Nothing Bundt Cake

Chocolate Heaven!!!

A couple of weeks back I attended a cooking show at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, and watched 4 really great cooking demonstrations. One that struck me was this chocolate cake. Now being from Davis County (in Northern Utah) I had never heard of this store they kept referring to, called Nothing Bundt Cake – (http://www.nothingbundtcakes.com/), I was intrigued.

Nothing Bundt Cake 

- click this title for their recipe -

 

Credit - this is their photo not mine.

 

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. devils food cake, German chocolate cake, or chocolate cake mix
• 1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding
• 1 c. sour cream
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. oil
• 1 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
• 2 (8 ounce) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 3-4 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

• Mix first six ingredients together with a beater. Add chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bunt cake pan (cooking spray works best). Cook in oven at 350 degrees for 45-50 mins. Remove from oven. Let cool for 20 mins. Remove from pan. (I think it tastes best if you put it on a serving plate, wrap it well in Saran Wrap, and let it sit overnight in the fridge before frosting and serving..)
• In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar (start with 2 cups then keep adding more until it is nice and thick). That's it!

The only thing I would change is cut the frosting portion in half - this makes ALOT of frosting. But it's ooooo soooooo yummy.

The gals who demonstrated this cake are from www.favfamilyrecipes.com and I give them all the credit for this fantastic cake. I was so excited to try this recipe I bought their new book “Favorite Family Recipes”. So very glad that I did. They have tons a great family recipes and some "knock off recipes" too.

I would, however, like to try this in a Dutch oven to see how well it would turn out. I made this last night in a Bundt cake pan and it turned out fabulous. With a house full, they would not let me just put it in the fridge and wait, I am sitting hear eating a piece as I type this – and believe me it is better to wait till the 2^nd day.  I am sold!

Ladies – thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Source: Favfamilyrecipes.com

 

What a great gift for a neighbor!

Have fun cookin’

Cyndi

 

 

Meatball Monkey Bread

Sorry for the hiccup – My laptop took a dive and had to spend some time at the PC Doctors – but we are back up and running now and as promised – here is part 2 of the Meatball story - So after I made the meatball sliders for dinner the other night – I had to hide a bowl of meatballs from my family so I could make this dish.

Note: On the Meatballs recipe. When making them to freeze, I prefer, not to add the glaze (the ketchup, brown sugar and cider vinegar) – so just in their naked state.  I only use the glaze when I make it into the Meatloaf.

So onto the Meatball Monkey bread – As stated I had seen it somewhere and it intrigued me, I have a friend who wrote a blog about cooking for 365 in a Dutch Oven and she posted this one when her oven recently went out and she pulled out her Dutch Oven to fix a meal for her family. Dutch Oven Madness - she is quite the inspiration! Up on seeing her post I thought – I want to put a spin on mine, to see what I could come up with.

This was a weeknight – one that was snowy, and after working all day plus a treacherous commute home, I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table so I could sit and unwind. So I did not make my roll dough from scratch – I just used Rhodes Rolls – I called home about 3:30 and had my daughter pull them out of the freezer and let them start to thaw.  – But if you have the time and want to try your hand at making rolls from scratch – try this recipe Rolls

I went to my fridge to see what I had to put in with my meatballs – I had some left over shredded cheese (pizza blend) from my Sourdough Pizza the other night , My friend used pepperoni, I didn’t have any left – But I had some mushrooms, I sautéed them up with some garlic and onions, then I started to assemble. I did not get too creative just because I was too tired. - but as you read on I'll give you a few creative spins on this, with the hope you will come up with some of your own too.

