Gooey butter cake

I was thinking through what to do for our Easter dessert, and when I saw this, I knew it would be perfect. I made it while cooking the rest of our Easter meal and it was super easy.  Here's all you need:

Cake:
1 boxed yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick melted butter

Filling:
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick melted butter
1 16 oz box powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine cake ingredients and mix well with electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9 pan.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth.  Add eggs, vanilla and butter and beat well.  Add powdered sugar (gradually, so you don't end up with a sugar cloud!) and blend until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Spread evenly over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

My finished product was not as gooey as Paula's picture looks but everyone loved it. I garnished with strawberries. I'm a chocolate lover at heart, but this is one of the BEST non chocolate desserts I've had...although when I went to look up the recipe link, I saw that there is a chocolate version of this cake. Uh oh! :)

Herbed bread

Tonight, I was in the mood to bake something so I went on the hunt.  We've had tons of desserts lately so I knew bread was the way to go.  I was looking for something quick and found this herbed bread recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook. It was very easy and smells so good I can barely wait to eat it!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp (one packet) of yeast
2 tbsp shortening
1 1/4 cup very warm water
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tbsp dried parsley

Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast and mix well.  Add water, shortening, and herbs. Mix well for 1 minute at low speed.  Continue mixing for 1 more minute on medium speed. Be sure to scrape down sides often. Add remaining 1 cup flour and stir until smooth.  Spread batter in loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Spray top of loaf with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm location and allow to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Here's how mine looked after rising

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Check on bread, and cover loosely with foil if top of the bread is getting too brown. Brush with melted butter and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Creamy chicken and orzo

Image and recipe source

I got this recipe in a coupon mailer recently and thought I would try it out.  I had the Philadelphia cooking creme already (got it on a great sale for 25 cents!) and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I saw this.  I made some changes to the original recipe, see link above for their version.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups hot cooked orzo pasta
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup corn
1 tub Philadelphia Italian cheese and herb cooking creme
1 tsp oil
1 tsp minced garlic

Directions:
1. Cook chicken and zucchini in large skillet on medium for 6-7 minutes, or until chicken is done.
2. Remove chicken and zucchini to a plate and place in the oven to stay warm.
3. Add a small amount of oil to the skillet and saute garlic for a few minutes.
4. Add corn and tomatoes and saute until warmed through.
5. Add chicken and zucchini back to pan and mix well.
6. Add cooking creme and cook 2 minutes while stirring well to combine.
7. Add orzo gradually to ensure there is enough sauce for all the pasta.

I was so surprised at how much I liked this recipe!  I wasn't sure how to end up with 2 cups of cooked orzo, so I cooked about 1 1/2 cups dry, which was more than enough.  This recipe is very flexible, and you can substitute pretty much any veggies  you like.  Just make sure to adjust the cooking time so that your veggies don't end up soggy.

Green bean bundles

image source

These are one of our family staples for holiday meals!  You'd be hard pressed to find a better way to eat vegetables than this, I can promise you that much. We were so ready to eat them so I didn't get a picture of the finished product, so I had to borrow the picture above.

Ingredients:
3 cans whole green beans
1 package bacon
toothpicks

Marinade:
1 stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder

Drain green beans and place in a bowl.  Cut bacon strips in half.

Wrap 10-12 beans with half a bacon strip and secure with a toothpick.

As you can see, I don't typically do 10-12...but I ended up with extra green beans so I probably should have.

Place bundles in a 13X9 baking dish.

Mix marinade well and pour over green bean bundles, Let marinate in fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

Strawberry sauce

This is going to be a very exciting recipe!  Only 2 ingredients - strawberries and sugar!  Now that strawberries are back in season, I'm buying 2-3 containers each time they're on sale.  Sometime we do a great job eating them all for snacks, but other times they're about to go bad and I need to do something with them.  I thought I'd try a strawberry sauce to use for waffles or pancakes, and it turned out great. Here are the simple steps:

Dump your strawberries into a blender and blend away. This works with any number of berries.  Add sugar as desired.  I've also added Splenda before, and its good (but real sugar tastes better, of course). Taste to see if you need more sugar.

Put a sandwich size ziploc into a plastic cup, and fold the edges over the top of the cup.  Pour the sauce into the cup (using multiple bags if necessary).  Remove bag from cup and let air out as much as possible without spilling.

Place bag in freezer lying flat and freeze until you're ready to use!  When you're ready to thaw, you can stick it in the fridge for a few hours, or for a quick thaw, set it under warm running water.


Enjoy with your favorite waffle or pancake recipe!

Meal Planning Monday 4/25

Monday - out to eat with friends @ Mooyah - yum!
Tuesday - eating at church (we're starting a new pre-marrieds class!)
Wednesday - ham and cheese baked potatoes, corn, fruit
Thursday - using my birthday gift card at Benihana
Friday - Kitchen closed!
Saturday - Kitchen closed!
Sunday - pork roast, rice, carrots

Enjoy your week!

Meal planning Monday

Finally, busy season is over!  I'm so excited to get back into the kitchen and start eating more healthfully (although I am eating out a lot more than a normal week!)  Here's whats going on this week:

Monday - I'm getting taken out to celebrate the end of busy season, Bart - leftovers
Tuesday - dinner with our friends the Shipleys - creamy chicken & orzo, fruit, bread
Wednesday - out to dinner with my friend Jessica
Thursday - Benihana - using $30 gift certificate they sent for my b-day!
Friday - pork roast, carrots, rice
Saturday breakfast - cinnamon toast, sausage, fruit
Saturday lunch - leftovers
Saturday dinner - crescent chicken, corn, fruit
Sunday breakfast - cereal
Sunday lunch - Easter lunch with Bart's family - bringing green bean bundles and dessert
Sunday dinner - snacks & leftovers