Filed under: Day-to-Day, Desserts, From my mother's (and sometimes grandma's) kitchen
Does that sound gross to you? Well, DD had her laser procedure yesterday… I know, I know… I errantly called it surgery but it was a “procedure”. I sat in the same room with her while it was done. She said it felt like little scissors in her eyes snipping but not bad… Anyway, we had to go to Greeley for her to have it done.
When we go to the “big” city we are usually gone for a good portion of the day and we generally end up at a buffet of some sort. DD and my favorites ones are Golden Corral and Country Buffet. Now, Country Buffet has the most wonderful banana pudding and, of course, hot fudge cheesecake! (Cheesecake is wonderful with hot fudge on top of it— yes, I put my own on).
DH is not fond of banana pudding to say the least. He would only eat it if there was nothing else to eat but me… I LOVE banana pudding… Perhaps because it reminds me of mom and home and growing up. Banana pudding as a staple dessert for special occasions in our family of six children.
Now, meatloaf… I love meatloaf… just not mine… for some reason I cannot make meatloaf that’s worth eating to save my life! DH has never said anything about it but I can see it in his eyes…. the pleading … “don’t make this EVER again, PLEASE!!!”…. though he’d never say anything to hurt my feelings.
So, yesterday, I got my meatloaf at Golden Corral… though they didn’t have banana pudding…they did have another childhood favorite that brought lots of memories… bread pudding… Now, mom always put raisins in bread pudding for what ever reason… and I can’t say I liked that part but the rest of it was wonderful. Again, this is something DH would NEVER eat unless he was starving!
This has been a bonanza week for doctors at our place. I took DH to the ER on Friday with his “it feels like someone’s standing on my chest” pain. Thankfully we found out it was “just” pneumonia… He’s on an antibiotic and he sees the doctor again today… so we’ll see how things go… then, of course, DD was yesterday…. tomorrow…it’s me.
So until next time, love God, love others… and try some banana pudding and meatloaf… it’ll make your life grand! 
Okay… for all you “nutty” people out there here’ s a recipe I remember from my youth. Mom would fix these at Christmastime when I was growing up. I don’t fix them now because my dh doesn’t like coconut, but these are delish if you like coconut!
1 1/2 boxes of powedered sugar (confectioner’s)
1 lb chopped pecans or almonds, finely chopped
1 lb coconut.
Place 1 1/2 sticks of oleo, margarine or butter and one large can of Eagle brand milk in a double boiler. Once butter is melted, add powdered sugar, nuts and coconut. Mix well.
Butter oblong cake pan (9 x 13) pat mixture into pan as tight as possible and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
Melt 12 oz pkg of chocolate chips wiht a stick of parafin (that’s wax, ya know)… in a double boiler (over water). Cut candy into 1/2″ squares and dip in chocolate. Put on buttered platter and refrigerate til hardened. Voile! Almond Joys.. enjoy…
This is actually one of my favorite recipes. I love enchiladas but I hate making ‘em… so, I’ve improvised … get the taste… not the work.
So, here it is… I used leftover turkey for this last night but I normally use chicken… cause that’s what I can get. Here is what you need:
1 pkg of white corn tortillas with pizza cutter. (No the pizza cutter doesn’t come with a pkg of white corn tortillas.. I just figured you already had one… if you don’t use a sharp knife…)
Cooked chicken/turkey in whatever amount you want to pile on.
1 lg can of enchilada sauce.
Cheese… any kind you like.. I use Co-Jack
So, take a handful of tortillas and take your pizza cutter and run them through several times so that you have three or four sets of strips.
Now, oh yeah… did I mention you need a baking dish of some kind for this. I use a glass rectangular one… but whatever you use is fine, I’m sure (except this doesn’t work so well in a casserole dish).
