It's been a snowy December! Last year at Christmas time, I fell in love with a snowman cake pan from Williams Sonoma. Unfortunately, it was not among my packages under the tree. :( Not able to give up on owning this very cute pan, I ordered at the first of the year on sale. This Christmas, I brought it out of storage to make my very own Frosty.
Working with this cake was much like working with snow...not so easy. The medium is tricky and not easy to manipulate! What's so special about this pan is that you fill two halves of the snowman with batter, a front and a back. After baking, you stand up the two halves together and viola!...a 3-D cake!
You do not need glasses. My cake is lying down. In the assembly process, Frosty's head popped off one of the halves, melting (pun intended) my dream of a real life snowman. I think he still turned out pretty cute.
I used Classic Coconut Cake recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott (a birthday gift cookbook). It's a pretty tasty cake, so whether you have a fancy pan or not, try it.
Classic Coconut Cake (adapted from Nancy McDermott-Southern Cakes)
3 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 cup coconut milk
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using a fork, mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the milk.
Beat the butter with a mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is light and evenly combined, scraping sides occasionally. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is smooth and thick.
Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat well at low speed. Then add about 1/2 of the milk to the batter, beating well. Continue beating as you add another 1/3 of the four mixture, followed by the rest of the milk, and then remaining flour, beating well each time until the batter is very thick and smooth.
Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared cake pans, dividing it evenly, and place them in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the center, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.
Frost. (I used a normal frosting recipe, substituting coconut milk for milk. Sprinkle coconut on the frosted cake before frosting has time to harden).
Frosty's remnants were turned into a blueberrry trifle for the next Christmas gathering.
Wow! This month has been crazy. Between extra holiday rehearsals/performances and Sister's winter wonderland wedding, I can honestly count the number of times on one hand that Husband and I have eaten dinner together. I haven't done a lot of cooking, but when I have, dinner has had to be accommodating for two people who eat at different times. I eat early and head off to my gigs. Husband eats later after he gets home from work. The crockpot has been a life saver. Crockpot highlights have included chili and chicken burrito mix.
Last night was no different. Chicken, Artichoke, and Tomato Ragout was a good weeknight meal, but I wouldn't try entertaining with this one. I served the ragout on a polenta cakes. I've made polenta cakes a few times, and they're not my favorite. A little bland... Husband, however, likes them, so maybe you would too.
Here are the changes, I made to the recipe:
Chicken, Artichoke, Mushroom and Tomato Ragout (adapted from cookinglight.com)
1 lb. chicken breast tenders, cut into chunks
1/2 T olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1 cup chicken broth, low sodium
2 T prepared pesto
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained
Heat oil in skillet. Season chicken, and saute chicken with onions and garlic. Pour into crockpot. Use same skillet to saute mushrooms, to release their liquid. Add to crockpot. Add remaining ingredients to crockpot. Cook on low for several hours or on high for a few hours.
Serve on pasta or polenta. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
Are you tired of your boiled or steamed veggie? Husband and I love Sweet and Sour Cabbage. It is an easy recipe that we keep coming back to again and again. It is delicious! I've actually never tried it just as the recipe states, (link above). Here are my changes per the advice of a couple reviewers. You must try this side!
Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage (serves 2-3)
2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red cabbage, chopped
1/2 apple, grated or chopped
2 T brown sugar
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
Heat oil in non-stick skillet. Add onion, cabbage and apple. Saute until cabbage is wilted. Add sugar and toss to coat evenly. Add vinegar. Reduce heat and simmer until cabbage is tender, stirring often, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
I love recipes where you can just drop, cook, and dinner is done. I guess it's sort of like Dump Cake. I've never made one, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that you just dump the cake ingredients in a pan and voila! Dinner tonight was just as easy. I would have used the crockpot, but got too busy earlier in the day. Instead I cooked it low and slow in the oven. It was surprisingly good. I wasn't sure what to call it. It was similar to stew, so stew it is.
Dump Dinner (it's an appetizing title) serves 2-3
1/2 -2/3 lb stew meat
1/2 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 garlic clove, minced
few splashes beef broth
few sprinkles worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
Dump above ingredients in an oven safe dish with lid. Cook at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.
Before the last 15 minutes of cooking, my "stew" had a bit too much liquid, so I made a slurry (I think that's the word) of cornstarch and water and added it for the remaining cooking time.
Serve the stew on mashed _____:
Didn't have a potato, but I had a small sweet potato. It was a bit small for both of us, so I cooked a bit of cauliflower, and mashed them with the sweet potato (a little sour cream is nice in the mash). If you haven't had mashed sweet potato or mashed cauliflower venture out a bit. Both mashed together is tasty too.
I brought home leftover ham from Thanksgiving. I was determined to spring some life into it. It wouldn't be a piece of ham on the plate tonight. What's the name of that foodnetwork show? Oh, Ham on the Street. I don't like traditional ham and beans, but when I saw this recipe I thought it looked pretty good. It essentially is a "light" soup with bacon! Can't be that bad. Space cadet me, however, forgot to bring home the bacon from the store, so this was an even lighter soup...and quite good. Finally, a delicious ham and beans. Imagine what it would taste like with bacon? Where was this on those school lunch menus? Bacon, Ham and Lentil Soup came from Cookinglight.com. I, as well as other reviewers, left out the fennel and reduced the amount of lentils. Also, halved the recipe.
