Thursday, June 2, 2011

Cooking

So I have spent yesterday & today in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I have a girlfriend who just had a baby. I am taking her & her family dinner tomorrow. I made Baked Spaghetti (see recipe on March 12, 2011 post), homemade All-American White Bread (see recipe on March 21, 2011 post) & Make-Ahead Holiday Cake (see recipe below).

Make-Ahead Holiday Cake
**This is another recipe out of the Taste of Home Cake Mix Creations cookbook. The background in the cookbook says it is a good cake to make at the holidays because you can make it up to 2 months in advance & keep it in the freezer. That is the only explanation it gives for calling it a holiday cake. I think it could be made any time of the year. The recipe tells you to put mint leaves & candied cherries on top (in the middle of the cake) but I don't see why you would have to use those, so I left them out. It also tells you to freeze the first step for 6 hours but I froze it overnight. I did not take a picture of this cake because I put it in the freezer, plus, you couldn't really see it very well because it is in a freezer container.**

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup chocolate syrup
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 pkg (18-1/4 oz) white cake mix
1 carton (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Additional chocolate syrup
Mint leaves and red candied cherries

Line a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. pan with foil; set aside. In a large bowl, combine milk & chocolate syrup; fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pan; cover and freeze for 6 hours.

Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a greased and floured 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Transfer to a serving platter.

Remove cream mixture from the freezer; carefully invert onto cake and remove foil. Spread whipped topping over top and sides. Return to the freezer for 2 hours.

May be frozen for up to 2 months. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting.

Just before serving, drizzle with additional chocolate syrup; garnish with mint and cherries.

Yield: 16-20 servings



Justin & I bought a watermelon the other day because they were on sale. I cut up half of it last night & the other half this morning. We love watermelon but usually only get it when we have company coming to the house. I always worry that we will not be able to eat it all on our own. I started thinking about what I could do with the watermelon to make sure it all gets eaten before it goes bad. I came across my ice cream machine & thought what watermelon ice cream would taste like. I did some searching on the Internet & found a recipe. Not only did I have all the ingredients in the house, but it seemed easy. So, I gave it a try!

Watermelon Ice Cream
**This recipe is from myrecipe.org. It turned out pretty good. I would make it again. I made it in the ice cream machine so it was very easy!**

10 oz seedless watermelon
1 T honey
10 oz fresh cream
3 T sugar

1. Add watermelon and honey into food processor and mix until become juice.
2. Beat fresh cream and sugar around 5 minutes.
3. Add the mixture of watermelon and honey to the beaten fresh cream and mix it.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.



After my All-American White Bread was finished in the bread machine, I decided to try something new. I found a recipe called Blue Cheese Bread in a bread machine cookbook my Mom gave me. I have been wanting to try it for a while. I LOVE blue cheese but no one else in my house does. I have some blue cheese crumbles in the fridge so I decided to make myself a loaf of bread! :)


Blue Cheese Bread
**This recipe came from my Better Homes & Gardens More Bread Machine Bounty cookbook. It turned out very good!**

2/3 c water
1 T margarine or butter, softened
1/3 c blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
2 c bread flour
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp onion salt
1 tsp active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

Select loaf size. Add ingredients to machine according to manufacturer's directions. Use the light setting, if available. Small loaf serves 16.

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