a 'Few' Pix of Our Foodie Weekend

[cjs]

Exhausting, but oh so much fun!!BOHICA/Ross just left for his niece's for a couple days then he heads back to snow n Michigan....

Thursday night we had a great Clam night - fried and then in a broth over pasta.




Cleaned the leftovers (we had 5 1/2 lbs. - Roy's eyes were larger than his stomach) so, I have this to play with.


Friday night we had 8 for dinner and the pictures are pretty self-explanatory.




I forgot to take a pix of the plated soup - blueberry soup combined with Greek yogurt and drizzled with sour cream.

[Mare749]

What a fabulous feast you had, Jean! So glad you all had such a great time. That pasta dish is calling my name!

[Gourmet_Mom]

Looking for the dish now. Ummm gotta search for the title first. OIY!

[cjs]

Daphne and Maryann - I posted the recipe in a separate thread for everyone.

Flexing Mussels - Dismc/Shannon

[Lorraine]

Wow! Is that the Chocolate/Pudding cake you posted this week?

[cjs]

No, it's the Chocolate Gingerbread cake. Lorraine, it is so good!! and you can do so much with it for buffets/catering!!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake*****

2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup pureed pears
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 package Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate
Fudge Cake Mix -- or any brand without pudding added
1 package Jello Instant Pudding Mix, Chocolate Fudge -- (3.9 ounce size)

1. Spray a 10-cup bundt pan with cooking oil spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. With an electric mixer, beat eggs and egg whites in a large bowl until foamy. Add the ingredients through molasses and beat for 1 minute. Add water and spices and blend into the mixture.

3. Pour the cake mix, then the pudding mix, into the wet ingredients. Beat at low speed for 1 minute to incorporate ingredients, scraping the bowl frequently, then turn the speed up to medium for 2 minutes (again, scraping the sides of the bowl frequently).

4. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted between the center and side of the pan comes out with only a couple of crumbs attached.

5. Cool cake on rack for 15 minutes. Loosen cake from center and edges, tap gently once or twice on a hard surface, then invert onto a cooking rack sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to cool completely. Transfer to a plate.

6. Sift powdered sugar over top of cooled cake.

7. NOTE: Pureed pears are simply an oil substitute made from draining a can of pears (packed in juice) then pureeing them until smooth. One can (about 14 ounces?) makes about 2/3 cup of puree (and it freezes nicely). This works very well in replacing half of the oil in quick bread and cake recipes such as this one. If you don't want to do this, just sub an equal amount of canola oil.

8. --------------------

9. Vicci

Servings: 14

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I wish Shannon and Vicci would still contribute now!!

[Mare749]

I do too! C'mon back Shannon and Vicci!

[cjs]

Sorry Lorraine - the Ramos fizzes got to me...yes, that was the recipe from earlier in the week.

[Lorraine]

Quote:

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Ramos fizzes

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Good thing I don't drink them, folks have a hard enough time understanding me now!!! Lots of ideas twirling around in my head on how we can use this cake.

[Trixxee]

Absolutely everything looks delicious.