All Purpose Foods - Railroad Buns

I had these for the first time back in my early 20's when a roommate of mine at the time made them.  She used to make them with a roast chicken meal with mashed potatoes and veggies and salad.  I would have never thought to put these buns with a roast chicken, but now I can't eat a chicken meal without missing the Railroad Buns.  I named this All Purpose because you can make these for breakfast, brunch, snack, dinner, teatime treat, dessert... it pretty much fits anywhere!

Railroad Buns:

Bisquick baking mix (or you can use the refrigerated rolls, like the crescent rolls, if you have those)
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Butter or Margarine, softened to spreadable

Ok, I know this is supposed to be FRUGAL recipies... how about 3 Ingredient Cookies?

I made these for hubby recently after I told him you could make cookies with only 3 items and he didn't believe me.  I told him he could try the finished product but couldn't watch me make them to get a totally unbiased opinion on the results of my super-simple recipe.  Once they were done, he tried one and said "WOW!  These are really good!", then I made him guess the ingredients.  Flour?  Nope.  That one really threw him for a loop, and he gave up.  hee hee!  So here I am to share the incredible three ingredients that every house has that you can whip up a batch of cookies anytime!  *drumroll please*

My Thanksgiving Dessert This Year - Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

I can't wait to make this!  It just looks so incredible...

... and sounds like it will be amazingly delicious!  I adore gingerbread, and pumpkin is pretty yummy too, so the combo of the two in a trifle sounds simply divine!  All the ingredients I needed only came to $7.75, I have the milk and brown sugar, got the Jello pudding free with a coupon, whipped cream for $.88, gingerbread mix for $1.99 ea, and $2.89 for the large can of pumpkin.  Not bad for a decadent dessert like this!  Here's the recipe I'll be using:

Easy (and Delicious!) Rum Cake Recipe

I decided at the last minute to try my hand at Rum Cakes last year, and boy am I glad I did!  These were absolutely amazing, and the glaze just made them scrum-dilly-icious! 

NOTE:  I omitted the walnuts in mine as I didn't use the bundt pan to make mine.  I did mine in half-sized bread pans and didn't think the walnuts would work well the way I did them.  They were just as tasty without the walnuts, but if you were doing a full-sized cake, the nuts would just add to the incredible-ness!  LOL

Ingredients:
Cake -
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup dark rum
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cake Recipe

Last year I tried a new Kahlua cake recipe, and it was out-of-this-world!  Everyone that got them raved about how amazing they were.  These are total CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD, but oh sooooo yummy!!

Triple Chocolate Kahlua Cake:
1 pkg Devils Food cake mix
1 pkg chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
3/4 cup Kahlua
1/2 cup strong coffee, at room temp
6 oz (1/2 a bag) chocolate morsels

Christmas Baking is Coming!

It's almost time!  I bake for a large amount of my Christmas presents, not only is it inexpensive, but the treats are ALWAYS well-received by everyone!  I bake quite a bit ahead of time, starting in early December, then freeze everything until I'm ready to deliver them or pack and ship all over the country.  Freezing the goodies buys me the time I need to get everything done and sent out at once without having to bake for 48 hours straight.  LOL 

This was my baker's rack last year after the first round of baking:

And that was only halfway done!  Last year I made:

COOKIES:
M&M
Chocolate chip
Oatmeal chocolate chunk
Sugar
Double chocolate chunk
Oatmeal
Gingersnaps

BARS:
Brownies
making half and half, nuts and no nuts

CAKE / BREADS:
Kahlua cake
Cinnamon swirl bread
Banana bread
Pumpkin bread
Nut bread
Lemon poppy seed bread
Rum cake


I'll be sharing the recipes in coming posts as I gear up for this year's baking extravaganza!  Happy Holidays and Happy Cooking!