Mtn. Dew + Cake = One Happy Girl!

It's Memorial Day weekend and I want to start this post by saying THANK YOU to all of the men and women and their families who have sacrificed to provide freedom and liberty for me and my family.  I am proud to know many military families and I am proud to be a granddaughter of a WWII Veteran.  God bless each of you and watch over those who are currently serving in the armed forces!

My baby sister is in town, the weather is perfect, we're playing baseball games all weekend, so we decided to do a little cook-out at my parents' tonight.  I have really been thinking about a pound cake in the back of my mind for a few weeks now.  I haven't made one because my husband is not a fan of pound cake.  Just ask him... of course he has a story to go with it. :)  If I make a pound cake, I have to find people to help me eat it.  Otherwise I eat it all or throw half of a cake away.  So today, after baseball practice, football signups, and a baseball game, I decided that I am going to make that pound cake!

My sister Jenny has made a Sun-Drop Pound Cake before and it was so good!  I do not keep any "yellow" soft drinks in the house -- I'm a Pepsi-Max or Diet Cherry Pepsi kind-of gal, so I knew that Sun-Drop wasn't an option.  However, I found two Mtn. Dews in the basement fridge, from a family gathering a few weeks back.  I decided that Mtn. Dew would suffice.  I found a good recipe for a Sun-Drop Pound Cake here,  but I had to make a few adjustments.  Lemon flavoring?!??  Who really keeps that on hand... well, not me - I've got vanilla, rum, and almond extracts, but not lemon.  So, I modified things...  It turned out to be AMAZING - very light and moist!  My hubby hasn't gotten home yet, but I think even HE will like this version of pound cake.

Here's What You'll Need:
2 sticks of butter (soft/room temperature)
1/2 cup of Crisco (+extra to grease the cake pan)
3 cups of sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 cups (minus 3 Tbsp) of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Mtn. Dew

Here's What You'll Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan, then set it aside.
2. Mix the butter, Crisco, and sugar together well, until creamy, using a mixer.
3. Add the eggs one at a time.  Let it mix well in between each addition.
4. Add the vanilla, lemon zest & juice and mix well.
5. Add the flour and Mtn. Dew  - alternate flour, Mtn. Dew, flour, Mtn. Dew, etc., mixing well after each addition.
6. Pour the cake batter into the greased/floured pan and bake for 1 hour -1 hour & 15 minutes.  I check mine starting at 50 minutes and go from there.  When a butter knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, then it's ready!
7.  Make Mtn. Dew Drizzle to ice the cake and drizzle it onto the warm cake, after it has cooled about 10-15 minutes.

Here's the Drizzle Recipe:
1. Mix 2 cups of confectioner's sugar (10x sugar), 2 Tbs. softened butter, and 3-4 Tbsp. Mtn. Dew, using mixer. Add more Mtn. Dew if the "drizzle" is too thick. Don't add too much, because if it drips down the sides of the cake too much, it will all just be around the bottom of the cake.  You want it to adhere to the cake somewhat.

Bacon Goes Good With Everything!

I used to be a vegetarian.  Seriously!  I became a vegetarian on January 1st, 1997.  I wanted to see how long I could go without meat.  I didn't really LOVE meat beforehand anyway.  I typically only ate chicken & pork.  (What girl is raised on a farm and does not appreciate a good hamburger or steak?  This girl, that's who!)  I know it's weird for most people to comprehend.  I lasted over 6 years.  It all ended when I was pregnant with my first child.  It was a teacher workday and some of my colleagues and I were in training all day.  When we got a lunch break, we headed out to eat.  This was when I lived in Durham and I taught at a school on the other side of the city, so I just tagged along with my coworkers to a nearby BBQ joint.  No big deal - I can order a salad or some veggies at practically any restaurant.  But, when I walked in, I was overwhelmed by the most delicious smell of BBQ pork!  I knew right then and there that I had to have a BBQ sandwich.  For the remaining months of my pregnancy, I craved BBQ.  Now I will eat chicken in addition to pork and some seafood.  It took a while after my first BBQ craving to give bacon another try.  I forgot what I was missing out on!  What is it about bacon that makes it so darn tasty???  We make cheesy, bacon potatoes on the grill, bacon/egg/cheese sandwiches for breakfast, and grilled cheese & bacon sandwiches for supper some nights.  Bacon just goes good with almost everything... my sister's sister-in-law recently made a bacon-maple-buttercream cake.  It looked divine, but I am not so sure about bacon dessert yet.  Who knows, though.  I will have to give a try one day in the near future!

