Glazed Poppyseed Bundt Cake

Glazed Poppyseed Bundt Cake

from The Sister's Cafe

1 yellow cake mix
1 (3.5 oz) box of instant vanilla pudding
1 tablespoon poppyseeds
1/2 cup pinapple or orange juice (I used pineapple)
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sour cream (can use reduced fat)
4 eggs

Mix yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding and poppy seeds. Add juice, oil, and sour cream and mix. Add 4 eggs one at a time, mix well. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (don't over bake).When the cake is about 10 minutes from being done start the glaze.Glaze:1 cup sugar1/4 cup water1/2 cup butter (1 cube)Bring ingredients to a boil and keep bubbling until ready to pour over cake. You can either pour the glaze over the cake while it is in the pan or turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and pour the glaze over the cake that way. It is really like syrup that soaks in. (Some commenters have said that glazing the cake in the pan makes it hard to remove because the glaze gets sticky. I glazed it out of the pan and it worked great.) Give it a few minutes to soak in and then turn it out onto a cake plate. Optional: dust top of cake with powdered sugar.

Awesome Breadmaker Pizza Dough

I am on a roll lately!! If I do say so, anyway. I made the yummiest homemade pizza tonight for dinner. I found a recipe here. It is for a breadmaker - so you put all ingredients into the breadmaker and put it on the "dough" setting. Then voila! about an hour later, it is done! And it smells amazing coming out of the breadmaker too!

1 1/2 cups water
2 T olive oil
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
4 cups flour
1 T. pizza seasoning. I used a spaghetti seasoning mix. Pesto would be yummy.
4 tsp. active dry yeast

I followed the instructions for the most part. I didn't have cornmeal so I just floured the dough when it came out, rolled it flat, attempted to toss into the air like my Italian ancestors, fixed a couple of holes I poked in it because I had to catch it after I tried to toss it into the air, and then placed it on a square-ish cookie sheet that was sprayed with Pam. I let it rise for about 30 minutes then added the spaghetti sauce (or pizza sauce if you've actually got some!), mozzarella cheese, fresh pineapple, and deli ham (oops! I mean Canadian bacon, don't tell!). We baked it for about 25 minutes. It made a very thick crust, soft chewy pizza. So yummy. You could easilly roll it thinner and get about 2 cookie sheet sized (maybe not quite that big) pizzas. I bet you could even freeze half the dough for another night! I haven't tried it, but I don't see why you couldn't. Someone try it and let me know!

Seriously De-Lish!

Freezer Friendly Friday - Breakfast Burritos!

I've never really caught on to the whole breakfast burrito phenom - but I married into a family that is crazy for them. Me, I prefer my eggs, meat, and bread all in it's own spot on my plate, not rolled into one. Oh well. My hubby loves them. Loves them! In fact, he would eat most of his meals wrapped in a tortilla with ketchup or hot sauce if I'd let him.

So you can imagine my excitement when I found this little gem here. I love that my hubby will eat a healthy non-Pop-Tart breakfast and I don't have to get up before the sun to make it. I made a few changes, so I will post my version of the recipe...

18 eggs
1 lb. sausage
1 lb. bacon
3 cups cheese
1 cup salsa
24 flour tortillas
2-3 cups frozen hash browns

Of course you can add in anything else you like, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, garlic, tomatoes, etc. I sauteed my sausage with some diced onion. And you don't have to add the hash browns either, but they make the filling stretch a little further.

In one large skillet cook sausage, drain and set aside. In same pan cook bacon, set aside, then crumble. Drain most of oil. In same pan (I hate dishes!!) cook hash browns until soft, set aside. In same pan scramble eggs, set aside.

Now, I made two separate batches, to see if the bacon or sausage worked better. You could do one or the other. Because I was making two, I put the meat into separate bowls, then divided up the eggs, potatoes, cheese, and salsa into each bowl. Mixed and dumped in 1/2 cup servings onto tortillas. I used the soft taco size. Rolled them up and froze on a greased cookie sheet for about an hour or two. Then brought them in, individually wrapped them in plastic wrap, placed in a large zipper bag, then froze again. They are ready for my hubby to grab and take on his way out the door!

