Way More Homemade

Gig ‘Em Aggies! 12th Man Popcorn Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 22:41:00 +0000

In case you hadn’t heard, it was a heck of a season for Aggie Football. They were such a fun team to watch this season. I was devastated after the first game against Florida, but was full of hope from what I saw. Hubs and I went to one game in College Station early in the season; a non-conference game against South Carolina State.

Everything about this season was just amazing. From our great 11-2 record, to beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa, to a great finish in the Cotton Bowl…. and well… the HEISMAN!

I spent most of the season as we did our tailgating at home trying to come up with an Aggie specific dessert. But I had a hard time coming up with anything. I made cakes using my A&M cake pan, but that just wasn’t doing it for me. It needed to be maroon and red velvet just doesn’t cut it.

Finally, the day before the Cotton Bowl game, I came up with an idea.

I’ve mentioned Popcorn Cake here before, I believe. Well, that day before the Cotton Bowl, I drove all over town looking for maroon M&M’s to make a 12th Man Popcorn Cake and finally found some at Party City. The result?

Indeed. I was born to yell, “Gig ‘em Aggies!”

Technorati Tags: Aggies,12th Man,Aggie Football,Desserts,Tailgating

What’s Changed?

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 23:15:00 +0000

I was chastised recently by someone for not updating the ol’ blog since August. “Well,” I responded, “if you can add a few more hours to each day, I might just do that.”

His response to me in turn got me to thinking. “What’s changed since you were keeping up with it so often a couple of years ago? You were working and had two kids then as well.” (That’s paraphrased, but the general idea of what was said.)

What’s changed you ask? Well, a lot to be perfectly honest.

One thing that has changed over this year is a new commitment on my part to exercise regularly, be healthier and hopefully, as a result, lose some weight. That takes time. And it’s paid off, too. At this writing I have lost about 35 pounds since the beginning of January. How I’ve done it is probably a completely separate blog post, and if you’re interested, I’ll work on that. But suffice it to say at this point that it takes time and focus to be able to do it.

Also this year, I have taken the plunge. I have put myself out there. I have begun taking orders and selling my pies and desserts. As it turns out, it seems that people like what I make and are willing to pay me for it. At this point this is just a side gig and something that will hopefully help pay for camps the kids want to attend and our vacations. I am mostly selling to friends and family and was very unsure about it when I started. However, Thanksgiving was very encouraging in every respect; from the number of orders I received (even some calls from complete strangers who found either my website or Facebook page) to the fact that I felt like I could have taken on a few more. So as anyone who has been involved in any size of small business venture knows, it takes a lot of time and brain power to set things up and keep them going.

Another thing that has changed is the age of my kids. As a young mom, you think that as they get older and more self-responsible that they become lower maintenance and you’ll have more time. Then you get to the point where they are older, and so are you, and you realize that you were WRONG! Even with our house rule of only one sport per season in addition to piano, I still find that we are so busy now with their school work, activities and involvements that it cancels out the time that I’m not spending changing diapers and taking care of many of their day to day needs that they now take care of themselves.

But mostly, what’s changed is my perspective. I want to live life with my husband, kids and extended family and not have to take time to write about it.

God has really placed on my heart over the last couple of years the fact that I only have one life to live. I only have one shot at this parenting thing. I only have these kids in my home for such a short period of time. I only have one chance to experience this season of life with my husband. There are no do-overs. There are no guarantees of tomorrow.

So, as I live this life the Lord has given me, I realize that I don’t have to stop and write about every little bit of it. I simply don’t have time. I don’t have to blog every recipe I make with photos, a write up and a well-tested and edited recipe. Those things take a ton of time that I really don’t have. I would much rather spend that time watching my son’s or daughter’s swim practice, or help them practice piano, or spend that one hour after the kids are in bed and before I crash on the couch with my man just relaxing and watching some TV.

So, there you have it. You asked, “What’s changed?” My answer: “A lot, but mostly my perspective.”

The great tomato sauce catastrophe of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:27:00 +0000

I am so happy to have discovered a good farmer’s market not too far from my home. I can get up on Saturday mornings, make the 15 minute drive and come home within an hour or so with everything from smoked chicken to pain au chocolat to fresh tomatoes and okra.

Pain au chocolat is a dark chocolate filled croissant.

In fact, it’s become such a thing this summer that pain au chocolat (or as my husband refers to it, “the breakfast of the gods”) is our standard Saturday morning breakfast and smoked chicken and veggies from the market is our standard Saturday evening supper. We don’t know what we’ll do once it closes for the winter months.

Several weeks ago, I went to the market and had in mind to get a bunch of tomatoes to make and can some tomato sauce. As it happened, one of the vendors had a box full of blemished tomatoes (which we later weighed at 15 lbs) for about $5. PERFECT!

I got my tomatoes home and later that afternoon, the kids and I got to work cutting out the bad parts and prepping them for cooking. I used this recipe as a guide and found it all to be pretty simple. I used my absolute biggest stock pot and even still, it almost wasn’t big enough.

