I love Pillsbury crescent rolls, but I usually eat them plain or fill them with something sweet (jam, etc.). Of course there are pigs-in-a-blanket, but I had never thought to make a chicken casserole with them until I round this recipe from Allrecipes.
Ingredients
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 (8 ounce) packages crescent roll dough, unrolled and divided into triangles
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium heat; pan-fry chicken until no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes per side. Shred chicken.
Spread chicken over crescent roll triangles. Roll triangles, starting with the wider end, around chicken. Arrange rolls on prepared baking dish with the seam sides down. Place rolls into prepared baking dish.
Mix cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, milk, and cheddar cheese in a bowl; pour mixture over crescent rolls.
Bake in preheated oven until bubbly and rolls are golden brown, about 40 minutes.
The hardest part about this recipe is trying to fit the chicken into the crescent rolls and not let any fall out! But other than that, this recipe is super-easy to make. I even diced up the chicken and cooked it in the air fryer, which I think is a faster option. The photo online shows broccoli in the casserole, which clearly is not listed in the ingredients. So instead I made broccoli on the side so that we had a green vegetable with dinner (because otherwise, this dinner is not healthy AT ALL). But it sure does taste good!
I had planned to bake with my vegan friend while my husband watched football (anything to keep ME from having to watch!), but then she had to visit her dad over the weekend, so we made this vegan lemon cake after work one day. We each brought some ingredients to the table (no pun intended), and I think it turned out very well! Thanks, Anthea from Rainbow Nourishments for the recipe!
Ingredients
Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cake
2 ½ cups (315g) all-purpose plain flour spoon and leveled (note 1 for gluten-free option)
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt optional
1 cup (250g) dairy-free milk room temperature
½ cup (125g) extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup (80g) lemon juice (note 2)
~2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
To decorate (optional, see note 2 for alternatives)
1 ½ cups (150g) powdered sugar / icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup (150g) fresh berries
Instructions
To make the cake:
Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper.
Add all the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to a large bowl. Mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients (milk, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla) and mix until just combined.
Pour the lemon cake batter into your prepared pan. Smooth the surface if necessary.
Bake the cake for 1 hour or until you can insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and there's no wet batter on it. As this is a moist cake, some crumbs on your toothpick are fine. If the surface of your cake is browning too quickly, carefully tent the pan with aluminum foil.
Allow the cake to cool in the loaf tin for 10 minutes then let the cake cool on a cooling rack.
To make the icing:
Add the lemon juice and sugar to a medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add more lemon juice or non-dairy milk for a thinner icing (like a lemon glaze) or more powdered sugar for a thicker icing.
Drizzle the icing over your cooled cake. If desired, top the cake with berries just before serving.
Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for a day or in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake can be stored without the icing in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
This lemon cake works well with King Arthur's gluten-free measure for measure flour. If using, I suggest baking the cake for 5-10 minutes longer. Other gluten-free flour blends may produce different results.
You'll need around 2-3 medium lemons to yield the amount of lemon juice and zest for the recipe.
Alternatively, you can enjoy the cake plain, topped with fresh berries or a light dusting of powdered / icing sugar.
Her oven only went to 350°F (We couldn't get 355°F; the oven just automatically jumps to 375°F after that), but it wasn't an issue. And we used plain soy milk, so I can't speak to how the recipe would work or taste if you used almond milk, coconut milk, etc. We only ended up using two lemons, although they were on the large side. We used all the zest and most of the juice in the cake, but put a little bit of juice in the icing (along with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey whiskey, since we like boozy icing!). And rather than decorate the whole cake with berries, we decorated each PIECE with blueberries and raspberries, which meant more berries per slice!
This recipe was easy to make, and I would certainly do it again (as long as my friend provides the non-dairy milk!).
I am amazed by all the fun recipes there are on Instagram! I found this recipe from Hailey Pipher @shelikesmilk. Another easy and delicious recipe, just how I like it!
Ingredients
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 apples, peeled and rough chopped
2/3 cup + 3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp milk
1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prep your 9x5” loaf pan with a non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.
2. Mix 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside. Toss cubed apples with 2 tbsp granulated sugar and remaining 1 tsp of cinnamon in a separate bowl, set aside.
3. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat 1/2 cup softened butter and 2/3 cup granulated sugar together until fluffy, approx. 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, then continue to mix.
4. Gently mix flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl, then slowly add to creamed butter mixture until fully combined. Add 1/2 cup milk into this mix until smooth.
5. Pour half the batter into the lined loaf pan and add half of the apple mixture on top of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle half of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture on top of the apple layer.
6. Repeat and add the remaining batter overtop and top with remaining apples and brown sugar mix. Use a knife or toothpick to gently swirl the apple mixture into the batter, ensuring the apples on top layer or patted into the loaf batter.
7. Bake until toothpick inserted into middle of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow loaf to cool on wire rack after baking.
