Sweet Southern Blueberry Wine Cake

As we were going to a wine tasting dinner and I had volunteered to bring dessert... and I happened to have a bottle of Blueberry Wine on hand, I made a blueberry wine cake!  There's a local winery, located in Calabash, NC, that produces this blueberry wine.  You would think that the wine is sweet, but it's not... it's actually quite good.  I am collecting bottles of this blueberry wine because I love the labels & am doing crafts with them (can you think of another good reason to drink wine?)!  There's one for Southport, one for Calabash, one for Ocean Isle Beach, one for Holden Beach, and even some local restaurants sport their own labels... i.e., Yacht Basin Eatery. 

1 (18.25 ounce) package French Vanilla cake mix

1 (3 ounce) package blackberry fusion jello

3 large eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup blueberry wine

1/3 cup water

For glaze:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

¼ cup blueberry wine (more if needed for consistency)

*Optional: ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease & flour a 10-inch Bundt pan

    (or a 13/9 sheet cake pan)

In a large mixing bowl, blend together cake mix and jello.  Add eggs, oil, blueberry wine and water.  Beat on low speed until blended.  Scrape bowl and beat 3-4 minutes on medium speed.  Pour batter into prepared pan

Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes (Bundt pan) or 30-35 minutes sheet cake pan; or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Pour ½ of the glaze over the cake while it’s still warm.  After the cake has fully cooled, top with the remaining glaze.

To make the glaze:

  In a small mixing bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, blueberry wine., and coconut until creamy and of desired consistency.  If necessary, add a little more wine.

Tipsy Peeps Cupcakes

We have had several dinner engagements recently for which  I volunteered to bring dessert.  In researching some fun and tasty treats, I came across this one in the food blog world:  drunken peeps cupcakes!  How fun is that???  Since two boxes of peeps were delivered to us by a local realtor, with a card that read  "Have your Peeps call My Peeps"... I knew this was a dessert that I had to make... well because I wouldn't eat the Peeps otherwise!

You can use any cake mix or even make your own from scratch.  I used Pillsbury Key Lime cake mix, along with the Key Lime frosting by Pillsbury. 

Make the cake according to the package directions except use rum instead of water.  My key lime cake mix required 1 cup of water so I substituted 1 cup of Cruzan Coconut Rum. 

Let the cupcakes cool and frost them.  Decorate with peeps on their sides, upside down, with frosting on their heads or whatever... be creative.  You can add sprinkles, jelly beans, or crushed  malted robin eggs.

Enjoy with a smile!

Mini Caramel Berry Cheesecakes

Don't you just love those special mini desserts?  You can try one of everything and not feel guilty, right?  Here's a recipe that I just made ... it's easy as well as yummy! The filling isn't too sweet and the cookie crust was tasty... next time I will try it with chocolate oreos or perhaps do a combination. 

Makes 12 servings

2 packages (8 oz. each)  cream cheese, softened (I used lower fat)

½ cup sugar (I used ¼ cup Splenda)

1/2tsp.  vanilla

2 eggs

12  Oreo Cookies (I used Golden Oreos)

½ cup fresh blueberries (or raspberries or combination)

Caramel Sauce (I used Caramel magic shell)

       

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs; mix just until blended.

Place 1 cookie on bottom of each of 12 paper-lined muffin cups; top with cream cheese mixture.

Bake 20 min. or until centers are almost set. Cool. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Top with drizzle of caramel sauce and berries.

Chocolate Nutella Bread Pudding

Need to use up some old bread?  Love chocolate?  How 'bout Nutella?  Then try this one!   This was a rainy and cold Sunday afternoon and the Tar Heels were playing in the NCAA Tournament (ugh... they lost to Kansas!), I scrounged in the pantry for ingredients to make a dessert.  You see, I didn't want to get out in the rain to go to the grocery store and I most certainly didn't want to miss the Heels' game against Kansas.  What did I find... a loaf of white bread that was getting close to the expiration date, some Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and a jar of Nutella!   Along with milk, sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla, I was set to go!  I made this in my small 3 quart slow cooker and it turned out perfectly!

Serves 6 - 8

Butter or baking spray
8 cups cubed day-old bread (I used white bread, crust included)
 1/4 cup butter, melted (1/2 stick)
2 tsp chocolate chips
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nutella

Spray the crock of a 3-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place the bread cubes in the crock.
In a small glass measuring cup, melt the butter and chocolate chips in a microwave. Set aside to cool slightly while you add all of the remaining ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and chocolate mixture to the bowl, and whisk vigorously to combine until the custard is as smooth as possible.
Pour the custard over the bread cubes, and gently press on the bread (do not stir) until the top cubes have absorbed the custard.

Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours.  Serve warm, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Italian Sausage & Potato Frittata

I  haven't posted in a while because I was away on vacation to the Dominican Republic!  I'm home now & it's back to the real world... you see I haven't cooked in over a week as we were visiting an all-inclusive resort with friends.  We were in a villa & even had a private chef!  As today is Sunday and hubby loves breakfast/brunch more than almost anything, I decided to try this recipe that I found in Phyllis Hoffman's "Celebrate" magazine.  The result was definitely yummy so it's a keeper.  I can envision making it in several variations:  vegetarian with peppers, onions, and spinach or bacon and gouda cheese or tomato & basil... shrimp & crab....I think the options may be endless!  Enjoy!

Note:  I halved the recipe and made it in an 10-inch oven proof skillet to make four servings.

 (slightly adapted from “Celebrate” magazine)

   6-8 servings

1 dozen large eggs

½ cup half & half

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 (1-pound) package mild ground Italian sausage

1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated diced potatoes with onion (I used Simply Potatoes)

¾ cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (or your favorite)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, salt, and pepper.

In a 12-inch ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add sausage and potatoes; cook until sausage is browned and crumbly and potatoes are lightly browned, stirring frequently.  Add potato mixture to egg mixture.  Wipe skillet with a paper towel and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour mixture into prepared skillet.

Bake until set, about 23 to 25 minutes; sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  Cut into wedges & serve.

*Top with salsa for an added zip!

Spinach & Hash Brown Mini Frittatas

St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner and some neighbors are having their annual St. Paddy's Day party tomorrow night!  They've asked me to bring an appetizer.  Humm... it should be a pick-up type food since they are having 90 plus people and it should be a bit green, right?   I have a great recipe for sausage hash brown mini frittatas so I adapted that recipe so that it would be green!  Here's my vegetarian option, made with healthy spinach!  Ken has already devoured several of these tasty morsels so they must be good.  For the photo I wanted to display a few of them on my new flip flop platter!   These would also be a great breakfast dish if made in regular sized muffin tins, cooking them a bit longer.

Ingredients:

1 12-oz package frozen spinach, drained & squeezed dry

1 package O’Brien Hash Browns by Simply Potatoes**

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or your choice)

8 eggs, beaten

1 cup ranch-style salad dressing (I used light, low fat)

1/2 cup milk

Fresh ground pepper & salt to taste

*Salsa as accompaniment

**You can find Simply Potatoes in the refrigerated section of your grocery store (they are not frozen).  If you can't find the O'Brien style you can use regular or Southwestern shredded Hash Browns by Simply Potatoes.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix together drained spinach, potatoes and cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Add the eggs, dressing, milk, salt & pepper and stir well. Spoon the mixture into greased mini muffin tins filling each cup almost to the top.  Bake 20 minutes or until the frittatas are set and golden brown.

*Optional: Serve with warm salsa.

Makes: 24 to 36 mini frittatas