MiMi's Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

My granddaughter's birthday was this past weekend and she decided she wanted a "home-made" Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake for her birthday cake.  I had not made one in quite some time and as I started looking to make sure that I had all of the ingredients on hand, I was surprised to find that I did not have this recipe on my blog!  

My granddaughter likes this cake with vanilla ice cream on it, topped with maraschino cherries!  I have to say it is pretty delicious like that! 

This is one of those cakes that "haunt" you 'til it's gone!  

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

3 cups sugar

5 eggs 

3 cups All Purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 (8 oz.) sour cream

1 cup boiling water

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Soften butter.

Cream butter well.   Gradually add sugar to creamed butter, beating well. (This is the secret to a good pound cake....creaming the sugar and butter until smooth and creamy.)

Add eggs, one at the time, beating well after each addition.

Combine flour, cocoa, soda and salt in a separate bowl.  

Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with sour cream -- beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Mix well after each addition.

Add boiling water and mix well.  Stir in vanilla flavoring.

The batter will look somewhat thin after the addition of the boiling water.

Pour batter into a well-greased and floured tube pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until cake tests done. 
(Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.)

Cool cake in pain on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes.

Invert cake onto plate.

Flip cake upright on wire rack to cool completely.

After completely cool, place cake on cake plate for serving.

ENJOY!!!

Southwestern Taco Soup

This is a very hearty soup (more like chili) and is always a "hit" with my family.  It is one of my favorites, too, because it could not be any simpler to prepare.  AND it is one of those "comfort foods" that we ALL love this time of year as the weather is starting to get colder!

2 lbs. ground beef
1 (1.25 oz.) packet of taco seasoning
1 can chili beans
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 4 oz. can green chilies
2 - 2 1/2 cups water
1 packet ranch dressing mix

Place ground beef in a large pot or Dutch oven.

Brown ground beef over medium heat until there is no pink remaining.  Drain thoroughly.

Sprinkle entire packet of Taco Seasoning mix over the top of the ground beef and stir thoroughly.

Add all of the canned vegetables and continue to stir until well combined.

Sprinkle the packet of Ranch Dressing mix over top of mixture.

Stir until well-combined and simmer over low heat for a minimum of 20-30 minutes.  (The longer the mixture simmers, the better the finished product will be.)

Serve with desired toppings such as grated cheese, sour cream, corn chips, and/or cornbread.   

*Shown here with a buttered and toasted slice of good ole' Southern Buttermilk Cornbread.

One-Pot Pork Chop Supper

In my early years of marriage, I used to prepare this dish often...especially since pork chops have always been one of my husband's favorites!  I made it again recently and was reminded of just how simple and how good this dish is! 

One of the best things about the preparation of this dish is that it is all done in one pot, so clean-up is a cinch. It is very simple to prepare, and once you have it in the skillet you can have a little time to yourself!

4 bone-in center cut pork chops
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 can tomato soup **
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar, if making GF)
6-8 small potatoes, quartered
15-20 baby carrots, or 4 carrots cut into 2 inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut in 1/8ths


** Can substitute a 16 oz. Creamy Tomato Soup or Roasted Red Pepper Soup as in picture above if you are looking for a Gluten Free (GF) option. Omit water if using one of these soups.

Generously salt and pepper both sides of pork chops.

Heat oil in skillet on Medium heat and brown pork chops on both sides. Drain well.

While chops are browning, prepare vegetables.
If using condensed tomato soup, mix soup with water in a bowl until well-combined.

After chops are browned on both sides, add all remaining ingredients to skillet.

Cover and cook over Medium Low heat for approximately 1 1/4 hours, or until vegetables are tender.

The sauce this dish makes is really yummy over rice.  Add a tossed salad and dinner is served!  Enjoy!

Southern SWEET Tea

This post is in response to a request from one of my sweet, blogging friends, Denise, from Colorado, who asked me a LONG time ago to post on my blog how us Southerners brew our sweet tea.

Having grown up in South Georgia, where some would say our sweet tea bordered on being a SYRUP, I forget that not everyone drinks their iced tea the way we do here in the South.  Believe it or not, my husband is actually from a family that drinks their tea UN-SWEET!  I think that MUST surely be against some Southern Law... right! Don't worry...I converted him over YEARS ago! ( :

4 Family Size Tea Bags
1 - 1 1/3 cups of sugar (or 3/4 cup Splenda, if desired)
1 gallon size container
Lemon, if desired

Bring small pan of 3-4 cups of filtered water ALMOST to a boil.

