Rich Chocolate Cake Bars

 (Picture and recipe taken from allrecipes)

 
This week I've had the wonderful problem of needing to use up all the chocolate in the house before we move in a few days. I found a recipe that uses up 16oz of chocolate syrup and FOUR eggs. Considering we still have almost 2 dozen eggs this recipe made a good dent in my stash. I also doubled the butter called for, quite by accident. But since the idea here is to use EVERYTHING up, it was probably a good idea in retrospect. The recipe posted is for the original amount of butter. These came out great and were extremely fast and easy to make. I wasn't sure we could eat this much chocolate cake... but with the stress of moving we seem to be making good headway :D

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (16 ounce) chocolate syrup
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• GLAZE:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large mixing, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in syrup. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture an mix well. Stir in nuts. Pour in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. For glaze, combine the sugar, milk and butter in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil for 1 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat. Add chips and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Spread over warm bars. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Happy Tuesday! Every week I welcome Tuesday, my day off, as a chance to catch up on laundry, errands, and...cooking!! Most importantly, I have time to try out new recipes. Today I followed my usual series of events called Dinner Planning Adventure...which usually goes something like this:

 1) Inspect the cupboard and raid the fridge to analyze the ingredients I have on hand.
 2) Look for recipes that utilize those things.
 3) Improvise/adjust/tweak/healthify the recipe to my heart's content.
4) Consider if hubby will like it
5) Apply apron to self, and start cooking!

Today's result was worth sharing. The basis of this recipe was borrowed from fellow blogger Cynthia Matzat .

 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1 and 1/4 cups skim milk
1 packet Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
2 Tbsp flour
1 bunch broccoli
8 oz whole-wheat pasta (I used Penne)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese, to taste.

(Next time I make this, I'm going to add in 1/4 cup chopped onion and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes)

Cut chicken into cubes and cook in skillet with onion until barely browned.Sprinkle flour and dressing mix over chicken, stir to coat. Add milk and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture becomes thickened and bubbly.  Meanwhile, boil pasta in a separate pot. Add broccoli to boiling pasta for the last 8-10 minutes of pasta-boiling time. Drain pasta/broccoli. Combine with chicken/sauce mixture. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, red pepper and/or Parmesan cheese

Impossible Peanut Butter Banana Bread

This original version of this recipe came from JIF, the king of peanut butter. Seeing as this is a brand sponsored recipe you would think that they would have tested this recipe a few times before publishing it. I have made this 5 times now and FINALLY seem to have it adjusted. However it still has a few minor issues. It makes a large amount of batter, but not quite enough to bake 2 loves. I solved this by using my over-sized glass Pyrex bread pan and cooking it low and slow to get the inside to bake before the outside burns.

You can also bake it in a bundt pan which works better as a bundt pan accommodates more batter. You could also pour into a typical sized bread pan make 1/2 a dozen muffins with the extra batter. The recipe that follows is for the xtra large bread pan. This really is a fantastic recipe... just a bit annoying. If you don't want to risk a raw middle and burned outside opt for the bundt pan and call it cake ;)

• 2 cups PILLSBURY BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 cup JIF® Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter
• 3/4-1 cup milk (if your eggs are small you might need closer to 1 cup so batter isn't too thick)
• 1/4 cup CRISCO® Canola Oil
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add banana, peanut butter, milk, canola oil, and egg. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Mix just until blended.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. 
4. Reduce heat to 300 and cover with aluminum foil, bake about 10-20 minutes longer until toothpick inserted comes out clean
5. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove to cooling rack. 
6. If you chose a bundt pan bake it on 325 for about 50-60 minutes. No need to cover it

Baked Potato Fries

I found this recipe here. The original recipe has the potatoes quartered, but I decided to cut them into fries and reduce the cooking time a bit. We had them with the chicken nugget recipe below :)

• 1 1/4 pounds potatoes scrubbed and rinsed
• 2tablespoons olive oil
• 1tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed fine
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Cut each half in half again. Add the potato wedges to a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. (or cut into fries!!) Toss meticulously to coat the potatoes evenly.

Line a sheet pan with foil. Place the potato wedges, skin side down, on the foil. Be sure to space evenly, so they cook uniformly. Bake for 35 minutes, or until well browned, crusty edged, and tender. Serve immediately, sprinkled with more salt if desired.If you are making fries reduce the heat to 410 degrees and bake 30 minutes. I took them out twice to stir around with a spatula.

Baked Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard.

Wow these are good! They aren't heavily breaded like the ones from the freezer and are so good. I made a honey mustard dipping sauce to go with. The blend of seasoning in the chicken is really nice and not something I ever would have though of.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pound, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tbsp warmed milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter in a bowl with milk for dipping.
3. Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. 
4. Turn on the broiler and bake for 3-5 more minutes until the tops are golden brown

Honey Mustard Sauce (3 servings)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and lemon juice. Store covered in the refrigerator.

 

Pooh Cookies

I have lots of fond memories of cut out cookies! Sitting at the kitchen table "painting" cookies at Christmas, Easter, and sometimes Halloween. Luke isn't quite ready to help decorate but he definitely liked eating the Pooh Bear cookies I made him for his birthday.

This is a great recipe. I always have trouble rolling out dough and especially getting it up with a spatula. I always work with cold dough, but still end up wrecking a lot of cookies. I started putting the cold dough between two sheets of aluminum or wax paper to roll them out. Much easier!!

I made these at Easter with a lemon glaze. For Winnie the Pooh though I used a little almond and vanilla extracts in the glaze. I think I am partial to the lemon though!


Sugar Cut out Cookies (yield 60)
(Allrecipes)

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 minutes for a soft cookies, 8 minutes for a crispy cookie in preheated oven. Remove from tray right away.  Cool completely before frosting.  

Glaze:

 2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tsp of any extract (I like lemon, or 1/2 tsp almond plus 1/2 tsp vanilla)

A few tablespoons of milk

Food coloring

 Mix together using enough milk to get a consistency somewhere between a glaze and a frosting. You don't want it too thin. Divide the icing into bowls depending on how many colors you are making. Add food coloring as needed.  Frost your cookies! Give them a good 24 hours to dry before stacking them in a container.