Amish Friendship Bread

I actually posted about this on my blog, but wanted to share the recipe here also.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe
This is the original recipe, not to be confused with a starter

Ingredients:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110°F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter.

For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions above for Amish Friendship Bread.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe-which will make your starters
Day 1 - receive the starter

Day 2 - stir

Day 3 - stir

Day 4 - stir

Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.

Day 6 - stir

Day 7 - stir

Day 8 - stir

Day 9 - stir

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Using a fork beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (optional).

Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

Once you have your starters completed, pass some along to share the love. Or in this case, loaves...

World's Best Chicken Salad

For those of you who are interested, I do not do chicken salad. It's just - gross - is the best word that comes to mind. And those weird people who put things in it like grapes and pecans? Double ick.

So imagine my suprise when one of the ladies from our church brought me chicken salad - with grapes - while I was out of work on maternity leave. I loved her chicken salad, grapes and all. And then I found out that someone else had a recipe. And I would link to her blog, but apparently I am not an "invited reader." Hmph.

Moving on!

This chicken salad recipe was simple enough - except that someone told me to use dill seed instead of dill weed. Good thing I called her to double check the recipe first.
So here it is. If you google it, you might find something like "Chicken Salad with Dill." Since I'm not much for chicken salad, I will dub this what I thought when I tasted the first bite:

World's Best* Chicken Salad Recipe
*Best is a matter of personal opinion-this one being Miranda's*

4 ridiculously large chicken breasts (or 6 regular sized)
1/2 lb red seedless grapes, washed and cut in half
2 stalks of celery, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp. dill weed
1 1/2-2 cups of mayonnaise
1/4-1/2 cup mustard
Craisins **I only used 1/2 a 6 oz. bag**
Chicken Rub (I used McCormick)

I patted all four chicken breasts thoroughly with the chicken rub and then put them in a gallon sized ziploc bag in the fridge overnight.

Then I baked them in a greased 13x9 inch pan for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how long it takes to cook the chicken thoroughly. While the chicken is cooking I cut up the grapes, celery, craisins, and mixed it with the dill weed. Then I added the mustard and mayonnaise. When the chicken was cooked through, I cut it all into bite sized pieces and stirred everything really well.

I will tell you that the mayo/mustard combination is a matter of preference. You could use more mayo and totally leave out the mustard if you don't like it. But I didn't even measure mine (I know, shocking, right?) I just used it until I thought I had enough.

My sister and I taste tested it on Ritz crackers and thought it deserved a spot on the cooking blog.

Watergate Cake with Cover-Up Frosting

Photo courtesy of Wendolonia blog

Okay so we just got a brand spankin' new Dell computer as a Christmas gift to ourselves, and in transferring files from the old computer to the new one I found some blogs like Wendolonia that I haven't been to in a while.

If you need a new and unique way to keep your kids interested in lunch, check out some of her crafty bento lunch ideas!

Anyway, I was browsing through old posts on her blogs and I came across this one which she calls a "Pistachio Pudding Cake". I wanted to use my camera to take pictures but apparently the battery has died on me. I had everything I needed but the club soda and pistachio pudding mix, so off to the store I went in the cold rain last night!

Moving right along...if you have no clue as to what Watergate is or who Richard Nixon was and why he resigned as president, you might want to get your history lesson so you can understand the name behind this cake recipe.

Here is the recipe from Wendolonia's blog:

**I will caution you that if you google it, you may find white cake mix instead of yellow, and ginger ale instead of club soda. I used the recipe from Wendolonia's blog for my cake.**

Watergate Cake with Cover Up Frosting
One box yellow cake mix
one box instant pistachio pudding mix
3 large eggs
1 cup club soda
1 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients with eggs, blending with a whisk. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix with whisk.
Pour into pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (you will discover from Wendolonia's blog that she burned the bottom of her cake, but her oven also runs hot.) I did my cake for 45 minutes.

For the frosting, you will need:
Two packages of Dream Whip (they come two to a box!!)
one box instant pistachio pudding mix
1 1/2 cups cold milk

Mix milk and dream whip until thickened. Add pudding mix and blend well. Spread frosting on top of cooled cake. Enjoy!

