Guest post today over at Today's Housewife!

Did you update your bookmarks yet? Huh? Did ya? I'm going to bug you until you do!

Today I have the privilege of guest posting over at Today's Housewife, an awesome blog ministry that is really close to my heart.  There's also a recipe up as well!

Over at Or Whatever You Do today we are featuring the same recipe as Today's Housewife, but with more photos of the process. Hope you enjoy both!


P.S. Update your bookmarks!!!

TPC readers, new post over at OWYD! Panko breaded chicken breasts...

For those of you that haven't yet updated your links, here is your reminder! Click on over to:

OrWhateverYouDo.com

I've got my Panko breaded chicken recipe up! Its great for a week-night meal. Try it this week and let me know what you think!

Psssttt...new post...

Hey TPC readers! Have you made the migration with me over to my new site,


www.orwhateveryoudo.com?

There is a new post up there, and I think you will like it! Come on over, and while you are at it, subscribe to my new feed. I see you followers there still with the old subscription! 

I'll keep updating this one when I post something new at Or Whatever You Do for a bit, just to remind you. I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day! Guess what I got...

!!!!!!!!!!!! Look for more recipes and more photos soon! I can't wait to learn all there is to know about this camera.

See anything different?

Oh yeah, I'm not here! I've changed domains, folks. You can find all of the great PC recipes from before, along with all new content over at Or Whatever You do. In fact, I just put a NEW post up there, just now! I know you want to look. Click on over, and make sure to update your bookmarks and/or your feed subscriptions while you are at it.

www.orwhateveryoudo.com

Also, have you clicked over to my facebook fan page?

<-------------Look how lonely the badge is over there, sitting, for weeks, at 99 "fans", just patiently waiting for ONE more person to click "like" and drop me a line.

Ovaltine Chocolate Cake w/ ovaltine chocolate buttercream frosting

I had a sudden craving for chocolate last night. Its a girl thing. So right before bed I whipped up a few dozen regular sized cupcakes, and a few dozen minis. Then I ate a couple. I'm going to pretend that they were the minis but we all know they weren't. I didn't get around to the frosting until this afternoon, but honestly, this cake is so moist and flavorful that it can stand alone without the frosting.

I found this recipe a few years ago over on recipezaar, which is now food.com. Its titled "The Only Chocolate cake Recipe You'll Ever Need! (Devil's Food)". Its amazing. I adapted it from that to suit my own tastes, and now I think I can safely say that I've found MY chocolate cake. The frosting is from Joy the Baker. I've linked to her before in my previous post shouting the praises of this frosting, and I'm sure I will again. I could spend hours browsing her site, and days baking her creations, and I still would need more. I omitted the milk from the original recipe for frosting as I don't think it needs it, but you could certainly add it in if you do!

 

Here's the recipe. Use it at your own risk. These are not low-fat, not low-calorie, and may be habit forming. 

Oh, and I've CHANGED sites! You can find this recipe, along with all of my previous recipes from this blog, with more new recipes and content over at orwhateveryoudo.com

  

Ovaltine Chocolate Cake & Frosting... 
(Printable Recipe)

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup rich chocolate Ovaltine

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

1 cup strong hot good-quality coffee

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup half-n-half 

2 lg eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter

1 cup cocoa powder 

3/4 tsp salt (or NONE if you ran out of unsalted and had to use regular, salted butter!)

4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup Ovaltine

1) For cake, sift together dry ingredients and set aside. In mixer, combing canola oil, coffee, half-n-half, and sour cream. Mix on low 30 seconds. Slowly add in dry mixture and mix on low until incorporated. Add in vanilla and mix. Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix just until combined. 

2) Pour batter into lined cupcake tins 2/3 of the way full. I like to lightly spray my cupcake liners with cooking spray, as well. I think it helps them release. I'm not sure if this is entirely necessary or not, but its what I do. Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

3) For frosting, put room temperature butter in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Sift in cocoa powder and powdered sugar, mixing and taking care not to leave lumps. Add vanilla. Mix. In a different bowl, mix together Ovaltine and heavy cream well. Slowly add to butter mixture. Beat on high for 1-2 minutes, or until frosting slightly lightens in color. We're just trying to incorporate some air into it. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes with a tip that will not make it look similar to any other unappetizing thing that will not be mentioned.

What is your favorite flavor of cake/cupcake? Has it always been that way, or is it a new discovery?

Please see this recipe as well as all of my new content at my new site, 

www.orwhateveryoudo.com

My garlic pinot cream sauce, and a Costco Lobster Ravioli review...

I usually don't review products on here, but when I saw this Lobster Ravioli in Costco tonight I had to pick some up. We had a sample last year while shopping, but didn't buy any. By the time we went back to actually pick some up, it was GONE! I've been waiting for months, and they are finally back. They are different than last year, but still just as good as I remembered, but prettier!