The only hitch I encountered with actually making the sauce was that I didn’t have and couldn’t seem to find anywhere a food mill. But I finally came up with a solution involving a colander and a ladle that seemed to give me my desired results.

That was the only hitch. Until….

I had placed the hot/sterilized jars on the wire cooling rack that you see in the picture. I filled them all. Then, one by one I picked them up to up on their lids. All the while, not realizing that the last row of 3 full jars were on the back edge which was beyond where the foot of the cooling rack touched the baking sheet below. SO, when I picked up the final jar in the next to last row the wire rack finally tipped sending the 3 jars in that final row spilling all over and down the back of the range.

I cleaned up the top of the range the best I could. Then, my hubby, saint that he is, set to work the next day….

….cleaning….

…cleaning…

… and still more cleaning.

It actually took him several hours to get all the sauce cleaned out of all the nooks and crannies in, around, and behind the range.

I love that man!

But the result? Did I get my tomato sauce?

Why, yes. Yes, I did.

All told, I figure I spilled about 1 1 /2 pints of tomato sauce, but the remaining 8 pints will be wonderful come winter-time when we are desperately missing the Farmer’s Market.

R2D2 Cake decorating steps & tips

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:49:00 +0000

A reader emailed me the other day and asked for more pictures and instructions on how I decorated the R2D2 cake for my son’s birthday (posts here and here). So I went back and dug up some more pictures and decided to post more detailed instructions and tips here for everyone to see.

I used this “vintage” Wilton R2D2 cake pan that my mother in law used for my husband’s birthday cakes when he was a kid, around 1980.

1. Be sure to thoroughly grease and flour your cake pan and remove the cake from the pan about 10 minutes after removing from the oven. This particular Wilton cake pan has lots of little indentions for R2D2’s different features. If you’re not careful, some of them may end up staying in the pan. Not that I know from personal experience or anything.

2. Make your cake a couple of days ahead of time. Once fully cooled on a wire rack, wrap the cake in paper towels and then plastic wrap and place back into the cake pan (after you’ve washed it) and either refrigerate or freeze it until you’re ready to use it.

4. Make your icing and mix your colors maybe the day before you decorate.

**Spreading out these steps helps me to better manage my time so that I don’t spend as much time all in one day.

5. You will need four colors of blue using a light blue, such as Wilton Sky Blue, for your base color.

Start by mixing your regular butter cream or cream cheese icing. I think it only requires 1 recipe worth. I would say take about half of it and mix your #4 or lightest blue color. Put about 1/4 aside. Then mix more blue to make it darker for your #3 blue color. Put some of that aside, and mix more blue and possibly 1 teeny tiny drop of black to get your #2 blue color. Finally pull some of that out to mix in more blue and probably just a little black to get your #1 darkest blue color.

6. I do not frost the cake before decorating. A) It would cover up the detail of R2D2’s features which would make it way more difficult to decorate and 2) We tend to not like tons of icing. Using just the icing for decorating the cake to icing ratio is much better for us.

7. Pretty much, I would decorate it in order from 1 to 4 and then white using the patterns as pictured on the pan’s insert. Stars in some areas and the back and forth snake type pattern in other areas.

First, using a number 4 (or 5 or 6) tip, outline everything.

Next, using either the number 17 or 18 decorating tip, begin filling in the areas as numbered above. I use the smaller #17 tip for smaller areas and the larger #18 tip for larger areas.

8. Finally, after all the blue is done, fill in the white areas and use red M&M’s or Skittles for the lights on R2D2’s “head”.

If I have baked the cake a couple of days before and made the icing colors early, then decorating only takes me a couple of hours.

Best of luck to you!!! Enjoy!

Darth Vader Sandwich Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:03:00 +0000

If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that we are pretty big Star Wars fans around here. So it wasn’t any stretch for me to do an R2D2 birthday cake for my son two years in a row.

Yep. Even though I made one last year, when we decided to go play laser tag with some friends for his birthday this year, it just seemed natural that another R2D2 cake would be in order.

But what to do with it…. that was the question. As I’ve said before, instead of goodie bags full of junk that gets thrown away, I’d much rather send the kids home with a party favor that consists of a home baked treat of some kind. But what could I do this year, other than iced sugar cookies, with a limited amount of time? That was the question.

So I pulled back out my Star Wars cookie cutters and I wondered to myself, “You know, I’ve always wanted to make homemade Oreos… I wonder…”

“Google,” enter stage right.

So, I found (and “Pinned”) a blog post where someone had made green tea Yoda sandwich cookies. I showed them to Nathan to see if he would be interested. “No,” he said, “but I do want Darth Vader ‘Oreos’.”

Well, okay then.

With a plan in place, I set to work.

I know that Bridget at the Bake at 350 blog had made homemade Oreos before, so that was the first place I looked. And, in fact, it was the recipe I decided to use.

I’d say it worked out pretty well for me.

May the force be with you. And my new 7 year old.

Strawberry Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:25:00 +0000

Spring and early summer is time for berries. I believe I have, on several occasions, on this here blog thoroughly established my position on berries and pihhh and how the two just go together like peas and carrots. Or like berries and pihhh, I suppose.

