Cake Mix Baked Donuts

I asked for a donuts pan for Christmas...and I got one!!!  I've been looking at various recipes for baked donuts, but wanted one that used something that would be quick and easy...like cake mix.  After a couple of different searches, I came across this recipe.

What you'll need:
   1 box of cake mix
   2 large eggs
   1 stick of melted butter
   1 cup of milk

What to do:
   1. Preheat oven to 350.
   2. Mix everything together.
   3. Pour batter into a gallon sized zip top bag and cut about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch off one the bottom corners.
   4. Squeeze batter into sprayed donut pan.....now this is the tricky part.  The batter is thick and you'll only want to fill the donut sections less than half full (you'll see what I mean when we get to the pictures).
   5. Bake for 13-15 minutes....13 minutes was perfect.

After the donuts are cool, you can frost them if you want, but I'm not a big fan of frosted donuts.  Instead, I added chocolate chips to the batter.

Ok...see how full these sections are....TOO FULL!

And you end up with donut-muffins...

donut bottom, muffin top

Easiest way to fill the sections.

Second attempt turned out less muffin-like.

This is as full as the sections should get.

Hello, little ones!

Click here for the link to find out where I got the recipe.

Happy baking!

Rolls!!!

I came across this recipe and wanted to try it out for this year's Christmas celebration.  The recipe is really simple and the end result is...well, let's just say your house is going to smell amazing (which in my opinion is one of the greatest rewards to baking).

Maybe this picture will convince you to make them....

I'll just link the recipe here, from Food.com.

Happy baking!

A Birthday Treat

My parents don't ask for anything for their birthdays and since they are only a day apart and around Thanksgiving, gift buying usually gets overlooked.  So the last couple of years I've just added ingredients for a sweet treat to give them to my Thanksgiving shopping list.  Last year they got some of the toffee peanuts that you can find here.  This year it was sugared pecans and they were a hit.  They were fighting over the jar on Thanksgiving morning!

It's an even easier recipe than the toffee peanuts!

What you'll need:
   1 egg white
   1 Tbsp water
   1 lb pecan halves
   1 c white sugar
   3/4 tsp salt
   1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I actually added more cinnamon)

What you'll do:
   1. Preheat oven to 250.  Grease one baking sheet.
   2. Mix together egg white and water together until frothy.  In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
   3. Add pecans to egg whites and stir to coat.  Then toss pecans in the sugar mixture and stir until coated.  Spread out pecans on the greased baking sheet.
   4. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

I warn you now that you're house will smell amazing!

This would make a great gift this holiday season, just pour cooled pecans into a pretty little jar that has an air tight seal.

Special thanks to allrecipes.com for this little treat.

Happy baking!

New School Puppy Chow

Puppy Chow is a treat that reminds me of two people.  The first I've known for more than 20 years.  She would always make puppy chow for church and youth functions, usually because we always requested it.  The second was my first and last college roommate.  We once trekked to the grocery store in more than a foot of snow, and by trekked I mean, on foot - there were no way our cars were getting out of the parking lot, for ingredients to make puppy chow and ugly dip.  It was AWESOME!!!

Did you know that you could use cake mix to make AMAZING tasting puppy chow?!  I didn't, until I found Pinterest.

I decided to make some Cake Batter Puppy Chow for tomorrow's staff meeting.  And of course, I had to make sure it was good enough for them and...I might actually like it more than regular puppy chow.

Here's what I used:
   1 box of rice chex cereal
   1 box of yellow cake mix
   3/4 c powdered sugar
   3/4 bottle of sprinkles
   9 cubes of white almond bark
   2 tsp vegetable shortening
   paper grocery sack

What I did:
Dumped the whole box of cereal in the paper sack.  Poured cake mix and powdered sugar in bowl.  Used a whisk to mix the two together.  Then added sprinkles and mixed again.  Placed the almond bark in a microwave safe container and then melted in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  About half way through the melting process, I stirred in the shortening - this will thin out the chocolate mixture, making it easy to coat the cereal.  After chocolate was completely melted and shortening was well incorporated, I dumped it on top of the cereal and gave the bag a good shaking.  If the cereal isn't well coated, use a rubber scrapper to stir the cereal and chocolate until well coated.  Once it was well coated, I poured in the cake mix-ture, closed bag and gave it another good shake. After the cereal was coated with the cake mix-ture, I dumped it all out on wax paper I had laid out on the table to dry before putting in an air-tight storage container.

