Tormented Kitchen

Marbled Cake Bars

2017-12-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Hello, dear readers. Happy holidays!

I think Christmas time is my favorite holiday. It's a time of giving and generosity. It's a time for family and traditions. We've put up a smaller tree this year, decorated the house with all of the collected nutcrackers, and started cooking up the old-time favorite recipes. We even sent a Secret Santa gift to an elderly gentleman at a nearby retirement home.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I've been cooking a lot of unhealthy but delicious things. These things are irresistible and should only be eaten in small quantities because they make you pack on that dreaded "winter weight." But that is what New Year's resolutions are for!

I've been making these marbled cake bars for years and they never had an official name. I've snooped and found out that others call them Can't Leave Them Alone Bars. That name really has no staying power in my memory banks, so I'm just going to keep thinking of them as Marbled Cake Bars. Or maybe they're just those yummy pot-luck cake bars. This recipe is an absolute hit at pot-lucks. People love these! They're pretty easy to make, so that's a bonus. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter

Method
1. Combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil. Mix with a wooden spoon. It will be sticky and thick.

2. Spread slightly more than half of the cake mix dough into the bottom of a 9"x13" pan that has been sprayed with nonstick baking spray. You might want to nonstick spray a rubber spatula or use slightly damp fingers to flatten the dough out. Reserve the rest of the dough for step 5.

3. Combine the chocolate, canned milk, and butter in a microwavable bowl. Nuke it in the microwave about 30-45 seconds then stir. Nuke another 30 seconds and stir. Repeat nuking and stirring until smooth.

4. Pour the hot melty chocolate mixture over the cake dough in the pan.

5. Drop spoonfuls of reserved dough across the top of the chocolate layer until used up.

6. Bake in a 350F preheated oven about 20-25 minutes, or until the top is light golden brown. Don't use a toothpick test because it won't be true. Just trust that when the top has browned a bit that it is ready.

7. Let cool overnight, or as long as you can stand it, and cut into tidy squares. You should get 20 bars.

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Apple Farro Salad

2017-07-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers! Welcome back.

It's been hot here in northern Nevada, not melting trash can hot, but we've already had a few days at 100F. When it's warm out, we tend to cook and eat outdoors. Grilling, and now smoking with hubby's birthday present (a Camp Chef Woodwind) has been our recent favorite cooking method.

Since you have to balance out the hot with something cool, I made this refreshing and simple farro salad to go with dinner one night. We ate outdoors al fresco and the fresh air makes everything taste better!

Ingredients
2 cups farro
1 apple, peeled and diced
3 green onions, whites only chopped
1/4 cup parsley chopped
juice of one tangelo or orange, freshly squeezed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Boil the farro in a large pot of water for about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a small pan. Saute the onion until soft. Add the apple and cook about another 5 minutes or until softened.

3. Place farro in a large bowl. Add cooked onion and apple mixture. Add the other ingredients and toss everything together. Serve warm or cool.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my post. See you again soon!

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp

2017-06-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers! Welcome back for a lovely recipe.

In honor of my dear hubby's birthday, I baked up something special. At first, he wasn't sure what to ask for, so he mumbled something about coconut cake, then a pie, then he settled on something rhubarb. Our rhubarb patch was doing well enough for me to get some for his birthday dessert.

He got a crisp instead of pie or cake. Strawberry rhubarb crisp with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. It was heavenly!

The middle daughter (the picky eater) was unsure about the stuff that went into the fruit layer. I told her it's pretty much just sweet and sour strawberry, like sour patch kids. It worked! I wouldn't say she loved it, but she ate some without flipping out. I think we're making progress on reducing the pickiness.

So for your dining enjoyment, give this a try. It's sweet and tangy, sticky and oozy, buttery and crispy in all the right places.

Ingredients
For the fruit base
3 cups diced rhubarb stalks
3 cups sliced strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
for the topping
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup quick oats (uncooked)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup butter, melted

Method
1. Combine the fruit base ingredients together, rhubarb, strawberries and sugar. Let it rest at room temperature until the sugar has mostly dissolved and it's syrupy, about 15 minutes.

2. Combine the remaining dry ingredients. Add the vanilla to the melted butter, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir to combine so it's evenly moistened.

3. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by coating it with nonstick spray. Pour fruit into bottom. Spread the oat topping over the fruit evenly.

4. Bake in a 350F preheated oven about 35-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the topping has browned.

5. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. Enjoy!

By the way, thanks for stopping by!

Lactation Support

2017-06-13T15:02:00.001-07:00

Hello, dear readers!

I've survived the rush of birthday season and now we can resume our regular, hectic schedule. That's good news for you because I have some great posts waiting to be shared with you! I have jewelry boxes, a new box from Influenster to review, a couple awesome recipes, and then this post.

Today's post is something near and dear to my heart. That's breastfeeding. Mom's can never get too much support, if you asked me.

I have successfully breastfed my three kiddos. I worked full time and pumped two or three times a day for the first year of each child's life. Once I got the OK from the pediatrician, I introduced cow's milk and gradually reduced pumping at work to a stop. But I still had a great milk supply. I know, I know. Lucky me!

My oldest had a huge appetite and even with my great milk supply, using supplements and galactogogue foods, I still had to supplement with formula. He weaned just before he turned two because my supply changed (being pregnant does that!)

My middle daughter was completely different. She ate like a bird, so my super milk supply tended to be too much for her sometimes so I had to find ways to tone it down. She weaned at three years, but at that point it was just comfort nursing before bedtime.

I'm currently BFing the youngest. She is 22 months old now. Thankfully, she has a great appetite and is willing to try new foods. I'm aiming to wean her near her upcoming birthday.

Before I go any further, let's briefly address the positive aspects of breastfeeding.

Baby is getting nourishment that can in no way be reproduced in a factory.
Mama and baby are able to bond.
Baby has lower rates of sickness, like respiratory issues and allergies.
Mom also gets health benefits like a lower rate of breast cancer and nursing can help mom lose weight.

However, there is no guarantee that mom will lose weight. Hormones are tricky things and maybe you'll be like me where your mom body is very happy and functional above your mentally ideal weight. So you accept the new you and help that little angel thrive.

Plus, breastmilk is FREE!!! Cans of formula are so expensive!

Let's talk about foods that can increase milk supply. My go-to food was oatmeal. I normally eat oatmeal for breakfast 2 or 3 times a week. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Instant packets are great. I've found that all kinds of oatmeal have a positive effect on milk production. It can be a granola bar or as an ingredient in a dish and still have positive effects, like oatmeal cookies, apple crisp, or multigrain waffles.

I also occasionally added flax seeds or chia seeds to my diet. They are not specifically known to be lactogenic, but I figured any extra nutrients from those superfoods couldn't hurt.

Certain vegetables can be beneficial. Sweet potatoes, fennel, and kale come to mind. Oven roasted diced sweet potatoes are so tasty!

