Sunday Morning Coffee Cake

Nathan really likes coffee cake, and I am in the search for a great coffee cake recipe for him. This was the first one I tried... and it was not a success. I'm thinking that it was the baking powder we could taste, which definitely is not cool.
I won't be trying this one again. I would kinda like to fiddle with the recipe, but I don't like messing with the amount of baking powder/baking soda in recipes, for fear of destroying the recipe. :)

Sunday Morning Coffee Cake
(TOH)


2 Tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 egg
2/3 Cup milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
3 Teaspoon baking powder
Topping:
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoon all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 Cup cold butter

Instructions:
In a small bowl, beat butter, sugar, and salt until crumbly. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour and baking powder, add to butter mixture. Transfer to a greased 8x8 baking dish.
For topping, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cook on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm if desired.

Serves: 9


As always... comments are love. :)

Easy Stuffed Shells

I found this recipe, and thought it would be great to use up the stuffed shells/meatballs I had from other recipes. It was an instant hit with Nate!! I cut the recipe to 1/4 of it's original size (posted is the original), and used tomato sauce with Italian seasoning vs using spaghetti sauce, but it was great.
My only complaint was that I don't like those frozen meatballs--and will probably make my own from scratch next time.

Easy Stuffed Shells
(TOH)

12 Ounce jumbo pasta shells
26 Ounce tomato sauce
Italian seasoning
36 frozen cooked italian meatballs
2 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. Cook meatballs according to package directions.
Mix desired amount of Italian seasoning with sauce.
Place 1/2 cup sauce in a greased 13x9 baking dish. Place a meatball in each shell; transferred to prepared dish. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
Cover and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Serving Size: 1 shell
Yields: 12 servings


As always... comments are love!

Back again-with Cheesy Ham & Potato Casserole!

This time, my 'disappearance' from blogging was for legitimate reasons, I promise! Nate & I recently moved, and this time it was a lot harder than the move from one apartment to another! We are now renting a cottage, and when we moved some of our things in, we also had to move some of their things (dishes etc) out to storage. Not fun. And, I am super particular about how things should be packed.

Not that it was that beneficial--two of my Great-Grandma's fine china dishes still broke. :( Which was pretty devastating, but I have no one to blame but myself. Which is precisely why I insisted that I be the one to pack those---no being mad at Nate!

We are (essentially) moved in now, just finishing up the organizing/cleaning, so hopefully I will have some more time now to type up the recipes I've been hoarding and get them on here!

And I will apologize now for all the recipes without pictures... the camera was MIA off & on during all of this!

Cheesy Ham & Potato Casserole
(Home Cooking)

24 Ounce package golden round potatoes or hash browns
21.5 Ounce cream of mushroom soup
2 Cup diced cooked ham
1 1/2 Cup milk
2 Tablespoon butter
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon chopped onion
8 Ounce cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions:
Place potatoes, mushroom soup, ham, milk, butter, salt, and onion in slow cooker and turn on low. Cook for 4 hours. Before serving, add cheese until melted.

Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 5 m
Cook Time: 4 h
Total Time: 4 h 5 m


This turned out very soupy, which may have had something to do with the fact that I used frozen hashbrowns. I would not recommend that--at least thaw them before using!
Nate isn't fond of the ham/cheddar taste, so I probably wouldn't make this again. Otherwise, if it weren't for the soupy-ness, I would say this has quite a bit of potential.

As always... comments are love!!

Savory Cheese Soup

After someone recommended cheese soup & cheesy biscuits as a good meal (I can't remember who), I had been wanting to try a cheese soup! I found this recipe, and thought it sounded great. Aside from the cream cheese not melting well which may have been due to lack of patience), I thought it turned out pretty good.
Turns out, Nathan doesn't like cheese soups.

