What's Been Cooking? Cheater Lemon Cake, Buffalo Chicken Dip and Honey Mustard Pork Chops

Tonight we have dinner with the Boy Scouts for the Blue & Gold Banquet, 

so I don't have to cook dinner!  Gotta love that!  

Every family has been asked to either bring a dessert or salad.  Normally I'd bring a nice green salad or a yummy quinoa salad, but since I'm trying to reserve my veggies for my family's dinners this week, I decided to bring a dessert.  

I took a look in my pantry to see what I had that needed to be used up and came out with a lemon cake mix.  I usually try to buy cake mixes when they are on sale for $1 or less per box.  So, I baked up the cake, according to the box directions.

Once it was done cooling I made a very simple glaze to go on top.  I figured a glaze would be more cost effective than a frosting.  

Simple Lemon Glaze for Cheater Lemon Cake:

• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon water

Whisk all ingredients together and then pour over baked and cooled cake.

The total cost for my pot luck worthy Cheater Lemon Cake: about $2

Since I'm not making dinner tonight and the banquet isn't until 7pm, I decided to make the kids a yummy after school snack that should hold them over until the later dinner.  We didn't watch The Super Bowl this past Sunday, since we got rid of satellite TV in 2014 and now only have Netflix.  Not that any of us actually missed watching the game, but we did miss out on all of the yummy game time foods that we usually eat while watching for the commercials.  

Enter Buffalo Chicken Dip!  Served with a sleeve or two of club crackers, this dip hit the spot for my boys when they got off the bus.  

Back when I started this blog, Pinterest wasn't a thing yet.  And now, we can type in any kind of dish we want to make and have tons of recipes pop up WITH pictures!  I eat with my eyes first, so Pinterest makes picking recipes out, so much easier.  

I found this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip and decided to give it a try.  Of course I changed things up a little, to use what I had.  And cooking on a budget is all about flexibility!  You must be able to alter recipes to fit what you already have in your house if you want to save money.  

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 1 large can chicken, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded Sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, except for the shredded cheese, in a baking dish.  No need to dirty two dishes, so just mix it all up in what you are going to bake it in. Once all of the ingredients are mixed, add the cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Total cost for Buffalo Chicken Dip: about $4, plus the cost of crackers.

The picture above is before baking, I didn't get one after it was cooked.  But, my boys loved it and it was much appreciated by them when they got off of the bus. 

Since I'm not cooking dinner tonight, I thought I'd link over to the recipe that I used last night to make Honey Mustard Pork Chops.  They were a hit!!  Served along with roasted potatoes that we gleaned back in October from local Potato fields (which equals lots of free potatoes!) and a side of honey glazed carrots (can we say cheap!?), our entire dinner last night cost us about $4 or so.  Since we have to pay for the pigs to be butchered, that's our main cost.

Thanks for stopping by!

Coconut Cake

Hi everyone! I haven't posted on here in so long! I honestly don't have a very good excuse, except for the fact that I'm currently 25 weeks pregnant with my third child, it's a girl!! Her two brothers are looking forward to having a sister and I'm looking forward to having a girl! Anyhow, I haven't been up to much cooking lately, which my husband is less then thrilled about. But, cooking just hasn't been my thing lately. I do however, want to share this recipe for yummy coconut cake with you. It's so yummy!! If you choose to use chocolate cake, it will taste like a mounds bar! And if you choose to use white cake, it will taste like a heavenly coconut cake. This cake is a poke cake, so it is pretty messy, but it's way yummy! I'll have to make this when I get a chance and take some pictures of it, but for now, here is the recipe! I hope you all enjoy it! And I'll try my best to start posting more often.

