Ooey Gooies!

Every summer the Pedersens (my hubby/our family, his parents, his 4 sisters & their families) all go camping together. It's just what we do. I guess you could call it a reunion since we come together from 3 different states to make it happen. There are no grand plans, nothing is over-scheduled... or scheduled AT ALL, for that matter! LOL We just hang out at the lake, around the fire, wander the wilderness & enjoy each others company. This has been a tradition since they were kids. This summer will be my 9th time attending this camp out & it's always a lot of fun. So let's go back. Come with me - 9 years ago - to my first camping trip with them. They opened up the cooler & introduced me to a little piece of Heaven. An Ooey Gooey. What's an Ooey Gooey, you might ask? Scroll down & find out. You won't regret it!

Here are our ingredients:

A box of Devil's Food cake, chocolate chips, caramels, evaporated milk, margarine. You can also add walnuts, if you'd like. I recommend it. But my hubby prefers it without them - and sometimes I let him have his way - so no nuts in these today!

*Side note: I usually buy the individually wrapped caramels but I saw this bag of little caramel beads for melting right near the chocolate chips & I thought I'd try it - less work not having to unwrap all those caramels! I think I regret it. Not quite as awesome & I think I needed more than what was in the bag. I'll go back to old school next time.

Mix 1/3 cup of evaporated milk & the caramels in a small sauce pan & melt them together. Stir it around so it doesn't burn!


Once you get that mixed up set it aside. Now pour the rest of the milk, the dry cake mix & melted margarine into a bowl & mix them together. It'll be thick. Don't worry - you didn't do anything wrong! (If you were using walnuts this is the step you'd throw them in! Just add it to the batter & stir, stir, stir!)


Now divide that batter in half. Spray a 9x13 pan with PAM & carefully press half the batter into the pan. This takes some patience & effort. It's not thin like cake batter. You gotta get your hands in it like Playdoh. I usually take the half of the batter I'm using for the bottom layer & divide it into 1/4's. Then methodically work your way to filling the whole bottom of the pan. Seriously - this takes some love! Smash it flat in your hand/on the counter - whatever it takes to make that 1/2 of the batter cover the whole bottom of your pan!


Now pop it into a 350 oven for 7-10 minutes. Now pull it out of the oven & get ready for the magic!

Pour your caramel over the top of it.


Gently spread it around to even it out. Gently! You don't want to pull the cake apart! Then sprinkle the chips on.


Now for more puzzle piecing with the playdoh... I mean cake batter! Don't forget to work in small sections at a time. And this time you're putting it on a hot surface so be careful!

Can you see my seams?

Pop it back into the oven & bake for another 15-18 minutes.


Let it sit to cool for about 30 minutes (or longer if you can handle it!) to give the caramel a chance to set up a little bit.

Here you go!

I wish I had a better camera so I could do these babies justice! It's a brownie with an OOEY GOOEY layer of chocolate & caramel in the center! Mmmmmmm, boy. So good. We cut these into small squares - like maybe 1 1/2"...? That's all you need!

Ooey Gooies:

14 oz caramels
2/3 cup evaporate milk, divided
1 box Devil's Food cake
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350.

Melt caramels together with 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Set aside.

Mix dry cake mix with remaining 1/3 cup milk, melter margarine & walnuts. Stir until well combined. Spray 9x13 pan with PAM, then layer in 1/2 the cake mix & pat it down. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven. Pour on caramel, sprinkle with chips & layer remaining cake batter on top. Return to oven for 15-18 minutes.

Cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Baked Spaghetti

Had a baked spaghetti for dinner tonight. It's just a good, warm, yummy, comforting food. Almost everybody loves spaghetti, but with a little extra effort - and I meant little! - you can take good old spaghetti and make it great! I use my homemade spaghetti sauce for this. You could use jarred sauce & it would probably be great - but I'm absolutely in love with my sauce! Give it a go - definitely worth it!

The ingredients don't get simpler than this:


Spaghetti noodles, sauce & cheese! I usually go with Cheddar/Jack.

Get your noodles boiling - half a bag...

(Action shots are hard when you're doing the cooking AND taking the pictures!! LOL)

While this is going preheat your oven to 350. And you should probably heat your sauce up a little - it'll spread smoother/easier... not that we're going for perfection here. Once the noodles are done drain them & set aside.

Now put just a little sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 dish. You don't need much - you're really just using this to 'grease the pan' so the noodles don't stick.


