What Moms Want To Know

Pound Cake Recipe

This pound cake is easy and delicious!

Prep Time: About 20 minutes
Cook Time: About 1 hour, 15 minutes 

Ingredients:
2 Sticks of Butter
3 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Shortening
5 Eggs
3 C. Flour (All Purpose)
1 C. Milk
1TBS Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1) Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar

2) Add eggs

3) Add flour

4) Add milk

5) Add vanilla

6) Add baking powder

7) Place in a COLD oven

8) Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes

9) Let cool and enjoy!

A Little Baking

These Banana Crumb Muffins are delicious.  Find the recipe here.

The only change I made to the recipe was to add a teaspoon of Vanilla Extract. (Per a commenter's advice on the recipe's site.)

What makes them so good is the topping....it's pretty much your average banana bread recipe otherwise.

 

Simple Quiche...Delicious

I used to hear the word quiche and run for cover.  Just the name makes me think of Martha Stewart and slaving away for hours in the kitchen.  But I have discovered that is simply not the case.  This quiche recipe is delicious and simple to make. 

Also, I am not a fan of dishes with tons of ingredients, and it seems as though many quiche recipes have just that, but not this one.  It truly is simple. 

I always make this ahead.  I make it and bake it the day before and just stick in the oven about 15 minutes to warm it up before serving it the next morning.

Prep Time: About 20 minutes (frying the bacon takes the most time)
Cook Time: 50 minutes 

Ingredients:
10-12 slices of bacon (fry and crumble) (You could substitute ham or sausage if you prefer, I just like bacon.)
1/3 c. chopped onion (finely chopped)
1 c. Swiss Cheese (If you like the sharper taste of cheddar, feel free to use that.)
2 c. milk
1/2 c. Bisquick
4 eggs
1/ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

1) Grease a 9 inch pan and cover pan with the bacon, cheese, and onion

2) Blend milk, Bisquick, eggs, salt, and pepper in blender for 45 seconds-1 minute

3) Pour mixture over bacon, cheese, and eggs

4) Bake @ 350 until golden brown (about 50 minutes)

5) Let stand 10-15 minutes before cutting

6) Enjoy! 

Chocolate Pie Recipe

This one's a good one for Christmas dessert!

Time Involved:  About 15 minutes

Ingredients:
graham cracker (or chocolate graham cracker) pie crust
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
2 c. milk (skim to save a few calories, whole for deliciousness)
2 Packages (3.9 ounces) chocolate pudding
8 ounces whipped cream

1) Melt Chocolate

 

2) Mix chocolate with condensed milk

3) Pour chocolate and condensed milk mixture into pie crust and top with walnuts

4) Combine milk and pudding mix and beat with whisk

5) Spoon half of mixture over walnuts

6) Stir in half of the whipped cream into remaining pudding mixture

7) Spread over whipped cream and pudding mixture over pudding that's in the pie crust 

8) Top with remaining whipped cream

9) Refrigerate over night and enjoy.

The Best Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe Ever

This is truly one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth.  And I have never been a big fan of sweet potato casserole.  If you have to have marshmallows in your sweet potato casserole, then this recipe's might not be for you, but even so, if you give it a try it, I can all but guarantee you will love it.  It is too good!!!  And it would make a great addition to your Christams menu.

Be Warned:  If you are on diet, do not even read this recipe!   But if you are on a diet and still want to try it, at the end of the recipe I have some suggestions to lower the fat/caloric intake of this dish. 

Ingredients:
4 Sweet Potatoes (Or 3 cups of canned sweet potatoes, but I think using real sweet potatoes is what makes it so good.)
3/4 c.Sugar
1/2 c.Butter
2 Eggs, Beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/3 c. Whole Milk

Topping:
1.5 c. Light Brown Sugar
1/2 c. Self-Rising Flour
1 c. Chopped Pecans or Walnuts (I know most recipes call for pecans, but I just like walnuts better.)
1/3 c. Melted Butter

1) If you are using real sweet potatoes, (please use real sweet potatoes, it will be so much better) bake or microwave them until they're nice and soft.  (This takes about 18-20 minutes in my microwave.)

2) Let sweet potatoes cool.

3) Peel the sweet potatoes and mash them in a bowl.

4) Mix the other five ingredients in.  (Those ingredients you do not put in the crust.) 

5) Whip with electrix mixer for a minute or so, until it's nice and creamy, or to whatever consistency you prefer.

6) Mix topping ingredents together until they crumble. 

7) Put topping on sweet potato mixture.

8) Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. 

9) Enjoy!

*For a few less calories:
Substitute skim milk for the whole milk.
Substitute Splenda for the sugar and brown sugar.
Substitute margarine for the butter.

*I'm not saying I necessarily recommend doing this, but you could (obviously) reduce the calories and fat somewhat if you did.

Beanless Chili Recipe

This is a great chili recipe, especially if you like chili with no beans!

