Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I don't know why, but I had a serious craving for this the other day.  I was specifically craving that gooey, syrupy, brown sugar goodness that is on the top.  Well, and those maraschino cherries.  I had a box of gluten free pound cake mix, so I decided that I would take the "short-cut" route with a recipe I found in my Joy of Cooking cookbook.  This was so easy, but the presentation makes it look like you spent a lot of time on it.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2 Tbs. light butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 can pineapple rings, in their own juice, drained with juice reserved

1 small jar maraschino cherries without stems

1 box pound cake mix

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. ginger

2 eggs (an egg sub works fine)

3/4 pineapple reserved juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray, coating completely.  Dump the butter in the pan and place in oven for a few minutes until melted.  Remove pan from oven and swirl the butter around so it completely coats bottom of pan.  Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over butter.  I had to use a fork to break up the sugar and make sure it was blended into melted butter.  Place one pineapple ring in center and then add the other rings around it (you won't use all the rings).  Place a cherry in the center of each ring, and if you like cherries as much as me, add the extras in any other open space.  Set pan aside.  In a medium mixing bowl add cake mix, spices, eggs and reserved pineapple juice.  Using an electric mixer, beat on low to incorporate ingredients.  Turn speed up to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Carefully pour batter over the pineapple rings.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Make sure you check it at 35 minutes though!  Once nice and golden, take it out and tilt pan side to side to loosen the edges (don't skip this step, it helps for when you have to invert it).  Let cake cool for a few minutes.  Now comes the trickier part.  Place an inverted serving platter or cake stand over top of cake.  Holding platter with one hand and cake pan with other (using a hot pad of course), invert the cake on to the platter.  Carefully slide the cake pan off.  If you greased the pan well and loosened the edges you shouldn't have any problems.  You can serve cake warm, but after it's cooled, I like to stick it in the fridge.

My Favorite Banana Bread

I've tried many different recipes for banana bread...full fat, low fat, vegan, sugar free, you name it.  If I see a new recipe, I try it.  This is my favorite one.  It is so moist and full of flavor, but low in fat and sugar.  I love the addition of the chocolate chips, but of course you could leave those out.  Seriously though, why would you do that?!

My Fave Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl beat the following together:
3 ripe bananas, mashed*
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt (vegan versions work well)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce**
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (I use Stevia)
2 eggs (I use an egg sub)
1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl, stir together the following:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda + another 1/4 tsp

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.  Do not over mix!  Gently stir in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I like the non-dairy ones).  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.  Place in preheated oven and bake for about an hour.  Do the toothpick test to check for doneness.  Let cool on wire rack, but cut you a little piece because it's amazing right out of the oven:)

* As soon as a banana gets a little too ripe, I pop it in the freezer.  I always have frozen bananas in there.  They are great for smoothies and banana recipes like this...just let them thaw on the counter for 15 minutes or so.
** The applesauce is really a sub for oil.  The difference in using the 2 is that the oil makes the bread more fluffy and drier and the applesauce makes it more dense and moist.  Obviously I use the applesauce because it pretty much eliminates all fat in the recipe, but if you prefer oil, use 1/2 cup.

Lemon Blossoms

I'm not entirely sure if these are considered muffins or cupcakes, or maybe a muffcake?  We usually eat them as a dessert, but they would certainly make a yummy breakfast.  They are insanely good either way.  Don't skimp out on the glaze...it's what makes them sooooo good.

Lemon Blossoms

1 box yellow or lemon cake mix
1 small box fat free/sugar free instant lemon pudding mix
1 cup egg substitute (equals 4 eggs)
3/4 cup oil (obviously I use 3/4 cup baby food pears....you won't know the difference!!)
Glaze (see below)

Mix everything up in large bowl.  Beat with electric mixer for a few minutes until smooth.  Pour into muffin tins that have been filled with paper liners or sprayed with Pam.   Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-17 minutes.  While baking, make the glaze: whisk together 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 Tb. vegetable oil and enough water (4-5 Tbs) to make a nice glaze.  When the muffins come out, dip them into the glaze (cover the entire crown) and set on a baking sheet to dry.  Let them sit for at least hour so the glaze hardens up nicely.

