Grasshopper Fudge Cake

Here is another great recipe from the Betty Crocker Magazine.

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mint extract
3 egg whites
12 drops green food color
2 jars (16 oz each) hot fudge topping
1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
5 drops yellow food color
Thin rectangular crème de menthe chocolate candies, unwrapped and cut into pieces, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal or glass pan (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.

Make cake mix as directed on box, using water, oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the mint extract and the egg whites. Reserve 1 cup batter. Stir 3 drops of the green food color into reserved batter; set aside. Pour remaining batter into pan.

Drop green batter by generous tablespoonfuls randomly in 12 to 14 mounds onto batter in pan. Cut through batters with metal spatula or knife in S-shaped curves in one continuous motion. Turn pan 1/4 turn; repeat cutting for swirled design.

Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife around side of pan to loosen cake. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Carefully spread fudge topping evenly over cake. In medium bowl, stir whipped topping, remaining 1/2 teaspoon extract, remaining 9 drops green food color and the yellow food color until blended. Spread whipped topping mixture evenly over fudge. Garnish with candy pieces. Store covered in refrigerator.

This tastes fantastic and is very light.

Sally Lunn Bread

I put my bread machine to use this morning. I got this recipe out of my Betty Crocker Best Bread Machine Cookbook.

I made two pounds of dough then split it in half and baked them in the oven since my bread machine isn't baking like it used to. I am not complaining, it is 12 years old.

The recipe below is for two pounds.

2 eggs plus enough water to equal 1 1/3 cups
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter softened
4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
extra melted butter to brush on the loaves

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in the bread machine pan in he order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Basic/White cycle. Use medium or light crush color. Do not use delay cycles. Remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack.

* * * I used the dough cycle and when complete, I split the dough in half and placed each piece into a lightly greased loaf pan. Let rise for 40 - 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes, then brush with melted butter. Bake another 15 minutes or until golden brown and it sounds hollow when you "knock" on it.


Ready to rise...

All done baking and now cooling...

Rosemary Dijon Pork Loin

I just put this in the crock pot.

1 (4-pound) boneless pork loin
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 a small onion, cut into wedges
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves of garlic sliced
2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
1 1/2 cup chicken stock

Evenly rub the entire pork loin with the Dijon mustard followed by the onion, salt,and pepper. Make sure to really rub in the spices.

Place pork roast into your crock pot, add the stock, being careful not to rinse off the mustard and herb mixture. Add the onion, garlic and rosemary sprigs.

Cover and cook on low for approximately 8 hours.

Key Lime Poke Cake

This is what I just made from the Betty Crocker Cake magazine.

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 eggs

Key Lime Filling
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
4 drops yellow food color
1 drop green food color

Frosting
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
2 teaspoons grated lime peel

Garnish, If Desired
Fresh strawberries
Key lime slices
Lemon leaves

Heat oven to 350°F for shiny metal or glass pan (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with baking spray with flour.

In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With handle of wooden spoon (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter), poke holes almost to bottom of cake every 1/2 inch, wiping spoon handle occasionally to reduce sticking.

In medium bowl, stir together filling ingredients (mixture will thicken). Pour over cake; spread evenly over surface, working back and forth to fill holes. (Some filling should remain on top of cake.) Refrigerate 1 hour.

Spread frosting over cake; sprinkle with lime peel. Garnish with strawberries, lime slices and lemon leaves. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

This was very good, but next time I will use whipped cream instead of the vanilla frosting. It was pretty sweet.

Betty Crocker Super Moist Cakes for all Occasions!

I picked this magazine up a while ago because it looks like it would have some great new desserts for our July 4th party.

Today I decided to start trying some of them, you know just to make sure that everything tastes good before I serve it to our friends...LOL

Pepperoni Bread

I am making a double batch, the recipe below is for a single loaf.

