Banana Puff Pastry

How fabulous is this treat? Oh yes. Its amazing. Want to make it? Keep reading!

Ingredients:
Banana Pastry Cream

• 2 packages Dream Whip
• 2 boxes instant banna pudding mix
• 1 tsp vanilla
• milk as instructed. (2 3/4 cup)

Pastry Shell:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, cut into 9 squares
• dusted with cinnamon & sugar

Chocolate topping, and filling:

• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

About 2 hours ahead of time, mix up dream whip, milk, pudding and vanilla according to the Dream Pie recipe found on the box of Dream Whip. Put mixture into gallon zip top bag, (we kept the bag in a pre-chilled bowl) and chill for at least 40 minutes, about 2 hours would be better.

Thaw one sheet puff pastry. Whatever baking sheet you use, use parchment paper or greased pan so they come off easily. Dust entirely with cinnamon & sugar mixture, cut into 9 squares. *pizza cutter works great! Bake at 400* for 15 minutes, until golden brown as instructed. Allow the squares to cool.

While its cooling, melt the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a glass bowl, in the microwave, heat for 2 minutes at half power. Stir chocolate til completely smooth, keep warm til done using it.

When pastry squares are cool, slice in half, paint both inside halves with chocolate. Retrieve bag of pastry cream, push whole mixture to one corner, and snip off corner of bag. Then pipe two half-inch thick layers of pastry cream as shown.

Make squares into sandwiches, drizzle remaining chocolate all over the top of squares, dust with powdered sugar.

Try not to eat them all...maybe share with neighbors! *grin!

Twist & Shake!

Or rather, a New Twist on an Old Shake!

I have posted THIS basic shake before, which I frequently have for a quick and mobile breakfast. (meaning, I can eat it while doing other things)
It has evolved to become more like this:

• approx 3/4 cup frozen berries (or 1/3 cup peanut butter and 3 ice cubes)
• 1/3 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 packet chocolate instant breakfast powder
• 1 cup milk

 But yesterday my cousin posted this recipe on facebook...

• 1 cup of whatever milk you use
• 2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa
• 1 banana
• 1 1/2 c. of rolled oats/quick oats /whatever oats you have
• 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla cause that's what I had on hand )
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• Then add ice to the consistency you want

So I tossed in 3/4 cup oats into my shake this morning! Today I only used blueberries and blackberries, and with the oats it really tastes like a pie or a cookie! Also the oats give the added benefit of extra fiber, and this breakfast will stick with me longer, making me feel less hungry and snacky before lunch. And its a pretty darn healthy breakfast!

Meatless Lasagna-ish Casserole!

Recently I had some zucchini and some tomatoes that needed used up. A year or two ago I pureed a huge squash of some kind and hid it in a lasagna, so I thought I'd try that method again. But I only had half a pkg of cook-first lasagna noodles and half a pkg of no-cook lasagna noodles so I couldn't do that. As I stared at my pantry wondering how to make this work, I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for a similar concept in a cookbook before!

This recipe is based off the Pampered Chef Pronto Pasta Bake and is listed below. But what I did this night is listed first.

I started by pureeing the zucchini, and the tomatoes, using my stick blender!

I mixed oregano, basil, thyme, sage, onion powder, minced garlic and a bit of brown sugar into the tomatoes, along with a can of tomato paste to make it thicker. (fresh tomatoes are very, very juicy, and somewhat watery!) Then I mixed the zucchini in with it to hide it well, haha! I cooked up some bowtie pasta and created my own layered pasta dish: pasta, sauce mix, cheese, pasta, sauce mix, cheese.

and, since no one knew I used fresh tomatoes and zucchini in their dinner, I added carrot sticks on the side, for a very healthy dinner!

Pronto Pasta Bake:
12 oz rotini pasta
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 oz fresh parmesan, grated
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375*. Cook pasta & drain. Mix zucchini, garlic, spaghetti sauce and basil. In 9x13 pan, layer 1/3 of the sauce mixture, half of the pasta, 1/3 of the sauce, and half of each of the cheeses. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake 45 mins. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes.