Month: July 2013

Desserts · Fruit

Not Your Mama’s Banana Pudding

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Randy has been asking me to make banana pudding for the last couple of weeks, but being the sensitive, giving person I am, I ended up making the desserts that are what I wanted. So..today was the day. We are going to dinner at a friends house tonight and I am taking the dessert. If I am going to have banana pudding, I want it kicked up a notch, so here dear friends is the version that I end up licking the bowl, the spoon and stay away from the scales for a week after I eat it. This is much richer than the normal one, which makes me love it. Because I don’t care much for vanilla wafers, I used Lorna crushed Lorna Doone cookies.

2 boxes (4 oz ea) white chocolate instant pudding (or 1 white chocolate and 1 banana, if you like more of a banana flavor)
1 cup ice cold water
2 cups cold milk
1 (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated) (or 2 cans if you want it really rich) ( I like to use 1 1/2 cans as I love the flavor of sweetened milk)
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
3 bananas
1 (10 oz) box Lorna Doone shortbread cookies (any short bread will work)

Mix pudding mixes with milk and water. When thick, add condensed milk and mix until thoroughly combined. Fold in the 2 cups whipped cream.
Spread a layer of the crushed cookies on the bottom of your serving dish. Pour 1 cup of the pudding mixture over the cookies and then layer a sliced banana over the pudding. Repeat layers until all the pudding is used. Top with whipping cream and then sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs over the top.

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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes With Cherry Frosting

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Paula’s done it again. This recipe combines two great flavors.  Cherry & Chocolate

Taken from her Jan/Feb, 2012 issue, these are truly decadent.

1 cup butter

6 (1 oz) squares semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 cups flour

1 teas baking powder

1 teas salt

1/2 teas baking soda

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Cherry Buttercream Frosting

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 cupcake pans with paper liners.

In medium saucepan, combine butter, chopped chocolate and cocoa powder.

Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs at high speed with mixer until thick and pale.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Gradually add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until combined after each addition. Stir in butter-chocolate mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 14-16 min or until a toothpick inserted in center of one cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely and then frost with the cherry buttercream.

Cherry Buttercream

1 1/2 cups sugar

6 egg whites

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup maraschino cherry-flavored syrup

In top of double boiler, whisk sugar and egg whites until combined. Cook over simmering water until mixture reaches 140 on a candy thermometer; do not stir. Immediately pour mixture into the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Beat at high speed for 10 minutes. Reduce speed to medium low. With mixer running, add butter, 2 tables at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Add cherry-flavored syrup, beating until combined. Keep buttercream at room temperature until ready to frost cupcakes.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Breakfast · Casseroles · Meats

Summer Overnight Biscuit, Sausage & Apple Casserole

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Because it is summer we tend to want foods that are “lighter” in texture, but still full flavored and filling. Sausage casseroles tend to be a little heavy for summer liking, but when I found this one, because of the chopped apple (I tend to think that anything that has fruit in it makes it automatically healthier, never paying attention to the other ingredients. I just tell myself that, “well it has fruit in it, it must be healthy”), it just sounded like a summer casserole. Plus, it uses up those cans of biscuits in your fridge that are almost out of date.

2 pounds of Jimmy Dean mild sausage or sage flavored

2 tart apples, cored and siced

6 cups torn or cut baked biscuits in 1″ pieces

9 eggs, beaten

1/2 teas Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

3 cups milk

Salt & Pepper to taste

Fry the sausage in a skillet, breaking it up as it cooks. Drain, reserving the fat, and let sausage cool,

Saute the apples in the reserved fat; remove from pan and cool.

Move the biscuit pieces to a large resealable plastic bag. Whisk together the eggs, mustard, cheese and milk in a large bowl. Stir in cooled sausage and apples. season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to the plastic bag. Place the bag inside another resealable plastic bag with zipper facing opposite direction to prevent leaks. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Pour mixture into a buttered 13×9 baking dish or divide between 2 (1 1/2 qt) casserole dishes, that have been greased.

