My kitchen must hate me

I love to cook but HATE to clean up.


Last night I made a Paula Deen recipe that actually did NOT call for a stick of butter. (If you've ever watched any of her shows you know that almost everything she makes starts with "melt a stick of butter" and then continues to be a high fat, rich something or other! The only thing I do different for this recipe is not cook it as long as it says to after adding the macaroni. I also add a jar of mushrooms (drained) because I LOVE mushrooms.

My kids even ate it!

I also made corn muffins from a box to go with the goulash.

As I was making the goulash I also made biscotti cookies from scratch. They are good but seem like they are missing something. I thought I would look around on the internet at other recipes to see if I could add anything else to them to make taste like the ones I buy at Half-Price Books.

Tonight I made hash browns (from scratch) for the first time ever. They were good but I think I started with too much oil so they were a little greasy. They were crispy on the outsides but in the middle they were mushier than I would have liked them to be. They did have a really good flavor though!

I also made waffles, bacon, and scramble eggs tonight for dinner.

Needless to say, my kitchen is a HUGE mess.

(I even had to wash forks so we would have something to eat dinner with tonight but shh . . . don't tell anyone!)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients

½ cup butter or margarine (I use butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple slices, undrained
maraschino cherries, drained (use as many as you want)
chopped nuts (I use pecans)
1 package yellow cake mix (I use the pineapple upside down mix)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup thawed, frozen whipped topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Melt butter in Family Skillet (This is a 12” skillet from Pampered Chef that can go in the oven. I think you could use any pan you want for it though.)
3. Remove pan from heat; stir in brown sugar until well blended.
4. Drain pineapple; reserving juice.
5. Arrange pineapple slices and cherries in pan, sprinkle with nuts.
6. Add enough water to pineapple juice to measure 1 1/3 cups of liquid.
7. In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, pineapple juice/water, eggs, and oil. Wisk until well blended and smooth. Pour over fruit mixture in skillet.
8. Bake 35 - 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes and then loosen the edges of the cake. (I run a butter knife around the edge of the pan.) Invert pan onto large serving plate.
10. Cool slightly and then garnish with whipped topping. (I don’t do this part.)

Disclaimer: This cake is awesome. Whenever I make it I wind up eating WAY too much of it. The same thing may happen to you! LOL

Key Lime Cake

I mentioned Key Lime Cake in a previous post so I thought I would post the recipie. I found it at teachers.net which is one of my favorite teaching websites to hang out on. I will post a picture of the cake next time I bake one.

Key Lime Cake

Cake:
¾ cup oil
¾ cup orange juice
5 eggs
1 3 oz. package lime flavored Jell-o
1 box lemon cake mix
¼ cup lime juice
5 tablespoons powdered sugar

Frosting:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb. box powdered sugar

Combine the oil, orange juice, eggs, Jell-O, and cake mix. Beat until smooth. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.

While cake is baking combine ¼ cup lime juice and 5 tablespoons in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.

When cake is finished, prick top of cake all over with a fork. Drizzle lime juice/powdered sugar mixture over the top of the entire cake. Let the cake cool while the frosting is being made.

To make frosting: beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla extract and then beat in entire box of powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Enjoy!