Now add in half the spaghetti noodles & spread them as evenly as you can. Then put half the sauce on top of that. And then half of the cheese!


Don't skimp on the cheese!

Now repeat those layers - use the rest of the noodles & the rest of the sauce but DON'T put the top layer of cheese on yet. If you do it'll brown & turn a little crispy - which is delicious - just not what we're going for here.


Not super heavy on the sauce - I only used 2 cups for the whole thing - maybe would like a little more for this because I LOVE red sauce, but when I make my jumbo batch of sauce I break it into 2-cup bags, so that's what I had.

Bake it in the oven for about 25 minutes. Pull it out & top it with the rest of your cheese. Pop it back into the oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese into an ooey-gooey goodness.


Ahhh...... the noodles just soak up all that sauce & get a nice layer of cheese - perfection.

DO YOU SMELL THAT!!!???

Serve it up and enjoy!!

Baked Spaghetti:

1/2 a bag/box of spaghetti
2 cups of spaghetti sauce (a jar is about 3 cups, so if you go that route don't use the whole thing!!)
2 cups shredded cheese (I use Cheddar/Jack)

Preheat oven to 350. Boil spaghetti noodles according to package directions.

Spread a small amount of sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 pan. Add half the cooked noodles. Spread half the remaining sauce over the noodles. Cover with half the cheese. Top with remaining noodles, then sauce.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove, top with remaining cheese, return to oven for 5 minutes.

Let sit for a few minutes before diving in to let it set up. ENJOY!!

Weekly Menu, 8/02 - 8/08

This is gonna be a disaster of a menu!! LOL Zac's working 4 days this week & the 2 weekdays he's home we've got plans right at dinner time. Thank goodness for Sunday dinner or else this would be completely pathetic... right now it's only mostly pathetic!!

Monday: (Zac @ work) Quesadillas, apples

Tuesday: (Zac @ work) Free hot dogs & soda at National Night Out!

Wednesday: (Zac @ work) Baked Spaghetti, peaches, french bread,

Thursday: (Pampered Chef show) Zac's in charge - probably a pizza!

Friday: (Going to Dream Dinners) Eat out?

Saturday: (Zac @ work) Grilled orange chicken, pasta-roni, peas

Sunday: Crock pot roast w/ potatoes & carrots, salad, corn bread

Banana Chocolate Chip Pecan Pancakes

I know - it's a long name. But I wanted to make sure to mention all three key players because they are all noticed and they are all the stars of the show - a great ensemble, if you will!

Have you ever made pancakes from scratch? It's completely worth the extra steps! The just-add-water stuff definitely has its place in our kitchen, but when I'm feeling like giving it a little more love, scratch is the way I go!

***

I didn't take a picture of all the ingredients because... well, maybe it's because I'm lazy. I think it's probably more that I'm so anal about not having a cluttered work space that the thought of pulling everything out for a pic, putting it all away & then pulling each thing out one at a time as I use it/put it away - the extra work just didn't appeal to me! LOL So - ya. I guess we'll call it lazy.

In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Set it aside.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, butter & sugar.


Now grab the dry ingredients, make a well & slowly pour in the liquid you just whisked up.

It'll be way more than your well can hold, but just go with it. Don't over mix this - just get it all combined & smooth out most of the chunks of powder.

Now add in your diced banana, mini chocolate chips & diced pecans. Please note that I said MINI chocolate chips. You might think that there's really no difference between the minis & the regular ones so you'll just use the full-sized ones in your cupboard. Don't do it! Go buy the minis! The difference is that with big chips you'll get bites of chocolate. That's what you'll taste - is a big, melted chip. But if you get the minis, you get a hint of the chocolate flavor to compliment the bananas & pecans. Just do it. Trust me.


All right - batter's done! now let's get these babies cookin'!

Heat a skillet over medium heat & hit it with a shot of PAM. Use 1/4 cup of batter for each cake. Once it begins to get bubbles around the edges you know it's time to turn it.


FLIP! Mmm.... I'm getting excited!

Serve them up with some bananas, pecans or mini chips over the top, a drizzle of syrup or sprinkle of powdered sugar. You've got a cavity - I mean Heaven - on a plate!


Hellllloooooooo gorgeous!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pecan Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large banana, diced
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans (I buy pecan chips)

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt in a big bowl. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together milk, eggs, melted butter, sugar & vanilla.