Here is just one more example.

I give you the Strawberry Pie.

It’s a treat we have enjoyed in my family as long as I can remember. When my Nana would make a Pecan Pie for my dad, knowing that I didn’t like pecans, she’d almost always make me a Strawberry Pie.

Nice and cool straight out of the fridge, it’s perfect in these warm spring and summer months.

Mother’s Day at The Ballpark

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:51:00 +0000

If you follow me on the Twitters or have read this blog for a while, you might have noticed over the last couple of years that we’re pretty big Texas Rangers fans around here. So it should be no big surprise that we chose to spend Mother’s Day out at The Rangers’ Ballpark in Arlington (my favorite sports venue other than those located in College Station) watching our Texas Rangers take on the Angels of Anaheim.

Now, as much as we’re Rangers fans, we also have a bit of a soft spot for a particular Angels left fielder who is a Texan, Vernon Wells. So this is how we looked on Sunday evening…

Apparently, we like #10… regardless of the team. :)

What a fun evening it was watching a resounding Rangers win with Nelson Cruz hitting a Grand Slam and even getting to see Vernon Wells hit one out as well. I’d like to think that we were his lucky charm.

I hope you had a nice Mothers’ Day as well.

Cookies for an Eagle Scout Court of Honor

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:39:00 +0000

My oldest nephew received his Eagle Scout rank a couple of days before Christmas this last December. Just a couple of weeks ago, we attended his court of honor as his troop leaders awarded him his pin and he, in turn, gave both of his parents a pin and also a special “Mentor Pin” to his grandfather (his mom’s and my dad). It was an incredibly moving moment and I cried like a baby.

My sister has 4 boys and has resigned herself to the fact that she will never have the opportunity to plan a wedding for a daughter. She decided that the reception following my nephew’s Court of Honor was about as close as she’d ever get. It would, after all, include cake and punch.

In addition to the cake, she wanted to have some cookies using the Boy Scout Fleur-De-Lis shape and she asked me to make them. She had the cookie cutter, she just needed me to get them done.

So I spent a cold and rainy Saturday when we didn’t have anywhere to be making cookies.

Rather than traditional royal icing on the top, my sister requested that I use a glaze and then maybe just outline them with icing. I think she somehow thought that this would be easier. Personally, I think outlining and flooding with royal icing would have been just as easy, but I wanted to do what my sister wanted. So I did a little research and this is what I found for a glaze…

Sugar Cookie Glaze

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
10 drops food coloring (if desired)

Sift confectioner’s sugar. Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup and water until it makes a smooth and thin paste. Add coloring if desired.

One tip I have read is that you should stir the glaze before each dipping, especially if using color. Otherwise it may dry with a mottled look instead of a solid color.

In theory you’re supposed to be able to dip the cookies in the glaze and set them aside to dry…

I found that dipping these particular cookies did not work well because they broke easily at some of their weaker points in the dipping process. After just a few cookies, I loaded up one of my squeeze bottles and glazed them that way.

Then, using the #15-17 tips, I did a simple outline of the Fleur-De-Lis in both red and blue. I was very pleased with the result.

My family was not sorry that I’d had such a problem with breakage. Not sorry at all.

Can you tell where the weakest point was in these cookies?

And just a word of advice…. if you decide to use a glaze on your cookies and you put them on wire cooling racks so that the excess glaze can drip off, don’t use paper towels under them to keep your counter top clean. It doesn’t work. Instead you get paper towel and sugar cement on your counter that you have to scrape off with a bench scraper.

I’m thinking wax paper might have been a better choice here.

Since she figured that this was as close as she’d ever get to planning a wedding reception, she decided that the event required a “bride’s cake” and a “groom’s cake".

She decorated the more formal “bride’s cake” Eagle Scout cake.

She had a friend decorate the “groom’s cake”. You see, they have a lot of armadillos in their neighborhood and my nephew has a thing about shooting them. So clearly, the other cake had to be nothing other than this…

And yes, of course it was red velvet.

A Weekend in Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:31:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to go meet my husband in Italy as he travelled on business this last weekend. We spent the bulk of our time in Venice with a short stop in Verona for lunch. The following are just some pictures that may help tell the story of our trip.

And just since we always need some comic relief, pushing the leaning tower on Burano over instead of the usual “holding up the leaning tower of Pisa” picture.

Muaaahahahahaha!

Bluebonnets 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:07:00 +0000

HOLY WOW!

The bluebonnets here in Texas are in full bloom and boy is this a banner year.

The Woes of a Business Trip Widow in the 21st Century

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:04:00 +0000

I want to speak to you face to face, without a screen in between and a microphone that doesn’t always want to work.

I want to tell you about my day and hear about yours without worrying about how many minutes we’ve been talking and how big our cell phone bill is getting.

I want to be able to call you without having to count out the time difference in hours to make sure you might still be awake.

I want to text you when you’re just down the hall and I’m too lazy to get up, instead of when you’re thousands of miles away and across an ocean.

I want to be able to fall asleep at night knowing you’re just in the other room and coming to bed soon.

But most of all, I want to have your arms around me, to have your lips touching mine, and to never ever let you go again.

I wish I still enjoyed your occasional business trips like I used to.

I really do.

But I don't.

I miss you, baby.

My Food/Cooking Bucket List

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:39:00 +0000

A while back, I saw someone pose the question, “What is on your food/cooking bucket list?” In other words, what do you want to cook (or in my case many times, master in the kitchen) before you “kick the bucket”?

I found it an oddly interesting question and one that I really couldn’t answer fully at the time. And I am sure my list will grow with time. But here are some things that I think would go on that list for me (in no particular order):

Homemade pasta: ravioli, linguini, gnocchi… you name it. I want to make it.
Smoking meats: meats of all kinds… brisket, ribs, chicken… I want to smoke it all. But I guess I need a smoker first.
Complete the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge I started many eons ago.
Tamales
Homemade corn and flour tortillas: tortilla press… gotta have one.
Meringue: this falls under the category of “mastery”. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have made meringue pies, but have not quite mastered the “mile high meringue” that doesn’t deflate. That’s my goal.
Croissants: not canned crescent rolls. Real life flakey and buttery croissants.
Homemade sausage: now where is that meat grinder? Oh yeah. Need one of those, too.
Boeuf Bourguignon: I received the set of Julia Childs’ Mastering the Art of French Cooking books as a gift for Christmas this year from my father in law. Time to get to know Julia just a little better, don’t you think?
Lobster or crab of some kind.

There are several things that I have done in recent years that I think would have gone on this list that I think deserve a mention… you know, so I can put it on my list and then cross it off…

Sourdough bread: this was a huge accomplishment for me.
Homemade marshmallows
Chili with no chili powder, only ground dried chili peppers.
Jelly/Jam/Preserves and canning

What about you? What are some things that you want to at least try to cook/bake/make in the kitchen before you “kick the bucket”?

Hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:59:00 +0000

I took a chance recently and ordered tortilla soup at a local Mexican food joint. I usually don’t order it out unless I have a really good recommendation from someone that I know and trust. But, here we were at the restaurant, I had a hankering for tortilla soup and this was my only choice.

To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. While it was broth based rather than thick and creamy like the soup I make at home, it wasn’t just a normal bland beige colored broth with a little chicken thrown in for good measure. No. It was a rich tomatoey red colored broth that was full of spice and flavor. It had big chunks of carrot, squash and celery. It was a huge bowl and I took about half of it home to have for lunch at work the next day.

I decided to try to replicate it at home. Overall I got pretty close. The broth wasn’t quite as rich of a color as the one at the restaurant, but it was a very good version of the soup. And the kids both loved it enough that we ended up going to the store to get some soup thermoses for the kids to take some of it to school the following day. I’d call that success. Wouldn’t you?

You could possibly add more tomato juice or even try crushed tomatoes or tomato soup for a richer color to the broth. And depending on how you like your soup, you could increase the amount of broth and tomato products appropriately. The one served in the restaurant had a high liquid to chunk ratio, but my man prefers more chunks in his soup… so I tried to land somewhere in the middle.

This makes a big pot of soup. Enough for several meals.

Hearty Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons oil
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 10 ounce can Ro*Tel diced tomatoes & green chiles
1-2 5.5 ounce can tomato juice
Several cups chicken broth or stock
3 carrots, sliced rather thick
3 celery ribs, sliced rather thick
2 yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise and sliced rather thick
2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced rather thick
1 pound cooked chicken

Method:

Heat oil in stock pot over medium heat. Cook onion in oil until translucent and beginning to brown just a little. Add garlic, paprika, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and Mexican oregano. Cook briefly until fragrant. Add diced tomatoes, Ro*Tel, tomato juice and 2 cups of chicken broth, being sure to scrape up any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add carrots and celery and stir everything to combine well. Add more chicken broth if needed. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook on low (simmering) for about 1 hour until carrots and celery are tender.

Add squash, zucchini and chicken. Add more broth and/or tomato juice if needed and to suit your own taste as to the ratio of liquid to vegetables. (Some like lots of liquid. My man likes the vegetables and meat to be more prominent.) Cover again and continue to simmer until the squash and zucchini are very tender (30-45 minutes).

If you need to leave at any point in the cooking like I did, you may cover the pot and place into a 325°-350°F oven.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, place some broken tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl and top with grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese. Ladle hot soup over the cheese and chips. Top it off with some slices of avocado.

My favorite dish and discovering a new love

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:49:00 +0000

It was November of 1999. We were 26 years old and we had been married only about 3 1/2 years.

In a word, we were “Babies.”

And I was thin. (Not that you could tell for the overalls. What was that about?)

And you know that prominent gray streak I have now…. yeah, you can’t even see it in this picture.

But I digress.

Mike had a training conference for work to attend that just so happened to be held at the Walt Disney World resort. Of course, I had to work, but I made a way to swing a few days off to fly down to Florida and join him so that we could make a long weekend of it. We did, after all, want to “do Disney World” before we had kids.

