Recipes | BargainBriana

Homemade Cinnamon Banana Bread Recipe | Freezer Friendly

by Briana Carter on April 20, 2013

This Cinnamon Banana Bread recipe is one that I made on my Freezer Cooking Day. I have adapted it slightly from Not Your Mother’s Make Ahead & Freeze Cookbook. Make ahead and freeze after cooking and cooling or use some ripe bananas! Makes a great breakfast, snack, or a dessert.

The instructions I’m providing is for one batch. If you want to double, triple, or quadruple for baking day, you can use this FREE online recipe conversion calculator.

Cinnamon Banana Bread

Ingredients

1-1/2 bananas
1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons half and half
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Combine bananas, half & half, egg, and oil in bowl until smooth. I like to use my KitchenAid mixer for this type of job. Stir in brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredient mixture.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.
Cool completely.

Freezer Option: Wrap in plastic wrap after completely cooled and store in freezer. I like to use freezer bags for these jobs to save time!

http://bargainbriana.com/homemade-cinnamon-banana-bread-recipe-freezer-friendly/

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Oven Roasted Cabbage

by Briana Carter on April 17, 2013

I’ve never been a huge fan of cabbage and mostly it’s because I had not really tried it. I just looked gross, smelled gross and wasn’t something I was interested in trying. Then I saw a recipe for roasted cabbage on Pinterest (I didn’t pin it though so I’m not sure where it originated!) and decided I would try it when it was on sale a few weeks back.

It’s super simple. Just toss with olive oil and sprinkle with your favorite seasonings such as salt, pepper, seasoned salt, etc! Cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crispy. It is better the longer you cook it.

Oven Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients

olive oil
salt, pepper, other seasonings to taste

Instructions

Cut into slices or wedges.
Toss in olive oil or spray with your Misto.
Sprinkle seasonings.
Cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and crispy!

http://bargainbriana.com/oven-roasted-cabbage/

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Pepperoni Roll Loaf Recipe

by Briana Carter on April 10, 2013

This recipe is super simple and great for parties, snacks, or a quick dinner! Anything Pizza”ish” is always a hit at our household. Plus, it’s super customizable if you want to add mushrooms, sausage, or other pizza toppings! You can even make vegetarian by simply substituting the meat for spinach. This is also great to use up that leftover pasta sauce!

All you really need is mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni, and a roll of refrigerated pizza dough. Roll it out flat. Add about 1/2 cup of pizza sauce. Layer the pepperoni.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Roll from end to end into a loaf. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until dough is done!

Slice when done! I made these for a Christmas party this past year and they were a huge hit!

Pepperoni Pizza Roll Loaf

Ingredients

pepperoni
mozzarella
can of refrigerated pizza dough
butter, melted
parmesan

Instructions

Roll refrigerated pizza dough out flat..
Add about 1/2 cup of pizza sauce. Layer the pepperoni.
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
Roll from end to end into a loaf. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until dough is done!

http://bargainbriana.com/pepperoni-roll-loaf-recipe/

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Meal Plan Monday 4/8/2013

by Briana Carter on April 8, 2013

As part of the 2013 goals and resolutions, I’m working on cooking with ingredients we already have on hand in our pantry and freezer. However, instead of telling you what we are going to eat for the week, I’m going to tell you what I cooked last week. Otherwise, it’s just a little much when people we personally know tell the kids what we are having for dinner and it’s too much pressure to stick to that schedule!

We were on vacation this past week! We did eat many lunches in our hotel room and had a couple nights of FFA (free for all) on leftovers and lunches. I am back at meal planning for this upcoming week! We have a busy schedule of baseball, tennis, track, and soccer so a meal plan is essential for the upcoming week. Plus, I just picked up 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon foods, which I plan on making into quick freezer meals tonight! :)

Before we left for our road trip, I loaded up on easy car snacks and made up a batch of delicious sweet Chex mix, which I will share soon!

How did you do?

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here. This post is part of OrgJunkie.com Meal Plan Monday linky.

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Leftover Makeover: Taco Wontons

by Briana Carter on April 3, 2013

Traditional tacos one night, taco wantons later in the week! This Leftover Makeover is super simple and it freshens up a meal so that your family might not even realize you are using the same taco meat as the night or two nights previously. These were a hit at our house and would also make a great appetizer for a party.

Leftover Makeover: Taco Wontons

Ingredients

Leftover taco meat for filling (use my homemade taco seasoning recipe to save money and eliminate extra unnecessary ingredients
Mexican Shredded Cheese
Wanton Wrappers

Instructions

Place wanton wrappers in a greased muffin tin.
Fill with meat topper.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

http://bargainbriana.com/leftover-makeover-taco-wontons/

What do you do with extra taco meat?

