Cinnamon Bread

The last 7 months have been quite the wild ride for me, thus the lack of posts since July 2013.  So here's to trying to get back into blogging about the recipes I try.  I found this recipe awhile back and this past week was the perfect time for it.  I usually make something to take to staff meetings at work, but time wasn't on my side the night before the meeting, so I whipped it up and took something in on Friday.  This is such an easy recipe and it's great with your morning coffee.

The recipe comes from Redfly Creations.  It's her take on Amish Cinnamon Bread.  This recipe will make 2 loaves, but easy to halve.

Cinnamon Bread


Ingredients for batter
- 1 c. butter, softened
- 2 c. sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of buttermilk (recipe below)
- 4 cups of flour
- 2 tsp of baking soda

Ingredients for cinnamon mixture
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 2 tsp of cinnamon

What to mix
1. cream together butter, sugar and eggs
2. add milk, flour, baking soda
3. pour half of the batter into 2 greased loaf pans
4. in separate bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon
5. sprinkle 3/4 the cinnamon sugar mixture on the batter in the pans
6. pour on remaining half of batter
7. sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the batter
8. swirl with a knife
9. bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean)
10. let cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing

It's just that easy.  Redfly also mentions that you can make this in muffin tins for individual portions that are easier for freezing and reheating.

Don't have buttermilk, here's what you do.  Measure out needed amount of milk, add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice for every cup, let sit, stir, and add to recipe.

My tips:
* swirl the first layer of cinnamon sugar mixture into the first half of the batter
* I think I ended up baking my 2 loafs for closer to 60 minutes, but each oven is different, so use the toothpick method to be sure

I got recipe from over here, special thanks to Redfly Creations.

Happy baking!


 

An Egg-free/Dairy-free Happy Birthday

When my co-worker asked me to make a smash cake for her son's first birthday, I really didn't know what I was in for.  She asked me months in advance and I started looking for ideas on what she was wanting.  Then the call came.  About 3 weeks before the party, I get a phone call.  "Hi....so...how hard would it be to make a cake that is egg-free and dairy-free...?" Um.....yeah.  Not what I was expecting, but I'm pretty good at Google-ing and pretty handy with Pinterest, so I knew how to search for a recipe.  So after a quick search, I soon discovered I had already pinned a recipe that was both egg-free and dairy-free....I must have known I was going to need it at some point.  (Oh...and this recipe is also butter-free!)

And what's a birthday without a cake...not to mention a 1st birthday?!  My co-worker's son had recently been tested for allergies and was even given an Epi-pen for the egg and dairy allergies.  So now, this cake was going to be even more special.  It was not only going to be his first cake, but the only cake he might ever be able to eat!

The cake is called Crazy/Wacky Cake or Depression Cake...what would be really depressing would be life without cake.  This cake was created back in the Great Depression when eggs, milk, and sugar were scarce or too expensive.  I tried this cake before I finished decorating it for the birthday boy and as a "I'll take extra eggs, dairy, and butter in my cake" kind of girl, I could tell there was something different about this cake.  But...if I had gone to a party and was served a slice of this cake with frosting on it, not knowing that it was missing some key cake-making ingredients, I might not have been able to tell a difference.

Birthday boy's mom reported that he loved his cake...mission accomplished!

Now...you may be asking yourself...if he is dairy-free, how did you make the buttercream icing?  Buttercream by its name is made with butter and butter is most certainly not dairy-free.  And even though you can find margarine that is dairy free or close to it - margarine doesn't work well when making buttercream.  Over the last several years, shortening has gone through a transformation in attempts to make it healthier.  Turns out when you change shortening, you now need to find another fat to make really good buttercream and really good pie crust.  An alternative was needed.  Welcome, sweetex.  A little info on sweetex can be found here.  Sweetex is what I've used to make buttercream for the last couple of wedding cakes I've made.  The icing turns out bright white, has a great consistency, and tastes great.

The site where I found this recipe also stated that other's have made this recipe with gluten-free flour mixes and it turns out great.  Sweet Little Bluebird also posted other recipes for other flavors of Crazy/Wacky Cake on her site.  Special thank you to Sweet Little Bluebird for all of these great allergy-friendly recipes.

Crazy/Wacky Cake - Chocolate
Crazy/Wacky Cake - Vanilla and Spiced
Crazy/Wacky Cake - Lemon
Crazy/Wacky Cake - Coffee & Kahlua
Crazy/Wacky Cake - In a Mug

Now those of you who have egg and dairy allergies can have your cake and eat it too!

Happy birthday and happy baking!

Balsamic...savory and sweet

Summer is in full swing and that means tomatoes and strawberries are readily available.  Another thing I found at the grocery store this week...buy one, get one bruschetta bread slices.  I haven't had bruschetta since 2007 when I took a little trip to Italy and I've never tried making it, until tonight.  I did a search for bruschetta and came across the recipe from The Pioneer Woman and I was sold.  Click here for the recipe.

A simple and delicious summer appetizer.

Now for something sweet...

I've been wanting to grill fruit for awhile now and since we already had the grill fired up for dinner, I decided to try my hand at grilled strawberries.

