I love my Banana Cupcakes…so does everyone else!  They are so tasty that friends ask us to make them for THEIR parties – they are always a hit in any crowd.  So on Saturday, when Megan said that her friend wanted us to make banana cupcakes for a baby shower, I thought “easy peasy”.  All I needed was bananas and eggs.  Megan was going to be gone most of the day and General Conference was on cable, so I thought we would just wait until the evening to bake the cupcakes and then frost them in morning so they’d be fresh.  No problem, right?  Wrong!  After the first batch baked, they looked a little pale, but the toothpick came out clean, so off to the freezer they went.  Next batch in.  As the time neared the second batch being done, Megan fetched the first batch out of the freezer and came in the kitchen with a puzzled look on her face.  “Are these cupcakes supposed to look like this?”  Not a good question for a baker to hear!  Low and behold, when I looked at the cupcakes, they had shrunken and shriveled up to just a shadow of their former self!  Taking the second batch out, we decided to let them cool on the counter to see what happened.  The third batch went into the oven. 

You know the saying, “A watched pot never boils.”?  Well, let me just say that doesn’t apply to watching banana cupcakes shrink and shrivel right before your eyes.  If the cupcakes were for our own family’s consumption, it wouldn’t matter.  They still tasted really good, even though they were a little heavier than normal.  But when you’re making them for someone else’s party, this just wouldn’t do.  Added to that, it was 10 o’clock at night, only one banana left and whatever it was that I used in this batch was not working.  The only difference between this batch and the last time I made this recipe was that  I used plain Greek yogurt instead of just plain yogurt.  These puny little cupcakes did not make me happy, so off to the store I went to get more bananas and buttermilk – the ingredient that was in the original recipe.  I certainly didn’t want to risk a second failed batch.

A view from the top reveals the difference.  (Pay no attention to the frosting application…just using up the leftovers on the “duds”!)

This doesn’t show the size difference as much as the view from the top, but you can see how the cupcake itself looks different.  (Made with buttermilk on the left, Greek yogurt on the right.)  So I’ve decided that when I bake for someone else, I’ll steer clear from experimenting with a tested and approved recipe!  Starting baking a little earlier in the evening would also be helpful.  And I will also make it a point to keep buttermilk on hand!

The post The Banana Cupcake Experiment appeared first on just helen.

I know…upside-down pizza? Whenever I get an assignment for my guest Rhodes blog post, I’m always in for the challenge…but mostly for a treat!  Hadn’t ever considered it on my own, but this was a delicious twist from a traditional pizza meal - Rhodes Upside-Down Lotsa Meatsa Pizza.  You can follow the link for step-by-step directions!

The family is always happy when Rhodes is on the menu!  Try one for your family tonight!

The post Rhodes Upside-Down Lotsa Meatsa Pizza appeared first on just helen.

Friends, food and family…three of my favorite things, not necessarily in that order, but for today they are.  I was reading my emails, minding my own business when all of a sudden a “subject” popped up and caught my eye and I, being the good decipherer that I am, read:  ”Brefkast” which instantly translated to “Breakfast”.  That, by itself, wasn’t what drove me to act, but once I open the email (from the friend), the title did catch my attention – Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze (the food).  That was all it said, beside the recipe, of course.  It was signed…Old Vernie (the friend).  I checked with him.  It’s not his own recipe.  He said that he found it floating around Facebook, but didn’t remember where or when he got it.  I don’t often make pancakes and almost never from scratch, but I had an extra child (Jake) in town, the recipe sounded yummy and I had everything the recipe called for, so I thought, why not?  That may become my new catch phrase – why not, indeed!  While this recipe included scratch pancakes, I think you could try these with pancake mix and get a similar taste.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

The post Friends, Food and Family…Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze appeared first on just helen.

Summer is a wonderful time for fresh fruits to be incorporated into as many recipes as I possibly can.  Raspberries are one of my favorites.  When they are on sale I am even happier!  I bought several pints of them with the intent of making jam, but when I realized that it was time for another guest blog spot with Rhodes, I knew it would be the perfect time to experiment with the idea in my head…Cinnamon Raspberry Crumb Pie!  (*see note at bottom of post!)

Here’s what you’ll need:

Wait…I’m missing something – oh yes, BUTTER!

The first step in almost all the recipes with Rhodes Frozen Bread products is to start the process to thaw them.  I found out today that it is a little different doing this in the summer than when there is a chill in the house…they take almost no time at all!  I am usually able to do multiple projects when letting my rolls rise, but it was all I could do just to get pictures done between steps!  You will have to keep on your toes for this one!

Ingredients

1 – 12 count pkg Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls, slightly thawed but still cold

Vegetable spray

1 cube unsalted butter (1/2 cup)

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries

For the crumb topping:

2 1/2 Tablespoons light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup PLUS 2 1/2 Tablespoons white flour

Step One: Spray the bottom of a cookie sheet with vegetable cooking spray; place rolls on the pan and cover with sprayed plastic wrap.  Set aside until slightly thawed, but still very cold.

While waiting for the rolls to thaw, prepare the crumb topping.  Combine 1/2 cup flour, 2 1/2 T. light brown sugar, 2 T. sugar, 1/2 t. cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.

Mix…

And add 1/4 cup melted butter…

…mix until crumbly.

Keep your eye on your thawing cinnamon rolls.  Cut them into quarters – I did mine with kitchen shears.

You can see that mine are already starting to rise – I had to move quickly!

Melt the half cup (1 stick) of butter in one dish and put 1 cup of sugar in another (you might need a little more!)  Dip the quarter rolls, first in butter and then in sugar…

and then put it in the sprayed pie plate. I used 10 rolls, but next time I would only use 7 – 8 rolls. The base won’t be as thick and it will cook quicker. (See end of blog for what I used the extra rolls to make and how I would change things next time!)

Place raspberries on the top…

…then sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.

By the time I got done with this step, I was ready to put the pie in the oven.  The rolls were warmed and rising.  By the time I heated the oven, they were in!  These should have baked for 25 minutes, but because of the size of the pie plate and how many rolls I used, I baked it for more like 35 minutes!  Here’s the pie…

…without the frosting, and then with!

I would suggest that you either only use the 7 – 8 rolls in a large pie plate, or put the pieces into large muffin tins and they will look like this when baked…

…and like this plated!

Next time I would just make them in the muffin tins.  These only took about 16 minutes to bake and you know how many you can serve.  I did about 5 quarter pieces per muffin tin, so you will only get about 9 minis, but that is usually enough.  The tangy raspberries made a nice balance with all the sugar added and the little bit of crunch on top was  just right the right finishing touch! 

Thanks for stopping by! (*Made last summer, but the complete recipe never posted!  I’m thinking that some of those raspberries I froze last summer might just make this doable right now!)

The post Cinnamon Raspberry Crumb Pie appeared first on just helen.

March is National Craft Month – I know this because my Costco Connection Magazine has it on the cover!  Funny that I used to be more into paper crafts than food posts, but this might just bring some crafty additions to my blog in honor of the occasion.  Determined to stay to my purchasing cut-backs goal (we all have to do that, wouldn’t you agree?), I will be crafting with materials that I already have on hand (of which I have a lot) making easy crafts that don’t take a lot of time (of which I am ever running short on) but hopefully not making thing that I have no real interest in using or gifting…I don’t want to be crafty for no practical reason.  Having said that, I have a laundry list of items that I’ve been wanted to try and here’s my first easy craft that I fell in love with the first time I saw them…Warm and Fuzzy Yarn Ball Bookmarks, first seen here!

Here is a slide show of the steps, with written directions below.  These are really easy to make, but you can pause if you need to look more closely!

How to make Warm and Fuzzy Yarn Ball Bookmarks

1.  Cut 2 lengths of yarn, one 10″ and one 15″, for tying.

2.  Wrap yarn around your fingers – 3 fingers (100 times around) for smaller yarn ball, 4 fingers (120 times around) for larger ball.

3.  Carefully slip the yarn off fingers; put the wrapped yarn over the shorter length of yarn, centering it in the middle.  Tie it tightly – this is where an extra set of hands comes in; double knot.  Slip the longer length of yarn under the tied piece – this will anchor the yarn ball, giving it the tail to use inside the book.

4.  Cut the loops; some loops (the inside ones) may be buried, so watch as you’re cutting for the loops in hiding.

5.  This is what the loops look like after being cut.  They are definitely in need of a trim!

6.  Start trimming; you don’t want to trim too much at first, but this is where a little practice shows a huge difference!

I had a lot of fun making these and I’m looking forward to gifting these, maybe with a book!  I did  experiment a bit.  You can make these with leftover yarn.  I like the look of the pink and white – I just did two colors at a time and wrapped 60 times around (that’s x 2).  I also had an idea for a flower, but I think it looks like the inside of a hard-boiled egg!

You can make these while watching a movie…if you can watch and count at the same time!  Have fun!

Think of the possibilities!

The post Warm and Fuzzy Yarn Ball Bookmarks appeared first on just helen.

Earlier this week, I posted my experiment with coloring chunky sugar and sprinkles.  That was a really fun project!  But what is the application for using these bright-colored chunks of sugar?  Here’s the scoop, in the form of my ever-popular Jell-O cookies, straight from Just Helen’s test kitchen…Lemon Jell-O Gem Cookies!  Yellow was the perfect background color to show off these little gems!  These Lemon Jell-O Gem Cookies would be a stunning addition for any princess (who could resist these sparkly tidbits?) or pirate party – little bits of treasure, however you stack it!

Having colored all that beautiful sugar, I was looking for a treat to add these to.  I was at breakfast with friends in a planning meeting and in passing I had mentioned something about Jell-O cookies and my friend had never tried one before.  I know, how is this possible?  I’m always in the mood for Jell-O cookies so this was the perfect time to make them…when I have someone to share them with!  I took a heaping Tablespoon of each of the colors and mixed them together.  If you haven’t made them before, you can find the Jell-O cookie recipe can be found here.  You can find how to make the sugar here.  You can enjoy pictures of the cookies here!

Aren’t these Lemon Jell-O Gem Cookies beautiful!

A couple of  tips:  Don’t over-bake these cookies…the bottoms will scorch if you bake them too long, especially at 400°.  You also don’t need to roll the cookie in the chunky colored sugar, just sprinkle it on top.  This time I used some of the sanding sugar to roll them in the first time around.  I liked that.

Sweet!  Next time I’ll do something with the self-colored sprinkles!

The post Lemon Jell-O Gem Cookies appeared first on just helen.

I think I have died and gone to sprinkle and sugar heaven!  Do you ever have moments when you want smack yourself in the head and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  That’s me, right now!  I have found the source, I have seen the light and I am forever changed! I have bought the basics and opened up a whole new world of possibility!  I have learned how to color plain, large crystal and sanding white sugar…and sprinkles! 

A few months ago I had a reader ask me if I colored my own sugar for my Jell-O cookies…my answer was “no”.  If only that had sparked a deeper fire for investigating the process, I could have saved myself a small fortune!  I don’t know why I didn’t pursue this sooner. Maybe it was because I didn’t know what to look for or the right questions to ask.  At one point, I found a bakery supply warehouse where I could buy sprinkles of all colors in bulk.  When I went there, and it was quite a drive, I found out that all the items I wanted had to be ordered in advance…nothing was in stock.  Discouraged, I put that the whole idea on the back shelf. Then I found myself needing specific colors of sprinkles again and I remembered seeing something on Pinterest (love my boards!) about coloring sprinkles and I looked it up!  Seemed easy enough!  Then I thought about coloring sugar and realized that there were different types of sugar: granulated, sanding and  large white crystals, to name a few…didn’t used to know that, but now I do!  It seemed like a lot to buy at one time, but not when you consider how much stuff costs in the little containers.  I love my little cake shop, but in all honesty, I bake a heck of a lot and so I need large quantities.  I am thrilled with the idea that I can keep the white/crystal colorless basics and color them to my liking when I need them!  So if you already have the gel/paste food colorings, for about $25 you can have 22 lbs of raw material to make your own rainbow!  You can follow these easy steps to coloring chunky white sugar and candy sprinkles!

Aren’t they beautiful?

So here’s what I did.  I took quart-sized Ziplock Freezer Bags, put a heaping 1/2 cup of sugar in and added a drop of food coloring (I have only used Americolor, but I understand that Wilton Gel Paste works well, too.  Gently shake and mix with your hands until all the color is incorporated.  The sprinkles (aka jimmies) absorbed the color fairly quickly, as did the sugar, but once I mixed the sugar, they seemed to be a little wet, so I put it into a pie tin and let it dry out overnight.  When I got up in the morning, this is what it looked like…

I just took a fork and broke it up; then I put the sprinkles and sugars in a jar with a tight lid.

Here are the different sugars and sprinkles all in the same color…

Sugar crystals on the left, sprinkles in the middle and sanding sugar on the right.  You can see the differences pretty good, right?

Crystals on left, sanding on the right.

This is soooooo much fun!

I have sprinkled sugar and sprinkles on a frozen cupcake, hoping that the moisture, as the cupcake thawed, would cause the colors to run, but it didn’t.  That’s good news.  Next experiment?  To bake them into a batch of Sprinkle Cake Mix Cookies…I’ll keep you posted.  One more photo before I rush off to work…

…my own Spring Sprinkles Mix!

The post Coloring Chunky White Sugar and Candy Sprinkles appeared first on just helen.

For years I have been a fan of  Campbell’s Old-Fashioned Tomato Rice Soup, always prepared with milk because I like it creamy.  Then I realized that I could get the same taste by adding my own rice to regular tomato soup.  I frequently have left-over rice and always have canned tomato soup, but the bonus is that regular Campbell’s Tomato soup is less expensive!  It’s quick and easy for one or two servings, but when you need to the whole family, why not make soup from scratch?  It does take more of a time investment, but the taste is definitely worth it.  With that in mind, and because I got a really good deal on tomatoes at the 99 cents only store, I headed on my Creamy Tomato Rice Soup adventure.

Creamy Tomato Rice Soup

8 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomato – it took about 5 lbs of Roma tomatoes

1 cup finely sliced carrot

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 – 15 oz can chicken broth

1 heaping Tablespoon sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons flour

1 cup half & half

2 cups milk

Cooked rice, about 1/2 to 2 cups

In case you’re not familiar with how to peel tomatoes the easy way, here’s a quick lesson:  Put a 3-quart pot of water to boil on the stove, about half full of water.  Wash tomatoes, removing any stems.  Put “X”  slits at the top and bottom of each tomato.  Have a large mixing bowl of ice and water by the stove.  Put 2 or 3 tomatoes at a time into the boiling water.  Leave for about 10 – 25 seconds, watching to see the skins start peeling back from the tomato. Don’t leave it in too long or the fleshy part of the tomato will come off as well as the skin.  Remove from boiling water and immerse into the ice water.  This stops the cooking process.  Remove from ice water and cut into quarters; laying the tomato on the flat outside edge, use a knife to remove the inside seeded part. Dice into smaller pieces.

Now you’re ready to start making the soup.  Combine tomatoes, carrots, onions and chicken broth in a large stockpot (about 8-quart).  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover; simmer for 30 minutes.  Next, add sugar and salt.

Melt the butter in a 2 quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Slowly wisk in the milk and half & half and stir until smooth.  Cook and keep whisking until thickened, about 6 minutes.  Stir milk mixture into the stockpot.  Season with oregano, celery salt, garlic powder and pepper.  Continue to simmer the soup on low heat to reduce and thicken, about an hour.

Here’s where cooking from scratch and “sort of” following a recipe can allow some flexibility.  I fully intended to puree that soup with one of those little hand-held blenders when I got done, before serving.  Since my kids don’t like the rice part in their soup, that’s why the quantity is left open for discussion.  When I got done simmering the soup, I kind of liked the chunky slices of carrot, tomato and onion in the soup.  It tasted really good without the rice, so I figured I could just add rice to my bowl and be happy.  As it turned out, everyone seemed to like the soup as it was, so no blender was required.  Here’s the soup without the rice…

…and with the rice.

Delicious, with or without! 

Bowl, courtesy of Tom.

The post Creamy Tomato Rice Soup appeared first on just helen.

I found a little old library copy of  Les Miserables at an estate sale.  I’ve been trying to read it for a while because I know that the book is usually better than the play or the movie, although I do love the music almost as much as the story.  I was watching the PBS 25th anniversary edition the other day and the phrase came to mind that some of the lyrics would make the angels weep!  But I digress.  When I was at church, a friend of mine showed me some really cute bookmarks that she had made.  I thought to myself, “Hmmmmmmm…I could use one of these to save my place!”  Then I came across the idea here.  These heart corner bookmarks were nothing like the ones my friend made, but they were very cute, nonetheless!  I wanted to quickly make some before I forgot all about them.  These are super easy to make and if you wanted, you could recycle envelopes…I was too lazy to go looking for ones to recycle, so I just took one from my desk!

Here’s what you do:

First, take a piece of paper and fold it from the bottom right corner to left right side – you don’t need to use a full-size sheet of paper, I just did it because I didn’t want to look for a scrap…do you think I’m totally lazy now?  Yep!

