Southern Living Coffee Cake

The first word to catch your eye would most likely be "cake".
Next I'll assume you see "Southern"...and start to make the connection...
Very delicious...and most certainly bad for you!

OK!
You're on the right track!

The official name for this recipe is called "Overnight Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake".
But I'm going to rename it "OMG Stephanie!" because it was my sister who sent it to me!
Her name is Stephanie and when I ate it, I said "OMG!"
Pretty clever huh?

OMG Stephanie!

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 c sour cream
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c chopped pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat butter and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next four ingredients; add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.

Spread batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan.

Stir together brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter.  Cover pan with plastic wrap and chill 8-18 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake coffee cake 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from oven.  Serve warm or at room temperature. (SERVE IT WARM...TRUST ME...WARM!!)

**Note**  I served this with some fresh sliced strawberries on the side, but really wished I had thought ahead and made homemade whipped cream to go on top...it would have been heaven!!

Enjoy!
Thanks Steph!

Springtime Soup

Found this soup recipe in an All You magazine.
It turned out perfect for spring weather...not too heavy, but nice and filling...and very easy!!

Tortellini and White Bean Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken broth
16 oz fresh cheese or meat tortellini
1 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
salt, optional

Warm oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add celery, tomatoes and oregano and cook, stirring occasionally, until celery begins to soften.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant.

Stir in broth and bring soup to a boil.  Carefully add tortellini and beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until soup is heated through and tortellini are tender.

Season with salt if desired.  Serve immediately.

A couple of notes:
I didn't add the salt because I thought the chicken broth salted it enough.
At the end, after I added the tortellini, I also added torn pieces of baby spinach.  Once they had wilted, I served the soup....with butter and garlic french bread.

Yum!

Certain Death on a Pile of Pasta

Yep.
With the amount of butter in this recipe, there's no other appropriate name for it.

I decided to mash up a couple of recipes for shrimp (possibly best food of all time) to create something with the best of both worlds...buttery AND spicy!

So here it is...eat with abandon!

Spicy Scampi and Angel Hair Pasta
(also known as CDOAPOP)

2 pounds raw, peeled shrimp with tails off (51-60 ct)
1 c butter
3-4 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp. Original Old Bay Seasoning
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
16 oz angel hair pasta

• Pre heat oven to 450 degrees F.  
• Prepare shrimp and spread out evenly in a 9 x 13 pan.
• Melt butter in a small saucepan.  
• Add garlic and remaining seasonings.  
• Heat on low until butter is melted.  
• Mix well and pour over shrimp.  
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked completely.
• Serve shrimp over pasta...with the killer butter sauce on top!
• Pretend to care about health by serving with steamed broccoli
• Get your butt to the gym ASAP!

Oh yea!  Enjoy!!

8 Pounds of Blueberries!

One of the things on our summer list was going to a U-pick farm.  Renee knew of a blueberry farm not far away, so we packed up the kids and headed of to pick a "few" blueberries for $1.50 a pound.  If you pay attention to prices at the grocery store, you know that's pretty darn good!

We grabbed a few pails, learned how to identify a blueberry that was ready, and started picking...and eating...just a little.

These were no puny blueberries -

And these were no ordinary blueberry pickers -

(thanks Renee for the awesome picture of Jenelle)

I brought $10 and knew I would have change because, really, who could pick that many blueberries.  But, as I checked their pails, I started to get a bit nervous.  We called time-out on picking and weighed in.  Eight pounds later and $2 extra from Renee, we returned home.

What do you do with that many blueberries?
Freeze some.
Give some away.
Bake some.
Eat the rest!

In addition to a lot of blueberries, we also have squash-a-plenty on hand from Donald's summer garden.

With so much zucchini, I went looking for recipes and found this little gem.  It makes enough for 12 muffins and a loaf.  And it is DElicious!  Fresh summer fruits and veggies are a beautiful thing!

Don't hurt yourself...

...because it is seriously possible.

For the most part, I eat pretty much what want without guilt OR consequences. I do work out to stay healthy and in shape, but most of it comes down to genes...thanks Mom and Dad!

So, when people say, "A moment on your lips, forever on your hips", I usually laugh.

NOT anymore.

Meet SUGAR MUFFINS!

When I popped one of these into my mouth (and I could pop them because we made them as mini-muffins), I felt it go quickly through my body only to find a nice cozy home on my stomach...the next one landed on my butt and the last one - yes...I had to try it to see how they taste after sitting around for a few hours - made its home on my hip.

These guys are dangerous!

I found the recipe in a blog and they say it's a Betty Crocker recipe, although I've never seen it and couldn't find it via Google. I'd like to give credit where credit is due...but sometimes you have to risk it!

Cinnamon and Sugar Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter

Heat oven to 350'. Put paper cups in a muffin tray.

Put the first 1/2 cup sugar, milk and vegetable oil in the bowl. Mix with wooden spoon and add egg. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. batter will be a bit lumpy which is good.

Spoon into muffin pan to make 12 muffins.

Bake for 20 - 25 min or until slightly brown.

While muffins bake mix up the cinnamon and sugar. Melt the butter.

When muffins are done baking let them cool for 5 min. Then roll (all over) in butter and then in cinnamon and sugar.

OK...here's what I did differently.
First of all, I made them as mini muffins - just more fun!
Second, I substituted 1/4 tsp Cardamom for nutmeg. Reason(s) being...I have Cardamom and do not have Nutmeg and I like Cardamom better anyway.
Third, and this may be how they did it...it just didn't clarify, I melted the butter on a plate so that when I rolled the muffins in butter, they weren't being submerged.

After they were rolled in sugar, I set them to rest on a cooling rack so that they could sort of "air out" all over. They get fairly saturated from the butter and if air can get to them from the bottom, they won't be soggy.

It would be remise of me to leave out the fact that Jenelle was my official batter mixer. She loves to help in the kitchen. She did question what I was adding when I put the Cardamom in, but I just coughed and banged some utensils together and basically avoided her question. No matter now because she loves the muffins too.

SO

Try them!
Pretend you didn't read what I wrote about them at the beginning and try them! Your guilt will be worth it!

Pie to die for!!

I am not kidding!!
This stuff is crazy good!
I mean, we like pie around here, but even the best pies last for three days or so.

Not this baby - no way! It was eaten after dinner on Sunday night, then completely wiped out Monday evening.



The recipe came from this wonderful blog I read called Pleasantview Schoolhouse. Follow the directions exactly and you will soon be in heaven!!

Little Jerry Seinfeld...and Naked Snickerdoodles!

When Donald and were first married, and even before that really, we were faithful watchers of Seinfeld. Who wasn't? To this day I think it's probably the funniest show that's ever been on tv!

We bought a rooster cookie jar one year and named it Little Jerry Seinfeld, specifically after this episode. Take a minute (or 3 minutes and 45 seconds to be exact) to watch...trust me...we all need a little Seinfeld in our day!



Okay...got to stop laughing and finish the post!!

Anyway, time (and kids...and husband) have taken their toll on Little Jerry. Once a proud and majestic creature,


he's starting to show the signs of age and tough love.





But that's what cookie jars are about right? You see them everyday...they're a fixture of the kitchen and when you open it, it always provides happiness. We can probably all remember the cookie jars from our childhood and we didn't care that there were a few chips and dings in them...as long as they were full!


Want to know what's in Jerry today?

It's this snickerdoodle recipe that I changed ever so slightly. I added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more flour and instead of 2 tsp of vanilla, I added 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract. I'm also calling them naked because I was lazy and decided I didn't want to roll them in the cinnamon and sugar! No complaints...they went down just as easy!