Cooks Country Daisy Mae's Delight Cake

Cooks Country Daisy Mae's Delight Cake, a photo by KS Girl on Flickr.

This is less about the recipe for the cake and more about my experience making the cake. I started out wanting to bake, I haven't done much all summer and it seems that I rarely have the time even when I want to. Usually I am too tired or stressed to even crack open a box and add some eggs and oil. However, Saturday I was determined and it seems that determination had to be tested by the kitchen. After reading several recipes and deciding that I was going to make a cake. I set out to make Cook's Country Daisy Mae's Delight out of America's Best Lost Recipes.
This recipe is different from regular cakes, instead of flour it has a special ingredient, graham crackers, and that I had plenty of in my cupboard. Due to summer fun and lots of Smore's I had three half opened boxes of graham crackers. After reading through the recipe I got out the cuisinart and started grinding up graham crackers.
I followed the recipe and even set-up two 9 in round pans to make a layer cake like the recipe suggested. I was out of Baker's Joy flour spray, and opted for the old fashioned grease and flour method. Put the cakes in the oven and went about cleaning up and taking care of other things around the house. Cakes smell wonderful. Timer dings and I pull them out and let them set according to the directions. Go to remove them from the pan and they stick, and then crumble out. I clean up the cake mess, and try a bit, surprisingly good. Upset that they tasted good but looked like mess, I decided making a layer cake isn't in the cards today. I quickly find a recipe for an old favorite Texas Sheet Cake and continue on. My husband comes into help out and starts on part of the cake and I work on the other, we get it together pretty quickly I double check a few measurements, and we begin to put the ingredients together in the kitchen aid mixer. I begin to think it looks thin, but keep on adding in the liquid. I get it all mixed and notice that it looks like soup. Give the recipe a quick glance, and I doubled the buttermilk. Frustrated and heartbroken, I go to the other room and my super sweet husband cleans up. I also believe he sampled a little bit of the cake soup. I have the items to make Daisy Mae's Cake one more time, yes I had that many graham crackers in my cupboard! We decide to put in a 9x13 and call it good. It bakes up lovely, and I made the frosting took it out to my parents house. We had fun playing guess the ingredient. With the cream cheese frosting it tasted more like carrot cake or zucchini than graham cracker. My husband said the kitchen missed me and that it played havoc on my baking so I would spend more time in there... I suppose I shall try to bake more regularly.

Sunday Morning Breakfast: Waffles

"and for breakfast I am makin' waffles!" -- Donkey from Shrek

Buttermilk Waffles from "America's Test Kitchen Family Recipes"
they were wonderful.

Not-Tuna Chicken Noodle Casserole in a Skillet

I originally read this recipe in Rachel Rays Magazine, and I didn't care for the original so I changed it to.. Not Tuna Chicken Noodle Casserole...

Part 1:
1lb of egg noodles
bring water to a boil and cook until soft.

Part 2:
1-2 t of Olive Oil (or EVOO)
1/2 of med onion diced
saute in large non-stick skillet 2-3 min until onion softens
2 t of minced garlic
3 Stalks of celery, cut up
saute in with onion until celery is soften
then add 1 lg can of Tyson Chicken (12.5 oz) shred it up out of the cubes.
then add 2 C of Green Peas (frozen works)
let them heat up, scoot to one side of skillet.

melt
2 T of Butter
then add
2 T of flour
after incorporated and cooked for 1m
add
1/2 C of Broth + 1 1/2 C of Milk
Slowly, and whisk together,
blend in with other ingredients in skillet
on med heat
when it starts to boil incorporate noodles, and mix well.
Heat through and serve.

Cooking Light Supper Club

Last night was our night in KC at the Supper Club we belong to, I signed up to make Texas Sheet Cake, some of the other dishes were Herbed Basamiti Rice (we used Jasmine), Cornflake Crusted Halibut, Yukon Gold Potato Biscuits, and a salad. It was all very good food, and a nice evening.

Friday Night Dinner: Re-Run with a new script!

I re-run the butternut squash soup and turned it into a a delicious pasta sauce. I added one can of Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes, I small can of cut up black olives, and 1 to 1.5 cup of butternut soup puree, 1 cup of Sargento Bistro Blends Sun-dried Tomato, and Basil Cheese, & 2 T of Heavy Cream. Mixed together, and placed over cooked spinach pasta, and baked in the oven with cheese on top at 425 F for 20min, until the cheese melted. It was much better this way than as soup. My parents are going to use it as a filling in Lasagna this weekend.
We also used my indoor grill pan and cooked steak, marinated with dried basil, garlic, olive oil, white wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Then on the side we had salad and green beans. It was a great experimental Friday night dinner.

Cooking Light Mac n' Cheese with Grilled Turkey Cutlets

Tonight we had Cooking Light Mac & Cheese (featured on their website), and Turkey Cutlets. I marinated the Turkey Cutlets starting yesterday in:

3 Turkey Cutlets
1 T of Tarragon
1 T of Course Ground Mustard
3 t of White Wine
1 T of Olive Oil
pinch of sea salt
dash of pepper

Put in Zip Lock Bag together and mush around until the cutlets are covered.
Marinate for at least 2hrs, although I did overnight.

Then I removed from bag and placed flat on grill pan, cooked until done on each side.

Sunday Dinner at my parents

Mom made a traditional "Sunday Dinner" of Meatloaf, Green Beans, and baked potato. The meatloaf was a little different, but good. She used beef, turkey, and pork it was really yummy. The only different was the color of the finished meatloaf. Instead of being a dark brown it was a lighter shade more like tan. I gave her a hard time about changing HER MEATLOAF, but all-in-all you didn't notice the difference. Tonight was a special treat for the family. It is really odd that mom cooks, normally it is my dad, husband or myself. Not that she can't cook, but she just doesn't do it often. She is good at it though.. when she dose it.

Sunday Morning Breakfast: Flapjacks

Why do I call them Flapjacks instead of Pancakes? Well, because... Pancakes in my mind are light and fluffy. These "pancakes" are not. They are flat, they aren't really light and are far from fluffy. These flapjacks are flat, easy to make, and quick to cook. I adapt the recipe from "The Joy of Cooking All About Breakfast and Brunch" one of my favorite breakfast cookbooks.

Here is my version of "Basic Pancakes"

Kansas Girl's Flapjacks

11/2 C of all-purpose flour
3 T of Vanilla Sugar or regular sugar
11/2 t of baking powder
1/2 t of Nutmeg
1/2 t of Cinnamon
Whisk together in large bowl
In a separate bowl mix:
11/2 C of Milk
1-2T of Veg Oil
2 LG Eggs
1 t of Vanilla

add the wet mix to the dry, and whisk together, but don't over-mix. Some lumps but not overly lum-py.

Cook 1/4-1/2 C on griddle until it bubbles and flip over. Cook until done.

PS That is Cool Whip Lite, 2 T

Friday Night Dinner: Leftovers & Stir Fry out of Box

I had lots of leftover pork dumpling soup so I thought I would share with my parents, knowing that it was a light soup I picked up a box-o-stir fry from the store. It wasn't too bad, now I did add a few things to make it my own. Go figure! I added pork, carrots, celery, water chestnuts, bell pepper, and additional cashews. I also made some fried rice with out a box. We also enjoyed freezer egg rolls.

Thats our pizza!

We finally received our correct pizza (only an hour later). As you can see we wasted no time and started to devour. It was good, and worth the wait... sort of.

Thats not our pizza!

Tonight we ordered pizza. Thin-n-crispy with italian sausage and extra cheese, yum. I was so hungry for pizza and it sounded so good. So you can imagine our surprise when we opened the box to find a PEPPERONI PIZZA! We ordered our Pizza Hut Pizza online and it was WRONG! I mean how hard it is to get an online order wrong? You check a box with what you want on it and hit order. They have it in writing. It is now 7:00 PM and we are still waiting on the correct pizza, maybe we will get it tonight. I wonder if they ever made the correct pizza or if someone opened up their order and found they got the wrong pizza. Oh where oh where is our pizza....