Tyka's Blackberry Wine Cake

Winos beware!  I have found our newest weakness!  Or at least mine.  My wonderful friend Tyka sent me a cake recipe and I tell you, I was a gonner.  The best part was that she sent it to me during summer break for the kids.  Now, I love them more than ever, but sometimes silence and a glass of wine feel like my only route of survival.  I can now have a slice of wine cake with my glass of wine.  Too much?  I think not.

Don't forget to lightly grease and powder (a tablespoon of the cake mix will be better than flour) your bundt pan...or you'll be looking for creative ways to show off your marvelous cake without

giving away that there is in fact a huge chunk missing.

Tyka's Recipe:

For Cake:

1 white box cake mix
1-1/2 cup of blackberry wine (about 1/2 the bottle...the other half is to drink while the cake is baking....)
1 box of blackberry jello (I had to use black cherry but it still tasted AWESOME)
4 eggs
1 cup of veg oil
 

Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, jello and 1 cup of blackberry wine mix well pour in bundt cake pan bake on 355 degrees for 45-55 mins. When cake is done place on cake plate and take a fork and poke holes all over the top of cake so icing can soak down into the cake.

For Icing:

1 cup of powered sugar
1/2 cup of blackberry wine
pour over cake while cake is hot
 

Better-Than-Applebee's Quesadillas

No offense to Applebees.  I LOVE everything on their menu.  Well, almost everything.  Josh's favorite thing to get there is the quesadilla.  I rarely get it because if I chose something else I always have the option to steal part of Josh's quesadilla when he's preoccupied (i.e., looking away or in the bathroom). 

A couple months ago I found one of those copycat recipe websites and they happened to have Applebee's quesadillas featured on it.  It sounded pretty good and we tried it.  It tasted nearly identical but since then we have altered it to our own preferences.  It's not nearly as greasy, the chicken isn't as dry, and the taste doesn't seem so...generic?  Anyway, it's not hard to make and you can probably get away making it under $10.  I can make 8 of them with 4 chicken breast tenderloins.

The how-to's:

Flour tortillas
4 chicken breast tenderloins, cooked and shredded
2 tomatoes, diced
8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (cook it in the microwave and blot any extra grease)
1 pkg of shredded pepper jack cheese
1 pkg of shredded cheddar cheese
Tabasco chipotle sauce
Butter

Melt butter in skillet/large pan on medium.  Place tortilla in pan.  Brush a small amount of chipotle sauce on tortilla (I usually just cook the chicken in a good amount of chipotle but it's all personal preference).  On half of tortilla add some chicken, tomato, bacon, and cheese and then fold in half.  Cook both sides until golden and cheese is melted.  Once done you can blot with a papertowel to remove any extra grease and then slice in half or fourths.

Chicken Pot Pie

I have succesfully made a pie only once.  It was a delicious apple pie that everyone in the family loved.  The crust was perfect!  Since then, I haven't made anything that needed a crust unless it was store bought.  I am TERRIFIED of ruining a good meal because I trashed the crust.  This of course means that I have never made a chicken pot pie until I gave up the ideals of it being completely homemade.  So this pot pie is my first attempt and it came out really well.  Store bought crust is never as good as a homemade one, but it did it's job and the family enjoyed dinner.  I suppose it's time that I practice making a good pie crust but until then store bought will suffice.  Get over it.

Recipe:

1 refrigerated pie crust/shell, top and bottom (or homemade for you show offs)
1 to 2 cups of shredded or cubed chicken
2 cans of chicken gravy (or one jar)
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, cubed
veggies of your choice -- we were actually out of frozen peas which is what I wanted so I made do with just frozen corn and black eyed peas.  Kind of weird, but hey, it was still good.

In a large pot boil all the veggies until tender.  Drain.  Add the gravy and chicken and season as needed.  Lightly grease a casserole dish and place the bottom crust into the dish.  Pour gravy mix into the crust and top with upper pie shell.  Pinch upper and lower together and fork.  Brush a small amount of butter over shell and then cut a few slits.  Cook as directed for crust.

Vegetarian Tex-Mex Burritos

This is so simple to make that kids can probably make it completely on their own (depending how old they are of course).  I made it on the stove top but that was because Josh won't eat anything vegetarian so I had to add some shredded chicken to his portion.  Otherwise this could easily be mixed together and heated up in the microwave.  The recipe can also be doubled easily for a quick leftover lunch the next day.

Recipe:

1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of diced tomatoes with peppers
1 cup of shredded pepperjack
1 1/2 cups prepared rice (we used white but I bet this would be good with brown rice, too)
Flour tortillas

Mix everything together in a bowl and put in the microwave until warm and the cheese is melted.  Put mix onto a tortilla and roll into a burrito. 

Easy Jumbo Pizza Rolzone

Pizza, pizza rolls, hot pockets, calzones...I'll eat it.  I love pizza.  I'm even a bigger fan of calzones.  In my attempt to make a calzone I discovered I was better at combining a calzone with a huge pizza roll.  I have named it "The Rolzone."  Laugh if you want, but this thing is awesome.  You can make it in a matter of minutes and if you have kids it's a great thing for them to help out with.  All you need to do is roll the dough out, cut it in squares, cover with sauce, and let the kids put their chosen toppings on them.

