Berry Soaked Cake *Pun Intended*

 

Ingredients:

• Vanilla Cake Mix 
• eggs and oil for the cake mix, varies by mix 
• Dark Cherries, 1 (12oz) bag, frozen
• Red Raspberries, 1 (12oz) bag, frozen
• Strawberries, I used fresh this time because they were on sale, frozen would work too
• 1 1/2c sugar
• 1c pineapple juice
• ~3T cornstarch
• Cool Whip

Directions:

( I baked the cake and got the berries covered in sugar the night before so they had time to cool and soften) 

1. Bake the cake according to directions, I cooked it just a few minutes longer so it'd be a touch darker than what you'd want for a normal cake. I actually wanted it dry so it could soak up the juice and not fall apart. 
2. In a (stain proof) bowl combine the fruit and sugar. I add just a couple tablespoons to 1/3c of water to help the sugar to start dissolving and breaking down the fruit. I'd let the fruit sit for at least 6-8 hours or longer, and if you think of it, stir it so everything gets a chance to sit in the sauce.
3. Smash up the berries just a bit since the cherries are whole when they're frozen.
4. Put the berries in a fine mesh strainer and keep just a bit of the juice in the berries. We're straining it for the glaze and to soak the cake with. 
5. Add the pineapple juice to the strained juice, then reserve 3/4c of the juice for the cake and the rest will be used for the glaze (I'd make sure there's at least 1c of the glaze juice, if you need to add a little water or pineapple juice go ahead). 
6. Once cake is completely cool lift the whole thing out of the 9x13 pan and put on a cutting board. Trim off the edges and carefully cut the cake through the middle making 2 layers.
7. Using a basting brush, cover both layers in the reserved juice and let that sit for bit.
8. Take 3T of glaze juice and put in a little container, add the 3T cornstarch and use a whisk to break up all the lumps, this is your slurry to thicken the juice.
9. In a medium sauce pan put the juice in and turn on the heat to a lower setting, once it comes to a boil, slowly adding in the cornstarch and whisking, don't dump it all in at once, add a few teaspoons at a time so that it doesn't get thickened into a gel. After each addition let it come back to a boil and watch it, it will burn easily. 
10. Once the glaze can coat the back of a spoon, drag your finger across it and if the glaze doesn't fill it back in, it's done. Make sure the glaze is cold when you put it on the cake. I let mine cool for 45m in the fridge.

Assembly:

1. Bottom half back into the cake pan or jelly roll pan. 
2. Drizzle 1/2 of glaze over the cake (not all of it) making sure the get the sides too.
3. Spread whipped cream all over.
4. Add 1/2 of the berries and juice.
5. The second layer of cake with the berry soaked side up goes on next.
6. Add rest of glaze.
7. Top with rest of whipped cream and cover sides if possible.
8. Cover with rest of berries.

Should serve 8-12 people. I served it with ice cream but it's not necessary.

It's a really easy cake, I just like explaining things. :) 

Quinoa & Veggies!

Amazing.

Ingredients:

1/2c. raw quinoa
1c chicken broth or water
1 1/2c broccoli florets, I made sure they were sliced up a bit smaller.
1/3c diced onion
1/2 plum tomato, small dice
2T oil/butter
2T Worcestershire sauce (preferably homemade LIKE MY GRANDMA'S. IT'S AMAZING.)


Directions:
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. I made my quinoa earlier in the day to save time on cooking for supper. Worked great! Also, 1c raw quinoa equals roughly 4, 1c servings.
2. In a sautee pan melt 1T butter or heat up some oil of your choice.
3. Add onions and cook until almost translucent. Add broccoli.
4. Make sure to season with salt and pepper. Get all that stuff happy together and slightly browned.
5. Add quinoa and 1T of oil if needed, don't want it to get dried out.
6. Cook until heated thru, maybe 5 minutes.
7. Throw tomatoes in at last second so they soften from the heat and then serve!

It'd be great with Parm cheese, I just didn't have any. This stuff was so good. All together it makes at least 4, 1c servings. Great side dish or just a great meal in itself!

