Hailey got The Toddler Cookbook by Annabel Karmel for Christmas from her Aunt Ellie and Uncle Matt.  Since Hailey has been sick we haven’t had a chance to try any of the recipes in it until today.  (Although we have “read” the cookbook many nights for her bed time story!)

Anyhoo- Hailey wanted to make the Mini Banana Muffins and we had all of the ingredients on hand.  So- we made some yummy banana muffins this morning.

Ingredients:

1 medium egg
1/3 cup packed soft light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large, very ripe banana (we didn’t have a large banana, so we used 2 small ones)
1/4 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Mix egg, sugar and vanilla.  Whisk together until thick.
3. Mash the banana in a small bowl then add to egg mixture.  Add oil.
4. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in separate bowl.  Then stir in until just combined.
5. Fill muffin liners (or greased muffin pan) about two-thirds full.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes until risen and firm.  Makes 18 mini-muffins.

Note- we don’t have a mini-muffin pan.  So, we made 9 regular sized muffins.  I increased the cooking time to 20 minutes and they were perfect.

The ingredients

Hailey mixing the egg and brown sugar together.  (Isn’t she cute in her adorable little apron??)

Trying a bite of the bananas while mashing them together.

The finished banana muffins.  Yummy!

Also, now that Hailey is feeling better we should be back next week with some fun winter crafts!

I haven’t played Four Foods on Friday in several weeks.  I guess I have just been so busy getting everything ready for Christmas that I haven’t had time.  Anyhoo, every Friday Val from Fun, Crafts and Recipes gives us four questions to answer.

Here are this week’s four questions.

#1. What’s your favorite crunchy food?
For some reason the only crunchy food I can think of is Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I love the crunchy ones.

#2. How often do you try new recipes?
I try to do it a couple of times each month- to keep things from getting boring.  That doesn’t always happen, but it is my goal.

#3. Name a food that you almost always have in the house.
Definitely cereal.  We love cereal so we always have some of it.

#4. What kind of food do you leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve?
We leave decorated sugar cookies with eggnog if we have it, or milk.  This year Santa told Hailey to leave some carrots for the reindeer- and she’s insisting that we need to do that too.

Stop by Fun, Crafts and Recipes if you’d like to play along.

Since I didn’t have any crafts to post last week I’ve decided to share a recipe.  This would be a perfect addition for your Thanksgiving meal- it’s yummy!!

Baked Corn Pudding Ingredients:

Directions: In a large bowl, combine sugar and flour. Whisk in the eggs, milk, butter, salt and pepper. Stir in the corn and cream-style corn. Pour into a greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Yield: 10 servings.

(Picture taken from Taste of Home.)

Val at Fun, Crafts and Recipes hosts Four Foods on Friday every week.  Here are the questions she gave us this week:

#1. Name a food you like that uses a red sauce or anything red in it.
I love pizza- and since I guess pizza sauce is kind of red, I’ll go with pizza.

#2. Name a food you like with whipped cream in it or on it.
I love to have whipped cream on my hot chocolate.

#3. Name a food you like with blueberry in it.
My mom makes this amazing blueberry salad that I love.

#4. Share a recipe for pasta or dessert or a beverage.
I’m going to use this as a chance to post about my recipe that is a part of the Velveeta Casserole Challenge.  It’s called Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole (there are ziti noodles in it, so I think it qualifies as pasta, right?)

Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole

The ingredients

Cook about 10 oz of the Ziti noodles

Chop up 1 cup of green pepper

Chop up 1 small onion.

Cook 1/2 pound of ground beef, green pepper and onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain it and then set it aside in a medium bowl (which will be called the “meat bowl” for the rest of this post).

Brown 1/2 pound of sausage and add it to the “meat bowl.”

Cook 8oz of bacon, drain and add to the “meat bowl.”

Cut up 1 cup of fully cooked ham- and you guessed it- add it to the “meat bowl.” Stir everything in the “meat bowl” until it is well mixed.

Add 12 oz of Spaghetti sauce to the meat mixture and mix well.

By now your Ziti noodles should be done cooking so you will need to drain them.

Cut 4 oz of Velveeta Cheese into little cubes and mix it with the ziti noodles. Be sure to do this while the noodles are nice and warm and the cheese will melt very easily.

Now add the other 12 oz of Spaghetti sauce to the noodles and cheese. Spread that mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Then spread the meat mixture on top of that.

Then grate 8 oz of Velveeta cheese (I didn’t know you could grate Velveeta cheese, but I tried it and it actually grated pretty easily). Sprinkle that on top of your casserole.

Then add pepperoni to the top of your casserole. Add as much or as little as you like. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Yummy Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole.

And again from a different angle.

And now in case you just want the recipe in regular format:

Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole

Ingredients:
½ pound ground beef
½ pound sausage
8 oz bacon
1 cup fully cooked ham
Sliced pepperoni (use as much or as little as you prefer)
10 oz Ziti noodles, cooked and drained
1 (24 ounce) jar Spaghetti sauce, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped green pepper
12 oz Velveeta Cheese, divided

Directions:

In a skillet cook ground beef, onion and green pepper until meat is no longer pink, drain and set aside in a medium sized bowl.
In a skillet cook sausage until meat is no longer pink, drain and add to bowl with beef in it.
In a skillet cook bacon, drain and add to bowl with other meats.
Add 1 cup of fully cooked ham cut into bite size pieces to the other meats and stir everything until well mixed. Then add half of the jar of Spaghetti sauce to the meat mixture, mix well.
After you have cooked and drained your ziti noodles- add 4 oz of Velveeta cheese that has been cut into small cubes. Be sure to add the Velveeta cheese while the noodles are warm so that the cheese will melt. Then add the other half of the jar of Spaghetti sauce to the noodles and cheese. Spread the noodles into a greased 9×13 inch dish.
Add the meat mixture on top of the noodles. Cover with 8oz of grated Velveeta Cheese and top with pepperoni slices.
Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

If that looks yummy to you (and I PROMISE, it is YUMMY!) then please stop by and vote for me at the Velveeta Casserole Challenge.  I’m the one all the way on the right- Livin’ With Me and Meat Lovers Pizza Casserole.

You can also check out some fun giveaways I have going on at my Livin’ With Me blog- if you vote for me you can have a chance to win some great prizes.