your tortillas thin. My clue was when I could see my counter top through the dough, they were rolled enough. It takes a few to get this figured out.
• Preheat your griddle or skillet to 350F and place tortilla on the griddle.
• Flip the tortilla when bubbles are forming on the top.
• They only take about a minute per tortilla.
• I stacked mine in a clean dish towel and kept them covered until I served them.
• I stored the rest in an airtight container. They kept about 3 days.

These were amazing, no more store bought tortillas! Enjoy!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Chicken Cacciatore

 

I have been having so much fun going to the Farmer's Markets and picking out fresh fruits and veggies on the weekends. Last weekend I bought the most delicious berries, they were huge! I also bought some other things and decided to make my version of Chicken Cacciatore. This is one of those, "throw in what veggies you like add a few seasonings and it's done!"   Plus I feel like it's pretty healthy with all those vegetables!               

Here's what you need:  

• 3 boneless skinless thighs, or 2 large breasts, cut up or left whole
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 medium onion, I like the sweet yellow ones
• 1 c chicken stock or broth
• 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, or you can use fresh, I just like to use the ones in the can with the liquid because they are already ripe and cut up 
• 1/2 pound of penne pasta, or what you like OR you can omit the pasta
• optional seasonings to taste, red pepper flakes, celery salt, salt, pepper, rosemary, basil, oregano

I start by cutting the chicken up into pieces and cooking in a little olive oil. While the chicken is cooking, chop the veggies, into chunks. Then add the broth, tomatoes with the juice, veggies and pasta into the same skillet as the chicken, along with seasonings you like. Cook until the pasta and vegetables done.
***If you want to hurry it along, you can boil pasta water and partially cook the pasta while the chicken is cooking, then add to the mixture. Sometimes I do it that way, but you have to be careful not to overcook the pasta, it will cook in the liquid with the chicken and vegetables too.
Bon Appétit!
~Simply Angie