Michelle in Colorado Springs

Peeping in the Bath

2011-03-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

I got 5 chicks today, some Barred Rocks and one Buff Wyandotte. It made for a very noisy drive home. I wanted to get some Ameraucana's, they lay the green or blue eggs. They sold out in less than half an hour and no one else in the area knew when or if they were getting more. Most places I could have ordered them from would not have only till the end of May or they required a 25 chick minimum. I can only have 10 in town.

I had to make a frantic call to my sister all ready, when they go to sleep they look dead. I am glad that I got the infrared heat light. Once the sun set they started to get quiet. Which is nice, other wise they would have keep the cat and I awake.

Canned Jam: Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

2010-06-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

The food for Canned Jam this month is Berries! I made Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It came out so very good. With only three ingredients I do not have to worry about what is in my lemonade.

I found that 1/4 of a cup concentrate to 1 cup water is a good mix. For a great slushy you only need ice, water and some concentrate in a blender.

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
Makes about seven pints

6 cups strawberries
4 cups lemon juice
6 cups sugar

In a blender or a food processor working in batches, puree strawberries until smooth. Transfer to a large saucepan as completed. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine. Heat to 190 F over meduim-high heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

Ladle hot concentrate into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Can in water bath for 15 minutes, adjust for altitude (I had to add 15 min for a total of 30 minutes)

To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water; tonic water or ginger ale; adjust concentrate to taste.

States I have been to

2010-05-23T10:37:00.001-07:00

visited 16 states (32%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Can Jam May: Cherry Rhubarb Pie filling

2010-05-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

This month's Can Jam Food Blog Challenge is Rhubarb, which is great. I love the stuff and have been known to eat it raw.

Yaaa! Rhubarb season, In a few weeks the only you pick within an hours drive will be open, rhubarb. I will most likely get 20lbs. Half to be dried, some frozen and the rest canned. I have been wanting to try this recipe for Cherry Rhubarb Pie filling since I saw it last year. It came out pretty good. I did have to scale it down. I only had 4 cups of dark cherries left over from last year. Freezers are nice.

I think that I will freeze some rhubarb just for cherry season to make more.

Lets see things I did a little different I used clear jell, the kind for canning. I did not scale down the amount of lemon juice, I wanted to make sure that the pH was still in range, I used vanilla sugar and cut out the Almond Extract. I ended up with 2 quarts and used one the next day. Had to make sure that it was good, you know.

Adobe Photoshop Cook

2010-02-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

psiXel states on her youtube site that this is, "A video made in stopmotion for competition AdobeYouGC. The simulation of a tutorial which shows how to make the lovely butter cookies with the new Adobe Photoshop Cook! Whole set was made with cardboard and with kitchen utensils."

Jaw Surgery

2010-01-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well after three years of working towards the jaw surgery I had it done.

This started with a sinus infection that lasted for 6 months. I did have one at the start but it turns out that I was having TMJ pains, I was unhinging my jaw to eat, talk, yawn and all sorts of other things. This caused my joint to no longer be round.

I then had to wear a dental splint, 24 hours a day taken out only to brush my teeth, for a year to figure out how bad my bite was. At the end of that it was found out that my lower jaw was too small and that I have been grinding and clenching my teeth all the time, I wore a hole into the splint.

Braces were the next stage of treatment and then jaw surgery. A year and a half into the brace treatment it was also found that the upper jaw did not fit the bottoms, there was a see saw effect the right side would touch and the left side would not and vice versa. So also needed the upper jaw broken to fit the bottom. I needed a La Fort 1 and a sagittal split osteotomy.

I had the Surgery on the 29th of Dec. It was an overnight stay at the hospital, having people wake you up every 2 hour for vitals, having the alarms on the IV pump go off every hour or so and then having the ice melt every hour I did not get much sleep. But at least I had pain meds.

This hurt more than I thought it would and drinking is very hard. My jaw is banded shut. I am drinking by taking sips from a spoon, I feel like a little kid again having my mom feed me meds and trying to use a sippy cup to drink. I can not use a straw. That and I can not feel my lips so drooling is a large problem.

Tigress’ Can Jam

2009-12-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

I joined Tigress’ Can Jam. I will be canning something as least once a month.

S J Tucker song

2009-11-26T07:53:00.001-08:00

<a href="http://music.skinnywhitechick.com/track/were-owl">Were-owl by SJ Tucker</a>

Jam making on Sunday

2009-11-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

Lets see I made plum almond jelly, spiced plum and walnut jelly, plum jelly, three batches of mixed fruit jam and two batches of cranberry sauce. I was tired after all of that. The Plum jelly did something funky. It was my first go at jelly and I think that I boiled it to hard.

Ilona Andrews' new book is out

2009-09-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ilona Andrews has a new book at. YAAAaaaa!!!!! It is called On The Edge and is not part of her Kate Daniels series. I am so excited.

Plum Pepper Jam

2009-09-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is a sweet and spicy jam. How hot the jam is depends on what kind of peppers you use. This goes well on chicken and pork. It is good with eggrolls. When mixed with cream cheese it makes a decent dip.

Plum Pepper Jam
3 1/4 cups finely chopped plums
1 1/2 cups chopped green or red peppers
1/2 cup chopped jalapeno peppers
2 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups cider vinegar
1 box low sugar pectin

In a 8 quart sauce pot stir in plums, peppers and vinegar.

Measure the sugar into a separate bowl. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and box of low sugar pectin in a small bowl.

Stir pectin-sugar mixture into fruit in sauce pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.

Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in remaining sugar quickly. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam.

Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Cover, bring water to gentle boil. Process jams 10 minutes. Adjust processing time according to Altitude chart. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars seal, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. If the lip springs back, lit is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.

Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Store unopened jam in cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year.

Peach Pepper Jam

2009-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

This is a jam that can have as little to as much heat as you want. It all depends on what type of peppers you use. It goes well with chicken and pork. Great on crackers. If mixed with cream cheese it makes an excellent dip.

Peach Pepper Jam
2 1/4 cups peeled and finely chopped peaches
1 1/2 cups chopped green or red peppers
1/2 cup chopped jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cider vinegar
1 box low sugar pectin

In a 8 quart sauce pot stir in peaches, peppers and vinegar.

Measure the sugar into a separate bowl. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and box of low sugar pectin in a small bowl.

Stir pectin-sugar mixture into fruit in sauce pot. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.

Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in remaining sugar quickly. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam.

Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Cover, bring water to gentle boil. Process jams 10 minutes. Adjust processing time according to Altitude chart. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars seal, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. If the lip springs back, lit is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.

Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Store unopened jam in cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year.

a reading meme

2009-09-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

We encourage you to be creative with this! Please choose one or two questions to answer or try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Or choose a picture to answer a question! Brevity is the goal of today!

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Dog-ear, some times bookmark
Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Not anymore, used to be popcorn
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
The Non-fiction yes, fiction no.
Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
Yes, it depends.
Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Anywhere, any time
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
I have 3 bookcases for paperbacks and 3 bookcases for hardbacks. They are then organized by author's last name.

Tuesday with Dorie

2009-03-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

This week Lyb of And then I do the dishes- chose Chocolate Armagnac Cake - The Cake That Got Me Fired.

I will be a little late, this week was just not conductive to cooking. I got my eyes dilated yesterday and well they stayed that way until bed time, 4-6 hours my foot. Today I had my first meeting with an oral surgeon. It turns out that I will need both upper, Le Fort I Osteotomy and lower, Mandibular Sagittal Split Osteotomy jaw surgery. I will meet with 2 more surgeons later this month.

My lower jaw is to short, I have been unhinging my jaw to talk, eat, yawn and many other things. I knew that my lower jaw would need to be moved forward but the fact that my top teeth do not touch in the right places was a surprise. I can get one to touch right but the other does not touch at all and vice a versa.

The part that will be tha most fun is that for six weeks after the surgery I will have to change my diet. To start for the first few weeks I will be on a liquid diet, then a very soft food diet working my way up to cruncy foods. I am sure that at the end of that I will really want some nachos. The good thing is that this will not be happening for a few months to a year.

As a bright and shiny distraction I have the quilt I finshed last month for my neice's birthday.

Tuesday with Dorie - Caramel Crunch Bars

2009-02-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

Whitney of What’s left on the table? chose Caramel Crunch Bars, or really her children did. This was a very easy recipe. Instead of using the 9 by 13 pan I used 2 tart pans. One I used chocolate butterscotch chips on and the other has a crushed up butterfinger with what chocolate chips I had left. I did end up adding 2 tablespoons of milk to the base, it was very crumbly.

