Lemon Cake

I love lemon cake.  

The Starbucks lemon loaf is my favorite.  

This cake comes really close.  

Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 1 cup peach nectar drink
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.  Grease a bunt pan.  
2. Mix all ingredients.  
3. Pour into prepared pan.  
4. Bake for about 55 minutes.  
5. Cool cake and serve.  

This cake smells so good.  The original recipe calls for apricot nectar drink and a lemon glaze.  I only found peach nectar drink.  The cake tasted great with the peach nectar drink.  But for sure I will be on the hunt for a apricot nectar drink.  This cake was good but for sure next time I will make sure I have the stuff to make a glaze.  Keep this recipe and make this cake.  

Keep cooking friends!

XOXO

Mini Corn Dog

 During Baby Girl's first school fundraiser a piggie mold caught my eye.  Grand visions of corn dogs entered my mind.  

I mean look at this mold.  Isn't it super cute?

It took me a while to find time to make these.  But I have kinda been in a little rut lately with food.  

I so wanted to like these.  Don't get me wrong  They taste great.  But I really wanted these piggies to come out better.  It makes me so sad that these don't look better.  Maybe pigs in a blanket instead of corn dogs.  Try again later.  

Mini Corn Dog

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter cooled
• 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
• 1 package little smokies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Grease silicone baking pan.  Set aside.  
2. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.  
3. Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, and honey together.  Then whisk in the egg until combined.  Finally whisk in the buttermilk.  
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until combined.  Try to not over mix.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl not to miss anything.  
5. Scoop batter into prepared baking pan.  Drop half a little smokie into each slot.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the center is cooked through.  Use a toothpick to test.  
6. Allow to cool before popping out and serving. 

Baby Girl proudly announced that these tastes great but looked ugly.  I guess I should be happy about her honestly.  Do homemade mini corn dogs have the same amount of calories as store bought?  Asking for a friend.  

Keep on cooking friends!

XOXO

Corn Flake Crunch

It's been awhile but ice cream has been on my mind lately.  So I decide to make some of Milkbar's corn flake crunch.  

The recipe is on the Milkbar website.  They have a handful of recipes on their website.  

I can't wait until the pandemic is over and I can go visit a Milkbar store.  

One of the best things about making this corn flake crunch is the smell.  So good.  Makes the house smell yummy.  

Corn Flake Crunch

Ingredients:

• 5 cups cornflakes 
• 1/2 cup milk powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons of butter, melted

Directions:

• Heat oven to 275F
• In a large bowl, crush cornflakes to 1/4 of their original size.
• Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt.  Toss to mix well.  Add the butter and toss to coat.  
• Spread the corn flake mixture on a parchment lined baking pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Your house will start to smell amazing.  
• Cool the corn flake crunch completely before storing.  

So this recipe fits in a 32 hours mason jar.  Please make sure you use parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  This will stick to foil and not one wants to sit there picking out foil.  

Keep cooking friends!

XOXO

Circus Aminal Cookies

 Why are Circus Animal cookies so good?  

A local cookie deliver place recently made some Circus Party cookies.  They looked like so much fun.  Then a good friend did her own version of the cookies.  So of course Baby Girl and I had to do it too.  

Circus Animal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 box vanilla cake mix
• Circus animal cookies
• sprinkles

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Refrigerate dough for about an hour.  
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
4. Roll dough into balls and roll the balls in sugar and sprinkles
5. Bake for about 8-10 minutes.  (Mine were done at 10 minutes)
6. Drop a circus animal cookie on the cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven.
7. Let cookie cool.  

Warning! This dough is sticky.  Hence rolling the dough in sugar.  This is super easy and totally a fun activity with the kids.  

Keep Cooking Friends!

XOXO

Pancakes

Breakfast is a favorite in our house.  There is just so many possibilities when it comes to pancakes.  

El Husbee and I try not to eat too many carbs.  But when Baby Girl asks for pancakes its's hard to say no.  

These pancakes do really well in the fridge too.  I can make a batch over the weekend and save half for breakfast during the week.  

Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 3/4 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Heat a griddle to 350
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder,  and salt.  (I use big heaping tablespoons of sugar)
3. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, butter, eggs, vanilla and almond extract.  
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and mix until combined.  Do not over mix.  
5. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.  

Love this easy pancake recipe.  All ingredients are staple pantry items.  I have to say this is my favorite pancake recipe without buttermilk.  If you don't have almond extract you can leave it out.  But I like the extract flavor that the almond extract gives.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Baked Chicken Sweet Chili Soy Sauce

I love chicken wings.  They are such a yummy appetizer or snack.  This is a super simple way to make chicken wings.  

El Husbee is considering getting a air fryer.  I worry that if we have a air fryer I would be making chicken wings all the time.  

One of the main reasons I don't make chicken wings all the time is that my local grocery store is always out of chicken wings.  It's so weird.  Is anyone else still have trouble getting certain food?

I love that Baby Girl loves these chicken wings too.  It makes it easy to make them as a family snack when everyone eats them.  

Baked Chicken Sweet Chili Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 stock green onions

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Mix ingredients to make sauce.  Chop green onions and leave on side for garnish.
• Bake chicken wing side up for 25 mins.
• Flip wings and bake again for 25 mins.
• Take out of the oven.  Drizzle sauce over chicken and sprinkle green onions.

We rarely have leftovers when I make these chicken wings.  Which could be a good thing AND a bad thing.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Brownie

We love chocolate in our house.  This is my go to fool proof brownie recipe.  The best part about this recipe is that it is made from ingredients that you can find easily in the pantry and fridge 

Brownie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs, room temperature 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a 9 inch pan with cooking spray
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.  Combine until you do not see anymore dry ingredients or egg. Pour into prepared baking dish.
3. Baking for 20-25 minutes.  
4. Let cool and serve!

I made these without chocolate chips.  I totally think my family missed them cause this pan went a lot slower than normal.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO