Spoon by Spoon

Life by Chocolate Cake

2011-11-29T12:46:00.001-08:00

I have always wondered how far one could push the chocolate envelope when it comes to cake. I will wonder no more as I think this cake is the most intense chocolate cake I have ever eaten, made, or experienced. If you are a true die hard chocoholic then this cake is for you.

I originally found this recipe from the Betty Crocker website and made very few improvements, I'll share the things I tweaked to make this cake "my cake." Right after I made this cake I began to think of other things I could do to make a "white chocolate" version of this cake using strawberries. Doesn't that sound great? I think it does.

This cake is incredibly dense, the batter was super thick, but tender and moist after baking. The pudding and sour cream help to make this so moist even beyond the first day. I chose to use mini chips in the cake batter instead of the big chips and really liked the resulting texture it gave the cake. Of course adding vanilla to any cake is a must for me, it just makes me feel better knowing that it is in there. There is a lot going on in this cake however.

The glaze is really a whole other post! It was like pouring fudge on the cake. I wasn't too thin, or too thick. I found that it rolled nicely down the side of the cake, and unlike other glazes, stayed on the cake and didn't just keep on rolling to the counter. After it cools is becomes this fudgey, gooey, chocolate coating.

Hot Coffee or Milk is a must, it's the only two things that could possibly compliment this cake to make it better. I think this cake would freeze great, however I would advise that you glaze the cake when you plan to serve it. Only because I'm not sure how it would turn out.

box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® butter recipe chocolate cake mix

3/4

cup chocolate milk with 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1/3

cup butter, melted

eggs

container (8 oz) sour cream

package (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix

bag (12 oz) mini chocolate chips (2 cups)

Rich Chocolate Glaze

3/4

cup semisweet chocolate chips

tablespoons butter

tablespoons light corn syrup

1 1/2

teaspoons water

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan, or spray with baking spray with flour.
In large bowl: mix cake mix, chocolate milk, butter, eggs, sour cream and dry pudding. Mix with hand held mixer until well blended, batter will be very thick. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into pan. Make sure to spread the cake, evenly distributing it--it's THICK.
Bake 56 to 64 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
In 1-quart saucepan, heat glaze ingredients over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Sugar Cookie Bars

2011-11-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's on an upside-down bowl.

I've never been one to just, "come up" with a new recipe out of thin air, I have to have inspiration and then reinvent or tweak it to my liking. When I first caught wind of the idea of taking a sugar cookie and turning it into a bar I was all about that. Turns out dozens of other cooks have has the very same idea, go figure. I read about ten different recipes and finally decided on the recipe that I was going to tweak to make my own. Even if having a sugar cookie bars is not your idea of delicious, you will for sure want to try this buttercream frosting. I haven't had a better buttercream--ever!

My son, Titus, helped me make these bars, up to the point of frosting, for our church community group meeting. It's great fun to have your kids help you cook, and they get to learn all about fractions and following instructions...so much to learn from being in the kitchen and cooking. He's quite the cook, I'm very proud of him. The bars come together quick and bake even faster. One lesson I've learned is not to wait for these bars to get dark on top. These bars cooked in 10 minutes. I didn't really get a stop watch and keep time, but I would say that from mixing to frosting it was maybe 45 minutes to an hour.

These bars are very versatile in that you could add your favorite extract, or citrus zest and create a whole new bar. The frosting could be tinted to any shade you wanted. I chose to go with the plain white and used the really cool crystal sugar, which of course could be any color available.

The cookie is tender and moist with a very "sugar cookie" taste, only thicker. How bad can that be? The buttercream frosting is just to die for. Creamy and sweet with that ever so slight salt that cuts through the sweetness of the frosting. There were some parts of the bar where the frosting was as thick as the bar itself! Don't get me wrong, I love frosting as much as the next guy, but I should try to do a better job of spreading the love next time.

1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting:
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)

Directions:
To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Spray a jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray (the size will vary) Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the extracts, mixing to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed just until incorporated. It's easier to add all the dry ingredients to another bowl and stir them together, but if you don't feel like getting another bowl dirty then just add the salt, baking powder, and flour.

Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. I got a paper towel wet and kept my fingers moist, not wet, to keep the dough from sticking to my fingers. Bake 10-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla, salt, and confectioners' sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the milk. Tint as desired with food coloring. Spread over the cookie in the pan, sprinkle with the sugar and cut into bars and serve.

Ice cold milk or hot coffee is a very necessary accessory.

Margaret's Tea Cakes

2011-02-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

I had never heard of a tea cake until I was married. My wife raved and raved about her Grandmother's tea cakes and how delicious they were. When she was in High School she was very active in Track and Field and basketball. It drives her crazy when i brag about how well she did in athletics and talk about all the awards she won. Her Grandmother would make a huge batch of tea cakes for her to take on the out of town meets. Her coach always asked if Margaret's tea cakes were, "coming with us."

Tea Cakes are a different kind of cookie in that they aren't really sweet. They are a dense and soft cookie slightly sweet and very subtle in flavor. I think they would be really good with some lemon zest and a lemon glaze. But, these weren't for me, they were for my wife who likes them just the way they were. I did tweak the recipe adding a little more baking soda, vanilla, and almond extract. I liked they way they turned out.

A word of caution though, if you don't like to roll of fiddle with cookies, walk away. The first dozen I made I just dropped out of my scoop. They didn't look very pretty at all, very rough. The amount of flour in the batter made them hold their shape and not spread as I thought they would. I rolled them in my hands and patted them out (that's what made them look so smooth). You could roll the dough out and cut them, but I didn't think that step was necessary.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons of milk
5 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 min.). Add eggs, milk, and extracts mixing to incorporate. Slowly add flour until completely combined. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, rolling into a ball and slightly flattening out. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven 10-12 minutes. They will not brown. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Note: I think they would be delicious with some lemon zest added to the dough, then glazed with a lemon glaze.

Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

2011-01-04T10:39:00.000-08:00

I served this with a little buttered toast.

I've always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. My sister and I grew up getting ourselves ready for school each day alone. Both of our parents worked and left the house before we were even awake usually. Both my sister and I chose to sleep rather than eat breakfast, so we skipped the most important meal of the day. During the summer months we would eat cereal each morning, occasionally pancakes or frozen waffles. My Mom would always get on us for not eating breakfast, but there was no way we were going to wake up early to eat, sleep was precious.

When we had Titus I was determined to make breakfast for him each day and have him growing up eating breakfast. He evolved to preferring Pop Tarts, Toaster Strudel, or cereal over time but occasionally would want to have something hot...well hotter than a toaster hot. I have this HUGE hang up for wanting my children to eat homemade food and not reheated factory prepared food. I can't really explain it, but it is a big deal to me. I want them to ask for home made cookies over packaged, home made brownies over Little Debbie, and so on down the list. Maybe it because I watched too much TV, who knows I certainly don't try to figure out my crazy quirks because there isn't enough time in the day.

Having just wrapped up a long Christmas break, extended by a visit from sweet long time friends, I stayed home to help Kendra get the kids ready for their day. Titus brought home the classroom beta to babysit over the holiday, and he needed to go back to school. I usually go to work early, before anyone is awake since I wake up at 5am everyday without an alarm clock. The brisk morning made me think of oatmeal and so I just decided that I would make oatmeal for the kids and not ask what they wanted. We have microwave packets of oatmeal that they usually eat, but I wanted to make something cooked on the stove.

All of my kids loved this oatmeal! This is a rare treat and very unusual for them to all agree that they love anything, let alone oatmeal. Their reaction and praise for, "the best oatmeal on earth" made decide I'd better make it a recipe and get this written down. Since I had to think of a name for this "recipe" I tried to associate the flavors and decided Snickerdoodle cookies is the closest flavor association I could make, thus the name. The bonus is that saying, "snickerdoodle" is fun. The picture above is Levi's serving, which needs to be room temperature or cooler because he doesn't like hot stuff.

Snickerdoodle Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups Instant Oatmeal

1 cup Milk

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

6 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 Tablespoons Cinnamon Sugar (plus some for garnish)

In a medium saucepan add milk and water, bring to a boil over medium heat. When the milk and water come to a boil, add salt, vanilla, and oats, stirring well. Cook over medium heat 2 minutes. Remove from heat adding remaining ingredients. Stir well to combine. Taste and adjust to suit personal taste. Garnish with cinnamon sugar (about a tablespoon for each serving).

4 generous servings

Notes:

When you boil milk on the stove, be watchful. You really don't want to walk off from a pot of milk in the stove. When it comes to the boiling point, it doesn't boil like water, it swells and foams up. If you aren't careful it will over flow and that's no fun to clean up!
I think the vanilla adds a layer of flavor the compliments the cinnamon and sugar, it really helped finish off the dish, for me at least.
I keep cinnamon sugar mixed up and in my pantry in a flour shaker. The one I have is from pampered chef, but you can find them readily at most stores that sell kitchen duke. My ratio is almost equal parts cinnamon to sugar.
If you dont' think this tastes like a snickerdoodle that's ok, just change the name.
Start to finish this was done and ready to eat in 20 minutes, maybe less.

Cranberry Orange Scone

2010-12-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

I can remember when the no-carb craze swept across the Texas town in which Kendra and I lived. It seemed like every single person I knew was on the no-carb protein diet. I worked with a guy who ate a package of the already cooked bacon as a snack-THE PACKAGE! It really blew me away for so many reasons, the most of which was, why in the world would you give up bread? I love bread, it's one of my hands down favorite foods. I think yeast breads would be my favorite, but bread is one of my favorite foods. The smell of baking bread makes my mouth water. During the holidays I will skip the protein to eat an extra roll, or two, or who's counting?

Biscuits out of the can were a staple in my childhood. Cinnamon rolls out of a can, yep that was a staple too. My Mom wasn't a baker, unless you count the occasional box cake she would make say twice a year. I don't really have a memory of eating scratch biscuits as a child, with the exception of our lake trips to Shell Knob. We grew up going to the lake and would stop in Casseville, MO at this restaurant called the Lighthouse for breakfast. I always had a hard time deciding what to order there because they had two of my very favorite things on a breakfast menu: pancakes and biscuits and gravy. Their pancakes were incredible, crispy and yet light and fluffy. The butter was always real and soft enough to spread without turning your pancake into bread crumbs. Oh, and the syrup was warm. Dad's breakfast usually came with a side of biscuits and gravy, which meant I could get both. It was always a good day when we stopped at the Lighthouse. The biscuits were light and flaky, super high. I was just in awe of these ginourmous things called a biscuit because the ones I ate out of a can were croutons compared to these babies.

I've made home made biscuits, but find that the frozen biscuits we get are just as good. I still try to make some every so often just so my kiddos have a memory of eating homemade things. Scones are basically jacked up biscuits if you get right down to it. The principles of scone baking are the same as biscuit making, at least the recipe I'm going to share with you today is. Cutting in cold butter to your dry ingredients, then adding the wet, quick kneading, rolling and wham-o you are done. I dont' really think there is anything in the world that goes better with coffee than a good scone. My wife loves scones and gets very happy when I whip up a batch of these, her favorite combination.

Owning a stand mixer will really make your life easier, but it's not impossible just harder. What I love about this recipe is that they are light, not too dry and not too heavy. I've had some scones where I felt like I just ate a brick because they were too dense and too dry to the point that I couldn't whistle for a week. Cutting in the butter is what takes the longest, but once you get that done the rest is quick. Before I forget. When you are cutting the butter, don't give up. There is a point in the process where it looks like you've made sand, that's when you need to remember me telling you not to give up. Patiently waiting a minute or two longer yields the "pea size" pebbles you want.

I read probably 10 different recipes for scones from trusted cookbooks and came up with my own version I'm sharing today. This recipe will be a snap to make if you own: a stand mixer, micro plane grater, bench scraper, pastry brush, and parchment paper. A bench scraper is one of my most favorite tools to use in the kitchen. They are super cheap and you can use them for a multitude of things. I think a micro plane zester is also a must have item. I use mine to zest citrus for many different recipes as well as for grating hard cheese. Buying Parmesan or Romano cheese by the hunk is so much cheaper than already grated. In looking for a photo to upload I ran a across this genius suggestion at Amazon. For less than $40 you can get a zester, scraper, AND silpat mat! What I wouldn't give for a siplat mat! That's the next investment for me.

Scones:

4 cups All purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt (sea or kosher please)

1 tablespoon of grated orange zest (usually one baseball size orange)

1 1/2 cups cold butter, diced (that bench scraper works like a charm for this project)

4 eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 heaping cup dried cranberries

Egg Wash:

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons water

Glaze:

Juice of one orange

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare sheet pans by lining with parchment or silpat mat (sigh). Zest your orange and set aside. Dice the butter and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and zest. Turn on low and mix just to incorporate. Add the diced butter and turn the mixer on low. Mix on low to medium speed until the butter and flour come together and resemble small pebbles (pea size) approximately five minutes. While the butter and flour are incorporating put the eggs, heavy cream, and vanilla in a medium size bowl and whisk together. Get your egg wash ready, too. All you need is a coffee cup or small bowl for this: whisk the egg and water together then set aside. When the flour is ready, turn the mixer to low and slowly add the cream mixture, mixing until it is just combined. Add the dried cranberries and mix until they are incorporated.

On a well floured surface, turn out the dough which will be very sticky. Dust the top of the dough with flour and lightly knead until the dough is not sticky. Cut dough in half, set one aside. Lightly press the dough into a flat circle about 3/4" thick. Think deck of cards thick. I used my hands for this, but you could use a rolling pin if you wanted to. Using a pizza cutter cut the circle in half then each half into fourths. If you want to make smaller scones, you would just cut the dough into fourths...you get the picture. Place the scones on the prepared sheet pan, brush with the egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Mix the orange juice, sugar and extract together in a small bowl and whisk until the sugar is incorporated and there are no lumps. Add more sugar to yield desired consistency, thicker or thinner based on your preference. Glaze the top of each scone when they are cooled.

Notes:

Make sure your baking powder is good and fresh. You should only keep it 3-6 months before replacing it.
Cubing butter is easy with the bench scraper because you can cut the stick in 1/4's then dice it up.
There is no rule about the shape of a scone needing to be this triangle shape. Feel free to use a biscuit cutter and make rounds which would yield you more scones. The triangel shape just screams scone and not funky biscuit.

Variations:

Use lemon zest instead of orange (go with 2-3 lemons) and add dried blueberries instead of dried cranberries.
Stay with the orange zest, only had chopped bittersweet chocolate.
Use almond extract instead of vanilla, add chopped apricots.
Stick with the vanilla extract, no dried fruit, but scrape the pod of a vanilla bean or two.

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie

2010-12-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to get a picture.
Here it is in the oven, ready to bake.

I think if every cook were to really come clean and own up to it they would admit to intimidation in the kitchen. For some the intimidation might be boiling water, for others candy making or pastries, I think I could get a list quick! For me the number one intimidation is in making pie crust. I can't really put my finger on why, exactly I have a hard time with pie crust, but somewhere down the road of my cooking experience I had some pretty bad run ins with pie crust and ran away intimidated. I'm not opposed to purchasing pre-shaped and in the pan pie crusts at all, or the rolled up pastry that you just unroll and plop in your own pie plate. I'm ok with that. Of of my biggest intimidators was in the final stage of pie crust construction---crimping. I just could never get that crust to look pretty--ever! That was surely the root of my problems, I just couldn't make a pretty crust.

I finally came to the conclusion that I could do it, and I was going to do it no matter what the cost. I set out reading recipes for pie crusts and talking to friends who had great pie crusts. I watched my sister make pie crust over thanksgiving and slowly built up my confidence. There was one video I watched online where the cook demonstrated crimping in which I had that eureka moment and was once and for all on the other side of being intimidated and head set on motivated to make pie crust.

I knew, from my research that I needed to use butter, a food processor, and child the dough in the fridge. These three factors were stumbling blocks for me in the past and I just decided that I was going to incorporate these steps in my crust making attempt. I wanted to use real butter because I wanted to have that butter flavor and trademark flakiness that I just didn't see in shortening crusts (there is a HUGE debate about this topic on the Internet). As for the food processor, I wanted to ensure that I mixed the butter, salt and flour together to get the right texture so I could add the ice water and have it all come magically together in one nice ball (just like on TV) I didn't see that coming from a pastry blender and fork--at least from me. Finally, chilling the dough. That was a tough one let me tell you. I just couldn't come to grips with the necessity of chilling the dough, but again my research showed that it was a critical step in making good pie crust. See the flour has gluten, which is the binder, and that gluten needs to calm down after being worked over. By resting the dough you give the gluten a chance to calm down, and the butter to chill out. As the crust bakes the butter will evaporate and leave the flakiness that we want. This post is really about Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie I promise.

I first started making Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie when Kendra and I were catering in Fort Worth. We started Catering (Silver Spoons Catering) to raise money for the adoption of our two boys. I really couldn't work a 2nd job being in ministry, so this gave me a great opportunity to do something I loved to do and make extra money as well. As a caterer you always want to have something that is familiar to folks, yet different enough that your recipe stands out. If you live in Texas for more than 24 hours you will run across people who talk about pecan pie. I was going to be just another import hawking a pecan pie unless I twisted it. Adding chocolate and bourbon seemed like not just a twist, but a tornado, and it worked. At the height of our business Kendra and I made over 200 of this very pie in one year. That's a lot of pie!

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie is not for the faint of heart, it's decadent to say the least. I have to say that I really love this pie. The bittersweet chocolate really comes to the rescue of this really sweet and rich pie, cutting the sweetness with the bitterness of the chocolate. I think that is one of the keys, bittersweet chocolate chips. The pecans float to the top of the pie as it bakes which gets them toasty and delicious, glazed with the sweet filling. The filling is fairly run of the mill, corn syrup, eggs, salt, vanilla, sugar, butter, but then the bourbon is added and we are lifting off to another planet.

As a side note let me just say that if you cook with alcohol, don't buy it if you wouldn't drink it. Buy the best quality you can get. If you are unfamiliar with liquor stores, like me, just remember that the good stuff is on top--always! The lower you go the lower you go in terms of quality. I think the best quality you can get is important. When it comes to bourbon you don't want to go with the super high quality, sippin' whiskey, because it's just a waste and the bourbon flavor can get really overpowering. Maker's Mark and Elijah Craig are two my favorite brands. One bottle will last me two or three years.

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cubed
4-6 tablespoons ice water

In a food processor: add flour, salt and cubed butter. Process on low until it is small pebbles (think grape nuts size) add ice water two tablespoons at a time until the dough comes together in a ball, usually for me it's 4 tablespoons. Remove dough and shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use (20-30 minutes). After elapsed time, remove dough to floured surface. Dust pie dough with flour on both sides. Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick and place in a deep dish 9" pie plate. Fold in dough and crimp edges with fingers.

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 eggs
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 T. Bourbon
1 T. Vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium size bow add sugar and melted butter. Mix until creamy. Add eggs, syrup, salt, bourbon and vanilla extract, mix on medium speed until thick and well combined. Place chocolate chips and pecans evenly in prepared pie plate and slowly pour filling over. Using a spatula, smooth the filling around until the pecans look evenly distributed. Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes. The pie will turn a dark amber brown an be slightly loose (like set pudding).

I love to serve this with a dusting of powdered sugar, fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Here it is! Hot out of the oven.

Chocolate Tuxedo

2010-11-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

I think I've had as many failures in the kitchen as I have had success, if not more failures. The failures usually come when I get a craving for something and go on a hunt for just the right recipe only to find that it's not what I was looking for, which makes the craving worse. I love chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and have been searching for the perfect recipe for years. I usually find that the dough is too crumbly and doesn't hold together well, if at all. I don't know enough about chemistry to adjust and fix a recipe, so I just toss that recipe and keep on looking.

Over the weekend I happened upon a recipe in one of Kendra's magazines for a chocolate based cookie. I had high hopes for this recipe as it was from a butter council, I figured they knew a thing or two about buttery cookies. I changed up some of the ingredients and tweaked the cookies to my preference, hoping that I didn't totally destroy this cookie. Much to my relief and amazement-IT WORKED! It not only worked, but it was delicious and just what I had been searching for all this time.

