Make Do Coffee Cake

After a week away for Elizabeth's surgery and returning home with my daughter from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a 20 mile trip to the grocery store was not on the agenda as far as I was concerned. I figured with her not having much of an appetite and it being such a hot July that I would just make small meals from what we had here in the house. Well, my little girl asked me to make a cake. Out of flour, out of granulated sugar, out of sour cream, out of real butter, I told her that I would figure out a way to make some sort of cake. This is what I came up with and it actually turned out quite tasty. It is a little denser than I normally like my cakes, but a rich moist coffee cake isn't a bad thing!

Ingredients:

1 stick room temperature margarine
1 C Light Brown Sugar
3 C Bisquick
1 1/2 C Buttermilk
3 Eggs
1 1/2 t Vanilla

Topping:

1/2 C Light Brown Sugar
1/2 C Bisquick
1/2 stick cold margarine

Glaze:

1 C Powdered Sugar
1/2 t Almond Extract
3-4 T Water

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour Bundt Pan. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients. Mix together with a fork until it becomes a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle into the bottom of the Bundt pan. Cream margarine and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add Bisquick 1 cup at a time mixing well after each to make a smooth batter. Pour over top of topping mixture. Place in oven and bake about 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a plate, leaving pan in place for 5 minutes. Remove pan. Mix together glaze and slowly drizzle on cake while still warm. Some of the glaze will soak in.

You can serve it warm or wait until cooled to eat some.....I couldn't wait and neither could Elizabeth.

Ham Egg & Cheese Bake

A recipe that can be changed and changed again to suit the ingredients you have on hand or your mood or taste. Use the basic ingredients and add sauteed onions and peppers or jalepeno and sundried or chopped fresh spinach, tomatoes...sausage or bacon instead of the ham....monterey jack or hot pepper cheese instead of the cheddar....the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Ingredients:

2 C diced ham or 1 lb cooked and drained sausage or crumbled bacon
6 slices cubed bread
1 C shredded cheddar
10 eggs
2 C milk
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t yellow mustard (makes cheese taste cheesier)

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9 X 13 baking pan with non stick spray.  Arrange meat and cubed bread (or any other veggies, etc you decide to use) in bottom of pan. Top with shredded cheese. In large bowl combine eggs, milk, seasonings, and mustard until well mixed. Pour egg mixture evenly over the pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until eggs are set in center.

Easy peasy!! and oh so yummy!

Easy Cheesy Danish

I think this is going to be the easiest cheese danish you will ever make. I colored the cheese part with 10 drops of green food coloring for St Patrick's Day/ Easter, but the food coloring is not necessary.

Ingredients:

2 Cans Pillsbury Grand Juniors -  I used flaky

Filling:

1 8 oz block cream cheese
2/3 C sugar
1 egg yoke (save white for brushing danish)
1 T lemon juice
1 t vanilla
sanding sugar (coarse sugar for decorating)

Glaze:

1 C powdered sugar
1 T milk
1 t vanilla

Heat oven to 400F. spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Mix all filling ingredients until smooth. Take one biscuit and smash it down to about a 4 inch square. Does not have to be perfect. Put 1 teaspoon of filling in center of biscuit. Take opposite corners of biscuit and pinch together. Do again for the other opposite corners. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat with all biscuits. Brush tops with egg white and sprinkle about a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar on each. Bake for 10 minutes. While danishes are baking, take a zip lock bag (freezer ones are best as there is less chance of a blow out) and put all glaze ingredients in it. Smoosh together in bag until glaze is smooth. Snip a hole about the size of a pencil tip in one corner. Squeeze glaze onto danishes........eat while warm!!!!

Deer Tips Stroganof

Venison is a staple at our house. This is just one of the many ways I prepare it. It can be added to and adapted by adding vegetables or omitting the sour cream, using rice instead of noodles, putting the meat with sauce in a casserole and topping with potatoes. Hope you try and enjoy.

