September's Dessert

We made this cake last weekend, and by "we" I mean Jared. I was going to send the recipe to you then but I was really busy and/or lazy. Here is a picture of it. It was really easy and deliciously decadent.

Mississippi Mud Cake

1 cup chopped pecans                                               

1 cup butter                                                                       

1 (4 oz) semi sweet chocolate baking bar             

2 cups sugar                                                                       

1 ½ cups all purpose flour                                             

½ cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (10.5 oz) bag miniature marshmallow
Chocolate frosting

1.       Place pecans in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes.

2.       Microwave 1 cup butter and semisweet chocolate  in a large bowl at high 1 minute or until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds

3.       Whisk sugar and next 5 ingredients into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into a greased 15x10x1” pan.

4.       Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and sprinkle evenly with miniature marshmallows; Bake 8 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle warm cake with chocolate frosting (recipe follows) and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

½ cup butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 (16 oz)package powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth.

September Meal

Grilled Chicken Cola Marinade

2 C (16 oz) Coke or Pepsi

1/3 C soy sauce

1 T minced garlic

1/2 C brown sugar

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 T lime juice

6 chicken breasts

1. Combine all ingredients but the chicken in a medium sized bowl. Stir to incorporate well.

2. Place chicken in a large gallon sized Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the chicken. Seal tightly and store in the fridge for 4-24 hours (The longer the better in my book).

3. Discard marinade and grill until cooked through.

Birds and Butterflies

After I saw Liz's mobile craft a while back I decided to make one myself. I did it one night a few weeks ago and finally took a couple of pictures of it to post. Thank you Liz for your idea. It was simple and fun. Now I will try to make some ceramic "thing". I haven't yet decided if I will go for the normal pot or bowl or if I will try some other object. Either way I will start to work on it this week.