Italian Cream Cake

While I have a pretty big sweet tooth, I tend to lean more toward cookies or cheesecake than regular cake.  However, I do enjoy a good cake recipe now and then.  Like this one that I found on Pinterest that was shared by "Mom's Mutterings".  This recipe had me at the word "Italian".  I'm not sure exactly how authentically Italian it is, but I am sure that it is really good.

The original recipe called for pecans, which I love and the rest of my family doesn't, so I left them out.  I also switched up the oil called for in the original recipe, which was part butter, part vegetable oil and part shortening.  I simplified it a bit and used coconut oil in place of the oil and shortening.  I also used my homemade kefir (yogurt) in place of the buttermilk (if I don't have the homemade yogurt recipe on the site, I'll be sure and add it post haste).

This cake is pretty sweet and very rich, so definitely not something you want to have every weekend, but for a special occasion this would be perfect.

Italian Cream Cake
Makes one 9" 3-layer cake

The frosting is very generous!

Cake Ingredients:
1C. Homemade kefir (yogurt) or buttermilk
1t. Baking Soda
2C. Sugar
1/2C. Unsalted Butter
1C. Coconut Oil
4 Egg Yolks
1t. Vanilla Extract
4 Egg Whites
2C. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1C. Flaked Coconut

Frosting Recipe:
1 (8oz.) pkg. Creme Cheese, softened
1/2C. Unsalted Butter, softened
3-4C. Confectioner's Sugar
2t. Vanilla Extract

Make the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and flour three 9-inch, round cake pans.  Combine baking soda and kefir or buttermilk.
2. Cream sugar, butter, and coconut oil.  Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix kefir (buttermilk) mixture alternately with flour into creamed mixture.  Stir in Vanilla.
3. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites.  Stir in coconut.
4. Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the Frosting:

1. Beat together the creme cheese, butter, and vanilla.
2. Slowly add confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, blending after each addition.

Store covered in the refrigerator if it lasts more than a day.

Beautiful or what?  :-)

Cheeseburger Wraps

Hello!  I'm back again.  I've been away at a job.  I did a little over a month's tour of duty in the cafeteria at my little one's elementary school.  It turns out, however, that this old bod' isn't quite up to that much physical labor anymore.  So, I'm back to full-time mom duty and more blogging.  If you've never worked in a commercial kitchen, let me tell you, it is A LOT of hard work.  I will never again under appreciate a lunch lady. ( If you think "little one's elementary" and "old bod'" don't quite add up you're right.  My "little one" is my grandbaby.)  ;-)

Enough about me, let's talk about food.  For my return recipe I have decided to share with you, today's lunch.

I also had some red seedless grapes, but they were feeling camera shy.  :-)

This yummy grilled wrap is a variation of a recipe I found on Pinterest.  I'm afraid I don't know where the recipe originated from.  Here for your approval, however, is my version.

Cheeseburger Wraps

12 wraps

Ingredients:

1# Ground Turkey

2T. Worcestershire Sauce

1T. Ketchup

1T. Minced Onion

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Medium Tomato, sliced

6C. Colby Jack Cheese, shredded

6T. Mayonnaise or Mustard (your choice, or you could do like we do and combine them)

12 Whole Wheat Tortillas

Butter for grilling

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground turkey until completely cooked.
2. Add Worcestershire, ketchup, minced onion, and salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer five minutes.
3. Run 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese down the middle of each tortilla.
4. Top cheese with about 1/3 cup of the meat mixture, 1/2 T. mayo or mustard, and two tomato slices.
5. Roll up burrito style.
6. LIGHTLY butter each side of each burrito (just to help make nice grill marks) and grill until cheese is melted and you have lovely grill marks as in the picture.
7. Serve immediately.

If you'd like you can prepare ahead of time, wrap in plastic wrap and hold in the refrigerator until you're ready to grill and serve them.

Each wrap is approximately 193 calories.

