Where I've Been Lately...

I will catch up on blogging this week, but after a VERY long drive I wanted to just let you know I was still around.

Pound Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream room temperature butter with sugar.  Add in eggs one at a time.  Add sifted cake flour a little at a time.  Add whipping cream and vanilla and mix just until blended.  Bake in bundt pan that has been thoroughly greased and floured with cake flour.  Bake starting in cold oven at 300 degrees for 1-1/2 hours.   Allow to rest before turning on cake plate. (Of course this is not my photo because I ALWAYS have some of the cake stay in the pan make because I can never let it rest!!)  You can add a glaze or sprinkle with powdered sugar, but why mess with perfection.

It's official...Bunny Slipper Season Has Arrived

I love these little flip flop bunny slippers.  This morning the weather cooperated.  I think this year I will get the actual slippers too.  They make me very happy!

Pumpkin Dip

2 cups powdered sugar

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 cups Cool Whip

Beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in powdered sugar and blend well. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice and blend well. Fold in Cool Whip. Chill and serve. Serve with apple slices, vanilla wafers, ginger snap cookies, graham crackers or whatever sounds yummy to you!

Fried Potatoes and Cowboy Beans

When I was growing up we my mom and I were on a pretty tight budget and this meal was one she made frequently.  It is not low-fat or good for you, but it is true comfort food.

Fried Potatoes aka Taters
2.5-3 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4-1/2 c. flour
vegetable or canola oil
salt and pepper

Place potatoes in a frying pan in oil. Sprinkle with flour generously and then cover with lid.  (This step is very important as the flour steams and cooks down on potatoes forming almost a crust on them.)  Turn potatoes with spatula.  Depending on the appearance you may need to add a little more flour for this first turn and allow it to settle on potatoes again.  After this turn as needed to desired browning has occurred and potatoes are done.  Salt and pepper to taste.  (My mom added onions if I wasn't home, but I like them plain with ketchup.)

Sometimes my mom served these with another dish that is not low-fat or healthy but it brings back childhood memories.

Cowboy Beans (Similar to baked beans but with firmer texture like a meatloaf.)
1 pound ground beef
1 can pork-n-beans, drained
Brown sugar (roughly 1/2-3/4 cup)

Mix together well and place in 8X8 pan and bake one hour.  Treat as you would a meatloaf and drain fat and allow to set for a few minutes before serving.

These are just the kind of recipes my daughter may want one day and now she can find them.

This is just good county, southern food. Simple. Cheap. Filling.

Guess what today is....

Today I am going to make it all about me...why not right!

Chicken and Dumplings - southern style

This is not my picture, but it looks just like mine will look later today.  Perfect for a crisp fall day.

I cook a whole chicken with 1/2 stick margarine in crock pot overnight so the chicken is extra tender.  The skin and bones of a whole chicken is what really gives this recipe its rich flavor.

Drain chicken and pull off meat.  Keep that wonderful broth and put in large pot with chicken meat.

To make dumplings mix the following ingredients:
2 c. s/r Flour
2 T. shortening
broth, milk or buttermilk- enough to make stiff dough

While chicken and broth is at a low boil you want to add the dumplings.  You can drop teaspoonfuls of the dough one at a time or you can roll the dough like you would for a pie crust - just not quite as thin and cut into strips with a pizza cutter and then drop into broth.  I love them both ways so it is just up to you.  If you are really not feeling the dumpling thing you can cut canned biscuits into fourths and add to the broth.  They are similar but not like the real thing. 

Another Good Book

Nicholas Sparks never disappoints.  I started this yesterday and finished it tonight....and still managed a few loads of laundry - but not much else.  I am picky about my books, but I know what I like and this is definitely one I would recommend to others.

Veggie Tales

I was checking my blog and noticed I haven't posted many vegetable recipes.  I do have lots of them, but I guess I haven't gotten around to them in some of my cookbooks so I thought I would post about a few tried and true things I use for weeknight meals.

These are the ONLY peas I will buy.  Paula Deen says the same thing in her cookbooks!

Just a little butter and salt and pepper.

With Brown Sugar and butter!!

Steamed of course- we don't use sauce on these babies.

Drain the water off and replace with water and chicken bouillon cubes, 1T oil and salt/pepper.  Cook to death- as they say in the south. 

