Chocolate Castles

The sun is out and shinning and it is a most beautiful day! For some reason, the strawberry pretzel salad just would not leave my thoughts, so even though I don’t have any strawberries at home, I began to think of the many times that friends and I would go to Celebrity Bakery just for this salad. So many times they would set our plates on front of us and I would look down to this more wonderful salad/dessert and see that slice i had on my plate had maybe 1 or 2 little strawberry slices. But did that deter the taste or the fact that I scarfed it down before you could say, John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith!  Not at all. In fact, I am really not a huge fresh strawberry person, but I love the flavor of them, so I am fine with making this salad/dessert with just the strawberry jello without the fresh strawberries. I know, I’m weird.

So this afternoon I haven been crushing pretzels and getting the cream cheese to room temperature so we can sit and dine on veggies tonight and end our evening watching Doc Martin and feasting on this great great whatever you want to call it. Salad or dessert. If you call it Salad, it makes people think you are eating healthy and  so tomorrow when I am recapping today to anyone I can say, “yes, we had a really good veggie meal last night with beans, fresh spinach and baked zucchini and of course salad” No need to tell them that the “salad” is probably more calories than a Whopper, but that is only on a Need to Know basis. As I was crushing the pretzels, one of my daughter in laws texted me with pictures of our 15 year old grandson. He was in the kitchen making homemade strawberry shortcake, biscuits and all. Sevy is my grandson who loves to come over and make French macaroons with me and also cupcakes. He feels at home in the kitchen and does a great job. So I told his mom to send me the recipe and I would post it along with Sevy in the kitchen preparing it.

The recipe is from Williams-Sonoma. Way to go Sev!

Shortcakes

1 2/3 cup flour

2 tables suga

1 tables baking powder

1 teas finely grated lemon zest

3/4 teas salt

8 tables (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 teas vanilla

For the strawberries:

4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into slices. 1/4″ thick

1/4 cup sugar

Whipped Cream (I know Sevy is really my grandchild because he used real whipped cream, not Cool Whip)

3/4 cup heavy cream, well chilled

2 tables sugar

1/2 teas vanilla

To make the shortcakes, preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt until well blended. Using a pastry blended, cut in the butter until the pieces resemble peas. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and gently toss with a fork or spatula until the flour is just moistened and the ingredients are blended.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently press the dough into a thick rectangle about 6″ by 4″. Using a large sharp knife, trim the edges even, then cut the dough into 6 equal parts.

Place the dough squares on an uncreased baking sheet, spacing them well apart. Bake until they are puffed and golden, 15-18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the strawberries; in a bowl, toss together the strawberries and sugar with a fork, lightly crushing some of the berries. Cover the berries and place in fridge until well chilled and ready to serve.

To make the whipping cream, place cream in a deep bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form and the ream is billowy, about 2 minutes. cover the bowl and place in fridge until ready to serve or up to 2 hours.

To serve, split the biscuits in half, horizontally and place the bottom halves, cut side up on serving plates. Spoon some of the strawberries, including the juices over each half and top with a dollop of whipped cream. Top with the remaining shortcake halve, cut side down.

Serve immediately.

Serves 6

This is another recipe from the 70’s that my Italian neighbor use to make and bring down to us. She gave me the recipe when, after much begging, she made up a booklet of her favorite recipes for me. I never make this without remembering Cam. She was a great neighbor and a wonderful lady. I had posted on FB that I would be posting some older recipes this week. Have had several young moms text me asking for some new ideas of what to make for their families.

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup bread crumbs (or Progresso Italian Flavored bread crumbs)

1/2 cup tomato juice (I don’t keep the TJ in the house as we don’t drink it so i use a small can of tomato sauce and dilute it with 8 oz of water)

2 Tables dried parsley

1/2 teas dried oregano

1/2 teas salt

1/2 teas ground pepper

1 small garlic clove, or 1 teas garlic powder

2 lbs ground beef (lean)

8 thin slices ham lunch meat

6 oz (1 1/2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese

3 slices mozzarella, halved diagonally)

Combine eggs, bread crumbs, tomato juice, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic. Stir then into the lean ground beef, mixing well.

On a piece of foil or waxed paper, pat meat into a 12″ x 10″ rectangle. Arrange ham slices over the meat mixture, leaving a small margin around edges. Sprinkle shredded cheese over ham.  Staring from short end, carefully roll up meat using the foil or waxed paper  to lift.

Seal Edges and ends by pinching.

