Pullin’ from the Pantry – Treats to Make

Today were Pullin’ from the Pantry – Treats to Make. That means I’m directing you to recipes for treats made with ingredients you can probably find in your cupboards or pantry! Yes – I went through all 800+ recipes that I’ve posted here on Plenty Sweet Life, just so you could more easily find these more than 200 recipes. Whoo hooo! I made a new category called “Pantry Recipes” (up the right side under the heading of “recipes”) so you can peruse AAAALLLLL the recipes here on Plenty Sweet Life that are easy to make and use ingredients that you’d find (mostly) in your pantry. They use pantry items, basic fruits like apples, bananas, oranges, and rhubarb (which is coming up now and you might have in your backyard), and some basic refrigerator items like eggs, butter, and milk. I hope that by now you all have well-stocked pantries or cupboards – I mean, if you’ve read my post Pullin’ from the Pantry – Pantry Staples. The “Pantry Recipes” category is not just for treats though, there are also main dishes, side dishes, breakfasts, snacks, AND treats in there. When you have a few minutes – and we know you will, these days – I hope you take a peek at some of these EASY to make, FAST to make, and DELICIOUS recipes. Here are a few to get you started:

Snickerdoodles

 

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Chocolate Pudding

 

Drop Donuts

 

No-Roll Sugar Cookies

 

Baked Custard

 

Cookies on Waffle Iron

 

Pullin’ from the Pantry – Money Saving Meals

Today we’re Pullin’ from the Pantry – Money Saving Meals. That means we’re going to go over some recipes for meals here on Plenty Sweet Life that are easy on the budget – especially if you aren’t working and need to be pinching your pennies. Even if you still are working, once in a while it’s ok to go with meals that are good for the pocketbook. See what I did there? I used a “Grandma-ism”. Pocketbook – geez. That’s old school. A lot of these recipes can also be made from things you probably have in your frig or pantry. You can find a lot of recipes that are money-saving – yet still amazingly delicious – on the blog, but here is a partial list of some of my favorites:

Creamed Peas on Toast

Creamed Peas on Toast

Easy Chicken and Rice

10 Minute Tomato Soup

Bunsteads

Hotdish #2

Potato Soup

Potato Soup

5 Can Hotdish

Grilled Tuna Sandwiches

Roast Beef in the Crockpot

Tuna Casserole

Hamburger Hotdish

Hamburger Hot Dish

Spanish Meatballs

Hotdish

 

Pullin’ from the Pantry – Stress Relief

Today we’re Pullin’ from the Pantry – Stress Relief. That means we’re going to explore some ideas for stress relief during this time of craziness. We’re all worried, we’re all anxious, and we all need ways to let off some steam and then relax. Here are a few ideas, and things that I do, to do just that.

Letting off steam:

If you’re stressed out and dealing with the anxiety we’re all feeling right now, put on some dance music and get going! Dance until you can’t dance anymore instead of pulling your hair out! You don’t have to have someone to dance with – sometimes you just need to do it by yourself. In fact, that’s better in my case – waaaaaay better. Nobody need to see that, although it might put a smile on the face of anyone seeing it! I think the Golden Oldies are best, but put on any of your favorite dance tunes and just get to it! Enjoy yourself – no one’s watching. You’ll feel better – really, you will!

While you have your dance music on, clean the house! If you do it fast enough, it’s almost like a workout! Our family used to put on something fast paced, everybody take a room, and before we knew it, the whole house was clean. Cleaning is always the first thing I go to in a crisis – national crisis, personal crisis, emotional crisis. For some reason it feels like if I can control my own environment, nothing else seems so bad. Since it’s spring, open your windows and get in a good dose of spring cleaning! It’s gonna feel so good to have that chore done, as well as feeling less stress now that it IS done! It just always feels good to have everything in place – it brings good energy!

Find a workout on YouTube and exercise! We’ve been bombarded for years about how exercise raises endorphins in our brains, which helps in just about every area – pain relief, happiness, general well-being. I mean, how bad can that be? If you’re overwhelmed by too much social media and news coverage these days (first of all – stop doing that – it’s ok to just check once a day), this is your go-to fix. You can exert as much energy as you want to, but it really doesn’t matter what you do – just move. You could do yoga, cardio, Pilates, or just go for a walk – even better if it’s outside in the sunshine and fresh air. It will help with the anxiety and you’ll feel so good and be so glad you did.

