July 28 - August 3

Th. 28 - Veggie Delight*, Garlic Bread
Fr. 29 - Ham Sandwiches, Tater Rounds
Sa. 30 - Spaghetti, Salad
Su. 31 - Beef Stew
Mo. 1 - Saucy Pork and Pepper, Rice
Tu. 2 - Mojo Chicken, Black Beans and Rice
We. 3 - Grilled Pork Chops, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli


*Sauted Zucchini and Roma Tomatoes over Penne Pasta 

Zebra Cake - Cross Section

 To make a cake with zebra stripes on the inside, start with a white cake mix and split the batter in half.  Add cocoa and a little oil to one half.  I can't say how much, just taste a dab and see if you like it.  Alternate pools of white and chocolate batter on top of each other.  When you are done, shake the pan gently to get the batter to the edges of the pan.  In hindsight, I would have reserved more white than the chocolate because it seemed like the chocolate batter overwhelmed the cake.  They were also a little flatter than I'd hoped, but that didn't bother the birthday girl :)

Peppermint Patty Sandwich Cookies

I am not a big fan of peppermint on its own, but mix it with chocolate and you've got me interested.  These cookies are super yummy and easy to make.

For the cookies:
1 package devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
granulated sugar

For the filling:
4oz cream cheese, softened
4 TBSP butter, softened
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix cookie ingredients in a large bowl and blend well.  Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.  Flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar.  (They are super sticky, so you will need a good coating of sugar on the glass.)  Bake for 7-9 minutes or until tops are cracked.  Cool slightly before removing to wire racks.

Combine cream cheese, butter and and peppermint in a bow and beat, slowly add the powdered sugar.  I made mine green because I thought it looked minty :)  I used my 1 1/2 disher (not quite filling it) and put a mound of filling on the bottom cookie, then I placed the top cookie over the mound and pressed down while twisting.  Alternately, you could spread it with a knife, but I think twisting is more fun (and faster).

Refrigerated in an air tight container.  Makes 18 sandwich cookies.

Moist Cocoa Lentil Cake

I'm not a huge fan of lentils - or more likely - I haven't found a recipe that makes them taste good yet.  Or I hadn't...until today:

I still haven't discovered a savory recipe that makes me crave lentils, but this cake was very good, very moist, and totally did not taste like lentils.

Moist Cocoa Lentil Cake

2 cups boiling water
2/3 cup washed lentils
1/4 tsp salt
----------------------------
1 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
 4 large eggs
2 cups sifted flour
4 TBS cocoa
1 1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

Add lentils and salt to boiling water. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Add 1/2 cup liquid back to lentils. Make puree in blender or food processor. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. Mix sugar, oil, eggs and beat well for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and pureed lentils to creamed mixture. Sift and add remaining ingredients. Beat for an additional 2 minutes. Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and frost.

That's Sweet: Dulce de Leche Cookies

We had a fundraiser dessert this week and I was charged with making the desserts. Rob wanted them to be fancy, "like from a restaurant menu...molten chocolate something or other...." I thought that was a little impractical, since everything had to be prepared in advance and moved to another location. So I made Bekah's Strawberry Poke Cake, Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake (somehow eaten without a picture), and Dulce de Leche cookies, which I will detail here.  My idea was to go in three different directions flavor wise and texture wise.  It would have been nice for one of them to be hot too, but no one complained

(Bekah's) Strawberry Poke Cake - poked full of pureed strawberries, yes indeed.  One lady ate some and told me I should go into dessert catering. 

The cheesecake was round and chocolate with an Oreo cookie crust and 14 Oreo cookies around the sides - it also had a sour cream topping on it that pooled in the center even though it was supposed to be spread evenly over the top. But...it still looked pretty nice.  I learned a neat trick while I was baking it.  The middle just seemed to be refusing to set and the outside was definitely done and I found a tip online to just turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in it while it cooled off.  It worked!  The cheesecake was perfectly done!

Princess Sonia Lee stand guard over the tempting Dulce de Leche Cookies.

My neighbor Laura gave me the "recipe" for making these cookies.  It's so easy...well I was busy and needed to get to some other things, so I had the kids make them.

Step one:  open a package of Vanilla Wafers - it is not necessary for them to be any particular brand of wafers.

Step two:  Spread a small amount of dulce de leche on one wafer and top it with a 2nd wafer.

Do they sell dulce de leche in other parts of the US?  My store had 4 different brands.

Step Three:  Toss the little sandwich in powdered sugar.  Voila.

I've made these three times since Laura told me about them.  This time I didn't have powdered sugar on hand, so we put some regular sugar in the food processor with a little corn starch.  I think it worked much better than regular powdered sugar.

