Strawberry Bread

INGREDIENTS
4 cups strawberries, finely chopped with juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9x5 loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle chopped strawberries with a tablespoon of sugar and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Blend in oil, vanilla, eggs and strawberries. Then stir in pecans.
4. Pour batter evenly into two loaf pans. Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the top of each loaf.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cinnamon peach topping

My house is surrounded by fresh fruit. Right now we have peaches that are as big as a softball. I had vanilla ice cream and felt like making peaches to put on top. I forgot to take a picture of them in the boiling water but seriously, you put them in boiling water and pull them out, use your imagination. I don't have a picture of the peaches on the ice cream because I was so damn excited to eat it I just plain forgot. But just picture a bowl of heavenly goodness and you will get the point!

About six peaches
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place a large bowl of ice water next to it. Working two at a time put the peaches in the water for 30-40 seconds. Pull them out and put them into the ice water. Wait about 10 seconds and pull the peaches out. Using your fingers peel the skin off. it should slide right off. If not put them back in the boiling water for another ten seconds and repeat with the ice water. Slice peaches in half and remove pits. In a large non stick pan slice peaches into 8 pieces (more for larger peaches). Cover peaches with lemon juice. Place butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in pan and turn heat to low. Walk away. I let them simmer on low for about 20 minutes, came back and stirred and let them go another 10 minutes. While stirring check for seasoning, you might want to add more cinnamon depending on the flavor at that point. The end result will look like peaches in a syrup. While it is still hot pour peaches and syrup over vanilla ice cream. Eat, enjoy, gain 5 pounds.

(Side note, this is an awful picture of me peeling. I had already peeled all of the peaches before I remembered to take a picture of this step so I was attempting to peel a half eaten peach for you, but the next picture shows how the skin should come off.

Banana Pancakes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
2. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides.

* Sorry there are no pictures, my camera was dead. They just look like pancakes.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4-5 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cups mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl whip bananas and sugar together. Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
3. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour for large loaf or 35 minutes for mini loaves. Test with toothpick. When inserted it should come out clean. Remove bread from pan to rack and let cool.

Strawberry Napoleons

INGREDIENTS
1 puff pastry sheet
1 3 1/2 ounce vanilla instant pudding
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened whipped cream
1 1/3 cups sliced strawberries
powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Thaw pastry sheet at room temperature 40 min. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Unfold pastry on lightly floured surface. Cut into 3 strips along fold marks. Place on baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until golden. Let cool.
3. Prepare pudding mix according to package directions except use 1 cup milk. Fold in whipped cream.
4. Split each pastry into 2 layers. Set aside 2 of the top layers. Spread each of the remaining 4 layers with 1/2 cup pudding mixture and 1/3 cup strawberries. For each dessert, assemble 2 layers and top with 1 top pastry layer.
5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours.

Baked apples

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 similar sized gala apples
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 teaspoon-size pieces
• 1 cup spiced apple cider (or apple juice)

Preheat oven to 350. Combing first three ingredients. Core apples (don't puncture through to the bottom). If you do not have a corer a metal 12 teaspoon works great to dig out the insides. Peel off the top half of the apple skin. Line a deep baking dish with foil and place apples in. Fill the inside half full with sugar mixture and sprinkle remaining on top. Pour juice in the bottom of pan surrounding apples. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to each apple. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Check apples for softness if they are done serve them if not pop em back in for another 10 minutes.

I don't have the best picture of this because I was so goddamn excited to eat it I started eating before taking he picture. Also you can make the sugar mixture and just keep it in a tupperware and use it for one or two apples as needed. Last night I just made one for Brandon.

Finally you can put these in the crockpot on low for about 2 hours and your house will smell amazing leaving you with a delicious desert too!