Sausage Hashbrown Casserole

I made this last night for dinner and it was SO good!  I think it's going to become a regular around here...especially in the winter time.  It's a good comfort food!  I didn't take pictures throughout the process, but it's a pretty easy one.

Here is the recipe

Pumpkin Butter is Tasty!

I just finished up my Pumpkin Butter and I just have to get it in containers now, but I wanted to go ahead and post the recipe really quick.  My whole house smells yummy right now!

Banana Crumb Muffins

On Monday my Mother in Law dropped some of these off for us and they are so yummy.  Even the kids all liked them and usually Colton is the only one who will eat Banana Muffins.  I had to get the recipe from her so I could make more since the kids are out of school tomorrow and I wanted to make something tasty for them to eat when they get up at the crack of dawn (or before that, usually)!  I don't know where the recipe came from originally, but I know she gets a lot of recipes from All Recipes.com so it may be from there.

Don't they look tasty?!  You know you want to go and make some of these right now!

Chicken Burritos...

I have another recipe to post!  This one is mine really, but you really just put the stuff you like together and it will be great no matter what!


I have been wanting to do this for a long time and when I sat down last night to make out my grocery list I was trying to think of some different things for Jake to take for his lunch and he suggested burritos.  Instead of buying already frozen ones, the cheapo Patio ones, I decided to make them myself!  I made up all the tortillas that I had, but you can just adjust your ingredients for however many you want to make.  This is what I ended up with, minus the 2 he took for his dinner tonight!

 
 Ingredients

• Burrito Size Tortillas
• 3-4 chicken breasts
• re-fried beans (I used a big can)
• salsa
• Rice (I made one of those Lipton packets of Mexican Rice)
• shredded cheese
• wax paper

Directions

1. You need to cook your chicken.  I started with 3 frozen chicken breasts in a sauce pan, covered them with water, added about 1/2 cup of salsa, covered it and brought it to a boil over high heat.  Once it is boiling I turned it down and let it simmer until the chicken was cooked through.  Once its cooled enough just shred it up and it's ready to use.
2. Your tortillas will be easier to work with once the are warmed up.  I just open the package they are in and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds and that's enough to soften them up so they are easy to roll up.
3. Heat up your beans as well, about 3 minutes in the microwave will do.
4. Place your tortilla on a piece of was paper big enough to roll it up in and layer on your ingredients however you like. 
5. Fold the ends of the tortilla in over your filling and then pull the bottom up over the ingredients and roll it up nice and tight.
6. Roll it in your wax paper and fold the ends under when it's all rolled up.

Once you have them all made you can put them in a big freezer bag and freeze them.  Take them out and heat them in the microwave when you are read to eat them.  You can cook them right in the wax paper.  You will want to experiment to see how long they need to cook in your microwave.

Easy and Creamy Iced Coffee...

I love coffee, sweet creamy coffee, but in the summer when it's so hot I love a good iced coffee or mocha.  I was using a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman last summer, but I came across this one when someone pinned it on Pinterest.  SO many good things on Pinterest!

This one uses less ingredients and since you make everything ahead of time it's super easy to mix up when you want one.  Also, since everything is pre-mixed you can make as little or as much as you want.

Here is what you need:

• a bag or can of your favorite coffee grounds (I used a bag), the darker the roast the better
• a gallon of water, I used a gallon of drinking water
• a big container to "brew" the coffee in, I just used a gallon pitcher, but bigger would have been better
• a can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
• a can of Evaporated Milk
• wire mesh strainer and cheesecloth

What you need to do:

1. Take your coffee grounds and dump them into whatever container you are using and pour the water over them.  Stir it so that all the grounds are mixed into the water.  Cover and let sit overnight.  I just left it out, but you can put in the fridge as well.
2. Mix together you 2 cans of milk and store in the fridge.  I put mine in a bottle that I can shake before I add it to the coffee.  I also used the fat free of each mixed in with a can of each of the regular to make a double batch and it tastes just as good!
3. In the morning or 12-14 hours later, take your strained and line it with a couple layers of cheese cloth and strain your coffee to remove all the grounds.  This can be a little time consuming since there are so many grounds.  I have a very fine mesh skimmer ladle thing that I used to get most of the grounds out before hand and that helped a lot.
4. Pour your brewed coffee into an airtight container and it will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks, but I am betting it won't last that long!  I just used the bottle that my water was in.  Since I used a gallon jug to brew my coffee I didn't have enough room for the whole gallon of water, so when I got done putting my strained coffee back into the jug it wasn't a full gallon.  I just added cold water to finish filling the gallon.
5. Now you can mix your iced coffee!
6. Fill your glass with ice, use as little or as much as you like, but since the coffee is so strong it doesn't really ever water down. 
7. Fill your glass a little more than 1/2 full of the coffee (I do about 3/4 though).
8. Finish filling it with the cream mixture and stir to mix.
9. Enjoy!   You can also add a squirt of chocolate syrup to make it mocha!

Lemon Bread is SO yummy!

I made this Lemon Bread on Saturday afternoon and it was so good so I thought I would start of my recipe section with this one!

So here is the recipe which I originally same across on Pinterest, but I got the recipe here.

For the Lemon Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups sugar

8 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup grated lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Lemon Syrup

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

For the Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar

4-6 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Making the Lemon Cakes (Recipe yields two 9"x5" loaves)

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Spray sides and bottom of pans with non-stick cooking spray.  Line bottom of pans with parchment paper and spray the paper as well.

Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.

Blend the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until combined.  Slowly add the melted butter, while mixing.  Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until just combined.  Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, one third at a time, until all the flour is combined.  Do not overmix.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.  Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, reduce the oven temperature to 325*F and bake another 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the Lemon Syrup

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and invert the baked and (mostly) cooled loaves onto the pan.  Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves.

Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the lemon syrup.  Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again.  Let the cakes cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

(The soaked, but unglazed loaves will keep well, wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and frozen, for up to 6 weeks.)

Make the Lemon Glaze

In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and 4 tablespoons of lemon juice.  The mixture should be thick but pourable.  If the mixture is too stiff, add up to another 2 tablespoons lemon juice (a little at a time) and whisk again.  Pour the glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides.  Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

The glazed loaves will keep for up to 3 days, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

 

Now, this recipe uses A LOT of butter and A LOT of eggs and I won't even mention the sugar!  I did find another recipe is almost the same but uses half the butter and eggs, so I am going to try that one next.  This bread is very moist though and it is so lemony and good.  Parts of it did taste a little eggy to me, but I am weird about the egg taste sometimes so that could just be me!

I am definitely going to be making some version of this bread in small loaf pans to give away this Christmas.  This online shop has the CUTEST little bake in, give away pans and wrapping, so I will probably be doing some online shopping first!