Mississippi Knows Mud

Okay, I know I had planned on overhauling my blog. I haven't had time. What with Spring arriving and all that entails there aren't enough hours in the day. I have been baking, which is always a good thing. My guys need to eat and what better way to feed them than with some homemade yum?! So, I turned to some of my vintage cook books and came across an easy and oh so delicious recipe for Mississippi Mud. It's rich, simple, and doesn't take long to make. A great recipe for those days when time is of the essence.

Wow Those Thanksgiving Guests With a Chocolate Cream-Filled Torte

Since chocolate makes everything better, I figured I'd share a recipe I recently tried. It's pretty simple and worth the time to make. It's a Chocolate Cream-Filled Torte. An excellent addition to any holiday dinner.

Time is of the essence during the holiday baking frenzy, so I purchased a pre-made pound cake for this recipe. It really cuts down on the time needed to prepare it. Which is always a good thing!

I found this recipe tucked away in another auction cook book I purchased. It must be a winner if it has been added to someones 'favorite recipe' pile. I'm borderline obsessed with finding old recipes that have been ignored and I've come across some really good ones lately. As soon as I get the time to make them all I'll share them with you. I have some really good ones coming soon, so be sure to check back often or subscribe to Woman in the Man Cave so you don't miss them.

15 Minute Chocolate Cream Pie

I love chocolate. I also love pie. So, it only makes sense to make a chocolate cream pie. This is my older son's favorite pie. He loves it so much that he requested this for his birthday in place of cake. That's when you know it's good.

This is a super simple pie that can be made in less than twenty minutes. It's great for a familly dessert or to take to a get-together.

I originally found the recipe on Food Network. Since they are the experts, you can bet it's a really great recipe.

Here you go!

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 90 - Chocolate Zucchini Bread

 

One of my favorite summer activities is gardening. I absolutely love it. I've been a gardener since I was a little kid. I used to help my grandma and grandpa take care of theirs each summer and I remember watching my grandma make meals with veggies from things she harvested from her backyard. When I was in the fifth grade my mom began a garden. She pulled my younger brother and I out of school two days each spring to get the garden ready. I have also always had a flower garden of my own as well. I think I was born with a green thumb. It's in my blood.

This summer my best friend, Bethany, and I started an organic garden together. I live in town and do not have a large yard by any means. Definitely not large enough for the stuff I wanted to plant. I do have tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli planted in containers, but that's all I could make room for. Bethany's brother lives on a farm and agreed to let us use some of his land for our garden. It's been no small task, but it has also been fun spending even more time with Bethany.

We have already began harvesting veggies from the garden. Bethany went out this past weekend and picked some zucchini that were ready.  They were perfect! Since I have never made zucchini bread (Bethany makes some good zucchini bread), I decided to search Pinterest for a recipe that sounded good. That's where I came across one for Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread pinned from Life Could Be a Dream blog. They had me at double chocolate! When I told my husband I was making some zucchini bread I could see he wasn't excited at all. He doesn't really care for it. I love it and so do our boys . . . we win. I made it anyways.

I started off by grating the zucchini with my handy dandy cheese grater (yeah, my kids used to watch Blue's Clues). This was a messy task, but it went quickly. It only took about five minutes. Then I placed the grated zucchini onto several layered paper towels for about twenty minutes to allow for the moisture to be released.

Once finished with this step, it was on to the batter. As you'll see in the recipe below there are quite a few ingredients. So, get everything out beforehand and don't do like I did and assume you have it all available. I thought I had enough sour cream and I didn't. My husband was in the middle of building some shelves when I asked him to make a trip to the store for me. I had hurt my back a few days earlier and didn't feel like hobbling around a store for sixteen ounces of sour cream. He went and got the sour cream, but of course he had to remind me that I was an old lady with my back issues. After fifteen years together, we're both old in our own ways. He's so awesome for an old man though (back at ya, old fart).

Since I am in love with my little red Corvette, I thought I'd include a picture of her here. Yes, I'm talking about my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. She's pretty, but incredibly useful. If you don't have one, you simply must get one for your kitchen. You can find them on Craigslist, Ebay, and even Amazon. Mine is an Artisan Series in Gloss Cinnamon.

