Simple Dessert: Dump Cake

I don't share recipes too often because I don't consider myself worthy of cooking posts; however, this recipe is a must-have in your file.  I've been making it for years and it never gets old.  When I say people go crazy over it, I ain't exaggerating.  They love the stuff and so do I!

What you'll need:

9X13 baking dish, Duncan Hines: Butter Golden cake mix, a small bag of chopped walnuts, one stick of butter, one large cherry pie filling, and one large can of crushed pineapple.

Here's how the cake gets its name, you just start dumping in the ingredients...

Dump the pie filling and crushed pineapple right into the dish. No need to dirty up another bowl and no draining necessary.

Sprinkle {or dump} the dry cake mix on top of the pie filling/pineapples.  I typically use about 3/4 of the cake mix.

Cut your butter into pads and lay them on top of the cake mix.

Sprinkle the walnuts on top of the butter.  Of course the nuts are optional, but why leave them out!? They get so crunchy and yummy with that butter goodness baking into every bite!

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. It's so yummy!  Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Mints

I have a recipe for y'all!!  Shocker, I know!

Sunday, I hosted a baby shower for a friend.  I wanted a sweet snack to go along with the cake--homemade mints sounded yummy!  Of course, I went straight to Pinterest to find a recipe.  After searching for a while, I finally landed on one that looked quick and easy. Long story short, the recipe wasn't good--vague instructions and limited details.  I've had this happen to me before with pinned recipes.  Bummer!!  You'd think I'd learn my lesson.  After throwing out two batches, I tweaked the recipe and came up with my own that worked!    

Cream Cheese Mints

*These mints take about 5 minutes to prepare, but need to sit for about a day before serving.

Ingredients:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

optional: 1 drop food coloring 

Directions:

In a large bowl slowly cream the cheese.  Add the peppermint extract and food coloring (if using).  Continue to cream until the cheese is light and fluffy.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  As you are adding the sugar, make sure that the cream cheese and sugar mix well before adding more--scrape sides as needed.  The mixture will be light and fluffy.  Either spoon the mixture into little balls and place on waxed paper or put it into a plastic sandwich bag or piping bag.  *I used a Ziplock, cut the edge, and piped onto waxed paper.  Sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top of the mints.  Let the mints harden for about 20 minutes and then use a fork to flatten.  Let the mints dry for approx. 8-12 hours and then turn over to let the bottom dry.

After messing up two batches with the faulty recipe, I only had about 12 hours for my mints to dry.  They were good--very tasty, but a tad too soft.  I recommend making these mints at least 24 hours before serving.  Next time, I think I can make them look a little prettier, too!

Involving the Kids in Meal Prep

Would we all agree that meal prep is easier done without involving the kiddos?  Just me?  Nah.  Yes, it's easier for me to head in the kitchen while they are preoccupied and get dinner prepared and be done with it.  Most of the time that's exactly what I do. But occasionally, I include them when I'm cooking something that involves simple steps.

For instance, they love to help with English Muffin (or tortilla) pizzas.   That's an easy one for them.  They also help with any baking that involves pouring ingredients into a bowl and stirring.  But browning hamburger meat, boiling noodles, amongst other things are just easier for me to handle.  We'll get there one day.

AG and Edy helping with lunch

I do most of my meal planning on the 1st and 15th--payday, people!  I plan out the meals for a two week span and make my grocery list accordingly.  I try to include a few meals in which the girls can help.

One easy meal my family loves are Hawaiian Sliders.  I know, I know...Pinterest is blowing up with this recipe, but I stole it from my mom years ago and we love them.  They are yummy and SO healthy.  el...ooooohhh...el!

the girls prepare Hawaiian Sliders for lunch

Hawaiian Sliders

Ingredients:

• Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (make sure to get the "sweet" rolls)
• thinly sliced turkey and ham
• grated cheddar cheese
• Swiss cheese
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. minced onion
• 1 tbsp. mustard
• poppy seeds

Directions:

• preheat oven to 375
• slice rolls in half
• stack bun, turkey, ham, cheddar, Swiss cheese, and bun
• use a toothpick to poke holes through sandwiches
• mix melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and minced onion
• pour liquid on sandwiches
• top with poppy seeds
• bake for 30 minutes

two happy helpers

Although it's easier to cook alone, I'm grateful to have two little girls that want to help.  Plus,  it's so easy to incorporate math into this important life skill!  Oh yeah...double whammy!

