Making bacon in the oven is the easiest way to prepare it for your family!
My family isn’t big on eating meat. My husband and son, especially, don’t eat much meat. But one thing our whole family can agree on is crispy bacon. Cooking bacon on the stovetop and getting splashed with hot grease has always stressed me out. So, I make bacon in the oven. It finishes at the same time and keeps me from stressing about hot grease. It also lets me easily work on other food items while the bacon cooks. It’s a win all around!
When I make bacon in the oven, I get it nice and crispy — nearly burnt — because that’s how we like it. However, you can cook it to your own preferences of doneness. (Though I will fully admit that I don’t understand the chewy bacon people. Yuck!)
Once you make bacon in the oven, you won’t make it another way! Cook it up for BLTs, BLT pizza, bacon ranch cheese bread or a breakfast food side. So good!
Get started
Preheat your oven to 400-degrees (F). While the oven is preheating, get out two baking sheets with sides for one pound of bacon. You need those sides to keep the grease from rolling off into your oven. Line it with aluminum foil and spritz it very lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (You can also use non-stick aluminum foil if you have that.)
Separate the bacon into slices and place them on the two baking sheets. They can be near each other but not touching.
Place the baking sheets into your preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the bacon is part way cooked. In order for it to cook more evenly, I switch the racks for the baking sheets at this point.
Cook for 8 to 12 more minutes until the bacon is your desired level of crispness.
Remove the bacon from the baking sheet right away and place onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain the grease. I layer the bacon and paper towels to absorb the grease even more.
The final tip is to leave the baking sheets sitting out until the grease solidifies. Then you can pull off the sheets of aluminum foil and just throw the grease out without having to worry about how to dispose of it. Usually a small amount of grease gets underneath the foil from me moving the pans around, so I still wash the pans, but the foil makes clean up a heck of a lot easier!
Bacon in the oven
Making bacon in the oven is super easy and works well for feeding a family. It gets done all at once and frees you up to cook other things!
Line two baking sheets that have sides on them with aluminum foil. Spritz the foil very lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (You can also use non-stick aluminum foil if you prefer.)
Lay the bacon out on the baking sheets without overlapping the slices.
Baked in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then switch the racks the pans are on. Bake 8 to 12 minutes more until the bacon is the desired crispness.
Remove the bacon from the pan to drain immediately on a paper plate lined with paper towels.
Keyword bacon, bacon in the oven, breakfast food, cooking for a crowd, easy recipe, family cooking
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A surprisingly easy weeknight chicken recipe your family will love!
When it comes to meat, chicken is my all-time favorite. I really like bacon, but chicken is what I can eat pretty much any time. I think that’s because it’s so versatile. During our recent home meal kit delivery service trial, I found quite a few chicken dishes I fell in love with. One of them was a pecan-crusted chicken recipe. But, the recipe and ingredients were harder to come by not using the meal kit, so I played around with it and figured out my own version that’s just as tasty!
Besides the chicken, you just need a few ingredients to pull of this super easy and delicious weeknight chicken dinner. This is the kind of dinner that makes me feel like I’m eating out.
When I make this recipe, I use two chicken breasts to serve just my daughter and me. My husband and son don’t like chicken, so they have something else. However, I’ve written this recipe to make four chicken breasts or servings to feed a family of four. You can adjust it up or down as needed for your own family.
Prepping for the chicken
Get your oven preheating at 450-degrees with the rack in the center. Then, since it’s pecan-crusted chicken, you may need to prep pecans. If you’ve bought pecan pieces, you don’t have to do anything. I got pecan halves most recently (I store them in the freezer to keep them fresh), so I had to break them up. You can use a knife, your fingers or even a food processor to break them into smaller pieces. You need 2/3-cup of roughly chopped pecans for four chicken breasts.
