Ode To Potato Salad And My Favorite Recipe

Who loves potato salad?  I love potato salad.  Almost every kind I've ever had, but I like to make it this way.  With just a little mustard for some zip.  I like shallot (or onion) and celery in it for crunch.  I like it made with mayonnaise with olive oil for the binder (such delicious flavor) and I like white potatoes.  They are my favorite.  You can use red potatoes if you want, but I like white potatoes.

Do you love potato salad?   Ooh doggies, I love potato salad - especially with a good baked ham.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  This bowl was made for a recent Sunday family dinner when I had baked a ham and what goes with it?  Why, potato salad of course.

Potato salad is relatively easy to make, and I have always made it by the big bowl full because I want left overs to enjoy.  You know how the flavors all meld together and it tastes better the second day?  Yes, that is why I want to make sure there are some left overs.

On labor day, we made a very festive holiday picnic type lunch for all of our clients at the East Nashville CoOp Ministry to enjoy.  Let me tell you, I was a bit intimidated by the thought of cooking 20 pounds - yes your read that right - 20 pounds of potatoes and turning it into potato salad.  I just did the same thing I always do in much larger quantities and it turned out fabulously.  So fabulously, that there was not one eensy bitsy tiny bit left.  Not one sliver of onion, or celery or anything.  Guess that means they liked it.

Here is how I make my potato salad.  Wash however many potatoes you want to use.  I used 12 for this bowl full.  Put in a large pan and cover with water.  Boil until potatoes are soft.  I like to cover the pan with a lid so the steam is trapped and they cook faster.  When the potatoes are fork tender, remove the pot from the stove, drain the hot water and cover the potatoes with cold water.

As soon as you can handle them, remove the skins by simply peeling them off with your hands.  No knife needed.  Place potatoes on a cutting board, halve and then quarter each potato.  Cut into bite sized pieces, about 1 to 1.5 inches in size.

Clean 3 ribs of celery.  Cut each rib down the center and then dice in small pieces.  I used on large shallot and diced in small pieces.  Shallot are a bit milder than onions, but if you don't have a shallot on hand a medium onion works fine.

If you like bell pepper, dice 1/2 of a red or green one and toss it in.  Peppers don't agree with Dan, so I leave them out.

Place all the potatoes in the bowl and add salt.  I can't tell you how much salt, because it will depend on your taste buds.  I start with some and then add if it needs more.  You can always add, you cannot remove, so use salt sparingly.  Add fresh cracked black pepper.

Next, add about 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I like mayo with olive oil).  Squirt about a tablespoon of yellow mustard or dijon mustard on the top of the mayo.  Now, mix, mix, mix, mix, until everything is combined and coated with the mayo and mustard.  Taste and see if more salt is needed.  Add the salt and a little more fresh cracked black pepper, mix, mix, mix some more and ta da!  You are done and ready to dive in.

Just make sure and save a little for later, or the next day.  Potato salad is one of those things that gets better and better as it sits.  It is such a guilty pleasure, I just can't explain it.  Just be sure and refrigerate it overnight.

We are enjoying some of the last late days of summer and maybe this weekend would be a perfect time for a cookout and a nice big bowl of fabulous potato salad.  You know how to make it, now go!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.”

Jack Handy quotes

(Sorry, this quote cracked me up and I just had to use it!)

Chile and Cheese Rice - Delicious!

Mmmmm, cheese, rice, green chile's, fresh corn, sour cream, I mean what's not to like?  This is chile and cheese rice which is so delicious I can't even begin to tell you.  My family also loved it so that is confirmation that this is one good recipe.

Rice is one of the most adaptable and creative ingredients you can put on  your table.  I can't even begin to imagine how many hundreds or even thousands of recipes there are that use rice.  You can eat rice for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  It makes great desserts and can be a tasty snack.  Most kids love rice too which is a BIG bonus.  Therefore, rice is surely one of the most universally accepted grains on the face of the planet.

I just had to know, so I looked up how much rice is grown world wide.  Care to take a guess?  In 2009 there were 678 million tons of rice grown in the world.  Now that's a lot of rice.

You know I'm a big fan of the Food Network.  Watching chefs and cooks on the network have given me so much confidence in my cooking ability and has allowed be to branch out and be creative in the things I make.  This recipe inspiration came from a show on Food Network called Mexican Made Easy.  When I watch Marcella Valladolid whip up her amazing recipes, I want to rush to the kitchen and try every one of them.  Why?  Because Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine are my favorite and her recipes are fantastic.  I like other ethnic foods, but if I had to choose it would always be Mexican.

