Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes

Someone posted this recipe on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen and we LOVE it! We first had something like this on our cruise many years ago and we have been looking for a good copycat recipe ever since. This one is so good and really easy. When you cut into the cake, the gooey chocolate middle oozes out. Yum! Give it a try! You will not regret it.

Molten Chocolate Cake

Prep Time 15 Minutes
Cook Time 13 Minutes Servings 4 Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

4 pieces (squares) Semi-sweet Baking Chocolate
½ cups Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 whole Egg Yolks
6 Tablespoons Flour
2 cups Real Whipping Cream (seriously It's So Much Better!!!)
2 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray 4 custard cups with Pam and place on cookie sheet.
Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.
Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour.
Divide between cups.
Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute.
Combine sugar and heavy cream and whip until stiff.
Invert cakes on dishes and top with whipped cream.

We skipped the whip cream and ate these with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. I would highly recommend it this way!

Best Lemon Chicken

Not sure where I first got the recipe but it seems to have originated from a Tyson Chicken bag, so says the never-lie-internet. And sorry there's no picture.

Ingredients:
4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup Fresh lemon juice
¼ cup Olive oil
2 tablespoons Finely chopped red pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Pepper

Directions:

Combine lemon juice, oil, red pepper (optional)*, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, reserve ¼ cup. Pour remaining marinade over chicken. Refrigerate 20 minutes.

Baste and grill, baby, baste and grill.

Or, to be more precise: "Preheat grill to medium or preheat broiler pan. Baste with reserved marinade. Grill (or broil 4 inches from heat source) 5 minutes. Baste chicken; grill 3 minutes or until golden. Turn chicken; baste, grill 6 – 8 minutes, or until juices run clear when thickest part of chicken is pierced and temperature on thermometer reaches 170F."

*Now, here's a culinary confession. When I first tried this recipe, I thought it meant "crushed red pepper" as in:

Not "chopped red pepper" as in:So, I almost dumped 2 Tablespoons of

in my marinade. Fate saved me and I did like 1/2 a Tablespoon, which was still a bit too much. Anyway, turned out spicy, but good. We now always make it with just a little less than a teaspoon of crushed red pepper.

A good thing to do is cut up the leftovers and put them over a salad the next day. The chicken is so flavorful that you don't even need to put dressing on it, just the chicken and the salady-stuff. Yum.

Chicken Corn Chowder

This is for you Sandy! Finally!!


Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1-2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cups chopped potatoes
1 cup chopped celery
1 grated carrot
2 cups chicken broth
1 can creamed corn
1 can corn
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz. evaporated milk

Directions:
Saute butter, onion and chicken. Add remaining ingredients except evaporated milk and simmer until vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper, remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk. Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Burritos with My Favorite Salsa

My sister made this chicken at a family gathering and everyone loved it. We were so surprised when we found out how easy it is to prepare. You can use the chicken for tacos, burritos, nachos...whatever. It's yummy! Sorry about the bad picture. Apparently my camera didn't focus very well.

Ingredients:
1 Jar of La Victoria Salsa Verde (it's green)
Chicken breasts (however many you want. I put about two in for my family and it is more than enough.)

Directions:
Just throw those two ingredients in the crockpot in the morning (I even put the chicken in frozen) and cook 4-6 hours. Shred with two forks and use any way you wish. I love to cook up some of those Costco tortillas and put the chicken in with some Lipton-Knorr Spanish Rice, lettuce, cheese and fresh salsa (recipe below). You could even add beans if you wanted. YUM!


FAVORITE SALSA

Ingredients:
5 tomatoes diced small
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced (I like 3)
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
3 jalapeno peppers, chopped fine (cut in half first and remove seeds and membrane and then rinse inside and out or you will have really hot salsa!) (and don't touch your eyes. i learned that the hard way!)
juice from 1/2-1 lemon (depending on the size of the lemon and what taste you prefer)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and gently toss. Adjust seasonings and refrigerate.

Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

I saw this recipe on picky-palate.com and decided to give it a go. I must say it got two thumbs up from all who reside in my house. I guess that would actually be 8 thumbs up but whatever. Just try it. It may not be the healthiest recipe but it is worth it! ;)

I stole this picture off the Picky Palate website because my picture didn't look quite as tasty as hers. I hope that is okay and I don't get arrested or something. Ranch House Crockpot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick

1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning

10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes

5 Tablespoons real butter

1 Cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

6 cloves roasted garlic (directions how to roast garlic below)

1- 1 1/2 Cups warm skim milk (any milk will do, I just happened to use skim)

1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste

1. Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.

2. Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Place onto stovetop over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consitency.

3. Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot. Eat!

Roasted Garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bulb of garlic with skins on, wrap lightly in tin foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from foil and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove garlic from skins, place in a bowl and mash with a fork until completely mashed.

Chicken Lettuce Cups

I've recently become a fan of the show "Guy's Big Bite" on the Food Network. Okay, I became a fan after I watched it once and he happened to make this recipe and I really liked it. I got on the website and it had great reviews and I tried it and we thought it was pretty tasty. So...here ya go. (Here's the link to the recipe on the actual Food Network website just in case you don't trust me... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/chicken-lettuce-cups-recipe/index.html)


Chicken Lettuce Cups

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri

Prep Time: 40 min
Cook Time: 2 min
Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 small carrots, diced
1/2 celery rib, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
5 snap peas, diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup mung beans, cut in 1/2 (I just used bean sprouts chopped up)
2 chicken breast, diced
6 ounces Apricot Sesame Sambal Szechwan Sauce, recipe follows
5 fried wonton skins
6 iceberg lettuce leaves
2 tablespoons diced green onions
2 tablespoons crushed, unsalted peanuts
Black sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions
In a medium saute pan over high heat, add oil.
Add vegetables, and chicken, saute for 45 seconds. Deglaze with sambal sauce for 30 seconds.

Add wonton to lettuce cup, pour chicken and veg mix into cup, top with green onions and peanuts. Garnish lettuce cups with black sesame seeds.

Ingredients
Apricot Sesame Sambal Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
3 tablespoons sambal hot sauce (I couldn't find this so I left it out as suggested by some of the reviews)
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon minced cilantro
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Shake before serving.

As soon as you guys accept your invite, I can give you administrative privledges and you can edit or add things to the blog and you will also be able to invite others to join. Does anyone want to take on the job of making the blog super cute...*coughing under my breath*...Sara...
Thanks guys. I think this will be fun and helpful! I will also remove this post once everyone has joined and we get in the groove of things.