Grandma Hazel’s birthday cake

This is a cake that is a different ( slightly healthier) version of the popular watergate cake. The watergate cake usually is a white cake , with pistachio pudding , nuts ( pecans, walnuts) , club soda and sometimes pineapple or coconut. 

Ingredients - 

Angel food cake ( loaf)- 1 

Pistachio pudding mix (jello brand or others ) -1 

Milk- 2 cups

Cool whip 8 oz - 1 

Crunchy candy bar - 1 large  ( Kit Kat/ butterfinger ( we like this one!)/Heath bar  )

Pyrex dish 9X13

Instructions 

1. Take the angel food cake and rip it up into medium sized pieces and use it to line the bottom of the Pyrex dish.

2. Make the pistachio pudding per package instructions ( in a large bowl mix 1 package of the pistachio pudding mix with 2 cups of cold milk) 

3. Layer the pudding over the cake and spread evenly 

4. Now spread the cool whip over the pistachio pudding.

5. Crush the candy bar into small pieces and spread evenly over the cool whip 

6. Chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before serving. This cake is not cut into a slice , you can scoop out desired amount and serve it in a bowl.

Simple strawberry cake

My sister Sal had a lot strawberries and wanted to make a cake. She has made other kinds of strawberry cakes before with two or three layers and icing. This time she wanted to make a simple cake and found this recipe on one of her favorite websites smittenkitchen. The cake turned out really good and she shared her pictures with me. Alas she did not share the cake with me but she assured me it was very tasty! 

Ingredients 

Unsalted butter - 6 tbsp ( soft at room temp)- have 1 tbsp extra to grease the baking dish 

Large egg - 1 

All purpose flour - 1.5 cups

Baking powder - 1.5 tsp

Salt - 0.5 tsp

Sugar - 1 cup ( have 2 tbsp extra for topping ) 

Milk - 0.5 cup 

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Strawberries - large 16 oz box washed well and cut in halves ( longitudinally)

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Take a 9” round cake pan and coat the insides with butter 

3. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt together 

4. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy ( use an electric hand mixer )

5. Add  egg, vanilla , and milk and mix slightly until all of the wet ingredients are combined ( don’t over mix) 

6. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and hand mix until they form a smooth batter 

7. Pour in the batter into the cake pan 

8. Now place the cut strawberries cut side down on top of the batter in a circular pattern 

9. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of sugar evenly on top 

10. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F

11. Then reduce the oven temperature to 325 F and bake for about 50- 60 minutes 

12 . At 50 minutes put a toothpick in the cake and if it comes out clean it’s done otherwise bake for another 10 minutes ( be careful when you do this , use oven mitts)

13. Let cake cool and then it is ready to serve . You can serve with whipped cream of ice cream!

Grandma Hazel's almond bark bars

This is Richard's grandma Hazel's recipe for almond bark bars. 

Ingredients

Almond bark ( can be vanilla or white chocolate )- 2 lbs ( FYI this is just white chococalte and doesn't have almonds)

Cheerios - 2 cups

Rice crispies- 2 cups

Miniature marshmallows- 2 cups

Peanuts  ( The recipe calls for salted nuts, I would rather use unsalted nuts and probably use almonds)- 2 cups

Instructions

• Separate the squares of the bark and put in a large microwave safe bowl
  
  
  
• Follow instructions on the package to melt
  
  
  
• Usually start with one minute on full power, stir and then melt 15 seconds on full power, stir and repeat until the bark is fully melted  
• Line a cookie sheet with wax paper
• Mix all the other dry ingredients in a separate large bowl
• When bark is fully melted add the melted bark to the other bowl with dry ingredients and mix well
• Take the mixture and spread on the cookie sheet
  
  
  
• The bark bars set up extremely quickly, so cut them into medium sized squares before they set.

Banana bread

I had a few very ripe bananas with the brown spots on them ( which I usually end up throwing out) and decided to make banana bread. I searched  for recipes and found this one that claimed to be the best banana bread recipe. After making it and trying a slice, I would have to agree !

Ingredients:

Ripe bananas - 4 large ( mashed )

Egg - 2 (if you don’t eat egg you can use one of these 

egg substitutes to ensure the bread is not dense)

Butter - unsalted softened - 1 large stick

Brown sugar - 3/4 cup

Plain Yogurt - 1/3 cup

Vanilla - 1 tsp 

Dry:

All purpose flour - 2 cups 

Baking soda-1 tsp 

Salt- 1/4 tsp 

Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp 

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients and set aside 
   
   
3. In a different bowl mash the bananas and you can use a hand mixer to make sure they are well mixed and are a runny consistency ( use very ripe bananas)
   
4. In a separate large bowl mix the brown sugar and softened butter well with a mixer on high speed for 2 min until creamy, then mix in the egg one at a time with mixer on medium speed, finally add in the mashed bananas, yogurt , and vanilla and mix (you can use a whisk or a spoon if you don’t have an electric mixer)
5. Now with the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix well making sure they are well mixed into a batter consistency 
6. Take a bread pan and coat the inside well with butter or a butter spray to ensure the bread doesn’t stick to the pan 
   
7. Bake in the oven at 350 F with the rack at the lower third position for 30 minutes , at 30 minutes place aluminum foil on top and loosely cover the pan to lock in moisture and prevent it from getting too brown 
8. Bake for another 30-35 minutes . Use a toothpick to check if done . If you put a toothpick through the bread it should come out without sticking , if it sticks the bread needs to be baked longer ( increase by 5 min intervals)
9. Now the bread is done and ready to serve
   
10. 
    
    
    

Apple loaf

Apple loaf 

I had a lot of apples and wanted to make something other than apple crisp or apple pie and I found this recipe for apple bread . I used stevia instead of sugar and much less salt ( since the time I used salt as listed in this recipe, the loaf was salty ). This made for a good breakfast with a cup of milk or coffee. I also used some nutmeg as well. 

Dry ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 tbsp

Nutmeg - a pinch

Wet ingredients 

Eggs - 2 ( applesauce can be used instead)

Apples cut into small cubes - 2 cups

Sugar ( I used stevia) - 2 cups ( sugar=stevia cup for cup)

Vegetable oil -1/2 cup

Vanilla - 2 tbsp

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl 
   
   
   
   
   
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. 
   
3. Mix in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until it is a thick dough. 
   
4. Take a bread pan and grease the inside with a butter spray or butter. Add the dough into the bread pan and push it in 
   
5. Bake the apple loaf at 350 F for 45 minutes. Cover the pan with aluminum foil to seal the moisture in. Push a toothpick into the apple loaf to see if it will pull out clean. If it does, the apple loaf is cooked. If not cook for an additional 10-15 minutes 
   
   
   
   
6. Apple loaf is now ready to serve