Mexican Hamburger Casserole

 Hi everyone!  So I have a been a bit under the weather lately, so today after a nice afternoon nap I grabbed my laptop and started looking for something to have for dinner that would be fast and easy and hopefully taste good.  My search brought me to Cooks.com where I found several options.  I decided on the one that looked the easiest.  I made a few minor modifications.  First I made the whole thing in one pan, from frying the burger to baking in the oven I used a large cast iron skillet... once again I think I love cooking with cast iron.  It also called for 4 pounds of kidney beans, I cut that down to 2 cans and then I added 2 cups of frozen corn. Finally, I omitted the butter and used a tiny bit of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) instead.   In the future, I think I will add more corn and more cheese.  But this turned out to be a pretty good dinner, it was quick, had good flavor and David said to keep the recipe which is a good sign that it was liked!  So next time you need something quick and easy, give this one a try!

MEXICAN HAMBURGER CASSEROLE

COOKS.COM

---

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,191,143163-233202,00.html
Content Copyright © 2010 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1 pound ground beef                              2 tbls butter
1 large chopped onion                          1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder                                 1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin seed                                  1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp oregano                                        Dash pepper
2 Cans kidney beans                             1 can tomato sauce

2 Cups frozen Corn                                           

3/4 cup crushed corn chips
1/3 cup Burgundy wine (optional)
1/3 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Brown meat in heavy skillet; spoon into a 2-quart casserole. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is clear. Add spices, beans, tomato sauce, corn chips and wine. Mix thoroughly and spoon over meat. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in oven (350°F.) for 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.

Makes 4 servings.  This is a pretty good quick casserole.  I would add a bit more corn when making it again and a bit more cheese.

Today, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today's new recipe turned out wonderful and there is a surprise inside!  Thanks to Cupcakerecipe.com for this fun recipe and boy are they red.  I put them in red cupcake liners and they turned out beautiful.
They have a delicious, moist slightly chocolate flavor and the cream cheese frosting was very rich and yummy...   Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Ingredients -

24 Chocolate Kisses Batter: 3/4 cup Butter, softened 1-1/2 cups Sugar 1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 1 teaspoon Baking Soda 1 teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon Vanilla 2 Large Eggs 1 cup Buttermilk 2 tablespoons Liquid Red Food Color 2 teaspoons White Vinegar 2-1/2 cups Cake Flour Frosting: 2 (8 ounces each) Cream Cheese, softened 1/2 cup Butter, softened 1 1/2 cups Confectioners Sugar 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. Line 24 regular size muffin cups with foil liners. 3. Put 1 kiss in the center of each. 4. Beat the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until creamy. 5. Beat in the eggs until blended. 6. Stir in the buttermilk, food color and vinegar in a 2 cup measuring bowl until blended. 7. Beat in the flour alternating with the buttermilk mixture. 8. Beat until blended. 9. Spoon 1/4 cup batter over the kiss in each cup. 10. Bake for 25 minutes or until done. 11. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. 12. Remove from the pan and cool completely. Frosting: 1. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. 2. Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla. 3. Beat until smooth and fluffy. 4. Frost the cupcakes and garnish as desired.

Tomorrow I am going to make a Lemon Cream cupcake and later this week I am making Rachael Ray's Roasted Pablano Chili with nachos on top.  I watched her make it on the Cooking Channel and it looked delicious.  I think I will also make cheese filled italian rolls on wednesday and another batch of Creamy White Chili!

Creamy White Chili

I found this wonderful recipe on someones blog, I would love to give credit to whomever posted it, but the link I had for it is no longer working and after searching high and low I still can't find it so if this is your recipe, my compliments to the chef it is now one of my very favorites!!!  (Please let me know so I can give you credit).  I made it a couple of nights ago and have to admit I was skeptical, wasn't sure anyone in my house would eat it, let alone like it.  Wow was I surprised, they emptied the pot and Joyce even grabbed 2 bowls so we could take it for lunch the next day.  Thanks Joyce best lunch I have had in a long time.  My advice is don't skimp on anything in this recipe, I used the hot variety of canned green chili's which gave it a bit of a kick, but I like spicy.  Last night my husband asked for a bowl of left over "Chicken Chili" and I had to tell him it was all gone, needless to say he was very disappointed so this recipe just became a permanent fixture in my list of menus.  Enjoy!   Cathy

Creamy White Chili
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 oz) chopped green chilies (for less kick, add just one can, more kick use the HOT version)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips. Makes about 6 servings.

LET'S TALK MEATLOAF

Meatloaf is a classic "cheap" meal.  People either love it or hate it.  But with all the varieties out there, there really is something for everyone.  Meatloaf can be topped with anything from ketchup to BBQ sauce.  There are even vegetarian versions.  Everything from chicken meatloaf to low carbohydrate meatloaf, meatloaf is a versatile main course.  I even found a website dedicated to meatloaf!  I am kind of a traditionalist, so the next recipe is for my favorite meatloaf recipe.   Traditionally, I make it with lean ground beef, but recently since my husband brought home an entire elk and put it in our freezer I have made it with Elk.  Elk is a wonderful meat, extremely lean which makes it a great diet food, but because of it's lean nature when using elk I add about 1/3 pound of lean ground beef to give it a little fat.  (If you would like to try Elk, many health food stores carry it in their meat department.)  So here is my favorite meatloaf recipe...

1 1/2 lb ground elk + 1/2 lb ground beef
or
2 lbs ground beef (extra lean)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2   egg, lightly beaten
1 14.5 ounces can diced tomatoes (without juice)
1 cup quick-cooking oats or 1 cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together well.  Place in lightly greased cake pan and shape into a loaf.
Mix topping ingredients together.
Topping:
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon prepared mustard
Lightly brush over top of meatloaf and then bake for one hour.  Check for doneness, to test use a meat thermometer -- temperature should measure 160 degrees.  Pour rest of topping over the meatloaf and place in oven for an additional 10 minutes.

As a side note, I like to shape the loaf into a donut shape and then cook.  While the meatloaf is cooking I make my favorite mashed potatoes...

2 pounds potatoes diced and cooked until soft
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup crumbled bacon (optional)
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mash thoroughly.

When the meatloaf (donut) is done, I heap the mashed potatoes into the middle of the meatloaf.  It makes a fun potato bowl.  When my kids were little this was one of their favorite meals.  It looks like a meatloaf volcano with mashed potato lava on top... or snow covered mountain. 


 

Granny's Green Beans and New Potatoes

So while I was busy posting Granny's recipes on here I thought I would include her green beans, they were always my favorite thing at any meal.  Years ago I asked her for the recipe and she told me get a little bit of ham hock maybe 1/2 a pound, add string beans from the garden and cook till they are about done, then add your little new potatoes on top with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until they are soft.  I have translated that into the recipe below.

Granny's Green Beans and Potatoes:
1 Ham hock - if you don't know what it is ask your butcher but basically a chunk of bacon that hasn't been sliced - sort of
3-4 pounds of green beans, fresh, snap them and remove any strings
3 pounds of small new red potatoes (fresh from the garden is nice and the smaller the better)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper or to taste


In a large pot saute your ham hock add enough water to cover the ham and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add beans, cover and continue cooking another 45 minutes, I cook until the beans are just barely tender soft. Add potatoes and salt, cover and cook until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Granny used to make this for Sunday dinner and she would make a wonderful meat loaf to go with it or her fried chicken we'd have sliced tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden, it was a little bit of heaven!  Followed by blackberry pie or her chocolate cake.  I think my mom has her meat loaf recipe, I really need to get a copy of that too.  Happy eating!

Made with Love - Granny's Blackberry Pie

My grandmother was one of the most amazing cooks I have ever known, I like to think that I take after her, I know she is the one who taught me to cook and instilled in me a love of cooking and probably my love of food in general.  The above picture is me (wasn't a cute kid?), my Mom, Marilyn Neuberger and my Granny and Papa, JL and Mary Gregory in Germany.  As a kid in Kentucky, I would go with my Granny and Papa on saturday mornings and we would find a blackberry patch and then spend a couple of hours picking blackberries.  I would come away with permanently purple fingers and usually a tummy ache from eating as many berries as I saved.  There was also the occassional tick (I hate those creepy little creatures) and of course, countless pricked fingers from all the blackberry thorns!  When we got home we would wash the berries and then put them in bags to freeze so we could have blackberry pie all year round.  I live in Utah now and blackberries don't just grow on the side of the road here.  But recently, on my honeymoon, we discovered a wonderful place on the coast of Oregon where berries grow wild. We stopped and picked a huge bag of them and then put them on ice in the cooler and carried them lovingly home.  The pie in this picture was made with those beautiful blackberries and is filled with the memories of my granny and I sitting in her kitchen making pie!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have through the years!

GRANNY'S BLACKBERRY PIE:

• 6 cups blackberries or marion berries   (fresh or frozen)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, chopped
• 2 (9 inch) pie crusts

Thoroughly mix sugar, flour, tapioca and cinnamon.
Sprinkle over berries, then gently toss to coat.
Pour into pie crust (I prefer homemade, but the Pillsbury refrigerated dough will do in a pinch.)
Place dots of butter all over top.
Place top crust on top and cut 5 slits through top crust.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until crust is light brown. Serve warm with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Chicken Pot Pie

OK so I found this recipe on www.food.com.  One of my favorite places to visit.  I have slightly modified it to fit my taste in pot pies.  Give it a try it is so good.  My family gobbled it up and wanted more.  Hope you like it too.   Thank you Food.com!
Chicken Dinner Pot Pie (Food.com recipe)
Ingredients:
pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cup light cream or 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas (I only used about 1/2 the package)
1 cup diced carrots, cooked and drained
optional** 1/2 diced potatoes, cooked and drained
1 can of sliced mushrooms


Directions:Prep Time: 30 minsTotal Time: 1 1/4 hr
1.   Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2.   Prepare pastry, cut top into lattice strips.
3.   ( I use just a regular pie top with slits cut in it. It's quicker).
4.   Melt butter in large skillet over low heat; stir in flour, salt, pepper and thyme.
5.   Cook, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly.
6.   Remove from heat.
7.   Stir in chicken broth and cream.
8.   Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
9.   Boil and stir for one minute.
10. Stir in chicken and vegetables.
11. Pour into pastry lined pie pan.
12. Cover with lattice top or just rolled top, then add several slits in the top for steam to escape.
13. Cover edge with 2-3 inch strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.
14. Remove foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.
15. Bake for 35 to 40 or until crust is brown.

This recipe is one of those recipes that just reminds you of home.  It makes the house smell welcoming and I usually try to make a pie for dessert as well to go along with this recipe.  The last time I made this I also made my Granny's Blackberry Pie.  What a wonderful meal we had!  Watch for that recipe coming up next...

Coconut and Pecan filling for German Chocolate Cake

Well, I was making a Butter Pecan Cake from a mix, I know, I know, a mix is just crazy, but I didn't have my mixer or anything here to use to make something extravegant.  I wanted it to be yummy and have often thought that the filling for a German Chocolate Cake would be good on lots of other kinds of cake.  So to spice it up a little I made Butter Pecan Cake with Coconut Pecan filling on top.  Here is my recipe for Coconut Pecan filling.  As a side note, I didn't have any evaporative milk and I found a recipe on the internet that used heavy cream (see the referenced link) which I had in my fridge for another recipe so I decided to give it a try.  It turned out delicious, what I did not like with the heavy cream was that the recipe seemed slightly thinner, so if trying this again I would probably drop it down to 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream.  So here you have it, my recipe for the pecan filling/topping that I use on german chocolate cake.  Try it on other cakes, my wedding cake was a banana cake, that had a similar pecan filling in it.  I bet this would be good on there as well.

Ingredients

 

1 3/4 cups evaporated milk (or try heavy cream)

 

2 cup sugar

 

6 egg yolks, slightly beaten

 

1 cup butter or margarine

 

2 tsp. vanilla

 

4 cups (about) Coconut

 

2-3 cups chopped pecans, for something really different try using chopped hazelnuts they are delicious!

Mix milk, sugar, egg yolks,  and butter in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes.
Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Add coconut and pecans.
Cool until of spreading consistency, beating occasionally.

