Frosted bake shop

Buttermilk Pancakes

2011-02-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

I made some fun rainbow pancakes for the kids the other day. I have seen pictures of them before and always thought they looked really cool - and they are! The kids loved them. I made them with my favorite from-scratch pancake recipe. It is a version of the IHOP recipe that I found years ago. They are yummy with fresh blueberries added, but almost better plain. My family thinks they are the best!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Printable recipe here

1 1/4 cups flour

1 egg

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup canola oil

pinch of salt

Preheat your skillet over medium heat. Blend all of the ingredients until smooth. Spoon approximately 1/3 cup of the batter onto the skillet. When the edges appear the harden and the bubbles pop at the edges, flip the pancake. Cook on the other side for the same amount of time. - If you add blueberries, you might have to flip a couple times to cook evenly in the center.

If you want to make the rainbow pancakes, start by doubling the recipe. Then, divide the batter into 6 bowls. Add the correct food coloring to each bowl and then stir to get the shade you like. I used a 1/4 cup to drop the batter instead of a 1/3 cup. It makes a little bit more of a mess - but it is fun!

Black Bean Soup

2011-02-02T09:07:00.001-08:00

I saw this recipe a couple weeks ago on Our Best Bites and knew immediately I had to try it. Wow! This soup is so good. Seriously, I licked my bowl. And my spoon. And finished my kids bowls. Then I ate it for breakfast the next morning. I loved it.

Black Bean Soup

printable recipe here

1 Tbs. olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3/4 cup diced carrots

3/4 cup diced celery

1 cup diced onion

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1, 3.5 oz green chilies

2 cans beef broth

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. oregano leaves

1 bay leaf

tobasco sauce to taste

1 lime

Warm a large soup pot on Medium-High heat and then add the olive oil. Add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute the veggies for about 5 minutes.

Add the beans, chilies and broth and then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Add as much tobasco sauce and you would like - I put in about 6 good shakes!

Cook uncovered for about 25 minutes, or until all the veggies are soft. Remove the bay leaf and take the pot off the heat.

Place the soup in a blender and puree the soup until it is smooth. The ladies from Our best Bites, suggested removing the stopper on top of the blender to let the steam escape. I used my smoothie maker, so already had a big opening. I did what they suggested and covered it with a paper towel, it worked great!

Squeeze in some fresh lime juice and mix. Serve with tortilla chips, cilantro, cheese & tomatoes.

Apple Bars

2011-01-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

I have been buying a lot of apples lately - partly because they are on sale at Costco & partly because I am loving eating them with peanut butter for lunch. I love the taste of the two together & you don't have the guilt of eating too much bread. Which is my downfall!

I have made this recipe twice in the last week and need to stop now. It is too good to resist & I am trying to put as many into the kids lunches as possible to get them out of the house! These bars are so yummy. They puff up as they cook and the top gets crackly and crisp while the inside is soft and gooey. They have a bit of a fall feel to them, which I always love.

Apple Bars

Printable recipe here

1 cup melted butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cups peeled, cored and diced apples

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Mix the butter, sugar and egg until creamy. Add in the flour, soda and cinnamon and mix well. Stir in the apples and walnuts. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Remember, the outside will be crispy and look done while the middle might still be gooey!

Enjoy!

Much Better Now

2011-01-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

I am a recipe hoarder. I love to look at cookbooks, magazines and blogs about food. I love to rip out and print all of the recipes that look good to me. And I have a hard time getting rid of them - I might want to try it out soon!

I thought I had a good system down for my recipes, but my printing has gotten a little out of control. I have papers everywhere! I would try some of them out and then stick it into my trusty "binder" but it has become a little bit crowded. This is what my cookbook and recipe cupboard looked like... not good, see all the papers!

I had finally had enough. So while my hubby was out of town this week I started my organizing. I bought a pack of the 1 inch binders at Costco and figured out how I wanted to divide my recipes. I made a super quick cover for the front and one for the spine and then went to work sorting the papers. And I actually threw a bunch away!

I can't ever find any tabs that you can see when you use the page protectors, so I just made my own. I printed out the label on cardstock, cut it out, backed it with the same color page as the divider and then stuck it to the end with packing tape. It looks and works perfect!

I am so happy with how they turned out! They make me want to start baking more and I have so much room for new recipes!

I chose to make 6 binders and divide up my recipes in these categories -

*Bread & Breakfast

*Main Dish

*Cookies & Cakes

*Crockpot & Casseroles

*Soup, Salad & Sides

*To Try

Each of these binders has their own sub-categories also. For example, the Bread & Breakfast binder has a breakfast, quickbread, muffin and bread sections. This is just what works for me!

Much better now, wouldn't you agree?

Chalupa

2011-01-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Remember when I said the Mexican Meat Mix, which makes my favorite Chimmichangas also makes the best soup? Well, this is it. This soup is so good. I love it because if you already have the meat mix in the freezer, this soup takes no time! Everyone can top it the way they like - I like cheese, cilantro, green onions, shredded lettuce, tomato, avacado & chips. It is perfect for a cold night!

Chalupa

2 cans pinto beans (or black)

4 cups water - or to your desired consistency

3 cups Mexican Meat Mix

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. chili powder

Toppings

chips

cheese

green onion

shredded lettuce

cilantro

avacado

tomatoes

Add the beans, water, Meat mix, salt and chili powder in a soup pot. Cook uncovered for approx. an hour, stirring occasionally until it is heated all the way through.

Serve in a bowl over the chips. Garnish with the toppings of your choice. Enjoy!

Homemade Pizza

2010-12-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

One of my very best friends, Stephanie, gave me this recipe. She told me a couple times about this pizza and how easy & fast it was. I wasn't sure what her definition of "easy" was until she told me it takes about 15 minutes to make it! That is my kind of easy. I knew I had to try it too. I have always had a hard time with pizza dough - I never found the recipe that made the kind I liked. Well, I am happy to say that I have an easy, new favorite! I have made this recipe about 5 times now and my whole family loves it. And I love that I can make it quickly - the only thing I need to plan ahead for is to make sure I have mozarella cheese!

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

printable recipe

2 1/2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water (120-130°)
1 Tbsp. Rapid Rise or Bread Machine yeast
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 500°. Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add hot water and olive oil. Mix for five minutes and then let the dough rest 10 minutes. Press dough on pizza pan, pizza stone, or jelly-roll pan. Bake at 500° for 3 minutes. It will look like this...

After you take it out of the oven, you can cover it with toppings.

I cheat when it comes to the sauce! I have found an easy solution that my family loves. I use the Hunt's brand "Garlic and Herb" sauce for my pizza. It tastes great, makes it even easier and costs under $1 at Wal-mart!

When you are done adding your toppings, return to the oven and bake 8-10 minutes. I usually just make the traditional pepperoni, but have also done a BBQ chicken which was great. I might have to make this today and experiment!

Mexican Meat Mix / Chimmichangas

2010-11-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite meal ever. No joking. My mom has been making this since I was a little girl. This was what all of the kids in my family picked for their birthday dinner. If I had to pick one dish to remind me of my home growing up, this is it. I love it.

It is from the cookbook titled Make-A-Mix Cookery. It is a great cookbook - that I seem to have borrowed from my mom about 10 years ago - that has many great meals. It is written by 3 moms who were trying to make more time for their families and still make good dinners. They are the original mix makers! They teach you how to make and prepare a mix and make it work for many meals. I found some copies of their book on Amazon if you are interested. Ours is well worn and I think I may break it out again and see what new things I can find!

In this meal, you cook up one large roast and then freeze it in 3 cup portions to make 3 separate meals. Our favorite is the Chimmichangas, but it also makes an amazing Chalupa (thick soup) that everyone loves.

Mexican Meat Mix

5 lbs. beef roast or combination of beef & pork roast

3 Tbs. vegetable shortening

3 onions, chopped

1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies

2 (7 oz) cans green chili salsa

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

4 Tbs. flour

4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin

Juices from beef roast

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and place the roast in a large roasting pan. Cover with a tight lid and roast about 12 hours, until well done. OR cook all day in crock pot until it shreds easily.

Drain the juices and set aside for later. Cool the meat and then remove any bones. Shred the meat and then set aside.

Melt the shortening in a large pot. Add the onions and green chilies & saute 1 minute. Add the green chili salsa, garlic powder, flour, salt and cumin. Cook 1 minute over medium-low heat. Stir in the reserved juices and shredded meat and cook another 5 minutes, until thick. This will smell so good! At this point, I usually have the chips out for a nice snack!

Cool the meat and put about 3 cups mix into 3 freezer zip-lock bags. Seal, label and use within 6 months.

