It’s been hot and I have been feeling like I am in the tropics. These are not your typical breakfast muffins. I created this recipe as a muffin recipe but both my daughter in love Danielle and I thought if they had cream cheese frosting on top, they could also double as a cupcake. Delicious no matter how you eat them, muffin or cupcake. You decide.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour, all purpose or gluten free
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2 carrots grated
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Also add coconut.
Mix together and fill muffin liners 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake 16-18 minutes or till tester comes out clean. Serve warm and enjoy! Yield about 18 muffins.
This recipe was loved by daughter in love Danielle, Princess Willow and grand pup Hermione who cleaned up the bites Willow dropped off of her plate. 😉 🐶 👑
This dessert screams summer and I will tell you it’s the best banana pudding I have ever had. My best Joanne made this recipe about 15 years ago and told me to make it. So in memory of her, I did and wished I had not waited so long. I do one thing different to the recipe that Paula did not do. I used Fruit Fresh on the bananas and they stayed perfectly yellow, even days later. No cooking or baking in this recipe so it’s perfect for our hot summer days.
Ingredients:
1 5 ounce box of instant vanilla or French vanilla pudding (I used vanilla since I could not find French Vanilla in that size)
3 packages of Pepperidge Farm Chessman Cookies
12 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, room temperature
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups milk
6-8 large bananas, sliced
2 Tablespoons Fruit Fresh mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water (Fruit Fresh is found in the canning isle of your grocery store)
Line a 13 x 9 pan with Chessman cookies. Using a hand mixer, prepare pudding with the 2 cups of milk an set aside. In another bowl, combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Fold Cool Whip into cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Slice bananas and add to a bowl of Fruit Fresh and water. Toss bananas in the Fruit Fresh and layer on top of Chessman cookies. Fold sweetened condensed milk/cream cheese/cool whip into pudding and pour over bananas and cookies. Smooth the top of pudding and cover with another layer of Chessman cookies. Refrigerate and enjoy!
I love chicken salad and I also love spicy things but most of the time, spicy things do not like me. I have many different kinds of chicken salad on my blog but none are spicy. I have had several requests for a spicy chicken salad and here is a delicious one. This is named after the chicken salad at Chicken Salad Chick. I know and love many hotheads (my term of endearment for those who love and crave hot and spicy food). So I dedicate this recipe to my son Jeff, my sweet friend Devan Pryor and my dear friend and co-worker Kim Stephens. I did try this recipe, and in a very small quantity and I loved it. I think you will too.
Ingredients:
1 large rotisserie chicken (I get mine at Sam’s Club)
1 1/2 teaspoons of Montreal Chicken seasoning
2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon distilled vinegar
3 large jalapeños (4-6”) chopped, seeds and ribs too
3 large celery stalks chopped
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 heaping Tablespoon of sour cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded chicken, Montreal Chicken seasoning, celery and jalapeños
Shred chicken in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Or tear by hand or use kitchen shears if you do not have a stand mixer. Add Montreal Chicken Seasoning, jalapeños, celery, vinegars, mayonnaise and sour cream. Mix to combine and taste to see if you want to add salt and pepper. This is great on a bed of greens, by the scoop, in a pita, sandwich, bun or slider. Enjoy!
My favorite breakfast is French Toast. Always has been. I love a recipe I can make ahead and pull out of the fridge in the morning and bake it. Perfect for special occasions but it’s so easy and delicious, make it anytime. I made this for Easter Brunch but I will be making it again for Mother’s Day.
Ingredients:
1 loaf of Brioche bread, a day or two old is best
4 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or more of mini chocolate chips
In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, cream, ricotta cheese, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine and set aside.
I never measure chocolate or cheese!
