Ernest's Birthday Cake (Deep Dark Chocolate Cake)

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
by Hershey's

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup boiling water

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. (Cake may be left in rectangular pan, if desired.) Frost with Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.  8 to 10 servings.

Flat Bread Tacos

This was such a fun take on regular tacos, and so easy to make. Hannah loved the flat bread and ate it as a pancake with butter and syrup!

Flat Bread Tacos

by Your Homebased Mom

1 cup sour cream
2 -3 tsps taco seasoning mix
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning (season to taste)
1 recipe of flatbread (see below)
toppings: refried beans, onions, sliced ripe olives, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and shredded cheese

In a bowl, mix together the sour cream and taco seasoning to taste. chill until serving (at least 30 minutes).

In a large frying pan, cook the hamburger over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add in the taco seasong and cook according to the directions on the back of the package.

To serve, spread each flatbread with 2 tablespoons sour cream mixture then top each with meat mixture. Add toppings if desired.

Flatbread

1 tube (16.3 ounces) Pillsbury Grand refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

With your hand or a rolling pin press out each biscuit into a 6-in. circle. You want a nice even thickness. In a nonstick skillet frying pan or griddle over medium heat, cook each biscuit for about 60 seconds per side or until golden brown. This is a “dry fry” Do not use any type of grease, oil, butter etc. You cook them in a completely dry pan.

Pumpkin Pie (from Scratch!)

I thought this tasted better than using pumpkin from a can. It was easier than I thought too :)

"Real" Pumpkin Pie

Cut pumpkin (must be a sugar pumpkin) in half without stem. Scoop out seeds and strings. Place cut down on foil lined baking sheets. Cover with foil. Bake 350 until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Cool. Scoop out flesh and mash with potato mash or food processor until smooth. Drain if too watery.

1 1/3 cup smooth pumpkin

1 1/3 cup sweet condensed milk (or 1 can)

1 egg

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 cup hot water

Beat together until just smooth. pour into 9" pie shell. Bake @ 375 for 55 to 65 minutes. (center will still move slightly) Cool for 2 hours and enjoy (mashed pumpkin will hold 5 day in refrigerator)

Potato Bites

I loved this! Potatoes are one of my favorite foods, so I will be making this again, and again!

I couldn't find "bite sized" red potatoes, so I used 5 medium-large. They took about 45-55 minutes to cook, instead of the 30 minute the small ones take. It's a little tricky to get the meat out of the potatoes without breaking the skin, but I managed to get 4 out of the 5. Next time I think I'll use half and half, since we always have that on hand. Also I see no need to slice off the end of one of the potatoes until after they are cooked. I am not sure what the reasoning is to cook them upright, instead of lying on it's side.

Potato Bites
by My Baking Addiction

15 small red skin potatoes (I used 5 medium-large)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher Salt (I used regular table salt)

For the Filling:
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter; softened
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
3 slices of bacon; cooked until crisp and chopped
½ cup of sharp cheddar cheese
4 chives finely chopped

Garnish
sour cream
Finely chopped chives (I added mine to the filling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice off a thin portion from the bottoms of the potatoes so they can sit upright without falling over. Add potatoes to a gallon size bag and pour in your olive oil. Seal and coat all of the potatoes with the olive oil. Remove potatoes from bag and place the potatoes upright on a foil-lined sheet pan; sprinkle with salt. Bake the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes or until tender.

When the potatoes have cooled enough to be handled, carefully scoop out most of the potato into a bowl. A serrated spoon works well for this process. Take care to leave enough potato in the skin so the shells stay together. Mash the scooped potato lightly with fork, or run through a potato ricer. Add the sour cream, heavy cream, butter, and salt and combine until smooth. Fold in chopped bacon and cheese into the potato mixture. Evenly spoon or pipe the filling into the hollowed potatoes and return to the 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Garnish with sour cream and finely chopped chives.

Cheddar Corn Chowder

The recipe on Food Network is for double this amount. I printed out the recipe online and decided to half it. I remembered to half everything until I got to the spices... and accidentally added double the amount of salt, pepper and turmeric for the recipe! Needless to say, the soup was very salty, but still good :)

Cheddar Corn Chowder

by Ina Garten

4 ounces bacon, chopped
1/8 cup good olive oil
1 large chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
6 cups chicken stock or 3 cans (14-16 oz size)
3 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled (1 pound)
5 cups corn kernels, fresh (5 ears) or frozen (1 1/2 pounds) or 3 15 oz cans
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 pound sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.

Spiderweb Cupcakes

Spiderweb Cupcakes

I followed the tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets to make these cute scary spiderweb cupcakes. I just used a box cake mix and quick vanilla buttercream frosting. I bought very cheap spiders from Wal-mart for the top, but next time I think I'll splurge and buy the more expensive kind. The black spider web was made using Wilton's Sparkle Gel in black, and one tube had enough to decorate 24 cupcakes. These were perfect for Halloween!!

Ernest's Karai (spicy) Chili

Ernest made this for the ward Halloween party. I love that he did the cooking! He agreed to share his secret recipe, as long as I didn't put amounts on any of the ingredients.

Ernest's Karai (spicy) Chili

by EF

beef

hot dogs (cut into bite sized pieces)

dark red kidney beans

diced onion

diced tomato

tomato paste

chili powder

garlic

Cook beef and onions; drain. Add remaining ingredients and cook until hot. Serve over rice.