My thoughts: I absolutely love cakes that are very simple, like Mrs. Karen's chocolate cake that I will post sometime soon, but cakes that add pudding mix for some reason are just super moist. And it doesn't take a genius, even someone who doesn't bake, to put together a cake with these simple and easy steps.
When I finally got a chance to taste the cake, the frosting reminds me of Watergate Salad which I can not stand! I just don't like the combination of cool whip, nuts, and pineapple. I would be okay with pineapple in this frosting, and it might give it a unique flavor if you added it to this frosting and cake mixture. But it is just as good made according to the recipe! It might be a good cake for summer BBQs and pool parties. But those are just my thoughts!

Thanksgiving Goodness

I have two easy recipes that are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner to share with you today. They are always a favorite at our family get-togethers. I wanted to share them with y'all and I hope that you might give them a shot. Here goes!

I love mashed potatoes. I think it's just about the best comfort food in the world. It's a carb. It's a starch. It's full of cheese. It's heaven on a fork! Here is my recipe for delicious mashed potatoes.

Amy's Mashed Potatoes
5 lbs of potatoes (I like Yukon gold because of their buttery texture)
Milk
Kraft fat free mayonnaise
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Butter
Salt to taste

Peel, dice and boil your potatoes in salted water. After the potatoes are tender, drain really well. Add them back to the pot.

Now this is the part where you just have to play a little: Add a big splash of milk (I use fat-free), a big handful of cheddar cheese, a big pat of butter or margarine, and the secret ingredient: a big spoonful of fat-free mayonnaise. I use Kraft fat-free with the red lid. If the potatoes are dry, add more milk. Now get busy mashing the potatoes with a potato masher until you get them to your desired consistency.

So simple and easy, but they are Heaven on Earth! And don’t be afraid of the mayonnaise. You can’t taste it at all! My Aunt Frances (may she rest in peace) refused to eat mayo and yet she always ate our mashed potatoes. She never ever knew! The mayo just makes the potatoes really creamy. And in case you are counting calories, just remember that these have cheese and milk and butter in them which are dairy, and that means that they are totally good for you!

And get this, if you are trying to get ready for a big meal, perhaps Thanksgiving, just make the potatoes early in the day, and prepare them a tad bit soupier than normal and put them on low in the crock pot. They will stay hot and it's one less thing you have to worry about, and the potatoes will absorb some of the extra moisture. It couldn't be simpler!

And my second recipe is my Mom's Broccoli Cornbread recipe. It sounds unusual, but I've never found someone that tried this and didn't like it. It's tasty like cornbread, but the broccoli and cheese add an unusual and delicious touch. Here it is:

Broccoli Cornbread
1 box of Jiffy cornmeal mix
1 box of frozen, chopped broccoli (thawed and drained)
1 stick of butter (melted)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and then add to a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Cook at 300 degrees for an hour. The cornbread should be golden brown when it is ready. Let cool slightly and cut into squares. Delicious!

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Give them a try and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does. Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Crock Pot Mexican Fiesta Soup

It's like a Crock Pot extravaganza! So last Sunday afternoon, I went out to Bryan's grandfather's house for lunch. His family does this once a month, but until last Sunday I had been unable (and unwilling) to try to drag both kids out there with me by myself. And I warned my mother-in-law that it probably won't happen again!

But I picked the right Sunday because we had Mexican Fiesta Soup or what I like to call Mexican Chili!

Anyway, it's bubbling away in my crock pot now for dinner tonight and I HAVE to share the super easy recipe:

Crock Pot Mexican Fiesta Soup
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup chopped onion
28 oz. original Rotel

You don't drain any of the canned veggies....and the flavor and heat comes straight from the Rotel. It had just enough heat to be really flavorful and good without being too spicy for Gracie to eat it. She had two bowls! It was so easy I put it together last night and my whole house smells yummy! If you try it, I hope you enjoy it!

Make sure you have some tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream on hand for the extra goodness!

Crock Pot or Not Chili

As the weather starts getting colder, there is nothing that I like better than a big bowl of chili. It's one of life's perfect comfort foods. It has meat, beans, tomatoes...seriously, what's not to love? I wanted to share my recipe for chili with you today. What I love about this recipe, passed down from my Mom, is that it is perfect for a crock pot, but if you are lacking on time, you can easily just cook it up in a big sauce pan on the stove for 20 minutes or so until it gets heated up. Here goes!

Amy's Crock Pot or Not Chili

2 cans of petite cut diced tomatoes

2 cans of chili beans (slightly drained)

2 cans of kidney beans (drained)

1lb of browned ground beef (with onion if you like)

1 cup (or so) of water

3 heaping tablespoons of chili powder

Garlic salt to taste

Add everything into the crock pot and heat on low for 6-8 hours. If you make it on the stove, the longer you cook it, the better it will taste. As always, soups like chili ALWAYS taste better the second day.

And here's a secret for you: I learned many years ago from a dear family friend, Chae Tartt, to serve chili over white rice. Although it sounds unusual, it really makes the chili stretch farther, and it gives it so much more substance. Chae is no longer with us, but I always think about her whenever I cook chili with rice. Anyone can serve chili with cornbread, Frito's or a grilled cheese sandwich, but you can totally surprise your family with rice. Give it a try. I promise you will love it!

Another secret: Just about everyone knows how delicious shredded cheddar cheese is in chili, but have you ever tried a dollop of low fat sour cream? It's amazing!

Another secret: I know this will sound so strange, but I also love chili with a spoonful of blue cheese dressing. I know that blue cheese is an acquired taste, and heaven knows that I don't understand why everyone doesn't enjoy it, but my oh my, it is delicious in chili!

Now that I'm all secreted out, you need to go make a big pot of chili with rice and cheese and sour cream and blue cheese dressing. You can thank me later! Have a great day!

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Okay so I know Amy has her own taco soup recipe and she might be willing to share it with you, but the night I wanted taco soup I did not have the time or energy to try to locate Amy (i.e., call her on the phone) and find out what it was.

So I had my sister google a recipe instead, and read me the ingredients list as I walked the aisles of the grocery store.

Once I got home with my purchase, I realized that the idea of refried beans in my taco soup just sounded...well, disgusting. So I tossed the idea of taco soup out for dinner that night, and went back to the store the next day to swap out for different ingredients. Here is the recipe I found (and loved!):

Crock pot Chicken Taco Soup
1 onion, chopped
16 oz can of chili beans, undrained
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
15 oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
8 oz can tomato sauce (mine was italian seasoned-what I had on hand!)
1 cup chicken broth
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
14.5 oz can Rotel (I used mild)
1 packet of taco seasoning
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used two 6 oz. packs of the already cooked Fajita seasoned Tyson strips!)

I also added in a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix.
And don't forget the shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips!

The recipe said to put all ingredients in the crock pot and then place the chicken on top, cooking for 7-8 hours on low. Then you take the chicken out and dice it, adding it back to the soup. Since I had already cooked chicken strips, I just diced them up with my Pampered Chef chopper and added them at the very beginning.

I still think I cooked my soup for about 6-7 hours, and it was WONDERFUL! Plus the weather the night we had it was rather chilly, so it was just perfect for dinner!

It's Like Lasagna, But All Rolled Up!

I love lasagna and came across this recipe in my Kraft Food and Family magazine. I decided I just had to give it a try. It turned out really good. I'll share the recipe and then share my thoughts on what I would do differently. The recipe and instructions are from the Kraft website.

Cheese-Lover's Pasta Roll-Ups
1 egg, beaten
1 container (15 oz.) Ricotta Cheese
2 cups KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian Three Cheese Blend
4 green onions, chopped
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce, divided
16 lasagna noodles, cooked
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 375ºF. Mix first 5 ingredients until well blended. Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish. Spread each noodle with 3 Tbsp. cheese mixture; roll up. Place, seam-sides down, in dish. Top with remaining sauce and Parmesan; cover. Bake 40 to 50 min. or until heated through, uncovering the last 10 min

Make Ahead
Assemble recipe as directed; cover with heavy-duty foil. Refrigerate up to 24 hours, then bake, covered, 1 hour 5 min. or until heated through, uncovering the last 10 min. Or, freeze up to 1 month. When ready to serve, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered, 1 hour 5 min. or until heated through, uncovering the last 10 min.