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Is Making Your Own Laundry Detergent Worth the Cost?

by Briana Carter on April 2, 2013

Recently I added a Tipton Library educational program on Spring Cleaning. Some of the many tips that were compiled was making your own cleaners. I’ve been trying out several of the recipes and will be sharing them here on the blog. All of the ones I will share will be easy to make, work as well or better than store bought cleaners, and will save you money.

This recipe claims to be a year’s worth of laundry detergent. Time will tell for our household of six if this does last us a year.

1 box Borax – $3.38
3 bars Fels-Naptha Soap – $0.97/each = $2.91
1 box Washing Soda – $3,24
2 cups Baking Soda – $0.56 (8 cup box costs $2.24)
1 containers of Oxyclean - $7.52
Fabric softener crystals (optional) – $5.99 on sale at Meijer

Total Cost: $23.60

Use 1 – 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. If you have a HE washing machine, put directly in with your laundry. I haven’t had any issues with my laundry or my washing machine do so.

So if I did my math correctly, this makes this laundry detergent around $0.07 per load. For comparison purposes, Amazon sells Tide with Downy powder detergent for $17.90. This makes 53 loads or $0.33 per load! If you used coupons or bought an inexpensive brand, you could save even more on your store bought detergent.

Looking at these numbers, making your own at home seems to have significant savings and it takes less than 30 minutes to make. The part that took me the longest was going to the store and finding the ingredients. Walmart seems to have everything you need. The Meijer I went to first, did not have the Fels-Naptha or Zote, which you can use in lieu of the Fels-Naptha. The Walmart I did visit only had a 5-6 bars of Fels-Naptha left even in their store.

You can hand grate the Fels-Naptha soap or you can use a food processor or a Ninja Kitchen Prep like I did. Be careful using your food processor because I’ve read that some people have ruined their food processors trying to do this. The Ninja Kitchen Prep handled it with ease, though! :)

Several pulses with my Ninja and it looked like this….

Note: I rinsed with hot water several times before putting in the dish washer. It doesn’t have a soapy taste to it at all. In fact, it looked cleaner than it has for awhile! LOL

After that is done, mix all the other ingredients together in a large container or use a kitchen trash bag if you don’t have a large container.

Then you can put it in smaller containers for your laundry room. I used a ice cream bucket that I knew I was saving for a reason.

I purchased several measuring cups and spoons for $1 and I”m using the tablespoon to measure out for the detergent.

Is Making Your Own Laundry Detergent Worth the Cost?

Ingredients

1 box Borax
3 bars Fels-Naptha soap
1 box washing soda
2 cups baking soda
1 container Oxyclean
1-2 containers of fabric softener crystals

Instructions

Grate Fels-Naptha soap.
Combine all the ingredients together.
Use 1-2 tablespoon per load.

http://bargainbriana.com/is-making-your-own-laundry-detergent-worth-the-cost/

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.

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Meatless Monday: Veggie Burger With Pepper Jack & Sprouts

by Briana Carter on April 1, 2013

This makes for a yummy lunch or quick dinner for the vegetarians!

Morningstar Black Bean Veggie Burger, heated per instructions
Slim Sandwich Bun
Slice Pepper Jack Cheese
Sprouts
Jalapeno Ketchup

I would add a slice of onion too!

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Meal Plan Monday 4/1/2013

by Briana Carter on April 1, 2013

Here’s our meal plan from the last couple of weeks using items from our pantry:

Sunday: Crockpot Mac & Cheese

Monday: Shrimp, Burritos (made on Freezer Cooking Day)

Tuesday: Taco night (taco meat from batch cooking from freezer) and Potato Chowder (from Freezer Cooking Day)

Wednesday: Homemade Pizza Night (Spinach & Cheese and Pepperoni/Leftover Taco Meat using our favorite pizza dough recipe)

Sofia: Mommy, why does this sausage taste funny.

Mom: Uh, because it’s not sausage, it’s ground beef (incoherent from the taco meat.)

Thursday: Leftover Pizza & Free For All.

Friday: PB&J sandwiches for lunch, dinner at Cracker Barrel using a gift certificate!

Saturday: Dinner out

Sunday: Easter Dinner with Family

This is how we did from the pantry this week! How did you do?

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JELL-O Sugar Cookies Recipe

by Briana Carter on March 30, 2013

These delicious sugar cookies can be customized for any holiday or event to match your theme! Plus, it is a fun, inexpensive family activity to make these cookies. Both girls helped me with these, though, the oldest did not want to be photographed! (Apparently, her hair and make-up were not done – ha!)

