Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #43

It's that time again!

Time to share your recipes - here is the link for this week's Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party!

I sure hope that you all are well...not too stressed about the holidays!

Wishing you all the best!  And thanks for stopping by to share your recipes!

Don't forget, all featured recipes will be shared on my blog, and on my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages!

Merry Christmas!!

Pistachio Cupcakes - Guest Post by Nichi at The Mandatory Mooch

Hello everyone!  My name is Nichi (sounds like Niki) and I blog over at The Mandatory Mooch.  I'm honored to be a guest here today....thanks, Dawn!!  Growing up I was always mooching food off of my dad. Hence my nickname "Mooch". To me there are certain foods out there that you just have to have...therefore, making them a "mandatory mooch" if someone has it.

Today I'm sharing my Pistachio Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting.  I hope you enjoy.  

Please stop on over any time and say hi!!
Blog~Facebook~Pinterest

I also host a weekly linky party Tasty Thursdays.  Hope to see you there.

18 cupcakes:


1 box of yellow cake mix & all ingredients that it calls for
1 box of pistachio pudding mix
few drops of green food coloring 
1/2 c. pecans, chopped

1. Combine cake mix and it's ingredients as packaging instructs.
2. Add in pudding mix and combine well. Mix in a few drops of green food coloring to enhance the pistachio pudding color. 
3. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full with batter.
4. Bake as directed on cake mix packaging.** may need to bake a few extra minutes, the pudding makes batter extra moist
5. Cool and frost.  Top with pecans.

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting:


1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Blend cream cheese and butter with mixer until creamy.
2. With the mixer on low, slowly add sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowls as needed.  
3. Add vanilla and increase mixer speed to medium.  Blend until frosting is fluffy.     

Source:  cupcakes "mooched" from www.shewearsmanyhats.com, frosting "mooched" from Martha Stewart 

7 Layer Cookies

A few months ago my oldest son and I entered a cooking/baking competition together through Better Together BC, and while we did not win the competition, we had a lot of fun making the video and baking together, and we still believe that we have a winner of a recipe :-) I've decided to share it with you here today!  These 7 Layer Cookies are so easy to prepare, it's a perfect project to do with the kids.  And it's also great as we plan ahead for our Christmas baking.  With a little preparation at the start by lining up all of the ingredients, this is an easy treat for the little ones to create.  Here is the recipe:

7 Layer Cookies (Source: The Kitchen is My Playground)

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut (I used unsweetened)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Melt butter and pour into 9 x 13 baking pan. Swirl around to ensure full coverage of the bottom of the pan.

Add each of the ingredients in layers, in the order that they appear on the recipe (graham cracker crumbs then coconut then chocolate chips, and so on).

Bake at 325° F for 28-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow the pan to cool completely before cutting into squares. Serve and enjoy!

Makes 24 bars. 

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #42

Hello everyone! I sure hope this post finds you well.  And not too overwhelmed that we are less than 10 days to Christmas...eeks!

I don't know about you, but there seems to be so much happening all at once.  Important people feeling under the weather, prepping for the holidays, trying to create the magic for the kids and have some extra fun this time of year.

I have 3 days of work left for this calendar year, and I am so looking forward to the break :-)  A few weeks off at home with my children, hubby, extended family...and hopefully a little time to catch up on all things blog!

With out further delay...I am happy to say that Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party is LIVE for this week.  I would love for you to pop over and share some fantastic recipes!

Butter Chicken Pizza - VH Excite Your Dinner Giveaway

Recently Addicted to Recipes was selected to take part in the VH Excite Your Dinner Tour!  Talk about excitement in our house!  When our box of goodies arrived, we were just thrilled.  Inside we found some great ingredients to make delicious family meals (including recipes!...right up my alley!) as well as a fun games and crafts for our family.
 
Dinnertime at our house can be rather crazy.  With two working full-time parents, a Kindergartener and a toddler...by the time dinner rolls around we are all usually tired, hungry and sometimes a little cranky.  I am a big planner when it comes to meals, I find it so helpful when trying to find ways to make the dinner hour less stressful.  And when the box arrived from VH, I knew that a few of our dinner meals were easily planned!  Woohoo!
 
We decided to try the VH recipe for Butter Chicken Pizza.  We love pizza, and we love butter chicken - seemed like a perfect fit for us!
 
Here is the recipe (Recipe Courtesy of VH)
 

1/2 cup VH Butter Chicken Sauce
1/3 cup plain yogurt (we used Greek)
1/2 teaspoon  minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
Cooking spray
1 prepared thin crust pizza crust or Naan Bread
1 cup pizza cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup spinach, fresh
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
24 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 425.

Stir together VH Butter Chicken Sauce, yogurt, garlic and salt.

Mix 3 tablespoons of the yogurt sauce with chicken pieces.  Set aside remaining sauce. Cover and marinate chicken for 15 minutes.

Spray a small skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Add marinated chicken pieces; stir-fry until no longer pink inside; about 5 minutes.

Spread reserved yogurt sauce over pizza crust. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Layer the spinach, onion, cherry tomatoes (cut side up), and cooked chicken. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake directly on the oven rack for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes before cutting into slices.

Enjoy!

VERDICT:
This was a HUGE hit at our house.  Everyone really enjoyed the pizza.  I liked that the sauce wasn't so "tomatoey" - an issue that I sometimes have with restaurant pizza.  This really was so good, and something that we WILL make again!

One of the tips on the recipe card was to try the pizza on Naan bread, which we did (we LOVE naan bread!) - and it was so so so good! 

I'm really thankful to LaQuita from Just Us Girls for passing the VH Excite Your Dinner opportunity along to Addicted to Recipes...and I am pleased to be paying it forward to one of my favourite Canadian bloggers, Tara from Noshing with the Nolands. If you aren't familiar with either of their blogs, you really should check them out!

And now, for more VH EXCITEMENT!  It's YOUR TURN to enter to WIN a VH Prize Pack! (ARV $25).  Easy Rafflecopter is below (you may need give it a moment to load).  Giveaway is open to CANADA ONLY and closes on December 7, 2012.  Winner will be contacted by email and will have 24 hours to respond to claim their prize.  GOOD LUCK!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

 

Disclosure – I am participating in the VH Excite Your Dinner blog tour by enCompass Media on behalf of Con Agra Foods. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion

Cranberry Lemon Muffins

Sometimes I think that my blog should be called "The Muffin Lady" or something like that...I seem to make a lot of muffins (we try to make a batch each week), and it seems like I am always trying new recipes.  Which is a good thing, variety is nice!  This time I have picked out a recipe which is a little unusual for me.  As much as I love lemon (lemonade, lemon tea, lemon juice on my fish, etc etc), I have never been a big fan of lemon cakes, etc.  Well, until I discovered the Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake earlier this year...then lemon became a lot more popular in my baking.  Maybe the lemon in cake mixes is too fake for me (like cherry...my hair stylist and I have talked about this many times...have you ever noticed how cherry flavoured stuff never actually tastes like cherry?).  This week's muffin recipe is for Cranberry Lemon Muffins.  I don't have a source for the recipe, it's from my recipe binder (and I've had this one in there for quite a while).

Cranberry Lemon Muffins (Source: Unknown)

MUFFINS

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup liquid honey
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen

GLAZE (Optional)
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon rind
3-4 teaspoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400F.

For the muffins, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In another (larger) bowl, mix together the egg, milk, vegetable oil, liquid honey and lemon rind.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Stir just until moistened.  Fold in the cranberries.  Spoon batter into lined muffin tin.  Bake for 20-23 minutes.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze.  Combine the icing sugar, lemon rind and the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time until you get your desired glaze consistency.  Spread over warm muffins.

Makes 12 muffins.

VERDICT
We really enjoyed these muffins...they disappeared rather quickly!  Will certainly be making them again :-)

Yummy Pumpkin Bars - Guest Post by Jenny from Bloom Designs Online

Hi Everyone- I am Jenny from Bloom Designs Online and I am so excited to be on Addicted to Recipes today. 

