Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake & Muffins

This is something I came up with years ago out of necessity. I was working on a cake to bring to work and realized I didn't have any oil. It was right around eleven at night and I was not about to head to the store... after all, everything else was ready to go. So I went on a hunt and found a can of cherry pie filling. The cogs in my head slowly started to turn and the little light finally came on. Why not use the filling as the oil? It came out marvelous!

I can't tell you how many people have begged for the recipe over the years, but I always held onto it like my life depended on it. Not even to family would I hand it over. So feel lucky my loyal readers, I am finally going to hand it over to you... if I can ever hit the "Post" button that is! ;-)

(So good it doesn't need frosting! But you can frost away if you want!)

1 box Chocolate Cake Mix
2-3 Eggs (depending on the amount the box calls for)
Water (depending on how much we improvise)
2 can Cherry Pie Filling, drained (reserve liquid)
Chocolate Chips
Frosting, optional

For Cake:

1) Grease and flour your cake pans. Spread drained cherries in a single layer in each pan. Set oven to 350 (or which ever temp your cake mix calls for).

2) In large bowl mix eggs. Look at the amount of oil on the box and use the appropriate amount of reserved cherry liquid instead and pour it into the bowl. Same thing with the water. If you do not have enough liquid to make the water, add water from the tap to fill it up. Mix your ingredients with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes unitl the batter is nice and smooth. Pour over top of the cherries in the prepared pans. Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips to cover it. Bake according to package length or until the center is set and a toothpick comes out without cake on it (although you might have cherry or chocolate on it).

3) Let cool a couple of hours on a wire rack before removing from pans. This is sweet enough for most tastes but go ahead and ice it if you want.

For Muffins:

Same ingredients as above.

1) Line your miffin tin with muffin paper cups. Set oven to cake mix temp.

2) Mix ingredients as stated above. Using spoon add batter to muffin cups to fill halfway. Place 2-3 cherries in each muffin and press down slightly. Fill muffins with remaining batter. Spinkle 6-8 chocolate chips on top and lightly press into batter. Bake for reccomended time on package.

Potatoes Au Gratin ala Meal

Once again I have come up with another way to use up some of those Holiday leftovers. If your like me, the same old things just doesn't cut it anymore. We want new and exciting flavors for our taste buds to enjoy.

To accomplish this feat, I was able to whip out my brand new Black and Decker 10 Cup Food Processor... Santa was sooo good to me this year! I was caught doing the happy dance while the sharp blades made short work of my potato slicing. I'm currently working on more ideas that would involve me using it! Like the perfect Pizza Dough tomorrow!

OK... on to the meal itself. This recipe serves about 6. Adding and subtracting ingredients is a snap so if you do not have something on hand, just improvise!

mmmm Just LOOK at all the cheesy goodness!


1 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Cayanne Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
4-6 Potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup Gruyere Cheese, grated
1/2 cup Colby Jack Cheese, grated
1 cup sliced Mushrooms
1 cup Turkey & Ham, cooked and chopped
1 cup Spinach, ribboned

1) Preheat oven to 350. Line a casserole dish in foil and spray with butter flavored oil.

2) In medium saucepan mix together cream, milk, cayanne and salt. Bring to boil and add half the potatoes. Let simmer uncovered 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a heat resistant spatula and remove to prepared dish with slotted spoon. Add remaining potatoes into cream sauce and simmer another 5 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, Spread first batch of potatoes in an even layer in prepared dish. Layer on gruyere cheese, mushrooms, turkey, ham and finally spinach. Then cover with second batch of potatoes by pouring them straight on top and spreading out.

Inside this yummy goodness!

4) Bake, uncovered for 45-50 minutes until potatoes are tender all the way through. Sprinkle the colby on top and return to oven for another 10 minutes or until cheese has melted and turned a light brown.

Turkey and Bowties

Left over turkey this year? Tired of serving it the same old ways? Well, do I have a dish for you! This is a great twist on Turkey and noodles that will "wow" your family with its flavor! Serve this up for 4 or you can always expand it for more!

2 cups Bowtie Pasta, uncooked
1 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive oIl
2 Carrots, peeled, diced
1/2 cup sliced Mushrooms
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, sliced
1 cup Turkey, cooked and chopped
1 tsp Garlic, minced (or 1 clove)
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 tsp Basil, dried
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 cups Spinach, ribboned
1/2 cup Gryuer Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Mozzerella Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1) Preheat oven to 350. Line casserole dish in foil and spray with olive oil.

2) Cook pasta according to package. Drain.

3) Meanwhile, in large skillet heat oil and melt butter. Add carrots and saute until tender crisp, about 5-10 minutes. Add bell pepper, mushrooms and cook until mushrooms brown up, about another 5 minutes. Add in garlic, red pepper, basil and salt and pepper; remove from heat. Stir in spinach and add cooked pasta, gryuer and mozzerella. Pour all into foil lined pan. Top with Parmesan.

4) Bake 15 minutes until cheese has melted.

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti

Here is the "To Die For" biscotti recipe. For those of you on facebook who read that I was making it for my trip down to Bastrop, sorry it took so long to get it posted. I'm going to try and get another post or two up while Im here but if not, everyone deserves a Christmas Holiday!