I also used herbal supplements. I did not use these on a day-to-day basis, only if I felt like I wasn't getting enough milk. The easiest for me was drinking herbal tea for mothers. My favorite was Traditional Medicinals organic Mother's Milk tea. Yogi Tea Woman's Nursing Mom tea also helped. There are other brands out there, but I tried these myself and they worked for me. I've been able to find these teas at my regular grocery store. I also used an herbal tincture for mothers that came from a health food store. These typically contain herbs like blessed thistle, anise, coriander, fenugreek, and other flowery herbs.

Keep taking prenatal vitamins. It might sound funny to take pregnancy vitamins, but nursing moms need all the vitamins they can get. At least take a good multivitamin. Babies do a really good job of sucking the nutrients out of you.

A food that helped my milk supply, I found quite by accident, was at Trader Joes. The frozen chicken tikka masala with rice entree did a great job of boosting my supply. It contains fenugreek seeds, which are lactogenic.

When I started to wean, or just needed to cut my supply down, I cut back on the oatmeal consumption and stopped the herbal tea. I also used certain herbs to help suppress my supply. Sage, parsley, and oregano are easy to add to foods and they did noticeably work to reduce my supply.

There were foods that I ate that flavored the milk, foods the kids didn't like. Bell peppers, spicy foods, and blue cheese would make all three very cranky. Sometimes they would just flat out refuse the boob when I ate those. That knowledge can come in handy when it's weaning time.

What about alcohol? I had heard from other moms that drinking a beer (yes, just one) helped them boost their milk supply. I think that hops may be the helpful ingredient. I don't like beer, so I tried a bottle of hard cider or glass of wine. I found alcoholic drinks diminished my supply. Perhaps this is one to test with caution. Any more than a single drink, especially a drink with a higher alcohol content is not safe in my opinion. Alcohol can travel to the milk supply.

If you're just getting started with breastfeeding, or not, it doesn't hurt to brush up on local laws if you're planning on nursing out in public.

For example, Nevada Revised Statues NRS 201.235
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a mother may breast feed her child in any public or private location where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether the nipple of the mother’s breast is uncovered during or incidental to the breast feeding."

I am by no means an expert. I am not certified in anything regarding lactation or health. I am just a mom that has read a lot and tried a zillion things in the past 11 years of my motherhood experience. I hope this is a useful piece of information for someone else.

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

PS I paid for all my own stuff myself. No sponsorship here.

Sweet Potato Pie

2016-12-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers! I hope you are all enjoying the amazing food specialties that accompany this holiday season. I have been on a pie kick.

You could say I have been crazy for sweet potato pie. Now, normally we have pumpkin pie with Thanksgiving Dinner, and that is the only time of the year canned pumpkin is in the house.

Well, I always have at least one sweet potato lurking somewhere. I don't know what got me so fired up, but I just had to have sweet potato pie.

So I made one, for practice. Then we ate it. It did not suck.

So I made another one. That one didn't last more than two days. It may have been breakfast one morning.

Then, I had to make one more so we could have pie for the whole family at my folks' house for Thanksgiving. After mowing down three of these babies in a row, I knew I had to post this for everyone to enjoy.

Ingredients

Unbaked single crust for a 9" pie, use either Pie Crust No. 1 or Pie Crust No. 3

2 garnet yams or other orange flesh sweet potato = 2 1/2 cups mashed

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 stick salted butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 c. half & half

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Method
1. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into rounds about 1/2" thick. Boil about 30 minutes, or until the flesh is soft. Drain and cool slightly. Mash the sweet potato. Measure out 2 1/2 cups and to be used for the pie filling. If you have extra sweet potato, save it. I'd eat it later.

2. Preheat the oven to 400F. Add the remaining ingredients to the measured sweet potato mash. Mix with an electric hand mixer until smooth.

3. Pour the mixture into an unbaked 9" pie shell.

4. Place the pie in the hot oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 350F and bake for about 45 mins or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Thanks for stopping by!

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

2016-11-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Hello, dear readers!

Comfort foods seem to be a no-brainer when the weather gets chilly, especially here in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. Soups, stews, casseroles, and the like come to mind. One of my favorite comfort foods is scalloped potatoes and ham. It's also seasonal for us since we only get a big ham a couple times a year, usually near a holiday, if not for a holiday meal.

My dear hubby is also a fan of scalloped potatoes although his Italian grandmother makes hers a little bit differently. She puts whole pork chops on top of the potatoes instead of mixing in diced ham. Her way is pretty darn good too.

One of the best reasons to make this is that it's easy to assemble. The second best reason is that it's kid-friendly. Any parent of a picky eater knows how foods tend to be white and full of potatoes. So, yes, this is guilty as charged! Although who's going to argue with you for making this?

Ingredients
3 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8" thick
2-3 cups diced ham
1 small mild yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup AP flour
4 cups milk
black pepper, salt, garlic salt to taste

Method
1. Grease a 9" x 13" deep baking dish. Add sliced potatoes and diced ham.

2. In a frying pan, saute the diced onion in the butter until softened. Add the flour and cook about 2 minutes to make your roux. Season to taste. Add all the milk, bring up to a boil, and stir well to break down any lumps. It's OK for the sauce to be thin.

3. Pour sauce over the ham and potatoes. Stir it gently in the pan.

4. Cover the pan with foil and bake in a preheated 375F oven for 1 hour. The potatoes should be fork-tender at this point. (It is completely edible now, but I like to continue to step 5.)

5. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes or until the top is browned to your liking.

6. Serve with my favorite sides cornbread with honey butter and succotash!

Thanks for stopping by! See you again next time!

Nugget Rib Cook Off 2016

2016-09-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers. What did you do for Labor Day weekend this year? We consumed mass quantities of ribs, like we always do!

We split up the rib-snarfing over two evenings.

I was keen to go Friday night because of the live band. It was Vertical Horizon! The kids hung with a grandparents so hubby and I could cavort in public with other grown ups.

We enjoyed a few cold ones with the music, some food like these piles of fried potatoes, and meandered through the market.

We ate a few rib samplers, fried pickles, and funnel cake, but we didn't actually get any alligator. You know that stuff isn't native around here.

The next day, we came back with kids and one grandma. We did the Rib Village. Baby N was not patient. She was starved and devoured applesauce and ice cream after sampling some ribs too.

We did some shopping in the market stalls. It was perfect weather.

We walked our behinds off. Thank goodness for the bus ride back to the parking lot in the evening!

Now for the important part. The winners! Did we agree? Mostly yes (because somehow we missed Montana BBQ). The Rasta Joe ribs were very tender, so good call, Judges.

And the winners of the 2016 year's cook off are...

1st – Rasta Joe’s BBQ
2nd – Bone Daddy’s BBQ
3rd – Texas Thunder BBQ
4th – Montana BBQ
5th – Texas Outlaw BBQ
Best Sauce – Checkered Pig BBQ
People’s Choice – Montana BBQ

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

2016-09-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers. We've had a great season for fruit. The peach tree is absolutely drooping it's so loaded with peaches. One of my favorite things to make with juicy fresh peaches is ice cream!

