Dark Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

I made this cake for my mother in law's birthday. It's a mix between 2 different recipes. Originally the cake was to have a hot chocolate frosting, but I like to mix a white and dark chocolate together or yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Dark Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Frosting-What Megan's Making? and Jenn's Food Journey
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 tbsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour cake pans, set aside.

Sift together dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients and mix to combine. It will be VERY liquidy! Pour into pans and bake for 20 mins. Turn pans and continue baking for another 15 mins until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool and place in freezer to freeze. This will help not to have crumbs in your frosting when you got to frost it!

White Chocolate Frosting
4 1/2 oz good quality white chocolate(I used ghiradelli)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
pinch of salt

Melt chocolate and allow to cool to lukewarm. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment add in chocolate, cream, vanilla, butter, and cream cheese. Add in sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add more cream if needed to get to desired consistency. Spread onto cake!*This doesn't make a lot of frosting, but it was enough to frost a 9x11 inch cake(that was cut in half for a layered effect)

**This cake was AMAZING! It was moist and chocolaty! The frosting worked perfectly for it!

Tasty Tuesday-6/28

Garlic Cheddar Chicken-allrecipes via Melissa
Homemade Onion Soup Mix-$5 dinners
Surprise Muffins-Mennonite Girls Can Cook
Tropical Salad with Pineapple Vinegrette-the Sweets life
Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls-Sweet & Savory
Hawaiian Chicken-The Sweets Life
Mexican Cheesy Pot Pie-Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
German Chocolate Chip Cookies-Frugal Antics...
Berry White Chocolate Strusal bars-Baking and Creating with Avril

Menu Plan Monday

We are still winging a lot of our meals...I'm trying to plan really!

Breakfast/Baking:
-Strawberry Yogurt Muffins
-Chocolate Hummus
-Strawberry Freezer Jam(BUT I'm doing a low sugar version)
-maybe some blueberry pancakes!

Dinner:
-Creamy Caprese Pasta
-English Muffin Pizzas, salad
-Roast Chicken, Summer Squash
-Ultimate Chicken Sandwiches, salad
-Breakfast tortilla strata

Cheesy Meatball Rice Skillet

This has been on my Tasty Tuesday list to try for a while. I really only like meatballs now with the meatball/meatloaf mix(beef, veal, pork) and I haven't been able to find it! I found some last week so I picked it up with this recipe in mind!

Cheesy Meatball Rice Skillet-adapted from Eat At Home
20 meatballs, cooked
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp basil, dry
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 pkg frozen veggies(I used mixed)
2 cups 6 blend italian shredded cheese

Mix together all the ingredients expect for cheese and veggies. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Cook until rice is cooked through.(This will depend on the rice you use). Once rice is cooked, add in veggies and stir. Let sit for 5 mins. Stir in cheese until throughly melted.

**This took FOREVER to cook...I think it was the brown rice I used. Next time I'll use already cooked rice or even white rice. It was delicious none the less! It would be quick and easy with minute rice and kid friendly too!

BBQ Chicken Cheddar Braid

 This was another recipe that was pretty quick and easy to make. I can't remember where I got the recipe from, but it's not original! I also used pre-cooked chicken.

BBQ Chicken Cheddar Braid
1 recipe for pizza dough
2 cups chopped chicken
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
water
garlic salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spread dough out into a rectangle. Along the middle of the dough spread your bbq sauce, chicken, and cheese. Cut remaining side of the dough into strips and alternate them back and forth to form a braid over the mixture. Brush with water and sprinkle on garlic salt. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown.

**This was almost to pretty to eat! But it was delicious!

Tasty Tuesday-6/21

Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake-Meet Me In the Kitchen
coconut Almond muffins-For the Love of Grub
Beef Noodle Salad Bowls-Diary of a recipe addict
White Chocolate Strawberry Cookies-REcipe Shoebox
Creamed by Boston Pie-Mennonite Girls Can Cook
Carrot Cake Cookies-Eats well with others

Menu Plan Monday

I apologize for the lack of posts...we are in the process of renovating and moving to a new house so it gives me very little time to get blog work done, never mind still making sure my boys have fun and enjoy their summer! I do have lots of new recipes to share and I hope to get some up this week, in the mean time hang tight because once the move is over I should be back!

So the meals for the next few weeks will be easy ones, helping to clean out the cabinet, and using my slow cooker!

Baking/Breakfast:
-Sweet Potato Cinnamon Chip Muffins
-Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Dinner:
-Slow Cooker Indian Curry
-Peanut Satay Pork Chops
-Grilled steak, potatoes(not sure on the kind yet), parmesan zucchini noodles
-Cheesy Meatball Skillet
-Slow Cooker Lasagna

The inlaws are also coming over for dinner on Thurday, but I have yet to decide what I'm making for dinner. I'll also make a cake...I've been eying a vanilla bean cake with white chocolate frosting.

