Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Yum. Coffee cake! My son LOVES the Starbucks Coffee Cake so I had to make this treat for him at home. It was silly easy and really tasty. Extremely moist and what's so great about it is that you can substitute the sour cream for your favorite vanilla yogurt.

Ingredients:

1 cup of room temperature butter

2 cups of white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of sour cream or vanilla yogurt

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup of butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Mix in 2 cups of flour, baking powder and salt. Spread 1/2 of batter in the prepared pan.
• Prepare the filling: In a medium bowl mix 1/3 cup of flour, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter and cinnamon. Spread second half of batter over the filling and top with remaining filling.
• Bake for 45-55 minutes in oven or until toothpick comes out clean.

Summer Squash Casserole

Another tasty recipe given to me by my mother-n-law who was born and raised in North Carolina. I love yellow squash but I love it even more in this casserole. Summer is all about squash and this is a delish dish to make. When I went to the grocery store this week I was happy to see that the squash was on sale for .99 cents a pound so I had to make this for my family.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of yellow squash, cut up

2 carrots, grated

1 onion, diced

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

tub of sour cream

1 box of chicken flavored stuffing

1 stick of butter

Directions:

In a large pot of boiling water, add your squash, carrots and onions and cook at a boil for 8 minutes. Drain water well from veggies and put into a large mixing bowl. With a hand blender, blend all veggies together, I like it well blended but a little chunky. Add the sour cream and cream of chicken soup. With a spoon, mix well. Add a pinch or two of salt and a few dashes of pepper. In a separate microwavable bowl, melt a stick of butter and then add your package of stuffing to it and mix well. Take half of the stuffing mix and mix into the veggie mix. Put veggies into a large baking dish or two small baking dishes and top the remaining stuffing on top, cover with foil and bake at 350 degree for 35-40 minutes.

Cake Ball Lollipops

]

They are everywhere, Starbucks, A.J.'s Fine Foods even Saks Fifth Avenue even sells them for $35.00 for six of them. Not sure exactly when cake balls really became popular but I had to try them out after my beefer (aka best friend because I don't like to openly admit that I actually love this girl) Jaime posted a recipe she saw online for cake balls on Facebook.

Went to a super fun graduation party last night so I decided to make some for the girls who were all coming. I made 50. Took about 4 hours.

Because it was my first time, I now know what to do and what not to do. Like freezing the balls before dipping them in hot melted chocolate. And once they are complete don't refrigerate them but freeze them to prevent them from melting.

If you want to get creative I suggest trying these. They are cute and fun and anyone with a sweet tooth should have fun eating one!

For this recipe, I used the following:

• Red Velvet Cake (from a box)
• Vanilla Frosting (room temp)
• 2 packages of Melt Away Chocolate (from Party City) these chocolates are used for chocolate molds. Get two different colors, I used milk chocolate brown and red chocolate vanilla.
• 1 package of white chocolate chips
• lollipop sticks (you can purse at Party Stores or Michaels/Joanns)
• candy cover bags/ribbons if you want to go all out

Follow instructions on cake box. Once cake has cooled, I take the cake and pulse it in my food processor and then pour into a LARGE mixing bowl. Once all the cake has crumbled up well, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the vanilla frosting and mix well. I then take a cookie scoop and scoop out the mix and roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. I suggest using a cookie scoop because then all your balls will be the same size. Once all the balls are rolled up and placed on the sheet, add the lollipop stick in the center of each ball and place into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. If you don't chill your balls they WILL come apart when you dip them into the melted chocolate and the lollipop stick will not hold. Trust me, I learned from personal experience.

Once the balls have chilled out in the freezer, take your Melt Away Chocolate and melt in the microwave in a plastic bowl. Dip each ball into the chocolate and place onto a new cookie sheet with wax paper. If you place the balls back onto the cookie sheet that you pulled out from the freezer, your chocolate will crack, again, from personal experience. Dip all balls into the chocolate. You can melt other chocolate colors for that cute drizzle and if you do, take a zip-lock back with a few chocolate Melt Aways and microwave for 20-30 seconds then take scissors and cut the corner of the bag, small cut and you can use it to pipe the chocolate onto the balls.

I placed the balls back into the freezer for an hour before I placed into plastic bags and tired a ribbon around it since I was taking these to a party.

Shrimp Thai Toast

I love Thai toast and so does my family. I decided to make an "easy" version of it with an American twist. Easy, crispy and the topping is YUMMY!

