Banana Split Cake

Summer finally came to the state of Utah! It seems like Mother Nature is dragging her heels changing seasons around here... Winter lasted until April, and now here we are in the middle of June just drying out from the spring rain.

This year, I feel very blessed to have a real honest-to-goodness air conditioner--it's the first year since 2001 that I've been in control of the temperature in my house. But even still, summer is hot, and it can be a challenge to cook your food without cooking yourself. We wind up firing up the grill quite a bit, and meal salads become a staple. So what do you do when someone in the family has a birthday and wants cake? Slave away in the kitchen with a roasting oven? Never! Try this delicious recipe for banana split cake! It doesn't have ice cream in it, so you don't need to worry about it melting all over the place if you have an outdoor party. As a warning, the recipe calls for raw eggs, but you can use a pasteurized egg product instead if you want. The buttery layer just melts in your mouth... it is so delicious!

Banana Split Cake

The recipe is huge, but it halves easily.

1 stick (½ c.) butter or margarine
2 c. cinnamon graham cracker crumbs
2 sticks (1 c.) butter, softened to room temperature—Must be butter!
2 c. powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas, sliced
1/3 pint strawberries, sliced
1 can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 tub (13 oz.) cool whip
chocolate syrup, chopped maraschino cherries, chopped nuts

1. Melt 1 stick butter in a 9x13 pan. Pat graham cracker crumbs to form a crust. Bake the crust for 6 or so minutes (until it starts to brown) at 350. Be sure to COOL THE CRUST COMPLETELY before you spread the next layer over it, or the butter will melt and you'll have to start over.

2. Combine 2 sticks butter, powdered sugar, and eggs in a mixer. Beat for about 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally, until mixture is fluffy. Spread over graham cracker crust. Partially freeze it by placing the pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes. You don't want it completely frozen though or the cake will be too hard to cut and eat. (If you want you could use real ice cream for this layer and bypass the raw eggs, but the buttery stuff is sooo delicious.)

3. Arrange sliced bananas over butter-sugar layer. Arrange sliced strawberries (I've used frozen strawberries before with this recipe. Fresh taste better, but you can use frozen if you either keep them frozen or thaw and partially drain them) over bananas. Spread crushed pineapple over strawberries.

4. Spread Cool Whip over fruit. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top and sprinkle with chopped cherries and nuts.

Enjoy!

Still cooking! Back with the best egg roll recipe!

Hi All!

I don't know exactly how this happened, but I somehow managed to forget about my poor little blog for almost 2 years. 2 years! Crazy. Anyway, I'm back now, and I don't plan to stay away that long again.

I do want to make a change though. In the past, this has been strictly recipes and tips, but I want to be able to blog about more than just cooking. So every once in a while, I plan to post about the garden I've recently started and about my kids, who are at the same time the craziest and most lovable people on earth. If the personal posts just aren't your thing, feel free to pass on by. And to my friends who are new to this blog, welcome! I hope you find something you like. If I've ever made something for you that you want the recipe for, feel free to request a post!

And now, on to the recipe. This particular egg roll recipe was given to me by my good friend and sort-of cousin, Brittany Rodgers. She made it for our family once, and I had to have the recipe! I've since made these egg rolls for many of our good friends, and almost all of them have requested it too. So without further ado:

Thai/Cambodian Egg Rolls
1 lb. spicy sausage
2-4 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 clumps bean strands/threads*
1 package coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
fish sauce, to taste (usually 3-4 teaspoons)
soy sauce, to taste (usually 2 or 3 tablespoons)
sesame seed oil, to taste (usually 1-1/2 - 2 teaspoons)
2 packages egg roll wrappers (I think there are 20 per package)
1 egg
oil for frying
Spicy peanut dipping sauce (we use House of Tsang's Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce)
1 head iceberg or green leaf lettuce

Brown onion, sausage, and garlic, breaking sausage into little pieces.

Meanwhile, place 2 clumps of bean threads in a bowl. Pour boiling water over the bean threads until they are submerged. When bean threads have finished soaking, they will be clear and should have the texture of cooked noodles--this should take about 10-15 minutes. It will say on the package. When they're done soaking, drain and cut them into smaller pieces.

After that is done, combine bean threads, sausage mixture, and coleslaw mix in a big bowl. I always add the fish sauce first so that I can "mix by smell"--you really don't want too much fish sauce. When you've added enough, it should smell slightly fishy. Then add the soy sauce and sesame seed oil to taste (or smell!).

Heat oil for frying in a large, heavy frying pan. Use enough oil that half the egg roll is submerged--about an inch and a half.

In a small bowl, slightly beat an egg. Wrap filling in egg roll wrap and seal with the egg. To do this, you place about 2 heaping tablespoons of mixture over the wrap diagonally, from corner to corner. Fold up the bottom corner so that it tucks in on the other side, then roll it up once tightly and fold in the corners. Brush egg onto the top corner and the rolled side, then tightly roll together and seal. This recipe makes around 35-40 egg rolls.

Make sure the oil is hot before you start frying, or you're just marinating your egg roll in grease. Gross. You can check by dropping a single piece of cabbage in the oil to see if it sizzles.

Fry egg rolls 4 or 5 at a time, depending on the size of your pan, until bubbly looking and golden.

Serve wrapped in lettuce leaves with spicy peanut dipping sauce.

*Bean threads are the starch from beans that has been strung out to resemble noodles. They are available in some grocery stores and in specialty Asian stores. I buy mine at the Macey's grocery store in Orem... they don't have them at Macey's in Spanish Fork. I really don't think the recipe would be very good without them--they're worth the effort it takes to buy them.