A Good Table

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

2012-02-06T10:28:00.001-07:00

I love these bars. Too much. I need to be less selfish and greedy and give stuff like this away more so I don't have to eat left overs by myself. Because I am such an awesome mother though I take all the fat and unhealthy stuff so my kids don't have to suffer. It's true, look at my daughter and husband who have about 4% body fat combined. I have taken all that pain and grief and suffering from them and lovingly added all their extra fat to myself. That is what I tell myself anyway when I sneak the extra bar or two... while they are at work and school.

I made these for book club once. I'm very talented at being able to make the words that come out of my mouth not match the thoughts in my head. One women said "Who made these, they taste so deliciously naughty." Instead of responding I made them, thank you. I said "I'm good at naughty." I actually meant I was good at making desserts that taste good and are not healthy in any way. We all got a good laugh.

I have been using a new ingredient in my baking. Black Bee Vanilla It is made locally and I like it. I have the double Madagascar which I use in baking and a single Tahitian which I use in things that are not cooked or at least not as much. This is not a paid endorsement, I just wanted to give them a shout-out.

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chocolate chip cookie layer:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
1 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
1 T cider vinegar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake layer:

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, salt and vinegar. Beat in the egg, then the baking soda and flour. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the dough into two equal portions and set aside.

2. In a medium mixing bowl cream the cream cheese with the sugar until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. In a 9x13 pan, spread 1/2 of the cookie dough mixture evenly across the bottom. (This is somewhat tricky to do. I find it easier to add dollops of cookie dough throughout the pan and then spread all the dollops together. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the top of the cookie dough. With the remaining cookie dough, flatten chunks of dough between your hands into discs, and then place on top of the cream cheese mixture. (The dough discs don't have to touch, just place them near each other so they cover the surface as well as possible.)

4. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is brown and cooked through. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator.

I found this recipe at Heat Oven to 350. Thank you for sharing it with the world.

Magic Wands

2012-01-26T15:54:00.001-07:00

My Son(s) have one of those "Wizardology" books that has fun open the envelope and take out the secret things on each page. One part says how to make a wand, cut a stick and carve it etc. My son mentioned it allllll weekend. Now I don't know if you have been around here lately but we are short on substantial sized sticks and I'm not so sure I trust Age8 with a carving knife yet. But I saw a super fun other idea for making wands just the last week and So I promised him we could do those. I found the instructions on Instructables and they were very simple to make. I should have gone back to look instead of going from memory but they still turned out alright.

First you take a sheet of regular ol' paper and roll it from corner to corner, or at least in that direction in a manner that makes one end fatter then the other, placing a piece of double stick tape diagonally on the paper about 2/3 of the way to the end. I did this part because my son thought it was hard to get the paper to go the right way and tight enough. (not super tight)

Then you are supposed to put elmer's glue on the remaining part and finish rolling up. This is the part I missed, I put another small piece of tape on the end instead and I think that worked well too but the glue probably would have been better and made it slightly sturdier.

Cut off each end so they are even then make a dot of hot glue in each end to seal and add to the shape/illusion. Use the Hot glue to decorate the stick as you want. It was hard to keep an even flow coming out for me so some spots are more bump-line-bump-line-etc. We then painted a base color and let dry, then painted accents. By this time Age11 was home from space camp and so mine became hers and she finished painting the brown one while Age8 painted the silver. When they were done I sprayed them both with a finish spray so the regular paint wouldn't rub off on their hands. Fyi, the silver was spray paint and the brown and gold were acrylic.

If we do this again I would change the following for me. Insert another rolled up paper that is tighter on the inside to help it be sturdier. Really it was pretty sturdy except at the smaller end where there wasn't any glue to reinforce it. Also I would do the Elmer's glue at the end instead of another strip of tape but the benefit was we didn't have to let any glue dry before we went to the next step. It was good to have the helper so that he could hold the wands upright while the hot glue ends were cooling. I did roll up a wad of paper towel in each end just to catch the glue so to speak so it didn't drip all down the tube and was a good base for the hot glue.

I don't think Age8 put his down for 5 days and would have slept with it had he not know it would crush. They spent the day casting spells and whatnot. After a few days the silver one got slightly crushed on the end from too much touching/poking stuff instead of just pointing. But you don't notice right off. Plus that way if a kid gets a little rambunctious the wand will crumple before anyone gets hurt. And when it truly dies then I know it's easily replaceable if he isn't over that already.

Coincidentally I noticed while posting that Age15 is in the background watching Merlin. (probably only because it says Merlin did I notice what show it was) Quite the wizardly day at our house.

Crochet Head Band

2012-01-19T11:57:00.001-07:00

Here is one headband I made recently (if about 3 months can be considered recently) for my daughter. It could be an ear warmer or whatever name they all go by as well. These can be pretty simple to do if you understand a little crochet.

For this pattern I modified one I saw on the web somewhere. It had more specifics that I don't do because I'm lazy like that I guess. I did 2 rows of single chain, 3 (or 4 if you want it wider) rows or 3 double chain each shells, and 2 more rows of single chains to finish it off. Start with a chain to the length you want in number divisible by 3 (for the shells) and add one to do the first turn. I think the baby one I did was about 60 so this must have been about 69+1?Connect each row to the last with slip stitch so it doesn't spiral up.
Ya, I'm not so good with writing patterns. The flower pattern is from here. One of these days, I'm going to make that hat.

Here is the original pattern that I didn't follow exactly. here

Sugar Cookie Fruit Tart Things

2012-01-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

...for want of a better name.

I have been making versions of this for years. I use the same basics but sometimes I cover a whole round cookie sheet at once making a Fruit Pizza, sometimes individual ones like these. For these, this time, I used a Sugar Cookie Bar recipe to try something a bit different, although I usually use more of a regular cut-out cookie dough recipe. These turned out great and I may stick with this recipe but make them not so high next time.

You can use whatever fruit you like. I think kiwi is requisite at our house and berries are always welcome. Bananas, mandarins, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, apples, etc....... Melons are not among my favorite toppings for this however. Remember if you use fruits that brown easily like bananas to toss them with some lemon juice to curb the browning.

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup butter; room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract flavoring
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & almond and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13 x 18 pan). I find it easiest to make little patties and piece them all together. It seems like not much but it will rise to the rim of the pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost. I also cook it at a lower temp for longer often to give the middle time to catch up before the edges get to browned.

Cream Cheese Topping

2 8oz packages of Cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients together until smooth. You may add more sugar if desired, I like the less sweet mixture against the sweetness of the cookie bottom and tart/sweet of the fruit.

Because of the cream cheese and fruit you do not want to assemble this too far in advance, it will keep in the refrigerator for a day however and depending on the type of fruit and how juicy it is etc.

Spread Cream cheese mixture on top of baked cookie sheet. If you are cutting pieces ahead of time, do this now and then place fruit. If you would rather do the fruit pizza route then place fruit on as desired and then cut slices. This makes about 48 squares as baked in a sheet pan, and of course how you slice it.

Gingerbread house 2011

2012-01-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

Here is our traditional yearly gingerbread house. As usual the kids did most of the decorating and I figured out the assembly. It was almost 20"x20"x20". The largest we ever made. It was supposed to be Santa's workshop with attached barn (age 15's idea). I didn't get very good pictures of the whole thing after it was all done.

These two little ones were some I made for some ladies in the neighborhood and the snowman was a do ahead for age 8's birthday cake while I had the royal frosting out, he wanted a snowman on it. Front and back views.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

2011-11-05T09:27:00.001-06:00

This post is late in coming, as are all my posts lately. (Can you use late and lately in the same sentence?) Any-who..This is one of my husbands favorites. It's our favorite vegetarian meal and easy peasy. We like to use fresh tomatoes of course, however, this works very well with canned tomatoes any time of year. It's so fast to put together that when life gets busy we probably have it once a week. It makes a great appetizer as well, as my husband and his brother can tell you. I think that dh was just having fun showing off his cooking skills to his brother while they visited because we rarely see them.

The recipe is written for either canned or un-canned ingredients.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1 can or 2 cups Black Beans
1 can or 2 cups Corn
1 can or 1-2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 teas. Cumin
1-2 chopped jalapeno (or preferred hot pepper) peppers - or to taste
Salt to taste

Mix together and serve.

We also often add a dash of vinegar or lime juice, pepper, green or banana peppers. Regular onions if no green are available, but in smaller amount. I have been known to use a few teaspoons of dried cilantro if no fresh is available.

It's great rolled in soft tortillas with all the other fixin's - lettuce, cheese, sour cream... - or as a dip with chips.

The Jean Purse

2011-10-13T09:58:00.000-06:00

Yet another purse project for my daughter. She has swapped it for her school bag, good thing they don't have any large text books to carry.

T-Shirt bags

2011-09-17T07:09:00.000-06:00

My daughter and her friends took their cheer camp shirts and made cute purses/bags. They did it without me so I can't take you through all the steps but they cut off the sleeves and collar tied a little bow around the straps. Then cut off the bottom hem and cut into the shirt fringes that they tied in knots. I thought them quite clever.

Harvest Bread

2011-09-13T20:48:00.000-06:00

Harvest Time!

I have had both good and bad in the garden this year, some plants growing well, others not so much. It changes every year and we take what we can get! But what to do with all that bounty? So far this summer I have frozen peas and green beans, which because they are earlier have all been used up now, (some of the not so plentiful crops). I have frozen lots of zucchini and given away lots of zucchini and eaten lots of zucchini and tossed some zucchini. (I still have more that is probably huge because I haven't ventured to that patch for a week) We have bottled 15 pints of tomatoes and have more to go this week. I plan on hot pepper sauce this week too. Today I made pesto and washed and hung up mint, thai basil, and rosemary to dry. I still have tons of basil too. Sadly I have been so busy this summer I have barely used any of it fresh. Used fresh carrots, (frozen peas) and cantaloupe for dinner tonight. GALLONS of fresh salsa have been made the past month with ingredients all from the garden. I can barely eat it anymore.

Can you say Blessed!?

Here is a recipe that is one of my favorites to use this harvest time and all year around since I freeze the zucchini. It is a recipe I put together myself because I am not a big fan of banana bread plain, or zucchini bread plain, but together they work very well. This is a big recipe, it makes 4 loaves. I make it in a large bundt pan and two smaller loaf pans. I feel like it is packed with enough good stuff to balance some of the bad and makes a way better snack for after school than fishy crackers for my kids. It has so many garden goods in it I called it harvest bread.

Nicky's Harvest Bread

1 1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbls vanilla
4 eggs
2 Tbls cinnamon
1/4 teas. nutmeg
1/4 teas. cloves
1 teas. salt
1 1/2 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas baking powder
1 cup shredded apples
1 1/2 cup shredded and drained zucchini
2 or 3 bananas
1 cup shredded carrot
1 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans and walnuts [from mom's garden :) ] )
5 cups flour

Heat oven to 325 deg.

Beat butter and sugars, add vanilla and eggs and beat till incorporated, add cinnamon through baking powder and mix. Add all veggies and fruit and mix in well. Mix in flour. Bake for 1-1/12 hours, until toothpick comes clean.

Here is the tricky part. Depending on your water content for your veggies, you may need to add more flour, I find the difference is usually the zucchini, if I use it frozen it is easier to drain a lot of water from it. Fresh is harder and my batter is usually more watery. Last time I made it I actually had to put some cups of the batter in a mesh strainer and drain some liquid from it. It turned out fine as you can see above.

Shannon Yellow

2011-08-19T12:17:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Shannon and Michael!

Chewy Sugar Cookies

2011-08-08T09:21:00.001-06:00

I don't really have time to blog about these cookies except to say that I love them. I just wanted to post this since it's been in my edit box for 3 months. So. Busy. It is America's Test Kitchen recipe.

The only thing negative I have to say is that they are oily. I leave out some but I need to try and leave out more and see if they work.

I do use a whisk to make them, just like it says, no beaters.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar , plus 1/3 cup for rolling
2 ounces cream cheese , cut into 8 pieces
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter , melted and still warm
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

* 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.
* 2. Place 1½ cups sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. Place remaining 1/3 cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.
* 3. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each (or use #40 portion scoop). Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops evenly with 4 teaspoons of sugar remaining in shallow dish (2 teaspoons per tray), discarding any remaining sugar.
* 4. Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Rockin'

2011-07-19T17:01:00.000-06:00

This is a simple time taker-upper for kids to do. Find a rock. Smooth is better. Take your crayons to it and color very very hard to really coat the rock. Heat oven to 350 deg. place rocks on old pan and place in oven, keep watch on them and remove when the crayon has melted and is wet/shiny. The bigger the rock the longer it takes. I'm not sure what to do with them when they are done, paper weight or whatnot but it occupies the kiddo's for a bit anyway.

Grape Salad

2011-07-05T12:10:00.000-06:00

I realize this picture is not very good but I wanted to share this recipe with you.

It comes from my husbands family (Thanks B for the recipe) and my daughter fell in love with it. So when we had to take a pot luck item recently and I had a bag of grapes that we needed to use it fit the bill. It is easy enough that my daughter made it herself. We left out a little sugar to make it not as sweet. We also only had red grapes on hand.

Grape Salad

2 lbs green grapes
2 lbs red grapes
8 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

topping

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Remove grapes from vine and wash. beat sour cream, softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Add grapes and fold together. Mix brown sugar and walnuts and sprinkle over the top of the grapes. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight.

Dragons

2011-06-29T14:08:00.000-06:00

Summer means the kids crafting increases. Ages 11 and 7 were playing some game and decided they needed to make some stuffy dragons to go along with it. So they found a picture, traced it on felt and cut and sewed and painted and Voila!

I'm still here

2011-05-11T08:17:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still alive. Blogger is just at the bottom of my pile and my pile feels so big right now. I don't know when I'll get back, I'm not tech-fast it takes me a while to get pictures transferred to the computer etc. I hope soon though. This week is PTA Convention followed by a concert at The Tabernacle with my women's choir We Also Sing as part of a choir festival on Temple Square. Our part is on Friday at 6:00 if anyone cares to mosey over. Cross your fingers for me that I'm only experiencing heightened allergies and not catching my son's cold so I can still sing.

Mini Notebooks

2011-04-18T12:14:00.000-06:00

My daughter and I had fun making these tiny notebooks. They are quick and easy. My daughter loves having notebooks to write stuff, from random stuff to diaries and stories. So I thought she would enjoy this simple craft.

I always get little thoughts like "as soon as I get home I need to find...... and take it to......" But as soon as I get home I don't remember, I thought maybe if I put it on my key chain I would remember to write it down, then remember it. So far it hasn't worked.

First, take a sheet of paper and cut in half long-ways. Fold that in half long-ways.

Then I start in the middle and do a half fold, and continue with halves until I get an accordion.

Take a quarter strip, cut long-ways again, from a colored 'cover' paper, (ours was thicker than regular printer paper but not as thick as card stock, I'm sure anything will work) and measure around your book and cut to length. You can't just take a quarter of the strip because the layers of the pages add length to the cover.

Hold the pages together and elmer glue the the edge/side with the most folds.

Then wrap the cover around, pressing on the spine to get it connected and wrap with a rubber band, cross of the band on the open side of the book. This holds it together while the glue dries and put two little bind marks on the spine.

When dry enough, about an hour or two, remove rubber band and trim edges of book to cut off the folded edges (two sides) so it will allow all the pages to open.

Harvest Soup

2011-04-08T18:06:00.001-06:00

Last time I was visiting the little town in Maryland where my husbands parents grew up, or near there anyway, we stopped at what they call the bulk food store. It's not what I picture as a bulk food store but that doesn't matter. Its run by some Amish and they pre-package food into bags with their labels and weigh them on really old scales in a back room to get all the bags the same. I know because I got to visit the little back room because as we went into the store they were spraying for bugs? and instead of turning the sprayer the gentleman doing the spraying sprayed the door and the sidewalk up to it just before and while I was on it. So I had to touch the door to open it and of course get sprayed with the droplets still coming down. So I asked if I could wash my hands and they directed me there. It was HOURS before I could change clothes. The others had already gotten inside while I settled the kids who didn't want to come in.

Anyway, they were out of my favorite salve and the young girl didn't even know what I was talking about but I assured her I had bought it at that store only a few years previously. They did have another by the same manufacturer that I also use so I just got that. It's marvelous on burns. BUT, I did spy a bag containing what they called Harvest Soup. It was a blend of lentils and rice and wild rice and maybe a couple of other beans. I bought it along with a few treats for the rest of the long ride. it was a while before I tried it but I enjoyed it and my family seemed to like it too.

I've been trying to figure out how to recreate the mix and last time I was at Winco, AKA Bin-heaven, I spied a bin with almost the same mixture. It wasn't quite the same but I grabbed some, along with a few extra french lentils and some wild rice mix. I tossed them altogether and voila! I had my mix, although when this mix runs out I will cut down on the rice when I get some more. Way too high on the ratio. The mix has about 4 different kinds of lentils, yellow and green split peas, yellow and green dried peas, 2 kinds of wild rice, barley and regular rice, and a handful of misc. beans thrown in. Like I said the rice is a bit too much and I will just get wild rice next time instead of a rice mix because the lentil part already had some rice in as well.

I put my old chicken carcass in the pot and boiled and picked it clean. So for this time there wasn't really a lot of chicken, you could leave it out (because do you know how freaking awesome lentils are??!!) but do use a broth, either chicken or vegetable. Then I added enough water to fill the pot. For the recipe I will try to estimate the amounts. This is how I remembered to make the soup:

Harvest Soup

6 c. water

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 c. carrots diced

1 c. celery and leaf (finely chopped)

1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp salt (According to taste)
1 tsp pepper (According to taste)
2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lb cooked chicken

about 1 1/2 cups lentil/rice mix

Place all in pot and simmer until carrots are tender and peas/lentils are slightly dissolved or whatever it is they do. About an hour. Once again, because that's the way I do it, add or subtract ingredients or amounts as you feel works for you.

