Hershey's Chocolate Cake

Hershey's Chocolate Cake

1 chocolate cake mix

1 small package chocolate instant pudding

3 Tbsp Hershey’s chocolate syrup

3 Tbsp heavy cream (Mix together with chocolate syrup— the two of them will total 1/3 cup then add to batter)

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

2 cups sour cream (16 oz tub)

1 bag of chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together, pour into greased bunt pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  You don’t want to overcook, that way it will be moist.  Keep in bunt pan until cool enough to touch.  Serve warm.  Yum!! Yum!!

Chocolate Sauce (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips or Hershey kisses

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp butter

Combine milk and butter in glass container.  Heat in Microwave for 1 min.  Pour chocolate chips into hot mixture.  Stir until they have all melted and well mixed.  Pour over cake or individual pieces.  

I had a luncheon at my house and my friend brought this for dessert.  After I had one bite, I knew I needed to ask her for the recipe.  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Bites

Ingredients 

• 1 cup dry oats (old fashioned, instant, or a mix of the two)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• dash of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla optional

Instructions

Add the nut butter and honey and stir to combine well. Add the all of the other ingredients and stir to combine well.

Refrigerate the mixture for about 30 minutes.

Use a spoon to scoop about a tablespoon of the cookie ball mixture into your hand. Roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining mixture. This should make about 12 oatmeal energy balls.

Store the balls covered in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for much longer.

I got this recipe from a family member who brought this treat to my daughter to have on hand and enjoy after the birth of her baby.  She said that she switched out the 1/4 cup peanut butter with 1/4 cup of almond butter.  You can get the recipe on this website:  https://www.blessthismessplease.com/wprm_print/8-no-bake-oatmeal-energy-balls or by clicking here.  You can get another recipe for Energy Bites on this blog by clicking here.  

  

Healthy Cookies - No Sugar! No Flour!

HEALTHY COOKIES - NO SUGAR! NO FLOUR!

INGREDIENTS:

3 mashed bananas (ripe)

1/3 cup apple sauce

2 cups oats

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 cup raisins or nuts

1 cup good dark chocolate chunks (Lily’s brand is my fave)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together and

bake for 15-20 minutes.

I saw this on my Facebook feed. Click

 here for  the link to the Facebook page called Quicker Recipe 

Honey Lime Chicken of Pork Enchiladas

yield: 8 SERVINGS

 

prep time: 1HOUR HR

cook time: 30MINUTES MINS

total time: 1HOUR HR 30MINUTES MINS

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons honey
• 5 to 6 tablespoons lime juice, 2 to 3 large limes
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon coarse, kosher salt
• ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon black pepper, I use coarsely ground
• 2 pounds chicken, cooked and shredded - about 4 cups total (see note)
• 8 to 10 (6 to 8-inch) flour or corn tortillas
• 4 cups about 1 pound shredded Monterey jack cheese, (or a combo of cheddar and Monterey Jack)
• 16 ounces green enchilada sauce (see note)
• 1 cup heavy cream, sour cream, or half-and-half
• Additional Toppings, optional: sour cream, chopped tomatoes, extra lime wedges, avocado, chopped cilantro

INSTRUCTIONS 

• In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, lime juice, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Place the shredded chicken in a resealable bag or other covered container. Pour the marinade over the chicken and toss until the chicken is evenly coated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.
• Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.
• Fill flour tortillas with chicken (save the leftover marinade!) and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the leftover marinade and the the cream (or sour cream/half-and-half).
• Spread sauce evenly on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until brown and crispy on top. Serve with chopped tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, extra lime wedges, chopped cilantro, and/or avocado.

NOTES

Nutrition Facts: the nutrition facts for this recipe were calculated based on the enchiladas (but do not include the optional toppings as those are added based on personal preference). 

Chicken: a rotisserie chicken works great in this recipe. Or, this is my go-to quick stovetop method for making cooked, shredded chicken at home. Otherwise, I often throw chicken breasts in the Instant Pot with 1 cup broth and some salt and pepper and cook for 8-12 minutes at high pressure and then shred (discarding liquid).

Sauce: here is an easy, delicious recipe for homemade green enchilada sauce. Green salsa also works for this dish (slightly different flavor profile and the consistency is a bit thinner than enchilada sauce). Also, if you want to skip the cream in the topping all together, you can mix the remaining green enchilada sauce or salsa with the leftover marinade and spread that over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.

Freezable Meal: freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top. The tortillas may be a bit softer after freezing and baking.

©Mel's Kitchen Cafe — https://www.melskitchencafe.com/honey-lime-enchiladas/

Rachel got me hooked up with this recipe from Mel's Kitchen cafe. (see link above this paragraph)  She said when she made it she used one whole rotisserie chicken meat from Costco.  Click onto Mel's link here to get more details about the recipe.  Below is a picture of Rachel's batch that she made.  She used mission whole wheat tortillas. 

Let's Talk Turkey

 Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Read on......

I remember a Thanksgiving 30+ years ago.  Scott's sister and their family pulled up as I was taking our Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven.  As I went to carve the meat, a bunch of pink juice came out from the pink meat.  Obviously, the meat wasn't done.  Back into the oven the turkey went, and we ate our meal quite a bit later. 

Fast forward 30+ years and what I've learned from that Thanksgiving Day Disaster. 

The answer to the question:  Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Cook your turkey a day or two before Thanksgiving.  These are pictures of Scott and I yesterday (two days before Thanksgiving).  

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Pour chicken broth over the turkey, then cover the pan with tin foil, and into the fridge it goes until Thanksgiving day.  Warm it in the oven just before your holiday feast.  

Now the best part...Enjoy your clean kitchen Thanksgiving morning.   

....that is until you start making the potatoes, stuffing, etc. 

Can Anything Good Come Out of Having a Broken Microwave?

Humanity has lived without microwaves for 200,000 years.  Why, then, was it soooooo hard for us to live without a microwave for one week when our microwave broke a couple of weeks ago? How were we to defrost our frozen food?   How could we heat up our leftovers?  Was there anything good that could come out of having a broken microwave for a week?????

Surprising, something good did come out of having a broken microwave.  What was that, you ask?  It was the discovery of the air fryer.  Months ago, I had heard that an air frier was a must have.  So, an air frier I bought.  After I bought it, I tried cooking broccoli in it.  I wasn’t impressed.  I heard I could make french fries out of cut-up potatoes in my air fryer.  Once again, I wasn’t impressed.  So, in the back of my pantry shelf it sat for months. 

Now enter, my broken microwave.  After a failed attempt to heat up my leftover frozen enchiladas in a ziplock bag in boiling water, I remembered my air frier.  I took my soggy enchiladas out of the ziplock bag and stuck them into my air fryer.  It was love at first bite.  The enchiladas were crispy and delicious. The next night we heated up our leftover chicken tortilla casserole.  Once again, we were elated.  Another night we heated up our leftover homemade macaroni and cheese. Our mac and cheese never tasted better. We cooked some yummy butternut squash in our air fryer.

Let’s just say that now our air fryer has a new position on my pantry shelf.  

Front and center.

Here we are installing our new microwave after a week without one.

It's good to have a microwave back in our lives...

...along with our air fryer discovery that has revolutionized our cooking at the Magpad. 

Instant Pot Refried Beans

 Ingredients

• 3 cups dry pinto beans
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, or lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

Instructions

How to cook pinto beans in a pressure cooker

1. Put dry beans in the reservoir of your Instant Pot and add enough water to cover the beans by 4-5″ or so. Soak eight hours or overnight. Drain beans then add onions, garlic, and 4-1/2 cups water to the pot. (If you just need cooked pinto beans, leave out the onions and garlic.) Be sure that the ingredients don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker as mentioned in the Instant Pot manual.
2. Close and lock the lid, turning the steam valve to "sealed." Using the manual setting, enter 28 minutes and walk away. When the cycle completes, use the natural release method. Simply let the pressure come down on its own until the lid unlocks. (About 20 minutes.)

Instant Pot refried beans

1. use a slotted spoon to remove beans from cooking liquid, retaining the cooking liquid. Transfer to a bowl to use an immersion blender or the bowl of a food processor. Process until beans are a creamy consistency, adding cooking liquid as necessary to reach desired consistency. 
2. If you don’t have either of these tools, get out your potato masher – that’ll work, too.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients.
4. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to a week.

Notes

Makes approximately the equivalent of 5 – 16oz cans of refried beans.

With the Instant Pot, you can easily go from hard, dry pinto beans to fully cooked beans in an hour. But soaking beans before cooking them can make them more digestible. And for many people that means fewer...side effects.

If you opt not to soak your beans you'll need to use more water. In that case, I'd cover the beans by 3" of water. Just be sure that you don't exceed the halfway mark in the cooker.

You can get more details and tips about the recipe by clicking onto the website here.  (attainable-sustainable.net)

For my birthday this year, Rachel had me over for dinner and taught me how to make these as we prepared them together.  It was super easy.  We used an immersion blender to "mash up" the beans.  I've never used an immersion blender before.  I don't know how I've lived without one.  Rachel also taught me everything I need to know about an Instant Pot.   

Broccoli Salad Recipe

2 bunches broccoli flowerets

1 lb bacon cooked and diced

1/2-1 cup raisins 

1 diced apple

1 1/2 c grated Jack cheese

1 1/2 c sunflower seeds (If desired) 

1/2 c purple onion diced 

Dressing:

1 1/2 c mayonnaise 

3 Tbs sugar

3Tbsp red wine vinegar

I attended a family luncheon after my Sister-in-law's funeral service.  It was so nice to gather as a family and enjoy having a meal together. We appreciate the service that was for our family.  As I thanked the ladies who served us, I asked for the recipe for the broccoli salad that was served.  It was soooo good.  

Banana Muffins (my favorite banana recipe)

 

I have lots of banana muffin/bread/bar recipes on this blog, and this, by far, is my favorite!  I found it on my Facebook feed and it came from this website:  

 https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/banana-muffins/

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas)
• 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted (or melted coconut oil)
• 2/3 cup (135g) packed light or dark brown sugar (or coconut sugar)*
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk*
• optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. In a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, mash the bananas. On medium speed, beat or whisk in the melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, then beat or whisk until combined. If adding nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now. Batter will be thick.
3. Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 12–14 total minutes at 350°F (177°C).) Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
4. Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

5. Notes

• Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
• Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | 12-Count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners
• Why the initial high temperature? The hot burst of air will spring up the top of the muffin quickly, then the inside of the muffin can bake for the remainder of the time. This helps the muffins rise nice and tall.
• Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to substitute whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour or use a mix of both as long as you use 1 and 1/2 cups total. If using all whole wheat flour, add another Tablespoon (15ml) of milk.
• Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
• Sugar: You can use 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar or coconut sugar. Or a mixture of these to yield 2/3 cup. If using 2/3 cup coconut sugar, the muffins won’t be as sweet. I find they taste best with 2/3 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup of each. 2/3 cup of honey or pure maple syrup works too, though the muffins will taste a little more moist in the centers. I’m unsure about sugar substitutes, but let me know if you try any.
• Milk: Use your favorite variety of dairy or nondairy milk.
• Banana Bread: Here’s my favorite banana bread recipe. 🙂