Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

Junior has been totally into cooking recently. 

Y'all know we are homeschooling. I decided this year I wanted the boys to take cooking classes. Junior has LOVED it! He's even cooked 2 complete meals for our family. Main course, side, and dessert! He even figured out what we'd need from the store! 

The first time he cooked dinner, it was a class requirement. The second time was because he begged! I was like, "YES PLEASE! SOMEONE, ANYONE ELSE PLEASE COOK!"

He eats better when he cooks it. Can I get an Amen?

On to the recipe. My sweet grandmother gifted me (and my sisters!) a subscription to Southern Living Magazine this year. WOOT! I'm loving it. Especially when the first issue I got looked like this:

This cake.Y'all. First of all, it's beautiful. Second, it's a triple-chocolate. Can anything get better? I think not.

Then Junior saw it. 

He immediately decided we NEEDED the cake. 

Frankly, I agreed. Because cake and also because you'll remember that this happened at the store:

(accidentally, mind you and only partially because of the triple-chocolate cake)

 

He initially decided to make it when he had some friends coming to spend the night. Junior had told me (completely serious) that he wanted to cook for "someone outside the family" - I'm not sure what to think about that. 

At any rate, it didn't work out time-wise for him to bake it that day. He ended up baking it on Tuesday. And. Yum.

Here's his final product.

You can see from the knife in the foreground that we'd already dug in.

I was proud!Okay fine, it's not as beautiful as the cover, but he's 11 y'all! And really I want to see someone in real life make it as beautiful as the cover!

Plus, it was/is REALLY good. The buttermilk gives it an almost cheesecake-y flavor. It's really delicate and super chocolatey. J-Boy doesn't like it. Because chocolate hurts his throat. Ahem. Baby Girl LOVES it. She made me go to the kitchen tonight and took me to the cake. I had to give her some. A girl needs her chocolate fix. And I had to help her eat her slice. The tragedies of motherhood.

I seriously only helped with greasing/flouring the pan and getting it out (stuff he'd never done before). 

He convinced The Hubs to take about half to work. Because he wants to cook for "someone outside the family" and all. Junior will be eagerly awaiting the level of enjoyment report. I'm sure it will be favorable!

Buttermilk Refrigerator Rolls (Southern Living 1982)

Hey y'all! It's been a while. We're still here, and have still been cooking... just not much posting. 

Okay, fine. 

Not any posting.
 

Things have changed some around here.  Baby Girl is not so much a baby anymore.
 

Waaaah!

She's a full blown toddler. She's perfected the furrowed brow and refusal of foods she ate with gusto the day, or even the meal before. So that's been fun. 

The boys are growing up too. Mostly just up. Junior is nearly as tall as me! Sniff!

We traded in our cookbooks! I'm using 1982. (aka the best year ever, aka the year of my birth)

Okay, on to today's recipe. I'm a sucker for bread recipes. I. Love. Bread. But yeast breads and raising and all that jazz can be about 0% fun in winter.  This recipe goes straight into the fridge, which I love.

The recipe:

 

Only one major change. The recipe calls for shortening. I try not to cook with shortening - I don't keep it in the house. 

So, for this recipe I used a combination of butter and coconut oil. Halfsies.

I used 2.5 cups of regular ap flour and 2 cups of white whole wheat. I think that's all. 

Except this happened. 

For the first time ever I bought a gallon of buttermilk. A. Gallon. I got a teensy bit excited about all the buttermilk recipes in my cookbook and in the February issue of Southern Living magazine. I'm looking at you triple chocolate buttermilk cake.

So get ready for the buttermilk. 

Those of you who know me well know I have approximately no memory. But, for some inexplicable reason I can remember that my music teacher in 4th grade drank buttermilk with her lunch. I can still picture her cartons of buttermilk sitting untouched by anyone but her in the milk fridge thing in the lunchline. I guess it was so scarringly gross my crazy brain decided to remember that. Not Disney World. The buttermilk-drinking music teacher.

So. The rolls are good. I'm glad I didn't go all coconut oil or all butter. The mix was yummy. No coconut flavor at all.

 

But this happened.

Just a touch too long on the last batch. Just a touch. You can see the few that got a bit too much love. I'll blame it on the fact that we were already eating when I put in the last batch. It can be really hard to hear that timer go off. And other excuses.

All in all, it was a winner. Next time I would cook them a bit longer than I did the first two batches, but not quite as long as the third batch. Probably 15-18 minutes in my oven.

Chicken Mole (Southern Living 1981)

Lindy picked this dish for us. It sounded fun, but with a SUPER long ingredient list...a little intimidating! I started off by changing the directions to suit my fancy. Or taste. Or whim.

Anyway, I started with cooking chicken breast (enough for 2 nights' dinners) in the crock pot. Have I mentioned how much I love slow cooking? Set it and forget it! I threw in some of the extra onion and bell pepper from this recipe and a little pepper.

Next I sauteed the onion and pepper until tender (Hey! I followed directions on that one!). I then added the following friends to the pan:

Y'all. Check out the measuring cup in the above photo. I have to brag on myself right here. Sorry, not sorry. The last time I cooked a whole chicken...I. Saved. The. Broth. I know, revolutionary, right? Then, y'all. I took it one step further. I froze that stuff into ice cubes! So now I have a bag of yellow ice cubes in the freezer. I had all kinds of ideas for labels for the bag, but I settled on "chicken broth ice cubes" and the date. I'm original like that. Plus, I didn't want to freak out and/or encourage the boys.

The chocolate and cinnamon and nutmeg kinda weirded me out. I had a bad experience with cinanmony main courses with Lindy's Bengalese Chicken. My family HATED it. I did too. Just being real. Maybe I overdid the spices or something. I totally followed directions on the spices in this recipe. Except for not really measuring the spices. I also added cumin because it just felt right. Maybe I wanted the smokey flavor of the cumin with the smokey flavor of the "smoked" Tabasco. I added about a total 2tsp of cumin.

Back to the mole.

That's when it looked like this:

And I was concerned. J-Boy does not like having "weird" vegetables (read anything but carrots or corn) in his food. Junior doesn't like ANY vegetables. I knew this would be a NO GO.

I had to do something! I had already planned to try to hide the flavor of the mole in quesadillas, but this would make dinner last for 2 hours while the boys picked at the vegetables with disgust and horror. 

SO.

I skipped the cornstarch step, grabbed the immersion blender and went to town. 

I don't have a picture of it blended up because it was apparently at this point that I lost my phone, had a baby on one hip, was trying to cook while conducting a math lesson, checking spelling, talking on the missing phone, etc. 

I tossed the newly immersion blended mole into the fridge. When the chicken was done, I shredded it and moved half of it to the fridge for the next night's dinner. I mixed the mole into the chicken that was still in the crock pot. Upon tasting it I knew I needed more cumin and a bit of salt. And some pepper. Then, YUM!

I made quesadillas so the boys would eat it. Maybe. So, the verdict?

The Hubs - loved it, wants it again

Junior - said it was too spicy. I think he might think vanilla pudding is too spicy.

J-Boy - liked it. Because...I kinda tricked him....it went down as follows:

J-Boy poking at dinner with wrinkled nose: "Hey...what's in this quesadilla?"

Me: "Chicken and cheese" (which, P.S., is completely truthful)

J-Boy takes a bite: "I like it."

J-Boy turns to his brother: "It CANNOT be spicy. Chicken? Not spicy. Cheese? Not spicy. Duh."
Me to myself: VICTORY!!! I HAVE CRACKED THE CODE!!!!!

 Baby Girl - ate about 1/49256426 of the 1/4 I gave her. Victory. She eats only pizza, ice cream, some baby foods that have fruit, hummus, cheerios, crackers, and bread. Anything else that passes her lips is a sheer miracle.

Me - I liked it. I would do it again for sure. I liked that I could break it down and prep the mole even the night before and then have the chicken in the crock pot. Having it as quesadillas was a total win for our family, plus it stretches the chicken a bit further, which is nice! 

Six-Layer Dip (Southern Living 1981)

Layered dip was made for a party! 

Or at least a large group. Or at least a group of which I will be a part. Yum!  I have always been a fan of the layered Mexican dip, even though it commonly features my arch-nemesis - olives. I even eat it with the olives! I know, right?

You are about to discover the world's best six-layer dip because...no olives! Yay! I like being in charge.

Here's the original recipe:

I followed my mom's recommendations on this one and added the refried beans to the bottom. See her writing? In red? And again in blue. I followed both sets of directions! Yay me! I think it was good to have a little less tomato, so it was more garnish-y than layer-y.

 Layers in progress!

 

I changed a bit about the guacamole portion of this recipe. I don't know what they were going for with mayonnaise in guacamole, because I've never heard of such. I made guacamole how I always make it. 3ish ripe avocados, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, salt...everything to taste (The Hubs' taste actually, because I'm not a connoisseur of guacamole).

Otherwise it was the same. Except of course, no olives. And less tomato. And I used some of the extra cilantro in the tomato layer. Added freshness and yum-ness.

I made it for our Sunday School - we hosted a lunch a few Sundays ago. Everyone liked it. Except my boys - who didn't have it. I can tell you they wouldn't have liked it though. Know why? Beans.

Baby Girl liked this one! I gave her the bottom two layers (being careful to stay away from the jalapenos), and she really seemed to like it! Especially when I gave it to her on a chip.

~Audry

Country Pride Pork Cops (Southern Living 1979)

Country Pride Pork Chops (slightly updated) = delicious

I can almost guarantee that I'll always vote for something that comes from off the grill.   This recipe did not disappoint.

