Cake in a mug (or bowl)

OH, my stars! Do you REALLY want me to teach you this trick???

Ok, here goes.  There's 2 ways of making cakes in a cup/mug/bowl. One requires a boxed cake mix and a small  box of instant pudding. The other is completely homemade.

Homemade

5 Minute Cake in a Mug
Large Mug; or small bowl (Make sure it will hold 1 1/2 cups liquid because if it's too small it will spill out.)
4 Tbs flour (that's plain flour, not self-rising
4 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs baking cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbs milk
3 Tbs oil (cut to 1 or 2 tbs)
3 Tbs chocolate chips(optional)
1/s tsp vanilla extract

Spray PAM in mug. Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix  well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk, oil and vanilla extract. Mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and  mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. It's ok if the cake rises over the top of the mug.
EAT! (This can serve 2)

To make a vanilla cake: Add 2 Tbs more flour and don't add the cocoa. (can add any flavor extract)

To make lemon cake: Add 2 Tbs more flour and leave out the cocoa. Add 1 tsp lemon extract. instead of vanilla extract.

Here’s a more brownie-like, simpler/faster recipe:
4 Tbs flour
4 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs cocoa
2 Tbs oil
2 Tbs water
Cook for 1 minute. A little longer if your  microwave is old.


Jello 5-Minute Cake
4 Tbs all-purpose flour
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp sugar-free jello powder, any flavor
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 Egg white
3 Tbs milk (or soy milk)
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Heaping tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Microwave-safe bowl or mug

Mix flour, sugar, Jello and baking powder
Mix in egg white
Pour in milk, oil, applesauce and vanilla, and mix  well
Put in microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 minutes (add 30 sec if necessary) on maximum power
Cake is done when it looks "dry" on top and just starts to pull away from bowl. When you touch the center top, it springs back, but doesn't leave any "goo" on your finger pad.



Peach cobbler in a mug
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
Measure all into a small Ziploc bag, seal and shake to  combine.
1  (4oz) container (snack size) peaches

Place the peaches cup in a mug lined with tissue paper, add  the cobbler mix on top.

Attach Tag:
Melt 1 T. margarine in mug;
when melted, add mix and 2 T. Milk. Stir well. Add peaches on top of the batter and cook 2 minutes.


Gingerbread Cake In A Mug

Microwavable/Oven Safe Mug (must hold at least 1 1/2 cups)
4 Tbs Flour
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
Round Tag
Snack or Sandwich size Zipper bags

Piece of Homespun (opt.)

Place these instructions on tag:
To make Gingerbread Cake

Gingerbread Cake Mix

2 Tbs Molasses
1 egg, small one is good

2 Tbs Warm water

In a small zipper bag, place all ingredients, zip bag and shake them together, and tie off with a piece of homespun (opt.). Place into mug for later use. On  Round tag write, "Gingerbread Cake Mix"
Attach a nice gift tag to the mug handle or tuck a small  card inside your mug with the following directions:

To Make Gingerbread Cake
In a small bowl, place Gingerbread Cake Mix from small bag. Add  molasses, egg and warm water and blend together with fork until thoroughly  mixed, about 1 minute. Pour mixture into a lightly greased mug. Place in  microwave for 1 1/2 - 5 minutes on High. Since times can vary for each microwave, I recommend  checking every 30 seconds after 1 1/2 minutes to see if it's done. Enjoy!!!


Cakes from a boxed mix:

Birthday cake in a mug (this will make 8-9 individual cakes)
Place mix in a pretty mug, lined with tissue paper, add a  couple little birthday candles and a book of matches (if the recipient is old  enough to light them! Great Birthday idea for College students, Elderly who  may only want a "little" sweets, etc.)

cake mix any flavor
4 serving size(small box) instant pudding mix , any flavor
Blend ingredients well until completely mixed.
Measure 1/2 cup dry mix into sandwich bags. (Makes 8-9 bags worth)Tie it closed using ribbon or use sandwich, snack or quart-size zipper bags

Yellow cake mix - vanilla pudding - chocolate glaze
Yellow cake mix - lemon pudding - raspberry glaze
Lemon cake mix - lemon pudding - lemon glaze
Devils food cake mix- chocolate pudding - Hazelnut glaze
Pineapple cake mix- coconut pudding - cherry glaze
Butter flavor cake mix - butterscotch or cheesecake pudding - strawberry

Glaze mix:
(only makes one bag, so if you're giving away these mixes/want them made in advance, you'll have to make 8 or 9 of these bags.)