Just for fun, serve with french fries and lettuce to complete the "hamburger" theme.....and maybe a thick shake for dessert. 

Cinnamon Cranberry Crusty Bread

I have given you a recipe for crusty bread before, along with ideas for variations.  This version is one I have been playing with for several weeks, experimenting with; the amount of cranberries, the level of cinnamon, trying different liquids other than water (I tried part apple juice and part water, but the apple juice seemed to make the bread sticky on the outside), just the right amount of sugar......and I think I've hit on a winner.  It has so far received the approval of my family and several of my son's high school friends who have requested I send some to school for their lunch time.  So, here for your approval........

Cinnamon Cranberry Crusty Bread

Ingredients:
3 C. All-Purpose Flour
1t. Kosher Salt
1T. Ground Cinnamon
3/4 C. Granulated Sugar
1t. Yeast
3/4 C. Dried Sweet Cranberries
1 1/2 C. Water

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.  Add dried cranberries and mix with a wooden spoon.  Add water and mix with the same wooden spoon until the water is well incorporated and you have a "shaggy mess".  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit 8-12 hours or overnight.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 F.  Place a dutch oven with the lid on into the oven and warm it for 30 minutes.  In the meantime, place your bread dough on a HEAVILY floured board.  Knead a few times and shape it into a ball.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest while your pot warms.  Once your dutch oven is pre-heated, remove it from the oven and place your dough ball inside it.  Replace the lid and bake for 25-30 mins.  Remove the lid and bake for another 5-10 mins. depending on how browned you want your crust to be.  Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy!

There's nothing like fresh bread slathered in real butter!

Fruit n' Oats Breakfast Casserole

Good Friday morning all!  I am so happy this morning!  The temperature is below 60 and it's going to stay that way all day!  Perfect baking weather!  I am concerned, however, about hurricane Sandy that's supposed to plow into our eastern neighbors soon.  If you're reading this from that area, I and many others are praying for you!

I found this recipe on Urban Nester's website.  I tweaked it some, so if you don't like my version you can check hers out.  This is SO good though.  My entire family loves it.  You can bake it up and eat on it for several days.  You can eat it cold, room temperature, heated up - it's good any of those ways.  I hope you enjoy it!

Fruit n' Oat Breakfast Casserole

Prep Time: 10 mins.

Bake Time: 30-40 mins.

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

2C. Rolled Oats

1/3C. Brown Sugar

1 t. Baking Powder

1 t. Cinnamon

1/2 t. Kosher Salt

1/2C. Strawberries (halved)

1/2C. Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2C. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

2C. Vanilla Almond Milk

1 Egg

3T. Butter (melted)

1t. Vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F..  Generously spray the inside of a casserole dish with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet.  

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the strawberries, half the blueberries, and half the chocolate.

In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla.

Add the oat mixture to the prepared casserole dish.  Arrange the remaining strawberries, blueberries, and chocolate on top.

Pour the milk mixture over everything.  Gently shake the baking dish to evenly distribute the milk in the oats.  If you like, sprinkle a little extra brown sugar over the top for a sweet, crusty top.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and the milk mixture has set. 

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

 Enjoy!  :-)

Cheesy Potato Bacon Chowder

It's just about that time of year again!  Time to roll out the dutch oven and set some soups and stews to simmerin' on the stove.  I decided to rehearse a little this evenin' and tossed this little ditty together.  One thing I love about making soup is that it gives me opportunity to clean out the veggie drawer.  Don't worry, I don't use anything that's past it's time.  I DO use whatever I have on hand that sounds good.  For example, I used baby carrots in this recipe rather than regular sized carrots because that's what I had.  I also actually prefer the size of baby carrot slices.  Anyway, I better get this written down before I forget what I did.  Here you go!  :-)

CHEESY POTATO BACON CHOWDER

Ingredients:

1/2# Applewood Smoked Bacon, chopped

1/2 of a large Onion, diced

3 stalks of Celery, diced

15-20 Baby Carrots, sliced (or 2 regular sized carrots)

