Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Crunchy Topping

I use canned sweet potatoes, just cook them in a sauce pan, and then drain. I then mash them with a little
heavy cream, real butter, and a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon. Then I pour it in a greased casserole
dish.

Here is the topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans

I just mix the first 3 things together with a fork, then add the nuts. I sprinkle it on top, then just bake at 400
degrees until brown and bubbly. This is a very sweet dish. And the house smells so good when you cook it!

Zucchini

I fixed the best Zucchini tonight
Nothing really spectacular, but it tasted good to me.

I pan grilled some boneless chicken breasts, just a little olive oil in a skillet, salt and peppered the chicken,
and pan grilled it about 4 minutes on each side. While this was cooking, I rinsed some zucchini, and sliced
in into strips, almost like a thick julienne slices. After I had removed the last piece of chicken, the pan was
somewhat dry so still over medium heat, I added a pat of butter, then threw the rinsed sliced zucchini in the
skillet. I gave it a few quick tosses, added salt and pepper, and after cooking only 2 minutes, I sprinkled on
some Mrs. Dash and slid it onto a plate. It tasted so good.

I do this often with mushrooms, matchstick carrots, onions and yellow squash. It is quick so the vegetables
stay crisp, but there is so much flavor at the bottom of the skillet from the meat.


Dessert ~ Cakes
Let’s Start with Cakes!

Super-Moist Chocolate Mayo Cake

This is from the Hellman's website. Believe it or not, I get requests for this on a weekly basis. Here it is!

1 box (18 ounces) chocolate cake mix
1 cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 egg(s)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray and lightly flour a 13x9-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. In large bowl, with electric mixer at low speed, beat cake mix, Hellmann's or Best Foods Real Mayonnaise,
water, eggs and cinnamon 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed, scraping sides ocassionally, 2 minutes.
Evenly pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. On wire rack, cool 10 minutes;
remove from pan and cool completely. Sprinkle, if desired, with confectioners sugar or fill and frost.
VARIATIONS:

For a Pecan Coconut Topped Cake...combine 1 cup flaked coconut, 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
and 1/2 cup chopped pecans, then sprinkle over cake batter before baking.

For a Black Forest Chocolate Cake...do not flour pan. Evenly spread 2 cans (21 oz. ea.) cherry pie filling
over bottom of pan, top with prepared cake batter and bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean. Cool completely, then turn upside down onto serving platter.

For a Decadent Chocolate Lava Cake...combine 2 packages (3.4 oz. ea.) instant chocolate pudding, 2 cups
water, 2 cups milk and 1/3 cup sugar until blended, then pour over cake batter. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick
inserted along edge comes out clean and serve warm.

For a Yellow Mayonnaise Cake...substitute 1 box (18 ox.) yellow cake mix for chocolate cake mix.

Campers Cake

Regarding the cake and soda, my cousin camps a lot, and she takes a can of Diet Mtn Dew and a white cake
mix. She bakes hers in a greased bundt pan then sprinkles powdered sugar all over it. I've had it, it is really
refreshing.


Better than Sex Cake

Cakes


Chocolate or Devils Food Cake, baked to package directions in a 9x13 pan. When it comes out of the
oven, with a wooden spoon poke holes evenly throughout the cake. In a bowl, whisk together one can
of sweetened condensed milk and one jar of caramel ice cream topping. Pour over warm cake. Let
cool completely.

Frost/Top with whipped cream, sprinkle with Heath bits.

White Variation:

Bake a white or yellow cake to package directions in a 9x13 pan (I add 1/2 tsp almond extract to the batter.)
When it comes out of the oven, poke holes in the cake with a wooden spoon. In a bowl, whisk together a
can of sweetened condensed milk and a can of cream of coconut milk. Pour over warm cake. Let cool completely.


Frost/Top with whipped cream, and sprinkle with sweetened coconut. At the holidays, I also top mine with
red and green cherries.

Catt's Pumpkin Dump Cake

1 (29 oz.) can pumpkin
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup pecans (chopped)
1 cup butter or margarine (melted)

Beat together pumpkin, milk, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and eggs. Pour into 9x12 greased baking
dish. Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin mixture, and then sprinkle on pecans. Drizzle
melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool. Top with whipping cream, and enjoy

The best Banana Cake was brought to me by a next door neighbor. She used a white cake mix, and instead
of the oil, she added 2 very ripe banana's. Then she baked it in a Bundt pan, and just used some powdered
sugar. It was so good. A few weeks later, she did one better - she used a spice cake mix, added the banana's
instead of the oil, and baked it in 2 loaf pans. It was also great, and very easy. The above recipe looks great
too, but this one is just too easy not to pass along.

__________________
Always be a first rate version of your self instead of a second rate version of someone else.[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.