Brown Sugar Cake

Brown Sugar Cake
Courtesy of: SuperChikk


1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 pkg (3 oz size) vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup water
½ cup oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350. Beat first 6 ingredients with mixer 3 minutes or until well blended. Add brown sugar and mix well.

The original recipe calls for mixing 1 cup of pecans in with the batter. I just sprinkle the pecans into the bottom of my greased bundt pan, but my cake got stuck in the end... so I might try mixing some into the batter next time and have some on the top.

Pour into 12-cup fluted pan or 10-inch tube pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. (I baked 1 hour, but probably should have gone a bit longer)

Cool in pan 15 minutes. (Mine cooled longer than the 15 minutes, but still had some problems coming out of the pan) Loosen and invert. Cool completely and enjoy!

This is a GREAT cake, and is similar to my chocolate chip bundt cake... I will be making it again and playing with the pecans a bit to see if that helps with my little bit of sticking.Pin It Now!

Breakfast Cupcakes

Breakfast Cupcakes
Adapted from: Love from Texas

1 pound sausage (cooked)
6-7 pieces of thick cut bacon (cooked, chopped)
12 eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar (sharp or cheddar jack)
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 small onion - diced
1 jalapeno pepper - diced (optional)
salt and pepper
1 can Grands Flakey Layers biscuits - the 10 count per can


Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. Divide each unbaked biscuit in half, separating at the layers (they should just peel apart).  Press each layer in to a cup on the muffin pan. This will make 20 total. Add some of the bacon pieces on top of the biscuit.

Brown the sausage in a skillet and once brown, add the onion and pepper (if desired) and cook them until they are soft or to a texture you desire.

Whisk eggs together and season with ground mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir in cheese and cooked sausage crumble/onion/pepper mixture.

Pour one a large spoonful of the egg/sausage mixture in to each muffin cup.  This would probably be equivalent to a little less than 1/4 cup.  Bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes, or until egg is done and tops are golden.

We freeze the muffins, and I send 2-3 with John every morning for breakfast at the office. He pops them in the microwave for 1 minute and they're good to go. He also adds a little hot sauce in them for his enjoyment.

Revision:  Recently our muffin pan started to stick, so John experimented with doing this in a regular 16 X 9 cake pan and this was very successful.  It allows you to place a full can of the biscuits (10 - or 20 halves) in the pan all at one time.  With this revision we recommend that you sprinkle the bacon on top as it will get washed around and won't be evenly distributed if you put it on top of the biscuits and then pour on the egg mixture.Pin It Now!

Peanut Butter Kisses

Peanut Butter Kisses


1 tube or package of peanut butter cookie dough
1 bag of Hershey's Kisses

I used a package of break apart peanut butter cookie dough. Separated the cookie dough pieces and rolled them into balls. Put them in a mini muffin pan, baked according to package instructions. Immediately upon removing from the oven - I placed a Hershey's Kiss in the middle.

I've also used mini peanut butter cups in this type of recipe as well. Either way is GREAT!Pin It Now!

Candy Corn Cookies

Candy Corn Cookies
Basic Recipe by Land O' Lakes and the idea for the adaptation from - Sweet Sugar Belle

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, almond extract, and orange juice.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Then begin to mix into the other ingredients in small stages. This will keep you from wearing all of the dry mixture. (I had this experience the first time)

One the dough is combined, portion out in three bowls. I used a 1/4 cup to make sure that I got evenly portioned dough. From here you can complete the cookies as I made them... or you can go a different route.

To complete as I made them:
Mix yellow food coloring into 1/3 of the dough. Mix orange food coloring into 1/3 of the dough. Leave the last remaining portion of the dough without and coloring. (I used Americolor Food Color for mine) Once you get the colors mixed, you will use a 9x5 (or 8.5 x 4.5) loaf pan to combine the dough. Line the pan with wax paper or plastic wrap... then take the white dough and press into the bottom of the pan. You will then press the orange dough on top of the white, and finish with the yellow on the top. Cover the dough with the remaining plastic wrap or wax paper. It will look something like this:

Let the dough sit in the refrigerator to let the butter get hard again... this will make the cookies easy to slice and bake. I let mine sit overnight. The next morning, I pulled my dough out of the pan (the above photo was at that step) and prepared to slice them for baking. I sliced off a piece, and then slice again in diagonals to make the candy corn triangles. Like the photo below.

Transfer to a cookie sheet, you can put a bunch on the pan because they don't spread much if at all. I will dust mine with a good sanding sugar next time. Bake on 375 for 7-10 minutes. (8 minutes did the trick for mine)

I can totally see myself doing these for other holidays too - in different shapes... but you could do some Easter Egg type ones... red and green with white for Christmas... red, white and blue... you name it!

To adapt the recipe so that all the cookies look like real candy corn:

You make the cookies just as the recipe states, but instead of dying 1/3 of the dough yellow... leave it white... you'll end up with white on the bottom, orange in the middle, and white on the top. Slice and bake as I did... but then you will get some yellow melting chocolate, and dip the bottom end of each cookie into the melted chocolate. The link to the Sweet Sugar Belle blog did hers that way, and you can go take a look at how she did them for more specific instructions.
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Peanut Butter Dip

Peanut Butter Dip
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.com

1 cup smooth peanut butter
3 (6 oz) containers vanilla yogurt
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips (or as many as desired)

This recipe is so simple, I just mixed all of the ingredients together. I started with the peanut butter and mixed in 1 container of the yogurt at a time. It takes a minute to get it to combine into a smooth mixture. Then add the cinnamon and chocolate chips. I served with pretzel sticks, graham crackers, and apple slices. (Sorry the picture isn't great... it was served at my son's 1st birthday party.)
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Zucchini Hamburger Casserole

Zucchini Hamburger Casserole
From: Pilsbury.com

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon uncooked medium-grain white rice
1 cup water
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 can (19 oz) Progresso Vegetable Classics tomato basil soup
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place rice and water in baking dish; stir to mix. Layer cooked beef, zucchini and diced tomatoes over rice. Pour soup over top. Cut 16x20 inch sheet of foil; spray with cooking spray. Cover dish with foil, sprayed side down.

Bake 40 minutes. Uncover dish; sprinkle cheese over top. Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes longer or until edges are bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. (We like our cheese really brown as you can tell in the picture)

In higher altitudes - add 5 minutes to the cooking time before adding the cheese.

* I changed the recipe to use the diced tomatoes instead of chopping a large fresh tomato. If you'd rather do that - drop the extra tablespoon of the rice out of the recipe. I added that because of the additional juice from the canned tomatoes.
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Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake

Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake
Inspired by: Taste of Home
Yield: 1 casserole for dinner and 1 for the freezer!

1 (16 oz) package of penne pasta
6 cups cooked chicken, cubed
4 cups shredded Italian cheese blend
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes - *I used diced Fire Roasted tomatoes instead
1 jar (15 oz) Classico Alfredo sauce
1 jar (8 oz) Classico Pesto sauce
1 1/2 cups milk

topping:
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil

Bake your chicken in the oven - I season mine and bake it on 400-425 for about 20 minutes. Cool and then cube it. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine: chicken, cheese, spinach, tomatoes, alfredo sauce, milk, and pesto. Drain the pasta and add to the chicken mixture; toss to coat.

Transfer to two greased 9x13 inch baking dishes. In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the casseroles.

Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake the remaining casserole at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.

To reheat the frozen casserole; thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking cover and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.Pin It Now!