Corn Casserole

I love this stuff! It is such an easy and filling side dish and really warms your tummy when the weather starts to get cooler. This casserole is almost always on our holiday table.

Corn Casserole

3 Tbsp butter
1 pkg. Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 Cup corn (I use frozen)
1 can creamed corn
1/2 Cup milk
1 egg
salt and pepper

In a 13x9 inch baking dish, place in the butter and put the dish into the oven. Turn the oven to 350 degrees to preheat and to melt the butter.  In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Make sure everything is thoroughly combined and pour into the preheated baking dish containing the now melted butter. Do not stir the butter into the batter. Bake for 30 to 40 or until the casserole is set in the center.

We ate our corn casserole with BBQ Pork Chops that you get just a peek of in the picture above.

Lemon Angel Food Trifle

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to make my Lemon Angel Food Cake for a potluck at my work. Well, it turns out it is very important to let your angel food cake cool completely before trying to take it out of the pan. I tried to rush it and remove it from the angel food cake pan while it was still warm and.......it deflated......like a tire. It looked awful. So I still made the glaze hoping to somehow "cover up" what I had done. I poured on the glazed and now had a glazed deflated tire.... So I covered up my mistake the best I could by turning it onto a trifle and it was wonderful!! And Angel Food cake is already fat free and I used sugar free pudding, sugar free jello, and sugar free cool whip. No one ever would have known if I didn't tell them!

Take one glazed Lemon Angel Food Cake and cut it into cubes, set aside. Mix 1 small box of strawberry sugar free jello with two cups boiling water. Stir until jello dissolves and pour over 1 1/2 cups sliced frozen strawberries and place in refrigerator until cool but not set. In another bowl, mix 2 small boxes instant sugar free vanilla pudding with 4 cups milk (I used skim milk) and stir until combined. In a trifle bowl, place half of the angel food cake cubes in the bottom. Spoon in half of the strawberries out of the jello liquid and spoon in enough of the jello liquid to just "wet" the angel food cake. You will NOT use all of the jello liquid. Next, spoon in half of the pudding followed by half of the sugar free cool whip. Repeat all the layers again. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

French Country Chicken

This is a great chicken dish to make if you are looking for something different to do with chicken and are tired the same old chicken dishes. I didn't take any pictures while making this dish, but I promise it is super simple! Hope you Enjoy!!

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 Cup white wine (something you would drink or like the taste of)
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 bag egg noodles (I used whole wheat but any variety is fine)
2 to 3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp dried parsley
Olive oil
salt and pepper

In a large skillet, add enough olive oil to coat bottom of pan and turn heat on to medium. Add in chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When chicken is about half cooked through, push to edges of pan and add in onion and carrot, season with salt and pepper. Cook veggies until they start to soften and add in thyme and white wine. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up any brown bits off bottom of pan and stir in. Add in can of crushed tomatoes. Season again with sprinkle of salt and pepper, stir everything together and turn heat down to a simmer for 20 minutes. While the sauce simmers, put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When water boils, add in noodles and cook through. When noodles are done, drain and add back into the pot with butter, parsley and salt and pepper. Stir to combine and melt butter. To serve, place the  buttered noodles in a dish and spoon the chicken tomato sauce over the noodles. Start to finish, takes about 30 minutes to make.

Lemon Angel Food Cake

My Brother's Birthday was yesterday and I wanted to make him a cake using the angel food cake pan he had given me. I have made angel food cake from scratch before and the box mix is SO MUCH EASIER and tastes just as good, maybe even a little better! Most of the box mixes only require you to add water and use an ungreased angel food cake pan or loaf pans. That is really important because if the pan is greased, the batter will have nothing to hold on to to rise while it bakes. The tube in the center of an angel food cake pan also gives the batter something to grab on to.

So, I followed the instructions on my box of mix but also added the zest of one lemon. You may recall me talking about lemon zest and microplanes when I made Lemon Cookies. I poured the batter into an angel food cake pan being careful to keep as much of the air that you beat into it while mixing as possible. I baked it according to my directions and then let it cool in the pan when done. When it was completely cooled, I took a butter knife and cut around the outside edge and the center tube and removed the bottom from the outer ring. Angel food cake pans should be two-part pans. Once the cake is out of the outer ring, take the butter knife and slide it in between the bottom of the cake and the bottom of the pan to remove.

I then took the juice from two lemons and mixed that with powdered sugar to make an icing to drizzle over the top. Depending on how runny you want the icing depends on the amount of powdered sugar that you use.

I had to box this up to take with us but how good would a slice of this be with some fresh berries! Enjoy!!

Vegetable Soup

Vegetable soup is one of those great meals that I never get tired of. It seems like I can eat leftovers of it for days. And with all the great produce available right now, it seemed like a great time to share my recipe. However, I am not sure if recipe is the right word.....more like method.

In a large pot over medium high heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add in 1 pound of trimmed stew meat cut into bite size pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Brown meat for 2-3 minutes and add in 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, and 3 chopped potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Let the veggies brown with the meat for another 2-3 minutes and pour in 1/2 cup of red wine. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up any brown bits off the bottom of the pan and add in a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes, 4 Cups beef broth and 1 teaspoon dried thyme. Bring pot to boil and turn to low and simmer.

Above is the base of my vegetable soup. This is how I start it every time. It's the next part that seems to change every time and it has to do with what vegetables I have on hand or what is in season. Once the liquid comes to simmer, add in any vegetables you like. Really. You can add in as much or as little as you like. Just make sure that everything will be able to be submerged under the liquid. Canned, frozen or fresh vegetables can be used. Don't worry about thawing anything frozen but I do like to drain any canned veggies I use. Once all the vegetables are in, season with more salt and pepper. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours until the beef is tender and serve.

The vegetables I used for this batch were: fresh broccoli, canned green beans and wax beans, frozen peas and corn.

But also think about: lima beans, brussel sprouts (frozen work great!), cabbage (one of my favorites), cauliflower, diced tomatoes (canned ones work well) and really anything else you want to try.

Summer Fun and Honey Buns

I know.....the 30th came and went and I didn't post anything..........Because we have been having too much summer fun! Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the fun we have been having lately.

Now on to the Honey Buns, Honey Bun Cake that is! We attended a company picnic this last weekend for my husband's work and I made a honey bun cake to take. It is a wonderful and easy dessert. I read a lot of cooking blogs and look at Pinterest for inspiration and ideas for my own recipes. One thing that I kept seeing time and time again was a honey bun cake. Instead of giving you my recipe, I'm going to have to just give you the link for the recipe that I liked best. While I did make a few changes, I feel they were minor changes and that I can't take credit for it being my own recipe. Here is the link to the honey bun cake I like best. And here is a list of the minor changes I made to better fit our tastes/liking:

I used 3 eggs instead of 4
I used 3/4 Cup brown sugar instead of 1 Cup
1 used 5 Tbsp milk instead of 6 Tbsp

This cake is so delicious and moist, I really hope you will try it!

Honey Bun Cake: http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/02/honey-bun-cake.html

Cake Boss

My friend Madelyn recently got back from New York where her and her family went on vacation. While there, they visited Carlo's Bake Shop, home of the Cake Boss. Here is the cake they bought:

How cute is that?! The top layer was white cake and the bottom was chocolate cake with a chocolate filling in between the two layers. Madelyn's daughters loved it and what a opportunity to have!