Almond Crisped Peaches

Nothing says summer quite like fresh peaches and, as discussed before within this blog, I love me some peaches! I know the rest of the world is welcoming fall but here in sunny San Diego we continue on with our unending summer and fresh produce.

If I were to fix myself a peach pie it would sit in my kitchen and call my name every minute of the day and on into night. Even with partial deafness, I'm sure I'd still hear those peaches whispering in my ear, begging me to come have just one more little slice of summery heaven. And that's pretty much how it would go until the last flaky morsel was consumed. Making matters worse, I would be the only one hearing that seductive siren call as Martin is completely immune to talking pies. Even if we  had one he liked (and that would be cherry), he's that sensible kind of person who eats one slice in the evening and is done until the next day. Eating pie in measured moderation is almost like a superhuman power in my book.

I'm sure you can now see why it would not be a good thing for me to have a whole peach pie in the house right now. Remember, I'm the one who is trying to get control of some of my quirkier eating habits as I steer myself toward healthy eating and, please God, all the longevity and quality of life promised with such wisdom in food choices. Thankfully, Emily put me onto an easy little recipe that allows me to feel like I'm having a peach cobbler/pie without having to bake and eat a whole one every day.

When I first glanced at the recipe, it just LOOKED hard because there was so much text involved. To view this copious amount of instructions, I imagined that Deb must've started with telling us exactly how to plant the peach seed, watch it grow to tree, graft it at the proper times, glean the fruit and then start with the recipe instructions. All the verbiage aside, I couldn't believe how quickly and easily these little peach delights came together. And, best of all worlds, easy does NOT compute to not all that tasty. You know how you sometimes find a recipe that thrills your soul because it seems so quick and painless to put together but, when completed, you realize that it would've been a whole lot better if it had been harder but...well...better.

Not so with this recipe. While the topping couldn't be easier to whip up, the resulting baked peach is decadently good. Like having your own mini-peach cobbler, whenever you want it.


Almond-Crisped Peaches
Adapted from Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard
From Smitten Kitchen

Nigel Slater’s recipe is incredibly simple: almonds, sugar and butter. I came so close to following it exactly, and then couldn’t resist adding 1/4 cup rolled oats, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of sea salt, because I love all three so much in crisps. Consider it optional; the recipe works with or without them. Without them, the topping is more butter and brittle-like after baking; with them, it is still buttery and brittle-like, but with a little more of a traditional crisp texture and flavor. Both are magical; the peaches are barely sweet and taste fantastic with a dollop of creme fraiche or softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top. As for fruit, you could use peaches or nectarines with roughly the same cooking time, or try it with plums or apricots, or all soon, apples and pears. Feel free to try other nuts, too, any kind that you enjoy with baked fruit.

Slater recommends bakers sugar, which is sold in the U.S. as superfine sugar. I couldn’t resist going in the opposite direction, using coarse raw sugar (turbinado, often sold as Sugar in the Raw here) instead. Regular granulated sugar works as well. I didn’t try it with brown sugar, and suspect it may be delicious, but will not be certain until one of you report back (hint) how it holds up in the long baking time, hopefully not over-browning.

4 ripe peaches
1/3 cup (55 grams) whole almonds
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed

Optional extras: 1/4 cup (20 grams) rolled oats, 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, pinch of sea salt
(NOTE: I used about half that amount of rolled oats and at least 1/8 tsp of the cinnamon.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Halve peaches and remove pits. Place fruit cut side up in baking dish. In a food processor, grind almonds and sugar together until coarsely ground (with a few pebbles left). Add oats and other flavorings, if using, then butter, pulsing the machine until the ingredients are just blended. Spoon the almond mixture into the center of each peach, then press it flat, as if icing the tops of the peaches with it. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (baking time varies with peach size), until the top is brown and crisp and you can easily slice through the fruit with a fork or spoon.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with creme fraiche, lightly sweetened whipped cream or even plain yogurt, cold, for breakfast.

Cinnamon Vanilla Crepes with Fresh Peaches and Cream

I am trying to eat a better balanced diet and part of this endeavor includes not scarfing down so many sweets. Let's face it - I'm a sugar addict and would be content to eat my substantial weight in chocolate, and candy bars...or chocolate candy bars. Why can't life be like when I was a kid and ate everything I wanted without gaining too much weight????

I bought some not quite ripe yet peaches a few days ago and have been eagerly feeling them up every day to see if they would be ready for this recipe I found online. Coincidentally, it happened that just after I'd earmarked the peach crepes as a future make it and eat it project, Emily sent me the link for another peach dessert. Good thing I live in Sunny California and can get lots of peaches at the farmer's market,  just down the street. I'm fully expecting to make Emily's recipe tomorrow.

So, here's the deal - since I'm cutting out lots of extraneous sugar sweets, I decided these crepes would be my lunch. I've eaten so many salads in the past few weeks that I figure I deserve to splurge a little and go for a slightly off the sensible eating grid for this one meal.

I'm copying the directions from the website where I found the recipe but I didn't do mine exactly the way it was listed. First of all, the part about putting the crepe ingredients in a blender - I don't currently own that particular appliance. Not since Martin broke the glass bowl component. I've made lots of other crepe batters using a mixer so that's what I did. Maybe these would be even more spectacular if you have a blender but until I replace my broken one, I'll never know that for sure!

I may not own a blender but I do have my very own crepe maker. Obviously, as the recipe states (and demonstrates via great pics if you go to the original site) crepes can be made in a kitchen frying pan, but it sure is a lot more fun to swirl the batter around on a bona fide crepe making appliance. I always feel like donning a beret and speaking french when I'm using mine!

CINNAMON VANILLA CREPES

Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8-10 crepes

Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up!
(NOTE - I halved the recipe)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C milk

1 C all-purpose flour

1 T oil

2 eggs

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 T sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla



PEACH FILLING:

6-7 fresh peaches

1-2 T sugar

1/8 t nutmeg

Cool Whip or Whipping Cream  or 
powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:
1 Get out your blender and add 1 1/2 cups milk into it.
2. Add 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon oil, 2 eggs, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3. Blend it all up until it's nice and frothy. You may have to turn off the blender and scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula if the flour sticks to the sides.
4. Heat a medium-sized skillet up over medium high heat. Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of batter into the bottom of the pan. You don't want to get it too thick. Just enough to cover about half of the pan. Then pick the pan up and tip it on its side to let the batter coat the pan.
5. Let it cook until the bottom is golden brown. Use a fork to turn up the side and then flip it over. Let it get brown on the other side and then transfer it to a plate. Continue cooking the rest of the batter in this manner.
6. Peel and slice your peaches and place them in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
7. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg over the peaches. Give it all a stir and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The peaches will get nice and juicy for you.
8. Spoon the peaches into the crepes and top with cool whip or freshly whipped cream (if you are super ambitious)!

Pot Roast

I have a good pot roast recipe that I've used for years. I'm pretty sure it came from the Lower Falls Baptist Church cookbook - the one where most of the recipes I've bothered to try were contributed by Beckett relatives, with a few of their good friends thrown in, for good measure. I may have posted an entry about this roast recipe somewhere on the blog though it's so easy, it barely deserves any kind of instructional write-up.

Today, I decided to change things up a bit and go for  a different recipe, this one utilizing my crock-pot. Just to make sure I'd remember to get the meat on in time for it's TEN HOUR cooking cycle, I put a note on the kitchen counter the night before. There's nothing worse than going into the kitchen to begin meal prep at say...fourish...and realize that your meal was supposed to have been put on to cook hours before. Those are the times when it's ever so handy to have a Stater Brothers right down the hill from our house!

