Wacky Cake

This recipe is from Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) by Joanne Fluke. (posted with permission from Joanne Fluke, thanks again)

Preheat the oven to 350*, rack in the middle position.

First set of ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder (about 1/4 cup)

Choose a pan. (round cake pan with 2 inch sides, 8×12 inch rectangular pan, or 9×9 inch cake pan with 2 inch sides). Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder into pan. Sift together (or stir with a fork until well blended). Make three “pukas” (holes or wells) in the mixed dry ingredients, just as if you were making a well in your scoop of mashed potatoes to hold the gravy.

Gather the second set of ingredients

Second set of  ingredients:
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar (Hannah says raspberry vinegar is delicious, but I used regular and it was good too)
1 cup cold water

Put the vegetable oil in the first puka, the vanilla extract int he second puka, and the vinegar in the third puka.

Pour the cup of cold water all over the top of the cake.

Mix everything up with a fork or a wooden spoon. Continue to beat (or fork) until the batter is smooth.

Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.

Serve warm. (It is delicious once it has cooled too.)

Topping ideas:
Top with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream
Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar with a dash of salt in a bowl, and stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add enough cream to bring to frosting consistency.
We topped it with dark chocolate (store bought) frosting

**You can serve it directly from the pan, no need to switch it to a serving platter**

 

Chocolate Crack

I have spoken to Joanne Fluke (author of many murder mysteries that include recipes in all her books) (check out http://www.murdershebaked.com for a list of her books and more information about her and her characters) and gotten her permission to share her recipes here on my blog. This particular recipe is from the book Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries). Here is the recipe. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Preheat oven to 350* rack in the middle position.

1 box graham crackers
2 sticks salted butter
1 cup brown sugar (pack it down when you measure it)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
**I added half a cup of sliced almonds  that the recipe did not call for**

Line a 10 inch by 15 inch cookie sheet with heavy-duty foil. If you have a jellyroll pan, that’s perfect. If you don’t, turn up the edges of the foil to form sides.

Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. (You want to be able to peel it off later, after the candy hardens.)

Line the pan completly with a single layer of graham crackers. Cover the whole bottom. (You can break the crackers in pieces to make them fit if you have to.) Set the cracker-lined jellyroll pan or cookie sheet aside while you cook the toffee mixture.

Combine the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly. Boil it for exactly five minutes, stirring constantly. If it sputters too much, you can reduce the heat. If it starts to lose the boil, you can increase the heat. Just don’t stop stirring.

Pour the mixture over the graham crackers as evenly as you can.

**This is when I sprinkled the almonds on top.**

Slide the pan into the oven and bake the cookies at 350* for ten minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Give the chips a minute or two to melt and then spread them out as evenly as you can with a heat-resistant spatula, a wooden paddle, or a frosting knife.

Slip the pan in the refrigerator to chill.

When the pan has chilled, peel the foil from the cookies and break them into random-sized pieces.

Thank you again to Joanne Fluke for granting me permission to post Hannah’s recipes on my blog. I love her books and her recipes. If you haven’t read one yet, you should definitely look them up.

Spinach Lasagna

2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (my husband doesn’t eat tomatoes, so I use one watered down jar of garlic/parmesan sauce for him)
3 (8 oz) bags of shredded Italian cheese, divided
2 boxes of no boil lasagna noodles
30 oz ricotta (part skim)
1/2 of a 12 oz bag of frozen spinach, thawed
3/4 cup parmesan/romano
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp pizza seasoning grinder (using course setting)
Preheat oven to 375*.

Combine  ricotta, spinach, cheeses (including 3/4 cup of Italian blend cheese) and seasonings in medium bowl. Place (2) 13×9 baking dishes side by side. Spread enough sauce in the bottom of each to fully cover. (Alternate between the two, repeating each of the following instructions for both pans). Place 4 noodles to cover sauce. Put 1/6th of the ricotta mixture on the noodles. Spread evenly. Place 4 noodles to cover ricotta mixture. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce, spread evenly. Add another 1/6th of the mixture, spread evenly. Place 4 more noodles on top of mixture. Spread 1/6th of ricotta mixture on noodles. Cover with 4 noodles. Pour remaining sauce over top, spreading to evenly coat. Cover each dish with 1 full bag of Italian cheese. Divide remaining cheese from 3rd bag between the two dishes. Cover them with foil.

Bake for 60 minutes in 375* oven. Remove foil. Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted and gooey and browning around edges. Enjoy.

Sweet Pear Pork Chops

5 boneless pork chops
2 cans of sliced pears in pear juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350*

In rectangle baking dish, pour juice from pears (reserve pears in a bowl to serve with pork chops), brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix thoroughly. Place pork chops in baking dish. Spoon sauce mixture over pork chops until fully covered.

Bake 20 minutes. Flip pork chops and return to oven. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Serve with reserved pears.

Zesty Chicken and Pasta with Veggies

2 lbs (approx 4 breasts) chicken, cubed
1 cup Italian dressing, divided (we like Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan)
1 onion, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1/2 package frozen broccoli, chopped
1 bag baby spinach, rinsed well
8 oz package of Italian shredded cheese blend
1 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese
16 oz of your favorite pasta

Set water to boil for pasta. Cook pasta to desired doneness. Meanwhile, in large skillet, combine 1/2 cup Italian dressing, chicken, onion and pepper. Cook over medium heat until chicken is done. Add broccoli and spinach. Cook until broccoli is tender and spinach is wilted. Drain pasta. Combine chicken, veggies, pasta, remaining dressing and cheeses in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Serve with extra Parmesan.

This recipe was adapted from a Kraftfoods.com recipe.

Moist & Delicious Cheeseburgers-gluten free

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup Italian dressing (I use Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 onion (cut into smaller chunks)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

*Preheat oven to 350*

Put oatmeal, onion, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in bowl of food processor. Process on high speed (for me it’s number 4) until well chopped. In medium bowl, place ground beef, Italian dressing and mixture from food processor. Stir well. (I always use my hands to mix ground beef mixtures because I feel it combines it way better than a spoon.) Take chunks of meat and roll into a ball. Flatten between your palms. Place burgers on a broiler pan (this will catch the grease and keep the excess away from your burgers).

Bake in 350* oven for about 30 minutes (or until desired doneness). Put a slice of cheese on each burger. Place back in oven for a few minutes, just until cheese is melted.