Super Simple Bars!

Last night I came home from work and decided I would like to make bars for a meeting for today.  I opened the cupboard and found a double fudge cake mix.  I had mini chocolate chips, cream cheese and eggs.  Yes!  I have ingredients to make very easy bars!

Ingredients:

1 chocolate cake mix of your choice (and ingredients to prepare the cake mix)
1 egg
1 - 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
other add-ins as desired:  chocolate chips, mini M&Ms, etc.

Prepare cake mix as directed and pour into a greased cookie sheet.  When I prepared my cake mix last night I added 6 ounces of mini chocolate chips too.  Cream together the egg, sugar and cream cheese.  Drop by spoonful onto the cake batter, and swirl into cake.  Bake at 350º for 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool and cut bars.

Easy, yummy and great "homemade" bars in a pinch!

Pumpkin Cake

Cold weather is blowing in.  I always love to have fall foods around the house when the fall weather blows in.  Hopefully this weekend we will have time to make some sugar cookies shaped like bats, pumpkins, and ghosts.  Along with those little treats, we will have some pumpki cake.  Yummy, easy to make, and fall in every bite!

Ingredients:
1 - 20 oz can pure pumpkin
1 - 12 oz can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted

Grease a 9x13 baking dish and preheat oven to 350º.  In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon until well blended.  Spread pumpkin mixture in prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle cake mix evenly on top of the batter.  Pour melted butter over the top of the cake mix.  Bake for 50 minutes and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Orange Cranberry Bread

I walked into the grocery store to buy some items today and spotted cranberries.  Fall is here and I find myself wanting to bake and make comfort food.  The cranberries made me think of a refreshing bread, orange cranberry bread.  So, I grabbed a bag and plan on making some this weekend.  For now my family will just have to settle for the fresh banana bread I made this evening.  Nothing like the smell of something baking on a crisp fall day!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup of butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

¾ cup orange juice

1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

Combine the dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl.  Beat in egg and orange peel.  Add dry ingredients and juice alternately to the butter and sugar mixture.  Fold in cranberries and pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan.  Bate at 350º for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Then, cool completely.

Upcycling: another reason to finish that bottle of wine.

Have seen this idea in magazines and craft fairs.  Love the idea of using it for a candle!  Beautiful and contained flame!

Upcycling: another reason to finish that bottle of wine. Middle Sister Wines

'via Blog this'

Lazy Day Lasagna

• Ingredients:
  1 pound lean ground beef
  1 cup minced onion, optional
  2 garlic cloves, minced
  10 ounces fresh spinach, chopped
  8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
  1 teaspoon dried basil
  1 teaspoon dried oregano
  Salt and pepper, to taste
  12 ounces frozen cheese ravioli, do not thaw
  1 jar spaghetti sauce
  8-ounces provolone sliced
  1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
  
  
  Directions
  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  Brown the beef, drain and set aside.  Saute spinach in a little olive oil, with the onion, garlic, herbs, and salt and pepper in a large oven-safe skillet, remove from skillet and set aside.  Put the still-frozen ravioli into large skillet pan, breaking them up if they are clumped. Spread the ground beef and spinach mixture evenly over the ravioli, and ladle the spaghetti sauce evenly over the ground beef mixture. Over medium heat, without stirring, cook until the ravioli is heated through and beginning to brown on the bottom, about 10 minutes.
  Take the skillet off the heat, lay the provolone slices over the ground beef mixture, and sprinkle the whole thing with the Parmesan.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  Serve hot.