This cookie will fall into the category of, "good but time consuming", as it does take a little effort. It's easy, just time consuming, so I'll make these when the craving gets to me, or if we have some special cookie trays to make up. Chocolate crinkles, raspberry thumb prints, and snickerdoodles are other cookies in this vault of great cookies that just take some time to make.

1 1/2 cups special dark chocolate chips, melted
1 2/3 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag white chocolate chips (2 cups) [See note below]

Prep:

Preheat oven to 350
Place dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (see note)
Add dry ingredients to a medium size bowl and stir together

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and both sugars. Mix on medium speed until light and creamy. I usually set my kitchen timer for 5 minutes and it's perfect. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla. Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients until completely mixed. Add white chocolate chips and stir to combine.

On a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place rounded tablespoons of dough about two inches apart (I use a medium size spring loaded scoop). I use a jelly roll pan and can get 12 cookies (3 across 4 down) per pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let stand about a minute, them move to a cooling rack. Store in cookie jar.

Note:

Melting chocolate chips in the microwave is tricky. You have to remember that chips hold their shape, so don't expect to see smooth melty chocolate. The best trick to use is to microwave the chips for 30 seconds, then stir. Microwave for another 20 seconds then stir. This is usually as long as it takes for my microwave. Just keep microwaving at 10-20 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.
Adding the dry ingredients separately is not a great idea because the cocoa powder is very fine and no matter how slow you mix there will be a cocoa powder mushroom cloud! Stirring the salt, baking powder, cocoa, and flour together is the ticket to cloud free mixing.
I wasn't trying to impress anyone with my cookies, but if you wanted to make them really pretty. Save about 1/4-1/2 cups of the white chips and just push three or four on the tops of each cookie before baking. That will make them look very pretty, I think they are fine just as they are.
I can't really say why, but as soon as ANY cookie I'm baking comes out of the oven I give each one a gentle swat with my spatula to knock out the air. I think it makes them look prettier and I always do that. You have my permission to do this as well.

Pumpkin Chess Pie

2010-11-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

Google Images provided this image.
It looks pretty good to me.

If you are a fan of pumpkin pie then you will have to make it a point to prepare this pie. I had high hopes of getting this pie made before Thanksgiving and taking some pictures, but time is just not on our side at this point. Traditional pumpkin pies are dense, custard filled pies with sweet spices. With a pumpkin chess you lose just a bit of the denseness of the traditional, yet keep everything else. I ran across a recipe for pumpkin chess a while ago (close to ten years) and tweaked that version to make it my own and decided that I would forever prefer this over traditional pumpkin pie any day. Why? I think for me it all comes down to texture. Traditional pumpkin pies are dense, this pie is not AS dense, but don't get me wrong it's far from a mousse. This pie is also made a day or more ahead and refrigerated which is good because I love cold pumpkin pie.

With holiday baking just around the corner, you may be looking for something a little different than the normal line up in which case I would recommend this pie. When I sell this pie I include the praline sauce, but when I make it for me it's whipped cream all the way! Fresh whipped cream sweetened with just a hint of vanilla on this pie is fantastic.

1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (not the pie filling)
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place piecrust in a 9" pieplate; fold edges under, and crimp. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment add pumpkin and remaining ingredients, mix on low to incorporate then increase speed to medium, mixing to completely incorporate make sure you scrape down the sides.

Pour pumpkin mixture into prepared piecrust. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. The custard should be set, not completely firm, but set. Cool completely on a wire rack the place in refrigerator overnight. Serve with Praline Sauce.

Praline Sauce:

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup toasted pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place brown sugar, whipping cream, and butter in a medium size saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. When it comes to a boil stir constantly for one minute. Remove from heat, add pecans and vanilla stir well. Place in an airtight container in the fridge. Try this on vanilla ice cream! Oh heavenly days.

Potato Soup

2010-11-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

My Mom went to work when I was one year old at St. John's hospital in Joplin. She worked there for nearly 40 years, forced into retirement last year. I grew up not knowing what a say at home Mom was like, I only knew what a working Mom was like, but when that is all you know it's normal. I spent a ton of time with my Great Grandmother and my Great Aunt (whom I called Robba) and credit them with instilling my love for cooking. It was in their kitchens that I learned the ropes of basic country cooking. I could fry a mean pork chop by the time I was 10. I can remember spending hours in front of the TV watching public access cooking shows and learning a great deal about food from those cooks. I just seemed natural to me, to love cooking and reading cook books.

Most kids have quite a list of things they love for their Mom's to cook. I cant' really say that I have a list because I can't remember my Mom ever making cookies or cakes, or anything "special" that I just have to have. I do remember my Mom making my Grandpa a yellow cake with fluffy white frosting and coconut, which he really liked a lot. My Mom did make Potato Soup, always served with a side of cornbread, when the weather started turning brisk. I think it's the one and only thing my Mom actually made. Some people used to say that they felt sorry for me, but I don't think pity or sorrow is necessary. It was all I knew so it was normal, I never pined away wishing for something better because I thought I had a pretty great Mom. My Mom took me to work with her from the time I was 7 until I left for school. I could fill a library with the things I learned from spending time with my Mom at work. The work ethic and drive I have today is a direct result of those days spent at her side watching her work until she couldn't wiggle one more eyelash and working some more.

I have a recipe for a loaded potato soup that I really love, but this recipe is straight from my Mom's kitchen and transports me back to my childhood. As long as I make this soup I will be able to connect to my Mom. I'm blessed to still have my Mom here with me and we love spending time together. My kids are amassing a list of the things they love, and I hope that when they are gone the first thing they say when they come home is, "can you make..." The greatest treasure for my children is the time they get to spend with my Mom, their Nonny. We take Nonny on vacation with us, go to her house for the weekend just to hang out, and spend all of our holidays with her, too. That time is irreplaceable and something I know they will cherish all of their life.

Ok, we've pulled off of Memory Lane and are now ready to talk soup. This soup is straight forward and honest comfort food. It couldn't be more simple to make, but has a great flavor. After Kendra and I were married I discovered the wonder of adding cheese and bacon to this soup, something I had never added as a kid.

2 russet potatoes per person, plus one for the pot

1/2-1 cup butter (depending on how much soup you make)

1/4-1 cup milk or half and half (we always used milk)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Crisp bacon, cheddar cheese, green onion for garnish

Peel the potatoes and cube them up, trying to cut the potatoes in fairly uniform size. Add the potatoes to a large stock pot and add cold water just enough to cover them. Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the potatoes start to boil, add about 2 tablespoons of salt and boil until the potatoes are fork tender (about 8-10 minutes).

Drain the potatoes, saving about 1/4 cup water. Add the butter and stir until melted. The potatoes will break up as you stir. Add milk and stir. Season with salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning to your preference. I usually get out the potato masher and mash up the potatoes a little bit. I really depends on how chunky you like your soup. Sometimes I will make it smooth, no lumps, other times I have just a few chunks of potato. Bring this back up to a boil. The starch from the potatoes will thicken the soup. If it gets too thick add just a touch more milk to thin it out.

Serve this with cornbread and your choice of garnish: bacon bits, cheddar cheese, green onion. Mom always crumbled up her cornbread in the soup.

Red Velvet Cake

2010-11-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

I can almost remember the date and time of the first time I ate a bite of Red Velvet cake. Kendra and I were working at a new church plant in a tiny community outside of Edmond, OK and had reconnected with some very good friends of ours who were also attending the same church. Red Velvet was our friend, Donna, and her family's favorite celebration cake. Donna shared with me that her mother had made this cake for her and that no one could make it like her mother. Who could make something like a mother? No one! We come close but the one ingredient that cannot be recreated is the pinch of mother's love that goes into the creation of a dish. Red Velvet was a way to honor, remember, and enjoy a fond child hood memory. Luke, her oldest, requested it more often than not (I remember one strawberry cake he requested) as his birthday celebration cake. That first bite was just incredible. I knew at that moment, Red Velvet would be a life long favorite cake. Now over a decade since that first bite it is, in fact, still a lifelong favorite.

I was determined to make this cake for several reasons. The foremost reason was I wanted to make the cake for Donna so she wouldn't have to make her own birthday cake. The first several cakes were made in her kitchen, with her close supervision. Kendra and I always had a great time with Brian, Donna's husband, and Donna. I always came, "close enough" she would say. I think she was just glad she didn't have to make her own cake! Red Velvet remains one of the only truly from scratch cakes I make. I make this cake at Christmas and for Kendra on her birthday because it is her hands down favorite cake. My children have fallen in love with Red Velvet and is requested quite often. I save it as a celebration cake to keep it special. Mentioning the words red and velvet send my kids running to kitchen to enjoy a slice or two.

This is an easy cake to create, however you must remember to follow certain steps to ensure that it turns out right. It has a subtle chocolate note, isn't a chocolate cake. The flavor can only be described as red velvet as their is no other taste with which to compare. You MUST not over bake this cake or it will be dry. I usually take my cakes out before the minimum baking time elapses finding that 22-25 minutes is all it takes to make this cake "done." I think, possibly, the single biggest mistake a cake baker can make is to over bake a cake as this leads to dry cakes.

I promise I'm almost ready to give you the recipe. There is just one more issue that we have to cover: frosting. Putting a cream cheese frosting on a red velvet cake is without a doubt very popular, however I submit that it is a criminal offense. Red Velvet cake is subtle, cream cheese frosting is obnoxious. Who wants an obnoxious flavor hog icing on a subtle delicate cake like red velvet? Not me. The frosting I must insist you make is the one included. Please do not let me know you've made this cake and frosted it with cream cheese frosting. There are just somethings people need to never be told. This frosting is as subtle as the red velvet itself, yet when the two come together they are magic. The frosting is creamy, light, and has just the hint of vanilla flavor. The creamy texture of this frosting gives your palate that "velvet" taste. Having a stand mixer will keep us friends, if you decide to make this frosting. You have to mix the sugar and margarine together for a very, very long time. We'll get to that though.

Red Velvet Cake

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces red food coloring
2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vinegar

Step one:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two 9" cake pans, set aside.
In a small bowl: add the food coloring and cocoa together, mixing well. Set aside for step three.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar and shortening together. Mix on medium speed until completely incorporated (about five minutes), scraping down the sides to ensure even mixing. Add eggs one at a time, mixing completely between each addition. Add salt and mix.

Step two:
Add flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two. Remember you always begin and end with the dry.

Step three:
Add the food coloring and cocoa paste. Mix to incorporate. Add vanilla. Add the soda and vinegar, in a small bowl and add to cake batter. Mix just to incorporate.

Dispense the batter evenly and bake in the pre-heated oven for 26-30 minutes. Check the cakes often with a cake tester after 20 minutes and remove promptly when cake tester comes out dry. Cool on wire racks until ready to frost.

Frosting.

3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup margarine (Parkay all the way), room temperature.

Step one:

In a medium sauce pan, add the flour, milk, and vanilla. Over medium heat, stir with a wire whisk until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Place in a shallow dish and cover with plastic wrap. Cool in refrigerator until no longer warm (10-20 minutes).

Step two:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed until the butter and sugar combine then on high until the mixture is fluffy and creamy (about 20 minutes). Add the cooled paste and mix until is is well blended.

Frost cooled cake.

Notes:

I don't cut corners when it comes to greasing and flouring pans on this one. I had rub Crisco in my pans and then flour them to ensure there will be no sticking.
As soon as I put the cakes in the oven, I make the paste and get it in the fridge to cool. By the time I get the mess cleaned up from the cake batter... the cakes are done so I pull the cakes out of the oven to cool. That's about the time to start the frosting, and by the time the frosting is mixed enough to add the paste it's cool (about 40 minutes has elapsed.).
The butter and sugar will look fluffy, but be sure to feel it because you don't want to feel a lot of grains.
I usually put this cake in the fridge and let it set up overnight. I don't know why, but I do.
I think the next time I make this I'm going to dump in the cocoa, mix it, then add the food coloring to the mix and try to avoid the stirring process all together. It may not work, but it's worth a shot. My kitchen usually looks like a red paint grenade went off.
These cakes don't rise a lot, they will look flat so don't freak out. It's ok, it's normal.

Barbecue Beef Empanada

2010-10-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

Fall is trying ever so hard to be a real presence, I'm really wishing it luck! One of my family's favorite Fall dishes is Potato Soup. I don't really have a recipe for potato soup, I just make it like my Mom always has. If you haven't ever made potato soup and want a good recipe start here, it sounds so good. My potato soup is very straightforward, potatoes, butter, milk, salt, pepper, and cheese. We love it especially my Son, Levi who asks for it quite often. The usual tag along with potato soup is cornbread, but this weekend I wanted to make something a little different and add a little more umph to the meal. What I came up with was this barbecue beef empanada, which is so easy and really, really good.

An empanada is nothing more than a "stuffed" sandwich. After I made these, I had a ton of other ideas on how to twist the filling and also change up the bread used, so I'll be playing around with this recipe for a while to see what all I can come up with . After the recipe I'll post some of my ideas on fillings and bread combinations. This recipe came together right at 30 minutes, which included thawing meat in the microwave. I did bake the crescent rolls a little longer than called for, in my oven I went a full 15 minutes, because I wanted to make sure the bottom crust wasn't soggy. The extra baking time was the ticket. After assembling the pastries, I put about 2 tablespoons (a good pinch) of Colby jack cheese on the tops of each empanada. I love that crusty cheesy taste it gave.

Barbecue Beef Empanada

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 teaspoon cracked pepper
1 cup Barbecue Sauce (my family likes K.C. Masterpiece)
1 1/2 cups Colby Jack Cheese
2 cans Crescent Rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium skillet brown ground beef, adding seasoning salt and black pepper. Remove from heat. We use 90% lean so we don't have any fat to drain, but drain if there is any liquid in the pan. Add the barbecue sauce and cheese, stirring until the cheese completely melts. Set aside. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Let me interrupt this post by saying, "PLEASE start using parchment paper, you'll thank me one day, you really will." Open the crescent rolls and unroll. Press two triangles together to make one large rectangle. Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of the crescents, fold over and seal the edges, you can just press them down with your fingers. Repeat until you have assembled all the crescents (8 in all). Place a pinch of cheese on top of each empanada. Bake for 15 minutes at 375, until golden brown.

Ideas:

Cordon Bleu: Diced chicken and ham, mixed with Mozzarella and Swiss cheese, add some Dijon Mustard.
Pizza: Pepperoni, ground beef, and pizza/spaghetti sauce, with mozzarella cheese.
Fajitas: Chicken or beef, with peppers and onions, add salsa and cheese.
Add your families favorite veggies to any of the above.
White Tuxedo: Diced chicken, crumbled bacon, sauteed mushrooms, peas, Alfredo sauce and cheese.
Use Pie crust (use a fork to seal the edges) for any or all the above fillings.
Reuben (I really can't stand Reuben but some people really, really love them)
Breakfast: Use biscuits if you want adding sausage, bacon, ham, veggies with scrambled eggs.

Have fun with this recipe and use your imagination to come up with your very own.

Banana Bars

2010-10-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

I had to have one bite!

There are certain smells that transport me right back to my childhood. The smell of Old Spice will always remind me of my Dad, who wore that scent until I went to college. Food has a way of taking me back in time and kindling fond memories, too. These memories are sharp as the time I was making them because they are of friends and family who I don't have the pleasure of being around all the time. I can prepare a dish and immediately be back with that person and, through their recipe enjoy some fond memories. These banana bars have that nostalgic connection for me.

When I worked in Fort Worth, TX as Children's Minister our church building was sold and we began a two year process of building a new building North of the current location. This two-year time span was certainly challenging, but also among some of the best times of ministry, personally. We met in the Keller ISD High School and each week transformed the school into our church building. Teacher's lounge became the Nursery, Cafeteria and halls became classes for preschool through 5th grade, and the performing arts center (auditorium) was one where the adults Bible class met. It was during this time that many, many new faces came our way, among them the Cardenas family. Adam, Gabe, Mari-Kathrine, Dillon, Sharon, and Renan would come rolling in every week. Usually whisking Dillon off to the Nursery, in a rush, always smiling and enjoying being part of the excitement that was our church experience.

Sharon eventually became my secretary and very good friend. We became fast friends because we shared a love for cooking and eating. We talked a lot about food and cooking and would find a recipe online and tear it apart to make it our own. Ms. Sharon has some great recipes, and these banana bars are at the top of that list. They cake is super moist, thanks to the addition of sour cream, and has a subtle yet unforgettable banana flavor. Light and tender, with the hint of vanilla and almond (I added almond extract to the recipe) throughout. You top these wonderful bars with a cream cheese butter cream that I could eat with a spoon. The cake doesn't last long, but keeps very well, covered on the counter.

If you have some bananas past their prime, give these bars a try. A simple powdered sugar glaze would also be wonderful on this bar, if you didn't have or want to make cream cheese butter cream.

Cake:

Here's the batter spread into the pan ready for the oven.

1/2 cup room temperature butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Sour Cream
2 bananas, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8th teaspoon almond extract (cap full)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a half sheet pan, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer: add the butter and sugar mixing well (5 minutes) on medium high heat. Add the remaining ingredients, mixing each well before adding the next. When completely incorporated, spread the batter evenly onto the baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until set. Cool completely before frosting with butter cream.

Notes: I don't mash the bananas because my mixer does a good job of that, it saves a step and a bowl. I think these would make great cupcakes, you would have to play with the cooking time of course. If you don't have a half sheet (I get mine at Sam's) baking sheet, you can use a jelly roll pan just fine.

Here it is hot out of the oven. The white spots are the banana
bits, so good.

Cream Cheese Butter Cream

1 stick room temperature butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond
2 boxes of confection sugar.

Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth and without lumps. Add extracts and mix to incorporate. Slowly add confection sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Frost cake. If the frosting is too thick add some milk to thin the frosting.

This cake is super simple to whip us and is so delicious, especially when the cake is still just a tad bit warm and the icing is kind of...melty. You can keep this in the fridge or on the counter, either place is just fine. If you really didn't feel like making frosting (it's super simple to do, you really can do it) you could crack open a can. I can't remember the last time I ate canned frosting, it is just so simple to make your own. I think you will want to keep this cake in your handy file and use it often. Ms. Sharon also has another great sheet cake called a White Texas Sheet Cake that we tweaked over and over to make it right. Just typing those words has really made me want to make that cake now...great.

Root Beer Float Cupcake

2010-09-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

The Youth Group at my church hosted a Mother/Daughter 50's night in our Coffee Shop and asked me to cater the event. I stayed with the 50's food theme and decided to create a Root Beer Float cupcake. Cupcakes seem to be EVERYWHERE these days, so I figured I'd be all trendy and current ~~since that's how I roll~~ for once. I figured I wasn't the first person in the world to come up with the idea and after a quick Google search discovered I was about the millionth person. Almost every single recipe I read (close to 30) involved using root beer in the cake batter and going with a vanilla butter cream frosting. That just wasn't for me, so I went in another direction and came up with this recipe.

I used the Wilton Muffin pan to make the "jumbo" size cupcake. These tins were about 1/3" deeper than other jumbo pans in the baking pan aisle. I found these at my local Super Center in the cake decorating section. Since they were bigger than usual, it used more batter. I think I was able to get around 22 cupcakes from one box. I did not line the tins, opting to use Baker's Joy with great results.

About 8 years ago I saw at trick on TV for kicking up cake mixes and have been doing this trick ever since and have not been disappointed. I use a Super Moist cake mix, add an extra egg, vanilla, and use milk instead of water. Of course you don't have to make this in a muffin tin, and could use 9x13 or cake rounds, I just like the idea of cupcakes.

The frosting was my favorite cream cheese butter cream into which I added root beer concentrate. I've always seen Root Beer concentrate by the extracts in the baking aisle and pondered who in the world would use that and for what? Now. I. Know. I had never used this concentrate and was a little afraid of the word "concentrate" so I went the, "it's easier to add to than take away" rule for cooking. What I discovered was that it took a considerable amount more than I thought to achieve the root beer flavor. I would guess it was triple what my expectations were, so much for being afraid of a word.

I piped the frosting on using a pastry bag with no tip, because I wanted the wide stream of frosting that, again is super popular in the baking world. I was going to add a bendy straw, but decided that coffee stir sticks would look more elegant. I couldn't find root beer barrel hard candy to save my life, that was my first choice in garnishing this cup cake, so I went with cola jellies instead.

