Nana's Bread Pudding

I made this Bread Pudding for my family this Easter and then had to make it again because my son in law didn't get any. Even some that had not had any before liked it. Easy and good.  Here's what I do.

4 cups diced or torn bread.  I like to use Cinnamon Twist bread that can be bought in the store.  Any bread will do.  Put the bread cubes in a buttered casserole dish.

Sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg over the bread.  At least 1 tsp.

Mix together in a mixing bowl 2 eggs and 1 cup milk and 1cup heavy whipping cream.  You can use 2 cups of milk.  Add 1 cup of sugar and beat until frothy and sugar has dissolved.  Pour over bread and dot with butter.   Bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes until knife comes out clean

Vanilla Sauce:
1 Stick Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Whipping Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat until melted and begins to boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat and add vanilla. Mixture will bubble up, this is normal. Stir in vanilla and let cool. Pour over ice cream and bread pudding and serve. Store in a jar for up to 2 weeks and use as a topping on all your favorite desserts!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

My Hubbie found this on All recipes website.  Here it is from their website.  Below I put the changes we made.

Ingredients: 1 onion, sliced 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 (2 1/2 pound) boneless beef chuck roast 1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste 1 (1.2 ounce) package dry beef gravy

mix 1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix 1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix 1 cup water, or as needed 5 whole peeled carrots (optional)

Directions:

1.	Spray the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray. Spread the onion slices out into the bottom of the cooker.
2.	Spread the flour out onto a work surface. Sprinkle the chuck roast with salt and black pepper, and roll the roast in the flour to coat all sides. Using the edge of a small, sturdy plate, pound the flour into the meat. Place the floured roast into the cooker on top of the onions. Whisk together beef gravy mix, ranch dressing mix, and Italian dressing mix in a bowl, and whisk the mixes with water until smooth. Pour over the chuck roast. Distribute carrots around the meat.
3.	Cover the cooker, set to Low, and cook until the roast is tender and the gravy has thickened, about 8 hours.

Here are the changes we made.  We are not big fans of roast beef so we got a boneless pork shoulder – about 4 lbs.  Because it was nearly twice the size used in the recipe, we doubled everything and used pork gravy mix.  I did roll the meat in flour, but did not pound it in.  I had to add about 1 cup of water as the gravy got too thick.  I cooked it high about 6 hours and about 3 hours in, I added cut up butter gold potatoes.

This is a wonderful recipe!  The meat fell apart and the gravy was the best.  It was like a holiday meal or special occasion.  I highly recommend this with pork, beef and even a deer roast.

Fried Cabbage

This way of cooking cabbage is so delicious.  But beware-it is NOT for the faint of heart!  If bacon grease, sausage or butter scares you, this may not be for you.  But if you think those ingredients make anything better-read on.  You must remember that we Southern Belles can take any perfectly good for you vegetable and make it kill you!  Here's what you will need:

1 large head of cabbage cut up how ever you like it
Bacon-1/2 pack cut into small pieces
link sausage-1/2 lb. cut up
1 large onion diced
1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper or a combination of these diced
1/4 stick of butter
salt and pepper, Old Bay seasoning, red pepper flakes

In a large skillet with a lid, cook bacon until crisp, when it is about half way done add sausage, butter, onions and bell peppers.  Cook until the fat is rendered out of the meat and the veggies are tender.  DO NOT DRAIN.  OK. If you feel it's too much-drain some.  Start adding cabbage until skillet is full and put the lid on.  Let the cabbage cook down some, stir and add more cabbage.  Do this until all the cabbage is in the skillet.  Add spices to taste.  Stir well coating all the cabbage with all that greasy, buttery goodness.  Continue cooking until cooked as soft as you like it.  You do not want water from the cabbage in the pot.  If it gets water in it take the lid off the pot and let it cook away.  Best if you can make ahead and sit on the stove for a little while.  Stir well before serving.  Try not to eat it all yourself.  Share!

Thanksgiving 2012

This has been an enjoyable and restful holiday. We will be having lots of company in December so it was good to be a little lazy for a few days. For Thanksgiving Dinner and for several meals afterward we had: Ham glazed with honey, ground cloves and cinnamon, and pineapple Cheesy potatoes with bacon lima beans cream corn deviled eggs punkin pie

I had snagged this recipe on Pinterest for the corn. Ingredients: 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen corn kernels, thawed 1 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup whole milk 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Directions: 1. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the corn, cream, salt, sugar, pepper and butter. Whisk together the milk and flour, and stir into the corn mixture. Cook stirring over medium heat until the mixture is thickened, and corn is cooked through. Remove from heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted. Serve hot. I changed it just a bit. I like to use corn starch for thickening. With flour, you really should make a roux so you don't have a doughy taste and corn starch dissolves easier and doesn't alter the taste. And I added green onions.