For the chimmis, we grab a bag out of the freezer in the morning and let it defrost in the refrigerator. Take the meat out of the zip-lock bag and heat up in the microwave. Put a little bit in a tortilla and roll up. I took some pictures of my hubby as he rolled up the tortilla...

Put a little canola oil in a skillet and heat up until popping. Add the rolled up tortillas and then flip them when they are golden.

They should look like this when they are done! SO GOOD! You could always make it a little healthier and bake them instead, but why? They are way to good this way.

Put them on a bed of shredded lettuce and then top with your favorite toppings. We like tomato, cheese, cilantro, green onion, guacamole and sour cream.

You will be glad there are 2 more bags in the freezer!!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

2010-11-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to be posting again! My computer hasn't been working too well - I had an interim hard drive for months that wouldn't allow me to do anything. I am happy to say that I think it has been fixed and won't happen again. I have to give a big thank you to some of you who have been so nice and written me or posted a note letting me know you are there. A special thanks to Allison, Deborah Brown, Justanordinarygirl & Sara! I am sorry I didn't respond to you guys - I am back now!

I made these cupcakes for a wedding shower over the summer & it got such a great response that I made them again for my husband's birthday. We loved them! They are chocolate cupcakes with a "secret" filling of raspberries. If you like the combination of chocolate and raspberries, then these are for you. Especially with the chocolate cream cheese frosting - anything would taste good frosted with this frosting!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 cup chocolate chips

Raspberry Filling

2 bags frozen raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cups cocoa powder, unsweetened

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.

Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small sized bowl and whisk to combine. Measure out the milk, vanilla and sour cream and stir to combine.

Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk/vanilla and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop batter into cupcake liners 2/3s full. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake cupcakes for about 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are cooling, puree the raspberries (leave them a little bit thick) and then mix in the sugar. You can taste the filling to see if it is sweet enough for you and adjust the sugar accordingly. Fill a pastry bag with the filling and put a regular tip on it and place it directly in the center of the cupcake. Press out filling while slowly pulling the bag up and out. It will look like this...

After you are done filling the cupcakes, blend the cream cheese and butter on low until creamy. Add the cocoa, vanilla and sugar on low until moist. Increase the speed and beat until fluffy. Don't forget to sift the sugar! It really makes a big difference in the texture of the frosting.

Pipe it onto the cupcake to cover up the raspberry filling and garnish with a fresh raspberry. They are pretty and delicious!

Best Cinnamon Rolls!

2010-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

I started making cinnamon rolls when I was 15. I got a job at a little bakery and learned how to make them from scratch. They are great and I haven't wanted to try any other recipe until I found the Pioneer Woman blog. Her cinnamon rolls are her top rated recipe and they get such great reviews. I knew I had to give them a try.

So, for Fathers Day I made them & I love them. I don't know if I can go back. They are amazing. They make A LOT of rolls, I made 6 tins full (I froze 2 for later.) The dough is light and just melts in your mouth. The frosting is what made it absolutely sinful. I felt like I had made the best donuts ever, it tasted just like donut maple frosting.

It is nice also because you make the dough the night before and then roll them out in the morning. It took me about an hour and a half in the morning from start to bite! I will be making these many more times & can't wait to try them out of the freezer!

I am linking to Pioneer Woman for this recipe. She has amazing step-by-step instructions for you! The only difference I made was not adding the coffee in the frosting, it didn't need it!

Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever!

Pioneer Woman Recipe
Yum!!
Don't they all look pretty!!

Don't skimp on the frosting!!

No bake cocoa cookies

2010-06-24T13:49:00.001-07:00

My kids loves these cookies. I think all kids do. I love them because they are super easy and fast to make and they don't heat up the kitchen. It is starting to get hot, so not turning on the oven during the day is so nice. I think most people have a version of this cookie - here is mine!

No Bake Cocoa Cookie

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup milk

3 Tbs. cocoa

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups oatmeal

This is all you will need! (I doubled my recipe for this picture, that is why there are 2 sticks of butter.)

In a medium sauce pan, combine butter, milk, cocoa, and sugar. Mix over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to stir for 5 minutes while it is boiling.

Take the pan off the heat, add vanilla and mix in, then add oatmeal. Mix till combined.

On and ungreased cookie sheet, drop a spoonful of the mixture onto the pan. The cookie should keep its form and the chocolate and oatmeal should stay together. If the dough spreads, you will need to keep the mixture on boil for another minute or so. Get them onto the cookie sheet as quickly as you can, sometimes they harden in the pan!

This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies - perfect to be goobled up in a day!

7-up chicken

2010-06-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite chicken recipe. We have made it since I was a little girl and I still can't get enough. It is so good!! And it tastes great the next day in sandwiches, so we always make lots of extra.

When I was younger my parents made this for a church youth group activity. They put the marinade right into the frozen chicken bags, let them sit for the day and then took the bags to the activity and grilled them there. This recipe can feed a huge crowd (just adjust the marinade to your amount) or for your family. But, seriously make some extra for the next day!

7-up Chicken

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup soy sauce

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. horseradish sauce

2 cups 7-up

Chicken breasts or tenders - enough to fit comfortably in a gallon zip-lock bag

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the chicken overnight. The longer the better! I usually put my zip-lock bag on a cookie sheet in the fridge and I try to remember to turn it over every so often. Grill and enjoy!

Top Ramen Chinese Chicken Salad

2010-06-10T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of my very best friends made this for me when I was in High School. I loved it. I made her give me the recipe before I left her house and I have been making it ever since. I wont say how many years that has been! But, it is really one of my favorite meals. Especially this time of year when it is hot and a cool dinner sounds great.

I like this salad also because it seems to taste better the longer it sits and the spices mix together. I usually pan fry my chicken, but you could easily use rotisserie or grilled chicken also. My kids eat this up without any complaints. Actually, they love it too and try to go for the serving with the most top ramen!

Top Ramen Chinese Chicken Salad

Recipe given to me from Cami Stephenson

1/2 head lettuce, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 head cabbage, cut into bite size pieces

3 cups chicken, diced or shredded

2 Tbs. sesame seeds

1/4 cup slivered almonds

2 packages Top Ramen Chicken Soup Noodles, broken into small pieces

2 green onions, diced

Dressing

1 Top Ramen noodle dressing packet

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp. salt

1Tbs. sugar

3 Tbs. vinegar

1 tsp. pepper

Combine all of the dressing ingredients and stir very well. Set aside while you put the salad together.

Add all of the salad ingredients into a large bowl and mix with the dressing. That's it. Sometimes I don't have sesame seeds or almonds & it still tastes great! Enjoy this one!

Easy Breadsticks

2010-06-02T10:12:00.001-07:00

I am not quite sure what to think about the weather lately! I keep having to move the kids clothes around in their closets - short sleeves one day and then long the next. Last week it was actually cold and rainy, when last year at this time it was 100 degrees!

It made me in the mood for some soup and bread. I had stumbled upon a new breadstick recipe that looked quick and good, so I thought I would give it a try. My family LOVED them! And they were honestly the easiest bread recipe I have ever made. You don't have to wait for them to rise and you don't even have to roll them out. I found them at here at Jamie Cooks it up - she has a lot of great recipes!

Easy Breadsticks

1 1/2 C warm water
2 T sugar
1 T yeast
1/2 t salt
3 1/2- 4 C flour
1/4 C butter
3/4 C grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Johnny's Seasoning Salt

Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in a measuring cup or in the bottom of your mixer. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it is all foamy.

Add the salt and the flour, one cup at a time, until it is well incorporated. Mix on high for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes longer.

Melt the butter and pour half of it onto a large cookie sheet. Place the dough in the center of the pan and let it sit for another 5 minutes so it is easy to shape.

This is the best part! Just spread the dough out flat onto the pan with your fingers until it reaches all of the edges. No rolling necessary.

Pour the other half of the butter onto the breadsticks. Use a kitchen brush or your fingers to spread it evenly over the top. Sprinkle with your favorite garlic spread - I used Johnny's Seasoning Salt - it has a yummy flavor and isn't too heavy on the garlic. Then sprinkle with fresh Parmesan or mozarella cheese. I also made one pan without any seasoning and it turned out great too!

With a pizza cutter cut the dough into your breadstick shapes. Put the pan into a 170 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes. The breadsticks should rise about 1 inch. Turn you oven up to 350 and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

They are great warm out of the oven & cold the next day. I have a feeling I will be making these a lot!

Rocky Road Chocolate Cake

2010-05-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

My mom emailed me this recipe a couple months ago and I put it in my file of new things to try. I was completely intrigued by a crock pot cake. And this one had so many yummy things in it, mainly lots of chocolate! I am a crock pot fan, so I knew this was my kind of cake.

