Dump Cakes

I have a bit of a sweet tooth, and an incredible lack of willpower...which often leads to giving into the ultimate temptation: dessert.

I love anything chocolatey.

So when I heard about this WW-friendly CHOCOLATE CAKE, I knew I had to give it a try.  This recipe is a "dump cake" and one of the easiest recipes anyone has ever attempted.  Dump cakes are exactly like what they sound: you mix the ingredients together, and dump it all into a pan and bake it.  They're usually made with a cake mix and fruit.

Cake mixes can be kind of fattening, and thanks to the sugar, not conducive to my daily points intake on WW.  But this recipe uses a sugar free cake mix (3 points per serving), frozen fruit (0 points), and diet soda.  Seriously.  And NOTHING else.  No eggs, no butter, no oil.

The most surprising part about this recipe was how moist the cake is when it's done.  So, here you go...the recipe.

Ingredients
1 box, sugar free cake mix
2 bags (about 24 oz), frozen fruit
12 oz. diet soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spread fruit on the bottom of a baking pan (Note: size and type of pan depend on the type of cake you want to make...I used an 8x12 glass dish this last time).

3. Mix cake mix and soda together, then pour over fruit.

4. Bake according to the back of the box, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The best part: You can create an endless combination of flavors.  I recommend using a dark soda (diet cola or diet root bear, for example) with a chocolate cake.  Use a light colored soda (diet lemon-lime, ginger ale) with a yellow cake mix.  Choose whatever kind of frozen fruit you'd like.

I first made the cake with sugar free devil's food cake mix, diet cola, and dark cherries.  With the chocolate cake mix, it was almost a fudge-like consistency.

I recently made the dump cake with sugar free yellow cake mix, diet lemon-lime, and blueberries.
That combination was light and fluffy.

Makes 12 servings.  Each serving is 3 points!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hands down, the best (and most useful) present I got for Christmas was a new slow cooker.  For years, I had a small (knock-off, no-name brand) one, but the few times I tried to use it, it did not work.  I mostly used it for making fondue.

This new one, however, is amazing.  I've used it a few times so far and everything has been wonderful.  I got an 8 quart Crock Pot slow cooker.  It even came with a little bonus: a 16 oz. "Little Dipper Warmer."  The digital display allows you to custom set the cook time, which is incredibly helpful.

I've decided that, despite my Italian heritage and love of my native ethnic food, I would eat Mexican, Spanish, or Cuban food on a daily basis.  So, my first culinary experiment with the new slow cooker was some chicken tortilla soup.  There's something magical about the smell of soup simmering all day long, while you're curled up on the couch on a "snow day" (which really turned out to be a rainy, slight dusting of snow, but bitterly cold kind of day).

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
5 cups, low sodium chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomato
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) black beans, drained
1 can (14.5 oz) corn, drained (no salt added)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
To taste: Salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika
To garnish: cilantro, avocado, tortilla strips, lime...or anything else, really (cheese, sour cream, etc)

1. Add the chicken, broth, diced tomatoes, garlic, chopped onion, and all spices (salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and paprika) to the slow cooker.  Cook on low for about 6 hours (until chicken is thoroughly cooked through and onions are soft).

2. After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the mixture and shred it.  Then, put the chicken back in the slow cooker.

3. Add the black beans, corn, cilantro, and lime choice.  Cook for an additional hour on low setting.

Yields about 8 servings
Weight Watchers Smart Points: 3 (add additional points for toppings/garnishes)

Shrimp & Grits...Danielle Style

What's that saying?  When in Rome...?  Well, how about 'when in the south'?

Shrimp and grits is typical Southern fair, and is traditionally a breakfast dish.  To be fair, though, I've only ever had this meal for brunch or dinner.  So when your grocery store has all the main ingredients on sale, you have no choice, really.  You've got to try your hand at making shrimp and grits.

But here's the thing about shrimp and grits...there are a million and one recipes describing a million and one ways to make the dish.  Do you add bacon or sausage?  Mushrooms or no?  Peppers, onions?  What spices to add?  Cheesy grits or just buttery?  So after about an hour (that I should have spent writing my dissertation), I just gave up.  This recipe is the one I made up as I went along.  And honestly, it may be the tastiest thing I've ever made.  Here's to culinary experimentation!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain grits (I cheated, and used instant...)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound sausage links (andouille is popular, but I used turkey)
1 tablespoon flour
Scallions
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Lemon Juice

1. Cook grits according to package directions.  Substitute half the amount of water, though, with chicken broth.  Add 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, and 2 tablespoons of butter.  Mix well until creamy.

2. Heat a frying pan with oil over medium heat.  Season sausage with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Cook sliced sausage until thoroughly browned.  Remove sausage from heat, and set aside.

3. Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Cook shrimp in remaining oil until pink.  Remove from heat and set aside with sausage.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining chicken broth with the flour.  Add the mixture to the remaining oil, and whisk together over low heat.  Add lemon juice.  Stir until thickened.

5. Add the sausage and shrimp back into the mixture to coat thoroughly.

6. Ladle some of the grits into a dish.  Spoon the shrimp and sausage mixture on top, drizzling some of the sauce.  Top with fresh cut scallions.

