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!