Relaxing:

Meditate, meditate, meditate. This is my favorite kind of stress relief. You can find so many ways to meditate online, or you can just find some soft music and do it yourself – just close your eyes and breathe. Do a little research and find something that speaks to you. Start with something easy and that doesn’t take a lot of time, and work your way up from there. Before you know it, you’ll be more relaxed and therefore, you’ll be more able to deal with whatever comes up in life.

Use scent in an essential oil diffuser or candle. You can find diffusers and essential oils online. I really didn’t think it would make a big difference in my life, but I love mine. Lemon is my favorite when I want to be energetic, but lavender is a great scent to help you relax and calm down. Research online for other scents that help to calm and relax. You can use it before bed if you’re having trouble sleeping. Heck, you can run it all day if you need to.

Soft music is always relaxing. I like to have music on when I need to get things done, but I’m not talking about that here. Something soft is what’s needed to relax and decompress – classical, soft rock, meditation music, instrumental. The band my son is in, The Gated Community (who’s last CD is nice and mellow) is good (in my totally unbiased opinion), and I’m also into Yo-Yo Ma and James Taylor right now, who both have great Instagram feeds using #SongsOfComfort. You can find meditative music online that’s not only for meditating, but for just calming down. I really don’t think there’s anything better for stress relief. Remember, if “music has charms to soothe a savage beast”, I’m sure it can soothe you, too!

Above all, people, just remember that it’s all gonna be ok. We’re all gonna be ok. Stay calm, keep breathing, stay positive, do what the experts are recommending we do, and that’s all we can do. Share this post about Pullin’ from the Pantry – Stress Relief, maybe we can also help others blow off some steam and stay relaxed, and we can get through this – together!

 

Pullin’ from the Pantry – Pantry Staples

Today I’d like to talk about the first in a series of posts I’m calling Pullin’ from the Pantry. I’ll be sharing some ideas I have of ways to survive these next few crazy weeks under what may be considered some “duress”. I mean, come on – what better way to find ways to save, things to do, how to stay sane, and eating well, than by following some of the ways Grandma and Grandpa did it while they were growing up and starting their lives together during The Great Depression. They didn’t only survive it – they thrived during it! And, I might add, had a lot of fun doing both. Here are those two crazy kids when they were dating back in the mid 1930’s!

Today let’s talk about Pantry Staples. These are things you might want to have on hand, now that we all need to hunker down for awhile and/or go to the grocery store as little as possible. There are a lot of things that can be made: breakfast, snacks, meals, without even using anything from your refrigerator. It’s not always ideal, but it can be done. Besides, if we can’t go out to do the things we usually do in a “normal” day, there will be time to make these things yourself. Here’s a novel idea – why not also get the rest of your family to pitch in and help make some of these things! It could actually be fun! At the end, everyone in the family gets to enjoy the fruits of their labor and indulge in something that you all made together. Those will be memories your kids will remember forever! So cool!

Here are some ideas for pantry staples to stock up on:

Flour

Sugar

Brown sugar

Powdered sugar

Baking chocolate or chocolate chips

Yeast

Canned vegetables and fruit

Soup

Canned chicken, beef, or vegetable broth

Canned tuna, salmon, and chicken

Dried beans, rice, and lentils

Pastas of all kinds

Dry milk

Some refrigerator/freezer items that will last longest:

Frozen vegetables and fruit

Fresh fruits – apples, bananas (which can be frozen if not used in time), oranges

Fresh vegetables – celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic

Eggs

Butter

Plain yogurt

Cottage cheese

Cheese blocks – you can shred yourself and freeze the shredded cheese for later use

Milk (watch the freshness) and/or non-dairy or nut milk

Deli meat – I buy by the pound and freeze half for later

Fresh meats

Extras:

Cereal

Oatmeal

Crackers

Nut butters

Dried fruits

This is just a start. You can tweak the list to adjust for your family and those things your family will enjoy, but these products will allow you to make a lot of things in a pinch, and most of them will last quite a while. The possibilities of what can be made with all or some of these Pantry Staples are endless. Mind blowing, actually. Remember to keep an eye on those things that won’t last long – use them first so you don’t have any food waste. That’s just throwing away money and it just isn’t good to just buy it and end up putting it into the landfill. For an idea of what to make when you have a few things in your refrigerator that have been in the refrigerator a few days and you need to use it up, why not try a Garbage Can Frittata.