I am so glad I tried it! It was so good. It had a really fudgey (is that a word?) texture, which I love. It was warm, gooey and soft. I wasn't sure how much it would make because the batter didn't seem like much when I put it in the crock pot. But it cooked up to the very top! This cake will feed quite a crowd - and make them happy!

Rocky Road Chocolate Cake

1 package German chocolate cake mix
1 3.9-oz. package chocolate instant pudding mix
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups milk, divided
1 3.4-oz. package chocolate cook-and-serve pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Beat the cake mix, instant pudding, eggs, sour cream, butter, vanilla and 1 1/4 cups of milk for about 2 minutes until mixed well. Spray the crock pot with Pam and pour the batter in.

Heat remaining 2 cups milk in a heavy non-aluminum saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, 3-5 minutes or just until bubbles appear (do not boil); remove from heat.

Sprinkle cook-and serve pudding mix over batter. Slowly pour the hot milk over pudding so that it stays on top of the batter. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 1/2 hours.

Turn off your beautiful green crock pot and sprinkle the cake with walnuts, marshmallows, and chocolate morsels. Put the cover back on and let it stand 15 minutes or until marshmallows are slightly melted. Spoon the cake into dessert dishes, and serve with ice cream.

The cake may look like it is not completely done, but it if the top is set, then it is done. And it is great!

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

2010-05-21T15:49:00.001-07:00

We had a birthday party for someone in our house last week. She turned 5 and loves everything pink! I know it wont last for too much longer (even though I never stop liking pink), so we had a fun pink party. I had printed this recipe out a long time ago to try & thought it would work perfectly. Especially since you can get fresh strawberries right now! These cupcakes use a pound of pureed strawberries - so yummy.

We loved them and they were a big hit at the party! I used one of my very favorite buttercream frostings - it is so good and holds shape forever.

Strawberry & Cream Cupcakes

from Our Best Bites blog

2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. cake flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks butter, softened

2 1/4 c. sugar

3 large eggs

1 egg white

1 c. buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 lb. strawberries, pureed

A few drops of red food coloring

Buttercream Frosting

from Allrecipes

2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

Add eggs and egg white, one at a time, beating after every addition.

Reduce speed to low. Combine buttermilk and vanilla together and set aside. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture; end with the dry ingredients. Fold in strawberries. If desired, add a few drops of red food coloring until a pretty pink color is reached. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure everything has been mixed in. Divide batter among muffin cups (about 30), filling them almost all the way to the top.

Bake cupcakes until a knife inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes. Allow to cool in muffin tins.

For the frosting, cream shortening until fluffy. Add sugar, and continue creaming until well blended. Add salt, vanilla, and 6 ounces whipping cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional 2 ounces whipping cream if necessary. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

I piped the frosting out with a pastry bag and then sprinkled with pink sprinkles!

Guacamole Salsa

2010-05-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

I went to a church dinner a couple weeks ago and they made shredded pork with an amazing guacamole salsa over it. I loved it! I was so excited when later in the night they had a class teaching us how to make the same salsa!

It is really easy to make and is healthy also. It is made with all fresh vegetables & herbs ( and a pinch of salt.) It can be made thicker like real guacamole or thinner to make it like a salad dressing - and everywhere in-between. I use it to spread on my turkey sandwiches and it has a bunch of flavor without adding any fat. I keep thinking of all the other ways I can eat this - besides with a spoon!

Guacamole Salsa

1 lb. tomatillos (or more if you want it thinner)

1 jalapeno pepper (or more if you like it spicy)

1/3 bunch cilantro

1 thick slice of onion

1 garlic clove

1 avocado

1 tsp. salt

Peel and wash the tomatillos - they are usually found over by the cilantro & peppers, and have a husk on them. Cut them into quarters and put in the blender. Follow with the jalapeno, cilantro, onion, garlic, avocado & salt. Be sure to put the tomatillos in the bottom of the blender and not the avocado so it doesn't stick to the blade. You might have to help it start by shaking or using a mixer at first. But, once it gets going the juice from the tomatillos will help move the other ingredients around.

That is it! I was told it lasts for about a week in the fridge. I did notice that it thickens up in the fridge, so if you want it thinner grab a couple more tomatillos to mix in again. Super easy and so good!!

Orange Oven French Toast

2010-05-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

This is what I woke up to on Mother's day. Yes, my hubby is awesome. He is a great cook and specializes in breakfast food. For some reason he can flip a pancake way better than me! He did such a good job with this breakfast, especially since we had to be to church at 8:30 in the morning!

This meal is made the night before and then put in the fridge until baking, so those busy mornings are made a little easier. I love it because you get a pan full of french toast all at once so the family can actually eat together! They are so good and have a light orange flavor.

Orange Oven French Toast

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. grated orange peel

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

16 slices toast (we like french bread)

2 oranges, sliced

In a small bowl, combine the butter, honey and 2 tsp. cinnamon, mix well. Pour the mixture evenly into 2 ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pans (cookie sheets).

In a medium bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add the milk, orange juice, sugar, orange peel, salt and cinnamon. Mix all the ingredients well. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and place into the baking pans. Pour any remaining egg mixture over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the toast for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes. Serve with some orange slices!

7-up Biscuit

2010-05-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from Steph at an awesome site called Plain Chicken. It is a really fun site with lots of great chicken, grilling and other yummy recipes. You should check out all the ways Steph can make grilled cheese - I was completely impressed!

When I saw this recipe on her blog, I couldn't get it off my mind! Seriously, I thought about it for a couple of days and kept wanting to make it for every meal. I finally got to make them and WOW, they are great!! They only have three ingredients and they are soft, fluffy, buttery and the perfect texture. My whole family devoured them quickly. I think I want to make them tonight!

7 -Up Biscuits

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup 7-up

1/4 cup melted butter

Cut the sour cream into the Bisquick and then add the 7-up. The dough will be really sticky and soft, just sprinkle with a little bisquick mix to make it into biscuits. Melt the butter in a 9 inch square pan (I doubled mine in a 9x13!). Place the biscuits in the pan and bake at 450 degrees until just golden.

Kookies

2010-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

I needed to make a treat for cub scouts today, but wanted to do something quick. So, I went to my cookbooks and found a great new cookie recipe. It is from a church cookbook, which I love because it is a compilation of everyone's favorite recipes. They usually turn out well when they are all favorites!

This cookie is actually called Kookie and is really yummy. Double chocolate, with chocolate chips and walnuts - it was almost like a brownie. It made about 5 dozen cookies and took me about 5 minutes to whip up! The kids love them!

Kookies

1 box dark chocolate cake mix

1 box devils food cake mix

1 cup flour

4 eggs

1/3 cup water

1 cup oil

2 cups (16 oz) chocolate chips

1 cup nuts ( I used walnuts)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together. Make dough into little balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes - DO NOT OVERBAKE! It really makes a difference when the cookies are still soft, promise. That is it! Try not to eat to many.

Taco Rice

2010-04-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

My mom made up this recipe when I was in high school & it was a big hit in our house. Now, it is a big hit in mine. There aren't that many recipes where I get a big smile from each member of the family - some are a little picky. But, when I make this dinner I ALWAYS hear "Thanks, mom!" They get to top it with whatever they like and everyone is happy.

And the best part is how easy and fast it is to make! You can make it quickly on the busy nights and enjoy a great meal. My mom always made it with ground beef and white rice, but since we are trying to eat a little better I tried it a little different last time. I made it with ground turkey and brown rice & couldn't tell any difference!! The kids had no clue.

Taco Rice

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

2 cups (approximately) cooked white or brown rice

1 packet or 1/4 cup taco seasoning

3/4 cup water

2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

Taco toppings -

chopped tomatoes

cilantro

cheese

onions

avocado

shredded lettuce

salsa

tobasco sauce

Tortilla or corn chips

Brown the meat in a skillet and drain the juices. Add the taco seasoning and water, mix and then simmer for a couple minutes. Add the tomato sauce and rice and then mix well. Heat all the way through.

Serve on plate and top with all of your favorite taco toppings. My husband and I needed a little bit more kick to ours last time (but the kids didn't), so we sprinkled it with a little Tobasco sauce and it was great! We love to eat ours with a handful of chips for a little crunch.

Oreo Balls

2010-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Every time I see the title of this recipe it makes me giggle and think of the old Saturday Night Live skit with Alec Baldwin. Remember Pete Schweaty?

These goodies have been making their way around on the blogs for a while now and I assumed no one would want me to post this recipe. But, after making them a couple months ago, a couple of my friends keep asking for me to post the directions. They are so easy! And they are so addicting. I think I eat at least 10 every time I make them!

You can make them with a little variety too. Try a different type of cookie - if you look closely at the bottom picture, you can see a little red in the middle from when I tried these with the Christmas peppermint Oreos!