Mom used to make peach ice cream when I was a kid. It was basically vanilla ice cream with peaches mixed in. Simple enough, right? Yes, but also so good! There are two versions of ice cream base that are good with peaches.

The first one is a cooked custard base. It is a richer, thicker ice cream with nice yellow tint from the eggs. It takes slightly longer to make this since you have to cook it and then let it cool overnight. It's super buttery and luscious. It freezes very hard and keeps a smooth texture.

The second base is still really luscious without the cooking. It's a mixture of creams and sugar. I think I prefer this one. It's not quite so rock solid when frozen and it lends a really pure creamy flavor.

The peaches really need to be ripe, dripping sweet juicy ripe, for this to be good. Slightly firm and tart peaches just won't do it justice.

Choose one of the ice cream base recipes and go from there. Don't make both or you will be making ice cream until the cows come home. (And I don't have any cows, so it would be a very, very long time!)

On a side note, I have a Krups ice cream machine. It makes a smallish batch so I have to churn and freeze the first half of the mixture, then churn the other half. It works out well enough. Just know if you have a similar machine that it will not work right if you try to freeze the whole batch of ice cream at once.

Ingredients
1 cup pitted and peeled peaches, small dice
Fruit Fresh or other similar anti-browning ingredient, about 1/2 a teaspoon
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 recipe Ice Cream Base (see below)

Method:
1. Prepare the Ice Cream Base in advance. Make sure it's cold.

2. Sprinkle the peaches with Fruit Fresh and sugar. Let them get syrupy. Keep this in the fridge until you're ready to churn. Cold things freeze faster!

3. Place freezer insert into ice cream machine base with paddle and lid. Pour half of the batch of very cold Ice Cream Base into machine and turn on immediately. Keep the other half of the base cold in the fridge for now.

4. Let the machine run about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it. When it starts to look like ice cream, let it run another 5 minutes or so. You want it pretty firm.

See, just starting. It's freezing along the edges.

Getting more frozen texture. It can hold a spoon standing up now.

5. Add the peaches. Yes, all the peaches. Continue churning until it looks firm again.

6. Stop the machine and scoop out the first half and place in a freezer-friendly container.

7. Place the first batch in the freezer,

8. Add the second half of Ice Cream Base to the machine. Turn on and let it run until it looks firm.

9. When it's firm enough, scoop this into the container with the first batch. Fold them together. I like that it's not all peach all the way through, that there are some peachier flows and some creamy flows.
(By the way, if you have any caramel syrup you love, add a squeeze and gently fold it in while you're mixing the two half-batches. Peach with caramel is really delicious.)

10. Pop the whole thing back in the freezer and consume when it's frozen hard.

Ice Cream Base 1: Custard recipe
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs

Method for Ice Cream Base 1
1. Combine ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring up to a simmer over medium-low heat. Stir often.
2. Simmer for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened and there are no lumps.
3. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes on the counter
4. Transfer to a dish and refrigerate over night.

Ice Cream Base 2: No-Cook recipe
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup sugar

Method for Ice Cream Base 2
1. Mix all ingredients while cold. Don't worry if the sugar doesn't dissolve.
2. Transfer to ice cream machine and start churning.

Zucchini Bread

2016-07-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers. Welcome back!

My garden is growing at an amazing pace. We started late, thanks to worries about frost. We finally planted things in early June. I figured the garden might be a little bit small from having plants die in the heat, but we've actually had very little die-off.

We have a single zucchini plant and it is producing at a good rate. I already have enough that I used a few in the lasagna for dinner, a batch of this zucchini bread, and I still have a few that I haven't touched. Plus, there are more on the plant!

Quite a while ago, I picked up this recipe off of a message board for scrapbookers. There are so many lovely people out there making beautiful creations, not just scrapbook things, but food, crafts, and things for the home. I've been too busy to keep up on the message board, but I did friend a many of those crafty people on Facebook so I can keep up with them.

Now, on the recipe details. I've made a change to how I prepare the batter compared to the original posting. We have a Blendtec blender that can liquify almost anything. For some crazy reason, I sold my food processor at a garage sale thinking "I should get rid of this thing. I never use it!" So, to make up for no food processor, I use the blender instead. See the recipe below.

I hope you like this. It's been one of my go-to zucchini recipes for a few years now.

P.S. I didn't adjust the amount of baking soda or baking powder, and it turned out fine for my altitude. Also, I was reading that yellow summer squash could be substituted for green zucchini. They are very similar overall and can be used interchangeably in many cases.

Zucchini Bread (adapted from Erica Hite)

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups flour (I used 1 c. AP, 2 c. whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (optional, I use pecans or pumpkin seeds)

Method
1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon). Stir to combine and set aside.

2. In the high-speed blender, pour in the oil. Add chunks of zucchini to fill up to the 3 cup mark on the blender container. Add vanilla. Blend on lowest setting until no large pieces of zucchini remain, but it should look like there are flecks of zucchini. (Do not over-process this into puree.) This should take maybe 15-20 seconds of blending. Add the eggs and blend again just until combined, so about 5-7 seconds.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, add nuts if you want them, and mix well.

4. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans or one greased 9x13 pan.

5. Bake loaf pans at 350F degrees for 50 minutes to an hour. Bake the 9x13 pan about 45-50 minutes. It should pass a toothpick test when done.

6. Let the bread cool about 10 minutes and remove from the loaf pan to finish cooling.

7. This is fantastic as is, but if you want to dial up the sweetness, try a glaze or icing. Recipes below.

Ingredients for thin icing:

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Mix up the powdered sugar, milk, and extract to make the icing. Drizzle over the loaf.

Ingredients for thick cream cheese icing:

1 8-oz. block cream cheese, softened to room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method for cream cheese icing:

1. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar in intervals, beating after each addition, about 1/2 cup at a time.

2. Add the vanilla extract and beat until smooth

3. Decorate the cake using a spatula to spread the icing.

Espresso and Ice Cream Affogato

2016-02-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends! I have something new to share.

People who know me know that I'm a tea drinker. I don't like regular coffee. I tried it ages ago, but it didn't hit the spot. Once in a while, I might drink a fu-fu coffeehouse drink made with espresso and lots of milk and flavorings.

So rewind back to last April, when I was pregnant with Natalie. I have no explanation for this, but I suddenly loved coffee. I would wake up at night dreaming of lattes. I'd fix myself an afternoon treat with the Keurig machine and doctor it with cocoa mix and lots of cream.

My husband likes espresso and we'd talked for years about getting an espresso machine. It just happened to be a really low priority since I've been a tea person and not an espresso person. Suddenly it made sense to me to get the espresso machine for his birthday so I could also have it to satisfy my cravings. Isn't that how marriage works?

