Hummingbird Cupcakes for My Girl Paula

Years ago I lost my copy of The Lady & Sons, Too! at the grocery store. It was a much-loved copy complete with food stains, dog-ears, and hand-written notes. I left it in the grocery cart during checkout and apparently someone else took it home. When I discovered there was a blogging group called My Girl Paula, I knew it was time to join and repurchase the book. I am so excited to say that I was able to purchase a copy of the book for just $.79 from Amazon! The book and shipping were only $4.29 and I couldn't have been any happier!

Last week, we made basil grilled chicken, which was fabulous, and a total keeper! This week, we are making Paula's Hummingbird Cake, which I made into cupcakes! If you've never had Hummingbird Cake before, then you are seriously missing out! These cupcakes were delicious! The cake is full of chopped pecans, mashed banana, and crushed pineapple. Add the cream cheese frosting and you are in heaven! My husband gave these his top rating, along with my in-law's, and all the girlies at work!! Thanks Paula!

Hummingbird Cake- adapted from Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons, Too!

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-3/4 cup mashed bananas
One 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

Frosting:
One 8-oz. package cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temp
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans (For cupcakes use cupcake/muffin liners or grease and flour cupcake pans) For the cake, in a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the eggs and oil and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in the banana, the pineapple and its juice, the pecans, and the vanilla.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 23-28 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. (For cupcakes, this recipe made 24 cupcakes which were baked for 25- 30 minutes). Cool the cake layers in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

While the cake cools, make the frosting: In a bowl, blend together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the pecans, or reserve them to sprinkle over the frosted cake. Fill and frost the cake.

Head on over to My Girl Paula to see how others enjoyed this cake. Next Monday, we will be making Paula's Black Bean Dip!

Baked Potato Skins

It all started with nail polish, purple nail polish to be exact. I thought that I would paint my toes since I had some time alone. I must have had butterfingers because I dropped that purple nail polish and it broke. In fact, it broke all over my white tile floor in the bathroom!! I don't think I'll ever forget the bright purple against all that white tile! I went into a total panic and my husband ran upstairs. He was able to get out all the stains and I was so thankful. I have never had an accident with nail polish and I couldn't believe I had broke an entire bottle.

The next morning I woke up, went into the pantry and looked in horror at my wood laminate floor. When I had got the cleaner out for the nail polish spill, another cleaner had fell and leaked onto the wood laminate floor. There isn't too much you can do to fix that damage.

The next weekend, when leaving work, I backed my car up into a guard rail and pretty much took off the front bumper. Don't you hate that sick feeling you get in your stomach as you get out and walk around to survey the damage?

That evening, I came home and made Paula's basil grilled chicken. When I downloaded the pictures I noticed that they were all blurry and out of focus. I hadn't had time to download any of the pictures for the past eight or so recipes I had made. My husband spent the evening trying to fix the camera and now it is working better than ever. The downside is that I have several blurry pictures for you coming up. The upside is that my new pictures are better than ever.

In the meantime, I'm wondering, if I've become clumsy and accident-prone. Should I be allowed to paint my nails, drive my car and operate a camera? I'm not sure. I did however manage to bake these delicious baked potato skins. The recipe can be found here on Recipezaar.

It is a simple recipe that begins by baking the potatoes. Once baked, you remove most of the potato flesh and season with a great combination of oil, paprika, garlic and Parmesan. You bake the skins cut side up for 8 minutes and then turn over and bake another 8 minutes. Once the skins are crispy, you add the cheese and bacon filling and throw back in the oven until melted. Top with all your favorite toppings and enjoy! They were ooey, gooey delicious!! The seasoning added to the potato skins put them over the top!

P.S. Last night at work I dropped a batch of bath bombs and broke one. After watching me drop the bags and various other things for hours they felt bad for me. They let me take home the broken bath bomb, which happened to be one of my favorites. Maybe my luck is looking up!!

Creative Thursdays: Breakfast Pies

When I was little my Dad would make any challenge into a game. He was always being creative and loved to see where it would lead him. Most people would be frustrated with only change in their pocket, but my Dad loved it. I've watched him laugh as he scooped change from a jar and headed out to lunch. He always said he appreciated those times because they were like a game to him. He wanted to be able to use his wits to make do with what he had. He always came back with a funny story.

Since going back to work part-time, I have found myself challenged, especially in the kitchen. Inspired by my Dad, I've turned this challenge into somewhat of a game. I've been rethinking the way I grocery shop and focusing on a well-stocked pantry so that I can create meals all week without running to the grocery store. I've started to notice that I'm saving money and having a lot of fun. I know all of us have days where we are short on time, short on ingredients or short on money. For my family, this happens towards the end of the week, namely Thursday nights. So, I have decided to have a new post every Thursday to chronicle my creative fun in the kitchen! Every Thursday I am going to post a new recipe featuring a staple ingredient from my pantry. These recipes will more than likely be quick, easy and economical. I will also be sharing tips I've learned about keeping a well-stocked pantry. I would love to hear all comments, feedback, and suggestions. All of us have some creative genius hiding inside : ) We could probably start an entire blog on this theme alone.

