Category Archives: Recipes

White Bean Enchiladas

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Veronica

A vegetarian friend asked if beans could be used in place of the chicken when I posted my recipe for chicken enchiladas. I recommended using white beans and then liked the idea so much I decided to try it myself. My husband and Dad like them even better than the original, I like them about the same (which is a lot) and my Mom and sister hated them. But the majority vote wins and my oppinion is the only one that really counts, anyway.

White Bean Enchiladas

2 cans Cannellini (white kidney) beans

1 (16-oz) tub sour cream

2 (4-oz) cans green chiles, drained

¾ cup chopped onion

6 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend (Cheddar, Monterray Jack, (reserve 2 cups for topping)

2 tsp garlic powder, or to taste

2 tsp salt, or to taste

20 flour tortillas

3 cans enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 9×13 pans with cooking spray and set aside.

For the filling:

Drain and rinse one can of beans. Put in a large bowl and mash them, then drain and rinse the other can and add them to the bowl along with everything else (minus the 2 cups of cheese for topping later). Taste the mixture when you’re adding the salt and garlic powder so you stop before you add too much. Stir until well incorporated.

Assemble the enchiladas:
Warm the first bag of tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds (I leave them in the bag). Put about 1/3 cup filling in each one and roll. Line them up in the pans until both are full. Pour 1 ½ cans of enchilada sauce over each pan and use a spoon or pastry brush to distribute over any dry parts of tortillas that didn’t get any sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle 1 cup of reserved cheese over each pan and return to oven for another 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Chocolate Cherry Cordial Cake

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Veronica

I had today off and finally had the time to make a cake for the December babies in my family–Dennis, Danielle and Lacey. Yes, I’m horrible. Yes, I’m the worst wife and sister on the planet. Yes, I only made one cake for all three birthdays. And I didn’t even bother decorating it. But there were NO complaints, let me tell you. I do not have the vocabulary to express just how awesome the flavor of the buttercream is. If you like cherry cordials, you’ll love this cake.

I know not many will appreciate this blog since it’s New Year’s Day and you most likely wrote “LOSE WEIGHT” at the top of your resolutions (again), but save the recipe for Valentine’s Day–by then you’ll have lost enough weight to afford a slice and your sweetheart will be clamoring for cake since you banned it from the house for the last two months.

Chocolate Cherry Cordial Cake

1 Devil’s Food Cake, prepared according to package directions
1 recipe Cherry Chocolate Buttercream (recipe follows)
Marashino/Candied/Fresh cherries
Sliced almonds (optional)
Dark chocolate chips (optional)

Frost the cake with the buttercream and embellish with the cherries, almonds and chocolate chips or whatever else you want to use.

Cherry Chocolate Buttercream

3 sticks butter, room temperature, soft
4 ½ cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon cherry extract
¼ cup + 2 tbsp. milk
1 1/3 cups cocoa powder
1 ½ oz. melted semisweet chocolate

Beat butter; Add sugar and mix until moistened. Add salt, extract, milk, and chocolates. Beat until fluffy and desired consistency, several minutes. Makes enough to fill and frost two 8 or 9 inch layers, plus more for decorating.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting and tagged birthday, chocolate cherry cordial cake, easy, romantic, special occasion cake, Valentine's Day. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Veronica

I’ve made a lot of fudge this year and I’ve finally come up with a basic fudge recipe that I really like. It is non-temperamental, doesn’t require that you heat it to a certain temperature, doesn’t get grainy, and is rich and dense and gooey. You can use it as a base and add different things like nuts, liqueur, or candy. Here’s the basic recipe and notes on how to turn it into the dark chocolate peppermint fudge (my picture shows just the regular fudge with the peppermint but I later tried using dark chocolate, which I think tastes better with the peppermint).

Veronica’s Basic Fudge

1 (12-oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Fill a medium saucepan about 2 inches deep with water. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, dump everything but the vanilla and nuts in a metal bowl and set it on top of the saucepan so that it’s suspended over the hot water. Stir the contents intermittently while it heats, until everything is melted and thoroughly combined. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and nuts (if you are using). Pour into a buttered 8×8″ pan and refrigerate at least overnight before cutting. Makes about 2 lbs. Lasts forever (I’ve kept some up to two months without it getting dry or going bad) tightly covered at room temperature.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Fudge: substitute dark chocolate chips (I use Hershey’s Special Dark) and sprinkle Andes peppermint baking chips on top once the fudge is poured in the dish and smoothed. You don’t have to wait for it to cool first. You could also use crushed peppermints if you don’t mind crunchy fudge.

