My Favorite Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

I have been enjoying this cake for Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. It's one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. My Mom used to make it and now the task usually falls to me. This is a rich, creamy bundt cake full of mini chocolate chips. It's perfect by itself or with some vanilla ice cream, yum! Making this cake is surprisingly simple but result is a cake that looks like it took a lot of time to make. Using a bundt pan makes the edge really pretty and the glaze is a perfect amount of sweetness to make this cake perfect.

I have no idea where the original recipe came from, I can now make this cake from memory, it's that easy!

Ingredients:

Cake
1 box vanilla or white cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 bag chocolate mini morsels

Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp vegetable oil
1-3 tsp milk (enough to make it smooth)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

2. Mix first 5 ingredients together with a hand mixer

3. When smooth and well mixed, stir in bag of mini morsels.

4. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for 60 minutes

5. To make glaze, mix together confectioner sugar, oil and milk. Add more milk if necessary until the glaze is smooth and thin enough to pour.

6. Drizzle glaze over fully cooled cake and let set.

Traditional Pecan Pie

This year we had the pleasure of having my husband's family down for Thanksgiving. My Sister-in-Law got married the Sunday before Thanksgiving so we had a wonderful week with the whole family in town. My Mom decided to host the dinner because her house had more room than mine, so I brought a lot of dishes over to pitch in for the big Thanksgiving dinner.

I decided to try a traditional Pecan Pie recipe for one of the desserts. I used frozen pie crust and only a few ingredients to make this pie. It came out wonderful, gooey in the middle and caramelized on top. I will definitely be making this again!

Traditional Pecan Pie Recipe from RecipeZaar

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
1 Cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups Pecan Halves (I like them roughly chopped)
2/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Frozen Pie Crust

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F
2. Beat eggs lightly with a mixer until fully combined
3. Stir in corn syrup, butter, suger, and vanilla extract
4. Stir in Pecan halves
5. Pour into frozen pie crust

Tip: Cover edges of pie crust with aluminum foil for the first 25 minutes of cooking to avoid burning the crust

6. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a knife comes out clean

Let cool for at least 10 minutes and Enjoy!

Creamy Cajun Pasta

I found this pasta recipe on Cook Like a Champion and decided to give it a try. It's a perfect weeknight recipe, really quick to prepare. I have never made a creamy past a sauce so this was a first for me. This dish really is delicious and the smoked paprika really makes the dish unique. I found the paprika at Penzey's spices in Winter Park but it's available at most supermarkets.

The first time I made it I used the heavy cream as called out in the recipe, but you can substitute regular cream or half and half, you'll just have to add a bit more and cook it down a bit. You can also use cajun sausage or shrimp in this dish instead of chicken, or make it vegetarian, it's very versatile.

Ingredients:

1 lb Chicken - cut into chunks and cooked (optional)
2 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 sweet onion - finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic - minced
1/2 Cup white wine
1 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 1/2 tsp Cajun Seasoning
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 lb Rotini or Penne Pasta
Salt and Pepper to taste
freshly chopped Italian parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil to medium-low heat in a large saucepan
2. Add onions and garlic and saute until translucent
3. Increase heat to medium and add white wine. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste and spices and mix well
5. Add heavy cream and heat up sauce until it reaches a slow simmer. Simmer on low for 5 minutes.
6. Mix in pasta and chicken to the sauce and serve

Enjoy!!!