Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookie Cake (With An Adult Twist)

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Janet

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookie Cake

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a drinker. I like my wine a time or two a week and I like some sweet liquors every once in a while; things like Baileys, Amaretto (it’s wonderful in hot tea) and Butterscotch Schnapps. Yep… they actually make a schnapps with that flavor.Â And add Pinnacle Vodka in there sometimes too. I’m not normally a vodka drinker but the ones they make are actually creamy tasting and if you’ve read my blog for more than five minutes, you know creamy tasting and I are BFF’s from way back. 😀

When I was a kid, I loved those hard yellow butterscotch discs. Still do actually, though my teeth (or lack thereof hehe) can’t handle them anymore. So, years back, when I saw the schnapps with that flavor, I had to try it. And lo and behold, it tastes exactly like one of those candies. The problem is that I DON’T drink enough (laughs cause I’m whining that I don’t drink heavily. Go figure.) so a bottle lasts me approximately as long as it takes to go from birth to puberty. So I like to think of ways to use the stuff up that doesn’t involve me and a headache from syrupy booze.

Today, I was looking through my copy of Dam Good Sweets and I noticed a page I tagged. It was for Chocolate Chip Cookie cake. That alone sounded good and I was going to make it but then boozy inspiration entered my head (that sounds like I was sloshed when I thought of it lol. Y’all know what I meant right?) so I played around with the recipe. Not much… just enough to make it say “Janet Made Me!!” How, you ask? Simple. I added butterscotch chips as well as the chocolate and I added a slug of butterscotch schnapps to the batter. I also omitted the almond extract they called for and used dark brown sugar instead of light.

This worked out nicely. You can definitely taste the butterscotch flavor in the dough. Combined with the two different flavors of chips that are all melty and ooey gooey and the soft chewy cookie with crispity (yes, that too is now a word) edges, this all becomes one decadent treat. I had originally thought about sending it in to my husbands work with him, but no way is that happening now that I’ve tasted it hehe.

Now go bake a cookie!

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookie Cake

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
9 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butterscotch schnapps (you could sub 1/4 teaspoon of butterscotch candy flavoring if you wanted to)
1 egg

Make your ganache- this will be the glaze later. Put 2/3 of a cup of the chocolate chips in a bowl. Microwave the cream until boiling, then pour over the chocolate chips in the bowl. Let sit for about a minute then stir well to melt the chocolate and make a smooth mixture. Cover and set aside. You can make this hours before hand if you want. Just leave out because it will harden in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a buttered 9 inch cake pan with a round of parchment paper (easiest way is to trace the outline of the with pencil on parchment then cut it out) then butter or spray the paper.
Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside
In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and schnapps. Mix with a hand mixer until well combined and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl, then add the egg.
After the egg is well combined, stir in the flour mixture.. Stir just until well combined, then add the rest of the chocolate chips and the butterscotch chips
Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and puffy and the edges look set. The middle will still look and feel somewhat soft..
Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about an hour. Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan. Carefully lay a plate over the top of the pan and invert the cookie, then do that again onto another plate to get it back right side up.
Spoon your cooled ganache into a sandwich bag. Snip off the corner and pipe the ganache onto the top of the cookie. Eat the leftover ganache hehe.
Serve this to hungry kids who will love you (the alcohol has cooked off). Or just do the usual… hide in the closet with it and don’t share. I’m cool with that too.

Lemon Icebox Pie With Honeyed Whipped Cream

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Janet

I know, I know, I just did a citrus pie. What can I say? I’m in a tangy frame of mind. Spring and Summer makes me want sweet tart desserts. Ok, so Fall and Winter make me want sweet tart desserts. So does Christmas. And Groundhog Day. And Thursdays. And…well, you get the point.

I’m not one of those weirdos who says that I would always choose lemon over chocolate, but I do love me a good lemony dessert. I come by that honestly if the love for it can be genetic. One of the only desserts I can recall my mother making was lemon meringue pie. She made an awesome one too.Â Plus, my dad loved lemon meringue pie. Hmmm, wonder if there is a connection there. maybe my mom learned because my dad liked it? Or maybe my dad loved it because my mom made it? Who knows? I don’t have many memories of the two of them together so I guess it will remain a mystery.

My father would have loved this pie. It’s not lemon meringue but it has all the thing in it he (and I) loved; lemon, creaminess, whipped cream… ok, so my dad would have loved it because it had sugar lol. I’ve said it before- he was a diabetic with an insatiable sweet tooth.