Marla's rolls (the best rolls ever)

So I have no idea who Marla is, but my sister in law Angie makes these rolls for all our family get togethers and they are the best and best of all they are pretty easy!

Marla's Rolls
1. Cream 1/2 pound butter, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp salt in bowl.
2. Add 1 cup boiling water.
3. Add slowly 2 tbls. Yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water.
4. Add to butter mixture.
5. Add 4 eggs well beaten.
6. Add 4 cups flour then 1 cup of cold water.
7. Then add 3 1/2 cup flour + until dough in bowl pulls away from the sides.
8. Grease a bowl & put dough in bowl. Let rise in refrigerator for 2 hours. Cut dough in 4ths. Roll each section in circle. Each circle will make 12 rolls. Roll in crescent shape. Makes 48 rolls. Grease pan. Let rise until touching.

Bake at 375 for 10 to 15 minutes. Butter tops.
At this point on my recipe card it says "Any questions call Angie..." and gives her phone number, since this is open to anyone I will spare Angie the phone calls and say if you have questions post them here. This really is pretty darn easy and they turn out perfect every time.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have worked on this recipe for a long time, it is kind of a work in progress. The thing I like about it is I can add or change ingredients based on what am in the mood for...

Cathy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 cups white flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
2 cups butter (please don't substitute on this one)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract (the real stuff please)
1-1 1/2 cups oatmeal
4 large eggs
2 cups mini chocolate chips
2 cups nuts
1 cup coconut

Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs 1 at a time and mix well.
Add vanilla and almond extracts.
Add soda, salt and oatmeal.
Add flour 1 cup at a time. Sometimes it takes a little extra flour to get the cakiness of the cookies just right, so experiment.
Add chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in a 375 degree oven or 350 degree convection oven for 8-10 minutes until light brown.

Now for the best part, you can substitute. Sometimes I do pecans and chocolate chips, sometimes white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and orange flavored craisins for this one I change the almond extract to vanilla. Another fun one is to use hazelnuts and just 1 cup of chocolate chips semi sweet and then make sandwiche cookies using nutella as the filling. There are so many things you can do just use your imagination. Let me know what your favorite combination is.

Next recipe is the homemade bread recipe I found, you will never want store bought again...

Angie's Avocado Dip

Pulled Pork was a hit, we did decide that it needed more of a BBQ sauce so we added a Jack Daniel BBQ sauce and it was delicious.

Now on to today's recipe. This is a family favorite from my wonderful sister in law, Angie Neuberger. We love this as a dip with our favorite tortilla chips!

4-5 Roma Tomatoes seeded and diced
2/3 cup of cilantro minced
1 bunch of green onions chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
3-4 avocados diced
1/2 bag frozen white corn

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 jalepeno finely minced
2 cloves garlic
2 limes juiced

I like veggies so I add a few things to my version, either way it is delicious.
I add:
1 chopped red onion
1 red pepper chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
3-4 jalepenos finely minced or ground. This makes it spicier, so add this to your families taste
I also substitute 1 can black beans for one can black eyed peas.

Mix all wet ingredients and toss with chopped veggies, refrigerate before serving so that the flavors can blend. This is one of our favorite dips, and it is quite colorful on the table. Enjoy this at your next party it is wonderful!

Pulled Pork from Food Network Magazine

My garden is really doing well this year, so far we have harvested a fabulous crop of peas which went so crazy we had to share it with everyone we knew.  Just so that Dave doesn't feel bad about is wild banana squash, I guess that I should admit that I like spaghetti squash so we planted a couple of those as well as the banana's and mine are going just as crazy as Dave's banana's, so this winter we may only be eating banana and spaghetti squash for all of our meals.  Well, today I am home working and thought yummy pulled pork sounds like a great idea for dinner tonight.  So I purchased a roast (4 pounds) and found this recipe on the Food Network website (see the link for more info).

Pulled Pork Sandwiches...
8 pound pork shoulder roast
8 - 10 garlic cloves
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Cut 8 - 10 slits in the roast and stuff each with a clove of garlic.
Mix dry ingredients together with a whisk and rub generously over roast, wrap in saran wrap and place in fridge over night.

