Poppyseed Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

You could call this "bread" to make yourself feel better. But with all the goodness that goes into it, I thought I'd better be honest with myself and call it what it is. Cake....or just plain ole poppyseed goodness.

This is a recipe from my sweet mother-in-law. I'm so glad I married into a family that loves good food too! What a relief!

I made this for some sweet girls in my neighborhood and they loved it. That's always a relief when I make something for the first time for other people. Why am I always doing that? It's risky. But this one turned out FANtastic.

Enjoy!

{POPPYSEED BUNDT CAKE}

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3 c. flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
2 c. sugar
1 ½ c. milk
1 c. oil
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 ½ tsp. almond extract

3 T. poppy seeds

Orange Glaze:
¾ c. powdered sugar
2 T. orange juice ½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond
2 T. melted butter

Prepare bundt pan by generously spraying with cooking oil. Be sure to spray the middle piece too! Flour the pan, by putting a small amount in and turning the pan to coat evenly. 

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, milk, oil, eggs, vanilla, almond, and poppy seeds. Blend with hand mixer for 2 minutes or until completely incorporated. Add dry ingredients to the poppy seed mixture and blend until mixed together. 

Pour into bundt pan and bake at 350° for 1 hour. 

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before inverting onto a large plate or platter. Prepare glaze and pour over warm cake. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. 

FRESH Peach Cobbler

 This is Autumn Heaven in my household. I absolutely LOVE fresh peaches. My husband absolutely LOVES cobbler. And of course, my 3-year-old LOVES any sweet treat. 

This was so fabulous, the 2nd night we were having the leftovers after the wee-one went to bed. But his little nose caught on and sure enough he was crawling down the hall to see what Mom & Dad were doing behind his back.

"What are you eating?" came a tiny little voice from the dark.

CRASH! As our forks hit our bowls.

"Uhh, nothing honey, just go back to bed."

Yep, that wasn't going to work. I felt so guilty I just had to give him a taste...of cheese...as I sent him back to bed!

Parents of the year award, right here.

Enjoy!

P.S. The cobbler topping on this is the BEST I've ever tried. No doubt. Divine.

{FRESH PEACH COBBLER}

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THE PEACHES

8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. cornstarch

THE COBBLER
1 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 T. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 c. boiling water

THE MAGIC DUST
3 T. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

  

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine peaches, sugar, brown sugar,  cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. 

While that bakes, in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture is coarsely mixed together. Stir in water until just combined. 

Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of cobbler batter over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture, aka "the magic dust." Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Zucchini Nut Brownies

This is yet another way to use up your zucchini. It's always great to take a vegetable out of your garden and make it into a sweet dessert, right?

I have to say these were good, but I think I'd prefer zucchini bread or cake. But talk to my husband about it because I think he ate the whole pan by himself, bascially. So, they must have been good.

Enjoy!!

{ZUCCHINI NUT BROWNIES}
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1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 c. zucchini, shredded
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped
(I also had to add a couple tablespoons water because it was too dry, which could have been because my zucchini had been sitting half-cut in the fridge for a few days and lost some moisture.)

FROSTING:
6 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c. margarine
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9x13" baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares. 

Source: allrecipes.com

Buffalo Chicken Dip & WARNING

WARNING: This dip is HIGHLY addictive.

My sister-in-law, Tiffany, is responsible for this. She made it for my mom's birthday bash. There it sat on the corner of the island. People kept trying to get away from it, but it just kept taunting us back. It is so yummy, so delicious, so sinfully good. This would be the perfect football game snack. 

Tis the season, like it or not. 

Enjoy!

P.S. Aren't those the MOST beautiful finger-tips in the picture? Thank you Amy. haha.

{BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP}

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2 (8-oz.) pkg cream cheese
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. Ranch dressing
2 cans chicken
1 c. hot sauce (yes, I said one cup!)


Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 baking pan. Blend cream cheese, cheddar cheese, ranch, chicken, and hot sauce. Pour into prepared pan. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serve with tortilla strips.

Waffle Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Remember these divine treats? Well this is the same idea, but simplified. 

