A little about my sister-in-law and CAKE!

Okay, so I love my husband's family dearly! I hang out with them even when my hubby is not around which I think says a lot :0) My hubby has just one sister and we have a lot of interests in common. One thing my sister-in-law loves to do is throw parties (in particular her children's birthday parties) and she sets the bar pretty high. Each party is centered around a theme including food and even an adult beverage. It's so much fun and she always shares ideas which is nice. I don't even remember what kind of party it was where she first introduced us to this absolutely marvelous creation...The Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake. I'm not 100% sure on the origin of this cake, I just know she got it out of a cook book that doctors up store bought cake mixes. Be sure to try this one...you won't regret it!  

Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake 

Cake:
1 box Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Chocolate Cake Mix
1/3 cup butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate milk 
1 small box instant chocolate fudge pudding (dry)
1 16oz container sour cream 
1 bag chocolate chips (I use milk choc., original recipe calls for semi sweet) 


Glaze: 
1 1/2 teaspoons water 
3/4 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet) 
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup 


Mix all cake ingredients together. It will be extremely thick! Spoon into a greased and floured 12-cup (make sure it's 12 cups!) bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on a cookie sheet to cool. When the cake is cooled, make and top with glaze. Store at room temp loosely covered or in fridge. 


I can't just leave you with one cake so I am going to share another doctored up cake mix for you that I discovered from a very talented coworker of mine. You can check out her blog post and others by visiting Basilmomma. This recipe originally comes from one of my favorite ladies...Mrs. Paula Deen. I've made these a few times now and I'm pretty sure I could eat the entire cake in one sitting! I turned this into cupcakes for birthday parties and it works beautifully (the icing even works fairly well being piped onto the cupcakes). 

 Pink Lemonade Cake 

Adapted from a Paula Deen recipe 

Cake: 
1 box of Duncan Hines white cake mix 
1 tsp lemon zest (I used 2 tsp) 
2 tsp pure vanilla extract 
3 TB of Country Time Pink Lemonade Powdered drink mix 


Frosting: 
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened (I used 1 stick, your preference)
1 pound of confectioners sugar 
5 TB frozen pink lemonade concentrate (use just a bit more if it is thick, to taste) 
1 tsp pure vanilla 
1 tsp lemon zest (I used 2 tsp) 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pans (Basilmomma used 2 - 8 inch round cake pans). Prepare the cake batter according to the box directions using the ingredients listed.  To the batter add the lemon zest, vanilla and pink lemonade powder.  Stir to combine.  Pour the batter evenly to the pans.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Remove the cakes and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.  Then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool. While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting by beating together the confectioners sugar and the softened butter until fluffy.  Beat in the remaining frosting ingredients until combined. Ice your cake/cupcakes. 


My youngest angel just celebrated her first birthday with a luau and my next blog post will feature these amazingly yummy ham and swiss sandwiches. Until then, here is a picture of my girls in their tutus from my last posting...enjoy!

Cooking with Parmesan and Tulle Tutus

Sorry it's been awhile; springtime is super busy in our household.  Since summer is in full swing now, it's time to start sharing some more recipes with all of you. It is super hard to believe but my littlest angel is going to be a year old tomorrow. Every birthday is wonderful but the first one is always special. In thinking about what pictures I want taken to celebrate this event, I decided I wanted a colorful tutu picture with colorful balloons. The next step...a tutu. I've seen lots of tutus around but some of them seem really pricy. I can sometimes be crafty so I decided to look up instructions on the Internet and try my hand at one. I would say I had success. Below are the two I've made so far...one for each of my girls. I'll post pictures of my girls in them once we have pictures taken.

Okay, back to food. Last night we had our second night of steak this week. The first night I made grilled corn on the cob and grilled asparagus; both were delicious but this time I wanted something different so I went straight for my favorite place to hunt for recipes...Pinterest. I was going for potatoes and I found a recipe from My Adventures in the Country that looked positively delicious. I did a few modifications because of ingredients on hand but I thought they were delicious. 

Twice-Cooked Bacon Parmesan Potatoes 

Olive oil cooking spray 6 slices bacon (I used the refrigerated ready-to-eat kind) 
3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (I used the itty-bitty ones!) 
4 cloves minced garlic 
1/2 cup grated parmesean (she uses parmigiano-reggiano...would be delish but expensive!) 
Kosher salt 
Fresh ground pepper 
Parsley (I used dried....fresh would be good too) 


First, I washed the potatoes and boiled them for 20 minutes. I left the peel on but you could peel first. Drain potatoes and let cool slightly before cutting them into large bite sized pieces. Spray a baking sheet with the olive oil spray and place potatoes cut side down. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. While baking, mix together garlic, parmesean cheese, and parsley. After 15 minutes, flip potatoes over, sprinkle with the parmesean mixture and bake once more for 15 minutes. Yum! 