Oreo Balls

1 box Oreo cookies

1, 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened

white chocolate bark

Start by smashing the oreos into crumbs. Put them into a medium size mixing bowl and combine with the cream cheese. You will have to take off your rings for this one, it gets a little messy. Combine well and then form into 1 inch balls. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and place the balls onto the cookie sheet. Freeze them for a couple of hours until they are frozen solid. Dip them into the melted white chocolate bark (I got mine cheap at Wal-mart) and then place them back on the wax paper to harden.

If you don't have any chocolate to dip or don't have the time - you can save some of oreo crumbs and dip the balls into the crumbs before the freezing step. Or, just eat them straight out of the freezer. Any way you eat it will be great. Promise.

Texas Sheet Cake

2010-04-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

I made this cake years ago from a recipe I got out of a church cookbook my mom gave me. I forgot about it and then recently found it again while going back through all my old cookbooks. I can't believe I forgot about this. This is honestly the best cake ever.

It was so good that my husband would not let me share ANY of it with anyone - and it made a huge pan! He polished it all off (with a little help) in about two days and then looked at the pan and said " I am so sad that cake is gone." No joke. It really is that good.

It is super moist, just dense enough and the frosting is amazing. It tastes like chocolate donut frosting - I am pretty sure that is what hooked my husband. I loved it with the pecans. I loved all of it. I am going to make it again & again & never forget to make it again!

Texas Sheet Cake

from the Tokyo 1st ward church cookbook, submitted by Kimberlee Snow Winzeler

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 sticks butter

4 Tbs. cocoa

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk *

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 sticks butter

4 Tbs. cocoa

6 Tbs. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

* If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can put 1 tsp. vinegar in your measuring cup and fill the rest of the 1/2 cup with milk. Let it sit for a couple minutes & that is a great substitute!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a saucepan, melt the butter and mix in the cocoa. Add the water and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and mix into the flour mixture.

In another bowl mix the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and baking soda. Add it to the rest of the batter and mix. Pour into a sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. It will look like this...

To make the frosting, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the cocoa. Mix it well and then remove from the heat. Add the milk, vanilla, powdered sugar & pecans and stir together well. Pour over the warm cake, spread and then eat the best cake ever!!

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

2010-04-13T18:16:00.001-07:00

I love my crock pot. It saves me on days when I don't have time to think about dinner, which seems to be a lot lately. I have been trying to find ways to adapt some of my favorite recipes into crock pot dishes so we can still have a good meal on busy days. I have had this recipe for a while and it is one of my husband's favorites. It was our anniversary on Sunday and since we were in church from 1-4:00, I thought this would be a good one to prepare for him. It is super easy and tastes so good!

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

1 lb. cubed beef stew meat

2 cans condensed golden mushroom soup

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup beef broth or water

1 pack onion soup mix

fresh mushrooms - optional, but so yummy!

4 ounces cream cheese

"scoop" of sour cream

Wide egg noodles

These are the two items you might not have right in your pantry. They are both necessary for this recipe and substitutions will not taste the same. I had a little bit of a hard time finding the Golden Mushroom soup, but eventually found it at Raleys grocery store (here in Nor Cal.)

Combine the beef, Golden mushroom soup, onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, water and onion soup mix in your crock pot.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours. Add some sauteed mushrooms about a 1/2 hour before time is up. And then mix in the cream cheese and sour cream just before serving. Serve over some wide egg noodles and enjoy!

Frog Eye Salad

2010-04-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

This salad is one of my kids favorites. They want to eat it for every meal. I can't really blame them, it tastes like dessert. It is full of pineapple, mandarins, marshmallows and Cool Whip - who wouldn't want to eat that all day?

I love to start making it this time of year & on through summer, it is refreshing and light. You have to plan ahead a little because you have to start the night before, but it is worth it and will go with about any meal. We love it!

Frog Eye Salad

1 box accini depepo pasta

1 cup pineapple juice ( I drain mine from the pineapple chunks )

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbs. corn starch

1 cup water

2 big cans pineapple chunks

2 big cans mandarin oranges

2 cups marshmallows

1 can crushed pineapple

1 container Cool Whip

Cook the pasta according to the directions and drain well. Cook the pineapple juice, sugar, corn starch and water in a saucepan until it thickens. Pour over the pasta and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning it will look like this...

Before serving add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Can you see all of the yummy goodies in there? They taste so good together!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

2010-04-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

I am sorry it has been a while...there has been a lot going on over here! I have been wanting to share this recipe for a long time, I think everyone will love it.

I made these when I was craving sweetness & I sure got what I wanted. They are super sweet! I thought they were the best the second day right out of the fridge - it made the cookie dough harden again and was so yummy. They are really easy! They can be made with this dough recipe or you can just save a little next time you make some of your favorite cookies. If you are a cookie dough lover, give these a try!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 salt

1/2 cups soft butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 box white cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/3 cup canola oil

3 eggs

Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth and then blend in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture until just blended. Fold in the chocolate chips and then form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Place on baking sheet and freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight.

After the dough has been frozen, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line the muffin cups with paper liners or non-stick spray.

Beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs until well blended. Spoon into the muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball in the top center of each cupcake.

Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes & until a toothpick comes out clean (not in the cookie dough ball!). Frost and enjoy! Here is a picture of the yummy cookie dough middle.

Buttermilk Chicken

2010-03-08T22:24:00.001-08:00

I have another SUPER easy and great recipe for the crock pot. My mom told me about this one years ago & it has been a favorite ever since. I love it because of its simplicity. It has 3 ingredients - you can always add more, but you don't need to. It tastes great with just the 3.

It tastes like a labor intensive southern meal, only in reality it takes about 2 minutes to make!

Buttermilk Chicken

Frozen chicken tenders (you can also use breasts, I just always prefer the tenders)

2 cans cream of chicken or mushroom - whatever you have on hand

Buttermilk to fill 2 cans

All you do is throw the chicken into the crock pot like this. Don't worry about it being frozen.

Pour the cream of whatever you choose over the chicken. Tonight I chose cream of chicken and cream of mushroom! Fill both of the empty cans with buttermilk and then pour over the chicken. That's it! Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished meal, sorry! We like to eat ours with mashed potatoes, but it also tastes great over egg noodles. Add some biscuits and you have a great meal without much time or effort, perfect for those afternoons you live in the car!

Pear Muffins

2010-03-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

You can probably see if you look at previous posts, that I am a big muffin and quick bread fan. They are my comfort food. My son loves them too, he wants some in his lunch everyday. So, I experiment quite a bit with different kinds to give us a little variety. I had a bunch of ripe pears and I thought I would give them a try in a muffin. I have found my favorite.

This muffin is so good. It honestly is my favorite! I love the way the pears taste. I think I will use this recipe as my "base" from now on and find new things to add to the middle. I can already imagine blueberries, peaches, apples, chocolate chips, strawberries... I could keep going on.

Pear Muffins

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

approximately 1/2 cup milk

2 cups peeled and diced pears

Crumb topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup cubed butter

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 2 cup measuring cup, add the eggs and then add enough milk to take it up to 2 cups (if you don't have a 2 cup measuring cup, then half the oil, eggs and milk into a 1 cup measuring cup.) Mix the flour mixture with the oil mixture and then add the pears.

In a medium bowl, mix the crumb topping ingredients and cut with a fork until the butter is in very small pieces. This works best when the butter is still a little bit cold, if it is too warm it will just mush with pressure from the fork.

Fill the muffin tins right to the top and the sprinkle with the crumb topping mixture. Bake for 15 minutes - again, I take it out as soon as possible! If you are using the little mini tins, then about 10 minutes. You can put a toothpick in to see if it is done, but they are so much better if they aren't over baked.

Look at the middle of this muffin! Pete thinks it tastes like his favorite cake at Starbucks, so yummy!

Lemon Sugar Cookies

2010-02-28T14:07:00.001-08:00

I have been in the mood for sugar cookies for a couple weeks now, but haven't had the time to make my favorite recipe. It takes up too much time to make it, refrigerate and then roll, etc... So when I saw the recipe for these cookies that can be made immediately I knew I had to try them out. They are too yummy and they probably took about 10 minutes total to make. In fact, I made a batch and then immediately made another. They were light, soft and very sweet. And they tasted better the next day!

The original recipe called for almond extract (which would be great!), but I love lemon in my sugar cookies so I adapted the recipe just a little.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

adapted from Your Home Based Mom

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. lemon extract

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Glaze: 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. lemon extract, 4-5 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and extract in a large bowl. Mix well, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients. Beat 1 to 2 more minutes. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with the bottom of a floured glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at for 7-9 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. I like mine almost under-baked, remember they stiffen up as they cool. Cool 1 minute.

