Well lookie here! I finally BAKED something. AND I broke out my big camera and took actual PHOTOS of me baking something. It is amazing! I found a little energy and motivation this morning, and decided to put it to good use. I have been wanted to make homemade English Muffins for a LONG time. These were really really good. They lack a little bit of the developed flavor that the store-bought variety have, but I think letting them rise in the fridge instead of on the counter would remedy this. Next time, I will definitely try that. These didn’t disappoint at all though! They have the awesome nooks and crannies that English muffins are famous for. They have the soft interior. The crunchy brown exterior. And none of the preservatives that you’ll find in your typical store-bough variety. That’s a bonus for me. Speaking of me, I am officially 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant. The days matter when you are this far along. Still waddling along. Thank you for being patient with me as my posting slows down over the past few weeks and into the coming month. Baby growing is hard work!

This dough was different than any other dough I have ever worked with. With my bosch mixer, I used the cookie dough attachments. If you have a Kitchen Aid, I suggest using the paddles. This dough is really really soft and smooth and elastic when its done being kneaded. I didn’t find it hard to work with at all though. Your milage may vary as specific measurements can make this dough different consistencies. When you are baking, especially bread, using weight to measure gives you much more accurate results. I don’t do that though, so I rely on texture and experience to tell me if the dough is “right” or not. A “cup” of flour can vary by quite a bit depending on how you measure it. Do you fluff the flour and gently scoop it into your measuring cup with a spoon, and then level off carefully with the flat side of a knife? GOOD! You are doing it right! I don’t do that. I reach into my giant Sam’s Club flour bag, fluff the flour a few times by scooping and pouring it back into the bag with my measuring cup, then gently scoop out cups, shaking it to level it. I know, I know. BAD baker. I am the poster child of one who SHOULD bake by weight because I just don’t have the patience to do it *right*. I am also the one who can rarely follow a recipe as written, so I guess now you know a little more about me, right? What kind of baker are you?

Anyway, back to the dough. I got this recipe from King Arthur Flour. They are such an amazing resource for the home baker!

Put the milk, yeast, butter, egg, sugar, salt, and flour into the mixer. Mix on low until everything is incorporated, and then turn up to medium and mix for about 5 minutes. When you pull the dough out it will be super smooth and elastic. Put the kneaded dough into a well oiled bowl and turn to coat. This picture was taken after the dough had been in the bowl about 10 minutes. I had to eat my breakfast.

Let the dough rise, covered, until it is about double in size. Mine took about an hour, but I had it on my warm stove. Like I mentioned above, next time I will let it rise in the fridge which will take a LOT longer, but will let some more flavor develop.

Next you are going to gently deflate the dough.

Form the dough into smooth balls. I made a double batch which made 18 balls and two loaves of English Muffin Bread. Sprinkle your corn meal into your pans. If your pans aren’t non-stick, first spray them with cooking spray. I used two large pans and one tiny cast iron skillet to cook my muffins. I still had to do two batches.

Once your pans are prepped, take your dough balls and flatten them into discs, about 3/4 inch thick, and 2-3 inches across. Place them into the cold pans, and then turn the pans onto medium-low heat. Sprinkle some more corn meal on the tops of the muffins.

Cook for about 10 minutes per side. Check them after 5 minutes though to make sure they aren’t over-browning. It takes some practice to get the heat right.

With this batch, they browned faster than they cooked. No big deal! I just put the browned muffins onto a baking sheet into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Let them cool for about 10-15 minutes, and then split with a fork, toast if desired, and enjoy!

I call these {relatively} quick and easy English Muffins because even though it is bread baking from scratch, which some people would disqualify from the “quick and easy” label immediately, there are a lot more difficult variations out there which would probably improve on these quite a bit such as the fridge slow rise, using a sponge starter, or using a sour dough starter. I haven’t dabbled in any of those yet, but they are on the “to-do” list, for sure. Until then, these definitely did the trick!

