For The Love of Chocolate

Do you ever get the craving for a certain food and you will not be satified until you have it. That is how I felt the other day when I was craving something made with chocolate. I knew just the thing to make that would satisfy the craving I was having. These brownies are chocked full of chocolatey goodness and are so easy to whip up when you need to satisfy that chocolate craving.


Chocoholics Brownies

1/2 cup flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add oil, vanilla and eggs; stir until well combined. Spread the batter evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is shiny and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into 24 squares.

Casserole for Dinner

I wanted to make a whole sum hearty meal for Randy's dinner tonight. Using ingredients that I had in the pantry I came up with Chicken Noodle Casserole. Of course I had to try some after it was made and it certainly hit the spot.


Chicken Noodle Casserole

1 can fat free cream of celery soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chicken breast, cut into cubes
2 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles
8 whole wheat Ritz crackers, crushed fine


Stir soup, milk, peas, chicken and noodles in a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until hot. Stir. Sprinkle crackers on top and bake for 5 minutes more.

Spaghetti A New Way and A Thank You

I found this recipe in the June/July issue of Taste of Home. I made changes to the recipe to the ingredients that I had on hand. I served Randy the bowl above and he ate every last bit of it. I know he really must have liked it because as he was leaving for work this morning he thanked me for making such a delicious dinner. That really means so very much to me to be able to make a meal for someone I love very much.


Summertime Spaghetti Sauce
I am going to share the recipe I came up with but if you would like the orginial recipe be sure and check out the Taste of Home June/July 2009 issue


1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium yellow pepper, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
hot cooked pasta
parmesan cheese


In a large skillet, cook ground beef until it browned and no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in the same skillet; add onions and yellow pepper. Cook and stir until tender.

Add the tomatoes, brown sugar, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Return ground beef to the pan. Cook stirring occasionally.

Serve with angel hair pasta; top with cheese

Tropical Treat

I really love granola bars. I am always looking for something different to add to them when I make them and this time I went with some Tropical Trail Mix that we had bought at Walmart a few weeks ago. The recipe that I like to use I found on the box of wheat bran.

Tropical Granola Bars

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 wheat bran

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups tropical trail mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, corn syrup, butter and vanilla; blend well. Stir in oatmeal, wheat bran, salt and trail mix. Press mixture evenly in prepared pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Very Berry Good

I wanted to make some muffins and knew that I had a package of mixed berries in the freezer that I have been wanting to use in a recipe and here was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Old Fashioned Berry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

12 ounce package mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a twelve cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk until blended; stir into flour mixture just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in mixed berries.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove muffins from pan; serve warm or cool on wire rack to serve later, reheat if desired.

Randy's Omelet

On the weekend Randy usually makes us breakfast, and I know he likes to make himself a omelet where I like to have a sunny side up egg. I wanted to share with everyone the pictures and recipe that Randy likes to use for when making an omelet. I did help with the prep work by cutting up the peppers and cheese and took the pictures for this post.


6 Egg Omelet Courtesy of Randy

6 eggs
1 large orange pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes
1 small can mushrooms

In a large bowl mix the above ingredients together and place in a large skillet on medium heat. Let cook on one side completely before flipping to cook on the other side.


The omelet before it started to cook

The finished omelet!

A Tasty Popcorn Treat

This morning was very busy for Randy and I. I had to bring Randy for some routine bloodwork and then it was off to a kickball tournament for work to benefit Relay for Life. It was a day full of games, laughs and fun. Our team was 1-2 for the day, even though we only won the one game we certainly did bring our a game for the other two. Goodies and treats were being passed out by the health and wellness booth that was set up there. One of the treats just happened to be this popcorn and to go along with it we were given the recipe so we could make it ourself. Well of course I knew I would be making this and that is exactly what I did when I got home.

Honey-Nut Popcorn

7 cups popcorn

1/2 cup salted peanuts

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons margarine

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray large baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Put popcorn into large bowl, mix in peanuts. Microwave honey, margarine and cinnamon for 30 seconds, stir. Pour over popcorn, stirring gently with greased spoon to coat. Spread popcorn evenly in pan.

Bake 12-14 minutes, stirring once. Let cool before serving.

Makes 7 one cup servings