**********

Up next: Homeschooling a Preschooler

For more posts in this series, 31 Days of Balance as a Homeschool Mom, click HERE.

kale chips

I made kale chips for the first time and I'm pretty pleased!
I found a recipe on Pinterest that seemed easy enough.  You can check it out HERE.  I think my chips are a little overcooked even though I followed the recipe exactly (it could be the difference in our ovens).  The recipe called for a 425 degree oven with a cooking time of 45-60 minutes.  At about 25 minutes in, I realized that they needed to come out asap.  Next time, I will probably decrease my oven temp and lessen the cooking time.  Other than that, they are really pretty tasty and all the fam chomped down on them.

We've been pretty healthy eaters throughout our marriage and gradually we have made more and more healthy eating choices.  Although I ADORE me some fast food, (like, seriously!) I eat it sporadically.  I don't think that Arby's curly fries will kill ya every once in a while!  It's all about moderation!!   My kids eat really healthy, but I'm not opposed to letting them munch on some sugary goodness from time to time!  they.are.kids.  Basically, I was raised on Little Debbie's (ask my mom) and I turned out okay as far as I know!

Well......

I have to take a second to brag on my bff, my hubby!  

A few weeks ago, he buckled down and started a new work-out program, changed some of his eating habits (less snacking and smaller portion size), and to date he has lost 22 pounds.  Granted, it's not a good idea for husbands to diet while their wives are pregnant and putting on the pounds; I'm proud of him nonetheless!

Party Favors

I've never been a fan of those party favors that inevitably end up in the trash.  You know the ones?  At my girls' birthday parties, I try to think of something that the kids can enjoy, but won't be too much of a nuisance for the parents.  

Since Edy requested a Minnie Mouse birthday party.  Here's what I came up with for the party favors:

Minnie Mouse Oreo Cookies:

*mini OREOs

*OREOs

*white almond bark

*pink sugar sprinkles

 

I used Berry Burst Ice Cream OREOs.  *yumm-o!

Twist open the mini-OREOs and make a pile of the un-iced halves

Un-iced mini OREOs go in the icing of the regular OREOs.
Melt the white almond bark...

Dunk the OREOS in the white chocolate and cover them in the sprinkles!

Pink Chocolate Popcorn

*popcorn

*white chocolate almond bark

*red food coloring

Put a few drops of red food coloring in the chocolate until it's the perfect shade of PINK.

In a bowl, drizzle the popcorn with the chocolate.

Pour popcorn on a cookie sheet until the chocolate dries completely.

cute, inexpensive PARTY FAVORS!

Favorite Treat

Pregnancy craving?  I don't know about that, but this little treat is TOP NOTCH!

Take about a cup of frozen blueberries (no need to thaw them)
(I'm sure any frozen fruit would work.  I just used the blueberries I normally put in my smoothies.)
Coat the berries with about 2 TBSP of lite whipped cream.
And there you have it--so.good.
Plus, it's only about 125 calories.
Better than ice cream!

Traditional Christmas Breakfast

Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast...

2 cans of regular cinnamon rolls, green food coloring, and maraschino cherries

 

 

Fall Recipes

Sunday, I had a Scentsy party.   The food seemed to be a hit and I wanted to share some of the recipes.  Everything is simple and quick!

Corn Dip:

16 oz sour cream

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

 one can of whole kernel corn drained

one package of Fiesta Ranch 

Mix all of the ingredients and chill until ready to serve.  I serve it with tortilla chips.

Halloween Trail Mix: 

I got this recipe off of Pinterest last year, but it seemed to be too sweet so I tweaked it to my taste.

Mix as much as you like of:

honey nut cheerios

 bold Chex Mix

Cheese-Its

candy corn

Reeses peices

honey roasted peanuts

Apple Dump Cake:

Ingredients:

2 cans of apple pie filling (use your favorite pie filling)

3/4 a box of yellow cake mix

3/4 stick of butter

Directions:

Coat an 8X8 dish with cooking spray

Pour in both cans of pie filling

Drizzle the dry cake mix on top of pie filling

Cut up butter into squares 

Place squares of butter on top of cake mix

Bake at 350 until bubbly

Fruit Dip

When Graham and I were engaged, we got a bunch of recipes from our marriage class as a gift.  One recipe that I make quite a bit is the fruit dip and I made a special change a few years ago.  It's easy, yummy, and a hit around here.

Fruit Dip

ingredients:

• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1.5 cups light brown sugar (You can add more or less of the sugar, it's not a deal breaker.)
• Heath toffee chips (my special change)

directions:

• Mix the sugar and sour cream and then add as many toffee chips as you like.

