The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

I made two of these for our town's flea market this weekend, one with nuts and one without. So delish!

It comes from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-3/4 stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Note: I use an 18x13 sheet cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Slow Cooker Lentil and Pasta Stew

This soup was so delicious. I served it with some Pillsbury french bread. Comes from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup cubed peeled potatoes
• 3/4 cup sliced fresh carrots
• 1 celery rib, sliced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
• 1 cup canned Hunt's® Diced Tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup uncooked ditalini or other small pasta(I used mini pinwheels)
• Shredded Romano cheese

Directions

• Brown kielbasa in oil and butter in a large skillet. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion. Cook and stir for 3 minutes over medium heat. Transfer to a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker. Stir in the broth, lentils, tomatoes, bay leaf, pepper and salt.
• Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until lentils are tender. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Stir pasta into slow cooker. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle servings with cheese. Yield: 8 servings.

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

This dish was absolutely yummy! I served it on a bed of white rice and had cut up fresh pineapple with it. It comes from Cooking Classy.

Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 Tbsp orange marmalade
• 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• Cooked long grain white rice, for serving
• Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
• Directions
  • Place chicken in a slow cooker, set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, light-brown sugar, honey, orange marmalade, ginger, garlic and pepper. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker, cover with lid and cook on low heat 4 - 5 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred. Strain sauce from slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. In a small mixing bowl whisk together 1 1/2 Tbsp cold water and cornstarch. Pour cornstarch mixture into liquid in saucepan and heat mixture over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to gently boil. Allow mixture to gently boil about 20 seconds until thickened. Return chicken to slow cooker and pour teriyaki sauce from saucepan over chicken. Toss mixture gently to evenly coat. Serve warm over cooked rice garnished with optional sesame seeds and serve with diced fresh pineapple if desired.
  • Recipe Source: slightly adapted from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen
    

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

I wanted to share this  recipe from Cat

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup 

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 medium carrots, coarsly chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

1-2 lemons

2TBLS snipped fresh Parsley

1 garlic Clove, Pressed

1 can (10 3/4 oumce) 98% fat free reduced-sodium

cream of chicken soup

3 cans (14 1/2 ounces ea) 100% fat free chicken broth

1/4 tsp ground black pepper 

2/3 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

My Tweeks

4 medium Carrots

added 4 ribs of celery chopped

1 cup onion

2 garlic cloves

2/3 cup wild rice

also the cream of chicken was just regular. I didnt have any parsley so I just didnt add it.

1. Chop chicken, carrots onion and celery. Zest one lemon using 1 tsp. Juice Lemon(s) for 1/4 cup juice. Snip parsley and set aside.

2. Heat large pot over med heat until hot. Lightly spray with non stick cooking spray. Add carrots onion and garlic; cook and stir to min. Stir in chicken, lemon zest, juice, soup, chicken broth and black pepper; bring to a boil. Stir in Rice; reduce heat. Cover; simmer over low heat 15-20 min (50 min for wild rice) or until rice is tender. Remove from heat; stir parsley into soup just before serving.

yield is 8 Servings.

I would say it feeds 4 healthy eaters :)

If you try it out let me know what you think!
http://rcbutler.blogspot.com/2013/08/greek-lemon-chicken-soup.html
Thanks Cat!

Leesa's Lasagna

When we stayed at Leesa's for the baby blessing she made us this delicious lasagna! My kids gobbled it up and I loved it too.

2 lbs. hamburger

1 jar prego 3 cheese pasta sauce

1 container cottage cheese

Fiesta blend cheese & mozzarella cheese

10-12 lasagna noodles

Brown meat and season with garlic salt and italian seasoning(I just eyeball it and taste it when its fully cooked to see if I need to add more)

Add the pasta sauce and cottage cheese.

Stir and keep cooking it all together on low while you cook your noodles. Once the noodles are cooked I get my pan and lay 5-6 noodles, then the sauce mix and cover that layer with the cheeses. 

Repeat the next layer and then put it in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Thanks Leesa!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert

This is very good, but rich! It's a great summer dessert because there's no cooking!

Ingredients:

20 oreos, divided

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided

1 carton (16 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

15 miniature peanut butter cups, chopped

1 cup cold milk

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

Additional chopped peanut butter cups

1. Crush 16 oreos; toss with the butter. Press into an ungreased 9 in. square dish; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups.

3. In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in the remaining whipped topping.

4. Spread over peanut butter cups. Crush remaining cookies. Sprinkle cookies and peanut butter cups over the top if desired. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.

Foil-Pack Chicken and Broccoli Dinner

loved!

1 packageStuffing mix; chicken flavor

1 1/4 cupWater

24 ounceBoneless skinless chicken breast cutlets; 6oz each

4 cupsBroccoli Florets

1 cupShredded chedar cheese

4 slicesCooked bacon; crumbled

4 tablespoonRanch dressing - Oven to 400 - Spray 4 large sheets of heavy-duty foil with oil.

- Combine stuffing mix and water.

- Spoon 1/4 of the stuffing mixture onto the center of each foil sheet.

- Top stuffing with a 6oz. chicken breast half.

- Top chicken with 1 c. broccoli.

- Sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese and 1 slice of bacon, crumbled.

- Drizzle with 1 T. ranch dressing

- Bring up foil sides and fold to seal, leaving room for heat circulation inside

- Place packets on a cookie sheet and bake 25-30 mins

- Remove packets and let stand 5 mins

- Cut sits in foil for steam before opening.