Sunday, December 26, 2010

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Frosting

If this cake were currency I think after the rave reviews I have received I would be a gazillionaire or at least have maybe have $100 ahaha!!


No really it's not inventing the wheel here my friends. I ran across many chocolate cake recipes with mousse frosting so I just took bits and pieces of what I read and came up with this super yummy in the tummy recipe!

This cake was such a huge birthday success my Grandma asked me if I would make it to bring to  family Christmas dinner. I was a bit reluctant and thought about making several other things. One of them being Nutella Fudge with Sea Salt which I still may try for New Years eve but that of course will be a new entry!

Soooo I made the cake again for Christmas dinner with the fam.

Oh ahaha while I was making this cake my Grandma was over and she got the lick the spoon and made the subtle hint "you know my Birthday is in January and I wouldn't mind if you made this cake" ahaha!! Who am I to deny my super awesome amazing adorable Grandma cake!! So I'll be making this again in just a few weeks.

I have been very lucky this year to have met so many special  people.

Enjoy and Keep On Making Stuff!!

Devil's Food Cake
adapted from several recipes
Ingredients


2 table spoons of unsalted butter
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate (i used dark chocolate coco powder)
2 cups white sugar (i used 1 cup)
2 eggs
1 cup water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease two 9 inch round pans.

In a small pan melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly. (i just melted the butter in the micro and stirred in the coco powder which was much easier)

Cream together the sugar and the eggs until light in color. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs and temper mixture by beating well (so you don't end up with scrambled eggs!) Add 1 cup boiled water (still warm) and blend well. Mixture will be very thin. Don't worry it's supposed to be like this

Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture to the chocolate mixture and blend well.

Mix together the vinegar and the milk and stir into the chocolate batter. Pour into your pans.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until it passes the clean toothpick test.

You must let cool totally before you add the mousse. I have made my cakes the night before on both instances which makes prep much easier.

Chocolate Mousse
1 - 12oz  can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup dark or regular coco powder

1 cup cold water
1 (4 serving size) package instant chocolate flavor pudding mix (i only use 2 tablespoons of this for consistency purposes, it helps keep things from getting too soft)
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Directions:
Mix the condensed milk and coco powder until smooth

Gradually add the cold water and tablespoons of instant pudding mix to the condensed milk mixture (you could add the entire pack of pudding mix, it certainly couldn't hurt. I do suggest using the sugar free kind though)

Now let the condensed milk coco mixture chill in the fridge for 30-40 mins until it's nicely set.

Whip the heavy cream until very fluffy. Gradually add your condensed milk coco mix the the whipped cream.
This will make your mousse.

I just fold it in with a spoon and lightly still being careful not to break it down too much.

Now that your cakes are done and cooled and your mousse is done let's do it!

Take one of those 9inch round cakes of goodness and put it on your cake plate of choice.
Take about 1 to 1.5 cups of mousse and loosely spread it over the top. no need to make it pretty it will be covered with the other cake.
Drop the 2nd cake on to make a double layer of chocolaty sin.

Now use the rest of the mousse to frost the cake and don't forget to lick the spoon when you are done.




ohhh look how fluffy!


this is one of the best chocolate mousse i have had


oh this smelled soooo good!!

don't you just want to swipe your finger along the side for a taste


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Barkie VonSchnauzer Treats


Anyone who knows me you know my dogs have the best personalities. Lucy is such a sweet girl but will show you who's boss at the drop of a hat and Charlie he loves the ladies and will flirt with you to get your spot on the sofa.

Stinkers they are indeed but I love them!

I've had a dog my entire life so to be able to make them actual dog treats was so fun for me. Just a couple dog bone shaped cookie cutters and some simple ingredients and a hour later....WOOF!!! Dog Treats!!

My furry friends really loved these treats, I could have gave them the entire batch but I have super powers now that help me resist the sad puppy eyes! ahaha!

I hope you and your pups enjoy these as much as me and my crazy hounds did!

On a said note since the ingredients are all natural and organic YOU can actually eat them too...now they are not going to taste like much of anything but you can still eat them.

I may or may not have tasted one ahaha!

