My Last Day at Home as I Know It

The time has come to say good bye to what we have loved for many years- TAIWAN!

This is one of the hardest things for me to do- LEAVE!

There's a picture of my little sunshine standing in our kitchen- FAMILY!

Here's to starting a new life with family in the states- HOME!

Handmade with Love

These felt foods were made by a very dear friend of ours here in Taiwan and she said it took two months for her to finish them! I can't get over how real they look and how much fun they are! I am having such great tea parties with my 1-1/2 year or and her stuffed animals!
Thank you, Lily and Allen!! We love you guys!





Savannah is still trying to get Coke out of that straw and always insists I help her! :)

Lazy Summer Afternoon

Isn't this a perfect picture for a summer afternoon?

Refreshing

satisfying

Inviting

Upgrade Life and Taste Just Ivy Pasta

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s recipe: Upgrade Life and Taste Just Ivy Pasta – serves a crowd

My bag of pasta has this title across the front and it has ME rolling! What a perfect name for pasta salad- and I still have NO IDEA what they are trying to say (That tends to happen here a lot in Taiwan)!
If you have a bottle of Italian dressing, then your life just got even simpler! Just add that to your cooked pasta and veggies, stir and serve! But if not, there is a list of ingredients here to make your own Italian dressing. Try mixing extra for a green salad on another occasion or, as I’ve found, the pasta salad is a bit dry the next day so I add some more dressing before serving it again.
As I was trying to take a good picture of my pasta salad under natural lighting, my little girl decided to join my “picnic” and help herself to my bowl! I thought it was cute so I documented that too!

Item’s needed:

• Stove top burner
• Large boiling pot
• Strainer for cooked noodles
• Large mixing bowl
• Cutting board and knife
• Spoon for mixing
• Can opener
• Measuring cups/ spoons
• A picnic blanket

Ingredients Needed:
1 bag spiral pasta (tri-colored is fun)
2 chopped tomatoes
½ chopped green pepper
¼ chopped onion
1 Can of black olives ( optional)
1 Can of kidney beans (optional)
1 cup olive oil
½ cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 13 -15 minutes or until done.
2. Meanwhile, place the chopped tomatoes, green pepper, onion, black olives and beans into a large bowl.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly. This allows these ingredients to marinate before adding the pasta.
4. Drain pasta and rinse with cool water. Add to the bowl and mix. Chill and serve!

Pancakes from Scratch

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.


Today’s Recipe: Pancakes from Scratch- makes approximately 8 medium sized pancakes.

I realize it’s difficult to find pancake syrup here in Taiwan but have you ever tried jelly or honey? Not too bad. Try a side of fresh mango with them- out of this world! But we do have a few international/baking supply stores in our area that actually sell “Country Kitchen” pancake syrup from the States. We were willing to spend a bit more for it to have on our French toast and pancakes. If you are feeling really adventurous and want to try making your OWN syrup, follow this LINK.
Of course, there are numerous ways to enhance a pancake- add a little mashed banana and cinnamon, throw in some chocolate chips, grated apple, instant oatmeal, whatever your mood is screaming at the moment.

Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Cooking spatula
• Small bowl
• Whisk
• Large spoon
• A sleepy face

Ingredients Needed:
¾ cup flour
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk just until everything is blended.
2. Turn the pan on medium heat. Using a large spoon or ladle, pour the batter into a few pancake shapes.
3. Once you see bubbles all over the top, flip and cook for a few more minutes.

Enjoy!

Eastern Curry

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.


Today's Recipe: Eastern Curry Dish – serves 6 people
We had some Taiwanese friends over to show us how to make this yummy dish. It was easier than I thought! They buy the instant curry cubes that are sold in stores all around us. I bought a package for $49 NT (about $1.50) for 8 people. NOT BAD! But you can find all sorts of flavors and levels of spiciness. Try it sometime! Add steamed broccoli as a side dish for more color and nutrition.

Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Heavy saucepan and lid
• Cooking spatula
• Cutting board and knife
• Vegetable peeler
• A love for India

Ingredients Needed:
4 large potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion
5 cubes instant curry (picture)
1 lb. pork or beef
Water
Cooked white rice

Directions:
1.Chop all veggies and meat into cubes (Chop 1 potato into SMALL chunks. This will help thicken the curry while simmering. )
2. Over medium heat, sauté onion in a little oil. Add meat and cook until meat halfway done.
3. Add potatoes and carrots.
4. Pour in water until almost covering the meat and veggies.
5. Add a few curry cubes to start out with. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the last three blocks of curry and more water if necessary. Serve over white rice.

"Crummy" Chicken Strips

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

“Crummy” Chicken Strips- serves 3 or 4
Wes does an amazing job in the kitchen and a few years ago discovered a delicious recipe for breaded chicken using crackers! I’m sure any brand of salty/ vegetable flavored crackers will do just fine but I’m posting a picture of the kind we like. They are veggie-seaweed flavored and normally I don’t choose seaweed as a snack for ANY occasion, but these are fantastic!

Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Pan
• 2 shallow dishes
• Fork
• Baggie
• An apron

Ingredients Needed:
6-8 Chicken tenderloins
1 egg
1 package of crackers
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Oil for frying

Directions:
1. Wash and pat the chicken dry.
2. 2. Beat the egg in a shallow bowl.
3. Place crackers in a bag; seal and with your fist, smash the crackers until fine. Place crumbs in a shallow bowl.
4. Using a fork, dip chicken in egg (coating both sides) and then into crumbs.
5. Preheat the oil in a pan for a few minutes over medium heat.
6. Place chicken strips in the pan and allow to fry for a few minutes or until golden brown before flipping to do the same on the other side.

Serve hot with coleslaw or mashed potatoes and garlic butter bread!

Southern Slaw

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

This is fun as a side for any BBQ party with your friends. The mayonnaise comes in small bags in the local grocery and is a little sweeter than we are used to so cut way down on the sugar if using that. In the picture on the right, I added mayonnaise to the top bowl and only the vinegar dressing to the bowl at the bottom.

Today’s Recipe: Southern Slaw- serves 6 people

Items Needed:

• Large mixing bowl
• Grater ( I found a cheap one at a household supply store)
• Measuring cups
• A BBQ party

Ingredients:
3 to 4 cups shredded cabbage, about ½ a head
1/2 medium green pepper, diced
1 carrot, shredded
2 tablespoons grated sweet onion
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
mayonnaise, if desired


Directions:
In a large bowl, toss cabbage, green pepper, carrots, and onion. Cover and chill thoroughly. In a small bowl, combine sugar, salt, vinegar, and oil. Pour over vegetables and toss before serving. If creamier coleslaw is desired, stir in some mayonnaise, a little at a time, until the desired consistency.

Grilled PB&J

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s Recipe: Grilled PB & J- Serves YOU

Ok, so maybe you all grew up with grilled PB&J’s, but this was new for me last year! A friend made one for me with peanut butter and sliced bananas- it was YUMMY! I loved the peanut butter oozing out of my sandwich with warm bananas! Give it a try and see what you think!
Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Pan
• Cooking spatula
• Knife
• A childhood memory
  

Ingredients Needed:
2 slices of bread
Peanut butter
Any choice of jelly, honey OR banana
Butter

Directions:
1. Spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread and jelly, honey or banana on the other side.
2. Put them together to make a sandwich and butter both sides of the sandwich.
3. Heat the pan over medium heat and grill one side until golden brown and flip, doing the same to the other side.

Whatcha think??

Blended Fruit "Duo Duo"

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s Recipe: Blended Fruit “Duo Duo”- Serves 2

The fun thing about this recipe is how creative you can be. People are always giving us fruit that’s in season and sometimes we just have way too much to eat while it’s fresh. I freeze lots of bananas before they go brown and will blend them up with milk and chocolate syrup or peanut butter. It’s a real creamy treat! But stores have a variety of drinkable yogurts which add a delightful flavor to any smoothie.

Items Needed:

• Blender
• Cutting board and knife
• Two large glasses
• A suntan

Ingredients Needed:
1 ½- 2 cups of any variety of frozen fruit. I love using bananas and mangoes but whatever is in season will work. If you use frozen fruit, you won’t have to look for ice cubes!
2 cups of Drinkable Yogurt (see picture), juice or milk.

