Jello Poke Cake

Tonight we are having a little celebration for my daughter, Kim's, 40th birthday with the family.  She picked the menu of beef stroganoff, sides, and this jello poke cake, that I usually make with strawberry jello, in an orange jello flavor.  I bought some rainbow sherbet to go along with it because the kids and Kim really like sherbet too.  Although it's super pretty cut, I am posting the finished product since I don't know if I will get a shot of it cut in the feeding frenzy tonight.  The jello makes streaks of color and flavor through the white cake, so it's pretty as well as delicious and light..

JELLO PUNCH CAKE:

Bake a boxed white cake according to directions on box.

While it's baking mix 1 small box of jello, whatever flavor you choose, and 1-1/2 cups of BOILING water until dissolved..set aside. 

Once cake is baked, set on a cooling rack and punch holes all over the top with the end of a wooden spoon or something about that size, almost to the bottom of the cake.  Pour the jello mixture over the holes.  Let cake stand until completely cool..then:

Mix small pkg of vanilla instant pudding and 1-1/2 cups cold milk together with a mixer or whisk until completely incorporated and thickened.  Add 1 small bowl of cool whip and fold in.  You can tint it or add well drained fruit to it if desired.  spread on top of cake and chill until set and ready to serve. 

You can use a chocolate cake and chocolate pudding with raspberry jello or do a lot of variations with the cake, jello and pudding in this and they are all yummy..

 

Treats for Alana's 12th Birthday Party with friends

Alana, my granddaughter, is having her friend party, 15 of them, tonight with pizza, macaroni and cheese, beverages of course, and so I volunteered to do the treats..I have been feeling nostalgic lately for some reason and decided to do old fashioned fall party food, except for the rainbow cupcakes..don't think they had those back then, but I am sure the girls will think they are fun.  I made the cupcakes and frosted them with marshmallow frosting (a favorite of Alana's), the old fashioned caramel apples with the kraft caramels, using heavy cream to thin it out a little and a dash of salt, over granny smith apples, and popcorn balls that I remember the way we used to make them way back when when we weren't afraid of corn syrup etc.  I added some pink food color, M & M's and honey roasted peanuts..they turned out good, not at all like rocks, and tasted good (I may have licked the bowl)..I think the assortment turned out cute and tasty looking..thinking they will think the same thing!

Here is the LINK for the recipe for the popcorn balls in case anyone is interested.. you can throw in whatever you want besides the popcorn-I was worried about the M& M's melting, but they seemed to do ok generally.  I used the microwave kettle corn and made sure there weren't any seeds in it. 
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/traditional-popcorn-balls/print

and..here is the recipe for the Marshmallow frosting..it's really good on chocolate cake-tastes like Whoopie pies.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter -room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 jar (7-1/2 ounces) marshmallow fluff
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a bowl beat with electric mixer, butter and pwd sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the marshmallow fluff and vanilla and continue beating until well combined..

Pumpkin Bars!

My "adopted" daughter, Annette (Net) emailed me that she wanted this pumpkin bar recipe today, so I am killing two birds with one stone and adding it to my blog for me and whomever wants it to bake in the coming fall holiday months and pot lucks.  There is something about pumpkin bars that signals the turning of the leaves and brisk cool weather and it's a must dessert item this time of year.   soooo...here you go Annette...enjoy!

PUMPKIN BARS:

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
1 -16 ounce can (2 cups) pumpkin
4 eggs

optional (I don't use in the batter, sometimes sprinkle crushed nuts on the topping (pecans):
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins

FROSTING: This makes a light layer of frosting, so if you like it thick, double it.
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 ounces of softened cream cheese
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  spray a 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan (bar pan).

Combine in a large bowl all the bar ingredients, beat at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes on medium speed until combined well.  pour into prepared pan, spreading so it's even.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (I do the finger touch method..if it springs back it's done)..cool completely.

In a small bowl combine all the frosting ingredients, beat until smooth.  spread over cooled bars.  Store in fridge.  48 bars. 150 calories each.

Making peach pies (and an apple that happened to pop in too!)

Well, being that we were in Colorado, and it's peach season, AND I love Colorado peaches I bought some..

Therefore, once I got home I,  of course, had to make peach pies!  (and one apple, just because)..so I am posting my peach pie recipe!  First, I make the fruit filling which consists of:

4-1/2 cups fairly thin sliced peaches-you can use ones that are ripe or not quite there, about 8-9 of them..
5 Tablespoons of flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

(same recipe for the apple pie filling, but use 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar)

 

gently toss together until fruit is evenly coated.  set aside..

 

Next: Make the pie crust: don't be scared..it's easy if you have a good recipe.

 

PIE CRUST:

In a large bowl (I use a large Tupperware bowl) add

3 cups flour

1-1/4 cups Crisco (or lard)

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix together with a pastry blender until like the texture of cornmeal-the is important..it has to be thoroughly incorporated like this..

Next: combine in a small bowl:
1 egg, whisked with a fork,
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5-1/2 Tablespoons water

combine together and pour over the flour mixture you made..I use my pastry blender and move the flour into the wet mixture and then finish off with the "tools God gave me", my hands and finish mixing it together gently and form it into a smooth ball of dough.  cut this into 4 quarters for 4 crusts.  (I doubled my recipe because I was making 3 pies, so you would only have one ball)

The flatten one quarter into a saucer shape and on a well floured board roll it out, making sure the top surface is floured and the rolling pin to avoid sticking also..continue turning it if needed and rolling until it's a little larger than your pie pan, fold in half and slide you pie pan under it a little and flip it over into the pan..add your filling and dot with about 5 little blobs of butter, make a top crust and put it on top, trim the edges and crimp the top and bottom together for a tight seal.  make slits in the top to vent the pie.  at this point you can bake it at 400 degrees for 50 minutes, or you can do like I do and brush the top with a little melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar for a little added surprise to the crust.  After baking cool on a rack several hours until completely cool.  We are having some tonight with ice cream..yum and yum.  you can also double the crust and freeze circles of the pie crust to use later..just throw them in the fridge and roll out the pie crusts when you need them..that's what I did with my two extra ones today.  Then I can  make more pies or pot pies etc with the extras.

 

 

 





 

 



 

Variations of Banana Bread posted below:

I volunteered to make something to bring to work on Friday for the monthly Nurse Practitioner meeting because there weren't many people who signed up.  It's a morning meeting, so usually people bring food for a light "breakfast" to go with their coffee.  Kim, my daughter, has been bringing over tons of bananas that are getting ripe lately and I have been tossing them in the freezer whole to use for banana baking, so decided to make some more of the banana bread since I had those and some buttermilk still to use up.  I made 4 large loaves by tripling the batch in the recipe below.  Two of them are plain, one with chocolate chips and one with pecans chopped up in it.  I am sure they will enjoy these on Friday..I am bringing butter and cream cheese frosting with in case those also appeal to them on it!

ADDENDUM:  I tried the recipe today, but omitted the nutmeg, added a little coconut, white chocolate chips, about half a jar of cut up, drained maraschino cherries, and some sliced almonds and it is really yummy.  it would be great at Christmas time with both the unflavored green and red cherries in it for brunch..fun variation.