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More on Private Selection

I FINALLY got to try out the Private Selection pie with the free coupon I got from bzzagent.com. I was hoping to try cherry but all I could find was dutch apple so I decided to go ahead and try apple since these pies have been so difficult to find!

As I was checking out the lady at the register told me about how good the pie was and how much she and her husband loved it. So, I was all ready for a great experience.

I tipped it over in the car so the pie ended up being squished to one side but I was able to mostly flatten it back out. We ate it for dessert the other night. It’s really, very tasty. Much better than I was expecting from a packaged pie in the deli section. The top was crunchy and the apples in the center were soft and sweet.

I think it’s called a personal pie but a 6″ pie is really just right for me and my husband to share.

I’ll definitely be purchasing this again next time I want a sweet treat for after dinner!

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Oreo Birthday Cake

For my Birthday I made my own cake. Now, before you say you’re sorry I had to make my own cake, you have to know, it was between making my own cake and letting my husband make my cake. I’ve never seen him bake so I probably would not get a cake in the end and it would be much more work for me to walk him through the cake making process.

It was a delicious cake with a fun topper. I love Indiana Jones!

And, I had fun taking pictures of my cake…

I got the recipe from a blog called My Baking Addiction. It was delicious! The icing really tasted just like the oreo filling and what’s not to like about an entire box of oreos on the cake!

Oreo Cake

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix {with or without pudding}
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

For the Oreo Buttercream

1 stick salted butter – room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter – room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar, 10x)
3-4 tablespoons very cold milk
25 Oreo cookies chopped

DIRECTIONS:

For the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of (2) 9 inch round cake pans with parchment and grease pans thoroughly.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mix, salt vanilla, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and divide batter into the prepared pans.

3. Bake for 25-35 minutes, rotating pans half way through baking the baking time. Bake until the top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake for at least 30 minutes before inverting. Allow cake to cool completely on wire rack.

For the Oreo Buttercream

1. Cream the butters in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract and combine well.

2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, begin adding the very cold milk… one tablespoon at a time, combining well after each addition until you reach the desired consistency.

3. Fold in chopped Oreo Cookies and frost your cooled cake layers.

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Private Selection Product Testing

I got to try out some great Private Selection products as part of another Bzz Campaign from bzzagent.com. I got coupons to try three different items for free this time. Ice Cream, ground beef, and a personal pie.

1. I loved the ice cream. I tried the black raspberry chip with my coupon and also purchased a chocolate moose tracks. Both were delicious! Black raspberry chip is my favorite ice cream flavor and most brands don’t carry it so I was so excited to see that Private Selection has it! Graeters is still my favorite ice cream brand ever, but Private Selection came pretty close. And Private Selection is a lot cheaper. All in all, I’ll definitely be purchasing Private Selection ice cream again!

2. Ground Angus Beef. I used this to make tacos one night for company. The tacos were delicious. To me though, ground beef is ground beef and I have trouble telling the difference in flavor or texture between this and the Kroger store brand. The Private Selection Angus beef is at least twice as much as the Kroger store brand ground beef so it’s hard for me to justify purchasing the more expensive meat. It sounds like it should taste better so I may purchase this again, but only with a coupon or on sale.

3. Personal pie. The coupon is for a free 6″ apple or cherry pie. Unfortunately, I hunted 2 Krogers (I even asked the lady at the deli counter) for these pies and they were not to be found. My coupon doesn’t expire for a while yet so maybe I’ll still get to try them. I was really looking forward to my very own cherry pie…

Private Selection’s products are pretty good. A little more expensive than the store brand and a little cheaper than a name brand so when I have a coupon I definitely prefer Private Selection to a name brand since I can save so much money and it tastes basically the same.

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Meringues

I love meringues! And this recipe is so easy to make. I make them every time I have extra egg whites. In this case, I had 10 extra egg whites after making my pudding so I made a triple batch. That’s a LOT of meringues!

Meringues
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup sugar

Have egg whites at room temperature. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, and dash salt. Beat to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating till very stiff peaks form. (Meringue will be glossy.)

Cover baking sheet with wax paper. Drop spoonfulls of meringue onto paper. Bake meringues at 275 for one hour. Turn off heat and let dry in the oven with the door closed for about 1 hour.

Makes about 3 dozen.

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Banana Cream Pie

There’s just something about a good banana cream pie. I tried out this pudding recipe earlier this year and loved it.

