Gingerbread Loaf Recipe

I got this recipe in January and tried it out right away. We are sort of getting into the old ruts but I decided that I was going to try this one as soon as I saw it so I printed it out right away.  I added it to my weekend to do list and I actually got it done.  Of course I totally didn't post any of the pictures to share with you.  Now I am inside and trying to get caught up on all of the things on my to do list and I decided that even though the weather is getting warmer, it is about time that I shared this amazing gingerbread and it made me want to make it again.  Check out the original recipe here.

I got out all of the ingredients that we needed which are all pantry staple ingredients for us.

I measured to put the molasses in the bowl.

I put the molasses and the butter in the bowl. 

I added hot water which melted down the butter.

It was super easy to mix together after everything melted.

I got the butter fully melted and it was so fragrant and nicely thinned out so it wouldn't be so sticky to pour into the dry ingredients.

 

I mixed the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.  Of course I used the one on the mixer but then looked back and realized that I totally didn't need a mixer for this recipe because the liquid ingredients were all smooth so this was easy to mix together.

Since I already had it in the blender, I figured that I would use it.  I added the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mixed.

It mixed up to look like a bread already and smelled even more amazing.

I put it in the greased bread pan ready to bake.

Did I mention how great it smelled?  I might have cut into it before I actually took a picture.  Oops!!  It turned out really dark brown and made the house smell amazing.

The best part is that I really wanted to have gingerbread and this was wonderful rich option.

My husband said that he kept looking at it and thinking that it was chocolate cake so he wasn't as excited about it because it obviously didn't taste like chocolate cake.  It tasted like yummy gingerbread and I can't wait to make it again.

Classic Gingerbread Loaf 

Ingredients 2/3 Cup Boiling Water 2/3 Cup Molasses 1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter 1 Large Egg 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour 1/2 Tsp Salt 2 Tsp Ground Ginger 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon 1/4 Tsp Ground Cloves 1 Tsp Baking Soda

Instructions : 

Preheat oven to 350° and grease loaf pan.  Combine wet ingredients in one bowl, add molasses and butter. Add boiling water and stir until butter melts and all is combined. Put boiling water in measuring cup used to add molasses to clean the cup and get every last drop of molasses. Allow to cool while combining dry ingredients.  Combine dry ingredients in another bowl, combine flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda. Whisk until combined. 

When bowl of wet ingredients is cool to the touch, whisk in egg. Pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Stir to make batter.  Pour batter into greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out dry.

Katie's Cut Out Cookies

My friend Katie makes these cookies which I love when she makes... of course isn't everything better when someone else puts in all the effort.  I didn't make this forever because I just wanted to eat hers but we needed some cut out cookies so I decided that I would make her recipe.  My family has declared it a new favorite recipe required for every special event and just sometimes when we are stuck in the house.

My son helped me make them the last few times so these pictures when I made them without a helper.  Of course whenever I pull out the ingredients, he comes running to help.

I put the butter and sugar in the bowl to cream together.

 I mixed until it was nice and creamy.

 I added the eggs and the vanilla.

I measured the dry ingredients to get them ready to add to the mixture.

I added all of the dry ingredients and mixed until combined.

The dough comes together easily and then you scrape down the sides and put it in the fridge overnight or at least until it is really cooled and ready to be rolled out.

We floured the surface and rolled out the cookies but I don't have an pictures of this for any of the times that I have made them.  Last time we made Virginia, candy cane, gingerbread men, and hearts.  My son picked the shapes so he was excited to cut them out and bake them.

This time, we decided to go with an Easter theme so we had two different bunnies, two different flowers, a butterfly, and ice cream cone. Super glad to have lots of spring sprinkles in the cupboard. 

We love to decorate upfront before baking so that they don't have to be decorated when they come out.  Although my husband likes his plain without any sprinkles so if he doesn't finish all his then we put frosting on them.  As always, these cookies are a home run. Everyone had lots of cookies and I hope that you try these for your own family.  Everyone I know who tried them thinks that they are a home run!

Katie's Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Dough

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract (although she adds more)

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla, beating well.  Add dry ingredients.  Cool in fridge before rolling out (I usually do this over night).  Roll out, cut into desired shapes, then cook at 350 for about 8 minutes.  Cool before frosting

Frosting

1/3 cup butter (must be room temperature!)

3 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

at least 2 tbsp  heavy whipping cream

Blend butter (again, make sure its room temperature) and powdered sugar.  Add vanilla.  Add whipping cream and then keep adding little bits at a time while mixing until desired consistency.

Taco Rice Recipe (Hamburger Helper Crunchy Taco Copycat Recipe)

I have been on a mission to use up things in the freezer and pantry.  I bought Minute Rice awhile back when they were super cheap.  I use it to add to soup and other things but really haven't used a lot of it so I precooked some ground beef and set it aside to make this quick meal when I was doing a big freezer cooking of chili, salsa sloppy joes and sausage sauce.  I forgot to take a picture before I started cooking but I also pulled out the taco seasoning packet that I had in the pantry from my free stockpile from Giant awhile ago.

I added the amount of water to the pan called for with 2 cups of rice on the package.  I stirred in the package of taco seasoning and added the rice.

Since the ground beef was already cooked, I added the ground beef and stirred around in the pan to make sure that I had enough water, seasoning and beef.  I left the heat on even though that wasn't the recipe for the rice but I wanted the ground beef to be heated through.  I put the top to steam the rice and meat together.

I covered it with cheese and put the top on so that it would be nice and melted.  I used cheddar and Oaxaca because that is what we had in the house and it was a perfect blend.  This is the same thing that we used to do with the Crunchy Taco Hamburger Helper because my husband hated the cheese sauce that came in the box.

We served with tortilla chips on the side for a crunch if wanted.  There were leftovers which I thought I was going to put into enchiladas but we actually ate them before I even got a chance to see how those would be.  We just heated in the microwave and put on some more cheese.

This was a super quick meal and I thought it was a great way to stretch the ground beef because I didn't use a whole pound of ground beef but you can add as much as you want.  I will totally make this again because we enjoyed it!  I think that I will add it to the menu plan in the coming month to use up the rest of the rice.  Then I will have to figure out if I can recreate with normal rice.

Taco Rice

2 cups Minute Rice or Instant Rice

1 package Taco Seasoning

1/2-1 lb Cooked Ground Beef

2 cups water

Cheese to Taste

Add water to pan and stir in taco seasoning packet over medium heat.  Add 2 cups of instant rice and stir and cover.  Add cooked ground beef and reduce to low heat.  Cover for 20 minutes.  Top with cheese and cover until melted.  Serve hot with tortilla or corn chips. 

Mashed Potato Bacon Cheddar Tater Tots

We had some leftover mashed potatoes and we were running low on potatoes to make homemade fries so I decided to use what I had on hand to make the meal more complete.  I decided that I was going to make the Mozzarella and Parmesan tater tots that I saw online (which I can't find again because I made it so long ago but might be closest to these) and mix up another batch with bacon and cheddar which I was totally making up because that sounded yummy to me.  I started with leftover mashed potatoes.

I added in the bacon and the cheese to try to make it way more flavorful and exciting.  I think that I could have added even more after making them.

Then I added in an egg that was already beaten.

I put some flour in the bowl and formed them into tater tot size nuggets...although I think that mine might have been too big.

After they were coated, I put them on the edge of the plate to wait to fry.

 Once they fried up, I put them on the paper towel to dry.

They ended up being a little bigger then I was wanting but it was hard to work with the sticky potatoes so it was the best I could do for my first time.

They were pretty tasty when they were hot and crispy out of the fryer but I think that they would have been even tastier with the breadcrumbs on the outside that many of the recipes suggested.  I would totally try this again but I might add a little flour to the mixture, make them smaller, add more fillings and bread the outside.  I think it is a great way to use up the leftover mashed potatoes that otherwise wouldn't be eaten.  It was a great quick addition to our meal which is always helpful and used up leftovers that weren't being eaten.  I hope that you try out your own combination for yourself.

