When your bananas are going bad, and you are trying to think what to do with them, the first thing that probably comes to your mind is banana bread. I wasn’t in the mood for banana bread this time, so I researched some recipes to use for my four bananas. Both were two thumbs up on the taste factor, and I wanted to share these recipes with you today:

My favorite find was the peanut butter, banana, and oat blender muffins. I found it on the blog, Like Mother Like Daughter. Not only was this an easy recipe, it really fills you up! Below is the recipe, and you can find it directly from the blog too: Peanut Butter, Banana, and Oat Blender Muffins

Peanut Butter, Banana, and Oat Blender Muffins

Serves 18 regular, or 26 mini muffins

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup plain greek yogurt (or vanilla)
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup chocolate chips or nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all ingredients (except chocolate chips or nuts) into a blender and mix until smooth. Mix in chocolate chips or nuts if desired (I put the chocolate chips and nuts just on the top of the muffins). Pour batter into a muffin tin lines with muffin liners, or grease muffin tin (regular or mini)well with nonstick spray. Fill ¾ full. Bake for 7-8 minutes for mini muffins, and 9-12 for regular muffins.

I still had two bananas to go, and I wanted something sweet for dinner. I found some great banana drop cookies from the blog, LOVEFOODIES (recipe by C&H) , and they are a yummy treat. The recipe is located below, and you can aslo find it on the blog is here: Banana Drop Cookies

Banana Drop Cookies

Makes approximately 50

• 1¼ cups sugar
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup banana; mashed well
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 2¼ cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Cream sugar, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in banana. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet. Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 400. Drop teaspoon sized balls of dough two inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture; if desired. Bake 8-10 minutes or until browned. Cool 2 minutes, then transfer to racks.

I hope you enjoy these recipes, and best of luck to your baking creativity with your bananas! If you have any tasty banana recipes, please share and I would love to try them!

This past Sunday was the the Super Bowl, and I hope you all had a blast! In Texas, we don’t take our football lightly. Our neighborhood was filled with barbecue, food, and a lot of fun.

This Sunday also gave me an excuse to make some fun treats. I showed our team spirit with muddy buddies and some no-bake peanut butter rice krispies cookies.

With the left over muddy buddies, I got a little creative for Valentine’s Day too! I simply put different colors of M&Ms in the jar instead of Bronco colors. You can easily turn the rice krispies cookies into pink heart-shaped cookies too!

Below are the ingredients for the muddy buddies and the no-bake peanut butter rice krispies cookies:

Muddy Buddies (recipe from the back of the Chex cereal box):

• 9 cups Chex cereal. Any flavor will work. I used Rice Chex for mine.
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Put the measured cereal in a large bowl and set aside. In a one-quart microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered on high for one minute. Stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer, or until the mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over ceral, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into a two-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. (one tip from me – I usually put some powdered sugar at the bottom of the plastic bag to make the coating a faster process). Once coated, spread onto waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

*Don’t forget to add your desired colored candies to go with your theme. I used plain M&Ms.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Cookies (recipe from Martha Stewart’s website here: No-Bake Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Cookies):

• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups salted peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups Rice Krispies

Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with wax paper or baking parchment. Place the corn syrup and sugars in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. Stir in the peanut butter and mix well to combine (this is where I added the food coloring as well). Quickly stir in the vanilla and Rice Krispies. Spread into the lined baking pan. Cool and slice into squares.

*Note: I did not spread the Rice Krispies into a pan. Instead, I shaped the design with my hand and put them on wax paper. If you are doing heart shapes for Valentine’s Day, you could let them cool and then use a cookie cutter or shape them in the cookie cutter while they are still warm.

For the icing, I simply mixed powdered sugar, water, and food coloring until the consistency was right for me. I put the icing in a plastic storage bag and cut the corner with scissors as an icing bag. I’m not a professional, so they aren’t perfect. But that never bothers me because I alwayas have a blast making them.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I will chat with you again soon! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter too!