Oreo Ice Cream Cake

This is a great cake - very rich and sweet.  It also looks pretty fancy, but it's actually really easy to make!  The first time I had it was when I went home one weekend during college and my family surprised me with one for my 22nd birthday.  I've made it a total of two times since, both of which took place before I started this blog so no step-by-step pictures this time :(  Also, I didn't take pictures of the cake the second time I did it and I messed up the first a little...  The cake should not be an "interesting" brown color on the outside, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup hot fudge topping, warmed

8 oz. whipped cream, thawed (1 tub)

3.9 oz chocolate instant pudding (1 package)

1 cup chopped Oreos (we used minis to make it easier)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

Directions:

1.  Pour fudge topping into bowl and whisk in half of the whipped cream (the first time, I dumped it all in so I had none left for frosting).  Then add the dry pudding mix.  If the fudge mixture is too thick, add some milk.  Stir in chopped Oreos.

2.  Get out a 24-inch long sheet of foil and arrange 4 ice cream sandwiches on the center of it, side-by-side.  Spread half of the fudge mixture on it.  Repeat and top with final layer of sandwiches.  Frost the top and sides with the other half of the whipped cream.

3.  Bring up foil and double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

4.  Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

Verdict: I made this for Joseph's birthday last year and he shared it with his friends later that week.  I then received a phone call from him and the phone got passed around to each of his friends so they could each praise the cake.  They were very impressed with it, but they didn't know that the secret was ice cream sandwiches!  I got a request from his roommate to make this for his birthday so that should be a pretty good indication of how awesome this cake is!


I bet you can guess that it isn't very healthy.  But if you're eating it, you're probably celebrating something or other (at the very least, celebrating that you get to eat cake!) so calories don't count then, right?  In any case, I'll add that information in small font so you can pretend not to see it.


Recipe serves 12.  Calories per serving: 340.

Turkey Chili and Homemade White Bread (with the help of a bread machine)

This was one of the first meals I made this year when I began learning how to cook.  It was a perfect, hearty meal for the winter months.  It still tastes good now, but you'll probably be sweating while eating it - the weather around here's been up in the 90's.  Actually, you'd probably be sweating just sitting around here so go ahead and make it!  These recipes came from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and my bread machine book.


Chili - serves 4


Ingredients:
12 ounces lean ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
2-3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried crushed basil
1/4 tsp black pepper


Directions:
1.  In a large saucepan cook ground beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender.  Drain fat if needed.  

2.  Stir in kidney beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, and black pepper.  

3.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  
4.  Simmer, covered for 20 minutes.


Traditional White Bread - 1.5 pound loaf


Ingredients:
1-1/8 cups water
1 tbs margarine
1-3/4 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 tbs dry milk
2 tbs sugar
2 3/4 tsp active dry yeast


1)  Add ingredients to bread pan in order.  For the yeast, form a hole with your finger in the dry ingredients and pour yeast into hole.  Yeast should not come into contact with liquid.
2)  Put bread pan into the bread machine and set the machine to break your bread!
This is pretty easy, but the baking will probably take around an hour and a half so plan ahead when making the bread. 

Verdict: I like it!  I've made the chili several times and found that it freezes pretty well so you can make individual-sized dinners for the week.  I've also recently discovered a love of   pickled jalapenos so I throw that in my chili too.  The bread's good, but doesn't last that long. I ended up having to throw some of it out because I don't eat bread that often.


Nutrition: Turkey Chili has around 275 calories per serving.  White bread has around 125 calories per slice if the loaf gets cut into 12 pieces.

Feta-stuffed Chicken Breasts

Found this recipe off the Better Homes and Gardens website.  I made it for the first time a couple weeks ago and have made it multiple times since because it's a fairly easy and quick dinner.  Plus, it tastes good!


