The Pre-Thanksgiving Results

The apple sausage stuffing was phenomenal! Everyone that tried it had thirds and fourths. It was excellent and will be making an appearance on our thanksgiving table, along with the traditional turkey stuffing. The cranberries were also fantastic. The spices and orange zest made them irresistible. If you like cranberries, these are the ones make for turkey day. The turkey was the least exciting. I think Thanksgiving is about all the yummy sides anyways. But, back to the turkey. It was fairly flavorful and moist , but nothing special.

I went to a friends house the other day and she told me how her Greek dad makes his turkey, so I will be making mine this way for Thanksgiving.

Turkey the Greek Way -

Truss and clean the turkey, pat dry. Melt one stick of butter and pour over the turkey, making sure to coat the entire bird. Sprinkle the turkey all over with salt, oregano, sage and pepper (my friend said Greeks flavor everything with oregano). Loosely stuff the bird with one chopped onion and one cup of celery. Inside a turkey oven bag, place 2 cups of chopped celery and a few cups of water (the celery and water help keep the turkey super moist in the bag). Place the turkey in the bag on top of the celery, tie shut and make a few slits in the top of the bag. Place turkey in a roasting pan and bake at 350 for recommended time, based on weight.

*I'll also be adding some butter under the skin and maybe a few more seasonings on top, like thyme and dried minced onion.

Turkey Day Tryouts

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I'm going to do a turkey test run tomorrow evening. Like I said in the past post, I've never cooked a turkey before and I don't want it to turn out like the dry bird on Christmas Vacation. So, I have a 12 lb turkey that has been thawing in the refrigerator for two days and should be ready by tomorrow. Along with the turkey, I'll be preparing cranberry sauce, dressing and gravy. Here are the recipes I'll be using:

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from allrecipes.com

• 4 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• 5 whole cloves
• 5 whole allspice berries
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• Zest of one orange

Directions

1. Place fresh cranberries and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Wrap cloves, allspice berries and cinnamon sticks in a spice bag. Place in the orange juice with cranberries.
3. Cook until cranberries begin to burst, 15-20 minutes.
4. Stir in sugar and reduce heat to low. Continue cooking 5 minutes, or until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Discard spice bag. Chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight, before serving.

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Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing

Servings: 10

1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread

3 3/4 cups cubed white bread

1 pound ground sage pork sausage

1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery

2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage

1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped

3/4 cup turkey stock

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.

Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill.

* I'm not actually going to be making dressing for Thanksgiving, but this recipe got great reviews and 25,000 people saved this in their recipe boxes, so I thought I might as well see what all the fuss is about.

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Turkey

• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided (all the reviews said to use one full stick)
• 4 cups warm water
• 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
• 2 tablespoons seasoning salt (I'll be adding cracked pepper and garlic too)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse and wash turkey. Discard the giblets, or add to pan if they are anyone's favorites.
2. Place turkey in a Dutch oven or roasting pan. Separate the skin over the breast to make little pockets. Put 3 tablespoons of the butter on both sides between the skin and breast meat. This makes for very juicy breast meat.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the water with the bouillon. Sprinkle in the parsley and minced onion. Pour over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey.
4. Cover with foil, and bake in the preheated oven 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely.

I'll post the pictures and reviews tomorrow.

Spiced Pumpkin Shake

I spotted this recipe on kelseyskitchen and it looked so tasty! Beginning in October I start craving everything pumpkin and this shake topped with crushed gingersnaps sounds delicious. I will be making this frozen goodness soon, but I thought I would post the recipe now for any pumpkin lovers out there. I may even make a boozey version with vanilla vodka, kahlua, creme de cacao etc.

SPICED PUMPKIN SHAKE

Yield: 2 servings

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup canned pumpkin

2 T brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla*

1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups vanilla bean ice cream
½ cup gingersnap or graham cracker cookies, crushed & divided

*vanilla bean paste preferred

DIRECTIONS

Place 2 glasses in freezer to chill.

Combine all ingredients excluding ¼ cup of the cookies in blender and blend thoroughly. When completely blended, top each serving with remaining gingersnap cookies.

The Cost of Tom Turkey

And so it begins......