I originally saw this recipe on The Galley Gourmet. Her blog is one of my absolute favorites and one I aspire to be like though I doubt it will ever happen with my lack of photography skills hehe. When I checked out the cookbook she mentioned in her post, I immediately went to Amazon to check it out and ten minutes later, I was 10 bucks poorer. But it’s definitely worth it. The book (Dam Good Sweet) has quite a few tempting recipes in it that I’ll be trying. Being me however, i had to change it up a little. Mind you, it was very very little. All I did was add some vanilla to it because I adore the combo of lemon and vanilla and I made a honeyed whipped cream for the top of it because who can resist the classic pairing of honey and lemon. I was tickled with the results of that idea. The honey whipped cream goes so well with the lemon flavor. I also didn’t freeze it, just chilled it because I’m not big on frozen pies. Anddddd, I used a premade graham cracker crust but I will post the recipe for the crust in the book. Feel free to do it either way. It worked just fine in the premade if you’re feeling as lazy as I was. So go see if you have any sweetened condensed milk and go buy the prettiest lemons you can find. This pie is delicious!

Note- this takes a lot of egg yolks so plan on making some egg white omelets for dinner that night or some meringue cookies the next day. Just store the whites in a covered container. They will last about 3 days.

Lemon Icebox Pie With Honeyed Whipped Cream

crust-
Premade graham cracker crust OR
14 whole graham crackers
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling-
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups strained lemon juice (will take about 5 to 6 lemons)
8 egg yolks
zest from 2 lemons
Honeyed whipped cream-
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 to 1/3 cup honey (depends on how sweet you want it. I prefer it only mildly sweet because the pie is pretty sweet on it’s own)

To make the crust-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break the graham crackers up into small pieces and place in the bowl of a food processor with the sugar and pulse until they are fine crumbs.
Pour in the melted butter and pulse a few times, until the mixture holds together if squeezed.
Transfer the mixture to a 9 inch springform pan and press onto the bottom and about an inch up the sides of the pan. Set aside.
Whisk the condensed milk with the lemon juice. In another bowl, whisk the lemon zest with the egg yolks for about a minute or so. Pour the lemon juice mixture into the egg mixture and mix well.
Place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet and pour the mixture into the crust. Place into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until the center is jiggly, rather like a soft set custard. Remove from the oven and let cool for an hour on a wire rack.Â Loosely cover with plastic wrap and either chill or freeze for at least six hours.
When ready to serve, make your cream. In a medium bowl, combine the heavy cream and the honey. Start with the 1/4 cup honey if you’re not sure how sweet you want it. You can taste midway through beating and see if you want more. Beat until soft peaks form. Either cover the pie with the cream or serve on the side. Or just take the whole bowl in a closet and eat it. I won’t judge.

Lemon Icebox Pie With Honeyed Whipped Cream

Key Lime Chess Pie

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Janet

I’ve always had a thing for food culture and food history. One of my prize possessions is the full set of Time Life Foods Of The World cookbooks. The firs time I read one of them was when I lived in Germany and I became immediately hooked. The books are a bit dated now (they were printed in the late 60’s through early 70’s but that is actually part of their charm. But they are a wonderful combination of a cookbook, a travelogue and personal anecdotes from each author. When the internet became a larger part of everyday life, I looked for the books on Ebay and found them. By the time I managed to piece together one set, I had extras and now have almost 2 full sets of the books. I have yet to decide which one of my kids get the books when I die hehe.

One of the things I love about food history is how the things we eat has changed so much and it’s fun to compare. back in the day, people routinely ate things like offal and marrow. I remember my mother, a depression baby, sucking the marrow out of bones and how it grossed me out because I was form a different time period than she. And how many of you have ever had a tomato aspic or jellied beef? Or a Marlborough Pie or Shoofly Pie? Heck, I know many people from the generations younger than myself who have never even had jello or a jello salad. That was such a common place dessert or side dish years back but my theory is that the younger crowd today has far more choices when it comes to sweets so things like jello have fallen out of favor.

One of the things that always sounded interesting to me was Chess Pie. The addition of cornmeal to what would otherwise be a typical custard pie seemed unusual enough to be yummy. But the “normal” chess pie sounded overly sweet, even to me lol. So when I saw a recipe for Key Lime Chess Pie in The Southern Foodie, I knew I wanted to try it. I mean, y’all know me. Turn down something made with lime? Not to mention custardy, aka creamy? yeah right… and I hated Twinkies too.

This turned out pretty good. I was leery at first about the amount of butter used in the crust. I worried it would be greasy. But it seems to have worked, making the crust almost cookie like though a bit less butter would be ideal in my opinion. The filling is nice and tart from the lime but not too tart. The only issue I have is that the directions weren’t very clear on pie pan size. I used a regular 9 inch pan and ended with 1) a very thick crust and 2) too much filling for the pan. So I will say here and repeat in the recipe. Either use a 10 inch deep dish pie pan (hard to find I know), make this in say, a 13×9 inch glass pan or plan on putting some of it into ramekins as I did today.