With bacon on the brain, I thought that tonight would be a good night to fix one of our family's favorites.  I have my sister Laura to thank for this one!  She found the recipe and passed it on to me.  My husband fell in love (with the bacon and chicken), and I agree that it's a phenomenal treat!!  It's usually prepared to serve as an appetizer, but we love them so much, that I sometimes just make this entree for our main dish at dinner.  It's a modified Paula Deen reicpe and you can find her recipe on the Food Network website here.  Here's my version:

Here's what you'll need:
12-15 chicken tenderloins (uncooked)
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1b. pack of bacon slices (uncooked)

Here's what you'll do:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet/jelly roll pan with foil & spray with non-stick spray.
2. Combine the brown sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder and mix well in a medium.
3. Cut bacon slices in half.  Roll one of the half-slices of bacon around a chicken tenderloin.  Then roll that in the brown sugar/chili/garlic mixture.  Place on foil-lined pan.  Repeat this step with remaining chicken tenders/bacon.
4.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until bacon is slightly crispy and the chicken is cooked through.

*I know that I need to get better quality photos, but I was in such a hurry so I could eat this chicken tender, that I totally did not care what the photo looked like! :)

These are sweet, yet savory at the same time.  TOTALLY delicious.  If you want to serve it as an appetizer, just cut each chicken tender into 1" portions and slice the bacon in thirds, instead of halves. Wrap one piece of chicken with one of the thirds of bacon slices, then roll in the mixture and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  ENJOY!

Is it really May??

     The calendar says that today is May 5th (Cinco de Mayo), but when I step outside my North Carolina home, I would swear that it's gotta be February.  Brrrr!  Cool, damp, breezy... where the heck is my springtime weather???  Spring is normally my favorite time of the year.  I love the flowers in bloom, the lawn that is lush and green, and the chance to wear flip-flops without freezing off my toes.  We have had very few days where I could stand to wear my flip-flops out of the house.  I am a summer-time girl.  Maybe that is because I am a teacher, and I look forward to a break where I can get things at home and school organized, and I can do lots of fun activities and trips with my boys, but I think I've always been a summer-time gal.  Summer always meant lots of swimming, lots of jumping on the trampoline, lots of climbing trees, and lots of games in the yard (wiffle ball, rolley-bat, freeze tag, etc.).  I am so ready for summer to be here!
     The only good thing about the weather being so chilly is that I have additional opportunities to make soup.  Normally, I only make soups during the fall, winter, and early spring.  I love a good, hearty soup.  I like that they usually can be made quickly or in a crock-pot.  When you have an entire meal in one pot, clean-up is a lot easier too!
So, on this dreary, chilly MAY day, I am making one of my favorite soups.  I remember my mom making this soup when it snowed and we were all home from school.  I also remember my Aunt Helen making this soup with her divine sourdough bread.  Mmmmm!  Okay, well I have no snow and no sourdough bread.  Bummer!  The soup won't be the same, but it will do! ;)
     I am tweaking this soup today, because I just don't have the exact ingredients on hand, and I am NOT going to the grocery store in the chilly, drizzling rain today.

Here's what you'll need:
4 c. cubed peeled potatoes
1 c. sliced fresh carrots (1/2" slices or smaller)
1/2 small onion, diced
32 oz. chicken broth + 2 c. more
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked & cubed OR 1 lb. ground beef, browned & seasoned w/ salt & pepper
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
1 1/2 c. frozen lima beans (or other bean - I am using green beans)
1 12 oz. can tomato paste

Here's what you'll do:
1. Cook potatoes, carrots, & onion in 32 oz. of broth for about 10 minutes on medium (low boil or simmer).  Meanwhile, prepare chicken or beef (or ground turkey).

This shows the veggies, just after adding frozen corn.

2. Add in frozen veggies and extra broth (as much as you feel like you need) and cook 3-5 minutes longer on low.
3. Add in meat and tomato paste.  Stir until well combined.  Add seasonings of choice and let simmer 1-2 minutes longer.

Finished and ready to serve.  It smells so good!!!

**Okay, I'm going to be real honest with you...I love this version with chicken the best.  I cook the chicken and save the "broth" it cooked in for my extra two cups.  If you don't cook your chicken or you use beef/turkey, you can just add two cups of water and add a bouillon cube or two.  Also, I didn't have any frozen beans today, so I used a can of green beans, drained.  I just waited and added them in with the meat and tomato paste.  Still worked just fine.  Just FYI!  Enjoy!