I decided to go ahead and skip over a couple other things I’ve made in order to blog about these. I was flipping through a Cooking Light magazine and not finding much to interest me when I turned the page and found these Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes staring at me. I like apples, I like cupcakes, and I love Amaretto, so there was really no way to go wrong here.

As an aside, what makes these a cupcake instead of a muffin? To me, a cupcake is cake, preferably chocolate, and covered in frosting. Everything else is a muffin. It doesn’t really matter if they were cupcakes or muffins though, they were pretty darn tasty either way. The only thing I would change is a little more amaretto in there somewhere (maybe in the glaze?) and more apples wouldn’t be out of the question either.

I still have more apples in the fridge, and of course, amaretto, so I might have to make these again.

Flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat sour cream, 2% milk, butter, amaretto, vanilla extract, brown sugar, sliced almonds, egg, cinnamon, powdered sugar, Gala apples

In a small bowl, measure out 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.

Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Stir with a whisk to combine, and set aside.

In a large bowl, add 3/4 cup sugar

2 oz. of softened 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/4 cup of softened butter

Beat on high speed until well blended.

Add 2 tablespoons of amaretto

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

And 1 large egg. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

with 1/4 cup milk.

Stir to combine. And make a mess out of it like I did, if you would please.

Returning to the batter, you’re going to add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately. Begin with the flour mixture.

Then the sour cream mixture…

Back and forth, until you end with the flour mixture. (Side note: anyone know why the recipe would ask for this? I don’t mind extra steps, but I’d like to know what all my extra effort is accomplishing…)

Continue mixing until completely combined.

Next, you need 3/4 cup of finely chopped Gala apple. This took one and a half of my small apples, and like I mentioned up top, I don’t think adding more apple to the muffin would really hurt anything!

Add 1 tablespoon of flour

Stir to coat the apple pieces.

Add the apples to the batter

and stir them in.

Divide the batter evenly among 12 cupcake liners. The recipe called for the liners to be coated in cooking spray, but I forgot. It wasn’t a problem.

Now it’s time to make the streusel topping. Sorry guys, I know it’s a lot of steps, but it’s worth it!

In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons of chilled butter

and 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds.

Use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine topping until it resembles a coarse meal. And I might as well admit that I lasted about 30 seconds with two knives before I threw the whole mess in my mini food processor and pressed the button down twice. Just being honest.

..

Sprinkle the streusel over the muffins.

Bake at 350 for 27 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan.

To make the glaze, put 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl.

Add 4 teaspoons of 2% milk and stir with a whisk to combine. Then laugh. Cause 1 cup of sugar and 4 teaspoons of milk does not make glaze. It makes paste. Add another splash of milk and stir until the glaze is actually thin enough to use.

Drizzle your thin enough glaze over the cupcake-muffins. And enjoy! I set a few of these aside for breakfast, and the rest were eagerly devoured by my coworkers.

Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes
From Cooking Light, October 2009

Cooking spray
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
3/4 cup finely chopped Gala apple
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Streusel:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Place muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups; coat with cooking spray.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 6.75 ounces flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add amaretto, vanilla, and egg to sugar mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until well blended. Combine apple and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl; toss well.

4. Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended. Fold in apple mixture. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

5. To prepare the streusel, combine 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal; stir in almonds. Sprinkle streusel evenly over cupcakes. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, and remove the cupcakes from pan.

6. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over cupcakes.

One day shy of two months since I last posted to this site… time just gets away from you. Part of the problem is that I haven’t been cooking, and when I have been cooking, I’ve been making things that are already on this site! I have actually cooked one or two things now that I need to post about though, so maybe I should do that. Get a current post on the front page, and all that.

I’m going to start with these Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies. Seriously, make these right now. They. Are. Awesome. I’ve actually made them twice now. I made them for my family when we got together for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and we practically licked the pan clean. So I had to make them again in order to take to work. These brownies are easy to make, and insanely delicious. Just about everyone took a bite, and then said, “Oh my god…” I found these at Smitten Kitchen

Let’s make them.

Ingredients: Flour, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, unsalted butter, salt, cream cheese, vanilla extract, eggs.

Chop up 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. I chose to melt mine over the stove on low heat.

Add 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Stir frequently over low heat, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.

I moved my chocolate/butter mixture into a separate large bowl.

Add one cup of sugar.

Two large eggs.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Stir to combine.

At this point, please pretend like there is a picture of me adding in 2/3 cup of flour and stirring until it’s combined. Please and thank you. I do not know where this picture disappeared to.

Grease an 8X8 inch pan.

Spread the brownie batter in the pan.

Now it’s time to make the cheesecake batter. Put 8 ounces of very softened cream cheese into a separate bowl.

Add 1/3 cup of sugar.

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all the cheesecake ingredients. The directions actually say to whisk it together, but I don’t think that’s actually physically possible, so I got out the handmixer.

Drop cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter

Swirl cheesecake into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until set, about 35 minutes. And just try and let them cool a little bit before you cut into them and enjoy! This recipe is definitely in my file to make over, and over, and over again.

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies
Gourmet, 2007 via Smitten Kitchen

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I absolutely love these enchiladas. A family friend passed along this recipe when I was in high school, and it was love at first sight for me. I used to call this dish my favorite, but I don’t anymore. Now, that’s not because I like it any less… it’s just because I can’t pick a favorite anything. You ask me for a favorite dish, I’ll list several. Favorite movies? I’ll tell you at least ten names. Favorite band? I will be frozen with indecision.

But these enchiladas are in the top 10. I think.

They’re incredibly easy to make, but we make one deviation from the original recipe. The original calls for 1 cup of sour scream and 1 can of cream of chicken soup. The filling won’t be enough that way, but if you change that to 1 1/2 cups sour cream and 1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken soup, it’s perfect. The pictures and the recipe at the end reflect this change.

You’ll need: Tortillas, chicken, onion, cheese, garlic powder, salt, milk, margarine, cream of chicken soup and sour cream.

Start by dicing up your onion.

While you are doing that, you can get your margarine melting in a skillet.

Add the onion to the margarine in the pan.

Followed by the chicken you have cut into bite sized pieces. This is obviously not my entire pound of chicken… don’t be like me. Have all your chicken cut up before you get started.

Cook until the chicken is done, and then remove the chicken from the pan.

Add 1 1/2 cups of sour cream to the pan you cooked the chicken in.

Followed by 1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken soup. Obviously my soup was 2 different brands.

Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

Followed by some salt. I don’t have a measurement here, so I just shook some in and called it good.

Stir until well combined.

Reserve one cup of your sour cream and soup mixture.

Then return the chicken to what’s left in the pan.

Stir to coat the chicken.

Then add 1 cup of cheese, and stir that in.

Spoon chicken mixture into the center of a tortilla.

Roll up the tortilla and place seam side down in a 9×13 pan. If you look closely, you can tell that I was struggling with the softness of these tortillas and kept ripping holes in them.

You’re supposed to be able to come up with 8 enchiladas, but I usually run out of filling after 7, unless I’ve been skimping.

Return the reserved mixture to the pan, and add a little milk, if necessary, to thin it out. Then pour it on top of the enchiladas in the pan.

Sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. Mmmmm! Delicious! I’d tell you what to serve them with, but I’m lazy and generally serve them with NOTHING. And they’re still good

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 lb chicken
1 stick margarine
1 cup sour cream
shredded cheese
tortillas
onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 t. garlic powder
salt
milk

Sautee onion in margarine until onion is clear. Add chicken. Cook until done, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Add sour cream, chicken soup, garlic powder, and salt to same pan. Reserve 1 cup of mixture. Add chicken to sauce left in pan. Add 1 cup of cheese. Roll in tortillas and place in 9×13 pan. Put reserved mixture back in pan. Add enough milk to thin sauce. Pour over enchiladas. Put 1 cup of cheese on top. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.

Who doesn’t love jello shots? Granted, there are different kinds of jello shot lovers out there… there are those who view them as merely a conveyance for as much alcohol as humanly possible, and then there are those who actually want their jello shots to taste good. I’m in the latter group. Partly because I’m just not fond of the taste of alcohol, and partly because they may as well taste good– you’re not going to get buzzed very quickly on them anyways.

The great thing about Jello Shots is that you are only limited by your imagination. With such a wide variety of jello flavors, and all the different flavored vodkas and specialty alcohols available, you can make just about anything you can think of.

You’ll need: one packet of Jello, 1 cup of boiling water, 1 cup of cold alcohol and cups to pour the shots in.

While you are boiling some water, go ahead and pour your Jello mix into a bowl.

Add 1 cup of boiling water.

Stir for 2 minutes. Don’t skimp on the stirring– you want to make sure the jello mix is completely dissolved.

Measure 1 cup of cold alcohol. This is apple pucker. You can add less, if you’d like, just replace any unused alcohol with cold water.

Add in your cold liquid and stir it in.