My husband and I volunteered to host Thanksgiving at our house this year. We have never cooked a turkey or hosted Thanksgiving, but we're excited and I've been doing plenty of research. We're having 25 lovely guests over (22 Adults - 2 kids - 1 baby) and we're in charge of making a delectable bird. And as far as turkey goes, it's 1 - 1.5 lbs of turkey per person. So we'll need a whopping 33 lbs of turkey (factoring in just the adults)! We'll be deep frying one 10-12 lb bird and baking one 22-24 lb bird.

I've been pricing turkeys at grocery stores by my house and here's what our feathered friend costs.

Whole Foods (for natural, fresh turkeys)

10 - 12 lb = $23.88

22 - 24 lb = $47.76

Total: $71.64

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Dan's Market

Frozen: .99cents per lb

Fresh

Basted: $1.29 per lb

Natural: $1.79 per lb

Organic: $ 1.79 per lb

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Albertsons

Frozen

Butterball: $1.15

Norbest: $1.19

Fresh

Natural: $1.69

Special: Buy $25 worth of groceries and get any frozen turkey for .38 cents per lb

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Costco

Fresh .88 cents per lb

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Liberty Heights Fresh

Fresh Plain: $2.59 per lb

Fresh Brined: $5.99 per lb

Cooking Club: November

Thanksgiving Sides and Desserts

Pictured: Pumpkin Bombe

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Teresa (Host): Turkey and gravy

Linda: Green Bean Casserole

Ashlin: Turkey Meatloaf Burgers

Jodi: Sweet Potatoes

Lori: Chopped Apple Salad and Maple Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie

Shauna: Cauliflower Gratin with Endive

Susan: Broccoli Casserole

Summer: Pumpkin Pie Martinis

Laura: Pumpkin Ice Cream Bombe

Sarah: Cranberry Relish, Apple Pie

Dana: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Side Note: For some reason my camera captured a dreary orange glow in all the photos.

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Dish: Cauliflower Gratin with Endive

This was pretty good. It was very expensive to make and hard to find all the ingredients. This recipe comes from Martha Stewart and sometimes it hit or miss with her stuff.

Recipe: Click Here

Dish: Not your Mama's Green Bean Casserole

Fresh, gourmet take on the traditional green bean casserole. Fresh green beans are mixed with a homemade mushroom sauce and topped with a buttery bread crumb and onion mixture.

Recipe: Click here

Dish: Maple Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie

This was a delicious pie and had a yummy combination of flavors. It wasn't as sweet as the other pies, which wasn't a bad thing. But, we thought it could use another 1/4 cup of brown sugar. It was topped with a tasty dollop of bourbon whipped cream.

Recipe: Click Here

Turkey Meatloaf Burgers with Cranberry Sauce and White Cheddar

This is a great use for all that left over turkey. Served hot with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy and you have a great post Thanksgiving meal.

Recipe: Click Here

Dish: Apple Pie

It's not Thanksgiving without it. This one was tart and went well with the sweet pumpkin desserts.

Dish: Special Cranberry Relish

"You love it or you hate it". This is a savory take on cranberry sauce. It's a highly requested recipe of Susan Stamberg's from NPR. It combines cranberries, onions, sour cream and horseradish. Judging from the ingredients, you would think it was awful, but a majority of the cooking club really enjoyed this paired with the turkey. If you're adventurous and want to try something unique, this is the recipe.

Recipe: Click Here

Broccoli Casserole

This recipe combines Gorgonzola, heavy cream and bread crumbs. Is there a better way to eat broccoli?

Pumpkin Pie Martinis

Before my changes these could have been called booze martinis, because that was about all you could taste. The vodka was a bit strong, so I cut the amount in half and added a drop more heavy cream. And the secret ingredient that balanced out the flavors and made it taste more like pumpkin pie? A small scoop of pumpkin ice cream.

Recipe: Click Here

Turkey and Gravy

This turkey was moist and delicious. All it needed was a good rubbing of butter and some basting along the way.

Chopped Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts,

Blue Cheese and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Long name, awesome salad. I had thirds. I don't usually think of salad at Thanksgiving, but this one is tasty enough to add to anyone's Turkey day menu!

Recipe: Click Here

Dish: Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potatoes aren't the typical pureed, bland sweet potatoes that show up on Thanksgiving. Chunks of sweet potato are mixed with butter, marshmallows and brown sugar and baked to bubbly perfection. "These are dangerous and bad, but Thanksgiving only comes once a year."

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

No Picture

Super creamy and perfectly sweet and spicy, just like pumpkin dessert should be

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Pumpkin Bombe
This pumpkin ice cream cake was sooo good. A mix of vanilla ice cream, pumpkin puree and lots of yummy spices are housed in a graham cracker crust, topped with walnuts for decoration and chilled to perfection.