My recipe:

1 refrigerated pizza dough (this will make 5-6 pretty decent sized ones)
1 jar of pizza sauce
shredded mozarella and cheddar cheese
pizza toppings

Preheat the oven as directed for the dough.  Roll the dough out, cut it into squares, spoon the sauce into the middle.  Throw whatever pizza toppings you'd like into the middle.  Roll the dough up into a tube and then pinch the sides closed.  Lightly brush some olive oil on the dough and sprinkle a little garlic salt on it if you like.  Put the rolzones on a large piece of aluminum foil, place in oven, and bake until golden and the dough is cooked through. 

How to cheat at enchiladas

I love mexican food.  Love it.  I also love lean, muscular, mexican men with their shirt off at the beach...offering me a beer.  Since I'm already married and no where near a beach (and my gorgeous hubby will gladly hand me a beer with or without his shirt), I'll have to stick with mexican food.  I prefer to eat it if someone else has made it since I don't have much experience cooking it but a couple of days ago I decided I just HAD to have some enchiladas and was determined to make them myself if I needed to.  And I did.  But I cheated.  I really really cheated.  But hey, they cost under $10 to make, it was easy to put together, and they tasted pretty dang good. 

You'll need:

1 to 2 lbs cooked hamburger
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cheddar cheese soup
1 packet of taco seasoning
chopped green chiles (optional)
1 pkg shredded mexican cheese
8-8 inch flour tortillas

Mix the hamburger, cream of mushroom, half the packet of taco seasoning, a little cheese, and a few green chiles together.  Pour the mixture down the middle of each tortilla, roll up, and place seam down into a lightly greased dish.  Pour the cheddar cheese soup over the tortillas, sprinkle a little more taco seasoning, chiles, and shredded cheese on top.  Put in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

Sloppy joes are one of those super easy meals that I think everyone likes.  If you don't like them, there's probably something wrong with you.  Just saying.  We used to just buy the pre-made canned kind where all you did was dump it in a pot along with a pound or two of hamburger and heat it up.  Recently I came across two different recipes that sounded really good, but made completely different.  I'm not one for being patient so I combined the two to make Super Homemade Sloppy Joes.  All they need now are man-tights and a matching cape.

Recipe:

1 to 2 lbs of hamburger (I just used one pound)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 cup ketchup
1 cup barbecue sauce (I used hickory smoked)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
Season to taste (I used garlic salt, onion powder, chili powder, and cumin)

Brown and drain the hamburger, add all the ingredients and mix.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for at least 20 minutes.  You could also make this in a crockpot on low for probably 5 to 6 hours.  Don't forget to warm your hamburger buns in the oven before serving!

Brandy's Bagel French Toast Bake

A friend of mine posted this recipe and it sounds friggin' awesome.  So in honor of her I'm posting my first guest recipe.  Sounds like a future kid favorite in my house (a grown up favorite, too!).  Thank you Brandy!



Bagel French Toast bake:

 6 to 7 mini bagels(so prob 3 or 4 regular size) broken into pieces. In a bowl mix 4 eggs, 2/3 cup milk, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon vanilla. Put pieces of bagels in it drench them and cover overnight. In morning spray an 8x8 baking dish, put bagel pieces in it sprinkle all over with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Sooooo good. Serve with syrup if you want.

Tater Tot Casserole

Funny story.  My husband taught me how to make tater tot casserole as I had never had it before and I was instantly a fan.  I change the ingredients around and it soon becomes a family favorite for all of us.  We could seriously eat this for dinner once a week and not complain.  Love it.  A few years later Josh lets it slip that if it wasn't for his ex-girlfriend teaching him how to make it then we'd probably have never had it.  So, to whomever this ex-girlfriend from nearly ten years ago is, my family and I thank you.  :) 

Here's how we make it now:

2 lbs hamburger
2 cans cream of celery
1 bag of tater tots
shredded cheese
Lawry's seasoning

Cook hamburger, mix with cream of celery, stir in a little shredded cheese, pour into 13x9 glass dish.  Layer tater tots on top of hamburger mix and sprinkle a little Lawry's on it.  Cook in oven as directed on tater tots bag.  Just a couple of minutes before it's done, take it out and sprinkle some cheese on top of the tots.  Put back in oven and let the cheese melt.  Omygosh, eat it.  It's awesome.

Smoked Sausage with veggies and rice

This is one of my favorite recipes.  It's so easy, tastes good, and it's so much healthier than most typical supper yummy foods.  I consider it a good late spring/early summer meal.  Best part is that I think it costs us about $7 to make it and feeds all of us (and usually enough leftovers for Josh to take to work for lunch).

