Black Angus Garlic Cheese Bread

Jen made this homemade Italian bread and turned it into this - Black Angus Garlic Cheese Bread that she had seen on Your Home Based Mom.

She said it was delicious -- (actually she said it was an evil combination ☺).

Swedish Pancakes

A few weeks ago Alex and Amber (bro-in-law and his fiancee) made these delicious Swedish Pancakes for us. My whole family loved them, so I made them this morning. They are very similar to a crepe, but they are more "eggy" and sweeter as well. We ate ours with whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries. When Alex and Amber made them for us we had blueberry syrup on them as well and that was yummy!

They would be good with anything you normally eat in crepes. Here are some ideas Shara posted a while ago.

Swedish Pancakes

6 eggs
3 C. milk
3/4 C. sugar
2 C. flour

(The blender works well for making the batter) Beat eggs well, then add milk and sugar. Add flour slowly to mixture. Pour onto hot griddle until golden brown. Then turn. They should be runny and big.

Summer Treat

Here is something fun to make with the kids this summer. Mine had a lot of fun helping me make these - measuring milk, cool whip, and crushing the oreos were easy jobs for them. I saw this recipe in my free Kraft food & family magazine.

Cookies & Creme Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 cups cold milk
6 oreo cookies
1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip

Beat pudding and cold milk. Place cookies in ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin. Stir cookies and cool whip into pudding. Spoon into small paper or plastic cups. Insert a wooden stick or plastic spoon into each for a handle. Freeze 5 hrs or until firm.
Tip: To remove cup, put the bottom and sides under warm water. I just turned the faucet on hot - they came off easily.

Coconut Strawberry Cake

This cake is so yummy! I first had it when Steve's cousin, Rochelle made it for every family dinner we had. It was always my favorite, so I got her recipe and have been making it ever since. And anytime I make it for some occasion or someone else, I always end up having to give the recipe. So here it is! And what's even better is that it's easy!

One more thing, if you hate coconut like Steve does, chances are you will still like this cake if you don't put coconut on top. Coconut haters usually still love it.

*1 white cake mix-made according to package directions (9X13)

*1 can sweetened condensed milk

*1 can cream of coconut (16 oz) (found in the alcohol section-just be sure you look both ways first so that no one in your ward sees you in that section!) (It's by all the fun looking mixer type stuff) (sometimes it comes in a squeeze bottle, too)

*sliced strawberries (I use frozen, but you can use fresh)

*cool whip

*coconut to sprinkle on the top if you want

Directions:

Right after you pull the cake out of the oven, poke it all over with a fork. Mix sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut together and pour all over the holes. Let it sit in the refrigerator over night or for several hours. Layer on strawberries and cool whip. Sprinkle with coconut. (I never sprinkle coconut on.) (Rochelle sometimes makes this with bananas instead of strawberries-I haven't ever done that, but it's good both ways).

Award Winning Salsa!

(picture from Jen)

Jen and her girls made some salsa for a ward party and they got first place! Way to go! (Jen's husband and boys made some salsa as well, so the girls beat them!) Jen got this recipe from her sister-in-law, Randi. It's a simple recipe -- just what I like. When I made it the other day I didn't have petite diced tomatoes, just regular ones. So I put my salsa in the blender after I made it to puree the tomatoes. We loved it.

Here's the recipe:

2 large cans petite diced tomatoes, drained (28 oz)

1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 can El Pato sauce

3 or 4 limes, squeezed
1 bunch green onions, white and green part

a lot of garlic salt

Apricot Pork Tenderloin

I forgot to take a picture of this before we ate it (day after photo wouldn't do it justice), but it was mighty yummy (and super easy)! I got this recipe from Jed's aunt Denise.

2 TB. olive oil

Mix Together -
1 1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Glaze - Mix together
2/3 c. apricot preserve
4 TB. worchestireshire sauce
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Line pan with foil (makes for easier clean up). Put tenderloin in pan and rub the olive oil over it. Mix the thyme, salt and pepper together and sprinkle (or rub) all over. Spoon half of the glaze over tenderloin. Cook at 425 for 15 minutes. Remove and cover with remaining glaze. Cook an additional 10-15 minutes (or until pork reaches 160 degrees). Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let it sit for another 10-15 minutes to finish cooking. I actually had to cook mine for a bit longer than this, but that's not surprising in my oven!

Pastel de Tres Leches

WARNING: A LOT OF RAMBLING BEFORE THE ACTUAL RECIPE!

