Maple Macaroni

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Bonus: Love Stories)

2012-02-06T21:10:00.000-06:00

This Valentine's season I am in love with people who are in love:
Mary and Matthew from Downton Abbey (the only show worth watching on TV, FYI), even though they won't tell each other.

The 17 million couples I know (yes, I counted) who got engaged in the past few months and for whom I am want-to-squeal-and-quit-my-job-to-help-wedding-plan-full-time excited.

(Modern) Southern food blogger goddess Nealey Dozier of Dixie Caviar who was proposed to with a most perfect-for-her-relationship Lego video involving lots of food (I am kind of obsessed with it; you should watch it and read Nealey's story behind it).

Yes, I will talk about cupcakes later in this post after I finish my love story rant. Sorry.

The God-so-ordained-the-timing story of the Simmons marrying together their family of nine I got to write for 280 Living (thanks, Mom, for saying, "I think the neighbor married some woman with five kids," when I asked her for story ideas). I loved how they told me about having hip hop dance parties in the kitchen and then all eating dinner together most nights, and how the husband completely lit up when he talked about his wife's Gouda Cheese Grits and the outer, crusty part of her Crockpot Chicken and Rice.

Anyway. As usual, I am also in love with baked goods. So I felt the need to make the cupcake recipe we were running in The Homewood Star this month. The photo that had been submitted was so-so, so I thought I'd try to take a better one with my fancy new camera Christmas present. Which meant I had to bake the cupcakes myself. Darn. Yet another round of Madoline-finds-any-excuse-to-bake-whatsoever.

The only problem was the recipe was vegan, and power to vegans but I wasn't about to buy soy milk and soy cream cheese or leave eggs out of cupcakes. So I tweaked it. I also left out the "chocolate extract" because who buys chocolate extract when you already put cocoa in something? Not me. What is chocolate extract anyway?

Homemade cake batter wins again. I am starting to hate box mixes more and more. Beware my cake snobbery.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Adapted from Jennifer Champ Wallis, who adapted it from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons red food coloring

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.

Whisk together milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl and mix well.

Add the remaining wet ingredients to the curdled milk and whisk well. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry, mixing until large lumps disappear.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting when cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together margarine and cream cheese with a mixer until combined. Add the powdered sugar in 1/2 cup batches, mixing until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla.

What I Learned at FoodBlogSouth

2012-01-31T20:46:00.000-06:00

I spent last Saturday at FoodBlogSouth mingling with people who also love to talk food and blogging. What a delight! Here's what I learned (and ate)...

1. Drinking vinegar (like this pomegranate variety from Pok Pok Som) is a food trend as is:
-the return of niche bakers- proof: the cupcake trend won't go away
-a return to animal fats-amen, bacon
-packaging wild foods- look out for dried wild mushrooms
-sprouted grains- ancient wisdom meets raw foods
-yogurt- Greek, Kefir, love, love
-wholesome beverages- heard of coconut water but not yet Honest Cocoa Nova
(Source: Kara Nielson from the Center for Culinary Development)

2. Vegan meatballs can taste better than meat. Never thought I'd say that. (Source: Shindigs Catering's Food Truck's LA Meatballs (smoked mushrooms, beats and nuts, only really) over spaghetti squash.)

3. Ales should be drunken at a mid-50s temperature to bring out its flavors and notes. Also, I still don't like beer all that much, even though I really want to. No offense, Good People, because I so want to appreciate my local brewery. (Source: Ale Sharpton)

4. You get good loot from food blogging conferences. But if I blog about it, I need to disclose that I did in fact get it for free. So for the record, I got this stuff (plus Jim N Nick's cheese biscuit mix) for free. (Source: Dianne Jacob's ethics discussion)

Fancy ice cream from High Road Craft

5. I too can apply for a James Beard Award, because they have been democratized to consider us lowly food bloggers. Or so says the very cool Kat Kinsman, who edits CNN's Eatocracy and makes my heart pitter patter when she talks about compelling, fact-checked reporting and telling the the story only you can tell, ahhhh.

6. I want to volunteer with the Desert Island Supply Company so I can talk writing with generation next.

7. Food blogging conferences make a good excuse to finally make blog business cards. I created mine by using pasta boxes and cereal boxes.

Outrageous Brownies

2012-01-23T21:14:00.001-06:00

These might look like ordinary brownies.

They might go into take-to-friends containers like ordinary brownies.

But they are certainly not ordinary. They come from scratch, not a box.

And they are filled with a sea of rich, dark chocolate, with only a sprinkling of flour.

They come from Ina Garten, only I made my version in a 13x9-inch pan unlike her special 12x18x1 pan (hello, I don't have a professional kitchen), and I did not let any nuts to mess with my chocolate.

Unlike my delectable Chunky Chocolate Brownies, these are a little more cakey than uber-fudgy, like a box mix, yet you can still taste the butter/chocolate goodness from scratch. Mmmm.

Outrageous Brownies

Adapted slightly from Ina Garten

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

3 eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee powder (I used whole coffee grounds)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup+2 Tbsp. sugar

1 cup+2 Tbsp. flour, divided

1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9-inch sheet pan.

Melt together the butter, 1 cup chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature. (I didn’t cool mine completely, and it turned out okay.)

Stir together remaining 1 cup chocolate chips, flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into cooled chocolate/butter mixture. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

Sticky-Bun Pumpkin Muffins

2012-01-17T20:53:00.000-06:00

Cinnamon roll meets pumpkin bread meets pecan pie. Leave it to Southern Living to dream up a baked good that wondrous.

This recipe had been calling my name since October. If this blog were a food magazine, now might be too far past fall and holidays to bake pumpkin. But I make all editorial judgements for my kitchen, and I don't care to be perfectly seasonally exact. I wanted these muffins. Plus, I had canned pumpkin to use up from my stock piling a few months ago (that stuff tends to disappear from shelves).

A pecan/butter/brown sugar mixture goes in the bottom of the tins, and you top it with pumpkin batter. Once they cook, you invert the pan to reveal magical mini upside down cakes.

I wasn't sure I could get rid of a whopping 24 decadent pecan-topped muffins at my work meeting, so I made half a batch as the recipe instructed and the other half with more fiber, less sugar, and dried cranberries inside instead of sticky-bun topping.

And then there was a sinful/healthy variety for the meeting... and for coworker snacks and roommate snacks and then weekend breakfast for my most wonderful Memphis weekend hostess (who had hoped I'd show up with a baked good for breakfast, how lucky). It sounds more generous than reality; I definitely ate a majority of these guys.

Sticky-Bun Pumpkin Muffins

Southern Living, October 2011

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

Stir together melted butter and next 2 ingredients. Spoon 1 rounded teaspoonful butter mixture into each cup of 2 lightly greased 12-cup muffin pans, and top each with 1 rounded tablespoonful pecans.

Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Whisk together pumpkin, next 2 ingredients, and 2/3 cup water; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans, filling three-fourths full.

Place an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan on lower oven rack to catch any overflow. Bake at 350° on middle oven rack for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert pan immediately to remove muffins, and arrange muffins on a wire rack. Spoon any topping remaining in muffin cups over muffins. Let cool 5 minutes.

Madoline's Healthier Variation for 1/2 Batch: Leave out pecan steps. Half all of the ingredients and substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour+3/4 cup all purpose flour for the flour and 3/4 cup sugar for the sugar. Mix in 2/3 cup dried cranberries before putting in muffin tips.

Sausage and Apples

2012-01-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

In school they teach you to write in complete sentences.

In my attempts at writing not-for-teachers, I prefer things short. And concise. Short and concise, sometimes incomplete sentences. To be catchy. And add emphasis on the important words.

Addendum: Subheads. I like them.

Memory: Cafe Berlin, Columbia, MO: The kind of hippie-food breakfast place whose menu items make you pause, then delight

Menu item: Apples, garlic, red onion, local andouille sausage, a hint of chili powder and cinnamon cooked in maple syrup and brown sugar.

Re-creation: Sunday brunch with home group ladies

My dinner for the next two nights: This wondrous concoction served atop Sweet Potato Pancakes.

Inspiration for that: Trattoria Centrale appetizer of bread spread with sweet potato puree and topped with apples, pork and other good things I can't recall.

Sausage and Apples

Adapted from Peace by Pastries

1 lb. andouille sausage

½ large red onion, sliced in half moons

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 green apples

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. chili powder

1/4 cup real maple syrup

¼ cup brown sugar

1 cup water

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a pan, cook sausage over medium heat until all pink is gone. Remove from pan. Remove part of fat in pan, leaving some to sauté next ingredients.

Add onion to pan and sauté about 5 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add garlic and sauce 2 more minutes. Add apples, cinnamon, chili powder, maple syrup and brown sugar; cook for about 5 minutes, stirring some, until apples start to soften. Add cooked sausage and water. Let cook down together until liquid has reduced and apples are at desired doneness.

Serve immediately or cover and serve sooner than later with pancakes, muffins or other breakfast carb.

Best of 2011

2012-01-02T21:13:00.000-06:00

I am a bit late on my 2011 recipe reflections, but here they are at last, now that I have to go back to work and back to catching up with those things I do online (even though I do want to spend less time online in 2012 and more time with people and books, or so I put in writing in one of my little papers).

Part One: Chocoholism, with lots of Oreos.

Chocolate-Buttercream Cake Decadence Pie

Qualifier: Taste-testing oh-my-goodnesses. And my initial oh-my goodness as I layered buttercream on a chocolate cake crust and sealed it in the ganache. Ohmygoodness.

Chocolate Oreo Cake

Qualifier: Lots of blog traffic who, poor things, got inflicted with my rant about period piece romances and how they are like creating layer cake masterpieces. Also, the most awesomest moist chocolate cake recipe ever, via the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake I got paid to remake later in the year (woohoo, a first).

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Qualifier: The number of people who off-blog went on about how amazing these were. Good thing I shared them because it was tempting to hoard them for myself.

Part Two: The white of Black and White, with some veggies.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Qualifier: My mother's compliments. All 4,928 of them. Also my pride in completing the from-scratch, no cream-of-blah-blah-soup challenge.

White Texas Sheet Cake

Qualifier: Number of times it was made x Number of yum-moist-almond-flavor expressions= BIG wow factor.

Succotash

Qualifier: Bacon. Also, a wonderful story from someone who remade and ever-so enjoyed it.

Holiday Tamale Party

2011-12-19T22:37:00.002-06:00

When I saw tamales, the real deal and not the generic Mexican restaurant version, for sale at Christmastime in Birmingham thanks to HICA (The Hispanic Interest Organization of Alabama), I thought one thing: tamale party.

Thanks to my friend Brianne, a tamale dinner party we had!

And thanks to gathering two Cooking Light editors, one Cooking with Paul Deen Magazine test kitchen professional, and two former Southern Living/MyRecipes.com editors, our spread was quite festively colorful and delicious. We might not all work together anymore, but fortunately, some of our original Southern Progress potluck crew can still reunite, over a meal of course.

Tamales, Citrus and Jicama Salad, Cranberry Christmas Salsa

Menu:

Margaritas

Tortilla Chips

Guacamole
(Traditional) Salsa

Cranberry Christmas Salsa (from Renee)

Pork Tamales, Poblano Pepper Tamales (from HICA)

Citrus and Jicama Salad

Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie (from Cooking Light)

Merry Christmas Eating Season!

Christmas Gifts: Chocolate-y Brownies and Buttery Cookies

2011-12-13T18:19:00.001-06:00

I baked for Christmas.

I baked buttery, nutty Wedding Cookies and my favorite fudge-like brownies from scratch, two recipes each, meaning ridiculous amounts of butter and sugar.

I baked for the wonderful people who put up with my crazy editing habits every single day, that means at work and in everyday life for those poor people who know me well enough.

I put my baked goods in the freezer.

I bought tins, treat boxes and mini cupcake liners from Hobby Lobby.

Then I put it all together all pretty-like each day that I saw a person I felt needed a sugary "Merry Christmas," Madoline-style.

Oh, and I also stuffed mini Oreos in chocolate chip cookies to gift and cookie-exchange, but they weren't quite as ridiculously good as the ones I stuffed with full-sized Oreos.

What are you making to give this season?

Cakes and Carols

2011-12-06T22:48:00.002-06:00

According to magazine covers, it's the season to bake a festive layer cake, even if you are not typically the kind to devote so many hours to the art. So, because I am a strange person who enjoys laboring over such a cake more than once a year, I bring you my favorites this holiday season.

Christmas music — not the cheesy stuff on the radio but the kind with rich theology of how much awe we should be in awe of Christ's birth —is speaking particular wonderful words and emotions to me this year. I blame the number of times I have listened to Sojourn's Advent Songs and my church's new album (check it out!). So I've interlaced parts of my favorite carols with my cakes. Believe it or not, I do believe in more than just sugar to celebrate the season.

Let's get our priorities straight: chocolate first.

Chocolate-Oreo Cake

Statement maker: that purdy oreo cream

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant, king to own Him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

And chocolate second:

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake

Statement maker: The drizzle of peanut butter-chocolate ganache on top

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born…

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Choco-latte third:

Chocolate-Buttercream Cake

Statement maker: Oh, that buttercream

(Yes, I realize I just blogged about this cake, but it is just that worthy of emphasizing.)

Come, Thou long expected Jesus

Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s Strength and Consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear Desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

On to the second best thing after chocolate: Caramel!

Caramel Cake

Statement maker: Caramel icing from scratch+caramel filling

Adeste Fideles
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte
Regem angelorum
Venite adoremus, Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus, Dominum*

All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,

Born this happy morning,

O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

O come, let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord.

*I love the beauty of the Latin. This is the first verse of "O Come All Ye Faithful"; it's fairly easy to see the connection to English here even if you don't know the dead language of Caesar and old church music.

Caramel again, with a twist:

Caramel Italian Cream Cake

Statement maker: Can't-stop-talking-about-it icing with a nutty filling

"Fear not then," said the Angel,

"Let nothing you affright,

This day is born a Saviour

Of a pure Virgin bright,

To free all those who trust in Him

From Satan's power and might."

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

And an obligatory seasonal-type spice kind of cake, but only because it's a family recipe and the maple-flavored icing really is quite phenomenal:

Carrot Cake

Statement maker: maple flavoring in the cream cheese icing

Carol Sidenote:
As I am typing this, my roommate is introducing me to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God, a concept album that tells the whole story of Christ's coming. It might become a new favorite.

Last year's round up of sweet treats for the holidays:

6 Cookies for Christmas

What carols and sweet treats are you celebrating with this season?

Chocolate-Buttercream Cake

2011-11-28T21:49:00.002-06:00

This was almost a true Nancy cake.

If it were* a true Nancy cake, its maker would have followed the directions to a tee instead of trying to bake the cakes without lining the pans with parchment paper (result: not-so-pretty cake innards; fortunately icing covers most any mess-ups, and speckled icing is more than okay).

If it were* a true Nancy cake, it would have about 15 more accessories and 7 more colors.

But because it is still a Nancy cake, it is homemade chocolate.

And it is covered in buttercream. Mother Dearest is to credit for why I know how to make the beauty of chocolate cake with buttercream frosting.

And it was delivered to the honoree during Thankslakecabinfest 2011 because, among many other things, I am quite thankful for the one who taught me to love to bake and eat well (and pretty much everything else I value in life).

And like her, this selfish baker also likes to eat chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate with buttercream. Apparently so does the rest of my extended family. The cake was down to this lone piece 24 hours after it first appeared for our Thanksgiving Eve spaghetti dinner.

I can't say the same about the pecan or pumpkin chiffon pie we had for actual Thanksgiving.