Place the meat roll, seam side down, in a 9×13″ baking dish that you have sprayed with Pam. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about an hour, or until meat is done. Place cheese triangle slices over the top of roll; return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Makes 8 servings.

This recipe was one of my kids favorites back in the 70’s and we use to make them at least every two weeks. They are so easy and the kids could help make the meatballs. Drop them in boiling tomato soup, cover and cook for an hour, and you have yourself a great little meal, to go along with green beans, or salad and rolls.

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1/2 cup uncooked white rice

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1 tea salt

1/2 teas pepper

1/2 teas garlic powder

1/2 teas celery salt (opt)

2 cans Campbells Tomato soup

1 can water

2 teas Worcestershire sauce

Combine  all ingredients except soup and 1 can of water.  With your hands, mix until all ingredients are well combined. Roll the mixture into 12 to 14 meatballs.

In a large saucepan that you have a lid to fit, combine the 2 cans of tomato soup and 1 can of water and stir. Bring to a boil. Drop the meatballs into the boiling soup and then reduce the heat to medium-low and place lid on pan. Cook, covered for 45 min to 1 hour, or until rice is done.

Was searching for a picture on FB this morning and came across this recipe, taken from Sweet Tea & Cornbread blog. It sounds so good that after reading about it, I might even break down and try it with the Miracle Whip instead of Mayo. We neither one like Miracle Whip but after reading her explanation of using it in this recipe, I think I will try it. After all, this recipe has a stick of melted butter poured over the potatoes even before adding the dressing to it, so how can it not be good?

4-5 large baking potatoes or ( 8 cups diced cooked potatoes)

1/2 cup sweet onion(like Visalia), diced

1/2 cup finely diced celery

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

1/2 cup chopped pimento

4 eggs, boiled, cooled and chopped

1 stick melted butter (see i told you, it wasn’t just me adding butter)

Dressing

1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip (if you must use mayo, but honestly, this recipe just cries Miracle Whip)

2 teas yellow mustard

2 teas sugar

1/2 teas salt

1/2 teas pepper

First boil the eggs and let them cool, peel and chop them.

Cook the potatoes (either in microwave or boil them) until tender.

Peel potatoes when cool to touch and cut into small pieces. You don’t want big chunks. Chop the celery, onion and pimento fairly fine.

Place the eggs, potatoes, chopped celery, onion, pimento and relish in a large mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter over mixture and toss.

Add the Miracle Whip (or Mayo). The lady who writes this blog says that this is one of the few things she uses Miracle Whip for because it just tastes better in this recipe. So next grocery order, I will order a small jar of Miracle Whip.

Stir all together and place, covered in fridge for a few hours until ready to serve.

*Ok, I just have to add a couple of tips.

When trying to peel the eggs, a friend of mine posted on FB that if you put the egg, one at a time in a plastic container, cover it with water, covering the end of the glass and shake it a few times, then pour water out, the egg will practically peel itself. I have tried it and it works. Every time!  Makes peeling eggs so easy.

Second, when I make potato salad, I like to add and stir all the ingredients to the cooked potatoes while they are still warm. Seems that they potatoes pick up more of the flavor of the dressing than if you leave them until completely cooled. They almost “mash” a little but still are in individual pieces, but the flavor of the other ingredients seem to combine better with the potatoes. Try it and see what you think.

Also, I like to add some dried dill to the salad because we love the flavor of dill and we will add more than the 1/4 teas of pepper.

Sprinkle Paprika over the top and you have yourself a great bowl of potato salad.

Potato salad is one of those things that I just never buy. It is fun to make and so great to eat homemade potato salad. One of our favorite meals, barbecue, homemade baked beans and homemade potato salad. Aw……set the sweet tea on the table and sit and talk. What a great way to spend the evening.

All’s well that ends with a great meal!

Also want to tell you that you can watch my cooking video’s now on UTube Channel,

Trudy K Cox, Sassy Southern

Isn’t it wonderful that today begins the season of us Southern gals being “allowed” to wear white jeans, capri’s and sandals. Because we all know that in the South, if you wear white before Easter, the fashion police can stop you at any time, anywhere and threaten to post your picture on the front of Southern Living with us wearing white! So, now, it is legal to step out the door in white. And to celebrate this great time, I wanted to have a very Southern dessert tonight. Who better to go to than Paula Deen, the true Southern belle herself.

