Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Splash Photo courtesy of Idea Go.

I want to wish all of my blog readers a Happy Valentine's Day! What are you doing to celebrate? My husband and I are going out to dinner today.

I've been in a totally crappy mood over the last few weeks. I know I rarely vent on my blog, but I'm taking the liberty to do so today. Things are winding down and hopefully everything will be better soon. I've been stressed and tired and with the little bit of free time I've had, I've been trying to lose myself in my cookbook. Meaning, I've tried a few new recipes, trying to cheer myself up.

Since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share a few chocolate recipes that I tried recently:

Chocolate Waffles

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Directions
1 Stir cocoa and butter in bowl until smooth; stir in sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to cocoa mixture.

2 Bake in waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. Carefully remove waffle from iron.
NOTE: Leftover waffles can be frozen; thaw in toaster on low heat.
Serve with maple syrup and butter. These were good, but, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed them about as much as regular/non-chocolate waffles.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 cups buttermilk baking mix (I used Bisquick)
1 cup milk (You might need more milk. I thought the pancakes were too thick when using just one cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat an electric griddle or large skillet on medium heat.

Combine baking mix, milk and eggs. Add chocolate chips. Pour 2 tablespoons of batter onto hot griddle for each pancake. Flip when one side is done - you should see bubbles. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Best Brownies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING (recipe follows) Directions
1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.


2 Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.


3 Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING; spread over brownies. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies.


CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Beat butter, cocoa, corn syrup and vanilla in small bowl until blended. Add powdered sugar and milk; beat to spreading consistency. About 1 cup frosting.

I made these brownies without the frosting and they were still good! I was too lazy to make the frosting. We enjoyed these last Sunday while we were watching the Superbowl. Also, I used cashews for my nuts. Very tasty brownies. Maybe I'll try them again with the frosting soon.


I made my lasagna recipe last weekend with the following change: I made my own sauce. Due to high blood pressure, I'm trying to watch my salt intake and most of the pre-made sauces have a high sodium content. To make my own sauce, I used four small cans of low-salt tomato sauce and one can of tomatoes. I poured that into a pot and added a chopped onion, a whole bulb of chopped garlic, and A LOT of Italian seasoning and oregano. I also added a little bit of sugar and some SEA SALT. I let it simmer for a few hours. It smelled heavenly while it was simmering on the stove! When the onions were soft and done, I completed the recipe as I stated in the link, substituting my homemade sauce for the pre-prepared sauce. It was so good! My husband thought the version made with the homemade sauce tasted better than the jarred sauce version! Yummy! We enjoyed this last weekend while watching the Superbowl, too!

If you try any of these recipes, let me know how they turn out!

~Cecelia Dowdy~