Click on over to King Arthur Flour if you will for the recipe. I didn’t change a thing with either ingredients or method, so I will just link you up over there. Plus, I’m tired. This 38 week and 4 days pregnant lady needs a nap.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

I’m still here! Still pregnant! Still not having the energy to do much in the way of cooking or baking. I thought I would browse the depths of my Pinterest boards for you all and find some mouth-watering recipes that I’ve been meaning to make. Maybe you all will be inspired to try some of them out. If you do, make sure you stop by here or at my facebook page and let me know what you thought!

Today I am linking up with Crochet At Play for their Working On It Wednesday feature. Want to see what I am working on today?

That’s pretty much it. Well, okay. I will give myself some props here. I did get the kids up, dressed, and delivered to school ON TIME. Then I came home and beat several levels on Candy Crush (I’m up to 304 now! Woo-hoo!), then I psyched myself up and tackled my thrashed kitchen, including sweeping and mopping the floors. Do you KNOW how uncomfortable it is to mop floors when you are eleventy months pregnant??? I told my husband I was “officially done mopping” until after the baby comes. Then I took a real shower, and put on REAL clothes, and makeup, and dried my hair! Can you even believe it? After that I dropped off my 3 year old at work with my husband and went to my doctor’s appointment for an ultrasound. Baby is head down! Yay! Blood pressure is good! Double yay! Then I picked up the 3 year old, got an oil change, cleaned the garbage out of the truck, went to Dairy Queen, went to the grocery store, picked up the kids from school, came home, made dinner, loaded the dishwasher, and right now I’m taking a few minutes to eat some more ice cream (yay pregnancy!) and mentally prepare for the bedtime showers/bed/stay in bed or you are in BIG TROUBLE!!!/IF I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU ARE TOO LOUD! routine. My patience is officially tapped for the day, so I will probably pass the bedtime baton over to my lovely husband, while I finish this blog post and find something good to watch on tv.

A little FYI before I start…PLEASE DO NOT PIN DIRECTLY FROM THIS POST!!! If you would like to save the photos to your own pinterest boards, go directly to the source and pin from them. Pretty please? Thank you!

First up in the line up is this Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n’ Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar from Kevin and Amanda. If you don’t follow that blog already, you need to. The photography is beautiful, and the recipes always look so delicious. They really make my ‘style’ of food, for the most part. They also have one of the best, easiest to follow dSLR tutorials for beginners that I ever did come across. If you are getting ready to jump from a point and shoot to a dSLR, its a must read!

Next up is this Pad See Ew recipe from Chow. After we left the Pacific Northwest there was a definite and large gap in my Thai food addiction. This looks amazing, and looks like it could possibly compare to some of the dishes I grew accustomed to out in Washington where good Asian food is usually only a stone’s throw away.

While I’m on the Asian food kick, let me suggest you tackle these Korean Mandu from Korean Bapsang the next time you want to eat something AMAZING? Back in Minnesota there is a little Korean recipe called Mirror of Korea. It is on Snelling Ave in St. Paul. If you are in the area, eat there, and eat some Korean dumpings for me, pretty please? Until then though, let me know how you like these because looking at the recipe it seems they would be a close match. And can I just say that I wouldn’t mind if this Korean Mom and her home cooking adopted me for a few weekends? I could use some lessons in real Korean cooking!

You will start to see a dessert trend here. My sweet tooth is OUT OF CONTROL these days. These might be perfect for the 4th of July. Maybe I’ll be back up to baking by then.  Unsophisticook really hits a homerun here with these lovely Patriotic Trifles in mason jars! So cute, and SO delicious looking.

Who doesn’t love a little Apple Crisp? The Girl Who Ate Everything combined that traditional American dessert with PIZZA. Yes. Apple. Crisp. Pizza. SHUT UP! Apple crisp and apple pie is one of my all time favorite desserts, so the next time I need a dessert for a crowd this is going to be in the running, for sure.

