A Chocolate Lover's Dream : )

This year our office decided to celebrate employee birthdays by giving each other a cake on our special day!  To make the tradition fair we each drew a name from a hat, and on that person's birthday are responsible for providing them with a cake.  I was so excited about this because I love to bake, and just so happened to draw the name of one of the doctors with a known love for chocolate.

I've made some delicious chocolate cakes before and like trying new recipes, my favorite so far being a flour-less spicy chocolate cake.  In preparation for the celebration I questioned Dr. G about his favorite cake, and was admittedly a little disappointed when he replied that a simple milk chocolate cake with chocolate or white icing would suite his fancy.  Where's the fun in that?!?

With his birthday  approaching on Tuesday,  I got down to business Monday night to find a great recipe and  bake him the best chocolate cake ever... And that's just what I did : )  (After some consideration to a healthy low-fat recipe, I opted to splurge and use a regular recipe that would be healthy for the soul ; ) rather than experiment with a recipe that could possibly be a let down.)  Leave it to Google to provide spot on results- the second listing was a recipe for "The Best Chocolate Cake Ever!"   It moist-chocolate-deliciousness and was devoured by 2 pm!

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla (I omitted this b/c I didn't have any on hand)
2 cups mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Read More http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dessert/the-best-chocolate-cake.html#ixzz1KD2zSxJ5

Healthy Hot Chocolate : )

If you know me, you know I love hot chocolate : )  I’ve found it to be a great way to satisfy chocolate cravings. Using cocoa powder (found on the baking isle) only adds 10 calories (per tbsp)  to those in the milk used and avoids chemicals and fat found in preservatives of processed cocoa mixes. Here is my personal recipe:

• Heat 1 cup milk of choice (skim or almond are the best) in microwave to desired temperature.


• Stir in 1 tsp of Hershey’s dark chocolate cocoa powder.  Heat for 15 seconds more and stir again.


• Use splenda or truvia to sweeten to preferred taste.  Sprinkle with crushed almonds.  (Regular milk chocolate cocoa powder may be used for those who don’t like dark chocolate.)

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes for Breakfast : )

I recently found this recipe online and LOVE it!  Made them for breakfast this morning (even though I forgot to add the baking powder they still turned out great!)

• Main Ingredients
  
  
  
  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
  
  
  • 1/3 cup egg whites
  
  
  • 1/2 mashed ripe banana
  
  
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  
  
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  
  
  • Topping-
    
    
    
    • 1/2 banana
    
    
    • 1/4 tsp honey
    
    
    • 1/4 tsp peanut butter
    
    
    • a few almonds slices
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

1. Preheat a skillet and spray with nonstick spray.


2. Mix all main ingredients together in a bowl.  I like to pulse the mix in a food processor for a few seconds, but this isn't required.


3. Pour batter in skillet and shape into a large disc.


4. Let cook until the bottom is brown and top batter begins to bubble.


5. Flip and let cook until brown and center is no longer doughy.


6. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl and place in microwave for 30 seconds.


7. Remove, stir, and pour over pancake.


8. ENJOY!

[caption id="attachment_70" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The Finished Product"][/caption]