On Vacation

Heading to Orange County for the rest of the week. Be back soon.....

Cinnamon Supper Cake

This recipe comes from a Penzeys catalog. It was so good, my son asked if I would make this for his birthday cake.

Cinnamon Supper Cake by Lucinda Reiss

Preheat oven to 375

1 cup sugar

6 T butter

4 egg whites

2 t vanilla extract

1 cup milk

2 cups sifted flour

3 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Topping

2 T soft butter

6 T powdered sugar

2 t cinnamon

Grease and dust with flour a 9 x 13 inch pan. Cream together butter and sugar. add the egg whites and beat well. Add the vanilla and the milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth. pour into prepared pan and bake 20-22 minutes (or until center is fully cooked). remove from the oven and and spread the top of the cake with the butter while still hot. Then sift the powdered sugar and Cinnamon on top and serve warm.

I served this with a dollop of my homemade apricot preserves. De-lish!

Adventures in Canning

I canned this weekend. For the first time. I was nervous. Don't want to give anyone botulism.

Last week I took yet another canning class, it wasn't my first class nor my second. Let's just say I have taken a few. But this was the first time the instructor made it look easy. Just like she encouraged us to do, I went right home and made my own batch. I think it is pretty good for the first time. I got the flavor that I wanted (not too sweet) and I accomplished the most frightening of tasks: sealing the lids correctly. The texture is more of a syrup than a jam but good enough for my first attempt.

I could not find a commercially prepared Pectin that didn't come with junky ingredients like dextrose, so I tried the old fashioned way of using apple cores. I would love advice on the pectin issue if anyone has it to offer.

I followed the Apricot Jam recipe (which does not call for pectin) in the Art of Simple Cooking by Alice Waters. A must have cookbook.

Potato Salad--Happy 4th of July!

It wouldn't 4th of July without a classic American Potato Salad. This recipe came from long time friend Krista and her mom Rae. The great thing about this recipe is that there is NO recipe, just get the ingredients and add them to taste. Easy enough.

Like anything we cook, it's important to use high quality ingredients. The eggs are free range, potatoes are organic, onion is locally grown, mayo is real, the olives, whiled canned, don't contain ingredients other than water and salt, and the pickle relish is pickles, water, salt and spices (no vinegar, sugar, or preservatives--and it is GOOD...for pickle relish).

I was most amazed at how hard it was to find a truly natural pickle relish. Every single brand in the regular grocery store contained yellow die #4. Seriously gross. I got this Bubbies (an awesome brand) at Whole Foods Market.


Potato Salad--Picnic Size (serves 12-15)

5 lbs red potatoes, sliced in half cooked and cooled (I don't peel)

1 16.9 oz jar of Bubbies pickle relish

6 oz of olives, chopped

1/2 cup to 1 cup of mayo

4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped

1 large red onion, chopped

white or black pepper to taste

I just throw everything into a large bowl and using a potato masher, gently mash and mix everything together, leaving chunks of potatoes. refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Mac and Cheese everyone will love

This was simple enough for our kids and grown-up enough for us.






Mac and Cheese


Ingredients


1 C half & half (although milk works too)
2 C cheddar, shredded or cubed into 1/2 inch peices
8 oz cream cheese, cubed for easy melting

Pour over 4 to 5 cups COOKED pasta

In a sauce pan, Add cheddar, cream cheese and milk. Stir constantly until mixed. Pour over pasta. Some people then bake their mac and cheese, but I don't know why....I say heat, pour, and eat.




What to do with leftovers? I had enough leftovers for three small containers, perfect kid sized portions. Instead of heading for the boxed mac and cheese, next time reach into your freezer...you've got it right there.

Summer Squash Pizza Crust

This recipe came from my friend and neighbor, Gay Marie. It is a fantastic recipe. My kids loved it and was a great use of an extremely overgrown zucchini. Everyone wins.


Here is the "dough" before being cooked.




Then you free form it into pizza shapes! I made two smaller ones. Next time I am going to make 4 personal sized pizzas. It will be easier to handle.




After it has been baked, but before the toppings.

Add your favorite toppings and cook a little longer.

