Birthday coffee cake

My mom taught me this recipe for coffee cake.  My husband loves it so much that he wanted coffee cake for his birthday cake!

You have to start the process half a day before you want the coffee cake to be ready.  My mom usually makes it the night before so that the rolls will have risen by the morning.

You take Rhodes frozen white dinner rolls.  Mix 1 box of vanilla cook and serve pudding, 1 cup of brown sugar, and chopped pecans.   Spray a bundt cake pan with non-stick spray.  Spoon a few spoonfuls of this mixture in the bottom of the bundt cake pan.

Melt 1 stick of butter in a bowl.  Roll around 18 - 20 of the dinner rolls (still frozen) one at a time in the butter, then in the sugar mixture, and place the rolls in the bundt cake pan.

You should have some of the sugar mixture left.  Pour the remaining mixture over the rolls that are in the bundt cake pan.  Place a towel (or a piece of seran wrap and then a towel) over the bundt cake pan.  Wait for the rolls to rise.  Then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  After you take the pan out of the oven, place a large plate over the top of the pan.  Carefully turn over the pan and plate, keeping one hand on the plate, and one on the bundt pan.

Dill Shrimp Goodness

This is one of my favorite summer recipes.  I actually grew dill in  my garden this summer.  It was so satisfying to just hop outside to get the dill for my recipe!  I found this recipe originally on the famous Cupcakes and Cashmere blog.  I adapted it and what I did is set out below.

It really is best to make this recipe ahead of time so that it can sit and the flavors can congeal.

Ingredients
Kosher salt
Good olive oil
3/4 pound orzo pasta (rice-shaped pasta)
1/2 cup lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds (16 to 18 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts
1 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
Directions


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and a splash of oil, and bring the water to a boil. Add the orzo and simmer for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked al dente. Drainand pour into a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Pour over the hot pasta and stir well.

Meanwhile, place the shrimp on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to combine and spread out in a single layer. Roast for 5 to 6 minutes, until the shrimp are cooked through. Don't overcook!

Add the shrimp to the orzo and then add the scallions, dill, parsley,cucumber, onion, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Toss well. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend, or refrigerate overnight. If refrigerated, taste again for seasonings and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Summery lime, corn, avocado, and tomato "dip"

We had most of my family up to our new place in Eagle, Nebraska for Mother's Day.  I'll do another post on that at some point.  I had fun using all of my china.  I decided to make my favorite summer "dip" as an appetizer.  It's really not a dip most people are used to. There is no ranch dressing involved.  It is just frozen sweet corn, grape tomatoes cut in half, a rip avocado cut in small pieces, and lime juice.  I think it is also very good with some cilantro in it.  This cilantro was harvested from my garden! It's so great being able to go outside and grab what I need.    The "dip" is simple but SO tasty with some tortilla chips.

Latest obsession - lime chicken tortilla soup

I have been so obsessed with this super easy chicken noodle - tortilla - lime soup.  I just take a can of Chicken Noodle Soup, I add lime juice, then microwave.  When it's done I tear up a tortilla in small pieces and add colby jack cheese.  It's so easy and delicious!

Banana French Toast - April Fools!

Happy April Fools Day! Hopefully no one pulls a fast one on you.

We had quite a few bananas that were almost over the hill.  I decided to mash them up and put them in with the milk, eggs, and cinnamon to make French Toast. We also cut some up and put them on top as we were frying them up. They were quite tasty!

Broccoli, Chicken, & Noodle Casserole

We had a huge head of broccoli on its last leg, so I decided to make use of it.  I used a recipe from Skinny Taste.com that can be found here.  I have adapted it slightly though.

Preheat your oven to 375.  Start your water on high so you can boil your noodles. Fry up some chicken (I used 3 breasts) with a smidge of butter then shred the chicken pieces.

Saute your broccoli with some garlic and oil.  Cover the pan and let it cook for 3 minutes.  Set it aside.  You can use your pan with the broccoli and garlic juice to make the gravy that is going to mix everything up.  Fry onions (I didn't have chives), add 3 tb flour, then 1 1/3 cup chicken stock, and 1 cup of milk.  Whisk together.  Bring it to a boil then simmer for 6 minutes or so, until it thickens.  Then throw in the cheddar cheese and noodles.  I almost wanted to stop there because it was almost a super tasty mac and cheese!

When it is melted throw your broccoli, shredded chicken and noodles in.  Once it is all covered put the mixture in a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.  I topped it off with some cheese and panko bread crumbs. They have such a great texture!

