Chocolate Pancakes

I got this from a new cookbook I have, and we had them this morning. We thought they were good to have for a variety, but not something we'd want every morning. It comes is a syrup recipe, but we just had ours with fruit and fruit syrup. We considered powdered sugar next time too. So if any of your decide to try these with the syrup, let us know how it went.

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES:

1 1/2 C. Flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 salt

6 Tbsp sugar

6 Tbsp baking cocoa 

1 1/4 C. Warmed milk

4 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

2 eggs, beaten

SYRUP:

2 C sugar

1 8-0z can evaporated milk

1 Tbsp butter

Pancakes:

-Mix and sift together dry ingredients. Add milk, butter, eggs and beat until smooth. Add extra milk if the batter is too thick. Cook like regular pancakes.

Syrup: 

-Boil sugar and milk, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Cook over heat until mixture starts to boil. Do not leave unattended, it comes to quick boil. remove from heat and add butter. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir and enjoy.

Easy chicken parmesan

Chicken breast cut in half and pounded out gently.
dip in lightly beaten egg whites
Roll in Italian breadcrumbs

Fry in oven safe skillet for 5 minutes each side.
Remove from pan - pour in 3 tablespoons of spaghetti sauce
Return chicken to pan, Pour half of spaghetti sauce jar over chicken and
then sprinkle with mozzerella cheese.
Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan.
Serve over Spaghetti with remaining sauce.

Santa Fe Chicken

Chicken breasts - cut in half so you have two thin chicken breasts then pound gently.
cream cheese
green chilies diced and drained

Mix cream cheese and chilies together. take a large tablespoon of cream cheese and roll the chicken breast around it. Pin with a toothpick.
Roll in milk and then in crushed croutons (breadcrumbs)

Bake about 30 - 45 minutes.

Make a chicken gravy to go over the top. (Can be cream of chicken soup with sour cream in it.)

Almost Famous olive garden breadsticks

For the Dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour,plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter,softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon fine salt

For the Topping:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch of dried oregano

Directions

Make the dough: Place 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt and 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes. Roll into a 2-foot-long log; cut into 16 1 1/2-inch-long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch-long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the topping: Brush the breadsticks with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

almost famous olive garden salad

For the dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons miracle whip
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

For the salad:

• 1 10-ounce bag American salad blend
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 small pickled peppers, such as pepperoncini
• 1 small vine-ripened tomato, quartered
• 2 tablespoons sliced black olives
• 1/2 cup large croutons
• 1 tablespoon grated romano

Directions

Combine all the dressing ingredients and 1 to 2 tablespoons water in a blender or food processor; puree until smooth.

Place the salad blend in a large bowl and top with the remaining salad ingredients. Drizzle with the dressing.

Almost Famous Auntie Anne Pretzels

1 cup milk

1 package active dry yeast

3 tbsp packed brown sugar

2 1/4 cup A.P flour- plus more for kneading

10 tbsp unsalted butter, divided - plus more for greasing

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup baking soda

2 tbsp coarse salt

Make the pretzels: Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's about 110 degrees; pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 minutes; stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons butter and soften; stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. (If the dough seems tight, cover and let rest until it relaxes.) Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Almost Famous

This is Laurel posting just FYI. In my amazing Food Network Mag they always have a recipe that is a spoof on something famous, for example, Marie Calendar Pumpkin Pie. They can't get the real official recipes so their smart working chefs try to make the recipe as close as possible. Here are a few of them..

Potato Rolls

3/4c butter, melted
1 1/2c. milk scalded
1 TB. salt
1/4c. instant potatoes (or a cup or so leftover mashed potatoes)
1/2c. sugar

Mix ingredients in large bowl and cool.

2 c. cold water
2 eggs
Mix together and add to other COOLED ingredients.
Add 2 TB. Instant yeast

add flour - 4 cups and stir until smooth
4 + more cups gradually

Turn out on floured surface and continue adding flour and kneading until dough is smooth with air bubbles (about 6 mins.) (If using a mixer just gradually add flour to get a soft dough and mix for about 12 minutes total.)

Let rise about 1 hour until double.
Shape in rolls or bread and raise again.
Bake Bread: 375 25 mins
Rolls: 400 12 mins
These make delicious cinnamon rolls.

Fresh Strawberry cupcakes

I swiped these off someone's blog. I need to learn how to put in links - Hope they taste good, 'cuz they sounded delicious!

Fresh Strawberry cupcakes
Makes 36 beautifully round, moist cupcakes.

*

16 oz. strawberries, destemmed

4 eggs

1 3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. flour

Place first four ingredients in a blender. Blend until fully pureed. Pour into a large bowl and mix with remaining ingredients. Spoon into cupcake wrappers. Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool. Frost with recipe below.

*

Sweet & Pure Strawberry Buttercream

3/4 c. fresh strawberries, destemmed

1/2 c. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 lb. powdered sugar

Over a large bowl, crush the strawberries in your hands. Allow juice & pulp to fall into bowl. . Add remaining ingredients & beat well with an electric mixer. Frost cooled cupcakes. Allow to set at room temperature. Garnish with fresh strawberry slices

cookbook review

My awesome sister in law, Danni, purchased this book for me when they were in town. My husband has a hard time eating his vegetables, so I thought it'd be helpful in forcing a few more nutrients in him. The premise of the book, is to incorporate vegetable purees into every day dishes to make them healthier. I've tried a few different recipes in it, and I thought I'd give my reviews.

I made the salsa dip and took it to a Cinco Di Mayo party yesterday. This recipe calls for 1/4 c of pureed carrots. Everyone at the party loved this! The ladies all asked for my recipe. I told them that I put the carrots in it, and they were impressed. They all said they didn't taste it at all. Steve even finished the dip off this afternoon.

A few weeks ago I made carrot cake muffins. (carrots and cauliflower puree) I was pretty disappointed in these. Mostly I was disappointed because I was expecting them to be more like cupcakes, but they were really more like muffins. I think maybe having them for breakfast, instead of dessert would have been good. I was lead astray though, because the muffins were in the dessert section, and not the breakfast section.

Tonight I made up some chocolate pudding, which has a cup of avacado puree. It wasnt gross... but it wasnt amazing. It was a very dark chocolate pudding, and it had a really thick consistancy. I wanted to add more sugar with every bite. It was pretty good though. My biggest complaint is that it had a pretty strong after taste of avacado. I think that would be toned down if it cooled a bit more.

So, all in all, I think that the main dish recipes are good, I have a bunch more I want to try still. However, the desesrts leave a bit more to be desired. Maybe as I become more skilled at cooking I can tweak them for my preference.