Gooey Monkey Bread

The first time I remember having monkey bread was in Greer, SC at this cute diner called Janet's on Brushy Creek Rd.  It tasted like fluffy honey, gooey, wonderfulness in your mouth.  So when I saw this recipe for Monkey Bread on Pillsbury's website, I had to try it out!  I've made it a few times in the last month or so, and each time it is equally as delicious!  Last night I made it for my grandparents and took it over to their house piping hot, right out of the oven!  I halved the recipe, and it worked just fine (yay!)  However, this meant  that Joseph didn't get any Monkey Bread...he was a little bit sad...Also, Pillsbury recommends decorating this bread with gummy worms and the letters R.I.P...I skipped this, but someone should be expecting a pretty amazing Halloween surprise next November!

I followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out amazingly well. 

You start with simple ingredients: 1/2 c butter, 3/4 c brown sugar, 3/4 c granulated sugar, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 4 cans of Grands biscuits, a giant Ziploc bag, and 2 loaf pans.

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease both loaf pans.  Put granulated sugar and cinnamon into the Ziploc bag. 
2.  Open the cans of Grands biscuits (this is my second favorite part - pop!) and cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.
3.  Put the biscuit pieces into the Ziploc bag.  I recommend doing 1/2 the biscuits at a time.
4.  This is my favorite part!  Shake the bag so all the dough gets covered in yummy cinnamon sugar!
5.  Put all the biscuit pieces into the loaf pans.  Make sure you don't fill them too full because they'll spill over in the oven!
6.  Melt the butter and mix it with the brown sugar.  Pour this mixture on top.  Put both loaf pans in the oven.  I recommend putting a cookie sheet on the rack below them - just in case!  Bake for 30-35 minutes, let it cool, and  then enjoy your gooey batch of deliciousness!

Celebrations

February has been an exciting month for us!

Celebration #1



On the 7th, we celebrated Granddaddy's 88th birthday at his favorite restaurant, Linda's La Cantina.  According to everyone in my family, it's the best steak in town.  I don't eat steak, so I had ravioli - it was pretty good, too.  Joseph and I got there a few minutes early to decorate with beads, balloons, and those blow-out things.  We set up a game where everyone got a door prize for coming.  The door prizes were things like: a punching Leprechaun pen, bubbles, child size football, Cinderella Pez dispenser, etc.

We had a great time catching up with family and finding out how everyone's doing!  I think Granddaddy had a good time, too!

At the end of the party, we had a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing between the layers and marshmallow fondant decorations on the outside.  It looked like Gramcracker and Granddaddy's dog, Daisy.  If you want a cake like this one, I suggest you check out The Flour Shop!

Celebration #2

Now if you know me, you should know that St. Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays - chocolate, flowers, pink, purple, love, friendship - who could ask for a better day in the middle of February?  Knowing that the actual V-Day would be WAY too busy for a fun date, Joseph and I celebrated on the Saturday before.  We hopped on our bicycles and rode all the way to Park Ave. to have a picnic in the park.  Now, I realize that this is only about 5 miles, but I'm not really in great shape, so this was a major accomplishment.  We stopped on our way at Jimmy Johns for subs (Turkey Toms with provolone and mayo!) on the way there. 

After lunch, we played Gin Rummy in the park and enjoyed the beautiful day.  Then, we came home, where I proceeded to take a nap until Joseph woke me up and said we could watch Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I :)  Best day ever...





Happy!

Mexican food...watching Latte run laps and popcorn around her cage...diet coke with crushed ice...listening to the rain...organizing things...Muppets rendition of Pressure...singing loudly in the car...helping others...a struggling student aced today's math test...reading a great book...watching a movie with Joseph...holymolies...feeling loved...greeting cards...

Tasty Tilapia

Growing up, we didn't have a lot of seafood at our house.  My mom's not a big fan.  Joseph's family LOVES fish - I mean, they love fish!  Sometimes Joseph just gets tired of my usual cooking (baked chicken or pasta) and wants something else.  This week I ventured out of my comfort zone and made baked tilapia.

Ingredients:
1 pound tilapia
Butter
Bread Crumbs

First, preheat the oven to 425 F.  Line a baking dish with tin foil, and place the tilapia inside.

Next, I used about 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs to cover the fish.  These are the bread crumbs I used:

Next, I cut 5 slices of butter and arranged them around the pan.  I think I put 4 of them on the fish and 1 in between.

The fish baked for 15 minutes.  While it was baking, I added Sister Schubuert Dinner Yeast Rolls to the oven for about 5 minutes.  I love these because they taste like the famous yeast rolls, but you don't need to make a whole tray at one time.  I also made a salad with Butter Romaine lettuce and honey roasted almond slivers.

The entire meal took about 20 minutes to make, and it was delicous!

You can see it here: