Grandma's Cream Cake

This is an excellent cake recipe that comes from my grandmother. It is very easy to make and delicious. This is the recipe I usually use whenever I want to make a white cake from scratch. I also use it all the time for cupcakes. Try my frosting recipe on top and don't ruin it with the boughten stuff.

Grandma's Cream Cake

by Chelsey W.

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup whipping cream

or 1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs

pinch of salt

3 tsp baking powder 

or 1 tsp of baking soda if using sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the flour and sugar then add the cream and other ingredients. Mix until well combined and pour into a greased 9x13 cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 min. or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Perfect Frosting

1/2 c margarine or butter, softened *I prefer flavor of margarine in this

3-4 c powdered sugar

milk as needed, a few tablespoons

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract (to taste)

food coloring

The frosting is made by taste. Put a stick of margarine in a large mixing bowl. On low speed mix with electric beaters beat margarine slowly adding in about 2 c of powdered sugar. Add a little milk when it gets too thick. Add more powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Continue to mix in powdered sugar until frosting reaches desired thickness and taste. Add a little food coloring and frost cake.

Chicken & Gravy

This chicken & gravy is easy to make and sure to be a family favorite.

Chicken & Gravy
by Chelsey W.

4 chicken breasts
1 Family size can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Mix together the seasonings and sprinkle over chicken in a large casserole dish. In a mixing bowl stir together cream of mushroom soup and cream and pour over chicken. Cover and Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover, stir and allow to thicken for 10 min. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Recipe adapted from Or So She Says...

Cinnamon Syrup

This easy syrup is fabulous on waffles and pancakes. A dollop of whipped cream on top makes it a special treat.

Cinnamon Syrup
by Chelsey W.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a medium saucepan stir together all ingredients Except the cream. Stirring constantly bring to a boil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Syrup will thicken as it cools. Serve warm over waffles or pancakes. Great with freshly whipped cream or the kind you spray out of the can.

Recipe from YourHomebasedMom.com

Sesame Street Cupcakes

For my sons 1st birthday party I decided to use Sesame Street as the theme. I saw Lyndsey from Kitchen doughdough on a morning talkshow called Good Things Utah and she showed some Sesame Street cupcakes that she made. I thought they were adorable and I had to make them. So I looked around the internet and found another great blog called Lovely Sprinkles and her cupcakes were just what I was looking for, absolutely darling. So I took ideas from both places and made up my own and I thought they turned out pretty cute. I was impressed with myself since this it the first time I have ever decorated a cake/cupcakes. It was fun and really wasn't hard. Then I went to a Zurcher's a party supply store and they had baby Sesame Street plates, napkins, and decor that said "1" on them. So it all worked out perfectly! Happy 1st Birthday to my baby Garrett! I love you!!!

To make these simply bake some cupcakes, I doubled the recipe and used my white cream cake recipe that I've listed below because the top has a nice firm surface for decorating or you can use a cake mix but you'll want to freeze the cupcakes before decorating so that the top doesn't peel off and get crumbs in your frosting when you decorate them. I made my own frosting because it's good and you can make it a firmer consistency for decorating. For the fur on all my characters I used a grass/hair decorating tip. Elmo had red frosting for the fur, an orange peanut butter M&M for the nose, white candy melts for the eyes, a black tube of frosting with a small round decorating tip was used to make all the eyeballs, I carefully sawed back and forth on an Oreo cookie half with a serrated knife to make all the mouths. Cookie monster has blue frosting for fur and a Chips Ahoy cookie was cut in half to make his mouth. I then made his eyes offset to look googly. *Just a note: I learned that you have to add the eyes, nose, and mouths quickly after making the fur because the frosting dries and hardens a little and then the mouths and eyes fall off. I had to use the black frosting like glue to put them back on because I frosted all the cupcakes with fur first and then added on the faces, and the frosting had set up a little too much by then. Oscar has green frosting for fur and his mouth is an upside down Oreo half to look like a frown. I forgot to color some frosting brown so I just used the black frosting for his eyebrows. For liners I just used ones that matched their color of fur. One blog used foil liners for Oscar so that it looked like his trash can and I thought that was a good idea.

Frosting:

Use four sticks of margarine 2 cups (or butter), and whip it with a lot of powdered sugar (like two bags). Add in about 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp almond extract (don't forget it). Then add a little milk so you don't burn out your mixer (4-8Tbsp). If your going to use liquid food coloring it takes a ton and will water down your frosting so make the frosting pretty stiff. I recommend using the food coloring paste then you don't have to worry about that. When your frosting tastes good (add more powdered sugar if it is too soft or tastes like butter) split it into three different bowls and add different food colorings. You can reserve a little to color brown to make Oscars eyebrows if you want. This made enough frosting for about 30 cupcakes.

Cream Cake Recipe

2 c flour

1 c sugar

1 c cream

1/4 c milk

3 eggs

pinch of salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together cream and sugar and add in flour then other ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick come out clear when center of cake is poked. It stays a light color.

Chicken Alfredo

One of my favorite places to go eat at is the Olive Garden. I usually think "I should try something new" but I always end up getting the chicken alfredo because I LOVE IT! After several attempts of making my own perfect alfredo sauce this is the one I will make from now on and it's so easy. However, I will not make it often because it's pretty darn fattening. But I'm sure the Olive Garden's is too. One tip that I've finally figured out that is essential to making good alfredo sauce is using a good quality parmesan cheese. The parmesan blend from Walmart never turned out good. I like to cook broccoli and add it as a vegetable side. Enjoy!

Chicken Alfredo

by Chelsey W.

1/2 cup REAL butter (no alternatives)

2 Tbsp flour

2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk (not skim)

2-3 cups grated parmesan cheese
(use good quality parmesan, freshly grated is best because it melts better)

1 lb. fettucine or penne pasta

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder (I usually use more to taste)

3-4 chicken breasts

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook chicken breasts and season how desired. (I cut chicken into bite size pieces) To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and whisk in flour. Add the cream and heat through. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir mixture over low heat until cheese melts. Don't let the cheese sauce boil it causes it to go grainy. Put in the seasonings. When seasoning I do it to taste sometimes I add in more garlic or cheese. Serve the sauce over the pasta and top with the chicken. Yum! Makes about 6 servings.