Bake covered 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 30 min or until eggs are set.

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit

Lemon Bar Cheesecake

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Friday evening we are having some friends over for dinner. When I came across this recipe from Southern Living Feb issue, I knew it would be our dessert for tonight. I love saving the magazines and going back through them. It reminds me of different scriptures that you have read a million times in the Bible, but just when you are needing a certain word from the Lord, you come across the same scripture and it just has a whole new meaning, depending on your circumstances. It is just the Word you are needing to hear. So it is with old recipes, you can read them a hundred times, but sometimes one just sticks out to you as you are going through your recipe stack and there it is…the perfect recipe you have been looking for.

As Southerners,  we love our Bible, a true treasure and God’s love letter to us. Southern Living Magazine is a gift to us also, provides us with treasured recipes, which made with love, we share with our families and friends. This will be a favorite and treasured recipe.

If you use a dark springform pan, it will ensure a golden brown crust without having to bake before adding the filling.

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

2 egg yolks

1 to 2 tables ice-cold water

4 (8 oz) softened cream cheese

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

2 teas vanilla

2 cups Lemon Curd, divided (I use already prepared lemon curd I get at grocery store)

Candied Lemon Slices (opt)

Pulse first 3 ingredients in a food processor 3-4 times or just until blended. Add butter and pulse 5-6 times or until crumbly. Whisk together 2 egg yolks and 1 tables ice-cold water in a small bowl; add to butter mixture and process until dough forms a ball and pulls away from sides of bowl, adding up to 1 tables remaining ice-cold water if necessary. Shape dough into a disk; wrap in plastic and chill at least 4 hours (up to 24 hours).

Roll dough into a 14″ circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a lightly greased 9″ dark springform pan; trim and discard excess dough. Chill 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 325. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with mixer 3 min or until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Pour 2/3 of cheesecake batter (about 4 cups) into prepared crust; dollop 1 cup lemon curd over batter in pan and gently swirl with a knife. Spoon remaining batter into pan.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min or just until center is set. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven with door closed for 15 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven and gently run a knife around outer edge to loosen sides of pan. Do not remove sides of the pan. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack about 1 hour. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Remove sides of pan and transfer to a serving plate. Spoon remaining 1 cup lemon curd over top of cheesecake. If desired top with candied lemon slices and whipped cream.

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Here A Cheerio, There A Cheerio, Everywhere A Cheerio

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Cheerio Treats

Melt In microwave:

3 tables butter

10 oz miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy

Add:

5 cups plain cheerios

1 cup M&M’s

Mix well and quickly. It cools before you realize and becomes unworkable.

Press into long glass pyrex 9×13 (greased) pan. Cool and cut into squares.

The kids drove out of the driveway this morning and all is quiet on the home front. Except for the crunch every time I step on a Cheerio or petrified blueberry muffin from a few days ago. All that remains are sticky little fingerprints all over the place. Now I do have to admit that they are the cutest little fingerprints that you have every seen, but…because of how sticky they are, they will probably remain for quite some time, as it will take a couple of cleaning jobs to get them all off.

As they were walking out the door with the last of the bags, Caleb, the 3 year old, looked at me and began to tear up. My heart just melted. I picked him up and told him that Nana would come see him before too long or he could come back here whenever they wanted to come. I started to tear up and it was such an emotional moment until…he said that he needed to whisper to his mom. Of course, I knew what he would be whispering, “do I really have to leave Nana, I will miss her so much, please don’t make me go.” But because he was now crying full throttle, she had to ask him about 3 times what he was saying. Tears are still running down my cheek as my heart is breaking that he is hurting, having to leave. All of a sudden, Jodi begins to laugh and tells me that I can quit crying. He was upset because he was having to leave my Ipad. He said that my Ipad had more games on it and he didn’t want to leave the Ipad.

Once again, my bubble is burst. We all began to laugh, as we carried him downstairs to the minivan. (yes the same one that carried Thelma and Louise across the desert a few weeks ago).