Just pulled out this bread pudding out of the oven and all I can say is “WOW, DOUBLE WOW”   Yesterday a friend of mine, Cecilia posted on FB that she had made it and it got me in the mood for bread pudding. Looking up the recipe, I realized that I had everything on hand to make it and wala……..we have been standing at the stove, just eating it by the spoon full while it is still hot. It really is the best bread pudding I think I have ever had. And we don’t even have the sauce made yet to drizzle over it. Also, because I don’t have brandy I am going to use the butter sauce I use to drizzle over the Kentucky Butter Cake. Because I had a loaf of chocolate almond brioche bread in the freezer I had picked up one day at Walmart, I used it in place of the Italian bread she uses.  If you are out and shopping for bread for a bread pudding or even just to slice and toast, Walmart has the best brioches breads for about $4 a loaf. We have had the Vanilla, the Chocolate Almond (that is what I used this time for the BP), Chocolate Marble and sometimes during the fall they have Pumpkin Spice brioche. They simply are divine.

Since your mouth is probably watering already just thinking and seeing this beautiful dessert, let me post the recipe without further ado. One more thing, Paula, you never disappoint us with your amazing desserts. Next summer if we get to come to Savannah, I hope to get to see you in Lady & Son’s and, forgetting social distancing, give you a hug for all the wonderful recipes you have shared throughout the years! Lord willing and the creek don’t rise!

2 cups sugar

5 large eggs

2 cups milk

2 teas vanilla

3 cups cubed Italian bread (remember about the brioche that is great to use also)

Cube bread and allow to stale overnight in a bowl.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.

Place dry cubed bread in a butter greased 9×13 baking dish. Pour milk mixture over the cubes and mash the cubes down with a spatula to be sure the bread cubes are all covered with the egg-milk mixture.

In a smaller mixing bowl, place 1/4 cup of softened butter and mix together with 1 cup of light brown sugar. Sprinkle this over the top of the bread mixture.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes or until set. Remove from oven.

If you have any left after standing over it and eating it when it comes out of the oven, you can make a sauce of either Paulas, which is:

Mix together 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 egg and 2 teas vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir together until the sugar is dissolved and sugar is melted. Stir in 1/4 cup brandy, until well combined. Serve the bread pudding warm or cold drizzling this sauce over the top.

OR

In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter, 3 tables water. Cook over medium heat stirring until sugar has dissolved. When sugar is well dissolved, remove from heat and add 1 teas vanilla. This will keep covered and then warm it before pouring over bread pudding to serve.

So before we get those white pants out and our legs with hail damage shows through, do yourself a favor and make this. You won’t be sorry!

If you know me at all, you know that I would rather eat dessert than anything. This cake is by far, one of the best and most delicious cakes, EVER!!!!

Years ago, when I lived in Corpus Christi we belonged to a club that the chef would make this cake about once a week or so. Anytime we ate there, I would order a piece. When it was my birthday one year, one of the ladies who worked there and knew I loved that cake so much, brought out the recipe to me for my birthday gift. It is always a special memory for me. Some years later, I was looking though the Tea Time Magazine, 2004 and there it was. A picture of the cake and the recipe. So wanted to share to with you as it makes a great Easter dessert. Of course, this year, we are finding ourselves probably making a meal from things we have on hand. I’m hearing from some friends that they cannot find flour anywhere around them.  Because most of us are doing curbside pickup of groceries, we might not know until we get home that some of the things we ordered on-line were substituted for things that the store had instead. But, if you do have cream cheese and butter and coconut and buttermilk and sour cream…well you get the picture! You might just want to substitute a milk chocolate cake mix but frost it with the chocolate cream cheese frosting. It is a great cake, no matter. After all, it’s always the frosting that makes the cake anyway, right?

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, room temperature, seperated

2 cups cake flour, or regular flour, but (if using regular flour, be sure to sift it a couple of times and take out about 2 tables)

1 teas baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa, unsweetened

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tables vanilla

1/2 cup coconut (topping)

1/2 cup chopped pecans (topping)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter, shortening and sugar.

Add egg yolks, one at a time. Mix in flour, baking soda, cocoa, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla.

Mix together for 2 minutes or until batter is smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites and fold into cake batter. *See note below about adding coconut and chopped pecans to batter.

Spray 3 (9′) cake pans with Pam and then flour pans. Divide batter evenly between the 3 pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and let cake layers cool on wire racks. Meanwhile make the frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter

16 oz of cream cheese, softened

5 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tables vanilla

Cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Add powdered sugar, cocoa and vanilla.

Frost between layers and then sides and top of cake. Sprinkle the coconut and chopped pecans on top of cake.

