Easy Microwave-Made Chocolate Pudding

So easy. So yummy! Recipe below. Reminded me of Gail because she used a highly-rated, delicious chocolate pudding recipe from AllRecipes or Recipezaar or something a couple of years ago. I had to try this one below because you make it using a microwave!

I also whipped the cream by hand just for an arm/wrist workout (haha), which reminded me of Gail & Cheri (because Gail hand-whipped this - if you don't have Facebook, see strawberry shortcake picture below) and Minh-Chau & Melissa G. (because Melissa hand-whipped this).




Thick Chocolate Pudding Recipe #76491 (original from Recipezaar; changed wording of recipe to simplify things):

15 min | 5 min prep

SERVES 4

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 cups non-fat milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a 2-quart, microwave-safe bowl, combine the 1st four ingredients
2. Stir in milk until smooth
3. Microwave uncovered on high for 3 min. & then stir
4. Microwave 4-6 minutes longer or until thickened, stirring after each minute
5. Stir in vanilla
6. Pour into individual serving dishes & then cool
7. Refrigerate
   
   * OPTIONAL: Whip up some heavy whipping cream...add sugar if you want...and top w/ cinnamon

The strawberry shortcake Cheri, Gail, & I made last year (I coulda sworn I posted about this, but I think I just remembered posting the pic on Facebook):

Elephant Bar's Apple Blueberry Walnut Cobbler

Had this last night (Friday, 1/30/10) with Michelle S. (Desiree had the jambalaya). Uhh...Not what I was expecting. The topping tasted almost like just sugar. I NEED CRUST! I need doughy-ness! I did like the big chunks of fruit and the ice cream...but not enough to make me want to buy it again.

At least some of the waiters were cute? Haha

Sour Cream Apple Dippers

I dunno what else to call it. We had a lot of leftover sour cream, so I experimented. Here's what tastes good (I didn't make any measurements...just add according to your taste):

(1) Sour cream + white sugar + cinnamon (pictured below)
(2) Sour cream + fruit juice (I used canned peach juice) + chopped fruit
(3) Sour cream + chocolate syrup + cinnamon

Yumm.

Visiting Michele @ Yogurlato

Tiffany and I went to Yogurlato a few weeks ago to visit Michele C., who works there.

I'm not a huge fan of gelato, so my opinion might not matter much. I'll just say that I liked the coffee one because it had a strong coffee flavor. I can't remember what the tiramisu tasted like. It must have been good though since I ate all of it and didn't regret it later. I'm not a gelato person though, so I think I'd...try their yogurt or something instead next time. I also bought pineapple ice cream for my brother, who inhaled it and said that it was good.

Here's their ice cream area:

Half coffee (can't remember exact name) & half tiramisu:

Costco's Roasted Garlic Bread

I am soo far behind w/ my food blog posts. I have lots and lots of pictures from November and December still. ::sigh:: Slowly but surely they'll pop up now that I'm done with grad school apps. Might get bogged down with more grad school stuff though. I hope I do!

I love garlic, and I love bread, so you'd think this would be perfect, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Not garlicy enough or something. Maybe I've increased my garlic taste tolerance lately. Oh well. This bread still tasted really good with olive oil!

Italian Sausages + Baked Apple French Toast

Food gifts from my mom's thoughtful friends/co-workers (when my gma passed away in November). Both dishes were delicious. The french toast was pre-made...all we had to do was stick it in the oven the next morning. Mmm.

Three Different Batches of Persimmon Cookies

(1) These are the ones from Grandma H. I actually first tried persimmon cookies with her way back when I was little.


(2) Below are the ones my Auntie Jill gave us:

(3) Even more persimmon cookies! Thanks, Michelle S.! She gave these to me while we were in the library, and, of course, we sneaked some into our mouths.

Vosges Aztec Elixir Hot Chocolate

I still do not know how to pronounce "Vosges," but they have good chocolate. They're the one with the excotic candy bars and stuff. Click here.

