Black Bottom Cupcakes

One night, a few months back, Holly brought me a plate of goodies from a get together she had been at with her friends. Some serious goodies. One of them being this cupcake. It had chocolate frosting on it, so it just looked like a chocolate cupcake. Holly hadn't tried one, yet. After she left my house, I took a bite of the cupcake. Oh my word. Cheesecake in the middle. I called Holly and asked her if she knew there was cheesecake in the chocolate cupcake. She did not. I told her we needed the recipe immediately. She said her friend Ali made them. I said call her right now.

(I took the picture before I frosted them so you could see the to-die-for center of the cupcake).

Cupcake:

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 3/4 c. flour

1 cup Nesquik

1 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

*Beat ingredients together and then add One cup of hot water. Set aside and make cheesecake center:

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

6 oz. milk chocolate chips

*Mix together first three ingredients until smooth and then add chocolate chips.

*Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full with cake batter. Then drop a spoonful of cream cheese mixture in the middle of each. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Once they are cool, frost with chocolate frosting.

Frosting:

1 cube butter, melted

2/3 cup cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Mexican Chicken Kiev

My husband was out of town interviewing for residency a few weeks ago when I got a text from him that read - "Ashley made Mexican Chicken Kiev for dinner. So good!" I responded with, "Get the recipe!" And that is how it happened. He was staying with some friends for a night and the Mrs. made this lovely dish for dinner. So thank you, Ashley, for this yummy recipe!

6 chicken breasts
3 slices of cheddar jack cheese, cut in half to make 6 smaller slices
1 can green chilies, divided into 6 portions
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 TB chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 TB butter, melted
Sauce (recipe below)

Pound chicken pieces to about 1/4 inch thickness or buy thinly sliced chicken breasts. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, chili powder, salt, cumin and pepper in a bowl. In a shallow bowl, melt butter. Dip chicken in melted butter then into bread crumb mixture. Then, place a slice of cheese and a portion of green chilies in middle of chicken. Roll up and tuck ends under. Place chicken in 9x13 pan and drizzle a little of melted butter. Cover and chill for 4 hours or overnight. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. Serve with sauce if desired.

Sauce

1 can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp. cumin
Dash of salt and pepper
Little bit of El Pato sauce

Heat on stove. Serve over chicken.

*Husband loved the sauce. I preferred the chicken with no sauce.

Carne Asada and Pico de Gallo

I was walking through the meat section of my Walmart neighborhood market, minding my own business, when I saw this beautiful package of already diced up carne asada meat. If you knew how much my husband loves carne asada burritos, you would know that I had no choice but to buy it. Then I scoured the internet for a recipe that looked delicious, but still somewhat easy, and this is what I found.

1 1/2 pounds diced up steak

1 whole lime, juiced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 whole onion, chopped

3 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped

3 Tbs. soy sauce

2 Tbs. worcestershire sauce

1/2 whole jalapeno, chopped and seeded

*Combine all ingredients in a big ziploc bag and let marinate overnight in refrigerator. Cook in a skillet on medium-high heat until meat is done. Serve as tacos or burritos with pico de gallo, avocado, and cheese.

Pico de Gallo:

roma tomatoes

cilantro

white onion

serrano pepper

garlic clove

1 Tbs. lemon juice

salt

*Dice up 4 or 5 tomatoes. Add the rest of the ingredients, chopped up, to your liking. I used about a half an onion, lots of cilantro, a tiny bit of serrano pepper, 2 garlic cloves and probably a 1/2 tsp. of salt. You can make it how you like it.

Rolls

1 1/3 c. dry milk

5c. warm water

1c. sugar

4 tsp. salt

2 cubes butter softened

4 eggs

16c. flour

4 Tbs. yeast

In mixer combine warm water, dry milk, sugar, salt, butter, eggs and 4 c. flour. Add yeast and mix. Continue to add flour 2 c. at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of mixer. Let dough rise in warm place until it doubles in size. Make dough into rolls and put onto greased cookie sheets. Let rise again until it doubles in size again. Bake 350 for 15 min. or until golden brown on tops. Rub butter on top when you pull them out of the oven and enjoy!

