Hot fudge pudding cake

It's my birthday so I made myself a yummy dessert I haven't had in awhile. Hot fudge pudding cake! It is gooey fudgey goodness.

Looks like this out of the oven:
Cake on top with gooey pudding stuff underneath. Plated up looks something like this:


Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

In medium bowl combine:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 TBS cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Blend in and beat until smooth:
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter melted
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour batter into square pan, 8x8 or 9x9

In small bowl combine:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 TBS cocoa

Sprinkle dry mixture over batter in pan.
Pour 1 & 1/4 cups hot water over the top- do not stir.
Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand 20 minutes. Spoon into dishes and spoon sauce over the top. Top with whipped cream.

Soup!

I made chicken pot pie the other night (wasn't my best hence no post although my first attempt at homemade pie crust came out decent :) and then tortilla soup today! Yup totally ignoring the fact that its still in the 90's here! If I keep cooking fall food it means its fall right?!?! I dream I know. Anyway I made this today. It turned out pretty good. Wasn't blow my mind amazing but yummy and I would make it again until I find another promising recipe. I tasted it along the way and was concerned since it tasted like just the enchilada sauce but in the end it all worked together and was tasty. Mine ended up on the spicy side... The enchilada sauce didn't say a heat level on it so I'm guessing the heat came from there. Tortilla soup is all about the toppings too. I added Monterrey jack cheese, avocado, sour cream and crushed tortilla chips. Nom Nom Nom! Tasty eatin! And easy peasy too.

Zukes

I miss my zucchini this year. Last year we got a ton of zukes! This year I think the probablem was mainly we have no bees. There was a giant tree behind our back wall that was full of bees. We called it the bee tree but it blew over in a storm last winter and our HOA never replaced it so our bees have left us. Our zuke plants looked amazing up until about last month, they just only produced a couple fruit. So disappointing. They've since started looking a little sad but that could be because its been so stinkin hot here. Actually we had a rough gardening year all around. Nothing really produced well. Tomatoes stayed tiny, jalapenos and bell peppers never went anywhere. Beans died early. The onions and carrots are the only thing hanging in there that might produce. Oh well. Live and learn I suppose. Here is one haul from last years zucchini plants. These were all hiding so they got big. Excuse the gnarly hand haha I was trying to show my parents how big they were :D

Chex Mix

Is it the holiday season yet?? I try and refrain from making this other than during the holidays since its like crack :) Love Chex mix. We use an old school recipe that we've used since I was little. I far prefer it over the newer recipes out there. We love to add a good amount extra of salt and Worcestershire to make it "spicier". Also the wheat Chex tend to soak up more of the butter "sauce" so sometimes we pour the butter mix over just the corn and rice Chex, mix and then just sprinkle the Wheat over the top along with peanuts. Depends what you like. I love the wheat ones that get all soaked and marvelous tasting but my brother hates them. Oh and we always double the recipe. Always.

Chex Mix

1/2 cup butter
1 & 1/4 tsp seasoned salt
4 & 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cups corn Chex
3 cups rice Chex
2 cups wheat Chex
1 cup salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 250. Melt butter. Mix in salt and Worcestershire sauce. Pour Chex into shallow roasting pan and pour butter mix over. Stir to coat Chex. Sprinkle peanuts over the top. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

First Birthday!

Had a ton of fun making things for my daughter's first birthday! We did Minnie Mouse theme :) I wanted red and white Minnie and that is impossible to find decor for so I ended up making most things with my handy dandy Cricut! I made a few centerpiece style decorations, banner, door sign, invitations, 12month picture frame thing and cupcakes. Hubs made the cupcake stand and I decorated it and I love the way it turned out! I'll dig up pictures of the rest of the stuff later.

Decorations:




Cupcakes: