Monthly Archives: February 2012

Berry-and-Spice Whole Wheat Muffins

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Berry delicious muffinsYesterday I posted this recipe for Chocolate Italian Cream Cake from my new cookbook find that I got at the library. I found this muffin recipe in the healthy favorites category. It was yummy as well. Yet another cookbook, The Southern living Cookbook, has been added to my wish list. It is just chock full of amazing sounding recipes. I am hoping to keep it for a while so you just may see many a recipe in the following posts from this little (well big actually) gem.

  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tbsp. chopped pecans
  • 1 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl, stir in melted butter and set aside. This will be your topping.

2. Place muffin cups (12) in tins and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Mix together both flours, baking powder+soda and spices. In separate bowl mix together egg, buttermilk and oil, stir into dry ingredients until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries.

4. Scoop into muffin cups, top with topping,  and bake for 21 minutes. Serve warm.

5. Eat and Enjoy!

Chocolate Italian Cream Cake

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chocolate cakeI hesitated posting this because although his cake was über yummy….let’s just say it wasn’t the prettiest cake I have ever made. Well, I would rather have a cake that tastes amazing as opposed to a cake that looks good. Both is nice, for a blog however. If however you are looking for a great tasting cake, this is the recipe for you. It has lots of goodies in it, just wait until you see the ingredient list.

Recipe found in The Southern Living Cookbook

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 5 large eggs, separated
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2/3 cup finely chopped pecans
  • 3 1/2 ounces flaked coconut
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 3 Tbsp. light rum
  • Chocolate-Cream cheese frosting (see below)

1. Beat the butter until creamy, add sugar and continue to beat until fully mixed. Beat in eggs yolks one at a time.

2. Meanwhile start your egg whites in your electric stand mixer. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add cream of tartar, beat until stiff peaks form, set aside you will be using them soon.

3. Combine, flour, cocoa and baking soda and gradually beat into butter/sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat in pecans, coconut and vanilla.

4. fold your egg whites into batter until all white streaks are gone, be careful not to over mix.

5. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans, bake for 24 minutes at 350 degrees.

6. Test with toothpick to make sure they are done, cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and place on wire racks. Sprinkle each cake layer with 1 Tbsp. of rum and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheesea apiece of cake
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 5 cups icing sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 2/3 cup chopped pecans

1. To make icing, beat together the cream cheese, butter,vanilla and cinnamon until mixed and creamy.

2. Beat in the cocoa and icing sugar one cup at a time, beat in buttermilk then pecans.

3. Frost cake, using frosting in between layers, up the sides and on top of cake.

4. Eat and Enjoy!

Disney Dining Day 6

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The Golden HorseshoeThe last day. Time to say good-bye to Disneyland, and Hello reality. Luckily I have a pretty amazing life, mostly due to my husband and kids, and a few other peeps that I love (you know who you are). And so we get up early to go to our last day at the parks. Now we go to Disneyland every couple of years, and so traditions have been made. By the last day we have already seen all the shows, riden on all the rides, so we all pick one do-over, something that we simply must experience again before we go! So we were back to Tomorrowland to experience Star Tours one last time, then off to Finding Nemo’s submarine voyage, and then A Small World (that was my pick). We then headed over to The Golden Horseshoe for lunch and a show by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. We had fish and chips, Chili Cheese fries and ended the meal with some Ice Cream Sundaes. Yum!Ice Cream Sundaes
The Golden Horseshoe (Disneyland) on Urbanspoon

Then we headed back over to The California Adventure side to catch The Aladdin show, plus of course we rode, Soarin over California and Monsters Inc again too. We knew it would be a long night because we still had a fireworks show plus a few leftover ride picks to do in the evening so we went back to the hotels for a much-needed rest. For dinner we stopped at IHOP before we went back into the parks. IHOP you say, well, for one thing I love me some diner food, scrumtious, secondly, we don’t have a IHOP where we live. Sad but true. I had pancakes that had all sorts of goodies in them, blueberries, bananas, granola, walnuts, and scrambled eggs on the side which I discovered taste great with hot sauce. Scrambled eggs with hot sauce who knew right? The kids all thought IHOP was one of the best meals we had, they are pretty easy to please and I love them for it!Breakfast for Dinner
IHOP on Urbanspoon

Italian Sausage Calzones

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dinnerAs far as I know a calzone is a dough filled with pizza toppings, a pizza sandwich if you will. That is what I told my kids when they saw this week’s dinner plan on the refrigerator. I have started writing each meal plan on a white board in the kitchen to avoid being asked 3-10 times everyday the ever popular question “what’s for dinner”, and so instead now I get, what is that? Oh, well, still lots of questions. I also like to see my kids faces light up when they see something they love on the meal plan, not so fun when their little faces drop with fear at the sound of something they think sounds gross, but that doesn’t happen top often. I found this yummy sounding calzone recipe in Betty Crocker Comfort Food and served it with caesar salad. Yummy!

  • 1/2 pound bulk Italian Sausage
  • 1 small onion chopped (about 1/4 cup)
  • 1/3 cup pizza sauce
  • 1 can mushroom pieces, drained (about 1/4 cup)
  • 2 cups Bisquick baking mix
  • 1/3 cup hot water
  • 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 large egg white

1. Pre heat your oven to 450 degrees. Cook sausage and onion in large skillet until beef is browned and onion is tender, drain. Stir in pizza sauce and mushrooms.

2. Make dough by mixing together Bisquick, water and oil. Knead slightly until it comes together. Sprinkle flour on work surface and roll out into a 12 inch circle. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (only half needs to fit as you will be folding it over).

3. Top half of dough with meat mixture, and both cheese. Fold over and press down edges using your fingers.

4. Brush dough with egg white and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

Calzone close up

 

 

Tips- Serve with additional pizza sauce to dip for additional flavor.