Clay Pots

2011-04-02T08:36:00.000-06:00

I finally got some clay that you bake to dry. My daughter has wanted some for years, usually after she does a craft somewhere else and wants to continue at home. Then my son got a book from the library of crafts and almost all of them were for something made with the clay.
He chose to make a little pot and then so did my daughter. We opted for the coil version and these were their creations. After they were dry they painted them with simple acrylic paints.

Rusty Cake Skills

2011-03-17T13:59:00.001-06:00

I was asked to decorate a cake for a church party tonight. As usual I decided to do more than was necessary. But, I thought it would be a good chance to practice my decorating skills which I have really let go the last few years. I used Marshmallow Fondant. It's a little harder to work with, but tastes so much better. Since I knew it would take a little while I divided it up into a few hours a day, some days more hours. Since I only had 1 6in pan and 2 9in. pans it took hours just to bake all the layers. I made Chocolate (baked 6 layers, 3 on the cake, 1 to experiment with and two for later use. The recipe just makes a lot.) one day. Yellow (3 6in layers) another day. I made the fondants on one day. Another for frostings and fillings and one to decorate. The yellow I filled with Lemon curd and vanilla buttercream. The chocolate is filled with ganache and vanilla cream. I messed up on the vanilla cream but left it, it still tastes good, just a bit lumpy. shh.

This is the kitchen just after decorating. it looked at least this bad all those separate days.

The MMF is a little stretchier so I had problems with the ribbon pulling as I put it on. I tried twice. The bow started pulling the Choc. MMF so it cracked a bit above that. The ganache dots were a little too pointy and of course I wish it wasn't so lumpy. The bow got a bit cracky as well but dried better than my past experience. But overall, from a distance it looks alright.

Update:
I was able to bring one slice from each cake home. The family was happy.

Spring

2011-03-14T08:31:00.001-06:00

It's......

Finally. It only took me about a year and a half to get around to actually painting this thing.

Now maybe I can get my Thanksgiving word done before 2 years go by on that one.

(Thanks A. for pushing me to work faster on it.)

Pink Lemonade Cake

2011-03-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

I experimented with a new cake last night. Pink Lemonade. Sounds good, right?

It was good.

I think it started when my neighbor asked me at church if I had some lemon juice at home, I didn't have time to chat but assumed she meant to borrow. I told her no but said that I had some lemon powder, without further explanation. I figure she didn't know what that was or wanted something else, never heard from her later. You just reconstitute it. Anyway, lemon must have been in my brain so I decided to try this.

We have been through this before, where I didn't really have all the ingredients but made due anyway. (ahem- icecream) I was ok with the lemon powder, but I didn't have fresh zest. I have dehydrated lemon rind though. NEVER buy this, at least from SF herb. It turned out the whole rind is just chopped up, yup, bitter part and all. So when you use it, it mostly tastes bitter. Anyway I made it, putting the dry powder in with the sugar, I don't know if that was the right way but that is what I did and just put in the water for when it called for lemon juice.

For the frosting I tried adding grenadine syrup, I wanted a berry-ish flavor. I was at the bottom of the bottle, it needed more. I added a pinch or two of the lemon powder too. I liked it but it probably would be better with real berries. I adapted a frosting recipe from my niece.

The recipe only makes a small 9 in cake. I divided the batter and made two short layers. The recipe was adapted from one I have seen several places around the Internet. I don't know who truly originated it. It did have a slight gooey feel, that may or may not have been from the lemon powder? The family really liked it, The kids and I had seconds my husband kept eating while at the same time saying, there is just something about it...maybe it's needs a stronger lemon?

As I was cleaning up later, I picked up the container of lemon powder to put away. Light goes on. It says Lime Powder. Oops, both containers look exactly alike.

Lemon Cake

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I took out a tablespoon and substituted a tablespoon of cornstarch)

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Zest of 1 lemon

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prepare cake pan.

Sift all dry ingredients together and set aside.

Combine zest and sugar and rub or mix together to infuse lemon into sugar. Add the butter and cream cheese to the sugar and beat until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beating on low speed until just incorporated. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk, once incorporated, add the next 1/3 of the flour mix, followed by remaining buttermilk, and remaining flour, beating each addition until just incorporated. Add lemon juice, beating until just incorporated on low speed.

Bake until edges pull slightly from side of pan. (I didn't time it, I just always do it this way. Cooking at the lower temp. also helps keep the sides high and the middle from doming.)

Frosting

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teas. vanilla (this is where I substituted about a tablespoon of grenadine but it could use more)
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

Directions:

In a small saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk and heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. You want it to be really thick, like brownie batter thick.
Remove pan from heat stir in the vanilla and cover the mixture with plastic wrap or wax paper so no skin develops. Let the mixture cool completely to room temperature.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and ALL the graininess is gone (this can take a while,... 5-10 minutes)
When Flour and milk mixture has cooled, stir vanilla into the mixture. Then add the mixture to the butter and sugar and beat until it is combined and resembles whipped cream. If it looks separated, keep beating, another 5-10 minutes. (With the grenadine it is less stiff at the end)

Utah Scones and Dr. Suess' Birthday

2011-03-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Dr. Suess is the bestest author ever! So today to celebrate he birthday we thought about Dr. Suess foods and came up with of course Green Eggs and Ham. My son also suggested Scrambled Eggs Super. I didn't go all out though. I made simple green scrambled eggs for the kids and Scrambled eggs super (omlets) for the dad and me. We had ham, not green, in the form of bacon. I decided to make some scones as well.

(I got a little messy with the honeybutter)

If you don't live in Utah or have not been here long enough to have Utah Scones than you need to try these. I do not know why they got called scones in the first place but I was an adult before I knew that they weren't a traditional scone that the rest of the world knows. Some people think they are the same as frybread, and I suppose that depends on your version. Having grown up around some Navajo's I know it's not the same as their traditional fry bread. I have a recipe for that which is a simple dough made with only a little baking powder and not necessarily deep fried. Utah Scones are closer to a yeast bread dough that is deep fried golden and most often served with whipped honey butter. Often you will see Navajo Taco's at a fair food stand and the frybread is almost more a cross between the two. Another interesting thing about this recipe is that as well as yeast it also has baking power and baking soda. I have also seen them served filled with just about everything, but usually chili or taco type toppings and sandwich fixin's. But most people I know just eat them plain with honeybutter.

I didn't get a very good picture, I wasn't trying real hard. Sorry. This is a recipe that has been around a long time, it was published by a local newspaper food editor. This makes a TON. Which makes it a good recipe to share with family and friends for a fun evening/brunch/whatever. Goes great with some hot cocoa or hot cider too. It was an odd time for me to make them, I usually equate them with fall. I have quartered and halved the recipe just fine. Also I have made them, as this time, without the overnight step although it probably makes them better to do it.

Utah Scones
From Three Decades of Cooking With Donna Lou Morgan.

1 quart warm buttermilk
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 to 11 cups flour
Heat buttermilk; pour into a large mixing bowl. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add to the buttermilk: sugar, eggs, oil, salt, baking powder, baking soda, dissolved yeast and 6 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Place in a greased bowl; turn. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk; punch down. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight. Roll out 1/2-inch thick and cut into squares just before frying in hot, deep vegetable oil. Serves 15 to 18; recipe can be halved.

Serve with Honey Butter, made by beating 1 cup softened butter with 1 cup honey for 10 minutes, or until fluffy.

T-Shirt Scarfs

2011-02-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

After seeing this:

I knew that my daughter would love it. I had her watch it and she and her friend immediately started hounding me for a tee-shirt to use. We found two that had logos' on them but those were worked around and soon there were t-shirt scraps and girly vibes filling the room.

Here were her creations

They even used some scraps to make matching ones for their dolls

View from theTable

2011-02-25T08:24:00.001-07:00

Today I woke up to snow.

I was expecting it, but not like this.

A lot of our snow storms in this area tend to be in high wind.

That makes for a lot of high drifts but not so much left on the ground.

Yesterday and last night were windy so I expected more of that,

but, to my surprise the wind stopped in the night.

I miss the calm lightly falling snow that can be so peaceful.

Thankfully I had it all to myself this morning while I shoveled a path to the bus stop.

I knew it wasn't done snowing but I shoveled anyway for my kids and the few others that cross our path

and past the neighbors to the street.

When I finished there was another half inch on the ground.

It's snowing harder now, faster and bigger clumps.
already there is another 2 inches plus accumulated.

I measured it with my trusty ruler.

The snow on the little table on the back porch is already past 7 inches.

But for a little while I had the pre-light soft and serene snow,

perfect, and all to myself.

Update: What a Difference a (half) Day Makes.

the above picture was taken about 7:30 - 8:00 am.
I measured the snow on top of the little table at over 9 in.
The picture below was taken at 1:30 pm.

French Bread

2011-02-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today's recipe is a french bread recipe but I rarely use it as a traditional french bread. I most often use it to make sub rolls for a better want of a term. Usually when we have pulled pork or bbq etc. I really like the flavor of the bread for this use. When I make them for rolls I just bake it, I don't do a french bread water spritz or steam which forms the crust and glaze on the outside of a french bread. I think I got this recipe from a roommate back in college, I don't remember, that was a long time ago. I started using it for sandwich type meals because it was fairly quick to make and didn't require kneading. Instead you do several short risings. I have used 1/2 whole wheat in the recipe and it turned out fine also.

When forming loafs I make two long loafs which fit on a baking sheet side by side. For rolls I make them in whatever shape I care too. This time they turned out quite like hot dog buns. I don't take the time to really carefully make them all exactly the same size and shape as you can see but you certainly can do so. I also usually add an extra rise time. Make sure you let them cool before slicing or the inside sort of stays too moist. But it's hard to resist hot bread.

French Bread

1/2 cup warm water
2 Tbl yeast
1 tsp sugar

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water in traditional method. **If using Instant yeast add water and sugar to next step and add yeast after the first mix

2 cups hot water
3 tsp salt
3 cups flour
3 Tbl sugar
5 Tbl shortening

Mix all above until well combined. **Add instant yeast now and mix in well.

Mix in another 3 cups flour.

Let rise 15 minutes, punch down. Repeat 3 times.
Divide dough in half for loaves and form as desired. Let rise until double. Bake 375deg. for 20-25 min. Remove from pan and cool.

(I usually spray pan with 'pam' and dust with cornmeal. )

Cheesecake Brownies

2011-02-15T16:44:00.002-07:00

These are an old favorite of ours. I made them for Valentine treats. I always wish there were more middle pieces but it's impossible. I really don't understand those "all edges" brownie pans. Maybe I'm completely different but I would much rather have a nice middle than a crusty outside edge. With the cheesecake layer it tends to run to the middle as the edges bake up so you get more in the middle and less on the edge, at least with my recipe

The beauty of these is that most brownie recipes will work for the base. I'm not sure which ones wouldn't but I'm not sure they all would either. I have used a few different recipes including a box mix and had it work out great always. This time I used an old standby with extra cocoa. I almost prefer them the next day but they are good right out of the oven too. Something about letting them just settle and meld I guess, although make sure you cover them so the edges don't dry hard. They are nice if you like to slightly marble the layers together and look good that way too. The one thing I should have done is double my cheesecake part because the brownie recipe I made is for a larger pan thus the cheesecake layer was smaller.

I am warning you, this recipe is not correctly paired up. The cheesecake part is for a 9 in pan and the brownies fit in a 9x13. I just settle for the thinner layer of cheesecake but you can use a smaller brownie recipe. These brownies are on page 2 of my most used recipes. That tells you their importance in my life. They are in the middle of cakey and fudgy. They are of course great all on their own. They are followed only by my fudge brownies with ganache and BYU mint brownies in my brownie repretoire. The cheesecake layer only makes them better.

Brownie layer

3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients and beat until smooth. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and mix well. combine flour and salt and mix into batter until incorporated, do not over mix.

Cheesecake layer

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbl. butter, softened
2 eggs
2 Tbl. milk
1 Tbl. flour
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter until creamy. Add eggs, milk, flour and almond extract, beat well.

Preheat oven to 350º. Spread brownie mixture in 9x13 in. pan. Pour cheesecake mixture over the top. Bake for about 40-45 min.

Edit: I linked up with Lisa at http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-5.html this week.

The New Table

2011-02-04T13:11:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, but it takes me a long time to get around to things. I love it. It has been well received and everyone likes exploring the map and learning new places and names, my daughter has already gone through one page of brain teasers. It's not fancy but it's fun and educational. I plan on switching out art and brain teasers but the map will stay.

Dixie Salad

2011-02-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about having Thanksgiving with my Sister's family is that her daughter always brings traditional Southern Utah Dixie Salad. I looked around for a recipe online and couldn't find one that sounded just like hers. So I broke down and called her. Horror, I know, what kind of family doesn't call each other? Mine. At least I don't. Maybe it has to do with my not liking to call anybody in general. As a secretary in PTA and Church I have to call people often, but I do not like it. Maybe it's because I usually am calling to ask them something and have a fear of rejection. Anyway I asked her and was pleased with her answer. 4 simple ingredients. Some recipes I found had mayonnaise and pineapple and one or two other things, they just didn't sound as appealing.

Pecans
Pomegranate
Apples
Whipped Cream

Pecan trees are everywhere in my Sister's little town. You can hardly walk down the street without crunching some under your feet. And since it's warm pomegranates grow very well too. Thus the 'Dixie', as southern Utah is often called, in the Dixie Salad. I love the crunchy sweet combination and it feels like I'm eating healthy, although the whipped cream doesn't exactly help in that area. You need a little dairy though, right?

You can combine the ingredients in any proportion you would like. I made a small salad just for myself this time for lunch. So it only had 1 apple, 1 small pomegranate and a handful of nuts. I also used whipped table cream because that is what I had on hand, and not much of it to keep it healthier for me. But I do like a lot of cream on it. You can add some sugar to the cream or use cool-whip as well.

Calzones

2011-01-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't made Calzones for a long time. Last time I made them I vaguely remember the kids not really liking them and saying something along the lines of "this is yucky", probably before actually trying it. You know how it is introducing new foods no matter how similar they are to favorites like pizza. I don't recall how long ago it was that I made them last but long enough that none of the kids remembered me making them before.

This time, however, everyone loved them and sang praises to me. I don't know what I did different or maybe this time everyone was hungry enough to actually try them before stating their opinions. I have fond memories of calzones. Who doesn't? I remember learning to make them in college using frozen bread dough. I remember my favorite place to eat them, the mom and pop Italian restaurant 1 block north of where I used to work. In High School, my friends and I used to always get them at the Mall. I remember my brother, not too long home from Sicily, deep frying them for dinner. Maybe they are called something different when you deep fry them but they are basically the same. So I was delighted that my kids finally liked them.

This time I used a Wolfgang puck Pizza dough recipe and filled them simply with Sausage, Ricotta cheese and Mozzarella cheese. I then had a red sauce and pesto for dipping or putting on top. You can put the sauce inside but I think this was one of the reasons the kids didn't like it before. That may be more like Stromboli. Other ingredients you can use to stuff the Calzone might be Spinach, Pepperoni, Parmesan, Pesto, other vegetables or cheeses etc. Lots of choice. This time I also made them smaller so they could be picked up and dipped. I think everyone liked them that way better. We enjoyed them so much, I forgot to take a picture till they were almost gone.

Roll out rounds of pizza dough to the size you would like.
Put ricotta cheese, mozzarella and other ingredients of your choice in the middle.
Fold over and pinch edges together.
Bake until golden brown.
Top or dip in marinara or pesto or sauce of your choice.

Whatever you choose to use for dough and ingredients, Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cake

2011-01-20T14:04:00.003-07:00

This is the first time I have tried this recipe. I made it for my husbands birthday. It looks impressive, if you can see past my bad photography, tastes very rich and is simpler than it looks. I believe I had two or three requests to "Make this for my next birthday."

Notes: The batter is more like cookie dough when done and subsequently the cake is more cookie-like. This makes it easier to assemble. Make sure your chocolate is completely melted or you get little choc bits like I did. I did not have a 15x10 pan that I trusted to bake in anymore (I don't know why I keep it around still) so I used a regular larger cookie sheet. this resulted in 5 layers for me. I cut 4 across the pan then cut some off each end to make a 5th layer. Probably for this reason I needed more frosting than the recipe made. Slice it thin, it is very rich or sweet. Even age14, aka. the bottomless pit, said "I'm full." Do not leave out on counter where you will be tempted to have a piece every time you pass it.

CAKE
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup Sugar
4 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Flour, all-purpose
1 12 oz. package Little Bits Semi-sweet Chocolate chips, divided

FROSTING
1 cup Little bits semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Cake: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1" baking pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper. In bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well. Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate bits. Spread in prepared pan. bake 350º for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting: Melt over hot (not boiling) water, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits, stir until smooth. Set aside. In bowl, combine butter and confectioners' sugar; beat until creamy. Add melted chocolate and vanilla; blend until smooth.

Loosen sides of cake. Invert and peel of paper. Trim edges if necessary. Cut cake crosswise into 4 sections. Spread frosting on one layer. Top with second cake layer. Repeat layers. Frost entire cake with remaining frosting.

Pumpkin Fudge

2011-01-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Finally, here is what I used part of my baked pumpkin on. Pumpkin Fudge. Its a holiday tradition at our house and one of the few I hung onto as I tried to slim down the stress this past Christmas. And we really did cut out a lot of stuff. I hope next year is not so busy so we can do more. Dh didn't even get to make his Toads. Speaking of Christmas, while I did take down all decorations, I'm still waiting on my husband to dismantle and take the tree down to the basement (and a few odds and ends).

