Chocolate Lava Cake

Folks-
It's been a long time since anyone made my mom's Chocolate Lava Cake. My kids didn't like it when they were younger, but like it now in their teens. I'm fixing a few measurements in this recipe to make it easier to follow, so here's the patched recipe:

Basic Cake Mix Ingredients

4 Cups Cake Flour

3 Cups Sugar

6 Teaspoons Baking Powder

¾ Teaspoon Salt

1 ¾ Cups Vegetable Shortening

In a bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Cut in shortening until evenly distributed. Put in a large, airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place for up to several weeks.

Lava Cake Ingredients

1 Cup Basic Cake Mix

1/2 Cup sugar

4 Teaspoons Cocoa Powder

1/3 Cup Milk

2/3 Teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1 Cup Boiling Water

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Combine Basic Cake Mix, Sugar, 1 1/3 Teaspoon Cocoa, Milk, and Vanilla. Blend well. Pour into 8” square unbuttered baking pan. Combine brown sugar and 8 teaspoons cocoa powder in a small bowl. Sprinkle over top of cake mixture. Gently pour boiling water over cake mixture (Do not stir!) Bake 35-40 minutes until edges separate from pan. Cool in pan 15 minutes before serving.

-Edly

Jim's Chili

Folks- 

Here it is--the second post of the week! Wow! Nothing for months, and then three in a two-week span! 

My dad had never written down his Chili Recipe until a couple of years ago when I wanted to learn how he did it. I still have to get his Lasagna recipe this way.

Without further ado--here's the recipe!

Jim's Chili Recipe

Ingredients

2 Cans (15 oz.) Tomato Sauce 

3 T. Chili Powder 

1 1/2 T. Ground Cumin Seed 

1/2 Large Onion, coarsely chopped 

1/2 C. Water 

1/8 t. Cayenne Pepper 

1 Bay leaf 

1 t. Salt 

3 C. dry pinto beans 

1 lb. cheap hamburger 

1/4 t. pepper 

The night before the Chili is to be served: 

Mix 1 can of the tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of the water with the chili powder, cumin seed, onion, cayenne pepper, and 3/4 t. of the salt and refrigerate. Soak beans with at least 1" of water covering the top. Change the water every 1/2 hour for the first 2 hours, and then leave to soak overnight. 

The day the Chili is to be served: 

Change the water in the beans again and drain. Soak the beans with at least 1 " of water over the top of the beans and simmer over a medium-low heat with the bay leaf for 1/2 to 1 hour. Brown the meat with the remaining salt and pepper. Drain the beans, saving the water. Add the sauce mixture from the night before to the meat and add in the second can of tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water. Add the sauce/meat mixture to the beans and add in about 3-1/2 C of the water from the beans saved previously to the mixture. Mix and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally (every 5-10 minutes). Check several times while simmering to make sure it is seasoned correctly. 

Note: To give the Chili a fresher flavor, just before serving stir in a drained can of mild green chili peppers. 

That's it! One of the next posts will probably be one of the recipes from the cookbook I compiled about 20 years ago.

Ed's Truffles

Folks-
The main reason I'm writing this recipe blog is to keep track of the recipes I use and like. Since it's Christmas week, I'll post two today, and perhaps more later this week. I'll start by posting my Truffle recipe. I got it from the Betty Crocker's cookbook, and then started fiddling with it to make it my own. The secret is in the notes at the end (hint: This is a versatile recipe!)

Ingredients:

6 oz Chocolate (Semi-sweet, dark, or milk)
1/4 C Whipping Cream
2 T Melted Butter
1 C Chocolate Chips (Semi-sweet or milk)
2 T Vegetable Shortening

Melt the 6 oz of chocolate over a double boiler or in a glass bowl in a microwave oven (run the microwave starting at 30 seconds and then progressively shorter time periods, stirring between each heating cycle.) Mix in the melted butter and whipping cream until the mixture is smooth, and pour into a buttered baking pan. Refrigerate until hard, and then cut into 1" cubes. Melt 1 C chocolate chips and mix in shortening. Dip chocolate centers into the melted chocolate and fish it out with forks, placing them on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until hard. Best served at room temperature.

