Molten Chocolate Cakes

I've been drooling over these cakes for a very long time. I finally bought some ramekins so I can make them. They are absolutely delicious! I wish you could see the yummy molten center better in this picture, but trust me, it's amazing! (Recipe courtesy of kraftfoods.com)

Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1. PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Butter four 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes/ramekins. Place on baking sheet.
2. MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with wire whisk. Stir in flour. Divide batter among prepared custard cups.
3. BAKE 13 to 14 min. or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 min. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately, topped with whipped topping.

Rana's Chicken

This is a recipe from my sister-in-law Rana. It's pretty much my favorite chicken recipe ever. All you do is combine the ingredients and brush over chicken (or steak or potatoes or veggies, anything really) while you are cooking it, and it turns out fantastic! It's especially good on grilled chicken.

Ingredients
2 T Lawrys Garlic Salt or 2 tsp. garlic powder if you want it a little less salty
2 T Lawrys Seasoned Salt
2 T Lawrys Seasoned Pepper
3/4 C. Olive Oil

FYI: the mixture will be very thick!

Tres Leches

Corey had this at work and got the recipe for me because it was so good. I've made it several times already and it is absolutely delicious!

Tres Leches

INGREDIENTS
5 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups whole milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
3. Cream butter or margarine and 1 cup of the sugar together until fluffy.
4. Add eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, beat well.
5. Add the flour mixture to the butter or margarine mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, mix until well blended.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
7. Pierce cake several times with a fork.
8. Combine the whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.
9. Whip whipping cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup of the sugar together until thick. Spread over the top of cake.

Be sure and keep cake refrigerated. Enjoy, and don't think about how much it will certainly kill you with all that sugar and milk!

chicken tomatillo stew

I made this for my family one night. Matt and Krista and I liked it. Howard does not like tamale's or limes so it wasn't for him.

Fry a large onion & garlic clove with some olive oil. Add salt, pepper, cumin and ground coriander.

Char broil about 7 tomatillos, onion, jalapeno pepper with some olive oil. When they are nice and brown chop them up discard the seeds from the pepper (unless you like it really hot). Add to other vegetables in a large pot.

Add 2 quarts chicken stock, one shredded chicken just before serving add 1 large can of hominy( I'm going to use fresh corn next time) and a bag of crushed tortilla chips.

Cook until thick, garnish with a large handful of cilantro, lime and cheese.

I got this recipe from Rachel Ray with a few modifications

My Favorites: Chipotle Chili Powder

I love Mexican food. Corey and I probably eat Mexican food 3 out of the 7 days a week. I guess that might be a little excessive, but there are so many different kinds of Mexican food so we don't really get sick of it. I really like spicy food, and one thing that I like to add to almost any Mexican dish I make is chipotle chili powder. It adds a smoky, spicy flavor that really makes food spectacular!

Some ideas to incorporate chipotle chili powder in your food:
*Mix chipotle chili powder with a little cumin, salt, and black pepper and sprinkle on chicken while grilling
*Add a half teaspoon chipotle chili powder with taco seasoning mix to ground beef for tacos
*Add a dash chipotle chili powder to refried beans
*Mix several dashes chipotle chili powder into baked beans
*Sprinkle chipotle chili powder on salsa for an added zip
*Mix with salt and chipotle chili powder and sprinkle on buttered corn on the cob
*Substitute chipotle chili powder for half of the regular chili powder in any recipe

Oven Baked Barbecue Ribs

I love barbecue. Especially ribs, and pulled pork. Basically anything that's been slow cooked and comes off a pig. It all tastes really good. So I had to have a way to make it myself, at home, with no smoker, barbecue, or grill. What I did, being the practitioner of debrouiller that I am, is steal a skillet pork chop recipe from America's Test Kitchen and modify it to suit my purposes. Here you go:

Ingredients-

One rack of pork spare ribs (I don't want to even hear about anyone using beef ribs. That's an abomination that must be stamped out. Pork is where it's at. But I guess you could substitute baby back ribs.) Also make sure this is the non enhanced meat, so that it doesn't already have a brine added.
1/2 cup salt- for the brine

Spice Rub-
1 tablespoon Paprika (I like it better if you use half regular Paprika and half smoked, but do it how you want.)
1 1/4 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Coriander
1 1/4 teaspoons Ground Cumin
1 1/4 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

Sauce-
A little over 1/2 cup Ketchup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons grated onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions-

1- First dissolve the salt in with about 2 quarts of water in a large container to create a brine. Put the ribs (after removing the membrane, from the back side) in the brine, submerging them completely. You may need to cut the rack of ribs into smaller pieces to make it fit. Cover, and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2- Mix the ingredients for the spice rub in a mixing bowl. Try to create a fairly even consistency, especially breaking up any large chunks of brown sugar. Separate out about 2 teaspoons worth to mix into the sauce.

3- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and take the ribs out of the fridge when they are done brining. Pat the ribs dry with a towel, so that the spice rub will stick. Place the ribs on a large baking pan (or I use a cutting board), and coat the outside completely with the spice rub.

4- Wrap the ribs tightly (and I really mean tightly, otherwise you'll lose all the tasty fat) in foil (if you have more than one piece, wrap them all separately), put them on a pan and insert into the 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

5- After 30 minutes turn the heat down to 200 degrees. Leave in the oven for 3 hours.

6- About 30 minutes before the ribs are done take the ingredients for the sauce, whisk them together in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir occasionally for about 15 minutes, then turn off heat.

7- After the 3 hours are up, take the ribs out of the oven. Move the oven rack up to the top position and start the broiler at 500 degrees.

8- Unwrap the ribs carefully, there will be hot liquid fat in there! Take about 2 tablespoons of the fat and add it to the sauce, incorporating it fully. Drain the rest of the fat off.

9- Put the unwrapped ribs back onto the pan and baste the tops with some of the sauce. Just enough to cover them. Place the ribs under the broiler for 5 minutes. This should make the sauce just a little crunchy and caramelized.

10- Serve ribs with the rest of the sauce.

It takes a lot of time, but they're very, very tasty. (and that isn't a picture of when I made them, I stole it from the web)

Danish Dessert

Another one of Corey's favorites. The picture really doesn't do it justice, it's really delicious, but it looks kind of messy!

Danish Dessert

1. Prepare white cake mix according to package directions. Bake in a sheet cake pan for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool completely.

2. Beat 12 oz. softened cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Add 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cool whip and mix. Spread on cooled sheet cake.

3. Prepare 1 pkg. raspberry Danish Dessert using 1-1/2 cups water and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Cook according to package directions and cool. Add 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries or 1 pkg. (12 - 16 oz.) fresh or frozen raspberries. Spread over cream cheese layer.

4. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Enjoy!

*If you want it to look extra fancy either cut the cake in half width-wise or bake the cake in 2 9 x 13 pans and spread half the cream cheese mixture and berry mixture on each layer and stack on top of each other. Spread the edges with additional cool whip and garnish with cool whip and extra berries.

Berry Berry Cobbler

This is a great and easy recipe. It's usually made in a dutch oven, but it can also be made in the oven and turns out great!

1 pkg. (12-16 oz.) frozen blackberries
1 pkg. (12-16 oz.) frozen raspberries
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 can (12 oz.) sprite

Preheat oven t 375 degrees. Mix berries and pour in bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Mix dry cake mix and sprite and spread evenly over berries. Cover with tin foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 - 15 more minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.