It might seem time consuming, but it took less than the length of Finding Nemo to make and assemble all of them ;). We made 24.

The verdict: I liked them! My 2 year old loves them! My hubby was in heaven. He claims to prefer bacon to sausage, but said the bacon didn't freeze as well as the sausage, and loved the sausage ones.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Pepper Chicken (Freezer Meal)

FOR ONE FAMILY
2 c unsweetened pineapple juice
1 c sugar
1 c vinegar
3/4 c water
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c cornstarch
1/4 c ketchup
3 T soy sauce
1 t chicken bouillon granules
1/2 t ground ginger
4 chicken breasts
1 c (8 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
1 medium green pepper, julienned (optional)

FOR 6 FAMILIES
12 c unsweetened pineapple juice
6 c sugar
6 c vinegar
4 1/2 c water
3 c packed brown sugar
2 c cornstarch
1 1/2 c ketchup
18 T soy sauce
6 t chicken bouillon granules
3 t ground ginger
24 chicken breasts
6 cans (8 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
6 medium green pepper, julienned (optional)

TO PREPARE FOR FREEZING:
In a gallon size freezer bag combine the first 10 ingredients, then add chicken. Seal and freeze. Set aside pineapple for pantry and freeze sliced pepper in a separate bag.

TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
Thaw ingredients enough to place in crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. 30 minutes before it is finished add pineapple and green pepper, cook an additional 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Freezer Friendly Friday - Leftover Pot Pie

Turkey Pot Pie with Stuffing Crust

Ingredients

2-3 cups leftover turkey breast or chicken, cubed
2 cans cream of something soup - I used chicken
1/2 onion, chopped up, sauteed
4-5 cups of veggies of your choice. I used the frozen corn, green beans, and peas I grew, plus fresh carrots. Canned veggies work fine too. If you use fresh or frozen, cook or steam them to a crisp-tender first.
splash of milk
dollup of sour cream
salt and pepper
1 T garlic powder
1 t sage

Mix together and put into freezer bags. This will make a full 9 x 13 pan or 2 smaller sized pans - like 8x8.

To prepare: Thaw. Make (or use leftover) stuffing. Nothing fancy, just microwaved from a box works fine. Dump filling into a pan, add stuffing on top. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until bubbly hot.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Lemon and Capers

This is another recipe I found in AllYou magazine. Another quick, easy one with SOME normal ingredients I usually have around.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 5 oz. each)
Salt and pepper
1/3 c flour
3 T unsalted butter
3 T vegetable oil
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c white wine
1/4 c capers, rinsed

1. Preheat oven to 200F. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Warm 1 T butter and 2 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 chicken breast halves; cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a platter and tent with foil. Add 1 T oil to skillet; repeat with remaining chicken.
2. Add lemon juice and wine to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Boil, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5minutes. Remove from heat; stir in capers and remaining 1 T butter. Cook, stirring, until butter melts. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.
(387 cal, 18g fat (7g sat fat), 122mg chol, 1g fiber, 41g protein, 10g carb, 1,010mg sodium)

Pasta Carbonara Frittata

I pulled this out of an AllYou magazine. The picture looked really good, and the ingredients look like stuff that I generally have.

8 oz. spaghetti
2 T olive oil
4 oz. turkey bacon
6 large eggs
1/2 c grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook spaghetti until just tender, about 8 minutes or as package label directs. Drain, transfer to a large bowl and toss with olive oil to coat. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Cook turkey bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain. Discard all but 1 T of fat in skillet.
3. Preheat broiler to high. Whisk together eggs, parmesan, garlic, 1/2 t. salt, and 1/4 t pepper in a large bowl. Pour over spaghetti and toss to coat. Crumble bacon into bowl and mix well.
4. Place skillet on stove over medium-low heat and add egg-and-spaghetti mixture, spreading into an even layer with a spatula. Cook until bottom is well-browned, about 8 minutes, sliding a spatula underneath frittata occasionally to loosen.
5. Place pan under broiler and cook until top is golden and set, about 3 minutes. Cut frittata into wedges and serve.
(387 cal, 23g fat (8g sat fat), 359mg Chol, 1g fiber, 22g protein, 19g carb, 663mg sodium)