Lemon-Yogurt Tea Cakes (Or Muffins)

 

When I was growing up, my mom had a brown binder that held recipes that she had collected out of magazines over the years. These lemon-yogurt tea cakes were one of the recipes crammed into the book. They were one of the very first recipes I made by myself, and I loved the flavor of them, even back then when I was just a tween. I have never really been a fan of lemon flavored things, but this is the exception. You can tell that they are lemon, but they aren't burst of lemon in your mouth. They have a subtle lemon flavor and are sweet and moist from the yogurt. They would be fabulous with a raspberry glaze if you like that sort of raspberry lemonade thing. Just try these tea cakes once, and you'll see why I love them so much! Besides, how fun is it to say tea cakes?

 

You can also make these into muffins. I have no idea what size my moms mini loaf pan is, I just know that it makes six, and I have to add about 5-10 minutes to the cooking time. The recipe below indicates what size loaf pan you need, or how long to cook the muffins. I also use my kitchen-aid to mix the ingredients. It calls for a pastry blender. Enjoy!

 

Lemon-Yogurt Tea Cakes (or Muffins)

 

2 medium sized Lemons
2 1/4 Cups all purpose flour
1 cup Sugar
3/4 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
1 8oz Container Plain Yogurt

3 egg whites

1 tsp Lemon extract

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray ten 4 x 2 1/4 loaf pans or muffin pan cups with nonstick spray. From the lemons, grate peel and squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice.

 

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder,baing soda and salt. With pastry blender (or mixer) cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in yogurt, eggs, lemon extract, lemon peel, and lemon juice until flour is just moistened.Spoon batter into loaf pans or muffin tins.

 

Bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly. Immediately remove from pan if desired, serve warm. You can also cool them on a wire rack.

 

To store, wrap in plastic wrap and leave at room temp. When you unwrap them, they will be moist and delicious!





Hawaiin Pork

I am proud to say I made this recipe up and it is GOOD! I love it and could eat it 3 times a week. I don't have a picture yet, but it's in my crock pot as we speak, so I'll get one soon.

Hawaiian Pulled Pork (crock pot style)

1 boneless pork roast

1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth

1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce

1 Cup Brown sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)

1 can crushed pineapple, drained (or put the juice in with the chicken broth)

put the chicken broth and teriyaki sauce in the bottom of the crock pot. Season the pork roast with salt, pepper and chili powder. rub/cake the brown sugar on the top of the roast, place in crockpot and top with crushed pineapple. Depending on your crock pot settings and the size of the roast it takes anywhere from 6-9 hours. Once finished, shred the pork with a fork and serve over rice. It's SO yummy!! I love it!

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

STOP RIGHT THERE!! I know what you are thinking.... "Salisbury Steak?? ew. no. not for me. It's for LUNCH LADIES and TV DINNERS!!" Well just hang on a second!!! Have you ever eaten home made salisbury steak?? If you have and it was gross, thats unfortunate. The thought of salsibury steak didn't really excite me either. You hear horror stories of lunch ladies force feeding it to young traumatized kids. Kind of a red flag..but it's so popular with tv dinners and cafeteria's for one good reason. IT USED TO BE GOOD. A lot of people love salisbury steak! So just humor me on this for a minute.

My sister in law's birthday was fast approaching and we were going to visit her and make her dinner. I tried to think of something to make for her (she's not a picky eater, she doesn't care what she eats, and that is a lot harder than making something for a picky eater!) Greg came across this recipe from Food Network (ala Sandra Lee) It looked really good so we decided to try it. We LOVED it! (well at least Greg and I did, the jury is still out on whether or not my sister in law and her husband did....they ate it, and seemed to enjoy it and did not run screaming from the table) It's super easy and very tasty. The Gravy was SOOOO good, and one of the best parts is that it is a pretty cheap meal! If you don't like mushrooms, don't add them, or pick them out. That is what I did :) Here is the recipe to try for yourself. If you taste it and like it let me know! If not, let me know. I like to hear what people think!

p.s. sorry the picture is so small.


Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (10-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, divided
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup frozen chopped onions
1 teaspoon steak seasoning (recommended: Montreal)
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup cognac
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 (1.2-ounce) packet brown gravy mix
Cooked rice, for serving

Directions
In a large bowl, combine beef, 1/4 can mushroom soup, bread crumbs, egg, onions, and steak seasoning. Mix thoroughly and shape into 4 oval patties.
Heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown patties on both sides and transfer to a plate.
Add remaining butter and cognac (remove pan from heat when adding cognac.) Saute mushrooms for 7 to 8 minutes. Add beef stock and whisk in gravy mix until smooth. Stir in remaining mushroom soup.
Return patties to skillet and spoon gravy over top. Cover pan and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve Salisbury Steaks and Mushroom Gravy over hot cooked rice

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

Oh how I wish it wasn't Sunday. I could go and buy heavy cream and sour cream and make these brownies!!

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies

They sound HEAVENLY. You can bet I'll be making these soon. I got them off of Cuisinenie!!

Ranger Cookies

These cookies are soooooo good. I know I post treats a lot.... but that is because I love treats!! This recipe is my father in laws...he makes the best ranger cookies and so I wanted to try them out myself so I could eat them more often!!! Don't let the picture fool you, they are crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the middle!! yum!!

Ranger Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups oats

2 cups wheaties cereal

1 cup shredded coconut

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients. Roll into balls and bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

YUMMY!!!

Buttercream Icing

I am in love. yes, it's true.

{Random fact #1: I would love to be a wedding cake maker. I seem to have a lot of the tools, but not the know how. I know it takes practice and the right recipes.}

Buttercream icing is probably THE best thing I have come across in a while (in regards to frosting that is) I always got SOOOO frustrated about the messy, goopy, gloppy, thick canned frosting I buy with cake mixes. But it's so convienient!! (not so)

Gross, Goopy Mess.

Smooth, dreamy buttercream frosting!

Buttercream Icing is awesome. It's smooth, light and spreads like a DREAM!!! I don't know why I haven't been using it the whole time. My dad wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday with Vanilla Buttercream Icing. OK.... I thought.... should I attempt my own?? I did my usual google-ing of recipes and came across one from the food network...its gotta be good.. Right??? Well it seemed easy enough so I decided to try it. It worked. and it tasted delicious. And it spread on the cake SO GREAT!! It was smooth and didn't make the cake crumble into a million crumbs when I was spreading it! It was awesome!!! I will be saving this recipe for the rest of my life. I will use it forever! Here is the recipe:

Vanilla Buttercream Icing:

Ingredients

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I made these super cute cupcakes this weekend! My family has 3 birthday's this week, so we had a big party and I brought these!

Here is the recipe :)

Rainbow Cupcakes

1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil

divide batter into 5 or 6 bowls. (depends on if you want to add purple) Color batter with gel food coloring. (PLEASE use gel food coloring, its SO much easier and makes the colors more vibrant!) scoop a spoonful of each color into lined cupcake pans and bake according to box directions (i underbake them a little to make them more moist/dense and yummy)