• ½ cup Milk
• 1½ tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 cup AP Flour
• ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• ¾ tsp. Baking Soda
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ¼ cup Oil (Canola, Coconut, etc.)
• ⅓ cup Applesauce
• 1½ tsp. Vanilla
• ½ cup boiling Water

Instructions

1. Prepare the “buttermilk.”
   In a small bowl, mix the milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside for a few minutes to curdle slightly.
2. Preheat & prep.
   Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease an 8×8-inch baking pan.
3. Mix dry ingredients.
   In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
4. Add wet ingredients.
   Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the canola oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Stir until combined.
5. Add boiling water.
   Slowly stir in the boiling water until the batter is smooth. The batter will be thin.
6. Bake.
   Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter, diced and softened to room temperature
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder
• 1⅔ cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. Milk (plus a few drops more if needed)

Instructions

1. Beat the butter and cocoa powder together with a mixer until fully blended.
2. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix well.
3. Add the vanilla and milk, then beat in the remaining powdered sugar.
4. Frosting should be very thick. If needed, carefully add a few drops of milk until desired consistency is reached.

Recipe Notes

• This recipe is half of the original cake recipe and one-third of the original frosting recipe.
• For a 9×13-inch pan: double the cake recipe and double the frosting recipe.
• For a two-layer cake: double the cake recipe and triple the frosting recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups reserved pasta water
• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 4 Tbsp. Flour
• 2 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
• freshly ground Pepper to taste
• 14 cup fresh Parsley
• 1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a pan.
2. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a paste; cook until the flour is no longer raw, 1-2 minutes.
3. Whisk in the reserved two cups of pasta water and the heavy cream.
4. Season with 1 tsp. salt and the ground pepper.
5. Return to a simmer, whisking to make a smooth sauce.
6. Cook over low heat until thickened.
7. Remove the pot from heat and add the parmesan cheese, parsley, and lemon juice. Stir.

5 cups AP Flour
3 Tbsp. Sugar
5 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. Table Salt

1/2 cup Butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup Butter, melted and divided
1/2 cup Shortening, cubed
2 cups Buttermilk

1. Stir together the water, yeast, and 1 tsp. sugar in a small bowl and let stand 5 min.
2. Stir together flour, 3 Tbsp. sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. Cut the cold butter and shortening into the flour mixture until crubmly.
4. Add yeast mixture and buttermilk to the flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours. It can be stored in the fridge up to 5 days.
6. Preheat oven to 400.
7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead three or four times.
8. Gently roll dough into a 3/4 inch thick circle and fold dough in half; repeat.
9. Cut with a 2in. round biscuit cutter.
10. Place rounds, with sides touching, in a 10 or 12in cast-iron skillet or on a parchment lined baking sheet.
11. Brush biscuits with 2 Tbsp. melted butter.
12. Bake at 400 for 15-20 min or until golden brown.
13. Brush with remaining butter and serve.

Have veggies diced and ready.

1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup AP Flour

Over medium heat, stir until flour is browned the color of pecan shells. Add chopped veggies and stir. Reduce heat and let the veggies get tender.

Add:
1/2 – 1 can Diced Tomatoes
3 cups Water

1 Tbsp. Parsley
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
1/16 tsp. each of Cayenne, Allspice, cloves.

8-10 oz. chopped Okra.

1. In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, yeast, and salt to combine.
2. Add the water, yogurt, and butter and mix on low until the dough comes together. About 4 min.
3. Raise the speed to medium and mix 3 more min.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until nearly doubled in size. About 1-1.5 hours.
5. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until very hot.
6. Roll one piece of dough out on a lightly floured surface to a round about 8in. wide.
7/ Add the naan to the hot skillet and cook for 2-3 min. until the dough puffs up. Flip and cook on the other side for 1-2 min. more.
8. Continue until all of the dough has been cooked.

Season the roast all over with salt and pepper. It takes A LOT of salt. Mimi says once start to think you put too much salt on there, put a little more. Brown the roast in in a cast iron with some unsalted butter. Be patient and let it get good and browned. Don’t get the pan too hot that the butter starts to burn. Once it’s sufficiently browned, transfer to the crock put. Pour a cup or two of water in the cast iron and scrape the bottom with a spatula. Pour that water into the crock pot. The roast should be about half way covered in water. Cook until the roast starts to fall apart. Add carrots and potato’s when you have about 1 hour left to cook. Once it’s done you can easily make a gravy with the remaining liquid.

The next day you can easily turn the leftovers into vegetable beef soup.  Put leftover roast, vegetables, and gravy into a soup pot. Add a can of diced tomato’s and some water or beef broth. Add in any extra vegetables, such a corn, peas, green beans, celery, onion, etc. If they are canned, just dump them in, but if they are fresh you will want to pre-cook or parboil them. Let simmer and season to taste.

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 3 cups milk
• 6 medium (6 cups) peeled and thinly sliced potatoes

Make a white sauce of the first five ingredients. Place half the potatoes in a greased casserole dish. Cover with half the sauce then repeat the layers.

Cover and bake at 350 for one hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer. Let set to cool about 10 minutes.

Option 1: I often use meat from a rotisserie chicken, Sam’s has the best ones. Just pull the chicken off the bones, discard the skin, and chop into bite sized pieces.

Option 2: Use chicken thighs or breasts and boil in salted water until cooked through. Then, remove chicken from the pot and chop into small pieces. 

Option 3: We love to brine and roast a whole chicken AND it is not much more work to make two. We often eat one for dinner and use the second one for another meal. Whether it’s for a pot pie, soup, quesadilla’s, etc, it is worth the extra effort to make two! The meat can be precut and portioned out and frozen for later use

Boil the veggies for the filling:

Roughly chop up one carrot, one celery stalk and one potato into cubes. Boil in salted water along with one half small can of English peas, corn, and green beans. Be sure to rinse the canned veggies before cooking to improve the flavor.

While that boils:

Make the filling by sautéing about 1/2 medium onion in 6 Tbsp of butter. Stir in 1/2 cup of flour and 1 tsp. of salt, and 3 cups chicken broth. Whisk until the sauce is boiling and starts to thicken. (You can use two cans of broth or 3 cups of water with 3 chicken bouillon cubes)

Once veggies are soft:

Remove veggies and drain. Add to the thickened broth/filling. Add the chicken. Taste to make sure it has enough salt. It often needs quite a lot more. Plus, some pepper. 

Assemble the pie:

Divide the filling into pie pans. I usually make two or three from one batch. You can cook one that night and freeze the rest for later. If you think you might want to give some away, assemble the extra pot pie’s in toss away aluminum foil containers. 

Add pie crust to the top, bake at around 350-400 until hot and bubbly. Cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil if they start to brown too fast.