Apple Spice Cake

My mom and I made a cake for my Grandmother's birthday this year. She likes apple spice cake and my mom and I thought it would be yummy to have a caramel fondant... so that's what we did!!!
I based the recipe off this one found at allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Allspice
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Butter, Softened
2 Cups White Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 TBSP Warm Water
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Apples - Peeled, Cored and Chopped (or Grated)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9x13" pan. Whisk together flour, spices, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter (or margarine) and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir together soda and 1 TBSP warm water, and mix into the sugar mixture. Stire in flour mixture, and apples until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan. Once cool, shake pan to loosen cake. Turn onto plate.

To frost the cake you can just dust with confectioners' sugar. Or you may use my recipe for caramel fondant. We used a Buttercream Frosting between the layers.

Orange Chicken

I finally found it!!! A delicious orange chicken recipe!!! This recipe is best if eaten fresh. It does take some time to make. And will feed about 6 people.

Ingredients

Sauce:
1 1/2 Cups Water
2 TBSP Orange Juice
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1/3 Cup Rice Vinegar
2 1/1 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Grated Orange Zest
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Minced Fresh Ginger
1/2 tsp Minced Garlic
2 TBSP Chopped Green Onion
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

3 TBSP Cornstarch
2 TBSP Water

Chicken:
4-5 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut into large chunks)
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
3 TBSP Olive Oil

Directions

Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool 10-15 minutes

Place the chicken pieces into a resealable plastic bag. When contents of saucepan have cooled, pour 1 cup of sauce into bag. Reserve the remaining sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

In another resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the marinated chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat. Put a drying rack over a baking sheet, pour out contents onto drying rack.

Pour the oil into a large pot, making sure the oil does not come more than halfway up the sides. Heat the oil to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer.

Preheat oven to 200°F. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Working in batches, fry the wings until golden brown and crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the wings to the paper towel-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.

Pour the sauce into a skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low.

Transfer the fried chicken to a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the wings and stir to coat evenly. Serve immediately with rice.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

This may not be greatest looking, but lets be serious what casserole really makes you drool just by looking at it!?!

Ingredients:

Broccoli (1-2 bushels or 1 large frozen bag)
2 Cups Cooked Chicken, diced or shredded
1 Cup Mayonnaise (we prefer Miracle Whip in our home)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper
Dash of Paprika
Dash of Cayenne Pepper (**Only if you like spicing it up!**)
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
4-6 oz. Shredded Cheese (I like a mild cheddar personally)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl mix together Mayonnaise, Cream of Chicken Soup, Egg, Salt, and Pepper. In a casserole dish lay out a layer of broccoli, then a layer of chicken. Cover the chicken layer with the mayonnaise mixture. At this point I like to add a light sprinkle of paprika and if I feel like spicing it up a little I will sprinkle just a little bit of cayenne on. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top (you can use more or less than the 1/4 cup, just make sure there is a nice even coat that is fairly thin). Finally I sprinkle it all with cheese. We like a lot of cheese... but adjust to your preference!

Bake for 45 minutes so the broccoli will be fully cooked and the cheese will be melted.

Ultimate Chili Nachos

Oh man are these Y.U.M.M.Y!!!!

My husband and I went to Applebee's the other day and ordered their Chili Nachos and I thought, "I'm sure I could figure out how to make this!"

And so I did!!!

We ate it as dinner, but you could put everything out together in a dish with the chips on the side and it would be awesome as a side dish... for those fun hanging out parties (like the Super Bowl)!

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef
1 pkg of Taco Seasoning
1 (16 oz) can Refried Beans
1 (15.5 oz) can Kidney Beans
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 Clove of Garlic
1 (27 oz) can of Stewed Tomatoes
1 (15 oz) Can Nacho Cheese Sauce (we really like the Juanita's brand which I have found can be hard to find if you don't live near Mexico, but you can use any Chip Cheese Dip, or even Campbell's Condensed Cheese Soup and add half a can of milk)
*Tortilla Chips
*1 Jalepeño (sliced or chopped)
*Lettuce (chopped)
*Salsa
*Sour Cream
*Guacamole
*Tomatoes
*Red Onions
*Olives

*Optional


Directions:

Cook beef as directed on the taco seasoning package. Add refried beans, kidney beans, chili powder, garlic, and stewed tomatoes.
Then you build your nachos with all your favorite ingredients! I prefer them in a specific order... I know I'm weird! But I like the chips, meat mix, nacho cheese, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, jalepeño, olives, and tomatoes.