Once your pecans are ready, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in your microwave and then stir in the pecans, 1/2 cup Panko (I used seasoned Panko, but either works), salt and pepper. If you want a strong flavor, you can also stir in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning. While the mixture should be moistened, it should remain with a crumbly texture, like so:
Putting the chicken together
Once your pecan mixture is ready, it’s time to move on to the chicken. If your chicken is frozen, make sure it’s thawed. For even cooking times, I usually pound my chicken inside a paper towel or plastic wrap with my hand or rolling pin, because I have yet to get a meat mallet! Either way, I try to get the breasts to a similar thickness.
Pat your chicken dry with paper towels and place it on a baking sheet liberally coated with non-stick cooking spray or covered with parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil. I went the non-stick aluminum foil route for easy clean-up of this pecan-crusted chicken recipe.
Season your chicken breasts with either 1 teaspoon total of Montreal steak seasoning or just use salt and pepper. When I made it the first time on my own, I used the Montreal steak seasoning because I had it for another recipe and figured I’d give it a try. It is a strong flavor, though, so spreading 1 teaspoon among four chicken breasts is more than enough.
Next is one of my favorite flavors to go with chicken: honey mustard! I use premade honey mustard salad dressing, because we eat it around my house anyway.
If you don’t have honey mustard, you can make your own with 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 4 teaspoons honey and 4 teaspoons Dijon or yellow mustard. Either way, you want to top each chicken breast with honey mustard. I used about 1 teaspoon of honey mustard per chicken breast, swirled it on top and then used a spoon to spread it.
These photos are from when I over-seasoned the chicken with Montreal steak seasoning. Your chicken should not be this covered with seasoning!
Finally, you add the pecan crust to the chicken. Use a spoon to pile the pecan mixture on the top of each chicken breast and cover it well. Press down a bit to make sure it sticks. You only need to put the pecans on the top.
That’s it. Stick your pecan-crusted chicken into the preheated 450-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the crust is brown and the inside middle of the chicken is at least 165-degrees.
Make it a dinner
While the pecan-crusted chicken bakes, I usually prep our sides to go along with it. One of our favorite pairings is oven-roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes. I have learned that scratch mashed potatoes aren’t nearly as difficult to make as I once thought, but to make weeknights easier, I usually make boxed or pouch mashed potatoes. It makes for a delicious plate of food!
1teaspoonMontreal steak seasoning or salt and pepper
4teaspoonshoney mustard salad dressingor mix 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 4 teaspoons honey and 4 teaspoons Dijon or yellow mustard together
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 450-degrees (F) with the rack placed in the center.
If you are using pecan pieces, skip to the next step. Otherwise, use a knife, your fingers or a food processor to break your pecans into pieces. They don't have to be small, but they do need to be at least roughly chopped.
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave.
Stir the pecans, Panko and some salt and pepper into the butter. If you want an extra kick, sprinkle in some of the Montreal steak seasoning as well. It should form a moist, yet crumbly mixture. Set it aside.
Use your hand or a meat mallet to pound your chicken to the approximately same thickness. (A rolling pin also works. I suggest putting the chicken in paper towels or plastic wrap to do this.)
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels then place each chicken breast on a baking sheet liberally sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined with either parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil. (I go the non-stick aluminum foil route for easy clean-up.)
Season the top of the chicken with the Montreal steak seasoning by spreading the 1 teaspoon among the four chicken breasts. Or season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Put about 1 teaspoon of honey mustard on top of each chicken breast; use a spoon to spread it over the top of the chicken.
Mound the pecan mixture on top of each chicken breast and press down gently so the mixture sticks. You only need to coat the top side.
Place the chicken in the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the crust is browned and the inside center of the chicken is at least 165-degrees (F).
This easy caramel sauce is great on waffles, ice cream, pancakes and biscuits!