Tuesday with Dorie - Berry Surprise Cake

2009-01-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

This week Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen chose Berry Surprise Cake. Which did not want to play nice with me. I tried to make it twice. The first time it just did not rise and the second in rose and then fell all the way. This is a cake where I have a feeling that the altitude that I live at played a factor in. 6062 feet is just a little high and this tend to make some my baking a little different. I ended up using what I had in a few trifles. Which went over well at the parties I went to last week.

Tuesday with Dorie - French Pear Tart

2009-01-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

This special three kings day version of Tuesday with Dorie was Chosen by the author herself… Dorie Greenspan has chosen the French Pear Tart. This tart was very good. If you were to make it all in one day a little time consuming but I did a little for the last few nights so it was not that bad. The recipe had me do some new things for me. I poached pears and made almond cream for the first time. Poaching the pears was not near as hard as I thought that it would be. I used the left over syrup in a muffin recipe as the liquid. For the glaze I used some peach jam.

Tuesday with Dorie -Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

2009-01-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

Well this is just a week late. Last week, December 30: Anne of AnneStrawberry chose Tall and Creamy Cheesecake. Wow this was a good basic cheesecake recipe. This is a recipe that you can do a lot of things with. I just changed the crust, I used Oreo cookies, this was fun. The cake did not last more than 2 days. My brother and I had a small piece and then I took the rest to work where it did not last after lunch. Everyone like cheesecake, the pieces take were fairly large.

Cookie Exchange

2009-01-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

I got some very good Scandinavian Christmas Nougats from Siri, the Transplanted Baker. With them was some black liquorice and a very cute ornament. Well the Nougat is disappearing fairly fast, by the time I got the picture two and a half pieces were gone. Wow this is good. I liked the liquorice but my brother did not.

Thank You! Batter-Splattered for holding this.

Tuesday with Dorie the Cookie edition

2008-12-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

December 2: noskos of Living the Life chose Linzer Sables

December 9: Ulrike of Küchenlatein chose Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

December 16: Heather of Randomosity and the Girl chose Buttery Jam Cookies

I have to say that I am not that good at making cookies, I generally can make the dough OK but the baking of the cookies mostly goes wrong for me. The Buttery Jam Cookies came out the best. I used cranberry jam and they come out a little biscuit like. I will most definitely make them again.

Linzer Sables Cookies these were the cookies that really went wrong. I think that they needed some more moisture, the dough was very dry. I padded out half of the dough and spread some more of the cranberry jam and sprinkled the rest of the dough on top. After cooling I cut the cookies as if they were bar cookies. They tasted good but in no way looked like what they should have.

Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies taste great but I had trouble rolling and cutting them out. In the end I just rolled them into a log and sliced them. They did take twice as long to cook.

I am glad that I am done with cookies for a while.

Dorie will be late

2008-12-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

Back up computers! Especially if there is irreplaceable info on it. That and you can buy a 1 Tera bit external hard drive at best buy.

Canned Cranberry Sauce recipe

2008-12-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

When I went to my Sisters for Thanksgiving I sent apple and peach pie filling and 3 jars of canned Cranberry Sauce that I had made. The cranberry sauce went over well, there was none of the three jars left, and my sister wanted the recipe so I thought that I would put it here so that I could reference it later if need be. It was partly taken from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, one of the best canning books I have.

Cranberry Sauce - Whole Berry
Yield about 6 pints
8 cups cranberries
4 cups sugar
4 cups water
zest of a lemon or an orange
2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 to 1 cup of crystallized ginger, this depends in how much of a zing you want

Wash and sort cranberries
Combine sugar and water in a large saucepot. Boil 5 minutes.
Add cranberries. Continue boiling, without stirring, until the skins burst. Lower temp to low.
Add the zest, ground ginger and crystallized ginger. Stir, smash cranberries with potato masher until the texture you like.
I tend to have to cook the cranberry sauce for 30-40 minutes to get the constancy that I like. Just stir every once and a while.

Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

I had to add another 15 minutes for altitude. I am at 6038 ft, just over 6000ft.

Bookmarked Recipes - Crockpot Peanut (Not Brittle) Candy

2008-12-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

This weeks Bookmarked Recipe is from A Year Of CrockPotting who has a very cool website, I have been looking to make some of her stuff, I needed thank you gifts for spending the night at relatives so I started with Crockpot Peanut (Not Brittle) Candy. I made it the day before I left, it was very easy and most everyone liked it, the only person who did not like it does not like chocolate.

I tended to call it nut candy. I made some changes and found out that this works much better cooling on silicon or parchment paper than aluminum foil.
It stuck to the foil big time. As in I could not get any of it off.

Changes:
Added 2 cups more nuts, we like our nuts. I used half almonds and half peanuts.

After pouring out the candy to cool I sprinkled some chocolate chips and when they had melted I spread them out.

For one of them I had also added some dried cranberries. It gave the candy just that little something extra.

I will most definitely be making this again. Every one wanted the recipe, at the end of the week I had it mesmerized from writing it out so many times.

flight home pictures

2008-12-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Well I am home, Tuesday with Dorie will be a little late this week. I got home late. Seattle was wet and the Day after I got home, the day that I was going to the store it snowed all day and I got 6-7 inches of snow. Anyway here are some pictures I took an the flight home. The first one has the moon, Venus and Jupiter with a sunset.

Tuesday with Dorie - Arborio Rice Pudding

2008-11-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

This week Isabelle of Les gourmandises d’Isa chose Arborio Rice Pudding. As rice puddings go this was pretty good. I did get around having to stir and make sure the pudding did not burn by cooking this in my crockpot. The other change that I made was that I added another 1/4 cup of rice and some cinnamon. I put everything but the water in the crock pot and set it to high for 30 min and then set it to warm overnight. It was good the next day. I had some some warm for breakfast. For more pudding check out Tuesdays with Dorie.

Tuesday with Dorie - Kugelhopf

2008-11-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Well this went so fast that I could not get a picture. Thank you Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl for picking this recipe. Though I am still not sure how to say it. Over all this is not a recipe that I will make again, it was very time consuming and needed to be eaten soon ofter taking out of the oven. The next day will not work. I ended up using most of Sunday to make it and then got up at 3am to put it out for the final rise.

I did make a few changes. Because some many people were saying that it was a little bland I added 2 teaspoons of coconut extract and used dried blueberries instead of raisins. With the powdered sugar I also put some toasted coconut. It tasted pretty good.

For other takes on Kugelhopf take a look at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Tuesday with Dorie - Rugelach

2008-11-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

I want to say thank you to Grace of Piggy's Cooking Journal. She chose Rugelach for the recipe this week. I have never made these and thought that they would be very hard, but they were not. Which is not to say that I did not have any problems. Time is an issue, there are 2 sets of resting times and the dough did not play nice with me.

The picture on the left was the first half of the dough. When I rolled the dough out it stuck to the waxed paper. So I put it back into the fridge and then tried to roll the crescent shapes when the dough was cold. Breakage occurred. So the second half I made them into pinwheels and then chilled the dough in the freezer for an hour. This made it much easier to cut and I got more cookies out of the dough.

I used rehydrated apricots, cinnamon, sugar and mini chocolate chips for the filling. The dough was very light and buttery. For more Rugelach fun check out Tuesday with Dorie.

Tuesday with Dorie, Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-10-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

I Love Food 4 Thought chose Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes this week. Wow these were good. I did not think that they needed any topping. They also freeze well and defrost in time for lunch. For more spooky cupcakes visit Tuesday with Dorie. Many of the other people went with a Halloween theme.

Bookmarked recipes - Apple Pie Jam

2008-10-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

For my Bookmarked recipe this week I made Apple Pie jam. I got the recipe from Clumbusfoodie. I made 2 batches, one with the full amount of sugar and one with half of the sugar and low sugar pectin. For the second batch what I did was double everything but the sugar. This jam really does taste like apple pie. Now I can have some apple pie everyday on toast.

Tuesday with Dorie, Pumpkin Muffins

2008-10-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

These came out very good. Thanks Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp for picking this week's recipe! I love pumpkin muffins and these were one of the best that I have had. I did make a few changes; White Wheat Flour instead of all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup dried cherries and 1/4 cup dried currents instead of golden raisins, and no sunflower seeds. I like the taste of the currents, it is something different. The recipe made 18 muffins. I think that mini chocolate chips would have made them just a little bit better.

