Dump Cake! Hey, now... don't judge.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and I can't believe I didn't make something deliciously Irish to at least commemorate it in some fashion.  I'm pretty sure that chili and Dump Cake don't qualify as Irish fare.  Shame on me!

Speaking of Dump Cake, until recently, I had never heard of it.  And recently, on Pinterest, I found a picture and, ultimately, a recipe for it.  I had everything I needed to make it without going to the store, so that's exactly what I did.  And, boy, was I completely surprised at how absolutely delicious it is!!!  Wow, is it good!

So, the original recipe for this Dump Cake can be found at 12tomatoes.com. 

The site didn't specify pan size, so I opted to make mine in two 8" round cake pans which worked just dandily. 

Ok.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  I'm gonna go take another one right this minute!!!!
Maybe this one will be a more enticing shot.  Here, have a bite!  (And, yes, I ate it after I took the picture!)

Did I already say how easy this is?  Very few ingredients and easy, easy!  I would even venture to say that this is a very kid-helper friendly recipe. 

Here's what you need:

1 can (large one) of crushed pineapple (I drained mine, but by scooping it out of the can with a slotted spoon - so the pineapple wasn't bone dry, it was still a little wet)
1 can cherry pie filling
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 stick of butter, cut into slices

Place the pineapple in the bottom of the pan.

Spoon the cherry pie filling on top of the pineapple.  Don't mix it with the pineapple - just create layers.

Place the yellow cake mix into a bowl and add the 1/2 stick of melted butter.   Oh, shoot.  This reminds me that this step resulted in a butter explosion in my microwave that I still need to clean up.  And when I say explosion, I mean butter ALL over the inside of the microwave.  It was impressive, in a way...

Anyway, focus, focus!  Combine the cake mix and the melted butter until the cake mix is crumbly. 

Sprinkle this evenly over the cherry pie filling.  Again, don't mix it in - just create a layer. 

Slice up a stick of butter (yes, an entire stick) and place the pats evenly distributed on top of the cake mixture. 

That picture makes the butter look HUGE!  Goodness gracious. 
Moving on...

Then sprinkle, if you'd like, with chopped nuts on top.  I love pecans, so that's what I used.  Then bake for about 30 minutes, or until set, at 350 degrees. 

Let it cool for about an hour, and then dig in, topping off with ice cream, or not.  I don't have any ice cream, and still, this cake is so delightful! 

A special message for my Padre:
So, Dad, if you managed to read all the way down to this, you should definitely print this one for Mom to make!  It's like a combination of cherry pie and cherry cobbler with a little pucker up from the pineapple.  And you really do want to add the chopped pecans on top.  You'll like it even more that way. 

I hope you all have a safe and wonder St. Patrick's Day!  And I hope you give this fabulous little cake a try!

Enjoy!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child

Oh, Lemony Lemonade Luciousness, How I Love Thee

What a week this has been!  A little odd in some ways, as a couple of co-workers and friends helped maintain my own disillusions of it being Friday when it was only Thursday.  We were all confused at some point during the day on Wednesday and Thursday as to what day it really was so that we were all quite disappointed on Thursday to learn that we still had one more day to come into the office before the reprieve of the weekend.  Silly bunnies (as a friend of mine would say). 

Today it is Saturday.  En fin!!! 

I must also share that I had a lovely birthday lunch on Friday with two special people that I work with.  We went to The Breakside Brewery in Portland specifically to have the amazing Breakside Burger with waffle fries.  This is one of the juiciest burgers on the face of the planet with a little surprise nugget of soft, melted, velvety blue cheese in the center and topped with mushrooms and caramelized onions.  Seriously.  When they ask your order, just say, "Breakside Burger, extra napkins."  Seriously.  I think my stomach just growled. 

It's safe to say that I've been experiencing a new addiction to Pinterest.  It is so much fun!  For those of you who have yet to explore the Pinterest play pen, it's basically people sharing their own web searches and items of interest by sharing (or "pinning") pictures from websites on virtual billboards.  One of the recent pins that caught my eye was a Lemonade Layer Cake.  The original recipe from allrecipes.com that I used can be seen by clicking here. 

This cake, despite it's multiple layers and frosting, makes up surprisingly quickly.  It cooks in just 20-30 minutes and cools fairly fast.  In the original recipe, it says to chill the frosting for an hour, but I opted to skip that part and, instead, just popped the whole cake in the fridge for about 30 minutes after frosting it to let it set up and it came out just dandy!

