Lemon Pudding Cake ~ Mother's Day Guest Post!

Happy Mother's Day y'all! It's amazing for me to think back a year from now and remember being extremely pregnant (and extremely grumpy... lol) and now here we are a year later and our sweet baby girl is about to turn 1 year old and we're celebrating yet another Mother's Day! It's been a crazy year!

As some of you may remember not so very long ago my own Mom did a guest post on my blog, and it quickly became one of the most viewed recipes on the site. That's such an awesome thing for me to say, that my own Mom's recipes are more popular than my own! ;-) But today I have another very special "Mom" guest post for y'all, from my very own Mother In Law! 

Now I know some of y'all are like "WHAT?!?" haha, I know the reps Mom in Law and Daughter's in Laws have, but I am blessed to be very close to my MIL and am so glad that my kids have such a great Gramma around! When I asked her to do this post I know I made her very nervous, but I told her y'all would be nice. So please my dear friends and readers, give my MIL, aka Karen a very warm Farmers Wife Welcome (she is the original farmers wife after all!)

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Q&A with Karen (The Farming Mother In Law)

 #1 Tell us a little about yourself and your family, how long have you been married and a mom?
    I'm an only child but we didn't have much money for 'fussy' meals.  With that background, getting married and cooking for anywhere between 2 and 8 every day, (it varies most every day) well, it's been a learning experience for sure!  I've been married 34 yrs,  “The Farming Hubby” is our second of 4 amazing blessings!  Our youngest has recently left the nest, the last to do so.

#2  When did you first start cooking, and have you always enjoyed it?
    The first thing I made on my own at age 6 was pancakes from scratch. Once when my Mom was sick, I think I was about 8, I doubled the recipe in my head knowing only that I needed to make more than normal.  I took a cooking class in High School but never got much encouragement otherwise, so cooking became something I just did, and just “do” because we have to eat.

#3  If you could eat one thing every day what would it be?
    Ha!  My first thought is “something someone else made!”  I like a variety of foods so I don't get bored with anything, so it might be many months before I make the same recipe again.  Also I'm pretty sensitive to whether my crowd likes something or not.

#4  What inspired today's recipe?
    I like simple, short recipes that end up tasting “WOW!”  If you can't tell from the way I've answered, family is VERY important to me, so I'll find recipes to fit that, to make something they like.  This was in a book that my Maternal Gramma and her friends got together to produce, so even though this wasn't specifically her recipe, I think about her when I make it.

#5  What makes you choose to make this recipe for your 'crowd'?
    The cake mix I use is labelled “U” which makes it safe for my dairy-free oldest daughter to enjoy when they visit.  For a recent family birthday party for 4 of us, this was the dessert of popular demand, even from the youngest, 4 yrs old.  Two 1 yr olds ate it, every crumb;  the finicky eaters ate every bite;  even my husband, who is not big on cakes will eat a small piece.  It's a wonderfully moist, lemony (easy) dessert!

Lemon Pudding Cake

Ingredients:

1 Lemon Supreme cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 instant lemon pudding mix
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
3 cups +/- sifted confectioners sugar
3 Tblspn boiling water
3 Tblspn butter or marg (I use a non-dairy margarine when I make this dairy free)
1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Mix together cake mix, lemon pudding mix, oil, eggs and 3/4 cup water for 5 minutes.  Bake in ungreased 13 x 9" pan at 325* for 45 - 60 minutes.  Mix confectioners sugar, boiling water, butter and lemon juice.  Puncture cake with fork;  pour sugar/lemon mixture evenly over and around it.  Let stand 3 - 4 hours.

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 Thank you Mom in law for this post, see I told you they'd all be nice! ;-) I can honestly say from experience this cake is delightful, our family is very picky and we all just adore this cake and that goes for both of my kiddos too! It's so super moist and easy, I know y'all will love it! 

So from my Mom In Law and I, we pray you all have a wonderful and blessed Mother's Day, filled with Food, Love and Happiness! But above all... FOOD! ;-)

Happy Mother's Day!

