Apricot Quick Bread

Years ago I read a book in which they made Apricot or peach bread with canned fruit. My children do not like the texture of canned apricots, so I decided to try them in bread, and voila! I couldn't find the recipe from the book (it was one of the Hannah Swenson mysteries by Joanne Fluke), but I found a quick bread recipe for peach bread and modified it....

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sugar
3/4 c. shortening(sorry, have some in my food storage.  I'm sure you can substitute with oil or butter)
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
Sift together flour, baking powder soda and salt.  Cream together shorteneing and sugar, then add eggs beating thoroughly til light and fluffy.  Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to creamed mix.  Add 2 cups of canned appricots drained and pureed, combined with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Pour into greased bread pans.  Bake 350*F for 1 hour.  Cool in pan 10 min.  Then cool on wire racks.  Makes 2 loaves.

Cinnamon Roll cake

Another recipe from my Relief Society president!  She shared it on facebook, and I don't remember where it was shared from.

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1 cup butter, still cold, but cut into small pieces
1 cup brown sugar
2 TB flour
2 TB cinnamon

Glaze, stir together:
 2 cup powdered sugar
5 TB milk
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the cake together, except for the butter.  Once mixed; slowly pour in the butter, stir into the batter.
Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  For the topping, cut the butter into brown sugar, flour and cinnamon using two knives, a pastry cutter, or by rubbing it together with your fingers until it looks like crumbs.
Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

While the cake is warm, drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Shepherd's pie

I call this cottage pie, as it is made with beef, but most everyone I know refers to it as Shepherd's pie.

1 lb ground beef

1 onion chopped

1 can peas

2 carrots, diced

1 pkg gravy mix 

4 cups mashed potatoes  (used the Instant potatoes)

1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350

Cook the beef in a skillet until browned, add onion and carrot and cook until onions translucent.  Stir in peas. (My skillet is huge, so I can mix it all in that, but if your is not, transfer everything into a bowl that will hold all) Mix gravy with one cup of water.  Stir in to meat/vegetable mixture.  

Grease a 9x13 pan.  Pour meat/vegetable mixture into pan.  Top with mashed potatoes and then sprinkle with cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Meatloaf

This is my husband's favorite meatloaf, and that is saying something since he always said he didn't like meatloaf!

I admit I didn't get any post cooking pictures....but here's with ketchup on top:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. sausage

1 chopped apple

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

Smoosh that all together with your hands, then put in a baking dish (mine is 9x13) shaping it into a loaf.  If you'd like, squeeze ketchup on top, how ever much you'd like, we like a lot.

Bake at 350 for one hour.  and then another half hour, if you cut it in half and find it not fully cooked through.  

Even my 3 yr old picky eater loves this.