Death By Chocolate Cake

I got this one from my sister, Natalie. It's a Double Dark Chocolate Cake (dark in the cake and dark in the glaze). The only difference in our recipes is that she uses a microwave to make the glaze and I prefer a double-boiler method. It is Deeeee-lish!

Double Dark Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together for 2 minutes:

Dark chocolate cake mix (Ghirardelli makes one)

1 small instant chocolate fudge pudding

1 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Stir in 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Grease bundt pan, bake 50-55 minutes at 350.

Cool 10 minutes, turn out cake and cool THOROUGHLY before glazing.

GLAZE

2 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (60% cacao bittersweet - Ghirardelli)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate & butter in a double boiler (I put a metal mixing bowl inside a medium sauce pan full of boiling water. OR melt butter and chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, until melted. Add powdered sugar alternately with water. Add vanilla. Pour over cake.

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes

I've failed to capture a photo of this dish, but it is dee-lish! This is a blend of 3 different au gratin recipes I found online, tweaked to my liking.

Okay, to be completely honest, I've conned someone else into making this TWICE, and haven't done it myself, yet. But, trust me, they are GOOD!

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes

4 - 5 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, diced and sauteed
salt and pepper to taste
5 Tbsp butter
5 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
3 cups milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1 Qt casserole dish.

2. Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into the bottom of casserole dish. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Saute diced onions; then add 1/2 of them over the layer of potatoes.

4. Im a medium size sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stiry constantly with a whish for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds.

5. Pour 1/2 the cheese over the potatoes and onions. Add remaining layer of potatoes and onion, adding the last of hte sauce.

6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 90 minutes in preheated (400) oven.

We've found that what really makes this sauce work is adding all of the cheese at ONCE.

Frog Eye Salad

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. It's best the first day you make it and lasts for 3-4 days in the fridge. It does NOT freeze well. This makes a HUGE batch, but I never seem to have any trouble finding friends that would like to take some home. :) This large batch is also perfect for taking to potlucks, because it feeds so many people.

Frog Eye Salad

2 Tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
1 ¾ cups pineapple juice
2 eggs, beaten
¾ tsp salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups (1 box) acini de pepe pasta
2 cans crushed pineapple
1 can pineapple tidbits
3 14-oz cans mandarin oranges (or 3 11-oz cans)
2 cups grapes, halved
1 9-oz carton Cool Whip (I sometimes add an extra 1/3 carton)
1 cup coconut
1 cup miniature marshmallows

In a medium sauce pan, combine flour, sugar, salt, pineapple juice and beaten eggs. After straining out the pineapple juice for the sauce, refrigerate the pineapple to add later. Heat over medium, stirring frequently with a whisk, until thickened. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Pour into large bowl and let cool.

In a large sauce pan, cook acini de pepe according to package directions. Drain and add to the sauce. Gently fold to combine pasta and sauce. Cover with saran wrap (directly touching to avoid forming a “skin”) and refrigerate until cold (all day or overnight).

Before serving, stir to break apart pasta. Add pineapple, mandarin oranges, grapes, coconut, marshmallows and cool whip. Stir gently to combine. Serve cold.

This is what it looks like after refrigerated -- all congealed together.

This is what it looks like after you've broken it apart with a mixing spoon.After the fruit has been folded in:Next add coconut and marshmallows.

Adding cool whip last keeps it fluffy.I always transfer to a clean bowl for serving, because it's looks yummier!

EAT!

Focaccia Caprese

I think I may have died and gone to Tuscany! Is there ANYthing better than fresh basil?

I had some fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil in the fridge, and I immediately thought of bruschetta for dinner....but I didn't have any bread. I've made focaccia a few times in the past month and thought this could be a quick and easy solution to my missing ingredient.

It turned out to be the PERFECT solution. Jimmie said, "I think I could eat this EVERY DAY and never get tired of it." And THAT is the litmus test!



Start with a basic focaccia recipe.

1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup hot water

2 cups flour
1 cup warm water

1 tsp salt
2 Tsp olive oil

Place the yeast, sugar and 1/3 cup water in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes until creamy.
Add the yeast mixture to 2 cups flour in a medium bowl.
Add warm water 1 Tbsp at a time until a dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute.
Place in a bowl coated with oil and let rise for 30 minutes with a damp cloth over the top.
Preheat over to 475.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and deflate, kneading into desired shape.
Place on baking stone or sheet, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and any desired seasonings.

Bake at 475 for 10 - 20 minutes (depending on how crispy you like your bread).