Now that you have your baking dish.. you do have it, right? … spread some of the enchilada sauce (I use red because I’m a wimp when it comes to pico (spicy hot) stuff)… on the bottom of the dish. Then take a handful of tortilla strips and spread them over the sauce until the bottom of the dish is pretty much covered. Then, break up your turkey/chicken and spread it over the tortillas.. so that it looks fairly full.. Now shread as much cheese as you like over the chicken…
Okay.. so this probably isn’t one of your heart-healthy recipes but hey… I said it was good didn’t I?
Now, repeat the process until you’ve used all your ingredients or your dish is full… Cover with foil and bake at about 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (or until the cheese is melted and Voile! the taste of enchiladas without the mess and work of real enchiladas… Okay…. sometimes I do make real enchiladas but I work you know…
This is a recipe I remember being fixed at our house a lot as a child. It was our basic birthday cake. I think it’s hard to beat. Having a diabetic child, I’ve even substituted xylitol for the sugar and it still tastes pretty good.
Salad Dressing Cake
2 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
4 TBL cocoa
1 c sugar
1 c salad dressing (not mayonaise)
1 c. hot water
1 tsp vanilla
Sift all dry ingredients together. Mix hot water, salad dressing and vanilla together then combine with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 cake pan or use a sheet cake pan. Bake at 350* for 25 -30 minutes.
Allow this to cool (or not), then apply frosting.
Fudge frosting
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick of butter (margarine)
Combine all ingredients except vanilla and butter and bring to a rolling boil for two minutes. At two minutes, take off heat and add vanilla and butter and stir. Now… this has always been sticky recipe for me to get just the right consistency so… use your own judgement. I like chocolate so.. I really don’t care what the consistency is. When you’re happy with the consistency, pour over cake. Eat… be happy!
Ever wonder what to do with all that left over turkey after Thanksgiving? Here’s an idea.
TURKEY POT PIE
Take the turkey and break or cut it up in pieces into a casserole or baking dish. Then take a can of mixed vegetables (or if you have lots left over from Thanksgiving dump those in in smaller pieces) a can of Progresso Chicken Pot pie and mix it all together. Then take a can of store bought crescents (I use Walmart brand, low fat) and place them flat over the turkey/chicken pie. Put in oven and bake at 375 degrees for about 11 minutes and voile! you have turkey pot pie!
If your ingredients are cold from the refrigerator, I suggest that you heat them through either in the oven or microwave before you put the crescents on top. That way everything will be hot when you take it out. This also makes a good potluck dinner dish.
So, if you like this idea, great but if you have other ideas… please share, I want to hear your ideas!
Chocolate Cheesecake
This is a recipe my db gave me. I love cheese cake and chocolate. Now, you can make this is a regular spring form pan, if you want but I thought I’d experiment and see if I could make little cheesecakes… so here’s the recipe and then I will show you how I altered it.
Crust for a 9″ Springform pan
1/3 c margarine or butter, melted
1 1/2 c. graham cracker, crushed (do this is a gallon size freezer bag and it will make your life lots easier.
1/4 c sugar
Mix together and pat down in spring form pan.
Cheesecake
3 – 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 – 14 oz sweetened condensed milk. I use store brans but if you want you can use Eagle Brand
1 – 12 oz pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (double boilers work well for this)
4 eggs – beaten
2 tsp – vanilla
In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese until light and fluffy (or until you get tired of beating it..lol). Add the Eagle Brand and beat until smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour mixture over the crust and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 5 min. or until cake springs back when touched lightly.
Cool to room temperature. Chill 2 hours then remove from pan.
Now here’s how I altered it.
I took the graham cracker cust (you’ll need more than for the springform pan– about 1 cup more ) mixture and put them into cupcake papers. (Use the bottom of a small glass to press it in.) then I poured the cheesecake mixture over that. Leave about 1/8 inch from the top of the paper as these will swell a little. Bake at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. This recipe makes about 40 cupcake sized cheesecakes and they’re easy to handle and can be easily frozen. Enjoy!
