Oreo Cookie Cake

If you read my other blogs you will know that I purchased two packages of Meijer brand cookies so that I could get free Detroit Piston tickets (they lost to the Miami Heat at the buzzer). I needed a method to get rid of the cookies, without eating them all myself......and I could I tell you.....just give me a gallon of ice cold milk and I could easily polish off that package. But I'd rather not...well that's a lie...I would but I don't need the calories. Instead I baked a Oreo cookie cake.Oreo Cookie Cake Recipe

1 box devil food cake mix
1 C coarsely broken Oreo or Oreo type cookie (I broke them into pieces about dime size)
1/2C of finely crushed Oreo or Oreo type cookie (actually crumb size)

Bake cake according to package instructions except fold in 1 C of coarsely broken Oreo cookies before pouring batter into cake pans. Bake as instructions indicate but whatever you do, do not over bake.

Let cool.

I used buttercream frosting to frost the cake. Garnish top of cake with 1/2 C of finely crushed Oreo cookies.

Buttercream Frosting Recipe

4 C powder sugar sifted to eliminate hard clumps
2 sticks of softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons milk...additional milk as needed 1 Tablespoon at a time

Beat butter and vanilla together. Add 1 cup of powder sugar at a time to the creamed butter. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all sugar is incorporated into butter mixture, only add additional milk if needed to obtain a fluffy consistency. Enjoy and of course by now you know I didn't save any calories by baking a cake. My intentions were good but as you know...the road to hell is paved with good intentions........pass the cake. Don't judge me.....just bake the cake.

Pillsbury Grand Biscuits Recipe

This is most likely a breakfast recipe but at our house breakfast food is consumed at any hour of the day. I liked the fact that the leftovers microwaved without a hitch. Enjoy.


Pillsbury Grand Biscuits
3 C frozen hash browns (thaw in microwave on paper plate)
1 lb. bacon (cooked and broken into small pieces)
shredded cheddar cheese
4-6 eggs (beaten)

Place Grand Biscuits in (touching one another) bottom of casserole dish prepared with cooking oil spray. You might have to push them around and stretch them a bit. Next spread the thawed hash browns on top of the biscuits. Salt and pepper according to taste. Spread bacon and then cheddar cheese. Pour beaten eggs on top of the cheese. Salt and pepper again.

Bake at 350 degrees 35 minutes or until eggs are done. Let stand for 5 minutes before eating.Very tasty and quick to make. I think next time I will try a zesty version. Maybe add chopped green peppers and tomatoes and some crumbled cooked sausage. Before serving top with salsa or picante sauce.

I found this recipe on a blog about coupon clipping and for the life of me cannot find the blog now. As soon as I do I will include the link.

Theme Post: Cheap Gadgets I had to Buy

Today is a theme post called 'Cheap Gadgets I had to Buy'.

Please check out my other two blogs to see what cheap gadgets I bought for the house and garden.Can you guess what it is???? Here's a hint. It looks rather dangerous but you actually use it on something rather delicate.....strawberries and tomatoes.

It is called a strawberry/tomato huller and I paid $2.99. Ironically I purchased this kitchen gadget at a hardware store.

I know when I hull strawberries it really isn't hulling but more like lopping off the top 1/3 of the strawberry. Strawberries can be pricey when they are out of season so theoretically if I was cutting off a 1/3 of the strawberry when hulling it, then I should be able to save a 1/3 of the price of a quart of strawberries every time I hull strawberries using this cheap little gadget. That is if I can find it in my gadget/utensil drawer.

*I apologize for the pathetic looking tomato but it was the only one in the refrigerator. Also, notice that dark spot....it's something on the lens of my camera. The larger dark spot that covers half the plate is my shadow.

Free Bread Book from Fleischmann's

Use this link to have Fleischmann's Yeast send you a free bread book titled kneadlessly simple by Nancy Baggett.

http://www.breadbreakthrough.com/Redemption.aspx

Time for Deep Dish Pizza

Time is the theme of my three blogs today.

Last night I tried my hand at making a deep dish pizza. I asked R if it was any good and he replied, "I'm eating it, ain't I?" Sorry ladies....he's all mine!!!I used the Pillsbury pizza crust that is in a tube (like crescent rolls). The recipe called for a deep dish pizza pan of which I do not own so I used a spring form cake pan. I used cooking spray on the pan and pushed the dough around to fill the pan bottom and up the sides of the pan.The recipe called for a 500 degree oven and to turn it down to 425 when you put the pizza in the oven.

