Melissa’s Chocolate-Mouse Dessert Cake

Ingredients:
1 package angel food cake mix, sifted
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, grated
3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven and prepare cake mix as package label directs, adding grated chocolate to flour mixture.
2. Turn batter into ungreased 10" tube pan; bake 30 - 40 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed.
3. Invert pan over neck of bottle. Let cake hang to cool completely.
4. Meanwhile, make cocoa cream filling and frosting. Refrigerate cream, confectioners sugar, and cocoa ( in large bowl) until very cold.
5. Sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons cold water; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Heat, stirring, over hot water until dissolved. Let cool.
6. Add vanilla and salt to chilled cream. Beat with portable electric mixer until stiff enough to hold its shape.
7. Remove 3 cups cocoa cream; into this, stir the cooled gelatin. Use for filling cake.
8. To prepare cake for filling; remove cake from pan, place upside down on cake plate. Cut 1 inch slice crosswise from the top of the cake, set aside. With knife outline a cavity in cake, leaving 1 inch thick walls. Carefully remove cake from center area leaving a 1 inch base. Reserve the removed cake pieces.
9. Fill cavity of cake with cocoa cream with gelatin. Replace the top portion . Toss cake pieces with a bit of frosting and fill the center hole with them. Frost with remaining cocoa cream. Chill several hours or overnight.

Serves: 12

Joanne’s Famous Chocolate Orange Cake

Cake

Substitute orange juice for the water in a boxed chocolate cake (like Devil’s Food cake) and add half a bag of chocolate chips.

Frosting

1/4 c orange juice (less if using concentrate)
1/2 bag chocolate chips
2 T milk

Melt in chocolate chips with milk and juice in the  microwave, on low heat. Stir every minute. Be careful not to over-cook the chocolate in the microwave.  When it’s melted, add more juice to taste if needed. Beat with fork till shiny and drizzle over cake.

Tamara zests an orange over the top for an added touch of fanciness.

Black Rice Dessert

1 cup black rice
1.5 cups water
1 can coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
Open coconut milk from bottom of can. Pour coconut milk into a glass and scoop out the cream into a small bowl. Put cream into the fridge. Mix sugar salt and water until all dissolve. Put in rice cooker with black rice and coconut milk. Press button. Wait with bated breath until rice is done. Allow to cool a bit. With wet hands form into balls, place on dessert plates. Dab some coconut cream on each ball.
Garnish with mango or mint leaves or something if you feel extra fancy tonight. This might take advance planning, so you should have decided how fancy you were going to feel ahead of time.
This is the recipe I should have followed, not the recipe I did follow.

Onigiri (Rice Balls)

Very easy, but delectable. It’s just sushi rice formed into a shape with stuff in it, sometimes wrapped in nori (seaweed paper.)
Here’s how I made mine.
Sushi Rice:
1 & 1/2 cups sushi rice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
roasted sesame seeds
Sushi rice tastes much better than long grain rice and will form better balls. It is found in the oriental section of Kroger’s.
1. Put the rice in the rice cooker with 2  cups of water.
2. While the rice is cooking, bring the vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil, then set aside.
3. When the rice is done, pour in the sauce and fluff gently.
4. Sprinkle sesame seeds liberally  and then fluff some more.
5. Taste.
If it needs more sesame seeds, repeat the last 2 steps until it’s good.
6. Form into shapes. I just use my hands to form it into flattened ball shapes or into triangles. I have also done squares and hearts. The rice could be packed into anything to give it shape though, e.g., cookie cutters, mugs, rubber ice cube trays, etc. The key is to make sure your hands and whatever implements you use are wet so the rice doesn’t stick.
7. (optional) Wrap with nori. For ideas on how, see Google.

Swiss Chard Tuna Salad with Egg

We have a forest of Swiss Chard growing and found a great recipe online.  We modified it a bit:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olive

2 teaspoons brine from the olives

2 6-ounce cans tuna, drained

3/4 cups chopped Swiss chard stems

2 to 3 cups chopped Swiss chard leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

                                         1 cup chopped green onions

                                         4 hard boiled eggs, cubed

                                         Salt & pepper to taste

                                         Serves 4

Creamed Tuna

Thanks to Andrea for looking up the recipes for Creamed Tuna and Baking Powder Biscuits. And for the suggestion.

4 tbs	Margarine
1/4 cup	flour
1/2 tsp	salt
1/8 tsp	pepper
2 cups	milk
2 cans	tuna

Melt margarine on low.
Blend flour, salt, and pepper until smooth and bubbly.
Remove from heat and stir in milk slowly.
Boil 1 minute until sauce thickens.
Add tuna and reheat.
Serve over biscuits or toast.

Joanne’s Baking Powder Biscuits

Yield: 14 biscuits

4 cup	flour
1/2 cup	sugar (I use half that)
1/4 tsp	baking soda
2 heaping tbs	baking powder
pinch	salt
1 1/3 cup	milk
1/3 cup	oil

Pre-heat the oven to 375.
Choose the right cutter for the biscuits.
Mix the dry ingredients.
Add milk and oil.
Stir until just mixed. Make sure it is still lumpy.
Roll out, cut, and bake 20 minutes.

 

Eggnog

Here is the recipe for eggnog we used this year as emailed to me by my mom. Make sure that you turn off the burner when you’re done cooking, or you’ll end up with a thin lumpy custard instead of a drink.

Recipe By: Better Homes and Garden
Yield: 4 cups

1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/4  teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
2 egg whites
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
whipping cream
nutmeg

Beat together 1/3 cup of sugar and 2 egg yolks.  Add salt and milk.  Heat on the stove at medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture starts to coat the spoon.  Mom and I watch for bubbles to form at the edge of the pot.  Cool (if you want).
Beat egg whites and slowly add the 3 teaspoons of sugar.  Beat to soft peaks.  Add vanilla.
Fold egg white mixture into milk mixture.
Serve warm or cold with a dollop of whipped cream sprinkled with a bit of ground nutmeg.