Month: January 2014

Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Sour Cream Frosting

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While packing up my cookbooks (Randy had forgot just how many I had and told me that I have more than Barnes & Noble), I sat down to look through a book that a friend had given me back in 85 with all chocolate recipes. This recipe caught my eye and tomorrow, it will be baking in our oven.

Serves 10-12

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teas baking powder

1 teas baking soda

1 teas cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 teas vanilla

1 tables instant coffee powder, dissolved in 1 table hot water

 

Sour Cream Frosting

1 cup sour cream

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 10″ spring form pan. Line the bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper and lightly butter the paper.

In the bowl of mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue beating until thick and light. Add vanilla.

Sieve together the cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and flour. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 4 portions, alternating with the buttermilk and coffee. beat until perfectly blended.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 min, or until cake tests done.

Run a knife around the edge of cake. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Make the frosting shortly before needed.

Mix together the sour cream and the sugar. Whip the heavy cream until Is firm. Mix the cream into the sour cream/sugar mixture.

Release the cake and turn it out upside down on a platter. Use a long serrated knife to cut the cake into 2 layers. Spread the frosting generously over the bottom layer, then top with other layer. Swirl the filling over the entire top and sides of cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Daily Thoughts

Senior Suppers

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It happened. We ate dinner before 6:00 pm. It was an accident, I promise. It was not intentional. Randy has a rule that we are never to eat dinner before 6-6:30 as only “old people” do that. So even if he is starving, he will not sit down to eat before 6. He will snack on cheese ad crackers, but since that is not defined as a meal, he thinks he can get away with that without calling that “eating before 6”. But last night we committed the “cool & hip folks” sin. We ate at 5. It all started with needing to go to Costco. Since it was Friday we knew that the traffic would get really bad around 5:30 on so he said, “if we are going to Costco, we had better go before the traffic hits. So out the door we ran. We arrived at Costco around 4 and walked as slowly as we could around the store trying to kill time. After 30 minutes, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I told him that if we were really going to get a hot dog for our dinner, then let’s get it and finish here and head home so I could finish off our coconut cream pie. He was not happy with me. He informed me that it was only 5 and he couldn’t eat that early. What if someone we knew saw us? What would they think?
I really didn’t care at this point. I told him that we were going to be arrested for loitering, just standing around waiting for it to turn 6. So he gave in. We finished our hot dogs and ran to the car before we ran into anyone we knew. Thank goodness it gets dark early. On the way home, at 5:30, he reminded me that I was to tell no one how early we ate. That if I did, he would not be taking me to Costco anymore on a Friday evening for a hotdog. Well, that got my attention. After all, how can a girl live without going to Costco Friday night for a $1.50 hotdog?
Tonight we had some friends text us to see if we wanted to meet them for dinner….at 4!
We declined since we had just finished lunch 2 hours before. We have decided that we need to get younger friends. Either that or skip lunch so that we can tell ourselves we are just having a very late lunch at 5.

Beef · Meats · Soups

Company Chile

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We are really trying to use up what is here and since Randy wanted chile and we had everything for it, that was our soup last night. I am not a huge chile person, but I actually liked it and had 2 helpings. It was very easy and Randy was a happy camper.

1 lb of hamburger meat (or turkey)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can of pinto beans
2 cans (small) tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 teas garlic powder
1 package Lawry’s Original Chile Seasoning
Brown meat an onion together until meat is done and onion is clear. Drain off fat. Add the beans,juice and all, and the rest of the ingredients. I baked mine for 2 1/2 hours at 325 and it came out thick and we poured it over the cornbread. Easy, quick and really was good. Will make this again before warm weather sets in.

Daily Thoughts · Desserts

Packin & Puddin

Chocolate Castles2 Comments
Coconut Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie

I know, I know, I kept saying that I was going to post soups everyday. Then yesterday I posted Preacher Cake instead of soup, BUT, because I felt so guilty about not following through with my plan, today I am posting a soup and a dessert. Since we are in the middle of packing and like Abraham, we don’t have a clue where we are ending up, but that does have a ring of excitement to it! After 3 years of living in California where it feels like you are on a continual vacation, we are going to go travel a couple of months visiting family and friends. We hope that after we stay with them a few nights, we can still call them family and friends. Since we are headed to the East Coast, our goal is to eat at Paula Deen’s restaurant and her brother’s place,Bubba’s. That will be a thrill for us both. But before we head out, we are trying to use u everything in our cabinets. Last night a friend of ours, Lorrie, came over to eat dinner with us as her husband was out of town. Randy wanted chile so she brought cornbread. About 4:30 I decided that what we needed was a coconut cream pie. I panicked. There was no whipping cream in my house. That is almost like not having toilet paper. That just is never suppose to be. You can’t have coconut cream pie without whipped cream, but neither of us wanted to go to the store. Since making meringue has always caused a panic attack, I tried to figure out what else I could do, but there was no choice, I had to make meringue. I had a little pep talk with myself and told myself that if it didn’t turn out, I would just dish up the pudding into glasses and tell Randy and Lorrie we were having coconut cream trifle with shortbread cookies crumbled up between the layers.

