Penny Pinching Peach

For the semi crunchy, homeschool friendly and totally frugal!

Tag Archives: baking


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Stress Cooking

Stress Cooking

Stress Cooking

Does anyone else stress cook???

Today has been an all out booger of a day.  I spent hours on the phone making frustrating phone calls to fun places like health insurance companies, doctors and human resources hither and yonder while my children ran around the house terrorizing because I couldn’t deal with them properly right then. My outdoor loving children somehow hate going outside once Mommy gets on an important phone call. They’d rather stand at my feet shouting things like “I’m hungry”, “I went potty” and “She took my toy ’cause I hit her with it”. This ended up in my three year old scattering crayons from one end of the living room through the kitchen and den, not to mention his toy trucks and legos. All sorts of other things have been going wrong and bumming me out, plus I am physically something of a wreck, but this is not meant to be a whine fest.

Chopping That Okra Into Submission

Chopping That Okra Into Submission

Any stress eaters out there?

I know we’ve all heard of stress eating. I do that some, too, but sometimes stress just triggers me into a massive cooking frenzy. I can whip my frustration in to batter, chop some veggies into submission, beat the snot out of some eggs, and bake the bad away while filling my home with a deliciousness. It’s something fairly mindless and soothing because I can control the outcome and see almost guaranteed pleasant results from my efforts. It makes also makes my family happy, even whiny little boogers who like to pester the living daylights out of their mommy when she just CAN’T. A great stress reliever for me is the simple act of cooking….ALOT!

If there are, you would love to join me at my house when I’m super duper agitated! You’ll certainly have plenty to chow down on! Today’s stress cooking fest resulted in the goodies in the photos. I threw my baby girl in our trusty Moby wrap and went to sweating out my frustrations over the stove. Dark chocolate coconut brownies to satisfy my stress induced craving for dark chocolate. Oven fried okra because I had a batch left needing cooked from okra our neighbor gave us, and can’t fry for real while the baby is on me. Two casseroles of ground deer, green beans, rice, tomatoes and other goodies- one for tonight and another for the day after tomorrow. Mexican cornbread to go with our crockpot ham and beans tomorrow. Plenty of food, y’all! 🙂

Stress Cook and Eating

Stress Cook and Eating

What do you do when you are stressed?

You know, I think my stress cooking not only is about working those frustrations out in a constructive way, but also ties into wanting comfort food, which for me is usually something homemade. Whatever it may be, my husband and children seem to enjoy this particular way I cope with frustration and aggravation! 🙂

What is comfort food for you?

Want to make one of my family favorite comfort foods, passed on for several generations? Try my recipe for Grandma’s Sunday Special Ritz Cracker Chicken!


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Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Glaze Cake

Chocolate Banana Cake With Peanut Butter Glaze

Chocolate Banana Cake With Peanut Butter Glaze

I have been trying to cook from ingredients I already have in my cabinets as much as possible. I had a couple of bananas that were overripe, and was out of chocolate chips and raisins for the cookies I’d normally make with them. I also had a cake mix that needed used, and a craving for chocolate and peanut butter. From that jumping point, I brainstormed and cooked up the Chocolate Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze. Wanna try it? Here is what I did…

Chocolate Banana Cake

1 Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
2 mashed overripe bananas
Grease a 13×9 pan. Bake at 350 for 32-34 minutes, or until toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.
Frost it with peanut butter glaze.

Peanut Butter Honey Glaze

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
Mix well.
This would work great as a simple topping for cake,  muffins,  or brownies. It would also make a healthy sweet fruit dip.
Pretty simple, huh? My family loves this easy peasy cake! It’s moist and sweet without being sickeningly sweet. It’s also very inexpensive, especially if you’re like me and only buy cake mixes with awesome sales and coupons.
If you want another way to use up overripe bananas (or peanut butter, my couponing comrades!), try these recipes below…
Peanut butter chocolate chip close-up

Peanut butter chocolate chip close-up

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Oatmeal

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Oatmeal


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Some More S’mores

S'mores Cupcakes

S’mores Cupcakes

Princess Peach and I love our s’mores, but there isn’t always a bonfire and roasting stick available, so I’ve come up with some creative ways to get that ooey-gooey yummy fix. One of my s’more inspired concoctions is S’more Cupcakes. Lemme tell ya, we gobbled these right up! Not to brag, but they were so moist, just gooey enough and the flavors were the bomb diggety. They were also alot of fun for Princess and I to make together, which helped make this a recipe to keep in the “make again” file. Want to make these yourself? You know that you do! Who doesn’t love s’mores?? They’re basically a symbol of summer, and they include chocolate! Oh, and don’t get me started on cupcakes! They just make me happy! They’re a pre-portioned piece of cake and they bring back fond memories of childhood with every bite. Put those together, and you’ve got Heaven in your mouth! 🙂 On to the directions…

S’more Cupcakes

1 Devil’s Food Cake mix, following directions on box for mixing

12 large marshmallows (we used the ones made for s’mores, since they were flat)

1 cup mini marshmallows

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Dropping in Marshmallows

Dropping in Marshmallows

Mix the cake batter according to directions, adding the chocolate chips. Fill each cup about 1/3 of the way with the cake batter. Drop three mini marshmallows in each cup. Finish filling the cups with the remaining batter to about 2/3 full. Bake in the oven according to the directions for cupcakes on your Devil’s Food Cake mix.

Before the marshmallow topping

Before the marshmallow topping

When you remove them from the oven, flip the oven to broil. Place your large marshmallows on top of each cupcake, then pop them back into the oven. Broil until they puff up and are very lightly browned, watching closely, since they will burn very quickly. Remove, cool, and enjoy!

My kiddos absolutely drooled over these, gobbling them right up. They had a blast with the process of making them together, as well. My daughter loved adding the chocolate chips to the batter and dropping in the marshmallows. Both of my munchkins were mesmerized by watching the marshmallows puff up in the oven. They were so excited to finally get to chomp into these scrumptious bites of gooey goodness! You’ve got to try them, too! There are even coupons available to go with this yummy recipe! See below…

Sharing their cupcakes

Sharing their cupcakes

What is your favorite kind of cupcake? Do you enjoy s’mores, or are you allergic to melty chocolate gooey scrumpdeliciousness? 😉 For more recipes, please click the Chef’s hat!