KW's Creamy Coffee Cake

The reason why this is called a "creamy" coffee cake is because it is so moist, you won't even believe it. It hails from my dear friend KW in California. She shared it with me last summer during a time when I was charged with feeding 30+ hungry teenagers for 10 days.

KW's Creamy Coffee Cake

1/2 C. oil
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding (larger box if you can find it)
4 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix (or white or whatever you like)
2 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. sour cream (roughly)

Blend and mix for 2 minutes in mixer on medium speed. Grease your cake pan. You can use an angel food pan like KW does or I've found that a bundt pan works great too.

Pour 1/2 mixture into cake pan. Go easy on this half because it always seems like you need more, when really, the second half is going to come up short. Now make the topping.

1/2 C. ground pecans (or coarsely chopped; toasted if you can)
3/4 C. brown + granulated sugar (mixed)
cinnamon (I never measure cinnamon; it's way too good to measure)

Sprinkle 1/2 of the topping over the batter in the pan, then swirl with knife. Pour in remaining batter, then drop in the rest of the topping. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

KW has made this recipe as muffins. It made 24; she baked them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I fully intend to give that a try one of these days.

Chocolate Chip Paradise Knock Off

I had to get this down before it all disappears! Heath and I went to Chili's for dinner a few weeks ago and had this awesome dessert called Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. As I looked at it, I thought, "Huh, that doesn't look too hard to make..." So the next time we went shopping, I picked up some walnuts (not a staple around here) and got to work.

Start with a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe (minus the chips). This is one from my old Betty Crocker cookbook.

First, cream these ingredients together:
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. margarine (softened)
1/3 c. shortening
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Now add:
1-1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix together until smooth and tasty.

Spread the soft cookie dough out into an 11x7 baking dish. Sprinkle generously with walnuts, then lots of chocolate chips, and finally top it off with a generous helping of shredded sweetened coconut.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Oh man, this is even better than buying it at a restaurant!

Trailhead Cookies

In order to get ready for the coming couple weeks, I did some prep-cooking yesterday. I like to make batches of cookie dough and put them in the freezer for later use - cookies anytime! Also, I needed to get some bread dough made for buns and pizza that are on the menu next week.

Here's a fun peanut butter cookie recipe that I modified in order to use up some Trail Mix we had. I'd imagine it would be great for taking with you on hikes as well because it has a lot of protein in it. The original recipe is from my old Betty Crocker cookbook.

1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter (either crunchy or smooth - whatever you have)
1 egg
4 Tbsp. milk

Mix all these ingredients until smooth. Then add:

1-1/4 c. all-purpose white or wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix again until thoroughly combined.

Next, take 1 to 2 cups of any kind of trail mix you have and drop it in a food processor. Add enough chocolate chips and/or yogurt chips to make it worth your time eating these cookies. (You know how much you like. ;o) Process on high until coarsely chopped. Add to your dough. Mix again until combined.

Scoop out balls of dough and flatten just slightly. If you're going to freeze these balls, be sure you do flatten them or they won't spread when you bake them later.

Oven info: 375 degrees for 10 minutes on a sprayed cookie sheet.

Remember, when it comes to cookies, take them out before they "look" done. When they look done in the oven, it's too late - they're gonna burn!

Cashew Chicken Salad

Just tried a new recipe this evening that I got from AllRecipes.com. We originally had Fried Rice on the menu, but it just didn't sound very tasty to me. (Maybe it was because I had pineapple beef leftovers for lunch.) So I went searching for something with chicken that could be baked because I was in no mood for slaving in front of a pan for an hour. Here's what I found and how I modified it.

Original Recipe | Modified Below

Combine these and pour into a large Ziploc freezer bag:
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 beaten egg

Put the following into a food processor and chop until coarse. I'd suggest using the "pulse" function and not holding it down too long. Otherwise your mixture will get too fine.
(generous) 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
(generous) 1/2 c. cashews
10 Ritz crackers (I used wheat ones and it was awesome)
Garlic salt & garlic pepper

Pour the chopped stuff into a large Ziploc freezer bag.

Dice 4 chicken breasts and place in the first bag with the butter and beaten egg. ZIP THE BAG!! (I did actually forget to check and see if it was totally zipped and ended up having to spray down my counter with bleach.) Squish chicken around until coated.

Pour the coated chicken into the second bag with the coconut/cashew mixture. ZIP UP! (I didn't forget to check that time.) Squish chicken around as you would with Shake n' Bake until all coated.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and coat with non-stick spray. Pour out the chicken and spread it evenly over the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve over salad greens with a dressing of your choice.

We both really liked this. I wasn't sure if Heath would like it, thinking that he wouldn't enjoy the coconut. But as it turns out, he recommended that I add more coconut next time! This is definitely going into our stock of regular meals.

I pre-diced my chicken, so it wasn't a big deal to use it. Whenever we get raw (not frozen) chicken, I try to dice up some of it ahead of time and put one breast of diced chicken each in a snack size Ziploc bag. Saves time on days when I'm in a hurry - like today! You could just cut the breasts into strips if you were short on time too.