A few months ago, my daughter got on a waffle kick. Our waffle iron was seldom used previously, but she changed that up. While she tried a few different recipes before finding the made-from-scratch waffle recipe she loves most, we found a topping recipe that was a keeper from the start. We first made this easy caramel sauce with bananas in it. But then we got creative with it as well. It’s so good and so incredibly easy, you can whip it up in minutes to kick up breakfast or dessert a notch!
The first time I made the easy caramel sauce, I marveled at how easy it was and wondered why I’d never tried something like it before. Had something so simple been out there and I’d been ignorant of it for years?! What I love most is that you only need a few common ingredients to make this sauce.
We have used the sauce for waffle topping the most, since my daughter has been on a waffle kick, but you could use it for so many things. It would be DELICIOUS on anything from ice cream to pancakes to biscuits. Heck, you could totally eat it by itself. I’m way more chocolate fan than caramel, but even I think this easy caramel sauce is the best. I pretty much burn my mouth every time we make it because I don’t want to wait to eat it!
Variations on the sauce
We have tried this sauce with bananas, apples and pecans. Of them, bananas have remained our favorite. Apples did OK, but didn’t get as soft as we would have liked. Maybe they need to cook longer? The pecans were quite yummy, too, though!
You could also make this easy caramel sauce without any fruit and enjoy just the hot caramel by itself. In fact, if it were just me, that’s probably what I’d do.
A few simple ingredients
Not counting the fruit or nuts, this easy caramel sauce has only two ingredients. Counting the fruit or nuts, it still just puts the ingredients’ list at three (unless you want to combine multiple fruit or nuts, which would totally work, too!). You could try a banana pecan or walnut caramel sauce, in fact.
But, I digress. All you need is butter and brown sugar. We use salted butter, because that’s what we usually have on hand, but I think unsalted butter would work just as well. If you use unsalted butter and find the sauce too sweet, add a pinch of salt to it when you add the brown sugar.
Get cooking
Get out a medium-sized skillet and melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Be sure to move your butter around every so often so it doesn’t burn. Nobody likes the taste of burnt butter! While your butter is melting, make sure any add-in ingredients are prepped. Slice bananas, chop nuts, cut up apples. I do that right next to the stovetop, so I can keep an eye on my butter at the same time.
When your butter looks like this, you’re ready to move on to the next step:
Next, add in 1 cup of brown sugar. I used light brown sugar, but I think dark brown sugar would work as well.
Continue cooking the butter and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring often. It will start to come together like this:
Let it cook another minute or two longer until it is well combined and more sauce consistency.
Place the sliced bananas in the pan and leave the heat on medium.
Gently stir the bananas into the sauce and cook over medium heat until the bananas are softened and the sauce is more liquid-y, about 2 or 3 minutes.
Serve it warm over whatever you are making. We love it on fluffy, homemade waffles! It is so yummy. Just be careful not to burn your mouth because you can’t wait to eat it!
2medium bananas OR 1/2 cup pecans OR 1 medium apple
Instructions
Prepare your banana, pecans or apple. Peel and sliced bananas, roughly chop pecans or core and dice the apple. Set aside.
In a skillet over medium heat, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter.
Add the 1 cup of brown sugar to the butter and continue cooking about 3 minutes, stirring often, until the butter and brown sugar are well combined.
Place the prepared bananas, pecans or apple in the skillet with the brown sugar and butter mixture.
Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring often, until well combined and the fruit (if you're using it) is softened. For bananas and pecans, this is about 2-3 minutes. For apples, this is about 4-5 minutes.
An appetizer, side or snack you can make in minutes!
My daughter is more adventurous in the kitchen than I am. I tend to go by recipes. She tends to use recipes and get creative as well. I love her creations and willingness to try things. (She’s made some delicious microwave fudge recipes this way!) Over the summer, she found a picture of meatball pockets that didn’t have a recipe with it. So, she came up with it on her own. The results were this super easy, yummy meatball pocket recipe you can make in minutes!
These meatball pockets can be a snack, appetizer or side. We used it as a side dish to go along with Spaghetti-Os. (I know. We are super fancy like that!) I also like that even my 8-year-old could easily help us with this recipe.
I also love that this meatball pocket recipe is only two ingredients: canned crescent rolls and frozen meatballs. You can serve them with pizza or marinara sauce. (But I can also tell you that they taste good dipped in Spaghetti-Os!)
How to make the meatball pockets
I chose homestyle meatballs for this recipe. My family isn’t big on anything spicy, so these were great for us. They were flavorful without being spicy or peppery. You can pick meatballs based on your family’s tastes. You can also use homemade meatballs if you would rather.
No matter what kind of meatball you use, they need to be thawed. If you are using fresh, homemade ones, you’re good to go. If you are using frozen ones, pop 16 of them in the microwave on thaw or 50% power to get them to about room temperature.
Preheat your oven according to the directions on the crescent roll package.
While the meatballs are thawing and oven is preheating, open the crescent rolls. (I cannot open canned crescent rolls. It scares me way too much, so my husband or 8-year-old son open them!) Unroll the sheets and gently break the rolls apart at the perforation into their triangle shape.
Then use a sharp knife to cut the triangles in half, so you have halves of the usual crescent roll size. (NOTE: You can make these with whole crescent rolls if you want them to be bigger or more bread-y. We tried both ways and like them either way.)
Next, plop a meatball in the center of the halved crescent triangle and fold the crescent roll dough around the meatball. Pinch it closed as much as possible.
When they are enclosed in dough, place the meatball pockets a baking sheet. I put parchment paper on my baking sheets to make for easier clean-up. If you don’t use parchment paper, follow the directions on the crescent rolls. The crescent rolls I used said they should be baked on ungreased baking sheets. Space the meatball pockets a couple of inches apart.
Place them in your preheated oven and bake them for 9 to 12 minutes until the crescent roll dough has become golden brown and they are heated through.
Serve the meatball pockets warm with marinara or pizza sauce for dipping, if desired. You end up with 16 meatball pockets per can of crescent rolls. Refrigerate any leftovers and reheat in the microwave.
With 5 ingredients and no cooking needed, you’ll fall in love with this mint chocolate chip mousse recipe!
A few weeks ago, my daughter wanted to try making a new recipe. We tried an ice cream based recipe that used chocolate sandwich cookies and mint to make a mint chocolate cake. It was good. But the topping was what we loved the most. It was like a mousse. So that inspired us to do some tweaking and develop this mint chocolate chip mousse recipe. As a lifelong lover of all things mint and chocolate, I have fallen in love with this mousse!
But the flavor isn’t all I love about this mint chocolate chip mousse recipe. I also like that only uses five ingredients and is easy to whip up. In fact, you can make it ahead of time for guests, pop it in the fridge and be ready to go. If you want a less creamy and airy texture, you can stick it in the freezer. But, I love the creamy, airy texture of mousse!
This would also work great as a pie if you pile the mousse on top of a chocolate cookie crumb crust!
Ingredients
Seriously, this mint chocolate chip mousse recipe only needs five ingredients that are pretty basic.
You need one 7-ounce jar of marshmallow creme, one 16-ounce container of heavy whipping cream, 1/4-cup of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of mint or peppermint extract and 3/4- to 1-cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. If you want to color your mint chocolate chip mousse, you also need a few drops of green food coloring, but that’s completely optional.
And if you are more of a cookie fan than chocolate chips, you can easily replace the mini chocolate chips for crushed chocolate sandwich cookies. Milk chocolate chips would be a bit rich, so if you go that route, use less of them. You could try dark chocolate as well (that’s what I would love but my family not so much!). Of course, if chocolate isn’t your thing, just skip the chocolate all together and enjoy a mint mousse!
