My Recipes Box

Lazy Cook's Decadent Chocolate Cake

2018-06-15T04:27:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:

1 box of devil’s food cake mix

1 small package of instant chocolate pudding mix

¾ cup of vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

½ cup strong coffee or espresso (cooled)

2 cups dark chocolate chips

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, vegetable oil, coffee and sour cream. Mix in chocolate cake mix and pudding mix. Stir in chocolate chips and pour batter into well-greased cake pans or bundt pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake for at least an hour before inverting onto a plate.

Optional topping: chocolate ganache, a light dusting of powdered sugar, or fresh berries.

Recipe courtesy of Julia Graff on YouTube.

Spinach and conecuh pie/quiche

2014-11-15T22:41:00.004-08:00

The Goods:
1 small red onion, chopped
1 T Garlic, minced
1 to 1 1/2 link of Conecuh, chopped small
10 to 16 oz fresh Spinach, chopped
1 to 2 cups of cheddar cheese
6 to 8 eggs
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
2 premade frozen pie crusts
Salt and pepper

The How To:
In a large pan, saute red onions and garlic in a little oil. Season with salt and pepper. Once translucent, remove mixture from pan. Add sausage and saute until brown. Add back onion mixture. Slowly add handfuls of spinach and allow to wilt. Once all of the spinach is wilted, taste to determine if more seasoning is needed. Allow filling to cool then add cheese, mixing thoroughly. Equally divide filling into frozen pie crusts. In a bowl, whisk eggs and milk together. You want to break up the whites really well. Pour egg mixture over pie. You either shake the pies or use a folk to make sure it is evenly distributed.

Bake in preheated 350 oven until crust is brown and filling is still slightly jiggly, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Best thing about this recipe is you can do just about anything to the filling. Add more or less of sausage and spinach. Also mushrooms are also really good in this dish.

I know it sounds complicated but I promise it is not. Hope you enjoy.

Tableside Cooking (Nuong Vi or Nhung Bo)

2012-02-28T19:23:00.001-08:00

Sometimes called Vietnamese fajitas, nuong vi is more of a method than a dish or recipe. Nuong vi is where the meats are cook on a hot griddle tableside and then made into summer rolls. In this recipe, I only mention shrimp but my family typically do a trifecta; shrimp, beef and fish. If you're using fish, it needs to be a pretty hardy. Nothing that flakes easily or will fall apart with a little handling.

Summer rolls with shrimp (Photo courtesy: D. Bui)

The Goods:

3 medium/large shrimp per summer roll (about 36)
4 green onions stalks(the white part)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbl of olive oil
salt and pepper
Butter
12 rice paper spring roll wrappers (Banh trang)
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
fresh pineapple slices cut length wise
2 cups of rice vermercilli, cooked
1 bunch green leaf lettuce
Peanut butter soy dipping sauce (recipe follows)

The How To:
Using a mortar and pestle or small blender, crush/blend green onion, garlic, salt and pepper until thoroughly combine. Add sesame oil, olive oil and stir. Taste and adjust marinade as needed. Mix marinade with shrimp, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

This is how we "roll" in my house (steak, shrimp and fish)

Turn on table top griddle to 350 to 400 degrees and add about 2 tablespoon of butter. Remove shrimp from refrigerator, cook each side for about two minutes. You will need to add more butter as you go along to cook the meats. While meat is cooking, prepare your summer rolls. Pour hot water in a shallow dish. Dip 1 rice paper wrapper in hot water briefly to soften. Choose your accouterments - cucumber, lettuce, pineapple - and topped with shrimp. Fold sides of wrapper over filling and roll it up "jelly roll" style. Serve with peanut butter soy sauce for dipping.