I may regret ever trying this recipe...it is really, really good!

I've seen several versions of this recipe on Pinterest, but the one I used for a base came from Six Sisters' Stuff.  Click here for the link to their recipe.

Happy cooking!

New Family Favorite

I found this recipe on no other than Pinterest and never thought it would have gotten the reviews from my family that it did.  I was totally blown away...I mean, Paul was the first one to say how good it was and went back for seconds (which he doesn't do very often).  AND...this recipe is so ridiculously easy.

Here's what you need:

   4 chicken breasts

   1 pkt of Italian dressing seasoning

   1 - 8oz block of cream cheese (softened)

   2 cans of cream of chicken soup

   milk

   1 box of rotini or penne pasta

Here's what I did:

The night before, I cooked the four chicken breasts on the stove in a covered skillet.  After they were fully cooked, I threw them in my mixer and let it do the shredding (another helpful trick I learned from the many hours of research I've done on Pinterest).  I then let the shredded chicken cool and before going to bed, covered it and put it in the fridge to hang out overnight.

**Update (12/2/12) - I used the beater attachment on my KitchenAid Mixer.  When using this trick to shred chicken, it's a good idea to place a towel over the mixer to keep the chicken in the mixing bowl.

The next morning, I set out the cream cheese to soften while I got ready for church.  Before leaving for church, I got out the crock pot and dumped in all ingredients except for the milk and turned it to low and let it do it's thing while we were at church (recipe said cook on low for 4 hours).  When we got home from church, I put on a pot of water to cook the pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, stir the Italian chicken mixture...this is where you might need to add some milk to the mixture to thin it out a bit.  After the pasta is cooked, drain and then dump in a large bowl (I mean, LARGE, you're going to need a large one for all the pasta and chicken mixture) and add the chicken mixture and stir everything together.  OR you can do what I made my family do...mix it together on their own plates!

I didn't have any pictures of this delicious meal, but my family loved it especially with salad and homemade garlic bread.

I want to credit someone for this recipe, but the pin I found with this recipe doesn't actually link you to the recipe you see here...so, whoever you are, thanks for a great and easy recipe that is Karrick family approved!!!

Happy cooking!

Easy Cupcakes/Muffins revisited

We are finally starting to feel a cool down in the weather, which I love...because I LOVE FALL!  And when I think of fall, I to wear jeans and long sleeve shirts and get out my fleece.  And when I start to dress like fall is in the air, I want to start enjoying some of the great tastes of fall like soup and persimmon cookies.

I made these super easy cupcakes/muffins last fall and when I felt the chill in the air this past week, the  hunger for them started.  I say cupcakes/muffins because I'm not really sure which they are...they would be good with a nice cream cheese frosting, but they are more dense like a muffin.  I wanted to add some additional ingredients this time to "fall" them up.

Main Ingredients:
   white or yellow cake mix
   can of pumpkin
   milk

Additions:
   pumpkin pie spice
   cinnamon
   raisins

Review of what to do:
   1. Mix cake mix and pumpkin together with mixer.  Add a little milk to mixture.  (You want the mixture to look like a mousse.  I think I added between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of milk.)
   ***Now add the additional spices.  I didn't measure the spices, I just sprinkled some in and then tasted the batter until I got the flavor I wanted.  Then mixed in the raisins (about half of the 15oz box I had.)
   2. This recipe makes 24 regular sized cupcakes.  I didn't spray the cupcake papers (if you "have" to eat one as soon as it comes out of the oven, the bottom will stick to the paper, but have no shame when you eat the cupcake/muffin off the paper like a little kid!  Have no fear though, after the cupcakes have cooled and sat for a couple of hours they will easily peel away from the paper.)  When filing my cupcake pan, I use an ice cream scoop...the easiest way to fill cupcakes EVER!  And yes, the  one scoop will look like too much, but this batter doesn't rise that much - one scoop is perfect!
   3. Bake for 20 minutes....the cake mix said 20-25 minutes, at 20 minutes I checked them with a toothpick and they were done.

I don't feel the need to frost these, but if you need a little something extra on this pretty little fall treat, then by all means frost away!

I am looking forward to trying some new fall recipes this year and will be sure to post the pros and cons of the tested recipes.

Happy baking!

Rollin'

It's safe to say that my family loves pasta.  We have pasta at least once a week and I have leftovers for lunch...that's how much I love pasta.  One of my husband's favorite pasta dishes is stuffed shells.  I've mentioned the stuffed shells recipe before and I have it thanks to a dear friend of mine who now lives on the west coast and I miss her terribly :(

There are tons of recipes for the pasta stuffing out there and you may have a favorite that you use, so I'm not going to share my recipe with you (it's now become a secret family recipe!).  I've seen several meal ideas for lasagna rolls which are supposed to make the idea of lasagna a little less overwhelming due to the small amount of work involved in the process.

Get rollin'...what you'll need
 - lasagna noodles
 - ingredients for pasta stuffing
 - pasta sauce

Get rollin'...what you do
1. Prep your pasta stuffing.  I mixed mine up and then let it chill in the fridge until the pasta was ready.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Cook lasagna noodles.  I cooked mine just long enough to be able to roll them.  You'll want them just over al dente because you're going to bake them once they're rolled.  Drain them and rinse them with cold water.  (Rinsing goes against all great pasta recipes, and normally I don't rinse my pasta, but if you want to be able to handle the noodles to make the rolls, you'll need to cool them down, which is the only purpose for the cold water rinse.)
4. Prep your rollin' station...cooled lasagna noodles, pasta sauce, stuffing mixture, paper towels, baking dish.  (See above picture)
5. Pour enough sauce to just cover the bottom of the baking dish.
6. Lay out your paper towels and pat both sides of the noodles dry.  They will still be sticky, but you don't want them soaking wet or the stuffing mixture won't stick.
7. Spread a small amount of the stuffing mixture on the noodle and then start rollin' em up!  Lay them with them seam down in the sauce.  Continue the drying, spreading, and rollin' until you've used all the noodles and stuffing mixture.
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Sprinkle on some mozzarella the last 5 minutes for some added cheesiness!

Don't they look yummy?!

Happy cooking!

How sweet...

I love bananas, especially when they are overly ripe, mashed up, and baked in banana bread.  I have several bags of overly ripe bananas, pre-mashed and frozen for that intended purpose.  I've never been a fan of banana pudding, but when I came across this recipe I knew I had to give the sweet dessert another try.

I've had this recipe saved on one of my Pinterest boards for awhile now, but I can't seem to make everything I pin....anyone else having that issue?!  Pinterest needs to come up with a way to create a grocery list from the recipes that you pin.

This isn't the simple recipe you're used to...it's rich and decadent.  It takes banana pudding to a whole new level.

The original recipe (Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding) is from Paula Deen, but I found this recipe on a fun little blog, Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour.  (I'll link both recipes so you can access the original.)  I'm not a fan of the name, so maybe I'll rename it with my modifications ;)

1st Class Banana Pudding

   5 bananas, sliced

   Nilla wafers

   2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding

   3 cups of milk

   1- 8oz pkg of cream cheese, softened

   1- 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

   1- 12oz container of whipped topping

1. Line bottom of 9x13 baking dish with Nilla wafers.

2. Mix 3 cups of milk and the 2 boxes of instant pudding.  (I let mine set in the fridge while I prepped the other ingredients.)

3. Use hand mixer to combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Then fold in whipped topping.

4.  Finish cream cheese mixture by stirring in the pudding until well combined.

5.  Slice bananas and layer them over the wafers (they don't have to be perfect, no one is going to see them).  Then pour on pudding mixture, finish by topping pudding with some of the remaining wafers.

6. Cover and refrigerate.

What I did differently...I have to watch the amount of carbs that I eat and was a little shocked at the number of carbs in just one serving of the vanilla instant pudding.  So...I used sugar free pudding, 1/3 less fat cream cheese, and lite whipped topping.  I can't take out all the carbs, but a girl has to indulge a little, right?!

Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour made the suggestion to use the 3 cups of milk for the pudding and I would have to agree with her...3 cups will get you the perfect consistency on the pudding.  Click here for the link to the blog post.

Paula Deen used Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies instead of Nilla wafers...I most likely won't be trying this considering how much more expensive they are compared to a box of Nilla wafers.  Click here for Paula's recipe.

I'm excited to try the pudding after it's been able to chill over night.

Happy baking!

Cookie Pie

Growing up with a bakery in your backyard meant there was a good chance that there was cookie dough chillin' in the fridge.  I was never a big fan of cookie dough like others I know, but when the chocolate chips are crying out to you from the cold batter it's a hard temptation to resist.  One of my other favorite baked treats is pie....#1 favorite would have to be cherry, but I'm open to pretty much any pie, as long as it doesn't have meringue piled on it - I know...I'm weird.  Just don't get me started on pie crust.  And if you were to ask my dad what kind of pie he liked he would say, "there are only two kinds....hot and cold."

So, when I found this recipe combining two of my favorite sweets it was love at first sight...well, okay this isn't the prettiest pie you will ever see, but after cutting into it and lifting a slice out you'll see the beauty that will capture your heart and soul.

See, not so pretty.

And cue the angels....aaaahhhh!

Click here for the link to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie....the only thing I did differently was the pecans.  I didn't have any pecans, so I substituted chopped walnuts instead.  Thank you Bakerella for this amazing recipe!

Happy baking!

Dinner's ready!

Don't let my husband fool you...he can cook.  When he makes dinner, it always turns out really good and even better that I didn't have to come home and make it.  I had saved a recipe on Pinterest awhile back for stuffed peppers and it was my plan to make them this week.  Well, tonight happened to be a much later night for me than usual so I asked my husband to make the peppers.  He found his own recipe and as always, they turned out amazing!

take a look at these little beauties!

The recipe I found called for ground turkey, I was just going to crumble up some turkey burgers, which means that I didn't have any ground beef like the recipe calls for.  Paul seasoned up the turkey with some steak seasoning, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce, and some onion powder.

So, like me, Paul didn't follow the recipe to a T, but I'm sure this recipe will get you a great meal.

A little something I like to do before testing a new dish is to compare recipes.  It allows me to see what some of the other recipes are using for seasoning or substitutes for various ingredients.  AND, if the recipe is online, it has most likely been reviewed by those who have previously tested it and you can use that to your advantage.  If multiple people are saying that it's too salty, you'll know to cut back on the salt or use ingredients that are low in sodium.  Some of the reviews also give great substitutions for things like sugar or cream of ... soups.

Click here for the link to the recipe.

Happy Cooking!

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

Growing up with a bakery in your back yard meant that you were never in short supply of cinnamon rolls.  And they were probably one of my favorite thing we made.  I remember rolling out the large ball of dough, covering it in softened butter, and then working in the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Every part of making them was an art...and the best of this art is that you could enjoy it warm out of the oven slathered with sweet icing.

The recipe I'm going to share in this post, isn't the recipe for those cinnamon rolls, but for some simple ones that can be rolled out and enjoyed even on a hectic Sunday morning.

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

   2 tubes of crescent rolls

   spreadable butter

   brown sugar

   cinnamon

   powdered sugar

   milk

   vanilla

   1. Preheat oven according to crescent rolls directions.

   2. Lay out crescent roll sections and spread on butter with a knife.

   3. Add brown sugar, just enough to cover the whole triangle.

   4. Sprinkle on some cinnamon.

   5. Then roll the crescents from large edge to small edge and lay on baking sheet.

   6. Bake according to crescent roll directions.

   7. In a bowl combine a little bit of milk, a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla and stir together to desired consistency.  When rolls come out of the oven, let cool for a couple of minutes and then drizzle on the icing.

   Last, but certainly not least, enjoy!

Happy baking!

Sunday Dinner

In my quest to start using my crock pot, I searched for a recipe that would be easy and delicious for a Sunday dinner.  And the recipe I found has now become my favorite for BBQ Chicken.  And it went well with the leftover sides we had from the night before.

Click here for the link to the recipe that I used.

