Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes

Recipe From: Matina Roberts via Ghiradelli

We always eat these every night while on a cruise ship...finally I have a recipe!

Filling Ingredients:

2oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream (sometimes I use milk)

Cake Ingredients:
4oz dark chocolate bar
1 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cup flour

To make the centers, melt chocolate chips and cream in a microwave. Whisk until well blended. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Form into 6 balls and refrigerate until needed.

To make the cake, melt chocolate ball and butter in the microwave. Whisk until well blended. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla on high speed for about 5 minutes, or until thick and light. Fold melted chocolate mixture into egg mixture until just combined. Mix in flour. Spoon the cake mixture into 6 greased ramekins. Place a chocolate ball in the middle of each ramekin.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. The cake should be firm to the touch. Let stand for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the ramekin and place a plate on top, invert and remove ramekin. Serve with ice cream or powdered sugar or whipped cream and berries.

Cashew, Pineapple & Pork Stir Fry

Recipe From: Our Best Bites Website

We got a fresh pineapple from Harry and David's in the mail today, which went perfect with this dish.

2 tbsp cornstarch (divided)
1 tbsp apple juice
1 lb. pork tenderloin or boneless pork chops (thinly sliced)
1/3 cup water
¼ cup sugar or splenda
¼ cup cider vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup cashews (chopped)
¼ cup green onions
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp garlic
6-8 oz snow peas
1 cup pineapple chunks

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, apple juice, and pork. Toss well. Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup. Stir with a whisk; make sure there are no clumps with the cornstarch. Now collect everything that's going into the stir fry next to the stove so you can access it easily.

Heat 1-2 Tbsp. canola oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add pork and stir-fry 3 minutes. Add onions, ginger, and garlic. Stir-fry 1 minute. Add snow peas and pineapple. Stir-fry 3 minutes more. Whisk sauce ingredients again and add to pan. Bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in cashews and serve over hot rice. Garnish with more cashews and green onions if you want.

Sweet & Spicy Shrimp

Recipe Inspired By: Our Best Bites Website
I ended up using all kinds of random things in the fridge to make the marinade...not quite what the recipe called for. Below is my version...measurements are guesses, since I was just dumping things in. I forgot to take a picture, which is unfortunate because it turned out great. We served over rice and a fresh baby spring mix with fresh pineapple.

2 lb. shrimp (raw, shelled, deveined)
1 garlic clove
3" section fresh ginger
1/2 cup Chili Garlic Sauce
1/2 cup Sweet Chili Lime Sauce (HEB brand)
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
fresh-squeezed lime
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
red, yellow & orange bell peppers (chopped into 1" pieces)

Rinse shrimp in cold water and place in a large Ziploc bag. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly. Set aside about a cup of the marinade. Pour remaining mixture over shrimp and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.

Thread bell peppers onto a skewer and thread shrimp onto another skewers. When grill is hot, reduce heat to low and quickly place all skewers over the heat. Brush with reserved marinade. When they've cooked for 1 1/2-2 minutes, quickly flip them over and brush or drizzle with remaining marinade. Cook for another 1 1/2-2 minutes, or until opaque and pink. The peppers will take longer.

Remove skewers from grill and remove shrimp from skewers. Pile them on a big ol' platter, drizzle with any remaining reserved marinade, and squeeze the juice from a lime all over them.

Blackberry Bread Pudding

Recipe From: The Sister's Cafe

YUMMY! Really, really yummy! I used blackberries instead of raspberries and half&half instead of cream and halved the recipe. The below makes an 8x8 pan.

Cream Mix

1/2 - 3/4 loaf of white bread (the cheap stuff)

1/2 quart half and half

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

In large bowl combine cream, sugar, egg and vanilla. Cut bread into 1 1/2" cubes and add to cream mixture, coating bread well. Let stand 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes to allow cream to absorb completely.

Fruit Filling
1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup apple juice

Combine raspberries, sugar and apple juice, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Layer an 8x8 baking dish 3/4 full with bread mixture, pour fruit filling over bread mixture, spreading evenly, top with remaining bread. Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve warm. Top with vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce
2/3 cup butter

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tsp vanilla

half of 1/3 cup sugar

Over medium heat melt butter, and add flour stir 10 minutes until it has a nutty aroma, do not brown. Add cream and sugar and boil till mixture is thick, remove from heat adding vanilla. Serve this wonderful sauce cold.

Spicy Orange Beef & Broccoli

Recipe From: Argo Cornstarch Cookbook

I doubled the sauce recipe to have extra.

Ingredients:

12 oz flank or sirloin steak (pound to tenderize and cut across grain into thin strips)
grated peel of 1 orange (about 2 tsp)
1 tbsp fresh ginger (grated)
5 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp orange juice (doubled to 6 tbsp)
2 tbsp soy sauce (doubled to 4 tbsp)
1 tsp beef bouillon granules (doubled to 2 tsp)
1 tbsp sugar (doubled to 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup water (doubled to 1 cup)
2 tbsp oil
broccoli
peppers (optional, cut into strips)

Toss steak with orange peel, ginger and 1 tbsp corn starch in a medium bowl to coat; set aside. Stir orange juice, soy sauce, bouillon, sugar, crushed red pepper, water and 4 tbsp corn starch in a small bowl until blended. Heat oil in a skillet. Add beef and stir-fry until nearly cooked. Add broccoli and peppers and continue cooking until tender. Stir soy sauce mixture until blended and pout into skillet. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil for 1 minute. Serve over rice.

Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas

Recipe From: Jasmin Adams
I loved these! Not so much an enchilada, but for me...the perfect bite burrito.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cups chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
8 oz pepper-jack cheese (shredded)
2 cups white or brown rice (cooked)
10 flour tortillas
1 red onion (chopped)
28 oz medium green chile enchilada sauce

Note: this is more of an ingredient list with approximations of amount than an exact recipe; how much you need will vary by how much of each ingredient you use in each tortilla. You can sprinkle any extra cheese and onions on top. Or if I use too much cheese in each, I add some cheddar cheese or a jack cheese blend on top.

Preheat oven to 350. Layer rice, beans, chicken, onions and cheese in each tortilla and roll. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas. Bake at least 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. In my opinion, the longer the better because the onions get tastier the longer they cook.

To make this dish more kid-friendly (less spicy), use mild enchilada sauce and jack cheese.

Cranberry Pot Roast

Recipe From: Dieters Cook Book

This was so delicious! I made it in the crock pot vs the oven.

Ingredients:
2 lb beef roast
1 cup cranberry juice cocktail
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 tsp dried thyme (crushed)
1 onion (thickly sliced) or 16oz pkg frozen small whole onions
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 cups fresh cranberries
3 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp cornstarch

Place meat in a crock pot and pour cranberry juice cocktail and beef broth over. Add the thyme. Cook on low for a few hours. Stir onions and brown sugar in the juices and cook for another couple of hours until meat and onions are tender. Transfer the meat to a platter and cover to keep warm. Measure 2 cups liquid into a saucepan and add the cooked onions and cranberries. Bring to a boil. Stir together cold water and cornstarch and stir into mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Pour over meat.