* When making the glaze, add the water 1 Tb at a time until you get the desired consistency.  If it's too thin, it won't coat the muffin crowns very well.
** Definitely start checking the muffins t 15 minutes.  I prefer these a little on the undercooked side.
*** Although you probably won't use all the glaze, save it!  It's awesome on pancakes, waffles, vanilla ice cream, or just straight from the container.  I also like a little drizzled on apples:)

Polenta and Veggie Foil Packs

I have never had polenta.  I didn't even know where to find it in the grocery store (by the pasta...at least at Whole Foods that's where it was).  Turns out it is considered a grain/starch as it is basically cornmeal.  It's kind of a weird texture and I was mildly amused by how it ooozed out of the tube.  It was good though, and I will most definitely be using it again.  Anyways, this is a nice little healthy recipe that is super tasty and relatively easy.  The clean up is great since you can just throw out the foil.  When Matt was grilling out his Sunday night steak, he threw a few of my packets on the grill.

Polenta and Veggie Packs

1 can white beans (navy or great Northern), rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, diced
6 oz package of crumbled feta
1 tube of polenta, cut into 12 slices
1 zucchini, sliced in rounds
1 jar roasted red peppers
Salt and pepper

Mix together beans, tomatoes and 1/2 of the feta in a bowl; set aside.  Take 4 pieces of foil (each one should be about 18 inches long) and fold in half.  Spray them with Pam.  Working with one piece of foil at a time, spoon 1/4 of bean mixture in center.  Layer 3 slices of polenta in an overlapping circle.  Top with a few zucchini slices and 1/4 of the roasted red peppers.  Sprinkle on some S&P.  Crumble a little more feta on top.  Do the same thing with the remaining foil pieces.  Fold up each packet and pinch the ends so it's fully closed.  Place on the heated grill and close lid.  Grill for about 10-12 minutes.  Carefully remove packets and stick one on each plate.  Open them up and dig in!

Pineapple Cake

Wow, it's been awhile since I have posted a recipe, which means I haven't been doing a whole lot of cooking/baking lately.  Blame it on law school.  Law school is to blame for everything.  Anyways, when Grams passed away last year a neighbor brought over this cake.  Matt and I loved it so much I had to get the recipe from her.  I made it this past weekend for a cook-out with friends and it was a big hit.  It's a perfect summer cake, and great to take to potlucks/cook-outs.

Pineapple Cake

1 box yellow cake mix with whatever ingredients called for on the box (I usually use an egg sub that equals 3 eggs, 1 cup water and 1/2 cup baby food pears)
1 can crushed pineapple in its own juice
1 small box fat free, sugar free instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup skim milk
1 container Cool Whip
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Bake cake according to box directions (subbing baby food pears for oil and egg substitute for eggs if you want to be a super hero), in a 13x9 inch pan.  Once cake is baked, set it aside to cool.  Meanwhile, whisk together pudding mix and milk until good and smooth.  Let sit in fridge for awhile to thicken up.  Fold Cool Whip into pudding.  Once cake is cool, poke holes all over it with the end of a wooden spoon.  Pour pineapple, with juice, all over.  Let that sit for 10 minutes or so.  Spread Cool Whip mixture over pineapple, covering completely.  Sprinkle with coconut.

Obviously the longer you let this cake sit, the more the pineapple and juice soak in, which creates a whole lot of deliciousness.  It's such a great summer dessert, and if you use the subs I mentioned, it's very light.

Perfect for Easter Cake

Although holiday cooking is one of my very favorite things, I am not overly crazy about cooking for Easter.  This is probably because we spend a good chunk of the morning at church dealing with the crazy parking and crowds and I don't want to have to rush home and spend the rest of the day in the kitchen.  We go out for brunch on Easter Sunday after church.  I love this little tradition almost as much as I love the fact that Easter hats are coming back in style.  They are, right? 

I did, however, make this lovely cake for us to enjoy during the Easter weekend....


Picky Palate

It tastes as good as it looks.  I improvised a little from the original recipe (no shocker there) to cut down the calories and I doubled all the ingredients to make the layers bigger.

