Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

We just celebrated my hubby's birthday.  He LOVES chocolate (we're a match made in Heaven).  So when I was trying to decide what kind of birthday cake to make him, I knew it had to be some kind of chocolate cake.

I have made him a chocolate chocolate cake, a chocolate strawberry cake, a chocolate and toffee cake, a chocolate and cream cake.  So when I came across THIS RECIPE, I thought it would be the perfect addition to my repertoire of cakes for my Honey.

 Talk about AMAZING!!!  We all absolutely loved it!

I made only two minor changes.  1.)  I only used 8 oz. cream cheese instead of the 10 oz. it calls for in the frosting.  2.)  I didn't have any half and half, so I used whipping cream in the chocolate-peanut butter glaze.  Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say exactly.  I let the glaze firm up then piped it on top and around the bottom of the cake.  Then I topped all of that with chopped mini Reese's peanut butter cups.

So, there you have it-my slightly adapted version.

You really should give it a try.

YAY FOR BIRTHDAYS!!!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Well, I'm happy to announce that our newest addition has arrived!  We are SOOOOOOO in love with him!!!

As expected, I don't find much time for cooking or baking, so I'm so thankful that I took the time to make meals in advance and stock my freezer with them.

On one of my cooking days, I had invited some friends to join me.  My friend, Robyn, was so sweet to make a couple batches of chocolate chip cookie dough that we balled and froze.  She reminded me that it's important to have some goodies on hand as well.

Definitely words of wisdom!

I then shifted my mode of making dinners to making treats too.

Today's recipe is one of those that I made in advance, froze, and have been able to pull out to treat my family.

When I was searching the web for a good banana muffin recipe, I came across this one.  (Original recipe found HERE.)  I asked my hubby if he thought I should try banana muffins with chocolate.  He didn't really understand why I was actually asking him this because in his mind, anything is better with chocolate.

So, we gave these a try and everyone LOVED them!  I thought the chocolate/banana ratio was just perfect - not so banana-y that you couldn't taste the chocolate and not so chocolate-y that you didn't know that these were banana muffins.  They are a PERFECT after school snack!

Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 C. flour

3/4 C. sugar

1/4 C. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/3 C. mashed ripe bananas

1/3 C. oil

1 egg

1 or 2 C. chocolate chips (depending on how many you want)

                                        

(Just a little side note, I got this touchpad for Christmas, and this is my FAVORITE way to use it - finding great recipes!!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  

In a medium-sized bowl, cominbe mashed bananas, oil, and egg.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir until the mixture is moist and there are no more streaks of the dry ingredients.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  

With a large scoop or spoon, fill the greased or lined muffin cups 3/4 of the way full with the batter.  Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted int he middle of a muffin comes out clean.

When I made these, it made 12 regular-sized muffins and 12 mini muffins.

YUM!!!

Breakfast Rolls

So, my friends and I have a little bit of a problem.  When we get together to walk and get some exercise, we like to talk about food.  Many times, food that's so not good for us.  Then we go home and start making these delicious things we've been talking about.  Hence, our walking sessions turn out to be mostly for our social entertainment rather than keeping our bodies trim.

I love it!

That's where today's recipe comes from.  It was an idea that one of my friends had and tried and enjoyed.

We did too.

There's not much of a recipe to this, so it's easy to change the recipe to however you'd like it.

Here's what you'll need:

A tube (or two) of crescent dough, the seamless sheet

Cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage, or bacon

Scrambled eggs

Shredded cheese, any kind you'd like

If you haven't seen the seamless sheet of crescent dough at the grocery store, this is what it looks like.  I LOVE this stuff!  It's so nice when you don't have to worry about the seams in their original crescent rolls.  But if you can't find the seamless sheet, the regular crescent roll dough works just fine too.

Cook your meat and set it aside. 

Roll out your dough.  If you're using the regular crescent roll dough (that has seams), just press the seams together.

Assemble your ingredients.

Place scrambled eggs on the dough.

Sprinkle the sausage, or bacon, over the eggs.

Top with shredded cheese.

Roll up carefully jellyroll style (like cinnamon rolls).

Cut as you would cinnamon rolls.

I originally placed them onto a cookie sheet to bake.

They turned out ugly, still tasty, but ugly.  Like this...

Then I tried putting them in greased ramekins and the results were much better.  If you don't have ramekins, use a greased muffin tin.  It'd be perfect!  Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.

We enjoyed these topped with country gravy.

So simple and so yummy! 

Ham Fried Rice

Today's recipe is the perfect companion to my Sweet & Sour Chicken!  With just a little prep work ahead of time, this dish comes together within minutes.  I love that!

Thanks to Kolette for another yummy recipe (adapted sightly)!

Here's what you'll need:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp. chopped green onion

1/4 C. diced ham

1/3 C. frozen peas and carrots, cooked and cooled

2 C. cold, cooked rice

1/8 tsp. salt

Dash of pepper

1 tsp soy sauce, opt.

Earlier in the day, I got as much of the prep work done as I could.  So, I chopped my green onion, diced the ham, cooked the peas and carrots, and cook the rice as well.  Then I just kept each of those things in the fridge until I was ready to put everything together just before it was time to eat.

When you're almost ready to eat, cook your eggs over medium-high heat until firm.

 Add the green onion, peas and carrots, and diced ham and stir until heated.

Stir in the rice, salt, and pepper.

 If you'd like, you can add the soy sauce.  Stir until all the ingredients are well mixed and rice is hot.

Serve immediately.  If you get all of the prep work done earlier, it takes about 5-10 minutes until this dish is ready to eat.  Awesome!