This is one of those recipes I'm reluctant to give out. I have only shared it once and I'm pretty sure that is how my husband got his promotion at work. See, if I give this out then everyone will be getting promotions and my husband will be out of a job by next Christmas.

I recommend using non-white chocolate in this recipe. The difference being in order to be called White Chocolate it has to have cocoa butter in it. When I have made it with the cocoa butter kind it tends to separate a little more. I make half without the nuts since some of my kids don't like the nuts in it. I have also used a mixture of nuts instead of just almonds. Also, depending on the moisture in your pumpkin and altitude and all the other candy factors this can take a long time to reach soft ball stage. I'm always a scardy-cat and don't turn my heat up very high so it can take me up to an hour.

Pumpkin Fudge

1 cup almonds
3 cups sugar
1 cup butter
5 oz evaporated milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 teas. pumpkin pie spice
2 cups white choc chips
1 7oz jar marshmallow cream
1 teas. vanilla

Spread nuts on baking sheet and toast in 300º oven until toasted to your liking. (Sorry I don't have a time.) Combine sugar, butter, milk, pumpkin and spice in pot and cook on medium - medium low until candy reaches soft ball stage about 234º on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in chips, then marshmallow cream and then nuts and vanilla. Pour into pan either buttered or I prefer lined with non-stick Reynolds-wrap. Cool and cut into pieces.

GIngersnaps

2011-01-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Boy did I let the blog go this last month. Well I will make up for it right here with these Ginger Snaps. These are so good. I can't resist them straight from the oven, hot and a little gooey. mmm.

I made 7 dozen of these. And I bet I could have eaten almost all of them, I might have gotten sick but I would have given it a try if I hadn't of known that they were for a greater good and not for me. My poor family got to look at them all and I only allowed them one each. Seriously sad.

The best way to do gingersnaps in my opinion is to leave them a little gooey so that when they cool they stay a bit chewy. I know the title any everything says 'snap' but I really don't care for hard gingersnaps. I cook them just until the cracks form good and the bottom is slightly browned. This is the same recipe I have used for 30 years, probably longer but I don't really remember much cooking before that. It has been hard for me to beat. Also, I always double this recipe.

Gingersnaps

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 teas. baking soda

1 teas. cinnamon (maybe a pinch more)

1 teas. ginger

1/2 teas cloves

1/4 teas. salt

2 1/4 cup flour

granulated sugar

Preheat Oven to 375 deg. combine sugar, shortening and molasses until well blended. Add egg and mix in. Add all spices and soda, mix. Stir in flour. Refrigerate for 1 hr. Form 1in. balls, dip half in sugar and place on baking sheet sugar up. Bake 10 - 12 min.

Christmas Birthday Cupcakes

2010-12-21T12:27:00.003-07:00

First, Never, Ever, have a baby on Christmas day. That's my advise and I'm sticking to it. First of all it involves calling your sister early Christmas morning and begging her to drive through a blizzard to pick up your other kids and take them home for the day without their getting to open more than one present they picked to bring with them. On the bright side I got to watch White Christmas during the birth. But on the down side age 7(in 4 days) was a Premie and that meant he got to stay in NICU for 3 weeks and I got to make daily trips and have Nazi nurses make sure I was waking up every two hours to pump 'liquid gold,' as they put it. I did not sleep for at least 4 months (time that baby actually got off all oxygen and monitor tubes) And also by Premie, I mean still larger than most full term babys currently being born in my neighborhood. The premie nurse that came by every month was awwed at her first ever baby that was over 30lbs before a year old. My son(s) wore size 6 diapers by 1 1/2 years and the neighbor boys age 3 are still in size 3. It's hard to find a rear facing car seat for over 20 lbs. Ok, off topic a bit. I tend to get bitter about my boys birthdays. If only one was a month earlier and the other a month later.

So, once again I do not recommend having a Christmas baby. It means that for a little while all the stress of preparing for Christmas changes to Stress about Birthday and Parties. Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind and thinks it's kind of cool and doesn't hold the getting Christmas presents for birthday thing against us yet, which he totally doesn't, he gets separate presents but you know... So today is his birthday party. I decided he was just too jumpy and excited to wait until after Christmas and he needed a diversion.

He had designed a birthday cake, pretty detailed, just too hard for me to pull off this time of year. Or maybe I should say, this year.

I asked him why he wanted Merry Christmas on his cake instead of Happy Birthday. He doesn't really separate the two.

This is what I decided on. He wanted the little Christmas symbols on them somehow. He put the stars on, after breaking the first snowflake side thing.

Aly, I used your frosting, yum. I was surprised that it held up so well.

Now we will just wait and see how the party goes this afternoon.

Cooked Pumpkin

2010-12-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

As per a friends suggestion, I am putting on my blog how to bake a pumpkin so you can use fresh pumpkin in your pies and goodies. I wasn't very timely for pumpkin pie season though. The pumpkins I had chosen sat on my table all through November and some of October and clear until almost Christmas. The reason I finally got around to it was that my Wonderful husband cleaned a lot of the house Saturday while my daughter and I were gone. I do not know how he got the boys to help him, I never seem able to do this. The pumpkins were placed on the floor and caught my eye, I now popped them to the top of my to do list. In fact I think I did not leave the kitchen the rest of the day.

You can cook your pumpkin by either baking it or steaming. I have done both and the last few times have steamed it. The reason I would steam it over the baking method is that I was using a larger pumpkin that didn't fit well on a baking sheet.

Sugar or pie pumpkins are prefered to use for eating pumpkin but you can use the larger more common jack-o-lantern pumpkins but the flavor is not as nice and they are more stringy and tough. This time I had my pie pumpkin and also a smaller JOL pumpkin I decided to save for pie and combined the two.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Wash pumpkins and twist or pull the stems off. Then cut in half top to bottom and scoop out insides. (remember to save the seeds.) Place the halves on baking sheet open side down or shell side up. You can lightly spray the pan to keep it from sticking. Bake for about 1 hour or more until fork tender.

You can then move to other put off projects like taking all the food and shelves out of the fridge and deep cleaning it.

Scrape the insides out and put in processor. Process until smooth. Transfer pumpkin to a strainer. This is important. Let pulp sit in strainer for a long while. You need to reduce the water content to use the pumpkin for baked goods.

My two pumpkins made two strainer fulls and yeilded about 1 1/2 cups liquid each, and I could have left it longer probably for more. I think I left them about and hour each. You could use cheese cloth as well.

After this you can use it or freeze it. I put aside 1/2 cup for use soon and put the rest in two cups per bag. When you freeze it, it will release more moisture as it thaws, I recommend thawing it in the strainer as well.

Enjoy your pumpkin in your favorite way. I will share mine later.

Anadama Bread

2010-12-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

There are several versions of this old New England bread around. Some use fruit for more flavor and sweetness. One version I have includes a story of how the bread got it's name. A disgruntled New England fisherman on one of the countless evenings when his unimaginative wife, Anna, presented him with his usual dinner of cornmeal mush and molasses. Disgusted he mixed the ingredients together to form a bread dough and while it baked, he's said to have muttered, "Anna, damn her."

I've seen the recipe several times but never made it before. It's a hearty bread, more reminiscent of corn bread than bread bread. It was fine, but not so wonderful as to be on my regular rotation.

Annadama Bread

3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 Tbls. shortening
1/4 cup light molasses
2 teas. salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg
2 3/4 cups all pupose flour

Grease 9 in. pie pan. Mix boiling water, cornmeal, shortening, molasses and salt in large bowl. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add yeast mixture, egg and 1 1/2 cups of the flour to the cornmeal mixture.

Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl. Stir in remaining flour until smooth.

Spread batter in pan, mounding center higher. pat into shape with floured hands (batter will be sticky). Let rise in warm place about 11/2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 deg. Bake 50 - 55 min. or until loaf is brown and sounds hollow when tapped. You can cover with foil for the last 15 min. of baking if it is getting too brown. Remove from oven and cool. Brush top with butter.

I am going to try this again but substitute some oats for the cornmeal as suggested and corn syrup for the molasses.

Cherry Limeade Bars

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

The other day, when I felt like I had time to spare to try a new recipe, I found this tempting treat. It boasted Summertime taste, and as it has been snowy and cold I thought it sounded great. Plus, they look so Christmas-y in their cute red and green.

They did indeed bring to mind cherry limeade. They were very sweet and a little one went a long way. It may not be the traditional dessert when you think of Christmas but with their cute color they certainly look the part. And who doesn't need a splash of Summer-time in mid-Winter?

I found the recipe over at Cheeky Kitchen with Brooke McLay. She makes them sound and look so fabulous you just can't resist a try.

Cherry Limeade BarsTangy and sweet, a twist on the classic lemon bar, these easy dessert squares simply scream summer. A light, buttery crust is cooked with a thin layer of maraschino cherry puree, then topped with a lime custard. These little treats are just as refreshing as a tall glass of limeade. You’re going to love them.
1 c. flour
½ c. butter, softened
¼ c. powdered sugar
Dash of salt

6 oz. can maraschino cherries , undrained
½ Tbsp. cornstarch

3 eggs
1 ¼ c. sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
¼ c. key lime juice *
Green Gel Food Coloring
In a large bowl, combine flour, butter , powdered sugar, salt and flour until well mixed. Press into the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking pan. Pour the entire, undrained can of maraschino cherries into a blender, add cornstarch and blend until well chopped (but not pureed). Using a spatula, carefully spread the cherry mixture over the crust mixture. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, beat together remaining ingredients. Pour over cooked crust & cherry mixture. Return to oven and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, or until the mixture has set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars, garnishing with powdered sugar, and serving to your favorite people.

Gingerbread Houses 2010

2010-12-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

Every year our favorite tradition is making gingerbread houses. We have been doing an every other year one big one or one each little ones. In some ways the little ones are easier, some ways not. There is a lot more cutting out and baking, but they hold together easier and no fights about how to decorate.

This year we made the houses into our Christmas train village. They are not proportional to the train but so what.

Age14's is hilarious. It's like a boarded up house with graffiti. On one part it says Coal for X-mas! The door is boarded up and there are ginger-body parts strewn all over. Somehow mine is the only one with out something in the chimney.

Fun times.

The Geese

2010-12-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about living where I do is the wildlife. I don't see as much as when I first moved here but I still get a lift out of seeing the herd of Prong horns or in this case a large flock of geese. This isn't exactly out the "table window" but you can see this particular field out the window, just not so close up enough to spot the geese.

All I had with me was my phone and thus not a very nice picture, but I know what's in the picture anyways. This isn't the whole flock, just what fit in the view. I think the geese do a sort of every-other-year thing. last year I hardly saw them but the year before I saw them almost every morning on my way to school. I'm sure the carpool kids got tired of me pointing them out.

I'm going to have to remember to bring my husbands camera in the car as it will be the only way to get a decent picture but with my not so mad camera skills I'm sure it wouldn't matter if I had just stuck with the camera on my phone.

This morning as I passed by they were all in the sky. It's been a while since I've seen a fox or a ground squirrel and even the sand pipers seem to be driven out by the other birds now. I rarely hear a meadowlark anymore or see a magpie and I have to go for a long walk to see jack rabbits. As the development in the area grows these will be all driven out as well. So I continue to hold on to my glimpses of prong horn and geese and the ibises and occasional pelicans. It lifts my days a little and helps bring me down to earth.

On the other hand my neighbor encourages the big flock of whatever those black birds are, they scramble on my roof when the sun hits it in the morning and of course poop all over it as well (He even snow plowed his back yard paths to all the bird feeders). I wish I could appreciate them as much but I just don't. except when they all pick up and fly in those amazing cloud patterns, but you don't see that around the houses so much, just in the fields.

Girl Scout-like Samoas Cookies

2010-11-29T07:59:00.001-07:00

I Love these cookies! They are super sweet though so go easy with them. I am not too good at following my own advice. You can make your own shortbread cookies or buy them. For this time, I bought them. The one's I got were square but you can do any shape.

Samoa Cookies

1 box/batch shortbread cookies
6 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 cups toasted coconut
1 cup chocolate chips

place cookies in a sheet pan. I like them close together to avoid over-spills.
In 2 qt pot combine butter, sugar and corn syrup over med-low heat. Bring to boil stirring constantly and boil 3 min. Slowly pour in condensed milk and continue cooking on low until 220deg. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and toasted coconut. Spoon mixture on to cookies and cool. Melt chips (I used a lot less than 1 cup, it's your preference.) and drizzle/spread over cookies.

Pop Can Glazed Roast Chicken

2010-11-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

I saw this episode on America's test Kitchen. When I found tall pop cans (because we don't drink beer) for sale I grabbed some and gave the recipe a go. I've heard of people using gingerale but all I had was lemon/lime.

There were several extra steps as ATK usually has, but it turned out alright. I don't think, for me, that it was any better than a regular roast however and probably won't go to the trouble again. I may use the same rub or return to the oven process but not the can.

Basically they added 1 teas. baking powder to salt and pepper and used for a rub. The baking powder helped to dry out the skin more. Then it was roasted at 375 deg. for about 80 min. then the oven was turned up to 500 deg. for an additional 25 min. to crisp up the skin. Then a glaze was brushed on and returned for 5 min to set it. To see the full recipe go to American's Test Kitchen. You have to register to use the site and for free you can view the recipes from the current season. Glazed Roast Chicken.

Biscuits from Grandma's book

2010-11-15T08:06:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to Grandma's cook book. Sorry it has taken so long. I decided to just open it up and see where it fell. Baking Powder Biscuits and Shortcakes. I might assume this page was used a lot, it does have several smudges on it, of course the whole book has some sort of something soaked into the pages. It also contains a gem in the form of a clipped newspaper article. Well it might be a gem to someone. It's an article titled Chemical Prevents Alfalfa Bloating. A fun little story about Poloxalene. Looking on the back of the clipping an incomplete article notes a date for an upcoming MIA Conference at the Salt Palace. 1972. Hmm, I wonder if any of my sisters went.

One thing of interest on this recipe and it is repeated throughout the book is a note about baking powder. "The amount of baking-powder indicated is correct when using either a tartrate or phosphate baking-powder. With an aluminum baking-powder use one-half the amount specified." I wonder if that is true today? I use aluminum baking powder because it's cheaper. I know it's not as good for you but I'm basically a cheap girl. It also contains Monocalcium Phosphate though so perhaps the basic formulation has changed. It's just not something I want to put the time into to figure out.

These biscuits were basic. Not flaky or layers or anything that made them stand out good. I will stick with my old recipe. It does have all the variations listed after for the various additions or what today would be more traditional scones. (Not Utah Scones)

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cupfuls flour
4 teaspoonfuls baking-powder
4 tablespoonfuls shortening
1 teaspoonful salt
2/3 cupful milk or water (about)

Cut shortening into sifted dry ingredients. Add liquid to make a soft dough. Roll lightly or pat into a sheet about 1/2 to 1 inch thick, cut into rounds and place on greased baking sheet. Bake in a hot oven of 450º F. for 12-15 mins.

The recipe goes on with variations for Cheese biscuits, Fruit or Nut Biscuits, Orange Biscuits, Peanut Butter Biscuits, Pin-Wheel Biscuits, Caramel or Butterscotch Biscuits, Drop Biscuits, Dumplings for Stews, Shortcake, and Fruit Shortcakes.

I chose to make the Pin-Wheel biscuits which had 2 tsp. melted butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon. Roll dough into a rectangular sheet 1/4 inch thick. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and roll up from long side like jelly-roll. Cut in 3/4 inch slices, lay slices flat on greased pan. bake 20 min. at 450º F.

The Orange Biscuits variation is interesting. It says to dip sugar cubes in orange juice and place one on each biscuit before before baking and sprinkle with orange rind.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute

2010-11-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

When I made the Mint Ice Cream I told you I would share my Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute recipe. Well, here it is.

1 c. instant non fat dry milk
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. boiling water
3 tbsp. melted butter

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Store in refrigerator.
This is about equal to 1 (14 oz.) can. The longer it sits the smoother it will get as the powdered milk dissolves.

What to do with this SCM? I will share that later.
Here's a preview.

Meanwhile you could try it with my Caramel Apple Dip.

Costumes

2010-11-08T08:58:00.003-07:00

Now I remember why I don't make Halloween costumes very often.    It takes too much time.

Age10 has been wanting to be a Snow Queen for years, ever since her friend was one some time back. This year I finally undertook it. Wrong year to do that, what with the church play I was in and helping to direct, the time that took and the time to make costumes for it etc. and the Primary program I was in charge of last week as well, things were just very busy and I had no time for extra stuff.   Anyway I loved making it for her.

I had no pattern just went off of my vision, but I wasn't able to really make it work so well. It still turned out ok though. She ended up calling herself a Snow Princess instead.   It's Dark blue crush velvet with sparkly white 'satin' and snow flakes around the blue skirt. White crush velvet cloak with hood.   It has a massive hem so she can wear it for years to come!

And here is my Age 6, Iron Man, luckily he didn't mind not having home made and probably liked store bought better. I didn't get him with his mask on though. Age14 went as a ninja but I never got a picture, he was more last minute. I wish I had gotten a picture of him and his friends though.

Pumpkin Seeds

2010-11-02T08:46:00.001-06:00

I'm a bit late with this post. Most things are a bit late as of late. Admittedly blogging is not my priority.

