If you are like me you buy fruit with the good intentions of eating it all, but then the inevitable happens. The apples and bananas get puched to the back of the fridge never to be seen until it looks like this:

But don’t fret it doesn’t have to go to waste. Think about cooking with it. Be thrifty and save your overripe fruit for recipes. Think applesauce, apple pie, preserves, breads, muffins. Be creative and save the money that you used to buy that fruit. This also works for veggies too. You can use veggies for soups, casseroles, and more. As long as your cooking it you will really never notice the difference. Or if you don’t use onions or mushrooms or herbs very often but like to have them for certain recipes, freeze them.

The other day when I cleaned out the fridge for the food from my big grocery shopping trip I found a full bag of pears and an almost full bunch of bananas. So I set them aside and planned on cooking with them. Actually I saved them for a few days later when I had some extra time and even had to call on the day my MIL was over to make sure no one threw away my fruit.

We made Sour Cream Banana Bread and Muffins. I like making my banana bread into muffins, that way I can control portions better and they are easier to serve. I chose the Sour Cream Banana Bread because I wanted to use up some sour cream I had bought that was full fat when I thought I was buying low fat.

Cooking is a great way to spend time with your kids too. Zane loves cooking and helping. And we use it as a learning experience. He helps me count out the scoops and eggs. And this time we worked on his letters by pointing them out on the ingredient labels. You can following along as we cook:

Mash the bananas with a potato masher. Measure how much you have (we had 2 Cups so I doubled the recipe)

Grease your pan and/or fill your muffin cups with papers. This is a great job for little hands!

Cream together Eggs, V for Vanilla, Sugar (I only had brown sugar), and margarine.

Even Zaney got to try, with help, to use the beater.

Add all the dry ingredients.

Add sour cream and mashed bananas.

Lick the beaters (of course!) Look Zaney can stick out his tongue!

Fill your pan and muffin papers 2/3 full.

Take some time and do your lessons while you wait for your bread/muffins to cook!

Don’t they look yummy?

I cooked the muffins for 16 minutes, I think they needed a couple more minutes, but that is okay. I got 1 loaf of bread and 2 dozen muffins and 1 dozen of the muffins went in the freezer.

With the pears I decided to make Pear Sauce. This is the recipe I modified from another:

• Diced Pears (I had about 2 C worth)
• 1/2 C water
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1/8 T Lime Juice
• 1/8 T Vanilla
• dash of Nutmeg
• dash of Cinnamon

I threw it all into a pot and just boiled it all down (I believe about 20-30 minutes). Mashed it with a potato masher and put in the fridge to cool. If you have a lot of pears you can also can this if you wanted.

First

For my Cookie Swap this Sunday I have made two kinds of cookies. But because I have so much to do for the party and Christmas I decided to make simple and quick cookies. So both cookies I am making are no-bake.

The first cookie I made was a Girl Scout Mint Cookie Copycat. They are quick and easy and yummy! I made these with semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate. I love the white chocolate.

The second cookie I made was Orange Coconut Balls. I made these because I wanted to have something different. And I thought that the orange flavor of these cookies would be a great change.

Girl Scout Mint Cookie Copycat

• Chocolate (I used chips but I’ve heard bark is the best)
• Peppermint Extract
• Ritz Crackers

1. Heat the chocolate in the microwave. My bag instructed to heat 1 minute on high.
2. Add a few drops of Peppermint Extract
3. Stir and heat 30 seconds more.
4. Dip crackers one by one
5. Place chocolate covered crackers on parchment paper or wax paper
6. Place in fridge and chill overnight

Orange Coconut Balls

• 1 box (12oz) Vanilla Wafers, crushed
• 6 oz Orange Juice Concentrate (undiluted)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 7 oz sweetened coconut flakes

1. Mix everything but the coconut.
2. Roll into bite size balls
3. Roll in coconut
4. Place in fridge till firm or overnight

Recipe originally found on Recipezaar. These are a very sweet cookie, I’m thinking about trying them with only 4 oz of orange juice next time.

If you would like to find some more Christmas dessert recipes please visit Life as Mom. What’s your favorite Christmas dessert?

Our decorations are up, I have my Christmas cards ready to address and send out, and I have cookie dough ready in the freezer. We are ready to start having some Christmas guests. Are you?