But this morning I did remember and got my roast on to cook by 8 am. The remembering is probably the hardest part of about any crock-pot recipe.

Sometimes I think that all meats cooked in a crock-pot tend to taste the same so I'll go through stages where I don't use mine as much. But, is there anything more tantalizing than the smell of foods slowly cooking and releasing their yummy aromas throughout the day? Just one whiff of those foodie smells makes me feel ever so domestic and in control of handling my man's appetite.

Except that today I got a call from the hubby saying that because he'd be late working at NASSCO, he planned to just go straight from that job to his deacon meeting at the church. Good thing roast and potatoes and carrots will keep for a day!

(I did, however, do my own taste test. And then I took some more samplings, until I'd basically eaten a meal's worth. Good stuff!)

I found this recipe on Pinterest. If Martin winds up liking it as much as I think he will, I'll feel vindicated after a recent Pinterest failure in the kitchen. My cousin Lisa pinned a recipe for "Tim Tebow's Deep Dish Pizza Pie" and I thought,  how could that be wrong, with Lisa's nod of approval and Tim Tebow's name on the recipe? Well it turned out to be a folksy dish that Martin did not care for. It might've been the green peppers, though, heaven knows I tried to chop them up so fine he wouldn't notice. Whatever the reason, I'm now left with a bunch of pizza pie slices that I'll wind up eating for lunches until they go away. I can only hope the roast will not suffer such a fate!

Best Pot Roast Ever
from Marie's Cooking Adventures blog (via Pinterest)


A 2-5 lb roast. (any kind)  I use a lean cut, about 3 lbs.
1 envelope ranch dressing (dried) I use Hidden Valley brand, not buttermilk
1 envelope Italian dressing   I use Western Family brand.
1 envelope brown gravy mix  I use McCormick brand
Potatoes and Carrots  (enough to fill a bottom layer on your CrockPot) I use about 7 or 8 baby red potatoes and a half pound of carrots to feed 3-4.
1 to 1-1/2 cup water
 What you do:
 Put any carrots and potatoes in the bottom of your CrockPot. I usually quarter my potatoes and use baby carrots.
Put Roast on top of vegetables.
Sprinkle all 3 spice envelopes on top.
Add the water.
Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours until tender and veggies cooked through.It is better to cook the roast longer. This will be sooooo tender and yummy!!

Chicken Fried Steak

No matter how long I've lived in the west, I think the love of fried foods will always be in my blood...and on my hips...and in my rear end....

Two of the main dishes I most remember my grandmother Simmons making were salisbury steaks and chicken fried steak. Even today I can see her standing in front of the stove on Lewis Avenue, frying up battered cube steaks. My grandfather would chow down on her tasty meals, as would I.

Tonight I even made the gravy for the steaks. Not a big deal, you say? Probably not but in all my growing up years my mom always acted as though making good gravy was something between exact chemistry and hocus-pocus magic. If Edith Beckett made such a big deal out of how difficult it could be to get gravy right, I decided there was no way I'd be able to figure out the formula. Imagine my surprise to find this gravy quite easy to make and get tasty enough to please me and hubby.  Win, win.

The best Chicken Fried Steak
Source: Adapted from the Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife

Ingredients:
4 cube steaks, pounded very thin (you can use a rolling pin to do this)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. salt
1  1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbs. hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
3 cups vegetable shortening for deep frying

Gravy Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
kosher salt and ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Heat the shortening in a deep skillet
2.  Place 2 cups of flour in a shallow bowl. Stir together the baking powder, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a separate shallow bowl; stir in the buttermilk, egg, and Tabasco sauce.
3. Dredge each steak first in the flour, then in the batter, and the again in the flour. Pat the flour onto the surface of each steak so they are completely coated with dry flour.
4. Fry the steaks until evenly golden brown, 3 - 5 minutes per side. (NOTE: mine took longer.) Place fried steaks on a plate with paper towels to drain.

Gravy Directions:
In a small saucepan, whisk together the flour and milk over medium heat. Add some of the scrap pieces left in the frying pan. Bring the gravy to a slow boil and cook until thick, about 6 to 7 minutes. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Spoon the gravy over the steaks to serve.

Jody's Baked Beans

Church pot-lucks right after service are always a bit tricky if you plan on bringing a hot dish. In my case, it's not like I can run home and heat something up in those few precious moments between the last "amen" and the call to "come and get it!" -  but there's also no guarantee of oven space in the church kitchen. Usually when the fellowship begins so quickly after services I prefer to bring an easy dessert or a cold dish I can stick in the refrigerator, but for today's event I was assigned baked beans.

Now I don't know about the rest of the world, but I can dig up plenty of  different kinds of baked bean recipes - and that's before even going to the internet and finding a gazillion more. Last night I decided to resurrect a version that I used to make years ago for about every cookout I attended or hosted. I think  the only thing that stopped me from continually making this recipe was having a vegetarian daughter. Not that you couldn't leave the beef out of this version...but why not just go on to one of those other fifty thousand non-meat included versions available in my own cookbooks and on the internet?

Since Emily isn't home (yet!), I could cheerfully add meat with nary a trace of guilt. Admittedly, this is pretty much my favorite baked bean recipe and, having now made it for the first time in many, many moons, I'll probably be cooking it more often. At least until when Emily comes home!

And for an interesting variation on how to eat the beans: as I was leaving the church fellowship hall today, carrying the now empty crock pot, Jim Tucker came over to tell me he loved my beans so much he had two giant helpings. When he was eating the first batch, some potato chips fell in so he kind of mixed them up into the beans and then decided that was a mighty tasty addition. For the second helping he deliberately added chips and then happily proclaimed the dish "a great meal in and of itself". I haven't actually tried his interesting experiment but can definitely see where the saltiness of the chips would enhance the tangy sweetness of the beans.

(I don't have a picture to post because there were no leftovers!)

Jody's Baked Beans (so named because this recipe came from my sister-in-law, Jody)

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger meat,  browned
1 envelope dry onion
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
2 T. mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 t. apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup dark molasses
2 -  1 lb. cans pork and beans
1 -   1 lb can kidney beans
1 -  1 lb can pinto beans

Mix everything together. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees, uncovered.

Ruth's Chris Potatoes Au Gratin

Martin often chooses Ruth's Chris as our special date destination. As a matter of fact, we're going there tomorrow night in celebration of our 33rd wedding anniversary. I love me some steak from Ruth's Chris, though I may have to modify my dinner this time, after looking at the calorie content for some of those fine steaks. ONE of them equaled out to a whopping 1,500 calories - or, in other words, the complete caloric intake I'm allowed for an entire day. I knew that, beyond the ridiculously hot ovens used, the other secret to those melt-in-your-mouth steaks is BUTTER. Lots of it, apparently, based on that huge amount of calories!

After my careful research, I've come up with what I'm going to order tomorrow night. A meal that will taste divine without breaking the bank on my allowed calorie intake. It'll be asparagus instead of potatoes, a lettuce wedge instead of the (much better) chopped salad, and a petite filet with shrimp as the main attraction. And when I've eaten all those sensible choices, I'll squander some calories on a nice dessert! Hey, your anniversary only comes once a year!

Everything is good at Ruth's Chris. Well...maybe not. I had crab cakes there once and they tasted so awful and fishy that I couldn't even finish them. Do you know how hard it is not to eat all of a entree when it's cost you as much as anything on the Ruth's Chris menu????? One dish I do love, however, is their au gratin potatoes - though to be honest, I love about any kind of potato dish that involves heavy cream and lots of cheese! When I found this copycat recipe on the internet, I had to try it.