Don't you get tired of making the same old tacos and rice over and over?  Well, here's a new recipe for you to try and I can say with much confidence that you will really, really love it.  Here is what you need.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 large white onion, minced
1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups water
2 ears fresh corn kernels removed from the cob (or 2 cups frozen corn)
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup sour cream or crema
1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
2 poblano peppers charred, peeled and chopped*
*I used one can chopped green chiles, works just great if you don't want to go to all the trouble of charring peppers.

Heat oil in medium sized skillet.  Add onion and saute until translucent - about 5 minutes.  Add rice and cook until opaque (stir so it doesn't burn) - about 10 minutes.  Stir in water and corn.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low.  Cover.  Simmer until rice is tender - about 15 minutes.

Preheat broiler.  Fluff rice with fork, stir in chiles.  Transfer to 7x10 baking dish.  Drizzle with sour cream (or crema), sprinkle cheese on top.  Broil until brown in spots and cheese has melted - about 5-8 minutes.

Serve.  Yum.  All I have to say.

Next time you are looking for a different way to serve rice with taco or enchilada night, give this recipe a try.  It is absolutely outstanding.  Makes me want to whip up a batch right now.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook”

Chinese Proverbs quotes

Six Fall Centerpieces for $31

In order to make the noon dining experience at the East Nashville CoOp a little more joyful and colorful, I decided that the tables needed some centerpieces.  Fall is such a beautiful time of year with so many lovely colors to choose from, so I headed to my favorite place for inexpensive, but oh so usable items, The Dollar Tree.

First I needed some containers.  Now we know that everything at Dollar Tree costs one dollar, so cost is not the issue, it is finding the very thing you want to use.  I wandered up and down the aisles just checking things out.  The thing about Dollar Tree is, you never know just what you are going to find that will make that little lightbulb go off in your head and you'll say, that's it.  That's the perfect thing.

I am walking up and down aisles, and ta da, there they were.  Just the very thing I needed.

Have any idea what these are?  They are ice cream bowls and they looked like little pumpkins to me AND they were 2 for $1.00.  Now that's my price.  They even had cute little spoons that I didn't need for the centerpieces, so I put them in the drawer because Halloween is coming and I know some grandsons who I can use these for.  I got so many useful items for $3.00 - 6 bowls and 6 spoons.  Yes!

They were putting out fall items and I spied these lovely felt fall leaves in different colors.  They are about the size of a place mat.  Six of those in different colors went in my basket.

Now, I needed some styrofoam to use for my arrangements and they had these wonderful little pieces that fit exactly inside the ice cream bowls.  I LOVE when that happens.  Score!

 (You will want to anchor the styrofoam to the bottom of your container with hot glue).

Next, I needed flowers, so I went to the rack with all the fall flower bushes and picked assorted mums, black eyed susans, and fall leaves in oranges, burgundies, yellows and browns.  I realize I am always using the term "flower bush" and you may not know what that is.  A flower bush has multiple stems of flowers attached to one main stem.

On this particular bush, there are 6 flowers for $1.00.  That is quite a bargain.  I guestimated 3 bushes per container and I even had a couple of flowers left over.  I wanted round centerpieces (or what we always called roundy moundies in the floral business), not too tall so everyone could still converse without the interference of a centerpiece.  Here is the result of this effort.

Six lovely centerpieces in a variety of colors with different felt leaves to sit on.  Now, do I have a picture of the tables at the CoOp?  Oh no.  I keep forgetting to take one, BUT they look lovely in the middle of the tables.  They add color, fall flare and ambiance - like eating at a nice restaurant which is the effect I was going for.  Everyone deserves a pleasant dining experience, don't you think?

