Kandy Kakes
Somewhere along the line, someone in Instagram-land decided to make Saturday into Caturday 😹 And while we love our cats, I can’t see making a post about them every single Saturday!
They pretty much do the same thing daily, judge us 😬
So I decided to do a play on that and do “CopyCaturday”. Every Saturday I’m going to find a copycat recipe and make it! See which we find closest, or most improved from the original! We don’t eat much fast food, but we do think there are some good possibilities out there for a good home cooked version.
Growing up, one of my favorite snacks was a Kandy Kake made by TastyKake. 
So this week, we decided to try our hand at them!
Let me start off by saying I know our chocolate work needs work! We have watched enough baking shows to know that tempering chocolate is key!
We just haven’t ventured that far yet!
SO…
The cake baked very well, tho I have to say I would have baked it just a little less! It got very dense with all the refrigeration, so maybe that would be the solve there?
We let the cake cool completely, just because we thought the peanut butter would melt if it was even a little warm! The recipe didn’t state how the cake should be cooled, in the pan or out, so we popped it out. Way less cooling time, but a little harder to spread everything on.
That part went very well! The peanut butter went on smoothly, and relatively evenly. Going over it more than a time or two pulls the cake with it!
Kandy Kakes, here we come!!!????
Nope, let’s get to the ridiculously messy part…
I thought it would be a lot easier to encase the cake in chocolate if I cut it into pieces. The recipe does NOT call for that to happen, in fact you should just keep it whole!!
My brain needed these cakes fully covered in chocolate, because that is how they are actually made by the manufacturer.
But….
I couldn’t dip them in the chocolate because it was simply too thick! I tried to pour the chocolate over the cake, and that was a fail! The pic is the pour over version!
So I just stuck them all back together and put another layer of chocolate over them!
And cut them back apart!
Kandy Kakes…??
↘↘Nailed It!↙↙
But in reality ~ A very very very far cry from this ↙
Kandy Kakes
TastyKake Kandy Kakes (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups peanut butter
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease and flour a 10x15 baking dish.
- In medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Beat with mixer until creamy.
- Sift together flour and baking powder and add to bowl gradually, keeping mixer on low speed.
- In a small saucepan, heat milk and 2 tablespoons butter, until it begins to bubble.
- Fold milk/butter mixture into cake batter until combined
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool to room temperature before spreading peanut butter evenly over the entire cake.
- Refrigerate to set. Should be set in an hour.
- Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler until smooth. Spread melted chocolate evenly over the peanut butter layer.
- Allow chocolate to harden and set before cutting and serving.
Was it a Complete Copycat?
The tastes were there, mostly. It was obviously a more fresh version, which is a disappointment, but understandable.
Will we make it again?
Nope, Nope and once again, Nope! They were pretty much an utter disaster for us! And we made the concious decision to just leave it to TastyKake!
Caturday Recipes Aplenty!
There is a site called Top Secret Recipes that has a ton of available fast food and restaurant copycat recipes. It is not a free site! You can buy recipes in different ways, individually or buy one of the books, there is also a membership that you get 8 free recipes a month, you get the picture! Click on the chef below to check it out!
Another great resource is Copykat.com . Here you will find TONS of FREE recipes!! She also has a few books available on Amazon! Either way, it’s a win! 😋
Posted in Bus Life, CopyCat Recipes by Nancy Lynn with no comments yet.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Somewhere along the line, someone in Instagram-land decided to make Saturday into Caturday 😹 And while we love our cats, I can’t see making a post about them every single Saturday!
They pretty much do the same thing daily, judge us 😬
So I decided to do a play on that and do “CopyCaturday”. Every Saturday I’m going to find a copycat recipe and make it! See which we find closest, or most improved from the original! We don’t eat much fast food, but we do think there are some good possibilities out there for a good home-cooked version.
This week we decided on P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps! For one reason, Zach suggested it when I asked 🙂
I haven’t had Chicken Lettuce Wraps at P.F. Chang’s before, so I was relying on him to give me the review of this recipe!
I found a few I liked, and kind of merged them based on what Zach said was and wasn’t in the actual restaurant version!
Here is what I came up with!
First, my ingredients …
I loved this recipe since the only things I had to buy were the lettuce and the ground chicken! We had used some water chestnuts out of a can a few weeks ago and I froze the other half (they were still pretty crunchy for having been frozen!!), so those were used in this recipe. We always have green onions frozen as well (now I have to say if you are looking for a crunch in your green onions, freezing them is not the way to go!)
First things First
I always make my sauces first so that they have a chance to really meld together! 
This is a pretty standard sauce for me! I am a very big fan of Asian food! The soy sauce is from an Asian Market because I love the flavors of the sauces I find there! Lots less salt, lots more flavor!
Lots of choppy choppy!
Onions, ginger, garlic …
The ginger was a gift from one of the Harvest Hosts we stayed at! We put that in a ziploc and froze it! Then when we need it, we simply take it out and grate what we need!
I’m going to pause here to say how much I love that white prep bowl!! I was looking for something to measure out multiple spices into and happened upon these! And I just love them! The clear ones are also from Walmart, but I prefer the white ones! It’s a 6oz bowl, so just large enough to hold my spice mixes when cooking! I prep everything ahead of cooking so I’m ready! Pretty sure I need more of them 😃 At $1.25 each, that’s a steal for the convenience they bring!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps + White Rice 😋
It’s at this point that Zach starts the white rice in the InstantPot! It’s the easiest way to make rice! If you haven’t tried that yet, check out my post (Can We Revisit The InstantPot?) on the basics of cooking rice (and potatoes) in the InstantPot!
So all the prep work was done, and all I had to do was cook!
☺ 
Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger, add the meat … cook! Done! Finally!
Now it’s at this time I realize that getting Iceberg Lettuce was NOT the way to go! The leaves literally ripped apart as I was trying to VERY CAREFULLY peel them away! It was not pretty! But I made it work because there were no other options on board!
Despite the iceberg lettuce debacle, they were delicious! Messy, but delicious 😋
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves mince
- 1 tbsp ginger freshly grated
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 can water chestnuts drained, thinly sliced
- 2 green onions sliced thin
- 1 lettuce large, sturdy leaves. washed
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil until well blended
- In a large skillet, over med-high heat, heat olive oil. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add ground chicken and cook until just done, about 5 minutes. Break up the meat as it cooks.
- Pour in the sauce and cook for an additional 2 minutes, until the sauce reduces slightly and the chicken has finished cooking completely.
- Remove from heat and add in water chestnuts and green onions.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper
- Build wraps by placing lettuce leaf on a plate. Add a scoop of white rice in the center, then top with the chicken mixture. Repeat with remaining lettuce leaves.
Notes
Was it a Complete Copycat?
Zach said YES! It was! 😊😊😊
Will we make it again?
Yes, Yes we will!! Of course, we usually have the ingredients on hand at all times! I would definitely go with fresh green onions just because I think the crunch would be an added bonus! Also, more sturdy lettuce 😂! It was a challenge to eat just by picking it up, and not much easier with a fork! So those would be our changes! But the flavors were amazing!
CopyCaturday Recipes Aplenty!
There is a site called Top Secret Recipes that has a ton of available fast food and restaurant copycat recipes. It is not a free site! You can buy recipes in different ways, individually or buy one of the books, there is also a membership that you get 8 free recipes a month, you get the picture! Click on the chef below to check it out!
Another great resource is Copycat.com . Here you will find TONS of FREE recipes!! She also has a few books available on Amazon! Either way, it’s a win! 😋
Posted in Bus Life, CopyCat Recipes by Nancy Lynn with no comments yet.
Crunchwrap Supreme
Somewhere along the line, someone in Instagram-land decided to make Saturday into Caturday 😹 And while we love our cats, I can’t see making a post about them every single Saturday!
They pretty much do the same thing daily, judge us 😬
CopyCaturday 😺
So I decided to do a play on that and do “CopyCaturday”. Every Saturday I’m going to find a copycat recipe and make it! See which we find closest, or most improved from the original! We don’t eat much fast food, but we do think there are some good possibilities out there for a good home cooked version.
This week we decided to try Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme! It’s the only thing Zach says he will eat at Taco Bell (we never go to fast food places, so I have no reason to doubt that info 😆)
Crunchwrap Supreme
Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 1 small onion, yellow chopped
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tbsp garlic minced
- 8 ounces queso cheese dip warmed
- 6 flour tortillas large, burrito size
- 6 tostada shells
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups lettuce shredded
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 cup mexican cheese bllend shredded
- cooking spray or olive oil
Instructions
- In a large, heated skillet, cook ground beef and onion until beef is cooked through. Drain grease. Stir in taco seasoning, water and minced garlic. Continue to cook until it starts to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.
- Warm the queso cheese dip in small pan on stovetop just until creamy. Warm tortillas in oven preheated to 200°.
- Lay one tortilla on a flat surface. Spread about 1/2 cup of taco meat onto the center of the tortilla. Add a few tablespoons of the warmed queso dip on top of the meat. Top meat and cheese with one tostada shell. Spread a thin layer of sour cream on top of the tostada. Top with lettuce, tomato and cheese.
- Cut a small piece of tortilla to cover layered taco. Fold the bottom tortilla over the center, folding the edge over the center as you go around.
- Repeat process with remaining tortillas and fillings. There will be a total of 6 crunchwraps.
- Spray a large, non-stick pan with cooking spray. Heat over medium heat. Place one crunchwrap, seam side down, into skillet. Cook for 2 minutes or until golden-brown. Flip over and repeat on other side.
- Serve with sour cream, queso or any additional toppings.
We made this together. I was in charge of getting it to the pan-frying the assembled crunchwrap stage and Zach did the frying 🙂
Prepping was easy 🙂
The prepping and cooking parts of this recipe were identical to making a regular taco! I had some taco seasoning that I had made (quite a while ago) so I used that up in this recipe.
Just like the recipe says, brown the meat and onions, place it on the tortillas (again, we were using up what we bought last week, instead of the pack we had purchased this morning!)
Oops!
It’s at this point we realize those tortillas were not nearly large enough to fold over the middle! They weren’t even large enough to fold over the sides. Fortunately we had purchased large tortillas! So we took the meat and cheese off the smaller tortillas and transferred it to the larger ones!
So when buying tortillas for this recipe, check the size against some tostada shells!
I warmed up the queso on the stove, and then spooned it over the warm beef mixture. And it pretty much disappeared! I know that Taco Bell uses Nacho Cheese Dip, but we wanted the queso dip instead, so maybe next time ~ nacho cheese!
↘🌮Layers, Layers, Layers🌮↙
Tostada Shell & Sour Cream
Lettuce & Tomato topping
CHEESE!
Zach took the smaller tortillas and cut them for our center pieces for the top ~ so no waste!
Crunchwrap Supreme Perfection!
Zach did a great job pan frying these things! The top folded tortilla just wanted to unfold! Pretty sure that there was some opening and then re-closing of them! I tried to “glue” it together with queso, but it was a no on that!
Crunchwrap Supreme 😋
Finished product! It was pretty good! I felt as if that taco seasoning I made quite some time ago may have lost some flavor! So next time I’m going to make it fresh! I could have added a lot more tomato, since it seemed to be lost in the mix!
Zach suggested Pico de Gallo instead of the tomatoes, and while that isn’t the way Taco Bell does it, it sure can be the way Nancy & Zach do it! I make some pretty good pico 😁
CopyCat Crunchwrap Supreme ?
Was it a complete copycat? No 🙁
Mainly because of the taco seasoning! I did not use a copycat of Taco Bell’s seasoning (or buy it already made in the store). So the taste was a bit different! Of course, the rest was spot on! The building of the crunchwrap was just as remembered, and the crunch was perfect!
Will we make it again? Yes!
Definitely a WIN recipe! Just a tweak on my own seasoning 😂
So what’s the plan for next Saturday? I have no idea just yet!
Caturday Recipes Aplenty!
There is a site called Top Secret Recipes that has a ton of available fast food and restaurant copycat recipes. It is not a free site! You can buy recipes in different ways, individually or buy one of the books, there is also a membership that you get 8 free recipes a month, you get the picture! Click on the chef below to check it out!
Another great resource is Copycat.com . Here you will find TONS of FREE recipes!! She also has a few books available on Amazon! Either way, it’s a win! 😋
Posted in Bus Life, CopyCat Recipes by Nancy Lynn with no comments yet.
Popeyes Mashed Potatoes
Somewhere along the line, someone in Instagram-land decided to make Saturday into Caturday 😹 And while we love our cats, I can’t see making a post about them every single Saturday!
They pretty much do the same thing daily, judge us 😬
Caturday Revamped
So I decided to do a play on that and do “CopyCaturday”. Every Saturday I’m going to find a copycat recipe and make it! See which we find closest, or most improved from the original! We don’t eat much fast food, but we do think there are some good possibilities out there for a good home cooked version.
