Chocolate Covered Banana Cake

This is the easiest cake you will ever make and it will look very good when you are done. This was made to celebrate Raven's play and it turned out to be a darn good cake if I do say so myself. Well, I guess I just did. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:

1 yellow cake mix
1 large package cook and serve banana pudding-cooked according to directions on package
1/2 cup package cook and serve banana pudding mix-for cake mix
1 tub chocolate icing

Mix cake according directions but add 1/2 cup cook and serve banana pudding mix to the cake mixture and stir. You will add the pudding dry and stir it in very well. Bake cake in 2-9 inch cake rounds until a toothpick comes out clean. I just followed the baking directions on the cake mix box. While cake is baking make your pudding and let it cool. Cool cake completely, now spread pudding on one layer of cake and top with the other, now place covered in your fridge overnight, this helps keep everything together and helps the last layer to stay in place. Microwave your icing tub for 15-20 seconds and then spread over the top layer. Spread this out so it drips off the sides a little. Put cake back in the fridge for 1 hour. This is really good with whipped cream or ice-cream.

Easy Chicken and Dressing

Raven loves chicken and dressing and often orders it when we go out to eat. I decided to surprise her and make it at home. Chicken and dressing does not have to be time consuming and saved for Sunday dinner, as it was at my grandmother's home. This is a family pleaser and a budget pleaser. We serve it covered with gravy, but that is up to you. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:
1 boiled chicken-boned and chopped up
4 stalks celery-chopped
2 carrots-chopped
1/2 white onion-chopped
2 T sage
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chicken broth(from boiling your chicken)
1 pan cornbread-crumbled( I keep odd and end pieces in the freezer for dressing.)
6 slices white bread-toasted and cubed
2 sticks butter

Mix together cornbread, white bread, chicken, and sage. Saute carrots, celery, and onion in 2 sticks of butter until fork tender, now add them to the bread mixture and stir very well while salting and peppering to your taste. Add broth a cup at a time until you have a soft mixture that will hold shape when pressed together. Place dressing in a deep casserole pan and bake at 425' for 35 minutes or until a crust forms on top. Serve with gravy and cranberry sauce.

Angel Food Cake

I have made a lot of angel food cakes in my time and this recipe is my favorite and is the easiest to make. Don't be intimidated with the egg whites, beating them until they stand on their own is easy and when you do it once you will never be intimidated again. Egg whites will be your friend, so to speak. I love angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. I think I love all cake with strawberries and whipped cream and if you read this blog, you will agree. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.





Needed:
12 extra large eggs whites-I use free range eggs
1 t cream of tartar
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 t vanilla
1/2 t salt-I use sea salt
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat your egg whites until foamy, now add cream of tartar, salt, vanilla, and white sugar, beat until stiff peaks are formed. Now sift together flour and powdered sugar and fold into egg whites
Bake at 350' for 30 minutes on the lowest rack in your oven. Also remember to use an ANGEL FOOD CAKE PAN AND NOT A BUNDT CAKE PAN. Yes, there is a difference.

Wild Spinach

These wild greens are a rite of spring on Beaty’s Creek, guess that is because they are almost everywhere along Beaty’s Creek. I freeze them and eat plenty when they are young too. These particular greens, to me anyway, taste like spinach with a broccoli rabe bite. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek along with some fried cornbread.

Needed:

Spring Greens AKA Wild Spinach
Enough water to cover
Salt
Oil

I wash the greens and place them in my salad spinner, then I place them in a caste iron skillet covered with water and cook them until almost all of the water is gone. Now add oil and salt, now you will sauté the greens until tender. I love them with fried cornbread!

Cherry Lemonade Cake

My MIL loves lemon cake so I thought I would try my hand at one. This cake tastes just like cherry lemonade, to me that is a good thing. This is a pretty simple cake to make so give it a try and give it to the lemon lover in your life. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

2 ¼ cups plus 3 T cake flour-sifted then measured
¾ t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 cup plus 2 T room temperature unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 t lemon flavoring
4 large egg yolks- at room temperature
1 large egg- at room temperature
¾ cup sour cream

Resift flour with salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Cream together butter, egg yolks, egg, sugar, sour cream, and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Now add flour mixture a cup at a time until all is mixed in. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350’ for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Now make the “icing”. Mix 3 cups powder sugar, 1/4-cup fresh lemon juice, and 1/8-cup maraschino cherry juice. Once mixed, pour over warm cake and top with maraschino cherries that have been cut in half.

My Garden 2009

Everyone has been talking about their garden and now I can finally show you a little something from my garden. I come from a very long line of gardeners, so does my husband. This is the first harvest and doesn't it look tasty?? I am baking a crusty french baguette and have some freshly made butter to eat my french breakfast radishes with and oh, some really good sea salt. I can eat green onions with almost anything. I am making a veggie tray for lunch tomorrow and they will certainly be on it. Well this is not really cookin but it is What's Cookin today. Try growing some veggies, your kids will love it and so will you! Everyone grows flowers so be different, grow veggies!!

Fried Cornbread

Yes, I said fried cornbread. Nothing is better with mustard greens in the fall or a salad fresh from the garden with bacon and vinegar dressing in the spring. Give this one a try and you will be surprised how easy and good it is. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

5 cups white cornmeal
3 cups boiling water( give or take, may need a little more or less)
Caste iron skillet
Oil

Mix cornmeal and boiling water until you have thick batter. It will be easy to handle in your hands too. If it is better to have it too dry than too wet, you can always add water but not cornmeal. Not sure why but when you add cornmeal it never turns out right. So start off with a cup of boiling water at a time until you get the right texture.Form into a ball and flatten the ball out. Now heat your skillet over medium heat until a bit of the batter sizzles when added to the oil. Cook as you would pancakes, brown on one side and then turn and brown the other. Drain on paper towels and serve. Sooo good!