Sunday, April 20, 2014

Strawberry Shortcake Shells

Today was Easter Sunday! Easter is my very favorite holiday. For one thing, I was born on Easter. Second, I love the reason for Easter. What is more worthy of celebration than the Resurrection of the Savior? Third, it means the beginning of Spring and I love Spring. Fourth, I love the food of Easter. The ham, the chocolate, the potatoes. Mmmm. Just the best.

Well, I had the opportunity to make my very first Easter dinner this year! Everything went fairly well, except for the dessert. I had planned on serving pretzel jello salad, buuuuut I got impatient and added the jello to the pan too soon. Consequently, I ended up with soggy pretzel jello mush instead. I had to come up with a new dessert fast. I had strawberries. I had cool whip. Strawberry shortcakes!! The only thing I needed was the cake shell. I found and adapted this recipe and crossed my fingers. Luckily, it turned out great! The cakes were spongy, but sturdy. Sweet, but not too sweet. Just perfect for strawberry shortcakes.

Lazy Dazy Cake - AllRecipes

Ingredients:
- 2 Whole Eggs
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Pinch Salt
- 1 TB Butter
- 1/2 Cup Milk

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour your cupcake pan.*
2. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. Whisk or sift to remove any lumps.
3. In a larger bowl, beat eggs for about 4 minutes with an electric mixer on high. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture and combine.
4. In a small sauce pan, bring the milk and butter to a boil. Add to the batter and beat until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans. Fill each cupcake about 2/3 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 13 to 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow cakes to cool and remove from the pans by running a knife around the edge of each cake and softly prying from the pan. 

*I used a pan that made 8 oversized cupcakes and they were perfect. I'm sure that you could also use a regular 12 cupcake pan, you may just want to reduce the cook time by a minute or two.



Friday, April 18, 2014

Cheater Turkey Tetrazzini

I usually make my turkey tetrazzini from scratch, but I happened to have an open jar of alfredo sauce in the fridge and decided to create a cheater version. Very quick, very easy, and very yummy. It's a great way to use turkey leftovers.

Ingredients:
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Cup Jarred Alfredo Sauce (I used Ragu brand.)
3/4 lb Spaghetti
1 1/2 Cups Cooked, Cubed Turkey
Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed


Directions:
1. Cook Spaghetti according to directions on package.
2. Combine the soup, chicken broth, alfredo sauce, cubed turkey, and cooked spaghetti in a large bowl. Pour into a casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese and crushed Ritz Cracker crumbs.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

How easy is that?!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Quick Hamburger Buns

I have tried recipe after recipe to find a good roll for hamburger buns. I finally found one that is wonderful and happens to be a very fast dough! Bonus!! I adapted this recipe from Pioneering Today. (No Rise Dinner Rolls). Thanks to Melissa Norris!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cup Warm Water
1 1/2 TB White Sugar
1 1/2 TB Yeast
1 TB Olive Oil
3 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Instructions:
1. Combine water yeast and sugar. Let mixture sit for about 5 minutes until it becomes frothy.
2. Add remaining ingredients to the yeast mixture. Knead for 5-7 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal sections. Form each section into a ball and then flatten the ball to be about 4 inches in diameter. Place the flattened ball onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
4. Set the oven to 400 degrees. Let the buns rise while the oven is preheating. (They only need about 15 minutes.)
5. Bake buns for 12-15 minutes.