Chicken, Rice, Carrot Dinner

I haven't been making a lot of Desserts as of late (although I really want to). The main reason has been my insane poverty. I'm working a camp job 35 hours a week, or more, and yet have no money.

So I've been experimenting with whats in the house-- which is never sweets. We don't have any Flour for baking or other key ingredients (Baking powder!). So I've been experimenting with Dinners.

Tonight I used a new Rub that I found online.

Chicken Rub
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2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Peprika
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt
I added some Garlic salt to mine, just a sprinkle though!

Carrots
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Chop up 2 peeled carrots and Place into a microwavable bowl. Add Dried Sage Rub. I added quite a bit, maybe about a capful? Microwave until soft (5 minutes? I dunno I had the microwave do it lol). When they are fork tender, taste to see if there is enough flavor, if not add some Mrs. Dash seasoning. Unfortunatly I added WAY too much, thereby only being able to taste that seasoning.

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I really liked the Chicken rub. I can definetly seeing this made before hand. Sadly I had the pan on too high and seared the chicken more than intended. *Note to Self, Use medium heat instead of Medium-high* The sugar carmalizes nicely and creates a wonderful flavor, with a little heat from the chili powder.

The Carrots were amazing... until I overseasoned them. I'll admit I have a heavy hand with seasoning. For anyone who hasn't tried Carrots with Sage as a seasoning, it's really all you need. They are SO good.

Empanadas...

Ingredients:

1 Box of store bought pie dough

Shredded Meat of your choice (I used Taco chicken from the night before on mine, Ground beef

on Lorens, We wanted to use pulled pork meat)

Handful of Shredded Mexican cheese

1/2 cup chopped Onions

Chopped Jalopenos (as much as you can stand)

Unroll the pie dought onto a baking sheet. Mound the meat, cheese, onions, and jalopenos into 4 seperate mounds. drape the 2nd pie douigh over. Using a knife, cut the dough into 4. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

To-Make list

Applesauce Bread This recipe was made by Paula Deen, so I know it's good & fattening.

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake. This has been on my list for a while, but haven't really had an occassion to make.

Ricotta Cheesecake. My favorite type of cheesecake.

Recently I've been recovering from my chicago trip, and now I'm under the weather.

Cherry Buckle

So my sister and I have been watching Food network of late. My favorite show thus far is Semi-Homemade with Sandra lee. The other day we watched an easy to make recipe for something called a Cherry Buckle... something I've never heard of. It was so easy to make and WONDERFUL to eat.
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Pear and Cherry Buckle

1 (26-ounce) can cherry pie filling
2 (15-ounce) cans diced pears in syrup
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 (18.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
1 (1.19-ounce) packet maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Whipped topping, for serving

Spray a 5-quart slow cooker(Mmm... crock pot meals) with butter-flavored cooking spray (we used regular Pam) and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pie filling, pears, and almond extract. Pour into prepared slow cooker. Sprinkle cake mix over fruit mixture. Dot with butter. In a small bowl, combine oatmeal packet and almonds. Sprinkle over cake mixture. (For this part we just poured Cherry filling, pears, cake mix, and oatmeal in the crock pot. Less Cleaning. We didn't use almond extract or almonds at all)

Place 8 paper towels over slow cooker bowl and secure with lid. (This helps to trap steam.) Cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours. Do not lift lid to check cake for the first 3 hours. (It's SO tempting)

Serve warm with whipped topping.

I'm learning on the photos. I didn't get a good shot of the dessert on plates because it was gone WAY to quickly.

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Introductions and Chocolate Cake Derivative

A little Introduction into my cooking experiences:

I'm a baker. I Love baking cakes, cookies, pies. Any dessert I will attempt to make, ingredients provided. My late father was a Gourmet Chef, while on my mothers side, I come from a lineage of bakers. I've never really experimented with cooking before because I tend to like cooking alone and the idea of cooking while having my mother or step father critizing me over adding too much salt or whatever, isn't appealing.

However, this summer I've been alone alot which leads to some tasty-- or not so tasty-- treats. This fall I'll be on my own and I'd like to remember what I made or would like to try. So in the blog I hope to record some creations, bookmark some recipes I hope to cook, and become popular enough that I can get advice from others. But that's wishful thinking for the moment.

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1 Box Chocolate Cake mix
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 8 oz bag of coconut

Prepare the cake as per directions on the box and add in the orange zest when mixing.

Since we had no frosting ingredients for ANY type of frosting/glaze, we opted for toasting coconut and sprinkling it ontop with some leftover coffee from the morning as a 'glue'