Anita’s Monkey Bread

My awesome sister made this special breakfast for me this past year on my birthday. I had to laugh at her because as she was measuring things out she had a little brain fart and accidentally added all the cinnamon into the big plastic container we keep our sugar in. I'm not talking about a little bit of sugar here I'm talking about a plastic container that holds approximately 5lbs of sugar and everyone knows that once you add cinnamon into sugar there is no getting the cinnamon out! Well she felt really bad about that but after all it's only sugar right? It is pretty funny, however if you ever want to make cinnamon toast or cinnamon rolls let me know we have plenty mixed cinnamon sugar for you! The Monkey Bread was so incredibly delicious and I loved my special breakfast. Thanks sis for thinking of me! I really don't know if this is hard to make or not because I didn't really watch her do it but here's the recipe and some day I'll get around to making myself...

4 cans –refrigerated white rolls quartered
¾ cup White Sugar
¼ cup Cinnamon Powder
1 ½ cups Brown Sugar
1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 ½ cups Chopped Nuts
1 ½ cubes Melted Butter

Mix the white sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and roll each quarter section of the white rolls in this mixture. Divide the rolls into two equal portions. Mix the melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, chopped nuts in a bowl and divide into three equal portions. Place the first 1/3 of this mixture in bottom of a bunt cake pan. Place the 1st portion of the rolls on top of mixture. Repeat by placing the 2nd 1/3 of mixture on top of rolls then place the last half of the rolls in the pan followed by the last 1/3 of the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Taco (Compassionate) Soup

This recipe comes from my parents through my cousin Lynette. As with most of the recipes on my blog this one has a memory. It's a recipe and a memory that teaches me about compassion and service and I'm so happy to be sharing it with you. When Emma was about one and a half years old I came down with a really bad virus of some type or the other. I wasn't getting better, we had no insurance, and all I could do was feel yucky. Luckily I had been eating ok but even that had taken a turn and I really didn't want anything. It was a Saturday night and my parents being the very sweet people they are brought Brent, Emma and I this soup. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I had eaten it because I remember not being sure if it was exactly the right thing to be eating when I wasn't feeling well. In truth it was the perfect thing. It was the perfect thing because first my parents drove across town to bring it to me and second because I really wanted my Mommy to take care of me. Everyone wants their mother to come and feel their forehead and pay special attention to them and worry over them and that is just what happened but for me it was both parents. They didn't stay long but what they brought me was like I said earlier, compassion, service, and of course love. We never ever stop learning from our parents and this certainly proves exactly that. Here's the recipe to that "compassionate" soup...

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey (lean)
1 Large onion chopped
1 8 oz. can fat free re-fried beans
1 16 oz. can whole kernel corn
1 15 oz. can Mexican style chili beans
1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
1 Pkg taco seasoning
1 Pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix

Cook the meat and onions together. DO NOT drain any of the cans but use the liquid in the soup. Once the meat is finished cooking mix all the ingredients together and heat in the microwave or over medium low heat. Garnish with fresh chopped scallions and or cheese. Serve with Chips or fresh corn tortillas.

Vanilla Crepes

Pancakes are one of Emma's favorite foods and not only are they one of her favorites but she wants them every Saturday. Now I love pancakes and there is nothing wrong with pancakes but after having them time and again, Saturday after Saturday, it gets a little well, old. One Saturday I couldn't stand the thought of pancakes and decided we would instead have crepes. I found this fantastic recipe for Vanilla crepes. We, especially me, loved the different breakfast. Here is that recipe with a minor change. I hope you enjoy them as much as we have. Oh one more thing...I will tag them as both breakfast and dessert because they would be so yummy with whipping cream and caramel or other varied dessert items. We didn't have any fresh strawberries that day but any fruit goes well including the jellied type! Anyway here is the recipe....
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons melted butter
Spray Canola Oil

Whisk everything but the spray oil into a bowl and let stand while your pan heats up to medium. I like using two different fry pans because it goes faster, however you may not be able to keep up that pace. I like to use a 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup to pour the batter in the pan. Start by spraying your pan with the canola oil. Most likely you will have to do this for each one. Then pour your batter into the pan starting with the pan tipped to one side pouring from the top so the batter can spread a thin layer over the bottom of your entire pan. Don't worry it took me a few times before I could get it right. One the bottom starts to bubble and the edges start looking dried out. carefully lift one edge with the spatula and then once you have the edge quickly flip the crepe over and finish on the other side. I found that I could stack the crepe's on top of one another easily without them sticking together, that is if your family doesn't eat them up before you can get them stacked! We liked plain powdered sugar or jelly on ours. That is the beauty of it though because you can add as much as you like or keep them plain and simple. Hope you love 'em.

Fried Bananas

There is this Chinese place around the corner and down the street from us that has these really good fried banana's. I think they might actually be plantains but whatever. I've really wanted to make them on my own for awhile now and finally have figured it out. If you do not like banana's this recipe is totally not for you. If you only sort of like banana's give this one a whirl. Here's how it goes...
4 Banana's
1 Orange cut in half
2 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Sugar

Heat frying pan to medium high heat and let the butter melt in the pan. Cut the banana's with a bias-cut at about 1 1/2 inches long. When butter is melted put the banana's in the pan and let the butter coat them. Within a few minutes you will see the banana's start to change color. At this point you don't want to wait because you can over cook them quickly. Sprinkle the sugar over the tops of the banana's then squeeze the juice from both sides of the orange into the pan again over the top of the banana's. The orange juice mixed with the sugar and butter will help them to caramelize and the banana's will start to have a bit of color. Watch them, they will turn mushy if over cooked. Once the juices start becoming a little thicker and the banana's have a little color on them take them out and serve promptly! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.