Carolyn Braden: Strawberry Lemonade Cake

I created this as a Mother's Day/Birthday cake for my mother-in-law. It was truly delicious. 

Get the recipe at myrecipes.com. Search for Southern Living's Strawberry-Lemonade Layer Cake. It will be your new favorite cake! 

Carolyn Braden Is Making Life Easier, Crock Pot Style

To have homemade meals waiting on me when I walk in the door....a dream, right? Oh, but that is possible......I must use my crock pot!
Teaching elementary students can wear me out! Sometimes it seems so much easier to order some to go food and pick it up on my way home so I don't have to cook. That gets expensive.
So, this year I've decided I'm going to crock pot it as much as possible. I found this great website that will help me achieve my goal. Check it out, the recipes look yummy!

http://crockingirls.com/recipes/

Also, here is a recipe from a someone at my school for Crock Pot Lava Cake.
A book that is great for easy weeknight meals is Southern Living's Easy Weeknight Favorites.

Carolyn Braden's Taco Pie: Vegetarian Style

Here's an easy vegetarian weeknight meal. I layered small tortillas in an 8" cake pan with refried beans, Boca Crumbles, black beans and shredded cheese. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes. I seasoned my Boca Crumbles with taco seasoning and seasoned my refried beans with Arizona Dreaming spice from Penzeys spices. I drained and rinsed the black beans prior to using them. You could use plain beans and crumbles or real meat of you prefer. The idea came from a Southern Living cookbook and I added a few twists to make it my own.

Carolyn Braden: Perfectly cute and yummy Blue Cheese Walnut Heart Sandwiches

Here's a recipe for Blue Cheese Walnut Sandwiches. I originally found the recipe in Southern Living. I changed it up a little.
My recipe:
Blend 8 oz. softened 1/3 Less Fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 6 oz. The Laughing Cow Light Blue Cheese Spread and 3/4 tbsp organic dry parsley. Mix in 1 cup walnuts (non-toasted).
Spread a thin layer of apricot jam onto a slice of bread and a thin layer of the blue cheese mixture on the other half. I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make cute, crust-less party perfect sandwiches.

Carolyn Braden Says "The Yummiest Apple Cake!"

Here's a recipe from Southern Living magazine this month that rocks!  It is Fresh Apple Cake.  After a visit to Huber's Orchard in Starlight IN over the weekend, I decided to try making it tonight.  Of course I tweaked the recipe a little, but it is yummy!


Here is it:
1/2 cup butter, melted (use real butter!)
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 lb. Granny Smith apples (that's about 4 large apples), peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges (then cut the wedges in halves)
If you like nuts, you can add either 1 1/2 cups chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  If you are adding the nuts, bake them in a single layer in a shallow pan for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
Stir together butter, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl until blended.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Add to butter mixture and stir until blended.  Stir in the apples and 1 cup of the nuts (if you wanted the nuts).  
Note!  The batter will be really thick!  Almost cookie-dough thick!
Spread batter into a lightly greased 13x9 inch pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  
Cool completely.
Spread the Browned Butter Frosting over the cake when cool and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts (if you want). 




Browned Butter Frosting
1 cup butter (use real butter!)
1 (16oz.) package powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Cook 6-8 minutes or until butter begins to turn a golden brown. Remove pan from heat immediately, and pour butter into a small bowl.  Cover and chill 1 hour or until butter is cool and begins to solidify.
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add powered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar.  
Beat mixture at low speed until well blended after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.

Carolyn Braden Says "The Perfect Fourth of July Drink"

 
Photo by Carolyn Braden

Here is one of the festive drinks I made for my Fourth of July Celebration this year.  It's from Southern Living Magazine and really easy!  It's Frozen Blue Margaritas!  Here's the recipe: 

1 6 oz. can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed

3/4 cup of tequila

1/4 cup blue curacao liqueur

Combine all ingredients in a blender.  Fill with ice to 5-cup level and process until mixture is smooth.  Serve immediately.