One Effort, Two Meals! Assemble roll-ups as directed; place half in each of 2 (9-inch) square baking dishes. Bake one as directed and keep the other for later. Cover with heavy-duty foil. Freeze up to 1 month. When ready to serve, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered, 1 hour 5 min. or until heated through, uncovering the last 10 min.

Amy's Thoughts:

• When boiling lasagna noodles, do your best to not stick your hand into a pot of boiling water, not once, but twice.
  
  
• On second thought, just drain most of the water out of the pot when the noodles are finished cooking so you don't stick your hand into a pot of boiling water.
  

• Although this is a delicious meatless meal, I imagine it would also be very good if you wanted to add some ground beef into the cheese mixture.
  
  
• I substituted the lower fat skim version of ricotta cheese and it tasted just fine.

• I used the chunky garden variety of spaghetti sauce and liked that it gave some extra veggies and a lot of extra taste!
  
  
• My roll-ups weren't quite as pretty as those pictured above, mostly because of the second degree burns on my hands that I was trying to deal with, but they were just as tasty!
  
  

I served the pasta roll-ups with some English peas and we have enough left over for tonight. I'll definitely be making this again soon! Try it out and let me know what you think. Have a great day!

**Updated** These reheated really well, and Jeremy and I both think they tasted better the second time around. Just FYI!

Coca-Cola Cake

I'm usually not a fan of chocolate cake. At weddings I always, without fail, go for the bride's cake. I have found my chocolate cake exception.

After my Tres Leche cake flop, my Mom told me that I just had to try making a Coca-Cola cake. She swears by Cracker Barrel's version and told me that I would just love it. So I gave it a shot. Here's the recipe she gave me to try straight out of her Coca-Cola recipe book:

Coca-Cola Cake
2 cups plain unsifted flour
1 cup sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola (NOT Diet Coke)
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups of miniature marshmallows

Sift the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan heat the butter, cocoa and coca-cola until they boil. Pour this over the flour and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the buttermilk , eggs, baking soda, vanilla and marshmallows and mix well. The batter will be thin and the marshmallows will come to the top. Bake at 350 in a greased sheet pan (2x12x14 inches) for 30-35 minutes.

Icing
1 stick of butter or margarine (melted)
3 tablespoons of cocoa
7 tablespoons of Coca-Cola
I box of confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix the first three ingredients well and pour over the confectioners sugar. Mix well and pour over the cake while it is still warm. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My only diversion from the original recipe was that I used a greased 13x9 inch dish. I didn't have the other size. My cake turned out delicious! It was so simple to make, especially considering it was from scratch, not very expensive, and I had most of the ingredients already around the house.

My Mom had a piece and she loved it also! She pronounced it more "brownie like" than Cracker Barrel's version, but it was so good! The whole family loved it! And seriously, the icing is so delicious I tried to drink the leftovers as I was mixing it. The icing would be amazing to just pour straight over vanilla ice cream if you ever wanted a quick chocolate fix. It was still warm from the melted butter when I poured it over the warm cake and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream it was so delicious!

Jeremy quickly told me that I had to make it again. Like the next day. It was that good! If you are eating the cake as leftovers, pop it into the microwave for about 10 seconds and get icing warmed up again. Give it a shot and let me know what you think. It's life changing!

Have a great day!

Turkey Fettucine

I apologize for Amy's lack of recipe sharing! She's supposed to be sharing a Coca-Cola cake recipe but she did say something about her Mom taking the cookbook back home....I'd post it myself, but I googled mine and it didn't turn out exactly like Amy's! So I'm sharing something else my family tried last night that was wonderful - good comfort food on a cold, chilly night.

I am going to post this recipe twice in this blog, once to share the original, and then again to show you my version. I'll explain why later....

Turkey Fettucine
1/2 pound fettucine noodles
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 c. milk
1 c. chicken broth
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
dash of white pepper
2 c. chopped skinless turkey breast (about 10 oz.)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

When I first looked over this recipe, it reminded me of a "flopped" Chicken Carbonara pasta I tried a few weeks back. I don't know about the rest of you, but I like sauce when it comes to pasta - not just to balance the pasta/sauce out but because when you have a recipe that doesn't create a lot of sauce, a few things happen:
You end up with leftover cooked noodles and no sauce
OR
You end up with leftover sauce and no noodles
OR WORSE
You have leftovers of both but the sauce is so miniscule that when you reheat the dish it is DRY to the bone!

