testing the blogger with chicago by night

 

Chocolate Pistachio Bundt Cake

This recipe is copied from the book, "Cake Mix Doctor" - and it's totally delicious! A lot of you have already sampled this cake and have specifically requested the recipe. Well, here it is! Enjoy!

Chocolate Pistachio Cake

vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
flour for dusting the pan
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 pkg plain white cake mix
1 pkg pistachio instant pudding mix
1/2 c sugar
1 c water
1/2 c vegetable oil
4 lg eggs
1/2 c choc syrup

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degreesF.

Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vege oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Sprinkle the pecans and choc chips evenly in the bottom of the pan. Set the pan aside.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, sugar, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl.

Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 min more. The batter should look thick and smooth.

Remove 1 cup of the batter to a small bowl. Pour the choc syrup into the small bowl and stir until the mixture is well combined. Set aside. Pour the remaining batter into the prepared pan. Pour the choc batter over the top, trying to keep the choc batter away from the edges of the pan.

Swirl the choc batter into the white batter using a dinner knife. Place the pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 55 to 60 min. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 min.

Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack to cool completely, 20 min more.

Easy salmon recipe

So, here's one of my favorite recipes that will take hardly any time at all. It's great when you've come home from a long day at work. Simple and quick~

(the recipe will feed 4 or more)
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. of salmon
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp of sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp of black pepper
- red pepper flakes to your taste

1. Mix all the ingredients other than salmon in a bowl until honey gets mixed into the rest.

2. Pour the marinade onto salmon and let it sit for 10 minutes or more.

3. Cook the salmon in the oven for broil for 10-12 minutes.

Then, walla! You've got a delicious meal!
I've gotten a lot of compliments from this dish, and everyone's surprised to know that it took no time to make it. So, enjoy!

As for the side dishes, I have broccoli on the side. I learned this from BK and RK that you can actually just run the broccoli under water, then place it in the microwave for couple minutes. And it's ready to go. Thanks for the great tips!

So I Finally Joined

I've had the invitation email in my inbox for awhile now.. I guess over the holidays it was a little bit hard to do anything other than EAT! :) Hehe.. Well, I'm so glad to be back and I can't wait to see everyone! I just got a new Cooks Country magazine two days ago and have been looking over the recipes. If I find any good ones I'll be sure to share! And, if you ladies have any special requests let me know - we can plan a cooking night (or a series of cooking nights) where we gather at each other's homes for a cooking "class" and learn how to make something together.

P - I would love to learn to make dumplings!
KR - I would love to learn to make those ribs!

I'm sure everyone else (maybe even the boys!) have some great recipes that I'd love to learn.

See you all soon!
T