Banana Cake

The other day I finally remembered to pick up some whole wheat pastry flour. With whole wheat pastry flour you can use it instead of a half Whole Wheat Flour and half All Purpose flour when you bake.

So needless to say I was excited to try it out. I decided on a new recipe I adapted from www.allrecipes.com. Now the specific recipe I have no clue…they have a bazillion banana cake recipes. I should have saved it to reference. In addition to using whole wheat pastry flour I also cut the sugar in half and replaced half with Splenda.

my beautiful fluffy batter

straight out of the oven

The final product..doesn’t it look yum! I iced with a peanut butter cream cheese icing.

My entire family devoured this cake not knowing it’s was somewhat good for them:)

Banana Cake

1/2 cup butter

1/2cup sugar

1/2cup splenda

2 eggs

1t vanilla

1cup bananas (aprox. 3 bananas)

1 cup sour cream

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1t baking Soda

1/4t salt

Cream together butter, sugar and splenda. Mix in banana’s, eggs, vanilla and sour cream, one ingredient at a time. Slowly mix in dry ingredients. Combine Well.Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake in a Preheated 350degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Frost with favorite frosting, peanut butter, cream cheese and chocolate all work well.

Chicken Pot Pie with a Biscuit Crust

I was feeling like we needed some comfort food tonight and what is better than Chicken Pot Pie but Chicken Pot Pie with a Biscuit Crust. OH MY Goodness! This was one tasty dish!

I started with my Chicken and made my Chicken Broth.
Tonight I kept it simple, chicken, water, sea salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, bay leaves, thyme leaves and rosemary.

Once done I chopped up my chicken and set aside 3 cups of the broth.


I then chopped up red potatoes, carrots, onion and celery and added to the remainder of broth. adding water if needed to cover veggies and brought to a boil and cooked until fork tender. Fork tender is usually around 10 minutes, it depends on your stove and elevation and that type of fun stuff. I cook at 4000ft above sea level so things take a lil longer for me. Once done I drained the veggies and returned to the pot. Next I added the chicken broth and diced chicken to the pot. Next I added garlic and cream and brought to a boil and sifted in flour until thickened. The frozen part is important. When you use frozen peas, they stay bright green and don't get all mushy. Then again I may just have pea issues;) Lastly, pour the chicken and veggies into a greased 13x9 baking dish.

Biscuits were next... In a large bowl add flour and sugar, cut in shortening until it looks like coarse crumbs and add milk until well moistened. You may not need the full 2 cups. Place on a floured surface and roll out...you want them about a inch or a little less thick. I chose to cut out mine and just place on top. Doing this I had few leftover to bake on their own. You can just add the rolled out biscuit dough on top of the chicken/veggie mixture as well... I'll let you decide how you want to make yours.

Finally I placed my baking dish on a cookie sheet just in case I had any spills and baked for 20 minutes, until the biscuits were golden.

Now doesn't that look yummy?

Chicken Pot Pie With a Biscuit Crust

4 cups diced cooked chicken
4 cups diced red potatoes
2 cups carrots
1 onion diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1t poultry season
fresh black pepper
3 cups of good chicken broth (this helps flavor your dish)
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup frozen peas

Biscuits-

4 1/2 cups self rising flour
1TB sugar
1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups milk
additional flour for rolling out.

Bake in a preheated to 425 for 20

Chicken Enchilada's

I love to eat Mexican food and for the longest time I was afraid to make Enchiladas. Then one day I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and tried it out. True to form, not entirely following the recipe. I had to add my own little touches. The enchilada's I made were awesome and became a regular in our house. Every time I made the enchiladas I would do something different and now they are almost completely from scratch.

Chicken Enchiladas

2lbs (approx.3 boneless skinless chicken breast) cooked and shredded
2TB butter
1 small onion,diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno's (seeded if desired to control the heat)
1 red pepper,diced
1 can diced green chili's
8oz pepperjack cheese, diced
1/3cup flour
2 cups milk
10 tortillas (I used whole wheat)
cilantro (optional for the cilantro haters out there)
black pepper, fresh ground to taste
2 cups of cheddar or Mexican cheese, shredded (optional)

For the chicken you can use rotisserie chicken from the store or bake it or grill it. I prefer to boil it as follows:

2lbs chicken breast
8 cups water
sliced onion
1t red pepper flakes
sea salt and fresh ground pepper

boil chicken until done/no longer pink inside. Set aside chicken and onions to cool, to shred for later.


Step 1
in frying pan melt 2TB butter and add onion, garlic, red pepper,green chili's, and jalepenos. Cook until Onions are transluscent and pepper's are soft.

Step 2

Add milk and flour (I use a tupperware quick shake) and diced pepperjack cheese. This will make a creamy cheese sauce. Add cilantro if desired and fresh ground black pepper, to taste.

Step 3
Take shredded chicken and mix with 1 cup of sauce mixture and mix well. Place 1/4-1/2cup mixture in middle of tortilla and roll .

Step 4

Once all tortilla's are rolled pour creamy cheese and veggie sauce over tortilla's. If desired cover with shredded cheese.

Step 5

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Voila there you go almost completely scratch made enchiladas... You could go that extra mile and make your own homemade tortilla's and use fresh green chili's but that is up to you. With 4 kids i'll stick to the premade tortilla's and my Hatch green chili's

Cran Nut Chicken Salad

If you made the chicken broth you may be wondering what to do with the cooked chicken. How about some Chicken Salad?

Cran Nut Chicken Salad

approx 2lbs cooked chicken breast, shredded
1/2 cup Mayo
2Tb apple cider vinager
1Tb Sugar
1/2 cup Craisens
2/3 cup sliced almonds
1 stalk celery diced

Combine all ingredients and serve on your favorite sandwich bread.

(bread 7 grain honey wheat)

Chicken Broth

Chicken Broth is EASY to make and it just needs a little thinking ahead of time.

Chicken Broth

approx 2lbs of chicken breast
8 cups water
sea salt
black pepper
fresh thyme
small onion sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed

any other seasoning you like (carrot, celery, bay leaf, etc.)

Chicken Broth can be made to YOUR taste and that is what is good about homemade broth. You need low sodium, you can control the sodium by how much salt you put in it. Your broth can be as flavorful as you like it. Some recipes you need a flavorful broth, others a mild (for ex. if you are using as a replacement for white wine).

After seasoning boil chicken breast for a hour, a low boil. Once chicken is done remove and allow broth to cool before straining into a container to store.

Brining a Turkey

One of the best things you can do to ensure a nice juicy turkey is to brine it. Brining is Easy! Just gotta plan ahead a lil.

Country Girls Turkey Brine
1TB Rosemary leaves
1TB Thyme leaves
1TB Black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
6 cloves of garlic
1 onion, halved
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar water (like 1.5-2 gallons)
A container big enough for your bird
ice

In your container mix all ingredients and then add turkey (be sure to remove innards first). Cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 12 hours. Remove the turkey then drain and discard the excess brine and pat dry and prepare your turkey as desired.