CHocolate Hummus

I found this one day on Debbi Does Dinner Healthy...I was intrigued by it but hadn't made it yet. Then my friend Lori, over at Teacher Turned Mommy made it and RAVED about it. So seen as I had extra chick peas I decided to give it a try. I know it sounds odd...but PLEASE try it! I'm glad I did...it didn't disappoint me at all!


Chocolate Hummus-shared from Teacher Turned Mommy
2 cups chick peas
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder(I used special Dark)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2-4 tbsp warm water

Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. You may have to add a bit more oil to get it to the consistency you like!

**This was SO GOOD! Lori suggested it with pretzels or cinnamon tortilla chips, but I tried it with fruit and it was a delicious! I'm highly addicted and definitely quences my chocolate craving! I did tell my boys that it was "chocolate pudding" because I knew if I called it hummus I'd get the "I don't like hummus". Q did like it, A didn't care for it. I think I need to get it smoother for next time though!

Curried Sweet Potato and Chick Pea "Burgers"

I'm always on the lookout for new vegetarian meal ideas and this one sounded intriguing. We invited our friends over for dinner on the night we had these as they are vegetarian so I figured they would be good candidates to try it out on!

Curried Sweet Potato and Chick Pea "Burgers"-shared from The Sweets Life
2 cups chick peas
2-3 small sweet potatoes, baked
1 tsp curry powder
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped(optional)
salt and pepper to taste
favorite toppings:tomato, lettuce, mayo, ketchup

Scoop potatoes out of skin, place in a bowl. Add in chick peas and mash throughly. Season with curry powder, salt, and pepper, parsley if using. Mix to combine. Scoop out and form patties. (I got 4 big burgers and 6 mini burgers) Place on hot grill or pan and cook for 5-6 mins per side.

**I wasn't sure how these were going to stay together, but they stayed together perfectly! You never would have known they were a bean burger! We all really liked them, even the 3 kids at least tasted them. The curry was a perfect addition and it wasn't to strong. We weren't sure what would be good on them, I really liked it with tomato and mayo, our friend liked his with ketchup and mayo. Overall they were a great hit!

Tasty Tuesday-6/14

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Macaroons-Alisa Cooks
Apple Cheddar Meatballs-Sweet Luvin' in the Kitchen
Nutella Muffins-Eat At Home
Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting-How Sweet It Is
Ricotta Cheese CHocolate Chip Muffins-Gina's Skinny Recipes
Greek Chicken Soup with Lemon and Orzo-CDKitchen
Strawberry Stuffed French Toast-Hoosier Homemade
Pumpkin and Bean Burgers-lnl
Raw Crispy Sweet Potato Chips-Living Free
Pizza Chili-A Year of Slow Cooking
Watermelon Cupcakes-Apples to Zucchini
Brown SUgar Blueberry COokies-How Sweet It Is
Watermelon Muffins-Apples To Zucchini
Cheesy Italian Bread(Machine)-$5 dinners
Grilled COrn and Tomato Fettucine-How Sweet It Is
Vanilla Ice Cream-Finding Joy In My Kitchen
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies-Jenn's Food Journey
Maple Pecan Granola-Frugal Antics...

Menu Plan Monday

Somehow we managed not to eat half of the meals I planned for last week so we will be eating them this week instead...I hope!

Breakfast/Baking:
-Chocolate Chip Raspberry Pancakes
-Egg McMuffins
-Muffins...either banana ones or a new recipe featuring watermelon

Dinner:
-BLT Pasta
-Grilled Ham and Pineapple
-Mac and cheese with Kielbasa
-Apricot Grilled Chicken and grilled squash

Macaroon Crusted Tilapia

We have been trying to eat more fish...when it's on sale. We have never had Tilapia before so I picked some up one night. Then I came across this recipe and seen as I have a love for coconut I couldn't wait to try it!

Macaroon Crusted Tilapia-shared from How Sweet It Is
1 lb tilapia filets, thawed and dried throughly
3/4 cup almonds, crushed by blender(should yield 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten +2 tbsp water

Preheat to 425. Grease baking sheet with cooking spray.

Place egg and water into shallow plate and mix together. Add coconut and almonds together and mix throughly. Season fish with salt and pepper. Dip fish into egg mixture and then into almond/coconut. Press gently to get coating to stick. Place on baking sheet.  Bake for 20-25 mins until fish is cooked through(it should be white and flaky). *My fish was really thin filets so they only cooked for about 15 mins.

