Flag Cake

To celebrate Independence Day (and my birthday which is July 3rd), it seemed fitting that this patriotic cake made an appearance on the "menu." It is super easy to decorate and the kids can help you!! I used a yellow boxed cake (18.25 ounces) and a 16-ounce tub of vanilla frosting. Both were the Pillsbury brand, but please feel free to use whatever brand or flavor is your family's favorite.  Blueberries are the "stars" and strawberries are the "stripes."  You could use blackberries or raspberries in place of the blueberries.  Just make sure whatever fruit you use, rinse and thoroughly pat dry. For the "stripes",  I used eight strawberries (which were all different sizes) and cut them in half and then cut each half into three slices. I used 36 blueberries for the "stars."  

  

  I would suggest making this cake ahead of time for your picnic or get-together, loosely cover with foil and put in the fridge until just before you want to eat it.  You probably don't want this cake sitting out in the sun :)  I think using the fruit instead of decorator icing is kind of a welcome change.  There is really no wrong way to decorate this cake - let your imagination run wild!!  Happy 4th of July!!

Best Ever Banana Muffins

 
After searching online and through my many cookbooks for just the right banana muffin recipe, I found the best one in a cookbook given to me many years ago by an old office mate. The front cover of the cookbook fell off a long time ago, so I have absolutely no idea how old the cookbook is!  The original name of the recipe was "Banana Tea Bread."  As you can tell by the pictures below, the cookbook is probably older than me! I wrote all over the recipe, because I had to adapt it several times to get it just right :)  Earlier this year, February 23rd, I posted a recipe for Banana Oatmeal Muffins that is also quite tasty. Try making those sometime too!!
 

 

Ingredients:

3 medium size ripe bananas
1 3/4 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2  large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons margarine or butter (softened)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and fill 12-muffin tin with paper liners.  Mash bananas in separate bowl with fork.  Put bananas and margarine or butter in a larger bowl and add the rest of the ingredients to it.  Mix until well combined.  Fill the liners with about 3/4 of the mixture.  Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.  Cool about 10 minutes on wire rack.  For a variation, try adding about 1/4-1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter before baking. The last time I made these I used dark chocolate chips :)

Homemade Personal Pizzas

Just about every Friday night, the hubby and I like to eat meatless for dinner.  It's usually shrimp, salmon or some other kind of fish, which neither of the kids will eat.  I usually just make them a hamburger or else order a pizza.  I thought, why not just make a few pizzas!!  The Chelsea Milling Company (they make the "Jiffy" brand boxed mixes) have been around FOREVER and their products are available in all 50 states.  If you have a few moments, check out their website (www.jiffymix.com).  At the current time, you can send away for this 66-page cookbook and the best part is it's free!!!

The last time I went to the grocery store, I bought two of their 6.5 ounce boxes of pizza crust mixes, one for Dominic and one for Lauren.  The only thing you add to the mix is water.  After you let it rise about 5 minutes, you knead it into a circle and put it on a slightly greased cookie sheet.  Prebake the crust about 5 minutes at 375 degrees and pull it back out of the oven.  Add the sauce, cheese and any other toppings you want.  I used a 15-ounce can of  Dei Fratelli pizza sauce.  Feel free to use whatever brand you like! I ended up using about half of the pizza sauce on each pizza.  We also used part of an 8-ounce bag of shredded mozzarella cheese.  Lauren decided to make her own pizza.  She made hers in the shape of a circle and used tons of cheese!!
 

  

I  made Dominic's for him, since he was more interested at the time in playing in the family room.  His was in the shape of a square and used slightly less cheese :)

 

You bake the pizzas for about 20 minutes or so at 375 degrees or until the bottom is slightly brown and the cheese is bubbly.  Since this was the first time we made homemade pizza, we stuck with cheese only.  Lauren said the next time we do this, she may try it with pineapple and ham!  Yummy :)

Beef Tortilla Bake

This recipe was adapted from the Campbell's Soup Company's recipe for "Beef Taco Bake." Who knew you could make something so delicious from a can of tomato soup!?!?!  The name really should be "beef tortilla bake" since you use tortillas in it! When this made it on to the dinner "menu" a few weeks ago, there were hardly any leftovers  :) That's usually a sign that my "customers" liked their meal!!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup (10 3/4 ounces)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup salsa
4 8-inch flour tortillas (cut into 1-inch pieces)
1 cup + 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Brown ground beef until no longer pink.  Drain off fat.  In 9 x 13 inch pan, put beef, tomato soup, milk, salsa, flour tortillas and one cup cheddar cheese.  Combine all ingredients together until well covered.  Bake uncovered  for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup shredded cheese until it melts. Serves 4-6.