Directions
Pour your heavy whipping cream into a mixer bowl. You can use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer. Use the whisk attachment(s) for the mixer and beat the whipping cream for a few minutes until soft peaks form. Start with a lower level of mixing and gradually increase it as the whipping cream begins to thicken. (If you go too fast too soon, the liquid will splatter out of the bowl.) The whipping cream should look like this:
In a separate bowl, combine the milk, marshmallow cream and mint extract. If you’re going to use food coloring this is the best time to put it in. (I completely forgot to put it in until the next step. So if you forget this, it will work in the step next as well. However, you will end up needing to use more food coloring if you wait until the next step.)
Stir the milk, marshmallow cream, mint extract and optional food coloring together well but carefully so as not to splash out of the bowl. The mixture should be less sticky and look like this:
Next gently fold the whipped cream into the bowl with the marshmallow cream mixture.
Before mixing together
I added the green food coloring in this step since I forgot it in the previous one. I ended up needing to add about double this amount of food coloring gel to get a light green tint to my mousse.
The light, airy mousse all mixed together.
The mousse is all ready for mix-ins. I suggest mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use the chocolate you prefer or even skip the chocolate all together if you’d rather. I started with 3/4-cup of the mini chips and then added about another 1/4 cup. My kids say I should use less chocolate next time, so the 3/4-cup of mini chocolate chips is probably best. But, if you’re a chocolate lover like I am, feel free to add a full cup or even more. I didn’t think there was any issue with the amount of chocolate chips!
Whatever you decide to mix in, do so gently like you folded in the whipped cream to keep the mousse light and airy.
Once everything is mixed in, the mint chocolate chip mousse is ready! I let mine hang out in the fridge for about an hour before we ate it, but you can eat it right away. Definitely store leftovers covered in the refrigerator. If you want a firmer consistency for your mint chocolate chip mousse, then put it in the freezer.
This butterscotch haystacks recipe is as easy as it gets!
I’m a fan of simple recipes, and this butterscotch haystacks recipe is one of the most simple ones I make! With only two ingredients and no oven or stove required, they come together quickly and easily. They make a great addition to holiday baking or any time of year.
Of all the sweet treats I make, this is one of my husband’s very favorites. He isn’t a big chocolate fan, but he loves butterscotch. They’re a crunchy butterscotch treat. You don’t have to tell anyone how easy they are to make unless you want to!
You may notice in the photo above that I have both chow mein noodles and Asian style crunchy noodles. Either one works for the butterscotch haystacks recipe. You can mix them together, which is what I did this time. The chow mein noodles are a bit bigger.
Pour the butterscotch chips into a microwaveable bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals stirring each time until melted. Then pour in your chow mein and/or crunchy noodles and stir gently until they are all covered in butterscotch.
And that’s it. You can add in some peanuts if you want, but I always keep this butterscotch haystack recipe simple with just these two ingredients. I stir in the noodles in intervals to make sure they are all covered with a good amount of butterscotch.
Dole them out with in heaping tablespoons onto parchment or wax paper and let them cool. Store them in an airtight container to keep them fresh and yummy for days — if they’ll last that long without getting eaten!
Pour the butterscotch chips into a microwaveable bowl.
Heat the chips in 30-second increments in the microwave, stirring after each 30 seconds.
Once the chips are melted and smooth, pour the chow mein noodles into the melted butterscotch about 1 cup at a time. Gently stir to cover the noodles in butterscotch.
Place parchment paper or wax paper on the counter. Dole out the mixture one heaping tablespoon at a time to form the haystacks.
This easy Crock Pot potato soup is fast, easy and delicious!
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I love potatoes cooked in any form: baked, fried, scalloped, boiled and mashed. So it makes sense that potato soup is my favorite kind of soup. I like others, sure, but potato soup is the best.
I’ve been making this slow cooker potato soup for a few years and it quickly became a favorite in our family. My daughter, in particular, enjoys it. I love that in a matter of about five minutes, I can put ingredients in my Crock Pot at lunchtime and have dinner ready to go!