I followed the recipe this time (except for using frozen chicken, I thawed mine first after reading some of the comments), but here are a couple of things I'm going to try differently next time:
   - use less vinegar
   - cut small slits in the chicken so the sauce will go into the chicken and flavor it even more


And for a little something a little special, I also whipped up some of these Cheesy Garlic Biscuits.

I also followed this recipe, but here are some things I will adjust next time:
   - add 1/4 tsp of garlic salt to biscuit mixture, and only use 1/2 tsp garlic salt in butter mixture
   - use only 1 tsp of oregano

Happy cooking!

Quick Tips

Tip #1:   Whenever it's taco night at our house, I always run into the same predicament....do I want to deal with the messiness of a soft tortilla or the messiness of throwing all the ingredients on top of a bowl of tortilla chips?  I've  never been a fan of crunchy shell tacos.  Ever since my days at the Washington and Lincoln Grade School cafeterias I strongly dislike crunchy shell tacos.  I mean, come on, as soon as you take the first bite you're essentially eating your taco as nachos!  Anyway....we had tacos the other night and I decided to lightly toast up my soft tortilla.  I sprayed the non-stick skillet with some cooking spray, heated it up and then tossed it in.  I would let the air pockets inside the tortilla rise and then I would press them back down and flip it over, allowing for equal opportunity toasting.  When the tortilla had a nice golden color and a slight crisp, I prepared it for the taco ingredients.  BUT, I only put them on half of the tortilla!  I then, gently ran the pizza cutter across the center divide, which allowed the tortilla to be folded in half, allowing for easy consuming and almost no mess at all!  AND the toasting brought out the flavor of the tortilla and assisted in the melding of the topping flavors...like melting the cheese and meat together.  Taco night no longer has a predicament...it's toasted tortilla all the way!!!

Tip #2:   I love homemade potato salad....I have yet to find a store bought kind that even comes remotely close to good potato salad.  Say the weekly menu on your fridge says that on Friday you're having brats on the grill and potato salad....that probably means that on Thursday night you're going to clean and peel the potatoes, put them on to boil until fork tender, drain, let cool slightly, add other delicious potato salad ingredients, mix, cover and refrigerated until Friday at dinner time.  (That whole process just wore me out typing it!)  So, now say you forget to do all of that on Thursday night....oops!  And Friday when you get home you're not willing to sacrifice the greatness of homemade potato salad for the dire taste of something store bought :(  And then...like out of nowhere...an idea emerges...could I possibly pop them in the microwave as if to "bake" them, cut them up, allow for a quick cooling, then add other ingredients, pop in the fridge for chilling until the brats are done..and it actually work?!

So, maybe that story was about me and dinner from last night :)  Here's what I did:  cleaned 4 small potatoes (since it was just the two of us), I did not peel them, stabbed them with a knife (repeatedly), then put them in the microwave and pushed the conveniently created potato button and set it for 2 potatoes (I know, I said I cleaned 4 small potatoes, but my microwave feels that potatoes are the size of 2 of the ones that I have....4 divided by 2 is...2), which was equivalent to 9 minutes.  At 4 minutes, 30 seconds, I turned the potatoes over and allowed them to finish.  Once finished, I allowed them to sit and cool for a couple of minutes then started cutting them into small cubes, then put them in the bowl for more cooling....at this point I realized that we didn't have any mayo and my husband willingly went to the store to get some for me....(also at this point was when I realized that it might have just been less work to drive the half-mile to Walmart to get store-bought potato salad).  But I press on...after Paul gets back from the store, I proceed.  I had already hard boiled some eggs a couple of days before, so it was just a matter of cutting them up and tossing them in.  After the last ingredient was in the bowl, all were stirred together, taste-tested, then put in the fridge while the brats started grilling.  Even with the little misstep of not having any mayo, the homemade potato salad was still WAY better (in my book) than anything I could have easily picked up at the store.

Happy cooking!

Easy Weeknight Dinners

So, I realize I haven't been posting as much as when I first started this blog, but life gets crazy and hopefully it will all start to slow down in the next couple of weeks.

I wanted to share a couple of recipes with you that I have tried and are quite tasty!  I can't say that I've made both of them....my husband actually made the Easy Chicken Bake for us on a night when I didn't get off work until late.  I can tell you that if you make the Easy Chicken Bake and there is some left, the leftovers make a great lunch the next day!

