Category: MISC

FUDGEY CHOCOLATE BARS ~ SAVE ROOM FOR DESSERT

Don’t you love it when a baking experiment doesn’t go exactly as you planned, but the result is delicious, nonetheless?  Well, today you reap the benefits of such an experiment.  I was tweaking a cream cheese layered brownie and ended up with a bar that’s moist, fudgey, and delicious, so be sure to save room for dessert when you make these!

Fudgey Chocolate Bars
Brownie Mixture
1 cup dark chocolate, chopped (you can use dark chocolate chips)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Mixture
6 oz cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Butter an 11×7 baking pan and set aside.
  • Melt chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter in a double boiler, stirring until smooth, and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, beat 2 eggs and 3/4 cup sugar until thick, about 3-4 minutes.
  • Add the plain and self-rising flour, along with the melted chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; stir until well mixed and set aside while making cream cheese mixture.
  • Blend cream cheese, softened butter, and vanilla together until smooth; add remaining ingredients, until mixture is smooth and creamy.
  • Pour half of brownie mixture into prepared pan, then pour entire cream mixture over brownie base.
  • Dollop remaining brownie mixture over cream mixture and swirl with a knife, until there are only a few streaks of white mixture visible.
  • Sprinkle on chopped pecans.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees until a tester inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached.
  • Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

SEVEN LAYER CASSEROLE ~ Simply Delicious Sunday

Seven Layer Casserole adapted from Mennonite Girls Can Cook
3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced into rings
2-3 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
2 cups peas, frozen
1 pound pork sausage or farmer sausage
1 10 ounce / 284 ml can condensed tomato soup
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Lightly grease 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Layer the potatoes, onions and carrots.

Sprinkle with a layer of rice and then peas. Arrange sausages on top. Combine tomato soup with water and pour evenly over casserole. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 350°F for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Modifications:
-I used 2 packages of beef smoked sausage.
-I used long grain and wild rice.

Here’s what you’ll need:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Thinly slice 2-3 potatoes and lay them out in a baking dish that has. been lightly sprayed with cooking spray
Thinly slice an onion into rings and lay them on top of the potatoes
Thinly slice some carrots and lay them on top of the onions.
Pour the rice over the veggies.
Add the peas.
Cut up the sausage and lay it on top.
Mix the tomato soup and water and pour it over everything.
Cover and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
This dish is so hearty, comforting, and filling.  You could add any kind of veggies to this dish like corn, squash, and zucchini.
I substituted beef smoked sausage but you could also use pork or turkey or a combination of all three. 
If you are looking for a different and delicious dish, give this one a try!

CAPPUCCINO CRÈME CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE PIE

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 – cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
2 – eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups ground ginger snaps
1 1/2 cups groud vanilla wafers
4 tablespoons butter, melted
CAPPUCCINO CRÈME (recipe below)
Cherry cordial Hershey’s milk kisses

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a small saucepan melt thebutter over low heat.
  • Stir in cocoa and sugar.
  • Add the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and eggs.
  • Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Pour into crust.
  • Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center is almost set.
  • Cool completely.
  • Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • Just before serving, prepare and spread CAPPUCCINO CREME over top.
  • Garnish with chocolate pieces, if desired.
  • Cover and refrigerate leftover pie.

CAPPUCCINO CRÈME
1 cup (1/2 pint) whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered espresso
2 teaspoons Hershey’s Cocoa
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine whipping cream, powdered espresso, Cocoa and powdered sugar. Beat until stiff. Makes about 2 cups.

Fire Day Friday: Easy Chicken Enchiladas

I had a great time at Kingsford University in Las Vegas two weekends ago.  I learned a lot, got to meet old blog friends in real life, and met a bunch of new friends. 

One of the things Chris Lilly stressed was “grill once, eat twice”.  So last night I grilled an extra chicken to use for dinner tonight.

But I learned much from my fellow students too.  On the last night six of us were having dinner at Mesa Grill and we talked about how recent changes to how Google searches and presents results for recipes.  Previously, bloggers had a fair chance at showing up high in results for a specific recipe.  But NOW if your recipe posts do not contain “metadata” or “microformatting”, they will NOT show up in Google recipe searches.  Only the big sites like FoodNetwork, Allrecipes, Cooks, etc show up.

My new friend from last week, Meathead Goldwyn of AmazingRibs.com shared what he had found out about this in THIS POST.   John Dawson of PatioDaddio shared THIS USEFUL WEB SITE that will let you enter a recipe and then generate the appropriate Google Recipe SEO friendly format.  I tried it out tonight and here is the result.


Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients

  • 1 ea
    small onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp
    butter
  • 3 cups
    cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
  • 2 ea
    chipotle, seeded and diced
  • 1/4 cup
    cilantro, chopped
  • 1 14.5 oz can
    diced tomatoes
  • 10 oz
    Philadelphia Sante Fe Blend Cooking Creme
  • 2 cups
    baby spinach, chopped
  • 2 cloves
    garlic, minced
  • 1 cup
    cheese, shredded (I used 1/2 of smoked cheddar and monterey jack)
  • 1/4 cup
    half and half
  • 10 ea
    flour tortiallas (6″ size)

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat a saute pan and then melt the butter. Saute the onions for 5 minutes until tender.
  2. In a large bowl mix together the chicken, chipotle, cilantro, spinach, tomatoes and garlic. Add 3/4 cup of the Philly Sante Fe blend Cooking Creme and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Top with the hot onions and let sit for a minute. Toss all of this together until well blended.
  3. Spoon the mixture evenly among the tortillas, about 1/3 cup each. Roll up and place seam side down in a greased 13 x 9 casserole dish. We ended up having to use another small dish too.
  4. Top with the rest of the cheese. Mix the rest of the Sante Fe Creme and the half & half. Spoon over the enchiladas.
  5. Bake at 350f for 25 minutes.
  6. Serve with Mexican rice and tortilla chips.

Ok, so I’m not crazy about the layout that it generates. So how do you choose between “how your recipes appear on your site” or “how your site appears on Google”, tough one, right?  I guess we will be seeing a lot more tools to help us little guys compete with the big sites.  

Are you planning to change how you post your recipes relative to the Google changes?

GARLIC HERB ROAST CHICKEN with ROASTED ORANGES & RED ONIONS

GARLIC HERB ROAST CHICKEN with ROASTED ORANGES and RED ONIONS
1 chicken, 4-5 pounds
2 navel oranges, sliced in thick slices or wedges
2 red onions, sliced or wedged (zest one orange)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons butter, softened + 2 tablespoons butter, cubed or thinly sliced
2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 + 1 teaspoons fresh thyme
pepper to taste

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • Mash garlic and 1 teaspoon salt into a paste.
  • Combine garlic paste, 2 teaspoons thyme, butter and zest until well blended.
  • Gently separate the skin from the chicken and rub one half of the butter mixture all over.
  • Season the outside with the remaining salt and some pepper.
  • Fill the cavity with a few of the orange slices, onion wedges and remaining thyme.
  • Place chicken, breast side up on a rimmed baking sheet with the wings folded in and legs banded together.
  • Scatter the remaining orange and onion pieces around the chicken.
  • Dot onions and oranges with the 2 tablespoons of butter pieces.
  • Roast for 30 minutes. At this point I added some potatoes also.
  • Brush chicken with remaining garlic butter mixture.
  • Flip oranges and onions.
  • Rotate the baking sheet and roast 15 minutes more.
  • Remove the onions and oranges if caramelized.
  • Roast chicken 15 minutes more or until juices run clear.
  • Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
Linking to: 

SALVITXADA ala Tamy

I was reading an email article from Tasting Table about Salvitxada and it sounded scrumptious.  So I set off on an internet search for other recipes.  Catalan Salbitxada sauce is eaten with “calcots”, a special kind of green onion from Cataluna. Char-grilled green onions with Salbitxada sauce make both a good “tapa” and side dish for spring and summer. Tasty and easy to make, try this sauce with all types of grilled vegetables, not just onions. Traditionally made with a mortar and pestle, a food processor makes this sauce a snap.

Here is the recipe I came up with for us and what’s left – it was scrumptious!

SALVITXADA ala Tamy     Makes 2 1/2 cups
4 tablespoons blanched almonds, toasted and ground to a fine coarse
4 fresh mild hot peppers, (membranes and seeds removed) finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons blood orange vinegar*
3/4 cup canola oil**
salt and pepper to taste

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
  • Place almonds in hot oven to toast for 5-7 minutes. 
  • Place in a food processor or mortar and pestle and coarsely grind.
  • Peel and dice tomatoes and set aside.
  • Finely chop the peppers, removing the seeds and membranes. 
  • Peel and finely mince the garlic. 
  • Mash ground almonds, peppers and garlic into a paste using a mortar and pestle or food processor.
  • Mix in tomatoes, parsley and vinegar.
  • Pulsing the food processor, drizzle in the canola oil until sauce becomes thick. 
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve with grilled “calcots” (green onions) and/or chips and other grilled vegetables.

*Most recipes call for red wine vinegar, but I changed it for flavor alone.
**Most recipes called for olive oil, but I am not an olive lover – I even hate the smell so I changed it up for us.

CHICKEN STROGANOFF ~ CLASSIC GOOD EATS

CHICKEN STROGANOFF
2-3 slices bacon, diced
2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/3+ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon flour
egg noodles

  • In a large skillet brown bacon.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
  • Add onions and garlic, saute for a few minutes.
  • Add Chicken pieces.
  • Saute’ 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.
  • Add spices and blend well.
  • Add chicken broth and bring JUST to a boil.
  • Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes JUST until liquid is absorbed.  Boil your noodles at this point.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the sour cream and flour.
  • Add sour cream mixture to chicken mixture along with the bacon pieces. Blend well and stir constantly for 2-3 minutes until heated through.  Sauce will become creamier and thicken at this time.
  • Serve over hot noodles.
To make this meal quicker for a weeknight you can use rotisserie chicken and save time.