I cooked mine for 15 minutes. It's not perfect. It stretched out larger than the baking stone and I squished it together to make it fit. This bread's got character.



While focaccia is baking, dice tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella cheese.

I found it easier to slice the bread with a pizza cutter BEFORE adding toppings.

Sprinkle with salt [the tomatoes will need it].


Enjoy!

Ricotta Vanilla Bean Pudding

This is a Giada recipe I discovered in December. It turned out to be the perfect dessert for a Christmas dinner! I modified it a bit by making it in ramekins, rather than trying to carefully line a muffin tin with parchment and removing the puddings without breaking them. I also added pomegranate seeds. It turned out great.

It may look overwhelming, but is quite simple, as you just toss all of the pudding ingredients into a blender for a minute, then bake. Seriously, about 5 - 10 minutes to make. And the sauce comes together very quickly also (while you're waiting for the puddings to bake, anyway). One of the best things about this recipe is that you can make it a day ahead of time.


Ricotta Vanilla Bean Pudding

1 (15-ounce) container whole ricotta cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at toom temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp fine salt
1 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp extract)

In a blender, combine ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, eggs, heavy cream, maple syrup, sugar and salt. Using a paring knife, split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the blender. (Reserve the vanilla bean pod for the sauce.) [I didn't have a vanilla bean and just used extract in both the pudding and the sauce.]

Blend the mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into 8 - 10 ramekins. Bake ramekins in a water bath for 35 to 40 minutes until puffed and light brown. [The water bath is not required, but gives the pudding a more creamy, cheesecake-like texture.] Move ramekins from the oven to a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes (puddings will deflate during cooling, providing the perfect litle space to put your sauce). Refrigerate puddings for 2 hours (or overnight).

For the sauce:

2 cups fresh (or frozen and thawed) cranberries
1/2 cup water
1 large orange, zested and juiced
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra, as needed
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)


In a medium sauce pan, combine the reserved vanilla bean pod, cranberries, water, orange juice, orange zest and 1/2 cup sugar over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occassionally. Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture has thickened and the liquid has reduced by half, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod and sweeten with extra sugar, to taste, if necessary.


To serve: Top the puddings with cranberry sauce and sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top.

Some days I don't mind

I'm not in the habit of keeping a food diary, but some days I don't mind writing it down!


Today I had:

A bowl of cereal
A protein shake
100 calorie steamed veggies
A protein shake
oh yeah, a heart shaped Peeps!

I think that's 800-900 total calories.
And then I ran 8 miles.


WHY can't every day be this good??

Kasey Likes It [Magic Bullet]

Over the past few months I've developed the habit of drinking at least one (if not two) protein shakes each day. At home, I mix it (Dymatize Whey Protein) with 8 oz milk and ice in a blender, which makes it frothy, cold and yummy.

At work, I use a shaker cup and just blend it with milk. Not nearly as yummy, but it works, and usually counts as either breakfast or lunch.

I'd been thinking about a Magic Bullet to keep at my office, but didn't think it was worth $69. So, when I was able to get one for $29 with some discounts, I jumped on it and put it under the Christmas tree (more to unwrap!).
I've been using it at least once a day since Christmas and love these things about it:

1) It is so much smaller and easier to pull in and out of the cabinet to use.

2) The blender is also the cup and makes for fewer dishes.

3) It's super easy to clean.

In fact, I've grown so fond of it that I now the thought of leaving it at my office makes me sad, because I'll have to go back to using the blender at home. However, I certainly am not going to spend another $49 to get a second one.

So, I decided to start looking around for a cheap blender for the office....you know, the $15 - 20 kind. Proctor-Silex. Something like that.

I dragged Jimmie to about 8 different stores over 7 hours today, researching scratch & dent refrigerators, so we also looked at steam cleaners and blenders. I'd read about a Hamilton single serve blender on Walmart.com for $18 and Walmart was the last place we stopped.

They had it for $12.88. Score! This is the one I'll take to the office.

I mixed up a shake for a late dinner, only to discover that the $12.88 blender works SO. MUCH. BETTER. than the Magic Bullet! I was very surprised. Here's what I like about it:
1) Mixing time is about half that of the Magic Bullet

2) It didn't leave a single chip/chunk of ice (the Magic Bullet doesn't quite crush all the ice, leaving me spitting little ice cubes back into the cup)

3) It's just as easy to clean.

4) What's not to love about the price??

I'm going to return the Magic Bullet and get a second Hamilton. It rocks!