These are some of the staples I keep on hand to round out a weeknight easy meal.  I will post more on casseroles and more complicated side dishes in future posts.  I hope I am not the only mom who has to supplement with canned or frozen veggies to get them in our diet.  Let me know yours!

Round Steak & Rice

This recipe was given to me by a former coworker and she called it beef stroganoff, but I have always known beef stroganoff to be a creamy white sauce.  This is not like that at all.  This is a tangy, tomato type sauce so I renamed it in my post to not steer anyone wrong.  I do really like this dish, but it is just stroganoff to me.

1-2 medium onions, chopped
1 stick margarine
1  1/2 lb round steak, cut into strips
s/p to taste
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. mustard
1 can tomato soup
1 t. worstershire sauce
1 small can sliced mushrooms
(Serve over cooked rice)

 Saute onions in butter. Add meat and brown then add remaining ingredients.  Reduce heat to low and cook for one hour.

Note- I have the meat person run the round steak through the tenderizer so it will be more tender.

Peanut Butter Time

I am not one for plain of peanut butter because I like just a little sweetness. This stuff is great and not too sweet and the calories, fat, etc. are the same or better than regular Jif because it is all natural.  Try it on a bagel...you will be glad you did.

Meatloaf Cups

I found this recipe at a blog called: http://all-things-delicious.blogspot.com and I plan to make these little things very soon.

1 lb. ground beef

1 (6 oz.) pkg. Stove Top Stuffing mix

1 C. water

2 T. A-1 sauce (opt.)

1 tsp. garlic powder

favorite BBQ sauce

shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water, A-1 sauce (if desired), and garlic powder until well combined.Mix meat mixture and place into muffin cups creating a well in each and fill with BBQ sauce.  Top with cheese.

Pretzel Treats

Pretzel snaps
Hershey Kisses
M&Ms
1. Place the pretzel squares on a baking sheet, and top each one with a Hershey Kiss.
2. Cook for 3 minutes in a 200 degree oven.
3. Press an M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cool.

I use holiday colored M&M's and hugs too.  You can also use Rolos instead of M&Ms.

Sausage Dip

Neese's Hot breakfast sausage, cooked and drained
2- 8 oz. packages cream cheese
1 can rotel

Add cream cheese and rotel to cooked sausage.  Place in crock pot to keep warm.

Serve with Tostidos

Fudge

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I am adding it to the blog so I will be able to find it when I am ready.

1 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 10 oz package peanut butter chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt peanut butter chips with a little less than half the can of sweetened condensed milk over medium low heat.  Once smooth pour into a 9X9 inch glass dish lined with wax paper.  Spread with a spatula until evenly spread over dish.  Next, melt chocolate chips and the remainder of the sweetened condensed milk.  Pour over the peanut butter mixture and spread evenly.  Allow it to cool completely and then cut into squares.  I then put the dish in the fridge and break apart after a few hours.  YUMMY!!

Kim's Somrero Pasta Salad

I loved this, but my picky eaters would not even think about it!

1 package spiral noodles (can use tri color for appearance)
1 lb ground beef
taco seasoning
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
catalina salad dressing, small bottle
tomatoes, chopped
green peppers, chopped

Cook ground beef with taco seasoning as directed. Boil and drain noodles.  Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.  Keep a small amount of dressing to add just before serving for moistness.

Ham and Swiss Tarts

This is a great use for leftover ham, but it also makes a great appetizer that is really yummy and filling. I could not find a photo to do these little treats justice.

1 package (2 1/2 oz) processed ham
small onion (approx. 1/4 c.), chopped
1/2 c. swiss cheese, grated
1 egg
1 1/2 t. dijon mustard
1/8 t. pepper
1 package crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350.
Chop ham and onion. Place in a bowl and add cheese, egg, mustard and pepper.
Spray mini muffin tin with Pam.
Unroll crescent rolls and press our seams. Cut into 24 squares and place one in each muffin cup.
Fill with filling and bake 13-15 minutes.

(If desired to use for a meal instead of appetizer: lay our crescent roll flat and cover with filling and bake.

A couple of suggestions

If you have not read both of these you may want to put them on your list.  Just sayin...

Feel free to share your favorites.