Set up the cups you plan on using. I like these 1 oz plastic condiment cups. You can buy lids to fit them, so they’re great for traveling and you can easily mark the flavor on top if you plan on making a variety. A good idea would be to put them on some kind of cookie sheet, both to protect your counter top from inevitable spills, and to easily transfer/stack them in the fridge.

Pour the jello mixture into the cups, and get them into the refrigerator. I recommend waiting until they are cold, and set to put the lids on. If you put the lids on before you put them in the fridge, they will build up condensation inside.

If you’ve got the room in the fridge, feel free to start over again with another flavor!

I made 9 separate batches for a party I went to a month or two ago. It was definitely time consuming, but worth it, I think. It was nice to have a variety of flavors and they were a lot of fun.

The flavors I made were:

Creamsicle: Orange Jello, Amaretto
Rum and Coke: Black Cherry Jello, Coke (boiled instead of water), and Rum
Strawberry Banana: Strawberry Banana Jello, Strawberry Vodka
Lemon Drop: Lemon Jello, Citrus Vodka
Blue Apple: Berry Blue Jello, Apple Pucker**
Sex on the Beach: Orange Jello, Cranberry Jello, Vodka and Peach Schnapps
Pina Colada: Pineapple Jello, Coconut Rum
Jolly Rancher (pictured): Watermelon Jello, Apple Pucker
Fuzzy Navel: Orange Jello, Peach Schnapps

As you can see, you can make just about anything you can think of, so long as there is 1 cup of boiling liquid and 1 cup of cold liquid for every box of Jello.

** This one ended up being my favorite, and also had the least amount of alcohol. Tasted just like candy! I think it ended up with 6oz. of Apple Pucker because it was all I had left, and 2 oz. of cold water.

This is another recipe I found over at The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch. I knew I wanted to make it as soon as I saw it. A few people were a little bit leery of the coconut/lime/banana combination, but it. was. amazing. Seriously. The bread was moist and delicious, and the light tang of the lime glaze just sent it over the top. I have some rotting bananas in the kitchen that are just begging me to make this again.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ripe bananas, flour, sugar, powdered sugar, baking soda, plain yogurt, eggs, salt, butter, vanilla, coconut, lime, and rum (I used coconut rum).

In a bowl, combine two cups of flour

3/4 teaspoon of baking soda

and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Stir with a whisk to combine and set aside.

In a large bowl, add 1/4 cup of softened butter. And actually, putting together this entry, I’m pretty sure that’s 1/2 cup of butter in the bowl. Oh well, 1/2 cup of butter was still freaking delicious!

Add 1 cup of sugar

And beat until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time.

Beat well after each addition.

Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana. For me, this was 3 large bananas.

1/4 cup of yogurt

3 Tablespoons of rum. The recipe called for dark rum. I used coconut rum because hello? Coconut banana bread? And it’s what I had.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix that up.

Gradually add the flour mixture

mixing until just combined.

Add 1/2 cup coconut.

Stir it in

Then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

Sprinkle coconut on top, then bake at 350 for one hour.

Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then turn it out onto the wire rack, and it’s time for the lime glaze.

In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup powdered sugar

and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of fresh lime juice.

Whisk it together

and drizzle it over the top of your still warm bread.

I am salivating at these pictures, y’all. This bread was SO good… do yourself a favor and try it as soon as you can!

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze
Cooking Light Magazine (found at Grumpy’s Honeybunch

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk to combine.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, rum, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coconut. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk; drizzle over warm bread. Cool bread completely on wire rack.

This is my favorite salad in the whole world. You may have guessed that from the title. Jenn’s Favorite Salad is actually now the name for this salad that my grandma put together a long time ago. It never had a name, and every time I requested it, I called it “my favorite salad.” Eventually the name stuck. This is the salad that I’ll keep eating long after I should. You know what I mean– eat dinner until I’m definitely full, but I’ll still sneak a few more bites when I take my plate to the kitchen. It is an excellent side dish for Italian food like Spaghetti, Lasagna, and Stuffed Shells.

My sister-in-law enjoyed this salad so much the first time she had it that she asked if we could call it Jenn *and* Ash-lee’s Favorite Salad.

I said no.

Lettuce, onion, hard boiled eggs, miracle whip, sugar, apple cider vinegar, milk, salt and pepper.

Start by tearing up your head of lettuce into a large bowl.

Add in a handful or two of diced onion.

And dice up several hard boiled egg to put in there. There are four eggs in this picture.

In a small bowl, add some miracle whip. This is about 3 large spoonfuls. There are no measurements for this salad, much to my dismay, but I love it so much I’m willing to forgive it, and my grandmother for not measuring.

A couple handfuls of sugar.

Some apple cider vinegar.