Meatball Monkey Bread

20 Rhodes Dinner Rolls (9" X 13" X 2" pan = 12 - 16 Texas Rolls or 16-20 Dinner Rolls.)
20 Meatballs – either homemade or frozen
2-3 tablespoons of melted butter
Mrs. Dash – Garlic and Herb
Parmesan Cheese

Filling – whatever sounds good…Here are a few wild thoughts I had – if you made your own meatballs and used ground chicken you could add some parmesan cheese and some garlic and dip in Alfredo sauce. You could sauté some peppers, onions and mushrooms, with regular meatballs and dip in au jus for a French dip variety. A Mexican variety, sprinkle a little taco seasoning or salsa in with your meatball and use a pepper jack cheese and dip in sour cream or guacamole. Ok – one more – Plain ol’ meatballs and dip in BBQ sauce.  – Let your imagination run wild – there are many combinations that you can make.

My filling was just the Meatball and the cheese – and because not every member of my family likes mushrooms I just put them on the top of mine after they were baked. But if you are fans you could put them right in with your meatball and cheese.

To assemble – Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, into a circle. Place a small (‘bout a teaspoon) amount of cheese on the dough; place the meatball in the center, bring the dough up and around the meatball and cheese and seal in all the goodness. Place all inside a greased pan and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash and Parmesan cheese.

Bake @ 375° for 20-25 minutes until the y are golden brown and a slight tap produces a hollow sound.

We dipped ours in leftover Pizza sauce but you can dip them in what ever you like - I think my son was using Ranch dressing....

Now those of you that have read my blog know that I always state, that if you can cook it in a 9x13x2, pan you can cook it in a 12” Dutch Oven- So I am giving you directions to make this in a 9x13x2 pan – but I did mine in my 12” flat bottom Dutch Oven – in my oven @ home – but can easily be done over briquettes. - for a 9x13x2 just place in rows instead of a ring.

If you want to make this in your Dutch Oven with Briquettes - 9 briquettes on the bottom and 18 on top.

Have Fun Cookin’
Cyndi

The Ever Versatile ...... Meatloaf / Meatballs

The Ever Versatile ......

Meatloaf / Meatballs 

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped fine

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 tsp dried thyme

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350°. Heat the oil in an 8-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

4 tsp cider vinegar

Meanwhile, mix together the ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar and set aside.

3 large eggs

1/2 cup milk, plus extra as needed

2 tsp mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce®

3 lbs meatloaf mix (1 lb hamburger + 1 lb ground pork + 1 lb ground turkey)

11/2 sleeve crushed saltine crackers

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, mustard, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and Tabasco together.

Mix the meatloaf mix, crackers, parsley, sautéed onion mixture, and egg mixture until evenly blended and the mixture doesn't stick to the bowl (if the mixture sticks, add additional milk, a tablespoon at a time, until it no longer sticks).

Turn the meat mixture onto the foil-lined baking sheet and shape into a 9 by 5-inch loaf. Brush with half of the ketchup mixture. Bake the loaf for 45 minutes.

Brush the loaf with the remaining ketchup mixture and continue to bake until the center of the loaf measures 160° on an instant-read thermometer, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

This is my go to recipe for Meatloaf / Meatballs. I grew up learning to clean out the fridge to make meatloaf, Mom used to use everything from rice to potato chips as the binder in her meatloaf and over the years I have tried her method as well as bread crumbs- and I have found that my family and I prefer saltines.

Meatloaf is great the first night you make it and it makes great sandwiches the next day. I like to also use this recipe and make meatballs. There are 101 different ways to use meatballs, add them to soup, make sandwiches, on pasta, Swedish meatballs, meatballs and marinara, meatballs in bbq sauce (or Ketchup and Grape jelly), meatball sliders, meatball subs….I could keep going, this is a very versatile recipe.

This is part of a 2 part post – Tonight I made this recipe and made it into 108 mini meatballs – for 2 reasons – one for dinner tonight we are having mini meatball sliders, and probably Friday night I will use the leftovers and make "Meatball Monkey Bread". I heard or saw someone talk about it and I thought hmmmm … I wanna try that…. So that post will come later. So for tonight here is my "go to" meatloaf recipe – adapted from America’s Test Kitchens.

Have fun cookin’  

Cyndi