Sunday, January 23, 2011

Retirement Cake

Here's an idea for a retirement cake. I made this one for Ty's mom. She retired this month and now they are off in Arizona for a month. So fun! You just cook one cake mix on a cookie sheet and another cake mix divided between two round cake pans then stack them all together.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins

Your kids will love cutting into these and finding a surprise inside! We make these for breakfast. Sorry I suck at taking pictures:)

1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Oats
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Oil
3/4 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
Jam

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Grease muffin tin.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar baking powder and salt.
4. In another bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil and peanut butter.
5. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined.
6. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full with mixture.
7. Cover each muffin cup with the other 1/2 of the muffin mixture.
In this picture I've covered 1/2 with the rest of the muffin mixture and half still have the jam exposed.8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Unfortunately I overcooked mine so the pictures aren't great, but you get the idea:)
Variation ideas:
1. Replace the peanut butter with mashed bananas and use whole blueberries in the middle instead of the jam.
2. Replace the peanut butter with cream cheese and use sliced strawberries or peaches instead of the jam.

Easy Enchiladas

Don't be afraid to make enchiladas, they are so easy!! Don't be afraid of using enchilada sauce, either. If you don't use it, then you're really just making burritos. You can make it as spicy (or not spicy) as you want. My kids eat this just fine. You can change this recipe up however you want or to fit what ingredients you have. Here's the basic recipe.

Enchilada
Corn Tortillas
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
Shredded Chicken, Shredded Beef or Beans
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Sauce
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Tablespoons Flour
2-3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
1 (8 oz.) Can Tomato Sauce
1 1/2 Cups Water
1/4 Teaspoon Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder (or 1 garlic clove, minced)
1/4 teaspoon Onion Salt

1. Heat oil for sauce in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce heat to medium, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour.
3. Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, and onion salt into the flour and chili powder until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.
4. Spoon some of the enchilada sauce into a baking dish.
5. Heat oil for enchiladas in a separate skillet over medium-high heat.
6. Using tongs, place one corn tortilla in the oil for 30 seconds, flip to the other side for 30 seconds, then remove. You don't want it to get crispy.
7. Dip the oil-covered tortillas into the sauce in the skillet and cover both sides.
8. Sprinkle desired meat or beans onto tortilla, then sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
9. Roll up and place seam-side down into the baking dish (on top of the sauce).
10. Repeat steps 6-9 until you have as many enchiladas as you want.
11. Spoon more sauce over the top of all of them.
12. Sprinkle with cheese.
13. Put all of them under the broiler until cheese is melted.

Delicioso! Serve with mexican rice and refried beans.

For a couple variations on the enchiladas, you could add chopped scallions, chopped green chili's and/or bits of cream cheese into the filling.