Stir together glaze ingredients with a wire whisk. Decorate cooled cookies with glaze and sprinkles.

Apple Blintz Pancakes

2010-02-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Did you know last week was National Pancake Week? I didn't realize it until the weekend and so I decided to celebrate! I searched for something different and found an awesome recipe on myrecipes.com. They are blintzes, which means they are a thin pancake and are usually filled with something. They are right in between a pancake and a crepe. They were so good! I doubled the recipe and my family ate every last one of them. They were raving and raving about them throughout the entire meal. I will definitely be making these again soon!

Apple Blintz Pancakes

1 cup pancake mix

1 egg

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1 cup milk

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1/4 cup sour cream

2 apples

applesauce

cinnamon

Whisk together the egg, cottage cheese, milk, oil and sour cream. Add in the pancake mix and whisk just enough to combine. Let the batter rest for about 5 minutes.

While the batter is resting, cut the apples into thin wedges. Spray a pan with cooking spray and cook them over the oven on medium. They will look like this at the beginning, so pretty...

Let them saute' for a while - keep turning them every couple minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and cook them until you are happy with their texture. I wanted mine cooked well, but not completely soft. This is what mine looked like after cooking...

While the apples are cooking, spray a nonstick griddle or skillet and turn onto medium-high heat. Spoon about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake onto the griddle. Flip over when bubbles rise to the surface and the edges look cooked.

Fill each pancake with a spoonful of applesauce and a couple of cooked apples. You will love them!

Cream Puffs

2010-02-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from one of my best childhood friends, Cami. It is without a doubt one of my very favorite recipes. My family requests it all the time. My kids have asked for this a couple times instead of birthday cake. So, they get a really big puff with a candle! My oldest asked my mom the other day what her very favorite dessert was and she said these cream puffs. They are wonderful.

Cream Puffs

1/2 cup water

1/4 cups butter

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 package vanilla pudding mix

1 tub cool whip

chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium saucepan, combine the water and butter and bring to a boil over medium heat (like the first picture). Stir in the flour and salt, cook, stir well until mixture leaves the sides of the pan in a smooth ball (like second picture). Then remove the pan from the heat.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing very well after each addition until the mixture is smooth and glossy. It might take a minute, but it will get there. And if you triple the recipe like I always do - then you may have a little bit of a tired arm!

Spoon 6 mounds of the dough 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheet. I just use a large spoon and plop it onto the sheet. I like the puffs to be a little uneven, with personality!

Bake them for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Immediately prick them with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape - dont forget! Remove from the cookie sheet - I just always transfer them to another cool one - and allow them to cool completely.

Open up the top of the puff and if it is too dense, remove some of the inside dough (like the first picture). Prepare the vanilla pudding according to directions on the box and after it has set up, mix it with a tub of cool whip. Really, you should just lightly fold the two together or the mixture can become a little runny. Fill the puffs with the pudding mixture (like second picture!) I like to use the sugar free pudding and the fat free cool whip - you can't tell the difference and it makes me feel a little less guilty.

Put some chocolate chips into a microwavable bowl and melt them until smooth. I start with 30 seconds, then 20 and then do it in 15 second intervals until smooth. Coat the top of the cream puff with melted chocolate and allow them to harden up in the fridge.

We like to eat them by taking off the top and eating the chocolate part first. Who am I kidding, we like to eat them any way. Once, when we were newlyweds I doubled the recipe one Sunday afternoon and Pete and I ate all 12 of them. It was a great Sunday.

Peanut Butter Bars

2010-02-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

I had to make a treat for pre-school today and decided to make these bars I saw on Allrecipes. They are no-bake, peanut butter, graham crackers & chocolate - all my favorites! Oh my gosh! They are so yummy. I have made peanut butter bars before and these are definitely the best I have ever made. They are thick and dense and have just the right amount of peanut butter taste, not too overpowering. I need to get them out of my house quickly.

Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons peanut butter
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. I started with 30 seconds, mixed and then cooked at 15 seconds intervals until melted and smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Give them a try and see if you can stop eating them!

Baguette

2010-02-08T12:37:00.001-08:00

My sister gave me this recipe the other day and told me how easy it was. If she hadn't already made it and liked it, I would have been skeptical. She told me you make it in 5 minutes, let it raise for 30 and then bake it for 15 minutes. It just seemed to easy and good to be true. I was really excited to try it!

My baguette turned out so yummy! In fact, my children were HUGE fans of it. One of them even told me it was "The best bread I have ever had." Maybe a little bit dramatic, but I will take it! We had it for dinner and then I made the kids their sandwiches on it for lunch the next day. I will for sure be making this more & I think I will be teaching my 10 year old to make it. It really is that easy!

Baguette

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 Tbs. (2 packages) dry yeast

2 tsp. sugar

3 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. salt

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl mix 1/2 cup of the water with the yeast and 1 tsp. of sugar. Mix it well and cover with a cloth.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and 1 tsp. sugar. When it is mixed well, add the yeast mixture. Gradually add the rest of the water. Mix until the dough becomes a smooth ball.

Remove from the bowl and knead the dough, cut in half and then shape into 2 baguettes. Take a knife and core down the middle - that makes it authentic! You can see, mine aren't too fancy.

Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Put water in a cookie sheet and put it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Half way through, brush the bread with butter.

I really like the recipe for its low sugar content! You could try it with wheat flour also. Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

2010-02-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

I love these cookies. I could (& do) eat them all day long! These were the first cookies I made by myself. I was in the 4th grade and was so proud of myself. They are super easy to make and you will love them too!

Snickerdoodles

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbs. sugar

2 tbs. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the sugar and eggs. When you are done add the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt and mix well.

In another bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Form the cookie dough into little balls and then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Bake them for 8-10 minutes - don't overbake! They will stiffen up on the cookie sheet - I always bake them for the least amount of time possible. And I always double the recipe! You will be proud of yourself after you make them too!

Burger Cake

2010-01-25T17:22:00.000-08:00

I would LOVE to take the credit for this cake...but I can't. My husband made it. Seriously, he did. One thing a lot of people don't know about him is how good he is in the kitchen. He can make anything I can and sometimes he can even do it better.

My son had a scout dinner the other night & they had to make a cake with their dads. I found instructions for this one on the Betty Crocker website with complete instructions. He modified it a little after reading some of the reviews and it turned out amazing!

Big Burger Cake

1 box white cake mix

1 box brownie mix

Strawberry jam

sesame seeds (or poppy seeds)

Piped green frosting

licorice strips

Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup milk

2 Tbs. unsweetened baking cocoa

Make the white cake according to the box directions and bake in two 9 inch rounds. Make the brownie according to the box directions and bake it also in a 9 inch round.

Cut the top off of one of the cakes to resemble the bottom "bun". Pipe green frosting around the edge to look like lettuce and then set the brownie on top of the frosting. Spoon strawberry jam around the top edge of the brownie all the way around. Don't skimp, you want the jam to spill over the edges and look like ketchup! Fold a licorice strip in a U shape and press into the top of the brownie to look like a tomato. Then you can put the other white cake on top!

In a medium bowl mix the powdered sugar and peanut butter, then stir in the milk until smooth and spreadable. You may need to add a little more, just do it a tsp. at a time. Frost the outside edges of the bottom "bun" and then frost the entire top cake. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds!

My son was looking at the cake when it was done and said it needed some french fries. He decided to cut up the discarded cake from the bottom bun into little fries and it looked great! What a smart guy! He and his dad just added some more jam for "ketchup" and it was complete. So, next time you need a fun cake give this one a try!

turkey meatballs & spaghetti

2010-01-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

We have been trying to eat well and exercise everyday in this house. Last year Pete and I followed the Body for Life program and felt great. It was easy to do and we both felt like we weren't giving up anything. We loved how much we could eat and how we were still reaching our goals. So, for Christmas this year one of Pete's presents was the "Eating for Life" cookbook. It is fantastic!

This book comes with amazing tips, recipes and beautiful pictures. And the best part - all of the recipes are made with NORMAL ingredients you would find in your home! Ok, there might be an occasional new spice, but it is not anything you wouldn't like to add to your spice rack. It is exciting for me to find a book I can cook from and know I am feeding my family healthy meals!

Last night I made the recipe titled "Spaghetti and meatballs." I had to really read into the ingredients because I am not a meatball fan. I decided to try this one anyway...I had all the ingredients. Oh my gosh! This was so good! All of my kids had seconds and I liked it so much I ate two of the meatballs for breakfast...cold! YUM!

Turkey Meatballs & Spaghetti (from Eating for Life)

1 lb. lean ground turkey

2 egg whites

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup water

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced

2 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. ground black pepper

3 cups low-fat marinara pasta sauce

12 oz. spaghetti

1/4 cup reduced-fat parmesan cheese

Preheat oven broiler.