What goes with ham and beans? Cornbread, of course. For my birthday I received a cookbook from 1954. It was a ladies church cookbook that they probably used for a fundraiser at the time. My grandma had a recipe for pecan pie in the book. It's probably the same recipe she uses today. I'll have to ask her. Anyway, I found a sour cream cornbread recipe in this book and thought I should give it a try. It was great. There was a bit of an ordeal at the store. They were out of yellow cornmeal, so I fought my temptation to buy an easy fix - Jiffy mix cornbread - and I tried the white cornmeal. It didn't seem to make much difference in this recipe. I think I'll make this again. Below is the original recipe. I halved it for just the two of us.
Sour Cream Cornbread
1 c. yellow cornmeal
1 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. soda
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1 T. shortening, melted
Sift dry ingredients, add beaten egg. Add cream, then melted shortening. Pour in 8x8 pan and bake at 345 degrees until golden brown.
I love Thanksgiving. I would go as far to say that it is my favorite holiday. It's strange, I'm not a huge fan of the traditional meal...don't get me wrong I go back for seconds, so I don't dislike it. It's a holiday where the focus is on counting your blessings, however, the focus seems to be on the food too, and I like food. I love Thanksgiving!
This year, I contributed a cheeseball. Who doesn't love a cheeseball?
Tabicakes' Cheeseball
Mix together:
1 1/2 packages (12 oz.) cream cheese, softened
approximately 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
few sprinkles dried dill weed
chopped fresh parsley
Serve with crackers or veggies.
I also attempted one of my favorite desserts: Tarte Tatin. This turned out well, however I didn't get that great of a photo, so I decided to share a photo of all of the desserts from our family Thanksgiving. Mmmm... After the first tasting we decided it needed a caramel sauce, so mom whipped up a sauce for the leftovers. Delish!
Desserts clockwise from top left:
German Chocolate Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake
Pumpkin Pie
Whipped Cream
Cherry Pie
Tarte Tatin
Double Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Raisin Pie
I usually decide what's for dinner and then make sure I have the ingredients. (I go to the store a lot, even if it's just to pick up one or two items). Every now and then, I'm left with a hodge-podge of leftover ingredients. When I can come up with a menu using just these ingredients, I always declare, "This was a free meal." I know this is idiot mentallity, as we paid for these grocerys at some point. (We are not in the habit of stealing food). Using just what happens to be in the pantry makes me feel like I've made something from nothing.
Edamame and Sauteed Vegetable Soup is not the prettiest, but was a healthful and delicious soup. Husband said it had a rich deep flavor!
Follow the link above for the original recipe from Epicurious, or try my version below.
Edamame and Sauteed Vegetable Soup
1 T olive oil
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. frozen corn kernals
garlic powder
salt and pepper
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth *
3/4 t. dried thyme
1/3 c. orzo
2 c. shelled cooked edamame beans
Heat oil in large pot. Add next 5 ingredients. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Saute until veggies are deep golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and reserve 1 cup of chopped vegetables. Add tomatoes, broth and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables in pot are very tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender, puree soup. Return reserved vegetables to soup. Bring soup back to boil and add pasta. Cook until pasta in tender, about 10 minutes. Add edamame and simmer until edamame is tender. Serve.
*I used a carton of chicken broth (4 cups), plus 2 cups water and 1 t. bouillion powder.
I wasn't home when I received the call late in the afternoon from husband. We had dinner plans. I LOVE having dinner plans! After a few phone calls back and forth, we had decided that we would invite the couple to our house for dessert after dinner. I had just a couple of hours before husband and our guests would arrive home to go to dinner. The house was a mess, and I volunteered to make dessert! Teamwork. While I finished my errands, husband looked up a dessert online and gave me a list of ingredients that I would need. I stopped off at the grocery store (my favorite place) on the way home.
Thankfully, Spiced Pumpkin Cake was a breeze to mix together. I followed the recipe, except for my substitutions of pecans for the walnuts and dried cherries for currents. I was even able to pick up the house while it baked. I topped it off with a regular cream cheese frosting instead of the one provided with the cake recipe. As I was in a time crunch, I didn't frost the whole cake. Frosting just between the layers and on top looked rustic and was much faster to put together. It was delicious!
Pizza Grocery List
Red onions
Artichoke hearts
Goat cheesePepperoni Pancetta
This was really a great pizza. Besides the pancetta and three different cheeses (goat, parmesan, and mozzerella), the carmelized red onions made this pie spectacular.
When husband said it would take 1 whole hour to carmelize the onions, I thought he was crazy. He followed the Joy of Cooking recipe. An hour later, they were the best carmelized onions I've tasted. I ate my words and this pizza!
Husband spent a year in England going to school. Every now and then he gets a little hungry for "The Motherland." When he requested fish and chips, I went right along with it. Number one, it's fried food. Number two, I just saw an episode of the Barefoot Contessa where she was making fish and chips with her friend, T.R. Do those initials ring a bell? Finally, I've been invited to join her snobbery in the Hamptons!
We took this menu from her episode: Good Catch. Overall, we truly enjoyed this meal, but we both agree that we've had better chips and tarter sauce. Try another recipe. The chopped pickles were good, but we really didn't think the vinegar and fresh dill enhanced the pickles too much.
The cole slaw was not on Ina's menu. It was an attempt at recreating a coleslaw from Husband's childhood. He said he'd watched his Grandma make this many times, so he knew the ingredients...just not the amounts. She just dumped. We fiddled and tasted until we got a "98% match" in Husband's words. It's very simple, but very good!
Husband's Grandma's Coleslaw
Toss in a bowl:
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
1-2 green onions, choped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
Whisk and add to above ingredients:
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. plus 1 T white vinegar
2 T sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Maybe it was the disappointment from Ina's baked chips, but we just couldn't get enough fried food this weekend. We had to try fried sweet potatoes the next night.
We were, however, smart enough not to give into our apple cider doughnut craving in the same weekend. This craving has not passed, so maybe another post...