Garbage Can Frittata

In the weeks to come, watch for me to be sharing more ideas of how we’ll get through this challenge with flying colors. Because we will. It may take some patience, it may take some working together, and it may take some extra love, but we will get through it. For now – if you get a chance to get to the grocery store – try to make sure you have some of these Pullin’ from the Pantry – Pantry Staples, and remember – you’re gonna be ok!

 

Copycat Thin Mints

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s also Girl Scout Cookie time – time to make some Copycat Thin Mints! While I love Thin Mints and I love to buy them and I love to support the Girl Scouts, there are times when you run out of them and you NEED them. That means you NEED to try and replicate them. Because you NEED them. To be honest, they’re not exactly the same, but they come darn close! Hence, the name. I was a Brownie when I was in second grade, but that was long before the cookie selling was a thing. I loved being a Brownie, but I would NOT have loved having to sell cookies. I was totally in it for the projects – crafts, baking, building. One of my favorite projects was a block of wood that we hammered and pounded with different tools to make dings and dents and scratches and holes in it, stained the block of wood a dark brown (it was the 1960’s, after all), glued on a photo of ourselves which we had cut out into a circle, and glued a piece of white rope around the photo to finish it off. It was so my kind of project. Although it was not the most flattering photo since we had to wear our Brownie uniform and they were NOT flattering.  Plus, it was taken during our Brownie meeting after school. The afternoon sun was going down and we had to face the bright sun to take the photo – you know – to not get dark shadows on our faces. I couldn’t keep my eyes open because it was too bright, so in the picture I’m trying to shade my eyes. Ha! Priceless! Loved it!

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Thin Mints

Melt together in a microwave safe bowl:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coconut oil (I ended up adding about 1 Tablespoon total – more on this later)

Microwave for 30 seconds, then in 15 second increments until melted.

Stir until smooth.

Add:

1/2-3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Stir.

Dip into chocolate mixture:

1 sleeve Ritz Crackers

Set on parchment paper lined baking sheet until firm (I put the baking sheet into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm up – not because I couldn’t wait any longer or anything).

4 simple ingredients – genius!

Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the bowl. When melted, add the peppermint extract.

I did my usual dipping with a fork, just like I did when I made Dipped Oreos. Put the cracker into the lovely bowl of minty chocolate, let it drip back into the bowl, tap the fork on the edge of the bowl, and scrape bottom of the cracker on the edge of the bowl before putting on the baking sheet.

Here’s where I had to add more coconut oil. The chocolate was so thick, it broke the crackers when I tried to tap the fork on the side of the bowl. I added more coconut oil – about 1 Tablespoon total – stirred it up and tried again. That worked better. Counting the broken ones, I got 18 crackers out of this amount of chocolate.

Minty, crispy, delicious. They’re a perfect cookie for St. Patrick’s Day.

These aren’t exactly the same as a Thin Mint, but they sure are close! It’s always nice to have a quick snack when you need one. The ingreidents are things you can keep in your cupboard so you can make these at a moments notice – or whenever the craving hits you. Make a batch of these Copycat Thin Mints when you run out of the cookies you buy from the Girl Scouts – on second thought make 2 or 3 batches – you won’t be sorry!

 

 

My Mom’s Favorite Chocolate Treats

Today I’m sharing My Mom’s Favorite Chocolate Treats. She would have turned 80 this weekend, but unfortunately, we lost her three weeks ago. She was a notorious chocoholic, so what better way to celebrate her birthday, than to share what were her favorite chocolate Plenty Sweet Life recipes. Here is a photo of the birthday girl, almost 80 years ago!

So sweet! We love you and we miss you already, Mom!

