Chocolate Eclair Dessert

This dessert was first brought to me by my best friend, Sarah. With a scrumptious dessert like this it is easy to see how we are best friends! She totally won me over with this one and I've been making it every summer since. It is super easy, super delicious and every one that tries it wants the recipe. It's also easy on the wallet!

What You'll Need:
- 1 box graham crackers
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding (I use sugar free, fat free because it taste just the same!)
- 1 container cool whip
- 1 container chocolate frosting
- 13x9 casserole dish

What You'll Need To Do:

The first layer is all graham crackers. Break them to fit.

Mix instant jello pudding with 2 cups cold milk.

Fold in the whole container of cool whip.

Layer like a lasagna - Spread half cool whip.pudding mixture, layer graham crackers, then spread the last of the pudding mixture. 

One more layer of graham crackers. I was low on graham crackers so I really had to break these to fit them!

Melt the chocolate frosting in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Pour over top and spread evenly. 

DONE! Store in the fridge. It's best to let sit over night so everything can meld together and the frosting can set. But it can also be made in the morning and served in the afternoon. 

Layers of deliciousness! Perfect dessert for a cookout, 4th of July celebration or potluck! 

Turkey Meatloaf

I did not grow up eating loaves of meat. In fact, when I first heard of meatloaf I think I gagged a little bit. A loaf of meat - no thanks. My previous vegetarian self stuck up her nose to that. But one day, while watching our usual food network, I saw Bobby Flay make an amazing meatloaf and it was all downhill from there.
When I first saw him make it he used two different kinds of meat (beef and pork) and used about half as much of vegetables as I do. I explain that my "meat"loaf is more vegetable (seriously, it's half vegetable, half turkey.) I started out making it as is, and then tweaked it from there. Now, it seems Bobby has been looking over my shoulder because he also tweaked his to make it leaner with turkey, too. I follow his seasoning and glaze but other than that I go off on my own. Here's his recipe.
Give it a try and see if you're a meatloaf lover now too!

What You'll Need:
- 1 red or yellow bell pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 zucchini and/or yellow squash
- 4-5 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot
- 8 oz mushrooms, coursley chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 package ground turkey
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- Sprinkle of dried thyme and dried parsley (or fresh if you've got it)
- 1/2t red pepper flakes
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup plus 2T balsamic vinegar

What To Do: 

1. Preheat oven to 425. Take the first 5 vegetables and chop them up in the food processor.

Look at all those veggies!

2. Then chop the mushrooms. (I like the texture of mushrooms. I used to process them with the other veggies but they got lost in the mix!) Add all vegetables to a heated non-stick pan with about 2T EVOO. Saute until fragrant and softened - about 5-10 minutes. 

3. Add vegetables to a mixing bowl to let cool (If you have the foresight, then do this ahead of time so you have time to let them cool. I've burnt many a fingers trying to do this too fast.) 

4. Once cooled, add turkey, egg, herbs, cheese, 1/4t red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup ketchup and 2T balsamic vinegar. Mix until combined.

5. Here's another difference: Cover a pan with parchment paper and add the turkey mixture. Form into a loaf shape, about 1-1.5inch thick. (I like this method because it's not sitting in its fat like it will in a loaf pan. Though, it will work just fine in a loaf pan too.) 

6. In a small bowl mix the glaze: 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup balsamic, 1/4t red pepper flakes. Brush over top the loaf.

You like those photog skills!?

 7. Bake for an hour or until set. The house will smell AMAZING. Don't drool too much. Let the loaf sit for a few minutes and then dig in. I love to serve this with Twice Baked Potatoes. There's not really a need for any vegetables because you have so many in the meatloaf! 

Do you see how crusty that glaze gets? It's delicious and awesome. There's hardly any leftovers when I make this but when there is, Den always makes a meatloaf sandwich this next day. Enjoy!!

Tuna Cakes

I'm kicking myself for not having this recipe posted. This is one of my favorite recipes and it is a special treat in our house. The cakes and so flavorful and the spicy mayo totally makes it. I originally got this recipe in a Rachael Ray cook book. The original called for roasted garlic and capers and fresh parsley. Well, let me tell you, I don't have things like that in my fridge and I don't have time to roast garlic all day (except for when it's topped on homemade pizza, thanks Alexis!) I have since perfected it to make it the easiest and most delicious version of itself. Try it for dinner tonight!

What You'll Need:
- 2 cans drained tuna
- 1 clove minced garlic (or half of a large one you can split between the cakes and spicy mayo)
- 1 cup mashed potatoes (This can be from left over from the night before, frozen mashed potatoes that are so convienient, or the boxed instant mashed potatoes. I've used all and all work just fine - though of course, I prefer homamde - sometimes I've got a craving for tuna cakes that needs to be fixed NOW!)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese - about 2 handfuls
- 1/4 cup regular or panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- handful fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (Can be left out or used dried)
- S&P
-Panko breadcrumbs for coating

What You Need To Do:
- Easy as can be: Mix all of the above except panko for coating.

- Form cake patties. I usually get 6 cakes from this, though I believe the original recipe said something like 12...I like mine dinner sized!

- Heat a shallow non stick pan with canola oil (enough to shallow fry them) and set on high heat while you coat the cakes.

- Place cakes safely in the oil and fry on each side until browned. Drain.

- Serve with plenty of spicy mayo

Spicy Mayo:
- 1/2 cup mayo (I only use Dukes Mayo. No if, and's or but's about it.)
- Juice of half a lemon
- Flat leaf parsley (fresh or dried)
- Black Pepper
- Minced garlic (a VERY small clove or the other half from the cakes. It stays raw in both the cakes and mayo so start off with a small amount)
- About 6 drops tabasco sauce - or however much you like. I never measure!