This cake's cousins (same moist chocolate cake layers):
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake
Chocolate Oreo Cake

Did you bake anything tasty for Thanksgiving?

*I am 99 percent sure my use of "were" is correct grammar because it is in the subjunctive mood, but if any grammar nerds out there would argue otherwise, please do assert yourselves.
Chocolate-Buttercream Cake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen, who got it from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Buttercream frosting (recipe below)

1 Chocolate bar, optional for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread Buttercream Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Grate chocolate over top of cake to garnish.

Buttercream Frosting

11/2 lb. powdered sugar

11/2 sticks butter, softened

4-6 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoona vanilla

Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer for one to two minutes or until creamy. Add milk if you want a thinner consistency.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2011-11-21T22:01:00.002-06:00

Things that make me happy:
1. Celebrations involving food
2. Getting introduced to local restaurants
3. Menu items that make me say, "Wow!"

More specifically:
1. My friend Katie's bachelorette party
2. Cabana in Nashville, which was full of Southern food with a twist
3. Tennessee Sliders: mini sweet potato biscuits with peach preserves and fried chicken

My attempt at replication:
1. Lunch/life catch-up session with Hannah
2. My house
3. Biscuits ala Paula Deen stuffed with fried chicken from Publix and some peach preserves, served with an arugula salad

Good, but but quite as good as the original three.

Also on the list to replicate from this restaurant:
1. Lemon poppyseed bread pudding
2. Sweet potato ravioli with spiced pecans, prosciutto, mustard greens and sorghum sage butter, ohmygoodness
3. Gathering of a particularly wonderful cohort of college friends. Good news: already on the calendar for the next one in line to become an Mrs. Jackson, Mississippi, here we come; you'd better have some places worthy of celebrating a bride of this par.

(This post officially proves the strength of my love of lists, just to self proclaim my nerdiness.)

Sweet Potato Biscuits
Paula Deen

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 heaping Tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
2 to 4 Tbsp. milk (depending on the moisture of the potatoes)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate, large bowl, mix the sweet potatoes and butter. Add the flour mixture to the potato mixture and mix to make a soft dough. Then add milk a tablespoon at a time to mixture and continue to cut in. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and toss lightly until the outside of the dough looks smooth. Roll the dough out to 1/2-inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter (or glass). Place the biscuits on a greased pan and coat tops with melted butter. Bake for about 15 minutes. (Watch your oven: If the biscuits are browning too fast, lower the temperature.)

The Southern Culinary Bible: A History of Southern Living

2011-11-15T13:01:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time I devoted hours to reading and writing about Southern food culture and Southern Living magazine. Exactly four professors read my giant final report and let me have a master’s degree (woohoo) and put it in at a nice j-library in Missouri. I am resurrecting the best parts of said giant report in a more digestible blog version.

Southern women love them some Southern Living recipes. Millions of then read the magazine. They cook from it. They write love letters to it. They trust it, they revere it, it is part of who they are as Southerners, as women, as cooks.

My mom's SL-filled kitchen bookshelf.

In the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Dianne Young calls Southern Living “one of the South’s self-proclaimed culinary bibles,” and Patricia Gantt refers to the magazine as “that great dame of southern cookery.” Food is essential to the Southern Living but is only part of the larger history of the iconic Southern lifestyle magazine.

In 1966 Southern Living was born as vehicle for emphasizing Southern identity for publisher Progressive Farmer’s non-farm circulation. Beginning in the 1930s, the region had become increasingly urban and nonagrarian with a diversification of manufacturing and of agriculture. As the region progressed toward mainstream America and a global economy, Southerners faced an identity crisis and looked for reaffirmations of Southerness. However, after the Jim Crow era, the South no longer could use the North as a strong contrast upon which to draw their identity, so they exaggerated their small differences in distinctiveness.

The magazine was launched to serve a new reader divorced from rural roots and to celebrate the white Southern lifestyle at a time when Southerners faced negative perceptions in the media and the stress of change during the Civil Rights Movement. According to Southern historian James Cobb, Southern Living became “the most convenient fig leaf” to cover Southerners’ “cultural nakedness” after being stripped of their Jim Crow identity.

Cobb goes on to say that the magazine today serves as a “virtual guidebook to the upscale southern good life” message. The magazine has become a staple of life for middle to upper class white Southerners by providing both literal and figurative “comfort food.” He states its message is, “Never miss an opportunity to host a brunch and remember that a meal without cheese grits or a broccoli casserole is like a liquor cabinet without Jack Daniels or Maker’s Mark.”

Historian, writer and journalism professor Nicholas Lemann describes the essentials for affluent white southerners as including a “‘totally planned community’ around a golf course, cheese grits and honey-baked ham at the pre-game brunch,’ and of course, ‘a five year subscription to Southern Living."

Before solidifying their community and editorial niche, early issues of Southern Living attempted to tackle the problems of Southern cities and speak broadly to women’s interests with stories such as “The World of Whigs” and “Selecting the First Bra.” The first November issued displayed a Thanksgiving dinner in outer space. By November 1967, the editors were beginning to discover the style for which they would become known. That month the first classic, two-page spread of food ran. The spread displayed a pecan pie sitting among whole and shelled pecans, uncracked eggs, an iron nutcracker in the shape of a dog and a kerosene lamp. According to early editors Gary McCalla and John Logue, it all “looked like a painting by one of the early Dutch masters.

By the summer of 1968, McCalla and Logue realized that the magazine must stand on its merit after several years of surviving on its presence as the South’s own magazine. In July the editors wrote out “White Paper,” which outlined the focus of the magazine from that time onward. The magazine would only publish “what it understood” in a seriously departmentalized fashion: travel, food, gardening and general stories that were “so uniquely Southern that the most obvious magazine to publish it would be Southern Living.” More generally, the publication would speak to young, affluent, urban families to “illustrate aspects of living which are uniquely Southern” using extensive color photography to show South’s beauty and brighten the magazine.

The beauty of the photography became essential to the Southern Living formula. The first “classic Southern Living food/travel shot” ran in May 1967 and displayed freshly caught shrimp on dark net with a boat and water in softer focus. Seeing the power of this spread, the editors realized that, like LIFE, photography would become key to their success, and McCalla was knowledgeable about photography and visual impact of magazine.

“I think the role of photography boiled down to this,” McCalla wrote, “whatever subject we were publishing, until it looked good in the magazine we were in trouble. Southern Living is a visual experience an and emotional experience, to go along with its practical information and its more lyrical writing.” It was this display of photography that showed off the beautiful side of the South and its scenery, home and people that became its trademark.

Reader recipes also became key to the magazine. In 1974, only 25 percent of recipes were from readers, but after publishing a small editorial box in the food section requesting recipes, readers began to send in a flood of them, up to 4,464 in one month. During her tenure as food editor from 1970 to 1990, Jean Liles collected more than 500,00 recipes, and during the 22 years McCalla was editor the magazine published more than 20,000 of them.

In 1985 media giant Time, Inc. purchased Southern Living’s publisher, Southern Progress Corporation, for $480 million. For many years, the Birmingham office maintained life as it had been in its new woodsy, landscaped headquarters, full of waterfalls and test kitchens almost as beautiful as the pages of the magazine it produced.

Today many Southern Living fans still love it. Others I have talked to say the magazine has changed, that it’s not what it used to be; some say it’s become just another version of Better Homes and Gardens and that they don’t like it. I still enjoy reading it as a 20-30 minute escape into the beauty of the South, to get warm and cozy feelings about what I love about Southern culture and to find a few new recipes to try. From working there, I know many new staff have come on board, and many more have left (which is a story for another article).

Things have changed at the magazine, in the media landscape, with food and in Southern culture, but I think there is much in store for the future Southern Living to celebrate Southern life. What I do hope is that the editors continue the legacy Logue and McCalla and the editorial formula that led to its success.

“We’re a magazine about the South, for Southerners, and by Southerners; that’s what has made us work,” McCalla wrote. “Our readers think of us as a family, as ‘their kind of people.’”

Further Reading

Lauder, Tracy. (2007, July). The Southern Living Solution: How The Progressive Farmer Launched a Magazine and a Legacy. The Alabama Review, 60(3), 186-221. (I have a PDF of this if you ever want to read it.)

Logue, John and McCalla, Gary. (2000, September) Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir. Louisiana State University Press. (I have a copy of the book available for borrowing.)

More from Madoline’s masters project on Southern Living and southern food:

Southern Food: A Brief History

Test Kitchens: Behind the Scenes

Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Gouda Chowder

2011-11-09T21:32:00.000-06:00

Slurping down the first bowl of warm cream-laced soup after jacket weather hits is like curling up under my down comforter with the first escape novel I've picked up in far too long. Hello, stay-inside-more season, I've missed the comforts you bring.

And what better way to welcome you than with mushrooms and sweet potatoes and gouda and bacon? Soup Week at The Kitchn got back in the habit reading its 1,467 daily posts —if nothing else it's worth the screen time to discover links like this.

Now if only there were more time in the day to curl up and read I Capture the Castle for hours at a time with hot chocolate and soup breaks.

This scrumptious chowder is part of my seasonal kick of sweet potatoes and pumpkin and squashes. What fall comfort are you cooking up?

Mushroom, Sweet Potato and Gouda Chowder
Our Life in Food

6 slices bacon, diced

1 onion, diced

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced (I used portabellas)

3-4 cups sweet potatoes, cubed

2 cloves garlic, minced

Good pinch of dried thyme

1 bay leaf

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup half and half

4 oz. gouda, shredded

Salt

Black Pepper

1. In a stockpot or dutch oven, cook the bacon until it has rendered its fat and is crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside.

2. Add the diced onions and the mushrooms to the bacon fat in the pot. Season with a little salt and pepper, and cook until the moisture released from the mushrooms evaporates and the vegetables start to brown, about 10-15 minutes.

3. Add the sweet potatoes and the garlic, stirring to combine. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the sweet potatoes are tender. Season again with salt and pepper, and return most of the bacon to the pot, leaving a little extra to garnish the soup.

4. Remove the bay leaf. Puree as much or as little of the mixture as you want in a food processor, and return the pureed soup to the pot (alternatively, use an immersion blender). Add the half and half and the gouda. Simmer until the soup has heated through and the cheese has melted. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

5. Serve, garnished with the extra bacon.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2011-11-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

If you send Madoline an email with a recipe for Caramel Apple Cupcakes, she will use roommate dinner and her mom's Madoline-sweet-deprived coworkers as excuse to make them. And if she makes them, she will taste test the apple-cinnamon cake and find it quite sweet. And if she finds it quite sweet, she will only put so much uber-decadent caramel icing on top of each cake (as opposed to the Dreamcakes Bakery volume, which is about seven times more than necessary).

And if she only puts so much icing on each cake, she will have pounds and pounds of luscious caramel icing leftover. And if she has icing leftover, she will make another half batch of mini cupcakes for a block party. And if she only bakes half a batch, she will still have icing leftover.

And if there is still icing leftover, she will set it next to the brownie bites her roommate made. And if she sets it next to the brownies, the brownies will get dunked and disappear.

And if the brownies disappear, someone clever will think to dip Tostito's in the caramel for a sweet-salty snack. And if they dip Tostitos, then they'll try pretzels. And if they try pretzels, the caramel icing will vanish.

Reference (in case you missed it): If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Slightly simplified from Big Book of Cupcakes, via Oxmoor House/MyRecipes

Fresh Apple Cake:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped

Paper baking cups

Vegetable cooking spray

Old-Fashioned Caramel Frosting:

1 cup butter

1 (16-oz.) package dark brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl until blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apple. Place paper baking cups in 2 (12-cup) muffin pans, and coat with cooking spray; spoon batter into cups, filling two-thirds full. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely.

To prepare frosting, melt butter in a 3-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in evaporated milk and baking soda; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let cool completely (about 1 hour). Transfer to a bowl. Gradually add powdered sugar to caramel mixture, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Beat at high speed 2 minutes or until creamy. Use immediately. Makes 3 cups.

Frost each cupcake with Old-Fashioned Caramel Frosting.

Memphis Mafia Bars

2011-10-25T22:42:00.002-05:00

It started with a doughnut in Portland. A Voodoo doughnut. A doughnut so wonderful that it became my friend Ellie's Facebook profile picture.

Commenting ensued. It looked amazing. Banana. Chocolate. Peanut butter. It was called the Memphis Mafia. Hey, Memphis, do you know how many shared college memories are there? It needed to be replicated. We were reuniting in five weeks: excuse to invent a Memphis Mafia bar.

So for those of us who didn't get to check Portland off our destination wish list, we got the goodness of Memphis Mafia to snack on at the lake house.

Banana cake.
Chocolate frosting.
Peanut butter drizzle.
Peanuts.
Chocolate chunks.
Yum.

I even made it dairy free for a friend who can't have the best food group of all for now, and to my surprise, it was still as decadently delicious as that doughnut looks.

Memphis Mafia Bars
Batter from Betty Crocker

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
Perfectly Chocolate Frosting (see below)
Peanut Butter Drizzle (see below)
¼ cup peanuts, crushed (I beat mine inside a baggie.)
¼ cup chocolate chunks, chopped small

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9-inch pan. In large bowl, mix granulated sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with spoon. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Spread in pan.

Bake bars 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Spread Chocolate Frosting on cooled cake. Drizzle Peanut Butter Drizzle on top. Sprinkle with chocolate and peanut pieces.

“Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting
Hershey’s Cocoa Box

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups frosting.

Peanut Butter Drizzle
Godtopus Eats

1/2 cup peanut butter, melted (the commercial kind, not the natural kind)
4 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Melt the peanut butter in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar and stir it until smooth again. Scrape the mixture into a sandwich bag and seal the top. Cut the tip from one corner and use it to pipe the drizzle onto the cooled frosting.

Game Day M&M Blondies

2011-10-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

What's a girl to do when invited to an Auburn football-watching party when she could care less about football? Whip out some butter and sugar and use her type-A specialty to sort out team-colored M&Ms from the bag.

I truthfully didn't even think to wear team colors to said party but did show up with team-themed blondies...at least as far as they could see. I so thickly layered all the War Eagle colors from my package of candies that I had to put assorted remaining colors on the part of the blondies that didn't travel to the party.

In fact, I used so many M&Ms that it created a crust on top that crumbled when I cut the blondies up. You might use less than me if you want more perfected looking treats, but they stayed together well enough with the amount of chocolate I felt they needed. I choose chocolate over presentation.

I might only have allegiance to an SEC team because I lived in a state where it is forced, because I like not be ostracized from culture and because I feel I should support a sibling's educational institution. But I have decided that I like to be a fan of a team whose colors appear in standard M&M bags. This tends to coincide with having colors that are decent to wear, too. What a silly girl.

More Blondies:
Blondie Bites with Reese's Pieces Eggs
Blondies with Reese's
Chewy Chocolate Blondies

M&M Blondies
Adapted from Yum Sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

M&Ms, amount to your choosing.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; stir just until moistened. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Arrange M&Ms on top and press into the dough.

Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack and let cool completely. Using parchment overhang, lift cake from pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares. To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

7 Days, 7 Baked Goods

2011-10-11T23:10:00.003-05:00

You know you might be obsessed with baking when the dessert:day ratio becomes 1:1 like it did for my past seven days. I felt was necessary to justify returning to the kitchen daily with my excuses to make sweet treats for special people.

Phase I: Hospitality House Dinner
On Tuesdays, groups from my (awesome new) church take turns cooking for a family shelter and then sharing the meal at tables family-style with the people there. Can I tell you how excited was when someone who I don't think knows how baking-obsessed I am put me in charge of my dessert? You know, so I could save the world by way of brightening a little spot of people's day with a home-baked confection.

