Tandy Cakes

Here is one for all of you chocolate/peanut butter lovers out there! ;)

I love homemade tandy cakes! I think these are so moist and delicious because I bake them in a greased 10" x 15" glass baking pan. Here is the recipe:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
12oz. bag milk chocolate chips

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add vanilla and milk; mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix again. Stir in melted butter. Batter will be a little lumpy.

Pour into a greased 10” x 15” glass pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the top and edges begin to turn golden brown. You will see popped air bubble marks all over the top, too.

Let cool about 15 minutes, then spread peanut butter over the cake. Melt chocolate chips in a microwavable plastic dish on 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate over cake, spreading evenly. Cool completely and cut into squares. (You can freeze the plastic dish and then twist it to remove the bits of chocolate stuck to the sides- no wasting chocolate! That is just WRONG!)

***EDIT***Please note that this calls for a 10" x 15" pan! A regular 9" x 13" cake pan won't work, so please don't use that size and then call me to tell me that I have ruined your life with a failed recipe from my blog. (You know who you are! But I love you anyway!)

Cinnamon Rolls From SCRATCH!

Please do not lick your computer screen. I am not responsible for any dust on your tongue.

I get requests to make these delicious cinnamon rolls pretty often, but never requests for the recipe! I think it is too intimidating, but, REALLY, they are NOT hard to make! I got the recipe from an Amish cookbook, so a full batch makes 5 dozen. I am giving you the half batch recipe and much clearer directions than they included.

Soft Cinnamon Rolls

1 cups quick oats
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine
2/3 cups brown sugar
2 Tbsp. yeast- use the bread machine yeast that comes in a jar!
1/3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. white sugar
5 cups bread flour
brown sugar
margarine spread
cinnamon
Icing (approximate measurements):
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. margarine

Combine oats and brown sugar in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over the mixture and add margarine. In a separate bowl, mix yeast, sugar, and warm water. When the oat mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add the yeast mixture. Mix well and gradually add flour. Mixture will form a soft dough. Let rise until doubled in size. Knead and roll out to about 3/8" thickness- keeping it as rectangular as possible. Spread margarine over the dough, sprinkle with brown sugar so that the entire surface is lightly coated, then sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll the dough up into a long roll, and slice into 3/4" thick slices. Place in greased pan(s) and let rise again (about 1/2 hour). Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. For the icing, combine milk and margarine and microwave until the margarine is melted. Add powdered sugar until a thick glaze is formed (a little thinner than pancake batter) and pour over warm rolls. If you want to reheat them later, just pop them in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds! Mmmmm...

Pirogi Casserole

This is such a quick and easy recipe that I wanted to share it here. It is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes (or plan ahead and make a little extra!)

Pirogi Casserole

12 lasagna noodles, boiled
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup butter

You can also add some chopped onions, salt, and pepper to the mashed potatoes, but I don’t.

Place 4 lasagna noodles on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Top with half of the mashed potatoes, dot with 1/3 of the butter, and sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top. Make another layer of noodles, top with remaining mashed potatoes, 1/3 of the butter, and mozzarella cheese. Put the rest of the noodles on the top. Put the remaining butter in microwavable cup, melt, and drizzle over the casserole. You can sprinkle it with parsley if you want to. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This is sooooo yummy! Definitely not a diet food, but…

Monster Cookies

Yummmmm...

I LOVE these cookies! I like to say that they are just about everything you could want in a cookie. Oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips, m&m's,...

This is a modified Amish recipe, so you might want to cut it in half! This would make about 10 dozen cookies! It took FOREVER to make a full batch Saturday night, but hubby ate a lot of dough to help me out! :)

Monster Cookies

6 eggs

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups white sugar

4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup margerine

1 cup peanut butter

4 cups Quick Oats

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

1 bag chocolate chips (or more!)

1 medium bag m&m's (I like to save some to put on top before they go in the oven to make them prettier!)

Mix in order given. Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Take them out even if they look a little underdone - if they get to be golden brown they will get hard and crunchy.

Orange Julius

Well, so much for making up school days! President's Day was a snow make-up day, but we got MORE snow so it was cancelled. So, I used up all my daily ambition first thing in the morning and made a nice breakfast for the kiddos. One of their FAVORITES is Orange Julius. I have also made this for brunch showers and the like and I get many requests for the recipe. So, here you go!

