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!