Soak 5 cups of wood chips in water over night.

Gas grill directions:
Place wood chips in smoker box and place on grill, turn the burners on to high only on the side of the grill with the smoker box, once grill is warmed up turn the heat down to medium.
Take meat out of the oven and place in an aluminum (I used disposable) pan with 1 1/5 cups of water.  Place on the cooler side of the grill.  Check meat and rotate every hour until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. 
Now make the glaze:
1 Cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup ketchup
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp  each Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper.

Brush pork every 20 minutes until it reaches 200 degrees (1 to 2 more hours).

Let rest 15 minutes.  Shred the meat and toss with more of the vinegar glaze.   Serve on rolls.
Here is the link for the food network:
Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Check back later to see if the family liked this recipe... I am still glazing as we speak!  lol

Long time No Blog... Zucchini Bread!

So I have really been slacking on my recipe blog.  It's not that I am not trying new recipes, it is that I haven't been posting them!!!!  Ooops, my bad.  So today we are making Zucchini Bread and Pulled Pork Sandwiches.  My garden is over run with adorable little (whoops, waited too long) giant zucchini so last night I harvested about 10, left 7 on the ground for the birds and took the other 3 in the house along with 2 tomatoes, 30 grape tomatoes and a cucumber.  Have I mentioned that David loves banana squash so he planted several plants and they are taking over the garden and the yard and climbing the fence and well, let's just say that they are everywhere!!!!!

So my zucchini bread recipe is delicious, I am going to have to credit myself with this one because I took about 10 recipes played with them, modified them and came up with this recipe, my family and friends say it is the best so I am going to go with them on this one and agree, thank you very much!  Here it is:

Cathy's Zucchini Bread
1 Cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 Cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 Cups grated, unpeeled zucchini
3 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 Cups bread flour
1 1/4 Cups pecans chopped

Slightly beat your eggs, add oil and sugar until blended. 
Add zucchini and vanilla, mix well. 
Add soda, powder and salt, mix well.
Add flour 1 cup at a time, mix well.
Fold in pecans.
Pour into greased bread pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Makes 2 medium sized loafs.

Just a note about a new discovery for me.  I have never used cast iron for much of anything except camping using dutch ovens to cook.  But David has introduced me to the joys of cast iron and may I say wow! He bought me 2 cast iron loaf pans and I started using them for all my bread making and well my loaves turn out perfect they are not too brown, they are a lovely light golden color the texture and consistency is perfect and well clean up is non existent.   I would highly recommend using cast iron for all your bread making, you will never be sorry (just remember you don't need to wash them, just wipe them out and re-oil them.)

My next 2 posts will be the pulled pork and a great dip recipe from my sister in law Angie Neuberger.
And just wait till I post the new white bread recipe I found, it is quick and easy and turns out perfect every time!


Happy Baking

PUMPKIN ROLLS - oh my!

Pumpkin Rolls – oh my! January 31, 2010

Filed under: Desserts, Recipes — Cathy @ 11:45 pm 

Well, it’s a beautiful, cold Sunday afternoon in Utah and today I am trying a couple of new recipe’s for my family and friends.  The first is Perfect Pumpkin Rolls from My Kitchen Cafe, I love this website, she has hundreds of recipes and so far they turn out perfect.  I have tried to make pumpkin rolls in the past and never had very good luck, they would fall apart or tear while I was trying to roll them up and they never turned out very good.  This recipe was different!  From the perfect instructions to the perfect list of ingredients, it was easy and quick and turned out beautiful.  I only changed one small thing, I like pecans!  So I exchanged pecans for the walnuts.  I didn’t have clean tea towel either so I had to make do with a regular kitchen towel so I went a little heavy on the powdered sugar laden towel.  It turned out great.  I will make this recipe again and again!  Loved it!  (see recipe below or link above)