I also like a lot of flavor with my pasta, and cheese is always an added bonus! So using that carbonara experience and going from there, I present to you my own modified version of Turkey Fettucine!

Miranda's Turkey Linguine
1 lb linguine noodles
6 tbsp. butter
6 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese
3 turkey breast fillets
2 tbsp dried parsley flakes
salt and pepper to taste

I used three of the turkey breast fillets, cooking them 5 minutes per side on medium heat until they were no longer pink in the middle. I think that took about 20 minutes, flipping them every five minutes. Then I had two half-empty boxes of linguine and no fettucine, so we substituted. When it comes to pasta, you can always substitute if you don't have something on hand!
I started the water for the pasta after the turkey fillets were cooked. Then I went to work with my Pampered Chef chopper and diced up the turkey fillets for the sauce.
Then you melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, cooking for one minute until it is smooth (to me, it looked like warm, liquid cookie dough). I added the milk and the broth, and then waited for the sauce to thicken. This kind of takes a while, I think it was 15-20 minutes before it reached a consistency I was comfortable with. The pasta was done, so I drained it and added a tbsp. of olive oil and some salt and pepper to the pasta. I turned off the sauce and moved it from the heat, dumping in the 1 1/2 cups of shredded parmesan. I put the pasta in a huge pot and dumped in the turkey, and then the sauce and tossed it to mix.

I made some garlic bread and english peas to serve with it, and Gracie and I had leftovers for lunch today! My only recommendation for reheating is to add 1-2 tbsp. of milk to the bowl in order to keep the sauce from drying out or the pasta getting hard.

I am anticipating cooler temps for the rest of the week (although I'm not weather man!) and so I'm looking for recipes that make good comfort food, soups, stews, etc!

Maybe the next post will be from Amy to share her version of the Coca-Cola cake. Although mine was super-good anyway!

Chicken Packets

If you remember correctly, I mentioned a church member by the name of Amy in my last post on the blog. Amy has not only shared her recipes with me, but also some ideas on methods to plan grocery shopping and menus for a two-week time period so I'm not scrambling to get dinner together for our family of four. So she shared her chicken soup recipe, and then she also gave me the following recipe:

Chicken Packets
2 packs crescent rolls
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (2 chicken breasts will work)
3 oz. cream cheese
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. chives
salt to taste
1/4 c melted butter
1/2 c crushed croutons

I had already stewed an entire bag of chicken, so I defrosted two chicken breasts in the microwave for this recipe. I used a seperate bowl to mix the cream cheese, milk, and chives - I even heated it up to help the cheese and milk combine. Then I mixed it in with the chicken. You unroll the crescent rolls and pinch the perforation together - this will make two crescent rolls into a rectangle, and you should end up with eight total rectangles.
Spread some chicken mixture into the crescent roll, and fold over to pinch together. Dip them in the melted butter and then into the crushed croutons. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Tuesday night I made these for dinner with baked beans and garlic pasta and Wednesday I had them as leftovers with some Doritos. It says you can eat them cold or warm, but I like mine warm. The only difference is that next time instead of freeze-dried chives, I'm going to buy some green onions and chop that up instead. But they were awesome and were gobbled up in no time!
----- Miranda

Hot Tomato Grits and Tres Leche cake

Since Miranda and I decided to name this blog "Cheese Grits and Jesus" we knew that we were going to have to search high and low for the perfect Cheese Grits recipe. We didn't have to look far! I heard through the grapevine that a lady from our church, Mrs. Diane, made the best cheese grits ever. I got in touch with her and asked for her recipe. When I got it and saw how easy it looked, I knew we had to try it. So Friday night Jeremy, Jackson and I headed over to Miranda's house to make the Hot Tomato Grits. We fell in love with them! They were so simple to make, and everyone (husbands and children included) loved them! And get this...they even taste wonderful re-heated. I've never even considered re-heating grits before but these were so good, even the second time around. This will go down as one of those "you have GOT to try this" recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Hot Tomato Grits
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups quick grits
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can Rotel tomatoes (add a second can if you really like it spicy!)
2-1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Bring Chicken broth to a boil and slowly add grits, stirring constantly while adding to prevent lumping. Turn heat down and continue stirring until desired consistency. Add salt and pepper and tomatoes. Add cheese - when cheese is completely melted, transfer to heated crock pot. Add crumbled bacon and garnish with extra tomatoes and 1/2 cup extra cheese.