I went one step further to make them festive.  I rubbed a lime around the rim of the glass and coated it with red sugar sprinkles.  I also put the glasses in the freezer about 1 hour prior to serving the drinks to keep them extra cold for the frozen slushy mixture.  It was so yummy!  The perfect combination of sweet and sour! 

Margarita Jelly Belly's are yummy too!

Carolyn Braden says "The BEST Brownie Recipe EVER!"

I will never buy boxed brownie mix again.  Seriously.  I made these brownies last year for the first time, then one day in a pinch, I made brownies from a boxed mix.  The boxed mix tasted horrible compared to the "from scratch" brownies.  This recipe is from Southern Living magazine.  I vary the recipe sometimes by putting a cream cheese mix in on the top.  So good too!  See what you can do with it.  Chocolate chips mixed in maybe?  :)

4 (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate baking squares

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Lightly grease an 8 inch pan for thick brownies or lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan for thinner brownies (9x13 inch is the better option for the cream cheese version).  I use Pam cooking spray for "Baking".

2.  Microwave chocolate squares and butter in a large microwave save bowl at High 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30 second intervals.  Whisk in granulated and brown sugars.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking just until blended after each addition.  Whisk in flour, vanilla, and salt.  

3.  Pour mixture into prepared pan.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until wooded pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  (If using the 9x13 inch pan, bake for about 20 minutes, then check on them to see if they are done.  If not, bake for a few more minutes.  Thicker brownies take longer to bake than thinner brownies).

Cool, eat, and enjoy!

If you want to try the cream cheese mix in, mix together 8 oz. softened cream cheese (I use the 1/3rd less fat kind), 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.  Pour 1/2 of the brownie mixture into your 9x13 inch pan.  Pour the cream cheese mixture on top it.  Then, pour the remaining batter over the cream cheese layer.  Take a knife and swirl it into your batter to make them mix together just a little bit.  I made these for my advanced art students once and they continuously begged me to make them over and over again! 

Here are the brownies with chocolate buttercream icing.

Photo by Carolyn Braden

Carolyn Braden says "Who likes Brinner?" Blackberry French Toast Recipe

Tonight I will be making Brinner.  (Breakfast for dinner).   I know not everyone is a fan of Brinner, but my family is!  Here's a recipe from Southern Living magazine that is a favorite of mine.  It's called One-Dish Blackberry French Toast.  You can change it up, as I like to do to recipes sometimes.  My grandmother calls me "That kind of cook."  You know, the one that likes to throw things in and subtract things from recipes to see how it turns out.  For example, my husband doesn't like onions, so I'll usually omit them or subtract the amount from what the recipe calls for. Try making this with strawberry jam or another flavor if you wish.  I've made a few changes to the recipe that, I feel, have made it fool proof.

1 cup blackberry jam

1 (10.5-12 oz) French bread loaf, cut into 1 inch or smaller cubes

4 oz. of 1/3rd less fat cream cheese, cut or pinched (as I did to make it easier) into 1/2 inch cubes  (The recipe called for 8 oz. of cream cheese, but I felt the rich flavor of it made 8 oz. too much)

4 large eggs

2 cups half and half (I used fat free which I don't feel robbed the dish of flavor)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Toppings, if you wish:  maple syrup (so yummy with this!), whipped cream, fresh fruit

1.  Cook jam in a small saucepan over med. heat 1-2 minutes until melted and smooth, stirring 1-2 times.

2. Place half of the bread cubes in bottom of a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish.  Top with cream cheese cubes and drizzle with melted jam.  Top with remaining bread cubes

3.  Whisk together eggs, half and half, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Pour over bread mixture.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.  Cover and chill 8-24 hours (One time I forgot I needed to chill this for some time before baking it.  I went ahead and cooked it anyways and it just a little longer to bake.  Set your timer and check on it after about 35 minutes and bake longer if needed).

4.  Bake at 325 degrees, covered for 20 minutes.   Uncover and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more or until bread is golden brown and mixture is set.  Serve with desired toppings.  

This will serve 8-10 people.  It is so easy and so yummy!