Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake & Frosting

The recipes cake from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa (Natural Unsweetened) box. Yep!

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S 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
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. 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 mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting. 

This was the outcome of the cake I made using this recipe!

Red Velvet Cake Balls

I first saw this recipe on Kelly's Recipe blog and knew I wanted to try it one day.

The players....

One box Red Velvet Cake mix (can also make with any other flavor cake mix)

and everything else needed to make the cake

One container of icing (I used cream cheese icing)

Almond Bark (you can use any type of chocolate for coating as long as it is not milk chocolate.. It won't harden up)

First off... I love my kitchen aid mixer

Secondly, I love watching the brown cake mix turn to a pretty red!

Pour into 9x13 pan

Bake cake as instructed on the box

Break up the cooled cake

Add in the container of icing

Mix the cake and icing together until smooth and all combined

Roll the cake and icing mixture into balls, I find it helpful to place in the freezer for a short time before dipping into the almond bark.

Drop into melted almond bark, follow the packaging to melt the almond bark or chocolate, I usually add some Crisco to help the chocolate get to a smooth state

Make sure the cake ball is completely covered, I use a fork to allow the chocolate to drip off

Place on parchment paper for the almond bark to harden

LOTS of cake balls are made from the recipe

Blackberry Cobbler - Southern Plate Recipe

Here is another recipe from my Southern Plates Cookbook.

Blackberry Cobbler pg 69

You can find the original recipe here on southern plates website.

Ingredients

• 2 C Berries, frozen or fresh
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup self rising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter or margarine

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt stick of butter in oven proof casserole dish in oven while mixing ingredients. Place 1 T margarine on top of berries in a small bowl. Pour 1/2 cup sugar over berries. Stir. Heat in microwave for 1 minute so that sugar begins to melt.

Mix together 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar until blended. Pour in 1 cup milk and mix until blended.

After butter is melted, take casserole out of oven and pour batter on top of melted butter. Pour berries on top of batter. DO NOT STIR! Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over cobbler.

Place in 350 oven and cook for 55 minutes or until golden.

We ate ours with Ice Cream. That's the way you are suppose to eat it right?

Verdict: It was oh so yummy! I let it cook 55 minutes and the top got a little too golden brown so next time I will cook it a shorter time and check.

Posted by: Heather

Chicken and Dumplings - From Southern Plates

This recipe is from my Southern Plates Cookbook.

Chicken and Dumplings pg 244

You can also find the recipe here on her website

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 chicken breasts
• 32 oz Chicken Broth (feel free to use water with bouillon cubes added) I used the chicken broth from cooking the chicken and froze the extra broth for later use!
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1-10 count can Pilsbury layers biscuits
• salt and pepper to taste
• flour

Cook chicken breasts in approx. 4 c. of water (I added enough water to cover the chicken and a little) until fork tender, about 45 minutes. I then shredded my chicken with my mixer!

Place broth in medium to large sized pot. Stir cream of chicken soup into gently boiling broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pull biscuits apart into three layers. Dip each layer into flour and then tear each layer into three pieces and drop into gently boiling broth mixture. Do not stir biscuits a lot, or they will cook up, only gently push dumplings down into broth as they float to the top. Cook about ten minutes after last dumplings are added.

Add shredded chicken and turn on low until ready to serve. (I added the chicken before the dumplings based off the recipe in the cookbook, although, I think this is a typo because it tells you to add the chicken before the dumplings and after.)

VERDICT - Oh my goodness good! We ate almost the whole pot in one sitting! Only thing I would do differently is more dumplings or less chicken. I used 3 very large chicken breast and it was right at too much chicken for my taste. Although the cookbook says it is 8 servings I would say it is more like 4. Also, if you were making this for more than 4 people you would need to double the recipe at least on the dumplings and liquids.

Posted by:Heather

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

Pan-Roasted Chicken With Lemon-Garlic Green Beans
The original recipe can be found here on Real Simple.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound trimmed green beans
• 8 small red potatoes, quartered
• 4 chicken breasts (bones left in, with skin, about 3 1/4 pounds)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a large baking dish or cast-iron skillet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom of the dish or skillet.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat.

Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans.

Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the chicken, skin-side up, in the dish or skillet. Pour any of the remaining olive-oil mixture over the chicken.

Roast for 50 minutes. Remove the chicken from the dish or skillet. Place the beans and potatoes back in oven for 10 minutes more or until the potatoes are tender. Place a chicken breast on each of 4 serving plates; divide the green beans and potatoes equally. Serve warm.

Posted by : Heather

SLOW COOKER ROAST

SLOW COOKER ROAST

Roast (I use whatever is on sale!)
      size determined by your family and whether you want leftovers :-)
1 pkg Onion Soup Mix
2 Family Size cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Soup Can of water

Put Roast in slow cooker and sprinkle onion soup on top. Cook on High 4-6 hours or LOW 8 hours.

About 2-3 hours before serving add soup and water. Stir.

Serve over rice.

Sopapilla Cheese Cake

Sopapilla Cheese Cake2 Crescent Rolls
2 Cream Cheese, original - Philadelphia - oz 8
1-1/4 cups Sugar, divided
1 tsp Vanilla
1 - 2 tsp Cinnamon, ground

Spread 1 can crescent rolls in 9x13 loaf dish
Beat Cream Cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla and spread on top of crescent
rolls.
Spread 2nd can of crescent rolls on top of cheese mixture.
Mix 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon and spread on top of crescent rolls.
Drizzle melted butter over top.
Bake 350 degreese for 30-40 minutes.
Cut in squares after cooled and serve.

From: Laura Byrd