if something is beautiful it should be shared and cherished, and this banana bread recipe is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It’s a formula for making quick breads/muffins from a Food Network Magazine from like 2012 and it works miracles. It’s so flexible and delicious. Also ignore the part where it says to only use 1 fruit or vegetable type, I’ve mixed and matched to get to 1 cup. My all time favorite is banana zucchini bread. And it’s scalable!! I love using it to use up produce thats about to go bad. Its a very flexible and adaptible recipe/ recipe framework. Recipe in text form:

Choose a Flavor: Prepare one cup of fruit or vegetable (1 kind) such as pear(shredded and squezzed dry), apple(shredded and squezzed dry), banana(mashed), carrot(shredded), or zucchini(shredded and squezzed dry) *Note from me: I have used mixtures of multiple of these fruits/veggies adding up to one cup like a mix of zucchini and banana with great results. I have also had sucess using 1/4 cup cut up dried fruit (such as raisins) mixed with 3/4 cup warmed up applesauce*

Pick Your Mix-Ins: Choose up to 1 3/4 cups total of the following ingredients (use no more than 3/4 cup nuts). Toast and chop any nuts; chop any large dried fruit: walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, dried cherries, dried cranberries, dried currants, raisins, dried figs, dried apricots, pitted dried dates, rolled oats, chocolate chips, shredded coconut. *Note from me: I never add oats, but if you do add a lot of them you may have to decrease the amount of flour you use slightly*

Prepare the Pan: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter one 9-by-5-inch loaf pan or three 6-by-3-inch mini pans. *Note from me: you can also use muffin or mini muffin tins*

Make the Batter: Mix 1 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon each baking powder and salt, and 1/2 teaspoon each baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl; add your dry mix-ins (from step 2). In a medium bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup cooled melted butter or vegetable oil, 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon citrus zest (optional). Stir your fruit or vegetables (from step 1) into the egg mixture, then fold into the dry mixture until just combined. *Note from me: you can use any mix of white & brown sugar, and you can use AP flour or a mix of AP and whole wheat flour, also playing around with differnt seasonings and flavorings is fun*

Bake the Loaf: Spread the batter in the prepared pan/pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes for a standard loaf, 35 to 40 minutes for mini loaves. Cool 30 minutes in the pan(s) on a rack, then turn out onto the rack to cool completely. *Note from me: check at like 15-20 minutes for muffins*

Make a Glaze: Prepare a glaze, pour on the cooled bread and let set, 15 to 20 minutes. Chocolate: Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons milk, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Vanilla Bean: Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and the seeds from 1 vanilla bean. Brown Butter: Brown 3 tablespoons butter over low heat; cool slightly. Whisk with 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 tablespoon milk. Use immediately. Citrus: Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon each milk and citrus juice, and 1 teaspoon citrus zest. Cream Cheese: Whisk 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons milk and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Litha Recipes

Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts, sliced

Green peppers, seeded & sliced

Red peppers, seeded & sliced

Orange and/or yellow peppers, seeded & sliced

Onion, chopped

Chili powder*

Minced garlic*

Cumin*

Paprika*

Seasoned Salt*

Cilantro*

Oregano*

Tortillas

Aluminum foil

Preparation:

Mix seasonings (*proportions as desired*) and set aside. Cut squares of aluminum foil. Have each person set ingredients on their individual foil as they would like, including seasoning. Fold each square so ingredients cannot fall out. Set on grill (or oven ~ 400 degrees F) and cook at least 20 minutes so the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Supply warmed tortillas.

.

Gonna be for real and say that I have in the past I have watched a shit ton of videos in regards to saving up money on food. I did grow up on the low economic scale, so already had ideas on how to cook on a budget. I also went through different phases of the type of foods that I like, and different eating habits.

At one point I was vegan, granted I was more pescatarian(I ate fish). But I loved doing some of the recipes she posted and learned about nutritional yeast!

She is charismatic and has versatile recipes that I believe anyone can do. Not to mention can be budget friendly as well!

Reason why I bring up nutritional yeast is that you can make a bouillon out of it that is pretty much vegan, but tastes like chicken. My hubby has a bit of a sensitivity to msg, and mind you most bouillon products are adding that more often.

I have used this recipe through and through and have not been disappointed, and I mean I use it alot. lol Whether from making stir fried rice, adding it to my frijoles, or even just adding it to my sopa. It gives full flavors that I crave and it works well with other seasonings, so I hope that it serves someone else well, because to me this shit is gold!

Now there are some videos that I have seen around about shopping at the dollar tree on a budget, and to me that is pretty awesome. Since their seasoning options are not too bad, and can't tell you how often I have gone to the dollar tree to get seasonal medicine as well. Granted now they are starting to get pricey, but it is all about budgeting at the end of the day in all honesty. Like this lady:

Watched a couple of her videos and she is pretty much down to earth as well, and beginner cooker friendly in my opinion. She has done several shopping videos for a set budget on food that can make you feel full through the week, and yea she is a bit nervous in her videos but that grew on me.

