Two Unrelated Recipes

I said awhile back that I was going to post the recipe for the sausage/egg/hashbrown crockpot casserole I made for Christmas morning. Well, my brain is like a sieve, and I never got around to it. Until now!

Crockpot hashbrown sausage casserole

30 oz. package plain frozen hash browns
16 oz. sausage, already cooked (or leftover ham)
1/2 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Spray inside of crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the whole package of hashbrowns and spread them out evenly, breaking up any clumps.

In a mixing bowl, mix the dozen eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, and cheese, sausage, green pepper, and onions. Pour everything on top of hashbrowns.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. And that's it! It's all ready to eat in the morning!

And now, for a second recipe. I am always on this quest to find different ways to use up old bananas, especially when I have an event to which I need to take a dessert! We had our monthly fellowship meal after church last Sunday, and I wanted to take a dessert as well as a main course. I wanted to make some sort of banana cake or bars, so I started hunting around on the internet. I found a recipe for a "chocolate frosted banana cake" that sounded good, so I printed that one off (obviously before our laptop decided to no longer speak to the printer, LOL). It was good! Very moist. It looked really pretty too, although it definitely looked like it would have a very chocolate-y flavor. It doesn't, with the banana in there, so it was a little bit of a shock. But it was very tasty! And it used up 4 bananas. Woo-hoo! (As a side note, let me just say that whoever posted the recipe on the internet needed to take one of Mrs. Harner's technical writing classes to learn how to make directions. There basically were none, as far as how the wet ingredients went together, so I was the one who decided to cream the butter and sugar, and then add stuff. Feel free to do whatever you want!)

Chocolate Frosted Banana Cake

2/3 c. milk
1 T. vinegar
1 c. softened butter
1 1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. banana, mashed (I used 3 bananas)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a bundt pan really well. Cream butter and brown sugar, then add the milk, vinegar, eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing well. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Don't overmix--it should be a bit lumpy. Spoon batter into the well-oiled bundt pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a knife comes out clean. Cool.

Frosting

1/2 c. cocoa
1/4 melted butter
1/4 c. banana, mashed (I just used almost another whole one)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T. milk (however much you need to make a good consistency--more if you use less banana)
3 cups powdered sugar

Mix together cocoa, butter, banana, milk, and vanilla. Whisk in the powdered sugar until combined and smooth. Spoon over cake.