Cake Batter Blondies

There are two blondie recipes I'm attempting. I attempted the Cake Batter Blondie the other night when J's family came over for dessert. It was a hit! Super easy since it comes from a box of cake mix too. I served it warm with vanilla ice cream on top.

Cake Batter Blondies
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 c milk (stir in slowly)
1/4 c sprinkles

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350
Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl
Add milk slowly - you want the batter to remain as dense as possible so they are more "blondie" than cake
Mix the sprinkles in last
Spread into an 8x8 baking dish or pan
Bake 25-30 minutes

Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken

I made this for supper tonight and it turned out rather tasty. I was afraid it would turn out to have too much heat to it, but alas it was perfect. It was very flavorful. The recipe will easily fill 4 chicken breasts. I only used 2 and had a good portion of the cream cheese mix left over.

Jalapeno Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients:
2 slices bacon, cooked/crumbled (I used turkey bacon)
2 jalapenos, chopped (seeds removed for less kick)
6 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 c breadcrumbs
2 T lime juice
1 T olive oil
4 chicken breasts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450
Line a baking dish or pan with foil and spray
Combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, onion, jalapenos, and bacon
Mix olive oil and lime juice (I also added a dash of salt and pepper)
Flatten chicken
Fill chicken with 2 T of the mix, roll, and hold shut with toothpick
Dip chicken in olive oil mix
Dip in breadcrumbs
Place in dish and bake for 25-30 minutes

Blueberry Yum Yum

Once again, summers are for desserts that include blueberries and lemon! This dessert was delicious. I do believe the crust was my favorite part of the whole thing. I suppose you could use other pie fillings as well. I think cherry and strawberry would both work nicely with this recipe.

Blueberry YumYum
1st layer
Ingredients:
1/2 c butter (1 stick margarine)
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1 c self-rising flour (however I used my gluten free flour)
1 c pecans, chopped fine
Directions:
Preheat over to 350
Mix all ingredients until crumbly
Press in bottom of 9x13 baking dish
Bake 15-20 minutes

2nd layer
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz cool whip
2 c powdered sugar
Directions:
Mix ingredients together until smooth
Spread over completely cooled crust (I put it in the freezer to speed up the cooling process)

3rd layer
Ingredients:
21 oz blueberry pie filling
Whipped topping, optional (I did not use the topping)
Directions:
Spread over cream cheese layer
Cover and refrigerate several hours before serving.

From Scratch Banana Pudding

We were attending a get together with some friends and I was in charge of dessert. I always try to do something different and I'm allergic to cinnamon and J is allergic to chocolate. So....our dessert options are usually pretty limited. I'm researching and expanding out dessert menu though! A friend asked if I had a banana pudding recipe because she loves it. Well...I had one in my cookbook, but I had never made it. I stepped out of my comfort zone and it turned out pretty tasty. It was a little sweeter than I anticipated but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I actually made two new desserts that evening and will post the other recipe later.

From Scratch Banana Pudding
Ingredients for pudding:
2/3 c sugar
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
2 c milk
2 eggs, separated (whites for meringue)
1 t vanilla
3 bananas
vanilla wafers
Ingredients for meringue:
2 egg whites
1/4 c sugar

Directions for pudding:
-In a sauce pan combine sugar, flour, and salt. Mix in milk, egg yolks, and vanilla. Bring to a rolling boil and cook until thick. (Mine never came to a rolling boil, it just got thick)
-Line a baking dish with vanilla wafers and pour pudding over wafers, then top with sliced bananas. Continue to layer wafers, pudding, and bananas until pan is full.
-Cover with meringue
Directions for meringue:
-Preheat oven to 425
-Beat egg whites until stiff, then slowly add sugar
-Done when it forms a peak when you remove beaters
-Spread over pudding and bake until golden brown on top

Kitchen Tip

The other week I was at my parents and my dad was making tea. J is a big tea drinker and it's always a bummer when it's so freshly made that it's still warm. Well...I don't know why this never crossed my mind, but my dad  put a little bit of water in and then was filling a large glass full of ice and putting it in the pitcher and stirring it until it melted and then adding more! Voila! When he was done stirring and the ice was melted down, the tea was cold! I then carried the practice over to when I was making some pink lemonade the other day. It did not need near as much ice since there was nothing hot involved. Sheer genius. I love little things that make life simpler.

Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast bars get so expensive to purchase and often have lots of sugar in them. These will even be easy to make when school starts back up and we're both super busy. J and our friend A ate them right up. We still have a load in the freezer too! It took me a little over an hour to make these, but it was way cheaper than the nasty trash bars we were buying and I'm pretty sure I could have done it more efficiently and will work on shaving some time off next time I make them!

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

2 lb bacon, crumbled (I used turkey)

2 lb breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean reduced fat)

1 large onion, chopped

1 c diced bell pepper (I just used a large green bell)

20 eggs

36 fajita sized flour tortillas

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp)

Directions:

1. I cook my bacon in the microwave on a strainer. If you don't, this is the step you cook them in the skillet ;) Drain the grease from the bacon and set the bacon aside on a paper towel.

2. In a skillet brown and crumble the sausage until cooked through. Drain and set sausage aside on paper towels.

3. Saute the onion and bell pepper until the onion is translucent and the peppers are on the softer side.

4. While the onion and pepper are cooking, crack and scramble those 20 eggs! (I've heard suggestions to scramble large amounts in a blender...but I hate cleaning my blender :))

5. Once the bell pepper and onion are cooked, add the eggs and cook just as you would for regular ol scrambled eggs. Once they're cooked, add the bacon and sausage back to the mix.

6. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let sit about 5 minutes.

7. Warm your tortillas (I used the microwave) to prevent them from cracking when you make the burritos

8. Use 1/4 c filling for each burrito

9. Continue making them until you run out of filling!

Once all of your burritos are made place them in a freezer bag and seal, removing as much air as possible. Frozen burritos will store for 2-3 months in regular freezer bags! With a food saver they should last 5-6 months.

To eat, wrap loosely in a paper towel, place on a plate in the microwave and cook for 1 minute on each side. J put Louisiana on his and A used a little salsa!

*You could stretch the recipe even further by cooking up some hash browns and using them as added filler for the burritos!

The BIG 5-0

Wishing my wonderful mother-in-law a happy 50th birthday!

She doesn't look a day over 29 ;)