Crockpot Chocolate Pudding Cake

Oh this is ooey gooey warm chocolaty wonderfulness!! I am a fan of chocolate lava cake and tunnel of fudge cake and this is the easy to make crockpot version. So yummy. You could serve this with whipped cream, Cool Whip, or vanilla ice cream. Mmmm.

Crockpot Chocolate Pudding Cake

1, 3.9 oz package instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1 chocolate fudge cake mix (+ ingredients to prepare it)
2 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or 1/2 cup chocolate chips)

In a large bowl mix together pudding mix and milk, whipping with a whisk for 2 minutes. Pour into a greased crockpot.

Prepare cake mix according to package directions and pour the batter over the pudding in the crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Top with chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips). Turn off crockpot and let stand, covered, for 30 minutes (this allows the pudding at the bottom to thicken). Serve topped with whipped cream, Cool Whip, or ice cream.

Baked Ranch Chicken Tenders

My kids love chicken tenders. I've used my favorite Crispy Chicken Strips recipe for years, but I thought I'd give this one a try. The ranch dressing mix in the crumb mixture intrigued me. And it turned out great! The tenders had a very subtle ranch flavor and cooked up nice and crisp.

Baked Ranch Chicken Tenders

1 1/2 - 2 cups corn flake crumbs (or Ritz cracker crumbs, or Panko bread crumbs)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 packet ranch dressing mix
6 chicken breasts (each cut into 3 long strips)
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. In a pie plate or other shallow dish mix corn flake crumbs, Parmesan, and ranch dressing mix. 

Place chicken breast strips into a bowl with buttermilk. Take one chicken strip and let excess buttermilk drip off. Roll in crumb mixture and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Crockpot White Chicken Chili

I've been wanting to try my hand at white chili for a while and I finally got around to it. This is a really good white chili and it's made in the crockpot. Bonus. The only problem is I wish it had a creamier base. I think I might try making this with a white sauce as the base sometime. But this is a nice, lightish, white chili and my whole family including all 3 kids ate it up with out complaints.

Crockpot White Chicken Chili

3-4 cups cooked, cubed chicken
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans chicken broth
1, 4 oz can chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream

Put all ingredients, except sour cream and cream, into crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. Add sour cream and cream and let cook on low for another 30 minutes. Mix well. Serve with cheese and tortilla chips.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are great breakfast muffins with a lot of banana flavor. Be sure to make these muffins with very ripe bananas or they just won't be sweet enough. Oh and these little muffins are really quite healthy too - the applesauce and bananas replace the fat that is normally used in muffins. My kids love these.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups flour (can use a mix of white whole wheat and all purpose)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup applesauce
4 large very ripe bananas (or 5 smaller ones)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with 15 muffin paper cups.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl, mix in applesauce.  Add banana mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until combined. Add chocolate chips and combine again. Fill muffin paper cups almost to the top (they don't rise very much). Bake for 20 minutes rotating pans once during cooking. Let muffins cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes then serve.

Beef Stir Fry

This is a great quick stir-fry with wonderful flavor. Feel free to switch up the veggies for your favorites. I served it over Calrose sticky rice with orange rolls and everyone loved it. There were no leftovers! Everyone had seconds. Success.

Beef Stir Fry

5 tablespoons soy sauce (I use low sodium Aloha Shoyu - my favorite soy sauce that you can find at Asian markets)
5 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 lb beef steaks, cut across grain into thin strips
1/4 cup chicken broth or stock
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets
2 carrots, sliced thin
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/3 cup chopped green onions

In a small bowl whisk together soy sauce, orange juice, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add beef and stir fry until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer beef to a bowl and cover with foil.

Add 1/4 cup chicken broth to the hot skillet. Add broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms and steam covered for about 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates. Add garlic and green onions and cook for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture and beef back into the skillet.  Cook until sauce is well blended and starts to thicken. Serve over rice.

Poppy Seed Chicken (Freezer Meal)

I'm reposting this recipe because I modified it slightly to bake it right away and used pre-cooked chicken (I like using cubed rotisserie chicken for casseroles - I think it's more flavorful and moist). The recipe is from my friend Laurel and it is delicious. I think it tastes like the casserole version of my Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. Thanks for the great recipe Laurel!

Poppy Seed Chicken (Freezer Meal)

3-4 cups cooked and cubed chicken or turkey
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1, 6 oz pkg Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice Mix
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/4 cup butter

To Bake Right Away:
Prepare rice mix according to package directions.

In a large bowl mix: chicken, soups, sour cream, prepared rice, thyme, salt and pepper to taste and chicken broth. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Mix together the crushed crackers and poppy seeds. Melt butter and add to the crumbs mixing well with a fork. Sprinkle on top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and crumbs on top are browned.

Freezer Meal Instructions:
Prepare rice mix according to package directions and set aside.

In a large bowl mix: chicken, cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, prepared rice, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Pour into a labeled 1 gallon freezer bag, freeze flat.

Mix together the crushed crackers and poppy seeds and pour into a quart size freezer bag, taping to the chicken mixture bag. Also freeze the half sick of butter and store in freezer with the other bags.

Heating Instructions:
Thaw chicken mixture. Pour into a non-stick sprayed 9x13 pan. Melt the butter. Mix the crushed cracker mixture with the melted butter and sprinkle on top of the chicken mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and crumbs on top are browned.

Homemade Pop Tarts

There have been a lot of homemade pop-tart recipes out there on the food blogs, but this is my easy peasy version. All you need is a batch of pie crust dough, or 2 rolls of refrigerated pie crusts, and jam. And the result is so good! Like little raspberry pies. I made these for my kids to take in their lunch boxes and they were thrilled. I added a simple powdered sugar glaze and sprinkles to make it even funner.

Homemade Pop Tarts

prepared pie crust dough for a double pie-crust (or 2 rolls of refrigerated pie crust dough)
raspberry jam (or other jam)
powdered sugar
water
sprinkles

Roll out pie doughs. Take a biscuit cutter, I used my Pampered Chef sandwich pocket maker, and cut out circles of pie dough. I can usually get 14-16 circles to make 7-8 poptarts. Take 1 circle and put a glob of jam in the middle. Place another circle of dough over and seal the edges. I did this by pressing down on the sandwich pocket maker, but you could also take a fork and press and seal the edges together with the tines of the fork. Poke holes in the top of each pop tart with the tines of a fork.

Place pop tarts on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden on top and bottom. Remove from oven and place pop tarts on a cooling rack. Brush lightly with a glaze made from powdered sugar and water whisked together (you want it to be thin enough to spread, but not so runny it doesn't stick onto the pop tarts). Sprinkle quickly with sprinkles. Allow to cool completely (glaze will set up hard once cooled). Store in an air tight container.