Jill's Cheating Potatoes

I dunno who Jill is but she's a genius. This is such a fast easy way of whipping up some yummy potatoes to go with whatever meat you want. My daughter use to dislike instant potatoes until this recipe came along :) Recipe by Shugary Sweets

Ingredients (serves 10)

12 Servings of instant potatoes, prepared
1 cup sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 paprika
2 green onions, chopped
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I just used Hormel real bacon bits from Costco)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter, cubed

Directions

Blend prepared potatoes with sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper and paprika. Pour potatoes into a buttered 13x9 in baking dish. Sprinkle top with cheese, green onions and bacon. place pads of butter on top.
Bake in 350 oven for 20 mins.

Heaven on Earth Cake

I like to make cakes for my co-workers on their birthdays and this cake has been requested the most. It is so moist and yummy with pineapple and coconut goodness. Thanks to Paula Deen for the recipe (She calls it something different) Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 box yellow or golden cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 large box instant vanilla pudding, plus milk to prepare

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconut. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Prepare yellow cake mix as directed. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30-35 mins. 

While cake is baking, combined pineapple and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. 

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. 

Remove cake from oven and using a large fork (like a BBQ fork), pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside. 

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Let it set a bit then pour over cake. 

Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. (I let mine chill over night or all day). 

Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar (I used powdered sugar instead..I dunno how much I just put enough in until I liked it)

Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top. 

(I toasted the coconut on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree oven ..watching it very carefully browns fast approx 10 mins) 

Crispy Fried Dill Pickles

First time I had fried pickles was at Wieners of Waterton at Waterton Lakes Provincial Park,SO YUMMY!
So I'm looking forward to trying this recipe! I like using a more spicy dip so I would probably add Louisiana Hot Sauce or something to the Ranch dressing.  Recipe from spendwithpennies.com

Sandwich sliced dill pickles (about 12 slices)
1-2 cups Panko breadcumbs
Oil for frying

Batter:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dill (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oil to 350-375 degrees
2. Combine all batter ingredients and stir until smooth, let sit at least 5 mins.
3. Dab pickle slices on paper towel to dry them. place about 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs in a bowl (add         more as needed). If they get too wet they don't stick as well.
4. Dip each pickle slice in the wet batter and then gently toss in the bread crumbs, let sit for a min or so, this       will allow the crumbs to stick better.
5. Fry in small batches for 3-4 mins or until brown and crispy.
6. Serve with ranch dip.

Italian Cream Cake

I love trying different cakes and this is one my daughter wanted me to make. I love nuts and coconut so this was a very yummy cake.

Cake Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

5 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 egg whites, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1  cup flaked coconut 

1  cup chopped walnuts 

Frosting Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Optional:

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

12 walnut halves, toasted

1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two 9" cake rounds with parchment paper and grease.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside.

Combine soda and buttermilk and set aside.

Cream sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in 1 tsp vanilla. Cream mixture until it becomes light and thick.

Mix buttermilk mixture alternately with FLOUR into creamed mixture. 

Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites. 

Stir in coconut and walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting and Cake Assembly:

Cream butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, confectioners' sugar and cream cheese together.  Chill in the refrigerator while you are toasting the coconut and walnuts.

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Spread coconut flakes on a baking sheet.  Bake and as the coconut starts to brown, stir the coconut.  Frequently checking to make sure it doesn't burn.  Remove from oven and allow to cool. (Takes about 8 - 10 minutes).

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place walnuts, single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake them, stirring occasionally until the walnuts are fragrant and darkened slightly in color (about 10 - 12 minutes).  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Chop walnuts saving 12 halves for top.

Frost cakes with cream cheese.  Mix toasted coconut flakes and chopped walnuts then add to sides of cake.  Pipe swirls of cream cheese on top then add halved toasted walnuts.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Shrimp Scampi

It's kinda funny I'm posting this recipe as my first recipe as I never did care for seafood or fish. I've been trying to get a liking for it as I know it is good for me (although this one is drenched in yummy butter). My husband loves seafood/fish and so I keep trying to find things I may like.  I did enjoy this one. Hope you do too. I also made this with omitting the mustard adding Oregano and Parmesan cheese. Served it over Angle hair pasta. Also used already cooked frozen shrimp thawing them under cool water and just simmered them in the sauce without putting them in the oven.    

1 cup butter

1 Tbsp prepared Dijon-style mustard

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 pounds medium raw shrimp, shelled, deveined, with tails attached

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, mustard, lemon juice, garlic,
    and parsley. When the butter melts completely, remove from heat.
3. Arrange shrimp in a shallow baking dish. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp.
4. Bake in preheated over for 12 to 15 mins or until the shrimp are pink and opaque.

Where it all began

I've loved cooking since I was quite young. I would run home at lunch hour in grade 4 and cook up my own lunch, which usually consisted of fried mushrooms in lots of yummy butter. I know weird right? But that's where it all began. I started cooking classes in grade 7. My teacher Mrs Wilde was a great teacher. We always started off with the basics, muffins, cookies things like that. I used a red binder to put all my recipes in that I learned from school and I still have that red binder today with more recipes jammed inside of it. I would make bigger meals as I grew up and of course make the sweet stuff too at the delight of my family.Now I am married with two children and I hope that I can help teach them about cooking and share some of the things I know with them.  My husband had said a few times he would like to create a program to put all my recipes in, but he's a busy man.  It then dawned on me that a blog would be a great place to put the recipes I love. Then I could just print off a book at the end of the year, or whenever. I could pass it down to my daughter so she could have them.

The one thing I wish I could do is just look in the fridge and grab a bunch of stuff and see how it goes. I always have to have a recipe in front of me.  I might change a thing or two about it but I always have to have something to go by.  So most of the recipes I post in here are not my creations. But I guess that's what others tend to do too is tweak what someone else has done and call it their own. Either way I am very grateful for the talents of others when it comes to cooking and of course sharing that talent with me.

I hope you enjoy the recipes!