Easter Cake

2 boxes white or yellow cake mix (I used yellow)
2 small boxes sugar-free/fat free instant vanilla pudding mix
16 oz. container of fat free sour cream
1 cup water
1 cup (2 jars) baby food pears (or of course you can use 1 cup of it goes straight to your thighs oil)
1 cup egg substitute
Food coloring (red, blue, green, yellow)
Can of whipped cream cheese icing (of course you can make your own, but I didn't have time for that)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease four 8-in round cake pans.  In a stand mixer, stir together cake mixes and pudding mixes.  Dump in sour cream, water, egg and baby food.  Mix all together and beat for several minutes until thoroughly combined and smooth.  Pour batter evenly into 4 separate bowls.  Add your food coloring a little at a time to make the pastel colors of your choice.  Pour batter into the 4 prepared cake pans.

Bake at 350 for about 22-27 minutes.  Start checking with a wooden skewer around 20 minutes since all ovens vary.  Place pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove cakes carefully and let cool completely on racks.  Once cooled, stack layers, spreading a thin layer of icing between each one.  Once stacked, ice the entire cake.  I decorated with some Robin's Eggs.

Tips and tricks:
* The baby food works really well in this recipe.  We did not miss the oil at all.  However, baby food tends to make cakes a little more dense, which is why I used 2 boxes of cake mix (and doubled all ingredients) here.  I wanted to make sure my layers were thick enough.
** When you first put everything in the mixing bowl, stir it with a large spoon before turning the mixer on so the dry ingredients don't go flying everywhere.
*** Make sure you add the food coloring a little at a time because you're going for pastels here.  A few drops of red made the pink color, a few drops of yellow made the light yellow, same with the green, and a few drops of red and a few drops of blue together made the light purple.
**** Make sure your cake pans are well greased and floured so that cooked cakes easily fall out.  

Easy Peasy Blueberry Pie

A good pie is something in my arsenal of recipes that I feel the need to perfect.  Like, I want to be known as the lady that makes a mean pie.  You know, the lady that when a potluck is coming is coming up and everyone hopes that she brings her "famous pie."  Yep, pretty sure it is one of my life ambitions to be that lady.

This pie is not perfect, but it's pretty good.  I would be more inclined to brag about it if I made the crust from scratch, but I did not.  Therefore I am not entitled to brag.  I am probably not entitled to be that pie lady until I have perfected a homemade crust.  Guess I'll just stick with being the lady that makes the somewhat decent pie but did you know she uses a *gasp* pre-made pie crust.  Plus if this recipe included a homemade pie crust, then it wouldn't be easy-peasy, and most of you would probably run far far away.

Blueberry Pie

1 package refrigerated pie crusts (top and bottom)*
6 cups fresh (or frozen, thawed and drained) blueberries
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 stevia, 1/2 pure cane sugar)
1/4 packed brown sugar
Drizzle of agave syrup (this isn't necessary, but I just love agave)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup quick cooking tapioca (don't actually cook it)
1 Tb. fresh lemon juice
2 Tb. butter, cut up
Extra sugar for dusting

Remove pie crusts from box and let sit on counter for about 20 min or until they have reached room temperature.  Carefully unroll one crust and lay it over a 9-in. pie plate, pressing sides and bottom to line plate.  Trim any excess crust.  In a large bowl stir together white and brown sugars, cinnamon, cinnamon and agave (if using) until combined.  Toss in lemon juice and blueberries and mix well.  Set aside for 20 minutes.  Go ahead and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Once the blueberries have "soaked" spoon them in to the pie crust.  Dot with butter.  Carefully unroll the other pie crust and place on top of blueberries.  Fold edges under plate and flute however you wish.  Cut several slits in top crust and sprinkle with a couple Tbsps. of sugar.  Bake for 45-50 min. until nice and bubbly. 

* I am very partial to the Immaculate Baking Co. pie crusts, or that whole brand in general.  Good stuff.

** I like to use a little of the excess dough (from when you trimmed the bottom crust) and cut a heart (with a cookie cutter) to place in the middle, just to make it pretty (and to hopefully overt one's eyes from my terrible fluting job). 
*** Always check the pie around 40 min. into baking to make sure the crust isn't getting too brown.  If it is (which will more than likely be the case), cover the top with foil and continue baking.
**** You can use whatever fruit you like.  Just use 6 cups (chopped if the pieces are large).  Note that 6 cups of fruit will make a pretty deep dish pie.

Maybe one these times I'll be able to get a picture before Matt and I dig in:)