Simplified. That is my new personal theme. I'm trying to simplify and stream-line my life. Prioritize and dump unnecessary things off my to-do this.

So, this is perfect. As much as I LOVE those German Chocolate variety, these are simple. And MUCH quicker than regular brownies. You'll be eating these in minutes.

They'll also be GONE in minutes. They're that good. 

Enjoy!

{WAFFLE BROWNIES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING}

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1 cube margarine, melted
7 T. cocoa
4 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ c. white sugar
2 c. flour
½ tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Mix margarine, cocoa, eggs and vanilla together. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, salt. Mix dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture. Fold in nuts. Drop the batter by tablespoonful onto hot waffle iron. Close and cook for one minute. 

{CREAM CHEESE FROSTING}

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1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cubes butter (12 T.), room temperature
1/2 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. powder sugar

Cream the cheese and butter together on low speed with a mixer.  Scrape the bowl. Add lemon juice and vanilla. Mix together. Add powder sugar on low until incorporated.  Mix on med-high for 3 minutes to make the frosting a bit lighter. Chill for 1/2 hour to stiffen up before using.

Sunflower Cake

This is for my beautiful mother. She is my hero, my strength, and my best friend. This was the cake I made for her birthday this year. A few years ago I did the same thing, only on cupcakes. 

It's darling and it goes pretty quickly! Just practice first, ok?

Also, make sure you get a good decorating frosting. Did you know that you can buy frosting from the bakery? Try it! Then, you'll for sure know it's good. 

But you know how I "cheated" on this? I made my favorite chocolate frosting to cover the cake.

And then I used canned frosting. Did you gasp out-loud? I know I'm the queen of "do everything from scratch." But I can't be perfect all the time. That, and I'm learning that sometimes it really is ok to cheat (not on your spouse, just with ingredients--just want to clarify).

Oh, so then I added powdered sugar to the canned frosting until it came to a stiff consistency. See how the sunflower petals stick up? Just stick a spoon in your frosting and tip it. If the peaks stand similar to the petal, you're good to go.

Let me know if you have questions!

{SUNFLOWER CAKE}

Favorite frosting (or canned with added powdered sugar--see above)

Orange & yellow food coloring (I prefer the paste coloring)

Icing Decorating Bags

Leaf tip #67 (or bigger if you prefer)

Oreos

Red MnM's

Arrange Oreos over cake (or one per cupcake) to your preference. 

Color the icing with orange and yellow until it reaches your preferred color. Spoon icing into decorating bag with leaf tip.

Hold tip against Oreo edge and gently squeeze and pull up as you let go to form a petal. Repeat around edges of all Oreos.

Place red MnM's around for ladybugs. You can add small dots to the candies for the ladybug spots.

Lemon Basil Chicken Salad

This is another delicious dish from my friend, Shannon. This was very sophisticated and different from any chicken salad I've had. I'm excited to serve this at the next shower I host (anyone getting married or having a baby?)

And usually people think of chicken salad as being a "woman food." You know, like I just mentioned for a shower. But I have to say that I made this for dinner and I think my husband ate more than I did. So it does please both sexes. 

Try it and enjoy!

{LEMON BASIL CHICKEN SALAD}

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4 c. chicken, cooked & diced

1 rib celery, minced

1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped

1/4 c. silvered almonds, toasted

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. mayo

1/4 c. red onion, chopped

1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice 

zest from lemon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine ingredients and chill for a couple hours before serving. You can serve with bread or on a bed of lettuce.

Most Delicious Potstickers

 

I know I've talked about my friend MaryAnn before {be sure to check out her food blog too!}. But this girl is an amazing cook and an even more amazing person. I look up to her in many ways. I went to a cooking demo where she taught us how to make these and I've been so excited to try them for myself! By the way, this post is straight from her blog (I did manage to at least take my own pictures).

They were fabulous! We got so sick "overdosing" on these puppies. We just couldn't stop eating them. I served these and edamame for dinner and it was a hit! 

Except next time, I think I'll just make half because we literally were unbuttoning our top pant button because we gorged ourselves. Or like MaryAnn says in her tips below, freeze half!

Thank you MaryAnn!

Enjoy!

{POTSTICKERS}

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1 lb ground pork
1/2-3/4 package coleslaw mix 

1 package won ton wrappers (in the produce section of all grocery stores)
1 tsp. salt 

3-4 green onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced 

1/8 tsp. ginger, grated

Mix ground pork with about half of the package of coleslaw mix, salt, onions, garlic and ginger. Place about a Tablespoon of the meat mixture on a won ton wrapper.

Put some water in a bowl and with either your finger or a pastry brush, wet all four sides of the wrapper.  Then fold 2 corners together, pressing them together.

 Then bring up the other 2 corners, sealing it all together.

Using a NONSTICK skillet, place a little bit of oil in the pan, then place each pot stickers in the pan. You'll have to do the potstickers in batches.

Saute over med/med-hi heat until the bottoms are a golden brown.

This is the tricky part.  At this point you need to add some water to the pan.  You need enough that it will last for the whole steaming process, but not too much.  Star with about a 1/2 cup.  As soon as you pour the water in, cover immediately.  Steam with cover on for 5-7 minutes, until pork is completely cooked through.

Remove cover and serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Helpful Hints from MaryAnn:

*If you run out of water during the steaming process before they are done, add a little more and continue to steam

* You can add any other ingredients or seasoning that you want. You can also try using different ground meats, like chicken. (I have only used pork, but I bet others would work fine)

* We like to dip these in soy sauce that has a little bit of red wine vinegar drizzled into it

*You can freeze these.  After you have them assembled, freeze them in a single layer, after they are frozen, you can put them in a ziplock.  Then take them out and cook them from the frozen state, don't thaw first.  You will just need to increase your cooking time, and probably use more water.

* To make egg rolls instead of pot stickers, buy the egg roll wrappers (or you can make mini egg rolls with these wrappers).  Add the whole package of coleslaw mix instead of just half.  You can also add things like rice noodles, and bean sprouts.  Wrap them up egg roll style, starting with a corner, then tucking in the side corners (kinda like rolling up a burrito). Fry them in about 1/2 inch of oil, turning over once.

*These are fun to make for a group when you have everyone help you assemble them.

Zucchini Muffins

These little suckers were really good and super fast to throw together. You don't even need to peel the zucchini. They were super tasty with scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes too! 

We froze half the muffins for later, when we're not so "zucchini'd-out."

I found the recipe on this cute little blog. 

Enjoy!

{ZUCCHINI MUFFINS}

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3 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

2/3 c. butter, melted (plus 1 T. for later)

2 tsp. vanilla

Zest from 1-2 lemons

3 c. grated un-peeled zucchini

Whisk together, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat together sugar and eggs until creamy.  Add the 2/3 cup melted butter, vanilla and lemon zest and mix well.  Add the shredded zucchini and mix to combine.  Last, add the dry ingredients and mix just until blended.  Batter will be very thick.  Melt one Tablespoon butter and using a pastry brush, brush all over the muffin cups.  Do this instead of using cooking spray.  Distribute batter evenly between greased muffin cups, filling completely full. Bake at 350 degrees for 21-23 minutes for regular muffins or 30-32 minutes for jumbo muffins.  Muffins will be browned and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.    

Yellow Squash Casserole

Obviously, I'm needing to use up things we're finding in our garden. It's a great problem to have actually. And things just taste so much better when they are picked fresh in your yard. Believe me. 

This was so yummy and really quick to put together. It reminded me a lot of my husbands favorite zucchini casserole, but quicker and easier...and "yellow-er." Er... something.

Enjoy!

{YELLOW SQUASH CASSEROLE} 

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4 c. yellow squash, thinly sliced

1/2 c. onion, chopped

35 buttery round crackers, crushed

1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c. milk

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 tsp. salt

Ground black pepper, to taste

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a 9x13 baking dish by spraying with cooking oil. Place squash, onion, and a small amount of water in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover, and cook until squash is tender {about 5 minutes}. Drain well, and place in a large bowl. 

In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.