In a separate snack or sandwich-size zipper bag combine the  following ingredients:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp dry flavoring - you can use Koolaid, lemonade mix, breakfast drinks (Tang), cocoa, Coffee-mate flavors (powdered), or extracts. Extracts will have to be added by the cake maker, unless you have powdered extracts.

In a large coffee mug place a Cake Mix; a glaze mix and  attach a tag with the
instructions for cooking.:
Grease or spray coffee mug/bowl with cooking spray.
Empty Cake  Mix into mug
add:
1 egg white
1 T. Oil
1 T water.
Blend with fork  until smooth.
Place in microwave and cook on high for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes.

While cake is cooking add 1 ½ tsp water to glaze mix in zipper bag. Close and gently rub bag until glaze is smooth. When cake is done, remove from microwave, cut a small hole in the corner of glaze packet and apply glaze to your mug cake.

Eat while warm!

You can add a couple teaspoons of either Just Whites egg replacement powder or Powdered Eggs to each individual  packet of Cake "mix". On directions tag, you will need to add an additional 1 T water (so it says to add 2 T instead of 1) to recipe and remove reference to adding an egg white from instruction card.

Brownies in a mug

4 Tbs instant brownie mix
1 Tbs mini m & m's
1 Tbs Chopped Walnuts
1 Tbs Chopped Pecans
1 Tbs Dried Chopped Cherries

Measure all small Ziploc baggie, seal.
Place in a Mug lined with Tissue paper, attach pretty  tag.
Attach Tag:
Pour mix into mug
add
2 Tbsp water; mix well.
Microwave for 1 minute.


Cinnamon Honey Bun cake

Measure the following into a zipper bag and seal.
1/3 cup yellow cake mix

Add the following into a separate zipper bag, seal and label as Topping Mix:
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Attach Tag:
Empty Cake mix into mug.
Add
2 tsp Oil
1 T. Water
1 Egg White
Mix this together well.
Sprinkle topping packet on top.
Cook on high in microwave for 2 minutes.


OPTIONAL OVEN METHOD: Mix everything just as described  above. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place Mug in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Tips:
 I forgo the cup in favor of a cereal  bowl that came in my dish set. It's not the very smallest bowl, (old-fashion finger bowl size) but the next size up (cereal bowl size) - it holds about 2 cups. I don't have to clean up any  overflow and before, they sometimes would overflow the cups.But then, I  don't have any really large mugs. I only have the regular-sized ones  that come with Cornelle dishes.

I have an old microwave and I only cook my cakes for about 1 min, 30 seconds to 1 min, 45  seconds or they are overcooked. Some of these times seem awfully long for newer microwaves.


The cake is done when it springs back  when you touch it, but doesn't leave any cake on your finger. It will  also just begin to pull away from the edge of the bowl. If you leave it  in too long, and 15 seconds longer than 1:45 for my oven is too long,  and the cake will begin to get hard on you. It's still edible, just not  as good. so keep an eye on the cooking until you know what works in your  oven. Oh, and my oven is an older, lower-powdered oven, so newer ones  may cook these cakes even faster.

I also use a whole large egg. Sometimes people give me "yard" eggs. I  use what I have. I got tired of throwing away the egg yolk. The yolk is  where the nutrition is. Of course, it's also where some fat, calories  and cholesterol are too. So use common sense. If your Dr. says no egg  yolk, don't use it, just separate the egg or use egg beaters-type  product. Otherwise....toss the whole thing in and save yourself a minute  in separating it.