Ingredients:

Oil

bread, cut into strips with crust removed

1 cup of cooked shrimp, diced

4 T of green onions

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper or pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)

1 T of fish sauce

3 cloves of diced fresh garlic

pepper & a pinch of salt

1 package of cream cheese, room temperature

Place oil in frying pan and bring the oil to 375 degrees.

Set bread aside (cut into strips and crust removed)

In a large bowl, add all ingredients and stir well. Take the spread and generously add on each piece of bread. Once the oil is at 375, gently add each piece of bread into the hot oil and cook until the bread itself is a nice golden brown.

Enjoy!

PMS Chocolate Cake

Ok, this is the perfect cure for PMS. Seriously. I actually got this recipe from the Hershey Website for the "perfect chocolate cake" and they were right, it's seriously perfect! I made two cakes in 2 days because everyone wanted a piece, mom, dad, mother-n-law, kids, husband and of course, me!

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

3/4 cup of Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 teaspons of baking soda

2 eggs

1/2 cup of veggie oil

1 cup of boiling water

1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Great and flour 2 9 inch round baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

Ingredients for frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa

3 cups of powdered sugar

1/3 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk if needed. Stir in vanilla.

MEATLESS MONDAY - Homemade Manicotti

Jen made these a while back and blogged them but I've actually been to chicken to try and make my own shells, but this looks so delicious and would be perfect for Meatless Monday today. I can't wait to make them!

Here's the recipe! Click here!

MEATLESS MONDAY - Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza

I'm revisitng this blog post because I love this pizza so much and it's super easy. And the funny thing is, when I posted it originally I wasn't even doing Meatless Monday. I'm glad I kept this recipe around. Pair this with a green salad and you have a great filling meal on this meatless day. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

MEATLESS MONDAY - Mary's Flavorful Red Sauce

My friend Mary made this for my family years ago and I fell in love with it. It really is so flavorful. It has a very pronounced salty flavor which I love from the olives and capers. It's super quick and easy to make. It's on the thinner side which I also love.

She came over a year or so ago and made it for us again, served it with a red wine and crusty french bread. It was such a treat!

Mary's Flavorful Red Sauce

6 cloves garlic, diced or minced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cans (soup can size) stewed tomatoes

3 Tbsp capers with juice

3/4 jar black kalamata olives, PITTED & sliced, with juices

4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup Fat Tire Beer (optional)

In pan over medium heat, add olive oil and garlic. Cook garlic until soft but not brown. Add stewed tomatoes. Mix well. Add capers, olives, balsamic vinegar & beer. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes over low heat. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Wide Awake Coffee Shake

I know it's freezing outside in most of the world...well at least here in the U.S. But yesterday it was almost 90 degrees here in Arizona. So make this because not only is it delicious but because I'm wearing flip flops in November.

I found this recipe on the Cooking with Trader Joe's blog. I really love that blog. I love Trader Joe's so it gives me some ideas on how to use some of their prepared or packaged food that I otherwise probably wouldn't buy. I'm not a huge fan of prepared or packaged food but for some reason I walk into TJ's and I go nuts...it's pretty self explanatory...that place is just..well...you know...AWESOME!

The original recipe called for Nonfat Plain Frozen Yogurt. I have never used this before. And sad to say, I will never use again. That stuff is GROSS! So I made this with Dreyer's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream....Mmmmm...it was so good!

I also used the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans. These things are like crack. DELICIOUS!

Coffee Shake

2 cups vanilla bean ice cream

1/3 cup cold strong coffee

15 chocolate covered Espresso beans

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.

MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Mushroom Quiche

I can't remember where I got this recipe but I'm so glad I found it! It was so yummy and dense. I hate puffy foods and quiche is up there right along with meringue and mousse. BLECH! But this quiche is dense and tasty. I can't wait to make it again.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

1 frozen pie crust, thawed or fresh pie crust

1 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped or sliced

1 cup half and half

4 eggs

1 cup Italian Blend shredded cheese (I used the Quattro Formagio from Trader Joe's which has Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Provolone)

1/2 cup chopped canned artichoke hearts (not marinated)

1 cup spinach, thawed and drained (1/4 packed, after drained)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil until brown about 3 minutes

Whisk together the eggs and half and half.

Stir in the cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, mushrooms, nutmeg and salt.

Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake for 40 minutes (check to see if done by inserting a knife through the middle, if it comes out clean, it's done)

Let it cool for 5 minutes

Slice and serve