Fall is my favorite time of year and of course it's the perfect time for pumpkin treats. Now, I love pumpkin pie, but these are my absolute favorite pumpkin dessert. They are also finger friendly, so it makes them a little easier to have at your Thanksgiving dessert table.

Yummy Pumpkin Bars

You Need

1 box yellow cake mix

1 jar pumpkin butter

3 eggs
1 T Flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter

3 T milk

1 t cinnamon

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Measure out 1 cup of the cake mix and set aside.  Mix remaining cake mix with ½ cup melted butter and 1 egg.  Press mixture lightly into the bottom of a 9x13 pan lined with parchment. 

 

 

Mix pumpkin butter with 2 eggs lightly beaten and milk.  Pour over cake mixture in pan.

 

Mix reserved cake batter with flour, sugar, ¼ softened butter and cinnamon.  Crumble  on top of pumpkin layer.  You may have some holes. 

 

 

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden.  Cool in pan and then lift parchment to remove.  Dust with a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon.

 

 

 

SO YUMMY! Thanks so much for spending this time with me. You're welcome anytime at Bloom Designs Online.

Club House Hickory BBQ Ribs & Giveaway!

I just HAVE to tell you how darn excited I am...I got home from work a few days ago and found a box on my front door step containing Club House seasoning packages for me to try!  I knew that I was getting a package, but I had no idea how much fun was going to be inside that box!  My husband was super excited too...he got into the box before I even had a chance!  LOL...good thing he's cute :-)

Having recently returned back to work after my maternity leave, juggling that full-time job, husband, two kids, school, daycare, hockey, swimming, laundry, eating, blogging, sleeping...you get the picture...I am looking to find some easy weekday meal solutions for our family (and still keep my resolution to try new recipes).  This box of seasoning packs couldn't have arrived at a better time, and the packs have provided us with some inspiration to shake up our Monday-Friday dinners with new flavours and ideas without taking a lot of prep time.  Of course, this package immediately raised a little dilemma for me...what to make first?! 

Well, because my boys are BIG TIME meat eaters, and because I hadn't made ribs for them in a while, the "Hickory BBQ Ribs" Flavourful Recipe Mix caught my eye.  As the ribs do take time to cook (and because we eat dinner pretty early in the evening) I opted to wait until the weekend to try out the seasoning.  Boy were my boys excited when they learned that ribs were on the menu!  I stuck true to the recipe on the package as when it is my first time trying a new recipe I usually do.  Here is the recipe:

2 lbs pork ribs (thawed)
1 package Club House Hickory BBQ Ribs Flavourful Recipe Mix
1 cup ketchup
Water

Make BBQ sauce by mixing the ketchup and seasoning pack together.  Allow the mixture to sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.

Prepare a roasting pan, with a wire rack on the bottom, by filling with 1/4 inch of water.

Spread 2/3 cup of the BBQ sauce on all sides of the ribs.  I put a little more on the meat side (makes more sense to me!).  Place the ribs meat side up on the rack in the roasting pan.  Cover (with lid or foil - I opted for foil), and bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hours (depending on your ribs).  Turn the ribs about halfway through.  After baking, remove the roasting pan from the oven, flips the ribs again so that they are meat side up again, and baste with the remaining BBQ sauce.  Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes, uncovered.

Really, that's it.  A few key ingredients, and put the meat in the oven.  How much easier can it get?  Then all I had to "worry" about was the sides to go with the meat (which were potatoes and fresh picked green beans). 

VERDICT:
As I suspected, my boys REALLY liked the ribs.  Even the baby was chowing down! (and he's usually on the fussy side).  It was a finger-licking saucy goodness for them!  I enjoyed the flavours - I must admit, I thought that these mght taste rather "ketchup-ey" but they did not, not at all.  I was pleasantly surprised! There was a nice, smoky flavour about them that I enoyed.  Thanks Club House for making my meal prep so easy!