I have found that I like to mix the oil, water and egg up together  in my greased bowl and then add the dry cake mix part. I then just cook it in the bowl. Wash the fork off and use it to mix the icing and  then use it to eat the finished cake straight from the bowl. Nice  serving of cake, one bowl, one fork and a cup to mix the icing in is all  that you've messed up in the kitchen. Clean up time, 45 seconds! lol  And nobody will be any the wiser!

I've added everything into my cakes - nuts, choco chips, a spoon of  jelly, candy. You name it, it can go in. About 2-3 Tbs is about right  amount of total add-ins. I stir things like nuts into the mix on top of  the oil/water/egg mixture so it gets a little coating on it so it  doesn't sink as badly. Things like jelly, I just plop around the top of  the mixed up, but uncooked cake and then nuke it. (Chocolate devil's  food cake with chocolate fudge pudding and raspberry jelly on top to  sink into it. OH! YEAH!) covered in just plain powdered sugar or  chocolate frosting. Uh hum, Oh YEAH!)

For the frosting/icing/glaze, I have used just plain powdered sugar over the top. I've used powdered sugar and extracts with some added  water to make a paste/frosting/icing or glaze (how thick it is is whether it's a paste/etc. or glaze). I've added some softened butter in,  I've left it out. I've added cocoa powder to it. You can add Jello to  it - sugar free (ok, so we're making cake and we're going to save 30  calories or less? ) or regular. You can add different  "Coffee-mate" coffee flavorings to it. (if you use liquid instead of  powdered, make sure you add that BEFORE you add ANY water. 

And I'd mix  the powders together and then add the liquids to it. Some things like  cocoa don't like to mix in just plain water. But mixed with the other  powders and it doesn't give you any grief. I've also used lemon juice in  the icing with a yellow cake mix/lemon pudding mix. Same rule with  adding liquid extracts. Add those FIRST because it counts as part of the liquid that liquefies the powdered sugar and then add any more water.  But when I've messed up, I just add more powdered sugar. lol You can  even use regular sugar and heat it on the stove adding everything you want to add but the extract . Add the extract after it's off the heat so the flavor  doesn't disappear on you. I prefer icing over a glaze, so I  don't add as much liquid to my powdered sugar.

Thanksgiving part 4 Chocolate Pecan Pie, Hershey Bar Pie

Ok, here are two really easy recipes for desserts, but taste delicious.

This is such a yummy dessert! It's very rich.

3 eggs, beaten
1 cup white corn syrup
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
1 unbaked pie crust



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 or 10" pie plate with the pie crust, flute edges. Place pecan halves/pieces on bottom of crust and then put chocolate chips on top of the nuts. Stir together eggs, corn syrup, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour mixture over the chocolate/nuts. Cover edge of pie with foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

If you choose to use a cookie sheet to catch any run-overs, either put it in the oven to preheat and place the metal pie pan on the cookie sheet. If your using a glass pie pan, don't preheat the cookie sheet, just set it with the pie on it in the preheated oven. In 25 mins, when you take the foil off the pie, also take the pie off the cookie sheet. If it were going to bubble over, it would have done it by now and settled down.

I tried putting the cookie sheet on the shelf underneath the pies and they didn't get done properly. Once I removed the cookie sheet, the pies finished cooking just fine, but I had to put foil back over the pie crust again.


Ok, decadence first class:

Hershey Bar Pie

1 1/2 lbs Hershey Bar or Hershey Bar with Almonds (3 8oz bars)
1 12 oz tub of Cool Whip, thawed
1 9" -10" pie crust (I used to use Pillsbury, but at $3 for 2 crust, I'll be making my own!)


1. Blind-bake one pie crust. (Place in pie pan, prick all over, put in 350 oven for about 10 mins or until golden brown.) Let cool about 15 mins.
2. Break chocolate into pieces, melt on low or in microwave (nuke 30 seconds, stir, nuke another 30 until melted. It only took 3 cycles on my old microwave. Don't over melt in microwave!) Set aside and let cool a little 3-5 mins.
3 When crust and chocolate are cool, spread a small amount of chocolate on bottom ONLY of crust. Place rest of chocolate in a large bowl and mix with cool whip. (with a spoon.)
4 Place mixture into pie crust. Cover and let chill for however long you can stand it.


