BETTER THAN SEX FRUIT SALAD

ingredients :

1 can(s)

fruit cocktail drained (we like chunky tropical) drained, 15 oz.

1 can(s) crushed pineapple (small can, 8 oz.)

1 can(s) cherry pie filling, 21 oz.

2 bananas sliced

1 can(s) sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz.

8 oz sour cream

1 pkg Cool Whip, 8 oz. (thawed)

Directions :

1 Mix together Cool Whip, sweetened condensed milk and sour cream.

2 Add the fruit cocktail, pineapple, cherry pie filling and bananas.

3 Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours. Serve.

Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake With Cream Cheese Glaze

INGREDIENTS :

12 tablespoons of butter, plus 2 tablespoons (for pan)

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large eggs

2 cups of all purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon (for pan)

1 and a half teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

Cream Cheese Glaze

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

1 and a half cups powdered sugar

¼ cup of evaporated milk

1 and a half teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter and sugar for 8 minutes in a mixer.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a glass measuring cup, pour in buttermilk.

Stir in the vanilla and eggs into the buttermilk.

Turn mixer on low. Start slowly pouring (separately) in the wet and dry ingredients into the butter and sugar.

Turn off mixer and scrape down the sides.

Turn mixer on one more time– on low, just long enough to make sure all the ingredients are all mingling together.

**Do not over mix.

Butter your loaf pan with about 2 tablespoons of butter.

Add 1 tablespoon of flour to “dust” the butter in the loaf pan.

Dump out any excess flour.

Pour all of the batter into the pan, spread evenly.

Bake for 60 minutes.

Test the cake with a toothpick before pulling out. (A few crumbs on it is perfect!)

Cream Cheese Glaze

Add 1 and a half teaspoons of vanilla into a ¼ cup of evaporated milk. Set aside.

Mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar with a mixer.

While mixing, slowly pour in the milk and vanilla into the cream cheese mixture. The consistency should be thin, but creamy.

Drizzle onto cake

Coconut Cream Delight

Coconut Cream Delight – It’s just one of those desserts that stays with you!

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Yield: 12-16

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter,softened

1 cup walnuts/pecans, chopped and divided

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 (12oz.) Cool Whip, divided

2 cups milk

2 (3.5 oz) coconut cream instant pudding mix

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Layer 1: Mix the flour, butter and half of walnuts/pecans together.

Press into 9×13 pan and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, cool it well.

Layer 2: Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and 1 cup of the cool whip, pour over cooled crust.

Place into the refrigerator while you prepare the next layer.

Layer 3: Mix the milk and pudding mix until it becomes smooth.

Put it over the cream cheese layer.

Place into the refrigerator and chill until set.

Layer 4: Spread remaining cool whip over the top, and sprinkle with remaining walnuts/pecans.

Cool for the minimum of 3 hours.

Baked Orange Chicken

This baked orange chicken is tastes better than any Chinese take-out you'll get at a restaurant. Crispy coating of egg & cornstarch and then it's baked in a sweet and delicious orange sauce. This is a dish that you will want to make over and over again.

Ingredients

crispy chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

4 large eggs

1 cup canole oil

orange sauce

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinager

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon cornstarch

zest of one orange

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet pan over medium-high heat.

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken pieces. Add chicken pieces to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag (or you can do this in a bowl) and add the cornstarch. Close the Ziploc bag and shake to mix it together and coat the chicken pieces in cornstarch. 

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork. 

Take a handful of cornstarch coated chicken pieces out of the bag and place in the egg. Coat both sides of each piece and then place in the hot oil. Let cook for 2-3 minutes per side. You just want a nice crispy crust, you do not have to cook them all the way through. Repeat with the remining chicken pieces in several batches. It takes me about 4 batches to cook them. 

** Once chicken pieces are done place them on a plate lined with paper towels so they can drain. 

Add the crispy chicken pieces to the prepared 9x13 baking pan. 

Combine all the ingredietns for the orange sauce into a small bowl and stir with a whisk until mixed together. Pour over the chicken and stir to coat all the chicken pieces in the sauce. 

Bake, uncovered for 1 hour. Turning and mixing the chicken every 15 minutes to make sure it stays coated in the sauce. 

Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

Recipe Notes

I just use prepared orange juice, I do not try to fresh squeeze it from oranges. You can do that if you want to. 

An easy way to test if your oil is hot enough to use : grab a small pinch of flour and drop it into the oil, if it sizzles and bubbles then the oil is hot enough to fry and you're good to go. 

source: togetherasfamily.com

Butter Pecan Cookies

Thick and chewy Butter Pecan Cookies... made with brown butter! YUM.

Ingredients

For the Buttered Pecans:

1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves, finely chopped

1 and 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the Butter Pecan Cookies:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted until browned

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

16 pecan halves, for decoration, optional

Instructions

For the Buttered Pecans:

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside until needed.

For the Butter Pecan Cookies:

In a large bowl combine flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda; whisk well to combine then set aside until needed.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat; continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Add in both sugars and whisk well to combine. Add in vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating until eggs are just combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, stirring until just combined. Fold in the buttered pecans.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days. If you refrigerate for more than 4 hours, you'll need to let the dough sit at room temperature until it's scoopable.

To Bake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop 3 tablespoon sized rounds of dough onto the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie for spreading. Firmly press a pecan half on top of each ball of cookie dough, if desired, then bake in preheated oven for 9 minutes, or until edges are set and the center is still a little jiggly. Sprinkle warm cookies with a little granulated sugar, if desired. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.

Notes

Cookies will stay "fresh" for 3 days when stored in an airtight container.

Cookie dough will keep in the fridge for 48 hours. Alternatively, you may scoop and freeze the cookie dough for up to 2 months. You will need to add an extra minute or two to the bake time if baking frozen dough.

You can make smaller sized cookies, but you'll need to decrease the bake time by a minute or two.

For decoration, you may sprinkle granulated sugar on the cookies right when they come out of the oven.

source: bakerbynature.com

RUM CAKE (FROM SCRATCH!)

This rum cake recipe is made from scratch, with rum baked into a delicious yellow bundt cake and drizzled with a butter-rum sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups cake flour (or see substitution below if you only have all-purpose flour)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided (plus extra for sugar-ing the pan)

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup rum (not spiced)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

6 large egg yolks, room temperature

3 large egg whites, room temperature

BUTTER-RUM SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup rum

DIRECTIONS:

HOW TO MAKE THE CAKE:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a bundt pan liberally with cooking spray.  Then add a few tablespoons of granulated sugar to the inside of the pan, and gently tap and turn it around until every square inch of the inside of the pan is coated in sugar.  (Be especially sure that the inner cone of the bundt pan is coated in sugar so that the cake does not stick.)  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour (*or see substitute below), baking powder, salt, baking soda, and 1 1/2 cups sugar until combined.  In a different medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, rum, oil, vanilla, and yolks until combined.  Set aside.

In clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy, about 30-45 seconds.  With whisk still running, add in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.  Continue to beat until stiff peaks just form, about 60-90 more seconds. Transfer the whipped egg whites to a separate bowl and set aside.

Add the flour mixture to now-empty mixing bowl. Using the whisk attachment again, gradually pour in butter mixture and mix on medium-low speed until it is just combined, about 15 seconds. (Don’t overmix!)  Stop the mixer and scrape whisk and sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until the mixture is smooth and fully incorporated, about 10 to 15 more seconds.  Fold about 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into batter until just combined, then add the remaining whites and gently fold in until no streaks remain.

Pour the batter evenly into the sugared bundt pan.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  (Don’t overbake!)  Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes.  (While the cake cools — or even better, while it’s in the oven — make the butter-rum sauce.  Instructions below.)

Once the cake is slightly cool, use a toothpick or skewer to poke lots of holes all over the surface of the cake (while it is still in the pan.)  Pour about half of the butter rum sauce over the surface of the cake.  Let it rest for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is absorbed.  Then carefully invert the cake onto a serving platter or pedestal, and drizzle the remaining sauce evenly on top of the cake.

Serve immediately, or cover until ready to serve.

HOW TO MAKE THE BUTTER-RUM SAUCE:

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, butter and water until combined.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, and continue to boil for 5 minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove from heat and gradually stir in rum (carefully, as the rum will make the sauce boil up again).

If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can instead mix together 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour + 5 tablespoons cornstarch.  Then (very important!) sift those together before adding to the cake.

ORANGE CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

Cake

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

4 eggs

2 tsp pure orange extract

1 tsp grated orange zest

Frosting

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened

4 Tbsp softened butter

1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar

2 Tbsp orange zest

2 Tbsp orange juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Cake: Stir together flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until light golden brown and set. Remove from oven, allow to cool.

