Chocolate Delight

This is Byron's favorite dessert and one of mine, too.  My mom has made it for years.

We call it Chocolate Delight!

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick butter 

12 oz cool whip (divided)

2 boxes instant chocolate pudding

3 1/2 cups milk

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

Combine first three ingredients.  Press into 9x13 glass pan.  Beat cream cheese with sugar and enough milk to make it smooth.  Fold in half of cool whip.  Spread over graham cracker mixture.  Prepare pudding according to directions using 3 1/2 cups milk.  Pour over cream cheese mixture.  Refrigerate for 1-3 hours or overnight.  Top with remainder of cool whip; serve.

Chocolate Delight

Bits & Pieces

Interesting Substitution:

My 15 year old daughter, Shelbie, found a box of brownie mix in the pantry and asked if she could make it. I told her sorry, but we're out of oil. And she said "I can use mayonnaise!"

And I said, "WHAT! EWW! That's gross!"

Although I know perfectly well that mayonnaise is just oil & eggs....it just sounds nasty.

But I told her to go ahead and try it.....and guess what?
The brownies tasted just like any other brownies that had been made with oil!

So if you're ever out of oil, feel free to substitute mayo. I was also told sour cream works, and I know applesauce is also a good sub for oil.

Pears:
We have a pear tree in our back yard. I'm not a fan of eating plain pears, but over the weekend I made two pair dishes. First, I sliced some pears and put them in a baking dish. I poured melted butter over them and then sprinkled them with cinnamon and brown sugar. I cooked them for about an hour at 350, and they were absolutely delicious.

They were so good I was inspired to make a pear cobbler. I've never had one before, I don't think I've ever even heard of a pear cobbler, but again - it was delicious! I used my traditional cobbler recipe that I use for blackberry, blueberry, & peach cobblers. (I love cobblers!)

I have lots of pears still on the tree, so if you have any good pear recipes that you don't mind sharing with me, please do!

We have muscadine (a.k.a. scuppernong) grapes too....loads of them! I suppose I need to learn how to make jam......

Porcupine Balls!

A few months ago I read a really cute book called Muffins & Mayhem by Suzanne Beecher. It was full of little stories about the author's life, as well as lots of recipes. I had checked it out from the library, but I then bought a copy from Amazon so that I'd have all the recipes. I keep it with my cookbooks! Tonight I made two recipes from this book and wanted to share them with you all.

Porcupine Balls (I don't know what the kids like better; eating this dish or saying the name!)

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp pepper

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 cup water

2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix meat, rice, 1/2 cup water, onion, salts, garlic powder, & pepper. Shape mixture into meatballs. Place meatballs in ungreased baking pan. Stir remaining ingredients together and pour over meatballs. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer.

{I doubled this recipe and used 1 lb. of ground beef & 1 lb. of ground turkey. It made 42 meatballs. They were off the chain! I served them with roasted asparagus and garlic toast.}

And for dessert....

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 cups oatmeal

1-2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Mix remaining ingredients with the flour mixture, then add chocolate chips. Roll into balls & place on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are light brown. Cool & share!

I was not compensated in any way for this post - just sharing good recipes!

Easter Dinner

What did your family eat for Easter Dinner (or lunch, or brunch, or however you do it?)

We went to my parents' house, and my sister and niece came over also.

We had a spiral cut ham from Heavenly Ham & a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

I made my world famous Potato Salad, and a veggie & dip tray. My daughter Shelbie made her specialty, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.

We also had macaroni & cheese and green beans.

My mom made a dessert that involves angel food cake, cool whip, and pineapple chunks. It's really light and good. She also bought some cupcakes.

Oh, and of course, we had devilled eggs!

It was all delicious. Tonight for dinner, I'm heating up the leftover ham. I've got fresh green beans & new potatoes from the farmer's market simmering on the stove right now, and we're having rolls too.

I'm getting hungry!!

Tell me about your Easter Meal!

What's Cookin' this Weekend?

Here's what's cooking at Dysfunction Junction....

Dinner:

Cheeseburger Pasta from Recipe Shoebox

1 box (12-ounces) penne pasta
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 can (14-1/2-oz.) diced tomatoes
2 Tbs. prepared mustard (or less if you don't like mustard)
3 Tbs. ketchup
3 Tbs. dill pickle relish
1-1/2 tsp. steak seasoning (I used McCormick Montreal steak seasoning)
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
chopped green onions, for garnishment (optional)

Directions: Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the tomatoes, mustard, ketchup, relish, steak seasoning, and seasoned salt.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered , for 5 minutes.

Stir in drained pasta.

Cook for 1 minute more. Sprinkle with cheese.

