Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes with Caramel Sauce

So, I don't like chocolate. Except for this cake! Brian made it a couple of weeks ago and it is THE BEST chocolate cake I've ever had! He got the recipe from Everyday Foods on PBS. It's really not hard at all. The most time consuming is making the caramel sauce and that takes under ten minutes. Mmm, it is so worth it!

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus more, room temperature, for ramekins

1/3 cup sugar, plus more for ramekins

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

caramel Sauce for serving

whipped cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter four 6-ounce ramekins, then coat lightly with sugar, tapping out excess. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and chocolate. Microwave until melted, about 1 minute; stir until smooth. (Or melt mixture in a heatproof bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, yolks, flour, and salt; add chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Fill each ramekin three-quarters full with batter; place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes.
3. Bake until center of a cake is soft but not wet when pressed, 27 to 30 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes. Serve cakes warm, topped with caramel and whipped cream.

Caramel Sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup sugar over medium-high until melted and brown at edges, 3 minutes. With a heat-resistant spatula, pull melted sugar toward center until all sugar is melted and caramel is deep amber in color, 3 minutes more.
2. Immediately whisk in 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cubed, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (take care as mixture is extremely hot and will bubble).
3. Whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream.
4. Pour into a heatproof container and let cool. (To store, refrigerate, up to 3 weeks.)

If you've made toffee before, making caramel is pretty much the same. Brian burned the first two batches, then I took over and made perfection ;) You don't want to make it dark, since sugar burns VERY quickly. If making the sauce is too intimidating, you can always use store bought caramel, it's still good!

Make Your Own Rice Bowls

This is my latest brainstorm on fast, healthy meals. And everyone gets to make it how they like.

Start with cooked rice - hot or room-temperature (I made brown rice).

Fill your bowl about half full, or scoop a good-sized amount on a plate.

Set out bowls containing various ingredients and let everyone put what they want on it. The beauty of this is that you can just use what you have at the time and it only takes minutes to get everything on the table. Some suggestions:

Cooked meat - beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, bacon, whatever. Save leftovers from another meal so you don't have to cook it that night.
Shredded cheese
Soy sauce
Sweet Chili sauce
Italian salad dressing (one of my son's LOVES it)
Avocado
Matchstick carrots, cooked or raw
Angel hair cabbage, cooked
Zucchini - grated or cubed, cooked
Sweet peppers
Jalapenos or serrano, diced small
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Cream cheese (sounds weird but it was great)
Sushi grade fish (like tuna or salmon)
Sushi ginger (oh, I love that stuff)
Mushrooms - cooked
Kale - diced into teeny, tiny pieces
Peas - cooked
Steamed asparagus
Green beans
Nuts - crushed, peanuts, almonds or cashews work best
Cilantro

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Honey Lime Enchiladas
from Sisters Cafe

1.5 lbs pork or chicken, cooked and shredded
Sauce:
1/3 c honey
1/4 c lime juice
1 Tb chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 (10 oz) cans green enchilada sauce
equal parts mixed together of:
mozzarella cheese, shredded
cheddar cheese, shredded
flour tortillas

Mix together sauce ingredients then add to shredded pork or chicken. Let the sauce soak into the meat for about 30 minutes. Lightly spray 2 pans with non-stick baking spray. (I usually use one 9x13 and one 9x9 but it may vary with how thick you stuff your enchiladas - okay now it's me, Heather, not the original writer of the recipe; I used one 9x13 pan and ran out of chicken.) Pour green enchilada sauce into pans to coat the entire bottom. Fill tortillas with shredded meat and desired amount of cheese. Roll and place in dish. Pour remainder of sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle more cheese on top - don't be stingy! Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas nearer the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy.

One of my children is an avowed enchilada hater and he ate a whole one. The 3-yr-old who "hated it because it wasn't brownies" ate half a one. Everyone said they really liked it even though it was a little too spicy (mainly because my husband bought 'medium' green enchilada sauce instead of 'mild'.)

Summer Tortellini Salad

This recipe comes from Sisters' Cafe. I didn't have all of the ingredients and it still turned out great. I used half of the double pack of tortellini from Sam's Club. It seems to me like it was more than just 9 oz. Oh well, you can judge it.