Creamy Corn Salad

Ingredients:

10 ears of sweet corn
1 (10 oz) container plain yogurt
1/2c miracle whip or mayo whatever.
3 scallions
2-3 roma/plum tomatoes
3/4c shredded cojack cheese
salt
pepper
paprika
garlic powder
onion powder

Directions:

1. Shuck the corn and break in half. Pretend silk is hair. Put 5-6 ears in a pot to boil. Add a little salt. Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes or until the kernels are tender.
2. Once the corn is cooked use tongs and get them out of the water and put in a big bowl of ice cold water to stop cooking but also cool the corn so you can cut it up faster without burning off your fingers.
3. Add the rest of the corn to the hot water and once again cook until it's tender.
4. While the other corn is cooking and the other cooling, make the dressing. Mix the yogurt, miracle whip, salt, pepper, paprika (I put in 1 1/2t), the 2 powders just put a couple of shakes in, maybe 1/2t.
5. For the scallion I cut off the very tips at both ends cause we don't use those. I made small slices at the white end maybe half an inch or so. Then on the green end for color I did about an inch and a half. All precise measurements here folks.
6. If you're making this on the day of, you can chop up the tomato now, if not, wait until the day of. Same for the cheese, leave it out until day of or it gets soggy and no one wants that.
7. Ok so the corns are done cooking and you add those to the cold water. Now time to start cuttin corn.
8. In the bowl I'm going to mix it up and serve it in (you can also put the other items in this bowl) I put an upside down bowl that is smaller than the whole container so that I can sit the corn on top and use a knife to cut off the kernels. Video demonstration on youtube if you're confused.
9. Ok now I didn't need all of the sauce right now so I only used about 4T of it and stirred everything together. When it's the day of I may add the rest of it if it got dry sitting in fridge over night. If you're making this the day of, go with what you feel. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life.

For fun you could easily add some bacon right before serving and I have even seen people add corn chips. I think it turned out pretty tasty myself so I hope everyone else likes it. :)

Pork Chops Florentine!

Pork Chops Florentine~

Introduction

Made this stuffing to put over top pork chops that I then baked in the oven tonight at my mom's.  You could do this with chicken breasts too! We all thought it was delicious! Definitely going to make it again!

Ingredients

6 boneless pork chops 

1 (10oz pkg) Spinach, frozen, hawed & excess liquid squeezed out.
Cream of Mushroom Soup, 1 can (10.75 oz)
Mixed Vegetables, canned, 1 can
Cream of Chicken Soup, 1 can (10.75 oz)
Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing Mix, 1 box dry
Garlic powder, 1 tsp
Onions, dehydrated flakes, 1 tbsp
Lawry's Seasoning Salt, .5 tsp
Pepper, black, .5 tsp
Cheese, shredded Cojack, 1.5 cups
milk, 3/4c

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

If you're adding pork chops or even chicken breast you'll start by:
Mix the soups, seasonings, & milk together with a whisk.
Put maybe 1c of the soup mix in the bottom of a sprayed 9x13" pan.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the remaining soup EXCEPT CHEESE and combine.
Lay your chicken or pork down in the pan then spoon the stuffing mixture over the meat.

Bake at 350F for an hour, remove cover and put cheese on top, continue to cook for 20min or until cheese is golden brown.

If you're just making the stuffing to bake *which would be delicious as well*, just combine everything and put it in a casserole dish and cook as you would normally for stuffing.



Serving Size: 2/3c of stuffing

Number of Servings: 8

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 292.3

• Total Fat: 10.5 g
• Cholesterol: 21.2 mg
• Sodium: 1,168.0 mg
• Total Carbs: 29.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
• Protein: 10.6 g 

PEACH & APPLE PIE BARS.

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 sugar
• 6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

I didn't really worry too much about the dough being "perfect". Just combine all of it until it sticks together. I actually froze this crust because I had made a pie for March 14th (Pi Day) and I had extra so I froze it. I just got it out the night before I made this.

You're going to want to grease the 9x13 cake pan and crumble the crust into bits and press it up the sides half way then press it all down on the bottom.

Filling:
6 ripe georgia peaches, peeled and chunked
5 apples (mine were about the 2-3" around so they were on the small side), peeled & chunked
1/2c brown sugar
1/2c sugar
1/2t nutmeg
1/2t cinnamon
2t vanilla
1c flour, I kind of guessed with it since I wasn't sure how much to put in. I made it so the peach juice thickened up a bit, a little runnier that pancake batter if that helps.