Frosting: In a large mixing bowl, whip the butter and cream cheese together with a hand-held electric mixer. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until it is all combined and smooth. Beat in the orange zest and juice. Spread over cake and cut into squares.

source: plainchicken.com

Mandarin Orange Pig Picking Cake

Mandarin Orange Cake, also affectionately called Pig Picking Cake because it’s so good that it makes such pigs out of us, is a Southern classic! This is a beloved cake of family reunions, church picnics, potlucks, and warm weather get-togethers. Surprisingly easy to make, this cool cake has always been a hit wherever it goes!

This has always been my favorite cake…

This has always been my favorite cake, although I don’t remember Mama actually making it any time other than our yearly family reunion. She would make it three days before, sit it at eye level in the fridge (not sure if that was intentional or not), and keep it there, untouched, until the reunion day. It was pure torture.

On the day of the reunion, her father (My Papa Reed) would hook a huge flatbed trailer up to his tractor and pull it up alongside their farmhouse. The ladies would then appear with an assortment of tablecloths and sheets to cover the wagon before everyone started placing their dishes upon our makeshift table. I would watch for two things: my mom’s Mandarin Orange Cake and whichever little old lady had deviled eggs with red stuff (paprika) sprinkled on top.

It’s been quite some time since we had a family reunion. What used to be one of our most looked forward to events each year just slowly fell away. I’m not sure if it was because people moved away or younger folks just didn’t feel the same connection as they grew up and started families of their own. You don’t hear much about family reunions these days. I’d love to hear if y’all still have them or if you have any special memories of them growing up.

Ingredients

Cake

1 box Yellow Cake Mix I prefer Duncan Hines

11 ounce can Mandarin oranges diced, undrained

4 eggs

½ cup oil

Frosting

3.4 ounce Box Instant Vanilla Pudding

16 ounce whipped topping

1 -8 ounce Can crushed pineapple undrained

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour three round cake pans or grease one 9x13 baking dish. 

Place all cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well blended and fully combined, about two minutes. 

Pour into prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes, slightly less if you use three pans. If using round pans, allow cooling for ten minutes before turning out to cool completely. If using 9x13, allow cooling completely in pan.

For frosting, place pineapple (with juice) and pudding mix in a mixing bowl. Beat until just mixed. Add in whipped topping and beat on low speed for about one minute, until blended in. Frost cake.

Cover well and refrigerate. Best if made 2 or 3 days ahead and refrigerated before serving.

Notes

*Note: I usually make mine in a 9x13 pan just to save the trouble of fooling with the layers.

source: southernplate.com

Piri Piri Chicken

Piri Piri Chicken

This recipe is inspired by my recent trip to Portugal.  This recipe is easy to make and it tastes so good – increase the spice to suit your taste!

Serves 4

Prep time:  10 minutes plus marinating time

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the marinade

1 red chilli, deseeded

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 lemons, juice only

1tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp chilli flakes (more if desired)

1 tbsp ginger puree

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp caster sugar

For the chicken

1 kg chicken thighs

20g butter, melted

1 lemon, juice only

Handful fresh coriander, chopped

Method

1.    Blitz the marinade ingredients in a food processor.  Season to taste and add more chilli if you prefer more heat.

2.    Place the chicken thighs in a freezer bag and pour in the marinade, massage into the chicken, close the bag and allow to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.

3.    Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C Fan/Gas mark 7.  Put the chicken on a baking tray and reserve any remaining marinade.  Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  Decrease the heat of the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas mark 6 and cook for a further 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

4.    Remove from the oven and allow to rest.  Mix the remaining marinade with the melted butter, juice of 1 lemon and the chopped coriander.  Brush the buttery mixture over the chicken and serve with your desired sides, enjoy!

Best Crab Bombs

Ingredients

1 lb. Crabmeat

1 Egg, beaten

1 cup Ritz Crackers, crushed

1 tsp. Yellow Mustard

2 tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

2 tbsp. Fresh Parsley, chopped

1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning

1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

How to:

Place crabmeat in a mixing bowl, picking any stray shell fragments out. Add crushed crackers, Old Bay Seasoning & parsley to the crab. In a separate bowl, combine egg, mustard, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Whip with a whisk until smooth. Pour egg mixture over the crabmeat and crackers and gently mix careful not to break up large lumps of crabmeat. Mold into golfball sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Drizzle w/ melted butter and allow to cool.

Source: Allrecipes.com