Soup and crackers…that could be a meal!

Ok, Ok, does anyone remember the episode on Seinfeld where Kenny Bania, an obnoxious comedian, offers Jerry a brand new Armani suit for free.  In exchange he asks for a meal.  Jerry takes him out and Bania only orders soup.  Jerry tells Elaine and she asks, “Did he crumble any crackers in it?”  Jerry is silent and Elaine asks again, “Did he crumble, any crackers in it?” Jerry- “As a mater of fact, he did.” Elaine- “Oh, well. Crackers in a bowl. That — That could be a meal.”

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P’nut Butter and Jelly Cookies…

I absolutely LOVE peanut butter cookies…and I LOVE the 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe for these cookies.  And what could make these even better????   Blackberry Jelly!!!   My friend Gina gave me some jelly she made with blackberries she grew.  The weird thing is…I HATE blackberries.  Not the taste, but the seeds- the good thing about the jelly is that it doesn’t have seeds.

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Shortcut Strawberry Shortcake…

What do you do when you’re suffering from a head cold and it’s pouring down rain outside? Why, what else…you cook!!  And this shortcut cake is so easy to make you can even do it with medication running through your body…

But first an introduction…

Meet my friends helping me today- Rawleigh’s Medicated Ointment and Coca-Cola!!!

With enough Coke flowing through your veins and medicated salve on your forehead you can conquer the world!!  Well, at least a cake.   Now on with the recipe!!

Bake your cake according to the instructions on the box.  I used Pillsbury’s Butter Cake mix.

I then mashed about 2 cups of strawberries with a couple tablespoons of sugar.

This will create a wonderful and tasty syrup.

Once you spread the berries put the cake in the freezer for 10 to 15 mins.

This will make the strawberries stay in place while spreading the frosting.

Is my Amish Bread Supposed to be Green??…

Okay…so here’s the scoop… I only have one glass loaf pan so I used 2 small disposable aluminum pans along with the glass.  WRONG thing to do!!!  The bread turned out great in the glass pan but not in the disposables.  The disposables didn’t give the bottom a good crust…it was gooey and GREEN!!!  It was edible but not very appealing. What happened?? Well, after Googling “Amish Bread turned green”, I found out I am not alone.  I know the recipe said not to use aluminum to mix the dough in but it didn’t say not to use aluminum pans to cook the bread in.  I used devil’s food chocolate pudding and so did the other cooks whose bread turned green.  There’s a reaction that occurs with this pudding when it is baked. Its edible, but I just couldn’t eat it!  I actually didn’t notice it until well after it cooled.  Mental note to self: DO NOT USE DEVILS FOOD CHOCOLATE PUDDING AND ALUMINUM LOAF PANS!!!  The one I cooked in the glass pan was fine.  Not sure if the others used aluminum pans too but I am not doing that again!  I also wasn’t crazy about the pudding in the bread.  I tried one my co-worker made without pudding and I liked it so much better!!  Oh well…live and learn…and don’t use aluminum pans to bake in!!!

A Ziploc Bag Full of Goodness!!…

Inside this bag contains a secret bread starter that only the Amish claim to know how to make. This secret recipe is handed down from person to person 1 cup at a time. And if you give all of yours away you will have to travel to the Amish country to get them to make you some more.

Or you could just Google “Amish Friendship Bread” and start your own. Don’t you love how they put that on the recipe? Like we have time to hunt down an Amish woman and have her make us some starter.

Anyway, my co-worker Gina was sweet enough to give me a bag of it and I can’t wait until it’s time to bake. I’m on Day 5. Only 5 more days until I can bake 2 wonderful loaves and then share the starter with the ones I love…or just keep it for myself.

Amish Friendship Bread

Day 1: Do nothing.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of milk. Mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10:
Add 3/4 cup of milk, flour and sugar. Mix well. Remove 1 cup of the batter into a new bag.

To the remaining batter add:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil (or use 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce)
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding.

This will make three smaller loaves or two large loaves or muffins. Grease the bottom of the pans and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 325 about and hour for bread loaves or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan easily.

Variations:

For chocolate bread omit the cinnamon and replace the vanilla pudding with sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding, add 3 oz. of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

For blueberry-lemon omit the cinnamon, use sugar-free lemon pudding plus a teaspoon of lemon extract and 1 cup of frozen blueberries that have been thawed and drained.