Author: Chocolate Castles

Welcome to Chocolate Castles, a blog about food, family and stories that hopefully will bring a smile to your heart. Thanks for reading chocolate castles and may the recipes and stories help bring your family and friends a little closer around the table! Remember that Princess On The Porch is still available on Amazon! Makes a great gift for anyone who enjoys being in the kitchen and needs a little laughter in their lives.
Daily Thoughts

A Week from today is Thanksgiving, YIKES!

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Got the corn bread in the oven, tomorrow the pie crusts in the freezer and poof, Sunday will be here when the first of our company arrives. Christi will be here on Sunday. Our daughter from Orlando will be here so I will have company in the kitchen. We might document making the food on video to play back and see all the fun we have. Just a thought.

Anyway, I finally went back to art class yesterday. What a treat. It was so good to see the ladies who Cora and I paint with when we get to go. I know this is suppose to be relaxing, but I get so tense sitting there trying to do it perfect, that I leave with a stiff neck, wondering why in the world do I attempt such a thing. But the truth is, I love it. It is one of my most favorite days of the week, when I get to go and I look forward to it more than any past time hobby. So now today, just made about 10 cakes for orders and am getting so excited about all the cooking that will take place next week. I think I mentioned the other day that we are going to try a few new things this year, so will let you know how that goes. The recipe for today is Ellen’s Cheese Spread from a friend, Caroly Allen

Do not let the ingredients fool you, this is simply delicious and everyone just stood around it and kept getting bite after bite and wanting the recipe. So here am passing it on to all of you!

Breads

Apple French Toast

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1/2 of a 16 oz French bread loaf

5 large eggs

 1/2 cups milk

1 teas vanilla

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 Tables light corn syrup

3 granny smith apples, peeled and diced

1 teas ground cinnamon

Cut bread into 3/4 inch thick slices and place in a single layer in a lightly greased 13×9 pyrex dish

Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla

Pour over bread and cover and chill 8 hours (overnight)

Remove bread from dish and wipe dish clean. Coat with cooking spray. Cook brown sugar, butter and syrup in a suacepan over low heat, stirring often, until mixture is smooth. Pour into baking dish. Top with the applies and sprinkle cinnamon over apples before  arranging  bread over apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Loosen with knife and invert onto platter.

Sometimes I also add blueberries to the apple mixture

Meats

Orzo With Chicken Basil and Lemon

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1 lb of orzo, uncooked

1 tables olive oil

1 bunch of chopped green onion

1 red bell pepper, cored and chopped

1 green bell pepper, cored and chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tables flour

1 teas salt

1 teas pepper

2 teas dried basil

1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 14 1/2 oz can chicken broth

3 tables lemon juice

2 tables dijon mustard

 

Prepare orzo according to package directions and drain when done.  Set aside

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and add: onion, bell peppers and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes stirring to keep from buring.

Meanwhile, combine flour, salt, pepper basil and put in a plastic bag.

Add raw chicken to flour mixture and shake to coat the flour mixture onto chicken.

Transfer chicken pieces to skillet and cook 5 minutes until brown. Add broth to skillet. Increase heat to medium high.

Simmer uncovered 5 additional minutes to allow sauce to thicken. Stir in lemon juice and mustard. Add orzo to onion mixture, then with sauce and chicken. Top with Parmesean cheese.

appetizers

Besto Pesto

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Had to name it this! Made these for all our adult children and it was a hit. Great for the holidays and so very easy.

1/2 (15 oz) package refrigerated piecrusts *(see below)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

5 plum totatoes, sliced

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tables basil pesto

1/3 teas freshly ground pepper

3 tables chopped fresh basil

Unroll piecrust on a lightly greased baking sheet. Roll into a 12 ince circle. Brush outer 1 inch of crust with water. Fold edges up and crimp. Prick bottom.

Bake at 425 for 8 to 10 min. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarealla cheese. Cool 15 min. Arrange tomato slices over cheese.

Stir together remaining mozzarella, mayo and next 3 ingredients and spread over tomato slices.

Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with basil

*I used a can a crescent rolls instead of the pie crusts. It was a little thiner and flakier than the pie crust. Cool about 5 min before trying to cut this into squares to serve.

Daily Thoughts

Marvelous Monday

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Well, the sliders worked. Baking them on the jelly roll pan was so easy and turned out great. So when feeding a crowd, remember you can bake the meat and it saves so much time and energy, plus they were so good.

Daily Thoughts · Meats

Sunday Sliders

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Just a quick post today. Am busy getting ready for 23 people to come over tonight for dinner and Bible Study. So……the sliders. I was thinking of how to make lots of them for this group, when all of a sudden around midnight the other night the thought came to me. Why not mix the meat with all the stuff I want to put in it, like french onion soup dry mix, garlic, pepper and salt and a little catsup and then spray a jelly roll pan with Pam, line it with foil, spray the foil with Pam then pat out the meat, very thin, into the pan. Bake it and then cut squares about 3″x3″ . That will give me about 24 meat patties to put in Hawaiian rolls. So will have 2 jelly roll pans tonight. Will saute onions in case people want to put them on their “sliders”. I figure if Wendy’s can have square patties and make a million, I can make square sliders and save myself a little time in not pressing individual patties. So that is my thought of the day. Gotta run and clean. Let me know if you want the recipe for the meat mixture and I will put it on the blog!……enjoy your Sunday and don’t forget, let’s pause and thank God for all the blessings He continually pours out to us…”this is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Just to let you know, Frosty finished putting the lights up out in front yesterday and is out working in the courtyard on more lights….what a great husband!

