My Major Award!!

A little over a week ago, I was checking out one of my favorite food blogs, Strawberry Cake, and she had a giveaway post. All you had to do to enter was leave a comment about what you like to bake for your family. The prize was a cookie tin from Nestle Tollhouse with some freebie coupons inside. I wrote my comment and went about my normal stuff. A couple days later, I saw this! I won!!!!! I sent a reply e-mail to Shiela and waited none-too-patiently. I didn't have to wait very long though. Friday when I got home from school it was here :)

Even the box was bursting with excitement!

Why, there could be anything in there!

What is it? What is it?

TA-DA! *shake shake shake* There's something inside!

OOOOHHHH....AAAAHHHH

SCORE! Coupons for free cookies!!

I just happened to have some delicious Blondies on hand!

Pattie was excited too!

Those oh-so-pinchable cheeks!!

Thanks so much Shiela!! I can't wait to refill it over and over again with yummy treats whenever I Bake Some Love!

Menu 2/11 - 2/18--2011

Menu time again!!
Friday--We had leftovers/scrounged around. It was a crazy week!
Saturday--Butter Bean Soup
Sunday--Chili
Monday--Shredded Beef Au Jus
Tuesday--Frozen Pizza (Grannie will be here!!)
Wednesday--Out with Grannie!!
Thursday--Stupid Chicken
Friday--Chicken Spaghetti
Next weekend we will be heading to take Grannie back home so I probably won't post another menu until we get home next Monday! Have a great week

Butter Bean Soup

This is a wonderful vegetarian recipe that I have added some meat to. If you want it to be vegetarian, just omit the meat! This recipe is adapted from one found on the can of Bush's Butter Beans.
The Ingredients

1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
3/4 cup onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp flour (I used Kentucky Kernel Seasoned Flour)
4 cups water
2 cans Bush's Butter Beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp basil (I used 1/2 tsp dried basil)
1 pkg diced fully cooked ham

In a large pan, saute celery, carrot and onion in oil until soft.

If using any meat, add it in just before veggies are done so that it can warm through and add some flavor.

Add flour.

Cook and stir for about one minute.

Slowly add in water, stirring to smooth as it thickens.

Bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients.

Reduce heat and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until slightly thickened. Season to taste (which when you use Kentucky Kernel, you don't have to do!)

Cornbread Waffles

The Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs



1.) Preheat waffle iron.
2.) In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt.
3.) Add milk, oil and eggs. Stir until smooth.
4.) Pour batter into hot waffle iron and bake in batches.
5.) Top hot waffles with chili for lunch or dinner or with honey and butter for breakfast

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

I can't remember where I first saw this recipe but it was a big hit with us. I haven't made them for a long time but I had a coupon for Crescents that was about to expire and I thought these would be yummy. I was right!
The Ingredients:

Crescent rolls (I really like to use the Recipe Creations sheets for this but I have a lot trouble finding them!)

Spreadable butter/margarine (I have used the squeeze kind too)

Cinnamon & Sugar (I keep this shaker filled with Cinna-Sugar. We have one filled with Powdered Sugar too. Awesome for pancakes, waffles, French toast, etc.)

Are you ready for how easy this is? Here we go. Unroll a tube of crescent rolls. Press perforations to seal. I like to make little bite-sized rolls so I only use two triangles worth at a time.

Spread dough with butter.

Sprinkle with Cinna-Sugar.

Roll up, jelly-roll style.

Slice into one inch sections.

Place on a cookie sheet about one inch apart as they do puff up while they cook.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes or until golden brown.

These are very good just like this but I have also been known to buy a container of cream cheese frosting to slather on them. I have also made them a lot bigger by using the whole sheet of dough at once instead of separating the rectangles.

Menu 2/4 - 2/10--2011

Friday--We had Steak Fingers with potatoes and gravy
Saturday--We are having Fish sticks with mac & cheese
Sunday--Shredded Pork Wraps
Monday--Butter Bean Soup
Tuesday--Cheesy Garlic Chicken Parmigiana
Wednesday--Breakfast
Thursday--Double Decker Tacos

Italian Crescent Casserole

This is a great recipe from the Pillsbury website. I have modified it slightly to suit our tastes.
The Ingredients

1 pound ground beef or turkey
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup pasta sauce
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 can crescent rolls
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp melted butter

Brown meat and onion; drain fat. Add pasta sauce and heat through.

Combine mozzarella and sour cream.

Pour meat mixture into deep dish pie pan or 11 x 7 dish. Spoon cheese mixture over meat.

Unroll crescent dough over cheese layer. Points to center if using a pie pan. Mix Parmesan cheese and butter. Spread on top of dough. I like to sprinkle a little garlic salt or powder on top as well.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-25 minutes until dough is golden brown.

** I double everything except the crescent and topping and use a 13 x 9 pan. This feeds us all very well and yields at least 2 servings of leftovers.

Mini Donuts

For Christmas this past year, my in-laws got me one of these:

A baking pan that has little forms for mini donuts. I was very excited about this!! There were two recipes with it for Cake Donuts and Chocolate Cake Donuts. I finally got around to making them yesterday and I am fairly pleased with the results.
First up were the Cake Donuts. Here are the ingredients:

2 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
¾ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add nutmeg and cinnamon. Combine eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix in melted butter. Combine dry mix and wet mix until well blended.

In order to fill the little forms easier, I put the batter in a Ziploc bag and snipped off a corner to make a pastry/piping bag.

Pipe batter into prepared pan until wells are 2/3 full.

Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Allow pan to cool before repeating with remaining batter. Yield is about 36 donuts.

Now for the Chocolate Cake Donuts. The Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk
2 Tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl combine eggs, sugar and vanilla. In a third bowl combine milk and butter.

Alternate adding egg mix and milk mix to dry mix until well blended. Fill a Ziploc with batter to form a piping bag.

Pipe batter into wells of prepared pan until wells are 2/3 full. Bake at 325 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool pan before refilling. Yield is about 36 donuts.

Now for the dipping! For the plain donuts I used a cinnamon sugar mix and some plain powdered sugar.

Drop in a donut and flip it around to cover all sides and nooks and crannies. I also made a glaze with powdered sugar and hot water (1 cup sugar per 2 Tbsp water)

I dipped some of the plain and all of the chocolate ones in the glaze. After tasting we still had a lot of donuts to snack on for the next couple of days.

Chocolate with glaze, plain with glaze, cinna-sugar and powdered

The verdict? I think they are good. They aren’t as sweet as store-bought ones of course. I think next time I will leave the spices out of the plain ones and see how that tastes. For now, the powdered are the most popular with the plain glazed a close second.