Rob's birthday was yesterday and he requested this cake for his special day. He had it at our niece's first communion party and never stopped talking about it. True to his word, it is delicious. And, best part is that it is super easy to make. Here's the recipe...excuse me while I go deliver pieces of the cake to all my neighbors so it is not sitting in my house where I will consume every last piece.
1 German chocolate cake mix
1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 20oz container Caramel topping
1 contatiner Cool Whip
3 Heath bars (chopped up)
Bake the cake according to the package directions. When it is done, set it aside to cool slightly and in a bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk and the caramel topping. Now, take the handle of a wooden spoon and poke holes into the still warm cake. About 20 holes is what I did. Now take that milk/caramel mixture and pour it onto/into the cake. I spread it around to make sure the holes were full. Refrigerate for an hour (or longer). Spread the cool whip on top and sprinkle with the Heath bars. Super easy and super delicious!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Taco Puffs/Muffins
You'll need:
Wonton wrappers
Taco meat
Picante sauce
Shredded cheese
Tomatoes
Olives
Sour Cream
(I skip the olives...yuck. But you get the point, whatever you would put on a taco, you should have on hand)
Brown up the meat and mix in your taco seasoning as directed. Take a mini muffin pan and stuff a wonton wrapper in there to make a little bowl. Spoon in some taco meat, cover with a tablespoon or so of picante sauce, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake these up at 350ish for 20-25 minutes. I get by with about 300 for 20 minutes. Don't want to burn the wontons.
Take them out, garnish with some tomatoes, sour cream, and whatever else your heart desires, and then eat 6 of them right in a row and decide if you should make another batch.
Which, of course, you should.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Red Lobster Copycat Crab Legs
One of my favorite meals has always been snow crab legs from Red Lobster. I can rip through a pound of those before the rest of the people at the table can enjoy their first bite. Delicious! And, I do prefer snow crab to king crab. Also, I'm not a big fan of the claw meat. Just a little too tough for me.
Anyway, you can imagine my delight when my mom announced she had the recipe for making crab legs identical to Red Lobster's. My delight was compounded on Christmas last year when I tasted her fresh out of the oven crab legs and they were just as great as Red Lobster's. Perhaps even better since they were fresh of out of the oven and not sitting under a heating lamp waiting to be served. You're in luck because she is sharing the secret.
Red Lobster Snow Crab Legs
6 cups water
1 cup vinegar (plain white vinegar)
Old Bay Seasoning (look for a yellow/blue/red can)
Snow Crab Legs
Heat oven to 350. In a large roasting pan, combine water and vinegar. Generously sprinkle Old Bay seasoning over the surface of the water. Heat the water mixture up in the oven.
When water is warmed, place a rack over the roasting pan, lay the crab legs on the rack, and cover with the roasting pan lid (or make a cover with tinfoil). Steam the crab legs for 20-25 minutes. Remove, cool slightly, and enjoy!
We just made these last night. So good! Whip up some cheddar biscuits (recipe on the back of a Bisquick box) and there is no reason to ever go to Red Lobster again! Thanks mom!
Anyway, you can imagine my delight when my mom announced she had the recipe for making crab legs identical to Red Lobster's. My delight was compounded on Christmas last year when I tasted her fresh out of the oven crab legs and they were just as great as Red Lobster's. Perhaps even better since they were fresh of out of the oven and not sitting under a heating lamp waiting to be served. You're in luck because she is sharing the secret.
Red Lobster Snow Crab Legs
6 cups water
1 cup vinegar (plain white vinegar)
Old Bay Seasoning (look for a yellow/blue/red can)
Snow Crab Legs
Heat oven to 350. In a large roasting pan, combine water and vinegar. Generously sprinkle Old Bay seasoning over the surface of the water. Heat the water mixture up in the oven.
When water is warmed, place a rack over the roasting pan, lay the crab legs on the rack, and cover with the roasting pan lid (or make a cover with tinfoil). Steam the crab legs for 20-25 minutes. Remove, cool slightly, and enjoy!
We just made these last night. So good! Whip up some cheddar biscuits (recipe on the back of a Bisquick box) and there is no reason to ever go to Red Lobster again! Thanks mom!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Taco Casserole
This is one of two recipes I have memorized. When Rob and I got married, my sister had everyone included in our wedding party design a quilt square for us. One of our host and hostess (my 2nd parents at the time) put the recipe for Taco Casserole on their square because I called her at least once a month to request it. Then, after we were married, I'd run down the stairs at least once a month to read the recipe off our guest bedroom quilt. I'm happy to report, I have finally memorized it.
Anyway, onto the recipe. For what it's worth, I'm not a big taco fan, yet this remains one of my favorites.
Taco Casserole
1 lb ground beef
3/4 c water
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
2 cups shredded cheese (I find regular works better than "finely" shredded)
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 pk crescent rolls
Preheat oven to 350. In a 9x13 pan, unroll the crescent rolls and press them onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake this for 7 minutes then set aside. Meanwhile, brown the hamburger in a skillet. When browned, add the water and the taco seasoning. Mix in the refried beans and remove from heat. In a seperate bowl, mix together the cheese, egg, and sour cream. Now, pour the meat mixture onto the semi-baked crescent rolls, spread it out. Put the cheese mixture on top of the meat mixture and spread to the best of your ability (never seems like enough to cover it...but it works). Bake this for 20 minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving. We usually dribble a little taco sauce on our pieces.
Finding a side dish to go with this is difficult. We have settled on either Fritos (yes, that counts as a side dish in our house) or corn.
