Rhubarb Cherry Crisp

The Miller Family has been on the road for the past 10 days.  Jeff did an awesome job planning our trip.  He did all of the research on places to stay and items of interest to see, which made our trip very smooth.  On Day 1, we drove up to Iowa for Jeff's 25th High School Reunion pulling our RV. 

Class of 1986 Dunlap High School

We stayed in Dunlap, Iowa for a few days and then loaded everything and everyone (including Jeff's parents) into the truck and headed to South Dakota still pulling the RV! 

Corn Palace

The Badlands

JP and the Jackalope at Wall Drug

We traveled to Mitchell to see the Corn Palace, then to Wall to see Wall Drug, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and the Badlands and then stayed 3 nights in Rapid City. 

My best girlfriends at Flintstone Village! 

From there we went to Sturgis, Deadwood, went in a gold mine and panned for gold, we went to Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Flintstone Village, Reptile Gardens and the Wind Cave. 

Mount Rushmore

Dinosaur Park in Rapid City

Wind Cave

Day 8 took us back to Mitchell and then finally we headed back to Dunlap on Day 9.  This morning we packed up the Miller family and drove home to Kansas.  Whew...  It was nice to finally pull into our driveway.  

10 days, 2,000+ miles, 3 different campgrounds, lots of good times and laughs~

And, I also got to see my friend Beckie Graham from high school.  She was visiting the Black Hills with her family.  We got to eat lunch together...it was so great to see her!  Hopefully we'll be able to get together a little more often than every 23 years!  :)

Beckie and Jen

While on vacation, I like to buy local cookbooks.  You know the ones...they are usually spiral bound cookbooks that are put together by some group trying to raise money.  I LOVE these cookbooks.  To me, they are "real" cooking.  Don't get me wrong, I like the fancy cookbooks, too...the glossy pictures, the expensive ingredients, the directions that are pages long and it takes hours to actually cook the recipe.  But the spiral bound ones...well...  They are full of real recipes that real people make.  They're family recipes, recipes that make it to family picnics or get-togethers.  Recipes that remind people of good times.  Good home cooking.  I picked up one of these spiral bound cookbooks in South Dakota.

This cookbook, South Dakota Centennial Cookbook 1889-1989 is awesome!  It has a ton of recipes (282 pages) and lots of interesting tidbits about South Dakota's history and heritage.  It also has a yummy recipe.  Rhubarb Cherry Crisp. I knew it would be perfect to make tonight, since I had raided my father-in-law's rhubarb patch this morning before we left Iowa.  And it was perfect.  No TLS (Tastes like S***) here.  In fact, I got two thumbs up from my boys and was told it was a "make again." 

Rhubarb Cherry Crisp (adapted from Faye (Mrs. Kent) Freichs)

1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup melted butter
5 cups sliced rhubarb
1 can cherry pie filling

Combine the oatmeal, flours, sugar, brown sugar and salt.  Pour the melted butter into the mixture and stir with a fork.  The mixture will be crumbly.  Spread half of the mixture into a greased 9x13 inch plan.  Spread the rhubarb over the crumbs and spoon the cherry pie filling over the rhubarb.  Sprinkle the rest of the crumbs on top of the cherry pie filling.  Bake at 350* for 45 minutes.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy~

Delectable Chocolate Bundt Cake

I love cake.  It's my favorite.  I'm not picky about cake...I like it all!  White cake, chocolate cake, cake with frosting, lemon cake, cheese cake, peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting...I could go on and on.  Cake, mmmm.  I love it!

I found a poem about chocolate cake by Michael Rosen. 

you know how the icing on top
is all shiny and it cracks as you
bite into it,
and there's that other kind of icing in
the middle
and it sticks to your hands and you
can lick your fingers
and lick your lips
oh it's lovely.
yeah.

The rest of the poem is pretty funny.  You should check it out!


Anyways...I've been playing with a chocolate bundt recipe that I found on allrecipes.com Too Much Chocolate Cake  I've been trying to lighten it up and make it a little healthier, and I think I've perfected it!  I made my version of the cake last week for my students to celebrate the end of the semester.  I meant to take a picture of the cake before I brought it to class...  I guess the one picture I got tells you how much my students liked it!  Nothing but crumbs are left!

Delectable Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package fat free, sugar free chocolate instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 c. plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 c. reduced fat sour cream
1 c. applesauce (I use no sugar added applesauce)
1 egg white
2 eggs
1/4 c. fat free milk
1/3 c. water
1 T. oil
1-3/4 c. chocolate chunks (If you can't find chocolate chunks, use chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350*.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mix.  In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, sour cream, applesauce, eggs, milk, water and oil.  Mix well.  Pour into dry mix and stir until combined.  Add the chocolate chunks.

Pour/spoon (it will be thick!) the batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.  Bake 55-60 minutes, or until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan until completely cool to the touch.  Invert cake onto a plate and serve!  Enjoy~

Here is my favorite bundt cake video clip...from one of my favorite movies, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  

For more information about bundt pans, check this out!

Carrot Cake

 

Within the next few days, Jeff will be home from a year-long deployment.  YIPEE!  This has been the longest year.  We've had a lot of changes (grad school) and Murphy's Law has been around our house a little too much (flooded basement several times, new appliances because the old ones quit working, half of a tree blew down, the mango incident ~FYI~ mangos are related to poison ivy and if you're really allergic to PI, you shouldn't touch mango skin and rub your face... I could go on and on... oh, and the garage door stopped working yesterday.)  I am so ready for it to be over and done with!  So JP and I are anxiously awaiting a phone call.  A watched pot never boils, and... well, a watched phone never rings!