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Posted in Candy and tagged andes peppermint chips, basic fudge, dark chocolate peppermint fudge, easy, fast. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

Posted on December 22, 2008 by Veronica

With my passion for baking, it’s a wonder I haven’t tried baking treats for Jessie until now. It’s more time consuming than throwing a bag in the shopping cart, but they’re much healthier and she loves them enough to make it worth the extra effort.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

3 c whole wheat flour

½ c old-fashioned rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

¼ c wheat germ

1 ½ c milk

1 ¼ c peanut butter

1/3 c molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix peanut butter, milk and molasses until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients (knead by hand if necessary). Roll to ¼ inch thick. Cut into shapes and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 20 minutes. Turn off oven and leave inside until it is cool. Store in an airtight container.

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White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Veronica

So far the post office has not been working us overtime–they’ve been letting us go home early instead! My Christmas miracle! :)

Anyway, I’m trapped indoors b/c driving in the snow terrifies me. I wanted to make some chocolate covered pretzels but since I can’t leave to buy the pretzels (four pounds of almond bark and nothing to coat!), I decided to make something with what I had. So I made some fudge with Ande’s peppermint baking pieces on top and then some white chocolate cherry chunkies from the lard Queen, Paula Deen.

But they turned out pretty awful. What is wrong with me? I knew when I opened the macadamia nuts that they were rancid. Yes, nuts go rancid. I had them in the freezer (which makes them last 20 times longer) but I bought them on clearance so they were probably rancid before I even froze them. Then I left them in the freezer for a year. So I took a delicious recipe and totally ruined it b/c of my stubborn refusal to substittute the macadamias for another nut (I have three other kinds, people!). I’m so mad. You can tell the cookie is good and it’s only the crappy nuts messing with the flavor. I hate failing.

So I’m going to take them to the post office and let my co-workers choke on them b/c I can’t bring myself to throw them away. They get to eat all my baking failures that I leave anonymously on the counter with a note to “help yourself.” Pretty soon they’re just going to start chucking the cookies, cakes and brownies that get left on the counter b/c they’re sick of they’re eyes going crossed and the diarreah that follows soon after.

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup candied cherries
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined. Set aside.

Sift together flour, soda, and salt. Add milk to the butter mixture and then add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Batter should be stiff.

In another bowl, combine nuts, cherries, and white chocolate. Then add to batter, stirring only to blend. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

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Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Posted on December 6, 2008 by Veronica

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, or any blog for that matter, and since my December schedule (aka 72 hours/wk all month) starts tomorrow, I figured I’d better post one before I have even less time than I already do.

So Den graduated composite class at WATC Wednesday and I decided to send him to school with a cake to celebrate. This also happened to coincide with a ridiculous sale Dillons was having on raspberries–$1 per pint–so I decided I would have to incorporate them into the cake and came up with this dark chocolate-raspberry confection.

To make it, just use the raspberry buttercream on a devil’s food cake or dark chocolate cake (I included my favorite if you don’t have one of your own), press sliced almonds into the sides and accent with fresh raspberries (dipped in ganache if you want) and ganache drizzle. The frosting is light and fluffy and perfectly compliments the chocolate cake. It is my favorite cake of any I have ever made but I know individual tastes vary.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Cake:
1 dark chocolate fudge cake mix
2 tablespoons dutch process cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark works)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ cup oil
½ cup sour cream
1 cup water
3 eggs

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 lbs powdered sugar
¼ cup seedless raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon raspberry extract

Ganache:
½ cup heavy cream
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Garnish:
Sliced almonds
Fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour (or use miracle pan release) two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans with 2″ high sides.

Beat cake ingredients on low until moistened, then on medium speed for two minutes, scraping sides of bowl. Pour into the prepared pans, filling 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in tins for 5 minutes, then remove onto cooling rack to cool completely.

While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Cream the butter and cream cheese, then beat in the remaining ingredients. Once the cakes are completely cool to the touch, trim the dome off the tops if necessary, then place the first layer top-side up on a cake plate and spread 1/3 of the frosting over it. Place the second top-side down on top and then spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides. Scoop sliced almonds into your palm and press into the sides of the cake, repeating until covered.

Prepare the ganache: combine the cream and chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for one minute at 50% power, then stir until it is shiny and smooth (this may take a while but you should not need to heat it any further unless your microwave operates at less than 1000 watts). Alternatively, you can place the cream and chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat and stir until melted, shiny & smooth. While it is still liquid, dip the raspberries half way, if you wish, and set them on wax paper to set. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, I think it only took a few minutes b/c it won’t be very hot to begin with, then drizzle over cake with a pastry bag or a spoon or fork. Place raspberries on top and around the bottom edge. Serve at room temperature.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting and tagged dark chocolate raspberry cake, romantic, special occasion cake, Valentine's Day. Bookmark the permalink.