1/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1T. Garlic Powder

1t. Smoky Paprika

Salt and Pepper to taste

3C. Lo-Sodium Chicken Broth

2C. 2% Milk

1/2C. Fat-free Half n' Half

2 Russet Potatoes, diced

1 10oz. bag Frozen Corn, divided

1C. Colby Jack Cheese, shredded

Directions:

In a large dutch oven, cook bacon until almost crisp.  Turn off the stove and remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel lined plate or bowl to drain.  Add onion, celery, and carrots to the bacon drippings in the dutch oven.  Saute' until soft.  Add flour, garlic powder, paprika, and salt and pepper to vegetables and cook a minute or two.  Carefully stir in chicken broth, milk, and half n' half.  Stir in potatoes and half of the frozen corn.  Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 20 mins., until the potatoes are soft.  With an immersion blender, puree the soup to desired consistency.  Adjust seasonings.  Stir in cooked bacon and remaining corn.  Add cheese 1/2 cup at a time and stir until melted.  Serve.  Garnish with more cheese, chives, or bacon if desired.  A dollop of Greek yogurt is also good.

Comfort Food!

Crusty Bread

Hey!  It's been awhile!  I apologize for being gone so long.  Having three kids home all day keeps me a little preoccupied.  I just had to etch out some time to share this recipe with you though.  It's really trippy how it works.  I found the original recipe on simplysogood.blogspot.com  One of the fun things about this recipe is that you can easily add just about any ingredients that tickle your fancy.  This particular loaf has thyme and lemon in it, and I used all wheat flour.  I prefer some substance to my bread.

I'll go ahead and share the original basic recipe and the recipe I used today.  I hope you have some fun with this and really enjoy it.

Crusty Bread

Basic Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

3C. All Purpose Flour

1 3/4t. Salt (I use Kosher)

1/2t. Yeast

1 1/2C. Water

DIRECTIONS:

Follow directions below, but bake for 30 minutes before removing lid.

Lemon Thyme Wheat Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2t. Kosher Salt

1/2t. Yeast

6 sprigs of Fresh Thyme leaves

Zest and juice of 1 small lemon

Water

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt, yeast, thyme leaves, and lemon zest.  Add enough water to the lemon juice to make 2 cups of liquid and add to the dry ingredients.  Mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  Cover bowl w/plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours.

Heat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit.  Once oven is up to temperature, place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and preheat for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, pour dough onto a HEAVILY floured surface and shape into a ball (the dough will be VERY gooey).  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit while pot is heating.  Remove pot from the oven and drop in the dough.  Cover and bake 25 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes.

This is what you end up with and it bares an amazing resemblance to sourdough bread.  Our resident bread connoisseur gave it a big thumbs up!

It's crusty on the outside, soft and chewy
on the inside.

SOME FLAVOR VARIATIONS TO TRY:

Orange Cranberry - zest and juice of 1 orange, 3/4 cups dried cranberries.

Lemon Thyme Gruyere - 2 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese, zest & juice of 1 lemon, chopped thyme.

Egg Bowls

This is what we had for brunch today.  I got the idea from Tasty Kitchen.  They were very easy to make, and a lot of fun too.  You could put anything you want in them.  We chose to add bacon, Colby/jack cheese, tomato, and basil. They were delicious and everyone loved them.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Bacon Cheddar Egg Bowls

Ingredients:

Dinner rolls (or any leftover rolls you have around)

Butter, melted

Shredded Colby/jack cheese

Bacon, cooked and chopped

1 Egg for each "bowl" you make

1 slice Roma Tomato for each "bowl"

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Fresh Basil to taste, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cut the tops off of the rolls and scoop out the bread.
3. Brush the inside of each roll with melted butter.
4. Fill each roll with cheese, tomato, then bacon - leaving room at the top for the egg.
5. Crack an egg into each bowl and season with salt, pepper, and basil.
6. Bake for 12 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil and bake another 20 - 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cheesy, Eggy goodness!!