Key Lime Chess Pie

Crust-
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
11 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted (the recipe called for 12.5 tablespoons but I think a tad less would be ideal with no chance of excessive greasiness. Make your own call there.)
Filling-
8 eggs (yes, 8)
4 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup Key Lime juice (you can find it bottled with the regular lemon and lime juices at the store)
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
juice (and zest; my addition there) of one lime
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

To make the crust, preheat oven to 350 degrees then combine all the crust ingredients and pat into the bottom of a deep dish large pie pan or a 9 inch pan and a couple of ramekins.
Place the pan in the 350 degree oven and bake for 7 minutes, then set aside to cool.
For the filling, In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk (or cream) and key lime juice. Whisk until well combined.
Add the flour, cornmeal, lime juice and zest and butter. Stir to combine.
Pour into the pie shell and bake at 350 until the top is golden brown and the only the very center of the pie is jiggly. The edges and halfway through should look and feel set not liquidy.

White Chocolate Coconut Mojito Cookies

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Janet

I’m not a huge imbiber when it comes to hard alcohol. I joke about it on my facebook page and yes, I do like my wine and every once in a while something harder. But generally speaking, I’m pretty darn boring that way. I did all my drinking in my wild younger days (someday I’ll tell the story of waking up in the backseat of a car, unclothed, with no memory of how I got there. I was…interesting when in my late teens and early 20’s). But even then I tended to drink wine. When I drank the hard stuff, I ended up..well, in situations. Learn from me, grasshoppers.

So I’ve never had a mojito. But the IDEA of them has always intrigued me since I absolutely LOVE lime and enjoy mint too. So the thought of them together sounded yummy. But it meant buying rum and the only time I buy rum is when I buy an airline sized bottle around Christmas to soak my fruitcake in.

So I saw a recipe a few days ago for a Mojito Scone. That sounded interesting but I know I do a lot of that type of baked goods in here and hadn’t done any cookies for a while <insert Cookie Monster voice here saying “COOOOOOKIEEEESSSS!”>. So I thought. Then I thunk some more. Then I answered the door cause the fire department was there saying they had multiple reports of the smell of burning coming from my house.

So I stopped thinking. And that’s when it came to me. These cookies. Mojito flavored. As well as tasting of some toasted coconut just because I love any excuse to throw toasted coconut into things.

These turned out both good and not to my taste, all at once. Will I make them again? Yes, but next time I will double the lime zest, add some lime oil, cut the mint extract in half (it was a bit overpowering for me) and add some coconut extract as well. Then, I think they would be absolutely perfect. But if you prefer the flavor of mint to be more prominent, make them exactly as I will type them out here. Otherwise, try them the way I just suggested up above. that will make the lime and coconut flavors more noticeable. But for an experiment, I was really pleased with these. They are nice and chewy, the toasted coconut was a great addition and were pleasantly buttery. I WILL be making these again 🙂

White Chocolate Coconut Mojito Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon mint extract (cut in half if you want mint flavor lighter)
zest and juice from one small lime (remember, double the zest and add some lime oil if you prefer the lime to dominate over the mint)
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted in a 350 degree oven until light brown (also, about 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract if you want a heavier coconut flavor)
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 11 ounce bag of white chocolate pieces

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars.
Add the eggs, the extracts and the lime juice and zest. Beat until well blended.
In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture. Mix just until blended. Stir in the white chocolate pieces and the toasted coconut.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and/or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Spoon or scoop rounded spoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. They should be just barely browned on the edges of the cookies.
Let cool on pan for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Orange Marmalade/ Brown Sugar Glazed Ham

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Janet

Orange Marmalade-Brown Sugar Ham

I remember Easter when I was a kid. Our family wasn’t particularly religious when I was young. Easter consisted of an Easter basket from my mother, a bigger one from my father (they divorced when I was 5) and enough candy and chocolate to feed a small third world country. Then my mother made ham for dinner and that was that. Easter was over and all that was left was some hard boiled eggs that would rot in the fridge and be used later to bury in the back yard with threats of digging them up later and throwing them at people. We never did of course. I like to think that somewhere on the South Side of Chicago, there are pretty eggs buried that I could still go back and throw at my mean people… that being anyone who doesn’t like chocolate, hot tea, liverwurst and reruns of Roseanne or M*AS*H.

