I love potatoes of all kinds--baked, mashed, fried, and so on. These are some of my very favorite fast and easy potatoes. They're great for an easy lunch or to make with leftover baked potatoes.
Ingredients:
1-2 medium potatoes per person, baked in oven or microwave, then cooled slightly if possible
shredded cheese
butter
seasoned salt
salt
pepper
Bake potatoes, cool, then remove skins, and slice. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a frying pan on medium to high heat. Add potatoes, sprinkle generously with seasoned salt and a little black pepper. Stir to spread the melted butter around a bit and lightly coat all the potato slices- be sure to add more butter if needed. Cover and allow potatoes to brown and crisp, then turn and brown and crisp the other side. Add cheese and allow to melt. Serve!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Chocolate Lasagna
I really miss this dessert. It was definitely one of my favorites and going to Olive Garden hasn't been the same since they discontinued it a couple of years ago. Justin actually paid a small fortune and bought an entire cake to share with our friends and family on my 30th birthday--the best part was that there were several leftover pieces and I had this fabulous dessert everyday for several days in a row. Yep, that was a good birthday!
I've been craving it lately and my sweet sister Emily sent me this recipe. I think I'll make some tonight! You'll want some too--I promise, it's that good!
Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagna
1 18.25 ounce boxed devil's food cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
**I actually just followed the instructions on the cake box. They were similar, but not exact.
Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar (I used more like 6, I think, to get the consistency I wanted)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I actually prefer almond extract)
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chilled
Directions:
1. Make the cake in a 13x9-inch baking pan following instructions on the box of cake mix (Preheat oven to 350 degrees; mix cake mix, water, oil, and eggs together in a large bowl; pour batter into pan greased generously with shortening.). Allow the cake to cool completely.
2. When cake is cool, make buttercream frosting by first whipping the soft butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add two cups of the powdered sugar, mix well, then add remaining powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup of whole milk and vanilla, then mix on high speed for 2 minutes or until frosting is smooth and creamy.
3. Turn cake out of the pan onto wax paper. Using both hands, carefully flip the cake over, so that it's right-side-up, onto another strip of wax paper. Now you're going to cut through the cake twice, creating three layers. We'll start at the bottom slice. First slide the cake over to the edge of your kitchen counter. This way you can drop your hand with the knife down below the counter at the edge to get a nice, straight cut through the cake. Using a long bread knife or other long serrated knife , cut through the bottom third of the cake. Spin the cake and wax paper so that you can cut through all sides (your knife probably won't get all the way through to the other side). When the cake is sliced, carefully flip the top section over onto the other sheet of wax paper. Frost the bottom layer of cake with approximately 1/3 of the buttercream frosting. Break the chilled semi-sweet chocolate into little bits that are a tad smaller than chocolate chips. A good way to do this is to put the chilled chocolate into a large zip-top bag, then use the handle of a butter knife to smash the unsuspecting chocolate into pieces. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the chocolate bits over the frosting on the bottom layer.
4. Turn the top section back over onto the bottom layer. Again, slice through the top section creating the final two layers. Carefully flip the top over onto the wax paper, and frost the new layer as you did with the first layer, adding chocolate bits as well. You may, at this point, wish to slice the top into thirds across the width of the cake. This makes flipping over the top layer much easier. It's also how you're going to slice the cake later, so you'll never see the cuts. Any cracks or breaks are no big deal since you'll just cover up the goofs with frosting.
5. Carefully reassemble the top section on the rest of the cake. If you have a large bulge in the center of the cake, you may wish to slice that off so that the cake is flatter on top. Throw that slice away. Frost the top of the cake with the remaining frosting, then sprinkle on the remaining chocolate bits.
6. The cake is served as triangular slices. So, slice it up by first cutting through the middle of the cake, lengthwise. Next cut across the cake through the middle (widthwise) twice. Now you have six slices that just need to be cut from corner to corner one time each, creating 12 triangular slices. Chill any cake you don't eat that day.
Makes 12 servings.
I've been craving it lately and my sweet sister Emily sent me this recipe. I think I'll make some tonight! You'll want some too--I promise, it's that good!
Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagna1 18.25 ounce boxed devil's food cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
**I actually just followed the instructions on the cake box. They were similar, but not exact.
Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar (I used more like 6, I think, to get the consistency I wanted)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I actually prefer almond extract)
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chilled
Directions:
1. Make the cake in a 13x9-inch baking pan following instructions on the box of cake mix (Preheat oven to 350 degrees; mix cake mix, water, oil, and eggs together in a large bowl; pour batter into pan greased generously with shortening.). Allow the cake to cool completely.
2. When cake is cool, make buttercream frosting by first whipping the soft butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add two cups of the powdered sugar, mix well, then add remaining powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup of whole milk and vanilla, then mix on high speed for 2 minutes or until frosting is smooth and creamy.
3. Turn cake out of the pan onto wax paper. Using both hands, carefully flip the cake over, so that it's right-side-up, onto another strip of wax paper. Now you're going to cut through the cake twice, creating three layers. We'll start at the bottom slice. First slide the cake over to the edge of your kitchen counter. This way you can drop your hand with the knife down below the counter at the edge to get a nice, straight cut through the cake. Using a long bread knife or other long serrated knife , cut through the bottom third of the cake. Spin the cake and wax paper so that you can cut through all sides (your knife probably won't get all the way through to the other side). When the cake is sliced, carefully flip the top section over onto the other sheet of wax paper. Frost the bottom layer of cake with approximately 1/3 of the buttercream frosting. Break the chilled semi-sweet chocolate into little bits that are a tad smaller than chocolate chips. A good way to do this is to put the chilled chocolate into a large zip-top bag, then use the handle of a butter knife to smash the unsuspecting chocolate into pieces. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the chocolate bits over the frosting on the bottom layer.
4. Turn the top section back over onto the bottom layer. Again, slice through the top section creating the final two layers. Carefully flip the top over onto the wax paper, and frost the new layer as you did with the first layer, adding chocolate bits as well. You may, at this point, wish to slice the top into thirds across the width of the cake. This makes flipping over the top layer much easier. It's also how you're going to slice the cake later, so you'll never see the cuts. Any cracks or breaks are no big deal since you'll just cover up the goofs with frosting.
5. Carefully reassemble the top section on the rest of the cake. If you have a large bulge in the center of the cake, you may wish to slice that off so that the cake is flatter on top. Throw that slice away. Frost the top of the cake with the remaining frosting, then sprinkle on the remaining chocolate bits.
6. The cake is served as triangular slices. So, slice it up by first cutting through the middle of the cake, lengthwise. Next cut across the cake through the middle (widthwise) twice. Now you have six slices that just need to be cut from corner to corner one time each, creating 12 triangular slices. Chill any cake you don't eat that day.
Makes 12 servings.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Fudge Jumbles
I first had these at Young Women Camp this summer. And YUM! They are so delicious! So of course I had to get the recipe and make some! Justin loves them too- but was a little distraught when he saw me mixing the melted chocolate, sweetened milk, and butter all together. I assured him that the 3 cups of oatmeal made up for anything else that was less than healthy in the recipe. He didn't believe me of course, it was a pretty flimsy lie. However, this yummy treat has earned a new name at our house "Oatmeal Excuses".
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. quick oatmeal
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. quick oatmeal
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
2 tsp. vanilla
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and mix. Add vanilla. Sift flour, soda and salt, stir. Add oatmeal and stir. Spread 2/3 of mixture in a greased 9 x 12 pan.
Melt in microwave sweetened milk, chocolate chips, butter, salt. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour over mixture in pan. Drop remaining dough in dots over chocolate mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
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