Lemon Blueberry Cake

When you are short on time, Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade recipes are the best!  I just watched this episode on the Food Network and she put this gorgeous cake together really fast.

Gorgeous cake . . . and I can almost taste the wonderful lemon flavors.

Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee
The Food Network
SHOW: Semi-Homemade Cooking
EPISODE: Grilling on the Mississippi


Ingredients

• 2 (8-inch) round store-bought (bakery) yellow or white cake layers
• 1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract, divided
• 2 (12-ounce) cans cream cheese flavored frosting
• Fresh mint sprigs
• Fresh blueberries
• Lemon slices, quartered
  
  

Directions

Use a knife to slice cake layers in half horizontally. 

Use a pastry brush to brush each layer with lemonade concentrate; set aside. 

Stir 1 teaspoon of lemon extract into each can of frosting; set aside. 

To assemble cake: frost and stack the cake layers on top of each other.

Decorate cake with clusters of mint sprigs, blueberries, and quartered lemon slices. 

Nutella Bomboloni

These delicious little donuts remind me so much of a pastry my Nana used to make.  The photo takes me back to a special place and time where I can smell the donuts and feel the burn on my tongue since I could not wait for them to cool off!

This recipe comes from a new discovery that I love called the Italy Food Page on Facebook.  Their link follows the recipe.

Ingredients 

• 2 jars Nutella 
• 1 lb Ricotta 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 4 teaspoons baking powder 
• 2 cups all purpose flour 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 quarts Canola oil 
• granulated sugar 

To make donuts: In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 jar Nutella, ricotta, salt, vanilla, baking powder, flour and eggs. Mix until smooth to form dough. 

Drop heaping spoonfuls of dough into hot oil at 375° and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. 

Remove donuts from hot oil, drain on paper towels for a moment, roll in granulated sugar, and fill with Nutella. 

Serve immediately!

Source:  Italy Food Page

Oreo Cheesecake

Who doesn't love Oreo cookies?  Oreos and cheesecake are a match made in heaven.  My favorite cheesecake recipe has an Oreo cookie crust . . . actually in my opinion, they make the best crust for cheesecake.

What I love about this recipe are the possibilities to make it lighter by using no fat cream cheese and no fat Cool Whip.  

The recipe and photo comes from the Taste of Home website, although it is officially a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe.  If you love cookbooks, Taste of Home has the best annual cookbooks and one of the favorite cookbooks is from Philadelphia Cream Cheese that I have had for more years than I care to mention.

Ingredients

• 36 OREO® Cookies, divided
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 packages (8 ounces each)PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tub (8 ounces) COOL WHIP® Whipped Topping, thawed

Directions

CHOP 15 cookies coarsely. 

Finely crush remaining cookies; mix with butter. Press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in COOL WHIP and chopped cookies; spread onto crust.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm. Yield: 16 servings.


HOW TO EASILY REMOVE CHEESECAKE FROM A PAN TO SERVE: 
Line pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides before using to prepare cheesecake as directed. Use foil handles to lift chilled cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.


Source: Taste of Home
Originally published as PHILADELPHIA-Oreo No-Bake Cheesecake Provided by Philadelphia® Cream Cheese

Chicken and Potato Casserole

Love the combination of the chicken, potatoes and the sauce.

This recipe and photo is courtesy of Grandmother's Kitchen . . . link follows the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups milk
• 1 large onion, slices
• 1/2 cup white cheese, shredded
• 5 cups potatoes, peeled, par-boiled and sliced

Directions

Preheat over to 350 degree F. 

Peel and par-boil the potatoes. Drain the water, let the potatoes cool, then slice them into rounds.

Meanwhile, while the potatoes are cooking we will cook the chicken. 

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken pieces until they are not pink. Set aside. 

To make the creamy sauce, melt butter in large sauce pan over low heat and whisk in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Remove from heat gradually whisk in milk. Return to heat and cook until thickened and bubbly.

Fold in chicken, onion slices,and cheese. Gently stir the mixture together. 

Place a layer of potatoes slices into the bottom of a buttered 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour the creamy mixture on next. Make a top layer with the remaining potato slices. Cover with aluminum foil. 

Bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes to lightly brown the top.


Original Chicken And Potato Casserole Recipe found at Grandmother's Kitchen Recipes.