Chocolate Krazy Cake

I got three new cookbooks from the good people at Deseret Book for loaning them my husband to help with the 17 Miracles promotions this summer!  Cool!  One of them is Lion House Cakes and Cupcakes.  Avery and I were drooling over several photos in that one.

Avery decided that she wanted to make one of the cakes so she chose the Chocolate Krazy Cake, also known as Eggless Cake.  She made the whole thing entirely by herself!  I must say that she chose a good one to do on her own too because you just have to dump it all together and mix it up.  Nothing complicated at all, so it's a great starter one. The cake is moist and dense, which I like much more than light and airy!

She was pretty excited too that there are no eggs in this recipe because that means you can lick the beaters!  She shared the beaters with Brayden and Kelton and she and Cameron each took one side of the spatula - gross!

Chocolate Krazy Cake (Eggless Cake)
2 c. sugar
3 c. flour
6 T. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. oil
2 c. water
1 T. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well mixed.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  Frost with your choice of frosting.

Can also make 28-30 cupcakes.

Zucchini (Tastes Like Apple) Crisp

We had a dinner with friends last night and I was assigned to bring dessert. I made 2 Nutella pies but one of our friends is lactose intolerant so he couldn't have the cream cheese or whipped cream in the pies. I wanted to try a Zucchini-used as apples-recipe so I decided this would be a great time to try it! I didn't tell anyone who ate it that it wasn't apples until later in the evening and they were all shocked that it was zucchini - no one could tell the difference! Although our lactose intolerant friend claimed that he didn't really get a dessert - he only had vegetables and would have to stop on the way home to have a "real" dessert! :o)

So if you have a lot of zucchini this is a fun way to use it.


8 cups sliced zucchini (peeled and seeded)
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Topping:
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup butter, softened
Whipped cream or ice cream, optional

Place zucchini and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir the 1/2 cup sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together and add to zucchini in the saucepan; blend until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Pour into a buttered 13 X 9 inch baking pan.

For topping, combine brown sugar, flour, oats and butter until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over zucchini. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream if desired. Yield: 12-16 servings

Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches

This is my favorite chicken salad recipe right now. It's simple and soooo gooood!!

Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 C chopped salted cashews

1 C chopped red apple

1 C chopped, peeled cucumber

1 C mayonnaise

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/8 - 1/4 tsp pepper

Kaiser rolls, split

In a large bowl combine everything except lettuce and rolls. Stir gently until well combined. Pile the bottom of the roll with chicken salad and replace roll tops.

Makes 6-8 sandwiches

Zucchini Torte

We had this for dinner tonight and both Jeff and I thought it was really good. The kids refused to even try it, surprise, surprise. The original recipe called for tarragon and marjoram, but Jeff doesn't like either of those, so I used parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. However, I didn't measure them, so if you want to use tarragon and marjoram, use 1 teaspoon crushed marjoram and 1/4 teaspoon crushed tarragon. I also got ahead of myself and sprinkled the second half of the cheese on the second layer of veggies instead of doing the eggs and tomato first, so I just added some additional cheese on top of the tomatoes when it was all assembled. Extra cheese never hurts....am I right or am I right? : ) You could probably substitute olive oil for the butter and make this even healthier.

Zucchini Torte
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter or margarine
1 C. saltine cracker crumbs (from about 30 crackers)
3/4 C. regular wheat germ
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 pound (2 medium) zucchini, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
parsley, rosemary, thyme, to taste
1 small pinch of sage
1 1/2 C. Monterey jack cheese
1/2 C. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/3 C. milk
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. Mix with the crumbs and 1/4 cup of the wheat germ. Press n bottom and 1 inch up sides of an 8-inch spring form pan or a 9-inch pie pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet. Add onion and zucchini. Saute until zucchini is crisp-tender. Add remaining 1/2 cup wheat germ, salt, pepper, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Mix well. Turn half the mixture into crumb shell. Sprinkle with half of the Monterey Jack and Parmesan cheese. Top with remaining vegetable mixture. Beat eggs with milk. Pour into center of the vegetable mixture. Arrange tomato slices on top. Sprinkle remaining cheese over all. Set on baking sheet to catch any drippings. Bake at 350° 40-45 minutes or until set.

Mexican Rice

O.k., so this is another recipe that calls for cilantro that I actually liked. That makes a grand total of 3, because once when I was pregnant with one of the kids I made some rice dish w/ cilantro that I really liked. I think the key is that it's cooked. ANYWAY, this rice is really good. And I even ruined it a little! Yes, I was in a hurry, and I forgot to turn the stove down to let the rice simmer, so the bottom was burned. So we just ate the rice on top and we thought it was quite tasty! I used a little less onion, for Jeff's sake, and I used an orange bell pepper because we like them better than green AND they were on sale.

Mexican Rice

1 C. white rice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 C. chicken broth
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/ 2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 can diced green chiles, or 1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in onion, green pepper, green chiles or jalapeno and diced tomato. Season with bouillon cube, salt and pepper, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Garlic-Lime Cornish Game Hens

Tiernan and Amelia were so excited to have their "own small chickens" for dinner. And we all really liked these. They were juicy and flavorful. And I'm not usually a big fan of cilantro, but this recipe sounded so good, so I thought I'd give it a try and I actually liked it! Who knew?
You could also make this with a whole chicken, I'm sure. Oh, and it says it takes about 30 minutes to cook - mine looked done after 30 minutes, but I wasn't exactly ready with the rice and other sides, so I tented these with foil and left them in for about another 20 minutes and they were still nice and juicy and delicious.

Garlic-Lime Cornish Game Hens

4-6 cloves garlic (depending on your personal taste)
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp. lime zest
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Cornish game hens, thawed and patted dry
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 - 2 C. chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 450°.
Combine the garlic, cilantro, lime zest, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl. Slide your fingertips under the skin of the hens to loosen. Spread half of the herb mixture under the skin of each hen. Season hens with coarse salt and pepper and rub the remaining herb mixture all over the hens. Drizzle with butter.
Place hens into shallow roasting pan.
Roast the hens until golden and cooked through (when an instant read thermometer registers 170° - 175° at the thickest part of the thigh), adding broth after 10 minutes, and basting twice throughout the cooking time, about 30 minutes. Transfer the hens to a platter and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve with Mexican rice, if desired.

(Recipe from cookingontheside.com)