It’s no fun having to spend your spring break stuck back at home, especially when your Instagram feed is full of people relaxing on the beach and sipping margaritas. You may be looking forward to some much needed time to relax but there is only so many Netflix you can watch in one week. So in your free time, instead of spending it pinning delicious looking recipes on Pinterest, why not spend it enjoying them. These are some recipes to start with
1. Healthy ice cream sandwich
These look yummy but they’re actually pretty healthy, too
½ cup COOL WHIP whipped topping, thawed
¼ cup diced strawberries
6 graham cracker squares (3 sheets broken in half)
Place 3 graham cracker squares on a plate or baking sheet.
Put strawberries in a bowl. Fold in COOL WHIP whipped topping until combined.
Spoon an even amount of COOL WHIP mixture on top of each square. Top with remaining graham cracker square.
Place in freezer until COOL WHIP whipped topping has set, about 30 minutes.
2. Banana bread
Nothing’s says home like banana bread and when you smell this baking in the oven, you’ll be happy to be home.
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 ½ cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired
Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2×4 1/2×2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
2 Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.
3 Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.
3. Shamrock Shake
St. Patrick’s Day is over spring break and what’s more festive than a shamrock shake?
3 scoops vanilla ice cream (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4-1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. mint extract
8-10 drops green food coloring
Whipped cream
Blend ice cream, milk, extract and food coloring in a blender until smooth. Add more ice cream or milk depending on desired consistency. Poor into two glasses and top with whipped cream.
4. French Toast Muffins
French toast is always a favorite for breakfast and bonus points for cuteness, right? They’re not super easy to make but they’re worth it. And there’s enough to share!
1 loaf French bread, cut or torn into 1/2 inch cubes (about 12 cups of bread)
2 1/2 cups milk
6 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Add about 1 cup of bread cubes to each muffin cup. Carefully pour egg and milk mixture evenly over each muffin tin. You may need to press down on the bread cubes after you pour a little mixture and then pour more. Pour slowly or you will have a mess. Or you can combine everything in a large bowl and then fill the muffin cups. Cover the muffins with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To make the cinnamon streusel, in a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Mix together with your hands, until you have a crumbly mixture. Remove the muffins from the refrigerator and sprinkle the muffins evenly with the streusel topping.
Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Let muffins cool for 5 minutes. Remove
from pan and serve with butter and maple syrup, if desired.
5. Cookie In A Mug
A simple cookie recipe but it’s perfect to just serve one and takes under 5 minutes
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
pinch of vanilla
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips (or regular)
In a microwave safe bowl or coffee mug, mix butter with sugars. Stir with a fork until well combined. Add vanilla and salt, stir. Add egg yolk (yolk only, not the white), and mix well.
Stir in flour until just combined. Lastly, stir in chocolate chips.
Cook in microwave for 40 – 60 seconds. Start checking for doneness at 40 seconds. (I cooked mine for the full 60 seconds but it would have been okay at 55 seconds)