As I always do in these situations, I began to research what to do while we were there and how to do it. I found out that part of the resort was set aside for what they called, at that time, the Disney Institute. If my memory serves me correctly, the Disney Institute was a place where companies could send staff and management level employees to receive specific training. However, in addition they offered enrichment courses of study in everything from photography to the culinary arts. What a perfect idea for the days that I would be there with Mike while he was still in his training classes and meetings. So I registered and filled up my itinerary with photography, wine appreciation and, of course, cooking classes.

I spent two full days at the Disney Institute and on the grounds there. It was a beautiful and very tranquil setting right on a small pond across from the Downtown Disney area. I spent break times just sitting outside in the quiet and taking pictures of the local birds. I ate at least one meal at the restaurant there and I remember to this day how my waitress warned me, “If you notice a bunch of staff walking past your table, it’s because I told them about your hair.” Yeah. That streak that doesn’t even show up in photographs was clearly visible even at age 26.

I know that was a long lead-in, but it was in this setting that I was introduced to what has become one of my favorite dishes to both cook and eat.

One of the cooking classes that I had on my schedule was “A Taste of the World” and on this particular day, we were covering “Italia Cucina,” But not just your ordinary pasta and such. Northern Italian country cooking. And that meant Osso Buco.

This was our classroom, complete with about seven student stations and a chef’s station at the front that was outfitted with overhead cameras and screens at the front so that us students could follow what the chef was doing. It was pretty darned hi-tech for 1999.

We spent our morning class time preparing our own lunch of veal Osso Buco with Risotto alla Milanese and a dessert of strawberries with balsamic vinegar and Zabaglione. I had never had such a delicious lunch before. And I had made it with my own two hands.

I also took a Pastries and Confections class in this same studio that was focused on Christmas Cookies as the holidays were approaching. Each member of the class made a different recipe of cookie under the watchful eye of our chef instructor. As we mixed and baked we talked about each individual recipe and some of the science behind each of them. In fact, I have talked on this blog about some of what I learned about baking cookies in that class (see this blog post). We then were able to sample all of our handiwork at the end of class. Rewards are sweet.

I have come to realize that it was in this very same studio, in the process of taking both of these classes, that I said, “Hello, Lover.” I said hello to the world of really cooking for the first time. I said hello to understanding much of what food, cooking, and baking were about. I said hello to what I believe is a passion that will also be a life-long pursuit.

In a word (or three), it was heaven. Bliss. Euphoric.

I think I realized for the first time that even I could create something in the kitchen that tasted every bit as good as those things I had eaten in fine restaurants. All it required was the “know how.” I may never do it as efficiently or neatly as a professionally trained chef in a 5 star restaurant. But I could do it.

And that may be why Osso Buco is my very favorite dish to cook and eat. I have a connection on a level that is so much deeper than just sustenance. And the fact that it is like velvet in your mouth doesn’t hurt. But each and every time I eat it or make it, I am taken back to that moment in time at when I realized…

I love to cook.

*******

Recipes mentioned in this post:

Veal Osso Buco
Risotto alla Milanese
Peppered Balsamic Strawberries and Zabaglione

Nutella Æbleskivers

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:15:00 +0000

A new favorite recently in our house has been Æbleskivers. I received this Æbleskiver (or Ebelskiver) pan for Christmas last year (2010) from my mother in law. Of course this was right as we were really starting up the great kitchen remodel of 2011 and therefore it did not get used until I had use of the new range.

So far, I’ve only used the mix that I was given with the pan. It is pretty good and very easy. But making the batter from scratch is not any more difficult than making pancakes or waffles.

So, in case you were wondering, this is how they are made.

After spraying with non-stick spray or using a little butter (I have personally found non-stick spray to be easier than butter in this case) and heating the pan over medium to medium-low heat, I use my medium spring loaded scoop to put one scoop of batter in each little bowl of the pan. I always start in the middle. Then I work my way around the perimeter going clockwise from 12:00. That way I do things in the same order each time and they each get approximately the same amount of cooking after each step.

Almost immediately, using the same patter of middle then working around the perimeter in a clockwise direction, I use my smallest spring loaded scoop to add a dollop of Nutella (or other chosen filling) right in the middle if each.

Coming back to the batter, I place a little more batter on top of each dollop of Nutella, just so that it is covered.

By this point, the Æbleskivers are cooked enough on the first side and they are ready to be turned. I do so using the same routine of staring in the middle and working the perimeter in a clockwise fashion as I have done in each preceding step.

One thing that I have found very helpful has been these wooden turning tools. They get some batter on them in the turning process, but if you just keep a paper towel handy, they clean up easily with a quick wipe off.

Once they have cooked sufficiently and are golden brown on the 2nd side, I remove them carefully with a pair of tongs.

And they are ready to be enjoyed. MMMMMMM……

Æbleskivers can be filled with many things. We have enjoyed them with homemade peach preserves, strawberry preserves… any kind of preserves, to be honest. We also have some of the chocolate mix that we have enjoyed filled with peanut butter. We have also had more savory combinations like bacon, sausage, or pepperoni and cheese.

