Look I’m Sandra Lee

Ok, I have to admit.  Occasionally if I’m channel surfing, and there’s not much on television worth watching, and I see Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee, I might tune in.  For those who don’t know, her show is all about taking shortcuts & using prepackaged products. This lady amazes me, for many reasons.  She’s totally not my style, but it’s like watching a train wreck, you can’t NOT look.
She is WAAAAAY too skinny to be eating any of the food she makes.

But I love that she’s ALWAYS mixing up a cocktail!  Cuz we know I like a good drink.

I needed to make a cake for a friend’s birthday, but I didn’t have enough money to go buy a bunch of ingredients.  I happened to have a box of yellow cake mix in my house.  So I knew I should make a cake using a box.  But I wanted to do something extra to jazz it up, with the requirement being it had to be with ingredients I already had in the house.

I did various internet searches to no avail.  I finally made my way over to the Food Network website.  I did a search for cake mix or something like that, as I was browsing I remembered Sandra Lee, so I narrowed my search to show recipes only from her.  Somehow I found this recipe for a Caramel Rum Cake. Ok, so she really called it a Rum Caramel Cake, but Caramel Rum Cake sounded better. And I’m ALLLL about adding alcohol to desserts! I’ve never made a rum cake, so I thought this should be fun!

I assembled the ingredients.

Then I doubled checked to make sure this was ALL I needed.  3 Eggs, some oil, some water & some rum.  ARE YOU FOR REAL?  YUP!  That’s all you need.

It literally took me five minutes to make this cake.  And that’s including cutting the wax paper that lined the bottom of the cake pans (I used 2 not 3 by the way, as mine are 9 inch pans).

*Update* This is one of my very first posts, and it’s not my finest work.  The cake is good, and easy; but the frosting isn’t easy, nor good.  So I’m omitting that.  If you’re looking for a shortcut cake, this is a great choice, but go ahead and just do a shortcut frosting.  Buy it in a can.

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Caramel Rum Cake

from FoodNetwork

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup dark rum
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut wax paper into circles to line bottom of pans (optional). Spray round cake pans with nonstick butter-flavored baking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, rum, water, eggs, and oil on low speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat for 2 more minutes on medium speed.

Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tester comes away clean. Cool completely before icing.

Here’s an example of when I made them as cupcakes for a VO session I “catered” at work.  They were RAVED over, and I’ve promised to make them for an audio editor’s birthday next year!

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Salsa!

We’ve gotten a lot of tomatoes & peppers in our CSA, and a coworker brought in some jalapenos & habaneros so I decided it was time for me to make salsa! Usually my salsa is very chunky, and I wanted to try something different. The producer I was working with that day is from Texas & married a hispanic man. She’s used to hot & spicy peppers, and recommended roasting the habaneros to cut down on the heat. I cut the tomatoes & jalepenos, habaneros, and red & green peppers in half, removed the seeds & the white from the hot peppers, and roasted them. Then I removed the skin, cut them into pieces & pulsed them in my Magic Bullet Blender until smooth. I reserved some pieces to add to the salsa to still have a little chunk. I also added in chopped onion, cilantro, a little salt & lime. It was SO so SO so good! I didn’t really follow a recipe, just used what I had.

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Roasted Salsa

Ingredients:

onion
green peppers
red peppers
tomatoes
jalapeno peppers
habanero peppers
cilantro
lime
salt

Directions:

Cut peppers & tomatoes. Roast under broiler until skin is black. Let cool & remove skin. Cut into smaller pieces. Reserve some if you choose, & pulse the rest in a food processor. Add the reserved chopped pieces & the blended portion into a bowl, add chopped fresh cilantro, a sprinkle of salt, & squirt of lime.

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Spinach Lasagna

There is one, and only one, vegetarian dish The Boy will eat. It’s this lasagna. I’ve made it a few times now. After the first time making it I realized one large rectangular pan makes WAAAAY too much for me & TB.  I put it in two square pans as opposed to 1 rectangular one. And then I freeze the second one to enjoy at a later date! I often use Bertolli’s sauces for the spaghetti sauce. They have so many different flavors it can give it a slighlty different twist on it each time. This might not be the most photogenic meal, but it sure is tasty!

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Honey Ginger Glazed Salmon

Thanks to my big bag of Sam’s Club frozen salmon, I’ve cooked a fair amount of salmon.  It also happens to be my favorite fish!  After I cooked this recipe the first time, The Boy proclaimed it to be one of his favorites out of all the quick dinner meals I cook during the week.  That was a big step.  Usually all I get outta him is “Thanks boo, that was good.”  I enjoy feedback!  I definitely recommend this recipe.  It was tasty!  I will mention, I didn’t make the arugula salad that goes with it. But I make the dressing and put it over whatever salad green I have on hand. Usually romaine.

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Honey Ginger Glazed Salmon

from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided
2 tablespoons warm water (100° to 110°)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets (1 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups trimmed arugula

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine honey, 2 tablespoons juice, water, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Pour honey mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; arrange fish in pan, skinned side up. Let stand 20 minutes. Turn fish over; sprinkle fish with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake at 350° for 7 minutes. Remove from oven.

Preheat broiler.

Brush fish with honey mixture; broil 7 minutes or until fish is browned and flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, oil, and pepper in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Add arugula; toss gently to coat. Serve salad with fish.

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