Here's the deal. It's an easy dish to make and it tastes great. Is it just like Ruth's Chris'???? I don't know because it's been a very long time since we last had a meal there (like say, maybe, last August 30th????). Hmmmm....does this mean I'm going to have to order some of those potatoes just so I can do a fair comparison test?


Ruth Chris Steakhouse Potatoes Au Gratin

5 medium russet potatoes, peeled
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
1 Tbsp butter softened
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, then quarter each of those slices.

Beat together the cream, milk, flour, garlic, salt, and pepper by hand just till well combined.

Coat the inside of a large baking dish with the softened butter. Arrange the potatoes in the dish and pour the cream mixture over the potatoes.

Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 or so minutes or until the potatoes are starting to brown on the top.
Note: Watch the time as every oven is different. The recipe called for a total of 60 minutes but my potatoes were overcooked. The second time around, at 40 minutes total, they were perfect.

Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned and the potatoes are tender.

Chicken Pot Pie

I recently had surgery. Everything went well and I'm healing nicely, after a few days of being completely unable to move and having to rely on Martin to do everything from help me get up from the toilet to cooking.

The first few days home it didn't much matter what was in the house to eat because I had no appetite whatsoever. In those first three days post-surgery, I think I had one small bowl of canned soup to eat. That's about when Dr. Emily got involved and decided I needed more nutrients than I was getting.  When her father messed up the order for Odwalla drinks, Emily decided to bypass him completely by having Vons deliver all kinds of good healthy foods to keep me going. That girl of mine earned some MAJOR points for managing to stock my kitchen with healing foods, even from three thousand miles away.

Friends also brought food and that was greatly appreciated. When I felt well enough to brave the kitchen I realized how much I'd been craving a good solid pot pie so I decided to make one. I'm not a fabulous cook but I do know my way around a kitchen and can, like my mom, whip up something to eat in a fairly short amount of time. Making this pie was different, however. With little strength and a still very achey stomach, going through the paces of putting together the components of my pot pie began to feel like I'd signed up to dig a trench. A really deep and long trench. In hard, unyielding soil.

Yea. I wasn't quite myself and everything felt hard and very, very tiring. That said, the pie turned out great. Maybe it was just sickey me feeling enveloped with healing with every wholesome bite - whatever the magic, I know I ate a piece of that pie every day for almost a week, eagerly anticipating the smell and taste of the next best thing to Mom's chicken soup.

Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe Courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen carrots and peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
32 oz. carton chicken broth for boiling(reserve 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for sauce)
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
(Next time I make this I'll add potatoes.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

Place one of the crusts in the bottom of a pie pan and prick with a fork. I like to slightly bake the bottom crust before filling the pie so it isn't soggy. Just bake for 5-6 minutes at 425 degrees.

In a pot, combine the raw chicken, carrots, peas, celery. Add the carton of chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for filling) and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. (NOTE: One thing I loved about this recipe is the way the sauce thickened up so nicely. You know how you have those recipes that tell you to stir until thickened and you just keep stirring and wondering if the sauce is ever going to thicken and, then when it does, you can't really figure out if it's thickened ENOUGH or are you just imagining the thickening because your arm is about to fall off from all that stirring. I hate that. And on a day when remaining standing for any length of time was a bit of an accomplishment, I appreciated a sauce that had the good sense to thicken right up in a quick and very noticeable way.)

Remove from heat and combine with the chicken, carrots, peas, and celery mixture. Here you can add more chicken broth if you like depending how runny you want your filling.

Place the chicken filling in bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Summer Pasta Broccoli Salad

I don't make a lot of pasta salads since Martin prefers anything not pasta. Well, technically, he likes pasta but only in it's cooked, hot form. Macaroni and cheese, check. Spaghetti, check. Lasagna, definitely! Summer Pasta Broccoli Salad...not on your life.

As for me, I love pasta salads in the summertime though I prefer them homemade in my own kitchen so I can regulate how much dressing is used. Store bought pasta salads seem to go way overboard on using sauces such that the resulting dish is too wet and, often times, bitter for my taste. Give me a  sweetish tang but give it to me with great moderation. The dressing is very nice and creamy without overwhelming the pasta. This is definitely the kind of salad you could easily add all kinds of whatever else is in your refrigerator - grape tomatoes, red or yellow peppers, cauliflower...the possibilities are endless.

I made this for our church Fourth of July celebration this weekend. You know what's totally awesome about bringing a dish to church picnics? If no one likes what you've brought you can just keep quiet and let them wonder who made such a sub-par dish. No harm done, dignity intact. But, what a sweet moment it is when one of your fellow church members walks around asking who made the "delicious whatever" and it turns out to be you! "What that old pasta salad? It's really nothing!"

Summer Pasta Broccoli Salad

1 box Rotini
1 cup mayonnaise (light or regular)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups chopped, raw broccoli (about 1 inch pieces)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup crumbled, cooked bacon
1/4 cup diced red onion or sliced green onion

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Rinse with cold water until completely cooled; drain again. Place in a large bowl.

2. Meanwhile, for dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar; set aside.

3. Add broccoli, cheese, sunflower seeds, bacon and onion to pasta. Toss to combine. Add dressing: toss until coated. Refrigerate, covered until chilled, at least one hour. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving.

Easy Eclairs

This appears to be the summer of baking messy things. Or...maybe I'm just messy, no matter what I'm preparing.

I've always loved me some chocolate eclairs but figured they had to be something only the most seasoned and expert of cooks could attempt. Based on some of the recipes I checked out, there might be truth to that statement but lucky for the rest of us, the internet is also filled with easier versions of this favorite treat. 

The choux pastry isn't all that sweet and has a texture similar to popovers. There are certain kinds of instructions bound to fill me with cooking angst, and reading that I have to immediately pierce the eclairs as they come out of the oven is one such recipe detail. I mean, here you sit with a dozen hot pastries and only one set of hands to carefully prick a hole into the end of each one. Sure the instructions said I could make things easier by simply cutting each eclair in half to add the cream mixture but how fun would that have been to miss out on channeling Julia Childs by expertly piercing the pastries. In my ignorance, I imagined I'd have to scrape and move dough in order to empty out an inner chamber but instead found a very satisfying airy emptiness just waiting to be stuffed with cream. 

Trying to find the best method for piping in the vanilla cream is where things start getting very messy. I wanted to use my Pampered Chef tool for piping the cream in but, after I'd already loaded the pudding/cream mixture into the chamber, it turned out even the smallest tip was too big and produced a giant mess of cream squirting out from the eclair. Now I had to transfer that ooey-gooey substance into a regular pastry bag, thereby creating more mess all over the counter. 

And what is it with me and those pastry bags? Why do I always get just as much of the pastry cream squirting out the top of the bag as through the tip???? The good thing about this recipe is that it makes enough of the cream to fill 12 pastries and still have copious amounts to spend time cleaning off your counters for the rest of the afternoon. 

The cream filling is good in a very light Cool-Whippy way but, when I make this recipe in the future I'll probably try a different recipe that has more density. If I were someone like Deb or Annie, I'd have made batch after batch of the eclairs until I got everything just perfect but, since I'm not, I'll include a possible substitution for you to try and tell me about. And, remember this is a personal preference thing. The cream as it's written for the recipe is wonderful and tastes great but I'm the kind of gal who likes thicker rather than lighter. 

For as much as I might switch out the filling, I was very satisfied with the chocolate icing drizzle. It took me awhile to figure out that this chocolate mixture turns out tasting a lot like fudge. I might or might not have formed that impression after eating a few spoonfuls to make sure it was just right for the eclairs.