Life updates...and Couscous with Chicken, Tomato, and Spinach

These days, time is a pretty precious commodity.  Being a full-time doctoral student with a graduate assistantship...and a new puppy(!!!)  Yes, I adopted a puppy back in April.  His name is Leo.  His mom was a mini poodle/cocker spaniel mix.  I adopted him from the Athens Area Humane Society.  You should check them out!!

Having a puppy is amazing but it's definitely hard work (and very time consuming).  I've still been trying to keep up with some good eats, so I've been making meals that are pretty quick and painless.  This is one of those recipes.

I adapted this from the WW Simple Start program.  The recipes they give you are only for one portion, but this basically made about 3 portions for me.

Ingredients

1 box, couscous (I used Near East)
1 can, diced tomato
1 cup, chopped spinach (I used frozen)
9 oz. chicken breast, grilled, cut into chunks
Garlic powder

1. Prepare couscous according to directions on box.

2. Add diced tomato and spinach.  Season with garlic powder.

3. Add grilled chicken.  Serve immediately.

Blueberry Almond Pops

Let me tell you something...Georgia is HOT in the summer.  Today's heat index is 105 degrees.  In this crazy heat, you have to find different ways to keep cool.  So this summer, in my abundant free time (read with overwhelming sarcasm), I've been experimenting with different popsicle flavors.  The Nutella Bailey's ones were delicious; they just never completely set (therefore, lacking the structural composition to be called a pop).

But these babies...these blueberry almond pops...they are my favorite.  By a long shot.

Ingredients
2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)
2.5 cups almond milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 tbsp. lemon juice
A pinch of salt

1. Puree all the ingredients in a blender until completely smooth.

2. Pour into popsicle molds, and place in freezer.  Leave them in the freezer for at least 5 hours (overnight is preferable).

Pro tip: Don't forget to run the mold under warm water before you remove the pop from the mold.  This will help you remove the popsicle with ease.

Holiday Sweets, Part 2: Peanut Butter Blossoms

I may have mentioned this before, but peanut butter and chocolate may be my favorite flavor combination.  I love Reese's, these peanut butter and chocolate chip bars are one of my favorite baked goodies, but these peanut butter blossoms are a holiday staple.

The original recipe said it yields about 60...I consistently get about 45 each time.  There are a ton of variations of this recipe, but this one is my favorite.  Also, this has fewer ingredients than others, and (as I found out this time) is really easy to make the dough with a quality mixer.

(Side note: For Christmas, Santa brought me a fire-engine red KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  This was the first recipe I made with the mixer.  Stay tuned for an all-about-the-KitchenAid-mixer post...coming soon!)

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 can (14 oz) condensed milk
2 cups biscuit mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 granulated sugar
45-50 unwrapped Hershey's Kisses

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine peanut butter and condensed milk.  Mix well until creamy and smooth.

3. Add biscuit mix and vanilla extract.  Mix.  Combine throughly until dough is no longer crumbly.

4. Roll dough into 1 inch balls.  Cover in sugar, and then place on ungreased baking pan, about 1 inch apart.

5. Bake 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees until they are a light golden color.  (I usually check them around six minutes)

6. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press one Hershey's Kiss into the center of each to create a blossom.  Allow to cool so that the chocolate sets.

Holiday Sweets, Part 1: Cashew Bark

One of my friends asked me about my blog recently, hoping to check it out and try some new recipes.  When I gave her the web address, I immediately felt guilty because I haven't updated since April. APRIL!  It's DECEMBER now!  I promise I've been trying new recipes and cooking (and taking pictures, too), but being a doctoral student sometimes means that "fun" writing gets put on the back burner.

I have this massive backlog of recipes that I need to post, but because it's still the holiday season, I think some baked goodies are in order.  I've made a lot of different sweets over the last few weeks, but my new favorite is the Cashew Bark.

The Cashew Bark has a lot of different names: cashew crack, cashew crackle, chocolate toffee, cashew chocolate toffee...but they're all basically the same.  So, I hope you enjoy my new favorite holiday sweet!

Ingredients
40-60 saltine crackers (you can also use 4-5 matzo)
3/4 cup salted butter
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz)
1 cup roughly crushed/chopped cashews (Full disclosure: I felt like I wanted it nuttier, so I wound up using about a cup and a half; also, it's just easier if you start off with the halves and pieces instead of the whole cashews)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cover the bottom of a large baking sheet with a layer of crackers (or matzo).  Set to the side.

3. For the toffee mixture, combine butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a gentle boil for no longer than 2 minutes.  Stir constantly.  The mixture should be thick and syrupy.

4. Once thickened, pour toffee mixture over crackers immediately; the mixture will begin to get hard pretty quickly.  Spread evenly.  (Note: I used a rubber spatula to help spread)

5. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.

6. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.  Then, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the toffee mixture.

7. Place baking sheet back in the oven at 350 degrees for one minute.

8. After one minute in the oven, remove the baking sheet.  Use a rubber spatula to spread the softened chocolate evenly across the toffee mixture.

9. Allow to cool for about 3 minutes before sprinkling the roughly chopped cashews on top.

10. Place in the refrigerator for about 2 hours (or until the chocolate is set).  Use a spatula to break the bark into pieces.

Variations: I like cashews, but you can substitute any kind of nut: walnuts, peanuts, macadamia.  You can also add any other kinds of toppings, like crushed peppermint, or candy cane, or even sprinkles.