Just when the water is about to boil, remove pan from heat and add tea bags.

Allow tea bags to steep in pan of hot water for 7-8 minutes.

When timer goes off, remove tea bags from pot, squeezing them GENTLY over pan. (Discard tea bags.)

Immediately add sugar to the pan while steeped tea is still hot...so that sugar will dissolve.

Stir thoroughly until sugar is completely dissolved.

Pour the steeped tea into a gallon size container that has already been filled about half way with cold filtered water. Add enough water to fill to the top.

Chill in the fridge until ice cold and serve over ice.

Note:  In the South, you MUST have a very fancy gallon container like the one pictured above!  No Southern dinner table is complete without a "JUG of Sweet Tea"! 


It is really only good for about 2 days...after that it's time to make a new batch!

Oh...and if  you TRULY wanna be Southern, it's really wonderful with a squeeze of fresh lemon (or lime)!  YUM!

** HINT :   Our family always keeps this little luxury on hand so you can have 100% pure lemon juice anytime you want it....with just a squeeze!  Enjoy!

Perfect Brined Turkey

I brined our fresh turkey that we had for Thanksgiving this year and it turned out to be the BEST whole turkey that I had ever prepared for my family. So...I decided that I would brine our CHRISTmas turkey, too...only instead of letting it brine for 24 hours, I let it stay in the brine solution for 48 hours. Oh.My.Goodness! It was so incredibly moist you can not believe it!

It takes a little more planning to get the bird brining 2 days before you are going to roast it, but trust me, it is WELL worth the extra prior planning! I will never again cook a whole turkey any other way!

BRINE for turkey:


1 (16 lb.) fresh turkey
1 cup kosher salt
3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
4 cups hot water
4 cups cold water
1/4 cup whole black peppercorns
1 (1 oz.) package of fresh thyme

Mix sugar and salt together with 4 cups hot water in a food-safe container large enough for your turkey.  Stir until sugar and salt are completely dissolved.   (I used a 12 quart stockpot.. Just make sure that your container is large enough for your bird to fit in and still be able to cover it with the lid.)

Add 4 cups cold water and mix well.

Add 1/4 cup peppercorns and the bunch of fresh thyme.

Place turkey in the container. Add enough cold water to completely cover the turkey.  Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours.


Preparing Turkey for roasting:

Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch of thyme
1 large bunch fresh rosemary
3 medium size onions
1 whole head garlic, cut in half crosswise
1 lemon, halved
1/2 stick of butter, melted
8-10 red potatoes, halved
2-3 heads of fennel, cut into wedges
8-10 carrots, cut into 2" pieces
Approximately 1/2 cup of olive oil

After turkey has been in the brine solution for 48 hours, remove and drain well.  Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Place the turkey in a roasting pan and liberally salt and pepper the INSIDE of the turkey cavity. Be generous!


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stuff the inside cavity of the bird with one onion that has been quartered, the halved lemon and the head of garlic that has been sliced crosswise.

Brush the outside of the turkey with the melted butter and liberally salt and pepper the outside of the turkey. Don't be afraid to be very generous with the salt and pepper!

Secure the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings up underneath the body of the turkey.

Peel and slice the remaining onions, toss them with about 1/4 cup olive oil and spread them all around the turkey in the roasting pan. *

Roast the turkey for 1 hour.  While the turkey is roasting, cut up the carrots, potatoes and fennel and toss in a zip-loc bag with 1/4 cup olive oil. 
After the turkey has been roasting for one hour, scatter the carrots, potatoes and fennel all around the turkey in the roasting pan and continue cooking for an additional 2-2 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you stick a knife between the thigh and the leg. *

Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover it with a tent of aluminum foil for 20-30 minutes.

Give the vegetables a good stir and return the roasting pan with the vegetables to the oven and continue cooking while the turkey is resting.

Slice the turkey and serve on a platter with the roasted vegetables.  If desired, thicken the pan drippings with cornstarch and add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar for some delicious gravy!

* Tip: I cut up my 2 onions ahead of time and place them in a zip-loc back with olive oil.  I do the same thing with my carrots, fennel and potatoes and then all you have to do is pull them out of fridge and scatter them around the turkey when it is time to add them to the turkey.