Chocolate Truffle Cake

1 chocolate cake mix
1 (6-oz.) instant chocolate pudding mix
5 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cube of butter, melted
2 cups sour cream
2 cups chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine cake and pudding mix in a large bowl. Create a well in the center of the bowl and dump sour cream, melted butter (not too hot), and eggs into the well. Using a large spoon, stir all ingredients together. The batter will be very thick. Add the chocolate chips and mix well. Spoon the batter into a well-greased Bundt pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Test with a toothpick. Once it is done baking, let it cool for 10 minutes and then flip it out of the pan and onto a serving plate.

** I think that this cake tastes even better the second day. It's wonderful alone, but is also good served with one or more of the following: whipping cream, berries, hot caramel sauce, ice cream, etc. I've added crushed Andes mints in place of the chocolate chips and that was yummy. I've baked this cake in a 9"x13" dish and that worked great, too. Enjoy! **

Zuppa Toscana

1 lb. Italian sausage, ground
2-3 lg. baking potatoes, cubed
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups Swiss chard or kale, shredded (I prefer chard)
2 (10 oz) cans chicken broth
1 qt. water
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Press sausage into a foil-lined pan and cook in a 300 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Drain and cut sausage into small pieces. Set aside. Place onion, potatoes, garlic, chicken broth, and water in large stockpot. Cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Add sausage. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer 10 minutes. Over low heat, add kale or chard and whipping cream. Heat through and serve.

Apple Crisp

I got this recipe from Mom and it is my favorite for Apple Crisp.

1 cup butter, cold
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/4 tsp. baking powder
6 cups apples, sliced
Combine butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and baking powder together until crumbly. Slice apples into a 9"x13" dish. Crumble the topping over the apples and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Benihana Sauces

Mylissa requested the recipes for Benihana dipping sauces. I got these recipes from http://www.copykat.com/. We've made a few minor adjustments and have really enjoyed the following sauces and I hope that you will too. We prefer to serve the Ginger Dipping Sauce and/or the Salad Dressing with grilled shrimp and the Cream Dipping Sauce with grilled steak.

Ginger Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 small piece ginger root, grated or 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and mix until smooth.

Cream Dipping Sauce
1/2 - 2/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tb. sesame seeds, roasted
1 cup heavy cream
1 pinch garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Combine all ingredients, except cream, in blender or food processor and mix until smooth. Pour mixture into saucepan. Add cream and stir over low heat until simmering.

Salad Dressing
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup canola oil
2 Tb. rice wine vinegar
1 Tb. water
1 Tb. ginger root, grated
1 Tb. celery, chopped (opt.)
1 Tb. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until smooth. Serve over green salad.

Thank You!

Thanks to my friend, Mylissa, for getting this cute background on our blog. I'm loving it. I'm still interested in any great title and subtitle ideas. Put your thinking caps on =).

Thanksgiving Turkey

This year I was in charge of the entire Thanksgiving dinner. This was a completely new experience for me. Thanksgiving in my home is a large family event full of traditions. This year, we created new traditions. The day before Thanksgiving, I called my mother for her recipes and wrote them down on scratch paper. So, I'm typing them here (with somewhat of a selfish motive), so next year I can get them anywhere in the world that has access to the Internet.

So here is the "basic" recipe for the turkey...
1 18-21 lb turkey
1 cube butter
1 large can chicken broth
1 onion finely chopped
celery stalks finely chopped

Seasonings to taste:
Sage
Poultry seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Clean the inside of the turkey (yuck). Tie the turkey's front drumstick legs together with string. Tie the back of the turkey together with string. Spread the butter all over the outside of the turkey. Stuff the inside of the turkey with the celery, onion, and seasoning. Also sprinkle seasonings on top of turkey. Place the large turkey in a turkey cooking bag. Pour 1 can chicken broth over the turkey, and seal the bag shut. Put the bird on a "turkey rack" (OK, I didn't realize these existed until a few years ago).

Cook the turkey at 325-350 degrees for 3-5 hours until the meatiest part of the turkey registers at 180 degrees on a cooking thermometer.

Variations on this theme: You can take the turkey out after 2 hours and baste the turkey with the sauce at the bottom of the pan.

Aunt Kaye's Thanksgiving Stuffing

Once again, here is another recipe Aunt Kaye always brings for Thanksgiving...