Anytime Biscuits

Usually if I make soup or a meal that requires bread, I just pick up a loaf from the store. But sometimes when I'm home with the kids and don't want to venture out, I make quick and easy baking soda biscuits. These are tasty and a snap to throw together. You can make them ahead of time and refrigerate them until ready to bake. These biscuits can be served savory or sweet. Top them with gravy or spread them with butter and jam!

Baking Powder Biscuits

Source: Allrecipes.com

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.

Crockpot Chili

Curl up with a warm bowl of chili.

Saute coarsely chopped green peppers and onions with

fresh minced garlic.

Add cooked hamburger (or meat of your choice)

Pour in tomatoes and beans

Spice it up with a melody of seasonings

Don't forget plenty of chili powder!

Mix it all up in a crock pot. Set the timer and enjoy the aroma of this wonderful chili simmering away.

Crock pot Chili

2 small green peppers, coarsely chopped

2 small onions, coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb hamburger

1 (28 oz) can tomato puree

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 can red kidney beans, drained

1 can white kidney beans, drained
3 T Chili powder

2 T Cumin

1 T Ground coriander

Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

In a large skillet saute peppers and onions, 7 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add to crock pot. In same skillet, cook hamburger until no longer pink. Add to crock pot. Pour in tomatoes and beans. Add seasonings. Stir and set crock pot timer.

Check the chili periodically and stir. About a half hour before I serve it, I taste for seasonings and usually sprinkle in a little more chili powder, cumin, coriander and salt if needed. Sometimes I'll add one or two fresh chopped tomatoes at the end for texture.

If you're cooking the chili all day and it starts to thicken, you can add beer or water or chicken stock as needed. You can substitute the hamburger with shredded chicken, ground turkey or mix of hamburger and sausage. They're all tasty.

Too Much Chocolate Cake

I made this sinfully, delicious chocolate cake for a "Ghouls and Goblins" party (Post coming soon) I hosted for my little girl and her friends. This cake is fudgy and moist and very chocolaty. The best part is, it's made using a cake mix. This was a wonderful time saver and the cake can be made the day before.

I topped the cake with a chocolate glaze (as if it weren't chocolaty enough) and decorated it with chocolate dipped gummy worms and gummy spiders. My aunt, who doesn't ever eat dessert, loved this! I think all the kids and adults did too. I would recommend this recipe anytime you need a chocolate cake. Sprinkled with powdered sugar, drizzled with chocolate glaze or frosted, you can't go wrong!

I had to use the flash to take a picture of the cake once it was decorated, so it's not the best. Oh well.

Too Much Chocolate Cake
Source: allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips and they were perfect)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Barbecue Chicken Salad with Ranch

My mom loves barbecue sauce. So of course, her favorite salad would be one topped with bbq'd chicken (or bbq'd meat of some kind). She came over yesterday during lunch to visit my girls, so I thought I would try and throw together a tasty salad with what I had on hand.

We had grilled chicken left over from the night before, so I cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinated it with some Jack Daniels barbecue sauce. If you like barbecue sauce, this is a tasty one.

Here's the marinated chicken. The picture was an afterthought, so it only captures a few pieces in the bottom of the Tupperware. Anyhoo, not important.

On top of the lettuce, I layered fresh garden tomatoes, slices of English cucumber, tortilla chips (for crunch and saltiness) and slivered almonds. For the dressing, I whipped together a homemade ranch. If you're going to have ranch dressing, it has to be homemade! It's soo good.
Picture Source: Simplyrecipes

So there you have it. The salad was very good if you like this combo of flavors. Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers along with crunchy chips and almonds, paired with bbq'd chicken and cold ranch dressing...yum!

BBQ Chicken Salad with Ranch

One small package mixed salad greens

2-3 tomatoes sliced

1 English cucumber sliced

1/2 cup toasted almonds

Cooked chicken marinated in bbq sauce, cut into strips

1 cup Tortilla strips

Homemade ranch

Layer all the ingredients, crack some fresh black pepper on top and serve. You can thin out a little bit of barbecue sauce and drizzle that on the top too.

Up Next: Fall Soups!