                    
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5 Minute Cilantro Lime Rice

Cilantro Lime Rice, Farmers Wife Original

I have to admit I have a secret food love... And it's not homemade. And I know they say the first step is to admit you have a problem... Well I do, and it's time I tell you all... I absolutely adore the Burrito Restaurant Chipotle!!! Lol! I could eat their burritos every single day if I let myself... haha! And up until last year the closest one we had was a few hours away. Then just weeks before our Little Miss was born low and behold they finally opened one in town!!! I went nuts, actually made my hubby take me the weekend it opened, kinda crazy I know but I craved their food my entire pregnancy. However, I haven't always been able to enjoy everything on their menu...

You see when I was younger I had an adverse reaction to cilantro, it was awful. And so sad because I just love salsa and mexican food, and cilantro is a vital ingredient to most mexican cooking. But for some strange and miraculous reason, after having our son, cilantro no longer bothered me. And I couldn't be happier! So upon discovering this I started adding the rice back into my burritos, and recently decided to give this a try in my own burritos. And it was amazing! Simple way to add a little extra flavor! I hope y'all will try it, especially with Cinco de Mayo coming up! This would be a great addition to any of your Cinco de Mayo parties... I know it will be at mine!

Ingredients: this recipe makes 3 cups of rice
3 cups Water
1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro Leaves
2-3 Tablespoons Lime Juice (depending on how much lime you like)
3 cup Minute Rice

 Directions:
In a medium stock pot boil water. Wash and finely chop cilantro. Once water comes to a boil add the cilantro, lime and rice stir to mix then put lid on and remove from heat. Let it stand for 5 minutes until rice is cooked and fluff with a fork. Serve as a side or in your favorite burrito.

Review:
5 stars, this was delicious and full of flavor. Honestly tasted just like Chipotle's famous rice and was so simple and easy to make, I will be making it all the time now!

Happy Cooking!

     

Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo, Farmers Wife Original

Hey Y'all! Good gracious I can't believe it's almost April already! This last year has been such a whirlwind for our little family. I have really missed getting on here and sharing recipes with you all. Believe me, I've still been cooking and taking pictures (when I can) but the last few months have been beyond hectic. Curious? Well I feel like sharing!

In February the 4 of us went on a camping/hiking trip, yes we took the baby. It was... interesting... lol! But when we came back I spent a couple days getting back into routine and tried logging onto my computer to share a new recipe with you all... Only my computer wouldn't start... Like at all. FREAK OUT!!!! Let me tell you the 3ish weeks it took us to get in working order were awful for this little Momma! It was like a limb had been removed from my wrists... How did we function before the blessed home computer?!? Well from my experience you clean a lot, like seriously. I completely rearranged whole rooms in my house and went on a crazy cleaning binge, haha! And next thing I knew February was over.

Then came March... And yes, my computer was working now. Only it had a brand new operating system... Windows 8. Which I'm still getting used to and honestly don't know if I like it yet. Then it got crazy. My hubby was out of town most of this last month. Along with various members of our family. The kids and I were also gone a fair amount, with another camping trip, and a couple of our dear friends got married last weekend too, and both of my very handsome boys were in their wedding! And now here we are... The end of March...

If you can't tell, it was insane. I'm still crazy exhausted and we're not done yet! April has more challenges for us, and I'm just praying to get through it all and back to normal. But for now I have a moment to squeeze in this recipe for you, and I hope you like it!

For awhile now I've been wanting to make homemade salsa, living in the Southwest it's pretty much a staple in our house. But I've been putting it off thinking it wasn't worth the extra work, and expense. And basically being lazy... Well I'm here to confess something to you... I... Am... An... IDIOT! Why I waited to try this I will never know, because it's amazing. I love fresh Pico de Gallo, I go insane for it, and now all I have to do is walk to my fridge and get some... Buh Bye Diet! lol! Seriously though, this is fresh, delicious and if you love salsa like me you have to give this a try!