Perfect Pumpkin Roll
Printable Version
Cake:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2/3 cup mashed (canned) pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15 X 10-inch jelly roll pan. Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan and leave an inch overhang on each of the short ends of the pan. Lightly grease the wax paper and sides of the jelly roll pan.
Mix the sugar, flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, eggs and pumpkin in a large bowl. Once mixed, pour mixture over the waxed paper. Sprinkle the walnuts, if using, on top of the mixture. Bake for 14-15 minutes until edges pull away from the sides of the pan and center is done.
Lay a large dishtowel on the counter top (it is best to use a dishtowel without any texture – a tea towel or similar towel works best). Spread a thick dusting of powdered sugar all over the towel. When the cake comes out of the oven, turn the pan upside down on the powdered sugar-laden towel so the wax paper is on the top. Gently peel off the wax paper, being careful not to tear the roll. Starting at one of the short ends, roll the pumpkin cake up with the towel to cool. While the roll is cooling, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until it is light and creamy. Once the roll is cool, unroll and with an offset spatula, carefully spread filling in an even layer over the cake. Roll it up without the towel and place in the refrigerator (covered with plastic wrap or wax paper) for about an hour before serving.

Leave a Comment

My next recipe...

I found this yummy looking cookie recipe today and I am going to give them a try tomorrow.  If you have a recipe that I should try please send it to me, I am ready to try almost anything... no brussel sprouts I am just not a fan!  Here is the link to my next experiment...  Sugar Gems

The jury is out...

I took the orange snowdrops to work today.  It was truly fun getting feedback from all my co-workers.  I work with almost all men and they always appreciate "treats".  So I told them what I was doing and that they would be getting treats fairly regularly.  They agreed to give me feedback.  The recipe said that the frosting was optional - everyone in the office was in agreement that it is not even remotely optional.  The cookies are quite crumbly and the frosting seems to hold it all together. 

Tonight I made Chicken Alfredo, it was delicious but not totally homemade so I am not including it here.  But we had the herb bread with dinner and it was a big hit.  A little butter and garlic and then warmed in the oven and it was fabulous.  I could make a meal out of bread so this will now be my favorite bread for italian meals.

Give them a try, you will like them...

My first two new recipes...

Well, this weekend I made a couple of new recipes.  One was for caramelized butternut squash.  It was easy and very yummy.  The second was Lime Chicken Tacos.  I got the recipe from Emily Giles who said it was delicious and simple and she was right.  Here is the link: http://thecouponersrecipeblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/lime-chicken-tacos.html
I didn't document either recipe, but they were both good and both easy. 

Tonight I made Orange Snowdrops Cookies.  The recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Cookie Book Page 55.  The recipe was pretty easy to make, but turned out to be a slightly dry consistency cookie, they really need the optional frosting!  The only thing I changed in the recipe was the frosting, I added 2 Tbsp of butter and about a cup of extra powdered sugar and even at that I used the whole batch of frosting.  The recipe made 33 cookies and they taste great and very orange!  I also made Italian Herb bread tonight, it is Katie's recipe and it is wonderful.  My house smells like a little bit of heaven.  I will be taking the goodies to work tomorrow to share, so we will see what all the guys at work think!

Orange Snowdrops
1/2 c. butter                                      3 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 c. crisco                                      1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. powdered sugar                         2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda                         1 egg
1 recipe Orange Frosting (see below)
1.  Preheat oven to 375.  In a large bowl beat butter and crisco on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add powdered sugar and baking soda.  Beat until combined.  Beat in egg, OJ concentrate and vanilla until combined.   Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, stir in remaining flour (I used my bosch, so not necessary).



2.  Drop dough by teaspoons 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are slightly golden. Let stand for 1 minute on cookie sheet then move to a wire rack and allow to cool.  Frost with Orange Frosting if desired.

Orange Frosting:  In a small bowl combine 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 oz of frozen OJ concentrate (thawed); 1/2 tsp of grated orange peel beat until combined.  (I added an extra cup of powdered sugar and 2 Tbsp of butter, it made the consistency easier to spread and gave it a little less over powering orange flavor.)

Katie's Bread Machine Herb Bread (2 pound loaf)
1 1/2 c.  hot water
1 T. butter
4 c. bread flour
3 T. sugar
1 T. dry milk powder
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp fresh basil
1 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 T. lemon juice
2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast.

Add all ingredients to bread machine in order listed above then set machine on medium or light and select the basic white bread setting on your bread machine.  Now just sit back and wait for a delightful, yummy bread...