For more muffins check out Tuesdays with Dorie.

Garlic

2008-10-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yaaa! I got my garlic planted for next year. I would take a picture but well there is nothing to see right now.

First frost

2008-10-16T07:32:00.001-07:00

Well this morning I had scrape frost off my windshield for the first time this fall. I did make it to work on time though. Now I need to set aside another 5 minutes a morning for this. That and my furnace kicked in for the first time. Winter will be here soon.

oven

2008-10-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

To bake it helps if your oven works. Mine just gave up the ghost recently. I got a replacement range but when you use the oven part, even opening the door for the oven light there is a high pitch buzzing sound. I am having the Sear's repair guy come out and take a look at it soon.

Jamming Jelly Exchange

2008-10-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

Batter-Splattered hosted a very cool exchange, Jam or Jelly. I go a very tasty jar of Cocoa Fig Jam made by Neena in Georgia. This was very cool. Thanks!!!!

Sweet 100

2008-10-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Cakespy had a sweet 100 that I thought was cool I did add number 5. Most of the ones that I have not had I have not have not heard of.

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you’ve eaten!
3) Cross out any of them that you’d never ever eat.
4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your “To Do” List.
5) Italic the ones you have made

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and white cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars) and a non dairy version
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with clotted cream
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca “pearls”)
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon / mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake / Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Crème brûlée
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An “upside down” dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S’mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire’s Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

Grocery Shopping

2008-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

I admit I like to go grocery shopping. One reason is I a good at it. I went to Albertsons today and spent $8.57 and got a $5 coupon for my next visit. I got 5 cans of progresso soup, 6 yoplait yogurt, 2 yoplait YO plus 4 packets of yogurt, one 4 packet of activia yogurt, 2 pillsbury bread sticks and 2 green giant steamers corn. This was a good haul. What helped with this was www.coupons.com, the coupons from the Sunday paper, Money Saving Mom and smartsource.

Bookmarked Recipes - dried marinated tomatoes

2008-10-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

For Bookmarked Recipes this week I am going to tell you about one that I made a few weeks ago. Big Black Dog called it oven dried tomatoes. I did it in my old dehydrator, this is what killed it. My dehydrators do not tend to last that long, 2-4 years. After this last breakdown I went and bought a dehydrator with a 10 year warranty.

Any way on to the recipe. These tomatoes are so good. The only change that I made was that I dried my tomatoes to a crisp and for some of my later goes I used less oil. It did not need that much I think. I am planing on giving some of these away as part of my Three Kings Day gifts. The tomatoes are good broken up and put on salads or pasta. My favorite right now is powdering the tomatoes and then rehydrating with hot water to make a very tomatoe soup.

How many of you are they?

2008-10-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

http://howmanyofme.com/search/

I found this amusing, there is only one of me in the US. My last name is that uncommon. There fewer than 335 people with my last name in the US. Well I aways knew that I am unique.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
1
or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Quilting Christmas projects

2008-10-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

This year I hope to finish 2 quilts and a number of bags. I have the the blocks done for one of them. It is for one of my neices, she like purple and used to like pink, until she had her room painted bright pink.

I also finished my first Bow Tucks Bag. I ended up doing the pattern much different than how the patter was written. I took it as a class, the teacher rewrote the pattern to make it easer and less bulky. It also was fairly quick to make. This was the first time that I have worked with interfacing, this was interesting. I like how the inner pockets came out.

work hours

2008-10-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

I get to chose what hours I work and can not decide, 7am to 3:30pm or 7:30- 4pm or maybe 8am to 4:30 pm. Right now I am thinking that I might pick the 7am to 3:30pm. This way I have time for appointments after work and do not have to take time off during work. The question is can I get in at 7am.

Diabetes, I has it.

2008-08-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well this was not fun, I have known that I was pre-diabetic for 5 years or so. I have been taking metformin and having a fasting lab test every 3 months or so for the past few years. This morning I had a Dr's appointment and my ac1 level (glycated hemoglobin test, this shows the average blood sugar over the past 3 months) was over 6; this was not good. This was the highest it has ever been. The problem is that I am on meds and this should be lower.

So I am on a different med, need to excise more, have to check my blood sugar at least 3 times a day and need to change what I eat. Foods high in carbs are not a good idea. Only in very small amounts will they be allowed. Well Tuesday's with Dorie is out, so in Daring Bakers. I need to get this under control. I do not want to have to take insulin. It does not help that there is diabetes on both sides of my family.

Taste from Home Goodie Swap

2008-08-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

This was hosted by Megan of Meganscooking and April of Abbysweets. This was fun on both sides. I got to look around for local items that you will most likely not going to find many other places and I got a really cool box of stuff from Sleeping Bear in the Kitchen.

It took a while to find everything in the box. There is some many things to go Wow about. John sent Ice Wine, I am taking it on a quilt retreat that I am going to next month. Mustard from a microbrewery, Mrs Jones all purpose sauce, a very good conserve ( my brother and I have eaten half of it already), a vinaigrette, bistro sauce, pumpkin butter (I love pumpkin butter.), wine jelly that he made and some candy from his store. I am told that the mint fudge that John made was fabulous. It did not last more than 2 days. Thank you Megan and April for hosting this event and a large thanks to John for send this great box.

Tuesday With Dorie: Black and White Banana Loaf

2008-08-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

This week Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen picked Black and White Banana Loaf. I liked the concept of a marbled banana bread but this will not become my banana bread recipe. Problems is not the right work, I have a few complaints:

How much banana is 1 and a half bananas? (I tend to switch out the bananas with pumpkin or apple depending on who I make it for. At work there are a few people that are allergic to bananas.)

Do we really need that much butter? It came out very most but the top was very brown.

How full should I have filled the loaf pans? I was worried about spill over and did not fill them as much as I could have.

I doubled the recipe, I was using frozen bananas and it was easier to use 3 than 1 1/2. This made 2 loafs and 7 muffins. It was fun playing with the marbling. I even made one of the muffins half and half. I think that I use this technique next time I make banana bread, just with one of my other recipes.

No Daring Baking this month

2008-07-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

I just did not have the time. I was out of town for a few weeks and then I had some very busy on call weeks.

Click here for the Daring Bakers blogroll to see how the other the other cakes came out.

Tuesday with Dorie, Summer Fruit Galette

2008-07-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you Laurie of quirky cupcake for setting up Tuesday with Dorie. This has been fun and I have made many delicious things that I have never made before. Anyway this weeks recipe I chose this recipe because I like fruit deserts, this is the height of fruit season and this recipe did not have a picture. I went to the Farmers market a few blocks away and got some Apricots. For color I added some blueberries for color. This was an easy recipe, at the rate things are going I will be keeping extra pie crust in the freezer for this. Just defrost and add what fruit you have on hand.

Just to note chilled pie crust is not a suggestion, you need to have it cold or a cold area to work with. Otherwise it gets very soft and is hard to move to the cooking service. That is what happened to the large one I made. Leaking and tearing happened, Ohh but is tasted very good and did not last the night. My quilt group ate it all. This was not a dessert for looks but the taste more than makes up for it.

I added the rest of the custard mixture into some fruit and cooked it right beside the galette. It was good. When cooking the custard with fruit the fruit should be one that is not to juicy. I did this with berries, a little liquidy, and peaches, not bad. Depending on the fruit extra sugar maybe a good idea.

Dorie Greenspan's Summer Fruit Galette
from Baking From My Home to Yours

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough for a single crust, chilled
2-3 tablespoons jam or marmalade
about 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
Fresh summer fruit: about 10 apricots, 8-10 nectarines, 8 ripe but firm peaches, 8-10 firm plums or 2 stalks rhubarb
Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar, for dusting

For the Custard
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Getting Ready
Center rack in the oven and preheat to oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (see below) or a silicone mat.
To make it easier to move the pie dough onto the baking sheet, roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper ( in which case, you can use one of the rolling sheets to line the baking sheet) or wax paper or plastic wrap. Alternatively work on a well-floured surface, taking care to keep the dough moving by turning it and flouring the surface often.
Roll the dough into a large 1/8 inch thick circle. Using a pastry wheel or a paring knife, time the dough to a 13 inch diameter. Using a cake pan or a pot lid as a template and the tip of a bunt kitchen knife as a marker, lightly trace a 9 inch circle in the center of the dough- this is the area for the filling.
With the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula, spread some of the jam over the circle- how much will depend of the jam flavor you want. Sprinkle over the crumbs, adding a little more than 2 tablespoons if you think you’ve got particularly juicy fruit. Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over the dough and refrigerate it while you prepare the fruit.
Wipe the apricots, nectarines or plums clean with a damp towel and cut in half; discard the pits. Blanch peaches for 10 seconds in a pot of boiling water, transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool, then slip off the skins. Halve and pit the peaches or peel rhubarb to remove the strings, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
Arrange the fruit on the dough, cut side down if using stone fruits, then gently lift the unfilled border of dough up and onto the filling. As you lift the dough and place it on the filling, it will pleat. If you’re not in a rush, freeze the galette for 15 minutes to give the crust a rest.
Brush the dough very lightly with a little water, then sprinkle it with a teaspoon or two of sugar. Bake galette for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the fruit is soft.

Meanwhile, make the custard
Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl; set aside until needed.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven (leave the oven on), and carefully pour the custard around the fruit. Depending one how much juice has accumulated and how much space you have between the fruit, you may not be able to pour all the custard into the galette, but even 2 tablespoons can give the right effect. Pour in as much custard as you can, then carefully return the pan to the oven.
Bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the custard is set- it shouldn’t jiggle when you gently shake the pan. Cool the galette on the baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes.
Very carefully slide a small baking sheet or cake lifter under the galette and slip the galette onto a rack to cool. The galette can be served when it is just warm or- my preference- when it has reached room temperature. Dust with confectioners; sugar just before serving.

Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough

For a 9 inch Single Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 sticks very cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp size pieces

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing- what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 tbsps of the water- add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a work surface. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling (if your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge).

Tuesday With Dorie - Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

2008-07-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

This week on my adventures with Dorie Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake selected Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. In Many ways this was an interesting cobbler recipe. It is like most cobblers but the mix is different. I would not thought of Cherry and Rhubarb together and putting ginger in the topping would have never occurred to me. I only wish that she had cups of fruit listed instead of pounds. I do not have a kitchen scale so I had to guess on how much fruit to use. I have a feeling that I was off.

This cherry pitter that I got a few years ago at Goodwill was a life saver. It only took 10 minutes to pit 3 cups of cherries. I only use it maybe once a year but for only $2 it was a good buy. Rhubarb season is over for now here but I had dehydrated some when they where in season. I rehydrated around a cups worth.

The cobbler came out a little on the tart side. I like it that way but if I was making it for a potluck I think that I would add just a little more sugar and decease the amount of ginger in the topping. The fruit to topping was a little to much on the topping side. It needed more fruit. I made the biscuits as drop biscuits so after it was all together I just dropped the biscuits onto the fruit by the spoonful. I think that I will use this topping for the next cobbler that I make except I might use cinnamon instead of ginger or maybe cardamon.

For more cherry cobbler goodness visit Tuesday With Dorie. Next week I got to chose and I picked the Summer Fruit Galette on pages 366 - 367. So I will see you then.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Mint Chocolate Pudding non dairy

2008-07-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

This week Melissa from Its Melissas Kitchen has picked Chocolate Pudding. Well this was the first pudding that I have ever made from scratch. I have always used instant. It was a good pudding. It does need to set in the fridge for the full 4 hours though. I will most likely make this again but in the winter. It was hot to make and made my kitchen even hotter. The skin forms very fast.

Changes made to recipe : I used vanilla soy milk instead of milk, earth balance instead of butter and a non dairy chocolate. When you heat up the milk I added 20 crushed mint leaves and then strained them out when you add the milk to the egg mixture. It gave the pudding a mild mint flavor.

They soy substitutes worked well, you could not tell the difference between this and a dairy version. What is very important though is to use good chocolate. I used Safeway's Organic chocolate chips. It is the to easiest non dairy chocolate to find and they taste pretty good.

For more takes on chocolate pudding check out Tuesday's with Dorie. Some people made it into Ice Cream and there were also some chocolate pies happening.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

2008-07-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie Amy of South in Your Mouth selected Double Crusted Blueberry Pie. This was an interesting recipe because I was debating on whether or not to make this. Blueberries are expensive here and I do not care for blueberry pie. What made me try it was the pie crust, I have not made many and this one was different from the ones I have made in the past. The crust came out flaky and buttery. I liked it. I did have some trouble rolling out the crust. I think that I may have added just a little to much water, it kept sticking to everything. That and it was warm.

I made three small hand pies. for the filling I used rhubarb, I have lots right now, some frozen blueberries and a little bit of sugar. Instead of bread crumbs I used some gram crackers. It soaked up the juice nicely.

For more pies check out Tuesdays with Dorie, some people went and did the coolest things with pie.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Apple Cheddar Scones

2008-07-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you Karina of The Floured Apron, she chose Apple Cheddar Scones for the recipe this week. It came out well and I got to use my scone pan for the first time. I did the butter part the same way I do biscuits. Melt the butter and then add in the other wet ingredients cold. This makes the butter clump up a little bit. Then you add in the dry stuff and plop into the pan and cook as the recipe says. The cheese flavor was very faint put I liked the texture of the apples.

For more scone just visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

Bookmarked recipe Egg Salad with Dill

2008-07-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

This week for my Bookmarked recipe is a new one but was very good. Wow, I found an egg salad recipe that I like. Thank you Pages, Pucks and Pantry. I have been trying for a few years. Now I just need a pesto recipe I like. The only thing that I changed was to use less mustard and cut out the onions. This recipe is going into my recipe book.

Tuesday with dorie will be a little late

2008-07-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

I went to make it this morning and the only cheese that I had was very moldy. So this will happen after work today.

Bookmarked reicpe for the week- Strawberry Lemonade Bars

2008-06-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

This week I made Strawberry Lemonade Bars, these are from Baking Bites. This was a very easy fast recipe. I love my food processor. It look longer to cook than anything else. I did make one change. I used earth balance instead of butter. I was taking it to knitting and there are some people there who can not have milk products.

Daring Bakers June - Danish Pastery

2008-06-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

This month Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking’ chose this Danish Braid. I really like the recipe and look forward to making it again. For more versions of this recipe visit the Daring Baker’s blog roll, here.

This is a recipe that needs rest time so that needs to be planed for. I forgot the 5 hour rest time so this was a little late. I used a peach rhubarb mix for the filling. It came out great. I forgot how nice an egg wash looks. Doing the bit with the butter makes me want to try making croissants. It is close to the same process. I might make this dough every once in a while and keep in the freezer.

DANISH DOUGH

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients

For the dough (Detrempe)

1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup whole milk

1/3 cup sugar

Zest of 1 orange, finely grated

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

2 large eggs, chilled

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH

Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

BUTTER BLOCK

1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.

2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING

Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients

4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID

Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients

1 recipe Danish Dough (see above)

2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (I used Peach with a little rhubarb)

(optional)Cream Cheese on the bottom (From another Danish recipe in the same book)- combine ¾ lb. cream cheese, ¾ cup sugar, 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla and beat together until creamy and smooth.

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk1.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash

Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking

1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.

2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Tuesday with Dorie - Mixed Berry Cobbler

2008-06-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Beth of Our Sweet Life picked Mixed Berry Cobbler for the recipe this week. This was the first cobbler that I have ever made, for this kind of desert I normally make crisps. They go together faster. I made this is some small pot pie tins, this way I can freeze a few to eat later. They make a good size single serving.

Changes: I used 1/4 cup sugar instead of the 3 tablespoons and added in some powered vanilla in the topping. The fruit was some frozen blueberries, a few fresh strawberries and some rhubarb. The fruit layer was only fruit, I forgot to add anything else to it. I was so worried at getting the top right that I forgot until I took it out of the oven. The fruit was sweet enough that it did not need anything.

It was good with some ice cream. The topping absorbed the juice from the fruit fairly well. I am not sure if I will make this again, the crisp is much faster and I like the way the oatmeal is absorbed.

For more versions of this visit Tuesdays with Dorie.

First CSA Box for the year

2008-06-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

I got my First CSA Box for the year yesterday. I went with Grant Family Farms, they are all organic and I was able to get an egg share. I have a small share but there was a lot of stuff in it.

4 heads of lettuce, all different kinds
a large bunch of spinach
some garlic scapes, I love garlic scapes, they have a short season here so I was glad to see them
4 radishes, they were not the spicy kind which I liked
celery
onion
3 rhubarb stocks
1 large bunch of Cilantro, I am thinking of making some Cilantro pesto
and a dozen eggs

Bookedmarked recipe - Strawberry Pie

2008-06-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

This weeks Bookmarked recipe was an easy choice.

