In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla
This is one of the easiest things I have ever made! Four ingredients and fifteen minutes or less is all you need. I would give this recipe a ten for now. I will let you know how it keeps in the fridge and let you know if when I reheat it still is a ten. Yum! Oh and I used semi sweet chips instead squares.
No secret I love to cook and no secret I love Rhubarb! When I lived in Michigan it was in abundance and I had plenty to bake with even got a lot of it free. When we lived in Omaha Nebraska I found a lady right on my side of town who had it for .49 a pound and would freeze it and bake up a storm happy with the ease and quality that was available. Here in Florida I have only bought it once it was over 4.50 a pound and it was not good at all. Old, dry and nasty. I commented a week or so ago about missing it so much, it is a flavor that I grew up with and love. Well to my surprise today in the mail was a big box full of rhubarb. Christel who I know from Berrien Springs Michigan sent me a wonderful surprise. I had just talked to a friend from Nebraska about having someone send me some in the mail. I am blown away first that I talked about this last week and second how sweet and generous it was of Christel to send it to me. People can be so amazing when you least expect it and it is a nice feeling to have someone do something so nice. Thank you Christel!
Stacy's office had a bake sale and this was the new cake on the menu. Had to add a little flair to it because it is such a modest looking cake. Thanks to Sheri for the paper I turned into a banner to make it look as fabulous as it tastes. Another shout out to Ina for an amazing recipe. Fifty dollars was the price that took Old fashion banana cake home! Wow! I think I will add a banner to everything I cook now.
The other cake I made was a Cream Cheese Pound cake dusted with powdered sugar. This is the tried and true cake that I go to for consistently pleasing every pallet. I bought a new pan a few months and this was the first time I used it and was impressed with how well it turned out and came out of the pan. I have to give Heidi a shout out for the beautiful ribbon she sent me a few years back it was the icing on the icing free cake to style and flair on the wrapping. This cake did well at the bake sale and brought in forty dollars. (Just got the official sale price today and it went for fifty!!!! 04.08.11)
*I have to let you know that my camera is in the shop and I had to use a point and shoot camera so I apologizes for the bad photos.
This cake is amazing. Yep this is the third one I have made. It is now in the permanent rotation. It is right up there with Special K loaf, Pecan balls, Haystacks and Pasta n Peas. Today I chopped the walnuts on the top instead of halves I like the way it looks. The orange zest is the kicker in this recipe. Yummy!
PREHEAT ovent to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan.
MIX bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream. vanilla and orange zest. Mix until smooth.
STIR together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack and cool completely.
SPREAD frosting thickly on top of cake and decorate with walnut halves. Slice and serve.
Makes 8 servings.
Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
MIX cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don't whip. Add sugar and mix until smooth.
Tis the season! Nothing can kick off the holiday like a new cookbook. I went to Costco to get cranberries and walked through the book section and saw the new Ina cookbook, in the cart it went. While sitting on the couch I happened to show Stacy the photo for Easy Cranberry & Apple Cake. "Yep, sounds good!" Not looks good or when are you going to make that. Like I was showing him a menu and he picked out desert. Oh he makes me laugh. So off to the store I went I needed to get an orange for the recipe then into the kitchen. It was a quick prep and into the oven. 60 minutes later we have cake, let him eat cake fresh hot cake. Mr. Hygiene said I could make the cake again. His stamp of approval. Yum!
I love having Paige home. The kitchen has gotten a small workout from it's vacation while Paige was at FSU. (Not fun cooking for two) Last night Paige and I had a "while you are cooking snack" and it is great to have a fellow food lover back in the house.
I made her favorite Pasta with carrots and peas, I know I have blogged about it many times before but it is so simple and she just loves it. We went to our favorite Cheese store in Winter Park to get fresh Parmesan. Bought some fresh bread and some delicious spicy olives as well. Yum. Glad your home Paige.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
This year Paige turned 18. How did that happen? We had a small birthday party with a few of her close friends. I usually do not do themes but this year it was Raspberry Lemonade. The cake started it all so we will blame the cake.
Pink and yellow are fun to put together, I tried to get her favorite candy for decoration so she could take it back with her to college after the weekend was over.