And now...the best part (for you)!  I have for one lucky winner a FANTASTIC PRIZE PACKAGE from Club House!  Seriously...amazing.  The winner will receive a Club House Prize Pack AND a $50 Gift Card!  How AWESOME is this prize?!  The Fine Print:  THIS GIVEAWAY IS OPEN TO RESIDENTS OF CANADA ONLY (sorry friends!).  I will contact the winner by email, and the winner will have 24 hours to claim the prize.  If the winner does not reply within 24 hours, a new winner will be drawn.  The winner will receive their prize pack approximately 4-6 weeks after the draw is made.  Other blogs will be running giveaways as well, you may enter on all the other sites, but you may only win one prize pack.  Now for the FUN!  Here's the Rafflecopter to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Disclosure - I am participating in the Club House Flavourful Recipes Mixes Blog Tour by Mom Central Canada on behalf of McCormick.  I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion.  The opinions on this blog are my own.**

Did you know that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter?!

Baked Chicken Fingers

Chicken fingers...what kid doesn't love them?  I think we've all had our "love" of chicken fingers at one time or another in our lives.  And so often they come to us processed and frozen.  I thought it was time to give it a go to make my own at home.  I did a little searching online and found lots of recipes, and the recipes all called for items that pretty much already had on hand.  Duh! Had I thought about it sooner, then maybe I would have figured it out sooner :-)  I based what I did on the recipe I found over at Smells Like Home .  Here is my version:

1 1/2 cups Panko
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Pepper (to taste)
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Cooking spray
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a shallow dish (I used a pie plate), mix together the flour, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water, mustard and thyme.

Put the panko into a second shallow dish.

Line up your dishes: 1) Flour mixture, 2) Egg mixture, 3) Panko 4) Cooking sheet.  Working in order, piece by peice (or whatever methods works for you), dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, dip in the egg mixture, coat in the panko, put on the cooking sheet.  Repeat the process until all the chicken is done.  Spray the coated chicken (lightly) with cooking spray.

Bake for 15 minutes, remove the cooking sheet, flip the chicken fingers, and cook for another 10 minutes (or until the chicken is cooked through).

VERDICT:
These were a huge hit, as expected.  And much easier to make than I thought!  Yay!  I did cut the pieces of chicken a little too big for my first try, so next time I will make smaller pieces.  But these were well received by my boys (young and old!). Woohoo!

Did you know that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter?!

Asian Spiced Chicken Crescents - Guest Post by Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen

Hello Everyone! Please join me in welcoming Jaime from Mom's Test Kitchen - she is sharing a fantastic recipe for Asian Spiced Chicken Crescents with us today!

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Hey y'all!  I'm so excited to be here guest posting at Addicted To Recipes!  This is one of my favorite foodie sites so its such an honor to be able to share one of my recipes with Dawn's readers!

I guess the first thing I need to do is tell y'all who the heck I am! My name is Jaime and I'm the wife & mom behind Mom's Test Kitchen, my little space in the blogosphere where I share the recipes that I make for my family. The Hubs & I have been married for 3 years and we have the most beautiful, precious, perfect {I'm not at all biased} little girl, Princess P, who just turned 2 at the beginning of the summer. She was God's wonderful surprise gift for us 4 months after we got married! We also have 1 fur baby that rounds out our little family.  I am proud to be a Southern woman, and in my kitchen, good Southern home cooking is a must! You won't find anything too fancy, just good food to fill up your belly!

So being the mom of a 2 year old, I'm always on the look out for quick & easy recipes.  And if a recipe has the added bonus of being a 'no utensils required' meal, I'm pretty much sold.  Mom's know what I'm referring to ~ a meal you can eat with one hand while with the other you try to re-dress your daughter who has learned to take all of her clothes off.  Dinner just doesn't get any better than that!

INGREDIENTS:
1 can (5 ounces) chicken breast in water
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons bottled teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon pure sesame oil
juice from 1 small lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 medium loose carrot, cut into ribbons (or matchstick carrots)
1/2 cup cilantro
2 cans (4 ounces/4 rolls) refrigerated crescent rolls

LETS COOK:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare a large cookie sheet by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Add the first 8 ingredients (chicken through carrots) to a large skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat for only a couple of minutes, just to heat through, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat & stir in the cilantro.
3. Separate your crescents into 8 triangles. Place a large spoonful or so of the chicken mixture down the length of each triangle. Roll up each, starting at shortest side of triangle and rolling to opposite point. Place rolls, point side down, on the cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown. (Remember that oven times vary, just watch your rolls.  My oven tends to cook somethings fast)

RECIPE INSPIRED BY: Pillsbury

Y'all thought I was joking about the clothes didn't you??
:)

Thank y'all for letting me share this recipe with you! If you'd like to see more of my recipes, you can find me at Mom's Test Kitchen, follow me on Twitter and Pinterest or like me on Facebook.