Next, prepare your envelope.  I wanted to use a kraft-colored one and all I had was the kind with a straight flap, so thinking ahead and not wanting to waste any corners, I decided that it would be best to seal all the edges and just licking the gummed edge wouldn’t be enough, so…

…add red-line tape, pull the red strip off, lick the envelope and seal…or you can use a different adhesive.  I was just too lazy to find another one.  Kind of measure about how big you want your heart to be (depending on the size of your envelope) and make a little curved line…like this!

Cut it out, place it on the corner…

and trace; repeat on all 4 corners.

Cut out…I cut mine a little smoother than I traced them.  You can erase the pencil mark. 

At this point it might be a good idea to make a cardstock template because you’re going to take the lightweight template and cut the heart down a little bit for the patterned paper heart; make sure to round the heart a little…didn’t take a picture of that part, but that’s easy to do.

I inked the edges and made a few.  On some, the direction of the patterned paper matters so you need to decide whether you want it to be top or bottom oriented…or it that doesn’t matter to you, nevermind!  But if you want to add words, you might want to reconsider.

Wouldn’t this be a cute little party favor for your next book club, for a teacher or classmates?  Now, if I could just get through the book so I could participate at my next book club!

These are all kind of Valentine-y, but I’m thinking that there would be lots of different applications to these corner cuties!

The post I “Heart” Corner Bookmarks appeared first on just helen.

Funeral Potatoes, also known as Hashbrown Casserole, is one of my favorite side dishes and one that the family looks forward to at holiday dinners.  It is easy to make and I always have the ingredients on hand thanks to one of those little shortcuts I discovered – dehydrated hashbrown potatoes,  found at Costco…and other places, I’m sure!  I always used to bake or boil my potatoes to cook them first, but you run the risk of over-cooking the potatoes and when you are grating them, they end up more like mashed potatoes.  My sister-in-law Diane’s mom Barbara had mentioned one time that she used frozen hashbrown to make her Funeral Potatoes.  That sounded like a plan!  Then one time, I needed a side dish and didn’t have fresh potatoes or frozen hashbrowns, time was short and going to the grocery store was inconvenient.  I went out to my food shelves and stood, pondering what else to fix, when I spied boxes of dehydrated hashbrowns on the shelves.  Those were reserved for when Scott fixed Sunday breakfast or went on a campout.  But I thought, hey…why not try them? 

They worked perfectly!  I haven’t made them the original way ever since then. 

Work was having a potluck on Valentine’s Day.   I figured there would be a bunch of desserts so I thought I would take something savory.  I needed to make a big pot of something and it better be delicious…a girl has her reputation to keep.  Funeral Potatoes are a fabulous comfort food and would surely hit the spot!  Double this for a bigger group!

Funeral Potatoes

3 - 4.2 oz boxes of dehydrated hashbrown potatoes, hydrated

2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom and/or Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup - I like it with one of each, but one of my kids doesn’t like mushrooms, so I usually just use the Cream of Chicken soup

1 1/2 cups sour cream

16 oz cheese – I used Aged Reserve Cracker Barrel Natural Extra Sharp Cheddar (white) and Kraft Monterey Jack this time, but I usually use a mixed mild cheddar/jack mix

3/4 – 1 cup potato chip crumbs – you know…all those little bits left in the bottom of the bag that need very little help from you to make them the perfect topping for the casserole

Salt and pepper to taste – I don’t usually add salt because the potato chips are salty, as is the soup and cheese, so I don’t really think it needs any more

If you want, you could add 1 cup of chopped and sauteed onions…I love the onions, but my picky eater doesn’t and onions are kind of hard to pick out.  This recipe is delicious without them!

Pre-heat oven to 350°.  Hydrate the potatoes following the directions on the box. Let them sit and soak while you are grating the cheese.  If you are using already grated cheese, let the potatoes soak for 5-10 minutes.  Make sure to drain any excess water out of the box.  Dump the potatoes into a large mixing bowl and add the soup, sour cream and cheese.  Mix well.  Put in a casserole dish or cake pan; spread the potato chip crumbles over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until hot in the middle.  Serves 6 – 8.

So I brought the whole casserole dish of potatoes upstairs to my little light tent to take pictures…that, along with a plate, fork and serving spoon helped to make the transition from photography to dinner a very tasty step!

I went online to see what sorts of dehydrated shredded potatoes there were out there and there are all kinds, including LARGE boxes of these.  I will have to be on the look-out for those.  Regardless of the funny, or maybe odd name, this comfort food is a fabulous recipe to pull out for all happy occasions as well.

The post Funeral Potatoes A.K.A. Hashbrown Casserole appeared first on just helen.