I loved the red stripes. They lose a little bit of the oomph in the cooking process, but still looked pretty after cooking. I made a late dinner for Jeremiah and I with my Garlic Pinot Cream sauce, which sounds fancy, but comes together very quickly.

 Start out by melting 2/3 of a stick of butter in a heavy saucepan. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add in the garlic and stir while cooking for about 30 seconds, or until the garlic is fragrant, but not browned. You don't want it brown at all. Add in 2 cups of Pinot Grigio, or any dry white wine. I often use Chardonnay, but its a little sweet for this dish in my opinion.

Let the wine reduce in the pan by 3/4 until its slightly thickened. Slowly pour in heavy cream while stirring. Reduce heat to medium low, and let sauce come to a light simmer. DO NOT substitute half and half or milk for the cream. It will curdle and you will hate it. I don't use anything but heavy cream in my sauces and soups anymore because of the risk of curdling. Its just not worth it!

Slowly grate in 3/4 cup of a good Parmigiano-Reggiano. Technically you CAN substitute the green stuff in the can, but I wouldn't recommend it. One of the only food snobbery hang-ups we have in this house is Parmesan cheese. Ever since we've tried the GOOD stuff, its really hard to go back to the green crap in a can. 

Food snobbery aside, stir the entire time you are adding the cheese, and remove from heat as soon as its melted and delicious and pour over hot pasta. This sauce would be awesome with some spinach in it too, which I would've done if I'd have had it!

I really liked the Lobster Ravioli. Really. It satisfied my seafood and pasta craving, which is a hard thing to do. The first ingredient in the filling is lobster, which is a nice thing to see as well. Try some tonight, or wish you could if there is no Costco by you. ;)

 

(Printable Recipe Click HERE)

Garlic Pinot Cream Sauce
1/3 cup butter
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 TBSP garlic, finely chopped
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt & Pepper, to taste

1. Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Add mushrooms and cook over medium heat until browned. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds. Add wine and let reduce by 3/4.
2. Slowly add heavy whipping cream while stirring. Reduce heat to medium-low, and let come to a gentle simmer. Gradually add in cheese while stirring. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately over hot pasta.

P.S. Someone please rescue me from these cookies. They've taken over my life the last few days. All warm and melty and delicious.

Old elementary school lunch, revamped. Italian dunkers, my way.

Ring-o-french bread

Someday I'm going to have to give you guys my go-to french bread recipe. Bread recipes are hard for me because I don't ever measure when I'm making bread, and writing out a recipe without any measurements is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I'm not much of a guesstimater, so my recipes are often off when I try and do that. Then I'll try to actually, you know, measure sometime, and I'll think to myself, "Self, you don't need to actually WRITE DOWN these measurements! You will totally remember them. Nevermind this morning when you spent 1/2 hour looking for your phone that was IN YOUR HAND. You have a GREAT memory because you are a GREAT person, self." Then I'll measure measure measure and forget forget forget, ending up so frustrated in the process that I scrap the idea until "next time".

Well, its a good thing we live in the age of internet land and there are enough sources out there for amazing french bread recipes...

Like THIS ONE from The Ginger Cook who I JUST came across, but I can tell is going to be one of my new favorite. A Midwest transplant to Seattle? Check. That's all I know. Her about me page is 'under construction', but if her food tastes say anything about her, and they usually do, I think I'm in for a "I got nothing done" afternoon from browsing that blog!

Her french bread uses a slightly different method than mine, but looks amazing and would work perfectly for this recipe.

And THIS ONE from What Megan's Making
That one is closer to what I normally do, and looks delicious. I need picture-taking lessons, for reals.

I have wanted to do this recipe for a long time now. Back in elementary school, there was never a day I dreaded MORE than "Italian Dunker" day at lunch. Nothing like frozen garlic bread and canned spaghetti sauce with mystery meat to get your appetite going, huh? It sounded like such an amazing idea, but the execution just wasn't there. So I decided that since I had a whole heap of bread needing to be eaten, along with some meat sauce in the fridge yelling to be finished off or frozen, this would be the perfect solution.

Garlic Bread ingredients...

Start with some good french bread, and slice it in half the long way.

 

Saute about 2 TBSP of minced garlic in 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil over medium heat until garlic is fragrant and JUST starting to slightly brown. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Mix garlic/EVOO mixture with softened butter, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp parsley, and salt, to taste. I used about 1/2 tsp here, but you won't want that much. My bread was lacking a bit of salt, and I also used unsalted butter. I'd start with maybe 1/4 tsp and work your way up from there.

 

Spread mixture over french bread. Place under broiler on the 2nd highest oven rack and do not look away. Broil until golden brown. Top with some shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve next to a good meat sauce, also generously topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano.