Food For Friday: Oooey Gooey (Cake Mix) Butter Bars

There is seriously a reason that I am NOT a food blogger! I cannot remember to take pictures of my cooking creations to save my life!! This is a recipe that I have been requested to repeat ASAP, so hopefully I will have a picture to add soon.

Truth be told, I was in search for a good sweet treat for a couple of farm boys who had been on the road and/or working and farming all day. I went with burgers cooked in cast, mac and cheese, and corn for dinner, but dessert was tricky! I looked through a dozen recipes and never had all of the right ingredients until I scrolled across the one for Oooey Gooey (Cake Mix) Butter Bars. I always have cake mixes in the cabinet and luckily I had enough cream cheese on hand AND this was as good as a cheesecake, but less time consuming! So a WIN WIN in my household!

I got the recipe from HERE. But it is not a "new" recipe and Paula Deen has her own version as well.

Oooey Gooey (Cake Mix) Butter Bars

My beautiful food photo on my lovely Tupperware plastic plates.
No worries they were SO good I would probably eat them off anything ;)

Ingredients

1 yellow cake mix (just the mix)

1/2 cup of butter melted

3 eggs (not all used together- see directions)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

16 oz powdered sugar (m/l on preference)

WARNING: This is not a DIET friendly recipe. 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take out a 9x13 pan and grease the bottom. In a bowl, combine the dry cake mix, melted butter, and ONE egg. Mix well. Spread the mixture into the bottom of the pan. I used my fingers and palms to do this. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the cream cheese. Add the two remaining eggs and beat until they are well combined. Add the powdered sugar.** Continue until well mixed. Pour over the crust and bake for 25-30 minutes. Do not over bake. This should be oooey and gooey in the middle. If you over bake, the bars will be hard and not delicious. Allow it to cool completely(ish) before cutting. Keep leftovers in fridge!

**I used 16 oz, but many of the reviews for this said that they were too sweet and to cut back on the powdered sugar. Be your own judge! 

Be prepared for this one to be requested daily. My hubs might have a new favorite. Plus it is simple and AMAZING!! Farm boy approved to say the least!

Food For Friday: Stroganoff

I am going to throw this recipe out there since this is one of the 4 things I cooked this week. It is quick, easy, cheap, and husband approved.

FYI this is the Heinz picture from the Heinz recipe :) My photog skills and iPhone will never be that good. Nor is that my fiesta-ware.

Easy Peasy Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients
1 lb Ground Beef
1 jar of Heinz Beef Gravy
1/2 cup sour cream
Cooked Egg Noodles (I just always cook the whole bag)
*Can add mushrooms if you like those things :)

Directions
In a skillet, cook the ground beef until browned. Meanwhile boil your noodles and drain when they are cooked. (Duh!) Dump Add in the brown gravy to the skillet and simmer. Then add in the sour cream and stir until combined. Add a little salt or a lot in my household. Then serve over the noodles when they are finished.

I promise that next week I will be back to blogging. I just haven't had a spare minute this week and am typing this one as fast as my fat fingers will go. I have been "blog-spired" this week and have several good posts in the works. Happy Weekend!

Food for Friday- My favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, this is going to have to be a quick one! I almost did not even make it this far, but here is one of the recipes I promised the first week I would eventually share! (Sorry, no pictures just yet. I will whip some up this weekend and get them up next week!)

My FAVORITE Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are so moist and soft and delicious. I have people hinting around that they hope I make these all the time. They are simple and the recipe is nothing special. So here it is...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Soft, Gooey, and Delicious)

Ingredients

2 sticks butter at room temperature (leave them out for 15 minutes on your counter)

3/4 cup of brown sugar1/4 cup white sugar1 3.4 oz package of vanilla instant pudding mix2 eggs1 tsp vanilla extract2 1/4 cup flour1 tsp baking soda1/2 tsp salt2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. (Or by hand if you choose) Then add the pudding mix. DO NOT make the pudding. Just add the dry mix. Mix again. This is where I like to do a taste test. :) Add eggs and mix well. Add vanilla. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate container. Here where I am going to be real with you, I just throw it all in together in the mixer, because I don't want to wash another bowl. Mix the dry ingredients in. Then add your chocolate chips. Place into balls on a cookie sheet. I love to use my Pampered Chef scoop, my favorite PC cookie sheets, and PARCHMENT PAPER. Again with the no dishes thing! Bake for 7-10 minutes and remove to cool! When I make mine I use WAY less chocolate chips. I am not the biggest fan of chocolate chips so I cut back, but you may be a faithful chocolate lover and if so go for more! 

Also, if your butter is too soft, these cookies will be very very flat! They are still amazingly delicious, but they just aren't as pretty! 

There you have it!! This is another one of my favorite things to make with my favorite blonde boy! He loves to climb up and help mom in the kitchen and I enjoy it too. He really likes to stir and start up the mixer. I will always treasure the little moments with him. He is pretty much my world! 

Not a recent picture and not making cookies,

but my little kitchen helper! He was "helping"

me make Oreo Dessert.

Food For Friday: Easy Spanish Rice

This is a weekly favorite in my house! We eat mexican food at least once a week and this is always on the menu any time it is mexican night. Not to mention Cole devours it and at the moment anything his toddler taste buds will devour I will make!

This is another skillet rice just like the one that I made last week. It is actually what inspired me to cook my fried rice the way I did. I found the original recipe on Pinterest and just change it up to my liking.

Here is what you will need:

-2 Tbsp Oil

-2 Cups Instant White Rice

-2 Cups Chicken Broth

-1 14 oz can of Tomato Sauce

-1 Tbsp Ground  Cumin

(Can also add garlic and/or onion powder to taste)

Directions:

-Put your oil in the skillet and let it warm. Add the rice and let it sizzle for about a minute. Then add your chicken broth and tomato sauce and stir. Add your cumin (and garlic.onion as desired). Put the lid on the skillet and let it cook at a slow simmer (typically on medium heat). Stir a couple of times to make sure it doesn't burn to the bottom. Cook for about 7-10 minutes and then remove the lid and let it sit for a couple of minute. Then EAT UP!! 

Yummo!! It is not soggy at all and that is where rice and I part ways. I hate soggy rice! I have also made chicken flavored rice the same way, just without the cumin and garlic. Maybe add some herbs or something and go strong on the chicken broth. Sometimes I feel like rice is all Cole will eat so we just go with it. I embrace whatever he WILL eat for the day. He did not used to be picky, but now that he is it wears me out! (Shout out to fellow toddler moms on that one!)

He also loves salsa! Mom-win there! 

Another MUST HAVE in our house and something we don't live without is SWEET SAUCE!! You can buy it at Price Cutter and we tend to go through AT LEAST one jar a week! Spoon a little on top of this rice and it is even better! 

Only the best!

An attempt at "cheese"

Have a great weekend and let me know if this recipe works out for you! I am always up for more tips and tricks! Now to start thinking of next week's Food for Friday. I am thinking dessert...

Food for Friday- Panda Express Orange Chicken

This week's Food for Friday is something new I tried and LOVED!! I LOVE Panda Express' Orange Chicken! While the husband and I were shopping the other day at Price Cutter, I found a bottle of Panda Express Orange Chicken sauce! I had already bought some fried rice seasoning and knew I had a meal! A quick and easy meal!

Panda Express Orange Chicken and Fried Rice

What you need: 

-Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce (I found it with the oriental stuff at grocery store. Any sauce that you choose would work, but this was my choice. And it only took half of the bottle!

-Fried Rice Seasoning (or make your own)

-2 cups Chicken Broth 

-Approx 4 tbsp Veggie Oil (more or less based on preference)

-2 cups Instant White Rice (needs to be instant)

-Chicken Breasts (I did about 1.5 lbs)

-1 to 2 Eggs

-Soy sauce if you please!