Easy Eclairs
Recipe Courtesy of Hidden Ponies


Ingredients
CHOUX PASTRY:
½ cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
4 large eggs
CUSTARD FILLING:
1 (4 serving size) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups milk (or as called for on pudding package)
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
CHOCOLATE ICING:
2 oz semisweet chocolate (or ⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips)
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp hot water

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. LIghtly grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.
In medium saucepan, combine ½ cup butter and water. Bring to a boil, stirring to melt butter.
Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to form a stiff ball of dough.
Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition to ensure they are incorporated. Work quickly, especially with the first one, to prevent it from cooking into scrambled eggs on the bottom of your warm pan :)
With a spoon or pastry bag fitted with a large tip, spread/pipe the thick dough onto prepared cookie sheet into 10 strips approximately 1½ x 4″ each.  (My note: I started out spreading the dough but it looked messy so I changed over to piping it out with my Pampered Chef handy gadget. The piped dough looked much better in it's baked form.)
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and bake another 20 minutes, until puffed and golden and hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. When removed from oven, IMMEDIATELY pierce the ends almost through to the other side to let steam escape and prevent any sogginess in the middle. This hole is also where you will be piping your filling into. Let cool completely before filling and icing (this will only take about half an hour).

For CUSTARD FILLING: combine pudding and milk in a bowl and mix according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in ¼ cup icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and ¼ tsp salt. Fold whipped cream into pudding.
Scoop mixture into pastry bag fitted with a smallish tip (I enlarged my steam holes a bit to make my tip fit, so do whatever works) and pipe mixture into centers of eclairs until full. This is a bit of a messy business, but worth it for ease of eating and pretty appearance. You could certainly also just slice the eclairs in half horizontally, fill the bottoms with cream, and replace the tops. Either way, you will probably have some custard leftover.

For ICING: Melt the chocolate and 2 Tbsp butter over low heat in a saucepan (or in the microwave, stirring after 30 seconds and giving additional 10 second increments as needed until fully melted). Stir in 1 cup icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir in hot water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until icing is smooth and reaches desired consistency. Drizzle, pipe or spread over filled eclairs.
Store in the fridge.

Alternate Pastry Filling, As Promised

Pastry Cream:
2 lb (907 grams) milk
4 oz (113 grams) sugar
3 oz (85 grams) egg yolks
4 oz (113 grams) whole eggs
2.5 oz (71 grams) cornstarch
4 oz (113 grams) sugar (this is an additional 4 oz of sugar, to be used separately from the other 4 oz)
2 oz (57 grams) butter
.5 oz (14 grams) vanilla extract
1. In a heavy saucepan, bring 4 oz sugar and the milk just to a boil. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks, whole eggs, cornstarch, and the rest of the sugar until completely smooth. Temper the hot milk into the egg mixture, then return the mixture to the pan over medium high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Stir in the butter and the vanilla and mix until completely incorporated.
2. Pour into a shallow pan, and cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is touching the entire surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for a few hours or overnight. Whip until smooth again before using.

Strawberry Ice Cream

I've been on a bit of an Annie's Eats fix lately, first with the chocolate cake, then oatmeal cream pies, and now on to strawberry ice-cream. Emily sent me the link for this recipe, with a note about how awesome it was to find a homemade ice cream that doesn't require all the usual cooking steps.  Annie must be someone pretty special if my daughter is going to trust her to a recipe that you can prepare without having to spend all day in the kitchen.

If I were buying my ice cream at the store, strawberry is not a flavor I'd choose. In fact, I rejoiced the day when dairy folks got smart and finally created a neapolitan that excluded the pink stuff to make more room for vanilla and CHOCOLATE! No more creative scooping to purposely avoid strawberry, while piling on disproportionate amounts of chocolate.

Even I can, however, recognize the difference between a generic, store-bought strawberry versus using fresh, organic (cause Annie said so) berries mixed with rich creams to create a refreshing summer treat. Once I received Emily's email. I could hardly wait to get started on the recipe.

You know what's the hardest thing about making the ice cream??? Waiting! Thanks to the little strawberry de-stemmer I bought months ago and totally love, getting the berries ready was a snap. Hey, I love my little kitchen gadget so much that I've been known to breathe a little sigh of disappointment when all those surgically de-stemmed strawberries pile up on the kitchen counter. After this point, it's just dumping stuff into the bowl of your food processor and watching a swirly pink cream appear.

Having to wait an hour for the cream to chill was hard enough but I decided to sleep on it. Next morning when I realized I'd forgotten to have my bowl chilling for a minimum of FIFTEEN hours, I thought about throwing a fit harking back to childhood days. You know the kind - throwing yourself on the floor, holding your breath til you turn blue, beating your fists against the linoleum...whatever it takes.

At fifteen hours and one minute, the churning began and went on for 30 noisy minutes. When this stage was over, I helped myself to a big ole's spoonful of the soft-serve that was mounding up to the top of my Kitchen Aid ice-cream maker attachment. Even at this stage, the mixture was so good I could've eaten the whole bowl full, without WAITING again for the freezing process.

After all this time lapse from first inclination to try out Emily's recipe link to final, finished product, I couldn't wait one second more. Strawberry ice-cream in the morning - dreamy, creamy breakfast of champions!


Dreamy Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy of Annie's Eats
Yield: about 1 quart

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced*
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp. vodka or kirsch (optional)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
½ tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS
Combine the sliced strawberries in a medium bowl with the sugar and vodka.  Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve.  Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a blender or food processor and add the sour cream, heavy cream and lemon juice.  Pulse briefly until almost smooth but still slightly chunky.  Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.  Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

*Note: I highly recommend using organic strawberries for this recipe.  The flavor is worlds better than their more artificial counterparts.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I can't think of when I've been so excited to try a recipe! Originally the plan was to make a batch last week when I hosted the senior choir here at my house but when one of the ingredients turned out to be harder to find than I'd anticipated, chocolate cake won out and oatmeal cream pies had to wait.

Not that my desire to whip these cookies up abated one tiny bit. For all the hysteria about Hostess products, I probably could learn to live without Twinkies and even (gasp!) Suzy Q's but what a diminished world this will be if Little Debbie ever decides to disappear with her oatmeal cream pies. 

I've been eating and loving those ever-so-soft and tasty cookies for a very long time. Years ago, when Cindy would come for weekly sleepovers and late night pool swims, we'd often sit in the spa eating Little Debbie's finest creations while looking at dark starry skies and listening to the distant banshee yelps of coyotes. Nothing like sharing good ole' wholesome junk food with your BFF!

This is NOT the cookie you want to whip up on the spur of the moment. By the time I finally had my batch finished it seemed as though I'd been cooking all night and used every appliance I own. Maybe you could do it neater but with all the components of this recipe and so many downright sticky ingredients (corn syrup, molasses, softened butter...) I spent a lot of time cleaning up bowls and spoons and mixers. It was an effort to keep both my camera and iPad someplace where they wouldn't be drowned in a puddle of stickiness. 

Whatever trouble and mess it took to create these cookies they are more than worth it. While I found the ingredient list a bit unusual, each component goes together to create what seems to be a pretty exact replica of Little Debbie's version of this filled cookie. 

You know what I'm the proudest of in regards to tonight's culinary endeavor? Even my marshmallow creme is made from scratch. I had to laugh when I read the comments regarding this homemade version on Annie's site. The nice ladies speak of how positively thrilled they are to have a recipe for the creme because it's just so painful and against God's laws to ever have to actually use that AWFUL version of the marshmallow creme you find in the stores...that would be the same jar of gooey white yummyness that I love and could eat every bit of in one sitting. I only made the home-made version to challenge myself but we'll pretend that I have such high and noble aspirations as the rest of Annie's cooking lady constituents concerning only eating the purest of foods. 

