Banana Pudding cake

Almost forgot to post about this one! My friend Jen that was here visiting last week told me about pudding cakes, so I looked at what I had in the pantry and found a white cake mix and banana cream pudding! Easiest recipe ever!!!

Banana Pudding Cake

1 box of white cake mix

1 package of banana cream pudding

2 cups milk

1 8oz tub cool whip, defrosted

strawberries

couple dashes of sugar

Make the pudding as directed, pour into the cake mix and mix until it is mixed well, pour into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. The cake is going to be pretty dense. Let the cake cool completely then cover it with the cool whip. Cut up some strawberries and sprinkle them with a little bit of sugar and cover the cake with them! I'm not a big fan of banana but it was still really good! I'm definitely going to be trying this with other flavors of cakes and puddings!! oooo that just sparked an idea... maybe I'll try it with chocolate and make it into and orange or raspberry jello cake... that could be good! (or it could go terribly wrong! I'll let you know!)

P.S. I got those strawberries at Costco and they were Amazing!!

Baguettes

I found this recipe on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Baguettes/Detail.aspx

This one was great!! Nice and springy inside and a crisp outside!! It was really only good right after I made it though, the next day not so much. I don't think I rolled them up tight enough because they started to come undone a little, but they were still very good!

French Baguette

1 c water
2 1/2 c bread flour
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp rapid rise or bread machine yeast
1 egg yolk
1 TBS water

The original directions are for a bread machine but it worked out just using my kitchen aid. Put the water and yeast in your mixing bowl, add sugar and salt, then the flour. Put dough into a greased bowl and let it rise in a warm place, covered, for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and on a floured surface roll out into a 12x16 rectangle. Cut dough in half making two 8x12 rectangles. Roll each piece tightly beginning at the 12 inch side and pound out any air bubbles as you go. Roll back and forth to taper the ends. Place 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes along each loaf every 2 inches. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Mix egg yolk with water and brush over the tops of the loaves. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Orange Chicken

OH MY GOSH!!!! This was seriously SO good!!! I will definitely make this again, it is a little time consuming but luckily I had my friend Jen here to help me, and she mixed up all of the sauces while I cut and cooked the chicken.

I served it with some white rice and mixed vegetables, fried rice and fortune cookies are on my "to make list" but I figured I'd try one at a time because that would be a lot to take on for one meal!

I got this recipe from here on cdkitchen.com

Orange Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 2 inch pieces

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp salt

pepper

Oil for frying

1/2 cup corn starch + 1 TBS

1/4 cup flour

1 TBS minced ginger root (I shredded it with the really small cheese grater... worked great!!!)

1 TBS minced garlic (same thing with the grater!)

1 dash crushed hot red chilies

1/4 cup water

1 tsp sesame oil

Orange Chicken Sauce

1 1/2 TBS soy sauce

1 1/2 TBS water

5 TBS sugar

5 TBS white vinegar

Cut the chicken into 2 inch cubes, place in a large bowl. Stir in the egg, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of oil, mix well. Stir 1/2 cup cornstarch and flour together. Add the chicken to cornstarch mixture. Heat oil to 375 degrees (I never know how hot my oil really is...) Fry until golden brown or crisp, 3-4 minutes. Put onto a baking sheet covered with paper towel. Set aside.

Heat wok (I used a 10 inch skillet) for 15 seconds over high heat. Add ginger and garlic (and if you'd like to add the green onions do it now, 1/4 cup chopped) and the crushed chili. Add the orange sauce and bring to a boil. Add cooked chicken until well mixed. Add water into 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until smooth (for thickening) Add the chicken and heat until thickened. Stir in 1/2 TBS oil and the sesame oil. Also you can add the zest of one orange for flavor, I didn't have an orange so I just skipped it.

P.S. For the rice put a cup of rice with 2 cups water into a medium sauce pan over high heat and cover. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes then turn it to low and let it cook for 15-20 minutes. Until the water is gone and the rice is soft.

Pralines

I live in Charleston, South Carolina now and when we go down town we always get free praline samples... but we never buy them because they are 16 dollars a pound... not gonna happen!!! So my friend Jen came to visit me and she suggested we look up a recipe and try to make them ourselves!! Genius!! They turned out really good, a bit too sweet if you have more than one! I think I'll try tweaking it a little but I was really happy with the results!

I got this recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pralines/Detail.aspx

I used half and half instead of milk and I didn't have a thermometer (gotta get me one of those!!) but we just guessed and it turned out pretty good, we probably let it go just a bit too long like 30 seconds or so but it was still good :)

Pralines

1 1/2 cups toasted pecans (I used pecan halves and only roasted them for a few minutes)

1 1/2 cup white sugar

3/8 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup half and half

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine pecans, sugar, butter, brown sugar, half an half, and vanilla. Heat to between 234-240 degrees F or until a mall amount of the syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball the flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface... like I mentioned we just kinda guessed at when it was ready. Drop by spoonfuls onto a prepared baking sheet and let them cool completely. Instead of a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil I just buttered up my counter (we have a silestone counter top... not quite the huge marble slab they use in Charleston but it worked great!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Braid

This bread is SO good. It is a little more time consuming than what I usually make, but it is so worth it!

