WOOO-HOOO! I Read That Book!

Post # 211      I had a very good day.  I still feel like I have been run over by a Mac truck and left for road kill but my son came to visit and that made it a good day.  I slept until 12:30 p.m. -- all morning -- and then my son came.  I had put some chicken breasts in the oven to bake when the dogs woke me up around 9 a.m., then I went back to sleep, so he took that chicken and finished lunch for us.  Since we were celebrating his birthday that was kind of sad that he had to cook but I just was worthless.  I think I chopped onion and that was about my only contribution!  He made King Ranch Chicken and we had that, salad, guacamole, chips and then chocolate cake which he made from scratch.  Yep, had to make his own birthday cake too!  I sprayed the pan with Pam. :)  When he was a little boy (he will be 26 tomorrow) a mom brought Baklava to school one day for the kids and my son just loved that.  He told me how good that was for years.  Saturday I went to Braums (a TX ice cream/dairy store) to get some ice cream for my sore throat and saw Baklava Ice Cream....they always have a big variety of flavors....so I got that for my son.  I had never seen that flavor before.  For myself I got vanilla with butterfinger bits.  I started to get pomegranate but it was light ice cream and if I am going to have ice cream I want to real deal.  Now I wonder what it tasted like so I will have to go back sometime and try it.  Lunch was delicious and the cake was out of this world excellent.  It always is.  Even I can not mess up this cake.  We ate it piping hot out of the oven so we didn't even put ice cream on it.  I think everyone I know makes both the casserole and cake but just in case you don't here are the recipes...I promise they both are just really really good. 

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

• boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced ( today I cooked 3 plump breasts that weighed 3.7 lbs and that was the perfect amount)
• 1 pkg corn tortillas
• l can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can Ro-Tel Tomatos and green chilis
• 1 onion, chopped  (I had a big onion so I just used half)
• grated cheddar cheese, the more the better
• 1 cup chicken broth

I prefer to cook the chicken breasts in the crock pot but today I put them in oven and baked them, or you can boil on top of the stove.  Dice or shred.  In a large pan or dutch oven saute the onion in a little butter.  Add the cream of mushroom soup, broth, Ro-Tel, and chicken.  Heat and stir until the soup is blended with the other ingredients. If it is real thick just add a little more chicken broth.  It shouldn't be real soupy but not dry either.   Spray a 10" x 13" casserole dish with non-stick spray.   Cover the bottom with corn tortillas.  Cover that with half of the chicken mixture.  Top with plenty of cheese.  Repeat layers.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.   

Cinnamon Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 & 1/2 teas. cinnamon
• 1/2 teas. salt
• 1 cup oleo (2 sticks)
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tablespoons baking cocoa
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup reg. milk with 1 T. lemon juice, let set 5 min to sour)
• 1 teasp. vanilla
• 1 teas. baking soda

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.  In a saucepan place the oleo, water and cocoa.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Mix boiling mixture into the flour mixture in mixing bowl.  Set the saucepan aside to make the frosting.  In the mixing bowl of ingredients add milk, eggs, vanilla and baking soda.  Mix well.  Pour into a 10" x 13" pan sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake 30 minutes at 350.  While cake is still warm from oven frost with this frosting (don't make the frosting until the cake comes out of the oven--it just takes a few minutes):

frosting

1/2 cup oleo (1 stick)

3 Tablespoons baking cocoa

6 Tablespoons milk

1 lb powdered sugar

1 teas. vanilla

1/2 chopped pecans if desired

Place oleo, cocoa, and milk in the saucepan. Bring to a boil.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. Add nuts and pour over warm cake (it will somewhat soak into the cake)

again, I don't like things super sweet so I prefer to half the frosting recipe but my kids like the entire recipe.

After  my son left I decided I was not going to do anything the rest of the day but lay on the couch and read that book.  I DID IT!  It is a victorian mystery, British, so it took me a while to get through it, and truthfully, some pages I just scanned part of it but I did enjoy it.  I can hardly wait to get another book.