Directions:
1. Cut frozen fruit into smaller pieces
2. Pour your choice of liquid in the blender
3. Add fruit and blend until smooth

This is DELICIOUS on a hot day and we have plenty of those here in Taiwan!

Summer Potato Salad

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Mayonnaise is something that I am picky with and will take the trip to COSTCO just to get name brand stuff, but I did find a selection of mayo in the local grocery store (usually in small bags) that would work just fine for this. If that's what you decide to use, just start with a small about and slowly add to your liking.

Today's Recipe: Summer Potato Salad- serves 4

Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Small pot for boiling
• Bowl for mixing
• Cutting board/knife
• Friends for sampling

Ingredients Needed:
2 eggs
2 large potatoes
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (optional)
½ cup mayonnaise (pic of mayo)
½ teaspoon Garlic Salt
Pinch of black pepper

Directions:
1. Cover the eggs with lukewarm water and bring to boil for 15 minutes.
2. Wash and cut potatoes into bite size pieces.
3. Once the eggs are finished, rinse in cool water, peel and chop- place in bowl.
4. Cover the potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender but still firm. Drain and add to bowl.
5. Chop the green pepper and onion into small pieces- add to bowl.
6. Add vinegar, mayonnaise, garlic salt, and black pepper to bowl. Stir just until mixed. Be careful not to over-mix or you will end up with mashed potatoes!

Fancy Toast from France

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today's Recipe: Fancy Toast from France- makes 4-5 slices

Items Needed:

• Stove top burner
• Pan
• Flipper spatula
• Shallow bowl for egg mixture
• Fork
• A cup of coffee

Ingredients Needed:
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
4-5 slices of bread
Butter or oil for the pan
Powdered sugar, syrup, honey, brown sugar- any topping you’d like

Directions:
1. Beat the milk, egg, vanilla extract and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
2. Over medium heat, place a little oil or butter in the pan.
3. Dip bread in mixture- with a fork, flip it, making sure both sides of the bread are covered.
4. Place in pan and cook thoroughly; golden brown on both sides.
5. Top with powdered sugar or anything else that suits your fancy!

This is delicious, even for dinner!

French Bread Pizza

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s Recipe- French Bread Pizza

• Items Needed:
• Toaster oven
• Waxed paper or tin foil
• Bread knife
• Italian music
• A mustache

Ingredients Needed:
French bread, sandwich bread or bagel
Cheese
Toppings: onions, mushrooms,tomatoes, green peppers, fresh basil, etc.
Pasta sauce or pizza sauce (Pasta sauce would work fine but COSTCO sells huge cans of pizza sauce that I open and freeze in smaller containers. If you don’t have COSTCO, buy tomato paste from a baking supply store or Carrefour and follow this recipe for
Homemade Pizza Sauce:
12 oz. can of tomato paste
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Garlic Herb Salt (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
Place in pot and whisk over low heat until flavors are well blended.
One on of the pizzas in the picture I used Pesto instead of sauce. You can click HERE for my recipe. That was really tasty.
Directions:
1. Turn the toaster oven on- both top and bottom heaters. Layer the rack with waxed paper or tin foil.
2. Slice the bread in half and spread the sauce on top.
3. Sprinkle cheese and toppings over the cheese.
4. Toast until cheese is bubbly and golden brown in spots.

Baby Ate WHAT???

Yesterday after I fed Savannah lunch, I let her out of her highchair and within the next 20 seconds she came running to me with crumbs in her mouth and on her hands- What was it? what did she find? I spotting a cockroach trap on the couch and immediately knew she had snacked on the tablet that sits in the middle of sticky paper to attract them!!! OH MY GOODNESS- did my little girl just eat poison??? I stuck my finger down her throat to make her gag but she never threw up! I felt horrible making her cry but this was serious! I was home alone so I called my neighbor to help drive us to the hospital. They couldn't do anything until we showed them the trap and tablet so back to the house we went to retrieve it. Then at the hospital all he ended telling us was call the poison control center and tell them the brand of the trap and they'll tell us what to do. So after a long afternoon of running here and there and tons of phone calls for my neighbor, we finally got a call back from the poison control center with this message-

"No need to worry. Those tablets are made of dried fish and sugar!" WOW- I am praising the Lord for this wake up call. Being a mommy is a new thing for me and I learned a new lesson!

