Southen Praline Cake (Prize Winning Recipe)

No one is going to resist this cake after you make Southern Praline Cake. I found this recipe on the internet about 15 years ago. I have been making it ever since. It even won me tickets for my family to go to Sea World in Orlando 7 years ago. I made three of these pumpkins in different cake flavors and set it up like a pumpkin patch. The judges loved this particular cake. Though I did have to admit the blackberry wine and the pumpkin butter scotch cakes also got high marks. They were all from cake mixes.

This is a rich cake and makes up nicely in a 12 cup bundt pan. It smells wonderful when it is baking. My neighbor could smell it tonight because our windows where open and he is looking forward to his share.

I know some of you have been wondering how I get my cakes out of my cake pans so I have taken time to take a few pictures on my technique. That will follow the recipe. It is really easy so don’t be afraid to ask for a great designer cake pan for Christmas.

Southern Praline Cake

1 package Butter Pecan Cake Mix

1 (16 oz) container Coconut Pecan Frosting

4 eggs

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Prepare baking pan or bundt pan with non stick cooking spray. Make sure to use a pastry brush to smooth out the spray and make sure it has covered all the nooks and crannies in the pan.

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except nuts and beat with electric mixer until combined and fluffy. Stir in nuts. Pour into baking pan and tap the pan on the counter a few times to make the air bubbles come to the top. This is rather thick batter and you have to give it a little help in settling down with the taps.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean, The pumpkin pan takes longer about 62 minutes, if you are using a 3 D pan like the pumpkin pan.

The cake will settle a little after it comes out of the oven and you will notice that it has pulled away from the sides. It take about 10 minutes for this to happen.

Then it will be ready to flip out of the pan. Take a cookie/cake rack that fits over the pan and lay it on top.

Grab the side with pot holders because you pan is still very hot. Make sure you have a good hold on both the rack and pan. Now flip over and set the rack down on the counter with the cake still in the pan.

Take a spatula and lift up the edge of the pan just enough that you can grab it with a pot holder. Just lift the pan the same way in the picture. I can sometimes lift it straight up if it is a smaller less complicated pan, but normally I just lift like a hinged lid.

Now you just let the cakes cool so you can put the cake together and frost.

Drying Celery and Pepper Flakes (DIY)

 

I am getting ready to make Christmas gifts from my kitchen and this past year I needed celery flakes for a recipe I wanted to make. I have not bought celery flakes in a long time and this was a heirloom recipe. I had to look in several stores to finely find them. They were very expensive at least for me. Later I ran across a recipe for drying celery leaves and I thought why didn’t I think of that. I usually chop up the leaves from the celery and freeze them in a baggy for soup. Also the light bulb in my head came on and I realized I could also dry sweet red and green pepper flakes too. I had needed them for a cracker recipe I wanted to do this fall. Years ago I used to buy them but I cannot find them locally any more. So I set out on my adventure of dry celery leaves and sweet peppers.

 

For the celery leaves I just removed them from the stalk of celery and laid them out on a glass pie plate. I preheated the oven to 200 degrees F. The when the oven was hot I put them in the center rack. It only took about 20 minutes until they were dry. You don’t want them to turn brown so keep an eye on them. Every time I make them the time changes because of the moister in the leaves. I just left them on the stove to cool and put them in a small container.

 

The red and green sweet pepper it was a little more time consuming but I was willing to do it because the dried peppers would add color and flavor for the salad dressing mixes I planned to make for gifts and the vegetable crackers. I chopped the peppers up in tiny little pieces. I did that while I was watching TV. I just cleaned the peppers and put slices in a bowel and sat down and cut them up real small using kitchen scissors. I laid the finely chopped peppers on a glass baking pan that had been sprayed with vegetable spray in a single layer. You can use parchment paper or non stick foil if you like but I chose to spray. You don’t want to have to scrap bits of peppers off the bottom of the pan. I preheated the oven to 250 degrees F. and put the pan in the middle of the oven rack. It took about 40 minutes to dry them out. It will go faster with a convection oven. Just keep an eye on them so they don’t turn brown. I stirred them a couple of times after they started to look like they were drying. This keeps them from sticking. You will be able to tell when they are completely dehydrated. They just look like dry vegetable soup pieces. I left them in the pan to completely cool and them put them in a small container.

You will be amazed at how little the dehydrated vegetables look after drying. I plan to do this with grated carrots and chopped celery. I have convection oven setting on my stove so it is quick to dry vegetables. With convection remember to keep the temperature low around 200 degrees F. The time it takes will vary so just keep an eye on them.

So when you are low on money remember you can dry your own herbs and vegetables.  Don’t throw those celery leaves away, dry them for future use in cooking.

Creamy Cranberry Salad Dressing

If you are looking for a different salad dressing for the fall and winter salads, you might like to try Creamy Cranberry Salad dressing. It is easy to make and will last a month in the refrigerator. Mine never lasts that long because we like it and it goes to pot luck dinners during the holidays. It even tastes good on a turkey and lettuce sandwich as a substitute for mayonnaise. You might even like it on a green grape and chicken salad.

The salad in the picture is just mixed greens, thin sliced onion, cranraisins, pecans and heirloom tomato slice. This is a great quick salad to complement a roast chicken or turkey. Just make your favorite green salad and dribble a little of this creamy dressing on it.