The first recipe I made a few years back, but recently came across it again a couple of weeks ago and will be making it again soon.  Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo is an easy pasta dish that includes a vegetable!  Click here to go to the recipe site!

The second recipe is the one my husband made last week.  This recipe uses ingredients you are most likely to have in your pantry and freezer already!  Easy Chicken Bake is another one dish meal that includes the vegetables and doesn't necessarily need a side!  Click here to go to the recipe site!

Happy cooking!

Family Recipes

Growing up in a family surrounded by cooks/bakers, I was also surrounded by some amazing recipes.  Some of these recipes have been passed down on paper and others have only recently been written down, so the family could preserve a piece of history.

I'm not sure if there are any secret family recipes that my family has, but I've decided that I'm going to start stashing some for my family.  I love the idea of having something of just our own...I mean, I'll be making these recipes to share with others, but the idea of having a recipe that is kept secret holds a kind of charm that has been replaced with drive through meals.  Don't get me wrong, I love that I can make a quick stop and get something cheap and quick to eat, especially on a busy day.  I remember when eating out was something special...something we looked forward to at the end of a long week.

I know that it wasn't that long ago that I was a child, but the way I was raised was of a different time.  We didn't go out every other night for dinner, we didn't have that kind of money.  Instead, meals out were for special occasions and when the crops made a good profit.  I grew up in a live-of-the-land kind of family.  We planted gardens, canned on the hottest days and butchered on the coldest.  It never occurred to me that you could buy meat at the grocery store...we just went to the freezer.  And vegetables didn't come out of aluminum cans, but out of a mason jar.  These are the types of traditions I want to pass down to my family.

So...all that said, I finally found a recipe worthy of being a family secret!  Maybe your family already has some or maybe you're still looking for just the right one, but whatever the case may be, don't forget to pass along those secrets.

Happy Baking!

Brownies + Cheesecake + Snickers = Out of this WORLD!!!

Hello, bake sale goodness!!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to give it a try...I mean, why not?  How could this recipe go wrong?!  As I've said before...I don't always follow recipes and this is one of those.  The original recipe calls for homemade brownies, which I'm sure are really good, but I was looking for easy...so, I just picked up a box of my favorite box mix.

Snickers Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie Layer: favorite from scratch recipe or box mix and ingredients needed to make brownies

Cheesecake Layer:

   1 egg

   1 Tbsp vanilla extract

   8 oz cream cheese, softened

   1/2 c confectioners sugar

   1 bag of fun size Snickers, chopped

1. Make brownies and bake according to directions.

2. While brownies are baking, mix up ingredients for the cheesecake layer minus the Snickers.  And then begin chopping all of the Snickers.

3. After brownies are removed from the oven, pour on the cheesecake layer and spread it evenly over the brownies.  Return brownies to the oven for another 10 minutes (my cheesecake layer started to brown on the edges).

4. Remove brownies from the oven and let cool for only a couple of minutes before evenly sprinkling all the chopped Snickers pieces over the brownies....then comes the hard part - let them cool before cutting.

Paul took these to a bake sale at his office and they went fast!

Click here for the link to the location of the original recipe...thanks, Bakers Royale!

Happy baking!

Oh My...

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post!  Well the wait is almost over...I'm going to post a recipe with a picture tonight that you're going to want to make over the weekend!  Stay tuned for this sweet and delicious treat...

BBQ Cheeseburger Pie

The first time I served the Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie (from the Bisquick box) they were ready to request it again.  This is my spin on the already approved recipe.  Once you've tried this recipe, you'll be able to come up with some yummy creations that will suit your family's tastes!

What you'll need:

   1 lb ground beef

   1/2 c or more shredded cheese

   1 box of cornbread mix

   ingredients to make corn bread (for Jiffy: 1/3 c milk and 1 egg)

   

Preheat oven to 400.

Brown a pound of ground beef and drain off grease.

Place beef in baking dish and stir in your favorite bbq sauce...make sure that all the beef is coated with sauce.

Evenly distribute beef in dish and top with shredded cheese (I used cheddar, but you could use whatever kind you like best or have in the fridge).