We have eaten this recipe twice in the month of July, trying it with different cuts of pork chops.  The first time we made this recipe, we used thin sliced pork loin chops.  We had about six pork chops weighing in at a little more than 1.2 pounds.  Using this cut of meat, the meat was definitely well marinated.  The pork chops tasted really good.  We used more sugar the first time, too, than the second time.  We all agreed it was better without as much sugar, because you could taste the smokiness of the grill a little more.  And why grill something if you can't tell it's grilled?  The second time, we bought two center cut pork loin chops that weighed in at just a little over one pound.

The verdict?  The thinner pork chops definitely had a stronger taste of the marinade.  However, we actually preferred the thicker cut of meat - taste-wise and presentation-wise.

 K-man said this is a recipe that could impress people.  Easy to prepare and impressive?  Is there a better combination when it comes to a meal? 

This recipe did need some tweaks - I mean, do people actually still cook with MSG?  I do remember our mom having a small jar of MSG growing up, but I do not have MSG on my spice shelf and do not plan to keep it around.  So, here's how I updated Country Pride Pork Chops. 

Country Pride Pork Chops (Updated from Southern Living 1979)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup red cooking wine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/16 teaspoon ginger
1-2 pounds center cut pork loin chops

Combine first 7 ingredients in a 1 gallon ziploc storage bag; mix well.
Place the pork chops into the ziploc storage bag; close and refrigerate overnight.  Our meat ended up marinating at least 18 hours for each version of this recipe. I do recommend flipping the bag over when you wake up in the morning.
Grill chops 6 to 8 inches from heat.  Ours only took about 30 minutes to cook.  However, this can all depend on how hot your grill gets - so make sure that you use a meat thermometer.  Don't want anybody to get sick from undercooked pork!

This recipe is a winner.  Quick, easy, delicious. 

Lindy

Baked Chicken Nuggets (Southern Living 1981)

Lindy assigned me this recipe. It was one I had scoped out and planned to make if no one assigned it to me. Chicken Nuggets? Win! 

Here's the original:

 

I used a mixture of panko and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. It was simply what I had on hand. Because I used the Italian breadcrumbs, I left out the thyme and basil. It was good! I'm sure there would be no harm in doing both, but we're a family who likes to dip our chicken, and the light Italian-y flavor was good for those who like to dip. I also tried dipping half in milk and half in butter (like the recipe instructed).

 

On the pan ready to be cooked.

But no picture of already cooked. Sorry! I'm 0-2 or 3 this month. eck. 

The Hubs loved these. He preferred the dipped in butter ones, while the boys preferred dipped in milk. The ones dipped in butter were crispier, but I thought both were very good. The Hubs said they were way better than the kind you buy in the freezer section at the store (man, does this guy know who makes his dinner or what?!?).

We'll definitely have these again. Easy, tasty, and bake up quickly. It would probably be a good one to make and freeze either baked or unbaked!

~Audry

Blueberry Crumble (Southern Living 1981)

 This is actually a recipe from April, but I had to go back in time for it, y'all! 

I took the kiddos to pick blueberries at a local you-pick farm. It is too fun! So we went back! Really, have you ever been to a you-pick farm? We loved it - I couldn't recommend it more! Freshly picked blueberries are SO MUCH better than the kind you get at the store. WOW! I want to grow some at home! Except...I'd kill them. Or they just wouldn't grow from the seed. It's a wonder I manage to keep these kids alive and healthy because I promptly kill every plant that enters our home (or yard). Sigh.

So, the first time we went blueberry picking, I asked the boys what they wanted to make. Junior wanted to make a cobbler and J-Boy wanted to make a pie. (Of course. Does anyone else's kids do this? If we have more than one choice, it's like a law of nature that they  MUST pick opposites. If you know how to change this, let me know!) 

So, we went pie the first time. The second time I knew we'd need to make a cobbler. I couldn't resist trying out this recipe, even though it wasn't in the right month!

 Here's the original recipe:

I made a few modifications. Fresh blueberries (of course), about 1/4 cup sugar, and I also used about 2T of flour to keep the juice thick. I used the juice of 1/2 a lemon. 

I followed the topping directions pretty closely, except I went a little light on the brown sugar. I try to leave out some sugar whenever possible.

So, here's the haul that went in to the crumble. 

 

Notice the blackberries? The boys found a wild blackberry bush entwined with one of the blueberry bushes. They were pumped and went to town picking. Junior asked me to include them in the crumble.

The berries with the sugar, but before the flour got involved. I think.

Here's the topping ready to go.

Action shot. Maybe I was also falling? Not sure.

Y'all. This. Was. Fantastic. We had it for dessert when some dear friends of ours were over for dinner. It was 100% approved by all.  It even got "2 kicks" of approval from our friends' in utero little one! :)

Well, Junior didn't like it, but I'm attributing that to the fact that 1. He doesn't like fruit, and 2. He put chocolate ice cream with it. Not a good combination in my opinion.

There was only one teeny serving left. I accidentally had it for breakfast the next morning. Yum! I was so into it, I forgot to take an after picture! This is a winner recipe. Go pick some blueberries. Eat some. Make some crumble. It's a win.

~Audry