Italian Cream Soda

At the beginning of the summer, Ann at Sumptuous Spoonfuls shared the recipe for Very Berry Italian Cream Soda.  I picked it as one of my features from Scrumptious Sunday that week...how could I not?  Cream soda, my favourite soda from when I was a kid!  And her photos looked so tasty.  And it was the start of summer, and this summer I made sure we enjoyed all sorts of new summery beverages!  So, not too long after featuring the recipe, we made it....and well...the verdict is below!  Here is the recipe that I used (a little different than the original...we don't have mulberries here, and I didn't substitute any other berries):

Syrup:
Strawberries - approx 1 lb fresh - washed and cut up
Handful of fresh basil leaves - washed
1 cup water
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup sugar (sweeten to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, put the strawberries, basil, water, sugar and vanilla.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Stir occasionally.  Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the berries break down, approximately 15 minutes.  The sauce will be bright red.  Strain the syrup (I strained a few times) and pour into a glass container.  Refrigerate. 

Once the syrup is cool, you are ready to make your cream soda!  Here is what you will need:

Glass
Ice
1/2 cup Club Soda
3 tablespoons syrup (we like ours sweet)
2 tablespoons half & half

Fill your glass with ice.  Add in the club soda and syrup.  Pour the cream over top (and like Ann tells us, watch the beautiful art that the cream makes in the glass!).  Stir, and enjoy!

VERDICT:
These were so so so tasty.  A hit with the whole family!  (well, the baby is too young to have soda)  Ann shared a winner!  We enjoyed several of these over the summer (thanks to a wonderful crop of strawberries and basil in our garden!). I liked mine a little more berry-ful than the orginal recipe - so I often used 3-4 tablespoons on the syrup in my soda.

Coconut Shrimp

Our oldest son is a HUGE shrimp fan.  Seriously, huge.  I am pretty sure if we served him a plate full of shrimp he would eat every single piece of it!  So, we try to have shrimp on a somewhat regular basis, especially when I can find sales :-)  Because we seem to be trying panko with a lot of things lately, I did a little search for a breaded shrimp recipe, and I found a Coconut Shrimp recipe over at Skinnytaste that sounded pretty appealing!  Here is the recipe:

24 large shrimp, peeled and devined
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1-2 tablespoons flour
1 large egg
Salt (to taste, likely just a pinch)
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the coconut, panko, and salt.

In a second bowl, place the flour.

In a third bowl, whisk the egg.

Line up your dishes in order: 1) Flour, 2) Egg, 3) Panko mixture, 4) Baking sheet.  Dip your shrimp in the flour, then egg, then panko, then place on the baking sheet.  Repeat this process until all the shrimp are done.  Lightly spray the shrimp with cooking spray.

Bake for 7 minutes on the middle rack, flip the shrimp, then bake for another 7-10 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked.

We served ours with a sweet chili thai sauce.

VERDICT:
Shrimp are always a hit in our house, and we were "fighting" over the last ones on the tray.  These were great!  We enjoyed them as an appetizer on a hot day, eating out on our patio.  So very good!  A bit of work - so many shrimp to dredge and dip, but worth it!

It's My Birthday Week! Giveaway Day 1

It's my birthday week!  What the heck, why not celebrate all week long?!  Are you ready for all the fun?  Today is the first of FIVE DAYS of giveaways here at Addicted to Recipes!  I am SO EXCITED to have so many blogging friends sponsor such fabulous prizes for you to win!
Here are today's prizes:

Medium Ad Space and $5 Etsy Shop Credit from Pamela at Pamela's Heavenly Treats!

A beautiful wreath, made by Courtney from Optimistic Mommy!

