Preacher Cake

 This is a great cake and would be wonderful for a large crowd.  I made this for work and they all loved it so will be making this again for sure.

 adapted from here

Preacher Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, with juice
1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans or walnuts, divided (here's the nut grinder I use)
1 cup flaked coconut (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

Combine sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla and mix on medium-low speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Slowly mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Add pineapple (undrained), 1 cup chopped pecans and coconut and continue mixing on medium-low speed until all ingredients are thoroughly combined (about 1 minute).

Spray a 13x9 baking pan with cooking spray. Pour cake batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until cake is set in the center and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool cake completely in pan then the frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup chopped pecans over cake. Store in refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Whip cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in powdered sugar (add more if necessary to reach desired consistency – if your kitchen’s hot, you might need more because the butter will be softer). Makes enough to top one 13x9 cake – double recipe if using on a layered cake.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things You L♥ve.
Donna

Chocolate Lovers Banana Bread

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...As you can see people at my job love chocolate.  This is a banana bread that is loaded with chocolate And I must say is really, really good.

adapted from here

Ingredients

1½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup butter
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 small bananas, mashed (approx. 1⅓ cups)
½ cup dark  chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts for pecans

Topping
¼ cup half  &  half
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons  dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Stir in eggs and bananas. Add banana mixture and chocolate chips to flour mixture. Stir just until combined.
4. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Topping

1. Heat half & half and brown sugar over medium heat until brown sugar has dissolved and tiny bubbles start to form on the edges. Stir in vanilla and butter until melted and turn off heat. Add chocolate chips and do not stir, let sit 2-3 minutes.
2. Whisk chocolate chips until smooth. Cool completely and drizzle over bread.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU L♥ve.
Donna

Cheesy Potatoes

I made these for Easter dinner, oh YUM!

7-8 large potatoes
3 green onions, chopped
4 TBL dried parsley
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup half and half
3-4 oz velvetta (white and yellow)
2 TBL butter



Preheat oven to 375°
Boil potatoes (with skins on, you could peel if you want).  Cook until almost done, they will continue to cook when you bake, so you don't want them overcooked.  Let come to room temperature.
In the pan that you will be cooking the potatoes in ,(I used a corning ware oval baking dish) cut potatoes add chopped green onions, parsley add just a pinch of salt and some black pepper, set aside.  In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and the ricotta, mix well.  In a small saucepan add the butter, rest of the creams and the cheeses and cook slowly til melted.  Pour the ricotta over the potatoes, pour the cheese mixture on top of that and toss the potatoes to fully coat.  Cover with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes until tender and bubbly.  You can uncover for the last 10 minutes if you want to get a crust.  Enjoy
Have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do All the things YOU L♥ve.
Donna

Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I saw this on FB and decided that I would make it.  Easy peasy recipe and not much work at all to create as great dinner that the whole family will love.  Well let me rephrase that...my daughter requested that her chicken not have bacon on it.  LOL  Michael Symon would say "who doesn't love bacon, bacon makes everything better".    HMM my daughter doesn't agree.  :)


6-8 boneless chicken breast (pounded)
6-8 oz ricotta cheese
small bunch of fresh parsley chopped
12-16 slices of bacon
salt and pepper

Preheat oven 450° and line a baking sheet or cookie sheet with parchment paper (easy clean up)
Pound out the chicken breasts then spread ricotta on them then sprinkle with parsley, salt and pepper.  Roll up then wrap bacon around to cover, you will need 2 pieces per breast (unless the are small).
Place in oven and cook for about 40 minutes until bacon is crisp and chicken in done.
Serve and enjoy with your favorite sides

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU L♥ve.
Donna

Chocolate Chip Turtle Cookies

These are a very good cookie and make a good amount.   You can get about 4 1/2 doz. of a decent size cookie.  You could probably add other ingredients if you like and also omit some if you like.  I've never put corn starch in my cookies before.  Wonder what it really does to the dough.  I did notice with these cookies they didn't flatten out, which I really like.  Hope you give them a try, well worth the little bit of time it takes to make them.

adapted from here

printable

Ingredients

¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped
¾ cup caramel bits

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans and caramel bits by hand and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop balls of dough onto the baking sheets, and bake for 9-12 minutes until the edges are just starting the brown and the top still looks slightly undercooked. Remove from the oven and cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thanks for stopping by,  leave a comment if you want.  Have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the Things YOU L♥ve.
Donna