Cannoli Filling:
1 8 ounce container of mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cups of ricotta cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Cannoli filling
Mix to combine. Butter a 9” x 13” pan. Place about 2 tablespoons of cannoli filling on each slice of bread. You will also spread this on another slice of Brioche on top of the cannoli covered slice in the baking dish. Cut into fourths. Continue until pan is filled with cannoli filled sandwiches. Pour cream mixture over top, cover and place in fridge overnight. Remove baking dish from fridge 30 minutes before you place it into a preheated 350 degrees. While your casserole comes to room temperature, sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 33-43 minutes until custard is set and toast is brown. Dust with powder sugar on top and enjoy!
I wanted to create an easy dessert for Easter and/or spring. Baking time is only 10 minutes and that’s for the crust. This can easily be made a day or two ahead of time which is great before a holiday. This easy dessert comes together quickly and is so yummy.
Baked Cookie Crust
Ingredients for Crust:
1 package of Keebler Shortbread cookies plus 1 sleeve of another package of shortbread cookies
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
Crush cookies with a rolling pin or food processor. Drizzle melted butter over cookie crumbs. Form a crust in a tart pan (mine was 10 1/2”). Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. This is the only baking this recipe requires. Cool completely before adding Cheesecake mixture.
No bake cheesecake fillingLemon Curd topping
Cheesecake Ingredients:
1 8 ounce block of cream cheese plus 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
Refrigerate mixing bowl and attachment(s) in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar and extract together until smooth. Add whipping cream and beat until soft peaks form. Spread evenly into tart shell. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes or longer.
Top with 2 10 ounce jars of prepared lemon curd. I bought mine in the grocery store in the jelly section. I have made homemade lemon curd many times but since I work a lot of hours in a week, I used store bought for that reason. Plus the cost of eggs is outrageous right now. Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve. Refrigerator any leftovers. Enjoy!
My Cheesy Broccoli Bites are so easy to make and delicious to eat. Perfect for meatless meals or appetizers.
Ingredients:
1 8-count can of Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
4 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup steamed broccoli, cooled
1 Tablespoon of chopped chives
6 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1-2 Tablespoons butter, melted
Parmesan cheese, the dry kind that has a shaker top
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Open biscuits and flatten out with your hand or rolling pin. Set aside on parchment paper lined baking sheet. In a food processor or blender, finely dice broccoli, add cream cheese, chopped chives, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix well. Drop a generous tablespoon of filling into each biscuit. Pinching the sides together, roll into a ball, like a meatball. Brush each biscuit with melted butter and sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese. Bake 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!
French Onion Soup is one of my favorite soups. January just happens to be National Soup Month. This is one delicious and easy recipe. The most difficult part of making it is caramelizing the onions and that isn’t difficult, just time consuming. I am including my recipe for easy homemade croutons. I actually prefer croutons over a slice of bread in my soup. Either is fine, croutons are easier to eat from a soup bowl.
Let the caramelizing begin!
Ingredients:
5-6 pounds of sweet onions, sliced thin
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup oil
Salt and pepper
6 cans 10.5 ounce Condensed Beef Consommé, I used Campbell’s
1 32 ounce box of Beef Stock
2/3 cups flour
2 cups or more from 1 bottle of wine, I used (red) Cabernet Sauvignon, you can use white, just use a dry white wine
6 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves removed for soup, stems tossed) more if you like
3 bay leaves
Gruyère cheese for top
Croutons (recipe below) or bread for each bowl
Perfect caramelized onionsSlurry of flour and stockAdding slurry to stockpotReady to top with croutons and cheese
In a large skillet, melt butter with oil. Add sliced onions and season with salt and pepper. The best way to caramelize onions is low and slow. It will take awhile, I spent 2 hours caramelizing onions. Stirring every so often, once they burn, they are bitter so take it slow. In a large stockpot, add consommé, stock (reserve 2 cups of stock), add thyme leaves and bay leaves. In a separate container, add the stock and flour. I used my immersion blender to blend the flour and stock. Once combined, add to stockpot. The Gruyère cheese I bought had a rind on it so I cut the rind off the cheese and added that to the soup liquid. Don’t forget to add your wine, you will have some leftover for a glass or two after adding it to the soup. Once onions are caramelized, add to the soup. I simmered my soup for two hours after I added the onions. I recommend at least an hour. Pull out bay leaves and cheese rind if you added them to your stockpot before serving.
