Italian Love Cake

    When I think about what cooking was like before the internet, I feel flabbergasted (and old) by how different my culinary experience is. When I went to college, I took my little 3x5 card file with a few of my favorite recipes that I hand copied from my Mother's stash. Now you can find any recipe complete with reviews and ratings. Pinterest has also been a great source and that is where I found this little gem. Dare I say life-changing? I just might. This is an easy cake that looks and tastes very impressive! You can play with the flavors by changing the cake mix base, but Chocolate is still my favorite. The interesting thing about this cake is how the layers trade places while it cooks. A little bit of culinary magic.

Italian Love Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 package chocolate cake mix with all other ingredients to prepare according to package (most sites recommend Betty Crocker Brand)
• 2 lbs. ricotta cheese
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1  package instant chocolate pudding mix (5.1 oz.)
• 1 cup cold milk
• 8 oz. Cool Whip or other prepared whipped topping

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350*.F Spray a 9×13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a bowl, mix together cake mix according to the directions on the box. Set aside.
3. In another bow, using a hand mixer, beat together the ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
4. *The following directions are correct. The layers switch during the baking time!
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread to fill the pan evenly. Once the cake batter is in place, carefully pour the cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter. Spread to cover the cake batter.
6. Bake the cake at 350* for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
7. Once the cake is cool, stir the pudding mix and milk together with a whisk until combined. Carefully, fold the Cool Whip into the pudding until combined.
8. Spread the pudding mixture over the top of the cooled cake. Cover the cake and refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving. It tastes even better the next day.

Source: www.inspiredreamer.com

Pink Grapefruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

pink or ruby red grapefruit, peeled, membrane removed
1 banana
1 c. frozen strawberries
1/2 c. orange juice, chilled

Directions:

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.   You may find a whole grapefruit is too sour for your taste buds so add half first and do a taste test to see if it needs more.

Source:  craftylittlegnome.com

Quick and Easy Beef Stew Soup

There's nothing more comforting on cold days that a warm bowl of delicious soup! This is a recipe I make all of the time because it is so fast and easy, especially of you are using canned food or dehydrated or freeze dried food. And you know me, I don't measure anything when I am cooking, and I make abnormally large pots of soup, so this will be a different kind of recipe format...you can make as little or as much as you'd like. I think you will love this soup!!

Here are the ingredients that I throw in a big pot: (Use whatever amount you like. See my notes.)

Water

Beef bouillon cubes or granules

Salt, Pepper

Tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes (or any kind of tomato product you like to use. I like a quart of home canned plain tomato juice from the garden)

Onions (freshly diced, or dried)

Potatoes, diced

Carrots, cut (fresh or canned)

Barley (optional)

Beef (fresh, canned, or freeze dried)

Directions:

1. I fill the pot with almost as much water as I would like to have soup. Did that make sense? I also add the tomato juice, sauce or crushed tomatoes....whatever tomato product you like. You can also use tomato powder. Turn it on and start it boiling while you get everything else ready to add in.

2. Add some bouillon cubes or granules to taste. And some salt and pepper.

3. Throw in the onion. I always use dried onions. Use as many or as little as you'd like. 

4. Put in your carrots. I grew carrots and canned them, but I also have used store bought canned carrots, or fresh sliced. 

5. Cut up as many potatoes as you would like. I usually think of at least one good sized potato per person and I double it. (I feed teenage boys!)

6. Add the beef. Most of the time I use a few cans of the yummy canned beef from Aldi's. It comes with a gravy, and I add all of it to the soup. You can cut up raw beef and throw it right into the soup. Or you can use freeze dried beef and throw it right into the soup. It turns out great either way.

7. I really love barley. so most of the time I add a little barley to this soup.For my very huge pot of soup, I only add about 1 1/2 cups, so you may want to add about 1/2 cup at the most. Barley absorbs a lot of water, so make sure you have enough water in the soup as the barley cooks. Add more water if needed.

8. Make sure the soup has enough salt while it is cooking. If it doesn't, add more salt or bouillon.

9. Let the soup simmer on medium high until potatoes are done. Serve with crusty bread. YUM!

Cabbage and Kale Salad

So, there is this salad mix that you can get from Costco. I decided I would attempt my own version.

Really easy, super crisp, sweet and tangy. There aren't any measurements, just make as much or as little as you want.

Cabbage and Kale Salad

Green cabbage (red as well, if you choose)
Kale
dried cranberries
pumpkin seed kernels
Brianna's Poppy Seed dressing

Wash and finely chop the cabbage.
Wash, remove ribs and roughly chop the kale.
Lightly toast the pumpkin kernels in a skillet
Add everything to a bowl. Pour some dressing over top. Toss it all together.

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

I got this great recipe from a good friend named Ginni.  I do things differently with it from time to time, but it is still basically the same. Its all good.  You can not go wrong with this one. Its simple, tastes great, comforting, and all in one dish!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 box Chicken Flavored Stovetop Stuffing Mix. Prepared according to package directions.
3 chicken breasts, cooked the way you like it (I grill it.) chopped into bite sized pieces
1 head of broccoli, cleaned and cooked until it looses some of the crunch, cut into bite sized pieces.
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 cup water, or milk
salt
pepper
Swiss cheese slices

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray your baking dish. I use an 11x7 size dish. Spread out your Chicken flavored Stovetop Stuffing on the bottom of the baking dish.  I usually spoon in the stuffing and then wit  a wet spoon I spread it out a bit until the bottom of the dish is covered.  Sprinkle the chicken over the stuffing evenly.   Sprinkle the broccoli over the chicken. then in a separate bowl pour in the cream of chicken and the cream of mushroom soup. add the cup of water and stir until incorporated. Continue to add water until the mixture is pourable. Pour the mixture over the casserole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay swiss cheese slices over the top of the casserole. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes. Watch that the cheese doesn't brown too much. You can always turn it down or cover it with tin foil.


Original recipe by Ginni White

Apple Cider Punch

Ingredients:
6 cups apple cider or apple juice
2 cups orange juice, cranberry-raspberry juice, or orange-mango juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 750-milliliter bottle sparkling white grape juice

1.  Combine the apple cider, orange juice, and lemon juice.  Store in fridge until ready to serve.
2.  Just before serving pour juice mixture into punch bowl or beverage dispenser.  Add sparkling grape juice and stir well.

Source:  Better Homes & Gardens

Chinese Dim Sum

Chinese Dim Sum

    Ever since my hubby went on his mission to Singapore and Malaysia, he has had a passion for all foods Asian. We love Dim Sum and my friend had a recipe for a homemade version of steamed buns that we really enjoy. We bake them, but you could steam them if you had a steamer. The filling is delicious and I used a homemade roll dough for the outside, but you could certainly use Rhodes rolls thawed for speed.

Ingredients:

12 frozen rolls or one recipe roll dough

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 t. ground ginger

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 T. cooking sherry or OJ

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. rice vinegar

1 T. cornstarch

Directions:

    Thaw and raise rolls according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook pork and onion until pork is almost done, drain pork. Add garlic, ginger, sugar, 1/4 c. soy sauce, and OJ in a skillet until pork is done. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and add to skillet. Heat until thickened, remove from heat and cool.

    Flatten rolls into 4" rounds and place 2 Tbsp. filling in center of each round. Pull edges up and pinch in center to seal. Place in a foil-lined baking pan sprayed with oil seam side down. Let rolls rest 15-20 minutes. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bread is done. Top rolls with melted butter if desired. You may find you can get a few more out of this recipe, I got about 18.

Source: Katie Konold