Here are the ingredients I used.

2 C mozzarella cheese
1/2 a green pepper chopped
1 tomato chopped (discard seeds and soft parts of the tomato)
1 can sliced mushrooms
1/2 C sliced green olives
1 medium size onion sliced thinly
1 C diced ham
1/4 C pizza sauce ( I think you could use spag sauce)

This is how I layered it.

Pizza sauce
1 C mozzarella cheese
mixture of the green pepper, onion, sliced olives, diced ham, and tomato
1/2 C mozzarella cheese
sliced mushrooms
remaining cheese

Baked for 25 minutes at 425 degrees according to the recipe.

It was great......He ate it.....didn't he??

What would I do differently? I would bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. The crust was done but the cheese could have melted a little more. I just needed more time and less temperature.

I also would chop everything an hour before assembling the pizza and let it all sit on a piece of paper towel so that there was time for some of the moisture to be removed.

The spring form pan worked great. After the pizza rested for 5 minutes, I unlatched the outer ring and lifted it off.

Viola.....deep dish pizza.

He ate two large pieces.

Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup

Several years ago my niece Blaire and I attended the opera in Detroit at the Detroit Opera House. Afterward we drove to Greektown to dine at The Pegasus.
I cannot remember what our entrees were but we both had lemon rice soup and absolutely loved it. The next time I am in Greektown for dinner I will just stick with lemon rice soup and chocolate mousse from the Greek bakery on the corner. It is very important that a trip to Greektown does not go without chocolate mousse.

Dining at a Greek restaurant has taught me that I want to stay away from flaming cheese. Nothing good can come from flaming cheese and hairspray. Not to mention....at my age I have enough self induced hot flashes that I do not need a waiter flinging flames around my face and yelling "Oopa!!!!" in my ear.On to the recipe. I surfed the Internet for a lemon rice soup recipe but R insisted that it had to have some sort of MEAT in it. So I combined several recipes and came up with my own.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts fully cooked and pulled apart (not cut)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 carton of chicken broth
1/2 C lemon juice
2 t dill weed
white pepper to taste (optional)
dash of salt
3 eggs
3 C of cooked Basmati rice

Over medium heat combine broth and soup. In a separate bowl beat the 3 eggs with a fork. Add 1 cup of broth/soup mixture to the beaten eggs and mix together. Add egg mixture into the broth soup mixture stirring so eggs do not clump up. You will see little streaks of cooked egg in the broth/soup. Add the small pieces of chicken, lemon, salt, dill weed, and cooked rice. Stir and add white pepper to taste (optional).

Tips...You may add additional lemon juice if you prefer a stronger lemon taste. Only use white pepper so that you do not discolor the soup. I added a chicken bouillon cube to the water I cooked the rice in and I only use Basmati rice.

Aunt Rosie's Soda Cracker Pie

I first sampled this pie at a family gathering at my Aunt Rosie and Uncle Carl's house. I'm not exactly sure how old I was when I asked for the recipe but I must have been old enough to cook.

3 beaten egg whites
dash of salt
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 C of crushed Club crackers (nickel size or smaller)
1 C pecans or walnuts (using pecans will make the pie taste like pecan pie)

Beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Add crushed crackers, breaking any that are larger than a nickel. Make sure crackers are fully coated. I let the mixture sit for 5 minutes so that crackers could soften. Fold in pecans. Pour into glass pie dish that has been coated with spray cooking oil. The photo below shows what the mixture should look like before it is baked.Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until slightly brown. Do not over cook. Let the pie thoroughly cool before cutting. This pie needs to set up and it does this as it cools.

This is what the pie should look like after it bakes for 25 minutes.
It has been 30 years since I lasted baked this pie and the baking instructions I wrote down were a little vague. Also 30 years ago, Club crackers were packaged differently. If I remember right, one cracker was scored and made 4 single Club crackers. Today all crackers are singles and each box contains 4 individual packages. Using trial and error/guestimation I have deduced that 1 package is equal to the 20 crackers that my recipe card stated, roughly 2 cups.

Enjoy.