Summer rolls made with little rice paper rounds. I recommend using the larger one.
It's just easier all the way around. (Photo courtesy: D. Bui)

Peanut butter soy dipping sauce

The Goods:
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 thai chili pepper, minced
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tbl of vegetable oil
2 tbl sugar
2 tbl vinegar
1/3 cup peanut butter
3/4 to 1 cup of water

The How To:

In a sauce pan, saute garlic and chili pepper in vegetable oil until it starts releasing an aroma. Add soy sauce and bring to slight simmer before adding sugar and vinegar. Stir in water and bring back up to a simmer. Add peanut butter, mix until thorough combined. Taste and add more sugar, vinegar and peanut butter to suit your palate.

Spinach Chicken Stuffed Shells

2012-02-25T21:45:00.002-08:00

I am a big pasta fan but unfortunately my family is more the meat and potatoes type. However, they're pretty tolerate of pasta as a side dish and I settle for that. I have been craving a spinach stuffed pasta for about two weeks now and really haven't gotten a chance to make it. Today, my brother decided to make beer can chicken but I was afraid it wouldn't be enough to feed our family of 5. I decided now would the perfect time to make my stuffed shells. I have been looking around Pinterest.com and FoodGawker.com for ideas and came up with this recipe. I hope you enjoy it just as much as my family did.

Spinach and chicken stuffed shells

The Goods:
1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 bag (10 oz) of fresh spinach
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
4 tbl of butter
4 oz cream cheese, soften
20 jumbo shells
1 1/3 cup of Italian cheese mix or parmigiana and mozzarella
salt

The How To:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook jumbo shells in salted water until al dente (the pasta will finish cooking while it's in the oven). Drain, separate and set aside.

In a medium pan, saute garlic and shallot in 1 tablespoon of butter until soften. Melt remaining butter in pan. Roughly chop up spinach leaves and saute with garlic, shallot and butter until completely wilted. Add chicken and season with salt. Add mixture into a bowl with soften cream cheese and mix thoroughly to combine. Mix in one cup of Italian cheese mix. At this point, you would want to taste the filling to make sure it's suitable. Stuff shells with filling and place in lightly buttered casserole dish, cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup of cheese and bake until golden brown.

Note: I believe this would be enough for a family of four with a side salad and maybe some garlic bread. I'm sure you can tweak it a little to make a larger servings. This dish is also good made ahead and then thawed out sometime during the week for a quick dinner. It will obviously take a little longer in the oven and I recommend pouring just a bit of water in the dish to avoid drying out the pasta while it cooks. Also, the filling would also make a great dip!

Happy Dining!

3 dips for "Super" parties

2012-02-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

The big game is this Sunday. I'm talking about Superbowl 46: Giants vs. Patriots. Granted neither team is MY team but that's not going to stop me from having a small scale watch party. It's always a hoot watching football with family and friends and basically yelling at the t.v. I expect some good time. Food is always an issue for these types of things though. Do I want to make a full meal or snacks? Plus, I don't want to spend so much time in the kitchen I myself can't enjoy the game. Selfish I know but I HAVE to watch the game. I want to share some dip recipes where you can make ahead and then sit back and relax.

Buffalo Chicken dip

The first dip recipe I'm going to share is a buffalo chicken dip. I heard about this dip from a friend and decided to just wing it one day and this is the recipe I came up with. I really love that you can customize it to how you like to eat your buffalo wings. It's very simple but definitely a crowd pleaser.

The Goods:
Rotisserie chicken from grocery store
2 (8oz) pkg of cream cheese
1 cup ranch or blue cheese dressing
¾ cup of your favorite hot sauce
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
sugar

The How To:

Shred as much of the chicken you think you would like. I recommend half to 3/4 depending how "hearty" you want the dip to be. Dump cream cheese, salad dressing, hot sauce and sugar in the ceramic bowl a crockpot. Cover and microwave for about 2 minutes and then stir. Place the bowl back into the crockpot and add shredded chicken set temperature on high, stirring every ten minutes for about 30 minutes. Five minutes before serving sprinkle your cheese on top. If you like blue cheese, I like to sprinkle blue cheese crumbles on top. It gives the dip that wonderful sharp taste and makes it look all fancy smancy. Or you can offer the blue cheese on the side as well.

