A Full Day in the Kitchen

 Hello Friends!

I'm here for a little recap of the weekend, which was pretty low key - just the way I like it 😀

Saturday I spent much of the day in the kitchen, baking and making mixes for the pantry. I don't know what it is about cooking on Saturdays, but it's my favorite time to bake or cook.

The first thing I got busy doing was making this Daffy Cake. I've made it before, but it's been a few years, and honestly, I had forgotten how good this cake is!

What I love about this cake, besides how moist it is, is the fact that it has no eggs. That's right! I don't have to crack eggs, which I don't enjoy doing at all. I have a thing about eggs, in case you're wondering.

This recipe calls for oil and water, which is why it's so moist. I will share the recipe at the end of this post.

It also calls for chocolate frosting, made on the stove, but I opted to use a canned frosting, since I was making another recipe just after this one and I was already getting in over my head. 

I baked mine in two square pans, but you could use a 9x13 or a bundt pan, if you choose. 

Ok...this is a Banana Praline Bread and oh, was it delicious! I have never made this one, but found it in the same cookbook and thought it sounded so good and it was! 

This recipe calls for chopped pecans as part of the topping. Well, all I had in the pantry were some praline pecans I bought recently because I had a coupon 😉 but I improvised, chopped them up and I think it came out wonderfully. 

This mix made 3 loaves, which you bake first, then make the praline topping while the bread is baking. 

When the bread is done, you pour the topping over the hot bread, put the loaves back in and broil, just to make the topping crisp. What you get is a buttery, sweet, delicious bread. 🍞

When the baking was done, I took a break for lunch, then went back into the kitchen to make up a few mixes I want to have on hand.

The first was an All Purpose Baking Mix that can be used for biscuits, pancakes, muffins, and anything else that calls for Bisquick or Pioneer Baking Mix normally. I got this recipe out of Little House Living cookbook, which I've talked about before. 

I've had this cookbook for years and some of the mixes have become my favorite things to have in the pantry. They are easy to put together and all of them are simple to fix. 

This time around, I made some homemade rice-a-roni type mixes, using spices, rice and a box of vermicelli pasta. What I love about using these instead of the store bought boxes, is the cost, as well as knowing exactly what ingredients I'm eating. You can simmer these in a skillet with a can of Rotel, add some chicken or ground beef and you have a delicious, one pot meal, very quickly. You can also use it as a side dish, if you prefer.  Or hey...eat it for breakfast, like I do sometimes 😁

While the baking and mixing was going on, my handy-dandy crockpot was cooking dinner for me. I had a 10-Bean Soup Mix going. All I did was add spices and some sausage, and the crock was more than happy to finish it up. 

We will eat on this for a few days, as well as put some in the freezer for another time. 

And that was my Saturday! David was continuing to work on the bathroom renovation (that's been going on forever) and by the end of the day, both of us were in need of a foot rub. It was an evening of rest, TV, and of course...a slice of cake. 

And, as promised...here are the recipes for the cake and the bread - both from the Marcy Jo's cookbook, which I shared in a previous post.

And the mixes all came from this book...

If you end up making one of these recipes, I would love to know what you think!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!