1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Always a crowd pleaser, these guys were gobbled up by kids (and adults too) quickly.

2. Pecan Squares
Not so much the kid favorite, but the kind of bar that whose shortbread-pecan-toffee combo creates a wow factor in that first bite. A family friend once told me that they were "man bait." We'll see how accurate his labeling was if I ever feed them to single boys.

Phase II: Monthly Work Meeting
Always serves as an excuse to bake something appropriate for mid-morning.

3. Apple-Gouda-Oatmeal Snack Cookies
The Kitchn is to blame for this savory snack whom I will definitely be making again. Full post to come soon.

Phase IIIA: Lake Weekend Prep
The best part of the week came in a long-awaited lake retreat with 10 college friends and friends of friends and a baby, which of course called for an array of baked goods. I anticipated the weekend with menu planning and premixing cookie dough break-and-bake style. Because I have to learn to redirect my inner Martha and say with my actions that relationships are supreme over food, I reasoned that the weekend of I could focus less on food prep and more on people this way.

4. Malted Chocolate Cookie Dough
Converted a friend who didn't think she liked malted things to want to make these colossal, decadent, chocolate-laden cookies. They are the best non-Tollhouse cookie I have found.

5. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough
Because it was fall and they were requested as a non-chocolate cookie. I went with the recipe from the best food blog ever, Smitten Kitchen (who else can sell prints of their food photos?) and loved how chewy they turned out.

6. Memphis Mafia Bars
The grand finale of lake preparations was special bars based on this doughnut my friend Ellie had in Portland. Full post to come soon. Hint: it involved bananas, chocolate and peanut butter.

Phase IIIB: Lake Weekend, Real-Time
There's a place for bars and cookies you bake in advance and snack on all day, and there's an equally important place for fresh-out-the-oven dessert plated and served at the dinner table as you linger over conversation and drink.

7. Apple Crisp
Marinated pork tenderloin and butternut squash and my favorite autumn spinach salad were on the menu, so an equally fall-appropriate dessert was called for, with homemade vanilla ice cream of course. I recommend recruiting a fastidious peeler/chopper sous chef for this recipe, but yours might not be as cool as mine.

I think the relish-the-moment, don't-work-too-hard part of me took over by this point in the weekend because no photos were taken. Success for life, fail for blog.

Autumn Pasta with Butternut Squash, Greens, Bacon, and Brown Butter

2011-10-04T20:31:00.001-05:00

Tastes-like-fall butternut squash pairs well in pasta dishes, as I learned last year at this time thanks to some fancy food dinners around Birmingham.

There was the herbed goat cheese ravioli with butternut squash, onions, bacon, shaved parmigiano-reggiano, sage, brown butter and sauteed mustard greens at Satterfield's. And then a similar butternut-bacon-greens pasta at Bottega Cafe. Both were obvious choices in my order-something-unique-while-I'm-eating-out menu quest and more than pleased my palate.

Butternut squash and mustard greens came home with me from the farmer's market a few weeks ago, and while pondering what to do with my attempts to eat like fall, I remembered how badly I wanted to make my own version of the butternut pasta delight. Delish.

Autumn Pasta with Butternut Squash, Greens, Bacon, and Brown Butter
1/2 pound penne pasta
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
Olive oil
3 slices bacon
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 lb. mustard greens or other greens, wash and torn into large pieces
1/4 cup butter

Cook pasta. Toss squash with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Roast at 425 degrees 10-20 minutes or until tender.

In a pan, cook bacon. Remove bacon from pain and drain about half of the grease. Saute onions in leftover grease. Add greens and cook until slightly wilted, stirring frequently. While greens cook, tear the bacon into small pieces

In a separate sauce pan, add butter and cook over medium heat until browned. There will be speckled flecks of brown when it is ready.

Toss together pasta, squash, bacon, greens, and brown butter. Serve warm.

Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

2011-09-27T21:13:00.001-05:00

These weren't as buttery sinful as the Ritz Bits peanut butter sandwiches I first thought to chocolate cover, but they have the same salty-chocolate, peanut butter flavor delight and are still plenty decadent. Plus, there's nice crunch to each bite—more crunch if you can make them last more than one bite.

The ingredient list and process is super simple to make these, but they do require tedious assembly. Hence, they are either a teamwork project with good company or something to busy your hands while you become completely enthralled in a British countryside family uppercrust drama circa 1910s (What will happen to the money? Who will she marry? How will they adapt to social changes? Ooo.) a.k.a. my latest addiction, Downton Abbey.

So, if you happen to have chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels in your pantry, you should make better-than-packaged-candy while you escape into a good show or conversation at the same time.

Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

Square-shaped pretzels like Snyder's Snaps
Creamy peanut butter
Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Spread peanut butter on one pretzel and top with another pretzel. Repeat with all the pretzels desired. Put chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for one minute; stir. Cook for 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until chips are melted. Dip pretzel sandwiches into chocolate and place on wax paper. Let candies cool in the refrigerator; store in fridge until ready to eat (they get kind of melty).

Three Things: Farmers Market Veggies Make Easy Meals

2011-09-20T21:22:00.001-05:00

This is a tale of my Pepper Place farmer's market veggies, some of the last tastes of summer, from last week. The idea was to prep veggies on Sunday and then make fast, veggilicious meals throughout the week.

Step one: Cook yellow quash and pink-eyed peas. Chop bell pepper and tomatoes (they didn't make the photo).
Step two: Put 'em in a container.
Step three: Play with 'em for a little meal variety.

1. Tortilla Pizza
Crisping up a tortilla and throwing toppings on top is one of my favorite quick, one-person meals because it tastes like something from a restaurant. My veggies tasted all the better with some Parmesan and basil. No sauce needed.

2. Lunchtime Salad
Toss veggies with Greek spices, red wine vinegar and olive oil for insta-salad. I brought it for lunch at work with a half of my new PBJ cousin, Big Sky raisin bread with almond butter.

3. Veggie Scrambled Eggs
I had grand ideas of trying to make a frittata for my final meal of the week, but on a late weeknight scrambling some eggs and cheese had all the same flavor and texture. One bowl, one pan and 10 minutes later, I was eating my dinner. I need to make eggs into dinner more often.

Food Thoughts: Southern Food Documentaries

2011-09-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

Because we are food nerds, Hannah and I spent last Thursday watching documentaries made by the Southern Foodways Alliance and eating (free!) Jim 'N Nick's tacos, including their new mayonnaise-vinegar white sauce for chicken. Birmingham keeps winning cool points for events like this as part of Eat Drink Read Write Festival, because combining celebration of food and books is just delightful.

Here are some interesting things I learned:

Ribs ala family Fourth of July.

1. Scott of Scott's BBQ in Hemingway, SC is really serious about smoking pigs. As in he spends all week splitting word for the pit and then slow cooking whole pigs overnight, finishing it off by mopping (literally) the pig with vinegar-pepper sauce. He also sells crispy pig skins, which does not sound appetizing to me.

2. How cows digest grass is gross (regurgitate "cud" and rechew it multiple times) but the natural way to go; how cows live in mass-meat-production facilities is even grosser. Part of me just wants to stay ignorant to our messed-up food system so I will like meat more.

3. A ridiculous number of people have a beach party each year in Florabama to toss mullets (fish) across the Florida-Alabama state line in the sand. Really. And they get really into it, which is entertaining to watch.

I left the films with my eyes opened to just how much our food is tied to our land, its vegetation and animals, something that's easy to not fully comprehend when our food comes from big-box stores.

As if Southern Foodways Alliance wasn't cool enough for celebrating and preserving Southern food traditions, they also have all their documentaries available to watch on their website.

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

2011-09-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

I needed muffins to go with my batch of Creamy Pesto Pasta salad and wanted something different, something sweet and fruity. Idea: raspberries. Very. Good. Idea.

I used frozen berries, and they all got smooshed up in the batter with cream cheese and lemon juice and sugar. The end result was pretty much dessert.

It reminded me of the Entenmann's Raspberry Danish Twist sweet roll that was always our special breakfast treat at my grandmother's beach condo. We bought Entenmann's at the beach this year for old time's sake, and the memories made it taste good. But the muffins taste way better (duh, homemade always wins).

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light

2/3 cup (5 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter, softened
½ lemon, juiced
zest of one lemon
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine cream cheese and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar; beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and yogurt to cream cheese mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Gently fold in raspberries.

Place 24 foil cup liners in muffin cups. Spoon batter evenly into liners. Bake at 350° 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

White Texas Sheet Cake

2011-09-06T22:25:00.003-05:00

It's rare that someone expresses anything but happiness over cake, but this is the kind of cake that takes that happiness to the next level for an oh-my-goodness, sinfully sweet and buttery jubilation in the mouth that you can't stop talking about.

White cake with icing makes me think birthdays+family, a hint of almond extract makes me think weddings+friends and that combo in this cake especially makes me think of excuses to gather special people for a cake-worthy occasion, which is pretty easy to find in my book.

The cake is not tall in its jellyroll pan, meaning there is more icing-to-cake than usual for a sheet cake. And then you cut it into bars for eating with your fingers, or a fork if you like things extra tidy.

This cake's cousin also so worthy of trying in the easy-cakes-from-scratch realm: Chocolate Sheet Cake, known to some people as Texas Sheet Cake. For both you cook butter in a saucepan with other goodness for the cake and the icing; this might be the secret to why both cakes are the most moist and delicious I've made.

White Texas Sheet Cake
Cooking with Paula Deen

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 cup water
½ cup sour cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
Butter Frosting
1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 15x10-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine butter and water; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Add butter mixture to flour mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in sour cream, eggs, and almond extract. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Spread warm cake with Butter Frosting. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, if desired. Cut into triangles or squares to serve.

Butter Frosting

½ cup butter
¼ cup whole milk
½ tsp. almond extract
3 cups powdered sugar

In a medium saucepan, combine butter and milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in almond extract. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.

Pineapple-Zucchini Muffins

2011-08-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

When I brought these little guys to a work meeting, they got eaten, and a few hours later I started getting asked what were in them after all—something sweet with a distinct (distinctly wonderful I say) texture. Answer: zucchini, which makes things fresh and summery, and pineapple, which makes them sweet and tropical, and some warm spices that give them an essence of spice cake.

Having a giant container of mini-muffins made it fun to share their sweet and summery flair, at our meeting, then leftover snacks for coworkers, then breakfast for roommates, right through snacking over a lake weekend. I had to squeeze them onto the blog before zucchini season ends, which is probably soon because ever-so-barely-cooler mornings and evenings are hinting that fall might come one day in the relative future.

The source for this ingredient mix that looks somewhat like Easter in a bowl? Bake sale goods in my grandmother's freezer...and then an internet search to replicate it of course.

Pineapple-Zucchini Muffins
Cooking During Stolen Moments

3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. allspice
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil (vegetable or canola; or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup apple sauce)
2 cup shredded/grated zucchini (about 1 large, 2 medium zucchini)
1 cup crushed pineapple, not drained
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and oil until combined. Stir in the zucchini and pineapple

By hand, fold in the set aside flour mixture and nuts. Spoon batter into greased or lined muffin tins, about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For mini muffins, bake 13-15 minutes.

Food Thoughts: Feeding People in Tragedy

2011-08-23T20:46:00.000-05:00

Amidst the glossy-perfect food and homes in the August Southern Living, I discovered some extraordinary storytelling about the aftermath of April's tornadoes. I loved how it so eloquently captured the comfort of food, especially in the South, in times of tragedy:

"In the South, food and tragedy are sisters. And while the instinct to feed others in a crisis may not be strictly Southern, what we prepare, and how we do it—in lovingly generous, belt-busting portions—may be our region’s finest recipe.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

It is true that some ills in this world cannot be cured by Rita Trull’s chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. But that cake, and the love and compassion baked into it, may be more beautiful than any cake that ever appeared on a magazine cover. By the look of the spread in front of her, Rita is not alone in her ability to cope, and help, through baking. When she put out a call for help after the storm, the answer came strong, and sweet.

'I said, "I need some cakes for these people!”' she said. 'And I had 21 cakes come to my house.'”
-Southern Living, August 2011, page 97

How have food and coping with tragedy intersected in your life?

Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies

2011-08-20T22:11:00.004-05:00

My brother is on his way to start a new adventure for a season of life in Jackson, Wyoming, home of those breathtaking Tetons...

where he will be capitalizing on all powder potential possible.

Rough, right? But he might not have any of these, his favorite cookies with oatmeal and butterscotch chips, for a while.

So I sent a batch of them, the cookies that make me think of my grandmother because she always made them when we were little, and some Chex Mix along for the three-day drive.

Two women the car together all day can manage to chit chat for hours on end, but two men, maybe not so much. They are probably playing on their phones and tying flies in between snack breaks at the moment.

I'm slowly learning to more fully channel my bakaholism into a love language. Maybe I'll have to ship some baked love out to Wyoming, too, or maybe I'll catch a flight and deliver them myself so I can get in on the Western wilderness action.

Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies
Nestle

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange
3 cups quick or old-fashioned butterscotch morsels

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

2011-08-16T21:42:00.001-05:00

Fresh mango. Cheese. Bacon! Warm bacon dressing with lime, honey and sauteed red onions. Do you really notice any spinach when you toss it in all that goodness? Not really. It just adds color and hidden nutrients.

I am always looking for a new salad of the fruit and cheese variety, and this one from Southern Living is definitely worthy of making the weekend salad treat rotation. It even turned out delicious on my first try when the power went out just after the bacon cooked, and we ate raw onions and an improvised dressing in the dark. The warm bacon dressing on the second try made it all the better, and it looked quite pretty in the light.

Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
Southern Living

4 thick bacon slices, diced
1/2 medium-size red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. honey
9 oz. fresh spinach
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/3 cup crumbled queso fresco (or substitute feta like me)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 Tbsp. drippings in skillet.

Sauté onion in hot drippings 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add vinegar, lime juice, and honey; cook 2 minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet.

Place spinach in a serving bowl. Add warm vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Top with mango, queso fresco, and bacon; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Chocolate-Buttercream Cake Decadence Pie

2011-08-09T22:41:00.002-05:00

Generally, when I bake I follow a recipe. But sometimes recipes don't turn out quite right, which is unacceptable when you are baking to thank an intern who has slaved away to help you all summer and even let you bum an impromptu ride for 8 hours.

Sometimes you think you are smart wrapping up a roll cake in a dish towel for a while before filling it with buttercream and topping it with ganache (think homemade swiss cake roll). And sometimes when you unroll the cake, it cracks in 27 place and it will not come close to rolling back up again.

Then, my friend, you must innovate because you cannot waste decadent-tasting cake. So I made cake roll I had planned for into a cake pie: luscious, thick chocolate cake crust with buttercream icing filling topped with ganache. Instead of icing being a light finish on cake, icing rules this cake. It might be the best dessert mistake I've made.

Before you start to think I think outside the box more than I actually do, let' me say my cake pie innovation has two recipe sources: Nanaimo Bars, a similar tasting dessert that layers a chocolate-graham mixture, buttercream and straight chocolate, and a Tiramisu Toffee Trifle Pie, which turns cake into a pie crust and fills it with cream.

Hopefully the passion with which all of our cake-partaking going away partygoers and contributors to the cause of not wasting leftovers spoke of the cake creation reflects a tiny bit of how awesome its honoree, my intern extraordinaire, Mia, is!

Chocolate-Buttercream Cake Decadence Pie
Adapted from Eat, Live, Run

1 recipe Chocolate Roll Cake (below)
1 recipe Buttercream Filling (below)
1 recipe Chocolate Ganache (below)

Prepare cake and let cool. (You can prepare the cake in advance if you like.) Prepare buttercream filling. Cut or break cake into chunks and arrange on the bottom and sides of a pie plate like a thick pie crust. You will probably use most, but not all, of the cake to make the cake crust. Pour Buttercream Filling into the cake crust.

