Egg-in-the-Hole

This recipe is from Pioneer Woman's cookbook that I received as a Christmas gift. It is WONDERFUL if you don't already have it. Like her website, she gives detailed pictures and descriptions for everything. I love how she talks about life out on the ranch too. The recipes are classic, delicious and not difficult.

I made this for my little brother and I this morning for breakfast. VERY easy but filling and good!



This is all you will need. No worries- you won't actually be eating Santa and his Mrs. That's just what our salt and pepper are in at this time of year. :)



Find something to cut a hole in your bread. Pioneer Woman recommends a biscuit cutter, but we didn't have one so I used a can of something in the pantry. Make sure it isn't too big.


Heat 2 tbsp of butter on medium-low heat for about a minute before adding your bread.

After the bread cooks for a minute, crack an egg and place its entire contents into the hole you made in the bread. Put salt and pepper on that side and let it cook for another minute before flipping. After flipping your bread over, add salt and pepper again and cook as long as you want.



My brother likes his eggs runny, but I let mine cook a little longer until they were pretty solid.







I realized after eating that salsa would taste really good on top, so you might add that for a little spicy twist. Enjoy!

Double T Cookies

I'm pretty excited about this post. Who doesn't want to eat a cookie shaped as a Double T? OK-maybe if you aren't a Tech fan you don't have a desire to eat anything in the shape of a Double T, but the cookies are quite delicious in whatever shape you want. I might add that they taste extra delicious shaped as a Double T.

This is one of my mom's friends sugar cookie recipe with lemon frosting. I say the frosting is lemon, but it's not too lemony if you aren't a lemon fan. I made these for the Tech vs. Iowa game on Saturday and they were a big hit.

The only inconvenient part of this recipe is you have to make the dough the night before and let it chill overnight. No big deal unless you need a dessert really fast. Letting your dough sit next to sugar free pudding makes it extra moist. ;) Okay, for the dough:
First mix your dry ingredients.
-3 1/2 c flour
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
Then cream together:
- 1 c shortening
-1 1/2 c sugar
-2 eggs
Add the two mixes together, as well as 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 c milk.


Now the fun part. My friend Haleigh has this cute Double T cookie cutter that I had been eye-balling for quite some time. She went out of town so I took the liberty of stealing it. Thanks Haleigh!


Roll out your dough. Make sure you flour your rolling pin (if you use one), your hands and the surface you're working on. It makes the dough less likely to stick.




Put them on a greased pan and bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes at 375. They don't take long to bake-don't let them burn!

After the cookies have cooled, you can frost them. The frosting consists of:
-1 pkg of powdered sugar
-1 stick melted margarine
- 1/4 c. milk
-1 1/4 t. lemon flavoring
-red food coloring




YAY! I'm pretty sure not even Aggies or Longhorns can deny how pretty these cookies are.

***WARNING***
By sprinkling cookies with black sprinkles, your teeth WILL have a blackish tint. Just thought I'd add that.

Wreck 'em Tech :)

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Bread

I'm ALLLIIIVVEEE! I've been MIA for a while and I have no excuse for my actions. Slap my wrists and put me in time out, ok? Before I go on to the yummy pumpkin bread I made this weekend let us have a moment of silence for the end of my favorite season, Summer. --NOT! I love Fall and I'm so glad the Texas heat is finally gone for a while. I got this recipe off of Tasty Kitchen. As we all know, my oven is culinarily challenged so I think my bread was a little too moist. Other than that--DELICIOUS! Baking this bread will ensure that your entire home smells like fall--satisfaction guaranteed. :)



Grease yo' loaf pan. Rub it down with shortening/Crisco and toss some flour around until it's covered.


Like dis.


(I had pictures of the actual recipe being made but they won't work) Boo.

Mix 3/4 c butter, 3/4 c sugar and 3/4 c brown sugar. Add 4 whole eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Then add in 2 1/2 c pumpkin puree (found on the baking aisle.) In a separate bowl mix your dry ingredients: 3 c flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ground ginger. There were some other weird ingredients like cardamom, but I decided to skip out since I'd never heard of it. haha




Don't tell me what you think it looks like. I know.


Add half your flour mix to your orange mix and beat well. Add the other half, as well as 1/2 c buttermilk. Beat until smooooooooth.



For the streusel topping:
-1/4 c butter, softened
-1/2 c brown sugar
-1/4 c oatmeal
-1/4 c flour
-1 tsp cinnamon
-3 Tbs ground flaxseed (my roommate makes smoothies out of this stuff-only reason why I have it! ha)
-1/4 c chopped pecans- optional (I skipped out. . not a pecan fan)
Mix these ingredients together in a food processor or with a fork like I did.

Pour your mixture into 2 greased loaf pans and sprinkle half the streusel topping on each one. Bake for 70-80 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick comes out clean.




Tastes even betta with some butta on top.


I had some extra so I made muffins. Aren't they cute?

This is grave. . very grave indeed

Amy moved out! My cooking buddy now lives like a mile away from me. That makes cooking impossible, you know. I went home and made the BEST CHOCOLATE sheet cake in the world. It was for my grandpa's birthday. Because I was so nervous it would taste like salt and flour, I did not take any pictures. I can't have a grill at my apartment, so my dad grilled up some chicken and sent it back to Lubbock with me. I've been experimenting with different chicken salads, so I'll have to take some pics and show ya'll what I come up with.

Did I mention football season is around the corner? Because it is.

Lasagna

We're BACK!

Amy has actually been here the entire summer working at the Holiday Inn (cue Chingy feat Snoop Dogg song) but as you know, I went home for a while and just got back in time for summer school. Yay.

We got back into the groove of cooking and decided to make something we could cook once and reheat for the rest of the week. Did I mention that since it's summer we are even more lazy than usual?

Here's the lasagna we made. . .it's the best!


Boil your noodles and let them dry for a few minutes. Ignore the green onion in the sink. Thanks.


Brown 2 lbs. of ground beef and add about 32oz. of spaghetti sauce.



Combine one medium size container of cottage cheese and almost an entire medium size bag of mozzarella cheese. Save some cheese for the top. Amy made the funny commment that we really do buy almost everything Great Value brand. Why spend more? haha



Mix it up real good.


Now start layering. The order is: noodles, meat/sauce, cheese. Repeat until you have at least 3 layers or run out of ingredients.



Here's where we went off-roading and left the recipe behind. You see, we ran out of meat, but still had sphaghetti sauce in the jar, noodles and cheese left. So we did a final layer of noodles, plain sauce and covered it with cheese. We thought we were pretty smart.



Bake for about 50 min. at 350. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes or when you cut it it will look more like sphagetti than lasagna. haha Enjoy!

Dump Cake

Don't let the name fool you. It's a family favorite, and my Mom got the recipe from her Aunt Babs. That means it will be good no matter what it is. You literally dump all the ingredients in the pan-- how can you resist? Try it next time you need an easy dessert!


This is what you'll need. There are some substitutes you can make in this recipe. Let me talk a moment about a special substitute I made.


Dewberries. I've grown up picking them every summer. I had some in my pancakes this morning! If you live in the south you can find them growing wild almost anywhere! In this recipe you usually use a can of pineapple which is also VERY delicious, but I wanted to use my dewberries in something.


Pour cherry pie filling and whatever other fruit you want. Aunt Babs recommended peaches as well. . so a can of whatever you think will taste good! I used about a cup and a half of dewberries. Give or take some.


Pour yellow cake mix over the top. Make sure it's even.




Sprinkle top with pecans. However much you want. Then slice two sticks of butter on top of pecans.


Paula Deen would be proud.


Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Wa-la!

Tastes great with Bluebell Homeade Vanilla!

Mom's Banana Bread

My mom has been making banana bread since before I can remember. She bakes it for new neighbors, friends who just had a baby, a friend who is sick or for people at Christmas. For me, it is one of those foods that when I smell it reminds me of home. And my mother.
Enjoy!



My workspace doesn't look like Barefoot Contessa. My bad.



Before you get started, grease your loaf pan with Crisco. My picture doesn't have it, but sprinkle flour in as well.



Cream 1/2 cup shortening and 1 1/2 cup sugar.


Add 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp salt. Beat until fluffy. Like cloud fluffy.


Next, stir 1 tsp. baking soda into 1/4 cup buttermilk. This is where I had problems. We had no buttermilk. So I had to make my own. Since I needed 1/4 cup milk, I just added 1/4 tbsp of white vinegar and let it sit for 15 minutes. Ta-da!


Add 2 cups flour and your milk alternately.



Before I knew the art of banana bread I used to wonder why I would go to the fridge in our garage and find very old bananas in the meat drawer. But now, I see why. Moral of the story: the older your bananas the better your bread. Trust me.



Smash up three bananas and add them along with 1 tsp. vanilla to your mix.



Your mix should fill two 9X5X3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.



After you pull your loafs out, let them cool for a few minutes. Then turn them upside down and give 'em a few hard pats on the bottom of the pan. Your loaf should fall in your hands.

Banana bread tastes great with butter or by itself. We like to eat it for a snack and at breakfast.

We are still alive

But it's been pretty stressful over here...because it's finals week. If everyone could join together and play "My Heart Bleeds for You" on the world's smallest violin, I would appreciate it. Actually, we had a delicious Cinco de Mayo party yesterday complete with homeade salsa, guacamole, margaritas and enchilada casserole.

But did I bother to take any pictures? Of course not! Uggg. Salsa is my new found fetish so when I perfect my recipe I'll put it on here. Right now it is H-O-T!!! I can barely take the heat and I love hot food. The guacamole is my mom's recipe that we have already perfected, so when I make it next time I'll be sure and share it. It's addicting.

And the enchilada casserole. That recipe belongs to my ex-roommate Shelby. I call her my ex not in a "we didn't get along and so I said see ya biotch" way. I've known her since I was born and she is awesome!

If anybody else is out there taking finals.....MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.

Mint Oreo Balls

Disclaimer: If you are on a diet don't even bother reading this. This recipe has about 345783 calories, but it is scrumptious. And easy! Amy and I almost fainted in Wal-mart the day we discovered mint flavored Oreos. We try not to buy them, but sometimes on special occasions we splurge. If you've ever had oreo balls, it is the same thing except with Mint Oreos. I've also seen people use Nutter Butters if you like peanut butter.


Here are the only three things you will need.



I used a food processor to smash my oreos, but you can put them in a big plastic bag and smash them the old-fashioned way if you want! The only thing I suggest is using 3/4 of your oreos with the creme center in, and 1/4 of them with the creme center removed.



When they are finely grated, pour them into a bowl and add your cream cheese. Make sure it's soft!



Combining the cream cheese and oreos can be difficult. I used a potato smasher, because it makes me feel powerful, but you can use whatever works best for YOU.

After you combine the two, put the bowl in your freezer for about 10 minutes just so it will be easier to work with.



Now you need to melt your almond bark. My favorite part. I did it in the microwave and it worked fine. I used seven bars, and it was a little too much for the amount of "dough" I had.



Get out your oreo/cream cheese mix from the freezer and roll into small balls like this.



Drop it in your chocolate mix and cover completely. I used a spoon to transfer it in and out.



Place it gently on a cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper on top. When you're done put them in the fridge until the outside is hard.

I'm trying to get in shape, so hopefully I'll find some hungry roommates or neighbors to eat these for me!