Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and Frosting

This cake is pretty perfect and very chocolatey. I made it for my Mom's birthday because she LOVES chocolate. I have seen this recipe many time and finally decided to try it out. It is certainly my go to chocolate cake recipe now.

From Hershey's

INGREDIENTS

cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

Frosting recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

I have yet to make something with pumpkin this fall season, and I needed a recipe that included cranberries for The What's Cooking Ingredient Challenge. This was my first time using fresh cranberries. I was a little worried what consistency would be like because they were so firm....but I am so glad I went with fresh. The flavor and consistency came out great in the pumpkin bread.

Adapted from Allrecipes

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1.5 cup fresh cranberries, cut in half

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas

I do not like putting the enchilada sauce on the tops of the enchiladas while they are baking because I dislike any food that is remotely soggy. So I added the sauce to the chicken while it is cooking. This way you get the flavor and you get the flavor throughout the entire dish. I got the idea of adding ranch dressing the filling from Annie’s Eats. I cooked my chicken the night before so all I needed to do the next day and assemble and bake. They took about 35 minutes to cook that way because my filling was cold.

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken breasts (mine were pretty large)
1 10 ounce can red enchilada sauce
1 small call green chilies
3/4 cup sour cream
6 tablespoons ranch dressing
8-10 flour tortillas
lots of shredded cheese
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

In a pan combine enchilada sauce, chicken salt and pepper. Cook on medium to medium low heat until done.

Remove chicken from sauce, allow to cool, then shred. Reserve ½ of sauce from the pan and discard the remaining sauce.

Place chicken and reserved sauce back in pan and mix in sour cream, ranch dressing and green chilies (add salt and pepper if needed). Heat until warmed though and well combined.

Place your tortillas on a plate and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds with a damp paper towel over them. Keep the damp paper towel over the tortillas you are not currently working with.

Evenly distribute chicken mixture into tortillas, add desired amount of shredded cheese, roll up tortilla and place in baking dish seam side down. Depending on how much filling you put in each one you will end up with 8-10 (I got 9) tortillas.

Top rolled enchiladas with cheese and place in oven to bake about 20-25 minutes.

Tomato Dill Soup

I had some leftover fresh dill from the Chicken, Lemon and Dill with Orzo I made and wanted to use it up and something new. I asked around and was suggested this recipe. It was very flavorful and couldn't of been easier. This is certainly a go to recipe when you are wanting a quick and simple tomato soup recipe.

From Reservations Not Required

Orginially by The Lady & Son's Savannah Country Cookbook by Paula H. Deen, Page 26

INGREDIENTS

1- 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes or 3 cups of fresh tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped (omitted, not an onion fan)
2 cups of chicken stock
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot combine first 7 ingredients. Cook on medium-high heat for 30 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes.

Dijon Ranch Roasted Potatoes

This is one of those "no recipe recipes". I made these on a whim and they were delicious. They smelled absolutely wonderful while they were cooking.

INGREDIENTS

potatoes, cut up
extra virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard
dry ranch dressing mix

salt and pepper

freshly chopped dill and parsley (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 410 degrees.

Combine potatoes, olive oil, mustard, dry ranch mix, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix until potatoes are well coated. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in oven.

When the potatoes are just about done ( about 30 minutes) sprinkle your fresh dill and parsley over them and cook another 5 or so minutes.