When I got a little older (ten I believe), we joined a Lutheran church after one of our many moves. The reason was that we could go to the school there free if we were members of the church. All in all, the three years I went to that school were the best school years I had.Â I loved going to church on Sunday mornings. I loved the hymns (“He’s Alive”, “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today” are still my favorites.), I loved the feeling of family and I loved learning about God. I don’t talk about my faith much on my blog or here but it’s a large part of me.

I also love the food on Easter. I’m not a big ham person normally. But I love Cumberland Gap Hams . They aren’t as salty as most hams and don’t seem as fatty either. I usually make it the typical way, with a brown sugar and pineapple glaze. But years ago I found this recipe for a ham that was different enough to be intriguing and I held on to it wanting to make it someday. Well, someday happened. And this is one awesome ham. Does it dance for you, cook itself and clean your kitchen after you finish carving it? No. Unfortunately. But it’s just different enough with the glaze to make you keep going back to snitch another piece… and another…and another. And it doesn’t get any easier than this. There is no boiling up a glaze, basting every three minutes, blah blah blah. You stick it in a pan, stick cloves in it (I actually changed that up. I’ll explain down there), put it in the oven, brush with the glaze periodically and Bobs your uncle. Ok, maybe Bob won’t be your uncle. Maybe you have an Uncle Harold or an Uncle Bozo or that crazy uncle that no one mentions except in a whisper. But Bob will WANT to be your uncle if you make him this ham. So go… shoo… buy a ham. Make this on Easter. Or tomorrow. Or next week. Or Christmas. Or for Uncle Bobs birthday.

Orange Marmalade/Brown Sugar Ham

1 12 to 17 pound smoked bone in ham
1 18 ounce jar orange marmalade
1 cup Dijon mustard (I actually used whole grain mustard. I like the texture)
1 1/2 cups packs dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon whole cloves (I subbed 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves right in the glaze. Nothin’ worse than accidentally biting into a whole clove.)

Preheat oven to 300. Line a heavy roasting pan with a thick layer of heavy duty foil. Trust me on this. Only thing worse than biting into a whole clove is trying t wash a pan that has a glaze from ham cooked onto it.
Trim any excess fat off of the ham. Or leave it you have people like my son who like it.
Place ham, fat side up, in the prepared pan. Cut shallow marks across the ham in a diamond pattern and insert a clove into every diamond. Or omit that step and just do the ground cloves in the glaze.
Pour 1/2 cup of water into the pan. Roast ham at 300 degrees for 2 hours if a smaller ham and 2 3/4 hours if on the upper part of that weight scale.
Take ham out, brush with some of the glaze and return to oven. Increase oven temp to 350 degrees. Continue cooking for about another hour and a half to two hours or until ham reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees, brushing with the glaze about 3 to 4 more times.
Transfer ham to a serving platter and let rest for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Extra Rich Corn Muffins With Homemade Honey Butter

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Janet

Extra-Rich-Corn-Muffins-With-Homemade-Honey-Butter

I think I’m completely incapable of making a recipe that is 100% good for me (you, my family, the rest of the world). I instinctively search out the worst for you version of…well… everything. Ice cream? I go for the high fat premium stuff. My homemade bread puddings? I have to cover them in a puddle of heavy cream and if the recipe called for making it with low fat milk, you’d better believe I’ll be substituting cream. I am not, surprisingly enough, a huge sugar fan. My weakness is anything creamy and/or buttery. Richness is my downfall.

That of course is why, even though I lost almost 50 pounds last year, I’m still overweight lol. I am, I think, totally unwilling to live a life that isn’t filled with rich and creamy foods. This ~~and the fact that I’m old, not that pretty,Â saggy and practically toothless~~ is the reason that the modeling world never need worry about me taking it by storm and shoving out all the young girls. However, if I were to give all the supermodels one ~~or eight~~ of these muffins, they too would end up with my love for rich foods and that would be the end of the modeling world as we know it. Hey… I may be onto something here. THIS is the way to get normal sized models featured more. Just FEED the poor women; make them realize how yummy food is lol.

And these are pretty yummy. They come from The Pastry Queen cookbook which is a damned awesome cookbook and one that I plan on using often. The only thing I would change about these would be the ratio of flour to corn meal. They could use a bit more of the cornmeal flavor, less of the flour. So next time I will probably increase the cornmeal one cup, decrease the flour one cup. I also cut the sugar down to about 1/3 of a cup because I am of the school that says cornbread should either be not sweet at all or just barely. ANDDDDDD, I used frozen corn because it’s too early in the year for fresh here and canned corn should be outlawed… nasty nasty stuff.