What you will need....
1 cup of peanut butter (I used trader joes organic peanut butter)
1 cup of skim milk or low fat milk
1 cup of whole wheat flour
2 table spoons of honey (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 300F

Mix peanut butter and milk(add milk gradually) until smooth and creamy
slowly add in the wheat flour and honey if you want to add it. I have also seen recipes where people add fish oil.
once mixed it one be too doughy it will be thick and heavy.
flour your surface and rolling pin
separate dough into 2 parts.
roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness
cut into small slices or use a cookie cutter of choice. I used a dog bone shaped one.

treats wont expand so you can place them very close on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 300F for 35-40 mins until crisp.

Simple as that.

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!






it smelled and looked just like regular peanut butter cookie dough

guess who didn't have her rolling pin handy and smooshed the dough out by hand...ugh that was not fun



all cooked and crispy ready for a puppy taste testing

awww look its Lucy(Lulu) she would sit with this on her nose all night if i told her to. She's such a good girl!! And so photogenic!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Potato Soup with Clam Chowder Modification

A certain special someone in my life who happens to love potato soup and clam chowder kept mentioning how much he wanted some so who am I do deny my honey yummy home cooked food.
this recipe makes A LOT OF SOUP it's easy enough to half the recipe. i made a lot so my honey would have hot soup for lunch while working out in the cold winter weather. (I'm such a good GF)

We had some and he liked it so much he wanted to share so we invited his parents over for some on Sunday afternoon. So we filled our bellies with hot soup and crackers and then some delish Christmas cookies made by my Mommie Dearest or this time of the year shes known as Christmas Carol
'
this only took me a hour in total prep and cook time

What you will need:
10 pound bag of small potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
1 pound of bacon(i used turkey) (you may not want to use this if making clam chowder see directions below)
4 cups of chicken stock (CLAM CHOWDER MOD: for clam chowder use clam juice)
5 cans of chopped clams (CLAM CHOWDER MOD: ONLY IF MAKING CLAM CHOWDER)
1 pint of heavy cream
1 small white onion

Directions:

you'll need 2 big stock pots (10-12 quart) one for boiling potatoes and one to construct the soup in.
Peel and cube half the bag of potatoes. Boil in salted water until soft enough to puree.
I had to do the following in 2 batches.

add potatoes to the blender with 2 cups of chicken stock (CLAM CHOWDER MOD: use clam juice instead of chicken stock) and half a pint of cream and purée until smooth.

repeat (this will be the base of the soup. it will be pretty thick if you want it thinner add skim milk.) Add this base to your clean stock pot and keep on very low heat
now peel and cube remaining potatoes and boil until tender. these will be for the body of the soup to make it chunky
While the above potatoes are boiling cook your bacon and drain as good as possible. I used turkey bacon to cut down on sodium and calories.

Once the bacon is cooked leave a tiny bit of the fat in the pan and finely chop your onion and sauté it in the bacon fat. If looking for a more low cal just use a couple table spoons of some olive oil. (CLAM CHOWDER MOD: i used the bacon in the chowder but if you want a pure clam chowder omit the bacon)

Add bacon and onion to the base. This is where I added my salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
Drain your boiling potatoes and add them slowly to the base stirring every couple of scoops to mix well.

If you are making potato soup you are DONE!! Enjoy with some shredded cheddar on top or plain. I like it plain but I always add extra pepper to mine.

CLAM CHOWDER MOD: if you are making Clam Chowder this is where you add in your clams and let cook for a few minutes so the flavors meet like strangers in the night!
Now get yourself a bowl and a big old spoon and fill your tummy with warm soup and be happy!!
 
Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!
 


mmm look at that yummy bacon sizzling!


adding a scoop of onion for a some extra flavor

yummm i wish i had a bowl of this right now

clams for those of you who like the chowder!

look who was very happy to dig into homemade soup!!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Morrisey Sausage Dressing for 2010

So as a kid my Grandma always made sausage "dressing" or as most call it stuffing. I loved this stuff. I remember looking forward to it at family gatherings more than everything else.
Grams stopped making this "dressing" because Grandpa Wayne liked bread stuffing better he said "you can't eat meat stuffing with meat" so we essentially stopped having it from there on.
Holidays would come and go and I would hope for a surprise corning wear dish of this coveted "dressing" to be on the counter for me to swoon over.... but alas it was gone forever. (can you hear the sad woe is me violin music)

I asked around if anyone is the family had the recipe written down and not a soul did, so one day i got the best phone call. It was my super duper awesome amazing fantastic best grandma in the world! She was calling to tell me her recipe for the sausage "dressing"! SWEET BABY JESUS was I excited!