Cooking Club: September 2009

Chinese

Jodi: Lemon Chicken / Charshu Pork

Linda: Grandma's Chop Suey / Sake

Ashlin: Ham Foo Yung

Betty: Ginger Pork Stir-Fry / Fortune Cookies

Summer: Crispy Honey Shrimp

Shauna: Wine

Lori: Ham and Shrimp Fried Rice / Sake

Susan: Egg Drop Soup with Shrimp and Chicken

Sheryl: Pot Stickers

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Grandma's Chop Suey

This was really good and was accompanied by crunchy chow mein noodles. It had a really great flavor and many different textures. Yum.
Crispy Honey Shrimp with Candied Walnuts

These are just like the ones at Asian Star. I didn't have any left, that's a good sign.
Egg Drop Soup

This egg drop soup was loaded with peas, mushrooms, carrots, shrimp and chicken. No soggy eggs and broth here!

Pot Stickers

Crispy pot stickers with a delicious dipping sauce and sauteed asparagus for color. They were sooo good.

Ham and Shrimp Fried Rice.

It took a few tries to perfect this, but it was worth it!

Charshu Pork

Served with two dipping sauces

Crispy Lemon Chicken

The lemon sauce was served on the side and this dish was the perfect balance of salty, sweet and tangy.

Ginger Pork Stir-Fry

Crispy vegetables, tender pork and a hint of ginger. Delicious!

Ham Egg Foo Yung

Drizzled with a bit a gravy, I went back for seconds.

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The Ladies behind the Dishes

Here is the gorgeous new mommy Ashlin with her adorable baby Ava-Lin. She was so much fun to hold and very awake and alert for being just over a month old.

Here are some pics of everyone welcoming Ava to her first cooking club.

Cooking Club is such a Riot! We always have a good time.

Here is our lovely host Betty (left) with the always smiling Jodi.
Linda and Susan

Ashlin and Sheryl (Our newest member who passed the test with her pot stickers!)

Betty has a gorgeous patio. It was the perfect setting to enjoy some amazing Chinese cuisine.

Yesterday, we all discovered that Betty is a fabulous artist! She took us down to her studio to show us all of her wonderful pieces. If you would like to own an original Michaut piece, I'm sure Betty would love to show you her work!

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Up Next: Halloween Cooking Club!

October 18th @ 5:00 / Linda and Ashlin will host

Theme: Halloween Colors / Your dish has to be orange,purple, black or green!

Oh, and feel free to be festive. Costumes welcome.

Homemade Pizza

On the cover of the October Issue of Food and Wine there was a yummy looking rustic pizza and a glass of wine. It looked so good, that my husband and I decided to make our own pizza and enjoy a glass of wine.


My husband went to Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck our friends call it) and picked up whole wheat pizza crust, pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and basil. At home, I caramelized a red onion and chopped up tomatoes from my parents gardens. We layered the sauce, cheeses, tomatoes, onions and basil and drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

We baked the loaded pizza pie at 500 degrees for about 7 minutes and then put it under the broiler for a minute to brown the cheese. It turned out really delicious! We paired the pizza with a chopped salad.

For the salad, we sliced up a head of iceburg lettuce into 4 wedges and topped it with cucumber, tomatoes, caramelized red onion, bacon and homemade ranch dressing. I snipped some basil over the top and added a little cracked black pepper. It was a very tasty salad. We washed down the meal with a bottle (or two) of red wine.

Something to Savor

One of my favorite cookbooks that I turn to over and over again is Marguerite Henderson's Savor the Memories. Marguerite is a local Italian cook who started the charming and wonderful gourmet deli, Cucina, in the Avenues. Now she teaches cooking classes from her home (which are really fun!) and writes cookbooks (among her many culinary endeavors).

All the recipes I've tried from Savor the Memories have been absolutely delicious! They have simple ingredients, they're easy to assemble and the flavors are just amazing. It's a must have cookbook! To visit her website, click here.

One of my favorite recipes from Savor the Memories, is Rigatoni with a Creamy Fontina-Sausage Sauce. The name says it all. This dish is sooo good! The sausage sauce bursts with flavor and the combination of al dente rigatoni noodles smothered in a creamy tomato sauce, topped with fontina cheese and baked until bubbly and golden is to die for. I would recommend this dish anytime. It's always a hit!

Here is the yummy sauce made up of tomatoes, sausage, cream and spices.

After it simmers, it's poured over the rigatoni pasta

Chunks of fontina and freshly grated Romano cheese crown the pasta.

And then it's into the oven...

And 20 minutes later, cheesey, wonderful goodness emerges and is ready to be devoured with a nice salad and bottle of wine.