Notes: This recipe is very versatile. You can change the flavor by changing the kind of chocolate, or by adding flavorings. One thing I have noticed is that white chocolate tends not to harden as well as other kinds, I recommend halving the amount of whipping cream and melted butter if using white chocolate.
Mocha Truffles: Use semi-sweet chocolate and add 2 T Instant Coffee crystals to the whipping cream.
Mint Truffles: Add a few drops mint extract to the whipping cream. Seal finished truffles in a container. DO NOT MIX WITH OTHER TRUFFLES! The flavor is so strong that it will overpower the flavor of other truffles and you can easily end up with your box of mixed truffles being a box of mint truffles.
Orange or Strawberry: Add up to 1/2 t flavoring to the whipping cream before mixing it into the chocolate.
Mexican Chocolate: Add 1/4 t Cinnamon and 1/2 T finely chopped almonds to the melted chocolate before adding in the melted butter and whipping cream.
Conversion tip: 1 Cup of chocolate chips is 6 oz. Feel free to use baking chocolate, eating chocolate, or chocolate chips in this recipe!
The coating for these truffles is so good that I use it for almost all candies that need a chocolate coating. I have never had it separate out or bloom.

I'll be posting my dad's Chili recipe soon, and then I'll start posting the recipes from the cookbook I compiled with my old co-workers (The Zap 190 L.O.S. Cookbook!)

-Edly

Clam and Cheese Chowder

Folks- It's been a long time since I updated any of my sites, and due to requests, I'm going to start updating this site more often. I've already gotten a few recipes backlogged, so I'll be able to keep going for at least a little while. I'm going to start to with a recipe that my mom started, and I modified. My kids claim it's the best they have ever tasted: Clam Chowder. This one is just perfect for cold weather, especially with fresh bread. -Edly

Eleanor & Ed's Clam & Cheese Chowder

Ingredients: 

2 T Butter

1 T Diced Onion 

2 Cubed Russet Potatoes 

1/2 Cup Water

2 Cans Minced Clams (Do not drain)

2-3 Strips Cooked Bacon, crumbled 

1 T Chopped Parsley

1/2 lb Cubed Whole Milk Mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese

1 Package of Onion or Potato & Leek Soup Mix, sifted for the onions or  3 T French Fried Onions

1 Cup Heavy Cream 

2 1/2 Cups Milk 

3/4 Cup Instant Potato Flakes

 

 

Directions: Melt the butter in a pot and add potatoes and diced onion. Add water, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender. Add clams with the juice in the can, bacon, parsley, onion soup, and cheese and stir until cheese melts. Add cream, milk, and instant potatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes. Alternatives: 1. Use Monterey Jack cheese instead of the Mozzarella. 2. Use 1 1/2 Cups of Whipping Cream instead of the Heavy Cream, and 2 Cups of Milk instead of 2 1/2 Cups.

Orange Cake

Folks-
This one comes in somewhere between a cooking tip and a recipe. I don't consider it a full-blown recipe because one of the ingredients is a mix, but it's a bit more than a tip since there are two modifications to the mix. Here it goes:

Ingredients:
1 White Cake Mix
1 Tbsp Orange Extract
1 1/2 Tbsp Yogurt (Flavor hardly matters.)

Prepare the white cake as the directions on the box say to (I usually use the whole egg recipe), but before mixing add in the orange extract and yogurt. Continue making the mix as the box instructs.

The cake will come out MUCH moister than the standard cake mix will because of the yogurt. In fact, I add yogurt to all of my cakes for this reason. If you don't have yogurt, sour cream works just as well. I used to exclusively use unflavored yogurt in the cake mix until I realized that the flavor of less than two tablespoons of flavored yogurt was being diluted by several cups of cake batter. I stay away from really strongly flavored yogurts, but darn near any fruit flavored yogurt is going to add no noticeable flavor changes to the cake.

For a frosting, I make a traditional buttercream (sometimes called an American Buttercream) frosting and add about 1 Teaspoon of Orange Extract to flavor it.

