Sunday, October 28, 2007

Easy Peach Cobbler

1 cup self rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 (15 ounce) can sliced peaches in syrup

Pour the peafches and syrup in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Mix the flour, sugar and milk together. Pour over the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.

Mississippi Mud Cake

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
6 eggs, seperated
1 cup water
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 (12 ounce) package chocolate chips
2 1/2 cup minature marshmellows

Mud Icing (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together 3 times. Set aside. Combine sugar and cocoa; mix well. Beat egg yolks in large bowl with electric mixer. (I use a Kitchenaid mixer it is easier for me to handle) Beat in water,vanilla and sugar mixture at medium speed. Beat in flour mixture. Beat egg whites unitl stiff peak form. stir on-fourth of chocolate batter gently into whites. Fold egg whites into remaining batter. Carefully add in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from owne and sprinkle marshmellows evenly over cake. Bake 5 minutes longer or until marshmellows begin to melt. Cook in pan on a wire rack. Spread with mud icing.

Mud Icing
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine butter an cocoa in a large mixing bowl; stir in evaporated milk. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in pecans. Spread over cake.

Toll House Pie

3/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
9 inch deep dish pie crust

Beat eggs until frothy then mixs in sugars, butter and flour. Stir in pecans and chips last. Pour into thawed unbaked pie crust. Bake around 55- 60 minutes in a 325 degree oven until knife inserted half way between center an edge of pie comes out clean. Serve with ice cream and chocolate syrup, if desired.

Brownies

1 box butter pecan cake mix
3 eggs
2 stick butter
1 box powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Oil 9 x 13 pan. Mix together cake mix 1 egg and 1 stick butter and press into pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients with (I use a Kitchenaid mixer) mixer and pour over crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes.

Hot Fudge Cake

Cake:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon cocoa
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and spread in a 9 x 9 pan.

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup hot water
4 tablespoon cocoa

Mix sugar, water, cocoa together and pour over cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Apple Dumplings

2 cans refrigerator crescent dinner rolls
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced into 8 slices each
1 stick margarine
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (12 ounce) can Mountain Dew
Ice Cream for serving (optional)

Seperate the triangles of cresent rolls. Place 1 apple slice in each triangle and roll up from the large end to the small end encasing the apple slice. Place in a 9x13 inch pan. Melt margarine. Mix melted margarine with sugar and cinnamon. Drizzle over rolls, pour Moutain Dew over all and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Honey Bun Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon milk

Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and sour cream; mix well. Pour half of batter into a 9 inch X 13 inch pan. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cake batter, top with rest of batter ans swirl. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Top with glaze as soon as it comes from the oven.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

This is a great cake to take to work. Many of the nurses I work with want this for their birthday.

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Boiled Ingredients:
2 sticks oleo
4 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1 cup water
Bring boiled ingredients to a boil. Add boiled ingredients to dry ingredients. A
Add:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix well and bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. (I use a large jelly roll pan).

Frosting:
1 box powdered sugar
1 cup pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frost when cake is takend from the oven.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Strawberry Glaze

Homemade Strawberry Glaze is used in the spring as topping for strawberries or to make fresh strawberry pie.

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup 7-Up or Sprite, or water
Red food coloring to desired redness

Mix corn starch and sugar. Add 7- Up, Sprite, or water. Cook over medium heat until "O's) form.
Add 1 drop of red food coloring or to desired redness. Pour glaze over 1 1/2 pint of fresh strawberries.

For fresh strawberry pie. Cook 9 inch pie crust per directions. Place fresh strawberries in bottom of baked pie crust and pour glaze over strawberries. Top with Cool Whip if desired.

Arkansas Chocolate Pie

This recipe was given to me by my husband's grandmother who lived in the Arkansas Delta.

Chocolate Pie
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups milk (whole milk is best)
2 egg yolks

Mix dry ingredients. Add part of milk to egg yolks and beat with a wire whisk. Mix the remainder of milk and egg yolk to dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat in a double boiler until the desired thickness. Pour chocolate pie mixture into 9 inch deep pie shell tha has been browned per directions in the oven. Use egg whites to make mergingue if desired. Or top with Cool Whip after pie cools.