Ingredients:
5-6 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2 Large White Onion, diced
1 Jalapeno, diced as fine and small as you can get it (if you like REALLY spicy salsa you can add more)
1 teaspoon Garlic Paste, or 1-2 Cloves of Garlic Minced
1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped
1-2 Tablespoons Lime Juice (concentrate is fine)
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper to taste

Directions:
Dice up all your ingredients, being sure to keep the juices from the tomatoes. And place it all in a bowl, and mix well. Taste, to adjust any flavorings you might want to add (just remember it will taste different after sitting in the fridge for a few hours so don't go crazy!). At this point you can either cover the bowl, or place the salsa in a jar and seal it. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.

Review:
5 stars!!! Literally I wouldn't change a thing, except to maybe hoard it all for myself.... lol!

Happy Easter!

     

Easy Breakfast Burrito's

Good Morning Blogworld!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful morning, and going to enjoy your weekend. I personally am looking forward to relaxing this weekend with my little family, after several stressful and busy weeks. Which for me means doing laundry and baking, playing a CandyLand with my little Sous Chef, playing Peekaboo with Little Miss, and probably watching some strange Sci-Fi shows with my Hubby. Lol! But trust me I'm going to enjoy every moment of it!

 

Earlier this week I was exhausted from a busy weekend, hungry, and didn't want anything I already had in my house. lol! You know what I'm talking about, the nights where you just want to beg and plead with your spouse to grab some burgers or a pizza on their way home but feel guilty doing so and instead force yourself to cook and hope it tastes good. Well that's what I did, and honestly I'm glad that I resisted the temptation to get take out. These burritos were tasty, easy, and seriously delicious! The leftovers kept really well, and were great as breakfast over the next couple days for me and my Little Sous Chef. And the best part, you can make these with whatever you keep on hand for the most part. If you don't have bacon, use sausage or another meat. If you don't have onion use peppers etc. This recipe is easy to tailor to the tastes of your family, but for now I'm going to give you the basics of what I did! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and get to spend some time around the table with your loved ones, a good cup of coffee (or tea if you're strange and like tea... lol!) and a delicous meal!



Ingredients: makes 4 servings of 2 burritos per person if using 10" tortillas
10 Eggs
5 Slices of Bacon, cooked and diced
5 Slices Ham Lunchmeat, diced
1 Medium Tomato, diced
1/4 Onion, diced
1/3 Cup Salsa
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Cheddar
Flour Tortillas

Directions:
In a large frying pan, cook up your bacon until golden and crunchy, then drain on paper towels and once cool dice it up and set aside. Clean out almost all the grease from the pan and cook the ham, tomato and onion until the onion is slightly translucent and everything is warmed through. Add to the bacon and set aside. Whisk up your eggs and cook in the greased pan just like you would scrambled eggs. *Tip for fluffy eggs! Whip them up til slightly frothey, then cook eggs on medium heat, in a hot pan. Don't move them around too much.* Once eggs are cooked add in remaining ingredients minus the tortillas and mix until the cheese is melted and everything is mixed evenly. Serve on warmed tortillas.

Review:
We really liked these, the flavor was spot on and I've been craving them ever since we finished the leftovers. 4.5 stars!

Happy Cooking!

2013 Update and Cheesy Cream Chicken

Happy 2013 y'all! Man it's crazy how fast this last year has just flown by for my family. I usually do a recap post around Christmas, but I'm going to summarize it for you and give you a new recipe!

As you may remember in last years Year End post I announced the pregnancy of our sweet baby girl Little Miss Nikki! The overwhelming love and support my family felt from you all was just amazing, including all your prayers as my delivery approached and I started having complications. I can't tell you how thankful I am that I was able to ask for you prayers during that time, and we really felt it! Now we have our sweet baby girl, and our family is complete. We've enjoyed every moment of her little life, and are looking forward to the year to come.

Little Miss, 7 Months Old



Speaking of Little Miss, she is doing fabulous! Growing and learning so fast! At 7 months her vocabulary is up to 3 words, "Mama", "Dada", and "Bubba" (for her big brother). She is rolling all over the house, sitting up on her own, feeding herself, and almost crawling... Since the Christmas Tree is still up I'm not rushing the crawling... lol! She is so full of life and this little girl loves with all her heart. I love watching her and "Bubba" play together! They just adore each other!

Little Sous Chef aka Bubba, 4 1/2 years old



I took a bit of a break this year with pregnancy difficulties and homeschooling starting up with our now 4 1/2 year old Son! AHH!!! I can't believe he's in preschool already, this Momma is feeling old tonight. We successfully finished potty training last year, and he is just thriving in his school work. He is spelling and starting to read some 3, 4 and even 5 letter words! Excelling at basic math, and is basically crazy smart! He astounded me just this morning with the question "What kind of word is the word 'so' Mom? Like is it a noun or verb?" Needless to say this Momma had to look that one up.. haha! He is completely in love with his baby sister and the feeling is quite mutual I must say. They have a wonderful relationship that I pray will only get stronger as they grow.

Farming Hubby with Little Miss

My Farming Hubby has been so busy this year, keeping up on the farm as well as being there for me and the kids so much this year! I know it's not always easy being a farmer and when you add a new baby to the mix, well let's just say I feel incredibly blessed. He's currently into the computer game Minecraft for any of you gamers, and as always his beloved Sci-Fi shows. lol! Our kids just positively adore him and the feeling is mutual. I'm so thankful for him!

Me and Little Miss


As for me, well my life consists of changing diapers, cleaning, feeding, cooking, teaching, and the occaisional nap. lol! The truth is my family is my life, so when you read about them you read about me. But I want to say that I'm beyond thankful for all of you, and you support this last year!

And now for the recipe!!


Since I'm short on time basically all the time these days, cooking is something that needs to not take up all my day. And recently I had one of those days where I was downright exhausted, had defrosted chicken to make a different recipe only to fall sound asleep on the couch and forget that it needed to cook for over an hour. So instead I looked in my pantry and threw this together. And honestly I'm shocked to say even my picky 4 year old loved this! This was a crazy easy and cheap meal, one that I plan to make again!

Ingredients:
4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup (I buy the fat free, low sodium stuff)
1 Cup Sour Cream (I use fat free)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
1 Cup Shredded Cheese of your choice, I used an italian blend I had on hand

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F degrees. In a lightly greased 9x13 pan, place you chicken breasts. In a bowl combine the remaining ingredients and pour evenly over chicken. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and the sauce is warm and bubbly. Serve warm with some cooked rice or mashed potatoes.

Review:
Honestly I'm surprised to say I'd give this a 4 star rating. For as crazy simple as it was the flavor was there! Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Holiday Tips and Menu Ideas

 
Good Morning y'all!! Today's post is not exactly a recipe, but every year I like to re post my Holiday Cooking tips and Menu Ideas for y'all. I know Halloween is just the start of the Holiday rush for most, and with Thanksgiving just a few short weeks away I know we're all starting to prepare. So here are a few helpful hints to make your holidays a little less stressful and some menu ideas!

Holiday Tips!

1. Get as much baking done as you can in the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Baking takes so much more work and time than cooking, it's good to have it out of the way.

2. When making Mashed Potatoes, if you are serving a large crowd and want them to stay warm once they're mashed put them in a crock pot on a warm setting with a small amount of butter on top to keep them warm and moist. (This is also great for keeping stuffing, sliced turkey, sweet potatoes, gravy all those things warm too.)

3. When using your crock pot for anything such as breakfast, potatoes, soups, make sure you spray it with non-stick cooking spray first. It will make your clean up that much easier

4. If it's cold outside and you want to keep your guests nice and warm, keep things like coffee, tea, hot chocolate or cider on hand. For things like Hot Chocolate and Cider you can also keep those warm in a crock-pot. In fact most things like that you can make in the crock-pot as well. Either with your own blend of Hot chocolate or with packets, just add the right amount of water, heat it up in the crock-pot and keep on warm.

5. When making a Turkey, be sure and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes before slicing to keep the juices in the Turkey.

6. Keep the leftovers and reuse. Things like Turkey Tetrizinni, soups, potato pancakes, etc. are all wonderful things on a cold winters day. And can be frozen and pulled out at a later time.

7. Take leftover place cards, or just some card stock and make labels of what different items are, or the ingredients in them so that if things look similar you know what you're having, or if your family has some allergies or diabetics they know what is safe to eat.