Extra Rich Corn Muffins

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 cup heavy cream
3 large egg
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh, frozen or canned corn (optional)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional- my addition)
1/4 cup canned chopped green chiles (optional- my addition)
Honey Butter-
1 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional- I prefer it without but some people like the addition of cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line 24 muffin cups. I used 12 muffin cups and a 8 count mini loaf pan.
Pour the cream, butter and eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer (this can all also be done with a hand mixer or even by hand if you have strong arms 😛 ) fitted with the paddle attachment.
Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt on top. Mix at medium speed just until the ingredients are combined and not lumpy. Stir in the corn (and the cheese and chiles if using)
Scoop the batter into the prepared pans, filling them about 2/3 full. This is a very thick batter, almost more dough like than batter like so don’t think you goofed up when it’s thick.
bake at 350 degrees until they are a light golden brown and spring back when touched, about 15 minutes.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool slightly but these are best served warm, like most muffins. They reheat nicely in the microwave however.
For the honey butter, put the butter and honey in a small bowl (the cinnamon too if using). Beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. taste and add more honey if you like it sweeter. Store this in the fridge covered will as it will pick up refrigerator odors if not covered.

Savory French Onion Soup Bread Pudding

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Janet

I’ve said before & say again, tis hard to make bread pudding photograph well, especially when ones skills are limited :-p

I’ve never figured out why bread puddings get such a bad rap. The same people who will eat an entire pan of stuffing turn up their noses at bread pudding when the only difference is that stuffing is made with broth and bread pudding made with milk and/or cream. Mind you, if one has had a bad bread pudding, i.e., soggy, flavorless, shoved full of poor quality ingredients, or one of the really old ones that was pretty much just stale bread mixed with milk, sugar and cinnamon and so on, it’s understandable that a person could be leery. But heck, who hasn’t had most everything good badly cooked at one time or another?

But a GOOD savory bread pudding? One that is filled with gooey cheese, cream and butter? Really… how can you go wrong with that? Especially if you also add slow caramelized onions, beef broth and red wine?

It’s already been made clear that I absolutely love French Onion Soup with this recipe for French Onion Soup Macaroni & Cheese. Just that the combo of flavors mentioned in the above paragraph is one of those practically perfect combinations. Other than Cheetos and Twinkies *sobs and has yet another mournful moment of silence for Twinkies*

This is one I have been making for years and even my bread pudding hating husband loves it when I make it. If you’re turned off by the idea of bread pudding, just call it a strata. Pretty much the same thing with interchangeable names. This is, as I alluded to above, dripping with gooey Swiss and Mozzarella cheese, a healthy portion of caramelized onions, red wine and beef broth. The loaf of French bread that is its base is almost an afterthought here lol.

So get rid of your food prejudices for one meal and give this a try. If you like all of the above, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed here. This is so far from good for you it’s not funny but as say, a once a year treat, it’s worth it. Just make the rest of the meal light or just make the bread pudding BE the meal.

Savory French Onion Bread Pudding

8 tablespoons butter, divided in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large onions, sliced in half width wise then sliced into very thin half moons
1 can (about 14 ounces) beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 small loaf (about 6 to 9 ounces) good French bread
3 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded REAL Parmesan cheese
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2 quart baking dish.
Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter along with the vegetable oil in a large deep pan. Add in the sliced onions and stir to coat them.
Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and allow the onions to cook for about 10 minutes on very low heat, stirring occasionally, until limp and mostly cooked.
Take the cover off of the pan, turn the heat up to just barely medium and continue to slowly cook the onions until they are a deep brown.
Add the beef broth and the wine to the pan. Stir to mix, then turn heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has been nicely soaked up by the “ungins” (as my dad used to call them)
Meanwhile, take your French bread and cube it into bite sized pieces. Toss it into a large bowl.
Whisk together the 3 eggs, the cream and the milk.
When the onions are ready, toss them with the cubed bread.
Pour in the cream/egg mixture and stir well.
Toss the shredded cheeseÂ (not the Parmesan) into the mixture, stir it all well then let sit for about 10 minutes so the bread can soak up the cream. Melt the last 4 tablespoons butter.
Pour all of the bread mixture into the prepared pan. Drizzle the melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees until the pudding is golden brown, puffy and when a knife is inserted in the middle, it comes out clean (other than cheese) and with no custardy mixture on it.
Let sit for about ten minutes before trying to slice.

Pork And Black Bean Chili

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Janet

Some of you who may have seen how tickled I was a few weeks ago when I realized that Andrew Zimmern started following me on Twitter. Fine, tickled may be an understatement. I about peed myself. The only thing that prevented that was the fact that my other pair of clean jeans was the washer. Mind you, he follows about 24 thousand other people too but considering that over half a million follow HIM, that still made me about one in 20 or so whom he follows back. That means we’re bff’s right? Yes, I realize that maybe it was an underling who followed me or that Mr. Zimmern said one day “Hey, underling, go find some really really bad food blog and follow it. I need something to make me laugh.” The underling then found me, followed for him, then got promptly fired when he realized that Mr. Zimmern didn’t mean to follow one quite THIS bad.

But in the spirit of hope, I prefer to believe that somehow, my wit and pithy sense of humor (oh God, I’m killing myself here *snorts and laughs*) brought me to his attention one night ~~when he’d had too much to drink~~ and he decided I was a cool person to keep up with. So, in that spirit, I am writing him a short letter here.

Dear Mr. Zimmern-

Can I call you Andrew? How about Andy? Ooo, ooo, I know! I can call you Ang just like Barney Fife called Andy Griffith. It’s what bff’s do, right? Come up with nicknames? So maybe now you can call me “Cool J”. *Does the “Cool J” gangsta finger thing* Owowowowowowwwww… finger cramp.

No, no, no, it’s ok Ang, I’m cool. Cancel the plane flight. Just a minor *sobs* finger cramp. So, how’s it going? I almost asked “how;’s it hangin'” but then thought that maybe a female bff shouldn’t ask that of a male bff. Wait… does typing it out anyway mean I still asked it anyway? Crap. Sorry.

I can’t help but wonder how you came to follow me on twitter ~~and probably come to my blog a few times a day hoping for updates.~~? Was it the fancy cooking? Maybe the Blueberry Cornmeal pancakes? Or the video of the Monty Python intro!? I know! It was my world class photography! I feel like I need to make some cockroach (hehe..like my play on words here??Huh huh huh?) testicles to make sure I keep you happy. But I didn’t have that on the menu until next month. It takes a while to stockpile enough of those bad boys to make a meal. Plus, if you don’t wrap them in something bright, the bag is too small to find in the freezer.

But whatever the reason, I just wanted to let you know how pleased I am that we will now be lifelong buddies. I’ve always admired you, love your show(s) and recipes and had always thought that you were the kind of guy I’d love to invite over (and Mrs. Ang of course) for a beer and some roach testicles. But in the meantime, I made one of your recipes today. It got a unanimous thumbs up even though I accidentally used too much chipotle pepper and none of us have any taste buds left.

Sincerely- your twitter bff- ~Janet~
Now if I could only get Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain to follow me, I’d be in Heaven. Yes, I know Mr. Bourdain can be an ass, but he can’t stand Sandra Lee or Rachael Ray… so how bad can he really be? We think alike 😀

(P.S.- On a serious note, I was truly totally tickled by Mr. Zimmern following me.)

Pork & Black Bean Chili

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 slices bacon, chopped (I may have “accidentally” used about 6)
2 pounds pork shoulder, cubed (I used a 3 pound loin because it’s what I had plus I feed teenagers)
salt and pepper
2 poblano chiles, stemmed, seeded and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 chipotle chiles in adobo, minced (make sure to NOT twitch & add about twice that unless you hate your taste buds)
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup ancho chile powder
3 tablespoons cumin (I used about half this; not a huge cumin fan)
1 tablespoon oregano
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes (I chopped them up. It wasn’t in the original instructions but I couldn’t leave them whole)
1 lb dried black beans, soaked overnight
5 cups chicken stock (or good quality canned broth)
3 cups dark beer (I used Becks)
3 tablespoons corn flour
3 tablespoons water
zest of one lime & juice of half a lime (my own addition)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar (also my addition)

In a large non stick pot, heat the oil until shimmering.
Add the bacon and cook until the fat has rendered out. Using a slotted spoon, put the bacon aside for now. Eat the 90 extra pieces you accidentally tossed in the pot.
Season the pork to taste with salt and pepper.
Add it in batches (you want to sear the meat, not steam it in it’s own juices and grease) to the pot and cook until browned, about 7 minutes. Set aside as you get it browned. Add the poblanos, onions, chipotles and garlic to the pot and cook over medium heat until the onion has softened.
Add the chile powder, cumin, oregano and cilantro and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add the tomatoes, beans, chicken stock, beer, brown sugar and bacon and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat and simmer until the beans are just tender, about 90 minutes. Uncover and continue to simmer until the beans are totally cooked, about another 45 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the corn flour (please don’t sub regular flour. You can get the corn flour in the Hispanic aisle of the grocery and it adds a flavor regular flour won’t) and the water. Slowly whisk the mixture into the chili. Add the lime juice and zest, season with salt and pepper and serve with sides of tortillas, cheese, onions, whatever you love with chili. JustÂ stay away from the leftover chipotles… trust me.

