Birthday Cake & Icing

I made a yummy b-day cake for D's birthday yesterday. It was scrumptious!

CAKE


Ingredients

1 cup butter 2 cups white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 eggs

3 teaspoons baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup milk 1 pinch salt

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch pan or three 8 or 9 inch round layer cake pans.
2.	Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3.	Separate the eggs and set the egg whites aside. Add the egg yolks one at a time to the creamed mixture, beating after each one.
4.	Measure the baking powder into the flour, sift a little of the flour into the creamed mixture. Continue adding the flour and the milk alternately, while continually beating the mixture. Beat the cake batter until a few air bubbles show.
5.	Beat the 4 egg whites with a dash of salt until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
6.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until cake(s) test done, approximately 25 to 35 minutes.

ICING

Ingredients

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoons milk 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions

Cream sugar, butter and vanilla. Add a small amount of milk (1 to 2 tablespoons). Add cocoa if desired and beat until fluffy. If frosting is too sweet add a little more milk.

Cafe Rio Copy Cat Cilantro Lime Dressing

This is SO good! Great on salads, tacos, to dip veggies in....so many ways to use it.

1 packet of Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Dressing mix
1 c. Mayo
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 tomatillo
1 jalapeno (with ribs and seeds removed if you don’t like the heat!)
3 cloves of garlic
1 lime (juiced)
Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients in your blender.
• Make it ahead of time to give the ingredients a chance to marry.

Italian Lemon Butter Shrimp

Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle one pack of dried Italian seasoning. Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min.

Barbecue Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

(also could add some salt & pepper, maybe some onions!)

Directions

1. Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken.
2. Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

Banana-Oatmeal Bread

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup packed brown sugar 7 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 large egg whites 1 large egg 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana 1 cup regular oats 1/2 cup fat-free milk

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.	Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; beat well at medium speed of a mixer. Combine banana, oats, and milk; add to sugar mixture, beating well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir with a whisk. Add to sugar mixture; beat just until moist. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.
3.	Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

1/2 C butter, melted
2 C graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)
1 8 oz. bag toffee bits
1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 12oz. bag chocolate chips
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 T butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease 13x9 baking dish and heat oven to 350.

Have the roll of cookie dough sitting out for around 10 minutes to soften up.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of toffee bits. Pour mixture into the greased pan and press evenly until mixture covers bottom of pan. Refrigerate for around 15 minutes.

In a 2 qt saucepan, heat the milk, chocolate chips and the tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Spread the mixture over the graham cracker crumb mixture.

In another medium mixing bowl, break up the cookie dough and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs until blended. Crumble the mixture evenly over the chocolate layer and the sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup toffee bits on top.

Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until it's golden brown. Cool completely before cutting, probably around 2 or more hours.

Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken

4 chicken breasts cut in thirds (12 pieces)

Bacon slices

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

chili powder

brown sugar

 

Cut each breast into 3 pieces, season all the chicken with the spices, then wrap a bacon slice around each piece, roll in brown sugar and place into an oven proof dish....make sure you have some olive oil in the dish too, like 2 or 3 tablespoons is fine {I skipped this since I grilled them.  I honestly think you could coat your dish with nonstick cooking spray instead to save a few calories}.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and bacon is nice and brown and crispy.  Delicious served with mashed potatoes with some of the gravy from the chicken drizzled on top.