8. Wear an apron all day long! This one I can't stress enough, especially if you tend to be a bit of a klutz. I am constantly spilling on myself while cooking, and eating and if you're like me you wear something nice for the holidays you want to keep it clean. So wear an apron and once clean up is done take it off and show off your still fabulous outfit!

9. Be patient and try not to worry. Food reacts to our emotions, as weird as it sounds. If you are stressed and doing too many things at once, things will get burnt or just spoiled, which will only stress you out more. And plan your cooking schedule. If things cook at the same temperature take advantage of that and cook multiple things at once. And don't be afraid to cook things a day or so in advance, you can bake your Turkey and then while it is resting *very important to let your Turkey rest before carving! See tip #5* you can re-heat your sides. And crock pots are great for this too!

10. Clean while you cook! You will be surprised how easy this is and how much stress if will relieve at the end of your dinner! While things are cooking and before starting the next round, wash whatever you can then or get someone else to do that for you, so that once the food is served and you are done eating you can relax and only have the dinner dishes left to clean up.

For some Holiday Recipe Ideas:

Breakfast:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin Spiced Donuts

Best Ever Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes 
Pumpkin Squares
Sausage Egg Pizza
Easy Cheesy Hasherole
Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Waffles
Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Main Dish:

Roasted Turkey Breast

Buttermilk Chicken

 Side Dishes:

Hashbrown Casserole

Cheesy Mac

Sweet Potato Casserole

Mashed Potatoes

Baked Cinnamon Apples

Cranberry Sauce

Turkey Gravy

Rolls

Fruit Salad
Maple Glazed Carrots
Lighter Loaded Mashed Potatoes 

Desserts:

Apple Bars

Apple Pie (Sugar Free or regular)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Fudge Krispies

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Peppermint Brownies

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cookies

Sugar Cookies
Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Bars 
Oatmeal Cran-Chip Cookies 
Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 
Chocolate Chip Bars
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Beverages:

Hot Chocolate

Pineapple Mango Punch

For some recipes of things to make with leftovers check out these:

Baked Potato Soup

Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

Turkey Tetrizinni

Turkey Bacon Club Sandwich

Turkey Noodle Soup with Homemade Noodles
Cranberry Muffins

Happy Holiday Cooking!

Bourbon Chicken

Adapted from Macaroni and Cheesecake.

I don't know about y'all but I have a serious weakness for Chinese food! I crave it all the time, could probably eat it almost everyday happily. However the chances of me actually having Chinese is incredibly rare. Generally I get it when my Mother In Law starts craving it and I convince her to take me to lunch. ;-) lol! Anyway, since I don't get this delicious take out very often I have started trying to make my own. I've successfully made Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Orange Chicken that we love and recently I decided to try my hand at another classic... Bourbon Chicken!

For those of you who don't drink alcohol, don't worry there isn't actually any bourbon in the recipe. This recipe is kind of a typical Chinese chicken, sour with a hint of sweet. It's incredibly easy to throw together, and when my hubby got home he said he could smell it cooking while still in his truck outside! And my boys both gobbled this up as fast as they could! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Ingredients:
4-5 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
Olive Oil Cooking Spray (or 1 tbsp. olive oil)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 cup apple juice, or orange juice
2/3 cup light brown sugar
4 Tablespoons ketchup
2 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2/3 cup soy sauce
 Cornstarch Slurry:
1 Tablespooon cornstarch/1 Tablespoon water (optional)

Directions:
Spray a large skillet with olive oil cooking spray (or use the 1 tbsp. olive oil).
Add chicken and cook over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove chicken from skillet, and set aside. While cooking chicken mix together remaining ingredients, minus the cornstarch slurry.
Add sauce, heating over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered, for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. If you prefer a thicker sauce, combine 1 tbsp. water and 1 tbsp. cornstarch in a separate bowl and add a little at at time to reach desired consistency (I like a thick sauce so I use all of it). Serve over hot rice, if desired.

Review:
We LOVED this!! If you're a big Chinese food fan, you HAVE to make this soon! This was probably the best bourbon chicken I've ever had, I absolutely love this with a big bowl of  rice!! SOOO yummy! 4.5 Stars.

 Happy Cooking!