One of my favorite salads to serve with almost any meal, is a simple tossed salad with a chevre vinaigrette. The dressing recipe comes from my sister-in-law and everyone always loves it and asks for the recipe. There isn't an exact, measured recipe, but I can tell you what goes in it and you'll have to experiment and come up with a version that suits your tastes.

Dressing
Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Italian seasoning blend
Chevre (creamy goat cheese)
Salt and Pepper

Whisk Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar together (a few Tablespoons of each). Add Italian seasoning (1/2 tsp to 1 tsp). Whisk in chevre to thicken (1 Tbs. or so). Add salt and pepper to taste.

*Next time I make this I'll try and measure the ingredients so I can write down something more concrete.

For the Salad

Mixed greens
Toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds
Chunks of Chevre (left over from dressing)
Optional
Cucumbers, thinly sliced
Tomatoes, diced small
Avocado, sliced
Cranberries

Party at the Park

For my daughters forth birthday tomorrow, we're having a celebration with her cute pint-sized friends at the park. For dessert, I decided to do something different and have an ice cream sundae bar.

Kids love ice cream and they'll enjoy heaping on all their favorite toppings!

Ice Cream Flavors:

Vanilla Bean
Strawberry
Loaded Cookie Dough

Toppings:
Sprinkles (by far the kid favorite)
Mini chocolate chips
Gummy Bears
Candy Bar Pieces
Fresh Berries
Chocolate Syrup
Mini Marshmallows
M&M's
Small homemade chocolate cookies
Crushed Oreo's
Homemade whipped cream

Since we're doing the ultimate sundae bar, we're not having cake. Between the toppings and the gooey chocolate cookies, there will be plenty of satisfying sweets.

For food we're having pizza and I'm going to make a big tossed salad to go on the side. We want to keep it simple, but nice. When all is said and done, we'll have spent a hundred dollars or less. That includes the food, decorations, entertainment and party favors. If you're crafty, you can make some cute birthday frippery to keep the party cost down.

For my daughters birthday we're making embellished party hats and a cute personalized party banner. She choose her favorite colors for the hat and we just used odds and ends of different crafting material I had to decorate the hats and banner. I created my own templates for both. You can find also find templates online.

You can use anything to decorate the party hats. We used paper flowers, feathers, pom pom balls, stickers, decorative yarn, etc. For the chin strap you can use a piece of yarn or coated elastic (craft stores).




For the banner, I decorated the pendant flags with various embellishments that reminded me of my daughter and the things she's into now. I also put her name and age on some and I'll include pics of her from when she was a baby until now. I print out the photos on regular paper and cut them out and paste them on. To link the flags together you can sew them, leaving an inch or two between each one or punch holes on the outer corners and use yarn...there are many ways to make one!
I'll post pics of the finished crafts and party in a few days! We're off to a good start though. Should be fun. I'm excited to see how it all turns out!

Quick Healthy Dinner

The other night for dinner, I didn't have many ingredients on hand nor a lot time to make something, so I threw together these yummy turkey burgers.

We had one package of ground, lean turkey, so I seasoned it with some Italian spices, ground coriander, salt and pepper and formed the turkey into patties. I grilled the turkey burgers on our indoor grill pan and served it open-face style on a piece of toasted wheat bread and topped it with lettuce, tomato, avocado and mustard. It was really good and quick. Along side the burger I served cottage cheese and fresh slices of cucumber from my parents garden. Yum!

Dutch Oven Cherry Chocolate Cake

This recipe comes from a dutch oven(DO) cooking class I took at Kirkhams a few months ago. It's really simple and quick to throw together and can be made up camping in the DO or at home.

Take a chocolate box cake mix and make it according to the directions on the back. Pour the batter into a DO and top it with small cubed pieces of cream cheese. Bake it in the DO at 350 for around 25 to 30 minutes, turning the DO a quarter turn every 7 minutes. You know the cake is done when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Don't overcook! Invert the cake onto the lid of the DO and let cool. Once cool, split the cake in half and pour half of a can of cherry pie filling into the middle (pictured below).

Top with the second half of the cake. Frost with whipped chocolate frosting and top with remaining cherries. If you don't want to go to the trouble of filling the cake, just frost it whole once it's cooled and pour the cherry filling on top.I'm not usually a fan of fruit and chocolate, but this cake is delicious! The cherries really just add sweetness and moisture. This is a great dessert for camping.