Last, but definitely not least, is my blogging friend Nicole from Heat Oven to 350 and her Chocolate Blackout Cake. I’ve been following her blog for what seems like ages now, and I am never disappointed. Check it out today!

There you have it. Some food I have been drooling over for a while now, but haven’t actually had the motivation to make as of yet. They are on the list though! Make sure you click through and give them some blog comment love, or facebook likes, or pins (directly from their own blogs please!!). I’ve never done a round-up before, and I want to make sure that the credit is given where the credit is due, and that these awesome awesome bloggers get their clicks!

I’ll make sure and keep you all updated on the baby progress, or lack there-of. You can always check me out on facebook too. Until then!

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

Almost 38 weeks! Yay! I’m pulling another recipe out of the vault here guys. I have not felt up to cooking and photographing anything new this week still, and I have too much catch-up cleaning to do to even think about making a bigger mess in the kitchen. Most nights it is all I can do to get the dishwasher running before bed! My husband has been so awesome helping out, picking up take-out, dealing with the kids bedtimes, I just can’t sing his praises enough. We are both pretty run down, but he is really taking care of me well. There’s nothing like the end of pregnancy and delivery that can really show you what your relationship is made of, in my experience. It is such a special time in marriage!

So, even though most of us have been lucky enough for spring and warm temperatures to FINALLY arrive, maybe, just maybe, sometime soon you will be in the mood for a little wintery meal. I always miss the meat/potatoes oven cooking during the summer. Winter foods are my favorite, by far.

There is not much more comforting food than a big bowl of hearty beef stew. This recipe is simple, straightforward, yet so satisfying. The next time you need a little warm up, throw this on the stove or in your crock pot for a delicious meal that cannot be beat.

Take one pound of stew meat, toss lightly in seasoned flour, and then brown well over medium-high heat

Next pour the browned meat, one cup of dry red wine, and a sliced onion into an oven-safe dish and place into a 275 degree oven for 1-2 hours, or until the meat is tender and the wine has reduced.

While the meat is roasting, place 6 cups of beef broth, a large sliced onion, some sliced carrots, peas, chunked potatoes, beans, and a can of stewed tomatoes into a medium to large stock pot. Heat to a slow simmer, and stir frequently.

When the meat comes out of the oven, pour all the contents into your stew, stir well, and cook for 35-40 minutes. Serve immediately with some fresh buttered bread.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

Good morning there Or Whatever You Do’ers! It is only 6:12 AM, but wouldn’t you know it, I’ve been up for two hours already. 37 weeks 2 days pregnant. Guess my brain is getting me ready for the ultra early morning wake-ups I’m soon to be in for, huh?

These braised beef short ribs were hidden deep in my old unorganized filing system in my computer. I am so glad I found them for you today! This was one of the best meals I have ever had. Beef short ribs are the perfect meat to cook low and slow, but they turn out spoon tender, and the flavor is so amazing. I have a few packs in my freezer that I am going to have to pull out soon, even if it IS going to be 80 degrees today!  Well, that is if I ever get the energy to have a clean kitchen and an actual hot MEAL on the table, ever again. It is looking doubtful at this point.

I’ve had browned butter sitting in my fridge begging me to bake a cake with it for going on a WEEK now. Still no motivation. No energy. By the time I get up, get ready, get the kids ready and off to school, get home, clean up, and have the actual TIME to bake or cook anything, I am ready to fall over. The end of pregnancy is so all-encompassing. WHEN will it happen. WHAT gender will this baby be? It is so exciting, and so amazing, and SO stressful! I’m trying to relax and enjoy it because more than likely at #5 this will be my last baby, last end of pregnancy EVER (*Cry*) , but that is much much easier said than done. The part of my brain that is ready to be done walking like an arthritic 87 year old, peeing every 15 minutes, and popping antacids like they are candy wants to actually SLAP the crap out of the other half of my brain telling me to be patient, and enjoy being a ginormous, impatient, cranky beast who is so miserable that I am actually looking forward to having a 7-9 pound baby come out of me. Most likely too fast for any real pain relief.