For the Icing:
Combine and mix powdered sugar with remaining 3 tbsp of milk. Add more milk or powdered sugar to reach desired consistency. Drizzle loaf with glaze.
Every step of this recipe is so yummy! The sugar cinnamon mixture (I didn't pack the brown sugar since the directions didn't say to), the sugared apples, the batter itself... so good! I used one large apple and a small one, and I melted half the butter (I find working with melted butter is much easier). I also added a tablespoon of vanilla extract to the powered sugar (to replace one tablespoon of milk) to add some extra flavor. I actually ate mine without icing because I couldn't wait for it to cool: I wanted to eat it NOW! And it was very good, even without the icing!
I had not been to Denver since 2019 (read that blog post here), but when Steve and I saw that Paul McCartney was on tour, we knew this might be our last chance to see the living legend perform. He wasn't performing in Florida, so when we looked at the tour schedule, we thought it would be best to see him at Coors Field: the show was on a Saturday, and we both have friends in Denver, so it was a no-brainer! We booked our stay at the cute Queen Anne Urban Bed & Breakfast (the food was quite good, with fresh-baked cookies every afternoon, too!), and I made our itinerary to make the most of our weekend out West.
Here are the highlights from the trip (in no particular order):
Watching Paul McCartney live
This of course has to be the best part because it's the reason we flew all that way! For being in his early 80's, he seems to have a lot of energy (he played for 2.5 hours!), and his voice and finger dexterity on the guitar still seem in pretty good shape. He played some Beatles songs (but not Yesterday, which was a bummer), some Wings songs, and then some of his own stuff. But the best part was when he played Live and Let Die, when there was fire on stage and lots of fireworks! It was so cool and invigorating! I am not listing music videos here because his music is SO iconic; the list would be enormous!
Catching up with said friends
We met up with Steve's friends, Phil and Nikki; they know each other from going to Ravens games up in Baltimore. We partook in $5 martinis at Terminal Bar before enjoying a delicious meal at Mercantile, and we finished the night with cocktails and dessert at the Oxford Hotel's Cruise Room.
I had not seen my Theta sister Alexandra since I visited her in 2019. It was fun to see her and walk around the zoo with her and her family.
Visiting the Denver Zoo
Speaking of the Zoo, we had so much fun seeing all the different animals! We didn't want to wait in the LONG line to see the lion cubs, so we missed out on that. But we got to see almost everything else. I especially liked the reptile house; they had so many frogs and lizards I had never heard of before! But the signage in general around the zoo is lacking: they aren't very informational, with most signs just listing the common and Latin names of the animals. But we got lots of our steps in and enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather while checking out all the cool creatures.
Going to a concert at Red Rocks
Once we decided to go to Denver, we knew we wanted to check out Red Rocks, too, which is an outdoor amphitheater built into the rocks outside of the city. All Time Low was playing the night after the McCartney concert; we had never heard of them before, but we just wanted to see the venue. We were able to take a shuttle from Union Station (how convenient!), and the space is SO cool. And not only that, but the concert actually had three openers, so it felt like we were at a music festival! We saw The Paradox (probably my favorite of the night), The Cab, and Mayday Parade before the main act. We hadn't heard of any of these groups, but we had a great time. In the end, the lead singer of All Time Low, Alex Gaskarth, was losing his voice, and after just a few songs he had to cancel the rest of the show (and maybe the tour?); he felt really bad about it, but that meant we could head back early (and get warm!). I hope he feels better soon!
This was such a fun, little trip! I really enjoy jet-setting (I flew to Las Vegas once for ONE day to see Gwen Stefani in concert with my sister!), so it was awesome to take a quick flight to Denver, spend a weekend doing ALL this neat stuff, and then just head back home to return to reality. We are so lucky to be able to do things like this!
We've got a few local get-aways coming up before the holidays, so stay tuned on those! I can't believe 2025 will be over before we know it! What other adventures are in store?!
My friend Tammy was hosting book club again, and since she's vegan, I always try to make a vegan recipe (check out the vegan rum cake I made!). Since it's fall, I thought a pumpkin cake would be appropriate. I found this recipe on the "Plant Based on a Budget" blog and thought it was worth a try.
Ingredients
3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
1 cup of packed brown sugar
½ cup of granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice
1 cup of chopped pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or pecans (optional)
1 ¼ cups plant-based milk of choice
1 cup of vegan butter, melted
1 (15-ounce) can of pumpkin puree
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and fully grease a bundt cake pan with vegan butter, then sprinkle a little flour in the cake pan. Move the pan around so the flour gets distributed and stuck to all of the inside of the cake pan.
In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, both sugars, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or pecans (if using). Mix well and set aside.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the plant-based milk, melted vegan butter, and pumpkin puree. Mix using an electric mixer or by hand. Mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated, but do not overmix.
Pour the cake batter into the bundt cake and level it with a spatula.
Bake the cake for 1 hour or insert a fork into the cake, if the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready. If it’s not, bake in 5 minute increments until fork comes out clean.