Creamy Cranberry Salad Dressing

½ cup cranberry sauce

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

¼ cup vinegar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon parsley

Place all ingredients except parsley, into a food blender. Blend for 60 seconds until creamy like mayonnaise. Add parsley and stir with a spoon. Pour in glass jar and store in refrigerator until used. It makes about a 1 ½ cup of dressing.

My favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Reblogged from Finnish Perspective:

This recipe is kind of a variation of the one on the Toll House morsels package.  It will make about 3 dozen cookies depending on the size of each cookie. They will turn out not too crunchy but not too chewy either. Just the way I like them and they are yummy.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda…

Read more… 150 more words

It is getting cold out side and there is nothing like a cup of hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. Please enjoy this post while I get my blog going again.

Pennsylvania Dutch Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing (Oil Free Recipe)

 

For years I have loved Old Dutch Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing. It is a little hard to find locally and when I do it is priced higher then most other salad dressing. So I started looking for a recipe that tastes almost like it. Most Pennsylvania Dutch Sweet dressing recipes have oil, egg or cornstarch in them that I have found in old cook books. But I wanted a light dressing that had no thickeners or oil in them. I realized I was going to have to figure this out for myself using the spice measurements and my own non oil base from the recipes I had found. After several tries and adjustments, this is the recipe that I like and it almost tastes the same as the commercial bottled brand.

Pennsylvania Dutch Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing

1 cup water

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup white vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

In a small sauce pan heat water and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to pour in food processor or blender. In food processor with blade or blender, add all other ingredients with sugar water. Blend for 30 seconds. Store in refrigerator until use. This recipe makes about 2 cups of dressing. It keeps several months stored in a jar in the refrigerator.

This dressing can be made with sugar substitute and is ideal for special diets. You can adjust the spices to your taste. I also recommend cutting the recipe in half the first time you make it so you are not stuck with too much dressing that you don’t like. Making your own is so much cheaper from pantry staples that are low cost. I buy my spices from the Dollar Store or the bag type that you find now at the grocery. I now very rarely buy bottle dressings for my salads.

Orange Flounder and Dill Mayonnaise

Everyone knows that lemon goes well on fish but did you know that orange and fish are a tasty combination? Navel oranges will soon show up in the produce section of the grocery store here in North America. I like to use a navel orange for this simple easy and low calorie fish dish. The fish is baked in a 400 degree oven for just 20 minutes so it doesn’t take long to put this meal on the table.

I would like to introduce you to Everglades seasoning from South Florida. It has a unique flavor from spices of tropics with out heat. They also make one with heat It has a wonderful mild favor that is perfect for fish. I also like it on pork chops. If it is not available in your grocer’s spice section you can go to it’s web site www.evergladesseasoning.com and order on line. It has the history of the spice that is really interesting.

Orange Flounder

Frozen or fresh flounder fillets

1 orange

1 teaspoon orange zest from above orange per fillet

1 tablespoon chopped sweet red pepper per fillet

Everglades seasoning or season salt

Chopped parsley

Dash of pepper

Thin pat of margarine per fillet (optional)

Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.

Foil line baking pan and place fish fillets on foil, With a zest tool or grater scrape the outer layer of the orange skin to make orange zest. Finish peeling the orange and slice. Season fish with a dash of pepper and seasoning. Lay orange slice on each fillet and sprinkle chopped pepper, parsley and orange zest on top of each fillet. A small thin pat of margarine can be places on each fillet. Top with foil and seal to keep in juices. Bake fish for 20 minutes if unfrozen. Frozen fish will take 10 to 15 longer minutes. Fish should be flakey and tender.

Dill Fish Mayonnaise

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon orange juice

½ teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon parsley flakes or fresh parsley chopped finely

½ teaspoon dill weed

1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish

Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and chill. Serve with fish.

This recipe can be used with any white fish.  So when you are out of ideas and out of money baked fish can fit into your budget.

Cracked Wheat Batter Bread

Batter bread is easy to make and I make it more often then the other bread recipes because it is softer and my family enjoys it more. This recipe requires bulgur wheat for the cracked wheat. You can either use whole kernels or coarse cut. If you have an heavy duty mixer it is easy to mix.

Cracked Wheat Batter Bread

¼ cup bulgur wheat

½ cup hot water

1 package active dry yeast

¾ cup warm water (105 to 110 degrees)

2 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 teaspoons salt

2 ¾ cup bread flour

1 tablespoon butter

Mix ¼ cup bulgur wheat with ½ cup water in a microwavable bowl. Heat until boiling. Set aside and let cool until about room temperature. ( don’t want to kill yeast it too hot) When bulgur is ready. Pour warm water in large mixer bowl and add yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes until it is bubbly. Add sugar, bulgur wheat with its water and butter. Mix until blended. Add salt and 1 cup flour. Mix until blended change to batter hook or mix by hand if batter gets to thick for your mixer. Slowly add the rest of the flour and beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double about 45 minutes to a hour. Stir down batter. Place in a greased 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan that has been greased with shortening or sprayed with vegetable oil spray. Cover with greased or sprayed plastic wrap for about 30 minutes.

This is a little too high.

Let it rise just slightly above the edge of the pan or it will over flow the edge and sink in the center when baking. Keep an eye on it because some times it will rise very fast the second time. Preheat oven 375 degrees F. about 15 minutes later so it will ready to bake when dough reaches top of the sides. Bake for 30 minutes and brush top with butter. Return to oven for another 10 minutes until done.

I made the x design by rolling two thin ropes and place them on top when putting batter in pan to rise the second time.