If you have a fall event in your future and you need some inexpensive centerpieces, don't forget to check out your local Dollar Tree.  You will be amazed at the wonderful things you can find there and how much money you can save.  Just use your imagination.  Think outside the box.  Of course ice cream bowls make lovely containers for floral arrangements, or maybe some wine glasses, or fish bowls.  Look at things with new and different eyes.  Or, check out Dollar Tree Crafts.com for some great ideas!  Why spend more money than you have to?  Your project can still look terrific, even with a little economy.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

He who does not economize will have to agonize.  ~Confucius

Hunger Awareness Month - Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with Kale

Happy Monday to everyone.  How was your weekend?  Hopefully, it was all that you wanted it to be, especially restful.  How is it that those days we wait for all week fly by in such a blur that it's Monday once again and all you did was work - some more.  There is the never ending list of things to do around your home, the yard, grocery shopping, laundry and it's all necessary, but is it fun?  Did you get to spend a little time with yourself, your family, your friends?  We got to watch our oldest grandson play his first "fall" ball game Saturday.  The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.  Don't spend all your time working and fretting about things and forget to make some memories.  Work will always be there waiting for you.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson says, life goes on.

Today, I am continuing a series on Hunger Awareness which takes place during the month of September.  Here are some statistics about hunger among children in the United States provided by ConAgra.org.  These are very disturbing figures indeed.

Hunger Means Children Rely on Support from Food Banks

• Hunger disproportionately affects children—nearly 40 percent of the people who turn to charities for hunger relief are children, although they represent only 25 percent of the U.S. population.
• Households with children experience food insecurity at almost double the rate of households without children.
• Nearly 1 in 5 children in this country is served by Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of food banks.
  • Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America.
  • More than 3 million of those children are ages five and under – representing nearly 13 percent of all children under age five in the United States.
• Feeding America clients with children in their households were often faced with the tough decision of providing food for their family and paying for other necessities. For example:
  • More than 35 percent had to choose between food and medical care.
  • Nearly 55 percent made trade-offs between food and utilities.
  • More than 46 percent had to choose between food and paying rent or the mortgage.

Children who live in homes with food scarcity or insecurity have more difficulty in school.  Hunger makes concentration almost impossible, there is increased illness and lack of energy.  There is increased fear and insecurity in not knowing where your next meal will come from.  Yes, some are able to participate in school food programs that provide breakfast and lunch, but there may be no food over the weekend or for an evening meal.

At East Nashville CoOp Ministry, we are striving to provide healthy food for the homeless and those living in poverty.  Feeding America/Second Harvest stocks our pantry once a week for food boxes that are distributed to those in need.  This is a crisis that is occurring nationwide and worldwide.  The fact that we are the wealthiest nation in the world makes it hard to understand why anyone should go hungry.  Feeding America/Second Harvest has fed 1 in 8 people this year.  They have distributed 3 billion pounds of food and have fed 37 million Americans.  But, the problem persists.

The CoOp has had to stop serving breakfast due to a lack of funds, but we are continuing to serve lunch.  Today, we prepared lemon chicken orzo soup with kale, grilled cheese rounds and baked apple crisp.  This soup was inspired by some that I had at Panera Bread Company.  It is really good, healthy and easy to make.  We made enough to feed 100 people today, but here is how you can make it at home on a smaller scale.

1 whole chicken
1 large onion, diced in small pieces
2 carrots, diced in small pieces
2 ribs celery, diced in small pieces
1 package orzo pasta
1 bunch kale ( or use fresh spinach if you prefer)
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried oregano

Cover the chicken with water in a large pot and boil until the chicken is done.  Remove the chicken and add about 4 cups of water to the remaining stock cooking in the pot.  (you will have to use your judgment)  Add the vegetables and let them cook until soft.  Meanwhile, remove all the meat from the chicken, cut in bite sized pieces and return to the stock with vegetables.  Add the oregano and lemon juice.  Add the orzo and let cook until done, adding more liquid if needed - water or chicken stock in a box.  If using kale, remove the stems from the leaves and chop the leaves into bite sized pieces.  Add the kale once the orzo is cooked and let cook for about 15 more minutes.  (If you are using spinach, give it a rough chop and add when the orzo is cooked).  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add more lemon juice if you prefer.

This is a delicious and filling soup with a nice lemon flavor that has a wonderful Mediterranean flare.

Because our budget is limited, we make lots of soups and casseroles that will stretch our money and feed as many people as possible.  It is a real challenge, but ever so rewarding.