It sounds too good to be true, but thanks to the use of frozen hashbrowns, this soup comes together quickly and easily. It serves six people and can easily be doubled if your slow cooker is large enough (at least 6 quarts) and you have a crowd to feed.
I use a disposable slow cooker liner to make even clean-up easy! If you haven’t tried them, you ought to. They save a lot of time and elbow grease on so many slow cooker recipes.
Once your slow cooker is ready to go, open the back of frozen hashbrowns and dump them in. I usually use the Southern style, which are small cubes of potatoes.
Frozen hashbrowns makes this soup so easy!
Next, you add in 28 ounces of chicken broth, which you can get in two 14-ounce cans or measure out 3-1/2 cups from a box of chicken broth. I usually use low sodium, but I’ve also used regular chicken broth. It tastes fine both ways.
Along with the chicken broth, add in a can of cream of potato soup. If your grocery store is out of it, you can substitute cream of chicken soup with no issue. Top it off with some black pepper, a bit of onion powder if desired and stir.
All stirred and ready to cook.
Put the lid on, and cook it on low for five hours. I usually stir once an hour or every other hour, but it’s not all that necessary.
Around hour four, soften the cream cheese. I usually get it to the point of being almost completely melted. Stir it into the soup and continue to cook on low for another 45 minutes to an hour.
The finished soup in the slow cooker. It’s so creamy!
Serve it up topped with shredded cheese and bacon bits. You can add scallions or green onion if you’d like as well. We love to have a total carb fest and eat it with french bread!
My family enjoys the crunch from bacon bits, but you could definitely use cooked bacon as well.
If you do have leftovers, just store them in the fridge. This soup reheats incredibly well. My daughter always wants to have leftovers for lunch. My mom has frozen it before with good luck, but I’ve never had enough left that my daughter would let me think of doing that!
130 oz. bag frozen hash-brown potatoes (I use the squared, southern style)
214 oz. cans chicken broth (regular or low-sodium)
110.75 oz. can cream of potato soup
1/4tsp.ground black pepper
1/4tsp.onion powderif desired
18 oz. block cream cheese (very softened)
Chopped scallionsgreen onion, if desired
Instructions
In a slow cooker, combine potatoes, broth, soup and pepper. (Honestly, I don’t usually measure the pepper. I just do a few turns on the pepper grinder and call it good.) Add a dash of onion powder, if desired.
Cover, and cook on low for 4 hours.
Stir in cream cheese, cook another 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until combined.
Top each bowl with shredded cheese and bacon bits (or crispy bacon). Add some chopped scallions, if desired. Enjoy!
Put your brown bananas to work with this delicious banana bread recipe!
Affiliate links are used in this post, if you make a qualifying purchase via my link, I receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and services I use and love. It helps support my blog, so thank you for your support! Read my full disclosure here.
When my husband and I got married a couple of decades ago, one of our gifts was a loaf pan with a recipe for banana bread. The recipe said to mix it in the loaf pan, but that never worked well for me.
Then a couple of years later, I was baking the bread again and it bubbled over. My oven literally caught fire with a small flame. I steered clear of banana bread baking for a while.
Fast forward to a decade later when we had kiddos. I decided to track down a new banana bread recipe and see what I could do with it since my baking abilities had improved and I was successfully baking pumpkin bread.
I found a banana bread recipe online and decided to give it a try. It quickly became my go-to banana bread recipe that bakes well and never catches my oven on fire! It’s the right amount of moist and crumbly.
I love that it’s full of protein between walnuts and the addition of Greek yogurt.
With just a few ingredients, this banana bread recipe makes good use of brown bananas. It’s delicious any time of day!
Before I start mixing the bread dough, I utilize my food processor to help me with the walnuts and bananas. You definitely don’t have to do this. The food processor is great for getting the walnuts into small pieces quickly. I also like my 2-3 bananas well pureed so there are no weird banana chunks in any slice.
