Italian Cream Cake

ITALIAN CREAM CAKE
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
5 eggs, separated
2 c. sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 c. shortening
2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chopped pecans
1 sm. can coconut
1/2 tsp. salt


Combine buttermilk and soda. Cream sugar, butter, shortening and salt. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Add buttermilk alternating with flour. Stir in vanilla. Fold in beaten egg whites. Stir in pecans and coconut. Bake 3 layers 25 minutes at 325 degrees. (Oblong pan approximately 40 minutes.)


ICING FOR ITALIAN CREAM CAKE:
5 egg whites
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
1 box powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Blend until smooth and creamy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to you all!

This recipe comes from Mike's (my husband) grandmother Wyatt. I hope you'll try it -- it's fantastic!

Rum Chiffon Pie

INGREDIENTS:

1 9 – inch pie shell
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin
½ c. sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 ¼ c.milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons rum
½ c. whipping cream
3 egg whites
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
½ c. sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Soften gelatin in ¼ cup cold water.
Mix in a saucepan ½ c. sugar, salt, and milk.
Cook over low heat stirring constantly until hot.
Remove from heat, stir a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks.
Then combine yolks with rest of the mixture.
Return to low heat and bring to a boil, stirring.
When it comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately.
Add gelatin and let cool ‘til set.
Once set, beat with rotary beater until smooth.
Blend in rum and set aside.
Whip cream until thick and fold into gelatin mixture.
Beat egg whites, cream of tartar until stiff.
Add sugar and blend into gelatin mixture with a spoon or spatula.
Pour into pie shell and refrigerate.

APPLE CAKE

FRESH APPLE CAKE:

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups peeled, sliced apples
2 cups sugar (or 1 cup brown sugar)*
2 cups self-rising flour**
2 TSP. Cinnamon
2 Eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil***
2 TSP. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

* You can substitute 2 cups Splenda for white sugar or 1 cup of Splenda Brown Sugar.)

** You can use all-purpose flour instead and add 1 TSP. salt and 1 1/2 TSP. Baking Soda)

*** You can substitute 3/4 unsweetened applesauce for oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, stir together apples and sugar.
Add DRY ingredients, stir well.
In separate bowl, beat eggs, oil (or applesauce), and vanilla.
Stir egg mixture into apple mixture, blending until well-mixed. Stir in pecans.
Put into well-greased 13 X 9 X 2 inch pan.
Bake for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when pressed.

Apple Dessert Sauce:

1 cup sugar*
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)
1 TSP. vanilla extract

* You can substitute 1 cup Splenda

Place all ingredients in saucepan, stir. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and cook 3 minutes.
Serve warm.

HOPPIN' JOHN!

HOPPIN' JOHN!

This is a very old, Southern Tradition -- it's served on New Year's Day with rice, greens, and cornbread. This is my Nan's recipe.
I love it and it's got LOTS of protein and fibre!
Hope you'll enjoy it, too!

Ingredients

Hickory Smoked Ham Steak (4 oz = serving), 4 servings = 1 pound
Black-eyed peas (cowpeas), immature seeds, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 16. oz uncooked = 3 1/4 cooked
Green Onions (Scallions) - 1/4 cup chopped
Chciken Broth, 6 to 8 cups (48 to 64 fl oz.)

Directions

Soak beans overnight in plenty of water.
Drain and place peas in crockpot.
Chop 1/4 cup scallions (green onions) and add to peas.
Chop the ham steak and add to the pot.
Cover with 6 to 8 cups of Chicken Broth and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours,
then turn to LOW until you're ready to serve.
Stir peas once an hour.
Serves 8.

Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe: 8
Amount Per Serving:
Calories 176.2
Total Fat 8.9 g
Saturated Fat 2.5 g
Cholesterol 25.0 mg
Sodium 777.0 mg
Potassium 8.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 15.6 g
Dietary Fiber 3.4 g
Sugars 2.7 g
Protein 9.5 g
Vitamin A 10.8 %
Vitamin C 3.4 %
Calcium 8.9 %
Copper 0.6 %
Iron 6.1 %
Magnesium 0.4 %

Nan's Chocolate Squares

Nan's Chocolate Squares:

Ingredients:

12 oz. Chocolate bits (I like the dark chocolate)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecan halves

DIRECTIONS:

Heat chocolate in top of double boiler over hot water, stirring a few times until melted.
Remove from heat; add salt, milk, and vanilla. Stir until smooth and well-blended.
Spoon mixture into an 8" square pan lined with wax paper.
Smooth top and press pecan halves in rows, chill and cut into pieces.
Very rich!

A very Happy New Year to All!

Happy New Year! May Your Days Be Blessed!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And ne'er brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run aboot the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit'
Sin auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And here's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine,
We'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

Real men DO eat Quiche!

We just call it something else... something a bit less French.

This is a quick and easy quiche that i like to make for weekends and holidays. It's perfect for Christmas morning.

INGREDIENTS:

1 dozen eggs
1 pint half and half
1 pound bacon, cooked and thoroughly drained
1 package sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 package colby and Jack, shredded
2 deep-dish frozen pie crusts

DIRECTIONS:

Place cooked bacon in bottom of pie crust, top with both cheeses until almost to top of crust. In a bowl, thoroughly mix eggs and half-and-half. Pour over the cheese and bacon.

Bake on 375 for about 35 minutes until a knife inserted into center of pie comes out clean. ENJOY!

Black-Eye Pea Salsa... Southern-Style!

We've been making this for several years now. It's fairly inexpensive, quick, and tastes just great.



3 cans Mexican-style diced tomatoes (drained)

2 cans Black-eye Peas (drained)

1 small can green chiles (drained)

1/2 small onion, diced

1 Jalapeno, veined, seeded, and diced.

1 lime



Place all ingredients in a large plastic or glass bowl (NOT METAL!), Squeeze lime over mixture. Mix well, cover, and allow to sit overnight in refrigerator until ready to serve with chips.



As an alternative to black-eye peas, use black beans instead.

Accidental Recipe...

I hope your Thanksgiving Holiday has been lovely!

Necessity really is the Mother of Invention -- as I found out yesterday afternoon. My daughter and I had already made the Dressing and Green Bean Casserole and it was time to make the Sweet Potato Souffle.

That's when things took a turn. Seems I didn't have any honey or orange juice per the usual recipe. So, I turned to Morgan and asked for apple sauce -- we didn't have that, either.

We did find a jar of cinnamon apple slices. HHhhhmmm. Okay. Let's try it.

Guess what? It turned out to be fabulous! The slight tartness of the apples was a lovely contrast to the sweet potato.

Sweet Potato and Apple Souffle

INGREDIENTS:

2 large cans Sweet Potatoes
1 jar sliced cinnamon apples
2 eggs
1 stick real butter, softened (I used salted, sweet cream butter)
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix gently as you want nice little chunks of sweet potato and apple.
Place in a casserole dish and bake on 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

TOPPING:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 to 1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use chopped pecans)
1/2 cup crushed corn flakes (I use honey-flavoured flakes)

Mix ingredients well and pour on top of the baked souffle. Return to oven for about 15 minutes to set topping.

After Thanksgiving Leftover killer... :)

Leftovers are great. Especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The following recipe can be used with leftovers or made from (boxed) scratch! Either way, it's a great meal: hearty and delicious!

We've made it twice now and it's very filling... served hot from the oven, it'll keep you warm on a cold day.

I think we'll probably serve this up for Sunday dinner after Thanksgiving. Nothing to spoil if you've got a good fridge. This way, we can watch the afternoon football games and there's no scramble to decide what to cook -- it's already done! Just prep and warm it up!

TURKEY BAKE

INGREDIENTS:

Mashed Potatoes
Turkey (sliced or shredded)
peas and carrots (or use a vegetable you've got left from the holiday)
Dressing (or stuffing)
Giblet gravy (divided)

DIRECTIONS:

Lightly grease / spray a 9 X 13 pan (or smaller according to your leftovers). Spread mashed potatoes evenly in bottom of pan. Layer with Turkey slices, then vegetables and top with 1/2 of the gravy. Top the pan off with the dressing and place pan into a 350 degree oven. Allow about 40 minutes for the casserole to heat thoroughly. Remove from oven and top with remaining gravy!

Now... if you're making this for an "anytime" dinner and don't have leftovers, it's an easy dish to create from the box & can. Not quite the "homemade" taste, but still quite good.

Chicken Bake -- Out of the Box

INGREDIENTS:

One box mashed potato flakes
2 cans chicken broth
2 cans white chicken (drained)
1 box stuffing mix
1 can mixed veggies (drained)
2 jars chicken gravy

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare mashed potatoes and stuffing according to box directions, except
use chicken broth instead of water in each. Then layer according to the directions in recipe above!

Enjoy!

Down Drury Lane...

Lives the Muffin Man!

Morgan and I spent the Friday night in the kitchen baking muffins for her Show Choir fundraiser.

We had a ball... laughing and playing around and generally destroying the kitchen in the process.

Morgan made apple-cinnamon and banana muffins. She had pre-packaged mixes for them, but she made a few changes here and there... adding vanilla extract, eggs, and brown sugar and subbing milk for water...

All-in-all, they turned out quite well!

More importantly, we spent a couple hours enjoying our time together. We talked about cooking and we talked about Nanie, now long gone but for memory. Every moment counted.

Do you know the Muffin man?
The Muffin man, the Muffin man...
Do you know the Muffin man
that lives in Drury Lane?

Penne Pasta Bake

Don't ask me where this recipe originated, I don't know. I *think* it came from 123 Stitch. I've made it three times: once by the original recipe and then twice after I made a couple of changes. I hope you'll like it, too. It's a very hearty meal -- something nice on a cold night.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound ground chuck, browned and drained
1 package Penne Pasta
1 package sliced Provolone Cheese
1 package sliced Mozzarella Cheese
1 package shredded Provolone / Mozzarella (for topping)
2 Jars of your favourite Spaghetti Sauce (or 32. oz of fresh, home-made sauce)
bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 onion, peeled, diced

DIRECTIONS:

In a skillet, brown ground chuck and drain. To the skillet, then add onion, garlic, and your favourite seasonings to taste.
Add Spaghetti Sauce to skillet and cover. You want lots of sauce so the casserole doesn't become too dry!
Allow to simmer as you prepare the Penne pasta according to directions. Undercook the pasta slightly as it will finish up in the oven.

When the pasta is almost done, remove from heat and drain.

In a 9 X 13 casserole dish (glass preferably), spray or lightly coat with olive oil to prevent sticking. Spread some of the meat mixture in the bottom of the dish, add a layer of pasta, and place a layer of provolone and mozzarella slices.
Repeat until you have the meat mixture at the top of the dish.

Mix bread crumbs with the shredded provolone / mozzarella and sprinkle over the top .

Bake at 35o degrees for about 30 minutes. The topping should be nicely browned and bubbling. Serve with Garlic bread and French-style green beans.

Godiva Brownies... out of the box.

This is a box recipe... of sorts. I add so much to it... ;) It's Morgan's favourite brownie.

INGREDIENTS:

Two boxes fudge brownie mix
4 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons Godiva Chocolate liqueur
1/4 cup Godiva Cocoa (we use the Dark Chocolate)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the brownie mix in Mixing bowl and add Cocoa, followed by oil, milk, vanilla extract, and liqueur. Add eggs one at a time until blended.
Mix on medium speed for about two minutes.

Place in a 9 X 13 inch rectangular pan (I use a glass pan).

Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes. These should be slightly "gooey" -- Don't over cook!