I got one of the Nespresso Lattissima+ machines. It's been really easy to use and makes a good drink for pod-lovers like me. I've been experimenting with the shots of espresso, the foamy milk, the flavored syrups, and combining them in different ways to make really good drinks. I got some of the limited edition holiday flavors and they were fantastic. Vanilla Amaretto was the best!

Then, I got the bright idea to try this Italian dessert that is simply ice cream with espresso. I went a bit crazy. I had two shots of Caramelito espresso with hazelnut syrup over a big scoop of Cookies and Cream ice cream before bed. You know I didn't sleep that night, but it was really, really good!

You can make affogato without an espresso machine. You will need some way to make espresso, maybe instant espresso, or brew some really strong regular coffee. Hot milk whipped a bit can stand in for the steamed milk if you don't have a fancy steamer.

By the way, the espresso is traditionally poured over the ice cream. I'm good at doing things backwards, especially when it comes to me spilling hot espresso all over the counter and making a huge mess.

Give this treat a try, although I seriously recommend having this as an afternoon treat. It's way more of a pick-up than Tiramisu.

Ingredients for one Affogato
1 or 2 shots of espresso, flavored or not, slightly cooled
1/4 cup steamed, foamy milk
1 tablespoon vanilla, hazelnut, Almond Roca, or other flavored syrup
1 generous scoop of ice cream, like vanilla, chocolate, or cookies and cream

Backwards Method
1. Place syrup in the bottom of a short glass. Add brewed espresso.

2. Pour the foamy milk on top of the espresso.

3. Add the scoop of ice cream.

4. Eat it with spoon to scoop up the foamy milk and ice cream, then drink the rest!

Traditional Method
1. Place syrup in the bottom of a short mug. Add brewed espresso.

2. Pour the foamy milk on top of the espresso.

3. Place the scoop of ice cream in a serving cup. Pour espresso over the ice cream.

4. Eat it with spoon to scoop up the foamy milk and ice cream, then drink the rest!

Thanks for stopping by!

PS. In Italian, the dessert Tiramisu literally translates to "pick-me-up." Affogato translates as "drowned" or "sunk" and is closely related to "suffocated."

Tamale Pie

2016-01-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends!

Today I'm sharing a recipe for a casserole that I learned about when I got my first real job out of college. It was informally called tamale pie.

Essentially, the original recipe consisted of a can of this and can of that layered in a pan. There was corn bread mix from a box, layers of seasoned meat, cheese, salsa or Rotel, beans, and so on. (I'm skipping details on purpose. They're boring.) Then you baked it until it was hot.

Yeah, I customized my procedure and ingredients to match what we liked. I started making the mush with a little cinnamon and used regular milk instead of canned milk. I used taco seasoning on the meat and skipped the salsa/Rotel step. I added frozen corn and sliced olives. I couldn't skip the cheese since we love cheese. But it has evolved from the original can of this and a can of that.

Now hold on for one second. Have you seen other tamale pie recipes? You know, the ones that put the corn mush on TOP? What is that about? For me, the cornbread layer is crust, the foundation that holds all the toppings. Dear hubby compares it to a Mexican Sope. A sope (sounds like so-pay or soapy) is like a tostada, or a flat taco, made with a baked corn mush boat instead of a tortilla.

I hope you like this. This makes enough for a good sized family with a few leftovers for lunch. It also freezes well if you want to put some away for later.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups corn meal
2 1/2 cups milk ( we usually have 1% milk) or water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 packet taco seasoning ***See note at end for bulk buyers
1/4 cup water
1 can refried beans
1 cup frozen white corn kernels (or more or less if you like)
1 small can sliced olives
2 cups shredded colby-jack cheese or Mexican 4-Cheese blend
Sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, lettuce, cilantro, diced onion, chiles. jalapenos, or guacamole for toppings

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 9"x13" pan with a light spray of nonstick cooking spray on the bottom.

2. Combine the corn meal, milk, and cinnamon in a saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Spread the corn mush in the bottom of the 9x13 pan.

3. Bake the mush until firm, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the hot pan from oven and let rest until step 5.

4. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef. Drain the fat and add the taco seasoning and water. Stir and cook until the water evaporates.

5. Spread the refried beans on top of the baked corn meal layer from step 3. You can use as much or as little as you like.

6. Spread the cooked meat on top of the refried bean layer.

7. Sprinkle the sliced olives on top of the meat.

8. Sprinkle the corn on top of the olives.

9. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over everything.

10. Bake again, at 350F, until heated through and the cheese looks slightly toasty, about 30-40 minutes.

11. Remove from oven and let cool about 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with desired toppings. Mexican rice is a good companion, too.

***As a note, if you buy taco seasoning in bulk like we do, in the huge shaker from Costco, use 1/4 cup taco seasoning. That's the same as what comes in a packet.

Thanks for stopping by!

Turkey Kale Pasta Bake

2015-11-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hello again, I'm back with a new recipe.

I've been ready for casseroles for a long time and now I'm on a roll. I recently got a free jar of Ragu Sauce to test from Influenster. They asked me to use it and make up a recipe to go with it.

I used some things I already had around the house. We grew dinosaur kale in the garden this year so I was already thinking about using kale in a dinner dish. I almost always have cheese and pasta on hand, so I didn't have to buy more. I did pick up some ground turkey at the store.

Then less than one easy-peasy hour later, I had a really tasty dinner ready to go. It also made a huge amount so we have plenty of leftovers. Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Ingredients
1 lb organic ground turkey
1 bunch dinosaur kale, ribs removed and chopped
2 Tablespoons garlic flavored olive oil (or regular olive oil)
1-2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes
1 16-oz box of Barilla Pasta, campanelle, elbows, rotini, penne, or something similar
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 24-oz jar Ragu Chunky Pasta Sauce, Tomato, Garlic, and Onion
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and place in a deep 9x13 Rectangular Dish.

2. Meanwhile, brown the turkey in a skillet. Season with salt and pepper. When cooked through, add to the baking dish.

3. Saute the kale with olive oil, salt, pepper, and the red pepper flakes until wilted. The kale should still be bright green. Add the kale to the turkey and pasta in the baking dish.

4. Pour the jar of Ragu sauce over the ingredients in the baking dish. Rinse the jar with 1/4 cup water and add to the dish as well. Add 1 cup of the shredded cheese to the dish. Stir well without breaking up the pasta.

5. Top it with the remaining shredded cheese. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until everything is warm and the top is a little bit browned.

6. Enjoy!

Please note this post was made possible by Influenster. Ragu sauce provided complimentary for testing thanks to Influenster.

Chicken Chorizo and Rice Bake

2015-10-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers. It's officially Fall! It's casserole and soup season! You have no idea how happy I am for the cooler weather. Being pregnant during the summer was not so fun. I had no appetite and I was not interested in cooking anything in the oven that would make the house hotter than it already was. I think we'll get the AC serviced in the springtime because it's just not cooling anymore.

