Beef and Cheddar Macaroni Casserole

by penji1

This is a casserole that I used to make a lot when my kids were little because it was a dish that everyone liked and would eat.  I don’t make it a lot anymore but my friend Lori requested it when I offered to make them dinner tonight.  She has little and big kids at home still so it’s something they all can agree on too!  Can’t remember where I got this recipe from, I’ve had it for a long time.  The original recipe didn’t call for green beans but I started adding them in somewhere along the way in order to sneak more veggies in on the kids.

1 pound hamburger

1 onion, chopped

1 (15 1/2 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 (8 oz) package elbow macaroni, cooked and cooled

1 can green beans, drained

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Heat oven to 350.  Cook hamburger and onion until beef is cooked through.  Combine all ingredients, using 1 cup of cheese.  Pour in 11 x 7″ pan.  Bake, covered, 20 minutes or until heated through and bubbling.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 5 additional minutes or until cheese is melted.

Leftover Candy Cake with Chocolate Marshmallow Glaze

by penji1

A cake for our friends, the Whites.  I found the cake recipe on a website called http://www.cdkitchen.com and the glaze recipe on another website called http://www.ezinearticles.com.  Smells heavenly!  The cake is another way to use some leftover Halloween candy.  I used Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, both the chocolate and the white kind, in the cake and then chopped up some more chocolate ones to put on top of the cake.

cake:

2 cups coarsely chopped leftover candy

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I left this out, a lot of people don’t like it)

1 cup sour cream

glaze:

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 cup chocolate chips

3 tablespoons marshmallow creme

1 – 2 tablespoons hot water

1 Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a tube or bundt pan (10 – 12 cup capacity) and dust with fine bread crumbs.  (I just used the baking Pam with flour.)  Tap out excess crumbs.

2  Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.  Cream butter until soft, add vanilla, almond extract and sugar and mix well.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each.  On low, alternate adding dry ingredients with sour cream.  Place 1 1/2 cups batter in prepared pan.  Add candies to remaining batter, fold in gently.  Pour this batter into pan over plain batter.  Bake 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean.  Cool 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool.

3  Prepare glaze:  bring sugar and 3 tablespoons water to a boil.  Remove from heat and immediately add chocolate chips, stirring until melted.  (I had to use a whisk to get it smooth.)  Blend in marshmallow creme and enough hot water until glaze is of pouring consistency.

 

Bountiful Basket #11

by penji1

Today’s Bountiful Basket was quite the haul!  Can’t wait to make some vegetable soup!  Here’s what we got:

5 tomatoes

4 red bell peppers

4 Mexican grey squash (similar to zucchini)

1 head cabbage

2 heads broccoli

2 bulbs fennel

7 Fuji apples

7 Beurre Bosc pears

4 kiwis

6 oz blackberries

1 baby watermelon

7 bananas

If you are curious about Bountiful Baskets and want to find out if they are available in your area, check out http://www.bountifulbaskets.org.  All this can be yours for just $15!

Purple and Orange Bollywood Fondant Birthday Cake

by penji1

Here is our stab at a Bollywood birthday cake for Courtney’s friend Becca’s daughter Bree who is turning 15.  I baked the cake in the 2 smallest topsy turvy pans I have, which are 6″ and 8″.  The cake is Red Velvet so when they cut into it, it is going to be even more colorful!  I adapted the White Almond Sour Cream cake recipe for Red Velvet by using a Red Velvet cake mix (Duncan Hines was the only brand I could find that makes one) and using real buttermilk for the liquid and I used my favorite Buttercream frosting of course.  The purple and orange fondants are the Duff brand and the pink is white Pettinice that Cort colored pink.  We got the little dangly things with the jewels at Michaels.  Not too bad for a first attempt at a Bollywood cake.  Happy Birthday Bree!

Make Some Whoopie Pies

by penji1

Here is whoopie pie recipe #2 from Wendy Paul’s “101 Gourmet Cookies for Everyone”.  These came our rounder and firmer and smaller than the other ones.  There were some of these leftover and they are delicious!

cookies:

1/2 cup butter, soft

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons food coloring (she suggests coloring the actual cookies themselves but because I was rolling them in sugar, I decided not to do this)

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons cocoa

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

filling:

1 stick butter, room temperature

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 – 4 tablespoons milk or cream (I used heavy cream because I had some leftover in my fridge)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme

1  Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla, food coloring and milk.

2  Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl.  Gently add dry ingredients into wet and mix until just combined.  Drop onto parchment lined cookie sheets in 1″ balls, using cookie scoop.  Batter will be really thick.

3  Bake at 375 for 8 – 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

4  Make filling:  Beat butter until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.  Add sugar, 3 tablespoons milk and vanilla.  Beat filling, starting on slow, increasing speed until filling is nice and creamy.  Add up to 1 more tablespoon milk if frosting is too thick.  Fold in marshmallow creme.

5  Frost half of the cookies with the filling.  Top with remaining half of cookies.  Roll in sugar if desired.  Store leftovers in airtight container up to 5 days.

Halloween Whoopie Pies

by penji1

Last night we had our Evening of Excellence for the young women and I was in charge of the treat so I decided to make whoopie pies.  I found this recipe in a magazine (can’t remember which one).  It was meant for Halloween as they had rolled the edges of the pies in orange sanding sugar but I saw it and thought that I could do the same thing for the girls with all the value colors.  I had to make a lot of whoopie pies so I tried out 2 different recipes (2nd one to follow), these were the definite favorite, there weren’t even any left so I didn’t get to try them!  They were flatter and softer and bigger but I used the same filling for both.

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup nonpareils or sanding sugar for decoration

1  Preheat oven to 375.  In medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2  Beat 1/2 cup butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat until smooth.  Alternately add flour mixture and applesauce, beginning and ending with flour.  Mix just until smooth (do not overmix).

3  Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 2″ apart, onto 2 baking sheets (I lined mine with parchment paper).  Bake until toothpick inserted in center of a cookie comes out clean, 10 – 14 minutes.  With a thin metal spatula, immediately transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.

4  Meanwhile, make filling:  Beat vanilla and remaining butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

5  Spread bottom of half the cookies with 1 tablespoon filling each; sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently so filling oozes out slightly.  Sprinkle exposed filling with nonpareils (I poured some sugar in a bowl and then rolled the edges of the pies around in the bottom of the bowl, it was easier than trying to sprinkle the sugar on).  Let rest 15 minutes to set.  (Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.)

Just a note from me – I used the filling from the other whoopie pie recipe (“Make Some Whoopie Pies”) in both these pies and in the other ones.

Halloween Pretzels with Fingernails

by penji1

Here is my Halloween treat for this year – pretzels with fingernails!  I wanted to make these last year but waited too long to buy the mold, they were sold out when I went to buy it so this year I bought it early at Michaels along with a bag of orange candy melts and a bag of lavender candy melts (both taste like vanilla) then all you need is a bag of rod pretzels which I found at my local grocery store.  Melt the candy melts in the microwave for about 30 seconds at a time until melted and smooth then I used 1 of my cake fondant tools to “paint” the fingernails with 1 color, placed it in the fridge until set then poured about a teaspoon of the other color into the mold, set a pretzel in there and twisted it carefully until it was covered in candy, added more candy as needed, placed in fridge for 10 – 15 minutes until set and then popped them out of the mold.  They have the pretzel clear treat bags at Michaels or Roberts craft stores which are just perfect for displaying and giving.  Happy Halloween everyone!

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Ground Beef and Black Bean Chili

by penji1

We almost always have chili and corn bread for dinner on Halloween so this year I thought I’d try a new chili recipe.  This recipe comes from http://www.about.com.  It was really, really good!

1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin or extra lean ground beef

1 large sweet onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 large garlic cloves, minced (or pressed)

1 (4 oz) can chopped mild green chile peppers

2 (14.5 oz each) cans diced tomatoes

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder or more chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon leaf oregano

dash chipotle chile powder, optional

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

salt and pepper to taste

In a large deep skillet or Dutch oven, brown beef, add onion and bell pepper and saute until onion is tender.  Add remaining ingredients.  Simmer over low heat for 1 – 2 hours or transfer to crock pot and cook on low 4 – 6 hours.

Dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen

by penji1

Last post on our Disneyland food experiences and then it’s on to Halloween!  My husband Bob got our Disneyland package through Costco Travel and in addition to our hotel and park hopper tickets, it came with some other extra things such as 2 free Disney lanyards and Buzz Lightyear pins, 2 free Buzz Lightyear luggage tags, a $25 gift card, early admission to Toontown, early admission to Disneyland, preferred seating for 4 of the shows and a free dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen.  I highly recommend Costco Travel, the price for the hotel and passes were great and then they threw in all this other stuff.  The dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen was almost $90 but for us it was completely free!  Goofy’s Kitchen is located inside the Disneyland Hotel and if you have little kids, it would be an awesome place to have dinner.  It’s a buffet with choices for both kids and adults, peanut butter and jelly pizza to prime rib, yum!  When you arrive, chef Goofy greets you and you have your picture taken with him (which I didn’t buy so can’t post) then they seat you and you can help yourself to the buffet then as you eat the characters come to you.  Here is Courtney (and 1 of me) with the characters.

We saw Snow White,

Dale,

Pluto,

and the Mad Hatter!

And here is a picture of my dessert plate with a piece of lemon cake, a chocolate cupcake, a cream puff, creme brulee and a dish of ice cream with heath bar on top and no, I did not eat it all but I did try it all!  (I didn’t get a picture of my dinner plate with the fantastic prime rib because I was so hungry that I forgot to take a pic!).  So check out Goofy’s Kitchen, especially if you have small kids, it would be worth the $!

 

 

Mickey Shaped Beignets

by penji1

Every time we go to Disneyland, we always go to New Orleans Square and get fritters at the Mint Julep Bar (right across from the train depot) so Courtney and I went to the Mint Julep Bar this time and they don’t do fritters anymore!  Bummer!  Instead they have Mickey shaped Beignets which, while not nearly as good as the fritters, were a pretty good mid-morning snack which I’m sure little kids would really love!