Medium Ad Space from Julie at

White Lights on Wednesday!

Please stop by and check out each of these wonderful blogs!

Here is the easy rafflecopter to enter!  Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh, and one more thing!  I have a little extra something to offer you too!  Since it's my birthday week, I'm offering my ad spaces at 38% off (yes...I'm 38 this year)...sale runs until Friday August 31st...book your ads soon!  PROMO CODE = BIRTHDAY38

Be sure to come back tomorrow to enter for more great prizes!

Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #25

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you've been having a fantastic weekend!  We're away camping....always a good time! Except sadly there is a campfire ban in effect (as of Friday)...no roasted marshmallows for us.  That's OK...better safe and forest fire free!
It's that time again, time to get on with the party! Scrumptious Sunday Recipe Link Party #25 is now OPEN! Please come share your recipes, and come check out all the great recipes being shared!

Don't forget, all featured recipes will be shared on my blog, and on my Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages!

PS...have you heard?   It's my BIRTHDAY this week...and starting tomorrow I will be hosting 5 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS to celebrate!  Be sure to come back and enter the draws!!

Polka Dot Cake

I'm always looking to learn fun new tricks when baking.  I know that I've got a long way to go to become good at decorating cakes (I think I need to take some classes!) but I figure I can still find other little ways to dress up cakes...on the inside!  I saw some pictures for "polka dot cakes" and did some reading on how to make them, and I came up with this way for my first go at making one!  Here is what I did:

2 white cake mixes, plus all the ingredients needed to make the cakes
Food colouring (your choice of colours)
Icing

Preheat oven according to box instruction.

Take your first cake mix and prepare the batter according to directions. 

Divide the batter evenly into the number of bowls that you are wanting colours for your polka dots.  I decided to make pink and purple polka dots, so I needed two bowls.  Add the food colouring to the batter until you reach your desired colour.  Pour batter into cake pans.

Bake the cakes according to the box directions.  Note - I always bake for less time than the box states, it may be due to elevation, but I just find they bake faster than the box guidelines.

Cool the cakes completely, then break each cake apart to make your cake balls.  I added a little bit of icing into each cake to help stick the cake balls together.  Form your cake balls, place them on a plate, cover and put them in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.  I left mine in the fridge overnight as I started the project around 9 pm!

Once the cake balls have chilled, prepare the second cake mix according to the box instructions.  Pour the batter into the cake pans (I used 9x9) and then place the cake balls in the batter.  Bake the cakes according to direction (again, I bake for less time than the box recommends).

Once the cakes are baked, cool completely, and ice them.  I made my own buttercream icing for this project.

Now...when you cut into that cake...what a nice surprise to find pops of colour!

VERDICT:
While cake balls a re a bit of work (one of those cake pop baking machines are tempting to try to speed up the baking process), it was fun to have the different dots of colour in the cake.  I made this cake as a little belated birthday cake for my Mom (they were away for her actual birthday), and it went over well, especially with our 5 year old, who usually only eats icing! (He ate the cake too, because of the polka dots). I will experiment again in the future with smaller cake balls, just to see the difference, and maybe use different baking pans, all for fun!

Scrumptious Sunday #22 - Features

Once again, everyone has amazed me with all your beautiful work!  Thank you so much for sharing your recipes here at Addicted to Recipes!  I really do appreciate you!
If you are featured, I sure would love for you to grab a BUTTON (and help promote my blog), thank you so much!

<a href="http://iamaddictedtorecipes.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w519/AddictedtoRecipes/addictedbutton.jpg" width="200" height="177" border="0" alt="I was featured, I was Featured by Addicted to Recipes"></a>

Congratulations to this week's features!

I am all about summer beverages this year!!
Cherry Limeade from The Seven Year Cottage

These look like a delicious lunch :-)
Classic Maine Lobster Rolls from Go Ahead...Take A Bite!

Another great use for chicken, and all the ingredients are staples at our house.
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas from The Mandatory Mooch

I am so in love with these cookies!
7 Layer Cookies from The Kitchen is my Playground

I love raspberries.  I love whipped cream. These are perfect sized treats!
Mini Raspberry Cream Pies from Everyday Mom's Meals

All of these recipes will be pinned to my Pinterest account, posted on Twitter, and shared on Facebook!

