CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Another recipe from a friend. Yummy, easy, and chocolatey. It also can look very fancy- I put fresh yellow roses in the middle of the "bundt". We ate it with vanilla bean ice cream and fresh Oregon Hood strawberries (THE best!!!)

"1 pkg. chocolate fudge cake mix

6 oz. pkg. chocolate fudge instant pudding

4 eggs

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 pint sour cream

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup warm water

1 TB vanilla

shake of cinnamon

powder sugar to sprinkle on top

 

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, pudding, eggs, chocolate chips, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, 1/2 cup warm water and oil together.  Pour into greased and floured (or you can use sugar instead of flour) bundt pan.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly on top.  Let cool 10 minutes IN PAN.  Invert on platter and dust with powder sugar.

ENJOY!!!"

Facebook Pasta

This is a recipe I found on a friend's facebook page. It's one of her friend's responses to her status update: "What is an exhausted pregnant mother to make for dinner?...sigh..."

Answer:
"One of my fav easy meals that my kids love is to boil penne noodles and broccoli together. In a separate pan I sauté olive oil and garlic. Drain pasta/broccoli add oil/garlic, s&p, and cheese and you're done! My kids eat a ton of it and it is basically a one pot easy meal."

Crack Cocaine Toffee

Christmas Toffee

(I call this “Crack Cocaine Toffee”- it is highly, highly addictive! I swear I could eat an entire pan!) This is my mother’s recipe with my “notes” added to it.

This stuff is SOOO good. It’s kind of a scientific, very time-sensitive sort of process with things melting and softening and hardening, etc. so you have to “stay on top of it” as you’re cooking. But SO worth it! Come on, anything with equal parts butter, sugar, and chocolate is going to be amazing no matter what, right? Ahem...

-1 c. butter

-1 c. sugar

-3 tbs. water

-1 tbs. light corn syrup

-1 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I like slivered almonds- they’re purtty!)

-1 c. chocolate chips

-Candy thermometer

Butter a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with the nuts. Set aside. In a heavy saucepan (my Mom uses a Le Creuset pot- sturdy, cleans easily, etc. They are over $100 but will last a lifetime.) Combine the butter, sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently (we like to use on of those “high heat” spatulas to stir and “spread the hot toffee”) Once it starts turning brown, stick the candy thermometer in there, to keep an eye on the temperature, and keep stirring. It will become kind of viscous and pull away from the sides of the pan. As soon as it reaches the “hard crack” stage (300 degrees), take it off the heat and pour it over the nuts in the pan, spreading as needed to cover nuts. Let cool for maybe a minute (not much longer) then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and let them soften, just enough to be able to spread them over the toffee. Let cool completely, like overnight or in the fridge for a few hours, whatever it takes. Break apart  to serve (I stab at them with a butter knife- 1-year-old Adelyn had fun helping me with this part.) If you are going to give some away as gifts, I highly recommend immediately wrapping them in little gift bags, and giving them away as soon as possible, so that you are less likely to just ingest all of it.

P.S. I'm admitting that I steal photos from the internet for some of my posts. This blog doesn't "bring in any money" or anything, it's mostly just for personal use and pleasure, and I'm not sure how to do the whole link/credit thing. So, I'm sorry, People with wonderful pictures on the internet!

All Hail the Diaper Snail

When you have a pet skunk, naturally you will choose "Woodland Creatures" as your nursery theme when you're expecting your first child. So as an invited guest to the baby shower, I came up with a creative gift. A Diaper Snail! (A snail counts as a "woodland creature, right?) I made the round part of the snail by putting diapers in a round cake pan, and went to Target for some more inspiration. I ended up with: 

-a cool "boon" dish drying rack

-bottle-cleaning brushes

pacifiers, and a pair of comfy fuzzy socks for the pregnant mama . I was stuck on how to "sculpt" the body of the snail so I called The Husband for ideas. Aluminum foil! Brilliant. I came home and had fun constructing this creation, with a rubber band and some fine-gauge wire helping, as well. Audrey loved it.