Cooking Tips
I only let crust cool a few minutes. Don't let the chocolate cool too much, it will harden again! If it's too hot, it will break the cool whip. I nuke my chocolate, it doesn't get as hot that way. When you mix in the Cool Whip, it will harden quickly.


Ok, I think this does it for desserts for the holidays.

Thanksgiving, Pt. 2 Pumpkin pie/ pumpkin puree/toasted pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin pie ala Darlene

The nutmeg, which was substituted for ground cloves, adds a softer sweeter flavor.

4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups pumpkin puree, fresh, or from frozen and then thawed, or 1 29oz. can solid packed pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 cups (2 12 oz. cans) undiluted Evaporated milk, whole or skimmed (NOT Condensed!) I measured this and actually, it wasn't quite 3 cups. More like 2 3/4 cups.

2 9" (4 cup volume) unbaked pie crusts (homemade, boxed, refrigerated or frozen "deep"dish)

Myself, I use Pillsbury from the refrigerated section. My grandfather was a pastry chef, my mom loves to make pie crust. When I made this pie one year, she raved about how I had "my grandfather's touch". I sheepishly confessed to buying it. I hate the rolling out of the dough. However, now that the cost has gone up to almost $3 for 2 crusts, I'll be rolling my own.



1 Preheat oven to 425F

2 Combine filling ingredients in order given; pour into pie crusts. (Actually, this year I put my glass pie plates on the cookie sheet, put the cookie sheet on the pulled out oven shelf and THEN pour the filling into the pie pans. Saves trying to move very filled pies without spilling them. I set the timer for 22 mins and at that point, removed the pies from the baking sheet and placed them directly on the rack. I also covered the edges with tin foil. They have continued cooking for another 22 mins and need about another 5 mins.)


3 Bake 15 minutes at 425F. Reduce temperature to 350F. Bake an additional 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool; garnish with whipped cream, cool whip, etc.


Yield: 2 9" pies

Cooking Tips
If you have any leftover filling, place extra into small, greased casserole and bake along with the pies.

When using metal or foil pans, preheat cookie sheet when you preheat oven. When using a glass or ceramic pie pans, DO NOT use cookie sheet directly under pie pans. (place on next rack)

If using SHALLOW 9" pans (2 cup volume), make in two batches. Bake for the 15 mins, reduce oven and bake only an extra 20 to 30 mins., checking near center for knife to come out clean.

Author: Darlene Burgess

To make pumpkin puree:

This method is very labor intensive. Not! Forget trying to peel the tough skin. Forget the watery taste from boiled pumpkin.

Buy a pumpkin. There are smaller "pie" pumpkins or you can use a "regular" pumpkin. The the two I cooked yesterday were about 10 lbs each. They were regular Jack-o-lantern size pumpkins.

I washed the skin on them with my scrubby to get off some dirt on them. I then had son cut the top off of one, then set it on the cut edge and cut the pumpkin down the middle - from blossom end to stem end (or rather where the stem would have been had he not just cut it off.)That's it, just two cuts.

I removed the seeds (we're using them later!)Just scoop them out. Don't worry about the stringy stuff now, just get all the seeds you can and then set them aside, strings and all.

I didn't bother scraping the insides and trying to remove the stringy insides. Those are more easily removed after cooking.

To Cook:
Place on cookie sheet (well, really, it's a jelly-roll pan - it has a lip on it), cut side down (so the skin is "up"). Place in 350 degree oven and let cook until done. With my large sized pumpkins, I could only cook 1/2 a pumpkin at a time, but a smaller pumpkin will cook with each half side-by-side. It took about 50 mins for it to get tender. It doesn't matter if the skin starts looking "burned" on top. The flesh inside is still good. "Potato test" it - when you can pierce the pumpkin, sort of like a potato and it's tender, it's done. With the smaller "pie" pumpkins it only takes about 30 mins to cook both haves together. So set timer and go do something else (like check to make sure the turkey is really THAWED!).

