Chocolate Cake

The best chocolate cake. EVER. My aunt's recipe!! YUP!!

Betty Crocker's Best Chocolate Cake

2 C flour
2 C sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 stick butter (8T or 1/2 cup)
4 oz choc bake

Preheat oven 350 degrees
grease and flour 9x13 aluminum pan
Measure dry ingredients into mixing bowl
Zap butter until softened
Zap choco bake for 20 seconds
Add buttermilk, water, eggs vanilla, butter and chocolate
Mix 30 seconds on low
Scrape bowl. Mix again on high for 3 minutes
Pour into pan
Bake for 38 minutes and check w/tooth pick
Cool completely

Glossy Icing

3 T butter
3 oz Choco Bake
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 C milk
1 t vanilla

Melt butter and choco on low in sauce pan. Add sugar, salt, milk and vanilla. Whip all together with wire wisk until mixed. Stick the pan in the freezer and check in a few minutes. Whip up and put on cake.

YYUUUMMMMM!!!!

I made these up for lunch today and they were delicious! And healthy-ish. And I took a picture and as Christine has said, we need some pictures!

Yumminess

whole wheat tortilla
turkey
bacon bits
red pepper
cucumber
ranch dressing
parmesan cheese
bean sprouts
tomato

Put on warm tortilla and warm it up!!!!
My kids loved them and didn't even know there were bean sprouts in them!

Vegetable Soup

We've been eating a lot of soup this winter. It's comforting, can be extremely healthy, and cheap too. So here's the recipe of the soup I made tonight.

Vegetable Soup

• 1 pound beef for stew (I usually buy mine pre-cut, cause I'm lazy and busy too)
• 1 clove of garlic
• a little flour
  
• 1 (46 ounce) bottle V8 vegetable juice
• 2 cups of chicken/beef/vegetable broth (this is approximate - I just emptied the box I had in the frig from last week. So add as much as you want, I say)
  
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped (we can't tolerate much onion in our home, so use more if you want)
  
• 2 carrots, sliced
  
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 2 cups of frozen corn or 1 can whole kernel corn
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can green beans (I would have used fresh if they were in season)
  
• 1 pinch ground ginger (I'm not sure why, but I tried it)
  
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Throw some flour, salt, and pepper along with the meat into a ziploc bag and shake it around a bit. Heat a little olive oil in the bottom of your pan and brown a clove of garlic. Then throw the meat in there. Let it brown the outside and then drain the fat. Put the beef back in the pot along with all the other ingredients. Let it cook for over an hour or all afternoon. This would also do great in the crockpot.

I hope these instructions aren't too general. You pretty much can't go wrong on this one, so enjoy making yours just right for your family!