Mix everything together and pour over the crust.

Topping:
1/2 stick butter
1/2c brown sugar
1/2-3/4c oats

Mix all that up in the bowl you made the filling in, should be able to form into a ball  and just sprinkle all around the top, it'll spread a little.

Ok. Oven at 350F, bake for an hour. I checked it at 40min then let it go another 20 cause it was still jiggly.
I also let it sit for quite awhile when it was done so it firmed up and the topping crisped up.

THEY'RE DELICIOUS.

Polenta, Bacon, & A Poached Egg

This is amazing.

First**, Polenta:

2c water
1c cornmeal

1. Boil the water adding a little bit of salt.
2. Whisk in the cornmeal CONSTANTLY. Lumpy polenta SUCKS.
3. Cook for 5 minutes on a really really low heat. I had mine on medium for a few seconds and it was SPITTING and it burns you easily if it lands on you. Whisk the whole time.
4. Remove from heat, season with more salt, pepper, & 1-2T butter.
5. Put in a microwave safe bowl, cover it, and put it in the fridge until you need it.

**I made this in the morning so I wouldn't have to juggle so many pots/pans at supper time, you could also make this the night ahead.

Bacon. I make this when it's supper time if that's when you want to eat this, I made 2lbs because my husband wanted bacon sandwiches for supper.

Fry some up. However much you will want. I crumbled bacon on mine.


Toppings:

1 plum tomato, small dice, pulp removed.
1/4 small diced onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced

1.  I cut up the whole tomato, half will be cooked, half raw.
2. Dice the onion & mince the garlic.
3. I used a little bit bacon grease to caramelize the onion, garlic, & half the tomato.
4. Add a little sprinky dink of salt & pepper.
5. Cook until a nice brown color and set aside until we're ready for it.


Poached Egg:

Firstly, if you've never made a poached egg here is a great video by Alton Brown.

2 eggs.
3c water
1T vinegar

1. Bring the water to a simmer.**
2. Crack one egg into a small container
3. Add the vinegar to the water.
4. Use a spoon to get rid of the bubbles on the bottom. I have a flat surface stove and I had it at a 3, low and it was perfect.
5. Ok, you ready? I'm ready. Slowly place the first egg in the water. Crack the next egg and put it in the pan.
6. Set your timer for 5 minutes for a runny egg yolk.
7. Scoop the egg out and put it on your food. Since I was eating it right away I didn't see the need to dirty a towel or paper towel or make the edges clean, they did that by themselves.

**While the water was starting to simmer, I put the polenta in a bowl, added some butter and reheated it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Don't be freaked out about the polenta being hard, it does that, it'll smooth out after you reheat it and stir it for a little bit. Now start the eggs so while the eggs cook you can assemble your dish.

I add my toppings to the polenta after it's heated, so the bacon, onion, garlic, and all the tomatoes. Add the eggs on top and walla!

Polenta, Bacon, & A Poached Egg.

I'm sorry for the crappy photos. I broke up everything and stirred it all together, the egg yolk acted like a sauce and it was perfect.

Banana Bars

I got this recipe from work, shh don't tell!

The original recipe is for a half sheet pan. I only have a 9x13 cake pan so I halved the recipe. I will give you my changed recipe and to get the half sheet double it. To get 2 half sheet pans, double that. lol. It's all scientific here, I promise.

Preheat oven to 350F, in the time it takes you to whip these up, your oven will be preheated.

1c sugar
1/2c softened butter
2 eggs (the original recipe had 3 eggs and you can't exactly do 1 1/2 eggs so I did 2)
1/2t vanilla

Cream above together.
Add your b-a-n-a-n-a-s & 1c sour cream. I had 2 in my kitchen so that's what I used. Original says 3.

1/2t baking soda
1 1/2c flour

Add to creamed mixture.
I added a little milk, maybe 3/4c because I didn't have the 1c of sour cream on hand, you could use milk like I did or yogurt or even applesauce!

Grease a 9x13 pan and pour in batter. May have to spread it out and tap the pan to get out the bubbles.
Bake in the 350F oven until it's golden brown, usually when you start to smell them, they're done. Mine were in for around 25min.

My husband doesn't like cream cheese so I just make a simple frosting of powdered sugar, butter, and a little milk. By all means make a cream cheese frosting tho! :D