Brownie Pudding

Best. Dessert. Ever.  If you have been to The New Theatre Restaurant, it tastes exactly like their Chocolate Cobbler.  I could not stop thinking about this dessert for about 24 hours.  I told just about everyone at work about it the next day, including all my kids.  It is a good thing I halved the recipe because it was completely gone in two days.  If you love rich chocolate, you must make this.  And you must serve it warm with ice cream.  The second day I tried to be a little healthier (like that matters when you are eating the best dessert ever??) and ate it with frozen light cool whip which was good, but not as good as the ice cream.  The recipe says that it will appear very under-baked because it is between a brownie and a pudding.  So do not be alarmed that it is not done - it is extremely gooey.  The second day it firmed up slightly.  Derrick actually liked it better the second day, but I thought it was the best right out of the oven.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder (I used a little extra)
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
vanilla ice cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter or spray a 2-quart (9x12x2 inch) oval baking dish or a 9x13 baking dish.  You will need a slightly bigger dish to place this dish in while you cook it with a water bath.  For example you can place a 9x13 inside a 15x17.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow.  Meanwhile, combine the cocoa powder and flour and set aside.

When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla and the cocoa powder/flour mixture.  Mix only until combined.  With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.

Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan.  Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour.  A cake tester or toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean.  This was hard for me to tell - the toothpick was not very clean but I assumed that it had to be ok if it was in the oven that long!
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.  You basically have to scoop it out of the pan with a spoon rather than cutting it like brownies.

I halved the recipe and used an 8x8 pan in a 13x9 water bath pan.  I baked it for 43 minutes in the convection oven.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

I am not a gardener.  I cannot keep anything alive.  However, after my friends Becky and James planted an entire vegetable garden, perennial flowers, and about 12 different herbs, I started to think maybe I could handle a couple small plants.  I have been wanting to grow my own cilantro and basil for awhile now so that we could always have it available for cooking.  Especially cilantro.  I love adding it to basically any Mexican dish, and definitely salsa.  So Derrick took me to home depot and got me all set up with a couple of planter boxes, soil, a small cilantro and basil plant, and a bunch of seeds.  Our neighbor suggested we plant not only the seeds but also an actual small starter plant.  So far - they are still alive!

 

We did have a slight setback with the basil when the grill rolled to the end of the patio during a storm and nearly smashed the basil plant.  But it seems to be hanging in there.  I have even picked some of the basil a few times to add to some Italian recipes.  Derrick's mom is an amazing gardener.  She got me some cute, pink gardening gloves in my Easter basket.  And she talked me into doing just one tomato plant.  Well, maybe one regular tomato plant and one cherry tomato plant.  Have not attempted that yet, but I am planning on giving it a try.  Then we could make home grown salsa...

Needless to say I have been intrigued by cilantro recipes since I have been growing my own.  I did not have huge hopes for this shrimp but was excited to use our own cilantro to make it.  It turns out I was extremely pleasantly surprised - it was one of the best dinners I have made!  We served it over Mexican rice.  But, you could serve it over any rice or pasta or even salad or use it to fill tortillas.  I cannot wait to make it again!

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
salt
pepper
garlic powder or minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 lime

Heat a large frying pan to medium-heat.  Add the oil to the pan.  When the oil is hot add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper.  When the shrimp is cooked on one side, about 2 minutes, turn over and add the garlic and red pepper flakes.

Saute another couple minutes until shrimp is cooked and pink.  Do not overcook.  Remove from heat.  Squeeze lime all over shrimp and toss with cilantro.

I was glad to have Derrick to squeeze the lime.  He drained that thing dry!

Snickerdoodle Bread

Derrick loves Snickerdoodles.  They are probably his favorite cookie.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and was hopeful that he would love it because it said, "If you like sweet bread and you like Snickerdoodles, you will love this recipe!" It also categorized it as dessert, but it is the perfect breakfast for us.  It took a little planning to make - it seemed like every time we had a day off together I was missing an ingredient even though I was SURE that I had everything the night before.  I halved the recipe and made it in one loaf pan.  Next time I am definitely going to make the whole recipe because I was right - Derrick loved it!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon - I probably tripled this amount - Derrick loves cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream
1 package Hersey's cinnamon chips - optional
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon - I used much more

Cream butter, sugar, and cinnamon until fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well.  Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until well combined.  Add cinnamon chips and stir. (I left these out on purpose because I thought it would be delicious without which it was!)  Pour into two loaf pans (should be about 2/3 full).  Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over batter in pans.  Bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes then remove from pan.

Baked Crab Rangoon

Mmmmmmmm.  Crab Rangoon.  Derrick and I love it.  We have several Chinese recipes that we make at home including Sweet and Sour chicken and General Tso's chicken, and I always think that this sure would be good with some crab Rangoon!  I am not a big fan of frying things so when I found this baked crab Rangoon recipe on Pinterest, I definitely wanted to try it!

They turned out good and I probably ate about six of them.  And they really did go well with the General Tso's chicken we had that night, but they definitely were not the fried, restaurant quality-type.  But sometimes that is what you get when you make things healthier...

