Simple Coconut Pie

The second part of my Fathers' Day dessert extravaganza was another item I remembered from my past. I made it as a kid. The recipe was typed on a piece of yellow paper. I have no idea what ever happened to it. But, again thanks to the magic of the internet, I found it. And it turned out pretty much like what I remembered.

Coconut Pie
Ingredients:

* 2 cups milk
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup biscuit mix (Bisquick, etc)
* 4 eggs
* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut

Preparation:

Combine milk, sugar, biscuit mix, eggs, butter and vanilla in blender. Cover and blend on low speed for 3 minutes. Pour into greased 9-inch pie pan. Let stand 5 minutes; then sprinkle with coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve this coconut pie warm or cooled. Store in refrigerator.

The Great Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake Adventure

In my opinion, one of the great things about the internet is the ability to find "long lost" recipes. As I was trying to decide what to take to my in-laws' house for Fathers' Day dinner, I remembered a chocolate cake that I had quite a few years ago. I remembered that it was called Texas Chocolate Cake -- so I began my search.

The search revealed a plethora of possibilities. And they were all very similar.

I decided to do my cooking on Saturday afternoon. (Of course, I couldn't make just one dessert. When have an audience, I will cook just as much as I think might possibly be consumed. The other creations will be discussed in subsequent blogs).

Before I provide the actual recipe, I better go into the description of what happened. I baked the cake and it turned out pretty much as expected (except the part where the cake spilled over and got all over the bottom of my stove!) The frosting, however, was a different story. I had put the ingredients in my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer. It was just not right. I thought maybe I had left out the milk -- so I added it...and it became a spreadable consistency rather than powder. Hmm. Was this right? It tasted a little bitter. But, I forged on and frosted the cake.

I tried it again. Still seemed bitter. My husband tried it. He said it was ok. Ok doesn't really cut it in my kitchen. So, as I went to bed Saturday night, I was glad I had the other dessert options to take to the dinner.

Of course, it couldn't be that simple. That night, I dreamed about chocolate cake. No, I'm not kidding. Not only did I dream about it, I figured out what I needed to do to fix it. Well, I couldn't fix the one I'd already made, but I could make a new one and do it right.

So, when I woke up Sunday morning, I went straight to the grocery store. When I got home, I was more than convinced that I knew what to do. I searched the internet again for the frosting recipe I wanted and got to work. Cake turned out fine -- I changed a couple things but not much. I used a completely different frosting.

The results were astounding! I made the best chocolate cake ever!

Here's the final, Rene'-modified recipe:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 lb. butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup fresh buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix sugar, flour, and salt. Bring butter, cocoa, and water to a boil, and pour over the flour mixture. Mix well. Mix together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Add this to the other mixture, and mix very well. Bake in a greased 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 by 1 inch jelly roll pan. Bake 20 minutes.

Five minutes before the cake is finished, make the frosting.

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then add milk. Add cocoa. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
Blend confectioners sugar into butter mixture in the saucepan. Add vanilla. Place back on low heat and continue to stir until smooth. If consistency is too stiff, add more milk.

Frosting should be warm.

Spread hot frosting on cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. The frosting will set pretty quickly.

The frosting will melt into the cake. That is what should happen. It make it even yummier,.

Pork Chop Hashbrown Casserole

Last night, I was looking for a creative way to make pork chops -- without having to go to the grocery store. I looked at a number of recipes online. The one that really caught my attention was something called Pork Chop Casserole -- which was basically pork chops on top of sliced potatoes. Interesting. But no potatoes at home -- or not enough.

But the freezer did hold two bags of frozen hashbrowns. And I had all the ingredients to make Hashbrown Casserole (aka Mormon Funeral Potatoes). So my little mind shifted into overdrive. I could absolutely come up with something.

I was excited to see what would happen. I rushed home after work, changed into my grungy clothes (i'm a messy cook!) and got to work.

Step 1: Melt 1/2 stick butter in my infamous Paula Deen skillet and sauté one onion. (Note: the onions that I have right now are HUGE!) Add a little garlic.

Step 2: Get the pork chops ready. Mix a couple eggs and some milk in a bowl. On a plate, mix bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs or shake and bake) with some parmesan cheese.

Step 3: Remove onions from skillet.

Step 4: Heat olive oil and a little more garlic in PD skillet. Dip pork chops in milk/egg mixture then in breading. Brown in PD skillet. Only turn once so breading doesn't fall off. Even with my wonderful skillet, it takes two or three batches depending on the number of pork chops.

Step 5: While pork chops are browning, mix 1 package cream cheese, 1 can cream of something soup (I used chicken last night), some grated cheese, a few sliced green onions, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add sauteéd onions. Mix with a package of thawed out shredded hash browns. Put mixture in bottom of baking dish. (Last night, I made entirely too much. I used 1 1/2 packages of hashbrowns and 8 or 10 pork chops).

Step 6: Put browned pork chops on top of hashbrown mixture. Cook in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Ten minutes before done, sprinkle shredded cheese over the top of the pork chops.

Notes to self:

1. Make sure onions are soft because that's how the family likes them.
2. Ideal number of pork chops for my family is 6.
3. I want to try diced potatoes in this, too.
4. Next time, maybe we should try browning the hashbrowns a little. Family said they were good. Funeral potatoes aren't really browned either, but they have cornflakes on top, which makes the whole thing crunchy.

Definitely a success. Hubby REALLY liked the cheese on top of the pork chops. Kids loved it all.

Cream Cheese Chicken modification

I have this crock pot recipe that I got from Mastercook. JL really loves it. I wanted to make it this week before he goes to his dad but schedules didn't allow for crockpotting it. So, I decided to try it on the stovetop.

First, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I sauteed them in butter and garlic. Of course. Then I took the chicken out and added a little more butter and a chopped onion. My family would eat sauteed onions in anything. After the onions were soft, I added the chicken (cut into pieces) back in and sprinkled a package of dry italian dressing mix over it.

While that was simmering (it was really based more on when we were going to be ready to eat than anything else), I cooked some plain old white rice. I also mixed together a block of cream cheese, a can of cream of mushroom soup and four chopped up green onions. While the rice was cooking, I added the cream cheese mixture to the chicken stuff. (I used my Paula Deen skillet that holds enough for my whole family. LOVE that skillet.) I simmered it on medium for about 10 minutes, stirring it every now and then to make sure it was all mixed up. Then I turned it to low and just let it keep going until we were ready to eat.

It was WAY yummy. Doug liked it better than the crock pot version, which is runnier because I add a can of chicken broth to keep the chicken from getting too dry.

The origina recipe also calls for 1/2 c sherry or wine. But I forgot. Doesn't make a huge amount of difference.