Mrs. Diane also sent me a few tips for this recipe: You don't have to put these in a crock pot - that is only to keep them warm for serving. When cooking the bacon, put on a cookie sheet and bake it. If you put the bacon in the oven at the same time to start cooking the grits, they will be ready about the same time. (*This worked amazingly well for us!) By doing that, the whole recipe comes together in about 15 minutes.

This make a really big batch, so if it is just your family, cut it in half. However, when you cut it in half, remember to use only half a can of rotel because it will be really spicy if you use a whole can in a half batch.

And since we were trying a new recipe, I decided to get all wild and crazy and make a cake from scratch.

I'll let that sink in a moment....

I've never made a cake from scratch before. Frankly it's much harder than opening a box of cake mix and adding an egg and water. Much harder.

So I decided to make the Pioneer Woman's Tres Leche cake. I made a cake that I've never even tasted before. That might have been my first mistake, because y'all, this cake was hard to make. Maybe I should have started with something a little easier.

Is this a good time to tell you that I've never even separated egg whites from egg yolks before? I feel like I need to say something like, "Hi, my name is Amy. I'm 29 years old and I've never separated an egg before."

Anyways, with this recipe I was busy separating eggs, folding stuff into batter, whipping, and dirtying about 30 dishes. The total cake cooking time (including icing) took 2 1/2 hours which is about 2 hours longer than baking a boxed cake mix. So here's the recipe:

Tres Leches Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry. Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

We ate the cake over at Miranda's and we all decided that the cake was kind of "eh." I've never had a sponge cake before, and this was definitely very spongy. We all decided that it just wasn't quite sweet enough (despite all the sugar) for our tastes. Nothing at all against Pioneer Woman, because she is amazing, but I think I bit off a little more than I could chew with this recipe. Miranda and I both decided to go ahead and share this recipe, despite our so-so rating, because everyone has recipes that didn't work out quite great for them. If someone loves tres leche cake, then they might want to give this a try. I, however, will not be making it again. I found another cake recipe that knocked my socks off. I'll share it soon!

And now I'm off to go dream of those cheese grits again!

Chicken Soup for your Soul (is it in your belly?)

Okay so this morning when I went out to my car to crank it before work (and crank up the heater!) my car's thermometer said it was FOURTY EIGHT DEGREES outside.
Then my car wanted to protest about starting under such harsh conditions. I don't know how people up north do it - in the teens and below zero. I'd never survive!

So in honor of the wonderfully chilly weekend temperatures, I'm going to share a recipe for homemade chicken soup given to me by a church member named Amy (no, not the one I blog with!)

I made this soup Thursday night when it was humid and rainy, and am enjoying the leftovers for lunch today.

Homemade Chicken Soup
Special note: this is not Amy's exact recipe, because I altered it a little.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, stewed and either chopped or shredded
2 cans of chicken broth (I used bouillon granules to make my broth)
1 can of Veg All (undrained)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 Cup of cooked Minute rice (I measured out one cup and microwaved it)
Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste

I did mine the night before. I boiled the chicken and while it was boiling I put everything else in the crock pot. Once the chicken was done I stirred it in and then put the crock pot in the refrigerator. Bryan put it in the crock pot before he left for work the next day, and by the time I got home it was DONE! I am not a big fan of eating condensed soup, although I like to cook with it. This has just the right amount of flavor and warmth to me, and also just the right amount of broth. It actually called for half and half or cream, but I forgot to add it and it was STILL awesome!

Oh and also on Friday night, Amy, Jackson, and Jeremy came over to test out a recipe for Hot Tomato Grits and a sponge cake Amy made! Come back Monday to see us share those recipes, AND our thoughts on how the meal turned out! - Miranda

Our First Official Crock Pot Recipe!

