Buttermilk Breakfast Cake

This is from Southern Living. I haven't made it yet, but I can't wait to try it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Buttermilk Breakfast Cake
1 package white cake mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted butter
5 large eggs
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Shortening
1 Tbsp. sugar
Buttermilk-Vanilla Glaze

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat first three ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer 1-1/2 minutes or until thoroughly blended; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
3. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with shortening; sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar.
4. Spoon one-third of batter into prepared pan; sprinkle brown sugar mixture evenly over batter. Top with remaining batter.
5. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool 20 minutes. Drizzle glaze over slightly warm cake.

Buttermilk-Vanilla Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 2 Tbsp buttermilk

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients and 1 Tbsp buttermilk until smooth, adding additional 1 Tbsp buttermilk, if necessary, for desired consistency.

Fish Tacos

Fish tacos are usually made with fried fish. Since we don't eat a lot of fried food, I make a broiled version. Also, I skipped making my own marinade and marinated the fish in a mojo sauce I found at Aldi. It contains no MSG and had pretty low sodium for a pre-prepared sauce, so it actually wasn't a bad substitution. Oh, and Ford likes these which makes them even better.

Fish Tacos
1 to 2 white fish filets (I used talapia)
Mojo marinade (purchased from Aldi)
Corn tortillias
1/4 white cabbage, shredded
Thinly sliced red onion
Thinly sliced green onion
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Cheese, shredded
Salsa
Sour Cream

1. Place fish in ziplock bag and cover with marinade. Marinate for at least 30 minutes and longer if time allows. Discard marinade.
2. Heat oven to broil. Spray boiler pan with cooking spray. Broil fish for 5 to 10 minutes or until done.
3. When fish is done, flake fish into bite size pieces. Coat with additional mojo sauce if desired. Heat tortillias according to directions on package. Place fish in tortillias and top with toppings of your choice.

Ham Pot Pie

Pie Crust
(makes enough for 3 pie shells or 2 pot pie shells)
1 cup Crisco shortening
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup ICE COLD water (add ice cubes to get water very cold)

1. Blend flour, salt and shortening with a pastry blender or fork.
2. Add water gradually and blend with fork until it reachs proper consistency. Do not over mix)
3. Roll out onto floured surface to fix desired size pan.

Ham Pot Pie

2 Tbsp butter
1 cup onion
10 oz package broccoli-cooked
1 lb. new potatoes
1 can cream of potato soup
8 oz sour cream
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-1/2 cups ham, cubed

1. Make pie crust. Divide into two crusts and roll to fit a casserole dish. Place one crust into bottom of casserole dish (reserve other crust to place on top).
2. Saute onion in butter. Cook broccoli. Cook potatoes in boiling water.
3. Combine soup, sour cream, cheese, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir in broccoli, onion and potatoes. Stir in ham.
4. Spoon into bottom pie shell and place remaining pie shell on top.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Weekly Meal Plan

What to make? What to make? Is it time to plan another week of meals again? It really does sneak up on me every week. I haven't checked the weather, but there HAS to be sunshine in the forecast. If so, I'll have a few grill nights on the menu (which means Scott gets to cook, since he's the grillmaster).

Ham Pot Pie (made by my sweet mom and sister for us)
Leftovers - Fish Tacos or Ham Pot Pie
Grilled Mojo-Marinated Pork Tenderloin, grilled onions and black beans
Grilled Chicken, salad, grilled zucchini/squash
Hamburgers and french fries
Chef Boyardee pizza (from a pizza kit)

It looks like rain is on the way again this week, so we may be having baked meals instead of grilled.

Old-Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake

This cake is sooooooooooo good. This recipe comes from my Grandma Cothran, who was an excellent baker (and cook, for that matter). But, I think everyone's grandmother probably had some version of this recipe. It must have been a standard back in the day.

Old-Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake
1-1/2 cups oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups apples, peeled and grated
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins, optional
1 cup nuts, chopped
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine oil, sugar and eggs. Add apples, coconut and nuts. Stir thoroughly.
2. Add soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla and stir.
3. Stir in flour until batter is very stiff.
4. Bake at 350 degrees in a bundt pan for 1 hour.

Meatloaf

I'm not a huge fan of meatloaf. But, I got this recipe from my aunt Jan and it's actually very good. This recipe makes three loaves, so make one for dinner and cook and freeze the other two!

Meatloaf
2 pounds of ground beef
1 cup chopped onion*
2 cups shredded cheddar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup oats

Sauce
3/4 cup ketsup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp mustard

1. Mix ground beef and next 6 ingredients. *I saute the onions before adding them because I'm not a big fan of crunchy onions. You could also save time by using minced onion flakes. Shape into three loaves and place on a baking sheet with sides.
2. Mix ketsup, brown sugar and mustard. Spread over loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks. It looks fancy, but it's very easy to make. Because it's made with lemon juice and olive oil, it's not as heavy as some of the really buttery shrimp scampi recipes. But, it still has a lot of flavor. The recipe calls for linguine, but I substitute angel hair pasta because we like it better. I served this when Scott's mom came to visit and served it with garlic bread and Caesar salad.

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

Serves 6

Vegetable oil
Salt
1-1/2 pounds linguine (I use angel hair)
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
5 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp minced garlic (9 cloves)
2 pounds large shrimp (about 32 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Grated zest of 1 lemon (I left this part out without any loss of flavor)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes, optional

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil. In the meantime, mince garlic, chop parsley and squeeze and slice lemons.
2. Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 Tbsp of salt and the pasta, and cook as directed on package.
3. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 Tbsp of salt and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.
4. When the pasta is done, drain the cooked pasta and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well and serve.

Chicken Fried Rice

This recipe can be made with either cooked shrimp or chicken. I'm not sure how it would affect the recipe, but I think next time I'll add the eggs before I add the rice and chicken.

Fried Rice
1-1/2 cups uncooked white rice OR 3 cups leftover cooked rice
3 cups of water (for cooking rice)
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped onion
1-1/2 cups cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined without tail OR cooked chicken, cubed
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp seasame oil

1. Cook rice according to directions and set aside to cool (I used leftover rice and skipped this step).
2. Saute shrimp or chicken until done (I sprinkled the chicken with salt and garlic powder before cooking). Set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet or wok for 2 minutes. When the skillet is hot, pour in vegetable oil, bean sprouts and onion. Mix well and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Mix in cooled rice and shrimp or chicken and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Mix in green onion, green peas, eggs, salt, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until eggs are cooked and everything is blended evenly.

Italian Beef Sandwiches

I think most people have some version of this recipe. It's very easy to make as the Italian beef is made in the Crockpot.

Italian Beef Sandwiches
1 lb beef roast
1 jar pepperoncini peppers
Hoagie rolls
Provolone cheese

1. Place roast in slow cooker. Cover with entire jar of pepperoncini peppers (do not drain).
2. Cook on high for one hour and then on low for 4 to 6 hours or until done. Shred roast to make sandwiches.

Tuscan Potato Salad

This recipe comes from a friend of mine who contributed it to our church cookbook. I'm not a huge fan of any kind of salad with a mayonaise base. So, this version of potato salad suits me better and Scott liked it, too.

Tuscan Potato Salad
3 lbs potatoes, cubed
2/3 cup Parmesan, grated
1 cup ricotta cheese
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
6 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Cook potatoes until soft and drain. While potatoes are still hot, add the remaining ingredients. Can be served warm or chilled.