In a large mixing bowl, combine turkey, egg whites, breadcrumbs, water, onion, garlice, parsley, basil and black pepper. Mix ingredients thoroughly and the shape into 1 1/2 inch diameter meatballs.

Arrange meatballs on a baking sheet and place under broiler for 10-12 minutes (I did a little longer - phobia about under-cooked meat!), turning occasionally until they are browned on all sides.

While the meatballs are in the broiler, prepare spaghetti according to its package directions.

Place a portion of spaghetti on each plate, cover with a portion of meatballs and pasta sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Rotisserie Chicken Taco Soup

2010-01-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

I bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco for dinner the other night and had a lot leftover. So, I came up with this soup to use up all the good chicken I had left! It was a big hit with my family!

Chicken Taco Soup

Rotisserie chicken - shredded (as much as you like!)

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1 package taco seasoning (or 1/4 cup)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tbsp. red taco sauce

6 oz. can tomato paste

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

1/5 cups frozen corn

cheese

avocado slices

cilantro

tortilla chips

Take the shredded chicken and heat it up in a skillet. Add the taco seasoning to the chicken and stir until it is well coated. Allow the chicken to heat all the way through and then set aside.

Add your onion and celery to a soup pot with a tiny bit of olive oil and heat on low for a couple of minutes. You want the onion to be soft and translucent. When it is done, add the chicken broth and water to the pot. Then you can add the rest of the ingredients.

Add the chicken to the pot and cook the soup on low for about 20 minutes. So easy! You could do this in the crock pot also & could add more flavors (beans, rice...). Next time, I will add some fresh lime... so many options. We topped ours off with cheese, avocado, tomato, cilantro & chips. Yum!

Caramel Corn

2010-01-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is one of my mom's recipes and has always been a favorite of mine. I have a love of popcorn and have some almost every night. Sometimes it is fun to add a little sweet with the salt! This recipe is really fun because you can make it chewy or a little bit crunchier. I always opt for the chewy caramel corn!

Caramel Corn

Enough popcorn to fill two 9x13 pans when popped

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees. Heat the sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan until it is just bubbly around the edges. Cook over medium heat for five minutes, do not boil. It should look just like this...isn't the color amazing!

Remove it from the heat and stir in the baking soda. This is when the fun happens! While you stir the color will lighten and it will become foamy. Caramel magic.

Pour the caramel over the popcorn and stir. If you want chewy popcorn then it is ready after you mix. At this point you can mold it into fun shapes also. If you want it a little bit crunchier, then bake it for about 15 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

You will love it! It makes a great treat - especially for Home Movie night!

My favorite Cornbread

2009-12-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

I love a good piece of warm cornbread! Doesn't it sound so yummy on a cold night, with some soup or crock-pot meat. I like it best when it is almost cake-like in texture and feeling. I am not a big fan of cornbread with a real cornmeal texture. I want it to be blended in and taste moist and fluffy! This recipe is just what I like.

My favorite Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal

3 cups flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup oil

6 Tbs. melted butter

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a big bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil, butter, eggs and milk. Stir until it is just mixed. Bake in a 9x13 pan for 35 minutes.

Eat with lots of butter and honey. Enjoy!!

Charlotte's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-11-15T22:31:00.001-08:00

I know I should be in the mood for pumpkin & apple pie and all of the other yummy Fall foods, but lately I keep thinking about Christmas cookies. I have a weakness for cookies. I can resist the Halloween candy...we have loads of it in our pantry...it doesn't even entice me. But cookies, no chance.

I couldn't resist the urge and longer and decided to make my mom's chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I promise it doesn't compare to this one. My mom used to have neighbors "pop" over to "borrow milk" so they could take a couple home. She has people taking to her about her cookies a decade after they ate them...it's true.

When I was in 5th grade I used to make these cookies and then go door to door in the neighborhood trying to sell them and make some money. Who could say no to a little girl with cookies?! It worked.

Charlotte's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 lb. softened butter

4 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups sugar

1 Tbs. vanilla

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups oats

6 cups flour

12. oz. chocolate chips

1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, eggs, sugars and vanilla. I know it seems like a lot of each of the ingredients, but don't skimp! My mom used to laugh because people would ask for the recipe after tasting hers and then come back and tell her how different their cookies tasted. After prying, it would always come out that they were trying to skimp and cut-back on the ingredients. Don't do it.

Next, add the soda, oats, flour, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven. I like mine to be a little under-cooked, so I always bake for 12 minutes. If you let them sit on the sheet for a couple minutes they always stiffen up!

Doesn't the dough look good! That can be a problem too...

Enjoy and think of all the great cookies coming next month!!

Apple Bars

2009-11-06T13:49:00.001-08:00

I love the fall time when you can start baking with all of the apples and pumpkins! It is not good though, because I love to eat just as much as I love to bake.

I found this recipe so I could make something new with all of the apples we got at "Apple Hill" here in Cali. And oh my... it is perfect. In fact, it is so yummy I think I polished off about 3/4 of it myself. No exaggeration.

Apple Bars

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup peeled and chopped apple

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

2 Tbs. white sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

** Caramel ice-cream topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, and sugars until smooth. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. It should look nice and smooth, like this...

Blend in the flour mixture into the eggs and butter until just combined. Stir in the apples and walnuts. This is the mixture right before I put in the apples - you can see how much thicker the batter is now.

Spread the mixture evenly into the greased pan. In a little bowl, stir together the remaining cinnamon and sugar & then sprinkle over the bars. Doesn't it already look delicious!

Bake for 30 minutes or until the bars spring back when touched. Cool in the pan and then cut into bars. For an extra little sweet I ran some caramel ice-cream topping over the top of mine! Wow, sooo good! I have been wanting to make them again, but am positive my will power will leave me again!

Hawaiian Haystacks

2009-11-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

This dinner has been one of my favorites since I was a little girl. Now my children love it just as much! It is a great Sunday dinner- not too hard to prepare, but tastes great! I love it because there is no need for any side dishes, everything is mixed together. It is great for dinner parties also because every plate is custom made & everyone gets exactly what they want!

Hawaiian Haystacks

Layer the following ingredients as you choose...

Steamed rice

Shredded cooked chicken

Cheese, grated

Curry Gravy Sauce (recipe below)

Tomato, sliced

Celery, chopped

Green onion, chopped

Slivered almonds

Crushed pineapple, drained

Shredded coconut

Chinese noodles

Fresh ground pepper

The order of the ingredients is important. Make sure to put the gravy on after the chicken and cheese! It makes the cheese melt and it allows the rest of the ingredients to not get soggy.

Curry gravy sauce

3 cups of chicken broth (you can save this from the chicken you cooked & shredded!)

1 tsp. curry

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup flour

Combine all the ingredients. Wisk until well blended and heat through.

Enjoy!

Zucchini muffins

2009-09-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have a child who wants a piece of homemade "cake bread" for snack recess everyday at school. I was making a big batch and freezing the extra loaves, which worked great. But, then I started making them in the little muffin tins and it was so much easier! Now I make a batch of mini muffins, freeze them & then pull out a couple each day. They are thawed out by snack recess (I eat them frozen, still taste great) and you get good portion control.

I love zucchini recipes because it seems like every summer you end up with some that look like this...
That zucchini is longer than her arms! I shred the zucchini and separate it into ziplock bags with 2 cups in each. Then I freeze it and pull it out all through the year to make more bread. Can you tell how much I love my freezer?

This recipe is one of my favorites. I have pulled together and combined all the best from different zucchini breads I have tried. This one has a little taste of fall also - with cinnamon and nutmeg. You will love it!

Zucchini bread/muffins

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 cups zucchini, shredded with the peel on

1 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup nuts (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, oil eggs and sour cream. Beat in the dry ingredients and then the zucchini. Add the vanilla and nuts last and mix. Bake at 350 degrees - for the mini muffins about 10 minutes, for a bread loaf about 60 minutes or until the center is cooked through.

Applesauce Pork Chops

2009-09-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

Looking for another easy & delicious crock pot recipe? Here you go. This meal is so good & tastes like it took a long time to make. The good news is that it only takes about 5 minutes!

When you are done the pork chops are so tender they fall apart with a touch of your fork. The sauce is a great mix between sweet and sour - my kids loved it!

Applesauce Pork Chops

6-8 boneless pork chops

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

16 oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup vinegar

Salt and pepper the pork chops and put in the bottom of the crock pot. I took mine out of the freezer and let sit on the counter for about a half an hour and then threw them in, don't worry about them being frozen! Then pour the applesauce on top of the chops followed by the rest of these ingredients...

