My Grandma's Thunder Cake

One more recipe from Sierra's class from a book they've been reading.  Last year her teacher made it for them.  Someday we'll make it at home :)

1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs separated (Blend yolks in.  Beat whites until they are stiff, then fold in.)
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes

Sift together:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix dry mixture into creamy mixture.  Bake in two greased and floured 8 1/2-in round pans at 350 degrees fro 35-40 minutes.  Frost with chocolate butter frosting.  Top with strawberries.

Chango Bars

This is a recipe from Sierra's class.  It was in a book they read...she really wants me to make them :)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour
1 TBL baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mixed nuts

Melt butter and margarine.  While this is melting, cream brown sugar and eggs, then add melted butter and margarine.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and stir into sugar mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.  Pour mixture into greased 9x13 pan and bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

Chewy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tonight we needed a quick treat to take to cub scouts so J.R. suggested that we make these cookies.  This is a recipe we got from Dave's brother Roger and his wife Hilary.  It has just enough chocolate and is just the right combination of yumminess!  AND I love that they are soft cookies :)

2 cups of butter                                                           

4 cups sugar

4 eggs                                                                         

4 tsp vanilla

4 ½ cups flour                                                            

1 ½ cups cocoa

2 tsp baking soda                                                       

1 tsp salt

12 oz of Reese’sReeses chips or 2 cups chocolate chips

Mix butter, eggs, and sugar.  Add vanilla, salt, soda, flour, cocoa.  Mix well and add chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes.  (best if soft) Do not overcook.

Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

Today I was looking on Pinterest and found a recipe I had to try since I had two VERY ripe bananas and I ALWAYS have limes.  The original recipe came from  Our Best Bites from Cooking Light.  I baked up the bread and took it to Cub Scouts for Pack Meeting.  It was a hit...and very delicious!

2 C flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
1/4 C (4 Tbs) real butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 C mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas...I only had 2 so it worked :)
1/4 C sour cream or plain yogurt
3 Tbs apple juice or milk (I used milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C coconut
Topping: 2 Tbs additional coconut
Glaze: 1/2 C powdered sugar whisked with 1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add banana, sour cream or yogurt, apple juice (or milk), and vanilla. Beat until blended.  Add flour mixture and beat at a low speed until just combined. Stir in 1/2 C coconut.  Pour batter into a 9×5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle additional 2 Tbs coconut on top.  Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until a knife or skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Note: Check bread after about 40 minutes. If the top has browned and the coconut pieces are looking toasty, cover top of bread lightly with a piece of foil. Continue baking until done.  When done, remove pan from oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove from pan. Whisk powdered sugar and lime juice together for the glaze and then drizzle over top. Cool for another 15 minutes before slicing.

Pear Salad

I've been on a big salad kick lately.  Last month at our parent meeting for preschool a mom brought a similar salad to our meeting.  I recreated it the best I could.  I add romaine lettuce (torn), a pear (diced), a bit of feta cheese, a handful of craisins, and a handful of walnuts (chopped).  I just use Ken's Steak House Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette on top.

Grilled Veggies

We weren't really an asparagus eating family until about a month ago.  My favorite way to eat it right now it grilling it in our veggie basket on the grill with zucchini and squash with a bit of olive oil and salt & pepper.  I can't get enough of it right now!  So yummy!

Baked Chimichangas

This recipe is another find from Pinterest....thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff.  Chimichangas are a pretty regular for Dave and I when we choose Mexican food.  This should tell you something.  I remembered to take a picture when I was cleaning up...only a half of one was left :)

2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chiles

5 pitted green olives  (I didn’t have so I didn’t use)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I didn’t have so I added a green pepper instead)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning

1 pound shredded cooked chicken meat

8 (10 inch) flour tortillas

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup chopped green onion

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Pour the cream of chicken soup into a blender along with the green chiles, olives, jalapeno, and lime juice. Puree until smooth, then pour into a saucepan, and warm over medium-low heat while proceeding with the recipe.

In a large bowl, stir together the cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and taco seasoning until well blended. Fold in the chicken.  Evenly divide mixture among the 8 tortillas. Fold each tortilla burrito-style (tucking in the sides).

