Recipe Box Swap Day!

Remember what today is?

Before I answer that question, I'd like to point out an unexpected perk I've discovered about blogging. Blogging helps me stay on track. It's my personal organizer of sorts. Since hitting middle age, I find my short term memory's not quite as good as it used to be. I always prided myself on my ability to remember details with vivid clarity. Well, you know what they say about pride. You do know, don't you? Because I can't remember. Really.

Anyway, my blog is helping me keep track of my knitting projects, the ones I've finished...or it would if I'd finished any, but it helps me keep track of them, nonetheless. I can also refer to it to see what was on my mind and going on in my life on a certain day or week, as I surely blogged about it if it was important, right?

Remember me telling you about Randi and her terrific idea for a blog recipe box swap? Well, today is the day, and we are sharing recipes! I know that because I can look back here and see. Like I was saying, perks.

I wish I'd had time this week to prepare these recipes and take pictures. I just love watching Pioneer Woman cook over at the Pioneer Woman Cooks!. I'm a visual learner and whether it's knitting or cooking, I learn best by watching.

Randi also has beautiful, colorful photos of her dishes being prepared. Her pictures always make me so hungry!

I have no glamorous cooking photos to offer you. Photography isn't a skill I've yet mastered, though I am working on it. Just as with my knitting, I do anticipate getting better. Today, all I have is recipes.

This first recipe is a cake I've been baking since I was about 16 years old. Trust me, it's been alot of years. I don't need a recipe to bake it. I could practically do it with my eyes closed. The thing I love about this cake is that it always gets rave reviews. Seriously, I get majorly bragged on when I bake this cake. A young man from our church recently dubbed me as "making the best cakes in all the land". Pretty impressive, huh? It is especially so for someone who's never really thought of herself as much of a cook. I promise you that this cake will garner you instant popularity.

Oh, and lest any of you think I stole this recipe from Pioneer woman, I can assure you, I was baking my cake before Ree popped out of her mother's womb. If you compare my recipe to her's, you'll see she leans a bit more heavily toward the Paula "Butter" Deen's style of cooking.

I promise you, you will not miss the extra butter in my recipe; and no, mine isn't a diet or low-calorie cake. Mine has two whopping sticks of butter in it (one whole cup of butter, folks). That's 1 3/4 sticks less than Ree's recipe.

1 3/4 sticks butter=1417.50 calories

Yep, read it and weep. Your thighs may miss it, but your tastebuds surely won't! So, without further ado.....

Renna's Chocolate Sheet Cake

In large bowl, mix together:
2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

In saucepan, bring to a boil:
1 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

4 TBSP cocoa

In small bowl, mix together:
1/2 to 1 cup buttermilk

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients together.

Bake in a greased jelly-roll pan at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until center springs back when touched. I spray my pan with nonstick cooking spray.

During last 5 minutes of cooking, in a saucepan, bring to a boil:

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

4TBSP cocoa

5 TBSP milk

After removing from heat, stir in :
1 tsp vanilla

1 box confectioners (powdered) sugar (16oz)

1 cup chopped pecans

Spread on warm cake.

By the time you've finished frosting the cake, the leftover frosting in the pan will taste exactly like chocolate fudge. Be sure to scrape every last bite from the pan before washing it. This is an essential part of the cake-making process. Trust me. Would the "best cake maker in all the land" lie about such a thing? I think not.

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This second recipe is also for a cake. Yes, we have a theme going here. I do love cake, and it shows. I've only been baking this cake for a few years, having gotten the recipe from a friend. I've not taken it to as many functions as my chocolate sheet cake, simply because I seem to always have the ingredients already on hand for the chocolate sheet cake.

I only make this cake when I'm having company or attending a pot luck function. It's big and it's rich. The few times I have taken it anywhere, or served it at home for company it got equally rave reviews as the chocolate sheetcake. Trust me, these cakes are both winners!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

32oz cream cheese

3 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 sticks butter

3 cans Crescent Rolls

Ground Cinnamon

13” x 9” x 2½” Baking pan

Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Let cream cheese and butter warm to room temperature.

Lightly spray pan, then cover bottom of pan with crescent rolls.

In large mixing bowl, mix:

2 cups sugar

all the cream cheese

½ stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

blend with mixer until creamy.

(If cheese is too stiff, microwave for a few seconds before blending.)
Spread this mixture evenly over rolls in pan.
Use more rolls to cover that mixture. (You’ll have a few leftover rolls for dinner!)

In a mixing bowl, add:

1½ cups sugar

¾ stick butter

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Microwave this until the butter is melted and then mix on high speed.
Spread this mixture on top of the crescent rolls, making sure that all roll surfaces are coated.
Sprinkle cinnamon over topping.
Bake uncovered for about 50 minutes or until golden brown.
Wonderful served warm and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream,
but it’s also delicious after being refrigerated!!