Berry Smash Muffins

Food Link to recipe

TOTAL TIME
23 mins

PREP 5 mins

COOK 18 mins

These are very easy, fun for kids, and taste great! From The Rainbow Bakery children's cookbook by Gold Medal.
INGREDIENTS
YIELDS  12 muffins
1 2⁄3 cups fresh strawberries (reserve juices)
2⁄3 cup sugar
1⁄3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1⁄2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 425 F.
Put a paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or grease just the bottoms of 12 muffin cups.
Slightly smash strawberries in large bowl, using fork.
Stir in sugar, oil and eggs until mixed.
Stir in other ingredients just until moistened.
Spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick poked in center comes out clean.
Cool 5 minutes.
Loosen sides of muffins from pan if needed, and take them out of the pan.
Makes 12 muffins.
Tip: If you do not have fresh strawberries, you can use frozen strawberries that you have thawed and drained.

After reading the reviews I decided to make a strawberry cream cheese glaze.

1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 large tablespoon of whipped cream cheese

3 to 4 tablespoons of reserved strawberry juice

Mix together until smooth and slightly runny,

Meatloaf

I never seem to get a good picture of the finished product.. oh well, it tasted wonderful.  Sometimes you just need a good old fashioned Comfort Meal!

Here's what you need.

1 pound ground beef 90-10%

1/2 pound pork sausage  (I used RB Rice Medium Spice)

1 sleeve soda crackers-ground into crumbs

1/3 cup your favorite BBQ sauce (I used Mauls)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 cup diced onion (generous)

2 large cloves of garlic minced

2 tablespoons butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pre Heat Oven 350 degrees

First melt butter in small frying pan and add diced onions and cook with medium to low heat until onions begin to brown.  Turn off heat and add diced garlic and stir.  Set aside to cool.

In medium bowl add hamburger and sausage, blend; add remaining ingredients, including onion garlic mixture and mix well.

Form meat into a loaf and place in a lined baking pan. (not shown)

Place in oven for 1 hr to 1 hr and 15 minutes.  For the last 15 minutes:  Remove from oven and top with your favorite meatloaf topping, ie tomato paste, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, BBQ sauce, your favorite cheese... the list is endless..

**you can also add 1/2 cup of your favorite cheeses to the meat mixture.  Another suggestion is use Salsa, Chopped Jalapeno Peppers and Taco seasoning, topped with Pepper Jack Cheese.  Leaving out the BBQ sauce and Worcestershire Sauce in the meat mixture..

Blueberry Banana Bread

Blueberry Banana Bread Food Network

Wow, the smell that will fill your kitchen when this is baking is amazing!!!  Even better on a snowy cold day...

I made a mistake with this recipe, I thought the dough could handle a few extra blueberries, wrong!  Only use one (1) cup as directed.  I also used half white sugar and half brown sugar... makes it so VERY rich.

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing the loaf pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the loaf pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed to yield about 3/4 cup of mashed banana
1 cup (about 4 ounces) fresh blueberries
Directions
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9- by 5- by 3-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in the bananas and blueberries. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/blueberry-banana-bread-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Hand Pies Apple

I decided to have a little fun with my apple pie recipe this COLD February day.  There is another version out there by Just A Taste with salted caramel.. Yummmm

This is also an Anniversary for the Old Goat and I, we have officially been best friends for 43 years!!!  Where does time go?

Knorr Vegetable Parmesan Chicken Tenders

I have been having a bit of a pity party at my house for the last couple weeks.... I fell up at the barn and tore my ACL tendon and sprained my knee.  I am finally able to stand for more than a couple minutes at a time without tears running down my face!!  I know, big baby!!  Dr. said if I behave myself...(Ha) the tendon will heal and no surgery!  I just have to wear a big old brace for a while...   Any way I am now starting to feel like cooking again...

I had some chicken tenders in the freezer and a package of Knorr Vegetable Mix I should be able to come up with something that tasted different...

1 package Knorr Vegetable Mix

1/2 cup Mayonnaise (generous)

1/2 cup sour cream (generous)

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese plus more for sprinkling on top of the chicken

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

12 chicken tenders

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the first six (6) ingredients together, set aside.  Do not add any additional salt to the chicken.  To prepare the pan, first spray with Pam.  Next take 1/3 of the mayo mixture and spread evenly on the bottom of the pan.  Lay the chicken tenders on top of the mayo mixture and cover the tenders with the remaining  mayo mixture.  Top with more Parmesan Cheese and a sprinkle of Panko bread crumbs.  You can also add additional basil or parsley to the topping.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes.  Internal temperature should read 165 degrees.  To get desired Browning, place pan under a low broiler setting for a couple minutes just before you are ready to serve.

Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Tuaca Liqueur

2  Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1   Cup Whole Milk
1/4 Cup Butter (Melted)
3   Eggs Beaten
1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
1/4 cup chopped Pecans
1 oz. Tuaca Vanilla Citrus Liqueur

6-8 cups of Cinnamon Bread (stale) Cubed
Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Bread Recipe

Directions
Step 1 In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, melted butter and liqueur together. Add the sugar, chopped Pecans. Mix well.

Step 2 Cut the bread into 1-inch pieces. Gently stir the bread pieces into the egg mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 3 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, while the pudding soaks.

Step 4 Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

Step 5 Pour the pudding mixture into the baking dish. If desired, sprinkle the top with a little sugar.

Step 6 Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes. When cooked a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Step 7 Serve warm with egg custard sauce or vanilla ice cream.

Cream Cornbread Casserole

If you do not keep a box of corn muffin mix you can mix this up (which is what I did)  After reviewing several recipes, I also added one egg slightly beaten, you can add green chili's and/or use pepper jack cheese to spice things up a little.

Corn muffin mix recipe  (The Quaker Corn Muffin recipe is on their container of Yellow Corn Meal).

1-1/4  cup flour

3/4     cup Quaker Yellow Corn Meal

1/4     cup sugar

2        teaspoons baking powder

1/2     teaspoon salt

Ingredients
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream

1 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes

With out the cheese and the last 10 minutes of cook time.