Spinach-Tortellini Soup

In the winter time I love having soup for dinner.  It's especially great if it's homemade, and easy to make.  I used this recipe and had great results.  I used free range/organic chicken broth and frozen spinach that had been thawed out.  You just add diced tomatoes and pre-made tortellini.  I have had good results using the pre-made fancy Italian kind of pastas stuffed with cheese and sausage.  At Hy-Vee in Lincoln they had another brand, called V's.  It was frozen, but they turned out very well.  The soup was done in literally 30 minutes.  This one has now been written in my cookbook as a keeper!

Easy crock put chicken & dumplings

My new job requires more hours than my earlier job did.  I love the new job, but I've had to adjust my cooking slightly.  One fun way to have a great dinner ready is with a crock pot!

I love chicken and dumplings, but the dumplings normally requires a lot of work!  I found a recipe on the blog Bubblecrumb uses flaky grands biscuits as the dumplings.  They really do turn out as tasty little dumplings! She suggests just five biscuits cut up into small pieces.   I would suggest using the whole package of seven or eight biscuits.  We would have enjoyed more dumplings!

I also added more salt and pepper.  I cooked my chicken and dumplings on low for 10 hours.  I put the biscuits in for the last two hours of cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving AND Things I'm enjoying about Fall - Pumpkin butter

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Shea Babe, I hope that you managed to find some pumpkin puree for some pumpkin pie.  In honor of the lovely taste of pumpkin I decided to share the recipe for Pumpkin Butter which has been part of my morning breakfast routine the last month or two.

I am so Thankful that our plans have worked out so that I am actually in the SAME CITY as my husband every night.  I know that many people have it much worse when their spouse is serving overseas.  In many countries in the Middle East and Asia spouses actually work in different countries permanently!  So living without my Joshy from Monday morning through Thursday night really wasn't too bad.  But I just hated feeling like we were not a part of each other's every day lives.  It is SO much better now.  I am really thanking the Lord for every lovely comment, snuggling, or other memory we are enjoying together.

What are you thankful for?  I had a friend that did "Days of Thanksgiving" on facebook.  She put up one thing she was thankful for each day.  It was really cute.  I'm going to have to try and remember to do that next year?

I am also thankful for fall!

I don't really like milk very much, so I have started having toast in the mornings.  The sugary jam got a bit old after awhile.  So I moved on to apple butter.  Then one of the blogs I read, Eat Yourself Skinny, had a recipe for Pumpkin Butter and I decided to give it a try.  I accidentally purchased Libby's Pumpkin Pie mix rather than pureed pumpkin so I decided to go with it the first time I made pumpkin butter.  The second time I made it I tried the pureed pumpkin that the recipe calls for the second time.  I liked the pumpkin butter MUCH better with the Libby's Pumpkin Pie mix.

Here is my pumpkin butter recipe adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny:

1 29 oz can of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp Pumpkin Pie mix (that has cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice)

Combine all of these ingredients over medium/high heat.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  It is so tasty! 

My husband and I are on the way to Aspen for some fun Thanksgiving times.  We brought his parents along to celebrate the holidays.  I'll have to put a few pics up here when we return!

Things I'm enjoying about fall - Apple Cider

There are a few things I LOVE about fall, one of those is apple cider.  This year I tried something new to make my cider have that extra bit of taste and depth that I find at some holiday parties.  I have been taking "mulling" spice that you can find at stores like Trader Joe's and putting it in my cider.  I then microwave it, or put it in a pan and let it boil.  You can then use a strainer to strain out the bits of goodness, but I've been leaving them in lately.  They just end up in the bottom of the cup!  The mulling spice seems to add those extra flavors that fancy ciders have in them.

Bow Tie detail

I've really been loving my J. Crew pleated silk skirt lately.  I did not mean to wear the same shoes, but for some reason the black and brown detail of my Cole Haan strappy shoes goes well with the colors int he skirt. The pattern is so fun.  I paired it with a T-Shirt with a Bow detail on it.  I think it looks kind of like a tie!  I wore a black Banana Republic blazer with the outfit at work.

Paula Deen

Shea mentioned at one point that she was cool with random cooking posts going up.  So here's one of my cooking projects of late.  I have loved listening to Paula Deen's Autobiography lately.  She is so funny.  I know that she uses to much butter and all.  But I just love how confident she is.  She has so much personality and is unapologeticly plump.  I tried her Deluxe Twice Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Shrimp not too long ago.  They turned out so well!  I actually even forgot to put in the 6 tb of butter and mayonnaise.  There is an adorable video of Paula and her husband Michael making these on Food Network's website.  I wish that Paula Deen was my Auntie!

I did 5 smallish russet potatoes.  I had so much extra inside goodness that I had to put a dollop on the cookie sheet for the second baking by itself.

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