Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

I made this cake to take to a bishopric dinner.  It was super easy, but tastes like it came from a fancy restaurant.  Light, sweet, and lemony, this cake would be a fun treat for a warm summer day.  I found the recipe here on allrecipes.com.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 cup poppy seeds

• 1 (21 ounce) can lemon pie filling 

• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant lemon pudding mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and vanilla pudding mix. Make a well in the center and pour in eggs, oil water and poppy seeds. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. Spread lemon pie filling over the cooled cake.
4. In a large bowl, mix instant lemon pudding with milk. Mix well and let stand about 5 minutes until fairly set. Fold in thawed whipped topping. Spread over pie filling. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

*I made a two layer cake instead - I put the pie filling in the middle, and used the cool whip/pudding mixture for frosting.

Chocolate-Strawberry-Banana-Pops

Cooking in the kitchen today we have Chef Elsie and Chef Caleb. 

They will be demonstrating how to create

Chocolate Strawberry Banana Pops. 

If you would like to make your own pops, you will need:

More or Less:

1 banana

8 strawberries

2 cups vanilla yogurt

2 cups chocolate ice cream

a blender

Popsicle molds

Wash your strawberries, cut off the tops.  Add to the blender.  Make sure you have a grown-up helping. :)

 Peel your banana.

 Add your banana and yogurt to the blender.

 Add the ice cream - yum!!!

 Blend!

 Pour into your Popsicle molds...add your sticks.

 Place your pops in the freezer.

 Do a crazy dance while you wait for the pops to freeze...

 2 to 3 hours later...wha la!  Delicious Chocolate Strawberry Banana Pop!  If you have a hard time getting your pop out of the mold, run it under hot water for a few seconds.  This will help it to slip right out!

Sweet treat for a happy face!

Sour Cream Cookies

 I loved 'sour cream cookies' as a kid.  I have made them a few times with recipes I found on the Internet, but this is the first time I made them using my Grandma Madeline's recipe.  Ohhhh they are sooooo good!  My family kept stealing cookies while I was making the frosting.  They are good without frosting, but even better with!!!  Eating these cookies was like turning back the clock 25 years! :)

Madeline's Sour Cream Cookies

Cream together:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add:
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream

Mix well.  Add 3/4 cup nuts if desired.
Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes

 Creaming the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.

 Adding the remaining ingredients.

Getting ready to bake.

 Cooling...and about to be snitched!

 Heavenly!  This is Shane's Grandma Allen's cookie plate.  Special cookies deserve a special plate, right?
So the frosting recipe for the cookies isn't exact...I didn't have 'canned cream' so I just subbed milk.  I started with a cube of softened butter, added 2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 - 3 tablespoons milk (ok ok I wasn't measuring!) and about 1 tsp Mapleine.  If you don't have Mapleine you could leave it out or use vanilla.  Then I beat together all ingredients till it was smooth and thickish.  Yes thickish.  Let's all say thickish...not to be confused with ticklish...oh when you spend your time with 5 year olds thickish is funny.  That is, funnyish.  Hee hee...

Doesn't this box look so old fashioned? 

It's like they never changed the label. 

You can make your own maple syrup with Mapleine.  It was really popular in the depression when people couldn't afford maple syrup, they made their own with Mapleine. 

This add is from 1909.

This one is from the 1950's.

Love these old adds.  Ha ha ha..."make delicious syrup instantly!"

Happy baking!

Madeline's Recipe Box

Madeline Jane Snowball Pinborough

So My Dad's birthday is coming up, and I want to make him a carmel cake - not just any carmel cake, but the same carmel cake my Grandma Madeline used to make for him. 

My Grandma Madeline passed away when I was 8; and even though I only knew her for those few years...I still have some lovely memories of her.  I can still remember going to the cabin together at Island Park, family parties on her back porch, and her homemade carmels at Christmas.  I loved my Grandma Madeline. 

My Uncle Tom had all of Madeline's recipes, and my sweet Dad borrowed the box and scanned all 400 of her recipes.   I am sooo excited to try out some these -- it is so thrilling to think I could be cooking some of the same meals for my family today...that she made 50 years ago!  I can't wait to post some of them.  :)  Here is her recipe for Quick Carmel Frosting:

Quick Carmel Frosting

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 lb. powdered sugar

Melt butter and brown sugar

Boil low 2 minutes while stirring

Add milk- stir until boils again

Cool-Beat in powdered sugar

 Madeline is the little girl in this picture.

Madeline is the little girl in this picture too.

Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Bars

We ran out of Cadbury mini eggs and I was craving something chocolate yesterday.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com - it's by Sara Yoder; it has 4.5 stars and 60 ratings.  I love the taste of toasted marshmallows and chocolate in these bars.  Shane said these aren't going to last long!

 ha ha ha...while eating his Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Bar Caleb said "mom, you're the BEST cooker..."(hmmm...this isn't what you said about sloppy joes last night :)) and then he adds "I wonder who invented food."  Whoever it was, they had a good idea.  :)

Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in marshmallows, chips and walnuts. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

* I used butter instead of shortening, and I left out the nuts. Still great.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

You know the brownie mixes that always go on sale for $1? I always buy a bunch because they are so cheap, and you never know when you need a quick dessert. However, my complaint with the cheap brownie mixes is this: they turn out greasy, thin, and they flake apart. At least when I make them! Though they taste pretty good (it is chocolate!) they just don't look pretty. And I like pretty things. So in order to use the 20 boxes of brownie mix in my storage room, I have been trying different recipes for brownie mix cookies. I found this recipe on http://www.cooks.com/, and it turned out lovely. I made a few changes (added peanut butter, and swapped chocolate chips for oats) and the result was heavenly. Chocolate and peanut butter were just meant to go together. And I love the addition of oats - they make the cookie a little chewy. So if you are in the mood for a chocolate peanut butter concoction, grab a cheap brownie mix and give this recipe a try.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies



1 package (21.5 oz) Brownie Mix (milk chocolate or fudge)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oil
3 Tbsp water
2 eggs
1 cup oats
1/2 cup peanut butter


Mix. Bake at 350 for 9 - 11 minutes.

Mom's Carrot Cake

My mom turned 67 this last week. She seems so much younger than that - and I feel too young to have a mother that old! Anyway I wanted to make her something special, and I know she likes carrot cake. So I made my first carrot cake! The cake was easy to make, and it tasted delicious. It was moist and flavorful - better than any store bought carrot cake I've eaten. I'm not trying to brag on myself - it was just a great recipe. I was kind of surprised...because it's still carrot cake, right? I mean, theres like 3 cups of grated carrots in it! I got the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Family Dinner Cookbook by Debbie G. Harman.

Mom's Carrot Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs well beaten

3 cups carrots, finely shredded

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (opt.)

1 cup raisins (opt.)

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, carrots, and oil. Add to flour mixture and stir until well blended. Stir in nuts and raisins if desired. Pour into greased 9 x 13 cake pan and bake at 350 for 35 - 40 minutes or until knife inserted at center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 4 oz pkg. cream cheese

4 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add softened butter and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in powdered sugar until frosting reaches a nice consistency. Makes 2 cups frosting.