1 (1 pound) pizza dough (today I used a ready made dough from Publix)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon dried basil leaves (today I used fresh from my plant)
1/2 tablespoon dried minced onion flakes
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano (today I used fresh from my plant)
1 (8 ounce) package sliced pepperoni sausage
1 (6 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese
Italian herbs and olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into an approximately 12x18 inch rectangle. Brush dough lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with basil, onion flakes and oregano. Layer with pepperoni to within a half inch of the edges. Top with mozzarella cheese

Beginning with the longest edge, roll dough and pinch to seal seam. Place seam side down on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with dried Italian herbs.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Fresh herbs from my container garden.

Loads of pepperoni!

Lots of cheese.

Ready for the oven.

All done and can't wait for dinner.

Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwiches

Victoria picked this out of my Taste Of Home Chicken Magazine this morning.

1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
2 tbs honey
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 boneless chicken breast halves
4 sandwich buns, split
1 cup shredded lettuce
8 thin tomato slices

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Broil chicken 4 inch from the heat for 4 to 7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170, brushing occasionally with mustard mixture. Serve on buns with lettuce and tomato.

I am going to just cook them on the grill, less clean up!

Mouth Watering Cinnamon Muffins

We made these muffins on Easter Morning. The recipe comes from Victoria's new Betty Crocker cookbook.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter

Heat the oven to 350. Spray just the bottoms of each muffin cup.

Put the first 1/2 cup sugar, milk, vegetable oil in a medium bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until mixed. Add the egg and beat with a fork until mixed.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg to sugar mixture. Stir just until flour is wet. Spoon batter into muffin cups until cups are about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, mix the second 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Put the butter in a microwaveable bowl. Cover the bowl and microwave on high for 30 to 45 seconds or until butter is melted. Cool for 5 minutes.

Use pot holders to take muffin pan out of the oven. Carefully tip pan on its side to take muffins out of the cups. Put muffins on a wire cooling rack. Cool for 5 minutes.

First roll muffins in the melted butter. Then roll them in the sugar Cinnamon mixture so they are coated. Serve warm.

Betty Crocker's Kids Cook!

Victoria got this new cookbook from Gramma and she has found some recipes that she can't wait to try. It is the Betty Crocker Kids Cook cookbook.

M & M Cupcakes

To go along with the yellow and blue polka dot theme...

I made two batches of cupcakes, one Funfetti and the other Chocolate. I found bags of just yellow M&M's and blue M&M's in the Easter Candy aisle. Decorating these took a lot longer than I expected, but came out cute.

Monkey Cake

Here is the finished Monkey Cake. This time I used a box pound cake and it only took about an hour to bake. I also made a couple cupcakes from the extra batter.

After baking I let it cool for a few hours.

Trim flat side of cake to be level. Trim away top of cupcake to be level. Cut cupcake in half vertically for the two monkey ears. Cut bowl cake in half horizontally to make 2 layers. Spread 3/4 cup chocolate buttercream on top of flat layer (I used lemon frosting from a can). Top with domed layer. Transfer to a cake plate. Spread a thick layer of chocolate buttercream over entire monkey head. Spread buttercream over cupcake ears. Attach ears to sides of head, top of cupcake facing forward, securing with toothpicks.

Place remaining chocolate frosting in a piping bag fitted with a small plain round tip (I used the same star tip as the hair.). Pipe dots around bottom edge of cake in a continuous line.

Fill another piping bag fitted with a large plain round tip (such as Ateco #11) with yellow buttercream. (I used white frosting and put a tiny bit of brown Wilton gel and mixed it up)
Pipe an oval near the front base of cake. Fill in with frosting, and smooth. I then put on brown M&M's and used Black Wilton Icing in a tube and dotted on the pupils, nostrils and mouth. Decorated cake can be refrigerated up to 3 hours.

Bobby Flay Grill It

Look what Victoria and Marcel picked out for my birthday present. It is Bobby Flay's Grill It. Yum it has loads of yummy looking recipes.