Remove from heat; cover and let stand until cheese is melted.

*Southern Loving's review: OFF THE CHAIN. This is one of the best dishes I've made in a LONG time! We absolutely LOVED it. It's super easy & super quick.

Dessert:

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies from Simply Yum Food

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

Your favorite or use mine-

1 1/2 C butter, softened

2 C sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add in the dry ingredients and then chill for a few hours.

After it has chilled take it out and roll it into a large rectangle. Spread butter all over it and then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up the rectangle and slice cookies about 1/4-1/2 in thick. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Cool on a rack and then frost with your favorite cream cheese icing.

My cream cheese icing was:

8 oz cream cheese

1 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c water

Mix until smooth

*Southern Loving review: Slap Ya Mama! I need more practice with rolling out the dough, then rolling & slicing the cookies, but they were very, very good. I can't wait to make them for our next church event or family gathering!

The recipes are from the blogs; the photos are mine.

Saltine Cracker Candy

My sister-in-law made this candy last year at Christmas time and sent some home with my parents, who gave some to me. Lucky me! My sister-in-law is a great cook, and one of my cooking inspirations. Many of my recipes come from her kitchen.

A Facebook friend told me they call this stuff Christmas Crack, so that's what we're calling it now.

I took some of this candy to work last year and it was gone before I could even turn around! This stuff is delicious, easy, and totally addictive. It's that wonderful combination of salty and sweet.

It's great to throw in a tin and give as a Christmas gift!

Saltine Cracker Candy

1 stack of saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 (12 oz) pkg Milk Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (completely cover it) and spray with cooking spray. Cover the bottom with crackers.

In a medium saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over crackers, spreading out as best as you can. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle top of hot crackers with chips and chopped pecans. Cover with wax paper, pressing firmly with oven mitt to insure pecans “stick”. Place cookie sheet in freezer (might want to put towels underneath pan, since it will still be very warm) until “set” (about an hour). Once ready, peel of wax paper and foil and break apart. Store in a container in the refrigerator.

Apple Dumplings

Last night, while we were decorating our Christmas tree, I had Apple Dumplings baking in the oven.

I got the recipe from Mrs 4444s, who got it from The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog.

They were Off.The.Chain! And ridiculously easy.

You gotta try 'em!

I did two things differently; I used Golden Delicious apples because that's what I had on hand, and instead of white sugar I used brown sugar. I didn't have much white sugar on hand and we were out of sweet tea. And hello, this is Southern Loving food blog. Tea is a must around here!

They came out fabulous!

I have pics, but I will add them later, because right now blogger is ticking me off.

The recipe is Pioneer Woman's.

Ingredients

• 2 whole Granny Smith Apples
• 2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• Cinnamon, To Taste
• 1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Preparation Instructions

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

WARNING: Prepare this dish at your own risk. It is beyond imaginable.

Monkey Bread

I mentioned on my main blog, Putting the Fun in DysFUNctional, that my daughter Shelbie made Monkey Bread for our church potluck lunch this past Sunday.
My friend Unknown Mami was alarmed, and said she refused to eat bread made with monkeys!
To which I replied, Don't knock it till ya try it!
So I thought I'd share the recipe here on my regretfully neglected food blog.
{I'm on a mission to get all of my blogs going strong again!}

Now I promise, no monkeys are harmed in the making of this monkey bread. In fact, I have no earthly idea how they came up with the name Monkey Bread, but who am I to question?
I first learned about monkey bread from my late-ex-MIL. That is, my ex-husband's late mother. She used to make it for her kids, and she passed the instructions on to me. I haven't made it in ages, but they make it at the ex's house often, and my teenage daughter has learned how to make it. The recipe is actually on the back of the Pillsbury biscuit package, and that's the one I'm going to share here, because we don't really use a recipe.

Monkey Bread

3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3/4 cup LIGHT brown sugar

NOTE: The recipe calls for this to be made in a Bundt cake pan. However, I don't have one and have never made it that way. We just bake them on cookie sheets individually (not piled up). This also reduces the cook time a lot, you just bake them for about 10 minutes like you would bake biscuits normally.

1. Grease or spray 12 cup Bundt cake pan (or cookie sheets).
2. Mix sugar & cinnamon in 1-gallon bag. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Shake quarters in bag to coat; place in pan. Mix butter & brown sugar; pour over biscuit pieces (we just spoon it over them).
3. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes (if using Bundt pan); 10 minutes if using cookie sheets, or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. If using Bundt pan, turn upside down. Cookie sheets, just remove with a spatula & pile them up on a plate.

Serve warm. It's great for breakfast or a dessert. YUM!