Awesome (Make-Ahead!!) Breakfast Dish

My friend, Michelle, brought this fabulous dish over for my family when Ally was born. I love that you make it the day (or two) ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator, then in the oven the next morning. I love breakfast foods, but find there is nothing worse than wanting to make something only to realize it won't be done until 9 or 10am (way past breakfast time for me) by the time you get it put together and baked. I recently made this for some friends who were visiting us from FL and it was a hit the second time around as well!

Overnight French Toast
2 tablespoons and 1-1/4 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons butter
1 cup and 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1-1/4 (1 pound) loaves French bread, sliced
6 eggs
1-3/4 cups and 1 tablespoon milk
1-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the corn syrup , butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar has melted. Pour this mixture over the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch casserole dish.
Place the bread slices over the sugar-butter mixture in the dish. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt; pour this mixture over the bread. Cover the dish and let it stand in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Serve while hot or warm or the French toast will harden in the pan. It can be reheated. Serves 6.

Pumpkin Cream Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes (or muffins as I called them) for my parents when they were visiting after Ally was born. They were a great breakfast treat!

Pumpkin Cream Cupcakes
1 pkg spice cake mix
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 sugar
1 egg

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Add dry pudding mix and pumpkin; mix well. Spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in sugar and egg; spoon over batter. Swirl gently with small spoon. Bake 18 to 21 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove to cooling rack. Cool completely. Makes 24.

Double Thick Baked Potato-Cheese Soup

This recipe could definitely use some tweaks...but I don't have the time and am not that interested in fiddling with it. We'll just say the recipe won't be made in this house again.

Double Thick Baked Potato-Cheese Soup
2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups finely chopped green onions, divided
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
black pepper

Combine potatoes, soup, 1 cup green onions, garlic powder and red pepper in slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 8 hours or on HIGH 4 hours. Add cheese, sour cream and milk; stir until cheese has completely melted. Cover; cook on HIGH 10 minutes. Season to taste with black pepper. Garnish with remaining green onions.

Snowball Cake

I didn't grow up on hostess cakes as that wasn't something my mom generally bought for us, but once I was old enough to purchase my own snacks, I would sometimes choose the hostess snowballs. The fluffy filling was my favorite part, then came the coconut on the outside...yum! When I came across a recipe for a Snowball Cake, I knew I had to try it. It doesn't have the fluffy filling as it has a more grown-up flair with cheesecake filling! I love that you bake this cake in a bowl...one less item to clean up as you can mix the cake mix and bake it in the same dish! I made this dessert for our Christmas dinner which we spent with some of our Air Force family.


Snowball Cake (Kraft Foods)
1 box devil's food cake mix
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 egg
2 Tbls granulated sugar
1 pkg (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 cups thawed whipped topping
1 cup coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake batter in 2 1/2 qt ovenproof bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl (this is what prevents it from sticking). Beat cream cheese, egg and granulated sugar until well blended; spoon into center of batter in bowl. Bake 1 hour 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in bowl 10 minutes. Loosen cake from bowl with knife; using potholders if necessary, invert onto wire rack. Remove bowl. Cool cake completely. Meanwhile, beat dry pudding mix, powdered sugar and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 minutes. Stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate until ready to use. Place cake on plate; frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut. Keep refrigerated. Serves 16.

Wordless Wednesday....

(Okay, not completely wordless...Happy (?0th) Birthday, Mom!!)

Cheesy Slow Cooker Chicken

Continuing with the "slow-cooker" theme from the previous post, here is another recent recipe that I made. I must say if you are trying to use ingredients you have on hand before making another trip to the grocery store, give this recipe a try...but it's nothing spectacular and frankly something you could probably come up with on your own.

Cheesy Slow Cooker Chicken
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt
black pepper
garlic powder
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 can condensed Cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Place 3 chicken breasts in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Repeat with remaining 3 breasts and seasonings. Combine soups in medium bowl; pour over chicken. Cover; cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours or until chicken is tender. Garnish with parsley, if desired. Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. Serves 6.

Finally posting some new recipes!!

Wow...it has been a busy couple of months! After Ally was born toward the end of October, the majority of weeks leading up to Christmas have been filled with company. It was great having so many family and friends come visit us...and I have to say, I think all our visitors got a taste of our Wyoming winter with snow! I was blessed with a number of meals brought to our family after the birth of our little girl and didn't have to actually cook a meal until the beginning of December! Since then our meals have been very "low-key" and the crock pot has been doing the majority of cooking. I find I generally have a little more time in the morning to get something prepared for dinner versus finding the time when we are ready to eat dinner. So, to get (myself) back in the swing of things (posting on a more regular basis), I am going to share a crock pot recipe that I recently tried. (Sorry--the next few recipes will not include pictures as my camera is full of baby girl pics :)...and remembering to photograph a picture of dinner (when I MAY only have 10 minutes to eat-uninterrupted) isn't high on the priority list at the moment.)

Beef with Apples and Sweet Potatoes
1 boneless beef chuck roast (2 lbs)
1 can (40 oz) sweet potatoes, drained
2 small onions, sliced
2 apples, cored and sliced
1/2 cup beef broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme leaves, divided
3/4 tsp black pepper, divided
1 Tbls cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbls cold water

Trim fat from beef and cut into 2-inch pieces. Place beef, sweet potatoes, onions, apples, beef broth, garlic, salt, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp pepper in slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 8-9 hours. Transfer beef, potatoes and apples to platter; keep warm. Let liquid stand 5 minutes to allow fat to rise. Skim off fat. Combine cornstarch, remaining 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp pepper, cinnamon and water until smooth; stir into cooking liquid. Cook 15 minutes on HIGH or until juices are thickened. Serve sauce with beef, sweet potatoes and apples. Serves 6.
**Personal Review- this was a nice alternative to the traditional pot roast. Don't forget the cinnamon at the end, as I feel it's what really made the sauce.