But I wanted to share our jack-o-lanterns from this Halloween and what came out of them. The best I could do with the dark pictures was to up the contrast and thus the graininess. Sorry, more and more obviously photography is not one of my priorities either, I tried, really, I even took a photography class once way back with the old 35mm. I think they were a bit easier than pushing menu and finding the right settings etc. I went to a one evening class my super talented neighbor taught but it didn't help me much. I really need to get my dh to take my pictures, but he's never around when I need him. Oh well.

Once you scrape out the insides of your pumpkins, separate the seeds from the other guts and rinse well. Then boil in salt water for 10 minutes. I don't have a ratio of salt:water I just pour in about a couple of tablespoons depending on how much water I have to boil - vs how much seeds etc. Just give it a good amount of salt. Somewhere around 3 Tbl salt to 6 cups water.

Drain seeds in a colander, give a very quick rinse if you like then spread on a towel to dry. I usually do all this the same night we carve and let them dry overnight.

Mix1 teas. Worcestershire sauce, 3 Tbl. butter, and 1 teas salt. Add seeds and toss to evenly coat. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake at 225deg. for about 2 hours until thoroughly dry and crisp

It's a very tasty snack.

Monster Pie

2010-10-27T08:56:00.001-06:00

Last night I made my Chicken Pot Pie. What I ended up with was a scary halloween version.

This is the pie when it came out of the oven. All nice and normal looking.

This is what it looked like inside. Aaaaaggghhh!!

Scary looking.

This is why it happened. Remember my Carrots?

It made a very lovely purple colored broth. And I thought it nice how the potatoes really

soked up the color as well.

I was very pleased that everyone ate it, without really complaining or grossing out. I thought it was quite fun. I even had company for dinner.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2010-10-15T12:06:00.001-06:00

You know when they tell you to get all your ingredients out and ready to go? I am the one they are talking too. It seems that I often get through part of a recipe only to realize I don't have a certain ingredient. This time it turned out I didn't have a lot. Actually I knew some of the stuff that I didn't have right up front and it was the reason I made this in the first place, kind of a get rid of stuff in the fridge. But mostly because it sounded good.

It started with the left over whip cream in the fridge, way back from my sons cake. You think I could figure out better things for whipping cream than ice cream don't you. I'm sure you could. Well I had copied this recipe from some magazine and it was just sitting on the top of my notebook calling to me.

Let's back up and start with the recipe shall we?

Mint Ice Cream

4 cups half & half (fat free)
1 3 oz pkg vanilla pudding
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teas. mint extract
Chocolate chips

I'm sure it said something like combine all ingredients and freeze according to manufactures directions.

Nowhere does it say whip cream. But I had thought, I'll just combine the rest of this whipped cream with some milk and it will be like half and half. - Ya following me here? Next - Pudding. Yea! I actually had some. This hasn't always been the case. Last time I needed something with pudding I ended up making a mix which would have been a cooked pudding. It wasn't so bad but I think it missed the "instant" part, it never really set up like it should have. Anyway, I put in the pudding. Then I go down to the storage room to find some Sweetened condensed milk. Turns out I have plenty of Condensed milk, probably left over from all that fudge I was going to make last Christmas, but no Sweetened Condensed milk. NO PROBLEM! I know a way to make SCM from Powdered milk. So I mix up that concoction (I'll share later) and put it in with the other stuff, I beat it up for a while. The powdered milk and sugar haven't really had a chance to really dissolve yet though. Mint. I have a large patch of mint in the backyard, peppermint and spearmint, although they taste very much the same. I remember this, just after I already put a half a teaspoon of extract in. (I think 2 teas. is too much) And I'm thinking the best way to impart the mint flavor would probably have been to steep the mint leaves in the milk for a bit. Too late for that I guess, but, why not? I go grab some, throw it in the pot and just add a bit of milk. After it simmers for a bit I tasted it, not what I was hoping for taste wise, but I chalked it up to the milk and poured most of it in the bowl.

After this I whisk it up for a while and then put the bowl in the freezer. I have an ice cream freezer. The kind that is big and takes a couple bags of ice and rock salt and it's noisy and takes a long time... So I just decide to go straight to the freezer. I've done it before. I definitely do not claim to be a great ice cream maker. I will leave that title to my SIL and neighbor. Anyway, I take it out about every 30-60 min. and give it a beating with the mixer, scraping all the frozen parts off the wall. When it had reached milk shake consistency I prepared the chocolate chips. I know from experience that to just toss chocolate chips in ice cream just makes rock hard chocolate chips. So instead I put about 1/3 cup chips in the microwave and soften them up with about a teas. of shortening. I put it in the freezer to harden then I take the vegetable peeler to it and make a bunch of little chocolate shavings. I stir these into the mix then let it just freeze up.

Guess what? It actually turned out very well. It was very good in fact. My husband commented that he could tell it had powdered milk but I thought it was hard to tell. The chocolate worked out perfect, stayed softer and looked better in the scoops than regular chips would have. Everyone liked it except age6. He wouldn't even try it even though mint chocolate chip is one of his favorite ice cream flavors. Because, he said "well you made it right?" I knew he meant that he just thought it wouldn't be as good as store bought and he is kinda picky about desserts anyway but it was hard not to take that comment a little further. I FORCED him to take a bite and he did so with his usual forced bite yucky-face. I don't care what the food is, when you make that face and taste anything it's going to taste bad. Although he didn't say it tasted bad, he just said it didn't taste the same. My daughter said it tasted just like regular though. I preferred it in soft serve state. Probably for several reasons it was too crystally when totally frozen.

Not Zucchini Brownies

2010-10-07T07:55:00.004-06:00

I showed you the cucumbers that took over in my garden before. We couldn't keep up with them this year. We just weren't in a cucumber mood and rarely would just eat them. I love cucumber but I just wasn't into it this year. I had so much and hated throwing it out every week. Even attempts at giving it away to neighbors failed. I mean it's not like it was Zucchini or anything. OR WAS IT?

Long ago my sister made me a cucumber cake for my birthday. I'm sure if I lived with my sister I would be much better off health wise than I am by myself. We played a game the other night, we both got the same question at separate times. We simply had to answer which word(s) we felt right, for whatever reason. The words? Healthy or Junk Food. Me? - Junk Food. Her? - Healthy. I can't help it, I want to eat healthy and try but I still like Junk Food. And I feel quite junky lately or that I haven't been eating too well so I answered junk food. Although in a sense I don't think anyone would look in my cupboard and find a lot of junk food, I don't have potato chips or packages of cookies etc. But two helpings of fresh apple crisp seem junkier than not.

So on too the brownies. I thought, of course! I could use the cucumber like zucchini and add it to the brownies. It's got to be better than non vegetable added brownies right? So I did. I took a regular zucchini brownie recipe and substituted cucumber. The cucumber was more watery so I didn't put quite as much in. It tasted fine, almost too moist but the family didn't care. It was chocolate cake after all. And the kids all wanted seconds. I have to feel almost Bill Cosby-ish about it. 'But it's got milk and eggs and. . . Cucumber! Mom is great! Gives them the chocolate cake!' Wait, no it doesn't have milk or eggs, and no, we did not eat it for breakfast.

So here is the recipe I used but I'm leaving it as zucchini, just substitute if you feel like experimenting. Remember to de-seed the vegetable of choice before grating. Now that I think about it I got this recipe from one of my other sisters.

Zucchini Brownies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil
1 teas. salt
1 1/2 teas. baking soda
2 teas. vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix the 'wet' ingredients first, then add the 'dry' ingredients. Bake 375º for 25-30 minutes.

I know, not very specific directions. Sorry, when I jot down recipes I only include ingredients and baking degree. Sometimes I remember to put a baking time. Also I used extra cocoa. at least 1/2 cup total.

Next, I might tackle another cake my sister made me for a different birthday.

Triple Layer Devil Dog Cake

2010-10-04T08:57:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite cakes to make. This time it was for my son's Birthday party.

He doesn't look too excited about it does he? Actually I just caught him at a bad moment I guess. This was his first Teenager party. It was quite fun to have all his friends over. Very good bunch of kids.

He told me me he wanted a cake with a bunch of layers. He mentioned Ice cream cake, but I didn't have the time to fuss nor the freezer space to store such a tall order. His cake taste is improving. We don't do parties every year at our house, but usually every other year. For his last birthday party he was very into Cryptids. His favorite being the Yeti. And he wanted a Yeti cake complete with snow mountains. This may not be your idea of the Abominable Snowman but I looked it up, let me tell you, the actual Yeti is reddish brown in color, not white.

Let's refresh our memories.

I'm glad he picked a more grown up cake this year.

The cake itself is just chocolate. You can use whatever you like, My favorite recipe takes quite a lot of time but for this I didn't have that time and used a doctored cake mix. Gasp! yup. It was actually an old White Cake mix that I added cocoa, pudding, and sour cream too. That was the mix that needed to be used because it was out of date. The filling is a layer of Chocolate ganache and a Layer of Stabilized Whipped cream. So simple and yet sooo good. Careful when cutting because it needs to be refrigerated (for the cream) which makes the ganache hard and thus hard to cut.

Crop circles - On my Watermelon?

2010-09-27T18:41:00.000-06:00

Today I finally went out to pick some long overdue to be picked watermelons. We haven't been able to keep up with all the canteloupe that all got ripe at the same time so the watermelons had to wait. Pretty much anything left in the garden has just gone to seed or whatever. Serrano's anyone?

Anyway, this is what we found on a couple of the melons we brought in. Perfect target circles.

I couldn't get a good picture of this one, no matter what I tried.

My son droped this one on the way in the house.

The only information I could find was from the Extension at Purdue:

"Target Cluster (watermelon)

This disorder is marked by very striking target-like patterns that occur on the watermelon rind surface. The target spots appear in distinct clusters and can be as large as 1 inch in diameter (Figure 81). The target rings have a corky texture and are slightly raised (1/16 inch) from the fruit surface. No decay was associated with symptomatic fruit. Several attempts at identifying pathogenic bacteria or viruses were not successful. Fruit with the target cluster apparently occur very infrequently. Incidence and distribution in affected fields suggest that it was not responsible for any economic consequences.
http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/BP-44.html"

See? Aliens.

While I'm at it, I picked one of the few purple carrots that actually grew this year.

Finger Weaving Scarf.

2010-09-21T08:51:00.000-06:00

My daughter made this fun scarf using the idea from finger weaving. I decided we needed a loom to make a long thing easier and heaven forbid that I buy such a thing. I drilled some holes in a piece of leftover wood and chopped a dowel. Ok, my carpentry skills are lacking, I know. But the thing did the job. She was able to complete this scarf in a couple of hours and is making more.

To finger weave, simply wind the yarn around your fingers of your not dominate hand, front and back and then back to the first, then one more time forward and back so you see two threads on each finger.

Lift the bottom thread over the top thread and over your finger. Do this on all fingers. Then repeat the winding thread over the fingers until you have two threads again and lift etc....

View from the table

2010-09-17T15:49:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I have tried (since I have no real skillz in the area) to take a nice picture out the side window by my table. This was a very nice morning. What brought me to the window was the sounds of the Marching Band at the nearby high school wafting across the fields. I went to the window to let in the sound of the drums and some fresh air.

If you could see down on the field just to the left of the photo you would also be able to see a herd of prong horn who are enjoying a nice breakfast of hay. Or at least they like to lie in the cool hay. When they do you almost can't see them, especially when it's tall. I can't see them from my window because of the house behind mine, but when I drove by 20 min. later they were there. It's been one of their favorite fields this summer.

Here are a few of the prong horns in a view looking back towards my neighborhood. My neighbor happened to post some pictures the same day as I, so I borrowed one from her.

Peanut Butter Truffle Cupcakes and PB Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-09-13T17:09:00.001-06:00

Oh Yeah!

These cupcakes are so yummy. It is one of those recipes where I hate to give up my secrets. But I will share this time. I made them for my daughters 'party.' That thing they do about every other week anyway with her two best friends but I decided to make it a little more special. It was the last late night of the summer. I hope she appreciated it. It was a mystery theme. First they had pizza, then they had to solve 4 parts of a mystery. They were given clues throughout the night and in between they played the Whodunit game and tried to watch Nancy Drew, but didn't get very far with the movie.

Half of the girls fun is making invitations and decorations all the days leading up to their evening event. They taped finger prints all around the house and other cut outs and paper chains. Sometimes they even plan enough to dress alike, but this time they didn't.

First part of the mystery they had to figure out where a crime was committed. It was in the kitchen.
Second part, they had to figure out what the crime was. Cupcakes were stolen. I made these in advance and hid them, she didn't know.
Third, they had to find out who did it. Mom. It's always mom's fault anyway right?
Last they had to find the evidence. The cupcakes.

Really, I think I may have had as much fun coming up with all the puzzles and clues as they did solving them. the ranged from simple (or hard) puzzles to having to fingerprint everyone in the whole house. Each clue took them almost 20-30 minutes to solve. I thought it wouldn't take so long. It ended up not being so late of a night, one girl had to go home early.

As for the cupcakes, Yummm. The cupcake was a regular enough chocolate but the truffle inside made them so much more awesome. I think I may have eaten one or two of the truffles all by themselves before putting the rest into the cupcakes. The frosting was so yummy and I could just sit and eat it alone also. Bad me!

TRUFFLES
6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Place white chocolate in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium just until chocolate is soft; stir until smooth. Whisk in ¼ cup peanut butter until smooth.
Refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes or until firm. Using 1 tablespoon each, roll chocolate mixture into 12 (1-inch) balls; place on waxed paper-lined plate. Roll each ball in cocoa powder to coat completely. Freeze on lined plate 1 to 3 hours or until frozen solid. (Truffles can be frozen overnight.)

CUPCAKES
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners; spray bottom of liners with nonstick cooking spray. Sift flour, sugar, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl; combine.
Place buttermilk, eggs and vanilla into a large mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until blended. Reduce speed to medium-low; slowly beat in flour mixture. Add melted butter. Increase speed to medium-high; beat 2 minutes. Divide batter equally among muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. (I thought this might be too much but after they cooled they shrunk a bit.)

Gently drop frozen truffle into center of each batter-filled cup. Do not push truffle into batter, it will sink during baking. (I put mine in still frozen, I wonder if they had been thawed a bit if they wouldn't melt into the cake a bit?)
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpicks inserted in centers come out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely.

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cupcakes, dividing equally.

These cupcakes would do well with a chocolate or ganache frosting also.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

2010-09-07T08:05:00.001-06:00

This year I planted a different variety of Cucumber. I got tired of the other cuc's being bitter half the time. So my SIL told me about a Japanese cucumber she grew and I decided to try it. When I went to the store they told me she probably meant an Armenian Cucumber. These things are big. The two below are actually the smaller ones. I took pictures of my first cucumbers. But I had one almost 24 inches last week.

My kids sometimes eat cucumbers without complaint. And I usually love them with vinegar and salt give or take something a little extra. But this year I just was not into the cucumber. My husband says they tasted like they were all rind. I liked them ok but they seemed to have more seeds packed in them per inch. One recipe I managed to get in with some of my first tomatoes, which did not do so well this year, along with the rest of my garden, is a simple cucumber and tomato salad.

I got the recipe from a neighbor and I like that it is simple and just about what I normally do with a cucumber, only with the more goodness of a tomato added. With these cucumbers it makes a ton! when it said 2-3 cucumbers, I used only one.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

2-3 cucumbers
2-3 tomatoes
1 onion
vinegar
oil
water
salt

Not to specific there so go with what looks right to you. Less onion, more tomato, etc. Dice cuc's and tomatoes and onion. Combine vegis in bowl and sprinkle with salt. Add oil, vinegar, and water to taste. It's going to depend on how much of the vegies you used and how tart etc you want it to be. I used Olive Oil and not very much of it and I left the water out altogether, there is enough juice from the tomatoes for me.

Now I think I may need to make some more of this for lunch today. If I hurry and get the dishes done I can whip some up and it can marinate in time for lunch.

Diorama

2010-09-03T18:50:00.000-06:00

This is the diorama my daughter made for a book report over a year ago. It was one of my favorite books when I was younger (you know, out of like a thousand favorites) and I helped her and thought she did such a good job. We found it cleaning her room the other day and although I would like to keep it I know that is not reality and took a picture before we dumped it.

Pesto Rolls

2010-09-01T09:41:00.000-06:00

Wow, this blogging thing is really hard to keep up with. My hat's off to those of you who really keep up with it.

These simple rolls were made with the pesto I made a while ago. Simply use your prefered bread dough and roll out, spread with desired amount of pesto, roll up then slice and bake. And most importantly, eat.

More Kids Crafts

2010-08-17T09:49:00.001-06:00

This is a few of the Fashions that my daughter comes up with using one of her fashion booklets. It comes with templates to trace and she adds extras and things. She puts them on velcro in this book.

Also she and her friend made these modge podge frames out of tissue and poster board one day.

Chicken Salad

2010-08-10T09:20:00.000-06:00

There are so many Chicken Salad recipes out there. And everyone has their favorite I am sure. I like most of them and don't really have a favorite. This is the first chicken salad I ever made and it's the one I've stuck with. I don't actually make it very often. I think the last time was about 5 years ago. And the time before that was probably for my one-time roommate's wedding shower. I don't know why I don't make it that often. I guess it doesn't strike me as a regular dinner meal, I don't host parties too often and I know my younger kids won't eat it. My oldest surprised me however by having seconds. I may have to start making it more often.

Chicken Salad

2 cups chopped cooked chicken
3/4 cup sliced celery
2 Tbs chopped sweet pickles
1/2 cup almonds
2 diced apples
4 Tbs sliced olives
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise (I use a little less)
lemon pepper and salt to taste

Combine all, chill.

Neighborhood Iron Chef - Orange Delight Pie.