I got out 4 eggs and separated them. Since I had 3 egg whites already in the fridge, I got those out also. Working with 7 egg whites, surely I could make it work this time. I Goggled “how to make meringue” and read step by step how to have it come out successfully. It worked. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept going to the fridge and opening up the door just to look at it. It turned out so pretty, I didn’t want to cut it. But we did and my goodness, it was so good. Here is the recipe

Coconut Cream Pie

3 cups milk

1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup plus 2 tables all purpose flour

1/2 teas salt

1 teas vanilla

1 cup shredded coconut

2 tables butter

Whisk all ingredients except vanilla, butter and coconut,  together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick . When pudding is thick, remove from heat and add vanilla, butter and coconut. Stir until butter is melted and it is mixed well. Pour into a baked pie shell (it doesn’t have to cool before pouring pudding in) and cover with meringue. Be sure that the meringue covers all the hot pudding mixture, right up to the edge. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. I sprinkled more coconut over the top before baking. Cool completely before cutting.

Meringue

4-5 egg whites at room temp

2/3 cup sugar

1 teas vanilla

Beat egg whites until they begin to thicken. Adding the sugar gradually, continuing to beat while adding, to be sure sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in vanilla and beat until peaks form and hold their shape. Spoon over hot pudding mixture. (The instructions said to even make the meringue before you make the pudding because it will do better the hotter the filling is when you spoon it on). It did work so much better doing that.

 

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit

Preacher Cake

Chocolate Castles4 Comments

I know I said I was going to post a different soup each day this week, but I am changing my plan. I made this cake last night and it is so easy and so good. Found it on a blog called, Two Chums and since it looked like such a great cake, I think you should just open up a can of soup tonight and save your cooking time to make this cake.
The origins of this cake was apparently during the depression, when money was scarce, this cake was economical to make and since it was also quick to make, people would make it when the “preacher came acalling”

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, room temp

2 teas baking soda

2 teas vanilla

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice

Combine all ingredients and pour into a 9×13″ greased pan. Bake about 30-34 minutes at 350 or until cake is golden brown an test done in middle.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar

1 stick softened butter

Mix all ingredients until light and fluffy. Frost cooled cake. Refrigerate leftovers, covered.

Uncategorized

2nd Winter Soup

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This week has brought emails and phone calls from family and friends who are relaying how cold it is in Texas. I do miss that. I love when the cold weather is howling outside, the fireplace is lit and I get in the kitchen and bake away. It is my favorite time of the year. Plus, when it is dark and cloudy, dust doesn’t show as well as when the sun comes out. I love that. This beef stew is perfect for the cold winter nights when all you want to do is sit by the fire and eat everything in sight. (I think I do that in summer also, without the fire place)

2 pounds trimmed boneless chuck roast, cut into 2″ cubes

1 1/2 teas kosher salt, divided

1 teas ground black pepper

2 tables canola oil”

3 medium yellow onions, halved and cut into slices

6 garlic cloves

1 (12 oz) nut brown ale

1 1/4 cups unsalted beef stock (such as Swanson)

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ pieces

1 1/2 lb baby Dutch potatoes, halved

4 thyme sprigs

2 bay leaves

2 tables flour

1 tables Dijon mustard

1 tables red wine vinegar

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle beef evenly with 1/4 teas salt and 1/4 teas pepper. Add 1 1/2 teas oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add half of beef to pan; cook 6 minutes, turning until well browned on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Repeat procedure with other half of beef; remove beef.

Add remaining 1 tables oil to pan drippings; add onions and garlic. Saute 4 min. Add beer, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook 2 min. Stir in 1 cup stock, remaining salt and pepper., Bring to a simmer. Carefully pour mixture into a 6 qt electric slow cooker. Add beef, potatoes, carrots, thyme and bay leaves. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

Combine remaining 1/4 cup stock and flour, stirring with a whisk. Stir flour mixture into stew; cook 15 minutes or until thickened. Stir in mustard and vinegar. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Sprinkle with parsley.

