Donny's Birthday Cake

This won't really help anyone whose goal is to make a quick, nutritious dinner, but it would definitely work for you if you've got some time and a special occasion coming up. Since (surprise!) Don didn't care what kind of birthday cake I made him, I picked what I liked - a very chocolately, rich cake. I thought it might interest some of you. My parents were down for that weekend, and they took some pictures of the cake, so I'll try to track one down and add it.

Baker’s 225th Anniversary Cake
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 54 minutes
Makes: 16 servings

2 teaspoons butter, melted, divided
1 ¾ cups four
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 package (8 squares) Baker’s Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) butter; cut into ½ inch pieces
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 ¾ cups Baker’s 225th Anniversary Fudge Icing
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease 2 9-inch round cake pans with half of the melted butter. Cover bottom of each pan with wax paper (or parchment paper); brush evenly with the remaining melted butter. Set aside.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Place chocolate and the cut-up butter in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted; set aside.
Beat the sugar and eggs in a medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed 2 minutes or until slightly thickened and pale in color. Add chocolate mixture; beat until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until well blended. Scrape down side of bowl.
Add buttermilk and vanilla; beat on low speed 15 seconds, then beat on medium speed an additional 15 seconds. (If batter is not completely blended at this point, mix by hand with a rubber spatula until mixture is well blended). Pour evenly into prepared pans; spread into prepared pans; spread with spatula, if necessary, to evenly cover bottom of each pan.
Bake on middle oven rack 30-34 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake). Cool in pan 5 minutes.
Remove from pans to wire racks; remove and discard wax paper. Cool completely. Fill and frost with Baker’s 225th Anniversary Fudge Icing. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.
Baker’s 225th Anniversary Fudge Icing
Prep time: 35 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes (including refrigeration)
Makes: 5 ¾ cups or 46 servings, 2 tablespoons each

2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 ¼ cups whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 package (8 squares) Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons butter, cut into ½ inch pieces

Place all ingredients except butter in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently with wire whisk to dissolve the sugar and melt the chocolate. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat. Gradually add butter, one piece at a time, stirring after each addition until it is completely melted before adding the next piece. Pour into 15x10x1-inch pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. (If refrigerating for more than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature 20 minutes before beating as directed in next step).
Place the chilled fudge mixture in large bowl and beat with electric mixer on high speed 1 minute; scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Continue beating 30 seconds or until light and fluffy. Immediately frost the cake.
For additional recipes visit www.bakerschocolate.com.

A few recent successes

Hey, I'd love to do a more thorough job on this, but I thought I could at least put up a few pictures and descriptions to let you know what we've made of late that's been worth eating!
I like making chicken pot pies because they're easy and they allow you to sneak lots of vegetables into everyone's diet.  I used a normal pie crust recipe this time (I often use Bisquick and mix it up like I was making b

iscuits and use that, since it makes a lighter, fluffier crust) but this time, we did it the old-fashioned way.  We cooked up a little chicken, threw in some steamed and some frozen vegetables (this one included carrots, peas and corn, but it's easy to just use those frozen veggie mixes) and mixed it in with cream of mushroom soup, adding water/milk as needed to stir it, and baked it for about 35 minutes.  It was delicious.

We also had a nacho night, which was successful.  We found ground turkey that was already seasoned, though it's not hard to add taco seasoning to ground turkey or beef and get the same effect.  We cooked that with onions, melted cheese into it, added salsa and olives, and ate it with chips.  We had that along with a fruit salad that I made using just fruits, no filler.  That's my favorite way to do fruit salads.  I just add a little lemon or lime juice to keep the fruit as fresh as possible, and sometimes sugar (though if you get the right balance of sweeter fruits and include bananas, you really don't need it).

We've also made a couple of stir fries recently.  We just use beef or chicken cut into small pieces and cooked with onions, and add bok choy and stir fry mix and some seasoning (Don does that - I think he just adds soy sauce, some salt & pepper, garlic, and maybe a couple of other things) and eat it with rice. 

Also, we had a culinary emergency the other day when the pot roast wasn't done in time for the sister missionaries to eat it, so we had to improvise.  We made a light salad into a more substantial one by adding canned beans (black are the best, but kidney also work), corn, and cheese, in addition to the lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and green onions that it already included.  That meal works for people who've already had a big lunch (as they had) or who can be convinced that a salad really can constitute actual food if you add enough protein to it.  Then Don and I got to eat pot roast for days when it was finally done cooking.  Yum.

That's all for now.  If you avid bloggers want to tell me how to include pictures, I can add them of a couple of these dishes.