3/4 cup Walnuts, whole
2/3 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon 
1 3/4 cup Flour 
1 cup Chocolate Chips

1) Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

2) Pour walnuts onto baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, just until you begin to smell the nut oils. Take out and chop.

3) In medium bowl beat eggs and sugar together until they become pale and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix well to incorporate.

4) In a large bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon  salt and baking powder. Pour in egg mixture and beat until combined. Fold in nuts and chocolate. At this point you might want to flour your hands and use them to blend in the last ingredients.

5) While still in the bowl, begin to form a log about 12x3" and finish it on the parchemnt paper. Place in oven and bake 25 minutes until it is firm to the touch. Reduce oven to 325. Let cool 10 minutes!

6) Using a bread knife, cut diagnal slices about 3/4" thick. Lay them out on the parchment, cut side down and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven, flip each slice and bake another 10-12 minutes until its baked through but not brown. Let cool before eating!

Black Berry Bread Roll

Some of you may remember going to your Grandma's house (if you do not know what it is, don't tell me! I'm old enough as it is) around the holidays and having her "famous" Prune Roll... a taste you never grew to like. I am one who never grew accustomed to prunes... but I did like the concept of fruit being rolled in a sweet bread and baked to a golden brown and drizzled in a sugar glaze... I'm already drooling.

Below is something I came up with to settle that particular craving. I'm somewhat surprised I was able to get it to rise since I live so high up and have been fighting the humidity this past week. But it popped out of the oven just right... and in time for an impromptu visit from my mom and step dad. I swear they have a sixth sense about things baking.

This recipe makes 2 loaves so you can either make two different kinds or for those of us looking to save our waist line, give one to a friend.

So good we couldn't wait for it to get onto a serving platter!

DOUGH
1 pk Instant Active Yeast
1 cup Milk, warm
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Shortning
3 Eggs, seperated from the whites
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
3-4 cups Flour
FILLING
24oz Black Berry Preserves (any preserve will due)
1/4 cup butter
Cinnamon
GLAZE
1 cup Powder Sugar
1/4 ts Vanilla
2-3 tbsp Water

1) In large bowl mix together yeast and milk until yeast dissolves. Add butter, shortning, 3 egg yolks (save the whites), sugar, salt and 3 cups flour. You want to add the flour slowly so you do not have a kitchen white out (trust me on this). Add enough of the flour to form a soft dough. Cover the dough (in the bowl) with plastic wrap and let sit about 12 hours in the refrigerator.

The Next Day

2) While in the bowl, divide the dough in half and recover reaminder in bowl. Take the other half and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out until its about 12x5". Sprinkle with cinnamon and then dot with half the butter.

Using large spoon, drop spoonfulls of the preserves onto the dough and smear it in to make an even layer.

3) GENTLY take the bottom length of dough and pull it up and over to half way.

Take the top and pull it down to make the trifold roll and tuck in the ends. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, seam side down, cover and let rise 2 hours in a warm, dry place. Now repeat this with second half of dough.

4) Preheat oven to 350. Using leftover egg whites, make an egg wash using 2 tsp of water and beat well. Uncover dough and brush egg wash over breadand place in oven. Bake for about 25 minutes. Let rest about 10 minutes on wire rack before glazing.

5) Mix the glaze ingredients together using a fork. You might need to use more powdered sugar to get the proper consistancy for the glaze. Fill the fork with the glaze and drizzle it over the top of the bread.

Shrimp Scampi ala Texas

1 lb Spaghetti, cooked al dente, drained
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Butter
1 lb Shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1 tbsp Parsley, dried
1/4 cup White Wine
1/8 cup Lemon Juice

1) Heat oil in large skillet and melt the butter. Add shrimp and saute 1 minute. Add garlic and red pepper. Let saute 2 minutes or until shrimp turns a nice pink color.  Sprinkle in the parsley.

2) Stir in the wine and lemon juice and let simmer 3 minutes then drop in the pasta. Let cook until the pasta absorbs the liquid and serve while hot!

Italian Stuffed Mushrooms

No, your not going to find a bunch of Italian folks stuffed into these shrooms. But you will find Italian sausage, ricotta and a few other things that will remind you being in an Italian Bistro.

1 lb Mushrooms
1/2 lb Mild Italian Bulk Sausage (hot if you like it)
1 tsp Garlic, minced
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1/4 tsp Thyme, dried
2 tbsp Butter
1/4 cup Panko
1 tbsp Parmesan
Dash Crushed Red Pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

1) In large skiller, brown sausage with garlic and drain any excess oils/grease; return to pan. Over med-low heat stir in ricotta and thyme until cheese is creamy. Remove from heat.

2) Heat oven to 400. Line pan in foil and spray with non-stick spray.

3) Using a damp paper towel, gently rub off any dirt on mushrooms. Remove stems and place on foil lined pan, hole side up.  Using small spoon, fill cavities with meat mixture.

4) Bake for 10 minutes then remove.

5) In small bowl, melt butter then add Panko, parmesan, salt and peppers to taste. Stir to distribute butter evenly, then sprinkle on top of meat mixture and bake another 10 minutes until Panko turns brown.