Italian Chicken in the Crock Pot

This is one of my favorite crock pot recipes. It is so easy and yet tastes so delicious, I just love it.

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 Envelope Good seasons Italian dressing mix
1 C water
8 oz. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Directions:
Place chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Mix water and the dressing mix. Pour over chicken and cook on low for 3 hours. Then mix the cream cheese and soup. Pour over the chicken and cook until the chicken is done. Use a fork to shred the chicken and serve over rice or pasta.


Sorry no pictures....I made this with chicken thighs and bones and it came out a bit too watery and not very pretty looking. So stick with boneless chicken breasts.

Sopapillas

Sorry my dessert posts outnumber all of my other posts. They are just so fun to make and eat! Yesterday my brother, Tyler, was over and we made sopapillas together. I have never made them before but I must say these turned out delicious! Sopapillas are fried pastries, commonly referred to as "scones" in Utah.

I got my recipe from Homesicktexan blog if you want to see the original. There is also a great recipe for flour tortillas my family has been making for years and come to find she has the exact same recipe on her website (the best tex-mex tortillas ever!).Note: I thirded the recipe in order to only make a few sopapillas since there were just two of us. The original recipe yeilded 18 sopapillas. With the following amounts, I made 8 moderate sized sopapillas. Sorry for the weird measurements. On things like 1/3 tsp, I just eyeballed it using 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp measuring spoon and everything turned out great.

Ingredients:
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 C warm water
1/3 Tbs butter, melted (I actually didn't melt mine all the way...wonder if that made a difference?)
1/3 Tbs sugar
1 1/3 C flour1/3 tsp salt
oil for fryingcinnamon sugar or powdered sugar
honey

Directions:
Mix the yeast and warm water. Let sit for five minutes. Meanwhile, combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter and sugar to the yeast mixture and then add to the flour and salt.

Knead dough for two minutes until smooth and elastic.

Let dough rise in covered, greased bowl for one hour until doubled in size. I like to put my bowls in a warm oven for optimal rising.Once risen, punch dough down and roll out on a floured surface until 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough into triangles of desired size.
Heat up 2 inches of oil in a pot to 375 degrees. (If you do not have a candy thermometer, the oil is hot enough when a wooden spoon handle inserted in the oil creates bubbles.)

Fry one or two triangles of dough at a time, browning each side (45 sec to a min. per side). The dough should puff up as it cooks.
Place finished sopapillas on paper towells so excess oil will drain. Dust with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. The honey goes inside via a hole you poke in the corner (or bite off). Best while warm!

Dave Stirling's Chocolate Cake

This is a family recipe my Nana gave me and I decided to try out. Although the recipe is titled "cake" these turned out much more like brownies to me. They are quite rich and delicious, with a magical blend of cinnamon and chocolate. Ever taste something and wonder how it could be so delicious, then look at the recipe and realize why (3 sticks of butter?!) ? This is one of those recipes. So if you are looking for a low fat, low sugar dessert, this is not it. Otherwise, enjoy!

The recipe said to bake for 20 minutes. I thought that this would not be nearly enough time since the batter was so thin but mine was baked to perfection in just 22 minutes. Also, Chef Dave insisted that the sifting was key to success so I was sure to actually sift the ingredients (something I usually do not do). I was surprised how much extra flour I had before sifting. Also, he encouraged using extra vanilla and cinnamon, which I did and things turned out great.

Ingredients:
2 Cups flour 1 tsp vanilla
2 Cups sugar 1 C water
1/2 tsp salt 3 Tbs cocoa
2 sticks butter/margarine (1 C) 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C buttermilk (I used regular milk) 1 tsp cinnamon

Frosting:
1 stick butter/margarine (1/2 C) 3 3/4 C powdered sugar (1 lb)
3 Tbs cocoa 1/2 C chopped pecans (optional)
6 Tbs milk 1 tsp vanilla


Directions:
Sift flour, measure, and sift with sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Heat butter, water, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then pour over the flour mixture. Mix thouroughly. Meanwhile, mix eggs, soda, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to the main mixture. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-22 min.

Start the icing a few minutes before the cake is done. Mix butter, cocoa, and milk in a saucepan. Heat slowly on low heat (do not boil). Remove from heat and add sugar, pecans (if desired), and vanilla. Mix well. Pour over warm cake.

The frosting pours on and hardens as it cools. Jeff and I each has a slice of warm cake. It was good but we actually enjoyed it better the next day, eating it cold from being stored in the refrigerator. The flavors had had time to develop and the cake had turned to a fudge like brownie texture.