Anyhow, FOOD! I've been hungry for something different than our standard, go-to meals. I had to think back to the old days growing up and what kinds of interesting things we found at church pot-lucks. That brings me to home-cooked Basque food.

I perused my old community cookbooks and got some ideas. I perused the Internet for more ideas. Food started flying into the pot on the stove. And then bingo! Basque chicken and rice was served.

Basically it all started because we took a short road trip back the old hometown to visit Grandma Rose so she could meet the baby. We stopped at the little grocery market a block from her house. The Husband picked up a package of their house-made chorizo.

The chorizo from Uptown Market is a fresh sausage in real pork casing and it's not smoked or cured. One package came with four sausages that are about 7" long. I only used one for this recipe and froze the rest.

You will need a covered casserole dish or Dutch oven that can go from stove-top to oven to make this a one-pot meal. I used my 4-quart Le Creuset soup pot for this.

Ingredients
chicken thighs, 4-6 pieces
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 medium yellow onion, sliced in thin strips
1 raw chorizo sausage, casing removed (approx 1/3 lb)
1/4 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes that were packed in olive oil (don't include the oil, just the tomato)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
1 cup long grain white rice or jasmine rice, I had Jasmine rice on hand
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 small can sliced black olives (about 2.25 oz)
1 orange, quartered, with the peel
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Brown in the olive oil. You do not need to cook it all the way through, simply get the outside browned. Remove chicken to a plate for now. Keep all the hot fat in the pot.

2. In the same pot, cook the chorizo until it is browned. Add the bell pepper and onion and saute until softened.

3. Add the garlic and rice. Stir until the garlic is fragrant and the rice is coated in oil. Now add the tomato paste, paprika, and thyme. Stir. Add the wine and chicken stock.

4. Add the sliced olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir well and bring up to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn off the heat.

5. Place the reserved chicken pieces on top. Squeeze the oranges slightly over the chicken and arrange the orange quarters so they are partially submerged in the liquid.

6. Cover and bake 45-60 minutes in a preheated 350F oven.

This recipe was adapted from Delia Online's Chicken Basque.

Egg Drop Soup

2015-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going to share one of the easiest recipes I have. It's not even really hard enough to be called a recipe by my standards. Don't be fooled though. Simple food can still taste amazing. Check out this "recipe" for egg drop soup.

I usually use whatever frozen, cut-up vegetables I have in the freezer. I particularly like peas and diced carrots, but the combination of corn, beans, peas, and carrots is good too. Some restaurants around here might use diced fresh zucchini and canned water chestnuts, too. (Smiley Jenny)

There are even a few places that add chopped evil mushrooms...so no soup for me at those places. (Frowny Jenny). Darn food allergies!

As for the cornstarch, you can add more if you want it thicker, or leave it out completely. The soup is great either way. Cornstarch is gluten-free if that is a concern for you.

Ingredients
1 32-oz carton low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup mixed frozen vegetables, (or frozen peas & carrots, or corn-beans-peas)
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Method
1. Reserve 1/2 cup of the broth. Mix with the cornstarch. Set aside for later.

2. Combine the remaining broth and frozen vegetable in a saucepan. Bring up to a boil, Simmer until the vegetable are tender.

3. Add the cornstarch slurry to the pot and mix well. Continue simmering until the soup has thickened slightly.

4. Stir the soup and slowly pour in the beaten eggs. Continue stirring until the eggs have set. You will get smaller strands of egg if you stir fast and larger pieces of egg if you stir slowly.

5. Serve! You have enough for 4-6 servings.

Best in the West Rib Cookoff 2015

2015-09-10T11:19:00.003-07:00

Hello dear readers! The past week Sparks was host to the annual Nugget Rib Cook-off. Of course we went and it was as busy as ever.

This year we just went on Sunday. We caught a matinee at Century 14, Minions, since the big kids hadn't seen it yet. It was cute! We have been in the middle of minion madness, and the movie was the biggest deal to the kids. This was also the baby's first visit to a movie theater!

After the movie, we walked through Victorian Square. We ate our fill of ribs from some favorites like Texas Outlaw and Chicago, plus a few of the vendors we don't always get like BourbonQ and Texas Thunder.

We also chowed on deep fried pickles, deep fried peaches with whipped cream, a funnel cake, and shaved ice. My husband also convinced me to help him drink a blended margarita. So what if I ended up drinking most of it?

By the way, we seriously considered buying the whole roast pig this year. Some friends have been hard at work helping another friend with a yard improvement project and a whole pig would have fed that army well. Maybe next time.

Anyhow, we also wandered through the stalls of goods. We bought a white sweet potato pie from Patrick's Famous Pie's to take home. Let me say, I've been hungry for pie and too busy to bake my own so I really enjoyed this pie.

Now, for the part I know you've been waiting for, the results! Congratulations to the winners!

2015 Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off Results
1st	Bone Daddy's BBQ
2nd	Famous Dave's BBQ
3rd	Uncle Bub's
4th	Back Forty Texas BBQ
5th	Texas Outlaw BBQ
Best Sauce	Aussom Aussie
People's Choice	Bone Daddy's BBQ

Jenny's Lasagna

2015-08-28T09:46:00.002-07:00

Hello, my friends. It's been quite a while since I've been in the kitchen cooking from scratch. Being pregnant is hard work! The baby is now almost 3 weeks old, the garden is bursting with tomatoes, and I've gotten slowly back in the kitchen. Today, I'm sharing with you, my recipe for lasagna.

I made a small batch of homemade tomato sauce with bell peppers and pork to use up some tomatoes. I used that for my lasagna sauce this time, but you can use jarred sauce from the store. I normally use marinara or a tomato-y sauce in a jar, so use what works for you.

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
2 eggs
1 15oz container part-skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (for mixing into filling)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
1 box lasagna noodles (I prefer American Beauty's Oven-Ready)
1 28oz jar Marinara or Tomato-Garlic pasta sauce, or about 3 cups homemade sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (for topping)
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

Method
1. Brown the ground beef. Drain fat. Add the jar of pasta sauce. Rinse the jar with the 1 1/2 cups water and add that to the beef. Stir over low heat to warm.

2. Combine eggs, ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella, salt, pepper, and parsley. This will be the cheese filling. Set aside.

3. Use a 9x13 or slightly larger baking dish to assemble the lasagna. Begin with about 1 cup of meat-sauce mixture spread over the bottom.

4. Add the first layer of lasagna noodles to cover the sauce, in a single layer with no overlaps. This should take 3 oven-ready noodles (or 5 noodles if you're using another brand that requires boiling).

5. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the dry noodles.

6. Add another cup of meat sauce mixture on top of the cheese layer.

7. Add a second layer of lasagna noodles to cover the meat sauce, in a single layer.

8. Spread the other half of the cheese mixture over the dry noodles.

9. Add another cup of meat sauce mixture on top of the cheese layer.

10. Add a third layer of lasagna noodles to cover the meat sauce, in a single layer.

11. If there is any meat sauce left, spread it on top.

12. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan over everything.

