Just like my Grandma!

Nothing brings me back to my Southern roots like home made peach cobbler!! This recipe is so simply but such a show stopper!

Enjoy :)


Peach Cobbler



1 cup Original Bisquick
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 can (29 ounces) of drained sliced peaches (2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) peaches can be used instead.)


Heat oven to 375.
Stir together peaches and sugar.
In a ungreased square (8x8x2) baking dish, stir together Bisquick, milk and nutmeg.
Stir in butter until blended.
Spoon the sugared peaches over the batter.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until golden.

Oh it's ladies night...

Once a month myself, 2 of my bridesmaids, and my matron of honor get together at one of our homes and do dinner, drinks, and lots of girl talk! Instead of us going out every month, the person who hosts that month, also fixes the meal! Not so shabby!

This month it was my turn and I used Ms. Rachael Ray as an inspiration! I went on my quest to find something quick, easy, tasty to make, and impressive (of course!). I stumbled upon Rachael's Chicken Brasciole that she served with Lemon Pepper Cappelini. SWEET! Then the question was, "what veggie to serve alongside?"... how about some simple steamed squash?! FAB! And to drink... well, even I impressed myself with this one! I dubbed it "Semi-Homemade Sangria". So delish & perfect!

The crowning jewel of my meal was dessert... a Bailey's Irish Cream Cake with Bailey's glaze. O. M. G. SO GOOD. It was such an incredibly simple recipe and absolutely one I will make again.

This meal was incredible from start to finish and I got raves from all three of my lovely gal pals!

Now go... Enjoy it yourselves :)

Chicken Brasciole
(adapted from Rachael Ray)



1/2 cup hot water
Handful raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, a few sprigs, leaves chopped

Pour very hot tap water into a small bowl. Add raisins and plump 5 minutes.
Drain raisins and pat dry. Place raisins, nuts, parsley, lemon zest, garlic, bread crumbs, and cheese into processor and pulse into a stuffing.
Butterfly the chicken open by cutting into and across the breast but not all the way through. Pound out the cutlets and season the chicken with salt and pepper. Fill the breasts with stuffing, roll and secure with toothpicks.
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown the brasciole all over 7 to 8 minutes, remove and set aside. Deglaze pan with wine, scraping up the drippings. Stir in tomatoes and tarragon, add chicken back, cover and simmer 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.


Lemon Pepper Cappelini
(adapted from Rachael Ray)



2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 lemons, zested and juiced
Salt
1/2 pound capellini
1/2 cup shredded or torn basil leaves
Grated cheese, to pass at table

Place water on to boil for pasta.
In a large skillet combine olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add garlic, pepper and the lemon zest.
Salt water when it boils then cook cappellini to al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Add a ladle of cooking water to lemon pepper butter and stir in the lemon juice. Drain pasta and toss with lemon-pepper butter and salt, to taste. Add the basil to the pasta and serve a small bundle alongside your entree or serve as a delicate first course.


Semi-Homemade Sangria



2-750 ml bottles of Arbor Mist Sangria wine
Splash of peach schnapps
Splash of Cointreau
Splash of brandy
Fruit of your choice (I used 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 apple, 1 peach, 1 orange and sliced them all into 8ths)


Place sliced fruit into the bottom of the pitcher.
Pour liquids over top.
Muddle the fruit & liquors together & serve on ice.


Bailey’s Irish Cream Cake



CAKE
1 c. nuts
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 (3 oz.) pkg. Jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 c. cold water
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. Bailey's Irish Cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on the bottom of pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool cake completely. Remove cake and pour glaze over top and sides.

GLAZE:
1 stick butter
1/4 c. water
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. Bailey's Irish Cream

Melt butter. Stir in water and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. REMOVE from heat. Stir in Bailey's Irish Cream.

*Note: I poured and repoured the glaze over the cake about 5 times to get it to really soak in. I then took the remaining glaze and put it into a tupperware container and drizzled it over top with each piece I served!

