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.

Coffee Cake in a Mug

I love coffee cake!  I make it every time Dave doesn't have school as his special breakfast, but there are some mornings where I just want it and don't want to make a huge pan.  I came up with this brilliant idea to make a coffee cake, in a coffee mug, in the microwave!  Yay!  So here is the recipe, and now you can have your coffee and eat your cake too!

Directions

Well, first you'll need a cup. If you want it to puff up over the top of the cup, use a small one. Or if you want to dig into the cup, use a big one. It matters not.


Add a tablespoon of butter.


Soften it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Don't melt, just soften.


Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar until it's fluffy and creamy, maybe 30 seconds.


Now you can add some egg. you don't have to, but without egg it's more crumbly and less cake-y. You can do a whole egg, but I like to break the egg into a ramekin and stir it up, then split it between two cups of coffee cake, or just use half for one coffee cake. But really, play it by ear. Try it out and see what tastes best to you.


Then stir in 2 tablespoons of sour cream and a few drops of vanilla. We're talking droplets here, don't add too much.

Stir in 1/4 cup of flour and 1/8 teaspoon baking poweder.

If you want some crumb topping (you know you do), in a separate ramekin or bowl add 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.


Smoosh it together with your fingers for a few.


Now back to your cup. Your ingredients are all mixed up, so...


Add the crumb topping mixture to the cup...


Then microwave it. Start with 1 minute, then do 10 seconds more until it's done to your liking. For my microwave, a minute 20 seconds does it perfectly.


It will be REALLY HOT when you take it out of the microwave.


Let it cool down for a few seconds, then dig in.


This is basically a start for a quick microwave coffee cake in a cup recipe, you can adjust to your own tastes and liking, since this is a serving for one after all. I like it just like this, but my husband doesn't mind it without the egg. You may want more of this or less of that to suit your tastes. I look forward to hearing any adjustments you make and finding out if cake in a cup seems worth it to you. Enjoy!

All This all That-Jilly's New Etsy Store

Hey everyone, I know it's been awhile and it's going to be a little longer until I get to update about Oprah, and the weekend in Vegas speaking, and just life, but I wanted to tell you about my new adventure. I have started an Etsy store and I would really appreciate some feedback. Just click on the link below and it will take you right to my store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AllThisAllThat?ref=pr_shop

Look around, see what you think of my items for sale, and let me know how you feel about the prices. I also make everything to personally for my customers. The earrings are made with the color scheme they request. The topiary and wands are their choice too. I can make signs that they want, or any wreath with something they have in mind. I'm just really trying to cater to my customers and allow them to have my creativity as well. So, thanks so much in advance for checking out my store. It really means a lot to me! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

I will update my blog about everything this weekend....I PROMISE!

Love always,

Jilly

Sausage and Cottage Cheese Stuffed Shells Casserole

Who doesn't love a good pasta dish?  And what Mom doesn't love a good Casserole?  I have brought the 2 together to make an amazing dish!  Mom's love casseroles because they are easy and delicious.  And everyone loves pasta because it's so filling, yummy, and just reminds you of being home.  So here is a yummy casserole that I know your whole family will enjoy.  I promise they will even have seconds, and leftovers (if there are any!)  

Oh, and just a fun side note, you can make this dish ahead of time and freeze so you can have a dinner on hand on any given day!  I love it when I have this in my freezer!  Trust me, it's waaaaaay better than a stouffers meal.  :)

Ingredients

1 12oz package jumbo pasta shells

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion

1 pound Italian ground sausage

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 large egg

16oz cottage cheese

10oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, chopped further (or 10 ounces chopped fresh spinach)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 28oz can tomatoes with herbs, including the liquid, tomatoes broken up (or your favorite tomato or pasta sauce)

2 9x13 shallow baking dishes

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (just dump in about 2 Tbsp of salt). Cook the pasta shells according to the instructions on the package. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage to the pan, breaking up the sausage into smaller bits. Cook sausage until cooked through, and no pink remains. Add the garlic and cook until you can smell it really really well (about 30 seconds is all you'll need). Remove pan from heat.

Beat the egg lightly in a large bowl. Mix in the cottage cheese, chopped spinach, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, basil, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and sausage mixture. Fill each cooked pasta shell with some of the cottage cheese, spinach, sausage mixture.

Spread 1/2 cup chopped canned tomatoes over the bottom of each of the baking dishes. Arrange the stuffed pasta shells in the dishes. Spread the remaining tomatoes over the top of the pasta shells.

(At this point you can make ahead, to freeze (up to four months) or refrigerate before cooking. If freezing, cover with foil, then wrap with plastic wrap.)

Heat oven to 375°F. Cover the pans with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese, bake uncovered for 10 more minutes until cheese is melted and a little brown on top.

This will serve about 8 people, depending on how much each person eats.

Peanut Butter and Honey Granola Bars

I'm so sorry to all my followers!!  I haven't posted for awhile because I was out of town on a speaking engagement down in Las Vegas.  Then I came home and got sick.  No fun, but I'm back and I have an amazingly delicious treat that I just learned how to make.

I really love anything with honey, and when I use honey I always use Cox honey.  I really like local, fresh, and raw honey, but you can use whatever you would like.  

These bars are delicious, nutritious, and very filling.  I like to pack them in my husbands lunch for school.  It helps him stay full throughout his long days at school.  Anything I can do to keep his brain working is a good thing, so try it for your kids as they head out the door to school.  It's the perfect snack in between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner.  Here's the recipe...

With Chocolate Chips

 Ingredients
1 egg white
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (you can use raw, but I use Jif)
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon (optional, but I feel like it gives this treat a really yummy fall taste)
3 cups Old Fashioned Oats (don't use instant or steel cut)
1 stick melted REAL butter (you know me, and everything is made with real butter.  If you need a substitute though you can use your favorite kind of oil)
1/2 cup golden raisins (you can also use dried cranberries instead which is a good little addition if you're not a fan of raisins, but I love the golden.  If you want a sweeter version you can also add chocolate chips here too.  I'll add a picture of both kinds on this post)


Directions
Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper, so that the parchment paper extends over the edges of the pan. Set rack in the oven to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350°F.

With a mixer, beat the egg white until frothy. Beat in the honey. Beat in the peanut butter. Add the oats. Sprinkle on the cinnamon. Pour the melted butter over everything and stir until well combined. Stir in the raisins.

With Golden Raisins

Spread the mixture over the bottom of the parchment paper-lined baking dish in an even layer.


Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes, until nicely browned on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the baked granola from the pan by lifting the edges of the parchment, and place on a cutting board. Use a long sharp knife to cut into 12 to 16 bars.

Let cool completely before eating.