Summer Tortellini Salad

Submitted by Amy ~ www.sisterscafe.blogspot.com

Printable Recipe

1 pkg. (9 oz.) uncooked refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini(You can also use dry tortellini. Barilla has a yummy four cheese and Costco has really good tortellini as well)
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped (I use the equivalent of baby carrots instead)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (or 4 tsp. dried parsley if you don't have fresh...fresh is always best of course, but dried works fine too)
1/2 cup home-made or you're very, very favorite ranch dressing (I tend to skimp a bit on this measurement but 1/2 a cup isn't too much, just trying to be healthy:)
Parmesan Cheese - to taste

*Option - I have added left over Rotissere chicken to this and really liked it

Cook tortellini according to package directions, drain and rinse under cold running water. Place tortellini in a large colander and set aside. Meanwhile, slice zucchini. chop carrot(s). Cut tomatoes in half and slice green onions. Snip parsley, if using fresh. Add vegetables to tortellini. Poursalad dressing over salad. Grate parmesan cheese oversalad. cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Yield: 6 servings

Creamy chicken taquitos

Tonight we tried a recipe from the blog: Our Best Bites. It was really good. I didn't follow the recipe exactly and it still turned out great. My corn tortilla taquitos weren't as pretty as her flour ones but the taste was still great.

www.ourbestbites.com/2009/05/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos.html

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Recipe by OurBestBites.com


1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions

2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray


Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Pregnant

Okay ladies, as the majority of you know, I'm pregnant. And while food is not appealing, I would still like some great recipes! I recently made a key lime cake which was just, well, gross. I'll find some more recipes to put up, I'm sure they're out there!!

Hearty Cabbage Soup

We ate this soup the other day and it was lovely. I thought that adding the whole head of cabbage would be too much, so I held some back and it was a bit runny. Moral of the story - add the whole dang thing.

Hearty Cabbage Soup

1 lb Sausage
1 chopped onion
4-5 celery stalks, sliced, diced, chopped, whatever
4-5 diced potatoes
32 oz chicken broth
3 cups milk
1 small head of cabbage, cut into small pieces
1 T salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 T brown sugar
1 teaspoon caraway seed (I only used about 1/2 tsp)
1-2 cups heavy cream

Directions:
Add onion, celery, potatoes and chicken broth to large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Cut sausage into slices then throw them in with the potato mixture. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add milk, cabbage, salt, pepper, brown sugar and caraway seed; return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes longer. Stir in cream and let it get hot, but don't boil again.

Thank you to the lovely lady over at Newlyweds for the recipe. She also has some nice pictures showing you how to cook it, step by step.

Spiced Honey-Lemon Chicken

I've got another recipe that is wonderful! We had it for dinner tonight, along with a fantastic side of Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Caramelized Onion (which I will post the recipe for later). I do have a picture, but as I am not home and don't want to download all these pictures I've taken, I'll have to post it later. Brian has requested this recipe to go into our rotation and I liked it, so here it is!

Spiced Honey-Lemon Chicken

2 chicken breasts, pounded to an even thickness

(we just used chicken tenders, you could also use thighs, we also didn't pound them, that's a pain in the patootie and I don't think it matters one bit over all).

1 tsp. Pepper

4 tsp. Olive oil

1 Tbs. Butter

3 Tbs. Honey

zest and juice of one lemon

½ tsp. Ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. Cumin powder

2 tsp. Paprika

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl (or a ziploc bag) and pour over chicken. Marinate for as long as you want (I would do a minimum of one hour). Grill or bake the chicken. If you grill it, you'll have to figure out the amount of time it takes on your grill. But if you bake it, bake it at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes on each side OR until juices run clear (we grilled it, so I'm not sure about the oven times either). And it all depends upon how thick or thin your chicken is. Eat up!!

Buttermilk Vanilla Syrup

I just had some of the most delicious syrup I think I've ever had! When I heard the name, I thought "Ugh, that sounds disgusting! There is no way I'm eating that!" I was TOTALLY wrong!! It's fantastic! So try something new on your french toast, pancakes, waffles, whatever you like!

Buttermilk Vanilla Syrup

1 cup sugar

½ stick butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

½ cup buttermilk

½ tsp. baking soda

Heat sugar, milk and butter, bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat, add vanilla and baking soda. Stir well. Mixture will become very foamy.

Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce

I decided this week that Brian needs to enter the world of fish. He HATES fish (but likes shrimp, shark, crab and calamari. Go figure). I decided to make my Mom's recipe and I love it!! It's super easy and delicious!! I did follow her method and omit the lemon-pepper and onion salt. I also seasoned the fish with kosher salt and cracked pepper. It's great! Oh yeah, Brian left "early" for the Daddy-Daughter Dance, so he missed out (although not according to him).

Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce

1 salmon fillet (about 2 pounds)

1 to 1½ tsp. lemon-pepper

1 tsp. onion salt

1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings

6 lemon slices

½ cup butter

Dill Sauce:

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbs. finely chopped onion

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. prepared horseradish

¾ tsp. dill weed

¼ tsp. garlic salt

Pepper to taste

Directions: Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with heavy-duty foil; grease lightly. Place salmon skin side down on foil. Sprinkle with lemon-pepper and onion salt. I sometimes just season it with sea salt and pepper instead of the lemon-pepper and onion salt (since it’s already topped with onion and lemon slices). Top with onion and lemon slices. Dot with butter. Fold foil around salmon; seal tightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Open foil. Broil 4-6 inches from the heat for 8-12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Combine the sauce ingredients until smooth. Serve with salmon.