This recipe has been a long time in the making. I attempted to make this during the winter & after about 3 failed attempts, I gave up.

The reason I gave up? 
 
The cake wasn’t photogenic.

I’ve said this a million times but I’m going to say it again:  my cooking skills are more ‘looks terrible but tastes fantastic’.  And pineapple upside down cake is the truest representation of this.  When I have to take pictures for the #omgblog, things get messy.   In my attempts at food styling, I once destroyed an entire pineapple upside down cake!  That wasn’t very fun.  I still ate it anyway because #cake, but my pineapple upside down blog post dreams were crushed…

Until today.

I finally decided to give the ol’ pineapple upside down cake another try.  With summer potluck season right around the corner, I figured now was the perfect time to make this again.  It is too good to keep to myself any longer.  So what if it looks weird?  It’s delicious! 

Aaand it’s still not photogenic!

The photos in this post are absolutely terrible & do not do this cake any justice.  For something so delicious, it’s incredibly difficult to photograph!  With a cake this good though, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it being photogenic.  It will be gone before you could even take a picture of it!  (At least that’s what I keep telling myself! )  But if you can make this cake photogenic, please share your secrets!


I snagged this recipe from my mom.  She’s been making this for years.  So many years in fact, that I remember making this recipe with her during my senior year of high school. It was for a “bring in some homemade food” thing for my Home Ec. type class.  The reason I remember this so vividly is because the night before, my senior class had their “senior prank”. It consisted of camping out on the lawn in front of the school. #sounique.  Back then, I legit couldn’t function on less than 8 hours of sleep. I got approximately 0 zero hours that night.  I was beyond tired & the only reason I stuck it out in school the next day was because I had to bring this cake to the class.  The worst part of it all? The class was in the afternoon!  But you better believe that as soon as that class was over, I was on my way home!

What I’m trying to say is that this cake recipe has been around a long time.  I didn’t want to go home in the morning, so the cake  went with me that night.  That should be its tagline:  so good it can survive a night in a car! 

Now that I’m an “adult”, I’m forced to make pineapple upside down cakes alone in my own kitchen & eat them while they’re still warm from the oven.  If only senior year me could see me now.  I actually think she would be most amazed at my ability to function on very little sleep!

Anyway, this recipe is guaranteed to be hit at your festivities, whether it's summer or not.  We actually make this a lot for my dad’s birthday in December & it’s just as good during that time of the year.  Who am I kidding though?  Cake is a good option any time of the year.  Whether you’re taking it to a summer cookout or hauling it in your car overnight for a senior class, this cake is irresistible!
I’ll admit, when I look at recipes & see tons of ingredients, my eyes start to glaze over & I generally skip over them.  This cake is an exception.  Yes, there are more ingredients than I would typically like, but the cake itself is soo good.  I’ve seen pineapple upside down cake recipes that use a boxed cake mix & I’m sure they’re good, but there’s something about a homemade cake with this recipe that makes it irresistible.

If you’re like me & have major anxiety over actually flipping the cake over, you could always leave it upside down.  Sure, it isn’t very pretty, but it can stay in the baking dish for easy transport to all of your festivities.  Even if it doesn’t look like the typical “upside down” cake, it still is delicious cake & you can’t go wrong with that.

The actual “upside down” part of this cake is so easy, though.  I’ve used a glass pan for all of my attempts & it just came right out of the pan without any problems.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
by Tiff @ onthecreekblog.com May-24-2017
A classic homemade cake perfect for any occasion!

Ingredients
(Cake)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 2/3 cup pineapple juice (from can)

(Pineapple Glaze)

• 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 20oz can pineapple rings
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions - Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(Cake)
- Combine flour, baking powder & salt.  Set aside
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter & sugar
- Add egg & vanilla & mix until blended (about 1 minute)
- Add dry ingredients & pineapple juice, alternately.