**I forgot to season the fish and did it afterwards. The salt I found to be KEY in this recipe. We both really enjoyed it...although my husband claims it's still not as good as the one I made with a bag of potato chips and a stick of butter!

Tasty Tuesday-6/7

"Crepe" Cake-Making Memories
Chocolate Coconut Muffins with Cocoa Coconut Streusal-Eat At Home
Mini Lasagna Cups-Cottage Sisters
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream-Meet me in the Kitchen
Raspberry Oat Bars-Chasing Tomatoes
Roasted Potato Salad-How Sweet It Is
Chocolate Hazelnut Strawberry Crisp-Eats Well with Others
Chocolate Bailey's Oreo Cheesecake-Debbie Does Dinner Healthy

Menu Plan Monday

Now before I planned my menu this week I looked at the weather and saw that it was going to be in the 70's and 80's. I looked today and now we are going to be in the 90's and humid! SO that means I've rearranged a few things on my menu! Darn New England weather....

I've also been in a cooking/baking funk so these may or may not happen. We shall see.

Breakfast/Baking:
-Mango Colada Muffins
-Egg McMuffins(for the freezer)
-Banana Bread Waffles

Dinner:
-BBQ Chicken Cheddar Braid
-Grilled Ham, Grilled Pineapple, salad or veggie
-Chickpea and Sweet Potato Burgers on rolls, salad
-Mac & CHeese with Kielbasa, veggies

CHicken Hummus Wraps

On my friend Lori's blog, Teacher turned mommy, she hosts Tasty Tuesday and she will share a recipe each week with her readers. This was one of them!

I altered this as I was having a very unproductive day. Lori actually slathered the chicken with hummus then grilled it, I just grilled it. So you can do it either way!

Hummus Chicken Wraps-shared from Teacher Turned Mommy
1 lb chicken
flour tortillas
romaine lettuce
your favorite hummus

Grill chicken until cooked through. Allow to rest for 5 mins. Slice.

Slather hummus on tortilla to your liking, top with lettuce and sliced chicken. Roll or fold and enjoy!

**I normally make my own hummus but we had just gotten back from vacation and it was on sale. I wasn't feeling like waiting 2 days to get it made. So I used the Red Pepper Hummus from Tribe. I love this and it might be a new go to chicken recipe! I liked how fresh and easy it was to make!

Restaurant Style Beef Tacos

This recipe sounded FABULOUS, I of course tweaked it quite a bit, so this is my version. I had planned on making a homemade soft bread wrap and found out I needed potato flakes, I had already been to the store so I wasn't going back(I know have the potato flakes for next time!) I started this out in the crock pot too!

Restaurant Style Beef Tacos
1 lb beef
1-2 avocados,mashed with salt and pepper
corn
homemade pitas or flatbread

Place meat into slow cooker. Add in 1 cup of water and season. I used some steak seasonings. Turn on low and cook for 6-8 hrs.*I used stew meat, which was a bit tough when I went to check it, so I cut it all up even smaller(after cooking) and placed it back in the crock pot for another hr and it was much more tender.

Lay pita flat, spread avocado on top followed by beef and corn. Fold in half and enjoy!

**I loved all the flavors in this meal! We couldn't wait to have the leftovers either! Next time I will add in some halved grape tomatoes for a bit more color and flavor!

Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Avocado and Strawberries

I stumbled upon this recipe one night and it sounded delicious! I ended up changing it around a bit as we are headed off to vacation soon and my lack of planning resulted in me not having some of the stuff on hand for the salsa. This way was delicious, but feel free to also make the salsa if you wish! I also am not a fan of chunks of avocado, so they were mashed!

I would have had more strawberries for the meal too if I didn't have 2 red faced strawberry steelers!

Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos w/Avocado and Strawberries-adapted from How Sweet It Is
1 lb chicken tenderloins
1/3 cup white tequila(about 2 nips)
zest and juice of 3 limes,divided
2 tsp coriander, divided
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 avocado
strawberries, diced
salt and pepper
corn or flour tortillas

Mix together half of lime zest, tequila, and 1/2 the lime juice, add in chicken and allow to marinate for about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix together panko, rest of the lime zest, flour, and coriander together. Dip chicken in breading and press onto chicken to get it to stick. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 10 mins, flip and bake for another 10 mins or until cooked through.

Mash avocado and mix with lime juice, salt, and pepper. Spread onto tortillas, top with chicken and sprinkle with strawberries. Fold in half, eat and enjoy!

**These were a delicious summer time dinner!  I loved the tart of the limes with the sweetness of the strawberries along with the creaminess of the avocado. I did use corn tortillas, but next time I will fry them in a bit of oil to add in some more texture! You can follow the link to actually MAKE the salsa, I'm just not a chuck of avocado fan...or raw onions so I changed it a bit!