Easy Chicken and Broccoli Pie

1 bag Broccoli, frozen, thawed and drained (9 oz.) 

              (Or use 1 small head of fresh broccoli and steam it beforehand.)

1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded (6 oz.)

2 cans Chunk Chicken, drained (5 oz. each)

1/2 cup Bisquick

1 cup Milk

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

2 eggs

Directions

Heat oven to 400-degrees. Spray a 9-inch glass pie plate (or 9 inch casserole dish) with cooking spray. 

Mix together and then sprinkle the broccoli, the cheese and the chicken into the dish. 

In a medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients with a wire whisk or fork until blended. 

Pour into pie plate. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

                                                                               *

1 1/4 sticks (10 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened

2 TBSP golden syrup (such as Lyle's) or dark corn syrup

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

2 eggs

Zest of 2 small oranges (1 TBSP) and juice of 1 small orange (3 TBSP)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9×5×3-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Grease sides of pan or line with a paper loaf-pan liner.

In large bowl, with electric mixer beat the butter, syrup (brush a little oil on your tablespoon measure before measuring the syrup to help remove it from spoon), and sugar until fairly smooth.

In a separate bowl combine; flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Beat 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients into the syrup mixture, then beat in one egg. Add another couple of spoonfuls of dry ingredients before beating in the remaining egg.

Beat in remaining dry ingredients, and then add, while still beating, the orange zest. Gradually add the juice. The batter may look slightly curdled.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes (edges should look dry and center of cake may have dipped slightly). Cool in pan on wire rack. Carefully remove from pan and cool completely.

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*****PLEASE READ***** (BEFORE you make this recipe)

My Chocolate Orange Loaf did not turn out as pictured above. Please bake this recipe at your own risk.

This is what mine looked like: 

This is what I know happened:

As I was cooking the loaf it started rising above the edge of the pan. I wasn't too worried about it because I thought it would still bake ok. Next time I checked on it, it had overflowed the pan and large chunks were now baking on the bottom of my oven. I let it go a little longer until I realized the chunks on the bottom were really burning, and I wanted to avoid the whole smoke-coming-out-of-the-oven-because-the-food-is-on-fire scenario. SO I opened the oven, watched my loaf cake drastically deflate, and scooped out the burning piles on the bottom. After 45 minutes it was still extremely wet and undercooked, so I left it in for 10 more min. And you can see what I ended up with. I picked the burned parts off and as I tried to take it out of the pan it fell apart, hence the bowl. At least it still tasted good.

Now, on to the possibilities of what may have gone wrong: 

I may have put the wrong amount of baking soda in?

I used light brown sugar rather than dark brown sugar?

I should not have (over) mixed it in the Bosch and just used a hand mixer as suggested?

I should not have let the entire prepared batter stand while I zested and juiced the orange?

I haven't the heck of an idea what really went wrong?

So, if you decided to make this (and please do, since I won't be trying again anytime soon, and I'd like to know how to make it correctly):

Try doing the opposite of the things that I listed as possible wrongness. And good luck! And comment with your results! (Thank you!)

Easy Chicken Salad Sandwich

I am a big fan of Chicken Salad, but I do not always have the right ingredients on hand for it. So here is a simple variation to try. It is easy to make (as easy as using a can of tuna fish, but since I'm not a fan of tuna...)

Mix together:
1 can of cooked chicken, rinsed and drained (I've been using a 12.5 oz can)
between 1/4 to 1/2 cup miracle whip or mayo (until you get desired consistency)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
slivered almonds
sprinkle of salt

Spread mixture on a whole wheat bagel, whole wheat roll, bread, tortilla, croissant, or eat with chips.

It can be really simple, as shown in the photo, or you can mix in any of your favorites:

diced celery

sliced grapes
water chestnuts
pineapple
green onions

Enjoy!

Strawberries 'n' Cream Trifle

Strawberries 'n' Cream Trifle

Ingredients

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 (1 ounce) package sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix (I used cheesecake flavor, white chocolate also sounded good)
1 (8 ounce) container frozen (reduced-fat) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9 inch) prepared angel food cake
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries (I didn't have quite that many...)
3 whole fresh strawberries


Directions

In a bowl, whisk the milk and water. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping. Cut cake into 1/2-in. cubes.

Spoon a third of the pudding mixture into a 4-qt. trifle or glass bowl. Top with half of the cake cubes and sliced strawberries. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining pudding mixture. Garnish with whole strawberries.

No Bake Bars

These are really good and super easy!

Boil together for 1 min:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cube butter or margarine

Remove from heat and add:
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)
3-4 cups oats

Mix well. Spread in 8x8 (ish) cake pan. Smooth the top down. While in the pan, cut into squares while it is still a little warm. Cool. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

If you'd rather have 'cookies' instead of 'bars':
Once everything is mixed together, drop by the spoonful onto wax paper. Cool. Store in an airtight container. Tastes the same! :)

PW Brownies

Found a recipe HERE that I decided to try. I loved the way the brownies turned out, but the frosting I did not really like... Maybe I made it wrong??? Anyway, I made half of them in little brownies bites as shown on the website, but I made the other half in a regular cake pan. Ok, not a totally regular cake pan, but had to try out one of THESE. Anyway, my 2 year old loved the little brownie bites in the mini muffin tins (I used mini paper cups in them), but they were tedious to make. So next time, it's all going in a regular cake pan. This was my first time using baking chocolate too.

To keep it simple, just make the brownie recipe part, (follow the first 5 instructions) bake it in a regular well-greased 9x13 pan for about 35-40 min (test with toothpick) and eat without frosting. Now that I have rambled on enough, here is the recipe:

Decorated Brownie Bites

Ingredients

BROWNIES

§  4 whole 1-ounce Squares Unsweetened Chocolate, Melted And Cooled

§  2 sticks Butter, Softened (but Not Room Temperature)

§  2 cups Sugar

§  4 whole Large Eggs

§  3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

§  1-¼ cup All-purpose Flour

§  1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

§  1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chunks

ICING/GLAZE

§  8 whole 1-ounce Squares Semi-sweet Chocolate, Chopped

§  1 cup Cream, Heated

§  2 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup

§  2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

For brownies, melt 4 ounces chocolate and set aside for 15 to 30 minutes, allowing to cool. Chocolate should not be warm!

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs two at a time.

With mixer on low, drizzle in cooled chocolate. Mix until just combined. Add flour and mix until just combined. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and mix for five more seconds.

Add chocolate chips and chocolate chunks and mix for just a few seconds on low, until they’re incorporated.

Generously grease and flour mini-muffin pan. Scoop generous teaspoons of batter into each tin. (We don’t want the brownies to have muffin tops; try to get them to stay under the top of the tin.)

Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until set. Remove pans and invert on a cooling rack. Allow brownie bites to cool completely.

To make the icing, mix cream with corn syrup and heat in a microwave safe container. Add chopped chocolate to a separate bowl. Add vanilla to warm cream mixture, then pour over chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate totally melts and mixture is smooth.

Add brownie bites face down in the icing. Dunk to submerge, and spoon icing over the top to thoroughly coat. Remove with a fork, tapping the fork on the side of the bowl several times quickly in order to get the excess to drain between the tines. Carefully set on a baking mat or sheet of waxed paper.

Decorate as you wish! Chopped nuts, candies, sprinkles, sea salt…the world is your oyster!

Cornbread

This is very easy and SO moist and yummy!

 

Mix together:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Add and mix:
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil

Bake in 8x8 greased pan for 20-25 min at 400 degrees.

Double the recipe for a 9x13 pan. (I doubled the batch and baked mine for 20 min.)