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I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

light sour cream

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Sour Cream Pound Cake – an easy alternative quick dessert for the whole family

Sour Cream Pound Cake

So one of my favorite things about pregnancy is the newly acquired sweet tooth I have. Between gummies, jelly beans, and Oreos I can’t get enough sugar. Thankfully I have upped my natural sugars as well by eating apples and peaches like crazy. But for the girl who could eat salt with a spoon, this is a weird thing for me.

Another favorite thing is how I can easily slip in an Oreo here or there and not put on the lbs. The Bean is doing its part nom-ing on everything I eat so I get to eat plenty more without the urge to hurl myself on the floor sobbing every time I get weighed. Sweet!

So that has led to some ‘bakenesting’ and getting to enjoy some amazing cakes and things recently.

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I had a container of barely used sour cream just staring at me in the fridge and I knew I shouldn’t let it go to waste so a bit of googling around and came across this Sour Cream Pound Cake. This is one of the fastest, easiest, yummiest cakes to make. The bake time does take a while but in terms of prep you can whip it together in about 5 minutes once everything is at room temperature.

I brought this into work so 1) I didn’t eat it all myself 2) I’m filling them up with goodies now to get them through when I am out on maternity leave. We had it plain but it would make for a great base for some macerated berries and whipped cream. Or maybe you could grill it and top off with nutella and some sliced bananas. Dang… I’m hungry again!!

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Sour Cream Pound Cake

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound butter
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 10-inch bundt or tube pan by spraying very generously with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a small bowl, shift together the baking soda and flour; set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
  4. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract mixing until incorporated.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternating with the eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time.
  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Sourced from Food Network

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Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

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There has been so much going on lately. I love being busy but it typically means that something slips. Most often it is what we eat or laundry. oh well. But Kemper is keeping us busy with nice nights out playing around and some design reports that Price and I are working on for our city for some downtown redevelopment. Very different things but both enjoyable and fulfilling.

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Since we have been so busy I have been relying on some super simple meals or take out to keep our nights moving along. One of the cookbooks that I have been turning to is The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. I love the idea of assembling a casserole  leaving it be to bake and then having leftovers for another meal. Among the over 400 recipes (oh my!) the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole jumped out to me one night so I whipped it up and we loved it so much. So, so much.

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This took about 30 minutes for assemble and then another 35 to bake up. I cooked up some chicken breasts but you can easily shredded some rotisserie chicken instead. The dish is so flavorful and so cheesy. I can’t not love a cheesy dish. It’s really hearty so it can be stretched from 4 servings to 6 with a side of veggies or a side salad.

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I only made one change to the original Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole recipe from The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. The original recipe called for Cream of Chicken Soup but 1) I didn’t have it 2) it sounds really gross, which would be why I didn’t have it. So instead I used Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup since it didn’t have ‘mechanically separated chicken’ or ‘chicken fat’ in it. If you happen to make your own Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup instead of using canned, then I suggest you do that. It’s sure to only make this wonderful casserole even better.

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Dig in. You know you want to.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Makes 4 hearty servings

Ingredients

  • 1 6-ounce package long grain and wild rice mix
  • 1 medium white onion, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 10.5-ounce or 10.75-ounce can of cream of mushroom condensed soup
  • 1/2 cup light sour cream
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine or low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed basil
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Process

  1. While preparing the rice according to the package, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the onion and celery until tender.
  3. Sir in the soup, light sour cream, wine, and basil until evenly combined. Add the shredded chicken and rice and mix until just combined.
  4. Transfer mixture to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until heated through.