2010-08-07T20:51:00.006-06:00

My neighborhood has a tradition of an Iron Chef competition. About 50+ women divide up into about 8 teams and are given 1 hour to come up with a main dish and a dessert given a secret ingredient. I believe it was H.O.'s brain child and I would like to congratulate her on it's 4th year of success even though she hasn't been in charge since about 2 years? ago. Those in charge this year did a fine job. Although I don't think the word got spread around as much and few people maybe didn't hear of it. But that was due to a recent change in the leadership and hopefully next year that will get better.

This year the secret ingredient was Orange Juice. Wow, the things that all the ladies in the competition came up with were fantastic. I was on a wonderful team hosted by D.Y. and including S.R., R.B., C.L., J.S., and me. Thankfully D.Y. had a large enough kitchen that we weren't crowded to death. My team trusted me and went with the orange chicken I have already posted in my blog. S.R. came up with the initial idea for the Orange pie we made and everyone contributed a bit to it. We made two pies So I will try to remember the ingredients for just one. Anyway we won 2nd place! I won second place last year as well, with just two of us on my team. Just saying. I had a great time and got to know a few ladies a bit better. Thanks you guys for a great night!

I think we all agreed after the smorgasbord that the pie ended up a little two sweet. I am putting this recipe as I remember it with a slight adjustment that we sort of talked about as we ate everyone's wonderful concoctions. I think it could still be improved upon but with an hour you don't have a lot of time to mess around.

Orange Delight pie.

1 graham cracker crust
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
4 Tbs orange juice
1 teas orange zest
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar (to taste)
1 small pkg vanilla pudding, made according to package directions for pie (less milk)
1 cup whipping cream, whipped, add powdered sugar if you like it sweeter.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth, add sugar, oj and zest. Add more sugar and/or orange juice if desired to taste. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped cream. Scoop into prepared pie shell. Layer pudding on top of cream cheese. Top with remaining whipped cream. Garnish with orange slices.

I'll update with pictures if and when I get them. J.S. the lady who had the camera, and more skills in that dept. than me, is due in two weeks with her third child. I'm impressed she gets done all the things she does but if nothing happens for a while I totally understand.

Kids Crafts

2010-08-06T09:18:00.000-06:00

While I haven't been too crafty this summer the kids have been busy. Mostly my daughter, who almost daily says "Mom, I want to make something." So I decided to show you some of the things they have been doing recently. First my daughter got out the ever popular Perler Beads. She saw this nifty box to make and did a few random designs besides. Not all are pictured.

Age 6 found a Halloween craft he wanted to make. I want you to know that we painted this thing at least 5 times. It just did not want to cover up the cereal box. I also couldn't find duct tape so we used painter tape. (which truly let us down in our basement.)

Pesto Day!

2010-08-05T21:31:00.002-06:00

This year I finally got around to making pesto! Yeah for me! I always grow a big patch of fresh basil, but, I usually end up just drying it because I never seem to find the time, ambition, ingredients, etc. to actually follow through. And most of it ends up just dying in the garden. You can only use so much dried basil you know.

At my favorite Italian restaurant, which I don't think exists anymore, I always ordered the creamy pesto. Yum. I really need to learn to make that. Ahh, this brings me back to my Italian roots. ... What's that you say? What Italian roots? Well I will have you know that I have a brother and a brother-in-law and two seperate past boyfriends who all went on a mission to Sicily. Also I used to have a next door neighbor who was actually an actual Italian and had lived in Italy and everything. SO, um, ya. Italian roots.

Once I found some pine nuts, or rather had the time to go find them. I swear I never seem to do ANYTHING, and yet I never seem to have the time to do anything either. If I could just figure out how to get my kids to do their whole fair share of the work. Yesterday I had to get my son to do his 5 min. chore (age 13) 5 times because it was so blatantly not really clean. He gave his usual shrug then later gets all mad because I've been bugging him all day. SO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! Ok, getting a little off topic. (It was never done right even after 5 times.) Once I had the nuts I pounced on the basil the next morning and picked a whole basket full. I actually had to go back out and pick a little more because after I packed my cups it wasn't enough.

It is not hard to do. I made mine in two batches then mixed the two batches together because my second was too salty. This is a very basic recipe and can be changed to suit your taste. Want more Parmesan? toss it in, less nuts? More garlic? Add and subtract as needed keeping things more or less to a basic. I was never able to really get mine super smooth but oh well. My house smelled heavily of basil for the rest of the day (mostly because the broken stems were in the trash in the kitchen) and of course 13 didn't like the smell of the pesto at all and made his own stink about it but he ate plenty of my pesto rolls for dinner. ;)

Pesto

2 Packed Cups of Fresh Basil Leaves
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2-3 Garlic Cloves
1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan
1/4 Cup Pine Nuts
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions
Wash and pat dry the basil and really pack it into the cup and add your basil to a food processor. Pulse for a bit. Now add half of your olive oil and your crushed garlic. Pulse again. Add your pine nuts and the rest of your olive oil. Pulse. Add your Parmesan and pulse. Scrape down the sides of your food processor and pulse pesto until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

I put a little aside to use in the next week, and covered an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and filled the holes with the rest to freeze for later use.

Grandma's cookbook.

2010-07-29T19:42:00.002-06:00

I acquired one of my grandmother's cookbooks not too long ago. I don't know if she had a lot or if she used it a lot. It is rather worn but that could be from storage etc. I imagine my grandmother as cooking by experience mostly. I did not know her well, I have only two memories of her. She died when I was around 9. I do not know how my mother got it (paternal grandmother) but she did somehow and I picked it out of the box of goodies she was offering along with a pair of gaudy costume earrings my daughter wanted, a cloth napkin, and a nicnak souvenir plate from USSR that perhaps one of my uncles picked up while on duty somewhere? Anyways, This is Meals, Tested, Tasted, and Approved (Favorite Recipes and Menus From Our Kitchens to Yours) by Good Housekeeping, copyright 1930, fifth edition 1932.

The thing that is great about this cookbook is it actually has not very many recipes but is filled with helpful guides on everything from weight management to feeding infants and children, quick meals (which incorporates the paragraph "The last half-hour before serving.." seeing as how my quick meals take only 30 min. I am exhausted) and how to conduct formal and informal breakfast, luncheon, and dinner or "The Etiquette of Service" This is my favorite part.

You will have to click on the images to be able to fully see and read.

I have put in images of the Informal Dinner. This is what is considered a family meal or perhaps a guest or two. Having parents who grew up during this time period, I am relatively sure that neither of their households consisted of meals like this. My grandmother ran a farm kitchen. No maid here. For sure. Growing up we, as far as I was concerned, fully set the table for dinner. Plate, spoon (big for dad), knife, fork, glass and often a napkin. Sometimes there was a centerpiece, but for the most part that just got in the way and didn't leave space for the food. Now my kids put a plate and a fork on the table. Period. If they want a drink, they get up and get one. If they need a napkin, they get up and get one, unless I have the foresight to think that what we are eating is potentially messier than normal or uses hands then I will sometimes grab a few paper towels and rip them into smaller pieces. Frugality is the rule. I also serve straight out of the pot. Hot pads abound on my table. The less dishes to wash of course. Now if I happen to have (almost never) a fancier dinner with guests, this might get cleaned up a little. Also I worked for catering for several years, even as a supervisor. I set Tens of Thousands of tables. Really. We did banquets as large as 2000 for a ton of college students to as small as two big wigs. I served Ambassadors and Queens and Prophets all the way to farmers and kids. I Could set a table nice, if I Wanted to.

Look at that list of items needed just to set the table!!!! and there are detailed instructions on how to serve set the napkins, right down to removing covers from serving dishes etc. Everything! Versus, of course, the Formal Dinner. And what to do with the maid. Take a glance at the previous section just above the title about the maids and their outfits from the formal section.

Really This is so precious. I couldn't even begin to imagine living this way. It's all Hollywood glamour and middle class image you see in the old movies but I doubt most of America lived that way. Hello! 1932 depression! Can you imagine all this during the great dust bowl where daily things were coated with a thick layer of dust? One account I read of they would set the table with the plates upside down to keep as much dust off as they could before eating then quickly turning them over to put food on them and still getting 'salt and pepper' on it.

Still it's good to be reminded of all that properness and whatnot. If I were to do this now, there is no way I could do the laundry and clean the house. I would be spending half the day just setting the table.

I hope to try some of the recipes soon. One of my favorite titles? Main dish - Bacon and Bananas.

Cinnamon Maple Almonds

2010-07-26T13:15:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite thing when I worked at the County building was when the freedom festival would set up on the lawn outside. Every break and lunch I would be outside wandering the booths and smelling the wonderful food. I would allow myself to buy a bag of those irresistible cinnamon roasted almonds. MMMM. I have a sugared nut recipe I use quite often, but it's best on pecans and not really the same, although very yummy and addicting in its own right. I finally found the secret to those wonderful almonds. Maple and vanilla. The cinnamon of course was a given. I'm not sure how I can across it all, I probably was searching and put a few recipes together from the internet. For a while I was making these all the time, I ate a ton of nuts! But then I let it go and forgot how I mixed the glaze. When I started wanting them again I had to start all over, except knowing that it had maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. I couldn't remember if it had sugar or not. My memory is really fading as I get older. Some things I remember very well though. I finally found a recipe that looked close. It had the sugar in it. When I put the nuts on the pan I could immediately tell that this was not the recipe but I already had about 3 cups of nuts mixed in and so I still baked them. They ended up almost burnt tasting and very greasy but good enough to keep around and snack on. I cooked them less than it said to, so oh well.

It seemed to me that I never actually baked them, and again I wasn't really remembering sugar added. I do remember adding Mapeline, but I don't remember if that was just to enhance my cheap syrup. I know I didn't use real maple syrup.

So I tried again. I don't know why I can't remember what I used to do. I blame it all on hormones. This time I left out the sugar and cut way back on the butter. It still wasn't what I wanted but it was a lot better. I did end up roasting them but only for about 15 min. I also started with raw almonds. I would like them more roasted next time. I will have to continue my quest. When I get more time.

Here is what I ended up doing.

1⁄4 cup real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 dashes salt
2 cups almonds.

Combine all ingredients except nuts in pot and bring to boil. Boil 1 minute. Add nuts and coat. Pour in pan and bake at 300 for about 15 minutes.

Adventures in Camp Cooking part 3 - Pork roast & peach cobbler.

2010-07-16T09:34:00.000-06:00

Day 3, Another beautiful morning. Really I can't say enough good about the nice mornings. Although we still have to deal with the wreckage and wetness of the previous day. I had planned on making breakfast in bags, or rather having the kids make their own just to show them some camp cooking skills. But since the carnage of the night before we really just wanted to eat breakfast and get things going. So, out with the cereal bowls and I ended up cooking the bacon in the pan on the stove. I learned to make these breakfast bags from my sister when I was about 8. She was a camp councillor at Oakcrest and YW for a few years. She and Dian Thomas taught me everything I know. For a quick version of the Breakfast in a bag go here. I usually add a piece of bread with a hole in the middle to go over the yolk and get the egg on both sides for what we always called a sunshine sandwich.

After breakfast we hauled all the sleeping bags and pads out to dry. There was still hail piles on the ground all over where there was vegetation but it was melted on just dirt areas. It took until noon to dry the tents, waiting for the sun to totally reach them.

After this we started up the fire so we could slow roast the pork all day. Only problem is, It's been a while since I used a dutch oven and I forgot how much heat to put on it. Since we couldn't dig a pit I thought we could use a little more coals but Dad thought we needed even more. He thought since it was sitting out all day the heat would dissipate more quickly. I put a dry rub on the pork and put it in the pot. We piled the coals around it.

Our friends arrived fairly early and we all took a trip to the beach. Dave took the kids out in the boat and Sean and I stayed on the beach. He doesn't care for boats too much. Not too far away one of the oars broke. This is sad because my husband made this boat and oars by hand. Not an easy thing. But he didn't seem too upset by it, he said he just used 2x4's for the oars, but they looked nice. He had a tiny motor for such emergencies. He learned this after getting stuck on Utah Lake with the sail boat when a storm came up. That lake is nasty in a storm.

I headed back to camp early to get lunch started. I decided to check on the roast. Good thing. The sugar in the rub and the juices from the meat had completely burned into a big black sucker all over the bottom and the roasts were black! Ugh. Dutch oven lesson re-learned. However, I knew it could be saved, I knocked off what sucker I could and wrapped the meat in foil to wait until later.

After this we had lunch, PB sandwiches. We put the tents back together and guess what? Just in time for it to rain again. This time was not so bad though. We went back into the tent for more card games. It stopped and I went out to deal with the pork. I cut off the outside and the inside was super tender and tasty! I put it in a pan for later. I decided since we didn't do the cobbler the night before than I would do it now. I figured it would still be warm for dessert if I did it first. I had put ingredients into bags so I had to do was add eggs and mush it in the baggie. Since I was using bottled peaches I left out some sugar thinking they would already be too sweet, but I like my cobbler on the less sweet side anyway, usually getting some sweetness from the ice cream. But there would be no ice cream tonight.

Then the neighbor and I put together the rest of our dinners while D took all the kids fishing. I put potatoes in foil and started the fire up again. Two hours later the fishers were back and the potatoes were perfect! The cobbler was also perfect, but, sadly I opened the lid just as the wind picked up and they got nicely salt and peppered from the blowing ashes. Seriously it was perfect looking until then. It could have been sweeter.

For dinner I added a bit of water to the pork and simmered for a bit. It turned out great

We ended with more smores and some late card games. I had promised my son we could play one of his favorites but by the time we started it was freezing!!! so we huddled around the lantern on the table trying to hurry the game and stay warm. Another cold night on the hard ground. But by now I was more tired and slept better.

Adventures in Camp Cooking part 2

2010-07-15T09:28:00.005-06:00

Note: I posted this once and half of it dissapeared so this version isn't nearly as glamorous.

Day two. Beautiful morning. It was actually warmer to get out of the tent than to stay in. The sun warmed up quickly. Because of the new camp chef I was able to easily boil some water for those that wanted hot chocolate to help the warming up. Before it was always a hassle to start the fire first and by the time it got nice then you needed to start breakfast and by then you didn't care about hot chocolate. But everyone loved it this time. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and hash browns and OJ and/or milk. It was so nice to not cook over the fire and singe all the hairs off my knuckles or burn one side of the pan.

After breakfast we went on a hike. This is where the day gets interesting. Half way up the trail age6 trips and from there on its whine and pout. We tried lots of things to get him happy again but he was set against it. age 13 of course can't stand to walk with the rest of us and always takes off ahead but usually stays withing sight since that is what he was supposed to be doing. He waits for us at varying intervals. Finally 6 can't resist the lure of the great walking stick find that 10 and I have been playing up for him. He resumes contented.

We reach a harder, rock slide area and 13 is no where to be found. Dad yells for him and gets no answer. He decides we should wait there and takes off. This is where I am thankful that he is a trail runner. We wait and he comes back having run for about 10-15 min without sight of 13. Surely with him running he would have caught up to 13 by now. Horses pass us and they say they will look out. Now we start to worry. there are steep drop-offs and, luckily we didn't know at the time, but at this same spot the next day our friend who came up to meet us saw a bear while he was doing his trail running. We decide that I will take the kids back down (I was disappointed in not reaching our designated end.) They cry and 6 keeps saying he doesn't think he will ever see 13 again. It's hard to believe that with all the hurt and teasing he still loves his brother. Dad will start running up the trail again and if a designated time comes and I don't see him, we will contact the ranger. It's already been almost an hour. I try and keep the younger ones entertained on the way back, telling myself that 13 is not as stupid as he acts sometimes. The horses come back down and didn't see him. We stop and find 'Perfect pine cone Land' and almost at the end, stop to play in the small waterfall stream area. Brrrr, but it feels so good. Just as we get back to camp and wash up, Dad and 13 come right behind us. Yeah. all is well.........

We have Pita pockets filled with a combination of your choice, ham, cheddar, provolone, lettuce, cucumber, celery, carrots. I pick the last 5 ingredients minus the carrots and it is sooo good! Sorry, no pictures. Just after we clean up it starts raining. We wait under the mess tent. Remember I said this turned out to be a blessing. Until it slowed enough to grab the fun bag out of the car and dash to the tent. 13 took time for himself in the other tent reading. We spend the next hour in the tent playing cards and having the occasional cookie. Age 10 falls in love with the new card game, which I've actually had for years. The rain stops and Dad and I can't keep our eyes open anymore. I send 10 and 6 out to play with a badminton set while we try to nap. It doesn't really work so well for me. After 30min. I get out to survey the scene and soak up some sun. We all go out on the boat for a little fishing, It doesn't last too long. We feel a drop or two and head in.