Ingredients:
1 tbs sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (1 to 1-1/2 pounds total) - I usually use two from the HEB brand ones and cut them in half
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (fat free still tastes good!)
2 tbs softened fat-free cream cheese
1/2 tsp dried, crushed basil
1/8 tsp pepper


Directions:
1.  Defrost chicken (I've only bought frozen chicken and I don't have the foresight to take it out of the freezer in the morning).  I usually do around 4 minutes, then cut pockets in it, then defrost for another 3 minutes.  To cut the pockets, I recommend cutting length-wise on the top of the chicken breast and then slicing horizontal pockets.  Try to not cut through the sides of the chicken.
2.  Place sun-dried tomatoes in bowl and pour boiling water over it.  Let soak for 10 minutes.  Then drain, pat dry, and cut into small pieces.
3.  Combine feta, cream cheese, basil, and tomatoes.

4.  Spoon a quarter of the mixture into each chicken breast's pocket.

5.  And pop them into the George Foreman grill!  I was actually really excited to use the one I got last year for my birthday because I've only used it for grilled cheese sandwiches so far.  I believe it took around ten minutes, but it depends on the thickness of your chicken.  Just check on it every once in a while and take it out when it's cooked through.  Another option is to pan fry it on medium-high heat for 12-14 minutes.

I like it with couscous.  This one's the Near East pearled Basil  & Herb one. 

Look how domesticated looking our dinner was!  I guess that's what living in a small, conservative college town will do to you :)

Verdict: Well, I obviously like it because I keep making it :)  It's a fairly easy recipe without too many ingredients.  I would recommend keeping an eye on it while grilling because I overcooked the chicken the first time so it was a little dry.  Also, couscous is awesome!  I hadn't had it before this recipe (a reviewer of the recipe had recommended it) and now I use it in place of rice or pasta because it's way easier and faster to make.  Do note though that some of the Near East ones are very salty/strongly flavored so it may overwhelm the flavor of your meat.


Is it healthy?  I'd say so!  If you make 4 of them from 2 large chicken breasts, each one is around 97 calories.  Couscous is around 110 calories for half a cup so together you have a low-calorie meal that can fill you up!

Easy Coffee Cake

And yet another recipe extolling the virtues of Bisquick... This time in a sweet form!  I got this recipe from the Salad In a Jar blog. 


Ingredients:
Batter
1-1/3 cup Bisquick
3 tbs sugar
2 tsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup melted butter


Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and preheat the pan (I used an 8 inch square pan).
2.  Whisk together melted butter, milk, and egg.  Add to medium bowl of Bisquick and sugar.

 3.  Pour into pan.

 4.  For the topping, mix all the ingredients together.

 5.  Add it on top of your batter.

 6.  Bake for 20-21 minutes until it looks delicious, like mine!

Verdict: Another yum recipe!  It came out very fluffy and light.  Joseph likened it to a pancake with coffee cake topping, which sounds delicious to me! Perfect for after dinner with ice cream!  Or with coffee, I suppose, if you're into that stuff.  Or breakfast.  You can basically eat it any time you're craving something sweet.  I also feel like it'd be nice to bring (if I took it out of the old pan) to a get together with friends.  Also, according to the blog I got this from, the coffee cake should work well if mixed beforehand, covered, and refrigerated before baking it when you need it (although the baking time will increase).  However, I'm the kind of person where if I've made it, I want to eat it right away so I can't attest to that.


To my best calculation, if the cake were divided into 12 servings, each serving would have around 130 calories.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

Another super easy recipe that's super tasty.  This time, with some help from Bisquick!  This recipe actually came directly off the Bisquick website.


Ingredients:
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder


Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2.  Stir Bisquick, milk, and cheese together.  And that's your dough.  Easy, right?

 3.  Drop onto cookie sheet.  Should make around 9 biscuits.

 4.  Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown.  Stir together melted butter and garlic powder and brush over biscuits.

Verdict: First off, I have to say "look how pretty and grown up they look!".  These are soooo good, especially when paired with pasta (my favorite).  They taste very similar to those from Red Lobster, but with a little less garlic flavoring and a lot more cheese.  And cheese makes me happy.  I would buy Bisquick just so I could easily make these biscuits.


Note: Be wary of them these biscuits, each has around 160 calories.