Or, you know, you could just do them plain and not stuffed with anything.

Regardless, their cute little finger food size and shape will be a sure hit with your family. It has been with mine.

Just a housekeeping note

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:49:00 +0000

In case you didn’t notice, I added a gadget on the right.

Over there >>>>>>

Under my “About Me” section.

There you go.

I got to thinking that you might not realize that sometimes I’ll post a recipe on the recipe blog but may not post anything here on the main blog. So I added this little gadget to let you know what’s the most recent recipe out there in case you are interested.

Carry on.

A little Monday comedic relief

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:38:00 +0000

For your comedic enjoyment, this came home in my son’s weekly work folder from school last week:

My husband said that it would have only been better if there had been some fire coming out of the back of the snowman.

Boys.

Apparently it’s chocolate cake day.

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:23:00 +0000

As I’ve been noticing from friends tweets and Facebook posts, it is apparently chocolate cake day. So if you want a quick and simple chocolate cake for a day like today, this Simple Chocolate Cake recipe that I posted a while back on the Recipes blog might just do the trick for you. In fact, I’m headed to the kitchen to whip one up myself.

Have a fabulously chocolate cakey weekend.

A tale of two Chocolate Pies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:45:00 +0000

I grew up eating my Nana’s chocolate meringue pie at nearly every family gathering. You know the one. That creamy chocolate filling and that mile high meringue that was perfectly browned on top?

My oldest sister has perfected making it. I, on the other hand, having just started trying, am merely getting by. I mean, it tastes good… but I still have some work to do on my meringue technique. The one I made the week before Christmas came out to be a fairly nice and tall meringue and looked like this:

It was really quite pretty. But in the course of the day, my meringue deflated a bit. Not like flat or anything, just a bit. It tasted pretty good, but I was not thrilled with the end result of the meringue. (My man says I’m too nit-picky where my cooking is concerned. I say that it’s just how I get better.)

Therefore, I am not posting the recipe until I get it down. I can’t tell you what to do until I’ve figured it out myself.

However, I did try a pie recipe that I had wanted to try for a few months now. So many people blogged about it a few months ago that I can’t even really give credit to a particular blog.

Minny’s Chocolate Pie. You know the one. From “The Help.” The one that made “Two Slice Hilly” famous. Except without that special ingredient that Minny added in the course of “the terrible awful.”

If you don’t know what any of that means, rent the movie. I haven’t read the book, but the movie is incredible. It may end up on my top 10 all time favorites list. You can also see a video clip here. (Be aware of a little bad language.)

But back to the pie.

Because, really, not many things are more important than pie.

Apparently this recipe is the one that was used to make the pies in the movie and was published in some form of the August issue of Food and Wine. Or at least that’s what every blog that I read credited.

And I’ll tell you what. It’s super easy and absolutely delicious.

Minny’s Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

Single pie crust
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
Whipped cream for serving

You will also need:

9” pie plate (I used the shallow glass kind, not a deep dish)
Parchment paper (or foil)
Pie weights or dried beans

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place pie crust in pie plate and crimp edges decoratively as desired. Prick bottom of crust several times with a fork, line with parchment paper (or foil) and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Par-bake the crust for 15 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and carefully lift out the parchment paper with weights and set aside. Return to the oven and continue to bake for 5 minutes longer, just until the crust is dry but not browned. Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on at 350°F.

While the crust is baking those last 5 minutes, in a bowl, whisk sugar and cocoa powder together. Add the melted butter, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla and salt and whisk until smooth.

Pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake 40-45 minutes, until the filling is set around the edges but jiggles just a little in the center. If you feel the crust is getting too brown in the process of baking, you may cover it with strips of foil or pie guards about half way through.

Cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

It can be made ahead of time, cooled completely, covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated over night.

Enjoy.

Oh Sully, Sully, Sully...

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:37:00 +0000

SULLY!!!!!

Whaaat? I didn't do it. Not with this face...

Oh suuuuuure you didn't.

Just like you didn't put holes in every other pair of socks that I own.

Maybe I just need to start a series of posts entitled "What Sully Tore Up Today." Blog fodder for years to come, I'm sure.

Sully Says…

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

“Happy New Year!”

And he also says that we are very excited that the Aggies finally won a bowl game!

*gasp*

I know!

And you know what? We were there.

At the last minute on Thursday, I texted Mike that I had found some fairly inexpensive tickets online and did he want to go since the kids were already at his mom’s house. Then he called some friends who then said they would love to go with us and were going to take their kids…. so it ended up being a whole family affair. Which was an absolute blast.

We purchased really cheap seats that had nosebleed inducing potential that were part of a Papa John’s Pizza deal and included pizza and drinks. This was our view:

But then Mike came across some stadium employees who were swapping out upper level tickets to fill up the lower levels. He did that and then this was our view:

Nice, huh? And it was a totally different game experience with the fans much more dialed in and complete with my son covering his ears most of the time because of the noise.

