Chocolate Banana Cream Pie Recipe

OK. Confession time. I don't make this one. I didn't invent the recipe. This is one the real cooks in my family make for me on special occasions. (I love it when they do! This is good!) But please don't deceive yourself: this is not health food.

One pie:

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsel, divided
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 banana, divided- 1/2 mashed, 1/2 sliced for garnish
• 3 bananas (sliced)
• 1 (9 inch) baked pie crusts (they use a graham cracker crust; even better richer with an Oreo cookie crust.)
  
• whipped cream

Here are the directions:

1. In a saucepan mix together sugar, salt and flour.
2. In a medium bowl combine egg yolks, milk and cream. Mix well.
3. Slowly add milk mixture to dry ingredients in saucepan, stirring with a whisk.
4. Cook over low heat until thick.
5. Remove from heat and add butter and mashed banana. Stir to combine.
6. Slice bananas into the pre-baked pie crust. Over the bananas, put in 1/2 cup of the morsels, spread evenly.
7. Pour filling over bananas and morsels, shake slightly to settle filling.

Refrigerate pie at least 4 hours until well chilled. Garnish top of pie with whipped cream, sliced bananas and the remaining chocolate morsels.

Savory Chicken Meat Roll

In a large frypan, sauté until brown:
5-10 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin,
1 white onion, peeled and sliced thin.
When they’re brown and beginning to soften, remove to a bowl and set aside.

Deglaze the frypan with:
1 pound of chicken thighs, de-boned, sliced thin,
season with pepper, and
1 tsp vegetable bouillon base.
When the chicken is both done and well coated in the bouillon base, remove to a bowl and set aside.

Add:
½ pound pork sausage, herb flavored if you like. Break it into small pieces as it’s cooking.
When it’s both done remove to a bowl and set aside.

Assembly:

Make bread dough. (See here for a yummy example.) Use either a one-pound loaf recipe, or half of a 2-pound loaf recipe. Roll out on a well-floured board into a sheet 15” x 20”. Mark a line 3” or so from the far end: don’t add any fillings to the last 3” of the bread: that will be used to close the roll and hold it closed.

Cover the dough (except a 1” border and the last 3” noted above) with the onion/garlic mix. Be sure to reserve any liquid from that bowl for later.
Then layer the chicken over the top of the onion/garlic mix.
Then layer the small pieces of pork sausage evenly over the top.

Cover with:
1 cup of shredded or grated parmesan cheese. (Do not use the powdered stuff in a can from Kraft. Eww.)
Seasoning to taste: rosemary is nice.

Roll the loaded dough up from the full side towards the empty 3” end. Seal the ends as you’re rolling so that the stuffing doesn’t roll out. Wrap the 3” over the top, using the liquid reserved from the onions as glue to seal the roll shut. You should have a roll about 4” in diameter and about 16” long.

Lay the roll, sealed side down, on parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
Sprinkle on the top:
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese. Press it into the surface of the roll.

Let it raise in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Bake at 350 until done (expect 40 minutes: I cook it until a thermometer in the center has hit 135 - 140 degrees).

Remove from oven and let it cool completely. Then slice into single servings (I cut it into about eight 2” slices). Put each slice in a freezer bag or heavy duty sandwich bag, and freeze until needed. Microwave on a small plate and serve, or eat it while you’re running off to do something exciting.

Savory Beef Meat Roll

In a large frying pan, sauté until brown:
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced,
1 pound stew beef, cubed,
1 pound hamburger (shredded beef would be better, but it's more expensive).
Season with pepper and
1 tsp beef bouillon base.
Cook until brown.

When the meat is both done and well coated in the bouillon base, add
1 can tomato sauce,
bring back to temperature, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes while the sauce reduces and coats the meat.
Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Assembly:

Make bread dough. (See here for a yummy example.) Use either a one-pound loaf recipe, or half of a 2-pound loaf recipe. Roll out on a well-floured board into a sheet 15” x 20”. Mark a line 3” or so from the far end: don’t add any fillings to the last 3” of the bread: that will be used to close the roll and hold it closed.

Cover the dough (except a 1” border and the last 3” noted above) with the beef mix.
Cover with:
1 can black beans, evenly distributed over the surface of the meat. If there’s any liquid, reserve it.
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Roll the loaded dough up from the full side towards the empty 3” end. Seal the ends as you’re rolling so that the stuffing doesn’t roll out. Wrap the 3” over the top, using the liquid reserved from the beans (or water) as glue to seal the roll shut. You should have a roll about 4” in diameter and about 16” long.

Lay the roll, sealed side down, on parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
Sprinkle on the top:
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese. Press it into the surface of the roll.

Let it raise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Bake at 350 until done (expect 40 minutes: I cook it until a thermometer in the center has hit 135 - 140 degrees).

Remove from oven and let it cool completely. Then slice into single servings (I cut it into about eight 2” slices). Put each slice in a freezer bag or heavy duty sandwich bag, and freeze until needed. Microwave on a small plate and serve, or eat it while you’re running off to do something exciting.

Herb Dough for Meat Rolls

Into the bread machine, in this order:
1½ tsp active dry yeast
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
2 TBSP white sugar
2 TBSP dry milk powder
2 TBSP butter
1⅓ cups water, lukewarm.

Spices:
1 ½ tsp dried rosemary leaves
1 tsp chili powder
1 ¼ tsp onion salt
¼ tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground white pepper
¼ tsp celery seed

Set the bread machine on “dough” setting.

When the machine beeps, divide the dough in half. Use each half for a meatroll.