Place the cake pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. With a butter knife, gently insert it around the edges to loosen it up. Gently shake and tap the cake pan to help loosen it. When you feel the cake has separated from the walls of the pan, place a cooling rack on top of the pan and then flip the cake onto the cooling rack. Remove the pan and allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, add the vegan cream cheese frosting, pumpkin spice and 2 tablespoons of plant-based milk. Mix well using a mixer or a whisk. Mix well and add more plant-based milk to achieve a slowly runny consistency.
Drizzle the frosting on the cooled cake and sprinkle some more nuts.
I didn't have plant-based milk, so I just used water (that's what most of those are anyway, right?), and instead of vegan butter I used applesauce. There were a few questionable things about this recipe, mainly the amount of baking powder and cinnamon. Usually those are things measured in teaspoons, not tablespoons. TWO tablespoons of baking powder sounds like A LOT. So I just did two teaspoons instead (same for the cinnamon). I don't think if these changes really impacted the recipe, but the cake did come out kind of dry and dense. Not bad, but icing definitely helped (I made a bourbon icing to go on top, which is just 1 cup of powdered sugar and two tablespoons of bourbon mixed together). You could probably eat it with applesauce on the side to add some moisture, too!
This was not as good as the rum cake, so I'm not sure I would bother making it again. But next week I'm going to try making a vegan lemon cake, so look out for that post!
'Tis the season! I love all things pumpkin, and when I was invited to a party over the weekend, I knew I had to bring some sort of pumpkin dessert. I have made many pumpkin desserts in my time (see the list at the bottom of this post), but I wanted to try something different. And since I always have cream cheese in the house given my husband's obsession with bagels, this recipe from Pop Sugar was a no-brainer.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch casserole dish.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Whisk in 2 eggs, pumpkin, and 1/3 cup water until well blended. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg. Fold into the butter mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Spread batter evenly in the prepared casserole dish.
In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, remaining egg, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.
Drop cream cheese mixture in evenly spaced 1-tablespoon dollops over the batter. Use a butter knife to swirl the batter, gently folding some of the cream cheese mixture under the pumpkin batter.
Bake until the center of pumpkin batter (not the cream cheese mixture) springs back when touched, about 30 to 32 minutes. Let cool completely in pan and then cut into 20 bars.
I pretty much stuck to this recipe, although I just sprayed the pan instead of using butter/flour. Everything else was the same. The pumpkin part tastes great, just as you'd expect. But the cream cheese part is a little... claggy, somewhat gelatinous. The cream cheese was not room temperature, so perhaps microwaving it a little to soften it messed things up? Unsure. I think what would taste better would simply be cream cheese frosting on top. But not a total waste!
Easy Pumpkin Roll(I remember I was especially proud of myself making this for Thanksgiving during COVID. My dad doesn't like pumpkin desserts, but he loved this one, probably because of all the cream cheese icing!)
I have heard of "marry me" dishes before (chicken, pasta, etc.), but I had never tried it before. I wanted to make a nice meal before the fast for Yom Kippur began, so I tried this recipe from Southern Living. I thought it turned out pretty well!
Ingredients
4 (3-oz.) chicken breast cutlets (about 1/2-in. thick)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus more for garnish
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
Basil leaves, for garnish
Directions
Preheat a stainless steel or enameled cast-iron skillet over medium heat, then add olive oil and 2 Tbsp. butter to the skillet. As the butter melts, season the chicken cutlets with salt and black pepper.
Add the chicken cutlets to the skillet and cook until the outsides are lightly browned and the interior reaches a temperature of 165°F (approximately 2-3 minutes on each side).
Transfer the chicken to a plate. Cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Do not clean the skillet.
Add shallot, red pepper flakes, oregano, and thyme to the skillet and cook until the shallot starts to soften, about 3 minutes.
Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes to the skillet and cook 1 minute or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Add tomato paste to the skillet and stir to coat the vegetables. Cook 1 minute, or until fragrant.
Pour the white wine and chicken broth into the skillet and cook, scraping up any flavorful bits from the bottom of the skillet.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the heavy cream to the skillet. Stir to combine and simmer until the sauce begins to thicken, about 2 minutes.
Return the chicken cutlets to the skillet and simmer in the sauce until the sauce clings to the chicken (about 4 minutes).
Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the balsamic vinegar to the skillet and stir until the butter fully melts into the sauce. Garnish with grated Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh basil leaves.
First of all, I skipped the entire part about cooking the chicken on a skillet. It's so much faster in the air fryer! So while the chicken was cooking in the air fryer, I started making the sauce right away. I didn't have all the ingredients or spices, but I used what I had (parsley instead of time, pasta sauce instead of tomato paste, etc.). Making the sauce was very easy!
After I had added the chicken to the sauce, I served everything over penne pasta (I already had leftovers of that, so I just quickly microwaved the noodles). I thought this recipe was good, but I might add mushrooms and/or spinach in the future just to have some more veggies (we made side salads instead). I would certainly make this recipe again!