Prep Time: About 20 minutes
Cook TIme: 45 minutes

Ingredients: 
1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
1 medium onion chopped
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp, garlic powder (or 2 cloves chopped garlic)
1-2 tbsp. chili powder (Depending on how spicy you like it, I used 2 tbsp. and it was a little much for me, so I'm going to try 1/2 tbsp. next time)
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1 can (28 ou.) diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup cilantro
1 Cup Rice (optional)

1) Saute the chopped onion in the vegetable oil until the onion is tender (about 5-6 minutes)

2) Add the garlic and saute for one more minute

3) Add meat and chili powder and cook until meat in no longer pink

4) Add tomato paste and cook for three minutes

5) Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, salt, and pepper

6) Bring to a boil, then cover, put heat on low and simmer for about 45 minutes. (Stir occasionally.)

7) Add cilantro

8) Enjoy

**If you enjoy your chili with beans, I would suggest adding them with the diced tomatoes and chicken broth. 

We eat this mixed with rice and it is delicious.  I add it because I like the taste and consistency, but it also makes it last longer.

  

Homemade Pizza Crust

My first attempt at making my own pizza crust.  I used this recipe, with just a couple of changes.  I really liked the flavor better than store-bought, it didn't wake long to make, and it was much cheap to make.  (I would estimate it cost about $1)

Ingredients:  (Like I pointed out above earlier, get the real recipe here; I made my own little changes.)
3 c. all purpose flour
1 pck. instant yeast
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
Italian seasoning to taste
8 ounces milk (warmed)
4 ounces water (warmed)

First, I added the flour, yeast, salt and sugar and a little Italian seasoning (which there is no picture of.)

       

Then I set them aside and heated the milk and water.  It says to 110 degrees, but how you get liquid to exactly 110 degrees, I have no idea, so I just put them in the microwave for 40 seconds and that seemed to do the trick.  After heating the milk and water I added them to the dry ingredients and mixed them together well.

I covered the bowl with a clean (although this point could be argued, since I have a 21-month-old who loves to pull my towels out on the floor.  I have long since given up that fight and now just stuff them back in the drawer.)  So anyway, I covered the dough with a (hopefully) clean towel and let it sit for about 30 minutes.

 

I then cleaned my counter with Lysol Food Sanitizer, which is supposedly gentle but kills "99.9 percent of all bacteria," hopefully it does what it says, and sprinkled some flour on my countertop.  I then kneaded the dough, which was kind of fun.  (I gave my little boy some too and he had a big time helping mommy, although this portion did not go into the actual crust.)

 

I rolled it out and placed it on my pizza pan.

 

I put it into the oven which was preheated to 400 degrees and let it cook for about 30 minutes.

And......

 

I then used it to make this pizza recipe, which is really good and which I forgot to take a picture of, but hopefully I will remember to next time b/c it's a really pretty pizza.

Next time, I think I'll use my rolling pin to make the crust a little flatter.  (I was just being lazy and thought I could smush it enough with my hands.) That was my only disappoinment, it was a little too thick for us, but overall it was delicious and, like I said earlier kind of fun to do.  I would highly recommend trying it out.  Especially if you have kids; I think they would have a ball helping make this. 

Menu Plan Monday

 

Well Thanksgiving is over.  I hope you all had a great one.  I guess it's now time to start planning for Christmas!  Before that, though, my family needs to eat, so my meal plan for this week includes...

Monday: Leftover Chicken Casserole from the freezer.  (See the recipe here.)
This makes too big a meal for us to eat at once, so I freeze half of it and we eat it a couple of weeks later.

Tuesday: Crockpot Italian Chicken
I have been wanting to try this recipe for quite awhile. (You have to scroll down a little to find it.)  It sounds delicious and very easy.  I'll let you know how it is!

Wednesday:  Leftovers
I am hoping for leftovers from the Italian chicken, if not, we'll have sandwiches or cereal and fruit.

Thursday: Tacos
We had leftover taco meat from two weeks agom which I froze.  I'm going to thaw it and we'll have tacos again.

Friday: Dinner Out
I hope!

For more great menu plans and recipes, head back on over to Menu Plan Monday!

Congealed Salad Recipe

This is recipe is simple, quick, and really good.  An added plus... kids love it!

Prep Time: about 5 minutes

1pint Cool Whip
1pint cottage cheese
1 3 ounce package orange Jello (can substitute your favorite flavor)
1 can mandarin oranges (15 ounce) (can substitute your favorite fruit)
Optional: chopped walnuts

Drain the fruit and pour into bowl

Add Cool Whip

Add cottage cheese

Add Jello (just the powder, do not make the jello)

Add walnuts (optional)

Mix together well

Let sit in the fridge for several hours before serving. (In my opinion, overnight is best.)

Menu Plan Monday

My second week at MPM.....  It worked great last week, we actually stuck to the plan. 

Monday: Taco Ring (See recipe here.)

Tuesday: Breakfast Foods
(Scrambled Eggs, Hashbrowns, and Fruit)

Wednesday: Barbecue Chicken Pizza (See recipe here.) 
(I love this recipe and I'm planning on trying out this crust this time.)

Thursday: Whatever you can find.... you eat.
We do this quite often, I like cereal for dinner sometimes and my husband likes soup, so some nights we just eat whatever is available.  It saves money and time.  My son is still too little to really notice (or care) that we're not having a "real" meal.

Friday: Dinner Out (We never made it to Chic Fila to use our coupons last week, so we're going this week instead.  Woohoo.. big night out for us!  *Smile*) 

For more great menu plans and recipe ideas, head back on over to Menu Plan Monday!