Age 13 starts a fire for dinner. He insists on using his magnesium fire starter. And he actually gets it to work after about 20 minutes. One more item forgotten. The Hamburger Grill for the fire. Oh well, WE HAVE THE WONDERFUL CAMP CHEF! The fire gets very big anyway, because we have peach cobbler planned. We decide to move the stove in under the mess tent because it's raining again. 13 heads back into his tent and the younger ones move into the mess tent with us. For hamburgers I pre-made patties with onion and the D required Worchestershire, s/p. It starts hailing. Hard. It's cold and the kids are getting wet. So I throw on another pot of water to make them some hot chocolate. The ground is flooding and Dad starts digging trenches with his walking stick that we had all gotten earlier. I put on the burgers on the stove and put the kids under the table, the only dry spot anywhere. D keeps digging trenches and bailing out water with a paper cup. The tent across the way collapses. I can't believe that our canopy with the bent poles is still standing. I told you it was a blessing. For now it's the only thing between us and the hail. Once in a while we bang the snow off the roof. It's really building up out there. Who knows how much water has gotten under our tents. I bring the kids out to eat their burgers. They are too cold to really want to eat much though. D stops long enough to eat. These burgers really turned out good. I don't know why but they cooked perfectly, better than I have done them at home. Luckily our camera was out of danger in the car. Finally it stops hailing. Remember, it's been hailing long enough to cook the hamburgers, then eat them. the rain slows down and we call 13 out to eat and help dig around the tents. I send the younger two in to put on long sweats. I build the fire up again but now all thought of cobbler is gone. It's cold and everything is wet. We clean up dinner and spend the rest of the night huddling around the fire and trying to dry off. I was reminded of the second time D and I met. Our little group of neighbors huddled around the campfire near Mirror Lake trying to keep warm while I make cupcakes in the fire. Somehow our tents and bags are not too wet. About 10:00 the stars come out and we turn in.

To be continued.

Adventures in Camp Cooking part 1 - Pizza

2010-07-13T16:13:00.000-06:00

Last week we went camping. Two of the dinners I was requested by my husband what they should be. Fine by me. For the third meal, which was actually on our fist night I thought Pizza sounded fun. Generally I have done all the cooking over the fire. This year we purchased a Camp Chef and It turned out to be a great blessing. Besides dinners I had some great breakfasts planned too.

The first afternoon we arrived it was mild and cloudy. We set up camp and my husband decided to set up the canopy/screen tent over the picnic table. Another Blessing. I didn't think it would stand because the first time we ever used it, the wind was strong enough to bend two of the poles. The next time we tried, same story. So this time he put it up with basically 4 bent poles. I don't know how it stayed up, but it did.

I had planned on cooking the pizza over the fire but hubby talked me out of it, probably to try out the new stove. I fell in love with it. I didn't want the dough to stick to our other pan since we had forgotten to bring oil (one of several forgotten things) so I worked off 1 pan, it took a long time to get them all done, but no one complained.

I brought up pre-made dough, divided into 6 balls and frozen overnight then put in the cooler. It was almost thawed by the time we were ready for dinner. I took them out to finish and my daughter and I formed pizza rounds. Then I cooked/fried one side and flipped over on to a plate, she and my son 'decorated' them with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on top of the cooked side. Then I returned them to the pan to cook the undone side. Everyone liked it of course, my one resolution before camping was that I wasn't going to make anything the kids wouldn't eat.

This turned out to be the best meal and I will keep it on our camping menu! The way I prepare food for camping is that I put everything in portions already prepared as much as possible in baggies. So all we had to do was toss the empty baggies at the end. Nothing to chop or mix etc.

The evening quickly became rather cool and after the requisite smores we turned in and survived the first cold night. Although since one of the other things we forgot was the air matress, my back didn't survive so well.

Fried Plantains

2010-07-10T16:41:00.000-06:00

It has been a long time since I've had fried plantains and I have been thinking about them recently. So, when I saw some nice looking plantains at the store the other day I snatched some up. (its hard to find nice looking ones, I ususally only see old bruised looking ones.)

My husband had only heard that they were nasty. I can only assume whoever told him this must have tried to eat them like a banana. Even my kids ate a few. Some liked them dipped in ketchup and I am sure other sauces would be good also. They are a bit like a potato fry with a slight banana taste.

This is the way I learned when years ago some roommates and neighbors fried some up:

First slice 1/4ish thick slices and fry (they do turn a bit yellow) on each side until slighty golden and softened. Place on paper towel and smash them flatter. Then return to the pan and fry again until crisp. Serve warm and with sauce of choice.

Frying in pan

Smashed on paper towel

Lemon and Herb Pasta

2010-06-28T18:49:00.000-06:00

Am I the only one who seems to be having a super busy summer? It has been a while since I posted. We were out of town and I felt I could spare some time today, while I wait for the rice to finish for dinner.

Yesterday I pulled a recipe from Sunset Magazine for some Herbed Pasta. I love being able to use fresh herbs from my garden. So it sounded good. I wondered if my kids could handle pasta without tomato sauce but they suprized me, only slightly. I started with home made pasta, which I usually do if it's not just a fast weeknight spaghetti. That made the difference for them to actually eat it. They did top it with grated parmesean though.

I made the sauce as the noodles cooked and liked it so well I tried to double it. That didn't work as well. I didn't go ALL THE WAY back out to the garden to pick more basil but I had a little bit left, I also didn't add extra garlic and onion but tossed in some more thyme. Anyway the result was way too lemony but I still liked it. I should have left it alone but then it wasn't enough to cover all my pasta. But no one complained so it wasn't too bad for all that.

I toped it with some plain grilled chicken and I thought it turned out to be a lovely meal.

Notes: I didn't have chives so I used some of my garden garlic and a small amount of the tops of my green onions. I did like the garlic in there, but didn't use a lot so it wasn't too strong. I also used fresh basil and thyme as my main herbs and completly forgot about parsley, which quit growing so I didn't have any fresh anyway, but I did have some recently dried, just forgot. I also didn't have any oregano, fresh or dry so I used some dry marjoram. I doubt it made much difference.

Lemon and Herb Pasta

8 or 9 oz fresh fettuccine
3 Tablespoons Olive oil
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives
2 Tablespoons coursely chopped parsley
2 Tablespoons coursely chopped fresh oregano, basil, lemon verbena or tyme leaves. (or a combination of two or three)
1 teas. grated lemon peel
2 Tablespoons Lemon juice (yup, I used way too much)
1/2teaspoon greshly ground pepper

Prepare fettuccine according to directions. Meanwhile, in a wide bowl combine all other ingredients. Drain Pasta and put in bowl with herb mixture. gently toss to coat. Add salt to taste.

The Big Island

2010-06-10T08:21:00.000-06:00

Another Birthday

This year my daughter wanted an island in the middle of an ocean with a palm tree and a beach chair.

I don't get as fancy as I used to with my cakes. I just don't have time. She wanted chocolate which I couldn't fully cover with sand so just think of it as muddy sand or those spots on the beach where lots of dead seaweed and bugs get washed up in a bunch.

The party was decorated 'Luau' style with big blow-up palms and flowers and flamingos. But the only pictures I got had girls in it and I didn't want to post any without their parents permission. All the girls had leis and grass skits.

The girls spent most of their time making shrinky dinks to put on charm braclets. They were all very unique and cute.

Busy with Beads

2010-05-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

My table has been taken over the last couple of weeks. I made a few watch bands as presents the last two weeks and that turned into a few more people wanting some. I thought it would be fun to take some pictures to remember how I composed them. I didn't get a picture of my red/fall one though and a couple others.

I hope they enjoy them!

Rhubarb Crumb Bars

2010-05-25T15:16:00.001-06:00

This was my Rhubarb yesterday.

...

Here is my Rhubarb today!

Which one would you choose?

I should have taken another picture of just the stalk I think this was my largest rhubarb leaf ever. It was almost 2 feet in diameter (just the leaf). I measured.

These bars are my third favorite rhubarb recipe. First being plain ol' Rhubarb Pie with vanilla ice cream, NO STRAWBERRIES!!! Really I think that is nasty. Ok, now that I think about it, just plain rhubarb jam-like ice cream topping has to be high on the list too, but I don't know where to put it in the order. Someday I may share my second favorite, but not today. This is another Martha recipe.

Rhubarb Crumb Bars

Ingredients

FOR THE STREUSEL
     6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
     1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
     1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
     1/4 teaspoon salt
FOR THE CAKE
     1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
     1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
     1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
     1/2 teaspoon baking powder
     1/4 teaspoon salt
     1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
     1 cup confectioners' sugar
     2 large eggs
     1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter and flour parchment and pan, tapping out excess flour.
   2. Make streusel: Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
   3. Make cake: In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup flour. In another medium bowl, whisk 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then flour mixture. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with rhubarb and top with streusel.
   4. Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake from pan. Cut into 16 bars.

I baked my bars in a larger pan (on purpose) so in an 8x8 pan they will be higher. Also the streusel covered my larger pan just fine so for a smaller pan it will be plenty.

View from My Table, May 24th.

2010-05-24T10:50:00.000-06:00

The weather this year have been very disappointing. I was at Kindergarten today and missed taking a picture that was really snowy. By the time I got home it was all wet and compacted. My garden is very weak, I hope it warms up enough to plant before mid June. I guess I will have to forget seeds and just to seedlings this year. If I can find any. Anytime I try to start stuff in doors I end up with a mess and nothing lives when I put it outside. Take my broccoli for instance. I started cool weather broccoli this year and the day or two after I put it out we had a big hail storm that ripped it all to shreds. Usually it just dies of heat or something. At least this time it lived until the hail came. Because of that nasty weather I also have had no flowers to enjoy. I finally got a few tiny daffodils and thought I should cut those and take them inside to enjoy in a vase, but decided they would last longer outside. WRONG. The next day they were gone. Stupid storms. Honestly I don't know if I was young and naive or what because I do not remember weather this bad this late when I was younger. I do remember a snow storm usually every April but that was surrounded by several nice days. It seems the last several years have been bad way into June. Ok, enough whining. I have lots of work to accomplish today.

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

2010-05-19T07:30:00.001-06:00

I have shared this recipe before, but not on my blog. My husband wanted to make Banana bread this weekend with the over ripe bananas left on the counter. Really, I think he left them there on purpose because bananas do not generally sit un-eaten in my house. The banana bread I make usually has a lot more than just bananas ( apple/zucchini/carrot +) and I didn't want that much work. This recipe popped into my head and I knew it would be a better solution.

We made them using a gluten free flour mix instead of the wheat/white flour. They turned out so good but a little more crumbly/cakey than they might have been. They were so crumbly that they prompted a whole song from my 6 yr. old. generally consisting of a lot of words that rhyme with crumby or crumble. We did a first test batch and decided that we would put the rest in a pan to make bars. I think this was a wise decision, mostly because then I only had to make one batch instead of several pans full. It turned out very well this way and I would love to tell you how long I baked them, but I didn't pay attention. I think it was around 15 min? Mostly I baked until they really started to smell good and then I checked and they looked done. My husband is always appalled that I don't use a timer all the time. The other day he asked me how long to cook something (I don't remember what it was) I said I don't know maybe about 'this' long. He set the timer and was shocked that it wasn't done when the timer went off. "Uh, I told you I didn't know for sure!"

I think this was originally a Martha recipe.

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

Ingredients :
1 cup all- purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/2 inch chunks (~224 gr)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted

Directions :
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks, and walnut.
3. Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12-13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.
Makes about 3 dozen.

For a Gluten free version you can probably use whatever flour mix you like. The mix we used was
6 parts brown rice flour
2 parts potato starch
1 part Tapioca flour

Just use 1 1/2 cups of the final flour mix.
Also I added a teaspoon of Xanthan gum to the batter, I perhaps needed more, I don't have the whole Xanthan thing figured out yet.

Cherry Dress

2010-05-17T11:58:00.000-06:00

I thought this material would make a cute quick dress. And it did. All I had to do was sew up the side then make some straps. My daughter did all the ironing, she didn't feel like sewing this time.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

2010-05-11T14:00:00.001-06:00

Oh boy, did I have trouble with these. The cookie part turned out ok but when I went to put the ice cream in it was melting faster than I could handle. I also made these for the same church function and they didn't freeze so well at the church either. They were very melty. Once I got them home, however, they froze in my freezer just fine and I was able to eat a whole one without any drips at all. In order to hold all the sandwiches I made (about 40) I had to put them in my deep freeze, which I guess isn't so frozen as my fridge/freezer. So lesson # 1 make sure your ice cream is really frozen before you begin and freeze them quickly after assembly.

As for the chocolate cookie, after being frozen it is not soft like a store bought ice cream sandwich, but sort of hard as in it cracks when you bite it but its not hard like an oreo hard, just not bendy cake-like soft. Kind of chewy. I liked it, it was sort of an addicting texture to me.

I used 3 different flavors of ice cream in my cookies, Chocolate Chip, Peppermint and French vanilla. I liked the Peppermint best.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup cocoa, sifted
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
extra flour and cocoa for dusting

In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for several minutes until light and fluffy.
Add the cocoa powder, mixing on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Then add the vanilla and the egg and blend on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Add the flour on low speed, mixing until uniform and comes together like a dough.
Remove the cookie dough from the mixer, wrap in plastic and chill until firm (this should take several hours). You can store the dough wrapped like this for 2-3 days if you wish to make it in advance.
When ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 350°F. Remove your dough from the refrigerator, if it is hard as a rock allow to stand at room temperature for a little while before exercising your rolling muscles on it. In a small bowl, mix together enough flour and cocoa to dust your cutting board and your dough to keep it from sticking (a mix of 50/50 flour/cocoa). Using cocoa powder to dust will keep the surface of your cookies dark and chocolaty looking. Roll out your chilled dough to about 1/8" thickness and cut out your shapes. (I tried some cookies with holes and some without. It didn't seem to matter much. Holes had a little less but not much bubbling.) Bake for 10 minutes, until the surface is no longer glossy. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. They will be soft fresh out of the oven but will crisp up as they cool. Once cool, place the cookies in a ziplock baggie or other container and freeze until ready to use.

To fill with ice cream, open carton and slice desired size slices. Cut to same size/and shape as cookies then sandwich together. Freeze until serving time.
If you use home made icecream or can not slice it, quickly spread in a baking sheet and freeze again, then cut desired shapes.

Bean and Corn Salad

2010-05-04T21:11:00.001-06:00

If you come to visit me tomorrow, This is what I will be offering you. I made this bowl full for an R.S. activity tonight and very little was eaten. I hope it wasn't because the ladies found it yucky, I'm sure it was because most had eaten dinner and other things were probably more tempting to taste. I happen to like it but have only made it once before. No one would eat it in my family except my husband and I. Also it makes a ton.

I got this recipe from my Mother in law. I never cared for bean salad before I tasted this version. I like the fresh vegetables in it and would try fresh green beans if I had any. The onions are from my garden of course and as such are a little more strong. I leave out some of the sugar, I don't care for it too sweet.    I also tossed in some garbanzo beans for fun. The dressing also makes it's own ton and half would be enough probably. I added a little extra other ingredients and still had soup at the bottom of the bowl.

I like this salad, the vinegar is probably what does this for me. I suppose it is just if you like this sort of thing whether you would enjoy it also. Drop on by and have a sample. I'll never be able to eat it all that is for sure.

Bean & Corn Salad

1 16 can each of
   Kidney beans
   Green beans
   Yellow wax beans
   Corn
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 med. red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup olives
1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Dressing

1 cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 teas. dry mustard
1/4 teas. salt

Combine all Salad ingredients in large bowl. Mix dressing ingredients in small bowl. Toss salad and dressing together. Refrigerate before serving.

Cheesecake

2010-04-29T12:25:00.000-06:00

A favorite story in my family is how when I was little I didn't like pie. I must have been very very young because I remember being very particular to Peach and Cherry. I didn't want other kinds. Anyway... One time someone made a cheesecake, I don't know if it was baked or not. probably not baked, I don't ever remember anyone making a baked or newyork style cheesecake ever in our house.    And since they called it "cake" I ate it and forever after loved pie. It's true, pie is one of my favorite deserts. I don't know if cheesecake is technically cake or pie but I've always put it in the pie category. Probably again because of the no bake type.

This cheesecake recipe is supposedly adapted from America's Test Kitchen or Cooks Illustrated. I like this show on PBS, the host looks a lot and sounds a lot like my past neighbor. Yet he denies even knowing about the show. The horror!   I don't know how close this is to their actual recipe. You need to pay to get content on their site so I didn't bother to check it. Although I did see one article that oddly popped up becuase I can't search for it and everything always shows the please subscribe thing, it was different but I don't know if it was complete.

I made this for Easter. That day turned out to be rather a bad kitchen day. My main items to cook all required the oven and thankfully I made this first but still dinner was late. This recipe calls to cook for an hour. I ended up cooking it for a good 2 hours plus and turning up the heat towards the end. It may be that at low temps my oven doesn't work right. Because of all this I was hesitant to even try it then I thought, it's just cheese and eggs, both of which even if raw probably wouldn't kill me, the chances of samonella in raw eggs being pretty low. And after all It was in the oven for a long long time.   It wasn't dark skinned like a new york cheesecake but it wasn't sinking either. It felt fairly firm and looked evenly done. In fact it looked very good, no cracks and perfectly smooth. Any cracks you can make out on the below picture were made by little curious fingers. And even after 24 hours it never sank. I was fairly proud about this.

So how did it taste? Well I must divert here and tell you about the crust. Still being on the wheat free diet I tried to change a basic nut crust recipe, instead of flour I used some of the left over rice flour I had made and a little Soy flour. Oh My Gosh! YUCK YUCK YUCK. It almost ruined the whole dessert. Really it was awful. For my part the small amount of quinoa I put in the flour really stood out was grade A nasty. There had to be less than a teaspoon of that quinoa in the whole crust yet it stood out a lot. Of course I already told you I think how sensitive I am to the quinoa flavor, I think its like how Cilantro tastes like soap to some people (I love it).

The texture of the thing wasn't so cakey, you know how a typical new york cheesecake is dense and can almost be crumbly at times. This was very creamy. Almost like a no bake cheesecake. It was incredibly smooth. I didn't know what to feel about that at first but I ended up really liking it that way. The flavor was not much different than you would suspect, a bit tangy and just sweet enough. I liked it. I did throw some of the leftovers out because of the crust. Truly it was that bad, I could hardly get over it to appreciate the cheesecake part.