Anywho, back to the zucchini bread. Once you get the batter finished you simply add the shredded zucchini, mix it, add the chocolate chips and you're ready to bake it. This makes two loaves or you can make muffins if you prefer. If you want just one loaf, this is an easy recipe to cut in half.

This is a super simple bread and it's worth the minimal effort to make. Once the bread was finished I couldn't keep my guys away. My oldest smelled it cooling and came in begging for a piece. Half a loaf was gone before the bread even cooled. That's when you know it's good.

My husband, the "I don't like zucchini bread" guy, has now changed his outlook. Today, he took three slices to work with him so that his work friends could try it. Looks like a win for me. Nobody in the man cave can deny chocolatey bread!

Enough small talk. Here's the recipe:

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread  

(originally posted on lifecouldbeadreamblog.com)
 

makes 2 loaves

4 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

4 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini (gently press the juice out)

2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (save 1/2 cup for sprinkling on top of batter)

Preheat the oven to 350*. Lightly grease 2 loaf pans.

Beat the eggs, sugars, sour cream, and vanilla until very smooth. Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, and flour, mixing until well combined. Stir in zucchini and 2 cups of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips onto the batter.

Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove bread from oven and cool for 10-15 minutes before releasing from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.

I'd love to hear if you have any other zucchini bread recipes to try. I saw one for lemon that I think I'll be working on next. I'm sure it won't compare to this Double Chocolate Zucchini bread though!!

Thanks for reading!

Take care,
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 87 - The Bully and a Depression Cake Recipe

I can't believe I'm on day eighty-seven of my '100 Days of Pinterest' challenge. When I first started this, I was trying to come up with something that would help take my mind off of my Multiple Sclerosis. I didn't want to do therapy, because I talk too much and figured I'd rack up a lot of bills in therapy time. For those who know me, they'll agree that talking is my strong suite. I don't like to talk at people, but I love a good conversation. One where both sides get to share, laugh, or vent. My best friend, Bethany, is a good conversationalist. I think that's why we have been the best of friends for so long. Other than having things in common, we both like to laugh and have fun. That's what matters in life. Don't you agree? 

One thing Bethany has taught me in the past decade is that I'm just fine the way I am. I was always called weird in school and was picked on for being me. I think it was because I was intelligent, quiet, and good at sports. I'm not super model gorgeous either, just plain old me. I don't really know. I do have an odd sense of humor, so maybe that's it. I don't really dwell on such trivial things, so I'm not going to start now. I'm telling you all this, because as a person who was bullied it took me a long time to accept myself. I never really thought I was good enough for anything. I let other's insults affect my self-esteem. I couldn't see past their words to the person that was me. Not until I had my sons and made such good friends as Bethany. I know that's sad, but it's real. I think we've all felt that way at some point in life or been treated like we weren't good enough. If you haven't, then go you! Keep on rocking that super self-esteem.  

I know discussing this is off topic, but I ran into my high school bully the other day at the grocery store. Even at thirty-five years old, that feeling I used to get in high school resurfaced and I felt like that worthless teenager again...only for a moment, but it still consumed me. I saw her walking in my direction pushing a shopping cart. She had a young boy with her who was about the same age as my oldest son. She noticed me and smiled. That's when my heart sank. All of the anger and rejection that I had gotten over suddenly reappeared. I put myself in check and smiled back at her. That must have been the invite for her to stop and talk to me. Great! She began the conversation asking how I've been, the normal small talk. Did she not know that because of her I felt like high school was the most awful period of my life? I continued the conversation asking how life was treating her. All was good. I was secretly hoping she was struggling with life as much as I have. I know that's mean, but that's what I felt. 

What happened next changed my view of her for the rest of my life. She asked her son to get a box of cereal from the aisle we were standing next to and once he left she said, "I know I treated you bad in school and I wanted to apologize for that."  What the hell?! I heard her say it and just sort of stared at her a moment. I didn't know if I wanted to cry or kick her ass (I've never been in a fight, so I'm not going to start now). All of that pent up anger and vulnerability I had experienced finally came to a peak. Here was my chance to lay into her and tell her about the feelings I experienced due to her lack of common human decency. I'm no stranger to Depression and she was one of the main reasons I wanted to give up on life in high school. 

