Pizza Bread

Ingredients:

1 loaf frozen white bread dough
3 Tblsp. margarine, melted
1/4 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 oz. pepperoni
pizza sauce
other pizza toppings (optional)

Let the bread dough thaw in the fridge overnight. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread dough out flat on a cookie sheet. Melt the margarine. Add the spices to the margarine. Brush 2/3 of the margarine/spice mixture on the pizza dough. Lay pepperoni slices on top evenly over the entire rectangle of dough. Sprinkle all of the cheese on top of the pepperoni. Top with any other pizza ingredients you want. Roll dough into a jelly roll shape and place in center of cookie sheet with seam side down. Brush remaining margarine/spice mixture on top of roll. Bake for 30 minutes or till golden brown. Slice and serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

This is another of my sister's recipes she shared with me. You can use all mozzarella instead of the combination of cheddar and mozzarella if you want. I like making 2 at a time and making one that is just pepperoni and adding mushrooms and onions to the other. These are great to make up in advance and just pop into the oven when you're ready to eat. Good for potlucks too, of course!

Wacky Cake

Ingredients:

2 c. sugar
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
6 Tblsp. unsweetened cocoa
2 c. water
2 Tblsp. white vinegar
12 Tblsp. margarine

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, salt, cocoa and baking soda. Add water and vinegar. Place margarine in 9"x13" pan and put in warming oven to allow it to melt. Once margarine is melted, pour batter into pan and mix margarine into the cake right in the pan. Bake for 35 minutes. When cool, frost if desired or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

My sister Shari made this for us once and my husband, who typically doesn't like desserts, really liked it. She started making it for his birthday each year. One year it was even decorated with a Batman logo. It is a delicious, moist chocolate cake.A big piece with a glass of cold milk - yum!

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. spaghetti
1 28oz. jar spaghetti sauce
3 eggs
2 Tblsp. margarine
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 Tblsp. parsley
1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Boil spaghetti according to package directions. Brown meat with chopped onion, drain. Add jar of spaghetti sauce to the meat. Put sauce in bottom of 2qt casserole dish and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and add margarine, parsley, parmesan and mozzarella, stir to mix. Add cooked, drained pasta to the egg and cheese mixture, stirring to coat. Carefully put pasta into casserole on top of the sauce. Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes.

We love this recipe - my sister Shari shared it with me years ago. Her version doesn't include onion. Also, instead of a casserole dish she cooks her spaghetti pie in a large skillet and inverts it onto a serving plate and serves it in pie slices. Either way you prepare it, it is delicious. You can use your favorite spaghetti sauce, whatever brand or flavor you prefer. Personally I like a sauce with mushrooms or a chunky garden sauce. I've made the pie up the night before and stuck it in the fridge so it would be ready to bake for dinner the next day so it's another great meal for busy evenings.

My Sister's Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 c. margarine
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2-3 bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease & flour loaf pan. In large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Measure out the flour and add the baking soda, mix together. Add dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and mix well. Add mashed bananas and mix until they are fully mixed through the batter. Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours.

This is my sister Shari's recipe. I like it because it reminds me of my Grandma A's banana bread. I love bananas, but I really only like them when they are sorta green. So once they get ripe they usually just sit in the bowl on the table until we decide to bake some bread. My youngest daughter likes to make it, all on her own. It's a great treat for breakfast or an after-school or after-work snack.


Bonus: I decided to try it as muffins instead of a loaf. It worked great! I used cupcake liners and sprayed them with vegetable oil spray first. Then mixed everything up exactly as for bread. Then ladle into the 18 muffin cups. Your cooking time is only 40 minutes, and they came out great.