Ok, before I start...I use a lot of chicken and beef broth in my kitchen. I got this at Sams for under $5. It lasts me forever!! I love it and it is way cheaper than buying the cans or the cubes. 

For the RICE...

In a skillet with a lid heat up about 2 Tbsp of oil. Add the rice (1 usually do close to 3 cups. I am not one that measures much) and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Then add your chicken broth and your Fried Rice Seasoning. I do not follow what the seasoning package says to do! Mix it all up and throw the lid on it. Let it simmer for a little while like you would Rice-a-Roni. Stir a couple of times to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. I usually have mine cooking for about 10 minutes and then it is done! 

Now I make Spanish rice in a similar method and there are never left overs. I hate soggy rice and with this method my rice never ends up soggy like it always seems to when you do it the way the seasoning says to. I also scramble my egg separately then add it in, but you can do it in the same pan.

For the CHICKEN...

Cut your chicken into small pieces and "fry" it in a skillet with the oil of your choice. When it is cooked thoroughly add the desired amount of Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce and let it cook or caramelize. Then you are done!! Put it on a plate and eat up.

Here is the only picture I have of this one...I told you I am NOT a food blogger or photographer. 

It was so good and FAST. It was also something different than what we usually eat. Plus I felt better after eating this chicken than I did the real fried stuff. 

I will give my recipe for the easiest and best Spanish Rice next week or just on a random day. We seriously devour it every time I make it. Plus Cole LOVES rice! That is a huge reason we eat it often. 

If you decide to make this recipe, let me know how it works for you!! Comments are always welcome! 

Food for Friday

I am going to start a new "series" on my blog called Food for Friday. Each Friday I will share one of my favorite go-to recipes. Basically none of my recipes are original and if they come from somewhere else I will link it to the original recipe. However most of them have derived or been adapted from another recipe or several recipes.

I will tell you this now, I am NOT a food blogger and I am NOT a photographer. So none of these posts will be like those you see on the typical food blogs. As a matter of fact, I do not even have a picture of this one! I will try and think it through a little better for next week. I have the typical mom-prob of too many pictures and not enough storage on my phone and the camera is typically never charged. So you get what you get.

Today I was going to share my favorite "go-to" Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, BUT I can't find it and don't want to mess it up. So maybe next week. There is only one cookie recipe that means more to me than any recipe I will find on the internet...that is my grandma's sugar cookies. This woman could make the BEST sugar cookies ever. She passed away of cancer almost a year ago and I am SO blessed to have gotten this recipe from her. My sugar cookies will never be hers, but I will say they are pretty darn close. The one thing I DON'T do that the original recipe called for is OLEO or margarine. That is a HUGE NO NO in this dairy farm kitchen. So here it is. It is my honor to pass this beauty on to the world. Now get in that kitchen, grab your favorite little person, and get to baking!

My cookie helper. This is my Granny's AMAZING sugar cookies. 

I can tell by the Cream of Tartar.

The Recipe:

Granny’s Sugar Cookies

By: The Life of a Dairy Wife

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter– softened/almost melted

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

4 cups + 4 tsp flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the sugars, butter, and vegetable oil. Then add the eggs. Blend well. The add flour, baking soda and cream of tarter. Mix. Add vanilla. Eat a few bites. Then roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Gently “smoosh” them with a fork. Sprinkle extra sugar on top and bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Do not let them get too brown or they will be too hard. Place on cooling rack to cool and sprinkle with more sugar if desired.

For a thicker cookie, chill the dough before baking. Grandma’s cookies were always flat and amazing!

Grandma and Cole and Grandma and Me in 2010.

**Disclaimer** If I happened to make a mistake on the recipe, I will take it down until next week. I am hoping the memory didn't fail me.

Have a wonderful weekend!!