I had some extra strawberries and heavy cream so I made A Year From Oak Cottage's Triple Strawberry Cream Pie. Oh my gosh this was so good and took very little time to make. Instead of cooking the strawberries and then waiting I used some strawberry jam I had on hand. It took only 15 minutes to make. It was gone in just about the same time.

This week on Tuesday with Dorie it is the Peppermint Cream Puff Ring

2008-06-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Caroline of A Consuming Passion has chosen…Peppermint Cream Puff Ring. This is a pâte à choux type of pastry. Because of a Good Eats show that I saw a few years ago I had no trouble making the cream puffs. I put some cocoa powder into the dough trying for a chocolate base. It did not really have a chocolate taste. I made smaller puffs instead of the large ring because I took it to NICU and it is just easier for people to take one small puff than cut a piece.

I used Apple mint that I had growing in my front yard as the mint. It gave the cream a slight green tint. Apple mint is just one of the many kinds of mint out there. It grows better than some of the others here. The candy and chocolate mint did not come back this year.
I forgot to put in the cream fraiche. I looked every where for it and finally found some and then I forget to put it in, oh well. I finally located some cultured sour cream at the King Soopers, a big box grocery. The smaller fancy groceries did not have it. I found that funny. At least it did not cost much. I wonder how it would taste on tacos.

I kept every thing separate until the next day. I took them to work and then put them together. The chocolate did not quite come out the way I wanted it to but it tasted good. I melted semi-dark chocolate, some sugar and just a little water in the microwave. It just was not quite as shinny and smooth as I would have liked.

Tuesday with Dorie : La Palette’s Strawberry Tart

2008-06-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe was chosen by Marie of A Year in Oak Cottage. She went seasonal with La Palette’s Strawberry Tart. This was a very easy recipe. I took some the extra dough that I had in the freezer to make 2 small tartlets. I used some of the jam I made last night for the base and just some strawberries. No sugar needed.

For more Tarty fun check out other Tuesday with Dorie members, some even used other kinds of fruit and tart shells.

Meme

2008-06-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

I do not do these often so do not expect much.

What was I doing ten years ago?

I was in Community Collage in Spokane WA. I was in the Respiratory Therapist program, this was right before I figured out that I like working with the equipment more than the patients. The equipment does not tend to spit at you are need to be aspirated. Sometimes but not often. i worked at Boston Market at night and weekends.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

Get allergy shot, I misted last weeks do to the wisdom teeth removal
go to the gym
fix up crock pot for tomorrow
make dinner list for the next week
make grocery list, today is food add day

5 Snacks I enjoy:
Any fresh fruit
pop corn
cucumbers
tomatoes
chocolate

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Travel first class
visit family more often
not worry about bills as much
buy more books

Places I have lived:
San Deigo, CA
Seattle, WA
Bothell, WA
Atsugi Base Japan
Spokane, WA
Colorado Springs, CO

Jobs I have had:

Mini Mart Cashier/Stocker on base
Concession stand worker at an Arena, it was fun the hear the concerts for free and know how the hockey team was doing. Calling home for a ride and waiting smelling the Hostess factory, it was really good if they had just made Ding Dongs, is one of the memories that I have.
Food Service worker at Crater Lake OR.
Preschool Teacher
Biomedical Equipment Tech

And I just do not feel like taging anyone, it has been a long day. I am on call this week.

Tuesdays with Dorie : French Chocolate Brownies

2008-06-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is French Chocolate Brownies chosen by Di at Di's Kitchen Notebook.

These at first taste were not something that I would make again but after a while the taste grows on you. I do not think that this will be my brownie recipe of choice. Even though I used a scant 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon you can taste it. Instead of rum raisins I put in some blueberries. I am not a fan of raisins and do not have any rum in the house although at the rate things are going I might need to get some. I did like how the blueberries tasted in the brownies. The brownies where quick to go together but they took over a hour to cook.

French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Plums

2008-06-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

I have plums growing!! Yaa!!! My mother got me a 2 year old plum tree last year. It bloomed last month and now I have some teeny tiny plums growing. I am quite excited. I love that if I can keep the birds away I will be able to pick some plums right in my front yard in a few months.

Monday's Bookmarked Recipe: Chocolate Agave Layer Cake

2008-06-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

This Bookmarked Recipe is from Baking Bites. I alternated the chocolate agave cake with a yellow cake recipe I had. The chocolate cake was very good, moist with a nice chocolate flavor. It was better than the yellow cake. I used a buttercream frosting instead of the cream cheese. It was still very good a few days later. I had needed a cake for a class and did not get to eat any of it until 3 days had passed.

quick and easy pumpken bread

2008-06-02T13:03:00.001-07:00

This is a quick and easy pumpkin bread recipe. Well not really a recipe but a way of making pumpkin bread. Basically you take one can of pumpkin and one box of spice cake mix and use the instructions on the spice mix except replacing the oil and most of the water for pumpkin, add enough water to make up the difference.

The pumpkin bread comes out very soft and light. I also spray Pam instead of greasing the pan and sprinkle a cinnamon and sugar mixture instead of flour. It gives the bread an extra touch. Right before putting them into the oven I added a strudel topping to it.

Non dairy tapioca pudding

2008-05-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well with the eating very soft foods I made a non dairy tapioca pudding. To even make it better I made it with chocolate soy milk. I used Kraft minute tapioca and fallowed the recipe on the box except that I substituted the milk with Silk chocolate soymilk. Next time I make this I will be adding dried strawberries.

Tapioca Pudding

Prep Time:
10 min

Total Time:
35 min

Makes:
6 servings

2-3/4 cups 2% reduced fat milk

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. MINUTE Tapioca

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

MIX milk, sugar, tapioca and egg in medium saucepan. Let stand 5 min.

COOK on medium heat until mixture comes to full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool 20 min.; stir. Serve warm or chilled. (Pudding thickens as it cools. For creamier pudding, place plastic wrap on surface of pudding while cooling. Stir before serving.) Store leftovers in refrigerator.

raspberries

2008-05-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

My brother and I dug a three foot deep, four foot wide and 15 feet long to plant some raspberries. We dug that deep so the trench could be lined. It that is not done the raspberries will escape. In some places they are considered an invasive species and can not be planted at all. They only look like sticks right now, I should start to get raspberries next year. I miss going out to the back yard in the summer and just picking a eating them out of hand. I had to wait until I bought a house to do this. Next year these should look a lot better.

I also have some rhubarb growing in their second year. I should be able to harvest some this fall. This is there second year. I had to movie them last year, to much afternoon sun and not enough water. Now they get some morning sun and I set up some drip irrigation for them this year.

Wisdom Teeth

2008-05-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well mine are gone now. I had all three wisdom teeth taken out today. Now that the Novocaine has worn off OUCH! I did not take the pain med soon enough. Normally I take it right when the Novocaine starts to fade. I am planing on soft soups and puddings to a while.

Daring Bakers - May -Opera Cake

2008-05-28T05:46:00.000-07:00

This month's recipe was defiantly daring. This month's challenge is an Opera Cake, brought to us by none other than the Daring Bakers founders, Ivonne, of Cream Puffs in Venice, and Lis, of La Mia Cucina. And since the group is so large now, there are two more helpers - Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea at Whiskful. To make it even a little more Daring no dark colors was allowed. This is a cake of many parts, joconde (cake), soaking syrup, buttercream, ganache, mousse, and glaze.

Everything but the glaze worked for me this time. I went with Strawberry and lime as the flavors; Strawberry syrup, lime buttercream, strawberry mousse and strawberry glaze. This was a 2 day processes. Finding a strawberry mousse recipe that did not use gelatin took a while. I went with strawberry's because they where on sale. They also helped make it not to sweet, without them it would have been just a little bit to much.

To see even more versions of this cake just visit the Daring Bakers'. There are some very cool cakes out there.

Tuesday With Dorie: Sticky Buns

2008-05-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Wow this was a really good recipe. I am glad that Madam Chow chose it. It was not to sweet and so good warm. I used slivered almonds instead of pecans, that is what I had. Just a note, this takes forever to rise. It did have some oven spring. The butter made it hard to roll out and patch holes. I think that I will try this with my normal dough but use Dorie's filling and glaze. I did cheat a little I used my bread machine to make the dough.

Before going into the oven to rise

After coming out of the oven

For more Sticky Bun goodness go to Tuesday With Dorie.