Delicious...but chunky. I was not expecting the little bits of rice-like things in the powder, but the flavor was good. I love dark chocolate and spicy chocolate, so I'll just continue making this but use a strainer of some kind (or just leave the bits at the bottom).

Uncle J & Auntie J gave this to us awhile ago. haha

Post 560: Auntie Jill's Cheesy Potato Dish

Dunno what else to call it. All I know is that it's reeeeally good.

Broken Glass Jello

Easy but time-consuming ('cause you have to wait for the jello to solidify). I'm not a huge jello fan, but I had to make this because I know my cousins and uncle love it, and this seemed like a pretty simple & fun recipe to try, so I made it for Thanksgiving. I also trust The Food Librarian, who has these cool jello recipes with great pictures. Here is her Broken Glass Jello recipe. I didn't care for these that much because I just don't like jello, but my cousin really liked it. Recipe below.

I hate myself for not using a glass dish. The thought of putting jello in a metal container grosses me out. I wonder if anyone reading this knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, I had used the glass containe


Broken Glass Jello
(The Food Librarian adapted this recipe from JustJenn)

4 small boxes (3 oz. each) of Jell-O or store brand "gelatin dessert" in different colors. (I used 6-oz. boxes of strawberry and orange and then added some extra grape jello that my mom had made)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox stuff)

1) For each flavor, dissolve one box of jello in one cup of boiling water.
2) Pour into a container and chill (overnight is best, although I just waited a few hours).
3) After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks.
4) Mix the blocks in a 9 x 13 pan.
5) In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of the unflavored gelatin into 1/2 cup cold water.
6) After the gelatin blooms, add 1 1/2 cup boiling water and dissolve.
7) Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and cool.
8) Pour cooled milk mixture over jello and chill overnight or for a few hours.
9) Cut up into chunks/blocks/shapes/whatever & serve!

Lindt's Chocolate Hazelnut Bar

I gave Jenny a peanut butter chocolate bar, and she gave me this hazelnut bar. haha

Soo many hazelnuts!



I think chocolate bar paper is pretty. Wrapping paper? Silver paper? Paper lining? I dunno. Foil? Chocolate candy bar foil?

Lindt Chocolates

So chocolatey. The gold ones are white chocolate, so I avoided that one, but the red and blue ones taste the same to me, although I didn't eat them at the same time. These have a hard chocolate shell with a smooth, creamy, buttery chocolate center that melts in your mouth. I think I like the texture more than the actual flavor.

In-N-Out's Secret Menu

"Karaoke" is pronounced "kah-rah-oh-keh" (not "kerry-oh-key")--just a random fact/rule that even I don't follow. Just like how "Honda" is "hoe-n-dah" (not "hawn-dah"). I could go on and on, but I don't want to sound like Hermione Granger.

Anyway! Kevin V., Michelle S., and I went to In-N-Out the other night (12/29/09 I believe) after we had sushi and did karaoke-related things. So healthy! :P Did you know you can order a neopolitan shake instead of choosing between strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla? That's one of their secret menu items (they swirl instead of blending it--wahoo!). I had heard you could, but this was my first time trying it myself. The burgers were Kevin & Michelle's.


Below those fries at the top of the picture are "animal style" fries (see other items from In-N-Out's secret menu HERE):

Lemon Cake from Eddie's - Fresno, CA

Eddie's Bakery
7089 N. Cedar Avenue
Fresno, CA 93720
Website here.

Lemon cake from Eddie's Bakery that my grandparents' friends brought over after my grandma passed away. I don't normally like lemony sweets (aside from lemon bars and Marie Callender's double cream lemon pie), but this was pretty good. That little piece to the right is an elevated slice--not a gap. Funny illusion though.

Rocky Road Ice Cream @ Rite Aid

Consumed on 12/30/09.

A huge scoop of delicious ice cream for $1.29? Who would say "no" to that? Went to Rite Aid to get some with Jenny, Gail, & Josephine after we had sushi. I got Rocky Road because I had a feeling I would love it more than I did when I was little, and I was right: I actually like the nuts now.