Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Chocolate and Orzo

I've been asked about a couple of recipes and decided to begin the recipe week with these requested. They don't actually go together but I guess you can argue that chocolate can go with anything. Or at least I always argue that point. I'm not sure how many servings I have of chocolate in a day but it's way more than the suggested amount. Although, I will say that I do alter recipes to reduce the sugar intake (like the cake below) since diabetes run in the family. Hubby and I had a taste test with the cake full of fat/sugar and the reduced sugar/fat and neither one of us could tell the difference. It's so rich that it's impossible to tell the difference. I would challenge anyone to the yummy test.
Okay, so the 2 recipes are Easy Chocolate Chip Pound Cake and yesterday's Asparagus and Chicken Orzo. I 1st got the cake recipe from my mother-in-law and fell in love. You can also find it here. The Chicken orzo recipe is one that I took from a couple of different recipes and created the one from yesterday.

Asparagus Orzo:
Ingredients-
2 cups asparagus (cut in 1 inch lengths)
1 red pepper (or tomato per your liking - mom) diced
1 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup green onions
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
shredded parmesan cheese to top of for taste

Prepare orzo as directed on box (normally 6-8 minutes) Drain. In pan saute onions, asparagus and pepper in the butter until tender. Combine the orzo, salt, pepper and cheese. Serve warm.

Chicken - Turn oven to 325 degrees. Place chicken in pan with chicken broth covering the bottom of the pan (Keeps the chicken from drying out) Bake for 1 hour or until it's not pink in the middle. (This is from my papa!)


Chocolate Chip Pound Cake:
Ingredients-
1 package of yellow cake mix (I use the reduced sugar pillsbury)
1 (3.9 ounce) package of instant chocolate pudding mix (also use the no sugar added)
8oz sour cream (yes, I use fat free)
3/4 cup of water
3/4 cup of veggie oil
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix cake mix and the next 5 ingredients for 2 minutes. Add vanilla. Add chocolate chips and stir. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until toothpick is clean. If you want to get fancy, sprinkle confectioner's sugar before serving.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks! I know Sally's chocolate chip pound cake is delicious! I remember the first time I had it at The Davis house and it lived up to the wonderful comments you and Ben had made about it
    !
    Now I want to try the chicken, orzo and asparagus recipe!Thanks for sharing these with us!

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  2. Yum Yum Yum. I think this is the cake we had at your place once before and it is amazing. Can't wait to try it. Keep the recipes coming! I'm always struggling to find new ideas.

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