Honeybun Cake

This is one of my absolute favorite cakes made with a cake mix.  While I try to keep my cakes made from scratch, I make the exception with this recipe.  This is so moist, and best of all, it tastes just like a donut to me because of the glaze.  The cinnamon and brown sugar filling will remind you of a cinnamon roll.

You can have it for breakfast or dessert!

This is also a simple stir and bake recipe.  I didn't even use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.



Honeybun Cake by kSk



Honeybun Cake

(click for printable)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 container (8 oz) sour cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

 In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients by hand or using an electric mixer on low.  Once everything is well combined, pour HALF of the batter in a greased, 9x13 glass pan.  Combine brown sugar and cinnamon together in a separate bowl and then sprinkle over the bottom layer of batter.  Pour remaining batter over the top and spread it out with a knife.  Bake for 45 min at 350.  Mix one cup of powdered sugar with the milk and pour over the cake once it's done cooking, while still warm.
 
**I only had 3 eggs at the time so I increased the amount of vegetable oil to compensate for the missing egg.  The original recipe calls for four eggs and less oil.
 
Adapted from Betty Crocker

A Recent Study...

A recent study suggested that children's obesity was linked to boring playgrounds.  We would like to dispute that study.

Banana Bread

Ever since Hunter discovered his love for bananas, we have a multitude of bananas that reside at our house every week.  We try to eat them all before they go bad, but as soon as they start to turn brown I toss them in the freezer so I can use them to make banana bread.

This is my favorite banana bread recipe...no adaptations needed.  Although you can add nuts if you like, cinnamon, or even a cup of chocolate chips.  I face much protest if I try to alter the recipe so here it is in it's classic form.

This is a simple stir and bake recipe.  Your whole house will smell delicious as it bakes!

If you decide to freeze your brown bananas, set them out to thaw before you use them in this recipe.

Banana Bread
(click for printable)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (or 2 - 3 bananas)
 
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.


2.In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3.Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
 
Source:  Allrecipes

Spicy Pepperoni-Jack Chicken Panini

A four ingredient meal!  Six, if you count the condiments.  We've been eating "pantry"meals lately before we make our next grocery shopping trip.  This is helping us to save some money plus eat what we have.  And who doesn't want to eat a chicken panini sandwich?

We absolutely love our panini pan and use it all the time.  Every time we make a sandwich we comment on the fact that we're eating an $8 sandwich, just like you would find in a gourmet cafe.  This is homemade gourmet on a budget.

The chicken is first grilled and then layered between the bread, cheese and pepperoni and then the whole sandwich is grilled on the panini pan or press.  What results is a delicious, melted-cheese chicken sandwich.

I recommend not using a regular sandwich bread as the bread, once grilled, will become very thin.  If you use a bakery bread such as Sourdough or French, the bread will maintain it's thickness.

Spicy Pepperoni-Jack Chicken Panini

Makes two sandwiches

Olive oil
Mayo
4 slices of Sourdough bread
1 Chicken breast
Pepperoni slices
Pepperjack cheese

Lightly spray panini pan with olive oil and grill chicken breast until it's thoroughly cooked on medium heat.  Cut open with a knife to make sure it's not still pink inside.  Cut chicken breast in half to use for each sandwich.  Spread the bread slices with mayo (or your condiment of choice) and layer the chicken breast half, pepperoni slices, and pepperjack cheese.  Brush both sides of the outside layer of the bread slices with olive oil.  You can use a knife or a basting brush.  Put your sandwiches on the panini press and top with the lid.  Grill until both sides are lightly browned, flipping it once during cooking to ensure both sides get browned.

Slow Cooker Pork with Mushroom Wine Sauce

Now before you run away because you saw the words mushroom wine sauce, know that this recipe is a simple stir-the-sauce-ingredients-together and pour it in.  I did sear the meat before I put it in the crockpot as this adds more flavor.  If you want to skip this step, go for it.

I didn't even measure, but for you I'll provide measurements!  This was really a pantry recipe and I had made something similar before in the oven but I wanted to try it in the crockpot.  And the pork came out so tender that my husband told me he snuck some out of the crockpot before we ate dinner.

I do realize that there should probably be rice on this plate but we don't do a lot of extra sides as we like to keep it simple in our house.  So serve this with whatever you like.

Slow Cooker Pork with Mushroom Wine Sauce

(click for printable)

1 pkg bone-in pork chops

Olive oil

Salt 

Pepper

1/4 cup chopped onions (you can increase if you like onions)

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup white cooking wine

Pour 1-2 Tbs of olive oil in a pan and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.  Lay the pork chops on top and sprinkle the top side with salt and pepper.  Let it brown on both sides for about five minutes each.  Sprinkle your chopped onions and mushrooms in the bottom of the crockpot.  Lay the browned pork chops on top.  Mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup with the wine and pour on top of the pork chops.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  Serve with your favorite sides.

Spicy Citrus Dressing

While I wanted to wow you by recreating the awesome citrus dressing I had recently, it didn't turn out like I had wanted it.  But I am eating it atop the salad you see in this picture while I type. 

I will attempt this again at some point because I still have memories of the awesome salad I ate at Texas Spice.  In the meantime, I'll just let you enjoy my practice photos.

2012: Getting Organized

Hunter loves to color.  Or really just take the crayons out of the box and put them back in.  We bought him some toddler-size markers for Christmas and all of these items were starting to get scattered around the kitchen.  I bought this plastic tote at Walmart and used foam letter stickers to label it.  The foam stickers I had previously purchased at Walmart.  Simple, easy and contained!

 Our pantry is scary.  It's not even a real pantry but a cabinet.  I'll never do that again.  It's very deep and it's so hard to find things in that dark cavern.  After getting inspiration from a picture I saw in Better Homes and Gardens, I invested in these Oxo containers (with a coupon) and I absolutely love them!  I don't need to label them because I can easily identify what's in them AND I can actually see through them to what else is lurking behind.  Best of all they are air tight so Hunter's Cheerios will never go to waste.

Last, but not least, I am always yelling, "Save the bows" whenever anyone unwraps a gift.  I decided that all of these stray ribbons and bows needed a place.  I purchased a Snapware ornament storage container and used the cardboard dividers to divide it up into the spaces I needed.  Now all of my bows and ribbon are in one place.

How are you getting organized in 2012?