(Pineapple Glaze)
- Pour melted butter into the bottom of an 8x8 glass cake pan in an even layer
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the butter
- Arrange pineapple rings over the sugar mixture.
(I managed to get 9 rings into the bottom by overlapping)
- Pour cake over the pineapple glaze
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Let sit for 5 minutes & then flip!

Summer will be here soon & you know what that means:  summer potlucks.

Potlucks are always the best because you never know what someone is going to bring.  For the longest time, my husband & I were the ‘chip people’.  The ones who picked up a few bags of chips on our way to the party.  Chips are an easy fix, but now that I have more time on my hands, I can actually make something spectacular for all of the big events of the summer! 

I’ve gathered quite a few ideas for possible potluck sides.  They all look absolutely delicious & I wouldn’t turn any of them down at a potluck!

Without further ado, here’s a huge list of recipes that will be perfect for summer potlucks:

KFC Coleslaw
12 Easy Patriotic Snacks
Really Good Pasta Salad
Broccoli Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
The Best Pasta Salad
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Pina Colada Fluff
12 Barbecue Ideas That Will Get You Excited For Summer
Secret Fruit Salad
Easy Pasta Salad Recipes
Slow Cooker Little Smokies
Raspberry Jell-O Cheesecake Bars
Slow Cooker Honey Buffalo Meatballs
Ranch Veggie Bars
Twix Apple Fluff Salad
Poolside Dip
Red, White and Blue Vodka Slush
Strawberry Cheesecake Salad
Fruit Salad With Honey Orange Glaze

I’ll be adding more ideas to my Potluck Food Pinterest Board as the summer goes on, so be sure to follow along over there!

If I had to eat one food for the rest of my entire life, macaroni & cheese would be it.  I’m not a macaroni snob, either.  I love boxed mac and fancy prepared mac the same.

Mac & cheese was my go-to work lunch for years.  I would splurge on the hot mac from the deli.  When I wasn’t hungry but still wanted to eat a little something, I always got the microwave mac.  I even bought the frozen meal mac & cheese.  When I felt fancy, I bought the frozen meal with broccoli!

The recipe I’m sharing today is more on the fancy side, but totally easy to make!

Like all good things in my life, this recipe happened by accident.  I was originally going to prepare a red sauce ziti one night when my husband got the butter out.  He usually likes to butter the noodles before he adds sauce, but I had another idea:  why don’t we just add cheese to the buttered noodles & make a mac+cheese?

Lots of cheese & spices later, we had the most fantastic mac & cheese!

I’ve briefly mentioned before that my dad is a “kitchen sink” cook.  Leave him alone in a kitchen (or around a grill!) & the spices come out.  Everything but the kitchen sink is added to his recipes & they’re never lacking in flavor.  I still remember the time when he was left alone with the grill at my cousin’s graduation open house.  The burgers were never more flavorful!  The thing is though, it’s never a bad spice taste; it’s an interesting mixture of flavors that actually is delicious!  Even though my dad does some weird spice combinations, I’ve never tasted a bad meal from him!

While I tend to cook on the bland side, sometimes I take after my dad & kick it up a notch.  It doesn’t help that my spice rack is right above my stovetop either, which provides easy access to the spices!  For this mac & cheese, I utilized my go-to spices:  garlic powder, onion salt & pepper.  My favorite thing is adding pepper to any mac & cheese.  While I kept it mild on the actual mac, I ended up adding a ton to my individual bowl.  As I noted in the recipe, add the spices to your individual taste.  It also saves me because I never actually measure anything!  I just start adding things until I like the way it tastes!

Mac + Cheese

by Tiff @ www.onthecreekblog.com April-27-2017

A super easy stovetop macaroni & cheese!

Ingredients

• 16oz Macaroni Noodles
• 8oz Shredded Cheese (I used Colby Jack & Mild Cheddar)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 cup Milk
• Pepper (to taste)
• Garlic Powder (to taste)
• Onion Powder (to taste)

Instructions

- Make noodles according to package directions, drain
- Place noodles back into pot, add butter & stir to combine
- Add milk.  (You may need to add more or less depending on your desired consistency.)
- Add cheese & mix well.
- Add your spices according to your taste.  If spices aren’t your thing, just skip!

 

 

(Click here to skip to the recipe!)

Chicken tacos forever!

Once upon a time, I attempted to make beef nachos.  They turned out great-ish.  They were great because they tasted fantastic. They were also terrible because the chips at the bottom were a soggy mess. Basically, I made a taco bake with chips at the bottom.  I ended up stuffing them into tortilla shells. I loved the way the flavors melted together! I then abandoned my ideas for nachos because taco bakes are where it’s at!

Since I wanted to make a taco bake, the next time I made the dish, I omitted the chips.  Who needs chips anyway?  Apparently I did because the entire thing ended up being sooo soupy.  Still good, but soupy.

The thing about making a taco bake with ground beef is that the beef doesn’t really soak up anything.  It just hangs out in there with the rest of the ingredients and the end result is a liquid mess.  A tasty mess, but still a mess. I was going about this all wrong.  How could I get a taco bake that actually set up and wasn’t a taco soup?

Chicken!

I discovered this by total accident.  I bought some grilled chicken to make for lunch.  I figured it would make a nice wrap.  Well, I bought Southwestern style chicken, something I wouldn’t buy at all!  I hate overly spicy food so I would have skipped on this altogether.  Also, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now writing this blog post if I didn’t make this “terrible” error.  Anyway, I decided to go with the Southwest chicken one day. I threw it in a tortilla with cheese on top and put it in the microwave to melt.

It was basically the best thing ever.

I loved the flavor of the Southwestern chicken and how much it tasted like a chicken taco.  I didn’t even have to season the chicken!  It tasted like a taco on its own!

It was time to bring back the taco bake.

I gathered my ingredients and got to work.

At the bottom, I put two 6oz packages of Southwestern chicken.  I shredded it a little so there weren’t such big pieces.  I spread it in an even layer across the bottom of my pan.

Next, I put a layer of black olives.  I love olives so I used an entire 6oz can.  I also diced up the olives and formed a single layer on top of the chicken.

Now it was time for the diced tomatoes!  I used a 14.5oz can.  You might find this unnecessary because the next step is salsa, but I loved the extra tomatoes. I drained the can and dumped them in!

Salsa time!  I used a 16oz jar of mild chunky salsa and placed it across my mixture.

Lastly, I put a layer of shredded mild cheese at the top!  I love cheese so I used a lot.  I had mild cheddar, but the taco blend would be fantastic too!

Then I put it all into a 350 degree oven until the cheese melted, about 20 minutes!  I then spooned the mixture into tortilla shells and had the best chicken tacos ever!

Chicken Taco Bake

Recipe by Tiff @ www.onthecreekblog.com

An taco bake made easy by already seasoned chicken!

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Take an 8x8 glass pan and layer the ingredients as follows:
- Bottom Layer:  Chicken
- Next Layer:  Black Olives
- Middle Layer:  Diced Tomatoes
- Next Layer:  Salsa
- Top Layer:  Shredded Cheese

Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.  Serve warm in tortilla shells.

My husband and I have been making salads for his lunch every day.  I’m not the biggest fan of salads, but my husband really loves them, especially since these ones are so epic!  We’ve gotten into the habit of buying our salad supplies and have made these every day since the beginning of January.

For our salad prep, we usually cut up all of our ingredients before the workweek starts and then he makes the actual salad the night before.  Sometimes, when the ingredients get a little low or I’m sick of looking at so many containers in the refrigerator, I’ll make up a few ahead of time.  Either way, preparing at least the ingredients ahead of time saves so much prep time in the evenings and makes it a lot easier for him to get these together for his lunch.

The salads usually have:  lettuce, pepperoni and/or ham, a couple different cheeses, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and cucumbers.  For dressings, he usually uses some form of Italian that he brings separately to put on. 

So far, he hasn’t gotten tired of salads yet!