Texas Brownies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brownies:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup strong brewed coffee or water
1/4 cup dark, unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup buttermilk (tip: if you don't have any, 2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice, pour milk until it hits 1/2 cup mark)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 tbsp dark cocoa
1/4 cup milk
3 1/2 cup unsifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar
2. In heavy saucepan, combine butter, shortening, coffee or water, and cocoa. Stir and heat to bowling.
3. Pour bowling mixture over the flour and sugar in the bowl. Add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla.
4. Mix well, using a wooden spoon or high speed on electric mixer.
5. Pour into a well buttered pan (17 1/2in x 11in)
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until brownies test done in the center.
7. While brownies bake, prepare the frosting. In saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Heat to bowling, stirring.
8. Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla until frosting is smooth.
9. Pour warm frosting over brownings as soon as you take te out of the oven. Cool.

Chocolate Lovers Cake

Sorry pictures aren't the best. However it was delicious.




Cake Recipe courtesy of Food Network.com

Ingredients

* 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
* 2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
* 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 cup boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by rubbing with butter, sprinkling with flour and tapping out extra. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon then set aside. In small bowl combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat well with hand mixer. Slowly add boiling water and mix. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold and stir until smooth. Pour batter into pans, dividing evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove cake from pans and cool on racks.

Frosting Recipe courtesy of Cooks.com


BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

3 tbsp. softened butter
1 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
2-3 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In small bowl, beat butter. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk; beat until smooth until a smooth spreading consistency is achieved. Blend in vanilla.

Simply fantastic

Sorry the pic isn't more glamorous. :)

This is thin spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, parsley, basil, and grape tomatoes. It's very simple and easy, but also tasty. Cameron had some too and he loved it and made lots of yummy noises. I'm not gonna lie, that makes me feel really good.

Make pasta according to box directions or to al dente. I salt the water and add a splash of olive oil so it doesn't stick together. Right before your pasta is done get a small pot and cover the bottom with olive oil. Put in a heaping teaspoon or two of garlic. Toast the garlic a little till it's a smidge of brown color and is aromatic. After you drain your pasta put it back in the hot pot and pour desired amount of oil and garlic over top. Toss. Add your tomatoes. It's better if they are sliced so you get the juices in there. Then add basil and parsley. I just put a layer over the top and toss again. After you plate it up make sure you add Parmesan, that really makes it super good. The tomatoes are a choking hazard for smaller babies, so I didn't give Cam any of those.

Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 lb lean ground beef
1 pkg stove top stuffing
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup bbq/ketchup


Directions for prep:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Pour stuffing into bowl

Measure 1 cup water into plastic 4 cup measuring cup (do not pour out)

Add 1/2 cup bbq sauce/ketchup into water (watch water level go to 1 1/2 cups)

Add 2 eggs to water/sauce mix (break into glass 1st in case egg shells fall in-then pour into measuring glass)

Stir measuring cup well

Pour mix over stuffing & mix well with lg fork (stuffing should be moist)

Add meat to bowl & mix well (if you have laytex gloves you may want to use them but rinse them off before)

Divide meat into half put 1/2 into each baking dish 8x8x2.5

Bake for 30-35min at 375.

Again not dinner, but hopefully a recipe that is helpful

Teething crackers

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

1 Cup flour
1 Cup infant rice cereal (instant kind)
3 Tablespoons cooking oil
ice water (start with 1/4 Cup)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly stir in oil. Add ice water starting with 1/4 Cup until you form a ball of dough. Roll out on floured surface to thickness of a cracker. Cut into shapes and bake for 10-12 minutes or until browned on tops.

I got this recipe from WIC. I made them this morning because now Cameron just loves to eat those baby mum mum crackers and they cost money when I get lots of free cereal from WIC. I don't have as much rice cereal as I do other varieties so I will try out another kind of cereal next and see how that comes out.

The Perfect Pizza

DJ and I thought it would be fun to bake pizzas together.

He got the recipe from Food Network.com

After waiting 45min for it to set

Omgosh rolling and needing it out, such hard work!

I put some cheese in my crust :D



All done!


I copy and pasted the ingredients and directions below:

Don't preheat the oven right away, read the whole recipe before beginning.


Ingredients

* 1 3/4 cup warm water
* 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (recommended: RapidRise)
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 4 1/2 to 5 cups bread flour
* 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for bowl
* Cornmeal, for pan

Directions

Preheat oven at 450 degrees F.

Measure out 1 3/4 cups warm water (it should be pleasantly warm on your wrist). Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and allow it to activate, about 10 minutes.

Put the salt and 2 cups of the flour into a food processor. Pulse 5 times to blend. Pour in the yeast and water and pulse 5 times. Add the olive oil. Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time, pulsing and scraping the sides of the bowl until well blended. As soon as the mixture is combined, dump it out onto a well-floured board and knead for 15 turns, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in size, then punch it down. Divide it in half; each half will make 1 (12-inch) pizza.

Place on a cornmeal-dusted pizza stone, pizza pan, or cookie sheet. Roll up edge slightly to create a ridge around the pizza. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until crust is light brown.

Cook's Note: If using only half dough, freeze the other half. Place the dough in a resealable freezer bag. To thaw, remove the bag from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Roll the dough out while cold then allow it to come to room temperature before adding toppings.

A healthier way

So tonight we had a great dinner. Sorry I didn't wait for pics as we ate at 10 pm! Whew it took us a while to get our stuff together and when it was we were hungry!

What we had was salmon burgers with lumpia. The burgers were from Costco. The cooking method is very straight forward. Cook from frozen on george forman grill for 10 minutes on med. Put on a nice bun. We added Lipton's seasame ginger marinade sauce and it rocked. The lumpia posed a problem for me. The kind we usually buy has oven directiions but this new pack didn't. I don't like to fry them for health reasons. I couldn't remember how to do it in the oven and I couldn't find out how online. So I just decided to try to cook them on the george forman too. They came out fabulous. They wre golden and crunchy on the outside and heated all the way through even though I put them on frozen. What would I do differently next time? Make sure the grill doesn't smash them. I might put a thick slice of onion on the grill to hold the weight of the top piece so the rolls stay round. That's it though, they were way better than oven cooked lumpia. All you need to do is put them on the george forman for 10 minutes on high. Just watch for them to crisp up and turn golden. No need to add any oil or butter. Serve with sweet and sour sauce. Cameron even had some of the salmon burger. I don't really know if he liked it, but he sure did make some cute faces.