Carefully remove it from the oven. It will have a little liquid in the bottom of the cookie sheet, so don't burn yourself when you move the sheet. I set mine on top of the stove top and work with it their, rather than moving it else where.

Remove the skin. I use a fork to peel back the skin and cut off any dried out spots - like the cut edges of the pumpkin. I then cut these large 1/2's into 4 parts with the fork. I turn each part over and scrape the edge of the fork over the surface of the pumpkin. Or you can use a spoon. You just want to scrape off that top layer that was the ugly, stringy part. Then put that piece of pumpkin in a bowl. Repeat for the other 3 pieces that you just cooked. Then throw away the scraps (or put them outside for the squirrels, chipmunks and birds to eat). Rinse off the cookie sheet and put the next piece of raw pumpkin on it. Repeat for each pumpkin you've purchased.

While the next piece of pumpkin is cooking or when you're done cooking the pumpkin, you will need to mash up the pumpkin. Yesterday I bought a stick blender. Ehhh, it was ok, but still too chunky for my tastes. (It may have worked better if I had done it in small batches instead of a bread bowl full. lol). So I got out my newish blender. Ehhh, my old blender did better with it, but since it was all I had, I messed around with it until I could get it to make a smooth puree. With this newer blender, I put the semi-blended, almost puree into the blender container in 3 cup batches. Why 3 cups? Well, how many cups is in the above pie recipe? Yup, 3. So after I've blended my pumpkin, I can pour it into a qt. zip bag, remove the air, zip it and freeze it. When I need pumpkin for my pie, I don't have to mess a cup up measuring it. All I have to do is thaw and pour into the crust. If you use pumpkin for other things, measure and blend in the size you will use - or a variety of sizes. Some for muffins, pie and soup. Anyway, back to the instructions. After putting the almost puree (or the just cooked pumpkin chunks) into the blender, I had to use the "pulse" option on my new blender. Before I could just toss it in and hit high and it worked. This machine is a bit more finicky. I had to pulse a couple of times, push the puree down (don't do this with the machine RUNNING!) and then I could use the low setting and have it blend. How do you know how smooth you will like your puree? Well, do you like potatoes with a little bit of unmashed potatoes in it? Yes, then you will probably like your puree with little bits and pieces of unblended pumpkin in it. No chunks in your potatoes? Then blend it smooth. It's a similar textured veggie.

Out of those two big pumpkins, I had six 3-cup bags of puree and one 2 cup bag. I would have had more, but I hadn't eaten all day and was hungry, so I put some of the puree in a bowl and added about 1 tsp of bacon grease. Heated it an ate it. Then I made another bowl. lol So I probably would have had eight 3 cup bags had I not eaten some of it. (And it was GOOD!) I could have added some milk and spices to it and made soup, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait or cook some more.

On to the seeds. When you are finished cooking the pumpkin (if you don't forget them), you can cook the seeds while pureeing the pumpkin.
Put the seeds in a colander and rinse. You will want to pick off all the stringy flesh and break the seeds apart from each other so that you have individual seeds, not seed groups. Toss the stringy part. Shake the colander some so that you get rid of a lot of the water. At this point, there are two ways to do the seeds. Some people bring the seeds to a boil and boil them for 10 mins or so. I don't do that, I just put them on my (was in use, now rinsed off) cookie sheet, spread them out and sprinkle them with salt (or any other seasoning you'd like to use.) I put them in the 350 oven for 10 mins, stir and do another 10 mins. I stir and see if then still need more time to toast. Yesterday, it took me 30 mins to get them toasted, but I had the seeds from 2 pumpkins, so it took longer than a single pumpkin, but short time than doing two separate batches. When golden brown, remove, let cool and store in a zip bag. (store???? hahaha)

Your gonna kill me for this recipe!

Ok, here's just what we need.

Cake in a cup (or bowl)

1 regular cake mix, your choice of flavor
1 box instant pudding (NOT sugar free), 4 serving size. Flavor to compliment the cake flavor

Open both boxes and place contents in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. I used a whisk and I got a not quite 10 half cup full each, from my chocolate cake/choco pudding and just over 9 half cup full from the carrot cake/vanilla pudding (coconut would have been better, but...my kids won't eat coconut anyway other than fresh). (I mixed the choco and carrot leftovers together and had just short of 1/2 cup. But it worked, I ate it and it was good. lol)

This will make about 9 packages of carefully measured mix.

What I did was spoon the mix into a 1/2 cup measure, level it off and then pour it into a snack size zip bag. Squeeze out air and close. I choose to use the more careful spoon and level method rather than my normal use-the-measure-to-scoop-the-mix-into-the-cup-and-shake-off-the excess. I did this because I was able to make more mixes from it and they will all be exactly 1/2 cup. If you scoop and shake, you can get more than 1/2 cup quite easily. It took me probably 2 minutes longer to bag them this way than the scoop and shake method.

To use:

My instructions said to spray a 1 1/2 cup mug with Pam. Well, we tried the cup method and it looks cute, but the cake was tough on the outer edges and too deep to eat easily. Besides, the little bit of frosting didn't cover the cake well.
So on the next batch, I tried putting it into a cereal bowl. I was out of Pam, so I just didn't grease it. Truthfully, I couldn't tell a difference between the mug that was greased and the bowl that wasn't. Both had stuff stuck a little bit to the sides.

I poured one cake packet into a bowl, added 1 TBS olive oil and 1 Tbs water. Then added 1 egg WHITE. Stirred well and nuked for 2 mins.

I frosted it with some chocolate frosting I had purchased. Next time, I make my own frosting!

To make a glaze:
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp of Koolaid, Lemonade, Tang or other powdered, unsweetened drink mix, cocoa, or use some of the coffee creamer that comes in flavors.

(While you have the sugar out, make up 9 packets to save yourself the trouble of having to haul out, then clean up after each "glaze making" session. Then package the cake mix and glaze mix together in a larger sandwich size bag. Put all the sandwich bags into a large zip bag. When you use each sandwich bag packet, replace it into the zip bag. Next time, reuse the "kit" bags.)

To use the Glaze, place it in a cup, add 1 1/2 tsp of water (or Hershey's syrup) or other liquid (lemon juice would be good!). Stir together well. You can do this while the cake is cooking.

BE AWARE. The cake is HOT when it comes out of the microwave!!!

We've been playing with the recipe for several days. I've been mixing two packages at a time, one for me and one for Thang #2, each in our own bowl. This evening, instead of feeding the dog the egg yolks, I beat one large egg together and split it between the two bowls, 2 1/2 tbs to each bowl. I think it tasted better, but just the egg white does work. And you can probably use ground flax seed or gelatin to get out of using an egg at all. Could also probably get away with 1 tbs applesauce instead of the oil too.

Next project - when I finish the massive job of reorganizing my kitchen/food storage stuff, is to see if homemade cake works the same way. In theory it should, but you never know until you try it. If YOU try it, post and let me know.

Now you know why I said you're going to kill me. Hot cake on demand. Just what we all need. NOT!

Amish Friendship Bread

Hey, it's your lucky day. Two post for one!

Amish Friendship Bread

Starter:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar

Bread:
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 small box instant-vanilla-pudding mix (opt)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (opt)
1 cup raisins, chocolate chips, coconut, mashed bananas, cranberries, etc and/or nuts, (opt)

Cinnamon sugar: (opt)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

For starter:
Mix yeast, flour and sugar together. Add warm water and milk. Mix together with a plastic or wooden spoon until smooth. Place in a plastic, ceramic or glass bowl; or put in a gallon zipper bag. Squish the air out of the zip bag and close it. If in a bowl, just leave it open, or cover lightly with cheesecloth. Let sit on counter. Don't worry, there's enough sugar to prevent spoiling. Don’t refrigerate or use a metal spoon or bowl. The fridge will slow down the process and throw off the yeast cycle. Metal will kill the yeast. (Metal baking pans are ok. The dough isn't "raw" in it long enough to do serious damage to the mix.)