Puppy Chow {for humans}

Along with the pound cake in a jar, I made puppy chow and chex mix for some staff members and close friends.  Even though I'm not much into baking, every year I enjoy making a few things for friends and family.

I've been making puppy chow for years, but I have never looked at a recipe. I first had it back in 8th grade Home Economics and fell in love.  I tried to recreate it and I think I've got it down.

Here's my {totally healthy} version of Puppy Chow (hate the name, btw):

Ingredients:
Chocolate Almond Bark
Creamy Peanut Butter
Powdered Sugar
Toasted Rice Cereal

Melt the entire package of almond bark in the microwave and then add peanut butter to taste.  I add about 2 cups of peanut butter.  Heat the peanut butter and chocolate in the microwave until you have a creamy mixture.

In a LARGE bowl, coat the chex with the chocolate peanut butter.

Then pour powdered sugar (it will take close to a whole bag) over the gooey chocolate and coat the chex (it helps if you have a bowl with a lid so you can shake it really well).  After the chex are covered with powdered sugar, put the puppy chow in the fridge to harden.

Once the chocolate is firm, sift off the extra powdered sugar and ENJOY! 

I'm here to tell you, this stuff is so good.  I literally can make myself sick eating it!

Brown Sugar Pound Cake {in a jar}

First off, I must give props to my wonderful mother-in-love, Renee.  She gave me this great recipe and I have to share it because it is easy and makes an excellent gift!

Brown-Sugar Pound Cake

(in a jar)

You will need pint sized jars.  *Make sure they are wide mouth jars or the cake won't come out.*

Clean the jars and make sure they are completely dry.  Coat the jars with Baker's Joy.  I sprayed the inside of each jar and then rubbed it in with a paper towel.

Here are the ingredients:

1 lb. box of light brown sugar
1 cup of milk
1 cup of white sugar
3 cups of all-purpose flour
6 medium eggs
1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil
1 cup chopped pecans
2 sticks of soften butter
2 tsp Vanilla ( I used Mexican vanilla)

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl--I used a hand mixer.  Pre-heat oven to 350.

Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, fill the jars a little over half-way full.  I was able to fill 7 jars with the the batter.  Clean off the rim of the jar with a paper towel.

Place the jars on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for and hour and a half.

You will notice the cake rise and some will rise out of the jar.  This freaked me out, but it is normal.  They will shrink a bit and you will push the rest of the cake in with the lid....no worries!

When the cakes are finished baking, take one jar out at a time.  Make sure the rim of the jar is completely clean and then firmly press the lid to the jar (pushing down the cake) then tightly twist the ring.

In about 30 minutes the cakes should be completely sealed in the jar (there won't be a bubble when you press on the the lid if they sealed correctly)  If they didn't seal properly--it's okay. They should last about a week.  If they did seal, then they should be good for about a year.

Once they have cooled, fancy them up how ever you like!!!

When you are ready to eat the cake, it should just fall right out!!   

It tastes wonderful and it's great with a cup of coffee!!!

Baked Acorn Squash

I want to share one of my all-time favorite autumn meals, thanks to my momma...BAKED ACORN SQUASH.

There really isn't a recipe.  Just cut the squash in half, gut the seeds, put butter in the center, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake at 400 for an hour or until tender.  DELISH!

By the way, remember the pumpkin seed post?  I'll now be answering to the name Culinaire Extraordinaire! I'm  Kidding!  But they are too good not to mention again!  I have a few more pumpkins that I will be stealing seeds from after Thanksgiving.

{easy} Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

For years, I have tried to roast our pumpkin seeds only to be disappointed.  This year, I was determined to have well-seasoned, CRISP, gOLdeN, tasty seeds. For the record, I SUCCEEDED.

I'm writing this down for next year!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

ingredients:

2 cups of pumpkin seeds (thoroughly washed)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 stick of butter
seasoning I use:

season salt (to taste)

garlic salt (to taste)

Cajun seasoning (optional)

dash of pepper

(optional: crushed red pepper)

directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 300

2.  Melt butter in a bowl.

3.  Add pumpkin seeds and seasonings

4. Pour seeds on a cookie sheet

5.  Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown (stir occasionally)

6.  ENJOY!

These seeds are Won-der-FUL!!!!  I feel/smell a tradition coming on!

Stole it from Pinterest

What did we do before Pinterest? I made this trail mix for a couple of parties and it's been a hit.  It is festive and unique.  

I took the left-overs and made goody bags for the ladies I eat with on Tuesday nights.

TRY IT!