If there is a food pantry in your town or at your church, support it in any way you can.  People need to eat every day of the year, not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If you have spare time, volunteer to help at your local soup kitchen or pantry doing what you can to help alleviate hunger in our country.  The thought of a hungry child is heartbreaking.  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Food brings people together on many different levels.  It's nourishment of the soul and body; it's truly love!  Giada deLaurentis

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Hunger Awareness Month - Baked Apples, Sweet Potatoes and Dried Plums

As I continue talking about Hunger Awareness during the month of September, I will share with you some of the recipes we have been making for our daily lunch guests.  Remember, colorful food is full of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and healthy nutrition that is good for their bones and muscles.  We also want to serve tasty food that leaves them satisfied and happy.  Good food encourages conversation and feelings of comfort.  Not only are we dealing with homelessness and poverty, we are dealing with addiction and mental health issues that can be aided with good nutrition, compassion, and caring.

I have been going to the Farmer's Market and buying local ingredients that are seasonal and preparing them in healthy ways that also taste good.  We served the dish in the picture above as one of our sides last week.  When I was putting it together, many people kept commenting about what an odd combination it was.  My reply was just wait until you taste it.

I also try to incorporate ingredients that are available in the food pantry.  One of the USDA items available for food boxes were prunes (dried plums).  Lots of people didn't want to take them because they said they didn't like them.  Perhaps, they had never really had them, especially used in cooking.  Prunes are fantastic as a snack.  They are simply dried plums which is a much friendlier name than prunes.  Prunes are associated with old age and sluggish digestive tracts when actually they are sweet and hold amazing nutritional properties.  They are full of vitamins, anti-oxidants, they are superior for digestive health acting as a probiotic, they help lower cholesterol and are good for liver health.  The benefits are fantastic.  Look up the nutritional information, it will knock your socks off.

The combination of ingredients that everyone considered odd were apples, sweet potatoes and prunes.  Now, before you judge or say yuck, you really need to try this recipe.  It is like eating dessert it is so delicious.  I used Golden Delicious Apples, sweet potatoes, dried plums, brown sugar, some butter, and cinnamon, and just a little salt.  Wowsa, it got raves and several people said they would be making this recipe at home.

Since I am making quantities to feed 100+ people, it is hard to give you an exact recipe.  You can make this in a smaller quantity and just reduce the amount of the ingredients.  I don't really measure anything.

Here is what I did.

I cut Golden Delicious apples into 1 inch pieces.
Peel sweet potatoes, halve, then quarter them.  Cut them into 1 inch pieces.
I used a bag of dried plums and cut them into 1 inch pieces.

I put the apples, sweet potatoes and dried plums in a pan and tossed them with my hands.  (We do wear gloves at all times).

I melted a stick of butter and poured it over all the diced fruit and vegetables and mixed.  I sprinkled about 1/2 bag of brown sugar over the pan and cinnamon.  (lots of cinnamon).  Toss everything together and put it in the oven at 350 until the sweet potatoes and apples are soft.  Remember, this is a huge pan of ingredients and it took about 1 hour to bake.  Just keep testing the sweet potatoes with a fork.  When they are soft, it's done.

This is an easy and amazingly good side dish.  Everyone LOVED it.  There was not one tidbit of it left.  It would be an excellent side with any meat entree, or you could put a streusel topping on it made with flour, oats and butter and eat it as a dessert.  Yum!!  It would also be super good at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

Because our budget per meal is limited, we have $100.00 for breakfast and lunch total, I really try to be creative, use local and fresh ingredients because it is less expensive and make the food delicious and nutritious.  Our cooking facilities are limited.  Our stove has only two burners that work and the oven.  There is a new kitchen in the future and we pray that is happens soon.  Of course, it depends on funds.  I must say, there is nothing as gratifying as seeing all the smiling faces asking if we have seconds and the daily thank you's for feeding them.  The challenge is more than worth the effort.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

September is Hunger Awareness Month - What Can We Do To Help?

Have you ever been really, truly hungry?  Have you ever gone without eating anything for days with no prospect of having a meal due to lack of access to food?  Due to having nothing in your pantry? No one to share with you?  Due to having no money to buy food?  Due to having no job and no prospects for one?

What if you were sleeping under a bridge or on a park bench with no way to cook any food.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  You might be able to eat something cold from a can if you could acquire a can of food and were lucky enough for it to have a pop top.  Cold Dinty Moore beef stew would be like eating the finest filet mignon if it had been days since you had eaten.  Perhaps you may have to resort to stealing something to assuage your hunger.