So after a quick how do you do I was scratching down THE recipe! Come to find out this recipe wasn't complicated like my taste buds had fooled me into believing. Matter of fact this sausage "dressing" wasn't so unique either. I guess it's a traditional thing mostly known as Sausage and Sage dressing.

We what do ya know! All this time I thought I was about to create the next best thing to Stove Top ahahaha!

With Thanksgiving days away I begin to panic and think of all the "what ifs" that could happen. I won't go into details but let's just say I had a lot of apprehension about this darn stuffing!

I did some research and took it upon myself to amp up my most perfect Grandma's recipe! Not that her recipe wasn't awesome I just wanted to step it up and prove i could do it and do it with some pizzazz!

I did use Pepperidge Farm Herb bread cubes because it was exactly the same as if i were to buy loaf upon loaf of bread and toast it and season it myself. It worked GREEATT and it was on sale 2 for $5 and you know this Morrisey loves a sale!!

OK don't hate me but the measurements are not 100% accurate here only because there was a lot of winging it going on during this process.

OH OH ahahaha! Right before i made this stuffing I made the worlds most DISGUSTING pumpkin shortbread cookies!! They tasted like pumpkin flavored dry wall. No really they did. So that kicked up my anxiety even more because now what was I going to bring to my Martian's Aunt's house for my first visit on Thanksgiving evening.

Stay tuned for that blog entry!!

Anyway enough of my chitter chatter!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!!
xox
Barbie

Grandma's Sausage Dressing dressed up for 2010

This recipe made enough stuffing to feed 13 adults with plenty left over.

2 - 12 oz bags of Pepperidge farms Sage and Onion Cubed Stuffing
2.5 - 32 oz containers of low sodium/fat free chicken broth or use your own homemade stock
4 - Carrots (large full size)
3 - Celery Stalks
1 - White Onion small to medium depending your preference
Sausage about 2 pounds. Your preference I used Jimmy Dean regular sausage because some members of my family are very sensitive to seasoning.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the bread cubes in your 9x13 baking dish
In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned.
Pour sausage mixture over bread cubes in baking dish.
Mix in...
Finely chopped carrots
Coarsely
chop apples, dried cranberries. 
Slowly pour over chicken stock. I poured half in mixed and cooked for about 40 mins, took it out of the oven stirred added the rest of the stock and baked for another 40 mins. 
I let the stuffing come down in temp a bit and let the flavors all meet before I served.
The bread cubes were already seasoned but you can add as much spice as you like. I think next time I make this I will add more when I am not serving it to a spice sensitive crowd.
This was a great success and my grams liked it so I passed the test!! I'm so happy!!
Here are some pics like always...
Enjoy and Keep On Making Stuff!







TAH DAH!!



Sunday, December 12, 2010

On the first day of Christmas my Mommie Dearest gave to me....

I'm an only child and my Mom being a young single Mom trying to make ends meet wanted to make Christmas special she always really went all out around the holidays. I remember making ornaments and stringing popcorn(we only did this once it was way too messy) and making snow flakes with scrap paper. She always had my school crafts and art work around the house. Matter of fact she still has a construction paper Santa I made when I was 8 that has moving arms and legs! Ha!

Well one Christmas I was about 7 or 8 Mommie Dearest(yes I call her that to her face, she likes it. She refers to herself by this as well) she decided to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with me as our own special tradition.

She never spends a lot per gift but as a kid it was always fun stuff like cool hair ties or crafty things and of course toys. I think my fav was the light up Santa pins or the Rudolph pins that had a light up nose.

Even when she lived in MO she sent home a box and the gifts were numbered. Mind you I'm 35 now and I still love the 12 days of Christmas!

So yes kids I am spoiled and I am a brat and I call my mom Mommie Dearest and she likes it!!

Happy first Day of Christmas!!

Enjoy and Keep on Making Stuff!

This is what I got today, it's a I BELIEVE IN SANTA wooden ornament! I love it!!