Whip up a box of cornbread (I usually have Jiffy on hand).

Pour cornbread mixture over cheese and gently spread cornbread to completely cover cheese and beef.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Happy baking!

Kitchen Tips

Ever travel with a baking dish?  You know what I mean...you've prepared a dish for a potluck or get together and now you have to transport it from home to location in one piece or at least in the dish!  I have this little brown dish and I rescued from my mom's pile of throw-aways (I have no idea why she felt the need to put it in the trash pile in the first place, especially without asking me first!).  It was the chosen dish for a yummy dip that I was taking to a get together, but I wanted to make sure the dip stayed in the dish.  What's a girl to do?!

RUBBER BANDS!!!

I rescued these two little rubber bands from the useless ad paper that's thrown in our yard every other week.

Needing to fill large tube pasta...like manicotti???

Put the filling in a large zip top bag, seal, snip one corner and wah-la!

Now you can easily fill each pasta tube and have dinner in the oven a lot sooner.

If you have any handy kitchen tips you love and use, please share!

Happy cooking!

Bread fit for The King

So everyone knows that Elvis enjoyed bananas with his peanut butter.  I'm not sure if he was a fan of chocolate, the loved chocolate covered peanut butter candies were first introduced in the late 1920's, so I'm guessing he might have enjoyed the delightful combination.

When I first saw this recipe, I immediately thought of one of my dear friends who is a big fan of banana bread.  She would store very ripe bananas in the freezer, saving them for banana bread at the most perfect time.  I'm dedicating this recipe to my housemate, CA, for her birthday!

The picture doesn't do it justice...it's pretty amazing!

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

   3 very ripe bananas

   1/2 c peanut butter

   1/4 c oil

   1 egg

   1/2 c granulated sugar

   1/4 c brown sugar

   1 1/2 c all purpose flour

   1/2 tsp baking soda

   1 1/2 tsp baking powder

   1/2 tsp salt

   8oz bag of Reese's Mini cups

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Grease loaf pan.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg, and sugars.

5. Pour your dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined.  Batter will be lumpy.

6. Fold in your mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen edges of bread from pan using a knife and remove loaf from pan.  Transfer bread to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Note on recipe: If you notice the bread browning too fast, lower the temperature down to 325.

Thanks to Cookies and Cups for the recipe!

Happy baking!

Cookies..chocolate chip

Growing up with a bakery in the backyard has it's advantages...cookies fresh from the oven are the greatest!   Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorites. I'm always on the look out for chocolate chip cookie recipes.  I found one that the New York Times claimed as the best...and with a ranking like that, how could I not try them to see if they really are the best?!

First of all, before you attempt this recipe, you should know the number one rule to baking: read the full recipe before starting!

This recipe calls for some ingredients that you may not have in your pantry like cake flour, bread flour, and sea salt.  And for the record, I didn't have bread flour in my pantry, so I had to use all purpose flour...and there is a difference.  Click here for a little education on flour differences!

Click here for the printable version of this recipe...Thanks, My Baking Addiction!

Happy baking!

time...

I just realized that it's been awhile since I've posted anything on my little cooking blog.  That doesn't mean I haven't cooked or baked anything, because I did!  I had the opportunity to do some baking with a friend and we decided to try out a recipe that I had pinned on Pinterest...peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing.

The recipe needs a little adjusting...it could be just the type of ingredients we used.  The recipe calls for butter (what good recipe doesn't?!) and sour cream.  I only had stick margarine and low-fat sour cream...after trying the cupcakes, we think that maybe these ingredients caused the main issue of dryness.  We're going to be testing this recipe again and I'll update you on the adjustments we made.

Click here for the peanut butter cupcake recipe...Thanks to Your Cup of Cake!

Click here for the chocolate buttercream recipe...Thanks to Savory Sweet Life!

Happy baking!

Easy Monkey Bread

Any recipe that can be created, made and posted all in one Sunday morning meets the criteria of being quick and easy.  I could have easily adapted some other recipes for my one can of biscuits, but that's not as much of a challenge.

You'll need to preheat oven to 350 and while that's warming up,

tear pieces of the biscuits to make 1 inch balls...

