How to make Chocolaty Chip Whole Wheat Muffins

Okay so I merged two recipes to get a new one. I have a recipe I normally use from my make a mix master mix recipe book that is pretty good but with all whole wheat it comes out pretty wheaty tasting.(To see these pictures better, click on them. The x~mas background is interfering.) Not exactly a bad thing but I kind of want to WOW family and friends around the holidays, not turn them off to whole wheat breads. So I figured I could do half and half. I really wanted a chocolate looking muffin though, not just chocolate chips tossed in. I did go to Walmart and buy two Texas Size muffin pans. I wanted some mini loaf pans as well but did not see any. I should of picked up some mini cupcake pans while I was there so people can sample more goodies. I just may still do that.

(more…)

2 comments December 17, 2007

Super Chunky Spaghetti Sauce

Okay so I always like to make a huge pot of sauce. I grab one of those huge 6 lb 6 oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes from Smart N Final. Take the juice it comes in and put that in the pot. I take the tomatoes and cut them up. First in half, then I cut about 3-4 more times. You can dice them finer if you like. I take 2 green bell peppers and chop them up. I take about 6 cloves of garlic and 2 onions and peel and chop that real fine.

I shake a good helping of basil, oregano and parsley in to the pot. I added 7 6 oz cans of tomato paste. I added a spoonful or so of olive oil. I also added some water.

Simmer on low for 45 minutes stirring every once in a while. It is very good! last time I also chopped up some celery too. Maybe next time I will add some carrots. DO you make your own sauce or just grab Ragu?

1 comment December 15, 2007

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

So I had some buttermilk left after I did the chocolate cake the other day. I decided to whip up a batch of buttermilk biscuits. Now I for one am not too fond of biscuits but my dh is. These are actually pretty good. I should of stuck them in a muffin pan though. For the page I got the recipe from just click the link. One batch makes 16 HUGE biscuits. Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

(more…)

Add a comment December 15, 2007

California Round Cake

Okay so I finally got around to making “The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever I used restraint. I waited for a birthday! lol I went to bed at 10:00 p.m. on 12-7-07 and I woke up at 2:00 a.m. having a nitemare. I laid there but couldn’t fall back asleep. So at 3:00 a.m. I got up, had a cup of coffee, and started making cake! If you want the recipe and step by step pictures, just click that link. It was fun and easy to make. I have a huge cookie sheet that is only 1 inch off of hers but I decided I wanted to make 2 round pans instead so I could put it on my cake stand. Next time I will probably do the cookie sheet. I chopped walnuts, but didn’t use them cause I was thinking they weren’t ground up fine enough and didn’t want dh to complain.

Now remember, I use all whole wheat. It was fun and very easy to make. The only problem was she recommends icing the cake when it is warm. Now that is probably a good idea if you are using a cookie sheet and leaving the cake in the pan. But I needed the two cake pans empty and the cake on a cake stand. Joey woke up, by then was it 5:00? I can’t remember. So he took the cakes out but one broke a little bit. Grrrrrr……It was very soft. So yes the 3rd picture looks terrible! But trust me the cake is excellent. He iced it and there was plenty left over and I put it in the fridge hoping it would firm up. It did.

It really did. It was the best chocolate whole wheat cake ever. Not wheaty tasting at all. I also added some cinnamon to it. We ate it later that nite straight from the fridge. I really did like this recipe and will use it again and again. All the kids loved it and Joey said it tasted like a chocolate fudge brownie. On her website in the comments section lots of people were saying that this cake is Texas Sheet Cake. I believe it. In my make a mix cookbook where it tells how to make a huge brownie mix up and all the recipes you can use from that base mix, texas sheet cake is listed. The recipe is different though.

So my point is if you are looking for an awesome chocolate cake that some people think taste like a brownie, that you can also use all whole wheat with, this may be the recipe for you. 🙂 Enjoy!

See the 4th picture? It doesn’t look so bad there once it was cut and it firmed up a bit. 🙂

What kind of cake do you make for birthdays?

