Oh, the possibilities...

It all started at a garage sale,
homemade waffle whoopie pies.

Homemade and baked and sweet,
yup, I had to have some.
YUMMY!

So time to try it out,
my friend tried it first and said
it works with the recipe that we
use for whoopie pies.

What is the recipe?
The easiest and quickest way
to make one of our families all time
favorite treats.

1 cake mix
1 cup of flour
and ingredients on the back of the box of mix.

Add an extra cup of flour to dry ingredients
and add the eggs, oil and water,
mix for two minutes
scoop and drop on cookie sheet and bake.

OR scoop and drop in your waffle iron
for about 1 min.

Fill 'er up with your favorite frosting
and wa-la - whoopie pies for all.

One box makes about 20 whoopie pies.

And I added about 1/2 cup of
 mini chocolate chips
to the batter before "baking."

The possibilities for these are endless,
leave the filling out and make
a dessert with fruit and whipped cream
and use any kind of cake mix
you like.  My friend is going to make
ice cream sandwiches with them.

My favorite is...

with chocolate frosting.

Happy waffle making!!


Linking up at Paisley Passions
                     Whatever goes Wednesday
                     This Chick Cooks
                     Sweet Peas and Bumblebees
                     Ladybug Blessings
                     What's cooking Wednesday
                     The answer is Chocolate
                     Creativly-U

Banana Streusel Muffins

The other week my sister called to ask me

a question about my banana muffins.

I have banana muffins?!   Good to know.

She said that she had gotton the recipe from

me and so off I went to sort thru my recipes to

find "my" banana muffins.

I found it and just so happened to have some super ripe

bananas that needed to be used.

Her question about the muffins was if it

would work as a coffee cake instead.

Did it work, Sis?

Click on the recipe to enlarge.

Linking up: Muffin Monday

{ ~ Pumpkin Pie ~ }

Pumpkin Pie in the spring.

This is our favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

And there is a story with it.

No, I do not make my own crust,
but maybe one day I will.

After getting married and buying a house,

my dear friend, Sharon from high school

moved in next door to us with her husband.

Whenever I needed an ingredient for a

recipe she usually had what I needed.

Over the years our children grew up and

played together all year round.

In the winter they sledded down the big feild

between our houses,

and in the summer they came swimming.

As her family grew she taught them

about giving.  When the first pumpkin

from their garden was ready, they made

us this amazing Pumpkin Pie.  It  disappeared

quickly and Mr. Sweet (aka my husband)

LOVED it. 

That was probably when I started

making pies.  It is the simplest recipe

and so good with fresh pumpkin.

Thanks, Sharon

your kindness will always be remembered!

She moved now and I miss her.

Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs

2 cups pumpkin (canned or fresh)

3/4 brown sugar

1 -12 oz can evaporated milk (1 1/3 cup)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Beat eggs lightly then beat in remaining ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 45-60 min.

Enjoy!

1 Pie gone...

...but it was so good!

Enjoy the sunshine today!

and there is still time to enter the giveaway

here on my blog.

And again...

These pancakes were a big hit with the kids and since I needed to use the rest of the can of pumpkin, it was pancakes for dinner again.

Pumpkin pancakes.

1 1/2 cups milk (I used evaporated milk)

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. vinegar

Mix together.

2 cup flour

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. chai spice

(or cinnamon)

Mix together and then add to wet ingredients

until combined.

Heat a griddle and fry them up and enjoy!

My son helped himself to syrup.

And this picture may or may not be us getting out of cleaning.

Happy Saturday!
~R

We call it granola...

This is one of our family favorites for breakfast.
We call it granola.

It is great with any fresh fruit

or just a handful of raisins or craisins.

And cold milk.

Or all of the above.

Its great with yogurt

or a crunchy ice cream topping.

Or just a handful of goodness for a snack.

Here is how I make it:

1 box cheerios
1 box rice krispies
1 box cornflakes
4 cups oatmeal

Here is where you can get creative and
make it to your family's liking.

