Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Icing

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Icing

Ingredients
 Cake
2 cups All-purpose Flour
2 cups Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1-3/4 stick Butter
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 cup Boiling Water

 Icing
1-3/4 stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa Powder
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt 1 3/4 sticks butter. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add boiling water, let the mixture bubble up for about 10 seconds, then remove from heat.
Pour the peanut butter mixture over the flour/sugar mixture and stir until halfway combined. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir gently until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into a sheet pan or jelly roll pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove it from the oven.
While the cake is baking, make the icing: Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter. Stir in the cocoa powder, then the milk. Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if you want it a little thicker.
Pour the icing over the warm cake right out of the oven and smooth the surface. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting into squares and serving warm.

Brown Sugar Syrup

Brown Sugar Syrup

~2 c. brown sugar (I used light)
~1 c. water
~4 T. butter, unsalted
~1/2 tsp. salt
~2 tsp. vanilla

Add all but vanilla to small saucepan, bring to boil while whisking to dissolve the sugar. Let boil rapidly over medium heat for a full 3 minutes.
Immediately remove from heat, whisk in vanilla and let cool for a couple minutes until serving.

Taco Pasta Bake

Taco Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4 of a bag of ziti
1lb of ground beef
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1C water
1/2 pkg of cream cheese
1 1/2C shredded cheese (Mexican style or Colby Jack)

Directions:
Boil pasta until just cooked, drain, rinse with cold water.

Brown ground beef, mix together taco season and  water, pour over cooked beef and let simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced.

Add the cream cheese to the beef mixture, stir until melted and combined, remove from heat.

Add pasta to the casserole dish and mix in 1C of the shredded cheese.

Top pasta and cheese with beef mixture, gently mix until the pasta is coated, top with remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 uncovered for approx 30 minutes.  

Chicken and Dumplings

1 can chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
shredded chicken
1 tube large biscuits

Bring to a simmer the broth, soup and shredded chicken. Tear off pieces of the biscuits and drop in the mixture. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Zucchini Mushroom Pasta

ONE POT ZUCCHINI MUSHROOM PASTA
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total Time
20 minutes
Yield
6 servings
An incredibly creamy, hearty pasta dish that you can make in just 20 minutes. Even the pasta gets cooked right in the pot!

INGREDIENTS

1 pound spaghetti
1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 zucchini, thinly sliced and quartered
2/3 cup peas
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 sprigs thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup heavy cream
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INSTRUCTIONS

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, mushrooms, zucchini, peas, garlic, thyme and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked through and liquid has reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and heavy cream.
Serve immediately.

Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata

Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata

Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon (3Tbsp)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp basil or oregano
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Pasta
2 cups dried penne pasta
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of 2 lemons (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
2 tsp dried basil
2 Tbps capers
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Chicken
Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well.  Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken.  Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.  When ready, grill until done.  Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.

Pasta
While chicken is grilling.  Cook pasta according to directions (10-12 minutes).  Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.  In same sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Whisk in garlic and lemon juice.  Pour in half and half and whisk until hot.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted.  Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary.  Toss in pasta.

Butternut squash(pumpkin) soup

Ingredients

• 4 lb butternut squash
• 3 apples
• 32 oz can reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp rosemary + garlic seasoning
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• • reduced-fat sour cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place butternut squash in microwave for 2-3 minutes to soften squash before slicing.
3. Slice the squash lengthwise down the center from top to bottom.
4. Scoop out seeds from squash.
5. Slice onion down center.
6. Spray a roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray.
7. Bake squash and onions in oven for 35-40 minutes.
8. Remove squash and allow to cool.
9. Peel and dice apples and add to crock pot.
10. After squash has cooled, remove skin and chop squash. Add to crock pot. 
11. Add chicken broth, rosemary + garlic blend, salt and pepper to crock pot.
12. Stir all ingredients to mix and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.
13. After squash has cooked, remove bay leaves and using an immersion blender or blender, blend to desired consistency.
14. To serve, top with a Tbsp of light sour cream. .