Now, here she is admitting that she knew what she did was wrong. I looked down for a moment, trying to gather my emotions. Immature me was saying laugh in her face and walk away, but the grown-up me looked at her and said "I appreciate the apology. I don't think you understand how much you hurt me, but I forgive you." She smiled and then I realized she had been carrying that guilt around as long as I'd been carrying the rejection. She hugged me and when she backed away I could see in her face just how relieved she was. Her son returned and looked at us with that "can we go now" look that kids love to give. We parted ways and what she said to her son really helped me forgive her completely. He asked, "who was that lady" and she responded by saying "I was mean to her when I was younger and I just apologized."  Her son responded with "that was nice." It was nice. I wasn't sure her apology was genuine, but she admitted to her son that she had done something wrong and chose to make it right. That changed my view of her and helped me genuinely forgive her. I'm not going to 'friend' her on Facebook or go out of my way to chat with her when I see her again, but I can finally close that chapter of my life off. It feels good. Score one for me!

I know that was COMPLETELY off topic from my Pinterest challenge, but I had to share it. Maybe one of you bullied someone at one point, or maybe you were in the same shoes I was. I hope you get this moment too someday, because it is an amazing feeling. Since I shared my Depression issues with you, I figured I'd end this post with a recent Pin I tried for Depression Cake....how fitting, right? It's simple and there are no eggs, milk, or butter!! That's right, those lactose intolerant family members can eat cake too!! I know, this isn't a feel sad, boo hoo Depression Cake. This was a cake they made back during the Great Depression when it was difficult to come across eggs, milk, and butter due to finances. Money was tight and women got creative in their kitchens. 

Not only is this cake super moist and delicious, you can make the whole thing in the dish you cook it in. I decided to make a layered cake, so I put it into a bowl to mix it and then split it into the two cake pans. If you were going to use an 8x8 pan you can mix the whole thing in there and throw it in the oven. To make the two cake pan layered cake, split the batter evenly into two cake pans and then cook them for about twelve minutes. It really just depends on your oven. Check them with a toothpick to make sure they're done. If you poke a toothpick into the center of the cake and it comes out clean your cakes are ready to be taken out of the oven and placed onto a cooling rack. Easy peasy!

Here's the recipe (originally posted on sweetlittlebluebird.com):

Depression Cake  (Also called Crazy Cake)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups flour (all-purpose)
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
• 1 Cup sugar (All purpose sugar - Granulated Pure Cane Sugar)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp.  salt

• 1 tsp. white vinegar
• 1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract
• 5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 
• 1 Cup water 

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8" square baking pan.  Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger. Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.  Pour water over all.  Mix well until smooth.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes.  Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.  Cool.  Top with your favorite frosting.  Enjoy!

Note:  Oven cooking times may vary, be sure to check your cake to make sure you do not over bake.

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As I mentioned before I am posting pics of the antique dresser my husband re-purposed into our new entertainment stand. It's so nice and it's one of a kind. He did an amazing job. He removed the middle drawer and the top two drawers, then added the material to make them shelves. I found some of those fabric totes at the Dollar Tree and they fit perfectly. We left the bottom drawer in, because it had these amazing glass handles. Look at those claw foot legs, so unique! The pictures don't do it justice, but you get the idea. It looks so good. Way to go, love!








As always, thanks for reading.

Take care!
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Days 27-32 - Cannoli Stuffed French Toast Recipe

Yep, I blog slacked again. I've been busy with work, my gardens, and planning my oldest son's 12th birthday. Time goes too fast and we are not given enough of it. On a positive note, I'd like to welcome my nephew, Bruce, to the world. My younger brother and his wife welcomed him to the world on Friday (5/16/2014). He's absolutely beautiful and perfect. I love his face!


See! He's perfectly adorable and lovable ---------------------->

Welcome to the family, Bruce! You have two amazing parents and you are one lucky little guy.

