Cindy's Bacon Bites

I don't know if this recipe has an official name but since Cindy makes them and since they have bacon in them, I'm going with what I wrote.

When I helped Cindy prepare these she made the whole process look pretty effortless. Better yet, she gave them a raving endorsement regarding how they taste and how they are received by others - from her family members (who love and crave them) to the women of her church, who now call her blessed, just based on having eaten a batch of these at a gathering she recently hosted. A "Meet Cindy Jo Morning". Or, more aptly, a "Meet Cindy Jo, Eat Her Delicious Cooking and Fall in Love With Her" morning.

One thing is certain: had I not followed Cindy's directions and spread all that crescent roll dough out on the kitchen counters at Paradise (Isn't that fun to read? The Booths love talking about how they left our church and went to Paradise!) I never would've believed you could slather dough all over your counters and then expect it to come up in anything but a sticky, torn mess. When I made my batch, I was in a mood to be very, very literal so I did it just like Cindy modeled and it worked. And you know what that means - my kitchen is just like Paradise! Next time, I might use a pie mat for my surface just because I think it would stick a bit less and, most certainly, be easier to clean up. Which is not to say the counter version is all that difficult or messy - I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to roll the dough up from the counter. There were a few times when I had to gently prod a section (this would most likely happen at the places where I'd crimped seams together) but, overall, the process of making a bacon roll was quick and easy.

Cindy's Bacon Bites for Paradise

2 pkg cream cheese (soften it)
8 T onions
Some black pepper
1 jar Real Bacon pieces
4 cans of crescent rolls

Mix all ingredients to make the spread. You can use a mixer for this process or do it by hand. Lay out the crescent rolls on a clean, dry counter and crimp them together at the seams and at the edges of one dough piece to the other. The end product will be a large rectangularish field of dough. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect! You can also use a rolling pin to slightly flatten the dough and roll over those seams.

Spread the mixture over the dough, going all the way to the ends with all that cream cheesy goodness.

Roll the dough from one end to the other. Cut it into approximately 1 inch rolls. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Rolls should be browned but not burned.

Funeral Cake

How can it be that I've been doing this blog for awhile and, yet, I've not written up funeral cake yet?

You might read this recipe and say, "hey, that's a texas sheet cake!" or "that's the pioneer woman's recipe"....this is a cake that's been around the block - and country - a few times. I've eaten very close facsimiles of funeral cake made by Donita K. and Candice R. When I served funeral cake this weekend for a Sunday School group, my friend Pam immediately recognized what she was eating as Texas Sheet Cake. Whatever name it goes by, this cake comes with a bit of family lore.

My aunt Janet (of fruit dip and cheetos fame) used to make this cake alot and she's the one who gave it the somewhat unusual name used in our household. Because it's a quick, easy cake to make and because it uses ingredients you're likely to have on hand, my aunt would often whip it up for grieving families. Word came of a death in the community and within minutes Janet could, conceivably, have a tasty chocolate cake delivered to ease the pain of some family's terrible loss. My aunt has lived in St. Albans all her life and probably knows just about everyone living (and dying) in that small town - that's a lot of funeral cakes, over the years.

One summer when we were visiting, Aunt Janet served us up a fine West Virginia style dinner, capped off with...what else but a funeral cake. I didn't think a thing about how it sounded when everyone raved about our dessert until Emily, who was about 5 at the time, turned to me with a worried look and wanted to know who had died. To this day, when my kids see a funeral cake at the house they'll still ask, in jest, "who died?"

This is a great cake to make - even when no one has died.

Funeral Cake
(When my aunt had this published in her Lower Falls Baptist Church cookbook she titled it "Quick, Moist Chocolate Cake")

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 stick margarine (I use unsalted butter)
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
4 T. cocoa
1 c. water
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp soda

Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Place the butter, shortening, cocoa and water in a saucepan and bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly. Pour into the flour mixture. Mix well. (At this point the mixture seems so wet and gloppy that you can't imagine it will possibly hold together in a pan, much less cook up to something of cake consistency.) Add the remaining ingredients (WHAT!!! More liquidy buttermilk, eggs and vanilla???? How is this ever going to turn into a solid form cake????). Reserve the soda until last. Mix well. The sooner you get the cake into the oven after adding the soda, the better the cake. (This part of the directions always puzzled me. Really? That amorphous blob of ingredients is so finely tuned that it knows when you put the baking soda in and demands that you then get it cooking right away? I used to be paranoid about throwing that last ingredient in, maniacally mixing, and then throwing the pan into the oven in record time but, in my old age, I'm a skeptic. I bet I've let good...seconds go by between baking soda and baking cake. And guess what? All the cakes taste the same.) Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

ICING
1 stick unsalted butter
4 T. cocoa
6 T. milk
1 lb. confectioners sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. pecans or walnuts
1 c. flaked coconut (I sometimes omit the coconut if I'm worried about whether guests will like it. The cake is better with it.)