If you let it sit for a while the hot sauce looks like it separates from the dip but that's fine. Your guests are suppose to stir it up before spooning some out. I really think celery and carrots are the best vessels to eat the buffalo dip with but crackers and chips are good too.

Parmesan Cheese Dip

I got this Parmesan Cheese dip recipe from my boss, Linda Jones, a few years ago and have claimed it as my own. No joke. My friends really think I came up with this delicious dip on my own. Now, the truth has come out. Again a super easy recipe that you can make up in advance, pop it in the oven when your guests come over and enjoy. This is for a big party but I'm made smaller batches by cutting the ingredients in thirds.

The Goods:

3 (8oz) pkg of cream cheese soften
½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of garlic salt
1 cup of parmesan

The How To:

It's really embarrassing to admit how easy this dip is to make. All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients. I pop the cream cheese in the microwave for about a minute to make it easy to stir. Place the mixture in an oven safe dish and bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated 400 degree. The top of the dip should be slightly brown and edges bubbly. You will not believe how many compliments you'll get from this dip AND how many requests to bring it to the next get-together.

Hot Pepper Cheese Dip

My third and final dip is something I really did come up with after trying a jalapeno cheese spread from a local restaurant. At first, I was wary of the combination of flavors but it really grew on me. However, I was not about to pay $4 for a little 8oz container full if I can whip it up from things I had in my refrigerator. It took me a few tries but I think I got recipes down.

The Goods:

2 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 jalapeno or 3 thai peppers or 1 habanero pepper
3/4 teaspoon of garlic salt

The How To:

First, you will have to decide how spicy or mild you would like the dip. I would use both thai peppers and a habanero pepper in my dip simply because that's what I usually have handy. If you are using the jalapeno or habanero pepper, cut it down the middle and remove the membrane and seeds. That's is where all of the heat are in the peppers. Be sure to wear gloves during this process or you will kick yourself later. Finely chop the peppers and add it with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl Chill the dip for about a hour to allow the flavors to meld together before serving.

A couple of things to note about this dip. After making the dip for the first time, you may want to tweak this recipe to suit your taste buds a little more. First, if you don't like a real salty dip or if you're serving this with a salty cracker, I recommend cutting the garlic salt to about half a teaspoon but then adding about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder. The amount of mayonnaise can also be tweaked depending on how "dippable" you would like it. The more mayonnaise the more it resembles a dip. Right now, it's a little chunkier and could easily be called a spread as well.

That does it for this rather long post on three of my favorite dips. I hope you guys enjoy and if you try any of these out. I would love it if you let me know how it goes. By the way: Go GIANTS! =)

Happy Dining,

Miss. L

. Serve with crackers and vegetables.

Corn bread pudding

2011-12-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

I love cornbread but my made-from-scratch ones doesn't always comes up to snuff. One day, my coworker made a corn casserole for a get together at work and I thought it was delicious. He told me he saw it on a Food Network show but didn't recall which one. It didn't take me long to pry the basic ingredient list out of him and from there I tweaked it a little to make it my own. This recipe jazzes up your basic jiffy mix with real corn and sour cream, which makes it super moist. I've used a ton of different cheeses in this "pudding", but I find a mixture of smoked Gouda and sharp cheddar gives it depth of flavor. This has become a favorite at nearly all get together and holidays so I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

Recipe adapted from the Food Network:

The Goods:
1 can creamed corn

1 can sweet corn (drained)

1 stick of butter (melted)

1 box of jiffy cornbread mix

1 16 oz container of sour cream

2 cups of smoked gouda or sharp cheddar cheese

The How Two:

Mix everything but a cup of cheese together, pour into a casserole dish, and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the center is set. Top with remaining cup of cheese and bake until melted. Serve while hot.