All in all I think the end result was visually appealing and, if I do say so myself, tasted really good. It truly tasted like a root beer float.

White Cake:

1 box White Moist Deluxe Cake Mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite)

1 1/4 cups Milk

4 eggs

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil (or vegetable)

In a stand mixer, add the cake mix and remaining ingredients. Mix on low speed until combined, then on high for two minutes. Bake according to package directions for the pan you are using.

Root Beer Butter Cream:

1 stick Butter (room temp)

8 oz Cream Cheese (room temp)

1 Tablespoon Root Beer Concentrate

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

2 lbs. Confection Sugar

In a stand mixer add first two ingredients and Cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth, adding both extracts, blending together completely. Slowly add the confectioners sugar, blending to incorporate until desired consistency is achieved. Pipe or frost onto cooled cupcakes.

Note: Taste your frosting and keep adding concentrate until you reach the flavor level you want. Like I said, earlier, I used more than I thought I would.

Oh, one more thing. I took the picture of the cupcake with my camera phone, in an empty cabinet. Not too shappy, huh?

Lemon Pie

2010-09-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

My Mom got a craving for lemon pie over Labor Day and asked if I could make her one. Of course I told her I would be happy to make her a lemon pie, the whole time my brain was scrambling to figure out how in the world I was going to make a lemon pie. I had never made nor seen anyone make a lemon pie filling before. I spent about three hours researching the internet and my Mom's cookbook collection and came up with a recipe, the combination of many, which we all liked very much. I didn't use fresh lemon juice or add lemon zest, however I think that would up the lemon flavor considerably. That's my next tweek, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest.

   This lemon pie is the perfect combination of tart and sweet. I opt for whipped cream topping instead of meringe, however you could easily make a meringue. I'll give you the recipe for whipped cream and meringe topping. Before we go any further, I have to say this is the easiest pie in the world to make. If you can stir you can make this pie. Take some time to get your ingredients set up and this will come together lickity split.

Let's get started

Pre-baked 9" Pie crust
4 egg yolks (save the egg whites if you are making the meringue)
1/3 cup corn starch plush 1 tablespoon
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup lemon juice

You will need one medium sauce pan, one small bowl, and one medium size bowl.  In the sauce pan, place one cup of water, and the sugar together. In the small bowl, place the cornstarch and 1/2 cup water, whisking until smooth, set that aside.  Now in the large bowl, add the lemon juice and eggs, whisking until smooth.

Turn the heat to medium and stir the sugar and water together until it comes to a boil. Pour in the slurry (that's the cornstarch and water mixture) and stir. Pay attention to this because it will get really, really thick. Once it comes to a thick gel, take it off the heat. Now, in the large bowl, with the egg and lemon juice in it. Slowly add about half of the hot gel. Make sure you are stirring the mixture while you are slowly stirring the yolk and juice.  Add that back into the sauce pan and turn the heat back up to medium.  Bring this back to a boil, add the butter and stir until the butter disolves.

Pour the lemon filling into the pie crust. If you are adding the whipped cream, you will want to cool the pie completely, at least one hour, then spread the whipped cream on top before serving.  Follow the directions for meringue, below.

Crust:
I use Pillsbury pie crust. It's what I grew up eating and I can't really make it better than that, I've tried and I just like it better. If you like to make your own or want to try a totally from scratch pie, I really good crust recipe is here.

To make the crust with no filling is called blind baking. Once you place your crust in the pie pan, bake it in a 450 oven for 10-12 minutes. Make sure you poke holes in the crust, all over, before baking. Or, place some tin foil in the pie pan and add about two cups of rice or dried beans. You can keep the beans/rice in a jar and use them over and over. The foil acts only as a holder for the beans or rice, which give weight to the crust helping it not shrink.

Whipped Cream:
One pint of whipped cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla

Add all to a stand mixture or large bowl. Whip/mix until it is thick and creamy. It should take about three to five minutes. You know it's ready when you lift the whisk or beater out of the cream and it holds a peak.

Meringue
4 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar

2 tablespoons sugar

Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and then gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Spread on filled pie, making sure to cover the edges. Bake in a 400 degree oven until the meringue is golden brown.

Icebox Pie

2010-08-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

I knew it had been a while since I last posted, but didn't know it had been three months, yikes. Pie. Doesn't that work open the floodgate of memories for you, I know it does for me. I've always been a pie kind of guy, well actually I'm a desserts kind of guy. Cream pies are among my top favorite desserts. As a child my family and I drove my small town to "the big city" of Joplin, MO every Friday night it for dinner and shopping around at the mall. We hardly ever bought anything, just walked around. Dinner was always Wyatt's Cafeteria which was in the mall. My standard meal: chicken fried vealette, cream gravy, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, broccoli, chocolate milk, white roll, and apple pie. This wasn't just an ordinary apple pie though. This apple pie was drenched in this decadent cinnamon sauce and served warm. My favorite part was the crust. Wyatt's is long gone, but my dreams about eating one more slice of that pie are still very present. Sad the cafeteria style restaurant is no more prevalent that it is.

I can't remember when or where I came across the recipe for Icebox pie. All I know is it's the quickest, most simple to prepare, yet full of flavor pie ever. It just screams summertime. It's refreshing, tangy, not too sweet, but sweet enough. The good thing about the recipe list is that you can make it as guilt free as you like. You can get reduced fat sweetened condensed milk, sugar-free cool-whip and reduced sugar juice concentrates now which will help if you need to cut down on calories. I usually go with the full fat version. The other added bonus is that any juice concentrate works just fine. You can even use the frozen daiquiri mixes with great results. When it comes to the crust, I usually go with the Nilla or shortbread pre-made crust because the graham crust is completely expected.

Here is all you need to make this wonderful pie:

1 16 oz container Whipped Topping (I use Cool-Whip)
1 14 oz can frozen juice concentrate (I used Pink Lemonade for this one)
1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 ready made Shortbread pie crust.

In a medium bowl add the milk and concentrate, mix until combined. Add whipped topping and stir until completely combined. You'll need to be careful if your whipped topping is still frozen because it takes a while for it to get incorporated. Who wants lumpy pie? I usually have more filling than I have room, feel free to grab a spoon and eat the remaining filling.

Pour the topping into the prepared crust. Use the little plastic dome as the cover and secure. Place in the freezer at least one hour before, I usually let it set up overnight. Take it out about 30 minutes before ready to serve. I like to use a can of whipped cream and kind of jazz up the top with little dollops around the outside edge.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

2010-04-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I love muffins! I can't really put my finger on exactly why, but I love muffins. Mini-muffins, regular, jumbo, even muffin tops...yes, yes, yes, and yes. It probably has to do with my love for cake, which I would rather have over any other dessert. Muffins are universally appreciated, I think, and everyone has their favorite. Blueberry muffins are the rock star of Muffin world. I have a good blueberry muffin recipe that I really like, but don't make often because I seldom have blueberries just lying around and the frozen berries get watery and mushy. Now Bananas...bananas I have lying around and almost invariable have 3-4 that ripen to the point that my kids will walk away from them. This comes in handy because I happen have a good banana bread recipe that uses 3-4 small bananas (equals 1 1/2 cups). I've never made an entire loaf of banana bread with this recipe, only mini-loaves and these babies which are really good if you like the flavor or oranges and bananas mixed in.

For this recipe I fell on my standard banana bread recipe, adding the vanilla glaze and the dark chocolate chips. I think the dark chocolate chips add a great bitter-sweetness to the bread which isn't really that sweet. The glaze really does add that subtle sweet touch that is so good. It was perfect, to my taste, and gave the muffin a shiny and pretty look to it. If you have a mini-loaf pan and want to use it go ahead, if you want to make it in a bread loaf pan, be my guest. The world is your ~~oyster~~ muffin. If you ever wonder where our muffin originated, here's a pretty interesting little read. Well, even if you haven't it's still pretty interesting.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups banana (about 3-4 medium)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (I don't level off)

1 teaspoon salt

8 oz Dark Chocolate Chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark brand)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin compartments with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. This batch made 19 regular size muffins. Remember to add water the the empty compartments of your muffin tin, to keep the oven karma on your side.

In the Bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar and butter. Turn on medium and mix until combined, two-three minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until completely combined. Add bananas, buttermilk, vanilla and beat until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. You could do this by hand, but when you have a stand mixer and a dishwasher...yeah, I know, "why not?"

Fill each muffin compartment 3/4 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool five minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. When completely cool, dip in glaze and return to rack. Store in an airtight container. I use a large spring loaded scoop and it fill the compartment perfectly. It's kind of a heaping scoop.

Vanilla Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 Tablespoons milk

Add milk to a small bowl. Slowly add powdered sugar until thick and smooth. Dip cooled muffin tops in glaze and place on a cooling rack.

Notes:

I don't mash the bananas, I let my mixer to the work. I just add them somewhat broken up, and I have never had any trouble with the breads not turning out.
When I dip the breads, I just hold them upside down and dip straight down into the glaze. I will hold the bread over the bowl until it stops dripping then turn upright.
I put parchment paper under the cooling rack so it will catch the remaining glaze the drips down.
I have a large Pampered Chef spring-loaded scoop that I use to fill the compartments of the loaf pan. It takes two scoops to fill one compartment, I can get exactly 8 mini loaves out of this batch.
Don't have buttermilk? Don't worry. In a liquid measuring cup add 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar, then pour in regular milk to 1/2 cup line, stir and let sit for a minute or two. This will acidulate the milk and make buttermilk. One tablespoon+1 cup milk=1 cup buttermilk.

Old Country Green Beans

2010-03-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

I can remember eating my Grandmother's green beans as a kid and wondering how in the world she was able to get them to taste so delicious. I never found out her secret, other than it involved vinegar, and have wished a thousand times I could eat one more bowl. When Kendra and I got married, which in a matter of days will be 14 years ago, I was given this cookbook which has become one of my favorite cookbooks--cherished if you will. In this cookbook I read about a formula for making green beans. While I have added one more ingredient as well as changing up the cooking process and time, it is basically the same recipe as posted in Thelma's cookbook.

These green beans are simply wonderful. They will take you back to your childhood because they are old fashioned green beans, full of flavor, and as most old fashioned recipes are, full of love. The ingredient list couldn't be more simple: bacon, green beans, pepper. What makes these beans really stand out is the process or steps to cooking the green beans. The length of time also has something to do with it as well. I have never made these green beans and not received a ton of compliments. Usually the conversation goes something like this: "These green beans are divine!" "Thanks, they are pretty good. They remind me of my grandmother's green beans." "I need the recipe." "OK, are you ready?" That's the gist of it.

There are just a few things to remember to get guaranteed results every time, we'll go over those in the notes section at the end of the recipe. If you remember the formula/ratio, whatever you want to call it you will be just fine and you, too will get a ton of compliments.

Green Beans

5 (14 oz) cans Green beans
7 strips bacon, diced
1 tablespoon black pepper

Heat a 3 quart stock pot to medium high heat. Add diced bacon and cook over medium high heat until the bacon is crisp and dark brown. While the bacon is cooking in the pot, open the cans of green beans...DO NOT DRAIN THE JUICE.

When the bacon has reached the dark brown color, like the photo to the right, pour just the juice from the cans into the stock pot. Be careful because the steam will scald you (lesson learned the hard way). Stir the juice and bacon bits together until the wonderful brown bits are all removed form the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat to medium and bring the juice to a rolling boil. Add the drained green beans, black pepper, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for one hour or until ready to serve. Sit back and take the compliments.

Notes:

You don't have to make 5 cans of green beans. Again this is a ratio. I usually add one strip of bacon to one can of green beans. If you like a lot of bacon you can do two strips, I find that it gets pretty greasy though.
Cooking the bacon to the point that it is almost burned is key. You want the bacon to be a good crisp, dark brown.
When I'm in a hurry, I will leave the pot on medium high heat and let the beans boil rapidly until I'm ready to serve.
The very top picture of this post is of our dinner last night. I put the beans on first, then the potatoes, and while the mini-meat loaves were cooking (which is a SUPER fast way to cook meatloaf) I let those beans boil away. It took about 25 minutes for the meatloaf to cook and that was a perfect amount of time for the beans to cook.

Pecan Bars

2010-03-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

My catering life has come back to haunt me this month with three events in one month! Fortunately for me I enjoy all aspects of catering, with exception to the clean up, especially building the menu. Tracking down recipes for menus is such fun, I really enjoy it. Over the years I have come to learn what goes with what and what will keep, etc. It just kind of comes to you after you do it for a while. The evolution of this love for cooking has brought me to discover ways to make things simple and yet very tasty at the same time which was not always the case for me. Kendra and I once made chocolate Truffles for valentines day and sold almost 1,000 of those suckers! I still do not want to see a chocolate truffle and it's been almost 7 years!

Today I had the privilege of making desserts for the area minister's luncheon at church. I was asked to bring cookies, different types of cookies. I knew immediately that I was going to make these cookies. I wasn't really keen on baking two other batches of cookies, so I decided on bar cookies instead. Much easier and just as good. I made Dolce Bars, which the recipe will be coming soon it's on my list--promise, for those who don't like chocolate or nuts, but do have a sweet tooth. These bars are topped with a browned butter frosting that is just to die for. I would eat cardboard if it had this frosting atop it. I've always had in my head: something chocolate, something not, something nutty, something not as a rule of thumb for catering to groups. The dolce bars helped mark two of those off the list. So what about something nutty? Pecans. Yes. That's nutty and universally popular with every nut lover I know. But that led to the problem. I'm not very proficient at making pecan bars and believe me I've tried. Today. Today is the day that I can safely say I no longer have no pecan bar in my arsenal because I have these.

These pecan bars couldn't be any easier and I would challenge anyone to find one that tasted better, as arrogant as that sounds. They hit all the nerves that a pecan bar should hit being buttery, gooey, nutty, somewhat salty, somewhat sweet, and delicious. The ingredient list is short and the preparation is perfect for beginning cooks or children who are wanting to learn how to cook. I hope you agree that these are great, too.

Pecan Bars

Crust:

One box Yellow Cake mix

1 stick butter

1 egg

Filling:

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

One can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

One bag toffee bits (readily available in most stores by they chocolate chips)

One egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 15x10 jellyroll pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray very generously, set aside.

In a medium bowl, add ingredients for crust mixture and stir to combine. No need for a mixer a wooden spoon will do just fine. When well combined dollop onto the jelly roll pan and press to cover the pan. Buttering your fingers or dipping in water will help your fingers not stick to the dough.

In another medium bowl (or rinse out the one you just used) combine all the ingredients for the filling making sure to combine them well. Pour over the crust mixture and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and cool before slicing. You can dust with powdered sugar if you want but I didn't.

Note: I think I'm going to try these in a somewhat smaller size pan, not that they are bad as they are, but to see how the crust/filling turns out thicker. I also think these would be unbelievable made in a mini-muffin pan like you would make pecan tassies.

Meatballs

2010-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a craving for something from your childhood, or not so recent past, and gone on a quest to discover that same taste? It happens to me all the time and most recently involved some meatballs I ate as a child that came back from my past with a powerful craving. As a child I ate these mostly at church suppers, but the flavor is something that stuck with me. There are a couple of sites I trust on the net, of course I had 250 cookbooks at home that I could rummage through, the net is usually faster. I remembered reading a recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog about barbecue meatballs and thought they looked similar. I also know about porcupine meatballs which involve rice, that was not my goal. I would up going back to Pioneer Woman and using recipe as the base from which I created my recipe. With fingers crossed I set out to make them, and happily discovered a great old friend.
I guess before I go any further I should warn you that these aren't the type of meatballs you would put over pasta, or in a pasta sauce. They aren't that kind of meatball. It would be better for you to think of these as teeny tiny meatloaves in a savory, tangy, sweet sauce. I think they should be served with scrumptious mashed potatoes and green beans, and some great french or garlic bread, but you could do whatever you feel like doing. We take a lot of food to friends who are in need, and I think I'm going to keep these babies up my sleeve and pull them out when called upon to take food to a friend in need.
The hardest thing about these is browning them in the skillet before you put them in the pan, for real. Unless, of course, if you have a problem touching raw meat, then it will be a little yucky and painful for a while. I use our stand mixer to whip the meat mixture into shape, then I go in with an ice cream scoop to make the round shapes. I have to do that or I would not have uniform meatballs, it's just me. I found that setting up a station in which I scooped the meat, rolled in flour then placed in the pan to brown, followed by placing them in the 9x13 worked great. It kept the mess to a minimum. These can be made the night before, placed in the fridge and baked the next day...if time is something that isn't always on your side.

Meatballs:
2 pounds ground beef (or any combination of ground meat you like)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk
1/2 onion, finely chopped (pulverize it)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt ( I used Jane's Krazy Mixed UP salt)
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 large egg
1 cup flour (for dredging)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the hook attachment, add all ingredients and mix on low speed until combined, then on medium for 3-4 minutes until smooth and combined. Using a large spring loaded scoop, scoop meat and roll into round balls, roll in flour and place on a cookie sheet. Continue scooping and rolling until all the meat has been used.

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of olive oil. Add meatballs and brown on all sides, no need to cook all the way through. Place browned meatballs in a 9x13 pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Sauce:
2 cups ketchup
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
6 Tablespoons vinegar
4 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 onion, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon pepper.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until combined.

Pour sauce over meatballs, cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350 over for 30-45 minutes.

No photographs, sorry.

Bow Tie Chicken

2010-02-04T08:58:00.001-08:00

I love to cook and sadly don't really have a lot of time to get in the kitchen and cook up main dishes. My wonderful wife is the main, "hash slinger" in our family and does a great job with our family meals. We try to eat dinner between 5:00-5:30 every night, giving us plenty of time to get our three babies (7, 4, & 3 years old) ready for bed by 7:30-8:00pm. Sitting around our dinner table as a family every night is very important to us and we guard that time and hold it dear to our hearts. Our recent snow and ice events gave me an opportunity to give my wife a much appreciated break from dinner preparations. To my surprise my family loved every singe one of the dinners I prepared--everyone! Naturally I was excited, so I'll be sharing the recipes with you and hoping for your success, too. Trust me, I don't usually have that much luck because our children are picky eaters, but I hit a home run with Chicken and bow ties.

This dish is very comforting and creamy, reminding me of chicken and noodles--only much easier. I would say the star of the show is the creamy cheese sauce. The ingredients are easily kept in your pantry, and usually things most people have on hand. There were no leftovers with this, which is a sure sign of it's success, right? Prep was a snap, I made this in a large skillet and used another pot to boil the pasta, however you could easily make this a one pot meal, using your dutch oven or large stock pot. I'll have the suggestions for that in the notes section at the bottom. Additionally you are free to add and change up the veggies, really the possibilities are endless with what you can do. Let's get started.

4 skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
16 ounces uncooked bow tie pasta
1 cup chicken broth
1 celery rib, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste (probably about 1 tsp. salt for our taste; and 1T. pepper)
1 medium carrot, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (8-ounce) package pasteurized prepared cheese product, cubed

Preparation

Bring 1 quart salted water to a boil in a large pot. In the meantime get a large skillet up to medium heat. Add pasta to water 8-10 minutes or until tender; drain. Keep warm.

Melt one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat in the skillet; add celery, carrot, and onion, and cook 5 minutes or until tender, add garlic and diced chicken, cooking until the chicken is cooked, should take about 7-8 minutes. Stir in soup, cheese, and cup chicken broth, stirring until cheese is melted. Toss with pasta; garnish, if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes:

To make this a one-pot dish. Boil your pasta in a large dutch oven (you can add the chicken, too if you want) until done, then drain and set aside. Using the same pot, add the butter, oil, and garlic and saute until the onion is tender and clear. Add your broth, soup, and cheese, stirring until the cheese melts, then stir in the pasta and chicken.
The amount of vegetables you could add to this is unending. I would love to add mushrooms and frozen peas next time.
I'm also thinking that I might cook a few slices of diced bacon to the skillet, set aside then skip the butter and oil, and cook my chicken and veggies in the bacon fat, using the bacon bits as a topping. How good does that sound?
A side salad would be the only company that this dish needs, we skipped that and just ate garlic bread. The sauce loves to jump on bread! It's really good.