With my love for parmesean cheese, I decided to look for something else using this wonderful ingredient. Once again using my favorite "search engine" (Pinterest) I searched high and low and came up with this recipe for Parmesean Chicken posted by Plain Chicken. 

Garlic Parmesean Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 


Marinade: 
1/2 cup olive oil 
1/2 cup ranch dressing 
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
1 tsp vinegar 
1 tsp lemon juice 
1 Tbsp minced garlic 
1/2 tsp pepper 


 Ranch Spread: 
1/4 cup grated Parmesan 
1/4 cup ranch dressing 


Parmesan Crumb Topping: 
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs 
1 teaspoons garlic salt, 
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan 
2 tablespoons melted butter 
1 cup shredded provolone (I used sliced- 1 slice per breast) 


Combine ingredients for marinade and pour over chicken.  Let marinate in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight.  Grill 12-15 minutes, until chicken is done. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the ranch spread and parmesan crumb topping. For the ranch spread, mix 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan and 1/4 cup ranch dressing. Set aside. For Parmesan crumb topping, mix bread crumbs, garlic salt, shredded Parmesan and butter.  The crumbs should be evenly moistened. Position rack in center of oven. Preheat broiler. Transfer cooked chicken to oven-safe casserole dish. Spread 2 tablespoons ranch spread on each breast, then top with provolone and Parmesan crumb topping. Place chicken under broiler and cook until cheese melts and crumb topping begins to turn light brown. Enjoy!!

Memories, Lemon Bars, and Cucumber Sandwiches

Okay, so my last post got me thinking about memories from my childhood. Today I'm going to focus on my Grandma Adalee. When i used to visit her in the summer we used to enjoy going to the movie theater and singing in the car together. Her favorite song to sing with us was "You are my sunshine". We also enjoyed walking out at their beachfront condo on Medeira Beach. As far back as I can remember, she was very much into healthy eating. We often ate Grape Nuts cereal (yuck!) and Ruth's Golden Oatmeal cookies because they did not have preservatives. :0) My favorite thing to eat at her house were toasted deli sandwiches. She made them on sandwich buns with chicken, Swiss cheese, and tomato; yum! I still make them at home on occasion. Another wonderful recipe from her were date nut bars. The following recipe for these creamy lemon crumb squares reminds me of them; the crust is very similar! I'll include the date bar recipe in a future post.

I have also included a bonus recipe for cucumber sandwiches. This recipe did not come from my grandma but I got this recipe from a friend of mine's sister and they are absolutely delicious! I never thought that I would like cucumber sandwiches but I'm pretty sure I could eat an entire recipe of these myself! I made these for our girl's night last week and I just had to share it with you.

These recipes are pictured on a plate that I saved from my grandmother's when she moved into a nursing home. Miss you Grandma!

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares
(Found on Pinterest- original recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, slightly softened
1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 cup oats
1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
½ cups lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

Press half of oat crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan. You can use a 9 x 13 pan; it will just be thinner.

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. The other half of the crumb mixture mix and knead together with clean hands so that the butter that you added earlier gets incorporated then crumble on top of lemon layer but don’t press. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.Serve cool. Makes around one dozen.


Cucumber Sandwiches

2 8-oz packages cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1/2 cup mayo (I used light)
1 package ranch dressing dry seasoning mix
Hawaiian dinner rolls
Cucumber
Dill weed

Mix cream cheese, mayo and dressing until well mixed. Split Hawaiian rolls in half. Top each half with some of the cream cheese mixture, top with a thin slice of cucumber,and sprinkle a little dill weed on top (it's missing in my picture). Enjoy!

Ancestry and Cayman Island Cream of Wheat Cake

I enjoy learning where my family comes from. I remember spending Sunday afternoons at the Allen county public library while my parents did research in the genealogy department. I thought that was really neat so I asked my mom to show me how so I could look into my dad's side. It is hard,grueling work but exciting. I didn't last long at it (I was only in middle school) but my dad worked at it and went back pretty far.
I have some of the more common lineage: German, English, etc. but one of my more unique heritage is that my great grandma was from the Cayman Islands. I loved listening to her talk; she had a great island accent. I would love to visit the islands someday. I know it's not quite the same as it used to be since a hurricane (Katrina maybe?) destroyed a lot of the island including the family pew at a little church somewhere (so I've heard) but there still is distant family there that would be fun to meet.
This recipe came from my great grandma.I believe it originally was made with cassava and although I'm not sure how it transformed into this current recipe, I think it is perfect just the way it is. Enjoy!