Can you imagine hunger being your daily existence?  Never knowing, always wondering when and where you might eat again.  Perhaps you may be lucky enough to spend a night in a shelter where a meal would be provided, or you may have access to a soup kitchen somewhere.  Hallelujah for the Salvation Army Food truck that comes to your neighborhood once a week and you will be able to eat something after standing in line with so many other people sharing your dilemma.  You carry everything you own with you in plastic bags, you sleep on concrete under a bridge to keep from being arrested.  If you have children, you must hide them in fear that they will be taken away from you.  Your children may cry in constant hunger and pain from lack of nutrition.

Just think about this.   Seriously.  We are the richest country in the world.  Why?  Why should anyone go hungry.  Children and senior citizens experience the highest rate of hunger.   Perhaps the seniors do not have a pension and collect only a small bit of social security which must pay for their medications, housing and food.   They rely on food boxes from churches and other organizations to fill in what they cannot afford.  Children are dependent upon adults to feed them.  Schools do what they can to provide lunch and sometimes breakfast.  But, there are weekends and many children go hungry for the entire weekend.

If you are a parent and really think about your children crying in hunger, you know that it would break your heart, your spirit and your belief in humanity.  It would be one of the hardest things I can think of to have to be looked down upon, considered lazy and shiftless, not having a job where you can provide for your family.  If you have no way to take a shower and wash your clothes, if you have no transportation, how do you get a job?  If you are lucky enough to find a job, how do you get there?  Have you ever priced all day bus passes?  They are not cheap here in Nashville.  They are $5.00 a day. That is a lot of money when you are making minimum wage.  So, you can eat or go to work.  That is your choice.  It's not a good choice to have to make.

I have been volunteering at the East Nashville Coop Ministry, 807 Main Street, Nashville, cooking food for anyone who is hungry, rich or poor.  The Coop was started by a group of churches and has been in operation since 1965.  If you are in need of a meal, you are welcome!  We will share what we have.  Today is National Cheese Pizza Day.  For lunch, we prepared Pasta e Fagiole, salad and individual small cheese pizzas.  We had a very happy crew of diners to say the least.  The smiles and thank you's make every moment I dice, saute and serve worthwhile.  Hugs and high fives mean so much more when you know you have filled someone's belly with warm, nutritious food and they will sleep better tonight.

We have a food pantry that is stocked by Second Harvest/Feed America.  There are staple items that can be put into food boxes chosen by each client to meet their families needs.  We are not talking about going to the supermarket, but items that will keep hunger at bay for a few days.  They are allowed 3 visits every 6 months.  You know what that means?  They must find other organizations to help fill their food gap.

Our mission is to provide healthy, nutritious food that will make everyone feel better, make their bones and muscles stronger, improve their attitude/outlook and help life on the streets seem a little less formidable.  Some have rooms where they stay, but this service meets their nutritional needs on a daily basis.   Our daily diners deal with more discrimination and derision in a day, than most of us will encounter in a lifetime.  They are all people just like us who want to be loved, appreciated and acknowledged for their simple humanity.  Instead, they are called names - lazy, shiftless, bums, moochers.  Many deal with mental health issues, PTSD, addiction and most of all, homelessness.  It is heartbreaking.  They look out for each other and share what little they may have.  It is really amazing to experience their sense of community.

We have had to cut out breakfast this month because funds are short.  Hopefully, some grants will come in soon that will allow us to return feeding people as they come and go.   We see some diners for breakfast and lunch, some for one meal or the other.  Some come every few days.  Soon, the weather will begin to cool down and then winter will be upon us and that makes their lives so much harder than summer.  They will need coats, scarves, gloves, and blankets.  The need is great and resources are strained.  Jesus said the poor are with your always.  It is our duty to care for orphans, widows and the hungry in our world.  In our abundance, it is up to us to take care of these sweet souls who have met with unfortunate circumstances.  There but for grace goes any one of us or our family members.

If you have any resources at all, share with food banks and clothing banks where you are.  Most of us have way too many things the way it is.  Pillows, blankets, sheets, sleeping blankets and duffel bags are things that are so very useful to anyone living on the street.  Do you have an old tent you no longer use?  Donate it to a shelter.  Old raincoats, ponchos and umbrellas would be so appreciated.

This month is Hunger Awareness Month.  Look around you.  Ask what you can do to help, to make someone's life a little better.  Share what you have.  By donating to Second Harvest/Feed America, they can quadruple your money into food for those in need and hunger.

Restaurants will be having Dine Out for Hunger events all this month.  Watch your local newspapers for information.  By eating at particular restaurants, money will be donated to help fight hunger in America.