This week, I am featuring refrigerated biscuit dough as a staple ingredient to keep in your kitchen. These breakfast pies are great for using up leftover ingredients. You can customize the filling to suit your family. I like to make them ahead of time and reheat them in the morning. This recipe makes 10 individual breakfast pies and takes less than 30 minutes. I'm estimating that the cost is around $5.00 for the whole batch, even less if you buy your biscuit dough on sale and use leftover meat and/or veggies.

Breakfast Pies, adapted from All Recipes, Family Favorites

3/4 pound ground pork sausage
1/8 cup minced onion
1/8 cup minced green bell pepper
1 (12 oz) can refrigerated biscuit dough
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup shredded colby-jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, combine sausage, onion, and green bell pepper. Cook until sausage is evenly browned. Drain, crumble, and set aside. (I used bacon and left out the veggies because my husband and kids are picky)

Separate the dough into 10 individual biscuits. Flatten each biscuit out; line bottom and sides of 10 greased muffin cups. Evenly distribute sausage (or bacon ) mixture between the cups. Mix together the eggs and milk and divide between the cups. Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until filling is set.

Notes/Ideas: This is a great recipe for using up leftovers. Instead of sausage, use leftover meat or veggies. Use up that salsa left in the bottom of the jar and add it as a topping to the pies. Stock up on refrigerator or freezer biscuit dough when it is on sale. Biscuit dough is one of those ingredients that is like a blank canvas, you can do many things with it. A friend told me that she has used regular sandwich bread in place of biscuit dough and also had great success.


As far as my Dad goes, he' ll be 61 next week and he's still making games out of everything. He recently took my step-nephew for a ride one afternoon. They had about $3.00 altogether. They pumped as much as they could in gas, drove as far as they could, and split a candy bar. My step-nephew said it was the most fun he had in awhile : )

Basil Grilled Chicken for My Girl, Paula

I recently joined the group My Girl, Paula! This is a great group of gals who are cooking with Paula Deen recipes each week. There is a new recipe each week and let me tell you.....they all sound wonderful. This week, the recipe was Basil Grilled Chicken. I knew instantly that I would like this chicken recipe and set out to find some basil. I can speak from experience when I tell you that basil and other fresh herbs are hit and miss in my small town. However, I ran to the grocery early in the morning and was thankful to find some.

The recipe is for 4 chicken breasts, or one pound of chicken. You simply make a mix of minced basil and melted BUTTER. We all know Paula loves her butter!! You brush the melted butter and minced basil on the chicken and begin to grill. While the chicken is grilling you baste it with another mixture. Are you ready for it???? Yes, the second mixture for basting has yet MORE BUTTER!! However, it also has more basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. I don't think I used the same amount of butter, but the dish was so flavorful!! The chicken was moist, flavorful, and had an intoxicating smell. It reminded me of an grilled Italian chicken that I would pay big money for while dining out!! In fact, my husband even liked it and he dislikes basil!! Way to go Paula!! This dish is rated 5 stars on the food network and I have to agree. It is definitely a keeper dish that I will be repeating soon. I am already craving it!! You can find the recipe here.

Thank you everyone with My Girl, Paula for letting me be a part of the group. I really loved this first recipe!!

Please head over to the My Girl, Paula site to check out what everyone else thought of this dish. Next week we will be making Paula's Hummingbird Cake- Yum!

The Winner of the Lush Giveaway is.........

Congrats to Arlene at The Food of Love! Arlene is the winner of the Lush product giveaway. I will be sending Arlene a message so that she can collect her prize. Arlene has a great shrimp and mushroom ravioli dish over on her blog right now, go check out : )

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing. I really enjoyed reading the comments about your first "trials" in the kitchen. Sounds like pasta is a popular choice!! Here is what Arlene had to say about one of her first dishes in the kitchen:

I love pasta, too, but it isn't the first "dish" I remember cooking. No, that would be toasted mozzarella. Yes, I did say toasted and I didn't mean on a sandwich. When mom wasn't around, I would spear a big hunk of mozzarella on her big fork and hold it over the gas flame until it got nice, blistery char marks--yes, and made a mess, which I'd clean up after devouring the melted cheese.

Well, I think most of us will agree that any kind of cheese, especially melted, is also a good reason to get into the kitchen! Thanks to everyone who shared their stories.

Strawberry-Lemon Puddings

Do you ever sabotage yourself? I do it all the time, but I really did it with this recipe. For example, this should be a simple recipe! Tyler takes a store-bought pound cake, which is layered with a store-bought lemon curd and heavy cream. He combines them both with some strawberries and makes this cute little pudding. Tyler throws his little puddings together in no time flat.