Bookmarked reicpe : Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2008-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

As a way to make me cook some more and cook some of the recipes that I have been saving forever I am try to do the bookmarked recipe group.

To start easy I did a pie. This was one of those hey I have everything and I want to get rid of the pie crusts sort of recipe. A year from oak cottage writes some really good reicpes. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie just sounds good and this is the kind with a custard mixing with the fruit. This one is going in my keeper file. I did end up adding in some apples, I was a short on strawberries and had an apple in the fridge. I did end up with just a little to much of the egg part, that is what ran over the sides of the pie. It was great with Ice Cream.

Tuesday with Dorie

2008-05-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

This week Tara of Smells Like Home has chosen Traditional Madeleines. To see the madeleines visit Tuesdays With Dorie. Well I do not have a pan and I do not think that I would use it enough to buy one. So I went back and made one of the recipes that I had not done. I chose the Orange Berry Muffins. I needed snacks for the week and had a lot of egg yolks to use up. It was good I think that is was missing a little something though. This was a very easy quick recipe. They freeze well and if you put the frozen one in you lunch box they are defrosted by snack time.

Orange Berry Muffins

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

About 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries–fresh preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds of a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough–the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be.Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully bakes, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Bookmarked recipe Chocotofu Pudding

2008-05-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

Other People's Food had a recipe that I have wanted to try for a while, Chocotofu Pudding. This is a recipe that I have been wanting to try for a while. It took less than 5 minutes to make, most of the time was melting the chocolate. With the cleaning up it took longer to make and clean than to eat. While the chocolate was melting in the microwave I used my new food processer to mix up the tofu.

Chocolate Soy Surprise Pudding
from the July issue of Taste For Life, a magazine supplement of Healthy Foods & Healthy Ways natural foods store.
c/o http://cooknkate.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/mmmmmpudding/#more-895

1 container silken firm tofu
1/2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
1/2 c. maple syrup
1 T. natural vanilla

Melt chocolate over low heat, a double boiler or in the microwave.

In food processor, blend tofu smooth, scraping sides as needed. Add in syrup and vanilla, blend to mix well. Add melted chocolate all at once, and blend to mix well, scraping if needed. Pour into a bowl and chill. Serve with fruit, angel food cake or by itself.

The chilled texture of this is similar to fine truffles. It is thick, dense and firm. Soften in the microwave before eating if you prefer.

235 cal/ serving; 6 g. protein; 37 g. carbohydrates; 2 g. fiber; 11 g. total fat(5 sat, 5 mono, 1 poly) 9 mg. sodium

Florida Pie

2008-05-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe that made me relies that I do not like lime pie. I loved the Coconut meringue and the coconut base but I did not care the lime layer at all. I put some coconut on top before I broiled it and I like the look. The coconut base took at least 20 minutes to cook. I am not sure that it was done to the right thickness.

Florida Pie Recipe

1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, separated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Tuesday with Dorie - Peanut Butter Torte

2008-05-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food has chosen Peanut Butter Torte. This was a very sweet peanut buttery treat. I used Peanut Butter Oreos for the crust and That cam out very good, it gave just a little peanut butter flavor to the crust. I did have one problem though you Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside. at the start of the reicpe and They are not mentioned again. I put them in when I did the cream cheese. A little peice goes a long way and I am told that goes well with coffee.

Peanut Butter Torte

1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Crape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.

To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.

Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.

Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.

When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tuesday with Dorie, Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

2008-04-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie Elizabeth from Engineer Baker chose Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake which is something that I would not have picked on my own. Finding figs for this was kind of funny, I ended up at the Natural food store, for some reason the other supermarkets that I went to no longer sell figs. I could not find Kadota figs so I went with Mission. I halved the recipe which was a little interesting, 3/4 cup halved is 6 tablespoons. I did end up cooking it for 15 minutes longer.

Taste: Very sweet, cornmeal taste but not the crumbliness of cornmeal, nice fig taste with the crunches from the seeds. I had one piece and then kept sneaking little slivers.

This will most likely be the only time that I will make this. I just do not use ricotta. I got the smallest size and still have allot left over. The cake that I making latter this week, I think that I will use the ricotta instead of the butter. I think that I may try this again with sour cream and see what happens.

I cut up what was left and froze it for snacks later this week.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed
1 c. medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal
½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. ricotta
1/3 c. tepid water
¾ c. sugar
¾ c. honey (if you’re a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine, or buckwheat)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the Pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.

Daring Bakers April

2008-04-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

This month on Daring Bakers Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms chose Cheesecake Pops. This is a really good cheesecake recipe. I love it, I used the lemon extract instead of vanilla. It did take longer to cook, like 30 minutes longer. I do think that making it into a pop was not easy, it did not want to mold. The chocolate was something that some people liked and some people did not like. I did have to cut up the pops to eat. They were bigger than a mouthful.

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Bill's Big Carrot Cake

2008-04-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

This week on Tuesday with Dorie Amanda from of slow like honey chose Bill's Big Carrot Cake. This is a very good carrot cake recipe. It is now my to go for carrot cake recipe. The funny thing is as I was putting the cake together I noticed that there was no butter. The last few recipes all have had lots of butter. I substituted some of the oil with carrot juice, it worked well. For the filling I used Nuttela, which was really good. I need to practice cake decorating. It did not look good so that is where the coconut came in handy. Finding 3 pans was a little funny, I used a large deep dish pie pan I have as the third pan. It work OK, not great. The next time I make this I think that I will just make what is left over into cupcakes.

Bill's Big Carrot Cake

Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

½ cup shredded coconut (optional)

Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:

Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:

This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:

The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Weather in Colorado

2008-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Weather in Colorado is fun. Last week we had a 70 degree day followed by snow.

Robot Army

2008-04-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

I fix medical equipment at a hospital. I check in new equipment. So here is the robot army I checked in a few weeks ago.

Tuesday with Dorie: Mashmallows

2008-04-15T09:37:00.001-07:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie Judy's Gross Eats picked Mashmallows.

Umm This is one of the recipes that I just did not care for. They were not hard to make but I just did not care for the taste and texture. The only thing that I use marshmallows for is hot cocoa so I made these more for the experience than the eating. I am going to make them into frosting for some cranberry rolls I am making latter this week.

That said they were not hard to make. I did do a playing around version and added some cranberry puree. It just gave it a faint taste. What the syrup did on the sides of the bowl was cool, made me think of cotten candy.

Makes about 1 pound marshmallows

About 1 cup potato starch (found in the kosher foods section of supermarkets) or cornstarch

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 1/4-ounce packets unflavored gelatin

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

3/4 cup cold water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

GETTING READY: Line a rimmed baking sheet -- choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high -- with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch.Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup -- without stirring -- until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites.

In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquefy it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy -- don't over beat them and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl. Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won't fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups). Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They'll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you'll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you'd like -- into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they're cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you've got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

SERVING: Put the marshmallows out and let everyone nibble as they wish. Sometimes I fill a tall glass vase with the marshmallows and put it in the center of the table -- it never fails to make friends smile. You can also top hot chocolate or cold sundaes with the marshmallows.

STORING: Keep the marshmallows in a cool, dry place; don't cover them closely. Stored in this way, they will keep for about 1 week -- they might develop a little crust on the outside or they might get a little firmer on the inside, but they'll still be very good.

Playing Around

RASPBERRY MARSHMALLOWS: Fruit purees are excellent for flavoring these candies.For raspberry marshmallows, you'll need a generous 1/3 cup of puree; reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon. After the batter is mixed, gently fold in the puree with a rubber spatula. You can use the same measurements and technique for other purees, such as strawberry, mango and passion fruit.

CAPPUCCINO MARSHMALLOWS: Sift 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon together into a small bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and mix until smooth. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon, and add it to the espresso mix. After you add the sugar syrup and gelatin to the meringue, beat in the espresso mixture and continue.

LIGHT CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS: Melt 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon, and after the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the chocolate mixture with a large rubber spatula.

PUMPKIN SPICE MARSHMALLOWS: Whisk together 1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground allspice. After the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the spiced pumpkin with a large rubber spatula.

Sock It To Me Sock Twice Swap

2008-04-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

I got my Socks Yaaa!!!! They fit perfectly and are warm, it has been a little cold here lately. I am wearing them right now.
They came with some very cool yarn, Lavender soap, lotion, lavender scents and black licorice.

Thank You Cindy!

Tuesdays with Dorie, The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

2008-04-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Starting from scratch. She choose The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart. Well this one of those two step recipes, part one the tart crust and then the lemon cream.