Here is a picture of the final product, which was deliciously lemony and sweet.  The ample lemon zest (I have several quite naked lemons in my kitchen right now!) gives a nice texture to the dense and moist cake.  Seriously, my mouth is watering as I try to think of worthy words to describe it!  ~slurp~

The original recipe is a 9" double layer cake, but I only had 8" pans, so I made 3 layers to avoid over-filling my pans. 

After they cooled completely, I started stacking the layers and applying a thin layer of frosting between each.  I think the frosting is delicious!!!  I was afraid I hadn't made quite enough frosting, so I was being a little chintzy with it between the layers (next time, I will exercise no constraint!!!).  I had a little bit leftover and I desperately looked for something to slather it on - a cookie, a pancake, a flip flop... something! 

After I frosted the whole cake, top and sides, I put a little additional zest on top just for a delicate and pretty appearance. 

This will be a great cake to make for a summer picnic or potluck.  It's very fresh and the cake is quite pretty, even with my less than professional frosting skills. 

Enjoy!!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child

Red Sauce Success, but a Food Challenge Failure!

For starters, I have been off-line for way too long and am so glad to be back, sitting her typing a new entry!  I spent a little time last week in Phoenix for work, so blogging just had to go on hold for a bit.  Let me just say, coming from the Portland, Oregon area, Phoenix was a nice change!  I'm one that loves the rain and the gray days (I know, call me crazy!), but the 65 degree sunny days were pretty darn nice!! 

While there, I enjoyed some fabulous food moments!  One evening, I dined on some very, very delicious butternut squash ravioli.  I love all things butternut, and I was not disappointed.  Additionally, for the first time ever, I went to a Greek restaurant.  I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to find something that I would like.  Oh, silly me!  I ate the Pastitsio, which is a ground lamb and ground beef mixture with a bechamel sauce over pasta.  I thought it was very tasty!! 

So, upon my return home, one task I had at hand was related to a challenge I had signed up to participate in with other bloggers.  My assignment was to find a red sauce recipe (i.e. for spaghetti) on another blogger's site and make it, then highlight that blogger in my own blog.

Kids, an important thing to keep in mind here:  Always carefully read the rules and pay attention to what you are being asked to do! 

In my mind, I had to just come up with a recipe and blog about it, so I made my own sauce using my own recipe and didn't bother with following the rules of what I was supposed to do.  It's unfortunate because doing this disqualified me from the challenge, and on top of it all, I really wasn't in the mood for spaghetti tonight. 

Oh well.  Sometimes ya just gotta roll with it.  Right?  Right.

So, this is what the final product looked like when I combined my leftover sauce with the pasta before storing away the leftovers.  My red sauce with meatballs, and I think it tasted pretty darn good! 

So, here's what I did to get this divine dish!

First, I made the meatballs.  I combined 1 pound of ground beef with 1 pound of ground pork (not sausage - just plain ol' ground pork) with about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs and 1 egg, then salt and pepper. 

Combined it with my clean hands.  I then used a cookie scooper to form meatballs.  This made about 30 meatballs that were a little smaller than golfball-sized. 

I then took my trusty dutch oven and heated a drizzle of olive oil in the bottom on medium-high heat and put 1/2 of the meatballs into the hot oil. 

Browned 'em on both sides.

You don't have to cook them completely through, because they'll finish cooking in the sauce.  Just get a nice browning on them.  Remove the first batch from the pan and then put the remaining meatballs in the pan to brown them in the same way.  Once the second batch is browned, remove them, placing them with your other meatballs for now.

While the meatballs were browning, I diced up 1 small onion very finely and about 4 small bell peppers of varying colors.  I love these little things.  They're pretty and they have a lovely mild, sweet taste!

I reduced the heat slightly, down to about medium, and added the finely diced veggies to the drippings and sauteed them until soft. 

For this batch, I also added a pint of coarsely chopped mini-portabella mushrooms, but I'd say that this piece is purely optional.  I just love mushrooms, so they were definitely destined to be in my sauce!

Once the veggies were adequately cooked, I added 1-29 oz can of tomato sauce, 1-12 oz can of tomato paste, 1/2 - 3/4 cup of chicken broth, 1 1/2 tsp of dried Italian seasoning, 1 Tbsp sugar and a couple of splashes of Worcestershire Sauce.  Oh, and salt and pepper to taste.  I always forget that whole salt and pepper part, but it's actually quite important!

 I let this cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat.  I then reduced the heat to medium-low and then added the meatballs back into the sauce being careful not to break them apart. 

Stir gently to coat the meatballs, cover with a lid and let simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring (gently, gently!) occasionally. 

When completed, make spaghetti noodles to use as a lovely delivery system for this delicious sauce and meatballs!

And there you have my disqualified cooking challenge recipe!!  Yay me. 

Next blog...  a new lemon cake recipe!  I can't wait to try it and share it, so definitely stay tuned!! 

Thanks, again, for your support and for taking the time to read my blog! 

Enjoy!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child

Heirloom Recipe Contest and Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

I am not an early bird, but would tend in a world that was all about me, to be a night owl instead.  But since things are what they are, I often look forward to the weekends largely so I can sleep late in the mornings.  That is one of my favorite, favorite things!  And the good news is that all of my furry critters are happy to oblige me and sleep in with me as late as I want, which is usually 9:00 or 9:30...or so. 

This morning, I was awake at 5:30. 

Wide awake.

Feeling completely rested.

Hmphf.

At about 6:00, I gave up, crawled out of bed and made coffee.  And I started baking. 

I'm in muffin mode.  Don't try to stop me, you'll only get hurt.  Ok, maybe not - I'm not really that tough.  But, still, I'm just enjoying the muffin making process and how nicely they're turning out.  With full intentions of taking a car load of sweet goodness to Portland's Ronald McDonald House (which Bender and I did this afternoon!), I made two batches of Cinnamon Apple Muffins, and this time, I made them in my jumbo muffin tin (so I got six very large, beautiful muffins out of each batch) and I made two batches of  Blueberry Muffins also in the jumbo muffin tin, but instead of using only blueberries, I used blueberries and chopped up strawberries both.

This isn't the best picture ever, but it's the only one I took.  Dang it.

  
In addition to this, I also made two Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies.  The original recipe came from www.ourbestbites.com.  I can vouch that these taste gooood.  I can also vouch that it's pretty important to let it mostly cool before you cut it because otherwise you end up with a delicious gooey messy slice of pie.  The good news is that messy looking slices still taste fabulous!

Yes, the slice you see is topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce.  Yes, it's a bit sinful.  What can I say? 

I have one other thing to chat with you about this time.  There is a contest going on at the Just A Pinch website, and if you are interested in participating, I'm going to provide you with some information below. 

The Just A Pinch
Heirloom Recipe Contest Information

Just A Pinch is hosting an Heirloom Recipe Contest, and you can learn more about it and enter the contest by clicking here.  The hope is that participants will share family recipes and related stories.  The winner of the contest will get an all expense paid trip to Nashville to participate in the next Blue Ribbon Showcase, tickets to the Grand Ole Opry and a $1,000 Cook's Dream shopping spree at the Viking Store!

The contest has already started, but don't worry!  You still have plenty of time to enter, as it doesn't end until May 15th.

One other thing along this line.  I have something to give away, too, so keep reading!  You could win access to the interactive digital compilation of all the Blue Ribbon recipes from 2011 from the Just A Pinch site. With the download code, you will have easy access to the hundreds of recipes that were given a blue ribbon last year. To be eligible for this nice prize, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog indicating the name of your personal favorite family recipe.  That's it; it's that simple.  Keep in mind, though, that if you post a comment as "Anonymous" I won't be able to notify you if you win, so anonymous comments won't be considered.


I think that's it for now!  I hope you'll consider entering the Heirloom Recipe Contest, and I hope you'll also consider entering my fun giveaway, too. 

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!!

Enjoy!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child

Doggie's A-Dashin'

Every year since Bender was born, he and I have participated in the Oregon Humane Society's Doggie Dash fundraising event.  It's always a lot of fun to see all the tons of different dogs and their people roaming about and participating in all of the different events that are available.  One year, Bender met a very cute Miniature American Eskimo female and he flat out refused to leave her.  When I tugged on his leash, he parked his rump right down and did what I call "the donkey" and refused to budge. 

The first year that we did it, Bender was going through a stubborn teenager phase where, in the middle of going on a walk, he'd just stop and park it and not go any further.  Done. That particular year I had to carry him for part of the distance of the dash.  He wasn't full grown then, but he still got quite heavy after a bit of time.  People that were walking with me thought it was funny and cute.  Hmphf. 

Since then, though, Bender has matured a little and is better behaved.  He's becoming an old pro at being a dasher and raising money for less fortunate animals.  We are a household that LOVES critters (I would be dangerous if I lived someplace with more space, like a farm... seriously!), so this is a fundraising event that I do every year without miss. 

If you would be interested in learning more about it or in donating to Bender and my team, you can do so by clicking here. 

Some pictures from previous events for your viewing pleasure.

