Friday, April 5, 2013

Ultimate Chocolate Frosting

Recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Sift sugar and cocoa powder together in a medium-sized bowl. Add butter, milk, and vanilla. Stir until smooth and free of lumps.

Minestrone Soup

Serves 16.

Ingredients
3 cans canneline beans
3 strips bacon, cut into large chunks
11 cups chicken broth (separated)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 carrots (1 diced, 2 sliced)
5 cloves garlic, minced
fresh parsley
2 cans chopped tomato
2 handfuls fresh spinach
1 handful macaroni noodles
Parmesan cheese

Directions
Rinse canneline beans and add to large pot with bacon and 6 cups of chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook gently for 1 hour.

In a separate large pot, heat 1/2 c. olive oil. Dice one carrot and add with diced onion, garlic, and chopped fresh parsley. Saute for 5–8 minutes before adding chopped tomato, spinach, macaroni noodles, the remaining 5 cups chicken broth, and the remaining two carrots, sliced. Simmer 40–50 minutes

Remove bacon chunks from beans. Dice bacon, and add to the vegetables. In blender, blend half of the beans to paste (be careful, they will be hot!!). Add blended beans to the vegetables. Add remaining beans and broth to the vegetables. Simmer 5 minutes

Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

A moist and delicious chocolate cake that's easy to make too!

Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.


2. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frost with Ultimate Chocolate Frosting and stack layers.