Homemade Chicken and Rice Casserole (Copycat Campbells Chicken Casserole)

I decided that I was going to try to make homemade Chicken and Rice Casserole just like the Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup one that my husband loves.  In case you like it and want to make it from scratch or even if you haven't, it is way easy and this tastes the same or better then the original with a can of soup.

First, I started by getting out the ingredients to make the Cream Soup base.  If you have time to do this early, you can make it early and refrigerate before or you can make it hot and put it straight into the casserole.  I found it was super easy to cook up in the morning and I actually stuck the whole pan in the fridge to cool.

First step is to put in milk and cornstarch.  I used a whisk to mix everything together but since I use a nonstick pan, I do it with a plastic whisk which actually works great.

Next is to add the seasonings needed to make the soup and the seasonings I like to add to the casserole.  It was super flavorful and the main difference from the canned soup as well as there aren't weird chunks of meat in it which I don't like in cream of chicken soup.

 I added the butter and you can see that it is thickening and sticking to the whisk.

After the butter is melted, it is wonderfully coating the whisk and it was wonderful.  At this point you have a condensed cream of chicken soup.

The important step that makes it easier then the canned soup and adds the chicken flavor which way better then the canned soup, is to add chicken broth.  It needs 1 1/3 cup chicken broth which I did over heat and mixed it together. 

 It ends up the consistency of soup because it basically is ready to eat.

In the 7x11 pan, I add 3/4 cup of rice.  The first time I made it, I added the seasoning to this instead of soup but the second time I added everything to the soup.  This can also be measured beforehand so that it is ready to go at dinner time.

When it is time for dinner,  you add the pot of soup to your rice.  I stir back and forth to combine.  My husband swears that I do something differently here because he could never get this to work without me but I swear I move a fork around until it seems thicker.

The next step is to bread the chickens which is great to do with just wet chicken into the breadcrumbs to make it easier.  During this process, I press the chicken tenders very thinly.  I can normally only fit 5 pieces of chicken across the top so if you need more you can bread and bake on another pan.

Each on is lightly placed on top of of the rice mixture and I get them to float (my husband only gets them to sink). 

I go across the whole pan and try to fit my 5 chicken pieces across.

There are a few different ways that you can do the next step but I used to spray with cooking spray but I don't use that any more. I frequently just drizzle a little canola or vegetable oil on the chicken to help crispy up the breadcrumbs.  This time I mixed a little melted butter into the remaining breadcrumbs.

It made it nice and chunky to add a little more bread crumbs because the chicken didn't seem to hold the crumb as much.  I wanted a little more crunchy topping.

I sprinkled it on the top of the chicken.

It is funny how different the coloring of the two breadcrumbs showed up but it wasn't super thick just a sprinkling.

I baked it until the top browns and the rice comes together.

It is super easy to see in my pans because it sort of goes up the sides and gets less liquidy on the sides.

 You can see here how the soup sticks to the chicken and to the edge of the pan.

We scoop it all out together on to our plates and enjoy the tasty dinner.  There is an option to put a veggie in the pan like peas or broccoli but we like our veggies separate so we don't put any into the casserole.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ⅛ freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 1/3 cup chicken broth 
• 3/4 c rice
• 5 chicken tenders
• Breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. In a small saucepan whisk together milk and cornstarch. Add butter, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and parsley.  Add more seasonings to taste.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once boiling, simmer for 30 more seconds to thicken.
3. Add chicken broth and stir until combined. Set aside to cool or use right away.
4. Preheat over to 375 degrees
5. Mix soup with rice in a 7x11 casserole dish until combined with a fork.
6. Bread wet chicken tenders and flatten.  Place chicken on top of the rice mixture in the casserole dish.
7. Use cooking spray, canola or vegetable oil, or melted butter to coat each chicken tender.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until brown and serve.

 
Super tasty and easy meal to make with things that we always have around the house.  Super flexible to change to what ever seasoning you prefer.  The original soup recipe can be found here and the Campbells Chicken and Rice Casserole original recipe can be found here.  You can see from these recipes that I have changed these recipes and added my own take on it over the years and the recipe just keeps changing.  I hope that you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we do and feel free to change it up to fit your families needs.