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

A few weeks ago, I sat looking at a package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts wondering what the heck to do with them!! I decided I wanted to make chicken fettuccine alfredo.  The end result was this.

Most of the recipes I looked through involved using heavy cream, which I typically don't keep on hand in my fridge. This recipe uses cream cheese instead and only uses a handful of ingredients. This recipe is definitely not low-calorie or low-fat, but I think it will become a monthly recipe on my "menu" for sure!!  Hopefully you will agree :)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup salted or unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
2 cups milk
1 pound uncooked fettuccine noodles (any brand)

Slice boneless chicken into large chunks.  In about 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil, cook the chicken until no longer pink in the middle.  Drain off fat and set aside.  In large stockpot, prepare fettuccine noodles as directed on package.  I used the "house" brand from Kroger, feel free to use whatever brand you usually buy :)  Drain noodles and set aside.  In large saucepan, put the butter, cream cheese and milk.  Bring to a low or moderate simmer and stir with spoon until sauce is smooth.  Remove from heat, it will thicken as it stands.  Back into the stockpot put the noodles, chicken and sauce.  Mix together until noodles and chicken are covered in the sauce.  The hubby sprinkled parmesan cheese on top of his serving.  I made a tossed salad to go with this and our meal was complete!

Chocolate Chip Supreme Muffins

One of the readers of this blog recently posted a comment asking me if I had a good recipe for chocolate chip muffins. I thought about it for a bit and realized I didn't, so I decided to experiment :)  To me, any day is a good day for "experimenting" with chocolate!! My first try making chocolate chip muffins this morning were okay (the muffin below on the left), but I knew I could make something better.  My daughter, Lauren rated them a 6 out of 10.  I was aiming for a 10 out of 10 :)

 
My second attempt at making chocolate chip muffins this afternoon definitely turned out much better (the muffin above on the right). I asked Lauren to "sample" one of the muffins from the second batch and she rated them a 10 out of 10.  If you can believe it, both muffins had almost the exact same ingredients, but used different proportions!! Which one would you prefer?? I would love to hear from you!


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup margarine (melted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 12-muffin tin with paper liners.  In large bowl, mix all ingredients together by hand until well combined.  Distribute batter evenly into paper liners.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes on wire rack.

Buckeye Candy

Being relatively new to the Midwest (a little over 10 years), I had never heard of buckeye candy.  I started making these around the holidays a handful of years ago, but was thinking this week, that it doesn't need to be that time of year to make them. My husband is addicted to these because he loves anything with peanut butter and chocolate mixed together :)  I think it's also because he was born and raised in Ohio, the "Buckeye" State!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened, not melted)
18 ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Topping:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (melted)


Cream together butter, peanut butter and vanilla by hand until smooth in large bowl.  Add powdered sugar and mix together until well blended.  Roll into balls with the palms of your hands and place on plate.  If you make the size above that I did, then you should be able to get about four dozen.  You can make them smaller or bigger, depending on your preference.  I found the size above to be just right for popping into your mouth! Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for at least two hours to chill.  In microwaveable bowl melt the chocolate morsels.  To melt, start with 30 seconds and keep adding 15-30 seconds at a time until you can stir with a spoon.  You can also melt the chocolate morsels on the stove in a small saucepan, just keep it on a low to moderate heat, so it doesn't boil!  Remove melted chocolate from microwave or stove. Using a toothpick, dip each ball about halfway into the chocolate and place on plate.  The chocolate hardens pretty quick.  By the time you're done dipping the last ball, the first one will be hardened up and ready to eat.  These have to be kept refrigerated.