Dangerous Chocolate Cake

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips, optionals
mall splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug





Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time - day or night!

I'm eating this right now. I'm surprised to discover that's it's light and fluffy. I expected it to be dense and rich. It's pleasant and I don't feel all that bad about eating it all because it's so light.

It may look gross, but trust me, it's delicious. I topped mine with a little chocolate syrup. Next time I'm going to put some cherries on top. Mmmm.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

chicken breasts, sliced into 2"strips
cornstarch
1 dash salt
oil
egg
1/2 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
3/8 cup vinegar
1 TBSP soy sauce

Dip chicken in beaten egg, then coat in cornstarch. Fry in oil until brown on edges. Place in pan. Combine remaining ingredients in a sauce pan to make sauce and bring to boil. Pour over the top of the chicken and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Baste while baking.

I won't lie, this recipe is deceiving in it's easiness. The first part is kind of hard and very messy. It uses a LOT of cornstarch, so to cut it back a little, try mixing in a bit of flour. The consistency will change just a bit, but not too much.


I usually double the sauce (as usual) and make plenty for leftovers. This is such an amazing dinner! I promise, you'll never go to Fong's again...or whatever cheapo Chinese food place you frequent. This is a hundred times better.


Serve with Fried Rice. Pin It

Fried Rice

1/4 cup oil
2 eggs, well beaten
1 - 2 cups chopped ham
3 cups cold, cooked rice
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
2 TBSP soy sauce

Scramble eggs in oil. Add meat, saute for 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Cook, occasionally stirring, until warm. Serve with your favorite main dish, like Sweet and Sour Chicken or Teriyaki Meatballs.

We generally follow this recipe as is. Why mess with perfection? We do not use real ham because that's too expensive. We use the fake ham ("meat" that's molded, dyed and flavored to look and taste like ham) and it's a lot cheaper.


Occasionally we won't have green onion and we'll use a yellow onion instead. The flavor isn't as good, but it still works just fine.


Usually we double this recipe so that we have plenty of leftovers. Pin It

Q-tip: Meatballs

Meatballs are awesome. I love meatballs. You can put them in spaghetti, serve them over rice, make a bunch of them at once and freeze them...the possibilities are endless! And don't get me started on flavors.

The thing I've found with meatballs is that it's the sauce that really makes the dish. I have a generic recipe for meatballs and I switch it up depending on the sauce.

I always use seasoned bread crumbs, egg, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, and dehydrated onions. Sometimes I add some wheat germ or corn meal for extra folic acid or something. Occasionally I put rice in them, though I don't have a ton of luck with that.

The biggest trick with meatballs and making them healthy is this: bake them instead of fry them. My mom always baked her meatballs, so it was weird to me to see a recipe that called to fry the meatballs. That's just crazy talk! Bake them for less oil, less grease, and better chances of having your meatball cooked thoroughly. Also, make them smaller so they'll cook faster.

Cheers! Pin It

Teriyaki Meatballs

3 lbs ground beef
3 cups quick oats
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 large onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup oil
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 cup brown sugar
a/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 TB flour

Combine onion and oil in fry pan. Cook onions. Combine ketchup, vinegar, mustard, garlic salt, brown sugar, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and flour in saucepan. Mix together with onions and simmer for 1 hour. While sauce is simmering, make meatballs: mix ground beef, eggs and oats.

*D: That's the recipe. Here's how I do it:


I disregard the recipe. Honestly. I make meatballs the way I make them: ground beef (one pound for the two of us, but I'd use three pounds if you've got more than four people eating), an egg per pound, seasoned bread crumbs, garlic powder, dehydrated onion, pepper, Mrs. Dash, and Worcestershire. I mix it up, form the meatballs, put them in a glass baking dish, pour the sauce over the top and bake at 350 - 400 degrees for about a half hour.


The sauce I do NOT simmer for an hour. No thanks. I mix the ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce and heat until mixed (about 5 - 10 minutes). The dry mustard gives it a little more of a kick, so I don't always add it. I do not add the flour or garlic salt. I just don't.


Serve these bad boys over rice or pasta or with steamed potatoes and corn. Mmmm. Pin It

New York Cheesecake

15 graham crackers (1/2 grahams, so 7 1/2 whole crackers)
2 TBSP butter, melted
4 packages of cream cheese, 8 oz each
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c milk
4 eggs
1 c sour cream
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1/4 c flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9" springform pan. This is a springform pan:



There's a glass, or metal, disc in the bottom or the pan and then the latch is released, the disc is removable.

Put the graham crackers in large plastic bag and crush them. I use a rolling pin and it works marvelously. In a medium bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs and butter together. The mixture will be that of moist crumbs. It will not be wet, and it won't even clump together.

Press the crumbs into the bottom of the greased pan. Press them slightly higher along the edges to create a very shallow lip.

In a large bowl mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in milk and then mix in eggs one at a time; just enough to incorporate them. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth.

Pour filling into prepared crust. As you can see, it's very near the top. Yes, it does rise. I have never had it over flow, but I'm not willing to risk it. I put a cookie sheet under the cheesecake just in case.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn oven off and let the cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 - 6 hours. This prevents cracking.

Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Here you can see the cake has risen out of the pan.

Once it cools, it will condense again. It is important to read the instructions. But it's even more important to follow them. Leave the door closed on the oven, otherwise this will happen:

I wasn't too worried because it all tastes the same. But your cake will not crack if you leave the oven door closed. I promise.

It still looks good anyway, if I do say so myself.

Next you just need to slice it up and "doctor" it (as my in-laws say) to perfection. My drug of choice? Cherry pie filling and chocolate sauce.

Mmmm.

Tell me your mouth isn't watering right now...

Aren't you impressed? If you make this for company or your spouse or your in-laws, they will be impressed too.

And trust me, it tasted as good as it looked.

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Turtle Cookies

2 eggs
1 cup flour
3 TBSP cocoa
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients and spoon into waffle iron. Cook until done. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.


This is such a fun, delicious treat. They're so stinkin' easy to make (you don't even have to preheat the oven!) and boy are they good. They use and entire stick of butter...they have to be good! A word of caution: don't fill the waffle iron with dough like you would if you were making waffles. You just get giant chocolate waffles. Spoon a little amount in and you get fun "turtle" shaped cookies. Pin It