Vegas!

Hanging out with Sarah after 13 years. 

Chocolate Chip Calzone

Macy, my 3 yr old niece

Macy and Beau at the play ground

French Silk Pie

This pie is for the chocolate lovers. It is so rich and creamy and delicious. You can use a traditional crust, a graham crust or any kind of crust that you want. I like a traditional crust myself. And the reason I don't have a picture is because it disappeared to quickly! LOL


1 cup whipping cream + 1 cup for whipped topping
1 cup semi or dark chocolate pieces (6 oz)
1/3 cup butter, unsalted
1/3 cup sugar
2 beaten egg yolks
1. Prepare crust and set aside
2. In a sauce pan, combine 1 cup whipping cream , chocolate, butter and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat.
3. Slowly add some of the chocolate mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Return egg mixture to chocolate mixture in saucepan. Cook at medium low heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes think and bubbly 
4. Place the pan in a bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until mixture becomes hard to stir. Transfer to mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer til light and fluffy. Spread into pastry shell, top with whipped cream and refrigerate for at least 5 hours... if you can wait that long...

Black Forest Cake

For some reason, I have been craving black forest cake like crazy! It's all I could think about for days. So I finally just decided to bake one...and it was so good.


Recipe:
Devils food cake mix. In addition to the ingredients on the box, add
 1 small package of chocolate pudding
 1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water. I divided batter into 3 pans, but you can use 2 if you want.
For the cherries, I used tart cherries in water. I found then in the canned fruit section of the grocery store. You could also use cherry pie filling or fresh cherries when they are in season.
Frosting:
1 pint heavy whipped cream
3 Tbls. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
whip together until firm
Put cherries between each layer of cake and whipped cream. Finish with a generous helping of whipped cream frosting all over and add some cherries of top!

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust

2 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup cold butter
8 Tbls. cold water


Use pastry blender to mix get ingredients. Not over mix. Separate into two balls and refrigerate until ready to use. Roll out and put one in bottom of pie pan. Save the other for the top.


Filling:
1/2 cup (approx) chopped celery
1 cup (approx) chopped carrots
1 cup (approx) sliced mushrooms
1/2 chopped onion
1 cup peas
salt, pepper, herbs de provence and poultry seasoning to taste
Saute in butter 5 minutes
add 1/2 cup dry sherry and cook 3 minutes 
add 1 cup chicken stock and 1 cup cream, half and half OR milk (I used 1% milk)
1/3 cup flour. Mix flour into liquids before putting in pan. Cook until thickened.
Cook at 375 for 40 minutes.

Mocha Rolls

When I was young, my mom would take us to Myer's Bakery a few times a week, usually after school. I would always get mocha rolls. They were so good. A crisp cookie rolled and filled with mocha filling with the ends dipped in chocolate. A few years ago, I found a cookie recipe that would work and re-created the mocha filling. I don't make these very often, as I would eat the whole batch myself, but every once in a while, I will indulge. 


Cookie
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter
1/3 C corn syrup
Melt over low heat on stove. Remove from heat and add:
3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
Stir until mixed.  Line cookie sheet with foil. Drop batter in round small spoon fulls. The batter spreads fast and far, so you can only make 2 or 3 at a time. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until brown. Cool slightly and gently wrap around a wooded spoon handle. I use a wooden dowel. This is a very time sensitive cookie. If you cool too long, the cookie will harden and you won't be able to shape it. If you shape too soon, it's very hot and you can burn yourself.  So be careful.
Once the cookies are shaped and cooled, you can fill them. 


Frosting:
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 C cocoa
1/2 C butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup espresso or coffee (you can use a different flavoring or milk)
Mix together and put into pastry bag with large tip to fill cookies. 
If you want to dip ends into chocolate, you can melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and dip.
If some of your cookie were left flat, you can dip them in the melted chocolate.