Tres Leches Cake

Here is another recipe from my Food Network magazine! This cake looked so fancy I wanted to try it! Plus you can make it ahead which is awesome! I had a piece for breakfast - it was great! Even though there is a very small amount of rum, since it's uncooked in the recipe and I'm pregnant, I substituted vanilla extract. I also read that rum extract would work to keep the flavor without the alcohol content, but I didn't want to buy that for one recipe. It was delicious with the vanilla, but I can tell you rum would really be something special in this one! Mixed with the milk that bit of flavor just really popped, and the moisture in the cake was great! It was kind of fun making a cake from scratch (I NEVER bake from scratch!) and even though I may have overcooked it a tad (The Rachel Zoe project was on TV - can you blame me?) the milk still make for a perfectly moist cake! I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients
vegetable oil, for greasing
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups whole milk, divided
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounce can evaporated milk
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon dark rum
whipped cream
ground cinnamon
mangos or strawberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan with vegetable oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until pale and slightly thick, about 6 minutes. Slowly beat in the melted butter, then beat in the vanilla and 1/4 cup whole milk.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Sift the flour mixture over the egg mixture, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula to make a thick batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Run a knife along the edges to release the cake from the pan and flip onto a dish with sides.

Whisk the remaining 2 cups whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and rum in a bowl. Pierce the warm cake all over with a fork, then pour the milk mixture evenly over the cake. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

To serve, cut a piece and top with whipped cream. Cover the cake and plate with sprinkled ground cinnamon. Add fruit on the side.

Orange Julius

Don't you just love copy cat recipes that actually taste like the thing they're copying? Well I've got a good one for you friends, from my Food Network magazine. This tasted just like the Orange Julius at the mall, and boy was it a refreshing treat on a hot summers day! I hope you like it!!



Ingredients
1 6 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup ice

Directions
Mix the orange juice concentrate with 1 cup water in a large measuring cup or bowl (or use 2 cups orange juice instead).

Transfer the orange juice to a blender. Add the milk, vanilla, both sugars, and ice and blend until smooth and frothy. Divide among 4 chilled glasses.

French Toast Casserole

I really loved when my mom made this casserole (or is it a hot dish?) so of course I got the recipe! It's nice because you make the majority of it ahead. It's also very simple and delicious! I had some bread from Ali and Jon that was perfect to make this - an all the other ingredients were on hand! Don't you just LOVE that?



Ingredients
1 loaf french bread cut in 1 inch cubes
8 eggs
3 cups milk
4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. salt

Topping
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions
Grease a 9x13 pan, place bread on bottom.

In mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt. Pour over bread, cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter and drizzle over top.

Mix cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over casserole.

Bake 45 to 50 min. or until done. Serve with syrup.

Honey Chicken Wings

I got this recipe out of a cookbook from Sam's Aunt Pearl... I think I'm going to be sharing a lot of recipes out of that one! This was such a yummy marinade for the chicken! We used drumsticks since they were cheaper than the wings, and we definitely didn't use three pounds! However I did still make the full recipe, and next time I would cut it in half for sure. Oh well, lesson learned.

You can tell from the picture the sauce carmelizes until it is thick and delicious. It is sweet and savory at the same time; a perfect combo. We both really enjoyed this and I will be making it again. It couldn't be easier!!



Ingredients
3 pounds chicken wings
1 cup honey
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
pepper

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place wings in a 9X13 pan. Mix together remaining ingredients. Pour mixture over wings. Bake 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Turn occasionally.

Rhubarb Crisp

Here's a delicious rhubarb crisp recipe courtesy of my mom. I was CRAVING rhubarb crisp and got some rhubarb at the farmers market and mom supplied this recipe! I was taking it to a friends' house at night and ran out of time for cooking, and mom had said that even 45 minutes is sometimes not sufficient to thicken the rhubarb mixture. So after mixing the rhubarb mixture I simmered it over medium heat until it was the thickness I wanted, then I put it in the pan, topped with the crumble mixture and baked it until it was bubbling and browned on top. Either way - YUM!!!

Ingredients
Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter melted
Filling
4 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup water

Combine flour, oats and sugar. Mix well. Stir in melted butter to make crumbs. Set aside. Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour, cinnamon and water, mix well. Pour rhubarb mixture into greased 9 x 9 pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake in a 325 oven for 45 min. until it is bubbly in the center. (You can substitute strawberries for 1/2 rhubarb.)

Ranchero Macaroni Bake

This was a suprisingly yummy mac and cheese recipe. I was intrigued by the salsa in it... I thought it would either be really good or really gross. Turns out it was yummy! Tomato is a natural pairing with pasta and cheese, and the bit of spicy in there was actually pretty amazing! Sam enjoyed it as well. I got it from campbellskitchen.com. I did change the topping from tortilla chips to potato chips because that is my favorite topping for casseroles. Hope you like it!

Ingredients
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 cup salsa
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
3 cups elbow pasta, cooked and drained
1 cup coarsely crushed potato chips
few pats butter

Directions
Stir the soup, milk, picante sauce, cheese and pasta in a 3-quart shallow baking dish.Sprinkle with the potato chips and top with butter.

Bake at 400°F. for 20 minutes or until the pasta mixture is hot and bubbling and chips are golden brown.

Funfetti Bars

Oh food blog, I haven't forgotten you. I'm just using all my energy baking another human being instead of pastries! But you know what, if my friend Angie can start back on two blogs, I can handle one! So here it goes - here are some recent recipes that are really good (in my opinion!) I'll post some the next few days - promise!

Our friend Amy made these yummy bars one night and I literally ate half the pan. First of all, who doesn't LOVE funfetti cake mix? And then some cream cheese frosting to top it off? Delish! I really enjoyed these in bar form versus cake - they were just so dense and yummy! Sure this is not a difficult recipe but it's easy and delicious and everyone seems to like them!



Ingredients
1 box of funfetti cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick of butter, softened in microwave
can of cream cheese frosting

Directions
Mix eggs and butter with cake mix and put in 9 X 13 glass pan. Will seem too thick but just press down evenly - it will rise.
Bake for 375 degrees for around 16 minutes or until brown. Frost when cooled.