::LOA::

Sorry for no recent posts! Been super busy around here and I work tonight again so I'm hoping tomorrow I can get you a new post!

PS..have you tried making pudding (the stovetop kind) and pouring it hot over ice cream? Deeeeee-lish!

::Dog Cake::

Hey everyone! Hope your week is going great and i'm sure you are all looking forward to the weekend! I have posted almost all the pictures of my cakes I have done, on Facebook, and decided I needed to share on here! This past weekend I was asked to do a dog cake for a girl's 6th birthday and these are the results...

Enjoy!

This is probalby one of my favorite cakes I have done...I almost feel like it should start barking?!

A body shot.

Side view.

I also made this cake with the extra batter I had. I wasn't sure if the dog cake was going to serve the amount of people at the party so I made this one just in case. Better to have more than enough than not enough!

I just love the little paws! :)

::Corn Casserole::

 I hadn't made a corn casserole before, but they are something I usually like when I eat at someone else's house or for a holiday. I went on my search online and found TONS of recipes and variations. I found one that was submitted by Polly Woodard off of allrecipes.com. I only made a slight variation and that was using 2 cups of montery jack cheese instead of 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese. For me, montery jack cheese I pretty much the only cheese I seem to have on hand. This dish had a nice, crunch top layer and the inside was a creamy  texture, but had some heartiness with the use of the corn muffin mix. Oh, and the addition of diced green chilies was a nice touch. Enjoy!

::Corn Casserole::

2 eggs, beaten

1 can (15 oz) can cream-style corn

1 (8 oz) container sour cream

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 (15.25 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used 2 cups shredded montery jack cheese)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies, drained

1 (8.5 oz) package dry corn muffin mix

Pepper (my addition)

Garlic powder (another addition I made)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, cream style corn, sour cream and melted butter. Stir in whole kernel corn, cheese, onion and chilies. Stir in the corn muffin mix until just moistened. Bake for about 75 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean and the top is golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ingredients!

Start out by beating the eggs.

Then add the cream-style corn...

Sour cream...

And melted butter.

This is what it looks like when those ingredients are mixed together.

Then add the whole kernel corn...

Cheese (gotta love it!)...

Chopped onions...

And can of green chilies. It says to drain...but I found that hard to do because there isn't really a thin juice. So, I just added the can and it was fine!

Stir all together!

This was my addition that the recipe didn't do..but I added a little garlic powder (a couple dashes) and a little pepper (a couple dashes).

Then add the binding ingredient...the corn bread mix!

For some reason...Jiffy stuff reminds me of when my sister and I were younger and we made a box of the Jiffy blueberry muffin mix that had probably been in the cupboard for years. It wasn't so tastey!

Mix together just until moistened.

Place in the greased casserole dish and bake.

Close up!

All baked up! In the picture it looks really dark..

So tastey! Enjoy!

::Creamy Ham Bake::

This is a recipe that I made up. I may be notorious for that. This, was indeed, not only good but very good! I had a ham in the freezer that I knew I needed to make soon. I don't seem to make it that often. When I was thinking of what to make for supper I thought I'd make scalloped potatoes and ham (since I hadn't made that before), but then as I was going to grab some potatoes to slice I saw I had some sweet potatoes as well. That is where I came up with this recipe. It's pretty much all your food groups into one dish; protein, calcium, fat, vegetables, carbs, you name it. It's probably in there. It also seems to kind of have a sweet flavor to it, and I think it's because of the corn I added. Anyways, it's easy to throw together and I think this will definitely be a crowd pleaser! Enjoy!

(Don't forget to read the post below this one!)

::Creamy Ham Bake::

Ham (about 1/2-3/4 a cooked ham

3 potatoes

2 sweet potatoes-peeled

1/2 onion

1 bag frozen corn

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can milk

Garlic Powder

Pepper

Montery Jack Cheese

French Fried onions

Cut the ham into chunks. Place a layer on the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Slice 1/2 an onion and spread over the ham. Cut the regular potatoes and peeled sweet potatoes into chunks and place over ham/onion layer. Place another layer of ham chunks but don't fully cover potato layer. In a bowl whisk together the soups, milk, and garlic powder and pepper. Pour over the layers. Add a layer of cheese and sprinkle with french fried onions. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Note: *The liquid portion of the dish will be kind of runny

*Depending on the size of potatoes you have you may need to use more or less. The layer of potatoes I used was just enough to cover the first layer of ham.