(if you don't have dry milk you can substitute 4 c. warm milk)

Bran Muffins

Who doesn't love a good bran muffin? I know. Lots of people. But these are good. I promise! Even the hubby who is anti semi-healthy food liked these. Not that these are super healthy by any means, but they have a lot of fiber in them which does the body good. I got the recipe from my "Favorites" cookbook.

4 cups All-Bran cereal
2 cups boiling water
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk
5 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
5 cups flour
2 cups Bran flakes

Pour boiling water over All-Bran cereal and let sit. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs then dry ingredients alternating with buttermilk. Mix in the water soaked All-Bran. Last, stir in Bran flakes. Batter will store in the fridge for up to 30 days. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes in greased or paper-lined muffin tins.

Note: I halved the recipe and it made 2 dozen muffins.

CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER

Loving this cold rainy weather. This is so tasty and hearty. We always eat it with hot buttermilk biscuits and lots of honey or homemade jam.

CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER

1 diced onion
3 carrots, peeled and died
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery ribs, diced
3 T. flour
5 red potatoes, diced (do not peel) about 1 ½ lbs.
1 qt. cream or half and half
6-8 cups chicken broth
1 t. marjoram, fresh minced or dried (use less dried)
1 t. parsley, fresh minced or dried (use less dried)
¼ t. paprika
¼ t. cayenne pepper
1 t. unsalted butter
1 pkg frozen sweet corn
2 cups, cooked, shredded chicken

ROUX: One part melted butter to two parts flour (1 T. melted butter, 2 T. flour)Mix well until flour is mixed into butter thoroughly

Saute onions, carrots and celery until softened. When softened, add the garlic. Add the 2 T. flour and sauté a few more minutes to cook the flour. Add the potatoes and chicken broth. Cook just until the potatoes are soft. Add the corn and sour cream (or half and half). Bring back to a boil and add the cayenne, paprika and the fresh herbs. Add the cooked, shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add about 5-6 tablespoons of roux to your desired thickness(recipe above). Simply whisk it into the hot soup. It will not lump. Add a little at a time to your desired thickness, as it thickens as it cooks.

Pasta Fagioli Soup

If you've ever had the pasta fagioli soup at Olive Garden, then you are sure to love this soup! It is supposedly the recipe they use and it really does taste just like it. We had it for dinner tonight with some garlic bread and it was fantastic! Warning: it makes a lot so you probably want to half the recipe unless you are feeding the neighborhood.

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 28oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 16oz. can kidney beans
1 16oz. can white kidney beans
3 10oz. cans beef stock (vegetable stock works too)
3 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. fresh parsely, coarsely chopped
1 20oz. jar spaghetti sauce
8oz. macaroni pasta

Brown ground beef and onion. Put all ingredients, except pasta, in crock pot on high for 6-8 hours. Add pasta to soup mixture 1 hour before serving. Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Cinnamon Toast

One of my favorite places to shop for food is Fresh and Easy.

There are lots of reasons that I love it there and one of them is their French bread. It's amazing. And if you buy it on the date that is on the bag, it's super cheap. So a few days ago I bought two loaves because they were 92 cents each. One was for dinner that night (garlic bread) and the other just looked too good to leave there on the shelf. So last night we made it into cinnamon toast.

Holy cow. It was so good. Not only did our house smell like Heaven, but our kids also loved this treat for dinner.

1 loaf French bread, sliced in half, lengthwise

cinnamon/sugar mixture

softened butter, lots of it

*Generously spread butter on two halves of bread. Sprinkle as much cinnamon/sugar as you like. Broil in oven until golden brown.

Mexican Brunch Corn Bread

I made this cornbread today because a) it sounded delish and b) I haven't posted a recipe for a LONG time. It is more delicate than regular cornbread so I ate it with a fork. It is very moist and not too spicy. Perfect for a brunch or a mexican fiesta!