And finally some milk.

Stir it all up, and give it a taste. You can adjust the ingredients if necessary. I think another splash of vinegar was added to this dressing.

Now, if you’re not ready to serve this salad, go ahead and set everything aside. When you ARE ready…

Go ahead and add some salt and pepper. You don’t want to add it before you’re ready to mix it up and serve it because the lettuce will start wilting.

Pour the dressing on top.

Mix it all up, and start drooling. Wait… maybe that’s just me. Serve immediately. This salad won’t keep overnight, so eat up!

There are a LOT of recipes out there for stuffed shells! I was trying to figure out what to make for Mother’s Day dinner when everyone was coming over to my apartment. I had a box of stuffed shells languishing in the cupboard, so I decided to use them. I didn’t realize it would be so hard to pick a recipe! I searched and searched, and eventually chose this one that I found at Taste of Home. I could have looked all day, but I needed to get the grocery store. I chose this recipe because I wanted one that had meat *and* cheese, and didn’t need too many additional ingredients from the store. In the end, it went over very well with the family, and you wouldn’t go wrong with these!

Jumbo pasta shells, onion, Italian sausage, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, egg, salt, pepper, cinnamon (optional), dried minced onion, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, sugar, tomato sauce.

Put your diced onion in a large skillet. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of onion. After I took the next picture, I decided this was too much onion and took some back out of the pan.

Add one pound of Italian sausage.

Cook the sausage and onions until the sausage is no longer pink.

Drain the sausage, and transfer to a large bowl.

Add 8 oz of cream cheese, cubed up. It will combine easier this way.

and 1 egg.

Stir until the cream cheese and the egg are well combined with the sausage.

To this mixture, add 1 cup of the mozzarella

2 cups of cheddar cheese

1 cup grated parmesan. Yes, I used the stuff in the green can.

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 /4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. This is supposed to be the optional “secret” ingredient. I probably wouldn’t bother with it the next time.

Mix it all up until it’s well combined.

Meanwhile, cook the shells according to the package directions. Drain, and then rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Cooling them off will also make them easier to handle!

Stuff each pasta shell with a generous spoonful of the meat and cheese mixture. I ran out of the stuffing mixture at the same time I ran out of room in my 9×13 pan, but I still had some shells left over. I did use more than the 24 shells called for in the recipe.

In a separate bowl, dump in your 29 ounce can of tomato sauce.

Add 1 Tbs dried minced onion

1 1/2 teaspoons basil

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon of sugar

and 2 cloves minced garlic (1 teaspoon of the stuff in the jar)

Stir it all up.

Spoon the sauce over the shells in the pan. Cover with foil. At this point, I put the pan in the fridge because I wasn’t expecting my dinner guests for several hours yet. When you’re ready, bake (still covered) at 350F for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, remove the foil. Sprinkle a cup of mozzarella cheese on top, and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes for the cheese to melt.

Cheese Stuffed Shells
Taste of Home

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup 4% cottage cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
24 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained
SAUCE:
1 can (29 ounces) tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Domino® or C&H® Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the spinach, cream cheese and egg. Add 1 cup mozzarella, cheddar, cottage cheese, Parmesan, salt, pepper and cinnamon if desired; mix well.
Stuff pasta shells with sausage mixture. Arrange in two 11-in. x 7-in. baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Combine the sauce ingredients; spoon over shells.
Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

This week’s recipe goes quite well with last week’s mashed potatoes. In fact, I made them together. I’ve actually made this Salisbury Steak twice now, but the first time I made it was when I had uncooperative camera batteries and couldn’t take pictures. Luckily, I enjoyed it well enough the first time that I decided to do a little bit of tweaking and make it again. I found the recipe at The Baking Beauties, and it is gluten-free if you use GF bread crumbs.

I like to serve my Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes, as I’ve already mentioned. Because of this, I doubled the sauce so that we’d have enough to use as gravy for the potatoes. That’s the only change I made to the original recipe. The descriptions with my pictures are for the doubled sauce. The recipe posted at the end has the original measurements so you can make it however you like!

You’ll need:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef, bread crumbs, 1 egg, Lipton onion soup mix, cornstarch, ketchup, mustard powder, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce

Combine packets of onion soup mix in a bowl with 1 1/2 cups of hot water and let sit for 5 minutes.

While that’s resting, in a large bowl combine 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

1 egg. It’s there, I swear… it’s hiding up there in the corner.

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

And finally, 1/3 cup of the onion soup mixture that’s been resting since the first step.

Get in there and mix it all together until it’s all very well combined. I suggest using your hands, it will be much easier. Divide the mixture and shape it into 6 oval shaped patties. I don’t have a picture of this step because, well, my hands were covered in raw meat.

If you can handle having several things going in the kitchen at once, you can go ahead and start browning the meat. If you’re like me though, and things on the stove generally require your full attention, set the meat aside and start on the sauce.

Take the remaining onion soup, and add two teaspoons of corn starch.

Stir until the corn starch is well incorporated.

Add 1/2 cup of water. And yes, I realize that this picture probably looks exactly like the last one.

Add 1/2 cup ketchup

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

And 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder.

Stir it all together, and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown the patties on both sides. As you can see in this picture, they are still very pink on the inside. That’s okay. You’re just trying to brown the meat, it will finish cooking with the sauce.

Drain off as much of the extra fat as you can.

Pour the sauce mixture over the meat.

Cover the pan, and cook for approximately 20 minutes. I don’t any pictures of the finished product because my company had arrived, it smelled SO good, and I was too eager to start eating. And I just plain forgot. But trust me, it was good! I served it over mashed potatoes and we all ate until we were stuffed.

Salisbury Steak
From The Baking Beauties

1 package of Lipton onion soup mix
3/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup dry GF bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black ground pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp mustard powder

Combine onion soup mix and hot water in a dish & let sit for 5 minutes. OR, you can use a can of condensed french onion soup (not sure if that is GF though).
In a huge bowl, mix together 1/3 cup of the onion soup mixture with ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper. Shape into 6 oval patties.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown both sides of patties. Pour of excess fat.
In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and remaining soup mixture until smooth. Mix in ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce and mustard powder. Pour over meat in skillet. Cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I have now made mashed potatoes twice in my life. (Hey, there’s a reason this blog is about learning to cook! I’d never even boiled spaghetti noodles until right around the time I started this website.) The first time I made mashed potatoes, I just kind of winged it, and ended up with light and fluffy mashed potatoes with almost no flavor at all. The second time, I consulted an expert– The Pioneer Woman. I’m always drooling over her recipes and pictures, but with the exception of my first lasagna, I never actually get around to making the things I see.

Her Creamy Mashed Potatoes seemed like just the ticket though. I was right! They were fairly labor intensive, and even though I managed to mess them up, they were still delicious. I’m not sure how committed I am to using a potato masher rather than beaters in the future, but they definitely were good!

You’ll need:

5lbs of potatoes, softened butter, softened cream cheese, half and half, season salt, and pepper

Start by peeling 5lbs of potatoes. As you can see, I got lazy by the end of the bag of potatoes because I was tired of peeling, but it turned out fine. Rinse the potatoes, and cut them into halves or quarters so they’re all roughly the same size.

PW instructs that the potatoes should be added to a pot of simmering water, and boiled for at least 30 minutes… or until they’re fork tender. You stick a fork into the potato, and if it goes in without resistance, the potatoes are done.

Drain the potatoes, and return them to the pan over low heat. (Man, I’m not doing so well on the step by step pictures here am I?) Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes until they are mostly mashed and most of the steam has escaped. Then you get to add the good stuff.

First, slice in the butter that you’ve been softening. PW said she used 1 1/2 sticks for 5 lbs of butter, and I’m a good sheep, so that’s what I did too.

Then add 8 oz. of softened cream cheese. Sorry about the picture quality… I’m not sure where my flash went here.

Now, pretend like there is a picture here of me adding 1/2 cup of half and half and that I didn’t forget this step. It would have helped me out greatly, and probably would’ve helped the potatoes reach that super creamy consistency they were supposed to have but didn’t quite attain.

Mash in the butter, cream cheese, and half and half until it’s all incorporated.

Now it’s time to season… I started with 1/2 teaspoon of Lawry’s season salt and bumped it up to a full teaspoon.

Same thing with the pepper– started with 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and ended up with a teaspoon.

Stir or mash the seasoning in. When you’re satisfied with how it tastes…

Butter a casserole dish. This is my 2qt, 8×8 Pyrex dish and it was just barely large enough.

Squeeze all your potatoes into the casserole dish.

Slice some butter onto the top.

Cover with foil. And here’s the best part… at this point, you can stick it in the fridge and leave it there for a day or two! I used my mashed potatoes a little later the same day, but imagine how much it would come in handy to have these ready to go in the oven and reheat for holiday gatherings rather than trying to mash them while you’re getting everything else ready.

When you’re ready to use them, they go in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until they’re heated through. If they’ve been in the fridge a couple days, PW suggests taking them out of the fridge about an hour before you want to put them in the oven so the middle isn’t quite as cold.