How to Roast Garlic

If you’ve never tried roasting garlic, we’ll let you in on a little secret: it’s incredibly easy. Not to mention it serves as the perfect topper to a slice of toasted French bread. Garlic bulbs (heads of garlic) are made up of as many as 15 sections called cloves. Just follow Betty’s simple directions for handling each part of the garlic, and in a few short steps you’ll have made a decadent new spread!

What you'll need:

• 1 to 4 bulbs of garlic
•  
• 2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil for each bulb
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sliced French bread, if desired
• Knife
• Cutting board
• Foil
• Pie plate or shallow baking dish.
• Toothpick

How to:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Peel paper-like skin from around each bulb of garlic, leaving just enough to hold garlic cloves together.

2. Cut ¼ to ½ inch slice from top of each bulb to expose cloves. Place cut side up on 12-inch square of foil.

3. Drizzle 2 teaspoons oil over each bulb. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap securely in foil. Place in pie plate or shallow baking dish. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until garlic is tender when pierced with toothpick or fork. Let stand until cool enough to handle.

4. To serve, gently squeeze soft garlic out of cloves. Spread garlic on bread and enjoy! Saurce: bettycrocker

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Lemon Custard Skillet Cake

My cast iron skillet is one of the most relied-upon kitchen tools in my entire cooking arsenal. I use it for making cornbread, searing steaks and baking up beautifully puffed Dutch baby pancakes. Its virtues are countless. I’ve even used it as a doorstop once or twice! It is truly utilitarian in all manner of speaking; in fact, a friend once used hers as a boat anchor. But that’s another story entirely. 

This cake bakes up beautifully in a 12-inch skillet. Its edges turn golden and slightly more firm than its glorious gooey middle. Its texture is dense but creamy, like cheesecake-meets-custard-meets-gooey butter cake. I like to serve this with plenty of whipped cream and berries, and there’s no question that a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar on top is in order. If you don’t mind sharing from the same pan, put this cake on the table with as many spoons as you have guests and let everyone dig in. It’s a skillet cake free-for-all! And there’s no shame in starting at the gooey center and eating your way out to the golden edges. It’s so easy to make, and if you don’t have a 12-inch cast iron skillet, you can bake it in an 11x9-inch casserole. Here’s how to make it!

STEP 1

First thing, preheat your oven to 350°F. The crust is made with a box of Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix, two eggs and 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, melted.

STEP 2

Combine cake mix, melted butter and two eggs in a medium bowl. Stir together with a spoon until all ingredients are well incorporated.

STEP 3

Pour the crust mixture into a 12-inch cast iron skillet.

STEP 4

Spread the mixture into the bottom of a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Set aside.

STEP 5

In a medium bowl combine the sugar, butter and cream cheese.

STEP 6

Mix until well combined with an electric hand mixer on high speed. Add the eggs 1 at a time; mix well after each addition.

STEP 7

Mix in the lemon extract and lemon zest.

STEP 8

Add flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.

STEP 9

Mix in sweetened condensed milk until just combined.

STEP 10

Pour batter on top of the crust in the cast iron skillet.

STEP 11

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden on top and the center has only a slight wobble when the pan is moved. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.

STEP 12

Top the cake with whipped cream and berries. Lightly sprinkle entire cake with powdered sugar. Garnish with a lemon slice, if desired.

  

Serve the cake from the skillet. Transfer leftovers to a plate and cover with plastic wrap; store in the refrigerator.

Lemon Custard Skillet Cake

Prep Time:

20 min

Total Time:

1 hr 55 min

Servings:

12

Ingredients

• Crust

  • 1box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ yellow cake mix
  • 1/2cup butter, melted
  • 2eggs

• Filling

  • 1 1/2cups sugar
  • 3/4cup butter, softened
  • 1package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
  • 2eggs
  • 2teaspoons lemon extract
  • Grated peel from 1 lemon
  • 1 1/4cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
  • 1cup milk
  • 1/4cup sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

• Toppings

  • 1cup whipped topping or whipped cream
  • Fresh raspberries
  • Powdered sugar
  • Lemon slice, if desired

Directions

• 1Heat oven to 350°F.
• 2In medium bowl, stir together Crust ingredients with spoon until are well blended. Spread mixture in bottom of 12-inch cast-iron skillet.
• 3In medium bowl, beat sugar, 3/4 cup softened butter and the cream cheese with electric mixer on high speed until well combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extract and peel. Alternately beat in flour and milk, beginning and ending with flour, until well incorporated. Add condensed milk; beat just until combined. Pour batter over crust in skillet.
• 4Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until top is light golden brown and center has only a slight wobble when skillet is moved. Cool completely in skillet on cooling rack, about 45 minutes.
• 5Top cake with whipped cream and raspberries. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar. Garnish with lemon slice. Serve cake from skillet. Transfer any remaining cake to a plate; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• Saurce: http://bettycrocker
•  

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Layered Quinoa Chicken Salad

I started a new job recently and have been terrible about bringing my lunch. My last place of employment was only two miles from home, so I used to be able to pop in on my lunch break and make super-tasty sandwiches, burritos and chopped salads in the comfort of my own kitchen. Now, I either need to bring a lunch, get something questionable from the nearby establishments or eat granola bars that I’ve stored in my desk. But in the midst of a busy day, sometimes a granola-bar lunch just doesn’t cut it, you know?

This salad changed everything for me though. I whipped up the components on a Sunday and packaged up a few layered salads for lunches. I was pleasantly surprised by how well they held up! The arugula didn’t get soggy, the avocado stayed nice and green from a squeeze of lemon and the cheese soaked up all the yummy flavors surrounding it.

Having this handy-dandy Good Grips Chopper by OXO made prepping this salad even breezier! It makes super-fast work of chopping all the components, and all you have to do in between chops is give it a quick rinse and it’s ready to go again.

I encourage you all to give boring lunches the boot and try your hand at making some of these delicious, portion-controlled salads!

Layered Quinoa Chicken Salad

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Prep Time:

35 min

Total Time:

35 min

Servings:

4

Ingredients

• Chicken Salad

  • 4boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked
  • 1shallot
  • 1/2cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 5oz goat cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon

• Salad Layers

  • 1 1/4cups fresh strawberries
  • 1avocado, pitted, peeled
  • 1cup slivered almonds
  • 8oz goat cheese
  • 2cups arugula
  • 1 1/4cups cooked quinoa
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions

• 1Cut cooked chicken into bite-size pieces; place in large bowl. Using chopper, chop shallot until minced; add to chicken. Stir in yogurt, 5 oz goat cheese, the salt and pepper to taste and juice of 1/2 lemon. Set aside.
• 2Using chopper, chop strawberries, avocado and 1/2 cup of the almonds, rinsing chopper in between. Place in separate bowls.
• 3Roll 8 oz goat cheese into 1/2 teaspoon-sized balls; roll in chopped almonds to coat. Set aside.
• 4In 4 (18-oz) jars or containers, or 2 (26-oz) jars or containers, layer arugula, chicken salad, quinoa, strawberries and slivered almonds. Arrange goat cheese balls around perimeter. Top with avocado. Squeeze remaining 1/2 lemon over avocado. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper. Cover; tote to lunch. Store in refrigerator.
• Saurce: bettycrocker.
•  

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