They actually seemed to taste better when Derrick made them in the nice flower shape.  My plain folded over ones weren't quite as good.

It says you really have to push all the air out before you seal them so that they don't explode in the oven.  I did this but as you can see from the pictures, it didn't help.  They still leaked.  Sigh.  Oh well.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons low fat sour cream
8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
1 green onion, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup white crab meat, drained
wonton wrappers
Sweet and Sour Sauce for dipping

Combine sour cream, cream cheese, green onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sugar in a bowl.  Fold in crab.  Lay out 4 wonton wrappers at a time and place about 1 tablespoon filling into the center.  Wet two sides and fold the wonton wrapper over.  Press down to seal tightly, making sure to press around the filling first to remove any air pockets.  Preheat oven to 415 degrees.  Place crab rangoon on a foil-lined, non-stick sprayed baking sheet and spray the tops with more non-stick spray.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. 
Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

Alfredo Lasagna

Congratulations, Keith and Marcie!  My little brother is getting married!  We couldn't be happier to have Marcie as part of our family!

To celebrate their engagement, Derrick and I had them over for dinner.  I struggled with deciding what to make.  They had us over soon after we were engaged and Marcie made DELICIOUS chicken and steak fajitas and homemade salsa paired with margaritas!  Hard to top that!!  I decided on this Cordon Blue Lasagna from the Tast of Home Almost Homemade cookbook I got at the Sunset Ridge Book Fair.  I love this cookbook because the recipes are easy, quick, and delicious with a low number of ingredients - just my style!  Many of the recipes use Alfredo sauce from a jar which is an easy way to make everything more delectable!  I tweaked the recipe a little using all chicken instead of cubed ham since Derrick is not much of a ham fan unless it is like Easter ham.  And it calls for 2/3 mozzerella cheese and 1/3 swiss cheese to make it more like Cordon Bleu.  I decided to use an Italian blend shredded cheese which included mozzerella, provolone, parmesan, and asiago.  Here's my version of the recipe:

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tabelspoons minced fresh parsley, divided
2-4 cups cubed cooked chicken (depends on how much meat you want in your lasagna)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (I always cook a couple extra in case they break)
3 cups Itailian cheese blend (or just mozzerella)

Combine eggs (don't forget to lightly beat first), ricotta, cottage cheese, Parmesan, and 1/4 cup parsley.  Set aside.  In another bowl, combine the Alfredo sauce, chicken, and garlic powder.

Spread 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture in the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.  Layer with half the noodles and ricotta mixture.  Top with half of the remaining chicken mixture and half of the cheese.  Top with the rest of the noodles, ricotta, chicken mixture and cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Uncover, bake 10 minutes longer.  Let stand a few minutes before serving.  Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is one of our favorite quick and easy dinners.  Derrick first made this for me back when we first started dating.  We both love Chinese - and the sweet and sour sauce makes it soooo good!  Next time we make it I'm going to try a crab ragoon recipe I got from Pinterest.

1 tablespoon oil
1 pound boneless skiness chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen stir-fry vegetables - we leave this out and just do the pineapple
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cups MINUTE white or brown (or mixture) rice, uncooked
1/2 cup sweet 'n sour sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken.  Cook and stir until cooked through.

Add vegetables (optional) and pineapple with juice.  Mix well.  Stir in chicken broth.  Bring to a boil.

Stir in rice.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.  Stir in sweet and sour sauce.  We drizzle a little extra on top, too.

Makes 4 servings.

Cheesy Potato Rice Soup and Beer Bread

Both of these recipes are from SOUPer Friday (the Friday before the Super Bowl at work where we brought in soups, breads, etc. for lunch).  The soup is from Becky Keith who is an excellent cook.  I have tried several of her recipes.  I made this one night that my brother, Keith, came over for dinner.  He really liked it and so did Derrick.  I was worried Derrick wouldn't like it because he usually isn't a fan of wild rice.  I'm glad I gave it a shot because he liked it a lot!  The beer bread is very interesting because it is so simple.  The beer acts as the yeast and allows it to rise.  I'm sure the butter on top is part of what makes it delicious - it has a very unique flavor and is very dense and filling.  I will be making this bread more often!  Thanks, Martha Vyhanek, for the recipe!

Cheesy Potato Rice Soup
1 box Uncle Ben's Fast Recipe Wild Rice
8 ounces Velveeta (I use white velveeta)
4 cups milk
1 can cream of potato soup

Make rice as directed in a large pot.  Add other ingredients, melt over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Total cook time 30-45 minutes.  Some variations are to add some vegetables (shredded carrots, diced celery, onions, or 1-2 diced potoatoes).

Beer Bread
3 cups of self-rising flour
5 tablespoons sugar
1 beer at room temperature (oops mine was straight from the fridge - wonder if that made a difference?)
1 stick butter (I used half a stick to cut SOME calories)

Mix first 3 ingredients together.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Melt butter and pour on top.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Store in a zip lock bag.