Since Jeff is coming home, I'm making Carrot Cake.  It's Jeff's favorite.  And being the wonderful wife I am, I thought I'd whip some up.  I've never made it before (and we've been married for 15 years!)  I don't have a tried and true recipe, so I found one at allrecipes.com.  Carrot Cake III has 5 stars and 2727 reviews...so it must be a pretty good cake. 

I don't know if you've figured this out by now or not...  But I can't follow a recipe exactly.  I'm always modifying recipes as I make them.  Most of the time it works.  However, some of my modifications have ended not so great...  TLS recipes.  Last week JP and I had a tasty honey curry pasta salad.  It was...  well...  a TLS recipe.  Hopefully my changes will work their magic this time!  I'm planning on cutting back on the sugar in the cake and frosting, using half whole wheat flour, half white flour, substituting applesauce for some of the oil, using half the amount of pecans, adding some crushed pineapple, coconut and nutmeg.  So basically, I'm changing the whole recipe.

Here's the original recipe.  I'll post my adaptations and my review (hopefully it won't be branded TLS) after I make it.  It's supposed to cool down to a balmy 95 degrees for the next few days, so I can bake and not worry about my AC bill.  bahhhaahahhhaaaah

Carrot Cake III

Rated:	Prep Time: 30 Minutes	Ready In: 2 Hours
Submitted By: Tammy Elliott	Cook Time: 1 Hour	Servings: 18

"I've tried many carrot cakes, and this is my favorite recipe. If you don't like pecans, feel free to leave them out."

Ingredients:

4 eggs 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil 2 cups white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots 1 cup chopped pecans   1/2 cup butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 4 cups confectioners' sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2.	In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4.	To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 8/3/2010

Raspberry Swirl Brownies

 

I got together with my Bunco group tonight and made some yummy brownies!  My Bunco group meets once a month and we play a couple of games of Bunco.  We talk, laugh, gossip and eat some scrumptious food. 

I hemmed and hawed about what to bring tonight.  I wanted to use up some frozen raspberries, I had a package of cream cheese and a brownie mix on hand.  So I looked at several recipes on allrecipes.com and combined a couple to make up my recipe. 

Raspberry Swirl Brownies


1 package brownie mix
10 ounce package of frozen raspberries, slightly thawed
8 ounce block of 1/3 Less Fat "Neufchâtel"cheese (or regular cream cheese)
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
plain fat free yogurt


Mix the brownie batter according to the package, except decrease the oil by half.  Replace the oil you didn't use with plain, fat free yogurt.


In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg together.  Smash the raspberries and add to the cream cheese mixture.  Swirl raspberries in, but don't mix until combined. 


Preheat oven to directions on box of brownie mixture.  Spray a 9x11 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour half of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan.  Spoon the cream cheese and raspberry mixture onto the brownie batter in the pan.  Top with the remaining brownie batter.  

Drag a knife through the brownie mixture, up and down and back and forth to swirl the cream cheese and raspberry mixture in with the brownie batter.  Bake according to the package directions.  

Review:  These were very good brownies!  Everyone at Bunco enjoyed them.  The cream cheese added a tang, while the raspberries added depth and great flavor.  Next time, I would add 1 T. of flour to the cream cheese and raspberry mixture.  The flour would make the cream cheese mixture a little bit more firm.  This brownie recipe will go into my recipe file.  Enjoy~ 

Family, Food and Fourth of July

JP and I traveled to Dunlap, Iowa to spend the Fourth of July with my in law family.  We had lots of laughs, lots of great food and lots of fun.  We even got to meet (and hold) the newest member of the family.

Dunlap is a small town that has a big Fourth of July.  The Fourth kicks off with the Boy Scouts raising the flag and a Fun Run/Walk.  There are two parades:  a kiddie parade, a "regular" parade.  The kiddie parade is always a big hit.  Kids ride decorated bikes, trikes, scooters, or just about anything with wheels!  Those not old enough to pedal on their own are pulled in wagons or strollers.  The kiddie parade goes around the block with kids trying not to crash and parents walking (or running when they get going fast enough!) along with them.  After the parades, there are activities in the park.  There are food stands, Bingo, a hot dog eating contest, kiddie games, bouncy slides, a BBQ contest and of course, visiting with family and friends.  Throughout the day, there are picnics, parties and fire cracker!  It all ends with a spectacular fire works display.  The volunteers who put this big event on every year deserve a round of applause.  The volunteer fire department deserves a standing ovation for the fireworks they set off every year.   This year was a little different, though.  

RAIN.  

Even though the kiddie parade, the regular parade and the park activities were canceled, we still had a great time!  Grandma Ronk still had her annual picnic.  We still laughed and visited with friends and family.  Despite the rain, we had a terrific time.  I love spending the Fourth of July in Dunlap! 

My sister-in-law, Kelly, made grape salad for the picnic at Grandma Ronk's.  I don't have her recipe, but my mum made a similar recipe when I was growing up.  Enjoy~

Sour Grapes

4 c. seedless green grapes
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. brown sugar


Wash and remove the stems from the grapes.  Dry the grapes with a paper towel.  Mix the sour cream and brown sugar together.  In a medium bowl, mix the grapes and sour cream mixture together.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.  Enjoy~

Review:  This is a refreshing dessert.  The tart grapes blend well with the sweetness of the brown sugar.  This recipe is easy to transport to picnics and is great on a hot day.