Cooking with Alicia and Annie Contest: Peach Cobbler

I found this under fruit on Alicia's Recipes. One of our property manager at work last day was Thursday. I suggested baking her a cake for her last day, but she said she wanted Peach Cobbler. I looked here and found this one. I didn't get a chance to make it Wednesday night, so I brought all the ingredients with me to work and made it in the morning, baking it in the toaster oven. It was very good and got rave reviews. We ate it warm with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup Original Bisquick

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 cup sugar

1 can (29 ounces) sliced peaches, drained

Directions:

Heat over to 375 degrees.

Stir together Bisquick, milk and nutmeg in ungreased square baking dish, 8x8x2 inches. Stir in butter until blended. Stir together sugar and peaches; spoon over batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookie Brownies

I found this recipe on Pennies on a Platter blog. OMG! They are so delicious! I took them to my parents' for dinner on Thursday and everyone raved about them! So easy, so yummy! I will definitley make these again and again.

The recipe is super simple........

1 box Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix (water, oil, eggs as directed on package)

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix (plus ingredients needed listed on package)

Heat oven to 350˚F. Grease 9″x13″ pan. Prepare brownie mix as directed on package; pour in pan.

Prepare cookie mix as directed on package, and drop by tablespoons evenly onto brownie mix; push down lightly.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from edge comes out almost clean. Cool completely, at least 1 hour, and cut into squares.

BEFORE BAKING...

AFTER BAKING...

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

This is another recipe from the Collector's Edition of Quick Cooking Magazine. This edition came out in 1999. I made this Tuesday night before leaving for scout meeting. I didn't get to try it until late. It was wonderful. Creamy. I didn't have M&M's, so I used peanut butter chips on top. That was awesome!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/4 cup corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups milk

2 T butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

M&M's, optional

Directions:

In heavy saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add milk. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from the heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Spoon into individual serving dishes. Chill until serving.

Sprinkle with M&M's if desired.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

Baked Potato Soup

I made this on Monday, March 9th. I found this recipe on Barbara Bakes. She always has a lot of wonderful looking recipes on her blog. Check her out!

The soup looked yummy and it was sooooo delicious! The recipe itself was very easy and not very time consuming (except for waiting for the potatoes to cook). I made this Monday. I didn't get to taste it until late since I had to leave for tae kwon do. My son finished the last step for me. I would definitely make this again and again. I took it to work and the two girls that tried it, raved about it. I added cheese on top of my bowl of soup. Yum!

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes
4 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 14 oz. cans chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
1 pint fat-free half and half (I used regular, not fat free)
6 slices crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled (made a couple extra slices for my son)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Prick potatoes with a fork or knife. Bake in 400F oven for 1 hour or till potatoes are cooked through and soft inside; cool. Remove skins and cut potatoes into chunks; set aside.

In 2 or 3-quart heavy pot, saute the onions in butter over medium heat till transparent. Stir in the Neufchatel cheese, followed by the flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth as you continue stirring to make the mixture smooth. Add potatoes, corn, parsley, and red pepper flakes.
Stir, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes to blend flavors. Add half and half, crumbled bacon, and cheese and just heat through but do not bring to a boil.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Easy Cheese Batter Bread

This recipe is from Cooking with Comfort. As usual, it's another delicious recipe! It wasn't hard at all...actually quite easy. It was so yummy straight out of the oven!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pkg. active dry yeast
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs

Directions:

In large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; blend well. Stir in cheese.

In small saucepan, heat milk and butter until very warm, 120 to 130 degrees. Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining 1 cup flour.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place (80 to 85 degrees) until light and doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.)

Generously grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Stir down dough to remove all air bubbles. Turn dough into greased pan. Cover with towel, let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, 20 to 25 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. uncover dough. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until deep golden brown. Immediately remove from bread pan; cool on wire rack.

Meatball subs

I went to the grocery store kind of late on Sunday (after 5:00 p.m.) We weren't hungry for dinner yet since we ate a late breakfast and then a late lunch. I was trying to think of something easy but good. I decided on meatball subs.

I brought hoagie rolls from the Publix bakery. I bought frozen Italian style meatballs and Ragu Traditional sauce.

I simmered some meatballs in the sauce. I added garlic salt and pepper to the sauce. Once the meatballs were hot, I split the hoagies on top without cutting all the way to the end. I put sauce and meatballs in the buns. I layered 3 slices of mozzerella cheese on top. I baked them the sandwiches at 350 until the cheese was melted and started to brown. It was so delicious!

Cooking with Alicia and Annie Contest: Boston Cream Pie

This is another entry into the Cooking with Alicia and Annie Contest. This recipe caught my eye on Annie's Recipes. I love Boston Cream Pie. The recipe was simple enough. I thought my cake was a little dry and I took it out at 30 minutes.

I used the small package of vanilla pudding. It was plenty thick. Actually, I used sugar free since that was all I had. The glaze is very sweet, but still good. This was my first attempt at splitting a cake. I didn't do too bad!

My son and I had some tonight after dinner. He raved about it!

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 1/3 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. shortening

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Filling:

1 (3 1/2 oz) pkg instant vanilla pudding

1 3/4 cup milk

Glaze:

2 (2 oz) squares semi sweet or unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter or margarine

3 T milk

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cake: Grease and flour 9" layer pan. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large mixing bowl. Add shortening and milk. Blend well at low speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract; continue beating 1 1/2 minutes at low speed. Pour batter into pan. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Split in half.

Filling: Follow directions on package for pudding decreasing milk to 1 3/4 cups. Let thicken slightly. Spread on bottom layer. Put top layer on top of filling.

Glaze: Melt chocolate. Blen in margarine and milk. Add sugar, salt and vanilla, blend until smooth. If necessary thin with a few drops of milk. Frost top with glaze, allowing to drip down sides.

Refrigerate until serving time.

Yield: 6 servings.

A blurry view

Pasta Fagioli

I saw this post on Pennies on a Platter. She always has delicious things on her blog. This looked good and since the temperature was dropping today, I decided to make the soup.

It is a little time consuming with the chopping. I chopped the vegetables while the meat was browning. Otherwise, it was a very easy recipe. And, boy, was it yummy! It made a ton. I'm freezing some, taking some to work and to my mom.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 package sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

½ large (or 1 medium) onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 carrots, thinly sliced

4 stalks celery, thinly sliced

28 oz. can diced tomatoes1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can white cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

64 oz. beef broth

28 oz. can tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried basil (skipped - mine wasn't looking too good)

1 teaspoon salt

4 oz. small dry pasta (I used elbow noodles - 8 oz)

Directions:

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and brown the sausage, crumbling it as it cooks. Once brown, remove sausage from pot with a slotted spoon and discard any grease that remains in the pot.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pot, and add the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery, and saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add sausage back to the pot, add the can of diced tomatoes (do not drain), stir briefly, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the beans, and add the beef broth and tomato sauce. Add in all of the seasonings, stir well, turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it boils, turn down to low heat, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Add the dry pasta and continue to simmer on low for another 30 minutes. Serve with your favorite bread or crackers.