Orange Tapioca Jello Salad

An old family favorite. I made this for Easter. We took a big bowl to Grandma's party on Saturday and another big bowl to dinner at Jason's aunts house on Sunday. I love this stuff! It should be re-named: Orangie-Heaven in a bowl.

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 sm pkg Orange Jell-O
1 sm pkg Cook'n Serve Vanilla Pudding
1 sm pkg Cook'n Serve Tapioca
1 can mandarin oranges (drained)
1 8oz container Cool Whip

Directions:
In medium saucepan stir together the first four ingredients. Bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the mandarin oranges and Cool Whip and stir thoroughly. Chill for several hours before serving.

I've heard rumors that this recipe has been tried with different flavors. Although I've never tried it myself, I bet raspberry would be phenomenal!

Lemonade Cheesecake

• 1 Pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 C. frozen Lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
• 1 Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)
• 1-1/2 cups sliced Strawberries
• 2 Tbsp Sugar

Beat the cream cheese until creamy. Add the Lemonade concentrate gradually and stirring thoroughly in between additions. Lastly add 2 cups of the whipped topping (I only had 2 cups in the 8 oz. tub so if you want some for the top, as seen in the picture, you may want to by a bigger tub).
Spoon the mixture into the pie crust and refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm.
Mix the sliced berries with the sugar and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

I used the lite cool whip and light cream cheese to make if lower in fat. It tasted delicious. I will be making it for Easter dinner with the Fife's. Enjoy everyone!!

My New Favorite Muffin

Jenalyn wanted to make banana muffins so I went searching online for a good recipe. As always, I searched on Recipezaar first and I found the mother of all banana muffin recipes!

Delicious - check.
Moist - check.
Healthy - check.
Chocolate - check.

What else matters?

So here you go...

(Why yes, those are Lightening McQueen cupcake liners. They were left over from Corbin's birthday.)

Low-Fat Banana Oatmeal Chocolate-chip Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup flour (you can use whole wheat for a change if you like)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (instant is fine)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Add sugar to mashed bananas and mix.
2. Add beaten egg and mix.
3. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients.
4. Add dry ingredients to the banana mixture and mix well.
5. Mix in applesauce.
6. Add chocolate chips and Stir.
7. Spoon into medium size muffin tin (I use paper muffin cups so they won't stick) and fill 3/4's full.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.

I used whole wheat flour and Grandma Sprague's home-canned applesauce. I tagged this recipe as Breakfast and Dessert because they really were that good.