Buffalo Chicken goodness!

This has to be one of my most requested recipes that I make! It's perfect for a party and feeds a crowd on one turn of it!

Mr. Tana-Licious loves buffalo chicken... as does my future brother-in-law! So when we got together to celebrate his birthday this past weekend, this was on the top of his "must have" list.

I happily obliged! :)

Buffalo Chicken Dip



8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cup bleu cheese dressing
1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups canned chicken, drained


Heat oven to 350°F. Place cream cheese into deep dish 9-inch pie plate. Microwave 1 minute to soften.

Whisk in salad dressing, Buffalo Wing Sauce and cheese until smooth. Stir in chicken (make sure it is broken up into smaller chunks).

Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir. Serve with crackers (I used Towne House Toppers)

A grilling feast!

After returning home from a week on vacation, on Sunday I decided that I needed to cook! I was having serious with drawls but also didn't want to labor over the hot stove all evening!

The solution... beer can chicken! Mr. Tana-Licious' aunt made something similar to this a few weeks back when we joined them for dinner and we fell in love. So simple & so incredibly yummy! I paired it with some grill packet potatoes (took my Lipton potato recipe and tossed it all together into some aluminum foil and stuck in on the grill!) and some locally grown sweet corn. Yum!

Dessert was no let down either! I kept with the grilling theme and made a recipe I had seen in Cooking Light... Grilled pineapple with a rum glaze! To die for!

But first... let's get to the chicken! I started with a quick rub of extra virgin olive oil, pepper, and garlic paste (peel, smash, an then finely chop garlic - add a bit of kosher salt and mash the heck out of it with your knifes side!).



Then I prepped the chicken and the beer can! I tied the chickens little wings together to keep it all nice and compact. For the beer can, I started by drinking just about half of it (someone has to have the hard job!!) and then I shoved about 4 sprigs of rosemary in and then sat the chicken down over the beer can & onto a cookie sheet (this is optional however, it caught a ton of drippings that would have otherwise went into the grill).



Next step was to slather the chicken in the EVOO/ pepper/ garlic rub. I made sure to drip some down into the chicken and lather him up good!



The chicken then made his trip to my grill where we let him cook for 90 minutes over medium low heat!



At the end of his 90 minutes on the grill, he was looking mighty yummy and smelled fantastic!



I then brought the chicken instead and tented him to keep all the juices inside. Helps make a moist bird even moister...




I would absolutely make this chicken again in a heartbeat... ad you can always switch up the ingredients too. For example, you could use a dry rub instead of the EVOO mix I made... or drop some smashed cloves of garlic into the beer can! Endless possibilities!!!


Onto dessert... My favorite part of a fabulous meal!

Rum Glazed Grilled Pineapple
(adapted from Cooking Light)



1 whole pineapple sliced into 1" thick rings
1/2cup of your favorite rum (I used Cruzan Coconut Rum)
Vanilla ice cream

Start by heating your grill to medium heat and place the pineapple rings onto the grill.
Grill each side of the pineapple 2-3 minutes or until heated through/ grill marks are present.
Generously baste the pineapple with the rum and flip to do the same. Repeat the basting/ flipping process for 3 more minutes.
Serve alone or with ice cream!

*Note: I served mine ice cream sandwich style! The coconut rum that I used really gave a deeper flavor or tropical fruitiness (is that even a word?!). Delish!!!

Birthdays are a labor of love!

So last month I decided that I would tackle the challenge of making Mr. Tana-Licious' birthday cake. I knew that I wanted to use fondant in some form... and that my darling fiance loves cream cheese icing & cinnamon. How to incorporate all 3 became my challenge... and I knew that I wanted to do it mostly all from scratch!

I found a recipe on Food Network for a Spicey Cinnamon cake (courtesy of Paula Deen!) and decided that that would be a solid base... and with a few tweaks I could make it work. Then, I took a classic buttercream recipe & adapted it to make it into a cream cheese frosting.