Cheeseball

2009-12-31T06:04:00.000-08:00

The cheese ball is something that you either love or hate. I know of few people who kind of like cheese balls, but I do not doubt that such an animal exists. I've made this cheese ball for over 10 years and count on this humble party food staple to stretch my snack table without breaking the bank. The flavor is creamy and savory with the added benefit of chopped pecans that enrobe the pale yellow delight. I like this served with crackers, pretzels, pita chips, or bagel bites. I've even seen some folks put this on an apple and eat it, but don't count on me to confirm whether or not this cheese ball is good on an apple! Let's get started and we'll talk about some really cool and different ways to present this cheese ball. Well, ok, you can use my ideas for your cheese ball recipe if you want--I guess.

Here's what you will need to pull this thin off, the ingredient list is super easy:

16 oz. Cream Cheese

16 oz. Cheddar Cheese (I usually use a cheese blend)

One onion

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Rough chop the onion and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Add one block of the cream cheese and seasoned salt. Pulse until the mixture is smooth and combined. You do not have to have a food processor to make this cheese ball. I like to use a food processor because it really gets the onion minced up. If you don't have a food processor I would suggest that you either grate the onion, or chop the dickens out of the onions to make them super minced and mushy. Your goal is to have a creamy and smooth mouth feel.

After you have pulsed the onion, half of the cream cheese, and seasoned salt together, go ahead and add in the Worcestershire sauce and give it another pulse. This is what gives the mixture it's pale yellowish brown appearance. Once you have pulsed together these four ingredients, dump it into a large bowl, we will have to go manual from here on out.

This set of Pyrex mixing bowls is close to my heart. I'm writing this post from my Mom's house in Missouri, which explains the better quality of my cell phone photographs because she has fluorescent lighting. Anyway, these bowls have been with me my entire cooking life. I learned to cook using these, and many other tools that Mom still has. We won't talk about the can of cloves that she has in her spice cabinet that has a date stamp of 1972!

So, after your little trip down memory lane. Dump the mixture you've pulsed into the sentimental Pyrex mixing bowl (that mushroom design is really ugly, what were they thinking?) and add the other 8 oz. of cream cheese and the grated cheese blend. Get busy with a sturdy spoon of silicone spatula and mix until the cream cheese is completely combined and smooth. If you food processor bowl is large, you can do this step in that bowl. Mom's is only a 2-cup processor.

If you like to get your hands dirty and want to skip this next step feel free. Who am I to judge. I like to get a small bowl and place some plastic wrap in the bowl, then dump the mixture into the bowl so I can form the cheese ball into...well a ball shape. It's really much easier to me.

This is what the mixture looks like when you get it into the bowl. Just fold over the plastic wrap and press lightly to form the cheese ball into a dome shape. From this point you can place the bowl in the fridge and keep it until ready to use, or you can peel off the plastic wrap and flip the cheese ball onto a plate, peeling the plastic wrap off. Use that spatula or spoon to smooth over the rough places. Press in the chopped pecans.

This cheese ball is really at it's best flavor once is has a few hours to recover and pull itself together. The Worcestershire sauce and onion really love each other and come to the flavor party big time, they are somewhat cocky and try to take over, but never fear the cheese is the true star of this show.

Ok, now for the ideas I promised:

You can roll this cheese ball in other things. You could use sliced almonds and "tile" your cheese ball, which would be really sharp. Paprika or parsley are other toppings that make this cheese ball really delicious.
Place your plastic wrap on the counter, and lay the mixture out in a log. Roll the plastic wrap up around the cheese ball. Using your hands shape the cheese log into it's long log form. Then roll in whichever topping you wish to use.
This doesn't have to be a cheese ball at all! Mix the chopped pecans into the mixture and place the entire mixture into a container with a tight fitting lid and you have a super spread that you can pull out for a snack, or super casual card or game party. This will keep for a week or more (it won't last that long, trust me.)
Substitute hot sauce for the Worcestershire sauce and everything changes. This mild mannered little cheese ball becomes a super spicy whippersnapper.
Finally, here's the best idea. Cheese ball pops! Use a spring loaded scoop, and drop the mixture onto a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Chill for 30 minutes to let the cheese pops set up, then remove from the fridge and roll in pecans or the afor mentioned toppings. Finally poke in a pretzel stick and viola you have a cheese ball pop. Place these on your serving platter. This idea is really cool, because it takes the humble cheese ball to a whole new level and totally impresses your guests.

Give this yummy, yummy treat a try I think you'll agree its super good.

THE Holiday Cookie aka. NICU cookies

2009-12-21T07:26:00.001-08:00

Have you ever taken a bite of something and immediately known that, "this" would be in your life forever? I have to say that after one bite of this cookie, almost 15 years ago, I knew I would love this cookie forever. Our friend, Donna Layton, makes these every holiday and has forever. They are soft, buttery, fruity, and just delicious.

My daughter, Emma, was born premature (29 weeks) and spent 42 days in the NICU of St. Francis here in Tulsa. She was born November 30th, which meant a different kind of Christmas for my family that year. The staff was amazing and touched us in a way that is still fresh in our hearts to this day. I'm not sure we will ever be able to repay the love and appreciation we have for their care of our daughter. One expression of our gratitude was a batch of Raspberry Thumbprints I made and took in a Red toile tin. Dr. Anderson, Emma's Neonatologist, just happen to love these cookies as it reminded him of his home, "up North." And so began my commitment to the staff that the red tin would always be full of cookies for them. Kendra or I one would bring that tin home, empty, and take it back full. We made double batches (7 dozen total) of these cookies every three or four days for 42 days. Everyone knew what that red tin meant when they walked into the break room. We took that same tin back at Emma's one and two year "anniversary" of her dismissal and plan to do the same for this her, third, anniversary (coming up in February).

For the dramatic and beautiful end result, there really isn't an easier cookie to make. Five ingredients in the dough, some jam, and a glaze is all that comes to this cookie party. There are really two stars that shine in this cookie, butter and almond extract. The cookie dough is really a shortbread that is light and buttery. The almond extract is there, not obnoxious or showy, but does indeed make itself known. As far as jam, the world is your oyster. I've used seedless blackberry, red raspberry, raspberry, and apricot, but you could use any kind of jam you love. I think the hardest thing for me is making the perfect indention for the jam to rest in while baking. I have a coffee scoop that is dome shaped, and it works like a charm, so that is what I use. Consistency is the key. Also, trust the timer on this cookie, because the will not brown, at most on the very outer edge if at all, they just burn.

Thumbprints

1 Cup butter, room temp

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

Jam (maybe a 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar and butter. Mix on medium speed 3-5 minutes or until light and airy. Add extracts and flour. Mix until just combined. Using a small spring loaded cookie scoop, place balls of dough on cookie sheets (2 inches apart). Make an indention with your thumb and add 1/4 teaspoon of jam to each indention.

Bake for 14-18 minutes. Remove from pan and let rest on cookie sheet for one or two minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely. Drizzle with the following glaze.

Glaze

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon Almond extract

In a medium bowl add powdered sugar, milk, and extract, whisk until smooth. Add drops of water or milk to thin to your specific taste.

NOTES:

If you want the cookie, end product, to be smooth you can roll the dough in your hands to kind of knock out the scoop marks. It is pretty, but a step I can afford to live without, trust me rolling almost 100 dough balls is not my idea of fun.
The indention is tricky. Too shallow and the jam spills over the side, too deep and it ruptures out the bottom. My trick is to push just until the dough spreads, you want the indention to be about the depth of a 1/2 teaspoon and no more.
When the cookies come out of the oven, let them rest. You will not be able to transfer them to a cooling rack immediately out of the oven because they will fall apart, trust the voice of frustrated experience.
I use two cookie sheets and alternate. It gives each sheet time to cool down before you drop more dough on the sheets. The dough is delicate and will start to melt while you are filling with jam.
I use one of my daughters old baby spoons to fill--it's perfect!
I've made these cookies bigger and don't really love the end result.
The glaze is good on a flip flop. Seriously, it's just a wonderful glaze that is pure white and smooth, it hardens to a shiny bright beautiful result.

Chicken pot pie in Biscuit bowls

2009-12-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

With winter being right here in our lap, I can't help but feel drawn to warm, cozy, creamy suppers. Potato soup, Chicken and noodles, casseroles, all just warm inside and out. That coupled with the baking we do during the holidays makes for a warm home and hopefully warm memories. Speaking of memories, can I just tell you I love Chicken Pot Pie! I was an adult before I had a homemade chicken pot pie, but as a child I loved the Swanson Chicken Pot Pies. Mom always had plenty of frozen pies in the freezer so I could bake them up anytime I wanted.

I had a very methodical and meticulous way of eating them, too. Go figure. I ate the top crust first, then the filling, saving the bottom crust for last...it was just delicious.

These biscuit bowls are fun to make, and super delicious. There are a ton of shortcuts that will fit just about any time crunch, and I think your family will love them. You can substitute turkey for the chicken, of course and add another bullet to the chamber of leftover shotgun suppers.

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 small onion)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery (about 4 ribs)
1 cup diced red bell pepper (you can use one small pepper)
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 (16-ounce) package frozen peas and carrots, thawed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add 1/2 cup onion, 1/2 cup celery, bell pepper and 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms, and sauté 2 to 3 minutes or until tender.Whisk in cream of chicken soup, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon; cook over medium-low heat 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 cup Cheddar cheese, stirring constantly, until cheese melts. Stir in cooked chicken, peas and carrots, diced pimiento, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Spoon warm chicken mixture evenly into Biscuit Bowls.

Chicken Pot Pie in Biscuit Bowls: Substitute 1 (10-ounce) thawed package frozen mixed vegetables for peas and carrots. Add 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning. Omit tarragon, sliced mushrooms, and pimiento. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Biscuit Bowls

1 (16.3-ounce) can refrigerated jumbo flaky biscuits
Vegetable cooking spray
Roll each biscuit to a 5-inch circle.
Invert 8 (6-ounce) custard cups or ramekins, several inches apart, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Coat outside of cups with cooking spray. Mold flattened biscuits around outside of custard cups, and bake at 350° for 14 minutes. Cool slightly, and remove biscuit bowls from cups.
If you don't have custard cups, you can use your muffin tins, no problem. Just be sure to use plenty of spray so they won't stick.

Brown Butter Cookies

2009-11-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

If you are in the mood for a cookie that is not too sweet, but just sweet enough then you have found it. Some of my favorite cookies are the ones that are not too sweet, but sweet enough. Snickerdoodle, sugar, tea cakes, all among my favorites. I even like to make my chocolate chip cookies with semi-sweet chips because I just don't want them to be too sweet.

The cookie part of this recipe is my favorite sugar cookie dough. I have tweaked and adapted this recipe over the years to be just the texture, softness, basically all things I love about a sugar cookie. I really can't stand a sugar cookie that crumbles in your mouth making you feel like you just ate a mouthful of sand. Not my type of cookie. I tend to under bake my sugar cookies because I like them soft and chewy with a crisp edge and find that knocking of a minute or two usually helps me achieve this. You have to know your oven though, for me it's a minute off the maximum recommended bake time.

If you want to use this dough as a roll and cut dough, I think it would work out great. One trick I learned from reading recipes is to roll your cut-out dough on the cookie sheet, then cut the cookies out and lift the scrap dough off the pan. Is that not a brilliant idea? It works great! I always use parchment paper because nothing makes me more angry than something that sticks. I want to enjoy my baking and cooking as it relieves stress, sticking stuff makes me crazy!

The browned butter used in making the frosting/glaze is really the star of this show. If you have never tried a browned butter glaze/frosting you are certainly missing out and must try it immediately. It goes without saying that you have to use real butter here, no substitutes. Browning butter is really very easy. It is certainly something that you approach as you would watching a toddler-constant attention. You can't leave the stove to do something else or the results could be disastrous. Burned butter is a far cry from the heavenly flavor of browned butter. As you play with the browning process you will find that you may prefer a darker color to your butter or lighter just depending on your taste preference. As the butter melts and begins to cook it gets very foamy, stirring it calms the foaming down just long enough for it to get worked up again. As it begins to foam back up you will see how the butter is browning. I usually go with a taupe brown--light brown.

Brown butter has a nutty, toasty flavor much like caramel or toasted pecans. Depending on how much milk you add will determine whether or not this is a glaze or a frosting. I use this browned butter recipe for icing oatmeal cookies (Lord, lord talk about upgrading an oatmeal cookie!) sugar cookies, which will be called brown butter cookies from here on out, tea cakes, and even yellow cake, and pound cake. It's just delicious.

Butter Cookie dough:

1 cup Butter Flavored Crisco

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 T. Milk

1 T. Vanilla Extract

1/8 t. Almond Extract (I have always used a cap full and called it good)

3 cups Flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375. Line two cookie sheets with parchment and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add crisco and sugar. Mix with paddle attachment on medium speed for five minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add salt, baking powder, and extracts mixing to incorporate. Add egg, and milk, mixing to incorporate then slowly reduce speed and add flour slowly until combined and pulls away.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined sheet and bake 7-9 minutes. Remove to cooling rack. Ice when cool.

Notes:

I use a spring loaded scoop for my cookies because I can't really trust my eye. I have a small scoop I've used for years from pampered chef. It works great.
I baked these cookies on a half sheet baking pan (double the size of a jelly roll pan) that I picked up at Sam's Club (two for under 10 dollars). I could get 24 cookies on this pan which really cut down on the tedious dollup and bake time.
Using two pans meant that I would have a cool pan ready for me while the others baked.

Brown Butter Icing

4 Tablespoons butter

2 cups Confectioners sugar

3 Tablespoons milk

1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract

In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Swirl pan or stir until the butter reaches the desired color. 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside. In a medium size bowl add extracts, then pour hot butter into the bowl. Add half of the confectioners sugar, stir with a whisk or beat on low speed with a hand held mixer. It will clump together, but don't give up just keep mixing and begin to slowly add half of the milk, it will smooth out just fine. Add the remaining confectioners sugar and beat to incorporate. Determine at this point how thick or thin you would like it and add milk accordingly.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

2009-10-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

One of my friends, Jamie, is about leave our office staff to stay at home with her sweet baby, Brylee, who is due in just a matter of weeks. She, her husband Mark, and their daughter Cailynn have been praying for this day to come for quite some time. Along the way she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Jamie is our resident chocoholic and loves anything chocolate, sweet, dessert, I think just plain food in general. It's fun to cook for someone who loves food! The staff wanted to have a shower for her as well as a "going away" party and as with any shower...you have to have cake. I really struggled with serving a cake at Jamie's shower which she couldn't eat--how fun would that be? Not.

After researching several websites and studying up on flourless cakes I came up with this version I share with you today. The carb count is very low, with the carbs coming from the chocolate chips (my best guess is around 8g per serving), but the chocolate flavor is dense, rich, and undoubtedly chocolate. I think the consistency of this cake was more like a brownie as far as texture and mouth feel. I found the sliver I ate to be the perfect serving as I served it with whipped cream (2 tablespoons has less than 1g of carbs) and strawberries.

If you are on a diet and not wanting to pull your sweet tooth out, this cake might just save the day. It will also keep the guilt fairy at bay as you serve your Baby shower honoree with gestational diabetes this cake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake:

4 oz fine quality bittersweet chocolate ( I used 60% dark chocolate Ghiradelli)

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar ( I used Splenda for baking)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Grease an 8 inch pie or cake pan with coated spray, set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and butter until smooth. Add sugar and whisk until incorporated, sift in the cocoa powder, stir to combine. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a crust forms on the top. Remove to a cooling rack. Dust with additional cocoa power to serve.

Texas Red Chili

2009-10-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

The very minute i see trees changing and feel the cool breeze blowing in Fall I start craving warm, earthy, hearty things that carry you away to a place where bone chilling cold winds with razor sharp precision are somehow ok. Chili is one of those things that I go to for Fall and winter, among other things like chicken and noodles. I am promising myself that there will be a chicken and noodle post this year...guess I better get cracking since I'm posting once a month apparently. Sorry friends, it's all I can do.
I discovered this recipe for chili when Kendra and I were married, in a cookbook. I have altered it over the years to be what we now eat, and I have to say it's one of my favorite chili dishes. You know when it comes to chili there's not a lot of fuss that I like. I don't really care for huge chunks of meat, peppers, tomatoes, anything for that matter, floating around because that's just stew to me. To me, chili is, thick, beefy, deeply red, has some beans and is full of flavor. I think chili is best served the next day, or at least made in the morning and eaten that night. There is just something about the flavor of a chili that has been given time to completely allow all of the ingredients and spices to become one.
I usually eat my chili three ways. First, straight out of the pot, covered with cheese and accompanied by cornbread. Cornbread and chili is one of astrological anomalies, they just go together. My second favorite way of eating chili is on Fritos, covered with cheese. Frito Chili pie is one of my favorite things. Thirdly, I like chili on top of thin spaghetti noodles covered in mountains of Parmesan cheese. This third variation has always been called, Spaghetti Red, but I've heard it called, Three-way in some parts of the country. I'm also sure there are places where people who are reading this post will shove themselves away from their computer and grab their heads in utter disbelief. But, gentle reader, trust me, it's delicious.
One of my good friends, Sharon, who happened to work with me at a church in Texas once shocked the holy grail right out of me. We were organizing a carnival and she and her husband agreed to run the snack shack. I came up with the menu: hot dogs, nachos, chili dogs, chili cheese nachos, Frito Pie, on and on. "Will we have just one question?" "Ok, what's that?" "What's a Frito Pie?" Time, at that moment, stood still. "You've never heard of a Frito Pie?" "No." "You've NEVER had a Frito pie?" "No." It was at that moment that everything else in the world came to a stop, she was having a Frito Pie before anything else--period! A layer of Fritos, cheese, chili, more Fritos, cheese, chili, topped with cheese. "Here, try this...you have to try this." Her first bite was all it took. Eyes rolled back into her head followed by that, "where have you been all my life" look on her face. It's that good.
This Texas Red is as easy as easy can be, has simple ingredients and yet does not lack flavor at all. I made this Friday morning, while we were enjoying some fall break fun at my Mom's, and last night we enjoyed walking into a kitchen that was filled with the smell of chili, waiting for us! How bad can that be? Anytime you walk into a house and dinner is waiting on you...bonus. I made a double batch and dished up the second batch into Correlle bowls, so Mom could have homemade chili all winter. It freezes great. I like to make up big batches of food and freeze them for my Mom since doesn't' always make the best choice when it comes to eating for one. She just doesn't' want to go to the trouble of cooking and making a mess for herself.
One batch of this chili will give you seven good size servings, and more Frito pies, of course. It does freeze great and will keep in the fridge for several days. If you are cooking for one, then I say whip up a batch of this chili and freeze it. Mom is planning to take some of this over to her other single friends to share the wealth.

Texas Red

3 pounds lean Ground beef
1 packet Williams Chili Seasoning (If it is for 1lb, then buy three)
4 regular size (10 plus ounce) cans of Ranch Style Beans (Canned Pinto Beans are fine, too)
3 cups V-8 Juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
1 Tablespoon pepper

In a large stock pot, brown the ground beef until no longer pink, drain if needed. Add Chili seasoning to meat and stir well to combine. Pour in juice, stir, then add remaining ingredients. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, cook 30 minutes or longer. Note: As soon as all the ingredients are added, I will pour this into a Crockpot and cook on low until ready to serve. It will thicken nicely.

I like the subtle sweetness that the ketchup adds, it does not overwhelm the dish at all. Of course this recipe can be cut down or blown up accordingly. I would suggest you season to taste with the garlic salt and pepper because it never really works to just cut or blow up seasonings. I like using V-8 juice because it adds more flavor, feel free to use tomato juice. I've grown up on Williams Chili and Taco seasoning and won't try another. I would assume other chili seasonings are good if you can't find Williams.

Sausage Cups

2009-09-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

If you are in the market for a quick, easy, flavorful appetizer to serve to guests watching a game, or to take to a work snack party, maybe church, whatever the need, this is the one for you. It's super simple to make, bite size, and will be a huge hit with your friends. I love all of the flavor combinations that come to this party. I originally found this recipe on the back of a box of Athen's Phyllo cups which are one of my all-time favorite party tricks. I can use these things for a ton of snack ideas. I will resist the urge to digress--staying focused!