1/2 C butter melted
1 onion chopped finely
Several celery stalks chopped finely (depends on how much you like celery)
1 large can chicken broth
1 large bag Pepperidge Farm Stuffing

Put the dressing in a large bowl. Saute the melted butter, onion, and celery. Add chicken broth to butter mixture. Pour the mixture over dressing and toss. Add:

1 tsp sage
1 tsp poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Place stuffing in a 9x12 dish. Sprinkle the stuffing with slivered almonds. Bake the stuffing covered with tinfoil at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes.

Aunt Kaye's Thanksgiving Yams

From my first recollection of Thanksgiving, my aunt always brought her yams (which taste more like candy) to Thanksgiving. This year I made them, so here is the recipe...

6-8 sweet potatoes (steams, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch slices)
2 large cans pineapple chunks
1 12 oz. frozen orange juice

1/3 C water
3 heaping tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

1 C brown sugar (approximately)
Mini marshmallows (if you choose)

Layer the cut sweet potatoes in a 9x13 pan (like you layer cookies when you are taking them somewhere). Drain the pineapples, but save the juice. Sprinkle the pineapples over the sweet potatoes. Cook the pineapple juice and orange juice in a saucepan until warm. Combine the water, cornstarch, nutmeg and vanilla in a separate bowl to make a paste. Add the paste to the pineapple juice mixture. Add brown sugar to taste (around a cup, but this makes it quite sweet).

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If you are a marshmallow fan, add the marshmallows after yams are cooked and broil for 1-2 minutes to brown. (The yams are yummy with or without the marshmallows).

BBQ Thai Chicken

Marinade 2 lbs. chicken legs or thighs in the following for 2 hours or longer:

3 cups ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup som bal chili sauce
5-7 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tb. soy sauce
2 Tb. fish sauce

Line cookie sheet (including edges) with foil, spray with non-stick spray or line again with parchment paper. Remove chicken thighs from marinade and place in a single-layer on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Thai Cashew Nut Chicken

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced (or use pork)
1 Tb. oil
2-3 Tb. fresh garlic, diced
whole cashews
1 1/2 cups soy sauce
1/8 cup sam bal chili paste (more or less to taste)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tb. fish sauce
juice of fresh lime
fresh cilantro, chopped
green onion, chopped

Heat large wok or skillet, add oil and chicken. When meat is almost cooked through and slightly golden, add garlic and cashews (if you add it too early, it could burn and get a bitter flavor). Saute 1-2 minutes to let garlic get fragrant. Add soy sauce, sam bal, brown sugar, and fish sauce. Allow to simmer, rapidly, to make a thick syrup-like sauce. Check seasonings. Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro and diced green onion. Squeeze lime juice over all. Serve with jasmine rice.

Getting Started

I decided to create this blog with the sole purpose of sharing recipes, tips, cooking disasters, questions, food storage, grocery shopping suggestions, and meal ideas. I am always looking for new "tried and true" recipes and I often have kitchen questions. I think that this will be a fun and convenient way to help each other out when it comes to preparing our meals and a convenient resource when it's 6:00 in the evening and you're wondering, "what's for dinner?" Just let me know in the comment section if you'd like to share your ideas on this blog and I will get your e-mail address added to the "allowed author" list right away. I am hoping that you will all join me.

A little about this blog . . .

This blogspot address, thymes and seasons, came from the title of a cookbook that I helped create in my AF ward. We created the book in 2005 as we celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Resoration of the Church and in commemoration of the 200th birthday of the prophet, Joseph Smith. In Nauvoo, Illinois, the Times and Seasons was the periodical newspaper of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We titled our cookbook, our Thymes and Seasons, as a reflection of the great heritage that we enjoy. This blogspot is the thymes and seasons, as well, since it was the 8th address that I tried that was available =).

I welcome any ideas that you may have on the blog title and subtitle. I would just love to have something catchy, but my brain isn't thinking creatively right now.

Also, I am not loving this plain background =). I found one that I really like on Allie Brown's website, but I can't seem to get it to work. If you know how to do this HTML stuff, will you please help me through it OR if any of you want to busy yourself with this project, I'd appreciate it. I like the 'chicky' background and header for our little kitchen blog. Of course, I'm not stuck on the 'chicky' idea. Feel free to play around with the backgrounds once you log on.