Coconut Cake

1 box white or chocolate cake mix plus ingredients to make the cake
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 can coconut milk
1 small tub cool whip
½ cup flaked coconut

Bake cake according to directions on box for a 9x13 cake. While cake is still warm, poke holes it it with the end of a skinny wooden spoon. Mix the sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk together and pour over warm cake. Let cool completely and then top with cool whip and coconut. Refrigerate and Enjoy! Serves 8-12.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

I don't make cake or cupcakes very often, simply because I like baking cookies a lot better because you get more out of them and they are easier to share and store. So, you probably won't see too many cake or cupcake recipes here. But the other day I was looking in my cupboard at a box of cake mix and part of a package of Oreos that needed to be used and came up with this recipe. I know there are lots of recipes for cookies & cream cupcakes out there, but I threw this one together and I think it turned out pretty good. My favorite part was the frosting and crushed Oreos on top! My kids also absolutely loved these!


Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

1 (18 ounce) white cake mix
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
12 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped
chocolate buttercream frosting (recipe follows)
6 Oreo cookies, crushed for topping

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Mix together the cake mix, buttermilk, oil and eggs in an electric mixer. Once it has been combined mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the chopped Oreos and mix until combined. Pour into a muffin pan that has been lined with cupcake papers. Be sure not to overfill them, about 2/3 of the way is good. Bake in preheated oven for 12-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be sure not to over cook them. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan and then take them out and let cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkle crushed oreos on top.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the cocoa powder, mixing well. Stir in milk and vanilla extract and beat on high for 2 minutes, or until the frosting has lightened slightly. Frost your favorite cake and enjoy!

Surprise Cupcakes

My original idea for these surprise cupcakes was to make a hostess-like cupcake at home. But then after making the filling, I realized that I had way too much of it and I didn't want to waste it. So, instead of making a ganache for the topping, I added a couple of baker's chocolate squares to the filling and made my frosting. I still decorated them to look like hostess cupcakes and they sure do taste yummy!! But the surprise about these cupcakes is not that they are filled with a creamy center. It's that they are made with yellow squash puree!! So, if you've got lots of yellow squash in your garden, I highly recommend pureeing some of it and making these super moist cupcakes! Your family will have no idea that these are made with some of your garden vegetables!! You could even try making these with zucchini puree if you don't have any yellow squash, I'm sure they will still turn out delectable!


Surprise Cupcakes

1box devil's food cake mix
1 cup yellow squash puree
½ cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
½ cup plain yogurt (I used fat free Greek)

filling & frosting

½ cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 cups powdered sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 squares bittersweet baking chocolate, melted (for the frosting)

Preheat oven to 350° F.
To make the cupcake batter, mix together the cake mix, squash puree, water and vegetable oil. Mix until combined and then add the eggs, mixing between each addition. Finally add the yogurt and mix until the batter is light and fluffy. Pour batter into paper-lined cupcake pans, filling to 2/3 full and bake according to cake mix directions, about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done baking, remove from oven and let sit in pans for ten minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely.

To make the filling, beat together the butter and cream cheese until soft. Add powdered sugar, being sure to add a little at a time, until combined. Add milk and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, put about 1 ½ cups of the filling into a pastry bag with a medium sized tip. Pipe the filling into the cupcakes, going in through the tops of the cupcakes and filling until you can't put anymore in. It will be about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of filling per cupcake. Once all of the cupcakes are filled, reserve some of the white frosting to decorate the tops of the cupcakes, about 1 cup. With the remaining frosting, melt the baking chocolate in the microwave, according to the package directions. Mix the chocolate into the frosting and beat until well combined. Frost the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting and then take the reserved white frosting and decorate the tops of the cupcakes with a swirly design, using a small tip or putting into a small ziploc bad and then cutting a small hole in the tip. Refrigerate the cupcakes for at least an hour before enjoying for best taste. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Here's tip, if you don't have a pastry bag and medium sized tip to fill the cupcakes, make a hole in the top of each cupcake with the end of a wooden spoon and then place the filling inside of a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of the bag. Then use the bag to pipe the frosting into the hole to fill the cupcakes. This is what I had to do because I couldn't find my tips. Also, to make the design on the top of the cupcakes, simply make a smaller cut in the tip of the bag and pipe on the top of the cupcakes! Enjoy!