Nugget Parmesan- serves 1

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today's Recipe- Nugget Parmesan

Items Needed:

• Toaster oven ( for nuggets)
• Waxed paper or tin foil
• Stove top burner
• Pot for boiling pasta
• Small pot for sauce or microwave
• An appetite

Ingredients Needed:
Chicken nuggets (as many as you can eat)
Pasta of any style
½ cup Sauce- either spaghetti or pizza sauce (If you go for pizza sauce, just add a pinch of sugar and a drop of water)

Directions:
1. Turn the top burner on in the toaster over and layer the rack with waxed paper or tin foil to prevent grease from dripping. Place the chicken nuggets on the rack and place the rack as high as it can go in the oven. Once the top side is golden brown, flip and allow the other side to brown.
2. Bring water to a boil and add the pasta, stirring occasionally. Pasta usually takes about 10-15 minutes to cook thoroughly.
3. Warm the sauce, being careful not to burn it- it does burn easily.
4. Drain the pasta and place in a bowl. Add sauce. Place nuggets on top of sauce. I love cheese and I like to top my dish with either mozzarella or Parmesan.

Easy Chicken Veggie Soup- Serves 4

I have many American friends here in Taiwan that don’t have much experience in the kitchen or simply just don’t have the time to look for recipes with the ingredients they can find locally. It’s been a goal of mine to post something like “20 Easy Meals” for people that fit this description, but I don’t quite have that many and I am working on moving back to the states in a few weeks so I am not putting as much effort into it the project as I first wanted to. Yesterday made a meal just for the sake of recipe adjusting and taking pictures and but ended up deleting the pictures and eating the dish. I was really upset because I wasn’t even in the mood for the dish but felt I should try it if I am going to post it! My husband laughed when I said, “I didn’t make it to eat, I ate it because I made it!” And then the other evening, I made a dessert and we ate all of it before I remembered I was supposed to take step-by-step pictures of it! But over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a meal under the title…

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)

Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.


Today’s Recipe: Chicken Veggie Soup- You can find different bouillon flavors at the local grocery store. On the left is a picture of what they look like on the shelf. They have a little picture on the box that helps you decide what you want if you can’t read Chinese. In this recipe, you will need chicken!

Items Needed:

• Pot and lid
• Stove top range
• Cutting board
• Peeler and knife
• A Rainy Day (those are perfect for soup!)

Ingredients Needed:
1 chicken breast
5 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pinch of black pepper

Anything can be omitted or added depending on your likes, dislikes and what you have in the refrigerator that needs to be used up. Try any of these ideas: mushrooms, a handful of chopped green beans, some chopped onion, ½ cup corn, 1 cup chopped cabbage, ¼ cup of uncooked elbow noodles, minced fresh garlic, or broccoli.

Directions:
1. Cut the chicken and add to a pot. Add water to just cover the chicken. Bring to a boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain, rinse and set aside.
2. Place the 5 cups of water in pot and bring to boil. Add bouillon cubes and dissolve.
3. Add all the other ingredients. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until veggies are soft.

Creamy Rice Pudding

This is a very easy dessert to make from scratch- I usually chill it before serving, but that's just because I don't like it hot.
There's a place in NYC called Rice to Riches that only serves and ships rice pudding. They have amazing names for their flavors and it made my mouth water- COCONUT COMA, TAKE ME TO TIRAMISU, FLUENT IN FRENCH TOAST and fun things like that.

So here's a simple recipe and I'll let YOU be the one to spice it up to your liking.

In Taiwan, the milk is rather expensive, so for cooking I usually use boxed milk that cost about $1.00 USD.