Peanut Butter Pie

1/2 of 1 pound Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookies
3 tablespoons butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
1(8 ounce) tub Cool Whip

Crush cookies in Ziploc bag or in food processor. Mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto bottom and sides of 9 inch pie pan. Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping. Spoon in crust. Freeze 4 hours or overnight until firm. Let stand 1/2 hour or until pie can be cut easily. Garnish with remaining whipped topping and additional cookies, if desired.

Death by Chocolate Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 jar caramel topping
1 can Eagle Brand milk
Heath Bars (crushed)
Cool Whip

Bake according to directions. After cooling poke holes in cake with the end of wooden spoon. Pour Eagle Brand milk over top of cake. Pour caramel topping over cake. Cover with Cool Whip and sprinkle with crushed Heath Bars.

Strawberry Wine Cake

1 box white cake mix (may use strawberry cake mix)
2 small boxes Jello (any flavor to match wine)
4 Eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup strawberry wine

(You may use apricot brandy, orange vodka, cranberry cognac or blackberry wine.) Mix cake mix, jello, eggs, and oil. Mix wine in last. Bake per directions on box.

Topping:
Mix yogurt (strawberry, orange, etc.) with softened cream cheese for topping or just put a tablespoon of whipped topping on slice after it is cut.

Muscadine Cake



In the Ozark Mountains, wineries grow Muscadine grapes.

Muscadine Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup of oil
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup POST Familie Muscadine Juice

Preheat oven 350 degrees
Mix all ingredients ande beat 4 minutes and beat 4 minutes. Pour batter into well - greased and floured bundt pan. Bake 40-50 minutes. Check with toothpick. Cool slightly, turn out while warm, and glaze using 4 tablespoons of POST Familie Muscadine juice and 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. You can stick holes in the cake to let the glaze go into the cake.

Party Planning

For the last 6 weeks, I have been working on my mother's surprise 80th birthday. Her birthday is in November. There is not much published to give guidance on how to plan a party for an 80 year old. Most of what is available less than traditional. Our family is traditionally southern.
Issues that came up were who to invite (lots of people this age do not drive at night), date (you have to work around doctors appointments), time (afternoon is best) and location (a place everyone can locate). Luckily, our family has a large family reunion every year in south Mississippi at Thanksgiving. This is a two and three day affair.

The party was planned between the reunion scheduled events. This large extended family keeps in touch by a quarterly newsletter. The newsletter is great for planning. One of my first cousins maintains the mailing list. I used the newsletter mailing list to send invitations. The invitation selection is great at the Hallmark Crown store. The selection I chose were more traditional (nothing silly such as "aged to perfection").

Plans were discussed with one of my mother's sister and another first cousin in the area to select the best time between meals, games, and visting.

On the invitations I requested only regrets to let me know who would not be attending. After the invitations were mailed the real party planning began. The theme was southern traditional with using the fall colors for cake decorationg, table decorations and flowers. The main table was covered with white table cloth and matching floor length lace.

Games were probably the most difficult. I decided to use milestones in my mother's life and have the guest try to guess when each of her children were born on what date, what year. Schools attended elementary, high, nursing, university she graduated from.

The prizes are a gift bag with all the ingredients for the Muscadine Cake in my blog minus the eggs and oil. You can actually use any of the recipes and pack them in a gift bag. I also, sell Mary Kay comestics so I purchased hand cream, lotion etc. It was important for everyone to get a prize.

I had two custom cakes made by a co-worker who makes and sells custom cakes. The birthday cake is a Italian Cream Cake with Sour Cream frosting decorated in the fall theme with "Happy Birthday Mom". The trimmings are fall leaves, acorns all in the green, gold, and orange colors. The secondary cake was the Chocolate Sheet cake for those who do not like Italian Cream Cake. The Chocolate Sheet cake recipe is in my blog. The Chocolate Sheet cake is always a big hit for any party. Party Punch was pineapple lime again the green color theme. Of course we have decaff coffee since it usually cool in the early afternoon and evening.

Since my mother is moving to an active retirement center (Kirby Pines) in December she does not need any additional trinkets. I let everyone know she only needed things to decorate here new apartment such as matching towels for bath and kitchen. Everything turned out perfectly.

I had pre - purchased thank you notes with postage stamps applied. This was great for my mother after the party to thank all of those that attended.