You could add coconut
or sunflower seeds
or wheat germ
or another kind of cereal
or whatever you like.

I mix the dry ingredients together

and the amount of dry ingredients

equals about 42 cups.

so this is whatever combinations

of dry ingredients you want.

It is a large amount but

it always seems to be gone

before I know it.

the sauce:

1 1/4 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup margarine

1/2 tsp. salt

Over medium heat,

heat until melted and combined,

stirring occasionally.

Pour sauce over dry mixture and stir.

Bake 45 min at 225*

Stirring every 15 mins.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool.

Stir it occasionally while cooling to

keep it from sticking.

Add raisins or craisins and

store in air tight containers.

Enjoy!  And call it what you like,

We call it granola.

I'm linking up to these parties. 

MadeByYouMonday



Red Velvet Cake

I would have to say that my favorite cake is
Red Velvet Cake.

But, beware
there is one thing that can ruin the whole cake.
Actually, two things.
I just discovered the other thing.

There is nothing more disappointing about a red velvet cake
than biting into it and discovering it is the wrong icing.
What you might ask is the wrong icing?
I will tell you...
Unless it is frosted with the original icing
that was handed down thru generations
with the cake recipe it is wrong.

But I will let you be the judge,
you try it and see if this is your favorite too.

Red Velvet Cake
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. cocoa
2 oz. red food coloring
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. vinegar

Cream together shortening and sugar and eggs.
Make a paste with food coloring and cocoa.
Add to creamed mixture.
Mix the salt and vanilla in with buttermilk and
add alternately with flour to creamed mixture.
Mix soda and vinegar and fold into mixture.
DO NOT BEAT.
Bake in 2 greased 9" pans for 30 min. at 350.

Red Velvet Cake Icing

5 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Cook flour and milk till thick, stirring constantly.
Make sure you cool the flour mixture.
Beat sugar, butter and vanilla
 and add milk and flour mixture.
Beat until right consistency to spread
(about 15 min.)
It gets fluffy and delish!

Crumb coat.

And I have discovered the second thing that can
 ruin a red velvet cake....
is ganache.

For Valentines Day, I covered this cake with ganache and its not
that I don't like ganache,
I just don't like it on my favorite cake.

I remember my mom making this cake
for special occasions and
I will pass on the tradition.

Happy Cakin' to ya!
~R

I'm linking up HERE.

~a lesson learned~

I started this blog to document my new found love for decorating cakes.  And it has been basically cake related ever since, but as I look into the new year and what it may bring my way I think that maybe it is time to spread my wings a little as I blog not only about cakes but also about who I am when I am not decorating cakes.

I have always loved baking, even as a little girl.  If there was a choice between helping with cleaning or baking, you could find me in the kitchen.  Of course that is where I learned a very important lesson about learning from your mistakes.

I was mixing up a batch of bars and when I read the recipe and it called for 3/4 cup brown sugar
and 3/4 cup white sugar, somehow my brain switched it up a little bit.
And what I added was 3 and 3/4 cup of both sugars.
Another thing about me is that I hate strongly dislike math and maybe that goes back to that day
because I then had to figure out how much of the rest of the ingredients I would need to make these
bars like they are intended to be.
With the help of my mom, we got it figured out and I have learned to read my recipes a little more carefully.

And the recipe that I was making is still one that sits in my recipe box as a go to for a quick recipe.

Toll House Pan Cookies

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp.soda
1 tsp. salt
Chocolate chips
nuts

Cream butter and sugars together, add vanilla and beat in eggs.  Combine flour soda and salt and add to mixture.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Spread in greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350.  ( my recipe don't say how long) maybe 20-30 mins.

A lesson learned, for that recipe at least.  And I still love baking!

Its snowing outside and the kids are off to school, maybe I should make some of the above mentioned bars.
They would go perfect with my cup of coffee that just happens to be some of the best coffee in the world.
Costa Rica coffee is my new favorite.

A good day to all of you!