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup cornmeal
4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 can diced, green chilies
1 can cream style corn
1/2 cup shredded jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add dry ingredients and chilies, corn and cheeses. Mix then pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Reduce oven heat to 300 and bake for 1 hour.

P.S. I just noticed that this recipe is already on our blog! Rats. Oh well.

Lion House Banana Bread

I know we already have a couple of banana bread recipes on here, but here is one more. This is from the Lion House cookbook that my friend, Adele, gave me for my birthday a few years ago and I love it. Great recipes for some real home cooking.

6 large, ripe bananas

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup oil

4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

*Mash bananas really well. Add eggs, sugar, and oil. Blend well. Add dry ingredients and mix until blended. Don't over-mix. Stir in nuts. Pour into greased bread pans...however many you want, depending on size. Bake at 325 for 45-60 minutes (depending on size of pans). Stick in a toothpick to see if center is done.

**This recipe was added by Rachel but somehow I was logged in as Holly**

Beef and Broccoli

I found this recipe last week while flipping through my mom's issue of Good Housekeeping. Don't you love that magazine? The picture in the magazine looked so delicious, so I ripped it out and put it in my purse. We tried it out the other night and it was really good. Two kids ate the broccoli and rice and two ate only the steak. As long as there's something for everyone, right?

1 beef sirloin or ribeye steak, 1 inch thick

1 cup jasmine rice

2 green onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 tsp. sesame oil

2 tsp. sugar

2 Tbs. soy sauce

1 lb. broccoli florets

*Place refrigerated steak in freezer for a few minutes so it's easier to slice. Prepare rice as label directs. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine 1 Tbs. sliced green onion, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 2 tsp. sesame oil, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside. Take steak out of freezer and cut into very thin slices. Toss into a bowl with 1 Tbs. soy sauce, white parts of sliced green onion and remaining garlic. Set aside. In a 12 inch skillet, pour 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Add broccoli and cook a few minutes until tender. Drain well and then add broccoli to first bowl of oil mixture and toss. Heat 2 tsp. sesame oil in same skillet and cook beef until you like it. Stir in remaining green onions and some salt and pepper. Then stir in remaining soy sauce. Serve with rice and broccoli.

HEARTY WHITE CHILI

I have to first give all the credit (and the photo) to Pioneer Woman. I got this recipe from her website just today and made it for dinner tonight. FABULOUS!! You can make it less spicy by not adding as much fresh jalapeno, or don't add it at all, or cut down on the cayenne pepper and only use 1 can of green chiles. Make sure you add the cup of milk and corn meal at the end. It gives it such a great and robust flavor. We garnished ours with cilantro, Monterrey Jack cheese and avocado. Thanks Ree!!

Ingredients
1 whole Fryer Chicken, Cut Up (or 3 Cups Cooked Chicken)
1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 small cans diced green chiles
1 pound Dried Great Northern Beans, Rinsed
8 cups Chicken Broth
1 whole fresh green Jalapeno, diced
1-½ Tablespoon Ground Cumin
½ teaspoons Paprika
½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
Salt To Taste
Pepper, To Taste
1 cup Whole Milk
2 Tablespoons Masa (corn Flour) OR Cornmeal
Grated Monterey Jack, To Taste
Sour Cream For Garnish
Cilantro For Garnish
Guacamole (optional)
Pico De Gallo (optional)
Corn Tortillas (warmed)
Preparation Instructions
Cover chicken and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove meat from bones. Set aside.
In a dutch oven over medium-high heat, saute onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add chopped green chilies, then rinsed beans. Pour chicken broth into the pan. Add sliced jalapenos. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Place lid on pot and reduce heat to low.
Cook for 2 hours or until beans are done. Halfway through the cooking process, add 3 cups of cooked chicken.
When beans are tender, mix milk with masa (or cornmeal) and pour into the chili. Cook for an additional ten minutes to thicken. Check seasoning and adjust, adding cayenne pepper and paprika if desired.
Add some Monterey Jack cheese to the pot and stir to melt.
Serve chili in a bowl. Garnish with cilantro, more cheese, diced avocado and sour cream. Serve with warmed corn tortillas.