Now are these lovely ladies the only one's who are out there giving tips and tricks to shopping and cooking on a budget. No, but I figured I share some of the links that I have found helpful in past and present. Since I usually only focus on the whole debate of the fat movement/'s, so I figured I share something that everyone can use in these trying times since food prices are increasing even more. Along with the fact that gas prices are also increasing, so now pretty much everyone is has to adjust their budgets even more. I know I have and it freaking sucks bruh!

Happy Monday to everyone and an awesome possum June 1!

Of course you do. It doesn't need much but it will change your life (if you like lemons. Like if you don't why would even make this?)

You will need the following things!

1 medium lemon

1 lemon box cake mix, my fave is Betty Crocker but a mix is a mix

1 large package of lemon pudding mix

1 package of lemon jello mix

4-5 large eggs (box will call for 3, the cake will become denser with each egg)

1/2 cup of melted butter instead of the 1/3 cup oil

Replace the water with milk or a milk alternative preferably something with a bit more fat, like 2% at the minimum, you can even try buttermilk )

Mix your dry ingredients and combine them well so there's no clumps of pudding or jello mix. It will smell like a lemon rave in the bowl.

Add the melted eggs and mix well between each egg. Then add your butter and milk until well combined. You can add a lemon flavouring if you want but I tend to add a little bit of zest here. Like a couple of planes along one side of the lemon.

Grease and flour a deep Bundt pan or a 9x13 pan. I prefer the Bundt pan the hollow centre means it cooks well around and I love the look of it.

If you're using a Bundt it's going to take a good 55 minutes at 350. The instructions on the box are good for this but I would add about 5-10 minutes depending on the density.

Like if you grunt when you lift the pan to put it in the oven, add 5 minutes. The cake will be done when you stick a knife or tooth pick into the middle and it comes out clean.

Set it aside to cool. Do not, Do Not remove it from the pan until it has cooled it will fall apart.

Now, a good lemon cake needs an icing. This one is half cocked and definitely requires some finagling

8oz block of cream cheese, softened and beaten until creamy.

The juice of half a lemon ish (by ish this is anywhere to 1/4 cup to a 1/2 cup depending on your lemon and the juiciness.

Icing sugar. To whit: enough icing sugar that when mixed with the lemon juice and cream cheese you get a glaze like frosting. You're not aiming for thick and spread with a knife. You're aiming for thin and shiny that when it hits warm cake will thin out even more and melt over the sides. Start with a cup and add more slowly.

A word of warning. I have fucked up the ratios on this to the point I made a 3qrt Tupperware full of the icing. It ended up with 2 bricks of cream cheese and way too much sugar. It was to counter the way too much lemon I added so it was still super tasty. So like the worst case here is you have too much icing. But it refrigerates nicely.

When your cake has cooled, pop it out of the pan and place it on nice serving platter and spoon icing onto the top of your cake and let it sink in.

This cake is dense, very rich and sweet. If you are prone to heartburn, the lemon and sugar will do you dirty, but it is worth it to eat a bit of sunshine.

This is a very old photo and I forgot to take a pic when I frosted it. But this cake is so good.

[Gif for attention purposes.]

Okay guys, I need recipes. Autumn recipes in particular. While it may be tempting to use the internet or dust off your cookbooks your grandma bought at the store who knows how long ago, your own recipes are preferable. No secret ingredients or anything like that either. Just give me the recipes without the secrets so you can keep the secrets safe. If your family has their own cookbook they wrote by hand, that's bonus points right there.

If you get caught in the decision trap of which one to share, choose your favorite one. If you have multiple favorites, then narrow it down.

Let's say you have five favorite recipes in that hand written recipe book or recipe card box and one of them happens to be on an even numbered page or card. If it's only one even numbered card or page, then you choose that recipe to share.

If you end up with two out of the five recipes and they are written on recipe cards, shuffle them with your eyes closed and whichever one you pick is the one you share.

If you have a recipe book, have someone else write the name of the recipes chosen on slips of paper from the evenly numbered pages and throw them into a bowl or other container and shake it around. Whichever piece of paper you choose is the recipe you're going to share. No take backs or redos.

oh you want the recipe? fuck you

Robby’s Winterfest Baking #17 Disclaimer: This posts contains affiliate links for Walmart and King Author Baking. I may earn a small commission no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Robby’s Baking Therapy.   The “baking therapy” discussed on this blog refers to my personal experience using baking as a self-help and relaxation tool.” Original Author: Rosanna Pansinno’s Bake All Year…