It was even better re-heated the next day. The potatoes were a twist on a recipe my Hubbie had in his collection. It uses Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup. It also calls for ham but I didn't want ham in it since I was baking one, so I crumbled cooked bacon in it. Here's what I did: Boil 7-8 potatoes whole to almost done. I used red potatoes, so when they were done I ran cold water on them and the skins slid off. You could leave them on if you like. Slice the potatoes thin and layer half in a baking dish. I cooked a sliced onion in butter until almost done and spread it over the first layer of potatoes along with some shredded cheddar, and the bacon or ham or no meat if you don't want any. I warmed 2 cans of the soup and added some milk to get it where it will pour. Add some garlic powder and black pepper if you'd like. Pour half over the potatoes. Slice the rest of the potatoes into the dish and then pout the rest of the cheese soup over the top. I added green onions on top. Bake at 350 until bubbly and potatoes are completely done about 30-45 minutes. Let rest 10-15 minutes. This is one you could double for a pot luck and everyone would like it. You can play around with the add ins and cheeses for something a bit different every time.

Homemade Croutons

I recently became the proud owner of a beautiful Kitchenaid stand mixer. Thanks Hubbie! He asked a few years ago if I wanted one and at that time I said no. But I started thinking a few weeks ago that someone who likes to eat, hum cook as much as I do might find one useful. So last weekend I decided to make French bread. The mixer of course worked great but the bread did not want to rise very well. I went ahead and baked it and the loaves were think and dense, but tasted ok. We had some left so I didn't want them to go to waste so I made croutons out of them. Here's what I did. First I cut the bread into small cubes and placed them in a large mixing bowl. Then I melted 3/4 stick of butter. I wanted to coat it but not make them oily or greasy. Then I sprinkled the cubes with garlic powder, black pepper, Italian seasoning and dill. I mixed well, and tasted a few until I got them like I wanted. I then placed them on cookie sheets in a single layer and toasted them in a 400 deg. oven stirring and flipping often for about 20 minutes. The house smells great and they taste very good too. Might just have to snack on some - hope some make to a salad!

Linked in with On the Menu Monday

Lemon Blueberry Yogart Loaf

Made this today for Bible study class. This got a little more done than I'd have liked it to be. Temp got jacked up and I didn't notice! Borrowed form Sweetpeas Kitchen. Give Christina a visit~lots of goodies over there! Yummy!
http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/05/15/lemon-blueberry-yogurt-loaf/
For the Loaf:
1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed
For the Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
For the Lemon Glaze:
1 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.
While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.
Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.
To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.
Yields: 1-9x5 loaf
Note:
This recipe will also yield about 12 standard muffins or 36 miniature muffins, baking time adjusted.
It could be doubled and baked in a well-greased and floured bundt pan, baking time adjusted.
This recipe could also be baked in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round, to create a thin cake (approx. 1 1/2 inches tall), baking time adjusted.

Dump cake and "on the fly" dip

It's been a bit of a busy weekend, and I needed quick and easy stuff to fix for after Bible Study Class this afternoon. I remembered Dump Cake. It's certainly an oldie and a goodie and easy.

Dump 2 cans of any pie filling in a dish that has been sprayed with Pam. I used apple today, but peach and cherry are really good too. Spread a whole box of yellow cake mix, dry over the top. Dot with LOTS of butter, it took over one stick for this one. Bake in 350 degree over about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check it after a few minutes in the oven to be sure the butter has melted and covered the cake mix or it will not make a good "crust". It turns out kinda like a cobbler. Could probably put chopped nuts on the top also. The sky is the limit-use what you love best.

I like to also make a dip, or salty snack to have. I remembered that I really didn't have a plan but had a block of cream cheese and alittle sour cream. I let the cream chesse soften and mixed 1/2 packet of ranch dressing in. It was alittle strong, so I added 2 big blops of sour cream. I made some pico with a homegrown tomato diced and a green onion. I let the cream cheese mixture get firm again in the the fridge and rolled it out on some plastic wrap, made a ball shape and put it on a platter. I drained most of the juice off the pico I made and put it over the top. Wish I had diced up a bit on hot pepper in the pico, but it's very good anyway. Served with crackers.