Creamy Rice Pudding- serves 3

2 cups milk
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1- 1/2 cups cooked rice
Option: 1/2 beaten egg

In a heavy weight saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients (NOT the egg) and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. I use a rubber whisk to break up the rice and cinnamon clumps and keep from scratching my pan. The pudding should be about the same consistency as Alfredo sauce but if you like it real thick, add the beaten egg to the pan and stir for about 3 more minutes over low heat. I always add the egg- it's much thicker this way and sets nicely for serving cold.

Spearmint Tea- Hot or Cold

I walked into the courtyard of our apartment and smelled MINT! Sure enough, my neighbor was ripping them up saying they were overgrowing the area and just had them piled up to whither and die! I rescued them and found a more useful for them to die. Here's what I did with them and if you have access to fresh mint, give it a try! It's such a refreshing drink: hot or cold.

I pulled all the leaves off and rinsed them. It came out to about 1 cup of packed leaves. Once in a pot with a few cups of water, bring to a boil and immediately turn off the heat, keeping the lid on for about 10 minutes. This will keep the valuable oils from evaporating. Run it through a strainer and add 1/4 cup of sugar to the warm tea; stir until dissolved. This mixture is in a concentrate form, so you can either keep it hot by adding a few more cups of HOT water, or ice it like I did by adding a few cups of COLD water and ice cubes.

A friend of mine said she's heard of adding Ginger ale to it- that sounds amazing but I don't have access to that marvelous stuff here in Taiwan.

Cinnamon Bun Scrumptious

We had guests with us for a week and it was extra special to wake up one morning with warm cinnamon rolls waiting to be eaten. I found an amazing recipe on Food Network which I'll let you check out and make if you want.

For the filling, I actually mixed the softened butter, sugar and cinnamon together before spreading it on the rolled out dough. That was actually an accident, but loved the idea afterwards!

I covered the unbaked cinnamon rolls and placed them in the refrigerator until the morning. I allowed them to sit on the counter for about 30 minutes and then placed them in the cool oven and allowed the pans to warm up along with the oven. They rose wonderfully and once they were finished and cooled a bit, I frosted them. If you don't have heavy cream, don't worry. Just substitute milk and a bit more confectioners' sugar.

Heaven on a plate!

My Recycled Red VAAASE

I love fresh flowers!

I found myself buying too many for my tall, narrow vase the other day so I started looking around the house for something else. I saw a large, empty peanut butter tub sitting in my recycle bin and pulled it out. I washed and covered it in some shiny wrapping paper. I went with a red polka dotted bow around the neck to help hold down the edge of the paper. I really love ribbons so I keep a stash on hand. I even reuse ones from Bath and Body Works!

It really brightened up my kitchen and if I get tired of that red, I could always change the look with a piece of fabric and a different ribbon.

Just a quick and easy flower container without spending any extra money! What's in your recycle bin just waiting to be discovered?

Sneaky Chocolate Cake

The other day, a friend and I were talking about likes and dislikes and my hubby made it clear that he HATES anything mayonnaise. But I knew if it was in a cake, he's never know the difference. I googled "chocolate mayonnaise cake" and found a fantastic one on Food Network. I made it with a peanut butter frosting and guess who's been eating the most of it!?! You can check out the link for the recipe yourself but here's a few changes I made-
I used 3/4 cup sugar instead of the full cup (knowing the it would be sweet enough with frosting added to it)
I don't have cake flour so I just used all-purpose flour.
I up-ed the cocoa powder to 3/4 cup to give it a richer flavor.
I don't have buttermilk so used milk
instead of sweetened whipped cream, I made up a peanut butter frosting.

The recipe doesn't call for eggs or oil because the mayonnaise does that job for you. The batter looked more like brownie mix and was difficult to spread in the pan, but it rose like cake and tasted like cake :)

I am currently use an over-sized toaster oven and at times I only have the bottom heater on or both bottom and top, keeping my eye on whatever is in there at the time. I hear it's hard to bake something all the way through without burning the edges. Try doing a little broiler during the middle of baking time, turning it back off and the bottom on back to finish the job. Just an idea- my quick breads, cakes, brownies always turn out wonderfully in the toaster oven, alternating heaters.

This is a great chocolate cake- dense and moist.

If you decide to make any of my recipes,
I would love to hear of any changes you make/ideas you have!