Buckeye Bars

BUCKEYE BARS

I confess Katie and I didn't care for these when we first made them.  Two days later however, the flavors were well developed and absolutely delicious.  Perhaps this is best qualified as a make ahead recipe.

1 box chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Mixture will be dry and crumbly.  It's supposed to look like that.  Set aside 1 cup and pat the rest into a greased 9X 13 pan.
Now mix:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 peanut butter
Mix until well blended.  The peanut butter will thicken the condensed milk a good bit.  My recipe called for pouring the mixture onto the crumb layer in the pan, then spreading.  I found the mixture too stiff to spread.  I'd suggest dolloping on teaspoonfuls of the stuff all over the crumb layer.   And I'd suggest the addition of
1 cup mini chocolate chips
sprinkled over top of the peanut butter layer.  Then sprinkle the reserved cup of crumb mixture over the peanut butter and chocolate chips.
Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool in pan, then cut into bars.  Put on a plate and cover loosely.  Do not put in the refrigerator.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp dill weed
1 tsp. chives
1 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Mix well.  If it appears too thick for your needs, then add a little milk to thin it somewhat.  It all depends on what brand sour cream I have on hand as to how thick/thin the dressing turns out.  And if we're using it on salad, I naturally want it thinner than if we're using it to dip carrots and celery

Toffee Trifle

Toffee Trifle
1 9X13 pan of Brownies, broken into chunks
2 large boxes Chocolate pudding mixed per directions
1 12 oz. container of whipped topping
6 bars of chocolate covered toffee, chopped

Mix the prepared pudding with cool whip and set aside. In a trifle
dish, or large deep bowl(small glass punch bowls work just as well),
put in a layer of brownie chunks, cover with 1/3 of pudding and
sprinkle with 1/3 toffee. Continue layering. If you'd like, you
may top with whipped cream and a grating of chocolate, but you will
need extra topping to do this.
Variations: Add instant coffee to the pudding mixes.  Use mini chocolate chips instead of the toffee bars.
Layer brownies with canned cherry pie filling and top with shaved chocolate for a Black Forest Trifle.
Mix prepared vanilla pudding with 1/4 melted peanut butter.  Layer with chopped peanut butter cups candy and brownies.  Top with whipped topping and drizzle with melted chocolate

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

I use a variation of the Breakfast Casserole that is really a savory bread pudding.  Typically, I eyeball measurements and so you'll have to bear with me as I write out the recipe.  Years ago I decreased the amount of sausage from 1 pound to 1/4 pound because our budget restrictions were severe.  Now I tend to use 1/2 pound of sausage because I found I actually liked the casserole better with the decreased sausage.   If money is tight or I need to use up mushrooms, I'll add diced cooked mushrooms as a substitute for part of the sausage meat.  Mushrooms are not a protein food, but they do take on the flavor of the foods they are cooked with.  So if you brown diced mushrooms with sausage the mushrooms will taste like the sausage.  Fools my family every time,lol!
1/2 pound browned bulk pork sausage
1 onion, diced finely (about 1/2 cup), cooked with sausage
4 cups bread cubes (I save end pieces in the freezer to use to make this casserole and bread crumbs)
4 eggs, beaten
3 cups milk
8 ozs. grated cheddar cheese, reserve 2 ounces to sprinkle over the top just before serving
1 tsp. prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Combine eggs, milk, seasonings.  Toss bread cubes with sausage, onions, and grated cheese.  Pour milk mixture over the bread cube mixture and let sit overnight in refrigerator (of if serving for supper, I'll prepare in early morning and let sit in fridge until I'm ready to cook it).
Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until casserole looks puffy and golden brown.  Sprinkle remaining cheddar over top to melt.

Baked Chicken Pakistani Style

No photo of this dish, and I do apologize.  But boy did it smell wonderful cooking and it tasted soooo good!  John almost always thanks me for the meals I make, usually at the end of eating, but if he compliments a meal WHILE he's eating it, it's something special.  Apparently, this is one of those something special dishes because he complimented the food twice while eating and then thanked me for the meal too. 

I found the recipe in 1958 January issue of Woman's Day magazine and it sounded good then.  I had to buy the Cardamon used in the recipe.  It calls for whole seeds crushed, but I substituted ground.  Because I was reducing the other ingredients to 1/4 (I just used two boneless skinless breasts, I used 1/8 tsp.  I'd say 1/2 tsp should do, but if you're more familiar with cardamon pods you can adjust it.)

Baked Chicken Pakistani Style



1/4 cup soft butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp crushed dried red chili pepper
2 cardamon seeds, crushed
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 small piece fresh ginger, finely minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium onions, chopped
1 fryer chicken, cut into pieces


Mix all but the chicken.  Place chicken in baking dish, spread mixture over top.  Bake at 400F for 1 hour.


**I didn't have cloves, so used allspice instead and used chili powder (ground chili pepper).  I had sliced almonds on hand but did chop them to mix with the other ingredients.  Served with a pilaf type rice this was very good.  The aroma that filled the house as it baked was awesome.

Penny's Super Easy Apple Cake

*Penny's Super Easy Apple Cake

I've looked and looked for an apple cake recipe I got from an old Family Circle Recipe Magazine in the early 1980's.  No luck.  Then I tried to find a Carrot Cake recipe similar to one in my 1980's copy of Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  No luck.  Finally, I decided to use my head and make up my own recipe.  This one turned out quite good and my family was well pleased.
2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups grated apples
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Dump all ingredients in mixing bowl.  Beat on medium speed about 2-3 minutes.  Pour into greased and floured 9 X 13 pan.  Bake at 350F for about 35-40 minutes, until pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Frost with Caramel Frosting.

An easy caramel frosting is made of:

4 tbsps. melted buter
4 tbsps. packed brown sugar
2 - 4 tbsps milk
2 cups confectioners sugar

This mixture should be thin enough to spread so more milk may be added in one teaspoon increments.  On the other hand if this seems far too thin, add a little more confectioner's sugar.  Humidity will determine how thick or thin this comes out, so not precise measurements are necessary.

Monkey Butter Muffins

I bought bananas last week and as usual we had leftovers...Those few that turned freckly and sweet prior to our eating them all.  I snuck one into pancake batter earlier this week while John was home, but there were two left.  I was determined not to put them in the freezer, because I've got plenty of them in the freezer these days.

So this afternoon as I worked about the house, those bananas kept insinuating themselves into my day.  I'd walk by the counter and smell their ripeness, reminding me again and again that I needed to use them and soon.

I put them on the baking counter thinking I'd not pass that way too often, but there they were all the same.  Come supper time, I didn't want much of anything.  But there were the bananas.  I peeled them and mashed them and then began to dig about in the cabinet for other baking ingredients.  As I reached into my baking spices box, I found my hand upon the almost empty bottle of Butter Nut flavoring...And inspiration hit me hard.  Here's what I came up with.  These babies are wonderful!
Monkey Butter Muffins

2 bananas, mashed
1 egg
3 tbsps sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp butter nut flavoring
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk

Mix well.  Spoon into muffin tins.  (Mine made 9).  Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Glaze:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsps butter nut flavoring
2 tbsps milk
walnuts

Mix first 4 ingredients.  Spoon onto cooled muffins.  My glaze was a bit thicker than glaze, less so than frosting.  Top frosted muffins with finely chopped walnuts.