7-Layer Salad

Posted on October 5, 2008 by Veronica

When attending a potluck dinner, I try to bring a dish that does not need to be heated as there are usually so many others that do I’m afraid mine won’t fit into the oven. For the 31st annual Davis Family Pig Roast, I decided to bring a salad but needed one that didn’t requre squirting dressing on top since that would hold up the (very long) food line.

I settled on a recipe titled 7 Layer Salad but I of course turned it into my own creation with all sorts of plant life uncalled for in the original version. And it did not suffer for it. So feel free to play around and adjust this one to your tastes. And don’t freak out about the Miracle Whip like I did when I read the recipe. It actually tastes really good. But if you can’t stand the idea of Miracle Whip on salad, you could probably squirt some ranch on top to no ill effect. Except you’d lose the sweetness and that is always a downer in my book.

Update 11-24-09: I’ve now made this salad several times and the recipe below includes revisions I’ve made over time. It always goes over very well at potlucks. I’m bringing it to Thanksgiving (second year in a row) in a couple days.

7 Layer Salad
Adapted slightly from Recipe Zaar

Dressing
2 cups Miracle Whip
1/4-1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons sugar

Whisk dressing ingredients together, starting with 1/4 cup milk and adding more if dressing is not as thin as you like. I like putting my salad in a 9×13 dish rather than a bowl so that you can get all the way to the bottom each time you scoop out the salad. If you decide to do this too, it makes it easier to spread the dressing if you add more milk. You don’t necessarily have to add any milk if you don’t have far to spread it, such as in a trifle dish.

Salad
Layer the ingredients, in this order, in your dish. Use a clear dish for a pretty presentation

1 head lettuce, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas, uncooked
Dressing
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup crumbled bacon

Directions

Cover the dish with plastic and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Fully Loaded Buffalo Chili & Sweet Corn Muffins

Posted on October 4, 2008 by Veronica

I made up a batch of chili along with the some sweet corn muffins and thought I’d share my recipes b/c both were fairly easy and were very tasty. Enjoy!

Fully Loaded Buffalo Chili
Makes 4-5 BIG servings

1 lb. ground buffalo (or beef)
2 tsp. chili powder
1 clove minced garlic
2 cans chili-ready beans
2 cans black beans
4 cans chili-ready diced tomatoes (if you only have plain then add some more chili powder to your taste)
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped yellow pepper
1 cup chopped red pepper
2 cups chopped onion
1 can sweet yellow whole kernel corn

Brown the meat in a skillet along with the chili powder over medium heat. Put everything into a stock pot, including the meat, and simmer over low heat for two hours. Or get it hot fast and cook it over medium heat for about 30 minutes so you can eat it with less waiting time. But I like to slow cook it for the flavor development. Serve with Sweet Corn Muffins (below).

Sweet Corn Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Head’s up! This isn’t your typical dry cornbread. It is extremely moist and extremely easy so if you are lazy and like things on the sweet side like me, you’ll love ’em!

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 (14.5-oz) can creamed corn

Mix the two ingredients and bake according to package directions. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

4 Comments

Posted in Lighter Fare, Mexican, Soups & Stews and tagged Buffalo Chili sweet corn muffins. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Ridiculous Cake

Posted on September 29, 2008 by Veronica

Dennis and I were invited to a dinner party at Jean & Romauldo’s house (from Church) on Saturday and I brought this cake for dessert. I call it Chocolate Ridiculous Cake b/c I have a feeling I’m going to be making a lot of ridiculous cakes in my lifetime and I needed a qualifier, chocolate in this case, to specify which kind of ridiculousness I produced. This one’s ridiculousness is two-fold: the amount of time it took me to make it and the sensory overload you experience when you take a bite.

I used Marina’s recipe (thanks, girl!) for Deep Dark Chocolate Cake, torted the layers with butterscotch buttercream, iced the whole thing with velvet milk chocolate buttercream, pressed toffee bits into the sides, and accented it with dark chocolate and butterscotch buttercream & dark chocolate dipped toasted pecans and Heath bar quarters.

I do have to admit that it could have been better (at least to my cake connoisseur tastes–I heard nothing but compliments but I’m a perfectionist). The cake has such a powerful chocolate flavor that the mild chocolate of the buttercream sort of lost the competition in identifying itself on my palate. It was excellent, but I think it would have been better if I would have used a traditional (chocolatier) recipe for chocolate frosting.

