Chocolate Kahlua Cake

This chocolate cake recipe is so delicious....

Get a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix, and to that add:

1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/3 cup Kahlua
6 oz chocolate chips (regular or mini)

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a Bundt pan and bake at 350* for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!

P.S. it gets better with time....each day it seems to get more and more moist and yummy, so if you plan to bring it somewhere, maybe you could make it a day or two in advance. It also freezes really well, just wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil to keep it fresh.

Roasted Red Pepper Crostini: This one's a keeper

I tried out this recipe last night when a bunch of girlfriends and I got together for a craft night. I had seen it in my Real Simple magazine and it looked good, so I was happy to have an opportunity to try it out, and I can't wait to make it again. It was delicious! So if you are looking for a yummy appetizer, this is it. Enjoy!

Greg Brown’s Roasted Red Pepper Crostini

Serves 8 (makes 24 crostini) Hands-On Time: 20m Total Time: 1hr 20m

Ingredients

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 heads garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 24 baguette slices
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta (2 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or basil
  

Directions

1. Heat broiler. On a broilerproof baking sheet, broil the peppers, turning occasionally, until charred, 8 to 12 minutes. Wrap each pepper in a paper towel; let cool for 10 minutes. Use the paper towels to slide off the skins. Remove the seeds and cut the peppers into strips.
2. Heat oven to 400° F. Slice ½ inch off the top of each head of garlic and place the garlic on a sheet of foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper; wrap tightly. Roast until tender, 45 to 55 minutes. Squeeze the cloves from their skins.
3. Meanwhile, place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Bake until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese and Feta. Top the baguette slices with the cheese mixture, garlic cloves, peppers, and parsley/basil.

Dreamy Cream Scones

On Facebook this morning, a friend of mine posted that she was pulling something yummy out of her oven and she linked to this recipe: Dreamy Cream Scones. I had to try them right away. And dreamy they were. I love scones, but sometimes it's hard to find really good ones. These were awesome. Maybe it helped that I put some chopped up chocolate chips and some cranberries and raisins (since I was out of currants), but the texture and everything about them was very dreamy. We managed to eat the whole batch today. :-) This one's a keeper.

Polenta Tamale Pie

Here's a recipe for a dish we really like around here. It's easy and good for a crowd and super tasty.

Polenta Tamale Pie:

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 16 oz. jar salsa
1 15 oz. can black beans
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 small can corn
1 small can olives
2 1lb. rolls polenta, sliced into 1/3 in. thick rounds
3 cups shredded pepperjack cheese (or if you want it less spicy, sub cheddar/jack)

Saute sausage in large pot over medium heat, breaking up. Add chili powder and cumin, stir 1 minute. Add salsa, beans, corn, olives, broth. Simmer until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Mix in 1/4 cup cilantro, season with salt & pepper.

Oil a 9x13 glass baking dish. Place half of polenta in dish. Top with sauce and 1 1/2 cups cheese, then remaining polenta, cheese & cilantro. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover w/ foil, chill.)

Preheat oven to 350*. Bake freshly assembled pie, uncovered until heated and sauce bubbles, about 35 minutes. Or bake refrigerated pie, covered 20 minutes, then uncover & bake until heated thru ~ 35 min.

Enjoy!!

"The Best" Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe comes from a dear friend of my mom, who is known for her DELICIOUS baking and cooking....she is amazing and I hope to acquire some more recipes in the days ahead, especially her recipe for Snicker bar-like candies. Yum.

Janelle would bring these cinnamon rolls into the church office where I used to work and they'd be devoured quickly. When I was looking for a recipe that I wanted to become a tradition for Christmas breakfast at the Hughes' house, I immediately thought of these and tried to get her "secret" recipe. She sweetly emailed it to me and so I present it here since several friends have requested it...I can't help but share the love....Enjoy!

4 1/2 to 5 cups flour
1 pkg. yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour

In large mixer bowl combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour and yeast.

In a small saucepan heat the milk, 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup sugar and salt just till warm (120-130 degrees) and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. Add to the flour mixture. Add eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes). Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover; let rise in a warm place till double (about 1 hour).

For filling, combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and cinnamon. Cut in remaining butter till crumbly; set aside.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a 18 x 12 rectangle.

Sprinkle filling over dough and roll up jelly-roll style and slice into 12 pieces (get some plain dental floss and use it to cut through for easy slicing that won't mash the dough....cool trick!)
Arrange in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Cover dough loosely with cloth or plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise. Let dough rise in a warm place till nearly double. About 45 minutes. OR instead of letting dough rise and baking immediately, you can refrigerate dough for 2-24 hours. Then when ready to bake, uncover and let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes till rolls are nearly doubled.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until light brown.

While still warm frost with a powdered sugar glaze. I usually melt 3 Tbsp. butter, add 2 cups powdered sugar, and then thin it to desired consistency with half and half. Drizzle over warm rolls.

Delicious!

I didn't have any pictures to post with this recipe because all the evidence was eaten. :-)

Dinner anyone??

I've really enjoyed purusing Our Best Bites recently, and we made these Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos the other night...they turned out really tasty! They were so easy and the whole family liked them. We dipped them in some salsa verde, but pico de gallo would be fabulous as well. They made for a really great summer dinner. There are so many other things on their blog that I would love to try....check it out and let me know if you try anything good, too!

Smoothies

One of my favorite things to eat for breakfast or a snack is a bowl of plain yogurt (of course the cream top is the best, with all that extra goodness), topped with fresh sliced strawberries and granola (we like the Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus granola). It hits the spot every time. So I was excited when we flew home from Colorado last week and stopped by the Jamba Juice at DIA for a little pre-flight treat (since you have to pay and arm and a leg for anything to eat on the plane these days, sheesh!....what happened to "free" pretzles???). They have a smoothie called the Chunky Strawberry that is essentially this same thing all blended together with peanut butter & soymilk and topped with bananas. So we tried it and it was SO good! I've been replicating it at home, using Trader Joe's plain frozen yogurt and strawberries and granola and peanut butter. We didn't have soymilk on hand this week, so I've tried orange juice for one and cran raspberry for the other. Soymilk would be better, or maybe even cow's milk would work, but they are good this way, too. I never thought about adding granola to a smoothie, but it's quite tasty.

Food

Here are a few recipes I've used recently and really enjoyed....so maybe you would like to add them to your menu this week. :-)

The first I got off of a blog I stumbled upon called Confessions of a Bake-A-Holic.....she's got some great recipes on her site. So here's the link to a really delicious black bean soup - super easy and healthy. Add some cornbread and maybe a salad and you're set! Easy shmeasy.

We've also tried her Raspberry Coffee Cake, and that was delicious.

And I can't WAIT to try these bagels....they look so yummy.

Actually I've tried several of other recipes on her blog that have all been wonderful....so take some time to browse thru and maybe you'll find some things to add to your weekly eats.

Also, after my friend Amber mentioned she was making Truck Stop pancakes, I googled it and found the best pancake recipe I've come across....they are really good. A new family favorite, so thanks, Am, for the inspiration! :-)

Gingerbread Pumpkin Pancakes

I wanted to repost this recipe, because it makes for such a delicious autumn breakfast.

This is one of our favorite recipes. We got it from Trader Joe's on a day that they were sampling these and they are so good! They make a great breakfast, but they are also good if you make extras and put them in the fridge and then pop them in the toaster for a snack. It makes about 22ish thick, hearty pancakes, but you can easily halve the recipe. Enjoy!

Beat together 2/3 cup brown sugar and 4 eggs
Add 1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup butter, melted
Mix together.
Then add 3 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

Cook on your griddle and have a great breakfast!