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! Here is a cake I have been obsessed with lately! It's not my fault. It all started with a friend, Mindy. She was obsessed with it after having it at our friend Olga's house, so she suggested we buy one from the same place Olga did and serve it for Enrichment last week. So good! Then I told Jen about it and that I wanted to find a good recipe for it, and she became obsessed right along with us. She found quite a few recipes on the internet, and we looked at the ingredients on each one (comparing the milk mixtures, how many eggs - I picked the one with 8 eggs!) before settling on the recipe I would try. Crazy, huh? If you haven't had this cake, it is soaked in a mixture of 3 different kinds of milk. Of all the recipes we looked at, the combinations of milk included different mixtures of the following: sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and plain old milk. The recipe I tried actually used 4 kinds - the fourth one being Crema Mexicana. (The person who made it didn't have enough cream on hand so added some Crema Mexicana to the mixture .)

I made this cake last night, but it actually tasted better today after soaking in the milk all night long. I took some to Olga this afternoon and she approved! She told me she usually takes a piece of thread and slices the cake down the middle (horizontally) to make two layers. She puts the milk mixture on each half, and then puts a layer of whipped topping mixed with chopped strawberries in the middle of the two layers.

And here you have wikipedia's explanation: A Tres leches cake, or Pastel de Tres leches ("Three milk cake"), is a sponge cake,—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. When butter is not used, the tres leches is a very light cake, with many air bubbles (that's how this cake was). This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

One last thing from me - I didn't do the berry sauce. I've never had tres leches that way, but it sounds good. I just put strawberries on top. And looky here - we made it to the actual recipe!

Pastel de Tres Leches

INGREDIENTS:

For the Sponge cake:

Baking spray

2 1/2 cups all-purpose bleached flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

8 eggs, separated

2 cups extra-fine sugar, such as Baker's (I used normal sugar)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lime juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup whole milk, room temperature

For the milk topping:

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1 can (14 ounces) condensed milk

8 ounces heavy cream

1/2 cup crema Mexicana, or substitute heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

For the Berry sauce: (if you try it, let me know!)

1 (16 ounces) package frozen blackberries, thawed

1/4 cup sugar

For the Whipped cream icing:

8 ounces heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar (I used 2 Tbsp)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°. Mist a 9 x 13-inch baking pan (I use a glass pan) with baking spray. Line bottom with parchment and mist.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

In a large bowl of a standing mixer, or with a hand-held mixer, whip egg whites on medium speed to soft peaks. Slowly add the sugar; raise speed to high and continue whipping to stiff peaks.

Reduce speed to low, and beat in yolks one by one. Beat in the lime juice and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, in two or three additions, ending with the flour. Stop the mixer when all the flour is just in. Use a spatula to quickly and gently finish folding in all the flour until it is just moistened and there are no dry spots. The batter will be thick and slightly lumpy.

Pour into the prepared baking dish. Tap on counter to release air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 minutes (oh yeah - I had to bake mine for about 50 minutes!) (exact time will depend on whether your pan is metal or glass), or until cake is golden and center springs back when touched.

For the topping: While cake is baking, whisk together evaporated milk, condensed milk, heavy cream, crema Mexicana and vanilla.

Cool cake on long baking rack for 10 minutes and then release along the sides with a thin knife . Place rack on top of dish and turn over to release. Allow cake to cool upside down for another 20-30 minutes.

Next turn cake right-side up onto a long, serving dish with a rim to catch the excess milk topping. Poke holes in the cake with a steak knife or skewer. Pour 1 cup of the milk topping over entire top of cake. Wait until it soaks in and then repeat. When the topping is absorbed, pour over another cup of topping.

You can keep pouring on the milk cup by cup until all of it is used up, or you can save 1/2 cup to serve along with the cake as a side since people seem to like it so much they want to lick their plates.

Cover the cake and plate well with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Optional -- For the sauce: Meanwhile, puree thawed blackberries in food processor with the sugar. Pour into a wire strainer and tap edge so puree goes through leaving behind the seeds. Place sauce in covered container until ready to serve the cake.

For the icing: An hour before serving cake, whip the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Spread smoothly over the top of the cake. Put cake back in the refrigerator until serving time. Optional -- Cut cake in 4-inch squares and place each on a pool of berry sauce. Scatter raspberries and blackberries around the edge of plate and serve with any reserved milk topping.