2 comments December 12, 2007

The Birthday Girl

So our youngest dd is 4 this month! Normally in the past we tried to keep birthday and x~mas presents at $50.00 each. This year money has opened up a bit more so I told the kids $100.00 each and that is it! That adds up quickly when you have 5 kids. Well her birthday falls in December so basically $200.00

Well back in late October or so Joey seen a Barbie Big Wheels car for her at Costco, $189.99. I checked the other stores and seen them for like $235.00-$250.00! I told him to get it as soon as he got off work! Good thing we did. A few days later there were no more and have not been in that store since!

But how to split that up between birthday and Christmas? lol We found a kitchen playset at Walmart for surprisingly only $38.00! We also wanted to get her some stuffed animals. SO we got her a bear rug for $15.00 and a pack of 7 bears for like $10.00 from Costco.

Well we celebrated last Saturday. Home made cake, 2 different kinds of ice cream, hot dogs, nachos and lots of nachos with nacho cheese sauce! Yeah I am glad all the food is gone. lol Here are some pics of her in her new ride. Oh and yes those are garage couches.

Yeah I know, now we are spending like $255.00! She wants a baby doll too. *sigh* Maybe she needs to write a letter to Santa cause I don’t want to go broke! lol What are you getting your kids for christmas?

4 comments December 12, 2007

The Holidays

Well we are renting a van for 4 days from the 22nd til the 26th. That Saturday my friend is getting married down by the beach! I am so excited. Joe actually has to work Sunday-Thursday! Sunday the family is having a get together for all the 3rd and 4th cousins etc. So right after he gets off work at 3:00 we have to rush over there down to the beach. How long will that take? 2 hours? 3 hours? I have no clue. Tuesday he has to work for like 20 minutes, believe it or not. He HAS too! Then we have to be at my Aunt’s by 10:00 a.m. That should take about 90 minutes.

We are having our traditional German potato pancakes for breakfast. Normally we have ham and/or turkey for dinner but this year my Aunt said they are making rice and curry for dinner, with some orange chicken thrown in for good measure. Is Mc Donald’s going to be open? lol I can’t stand curry!

Do any of you have a traditional holiday meal that you do? What are your plans for christmas?

3 comments December 11, 2007

Chocolate Brownies

One sentence is all it takes.
“Mom, can I have money for the snack bar at school?”

NO!!! Do you know how much garbage is in those snacks at school? A lot more than what I would put in a snack. So I went looking for the already prepped muffin mix in the deep freezer. I can usually abstain from eating those. Gone. But there was a huge container of brownie mix! Thank goodness we only had 3 eggs left so I could only make a batch and a half. It was delicious!

Do you let the kids buy junk food at school? Or do you just make them junk food at home?

2 comments December 10, 2007

Home made Creamy Chocolate Pudding

Make your own pudding packets for only .42 cents. Aren’t they like $1.50 in the stores most of the time? I think once in a while I see it on “sale” for $1.00.

1 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
3 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Basically add all the ingredients together and stir with a wire whisk. This makes enough for 6 cups of dry mix. Which is enough for 6 packets of chocolate pudding mix.

1 cup of mix
2 3/4 cups milk
2 TBS butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a sauce pan add the mix and the milk. Cook and stir until it thickens. Remove from heat and add in butter and vanilla. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!

I will have to check the prices again at Smart N Final but from what I remember the cocoa is $5.69 for 16 oz(4 cups), the corn starch is $3.00 for 10 lbs(40 cups) and the sugar is $3.00 for 5 lbs(20 cups), I didn’t bother adding the salt.

So $1.90 for cocoa, .49 cents for sugar, .10 cents for corn starch = $2.49 divided by 6 = .415 cents each, so .42 cents each. 🙂 Oh I forgot to add in the butter but really, how much can it be? lol Not much more. 😉

What do you like to do with chocolate pudding? DO you like to make chocolate pie? Or just as a treat for the family?

7 comments December 5, 2007

$65.00 Christmas Cookies

Well that IS for 18 of them. But seriously,for $3.61 each they had better have nuggets of gold in them. lol Well now that I am feeling better I can get get back to what I love doing, baking, cooking! I am going to start gathering up a bunch of yummy recipes.

dd # 3’s birthday is also coming up on Saturday so I need to do that cake soon too.

This recipe looks really good.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

SO does this one:

Rudolph’s Christmas Sugar Cookies

What is your favorite cookie recipe?

3 comments December 2, 2007