Tonight I am going to share with you some of my favorite appetizer recipes out of my all time favorite cookbook. To give you an idea how much I love this book I have a funny story for you.

I was planning a party coming up soon so as I was going to work I scooped up my cookbook. But when I arrived at work I couldn’t find it. That’s when I realized I must have left it on the roof of the car. I loved that book I was so upset.

I decided to do the unthinkable. I was the only one working that day and it was a Sunday and we rarely had anyone come into the shop on Sundays. So I through up a sign saying I would be back in 45 min and left. I drove home searching along the road all the way looking for my book. I had no luck. I got back to work late, but no one even noticed I was missing.

I called my husband crying because I was so distraught over loosing the cookbook. He promised to take me out to Powell’s Books and buy me a used copy that night and we did. I was so happy to have a new copy of my book.

The name of the book is Favorite Brand Name 4 Ingredient Cookbook. So on to some of my favorite recipes from the book.

Hot Artichoke Dip

• 1 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing or Kraft Real Mayonnaise
• 1 cup (4 oz) Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 (14-oz) can artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1. Heat Oven to 350F
2. Mix all ingredients: spoon into 9in pie plate or 2 cup casserole
3. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Garnish as desired. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers or party rye bread slices

Philadelphia Cranberry Orange Spread

• 1 package (8oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup cranberry orange sauce
• 3 tablespoons chopped pecans, toasted

1. Spread cream cheese on serving plate
2. Top with sauce, sprinkle with pecans. Serve with crackers.

Tortellini Kabobs with Pesto Ranch Dip

• 1/2 bag (16oz) frozen tortellini
• 1 1/4 cups ranch salad dressing
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions. Rinse and drain under cold water. Thread tortellini onto bamboo skewers. 2 tortellini per skewer. (Or if you do not want to deal with skewers everywhere just use toothpicks)

Combine salad dressing, cheese, garlic and basil in small bowl. Serve tortellini kabobs with dip.

Chunky Hawaiian Spread

• 1 package (3oz) light cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup fat free or light sour cream
• 1 can (8oz) Dole Crushed Pineapple, well-drained
• 1/4 cup mango chutney* (which I have never used in this recipe)
• Low Fat Crackers

*If there are large pieces of fruit in the chutney, cut into small pieces

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, pineapple and chutney in bowl until blended. Cover and chill 1 hour or overnight. Serve with crackers. Refrigerate any leftover spread in airtight container for up to one week.

Cheese Creme Dip

• 1 package (8oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 jar (7oz) marshmallow creme

1. Mix cream cheese and marshmallow creme with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Refrigerate.
2. Serve with assorted cut-up fresh fruit or pound cake cubes. Garnish as desired.

Now I am hungry. I have made all of these for multiple parties I have had and have had rave reviews (especially the Hawaiian Spread).

Tomorrow I will be doing my December meme about family traditions. So if you want to share your family traditions, come on over tomorrow and link up!

If you would like some more yummy recipes please visit Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Or you can go to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free to find more appetizer, mocktail, and cocktail recipes.

I have finally decided what I am going to do for neighbor gifts. Every year I try to make our neighbors a gift, I also make a few extra for just in case. This year I am going to be making Cookie Dough Log Rolls. I’ve seen them in a few different craft places, but this is my favorite at Make and Takes simple yet elegant.

I know for sure that I am going to be making my favorite Super EasyPeanut Butter Cookie Recipe.

• 1 Cup Peanut Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Egg

1. Mix all ingredients together

I will be including these directions on a tag I will create with my scrapbooking supplies:

1. Slice dough or create teaspoon sized balls
2. With a fork make a cross pattern
3. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes

I will probably make sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and maybe a shortbread also. I think I will tie a few logs together for the gift. I am going to start making cookie dough tomorrow and wrap them up and freeze them till ready to wrap up and give away.

Do you make homemade gifts for Christmas? What kind of gifts have you made? Do you have any recipes for edible gifts?

See more edible gifts at Cents to Get Debt Free.

My son loves muffins as you may have read about here. I wanted to make some pumpkin muffins but I couldn’t find a recipe I loved, so I decided to modify a recipe. I only did a tweek here and there but I like that they are not messy and not an overly sugary treat.

Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 30 muffins

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Mix in a large bowl all the dry ingredients.
3. In small bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla and oil until smooth
4. Add pumpkin mixture to to dry ingredients. Do not over mix should be lumpy.
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Don’t forget to enter my contest to win a free custom christmas photo card design!!! Or take me up on my special for $2 Custom Photo Card Designs!!

Or join me in being Thankful every Thursday and make a list of 100 things you are thankful for by the end of the month.

Find more Fall Deserts at the Holiday Food Fest!

I think through the holiday season I am going to make sure I always have some muffins made up. As you can see my new obsession right now is muffins. I’m not much of a cook or baker but I’m trying to stretch myself and I have decided to do it one dish at a time. I’ve gotten really good at muffins and have found some great recipes along the way.

Why did I start making muffins? I had some old bananas that had gone bad and as usual I was feeling guilty about it. So I was going to make banana bread. I got everything mixed up and realized I don’t have a bread pan, what was I thinking. But I had won a muffin pan set a few years ago and left over muffin cups from Zane birthday so I poured the batter into that. And that is how Zane started on his muffin addiction.

Zane is the muffin prince! He loves muffins. He cannot get enough muffins. They can be any flavor or shape and he will eat them. We have even called non-muffin items, special muffins and he chomps them down, too. LOL

Muffins are a great toddler treat. They work for me in a pinch when I need a quick breakfast or a quick snack. I have savor and healthy recipes to supplement into his diet when he is not wanting to eat healthy. And for a bonus most of the muffins I make for Zane are not super messy.

How will muffins Work for Me this holiday?

• Quick and easy snack/breakfast to grab as we rush out the door
• I can get my toddler to eat something healthy when surrounded by sugar
• Great last minute gift for a hostess, teacher or neighbor
• Great treat to bring to a potluck

The one recipe my husband requests the most is Put the Lime in the Coconut Muffins. I found it when I wanted to use up a bag of coconut in my pantry. These are the best even though they are a little messy, mmm, toasted coconut everywhere. And they are great when you are looking for something out of the ordinary when you get tired of holiday food.

Please make sure and take a look at the contest to WIN A FREE custom photo card design and the special I am offering for $2 designs!

One day I was taking the book to work so I could find some recipes for a shower I was hosting. I was working on a Sunday in a retail store inside a department store. I was the only one working. When I got to work and I realized I didn’t have the book. I went out to my car. It wasn’t there. I started to panic. I must have put the book on the top of the car.

I did something that was just down right crazy but I loved this book sooo much. I put a sign up in the store saying I’d be back in 45 minutes and I drove home. I slowly drove up and down the main roads in our neighborhood looking in the ditches for my book. I couldn’t find it and my time was up I had to go back to work.

No one who knows me would believe I would do this (for a cookbook of all things) but I did.

When I didn’t find it I cried. I’m not exagerating, I bawled. I was so upset while I talking to TJ on the phone that he promised we would go and buy a new one that day. And that is exactly what we did!

So I would highly recommend this book. I have used this book for showers, parties, and Christmas parties.

Here are four of my favorite recipes from this book:

1. Chunky Hawaiian Spread

1 package (3 ounces) light cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup fat free or light sour cream
1 can (8 ounces) DOLE Crushed Pineapple, well-drained
1/4 cup mango chutney*
Low fat crackers

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, pineapple and chutney in bowl until blended. Cover and chill 1 hour or overnight. Serve with crackers. Refridgerate any leftover spread in airtight container for up to one week.

* I don’t ussually put this in because it’s hard to find. I probably don’t know where to look.

2. Hot Artichoke Dip

1 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing or Kraft Real Mayonnaise
1 cup (4 ounces) Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

Heat oven to 350F
Mix all ingredients, spoon into 9-inch pie plate or 2-cup casserole.
Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Garnish as desired. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers or party rye bread slices.

3.  Cheesecake Creme Dip

1 package (8 ounces) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmellow creme

Mix cream cheese and marshmellow creme with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Refridgerate.

Serve with assorted cut-up fresh fruit or pound cake cubes. Garnish as desired.

4. Ever-So-Good Peanut Butter Sauce

1/2 cup Karo Light or Dark Corn Syrup
1/2 cup Skippy Super Chunk or Creamy Peanut Butter
3 to 4 tablespoons milk

1. In small bowl stir corn syrup, peanut butter, and milk until blended
2. Serve over ice cream or cake. Store in refridgerator.

Don’t forget to check out my contest below and win yourself a free blog design!!