Put the pie plate in freezer while you prepare the Chocolate Ganache. Pour hot ganache over the top of the buttercream; freeze for 30 minutes for the ganache to set. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Chocolate Roll Cake

6 oz. semisweet chocolate
6 Tbsp. butter
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease a jelly roll pan (baking pan) and then lay a sheet of wax paper on top and butter the wax paper as well, making sure to get the sides of the pan greased.

Melt the butter and chocolate together over very low heat until smooth. Take off the heat, add the sugar and mix well.

Beat eggs until thick, pale and light. This will take about seven-eight minutes beating on high. Fold in the chocolate mixture and vanilla extract, but be careful not to over-mix (this will deflate the eggs).

Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to the cake batter, folding slowly the entire time. Make sure to get down to the bottom of the bowl with your rubber spatula!

Spread the cake batter onto your prepared pan and smooth out to the edges, making sure the batter is evenly distributed.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Buttercream Filling

1 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. milk

Beat together the softened butter and powdered sugar until well mixed. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until very light and fluffy— about six minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Bring cream to a simmer on the stove. Immediately pour over chocolate chips and stir to melt.

Grilled Pineapple-Avocado Salsa

2011-08-02T22:23:00.002-05:00

If a restaurant serving all things avocado should open, as some friends and I were dreaming up last night, it would serve this fresh and fruity salsa.

Grilling the pineapple brings out its flavor and rids of that strong, acidic aftertaste that turns some people off from the super-sweet fruit. Plus, grilling fruit doesn't require you actually know if something is done right, as I have yet to master with meat, just that it looks cooked and not burnt. Also, grill marks are cool.

(The dip bowl is one antler of a moose-face chip and dip plate in case you were wondering. We like to pretend like we have wildlife like out West at my lake house.)

As I was reminded in my interview with Salsa Senorita today (which involved chatting over homecooked Mexican in someone's kitchen! side note: try their salsa), salsa is one of those things that always wows me because I get as addicted to it as I do homemade chocolate chip cookies, only it's good for you because it's veggies and, in this case, fruit (and fruit makes veggies all the better.)

With my two batches thus far, I've used it to top grilled chicken and swordfish and served with chips and salsa. I could also just eat it with a spoon.

For more fruity salsa love, see my Mango Salsa recipe or use my friend Amy's favorite shortcut and use canned tropical fruit salad for salsa something like this.

What kind of salsa do you like to make?

Grilled Pineapple-Avocado Salsa
Cooking Light

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. honey
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 serrano chile, minced (I left this out)
1 avocado

Preheat grill to high heat.

Combine oil and honey, stirring well. Brush oil mixture over pineapple. Place pineapple on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from grill; cool 5 minutes. Chop. Combine pineapple, onion, and next 6 ingredients (through serrano); toss gently. (You can prep up to this point in advance if you want.)

Peel, seed, and dice avocado. Add avocado to the pineapple mixture, and toss gently.

Blueberry Picking + Blueberry Scones

2011-07-26T22:30:00.001-05:00

A gallon of blueberries for $5? The honor system to leave your cash in a basket after picking your goods? My foodie field trip buddies Hannah, Natalie, and I were elated to find these reminders of why we love living so close to small-town South where you find yourself at a blueberry farm like this.

We quickly discovered that the blueberries weren't as cheap as we thought though because your pay two hours in labor picking in summer heat and humidity, but we decided it was totally worth the labor, especially when you sit in AC all week. The day was overcast, we got lots of chit chatting in, and we each came home with ginormous bags of super fat and juicy berries.

I snacked on my booty, gave some to my family, froze some, but, best of all, I put them in scones. I hadn't thought I would love scones, but these tasty like a denser biscuit in a delightful triangle shape. Biscuit cousin filled with sweet, juicy berries? That will make you go back for seconds at breakfast...and then a secret third while you put leftovers in a baggie... and only restrain yourself from eating more because that would be hogging food when you are supposed to be the hostess for super-close college friends who came all the way from Texas to see you.

The scones were slightly sweet, allowing the berries to shine, and were dense yet fluffy and buttery inside with a slightly browned, sugar-coated top. I decided to try them because I'd already blogged about the best white-wheat, streusel-topped blueberry muffins, cake-like Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins, and healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins, leaving must-make-original-blog-post me to think of something new for my blueberry breakfast baking fetish.

Blueberry Scones
Adapted from Cooking Light

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup fat-free milk OR 2/3 cup buttermlk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 gg
1 cup blueberries
2 teaspoons fat-free milk
2 teaspoons turbinado or granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Combine cup ½ cup milk (or 2/3 cup buttermilk), vanilla, and egg in a bowl. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be soft). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle surface of dough with berries. With floured hands, knead 4 times or just until the currants are incorporated.

Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut dough into 8-12 wedges, cutting into, but not through, dough. Brush 2 teaspoons milk over surface of dough; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar. Bake at 425° for 17 minutes or until golden. Serve warm, or cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Trifle

2011-07-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

Chocolate cake.
Chocolate sauce.
Peanut butter whipped cream.
Whipped cream.
Layer.
Repeat.

That's about all you need to know to salivate over this masterpiece, who, unfortunately, I didn't capture super well on camera.

Oh, but you should also know that, of course, the layers all meld together into creamy chocolate-peanut butter wonderfulness that only the crazy chocolate-haters or peanut butter-haters can resist.

One more selling point: all the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Trifle recipes in internet land sent up food snob red flags for me with their instant vanilla pudding, so I opted for the fluffy, creamy peanut butter pie filling I love and good old fashioned whipped up whipping cream. I only cheated by using box cake mix.

And one final, final point: trifles are time consuming but also pretty impossible not to make an impressive presentation. It was by far the winner of my dessert for our annual Fourth of July family gathering weekend of 18.

If you like chocolatey trifles, you should try this simple Brownie Trifle or Tiramisu Toffee Trifle Pie. And if you like more fruity trifles, try Peach Trifle or just make up your own layers of cakey stuff and creamy stuff.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Trifle

Cake:
1 box devil's food cake mix with ingredients called for on box

Chocolate Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup milk

Peanut Butter Cream:

1 cup smooth peanut butter

2 cups heavy cream, divided

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whipping Cream:

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Topping:

6-8 Reeses miniature, chopped

Prepare all layers as noted below. (I baked the cake the night before.)

For cake, prepare according to package instructions. Bake in a 9x13-inch pan. Cool completely.

For chocolate sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook 3-5 minutes or until thickened. Cook slightly.

For peanut butter cream, place peanut butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium high until peaks form, about a minute and a half. Stir half of cream mixture into peanut butter. Transfer this mixture back into cream mixture and beat on medium high just until incorporated.

For whipping cream, place cream and powdered sugar in a bowl. Beat on medium high until thickened to a whipped cream consistency.

To prepare trifle, cut cake into pieces. Arrange about 1/4 of pieces in the bottom of a trifle bowl. Drizzle 1/3 of chocolate sauce on the cake. Spread 1/2 peanut butter filling on top of the cake and sauce. Spread 1/3 whipping cream on top of peanut butter layer. Repeat layers of cake, sauce, peanut butter cream and whipped cream two more times. Top with Reeses. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serve cold.

Chicken Pasta Salad: Updated Church Potluck Edition

2011-07-12T21:21:00.001-05:00

This creamy pasta salad with a kick got passed around on the official ladies' luncheon circuit in the church where I grew up. Last year my friends and I discovered why it was so popular and started making it for picnics and such in the summer. The creamy oil-and-vinegar dressing melds with finely chopped onion and bell pepper, parsley and veggies for a uniquely delicious and refreshing main dish.

To lighten and enhance the original potluck recipe with its tons of mayo and oil, I subbed Greek yogurt for some of the mayo, stepped the vinegar up to red wine vinegar, make the oil olive oil, and cut it the oil quantity. You can take the basic recipe and make it your own; I just recommend you don't leave out the Creole seasoning and dill.

This photo op was at a picnic shower a friend and I threw for a baby whose arrival we are anticipating any day now and her lovely mother. The great thing about pasta salad is that you can make it ahead of time, and it's all ready to go at party time. The recipe makes a ton and requires a giant bowl to toss, so be forewarned. Leftovers only get better...until the chicken gets old that is.

Chicken Pasta Salad: Updated Church Potluck Edition

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 lb. farfalle (bowtie) pasta, cooked al dente
6 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 bell pepper, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cups broccoli florets, cut small
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 small jars chopped pimiento, drained
Creamy Dressing with a Kick (see below)

Prepare all ingredients through pimiento. Cool completely noodles and chicken completely. While chicken cooks and noodles are cooking and cooling, chop vegetables.
Mix chicken, noodles, and vegetables with dressing. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate overnight. The flavors will meld better overnight.

Add other veggies such as water chestnuts, cauliflower, mushrooms, and toasted almonds for variety.

Creamy Dressing with a Kick

½ cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2-3 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. dried dill weed
1 ½ Tbsp. Creole seasoning like Tony Chachere’s
1 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper

Mix oil, vinegar, and mayonnaise with a whisk. Mix other ingredients in and again blend well with whisk.

Wedding Cake Cupcakes

2011-07-05T21:54:00.000-05:00

I usually come home from weddings talking about meaningful ceremonies, happening dance floors, and, of course, the cake—assuming it’s not too dry or froo-froo with fondant. Creativity with different flavors is great, but plain and simple white cake with buttercream is just, wow, wedding cake wonderfulness.

After being treated to a moist cake with a hint of coconut and a luscious buttercream at my one wedding of the summer, I knew one such cake would not suffice for an entire year. So I decided to copycat cool cupcake shops and make a wedding cake cupcake.

In my interpretation, that means you make white cake and buttercream frosting both with almond extract—oh, almond flavoring in cake! So all weekend we got to have party in our mouths, wedding style, without all the dressing up, expenditures, and potential for awkward small talk.

The cake dried out after a few days but still had its wonderful flavor. I need to perfect a scratch-made white cake recipe to stay moist, maybe by using oil instead of butter? For an easier version, you could add almond extract to a boxed mix, but do not, I repeat, do not skip out on the taste superiority of homemade vs. canned buttercream, deal?

Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcakes
Kichenlink.com

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

Note: If you would like to make a layer cake instead of cupcakes, divide the batter between two 9-inch round cake pans and bake the layers for 30-40 minutes.

Almond Buttercream Frosting

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients with an electric mixer for one to two minutes or until creamy. Add milk if you want a thinner consistency. Spread on cupcakes.

Veal Marsala

2011-06-29T07:57:00.000-05:00

(For those of you who don’t eat veal for ethical reasons, my apologies for my cruel, carnivorous tendencies. Please ignore this post.)

Somewhere in the maturation of my taste buds, my dad’s most requested special occasion dinner became my own: tender, flour-coated veal cutlets topped with a mushroom-marsala wine sauce. I was lucky to inherit his good taste in food, be it by nature or nurture.

I’ve tried the dish in many a restaurant that makes it taste good but never on par with my mom’s recipe, which is funny now that I have learned how (relatively) simple it is to make: dredge veal in flour, cook in butter, add wine, cook wine with mushrooms and beef broth for a while, the end.

So for Father’s Day last week guess what I made for dinner, for the first time by myself? I am happy to report that I proved the taste of my mom’s veal is replicable, so it will certainly be on my own special occasion menus to come, even if I have to make up special occasions.

The veal marsala tasted fancy and, together with pasta with marinara sauce, Italian salad and garlic bread, took just about an hour, with some breaks for present opening in between. Win and win.

Note: I used cooking marsala. It’s cheap, and you can buy it on Sundays in counties that are Sabbath-day dry like ours. Real marsala wine would have been nice for drinking too though.

Veal Marsala

Veal Marsala

¾ lb. veal cutlets
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
All purpose flour
¼ cup butter
1/3 cup Marsala wine
½ cup beef broth
Mushrooms (optional, I used one standard-sized package of fresh ones)

Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Sauté cutlets in butter 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Add wine. Cook veal in wine 1 minute over medium heat. Remove veal to a warm serving platter or keep warm in the oven. Add broth and mushrooms to skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Serve sauce and mushrooms over the cooked veal.

Five-Ingredient Smoothie

2011-06-22T22:04:00.003-05:00

I don’t buy smoothies from those smoothie chains. They claim it’s all-natural, but I don’t believe them. Once you get used to homemade ones with pure fruit and yogurt, you’ll become a smoothie snob like me. They don’t need sugar or supplements, just the real stuff.

My go-to recipe is simple: ripe banana, berries or other fruit (like peaches on this photo shoot day), ice, juice, and plain yogurt. Blend. Sip. Enjoy.

I know there are fancier combinations out there. Maybe I’ll try them one day. But for now, when my fruit starts to get too ripe for my uber-sensivity to the slightest bit of mushiness, I throw it in my smoothie maker for breakfast or a snack. It’s worth cleaning the blender afterward, especially if I actually clean or soak it immediately so the fruit pieces don’t get all annoying and stuck to the sides.

A blend of fresh (or frozen) fruit taste especially wonderful when it’s hot outside and the last thing you want to eat is something heavy or hot.

How do you like to make smoothies?

Succotash

2011-06-14T22:13:00.002-05:00

Succotash is summery Southern combo of beans, corn and other fresh goodness. With sherry vinegar, butter beans, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil, this version from Gourmet transforms veggies into something you something you can't help but eat every bite of, even if you're a meat and potatoes guy like one of my taste testers.

Maybe it was the bacon grease in the cast iron that worked the magic, true Southern style? Maybe it was how I accidentally tweaked the recipe to include more bacon grease than called for and cooked the veggies to still be crisp and hence fresher tasting than true, true Southern style?

Whatever it was, it on plates with grilled (err, slightly charred but still not dried out on the inside) salmon for a Friday night lake house dinner. There was some wine and some talk. And then it was gone.

The succotash inspiration came from the Stone Throw Bar & Grill chef who keeps the "simple and Southern" side on his menu served with fish all summer. I had the pleasure of chatting with him about how he prepares locally grown produce for a casual-fine dining hybrid menu for an upcoming issue of 280 Living a few weeks ago, and I left with determination to make just that, succotash with my favorite piece of seafood, salmon.

The end product confirmed that restaurant inspiration with magazine recipes cooked in the company of friends with no time table is quite the perfect way to spend a night, one I prefer to eating out or grabbing a meal that requires no prep and cleanup work.

Herbed Summer Succotash

Gourmet , August 1999

1/4 pound bacon (about 4 slices)

1 pound fresh shell beans in pod or 1 cup frozen baby lima beans (or fresh butter beans--what I used)

3/4 pound cherry tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pints)

4 ears corn

1 small Vidalia onion or other sweet onion

1 large garlic clove

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

1/4 cup packed small fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup packed small fresh arugula leaves

In a skillet cook bacon over moderate heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels and crumble. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon fat from skillet and set skillet aside. (Or, for the Madoline's sinful version, leave all the bacon fat in and don't add the oil later.)

Shell fresh beans if using. In a small saucepan of boiling salted water cook beans, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 5 minutes. In a sieve drain beans and rinse under cold running water to stop cooking.

Cut larger cherry tomatoes in half. Working over a bowl to catch the juices, cut corn kernels from cobs. Chop onion and mince garlic.

Add oil to bacon fat in skillet and cook onion over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add tomatoes, corn, and vinegar and cook, stirring, until tomatoes just begin to lose their shape. Remove skillet from heat and gently stir in beans and half of bacon. Cool succotash to room temperature and gently stir in basil, arugula, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve succotash sprinkled evenly with remaining bacon.