We had a great time for it being our kids’ first Aggie football game experience. There was face painting, bounce houses and other activities before the game. I even partook of the face painting experience.

I had to do something to make up for the horrible Houston hair weather we were having that morning.

One of the most moving scenes of the whole day came at the end. Number 67 belonged to Joey V, one of our players that was killed in a car wreck a few days before Christmas. Another player wore his number for the game and Joey V was honored several times before, during and during this scene after the game.

We still need to take these kids to Kyle Field for a game, but that will come in time. It’s hard to spend that kind of money when they aren’t really into it. This was actually a much less expensive option, oddly enough.

I haven’t said much about Aggie stuff for a while here on the ol’ blog, and I felt like our first bowl win in 10 years was a fine time to do it. It’s been an interesting year in Aggie life as our days of Big XII football are now officially over. We are headed to the SEC with a new football coach. Sure, we’ll take our lumps the first year or so. And even though I’ll miss playing against some of these Texas teams, I’m believing that it will be a good move.

Out with the old and in with the new.

Kind of like the new year.

Sully also said for you to have a “ruffulous” 2012.

Christmas Genealogy Paper Chain

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:23:00 +0000

I’ll bet you didn’t know that my husband and I teach 1st and 2nd graders on Sunday mornings.

Yep. Last year we taught along with another friend, but he moved up to another class and this year, we’re on our own. Which has been a little challenging to say the least as our average class size has doubled since last year. We went from averaging about 8 each Sunday morning last year to averaging about 16 each Sunday morning this year. To the elementary school teachers out there, 16 may seem like a cake walk… but we’re not talking about school. Sunday School is a whole different animal and, admittedly, I am not a teacher by training, vocation or gifting. So to us, 16-18 each week is HUGE.

But I digress.

One of the things we enjoy doing with our class is a “Genealogy of Christ Paper Chain.” We find it to be a really good teaching tool to talk about Messianic prophesy on a level that 1st and 2nd graders can comprehend and the links of the chain act as a visual to link together the old and new testaments of the Bible.

I thought my husband was very creative with the lesson portion of the morning. He started out by talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament and the difference being that the Old was before Jesus lived on earth and the New was during and after Jesus. Then he began reading some scriptures and asked the kids if they knew whether it came from the OT or NT and began to work in some scriptures of Messianic prophesy. He quoted Micah 5:2 which talks about Bethlehem among others which refer to Christ to try to trip them up a little and make them think he was reading from the New Testament so that it would be a surprise that it came from the Old. Once we were able to establish with the kids that the Bible talks about Jesus in the OT, we were able to talk about how the promise of the Messiah was made all the way back in Genesis and we began to read prophesies about the family that the Messiah would come from all the way back to Abraham.

We know that the details of our lesson probably did not all stick. But we don’t expect them to. If those 16 kids walked away from our class knowing that the Bible talks about Jesus in the Old Testament all the way back to Genesis, then we’ve accomplished our goal, in my opinion.

So, back to the genealogy chain… in pictures, here’s what we did:

For our class, I pre-printed all the names from the Matthew 1 genealogy of Christ on colored strips of paper. Older kids could write them down themselves. And the Luke 3 genealogy from Adam to Jesus could be used as well.

Because I have to have things very organized for our group of 1st & 2nd graders, I put all the names in order with Jesus on bottom and Abraham on top. I put them in sandwich baggies as shown below so that after starting with Abraham, each child could just take the next strip of paper with the next name on it out of the bag and the rest would remain in the bag and in order. The links of the chain may be fastened with staplers or with tape.

Now, when you have 16 1st and 2nd graders working on such a project, there is absolutely no time whatsoever for pictures to be taken. But with two kids working on it at home, it was a fairly peaceful affair.

And when they’re done…

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for a fun way to bring my family and especially my kids back to what we are truly celebrating at Christmas time… the birth of Christ. I hope that this is an idea that might help some of you in your endeavors to do the same thing.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:12:00 +0000

In preparation for a little Christmas shin-dig I’m having at my house this week, I decided to make and decorate some Christmas cookies. Lots of Christmas sugar cookies.

It is no easy task to find the time to undertake such an endeavor with a job outside of my home, two active kids in grade school with homework and projects galore and everything else that a mom has to do. So rather than try to do it all in one single block of time, I did it in stages.

In a spare 20 minutes I had one day, I made the cookie dough. And since it needs to refrigerate anyways, I just put it in the refrigerator until I had time to bake the cookies the next day. After baking the cookies the next day and allowing them to cool completely, I bagged them in zipper plastic bags and froze them until I was ready to decorate them, nearly a week later.

I made all of the icing one morning when I had a spare 15 minutes and then covered it and set it aside until later that evening when I could get around to it again. That evening, I colored all the icing and decorated one batch and finished up the other two batches the next day.

Taking it in little chunks like that really helped me to not feel overwhelmed by the task I had put before myself.

I saw an idea recently that intrigued me, so I decided to monkey with my tried and true sugar cookie recipe. I removed 4 ounces of butter and replaced it with 4 ounces of cream cheese. The outcome…. delicious!! The cream cheese adds just a little zip to the flavor that I felt gave the sugar cookies a whole new dimension. My updated Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie recipe is posted over on the recipe blog. Just click on the link.

>>>Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

In the midst of all the baking, freezing and decorating, I set some of the cookies that would eventually become ornaments on racks on our kitchen table to thaw so that I could decorate them while sitting down in a chair. I was in the other room when I heard my husband yell, “NO SULLY! BAD DOG!”

I came back into the kitchen and saw that something was missing.

He was really sorry. Sorry that he got caught, at least.

Lesson learned. Sully is now big enough to get his front paws on TOP of the table and reach food that is sitting there. A far cry from where he started.

I made Christmas trees, ornaments and stars all using techniques that were new to me that I learned from the brilliant Bridget over at Bake at 350. While mine are not as good as hers, I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out for the most part.

Merry Christmas, y’all !!

Today at A Martha Heart...

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Today I'm over at A Martha Heart. I share a very insightful creative writing assignment that my daughter brought home from school and think about about a few "What ifs" that came to mind as I read it.

Enjoy "the kite."

A new adventure with Tomatillo Jalapeño Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Donna @ Way More Homemade) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:33:00 +0000

I got the most wonderful gift from a dear friend when we hosted a fall gathering of friends at our home right before Halloween. She brought me a paper lunch sack loaded with jalapeños from her garden.

As I stood there and stared at these beautiful gems I wondered what on earth I would do with them all. Then it struck me that I could make jalapeño jelly. So then the search began for a recipe. The search was pretty short. I scanned the internet and then realized I had a cookbook in my possession that may have just what I was looking for. And it did. More on that in a moment.

I also had to wrap my mind around the idea of canning. It was a thing that struck fear into my heart. I don’t know why as I have watched my mother successfully can everything from peach preserves to pear halves my whole life. Even still, it always seemed to be this mystical magical thing that only women who survived the depression and the dust bowl should know how to successfully accomplish.

I mean, what if I don’t do it right and everyone gets food poisoning?

But, I decided to put on my big girl panties and give it a try.

The recipe I found came from Lisa Fain’s new The Homesick Texan cookbook. I have followed Lisa on Twitter for quite some time and have always enjoyed her blog. So when I found out she was coming to the Le Creuset store in Dallas to sign her new cookbook, I absolutely had to take the opportunity to go and meet her in person. (Missing a World Series game in the process, y’all.)

And I’ll tell y’all, she is just as precious in person as she seems in her book and on her blog. And her grandma, the one she talks about in the book and whose hands are pictured in it… she was there. I spent several minutes talking to her and she reminded me ever so much of my Nana.

All that to say that if you have a cook in your life, her cookbook, The Homesick Texan, is a perfect gift. Or a Le Creuset dutch oven would work nicely also. (Especially since I scored one for 40% off that night and handed it to my hubby and said, “Merry Christmas to me!” He may or may not have rolled his eyes.)

In her book is a recipe for Tomatillo Jalapeño Jam. I really liked the idea of using tomatillos and the addition of some additional spices like clove and allspice to this jam really got my attention.

Since I was trying to make enough for some Christmas gifts, I multiplied the recipe a couple of times and learned a very valuable lesson in the process. You CAN multiply a jam recipe too many times. I think I had too much liquid and therefore it initially did not set up properly. But I cooked it just a tad bit more the next day and added just a little bit of unflavored gelatin and that did the trick.

And you know what? The canning part of the whole thing was not a huge deal. In fact, it was kind of fun to boil the jars, remove them from the water and wait to hear the pop of the lid sealing. I don’t know how it happens, but it does, and it’s as cool as all get out to tap the top of that jar and hear it go, “PING.”

So now I have some awfully good tasting gifts to give for Christmas. I think two jars will go to the kids’ teachers and the others to my cousins.

So, if you’re still reading this and are interested, here is the recipe (used with Lisa’s permission):

Yield: 1 pint

1/2 pound tomatillos, husks removed, chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, seeds and stems removed, finely diced
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest

Special Equipment:
1 pint-size jar or 2 half-pint-size jars
(I recommend the latter)

1. Sterilize the jars and lids in either a pot of boiling water or dishwasher.

2. In a pot, add the tomatillos, jalapeño, vinegar, sugar, ground cloves, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, lime juice, lime zest and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to a low simmer, stirring often, for 45 minutes or until it’s thick and syrupy.

3. Pour the jam into the jars, then cover with the lids and fasten with the ring. Let it cool and then refrigerate. The jam will become more solid after a few hours in the refrigerator and will last for a month, refrigerated.

{Side note: For those of you who are like myself and love to use a thermometer for things like this, I did some research in my On Food and Cooking book and found that the temperature should reach 217°-221° F “which indicates that the sugar concentration has reached 65%”. The author, Harold McGee, also suggests that “a fresher flavor results when this cooking is done at a gentle simmer in a wide pot with a large surface area for evaporation.” Page 297.}

Enjoy!