Pazookie

This is SUPER easy...so easy it really almost isn't a recipe, but one of our favorite treats. And...we didn't make the pazookie in the picture...this one was made by BJ's...but we ate it! And we've made it at home ourselves before.

Here's what you need:

Cookie Dough (chocolate chip is best, but peanut butter or others work too)

Ice Cream (preferably vanilla).

Flatten the cookie dough into the bottom of a pan (don't make it too thin, or it will burn...maybe about 1/2 -3/4 inch thick). You can use a cake pan, a cookie sheet, a casserole dish, whatever. And you can make the "cookie" as big or as small as you want it.

Put in the oven (at 350 degrees) for 6 minutes or so. Every oven is different, so you'll want to watch the first time you make this. You are going to bake your giant cookie until it is between 1/2 and all the way done. you don't want to bake it completely, you want it to still be a little gooey.

As soon as you pull it out of the oven, scoop the ice cream on top and immediately eat!

Blackberry Custard Torte

What you Need:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
1 egg
FILLING:
3 egg yolks
2 cups (16oz) sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries, drained, divided
whipped cream

What to Do:
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg until dough forms a ball. Press into the bottom and 2 in. up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan (I just lined my regular cake pan with tin foil so I could just lift the whole thing out since I don't have a springform pan.). For filling, in a bowl, beat the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar and vanilla just until combined. Sprinkle 2 cups of blackberries over crust. Carefully pour sour cream mixture over berries. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack (center will fall). Remove sides of pan.

(I think I took mine out of the pan too soon, it tried to fall apart when I pulled it out)
Top with whipped cream and remaining blackberries. This dessert is best eaten the same day it's made. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki -by Cameron

Here's a few different pronunciations:

(tskee-ah-kee)-That's roughly how they pronounce it in Japan

(soo-kee-ah-kee)- How American's often pronounce it

Ingredients (for 2-3, maybe 4, people):

3 carrots

1 bundle of green onions

1/2 of a small onion

1/4 head cabbage

2 stalks of celery

1 large crown of broccoli

1-1 1/2 lbs steak (we just used steak because we had a ton of it in the fridge-love those albertson's deals!-but you can use regular stir-fry meat, or chicken, or whatever)

2 TBS of oil

Sukiyaki sauce

Rice

Optional Ingredients:

2 eggs

Soy Sauce

How to make Sukiyaki:

1. Get your rice cooking. We use a Rice Cooker, but you use whatever method you have.

2. Cut up the vegetables:

Slice the celery into about 1/2 to 1 inch slices

Cut the carrots into small strips about match stick size

Cut the end of the green onions off (you'll only use those

Cut the broccoli crowns into bite sizes

Shred the cabbage

Slice the onion

Slice the meat as thinly as possible, so you'll probably want to leave you meat slightly frozen to facilitate this.

3. After you slice the meat, you should let it thaw.

4. Heat up the oil (on high) in the pan and put your meat in the heated oil.

5. Put about a 1/4 cup of Sukiyaki sauce in with the meat.

6. Cook the meat. You don't want to cook the meat all the way, but just enough to brown the

outside of the meat.

7. Turn the heat down to low-medium and arrange your vegetables inside the pan.

8. Add between 1/2 -1 cup of Sukiyaki sauce to the vegetables/meat.

9. Cover the pan, and cook for another 10-15 minutes (just until your meat is done and until

your vegetables are cooked to your liking-we like ours a little bit more on the slightly crunchy side and not the mushy side).

10. You're supposed to leave the pan on the heat, but we weren't able to do that with the set up of our kitchen/house (well, we could have stood around the stove, but we didn't want to do that). You eat the meat/veggies right out of the pan.

11. Beat the eggs with a little bit of soy sauce.

As you pull your meat and vegetables out of the hot pan, dip it in the raw egg and eat it.

LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE YOU GROSS OUT:

You are supposed to take the vegetables/meat out of the pan hot enough so that when you dip them in the raw egg and pull it out, the egg is cooked onto the veggies/meat. A heat transfer is supposed to occur from the veggies to the egg, cooking the egg and cooling the veggies off enough so you can eat them.

12. Eat with your rice.

Italian Chicken Skillet

What you need:

8 chicken breast halves, skin removed

3/4 cup sliced celery

3/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 can(4oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

2 cans(14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp pepper

What to Do:

In a large skillet coated with non-stick cooking spray(I usually just use a little melted butter), saute chicken over medium heat until browned. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute celery, green pepper, onion, and mushrooms until tender. Return chicken to pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients; pour over chicken and vegetables. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover; simmer 10 minutes longer or until chicken juices run clear.

Serve over warm rice.

Peanut Butter Cake

This cake has a tendency to come out kind of dense. Be carefull to measure everything correctly, and follow all mixing directions. When it comes out right it's amazing!

What you need:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups milk
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
Chocolate Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsps vanilla
1/3 cup baking cocoa
3-4 TBS milk
Peanut Butter Frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of one 13x9-in. pan, two 9-in. round pans, or three 8-in. round pans with shortening; lightly flour.
2. In large bowl, beat the peanut butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat very well. The more air you beat in the better.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. Stir gently into
peanut butter mixture, alternating between milk and dry ingredients until all the ingredients are mixed together.
4. Pour into pans. Bake 13x9-in. pan 35-40 minutes, 9-in. pans 25-30 minutes, 8-in. pans 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean or cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Frost with desired frosting(s).
I filled mine with a swirl of peanut butter and chocolate frostings and frosted the outside with just chocolate, saving the peanut butter frosting for decoration.

To make the frosting:

Combine all ingredients, exept only use half the milk for starters. Slowly add the milk a few drops at a time until the frosting is the desired consistency. If you get too much milk then just add more powdered sugar.

We discovered that peanut butter frosting is pretty much the most amazing substance on earth. There was quite a bit of it left over and we just sat and ate it with a spoon. If you're a peanut butter lover I definitely recommend this stuff. I plan to make it again just to eat it, not even to frost a cake with it.

Strawberry Walnut Cake

This cake is very light and fluffy. It makes a great desert after a heavy meal because it's not super rich.

4 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1TBS cocoa powder

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

For Filling:

1 pint strawberries

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

What To Do:

1. Grease an 8 inch spring form pan, and then sprinkle first with granulated sugar, then with flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I didn't have a spring form pan in the right size, so I just lined my regular 8 inch round pan with tinfoil so I could lift the cake out when it was done.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar with the cocoa until the mixture is thick and leaves a ribbon of batter behind when you lift the beater. Sift the flour and fold into egg mixture in 3 portions with the walnuts.

3. Turn into prepared pan and bake in the heated oven for 30-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed with a fingertip.

4. Turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool. Slice strawberries (reserve a few whole ones for decoration) and sprinkle with some sugar to draw out the juices. Whip the cream until it holds a soft shape(Even though it's not called for in the recipe, I would add some sugar and vanilla extract to the cream to help give it some flavor. Do not add the sugar until the cream has started to thicken or it will not fluff up right). Gently mix in the chopped strawberries.



When the cake is cold, split in three layers. Place the first layer on the serving plate, top with 1/3 of the filling mixture. Repeat with the last two layers of cake and whipped cream. The filling should be really lavish. Garnish with remaining strawberries.