Tex Mex Salad
This is a taste-alike look-alike. I’ve been craving Jake’s Tex Mex salad for years now. I’ve come to conclude I just have to make it myself. For best results the ingredients need to be freshly prepared … Then just simply layer into the perfect Tex Mex Salad.
Jake’s Tex Mex Cafe is located in Bakersfield and has been pleasing many with their comfort foods for decades. It’s a cafeteria style restaurant if it hasn’t changed … providing a casual pleasantly fast service. As you approach the end of the service line there is a tempting dessert, their delicious chocolate cake. I haven’t frequented this eatery in years. So I can’t remember the tastes of this cake but I have a recipe for an equally delicious easily made chocolate cake. You won’t be disappointed.
No Fuss Chocolate Cake
The moistest chocolate layer cake you’ll ever bake! Not too sweet and just the right amount of chocolate taste. So says my taste tester! What’s the secret? Sour cream and brown sugar add the amazing moisture, and the chocolate … use your very best unsweetened cocoa along with the best vanilla to achieve the just right taste.
Pasta fully loaded … with vegetables that is! And for the meat lover … you won’t miss it! Sometimes the simplest of dishes is best. If your garden is full of summer vegetables your shopping list for this amazing dish just got shorter.
Love my hairstylist, Melissa, for more than taming my hair … a real time consuming task, believe me. We share interests … our love for family, cleaning (ha), and food. Melissa recently tried a version of this recipe, apparently Mississippi Roast has been around, (who knew?), and said it was amazing. It sounded really tasty as she gave me the list of the few ingredients without much in directions. Melissa is considerably younger than I … In fact, she’s younger than my youngest child. What does this have to do with anything? I like to get ideas of what young mother’s & dad’s cook for their families. Yep, I have several of her recipes on this blog, some of Portuguese origin. Just plug her name, MELISSA, in the search box above to see what happens. Thank you Melissa!
Whether making dessert for 25 or 50, let me make it fast and easy for you. These two cakes made 48 generous slices. They could have been sliced a bit smaller making 30 servings per 1/2 sheet cake pan, 60 total. I love gatherings but used to get exhausted trying to do it all. I found not only is organization key but recipes that look and taste delicious with the least amount of effort are best when serving a large group. I do fall into the believers … deliciousness comes from not only the palate but the visual too. For these cakes I chose attractive gold colored half cake pans. I knew I wasn’t going to remove the baked cakes to another dish. Side by side, they looked lovely on the self-serve dessert table. If you wish to perfect this further, a la Martha Stewart, use a ruler when slicing the entire cake to give the eye the beauty of exactness, and use attractive, sterling perhaps, serving utensils.
A family recipe I would have never tasted if it weren’t for Margie. Margie put together a family gathering (yesterday) … Through ancestry.com she found my brother (and then me), and Marie (her family) and many others. Now, I’m not advocating family searches. But in our case, my brother & me, we were curious. My father’s father died at a young age and dad just slipped into the Willitts and Perry families. Dan & I heard very little about dad’s other side of the family. Not for the reason that perhaps you might guess. It was a matter of life getting in the way. So when we heard from Margie we were excited … as excited as she was!
Apples I didn’t want to go to waste. What a great choice if I do say so! The ingredients list is minimal … producing this beautiful and tasty cake. Oh yeah, have it for breakfast! Heavy with apples surrounded by a slightly sweet vanilla cake. Try it today!
The perfect answer to those hard boiled eggs. Or try this recipe with soft boiled! Great for a guest breakfast! Make ahead and keep up to 3-4 days refrigerated. I’m not sure about the traditional recipe but I like mine spicy, Italian spicy actually. If you’re not into it you can spice up your ground pork anyway you like. Maybe you’re a Jimmy Dean Sausage fan like my mother. It all works!