Well to start with I needed to find a tart pan. Luckily Chef's Catalog was having a warehouse sale and I got a apple shaped pan for $3. The dough recipe came out ok, I think that it may have needed just a little more flavor, next time I think that I will use vanilla sugar. I did end up cooking the edges a little to much, when she says to cover the tart make sure that the foil is on tight. There was a little dough left over so I made a small one in a cupcake cup. It tasted so good.

On the lemon cream I ended up using less butter, after I started to get everything together I noticed that I was short 5 tablespoons of butter. It came together very well. It did not come out as yellow as I thought it would. It did take a while to get the eggs up to temp. This is a recipe that I will not make in the summer. I got hot whisking the eggs, it took over 15 minutes to get to temp. I could not stop licking the bowl, spoon, food processor parts and spatula.

This tasted so good. I used the left over lemon cream on toast. It was so hard not to just eat the rest with a spoon.

The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
¾ cup fresh lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (10 ½ ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature
1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough (p.444), Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts (p.444) or Spiced Tart Dough (p.447), fully baked and cooled

Getting Ready: Have an instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.
Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. as you whisk – you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling – you’ll see that the cream will start out light an foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point – the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don’t stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience – depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.
As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going – to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to blend the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (The cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days or, tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.)

When you are ready to assemble the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell. Serve the tart, or refrigerate until needed.

Sweet Tart Dough
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon ( 9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolkPut the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients an pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in – you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each – until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change – heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that may have escaped mixing.

To Press the Dough into the Pan: butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy-handed – press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To Partially or Fully Bake the Crust: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).

To Fully Bake the Crust: Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. (I dislike lightly baked crusts, so I often keep the crust in the over just a little longer, if you do that, just make sure to keep a close eye on the crust’s progress – it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash.) Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To Patch a Partially or Fully Baked Crust, If Necessary: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the bake crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just the take the rawness off the patch.

Hugo books and worldcon

2008-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I joined Worldcon this year because it was in Denver, just over 60 miles away. With this I will be able to read most of the books nominated to free. Ya!!!! Very unexpected. I can also get most of the Short Stories, Novellas and Noveletts for free as well.

This is very cool.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Gooey Chocolate Cake

2008-03-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, this was a very chocolate tasting but I did not get the gooey center. Which was just fine with me. I was a little worried about it. I did goof in a few ways. I did not think and did not realize until after that there is no leavening agents. So I did not fill the cupcake pan enough. They are very small. The other thing I did was cook it 2 minutes longer than the recipe called for. I wanted the center moist and not gooey and it came out perfect. I can not wait to try one of the left over ones tomorrow for snack. I used chocolate chips instead of the chocolate blocks. 5 oz is 2/3 cup. This recipe makes 6 cupcakes.
The cake the next day tastes like the brownie bits. Oh it is so good!

Gooey Chocolate Cake

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon salt

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,

4 ounces coarsely chopped,

1 ounce very finely chopped

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Daring Bakers March

2008-03-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

For Daring Bakers March recipe it was the Perfect Party Cake by Dorie Greenspan from Baking from My Home to Yours. Oh my gush this recipe was so good. I am most definitely making it again. The buttercream came out wonderful, a little more would have been nice. The cake tasted great and every one who had a piece loved it.

Things I learned:
I can make buttercream without it curdling
I would use cake pans, the next day I used the egg yolks and one of the pans to make the Flan.
Layer cakes are not that hard to make, the most time consuming part was waiting for the cake to cool.
I really need to go to a cake decorating class, my mother could not handle the way I was doing it and took over
Coconut covers a multitude of mistakes.
Cutting the cake in half and level is harder than it looks on TV.

PERFECT PARTY CAKE
Courtesy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250).

Words from Dorie
Stick a bright-coloured Post-it to this page, so you’ll always know where to turn for a just-right cake for any celebration. The original recipe was given to me by my great dear friend Nick Malgieri, of baking fame, and since getting it, I’ve found endless opportunities to make it – you will too. The cake is snow white, with an elegant tight crumb and an easygoing nature: it always bakes up perfectly; it is delicate on the tongue but sturdy in the kitchen – no fussing when it comes to slicing the layers in half or cutting tall, beautiful wedges for serving; and, it tastes just as you’d want a party cake to taste – special. The base recipe is for a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam and filled and frosted with a classic (and so simple) pure white lemony hot-meringue buttercream but, because the elements are so fundamental, they lend themselves to variation (see Playing Around), making the cake not just perfect, but also versatile.

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour (updated 25 March)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Fresh Berry Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.

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Tuesday with Dorie: Caramel Topped Flan

2008-03-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie A Whisk and a Spoon made a very cool choice of Caramel Topped Flan as the recipe. I always thought that flan was hard to made so I never tried. It is pretty easy to make and took less than on hour. When it is flipped over the effect is just so cool.

I used soy milk and soy cream for the recipe and it came out great. I am making it for knitting guild and there are some non-dairy people there and this worked out very well.

However I had some set backs and some set forwards.

Set forwards: I had some egg yolks, I needed some egg whites the night before and had some egg yolks left over.

I had a round cake pan. I was borrowing one for something else and it worked so well that I think that I might go out and buy some.

Set backs: I got paged into work 5 minutes before it should come out of the oven. I was able to wait and pull it out but is was close.

I was using soy milk products, this is always iffy they do not always work.

I used just a bit to much lemon juice in the caramel but that seems to have mellowed overnight.

For the Caramel

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp water

squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1-1/4 cups whole milk

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke. Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

Snow at Easter

2008-03-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

We have snow here this Easter.

Where Raisinets come from

2008-03-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Where Raisinets come from.

Bent Objects

Happy Pie Day

2008-03-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

I made the Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake from Dorie's book again. It went over so well the first time. That and it does not really take that long to make. I had enough dough to make one large deep dish and 2 little personal pies. This is one of those pies that may not look pretty but tastes great.

Tuesdays, Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake

2008-03-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

I really like this weeks recipe. I did make some changes to the crust recipe. I used 1 stick of butter and the rest was some rehydrated applesauce that I had made last fall. Then I used vanilla sugar for the sugar. Everyone really liked the crust.

I used Granny Smith for the apples. There was very little juce which I liked. The way the recipe is you taste the apples. Next time I think that I will use a mix of apples. I will be making another one on friday for Pie Day.

Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake

For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I like to use Fuji, Golden Delicious and Ida Reds; my grandmother probably used dry baking apples like Cordland and Rome)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting

To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don't worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)

To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that's fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9x12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking shee tlined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it's a little more malleable, you've got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven's heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don't want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that's fine; if it doesn't that's fine too.

Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenely across the bottom.

Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you've got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don't have that much overhang, just press what you've got against the sides of the pan.)

Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.

Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You'll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.

Community Supported Agriculture

2008-03-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Well I did it, this year I joined a CSA. I kept track of what I bought at the farmers markets last year and this come out cheaper and goes longer, especially when you factor in the eggs. I am using Grant Farms. There are only a few in Colorado and very few that deliver near where I live.

If you want to see if there are any in your area www.localharvest.org is a good place to start.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Snickery Squares

2008-03-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

This week for Tuesdays with Dorie the recipe was Snickery Squares. This recipe just did not work for me. Part of the problem was most likely the fact that I did not do the part with the nuts, I can not eat them. I just did not care for the dulce de leche it did not seem to be as dark as in the picture. I wonder if I got the wrong kind.

I did like the crust. I think that I will use it for my Pie day pie. I am taking the squares to work, I am sure that they will all be gone by the end of the day.

Snickery Squares

For the Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

For the Filling:

½ cup sugar
3 TBSP water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
About 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche

For the Topping:

7 ounces bittersweet, coarsely chopped
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature

Getting Ready:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 8 inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To Make the Crust:

Toss the flour, sugar, powdered sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds-stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

To Make the Filling:

Have a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon and a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.
Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. Toss the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white—keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet., using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.
When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.
Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts.

To Make the Topping:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the rest of the peanuts. Slide the pan into the fridge to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.

Cut into 16 bars.