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Recipe courtesy of Annie's Eats

Yield: about 2-3 dozen sandwich cookies, depending on size

INGREDIENTS

For the cookies: 

8 oz. (1½ cups plus 2 tbsp.) all-purpose flour

4 oz. (1¼ cups) old-fashioned oats

½ ounce (2 tbsp.) unsweetened cocoa powder (yea..this is one of the ingredients I found hard to believe...but it worked!)

2 oz. (1 cup, packed) dried apple rings (and this is the one that took a few days to find. I finally got mine at Sprouts.)

3 oz. (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2¼ oz. (¼ cup plus 1½ tsp.) canola oil

7 oz. (1¾ cup plus 2 tbsp.) sugar

1½ oz. (3 tbsp.) molasses

3 oz. (6 tbsp.) corn syrup

1½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground mace

1 large egg

2 ounces (¼ cup) milk

For the filling:

2 cups marshmallow creme  (RECIPE BELOW)

4 oz. (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Pinch of salt

½ tsp. cream or milk

DIRECTIONS

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, oats, cocoa powder and apples.  Pulse at first to chop coarsely, then process about 2-4 minutes, until no large apple bits or full oats remain.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, oil, sugar, molasses, corn syrup, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the egg and beat 1 minute more.  Blend in the dry ingredients and the milk just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat 30 seconds more.

Use a dough scoop to portion out the dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 2 teaspoons for smaller cookies, about 1 tablespoon for larger cookies), leaving ample room as the cookies will spread while baking.  (What Annie doesn't tell you is that the dough will be quite soft - and it will look way too much like poop for comfort. The whole time I was spooning my cookie mixture on the baking sheets I kept thinking how good it was that I'm not pregnant or otherwise squeamish because the sight of those plops of poop might just have made me sick. So, if you get that sensation, be strong and soldier on. The end result is more than worth the rather aesthetically unappealing look of your unbaked cookie mounds.) 

Transfer the pans to the oven and bake, rotating halfway through, until the cookies are set around the edges and puffed up in the center, about 8 minutes for smaller cookies and 10 minutes for larger cookies.  (They may seem too soft but remember that the original is a very soft cookie so that is the desired texture here.  Also remember the cookies will continue to bake a bit longer once they are out of the oven.)  When cool and set enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

FIlling:

To make the filling, combine the marshmallow creme and butter in a mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until smooth.  Blend in the confectioners’ sugar and salt and whip until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes more.  Transfer the filling mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip.   (The tip I use is not labeled, but the opening is just under ½-inch in diameter.) 

To assemble, pair the cookies up by size.  Pipe a small dollop of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair.  Gently sandwich together with the remaining cookie, pressing the filling to the edges.  Store in an airtight container.


DIY Marshmallow Cream
Yield: about 3 cups
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup water
Pinch of salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan.  Heat the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 240˚ F on the candy thermometer.


Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  As the temperature of the sugar mixture begins to approach its endpoint, begin whipping the egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Once soft peaks have been reached, lower the mixer speed to low.

As soon as the sugar mixture reaches 240˚ F on the candy thermometer, remove the pan from the heat.  Pour the syrup in a very slow, steady stream down the edge of the mixing bowl until it has been completely incorporated.  (It is important to add the syrup slowly so that you don’t cook the eggs.)

Once all of the syrup has been incorporated, return the mixer speed to medium-high and whip until stiff glossy peaks form and the mixture has cooled considerably, about 6-7 minutes.  Blend in the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more.  Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Classic Chocolate Layer Cake

I love chocolate cake. A whole lot. Usually I'm more of a brownies, cookies, cobbler kind of girl but who can resist the scrumptiousness of a good chocolate cake? I'll even admit to being addict enough to think that Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker put out pretty decent versions of this basic cake...but certainly no where as good as the one I made this morning!

One of the things that intrigued me about the Annies Eats recipe is the inclusion of espresso powder. I worked for an elderly german lady for a period of many years, doing everything from cleaning her house, wrapping her Christmas gifts, reading to her husband, taking her dogs to the vet (Daily. These were some majorly spoiled dogs!)...and anything else she could think of to make me do. In between that kind of variety of weird jobs and assignments, Mrs. Maylan (or Der Karen as my brother and I secretly called her) gave me cooking lessons. I've long since forgotten the specifics of her background but I do remember that she had trained at some famous cooking school  - the Cordon Bleu?

I still have some of her recipes written out on cards and there will be times when I'm in the kitchen and suddenly remember one of her directions. Always use room temperature eggs and scrape everything out of the inside of the eggshell. Use a scale instead of cup measurement for better accuracy in baking. And, coffee brings out the flavor of chocolate.

A recipe I didn't write down from Der Karen was her version of a classic chocolate cake. When we made one together, I was totally shocked that she used coffee as a flavoring agent. How could a vile, bitter substance like java (needless to say I hadn't yet met Cindy and started my life as a coffee drinker) ever be used to sweeten a yummy chocolate cake???? While I may have harbored a lot of secret doubts, it was a fact that the chocolate cake produced by one very elderly German lady and her young house maid turned out heavenly.

Today, as I went though the steps to create Annies Eats version of a classic chocolate cake, I thought of Mrs. Maylan taking time to cook with me and show me some of her amazing recipes. In my young ignorance, I thought I was helping her but as I look back to that time of my life, I realize so clearly that she was giving me the inestimable gift of time together and sharing the love of baking.


Classic Chocolate Layer Cake
courtesy of Annies Eats
Yield: about 16 servings
INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
1¼ cups (6¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
1 cup (3 oz.) unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting the pans
2 tsp. instant espresso or coffee powder
1 cup boiling water
½ cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ cups (12¼ oz.) sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
For the frosting:
9.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4 tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. sour cream



DIRECTIONS
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Butter the edges of 2 9-inch round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder, shaking out the excess.  Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, espresso powder, and boiling water.  Whisk until smooth; set aside to cool slightly.  When cooled down a bit, whisk in the sour cream and vanilla.  Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Gradually blend in the sugar and whip on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes more.  Blend in the eggs one at a time.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; whisk to blend.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the sour cream mixture, beating each addition just until incorporated.  Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.  Bake the cake layers for about 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans during halfway through to ensure even baking.  Transfer the baked cake layers to a wire rack and let cool in the pans at least 30 minutes before inverting onto the rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Set aside to cool until just barely warm.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and salt.  Beat in the melted and cooled chocolate and then the sour cream.  Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and well blended.

To assemble the cake, place one of the cake layers on a cake board or serving platter.  Spread an even layer of the frosting over the top of the cake.  Top with the second cake layer.  Frost the top and sides of the cake using a thin crumb coat at first.  Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.  (While the crumb coat sets, you may want to leave the mixer on low speed with the remaining frosting so that the melted chocolate doesn’t set.  Once the crumb cake is set, frost the top and sides of the cake again using an offset spatula or spoon for a soft, billowy appearance.  Slice and serve.

Southern Cornbread Salad

I have a confession to make: I can't stand Paula Deen. Oh, I'm sure she's a nice enough lady and I'd probably love her if she were my neighbor, but listening to all those fakey "y'alls" is enough to make my skin crawl. And this is me - the person who absolutely loves listening to friends and family drawl out words with a southern accent. Paula is, however, ridiculous. When I listen to her add a "y'all" in between about every third word of what she says, I think of my brother Greg, after he got out of the Navy. It seems he learned to swear while he was off to far-flung places, defending the American way of life.  (I suppose I should say he perfected his swearing since, heaven knows, he could curse with the best of them even before enlisting in the military.) Post-Navy Greg felt a need to drop the "F" bomb rather liberally as he spoke. You get the picture - about every third word he spoke was that particular curse. Didn't matter if it fit grammatically or logically, he apparently had a need to utter an expletive about six times per sentence. Kinda like Paula. Honestly, I'm not sure I could pick which word annoyed/annoys me more!

Notwithstanding my dislike of Paula's fake sounding accent and overuse of the "Y" bomb, I do like this recipe. I served it for a small group meeting a few months ago and received lots of rave reviews. All the components together create just the right amount of crunch and sweet versus tang to make each spoonful sing. You take a bite of this salad and feel the essence of summer and all things yummy.

(UPDATE: In light of recent news revelations, I feel vindicated. Turns out Paula's not so nice, after all.)

Southern Cornbread Salad
Courtesy of Pauladeen.com

1 batch of cornbread, cut into 1 inch cubes (recipe follows for the cornbread)
1 (14.5 oz) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz) can niblet corn, drained (I used fresh corn, cut from the cob)
1 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 large green pepper, finely chopped
3 large tomatoes, chopped
2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz.) bottle ranch dressing
Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Cornbread:
1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 1/4 cup for greasing pan
1 cup self-rising cornmeal (if you can't find self-rising cornmeal, the internet has directions on how to make your own. That's what I had to do.)
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1 cup cream style corn
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese, optional
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, optional

Directions:

In the bottom of a large glass bowl, place cornbread cubes. Layer beans, corn, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and cheese on top of cornbread. Spread ranch dressing evenly over cheese. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.

Directions for Cornbread:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously season a cast iron skillet with up to 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Preheat the pan either in the oven or on the stove over medium-high heat.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Pour batter into the preheated cast iron skillet. Place skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.

(My bowl was a little small. I'm sure the layers would look nicer in a bigger trifle bowl.)

Fiesta Ware

Every time I visit West Virginia, I admire the Fiesta Ware that all my Beckett relatives use. And what would not be to love about colorful dinnerware that is actually made in my home state???? As much as I think it's all beautiful and as much as I think I need some when I'm seeing so much of it in St. Albans, I've always let my practical side remind me that I already own everyday dishes and I don't need more.

That reasoning always worked... until this February when I went back to stay with my Aunt Jan for a few days. Our meals were served on Fiesta Ware and every night the two of us would share ice-cream in Fiesta Ware mugs. I had to be trained on this nightly ritual. When Jan told me how she scoops her nightly portion as soon as she wakes up in the morning I eagerly set out to help her, only to find out I hadn't packed the ice-cream nearly tightly enough in the mug. Who would've thought someone so frail and thin would want to scarf down about a gallon of ice-cream packed into such a small space???

Events transpired this year such that my birthday got kind of lost in the shuffle of Emily's Yale career. Turns out she defended her doctoral thesis on the very day of my birthday. This was a thrilling family event that I wouldn't have missed for the world. I was more than happy to let Emily take center stage on the 20th but once I'd returned to San Diego, I now had the perfect excuse to help Martin buy me a birthday present that turned out to be...guess what?.... Fiesta Ware. Lots of it.

I worried that the practical side of me would feel guilty for chucking perfectly good dishes (read: give to Salvation Army) for all new Fiesta Ware...but I'm still waiting for that guilt to set in. Truth is, I LOVE using my new dishes and I even love looking at them in the cupboards. The colors make me happy and, more than that, I treasure the feeling of being part of the "cult" of Becketts and their Fiesta Ware.

Sometimes I even scoop ice-cream into a mug and eat it at 8:15 pm, just so I can feel kindredness with my sweet aunt. And I make sure to cram as much as I can into the mug!

Carrot Cake Roll

Ok, so I've been remiss in updating this blog. Let's all just get over it and carry on!

I made this roll for Easter dinner thinking I wanted to get the technique down before fall and time to make a pumpkin roll. Not that making a skinny cake and rolling it up is new or particularly difficult but it has been awhile since I did anything other than sheet or the easiest of layer cakes. Call me lazy!

Nothing about this was particularly challenging. I made it a day ahead and probably kept it in the moistened, powdered sugar towel too long because my roll consistency seemed wet with "gooey" sugar  glop on the top. The cake still tasted fine but next time I'd be more careful about letting the powdered sugar mix with the very moist cake.

I find that no matter how carefully I follow directions and no matter how gently I work with carefully trying to shape these kinds of cake, I will wind up with a tear somewhere. This can be very frustrating when you have visions of a picture perfect log of cake that will cause others to gasp at it's sheer beauty...but, in the final analysis, once you put on all the icing and slice the cake, no one is going to notice those slight imperfections. (I do however have clear memories of watching my two daughters both make perfect, tear-less Buche du Noels the last two Christmases. Not that I'm bitter!)

This was definitely very carrot cakey tasting and yummy.  I'd make it again.

Carrot Cake Roll
Courtesy of Crazyforcrust.com

3 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 T. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup flour
2 cups shredded carrots (about 2 med. carrots)
Powdered sugar to aid in rolling
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
4 Tbs. butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan (10X15) with foil and spray with cooking spray. I like to use the spray with flour. (And, while we're at this point in the recipe can I list one of my cooking peeves? I wish every pan would come with the dimensions clearly marked somewhere because I'm a terrible judge of measurements. I have a few jelly roll pans - one that is a hundred years old and a set of three identical new ones. Why three? Because they came as a set and were cheap! So, my old one is more longish and skinnyish than the newer ones but neither are marked with sizes. I finally got a tape measure to figure out that the newer ones would work best for this recipe. Would it kill manufacturers to put those numbers somewhere on the pans?????)

After you've had your measurement rant, beat eggs at high speed for 5 minutes, until frothy and dark yellow. Beat in sugar, oil, and vanilla extract

Whisk together salt, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and flour. Stir into wet ingredients just until blended. Stir in carrots.

Spread in prepared pan. Batter will be in a very thin layer and you will need to use a wooden spoon or spatula to spread it to all the corners of the pan. Bake for 9-11minutes.

While the cake is baking, set a clean kitchen towel out on a large work surface. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (about 1/4 cup). As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, turn it over on the kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove foil carefully.

Working at the short end, fold the edge of the towel over the cake. Roll tightly, rolling up the cake into the towel. Let cool completely while rolled, at least one hour.

While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.

When cake is cool, carefully unroll the towel. Spread the filling on the cake evenly, and re-roll tightly. Chill until it firms up a bit, at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. Dust with powdered sugar, then slice and serve. Cake can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to one month.

Sour Cream Chicken

Yesterday was rainy and foggy from morning to night. Living only about 10 miles from the coast it's not unusual to see early morning fog or watch a marine layer seep through the hills as evening comes, but fog all day? That's not nearly so routine and, since I love the fog, something to be viewed as a rare treat. Add a steady rain and we have the makings of a perfectly cozy winter day.

As empty nesters, Martin and I often eat out on Saturday nights but I wanted to be home yesterday, hearing the rain fall on my patio roof and watching a blazing fire going in the fireplace. A good weather day like the one I've mentioned just can't be squandered hidden away in some artificially cheerful and busy restaurant, now can it???? I think not.

Given that we were staying indoors, I knew I wanted a homey comfort meal and this dish definitely qualifies. It's not something you'd serve the Crawleys or Granthams (yes, I'm a Downton Abbey addict and yes, I must slip in some references to this favorite show) should they decide to drop by for a bite to eat, but for me and the hubby it was a tasty addition to our quiet evening at home.

Not that all was peaceful - figuring out how to make this dish was a bit dicey. The recipe came from my BFF during a conversation wherein she told me her plans to make it yesterday and I decided to try the same dish for myself. Here's the deal about Cindy - when she talks you through a recipe over the phone she's very apt to leave out some of the steps involved; presumably because she feels what she's omitting is obvious to all but the most inept of cooks. Which would be me, apparently!

We had a similar incident Thanksgiving when she gave me a recipe for her version of sweet potatoes. Somewhere in the midst of my NUMEROUS calls trying to clarify her lack of instructions, she was heard to mournfully exclaim that she'd never give me another recipe. She repeated the same threat yesterday when I, once again, started up with the calls begging for clarification of her sketchy instructions. (Shhhh...don't tell her - some of the last calls and texts were made solely to mess with her mind a little. Cooking together can be such fun!)  I would be upset about this dire threat of no future recipe sharing if I didn't know that within a day or two, I'll be able to wheedle another recipe out of my forgiving and forgetting BFF!

Sour Cream Chicken Casserole

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 stick butter
1 pkg waverly crackers (the ones I found were actually called "club crackers")
1 cup sour cream
1 pkg. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt, pepper to taste
1/2 cup chicken broth (use the broth from cooking the chicken breasts)
paprika

Boil the chicken breasts, seasoning them with salt and pepper. Allow to cool and then cut into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
Break up the crackers into largish pieces. I used a little over one sleeve. Cover the bottom of a 9X13 pan with these crackers. They should liberally cover the bottom of the pan. My BFF says you can have too much chicken in this recipe but you can't have too many of the crackers.
Melt the butter and pour it over the crackers. Stir the crackers around to spread the butter through all of the cracker mixture.
Put the chicken pieces on top of the crackers.
Mix the soup, sour cream and broth together. Pour this mixture over the chicken pieces and cracker layers. Do not stir this mixture once it's in the pan. You can use a large pancake turner or spatula to spread the mixture so it is evenly spread across the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the top layer begins to bubble at the edges. (Mine took longer to get a bubble.)
Before serving add some paprika for color.

(The cracker layer. I don't have a picture of the finished product and you should be glad about that. As I've hinted, this isn't a pretty dish but it does taste great.)

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

Christmas in Cincinnati meant plenty of good cooking from my daughter-in-law and her sister - with a few sides thrown in by Emily and even ole' Mom. One of the things Emily brought was a batch of brownie roll-out cookies. Actually, I think there might have been more than the batch for Tim and Joy as I distinctly remember a rather pretty box lying around, waiting to be mailed to a special friend and her hubby. Last I saw, those cookies were still being transported from condo to hotel to rental car to Tim's car...all in the hope of finally hitting up a post office and getting the proper postage for a flight to DC.

I really liked the texture and subtle taste of the cookies Emily brought so I came home and made my own batch. Mine had a slightly different flavor as I was missing an extra ingredient Emily had added to the ones she made; something that gave each cookie a nuanced taste of orange mixed with the chocolate. That variation was amazingly good but the original is pretty darned awesome, too.

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies
Recipe from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Ingredients
3 cups (375) grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the counter
2/3 cup (55 grams) unsweetened cocoa
3/4 t. table salt
1/2 t. baking powder
16 T (225 grams or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
2 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl, and set aside. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl. Mix in vanilla. Gradually mix the dry ingredients. Wrap in plastic, and chill for at least an hour.

Roll out cookie dough on a floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don't overly fret if they go into the oven looking white) Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8 inch cookies, the latter for 1/4 inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Roasted Vegetable, Arugula and Avocado Salad with Mustard Herb Vinaigrette Dressing

(As you can tell from the picture, I couldn't find the white cheddar when I was shopping 

so I decided to just use regular cheddar.)

I hated salads when I was growing up. Mind you, I lived in a household where a meal was prepared, set in front of you, and then you were expected to eat it. No specialized diets in the Beckett household - we were the true embodiment of that catchy little kitchen plaque stating, "You have two choices for dinner - take it or leave it." We didn't have fancy, schmanzy salads with upscale lettuce and exotic veggies included but when that mixed salad appeared on the dinner table the expectation was that you'd eat it without a fuss.

I think the thing that really turned me off to the idea of a salad was actually the dressing. In our household you got one kind and it was already slathered on the lettuce and tomato before the bowl ever left the kitchen. And by "slathered" I mean doled out in such large quantities that you could barely see lettuce poking under a sea of oddly tinted slime laughably called "french" on the bottle. I doubt folks in France were downing that horrible mixture on their salads.

There might have been a dinner one time when I actually managed to grab my plate, thrust it out an open window in the dining room, and heave one of our infamous salads right out onto the front yard before anyone was the wiser.

Obviously I've evolved since my salad chucking days because I now love lots of variations of greens, veggies, fruits, and whatever else can be creatively placed into a bowl and labeled salad. The one I made today was absolutely wonderful. One of those kinds of meals where you're just thankful you've got enough left for another sitting because now you can spend the whole day looking forward to dinner and another chance to eat more of what you start craving the minute you've finished your lunch portion.

This was actually supposed to be a salad I'd make for the Stoops late Christmas celebration on Saturday. However, by the time everyone ate all the appetizers I'd prepared and then pizza came for an early dinner, it just seemed ridiculous to go to the trouble of making a salad that everyone was clearly too stuffed to care much about. So, I laid out a green salad instead (my mom would've been proud!) and  then didn't have to feel so put out when very few people bothered to take a helping amidst the pizza, spinach dip, queso blanco with chips, cheese cubes with pretzel sticks, varied fruit and fruit dip and whatever else I'm forgetting right now.

I'll admit there was a period of worry about how today's salad would end up tasting. As I was putting it together, I began absent-mindedly chewing on some of the arugula, thereby making the surprising discovery that, by itself, arugula is bitter and not very good tasting. With that in mind, when I prepared the dressing I decided it was a little too much on the sour side so I ended up adding some sugar. How much sugar? Don't ask me - I just put in enough so I could taste a hint of sweetness next to the tang of all the other ingredients. Really, this is all quite amazing to think about - the recipe itself had no specific amounts (though the website where it was featured had very clear pictures that I followed) and then, even in my adaptation, I didn't bother to measure. Look for me on Master Chef next season!

Roasted Vegetable, Arugula, and Avocado Salad
from whatsgabycooking.com

Ingredients

3 cups arugula
1 cup chopped butternut squash, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups cauliflower florets, broken into bite sized pieces
1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 avocados, skin removed and cut into wedges
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
handful of dried cranberries
handful chopped white cheddar cheese
Mustard Herb Vinaigrette ** Recipe below
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Arrange the arugula in a large salad bowl.
Place the chopped butternut squash, cauliflower and mushroom heads on a baking sheet in an even layer and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the baking sheet into the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes until the vegetables are slightly golden brown and tender to touch.
Remove the vegetables from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before tossing them with the arugula.
Add the avocado, cherry tomatoes, cranberries and white cheddar cheese and toss to combine.
Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette on top and toss. Taste and add more vinaigrette or salt and pepper if needed.
Serve immediately.

Mustard Herb Vinaigrette Dressing
Start with an empty jar with a lid. Add some freshly chopped garlic, a few chopped shallots, a dollop or two of whole grain Dijon mustard, some dried oregano, and dried parsley. Throw in some freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of flaky salt. Next pour in some red wine vinegar. Add a healthy pour of olive oil. Tightly put the lid back on the jar and shake, shake, shake! This dressing will store well in the refrigerator for about a week. Just let it come to room temp. before using. You can also use it on spinach salads. 