Uncategorized

Christmas Aftershocks

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We survived the holidays. Barely. With 4 extra adult children and 3 grandchildren in our little abode, 2014 couldn’t get here quick enough. Now, we are so glad to have family here to celebrate New Years and the Rose Parade, we just wish that we had been in our 40’s or even 50’s instead of our 60’s.

In the last 5 days I have cooked the following:

homemade meatballs with sauce and spaghetti

Creamed eggs and biscuits, hash browns, bacon, sausage

Ham, scalloped potatoes, fresh sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs, sweet potato fries. Salad, Sister Schubert rolls, chocolate cream pie with fresh whipped cream. 2 cherry pies. Hershey’s chocolate chip cookies

Heavenly Hots, bacon and sausage

Ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets, 3 frozen pizzas

Filled and emptied the dishwasher 12 times. Emptied garbage 26 times.Changed poopie diapers, watched SpongeBob every morning, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every afternoon for 4 days .Because Caleb, our 4 yr old is on a Batman kick, we were all given names of Batman characters. He named me “Joker”. I was told that I had to laugh like the Joker in Batman when I talked. But we loved the memories that were made. The laughter and card games were such a bonding time. Our kids who are expecting their first baby, our 7th grandchild, had the opportunity to announce their great news by posing in front of the float that had a baby carriage and baby yellow ducky, with a sign that said, “Baby’s First Parade”. It was an exciting week, but as soon as the last car pulled out of the driveway, we collapsed and slept for 2 hours. We didn’t even talk for 4 hours. The peace and quiet that had escaped us for 5 days was just to good to interrupt. We felt like we had been on a week long reality survival show.

We barely survived. If it had been a reality show, we would have been the first ones ask to leave. We didn’t even get a T-shirt that said, “we survived grandkids for a week and all we got was this stupid T-shirt”. No, all we were left with was an empty fridge, a house full of toys that they forgot to take, sticky floors and an energy level so low that it will take us another week just to catch up on our sleep. After the last visit, we did learn a lesson. We learned that if we don’t want to loose small items, such as phones, remotes or fireplace gas keys, they had to be put up on the top shelves of closets. We are still looking for part of the ornamental grill that covers the fireplace, that disappeared last visit. Sunday was our first day without watching SpongeBob or having Caleb running through the house with his light sabor, which of course quickly cleaned off the coffee table of candles and magazines.

Both Randy and I feel that we would have been better equipped to handle all this had we been a little younger, say 25-30 years old. But all of it was worth it. We have new precious memories that will last us until next Christmas. A visit any sooner would put us in the old folks home. We think that since it might take us a while to rest up, we will go to them next time. We want them to have the great experience of having house guests. It will be a learning time for them. We will demand having our favorite meals cooked. We will insist that Wheel of Fortune be played all day, at maximum volumne and insist that our prune juice be brought to us at 6 a.m. and our milked warmed around 8 p.m. We will request that our robes be warmed in the dryer and brought to us in the mornings.

If we can’t sleep, we will get up in the middle of the night and watch murder mysteries to lull us back to sleep. Since we know that they are use to having cartoons blaring in the background at all times of the day and night, that shouldn’t bother them.
Earthquake aftershocks cannot compare with the shock of family at Christmas. Family, you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. It’s what keeps the holidays exciting!

Soups · Vegetables

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

Happy 2014!!!! The kids are gone back to their homes, I have my computer back from grandkids and the quiet and space to write. Also, because the fridge is now clear of chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, peanut butter and apple juice, I have room to cook some adult foods. When I sat down last night with the first magazine I have had time to look at in a week, I came across this soup and knew instantly that we would be having some of this delectable sounding soup this week. Also thought that since it is January and cold weather is still lingering, I think I will post different winter soups each day this week. But this mushroom soup had to be first.

yields: 5 cups

1/2 cup butter, divided

3 (8 oz) packages fresh mushrooms, chopped

2 cups whipping cream

1 ( 8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 (1 oz) containers home-style concentrated chicken stock (from a 4.66 oz package)

Melt 3 tables butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté 10-12  minutes, or until liquid evaporates.

Transfer to a bowl. Reduce heat and melt remaining 5 tables butter in the Dutch oven. Whisk in flour until smooth; whisk 1 minute.

Gradually whisk in cream and next 2 ingredients.

. Cook, whisking constantly 2 minutes or until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in mushrooms. Use immediately or cool completely if planning to freeze or keep in fridge until needed.

*They used Knorr Homestyle Concentrated Stock.