Million Dollar Chocolate Cake

This is a "Million Dollar" Chocolate cake because it's incredibly RICH! You'll need a full glass of milk when having a slice! We recently made this cake for my sons birthday and although it has chocolate icing to go with it, we think it would work well with a nice Coconut Pecan frosting as well.

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups baking cocoa
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare one 9x13 baking pan or two 9-inch round pans. A bunt pan can also be used.

Place all ingredients into mixing bowl except the water. Mix well for about 2 minutes, medium speed works great. Mix in hot water....don't worry if it looks thin, it's supposed to be that way. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Million Dollar Chocolate Icing

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup real butter, melted
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 t vanilla extract

After melting the butter, stir in the cocoa. Add the powdered sugar and milk by alternating between the two until it's all mixed in well. Stir in vanilla. This makes about 2 cups of icing. If you'd like to make it a little runny to pour over a bunt cake just add a little more milk but not much.

You can make this a mix by putting all the dry ingredients in a jar or bag and having it ready. Then just add the liquids when your ready.

Now, get out a tall glass of ice cold milk and enjoy!

Chicken Spaghetti

There are probably lots of variations on this recipe but this is the one that's become a favorite with our family. Probably not the most healthy meal on the planet but one that they enjoy and it's easy to make!

2 lb box of spaghetti, cook as directed
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of Rotel (tomatoes with peppers, the "cheap" version will work fine)
1 lb Velveeta cheese
1 lb chicken, cooked and deboned

Melt Velveeta in a double boiler or large microwavable bowl. Stir in soups, Rotel and chicken. Mix well and toss with cooked spaghetti noodles. Salt and pepper to taste.

You may want to add a little milk if you like your sauce a little more runny.

Steak & Veggies

This recipe was adapted from another recipe I have. We added some bell peppers to the mix and the result was great!

2 lbs steak (any cut is fine)
2 large onions, sliced
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 bell peppers, cut in slices
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil or butter

Cut your meat up into serving size pieces. Put oil or butter into a skillet and seer both sides of the meat turning once. Put the onions on top then the salt and pepper. Pour the tomatoes over the top and simmer, covered, on low until the meat is tender. This can take up to an hour depending on the steak.

During the last 15 minutes of cooking, place the bell pepper slices on top. Don't let the peppers cook too much, just until tender.

Remove and serve with Herb Roasted potatoes.

Since the meat is cooked for a longer amount of time you can use cheaper cuts of meat. Try to find it on sale and don't be afraid to purchase meats that are nearing their "sell by" date. If it's close to the date, either cook it in the next few days or freeze it for later use.

This can also be cooked in a crock-pot!

Enchilada Casserole

This recipe has evolved over the last couple of years. It really didn't start out as a recipe. I had some leftover taco meat and re-fried beans after having taco salads and burritos one night.

Our family loves enchiladas but making each individual one and laying them in a pan was time consuming. So....what happens. I decide on trying something new. :) How about a casserole?!

I now make this up, usually several dishes at a time and freeze them. It's a perfect "freezer meal" and I've used them to give to families when we were providing a meal. Most of the time they ask for the recipe! So, here it is!

Enchilada Casserole

Corn tortillas - these are found in the bread isle, not the chip isle
taco meat - leftovers work great
Re-fried beans - canned works great....just water it down a bit to make it spreadable
grated cheddar cheese - or your favorite "Mexican" blend
Picante sauce

Spray your baking dish with cooking spray so nothing sticks. Pour enough Picante sauce in the bottom to cover the bottom of the dish. Place tortillas in one layer to cover the bottom. Spread refried beans on top....then taco meat and finally a layer of cheese. Do this over and over until you have filled your pan or used all your leftovers!

Bake at 350 degrees until everything is hot and bubbly. Serve with spanish rice and/or corn.

Sometimes I'll make up some rice to add to the layers. It really all depends on what you like with your "mexican" foods and how much "leftovers" you had to work with.

I haven't given quanitities with this recipe because I always make it with the leftovers from taco salad and/or burritos. Now, I always make sure I have too much so I can make this because our family likes it so much!

I'm Baaaccckkkk!

Well, I'm back from the far reaches of the basketball world! We've only got one more thing to do and that's the Basketball Banquet and it's only a couple weeks away! Whoo hoo!

