Braided Spaghetti Bread

A friend told me about this wonderful recipe and I just had to make it for my family... it is basically spaghetti wrapped in garlic bread!!! Doesn't that just sound delicious!?!? And if you have a child like one of mine who doesn't really like spaghetti with meat sauce... they still might like it!!! Mine did!!!

1 roll of Pillsbury French Loaf
6 oz spaghetti, cooked
1 cup thick spaghetti sauce (I added meat to ours)
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg white
Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes
Garlic Powder

~Place loaf on parchment paper and roll it out into rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
~Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and let cool slightly. Mix sauce together with spaghetti.
~Remove wrap from dough. Place spaghetti lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down the center of dough. Top with cheese.
~Make cuts 1 ½-inches apart on long sides of dough to within ½-inch of filling. Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling. Then braid strips left over right, right over left. Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.
~Transfer parchment paper to baking sheet. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, parsley and a little garlic powder.
~Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and slice to serve. Enjoy!!!

Carmel Apple Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest (it is a Paula Dean recipe that has been modified) and it is absolutely delicious!!! I have made it twice in the last two weeks (once for a church get together and another for when we had family in town... just so you didn't get to thinking that our family was sitting around doing nothing but eating these;)

Ingredients for the Cake:
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts (you can add these but I didn't)
2 1/2 cups apples, canned or fresh (diced)

~Preheat oven 350 degrees. Cream together sugar, eggs, and oil. Add flour; mix together until well blended. Add vanilla, nuts, and diced apples. Spread into a lightly greased and floured 13 x 9-inch baking dish; bake for 45 to 60 minutes. 
~Cake is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. When cake is done, punch holes in it with a knife and pour topping over.

 

Ingredients for the Caramel Topping:

1 1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1/8 cup of milk

~Heat all ingredients together over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Let boil for about 2 minutes. Pour over warm cake. Enjoy!!!

Apple Tea Ring

I found this recipe at Flour Me with Love... and it is so very good!!! I modified it a little bit so that I could use my bread machine but other than that I followed her recipe pretty closely. If you don't have a bread machine, you can follow her recipe:)

Dough... 1st layer:
3/4c milk
1/4c butter
1/4c water
1 egg

2nd layer:
3c flour
1/2c sugar
1/4tsp salt
1 pkg instant yeast

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BREAD MACHINE:
~Mix together milk, melted butter, water and a beaten egg... and add this to the bottom of your bread machine pan.
~Mix together flour, sugar and salt... and add this to the top of the wet mixture. Sprinkle yeast on top.
~Run these layers on the dough cycle.

***Take dough out of bread machine and roll it out into a rectangle on a floured work space. Mix together filling and spread evenly over dough.
Filling:
8oz cream cheese
1/2c sugar

***Mix together apple mixture and spread over filling.
6 apples, peeled and diced
2T cinnamon
2T sugar

***Roll the dough up and form it into a circle... make sure the ends are all sealed. Placed on a parchment lined cookie sheet and make cuts 3/4 of the way through the ring every 2 inches... all the way around. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

***After it is done cooking, you can drizzle cream cheese icing on it to make it even more delicious:) Enjoy!!!

Fried Chicken

A yummy recipe for The Best Ever Chicken Nuggets...
vegetable oil

4 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons garlic salt
3 tablespoons ground black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into small chunks

1.Heat 1 inch oil to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) in a large skillet or saucepan.
2.Stir together the flour, garlic salt, and pepper in a bowl. Dip the chicken pieces individually into the beaten eggs before pressing into the flour mixture to coat; shake off the excess flour. Place the coated chicken pieces onto a plate until all the chicken has been coated.
3.Cook the chicken in batches in the hot oil until golden brown and no longer pink in the center. Enjoy!!!

Cuban Ropa Vieja

For the main course of our Florida meal, Allie made Cuban Ropa Vieja which she served with rice and as tacos... it was delicious!!!

Cuban Ropa Vieja

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 pounds beef flank steak

1 cup beef broth
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 small onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar

1.Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the flank steak on each side, about 4 minutes per side.
2.Transfer beef to a slow cooker. Pour in the beef broth and tomato sauce, then add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomato paste, cumin, cilantro, olive oil and vinegar. Stir until well blended. Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours, or on Low for up to 10 hours. When ready to serve, shred meat and serve with tortillas or rice. Enjoy!!!

***A little tip... to shred meat quickly throw it into a mixer- in large chunks- you will end up with perfectly shredded meat:)

Mini Key Lime Pie

Allie made these delicious little Key Lime Pies after we finished studying Florida... aren't they cute!?!? And everyone gets their own!!!