Now, on to my challenge. I have been busy attempting more Pinterest recipes and such. Mostly recipes, not as much such. My guys do not mind one bit! They are loving all of the different recipes. Some more than others. For example, I made the Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf and it wasn't as good as we would have liked. We're going to stick to regular old meatloaf.

Then we had super, fantastic, amazing triumphs. The Cannoli Stuffed French Toast was AMAZING! I'm thinking you could try it with cream cheese if you are not a ricotta cheese fan. However, it's a must try. Just be warned, it's rich and you'll want to eat it while it's hot off the stove. Otherwise, it just doesn't taste as good. Also, be sure to buy a loaf of french bread pre-sliced for the recipe as well. It's worth it. I had to double the recipe to feed all four of us, but it was a bit too much. It's a recipe to experiment with, but soooo good. Here's the recipe, originally found on Two Peas and Their Pod:

 

Cannoli Stuffed French Toast

Yield: Serves 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 18 minutes

We love making Cannoli Stuffed French Toast for special occasions. This French toast is definitely decadent!

Ingredients:

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)
4 slices French bread
2 tablespoons butter
Powdered sugar-for serving

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Set aside.
2. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, whisk the eggs and heavy cream together. Spread 2 slices of the bread with the ricotta mixture, about 1/2 cup per slice. Place the other slices of bread on top and gently press them together. Carefully dip both sides of each sandwich into the egg mixture until well coated.
3. In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the French toast sandwiches and cook until golden, about 4 minutes per side. Cut the sandwiches in half on the diagonal and transfer to plates. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.

----------------------------

My boys had some friends over this weekend and they were all outside playing basketball, so I made some Mini Pizza Cupcakes. These were a hit with the boys. I made one batch and within minutes they were asking for more. I ended up making two dozen of these suckers and it took barely any time at all. I used a fruit can to cut the tortilla rings and then I stuffed them with the pizza stuff, fresh grated mozzarella, and cooked them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. They were good and a better alternative to pizza rolls.These are a great idea for a sleepover or even a football party.

Another nice discovery was the Easy Chocolate Buttercream Icing.  Since it's never a bad time to make cake, I called my youngest son to help me and we went to work. Since plain old vanilla cake is good, we decided to make it great. We added color to each level we made to add that little bit of color. My youngest son loves blue and my oldest likes pink, so we used both colors in our cake. In the icing it called for half and half. I don't use that, so I substituted Vanilla Soymilk instead. If you do not use certain ingredients in your home, Google search what items can be substituted. You'll be surprised what you can use in place of some ingredients (example: I Googled: substitutes for half and half).  I made this icing in my mixer and it turned out really nice and light. I didn't tell my husband I used the Vanilla Soymilk in the icing. He's already grossed out by anything that even remotely sounds healthy. He loved that cake and icing though. ;) Win!

One of my favorites this past weekend was the Mini Ciabatta Grilled Cheese sandwiches using Heini's Amish Milk Can Cheddar. Freakin' amazing. I added some roast beef to my husband's sandwiches. They were like mini Cheesesteak sandwiches. So good. I purchased the mini Ciabatta bread on markdown at my grocery store. I needed a break from making bread and these sounded good. They were. 



Yesterday, I decided to make some Crockpot Spicy Apple Butter. This was a lot of apple-peeling. I threw the peels into my compost pile afterwards, because it's good dirt nutrient. I threw a few of the peels into my crock pot for the vitamin aspect as well. The peels have all of the vitamins, so I couldn't resist. After I peeled the apples, quartered them, and added the other ingredients I set the timer for ten hours and walked away. Now, I did not make the full recipe. I actually cut it in half. I wasn't about to sit here and peel eight pounds of apples. Especially not knowing if it was a good recipe. Anyways, about an hour before the timer went off I used my potato masher to squish the crap out of the bigger chunks. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any apple floaters.  Afterwards, I canned them,put them in the water bath to seal them,  and I am planning on passing them around to friends and family. One word of advice for this recipe, do not buy the Chinese Five Spice in the regular spice section of the grocery store. I looked there first and it cost almost $7 for the bottle. I went to the Asian food section and found the Five Spice for just under $3. You can also purchase it on Amazon for pretty cheap too.