Here's what I did to myself. I had a box mix for pound cake in my pantry. In an effort to clean out my pantry and freezer I decided to make my own pound cake. Would you know that darn pound cake took about an hour to bake?? Why didn't I think of that? Conveniently, I also forgot that the pound cake would be HOT for a long time!! I got angry with myself and sat the pound cake aside until the next day. I can never find store-bought lemon curd, so I decided to make it myself. Lemon curd is one of those time consuming recipes that consists of zesting quite a bit of lemons and then cooking over low heat for quite some time. I had made it once before with success, but this time it didn't turn out!! So, I made it again, but not until the next day. Do you see a recurring theme here?? (And by the way.....yes I know I have quite a temper, but I've learned when to walk away). The next day, the strawberries weren't looking so good and the pound cake was half gone. I really didn't want to go back in the kitchen and work on this, but I wanted to just get it finished. I found enough strawberries to make one little pudding and I ate it for breakfast. It was really good and would be even better if I had followed Tyler's directions and actually bought store-bought ingredients. Why do we do these things to ourselves??

Strawberry-Lemon Puddings, adapted from Tyler Florence, Dinner at My Place

2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved
1 meyer lemon, juice only
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
1/2 cup store-bought lemon curd
1 store-bought pound cake

Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoonsof powdered sugar in a small saucepan; place over medium heat. Cook and stir for 4 to 5 minutes, then remove from heat to cool. Remove 4 strawberry halves from saucepan and reserve for garnish.

Whip heavy cream in a large mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Fold in the 1 cup owdered sugar and the lemon curd, a little at a time, until combined. Set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the cake. Preheat oven to 350F. Cut pound cake into 1/4" thick slices. Use an inverted 6-ounce ramekin, carefully cut out 8 rounds. (The rounds should fit snugly inside of the ramekin itself). Break the remaining scraps of pound cake into coarse crumbs and toast on a baking sheet in the preheated oven about 5 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant.

To assemble, start with a layer of the lemon cream on the bottom of each of the four 6-ounce ramekins, followed by a cake round, some strawberries, and lemon cream. Add another layer of cake. Drizzle the final cake layers with syrup from the strawberries and then top with a swirl of lemon cream and some toasted pound cake crumbs. Garnish each pu dding with a reserved strawberry half and dust with powdered sugar.

My advice, should you decide to make this, take Tyler's word and buy store-bought. I think that guy knows a thing or two about cooking!!

YOU STILL HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY FOR THE LUSH GOODIES. PLEASE SEE THIS POST TO LEAVE A COMMENT!!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!!

WINNER WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW AND I WILL CONTACT THEM FOR THEIR MAILING ADDRESS ; )

Baked Egg Rolls and Awards!!

I am so excited about this simple and fun recipe. This recipe for Baked Egg Rolls is one of the most adaptable, economical and fun recipes I have made in awhile!! All you really need is a package of egg roll wrappers and you can fill these with your choice of ingredients. They can be vegetarian or full of meat, either way they are delicious. Play with the ingredients and different dipping sauces to see what suits you. The first time I made these, I followed the recipe and used ground pork. They were delicious and I knew I wanted to make them again. This week at the grocery I found some ground chicken on sale for $1.49 a pound!! I thought of these egg rolls and bought a couple packages of that ground chicken. The egg roll wrappers were about $1.79. add that to the price of the chicken at $1.49, and the entire dish is definitely less than $5. Best of all, you can personalize them and serve them next to sesame or ramen noodles. Can you tell I'm excited about these?

On another note, my husband is hysterical!! My camera was taking very blurry pictures and I asked my husband to take a look at it. Thankfully he was able to fix the camera. I had no idea he had taken pictures of these egg rolls. When I downloaded the pictures I had a big laugh! He had the egg rolls arranged nicely, on great plate, but with baby squash on the side!! The entire thing just made me laugh out loud. There were no squash in the egg rolls, but he thought the colors made the egg rolls stand out. It was so cute and I just couldn't help but use his picture in the post.

Baked Egg Rolls, adapted from All Recipes Family Favorites**

1 pound ground pork
1 cup finely shredded cabbage **didn't have on hand, left out
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro **didn't have on hand, left out
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1-1/2 tsp. oyster sauce **didn't have on hand, used soy sauce
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root
1-1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. chili sauce **used some asian garlic chili paste
1 TBSP. cornstarch
1 TBSP. water
20 egg/spring roll wrappers
4 tsp. vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425F. Place ground pork in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly browned (do not overcook because they will bake in oven for 20 mins). Remove from heat and drain meat. In a medium bowl, mix together pork, cabbage, carrot, green onions, cilantro, sesame oil, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, and chili sauce. Mix cornstarch and water in a separate small bowl. Place approximately 1 tablespoon of the pork mixture in the center of each egg roll wrapper. (I think my wrappers were larger and I used about 2 tablespoons of filling, you definitely want to fill them up.) Roll wrappers around the mixture, folding edges inward to close. (The egg roll wrapper will probably show pics on how to roll them.) Brush wrapper seams with cornstarch mixture to seal. Arrange egg rolls in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush with vegetable oil, both sides. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turn them over, and 10 minutes on the opposite side.

