Everlasting Arms Cake

Posted on 5:59 PM under , , , | Be the first to comment · edit

Eldest child found this recipe on Pinterest, did some tweaks, made cupcakes instead of a sheet cake, and they were a hit at the office pot luck and at home aka there were none left over when Eldest came home. Ironically, Eldest is the only one who does not care for the taste. "Too coffee forward", but then, she's a "I'll have a little coffee with my cream and sugar" kind of gal. 


Cake 

Ingredients 
2 eggs 
2 cups sugar 
1 cup hot coffee 
2 teaspoons vanilla 
2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt 

In a medium mixing bowl, beat two eggs. Continue beating while adding the sugar gradually until fully combined and a fluffy pale yellow. Continue beating while adding the hot coffee and vanilla. Set aside. 
 
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until smooth. Pour into a very well greased 9x13" pan, well greased Bundt pan, or well greased cupcake liners using a 1/3 cup measuring cup (made about 18 cupcakes). Emphasis on well greased. Cake will stick otherwise.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until done. Do not over bake. Set on cooling rack to cool completely before frosting. 

Frosting 1
 
Ingredients 
1 lb/bag powdered sugar (also known as confectioners or icing sugar) 
1/2 lb butter (1 cup/2 sticks), softened 
2 teaspoons vanilla 

Cream butter until light. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, then vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth and spreadable. Add a spoonful of milk if needed to thin the frosting. 


Crumb Mixture to go with Frosting 1 

Ingredients 
1 lb ground walnuts 
3 cups graham cracker crumbs 

In a bowl, mix walnuts and crumbs together. Sprinkle over the frosted cake and gently press into the top. 

Frosting 2 

Ingredients 
2 cups powdered sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 tablespoons coffee, or as needed 

In a bowl, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and coffee until a thin syrup. Add as much coffee as needed. Will be pale brown and smell vaguely like maple syrup. (I do not know why coffee plus vanilla and powdered sugar does this, but it does) Drizzle over the top of the fully cooled cake and let set. Crumb mixture optional.

Chicken Broccoli and Rice casserole

Posted on 7:20 PM under , , , , , | Be the first to comment · edit

Daughter here. Years ago, Mom was at the end of her pantry, the grocery money would not drop into the account for a couple of days, but we still needed dinner. She rifled through her collection of recipe books and magazines and found a casserole recipe that she actually had all the ingredients for. She made it. It looked weird. Smelled kind of funny. Everyone (including stepdad and baby bro who would eat just about anything) poked at their food for a bit before trying it.

It was Awesome. It kind of made layers when it baked, but it worked. We all wanted seconds and we're bummed when there were none. A rare 6 out of 6 (3 of us kids, both parents, and a guest who was visiting from out of town.) on Mom's rating scale.

And then she promptly lost the recipe. We knew it involved broccoli, cheese, rice, cream of something soup, and corn flakes. She thinks it was from Taste of Home. We have scoured the Taste of Home website, Pinterest, and friend's recipe stashes, to no avail. It has been almost 20 years, and we have finally found something similar in taste, smell, and appearance. It is under development to get to what we like.

Ingredients:

 1 lb chicken, cut up into small bits, or 1 large can of shredded chicken, drained. 
 2 cups frozen broccoli or 1 average bag 
1 cup instant rice 
1 10.75 Oz can of cream of something soup (chicken, mushroom, celery, whatever you have, we've used cream of chicken and chicken and herbs so far in the testing) 
2 1/4 cups milk 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers or 1 1/2 cups plain corn flakes (enough to cover the top of the casserole in a even layer)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a casserole dish, mix everything but the Ritz crackers/corn flakes. Spread mixture evenly. Then, coat evenly with the topping.

Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes, until rice is creamy.

Makes roughly 6 servings.