The nice folks at Dr. Bronner's sent me a sample pack of some of their amazing products to try. So far, all I've tried is the Lemongrass Lime Shikaki Soap and Sal Suds Liquid Cleaner. Both were equally amazing. I used the Sal Suds Liquid Cleaner to do a few loads of dishes and it had a really fresh, clean smell. It cleaned the dishes well and I'm considering switching to it over Dawn. The Lemongrass Lime Shikaki soap smells so good. You can smell lime right off the bat. It's invigorating smell is great and it doesn't seem to be drying out my hands either. Once I test the other ones I'll let you know my favorite one.


 To finish this post off I wanted to share our Kiwi and Grape Turtles. I made them and surprised my son with it. When I handed it to him and he first looked at it he immediately asked if he could keep it. Now, we have a lizard, a toad, two dogs, and a cat. I think rotten fruit would stink worse than our pets do.

I tried a few other Pins, like Panera Mac n Cheese and Jello Shaved Ice. If you want to see those recipes follow me on Pinterest at Woman in the Man Cave.

Take care.
NB

100 Days of Pinterest: Day 22 - Texas Sheet Cake Cookies Recipe

Okay, I know I already posted today. I just couldn't wait to share this Pin though. My friend shared the idea on Facebook and I immediately went to Pinterest to see if it had been Pinned, and it had. I am still going to make the No Grate Homemade Laundry Soap tonight.

For Day 22, my friend Dana brought to my attention a heavenly little cookie that just begged to be made in my house. The cookies are called Texas Sheet Cake Cookies and they were a recipe Pinned from cookiesandcups.com.  I decided to make these on a whim and thankfully, I had all of the ingredients readily available. That's the benefit of being a chubby girl, there's always something available for cookie recipes in my home.

Now, I don't know about you, but I love Texas Sheet Cake. My grandma used to make it for my birthday every year. It is one of my all time favorites. She has Alzheimer's, so a lot of the recipes she used to make so amazingly, in her own special way, are gone. I miss her vegetable soup. To this day I've never tasted one as good as hers. So, I guess you could say these cookies are a tribute to my grandma. When I was making them I thought of her.

These are another simple recipe to make. I don't have a stand mixer, so I just used my regular old hand mixer and it did the job just fine. The next time I go to make these, I'm going to have my oldest son make them instead. He said he wanted to be a chef and what better recipe than Texas Sheet Cake Cookies?

When I first pulled these little pieces of heaven from the oven my son immediately asked if he could have one. I made him wait until they cooled for a few minutes, but I gave in. They weren't iced yet, but he loved them. He asked if I could make them for his birthday. Once they were iced, the cookie assault began. There was no waiting for them to set. Matter of fact, as you can see by my pics I didn't wait for the icing to completely cool to shoot pics of them. I was afraid they wouldn't last long!

If you're looking for a unique and absolutely delicious cookie to make, this is it. Don't look any further. Get the stuff out and make it. You won't be sorry you did!

Here's the recipe from Cookies and Cups website to save you the time of looking for it:

Texas Sheet Cake Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Icing
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

How to Make

Cookies
1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone mat, set aside.
3. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar together until light, scraping sides frequently.
4. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated. Mix in baking powder and salt.
5. Turn mixer to low and slowly add in flour. Dough will be thick.
6. In a microwave safe bowl heat chocolate chips on high in 30 second increments until melted, stirring after every 30 seconds.
7. Mix melted chocolate directly into cookie dough until evenly mixed.
8. Drop dough by a measured tablespoon sized mounds onto baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes until cookies just appear set. They will still be very soft on the inside. DO NOT overbake!!
9. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Icing
10. In a medium saucepan combine butter, cocoa powder and milk over medium heat, whisking until melted together. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar.
11. Pour icing over cookies and allow icing to set before serving.

Notes

store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

*Make sure not to overbake these cookies. The insides will remain soft and dense if baked correctly.

Enjoy!

NB