First, I didn't realize I had a picture.  This is the cute little girl he met that I was talking about in the first paragraph above, and you can see he's already rebelling to my suggestion that we move on.  This was pre-donkey stance. (2009)

Lots of people and dogs!  This is the registration tent.  (2009)

Bender wanting me to pick him up and carry him.  Heaven help me... (2009)

In 2010, we participated in the No Bonz Team, the team made up of people from Bender's "school", all in red and representin'!

In 2011, we were on the No Bonz Team again, and bender is wearing his No Bonz bandana.  This is us on the drive into Portland - Bender's got his game face on!

So, hopefully the pictures haven't been too much, but it's a fun event that goes to a great cause.  Feel free to ask me questions, visit my Doggie Dash site, or the site of the Oregon Humane Society. 

Thanks in advance for reading this special blog and for any donation, small or large, that you might be able to make towards our efforts.

Valentines Day March of Dimes Muffin Mania

I'm driving my little dog crazy tonight.  He goes crazy for the smell of cinnamon, and it's definitely in the air at the homestead right now!

I'm making three different muffins tonight.  Yeah, I know what you're thinking... tomorrow is Valentine's Day and instead of sexy chocolate recipes and goodies, I'm making very un-romantic muffins.  I just don't have a good solid answer for that other than muffins do give off a warm and cozy feel, right?  They're kinda a little bit cuddly, I think. 

ANYWAY... the real point is that at work tomorrow, several folks are bringing in baked goods and we're having a bake sale to raise money for the March of Dimes.  I work with great people who have amazing ideas and do wonderful things.  They make me proud! 

First, I made a beautiful, cinnamony, fabulous batch of Cinnamon Apple Muffins  in the large muffin pan - so it made a total of 6.  These muffins are the kind that, to me, never really sound as tempting as blueberry or several other flavors, but when I make them and eat them, I can't remember why they didn't sound good to start with.  They are SO good.  Super moist and just down right good. 

It has finely diced apple bits (skin and all!) which adds moisture and texture.  And makes my mouth water.

I also made Jumbo Blueberry Muffins that always turn out perfectly!  Here's a picture from last time I made them - I didn't take any new pictures tonight because I'm a little busy (or is it lazy?).  The only thing I did different this time was add about a teaspoon of lemon extract to the batter for a little extra somethin'. 

I think upside down muffins are so pretty!  See...  here's some more.

The ones above are Cranberry Orange Muffins.  I don't have a link to the recipe anywhere like I do for the ones above, but here's the quick recipe for them:

Cream together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 cup sugar.  Add two eggs and vanilla and mix well. 
Add zest of 1 orange and about 2 Tbsp of orange juice.
In bowl, combine 2 tsp baking powder and 2 cups flour.
Alternate adding 1/2 cup of milk and the flour mixture into the sugar mix ending with the flour mix. 
Stir in 2 1/2 cups cranberries, thawed and drained. 

Bake in 375 degree oven in greased muffin tins (or use paper lines) for about 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the size of the muffin tins you use) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  

Easy. Easy. Easy.

So here's a little tidbit tip that I learned tonight.  I used frozen cranberries.  Taste fine (just sampled a muffin and it was tart and tasty!), but I didn't defrost the cranberries and it caused the batter to get thick, the muffins had to cook longer because the batter was so cold and they didn't end up with big puffy tops like they usually do.  The tops puffed, but just not as big and pretty as usual.  So it's important to thaw and drain the berries.  Now I know.

Also, the orange flavor was very mild, so next time I might would add just a teaspoon of orange extract.  If I was in the mood to do so, that is.

Welp.  Early meetings in the morning, so gonna wrap up the muffins and hit the hay! 

I hope you have a fabulous Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Enjoy!

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child

A Special Birthday Peanut Butter Chip Brownie Recipe

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

A special day, for sure!  And to kick off such an event, I tried a new twist on brownies by adding peanut butter chips in them.  My personal opinion is that chocolate is divine, but if you throw peanut butter in the mix... well, it's just hard to beat.  And add a cold glass of milk to the mix, and that'll get you a big ol' "Holy Snap!"  Who needs birthday cake when you have a good ol' brownie?? 

The simple scratch recipe goes like this:

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 bag of peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine the butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and eggs, incorporating well.  Add flour, cocoa and powder, mixing well.  Stir in chips.  Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish and bake 30 - 35 minutes or until toothpick entered into center comes out clean. 

The bad news is that I didn't take prep pictures! So that means you'll have to use your imagination this time!

So, here's to you, Mom!  I hope Dad holds up his part of the birthday celebration by taking you out to dinner to use your gift certificate! 

Enjoy! 

"With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible."- Julia Child