Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Cookies and Cream Cake
And the final piece of yumminess for the evening was a cookies and cream cake. My family is cookies and cream crazy! We love everything cookies and cream so I thought I would make it into a cake. I started with a dark chocolate fudge boxed cake mix (gasp! a boxed cake mix, there will be more short cuts, but the end result is delicious!) and 1 C. of white chocolate chips and mixed them into the dry cake mix, coating the chips with the mix before adding my water, oil and eggs. This way all my chips would not sink to the bottom. I mixed my cake according to the box directions and poured into and greased and floured 9x13 pan, ( I highly recommend using 2 - 8" round or square pans for this, it will make your life a whole lot easier), I gave the cake a light tap before putting it in the oven, to level it out and baked according to package directions. I removed it from the oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes, no more, no less! VERY important! At 5 minutes, get that sucker out of the pan and flip it onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely. Once the cake has cooled, place one layer on a cake board or plate and spread a container (yes the whole container) of vanilla icing on top of the layer. You will then crush about 15 chocolate sandwich cookies either in a food processor or in a sandwich bag with a spoon and place on top of the vanilla icing.
Then place the next layer of cake on top of this. You will then use another container of store bought icing, ( I used whipped chocolate) and ice the whole cake. I had a little left over so I put a border around the top of the cake. I had some cookies and cream candies that I put on top of the cake. I underestimated the amount I had, that is why they are neat on one side and spread out on the other. The kids love them, the hubby and I decided it would be better with more crushed cookies on top. Your choice. I hope you enjoy this recipe. This is a rich and decadent cake that definitely needs a glass of milk with it.
Lasagna Roll Ups
For dinner I had leftovers from Pinterest inspired recipe in the freezer, so those were partially thawed and put into the oven. Dinner was Lasagna Roll Ups, I combined several recipes and came up with one of my own. I made two different kinds at the same time to try to appease picky eaters and get rid of spinach that was going bad in my fridge.
1 box of lasagna noodles
3-4 roma tomatoes, sliced
fresh spinach leaves
1 container ricotta cheese (I used skim)
2 T Parmesan cheese
2 C. mozzarella cheese
pepperoni sliced
Marinara sauce either homemade or jar sauce works well too.
Simple Marinara:
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can tomato puree
2 1/2 T dried Italian seasoning
Heat oil, sauté onion until almost transparent, add garlic and sauté until tender. Add tomatoes and puree and seasoning. Reduce heat and simmer.
Boil noodles until al dente, drain. Mix together ricotta and parmesan cheese. Place a cup of marinara in bottom of 9x13 pan. Lay out noodle, spread cheese mixture on it, layer with tomato & spinach, or pepperoni slices, roll up and lay seam side down in pan. Cover with remaining marinara and mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until warm and bubbly. Left overs freeze well and reheat from frozen in pan in about an hour.
Not the prettiest picture but they are oh so yummy!
1 box of lasagna noodles
3-4 roma tomatoes, sliced
fresh spinach leaves
1 container ricotta cheese (I used skim)
2 T Parmesan cheese
2 C. mozzarella cheese
pepperoni sliced
Marinara sauce either homemade or jar sauce works well too.
Simple Marinara:
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can tomato puree
2 1/2 T dried Italian seasoning
Heat oil, sauté onion until almost transparent, add garlic and sauté until tender. Add tomatoes and puree and seasoning. Reduce heat and simmer.
Boil noodles until al dente, drain. Mix together ricotta and parmesan cheese. Place a cup of marinara in bottom of 9x13 pan. Lay out noodle, spread cheese mixture on it, layer with tomato & spinach, or pepperoni slices, roll up and lay seam side down in pan. Cover with remaining marinara and mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until warm and bubbly. Left overs freeze well and reheat from frozen in pan in about an hour.
My Domestic Diva Day
Today as I was making blueberry jam, I decided that I would try my best to post my results to recipes that I use online and post the links I use. I am trying my best to try a new recipe a week, today 3 new recipes were used so I will post them all here today and I hope you will enjoy them.
Monday we went blueberry picking at a local farm, this is a great activity and is so much cheaper and the farm we went to did not use pesticides. I froze a lot of the berries and some of the ones that were mushy I decided to make jam out of. I searched on Pinterest for a sugar free recipe and came across this one: http://michmeisner.blogspot.com/2013/04/homemade-bread-jam.html?m=1 . This recipe calls for 4 cups of Blueberries, 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce, and 2 T no sugar needed pectin. I had about 6 cups of blueberries and about 1 3/4 cups of my own homemade unsweetened applesauce on hand and it was made out of tart apples so I added 1 cup of Splenda for baking, so I increased my pectin to about 3 1/2 - 4 T. As you may be able to tell I am not into exact measurements. I processed my blueberries in the food processor and then poured them in my sauce pan. I then poured my applesauce and pectin in the food processor and pulsed them until they were blended and them added to my blueberries. I placed over medium heat and stirred constantly until the mixture reached a boil and then continued to stir for 15 more minutes until it reached a jam consistency. I put the jam into sterilized jelly jar and processed them in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.
My Finished Jam!!!
For dinner I had leftovers from Pinterest inspired recipe in the freezer, so those were partially thawed and put into the oven. Dinner was Lasagna Roll Ups, I combined several recipes and came up with one of my own. I made two different kinds at the same time to try to appease picky eaters and get rid of spinach that was going bad in my fridge.
1 box of lasagna noodles
3-4 roma tomatoes, sliced
fresh spinach leaves
1 container ricotta cheese (I used skim)
2 T Parmesan cheese
2 C. mozzarella cheese
pepperoni sliced
Marinara sauce either homemade or jar sauce works well too.