The ham! :)

First layer (in my favorite Martha Stewart dish).

Use half of this.

Slice and spread over the ham layer.

Regular potatoes; I left them unpeeled (just make sure to wash well!).

Then place on the sweet potatoes and another little layer of ham.

Then, place the bag (I just had one of those microwavable bags) of frozen corn on top.

For the creamy part...mix together the soups, milk, and a little garlic powder and pepper. I didn't use salt because ham is salty the way it is and with the cheese and french fried onions (which are very salty) I didn't want to make it too salty! You can always add more...just can't take out!

Ready for the cheese!

Sprinkle on a generous layer of cheese and french fried onions and bake!

Enjoy!

Happy 1st Birthday!

We had a couple thunderstorms the past couple of nights and our phone/internet stopped working. I could have cared less about the phones, but the internet, whew! The company came out yesterday so we are back up and running. Sorry for the lack of posts! What is the title "1st Birthday" all about? It's From Scratch's 1st Birthday! One year ago today I hesitated setting up this blog and wondered what people would think and if they would like it. I had big ideas for it and was convinced people would like it...but it has grown and become more than I ever thought it would be. I have you all to thank for that! Thank you for spreading the word, checking in on the blog daily, weekly, or maybe even hourly (ha!). Also, thank you to all who have spreaded the word about my cakes.

I hope you all see the passion and love that I have for cooking and baking, through my blog. This is definitely my calling and I know that my passion and drive will help to deliver greater things. I also appreciate all the honest feedback, questions, opinions, and recipes I receive. Keep them coming! I just wanted to post this this morning. I am off to the treadmill and will be posting a recipe (finally!) when I'm done.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

::Puppy Chow::

Don't worry...this isn't a recipe to make something for your puppy dog. This is for human consumption and is, what I call, the best thing you will ever eat. I know I have a lot of favorites, but this is probably close or at #1 on my list. I love puppy chow. This is sitting on my counter right now and I haven't taken one bite yet. If I do, it's all over, I won't be able to stop. It's easy to make as there is no baking required, but at the same time is maybe a little messy...and probably more messy with eating than making. If you haven't had ::Puppy Chow:: (that is very unfortunate and I think you need to stop by my house to have some) you need to make this as soon as possible! There are many variations, but this is my  version!

Enjoy!

::Puppy Chow::

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 (12oz) package chocolate chips

1 box Crispix cereal

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Melt and mix the first three ingredients together. Add cereal or pour over cereal in a large bowl and stir. Add the powdered sugar (don't add the full amount) and mix or cover the bowl and shake. Add more powdered sugar as needed. Spread on waxed paper (or whatever you have) to cool.

Melt these ingredients together.

And you'll get this yummy mixture.

I normally use Crispix but I just had this on hand at home.

Ready to mix the two together...

Coated in chocolate (sorry for the blurry pic).

Ready for the sweet goodness.

Mix or shake all together.

Start out with about 2 1/2-3 cups of the powdered sugar and add more as you feel needed. Should look like this!

Yummm!

Ready to be packed in the lunch box!

Enjoy!

::Company Potatoes::

I have been eating on this for days! This was my first time making this recipe...so, if you have your own favorite version of "Company Potatoes" (or whatever you/your family calls it), I'd love to try making it! Just email it to me at mfischerbsn@gmail.com

Enjoy!

::Company Potatoes::

Recipe From: 125 years Braddock, North Dakota: Collection of Favorite Recipes and Memories

Charlene (Schlosser) Groth

2 lb. has browns, thawed

1/2 c. melted butter

1/2 c. chopped onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 c. milk

1 c. sour cream

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

10 oz. shredded Cheddar or Velveeta cheese

Mix. Spray a 9x13-inch pan.
Topping: Combine 2 cups crushed corn flakes and 1/4 cup melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Ingredients. Notice the item on the way right, bottom corner. Bugels? I didn't have corn flakes so I used crushed up Bugels for the topping. :)

The onion chopped up.

Salt and peppa..

The onion, soup, milk, sour cream, and salt/pepper..

Mixed up.

The ingredient that makes it so good!

Ready for the hash browns...

and butter!

Get a HUGE bowl to mix in the hash browns...I found this to be tricky.

I was also perplexed that it would all fit in this 9x13 pan (it's that favorite Martha Stewart one of mine that hasn't made an appearance for a while!).

Ready for the topping.

Butter and bugels (suppose to be corn flakes!).

Ready for the oven.

Bake about 45 minutes.

Enjoy! :)