Oh boy, I just received in the mail yesterday the little Gooseberry Patch order form for one of their new cookbooks. One of the recipes from them is this mashed potato casserole which can be made with the already prepared meals from the grocery stores, such as Owens brand of mashed potatoes. It is a great family dish and goes wonderfully with Easter ham or roast.
5 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup milk
8 oz pak softened cream cheese
8 oz container sour cream
2 teas dried parsley
1 teas garlic powder
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices bacon crisply cooked and crumbled
Combine all ingredients except cheddar cheese and bacon in a large mixing bowl. (if you are using the store bought mashed potatoes, you will have to get them to room temperature so you can stir them and blend in the ingredients.)
If you are using homemade mashed potatoes and have not mashed them, you will need a mixer for this and will need to beat the potatoes with all of the ingredients except the cheese and bacon.
(* I like to use fresh garlic pods to cut and rub all over the 13×9 dish before spooning the mixture into it.)Spoon into a lighly greased 13×9 baking dish; top with cheese and bacon. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes or until cheese melts. Serves 12.
Spiced Apple-Date Bundt Cake
I know I have posted an apple cake on here before, but this one was over the top. Took it to church this morning, as it was my turn to bring “breakfast” for our group. Decided to try a different cake and I have to say, I like this one even better than my fresh apple cake I posed last year. This one seems to be even more moist, a little more flavorful, with lots of spices. Got lots of “yums” from the ladies…..
Even though I forgot to buy dates at the store, this cake was delicioius even without the dates, so cannot wait to try it again, with the dates.
3 cups flour
1 tables ground cinnamon
1 teas baking soda
1 teas salt
1/2 teas ground allspice
1/2 teas ground cloves
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups grated apple
1 cup chopped dates
2 teas vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a bundt pan with baking spray; set aside
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice and cloves. Set aside. In a medium bowl, and using an electric mixer at high speed, combine oil, brown sugar, and eggs. Beat until pale yellow in color, about 5 mins.
Gradually add the flour mixture to theh oil mixture. Fold in grated apple, dates and vanilla. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hr to 1 hour, 15 min (mine only took 1 hr.) until toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center. Cool in pan for 10 min. Remove cake from pan onto serving plate. You can either serve it without frosting. I choose to poke holes with a wooden stick and poured frosting, which is below into the holes and then over the top letting it run over the sides of the cake.
Frosting:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 3 tables heavy cream, 1/4 stick butter (4 tables), 1 teas vanilla and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
Place all ingredients except the vanilla and powdered sugar into a saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir well until powdered sugar is dissolved and no lumps remain. Let frosting run into the holes you have poked in the cake and then pour the remaining over the entire cake, letting it run over the sides. This frosting hardens pretty fast, so you have to pour over pretty quickly, while cake is still warm…..Enjoy!
Brownies in a Jar
Thought you might like to use this idea. For Easter, I have several ladies who I would just like to give a little something to tell them “thank you for opening up their hearts and homes to us here”. It has made it so much easier to feel “at home” and also has helped us to already have some great beginnings to new friendships. Since I love to bake, I thought it would be nice to give them something homemade. I went on-line and found a recipe for Double Fudge Brownies, which you can mix up the dry ingredients, put in a mason jar and give away. All they have to do is add the eggs, butter and vanilla, pour in a pan and they have a great bunch of homemade brownies. WalMart has mason jars, sold by the dozen, cute little lids, squares of fabic, already cut and matching labels. So for the prize of $20.00 or under, I am able to make about 8 or 9 gifts to give away. Below is listed the recipe I used. I have made the brownies and they are so fudgy and good. Baking a blessing…………Trudy (of course you will want to use your name, not mine, ha)
Each qt jar will hold the following:
2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
Throughly mix all of the above and pour into a cleaned and throughly dried qt jar. I mixed up the ingredients before pouring them into the jar. Then attach to the jar:
Double Fudge Brownies
Makes 24
1 cup softened butter
4 eggs
2 teas vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 12×9 in pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter, adding the eggs one a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and then the brownies mix. Continue to stir until all is smooth. Spread the mixture into the greased pan and bake for 35-40 min. I sprinkle about 1 tables granulated sugar over the top as soon as they come out of the oven.
Pimento Cheese Scones
Another winner from Tea Time Magazine, July 2009. These are just so pretty and so flavorful, even if you don’t like pimento cheese, these are delicious with soups or salads or as in Paula Deen style, with a slab of butter melted on top.