The pudding takes 5 egg yokes and since I doubled the pudding recipe for this pie I ended up using 10 egg yokes. And with my 10 extra whites I made meringues. I now have a house full of meringue cookies! (the meringue cookie recipe is coming up next)

Banana Cream Pie

Nilla Wafers for crust

4 bananas thinly sliced

Pudding
2              C whole milk

¾             C heavy cream

½             C sugar

3              T cornstarch

2              T flour

¼             t salt

5              large egg yolks

¼             C unsalted butter cut into ½” cubes

1              t vanilla extract

(double this for group sized pie)

Topping
2              C whipping cream

8              T sugar

¼             t rum flavoring

  1. Bring milk and cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks; whisk until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Whisking constantly, gradually add milk mixture to yolk mixture. Return to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until thick, 2-3 minutes. Add butter and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl; press plastic wrap directly onto surface of pastry cream. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.
  2. Line bowl with nilla wafers. Put ½ cup pastry cream evenly over bottom of bowl. Layer half of the bananas. Spread ¾ cup pastry cream over bananas, layer the rest of the bananas. Spread the remainder of the pastry cream over bananas.
  3. Beat whipping cream, sugar, and rum flavoring until medium-stiff peaks form. Spread over pastry cream and serve.
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Corn Pudding

Another of my Easter dinner favorites. I love a good corn pudding! This particular dish is more milk and cream than corn, and it’s delicious!

This recipe is so easy! It should bake until the center is set. Just wiggle the pan a little bit and you’ll be able to tell if it’s set or not. I usually have to add an extra 10 minutes to the cooking time to get the center set.

Corn Pudding
Cook time: 50 minutes  Oven Temp: 350  Servings: 8-10

1/3         cup sugar

3              Tbsp. flour

2              tsp. baking powder

2              tsp. salt

1              tsp. cumin

2              cups whipping cream

½             cup butter, melted

6              extra large eggs, beaten

2              pkg. frozen golden sweet corn

  1. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cumin together. Combine the cream and butter in a bowl and stir until blended. Stir in the eggs. Add the sugar mixture gradually, stirring constantly until combined. Stir in the corn. Pour into a buttered 9 X 13 inch or 2qt baking dish. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes or until the center is firm and the top is golden brown. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
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Sweet Potato Casserol

I forgot to put the marshmallows on top! I honestly can’t believe I forgot them, but it still tasted good.

My poor mother-in-law, every time we go over to her house and she fixes sweet potatoes my husband remarks that hers aren’t nearly as good as mine. It is nice that I make him something that he considers better than his Mom’s cooking 🙂

Also, I doubled this recipe for my Easter dinner.

Sweet Potato Casserole
Oven temp:350   Cook time:45min

1              C sugar

2              eggs

1              stick butter (softened)

1              tsp vanilla

1              can sweet potatoes, drained

Topping

1/3         C melted butter

1/3         C flour

1              C brown sugar

1              Tbsp cinnamon

  1. Whip ingredients until fluffy.
  2. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top
  3. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
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Easter

Easter with little kids is so much fun! From the fun Easter dresses to all the tasty food, and the multiple egg hunts. Easter at my house is always lots of fun.

I like to do Easter dinner for my family so the next few posts are going to be my favorite Easter dinner recipes. I calculated this weekend and I used over three dozen eggs, two boxes of butter, and almost a gallon of whipping cream! Mmmmm!

I get out my nice dishes and cloth napkins and have lots of fun. This year my 3yr old got to help me set the table. She didn’t quite get which side of the plate the knives and forks went on but we had fun!

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Skillet-Fried Chicken

Last night I tried out a fried chicken recipe from my Feb. Bon-Appetit magazine. A lot of times I find the recipes in this magazine to be unnecessarily complicated, however, this chicken recipe was perfect!

I did use a package of chicken breasts cut in thirds and I cut the recipe in half since my meat weight was half of what the whole chicken in the recipe is. It tasted delicious!

2 Tbsp kosher salt, divided
2 tsp plus 1 Tbsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 3-4 lb chicken cut into 10 pieces, backbone and wing tips removed
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. conrstarch
peanut oil (for frying)

!hisk 1 Tbsp salt, 2tsp black pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and onion powder in a small bowl. Season chicken with spices. Place chicken in a medium bowl, cover, and chill overnight.

Let chicken stand covered at room temp for 1 hr. Whisk buttermilk, egg, and 1/2 cup water in a med bowl. Whisk flour, cornstarch, 1 Tbsp salt, and 1 Tbsp pepper in another bowl.

Pour oil into a 10″-12″ straight-sided skillet (not nonstick) to a depth of 3/4″. Heat over med-high heat until 350 degrees. Meanwhile, set a wire rack inside a large rimmed baking sheet.

Working with one piece at a time dip chicken in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl. Dredge in flour mixture. Fry chicken, turning with tongs every 1-2 minutes and maintain a temp of 300 to 325 degrees, until skin is deep golden brown and a thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 165 degrees, about 10 min for wings and 12 min for thighs, legs, and breasts.

Using tongs, remove chicken from skillet, allowing excess oil to drip back into skillet; transfer chicken to prepared rack. Let cool 10 min before serving.