My Girl Paula, Orange Blossoms

This week's My Girl Paula recipe was Orange Blossoms. I chose to buy the mini muffin cups because it's easier than trying to get them out of the pan without them. I used Duncan Hines cake mix. That's my all-time favorite.

I mixed the recipe up and used a little cookie scooper the fill the cups. It was a little time-consuming trying to fill each one, but not a big deal. I mixed up the glaze and dipped.

It was pretty easy and I thought they were really good. I'm trying to lose some weight, though, so I think I will send the rest of them with my daughter. She's going to a friend's house today. Teenagers love little cupcakes!

I couldn't find the recipe online anywhere, so here it is.

Orange Blossoms

Cakes

1 package of yellow cake mix
one 3.4 ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup cold water
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease one or two minature muffin pans. For the cakes, in a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, and oil, and beat well. Fill the prepared muffin pans, using about 1 tablespoon of batter for each cake. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched.

For the glaze, mix the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, butter, and water until smooth; set aside.

Dip the blossoms in the glaze immediately after removing them from the oven. Drain on waxed paper.

My Girl Paula, Spaghetti Pie

I am sad to say I had no time to make the My Girl Paula recipe this week! I am up to my ears with my Anatomy class. I have a midterm on Tuesday. And my daughter turned 16 on Saturday, so I was having a party, too.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

My Girl Paula, Strawberry Cream Shortcake

This week's My Girl Paula recipe was Strawberry Cream Shortcake. It was so so easy to put together. I had cut the strawberries ahead of time but after that, it took me all of fifteen minutes to put together. It was delicious!!!! Great for a barbecue. I'm going to keep it in mind for 4th of July.

If you would like to try this recipe, you can find it in "The Lady & Sons, Too!" cookbook. If you don't have the book, you can also find it at RecipeZaar, here. I always try not to post Paula's recipes. If I can find them online, I post the link.

Beer Cheese Soup

Sometime ago my husband ordered me this cookbook from Argo cornstarch for $1.00. He's good at finding bargains. I hadn't made anything from it, but surprisingly it had a lot of interesting recipes inside.

So last night I wanted to make something quick and easy. I'm not usually a soup person but this recipe looked really good to all of us so I decided to give it a try.

It was delicious! Even my husband liked it.

Beer Cheese Soup

2 tbsp butter or margerine

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 tsp Thyme

1/2 tsp White Pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup beer

3 tbsp Argo corn starch divided

1 cup heavy cream

3 cups (12 ounces) shredded Colby or Co-Jack cheese

1 tsp hot pepper sauce (optional)

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, thyme, white and cayenne pepper, cook until onions are tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
Combine chicken broth, beer, and 2 tbsp corn starch, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Add to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat.

Simmer 5 minutes. Add cream.

Toss cheese with 1 tbsp corn starch. Gradually add cheese to soup, stirring until melted before adding more cheese. Add hot pepper sauce, if desired.

Serve immediately.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

I recently bought a couple of cookbooks at Marshall's. Have you guys ever gone to Marshall's or TJ Maxx for cookbooks? They're a steal. Anyway, one of the ones I bought was Taste of Home, Gifts from the Country Kitchen. I think it was like $3.00 and there are so many good recipes in there.

So last night after a long day I totally felt like baking something. I've had a tough week PMS wise. HA HA So from the moment I saw this recipe I have wanted to try it. It's Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars. YUM! And they are very good! My pictures do not do them justice.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups minature chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans (I omitted)

Filling:

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans. Set aside a third of the dough for topping. Press remaining dough into a greased 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake 350 for 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Spoon over crust. Drop teaspoonfuls of reserved dough over filling. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Cover and store in the refrigerator. Yield 3 dozen

Mrs. Fields Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I really love Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies. No....I REALLY love them! So when I saw this cookbook on sale at Barnes and Noble one day, I bought it. It's called Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book! It has all kinds of delicious looking recipes in it. Not just cookies, either.

The Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is VERY close to the ones I buy at the Mrs. Fields in the mall. Cookie heaven!

Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 C. alll purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 C. Dark brown Sugar, firmly packed

1/2 C. white sugar

1 C. Salted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pur vanilla extract

2 C. semisweet chocolate chips (I used Giardelli! Yum!)

Preheat oven to 300°F. In medium bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside.In a large bowl with an electric mixer blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour misture and chocolate chips and blend at low speed until just mixed. Do not overmix Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2" apart. Bake 22-24 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula.

Pumpkin Patch Pancakes

I knew I HAD to make this recipe when I saw it at Mommy's Kitchen the other day. I love pumpkin. And I'm always looking for new things to feed my little one. He's very picky.

So this morning I took out all the ingredients and my little one was very excited to be having pancakes for breakfast. I didn't have the ingredients for the Apple Cider syrup, so I omitted that. It does sound delicious and I will try it next time.

Wow! I thought these were to die for. My little one, however, only took a few bites. He did give them a fair try though. My two teenagers scarfed them down. :) I think maybe the pumpkin pie spice was too strong for him.

If you would like to try this delicious recipe, take a visit to Mommy's Kitchen. Her blog is awesome!!!!