Kahlua Cake

• 1 pkg Golden Butter Cake Mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 pkg vanilla instant pudding (3 1/2oz)
• 3/4 cups oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup Kahlua
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Combine cake mix adding 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sour cream, pudding, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.

Divide batter in half. To one half, add brown sugar, Kahlua, and pecans. Grease bundt pan.

Pour 1/2 of the Kahlua mixture, then all the plain mixture, then the remaining Kahlua mixture. Run a knife through mixture to marblize. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Check cake in 1 hour. 

Chocolate Cake from Texas

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 2 small boxes chocolate fudge flavor instant pudding
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 & 1/2 cups water
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 (12oz) bag of chocolate chips
• Jiffy chocolate frosting or chocolate ganache (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bundt cake pan. In bowl,  combine cake mix, pudding, oil, and water. Blend thoroughly. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into bundt pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes then remove from bundt pan. When completely cool, frost with chocolate frosting (optional). Serve with cool whip.

Quick Beer-Crust Pizza

I found this recipe at this website. I totally came across this accidentally. It's the most delicious pizza crust I've ever made.

• • 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups semolina*
  • 1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups room-temperature beer
   *Substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you don't have semolina. (I used unbleached flour when I made it. I also used Blue Moon for the beer.)
  
  
  1) Mix and knead together all of the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until you've made a smooth, soft dough. 

  
  

  2) Cover the dough, and allow it to rise for 30 minutes, or for up to 2 hours.

  
  

  3) Preheat the oven to 450°F with the pizza stone (if you're using one) on a lower rack.

  
  

  4) Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 10" to 12" round.

  
  

  5) Place the rounds on parchment paper, if you're going to use a pizza stone. Or place the dough on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. For thin to medium crust, bake the pizzas immediately. For thicker crust, let them rise for 30 to 60 minutes.

  
  

  6) Transfer the pizzas, parchment and all, to the baking stone. Or place the pans in the oven.

  
  

  7) Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, top as desired, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the bottom crust is crisp and the cheese is bubbly and browned. 

  
  

  8) Remove from the oven, and serve hot.

  
  

  Yield: 2 pizzas.

  
  

  I made my pizza with Ranch dressing, bbq pork, ricotta, and mozzarella. It reheats well and still tastes fabulous.

French Silk Pie

I found this recipe here.

I made this instead of a cake for my birthday. Not sure why I wasn't feeling cake but really wanted pie. I'm not that big on pie in the first place.

Crust:
I just bought a pre-made chocolate cookie crust

Filling:

• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup salted butter softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, cold

Whipped cream

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the baking chocolate until stirrable (about 45 seconds on high). Set aside to cool.

It is important for the bowl and ingredients to be cold for the next stage of making the filling--to get the right texture and result. In a large chilled bowl with an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

When the melted chocolate is cooled, drizzle it over the butter/sugar mixture. Add the vanilla extract. Beat the mixture thoroughly until combined (on a stand mixer, you will be using the whisk attachment).

Turn your mixer to a medium speed and over a period of 15 to 20 minutes, add in the 4 cold eggs, one at a time, leaving about 5 minutes between each egg addition. Once the pie filling is well mixed, pour it into the baked pie shell, scraping every last speck of it out of the bowl. Smooth out the pie filling and place the pie in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours (preferably longer).

 

P.S. Your hand will be tired after this but your tummy will be happy.

Chicken Shawarma

I got this recipe from MyRecipes. It's almost as good as Olive House' recipe. If you don't have enough chicken, you can always substitute pork or turkey. I haven't tried with recipe with beef. Beef may require different spices.

Shawarma is traditionally cooked on a skewer cut in strips that are very thin and rolled in a pita (much like gyro). A much easier at-home method is to cut the meat into really small pieces and cook on the stove or in the oven. I have adjusted the original recipe format to fit this.

Chicken: 

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

1 teaspoon chili powder 

2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

3 garlic cloves, minced (the stuff in a store-bought shaker works fine)

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 16 (3-inch) strips (or small cubes. I personally think the smaller the better.)

Sauce:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 garlic clove, minced (fresh or out of the jar is best)

 

Toppings:

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Onions

Olives

Hummus

Preparation:

1. To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
2. To prepare sauce, combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.
3. Pour a couple tablespoons olive oil into a skillet and preheat. Sautee chicken until cooked through. (roughly 7 minutes)
4. Lightly toast pita bread in a toaster oven/convectional oven, or on a clean frying pan on the stove.
5. Top pita bread (or stuff it, depends on the pita bread) with desired toppings and sauce. I recommend tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, hummus, or olives. Lettuce is not really a Mediterranean thing, so it's okay to skip it. Experiment and see what you like!

Royal Icing (aka Cement for food)

This is a classic Wilton recipe. Mom used this recipe for gingerbread house making because as the icing sits, it hardens. It's a great adhesive. :)

• 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 4 cups confectioner's sugar
• 5 Tablespoons warm water

(Makes roughly 3 cups of icing or enough for one assembled and decorated gingerbread house.)

Use an electric mixer until it's the consistency you want.
For stiffer icing, use 1 Tablespoon less water or as a little more confectioner's sugar.

Spritz

This is a family favorite. :)

• 2 sticks butter
• 7/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg yolk (but I've used the whole egg without compromising cookie integrity)
• 2 1/8 cups flour
• dash of salt

If you're doing food coloring, add the food coloring with the butter and sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes (depending on how large your cookies are). We always used a cookie press growing up so the cookies were always small. This recipe makes about three dozen half dollar sized cookies.