- Mix all together and TASTE!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I thought I had completely abandoned this poor recipe blog...But lately I've been in a crazy cooking mood (minus that one week where my house was a stuffy 83 degrees and I did not even want to look at my oven, let alone use it!) But I'm back at it...so here's the latest recipe I've tried and LOVED.

It's basically the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe on the top of the Quaker Oats lid. Seriously. I had searched all day for a recipe to soothe my chocolate fix. I love, love, love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Not to be confused with Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies which are equally amazing and hold a special place in my heart. There's a time and place for every cookie.

What You will Need:
- 1 stick + 6T butter, softened
- 3/4 firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 t vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups AP flour (I use half wheat/half white)
- 1 t baking soda
- 1/2 t salt
- 3 cups Oats (quick or old fashioned)
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (and an extra little handful for good luck...or if you're a chocoholic like me.)

What to do:

- Preheat oven to 350. Line some baking sheets with parchment paper.

- Beat butter and sugars together until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla.

- In a smaller bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda.

- Add flour to butter-sugar-goodness. I do this in two steps, with a rubber spatula.

- Add oats and chocolate chips and fold in until combined.

- Drop by spoonfuls. I did about 2-big heaping Tablespoons full.

- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Mine took more like 12-14 minutes.

(I had also cooled my dough in the fridge while I made dinner. Then while we ate dinner I baked the cookies off so we had fresh baked cookies for dessert. It rocked. Why did I not think of this before!? I felt totally together too. I got this baking thing.)

Try them. Eat too many of them. Share them with friends. To my knowledge baked goods never stay good for long and I end up with a crumbly mess by the third or fourth day so I've gotten better about giving away goods to everyone ;-) Want to be my neighbor!?

Roasted Chicken

I finally made a roasted chicken! YES! It was juicy and delicious and I used the leftovers to make avocado chicken salad and now today I am going to make my own chicken stock! YUP!

The only thing wrong with it? I cooked it upside down. Hahaha....yeaaaaaah. So my brown-herbed-skin was the bottom. Not really a big deal considering we don't eat the skin and maybe being upside down made the breasts juicer, who knows. It was still awesome. And I think cost effect considering how expensive meat is these days. I got at least 2-3 meals from the meat and will have stock for soups.

I kind of followed this outline from Martha Stewart. I added butter, rosemary, garlic and a bit of lemon juice under the skin. And I also made a gravy from the pan drippings (2T pan drippings, 2T flour - whisked then added 1/2c milk and 1-1.5cups chicken stock until it was to my desired consistency. I added a bit of chopped rosemary at the end. DELICIOUS!)

I'll be sure to let you know how the stock goes. Right now I'm debating on doing it on the stove top after nap time or putting it in the slow cooker now and letting it go 12-24 hours (as some sites say!)

Teriyaki Chicken, Strawberry Cobbler & Tofu Nuggets

I'm not being very creative with my subject lines, am I? The simple fact is, I need a place to keep track of my recipes: Ones I've tried and loved, ones I've tweaked, ones that I've made up - and this just happens to be a very good place to do it. I think in a whimsical way too that one day I can package all this up and save it for my Lily Belle. She already loves watching cooking TV with me and helping out in the kitchen we she can. And gracious, that girl can eat! I'm very proud to say that she eats a very wide variety of foods and cuisines! 

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken : I'd been looking for a slow cooker chicken recipe for weeks. I had all this frozen chicken and no recipe that called to me. I had all the ingredients on hand for this one so I gave it a go. Again, I used frozen chicken and it was fine. I also added sesame oil and red pepper flakes. I added toasted sesame seeds at the end and green onions. It was a total hit with the whole family!

This is a made up recipe...I had strawberries on hand that were going bad fast and needed to make something with them. I'd made a strawberry-peach cobbler before but never just plain strawberry. I wasn't sure how it would come out but it was totally divine. I made it just the way I do all my other cobblers: Some kind of fruit, about 2T white sugar, a little lemon juice and 1T cornstarch. Then I add the crumble (my favorite part!) which always consists of  cubed cold butter, oats, brown sugar, a little flower, and cinnamon. I mash all that up and spread it over top. Bake until brown and bubbly!

Best served with a scoop of ice cream. I was craving chocolate and my ice cream reserve has dwindled lately so I went with some old chocolate ice cream. It was really, really good! Best baked up for 2-3 people because it would be some work for a full crowd of people. 

Tofu "Nuggets"

Another made up recipe. I had pinned a recipe for panko crusted tofu but realized too late that I ran out of panko the other day. So I forged ahead with regular italian bread crumbs. I added garlic powder and sesame seeds. I did the flour-egg wash-bread crumb coating and then lightly fried it on all sides in veg oil. I served ours with soy-chili garlic paste mixture. It was okay. I was out of sesame oil and it would've made the dipping sauce better. LB really enjoyed it so I would make it again just for her. 

Pinterest Finds

Some new recipes that I've found on pinterest, tried out, and loved!

Chocolate Chess Pie: This is my kind of dessert. Chocolate heaven. Totally decadent. Perfect with a side of vanilla ice cream!

Blueberry Crumb Bars: I made these for a playgroup. They were a hit and even better the next day with coffee! Definitely a go-to dish for get together.

Grands Unsloppy Joes: I actually saw this on a commercial and made them the next day. Den is always asking for sloppy joes but I never have buns on hand. He loves crescent rolls too so this was destined to be a hit. LB loved being able to pick it up and eat them with her hands too.

Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls: Super easy and really, really good! I'll serve it with some lime-cilantro sour cream next time. LB loved these too!

American Goulash: Now in our dinner line-up. Everyone loved this on a cold , windy day! LB had three helpings!