Look at those Babycakes

This is another great chocolate crazed recipe from Farmgirl. These are very easy to make and are great to make for company functions and kids parties.

Farmgirl's Chocolate Babycakes With Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yogurt or sour cream (or a combination)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with yogurt. Beat just until smooth. Turn batter into prepared pans. Bake mini muffin size 10 minutes and baby loaf size 15 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake. Cool in pan. Frost cooled cakes and top with mini chocolate chips or sprinkles if desired.

Mocha Buttercream Frosting
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter, softened
1/4 cup (about 3 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted (or not)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
About 1 Tablespoon milk

Melt chocolate chips and a small amount of the butter in the microwave. In a small bowl, beat remaining butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in vanilla, then cocoa powder, espresso powder, melted chocolate, and enough milk to make desired consistency.

Pass the "Ghetti" Please

A favorite dish at my house growing up was my mother's spaghetti and meatballs. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I love Italian food....any type, any sauce, any kind. My mother's lasagna (which I am planning on posting soon) and her "ghetti" as we called it around the house were my all-time favorites.

This recipe is super easy for you cooks-on-the-go and taste like you spent all day in the kitchen. I have also made my own tomato paste with my own home-grown tomatoes and the taste is out of this world too...Enjoy.

Baldwin Spaghetti and Meatballs

Meatballs:
Combine ½ lb. ground beef
1 egg well beaten
½ small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbs. parsley
¼ C. bread crumbs
¼ tsp. salt
pinch of pepper
1 tsp. Oregano
2 tbs. of water
Mix and form balls. Brown in bacon grease (This is the key to great tasting meatballs.)

Sauce:
2 tbs. olive oil
3 (6 oz.) tomatoatoe paste
4 ½ C. water
Pinch of baking soda
1 small onion (finely cut)
3 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground sage
2 Thymethyme
1 tsp. pepper

Heat oil, add onion and brown. Add paste, mixed with water, sugar and seasonings. When sauce comes to boil, add baking soda. Add browned meatballs and simmer slowly for at least 1 hour.

Serve plate garnished with fParmesanmesan cheese.

Cooking for Our Pets II

This is the second edition to cooking for our pets. As you know I'm adding to our family with another little puppy. The following is a great dog treat of bad breath. Rudy doesn't usually have bad breath, but every once in awhile he needs one of these yummy treats. Not that I've ever ate one. Just wanted to clear that up. You can also make a lot of these and freeze them that always have them on hand.

Bad Breath Banishers
2 cups brown rice flour
1 Tablespoon activated charcoal (find this at drugstores, not the briquets!)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2/3 cup lowfat milk

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet. Combine flour and charcoal. Add all the other ingredients. Drop teaspoonfuls on oiled sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake 15-20 minutes. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

There Goes the Cake

Mexican Monkey Cake
from one of my favorite blogs Farmgirl Fare

This cake is one that will fulfill your chocolate craze and you all know we get them. I've had this recipe from Farmgirl in my "To Do" List of Recipes for awhile now. I'm always finding new recipes from my cookbooks, friends and farm newspapers and magazines. This recipe has been sitting there for months and I finally needed some sweets the other night and this made life perfect. Don't laugh, we all need sweets and chocolate...

Makes One 8-Inch Square Cake
1-3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (they cannot be too ripe)
2 Tablespoons yogurt or sour cream
1 Tablespoon milk
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a glass pan such as Pyrex). Grease an 8"x8"x2" baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts (if desired), and cinnamon; set aside.In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and egg with an electric mixer until fluffy (I use a hand held mixer). Add bananas, yogurt, and milk, and mix well. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt just until blended.Spread slightly more than half of the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon streusel. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the streusel and then top with the rest of the streusel.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.This cake tastes even better the next day, and it freezes beautifully. You can freeze the cake whole or cut it into pieces, wrap them tightly in plastic, and place them in a zipper freezer bag. Defrost at room temperature.

Rat Attack

A Rat Terrier that is. My husband and I have decided on a puppy from Pocket Puppies. She is a darling blue fawn and white female that is out of the same male as our Rudy. Take a look at her here. She is puppy #1. Now, we have to wait to find a time to go and get her since the breeders are from KY. I need names for her...I was thinking about Izzy.

While I'm on the topic of purchasing a registered dog I have heard some negative comments lately from a co-worker regarding me buying a puppy instead of going to an animal shelter and adopting one, and I would like to address this.

First, it is my decision to spend my own money on a registered animal if I choose too because it is My Money and My Choice.

Second, I enjoy registered animals for a couple of reasons:
1.) They are registered and purebloods, therefore will hold true to the breed's standards.
2.) The animals temperament and attitude is exactly what the breed says it is, therefore I don't have to worry about getting an animal that is not what I wanted.
3.) They are beautiful in conformation and coloring and smart as a whip.

Third, don't try to make me feel bad for buying a puppy and telling me there are hundreds of dogs I could adopt at a shelter and tell me that I am making the pet problem in this country worse. I am not. I neuter and spay my pets and I'm not the person dumping puppies because I wasn't a responsible pet owner.

Fourth, it's nobody's business what choices I make on my pet. A pet is part of the family and if I want an expensive registered animal then that is what I will get. People need to mind their own business and keep their mouths shut sometime.

I apologize for getting on a soap box, and if the person I am referring to ever reads this I hope they learn one thing: There is a time to talk and a time to bite your lip. My mother taught me that I long time ago, what's your excuse?

Family is Going to Grow

Well today I'm not posting a recipe, but informing everyone that my family is going to be growing by one. No, it's not what you think....my husband and I are adding another toy Rat Terrier to our family. Rudy, who I have talked about before needs a playmate, so we are trying to make a decision between three little bundles of joy from Pocket Puppy, who we purchased Rudy from.

Very soon I will have a new little joy and I'll be sure to post photos of he/she soon. Does anyone have any good names? Until next time.

French Coconut Pie

My husband loves French Coconut Pie, not just any though, his mother's famous pie. My mother-in-law just passed this famous recipe along to me recently and it is very interesting how the pie is cooked. Most pies are baked at a constant temperature at 350 degrees, but this pie is baked in three rounds of three temperatures. My husband's mother is originally from Madrid, Spain and she is a wonderful cook. I have learned so much from her, and this recipe she brought over with her from Spain.

French Coconut Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (use the pie crust that is features in the December 2005 archives)
3 eggs
1 1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. melted butter
1 C. coconut

Brush a little egg wash on the unbaked pie crust (you will find the egg wash in the December 2005 archives also) bake at 400 degrees for 1 minute. This prevents a soggy crust.

Beat eggs slightly, add all other ingredients and mix. Pour mixture into pie shell.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, and finally at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.