Chocolate Filled Red Velvet Cake Roll

I made my first cake roll and it was a complete success!!!! Our friends could not believe I made it because of how nice it looked. 

In this recipe and instructions it sounds like it is a lot of work, but to be honest its easier than it sounds. I really enjoyed making it and seeing the finished product.  

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Powdered sugar

For the filling:

1-1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated, divided

1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whipped topping

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Separate eggs. Allow egg whites and yolks to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with waxed paper or parchment paper; grease paper. Set pan aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder; set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and lemon color. Gradually add 1/3 cup granulated sugar, beating on high speed until sugar is almost dissolved. Beat in food coloring.

3. Thoroughly wash beaters. In another mixing bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten egg whites. Sprinkle flour mixture over egg mixture; fold in gently just until combined. Spread batter evenly in the prepared baking pan.

4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a clean kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove waxed paper. Roll towel and cake into a spiral, starting from a short side of the cake. Cool on a wire rack.

5. For filling, set aside 2 tablespoons chocolate. In a microwave, melt remaining chocolate; stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Beat in melted chocolate. Fold in whipped topping and 1 tablespoon reserved chocolate. Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cake with filling to within 1 inch of the edges. Roll up cake; trim ends. Cover and chill for up to 6 hours. Sprinkle cake with additional powdered sugar.

The silly thing is that when I was planning on making this, my husband asked me to please make the filling out of chocolate instead of the regular cream cheese. I was looking at all the pictures of red velvet cakes and they all had some type of "white" filling so I told him that it wouldn't look good like that, to what he responded "babe, it can be different". I didn't have an answer to that so I went ahead and made it just like he wanted. 

I was very proud of this beauty because I was a little intimidated by it at the beginning. You can do anything if you put your mind and heart into it and let God work through you. 

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Blueberry Fold-It-Up

The other day I was looking online for a recipe that I'm going to make for a little Christmas party we're having with some friends, and as I was looking my hubby came and sat next to me. OK, so I clicked on a website that had a video on how to make the recipe that I'm about to share with you, and guess what my hubby said; "please, please make that for me but with blueberries!!!!"  Yes, so here I am being a good wife and surprising him with this for tonight and hoping it tastes good.

The first thing I got to tell you is "IT'S SUPER EASY!!!!" If you want to make a quick dessert with only having to buy 2 ingredients and spending only around $5.00 this is it for you. There is 2 more ingredients needed in this but we usually have it at home, so in total you will need 4 ingredients for this delicious looking dessert.

What you'll need:

1 pie crust
3/4 blueberry pie filling (any other flavor will be good too)
1 tbsp milk for basting
2 tbsp of sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Roll dough on the prepared baking sheet.

Pour blueberry filling into the middle of the dough, leaving a 3-inch border. Fold the outside edge of the dough over the fruit, making occasional pleats.

Brush milk over dough; generously sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the preheated oven until crust is golden and the fruit is bubbling, 35-40 minutes.

The picture on the top is my fold it up ready to go in the oven, and I think it already looks good. 

I'm not crazy about blueberries but I can't wait to try a piece of this. I think this is like having a pie but without all the work that a pie requires. I will give you an update on what the hubby says about it. 

Hope you enjoy making it, just like I did. Have a good day and happy cooking.

Taco Ring

Hi guys!!! I have a quick question for you.

What do you do if you want to have a taco night but don't have the tortillas? Yes, I know what some of you would say "go buy them". But what happens if you don't really want to go out and buy them, don't have a car available or don't feel like walking and spending energy and money? 

Well, I have an idea for you!!! check your fridge and see if you have 2 cans of crescent rolls (if you don't too bad you're going to need to go out, LOL!!) I found a sale at a supermarket that had them for .99 cents and of course I bought like 5 of them and thinking on buying some more. OK, let's get to business.

I've had some requests from my Facebook friends to give them the recipe of this delicious taco ring I made last night and it's really not so difficult to make but here we go. 

What you’ll need:

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 (1-1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup corn kernels (if desire) 

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12-inch pizza pan.

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in taco seasoning; add water according to package directions. Cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Add cheese, stirring until it melts. Remove from heat and set aside.

Unroll crescent rolls. Place wide end of triangles in center of pizza pan, forming a ring, overlapping dough as necessary. Spoon meat mixture into center of each triangle. Bring smaller ends of triangles over meat, tucking ends under.

Bake 20 minutes, or until rolls are golden. Serve warm.

Add whatever traditional taco toppings you like, such as shredded lettuce, salsa, and sour cream.

Doesn't that look pretty!!! It was delish too. Here is a video I found to place the crescent triangles in the right place. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skXzjcYLYcI

Ready to eat!!!! Hope you enjoy it and have fun with it.

Sweet potato and Spinach Dinner Side Dish

What to do when you have a bag of spinach about to go bad in the refrigerator and don't really know what to do with them. That was me last night!!! I had that bag of spinach for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator and finally decided to use it, and since we're in the middle of the holidays and there is lots of eating going on I decided to go clean and light at least for this time.

So, this what I did.

Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato skinned and cut in small cubes
1 bag of spinach
1 large yellow onions
1 medium orange or red pepper (your choice)
2 roma tomatoes
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Skin the sweet potato and cut it into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the faster they will cook and crisp.

Lightly toss the sweet potato with the olive oil, pepper and salt and spread across a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake until the sweet potatoes are lightly browned and you can easily stick a fork through them, about 20-25 minutes; stir the sweet potatoes at the 10-15 minute mark so they brown evenly, at this point add the onions and peppers and put back in the oven for 10 more minutes. While the sweet potatoes are cooking get a pan and add a little olive oil, add the minced garlic to the hot oil and let it cook for a little bit. Add the spinach, salt and pepper,and cook it for 1-2 minutes then remove from heat.

Take the sweet potatoes out of the oven and gentle toss in the spinach. Top with the tomato slices and place back in oven for 5 more minutes.  Serve with your choice of meat.  

Doesn't that look good and colorful!!! It was very tasteful too. I added a little bit of lemon juice to the spinach before cooking (half lemon) and it added a kick to the flavor. It was delish

We ate it with stove top grilled chicken breast. The chicken was full of flavor and juicy, I would definitely be making this again. 

My husband enjoyed this so much and ate until there was nothing left in the plate. I know you would enjoy it too.