Popeyes Mashed Potatoes
This week I made Popeye’s Mashed Potatoes! When I lived in St Augustine, I didn’t have easy access to Popeye’s, so I had never tried anything there. When I moved to Jacksonville, there was one right around the corner from my apartment! I don’t eat much fast food, but I do enjoy really good mashed potatoes, so one day I decided to stop and try some fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
I ALWAYS eat my mashed potatoes first, regardless of who made them! So imagine my surprise when I started eating what I thought was regular mashed potatoes with gravy (you know, like KFC), only to have some fire in my mouth! They are SPICY! In a very good way! At first I didn’t want to like them, I am super picky about my mashed potatoes, so I just wouldn’t allow it 😂 But I really do like them !!
Since Zach and I never get fast food, and he never tried Popeye’s Mashed Potatoes, I decided to give these a try! I searched around for a recipe and found a lot of different versions. How did I pick one? I made the one that I had all the ingredients for! Simple 🙂
Copy Caturday - Popeye's Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 5 lbs potatoes peeled and cubed
- 8 Garlic Cloves
- 4 teaspoons Sea Salt divided
- ½ Teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Creole Seasoning
- ¾ Cup Whole Milk warmed
- ½ Cup Butter unsalted, melted
Instructions
- Cut the peeled potatoes into cubes and add to cold water, enough to cover with water, plus about 2" above. Add 2 teaspoons of the salt and the garlic cloves and bring to a boil. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
- Drain then return to pot.
- Heat pot over low heat. Add the remaining salt, pepper, Creole Seasoning, heated milk and melted butter.
- Mash until creamy.
Notes
When you don’t have Chicken Gizzards!
I know that Popeye’s has a fantastic gravy that goes on top, and while searching for a “copycat” of their recipe, I was met with ingredients I didn’t have on hand (chicken gizzards to name just one!) so I used a generic Cajun gravy!
Cajun Gravy
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- ½ teaspoon cajun seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons hot sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt to taste
Instructions
- In a saute pan or saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.
- Add flour and whisk to make a paste (continue whisking until no lumps remain). Cook for one minute.
- Slowly add broth to pan, whisking continuously. Add Cajun seasoning and pepper, whisking to incorporate. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until desired thickness is achieved, while whisking continuously.
- Remove pan from heat and add hot sauce, stirring to incorporate. Taste test and add more hot sauce to taste. Last, add salt as needed and stir to incorporate (season to taste).
Popeyes Mashed Potatoes Recipe Review
So how was it ?
First, I used my Instant Pot to make my potatoes! I just find it less messy (I have a pot boil over issue!). I doubt that altered the flavor, since I only added garlic and salt to the water? But next time, more garlic!
I’m not sold on it being a copycat of Popeye’s ~ it’s been a minute since I had some! I guess I need to pick up a container the next time I see Popeye’s to compare! But I’m sure it isn’t an exact match. Maybe the lack of chicken gizzards? I’m willing to try again for the copycat version!
But as for the recipes in this post, I was impressed more with the gravy than the mashed potatoes. I haven’t had Popeye’s without the gravy (guess I’m getting 2 containers!)! But the mashed potatoes were very similar to my own, and I just use salt, pepper, milk and butter. So maybe an increase in the seasoning would have helped!?
The gravy tho… I would have added just a TAD more spice, but not much!! It was smooth and silky, and the flavor was definitely there! We just like things a bit spicy 🌶
And we had leftover gravy to use the next day on open-faced roast beef sandwiches! I always have roast beef on hand, that I cook myself and then Zach slices for sandwiches! And this gravy elevated that already flavorful roast beef!
Double Win on the Cajun Gravy!
I’m currently waiting on suggestions from Zach for next week, but I heard talk of Taco Bell Crunchwraps! I’m in! 😋
Caturday Recipes Aplenty!
There is a site called Top Secret Recipes that has a ton of available fast food and restaurant copycat recipes. It is not a free site! You can buy recipes in different ways, individually or buy one of the books, there is also a membership that you get 8 free recipes a month, you get the picture! Click on the chef below to check it out!
Another great resource is Copycat.com . Here you will find TONS of FREE recipes!! She also has a few books available on Amazon! Either way, it’s a win! 😋
Posted in Bus Life, CopyCat Recipes and tagged CopyCaturday by Nancy Lynn with no comments yet.