Amy and I had lunch with our pastor the other day (totally by coincidence, he just happened to be at Country's BBQ and so were we!) and I ordered Brunswick Stew as a side item with my meal. When it came, he commented that he made some of the best Brunswick stew, to which I commented that my Granny Cole used to make some - and I had never been able to find a recipe that came close to hers.

Many people can cook the same thing and cook it in different ways, even going back to how simplistic Amy says her spice cabinet is - mine is much more complex, but I enjoy adding extra spices and seasonings. And I think I own all the spices Amy mentioned - except for rosemary! I'm not a big fan...the one time I tried it, it was disgusting. No offense to those of you who enjoy it!

So Amy makes her own version of crock pot spaghetti sauce, which I've tried, and the other night I had to be at church for choir practice. I didn't have every single item Amy adds to her sauce, but I was able to improvise. My sauce was wonderful! (Not that Amy's isn't, but we always have a ton left over if I make hers.)
So here is my recipe for my homemade sauce, and then Amy's!

Miranda's Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu traditional)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. diced tomatoes in juice (I had some leftover in the fridge from a recipe)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chopped dried onion (or fresh onion is good too!)
1 pack Italian sausage, cooked and drained

Whisk all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles or your favorite pasta!

Amy's Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce
2 jars of spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu Sundried Tomato and Sweet Basil and 1 store brand traditional or meat sauce)
2 cans of petite cut diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 lb ground beef
chopped onion to taste (I use Pictsweet frozen chopped onion)
garlic salt (to taste)
sugar (a couple of tablespoons)
spaghetti noodles (I love Ronco Angel Hair)

Brown ground beef and onions. Drain. Add to the crock pot with all the other ingredients. Cook on low 3-4 hours. It will also be fine if you leave it on all day on low. Cook spaghetti noodles and serve with a salad and dinner rolls.

So now you have both of our spaghetti sauces. They share a lot of the same ingredients, but we each put our own little touches into them, so they taste completely different. Try them out and let us know what you think! Have a great day!

Amy's Apple Dumplings

Since Miranda gave you a little bit of her cooking background, I guess I need to do the same. To be totally honest, I don't think I did much cooking, other than scrambled eggs, until I moved to Auburn as a freshman, and then I realized that food doesn't just magically appear on the table all by itself! I can't tell you how many times I would call my mom asking her how she cooked this or that, and she was graciously patient with me until I figured out "how in the world do I cook ____ " without calling my Mama! Now I've figured out my own cooking style (which has been greatly influenced by my Mom!) and I still cook as simply as she does!

I didn't grow up eating food cooked with fancy herbs and spices, and I wouldn't know the difference between rosemary and thyme if you offered me a million dollars! My spice cabinet consists of salt, sea salt, Lawry's seasoning salt, Lawry's garlic salt, black pepper, cinnamon, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, chili powder, taco seasoning and that's about it. I'm not exaggerating with my simplicity! I will never, ever share a recipe that calls for some fancy, schmancy seasoning like dill or basil. It's not gonna happen! About as wild as I get would be minced garlic, and even that is out of a jar! And where Miranda is very exact with her measurements, I tend to be a bit more "pinch of this" and "dash of that" with my cooking.

I absolutely LOVE my crock pot, and am obsessed with finding recipes that are simple, quick to fix, and are somewhat healthy for my family to eat. I have a three year old at home, so if supper can't be fixed in less than an hour, not counting crock pot meals, then it won't be cooked in my house! Oh, and I hardly ever fry stuff unless you count homemade onion rings or fried green tomatoes about 2 times a year!

With all that being said, let's bring on the recipe! I found this recipe on a blog that I stumbled onto, and I hate to say it, but I have no idea whose recipe it is. I wish I could give them credit, because y'all, this dessert recipe is life changing. It's that good. But since I've changed the recipe up just a tad, so I guess it's fair for me to call it my own now!

Amy's Apple Dumplings
2 packages of Crescent Rolls (Do not let them get room temp. They need to be cold)
1-1/4 cup of sugar
3 Granny Smith apples
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup of Mt. Dew

Preheat oven to 350

Here is everything you need!

Peel and slice apples into 8 slices each (Use an apple wedge if you have it. We couldn't find ours.)