I measure out 2/3 to 3/4 cup of walnuts needed for this recipe before chopping them in the food processor. The recipe needs 1/2 cup of walnuts and this seems to be what I end up with after they’re chopped. (It’s also pretty easy to add more, less or no walnuts depending on your preferences.)
I like the walnuts pretty well chopped so they disperse throughout the bread more and are easier to eat. My husband prefers this bread with no nuts.
(If you go the food processor route, do the walnuts first and then the bananas so you don’t have to wash the bowl in between!)
Look at those smoothly pureed bananas!
And that’s the most complicated part of this banana bread recipe, which you don’t even have to do! Next you literally just put all of the ingredients except the nuts into a bowl and mix them on low speed for 30 seconds then medium speed for 45 seconds. I use my beloved Kitchenaid stand mixer.
Everything in the bowl and ready to mix.
The batter should be a bit thicker than cake batter but still runny.
Next, it’s time to gently stir in the walnuts. You can do this by hand, but I use the “stir” setting on my Kitchenaid stand mixer and keep an eye on it.
Once everything is mixed together, put the bread batter into a greased loaf pan. (I’m a HUGE fan of all my Rachael Ray bakeware. In fact, I love it so much I bought an additional loaf pan besides the one that came with my set.)
All ready for the oven!
Bake the bread at 350-degrees for 45 to 55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Loosen the sides and turn it out onto a cooling rack or cutting board if you are serving it warm. Enjoy!
3/4cupmashed or pureed very ripe bananasabout 2 medium
1 5.3-oz.container of vanilla Greek yogurt
1/3cupvegetable oil
1teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt
2eggs
1/2cupcoarsely chopped walnutscan substitute pecans or completely omit the nuts
Instructions
Heat the oven to 350-degrees.
Spray the bottom only of a loaf pan (8x4 or 9x5) with non-stick cooking spray (or cover with shortening).
If desired, use a food processor to chop the nuts and puree the bananas.
Add all the prepared ingredients except the nuts to your mixing bowl.
Mix on low speed for 30 seconds then on medium speed for 45 seconds. Scrape the bowl as needed.
Stir in the nuts by hand or with the "stir" setting on your mixer.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the outside is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes then loosen the sides of the bread and transfer to a cooling rack (or cutting board if you want to serve it soon!).
Just a few ingredients come together in this delicious mild salsa recipe
My family loves Mexican food and flavors, like in this taco cornbread bake recipe. If I make something related to tacos or tortilla chips and salsa, I know my family will be on board.
I stumbled across a pantry salsa recipe a year or two ago and gave it a try one nacho night. It was too spicy, even according to my spice-loving husband. So, I tweaked it and ended up with a mild salsa that has a very, very slight kick.
Of course salsa made with garden-fresh ingredients is good, but I never have fresh peppers or herbs. I almost always have onion. I love that I can buy ingredients for this salsa recipe and not get around to making it for a week or two. Being in the Midwest, I also love that I can make this year-round and it tastes the same.
All of the ingredients for this salsa come from your pantry!
And being a busy mom, I love recipes like this one that literally come together in minutes. If your onion needs chopped, you can make this salsa in 10 minutes or less. If your onion is already chopped, you can whip up this salsa in 5 minutes with a food processor or blender. Seriously!
Start with the can of tomatoes with chilis and chopped onion. Put them both into your food processor and zoom them around until they are the desired level of chunky you like. (My family likes salsa with teeny, tiny chunks at most!)
Before pureeing in the food processor
After pureeing in the food processor
Next, add in the seasonings: garlic powder, salt, sugar and lime juice. Whiz everything in the food processor again for 15 seconds or so to blend it.
Your next step depends on how chunky you like salsa. As I mentioned, my family doesn’t like chunky salsa at all. So, I pour my seasoned tomato and chili mixture into a large bowl then puree the crushed tomatoes in the food processor.
