Chocolate Raspberry Silk Pie and Rocky Mountain Park Picnic

Other than the Alaska mountain ranges, I have never seen anything more beautiful than Rocky Mountain National Park in the fall.  The colors and wildlife just take your breath away.

A couple weeks ago my husband's sister and her husband came to visit us for the first time.  We did all the local Colorado stops including Rocky Mountain National Park.  The elk were making their annual appearances in full force and were a sight to see!

We made a day of it, packed up a wonderful wine picnic lunch and enjoyed the most incredibly memorable afternoon by the creek with our delights.

Never a dull moment when my husband is around!!

A feast for the forest!

Cheers and a toast by all!

Before all our company arrived, our neighbor gave us a huge bowl of beautiful fresh raspberries from her garden...so many that I didn't know if we could use them all.  I remembered a decadent dessert my friend Toni made for us once, her famous Chocolate Silk Torte.  Given I was trying to make this thank you dessert for our neighbor during the middle of the week, I needed to do some short cuts.

I figured out a semi-homemade fudge bottom, chocolate silk pie with fresh raspberries and cream. Wow!!!  Went together really easy and quick.  Our neighbor was so overjoyed with our gift, she was speechless.  Oh, don't worry...there were so many raspberries, I made a pie for us too.  This recipe will make many future appearances...I think my friend Toni would be proud of me!

Chocolate Raspberry Silk Pie

For Friends and Neighbors

2 packages (3.9 ounce) Jell-O Chocolate Fudge Flavor Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

4 ounce Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided 

1 Oreo pre-made pie crust

1 tub (8 ounce) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

2 cups fresh raspberries, washed and dried

powdered sugar

fresh mint leaves

Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with electric mixer and whisk on high for 2 minutes.

Microwave (3 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate on high 1 minutes, or until almost melted.  Stir until completely melted.  Stir in 1 cup of the pudding and pour into crust.

Add half the Cool Whip to the remaining pudding.  Fold and mix carefully until fully combined.  Spread over the pudding/chocolate layer in crust.

Add 2 rows of raspberries around perimeter of pie.  Top with a couple spoonfuls of Cool Whip and garnish with a few more raspberries and sprig of mint.

Dust powdered sugar over the raspberries.  Grate/shave the remaining chocolate over the pudding areas and center.

Chill for at least one hour (the longer it chills, the better) before serving.

Ready for special delivery.

Pairs really well with a red wine, warm fire pit and beautiful night.

One Year Ago:  Chocolate Chip Shortbreads
Two Years Ago:  Chicken Tortilla Soup

Mayan Chocolate Cookies...and Memorial Model

Yes, once again it is school finals time in our household.  To sum it up, this means late nights, glue gun burning fingers and attention to the finest details.  I am happy to report that the girls have worked on their time management skills and not started projects the night before they were due.  Hallelujah!

One daughter for her History class, needed to create a memorial that represents World War II and the people of The Great Depression.  All semester, they have been reading "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw.

Once she decided on her memorial, she then had to make a model of it and decide where in the country it would be located and why.

She decided on Arlington National Cemetery for the location and did such a beautiful job depicting the most serene memorial site, complete with pillars engraved with the names from the book.

The other daughter for her Spanish class had to make a dish representing Guatemala and serve it to her class.  Thank goodness she chose a travel friendly dish that didn't require much for presentation.

These cookies were unbelievable!!  My husband, who is not a dessert guy, could not stay out of them. If you are attending a Cinco de Mayo event next week, these would be perfect to bring along. Coincidentally, while we were making them "Chocolate" the movie with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp was on...love that movie!  Great chick flick and there are several references to the Mayans and their spicy chocolate.

When you first bite into these, they taste like a normal chocolaty, chocolate chip cookie - then all of the sudden you feel that kick in the back of your throat.  Then, you can't stop eating them!!!

Mayan Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar (plus 3/4 cup for rolling)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl with electric mixer, cream butter, 1 cup sugar and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy.

Add eggs and mix well.

Add cayenne, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Blend well.

Add flour and blend.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Spoon out chilled dough with tablespoon or melon ball scooper and roll dough in hand to make a ball. Roll ball into remaining 3/4 cup sugar.

Drop onto a lightly greased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes.

**Keep a tall glass of cold milk handy!!

One Year Ago: Taco (Bowl) Salad

German Chocolate Bundt Cake

As I have previously mentioned, I married a German and when my Mr. German gets a "bee in his bonnet", as his mom used to say..."Look Out"!!  What's worse, is when my Mr. German gets a sweet tooth and I have "PMS", which in my house means "Putting Up With Mark's ****", it always makes an interesting combination.

