Light and Easy Icing

Mom requested an Angel Food Cake for her birthday party so I made her one and tried a new recipe for making the icing.  It turned out really good and everyone liked it. 

I used a Pillsbury Angel Food Cake Mix.   I made it the day before so it could completely cool then I made the icing the day of Mom's party.   You will need to keep the cake in the refrigerator after you ice it. 

This would be really good served with some fresh strawberries or peaches!

Light and Easy Icing

1 cup milk
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 pkg cool whip

Beat the milk and instant pudding mix until it starts to thicken.  Fold in the cool whip.  Ice the cake and try not to lick the beaters too much!


I haven't tried it yet; but I think making this with chocolate pudding would be good on some cupcakes!  Or any flavor of pudding that you like.

Apple Pie

A week ago we went to the apple orchard and I bought a peck of Cameo Apples.  This is the first time that I've gotten this type of apple. 

These apples have a creamy yellow skin with red stripes, the apples were crisp and juicy and the flavor is the perfect balance between sweet and tart, with a hint of citrus and honey.

I made some apple pies using these apples and they were very good.  I'll share my super easy yet super delicious pie recipe with you. 

I use Penzey's spices...click here for their online catalog: http://www.penzeys.com

Apple Pie
Source: Me

1 package of Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts
4-5 large cameo apples (it will take more if you have smaller apples)
3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
milk
Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar
Penzey's Vanilla Sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel and cut apples into small bite sized pieces.  Put one of the pie crusts in your deep dish pie pan.  In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Then add the apples and stir well to coat the apples.  Put the apples in the pie dish. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over the apples.  Cut the butter into pats and put over the top of your apples.  Then add the top crust and seal the edges.  Take a pastry brush and lightly brush the top of your crust with milk.  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar and vanilla sugar.  Then use a fork to make several slits in the top of the crust.  Bake 45-55 minutes.

Gorilla Bread

Monday evening Jennifer and Colton came over for a dinner play date.  Jen and I decided to try a new recipe from Paula Deen. 

It was so good, that we didn't get pictures....too busy fighting Dan off from it. LOL

Here's the recipe as we made it....we used the Grands biscuits since that is what I already had and we used pecans instead of walnuts. 

Gorilla Bread
Source: Paula Deen

1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese
1 large can of Grands style biscuits (or 2 cans of the 10 count smaller biscuits)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan.

Cut the cream cheese into 20 small squares.

If using the large Grands biscuits, cut each biscuit in half.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Microwave the stick of butter in a glass bowl until melted and stir in the brown sugar.

Take the biscuits and dip in the sugar mixture, covering both sides.  Place a piece of cream cheese in the middle of each biscuit then wrap and seal.

Place 1/2 the biscuits in the pan.  Then sprinkle on some of the sugar. Then put 1/2 the butter mixture. Then put the remaining biscuits, sugar, butter, and remaining nuts.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes, then place a plate on top and invert.

Crusty Bread

I tried a new recipe today for Crusty Bread.  It was very easy and turned out great! 
I really don't have much experience making bread.

But I love bread. 
I love the way it makes the house smell.
I love the way it tastes warm from the oven with melty butter.
I love to soak it in my potato or tomato soup. 

So I thought I'd start with this super easy recipe.  Next I'll graduate to more complicated breads.

I found the recipe for this Crusty Bread at Simply So Good Blog.  She has lots of pictures of the bread making process....and the finished product.  She also has some recipe variations, which I hope to try next weekend.

CRUSTY BREAD
Source: Simply So Good

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a "shaggy" mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough (remove the plastic wrap!!)   Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. 

Pork Chops with Potatoes

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought this recipe was too good to pass up!  I found this recipe last Friday on the Not Enough Thyme blog....e-mailed it to a selection of my e-mail friends...and there are three people, including me, having this recipe for dinner tonight! 

I made the recipe nearly like the original .... you  know me... I always tweak things a little. 

This recipe was excellent!  I'm certain these were the most tender pork chops that I have EVER made.  Dan had two pork chops and I had one. I had to fight him over the remaining one....it's going to be my lunch tomorrow!

I didn't take any pictures....if you go to the original recipe site she has a gorgeous picture. 

PORK CHOPS WITH POTATOES (with my changes)
Source: Not Enough Thyme Cooking Blog

4 pork chops - buy thicker chops with bone in
2 cloves garlic, diced
salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp butter
4 slices of thick bacon, chopped
 tarragon leaves
1/2 cup beer
1/2 cup chicken broth

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large skillet over med-high heat melt butter with the garlic.
• Salt & Pepper both sides of the chops.  Add to the butter/garlic and cook 7 minutes on each side.
• Meanwhile, spray your dutch oven with cooking spray.
• Layer 1/2 the potatoes and 1/2 the onion.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Take 1 tbsp of butter and cut into chunks and put over the potatoes.
• Put the cooked chops (and the leftover butter and garlic) on top of the potato and onions.
• Sprinkle with tarragon leaves (I didn't measure, just lightly sprinkle)
• Scatter the bacon all over.
• Add the remaining potatoes and onions.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour the beer over all this.
• Cut a piece of baking parchment to fit over the contents of the dish and lay it on top of the final layer of potatoes and onion.
• Cover with the dutch oven lid...bake for 45 minutes.  Add the chicken broth then cook for another 45 minutes.
• Enjoy - because these are some tender and delicious chops!

Coconut Almond Chex Mix

Last week I had a Thirty One party at my house after work.  It was a lot of fun and they have an awesome line of products (check them out sometime!)

I tried some new snacks for the party, the Coconut Almond Chex Mix was a hit!
And it was really easy to make.

I got the recipe from the Jamie Cooks It Up! blog.  I followed the recipe....well, I sort of followed it.  I tweaked it slightly. 

6 C Corn Chex Cereal
6 C Golden Graham Cereal
1 C slivered almonds - I used the whole bag
1 C sweetened coconut - I  used the whole bag
1 C butter
1 C light corn syrup
1 C sugar

Line two large baking sheets with wax paper.

Toss 6 cups of each cereal into a large mixing bowl.

Add coconut and slivered almonds.  Stir well.

Into a medium sized sauce pan place 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup light corn syrup.  Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Let it boil for 4 minutes.  Pour over the top of the cereal/coconut mixture.  Stir the mixture well, making sure all of the cereal gets coated.  Pour the mix out onto the lined cookie sheets. Let set for about 15-20 minutes. Once it has set up a bit, break it into chunks and store it in an airtight container.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

While we were in Minnesota we had a very good salad at Noodles & Company.  I made this salad today and it was soooo good and very similiar to their salad.  I wish we had this restaurant close to us. 

I made the dressing different so I'll share my version with you also.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

In a large bowl layer the following ingredients, I didn't really measure, just add as much or as little as you wish:

Spinach leaves
Red Onion, thinly sliced
Strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces (I sprinkled a little splenda on them)
Croutons
Cooked & Crumbled Bacon (I used about 4 strips)
Chopped Pecans
Blue Cheese Crumbles

Balsamic Dressing
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil

I placed the above ingredients in a mason jar, screwed on the lid and shook it really well to mix.  Then drizzle on the salad before serving.

Refrigerator Rolls

One of my favorite scents is the smell of bread baking.

One of my favorite tastes is homemade rolls.....to be more specific, the rolls that Dan's aunt always makes when we have Dotson family gatherings.

 

Refrigerator Rolls
Source:  Aunt Helen Chapman

2 pkg yeast
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cold water
2 eggs
1/2 cup warm water to dissolve the yeast
8 cups sifted flour or 7 cups unsifted

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Put salt, sugar, and shortening in 1 cup boiling water, bring back to a boil and remove from the stove.  Add 1 cup cold water and beaten eggs - allow to cool to luke warm before adding  in the yeast.  Stir in flour and mix well.  Put in a greased large bowl and let rise.  Pinch off into rolls.  Bake in a large greased pan 15-20 minutes in a 425 oven.



I love to  put  strawberry freezer jam on these rolls.  I don't have a recipe for freezer jam so if anyone does, please share!