Fastest dessert ever made

Need something quick for dessert? Do you have a cake mix and a can of fruit or pie filling in your pantry? Then you are going to be ok just follow these easy instructions.


 Use your brain ... most cake mixes will go with canned fruit... like strawberry cake and pears OR chocolate and fruit cocktail OR white cake and pineapple. If the combos sound like something you would enjoy then they should turn out ok ... if they sound like something you would not like then do not combine them.
Now when you mix your cake you might try including the fluid or juice from the can into your water amount the mix calls for. Also remember that you can use applesauce in place of oil to help make it have fewer calories. NOTE You will not be able to use the liquid from pie filling as part of your water the mix calls for due to it being a filling consistency.
Once your cake mix is made pour it into a cooking sprayed 13x9 dish.
Using a spoon drop the fruit evenly into the batter.
Bake according to cake mix directions

TADA a yummy dessert that did not take a lot of prep. PLUS you don't have to frost it! If you really want you can dust with powdered sugar but the fruit will add a sweetness on its own.

Oh also serving it warm is another treat or with a scoop of ice cream... wait that adds calories. Oh well just this once ... I won't tell.

 

My picture is of a spice cake with apple pie filly.

I think I am in love with our weatherman

Seriously what are the sexiest words I have been dieing to hear for a long time now?? Oh I know you know for I am betting , if I had any extra cash to bet that is, that you have all been waiting to hear them too. " summer heat looks to be a behind us." I swear on a cupcake if I could have crawled through my tv I would have placed a passionate kiss square on the lips of David Payne. Just the idea of not hitting 100 degrees has me all tingly inside. Ok well maybe the thought of not paying for the bought cold air has me tingly but either way it has me singing HaLaJaLuYa!!! So now you know why I think I am in love with our weatherman...or at least his good news.

So my freaky darlings what did you do this weekend? I cooked , finished two sets of wristers, made some progress on my Spin Me Right Round lapghan and had a small mental meltdown. I was due for one I guess.Yes my darlings it was over something not worthy. Just the stress of summer finally overflowed and came out in the form of anger and a fit. In other words the end result was me acting like a small child for a short while. I know you can relate. Sometimes we adult/mothers/parents just pack away stress and frustration a little too much and forget to release the pressure valve till Opps explosion.I am much better.... today. LOL! You think that maybe if I had gotten that kiss I would have been WAY better? * wicked evil grin *

So anywho here I sit. Posted three new dinner idea blogs so far and decided to write my update while I hear snoring from the bed. i also wanted to share my fail from this weekend. Besides my meltdown fail. * sticks tongue out *   Soooooo

As most of you know we are the biggest no bake cookie fans.... and we are tight on budget still * thank you summer * and if there is not something in house that cures sweet teeth all heck breaks loose. Well I had everything in house to make these awesome little oat filled noms and was excited to not have to buy a sweet this week. So Saturday afternoon Dragon and I make up a double batch like we always do BUT something is not right. It is gooey. Like way gooey. Like what the heck am I to do to fix this gooey. So we read the receipt three times each, like it is an exam paper we have to make an "A" on.Hmmm no we did this...ya we put all that in there....ya we boiled it for so long. What in the world!!! UGH! Ok so get the jelly roll pans out and let's see if this works. We can just make em into bars. Fast Forward to today.... ohhh they are awesome when you scoop some up with a spoon but oh heck no did they set up. AHHH! So I decide to go with my dream... yes I come up with my best stuff when I am asleep.... COCONUT!! Dragon removes the gooey oats from one pan with a spatula and puts it into a bowl and I stir in the flakes. It worked some what....ohhh shoot I forgot to tell you that I am out of oats. HAHA that would help you understand the story more huh. Opps! So I spoon the now Mound-ish no bake cookies onto more wax paper to be placed into the fridge again. Yes of course I tried one..pshhh like I would have let my dream go untasted. They are good like the candy bar. *grin* So now I look to Dragon who is protecting the other pan of gooey oat mess with his life. "Hun ... what are you going to do... eat it like a dip?" He looks at me and answers ..."If I have to yes but you aren't ruining them with that coconut." He hates flaked coconut... only fresh for him.  A light bulb goes off in my head just then and I turn to my youngest who has been watching this whole time.... In an excited tone I say, " Harli go see if Nana has some instant oatmeal in her lunch bag from school". I now have my fingers crossed. Harli returns with TWO original oatmeal packets. NANA to the rescue!!! I add them to the gooey mixture that dragon has repeated the spatula process on and I spoon cookies onto wax paper again. After the containers are placed in the fridge I sit back in my kitchen chair and sigh ...looking over towards the bakers rack where the kool aid containers sit....OH EM GEE!! What do I freaken see?? A brand freaken new container of OATS!! Well I guess we have some for next time now. UGH!  Oh and I still have no idea why they refused to set up all the way. *shrugs*  Or who put the Oat container with the kool aid containers. The cookies are still soft set and the fam don't care one bit that they are tasty little soft piles of oaty gooey cookie. LOL!


