Janet's easy fudge

My sister Janet just gave me this easy fudge recipe.  Her husband grew up on fancy fudge, but this recipe is so much easier and just as good.

3 c. chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt in the microwave.  Mix in whatever you want.  Pour into a foil lined (butter the foil) 9x9 pan.

Sample mix ins:
Rocky Road, stir in marshmallows and chopped nuts.
Peanut butter
Caramel and nuts and sea salt (have you tried salted caramel hot chocolate???)
Mint extract

Mom's Orange Candy Cake

2 c. white sugar
1 c. butter
4     eggs
1 t.  baking soda
1/2 c. buttermilk (dissolve baking soda in it)

3 1/2 c. flour
1 lb. dates, diced
1 lb. orange gummy candy slices, diced (kitchen shears work well for this)
1 c.  coconut
2 c.  chopped pecans

1 c. orange juice
1 t.  grated orange rind
2 c. powdered sugar


Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add buttermilk/baking soda mixture.

In large bowl, mix flour, dates, orange slices, coconut and nuts.  Add sugar and egg mixture and mix well.

Pour into greased and floured tube pan (or 4 loaf pans).  Bake at 250 for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until it springs back when touched.

Combine orange juice, rind and powdered sugar and pour over cake.  (If making loaf pans, 1 1/2 this part of the recipe to make a bit more juice mixture to cover all loafs).  Let stand in pan overnight. Before removing from pan, heat 10 minutes and cake will loosen from pan easily.

Mom's Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Cream together:
2 c. sugar
2    eggs
2 t. lemon extract
2 c. sour cream
2 t. vanilla

In separate bowl, mix:
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1t.        salt
2 t.       baking soda
4-5 c.   flour

Mix together. Makes a soft dough. Refrigerate to firm dough.  Roll on lightly floured board, but not too thin--maybe 1/4 inch.  Cut out with cookie cutters.  Bake on greased pans at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until very lightly browned.

Great with frosting or flavored powdered sugar icing and sprinkles.

Homemade mac & cheese

Johnny was in charge of dinner for Family Home Evening tonight. He wanted mac & cheese but we didn't have any Kraft so I went looking for a recipe.  What we made apparently was a hit because Courtney and Johnny both want a copy of the recipe.  :)   I had some zucchini that needed to be used so I added it to the recipe and I didn't get a single complaint about the veggies in the mac.  I do need to give my kids credit...they have been getting very adventurous in their eating.  I am so glad they are generally willing to try new foods.  This recipe was taken from The Ultimate Cooking Course and Kitchen Encyclopedia, and modified by me.


Creamy (Zucchini) Macaroni & Cheese

2 c. dry small shells or macaroni
5 c. cubed zucchini (optional, but yummy!)
1/2 c.  butter
1/2 c. flour
5 c. milk (I use skim because that is what we have and it turned out just fine)
3-4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. dry stuffing or bread crumbs, crushed
1 c. grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9 pan.  Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until done, but not soft.  Drain.  Meanwhile, boil cubed zucchini about 6 minutes. Drain.
Melt the butter in a pot.  Add flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring.  Stir in milk. Bring to a boil over medium, (being careful not to scald the milk) stirring constantly, and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat.  Add the macaroni, zucchini and cheddar cheese and mix well.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Transfer to the prepared baking dish, spreading it out evenly.  Toss together the stuffing and parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the top of the macaroni.

Bake until the top is golden brown and the cheese sauce is bubbling, about 30 minutes.

Ice Cream Bread???

I got this recipe from today's Foodgawker.com.  Thanks to Nikki for sharing the website with us.  I love easy recipes and this one is super easy...and sounds yummy!


Ice Cream Bread Recipe

2 cups ice cream, softened (I used a mix of homemade chocolate and mint chocolate chip)
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (to make self-raising flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for every cup to flour)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix ice cream and flour together until well combined.  Pour into greased and floured loaf pan.
3. Bake for 35-45 minutes

Rhubarb Cheesecake

That's right.  Cheesecake.  And it was awfully good.  This was Kyle's birthday cake, a day early. We get boxes of frozen rhubarb every year and it's nice to find another way to use it besides rhubarb crisp.  It was a hit with everyone!

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell
• 3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, toss the rhubarb with 1/2 cup of sugar and the flour. Pour into the pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove pie and lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs one at a time until each is blended. Pour this mixture over the rhubarb in the crust.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Remove from the oven, and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla. Spread over the top of the pie while it is hot. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled before serving

So our variation on this was adding chopped pecans to the pie crust recipe.  I used the pie crust recipe I posted the other day.  It was an amazing addition and perfect with this pie!

Pie Crust

This is the recipe I used for the peach mango pie yesterday. It is just the recipe (that Bettie told me about, of course) from the Better Homes and Gardens (aka...red and white) cookbook.  This is the recipe for a single crust pie. Don't be afraid.  I had a little trouble the first time I tried this recipe when it was a baked shell before filling.  But as a filled first shell, it was great!  I'm sure it works as a baked first, but I didn't do it right I guess. I think the chilling and pricking would have helped.  As well as I've heard of lining with foil and putting in dry beans.  Anyway, according to me, as someone who doesn't like pie...it's a great tasting pie crust. And easy too!




1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. shortening
3 to 4 T. cold water

In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening till pieces are the size of small peas.
Sprinkle 1 T. of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat till all is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands. [If you aren't going to do this right away, form it in a circle and put it in a ziploc bag in the fridge.  Make it a flat circle, that will prevent rough edges later when rolling out.] Roll dough from center to edges, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Wrap pastry around rolling pin. Unroll onto a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry.
Trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate; fold under extra pastry. Make a fluted, rope-shape, or scalloped edge. Do not prick pastry. Bake as directed in individual recipes.

If you need to bake the crust first when called for by the recipe, prick the bottom and sides of pastry generously with the tines of a fork. Bake in a 450 oven for 10-12 minutes or till golden. Cook on a wire rack.