Oh well... a lesson learned. I won't be making this again, but maybe one of you can enjoy it! :)

Savory Cheese Soup
(TOH)



43.5 Ounce chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1/4 Cup chopped sweet red pepper
2 Tablespoon butter
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon pepper
1/3 Cup all purpose flour
1/3 Cup cold water
8 Ounce cream cheese, cubed and softened
2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
croutons, popcorn, cooked crumbled bacon, sliced green onion etc.

Instructions:
In a slow cooker, combine the first eight ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Combine flour and water until smooth; stir into soup. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes longer or until soup is thickened.
Stir in cream cheese and cheddar cheese until blended. Cover and cook on low until heated through. Serve with desired toppings.

Yields: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 m
Cook Time: 8.5 h
Total Time: 8 h 45 m

Bob's Crab Cakes

I love crab, so when I came across a recipe for crab cakes that basically boasted it was perfect, I had to try it.

Well, it might've been perfect, but the stupid things wouldn't hold together, so I'll never know.

(There is no picture intentionally. I basically made 'Bob's Crab Stir Fry' by the time it was done. It wasn't pretty.)

If you try this, let me know how it turns out. Maybe I'm just an idiot who couldn't do it right. :)

Bob's Crab Cakes
(TOH)

2 slices day old bread, cut into 1/4" cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
2 Teaspoon worchestershire sauce
1/2 Teaspoon pepper
18 Ounce crabmeat, chopped finely
2 Tablespoon canola oil

Instructions:
In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients; mix well. Add crab; mix gently. Form mixture into eight balls; flatten slightly. In a large nonstick skillet, cook the crab cakes in oil for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Yields: 8 crab cakes
Prep Time: 15 m
Cook Time: 5 m
Total Time: 20 m

Golden Garlic Bread

This was an AMAZING find. This garlic bread is clog-your-arteries-as-you-eat-it good. (Which means that I REALLY need to find ways to make this healthier!)
The only downside (aside from clogging your arteries) is that it has entirely too much butter. It made it have a greasy taste to it. I'll cut down on the butter (maybe 1/2 cup?) for next time, but I will definitely make this again.

(Also, I cut the recipe in half when I made it... one loaf of garlic bread is too much for two of us! We ate some with dinner, and reheated the rest another time. It reheats surprisingly well, if you just broil it for a couple more minutes again!)
Golden Garlic Bread
(TOH)

3/4 Cup butter, softened
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
3 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 Cup grated parmesan
1/2 Cup onion, chopped
1 Teaspoon italian bread
1-2 Clove garlic, minced
1 Loaf french bread, cut in half lengthwise

Instructions:
In a small mixing bowl, beat butter and mayonnaise until blended. Stir in the cheeses, onions, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Spread over cut sides of bread. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Broil 4-6” from heat for 3-5 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and bubbly. Cut into 2” slices.

Yields: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 15
Cook Time: 5
Total Time: 20 m

Savory Parmesan Bites

Has anyone ever noticed the Meijer 'mealbox' or the recipe cards in the Meijer stores? I've glanced at them before, but never paid too much attention to them. I'm not fond of the Meijer website, and the cards never really catch my attention. This one did, though. We were grocery shopping, and I saw this. I thought it would be worth a try--we had everything but the crescents, and the pepper was probably going to go to waste if I didn't use it here. So, we tried it!
Unfortunately, I was not very fond of these. Nate enjoyed them, but most of them went to waste. I think part of it was that crescents are going lower and lower on the list of my favorite 'bread' type things... but I can't properly explain why. Oh well! I may try this recipe with something else bread-like... and maybe do a small substitution for the cream cheese? We'll see!

Savory Parmesan Bites
(Meijer)


4 Ounce cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup grated parmesan
4 Ounce refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
Parsley

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350.
Beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup parmesan with mixer until well blended.
Separate dough into 4 rectangles; seal seams. Spread with cream cheese mixture; top with peppers and parsley. Fold each rectangle lengthwise into thirds to enclose filling; cut into 4 squares. Place seam side down, on baking sheet; top with remaining parmesan.
Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.




Yields: 16 'bites'
Prep Time: 15 m
Cook Time: 15 m
Total Time: 30 m