Have you had enough of the pregnancy updates and rants now? I have. On to the beef.

Start these by lightly seasoning your short ribs with your favorite seasonings, and then searing in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium high heat. My “go-to” meat seasoning is pretty universal. Garlic powder. Onion powder. Salt. Pepper. Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Done.

When the meat is browned on most sides, remove from the pan. Make sure you get good color on these. It really helps with the flavor of the end product. The key to a good sear is moving the meat as LITTLE as possible. A well-seasoned cast iron pan never hurt anything either.

After you remove the meat, place it in an oven safe baking dish, and add 1 sliced onion to the pan. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until it is starting to get soft and translucent.  Feel free to get crazy here and add in some mushrooms and carrots if you want to. Saute them with the onion. I didn’t have any when I made this, so onion alone it was! Add your garlic and herbs. Stir constantly and cook for 1 minute. Add the beef broth and wine to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, then pour over the meat in the baking dish.

Bake tightly covered at 300 degrees for 2-3 hours, or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone when poked. The length of cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your meat and your specific oven temperature. (Have you tested your oven temperature lately? You should!)

This photo below is before it was cooked in the oven.

Serve your short ribs with mashed potatoes, and the pan drippings (spoon off the fat and simmer over medium heat to reduce if necessary).

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

 Good morning OWYD’ers! I’m bringing you an older recipe from the archives today that I had to edit a bit and redo. When I migrated from blogger to wordpress, some of my older posts got a bit messy in the process. Pictures got lost. Formatting got messed up. Unfortunately it seems like I STILL haven’t fixed them all. That gives me the opportunity to feature some oldies but goodies for you all though! Which is really convenient because I have had a wicked cold all week, and I’m 36 weeks pregnant, and I have barely even made dinners this week for the family, much less done any baking or cooking for the blog. Tired is an understatement right now. So forgive the bad photos, hopefully I will have some brand new stuff for you all next week!

I love the convenience of this enchilada casserole. Sometimes that extra step of rolling and stuffing a large pan of enchiladas is just enough of a pain in the butt for me to want to cut it out. You get the same taste, with less work. Yay you!

For this chicken enchilada recipe, start by throwing two largish chicken breasts into a pot with 2 dried California Chili Pods, 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa, 1 cup of water, 1 tsp Tapatio, and 1 can of El Pato Jalapeno Salsa, in the green can. You may need a bit more water depending on the depth and size of your pan. You want the chicken to be covered. Simmer this mixture until the chicken is fully cooked. After its cooked, remove the chicken and let cool.

 In the same pot, with the leftover simmering sauce still in it, add in a can of El Pato Red, or tomato sauce with jalapeno, 1/4 cup onion, 1/2 cup salsa, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp basil, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 can tomato paste, and 1 1/2 cups water. Let simmer over medium low heat stirring frequently until thick, about 30 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, shred the cooled chicken with two forks. Place 4oz of cream cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften. Mix in 1/2 small can of green chili. Mix this into the chicken.

To layer the casserole, cover the bottom of a 9×13 with a thick layer of enchilada sauce. (Discard the California chili pods after cooking.)

Then layer corn tortillas on top of the sauce. Follow with the chicken, spread evenly over the entire area. Sprinkle with a mexican cheese blend or your favorite cheddar.

Cover chicken/cream cheese with another layer of tortillas. Cover tortillas generously with enchilada sauce, but make sure to leave enough to cover the final layer or tortillas. Add another layer of cheese followed by a layer of tortillas. Cover final layer of tortillas with enchilada sauce and then cheese. Bake at 350 until hot and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

I usually make my own caramel sauce for this recipe. It can be a little tricky though, so if you want to do a brown sugar caramel sauce like I did this time, I promise it will still be good. Someday when you are feeling adventurous though, try out that scratch caramel! It is really worth the effort.

This recipe will make about 30 rolls, depending on how big you slice them. I love buying the tinfoil pans at the dollar store for this. Perfect for giving away to friends and neighbors without worrying about your pie plates or cake pans getting back to you. I didn’t have those this time, so I used my large cake pans, which worked perfectly!

Start your dough by heating the milk up to warm. Not hot…just warm. You don’t want to kill your yeast. You should be able to comfortably stick your finger into the milk. Put the warm milk in your mixer with the dough hook attached and add the yeast, egg, sugar, and salt. Mix until the egg is beaten. Start adding the flour until a wet dough is formed. After about half of the flour is incorporated, slowly pour in melted (but not too hot!) butter while the mixer is running. After the butter is mixed well into the dough, start adding more flour in until a soft dough forms and the sides of your mixer are clean. Mix for about 4 minutes, until an elastic, smooth dough is formed into a ball. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp towel and allow to rise until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free place.

When the dough has risen, punch down, grab 1/2 of it, and roll it out on a well-floured surface into a rectangular shape and its about 1/4 inch thick.

Pour enough melted butter over the dough to cover it well. I use about 1/2 cup, sometimes a little more.

Now sprinkle and cover with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Roll the dough from the side farthest from you towards the front, and seal the seam. It helps to use a bit of water on your fingers and dampen slightly the edges so they will seal well.

If the seam is really sticky, sprinkle and brush it lightly with some flour so it won’t stick to your counter. Slice the dough with a serrated knife (I find a long bread knife works best) into pieces 2 inches thick.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I used to work at Pizza Hut. I started off as a cook because I wasn’t 18 yet and couldn’t deliver, couldn’t serve alcohol, so onto the line I went. I was the only female cook, but I really grew to love it. After all, I was young so I didn’t even have to run the gigantic mixer and prep dough! Score 17 year old me! One of the big secrets behind the curtain that was revealed to me was the stuffed crust pizza mystery. I don’t know WHAT my 17 year old self thought it was that they did to make this wonderful creation, but I never imagined it was as easy as stuffing a crust with string cheese. Well, in case you are anything like me, it is JUST that EASY! Try it sometime and never have your kids (or yourself) throw away your pizza crust again. Whip up some extra pizza sauce and use it for dipping. Get fancy and use some of that new flavored string cheese. Basil and sundried tomato sting cheese in my crust? Yes please!

This batch was just plain old part-skim mozzarella string cheese.

Start by mixing up a batch of dough. I have several great recipes for this on my site. They are all a little bit different, but equally good. Use whatever one suits you the best, or your current favorite.

Spread the dough out a little more than you normally would, and lay out your string cheese.

Now fold over the dough and press to seal well.

Par-bake the crust and then top with your favorite toppings. Finish baking as you would any crust, and then let cool for about 5 minutes before you cut and enjoy!

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

For some odd reason my two youngest boys have decided that one of their FAVORITE snacks is a sliced up banana, covered in milk, and then eaten with a spoon. They have deemed this a banana fo fanna. I mean, as far as snacks go it could definitely be worse, but its weird, right? They are an odd bunch I’m raising here. They tell me they got the idea from Bubble Guppies, but who knows really where and how they come up with this stuff.

This banana fo fanna pudding cake is a little tribute to them. I haven’t done all that many poke cakes beyond the better than anything cake. I went looking for ideas and specifics, and pretty quickly came across this one over at The Country Cook. Mine, beyond the pudding mix which probably makes the rest of this a moot point, forgoes the boxed cake mix and the Cool Whip, but if you want something incredibly simple I’m sure that version is awesome. She has a ton of great poke cake ideas over there if that’s your thing! Check it out!