How to Reheat Pizza

2011-06-07T21:56:00.001-05:00

You're probably thinking, "No duh, you reheat pizza in the oven." But do you it this way?

1. Put pizza in the oven before you turn it on.

2. Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3. Right when the oven beeps or otherwise notifies you that it has preheated, the pizza should be at the perfect temperature with a nice, crisp crust.

Note: This tip assumes you like pizza reheated like most of the world. If you are in my club, where we prefer it fresh or else cold, then this post is not for you. I do reheat pizza for the rest of the the population out there.

Bonus: Reheat the pie of a pizza that comes from DeVinci's in Homewood (pictured)—best tasting, most filling meal of pizza slice I've ever had. Really not much compares with it except Mellow Mushroom's grainy, spring water dough crust.

Do you have any pizza leftovers tips?

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

2011-05-31T21:01:00.001-05:00

This one time my mom convinced me it wasn't lame for her adult daughter to tag along to her office party full of old friends, beef tenderloin, and those wonderful butter-and-cracker-topped casseroles I only eat on rare occasions. But then she mentioned that the dessert count on the potluck list was low. She assured me that someone would "pick something up." Pick something up? Do you know what that says to me? Someone would run by the grocery store bakery (God bless the grocery store bakery) and get one of those so-so pies or, worse yet, a fruity thing covered in that fake whipped cream.

For the sake of the party, I had to intervene. I recalled a chocolate chip-laden bundt I had been eying, printed the recipe, ran to the store, and lo and behold, by bedtime there was a homemade cake ready to be toted across town the next night.

Bundt cakes always make me think of the poor plain, conservative mother in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who brings one to the ever-lively Greek family party. Her bundt was lame next to all that wonderful Greek meat. But this bundt would not have more acceptable, for it is topped with a buttery, sugary pecan coating. And nuts are in baklava. And baklava is Greek. The word for nut probably even comes from Greek. Thus, this nutty bundt might have caused less awkward interaction between the soon-to-be in-laws. It might or might have still been served with a flower in the middle or have required a spray of Windex.

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Southern Living, May 2010

2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate mini-morsels
Garnishes: whipped cream, cherries

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, using a fork. Sprinkle in a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 3 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Beat in chocolate mini-morsels. (Mixture will be thick.) Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour). Garnish, if desired.

Insta-Cookie Cake

2011-05-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

May is always crazy, finish-school-take-exams-go-to-parties-do-a-million-things, celebration time of year. Graduations and showers and birthdays and festivals and general springtime merriment. So there's lots of excuses for cookie cake.

Plus, cookie cake is easy peasy. As in, you don't have to drop dough by spoonfuls, bake in multiple batches, and lift each cookie off to cool. Simply spread (trickiest part- I usually use my hands), bake, slice, bang, done.

You cheaters out there can buy cookie dough, but I always whip up the best cookie dough ever, the Tollhouse recipe on the chocolate chip bag. At this point in the game, I can beat-butter-sugars-add-eggs-vanilla-then-flour-mixture-then-chips in my sleep. Tollhouse cookies are just so good that you have to shut down the devilish temptation of break-and-bake-are-easy and get out some ingredients and dirty a few dishes for the real deal.

My cake was for a college graduation celebration for my brother (Way to go, Patrick!). I squeezed some store-bought sugar cookie icing in a bag with a writing tip into a very basic design. It didn't last long. You can also skip the decoration part and slice 'em into bars.

So, ready, set, go find an excuse to bake one yourself.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars/Cookie Cake
Nestle

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts.

Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen (small) bars.

Grilled Cheese with Onions and Mushrooms

2011-05-17T23:16:00.001-05:00

When it's pretending to be cool and dreary fall instead of spring like we're in England or something, I want comfort food. I want my new favorite grilled cheese. (I am realizing I talk way too much about the weather when I blog; sorry, guys.)

My dad and brother came back from skiing in Utah this year raving about this grilled cheese with mushrooms and onions. When these two talk about a meatless lunch with that much enthusiasm and it fills them up for their millions of runs on the slopes a day, it's not to be taken lightly.

I picked their brains as to what made the sandwich so worthy of praise and made a go at it for Sunday lunch (also a theme on the blog lately). It's not complicated. Sauteed mushrooms and onions between gooey hot white cheese. But if you're taste buds are anything like mine, those two key ingredients make anything ordinary way tasty: pasta, a burger, a sandwich. Yummo. Also, serve it with sweet potato fries. Even more yummo.

Grilled Cheese with Onions and Mushrooms

Onions, sliced
Mushrooms, sliced
Olive Oil

Sandwich bread (I like fresh sourdough)
Provolone cheese, sliced
Butter

Saute onions and mushrooms with olive oil over medium heat in a skillet until tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place mushrooms and onions between two slices of cheese to stuff each sandwich.

Butter one side of the bread on each sandwich. Place on a preheated skillet. Cook until down-facing side is toasted and begins to brown. Flip sandwiches. Cook until other side reaches the same doneness.
Enjoy.

Strawberry Jam

2011-05-10T22:02:00.000-05:00

Ah, strawberry picking Saturday. My Pie Lab foodie field trip buddies Hannah, Natalie, and I left behind our our city commutes and computer screens to crouch down in a field to pick uber-juicy bright red strawberries. We ate some, threw some in a basket, and covered our hands in strawberry "blood." How pastoral we like to be…for an hour or so.

Very cute little girls in the field inspired my picking team to chat about how our children would pick berries and enjoy it and not just ask to go get some from the grocery store.

Our bounty was four gynormous baskets of berries. Natalie tried to convince me one basket was more than enough to make jam and tarts and everything. I assured her I could easily share the wealth of two baskets in the few days they were ripe. Between jam and feeding people for my brother's graduation festivities, they were gone in three days flat, and the joy of berries untainted by any food process was spread to many.

Then again, one whole basket went into this pot with some sugar to become the kind of jam whose sweetness is so fresh it transports you back to that Alabama field (ok, maybe I'm getting overly dramatic); homemade jam is a class of its own though. The other basket I couldn't bring myself to cook or cover up in a baked good at all; I served them fresh. They didn't even need whipped cream.

What I learned about jam making:
1. The actual jam creation isn't that hard. You just stir together berries and sugar and let it cook down into a sticky, delicious mess for a good while.

2. Canning is more complicated. I followed instructions but failed to seal and process them correctly. Oh, well, six lucky people got a half pint of jam that had to be eaten in a month. What a hardship.

I chose this particular jam recipe for its simplicity. No pectin, no chance of fake junk. Just cooking strawberries and their natural pectin with sugar and lemon juice. The lemon added a slight flavor twist (I added more than called for) and acidity, which you've got to have for jam.

Even if you don't pick you own, you can buy an afforable pint of strawberries ($1.99 at my grocery store last I saw) while they're still at the peak of their season and cook them down into a jar of jam to treat someone or even just yourself.

Simple Strawberry Jam
Adapted from Cooking Light

4 cups halved strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Combine strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 1 hour or until thick, stirring occasionally. Skim any foam off the top as it cooks. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice. Cool to room temperature.

Mad Notes: 12 cups of berries and 4 cups sugar gave me 6 half pints of jam. I cooked mine closer to two hours because there was so much and I wanted to make sure, sure, sure it was thick enough.

Triple Caramel Cupcakes

2011-05-05T20:16:00.004-05:00

Scrumptious as they are, I feel kind of ridiculous talking about cupcakes at the moment. It's been a week since tornadoes ravaged all over Alabama and the Southeast. I've seen trees down and heard countless stories of people who have lost friends and family and homes and communities. My life returned to normal while everywhere I look people are people are donating supplies and money and going to help out. So in the scheme of life and loss, what are cupcakes? Silly as they are, sweets do always bring smiles. So why haven't I done my part? I lose.

Anyway, the original cupcake story: My little brother all of a sudden grew up and is graduating from college. And he finally decided to host his friends for a lake weekend. Responsible as he is, the extent of Patrick's cooking skills are turkey sandwiches and microwaved nachos. Read: college boys stuck in the woods far from any restaurant armed with only a kitchen and a grill. My mother and I couldn't let these poor boys not experience the full culinary wonder of the lake house. We made a menu.We shopped for them. We wrote down how to grill steaks and bake potatoes. And I made cookies and cupcakes—caramel because caramel cake is his favorite.

Did I mention they are triple caramel cupcakes? Dense brown sugar-filled cake. Syrupy caramel surprise filling the middle. Sweeter-than-sweet caramel icing on top.

Luckily, I found a way not to waste the leftover caramel icing. The freshly baked Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies sitting on the other side of the kitchen begged to be filled with it. The double doozy combination might have tasted even better than the cupcakes, and the cupcakes were fabulous. Chocolate always wins.

Triple Caramel Cupcakes
Adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
Caramel Filling (recipe below)
Caramel Icing (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with papers. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add vanilla. Mix and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for about 25 minutes. When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

Cut a small round piece out of the tops of each cooled cupcake and pour in 1 teaspoon of caramel. Replace the cake piece. Spread the tops of cakes with Caramel Icing

Caramel Filling

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons salted butter, cubed
½ cup heavy cream, at room temperature

Melt the sugar over medium-high heat in a large pot. Whisk the sugar as it melts and cook until it becomes a deep amber color. Add the butter and stir it in until melted. Pour in the heavy cream (mixture will foam) and whisk until you get a smooth sauce. You may have some lumps but keep stirring until they have melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Caramel Icing

Caramel Filling
2 Tbsp milk
1 pound powdered sugar

Pour Caramel Filling not remaining after filling cupcakes in a large mixing bowl. Add milk and sugar and beat on medium speed until blended. Add more milk if too thick.

Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Southern Food: A Brief History

2011-05-02T22:21:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time I devoted hours to reading and writing about Southern food culture and Southern Living magazine. Exactly four professors read my giant final report and let me have a degree (woohoo). Now the report lives at a nice j-library in Missouri. Other important things in life, like cooking and friends and family, distracted me from getting it published for the past year, but now I am resurrecting the best parts of said giant report in a more digestible blog version. I promise Southerners and their food are interesting.

It was an agrarian way of life in the Old South. There were fields and plantations and slaves. So people ate what came from the fields (revolutionary, right?)—after frying it up or boiling it with good ole fat-cured pork. They ate lots ‘o corn, but it didn’t make the “great triumvirate” of veggies: turnips, cowpeas (today’s blackeyed or crowder peas), and sweet potatoes.

Pork was long the staple from swine herds, but eventually, farmers in the region began to raise poultry, which gave rise to the delicacy of fried chicken.

Photo by SouthernLiving.com

Cornbread served as the primary bread when Southern mills could not handle glutinous wheat and the wheat crop was small. In the second half of the nineteenth century, increased wheat production and new milling methods made wheat available to all classes, and hence wheat flour biscuits joined the ranks of cornbread in the Southern diet.

But then days of plantations came to an end. Northerners infiltrated the region. People moved to cities. What was to become of Southerners? What of the traditional culture would remain? Food! Sunday dinner. Biscuits and collards. Peach pie and pimiento cheese. Gravy and hushpuppies. Food provided definition, security, and stability to family and community life and to regional culture.

“The spiritual meaning of food in the South is perhaps best seen on Sundays. Dinner on the grounds brings together a church community in a symbol of wholeness. Sunday dinner at home has been a shared ritual of different Southerners for generations, reinforcing family ties over chicken and gravy. Breaking cornbread together and drinking sweet tea have been Southern sacraments, outward signs of deeper communion. Food in the South, and the shared importance of it to family and community among many kinds of Southerners, represents a peculiar resource for fellowship among the people of the South.”
-Charles Reagan Wilson, Foodways: The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 7, XVI-XVII

Blueberry-Banana Breakfast Muffins

2011-04-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

The advent of berry season, glorious berry season, inspired this twist on my go-to Banana Breakfast Muffins. I mixed some berries into the hearty batter and topped each muffin with crunchy granola. They're just sweet enough to satisfy and go down perfectly with some strawberry or raspberry Kefir (basically drinkable yogurt).

There seem to always brown bananas at my house begging to be made into a grab-and-go, healthy breakfast. Solution: stock the freezer with fruity muffins with plenty of wheat flour and ground flax seed to stick with you 'til lunchtime.

More Baked Blueberry Goodness:
Banana-Blueberry Bread
Berry-and-Spice Whole Wheat Muffins
Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins

Blueberry-Banana Breakfast Muffins
Adapted roughly from Joy of Baking

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup ground flax seeds
½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 large ripe bananas, mashed well
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup pure maple syrup (or brown sugar)
1/3 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
½ cup granola

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tins.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In another large bowl combine the bananas, eggs, syrup, and yogurt. Lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry just until combined. Fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter into muffins tins and sprinkle with granola. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for 5 minutes and remove from pans. Enjoy!

Makes about 12 muffins.

New Design, Same Maple Macaroni

2011-04-24T20:06:00.002-05:00

It was time for an updated look. Whatcha think?

Friday Brownie Bites, Sunday Blondie Bites

2011-04-23T18:06:00.001-05:00

Those who know me well know I think far too much. So when my church small group decided to make cookies to help people stay awake for six hours of Bible teaching Friday night at a Secret Church simulcast, my mind went crazy thinking of ways to let Easter symbolism, along with butter and sugar, be the inspiration of my confections.

I couldn’t quite fit the full symbolic explanation onto the note card that labeled my baked goods at Secret Church, but the ever-gifted expositor David Platt’s teaching on the complexity and mystery of crucifixion and salvation took to all 50,00 of us listening to spiritual depths even my over-thinking mind had never been.

Friday Brownie Bites
I put my mini muffin tins to work by making uber-chocolatey brownie bites (no mint icing this time). They’re dark and heavy, just as was the sorrow of the mocking and brutality Christ humbly took on Friday. But chocolate is also really good, you know, like Good Friday—the beauty of the love God so showed by putting all the sins anyone ever does or thinks on his son and by sacrificing him for crazy humans like me that will never ever, ever even begin to measure up to his goodness and grace.

Sunday Blondie Bites
Likewise, I made light and bright-colored blondies to contrast the beauty and hope of Sunday with the dark despair of Friday.

Over the past few months I’ve been contemplating just what hope and power there is in a God who raises a very dead, very buried man to life again and what hope I can take in knowing he is shaping my life and whatever crazy things are going in the world. It’s that hope that pastel-colored peanut butter eggs stuffed into buttery cookie dough represent.

As I’ve walked with friends through periods of waiting and waiting and waiting for a job (thanks, economy), a move, life direction, healing—just as people were waiting and waiting for the first Easter Sunday—God has so revealed “Sunday” moments with direction in unexpected ways, gifts that point so obviously to their giver. In dark times, I always like to think on: “It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming.”

Truthfully, these were a case of desperation leads to innovation. I simply wanted to make “Sunday” cookies with pastel Easter M&Ms, but they were nowhere to be found. Reese’s Pieces eggs were the next best thing on the Easter candy aisle, and even without chocolate, they were quite delectable like the Blondies with Reese I based them off of.

Blondie Bites with Reese’s Pieces Eggs

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 package Reese’s pieces eggs (or substitute Reese’s pieces the rest of the year)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease mini muffin pan tins.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and salt; stir just until moistened. Fill the tin so that each muffin spot is about three-quarters full. Press two to three eggs onto the top of each blondie bite.

Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 13-18 minutes. Let cool for five minutes, and then remove bites from the tins to cool completely.

Panzanella Salad

2011-04-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

Does picking up fresh produce and throwing it on the grill for a meal excite you as much as it does me? The fruits, the veggies, the sunshine, the long days—springtime makes my heart happy. Remembering what fun the grill and I had with chicken breasts (topped with mango salsa!) and zucchini last week, I was overcome with an urge to grill something fresh ASAP.

What came to mind for a new recipe experiment? This grilled tomato-bread salad I had stared at many a times on the Southern Living website. Between the crusted fresh bread and the simple and scrumptious Mediterranean combo of tomatoes, onion, fresh basil, and olives, we decided eating this meal in the sunshine was about 56 times better than any restaurant experience. If only I could make lunch at home and eat in the backyard with special people in sunshine everyday…

Panzanella Salad
Adapted from Southern Living

1 ciabatta or Italian bread loaf
12 plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise; or 2-3 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced in quarters
1 red onion, cut into large wedges
About 5 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup cooked shrimp, optional
1/2 cucumber, halved and sliced
½ cup whole black olives, sliced in half
4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup firmly packed chopped fresh basil
½ cup feta cheese, optional

Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high). Cut bread loaf into 1-2-inch thick slices; cut slices in half, if desired. Brush bread with olive oil.

Drizzle tomatoes and onion with 2 Tbsp. oil, tossing to coat. Grill tomatoes and onion, covered with grill lid, over 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until lightly charred.

Coarsely chop grilled tomatoes and onion, and place in a medium bowl. Add shrimp (optional), cucumber, olives, red wine vinegar, and garlic.

Brush bread slices with remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Grill, without grill lid, over 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned and toasted.

Place grilled bread slices on individual serving plates; top with tomato mixture. Sprinkle with basil and feta. Enjoy.

Pie + Community Development=PieLab

2011-04-17T19:08:00.007-05:00

In case you didn’t know, PieLab is a big deal. Iconic Southern food writer John T. Edge published a New York Times Magazine cover story on the center for design, community, and PIES in October. It was written up in Bon Appétit, Southern Living, and lots of other fancy-schmancy publications. But when you visit its storefront in rural Alabama, it’s just ordinary people baking and serving exceptionally tasty, all-natural pies. By hanging out for a meal, I think we only got a glimpse at what goes on beyond the pie though.

The PieLab concept was started by designers in the Northeast as a movement for “community and conversation, one slice at a time.” In May 2009, they opened shop Greensboro in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt; the region is named for its fertile soil and, thanks to years of slavery and then sharecropping economy, is now one of the most impoverished areas of the country. PieLab, along with HERO housing initiative, are out to empower the community to change that.

Hannah capturing our delicious pie lunch.

On Saturday, we ventured down past the normal Alabamians who spend their April Saturday drinking beer and watching Alabama football scrimmage in Tuscaloosa to PieLab. My team? Hannah, who just started One Bowl One Spoon, is one of those people with whom I easily jump into hours-long conversation about food and publishing, and her friend, Natalie, who is working on a childhood obesity-prevention grant in Birmingham. Needless to say, we had plenty to discuss on our way down.

We were so the crazy tourists walked in looking for the “full PieLab experience” and took pictures of everything, which made us less cool, but oh well. First up? Quiche-like herbed squash pie with a side salad. Amazing.

Normally restaurants kitchens seem extremely fast-paced and stressful. Not PieLab. Everything about it emanates a sense of chill that creates an atmosphere begging you to hang around for hours and discuss the world’s problems over piece after piece of pie.

When the pies start to run low, the employees start chopping apples and mixing graham crackers crust by hand to get more pie in the oven.

After touring Greensboro’s mostly abandoned Main Street and taking in the architecture of some awesome old churches and homes, we returned for dessert pie. We each took a bite of one and then rotated them around the table for the complete tasting experience.

The cheddar-apple pie had a flaky cheddar crust and a just-barely-sweet taste from uber freshly chopped apples. Apple pie doesn’t usually do much for me, but now I want to try my own rendition of this piece of scrumptiousness. The chocolate-pecan proved I should never have been skeptical about switching up a classic pie, even with chocolate. The ginger was a cool cream pie that tasted like Thanksgiving. Not pictured: the peach cobbler I took home and devoured with ice cream after dinner like a pie-eating pig.

Next food field trip? We’re thinking strawberry picking.

Bold and Hearty Chex Mix

2011-04-15T09:28:00.000-05:00

Hello, new snack time treat worthy of making four batches in the past couple of months. Chex mix can be a choose-your-own-adventure kind of recipe. I used real butter, which is essential to the addictive flavor in my opinion, instead of trying a less sinful variation with egg whites.

In the original Chex mix, I pick out the white and corn Chex, but since using wheat in my own to make it more fibericiously filling, I've come to like its thicker, heartier texture better. I also add in peanuts for satsfying protein as well as pretzels and Cheez-Its for salty flavor. No super hard bagel chips for me, thank you very much. I finish off the coating with a kick of Creole seasonings and chili powder.

I personally think my combination is the best, but that's only because it fits my preference for a flavorful and filling snack with a bit of nuts and cheese. What is your ultimate snack mix combo?

Bold and Hearty Chex Mix

6 cups wheat Chex
3 cups Cheez-It Crackers
2 cups pretzels
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts
5 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning

Place Chex, crackers, pretzels, and peanuts in a large bowl and toss. Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Mix the Worcestershire sauce and seasonings into the melted butter. Pour butter mixture over Chex mixture. Toss to coat the crackers.

Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Enjoy.

Of Holly, Pizza, and Passion

2011-04-11T22:14:00.001-05:00

This is Holly. She quiet if you don’t know her. But get her talking about how she makes pizza, and she’ll smile and speak with humble passion.

Photo by 280 Living

She’s part of a team of two who opened aptly named Holly’s Pizzeria in Birmingham several months ago. She does all the cooking, and her partner waits on the tables. Both beam with reserved pride about owning their own place and serving Holly’s perfected pies. I got to tell their story this month in 280 Living. It was for my new daytime gig writing and editing for suburban community newspapers on 280, in Homewood, and in Mountain Brook. (I also get to write about things like recycling, charity parties in a special person's memory, and PGA tournaments (I really wrote about sports?).)

Truth be told, I kind of judge new suburbs against the greater character of architecture and non-chain restaurants and stores in more urban areas. Isn’t every suburb virtually the same? No, I’ve learned. Amongst the big box stores and neighborhoods with variations on like five floor plans are people with stories, just like the rest of the world and just like more cool urban neighborhoods. And hidden in a generic strip mall are two people bustin’ their butts seven days a week to pursue their passion: serving the most hearty thin crust pizza I’ve ever tasted. What a reminder me the gift of writing for the service of others!

Jamie Oliver's [Greek Yogurt] Caesar Dressing

2011-04-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

Light Caesar dressing? Yep. Jamie Oliver confirmed that Greek yogurt does in fact make almost anything creamy healthy and just as tasty as the original. I have always been a little fearsome of anchovies, but the salty essential hidden among the canned sardines and tuna at the grocery store wasn't so scary after all.

Simply stir together the yogurt with the fishies and a few other ingredients, and, voila, homemade, natural, good-for-you Caesar. Now, Cardini's does taste slightly more flavorful, but I like how this one is not heavy yet gives your taste buds a creamy, salty satisfaction.

For a Sunday lunch in the sunshine, I tossed my dressing with a variation on Caesar Power Salad: romaine, red bell peppers, sliced almonds, and chopped grilled chicken.

Jamie Oliver's [Greek Yogurt] Caesar Dressing
Food and Wine

1/3 cup low-fat or nonfat Greek-style yogurt
2 anchovy fillets, mashed
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large head of romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt with the anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Whisk in the oil and half of the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the romaine with half the dressing and the remaining cheese. Serve, passing the remaining dressing at the table. (I mixed all the Parmesan in the dressing and tossed all the dressing with the greens and toppings.)

Double Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-04-05T09:53:00.001-05:00

These cookies are my friend Haynes' specialty: peanut butter cookie dough stuffed with chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. In our college apartment, she baked a rotation of these and her pumpkin bread, and I filled in the gaps with Tollhouse cookies and chocolate cupakes with buttercream icing. Our other two roommates observed how baking crazed we were, invited friends over to help rid of temptation to eat all of what we baked ourselves, and have since picked up baking in their own way.

My version of Haynes cookies used a chewy peanut butter dough that isn't too powerfully peanut buttery and the Hayzian chocolate and peanut butter chips. Anyone with the slightest taste for peanut butter and chocolate could easily scarf down this whole stack of delish.

I gave away lots of the cookies but, being the selfish baker I am, saved some for my 3 p.m. pick-me-up at work. Bananas leave a weird aftertaste in my mouth, and I gotta have some sugar to wash it down.

Double Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips

Stir togehter flour, soda, and salt. In a separate large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on mediun speed until well blended. Mix in peanut butter and syrup. Add eggs one a time and then vanilla. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and peanut butter chips by hand.

Dollop dough onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees 10-13 minutes or until desired consistency.

Indian Butter Chicken

2011-03-29T22:23:00.004-05:00

The name makes this wonderfully aromatic tomato cream sauce sounds scarily fatty, but fear not. I cut back on butter and used yogurt (yogurt idea stolen from Life's Ambrosia) instead of cream, and I believe the dish was all the better for it. When you've got ginger and garam marsala and cardamom and garlic and chili powder, why do you need extra butter and cream?

I'm pretty sure the recipes I based it off of had to be somewhat Americanized because my not-always-adventurous fellow eaters were called it "delicious" and "different." Generously adding the right spices kept it from being bland like my one other attempt at Indian cuisine, hopefully getting the final product somewhere closer to authenticity. It was also pretty quick prep for weeknight dinner.

I just need a Trader Joe's nearby (please, Trader Joe's powers that be) next time I make it so I can grab some naan. (Naan is an Indian flat bread sort of like pita bread but better.) Or I need to stop by an Indian restaurant. Or something so I can complete the full sauce-rice-naan Indian food trifecta.

Indian Butter Chicken
1- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. garam marsala, divided (Sunset has substitution mixture if you don't want to buy it.)
3 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cardamom (investment spice, might not be worth it)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato sauce
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Cut chicken into pieces and season with cayenne and 1 tsp. garam marsala. Place in a skillet over medium heat and cook until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Saute butter and onion over medium heat in a pot until onion is tender. Add 1 tsp. garam marsala and other spices and cook one minute. Stir in tomato sauce, yogurt, and cooked chicken. Reduce to simmer and cook 10 minutes.

Serve over rice (I like brown rice best) and garnish with cilantro.

Chewy Chocolate Blondies

2011-03-24T21:41:00.007-05:00

I know I should spend less time with my laptop and more time with real people. I like to rationalize that all that screen time provides fodder for baking creativity and hence better quality time with people afterward; butter and sugar always make things better. Because I spend too much time online, I discovered how much of a baking goddess Dorie Greenspan is. And because I spend too much time online, I found this blondie recipe and knew must-bake because it's Dorie's. Now I just need to buy one of her baking books.

Essential ingredients in these babes are the semi-sweet chips, flaked coconut, and chopped pecans. The texture of all those goodies makes each bar a bit crumbly, distinct of the way thick and dense Reese's-topped blondies I made before. Like any good variation on the chocolate chip cookie, they also have that irresistible flair of buttery dough. Even ye who fear nuts (which is sometimes me) and coconut tainting your dessert should try them.

I added these treats to Sweet as a Sugar Cookies' Sweets for Saturday #10. Lots of yummies there!

Update: My friend Amber at Domestic Wannabe baked a chocolate-peanut butter variation on this recipe that looks equally amazing.

Chewy Chunky Blondies
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, via Bon Appetit blog

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The cake should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes. You can now invert the cake onto another rack, and then turn it over onto a rack and cool to room temperature. Alternatively, you can keep the blondies in the pan. Cut the blondies into bars.

Why I Cook

2011-03-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

Food 52's cooking manifesto inspired me to write one of my own. I resorted to my go-to framework for talking of food: overusing the word "love." This is the order I prioritize things in actuality, but if I lived how I want to live, my orientation would be flip-flopped.

Because I love good food.
Because crafting food shares love.
Because food (and creativity) comes from love (from God!).

Cooking Love with Friends: Megan prepping some salmon and asparagus to grill.

Food 52's manifesto hits things I value spot-on too:

Because:
If you cook, your family will eat dinner together.
If you cook, you will naturally have a more sustainable household.
If you cook, you'll set a lifelong example for your children.
If you cook, you'll understand what goes into food and will eat more healthily.
If you cook, you'll make your home an important place in your life.
If you cook, you'll make others happy.
If you cook, people will remember you.

Why do you cook?

Three Things: Better-than-Leftovers Salads

2011-03-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Sometime between high school and semi-adulthood, leftovers evolved from reheated food I dreaded to a delicious meal that required no work and no payment. A meal on round two earns all the better name for itself with a bit of reinvention. What's easier than throwing leftovers into a salad, especially when their taste triumphs their original incarnation? (Note: this idea might not work as well for meatloaf.)

Salty Salmon and Potato Salad

The Leftovers: salmon, roasted potatoes
The Additions: salad greens
The Dressing: capers, dill, red wine vinegar, olive oil

Crunchy Chicken Couscous Salad

The Leftovers: Chicken and couscous (or rice)
The Additions: chopped green pepper, green onion, shredded carrot, dried cranberries, sliced almonds
The Dressing: olive oil and red wine vinegar

Barbecue Salad

The Leftovers: barbecue pork (or chicken)
The Additions: tomatoes, corn, black beans, tortilla chips (all from the pantry!)
The Dressing: the avocado vinaigrette that inspired the salad

Mint-Iced Brownie Bites

2011-03-15T08:56:00.003-05:00

Don't go into the grocery store a few days before St. Patrick's Day. The bakery section will grab hold of you and force you to adjust your productive plans for the day to make something green and sugary.

I skipped the clover art and went for a green that had a culinary purpose beyond green dye. Okay, the frosting had food dye in it, but it felt more legit with peppermint flavor.

I had feared these guys wouldn't match up to the Brownie Bites with cream cheese frosting sold at fine natural grocery stores. I was doubtful when cutting a super hot brownie out of the tin led to a crumbly yet deliciously chocolatey mess. Then, once I remembered this thing called patience and let them cool slightly, a perfect shape popped out and tasted even better because it wasn't burning my tongue. They've got crispy edges for you strange outer brownie eaters, and gooey insides for we enlightened inside brownie eaters.

Mint-Iced Brownie Bites

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 (11.5-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
¾ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
Mint Frosting (below)

Combine butter and chocolate in a 3 1/2-quart saucepan. Melt over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add eggs, 1 at a time, stirring just until blended. Stir in vanilla then sugar. Stir in the flour.

Dollop batter into greased mini muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-17 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Remove brownie bites from tin. After the bites cool, ice them and, if desired, garnish with M&Ms and/or sprinkles.

Yield: About 24 brownie bites

Mint Frosting
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), softened
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3 drops green food coloring

Mix all ingredients on medium-high until well blended. Add more milk if necessary.

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

2011-03-08T22:18:00.001-06:00

I realize the party that is Mardis Gras is pretty much over, but all the Cajun food buzz on Twitter the past few days finally convinced me to try my hand at gumbo. Filled with three meats, lots of veggies, and a spicy kick, it was a delighful meal for a dreary, rainy Tuesday night.

Between the gumbo and the green, purple, and yellow sugar crystals on some banana cupcakes (gotta dessert-ify brown bananas), we had our own little bit of Mardis Gras in my kitchen tonight. And it was all in time to splurge before Lent, except it wasn't really a splurge because the gumbo and cupcakes were technically light—but delicious nonetheless—recipes.
Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo
Adapted from Cooking Light

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup frozen cut okra
1 cup chopped celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ to 1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 cup chopped chicken breasts
1 cup peeled shrimp, cooked
8 ounces turkey kielbasa, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with peppers and onion
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Combine flour and oil in a Dutch oven; sauté over medium-high heat 3 minutes. Add onion and next 6 ingredients (onion through hot sauce); cook 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.