Potato Rolls

Every year for Thanksgiving my mom would traditionally make these CUTE rolls that she would make to look like turkeys! This recipe is actually one I got from a friend when I was at college!

****WARNING: This is an OVERNIGHT recipe****

INGREDIENTS

1 package (2 TBSP) yeast
1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 Cup shortening (or butter)
2 Eggs
1 Cup Lukewarm Mashed Potatoes
6 1/2-7 Cups All Purpose Flour

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. For those who have not worked with yeast before, what I do is make the water from my sink as hot as possible, it seems to work well! In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, potatoes, and 4 cups of flour. Mix until smooth. Add yeast-water mix. Mix in enough of the remaining flour until the dough is easy to handle (the least amount you have to use is best. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl (I usually use my largest mixing bowl and using a paper towel I wipe shortening all over to grease the bowl); turn greased side up. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate over night. Punch it down occasionally.

When ready to use punch down the dough.

*For normal rolls I shape the dough into about 2-inch balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet between 1/2-inch to 1-inch apart.*

For nice fluffy rolls I have found it is best to allow the rolls to rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the rolls with butter and by the time the oven is preheated the rolls are good to go in the oven!

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes then put them on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.

*To make the rolls look like turkey's shape dough into about 1 1/2-inch balls, place in greased muffin pan. Then to make the "head" and "tail feathers" you will roll the dough in your hands to make a "snake" (like you did when you were little playing with play dough). Break four pieces about an inch long and place three in the back and one in the front. (Follow the rest of the directions above for cooking)*

Icing

I usually am not a fan of eating a cake with fondant icing. But this recipe is one that I am actually a fan of. This was my first time trying out fondant, and I must say I really enjoyed it! The cake I made is a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and fondant decorations. So today I'm posting the recipe for the chocolate frosting and the fondant.

First the chocolate frosting. My favorite recipe for chocolate frosting is the one on the back of Hershey's Cocoa (natural unsweetened). This recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting.

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 Cup) Butter

2/3 Cup Hershey's Cocoa

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/3 Cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk if consistency is too thick, add more powdered sugar if too runny. Stir in vanilla.

Click HERE for the link to the fondant tutorial I used. Fondant can also be used as a fun thing for your kids to play with, the consistency is similar to that of play dough, however they may end up eating more of it than you would like!

Ingredients:

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar (use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Directions:

NOTE:  Please be careful, this first stage can get hot. Take OFF jewelry such as rings!!!

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes between 2-2 1/2 minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. Start kneading like you would bread dough.

Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes at least 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product (Saran wrap) and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. 

MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. It is best to store the fondant in it's natural white color, some food coloring colors can change the consistency of the icing. Please go to the tutorial here to check out how to roll out the fondant and get it on the cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my absolute FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe! I adapted it from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com (one of my favorite recipe sites to browse through, mainly because it has reviews for it's recipes and the reviews are VERY helpful). Depending on the size of cookies you are making this recipe can make up to 6 dozen (these are small cookies), but if you are making cookies the size I like... it's probably closer to 3-4 dozen!

Ingredients

2 Cups Softened Butter

1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 (3.4 oz) Packages Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 tsp Baking Soda

4 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

4 1/2 Cups Flour

1 (12 oz package, which is about 4 cups) Chocolate Chips**

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Add flour gradually until all mixed together. Finally stir in chocolate chips.

Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make sure they are at least an inch apart (depending on how big of spoonfuls you are making you may need more space).

Bake for 9-12 minutes. Edges should be golden brown.

**DELICIOUS VARIATIONS**

Nutty:

If you like nuts you can just add 2 cups of nuts (I recommend using walnuts) to the above recipe.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry:

This is one of my FAVORITE combinations and I feel better with adding the cranberries when I eat the cookies!!! For this variation use 1 (12 oz) package of white chocolate chips and 2 cups of dried sweetened cranberries.

For Kids:

When making chocolate chip cookies for kids I like to use the Mini-Morsels chocolate chips, then I make the cookies small and it's just right for them!

Everything but the kitchen sink:

Ok... for this one you add a little bit of everything, you can pick your favorites or add anything else you think sounds yummy!

1 Cup Heath pieces

1 Cup Butterscotch chocolate chips

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Walnuts

Death by Chocolate
If you LOVE chocolate (like I do) you can use chocolate pudding instead of vanilla!