The original recipe called for Andouille sausage, but I'm not a Cajun fan and find andouille sausage very hot, if it's your cup of tea then be my guest. Here's my version, please enjoy the flavor party that will be thrown in your mouth. That last sentence was cheesy, sorry, but I'm keeping it.

Sausage Cups

3 slices diced bacon

4 oz. sausage

1/4 cup minced onion

15 Athens® Mini Fillo Shells (1 box)

2 ounces softened cream cheese

1 tablespoon softened butter

1 teaspoon light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme leaves

6 tablespoons finely chopped pecans, divided

2 1/2 tablespoons grated pepper-jack cheese

In a medium skillet, sauté bacon and sausage over medium high heat, stirring frequently until crisp. With slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel and drain. Add onions to skillet and sauté until just tender, drain. In a small bowl, combine the bacon, sausage and onion, and place 1 tablespoon of mixture into each Fillo Shell. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, brown sugar and thyme, mixing well. Stir in 3 tablespoons pecans, and place 1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese mixture over sausage filling. Top each with 1/2 teaspoon grated hot pepper cheese and 1/2 teaspoon of remaining chopped pecans. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes. Serve immediately. They are even good at room temperature. I almost always double the recipe, you will find that there is more filling than you have cups. I usually don't even worry about layering, instead I just mix it all together and top with the cheese and pecans. Also, rarely ever have thyme, fresh..ok never. Dried is perfectly fine, so too are other herbs you might have and like better (oregano, basil, etc.)

DevilBars

2009-09-02T11:06:00.001-07:00

Lawsy mercy this is one of my all-time favorite dessert bars. One of the ladies who works here at church brought these for a funeral luncheon, and made extra. After one bite of these devil bars (she called them goody bars, but they are of the devil I tell ya--pure sin) I knew these would be in my life forever. I love them. This takes every thing you love about a candy bar and rolls it up with a brownie bonus. There are three layers to this bar, the first of which is a super dense and delicious brownie, the second a nut studded frosting, and the third a crispy fudge filling. The fudge layer reminded me of no bake cookies with crispy cereal instead of oatmeal. I would say that you should make these immediately, they are delicious, especially if there is a diet you want to destroy! There's not much more I can say other than..I'm going to go get one more!!

1 box Betty Crocker Original Supreme Brownie Mix (1 pound 6.5 oz.) plus ingredients called for on package. (I always substitute milk for the specified water)
1 pound tub vanilla frosting (I like the Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy frosting), or homemade
3/4 cup chopped pecans, or salted peanuts chopped.
3 cups Crisp Rice Cereal (i.e. Rice Krispies)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, just get one bag and call it a day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Make brownies according to package directions (for the 9x13 pan). When done set aside to cool one hour or over night.
Frost cooled brownies with frosting, sprinkle on nuts and place in refrigerator while making the fudge crispies.
Measure cereal in to a large bowl, set aside.
In a medium size sauce pan melt peanut butter and chips over low meat until completely melted. Pour over crispies and turn to coat and combine completely.
Pour over frosted brownies and spread evenly. Refrigerate until set, one hour.
Makes 24 bars.

Make these bars as soon as you can. You owe it to yourself, you really do!

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Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

2009-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the huge fad of no carb dieting? I well remember my co-workers on the no carb kick and walking around snacking on pre-cooked bacon as a snack proclaiming their love for this wonderful diet in which you can eat as much bacon as you want! I thought it was a horribly misguided diet strategy, even though I don't' know beans from apple butter when it comes to it's benefit or detriment, solely because it excluded my favorite things--carbs! I love pasta, potatoes, and bread.

Growing up my family would usually have buttered white bread, which my family called light bread, for evening meal. 10-12 stacks of bread on a plate with margarine for spreading. I really loved buttered bread, and still do. Sometimes we would have canned biscuits with apple butter and I would be in heaven. Do you remember when KFC had dinner rolls instead of biscuits? I do, and loved them. Holidays meant wonderful homemade

yeast rolls that I could eat an entire pan of on my own. Exercising restraint was not my strong suit. I mean, that's why they have elastic in underwear, right?

I whipped up these drop biscuits today for our lunch and really liked them so I thought I would share. These were mixed, dropped, and baked in 10 minutes! Now that's fast. If you have ever been to Red Lobster and enjoyed their dinner biscuits you will for sure love these. I found these to be much lighter with more flakiness and less chew. My second time around I'll add more cheese since you can't really ever have to much cheese

, right? Brushed with melted butter straight out of the oven then slathered with butter is just about all you need to be carried away to carb land.

Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits

1 1/2 cups Baking mix (I used Bisquick)

1/2 cup butter milk (see note)

1 cup Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon Garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon Onion powder

2 Tablespoons melted butter, reser

ved

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium size bowl add all ingredients, except butter and stir until combined. Drop by rounded spoonfuls (I used a large spring loaded scoop) onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and remove to a basket.

Note: If you are like me and rarely ever have buttermilk on hand, do not fret because you can make your own. For Real! Here's how: 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring glass, fill to one cup mark with Milk, stir. Let sit until ready for recipe (one minute or so).

The possibilities for these biscuits are really endless. You could put crumbled bacon and Swiss cheese in there, or finely chopped onions and dill, or your favorite herb for herb biscuits. Your creativity is the only limit to what you can do.

Oven Roasted Bacon

2009-08-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

What would a southerner do without pork?
I can't remember a time when I haven't had bacon for breakfast, at times lunch, and often times at dinner. The smell of bacon can make me instantly hungry. It was the smell that woke me from sleep at my Robba's house every Saturday morning I spent with her. Unless she made pigs in a blanket. I have no idea what she did to that bacon or the pancakes she made from a box mix, but there is nothing like my Robba's pancake breakfast.
Today brought to an end my quest to fry bacon and not have it shrivel up into a tiny bacon crouton, or burn to a crisp. I like my bacon not too crisp, and certainly not too curly. That desire has left me with this love hate relationship to cooking bacon. I've tried everything from dredging the bacon in flour to fry it( please do not try this) to cutting the bacon in half and cooking it, don't ask I was desperate. I finally came to the conclusion that low, medium high heat, and slow was the ticket, turning the bacon often to keep it from curling up was the ticket. That's pretty much how I've been cooking the bacon for the past six years, until today.

I was watching Food Network yesterday before the house woke up and happened upon Tyler's Ultimate, a show I enjoy if happened upon. I can't remember what his theme of the day was, but he roasted bacon in the oven, for a recipe and was immediately intrigued by this process. He mentioned that it was how restaurants do it to crank out bacon for 500 and when I saw the beautiful flat, not too crisp bacon I knew I was about to embark on a life changing experience. I had heard of cooking bacon in the oven, but always passed it off thinking it would not be such a good thing. Of course I had not seen it done until yesterday. I marched myself down to the kitchen and preheated the oven to 400 degrees and grabbed my Pampered Chef bar pan and laid out a pound of bacon on the pan. Into the oven for 15 minutes, Tyler's suggested baking time. At the 15 minute mark I opened the oven and noticed that it was not quite done, five more minutes did the trick. This bacon was not too crisp, beautifully brown, flat, and very moist. Fat did render from the bacon, but not as much as frying which left more bacon flavor. By this time my kids were up and before I knew it a pound of bacon was gone! The pancakes weren't even done and the bacon was gone. One more pound in the oven. Roasting the bacon in the oven freed me up to focus on every other aspect of breakfast, I didn't have to worry about it one time.

My mind has been racing at the possibilities of roasting bacon ever since yesterday. Here are just a couple of the ideas I have:

Sprinkle the bacon with brown sugar before baking, for a great candied bacon.
Cracked black pepper, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, dried Italian seasoning sprinkled on before baking. I think this would give ordinary BLT's a new attitude. Especially if you made the BLT on toasted cibatta bread with Olive Oil mayo, Roma tomatoes, and arugula lettuce.
Cracked pepper for peppered bacon
Chili flakes

The possibilities are endless. Never again will I fry bacon--it's over. I am so excited that I won't have to degrease my stove from the bacon splatter, or feel the pain of bacon grease popping onto my arm, cheek, or eyelid (OUCH!).

Here's are the steps, I dare not call this a recipe, it's not rocket science at all but will be a new era in your pork consumption.

Oven Roasted Bacon

One pound Hormel Black Label Bacon (it's my favorite)
Cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the cookie sheet (make sure it has a lip) with bacon in a single layer, making sure the bacon does not overlap. It can touch, but just don't overlap. Bake for 15-20 minutes to desired degree of preference. Remove from oven and transfer to a towel lined plate to drain, or pat dry. I found that my oven took 18 minutes to get perfect bacon for my family's taste preference.

Thank you, God, for creating the pig!

Tamale Casserole

2009-08-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

Confession: I love casseroles! Whew! Glad that is out, now I can move on. I could eat a casserole every night and not tire of them. For someone who does not like his food to touch, and eats one thing at a time you would think that casseroles are on my "no" list, yet I just love them. I can remember as a kid watching my parents and grandparents eating family meals and being amazed with my grandparents ritual of taking the last 1/4 of each item on their plate and mixing it all together. It just did me in, every time. I know it all mixes together eventually, however I do not care to see the results of, that, mixture. It's weird. I'm weird. How about a casserole?

This is THE casserole to eat if you love tamales. The combination of subtle southwestern flavors come together with the sweet cornbread and hit every nerve in your body saying, "this is it." I've just about decided to make these casseroles in half pans and freeze one for later use. My family of four never eats a whole casserole for dinner. We can take out half of one, but the other half just sits in our fridge lonely and desperate for consumption. Served with a crisp green salad and southwestern dressing, dinner is done.

Tamale Casserole

1 1/4 cup shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (I use Jiffy)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
2 shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 10 ingredients (through chilies) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray, or portion out the mixture into your baking dishes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until set. While cornbread is baking: place shredded chicken in a bowl, add just enough enchilada sauce to moisten chicken, set aside.

3. When cornbread is set, remove from oven and pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour remaining enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Life in the fast lane

2009-08-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Do you find yourself busy as a beaver...a cranberry merchant at Christmas...a long tail cat in a room full of rockers? Are you sick of feeding your family through a drive through and find yourself just wishing that you could eat something that wasn't wrapped in paper? Well if you are in this boat then this recipe might just help you out. It's super simple, limited ingredients, and varied as your imagination can make it. This dish can have dinner on the table in a matter of minutes! How's that for getting your family out the door and on your way with a home cooked meal?

First the cast of characters:

1 lb. of ground beef

1 can of beef broth

1 box of Rice A Roni

1 stick of butter (you won't use all of the stick)

2 tsp. Garlic Powder (or 2 cloves crushed fresh)

2 tsp. Onion Powder (or 1 cup of chopped fresh)

Salt and Pepper

That's it, nothing more that you need to get dinner on the table lickity split!

Place your ground meat in a large skillet, into which you have poured 1 T. of olive oil and fry over medium heat until it is browned. Once you see the meat starting to brown, add your seasonings (and if using fresh veggies, those too) and continue to cook until the meat is brown. Remove from your skillet and place on a plate to rest while you get the rice a going.

Let's talk for just a minute about frying meat. There's not much in the world I hate more than wormy meat. When meat is fried unattended and cooks without being broken up, looking wormy. It's just not fun for me. One of my good friends, Ana Marquez, who lives in Fort Worth, TX share a secret that her family uses in their restaurant business, a potato masher! That's right friends, a potato masher.

Using a potato masher allows the meat to be broken up, giving you an even texture and making your meat consistently smooth and no clumpy and wormy. I, for one, like smoothly textures ground meat and not all huge clumps. Maybe you are different, but I can tell you this--use a potato masher up until the "clumpiness" you prefer and you'll want to buy me a Starbucks gift card (worth $100 please email me for the address).

Look at this picture to the left, remember we're cooking turkey so that's why it's not more brown. But you can see that there is even texture, and that there are no clumps or worms. At this point you can add your sauce, taco seasoning, or whatever. Hey freeze the stuff and have it on hand for an even quicker week night meal! I think I'm done...are you convinced that you need to mash your ground beef? I sure hope so.

Ok, back to the show. When we last left our pan, it was lonely having just said goodbye to some perfectly fried ground turkey. Place two tablespoons (use the package directions on the Rice A Roni and go by what they say) of butter in your skillet and melt it. Pour in the rice and vermicelli and brown. You'll want to let this set for 1-2 minutes before stirring because you want to get the vermicelli browned and toasty. It's very important for you to not leave your post because you can burn this quick and then you would have to unwrap your food from paper through a drive-through AND clean up the kitchen to boot. Just stand there for 3-4 minutes and stir the stuff, ok?

My personal preference for "perfect" Rice A Roni" is to have some of the vermicelli browned but not completely browned all the way through. It is probably more of a fear that I will burn it, because I have burned my fair share of Rice A Roni over the years. This picture is of what I would call perfect rice. Now, you are ready to pour in the Beef Broth (instead of the water called for on the box directions.) which I love because it increases the beefiness of this dish 100% especially if you are using ground turkey! After you pour in the beef broth, you'll add the seasoning packet and give it a quick stir, so all the powder is completely mixed in. Add the ground beef, stir, cover, and cook it according to package directions. I think it's like 25 minutes or something, covered on low. How about this shot I took of motion? On a camera phone none the less. I love to read Pioneer Woman's blog and she takes motion pictures all the time and wondered if my phone...i mean camera...would do it--viola! It does.

While this is cooking, you have time to cut up fruit and throw in a bag of Steamfresh veggies to finish off the dinner. I usually put some crescent rolls in the oven because by the time the oven heats up and the bread bakes the rice is ready and the hot fresh bread is ready. You can do salad or whatever you like with this dish.

Here it is all done. If my kids didn't do convulsions at the sight of green stuff, I'd add some fresh parsley, or some mushrooms. It's really versatile and super easy to do. Plus the bonus is one dish, one skillet, that will fit in the dishwasher.

You could use Pork Rice A Roni with Sausage, and chicken broth to mix it up. You could do ground chicken, with Chicken Rice A Roni and chicken stock. It's really up to you to decide how far to take this. This dish is one of all my kiddos favorite things to eat because they all love ground beef, rice, and having them together with nothing else to corrupt is just bonus all the way around.

I do want to let you know how awesome these steam fresh bags are. I just love them because the veggies are perfect every time with out any failures at all. We usually dump the veggies into a bowl and season with 1T of butter and Mrs. Dash or whatever we have on hand, but you could just serve these from the bag on to the plates to save time and another dirty dish.

I love this medley because it has crunchy, sweet white corn, yellow corn, carrots, and asparagus. It is really good. There are a ton of varieties and they really, really do work. You can trust me on this. Do make sure you read which side needs to be up--it matters. Also holding it where it says matters, unless you like steam burns.

How green is your bean..

2009-05-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my Mom's birthday a few days ago and left the door wide open on what she wanted. She loves pork steak and chose that. Pork steak is cut from the shoulder. Growing up our pork steaks were tenderized which made them look like a huge slab of hamburger. This is not what we had. I'm not a huge fan of pork steak, but I am a huge fan of my Mom and if she wants pork steak, she gets pork steak. I would recommend a marinade for the steaks to tenderize and my favorite is a bottle of Italian dressing. That's right, just grab your favorite bottle of Italian dressing and pour it in a zip top baggie and marinate away. Everything you need for a great marinade is in there. If it can make lettuce taste good...think what it can do for meat!

This post really isn't about the pork, or the baked Yukon gold potato (which is my favorite potato-hands down), but the green beans. Let me just say that these are hands down, without a doubt the BEST green beans I have ever eaten. I have eaten my fair share of green beans and for me to say that these are the best is saying something--trust me. There is a recipe, or rather a ratio, for these babies that I have used for years. I've already told you about my favorite cookbook here so I won't bore you with the details again. The ratio for these green beans came from that cookbook and I have only altered it a little because the results are spot on.

Great Green beans

5 (14.5 oz.) cans of Cut Green beans
7 strips of Bacon, cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon of cracked black pepper
1-2 teaspoons of Kosher salt

In a 3 quart heavy bottom pot, add bacon pieces. Cook bacon over medium heat until bacon is crisp and very brown. Add the juice from each can of green beans (CAREFUL: the first blast of steam will burn!). Bring the bacon and juice to a rolling boil, add green beans and pepper, stirring to incorporate the bacon. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1 hour.

If you don't have the time to cook the beans for an hour, at least make sure you bring the juice to a boil before adding the beans and let them cook as long as you can on medium.

You may doubt that this will work, but trust me it will and it's fantastic!

Ugly truth beautiful ending

2009-05-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

I experienced a perfect storm in the kitchen recently when making my Mom's birthday cake. My Mom has always loved hot cake just out of the oven with no frosting. Once the cake has cooled she's pretty much done with it, unless it's a pound cake. My favorite pound cake to make is a Sour Cream Pound cake. What does it for me? Well, two things the first of which is the crust that develops on this cake. Secondly is the tenderness of this cake while at the same time being dense as pound cake should be. I think cake people call this a crumb, but I don't have good connotations with that word, so I'll just leave it at what I said.

It had been a while since I last made this cake and I forgot one of the issues I've had before...my bundt pan is too small for the amount of batter this cake makes. I remember reading an article in a magazine (I think it might have been Southern Living) that you could pour water into your Bundt pans to know exactly what the yield is. Normally I use my Bundt pans for cake recipes in which I start with a boxed cake, and the ones (I have six Bundt pans) I have are perfect for these recipes. As I poured the batter into my cake pan I can remember thinking, "this sure is a lot of batter for this pan." But I passed it off thinking that there wasn't that much leavening in the batter and that it wouldn't rise that much. I did have the wherewithal to put the pan on a cookie sheet. I'll pause from the story to just say two words about that one particular move, "Thank God!" Having the cake oozing out of it's vessel was unsettling enough, the real horror occurred when it came time to release it from the pan.

I hate to have cakes stick! Hate it! I can well remember my one and only brush with silicone bake ware and the completely disastrous results, never again silicon, never again. I usually have great luck with cakes not sticking because I make sure they are adequately greased and floured. I have an old tube pan which was my Mother's and turned our perfect angle food cakes all the while I grew up, but I've been afraid to use it because I just can't stand for cakes to stick. As I just said, I normally hand grease and flour all my cake pans but didn't bother with that process [what was I thinking]because I thought spraying it with non-stick spray and having it in a non-stick pan would be sufficient. What I didn't consider until it was too late is the amount of sugar compared to the amount of flour this cake has and that I would have needed to grease and flour this pan especially for this cake. The cake stuck. It clung to the pan like a preschoolers first day of school.

As you can see from the picture above there was nearly 3/4 of the cake that stuck. Did I mention that I also had the oozy cake on the sheet pan which amounted to about a cupcake size portion? NO, well there was cake everywhere. I knew I was doomed from the get go when it started to spill over. Then came the real test and I didn't hear the classic release that comes form adequately greased and floured pans. So troubling, especially since it was for my Mom's birthday.

I did persevere and I have to say that this cake is delicious! If you love pound cake make this one. You will not be sorry. I would suggest you buy th is pan or separate the batter into two Bundt pans.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter, room temp
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation

1. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy, about five minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears.

2. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. I don't usually do this, I just add the soda and salt as the butter and sugar are mixing, and then pour in the flour with the same results. Add flour to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in extracts. Pour into a greased and floured 12-cup tube pan.

3. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

Note: You can add any citrus zest to this cake with it's accompanying extract to change the flavor of this cake. I've always wanted to try to make a chocolate pound cake with this recipe and see what happens. If it does happen, you'll be the first to know.

The crust of this cake is just wonderful, crunchy and sweet, making me wish there was a cake of just that. The beautiful part of this cake is that it really stands up to strawberries and ice cream. We opted not to have the ice cream, but the strawberries were perfect with this.

As you can see from this picture the ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan! You can cover up a multitude of sins with fresh strawberries and ice cream! Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you.

Broccoli Salad

2009-04-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

I can almost recount the first time I tasted a broccoli salad, knowing the first bite that this would be in my life until I died. It's the same way I felt when I tasted cornbread salad for the first time. There are just times when you take a first bite and know that this dish must stay with you forever. I'm not a fan of lettuce salads but find I like more side salad dishes, broccoli salad being among my top favorites.

This salad has my spin on the original recipe, among the most notable is the use of broccoli slaw instead of fresh broccoli crowns. If you haven't had broccoli slaw, give it a try because it's so good. When we make lettuce salads for dinner parties we like to add broccoli slaw because it's so good for flavor enhancement. This salad does need to spend the night in your refrigerator to maximize the flavor, but doesn't have to if you are in a pinch. Save a bowl of it though and eat it the next day just to see how much better it

is.

Broccoli Salad

2 (3 ounce) packages Beef-flavored ramen nood

les

2 (12 ounce) packages Broccoli Slaw mix

1 cup toasted Almond slivers

1 cup toasted sunflower kernels

1 cup Craisins

1 cup sliced green onions (about 1/2 bunch)

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup Canola Oil

1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp black pepper

Squeeze the packages of noodles until crumbled. Open package and remove flavor packets, set noodles aside. In a small bowl add flavor packets, sugar, oil, and vinegar with salt and pepper. Whisk until thick and combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl add slaw mix, seeds, nuts, onion, and craisins tossing until combined. Pour over dressing and mix to combine. In your serving bowl, add the noodles, evenly. Carefully pour the slaw mix over the noodles, cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge until next day. Before serving, toss to combine the noodles. Add some fresh chopped green onions and serve. I think this would be really good with bacon added to it. What doesn't bacon taste good with?

Cobbler

2009-04-22T10:54:00.001-07:00

I love desserts! Whew! I said it, now I feel much better. I have inherited a sweet tooth from both sides of my family. I can't tell you how many times I saw my Granny eat a spoonful of sugar, "just for something sweet" as she worked in the kitchen. I haven't resorted to just ingesting sugar, but I think the day will come.

Cakey type desserts are among my favorite things to eat. I especially love cobblers. Growing up I remember loving warm cobbler with ice cream. I was perfectly happy fishing around for the crust, juice, and ice cream--everyone else could have the fruit. My Mom used to make cobblers for my Dad's lunches and my sister and I used to dig out the bottom crust because it was just too good to pass up. Blackberry cobbler is probably my favorite one hands down.

This recipe is for a different type of cobbler than that which I grew up eating. It doesn't have a rolled crust, but rather a batter into which you put fresh or frozen berries. I love this cobbler and the sweet spongy, cake that enrobes the berries. This recipe will deal with blackberries, but you could just as easily put blueberries, raspberries, peaches, you name it into this cobbler with great results.

Don't forget the ice cream!

1 cup Milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 generous cups blackberries (or your favorite fruit)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray, set aside. In a large bowl, add melted butter, sugar, flour, and next three ingredients stirring well. Pour in milk and whisk until smooth. Pour batter into greased dish, distribute fruit evenly among the batter. Bake for one hour, ten minutes before the cobbler is done, lightly sprinkle the top with sugar.

Panini

2009-04-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Do you like panini sandwiches? I do. However, I do not own a panini maker. I have this philosophy that I don't own things that can't be used for more than one purpose, it has to serve at least a dual purpose. We received a Belgian waffle maker for our wedding, 12+ years ago, and have used it sporadically over the years, but only for...waffles. Yesterday I was craving a panini and since I had planned to stay planted at the house and not leave, I knew I was stuck to finding something else. Finding something else when you taste buds are screaming for one thing is no fun. That's when the thought hit me~~I have a waffle iron hmmm... Fundamentally the machines are the same, with just a few adjustments. Not enough to make owning a panini maker I assure you.

I broke the waffle iron out, then set up the station. Light bread, buttered on one side, ham, cheese, hot waffle iron. How bad can that be? It wasn't. I enjoyed a ham and cheese panini-at home!! The design was a little different, my brain was seeing a "waffle" but ate a panini. Kendra had taken Titus to karate and to get his hair cut while this whole experiment was going on. She came home right as the panini was finished.
"Try this?"
"You made a grilled cheese with our waffle iron?"
"It's a panini? try it."
"That's delicious, I want one."
That's high praise, let me tell you. Titus enjoyed one too. We have a new use for our seemingly single use machine.

Just a few tricks. First, don't press the waffle iron down and shut the clasp. There is quite a bit of steam that escapes and the cheese will squeeze out of the sandwich, it's much better on the inside. Second, spray the iron with non-stick. Even though I did butter the bread I had one stick, just a bit. Third, sandwich the cheese between the ham slices, two slices of cheese was just a little too much.

I'm planning to play around with this new direction for my waffle iron. Oh yeah, I have a Belgian waffle iron, perfect for two slices of wonder bread.

If you try it, let me know what you think.

Bubble on the double

2009-04-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying outside weather more and more, and Emma is super excited about bubbles. We've gone through three bottles of bottle solution and it's not even May! I needed to get a quick fix for the various bubble machines that do our sweet girl's bidding, and keep me from having that pass out feeling from manually blowing bubbles. Bubble solution, in case you haven't been shopping for such an item in a while, is expensive! Watching a two-year old dump a five dollar bottle of bubbles on the driveway is just too much.

This solution is great and works. You can make as much or as little as you want as long as you get the ratio right, I thinkI got the ratio right. These math things kind of sleigh me sometimes.

2 parts dish soap (Dawn)

4 parts water (Distilled is best, I didn't have distilled so I used filtered)

1 part Corn Syrup

Add contents to a bowl large enough to hold, stir to combine. You can also use glycerin if you want to, but who has glycerin in their pantry? Fill bubble bottles and have fun!!

Spring Salad

2009-04-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

I am SO ready for Spring to get here. Our Ladies Class hosted the Preschool teachers today for a luncheon and I was asked to help with the food preparation. I really love researching recipes and tweaking them to my taste and ideas, and I love putting together menus. This luncheon allowed me to do the best of both worlds. I wanted to do something that just said Spring! I'm so ready for Spring.

I found a recipe for Orzo Salad in a Woman's Day magazine. [ CONFESSION: I read more women s magazines that I do men's, in fact that is all I read magazine-wise. Whew, I feel better now.] After seeing the picture, above, I was convinced that this was what Spring looked like on a plate. I tweaked and added, here and there and came up with a terrific salad that was very well received at the luncheon. This is for sure a keeper!

This salad is best enjoyed the next day, it give the dressing time to get all acquainted with the pasta and veggies. The photo above came from the Women's Day website. I changed the pasta from Orzo to Barilla Miniature Farfalle (bowtie). The main reason is I couldn't find Orzo. I think it turned out better visually, to me anyway. Another tweak is the addition of garlic and basil to the dressing. After reading the recipe I thought that it just sounded kind of flat and bland, I wanted to add some more flavor. Lemon and basil are great companions, garlic is good on a flip flop, so I added those two components to the dressing and it worked great. The only other tweak is the addition of tomato to the salad. I think I may try Parmesan cheese next time.

See the notes below for great hints that will help you be a superstar!

Spring Salad:

1 Tbsp lemon zest
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup each olive oil and water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
½ cup thinly sliced red onion
1 lb farfalle pasta, mini size
8 oz asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1-in. pieces
2 cups bagged shredded carrots
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup cherry tomato, chopped

1. Whisk lemon zest, juice, water, garlic, basil, oil, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl until blended. Add onions and let stand while pasta cooks.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, return to a boil and cook as package directs; stir in asparagus and carrots 3 minutes before pasta will be done.

3. Cook until pasta and vegetables are just firm-tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water; drain again.

4. Put in bowl with dressing. Add parsley and tomatoes and toss to mix and coat.

Note:

This dressing is very thin and absorbs into the pasta and veggies to make for a dry salad. Even though it's not, "dry" by any means because the veggies and pasta has absorbed all the flavor and liquid.

I used one pot of water, got the water to a boil and blanched my asparagus for three minutes, removed with a strainer and plunged in an ice bath. Set those aside, then did the same for the carrots. After the veggies were blanched I cooked the pasta in the seasoned water, then drained that off.

You can find already shredded carrots in the produce section by the carrots usually just above the baby carrots, etc. Some places call them match sticks, either way they are good.

Come Spring!! Come soon.

Madeline my madeleine

2009-03-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

I've been intrigued...OK obsessed with with Madeleine cookies for a long time. I have seen them, they are shell shaped cookies that look like yellow cake, and wondered if they were tasty or not. They are right by the register at Starbucks, but they don't really set the standard for pastries if you know what I mean. Then I heard or read about someone making cornbread Madeleine's and that was it...I had to get me one of those Madeleine pans. Thus enters the problem in that I don't buy things for myself. I'll go pick something up and walk around with it but put them down and skulk out of the store.

In order to experience these cookies I needed the pan. Since I had at least two uses (original cookie and cornbread version) for an item, I could justify getting one. So, off I went to Williams-Sonoma and $54 later i had a Madeleine pan ($14)...all in one zyliss zester grater microplane and some Key lime lemon curd (for another recipe it was on clearance). I'm super excited about the zester grater thing--too cool. I was pretty excited about the pan, too. Mine is silver, bright shiny silver.

As I typed this post and scoured the Internet for pictures (thanks Williams-Sonoma for supplying the photos. Please visit their site and purchase something.) I realized I had been spelling Madeleine wrong...imagine that! It is spelled m-a-d-a-l-E-i-n-e which would explain the bizarre recipes and even worse pictures. I'll have much better luck researching the recipe with people who know how to spell the thing!

The recipe I found (with the wrong spelled name) was good. It's the one I'll post today. I highly recommend you getting yourself a Madeleine pan...these suckers took all of 20 minutes from start to finish to make that's it! I'm so excited about trying cornbread in them. More on that later.

Here's the recipe for Madeleine cookies. if you don't have a pan...you can cook these babies in a muffin tin (mini or not) and they turn out the same you just can't call them Madeleine's...you'd have to call them by her evil little sister's name...Agatha.

Madeleine Cookies:

5 T. butter (melted and cooled)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 t. grated lemon zest (or lime, or, orange, or you get it)

Powdered sugar for dusting.

Preheat oven to 375 (if your pan is dark go with 350). Spray pan with non0stick spray (I use the flour/nonstick spray).

In a medium bowl: sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl: add egg, vanilla, zest, and sugar and mix until blended. Add flour to egg mixture and mix until blended. Slowly add your melted butter and stir to combine.

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into each mold. Bake until puffed and golden around the edges (about 12 minutes) 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and dust with powdered sugar. Now go to a closet and eat the whole batch. I used my small ice cream scoop because it's exactly a tablespoon (yes...I measured) and it worked great. I had maybe two tablespoons of batter remaining, but didn't mess with it. You'll want to fill the molds to 2/3 full.

I've seen pictures with these babies dipped in chocolate. This made one batch of 12 large cookies.

Try these. If you have ever eaten a tea cake and said to yourself, "i wish it were crispier...and shaped like a shell" then you'd be in luck. Seriously, though they are good and do remind me of tea cakes (the good kind, not the ones that will absorb all of the saliva in your mouth and shut your salivary glands down).

Triple Chocolate Toffee Chip cookies

2009-03-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

I love cookies. It's much easier to say, "no nuts...no raisins" everything else is pretty much a yes. I bake a batch of cookies nearly every week to fill the cookie jar and we sometimes get stuck on a particular type of cookie. I would say that our standard cookie of choice is the white chocolate chip craisin cookie hands down. We love those cookies. About two-three weeks ago my friend Jamie came to work raving about a cookie she had and just happened to make. They were delicious. I had to have this cookie recipe. After talking about the results of this cookie I made some minor changes and am happy to say that this recipe will probably be on your top ten list after the first bite.

For me the trick is in the toffee chips. These little bugger hide in the amber colored cookie and sneak up on your taste buds like a room full of party goers. A terrific crunch, sweetness and all around wonderful addition to a cookie.

Triple Chocolate Toffee Chip Cookies:

1 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 pkg. Semi-sweet Ghiradelli Chocolate morsels
1 pkg. Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Morsels
1/4 cup 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1 pkg Heath Toffee pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter, shortening and sugar beating at medium speed until creamy five minutes. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating well.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate morsels and almond brickle chips. Drop cookies by 1/4 cupfuls about 3-inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets.

Remove to wire racks to cool.

I used a large spring loaded scoop ant it worked great. For my oven I needed to make these about 11 minutes.

Kendra and I put a slice of bread in the bottom of our cookie jar and marvel and how fresh it keeps our cookies (when they last that long). Th e bread gets hard but the cookies won't. Give this cookie a try, they are worth it!

The picture below is of Emma who I chased down and caught red-handed with two just cooled cookies. She ate them both, alternating bites from each cookie to fully corrupt them. She's our little cookie monster...so precious!

Hash it out...

2009-03-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

I have a recipe for Mexican hash, which I've had for quite some time. I can't quite remember where I got the recipe and don't really make it very often, but I do get cravings for it. I've taken the original recipe and made it my own by little tweaks here and there. It's a super simple, quick and easy recipe that the whole family loves. Enough said let's get started.

Here's what you will need:
One onion (about baseball size, you'll want to yield about 1 cup or so)
One pound of ground beef
Seasoned Salt ( I use Lawry's)
1 tablespoon Cumin (again I just use a cupful I use mostly McCormick spices)
Pepper ( I like to use fresh cracked pepper, but I'm not a snob about it)
1 tablespoon of Oregano (I just fill the lid and sprinkle it in, calling it good)

One can of Ro-Tel (this is a tomato and green chili blend, any brand will do)
One can of Pinto Beans (I use Ranch style, which is everywhere in my neck of the woods)
One can of Enchilada Sauce (I always grab Old El Paso and haven't really ever tried anything else)
Doritos or Frito's
Condiments (this where you can do what ever you like some thoughts are below)

Onion 101:
I would venture to guess that I've watched close to 5,000 hours of cooking shows in my life, if not more. Public television was my friend for years: Frugal Gourmet, Jacques Pepin, Justin Wilson, Lydia's Kitchen, Martin Yan, Julia Child, Galloping Gourmet, all taught me great things and kept me great company. Then came the Food Network and...well it's the FOOD NETWORK!
Jeff Smith (Frugal Gourmet) taught me how to cut with a French knife and I'm eternally grateful to him, thanks Jeff. I picked up a trick to cutting onions that really works well if you are looking to get a diced onion, for frying and stuff like that, and don't want to dirty a food chopper. It's really easy. Here's all you do:

Cut the tips off both ends of the onion, then peel off the outer skin, you want a flat surface so the onion won't get all antsy and roll on you.
Using your sharpest knife make 5-6 cuts into the onion going 3/4 of the way down each time, you don't want to cut through the onion.
Next, turn the onion one half turn, so the cuts you have just make are now horizontal and not vertical. Do the same thing, 5-6 cuts 3/4 of the way down.
Turn the onion on it's side and slice straight down Usually about 5-6 slices is all you need, enjoy the waterfall of perfectly diced onion pieces.
When you get to the end of remaining 1/4 of the onion, just turn it to it's flattest side and chop finely.
This is step saves the most cutting and gives you great uniform results.

Ok, back to the hash.
In a large skillet:

Place 1T. of olive oil or butter in your skillet and heat to medium. You want the oil to evenly coat the skillet, or the butter to melt. As the oil heats it will get more..."flowy."
Add your onion and cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until they are beginning to release their juices and turn clear.
Add your ground beef. I buy the leanest meat I can and wish I had butchered a cow. We had some butchered beef (given to us as a Christmas gift) and I am forever ruined to any other meat. This is the point where you season the pan. If you wait until the meat is cooked the meat gets all reclusive and won't let anyone in to visit and spice up it's life. Fry your ground beef until it is no longer pink. Note: I use a potato masher to get the meat all nice and ground up, no huge chunks, just smooth Finley mashed meat.
Add your cans of beans, ro-tel, and sauce, stir well. Now let this sit and cook for 30 minutes, stirring twice. I set my timer for 15 minutes, stir, set it again and let it go. This will give you time to get the rest of your duke together. And, the meat has time to let go of it's water and concentrate on being thick and delicious. This is what it will look like at the beginning of the 30 minute stewing.

While the hash is stewing and getting all happy get your duke together.
I like to use crushed Doritos (this recipe usually starts calling my name when we have a 1/2 bag of Doritos left and they are all already crushed to bits anyway!), you can use Frito's too. Lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, onion, olives, jalapeno, there is no limit to what you can do to this dress this up--it's your palate be creative.
The hash will be thick and delicious when it's stewed for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Build your hash: chips, meat, cheese, lettuce then whatever else you want.

This is really, really good. It might remind you of taco salad, but it tastes different to me.

I just had a though! Right now. You could take this hash and call it Mexican sloppy Jose (get it!). What a great left over use. Toasted buns, hash, lettuce and cheese...oh man I have to make this again and make sure I have enough for my new creation: Sloppy Jose's! I'm so excited.
Come back and let me know if you like this...don't let me know if you hate it as I'm super vulnerable and live close if not over the edge most of the waking hours of my life.

Loafing Around

2009-03-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

If you were to ask 100 people to make a meatloaf and bring for a tasting you would most likely have 100 different variations. Meatloaf is one of those things that you like, "your way" or no way. I personally do not like to corrupt my meatloaf with chunks of anything, especially green bell pepper. I don't mind onions, or red bell pepper in meatloaf, they just need to be very finely chopped. I like meatloaf the way my Mom made it, and followed that recipe until about ten years ago when I ran across a recipe that became my new favorite. Of course I have to change it and add my spin on it, but I have to tell you it is wonderful.

I think there is a federal law that you have to have mashed potatoes with meatloaf, and green beans. People ask me ALL the time how to make mashed potatoes and I don't really know how to respond, kind of like trying to describe how to boil water to me. I did add a recipe for mashing potatoes in my cookbook, and will share that with you then move on to the meatloaf recipe I hope you will love.

For excellent mashed potatoes you will need one potato per person, then one for the pot. Peel and dice the potatoes, in uniform chunks. Add to a large pot and cover with at least an inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. When the potatoes come to a boil, add 2 tablespoons of salt to the water. Cook 5-7 minutes until a fork will easily slide into the potato. Drain the water. Add the potatoes back to the pot and add about 1 tablespoon of butter per potato used (if they are small potatoes like say kiwi size, use one tablespoon per two). Using an electric mixer, begin mixing on low to incorporate the butter and potatoes. When the butter and potatoes are smooth add enough half and half (ok, you can use milk) to reach the creaminess you like. I usually add about a cup of milk to the big batch (8-10 potatoes) we eat. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust to your personal preference. Oh, I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes over any other.
My Meatloaf

1 lb. Ground Meat ( I usually use a mixture of breakfast sausage and ground beef)
1 1/2 cups crushed Fritos corn chips
4 stems of green onion, finely chopped
12 oz. Bottle Heinz Chili sauce
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8 compartment mini-loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add all of the ingredients to the bowl and mix until completely combined. Evenly fill loaf compartments and top with chili glaze. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until firm and juices run clear.

Chili glaze:

1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1/2 cup brown sugar

Add ingredients to a small bowl and mix completely, spread evenly on each mini-loaf.

Notes:

I like to use a stand mixer because it really breaks the meat down and gets the mixture very smooth. I really like the texture of the finished loaf.
I usually add about 1-2 tablespoons of water to the chili sauce bottle and shake to get all of the sauce out.
These bake really quick so check them around 25 minutes.
There is nothing I like more than the end piece of meatloaf. If this is your favorite too, then you are in luck because the mini-loaf pan give each loaf a great crust.
I usually double the glaze and use some for dipping when the loaves are cooked. DO NOT DOUBLE DIP THE SPOON YOU USE. Dollop a heaping spoon of glaze on each loaf, don't touch the meat with the spoon. When you've dolloped all the loaves, then smooth it out.

Banana Orange Poppyseed bread

2009-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge fan of quick breads. I was just about to type out my definition of what a quick bread is when I realized that you could just read this and call it a day. If you were playing match game and Gene Rayburn said, "Mary Cornwal Gettner was in her kitchen when she tripped over her can and landed in a 'blank' muffin" all of the contestants would certainly say Blueberry. The same is true for quick breads, if I were to say, "blank bread" you would probably say banana, wouldn't you? I think you would.

I searched for years for the perfect banana bread recipe, at least the banana bread perfect for me. I finally found a recipe that I could tweak to make it just perfect for my taste. That recipe is the foundation upon which I built this recipe. I'm not really sure how I came to create this other than just admitting that it was a whim and I had oranges. I have to say that it came out better than I expected and is quite good.

Mini-loaves of quick bread are the standard in our kitchen, we just don't use the big loaf pan for some reason. I think it has to do with the sheer portability of a mini loaf of bread and the fact it is beyond cute and precious. Having a mini loaf pan in your pantry is certainly not a splurge as you can use it for meatloaf and quick bread, or quick sorting knick knacky things. I can justify any purchase if I think of three different things/uses!

Banana Orange Poppy seed Bread

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temp

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups banana (about 4 medium)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Zest of one orange (a little more than a tablespoon)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda (I don't level off)

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf compartments with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Fill each loaf compartment 3/4 full. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool five minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. When completely cool, dip in glaze and return to rack. Once glaze is dry, wrap individually.

Orange Glaze:

Juice of one orange

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of orange zest

Add orange juice to a small bowl. Slowly add powdered sugar until thick and smooth.

Notes:

I don't mash the bananas, I let my mixer to the work. I just add them whole, and I have never had any trouble with the breads not turning out.
When I dip the breads, I just hold them upside down and dip straight down into the glaze. I will hold the bread over the bowl until it stops dripping then turn upright.
I put parchment paper under the cooling rack so it will catch the remaining glaze the drips down.
I have a large Pampered Chef spring-loaded scoop that I use to fill the compartments of the loaf pan. It takes two scoops to fill one compartment, I can get exactly 8 mini loaves out of this batch.

I can wrap!

2009-02-24T07:19:00.001-08:00

If I ever get a Food Network TV show it's going to be totally dedicated to comfort food. I don't really like to make anything else, even the new things that I make or create are things that have their roots in the foods that bring me comfort. I think the chance of me getting a Food Network TV show are about as good as me winning the power ball lottery, seeing as how I have NEVER bought at ticket. It's fun to dream and of course criticize the celebrities that I watch on my favorite network.

When I go to parties and see pinwheels I usually jump right on them. I love the creamy, savory textures mixed with the little bit of salsa that I like to dip it in. They are certainly one of my favorite party foods. I updated my normal recipe for pinwheels this week and came up with this recipe for our staff snack lunch honoring a new employee just hired. I am not saying that my old pinwheels will be shelved, but I will certainly be adding this one to the list and now offer two!

Garden Wheels

8 oz. Sour Cream
8 oz. Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese
8 oz. Mexican Blend Cheese
4 oz. Chopped Black Olives
4 oz. Chopped Green Chilies
2 tsp. Fresh Cracked Pepper
1 Tbsp. Mrs. Dash
6 Mission Sun-dried Tomato Basil tortilla Wraps

In a large bowl add Sour Cream and cream cheese with pepper and Mrs. Dash, stirring well to combine. Add black olives, green chilies, and cheese, stirring well to combine. Place approximately one cup of mixture on one tortilla and spread evenly. Repeat until all tortillas are used, roll tortilla tightly and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator at least an hour or over night. To serve, unwrap each tortilla and cut into 1/2 inch coins using a serrated knife. Arrange on platter and serve with salsa.

Very Possible Impossible Pie

2009-02-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Growing up I mostly spent my time in front of the TV. I did play out side some, but not having neighbors or siblings who liked me at the time meant I was outside alone. There's only so much you can do alone, especially when you have a lazy streak. My lazy streak ran from head to toe! Around 11/12 I began watching cooking shows on PBS and really fell in love with them. Justin Wilson, Martin Yan, Jacques Pepin, Camile, Jeff Smith--The Frugal Gourmet were to name a few of my friends that really truly loved to watch. Jeff Smith taught me how to "rock chop" with a french knife and fold my fingers up so I wouldn't chop them off. I practiced and practiced. These cooks made me want to get in the kitchen and cook. Martin Yan really drove me crazy, because I LOVE Chinese food and he always made it look so good. His show was on during lunch which meant that I had to endure the visual images and then go eat a bowl of cereal or something. Not fair. If my sister were home we had to watch soaps all the dad gum day.

Some of the very first things I made as a kid were macaroni and cheese (not from a box), Egg McMuffins, and Impossible Pies. I found the recipe for Impossible Pie on the side box of a Bisquick box and decided since I had all of the ingredients I'd give it a go. I've been making them ever since. There's nothing impossible about it! It's so easy and really good, plus the variations are only limited by your imagination. I'll give you the recipe for my version of Impossible Pie and then give you some suggestions on how to make these babies all on your own.

I made this pie for Levi and Emma while Kendra and Titus were at karate last Saturday and they both loved them. Titus had the leftovers and even asked for more! So there you have it, out of the mouths of babes. My kids lean to the picky side and for them to like it was a big deal to me, since they resist the home cooked for frozen packaged nuggets and sticks!

Having this recipe, if you are a new bride, or just learning to cook is also very helpful. It's also helpful to have a blender for this because it makes mixing up the custard mix all the more easy. All you do is add all of the custard ingredients into the blender and viola! No lumps and it's ready to go. Speaking of ready to go:

Possible Pie

For Custard:
3/4 cup Bisquick baking mix
1 1/2 cups Milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. Salt

Add all of the ingredients into a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Filling:

1 lb. Ground beef (90% fat free ) or better
1 cup onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
2 cups Shredded Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9' glass pie plate with non-stick cooking spray, set aside. In a medium skillet, over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion and cook over medium high heat 3-5 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking up with potato masher, and cook until ground beef is no longer pink. Stir well, add garlic and seasonings. Taste and adjust taste to suit.

Add meat filling to pie plate, spread over plate evenly. Add one cup shredded cheese and spread evenly over meat filling. Pour custard evenly and slowly over meat and cheese filling. Cover with remaining cheese and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes or until set.

Cut into slices and decorate with more cheese, tomato slices or just a simple salad. It's really a quick delicious main dish meal for your family. Now for variations.

Italian: Small can of drained Mushrooms, 1 Red Bell Pepper diced, 1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning, Italian Blend Cheese, fresh Parmesan cheese, Parsley.

Mexican: Small can of diced green chilies or 1 cup Salsa; Mexican blend cheese; Cilantro, 2 tsp. Oregano.

I could go on, but you get the picture. If it fits into a pie plate and can be covered by the custard--bingo! There are endless recipes online for these pie variations, give one a try and let me know what you think.

SUPER NOTE: I also think these could be portioned out in muffin tins (1/2 cup filling each w/ 1/4 cup custard) and baked then frozen for individual portions. Haven't tried that, but I'm sure it would work. If you do let me know.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

2009-02-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Before you make your mind up that, "I don't like butternut squash!" read through this recipe and give this soup a try. One of the secretaries who works in our office at church said, "I grew up eating butternut squash and don't like it. My Mom made me eat it." After one bite of this soup, "MMM...this doesn't taste like squash...I like it." It really is a delicious soup and so easy to make. There are more steps than opening a can but the flavor bonus is way, way, worth the effort.

Let's talk about butternut squash before we get too far into the whole soup creation story. I have never worked with this squash before yesterday. I knew what it looked like, but I just never ate it, cooked it, or really touched it to be honest. My sweet wife wanted this soup and I told her I would make it for her, otherwise I would have made something else because I didn't think I liked butternut squash. Who knows I may not like it any other way, but in this soup. Butternut squash is classified as a winter squash and very closely related to the pumpkin. I read a really fascinating article on squash (YES I just said that...YES I'm weird) here. I think I was the most surprised by the smell of the squash. It smelled almost like cantaloupe, very sweet and fruity. I was not expecting that smell at all and was very surprised. I was also surprised at how easily it cleaned up. Scooping out the seeds and fibers and junk was not hard, much like tending to a cantaloupe. Once peeled it was easy to cut and deal with. All in all not as hard as I thought.

After reading about 7 or so recipes for butternut squash soup I came to the conclusion that it should be roasted first, then incorporated into the soup. I wanted to develop more of the sweetness and felt that roasting would do just that, it did. I also decided to puree, opting to not go with a chunky version...just didn't seem right. The other decision I made was to saute the other veggies in a skillet...then transfer them to the stock pot for the actual soup creation. Again, I wanted to develop flavor and felt that caramelizing the onion would add some smokiness to the soup and deepen the flavor. I love thinking about depth and layers of flavor, sounds so fancy.

Speaking of fancy I was watching my new favorite Food Network show and got pretty excited when she cut a pound of bacon into cubes and called them lardons! I had never heard of that work in my life and thought how much more cool that sounded than bacon bit! I always cut up the bacon I'm planning to fry for cornbread salad or lettuce salads, instead of breaking up the pieces after the slices are cooked. Pretty exciting to learn a fancy word for something--leave it to the French!

Some of the surprising elements of this soup that really helped make it stand out were the addition of apple, honey, and lime. They did not make it too sweet but leveled out the flavors and gave it a smoother and cleaner feel in the mouth. Very creamy, smooth, somewhat sweet, but savory and warm. It was comfort food in a bowl, friends. And delicious.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Step One: Butternut Prep.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment or quick release foil. The squash I chose was close to 6 pounds, when you make this recipe you will either need to find a smaller squash, or freeze the other half of the roasted squash until the craving to eat it again comes up--which it will. come up. I used a simple vegetable peeler to peel the squash easily. I did cut the tip and end off the squash and then peel, it gave me an edge and allowed the peeling blade to catch better I thought. As you can see it wasn't hard. The squash, raw, is very pale but intensifies in color as it cooks. It will darken several shades upon cooking. Kind of like a sweet potato.

If you look at the squash, you will notice that there is a "ball" end and a narrow, "neck" end. The seeds live in the ball end. After peeling the squash, I cut the neck off, it's all flesh and can be cut into cubes. The ball end, I cut in half and used a large soup spoon to scoop out all the seeds and fibers, just like dealing with a cantaloupe, and that easy. Then you can brake that down and cut into cubes. As you cube up the squash, place in a medium to large bowl. Add enough olive oil to lightly coat, no more than a tablespoon, salt and pepper (teaspoon of each) and toss to evenly coat. Pour that onto your sheet pan and make sure they are all evenly spread out. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until a fork is easily inserted into the squash. You can freeze half for up to a month in a tightly sealed container.

The soup:

6 slices of bacon
1 large onion, diced (1 cup)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (1 cup)
2 ribs of celery, diced (1 cup)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
3 cloves Garlic, crushed
3 lb.s Roasted butternut squash
4 cups Chicken stock (32 ounces)
Juice of two limes
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 cup whipping cream
Salt and Pepper, to taste

In a heavy bottom pot (dutch oven) add bacon to cold pan, and turn heat to medium high. This will render more fat from the bacon and give you a crispier...ready...lardon. Cook bacon over medium heat until brown and crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Remove all but one tablespoon of bacon fat. Add celery, onion, and carrot, cook for 5 minutes or until the onion is clear. Add garlic and apple. Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add squash and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until veggies are tender (especially the carrot).

Process mixture in batches, in either a blender or food processor until smooth. Return to dutch oven. Add lime juice, and cream taste and adjust for seasoning. Simmer until thick, no more than 10 minutes. Garnish with the lardons.

Notes: If you happen to luck upon frozen, cubed butternut squash, you will be lucky. I couldn't find the product in five stores! As I have thought about this soup I wonder...could you use canned pumpkin. Of course the plain pureed pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie version. They are so closely related being both winter squash. I may try that and see what happens, it would certainly be a very quick time saver.

Buttermilk Pie

2009-01-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

Being from the South, having never lived anywhere but there, I have always seen buttermilk and chess pies but never ate one due to the name. It all had to do with the buttermilk, if it had been given another name I would have dove in, but that name was just too much for a little boy. I think it had to do with the fact that I hated straight buttermilk. I can't tell you how many times I watched my Granny put saltine crackers in a glass, slightly broken, then pour buttermilk in the glass and eat it! It was just revolting and I'm cringing even now as I type. I just couldn't embrace the buttermilk.

In adulthood, I've come to love the power that buttermilk holds in it's ability to enhance baking and cooking in general. With few exceptions, buttermilk instead of water or milk really makes a difference. Try buttermilk and cheddar cheese the next time you mash potatoes. I say all of this to say that I'm a fan of buttermilk in cooking but will NOT be planning to guzzle a glass of buttermilk any time soon. My Granny also scrambled pig brains into her eggs, incidentally. I won't be going there!

Buttermilk pie is very southern and totally delicious. It falls into the custard category, but isn't as difficult to make as custard pies are. The thing I love about buttermilk pie is the "crust" that forms on top of the pie. It is an amber colored caramelized sugar cookie like crust that is probably my favorite part of eating the pie. Chess pie, is the exact same thing as buttermilk pie save the use of cornmeal instead of flour.

This recipe for Buttermilk pie couldn't be easier. It takes all of five minutes to get the pie ready to go into the oven, but bakes for 50 minutes. I found that if I put the pie in the oven right as I was getting dinner served, it was ready by the time we were done eating, had the kitchen clean and were actually ready for something sweet to eat. The other wonderful thing about this pie is it doesn't need a crust. The baking mix in the batter makes the crust. It's one of those kitchen miracles I can't explain.

If you don't have buttermilk in your fridge, follow this easy substitution:

In a 1-cup measure, add one tablespoon white vinegar.
Pour in cold milk to the 1-cup line. Stir and let sit for two to five minutes.

That's it...nothing more to it. The milk is acidulated by the vinegar and thickens to the consistency of buttermilk.

Buttermilk Pie

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup biscuit mix (recommended: Bisquick)
1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter, melted
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9" pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, place all of the ingredients. Using a whisk or electric mixer, beat until smooth an free of lump. Pour into the prepared pie plate. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (just like when you test a cake). Cool for a minimum of five minutes, unless you enjoy the top layer of skin peeling off the roof of your mouth.

This is so good, especially with coffee. You could add a tablespoon of lemon, lime, or, orange zest to give it a citrus flavor, but I find this to be perfectly delicious.

White Chocolate Craisin Cookies

2009-01-27T19:36:00.000-08:00

I can imagine about 10 million years ago the caveman who drug his deflated ego back into the cave having just realized that someone else invented the same exact unique discovery--the wheel. I feel his pain. Snicker doodles, Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Chip, just a few of my favorite cookies. With Kendra being on Weight Watchers and not exactly having these cookies on her meal plan I was searching for an alternative cookie. I knew that oatmeal cookies were 'better" for her than the other choices, but the thought of putting a raisin in my mouth just...just...ewww. Not a fan of the raisin. We had dried cranberries in the pantry and some white chocolate chips (I'm still developing a chocolate white chocolate chip cookie) so I just threw those babies in and whiffenpoof! We discovered our favorite cookie. Good thing is one cookie is only 2 points. How cool is that?

These cookies are sweet, buttery, tangy, chewy all the things that make a cookie delicious in my book. The cookie begins with my basic oatmeal cookie recipe, minus the cinnamon because my sweet wife doesn't like cinnamon (I know who doesn't like cinnamon?). I think if you try these cookies you'll fall in love with them like we did. I've seen this recipe on the Internet where others take the credit for its origin and just think to myself, "hey, that's my cookie! I created it!"

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 heaping teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups Instant Oatmeal

2 cups dried cranberries (I just get a "regular" bag and dump it in)

2 cups white chocolate chips (I insist on Ghiradelli white chocolate chips)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment add butter and sugars. Mix on medium high until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add eggs one at a time, waiting until the egg is mixed completely. Pour in vanilla and milk, mix to combine. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Add oatmeal, chips, and cranberries.

Using a spring loaded scoop, drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes until just turning lightly browned. Allow to cool in pan for 1-2 minutes then removed to a cooling rack.

I think I baked my cookies for 13 minutes. We like soft chewy cookies, not hard and crispy. They are so good.

Make sure you have plenty of milk on hand!!!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2009-01-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

I bought this cookbook at the last JBF sale, mostly for the cover art, and read through it while waiting for customers to come check out. I love cookbooks in which the author shares the why, the history behind a particular recipes existence in their book. I connects me to the author and often will endear me to a recipe. Having read hundreds of cookbooks and thousands of recipes I can read a recipe and know if it will be good, by my tastes, or not. The authors, Roxie Kelley and Shelley Reeves Smith have apparently written quite a few books, as I have discovered on Amazon. I'll be keep a sharp eye out for their other cookbooks.

Chocolate Chip Muffins have a tendency to be really, really dry which is not something I like in a muffin. I like moist and tender muffins full of flavor that don't leave your mouth dry and desolate like the Arizona desert. I've had plenty of muffins that have left me parched and very unsatisfied.

This particular muffin recipe required little adjustment for my tastes, only a few tweaks. Probably the hardest step is that of melting the chocolate chips and butter to make the ganache that will mix with the dry ingredients to form the chocolate muffin batter. The recipe called for microwave melting, but I am firmly against that, opting instead for the old-fashioned double boiler method. I have a much higher failure rate with microwave melting than with the double boiler method. A glass or metal bowl and pot of boiling water is all you need to create a double boiler, just make sure the bowl is wide enough to fit on top of the pot in which the water is boiling and that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Another valuable tool is a spring-loaded scoop which makes for the easiest of dispensing the exact portion of batter into a muffin tin.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

12 oz. Chocolate Chips (basically a regular bag)
1/3 cup real butter
3/4 c. Buttermilk
1/2 cup Sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin tins by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Melt 6oz of chocolate chips (half a bag) and 1/3 cup butter over double boiler until melted. In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, and soda, stirring to combine. Make a well in the flour mixture (it will look like a volcano) and set aside. When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove from double boiler. Stir until smooth. Add buttermilk, vanilla, and egg, stirring until smooth and combined. Slowly pour chocolate mixture into the well of the flour. Stir until combined, or no white flour is showing. Add chips and stir to combine. Dispense into muffin tins, using a spring loaded scoop. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375.

Note:

If you have dark pans, like me, decrease the temperature to 375 (the recipe calls for 400).
The original recipe called for the muffins to bake 20-25 minutes, which would have made charcoal briquettes out of my muffins.
I found that my muffins baked in about 10-12 minutes. You know your oven and how quickly or slowly it produces, so judge that.
I also found that I could get 18 muffins out of this batch, the 18th muffin was created when I used my rubber spatula and scraped the bowl clean. If you have empty muffin compartments, fill them half full of water. This will ensure even baking and also provide a nice little mini-sauna for the muffins.
Remove to a rack to cool.
These had a really great, crunchy crust and were moist and delicious.
I used Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips for this. There is a difference, trust me, convert, convert, taste and see that the chip is good--better.

I think you will love these muffins if you are a muffin and chocolate loving kind of person.

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

2009-01-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Pineapple upside down cake is among my top favorite cakes. It's for sure the cake I remember most as a child. It's my Dad's hands down favorite cake. He would prefer to have the cake made with crushed pineapple so you get pineapple in every bite, me I would prefer to have nothing but the crispy, buttery, crunchy, golden corner that eliminate 17 years of stress per bite. This is some powerfully good comfort food.

The craving for pineapple upside down cake hit me this week when I saw a can of pineapple rings in our pantry. It was this instant drive that I would have to have a pineapple upside down cake--NOW. We were home Sunday after morning worship for the day so I took advantage of making this cake and not be hurried. The only problem is, I didn't have my families recipe for the cake and I didn't trust my memory of Mom made it, since I never saw her make it. I just knew the corners were MINE and everyone better back off! I flipped through my southern cookbooks and found very few recipes for pineapple upside down cake. I did find one in the Blue Willow Inn cookbook and decided that I would give it a go. Of course, I changed it up and made it my own.

What I found interesting is the amount of "glaze" recommended for this cake. I do remember my Mom's glaze being very thick and pasty, not liquidy like this one. I doubled the amount of brown sugar and butter for the glaze and kept the liquid amount the same. The other interesting result was the batter not flipping. I expected the heavy batter to settle to the bottom of the pan and the watery glaze to rise to the top and "flip" while baking. It did not do that at all, much to my surprise. This picture to the left shows the two layers right after I poured the cake batter over the pineapple and glaze liquid. Maybe the pineapple had something to do with this. Because there was so much liquid I did learn that next time I make this cake, I'll let it rest for a bit longer than usual so some of that liquid has time to retreat inside the cake and not panic and run to the serving tray.

All in all I think this will be my next favorite recipe for pineapple upside down cake. My sister said that we used the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but I can't imagine Mom making the cake batter from scratch. I think I'll try the glaze from BHG and use my cake batter. I have a standard cake batter kick up anytime I make a box cake. I use milk instead of water, add vanilla, and add an extra egg. It gives the cake a more homemade taste, try it next time and see if you don't agree.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

18 1/4 oz box Yellow Cake, mix according to package directions

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pineapple juice
20 oz can pineapple rings
Maraschino Cherries (I didn't have any on hand)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray glass 9x13 baking dish set aside. Pour juice from pineapple into a 1 cup measure (add water if you don't have enough) and add that to a 2 quart pan. Place pan over medium heat, add brown sugar and butter. Bring to a boil. While the pan is heating up, place the pineapple rings in the pan. Note: watch the pan because the liquid will foam quite a bit and could spill over if you aren't careful. When the brown sugar, butter, and pineapple juice comes to a boil remove from heat. Pour over the pineapple.

Mix the cake batter, according to package directions, and slowly pour over pineapple and glaze mixture. Place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake rest for 5-10 minutes then invert onto a large tray, or serving platter.

Note: If you are using crushed pineapple I would empty the can of pineapple juice and all into the pot, then add the brown sugar and butter and bring all of that to a boil, then pour into the baking pan when it just comes to a boil.

Cassoulet winter's warm regard.

2009-01-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

I really, really love comfort foods. I prefer eating comfort foods over any other food. I usually default to familiar dishes that I have always known and loved which give me comfort, maybe from my childhood or from friends and family whom I love and miss and can have a visit with when I enjoy the dishes we made together.

One comfort food that I want to get in touch with again is cassoulet, which I've only made one time but now want to make again because I got the coolest pot for Christmas from my Mom. It's a cast iron, enamel coated dutch oven. I'm totally excited about that baby! This cassoulet is perfectly suited for such a pot as this. Cassoulet hales from the Southwestern region of France and is likened to what we would think of as stew, only ALOT less liquid.

What I love about this dish is how the flavors develop as it steeps on the stove. With the weather being bone chilling cassoulet is the perfect dish. Serve this with crusty bread and a wonderful salad and you are set. Here's the scoop:

Cassoulet (KASS-OU-LAY)
1 whole Rotisserie Chicken
16 oz. Turkey Kielbasa, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup Carrot, diced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 1/2-2 cups Chicken Stock
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (19 oz.) cans Cannelli beans, drained
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Remove skin and debone chicken. Loosely chop and set aside. In a large stock pot over medium high head, add olive oil, celery, onion, and carrot. Saute over medium heat until onion is clear (5-7 minutes). Add sausage and garlic, cook 3 minutes to heat through. Add remaining ingredients except bread crumbs, cheese. Stir well, taste and add salt and pepper to personal taste, I added about a teaspoon Kosher salt and about a tablespoon of fresh cracked pepper. Combine the bread crumbs and cheese, toss together. Sprinkle over the cassoulet and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. If you don't have a cast-iron enamel pan place in a 9x13 baking dish.

It's hearty and delicious. I am not a stew person but loved, loved this dish. I think the combination of sausage and chicken comes together so well. I also think this would make a terrific Crock Pot dish. I would saute the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic with the Olive oil then add everything to my crock pot and cook it all day on low. I think it would work. You would want to play with the breadcrumb topping by maybe toasting it with some butter in the skillet you used for the veggies. It's really good, trust me.

The photo is courtesy of Southern Living ( I could never take a picture that good). As far as salad is concerned, here are some tips I always follow:

use organic sping mix lettuces
Season lettuce with salt and pepper
Add seven other ingredients
Make your own vinaigrette dressings (I use the Good Seasons mixes and just play with the acids and oils).
I like to include nuts, protein (usually bacon), veggies, cheese (Parmesan or feta), dried and fresh fruit (diced apricot, cranberry are great, fresh apple and pear are also good)
I love croutons, so I put a lot in there to.

I can't imagine anyone not being excited about coming home to this meal. Don't forget the crusty bread,with dipping sauces (balsamic and Olive oil with cracked pepper; sun-dried tomato and olive oil).

What better end to a french dinner than these babies?

It's a snap!

2008-12-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

There's just something about the holiday's that drive me into the kitchen and get my baking blood flowing. It's usually cookies that I crank out, but there is also room in my heart for cakes, pies, casseroles--all things oven I love to turn out. The aroma of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, can liven up the hardest and coldest of hearts and turn them from brown, dreary, bah humbugs to happy, holiday embracing souls.

The only problem I have with gingersnap cookies is the...snap...part of it all. I'm just not a fan of crunchy cookies, which might put me in the minority. I prefer soft, delicate, tender cookies that have some chew to them. I wanted to search out a cookie for gingersnaps that I could make soft and chewy. My search ended in the hills of Missouri at S ilver Dollar City. They have a new culinary school and do cooking demonstrations in a fabulous kitchen. The demonstrations always sell out before I get a chance to purchase my turn ($10 per session), it will happen one day. One of the feature recipes demonstrated is a Ginger Cookie. A little searching on the Internet led me to the recipe.

I knew I wanted to make a soft cookie and I knew I wanted it to be frosted. After a reading about 100-200 cookie recipes this season I decided to frost my soft ginger cookies with royal icing. Kendra and I use royal icing for our gingerbread houses and it makes a great glue when dry. I find it not too sweet, but just the right amount of sweet.

I had all of the ingredients together and was about to take a picture when my helper showed up and was super excited to help. Levi is one of my favorite cooking partners, he's getting very good at his skills even for 3. He loves to cook with his Mom and me. I didn't really have time to get a picture because he was ready NOW to help.

Ginger Cookies

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar (plus some for rolling dough)

1/8 teaspoons cloves

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon ginger

1 large egg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup shortening

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, add shortening and sugar together mixing until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg, vanilla, milk, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, mixing until combined. Add flour, and mix to combine.

Using a spring loaded scoop, dispense dough and roll balls into sugar. Arrange on parchment lined cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake for 10-15 minutes. 10 minutes yields the soft chewy kind. Remove to a cooling rack and frost with royal icing when cool. Should yield 3 dozen.

Royal Icing

2 Tablespoons Meringue Powder

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound of Powdered Sugar (2 cups)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, add water and meringue powder with vanilla. Mix on low. Sift powdered sugar and add to mixer bowl. Increase speed to medium, scraping down sides, and whip until soft peaks form (just barley holds the curl). Remove to bowl and frost.

This will make a lot of icing, so you could easily cut this in half and not have a much. Meringue powder is a nifty little addition to your baking pantry. It will last for quite a while, we've had ours for two years and it's just fine. You can find this powder where cake decorating supplies are sold, and it will be by the decorating section (I know Wal-Mart super centers carry this powder).

These cookies were soft, chewy, had a tremendous flavor and when topped with this smooth, creamy, sweet frosting it was just too much. If you love the taste of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves then give these a try. So good.

Titus Special

2008-12-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

I love casseroles. A lot of my friends think that is weird given that I do not like my food to touch on my plate AND I eat one thing at a time. I always go with the item on my plate that will be the grossest. Always eat my fries first, then my burger when fast food is on the menu. Typical meals I eat my carbs and starchy foods first, veggies, then proteins last. I also don't typically drink when I eat until I'm finished eating. So you can see why most people would wonder why I like casseroles when everything is all together. I usually just say that it's supposed to be together and leave it at that. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, Titus Special.

The occasion for me to cook is few and far between because I don't' get home in time to get dinner ready and on the table. Our schedule just doesn't work out to where I cook dinner. The last time, or two that I did cook dinner I made a "creation" which isn't really that creative. Turns out that Titus loved it and ate two huge helpings of this pasta saying, "what IS this stuff--I LOVE IT!" "It's called Titus Special." Last night Kendra took Titus to karate and I stayed home with Teensy and Levi, and cooked dinner. Titus Special sounded good so I made it. I think you'll love it too, and you can kick it up several notches adding whatever you like. In yours. Here's the cast of characters:

Two pounds of ground beef (or one pound of Italian sausage and ground beef, your choice)
Two 16 oz cans of Spaghetti sauce, or your favorite brand
One can of diced tomatoes (this is probably 10 oz.)
Two cups of elbow macaroni
One Onion, diced
One Tablespoon dried basil
One Tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1 cups Parmesan cheese
Paprika for dusting

Before we get to cooking, let's talk about onions. Cutting onions has not been one of my favorite thing to do, especially when the onion is older because it seems to have more juice which makes my eyes water more. Whether that holds true or not is up for grabs, but newer onions seem to be tighter and have less juice. I like my onions finely diced, as well as my celery. I don't like obnoxious blasts of celery or onion in my food, I like the flavor it contributes but not the huge chunks of it. First thing, cut off the ends and peel the outer shell off. I usually make a thin slice from top to bottom and peel it away. After that I will make several horizontal cuts, making sure that I do not cut all the way through the onion. Next I make a half turn of the onion and do the same thing, horizontal cuts, making sure that I don't cut through the onion. After that I turn the onion on it's side and slice down which results in the onion releasing uniform, perfect diced cubes of onion which I can then chop even finer, or place in my bowl and use for cooking. I don't make as many cuts this way and it seems to go really fast. Try it, you might like it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Now in a large skillet add one tablespoon of Olive Oil and bring up to heat, over medium high. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally about three to five minutes until the onions are tender. I use sweet onions, or yellow onions, and hardly ever buy white or purple--just because that's what I do no other explanation. Season your onions with salt and pepper ( teaspoon of each).

After the onions have cooked to the point that they are tender, add the ground beef and cook until it is done, about five minutes. I use a potato masher to get the meat broken up and find that this method gives quick and perfect results every time. When the meat has cooked about two-three minutes you'll want to season the beef. If you have dried Italian seasoning use that, about two tablespoons. I like the flavor of basil and oregano so that's what I use. Taste the meat once it is cooked and adjust for flavor. Remember that the sauce will reduce which will intensify the flavors, especially salt, so be careful.

Add the diced tomatoes to the skillet, stirring to combine. [Good time to check on the water it's probably boiling by now. If so add two tablespoons of salt to the water and the noodles and cook to the minimum suggested cooking time on the box which is usually 8 minutes.] Next add the spaghetti sauces and stir. Bring to a slow simmer and cook until thick and bubbly. I usually time this so that the sauce is simmering while the noodles are boiling. Drain the noodles and place back in the pot. Add the sauce to the noodles and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

Place in a greased 9x13 casserole pan and cover with cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the cheddar cheese and dust with paprika. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let stand five minutes and serve. We like green beans with our noodle bake, but you can do whatever you like. It is always better the next day (I'm looking forward to to night!). This makes a lot and can be easily divided and with one pan being frozen for later.

Joe knows...Sloppy

2008-11-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

When Kendra and I got married we had several showers, none of which were driven by greed, from friends and family who wanted to host a shower in honor of our upcoming nuptials. We had a shower in my hometown, at the church where I was currently working, and then one in West Texas where Kendra grew up. It was the shower in West Texas the yielded probably the single most precious gift, a cookbook. Though the cookbook pictured here is not the way my cookbook is bound, it most certainly THE cookbook. I've read this cookbook no less that 100 times over the past 12 years. What makes this cookbook so special is in the stories that the author writes about each recipe. If I ever met Thelma I'd know all about her life because this cookbook has served as an autobiography of sorts. I can't really begins to count how many recipes I have cooked out of here, hundreds to say the least. Amazon has this cookbook listed, out of print as of now, I'd highly recommend this cookbook to the beginner cook--well any cook for that matter.

As with any recipe I can't just make it like it is, I have to change it because I think my way would be better. I'll add more of this or that, change up some of this or that and tweak it here and there until I get the right about of what I'm looking for. This is true with Sloppy Joes. My entire life I have eaten sloppy joes that were made by frying ground beef and dumping a can of "mix" into the skillet and calling it a day. Since it was all I knew I loved it...then one day I made the recipe for Sloppy Joes out of this cookbook and have never picked up the can of mix since. If your family loves Sloppy Joes then give this a try, even if they don't try it you might be surprised. This is a perfect recipe for a beginning cook because the success is guaranteed and the confidence of this cook will be increased tenfold.

The cast of characters is missing because I realized I didn't have one of the ingredients, crucial to the recipe, so I had to run up to the store to get it. So, with your apologies I'll press on with quite a few photos. My wife was helping me cook and had agreed to take over the babysitting of the cooking while I went to the store and she said, "why are you taking pictures of this?" "For the blog, it's my next post." "OHHH kay...it's a good thing I love you." By this time in our marriage my sweet wife is just used to me, nuff said.

Sloppy Joes

2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
1 cup Onion, diced
1/2 cup Celery, diced
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cavendar's Greek Seasoning
1 Tablespoon Cracked Pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
1 can condensed Tomato Soup
3/4 cup ketchup
3 Tablespoons Prepared Mustard
1 cup water

I usually dice one onion, the size of a baseball, and call it good. I like to keep the dice small just because the flavor is what I'm shooting for not the texture of a hunk of onion. The same is true with celery. Don't get a measuring cup dirty for the celery, you will need 3-4 ribs of celery. Did you know that each piece of celery you break off is called a rib? That's free--not charge. Get your skilled (at least a 3 quart) hot and add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to it and let it get hot. Add the celery and onion to the skillet and let it cook for about three to five minutes to sweat out the onions. You want the onions to turn from white to clear.

Add your ground beef to the skillet and begin to break that up. I use a potato masher to get my ground beef nicely broken. It's kind of a pet peeve. This step was taken care of by my sweet wife while I was at the store, and she used a masher because she knew I would and that is why I love her xoxo honey!. You'll cook the ground beef for about 3-5 minutes or until most of the beef is no longer pink. Season the mixture with the salt, pepper, and cavendar's. Add your brown sugar (this picture shows the two tablespoons, but add all of the amount listed in the recipe above) and stir to combine. Next Add the ketchup, mustard, tomato soup, and water. Stir carefully so the whole mixture gets incorporated.

One of the most important pieces of advice I can give to a beginning cook is to never cook on high heat. I rarely ever get my stove above medium to medium high. This will help you control the temperature and not lead to those disasters you get in the kitchen with the higher heat.

This will seem very dull and dim, and very runny but don't loose heart because it needs to reduce for about 10 minutes. Let the mixture come to a simmer and stir every two or three minutes, it will begin to develop the thickness that Sloppy Joes are known for. Also, don't taste at this point you'll be disappointed and want to dump the spice cabinet into it. Taste right before serving because the reduction intensifies the flavors and really helps this come into it's own. I've included several photos of the process that this sloppy joe went through to become it's wonderful self.

This is the mixture right after everything has been added.

Here is the mixture at about five minutes. Looks like an active volcano, huh?

This is a blurry close up of the mixture after 10 minutes. Remember I use a camera phone, so don't be hatin my photography. This thickens up remarkably well and the flavor blows the can out of the water.

I serve this on buttered toasted buns with a slice of processed cheese. Kendra made some great sweet potato fries (recipe later) and we loved it. Levi was unsure of this but I know he'll be a lover not a hater once his three-year old pickiness passes. It's fast, inexpensive, easy and really delicious. This will make enough meat for 10-12 buns. I would say I give a good 1/2 cup of the mixture, maybe less.

I use a silicone spatula that is shaped like a spoon. Some call it a spoonula but I think that sounds just ridiculous and refuse to say it or use it. These are great because I can cook the entire dish start to finish and serve with it. This took is really a great addition to your kitchen. I grab this more than any other spatula I have, as a matter of fact I have three of these in varying colors (I think red, white, and blue). The only thing that could make this better would be if this were a solid piece of coated steel. I have a couple of those and love, love, love them. I use this tool for spaghetti sauce, mac-n-cheese, when I make muffins this is great for filling the cups. If you don't have one, the very next time you are around the kitchen gadget wall, look for them and pick one up. Oh and they are heat safe to 450 degrees--how cool is that.

Love the Sloppy Joes, do try the cheese on there.

Kick "box"ing: Chocolate Cake

2008-11-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

I am not opposed to using convenience items in the least. But one convenience item that I do not use is boxed chocolate cake mix. I've not found one moist enough for my taste or chocolate enough for my taste. I didn't like chocolate cake for years because they were always dry and not flavorful, which is why I like Texas Sheet cake because it's moist and tender. This all changed when I came across this recipe for Chocolate cake. It's moist, tender, great chocolate flavor and most importantly super easy to make.

I made this cake for a Trick-or-Treating party we had with my Mom and some good friends of ours on Friday. I made chili, which we used to make Frito Pie, and this chocolate cake. The trick-or-treating was a lot more fun after this good dinner.

Chocolate Cake:

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk this time)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. I use baking spray which has flour built in and get great results every time.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water, batter will be thin. Pour batter into prepared pans. While mixing the cake batter up, I put a glass measuring cup full of water, in the microwave and had the boiling water ready for me, didn't have to turn on the stove.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with Chocolate butter cream frosting, recipe following.

Variations (if you don't want to mess with two cake pans and all that stuff.)

ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Butter cream:

1 cup butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
8 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
4 cups Powdered Sugar (2lb bag is all you need)
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Add butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and cocoa into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on low until blended, increase speed to medium and slowly add powdered sugar, mixing until spreading consistency. In the event it's too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk, or coffee.

Ravioli Lasagna

2008-10-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

Fall is here! The cool nights and mornings are just wonderful--I love fall. I love cooking in the fall as well because it means casseroles and soups, and chili! Ravioli Lasagna is one of those great fall night meals that will warm you up and make you kiss the closest person to you, well maybe not kiss, but you'll at least be warm and full on the inside.

I found the inspiration for this recipe from a Woman's Day magazine recipe using Italian sausage and ravioli. While it sounded good, I thought I could twist it to my personal taste and make it better. After all it's all about inspiration, right? I hope you do the same. I'm very much a pantry cook, I don't keep much fresh stuff on hand which explains the ingredients, you could use fresh onion and garlic if you wanted to, but I usually don't have it on hand.

Ravioli Lasagna
1 t. Olive Oil
1 pound ground beef ( I use at least 90% lean)

1 pound ground Italian sausage ( I use Jimmy Dean Italian)

1 T. Onion Powder (1 Cup, diced if using fresh)

1 T. Garlic Powder (3 cloves crushed if using fresh)

1 T. Italian Seasoning

3 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained (you could use 1 lb. of fresh)

16 oz. jar Prego Ricotta Parmesan spaghetti sauce (I happened to have that on hand, any spaghetti sauce will suffice)

10 oz jar Ragu Alfredo sauce

1 pound of Sargento, grated Provolone Mozzarella cheese

Family size bag frozen Ravioli with cheese and spinach or plain.

Fill a large stock pot with water and put stove to boil. If you cover the pot the water will boil faster. For the lasagna sauce: In a medium size skillet, add olive oil to pan and bring up to medium high heat, add meats and cook until just brown, about five or six minutes. If you are using dried herbs, add them at about 3 minutes, if using fresh see note at bottom. Season with Salt and Pepper, adjust to taste. Add the jars of sauce and reduce heat to medium low and simmer to reduce the liquid. Your water should be boiling by now. When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the ravioli and boil 15 minutes. For my 9x13 pan I need 30 ravioli, 15 for each layer. While the ravioli is boiling, check the sauce it will be thickening and may need a good stir. This is a good time to get your salad made and set the table. When the ravioli floats, cook for about two minutes more then drain.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get your 9x13 pan ready. Add 1/3 of your meat mixture to the pan, spread evenly. Place fifteen ravioli evenly on top of the sauce, then 1/3 more of the sauce. cover that with half of the cheese. Add 15 more of the ravioli, remaining sauce and remaining cheese. I sprinkled Parmesan over the whole thing and lightly sprinkled the dried Italian seasoning over just for color. Bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly. If time is not your friend kick up the oven to 400. I like my cheese very brown and crisp. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. so it can set up.
NOTE: If you are using the fresh onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Add the oil to the medium skillet, heat to medium high heat and add onion, cook two to three minutes until they begin to turn clear, add mushrooms and continue to cook on medium heat until mushrooms have released their water about 5 minutes, add garlic, cook another two minutes or until water is evaporated. Remove this to a paper plate or bowl and cook the meat.

Serve with a salad and garlic toast.

Just super. I have bought some sun-dried tomato basil bread from Panera Bread company and made garlic cheese bread with it. Simple. Melt about four tablespoons of butter and brush each slice with butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt and lightly sprinkle about a 1/4 cup cheese over all the slices ( buttered nine slices).

This picture is from the Woman's day article which inspired me.

Do try it's so good.