Five minutes before the cake is done (I know, another careful timing element. For such an easy cake this one sure demands a lot of your abilities to do things at a certain moment!) place butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Beat well. Spread on the hot cake. (My aunt Janet writes that she usually has to add a bit more than a pound of confectioner's sugar. She says to use your own judgement to make it spreading consistency.)

Smitten Kitchen Buttermilk Chicken

Some recipes on the Smitten Kitchen site I can immediately determine will never be acceptable in this household. Those I read, admire and then promptly put aside, always hoping for the next submission that just might get the Martin seal of approval.

Deb recently posted this recipe for Buttermilk chicken. There were probably two entirely idiosyncratic reasons I knew I was going to try this one - first, she talks about eating green beans as a side dish and that happens to be on the VERY short list of veggies Martin will actually eat. Secondly Deb put her buttermilk brine on all chicken legs! Hey, that's exactly how we do chicken here - why bother cooking up all those extra pieces when Martin will only eat the chicken legs???

Oh yea, I forgot the third thing that influenced me making this dish: buttermilk isn't something I usually keep on hand but, because I'd made a funeral cake this weekend, I had some leftover buttermilk begging to be poured over a bunch of naked chicken legs.

Really, this recipe couldn't get any simpler. I put my brine together and started marinading the chicken yesterday morning. This evening all I had to do was put the sauced up legs in a pan, drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle on some hungarian paprika and sea salt, and bake up an easy dinner.

The chicken turned out very, very flavorful. I loved it and Martin ate what was put on his plate with no complaints. And no positive endorsements either. I doubt I'd make this again for just the two of us but I might cook it up again with a different eating audience.

(One last note: that thing Deb writes about lining your pan with the foil for easy clean-up? It worked.)


Buttermilk Roast Chicken

This recipe was inspired by Nigella Lawson’s version. I fiddled a lot, changing the spices and sweetener, though my biggest changes were to increase the salt, garlic and marinating time. If you wish to use Kosher salt instead of table salt use 2 tablespoons if using Diamond kosher salt and 1 1/4 tablespoons if using Morton kosher. (Here’s why). I imagine that going forward I’ll be using this technque as a springboard for a lot of different recipes and spice combinations. However, even when using the simplest recipe below, the chicken was unbelievably tender and flavorful.

2 cups buttermilk
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon table salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika, plus extra for sprinkling (I used Hungarian, a smoked one would also be delicious)
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts (we used all legs)
Drizzle of olive oil
Flaked or coarse sea salt, to finish

Whisk buttermilk with garlic, table salt, sugar, paprika and lots of freshly ground black pepper in a bowl. Place chicken parts in a gallon-sized freezer bag (or lidded container) and pour buttermilk brine over them, then swish it around so that all parts are covered. Refrigerate for at least 2 but preferably 24 and up to 48 hours.

When ready to roast, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking dish with foil (not absolutely necessary, but Nigella suggested it and I never minded having dish that cleaned up easily). Remove chicken from buttermilk brine and arrange in dish. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with additional paprika and sea salt to taste. Roast for 30 minutes (for legs; approximately 35 to 40 for breasts), until brown and a bit scorched in spots. Serve immediately.

Fruit Dip

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my friend Cindy is a great cook. She has a fruit dip recipe that's yummy. It's one of those "famous" type recipes where you can google it's name and a bunch of versions will pop up.

Last weekend I thought about making "her" dip but opted for my mother's recipe instead. For as complicated as Cindy's recipe is, my mom's whips up in no time flat. (And I mean whip in the fairly literal sense.) Here's the funny thing about Mom's fruit dip - I'd eaten it many times but never had her recipe myself until this fall when my Aunt Janet shared it with me.

During the days Martin and I were in West Virginia, my aunt was on a fruit eating binge. (We'll stick to the fruit and not mention her penchant for eating cheetos with every meal.) Each day at lunctime, my job was to set out a plate with blueberries and strawberry, pineapple and banana slices. Along with the fruit came a big glop of Mom's fruit dip. And, as a rather endearing touch, a pickle fork because that's what Aunt Janet thought we needed for spearing all our fruit slices.

Sitting at my Aunt's breakfast room table in St. Albans and eating my mom's fruit dip with her was one of those times when a meal becomes so much more than it's individual elements. For me, it was a time of remembering my mother and her easy flair for whipping up food with no effort whatsoever, even as I shared sweet fellowship with my Aunt.

Cindy's dip is probably better - but my mom's comes with plenty of memories.

Fruit Dip

1 jar of marshmallow fluff
1 8 oz package cream cheese
Use a mixer to whip the two ingredients together until you get a creamy dip. (I'm not a total lover of cream cheese so I'll admit to adding more marshmallow fluff to the 8 oz. of cream cheese.)

Becky's Cheese Secrets

Every Tuesday night Martin and I host a small group meeting here at our house. My mother was the kind of person who would frantically clean all day if she knew anyone was going to set foot in her home - well, let me rephrase that - she'd marshall her minions (read: children) to work at making it look like no one ever lived in the our usually VERY lived in looking house. The only thing that inspired more of a cleaning frenzy was when we were headed out of town. Oh my! By the time we scoured the house to spic and span condition, all of us were too tired to want to go anywhere.

All this to say, I am not my mother. At least not in this way. It's something I've had to grow out of because I started out being just like her, to the point of making myself sick with worry anytime people were coming and often choosing NOT to have them in my home, as it meant too much attention to neurotic detail. That's an exhausting and defeating way to live. I finally decided that if guests don't like the way my house looks, they'll either forgive me and carry on (thereby proving to be true friends) or they'll go someplace else cleaner. For now, my small group appears to be choosing to stay.

Just because I don't go into a frenzied cleaning fit doesn't mean I don't pick up and tidy up a bit when I know folks are going to be in my home. This morning, I got my kitchen ready for the evening and then stood back and admired how clean it looked. I'd already decided Martin would have some leftover stuff that would be easy to whip up for an early dinner without creating a new mess, when suddenly that urge came over me. I wanted to bake! Specifically, I wanted to make my cousin Becky's Cheese Secrets - and so, clean kitchen or not, I did.

I first ate these cheese secrets too long ago to remember. All I know is that I considered Becky to be some kind of magician when I bit into these clever rolls with a secret inside. How did she do that? I'm sure I'd never made any rolls at that point and certainly not the kind that require an extra skill like wrapping cheese around the dough.

Have you ever tried making someone else's recipe and felt it didn't quite come up the original bakers level of perfection? I used to make these rolls early in my marriage but every time I'd eat what I made, it never seemed to have that same glorious pop of cheesy/yeasty goodness that Becky managed to attain.

Maybe that's what made me quit making them for so long. Then, at Christmastime this year, I decided to make a batch. The kids ate them and liked them enough to immediately want more but I was disappointed with the results. One big failure was not taking the effort to carefully crimp them enough to seal in the cheese. One look at the cookie sheets bleeding orange told me these rolls weren't going to taste as delightfully cheesy as they should have.

Today I made sure to carefully close each roll. I also experimented with one variation from Becky's original recipe - a change that I wonder if she hasn't made herself, now that I know she has her own Kitchenaid stand mixer. Instead of taking the time to hand knead the dough, I let my Kitchenaid bring the mixture to the satiny smooth finish called for in the recipe.

Right now the rolls are rising on their cookie sheets. I can hardly wait to see how they turn out!

Cheese Secrets
1/4 lb cheddar cheese
1 pkg. dry yeast
1/4 cups warm water
3/4 cup hot scalded milk
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Cut cheese into 40 half inch cubes. Soften yeast in water. Combine in mixing bowl the milk, sugar, 3 tbsp. butter and salt. Cool to lukewarm, stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 4 to 6 minutes. Divide dough into four parts. Cut each into ten pieces. Wrap dough around cheese cubes. Seal edges, shape into balls. Place on greased cookie sheets. Cover and let rise in warm place until light, 45 - 60 minutes.

Bake at 400 for ten to twelve minutes. Brush with melted butter, dip into parmesan cheese. Best served warm. For dinner rolls, cut 20 1 inch cubes of cheese. Cut each quarter of dough into 5 pieces. Makes 20.

Crockpot Vegetable Soup with Potatoes

Yesterday was cold and rainy in Southern California - exactly as the weather should be during these winter months. It was a perfect day to fire up the crockpot and fill it with a hearty vegetable soup for dinner. This one is ridiculously easy and quite tasty.

There's nothing quite like the smell of soup cooking to make a person feel warm and nurtured. The winds may howl, the rain may come in driving sheets and you may walk outside and feel cold to the bone but, just knowing there's a hot soup on the stove makes everything all right.

CROCKPOT VEGETABLE SOUP WITH POTATOES

1 lb. hamburger, browned, seasoned and drained
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 carrots, sliced and or cubed
2 onions, sliced or cubed
2 potatoes diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
12 oz. V8 vegetable juice
1 1/2 to 2 cups sliced celery
2 tsp. beef stock concentrate or 2 beef bouillon cubes
2-3 cups freezer vegetables of your choice (I used corn and peas)

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low 12 hours or on high 4-6 hours.

Apple Crepes

Within hours of moving to New Haven my daughter discovered Claire's Cornercopia - a wonderful vegetarian restaurant that turned out to be within a few easy walking blocks of Emily's apartment. In the ensuing years I have spent many happy hours eating Claire's soups, breads, and wonderful assortment of soul-satisfying foods. I've also had the great privilege of meeting Claire. It's one thing to find good food in a local eatery, quite another to know that the owner is a good person who is giving back to the community in ways that go far beyond tantalizingly tasty food.

Claire recently came out with a new cookbook showcasing many of the wonderful foods from the restaurant. There are plenty of recipes I'm anxious to try but I started yesterday with an apple crepe. All I can say is the final product was more than worth having to scour supermarkets for almond meal and organic apple cider vinegar. Would the crepes have worked with regular apple cider vinegar? Probably, but if Claire said to use organic then, by golly, I was going to follow through with exactly the same detail to ingredients.

I'm getting better with my crepe maker though I do have to laugh at what a luxury it is to have this expensive piece of electronics to do what any large teflon pan could duplicate, with a little more bother. I've tried to get away from some of the specialized gadgetry I so love to collect but my crepe maker continues to make the cut as I pare down to just the essentials of a cook's kitchen.

I made my apple mixture on the tart side and liked it that way, as the crepes themself have a certain delicate sweetness. Not to mention the generous sprinkling of confectioners sugar on the top.

Eating the crepes felt like a guilty indulgence - kinda like if you went in and secretly ate a whole bag of Dove's chocolates. In looking over the ingredient list, however, i have to think it couldn't be too bad to eat apples hidden in a delicate wrapper. Let's hope not, anyway - since I had two for lunch yesterday!

DESSERT CREPES WITH APPLE FILLING

Crepes:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3 tbs. sugar
4 eggs
2 cups water
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tbs. melted butter

Filling:
2 tbs. butter
4 organic apples, cored and sliced, then cut into small cubes
1/4 cups organic apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. pure maple syrup
1 tbs. honey
1 shake (about 1/4 tsp) cinnamon
Confectioners sugar for dusting crepe

Directions:
1. To prepare crepes, combine the flour, almond meal, and sugar in large bowl, whisking to blend. In separate bowl, combine eggs, water, orange blossom water and melted butter, whisking well to blend. Pour liquid mixture over flour mixture, using spatula to scrape out bowl and whisking until the consistency is of pancake batter. Cook crepes and then transfer to lined cookie sheet.

2. For filling, melt butter in large skillet over med. heat. Add apples and stir to coat. Cook for about 2 minutes, frequently moving pan back and forth until apples have softened a bit. Add apple cider vinegar and cook at a simmer for 3-5 minutes, until apples are crisp-tender.

3. Add maple syrup and honey. sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until apples are tender and the liquid has reduced to about a couple tablespoons - the liquid should be a medium caramel color. Test apples for tenderness and taste for sweetness. You can add more maple syrup or honey if you want the apples sweeter.

4. To assemble the crepes, lay them on a plate. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the center of the crepe. Fold in half, then half again to form a thick triangle. Transfer the filled crepe to a platter and continue with remaining crepes. Dust with powdered sugar.