The result? Heavenly! The cake was moist & delicious and the frosting was soooo good... the cream cheese really works with the buttercream to give that sweet, but not too sweet taste.

Here are the recipes... I'll post pics after the recipes! Remember: the recipes have been tripled from their original amounts due to the amount of cake I was making! Enjoy :)

Cinnamon Swirl Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


Cinnamon Swirl Birthday Cake
(adapted from Paula Deen’s Spicy Cinnamon Cake)
*Note: this recipe makes a 2 tiered cake (10” & 8”)

3 packages white cake mix
3 4-serving packages of instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups of sour cream
12 eggs
1 ½ C corn oil
7/8 C + 1 T of sugar
2 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease cake pans.

Combine cake mix, instant pudding, sour cream, eggs, and corn oil and beat together well.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.

Pour 3 C batter into prepared pan # 1 and sprinkle with half of sugar mixture. Pour another 3 C of batter on top.

Pour 1 ½ C of batter into prepared pan # 2 and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Pour remaining 1 ½ C of batter on top.

Bake 1 hour. Let cool and remove from pans.



Cream Cheese Frosting
*Note: this recipe has been tripled to frost a 2 tiered cake*

3 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
1 C + 2 T of shortening
9 C powdered sugar
3 dashes of salt
¾ C of milk
3 t of vanilla
3 T of meringue powder

Cream shortening, cream cheese, milk, vanilla.

Add salt & mix.

Beat in sugar & meringue until desired consistency has been reached.


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Now for photos...


The cake!!!


All lit up! Sparkler candles!


The inside... loved that swirl!

Knock knock... who's there?

Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana!

;)

That joke puts my preschoolers into a tizzy... who knew that oranges would be so good for knock knock jokes a well as for a yummy batch of blondies?!?!

When I stumbled upon this recipe a while back, I wasn't so sure I would ever use it. I like citrus as much as the next woman but orange blondies? Blondies (and brownies for that matter) are not supposed to contain fruit! Ludicrous...

That until I made them, ate one, and fell deeply in love! These blondies are so easy & so delicious. As I was making them, I was contemplating how I could switch the recipe up in the future because it is a basic blondie recipe... with the addition of the fruit thrown in. Maybe lemon? Or key lime? Or, lemon lime! Endless possibilities that I will certainly whip up in the future.

Please try these... they are so moist & the frosting really compliments the blondies perfectly! Oh, and it is a requirement that you must tell a horrible knock knock joke while eating these too! ;)

Orange Blondies
(from foodnetwork.com)



1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure orange extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 recipe Orange Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

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 and pierce entire cake with a fork. Spread the Orange Cream Cheese Frosting over completely cooled brownies. Cut into squares.


Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice

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 brownies.

Go to goodness.

Who wants to come home from working all day and slave over a hot stove? NOT I!

This is absolutely one of my go to recipes... I'd compare it to a quick version of Shrimp Scampi. It's really all by taste but the flavors really come together well and you can whip it up in 10 minutes tops. I always keep a bag of fresh frozen shrimp on hand for meals
just like this! Pair it with some garlic bread & a salad and you have a hearty meal!


Super Quick Shrimp Pasta



Ingredients:
2 tbsp minced garlic (jar or fresh)
the juice of 1 whole lemon
1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp parsley (fresh or dried)
salt & pepper to taste
1 lb shrimp (frozen or fresh; pealed & deveined)
1 lb pasta

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil for pasta. Once it has reached a boil, cook pasta according to directions on box.
In a large skillet, melt the butter. Once melted, whisk in olive oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic.
Once the sauce has combined, add the shrimp.
Saute until shrimp are pink & firm.
Add parsley.
Once pasta is done cooking, drain the pasta and reserve one ladle of pasta water.
Add the pasta and pasta water to the shrimp.
Toss all together and serve!