 

Chocolate Chip Cake

 

Chocolate Rose Cake

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Miracle Whip Cake with Chocolate Chip Glaze

 

Brownies #2

 

Chocolate Chip Scones

 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

 

Chocolate Fondue

 

 

Growing Paperwhite Bulbs

Growing Paperwhite Bulbs is so much fun, and it makes a great wintertime project! I think Grandma would have really enjoyed this. She loved plants and gardening and she was famous (in our family anyway) for planting bulbs – gladiola bulbs, to be exact. She would plant the bulbs in her garden up against the south side of the house every spring and by the middle of summer, they would be the most glorious gladiola flowers. They were huge! They were beautiful! They were worthy of the county fair! Yes – she entered them in the fair and won ribbons for them! When we moved to our house, I would have LOVED to plant gladiolas, but I had a few issues with that. #1 – we didn’t have much south facing space to plant them. #2 – we didn’t even really have a garden then – it was a new build in a new development and it took years to make a garden happen. #3 – I was just too lazy. I didn’t want to plant things that I would have to remember to dig up, dry out, and then replant the next spring. Too much work and too much to remember to do – I had three young and busy children back then. I guess there was a reason why hers were so beautiful and prize-winning – they took some work! I think of her whenever I see gladiolas. While gladiolas bloom in the middle of the hot summertime (that might have something to do with why she loved them – her birthday was in July), I think she would have loved watching these pretty little white flowers growing in our bleak Minnesota winter.

Here is the planting as I did it:

Paperwhite Bulbs

I bought my 3 paperwhite bulbs at our local Bachman’s Floral, and used the printed out instructions for how to grow the bulbs that they offered from the University of Minnesota Extension service, but you can also find instructions on their website here (the print out I got with the bulbs was a bit different than what’s on the website).

Here are the 3 bulbs I chose (all of the bulbs looked like this, with the green parts curved like this, so I guess that’s what they’re supposed to look like). Total cost – 3 bulbs at $.89/bulb = $2.67!! In case this doesn’t work, it wasn’t an expensive venture.

I picked a milk glass container that seemed about the right size. The instructions say that the container should be slightly deeper than the height of the bulbs. I added a layer of washed pebbles to the bottom of the container, placed the bulbs in the pebbles (these bulbs were so big the 3 hardly fit), and filled in around the bulbs with a few more pebbles to hold the bulbs secure. You can also plant the bulbs in soil, but I decided this was easier.

Here’s how tight it was once the bulbs and pebbles were all in.

Next – water the container to just below the bottom of the bulbs. I can tell now that it would have maybe been better to use a glass container so you can see the water level better. I had to keep tilting this one as I went along, to see where the water level was at.

The instructions say that for the first week, keep the container somewhere cool (not below 40 degrees) and dark. These bulbs went into the storage area under our stairs down to our family room – it stays pretty cool and dark under there. After a week, bring them out and into the light.

Here’s what they looked like after the first week in the dark – not much difference. It should take an average of 3-4 weeks to bloom. It seemed to take a VERY long time for anything to happen – about 6 weeks. Once the stalks started to grow, it went pretty fast.

I kept them in the sun as much as I possibly could, and before I knew it, they were blooming! It worked!! How fun is that?!!!

Apparently, paperwhites are notorious for growing very tall and flopping over. If that happens, you can use a stake and help them stand upright. I was assuming all the bulbs would bloom at the same time, but my 3 bulbs didn’t. I really don’t mind. It might take a few weeks for all 3 to bloom – you can see the second one has a bud (on the right side of this photo) and will bloom pretty soon. The third bulb (on the right side at the bottom) doesn’t look like it has much happening, so maybe it won’t bloom at all. This was a great experiment. I haven’t tried growing these bulbs before, but I’ll definitely do it again!

This was fun! Look how pretty the flowers are, and the scent is quite strong. Paperwhites are sometimes grown during the holidays, but I liked doing it during the winter doldrums. They ended up being a little bit of springtime in the cold, snowy worst time of year here in Minnesota. Next winter, I hope you try Growing Paperwhite Bulbs after the holidays and enjoy a bit of springtime yourself!