13. Cover pan with foil. Bake for 40 minutes in a 350F preheated oven.

13 1/2. Or if you want to make this in advance, cover the uncooked lasagna with foil and place in fridge until you are ready to bake. Place cold dish in a cold oven and then turn to 350F. Let it bake about 45 minutes, keeping it covered.

14. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes, or until browned to your liking.

15. Let lasagna rest 10 minutes before serving. It will hold up better when you cut slices. This is perfect with a salad and some Garlic Bread.

Oven Fried Chicken

2015-06-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hello again my readers! It's almost summer time! That means less time running the oven in the house and more time outdoors with the grill. So to wrap up something I've been working on, let's get to it. Say Hello to my delish oven-baked "fried" chicken recipe.

A few months ago I tried something new and I'd been making a little tweak here and there, perfecting it. Now I 'm ready to share. But first, some back ground story.

When I was a tween and learning to cook, one of the first cookbooks I got was Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual by the Klutz Press. There was a recipe in there for oven "fried" chicken that used crushed cornflakes. It became a regular thing in our house, so I've had a spot in my heart for oven baked chicken since. Now, I've gotten away from using cornflakes and wanted something flour-dredged so it was even more like real fried chicken. And I found a way to do it.

I've only tried this with drumsticks, but I'm sure it will work with other cuts of chicken. The cornflake recipe was good for everything, but you had to adjust cooking time depending on which part of the chicken might need more or less time in the oven. For my own simple-is-better take on things, I stuck with all drumsticks so I didn't have to adjust timing too much.

I've made this pretty mild since I have one kid that loves hot 'n' spicy (him) and one that won't touch it if there is even any black pepper visible (her). I used to put a generous sprinkle of Luzianne Cajun Seasoning on my cornflake chicken so that is still an option for future batches when the rest of us want some spice.

Ingredients
For the flour dredge:
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
For the chicken:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 package chicken legs, about 6 pieces

Method

1. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with aluminum foil. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of the pan.

2. Combine the dry ingredients for the flour dredge mixture in a gallon size plastic baggie.

3. Add chicken legs, one or two at a time and shake until well coated with the flour mixture.

4. Arrange the chicken legs in the prepared pan. I like to start them skin side up. Bake in a preheated 450F oven for 30 minutes.

5. After the 30 minutes are up, remove the pan and flip the legs over. Cook for another 15-20 minutes (at high altitude) or until the chicken is done. That means clear juices when poked and the meat should loosen from the bone easily

6. See how roasty and brown they got? That is some good stuff, but beware I did set off the smoke alarms with my last batch. (Oops Jenny!) Keep an eye on yours so they don't get to the point of smoking up your house.

7. Serve piping hot with some traditional sides, like mashed potatoes and gravy, saucy noodles, rice, some fresh or pickled veggies, or slaw.

Banana Layer Cake

2015-05-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! I'm back with something delicious! And Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

My son recently turned 9. Trying to get any birthday ideas out of him was difficult. I had to offer a ton of ideas for what to do party-wise, cake-wise, and even prod at him about what he might want for presents.

The good thing about him, is once he found an idea he liked, he nailed down exactly what he wanted.

I asked about the cake. At first he just said cake like I always make. Then he said to add bananas to the filling. About 5 seconds later, he changed it to banana cake with strawberry filling. I could definitely work with that.

As for the party, we went from maybe having it at the trampoline party place across town to the petting zoo to go-karts to backyard campout. Camping won. We had pizza delivered, made s'mores, then had cake. And the boys played with the Nerf guns before sleeping in the tent out back. It was a total winner.

Anyhow, I decided to take the cake in a classic direction and make it round with two layers. Kiddo said no to the usual strawberry mousse, so I used the cream cheese fruit dip and sliced berries for the filling. The outside was covered in regular vanilla buttercream.

Both kids wanted to help decorate. He has been into LBX lately and asked if I could do something with them on the cake. There are no LBX toys that are appropriate cake toppers. Even the build-it-yourself kits are not a great idea. So to go in a completely different direction, the kids attacked the cake graffiti -style with some Duff spray food coloring.

The cake was really good. It had a good banana flavor without being dense and heavy like banana bread. It was lighter and fluffier while still moist.

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (defrost and peel 4 frozen bananas, pulse in food processor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda (if you're low altitude use 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
1. Cream together the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the sour cream and beat some more.

2. Add the eggs and vanilla to the mixer. Blend until combined.

3. Add the mashed banana. This works best if the banana is really smooth. Banana lumps are bad in this recipe. Be sure to measure this. Don't just mash up 4 bananas and toss them in the mixing bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the cake flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix it up. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in about 3 additions, mixing well after each. Scrape down the sides with a spatula and mix again to really get the batter smooth. There's a theme here with smooth, can't you tell?

5. Grease or non-stick spray your baking pans. Divide the batter evenly between two 9" rounds.

6. Bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 23-28 minutes. Mine took 25 minutes. The cake should start to pull away from the sides of the pan and pass a toothpick test when it's done.

7. Let the cake cool in the pans 5-10 minutes then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

Assembly
1. Place the bottom layer top-side-up on your serving plate.

2. Spread fruit dip filling evenly on top of cake. Thick is good.

3. Arrange sliced strawberries on top of filling.

4. Place the second cake with the top-side-down. Press down gently so the filling layer makes contact with both cake layers.

5. Frost the entire cake with one batch of vanilla buttercream.

6. Decorate as desired. I was planning on using additional whole strawberries, sprinkles, chopped nuts, and chocolate syrup drizzle like a banana split theme, but the kids hijacked the cake and turned into graffiti artists. She even helped with the lettering.

Awesomesauce Fruit Dip

2015-05-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hi followers!

I'm back with an actual recipe! It's one of my oldest, favorite things that I learned from my mom. It's the easiest and most delicious fruit dip. We even have a German-sounding made up name for it. We call it Frutenglasa. To say it, the last "s" has to sound a bit like a "j" or "zh" sound.

It's great with strawberries or fruit salad. It's great with watermelon when it's hot during summertime. You can even smear it on crepes or a puff pancake, add some fruit and have a very elegant dish.

Mom has a top secret, special change she does to this recipe that I will share, too. For special occasions, she will substitute orange liqueur (like Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or Triple Sec) for the orange juice. My last batch, I only subbed 1 tablespoon of Triple Sec and kept the other 2 as OJ. This stuff is almost addictive.

And I have even stuffed it inside birthday cake as a filling layer. Super awesome stuff it is.

Try it out and give me a shout about how much you love it.

Ingredients
1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
1 8-ounce block cream cheese, at about room temperature
3 Tablespoons orange juice (or orange liqueur if you like)

Method
1. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese to soften it. An electric hand mixer works fine, probably better than a big stand mixer.

2. Add the marshmallow cream and juice. Beat until smooth and creamy.

3. Serve with sliced fruit or use with crepes as a topping or as a cake filling.

4. This makes about 2 cups of dip. Keep refrigerated. It will keep about 4-5 days.

Serving Suggestions
Crepe Filling - use about 2 Tablespoons of dip, spread inside a crepe, add fruit and roll up or fold as desired. This is perfect for macerated berries or peaches. Be sure to dribble the syrupy fruit juices on top with the fruit.

Best in the West Rib Cook-off 2014

2015-03-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hello readers!

I've been slow to post this, mainly because I forgot to hit post! Silly me!

So let's take a look back at the 2014 Best in the West Rib Cook-off. It was in the typical location along Victorian Square between the Nugget hotel and the Sparks Century 14 Theater. In recent years, many of the older building were demolished and turned into a vast parking lot. This comes in very handy for events like this.

There were rib booths spread out more toward the theater. Normally they are crowded together all down Victorian Avenue, and the lines of people waiting for food can get very long. It can be hard to even walk. I liked that the booths were further apart.

We tried a few places that we didn't recognize. Everything was hot and fresh off the grill.Yum! In my opinion, that is the best way to eat ribs.

We didn't get tickets to the Rib Village this time. No, we took our time meandering through the vendors on foot and stopping at places that piqued our interest.

I think these two are definitely related! Look at those faces!

This one didn't waste any time either. I was lucky to get a taste.

Also, the hats were brand new. We bought them walking in from one of the booths. It was a bright day and these two needed some shade.

Results for the 2014 competition

2014 Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off - OFFICIAL RESULTS
1st	Desperado BBQ & Rib Company
2nd	Bone Daddy's BBQ
3rd	Famous Dave's BBQ
4th	Butch's Smack Your Lips BBQ
5th	Checkered Pig BBQ
Best Sauce	Porky 'N' Beans
People's Choice	Back Forty Texas BBQ

Clementine Cream Crepes

2014-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hello again my friends. This year is really flying by. I woke up and realized that we are one month away from Christmas! Goodness! I have to start getting seasonal decorations up!

Speaking of seasonal things, it's getting to be citrus fruit season in the stores. Have you also noticed the bags of clementines and mandarin oranges everywhere? I usually see them under the brands of Cuties and Halos. They're so tiny and tasty.

I had a flash of brilliance and bought a bag. They are great to send for the kiddos lunches, or drop a few in my purse to snack on at work. I've used clementines in cooking as well. They are so easy to add since they're seedless and add a lovely and gentle sweet orange flavor.

For fun, I made crepes and a sweet whipped cream- ricotta filling, enhanced with the juice and zest from clementines. They were divine! I knew I had to share the recipe with you, because they were too good to keep to myself.

By the way, if you don't have access to clementines, other small sweet citrus fruit will work well too. Tangerines, tangelos, satsumas, or even navel oranges will do. But the larger fruit will contain more juice, so you will need to use less. Don't forget to watch out for seeds.

Ingredients
1 batch sweet crepe batter
1 cup ricotta cheese
zest of 2 clementines
juice of 1 clementine
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
4 clementines, peeled and separated into segments
additional powdered sugar for dusting

Method
1. Using a small food processor, pulse together the ricotta cheese, clementine juice, zest, and powdered sugar until mixed well. Set aside for a moment

2. Whip the whipping cream until it holds firm peaks. Fold the ricotta mixture into the whipped cream, being careful not to deflate it much.

3. Cook the crepes according to the recipe. I used a smallish 10" frying pan. I usually get about 10-12 crepes from one batch.

4. While slightly warm, spoon some clementine cream down the center of each crepe and roll up.

5. To plate, place two rolled up crepes side by side. Add an additional dollop of cream and some clementine segments on top. Dust with powdered sugar. Powdered Vanilla Sugar adds a little extra dimension to this, if you like.

Thanks for stopping by!

Past birthday cake gallery, part 2

2014-10-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends. I'm sharing more cake-y goodness today. Cake photos!
WARNING: Some cakes are nice to look at, some cakes are less than perfect. It seems like every other cake has a problem. Now, let's get gawking! Everyone, jump in the time machine!

Wait, what? Time machine?

Back to 2011. We'll start with Tinkerbell and her fairy friends. I ordered this from Safeway's bakery. They had an example cake (click this for reference photo) on display that was very cute. It was a rectangular cake with layers and the fairies sitting in different places, like along a waterfall and stream. The cake I took home was not layered and was nowhere as detailed as the example cake. No edge piping. Shortage of flowers and vines. Horrible cake writing. Shortage of talent on the decorator's part. Thanks Safeway. Total. Cake. Fail.

2012 was a bad year for birthday cakes. It was also the year my son wanted a very fancy shaped homemade Optimus Prime Transformer cake. I attempted it. I royally ruined it. I baked two cakes and they would not come out of the pan. They crumbled and ripped in unnatural ways as I tried to tip them onto the cooling racks. Some cake flew onto the floor. It was horrible! In a panic, I phoned the husband to pick up a cake while at Costco. I told him the story of cake disaster and you know who overheard it all. He went to the bakery ladies and very matter-of-factly told them he needed a new birthday cake because Mom ruined the homemade one. This is what he bought home.

For her fourth birthday (still 2012), I figured the Safeway Tinkerbell cake was so bad, I'd be better off making homemade cake and doing it myself. I had a great idea, easy execution, just yellow cake, same as the Transformers Bumblebee Cake, tinted buttercream frosting, and some miniature dolls. The cake had a minor mishap. I decorated it and put it in the fridge until party time. I took it out shortly before the party and the cardboard base flexed. The center of the cake did not flex so well and the lovely Cinderella-blue base frosting cracked. I gave it some more blue frosting to smooth the obvious part, but couldn't do much about the white piped edge. It was very tasty, though. At least the cake didn't crumble like the Optimus Prime that didn't happen.

Our next cake was ordered from one of the local Raley's grocery stores. It was for my son's seventh birthday (2013). They had the Rango set in their catalog, so we picked it. We'd already looked through dorky themes and wanted to get something different. After all, two Transformer cakes had already happened and I wasn't about to get him a third after the broken cake incident! Considering that the "dirt" looked like smeared poo instead of sand, the little cactus frosting blobs were actually pretty cute.

Last year (2013), my daughter was into Lalaloopsy dolls like crazy. No bakeries offered a decent Lalaloopsy cake, so I enhanced one. I picked up a cake from Costco that had the generic sunshine, rainbow, and Happy Birthday message. We were off to a great start! I added the number 5 candle, the two mini Lalaloopsy dolls, and a Lalaloopsy unicorn. This cake was a total hit!

This photo is from my son's eighth birthday this year (2014). It was hectic, so I took my chances and bought a plain cake off the rack at Winco. Winco's cake are pretty decent taste-wise for a grocery store chain. It was far from perfect, I mean, look at the colors they used! (Green and yellow are associated with the Cheese-heads, this boy's second least favorite team.) At least it was reasonable with the little plastic football decorations and it had plenty of room for me to add the Happy Birthday writing and number candle.

