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.