Wrap each slice in a crescent roll triangle and place in ungreased 13x9 inch baking pan. I put a few smaller pieces of apple in each crescent roll with 1 or 2 bigger pieces. It just depended on the size. Mostly I just eyeballed it!

Combine butter, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan and cook on medium low, stirring until it becomes a gravy-like consistency.

Keep stirring so it doesn't burn!

See how it looks like gravy!

Pour the mixture over the wrapped apples. Make sure to spread it out really good and cover all the crescent rolls. Pour the Mt. Dew arond the edges of the crescent rolls. You can also pour it on top, just don't wash off the sugary stuff. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. (Don't be afraid of the Mt. Dew. It gets soaked up and turns everything into a glaze!)

After 30 minutes, place a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the pan and bake covered for 15 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. See all that cinnamony goodness on top! It's so delicious! Spoon some out and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy! You can always tell yourself it's healthy because it does contain apples. At the very least, it's a good dose of fiber! I hope you love this as much as I do!

A Little Back Story....

Hey! Pull up a chair and sit for a while. I (Miranda) just wanted to back up and give you guys some history on how I got involved with cooking, crock potting, recipe blogging, or whatever you want to call it.

I was raised (until the age of 12) by a single mother who worked full time in the Air Force. I don't exactly remember when I started to cook for myself, but most of it I learned from browsing through cookbooks or watching cooking shows. My mom, bless her heart, is not a cook and was never meant to be one. Her idea of dinner? We call them "Soup Can Meals" and it usually involved something weird - like boiled macaroni noodles mixed with cream corn. Disgusting, right?

The first few things I learned to cook involved more baking than cooking - cakes, but more especially cookies. It wasn't until I was into high school that I actually developed a love for cooking itself.

Let me warn you first - I am not one of those people who ventures away from a recipe. I am pretty much a "stick-to-the-instructions" kind of girl. It drives me nuts to read a recipe that involves "a pinch" of this. What is that, really?

Now that I am a wife and mother and (as Amy said already) we both work outside the home and are actively involved in our church, it has become harder to find time to work with recipes that take up a lot of time and energy. And while I can't speak for Amy, I'm sure she would agree that the best recipes are the kind that are simple, most often involving a few ingredients and ready in less than thirty minutes, and (if we're lucky) can be cooked in a CROCK POT! (You'll find that Amy and I have a shared loved for crock pots, as well!) Most people assume crock pots are just for roasts. Well, hold on to your socks! Amy and I will share recipes beyond the usual pot roast!

And now that I've given you some insight into my development as a culinary genius (who am I kidding?) Here is one of my all-time favorite recipes The best thing about this recipe is you can cook it immediately, OR refrigerate or freeze it to use later! -

Chicken Spaghetti
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed and rinsed
2 cans cream of Mushroom soup
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I like sharp)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper

4 oz jar diced pimentos, drained
3 cups dry spaghetti, broken in 2 in. pieces
2 cups reserved chicken broth from pot
1 tsp season salt
1 additional cup grated cheddar cheese

Fill a pot with water and add chicken breasts, bringing them to a boil. When the chicken is cooked through, cut it up into small cubes/pieces. Save two cups of the broth from this pot and then cook the spaghetti in the remaining broth until al dente. When spaghetti is cooked, mixed with all other ingredients except the additional cup of cheddar cheese.
Please mixture in a casserole dish (I used 13x9) and top with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve with salad and/or dinner rolls and enjoy!

Let Us Introduce Ourselves

Hi everyone! Thanks for dropping by our brand spanking new recipe blog, Cheese Grits and Jesus. This blog will be a collaboration between two friends that live in the wonderful deep South, Miranda and Amy. We wanted to tell you just a little about ourselves before we jump in the deep end of our recipe files. We are both wife/mother/working full time outside-the-home/friends in real life women who love Jesus and love cooking! Miranda is married to Bryan and has two children, Gracie and James. Amy is married to Jeremy and has a son, Jackson, and a dog, Macy.

We plan on using this blog as a way to share some of our favorite recipes and tips that we have found to make our life delicious and easy. We also would like to share with y'all some of the things that we have found didn't work for us, that way you won't waste your time with them like we did because let's face it, time is precious!

Between both of us we figure that we have about a million recipes, so you should find something you like! We hope you come back soon. Bye y'all!