Day 1: begin or receive starter
Day 2: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 3: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 4: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 5: add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk
Day 6: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 7: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 8: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 9: stir with wooden spoon (or squish zip bag)
Day 10: add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk, then:

Put 1 cup of starter in each of three containers. Give two away and keep one. This will begin their day 1. (Actually, I either put one in the freezer for a spare or give it away, use one and keep one for my next batch. When the next batch is done, then I have 2 to give away or make a triple batch of the bread.) Caution, eventually everyone you know will have too much of this stuff and will run when they see you and it will be sort of like trying to give away zucchini! lol

When tired of fooling with it everyday or are going on vacation, put it in a covered container or zip bag and put it in the freezer. Remember to mark where you are in the cycle and then just pick it up where you left off. I've had some in the freezer in a zipper bag for a couple of months and it worked just fine. It is best to freeze it on either day 1, day 5 or day 10 - when it's just been "fed". That way, the yeasties have something to eat. But for a couple of weeks, it won't hurt it to just toss it in the freezer anytime.

For bread:
To the remaining batter, add vegetable oil, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, milk, vanilla-pudding mix, cinnamon and salt. Beat until well blended. Add 1 cup raisins, chocolate chips and/or nuts if desired. Grease two loaf pans well, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, coating bottom well. Pour batter into bread pans, and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar onto tops of loaves. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour. If you don't want the cinnamon/sugar mix, you can grease well and sprinkle with regular or powdered sugar and not put sugar on top unless you want it.

This stuff is SO good. And it's probably got 500,000 calories per slice. sigh

Make your own Jello-type gelatin

This is an easy way to use up leftover juice, juice from canned fruits, or freshly-squeezed juice.

The basic recipe is 4 cups of liquid to 2 packets of gelatin broken up this way:
1/4 to 1/2 cups cold water
2 packets of unflavored gelatin (around here, all we have is Knox brand, found near the Jello brand)
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups boiling water
2-3 cups juice, any flavors EXCEPT FRESH or FROZEN pineapple or kiwi (it won't jell), canned is fine.
1/2 - 3/4 cups sugar (OPTIONAL)
Pieces of fruit as desired.

Put the cold water into a large bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Just let it sit there for 4-6 minutes to soften, then add the boiling water and you can add the sugar if you want/need it. (how sweet is your juice? Make it to the sweetness you like and don't worry about adding sugar to the boiling water.)
Stir the mixture until the gelatin is dissolved (you don't see any crystals in the liquid on your spoon. Let it cool down a bit and then add the juice. From this point on, treat it just like you would Jello. Add fruit to it after it is partially set. Put into single serving portions, leave it in the bowl or use it in a pie (graham cracker, gelatin - let it set up with or without fruit, top with Cool Whip, maybe some nuts).

Homemade Pudding and Pie filling mixes

Sorry to say, that these do need to be cooked on the stove top or in a microwave, but they are easy to make.

Each batch of the mix will make 15 one cup servings or 5 nine inch pies.

To make each mix: Mix the ingredients together and store in a zip lock or mason jar(s) on the shelf. (These have a long shelf life, there's really nothing to spoil in it.) Write the cooking directions on a 3x5 card and tape to the zip bag or jar(s).

To make 3 cups: Measure out the amount of mix called for in each recipe - it varies, into a medium size sauce pan. A heavy pot is best. Gradually blend in 2 3/4 cups of milk over a low heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken and come to a boil. Let it boil gently for 1 minute, but keep stirring it. Remove from the heat and add vanilla extract (or extract of your choice). Adding 1-3 Tbs of butter after adding the extract will give a richer taste, especially if you've used skim or powdered milk to make the pudding.

You can portion this out into six 1/2 cup portions, or store it in a bowl. When it's cooled a bit, you need to cover this pudding to keep a skin from forming. The skin won't hurt you, but it's a little tougher than the pudding underneath it. I put some plastic wrap directly on the cooled pudding. (If it LASTS that long! lol)

Basic pudding (vanilla flavored)
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Use 2/3 cup of mix (add 1-1 1/2 tsp vanilla to cooked pudding)

Chocolate pudding
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 1/4 cups cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Use 1 cup of mix (add 1-1 1/2 tsp vanilla to cooked pudding)

Butterscotch Pudding
1 7/8 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 cups cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Use 3/4 cups plus 1 tbs of mix, plus 2-4 tbs butter (not optional if you want the correct taste)
1 - 1 1/2 Tsp vanilla to cooked pudding.

You can make any other flavor pudding by adding that flavor extract to the basic pudding (in place of the vanilla extract - or even with the vanilla).

Pie Filling
Prepare any flavor pudding to the boiling point, but don't let it boil for that minute, just take it off the stove and stir in your flavorings and opt. butter. Let cool, stirring once in a while, for 10 mins. Pour the filling into a cooled, baked 9" pie shell and chill until it's firm. You can add any bits of candy , chocolate chips, nuts, Cool Whip, fruit pieces (fresh, frozen, canned or dried), coconut or any other add-ins that you can think of. Strawberry extract with pieces of strawberry, lemon extract with mandarin orange pieces, etc.

You can also add artificial coloring to your cooked puddings if you want to, but why?

These puddings can also be made with powdered milk, but will have a limited shelf-life, unless you keep the mix in the freezer. You would have to adjust the amount of powdered mile to make 2 3/4 cups of milk and then when you go to cook it, just use that amount of water instead of milk. You would also need to divide the amount of powdered milk you used into 6 portions and add that much more to each basic flavor.

For instance, my milk calls for 1/3 cup of powder for each cup of milk you want. So I'd add 4.5 cup of powder (yes, it is a little off, but not enough to hurt anything), and add that to the dry ingredients, mixing it all together very well. Then for each recipe, I'd need to add 1 scant cup (11/12ths of a cup) more of the mix than what the recipe calls for. So for the Vanilla pudding, I'd measure out 1 2/3 cups mix and remove 1 tbs of mix.

Actually, for me and my laziness, either way I made the mix - with or without powdered milk; I'd make the mix and then immediately divide it equally into 5 packets. Each packet will make 3 cups which is six 1/2 cup servings or filling for one pie. Keep the packets all in a larger zip bag with the instructions inside it. When we want pudding, dump the packet (save bag to refill later), add the milk/water and off you go.

Oh, you find cornstarch in the baking aisle with the salt, baking powder, baking soda, etc.

Chicken Delight - my all-time favorite dessert!

Chicken delight a dessert?

There's a story to this dessert.
I used to live in a little town, outside a small town. One of the few places to eat was called "Chicken Delight". We had to pass it every time we went to the grocery store.

One day my friend Ginger served a dessert for dinner. A friend of mine and myself loved the dish and asked for the recipe. Ginger wrote it out, but instead of writing "Chocolate Delight", she wrote "Chicken Delight" instead. To this day, we joke about serving "Chicken Delight" for dessert.

This is an easy and tasty dessert. Almost as easy as Yogurt pie!

Crust:
1 Cup Flour
1 Stick Margarine (1/2 cup)
1 cup nuts, chopped

Filling:

Layer 1:
1 16 oz (454 gm) container Cool Whip or (make 16 oz Dream Whip)
8 oz (227 gm) cream cheese
1 Cup powdered sugar (this is what we use to make icing or frosting for a cake)

Layer 2:
2 large boxes instant chocolate pudding (you could sub other flavors, if you'd like)
3 cups (680 gm) milk (Or make about 3 1/2 cups (794 gm) of chocolate cornstarch pie filling)

Layer 3:
12 oz (340 gm)container of Cool Whip or (make 12oz Dream Whip)
nuts (opt)

Mix crust ingredients in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan (This is a large, rectangular casserole/cake size pan about 23 x 33 cm) Press down and bake for 20 mins (until golden brown) in a 350 (177 C) degree oven. Let it cool COMPLETELY.

Mix sugar and cream cheese together, then stir in the large Cool W hip. Spread it over the crust.
Mix the 2 puddings with 3 cups of milk and spread over cream cheese layer.
Top this layer with the medium Cool Whip. You can spread nuts over this layer if you so desire.

I hope you enjoy this.
If you don't know how to make a yogurt pie, comment me and I will do a post on it.