During my "off time" I've been learning more and more and hopefully I'll be able to share those things with you.

One thing I have noticed lately and I really think it's only on some items. Some of the prices are going down. I know the price of milk and bread has gone down quite a bit. Do you know of other items? Kind of funny how they all said it was because of the price of gas going up it takes more money to get it to the stores but fuel prices have been down for awhile and I'm only now seeing some of the other prices go back down.

Unfortunately, I think this is a temporary thing since our dollar is being devalued on what seems like a daily basis. Please are still loosing jobs out there so it's not over folks!

In the coming weeks I want to bring some recipes that are low cost and healthy. Some were actually used during the Great Depression so you might find them helpful to stretch your food dollar.

See you soon!

Mavis D.

The Ice Storm of 2009

A week or so ago we had an ice storm here in western Arkansas that caused our power to be out for a few days.

On Monday night we were sitting around doing our usual stuff, I was working “online” and the boys were play a little bit of Wii before they went to bed. Then…the power went off. It didn’t get restored until Friday morning but I’d have to say that it was a great learning experience for our family.

Knowing our area, we always are somewhat prepared for power outages but there are some things we found we were not quite as ready as we thought so here are some tips from what we learned.

Heat-

If you have central heat and air, be sure you have an alternate source of heat. We have a gas fireplace and a large propane tank. Although we use it to “help” the heat pump on really cold nights, the fireplace did an excellent job keeping most of the house comfortable.

Hot water….that was different. We weren’t prepared for that at all and let me tell you…you have not experienced COLD until you wash your hair in ice water! LOL! Our hope is to replace our electric water heater with an “on-demand” gas water heater. This should serve two purposes. First, it would give us an unlimited amount of hot water for our large family and second, it would be more energy efficient since it would only be “on” when we were actually using hot water.

Cooking –

We currently have a Coleman camp stove that we simply place on top of the regular cooking stove. This works “ok” but we don’t like the smell it puts off in the house. We were also unable to bake bread and resorted to eating the stuff from the store (YUCK!). Our plan is to have a small stove similar to those put in camping trailers. We’ll set it up to be “portable” by building a cabinet to put it in and it will probably have wheels to make it easier to move. This is also providing an oven. These can usually be found used for a decent price.

You can also use Sterno cans but we’ve found these a little slow to cook things. Perhaps that’s why they can burn for hours!

My mom and dad, who live next door, just used their outdoor grill. It was funny; it gave her an excuse to “grill” in the winter. 

Another thing that is helpful is to have canned meats and other foods available. These can be home canned or store-bought but anything to help you be a little less dependent on your freezer the better.

Lighting –

We used oil lamps, candles, flashlights and battery powered lamps.

The oil lamps are great for longer periods of time. Be sure to have extra wicks, globes and oil on hand because if your power is out…all the stores will be OUT of these supplies.

Candles are another good choice but be careful if you have children…they seem to attract them like moths! Cheap “emergency” candles can be purchased at most $1 stores for a $1 per box of 10.

Flashlights are great for portable light. I suggest investing in the LED upgrade for your flashlight because it will make the battery last much longer and give an excellent amount of light.

Battery powered lamps are great for temporary lighting but again, I suggest upgrading the bulb to LEDs if possible to make the battery last longer. Also…only purchase the type of lamp that uses common size batteries…that way you can purchase one size of battery to fit several different tools.

Entertainment-

If your family is like ours, we like all the electronic gadgets and things but when the power goes out they’re out too….in most cases. You should have several things that can occupy your time. We used board games, cards, dice, coloring, reading, etc. There are lots of things you can play or do as a family and many times this power-outage can bring your family closer together.

Many people believe that harder times are coming and I hope these tips have helped you think about the “little” emergencies. If you’d like more information on preparing for the harder times to come….let me know so I can post things along those lines. I firmly believe that preparation is the key to winning the battle of stress when these things happen.

Young Love

It's really pretty funny the things they do. My little T who is 6 years old has a girl. They are sure they will marry as soon as she "turns 15" and they are "grown up." At least their waiting...right?

Yesterday, we learned that she is loosing her baby teach and she was really concerned about it. With a very serious face, she turned to her mom and ask "Do you think T likes girls with no teeth?"

Now this is really funny when you know that we are from Arkansas. There are just too many jokes about those hillbillies with no teeth. :)

Too funny!