The floors are now clean, the fingerprints are almost gone and the house is quiet. Guess I will sit and play one of Caleb’s games on my Ipad for a while. It’s weird. I thought for sure I would be glad when I didn’t have to share it with Caleb.  But I guess it wasn’t so bad having to share it.  I already miss his cute little voice saying, “let’s get this party started.” After being with them for 8 days, I almost don’t know what to do with myself. All the “breakables” are already put back in place and no more dirty diapers from Noah to remind me to take the trash out. Think I will go make the Cheerio treats now.  If there is not enough left in the box, I will gather the ones up that I have found in every nook and cranny.

 

Daily Thoughts

Every Thing You Ever Wanted to Know About Your Mom (but have been afraid to ask)

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This past week we have spent a couple of days with some of our adult kids in San Diego. There were times that in conversation, different things about myself were said that surprised our kids. When I mentioned that we were in my “homeland” of where I was born, my daughter in law and son in law told me that they never had heard that before and asked why they didn’t know that. I told them I guess they had never ask. It was at that point that I realized that as parents of adult children, all they know about us is what we have wanted them to know or what they have imagined us to be, as parents, never just a “person”.

We were out on Sunday night on the beach with a fire pit and having a s’mores night. It was a beautiful full moon, perfect temperature,  when I realized that as we were all sitting around in these little beach chairs (I commented that I could just stay here forever when Randy whispered that we might have to, he didn’t know if he could ever get up out of that “cute little beach chair”) that we were on the same level. Not really children and parents, but just people who were enjoying each others company, sharing stories and laughing as old friends. It was truly a Hallmark moment. Each day just got better and better as we listened to each other and shared experiences from our past that told much of what and who we were, as “people”. Suddenly, we found that we actually enjoyed being around each other, even though we were family, all different ages, different seasons of life and different likes and dislikes. But it worked. We ended our time together determined to get together more often. Jason and Tracy, thank you for initiating this time and inviting all of us to share your vacation.  Jodi and Eric, even though I know it takes great effort to pack and haul little ones around and work around their nap schedules, we are so glad you made the effort.  It was pure joy for us to be together and to experience you as really nice and gracious people, not just being our  “kids”.

Over a year ago when my dad died and different people got up to give stories about what he had done for them or tell about his likes and dislikes, I realized that he was a different person that I truly didn’t know. It made me sad that I never really knew my dad, other than just the man who took care of us. He was always so quiet and never talked much, so there was a lot I didn’t ever know. So, on a lighter note, thinking that our kids might not know certain things about me that might surprise them, I thought I would just write out different things about myself.

1. Yes, I was really born in a naval hospital in San Diego, Ca and lived there until I was two and my mom moved to Corpus Christi, TX.

2. Lived in a housing project until I was 5 with mother and daddy.

3. Learned to drive sitting on my dads lap when I was 10.

4. Said a really bad word (without knowing what it meant) when I was in 4th grade and was sent to the principles office. Only time in my life I was sent to the Principle.

5. Always wanted to be a flight attendant or movie star, but wouldn’t have traded being a mom for anything in the world.

6. Love to sit and read or play Candy Crush for hours, but guilt sets in and doesn’t allow me to do that for over an hour.

7. Still dream about having that special day when we would be able to get all 5 of our kids together with their families for a trip and have those pictures taken of the whole family with everyone wearing kaki pants and white shirts, standing at the edge of the water on the beach.

8. One of the most things I am proud of in my life (besides our kids and grandkids) is that I have almost competed a book to be published.

9. My bucket list includes:

1. Taking a cooking class in Italy

2. Going on a river boat cruise through Europe

3. Seeing all our grandkids loving Christ and serving Him.

4. One day having one of our grandchildren blow me a kiss or wink at me while they are playing an athletic event or the stage before they perform their skill.