When you are done it will look like this. It already looks good. Let it cook on high for 6-8 hours.
You and your family will love them! And your busy fall schedule will love it also!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2009-09-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

If you hurry you might be able to get one of the last flats at the strawberry stand and make some really yummy jam! I usually try and get mine made in the summer, but this summer went too fast. So, I got some last week and got it done. Thank goodness! My kids won't eat any other kind of jam - seriously, won't touch anything else. I can't blame them. I grew up with this jam too, my mom has been making it for as long as I can remember. She used to give it to friends every year for Christmas and they would wait for it. One of them wouldn't let her kids have any and would eat it alone with a spoon! It is that good. It tastes like dessert.

When you go to the road-side stand, ask them if they have any "jam ready" berries. They all know what that means. I got a whole flat of smashed and watery berries for $3!! Perfect, because I go home and mash them up like this... Actually, my husband washed all the strawberries and mashed them the night before I made the jam. Yes, he is awesome.Follow the directions for the "Quick and easy" freezer jam inside this box. I haven't ever tried the pink, lighter sugar box. Don't want to mess with perfection.

If you want to stock up for the whole year like I do, you will need to buy a big bag of sugar like this at Costco. Every batch calls for 2 cups of mashed strawberries and 4 cups of sugar. That's it! Only 3 ingredients (plus a little water.)
Yes, those are old peanut butter jars. They are perfect for little hands grabbing the jam multiple times a day. I make some in cute jars to share, but most are for us. I made about 24 jars, hopefully that will get us to next summer!

Crock pot salsa chicken

2009-09-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

When school starts, so does all of the craziness around here! I want my kids to be able to have the opportunity to develop new talents and keep themselves active. So, when school starts so does soccer, piano, dance... which doesn't leave much time for dinner. I LOVE crock pot recipes. Love. When 3:00 rolls around I don't have the time to think about whats for dinner. Especially when I have 30 minutes to get out the door and won't be home all afternoon!

This dinner is so easy and tastes GREAT! This is all you need to make it. It should take you about 2 minutes!

Chicken

1 jar Medium salsa

frozen corn

1 can of black beans

Put the frozen chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Don't worry about it being frozen.

Pour the salsa on top of it. Make sure you use Medium salsa or else it may be a little bland. Cover the chicken with the corn (as much as you like) and the beans. Cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
Chop up some good toppings...
and then put them on top of your chicken. I shredded the chicken real quick with a fork before putting in the bowl. And I always put the chips on top so they aren't soggy. One more good meal for the busy, crazy days! Enjoy!

Dinner Rolls

2009-09-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

I love rolls. No really, love them. I could (and do) eat them all day and night. My kids too. They start eating them right off the cooking trays! I used to make them with a great recipe my mom gave me, but it called for cake yeast and had to be made the night before. I am usually going day-to-day and can only think about today! So, when I found this recipe and it tasted exactly like the other recipe, I was soooo happy!

Dinner Rolls

3 cups lukewarm water

2 packages (2 Tbsp.) dry yeast

1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. salt

4 eggs, beaten

8 cups flour, plus a little more

Butter to spread

Dissolve the yeast in the water in a bowl and set aside. In a different bowl mix sugar, oil, salt and eggs. Add the yeast and mix slowly. Add the flour a little at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn over and let rise until about double.

Place the dough onto a cutting board and divide into 4 equal parts.
Roll dough out into a large square or circle. I made mine a square because that is the size of my cutting board. A square shape will give you different shape rolls, which I think is fun. If you want your rolls to be uniform in shape, go for a circle.

Soften a cube of butter and spread it out on top of the dough. You don't have to use a lot. I use approximately 1 cube for all four of my batches. But, it is a step you don't want to miss! And don't use anything but real butter! Cut the dough with a butter knife into equal amounts. I did 12 in this picture - but did 16 on the next batch. It doesn't matter!
Starting at the widest part, roll down until you have a crescent shaped roll!
Stagger them on a greased cookie sheet - they need room, they are going to raise a little bit more.
Having a helper is always good!
Aren't they pretty! They wont last long.
Let them raise for another 2-3 hours, until they are fluffy. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Then devour them like we do!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

2009-09-02T17:15:00.001-07:00

My husband brings home really yummy cookies from work sometimes. They are made at a very good cookie store, and we love them. My kids always argue over who gets to eat the Chocolate crackle cookie in the pack - no problem for me, my favorite is the oatmeal raisin! Well, one day my husband came home with more than a box of cookies. This time he brought me the recipe for the Crackles...their recipe! You are not going to believe how easy it is! This is all you need.

1 package brownie mix

1 cup chocolate chips

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

powdered sugar to sprinkle

In a large bowl, combine the brownie mix, eggs and oil. Mix with a spoon and stir in the chocolate chips. The mix will be very thick! Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. After an hour, spoon dough by rounded teaspoons into a ball. Dredge cookie in powdered sugar to coat. Place the balls of dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.

The cookies will be soft and chocolately (is that a word?) delicious!

French breakfast Puffs

2009-08-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a new recipe to make for the kids for breakfast this week. It is their first week of school and I am trying to send them off with a homemade breakfast (at least for this week!) I needed to find something I could make fast and something everyone would like. Wow! This recipe is just what I was looking for! My kids devoured them and then fought over them after school. They have already requested them again. I love it when I find a winner!

French Breakfast Puffs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

topping

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 tbls. melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin pans. I made 24 mini-muffins, but you could make regular muffins instead.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the egg and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the shortening mixture alternately with the milk.

Spoon the mixture into your muffin pan. I used a large spoon to drop the batter into my new $4 pan from Wal-mart! I LOVE mini muffins! Bake the muffins for approximately 15 minutes, or until they are golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Just watch your oven.

While the muffins are baking, melt the butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. When the muffins are done baking, remove them from the pan and immediately dip them into the butter...

and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. They were so hot & smelled so good!

Serve them warm with a side of scrambled eggs. Delicious. I think I am making them again in the morning.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

2009-08-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

I saw these bars on a blog last week and immediately knew I needed to try them. I have become addicted to blueberries lately, I put them on everything. I am a big cobbler fan also (what am I not a fan of?) so to combine blueberries and cobbler is YUM!

I have found a new favorite recipe. We ate it warm out of the oven with some vanilla ice cream and it was sooo good. I thought it couldn't get much better until I took a piece out of the fridge the next morning - yes, I ate a piece for breakfast! And it was even better cold! I am not allowed to make any more now. I have no will power.

I got this recipe from the blog yourhomebasedmom. She has lots of great recipes!

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Stir together the first three ingredients. Mix in the salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Pat half of the dough in the pan. It is okay if it is a little crumbly, just press it with your fingers until it looks like this.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Mix in the blueberries. I had some fresh berries but not enough, so I just substituted the remaining amount with frozen blueberries. I didn't even thaw them out! Layer the blueberry mixture over the dough in the pan.

Crumble the remaining dough over the top. It will already look pretty!

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden.

Eat warm with ice cream or wait until it is cool and cut into bars. Just try not to eat them for every meal!

Watermelon and Strawberry Lemonade

2009-08-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

I love lemonade in the summer! I found this recipe a while ago and make it every time I have a watermelon. It is really refreshing and my kids love it!

8 cups cubed and seeded watermelon

1 cup strawberries, halved

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

2 cups water

(you may substitute Sprite or 7-up instead of water)

Combine all the ingredients and blend until it is smooth (you may have to do it in 2 batches!) A fun trick I have learned, is to cube the watermelon and freeze it ahead of time. Then you have a tiny bit of a slushy feel - my favorite!!

Enjoy!

My favorite Oatmeal Cookies

2009-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

I am a HUGE fan of oatmeal cookies. I got it from my dad. We naturally gravitate towards them every time if given a choice. I have been making these cookies since I was a teenager. I remember making multiple trips down to the kitchen (in a day) for handfuls of them at a time. They are really that good.

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups quick oats

1 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

raisins (optional)

Add all the ingredients until the vanilla and mix well. Your cookie dough should be smooth and look like this (without the funny child trying to sneak in the picture!)

Next, add the dry ingredients and mix well. Your dough should be a little thick now.

Use a big spoon to drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. It doesn't need to look perfect, that is the great thing about oatmeal cookies! They actually look better when you can see all the texture.

Bake them for about 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Always watch the first batch really carefully to see how long they should bake in your oven. The trick to making these cookies GREAT is to undercook them just a bit. I like to take them out when they are just barely turning golden. It will seem like they wont be able to stay together, but if you let them cool they harden. This is also the trick to keeping them a little thicker. I like oatmeal cookies when they have a thick, chewy center instead of being thin and crispy. SOO Yummy!!

Panukakku

2009-08-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's a funny name. This recipe is also known as mock waffles & german pancakes. But we call it this because my brother-in-law taught us the Finnish name. We thought it was funny and it has stuck.