Chocolate Pound Cake

I made this recipe yesterday to try and make a monkey cake with it.

1/2 lb butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and shortening together in large bowl.
Gradually add sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time.
Sift flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa together.
Gradually add to butter and shortening mixture.
Add milk and vanilla.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 25 minutes in greased and floured pans.
Makes 2 loaves or 1 tube pan.

I used the mini sports ball pan and it took almost 1 hour 45 minutes and the rest of the batter I used and made a loaf and that took close to 2 hours. I think time I will use the batter and put it in mini loaf pans.

Chicken Saltimbocca

This is from my Taste of Home Chicken magazine. The picture is from their site.

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
6 thin slices deli ham
6 slices Swiss cheese
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Hot cooked rice

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in. thickness. Top each piece with a slice of ham and cheese. Roll up tightly; secure with toothpicks. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Roll chicken in flour mixture; refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a large skillet, brown roll-ups in oil on all sides; transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine the soup and wine or broth; pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until meat is longer pink.

Remove roll-ups and stir sauce. Discard toothpicks.

Serve with rice. Yield: 6 servings

Chicken Provolone

This is again from Taste of Home Chicken Magazine.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp pepper
Butter Flavored Cooking spray
8 fresh basil leaves
4 thin slices of prosciutto or deli ham
4 slices of provolone cheese

Sprinkle chicken with pepper. In a large nonstick skillet coated with butter flavored cooking spray, cook the chicken over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170. (For the sake of an easy clean up, I just put them in a glass baking dish and will bake them in the oven, why dirty a skillet??)

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet; top with basil, prosciutto and cheese. Broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat for 1 - 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a green salad.

Here it is before the cheese was melted. I did put cheese on the far left one after I took a picture of it.

All done and it was very very good!

Lemon Chicken and Rice

This also came from the Taste of Home Chicken Magazine. It wasn't lemony enough so I added another tablespoon or so.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cut into strips
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
2 tbs butter (I used light olive oil)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tbs cornstarch
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth (I used chicken stock from a box)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1 cup frozen peas

In a large skillet, cook chicken, onion and carrot in butter for 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, broth, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Gradually add to skillet; bring to a boil. cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in rice and peas. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Chicken Satay Wraps

I picked up a new Taste of Home Chicken magazine and put sticky notes on a lot of good looking recipes.

Today at lunch I made the chicken satay wraps. They were super good!!!

2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs creamy peanut butter
2 green onions, chopped
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups sliced cooked chicken
1 cup coleslaw mix
4 flour tortillas (8 inches), room temp

In a large bowl, whisk oil peanut butter, onions, soy sauce and pepper until combined. Add the chicken and toss to coat.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup coleslaw mix over each tortilla; top with chicken mixture. Roll up tightly.

Serve with chips.

English Muffin Bread (with pics)

I decided to make some English Muffin bread this morning since Victoria is home sick again. What can be better on a sick belly than toast. I have been using my bread machine just on the dough cycle lately because it just isn't baking right.

When they cycle was done, I placed the dough into a loaf pan that was greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover; let rise in warm, draft- free place until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack. Slice; toast to serve.

All risen and ready for the oven.

All baked and cooling!

Chicken, Squash and Pasta soup

I just finished making this for dinner.

1 tbs olive oil
2 medium celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 tsp dried sage leaves (or poultry seasoning)
6 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups uncooked tricolor rotini pasta
1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1/8 tsp pepper
pinch salt

In a dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add celery, onion and sage. Cook 5 to 6 minutes stirring frequently, until onion is softened.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium. Cover; cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta and squash are tender.

Pumpkin Muffins

I just made these for my sick little girl.

1 cup pumpkin (canned "or" fresh)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup melted shortening
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup of raisins

Blend pumpkin, eggs, water, and shortening in large bowl.

Sift together remaining ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture.

Fill greased muffin tins about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 12 large muffins.