Just a reminder, this week's Scrumptious Sunday Link Party goes live Saturday - at 8 pm PST. Can't wait to see what you bring to the party!

Creamsicles

Last month I wrote a blog post for One Artsy Mama as part of her Fun in the Sun Summer Series. I wanted to make sure that you didn't miss out on this great summertime treat, so I am sharing it here on my blog today! Enjoy!

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We are huge ice cream fans in our house. And popsicles. And really anything that will cool us off during our hot hot summers! I love to make my own popsicles for the family, and lately I've been craving creamsicles...but have you noticed that they just don't taste the same as they did when we were kids? So I spent a little time on Pinterest and I found a lovely little recipe over at Mrs. Happy Homemaker that I pinned.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Homemade Creamsicles

2 cups of orange juice (fresh squeezed...by my husband!) - I even included some chunks of orange, just because I wanted to!
1/3 cup honey
2 cups of heavy cream
2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla

Squeeze/juice the oranges.

In a saucepan over medium, mix the orange juice and honey. Cook until it is reduced by half, approximately 15 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, and vanilla.

Combine the reduced orange/honey mixture into the cream/milk/vanilla mixture. Mix well. Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze until set.

VERDICT:

I made these creamsicles while our oldest son was away camping, so he missed the "first try"...we couldnt wait...sorry bud! These were so creamy and so tasty. The orange flavour wasn't overwhelming, it was subtle and nice. I wondered about adding some orange zest into the mix to amp up the orange flavour. The original recipe called for orange extract, but I don't have any so I skipped that part. My husband and I both agree that this would be awesome with raspberries too...I will be making those next time! When our oldest came back from camping we gave him one to try, and he just loved it. he follows in our footsteps with a love for ice cream and popsicles. I forsee me making these again!

Strawberry Poke Cake

We celebrated our baby's first birthday on Canada Day.  I decided to go with a red and white theme for the party to tie in with Canada Day, and wanted to serve a red and white dessert - something easy, something a little different, but pretty.  I found this recipe for Strawberry Poke Cake over at Stella B's Kitchen, and it seemed perfect for the event.

Here is the recipe:

1 box white cake mix (plus applicable ingredients for the mix - eggs, water, oil)
1 small box of strawberry jello (3 oz / 85 g)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup ice cold water
Whipping cream
Fresh strawberries, sliced

Bake the cake according to the package directions.  I baked mine in a 9 x 13 glass pan.  Be sure to completely cool the cake before moving to step two.  Using a plastic spoon or a wooden spoon handle, poke holes into the cake about 1/2 inch apart.
Stir the small box of strawberry jello  mix into 1 cup boiling water.  Stir until dissolved. Add a 1/2 cup of ice cold water.

Once the jello is dissolved, slowly spoon or pour the warm liquid jello over cake and holes, covering the cake as evenly as possible. To me, it looked like there wasn't enough jello to go on the cake, but there was.  Just trust the recipe.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

While the cake is chilling, slice your strawberries.  As many as you prefer to top the cake.  Around this time would also be ideal to put your mixing bowl and whipping attachment into the fridge to get them nice and cold for whipping the cream :-)

Just prior to serving, whip you whipping cream.  Serve your cake topped with strawberries and whip cream!  Yum!

Store leftover cake in the refigerator.

VERDICT:
My mother-in-law will confirm that I was super nervous about the cake.  It was so simple to make (it was a cake mix, no fussing around with all sorts of ingredients this time), but I just didn't think the holes in the cake and the jello were going to work out properly.  We decided that serving the cake upside down was certainly the way to go, as it hid all those holes.  And low and behold, when we cut the cake and flipped it over, it looked perfect! It was so pretty...and tasted good too!  I served it up with strawberries and real whipping cream, and it was well-received by the approximately 15 adults who ate it.  Yay!  It wasn't too sweet, which was a nice bonus.  A great summery dessert!  I will be trying it again...and maybe try some new jello flavours with it.