Pumpkin Crunch Cake

This is one of my favorite family recipes.  I look forward to Thanksgiving every year because I know that we are going to be getting this cake.  I personally am not a big pie person, but give me a good, moist, dense, piece of cake any day and I'll be happy!  

One pie I do like is Pumpkin, but like I said, cake is better, so when I was little and my Mom came up with this recipe just for me I was in heaven.  It brought 2 of my favorites together.  Pumpkin and cake.  Delish!  

 Ingredients

1 15oz can of Pumpkin

1 12oz. can Evaporated Milk

3 Eggs

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 box Yellow Cake mix

1 cup roughly chopped Pecans

1 cup Butter melted

Homemade Sweet Whipped Cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a mixer.  Mix on medium speed until well combined.  Pour batter into a greased 13×9 baking dish.

Run cake mix through a sifter to get lumps out and sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture.  Top with pecans.  Drizzle melted butter over pecans.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool. Serve chilled (or warm).  Top with  a dollop of Sweet Whipped Cream.  Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not a big cookie fan.  Now that being said, I make amazing cookies if I don't say so myself, but I just never get into eating, but I will tell you that any Oatmeal cookies I will gobble right up.  With that in mind, I was craving a cookie today and I needed something that I would eat.  I took my regular peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies and added some Oats, so that I would love them.  This is what came out, and the results are truly delicious!

Ingredients
1/2 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 cup Peanut Butter
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 cup Oats
3/4 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Cream your butter, sugar, and vanilla together.  Add the egg.  Stir in the Peanut Butter until everything is looking smooth and creamy.

Combine all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, whisk together to get light, and slowly add to mixture 1/2 cup at a time, until well incorporated. 

Mix in your Oats and then once those are mixed in well, add your chocolate chips and just mix until they're combined.

Grease a 9x13 cookie sheet and place a spoonful of the dough 12 times on the pan.  (I always place pastry paper down on my cookie sheet and spray it with pam before I place my cookies)

 Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

Hot Milk Cake

One of my favorite food blogs to follow is Flour Me with Love.  Her recipes are to die for, and really easy.  I had to steal this one from her today, because it's the perfect cake recipe!  I woke up this morning and saw the recipe, so I made the cake for breakfast and it was delicious.  It was warm and light and sweet and so nummy!  Since it was nummy, it was the perfect recipe for my blog...so here you go!

Ingredients are as follows: 

4 eggs
2 C sugar
2 1/4 C flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 C milk
2/3 C butter 

Directions


Preheat oven to 350 degrees; Grease a bundt pan.



Beat eggs until thick, about five minutes.

Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder and vanilla.  Mix until incorporated.

Heat milk & butter in a saucepan over medium heat; until butter melts.

By hand, slowly stir milk mixture into the batter;  mix thoroughly.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.  

Allow to cool for ten minutes, remove from pan (sprinkle on some powdered sugar if desired).

Slice, serve and enjoy!

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

It is definitely a soup day in Utah.  Waking up this morning at 7, it is 23 degrees outside, and that is just waaaaaaay tooooooo cold.  So it's a soup day.  I need to warm myself up and get cozy next to my fire.  I feel like a rich cream soup, and so I'm giving you all my Cheddar Broccoli Soup that I think you are going to love.  I serve it in a bread bowl which just tops off the deliciousness of this dish!

 Ingredients

2 Tbs. Melted Butter

1 Large Onion Chopped

1/2 cup Butter melted

1/2 cup Flour

4 cups Half and Half

2 cups Chicken Broth

2 cups Chicken Stock

1 lb. Fresh Broccoli

2 cups Carrots diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

16 oz. SHARP Cheddar cheese grated

Dried Parsley, Oregano, and Basil sprinkled in to taste

Directions

Saute onion in butter.  Set aside.   

Whisk butter and flour over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.  Stir constantly and slowly add half and half.  Add chicken stock, still whisking.

Simmer 20 minutes.

Add broccoli, carrots and onion.  Cook over low heat until veggies are tender – about 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and pepper, and the herbs.  The soup will have thickened by now.

Carefully transfer soup mixture to blender and puree, but let it sit and cool for a minute before you try to blend it.

Return soup to pot (or crockpot) over low heat.  Add cheese.  Stir until well blended.  Serve in a bread bowl with Sharp Cheddar cheese sprinkled on top.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Mom's Poppy Seed Cake

My Mom made this at least twice a month growing up.  I absolutely loved it!  That really isn't saying much because I was 302 lbs. at one time in my life, and I really enjoyed just about any food you put in front of me.  That being said, I promise this is delicious and yummy!  It's cinnamon and sugar crisp texture on the outside of the cake makes it to die for!  One bite and you'll be hooked!  Try to not eat the entire thing after the 1st piece!

Ingredients 
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup water
4 Eggs
1 small pkg. instant Vanilla Pudding
3 Tbsp. Poppy Seed
Cinnamon and Sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients on low for 15 min. 

While the cake is mixing, you are going to mix your cinnamon and sugar.  I normally use 1/2 cup of sugar, to about 3 Tbsp. of Cinnamon.  You want the consistency of what you would put on toast.  Then you grease a Bundt pan and dump the cinnamon and sugar inside.  You're going to work the cinnamon and sugar around the pan (like you would dust a pan with flour) until all the grease is completely covered, thus your pan is completely covered in cinnamon and sugar.

After the cake has mixed in your mixer for 15 min. dump it into your bundt pan.  Place a 9x13 cookie sheet on the rack in your oven below the one the cake will be sitting on.  Then place your cake in the oven.  Bake for 45 minutes. 

Remove from oven and let sit for about 5-8 min. before dumping the cake upside down out of the pan onto a cooling rack.  Let cool (if you can) or just eat it up.  Enjoy!!

Candy Corn Cupcake

This is one of those "so simple its silly" sort of recipes! I found this fun recipe while pinteresting today! I found the pumpkin cupcake recipe here and the idea for the decorative candy corn center here.

See how there is a little frosting candy corn inside?! Its so cute! A surprise center is perfect for halloween!

Best of all- Only just a few ingredients needed!

First for the cupcakes.
It ONLY takes the can of pumpkin and the white cake mix.

Thats right, nothing else. None of the other things like oil or eggs that you would normally add!  Just mix the two together, then spoon it into cupcake liners.

If you can shake it around, and make them a bit less lumpy, that way the thickness wont affect the overall outcome.

Yes it does a bit like baby food at this point.

Now after baking it for the same time as the box. Let it cool....all the way! It is VERY moist, so you don't want it to fall apart when you cut into it.

Then get a sharp knife, and cut into the cupcake at an angle.

Then fill it up with colored frosting! White on the bottom, orange, then yellow! I used plastic bags with the tips cut off to pipe it into the cupcake. (I got so into it...I forgot a picture.)

Put the top back on (cut off a bit of the bottom piece, to make it fit on there right) then put a smidgen of frosting on the top (to cover up where you cut the top off). You don't need much...you must remember it is filled with frosting!

Then add a candy corn- so everyone knows it is special!

 

 Happy Halloween!!

Frog Eye Salad

 This was a staple in my home growing up.  My mom made the best Frog Eye I have ever had, and since so many people love it I had to post it on my blog for you!  The only thing that I have changed about her original recipe is that I use strawberries instead of cherries, but you can do either.  I'm just not a huge cherry fan.  Anyway I promise you when you try this Frog Eye, it will be your new favorite salad of all time!

Ingredients

16oz. Acini de Pepe

1 3/4 cup Pineapple Juice

3 Tbs. Flour

3 Egg Yolks beaten

1 cup Sugar

1 20oz. can Crushed Pineapple

2 cups Mini Marshmallows

1 16oz. container of sour cream

3 cans Mandarin Oranges

2 cups sliced strawberries + more for the top

2 20oz. cans of Pineapple tidbits

1 8oz container Cool Whip

Directions

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Rinse in Cold water, set aside.

Mix Pineapple Juice, Flour, Egg Yolks, and Sugar in a sauce pot and cook on medium heat until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.  

Combine the mixture with the pasta.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day add the can of crushed pineapple drained, the pineapple tidbits drained, your mini marshmallows, cool whip, and sour cream.  Mix well.  Fold in the mandarin oranges and your sliced strawberries.  Then place slices of strawberries in a circle on top for decoration.