Redneck Tips from the Kitchen....or Laundry Room

Posted by Lori:

Last weekend I was making a cake.  The recipe said to beat eggs with an electric mixer for three minutes.  That is a LONG time to stand and hold the mixer when you've got lots of other things to be doing, isn't it?  Well, I came up with a solution - a stand mixer!  But, it's not the nice stand mixers some of you may have.  This standing mixer creation is straight from a redneck, as you can see!  But, you know what?  It worked!

I realized I might have forgotten to share another redneck idea with you.  This was from a family trip last year.  We were staying at a hotel in Arlington, TX and had great Mexican food leftovers from Pappasitos.  The hotel room had a refrigerator, but no microwave....SOOOOOOO, I improvised and heated the food on the next best thing - an iron!  And guess what???!!  It worked, too!

And since this is mostly a humorous post about redneck tips (although they really do work!), I thought I'd share one more funny picture.  I found this funny looking carrot one day as I was peeling carrots.  It looked like a person!  My daughter gave it some eyes and we kept him around a few days.  He aged really fast.....got all wrinkled up and shriveled.....but we sure had some laughs while he was around!

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Edible Eagles

Posted by Lori:
I decided to repost this, since July 4th will be here soon!  These are so cute! A friend told me about these last year and I posted them then - after the 4th.

  The recipe is from FamilyFun.com. THIS PHOTO IS FROM FAMILYFUN.COM, ALSO!

EDIBLE EAGLES

1/4 cup of white chocolate chips
6 large marshmallows
Finely shredded coconut
Chocolate sandwich cookie (we used a chocolate-covered Oreo)
6 Cashews
Black decorators' gel

Melt 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips according to the package directions. For each bird, drop a large marshmallow into the melted chocolate, using a spatula to coat it well. Remove the marshmallow from the chocolate and roll it in finely shredded coconut, leaving one end uncovered. Immediately set the marshmallow, coconut free end down, atop a chocolate sandwich cookie.

Let the chocolate set a bit, then use a toothpick to make a hole in the side of the marshmallow and insert a cashew for a beak. Finally, add black decorators' gel eyes.

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Single Ingredient Ice Cream

Posted by Lori:

I've heard variations on this recipe several times, lately, but this one seems to be the best because it begins with an unfrozen banana.  Then either it the "cream" as is or freeze it to make it cold "ice cream".

Single Ingredient Ice Cream
from The Kitchn (at www.thekitchn.com)

4 bananas, just slightly overripe (brown spots good, completely black not so good)
2 tbsps creamy peanut butter (optional – thus 2 ingredient ice cream)
2 tsps cocoa powder (Dutch process), (optional – thus 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream depending on peanut butter)

DO NOT FREEZE THE WHOLE BANANA, you’ll have a hard time blending it frozen.

Peel the bananas and slice them up into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick disks. Place the banana slices in the freezer for about an hour or until they are frozen solid. Put the frozen slices in a food processor and pulse. First they will start to resemble gravel, but keep going. The bananas will soon turn into a frozen mush – at this point, start scraping the sides down (you will do this a lot). Or you could add a dash of milk since the liquid will help the blending. I’m lactose-intolerant, so after a few minutes of stopping to scrape the sides down, the banana begins to blend into a creamy texture. When the bananas look like whipped ice cream, you can add your mix-ins like peanut butter and/or cocoa powder, chocolate chips, toffee, raspberries, anything goes! Straight out of the food processor, the ice cream is like soft serve. You can also freeze it for a firmer texture. I find it’s pretty hard (and therefore, brittle) when I scoop it immediately after removing it from the freezer. Just give it a minute or two to soften up. Makes a pint.

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Coconut Cake #2

Posted by Lori:

My mom told me about this cake today.  She said it's great, and I look forward to making it this week to take to a family reunion! The recipe was given to her by a friend.

Because there is already a Coconut Cake recipe on our blog, I put #2 after the name.