If you missed my other birthday cake posts, check these out.

Past birthday cake gallery, part 1
(includes Blue's Clues and Thomas the Tank Engine for his 1st and 2nd birthdays)
Butterfly cake (her 1st birthday)
Disney Cars Cake (his 3rd birthday)
Disney Frozen cake (her 6th birthday)
Honeybee and sunflower cake (her 2nd birthday)
Transformer's Bumblebee car cake (his 5th birthday)
Ugly Transformer's gear cake (his 4th birthday)

Frozen Cake

2014-09-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hello dear followers! Is it really, officially Autumn? The weather is slowly cooling down, the days are getting noticably shorter. I suppose it will be Winter before we know it.

Speaking of cold and winter, my daughter turned six last week. She insisted on doing a Frozen theme. Well, my idea for executing the Frozen theme was pretty basic. I did not go all out like some of those mamas on Pinterest with way too much free time on their hands. I kept it simple. We gave out Frozen party favor baggies with various candies for the girls, and cars baggies for the boys. We gave her a few Frozen things as gifts. The cake was really the only thing that adhered to the theme. And I didn't even make it myself!

I have been so short on time since school started! We ordered a half sheet cake from the Atlantis Bakery, simple white cake, white buttercream filling and frosting. I asked for light blue edge piping and darker blue text for "Happy Birthday Haley". They offered an edible image, so I took it. We also asked for a couple fondant flowers for a little extra oomph. They even gave it some edible sparkle.

We zipped from the Atlantis to the party locale and I was ready to enhance the cake. I had hunted down a set of tiny dolls, Elsa, Anna, and Olaf, that I arranged on top along with a sparkly blue number six candle. I came prepared with extra sparkle dust, and some cans of Duff's spray coloring in blue and silver, but I didn't use them. The cake was "Frozen" enough with the dolls and candle.

Voila! A super easy Frozen birthday cake was born!

Peach Pie

2014-09-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things from childhood was eating fresh peaches from our peach tree. Back in Oklahoma, I had planted a peach pit it in our garden and it thrived! The tree was huge and just outside my bedroom window.

We enjoyed sliced fresh peaches with sugar, peach ice cream, and peach pie. Mom always made the best peach pies. I could never understand why people frequently added cinnamon to their peach pie. It covered up the peachy flavor.

Fast forward to grown up Jenny and her house in Nevada. We planted our own peach tree a few years ago and it finally produced a nice crop of fruit. I devoured a few peaches right away, then we peeled and sliced the rest. We froze a bunch for later and made two pies. We even had sliced peaches and crepes for breakfast the next day!

These pies were as simple as could be. No cinnamon. No almond extract. Just peaches, sugar, and tapioca to thicken the juices. And they were divine!

Ingredients for one 9-inch pie
4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Minute Tapioca
Pie dough for a double crust pie, see Pie Crust No. 1
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar

Method
1. Combine the sliced peaches with 1 1/4 cups sugar and the tapioca granules. Mix well and let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes.

2. Prepare your 9" pie plate by lining with one layer of pie dough. Fill with peach mixture. Top with second layer of pie dough and crimp edges. Poke a few vent holes in the center of the top layer.

3. Use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with milk, enough to make it damp. You don't have to use it all. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the crust.

4. Bake in a 400F preheated oven about 40-45 minutes. It will be bubbly and hot.

5. Remove from oven and let cool.

6. Enjoy with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's extra delicious outside on a warm summer evening!

Hey! If you like this, you might also like these recipes, too!
Apple Crisp
Bread Pudding
Pecan Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Sweet Dessert Crepes

Ulitmate S'mores

2014-06-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again, dear readers. It's almost summertime here in Nevada. You can basically say we had our one week of Springtime weather, so it might as well be called Summer already.

We just had Memorial Day. The waterparks are open for business. People are out fishing and camping. It's time for every scout's favorite campfire treat. S'MORES!!!!

I'm sure most people are familiar with the original s'more. If you've seen the latest Hershey TV ad, then you've seen Hershey's chocolate teamed with Jet-Puft marshmallows and Honey-Maid graham crackers. Now, those are good, BUT I can up the ante. I can IMPROVE THEM!!!

What you need is to think outside the s'more. You need to evolve the s'more, layer by delicious layer. You must know by now that is not health food. It's a devilish delicious treat.

Let's start with the cracker. You can stick to graham crackers if you like. I picked up a box of Honey Grahams at Trader Joe's, as well as some of their Speculoos. You could experiment with chocolate chip cookies, like Keebler or Chips Ahoy. Maybe Oreo's sound good to you, which are Vegan and a bit on the small side. If you don't want to fuss with the Oreo filling, get some Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. They're similar in chocolatey goodness without the white stuff.

Now, go to the candy aisle. Grab some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, or Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cups if you need Vegan options. Grab some snack-size Milky Ways. Heck, grab some Dove or Cadbury chocolate bars, even the Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars are good.

Then, what about the marshmallow layer? You need something sticky to hold it all together. I love toasted marshmallows for this. However, maybe you'd like some Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter? Or Biscoff Cookie Butter, which is also Vegan and very yummy. Something else I've tried that's good is frosting, good old vanilla buttercream frosting. Or if you're really adventurous, toast some fruity chewy candies like Starburst. Yeah. Let's get crazy!

As for the campfire treat component, you don't have to be camping. You can toast marshmallows over your gas flame cooktop, grill, or a candle. You can even just pile stuff together and microwave it until the marshmallow puffs up, but then it's not toasty. I suppose if you don't want the marshmallow, then this is a moot point.

We're all about live fire and marshmallows here!

The bottom line, the point I'm making is to take something and sandwich it all together. Why not mix and match? For me, it's not really a s'more unless it has toasted marshmallow. For some of my friends, the marshmallow is optional. Make it, try it, and find what your ultimate s'more is.

My friend Barb loves chocolate chip cookie, Hershey, toasted marshmallow. Shannon is into the speculoos cookie and cookie butter. The hubby loves graham cracker, Peanut butter cup, toasted marshmallow. My new favorite is graham cracker, Milky Way, toasted marshmallow. What's yours?

Ingredients
Cracker layer: (Choose 1) graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies, Oreo's, Speculoos cookies

Chocolate candy layer: (Choose 1) Reese's, Milky Way, Snickers, Cadbury, Hershey, Dove, Kit Kat, 3 Musketeers

Smooshy layer: (Choose 1) Marshmallow, Starburst, Mamba, cookie butter spread, peanut butter, buttercream frosting

Method
1. Arrange your cracker layer on a plate.

2. Add a piece of chocolate on top of the cracker layer.

3a. If using marshmallows, Starburst, or Mambas, toast it on a long stick or fire-proof kabob skewer. Push it off onto a second cracker. It will be hot and gooey.

3b. If using a spread, apply to a second cracker.

4. Place second cracker on top of candy, smooshy side inwards.

5. Devour!