Just Peachy

Peach.

I love everything about it. The color, the smell, the fruit.

Speaking of fruit. 
There's nothing like biting into a fresh, juicy peach. 
The taste for me is the perfect reminder of summertime.

Does any certain food remind you of or bring back memories of summer?

In celebration of my love for peaches and summer, I had to make a dessert that included this lovely fruit.

Check out my adventure in baking a Peach Upside Down Coffee Cake. 

And check out Whole and Heavenly Oven for the recipe. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica

What's For Dinner #2

I picked up a copy of Make and Take by Better Homes & Gardens the other day because I was looking for some easy recipes. 

And sometimes it's nice to hold the recipe book in your hand instead of looking online.

This is a fun magazine. It has all sorts of interesting (and easy) recipes to make and take to family picnics or church dinners.

Inside I picked out a couple recipes to make for dinner tonight. 

Here's what on the menu tonight.

Upside Down Pizza Casserole

  
I used the recipe found in the link but added to the mixture black olives and mushrooms...yum!!
 

And for dessert..

Lemon-Blueberry Salad

This recipe was so quick. 
2 packs of lemon pudding mix
mixed with 2 cups of milk.
Add 12 oz of cool whip. Mix.
Add 3 cups of fresh blueberries with 2 cups of crushed vanilla wafers. 

What are you cooking for dinner tonight??
Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica

What's for Dinner?

Today instead of crafting -- I'm cooking.

Most days I'm not into cooking. 

I'd rather bake any day than cook.

However, on occasion I like to try my hand at a new recipe. 

The easier the better. The less ingredients the better.

So when I ran across a few really simple but delicious looking recipes on Pinterest I had to try them out.

 Here's the menu for today.

And a couple links in case you want to try them for yourself. 

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Hawaiian Chicken 

Who doesn't love a 3 ingredient only crock pot dish?

  Seven Layer Salad 

This recipe was from my grandmother. It was always a hit at church and family dinners.

 Sour Cream and Chives Mashed Potatoes

Thank you Betty Crocker. You just made my mashed potato making a whole lot easier!

 &

Garlic Bread

This came from the local bakery. Walmart bakery that is. It looked wonderful!

  
 Oreo Fluff

I was really craving some Oreo pudding. This was even easier and just as amazing. Then again -- how could you go wrong with Oreos? 

Let's Eat Cake....Again

A few weeks ago I did a post about about naked cakes. 

If you missed it you can read it here.

In the post I talked about trying to make a naked cake of my own. I actually did make one. Sadly, this is it. Just go ahead and stick this cake on your Pinterest fail board.

Naked Cake No.1

In my defense, it did taste good. 
However, I realized there just wasn't enough frosting. I used one box of cake mix and one can of frosting. 
Yep. Not near enough frosting. 

It looked a little sad, so I had the bright idea to then cut the sides off. Somehow I thought that would make it look better. 

It didn't. 
Enter naked cake no. 2. 

Naked Cake No.2

  I decided to give it another go. 

My brother's birthday was coming up, so I figured it was worth another shot. This time I was prepared. 

 I used a triple chocolate cake mix, which had pudding in the mix. One I had it mixed, I then added a cup of applesauce in the batter to make it even more moist. I wanted to be certain I had enough frosting. I did. With plenty to spare at that! 

I found a wonderful peanut butter frosting at this Cleobuttera website. It was light and airy--the perfect pairing with a chocolate cake. Just like a huge Reese cup. Which is why I decided to decorate the top with crushed mini Reese cups.

 

 My advice on making a naked cake? Be sure to have plenty of frosting on hand. The layers look so much better filled to the brim! Another thing I found handy was a side scraper. 

This really helped to make the look I was going for. 

I wanted to just smooth the excess frosting along the sides without actually frosting the sides. There you have it. My official naked cake. We won't mention the first one again...

 Here are a couple great websites to show how to make your own.

Easy Naked Cake How-To 

& Smoothed Sides Naked Cake How-To Video

Have Cake. Eat it too.

Who here likes cake? 

Or should I say who doesn't like cake?!

I have always had a sweet tooth--especially for cake. 

Of any kind. 

I must confess. My all time favorite is the boxed cake mix. That might have made all you made-from-scratch bakers out there cringe, but it's true. 

Growing up, it's what my mom made for my brothers and I almost every year on our birthday. 

You know what the best frosting ever is???

 Rainbow Chip by Betty Crocker. 

Don't just take my word for it. 

Check it out yourself! 

It was discontinued for a year or so but was brought back by popular demand. 

Yep. Its that good!

Speaking of cake---While browsing through Pinterest the other day, I stumbled upon a interesting but beautiful cake. It was called a naked cake. 
I had never heard of this before, so of course--I googled it.

From what I could gather, a naked cake is created when the frosting or topping covers only the cake top and in between the layers but not the sides. Therefore leaving the sides exposed or--naked. 

Many of you have already heard of this trend, since countless blogs and magazines have been talking about it for some time, including Country Living who featured these last August. This style seems to be a popular trend for weddings and parties. 

I love the concept of this cake! 
I hope to be back in a few days with my version of a naked cake. 

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorties I found on Pinterest.

1. http://www.stylesweetca.com/blog/2016/1/6/how-to-make-a-naked-cake
2.
http://www.thenest.com/Recipes/87886/detailview.aspx?STOPREDIRECTING=TRUE&id=87886&type=7&recipe_ingredients=Chocolate&PgReferrer=results.aspx
3. https://www.instagram.com/p/8U43PxNQDx/
4. http://justdestinymag.com/how-to-make-beautiful-naked-cakes/
5. http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/05/naked-cake-tips/
6. http://whatsgabycooking.com/naked-birthday-cake/

--UPDATE--
Just wanted to let every know..I did try a naked cake of my own. However, I can't bring myself to post pictures of it. I'll try again next week and see if the second is any better! It's harder than it looks. Just sayin'...

Cookies, Cookies!

Cookies, cookies, cookies! I betcha can't guess what this post is about. ;) Recently as I was browsing through blogs. I stumbled upon a cookie swap. Being the cookie/dessert lover that I am, I signed right up! Wow, am I glad that I did, because I have received some delicious cookies the past couple weeks!
By the way, if anyone is interested in this swap, there will be another cookie swap next year. Just click on the link for directions.
http://eepurl.com/hsS-Y

I also want to thank those who sent cookies to me. They were truly delicious. In fact, so good...I just had to share pics! You can find the recipes on their blogs.

http://atasteofalaska.blogspot.com
This was called coconut almond macaroon. Wonderful!

Look how these cookies were packed...what a neat idea!!!



http://vaikai-vanile.blogspot.com/
I am not sure of the name of these cookies, but they were great! It was chocolate with fruit on the inside, then powdered sugar was used on the outside.



Now the cookie recipe I used was given to me by a friend. This is a great recipe for shipping long distances! It's name is cowboy cookie. I believe online there are many different variations. I had never eaten them before, but I did enjoy this recipe very much. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!



Cowboy Cookies

makes dozens and dozens!

2 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups rolled oats
1 package chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

-Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
-Cream together the shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix well.
-Add the oats and chips; then add pecans.
-Drop by teaspoon full onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden.

Recipes - Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies - Crisco®

Happy Cookie

A few days ago, my brother was sitting on the couch, and casually asked me what was for dessert. We had just had a wonderful homemade vegetable soup (deliciously made by my mother), but I suppose he had something sweet on his mind. Since I love to bake, I jumped at the opportunity to get in the kitchen! Looking for something quick and easy, because I didn't
have a lot of time on my hands, I grabbed one of our favorite go-to cookie recipes!

Recipes - Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies - Crisco®




You can not go wrong with these cookies. The are easy, quick, and delicious!
However, I will warn you...if you have three hungry men in your house (ex. two brothers and a dad)...you might want to make two batches of these!
No matter how many batches you make, there sure to leave you with a smile....



Happy Cookie Baking!