Volunteer to help in food pantries and soup kitchens.  Give financial assistance when and where you can, not just at Christmas or Thanksgiving.  Hunger is something that occurs every minute, every day, every week and month of the year.  Do what you can.  Help ease someone's hunger.  Make their day brighter.  Acknowledge them, smile at them, talk to them.  If you see a homeless person on the street, buy them a meal from a fast food restaurant, or purchase some fruit at the store and give it to them.  You could save someone's life.  Remember, it could happen to any of us at any time.  Nothing in life is certain.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:


HOMELESSNESS:

• -Worldwide, 1.3 billion people live on less than $1 US dollar per day.
• The United States, despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world has the highest rate of poverty.
• Three million Americans, a fourth of which are children, go without shelter every night.
• Families with children comprise 39% of the homeless population and make up the fastest growing segment of the homeless.
• One child in five lives below the poverty line in our country, making children the poorest age group in the United States, which accounts for the growing percentage of children who are homeless.
• Children account for over 25% of the homeless population.
• Every 53 minutes an American child dies from poverty.
• Less than 6% of the homeless are that way by choice.
• Many homeless people are among the working poor. A person earning a minimum wage can't earn enough to support a family of three or pay inner-city rent.
• About 25 percent of the homeless are estimated to be emotionally disturbed. One percent may need long-term hospitalization; the others can become self-sufficient with help.
• Some homeless are substance abusers; research suggests one in four. Many of these are included in the 25 percent who suffer from mental illness.
• The largest proportion of homeless are single men.
• Illegal immigrants are swelling the ranks of the homeless.
• Millions are among the hidden homeless people who are one crisis away from losing their homes. They may be doubled or tripled up in housing or 48 hours from eviction or about to leave a hospital with nowhere to go.

 Hunger and Homeless Fact File

I Know You Want One Of These German Chocolate Cake Bars!

Yesterday we did healthy, today not so much.  This has been a two dessert recipe week.  Why?  Because it just seems like that kind of week and Labor Day Weekend is coming up.  You may be celebrating that last big hurrah of summer with family and friends and you need dessert for a celebration.  Right?  If you don't want to try the Apple Pie Bars from earlier in the week, try these over the top fabulous German Chocolate Cake Bars.

This dessert is going to knock your socks off if you've never made it.  It's got all the good stuff like chocolate, coconut, nuts, chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate.  Did I mention chocolate?  Just in case I forgot, it's got chocolate and is it ever good.

Blame Pinterest, friends, it's all their fault.  I start looking through all the posts late at night and there is one good recipe after another and I am just happily pinning away.  What's the use of pinning if you don't make some of these delectable treats.   It just becomes a past time.  Me, I am all about jumping in with both feet and giving these recipes a try.

There have been a couple that were not keepers, but for the most part they have all been really good.  These German Chocolate Cake Bars are the bomb.  Seriously, the bomb.  The only flaw I can find is that the recipe uses a Devil's Food Cake Mix and next time I might use a German Chocolate Cake mix just to get a more German chocolate taste.  Don't get me wrong, the Devil's food is really, really good.  It was just not really German chocolate.  If you don't know, it's really not German chocolate, but German's chocolate which is a brand name.  Through the years, it has come to be known as German chocolate.  Just a bit of trivia for you.  You can buy German's chocolate at the grocery in the baking aisle of you want real German's chocolate.

This recipe originally came from your friend and mine, Paula Deen.  Now we all know Miss Paula knows a knockout dessert and they are always worth a try.  Try it I did and it is definitely a keeper.

Here is what you need:

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (or German Chocolate Cake Mix)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 large egg

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips  (I used 1 cup, cause why not?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan.

Mix cake mix, butter and egg.  Press in bottom of pan.  Do not press up the sides of the pan.  Bake 7 minutes.

While the base is baking, mix the filling.  Mix sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, egg and nuts.  Pour evenly over warm crust .  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Use 1 cup if you really like chocolate (and we do)!

Bake 24-30 minutes until light golden brown.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

I mean, look at all those chocolate chips!  Who wouldn't want that many?  If you only want 1/2 as many, that's your choice, but the full cup made it really awesome.  Of course, we all had a little scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on ours just in case you want to give that a try.

Thank you Paula Deen.  You did not fail to deliver one more decadent, totally unhealthy dessert for our enjoyment.  Give these a try, you will be glad you did.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” 
― Charles M. Schulz