Cherry Pie Squares

It's a funny thing when you cook for people for the first time - it makes you hyper-aware of everything you're preparing and how it is likely to be received. This Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to feed my daughter-in-law's parents. I love these two but they do present a challenge in that they don't usually eat American food. And I don't know anything about preparing Asian foods.

I consulted with Joy and decided to go with what I know - a traditional American Thanksgiving meal including turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. Pumpkin pie was on the menu for a dessert but, knowing Martin hates anything with a pumpkin flavor, I decided to add something sure to please his palate. Cherry pie would definitely fill this bill but, here's the deal - I'm not so fond of that kind of pie. This recipe was my compromise dessert.

Thanksgiving turned out to be all about plenty of food to eat (including Joanne's gift of the FRESHEST lobster ever), an evening of fun over the Mexican Train domino game, and everyone eating yummy cherry pie squares with ice-cream.


Cherry Pie Squares
Kinda like what might happen if sweet cherry pie and gooey almond coffee cake meet and fall in love—something beautiful results.

Ingredients
1 cup Margarine
1-¾ cup Sugar
4 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
½ teaspoons Almond Extract
3 cups Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
1 can (21 Oz. Can) Cherry Pie Filling
Powdered Sugar, To Top The Squares


Preparation Instructions
Cream margarine and add sugar. Beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and almond extract. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture and beat until smooth; batter will be thick. Save about one cup of the batter. Spread the remainder in a greased 11 x 15″ jellyroll pan. Spread the cherry pie filling over the batter. Spoon remaining batter in small globs over the pie filling. Bake in a 350ºF oven for 45 minutes, until barely lightly golden. Drizzle powdered sugar frosting over top; indulge!

Paper, Plastic of Fine China?

The tea parties I've given in the past are testament to my love for decorating a beautiful table but, overall, I'd say my entertaining style leans way more toward the casual, bordering on thrown together at the last minute. This didn't really hit me until yesterday when my sister-in-law Jody was showing pictures of her birthday celebration in November. Friends had gone to a lot of trouble to do a fall themed luncheon for her and the results were spectacularly beautiful. Yes, it helps that I was looking at fall mums, warm colors and pumpkins - all components of the autumn season that I dearly love but still, there was no denying the effort taken to present something very pleasing not only to the stomach but also to the eye.

One of my problems is that I have plenty of very fancy serving pieces and, on the other end of the spectrum, a cabinet full of mostly mismatched paper goods for use out by the pool...but not much in between. So yesterday, when I wanted to put all my appetizers out on the serving counter, they went out in a hodge-podge of Tupperware and cheap plastics I could find. This is the same kind of serving arrangement I usually end up doing when small group comes every Tuesday night and when guests come over to eat or socialize. 

After I cleaned up from the late Christmas celebration, I thought back on Jody's pictures and silently resolved to care a little more about presentation of the foods I present to groupings coming into this house. I don't know that I'll take the time and effort for every small group gathering but maybe I can resolve to pull out all the stops for this group once a month. 

As for my family and friends, I'm now looking ahead to Easter and thinking of what I'll serve and how I'll present it.

                                                   (One of my favorite tea tables) 

Ding Dong Cake

Along with the supposed end of the world based on the Mayan calendar, the final weeks of last year also saw another world reaching catastrophe - the end of the Hostess company. Twinkies I could easily live without but what about Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, and Suzy Q's????? All I have to say is it's a good thing my kids are mostly grown because each of those three Hostess treats saw me through some long days with children who might not have been having their best, most well-behaved moments...or hours. I could put up with a whole lot of whining, temper tantrum throwing, sassing, bickering and whatever else my darlings were dishing out as long as I knew there was a hidden Ho-Ho waiting at the end of the day.

Apparently I wasn't the only person using Hostess products to get through another day, based on the hysteria over the company's demise. No sooner had the dire announcement gone out before desperate folks began snatching up every Hostess product made. Twinkies showed up on Ebay, selling for huge sums of money, and for those not able to afford getting into the rare foods commodity brokering market there were internet sites divulging recipes to duplicate every calorie-laden treat ever produced by the folks at Hostess.

I made this Ding Dong cake because it felt like the closest I could get to a Suzy Q. In this case a really big Suzy Q! While carving out a piece of the finished cake didn't have quite the same decadently delicious feel as opening a Suzy Q packet, taking out one of those sticky little chocolatee cakes, and running my finger around the edges to gather up all that gooey icing running out, the Ding Dong cake makes a passable substitution for my Hostess cravings.

Ding-Dong Cake
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen


1 (18 ounce) box Pillsbury Plus Devils Food cake mix
FILLING
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
ICING
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
powdered sugar, to desired consistency
Directions:

1
Bake cake according to directions on box, using a 9x13-inch pan. After it cools, slice in half horizontally and set aside until filling is prepared.
2
FILLING: Combine milk and flour. Cook until thick, then cool. Mix butter and shortening for 4 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla and mix 4 more minutes. Add flour mixture and beat 4 minutes more.
3
Spread on bottom layer of cake and replace top layer of cake.
4
ICING:.
5
Combine butter, vanilla, milk, cocoa and mix. Add powdered sugar until quite thick.

Corn Dog Poppers

As long as we're veering off the gourmet, upscale foods route I'll include another Pinterest recipe I made awhile back.

Who didn't love a good ole' corn dog slathered with mustard when they were kids? Well me, for one! I couldn't stomach anything to do with a hot dog throughout most of my childhood. Even now I have rules that govern whether I'm going to actually enjoy eating this great American food. First and foremost, they're always best when eaten on the beach after being toasted to a pretty blackened state over a roaring bonfire. Next, the bun has to be big enough to leave room for plenty of catsup, mustard and DICED ONIONS! And, as long as we're talking about the bun - everyone knows those should be in that steamed warm and covered in tin foil form.

And by the way, I'm excluding West Virginia chili-slaw dogs from this narrative entirely because they are a completely separate food item. One to be lusted after and immediately hunted down the minute you cross the state border into Almost Heaven. I learned that love from my mother who would literally race her car to the nearest folksy hot dog stand close to St. Albans so she could order (at least) two of those babies. It makes my mouth water to even think about eating one. The last time I was in West Virginia it was fall and my cousins hosted a big ole' bonfire one night, complete with s'mores and chili slaw dogs. Do you think a little bit of rain stopped me from huddling by the fire wolfing down those dogs as fast as I could prepare them???? Not hardly.

Have I digressed a bit? Back to corndogs...or, in this case, little bitty corn muffins stuffed with a piece of Hebrew National hot dog poking it's head above the corn meal. These are easy to make and the folks in my small group seemed to like slathering a bit of mustard or catsup in them and eating them by the handful. They might also make a pretty fine Super Bowl snack. Just sayin'.

Corn Dog Poppers

Ingredients:
1/2 cup melted butter (or 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8-10 all-beef hot dogs, cut into 1″ bites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine butter and sugar in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add eggs and whisk to incorporate. Add buttermilk and whisk to incorporate.
In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt, and stir to combine. Whisk into wet ingredients in two batches.
Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray, and spoon 1 Tablespoon of batter into each mini muffin cup. Place one hot dog bite into the middle of each cup.

Bake for 8-12 minutes (oven temperatures vary), or until cornbread is golden brown. Cool in mini muffin tin for 5 minutes before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, and re-heat for 20-30 seconds before serving.

                                                  (Chili-slaw dog and West Virginia style green beans - now that's what I'm talkin' bout!)