Broccoli & Rice

It's disappointing when you see a recipe that sounds tasty and you think to yourself, 'Yeah, that would be nice for dinner tonight'. You walk to the shop especially to get some ingredients, the baby has fallen asleep so you start dinner while you have a chance as dinner time is always crazy times. Baby wakes up so you quickly shut production down and settle him.

Hours later you find another moment to try and finish dinner off. Again, the baby is unhappy and you have to stop. Dad comes home and says something encouraging along the lines of 'that smells good', so you plant the baby on Dad's lap and finally finish off the dish and serve it.

Finally, you sit down, take the first bite and realise it is terrible.

This kind of thing breaks my heart. It happened to me with this Broccoli, Rice and Cheddar Casserole dish from Serious Eats. Boo hoo.

Pioneer Womans Chocolate Cake

Another cake, I apologise! I shall try to make something different soon. However, this cake is fantastic! It comes from one of my personal favourite sites -
Pioneer Woman.

As you can imagine, we have had plenty of visitors coming to meet our gorgeous baby boy. I managed to throw this cake together without a special trip to the store or too much trouble. We got lots of pieces of cake an 'mmm's this is so good' which is exactly what we needed. Chocolate cakes are often dry I find, not this one, soft and moist.

Combine in a mixing bowl:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:
225grams butter
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa. Stir together.
Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk.
Add:
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 180C degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:
Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.
Melt 200grams butter in a saucepan.
Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.
Add:
6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
350grams icing sugar
Stir together.
Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Sathya-rating ****