Mom's Birthday Dinner

My mom's birthday was Saturday, so we had all the family over to my "new" house for dinner on Sunday, and after posting on facebook what we had I was asked for some recipes. As a side note, for the cake, read all the instructions first.

Chicken Parmesan for 6

6 pcs -Chicken (white meat, approx 4 oz per peice, so you can cut breasts into more than serving)

1.5-3 c -Bread Crumbs (I use Italian style, you can use whatever and add some italian spices to it)

1.5 c -Flour

2 -Eggs

As needed -Butter

As needed -Parmesan

6 slices- Mozzerella 12 oz. -Tomato sauce

TT-Garlic powder (approx. 1/2-1t.)

TT-Basil (approx 1/2-1 t.)

TT- Onion powder (or dried onions (1 T), or diced fresh onions (2 T))

TT- Salt & Pepper

1-Heat butter in a saute pan till its bubbly and a little brown

2- Heat oven to 350 F.

3- Salt and pepper the chicken , then dredge in flour, eggs, and bread crumbs, and brown on each side in saute pan, set aside.

4- Heat Tomato sauce in saucepan, add garlic powder, basil, salt & pepper. Cook for 10 minutes or so just so that the tomato sauce thickens.

5- Spoon sauce over chicken breasts, and sprinkle with parmesan.

6- Bake for 30 minutes.

7- Place slices of mozzerella on top of each piece and put in oven for additional 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

8- Enjoy!

Squash-

Squash (any semi hard squash- butternut, crookneck, etc, not zucchini)

Zesty Italian Dressing Parmesan (the cheap stuff)

Water

1-Peel and dice squash- remove seeds.

2- Toss with dressing and let sit for a few hours to marinate.

3- Heat up saute pan and add squash, most of the marinade and a little water, cover pan.

4- Stir occassionally and cook till the liquid is pretty much all gone and squash is beginning to brown. Sprinkle with parmesan and cook just a few more minutes.

Tomato Basil Soup for 6

So here's the thing, I'm a big cheat, I can totally make this from scratch, but it takes a lot longer and I'm all about the quick fix these days. I've also discovered this taste pretty much exactly the same. My brother came over for dinner yesterday and he literally just chowed down on this the majority of the time. Also, I served this with pesto croutons as a garnish.

2 cans Condensed Tomato Soup

Milk

Cream

TT- Granulated Onion

TT-Basil (fresh or dried)

TT-Garlic (granualted, minced, however you want, I think the granulated works best though)

TT- Salt & Pepper

1-2 -Diced Tomatoes (canned for fresh, but if fresh, blanch and remove peels, then dice)

1- Pour condensed soup into sauce pan, and add 1 can of milk (doesn't matter what kind really), and 1/2 can milk and 1/2 can cream. (When I say can, you are using the condensed soup can)

2- Add Basil, garlic, onion, and s&p. Stir to makes sure it is really mixed in.

3- Heat to boiling, then turn heat down to low and let simmer for however long you want to, just so that the flavors mix, add diced tomatoes 10 minutes or so before you are done.

Coconut Cream Cake- Stolen from Emeril, Side note this is sooooo not healthy, but seriously probably my favorite cake on the planet, these days anyways.

2 c. - Sugar 1/2 c. Butter- softened

1/2 c. Vegetable Oil ( I use Canola oil, any non strong flavored oil I'm sure would work)

5- Large Eggs, separated

2 C- AP Flour

1 t.- Baking Soda

1/2 c. Ground Pecans (I actually go for the chopped, I like having the little pecan pieces in the cake)

1 c. -Buttermilk

1 c. Unsweetened Coconut (I bought one and then grated it, and I'm sure if you don't want to put forth the effort, and really who can blame you, you can probably just use the sweetened shredded stuff at the store, but I'd use the stuff that is still pretty moist)

1- Heat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease and flour 3 8in round pans (or I use 2 9in rounds)

2- Cream the butter and then add the sugar, a little at a time so it mixes in well

3- Add oil in a steady stream while still mixing (either in stand mixer or with a hand mixer)

4- Add egg yolks 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

5- Sift flour and baking soda together, stir in chopped pecans.

6- Alternately add buttermilk and flour mix by thirds into batter. Fold in coconut.

7- In a separate bowl beat (make sure you wash the beaters, because if you have any fat on them, i.e. butter, or yolks, your whites won't stiffen) egg whites to stiff, (meaning when you pull the beaters out the tips don't fall over. Fold into batter by thirds.

8- Bake for 25- 30 minutes, should spring back when touched.

9- Cool (don't freak out if the middle falls, it's fine, it's also a pretty dense cake, it will still taste fantastic)

Now for the best part, the frosting, and yes you really do need this much powdered sugar.

8 oz. -Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 c. Butter (1 stick), softened

1 1/2 lbs Powdered Sugar, sifted

1 t. Vanilla Extract

2 T milk

1 c. -Pecan pieces (again I just chop them, and food processor works great, but sift out the really powdery stuff)

1- Beat cream cheese till fluffy, add butter and mix till it's uniform

2- Add powdered sugar 1/2-1c at a time, till it's all been added in. (I actually sift it while adding it to the cream cheese mix)

3- Add vanilla and milk, mix.

4- Fold in pecan pieces.

Putting the cake together

1- Now you are going to put down the first layer of cake, frost it, thin, but not too thin, repeat till all layers are stacked

2- Frost the sides of the cake, then the top.

Your cake is essentially done, but I like to make it a little prettier, so I take 8 oz sweetened coconut and toast it (you can do this in a toaster oven) and stir occasionally so that it gets equally toasted. Let it dry, then after you've frosted the cake, fill your hand (clean hands) and pat the coconut onto the sides of the cake followed by the the top. You now have a pretty and yummy cake.