Lime Cookies

I made these cookies this morning. They have a really fresh taste. The lime really pops. I've used the recipe exactly as written on allrecipes, so here it is for you. I baked for a slightly less amount of time so that the cookies still had a bit of chewy left to them.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 3 tablespoons lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 large baking sheets. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl; set aside. Stir together 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, 1 cup sugar, and lime zest in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the lime juice, then the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Form the dough into walnut-sized balls, and roll in the spiced sugar mixture. Arrange onto prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart. Flatten the balls slightly using a decorative cookie stamp or the bottom of a glass.
3. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown, 13 to 16 minutes. Cool the cookies on wire racks, then store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

My hubby LOVES rhubarb. I make a rhubarb crunch that he claims as his favorite, but I need a little more variety than making just that one rhubarb dessert. So today I'm making rhubarb cookies with browned butter icing and yesterday I made Rhubarb Upside Down Cake while my il-laws are here. It's super simple and SO YUMMY! Enjoy!

Rhubarb....I used chopped, about 3 cups. You could leave the rhubarb in long pieces cut to fit the pan, also.
1 white cake mix (YES! I actually used a cake mix!)
ingredients for the mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Place the rhubarb in a greased 9x13 pan. Pour the prepared cake mix over the rhubarb and pour the cream over the cake mix. Bake according to the directions on the box. When the cake has cooled slightly, invert the cake over your serving platter so the rhubarb is up. Allow to cool completely. Use the remaining whipping cream with some powdered sugar to make homemade whipping cream to serve on top of each slice.

(Picture coming soon!)

*Tip for making whipping cream: Freeze your mixing bowl and your wire whisk attachment before preparing the whipping cream, when they are that cold, it makes it easier to whip.

Ginger Soy Chicken

I made this for dinner Tuesday night. It was pretty good. I'd have liked to have more, so I'll probably double it next time. YUM!


Marinade 1 1/2 pounds of chicken in:

1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c sherry
4 tbsp brown sugar
4-6 large cloves garlic, diced (I use a press)
2-4 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp EVOO

Grill the chicken. While it's grilling, boil the marinade until reduced by half.

Sesame Vegetables

carrots, chopped into 1 inch chunks
1 onion, chunked (love the technical terminology, right?!!)
(Additional veggies would be good too....whatever your family likes...broccoli, mushrooms, etc)
1/2 stick butter
1 tbsp or more (your choice) sesame seeds

Saute until onions are tender and carrots are slightly crisp and tender.

When the chicken is done, cut up into cubes and stir into the veggies. Pour the reduced marindae over this. Serve over rice noodles (or Tim thought mashed potatoes would have been good also.) Enjoy!!

Easter Dessert

For Easter this year, we went to church with my husband's grandparents who we are lucky enough to live near to! We attend their church every couple weeks and check in to see how they are and show off our boys. This year, none of their kids could be home on Easter and we weren't heading back to our other home, so we spent it with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great visit and shared lunch with them, also. I made a really yummy dessert that I've been meaning to share for quite a while. It can be made in a 9x13 pan (which I did) or you can layer it in a trifle bowl.

Lemon Pound Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup butter flavored shortening
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1 cup milk
• Juice and zest of one lemon
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream, vanilla, lemon extract, lemon zest and juice. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 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.

You will only need about half of the cake for the dessert.

Berry Squares

1 pkg. (12-oz.) pound cake, cut into 10 slices (Cut the lemon pound cake into squares, then slice them in half so they aren't as tall.)
3 Tbsp. orange juice
2 pt. fresh seasonal berries (I used raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 C. milk
1 C. sour cream
1 t. vanilla extract
2 packages (4-serving size each) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 (8-oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed

Arrange cake slices, cut side up, in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch serving dish. Drizzle orange juice over cake. Top with berries; sprinkle sugar over berries.

Pour milk into large bowl; whisk in sour cream, vanilla and dry pudding mixes, beating just until well blended and smooth. Gently stir in 1 cup of the Cool whip and blend. Spread over berries in pan. Top with remaining whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Garnish with fresh berries before serving.

Serves 12 to 15.

Granny's Kitchen

My mom started a food blog. She makes more salads and desserts than I do. She posted a really good Green and White Salad that I had over the weekend and it was AWESOME and really easy to throw together. Go say hi and check it out!!

Granny's Kitchen

Cinnamon Rolls

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day. I wanted to do something for the staff at my boys' school. The teachers and staff there are wonderful! So, on the blog-o-sphere, I found a recipe for Big Batch Cinnamon Rolls. Thanks to Amy at The Finer Things in Life for posting the recipe!!

For our wedding, we were given a stand mixer. I think it was a Sunbeam. It was small, but we were newly married with no kids so we had no need for anything larger....except that we got pregnant very soon after we were married and soon had another. Somewhere about the 3rd or 4th year anniversary mark, the mixer died. I was upset! I used that mixer almost daily. My kids liked to bake with me and we were constantly making cookies or muffins or SOMETHING. I knew Kitchen Aids were good, but I didn't want to spend the money. So, I went online and found one with Wolfgang Puck's name on it. It was a stronger motor than the KA and a WAYYYYYYYY cheaper pricetag. It also came with a money back guarantee. So, I ordered it and waited. Then it came and I was surprised by how light the box was....the whole thing was plastic! Very light and I was afraid that it wouldn't last long enough for me (I was only asking for a lifetime of use out of the thing!). So, I never even took the whole thing out of the box and shipped it back. About that time, KA was having a sale, so I got the 6 qt KA with an extra bowl and 2 rubber scrapers for only $200 more than the plastic one! WOOHOO! Now, roughly 4 years later, I STILL use the KA often. I got the 6 qt one because it has a 10 cup flour capacity. I figured it could then handle a double batch of cookies or breads, etc. Yesterday I first tested the capacity! I made the Big Batch Cinnamon Rolls and it calls for 9 cups of flour! And it handled it like a champ. I loved it!! You could make these by with your mixer and knead them by hand, but I was able to do it all with the mixer and they were great!! Enjoy!

Big Batch Cinnamon Rolls

Mix 3 cups hot water with 3 tbsp yeast and 3/4 cup sugar. Let stand 2-3 minutes to activate the yeast.

Mix in 2 cups flour.

Add 3/4 cup oil, 1 tsp salt, and 3 eggs. Mix well.

Add 7 cups of flour, a couple at a time until incorporated and knead until dough is not sticky.

Set dough in a LARGE bowl and allow to rise until doubled in size (I used the ginormous tupperware bowl.) Takes about an hour.

Divide dough in half and roll into a long rectangle. Spread with softened butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. Roll up and use a long piece of floss to cut into 18 pieces. Repeat with the other half of dough. Place rolls on a greased pan and allow to rise again, about 30 minutes. (I use a warm oven for the rising. Preheat the oven to about 80-100* and shut it off, it will stay warm in there and they will rise really nice!)

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before icing.

Cinnamon Roll Icicng

1/4 c melted butter
1 tbsp vanilla (use clear vanilla if you want to have WHITE icing)
3 tbsp milk
powdered sugar (takes almost a full bag to get to the consistancy I like)

Mix until spreadable. I like it thick like frosting, some like it thinner like a glaze, it's all personal preference. I added a touch of purple coloring (for the Bulldogs!) because it was kinda brown from the vanilla.

(I bet the brown butter icing from the pumpkin cookies I made last week would be good on these, also!)