Place all chimichangas in a 9x13 pan, sprayed with non-stick spray. Brush all sides of each chimichanga with a small amount of olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, pull pan out and turn over each chimichanga. Bake for 15 minutes more. I actually turned mine one more time and cooked them for another 10 minutes…we love crispy!!

To serve, place a chimichanga on a plate, and ladle the warm sauce overtop. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and green onions. Finish with a dollop of sour cream.  The kids just ate them without anything on top.  I liked the sauce…but I definitely could have eaten it without the sauce too.

Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry

Last Wednesday, Sierra attended Activity Days with the other girls her age from church where the girls made stir fry together with their leader.  When they got home about 9:30 p.m. that night, she was anxious to share some of her stir fry (she had saved me some.)   I told her we would just make our own soon.  So tonight was the night, and we worked together to make a delicious dinner.  She's quite the chicken, veggie, and pineapple cutter!  

Here's the very easy recipe:  2 skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces), 4 cups chopped veggies (we added mushrooms, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, zucchini, squash, and red peppers), 1 TBL veggie oil, 2-3 TBL soy sauce, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 2 TBL water.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat oil over high heat.  Add chicken pieces.  Cook until meat is brown and no longer pink.  Reduce heat to low.  Add veggies, soy sauce, water, and pepper.  Increase heat to medium-high. Stir fry mixture until veggies are tender but still crunchy.  Serve over cooked rice or noodles.

We had ours over rice and also served pineapple.

Baked Fried Chicken

I found this great recipe through pinterest.  The only chicken I had in the freezer was drumsticks so I had to use those.  These were yummy and much easier than "frying" each individual piece of chicken.

Placed thawed chicken in a bowl of milk. Soak for 20 minutes.  Mix in a bowl:  1/2 tsp. salt, 1 TBL season all salt, 3/4 tsp pepper, 1 cup flour, and 2 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt 1/2 cube butter and pour in pan.  Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix.  Coat each piece of chicken and place on pan.  Cook for 30 minutes.  Turn each piece of chicken and cook for another 30 minutes until throughly cooked.

Raspberry Trifle

Here's the recipe from the delicious dessert from Sierra's baptism day.  Thanks, Cara!

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup white sugar

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup white sugar

1 (10.75 ounce) package prepared pound cake

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen raspberries, thawed

1. In a medium bowl, beat cream with 1/4 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, cream together cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla and 1/2 cup sugar. Fold 2 cups of whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Reserve remaining whipped cream.
2. Slice pound cake into 18 - 1/2 inch slices. Drain raspberries, reserving juice. Line the bottom of a 3 quart glass bowl or trifle bowl with one-third of the cake slices. Drizzle with some raspberry juice. Spread one-fourth of the cream cheese mixture over cake. Sift one-fourth of the cocoa over that. Sprinkle with one-third of the raspberries. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining cream cheese mixture and whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I was ready for a new recipe tonight.  So I checked out a favorite recipe site and decided to try this recipe.  It will definitely be made in our house again :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced  (I only used one clove)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano (I did add this but then read the reviews that most replaced it with cumin instead…so I added that also)

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed chicken broth

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked

1 cup white hominy (I didn’t have so I didn’t add)

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained  (I added 2 cans…to make sure we had enough J)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (didn’t have)

(juice from one lime)

2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces  (when I read the reviews it talked about browning the chicken after it was cooked.  I decided to cook it in salsa to add a bit more flavor)

crushed tortilla chips  (the kids ate their soup with tortillas)

sliced avocado  (didn’t have but would have LOVED it)

shredded Monterey Jack cheese  (we added cheddar cheese)

chopped green onions

1.      In a medium stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft. Stir in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

2.      Stir in corn, hominy, chiles, beans, cilantro, and chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3.      Ladle soup into individual serving bowls, and top with crushed tortilla chips, avocado slices, cheese, and chopped green onion.

Rhubarb Crumble

Definitely saving this for later (from Nana)

2 ½ C diced rhubarb                         

2/3 C   sugar

1/3 C   flour                                       
¼ tsp   salt

Mix together and put in a well-buttered dish.  Sprinkle with ½ tsp nutmeg (or more).

1C       brown sugar                           

¾ C     butter (or less)

¾ C     flour                                       
 ¼ tsp   salt
1 C      oatmeal

Sprinkle with 3 TB water

Bake 350’ for 1 hour.