recipes: cake brownies & freezer jam

I found this beauty, thanks to Pinterest, from eHow.com. They're not bad for coming from a cake mix. TIP: do not let them sit overnight. The leftovers aren't that great. And even better, you have an excuse to eat the entire pan!

Cake Mix Brownies

1 stick butter

Cake Mix

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBSP water

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Pour mixture in a greased 9x13 baking pan.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a dry crust forms on top.

IMPORTANT: Follow this last step! I tried to wait until the inserted toothpick came out clean and it made the brownies kind of hard. 

Enjoy!

***

I love the simplicity of freezer jam. Our favorites are strawberry and raspberry freezer jam! This recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
4 cups strawberries, cut in half
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin

1. Mix strawberries and sugar in a blender. (I like my jam smooth, with ZERO chunks.)
2. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Mix water and pectin in saucepan. Stir constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
4. Pour pectin mixture into strawberry mixture.
5. Stir constantly for 3 minutes.
6. Immediately pour mixture into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
7. Clean up any spills on container.
8. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
9. Store in freezer up to 6 months or fridge up to 3 weeks.

My kids love this stuff on pancakes and waffles and their PB&J sandwiches.

recipe: gyozas

Last week was Joe's birthday. We invited some of his friends over and fed them gyozas and Thai noodles with jerk chicken.

Holy smokes. I LOVE gyozas! One of my brother-in-laws, who learned from his Japanese grandmother, showed me how to make them when I visited them a long long time ago. I've only  made these little bad boys a handful of times because they take FOREVER to make! This time, however, we recruited the help of Joe's friends and made them earn their keep by wrapping all 3.5 pounds of meat! I'm the best hostess ever!

Want the recipe? Umm... okay.

Gyozas
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork --I hope it's obvious that I doubled the recipe for our friends.
3 stalks green onion, chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 TBSP garlic (powder OR actual vegetable)
1/4 cup corn starch
Sweet Chili Sauce (I use Mae Ploy)
Square Wraps (I use Azumaya. This time I found them in the organic section of my grocery store)
**Over the years that I've made these, it has been hit and miss on the stores having the chili sauce and the square wraps. I usually find the sweet chili sauce in the oriental section of the grocery store. The wraps are usually refrigerated and found in the organic section of the grocery store. Good luck! And happy hunting!! 

1. Mush together pork and beef until well combined.
2. Brown meat with chopped green onions and garlic IF using the actual vegetable, NOT THE POWDER.
3. Drain fat.
4. Sprinkle soy sauce so it coats the entire top of the meat. --The meat turns a dark brown.
5. Sprinkle corn starch over meat until thickens. --This could take more or less than a 1/4 cup.
6. Remove from stove and let cool.
7. Place small spoonful of meat in middle of wrap and seal. --The trick to sealing the wraps is to have a small bowl of water. Dip your finger in the water and wet two sides of the wrappers. Make sure and seal the wrapper so it doesn't fall apart when frying in the oil.
8.  Fry gyozas in heated oil.
9. Serve with sweet chili sauce. --I usually make ham fried rice with this.

Does this recipe make sense? I'm super good at following recipes, but I'm not that great at making them. If you try them, let me know how they turned out!

puff the magic dragon