 

 

 

 

PDF of instructions

can cause skin irritation – mother in law – itchy – used sandwich bag over hand

hostess gift

Christmas time

 

Easy Coffee Cake

Everyone needs a recipe for an Easy Coffee Cake. We all love having friends and family over for a visit, and this easy recipe would be great to pull together last minute, or have already made up in the freezer to pull out and warm up when last-minute guests show up. This one really is ridiculously easy, and it’s ridiculously delicious! It makes a small pan so you don’t have a lot of leftovers. You may or may not be happy about that, but sometimes you just need a little somethin’. You all know how I love these recipe from Grandma’s old church cookbooks, and that’s where I found this one. Grandma (and the rest of the family) had so many recipes for coffee cake: Coffee Cake, Coffee Cake #2, Coffee Cake #3, Overnight Crunch Coffee Cake, Streusel Cake, Sour Cream Coffee Bread – and this is just a partial list! You should check them ALL out, because they’re ALL delicious!

I’m not even kidding when I say this family had/has a thing for coffee. As you can see in this photo from 1960 where both sets of my grandparents were on a trip to Massachusetts to visit my mom and dad. This was after they were married, my dad was stationed out there in the Army, and mom was expecting me!

I love this one so much – look at this! They’ve stopped at a drive-in restaurant to have a “bite to eat” (as Grandma would say), and they’re all having coffee! Look at how cute the cups are! I can’t help but wonder who took the photo! Ha! Maybe it was my mom – this may have been when both sets of parents drove her out to meet my dad when he was stationed out there. I know the coffee wasn’t as strong back then as it is now, because when Grandma and Grandpa came to stay at our house, my husband would make coffee in the morning, and Grandma had to put water in it because it was too strong! That was probably because he enjoyed his coffee pretty strong (he also liked a local brand and ground his own beans). She always loved to give him a hard time about his strong coffee!

Well, when you have coffee – especially in the afternoon – you really should have coffee cake with it. So here we are. We all know Grandma loved to entertain and she loved to bake delicious treats to have when the ladies came over – for coffee – or she had to bring something to church for a special occasion. She would have loved this easy recipe.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Easy Coffee Cake

Sift together:

1 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix in:

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

Melt right in the baking pan:

2 Tablespoons fat (I used butter)

Pour into rest of ingredients.

Mix lightly and pour into 8″ x 8″ pan.

Sprinkle with topping.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Topping:

Mix together:

3 Tablespoons soft butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

I always love a recipe that uses ingredients that you have in your cupboard.

Nothing special is needed to make this coffee cake, but simple ingredients make the most delicious things.

You might want to make the topping first and have it ready to go. I put the cake in a foil pan so I could put it in the freezer. If you use your good pans for this, they’re tied up in the freezer until you use the cake. That is one thing I have learned the hard way.

Oooh this topping is gonna be good!

I was right – so good. It makes a nice, cinnamon-y, crusty top!

I wanted to show you what the cake looks like, but I seriously put this piece back into the pan to put in the freezer for later use.

Afternoon coffee here we come!

So there it is. So easy to make, so delicious, and so great for last minute visitors to enjoy! We love an easy recipe here on Plenty Sweet Life! Give it a try – you’re going to love this Easy Coffee Cake, too!

 

Cream of Broccoli Soup #2

It’s still winter, and to warm up, we all need some Cream of Broccoli Soup #2! Of course, as you all know (if you follow this blog) – the #2 means that this is the second recipe I’ve made here on Plenty Sweet Life called Cream of Broccoli Soup, so it gets the new label of Cream of Broccoli Soup #2. This recipe comes from a cookbook that my sister-in-law got years ago when the company she worked for put it together. Employees submitted their favorite recipes, and you know what that means – it means that this cookbook is on the same level as Grandma’s old church cookbooks – everyone submits only their best and most favorite recipes. That means they’re all good ones. I mean, come on! That’s right up our alley here!

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Cream of Broccoli Soup #2

Brown in 1/4 cup margarine (I used butter):

1 medium onion, chopped

Make a paste out of (I use an old mustard jar and lid to shake this up):

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

Add to browned onions and stir.

Whisk in:

1-14 1/2 ounce can chicken broth

Pre-cook (you can if you want to, but I never do this part – I just throw in the frozen broccoli):

1-10 ounce package of frozen broccoli (I used a 16 ounce package)

Drain and add to soup (I usually just add the frozen broccoli right into the soup).

Add:

mushroom slices, fresh or canned (for this batch I used a small can of sliced mushrooms)

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

salt and pepper to taste

Simmer 30-45 minutes.

Before serving, add:

1/2 pound Velveeta Cheese, diced

Stir until melted.

The fact that this says it serves 8-10 makes me laugh out loud – it serves 3-4 when I make it!

This is the onions browning in the butter.

Here is the flour/milk paste added to the onions and butter.

Next, in goes the chicken broth and broccoli. Cook that for about 30 minutes and then add in the mushrooms and celery salt.

It’s starting to smell awfully good in the kitchen at this point.

Last – add the Velveeta and stir until it all melts and the soup is creamy.

Oh boy – so good! You could enjoy this soup with a nice salad and some crusty bread, but sometimes all you need is a handful of saltine crackers.

Soup just seems to make winter tolerable. It warms you up and tastes so comforting and delicious. If you serve it with the above mentioned salad and crusty bread, you might be able to get 8-10 servings out of this (and remember – I even used a larger package of frozen broccoli than called for), but I doubt it. It’s just too good. I wouldn’t count on any more than the 3-4 servings that I get out of this recipe. It’s easy to make, it’s on the table quickly, and it’s really, really tasty. Make up a pot of this Cream of Broccoli Soup #2 – it’s a good one!

 

Banana Cream Pie

Today I’m sharing how I make Banana Cream Pie! My dad loved pie, and recently my sister and I were talking about it – which WAS his favorite –  was it Banana Cream Pie or Coconut Cream Pie? Neither of us could remember, so when I went shopping for the ingredients, I only found Banana Cream Jello Pudding – I couldn’t find Coconut Cream Jello Pudding. So there it is – Banana Cream Pie MUST have been his favorite! Next week would have been his 80th birthday, so in his honor, I decided to make this pie. Here is a photo of him with his older brother and his older sister – he’s the baby. They all look so dressed up in this one! He looks like he’s about a year old here, so that makes this photo almost 80 years old! Is this kid just the sweetest, or what?!!! Look at those cheeks and the chubby little legs!

And what about his hair with the little part in it already?!! So cute! Well, you can tell by the cheeks on this baby that he’d grow up to love pie! 🙂 I used to make this pie for him when I was pretty little – that’s how easy this one is to make!

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Banana Cream Pie

Prepare one pie crust – either graham cracker crust or regular baked pie crust. If using a regular pie crust, blind bake it until it’s fully baked. You can find out How To Blind Bake a Pie Crust in my last post.

Layer in bottom of prepared pie crust:

1-2 ripe bananas, sliced

Prepare according to package instructions:

1 package of Banana Cream Jello Pudding (I used the Cook-n-Serve kind, but in a pinch, you could also use Instant Pudding)

2 cups milk

Cool pudding.

Pour over top of bananas in crust (I made two layers of each: banana, pudding, banana, pudding – that makes more banana in each bite!).

Smooth the top of the pudding.

Chill.

Top or serve with whipped cream.

Have one pie crust baked and ready to go. If you don’t know How To Blind Bake a Pie Crust, you can check it out here.

First slice up 1 banana and layer the slices in the bottom of the crust.

Next, layer on half of the banana cream pudding, then another banana, and then the other half of the pudding.

Here is the finished pie. My pudding got a bit lumpy because I tried to get the pudding to cool first. I don’t think that’s necessary. You can put it into the pie crust while it’s still warm – it’s going to go into the refrigerator to chill, anyway.

Chill the pie in the refrigerator for several hours (if you can wait that long).

I was going to have my daughter bring her brulee torch with her, but I forgot to call her. I tried to use the broiler to make a crust on top of the banana slices, but it didn’t work – don’t do this unless you like really soft and cooked banana slices. That didn’t go as planned, but it was still pretty – AND delicious. Next time, if I don’t borrow my daughter’s torch, I’d just put a plain slice on top.

This is seriously the easiest-pie-ever to make. It’s another recipe – if you want to call it a recipe – that checks all our boxes for easy to make and ridiculously delicious. Do me a favor and make this pie in honor of what would have been my dad’s 80th birthday. I’d love it if everyone made a Happy Birthday “toast” to him with a slice of this Banana Cream Pie!