Lemon Cake with Macerated Berries

Ingredients:
1 Lemon Cake Mix, already made and baked in 9"rounds
Cool Whip
1 clamshell of blueberries
1 clamshell of strawberries, sliced
1/2-full cup of sugar

Rinse the berries, and mix with sugar, until there's a good covering of sugar on the berries. Mash the strawberries about halfway and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Ice one cake with a little under 1/2 the Cool Whip and top with 1/2 the berry mix. Add a little cool whip on top to keep the berries in place. Set the other cake on top and ice with the remaining Cool Whip. Add the remaining berries on top and press them down a bit to keep them from sliding around. Refrigerate.

Ratatouille

Ingredients

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound Italian eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound zucchini cut crosswise into 1-inch sections
• 3 anchovies, finely minced
• 1 onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 TBSP dried parsley
• 1/2 TBSP dried basil
• TSP dried Thyme
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 dried chile
• Splash balsamic vinegar

Directions

Line a large platter with paper towels. Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the eggplant, season generously with salt and pepper, and let that cook down for 10 to 12 minutes, until the eggplant is soft and wilted. Remove the eggplant from the pan and onto a platter. Next stop, zucchini: cook it the same way in 1/4 cup oil, then add it to the platter.

Add another 1/4 cup olive oil to the pan, then the anchovies, onions, garlic and herbs. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onions get nice and caramelized. Add the tomatoes and cook that down for 10 to 12 minutes, until pulpy. Return the eggplant and zucchini to the pan, crack open the chile and add that too. Season with salt and pepper and let it cook slowly for about 20 minutes, until the mixture is soft, mushy and juicy; you want all the flavors to come together. Stir in the vinegar and let cool to room temperature.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices
• Salt
• 3 Cups Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil
• All-purpose flour
• 5 medium eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 jars of pasta or marinara sauce
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Directions

Arrange the eggplant slices on several baking sheets and sprinkle generously all over with kosher salt. Set aside to let the bitter juices weep from the eggplant, about 1 hour.

Transfer the eggplant to a colander in the sink, and rinse well under cold running water. Transfer eggplant to a work surface and blot very dry with paper towels.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and breadcrumbs, and season with pepper.
Place the flour in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Dredge an eggplant slice in the flour, then dip it in the egg, and finally dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture. Shake off any excess breading and transfer the eggplant to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
In a large skillet, pour the oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat the oil to almost popping over medium heat. 
Working in small batches, fry the eggplant slices, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per batch. Using tongs, transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt to taste. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a cake pan with PAM. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with 1/3 of the sauce and arrange half of the eggplant over it. Cover the eggplant with another 1/3 of the sauce. Scatter half of the Parmesan and half of the mozzarella over the sauced eggplant. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, sauce, Parmesan, and mozzarella. Bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.

Peach Cobbler

FILLING:

8 or 9 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp. self-rising flour
1/2 c. melted butter

Cook peaches in water until tender. Mix flour, salt and sugar. Add to peaches. Mix. Add melted butter.

 

PASTRY FOR COBBLER:

1 c. self-rising flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
4 tbsp. sweet milk or enough to make dough stiff

Blend flour, salt and shortening to a coarse meal texture. Add milk. roll on a floured surface. Pour half of peaches in 9x13 inch pan. Cut some dumplings and push dumplings down into peach juice. Pour remaining peaches in and top with lattice strips. Bake in a 350 degree oven 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown. Sprinkle a little sugar on top before baking. This should be a juicy cobbler, not dry.

Chicken and Dumplings

This meal cost me about $6 for about 6 to 8 servings. Can't beat that!

1 whole chicken
3 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons ground celery
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon granulated onion
(Can you tell my brother works in a spice factory? Yay, spices!)
1/2 cup milk
2 chicken boullion cubes
1 cup baby carrots sliced thin (just because they were in the fridge and I needed to use them.)
1 tablespoon of Salt
1 tablespoon of pepper 

Boil chicken in spices for a few hours, until the chicken breaks apart at the touch. Take out the chicken from the pot and pan for bones. You could also strain it, but I hate dishes so I just take the few extra minutes. Take the stock back to a boil.

Put flour in bowl and add butter. Use your hands to break up the butter into the flour until evenly distributed. Add milk until you get a sticky biscuit mix. Drop mix into boiling stock in "globs" about 2 tablespoons. I wait a few seconds in between so they done stick. Keep doing this until you run out of batter.

Pull the chicken meat from the bones, discard bones and skin and add back into the pot. Take a few minutes to heat chicken and enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

1 medium onion, thinly sliced 

3 tbsp. canola oil
1 lb(ish) Top Round Steak cut into cubes (USUALLY IN THE DIERBERGS $5 SALE! savings of $2.76) 

4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced 

1 lb wide egg noodles

 

 

In a large skillet, heat oil, add onion. Cook until softened. Set aside onions. Coat beef with flour, salt and pepper. Heat remaining oil in skillet over med-high heat. Cook beef strips in oil for about 8 minutes. Set aside. Drain fat from pan.

Add to skillet the onion and mushrooms; cook for 4 minutes or until mushrooms are softish. Add sour cream and beef. Cook noodles as directed on package; drain. Toss beef and veggies with noodles.

Ho Ho Cake

My mother's birthday was Easter, so we decided to make her a cake and cupcakes. We used a mix for the actual cake-Dark Chocolate fudge. I added 2 tablespoons of coffee since I was making a double batch to bring out the flavors. We baked 2 dozen cupcakes and had batter leftover so we made a 9 inch square as well. We let them cool completely then added the following cream filling using a piping bag and cupcake tip. We cut the cake in half and added a layer of the cream to that as well. We iced with whipped icing and sprinkles. SO TASTY!

Cream Filling    Enough to fill and decorate 24 cupcakes (we made a double-batch)

2 tsp very hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Dissolve the salt in the hot water and allow to cool.

Whip the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla until it begins to get fluffy.  Add the water and whip well.