Chocolate Lovers! Listen UP!

    If you are a devout chocolate lover then you HAVE to check out Marcel Desaulniers Death by Chocolate Cakes book.  Buy HERE!  The amazing confections in this book make me drool just turning through the pages. It's also my dieting downfall, because I just LOVE to bake.  But they do say as chocolate is good for you (well the dark stuff, and in moderation).  The recipe I chose from this book is called Chocolate Rocky Road.  I was initially doing this one for a great friend of mine and her little bun in the oven.  This one is for you Steph!

Disclaimer:  This recipe requires TIME and patience and also precision.  Please read through the recipe before you start, have all your ingredients already set out and measured before you begin.

Preheat your oven to 325.  And prep three 9 x 1 1/2 inch round cake pans by spraying with PAM or Bakers Joy.  Then in the bottom of the cake pans cut out a circle of parchment paper that will fit inside the pan bottom.  Spray the parchment paper also.

Ingredients
1/2 pound of unsalted butter (softened)
1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg whites
8 oz semisweet baking chocolate (coarsely chopped)
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (coarsely chopped)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini-chips
1 cup pecan halves chopped (optional)

   Sift the flours, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside until needed.

   Take a small sauce pan and add about an inch of water to it.  Place it on the stove on about med heat.  Put your chocolate in a heat safe bowl that will fit on top of the sauce pan, but not touch the water.  This is called a double boiler and is how you will melt your chocolate.  (To be clear, this is for the semisweet and unsweetened chocolate that you chopped up.)  Stir the chocolate on your double boiler until it is melted and smooth, keep it warm so it's easy to incorporate into your batter.

   Put butter and granulated sugar into mixer bowl equipped with whisk attachment and mix on med until soft.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Beat again for 2 minutes until very soft. Scrape down sides again.  Add the whole eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds or until combined.  Next add the egg whites, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds or until combined.  (After this step the batter will look curdled and possibly like cottage cheese.  You have NOT messed up, just keep on going!)

   Here comes the best part...adding the chocolate.  Stop your mixer and add your melted chocolate.  Slowly turn your mixer on making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.  Then you'll need to slowly add your sifted dry ingredients.  Mix until nicely combined.  Add the cup of sour cream and mix well.  It should look nice and fluffy about now.  Stop your mixer and mix in the chocolate chips and nuts in by hand.

   Divide the cake batter into the three prepared cake pans.  Smooth the tops as best you can.  Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick (or knife tip) inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool completely before moving on to the next step.

   Cocoa Kit and Caboodle Icing
6 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 pound unsalted butter (softened)
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecan halves (optional)

   Sift confectioners sugar and cocoa powder.  Set aside.

   Place cream cheese, butter and granulated sugar into mixer bowl with whisk attachment.  Mix on medium speed until soft.  Scrape the sides and beat again for 2 min until very soft.  Add half of the confectioners sugar/cocoa powder mixture on the lowest speed until incorporated.  Next add the 1/4 cup of milk and the vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the second half of the sugar/cocoa mixture until thoroughly combined.  Take mixer bowl out (and go ahead and treat yourself to the stuff on the whisk! haha!).

   Here is where I do things a bit differently than the book.  If I were to make this cake for a party or event, I would follow the assembly directions to a T.  But since it's for my family and my kids (who just make a mess of it), well I do it the simple way.  I take the first layer of cake and place on a flat dish then add icing to the top of it, even it out and add the next cake layer.  Do the same for the next layer as well.  Once that is done I add the marshmallows, chocolate chips and nuts to the remaining icing and spread that as well as possible on the whole cake.  I top it off with extra marshmallows and chips and TA-DA!

 
   If you would prefer it to be pretty I'll also include the books directions.  Separate some of the icing into another bowl (enough to spread over the whole cake - about 2/3 of it).  Add the marshmallows, chips and nuts to the remaining icing and mix well.  Spread this icing between the layers of cake.  Ice the whole cake in the plain icing and smooth out as much as possible.  Chop up some extra marshmallows and mix with some chocolate chips and nuts then sprinkle onto the top of the cake and the sides.

   Serve up a big ol slice with a tall glass of ice cold milk! And don't forget to ENJOY!

(The husband trying to lick the icing)

(My youngest Fenway, after eating some cake)

Let's talk about sandwich bread

   My husband is a sandwich eating machine.  He keeps them fairly simple (filled with meat mostly) and the bread is usually toasted.  While normal pre-sliced, grocery bought bread works and is not that bad; there are much better choices out there.
 
   One day while looking for pretzle recipes (the recipe for those will come soon!) I came across something possibly divine.  Pretzel Rolls.  Salty, chewy and a perfect match for a giant sandwich.  Granted it's not an instantly gratifying recipe.  Making bread takes TIME people.  So here we go folks.  Tie on that apron and be prepared to get your hands dirty....er...floury?

1 1/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons warm milk
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cups All Purpose flour

Before we start...If you don't have a standing mixer then you will be doing a TON of kneeding.  A bread machine would also work if you don't have a mixer.

In mixer bowl with dough hook put in 1/3 cup of the warm water (WARM not HOT) and the yeast and leave it until it becomes foamy looking.  After the yeast/water foams up nicely (about 3-5 min) add in the remaining water, the milk, the sugar, and the butter and mix until combined. Here is where you'll add the mixture to your bread maker if you're going that route.

Slowly begin adding the flour.  Please do not crank up your mixer and cover yourself in flour.  As hilarious as it looks to others it's not what we're going for here. =)  Mix until the dough is formed into a ball form.  Then use your mixer to kneed it for about 2 min on med-low, if you used the bread machine take out your dough when it forms a ball and hand kneed for 2 min.  Roll dough into a large ball and cover with a damp towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

After the rest, kneed dough another min by hand and then cut into desired pieces.  Roll pieces into ball form and place on a floured surface and cover again with a damp towel.  Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.  While the rolls are resting bring 4 quarts of water to a boil.  When it's at a rolling boil slowly add 1/2 cup of baking soda.  This is the baking soda bath that will give your rolls a nice chewy outer texture.  Grease a baking sheet and turn the oven on 425.

(baking soda bath)

After the rolls are done resting take one at a time and drop into the soda bath for 30 seconds (it should still be boiling-don't turn the water down)  turning them once.  Hold over pot with a slotted spoon to drain and place on greased sheet.  Do the same with the other remaining rolls.  Sprinkling with sea salt afterwards.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until brown or until bottom of roll sounds hollow when tapped.  Take out, cool, slice and ENJOY!

(Don't forget ONLY 30 seconds!)

Look at that! Aren't they pretty!

Keep it simple

   I don't know about you, but I get tired of the overly sweetened boxed confections down the cereal isle in the market.  Even the "healty" ones just don't satisfy me.  I need something sweet, but not rot my teeth out sweet...and it has to be filling, because remember? I'm a busy mom!

   This recipe is one my kids and I alike love.  We eat it for breakfast, a snack, I even had it for dinner tonight!  It's adapted from a granola recipe that Food Network star Ina Garten uses.  It's simple and easy and so delicious you may find yourself carrying a baggie of it in your purse.

4 cups oats (I use quick oats and they work fine)
2 cups sweetened coconut shreds
2 cups of sliced almonds (or another nut of your choice)
3/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of GOOD honey

Heat your oven to 350.  Put the first three ingredients in a large bowl and toss till combined.  Next whisk the oil and honey together in a separate bowl then drizzle mixture over dry ingredients.  Be sure that all the dry ingredients have a nice coating on them.  Lightly spray a baking pan with Pam and pour oat mix in and even it out.  Bake it in the oven for about 45 min checking often and mixing it up so that it browns evenly.  Let mixture cool.

Now you'll need to prep your dried fruit (if you're adding it).  I like to use dried cranberries and cherries because I like a tart kick, but you can use any dried fruit.  I'm sure with the coconut that dried pineapple would be divine, just make sure it's cut up small.  You'll want 1 cup of dried fruit per type of fruit.  You can use less or more to your tastes.  Mix in the fruit with the oats mixture and store in an airtight container.  Serve it up alone or in a bowl with some milk. Enjoy!

I hate the word Housewife, I don't like the word Home-maker either. I want to be called a Domestic Goddess.

     That quote from Roseanne Barr sums me up in a nutshell.  I'm a busy mother of two adorable, yet rotten, little boys.  We're home together everyday along with my furbaby, Panzer.  I'm also a wife of the most wonderful man I could have ever hoped for.  He's an Army man, so we've always got something going on.  So all in all...we're busy folks.

((My little family last Thanksgiving))

   I came from a place where home cooked food was what brought families together.  My amazing mom or my rockin' grandmother would cook and more often than not I'd go to eat and find myself surrounded by family.  Being away from my family is hard for me, but I had to learn to make the best of my life and also teach my children about family.  I cook often, and I love to invite our friends over for a nice home cooked dinner.  We have family in our friends and we are so blessed for it.

  Ok, well, I guess that leaves me at why I'm starting this foodie blog right?  I often get people asking how I do what I do.  All the baking and new recipes I try my hand at may seem like a lot, but I want to make it all accessible to other food lovers like myself.  Hopefully this blog will also allow you to learn to MAKE your own foods and veer away from over processed items that are super simple to make at home.  (And probably a million times better tasting!!)  So let's get started!