I made mine with pesto and the kids with a traditional pizza sauce. Too good. Thank you Gay Marie for this awesome recipe.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups finely shredded zucchini or yellow summer squash
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (gluten-free is good)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Once zucchini or summer squash has been shredded (I recommend a food processor) lightly salt the squash and transfer it to a strainer. Let stand 15 to 30 minutes and press all remaining liquid out of squash—very important to get out as much water as possible.

3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine squash, flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, eggs, pepper and salt. Mix well.

4. Spread the mixture into a greased and floured jelly roll pan and sprinkle with oregano. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven.

5. Remove the crust from the oven and change the oven's temperature to broil. Brush the top of the crust with oil, and then broil the crust for 3 to 5 minutes until the top is lightly browned.

6. Allow the crust to cool slightly and slide spatula underneath all edges and under the middle. Place a large baking sheet over the top of the crust and gently flip the crust over so that the bottom of the crust is now facing upwards. Because it can be difficult to flip the crust smoothly, it may be necessary to cut the crust in half to facilitate the flipping of the crust. If you want to omit the flipping stage, that is okay, but the crust won't be as crunchy.

7. Brush the top of the crust with oil and broil for another 3 to 5 minutes until the top is browned. Cover with toppings as desired.

FOOTNOTES

This will be a non-traditional crust, as it will be somewhat soft. Depending on your toppings, you may need to bake it at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for a few more minutes to heat toppings and further reduce sogginess.

Smother this crust with your favorite pizza toppings: tomato sauce or pesto, goat cheese, pine nuts or vegetables galore! Enjoy and be creative! Try sprinkling feta cheese or adding artichoke hearts for a Mediterranean flair.

This post part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.

Club Wraps and Corn Salad

Chicken Club Wrap (I strayed a little from the meal plan)

Ingredients

Chicken

Bacon

Cheese

Lettuce

Cucumbers

(a little) Blue Cheese dressing

large flour tortilla

Simple Corn Salad

Corn cut from the cob

lemon cucumbers, peeled and cut into bit sized pieces

cilantro

Dressing

1 large ripe mango, pureed

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, or to taste

Cucumber Salad With Yogurt and Cilantro

Cucumber Salad with Yogurt and Cilantro




Ingredients

2 cucumbers
pinch of salt
1/4 C plain yogurt
3 T olive Oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
juice from 1/2 lemon
3-4 T Cilantro leaves, chopped. (can substitute basil or mint)
Sumac (optional)

Peel, seed and slice cucumber. add Salt. In separate bowl combine all other ingredients (except sumac). add yogurt dressing to the salted cucumbers. Sprinkle Sumac on top. Enjoy!

Weekly Dinners-June 28th

Sunday- Burritos with black beans and cilantro-pepper-brown rice
Monday- Moussaka w/ Zucchini from the Kalfagas Greek Food Blog
Tuesday- Chicken and Veggie Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
Wednesday- Burgers with a corn salad
Thursday- Southwestern Chicken Wraps

Lemon Curd

My friend Karen recently emailed me about her favorite way to eat plain yogurt....with a little lemon curd and fresh berries. Because I am a little obsessive, I couldn't get this combination out of my head.


Now let me back up. I am not a fan of most things lemon. I find "lemon" flavor is often over sweetened or artificial tasting. The good news is that lemon curd is really easy to make and is neither over sweetened or artificial.




Simple ingredients.




Lemon curd. Notice my lemon curd is a little darker than most. It's because of the Sucanat (or natural sugar).

Here it is....plain Greek style yogurt, mixed with lemon curd and topped with fresh strawberries. Now that is good.

Lemon Curd
From the Art of Simple Cooking by Alice Waters.

4 lemons

2 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 T Milk

1/3 C Sugar (I used Sucanat)

1/4 t salt (omit if using salted butter)

6 T butter, chopped into small pieces

Wash and dry lemons. Grate the zest of one lemon. Juice the lemons; there should be about 1/2 cup of juice. Set aside. Beat together eggs, milk, sugar and salt until just mixed. add lemon and zest. add butter and pour into a non-reactive saucepan. Cook on medium to low heat until thick enough to coat a spoon. DON'T BOIL. Pour into class bowl/jar cover and refrigerate until cool.

Can eat on its own, mix with yogurt or ice cream, add to a tart or cookie.

SO GOOD! Thanks Karen!


This post has been a part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday and Real Food Wednesdays.