Coconut Cake #2

1 white cake mix
1 can cream of coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk (Such as Eagle Brand)
Medium container of whipped topping (Such as Cool Whip)
1 can angel flaked coconut

• Bake cake mix as directed, using a 9 X 13 pan. While cake is baking, mix Eagle Brand milk and cream of coconut together in a medium bowl. After cake is done, allow it to cool 5-10 minutes. Poke holes in cake and pour the cream of coconut/sweetened condensed milk mixture over the cake very slowly, letting it soak down into the cake.  Allow cake to cool for about 20 minutes.  Spread Cool Whip over cake and sprinkle with coconut.  Refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight. 
• 

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Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

Posted by Lori:


I'm posting this because my father-in-law was the BEST cinnamon roll maker in our family.  He passed away last Thursday and so I made these for the family.  They're not homemade and can in NO WAY compare to his, but they're a pretty good substitute.....and a lot less work, for sure.  (To read my devotional blog post about Charlie, please read HERE.)

Our traditional Sunday morning breakfast (for the kids, anyway) is cinnamon rolls. However, up until this point they've been the canned variety. It's just a quick breakfast before we head out the door for Bible class and worship. This recipe for "Yummy Cinnamon Rolls" was sent to me by Mom several months ago. She got it in an email from a friend. I forgot about the recipe until a few days ago when I was cleaning out my email inbox and found it. I decided to try them and they were great! In fact, we may say "good-bye" to canned cinnamon rolls forever!

YUMMY CINNAMON ROLLS

1 package Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls (discard icing or find another use for it...maybe just eat it - ha ha!)
1 stick of real butter
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
Nuts, if desired

Combine butter, ice cream, sugar and brown sugar in pan and bring to a boil. Let cool. Put cinnamon rolls in 9 X 13 baking pan and pour mixture over the rolls. Put in cold oven overnight and let rise. In the morning preheat oven to 325 degrees (remove rolls before preheating!) Bake for 30 minutes. Serve from pan or invert on serving tray.

I've made homemade cinnamon rolls, but only do it a few times a year. My father-in-law is the cinnamon roll expert in my family! I'm grateful for this new Sunday morning YUMMY CINNAMON ROLL recipe. It's easy and delicious!

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Breakfast Pizza

Posted by Lori:
Breakfast pizza is one of my kid's favorite breakfast dishes. It's quick and easy, but very filling.

BREAKFAST PIZZA

1 can Grands biscuits
1 t. butter or margarine
8 eggs 
1/4 cup milk
Salt, if desired
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I like to use the already cooked bacon slices for this recipe because it's so convenient)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Grease 15 inch pizza pan. Flatten each biscuit and place on pizza pan, sealing the seams to create the pizza crust. Melt butter in skillet with medium-high heat. Scramble eggs with milk and salt (I do one "shake" per 2 eggs) until done. Spread eggs evenly on top of biscuit crust. Top with crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese. Cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until edge of crust is slightly browned.

This recipe can easily be adapted according to what your family likes. You and your family might like adding green chilies or onions to the eggs while cooking. Maybe you would like mushrooms or bell peppers as a topping. My kiddos like it fairly plain.

I usually use bacon as the meat topping, but you can use ham or sausage. I take this pizza to the teachers and school staff during Teacher Appreciation Week and on the first day of school breakfast our PTO serves each year. It's interesting that the bacon pizza is consistantly the most popular each time. 

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Flavored Sugar

Posted by Lori:

I found this great recipe for flavored sugar that can be added to tea.  It's a full sugar recipe, but the recipe could be adapted to sugar free by using a sugar substitute and sugar free flavored drink mixes.  I have to add some sweet flavoring to my tea.  I don't like it at all just plain!  Apparently that's the way it is in the south.  My husband was in Georgia in April and he said that unsweetened tea wasn't even an option on the menu!  Unfortunately, unsweet is the only way he likes it, so his beverage selection was always water.

I hope you enjoy making your tea even tastier with this recipe!

Flavored Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 package (0.23 ounces) unsweetened lemon, cherry, or strawberry (or your preferred flavor) flavored soft drink mix

In a small bowl, combine sugar and soft drink mix.  To serve, stir 2 teaspoons flavored sugar into 6 ounces of hot or cold tea.
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