Giving credit where credit is due, this flavor is my mom's creation. We've even used Devil's Food Cake mixes with it for a good chocolate-orange flavor, but in general, the straight-up orange flavor is most people's favorite.

Hoping to post more recipes soon!

-Edly

A baking tip: Vanilla Sugar

Folks-
This post is going to be more a cooking tip than a recipe. I found out about this a couple of years ago. You can create a nearly perpetual flow of vanilla flavoring if you’re willing to go through a bit of work and wait a while, but considering the cost of real vanilla extract, it’s definitely worth it.

The flavoring is actually not a vanilla extract, it’s vanilla sugar. It will work well in virtually any recipe that you use that includes both vanilla and sugar. It may take some experimentation on your part to get the substitution correct, but the basic substitution is this:

Remove the same amount of sugar from the recipe as your recipe calls for vanilla (i.e. If the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vanilla, remove 1 teaspoon of sugar from the recipe) and include the same amount of vanilla sugar.

Now, how is this useful? Like I said, you can create a nearly endless supply of it. I’ll include a recipe that uses it soon.

There is one drawback to making vanilla sugar: Once prepared, you have to wait about a month before harvesting any of it.

Here’s how you do it:

You need one pound of sugar, one vanilla bean, and an airtight container. Slit the vanilla bean down it’s length, and then cut it into one inch pieces. Mix the pieces of vanilla bean into the sugar, and place it in the airtight container. Store it in a cool, dry place (like a pantry.) Now, wait one month.

Now, once the flavor/scent of the vanilla has infused the sugar, simply replace any vanilla sugar you use with regular sugar as you use it. There is no need to wait another month after replacing reasonable amounts of vanilla sugar (say, less than about a quarter cup.) But you should replace it pretty much as you use it. If you do this, your supply can last as much as 10 years. Not bad, huh?

What, ANOTHER blog? And the Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast Recipe

Folks-

Yep, it’s time for yet another themed blog from yours truly. I’ve currently got two other blogs here at Blogspot: My first blog is about my political views; my second is about my art and pictures.

So, why another blog? ‘Cuz I like to cook. This blog is all about my favorite recipes and cooking techniques. Some recipes I’ve created, some are from family members, and some are from other sources. I’ll try to give credit where it’s due. I may even give off-the-cuff reviews of some restaurants or food suppliers (but I won’t commit to that.)

So, in order to usher in the premier of this blog, I’ll introduce one of my wife’s favorite recipes: The Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast. This is one of the first recipes I came up with completely from scratch (I usually enjoy tweaking someone else’s recipe,) and it’s almost freakishly simple. Here’s the history of this recipe: I made my first pot roast about a year before my daughter was born, about 10 years ago. I had found a decent recipe online that used a slow-cooker. The ingredients were simple, just a roast and vegetables, and put them in the slow-cooker on high for several hours. It came out okay, but really my big problem with the recipe was that the meat consistently came out with very little flavor. I’ve since discovered that this is fairly common with roasts, but I digress. I came up with the idea that I would try making the pot roast and adding liquid smoke to give it more flavor, and while shopping, I thought that the next time I would use salsa instead of the vegetables the next time and see how it came out. When I got home, I decided to try both approaches simultaneously, and the Smoky Southwestern Pot Roast was born.

Before you try to make this roast, I should warn you that your entire house will smell like a good restaurant. You should also budget plenty of time the first time you make it just to watch it so it doesn’t burn.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Beef Roast, about 2 to 4 lbs.

1 16oz Jar Hot Salsa or Picante Sauce

1-2 T Liquid Smoke

Up to 1 C Water

Combine Salsa or Picante Sauce in a bowl with the Liquid Smoke. Pour half of the mixture into the bottom of a slow cooker. Put the roast in the slow cooker, and cover it with the remaining mixture. Cover and cook on HIGH.

If you like to be able to slice your roast, cook for 5-6 hours. If you want your roast to be so tender that it falls apart, cook for 7-8 hours.

The meat on the outside of the roast will have the most flavor. People with sensitive taste buds should go for the meat in the center of the roast.

That’s it for this time. I’ll have another recipe soon!

-Edly