Books read in Feb

2008-03-01T08:58:00.001-08:00

Young Warriors Pierce/Sherman

Moon Fever Susan Sizemore, Maggie Shayne, Lori Handeland, Caridad Pineiro

Lord of the Night Robin Popp

The chains that you refuse Elizabeth Bear

Mystic’s Run Jory Strong

Crystal Dragon Sharon Lee

Phobos Ty Drago

Beyond the Dark Angela Knight, Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Diane Whiteside

Swimming without a net MaryJanice Davidson

A promise made Janet Miller

Beloved Enemy Janet Miller

Promises to keep Janet Miller

Harald David D. Friedman

The Wizard Hunters Martha Wells

The Gate of Gods Martha Wells

Darkness Falls Kyle Mills

Old Mans War John Scalzi

A passion for baking Goldman, Marcy

Year of the hyenas Geagley, Brad

The puzzling world of Winston Breen Berlin, Eric

A secret rage Harris, Charlaine

Like a Thief in the Night Bettie Sharpe

Court Appointed Annmarie McKenna

The Widowmaker Unleashed Mike Resnick

Manhunting Jennifer Crusie

Secret Rage Charline Harris

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen Eric Berlin

Welcome to Temptation Jennifer Crusie

Street Magic Tamora Pierce

The Wizard’s Shadow Susan Dexter

Trickster’s Queen Tamora Pierce

The Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing Linda La Belle

Khi to Freedom Ardath Mayhar

Witch and Wombat Carolyn Cushman

Sizzle and Burn Jayne Ann Krentz

Grimspace Ann Aguirre

Daring Bakers Feb

2008-02-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

Hello, For this month The Daring Baker's made Julia Child's French Bread. This was a time consuming recipe. I have to say as French breads go it was Ok. I prefer the recipe I go with my bread machine.

And now the pictures.

Before first rise.

Here they are just before the final rise, this took 3 hours.

It was fun getting both on one cookie sheet and into the oven.

It came out with a nice crust, the shape did not hold however. It tasted good though.

The crumb was not bad.

It went over well at the Potluck that I went to. Out of the 2 loaves this was what was left.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

2008-02-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

This week on Tuesdays with Dorie it is Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits.

This was one of my better goes at a kneaded biscuit. I have a tendency to over knead. It came out as a good plain biscuit. I think that it would work great as a base. It would not take much to make them savory or sweet. These would be good for strawberry short cake or cheese and ham. Next time I make it I think that I will add some dried currents and vanilla. I did not add the pecans, right now I can not eat them. I do not have a biscuit cutter so I used a pentagon cookie cutter. The biscuits split in half fairly easy.

I froze half of them to see how that would work and it just took an extra 5 minutes to cook. This worked well for me because there is only 2 people in my house and well eating 12 in one night is just a little much. I was able to make them as needed. This was nice.

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
(Makes about 12 biscuits)

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bow. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between-- and that's just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you've got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading-- 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don't worry if the dough isn't completely even-- a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits ca be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting-- just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

knitting

2008-02-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

I have been showing what I have been knitting because it was the socks for my sock pal. I just finished knitting them. I did this after waiting for my car's oil to be changed and in line to get a new membership for Costco. Yaa!!! Now I just need to pack the last box to go out in a few weeks.

Braces

2008-02-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Late last year I found out what was causes my TMJ. My lower jar is over 1/4 of an inch smaller than my upper jaw. Which meant that I was unhinging my jaw to eat and sometimes to talk. This has worn down the bones, one more than the other. To fix this I will need to have jaw surgery to lengthen my lower jaw. Before I get that I need to get the rest of my bite fixed. Which means braces. A few months from now I will also need to get my wisdom teeth taken out. At least I only have three.

Anyway I had spacers but in Thursday in preparation for the braces. I can not eat anything crunchy, or chewy. This will change what I eat most definitely. Right now is hurts to chew so I have been eating soups, shakes and the very soft parts of bread. Not fun. I am ordering a cookbook on foods that can be eaten while in braces. I imagine that after a few weeks that I will be able to eat more stuff, I have to relearn how to eat. I had to do this last year when I had a dental splint. So I was expecting it. It just hurts more than I thought.

Tuesdays with Dorie, Almost-Fudge Gâteau

2008-02-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays with Dorie

This was not hard at all to make. To me it came out as a fudge like brownie. It did taste better the next day. The fun part to me was unwrapping the chocolate, the bars looked like the chocolate from Willy Wonka with the gold foil. I did not think that the Almost-Fudge Gâteau needed the extra chocolate that the Glaze would have given. That and a little piece goes a long way. I cut them up into 1 inch squares and they went fast.

Almost-Fudge Gâteau

5 large eggs
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup of sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons coffee or water
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

For the Glaze (optional)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper, dust the inside of the pan with flour and tap out the excess. Place the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a mixer bowl or other large bowl and the yolks in a small bowl.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and add the chocolate, sugar butter and coffee. Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are melted; the sugar may still be grainy, and that's fine. Transfer the bowl to the counter and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, stir in the yolks one by one, then fold in the flour.

Working with the whisk attachment of the mixer or a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they hold firm, but glossy peaks. Using the spatula, stir about one quarter of the beaten whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest. Scrape the butter into the pan and jiggle the pan from side to side a couple of times to even the batter.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the cake has risen evenly (it might rise around the edges and you'll think it's done, but give it a few minutes more, and the center will puff too) and the top has firmed (it will probably be cracked) and doesn't shimmy when tapped; a thin knife inserted into the center should come out just slightly streaked with chocolate. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the cake rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Run a blunt knife gently around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. Carefully turn the cake over onto a rack and remove the pan bottom and the parchment paper. Invert the cake onto another rack and cool to room temperature right side up. As the cake cools, it may sink.

To Make the Optional Glaze:

First, turn the cooled cake over onto another rack so you'll be glazing the flat bottom, and place the rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper to catch any drips.

Put the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave oven – the chocolate should be just melted and only warm, not hot. Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a small sauce pan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir very gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Stir in the corn syrup.

Pour the glaze over the cake and smooth the top with a long metal icing spatula. Don't worry if the glaze drips unevenly down the sides of the cake – it will just add to its charms. Allow the glaze to set at room temperature or, if you're impatient, slip the cake into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. If the glaze dulls in the fridge, just give it a little gentle heat from a hairdryer.

Online cooking events

2008-02-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you every one who gave advice on what to do next time I use a spring form pan. I will be trying that recipe again. The reason that I even tried to make cheese cake was that there was on online group that did it. This helps when something goes wrong and for me allows me to try something new.

There are online cooking events for all different kinds of food. Here are a few that I am in or have thought about, this is by no means a complete list.

Weekly
The Presto Pasta Night round up every Friday
http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/

Every week something from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

Monthly

Weekend Cookbook Challenge
http://weekendcookbookchallenge.blogspot.com/

Monthly Mingle February 2008 - One-Dish Dinner

http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2008/02/comfort-food-roundup-mm-18.html#MMFeb2008

The Daring Bakers
http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/

No Croutons Required

http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2008/02/no-croutons-required.html

Master Baker

http://masterbaker.wordpress.com/category/challenges/

Baking Bread Day
http://kochtopf.twoday.net/stories/4124192/

One time events

An apple a day - Blog Event 3rd March 2008

http://machetiseimangiato.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/an-apple-a-day-blog-event-3rd-march-2008/

March 14, Pie Day
http://kitchenparade.com/2008/02/pi-day-recipes-for-homemade-pie.php

cooking when not on call

2008-02-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

I can cook when I am not on call. After getting paged while making bread, pie, cake and once even a turkey dinner. At least for the last one I had family here and they took it out of the oven. I no longer cook a whole lot during the week that I am on call.

Last weekend I was not on call and made bread from scratch, split pea soup to go with the bread and brown sugar apple cheese cake. I went to a party Sunday and took it all with me. I have to say that a little cheese cake goes a long way.

For a first time making cheese cake it came out pretty tasty. I forgot to put foil over it half way though so it got a little brown and the springform pan leaked. Well leaked is not the right word. The recipe, from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. says to wrap the outside bottom part of the pan with foil. Later you pour hot water around the springform pan. The water leaked into the cheese cake. To get the water out I cooked it for an hour longer not in the water bath.

It went over very well and half was gone. I took the rest to work today and left it in respiratory. Browning the apples and then adding sugar gave it great flavor.

Hugo Awards

2008-02-05T13:31:00.000-08:00

I am going to Worldcon in Denver this year, it is called Denventon. So I get to vote on the Hugo awards. Right now there is the nominating phase, it is interesting. Some of the stuff I have no clue on, best semiprozine and best fanzine come to mind. Then I have to think of what I read last year. There was a lot of stuff. You saw what I read last month just multiply that by 12 and see what you get. The good part is that I have until March to figure this out.