Please forward this on to 5 of your bestest friends! Thanks,

Daily Thoughts

Super Saturday

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Remember in the 80’s when super saturday meant cartoon morning? I remember hearing our kids on Fri night saying, “yeah, Super Saturday is in the morning”, and they would lay around in their jammies watching cartoons till noon, if I’d let them. But, I usually didn’t let them except if it was cold and rainey outside. Now SS has a whole new meaning. Super Saturday is a day when we don’t have any committments of ANY kind and can just do what we want. Thank the Lord, Frosty WANTED to put up our Christmas lights today! Yep, that’s right, we are the first in our neighborhood to have lights up. We were first last year also, and the year before that………and that………..well, as you can tell, I get pretty excited about this time of year. The lights are just some of my favorite things to look at. We usually go out at least 3 or more times each Christmas season, driving around different parts of the city, drinking Starbucks and listening to Christmas music. Can you tell that I am married to one fabulous guy? He ran (well…….actually he walked in, but it makes the story sound better to say ran) in the house and alerted me this morning that two radio stations were already broadcasting Christmas music, but before he could finish the sentence, he quit talking to notice that I already had Christmas music playing on the CD player. I just could not have him outside putting up Christmas lights without me in here listening to Christmas music. It’s just not right to do otherwise. So as of today, November 14th, we are ready. The trees are just shaking to get out of the closet upstairs and have the lights put on them, so this week, before all the company arrives for Thanksgiving, we will have at least one tree up and lit. It’s ok, it just gives Frosty a couple more lights to go around and unplug before retiring for the night. He has already called the electric company and alerted them that we need extra power on our street. So if you are looking out your window tonight and you see a little glow over by Prestonwood,,,,,,,,,,just drive on by, we’ll leave the lights on for ya!……………..Am excited about what I am going to write about tomorrow. Making sliders for our friends tomorrow night. A new way of making them. Stay tuned, I think you will like what I’m going to do……..Now get off this computer and go shopping for new lights for the house! Please pass this blog on to your friends who might be interested in reading new recipes..Thanks, Noel

Casseroles · Chicken · Meats

Chicken Supreme

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This is a recipe which we ate at a friends house who served it to us with a salad and homemade cookies. A wonderful light luncheon just perfect for those days when you want to have friends over, but you don’t have alot of time to think about what all you would cook. This is so easy, and all the women wanted the recipe. So thank you Martha for sharing it!

1 whole chicken boiled and deboned saving the broth for the rice

1 pkg. of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice cooked in chicken broth instead of the water it calls for (follow cooking directions on box)

1 can of crem of chicken or celery soup (I like the celery, it is not so chickeny (is that a word?)

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1 can sliced water chestnuts (the size of a tuna can)

1 can chopped canned pimentos with liquid (4 oz)

2 cans french style geen beans, drained

1 can french onions for topping

Combine all ingredients except french onions.  Spray your 9×13 pyrex pan with Pam, or two 8×8’s and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  If you make the 8×8’s you will only need to bake for about 30 mins. Add french onions on top and bake for another 5 mins or until crisy light brown……serve hot with a salad.

appetizers · Breads

Cornbread Croutons

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Do you want to be the hit of the holidays? Then serve these along with your dips or chile or soup. Had never tasted them before and a friend, Susan, brought them to dinner the other night. Everyone just loved them and wanted the recipe.

3 cups cornbread muffin mix

1 teas chile powder

1 teas dried cilantro

1 tables chopped jalapeno peppers

Mix muffin mix as directed. She used 1/2 buttermilk and 1/2 water (as per directions on mix). Stir in the next 3 ingredients. Spread into a greased jelly roll pan. Bake until brown. Cool and cut into crouton size squares. Place croutons on greased cookie sheet, spray witholive oil spray, sprinkle with chile powder. Bake again at 350 spraying with olive oil after about 10 minutes. Continue baking until they are crisp and dry. They freeze well.

Breads · Daily Thoughts

Spanish Olive Cheddar Muffins

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Before I begin this recipe, I just have to share something with you about some new friends God has blessed me with. There are 3 sisters, Susan, Dena and Wendy who have come into my life and each of them have so many talents that it has been pure joy getting to know them. Wendy is a nurse and if you know her, you know she makes one great nurse. Her heart is of just pure sweetness and mercy. Susan is a little firecracker who loves to cook and makes some great lavender warmmeups which she sold in our Mistletoe Market. Susan passed on a great little thought yesterday and I told her I wanted to share it on the blog, so here it is, “nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking, if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity!”  Think about that, what else do we do so many times a day,  every day of our lives, yet, each time we feel not just satisfied, but blessed and enjoyment and usually always looking forward to the next meal.

Dena, well, what can I say about Dena? We met first at church and immediately felt like old friends. We share a love of cooking, a thankfulness to the Lord for His grace and mercy for our lives of us both wasting many years not living according to His will. We have had so many talks regarding our hum,….. “precious?” children that we have grown as friends over the last two years because of tears, laughter and just enjoying sitting out in the sunshine having lunch. Thank you, each of you for the joy you have brought to my life. The recipe I am putting on here today is from Dena. She had a few of us over for chile and these melt in your mouth muffins. You will not be disappointed, trust me, they are awesome.

2 cups flour

1 tables sugar

2 teas baking powder

1 teas dry mustard

1/2 teas baking soda

1/2 teas salt

1/2 teas ground red pepper

1/4 cup butter not  softened

1 cup (4 0z) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup chopped pimento-stuffed green olives

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

Preheat oven to 375. Grease or paper-line 12 muffin cups

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, mustard, baking soda, salt and red pepper in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in cheese and olives.

Combine buttermilk and egg in small bowl until blended. Stir into flour-cheese mixture just juntil moistened. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups.

Bake 25 to 30 min or until golden brown and wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan and serve warm or cool completely and serve.