Also, I split a regular recipe into two seperate square 8 or 9 inch pans. Just divide everything in half and make two seperate pans at the same time. Before the final baking wrap one in cling wrap, then aluminum foil, then seal it in a gallon size bag and put it in the freezer. I thaw it out the night before I'm going to cook it for dinner and just cook it the same as the other (350 for 20 minutes). One night of work, two nights of dinner!
Anyway, onto the recipe. For what it's worth, I'm not a big taco fan, yet this remains one of my favorites.
Taco Casserole
1 lb ground beef
3/4 c water
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
2 cups shredded cheese (I find regular works better than "finely" shredded)
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 pk crescent rolls
Preheat oven to 350. In a 9x13 pan, unroll the crescent rolls and press them onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake this for 7 minutes then set aside. Meanwhile, brown the hamburger in a skillet. When browned, add the water and the taco seasoning. Mix in the refried beans and remove from heat. In a seperate bowl, mix together the cheese, egg, and sour cream. Now, pour the meat mixture onto the semi-baked crescent rolls, spread it out. Put the cheese mixture on top of the meat mixture and spread to the best of your ability (never seems like enough to cover it...but it works). Bake this for 20 minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving. We usually dribble a little taco sauce on our pieces.
Finding a side dish to go with this is difficult. We have settled on either Fritos (yes, that counts as a side dish in our house) or corn.
Also, I split a regular recipe into two seperate square 8 or 9 inch pans. Just divide everything in half and make two seperate pans at the same time. Before the final baking wrap one in cling wrap, then aluminum foil, then seal it in a gallon size bag and put it in the freezer. I thaw it out the night before I'm going to cook it for dinner and just cook it the same as the other (350 for 20 minutes). One night of work, two nights of dinner!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Sausage and Peppers over Pasta
I'm not even going to attempt to post a picture of this dish because most pictures of food I take give me the exact opposite reaction than they should. But, trust me, this is delicious. It has now become my favorite meal. Since Tuesday was my birthday, I requested our in-house chef make this for me. I don't know where he found the recipe. Maybe he didn't find it, maybe he created it out of thin air, he's been known to do such things. What I do know is that this is absolutely delicious, and absolutely not fat free. Try it today! Or, shop for the ingredients today, and try it tomorrow. It's probably not stuff you have lying around.
I strongly encourage you to read this recipe through before you make it, as I am kind of a random recipe writer and probably have things out of order. As for measurements, well, our personal chef is more of a "visual" guy so these are his best estimates.
1 lb mild Italian sausage
1/4 c onion (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 can diced tomatoes (of course fresh is always better, but a can will do)
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cloves minced garlic (we like garlic...maybe this is too much for some)
salt and pepper to taste
In one large pot, brown the italian sausage with some salt and pepper. When completely browned, remove from pot. In a seperate skillet, start heating some olive oil and garlic. Add onions to this skillet and sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all) and heat this all together. Meanwhile, in the large pot, start heating a bit of olive oil and throw in the peppers. We do these seperately because we like our peppers a little crisp yet browned and if we added them with the rest of the stuff, they would not get browned and might be overcooked. Add the heavy whipping cream to the tomatoes mixture and heat through. Throw the sausage back in with the peppers (in the big pot) and add the tomatoe mixture to the sausage and pepper mixture. Mix this all up and serve it over your choice of noodles. We like whole wheat thin spaghetti. We also like to serve this up with garlic bread.
Yum!
I strongly encourage you to read this recipe through before you make it, as I am kind of a random recipe writer and probably have things out of order. As for measurements, well, our personal chef is more of a "visual" guy so these are his best estimates.
1 lb mild Italian sausage
1/4 c onion (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 can diced tomatoes (of course fresh is always better, but a can will do)
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cloves minced garlic (we like garlic...maybe this is too much for some)
salt and pepper to taste
In one large pot, brown the italian sausage with some salt and pepper. When completely browned, remove from pot. In a seperate skillet, start heating some olive oil and garlic. Add onions to this skillet and sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all) and heat this all together. Meanwhile, in the large pot, start heating a bit of olive oil and throw in the peppers. We do these seperately because we like our peppers a little crisp yet browned and if we added them with the rest of the stuff, they would not get browned and might be overcooked. Add the heavy whipping cream to the tomatoes mixture and heat through. Throw the sausage back in with the peppers (in the big pot) and add the tomatoe mixture to the sausage and pepper mixture. Mix this all up and serve it over your choice of noodles. We like whole wheat thin spaghetti. We also like to serve this up with garlic bread.
Yum!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Peppermint Marshmallows
These are good! For the first time in 7 years (or more) we put fresh candy canes on our tree! I know, gross! Make a mental note never to eat a candy cane off our Christmas tree because you will never know how old they are (unless you come this year...they are brand new)! And, maybe buying candy canes each year will become a new tradition because I used up most of the remainders to make these peppermint marshmallows. They are very easy and require no candy making skills. Candy making thermometers and I do not get along so this was a good thing.
GO HERE for a great tutorial and recipe!
I have added them to both my hot chocolate AND my coffee. Both tasted better because of these dainty little treats.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Chocolate Pretzel Rings
Salty, sweet....what's not to love. Oh yeah, and easy!
I've gotten a little slack lately for this section of the blog not being updated. Fair enough. My friend Meggan sent me this recipe:
- Preheat oven to 225
- Spread aluminum foil on a pan
- Get those pretzels only available this time of year that are a "O" shape
- Spread them out on the aluminum foil
- Place a hershey's kiss/hug/caramel fill kiss....whatever you want in the center
- Bake for 2 minutes - just enough to melt the chocolate
- Remove from oven and immediately push an M&M into the middle
- Let cool. Peel from foil and enjoy!
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