(Conditional) Free-Range Chickening

Our chickens lost some of their free-range privileges today. 
Every morning I let them out into our large, fenced backyard, (even though others in our family are afraid they will eat the garden) to facilitate a happy, carefree, hunt & peck for plants and bugs chicken life for them. Somehow this morning all 8 of them ended up in our unfenced FRONT yard, which dogs pass by dozens of times a day, usually leashed, but sometimes not. I had a situation on my hands. 
I first caught and secured Sallie, my 3-year-old's beloved white banty. I then started after Sadie, my not-so-beloved possible rooster, and the others. They dodged me expertly, ducking behind long rows of landscaping and then back out again. I tried shucking some corn and baiting them with that, but they wouldn't follow me up the steps. Hmmm. I text two of my neighbors asking for help. In the meantime, I spy a group of about 5 elderly gentlemen on their leisurely morning stroll. I've seen these guys, they walk together every morning, some days the group is larger, some days smaller, but they are there, every morning. Perfect. I approach them, introduce myself, and ask, "Could I ask you a favor? Can you help me catch my chickens?" "Sure!" they reply. One proceeds do a pretty good chicken bok-bok-BA-GAWKK! imitation. Another queries, "Okay. What is the desired result here?" "These chickens, into that coop." 
The chasing and be-goking and feather flying ensues. I figured old guys would be expert chicken catchers. They did pretty well, but they didn't seem as experienced as one might think. Ahh, this is West Linn, maybe they are a bunch of retired CEOs or something. Anyway, I DO appreciate their help. Poor Lucinda, the guy who got ahold of her, was holding her upside down by the feet, wings flapping, she was loudly protesting, dropping feathers everywhere. I wondered why he was holding her that way, did he see it in a movie or something? Or maybe that is how you are supposed to hold a chicken. I'm a pretty new chicken farmer, I don't know. 
The as-of-yet uncaught chickens bolted for the back of the property, towards a very steep, crumbling drop-off to the creek. An octogenarian ambled after them. I warned them about the drop-off and the 80-something-year-old's friend said, "Larry? You doin' okay back there?" 
Anyway, all of the chickens were put back into the coop and all of the men made it out safe and sound, with some variety added to their morning walk, and having gotten a bit of a workout to boot. I thanked them profusely then went in and fried myself some eggs for breakfast.

Betty's Meatloaf

Betty is a saint who, along with her husband, moved temporarily to Kansas City, at their own expense, and cooked meals for my family for months when we were all living in KC to be with my Mom as she was dying of cancer. This is the best meatloaf I've ever had.

Betty’s Meatloaf

"1 lb.     Ground turkey

1 lb.     Bob Evans Sage Sausage or other sage sausage

1 cup   Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1 cup   Parmesan Cheese

2 eggs or 2 egg substitute

1 Tbl.   Oregano

1 Tbl.   Dehydrated onion

1 cup   Water

Put the turkey and sausage in a bowl. Mix well.

Add the oregano and the onions. Mix well.

Add the breadcrumbs, cheese and eggs. Mix well.

Gradually add the water mixing after each addition until the mixture does not cling.

Put the mixture into a round casserole. Smooth top. Punch a hole in the center and smooth around for a circular loaf. (you can also use a loaf pan). Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 ½ hours or until the temperature is 180 with a meat thermometer."

AAaaand, I couldn't resist adding this gem that came up in my "Google image search." :)

Beef Stroganoff

I've been using my blog lately just as a place to put recipes so I can put them on my "Pinterest" to organize them. Here's another one! This one is from my friend Carah. She says someone made this for her when she had a baby. Her 12-year-old son Aaron typed this up :)

"1 lb. brown hamburger. + 

onion. +

garlic. +

1 can cream of mushroom. + 

1/2 can milk. (3/4 cup) +

1/2 cube-O-butter. +

2 tablespoons of flour. +

salt. +

pepper. +

2 cup sour cream before boil =

 

STROGANOFF"