I’m guessing you have most of these ingredients around the house. You can use any amount of JELL-O gelatin packages that you wish! We used several different brands and colors that we had in the pantry as part of the pantry challenge. I will say the Baker’s CorNER orange, which is a ALDI brand was my favorite cookie flavor!

Just for fun, she insisted on being in the photograph as you can kind of tell from the above picture and definitely from the below picture!

I used my KitchenAid stand mixer, which I absolutely love to mix the butter, egg, vanilla, and sugar together until creamy. Mix together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. She LOVES to help!

Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamy mixture.

Split into the amount of sections of packets/colors you wish to use. After your child washes their hands thoroughly, they can help add the gelatin to each section. Approximately 8 tablespoons total. If you have four sections, you use 2 tablespoons for each section, etc.

Knead it real good.

It’s fun.

Shape into 1″ balls and roll around in the excess gelatin.

Place on baking sheet. Parchment paper is your friend for easy and quick clean up.

Flatten with something. I used my Pampered Chef Spatula.

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Cool. Enjoy!

JELL-O Sugar Cookies Recipes

Rating: 51

These are a fun family activity! Add a few drops of food coloring if you want to make your cookies brighter!

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powed
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-4 packages of JELL-O in your favorite flavors

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl beat butter. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla until creamy.
Mix flour and baking powder in another bowl.
Add flour slowly into the butter mixture.
Divide dough into four parts or however many packages of JELL-O desired.
Add approximately 2 tablespoons of gelatin into each part.
This is the fun part for kids! Knead the dough until gelatin is thoroughly mixed.
Shape dough into 1" balls.
Roll in extra gelatin from the packets. You will not use all of the gelatin packets so that's why you may only want to use 1-2 flavors instead of 4.
Flatten dough balls with spatula.
Bake 7-10 minutes on baking sheet.

http://bargainbriana.com/jell-o-sugar-cookies-recipe/

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.

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Enjoy a Strawbunny Easter Smoothie

by Briana Carter on March 29, 2013

Are you tired of the humdrum daily routine? Sometimes, especially on holidays or other occasions, I like to bring back memories of a special trip or vacation I took by serving friends or family a unique recipe that I discovered while I was away. At Easter time, I like to remember a trip I once took to Las Vegas by preparing this Strawbunny Smoothie that I first had while staying at the Cosmopolitan, one of my favorite hotels in Las Vegas. Here is my own version below!

Strawbunny Smoothie

(makes about 2 cups)

Ingredients:

-1 ½ cups frozen strawberries
-4 teaspoons low-fat vanilla yogurt
-2 teaspoons peanut butter
-½ cup skim milk
-Marshmallow Peeps®

Directions:

Place ingredients last four ingredients in blender. Add a few strawberries and puree the mixture. Continue adding a few strawberries at a time and blending until all strawberries have been pureed into the mixture. Pour into glasses and serve with Peeps® as garnishments. Makes about two cups.

These festive smoothies make great treats for Easter morning. I like to serve each smoothie in a glass on a plate filled with edible Easter grass and garnished with a few chocolate eggs. They go great with other brunch dishes like omelets or pancakes and sausage.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it can be adapted for those with food sensitivities or allergies. Reduce the amount of sugar by replacing the vanilla yogurt with unsweetened plain yogurt. If you prefer to use fresh strawberries, simply replace the skim milk with five or six ice cubes. I have also enjoyed making blue bunny smoothies by using blueberries instead of strawberries, and a favorite version for my young nieces is a wild bunny smoothie made with mixed berries.

Since Peeps® are now available for multiple holidays, you can make these festive treats for other occasions as well. Use heart-shaped Peeps® to garnish a Valentine’s Day treat for your sweetie. Top the smoothies with ghost-shaped Peeps® for a haunted Halloween treat. However you choose to serve this delicious goody, I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as my family does. Who says you need to leave town to experience the joys of going on vacation?

About this Author: Kendra Thornton: Travel advocate, TV spokesperson, PR businesswoman, proud wife and mama of 3. I am a long time travel expert who has been packing my bags and traveling the world since I was 3 months old! I’ve found my utmost desire in life is right here in my own home. I have mixed my excitement for travel by bringing the taste of authentic cuisine to my own home with some of my unique recipes. Enjoy!

View the Recipe Index for a complete list of recipes. For the most recent vegetarian recipes posted on the blog, go here. To view all the recipes post on the blog, go here.