I very much intend to make this again. I already have the cream cheese in the fridge. I think I will increase the oven temp a bit, I think my oven really is to blame on this. I think it will firm it up a little, while I liked the creaminess I think a little firmer will be good. Also I'm sticking with graham crakers next time. I have to have a crust because my almost new pan leaks. It didn't leak the first time I used it but it did the next. Someday I'll tell you the story of my Zebra cake disaster.

Other notes: Do use a water bath. Cover your pan with tinfoil and immerse in a larger pan on top of a baking rack and fill about 1/3 the way up with water. (after you put it in the oven.) I didn't have the time to let mine sit for an hour in the oven so I placed it by the oven vent which is quite hot. Also by the time we ate it several hours later (at least 4) it was still warmish from just sitting on the counter but after being in the fridge a day the texture wasn't much different. The bit I found at Cooks Illustrated said to bake at 200deg. for 90 min. That matches my experience better but that one mentioned more eggs and cheese in it. I'm going to say use the crust of your choice on this. The recipe I found said to just brush the pan with butter and sprinkle crumbs on top. Seems barely a crust and hardly worth the effort. but it may be good that way. Definitely less calories. If my next try turns out the same - minus the crust - I will be happy with it.

Cheesecake

Ingredients

    * 2 pounds Philadelphia cream cheese (4 bricks), at room temperature
    * 1 cup sugar
    * 4 large eggs
    * 1 teaspoon lemon zest
    * 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
    * 1/4 cup heavy cream
    * 1/4 cup sour cream

Directions
    Beat the cream cheese in a standing mixer until very smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium speed until sugar dissolves (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until incorporated and scraping down the sides of the mixer bowl after each addition. Add lemon zest and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in cream and sour cream with a wooden spoon.
    Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cheesecake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 200, leaving the oven door open until temperature reduces. Bake until the cheesecake’s perimeter is set, but center jiggles when pan is tapped, about an hour. Turn off the heat and use a long-handled fork or spoon the hold the oven door open by about one foot. Let the cheesecake rest for an hour, then place it on a wire rack and let it cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake and refrigerate it until chilled, at least 4 hours.

See the creaminess?

Orange Chicken and My Potatoes

2010-04-25T18:59:00.001-06:00

Tonight, the first suggestion that was given to me when I posed the ever-popular question "What should we have for dinner?" was Orange Chicken. Now in reality my youngest son meant Orange Chicken from Panda Express.   But my brain knew that I could make this recipe quick and easy so that is what I chose.   This is the same recipe in my previous post and knowing that I was going to make a post on it made it that much easier to choose.

Also while I thought what to make with it, my easy fries were a win win also. Mostly I made this choice based on the fact that the bag of potatoes in the pantry won't last much longer. Not because I did it before. Also by some weird coincidence we also had green beans again. This because making a salad took more effort and just plain carrot sticks didn't sound so good tonight and I didn't want to go to the basement to find a bag of peas. So when I opened the freezer, there they were. Toss in a bowl and microwave. Voila!

I know! How on earth could I make the exact dinner twice like that without truly conscienctiously trying too. Well I can't answer that. So here is how dinner went. Oldest who likes the chicken, hates green beans. Youngest who will tolerate the green beans convinced himself the chicken was yucky because it wasn't the Orange Chicken he wanted. Thus both boys sat there after dinner for over 1/2 and hour being made to eat their yucky food. We aren't always this strict but tonight we were feeling more like mean parents. Finally we let oldest eat twice as much broccoli that was left-over in the fridge but youngest still had to suffer through his chicken. And believe me, when he thinks he doesn't like something he can chew FOREVER. Why do kids do this?????? no matter how much you tell them that if they chew it longer they will taste it longer, they still chew forever. Poor kids.

Alright, onward. I really like this chicken. As do most of my family and honestly the first time I made it, youngest had seconds.    It is simple and yummy.   The one change I made is that I used boneless skinless chicken breasts. I do like bone-in breast better, I think they have a better flavor but it hasn't been on sale for a while in my area. But I think it turned out just as well and probably a little healthier because of no skin and fat trimmed off. But I will just give you the original recipe from Food Network.

Crispy-Skinned Chicken a l'Orange

Ingredients

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 skin-on bone-in chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
4 tablespoons honey

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Liberally salt and pepper the chicken breast halves. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat and sear the chicken, skin side only, until brown and beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the orange glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice concentrate, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, over medium heat, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Turn the chicken over and brush each piece with the glaze. Turn the chicken skin side up and transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, brushing on more glaze halfway through, about 15 minutes in total. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the chicken breast from the bone and slice the meat on the bias. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve.
________________________

Now about the potatoes.

Since I made them again, only my way this time, I figured I would take some pics to show you how I did it as explained in previous post.

I cut potatoes into wedges and place in microwavable bowl and cover mostly. Then for my microwave it's about 5 min. on high.

Remove from microwave and put about 1 tablespoon or less of shortening (depending on how many potatoes you have) This time I did half butter because I said I would try it next time. It turned out fine but I still used a bit of shortening to help it from burning. I don't really know if that was necessary. Shake some salt, pepper and paprika on top then toss.

Place on baking sheet and put under broiler until crispy. Turn or stir half way to brown the other side.

Enjoy.

Perfect Crispy Potatoes

2010-04-21T16:41:00.002-06:00

Not a pretty picture. I forgot to take a picture until the very last second and it was too hard that day to replate the food. SO, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Now, on to the food. First the potatoes, I'll do chicken next time.

This dinner from Melissa D'Arabian (again, what can I say she cooks a lot like I do. I have even seen her do two of my potato dishes that I thought were pretty original. One is above, slightly different though.) This kids really liked these potatos. The main difference between hers and mine, well ok, two differences, is that she uses butter and I use the microwave. Also I usually cut mine larger, like steak fries, ok and I put on paprika. OK OK, they are different but the method/theory is basically the same. But since it was all about trying something new I followed her directions. Her potatoes were good but I'm going to go back to my way, easier and faster.

Perfect Crispy Potatoes

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 russet potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the potato cubes and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Turn the heat up to high, add the water, stir, and cover the pan with a lid. Steam the potatoes until the water evaporates, about 3 or 4 more minutes. (Every 1 to 2 minutes, open the lid long enough to stir the potatoes so they don't stick.) Lower the heat to medium, and saute another 1 to 2 minutes until all traces of water are gone. Toss in the butter and stir to coat the potatoes. Spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until the potatoes are crisp and browned to your liking, about 15 to 25 minutes depending on how dark you want them. Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and serve.

So, if you are up to trying MY way... Instead of the pan part, I put them in the microwave (slightly covered) and cook for about 5 minutes, depending on your microwave, then toss a bit of shortening (instead of butter since it doesn't burn as easily but I may change), salt, pepper and paprika on them , and place under broiler until crisp and turn once or stir or whatever. Uses WAY less oil, from 1/3 cup to about 1 tablespoon, and is faster.

I wonder what recipe M.D. is going to take from me next? I'd like to think I can do something more than potatoes.

Where did all the Granola go?

2010-04-16T15:27:00.003-06:00

This is a phrase I often say out loud to myself. My kids love when Dad makes granola. They can smell it a mile away and look in the kitchen to proudly announce that "Dad's making granola! :)" He has come up with his own recipe that I can not duplicate. In fact one day out of the blue my youngest pipes up "Mom, you don't make granola right. It's not very good." He was right, the one time I tried to make Dad's granola it was not very good. This time however I think I actually beat Dad's version.

This was a lot. It filled my 19x13x2 inch pan. Therefore you can see why two days later when I went to get a bowl of granola for breakfast and was greeted with this empty bucket (Of which there were at least two-8 cup containers full after I made it) I said the famous phrase.

I suppose you could substitute your favorite nuts or fruit or what have you in this. I stuck to stuff I had and stuff my kids would eat, thus no fruit.

Granola

9 cups rolled oats
2 cups chopped or slivered almonds
3/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 package (14oz) sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup pancake syrup (real maple would be nice but I'm too cheap)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 teas. salt
1-2 teas. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 275 deg. Mix first 4 ingredients or dry stuff together in large bowl. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over dry stuff and stir together well. Spray large baking sheet to help not stick and place in oven. Stir every 15 min for about 60 min. If it still hasn't browned up increase heat up to 300 deg. and watch closely. It will brown up but do not overbake. Granola with crisp up as it cools. Do not try to bake it until it is crunchy. If you add dry fruit like cranberries or raisins I think I would add these in the last few minutes and not cook them long.

I made this twice this week to get the recipe down because the first time I didn't measure anything. The second time I added 1/2 cup sesame seeds (wasn't real thrilled with that) and cut down on the sugar from the first time, this is what I wrote in the recipe. If you would like it sweeter you can use more sugar, I'm sure my kids liked it better that way.

*Update* DH wanted the new version to be sweeter, my daughter liked it better, my youngest didn't notice anything, my oldest didn't comment, I liked it better simply because it didn't have more sugar not necessarily because it was less sweet. I didn't like the seeds as commented earlier but I think this bag of sesame seeds is a bit off flavor anyway.

Easter Dress

2010-04-14T10:59:00.000-06:00

Since Most of our basement is in our main floor, the Sewing machine has taken up a permanent residence on my table. Therefore this project totally qualifies for A Good Table.

I've always wanted to, but never made an Easter dress for my daughter. She found some material she liked and it actually started as a project for her. She did some of the sewing but lost interest soon like many projects. It turned out HUGE on her. I took in a few inches on the side and I still had to pin it in. Poor girl is tall and extra thin. I only hope for her sake, she keeps that figure, like her father, and doesn't end up like me.

Monster Cookies

2010-03-25T08:18:00.000-06:00

Yet again another flour free food. I am not sure why these are called monster cookies except that the recipe calls for them to be big, and I think the ingredient possibilities might make them monsterish? Anyway they don't call for flour which is why I made them. I have been making these for years and use them especially when I have to make cookies for someone I know can't eat wheat. I made these simply with chocolate chips but the recipe suggests all sorts of stuff from raisins to m&m's. It's all up to you. I don't remember where I got the original recipe from and all I have is a list of ingredients. So I will do my best. Also I always cut this recipe in half.

Monster Cookies

6 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups sugar
1 Tbls vanilla
1 Tbls corn syrup
4 teas. baking soda
1 cup butter
2 2/3 cup peanut butter
9 cups quick oats
any mix-in's you want, raisins, choc chips, m&m's, etc.

Preheat oven to 350deg. Beat eggs, add sugars, vanilla and corn syrup and beat with eggs. Add baking soda and stir. Beat in softened butter and peanut butter. Stir in oats. Stir in other things. drop onto cookie sheet in desired size, I wouldn't make them too small. I do a large rounded tablespoon. Bake 12-15 min.

Experiment Day

2010-03-22T16:35:00.003-06:00

My husband decided he needed to at least try to avoid wheat for at least a week, if not forever. I really hope it doesn't come to that. Gluten free appears to be so expensive.   Anyway, in order to help with the first week anyway I decided to try a few different things so he can get some carbs on his no-body-fat body. Yup the great wife that I am, I have sacrificed myself and taken ALL his fat and claimed it for my own. Seriously the poor guy is skin and bones. I on the other hand am more like skin and fat, I don't even think I can find the bones through all that anymore. Anyway he has a 50K race this weekend and needs those extra few carbs. (30miles, ya, I know, I only hope my kids don't get those weird genes) SO as I was shopping today I checked out the various 'special' flours. Most recipes I have found for gluten-free bread call for a variety of those flours all mixed together. (tapioca, garbonzo, brown rice, etc.) But the prices are sky high for a tiny bag. That would make two batches of, say, buscuits about $8.00.   YIKES! But you have to buy all the flours at an average of $6 a bag. Let me see.... add the five..... carry the 2....= Yup, not going to do it until it becomes a life threatening issue.

So, being the frugal person I am, I decided to try and whip up my own rice flour and see what I come up
with. Rice Muffins. I search the web for recipes that don't have too much of odd things like Xanthum gum, that I don't just happen to have sitting around my house. I whip out my wheat grinder and put in about a cup of plain long grain white rice. This is just to clean out some of the wheat flour that hangs on no matter how hard you try to get it all off. Ya, dh is going to be contaminated a little bit.   Then I run about 3 cups of rice through and just because it sounds groovy, 2 handfuls of quinoa.    It's all good right? I mean I figure the rice isn't so pure , don't they remove bran and stuff when it's processed? and needs something.

I found a recipe that looked alright and proceeded to Nickytize it.   Change this, substitute that....   After I had mixed all wet and dry together I realized whoever posted the recipe was wrong. It called for 1 cup rice flour and I ended up with soup. So I added another cup and all seemed right. Checking with another recipe which started with 2 cups and approximately the same amount of wet ingredients validated me. Here is what I ended up with.

Rice Flour Muffins

2 cups homeground rice flour you could try with store bought, but it's probably different, the quinoa may be optional. Who knows?
1/2 cup ground oatmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 c. almonds, ground
1/4 cup honey
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tblsp. melted butter
1-2 Tblsp veg. oil (sorry, I didn't exactly measure this)

Preheat oven to 400deg. Mix wet and dry ingredients seperately, then mix them together just until combined. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake 20-25 min.

I was pleasantly satisfied with these muffins. They had a texture a bit like cornbread. Now mind, these were plain muffins which is fine with me but you may want to add a little flavor like orange zest or berries. A little jam on top and they were quite tasty. I was a little worried they would be too sweet but they weren't. As for the quinoa, many people say it doesn't taste like anything, but for me, it does. A bit like grass and raw asparagus. Anyway the taste was slightly there but didn't bother me at all. No one else noticed it, I must be quinoa sensative. I would make these again even if it weren't for my husbands diet.

*Update*

I went back to this recipe to make it again and was really sure that there should be eggs in it. Just like me to forget an ingredient. So I put in two, thinking this was probably the right number based on other muffins. They turned out about the same (given that I didn't make it 100% the same) So if any of you tried this and it failed, It's totally my fault, I apologize.

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

2010-03-18T07:59:00.003-06:00

We never have pancakes for breakfast anymore. This started when I used to make weekend breakfasts, but with working we stuck to cereal for weekdays, much faster. But my son started complaining that he didn't want pancakes, he wanted cereal. I have recently figured out why. He was in daycare and they fed them breakfast. Pancakes, oatmeal, eggs, sausage, the works. My son was famous for wanting seconds. No surprise, because he's a big kid. So that is probably why on the weekends he thought cereal was special. Rather than putting up with the whining, I gave in and weekend breakfasts were no more.

Now we do pancakes for dinner. We used to do it once a week, easy and quick. I would trade off between pancakes and waffles or German pancakes. Who doesn't need a built in meal in their weekly menu that A) is easy. B) is quick. and C) everyone will eat. I don't make it so much anymore but now that I said that, maybe I need to go back.

I usually make a nice multi-grain/wholewheat pancake. Very hearty. But this night I was craving big fluffy, probably fattening, pancakes. I was also craving broccoli salad. Let me say, the pairing of broccoli salad and big fluffy pancakes is not the best. Not only was I nutritionally cheating with both items, (It's healthy, it has Broccoli in it) but they did not compliment each other at all. Even the bacon in the salad could not help with that. But what can you do when you have two distinct cravings in one day? No, not pregnant.

The batter is wet but you can just see it rising in the bowl there is so much going on in there. Even though I made less batter than usual, as in 2 cups of flour/stuff vs. about 3, It made more pancakes. No they weren't as filling but as I said before they were probably worse for me. BUT SO YUMMY. So here is the recipe I followed for the pancakes. I did not have buttermilk on hand, so I added about a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon and a half (who really measures?) of cream of tartar to my milk and let it sit for several minutes.

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients together in medium bowl. Add all wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, and oil) to a separate bowl and stir just until blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients just until combined. Do not over mix, batter will be lumpy. This is good for pancake batter to be lumpy.
Heat stove to medium low. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter onto heated skillet. Use the back side of a spoon to help even out the batter. Cook on first side until bubbles begin to form on surface and underside is golden, about 2 minutes. Flip over and cook until golden brown and center springs back when lightly touched.

Granola Bars

2010-03-12T10:09:00.001-07:00

My kids love these homemade granola bars. I like that they are made with ingredients I can see and choose. However these are very sweet and I wish they weren't so much. I've tried leaving out some sugar but they don't hold up as well. My littlest loves them with mini-m&m's, this time I didn't have any. I used chocolate chips and chopped peanuts and substituted a bit of oatmeal with rice krispies. If you like raisins or crazins or other dried fruit that would work as well, perhaps with a bit of cinnamon. The recipe for these is also in my neighborhood cookbook.

Granola Bars

2/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 teas. vanilla
4 cups quick oats

Preheat oven to 350deg. Melt butter and stir in peanut butter. Add corn syrup, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix in oats a bit at a time. Then add other ingredients, m&m's, choc chips etc.
Press in 9x13 pan and bake 14-16 minutes.
I find it easier to line the pan with foil or the like to remove the whole batch from the pan and cut.

Bagels

2010-02-26T11:56:00.002-07:00

I don't indulge in bagels very much. It's a habit since I was pregnant with my second and on a diabetic diet. They have huge amounts of carbs. When I do buy them my kids gobble them up very fast.

When I used to work across the street from a bagel joint, I regularly got either sesame seed or honey wheat. So Why not make them together? I used half Whole wheat in the recipe.

It has been a long time since I made bagels. So long that I couldn't find my old recipe and had to make do with something new. I didn't want to go with the two day version. I'm all about immediate gratification. I found this version on Allrecipes. I don't have a bread machine I just used my mixer.

I had a problem in that I didn't use the right yeast I think I used instant and it rose too much before I got them in the pot. SO they ended up getting a little too wet. When they baked they never really dried out in those spots and were kinda like biting into boiled dumpling. They did however taste good and managed to get eaten all gone.