In a small bowl, melt butter, then add sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon with a whisk.  Because I only had 1 can of biscuits, I used my bread loaf pan and sprayed it with cooking spray.  In the picture, you can see that I poured some of the sugary mixture into the greased pan as a base for the dough balls that would go in the pan first.

Than add all dough balls to pan and pour on the remaining sugary mixture, coating evenly.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Then comes the magic!

Place plate over pan and flip!

Yummy!

Watch your fingers when reaching for a piece, this stuff goes fast!

Easy Monkey Bread

   1 can of biscuits (buttermilk kind)

   1/2 stick butter, melted

   4 Tbsp sugar

   5 Tbsp brown sugar

   1 tsp cinnamon (I just sprinkled some in...didn't actually measure)

Happy baking!

2 Minute Chocolate Cake

Does your sweet tooth ever drive you crazy?!  You might be reading this post because you didn't believe the title...chocolate cake in 2 minutes?  NO WAY!!!  Well...way!

I had this saved on my Pinterest, but forgot about it until tonight.  A quick check of the recipe to make sure I had all the ingredients (cause no one wants to get their hopes up when it comes to chocolate) and I was headed to the kitchen.

This recipe is also the kind you can mix up in one bowl.  Just start with the egg and beat it lightly and then add the remaining ingredients and whisk together.

Then pour into your coffee mug.  The blog said you could use a regular sized mug, but mine is taller than most and when "baking" in the microwave, it raised up over the mug and could have potentially baked over a regular sized mug.

Ta-da!

 Salted Caramel Mug Cake
   4 Tbsp all purpose flour
   4 Tbsp sugar
   3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
   1/4 tsp baking powder
   1/4 tsp salt
   1 egg, beaten
   3 Tbsp skim milk
   1 Tbsp vegetable oil
   2 salted caramels

   1. Into a small bowl add all ingredients except caramels and mix to combine.
   2. Pour mixture into a regular sized coffee mug.  Drop caramels into center of mixture one at a time.
   3. Microwave on high for 90 seconds.  If needed (if cake batter is still gooey), microwave on high for up to an additional 30 seconds.

Click here to go to the blog where you can find more coffee mug treat recipes!
Thanks to Babble for a quick treat to quite the sweet tooth!

Happy baking!

Crockin' Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

I love chicken!  I could probably eat chicken everyday...however, my husband isn't as big a fan of chicken.  Which means I have to find lots of chicken recipes to change things up.  I pinned this easy recipe on Pinterest and have been waiting for the right time to make it AND to find the right bbq sauce.  The recipe calls for a bottled Hawaiian bbq sauce, which I can't find at any of my grocery stores.  We even ventured to a town that has a Target to look for the sauce the original pinner used...but guess what, that's the sauce they were all out of = bummer!  I then looked up a recipe how to make some homemade Hawaiian bbq sauce...and the repeating ingredients that the recipes called for were ginger, teriyaki, and soy sauce.

If you ask my family what my favorite store is they'll say Aldi's...and they'd be correct (favorite food store).  Paul and I did our weekly grocery shopping today and while at Aldi's I found bottles of ginger teriyaki bbq sauce...cha-ching!  I swipped up a couple of bottles, which were actually a specialty item on sale.  Guess what's for dinner?!

I love recipes that have very few ingredients...this one has a total of 3!

The original recipe calls for crushed or tidbit pineapple, but all I had was sliced...so I ran a knife through them before dumping them in the cooker.

The recipe said to turn the cooker on low for 6 hours...but since I didn't have 6 hours, I turned it on high for 3  hours and then down to low for the last hour, but you can do whatever works for you...as long as the chicken is no longer pink.

After completing this recipe, there's something I'll do differently next time.  The recipe calls for everything to just be dumped in...since my pineapple wasn't the crushed kind, I don't feel I got as much flavor as I was wanting from the sauce because of how much pineapple juice there was.  I'm probably going to add the pineapple and bbq sauce and then save the pineapple sauce to add gradually as the chicken cooks.

I also wasn't as pleased with the sauce that I got...I think I'll try adding some brown sugar and soy sauce to it to bulk it up a little.  The sauce probably would have been fine had I been able to fine the Hawaiian bbq sauce at Target...I'll just have to keep looking.

Happy cooking!