No Bake Key Lime Mini Pies

•12 mini graham cracker crusts **see note

•6 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature

•1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
•2/3 cup key lime juice
•1 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•1 cup whipping cream
•2 heaping Tbsp powdered sugar
•key limes or limes for garnish

1.In the bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and 1/3 cup of the lime juice with a hand mixer. Beat until smooth.

2.In a small bowl, combine remaining lime juice, gelatin and vanilla extract. Heat in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, until juice is hot enough that the gelatin dissolves into it completely when you stir it.
3.Beat the gelatin mixture into the cream cheese mixture in very slowly stream.

4.Divide mixture in between pie crusts and refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until set.

5.Before serving, whip whipping cream and powdered sugar together until it forms firm peaks. Spoon or pipe the whipped cream onto the pie and garnish with a slice of key lime or wedge of lime. Serves 12

** Note: you can forgo the crusts if you want to and just serve them in custard dishes. Just sprinkle with some graham cracker crumbs instead. Enjoy!!!

How to make Sour Cream...

I know that I am not the only one out there that begins to make supper only to realize I am missing one of the ingredients... the sour cream.

First you need to make buttermilk (which is really quite simple- I don't think I will ever buy buttermilk again!!!).

Buttermilk:
•Milk (just under one cup)
•1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

Now you can make your sour cream...

To make Sour Cream for baking:
Mix 3/4 cup of buttermilk plus 1/3 cup butter (I usually don't add all the butter and it turns out fine:) together and use as you normally would store bought sour cream.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie

We found this great recipe on the Jif website... and it is delicious!!! 

CRUST
No-Stick Cooking Spray
1 (7.4 oz.) package Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped

FILLING
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

TOPPING
2 tablespoons Smucker's® Hot Fudge Microwaveable Topping, warmed (as you can tell from our picture we left this off;)

*HEAT oven to 350º F. Coat 9-inch pie plate with no-stick cooking spray. Combine muffin mix, butter and peanuts in large bowl. Blend with fork just until crumbly. Press evenly into bottom and up sides of prepared pie plate.

*BAKE 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. If crust is slightly puffy, press down gently with back of a wooden spoon (do not press it down to much or you end up with a very thin crust like ours). Cool.

*BEAT peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium high speed until smooth. Beat in milk. Gently fold in whipped topping. Spoon into cooled crust. Drizzle warm fudge topping over pie. Chill 3 to 4 hours or until serving. Enjoy!!!

Mississippi Mud Pie

I found this recipe on The Cookie Jar for Mini Mississippi Mud Pies and we had to make them- especially since we have just finished studying Mississippi. Now before anyone says anything, I know they are not TRUE Mississippi Mud Pies but they were so easy to make and so YUMMY!!!



All you need is...

Chocolate Cupcakes (just decorate as many as you need- you can freeze the others;)

Can of Chocolate Icing

Mini Marshmallows

Chocolate Syrup

Ice the cupcakes... we used a decorating bag and tip to give it the swirl on top. Place marshmallows all over and drizzle in chocolate.

See what I mean... so easy (our 8 year old did them!!!) and oh so yummy!!!

Polvorones de Canele

We have entered another state... New Mexico!!! And these cookies were so delicious that we just had to share:)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper.

*In a medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture to form a stiff dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Mix together 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; roll balls in cinnamon mixture.
*Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven, or until nicely browned. Cool cookies on wire racks. Yummy!!!

Apple Enchilada Dessert

Oh MY!!! This is so delicious... and yes I can thank Allie once again for allowing us to go along on her state travels;) This is another one from Arizona!!!

1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling

6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup margarine
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
*Spoon fruit evenly onto all tortillas, sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down on lightly greased 8x8 baking pan.
*Bring margarine, sugars and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Pour sauce evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with extra cinnamon on top if desired. *Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. (Makes 6 large tortillas; may be cut in half to serve 12... we found that it easily feed our family of 8 eaters and we even had extras but those didn't even make it til morning;)

Layered Three Cheese Nachos

These are awesome!!! Allie made them for an appetizer when we finished studying Arizona and I have a feeling they will be getting made a lot around here:)

1 large bag of tortilla chips
2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded hot pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup diced onions
1 cup of yellow canned corn (drained)
1/2 cup of diced jalapenos
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put half the corn chips on an ovenproof platter and sprinkle half of each cheese on them, followed by a portion of the remaining ingredients. Top with the remaining chips and toppings, ending with a layer of the remaining cheeses. Bake until the cheeses have melted. Serve with sour cream.

***We have some that are not crazy about beans, onions or jalapenos so we left one side without these ingredients for them... sort of like a make your own nachos:)