5. Learning Zumba

6. Leading someone to Christ

7. Having our kids all present for a Christmas Eve service

8. Take acting lessons

9. Be in a commercial

10. That all our kids and kids-in-laws would know how much we truly love them and want the best for them.

My favorite color is shades of yellow, green and blue.

My favorite shows are The Middle and AGT

All time favorite movie is Pretty Woman

I love to name my cars, to give them a little personality

My favorite candy is Ethyl M and Dove

I don’t like to have my nails done, but like how it makes them look.

Would rather go out to eat than eat at home, but since I write a cooking blog, I make myself cook things other than desserts of which I love to make.

Love writing more than shopping

Going adventuring to different places or restaurants with Randy.

Would move every two years to a different house.

Love meeting people and getting to know them.

I enjoy and love my life and feel so blessed.

To each of our kids, I love you and enjoy being with you. Thank you for the grace you extend to us “oldies” and for letting us share different parts of your lives. Gives me lots of laughs and material for the blog.  Remember that when you are with me, what happens doesn’t stay just between us…it goes on Chocolate Castles! This sweet memory might have been a little less “sweet” had it been longer than a couple of days, but in my perfect little imaginary world, I like to think it would have just gotten better each day.

Cookies · Desserts

Lemon Tassies

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I couldn’t wait to share these with you. Going through my Martha Stewart Cookie Cookbook today looking for my usual Chocolate Biscotti recipe, I found these. They just sound to good not to bake today. I am so glad I listened to my heart yesterday that said, “go ahead and pick up that pretty little lemon, you just might need it this week” So I don’t have to run to the store to get lemon zest. It is already here.

For the crust:

2 cups flour

10 tables (1 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1/4 cup plus 2 tables sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teas vanilla extract

2 teas finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teas salt

Vegetable oil or cooking spray

Filling:

8 oz room temp cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

3 tables finely grated lemon zest

1 tables fresh lemon juice

1/2 teas vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Coat two 24-cup mini-muffin tins with cooking spray.
Make crusts: process flour and butter in a food processor until mixture is the consistency of fine crumbs. Add sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Process just until combined and sandy in texture. Do not over process.

Divide dough into quarters. Divide each quarter into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Place each ball in a muffin cup. Press into cup, stretching dough up the sides. Set each muffin tin on a baking sheet.
Bake crusts 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned all over. Tap down any puffed centers of the shells with the end of a wooden spoon. Transfer muffin tins to wire racks to cool.

Make filling by combing cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon zest, juice and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Using a 1″ round melon scoop or a spoon, fill the cooled crusts with filling, evenly dividing the filling between the 24 crusts.

Bake the cookies until filling is set and just beginning to color at the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks again to cool. Tassies can be refrigerated in airtight containers up to 3 days.

Makes 4 dozen tassies

 