Orange Julius

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (I use half of a standard 12 oz. can)

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla (OK, I just dump this in- I never measure vanilla cause I saw Martha Stewart just dumping it in once)

10-12 ice cubes (I just use a whole tray)

Put all ingredients in your blender and combine (I usually use the ice crush mode) until smooth.

I would love to know if you try this- it is DELICIOUS!!!

Soup Recipe and Money Saving Tips

This post will be part recipe, part frugal food tips. I think a lot of people are trying to cut corners wherever they can, so I hope this is helpful information. Here is how I made Ham Bean Vegetable Soup yesterday:

2 cups sliced carrots

I used baby carrots because they were buy one get one free and what I had on hand. Although more of a pain to chop, they will be eaten more easily by the kids than big slices of carrot.

2 cups diced, cooked ham
When I boil a large ham, there is usually an excess of meat, so I cut it up and freeze it in smaller quantities to use in recipes later. This is a great idea if you can get a big ham on sale around holidays, like Easter. If you don’t have the freezer space for a big ham- cook it right away and make a big pot of ham pot pie or ham and green beans (typical PA Dutch foods), freezing the rest of them ham for later. You can get several meals out of it this way.

2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
Potatoes are a big food staple in this house. We grow a lot but we need a better way to store them…

2 cups sliced celery
I didn’t have any so I skipped this, but it sure would make the soup prettier!

1 pound navy beans
Remember to soak your beans the night before! Dry beans are really cheap and they take up less space in your cupboard than canned ones.

6 cups chicken brothInstead of canned chicken broth, boil some chicken and save the broth. The chicken was used in zucchini casserole, but other than casseroles, I sometimes use the meat in chicken wraps for lunches, too. I boil the broth down to condense it sometimes, then freeze it in old margarine or sour cream containers. Another great way to take advantage of a good sale on chicken, or better yet, get your meat directly through the farmer- you will cut out the middle man and save! If you want it to be lower in fat, you can let it cool and then skim the fat off of the top.

Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot and cook on low 8 to 12 hours.
It was pretty good. Next time, however, I might try to use ham soup base instead of chicken broth. I am used to my regular ham bean soup with that good, smoky flavor. Bacon would really make this, too. :)

Baked Ziti Freezer Meals

I thought I would take a break from Christmas preparations for a minute and share one of the Christmas gifts that I am making. I am putting together homemade frozen dinners for my grandparents. I know that Grandma LOVES my baked ziti (she is half Italian after all!) so I made a batch for them. (Note: it is not cooked in this picture- just ready to freeze!)
One of my batches makes 3 8” square pans or 2 9”x13”cake pans. Not only is this a great gift, it is just nice to have some frozen dinners on hand for those unexpectedly busy evenings- and it prevents a fast food splurge, too! So I thought it would be a great idea to share here. Without further ado, the recipe:

Baked Ziti
~2 pounds loose sausage (Optional- I actually like it just fine without meat, but Hubby and other meaty guys I know like it better. Oh, and you can use hamburger, too.)
~6 cups spaghetti sauce (I used a quart and a pint of what I canned this summer and added a little tomato paste to thicken cause my sauce is always runny, but I had some left over, so if you are purchasing jars from the store get less)
~1 pound ziti pasta
~32oz. Ricotta cheese (Stock up when this is on sale!)
~6 cups mozzarella
~½ cup parmesan

Brown sausage and drain grease. Add tomato sauce to pan and heat through. Meanwhile, boil ziti just until tender- do not overcook! Drain. Mix ricotta and 3 cups mozzarella and stir in cooked ziti. Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of each pan. Top with ziti and cheese mixture, splitting it evenly between the pans. Spread remaining sauce on top of ziti. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella evenly on top of each pan and then sprinkle heavily with parmesan.

Then, you have two options- bake now or freeze! (I like to put these in two cake pans to make one right away for dinner and freeze the other for later.) If you are baking it right away, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese on top is bubbly and begins to brown. If you are freezing it, cover with plastic wrap, then foil. (If you are giving it as a gift, be sure to label and include heating instructions.) When you go to bake it, remove the plastic wrap and put the foil back on. Then bake at 350 degrees until it is heated through and the cheese is bubbly and begins to brown on top- I really forget how long it takes.