If you’re using a blender or have a large food processor, you could maybe do all the ingredients at once, but I use my food processor and it isn’t large enough, so I do it in stages.
Finally, I pour the pureed crushed tomatoes into the large bowl on top of the seasoning mixture and give it a good stir. That’s it! Serve it up with your favorite tortilla chips.
1 10-oz.can mild diced tomatoes with green chilies
1/4cupdiced onioncan add more to taste
1tsp.garlic powder
1/2tsp.salt
1tsp.ground cumin
1tsp.sugar
2tsp.lime juice
Instructions
Put the can of tomatoes with chilies into a food processor or blender. Add the diced onion, and puree until it is the desired level of chunkiness. (My family likes salsa with minimal chunks, so I puree for about a minute.)
Add in the garlic salt, salt, ground cumin, sugar and lime juice. Puree 15 to 30 seconds longer to mix together.
Move the seasoned mixture into a large bowl.
Next you can either add the crushed tomatoes on top of the mixture as they are or puree them in the food processor or blender first depending on how chunky you like your salsa.
Stir the plain tomatoes and seasoned tomato mixture together.
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips and store any leftover salsa in the fridge.
Just the right amount of crunch to make this granola recipe the perfect snack, dessert or breakfast!
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About eight years ago, I tried a homemade granola recipe. My memories of homemade granola were at a bed and breakfast I went to with my parents back when I was in between high school and college. The proprietor offered homemade granola as part of breakfast.
I didn’t think about it too much after that, but then a few years ago, I tried a granola recipe a friend made and decided to make the plunge and try making it myself. I’m glad I did, because this recipe has been a favorite of my family’s for years.
When I made it again last week, I decided it was certainly time I share it on here. This easy oat and honey granola recipe is delicious. When I first made it, I crumpled it up thinking I’d use it in small pieces for cereal or something. After that I left it in chunks, because it’s so good on its own that we eat it for snacks, dessert and breakfast around here.
This oat and honey granola recipe has just the right amount of crunch and sweetness. It’s surprisingly easy to make with simple ingredients you probably have in your kitchen right now. And it has the added bonus of making your house smell great while it’s baking!
Just look at this goodness!
Getting started
I’ll be honest and tell you that when I first started looking for a granola recipe to make, I didn’t even know what kind of oats recipes were talking about.
I learned that it’s the oats you buy in a canister to make oatmeal. You can use either quick-cooking oats for this recipe or old-fashioned. I’ve made it with both. We prefer quick-cooking oats because they are a bit smaller.
Once you have your ingredients and are ready to go, turn your oven to 350-degrees to preheat. Then put the oats, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, vegetable oil, water and salt into a bowl.
Next, stir everything together. It will seem like it is too dry, but it will be fine. Just keep stirring for a couple of minutes until everything is coated. This oat and honey granola isn’t a mix that gets really wet.
Bake it in the oven at 350-degrees for 10 minutes. Take it out, stir it around and press it back into the same layer as before Return it to the oven for 10 to 12 more minutes until the oat and honey granola is a lovely golden brown with crispy edges and your kitchen smells divine!
Even if you like things extra crunchy, don’t be tempted to over-bake this oat and honey granola recipe. I’ve tried leaving it in for a few extra minutes and ended up with a hard block that tasted slightly burnt.
Don’t worry if the oat and honey granola doesn’t seem super crunchy when it’s still warm. It crunches up as it cools.
If you want it in small chunks to eat like cereal or as a topping, then stir it around again as soon as it comes out of the oven.
If you want to leave the oat and honey granola in chunks to snack on like I do, then let it cool completely, lift it off the pan and break it into chunks. I store mine in a quart-sized ziptop bag to keep it fresh.
The oat and honey granola will last about a week before it starts getting on the chewy side.
Easy oat and honey granola
This oat and honey granola recipe is easy and delicious! Just the right amount of crunch and sweetness make it a great breakfast, snack or dessert!
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