J's Avocado Heaven

The night before last, I made a meal that my dear wife adored, ranking it up with the ravioli with pumpkin cream sauce I made for her a few autumns ago. Since she raved about it, I am posting the recipe. I served this with Spanish rice from a box, butter lettuce salad with her company's balsamic vinaigrette and a cola cake with Creole icing. I thought the cake sucked, but when the foil ripped the icing off last night on the way to the pool, I found out that it was only the icing that sucked. And that's a matter of opinion because my oldest child licked the icing from the foil with glee and the younger requested LOTS of icing with his cake this afternoon. It was far too sweet for me & I didn't even add all the sugar it suggested. However, the cake, devoid of its icing, is pretty tasty, so I will include that recipe, too. It's Sandra Lee cake. Well, not really, but it's certainly only semi-homemade, so those of you who scoff at boxed cake mix will want to scroll past that!

Chicken Avocado Casserole

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked & chunked
6 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. flour
1 c. half & half
1 c. chicken stock
Salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 dashes hot sauce (more, if you like)
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 c. toasted slivered almonds
2 ripe avocados, peeled & sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in skillet, until foamy. Add flour & cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Slowly add cream & stock, stirring until smooth & thickened. Add salt, pepper, parmesan, hot sauce, rosemary, basil & stir well. Put chicken in 2 quart casserole & season with salt & pepper. Pour sauce over chicken & bake 25 minutes. Sprinkle with almonds & bake 10 minutes. Top with avocado & bake another minute or two.

Easy Cola Cake

1 box devil's food cake mix (not the pudding-in-the-mix kind)
1 (3.9 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
1/2 c. oil
10 oz. cola (1 1/4 c.)

Mix all but cola on low. Bring the cola to a boil over medium heat. Gradually beat into batter. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Pour into greased & floured 9x13 pan. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. This needs no icing, but would probably be delightful with powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Take it to the pool to share...we did!

What we had with the cake at the pool:
-Grilled steak (J's choice & I didn't even bother trying to dissuade her...it was great, too. The kids don't really like filet mignon much, so they got t-bones. They also don't like cactus butter, so Boot ate his with Frank's Hot Sauce, which he puts on everything, and Pie had his plain)
-Baked potatoes
-Butter lettuce with bottled Caesar
-Fresh pineapple, golden & sweet
-Really yucky starfruit...I don't know how to pick them & it was obvious last night! Yuck! They looked gorgeous, starting to go orange, and I figured they must be better that way than when they're simply yellow. Nope. They sure looked pretty on the plate, though, and Boot said, "Hey, how come you guys got the cool-looking pineapple???"

I also enjoyed some Lindemans Framboise Raspberry Lambic Beer, the only beer I will drink. It is like a mouthful of fresh raspberry heaven, with bubbles. It's a little pricey for me, but well worth it for the occasional indulgence.