Cayman Island Cream of Wheat Cake

1 can Coco Lopez cream of coconut (by the drink mixers)
Enough milk to make 6 cups when added to the cream of coconut
1 cup Cream of Wheat
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1:2 stick of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add sugar, cinnamon, and allspice; mix well. Add 6 cups coconut milk mixture and cream of wheat. Stir constantly until consistency of tapioca pudding. Pour into a greased 9x13 glass dish. Bake at 300 degrees for 60 minutes or until top is dry and brown. Let cool (if you can), then cut into squares and try not to eat the whole pan in one sitting. :0)

Super Bowl and Snack Foods

One of my favorite things to cook is what we lovingly call "football food". All of those deliciously yummy treats we eat while watching our beloved Colts play. This year something spectacular is taking place in our home town: Super Bowl XLVI. My husband has always dreamed of going to the Super Bowl and now that "his" team has made it twice, reality has set in and has kept him from going. Two teachers, unfortunately, do not make enough to have the money to go to the big game. Now, the game is here in our town, and although we still can't afford to go to the game we can do the next best thing...we are going downtown on Sunday to hang out before the game and during. This sounds completely crazy to me but who am I to stand in the way of a dream :0). Because we will be downtown, I won't be making any game food this time but that won't stop me from helping you deck out the food table at your Super Bowl party! Here are a few of our favorites! Enjoy! (P.S. Don't forget to check out my previous post on the buffalo chicken dip!)

Deli Pinwheels

Deli sliced ham (or any other meat)
Baby spinach leaves
1 Can Crescent rolls
1 Container Garlic and Herb spreadable cheese

1. Unroll crescent rolls. Pinch seams (or buy that awesome crescent roll sheet!).
2. Spread a thin layer of cheese spread on crescent rolls.

3. Lay a thin layer of deli meat on top of cheese.

4. Top with a single layer of spinach leaves.

5. Roll up crescent rolls starting with the long side.
6. Using a serrated bread knife, cut log into 1/2 in rounds.

7. Place on a baking sheet and bake according to crescent roll directions or until pinwheels are golden brown.

Polish Mistakes (I'll work on some pictures of these soon!)

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground sausage (I use mild)
1 lb. velveeta
1 loaf cocktail bread (original recipe calls for rye which I don't like so I use French bread)
Dash of garlic powder

1. Brown beef and sausage until cooked through.
2. Add in velveeta and garlic powder.
3. Cook until cheese is melted.
4. Place heaping spoonfuls on drop of bread slices on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 min or until bread is slightly toasted.

Have a SUPER party ;0)

Cancun and Paella

Sorry it's been so long but we've had a few busy weeks around here! Middle School girl's basketball has started and since my husband is a coach that means I do a lot of single mom duties (props to all the single moms out there...I don't think I could do it on a permanent basis)!
My husband and I also got the opportunity to get away, just the two of us to Cancun. It was amazing!! We stayed at an adults only, all inclusive resort right on the beach called Excellence Riviera Cancun for 4 days/nights. I highly recommend it! We haven't had a vacation like that since our honeymoon and it made us realize we don't want to wait another 6 1/2 years to do it again! The real reason we went was to help witness and celebrate the wedding of one of my husband's closest high school buddies. It was an extremely beautiful wedding and Kingry made a gorgeous bride!
I wanted to lose a little weight before our trip and was successful at losing about 6 of the 8 pounds I was trying for (not too shabby for the holidays I say)! My goal while in Cancun? To gain it all back! LOL. The food was amazing! I had two plates everyday for breakfast and tried to eat as many different things as I could. Ironically enough, the Mexican food was the least sought after...I guess we are too used to Americanized Mexican? The French restaurant Chez Isabelle was fabulous but our favorite meals were the Thai fried rice from the Asian restaurant Spice, and the PANCAKES for breakfast!! Louis made me by far the best pancakes every morning that I have ever had!
I tried to recreate the fried rice we had the other night but it was awful(we actually ordered pizza) so instead, to honor our trip I pulled out a Spanish favorite of mine that my mom made for us growing up. I think my sisters and I all made this for Spanish class in high school and I remember my teacher, Señora Baker, telling me it was some of the most authentic paella she had ever had.
I apologize that I do not have a picture of the paella (I'll try to add one soon!) but until then, enjoy a beautiful picture of Cancun to put you in the mood! Enjoy!

Spanish Paella
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pkg yellow rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 oz Italian sausage cut into 1/2 inch rounds
1 cup frozen onion
1 can stewed tomatoes
12 shelled jumbo shrimp
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/3 cup water
1 cup peas

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage and stir constantly 3 min or until browned. Drain. Set sausage aside. Stir rice, onion, and turmeric into pan until onion is thawed. Add broth, water, tomatoes, and wine; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 22 min. Stir in sausage, shrimp, and peas. Cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes until rice is tender, most of the liquid is absorbed, and the shrimp are pink.