Makes 24
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teas baking powder
1/2 teas salt
1/4 teas baking soda
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
3 oz cold cream cheese, diced
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 (4 oz) jar diced pimientos, drained
3/4 cup plus 1 tables heavy cream, divided
Preheat oven to 450. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter and cream cheese until mixture resembles coarse meal. Fold in 1/4 cup cheddar and the pimientos.
Make a well in center of the mixture and add 3/4 cup cream. Using a fork, blend mixture until a loose dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 to 4 turns. Roll dough out to 1/2 in thickness. Using a 2″ cutter, cut scones, rerolling scraps no more than twice. (doing more than 2 times will make them dry and hard after baking).
Place the scones on the prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 1′ apart. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat scones with remaining cream and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar. Bake for 12 to 15 min, or until light golden brown.
Grocery Store Blues
I am totally depressed. Not only do the grocery stores in California NOT have Sister Schubert rolls, which are totally necessary for dinner parties, they are short on a few items necessary for this butter queen to bake like a true southern belle. We are having company for dinner tonight and took the menu straight out of Southern Living Magazine which is right next to the Bible in things I would take with me if my house caught on fire. I notice that the recipe that I have chosen, calls for a chocolate cookie crust and chocolate covered York mints. So I grab my purse, head for the grocery store only to discover that the grocery store doesn’t stock chocolate graham cracker crusts. That’s ok, I will just buy chocolate graham crackers and make my own. I walk excitedly to the cookie isle thinking how proud I will be when I have to announce that I made my own crusts because the store didn’t carry the prepared kind I needed. That is when I discover that low and behold, they do not carry chocolate graham cookies. That’s ok, this is even better, now I can brag that I had to buy chocolate cookies and use those since there were no chocolate graham cookies, but….feeling my heart beat faster as I comb the isle going back and forth looking for chocolate cookies other than oreos or fudge marshmellow cookies, I discover that there are no chocolate wafer cookies. I head over to the butter isle just to be sure that there is real butter, pick up a stick to smell it to recover from my fainting spell…I did come to the grocery store, and not the hardware store, right? I look around and see the bottled water, the salad fixings and take a deep breath. Yes, I am in a grocery store. Well, I decide that I will do the only thing I can do, I buy a package of chocolate chip cookies to use for my chocolate cookie crust. At least they had those. But York mints, no, don’t have those either. I have to buy several little boxes of Jr Mints, which were not fun to try to dice. So I buy a few more items head to the check out counter and pay for my groceries. Still fuming that they do not have items that are considered “stationary grocery items in Dallas” I am walking out to the door, trying to decide who I can call and complain that these California grocery stores are just not going to cut it in my “southern butter belt” cooking world, when all of a sudden I hear a young lady yell, “ma’m, ma’m”. Is she talking to me? When I see everyone looking in my direction, I decide that she is and I turn around to see the sweet young checker who is proably not over 13 years old, running to me holding up a magnifying glass telling me, “oh ma’m, you forgot your magnifying glass”…..I quickly told her that that was not mine, that I had perfect vision; why I could even clearly see the tattoo on her ankle without even bending over. I am not going back to the grocery store, I am now ordering on-line and having groceries delivered. The whole experience was just too much for me, am even having my anti-depressants delivered, not going to take the chance of going to Walgreens, they might think the “Depends” coupon on the floor is mine.
Minty Ice Cream Pie
I know, here I go again with the chocolate, but I just can’t help it. I see these recipes and immediately, I have to go make them when they sound this good. And….it is! Perfect for those spring dinners and great to have in the freezer for unexpected friends dropping by.
1 (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 tables sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
1 chocolate crumb crust (9 in)
2 pacakges (4 3/4 oz each) chocolate covered min candies, divided
1 pint chocolate ice cream or fudge ripple ice cream
1/4 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
2 tables powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and 2 tables sugar until blended. Beat in 1 cup cream until soft peaks form. Fold in nuts and spread into pie crust. Coarsely chop 1 package mint candies and fold into softened ice cream. Spread over cream cheese mixture. Drizzle with fudge topping. Freeze for 1 hr.
In a small bowl, beat remaining cream until it begins to thicken. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form. Garnish pie with whipped cream mixture and remaining candies. Freeze. Remove from the freezer 15 min before serving.
