Family Recipes and a Tribute!

Today Stefan watched an episode on Caillou and there was chocolate cake involved. He looked at me with his "happy" eyes and said "Stefan auch Chocolate cake!?!" How can a mom say no?!?! Those "Happy" eyes are hard to resist! I thought about it and actually, chocolate cake would be perfect. Family is coming over in the afternoon and chocolate cake goes well with coffee. So I said "Sure!" and Stefan ran to the kitchen to have some cake..."honey, mommy has to go to the store first...we'll make it afterwards" - Now WHAT kind of chocolate cake should I make? I searched the web and was overwhelmed by Brownie, German Chocolate Cake, Devils Food Cake and Fudge recipes. Then I remembered a recipe book my mom made years ago...full of family recipes. That was it! I remembered seeing a recipe for a chocolate sheet cake...and I distinctly remembered REALLY enjoying how moist and chocolately and just absolutely scrumptous this cake was...and I'd never made it before, so why not? This will be the 2nd recipe listed.

My Tribute. I never got to meet my grandpa Cowles, but rumor (and family old recipes) has it he was a pretty darn good cook! He was a Marine, a father, a son, a grandpa, and a man I wish I'd had the chance to meet. I am pretty sure I get to see a little bit of him though, whenever I see and talk to my dad. Unfortunately, now, that's not very often, due to a few states, the Atlantic Ocean, and a few countries laying between us. Now before I go and get all choked up...lets get back to this recipe! Okay American friends, everyone loves a REALLY good Sloppy Joe! Put that Manwhich can down, step away from the shelves of canned goods and run your cart over and get some fresh hamburger meat, green bell peppers and everything else listed on this recipe, because nothing beats it! This is the sloppy joe recipe we always used....granted after a few years ...decades...of using it we stopped reading the recipe and just did it our way. Today I thought, I'd peep inside that "Family Favorites" recipe book and follow that recipe that Grandpa used and have a day of family recipes to enjoy...with my husband and my son. Here's to you Granpa!

Sloppy Joes - Clyde Cowles Style!

Brown:
2 Pounds hamburger meat
3-4 Stalks of celery (optional)
2 Chopped green bell peppers
2 small or 1 large onion - chopped

Season to taste with:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic (powder, salt or chopped)
Chili powder

Add:
3/4 cup sweet pickle relish (I had to chop up pickles, can't get relish here)
1/4 cup brown sugar (to your taste - I used less)
1 cup ketchup
1 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite kind)
1 can tomato puree
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes

Reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes.

Serve with hamburger rolls and chips or fresh raw vegetables

Mom's Chocolate Sheet Cake:

Mix in pan and bring to boil:
1 cup of butter or margarine
4 Tbsp Cocoa powder
1 cup water

Take off stove and pour over a mixture of:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar

Add:
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all together. Pour into a greased cookie sheet pan and bake at 350° for 20 minutes

Frosting:
While cake is baking, mix in pan and boil:
1/2 cup butter
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk

Remove from heat and add immediately:
1 box of powdered sugar (about 3 1/2 Cups)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional - but shouldn't be, cause it's so great with them!!!)

Spread frosting on cake while cake is still hot - you can technically pour this frosting on the cake...it'll set after awhile.

Chicken wraps: Curry Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Sweet Chili Thai Wraps

We really like to have wraps for dinner, they are easy and tasty!

The "unhealthy" version: Sweet Chili Thai Chicken Wraps:

The "healthy" version: Curry Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Mango Chutney:

2 Wraps: 376 Kcal, 36g Protein, 8g fat and 28g Carbs.

(take out the mayo and chutney and it's even healthier)

Sweet Chili Thai Chicken Wraps:

Boneless - skinless chicken breast (cut into large strips)
2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Thai Sauce
1 Tsp Soy Sauce
Lettuce - Shredded
Carrots - Shredded
Cheese
Onions - sliced thin
Oil for frying
Tortillas

Cut your Chicken into large strips (about 4 strips per chicken breast) and mix with a little soy sauce and sweet chili sauce.

Let sit for a few minutes. Then put some plain bread crumbs into a bowl and coat each piece of chicken, one at a time.

Heat your oil (or oven if you want to save some calories) and fry or bake the strips until they are a nice dark golden brown color.

Warm up the tortillas (per package instructions) and then layer lettuce, onions, shredded carrots (not shown) cheese and two strips of chicken. Pour some sweet chili sauce over.

fold the tortilla up from the bottom and then wrap the sides in and secure with a toothpick.

Dig in!

Curry Chicken Lettuce wraps with *Spicy Mango Chutney (*store bought):

Boneless - skinless chicken breast
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp tomato paste

Green bell peppers - chopped small
Cucumber - Chopped small
Spring onion - sliced
Onion - Sliced
1 garlic clove - sliced or minced
1 tsp Light Mayo
1 tsp curry powder
spinkle of salt

2 large pieces of Lettuce

Mix the curry powder, garlic powder, olive oil and tomato paste together. Rub into the chicken breast.

Broil - grill or bake until cooked through

Cut into bite size pieces and set aside.

Mix the cucumbers, bell peppers, mayo, curry, garlic, spring onion and salt all together. (I later added hot chili peppers, freshly cut, for some extra heat)

Take a large piece of lettuce and spread 1 tsp of the Spicy Mango Chutney in it.

Then put a layer of the vegetable mix on top.

Then top it with the chicken pieces

Then roll it up as best as possible - you can try to secure it with a toothpick, but it doesn't always work well.

Grab a few napkins and dig in! This is pretty messy but very delicious!!!

Meat Samosas

My dad really enjoys these and so we had to make them while they were here visiting!

This is one of those recipes where I don't measure. Samosas are very flexible and you just kind of have to figure out what you like. I'll give you a rough idea of what spices I use.

You'll need:

1-2 lbs ground meat (beef, or beef and pork mixed)
1-2 medium onions
1 package eggroll wonton wrappers (I find these work best, I hate to work with Phyllo dough)
2-3 Tbsp Curry powder
1-2 Tbsp Paprika
1-2 Tbsp Cayenne (depending on how hot you like it)
1-3 tsp Corriander
1-3 tsp Garlic - or a few garlic cloves crushed
Salt
Pepper

- you can get more creative and add some potatoes that have been cut very small and already cooked, peas can also go in mix...play with it!

Brown the meat and then add your onions - I don't drain the meat. I used a pork/beef mixture and the fat content was very low. If you use 100% beef then you might want to drain it, but NOT all of the fat...when you add all the spices, it'll become too dry if there isn't a little fat there.

After adding you onions, saute the meat and onions for a few minutes and then add the spices.

Once everything is nicely mixed you can turn off the burner and get your wonton wrappers ready. I cut them in half diagnolly. I have found this works best for getting a triangle shape.

Heat the oil.

Take one of the end corners and fold it towards the middle corner and seal the edge with water. You'll have a pocket. Fill the pocket with meat and then fold the top corner over...sealing with some water on your fingers. Set aside.

Once all the samosas are prepared and the oil is hot. Fry in the oil until a golden brown color.

Once golden brown, remove from oil and set on a plate covered in paper towels.

Once they are all done, serve them with some chutney or any other dip you want...or just eat plain, they are yummy that way too!