 
Well my freaky darlings I better get my rump to bed. I have class and more crocheting to do for the Bazaar. Happy Monday to you all!

Roast beef Yum

I know you all have seen the Hawaiian roll ham sliders by now. If not do a search for them and try them they are OH SO GOOD. Anywho Dragon and I wanted to use a different kind of meat and well it is kinda different all around. The only thing it has in common is it is made with meat , cheese and is slider style. From our test cook we learned that we needed to down size the amount of au ju and add a lot more onions but other then that they were yummy. Plus who does not love a meal that is ready to go the next day?? So my freaky darlings I give you.....


Dinner Roll Roast Beef Yum 

Ingredients-

24 premade dinner rolls
1 lb roast beef slice thin
12 slices Swiss cheese
2 onions sliced into rings
2 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup beef broth or au ju


Instructions-

In a saute pan melt 1/2 stick butter. Add onions and cook till caramelized.Set aside
Melt 2 sticks of butter into 1 cup of beef broth heat to bubbly. Set aside 
Cut rolls in half horizontally and place bottom half of rolls ( a dozen per dish) into a 13x9 dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Layer the sliced roast beef and sliced cheese evenly on top of rolls
Spread onions evenly between the two dishes
Place the top halves of the rolls into the dish, making a sandwich.
Ladle the butter beef broth sauce evenly on top of the rolls.
Cover dishes with foil or plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge over night.
The next day place dishes into a preheated 350 degree oven and let cook for 25 min.


serves 8 ( 3 sliders each )

Serve with ideas:  potato or three bean salad or baked fries  YUM!

 

 

 

 

Mixed Berries French Toast bake

Harli picked this meal this week. Right before I started prepping it she asked if I had ever shared it on my blog. So I learned she likes cooking for the blog. I totally will take that as long as she keeps being my beautiful assistant.
 
This is awesome and is prepped the night before. Perfect for pot luck brunches, holiday mornings and of course DINNER! We loves us some breakfast for dinner. How about you?
 
Some side notes to keep in mind. i have been buying most my spices from the dollar store and this past month found that our store has a fridge section that is freshly stocked on a reg basis. guess what we found there... the mixed fruit! AND it was just as good as the mixed fruit at the grocery store except for one thing..... it cost me a buck a bag not almost four per bag. * happy budget dance time* So check your local dollar store and see what they carry to see if you too can stretch your budget even further.

 

Mixed Berries French Toast Bake

 

 

Ingredients-

 

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 eggs
• 2 loaves of french bread cut into 1" cubes
• 2 package (8oz) cream cheese cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 bags frozen mixed berries, thawed
• powdered sugar, if desired
• berry or maple syrup, if desired

 

 Instructions-

• Spray a  9x13 dish with butter cooking spray.
• Beat flour, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and eggs in a large bowl.
• Place 3/4 the cubed bread into dish.
• Top evenly with cream cheese and berries.
• Pour egg mixture over bread,berries and cream cheese evenly
• Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Uncover and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
• Serve with maple syrup or fruit syrup.

 

 

Chicken Bacon Panch Pasta

Hello my freaky darlings! I have another yummy dinner to share with you tonight. The reason I was drawn to this idea is because we are all addicted to chicken bacon ranch pizza. I started ordering this due to two members of the family who did better tummy wise with white sauce pizza but I quickly found out that ordering one was causing my family of 7 to fight over who got to have a 2nd slice and who would be left making due with pepperoni. So I saw this share the other day on ... you guessed it... Pinterest and in true Christi fashion made some changes to it to of course make it more affordable AND quicker. The original idea was cubed chicken and bacon which equal cook time and ,in the case of bacon prices right now ,expensive. I also happened upon a new Alfredo that meant totally being able to omit the bacon all together. I know I might have gotten struck by lightening for even typing that but it is the truth. I do not recommend bacon bits because it just does not work as far as texture profile... too many hard lumps. If you can not find the Alfredo sauce I did and need to add bacon I suggest the real deal, cooking it and crumbling it into small peices NOT tiny ones.