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 2/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Directions

Mix together the unsifted flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, yeast, water, and butter in the bread machine on the manual setting.
OR, mix 1-1/2 cup flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, and yeast. Heat water and butter to 120-130 degrees F. Add water to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes at medium speed on mixer. Add 1/2 cup flour, beat at high speed 2 minutes. Stir in more flour to make a stiff dough. Knead 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rise. Punch down. Cover; let rest 15 minutes.
Remove from bread machine.
Divide dough into 12 pieces; shape 3 pieces into smooth balls. Poke a 1 inch hole in each. Drop bagels into a large skillet with 1 inch water (simmering) with 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 teaspoons salt in the water. Cook on medium low heat for 3 minutes, turn and cook 2 minutes; turn again, cook 1 minute more. Drain on towels. Repeat for rest of dough. Place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes. Remove from sheets and cool. If desired, before baking, mix 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon water, brush on bagels, and sprinkle with sesame, poppy, or caraway seeds.

From my Heart to Yours

2010-02-22T14:02:00.003-07:00

Cinnamon Rolls for Valentines

This is what I made my family for breakfast on Valentines day. I needed to let they rise more but I was too busy getting ready for early church and forgot to take them out of the fridge earlier since I had made them the night before. So they were not quite as fluffy and soft as they usually are. But they are still super cute!

Just use your favorite cinnamon roll recipe and roll up from both sides to the middle. When you place it on the pan, pinch the middle to form a heart. Easy never looked so fun.

Top with your favorite cream cheese frosting and you will get lots of love in return.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2010-02-18T20:01:00.003-07:00

Once again, my photography does not do this justice.

This is the last Zucchini Cake recipe you will ever need. It's even better warm right out of the oven. I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour. They make some good recipes over there. I used to always make Zucchini Brownies because the Cake recipe I had just wasn't what I wanted, very mild in the chocolate department compared to this. But now I may not make the brownies again. This was made in honor of my 15th Anniversary. Everyone was pleased, even my 6 year old who always thinks he wants cake and then never ends up eating it ended up eating almost a whole piece (big piece).

I left out a bit of oil and baking soda for my high altitude. Also I used my frozen zucchini and lots of water is removed once it thaws so I think the cake was slightly more dry than it might have been. Although my test warm from the microwave was very moist. (Do you think I was just going to let this sit out on my stove for me to gawk at all day and not be able to try a bite? Nuh Uh! Toss a cupcake size of batter in a bowl and microwave for about 40-60 seconds! ) Also instead of returning the chocolate chips to the oven I just cooked the cake the whole way then let them sit on top a few minutes to melt, then spread it around. Note: the white lines on top are not pieces of zucchini, it's bits of "Happy Anniversary" that was on top in left over cream cheese frosting from cinnamon rolls that will be posted later.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounce) Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10" zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips, for icing

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lighlty grease a 9" x 13" pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing till smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, till the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set. Slide the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and use a cake spatula or rubber spatula to spread the chocolate chips into a smooth glaze. Cool on a rack. Yield: 24 servings.

Hugs and Kisses

2010-02-10T10:07:00.001-07:00

Happy Valentines!

Valentines day isn't a holiday that has a lot of decorations for your home. But I thought this hug and kiss a very cute addition.

Lasagna

2010-02-02T11:25:00.003-07:00

I thought I had already posted this but when I looked at my blog today, I found I hadn't. Sorry the picture is so bad. I have decided I really don't have what it takes to make a really good food blog. But I want to keep trying at least, if nothing else a sort of recipe book.

So this week I made Lasagna. This is not something I make often. I grew up with a sort of loathing of anything spaghetti-like. However I learned to like good lasagna and sometimes spaghetti. My Daughter LOVES spaghetti. But she hates lasagna. I think it's just a kid vs. casserole thing but I don't understand it.

I actually bought a frozen lasagna last year. Because I had a coupon and it was on sale and I figured for one of those busy nights... I won't make that mistake again. Bleck.

Although I do use packaged noodles, I really do prefer homemade. The effort is worth it. For this batch I was also lucky enough to have several of the ingredients from my own garden. That makes it even better! Tomatoes, basil, parsley, garlic

I don't have any good measurements for this recipe, you will have to do it all to taste.

Meat sauce

1 lb ground beef - if you would rather substitute or use 1/2 sausage.

1 medium onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 tablespoon dry parsley or more if fresh, to taste.

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp basil, dry, more if fresh, to taste.

2 cups tomato sauce or more. You can use fresh, canned or from paste.

Brown meat. Add onions and garlic until softened. Add remaining ingredients.

Cheese sauce

2 eggs

1 lb ricotta cheese. You can substitute cottage cheese.

1/4 cup Parmesan, to taste.

Mix eggs and ricotta and Parmesan.

1 lb mozzerella

lasagna noodles

Spread a small amount of meat sauce in bottom of pan (My pan is about 7x12 so if yours is bigger or smaller you will need to adjust amount on each layer) so noodles won't stick. Par boil the noodles so they are softened but not soggy. layer noodles, then cheese mixture, meat mixture and mozzerella, repeat. I usually have enough for two layers and end with noodles on top. Reserve some mozzerella for the top.

Bake 350 deg. for about 30 min. covered lightly with foil. remove and put mozzerella on top and return, uncovered until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

White Chicken Chili

2010-01-28T09:58:00.001-07:00

I like a hot soup for dinner on cold days. And if I have time in the morning it's all the better because I can put it all in the crockpot for later. Since I had to boil the beans and cook the chicken first I could have waited but I like the thought of it simmering in there all day and bringing all the flavors together. All the recipes I have seen for this call for canned beans. I used dry beans and boiled them for an hour then rinsed and put in the pot with the other ingredients. I used half Great Northern and half Navy.

White Chicken Chili

1 1/2 cup dry white beans

2 cups cooked cubed chicken

1 cup chicken broth

1 onion chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

2 cans chopped mild green chilies

1 teas. ground cumin

1 1/2 teas. cayenne pepper

Juice of 1 lime

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Sour cream - optional

cheddar cheese - optional

Process beans as you wish. Put all ingredients except lime juice and cilantro in pot with lid and cook. If you use a crock pot its about 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 on high. Before serving add lime juice to taste and garnish with cilantro. Also garnish with Sour cream and cheese if desired. I recommend it.

Observations - Check your cans of chilies before you just dump them in. I didn't and ended up fishing woody pieces out of my mouth.

Blackout Cake

2010-01-20T16:38:00.002-07:00

Another Birthday, another cake. I'm not a fan of regular 'ol cake and buttercream frosting. To much cake decorating I guess. Other concoctions of cake however. . .
For mine and my husbands birthdays I get to be a bit more creative in baking and for my husbands birthday I chose a Blackout Cake. hard to go wrong with triple chocolate, right?

The version I chose to make was from Food Network's Ask Aida. Simply because I had seen the show at some point and I knew I could find the recipe easily. I know there are many versions out there and I may try a different one sometime.

The pudding in this recipe is extremely chocolate-y. And the cake is a nice dense dark chocolate flavor. I used Oreo's for the cookie crumbles. Each of these three is great on it's own, but put them together....

For my version I left out the espresso powder and did not make the whipped cream. As you can tell by the photo, I had trouble with the pudding, it was a bit soft and slumped down the side. This might be because I had to use 1% milk, or not. But that's what I'm blaming it on.

All in all it was very good and very chocolate-y.

For the cake

Butter, for pans
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup strong brewed coffee

For the pudding:

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Ingredients

1 box chocolate wafers, crushed to crumbs (about 2 cups) (recommended: Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)

For the whipped cream:

1 cup whipping cream
1 to 2 tablespoons dark rum

For the Cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with butter and dust with cocoa powder.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, espresso powder, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined; set aside. Combine the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and salt in a separate large bowl, and whisk until combined and smooth. Combine the milk and coffee in a small bowl. Add 1/3 of the milk mixture into the sugar/egg mixture and whisk until just incorporated. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and whisk until smooth. Continue with the remaining milk and flour mixture, alternating between each and whisking until all the ingredients are just incorporated and smooth.

Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans. Put the pans on a baking sheet. Bake, rotating the baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the oven and let them rest, in the pans, on a cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, and cool completely before proceeding.

For the Pudding: Combine the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk to evenly combine. Whisk in the milk and vanilla until completely incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Whisk in the egg yolks until combined.

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and bubbles, about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until completely thickened, about 1 minute more.

Remove from the heat and immediately add the chocolate and the butter, and stir until melted and evenly combined. Put plastic wrap directly on surface of the pudding and chill at least 1 1/2 hours.

To assemble: Arrange 1 of the cakes on a flat cake plate and top with 1/3 of the pudding, spreading evenly and almost to the edges. Top with second cake then use the remaining pudding to frost the top and sides of the cake.

Press the cookie crumbs into the sides and top of the cake. Pick up any fallen crumbs and apply them, pressing gently to cover the cake completely. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

For the Whipped Cream: In a medium bowl, add the cream and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the rum and continue to whisk until stiff and the cream sticks to the whisk. Serve the whipped cream on the side.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-01-18T17:16:00.001-07:00

I love the smell of browned butter. Who couldn't? And when I saw this recipe I was determined to try it. When an opportunity came I pulled out the recipe. Since my last doctor visit confirmed my suspicions of elevated insulin levels, no to mention cholesterol, I have to have a good excuse to pull out the baking pans, much to my sorrow! Thank you church functions that always need refreshments!

This is the recipe I first found and so used is from this blog. Along with browned butter it also uses toasted and then ground oatmeal and toasted nuts.

I only used half the nuts and ground them up fine because the cookies were for my Son's function and he doesn't like big nuts.

I liked the flavor the butter added. I found that it was more pronounced if the cookies were baked a little longer. I wish butter was still an important diet staple like it once was when the Pioneers needed the fat. I am reminded of a story of my GGG Grandfather who when he was traveling with some companions they thought he ate too much butter and tried to make him sick of butter by making him eat a pound for dinner and not letting him have any meat. They tried the next day too and he said he would but they wouldn't be able to make him sick as his mother had also tried it when he was young. They finally gave up. Clearly I would not eat a straight pound but I sure like to cook with it.

Birthday cake

2010-01-03T08:26:00.001-07:00

I seem to be getting lazier and lazier at my blogging. I also am getting lazier and lazier at my cake decorating. This time I waited a day to take a picture. I shouldn't have done that. The orange leaked into my windows, tires and letters. Yuck. It actually looked pretty decent, given that I really cheated a lot on it. I was going to leave the sides just white but age 6 said I had to make them checkered, and it was his birthday after all. A little black spray should fix that. heh heh heh, ya right.

You can see some of my other cakes here.

Beam me up Scotty!

2009-12-29T10:57:00.001-07:00

It appears that my little town experienced an alien abduction the morning after Christmas. You know, if you follow my blog that I have No Mad Photography Skilz. Therefore this is exactly what I saw from my Table that morning, minus bad photo distortion. You can faintly see the lake in the back ground, this is just NW of the lake. I'm thinking maybe the Pelicans have some secrets. Here is a close-up, or rather, bad zooming to the 2 mile away target. No it's not a reflection off the lake, the lake is frozen

Gotta love our Inversions.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

2009-12-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

I tried a new candy this year. Earlier in the fall I was mixing up a concoction of Hot cocoa mix, extra cocoa powder and Chocolate Complete Shake and Protein Shake to put in a large #10 can for the kids to use. I figure they may as well get a little nutrition out of it, right? Anyway it was also using up my 4 yr old cocoa packets. As I was emptying them, I happened to notice they had recipes on them. One was for Peanutty Chocolate Truffles. I set one of those empty packets aside for further study. Christmas was coming soon and what better time to make candy?

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teas. vanilla extract

1/3 cup Milk Chocolate Nestle Hot Cocoa Mix

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup finely chopped cocktail peanuts

Line baking sheet with waxed paper.

Beat peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in medium bowl until creamy.

combine cocoa mix and powdered sugar in anotehr bowl. Stir into peanut butter mixture

Place peanuts in flat dish. Scoop peanut butter mixture into 1 1/2 in. balls; roll in peanuts to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm. Serving size 24 truffles.

___

What I did, because as you know by now I can't follow a recipe exactly. I used butter of course, not margarine. I also used the cocoa concoction I had come up with instead of straight Nestle Hot cocoa mix. I dipped the balls in chocolate and then rolled some of them in the nuts. As for the nuts I rinsed some of the salt/seasoning off of them and let them dry before chopping.

I liked both the plain and nut rolled ones equally. The whole thing being a bit frostingish on the inside, but a good experiment and easy to make. I may make these again. I think dipping in chocolate definatly improved them.

Chocolate Fudge

2009-12-22T06:53:00.001-07:00

We didn't have a lot of luck with the fudge this year. I usually make mint chocolate, this year I tried by adding some mint Lindt (which is yummy by itself) it wasn't quite what I usually do. I discovered that I need a new thermometer. While it worked fine with my PB fudge it wasn't working with my toffee or chocolate fudge. ??? I also did the spoon test and the cold water test so it wasn't so bad. I just went with my gut. It was definately edible!
This is the recipe I used this year. Aunt Teen's Creamy Chocolate Fudge. I used a mix of all dark chocolate, no milk and added the marshmallow after the other ingredients had all melted/combined. I also left out the nuts since it was mint.

Christmas Toads

2009-12-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

My husband likes to make Christmas treats with pretzels. And who am I to stop him? This year was no different. They always have a little something different each year. The name came about because he started calling them turtles and my daughter said they didn't look like turtles, so, they became toads. They are a bit toad-like at that.

This year he decided to pair the nuts with the pretzels and just use dark chocolate to bind them. I really like the less-sweetness of them. He also made a batch with peanut butter and chocolate. I liked the plain chocolate best but the pb ones were ok too. In the past they have included marshmallow and pb and caramel. Sometimes totally covered in chocolate. I wonder what will evolve next year?

Gingerbread Tradition

2009-12-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

One of may favorite traditions in our family is the annual Gingerbread house. Every year we do something a little different. This year we made a Gingerbread Barn. Everyone gets to decorate a different side so it looks a little off balance but it's all for fun. The kids main goal is to get as much candy on as they can. That seems to be Dad's goal too, now that I think about it. Mom's main job is designing, and baking. That is a lot of gingerbread people. Since I can only fit one side at a time on the pan it takes a good part of the day to roll it all out and bake.

Here is the barn before it got decorated. I always seem to forget which goes outside, the front or sides, so this time I got it wrong so to fix it the corners got a little extra frosting.

Mom's side is always a bit minimalistic. If you look close you can see the animals inside.

Cow in the headlights!

Age 13 did the roofs.

Age 9's side.

Dad and age 5.11.5 worked together this year.

They also worked together on the back. Although I suggested the Bremen Town Musicians. Kid's don't know that story anymore though, even mine, I haven't seen a book with it anywhere.

The kids (including dad) can't wait until Christmas day when I allow them to dig in. I'm sure a few pieces will disappear between now and then though.

Peanut Butter Fudge

2009-12-09T12:13:00.002-07:00

Christmas is the best! When else do we get to make loads of candy and cookies and not feel too guilty about it? This year I'm running behind on the goodies. I'm going to have to really hurry to catch up. Maybe those Christmas cards will have to wait until Valentines day. I may like to make a lot of stuff but I am small potatoes compared to my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law. Last time I was there for Christmas it was hard to keep away from the goodie-laden counter.

We've started out the season with a little Peanut butter Fudge. It's been a few years since I made this and couldn't remember which recipe I liked best. So I started with the marshmallow recipe. The good thing about fudges made with marshmallow is they tend to end up creamier than without. I remember making fudge (with black walnuts from our back yard!) with my parents when I was younger and they would have to beat it a long time. Not so necessary with the marshmallows. Maybe later I will have to try the other recipe, this one is fine but I wish it had a more peanutty flavor.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 cups white sugar

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1. Line 9x13 baking pan with No-stick tin-foil. I always use this for candy.

2. In a 3 quart saucepan, combine white sugar, brown sugar, milk, and butter. Cook to soft ball stage, 234 degrees F (112 degrees C). Remove from heat.

[Make sure you check your thermometer, in my high altitude mine gets to about 227deg. Boil water for 10 min and check temperature, sea level is 212 deg. Adjust your temp as needed. Every thermometer is different also, even though the charts say I should be about 14 degrees different my adjustment is only 7degrees. For example at 10 min of boiling your thermometer reads 208deg. Subtract 4 degrees from 234 (for fudge) and you should need to reach 230 on your thermometer.]

3. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla and marshmallows; continue stirring until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared pan and cool. Cut into squares and serve.

I dare you to not eat it.

Beef Stir-Fry

2009-12-04T09:49:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since posting. Thanksgiving vacation got in the way. We took a trip to Sunny San Diego and skipped the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with or without family. It was a nice change but Christmas is also not seeming to make an appearance in our house due to being thrown off with the vacation. It's going to have a wait a while longer while I get over this cold I have developed today too.

But to update the blog a bit I pulled out this bad picture of my beef stir-fry. By now you know I am far from a good food photographer. Sorry.

I like bean sprouts in my stir-fry and this particular time I had a lot. Here is the recipe I made, more or less if you haven't figured that out by now.

1 pound flank steak cut small and thin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 carrot sliced
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Combine steak, soy sauce and water in bowl and mix well
heat oil in pan and add steak. Cook till meat is no longer pink. Add Carrots and green onions, and ginger and cook a few minutes longer. Add Sprouts, almonds, oyster sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and soy sauce. Cook another minute until sprouts are desired tenderness.

Serve over rice.