My frosting takes a ridiculous (there’s that word again) amount of time to make, especially when compared with the ease of mixing together a traditional powdered sugar and butter frosting. I prefer the velvety texture of classic buttercreams made with a sort of candy base. You boil sugar and corn syrup, then beat egg yolks into the hot mixture until cooled, then beat in butter and flavorings (such as melted and cooled chocolate). It is a lot of work but if I have the time, I try to do use this method b/c it’s worth it. In this case however, I think it would have been worth it to save myself the time!

Chocolate Ridiculous Cake

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Neoclassic Buttercream
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1 bag Heath bits
1 Heath Candy Bar, chopped into 4 pieces
Toasted Pecans (12-20)
1 large bar of dark chocolate
1 tsp. butter

Melt the bag of chocolate chips in a double boiler over a low simmer. Once mostly melted, remove from heat and continue to stir until smooth. Allow to cool COMPLETELY. Set aside 3/4 cup of the prepared buttercream and beat the cooled chocolate into the remaining buttercream.

Melt the butterscotch chips in the same manner and beat the melted chips into the remaining 3/4 cup buttercream once it is cooled.

Combine the dark chocolate and the butter in the double boiler and melt together. Spread the chocolate over the bottom half of each pecan and set on waxed paper. Spread it over half of each of the Heath bar pieces at a diagonal and put them on the waxed paper. Put the chocolate coated pieces in the fridge and set the remaining chocolate aside.

Lay 1 layer of cake on a plate and spread 3/4 of the butterscotch buttercream over it. Top it with the second layer and frost the whole thing with chocolate buttercream. Take handfuls of Heath bits and press them into the sides of the cake.

Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip (I used Wilton tip 3) and fill with the dark chocolate. Pipe it in zigzags around the edge of the cake. With a smaller round tip (I used Wilton 1), pipe the remaining buttercream in a zigzag pattern on top of the dark chocolate.

Press the Heath bar quarters into the middle of the cake with the corners facing each other, leaving room to stand some pecans in the middle of the formation. Press three pecans in the middle.

With whatever remaining buttercream that you have (you’ll probably have more chocolate than butterscotch), pipe a generous dot onto the back of each pecan and apply to the sides of the cake. I put them in the middle but you can put them anywhere you want.

Finally, fit a pastry bag with a large star tip (Wilton 21 ) and fill with chocolate buttercream. Create a border around the bottom edge by piping stars all around. Ta-da! You’ve created a masterpiece that will feed 24 people (the number at the Turner’s dinner party) since only a small sliver is needed to satisfy.

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Posted in Cake & Frosting and tagged chocolate ridiculous cake deep dark milk heath toffee pecans butterscotch. Bookmark the permalink.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Veronica

I have long been of the opinion that if pizza is on the menu, it’s best to order it from Pizza Hut and not mess with a good (well, perfect) thing. Why waste time making my own crust and chopping vegetables when I can just sit my butt down in a chair and wait for someone else to make it? Or, better yet, just stay at home and wait for it to be delivered?

That is until I decided to give a recipe for whole wheat pizza crust a try. Now I find myself making pizza at home more often than dialing for a delivery. It may not be the best recipe out there, but it’s the only one I’ve tried because for me, it was love at first bite. (And the added nutrition form the whole wheat is a bonus too!)

The cool thing about pizza is that you can put pretty much anything between the crust and the cheese and it’s going to taste fabulous. And no matter how much you healthify it–whether it be with a whole wheat crust or tons of veggies–it still tastes like junk food. And if you can stick to one piece (yes, it is possible), then it can be on your diet plan AND it lasts longer that way. It takes Den and me 3 days to eat a large pizza.

Today I used what I had on hand–marinara for the sauce, red onion, mushrooms, green peppers, some leftover hamburger, about a cup of chopped basil and oregano from my backyard and a generous sprinkling of mozzarella. And as always, it was delish!!!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Adapted from a Hodgson Mill recipe

1 package active dry yeast (I use rapid rise/instant*)

1 cup warm water (115 degrees if you’re measuring…I don’t)

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. granulated sugar

½ tsp. salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Put water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Knead in remaining flour by hand and continue to knead for about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Coat the bowl with oil, place dough in the bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover the bowl with a towel and set it in a warm place and allow to rise for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 degrees while you’re waiting.

Spray a large pizza pan (or two small) with no-stick cooking spray. Stretch pizza crust (I press it from the center outward) to fit pan and flute outer edges of dough to hold fillings. Brush on some olive oil, then put on your sauce & toppings. Bake until cheese is melted, about ten minutes. Slice it up and serve it hot!

*If you use rapid rise/rapid acting/instant yeast, skip the dissolving step and just mix it in with everything else. I usually mix it with the dry ingredients, then stir in all the liquid before kneading in the remaining flour. Easy peasy!