Stir in chicken, kielbasa, tomatoes, and broth; cook 6 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Lenten Diet?

2011-03-07T11:38:00.001-06:00

Has Lent has become a type of diet? You give up something that’s bad for you for 40 days and then switch from famine to feast on Easter Sunday (and the Sundays in between if you cheat). You might even lose a few pounds or become a little less addicted to caffeine or Facebook in the process.

One year I gave up what seemed a great sacrifice, chocolate. Even being the chocoholic I am, self-discipline and yogurt-covered pretzels carried me through with little need to look beyond myself. I even thought I was becoming a better, less food-obsessed person because I began to crave the wondrous cocoa less. Retrospectively, I realize I missed the whole point of a fast.

I now see I have to be careful to monitor my intentions. Am I doing this just to see if I can make it through or to wean myself off a bad habit? Or is this a God-honoring sacrifice?

One thing I did have on target in my chocolate fast was that the most significant thing for me to sacrifice is food. TV, facebook, caffeine, music, whatever I can live without just fine (and it’s hard to give up the internet or reading when you have a job), but lunch, dinner, snack time, dessert, baking, cooking, food shopping, it’s all what I most look forward to everyday. And so when I go 24 hours (as long as I’ve ventured thus far) without eating, as I did once a week last Lent, every hunger pain reminds me that I am incessantly dependant on something, someone, beyond myself. It’s not comfortable, there are no yogurt-covered pretzels to substitute, and I certainly can’t do it on my own.

Another good Lenten discipline can be to take something on instead of giving it up. This year I’m thinking about setting aside extra time for prayer or daily writing notes to encourage people in my life. The Church Health Center in Memphis suggests taking on healthy eating and is blogging different healthy recipes.

Ash Wednesday, the official start of the Lenten season, is in two days. What are you considering taking on or giving up?

UPDATE: I just found a campaign called Wine to Water that encourages people to donate to water projects in Zimbabwe the money they would have spent on whatever they give up for Lent. Another great idea! This give site is in the UK, but you could easily easily calcuate the amount you are not spending and give it to whatever nonprofits you like to support.

Chocolate Oreo Cake: A Romance

2011-03-03T10:46:00.000-06:00

Note: You have my official permission to make fun of my quirky, extremely girly analogy in this post.

The only thing that speaks to my heart a decadent layer cake like this chocolate Oreo beauty is a good story in the form of a Jane Austen-esque romance. Both are so worthy of being devoured.

I could whip up a box cake mix in a 13x9-inch pan and top it with some canned icing. Or, I could devote hours to the creation of a homemade layer cake. I could watch a rom-com of the variety where two people fall in love over a 10 minute montage. Or, I could devote hours to absorbing a story wrought with romantic tension not resolved until the ending. Quick gratification or an utter high on life from devotion to something superior—I choose the latter.

It is in the long process of mixing flour and sugar, waiting for layers to bake, mixing and spreading icing that true quality cake comes into being. And it is in the pages and pages of prose or the hours of a BBC miniseries that a relationship between two people, often filled with frustration and misunderstanding, can really form a bond where they really love one another for who they are (ahh, true love).

Along the way, you can gain a taste of what is to come from cake batter, cake crumbs, and icing, as you can from all the tension in a relationship as attraction develops.

In the end, what more could a girl want than romance and chocolate? But such delights are not an ultimate fulfillment, for both treats must be devoured on occasion and in moderation. I know we must be wary of fat and calories, just as I, for one, must be careful not to let period piece fairy tales (e.g. Mr. Darcy, whose bust is quite real) shape my view of reality.

To be truthful, this cake was first inspired by Oreos and then by my small group coming over for dinner. But the day I was planning the Oreo cream filling and chocolate icing, I happened to have a particularly delightful conversation about mutual fascination with Jane Austen novels, Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, and the Little Dorrit miniseries. Before long, the romance of the two became tied in my head.

Another truth revealed: I used Country Choice, wannabe Oreos from Whole Foods, for the chocolate sandwich cookies.

Chocolate Oreo Cake
Chocolate Cake from Smitten Kitchen Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Creamy Oreo Filling (below)
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Icing (below)
15-20 oreos

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, and let cool completely.

4. Place one layer on cake place; spread half of the Creamy Oreo Filling on top. Place a second cake layer on top of the filling and spread with the remainder of the filling. Top with the third cake layer; spread the chocolate icing on the tops and sides of the cake.

5. Decorate with Oreos. I pressed the crumbs of 10-15 cookies onto the sides and then set
8 cookie halves into the top in a circle.

Creamy Oreo Filling
Beantown Baker

4 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 package Oreos, cut into quarters

Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in 1/4 cup whipping cream until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and beat until it has the consistency of whipped cream (don’t overmix). Stir in Oreo quarters.

Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Icing
Hershey's

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes bout 2 cups frosting.

Quinoa & More Super Foods

2011-02-28T16:57:00.002-06:00

So many magazine stories I flip through and think, "That's cool," and then move on with life. Yes, part of reading a mag is for pleasure and escape, but I decided I wanted to really act on the service nuggets that stick out to me. Step one is tearing out the ones that speak to me, and step two is doing it.

For February I did something! I tore out Real Simple's cover story on 30 superfoods to eat, made a list, and cooked quinoa ("Keen-wah"), the only grain that is a complete protein. I found its grainy grains, somewhere in between the size of couscous and rice, a light texture perfect for a side dish or salad.

I threw it together veggies in my fridge (red onion, bell pepper, broccoli, and parsley) and some red wine vinegar and olive oil for a fresh and hearty lunch salad. Along with a bit of chicken salad, it kept my taste buds and stomach content til dinner.

Here's the rest of Real Simple's list. I broke my superfood report card down by the foods I already eat, with some notes about how I like to eat them, and the ones on my to-try list. I started to write about how they are all good in salads, but it got redundant.

almonds- sugared as a snack, nutty crunch for salads and rice
avocados- guacamole! guacamole! sandwich topper.
black beans- best-ever Black Bean Hummus
blueberries- with granola & yogurt for breakfast
broccoli- roasted as a side dish, in pasta (or quinoa) salads
chicken breasts- the base of dinner more often than not
edamame- salted as snack, Roasted Garlic-Edamame Spread
eggs- a superfood we can put in baked goods, horray!
extra-virgin olive oil- salad dressings, cooking meat & veggies, everywhere
kidney beans- chili!
kiwi- snacking
lentils- Lemony Lentil Stew
mushrooms- sauteed to top chicken or steak or anything really
oatmeal- nuked, baked with berries
oranges- sliced for breakfast
peanut and almond butters- toast topper
pumpkin- smoothies, dips, pancakes, bread, French toast, you name it
skim milk- drink of choice
spinach- salad base, Garlicky Spinach Dip, Spinach Brownies
sweet potatoes- oven-fried, baked as side dish
walnuts- pesto, muffins
whole-grain pasta- under spaghetti sauce
wild salmon-mmm grilled, with mango salsa in summertime
yogurt- smoothie base, mayo substitute, snack

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

barley- as a rice replacement
bulgur- another rice replacment
chard- sauteed with some garlic and vinegar
kale- the cool way to eat this leafy green seems to be as chips
sardines- I've been meaning to try Jamie Oliver's yogurt-based Caesar dressing

How do you like to eat these superfoods? Any your are thinking about trying?

Real Oatmeal: Two Ways

2011-02-25T11:14:00.002-06:00

Today's subject is oats, as in real oats, as the kind that are oval-shape and have texture, as in not the ground-up mush that comes in packets or in the quick-cooking box. But the instant oats are just so conveniently instant, you say. Or maybe you say that all oatmeal is that nasty porridge that you, like poor Baby Bear, were forced to eat by Mama Bear.

I am here to argue that (1) oats do not require laboring over the stove in the time you don't have and (2) their whole-food, nutty texture is soul-warmingly delicious with a heartiness sticks with you until lunch.

1. The Super Easy Way: Nuked Oats

News flash: you can microwave real oats. You simply put water and oats in a microwave-safe bowl; nuke it for 3 1/2 minutes; and then stir some combination of brown sugar, nuts (I like walnuts!), milk, and/or berries. See oats box for instructions for different servings.

Word of Warning: Real oats puff while in cooking this super-fast way, so unless you want an oatmeal explosion in your microwave, cook it in a bowl (or casserole dish or, my favorite make-do container, a glass bread pan) three to four times the volume of the oats.

2. The Hands-Off Way: Baked Oats

Baking oats with a few extra ingredients makes for a taste and consistency that is a cross between an oatmeal cookie and traditional oatmeal. This recipe won me over with its fresh strawberries and garnish of warmed strawberry jam. Beat that, Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal.

It takes 40 minutes to bake, but because you only stir it once, all the magic happen while you do everything else that needs to be done in the a.m.

How do you eat your oats?
Strawberry Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from The Fresh Market

1 1/2 cups regular oats (not quick-cooking)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 egg yolk, beaten
1/3 cup plain applesauce
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped
Strawberry jam, warmed
Plain Greek-style yogurt (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, stir together oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine milk, egg, applesauce, honey and brown sugar. Add to mixture and stir until combined. Pour into a greased baking dish. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Stir mixture and fold in berries. Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Spoon into bowls and serve with yogurt and warmed strawberry jam.

Yield: 3 servings

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

2011-02-21T10:29:00.000-06:00

It's chocolate chips. It's cookie. It's giant. And it comes hot and crispy from the skillet. Need I say more?

The marriage of basic wonders chocolate chip cookie and cast iron skillet is so obviously perfect but didn't cross my mind until I stumbled upon good ole Martha's example. Each thick, pie-like slice is chewy in the middle and crispy, with a hint of seasoned skillet taste, on the outside. Serve it hot out of the oven a la mode for a full-fledged dessert presentation, and then stash leftovers in plastic bag for an afternoon chocolate pick-me-up at work.

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

2 pints vanilla ice cream (optional)

Caramel Sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; mix until they are fully incorporated. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Transfer dough to a 10-inch ovenproof (preferably cast iron) skillet, and press to flatten, covering bottom of pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Don't overbake; it will continue to cook a few minutes out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges. Serve warm; top each wedge with a scoop of ice cream and some caramel sauce.

Chicken Tetrazzini

2011-02-15T15:53:00.001-06:00

As I often do when it's cold and dreary, I was craving creamy pasta comfort food. I'd always thought of Tetrazzini as typical Betty Crocker casserole fare, but mine would be a step up, I decided. The dish was allegedly named for Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini, so shouldn't it be a tad classy? Oodles of noodles and chicken with a mushroom here and there would not do.

Each bite ended up packed with distinct flavor of prosciutto and artichokes and onion plus, of course, lots of my beloved mushrooms and some bites of chicken.

It was all wrapped up in wine cream sauce, not very heavy but cheesy enough to be creamy and comforting as it should be. Canned cream of mushroom soup, which is in many a common tetrazzini recipes, isn't pure evil, but this lighter scratch-made sauce is definitely pure good. I topped it off with a crisp layer of Parmesan and green onions.

This dish is good for a larger group or for two meals in one week. You can also double it and freeze one or give it to a friend.

Chicken Tetrazzini
Adapted from Cooking Light, March 2003

1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
3 oz. prosciutto, chopped (optional splurge)
¼ cup sherry or marsala wine
1/3 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded, divided
¼ cup cream cheese (I used reduced fat.)
8 oz. capellini, vermicelli or spaghetti noodles (I used whole wheat.), cooked al dente
1 ½ -2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
4 green onions, chopped

(I cooked the pasta and cooked chicken breasts in a skillet while I made the sauce, but you could make it at any time.)

Add olive oil, onion, mushrooms, and prosciutto to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add wine; cook 1 minute.

Gradually add flour to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly (mixture will be thick) with a whisk. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

Add 1 cup Parmesan cheese and the cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until cream cheese melts. Add the pasta, chicken, and artichokes and stir until blended. Pour pasta into a baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Mix remaining ¼ cup Parmesan (or be more liberal if you like cheese as much as I do) with green onions and sprinkle over top of pasta.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove casserole from oven; let stand 15 minutes.

Yield: 6 large servings.

You can easily double this recipe and freeze it.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast Casserole

2011-02-11T10:00:00.002-06:00

I could go on and on about the warm pumpkin pie flavor of this subtly sweet French toast and how it so impressed me that I made it twice in one week, once for friends and once for family. But I have to get the best part without letting my verbose self get carried away:

It's seriously the easiest breakfast for a crowd I've made. You pour a mixture of eggs, milk, pumpkin, and spices over bread slices arranged in a baking dish. But even that you do the night before, so when you wake up all that's necessary is placing a dish in the oven and pulling out the syrup.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

Adapted from Cooking with My Kid

5 or 6 thick slices white or sourdough bread

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup 100% pure canned pumpkin 

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice  (or a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves)

Powdered sugar for dusting  (optional, I skipped it)

Maple syrup for serving

Whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup, pumpkin and spices. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with baking spray and assemble one layer of bread fitting it in like puzzle pieces. Then assemble another layer directly on top of the first. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the bread being sure that it seeps into every crevice and covers each piece of bread up top. It will look like you’ve got too much liquid, but as long as it’s not spilling out, you’re ok.

Let the bread soak up some of the liquid overnight or at least 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or until the pumpkin is set and bread is brown. Cut into squares and then dust with powdered sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Makes about 5 servings.

Molten Chocolate Cakes for Two (or More)

2011-02-09T12:22:00.003-06:00

Any store, commercial, or restaurant will tell you that Valentine's Day and its whole season is about pink and red, hearts and kisses, flowers and sappy cards, chocolate and chocolate. I support one and only one of those sets of things. A box of chocolates is never a bad thing, but home-baked chocolate decadence, that's in a category of love all of its own.

Last year to share the love of chocolate, I spent hours laboring over a layer cake; it was tasty but definitely not worth the effort. This year I spent about 30 minutes, start to finish, and yes that means they're easy to make, on melt-in-your mouth chocolate cakes seeping with hot chocolate lava. Rich and chocolatey they were, but not so uber-chocolate-dense that you get sick of it like many a restaurant dessert.

Be not mistaken; these are not muffins. They are molten cakes in a portion you can enjoy without over-stuffing after a big meal, and with easy cleanup and no need for fancy ramekins like the first Chocolate Java Cakes I tried. If you do really want the bigger portion, just eat two.

I included recipe portions for two but also adjustments for more, be they for more dinner guests or a quick nuking for treats later in the week.

Please do make these for you and your loved one, be it your significant other, a friend, or your mom (my mother and I had special bonding time eating them!), just not your dog because chocolate is cruelty to animals.

Molten Chocolate Cakes
Measurements in parentheses are for larger yield.

¼ cup (½ cup) butter
1/3 cup (2/3 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg (2 eggs)
2 Tbsp. (¼ cup) sugar
¼ tsp. (½ tsp.) vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. (¼ cup) flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each pulse, until melted.

Place eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer about 3 minutes. Fold in flour and the chocolate mixture.

Line a muffin tin with 5 (10) wrappers and coat with cooking spray. Fill about ¾ full. Bake 7-12 minutes or until cakes have puffed but not set. Be careful not to overcook them, or else there will be no "lava." Let stand 1 minute. Remove from tin and place each muffin on a dessert plate upside down. Remove paper. Serve immediately with ice cream or whipped cream.

Yield: About 5 cakes (10 cakes)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

2011-02-02T22:01:00.003-06:00

There's something about transforming pantry and fridge staples into foods you could easily buy pre-made (not-so-pronounceable ingredients included) that's so very wholesomely satisfying (and delicious). Mold some ground beef, onion, egg, and seasonings into balls then bake, and you've got meatballs. Stir some vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and ginger in a pot, and it magically caramelizes into sweet and sour sauce.

