Friday, June 25, 2010

Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake

Ingredients
1 (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 (3.4 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
3 eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch bunt pan. Beat all ingredients (except chocolate chips) until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter (it will be thick) into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Dill Parmesean Bread


I found this recipe on http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com
I decided to use dill instead of rosemary. It smells great...will serve it for Father's Day lunch..





1 1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 Tb yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour (approximately)
2 Tb fresh rosemary, chopped
1 Tb olive oil
1/2+ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


In the bowl of a large mixer (such as a KitchenAid) dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water, let sit for 5 minutes. Yeast should form a foam on top of the water. Add salt, 1.5 Tb of the rosemary, olive oil and flour. Mix with a dough hook. Add enough flour that dough leaves sides of bowl and forms a ball. At this point sprinkle in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Knead for 5 minutes. Cover mixer and bowl with a towel and let dough raise for 30 minutes. Turn on mixer for one second to "punch down" dough and remove from mixing bowl. Turn onto floured surface and roll into a rectangle/oval. Roll up lengthwise and pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on demarle silpat or a pizza stone sprinkled with corn meal or a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. (There, you have lots of options!) Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 Tb rosemary and pat gently to make it stick to surface of dough. Let raise for 30 minutes. Brush with 1 Tb melted butter and sprinkle desired amount of Parmesan over loaf. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially before slicing.

Chipotle Honey Lime Pork Tenderloin


Prep 15 min, marinate overnight or as long as possible, cook 20 min, adapted from Alton Brown



2 lbs pork tenderloin (2 small tenderloins)
1 cup lime juice
zest from 2 limes
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce
peanut oil, or other high temperature oil
cilantro
1.Trim tenderloins of fat and silver skin as much as possible. Place in a large ziplock bag or other container to marinate.
2.In a bowl combine lime juice, zest, honey, salt, and garlic powder.
3.Stir to combine, then pour half over tenderloins, reserving half for sauce.
4.To tenderloins add chiles and adobo sauce. Seal and marinade in fridge.
5.About 30 minutes before you are ready to cook, remove pork from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
6.Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large, heavy oven-proof skillet (like a cast iron skillet), heat enough oil to coat over medium high temperature.
7.Remove tenderloins from marinade and sear in hot skillet on all sides.
8.Place the skillet in the oven and roast tenderloins for about 15 min.
9.Check temperature with an instant read thermometer. Remove pork at approximately 140-145, cover pork in skillet with foil. Let rest 5-10 minutes or until temperature rises to 150.
10.Remove pork to a cutting board, pour reserved lime juice mixture into skillet with meat juices and heat on high.
11.Allow sauce to reduce and thicken slightly, then pour over sliced pork tenderloins. If you don’t have enough sauce or it thickens too much you can add a little water and continue simmering it until it is the quantity and thickness you want.
12.Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.
If you choose to grill, start at step 5 and grill your tenderloins about 15 minutes. Remove from the grill to a platter at 140°F. Pour reserved lime juice mixture over meat and cover with foil. Allow to rest 10 minutes. Then slice, garnish with cilantro and serve.Pork tenderloin is very lean and requires a gentle hand to keep it from drying out. If you choose to use a pork loin it will require longer cooking time and not be as tender.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Lemon Cake

My dad loves lemon so I was looking for something different to make. This looks like a refreshing dessert on a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

1 box Lemon Cake mix
1 (4-serving) box fat-free, sugar-free lemon JELL-O
7oz sweetened condensed milk
1 container cool whip
2 tsp lemon extract
8 lemon "fruit slice" candies, cut into thirds


Directions:

Make cake as directed. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out smooth in a greased 9x13 pan. During the last few minutes of baking,mix 1 package of JELL-O and condensed milk . Take cake out of oven, and poke holes all over the top. Pour JELL-O mixture over warm cake, filling in the holes. Cool completely. Mix 2 tsp. lemon extract with cool whip. Cover cake with cool whip mixture and arrange 24 lemon "fruit slice" pieces on top. Put in fridge until ready to serve.