Thursday, January 28, 2010

Dr. Pepper Cake-Weight Watchers Style

Dr. Pepper Cake

Cake Ingredients:
1 box red velvet cake
8 ounces Diet Dr. Pepper

Icing Ingredients:
2 cups skim milk
1 package cheesecake flavored pudding mix
1 container cool whip
Combine the cake mix and Dr. Pepper. Pour into a 9x13 dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Mix pudding and milk until thick. Spread it over the (completely cooled) cake. Spread the cool whip over the pudding. Store in the refrigerator

This is the finished product... yummm

Daniel liked it so much he ate it all... although that is not saying a lot! I have to say, those of you who know me know I HATE cake. So it's kinda ironic that I put this on my blog, but this was for Daniel and I have some people I know will eat it. It was weight watchers style cake, all low fat, so anyone who is trying to count their calories can have this. Using only the Dr. Pepper in the cake mix make the cake very dense and rich. I could only eat a little bit b/c it was so moist and rich. Good thing, I only like moist cake and this is VERY moist. The cool whip on top is very good mixed with the pudding. Over all I give it a thumbs up, plus, it's easy to make!

Some EASY Chicken & Dumplings... Comfort Food

Chicken & Dumplings... Easy

Ingredients:

2 quarts of Chicken Stock
2 rolls/tins of Biscuits
2 lbs of chicken, cooked and diced
2 eggs




Boil chicken, drain and cut up, set aside.
Dredge your canned biscuits in just a little bit of flour so they won't be sticky to handle...


...and flatten them out. You can use a rolling pin, but I just pat the out by hand. Just enough so they are kinda flat.
Then, Cut the dough circles up with knife, I made them larger and then smaller, but I liked the big dumplings!

While the stock is at a rolling boil, start adding the bits of dough. Drop a few at a time, stirring a little as you go, until they're all dropped in. (For two quarts of broth, I used two tubes of biscuits.)
The dough will puff up and float at first.
Then add the diced chicken--I used about two lbs, you can use more or less, according to how much meat you'd like in it.


And now, for the secret ingredient.

Yes, an egg. (For a bigger pot of dumplings I'd probably use more than one. )


Crack the egg(s) into a cup, and beat with a fork.

Bring the pot back to a good bubble, and pour the egg in slowly, stirring slowly. It makes little yellow and white "thingies" in the broth.

At this point, cover and bring the heat way down, and simmer for a while, stirring occasionally. The flour from the biscuits will thicken the broth, the dumplings will "unpuff" and stop floating, Taste it to be sure the dumplings are cooked, add a little salt and pepper and be sure not to burn your tongue while tasting it!


Poof! There you have it, Chicken and dumplings!


Daniel said they were delicious, so I know he wasn't lying, because he rarely goes out of his way to talk about how good something was if it wasn't, so ... it passed his test, plus, it was very easy to make. Enjoy!

Upcoming recipes to expect this coming week:

Hello, so I'm so excited that people are actually interested in following this blog, because now we can all share the recipes and Lord knows that I will tell you the truth! My brother in law said I should name it : Lola's Ho'made Cooking! haha, I think that is funny! Maybe I'll look into a possible name change eventually!

Here is what to expect in the next week:
Dr. Pepper Cake
Scallops/Creamed Spinach
Easy Chicken & Dumplings
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough/Tomato White Pizza
Buca Di Bepo Lemon Chicken

So stay tuned for pictures and recipes... and for the comments of my little taste testers!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

So here it is!

I have for years wanted to cook all the recipes I have been pulling out of magazines, copying from blogs, finding on the internet, collecting from family and friends. Sometimes I make the ones I really like, but now I am going to be making all of them and posting the good ones that I think everyone would like. I will post pictures and the recipes! Hopefully it works... plus I'm gonna need some people to give all this food too, because Daniel and I can't eat all the desserts!