This dish melds meaty comfort food with standard Asian restaurant fare. My taste barometer was my father, who came out of his not-always-expressive shell to rave about their taste and go back for seconds.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Adapted from AllRecipes.com

1 1/4 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I like to process 1 piece of sandwich bread in the food processor.)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Red cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. dried ginger
2 bell peppers, chopped to bite-sized chunks (I used one red and one green.)
1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix beef through salt and pepper. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on a large, shallow (but not flat) baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until meat is cooked.

To make the sauce, combine soy sauce through ginger in large pot over medium heat. Cook until thickened, stirring often to prevent the bottom from scorching. Stir in peppers and pineapple; simmer until peppers reached desired doneness, about 15 minutes. Add meatballs and cook until meatballs are warm.

Serve over rice.

Yield: 4-5 servings.

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-01-27T12:30:00.002-06:00

It was one of those blah kind of days, where nothing particularly bad had happened but the hum-drum of day-to-day tasks left me unmotivated. But then, sunshine convinced me to take the dog on what turned out to be a most refreshing walk along a new path. And what beats watching a puppy race along a creek whilst you sing songs because you're in the woods by yourself? That would be heading back home to discover a recipe gem on Twitter for which you have all the ingredients.

A few clicks and a couple of hours later, I was molding Tollhouse dough around Oreos, the only store-bought cookie I care much for (besides Milanos). Some people tweeted its similarity to a turducken (chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey), but I liken it more to fair food like the fried Snickers, combining sinfully decadent treats.

Conclusion: Sharing colossal cookies with chocolate-cream gooey centers at the end of the day, that makes people smile and reminds me that ordinary wintry Wednesdays are for loving life too. Of course they are best eaten hot out of the oven, but the Oreo center stays nice and soft for a few days afterward too.

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Nestle and Picky Palate

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
16-24 Oreos (I used about 16; other bloggers used up to 24.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Place one scoop of dough on the top of an Oreo and once scoop underneath it. Use your (clean) hands to mold the dough around the Oreo so that there are no wholes. Place on cookie sheet and repeat until you have used up all the cookie dough.

Bake for 9 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Dinner: Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

2011-01-25T21:51:00.001-06:00

The South is taking too many cues from Northern winters and forgetting that people like me choose to live here for a reason. I do not approve of winter temperatures hovering significantly under 50 degrees (I'm spoiled, I know), except that it makes soup taste extra soul-warming.

I tend to stereotype chicken soups as being somewhat bland. However, if you cook up some fresh veggies first and throw in a bit of half and half at the end for this one, it won't disappoint fans of fresh-tasting, flavorful soups.

Necessity: Warm, crusty bread.
Bonus: Bakery cranberry bread a very nice person brought home for me.

The wild rice adds a nutty flavor to this thick (not very broth-y) concoction, but the other ingredients keep it from being too overpowering.

Tell me, friends, what are you making to warm you up on dreary winter days? (Yes, this is a comment request, pretty please.)

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

Oak Grove Market via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sliced celery

1/2 cup coarsely shredded carrot

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice

1 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

In a pot, cover chicken with broth and water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until chicken is just cooked through. Skim off any scum that appears on the surface and discard. Remove chicken from broth, let cool slightly and shred into bite-size pieces. Reserve broth.

In a stockpot, melt olive oil. Add celery, carrot, onion and green pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until blended. Add wild rice, chicken and reserved broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add half-and-half and parsley. Cook just until hot; do not boil. Top each serving with toasted almonds, if desired.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake

2011-01-18T11:08:00.000-06:00

Short Version of Why You Must Eat This Cake: (Reverse) Reese's Cup in Cake Form: Chocolate Cake. Peanut Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting. Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ganache.

Not-As-Succinct Version: The cake is the most moist, fluffy chocolate cake I've tasted. Scratch cakes tend to be dry and heavy, but this is so the succulent polar opposite that it going to be my go-to chocolate cake now that I am a baking elitist who cake taste slight chemical-y taste in box mix.

Rich and peanut-buttery, the icing makes the cake, and the ganache provides a chocolate seal with a pretty flair. I accidentally bought fat-free half-and-half for the ganache, so mine was a lighter and less photogenic, tasty nonetheless layer. It also conveniently left drippings at the bottom of the cake to taste test.

Now, this cake is super rich, but there's no need to worry that it will go to waste, assuming you have friends who appreciate splurging on a dessert of this caliber. If in doubt, send four college girlfriends to a cabin in the woods for a long weekend, and it will promptly be consumed, first cut in nice, neat pieces and then directly attacked with forks to salivate each crumb. (Clarification: said girlfriends did give away a few pieces before retreating and managed to hike and lift logs between cake attacks.)

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.

5. Pour Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes about 5 cups

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

8 ounces seimsweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of d double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Spinach Brownies

2011-01-11T17:29:00.000-06:00

Before you start conjuring up images of chocolate and spinach (yuck), let me tell you that these are savory cheesy appetizer brownies. However, beware of googling the recipe; you will find chocolate brownie recipes that make claims to sneak in nutritious spinach. I don't believe them.

These finger food treats taste like quiche. There's plenty of cheese and onion to cover up any super-green spinach taste that can turn some people off. True to the nature of brownies, they are certainly an indulgence, but I did find the stick of butter in the original recipe unnecessary.

These are sure to become anyone's potluck favorite. We've been eating them at family gatherings for years. Be sure not to trash leftovers; I love to eat the them as a grab-and-go breakfast.

Spinach Brownies

Adapted from allrecipes.com

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 onion, chopped

12 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Prepare spinach according to packaged instructions (I like to microwave it); strain out the liquid.

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk. Mix in spinach, onion, and cheese.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or heated.

Dinner: Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Blackberry Sauce

2011-01-04T17:43:00.000-06:00

The roasted pork tenderloin I grew up on was easy and tasty but a bit ordinary. This sweet, slightly tangy sauce makes a weeknight pork meal taste like a fancy dinner out. I have fond food memories of eating chef creations of blackberry sauce on beef medallions and elk tenderloin, and this easy dish ranks with those.

Rum, orange zest, dijon mustard, and ginger add zesty flavor to simple fruity preserves. Best all, the sauce only requires dumping five ingredients in a pot and letting it cook 5 minutes-- doable, right?

We ate it with wild rice and acorn squash because it's winter, but I want to try it in the spring with a fruit-filled green salad.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Blackberry Sauce
Southern Living, May 2010

2 (3/4-lb.) pork tenderloins

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons Caribbean jerk (or other spicy) seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup seedless blackberry preserves

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons rum or orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon dried ginger

Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Remove silver skin from tenderloins, leaving a thin layer of fat. Brush tenderloins with oil, and rub with seasoning and salt.

Grill tenderloins, covered with grill lid, 10 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 155°. Remove from grill, and let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together blackberry preserves and next 4 ingredients in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Cut pork diagonally into thin slices, and arrange on a serving platter or individual plates; drizzle with warm sauce.

Best (New) Eats of 2010

2010-12-30T12:05:00.001-06:00

Reflecting over the year via my food journal aka blog brings to mind memories of delightful tastes shared with special people. All food that makes the blog pleases the taste buds, but these were this year's stand-outs, the doable recipes that everyone enjoys, that I made multiple times, and that friends tried for themselves.

Butter-licious Showstopper
Paula Deen's Caramel Cake

Most Refreshing and Simple Summer Entree

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa

Most Fresh and Crowd-Pleasing Lake House Appetizer

Garlic Edamame Spread

Hands-Down Best Non-Tollhouse Cookies

Malted Chocolate Cookies

Simplest, Most Decadent Dessert

Mississippi Mud Brownies

Impressive Two-Minute Party Starter

Baked Brie

More 2010 Favorites
Because I fret when asked to pick favorites for fear of all the good I might leave out, some more new recipes:

Grilled Veggie Pasta
Tomato Pie
Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes
Banana Pudding Pie
Shrimp and Grits
Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies
Peach Buttermilk Pancakes
Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
Peanut Butter Brownies
Pasta Fagioli Soup
Moroccan Carrot Salad
Strawberry Icebox Cake

And here are some of my all-time favorite recipes that made it to the blog this year:
Capo's Chicken Diablo
Garlicky Spinach Dip
Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Pie
Chicken Salad with Piquant Sauce
Boat Church Egg Puff
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Morning Glory Muffins
Pecan Squares
Berry-and-Spice Whole Wheat Muffins

Chocolate Florentine Cookies

2010-12-27T19:53:00.000-06:00

A photo of these cookies stared at me whilst I waited in the checkout line at the grocery store. "We elegant chocolate-filled lace cookies," it said, "look like a Pepperidge Farm Brusels, but our crisp, buttery, homemade taste trumps them. Bake us so you can find how great we are for yourself. PLEASE!!"

Luckily, I had just enough wait time to flip through the book and find the name of the recipe. Then I could be cheap and google the recipe instead of buy the Nestle baking book whose cover it graced (sorry, Nestle, but I did give you page views to find the recipe). Nestle says use milk chocolate chips, but I say semi-sweet is better, based on my bias against milk chocolate.

What better New Year's resolution could there be than learning to make fancy-looking cookies that everyone will so enjoy? Maybe my photo will stare at you and say, "Do it!"? (It's not too hard; you just have to have the time and patience to make sandwiches.)

Chocolate Florentine Cookies
Nestle Very Best Baking

2/3 cup butter

2 cups quick oats

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with foil.

Melt butter in medium saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla extract and salt; mix well. Drop by level teaspoons, about 3 inches apart, onto foil-lined baking sheets. Spread thinly with rubber spatula.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets on wire racks. Peel foil from cookies.

Microwave morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on medium-high (70%) power for 1 minute; Stir. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10 to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Spread thin layer of melted chocolate onto flat side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to make sandwiches.

Monkey Bread Muffins

2010-12-20T17:13:00.000-06:00

These bites of buttery, cinnamon-sugar goodness are the perfect treat for a holiday breakfast. I made them for Thanksgiving; now you can try them for Christmas.

Just like a regular batch of monkey bread, you can pull apart the pieces of deliciousness, but the bonus to the muffin-pan version is that you get more of the caramelized topping for each bite. Plus, it's easier to serve, and you can make a smaller amount if you have less people and don't make yourself sick off the sweetness--been there, done that.

Also, thanks goes to Rachel (who is in Singapore!) for recommending I try this recipe and hence got it from my forever long to-cook list to real mouths and then to the blog.

Monkey Bread Muffins

2 cans of refrigerated biscuits

1 tablespoon cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

½ stick (1/4 cup) butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Cut the biscuits into quarters. Combine the cinnamon and sugar; pour mixture into a gallon-size plastic bag. Add biscuit quarters, seal the bag, and shake until biscuit quarters are coated. Place 6-8 pieces in each muffin cup.

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small pot on the stove. Stir until melted and bubbly. Pour the sauce over the muffins.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. 8. Cool for a minute in pan. Remove muffins from pan and enjoy.

Makes about 20 muffins.

Note: You can prepare the biscuit quarters ahead of time to make morning-of prep fast. I baked 12 muffins and saved the remaining dough and caramel sauce to bake the next morning.

Ultimate Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

2010-12-16T11:06:00.000-06:00

This week it's cold enough to flurry in the deep South and produce enough snow to collapse a dome in the Midwest, so everyone is in need of this body-and soul-warming comforting food.

Grilled Cheddar-Apple-Bacon Sandwich

This version of gooey melted cheese between slices of toasted bread takes a childhood favorite to whole new level. Sharp cheddar cheese combines flavor forces with salty bacon and crisp, sweet apple slices.

Tomato-Basil Soup

You might not be able to get decent fresh tomatoes this time of year, but cooking down canned whole tomatoes gets so much closer a out-of-the-garden taste than canned tomato soup. It makes for a medium-thick consistency. Fresh basil, still available for a price at the grocery store, completes the essence of summer-meets-winter soup.

Grilled Cheddar-Apple-Bacon Sandwich

Sourdough (or white) bread
Sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
Red apple, peeled and slice thin
Bacon, cooked
Butter

Place cheese, apple, and bacon between two slices of bread. Butter bread. Cook on a skillet until browned and crispy. Flip and cook other side. Slice in half and serve warm.

Tomato-Basil Soup

2-28 oz. cans whole tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup half and half

Pour tomatoes into a large pot and gently break up the tomatoes into halves (or smaller). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to low heat, cover, and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Place tomatoes and basil in blender and beat until pureed; return to pot. Or, add basil to pot and use immersion blender to puree. Add salt and pepper and half and half. Increase heat to medium and stir until thickened. Serve hot.

Food Thoughts: Saying Grace

2010-12-13T10:09:00.001-06:00

Saying "grace" was a mealtime ritual growing up. At home we said, "God is good, God is great. Let us thank him for this food..." Youth group pre-meal practice included superman motions to, "Thank you God for giving us food." Every kid's favorite seems to be, "Rubadubdub, thanks for the grub." My Catholic family members repeated, "Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord."

I've never doubted that we should thank God for food but lately have been thinking about how routine it is to say "grace," especially when all that you want to do is eat the meal in front of you. And then I came across these thoughts:

Photo: Southern Living

"If I say thank you to God for every morsel of food, that transforms the food. It is no longer merely fuel for my body; it becomes a gift from God to be enjoyed and relished. Its taste and texture take on new significance."-Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, page 145

What is saying grace to you? A family ritual? Something for little kids? A personal prayer?

6 Cookies for Christmas

2010-12-10T17:22:00.002-06:00

Christmas time is cookie time, and these are my favorites. Take out a couple of sticks of butter, bake you some cookies, eat a few while they're in their most perfect state (hot out of the oven), and share with special people in your life.

Wedding Cookies
For: People Who Put Butter on Everything
What: Buttery, powder sugar-coated shortbread with pecans

Peppermint Bonbon Cookies
For: Ones Who Start Celebrating Christmas in September
What: Soft, chocolate-intense cookie filled with peppermint pieces

Pecan Squares
For: Pecan Pie Aficionados
What: Shortbread crust topped with a slightly gooey toffee-pecan mixture (Ok, they're not really cookies. But bars are the next closest thing.)

Malted Chocolate Cookies
For: Those Who Can't Eat Just One Cookie
What: Colossal cookies packed with three kinds of chocolate and a secret ingredient

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

For: Crazies Who Prefer Something Other Than Chocolate
What: Chewy cookies with crisp edges, filled with not raisins but toffee pieces

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
For: Chocoholics
What: Rich brownie-like cookies that make a festive presentation

Tilapia with Walnut Pesto

2010-12-06T17:18:00.003-06:00

You might be thinking that all I do is bake sugary things. This is not true. Last week I made fish. It had no sugar. It did bake in an oven though.

White fish officially has no flavor, so that's why you allow a crisp mixture of nuts and garlic and lemon to bring it to life. It cooks in white wine, too, which gives you an excuse to drink wine while you cook and eat.

The recipe came from a German cooking demonstration, but I don't know what makes it German. It was the "bonus" recipe that didn't come with a recipe card. Maybe I was too busy writing down the steps to hear any explanation.

Tilapia with Walnut Pesto

1 clove garlic

2/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup parsley, packed
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt
4 tilapia fillets
1 cup dry Riesling or other white wine

Place garlic in food processor; pulse to chop. Add walnuts, parsley, and lemon zest to food processor; pulse until well blended until coarse and crumbly. Pour Riesling in baking pan; place fish fillets in pan. Sprinkle salt on fish. Bake at 400 degrees 10-15 minutes or until fish is cooked.