Recipe:

Smoked Sausage
1 bag of frozen veggies (we get the kind with green beans, peas, carrots, and corn)
rice (however much you expect to eat, we do about 2 1/2 cups of rice)
1 1/2 tablespoons Instant Smoke liquid (optional)

Slice the sausage and throw in a large skillet with a little olive oil.  Once it's heated through, mix in the veggies with a quarter cup of water.  Put lid on and cook at medium, stirring occasionally, until veggies are done.  Add in instant smoke and simmer 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Now how hard was that? 

Let them eat cookies....

I'm a junk food junkie.  I admit that after my middle child told me that stomach looks like a butt when I lean forward that I felt inclined to cut out some of the junk food.  It sucks, but when I do eat something terribly horrible for me it just tastes that much better.  Moderation.  I can do it.  Pfft.

So in honor of my butt-stomach slowly fading, I'm posting two cookie recipes just for the heck of it.  Be kind to your tummy and share some cookies! 

Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies Ever

Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 cup of crunchy peanut butter.  Drop by spoonfulls, flatten, crisscross with fork, bake at 375 for 10 minutes, sprinkle with sugar.  Ta dah!

My Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 cups oats
1 1/2 cups raisins

Mix all ingredients but flour, salt, soda, oats, and raisins. Stir in flour, salt, soda.  Add in oats and raisins.  Cook 10-12 mins on greased pan at 350.

Feel Good Hamburger and Biscuit Stew

It's like a million degrees outside but it's cloudy and dreary looking.  It appears to be a cold, winter day...as long as you stay in the house under the a/c.  So due to the rain and my need to stay in sweats all day I thought my family should have a nice comfy feel good stew.  It's also a good way to get rid of the almost empty bags of frozen veggies stashed in the back of the freezer.  We don't waste food people! 

Actually, I do waste food.  I used to at least.  I'm so not a fan of leftovers.  There are very few meals I will eat the next day.  Luckily Josh is sort of like a garbage disposal of leftovers.  He's pretty nifty.

Once again, I'm just going to give you the basic ingredients you need.  If you have different preferences (or different veggies) then go for it.  It's a stew.  Hard to go wrong.

The recipe:

1 lb ground beef
2 tomatoes, diced
8 ozs tomato sauce (you can substitute the tomatoes and sauce for a can of diced tomatoes, undrained)
1 jar of beef gravy (or you can buy the seasoning to make your own brown gravy)
2 potatoes, diced (skin on or off-up to you)
1 medium sized carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen lima beans
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen green beans
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 can refrigerated buttermilk flaky biscuits

Cook hamburger, add all ingredients except biscuits in a large saucepan.  Bring it to a boil and then let simmer at least 20 minutes (the bigger the potato chunks the longer it'll take to cook).  While it's cooking take the bicuits out and cut each biscuit in half.  Then pour the stew into a 9x11'ish glass pan.  Take each biscuit and stick to the sides of dish, cut side down.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins or until bicuits are done.

All done!

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are one of the family favorites, and it can be made for under $10 if you buy your veggies in season (or even better if you grow your own veggies!).  It's not all that hard to make, either.  This is my recipe, so feel free to change it however you like (for instance, most people put onion in there's.  Josh doesn't like onions but prefers mushrooms...which I'm not putting in this recipe.)  Make it yours.

Ingredients:

6-8 bell peppers
1 lb ground hamburger
1 can tomato soup
2-3 diced tomatoes
8 ozs tomato sauce
2 cups rice, cooked
seasoning of your choice (garlic salt, pepper, etc.)
shredded cheese

Cook meat, drain.  Add seasonings, tomato soup, sauce, and diced tomatoes.  Let simmer.  Meanwhile, cook peppers until tender.  Drain.  Stir rice into sauce mixture and then stuff in to peppers.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake until bubbly at 350.

Bodacious Botato Knock-Off

When I was 21 I was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.  I absolutely loved it there.  The culture, the nature, the new foods, the swampy areas, the terrible storms, the streets that flooded within 5 minutes of said storms...it was amazing.  Granted I was 21 and to me, Louisiana is a happy medium of the speed of California and the humbleness of the South.  And it was there I saw my first daquiri drive-thru shop.  Amazing.

Also, just down the road from the base in Bossier City is a little restaurant called Bodacios Bar-B-Q.  My best friend, Trinity, and I would go there for something they called a "Botato."  It was love at first site.  Long lasting love at that.  No one can make a botato quite like their's, but I have been making a few since I've moved in memory of  the Bodacios Botato.  It's under $10 dollar to make enough for the family, and if you buy a whole bag of potatoes you're obviously left with future nights of mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, baked potatoes, baked fries...well, a lot of potatoes. 

On to the recipe.  Make it.  Eat it.  Show it the love and affection it deserves (until you scarf the poor thing down and suffer indigestion shortly after...and find yourself cursing that poor botato). 

What you need:

6 potatoes, already baked (I did mine in the microwave)

1 1/2 lbs of shredded BBQ pork (we used a tub of Lloyds)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour Cream and BBQ sauce if needed

Cut open the potatoes, stuff them full of the pork, top with shredded cheese, and then put in the oven at 350 for about 20 mins.  Top with extra sauce and sour cream.