Give me a C!

And give me chocolate cake! My daughter and I are making Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake in remembrance of the veterans today on Memorial Day. I am typing this as it is baking and the butter is melting for the frosting. And I am totally pioneer because where we live we can't get Internet on a computer so I have to use my cell phone! Lol! Old school baby!

I haven't made cake like this before where you cook the chocolate an add it to the set ingredients. Heck I don't think I've made chocolate cake from scratch before!

We are about to take the cake out of the oven and frost!!! Oh the temptation my daughter is having to just take the pot of frosting and run! Oh and I think I would join her and hide in the closet so baby boy cant find us!

Let me tell you the intense chocolate we have going on here! 8 tablespoons to be exact...in the whole cake and frosting package!

I have included some before and after shots of the cake as well as some yummy frosting dripping from the whisk. :) heaven I tell ya! Oh and that's my daughter helpin out so she can lick the bowl!

Now it's just time for the taste test! Drum roll please.....

Chocolatey richness so good! So rich I couldn't finish my piece! My cowboy loved it! Definite keeper and probably next birthday cake!

So good they were gone...

Before I could get a picture the apple dumplings were GONE! We had even bought ice cream to eat but didn't touch it. My cowboy asks if I can make these every day cause they remind him of pie and was just asking the other day if I could make pies so he could eat them for breakfast! This might be an easier version! The longest part was the baking and I had my doubts when I first pulled them out of the oven cause they looked really liquidy. But it's the secret sauce!

The sauce is a combo of butter, sugar, and vanilla with a splash (12oz.) of something you'll just have to find out about in the new Pioneer Woman cookbook because it's the secret ingredient! This sauce is over the top of apple slices rolled in crescent rolls. And baked for 40 minutes.

Heaven...

Definitely perfect potatoes!

Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin. I was in heaven just creating this magnificent cheesy concoction!

I have only ever purchased the box version of this at the store and I can NEVER get it right! It always took longer than it said to cook and it was always runny! I liked the taste on but it just never made me happy. But folks hang on to your shorts cause this will be better than a roller coaster ride!

This was easier than the box version! Although I did have to cut up my potatoes, I didn't mind one bit! As I added the whole milk and the heavy cream, the garlic and the cheese, I was getting giddy inside!

While the dish cooked and bubbled inside my cowboy comes in from his long day of branding and asks "what's that smell"? He could smell it all the way down the driveway! I said we are having Spicy Dr. Pepper pulled pork and Perfect Au Gratin Potatoes. He says "it smell like cheese" with a big grin on his face! My family are cheese Coinsurers.

When the timer went off to signal its doneness, low and behold, it was done! Perfect!

It was a great dinner a a great combination! No more boxes au gratin spuds for us!

Dr Pepper Pulled Pork

This is becoming my go to recipe for weekends because it goes on to make many other dinner meals for the busy week.

The Pioneer Woman uses onions, salt, pepper, and a while can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, brown sugar and Dr. Pepper (like you didn't know that from the title!) I on the other hand have a child and myself who doesn't like things too spicy so I only used 3or 4 chilies and about 1/4 of the sauce in the can. Trust me it was plenty and still very yummy!

This meal continued on to feed my family pulled pork sandwiches, nachos, and just my husband nibbling every time he was in the fridge! So it was very economical to buy a little larger pork butt (it makes me chuckle every time I say that).

So this recipe will be a monthly go to for me. At least not too often cause I don't want my cowboy to tire of it!