Make a well in your dry ingredients & slowly stir in the liquid. Don't over stir - just get it all combined. Fold in bananas, chips & pecans.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Spray it with some Pam & drop on pancakes by the 1/4 cup full. Cook until bubbles show up around the edges & flip. Whenthe second side is done serve 'em up! Enjoy!

Cranberry Pineapple Jello Stuff

Can anyone help me think of a better name for this stuff? It's got marshmallows in it but they're melted down to sugar - so it's a side dish, not a dessert. It's made with Jello, but it's not really Jello-y. It's like chunky cranberry sauce. And it's awesome. Thank you to my sister-in-law, Sara, for sharing this recipe with me several years ago. It's a definite favorite!

Here is our cast of characters for this one:


Whole berry cranberry sauce, any RED Jello - I usually use black cherry, water, mini marshmallows & a can of crushed pineapple.

Start off putting your water, the jello & the marshmallow into a sauce pan. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until the marshmallows are melted/dissolved. Keep an eye on it, though, because it has a tendency to suddenly boil up/over & I'd hate for you to have a hot, sticky mess all over your stove top! Add cranberry sauce & melt it down, too. Sometimes the cranberry doesn't break up very well so i use a potato masher to help it along!


Now pour that into a 9x13 glass dish. Open up the pineapple - do NOT drain it - just pour it all into the jello mixture.


Give it all a good stir & then pop it into the fridge - for at least a few hours - I did it overnight.


Here it is when it's all good & done! It doesn't look like much but it sure is gooooood! Like I said above, it's not a dessert Jello thing - it's like a chunky pineapple/cranberry sauce.


Mmmmmm... Try it! You'll love it!

Cranberry Pineapple Jello:

1 6-oz box of red jello (black cherry, raspberry or cherry are great!)
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 cups water
1 16-oz can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 20-oz can of crushed pineapple

Mix Jello, water & marshmallows in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook until it is all melted together. Add cranberry sauce & mix until it melts. Sometimes I use a potato masher to help break it up. Pour into a 9x13 dish & add in pineapple, undrained. Stir to combine & refrugerate a few hours, until set.

Weekly Menu, 7/26 - 8/01

Monday: Kielbasa coins, Jello dish, French bread, Caesar salad

Tuesday: Soft tacos, carrot sticks, cantaloupe

Wednesday: (Zac @ work) Banana chocolate chip pancakes, applesauce

Thursday: (Zac @ work) Chicken quesadillas, peaches

Friday: Sloppy Joes, corn, oven fries

Saturday: Zac's in charge tonight! No clue what it'll be, but I know it'll be good.

Sunday: Beef stroganoff over noodles, broccoli

Lemonade Pork Chops

I love pork chops. It's a good, lean, non-gristley meat that cooks easy & the kids love it. Win-win-win in this house. But! Unlike it's white-meat cousin, chicken, there seems to be a very short list of things people do with a pork chop. Leave it whole & then just grill it. Or bake it. Or coat it in breading & cook it. This is a great option for chop lovers looking for a new spin on this chunk of meat.

Here are our ingredients:

Frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed), soy sauce, garlic powder, season salt and, of course, chops!


Start out THE NIGHT BEFORE by putting the chops in a dish & poking them full of holes so they'll soak up the marinade you're about to make.


Now mix up the soy sauce, lemonade & seasonings in a bowl. Whisk them together & then pour it over the chops.


Cover it with some plastic wrap & throw them in the fridge over night. Flip them over in the morning.

Normally, I would cook these under the broiler but in the 10 minutes I was getting the baby down for his nap this afternoon my hubby lent our broiler pan to our neighbor! So we tried these out on our grill pan. Worked just as well!

It was about 6 minutes per side. I don't think I could recommend doing these in a flat-bottom pan - I would worry about the sugar in the lemonade burning the whole bottom of the chop before the chop ever cooked. So either a grill pan or a broiler pan set about 4 inches from the heat, for 5-7 minutes per side.

Yum, yum, YUM!!


How easy was that!!!???

Lemonade Pork Chops:

1/2 a can of frozen lemonade concentrate (6 ounces)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tsp season salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 pork chops

Place chops in a shallow dish & poke several times with a fork. In a small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture over chops, cover and place in fridge overnight. Turn chops over in the marinade in the morning.

Preheat broiler. Remove chops from marinade & place on a broiling pan. Broil about 4 inches from heat source for 5-7 minutes per side.