This recipe is from The Taste of Home Cookbook (It is called Raspberry Coffee Cakes in the cookbook, but I made mine into a braid)

Raspberry Cream Cheese Braid

Bread:

1 TBS Active Dry Yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1/2 cup warm sour cream (110-115 degrees F)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS milk

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, salt and egg. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead 20 times or until smooth. Pace in a

greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/4 hours.
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth; set aside. Punch dough down . Turn onto a lightly floured surface roll out each side into a 12in x 9 in rectangle. Cut with a sharp knife or pizza cutter 3 inches in from the edges on both sides about an inch apart (make 11 cuts on each side). Start with the end and wrap it over the filling, then take the end on the opposite side and fold it over it (kinda hard to explain hopefully the pictures help this make sense!) pinch the ends closed, one of mine usually explodes and leaks out al

l over the pan, but try to seal it up as best you can and hopefully you'll have better luck than me! Place loaves on a greased baking sheet.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm loaves.

Navajo Tacos (Fried Bread)

This is my "Birthday Meal"! Growing up my mom always let us choose what was for dinner on our birthdays and I always chose fried bread!

Fried Bread

2 cups flour

1/4 TBS salt

3/4 TBS baking powder

1/8 cup shortening

water

Mix the flour salt and baking powder, then add the shortening. Add water until it is a smooth dough (I guess I'll have to actually pay attention to how much I put next time!!) Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough for 2 minutes then shape into balls (make 7-8) then cover and let rise for about 30 minutes (not gonna lie I only let them rest for 10-15 minutes... but I'm impatient! :P) Meanwhile get a 3 qt saute pan (I think that is what it is called :) it is like a skillet but has tall sides) and put enough canola oil in it to deep fry the dough.

Roll out each ball into a really thin disc, I should have taken pictures because it is hard to remember how thick or what diameter they are rolled out to without seeing it... oops! They are pretty thin and then once you deep fry them they puff up and you don't want to leave it to thick or it will be too dense. Deep fry until it is golden brown on one side then flip and cook until golden on the other side. I use tongs to flip and get out and set it onto a baking sheet that is covered with paper towels or a brown paper bag to soak up the excess oil.

Serve with Chili Meat, Refried Beans, Shredded Cheddar cheese, chopped lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, hot sauce, and whatever else your little heart desires!!!

Chili Meat

I used leftover roast meat that we had in the freezer or you can get beef chunks and shred them up

Chili Powder to taste

Cayenne Pepper if you like it spicy

Onion powder just a dash or two

salt to taste!!

Monkey Bread

I found this recipe here http://buttercreambarbie.blogspot.com/2010/01/cinnamon-walnut-monkey-bread.html and decided to try it because it is different than my normal monkey bread recipe. It was delicious but I like the old recipe better, the only thing is I usually use Pillsbury biscuits instead of making the dough so what I'll do in the future is use this dough recipe but for the rest use my recipe ( I'll eventually get that recipe on here!!). Oh and for this recipe there is supposed to be walnuts and icing but I didn't do either, though I'm sure it would've been even better with the icing!

Monkey Bread

Dough:
1 1/3 cups warm water
4 1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 TBS sugar
2 tsp salt
5 TBS butter, melted1
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-2 cups bread flour


Filling:
3/4 cup melted butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup light brown sugar

Icing:
2 cups confectioners sugar
2-3 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla

Dissolve the yest in warm water with 1 TBS sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add in butter, sugar, salt, and all purpose flour. Mix until it forms a soft mass and the bread flour as needed to form a soft dough. Let rise covered in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.

Make the coating by putting melted butter in a bowl and in a separate bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon.

Deflate the dough and divide into 1/2 inch pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and dip into the butter then into the cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar mixture into the bottom of the bundt pan. Layer the dough balls in the pan, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes them invert onto a large plate. Make the Icing and drizzle over the top.

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from my Aunt Karen, they are AMAZING!!!! For reals, I love them!!! So go get some cloves and nutmeg and try them out!!!

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup applesauce
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 package chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate... for these ones I did half white chocolate chips because I didn't have a whole bag of choco chips... not great, but it worked)
OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup nuts (I don't like nuts in my treats! I only like nuts by themselves with a little salt... OR coated in cinnamon sugar of coarse mmm!)

In a small bowl combine the applesauce and baking soda, set aside. In a large bowl mix the shortening and sugar. Add the eggs, spices and salt, mix all together. Add the applesauce mixture. Mix in the flour. Add the chocolate chips! SO easy... such great results (just how I like it!!).

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (or grease it) plop a scoop of dough on there, bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Breakfast Burrito

Sorry, looks like I got into another little rut for a little bit there, but I am climbing my way out... slowly but surly, hence this post... I know it isn't really a recipe and even my husband could make it without instruction, but I must restart somewhere! (have you noticed how much I love run-on sentences??)


I love a big breakfast, but I rarely have anything besides cereal lately. Even if I do make a big breakfast I'm the only one that would eat it. My husband is just not a breakfast person and can't eat very much in the morning, so whenever I do make something he only takes a few bites and is done... not cool!! So I made these for lunch the other day!


Breakfast Burrito

Scrambled eggs
4-5 eggs
2 TBS (about) milk
salt and pepper

real bacon bits
cheese
3 big tortillas

*** If you have any leftover baked potatoes in the fridge you can cut them into small squares and fry it with a little butter and add that in too...mmmmmmmm SO good, that is how my mom makes them!

Heat 10" skillet on medium heat. Meanwhile, crack eggs into a bowl or cup with milk, salt, and pepper and whip it with a fork for at least 1 minute to break the eggs up and incorporate the milk.

Pour the bacon bits into the pan and crisp them up a bit, you can pour the egg mixture right on top or take them out and add them to the burrito later ( I add them after)

Cook the eggs using a plastic fork or small spatula to scrape the sides and scramble the eggs. Cook until the milk is mostly evaporated and the eggs are cooked through. I do NOT like my eggs runny!!!

I like my tortilla to be crispy, so I cook it about 30 seconds on each side until it is a little browned. Add eggs, bacon, and cheese, then roll up like a burrito and enjoy!