Add to this, we are fully into Fall here and when there is a chill in the air, all I want to do is bake!  It makes the house so warm and cozy and the wonderful aromas from the oven always make everyone happy (including my hips).  So last week's issues of having no "treats" in the house have now turned into my husband complaining that he has to go down one notch on his belt.  Really?  I just can't win around here some days.....

German Chocolate Bundt Cake

For The Cake:
1 box (16.5 oz.) Devil's Food chocolate cake mix
1 cup Best Foods Olive Oil Mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 

1 Tablespoon brewed coffee (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray bundt pan with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.

Beat cake mix, mayonnaise, water, eggs, cinnamon and coffee 30 seconds in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed. Beat on medium speed, scraping sides occasionally, 2 minutes. Pour batter into bundt pan.

Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 30 minutes before inverting onto serving platter.

For The Frosting:
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, and butter to a boil. Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens to the likeness of pudding . Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, coconut, and pecans. Let cool and thicken a little.

Spoon frosting on top of the cake, letting it run down all the inside and outside of cake.

Tee Shirts, Tacos and Ice Cream Cake Treat

This past weekend we hosted the girls' volleyball team over for "Tee Shirts and Tacos".  They made their warm up shirts for the upcoming "Dig Pink" for breast cancer games in October and we served them a full taco bar for dinner.

It was a complete education in making tee shirts for me.  All I can say is thank God for Hobby Lobby and YouTube.  I am now an aficionado in tie-dye shirts!  We started with the tie-dye pink process, then iron-on transfers, then finished with bubble paint for their names and numbers.  

It was also an opportunity to serve my finale of "Dips, Dinners and Desserts".  I actually made this when Steve and Leslie were here, which he eloquently titled the dish "Big *** Ice Cream Sandwich Thing".  Unfortunately, we were all too full to dig into it, so I saved it for the girls.

This dessert is Heaven on a platter - nothing more to say.

So incredibly easy beyond belief.

You can make it as small or large as needed.

Start with a layer of ice cream sandwiches. 

Then add a second layer, stacking and laying them the other direction.

"Frost" with Cool Whip topping

Drizzle alternating lines of chocolate and caramel

ice cream sundae (squeeze bottle toppings).

Use your toothpick for streaming the lines,

into a decorative pattern.

Ingredients:
Ice Cream Sandwiches
Cool Whip Dessert Topping
Chocolate Sundae Topping (in the squeeze bottle)
Caramel Sundae Topping (in the squeeze bottle)




One Year Ago:  Quick Candy Cookies

Pork Schnitzel at Sawtooth Hotel and Redfish Lake

Our last day in Idaho took us back to one of our favorite places, Redfish Lake and Lodge in Stanley.

Charming lodge right on the lake.

My cute little "Redfish" baseball cap.

Gorgeous mountain views from the beach.

A busy day full of swimmers, boaters and kayaking.

As we headed back home from the lake, we stopped at the famous Sawtooth Hotel and had dinner out on their rustic open deck, taking in the sun setting and reliving our weekend.

As this was our first time at one of Dick and JoAnne's favorite stops, they certainly did not disappoint.  The menu is all local, fresh ingredients and the atmosphere is both historic and charming at the same time.

We all shared and immensely enjoyed our chilled La Crema Chardonnay, antipasto salad and their Pork Schnitzel cutlets, complete with a lemon, caper and butter sauce.

Desserts offered nightly are fresh from Stanley Baking Co. & Cafe.

Pork Schnitzel With Lemon-Caper Cream

Courtesy of food.com

Schnitzel

1 (12 ounce) pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch circles ( boneless loin chops work well also)
1/2 lemon, juice of
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons canola oil or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying

Lemon-Caper Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup jarred lemon curd
1/4 cup small caper, drained, room temperature

Directions

Pound pork circles between pieces of plastic wrap to flatten to 1/4 inch thickness.
Sprinkle both sides of medallions with lemon juice.
Combine flour and poultry seasoning in shallow dish. Coat medallions with flour mixture; shake off excess flour and set aside.
In a deep pie plate, beat the eggs and mix in the mustard.
Place bread crumbs in another pie plate. Dip the pork medallions into the egg mixture; coat well with bread crumbs.

Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
For the cream sauce, melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan.
Add shallots and sauté over medium heat until fragrant (approximately 2 minutes).
Remove saucepan from heat; add the wine, chicken broth and cream.
Return saucepan to heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes to reduce by half.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large heavy skillet.
Add half of the medallions; fry over medium-high heat on both sides for 1-2 minutes or until no longer pink.
Transfer to a plate and tent with foil. Repeat with remaining oil and medallions.
Remove sauce from heat and stir in lemon curd & capers.
Serve with buttered spaetzle and garnish with lemon wedges

Chocolate Layered Pudding with Chocolate Box Wine and the ER

We experienced many broken hearts on Valentine's Day this year...not our best year for the holiday.

My oldest daughter woke up Thursday morning, bent over in pain and very nauseous.  I have had sick kids before but this one was completely different and I knew something was wrong. I immediately took her to urgent care and after a quick check-in there, daughter feeling faint and very dehydrated, we were immediately sent to the emergency room.

After spending most of the day in the ER we learned that she has a stomach virus that is running ramped through our city and does not let up very easy.  She looked so helpless but was very brave through all the tests and waiting, my heart just went out to her....broken heart # 1. 

My poor daughter who was supposed to leave for her New Mexico volleyball tournament had to be given the bad news that she needed to stay home and not go...broken heart #2.  Supposedly this virus can last at least a week.  Even as I write this, she is home with Dad and still on a liquid diet.

That left me and her sister to hit the road alone and attend the New Mexico tournament without her.  My twins have virtually been together almost 24-7 their whole lives.  This is the first time they have ever been apart this long and the younger one is really missing her sister...broken heart #3.

I tried to cheer her up and we went out for pizza our first night here on Valentine's Day.  They were serving up heart shaped pizza - very cute and definitely put a smile on our faces.

Our special Valentine's Dinner

The night before we left, I felt absolutely terrible about leaving my husband alone with our sick girl.  We usually team together and get through these things as a family, as he was really sad that she could not go either...and there we have broken heart #4.

The whole ER day threw our plans in a tailspin, so none of us celebrated the holiday.  I did my best though and brought home a special bottle of "Chocolate Box" Red Blend Wine.

My husband has also given up sweets since January 1st.  He definitely has more willpower than me.  Not to worry though, I am eating all of his sweets so nothing goes to waste....it's just now going to my waist. 

One of my most favorite deserts comes from my Grandma.  It is sinfully delicious and I could easily eat the entire pan of this if next week continues to go the same as last week did. 



Layered Pudding

Courtesy of GGMa

For The Crust Base:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup powder sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Mix well and pat out in a 9 x 13 pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for 15 minutes.

For The 1st Layer of Filling:

1 8-oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature

1 9-oz. container of Cool Whip

1 cup powder sugar

Mix well and spread on cooked and cooled crust.

The Next Layer:

1 small package instant chocolate pudding

1-1/2 cups milk

Mix together and spread on top of cream cheese layer.  Let set in refrigerator 1 hour.

(this is where I stopped, due to lack of remaining ingredients, but there is more to come)

Do the same with one package of instant vanilla pudding and let set one hour.

Spread with (1) 4-1/2 oz. container of Cool Whip and sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Chill one more hour and serve.



Taco Tuesdays

I know the title of this post reads "Taco Tuesdays", and yet today is Wednesday.  As hard as I tried yesterday, I just couldn't get the post finished when it should have.  You see, Tuesdays are by far my least favorite day of the week.  I know everyone else seems to dread Mondays, but for me it is without a doubt...Tuesdays that I really don't look forward to.

Everything goes wrong and chaotic on Tuesdays. Wake up late, girls wake up cranky, get to school late, cold weather makes an expanded crack all the way through my windshield.  Of course the crack conveniently goes right through my line of sight, so it's bad enough that I am already wearing transitional bi-focals, but now my windshield has it's own bi-focal line now?  Tuesdays are not my favorite!!

The only good thing that came out of this Tuesday was that the girls made these precious Halloween cupcakes, to keep our house in the spirit of the season....because there just isn't enough orange and black all over the place.

Chocolate makes everything better...even Tuesdays.

The best part of all was my husband's annual pumpkin carving event.  Every year the girls pick out their custom designs that they want carved.  As they have gotten older, they tape them up on the pumpkins, do the tooled punching of the design, then the best part comes...Mr. Makita.  Thank goodness my husband has a garage full of custom tools for this one day of the year.  He has really mastered the art of his Makita drill bits and carving of the pumpkins.

The younger's scary creation.

Every year he says, this is the last year he will do this.  Thankfully 360 days later, he has forgotten that and the girls talk him into doing it all over again.  This year though, was his masterpiece.  The oldest girl is on a Monsters Inc movie kick right now and found a Mike Wazowski template for her carving.  Are you kidding me??  I thought my husband was going to have a heart attack.  I was so proud of him though, he stepped it up and nailed the design.

Meet Mr. Wazowski

I have gotten into the routine of making some kind of Mexican food (primarily tacos) on Tuesdays.  It stems from a place in Miltona, Minnesota called "Club Miltona" that we used to visit for a few summers with our dear friends.  "Taco Tuesday" was their big draw for the week and the place was packed.  Darling, small town USA place that we will never forget...and the phrase and meal just stuck with us after all these years.

However, this recipe comes from my sister-in-law's very good friend.  These tacos are not your ordinary ingredients, but they are awesome together!!

Sandy's Tacos

Meat Mixture
(2) pounds ground beef or ground turkey
Lawry's Taco Seasoning Mix
1/2 white onion, diced

Tortillas
flour tortillas
finely grated parmesean cheese
canola oil

Dressing
4 tbl. balsamic vinegar
4 tbl. olive oil
salt
pepper
1 tbl. dijon mustard

Brown the onions and meat together until full cooked through.  Add the taco seasoning mix, according to directions and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Heat the canola oil at medium-high and fry the tortillas on both sides until lightly brown, but are still pliable.
Lightly sprinkle some of the parmesean cheese on top and either fold like a taco shell or let sit if you are going the tostada route.

Mix the dressing ingredients and let sit while you assemble with the following recommended condiments:  cilantro, diced red onion, chopped tomatoes, shredded mexican blend cheese, shredded lettuce, 2 ears of corn (cooked and shaved from husk), 3 chopped jalapenos, avocado and sour cream.

Once you have assembled your taco, drizzle with the dressing.

Quick Candy Cookies = Comforts

I love Saturday mornings, for the time being anyway....the teenagers are exhausted from five straight days of volleyball and they sleep in.  The snow has not hit us yet, the golf courses are still open which means my husband is out getting in another 18 holes while he can.  Pure peacefulness on this Saturday morning.

I get to snuggle in my cozy blankets with my guard dogs, coffee and quietness.  It's a time for me to get caught up on my food shows and do absolutely nothing for a couple of hours. I then slowly ease into duties and errands...bank reconciliation, laundry, getting caught up on this blog of mine that my family says, "I have become obsessed with".  They are ready to kick me out of our family dinners, since I keep photographing every meal. :)

Today's errands consisted of preparing for the upcoming high school spirit week and homecoming.  I am not a fan of spirit week.  Now don't get me wrong, I am all about school spirit.  Unfortunately, in today's schools spirit week ends up costing about $100.  For example last year the school had twin day.  Now I already have twins and you would think that my twins could just dress alike and be twins for the day, right??  No, of course not....my twins have to reel in their friends to be each other's twins. Really???

Later in the morning my best friend Felicia called me and we were able to get caught up on the happenings of our families.  She lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, bless her heart!  She told me that they already had their first real hard snow.  How could that be, it's not even October yet!!??

2 Ingredient Delights - Do you love it?

Is that heaven or what!!

Then I went to my culinary compadre friend Toni's blog, A Taste of Alaska, and read one of her recent postings and saw all the snow in Fairbanks already on her patio furniture.  I know how devastated she is that her gardening season was cut much too short this year.

I finished up my morning watching The Pioneer Woman.  Is it just me or does everyone get ravishingly hungry watching the food channels.  Today she made these unbelievable, seriously sinful treats.  She hit my lifelong addiction today.  Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - my total weakness.  Just try them on a s'more, you'll never go back to a plain chocolate bar on them again, I promise.

Quartered up for the oven.

Send in the candy for hugs, right out of the oven.

To make my arctic girlfriends feel better, I made them The Pioneer Woman's cookies I saw this morning.  Unfortunately, I cannot send them the cookies, as it sounds like they would be frozen by the time they arrived.  Hopefully they will read this though and know that I was thinking of them today.  Not to worry though, I'm sure my spirit week teenagers will have the cookies inhaled before noon, as my husband described them as "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on steroids".  Only an athlete could come up with that analogy....as he finished off eating six of them!

Quick Candy Cookies
Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

(1) Refrigerator Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Roll
(24) Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray mini-muffin tin with nonstick spray.  Slice the cookie dough into 1 to 1-1/2" slices..  Lay the slices on their side and cut them into quarters.  Place each quarter into the mini-muffin tin.  Peel the wrapper from as many candy as cookies you're going to make.

Bake the cookie dough for about 6-8 minutes at the most.  You'll want to take them out just when they start to turn golden.  Almost as soon as you pull the warm cookies from the oven, begin lightly pressing one piece of candy into each cookie.  the warmer the cookies, the better.  They grab onto the pieces of candy and work their magic, almost even hugging the candy with a warm wrap.

When their all done, carefully remove from muffin tins with a spoon and arrange on a platter.