The nutritional information is listed for this recipe: 154 calories per roll, 7g protein, 20g carbs, 5g fat, 1g fiber, 15mg cholesterol, 200mg sodium

NOTES: Be careful when separating the egg roll wrappers. They are extremely thin. I realized halfway through that I had double egg roll wrappers on my first few rolls. They turned out just as good, but I would've had more egg rolls : ) If you have leftover filling, add it to your rice or pasta on the side. I had about 1/2 cup of leftover filling, but I'm blaming this on my inability to separate those egg roll wrappers correctly.

Now, onto some more fun!! I received this much appreciated award from Allison of Dinner at Our House. Allison has a great blog herself, with many great recipes. Check out her Pizza-Hut Pan-Style Pizza. It looks better than Pizza Hut!!

I would love to pass this award on to everyone!!! There are so many great blogs out there that I enjoy reading. Here are the fifteen that I have chosen. I hope that you will take the time to check out these blogs, they are all great for different reasons!!

Heather of Girlichef - Heather has so many great recipes and beautiful photos, and she is such a great person!

Donna of My Tasty Treasures - Donna has a big following and it is so easy to see why. She has great recipes and her posts are hysterical, adventurous and just plain fun. She is a sweetheart and has been following me from the beginning.

Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya is a bread baking goddess!! I'm convinced that there is nothing this woman can't cook!! Plus, she does a great job hosting the Tyler Florence Fridays blog.

Deb of Kahakai Kitchen - Deb is great at cooking up colorful, bright, and healthy meals. It is always a delight to see what she has made each week for Tyler Florence Fridays. She is also great as a host on Tyler Florence Fridays.

Megan of My Baking Adventures - Megan has many baking adventures in the kitchen. I am really enjoying Megan's adventure into ice cream this summer. Every Monday, she posts another great ice cream recipe entitled "The Weekly Scoop".

Beth of the Seventh Level of Boredom- I'm convinced that Beth and I lead parallel lives. Sometimes I think we married the same picky eater : ) Beth cracks me up. Her posts are witty and funny and I enjoy them greatly. Sometimes we are even making the same dish!

Joanne of Eats Well with Others - Joanne is a young woman of many talents. She cooks, bakes, runs marathons and is enrolled in an MD/PhD program at Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD/PhD. Her posts are well-written and she makes some great things for herself, for her roomies, and for her family.

Pam of Sidewalk Shoes - Pam has the most beautiful pictures. Everything on Pam's blog is so impressive. Visit her blog and you will be amazed at her photos and recipes.

Arlene of The Food of Love - Arlene is another devoted blogger with Tyler Florence Fridays. Arlene shares great information about each of her recipes. She gives notes, changes, and opinions along the way. I love her honesty and attention to details.

Lizzie of Every Last Cookie - Lizzie is a sophomore in college who is baking her way through Martha Stewarts Cookie Cookbook, all 147 recipes!! The post are well-written and the photography is great. I am really enjoying all the cookies!

Julie of The Sporadic Cook - I have just recently found Julie's blog and she cracks me up. I love how candid she is and enjoy her posts so much. She also makes great home-cooked meals and shares her ups and downs in the kitchen.

Erica of My Colombian Recipes - Erica's blog is unique and beautiful. She shares many Colombian recipes with great sentiment for her home country. The photos are beautiful and I learn something each time I read a post. I'm going to be trying some of her recipes shortly.

Mimi of Standing at the Kitchen Door - First of all, the background on this blog is my all-time favorite!! Go there just to check out the adorable background! I just found her blog this past week and I love it for it's great recipes, pictures and sentiment. Mimi remembers her mother at the end of each post by signing them "Mom & Me". I think that is just priceless. Don't we all feel close to our mothers when we are in the kitchen??

Laura of Tide and Thyme - I just found Laura last week and I can already tell she is a sweetheart. She has a great blog and her love for food and cooking are well conveyed on her blog.

and last but not least.........

Libby of Cooking with Libby - Thank you to Libby for introducing me to the Paula Deen cooking club. Where have I been hiding this whole time! The world of food blogging is filled with wonderful people and Libby is no exception. She's still in the kitchen, even with a knee injury. Check out her site for great Paula recipes and many others.....

I also want to say thank you to everyone who visits my site. I appreciate all the comments and love reading through them.