This recipe is a pretty good size. It could fill one of the 9 by 8 pans easy. If you need more for Thanksgiving, Christmas or church functions, the recipe can easily be doubled but I suggest using smaller pans so it would cook faster.

Happy Dining!

Jalapeno Popper Bites

2011-12-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

Bacon jalapeno poppers

Jalapeno Poppers is right up there with dark chocolate as a vice for me. I don't know if it's the spiciness of the jalapenos or the creaminess of the cheese but I just can't get enough. I've always made those traditional kind. I would stuff a pickled jalapeno with cream cheese and do the triple dip in flour, egg wash and bread crumbs. But honestly that got to be too much of a process and I stopped making jalapeno poppers regularly. While surfing around on pinterest.com, I read a blog entry about jalapeno popper bites. I remembered the basic idea behind the recipe while I was out shopping and decided what the heck let's try it. I have to say it's got to be one of the simplest recipe I've ever made. I'm never going back to fried poppers.

The Goods:

1 can of crescent roll dough

4 oz cream cheese (half a block)

1-2 jalepeno peppers

salt

garlic powder

onion powder

The How To:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice jalapeno peppers and remove seeds if you don't like much heat (I leave the seeds and membrane in. I think the spiciness balances the richness of the cream cheese). Take out your refrigerated can of crescent dough. Open and roll out onto sheet pan. It's already cut into triangles, I cut it again on the diagonal to make 4 triangles. Place a dollop of cream cheese in the middle and sprinkle with desired amount of seasoning. Top with jalapeno slices. Wrap the ends together and pinch to close. It's ok if the top is not closed but make sure the bottom and sides are because if there's an opening the cheese will ooze out. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Yields 16 poppers.

If you want a little variety, add some cooked smoked bacon to the mix. It would give it a bit more depth and as we all know, bacon makes everything better. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make more.

Potatoes with Creamy Dill Sauce

2011-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

At heart, I am truly a meat and potatoes type of girl. I love potatoes anyway I can get them. I typically roast my potatoes with a little olive oil, butter and salt and pepper but that takes forever. For this recipe, the potatoes are boiled instead of roasted then tossed in the sauce so it's much faster to make. It's also delicious.

The Goods:

8 oz package of cream cheese

1/4 cup of milk

1 tsp of dill

salt and pepper

2 lbs of yukon gold or honey potatoes

The How To:

Quarter potatoes and put in pot of boiling water. Cook until fork can easily pierce the potatoes, drain and set aside. While the potatoes are cooking, cream together soften cream cheese and milk. Once thoroughly combine add dill, salt and pepper. Toss with with potatoes and serve.

Other ideas: This sauce also taste great with the roasted potatoes, If you have leftovers, cover tightly with plastic wrap and heat for 3 to 5 minutes and mash up. Add milk if needed to smooth it out. This makes delicious mash potatoes.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

2011-12-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is my go to recipe for broccoli and cauliflower. It's great with a variety of entrees. I typically serve it with steak, pork or chicken. I like to think of it as a fancy broccoli and cheese. I adapted this dish from a similar dish I saw on Food Network's Barefoot Contessa. I never looked up the recipe or wrote any of it down so it was a trial and error on my part. However, I think I got it down pat now. This is an easy and delicious dish. I hope you enjoy.

The Good:
3 broccoli bunches, sliced - remember the stalk too! Cut off the ends and use a vegetable peeler to get rid of the tough outer skin.
1 cauliflower head, sliced
3 to 4 tbl of olive oil
4 tbl of butter, melted
1/3 cup of grated parmigiana
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 sliced almonds (optional)

Steps:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Clean and thoroughly dry broccoli and cauliflower. Place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, melted butter and salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Once the tips are slightly charred, it's ready. Take it out of the oven and immediately toss with cheese and almonds. Serve and reap with the compliments.