Ingredients:

1/2 Stick Butter
1 T Vegetable Oil
1-1 1/2 lb Deer meat cut into 1" cubes
1 C Fresh Button Mushrooms - sliced
1/2 C Sweet Onions - diced
1 t garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic smashed
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 C Worstishire Sauce
1 can Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 pkt McCcormick Brown Gravy
1 C water
1/4 C Sour Cream
1 12- 16 oz Package Wide Egg Noodles - cooked as directed on package while preparing the tips

Melt butter and oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add next 6 ingredients spreading them out so they brown some. Cook for 5 minutes or so stirring occasionally making sure to turn the meat cubes on different sides so all sides brown. Add Worstishire sauce and allow to cook for 5 minutes more (this reduces the worstishire and allows it to infuse the meat and mushrooms with it's flavor. Add undiluted soup, gravy packet and water. Mix in thoroughly. Cook on medium for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in sour cream. Heat through for about 5 minutes. Do not allow to boil once sour cream is added as it will break the sauce (make the solids of the sour cream curdle up). It won't change the flavor if it happens and is fine to eat, but it doesn't look pretty.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C all- purpose flour
2 T + 1/2 t baking powder
2/3 C sugar
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1 C whole milk
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 t vanilla

cinnamon and sugar for  sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick spray. Place cupcake liners and spray the inside of those as well.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl making sure to slightly beat the eggs.  Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients in. Hand mix with wooden spoon or a spatula just until batter comes together. There will be small lumps in the batter and this is okay. Gently fold in blueberries. Use an ice cream scoop or half cup measure to fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stay in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Mousse Tracks

A very easy to make dessert for the chocolate lovers in us all. Easily converted to a lower fat/ lower calorie dessert by using Neufchatel Cheese instead of cream cheese, fat free cool whip, and fat free pudding.

Ingredients:

2 small boxes Chocolate Jello Instant Pudding (prepared as directed on box)
1 8 oz block Philidelphia Cream Cheese - room temperature
1/2 stick of butter - room temperature
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla
2 C sweetened whipped cream or 1 small tub of Cool Whip (depending on how adventurous you want to get)
12 Fudge Striped Cookies
3/4 C semi-sweet morsels
Garnish: sunflower seeds, mixed nuts, fudge striped cookies, yogurt covered raisins.

Put the cookies into a ziplock bag and crush to a  course crumble. Cream the cream cheese, butter, and sugar together until well blended. Mix in vanilla. Combine the prepared pudding with the cream cheese mixture. Fold in whipped cream until no white from the whipped cream is visible. Fold in crushed cookies and morsels. Be careful not to stir too much as the whipped cream will lose it's volume. Let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up. Scoop into serving dishes and garnish with desired bits.

Leftovers Primavera

Yesterday, I had to clean out the refrigerator. A job I hate doing. Anyway, I made up this dish to keep from throwing out things I had in the fridge. So it is adaptable to what you have in your fridge that you don't want to go to waste. I suppose you could use all new ingredients if you really wanted to.

1-1/12 lb leftover chicken chopped or shredded into about 1" pieces

1 C leftover sauteed quartered button mushrooms 

2 C leftover chicken stock (the carton kind)

1/4 of a leftover 8 oz philly cream cheese

1/4 C leftover shredded sharp cheddar

2 C leftover veggies (I had green beans and corn but brocholli and yellow squash would be really good too)

1/4 C Parmesian

1 stick butter

1 t garlic powder

1/4 t pepper

1 t salt

2 T flour

1/4 C leftover half n half (milk will do)

1 16 oz box of pasta

Melt butter in a large sauce pan. Add chicken and mushroom. Stir until heated through. Add flour and stir for 3-4 minutes. Slowly add chicken stock stirring over medium heat until it comes to a soft boil. Add cheeses and seasonings. Stir occasionally until cheeses are melted. Add half n half. Mean while bring stock pot of water with veggies added to it to a boil. Cook pasta in water and veggies according to package directions for al dente. Drain pasta thoroughly. Mix pasta into chicken mixture. Serve with parmesian and warm bread.