My kids LOVE this dish. Honestly, there was a time a while back when I refused to make it anymore because I was so tired of it. They would ask for it everyday - and for every meal. I probably shouldn't complain, it is really easy to make. It takes about 5 minutes to whip it together and 20 to cook. Not bad!

Here is how you make it -

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While you are pre-heating, melt 1/4 cup (I use a little less) of butter in a 9x13 pan.

Beat together -

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

3 Tbls. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

It is okay if it is the batter is lumpy, mine always is! When the butter has melted in the pan, remove it from the oven.

Pour the batter into the pan with the melted butter and bake for 20 minutes.

The best part of this dish is watching the batter rise as it cooks. You should end up with some really high sides - my kids fight over them! We love to eat it with some strawberry freezer jam and powdered sugar, Yum!

Chocolate zucchini cake

2009-07-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

This cake reminds me of summer. My parents always have a great garden in the summer and give me lots of zucchini. I love to make zucchini bread and when my mom gave me this recipe about 7 years ago, I knew it would be good too. I have been making it ever since. I like to shred a couple of zucchini, bag up the correct amounts and put it in the fridge or freezer to make this quickly.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup milk, mixed with 1 Tbsp. vinegar (or buttermilk)

4 Tbsp. cocoa

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups shredded raw zucchini (with the peel)

1/2 cups chocolate chips ( or maybe more!)

The first thing you need to do is mix the 1 Tbsp. vinegar in the milk in a small bowl. Let it sit for a couple minutes on the side. You will notice it starts to make the milk curdle a little, that is exactly what you want. This is a substitute for buttermilk! If you happen to have buttermilk, you can skip this whole step - but it is nice to know a substitute, I have needed it often!

Next, cream the butter, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla in your mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients up to the zucchini and mix quickly. When the dry ingredients have mixed in, add the zucchini and mix well.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and sprinkle with chocolate chips! However many you like! Bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Enjoy! It tastes great warm with a little bit of ice cream. But, I also love to eat it cold for breakfast - you cant go wrong!

Kahlua Pork

2009-06-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have been getting some requests for my new favorite recipe. I guess I have been talking about it a lot lately. But it is so good, I crave it all the time! The best thing is how easy it is to make. It takes some time and preparations, but it is pretty easy. I make it with a really yummy rice recipe I got from Our Best Bites blog - the only difference is I add a little coconut in the rice too. I cut up a fresh pineapple and make some Coconut rolls (in my next post!) and done! Delicious!
6 pound pork roast

Sea salt

1 Tbsp. liquid smoke

1 bag of shredded cabbage

The first thing I do is cut off as much of the fat off the roast as possible. It is so much easier to cut fat off the roast when it is frozen or cold than when it is warm. When you have gotten as much of the fat off the roast, pierce it all over with a large fork or knife. Rub the Sea salt into the meat with your hands. Then, do the same thing with the liquid smoke. Rub it in as good as you can & if you think it needs a little more, then add some more! Place the roast into the crock pot. You will want to do this the night before you are planning to eat - this meat needs to cook on low for about 20 hours!

After 20 hours, remove the meat and shred it with a couple forks and then return to the crock pot. In the meantime, strain the liquid to get rid of the "floaties" and then pour it back over the shredded meat.

About an half hour before serving, add the bag of cabbage and mix with the meat. I love the cabbage, it adds just the right texture to the pork.

I hope this pork makes you think of your last luau!

Coconut Custard Buns

2009-06-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe from my friend Luseane, she is one of the nicest ladies I have ever met! She is so nice, smart & she is an excellent cook. This is probably my favorite thing she makes. I am pretty sure she does it with homemade rolls, but I don't have the time (a little lazy) so I use frozen. They are SOOOO yummy, honestly. I choose to eat more rolls instead of dessert. That's how good they are.

1 bag frozen rolls (Bridgeford or Rhodes work well)

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. flour

Shredded coconut

Spray a cookie sheet with Pam as many rolls as will fit (I fit 16 on mine). Let the rolls raise at room temperature until about double in size. After they have doubled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the can of coconut milk, sugar, flour and then pour the mixture over the rolls. Sprinkle shredded coconut over the rolls and bake for 30 minutes.

You are going to LOVE them!

Pull Aparts

2009-06-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

This one is good, really good. This is what I have eaten every Christmas morning since I was a little girl. And now our family has made it a tradition for Easter and birthdays also, we can't wait to eat it! Pete asked for this for Father's day and so we just had some again...yummy.

There are other names for this recipe, some people call it Monkey bread or sticky buns. We call it Pull Aparts because you pull the gooey rolls apart. But really, we should call it "Rip Aparts" because they get ripped apart so fast they are gone before you know it! In fact, I didn't get my camera out quick enough and this is all that was left after everyone loaded their plates.

Pull Aparts

1 bag frozen rolls (about 24 rolls)

1 small vanilla non-instant pudding

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but really great!)

1 stick melted butter

Separate the frozen rolls and line them up into a greased bundt pan. Melt the butter and pour over the rolls. Then combine the pudding, brown sugar and nuts in a bowl. After they are mixed, sprinkle evenly over the rolls - like the picture above.

Leave them uncovered on the counter all night long so the dough can rise. When the rolls have risen well, bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Invert it onto a platter and enjoy!!
Be careful when inverting onto the platter - all the good gooey drippings come out then, so you don't want to waste any of it! Seriously, my family watches to make sure none drips onto the counter!

2009-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Surprise Peanut Butter Balls

I was on the hunt the other day for something that let me use my powdered milk I had in my food storage. I had a box that was going to expire soon, and I am tired of it going bad without being used. But really, I don't drink milk. And powdered milk just isn't my thing. Then I remembered seeing a recipe once for a little snack ball (yes, I love to study recipes). I couldn't find it anymore, so I made it up. And I have got to say, they turned out great! I am having a hard time resisting them.
The best thing about this recipe is, you use what is in your pantry. But, if you planned ahead you could make it pretty healthy without anyone knowing (hence, the "surprise" in the title). This is what I used...

1 cup Honey

3 cups Peanut Butter

3/4 cup Grape Nuts cereal

1/2 cup Applesauce

1 cup Coconut

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1 cup crushed Corn Flake Cereal

6 Tbls. Powdered Milk

bowl full of crushed Graham Crackers (about 10 full crackers)

Throw all the ingredients except for the powdered milk into the mixer and blend well.

Then add the powdered milk and mix until it looks like the picture above. Using a regular spoon, shape dough into little balls.

Roll the balls in the crushed graham cracker crumbs. You can see that I left mine a little chunky, I wanted to be able to taste the cracker too!

Next time I am planning ahead and going to make them with Bran cereal and some other good for you goodies hidden inside. When you are done, you can pop them into the freezer or keep them in the fridge. I put mine in the freezer and they defrost & are ready to eat in about a minute! Sooo good! Cold and peanut butter - perfect combination.

Banana Bread

2009-06-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have been on the lookout for the perfect banana bread recipe for a long time. I think I found it. I think this bread is so yummy. I started making it months ago for the kids to take in their lunch. My little guy has this thing for what he calls "cake bread" this year. He wants it every day & that is hard to do! But guess what, not with this recipe! It makes 2 loaves and 4 dozen mini muffins with one batch! And the best thing is that it freezes well. So, I would make it ahead of time, pull it out in the morning and it was thawed out by lunch time - and tasted like it was just baked. Just what I need!

I knew this recipe was going to be the one for me when I saw it had the secret ingredient for all good baking - sour cream. Anytime something has sour cream in it, I love it. Try this for yourself!

The Best Banana Bread

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter

3 cups white sugar

3 eggs

6 very ripe bananas

16 ounces (2 cups) sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking soda

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease four loaf pans - or two loaves plus some muffin tins!

In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon to make a nice mixture. Dust the pans lightly with the sugar mix. I usually dump some in the middle of the pan with a spoon and then shake the pan until it is nicely dusted like the picture above. Do the same with the mini muffin tins. This is what is going to give you are really yummy and kind of gooey bottom to your bread!

In a large bowl or mixer, cream the butter and 3 cups of sugar. Then add in the eggs, bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. I don't even mash up the bananas first - just throw them in and mix!
Then add in the salt, baking soda and flour. You can stir in the nuts at this point if you want some in your bread. The mixer is full and the batter is just a little lumpy - yum! It even tastes good as batter! Fill your loaf pans about 3/4 the way full and then fill your muffin tins 3/4 full also.

Bake the loaf for 1 hour and the mini muffins for 15 minutes. You could also make regular muffins, but I haven't yet.
These are the best. They are the perfect size to pop right into your mouth & perfect to pop in the lunch box!