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Janet

Hummingbird Bundt cake- No hummingbirds were harmed in the making of this cake 😀

I’m one of those people whose mind never shuts down. I don’t say this in the tone of “I’m so damn smart, my mind is always working”. On the contrary. I said it never shuts down. Work on the other hand is a totally foreign concept to my brain. If my brain were a person, it would be sitting on the couch in a holey wife beater, holding a beer, chips and the TV remote, burping and watching something like “Nude Alligator Hunters” while it said to my body “make me a sammich, bit**!”. My mind needs therapy.

Point is, my mind annoys me. It will be 3am and the rest of the world is sleeping (ok, the rest in my time zone…who aren’t working 3rd shift…and aren’t insomniac…or watching “Nude Alligator Hunters”. Crap, ok, while SOME other people are sleeping) and my mind is creating story lines that I will forget by morning and never write. Or it will be wondering if the cats are warm enough…or why Bates on Downton Abbey let his estranged wife blackmail him. Or why things have the names they have.

Case in point- this cake. Really? Hummingbird Cake? There is not a Hummingbird in it… not even a stray feather. I had seen the original recipe for the layer cake and I know it’s a fairly old recipe, stemming from at least the Civil War era. Maybe they put Hummingbirds in it then? 😛 As I was saying; I’ve seen the recipe (maybe I should say “the receipt” since this is an old cake) for the layer cake and while it intrigued me, I was always hesitant to make it because it just sounded too sweet, too rich. WAIT!!! Don’t leave! Yes, that was really me that just said the words “too sweet” and “too rich”.Â because…well… it did. A fairly rich cake layered with an ultra sweet and rich frosting. Just…too much. So when I saw this recipe for a bundt cake version with the frosting as just a glaze on top, I HAD to try it. The combo of banana and pineapple along with a cream cheese glaze was too much to resist. And oh boy, is it hard to resist. Moist and tender with the tropical flavors blending so well. Then the cream cheese glaze. Really… can you ever go wrong with cream cheese glaze? Plus it goes together quickly. No beating for 90 minutes and alternate adding of ingredients.

I still think I should have put a Hummingbird in it though. But the birds weren’t falling for my sign that said “Free Bird Seed Here… Enter Box Here—>” My son on the other hand… we still need to figure out how to get the box off of his head.

This came from “Southern Living Comfort Foods”

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Cake-
1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 2)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 4 large)
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Glaze-
4 ounces cream cheese, room temp
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 14 cup bundt pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of the pecans on the bottom of the pan, reserving the last 1/2 cup for sprinkling on the glaze.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Stir in the eggs, oil, bananas, pineapple and vanilla. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Bake at 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and ten minutes or until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack to finish cooling for about 2 hours.
For glaze- beat cream cheese until light, then add powdered sugar and beat on LOW speed (unless you like being covered in sugar dust) until well mixed. Add in the milk, a teaspoon at a time, only adding the second one of you need to make it thin enough to pour.
Pour glaze over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with reserved pecans.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Janet

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

Today we are joining together to help raise awareness for Heart Disease. Kim of Cravings Of A Lunatic lost her Mom to heart disease when her mother was 47, and Kim was 15. Each year on the day her Mom passed she shares stories and photos of her Mom. This year she joined forces with Jen of Juanita’s Cocina, whose life was also touched by heart disease when her Stepfather had a heart attack. Jen’s Stepfather is alive and well more than a decade later, and for that, Jen is thankful every day. The ladies got in touch with other bloggers to ask them to share their own stories about how heart disease has touched their lives. So today we share stories and recipes from our hearts to yours, in memory and honor of Momzie, Kim’s Mom. We hope you will share your stories with us today as well.

I think everyone has been touched by heart disease in one way or another, be it with their own health or that of a family member. It is still, in the year 2013,Â the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States with over 600,000 deaths per year. Why? genetics of course but you can add in there the increasing tendency towards obesity and the utter lack of exercise many of us get other than walking to and from the snack cabinet. Add in the high fat, high calorie foods so many of us, including myself, love and it is far too common to see people be literally one heartbeat away from death.

I had a stroke last year as many of you know. While it’s not the same as a heart attack or heart disease, it can be caused by many of the same things I just talked about. So is this important to me also? Damn straight. It’s why I lost almost 50 pounds and have tried to get my own health issues fixed.

My family history isn’t pretty when it comes to heart disease. My dad had a heart attack in his mid 40’s. My mom had tachycardia from early adulthood until her death. I have issues with a heartbeat that goes so slow at times that I get dizzy.

On my husbands side, HIS dad has had…five…yes, five…heart attacks. The man is amazing. But the chances of most people being that blessed are rare. Tragically, a lot of the time, one heart attack is all it takes to leave behind a family who will feel that loss forever. So if there is a family history of heart issues for you (and even if there isn’t), I beg of you, don’t wait until later to take steps to insure your own heart health. If you need to lose weight, do it NOW, not after you finish all the junk food you have in the house. If your exercise consists of lifting your hand to your mouth to insert a doughnut, get off your butt and move, even if it’s only a short 20 minute walk per day. But please… please… take care of yourself. Too many people need you. Yes, even YOU back there eating that bag of potato chips, no matter what you think. You…are…loved. Why? Because you have a good heart. So keep it that way.

This soup can be either semi decadent or healthy, depending on what you use in it. For this post, I obviously chose the healthy way; even if you ARE used to seeing foods that have 14,000 calories from me. It can also be played with in many ways to make it more to your family’s tastes. Like things spicier? Add some Sriracha or red pepper flakes at the end or use a hot curry paste. Want a bit less tang? Use less lime juice. Slightly sweeter? Add a touch of brown sugar along with the regular. Plus you can use full fat coconut milk if so inclined and regular chicken broth instead of fat free. Don’t like chicken or just not in the mood? Use shrimp. You could even do this full on vegetarian by using vegetable broth and firm tofu instead of meat. This is a very versatile recipe. It’s also delicious and made as stated you won’t miss the fat or calories. I PROMISE. I mean, c’mon, you all know what I normally cook. So would I lie about something low fat being tasty? This has it all. Spicy, meaty, rich and creamy (yet with no dairy), sweet, salty, tangy. Also, don’t use dried lemongrass in this. If you can’t find fresh (I couldn’t) get the squeeze tubes of lemongrass you can now find in the produce section of most major supermarkets.

This recipe originally comes from Cooks Illustrated.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 stalks lemongrass, tough outer parts removed, then sliced lengthwise (or use 1 tablespoon of the squeezable lemongrass)
3 large shallots, chopped
8 sprigs cilantro (they say to chop them but I don’t bother since you will be straining them out later anyway)
3 tablespoons fish sauce (Nam Pla) (do NOT omit this. Yes, it smells ghastly as it heats but it adds that needed something to so many Thai dishes and it leaves NO fishy taste)
4 cups fat free chicken broth
2 14 ounce cans low fat (lite) coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced thin
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoon lime juice (I also use the zest from one of the limes)
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I tend to use more… no such thing as too much curry in my book hehe)

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering.
Add the lemongrass, cilantro, shallots and one tablespoon of the fish sauce (like I said, the fish sauce smells horrid as it heats. But it is not meant to be eaten plain. Once mixed with everything else, the smells fades and it leaves an undefinable flavor. Cook this mixture just until the shallots and lemongrass are softened, about 2 to 5 minutes. If using the squeeze lemongrass, use it now too.
Pour in the chicken broth and one can of coconut milk; bring to a simmer over high heat.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about ten minutes
Strain soup over a mesh strainer into another pot; discard the solids.
Return pan to medium high heat and stir in the remaining can of coconut milk and the sugar.
Add the mushrooms and chicken. Stir and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken is JUST done.
Combine the lime, zest if using, remaining 2 tablespoons fish sauce and the curry paste in a bowl. Stir into the soup.
Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with more cilantro and scallions and some slices of serrano (or jalapeno) pepper. If you really like the tang, pass around some lime wedges too.

Now that you’ve seen my recipe and have read what I have to say, go check out what these other bloggers have to tell you. You’ll find good food and stories that will touch your heart.

The Recipes from the Heart Crew:

Healthy Snacking with Radish Dip by Juanitaâ€™s Cocina

Arugula, Walnut Pesto by Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

Farro, Apple & Pecan Salad by Itâ€™s Yummilicious

Chicken-Quinoa Burgers with an Avocado Yogurt Sauce by The Spiffy Cookie

Pasta House Wilted Salad by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker

Gooey Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars by The Cooking Actress

Dark Chocolate Covered Walnuts by All Day I Dream About Food

Mini Pear Walnut Crisps with Blood Orange Caramel Sauce by Chocolate Moosey

Kung Pao Chicken Tacos by The Dutch Bakerâ€™s Daughter

Honey Soy Glazed Salmon by Curry and Comfort

Apple Walnut Spinach Salad by Magnolia Days