Daily Thoughts

Blue Collar to Starched Collar

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  • Sitting here on this Monday night, we are watching Diner, Drive-Ins & Dives and planning what dessert I will make next. While we are contemplating this decision, we were thinking back over the weekend and the different experiences that we had. Saturday found us driving around doing our normal errands. Around lunch time we began to think about what would taste good. Several friends have told us about Dinah’s Fried Chicken over in Glendale so we headed that direction. The bright yellow sign with black giant letters lets you know you have arrived at this 10 table restaurant. We walk in and immediately are met with, “hi honey, just sit wherever there is a place and we will be with you in a minute.” We are sitting there with people who you know are on their lunch hour from driving trucks which were in the parking lot so we knew the food had to be good. to just neighborhood folks who have been coming in there for years. Our waitress welcomed us with a glass of tea and a menu that looked like it had been around since disposable diapers were invented. We ordered our chicken, all the while taking in the conversation around us, when we hear a loud motorcycle pull up right outside the door. Randy tells me to turn around and look at the couple getting off the bike. They had to be in their late 70’s or early 80’s. He with long gray hair and she with spiked gray hair, shorts and boots up to her knees. As they came in the door, they were seated at their apparently regular table in back. Corn on the cob, cole slaw and baskets of chicken kept passing us by, until finally our plate of fried chicken was placed right in front of us. We just looked at each other and our mouths began to drool. The chicken was amazing. We thought we had been picked up in the Spirit and placed right in the middle of Kentucky. We were shocked that Dinah’s was actually some of the best fried chicken we had ever had. Col Sanders, eat your heart out. Because some friends were taking us out that same night to a restaurant in Beverly Hills, we knew we needed to have tummy room. We head home and google Providence, the restaurant where we will be going tonight. By looking at their web site, we knew that fried chicken would not be on the menu. It had food items I couldn’t begin to pronounce.
    The pictures of some of the food were prettier than pictures at the Norton Simon Museum. Oh my gosh, I didn’t know we were going to someplace that I needed to apparently wear Spanx and heals. Quickly I began to access my clothes closet and discovered that no matter what I would wear, I was never going to look like all the cute little trophy wives that would be ordering quail egg soup with tartare.
    After putting in our destination into the GPS, we head out to Beverly Hills to meet our friends. When the GPS tells us that we have arrived, we look around and cannot seem to find it and continue down a couple of blocks. Randy says that he bets that our GPS is wrong, as it is not used to going to such foo foo places. But seeing the addresses on the building, we know that we have passed the restaurant. We do a Uie (U-turn) and there in letters that are no bigger than the letters on our medicine bottles, is the word Providence. Guess we didn’t recognize it because there were only Masarati’s and Mercedes parked out front, no motorbikes like we saw at Dinah’s. Apparently, the smaller the letters and sign, the classier the restaurant. Randy said that he didn’t realize that we should have gone to get money out of savings to be able to valet our car. When the valet price is more than we usually pay for lunch, we tend to know right away that this will be a place where we will both be holding our breaths to be able to walk in without our tummies walking through the door before the rest of our bodies. Since I am still trying to breathe (it is just so hard to do that with spanx on) I quickly find a chair in the lounge so I can let my breath out. Our friends arrive and I was so thankful that I had had a few minutes to look around without them noticing that I was trying to take this all in. When the words, “gawally, this is just the fanciest place we have been in” came out of my mouth, Randy quickly stuffed a cheese wafer in to keep me quiet. We had to admit, the food was truly an experience. Even the food that I couldn’t pronounce was just scrumptious. The evening had been so delightful (yes, when you are leaving a place like Providence, you use the word delightful. When you leaving a place like Dinah’s, you describe the food as , “darn good”.
    As soon as we got in the car, off came the Spanx and the heals. Since our drive home took 30 minutes, that gave me time to send pictures of our dinner to our kids who think that we sit at home every Saturday night watching 48 Hour reruns.
    We have learned something this weekend. No matter if you are eating in a diner with motorbikes parked outside the door or a 5 star restaurant, where our car was the only one that was parked out back, each experience can be a great memory. It just depends on which collar you are wearing, blue or starched.

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit

Pineapple Pudding Cake

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This week has just been a week of wanting to do nothing by bake. Major baking mood, so I went to a couple of new spots on the internet, one being called, Just Desserts, and found this new recipe. Sounds perfect for those warm summer nights when we are wanting something that is cool and refreshing, but yet, delicious and tantalizing. So here it is, will become a summer favorite.

1 Duncan Hines Yellow or Pineapple Cake mix, baked according to directions for a 9×13 pan.

When baked and completely cooled spread the following over the cake:

1 (8z) package of softened cream cheese mixed 1 (20 oz) can drained well, crushed pineapple and 1 small package instant vanilla pudding mix.

When mixed well, spread over cooled cake.

Either using a (8 oz) tub of thawed Cool Whip or 2 cups sweetened, whipping cream, spread whipped topping over pudding mixture.(You know which one I will use, the most fattening one of course….real whipping cream)  Sprinkle with chopped nuts and maraschino cherries, if desired.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Cover and keep in fridge.

Serves 12-14