Nothing high end here for the party just a few hand made flowers and a string of garland worked just fine. I made these while we sat on the beach earlier in the day before the party. Fold, fold, fold, tie, cut, fluff shake out sand and repeat.
It was so nice having Paige home for her birthday and to have her friends around as well. I can not believe how time flies, how fast they grow and how much we enjoy Paige. She is such a wonderful person with such a big heart. We are proud to call her our daughter. Happy birthday Miss Paige we love you very much!
I got this basket a few months back with the intentions of using it for the beach. Well I started using it around the house for different things and using it in the truck to carry things in and out. But today I used it for breakfast for Stacy's office and it worked perfectly!
I layered the food with the hot items on the bottom and the cooler items on top. The top layer was Big Sur Power Bars. I found really nice little light weight trays that just happened to fit perfectly inside the basket. I could not have planned this well fitted set up if I tried.
The second and third layer was Breakfast tarts with eggs, swiss cheese and chives. and the bottom two layers were hash brown casserole. They stayed nice and piping hot tucked in the bottom of the basket. I can not believe how well it all fit together in one container like this.
Yep, balls. Well they are really called cake pops but balls sound funny. I made these for Stacy to take to work for the 4Th annual Mini Masters Golf Tournament he puts on at work. This year in addition to the trophies I made cake pops that some what resemble golf balls.
This was the first time I have made them. I have seen them on several blogs and decided to give it a go. They are easy to make just time consuming.
I started making them last night, I made the cake filling and rolled them in balls and put them in the fridge over night.
Then this morning I put them on the sticks and covered them in the white chocolate bark. Stacy and Paige have had a taste and love them and the people at Stacy's office enjoyed them as well.
Here is a photo of them in action in Stacy's office at the winners table.
I made these again last week. I thought Paige would like them for her school lunch. this time I made them with out the espresso powder and added dried cherries and Goji berries. Thought I would make them with a little more added nutritional bang. Did a little digging on the little berry that seems to be the new super food and it is impressive. Oh well if it is all hype at least it adds nice color and texture to the bars. I also added a handful of chocolate chips to balance out all the good thing I added. Things don't usually taste great when they only have healthy things in them. If you feel like making these the recipe is somewhere in my blog just look for the food tag and it should pop up.
The one thing I loved about having my friend Leisa come and stay for awhile is the time we spend in the kitchen cooking great food or I should say, I prep the ingredients so Leisa can make great food. I do believe next to my Aunt Sandy she is the best cook I know. I could say she is a better cook than my Aunt Sandy if it was not for the German chocolate cake that qualifies my Aunt for the all time best cook in the world award.
While Leisa was here she made the best pizza I have ever had, yep it is true, sorry Sam & Louie's you have been demoted. She made jim lahey’s potato pizza, I know that sounds odd I was very skeptical but open minded and willing to try something different because I have never had anything that was not excellent that came from her kitchen. This recipe came from SmittenKitchen.com and you can find it here. It is a wonderful food blog that is worth checking out. Leisa put her spin on the recipe and has found a way to make it just a little better than the original recipe with the addition of mushrooms and goat cheese but I would have expected nothing less of her.
I tried my best tonight to make it because I loved it so much and I did a good first time job. Stacy even thought it was good. I think I will make it a regular thing here and maybe even start a Friday night tradition. We will see.
What a day! I have wanted to go to a state park close to my house but for some reason we have never gotten around to it, well today Leisa, my Holiday friend and I made it a point to make it there.
We had quite the adventure that included a large unidentified creature in the swamp brush, some rustling leaves and a snake. Some running and a girlie scream as well but there was not a witness around to see so I guess we are okay.
Then after we walked the trail we were off to pick up Paige from her CPR class we decided to go to Turkey lake park for a bike ride and another adventure.
We all had a great time, Leisa got bit by an ant and Paige crashed her bike into a building. Nothing really exciting.
We stopped lake side for lunch with our little basket.
Just a few of our favorite things to eat we made it simple and tasty. All in all it was a great day.
Leisa is here for holiday and we are cooking up a storm. Tonight we decided to delight Paige with our take on pot stickers and to try a new recipe for spring rolls.
Paige says she requires more pot stickers and more fried tofu as well. Wish we could share with you. Well some of you. I bet Mr. Hygiene is glad that he is not here, he does not like this type of food. He is with the boys up north this week snowmobiling in Wisconsin and will be eating burgers and pizza I am sure.
YUM! The first Strawberries of the season are out here in Florida. I picked them up fresh from the field. The biscuits are fresh from the oven as well, don't you wish you were here! I thought Stacy needed a special treat for getting my Mac back up and running.
Last night I made a dbl batch of Sp.K loaf with the intentions to freeze one and bake the other for supper. Well I don't know what I was thinking when I put both pans into the oven. So I called Shelley and said I have two and you can have one. I thought Stacy could drop it off on his way to work but she said she would come over and get it. The great thing about that is she brought her crumb crunchers with her.
Mr. Davis is very handsome and a man on the go! He does have time to flash his dandy smile and bat those eyes on his way passing by.
Miss Jessa is charming, sweet little peach, very intent on doing what she wants. I had to keep re-directing her away from the plugs. I can see how wonderful these little babies are. Shelley is doing a great job I don't know how she is doing it and keeping her wits about her. She is so blessed.
I made these again tonight. They were fun to make and the recipe from Heidi Swanson of 101 cookbooks is very good. I thought I would give the recipe a twist. I omitted the espresso powder added a handful of chocolate chips and cup of dried cherries. Yum! Stacy had a few already tonight, I think he likes the chocolate flavor better than the coffee flavor that was in the last batch. Try to make these they are very quick and simple to make.
This recipe has a few thing that I usually do not use and some that I have never used at all...Rice syrup? What is that? I am glad that I stepped out side of my normal recipe box and tried to make these easy and very yummy bars. The only thing I changed in the recipe is using instant espresso instead of ground espresso and I only used one tablespoon.
I Stacy has had a bite and said "I would eat them...are they good for you?" Paige had a small bite as well and she said "I'll have one in the morning." My people are so expressive.
The recipe will be fun to adapt and play with. Heidi from 101cookbooks.com came up with a very adaptable recipe that is now one of my new favorites.
* you could substitute cocoa powder for the espresso and maybe add dried cherries and other dried fruit you like. YUM!
If you have not heard of Heidi Swanson yet today is your lucky day! My friend Leisa has gotten me hooked on her blog 101cookbooks.com that has "healthy, vegetarian recipes - with the occasional sweet treat thrown in." This is not your bland veggie food, no flavorless piles of over cooked veggies here. It is worth the click to check her site out and even try a few recipes as well.
Heidi Swanson's Big Sur Power Bar Recipe If you can't find the crisp brown rice cereal, no worries - just use regular rice cereal for ex: Rice Crispies - just stay clear of "puffed" rice cereal, it will throw the recipe off. Feel free to substitute other types of nuts, seeds, or whatever little goodies you can dream up.
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or regular butter) 1 cup pecans, chopped 1 cup slivered almonds 2/3 cup (unsweetened) shredded coconut 1 1/4 cups rolled oats 1 1/2 cups unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal 1 cup brown rice syrup 1/4 cup natural cane sugar 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt 2 tablespoons ground espresso beans (I used 1 T. instant espresso powder*) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan with the coconut oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8 by 8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9 by 13-inch pan.
On a rimmed baking sheet toast the pecans, almonds, and coconut for about 7 minutes, or until the coconut is deeply golden. Toss once or twice along the way. Mix the oats, toasted nuts, coconut, and the cereal, together in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine the rice syrup, sugar, salt, espresso, and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.
Spread into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into whatever size bars you desire.
Makes 16 to 24 bars.
*You could substitute baking cocoa for the espresso and add dried cherries too.
When I woke up Sunday morning I went ahead and fried up most of the potatoes but decided to save some and give potato salad another try. I was on the computer for an hour or so the night before reading recipe after recipe and I still don't know where I go wrong.
I did my best and this time Stacy said "You got the potato part right." Wow! That was actually a compliment. I only got 90% of it wrong. Humm? I thought that since he did not spit it out and rinse out his mouth It might be on its way to the supper table. He said it was a little Dilly and salty. Once again, hmmm. I worked on it a little more and then he said it was average and just as good as any he has had at any picnic. Still not "zippy." He said that he would eat it if I made it but it was a little bland. I really don't know what that means in Stacy's cooking terms. Oh well, it was a good try. I will try again, one day, maybe....