Simple Marinara:
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can tomato puree
2 1/2 T dried Italian seasoning
Heat oil, sauté onion until almost transparent, add garlic and sauté until tender. Add tomatoes and puree and seasoning. Reduce heat and simmer.
Boil noodles until al dente, drain. Mix together ricotta and parmesan cheese. Place a cup of marinara in bottom of 9x13 pan. Lay out noodle, spread cheese mixture on it, layer with tomato & spinach, or pepperoni slices, roll up and lay seam side down in pan. Cover with remaining marinara and mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until warm and bubbly. Left overs freeze well and reheat from frozen in pan in about an hour.
Not the prettiest picture but they are oh so yummy!
And the final piece of yumminess for the evening was a cookies and cream cake. My family is cookies and cream crazy! We love everything cookies and cream so I thought I would make it into a cake. I started with a dark chocolate fudge boxed cake mix (gasp! a boxed cake mix, there will be more short cuts, but the end result is delicious!) and 1 C. of white chocolate chips and mixed them into the dry cake mix, coating the chips with the mix before adding my water, oil and eggs. This way all my chips would not sink to the bottom. I mixed my cake according to the box directions and poured into and greased and floured 9x13 pan, ( I highly recommend using 2 - 8" round or square pans for this, it will make your life a whole lot easier), I gave the cake a light tap before putting it in the oven, to level it out and baked according to package directions. I removed it from the oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes, no more, no less! VERY important! At 5 minutes, get that sucker out of the pan and flip it onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely. Once the cake has cooled, place one layer on a cake board or plate and spread a container (yes the whole container) of vanilla icing on top of the layer. You will then crush about 15 chocolate sandwich cookies either in a food processor or in a sandwich bag with a spoon and place on top of the vanilla icing.
Then place the next layer of cake on top of this. You will then use another container of store bought icing, ( I used whipped chocolate) and ice the whole cake. I had a little left over so I put a border around the top of the cake. I had some cookies and cream candies that I put on top of the cake. I underestimated the amount I had, that is why they are neat on one side and spread out on the other. The kids love them, the hubby and I decided it would be better with more crushed cookies on top. Your choice. I hope you enjoy this recipe. This is a rich and decadent cake that definitely needs a glass of milk with it.
Monday we went blueberry picking at a local farm, this is a great activity and is so much cheaper and the farm we went to did not use pesticides. I froze a lot of the berries and some of the ones that were mushy I decided to make jam out of. I searched on Pinterest for a sugar free recipe and came across this one: http://michmeisner.blogspot.com/2013/04/homemade-bread-jam.html?m=1 . This recipe calls for 4 cups of Blueberries, 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce, and 2 T no sugar needed pectin. I had about 6 cups of blueberries and about 1 3/4 cups of my own homemade unsweetened applesauce on hand and it was made out of tart apples so I added 1 cup of Splenda for baking, so I increased my pectin to about 3 1/2 - 4 T. As you may be able to tell I am not into exact measurements. I processed my blueberries in the food processor and then poured them in my sauce pan. I then poured my applesauce and pectin in the food processor and pulsed them until they were blended and them added to my blueberries. I placed over medium heat and stirred constantly until the mixture reached a boil and then continued to stir for 15 more minutes until it reached a jam consistency. I put the jam into sterilized jelly jar and processed them in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.
For dinner I had leftovers from Pinterest inspired recipe in the freezer, so those were partially thawed and put into the oven. Dinner was Lasagna Roll Ups, I combined several recipes and came up with one of my own. I made two different kinds at the same time to try to appease picky eaters and get rid of spinach that was going bad in my fridge.
1 box of lasagna noodles
3-4 roma tomatoes, sliced
fresh spinach leaves
1 container ricotta cheese (I used skim)
2 T Parmesan cheese
2 C. mozzarella cheese
pepperoni sliced
Marinara sauce either homemade or jar sauce works well too.
Simple Marinara:
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can tomato puree
2 1/2 T dried Italian seasoning
Heat oil, sauté onion until almost transparent, add garlic and sauté until tender. Add tomatoes and puree and seasoning. Reduce heat and simmer.
Boil noodles until al dente, drain. Mix together ricotta and parmesan cheese. Place a cup of marinara in bottom of 9x13 pan. Lay out noodle, spread cheese mixture on it, layer with tomato & spinach, or pepperoni slices, roll up and lay seam side down in pan. Cover with remaining marinara and mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until warm and bubbly. Left overs freeze well and reheat from frozen in pan in about an hour.
And the final piece of yumminess for the evening was a cookies and cream cake. My family is cookies and cream crazy! We love everything cookies and cream so I thought I would make it into a cake. I started with a dark chocolate fudge boxed cake mix (gasp! a boxed cake mix, there will be more short cuts, but the end result is delicious!) and 1 C. of white chocolate chips and mixed them into the dry cake mix, coating the chips with the mix before adding my water, oil and eggs. This way all my chips would not sink to the bottom. I mixed my cake according to the box directions and poured into and greased and floured 9x13 pan, ( I highly recommend using 2 - 8" round or square pans for this, it will make your life a whole lot easier), I gave the cake a light tap before putting it in the oven, to level it out and baked according to package directions. I removed it from the oven and let sit in the pan for 5 minutes, no more, no less! VERY important! At 5 minutes, get that sucker out of the pan and flip it onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely. Once the cake has cooled, place one layer on a cake board or plate and spread a container (yes the whole container) of vanilla icing on top of the layer. You will then crush about 15 chocolate sandwich cookies either in a food processor or in a sandwich bag with a spoon and place on top of the vanilla icing.
My next project is Frozen birthday invitations for my girls 5th birthday party, but that will have to wait until morning.
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