Start this version by mixing all your cake ingredients together for 3-5 minutes, until they are well combined. Pour into a greased and floured 10×13 inch pan, and bake at 350 until the top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean. As you can see from my photos, my cake went a few minutes too many and is over done. Don’t make the same mistake I did! I was playing Plants Vs. Zombies and got a little, ahhhh….distracted. The cake itself has a really really good flavor, and the texture was great too in the middle where I didn’t cook the ever-loving-snot out of it.

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes and then poke a bunch of holes all over it.

Prepare a large box of instant banana pudding according to the regular package directions (3 cups of cold milk to one large box of pudding), but instead of mixing the entire 5 minutes until it is thickened, mix for about 2-3 minutes so its dissolved, but still very pourable. Pour it all over the cake and spread it around, making sure it gets into all those holes.

Chill the cake until it is cooled completely and the pudding is set. Next whip up your cream and spread it all over the top. Crush your cookies, and garnish with the crushed cookies and sliced banana.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

Anyone else ready for spring? Are you planning your Memorial Day BBQ menu already, daydreaming about sunshine and temperatures over 50 degrees? No? Just me? Well, if you are too, I’m going to share this recipe for my Raspberry Margaritas. You can make the mixers from scratch if you’d like, or you can buy them pre-made. Making them will yield a MUCH better drink. I was a bartender for over 10 years, off and on, and the places that I worked that made their own mixers generally served a lot more drinks of this nature than those who bought whole-sale sweet and sour.

You can find my recipe for Raspberry Sauce that would be PERFECT for this right here.

For a good scratch sweet and sour mixer, check out Buns in My Oven. I made that for these last summer, and it was amazing! For a really easy simple syrup, check out A Less Processed Life. Her recipe is for vanilla simple syrup, which would be divine in this drink, but you can leave it out and make regular if you don’t have a vanilla bean laying around.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

If you are a pinterest fanatic like I am, you could also drop by and follow me there, and pinning my images is always appreciated!

If you would rather have every recipe delivered to your inbox, the morning after they are posted, please sign up below to be on my email list!

Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~

I don’t know how I have been baking constantly for the last 9 years without EVER doing a pound cake, but somehow this escaped my radar. No more! This week I had two pounds of strawberries that needed to get used up, and one of my favorite desserts is Strawberry Shortcake. Normally when I do Strawberry Shortcake I do more of a biscuit-type base for it, but I was never totally satisfied with that. This cream cheese pound cake takes a bit longer than the biscuit base, but in my opinion it is worth the extra time.

This is a pretty standard pound cake recipe. It can be found in numerous different places. I found this particular variation at Taste Of Home, but I see others that are nearly identical from Paula Deen, Martha Stewart, Recipe Girl, and countless other places. It came out very moist and flavorful. Definitely use real butter, and full fat cream cheese. No substitutions here!

Begin by creaming together the butter, sugar, and cream cheese until they are light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add in the vanilla extract next, and mix to combine. Next combine your dry ingredients together and stir, and then add to the wet mixture. Mix until you can see no more dry flour.

Pour the batter into prepared baking pans. Personally, I LOVE the Pam Baking Spray with flour in it, but if you don’t, a good old-fashioned butter and flouring will do just fine.

NOTE: I overfilled my pans. These were too small for the amount of batter this makes, so make sure and either use large loaf pans or a bundt pan. 

Bake for 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. Keep an eye on them near the end, and remove when a tester comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, and then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Honestly, these were good enough to eat plain. They didn’t NEED any garnishment, but the only thing better than plain pound cake is pound cake covered in macerated strawberries, sweet vanilla whipped cream, and fresh sliced strawberries.

Make this today and report back! I want stories, and I want pictures! If you send me photos of your creations from this site I will feature them on a future post and/or my facebook page.

As always…

Thank You for looking! I LOVE comments. Use the comment form below to interact, or if you like what you see, and want to see more, please feel free to jump on over to my Facebook page and like me there. I post teasers for upcoming recipes, answer any and all of your questions, and every recipe from here gets linked to there as well.

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Thanks for dropping by! Hope to see you again soon!

~Nicole~