 

 So with out further ado.....

 
 
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta
 

Ingredients

 

• 2 lb. shredded chicken OR 1 rotisserie chicken,butter or orig flavor
• 2 tablespoons of ranch seasoning
• 1 cup onion mix (bell peppers,onion,parsley)
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 lb. bow tie pasta, cooked al dente
• 2 jars Savory Bacon Prago Alfredo Sauce
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups shredded Italian style cheese blend

 

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cook pasta in a stock pot
• Shred chicken into a medium sized bowl, coat with the ranch seasoning. 
• Saute onion mix and garlic in a pan for 3 min to wake up the flavors.
• Add the veggies to the chicken and toss  with tongs to mix
• Spray two 13x9 baking dishes with cooking spray and place a spoonful of the Alfredo Sauce in each one.
• Begin the layers.Trying for 2 layers in each pan. Layer pasta, chicken, tomatoes and a laddle of sauce ( about a 1/3 of the jar will be used in layers rest is for the top).Sprinkle a small handful of cheese and repeat two more times ending with pasta.
• Cover with Alfredo Sauce and then remaining cheese evenly over the two dishes.
• Bake for 30 minutes

Of course this feeds 8 with leftovers for lunch

 

 

 

 

My kingdom for braces

 

I can not tell you how happy this house is that this weeks OU game is not pay per view. We are beyond ready for some Sooner football!! In fact I am watching the game as i write this entry. Yes I am a multitasker. *smile*

 

This last week has been a fun one. I took Miss Harli to the Orthodontist to see what it is going to cost to get her in braces. As I suspected not only do they want my arm but part of my kidney too. LOL! Five grand after insurance!! Holy Moly!! She needs them though cause she grinds her teeth at night and she is such a beautiful girl and deserves a smile to match. She was told that she will need to wear a retainer at night for the rest of her life to insure the investment her mom and dad were making is a lasting one. Once again not a bad thing because that will give her a guard to protect her new straightened teeth from the grinding.

 

We are a month into school and it is going well. Harli is about to use her sister as a living model for her anatomy part of science. I have you wondering huh.... well we use a washable marker and will write the name of the bones onto the arms and legs. No I am not letting them draw on faces ... just in case it doesn't wash off is really the reason. That is all I need is for Beth to pay me back in my sleep for letting her sister write SKULL across her forehead. LOL! I would wake up with something bad written on me I just know it. I would also walk around with it there till I actually woke up enough to look in a mirror cause lord knows my family would just laugh at me. DO NOT EVEN TRY TO DENY IT GUYS! :-P

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WV just intercepted our Td pass!!!

Ok I need to get off here so i can yell at the tv.

 

Later my freaky darlings!!!  

 

 

Beef Pillows



Hello my freaky darlings. It has been hot hot hot in Oklahoma this last week so I haven't had a lot of time to be in the hot kitchen making new dishes. * sad face * I did get in there to revamp a dish we had last week as you may recall ... Chicken Pillows. well everyone in the house raved on how it tasted like pot pie and it got me thinking." hmmm wonder if I could make a beef version"? I really want to make this with shredded beef but for now I used hamburger cause it was just too hot to run the oven for a roast. I hope you enjoy.


Beef Pillows
Serves 8 with leftovers

2.5 lbs ground beef
1 cup onion mix .... I am posting a picture of what I buy from walmart ( onions, peppers, celery)
2 cans jumbo flaky biscuits
4 cups brown gravy , I use packets that call for a cup of water each

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Brown hamburger meat in pan , drain grease and add onion mix stirring till onion mix has heated through.
At this time start making your brown gravy according to directions.
Open biscuits and roll out till they are the size of a tea saucer. Place small amount of hamburger mixture into he center. Pulling edges of biscuits together pinch to close.
Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish lightly with cooking spray and then pour a small amount of gravy into bottom of dish to cover.
Place filled biscuit pillows into dish leaving a small gap between.
Cover biscuits with remaining gravy evenly.
Place in oven for 25 to 35 min. Or until biscuits are done.

Serve with mixed veggies on the side for a deconstructed pot pie flare.

 

Side note  - next time I am going to see if  I can leave the gravy off the top of the pillows till the last 5-10 min of baking to see if that helps give a crispier crust to the biscuits and if they cook quicker. If you try this please feel free to leave a comment telling me if this works. Thank You.