Happy Easter-Triple Chocolate Bars!

Happy Easter to one and all!  We are getting ready for a busy Easter day...but I have ham in the oven, am soon to start on a batch of homemade butter and just took my favorite easy dessert recipe out of the oven....triple chocolate bars!!  They are soooo good, and soooo easy...but I do not actually count them as from scratch cooking.  Why you may ask?  Well, because they rely on convenience items instead of the usual from scratch flour, sugar, eggs, etc.  So why am I including them here?  The easy answer is because, well, they're easy and darn tasty.  Also, they are great to throw together at the last minute, say, oh, I don't know, 9:00 at night when you are informed by your child that she needs two dozen of something to take to a class party the next day.  Or, say Easter morning when you forgot to buy more flour, were out late the night before with friends, and don't feel like going to the store.  Plus, they are made with items you probably have right now in your cabinets....don't believe me??  Go ahead and look, I'll wait.......ah ha, see I was right, wasn't I?  Now use those few items and in 20 minutes you will have yummy, hot from the oven triple chocolate bars that everyone will think you slaved over.  Don't worry, I promise not to tell how easy they are...well, that is if you don't tell anyone either.  It'll be our secret!

Anyway, here's all you need:

1 box of chocolate cake mix-I prefer dark chocolate, but use whatever you like
1 small box of instant chocolate pudding (the one that only needs 2 cups of milk)
2 cups of milk (you knew that was coming, didn't ya'?)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or whatever kind you have leftover from the last time you made cookies)
1 bag of chocolate chips (you can use mini if you prefer...and again I use dark chocolate)

Here's what ya' do:

Add the milk to a bowl.  Dump in the pudding mix and, well, mix it up.  Wait about 3-5 minutes for it to become....pudding!

Next, dump the cake mix into the pudding and mix together.  It will be kind of thick, but don't worry...it's suppposed to be.

Next, throw in the nuts and the chocolate chips and mix again.  Don't overmix, just get everything combined.

Spread the mixture on a greased cookie sheet as evenly as you can.

Pop in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, and that's it!

Here's what ya' get....

Not the best quality photo in the world this morning, but hey, you get the idea!  Now go ahead and enjoy with an icy cold glass of milk!  You know you want to :)



Yay Weekend :)

Ok, so let's just say I have been really, really bad at keeping up with the blog of late.  Spring break, school meetings/events and tons of other stuff have just added up so that when I actually have time to post, well, let's just say I find myself drinking a glass of wine and relaxing instead.  And we have had a few minor setbacks with the cooking everything from scratch lately...mainly a sleepover the other day for the girls, which necessitated buying some convenience food that they requested, and again, some other events that meant we stopped for pizza for dinner instead of making it at home.  But, I have to post my favorite pico de gallo recipe, that we used not just for tacos, but for quesadillas last nite.  Soooo good, and so easy and the girls eat it like it's going out of style...and since it's full of fresh veggies, I have no problem with that :)

Ok, again, this is soooooo easy and versatile...you can make it spicier if you like, or mild as I do for Belle, who decided a long time ago she doesn't like anything spicy!

Ok, don't ask me for exact measurements here, cause I don't use 'em.  I think the best recipes are the ones that you just experiment with and add in whatever you want...in whatever quantity you like.  But, here's the basics:

Cut up several tomatoes....this is best with fresh tomatoes in the summer.  But, since it's not anywhere close to summer, we used about 8 plumb tomatoes.

Add in 2 large white onions, diced.

Add in 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.

Now, here's where you can get creative.  Time to add some peppers.  These can be spicy peppers if you like, or mild.  Since I was making this for the kids, we used two yellow bell peppers, chopped up.

Next, add some salt and pepper to taste, and about 1-1/2 teaspoons of cumin....trust me, you want this in there!!

Finally, chop up a heck of a lot of cilantro and throw that in there too.  Have I mentioned, I love, love, LOVE cilantro??  I didn't???  Well, I do!!! It rocks and is soooooo good in pico!!

And that's it...really.  Mix it all together and enjoy with tortilla chips, tacos, quesadillas, on chicken, burgers, heck just all by itself.  It's that good....honest, I wouldn't lie.  We go thru a ton of this stuff here.  You will thank me....really, you will :)