Psst. I have a secret. I have zero time to cook and my meals usually consist of copious amounts of pasta.
If and when I do get around to actually cooking, the recipes have to be super simple, delicious and void of any fancy-shmancy ingredients. So when I posted photos of the mini lemon meringue pies and banana bread, I should have been knocked upside the head for not sharing the recipe with you. So without further ado, the easiest mini lemon meringue pies and banana bread you’ve ever made. (Warning these recipes are not necessarily “healthy,” but they are pretty damn tasty.)
“Too Many Race Bananas Leftover Banana Bread”
Ingredients
- 3 extra ripe bananas, smashed
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix the smooshed bananas with the melted butter. Then, stir in the sugar, egg, and vanilla, followed by the baking soda and salt. Finally, add the flour and mix to a banana bread batter of goodness. Last step? Pour the batter into a sprayed, regular bread loaf pan and bake for an hour. Seriously, that’s it. One side note: I like to taste little chunks of banana in my bread, so I left the smooshed bananas a little chunky. It’s also better served after a night in the refrigerator.
“The, You Look Like You Know What Your Doing, Mini Lemon Meringue Pies”
Ingredients
- 1 box of lemon Jello pudding YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT. JELLO.
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 cup water
- 3 egg yolks
- 6 mini, pre-made graham cracker pie crusts
- 3 egg white
- 6 tablespoons sugars
Directions
First up, you make the pie filling with the Jello pudding. Deal with it. Simply combine the pie filling mix, the 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan on medium heat. Then, blend in egg yolks and the remaining water, continuously stirring until it comes to a full boil. Once it’s a bubbly goodness, remove from heat and let it cool for five minutes.
Next is the meringue. I’ve never made meringue before so this was a bit interesting for me. But the good news is that it’s easy – it just takes some time. Patience, little one. Simply beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Once you have the foam, gradually add the sugar until it starts forming stiff peaks.
And finally, add the meringue to the pies! How do you get it all swirly without any fancy tools? I just took a large plastic bag, cut off a small part of the corner and put the meringue in it. Then just squeeze and swirl. To finish your masterpiece, align the pies on a basking sheet and put them in the oven at 425 for 5-10 minutes, just until the meringue starts to brow. Wow – now you look faaaancy!
Happy Baking and Running!
Ha! I used to eat pasta literally like 5 days a week for dinner, but once I started reading blogs, I tried to force myself to cook new things – simple, but new. Actually, I’m planning a pasta binge soon because I have to eat that whole jar of sauce before it goes bad – my fiance doesn’t eat sauce! I don’t know what planet he’s from!
Banana bread is my favorite, but I usually end up sneaking chocolate chips in there!
Why IS banana bread even better after it sits for a day or so? Totally true.
I cannot wait to try these! what a great, quick and easy idea. Too bad if B doesn’t like lemon meringue! I don’t care! ha ha
SUPER cute post, love the recipes. Have you ever made Zucchini bread? That is my ABSOLUTE fav. Thanks for sharing! I try to avoid making pasta every night and just limiting it to weekends before races/long runs. I’m big on roasted veggies w/ quinoa and lean chicken breast (I know you are veg, so that’s not really an option!) also, Boca burger’s and amy’s organic’s are my fav jams in life! Oh and my new favorite salad? Spinach w/ red onion, avacado, tomatoes if I feel like it and then some olive oil & fresh squeezed lime or lemon. So fresh, filling FAST and delicious (I was trying to find another F word for delicious but I failed -HA)
mmmm…i could go for one of each of those right now!! super yum.
mmm banana bread. that is definitely healthy, it has bananas! love your recipe name, haha.
Wow I might need to try that lemon meringue pie, they look so cute and yummy!
Yum! This reminds me of my dad, he always makes lemon meringue pie for Christmas and thanksgiving, using you exact recipe except not the mini part. I didn’t know you could buy premade mini pie crusts! How cute! Thanks for sharing!
That banana bread looks incredibly fabulous!
Yummy! I love banana bread! Thanks for sharing the recipes!
I would argue that making a pastry pipe out of a plastic bag takes the recipe outside of “simple”…
Thanks for posting that recipe for the mini pies! That is so awesome I cant wait to use it!