Celebration Cake

Recipe from Southern Living Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies pg. 57
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat sugar and butter at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla.

Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl; add sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium speed just until blended after each addition.

Pour batter into a 9 x 13 pan sprayed generously with Baker's Joy.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool 1 hour or until completely cool. Ice as desired.

Banana Cake

Recipe adapted from the Cake Mix Doctor pg. 72-73
Bakers Joy
1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple sauce
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Spray pans generously with Baker's Joy.

Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the mashed bananas, water, apple sauce, and eggs. Blend 1 minute, scrape sides, blend 2 more minutes.

Bake 30-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool ten minutes on a wire rack then turn out on serving dish. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Ice as desired.

Easy Mixed Fruit Cobbler

1 cup Splenda sugar blend
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour
1 c buttermilk
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 cups frozen mixed berries
Ice Cream

Whisk together Splenda sugar blend, flour, and buttermilk until blended. Whisk in melted
butter. Pour batter into sprayed 11X8 or 12X8 baking dish; sprinkle with
frozen berries and 1/4 cup sugar evenly over batter.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Top with ice cream.

Oven-Fried Onion Rings

1/2 cup flour, divided
2 cups pretzel crumbs (70 small pretzels)
4 handfuls kettle chips, crushed
2 medium onions, sliced in 1/2 inch rings
3/4 tsp black & red pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 450.

Combine pretzel crumbs and kettle chips in a bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl whisk together 1/4 cup flour, pepper, buttermilk, and egg.

Place remaining 1/4 cup flour in another bowl.

Dip onion in flour. Tap off excess flour. Drop into buttermilk mixture. Use a fork to lift and allow excess batter to drip off. Drop in crumbs. Use fingers to cover entire onion with crumbs.

Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Bake 10 minutes; flip. Bake an additional 10 minutes.

Note: We made one white and one yellow onion to see what we liked better. We liked the white one better. It has a stronger flavor.

Garlic Whipped Brie

1 wheel brie
Pinch of garlic salt

Remove rind. Place in mixer with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until brie is light and fluffy. Add garlic salt. Mix until well combined.

Peanut-Butter Fudge Cake

Southern Living Best Ever Cakes & Pies July 2008
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
Fudge Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 325.

Stir together sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt. Add in peanut butter, buttermilk, ad eggs. Mix until well combined.

Melt butter is a saucepan oven medium heat. Whisk in 1 cup water and 1/4 cup cocoa. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove from heat.

Stir cocoa mixture into peanut butter mixture.

For 9 x 13 pan
Pour into two round cake pans sprayed generously with Bakers Joy.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center come out clean. Spread icing on warm cake.

For round cake pans
Pour into two round cake pans sprayed generously with Bakers Joy.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center come out clean. Spread icing on warm cake.

Fudge Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 (16oz) package powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together butter, cocoa, and milk in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes or until butter has melted. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until slightly thickened; remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Banana Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pecan and Marshmallow Struesel

Recipe combined from two recipes on Food Network website
2 large or 4 small sweet potatoes
1 banana, unpeeled
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup toasted pecan pieces
3/4 cup miniature marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wrap sweet potatoes in tin foil. Bake sweet potatoes 1 to 1-1/2 hours depending on size until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Bake banana in peel for 15 minutes.

Slice sweet potatoes in half. Scoop out pulp leaving skin intact. Combine sweet potato pulp and banana in a food processor until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and flour together until it's crumbly-looking. Add the cinnamon, pecans, and marshmallows; fold the streusel topping together to combine.

Put sweet potato/banana mixture back in skins. Stuff the sweet potatoes generously with the streusel topping and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and brown.

Chicken & Butternut Squash Risotto Bake

1 large butternut squash
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked Arborio or other short-grain rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 vanilla bean, cut in half & seeds scraped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 chicken breasts, cooked & chopped
Cooking spray
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Scrape out and discard seeds. Bake for 30 minutes. Peel and cube squash. Gently toss with vanilla bean seeds.

Increase oven temp to 400.

Bring broth & water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, add rice; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in squash, chicken, broth mixture, wine, salt, and pepper; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place rice mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes. Stir mixture gently. Sprinkle with cheese; bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese melts.