Janies Cakes www.janiescakes.com
FYI….for those of you who are like me and like to send food instead of flowers, I have found the perfect cake that is delicious and so easy to order and always gets rave reviews from the recipients. Janies Cakes out of Tyler Texas. I found them in the back of a Southern Living Magazine years ago and ordered one when for a friend who lived out of town and had had surgery. Since I couldn’t be there to bake for her, I ordered one of these cakes. She was just so excited to receive one of these wonderful pound cakes that she wrote me and told me that she had much rather receive one of these than flowers any time. So began my relationship with Janes Cakes. Throughout the years I have ordered them for “thank you gifts”, just having surgery gifts, or birthday gifts. You will never go wrong in sending these delicioius cakes which have a most awesome filling in the hole of the bundt cake….just go to http://www.janescakes.com and check out the different types of cakes. You might even order yourself one when you are not in the mood to bake. Am having my daughter and son-in-law one delivered today. Can’t wait to hear from them how great it will be tonight to sit down after they get the kids to bed and just enjoy the wonderful chocolate flavor of their Janes Cake. Wish I had a piece right now.
Eat The Bowl
This is just so cool, it is a Parmesan basket, which you can fill with any type of salad and serve guests. It is so impressive, yet so easy and they will think you have been studying the Julia Child cookbook all week.
Each basket takes about 4 oz of shredded parmesan cheese.
Spread shredded parmesan evenly in heated crepe pan (or small skillet); add chopped nuts, if desired to melted cheese.
Cook over medium-highheat 1-2 min until edges are lightly brown; lift out of pan with spatula.
Invert hot cheese disk over bottom of an inverted custard cup; allow to cool. Fill with salad and serve on salad plate with fancy crackers.
You can make ahead and store between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Also you can add your favorite spice or fresh herbs while melting in skillet. Makes a pretty salad bowl to hold your green salads at Easter lunch.
Saturday Night in California
It has been a week today that I got back from Texas. It is beginning to feel like home. We got up this morning and went for a walk, which is all uphill on the way back, I might add, so it got our hearts pumping pretty good. Randy is outside washing his car, and I am inside having just made cream puffs for our company tomorrow night. We will be going today to buy a lemon tree for the patio. Everyone here has lemon or lime trees planted in yards and they just look so Californie (yes that is a word, in my world, anyway). So we will be off to explore the nurseries and buy a few plants for the patio today. We started to wonder what we should serve tomorrow night and Randy wants an “all junk food weekend” so we are having sloppy joes,salad (yes, the people out here always have a salad, no matter what they serve, fruit (we had to have fruit instead of chips because everyone out here does that) and cream puffs. That is our way of “meeting them in the middle, fruit instead of chips). Our new friends don’t know that we have a stash of chips in the den, so will be making several trips to “check out the game scores” in the den. I will just have to remember to take a napkin in the den to wipe the chip off our faces before coming back into the kitchen. Tonight instead of partying down with the stars down in the Grove, Randy and I will be looking for great hiding places to stash our chips, french onion dip and Dr. Peppers. No one out here drinks anything but bottled water or Chrystal Light. We will let you know if we get caught, sneaking our Texas trash food. If we do, we will just pretend that we are “under the influence” of Dr Pepper and we couldn’t help ourselves.
Quick Pork Medallions with Mustard Cream Sauce
I’m getting some flack from friends that tell me I have to get out of my chocolate mode and back to posting more than chocolate cobbler, chocolate cookies, chocolate candy, etc….so am sharing a most wonderful dish. Yes, I got it from Paula Deen (hum…that makes it sound like she gave it to me personally, ha). Although it is a dream of mine to actually sit and just talk food with her one day, I got this out of one of her magazines and it is really great. If you are not a pork eater, use chicken or beef, but we love the pork and that is what I am going with today.
2 (1 pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed and cut into 1 in slices
2 teas salt
2 teas ground black pepper
1/4 cup butter, divided
1 shallot, or onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teas dried rubbed sage
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tables coarse grained mustard
Pound pork slices to 1/4 in thickness. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.
In a large skillet, melt 2 tables butter over medium high heat. Add pork in batches if necessary and cook for 3-4 min per side or until browned. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.
Melt remaining butter in skillet. Add shallot or onion and cook stirring constantly, for 2 min. Slowly add wine and sage and cook, stirring to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet with a wooden spoon, until wine is reduced by half. Add cream and simmer for 4-5 min or until suace is thickened. Stir in mustard. Serve immediately over pork medallions which you could serve with wild rice and oven roasted asaparagus. Makes a beautifiul presentation.
Also, if you are in more of a hurry, use thin sliced pork chops and then no need to pound the pork.