You'll need:

   strawberries (hulled and sliced in half)

   balsamic vinegar

   sugar

• Pour a small amount of balsamic vinegar in a bowl and add in sliced strawberries, stir to coat.
• Then roll strawberries in sugar and thread on a grilling skewer.
• Places skewers directly on grill and leave for 3-5 minutes (depending on temperature of grill).
• Turn and repeat.
• Remove from skewers and serve in anyway you like...on pound cake, ice cream, cheesecake, whipped topping, or just eat by themselves. 

Happy grilling!

Incomplete

As a student, the word "incomplete" written at the top of your assignment was something you didn't want to see.  Just a heads up...I'm going to rant about a couple of things in this post.

Those of you who are on Pinterest: I don't know your method of pinning, but here's what I do.  I'm not saying my method is the best, but I don't want to pin something and then go back later and open the pin to find it only leads to a broken link or just the homepage of the website where I then have to go searching for the exact thing I was looking for OR a completely random site.

When I am scrolling through all the greatness of Pinterest and I come across a pin I'm interested in, I click on it and make sure that it leads me to where I ultimately want to go.
 - If it's a broken link, I don't pin that one - I then go and search for that item in the Pinterest search bar and open the pins until I find a link that works and is correct.
 - If I click on the pin and it takes me to the homepage of the website - I find the search bar on that page and search for the item I was looking for (this mostly happens with food blogs) and then I create the pin myself using the correct page and photo of the item.
 - If I click on the pin and it leads me to that random site that has nothing to do with the cupcake recipe I was looking for....I go back to the Pinterest search bar and try to find another pin that has the correct link.  Sometimes this doesn't even work BECAUSE...there are a lot of people not checking the pins before they pin them!

If it's something I really want to save for future use, I use Google to find what I'm looking for and create my own pin for the item.  And there are those times when you go to look at the recipe from the pin and you click on the picture and all it does is open another browser window and show you an enlarge version of the picture you already clicked with no other information...please tell me this happens to other people?!  (This is really the most frustrating with DIY projects and recipes.)  SO...as a plea to all my fellow pinners - please check your pins!

Ok, first rant down.  Second rant begins now:  to those of you out there that are posting recipes online - be sure you include all of the directions/ingredients!  Yes, mistakes happen and things get over looked, but go back in a couple of days and re-read your recipe to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.

My example of this: Bo-Berry Biscuits

I found and saved this recipe awhile back and then was reminded of it this week when my best friend from high school pinned it and it showed up in my Pinterest feed.  I love blueberries and especially in breakfast treats and wanted to treat myself a little on my day off, so I picked up some fresh blueberries on my way home last night.  I didn't want to use dried like the recipe also suggests because I wanted the juicy berries to be throughout these biscuits.  If you love blueberry muffins you know what I mean...that bite when you are reminded of blueberry greatness.  So fresh berries and they a little pricey, so I was hoping even more that this recipe turned out amazing to know that money was well spent on these berries.

I read through the recipe before I started and guess what - it was incomplete!  No where in the recipe did it say where I needed to add the berries.  Now, I've been doing things in the kitchen since I little, just sitting on the counter watching, so I could felt confident that I could solve this dilemma.  (On a side note - the person who copied this recipe for posting did include the link to the site where they found the recipe.  This wasn't something I noticed on my phone when using it to pull up the recipe.)

Well after adding the berries at the end and trying to make it work as best as I could, I ended up not actually making them into biscuits.  I was so frustrated that the recipe left out when to add them!  Yes, I realize that it is something so minor to get upset about, but tell me you haven't started a recipe and then realized it wasn't complete.

Anyway, instead of trying to roll out the mess of ball of dough I had created (my fresh berries were being destroyed trying to incorporate them in the dough), I put it in an 8x8 glass baking dish and baked it that way.  I'm not sure how long it was in the oven, but I checked on it a couple of times and then checked it with a toothpick.  It was probably in there 15-20 minutes (it was much thicker in the baking dish than the intended biscuits would have been).

Rant #2 complete.

Even with an incomplete recipe to work with, the end result is pretty amazing.  And yes, I did enjoy some of it for my breakfast this morning.

Click here for the correct link to the recipe for these Bo-Berry Biscuits.

Happy baking!

Oh my....

I really never meant to go this long with out a post on my blog....but things got crazy!  Like took on a part-time job on top of a full-time job crazy....

Paul and I took on a part-time ministry position together...children./youth ministers for our church.  We are really excited about the opportunity and have enjoyed our time in service so far.

Due to this and all the craziness of just work and sickness that's gone around, I am happy that spring and warm weather are finally here.  And with that has come a new attitude for food.  I am trying to be more conscious of what we eat and cooking more meals at home.  I have created a new menu that's posted on our fridge and so far I have done most of the grocery shopping and actually accomplished cooking one of the meals last week.

I had a recipe saved on my Pinterest board for quite some time and came across it again when I was looking for some healthy meal ideas to add to the menu.  Here's the link for the Brown Sugar Pork Chops....I like to read the reviews of the recipes before using them and took some advice from a couple of the reviews before making these chops.  I paired the Brown Sugar Pork Chops with green beans and a mushroom risotto.  And....it all turned out amazing!  (I didn't grill mine, but will be doing that next time.  I also used bone in pork chops and baked them according to the review by MOMCOOL, 350 for 20 minutes.)

I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Happy cooking!

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!