Waiting for cheeseReady for the broiler. Make sure your bowl is oven safe.
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients:
1 day old loaf of crostini bread sliced, cut into fourths
1/4 cup olive oil
Garlic salt, Lawry’s is my favorite
Place cut bread in a large bowl. Drizzle oil over bread pieces and season with garlic salt or kosher salt. Toss and distribute oil and seasoning. Spread on a baking sheet and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container. They should keep for about two weeks. Great on salads too.
Assembling your soup. Ladle soup in an oven safe bowl. Add croutons or bread. Top with Gruyère cheese over croutons. Place on a sheet pan and place under the broiler until cheese is hot and melty. Heaven! Enjoy!
One of my favorite places to eat is The Melting Pot. The restaurant originated in Florida and my favorite thing to fondue is the green goddess stuffed mushrooms. I created the green goddess filling, stuffed the mushrooms and baked them. Delicious and these were gone in a flash Christmas Day. I cannot wait to make them again.
Ingredients:
1 block of cream cheese (8 ounces), room temperature
2 Tablespoons of parsley chopped*
4 ounces of chopped chives*
1 small shallot, chopped*
Dash of garlic powder
I package of mushrooms, I used 24 ounces of Baby Bellas but white mushrooms can be used. clean mushrooms by wiping off with a damp cloth and pull out the stems.
Italian Style Bread Crumbs
Olive oil for drizzling the top of the mushrooms
*I made this recipe in my food processor and did not chop anything. My put my food processor on pulse and let it do my chopping. If you do not have a food processor, you can finely chop and combine your ingredients with a mixer.
Leave off the bread crumbs if you want these to be keto. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the breaded mushrooms.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse your shallot, add parsley and chives and pulse. Put in the room temperature cream cheese and a dash of garlic powder. Combine until blended. This can be made ahead. Fill each mushroom with about a teaspoon of the green goddess cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the top of your mushrooms with bread crumbs. Drizzle tops of mushrooms with olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes. These can be keto if you leave off the bread crumbs. This recipe will be made often at my house from now on. So delicious! They will disappear before your eyes. Enjoy!
I less than 5 minutes, more than 1/2 of the mushrooms were gone. No leftovers.
This is my Mom’s recipe. Not a fan of pumpkin pie, this recipe I love. My sons love it too. It has been around for a long time. Some people call it Pumpkin Dump Cake and some also refer to this recipe as Pumpkin Cobbler. Whatever you call it, it’s amazing!
Pumpkin Crunch
1 can of solid pack pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 can of evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 stick of butter, melted
Whipped cream, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with Pam.
Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar and pumpkin pie spice with your mixer. Pour into your baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle the top with melted butter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. *The top seems to get brown very quickly so I tent foil over the top the last 20-30 minutes of baking.
This can be eaten warm, I typically serve it room temperature topped with whipped cream. I do refrigerate leftovers if there is any. Enjoy!
I recently made appetizers for Thanksgiving and I wasn’t planning to post a recipe but everyone was asking for it so here it is. I remember my Mom making these and keeping them warm in a fondue pot. I used a one quart crockpot. They are small and inexpensive if you get them at Walmart.
Ingredients:
1 package 24 ounce Little Smokies
1 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Original)
3/4 cup grape jelly
In a saucepan, combine jelly and barbecue sauce. I heated the two until the jelly had combined with the barbecue sauce. I added the Little Smokies to the the saucepan and heated the Little Smokies until they were hot. I transferred the warm sauce and Smokies to the crockpot and kept it on warm setting during the day. Have toothpicks nearby for serving. This is an old vintage recipe my Mom made when I was a kid. Simple, easy and tasty. Enjoy!
Tampa Cake Girl 