This is my favorite quick and easy recipe for making rolls to accompany any meal especially steak, seafood and soups.   They taste just like the ones at Red Lobster!  I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does.  We might even make them for our Thanksgiving meal instead of cheese rolls this year.  

Hint:  You might want to double the recipe!

Makes 12 rolls

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp parsley flakes

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

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1/4 cup melted butter

1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt. Stir in milk and 1/2 cup butter just until moistened.  Fold in shredded cheese.  Drop batter by a spoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.  A single recipe will make 12 so divide the batter evenly.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  Meanwhile add garlic salt to the 1/4 cup melted butter and and stir.  When the pan of biscuits are taken out of the oven use a pastry brush to brush melted garlic butter over the tops of them. Serve and enjoy!

I made this this week for the Thanksgiving luncheon this week for the teachers and several have requested the recipe. I found a Pumpkin Cake recipe on Epicurious that I adjusted somewhat and layered it between filling from an adjusted recipe from a Paula Deen trifle recipe.  Sprinkling a few toffee baking chips between the layers and you have a pumpkin dessert ready that screams Thanksgiving!

For Trifle: You will need a glass trifle bowl,  3/4 cup of Heath Toffee Bits, Make"Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake" and "Cream Cheese Whipped filling". (See assembly instructions below recipe.)

Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1-3/4 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 cup (packed) brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp grated orange peel

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour three round cake pans or one 11x15 pan (this is what I did to make it easier.)  Sift 3 cups of four with the next 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl.  Using electric mixer, beat both sugars and oil in a large bowl until combined (mixture will look grainy).  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.  Add pumpkin, vanilla, and orange peel; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until incorporated. Fold in pecans. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. 

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35  minutes.  Cool cakes completely in pans on a rack.  Invert cakes onto racks.

For Cream Cheese whipped filling:

1 8 ounce pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed.

1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.  Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.  Stir in half of the whipped topping and vanilla extract, then fold in the other half of the whipped cream.

To assemble trifle: Cut the cake into 1 inch squares and start with cake by covering the bottom of trifle bowl with cake squares, sprinkle a little less than 1/4 cup toffee chips over cake pieces.  Spoon 1/4th of the cream cheese filling over cake and repeat this 3 times until you end with a big dollop of cream cheese filling on top.  Sprinkle the remaining toffee chips on the top as well as a sprinkling of cinnamon. Note:  I did have a little less than 1/4 of the cake left that did not fit.in the trifle bowl.)

I have a friend from Elementary School that has just published a cookbook that I want to recommend to everyone!  I tried out a couple of recipes out of this weekend with great success.  Tracy Henson McBee is a cowboy's wife, mom of two boys, and a dentist.  Many of her recipes are the best from friends and family  that she has collected over the years. There are SO many of the same recipes that I have made over the years and recommend in there!  Since my mom was the Home-Economics teacher at the school in the small farming community Tracy and I went to, I grew up eating many of these recipes...so many forgotten and brings back memories.  If you need a cookbook that has some great easy "home-cooking"  recipes that you can serve to your family any night of the week or need a great recipe to take to a social gathering, you will love it!  She shows how to adapt most recipes to be healthier and lower in fat/cholesterol and includes the nutritional information for each recipe!

To order visit her Facebook page by searching "Spurs and Smiles Cookbook".

Or email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a copy to be mailed to you!

Just when I thought Sopapilla Cheesecake could not get any better I found this recipe with a cherry pie filling layer!! (Found in Spurs and Smiles page 211...named Dr. Michelle Dockter Bessire's Sopapilla Cheesecake)  Can you say YUM!!!  This could be a great dessert after dinner with coffee or a yummy breakfast dish...today I went for the latter!  This beats a cream cheese crumb cake hands down!  It paired nicely with the Panhandle Casserole for a Tex-Mex Breakfast at Sunday School this morning...

Ingredients:

2 cans crescent rolls

1 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 can Cherry pie filling

Unroll one can of crescent rolls and press onto the bottom of a greased (spray with Pam) 9x13 pan.  Pinch  together seams with fingertips to make it mostly one big piece of dough, stretching slightly to cover completely the bottom of pan.  In a bowl mix cream cheese, powered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth and creamy. With a rubber spatula, spread this mixture over the crescent roll dough in the pan until evenly distributed. Next, spread cherry pie filling evenly on top of the cream cheese layer. On a piece of wax paper, unroll the second can of crescent rolls and pinch together seams and flatten out until it is a 9x13 rectangle.  Turn wax paper dough side down and lay on top of cherry later, gently peeling off wax paper backing to have a perfect top to the cheesecake. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of dough.  Drizzle melted butter over the top of the entire crust and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and there are no doughy parts in the center.  Enjoy!!

This great breakfast dish is found in Spurs and Smiles on p. 52. (Named Kim Clark's Panhandle Cassarole) I had some roasted Hatch Chilies that I got in Ruidoso that were still in the freezer so I used those instead of the canned variety.  They were pretty hot since they were frozen with the seeds so the casserole had much more of a kick than if I had used canned green chilies! I also chopped my chilies up to make it easier to serve. This was a very easy to make and delicious!  Because there is not bread or tortillas in the dish it can easily be paired with muffins and  fresh fruit for a balanced breakfast.

Ingredients:

1lb pork breakfast sausage

3 cans whole green chilies, (or chopped) drained

1 lb Cheddar cheese, grated

1-1/4 lb Monterey Jack cheese shredded

10 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp flour

Brown sausage in a skillet and drain between paper towels.  Layer the sausage, chilies and cheeses (starting with half of each and then repeat with other half) in a greased 9X13 baking dish.  In a bowl, beat eggs, milk and flour until well blended.  Pour liquid mixture over layered mixture and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until top is golden brown and center is set.

A healthy frozen dessert for the hot summer months!  So refreshing and easy to make!

Ingredients:

3 lbs frozen pineapple chunks

3 Yoplait Thick and Creamy Lemon Meringue Pie Yogurts (Any lemon yogurt will work)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 can frozen Bacardi Pina Colada Non-alcoholic Concentrate

Berries for garnish

Goya "Palmeritas" cookies for garnish--found in Mexican section at gro.store

Directions:

In a food processor with knife blade attached, blend frozen pineapple until it resembles finely shaved ice, occasionally scraping down side of bowl with rubber spatula.  (If pineapple is not smooth the sorbet will not be smooth.)  Add powdered sugar, yogurt and Bacardi mix and blend until mixture is smooth and creamy, occasionally scraping down with spatula. (My food processor was not big enough to hold all of this.  I had to remove about half pineapple to blend the yogurt and Bacardi.  I mixed in well and used my hand mixer to mix both parts together in a big bowl.)  Pour into big bowl or container and freeze solid until ready for use.  Use ice-cream scoop to scoop into dishes or martini glasses and garnish with cookies and fresh berries.

This is what the cookie package looks like...and only 88 cents at Walmart!  They were actually good to...lightly sprinkled with sugar.