Chicken Casserole

This is another super-simple recipe made with things that I almost always have in my pantry and freezer... my favorite type of recipe! It is perfect for a weeknight family meal or even to make for guests. I made it for a church potluck recently and it was a success. It also passed my resident chef's test so I figured I would pass it along! Enjoy!

4 chicken breasts, boiled (reserve broth)
1 stick butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
14-oz. bag Pepperidge Farm cornbread stuffing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 13 x 9" baking dish.
Cut boiled chicken into bite-sized pieces.
Put stuffing in large bowl and set aside.
Melt butter; pour over stuffing and set aside.
Mix 1 cup of chicken broth with cream of mushroom soup.
In another bowl mix 1 cup of chicken broth with cream of chicken soup.
Layer the following in greased baking dish:

1/3 of stuffing mixture
Mushroom soup mixture
1/3 of stuffing mixture
Chicken
Chicken soup mixture
1/3 of stuffing mixture

Bake for 45-60 minutes.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake with Oreo Buttercream Frosting

I confess. I am a chocoholic. The fact that this cake is chocolate AND has an Oreo frosting did not escape my notice. I will not be held responsible for caloric content or fat grams, but I will tell you that it is worth it! You all know that I am a Duncan Hines cake mix girl but this chocolate cake is SO simple to put together and so delicious. I will be making it from now on whenever I need a chocolate cake for anything. It is THAT good. Hope you enjoy!!

FOR THE CAKE:

2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. cocoa powder (Hershey's, of course)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Stir together dry ingredients.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
Beat on medium speed for two minutes.
Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
Pour into two 9" round baking pans that have been generously coated with cooking spray and lined with parchment paper (trust me, this cake will stick if your pans are not properly prepared).
Bake for 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of each cake comes out clean.

While cake is cooling prepare your frosting. You will need:

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. milk or heavy cream
4 c. powdered sugar
16 Oreos, finely crushed 

In a large bowl cream butter, vanilla and milk.
Slowly add in powdered sugar until creamy and fluffy.
Mix in crushed Oreos until well combined.
Spread onto cake after cake has cooled completely.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for a couple of different events recently and they were a hit! My resident chef (AKA Dad) has proclaimed that these now have the distinct honor of being his favorite cookie LOL. They are perfect for Christmas (or any time you can justify baking a yummy batch of cookies!) Hope you enjoy!!

Yield: 70 cookies

1 c. butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. self-rising flour
1 c. oats
1 1/2 c. dried cranberries
1 c. white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugars.
Add one egg and mix until fully incorporated, then add second egg and vanilla. Mix.
Add flour gradually, scraping down sides of bowl.
Mix until just incorporated; over-mixing results in tough cookies.
Stir in oats, cranberries and white chocolate chips.
Roll dough into 1/2" balls. (I have found that moistening my hands regularly with water makes this process much easier as this is a very sticky dough).
Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving about 2" between each cookie.
Bake 8-10 minutes, just until edges of cookies are very slightly brown. Don't over-bake!
Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Mama's Fresh Apple Cake

Inspired by my favorite season, fall, I thumbed through my recipes a couple of weeks ago and found my mama's recipe for fresh apple cake. This is one of 10 recipes that she wrote down for me per my request several years ago. Those recipes are such a treasure to me now! The cake turned out beautifully and was very popular with the group who shared it with me. My dad has always said that German chocolate cake was his favorite but when I made this he informed me that it has been replaced by this apple cake. Pretty high compliment! Hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do!


For the cake:
1 1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
3 room-temperature eggs, beaten
3 c. sifted self-rising flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. coarsely chopped apples (I used honeycrisp apples)
1 c. finely chopped pecans

For the icing:
3/4 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar (dark or light,it doesn't really matter)
3/8 c. Eagle Brand milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Cake preparation:
Combine oil and sugar.
Add eggs.
Gradually add flour.
Add vanilla.
Fold in apples and pecans.
Bake in 3 layers (8" pans) at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 300 degrees and bake an additional 15 minutes.

While cake is cooling, prepare the icing:
Bring butter, sugar and milk to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
When icing has cooled, spread on cake.

Pumpkin Cake

I'm baaaackk!!! I am sorry that it has been a while since I last posted anything. Life has just been happening at break-neck speed over the past month or so but I hope to be settling back into somewhat of a routine. Since we are in the midst of my FAVORITE season, Fall, I thought I would share one of my FAVORITE recipes! I have a lot of favorite recipes but this is one that I have made so many times that I have committed it to memory and have been known to tell complete strangers in the grocery store about it. Seriously. The beauty of this recipe is it is an absolutely delicious, moist, perfectly pumpkin cake with to-die-for cream cheese frosting, but I have also made it sans frosting and baked it in a 9x13-in. pan. It is wonderful!! Hope you enjoy.

FOR CAKE:
Duncan Hines spice cake mix (yes, it has to be Duncan Hines to pass the test in my kitchen)
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. water
3 large eggs
15-oz. can Libby's pure pumpkin

FOR FROSTING*:
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 box powdered sugar
8-oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla

*I halved this recipe when I made the cake in the picture because I didn't want to frost the entire cake.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all cake ingredients and pour into two greased 8" cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

While cake is baking, prepare cream cheese frosting. Cream the butter and cream cheese together, then gradually add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed. Add vanilla.

Frost cake once it has completely cooled.

Carrot Souffle

I recently made this for a family dinner and it got rave reviews. Everyone was so anxious to eat that I completely forgot to take a picture though... sorry about that! I had been looking for a carrot souffle recipe for quite a while and as it turns out my BFF Tina had a wonderful one (I should have thought to check with her first LOL). It has certainly taken its place among recipes that I will use time and time again. Try it and let me know what you think!

 2 lbs. peeled carrots, cut in half
3/4 c. plus 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter
3 eggs
Powdered sugar (for sprinkling on top)

Boil carrots until tender; drain.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease an 8 x 8-in. baking dish and sprinkle with 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar.
Mash carrots and add remaining ingredients except eggs.
Add eggs one at a time, making sure they are well-blended into the mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Sprinkle top lightly with powdered sugar before serving.

Slow-Cooked Baby Back Ribs

I spent a recent day off in the kitchen trying out new recipes. This is one of the dishes I tried and it was SO tasty! I love slow cooker recipes because they are so convenient, especially for those extra busy days. These ribs got rave reviews from my resident chef as well as the friends who shared a meal with us. Hope you enjoy!

3 lbs. baby back ribs
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water

That's it. seriously. Four ingredients*! Gotta love it!

Place the ribs in a large slow cooker.
Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over ribs, being sure they are nicely coated.
Pour soy sauce over ribs.
Add water.
Cook on low heat for 8 hours, turning about halfway through the cook time (if you're not going to be home they will still cook just fine without turning them, I just wanted to make sure they were really coated in the juices.)

*When I made these, we loved them without extra sauce but also wanted to experiment with making a sauce for them in case someone preferred them that way. So, my resident chef (aka Dad) combined about 1 1/2 cups of sweet barbecue sauce (we like Sweet Baby Ray's but you can use whatever brand you prefer) with some of the juice that cooked out of the ribs and the sauce was AMAZING!