Wednesday Aug. 10

It was a busy day in the kitchen today. I made some really great muffins. No suprise as they were a Paula recipe. But great nonetheless. I'm also taking dinner to a friend who recently had a baby. I decided that I'd make, big suprise, another Paula recipe...Lemon blossoms for dessert. I also made lasagna with homemade spaghetti sauce and brought with it, a bag of salad and a box of frozen garlic bread. Somethings are just better store bought and I believe salad and garlic are great store bought items. Not only saves me time but tasts great and are easy. Not that I don't value my friends, but I'm sure they were greatful just the same :) All-in-all it was a yummy kind of day. OH, AND I also tried a pioneer woman iced coffee that was out of this world! Lot's to share today! EnJoY!

Apple Raisin Muffins
Paula Deen's cookbook for the lunch-box set pg. 20

2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced (I used Fuji as they are our favs)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Put the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.

Place the apples and sugar in a medium bowl and toss together. In a large measuring up (2 cup measuing cup works just fine), measure the oil, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well with a whisk or fork. Pour the oil-egg mixture into the apple mixture and stir well with a fork.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir well with a fork. Add the raisins and pecans (if using), and stir well with fork. Make a  well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the apple mixture over the flour mixture and stirl with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are mixed in. Don't over mix. Batter will be very thick!

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. I used an ice cream scoop for this.

Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned and the sides pull away from the muffin cups. Cool 5 minutes. EnJoY!

*These were great because they have a wonderul cinnamon flavor. Also, I cut my apples into larger chunks. When the cooked they were still a bit firm to bite into but were cooked through. I also love the raisins in them. It's not a lot of raisins, but enough that you get one every couple of bites.

Lasagna
This is one of my recipies that I have put together over time.

1 prepared recipe of Paula's spaghetti sauce, warmed
1 box of Oven ready lasagna noodles
2 cups motzerella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 carton of cottage cheese
1 Tbs. oregano
1 Tbs. parsley
2 tsp. garlic salt
mushrooms (if you like)

Make your spaghetti sauce. If you don't want to make time to do this, brown 1 lb hamburger meat and add 2 cans of Huntz traditional spaghetti sauce and mushrooms, stir, and you have a very quick sauce that's pretty good (but not as good as Paula's!).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the motz cheese, parm cheese, cottage cheese, oregano, parsley, and garlic salt with a fork.

Ladel a bit of sauce into the bottom of the dish and spread over the bottom (just enough so the noodles won't stick). Add a layer of the noodles (you really don't need to precook these and I promise they taste almost the same as cooked noodles but are a LOT less work), some cheese mixture, and sauce. Repeat the noodles, cheese, and sauce. Finally a layer of noodles and sauce. Top with some motzerella cheese, oregano, and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes for the dish to thicken up a bit. EnJoY!

*I ended up not having enough noodles for me to make this for my family as well. Which turned out great. I had some large manicotti noodles to make stuffed manicotti with. I cooked them until they were al dente. Then I spread some sauce in the bottom of my pan, stuffed the shells with the cheese mixture, lined them up in the pan, spread the rest of the sauce over the top, then added the motzerella and parm cheese. Then baked for 30 minutes and had a wonderful dinner. Also, you remember I made spaghetti sauce last week using venison sausage. I had some leftover that I put into a large ziplock baggie and froze. Tonight, I thawed it out and used it in my family casserole. For the lasagna, I used hamburger, but the family requested no onions, so I made the sauce minus the onions. This recipe is so easly adaptable. You could also add mushrooms to the sauce if you'd like. I've done this before but my kids don't really like them, so I usually leave them out.

Lemon Blossoms
Paula Deen and Friends Livin' it up Southern Style Pg. 110

For the Muffins:
18.5 ounce yellow cake mix
3/5 ounce instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup canola oil

For the glaze:
4 cups powder sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (bottled works just fine too)
1 lemon, zested (I don't use just because I don't like lemon zest)
3 Tbs. canola oil
3 Tbs. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin cups with cooking spray with flour (you will use these over and over since this makes 5 dozen. I have 2 trays with 12 muffins each and have to refill each at least 2 times, so make sure you have a friend to share these with or else you'll eat them all yourself since they are THAT good!).

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer (I use my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment) until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour batter into muffin tins (I use my ice cream scoop again), about half full (you want these small, so DON'T over fill....ONLY GO HALF WAY!). Bake 12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes then turn out onto a tea towel (a kitchen towel). While the first batch is cooking make the glaze.

To make the glaze, sift powder sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil and water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

Using your fingers (yes this is messy, but hey, you get to lick the yummyness off of your fingers), dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they are still warm (but not hot or they'll fall apart). Cover them as much as possible (just give 'em a good dunking!). Place on a wire rack, with wax paper under it to catch the drips, to let cool and set up. Store in an air-tight container. EnJoY!

*Oh great! Now I need to get up and walk to the kitchen to have a few of these bad boys! They are soooooo yummy and refreshing in the summer, or anytime really. Make these just once and you'll be craving them weekly. Just like an Oreo, I bet you can't eat just one!

Pioneer Woman's Cold Coffee

From the Pioneer Woman's web site

Which she adapted from the Imbibe magazine, and I adapted a bit for myself....are you confused yet?!

1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast) (I used 1.5 cups)

8 quarts Cold Water (I used 4 cups)

Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)

Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)

Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking

In a large container, mix the ground coffee and water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight.

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through strainer and allow the liquid to run through. Discard the grounds.

Place coffee in the fridge and allow to cool.

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice. Fill 2/3 full with coffee liquid, add half and half (I used my morning creamer) and 2 - 3 Tbs. of sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead), and stir to combine. Taste and adjust cream and milk as needed. EnJoY!

*I didn't make as much as she was telling me to do because I wanted to make sure I'd like it before I made a big 'ol honkin batch of it. She didn't let me down, I loved it. My only concern now is drinking too much coffee throughout the day. I have to put a limit on myself!