*(I didn’t follow the directions on this recipe. I actually added the coconut and pecans to the frosting and stir them in before frosting the cake. I think it keeps the coconut softer for a longer period, plus it gives you more of the coconut and pecan flavor rather than just on top. Plus I added about 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup coconut to the cake batter before pouring batter into the cake pans)

Easter will be different this year, but it might be one of those holidays that besides the meaning of the holiday that is so important to Christians, might just show us how much we truly do value our relationship with God, our family and friendships. This year, we won’t be going to grandmother’s or Moms for a lunch of ham, potato salad and Easter Bunny Cake that Easter meals are so well known for and that has been a tradition for so many throughout the years.

Last year when we were in Italy and didn’t get to go to church because we couldn’t find a taxi to take us and it was to far to walk, we kept thinking about how this year, it would be so great to be able to be in church celebrating Easter with other believers. But here, once again, for the second year in a row, we are not in a church building, but alone in our home, watching a sermon on-line. So how do we react? Do we allow these difficult circumstances to sadden our hearts and focus on the traditions that we aren’t a part of this year? Or do we truly realize that we are the church, no matter where we are and not matter the circumstance. We are to celebrate the empty tomb that assures us of His great love for us. To worship Him from our homes this year,and truly grasp what the Lord has been trying to get us to realize for over 2000 years! That His love never fails, and that His love truly does endure forever. That He is here with us. That just because we cannot sit in a building and worship together with other believers, we can, we must, show Him the honor due His name.  We know as believers, that our bodies are the true church, not the building. As we look forward to Sunday and meditate on the true meaning of Easter, what are we dwelling on? Are we dwelling on the negative reports that we hear each and every day from leading physicians and government officials?

Because of the circumstances that are playing out all around us, what are our concerns? Our health, our families, our jobs? Of course, these are things that are important to us. It is not that we are not to be concerned about these. We are just instructed by God to not let them take priority over our love and worship of Him.

As we gather together with just those who are in our homes this Easter, may our hearts be turned towards Him, who is right here with us. As we sit at the table having whatever we are having,  Whether there is one of us, or two or 5, may His Name be glorified in our hearts as we worship the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and be praying that our world will come to the place that hearts and eyes will be open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This morning, instead of waking up to the TV and the latest report on the virus, I instead turned on a a live coffee/chat with Tasha, Women’s Minister of Prestonwood for 30 minutes of Bible study and prayer. How refreshing and what a way to begin the morning. Her words spoke to my heart as I’m sure it did to every women who was listening. Her word to us was from 1 Samuel. Hannah had gone to the temple with her husband to worship and sacrifice to the Lord as was their yearly ritual. Hannah was distraught because the Lord had closed her womb. As she prayed there in the Temple, the priest saw her lips moving, but could hear no words. He thought she was drunk. When he approached her to tell her to quit drinking, she answered him, “oh no Sir, I’m not drunk! But I am very sad and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Please don’t think I am a wicked woman. For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”

Eli, the priest said, “cheer up! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of Him.”

Then Hannah went away and ate and was no longer sad.

What a lesson for us all.  Before the Lord answered Hannahs’ prayer, her heart was changed. What had changed in her life at that point? Nothing, except that her heart had received hope. What are we looking or listening to for our hope? Is it earthly things or heavenly?

As Tasha reminded us this morning, her words rang so true of what I look at and depend on for my hope, my encouragement or answers to problems.  Prayer should be our “go to” no matter the occasion, no matter the problem.

Prayer allows us:

Intimacy with our Lord and Savior. We can process our pain in the presence of our God.

We should never “spin” our requests pretending that we are doing things for the Lord, only to be manipulating getting what we are asking for.

We need to let our guard down when talking to the Lord and acknowledge our need of Him and accept the fact that we need to surrender our will to His.

To understand that unanswered prayer, as well as answered prayers have purpose.

Just like Hannah had been praying for a son for years, God’s timing was perfect for Hannah to have a son, Samuel. God had a purpose for Samuel to become a great prophet of Israel. Her “unanswered prayer” was answered at the appointed time.

Hannah’s heart was changed by praying. Her heart was softened so that she became surrendered to allow God to work in her life, according to His will and purpose.

We should never allow earthly substitutions for heavenly petitions. Hannah’s husband always gave her more than he gave to his other wife. He loved Hannah more and thought that his love should be enough that she shouldn’t want or desire children. But God……God had a plan and a purpose, but it had to be in His timing, not Hannah’s.

So as we approach Sunday, the resurrection day of our precious Lord and Savior, may we as God’s temple, celebrate Easter in a way that brings Him the most worship of all…surrendering our hearts and our lives to the One, the only One, worthy of our praise!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE AND CONTINUES TO DO!