That's Sweet: Mango Lime Sorbet

August is a time in south Florida where the buy one get one sale on mangoes is a bad deal - more than likely someone near you has a tree with a thousand tri-colored fruit dangling from it. My next door neighbor brought me two enormous mangoes - and since we were already set for fruit snacks this week, I made it into sorbet - Mango Lime Sorbet!


This couldn't get any easier:

Mango Lime Sorbet

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 limes
2 enormous ripe mangoes
a pinch of salt

Make a simple syrup with the water, sugar and zest of one of the limes. Set aside to cool. Juice the other two limes and dice the mangoes (not quite like any other fruit, for a lesson see here). Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree. Chill the puree before pouring it into your ice cream maker and process according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Stick the prepared sorbet into the freezer to firm up, thusly:My lovely ice cream storage container is actually a box that came with our Wing-it meant for tossing fried chicken wings in hot sauce. Since you can do that in a bowl, I like re-purposing it as an ice cream box! I think an hour or so in the freezer improves the texture, but if you let it freeze solid, you will need to set it out for a little while before you can scoop it.

That's Sweet : Easy Red Berry Pie

For the record, this is a modification of Berry Smoothie Pie, but I didn't follow the recipe exactly and my blender is no more, so I couldn't make it a "smoothie" pie, mine was more of a chunky berry pie! And it is super good and super easy!

1/3 cup of cranberry juice cocktail
1 .3 oz. package strawberry jello
1 6 oz. container of raspberry yogurt
2-3 cups fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
1 graham cracker crust

Place juice in a microwavable dish and sprinkle jello over the top. Wait 1 minute, then heat on high for 40 seconds in the microwave. Stir and let stand 1 more minute.

Combine jello mixture with yogurt and berries and pour into crust. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

That's Sweet: AB's PB Cookies

Alisa Beth didn't invent this cookie recipe but she did pass it along via Facebook, much to the delight of my parents and brother, who were here when I made them - they are some very yummy peanut butter cookies.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
PLUS: 1 TBSP Sugar for rolling unbaked cookies in

Combine flour, soda, b. powder, and salt in a bowl, wisk and set aside. Cream butter and peanut butter, add sugars and cream. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. Add flour slowly at low speed, stir in chocolate chips. Portion dough out into rounded tablespoons (I use a disher) and roll in sugar. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes - remove to cool even if they do not appear to be done, they are. Let cool on the pan for a minute or two before removing.

Modified from This source, which modified the recipe from This source.

That's Sweet!: Doughnut Bread Pudding

The proof to me that doughnuts are actually not that bad is that they are not that good the next day - but stale doughnut owners need not despair! Behold: DOUGHNUT BREAD PUDDING!



All you need is:
4-6 stale doughnuts (any variety)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup evaporated milk (sweeter) or buttermilk (tangier)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Grease a square baking dish. Cut or tear stale doughnuts into small pieces and place in dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over doughnuts. Refrigerate overnight (or wait at least 15 minutes for the doughnuts to absorb the liquid.)

Preheat oven to 350. In a pan large enough to hold the square baking dish, lay out a dish rag where you plan to set the dish, then put the dish on the rag and pour water into the larger pan - enough to come up about 1/2 inch or so on outside of the dish.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until it "tests" done with a knife.

We used about half and half chocolate cake doughnuts and glazed doughnuts.

That's Sweet!: Little Black Cupcakes

A church potluck gave me the excuse to try one of the gourmet cupcake recipes Taste of Home had in their special cupcake issue. Their official name is Texas Chocolate Cupcakes, but the lady said her husband called them Little Black Cupcakes. They are totally homemade - no cake mix required and they are super moist!

Texas Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, cubed
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix flour, sugar, salt and soda, set aside. In a heavy saucepan, combine cocoa, water, oil and butter, bring to a boil. Slowly add cocoa mixture to the flour mixture, mix well. Combine eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and slowly add to the mix. Mix well, pour into muffin cups (3/4 full, batter is very loose) and bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. The tops will look wet when they are done, so poke one with a toothpick to check for doneness.

Eat as is...or cool completely and ice with caramel icing:

Caramel Icing
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup milk
2 to 2-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

In a heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter and milk, stir over low heat until the sugar is all dissolved (it does not matter if the butter is melted or not), then cook over medium without stirring for about 3-5 minutes or until it starts to bubble in the middle. Remove from heat, pour into the bowl of your mixer and allow to cool to room-temp before adding confectioners' sugar, beat well.

The caramel icing is part of the original recipe, but I liked the cakes better than the icing and I think when I make them again, I will skip the icing altogether.

(Note: I recommend using cupcake liners to bake these in, but I ran out, so the one I took a picture of had a homemade, parchment paper liner that fell off when I took it out of the pan.)

That's Sweet!: Poke Cake

For a 4th of July BBQ with friends, we brought dessert - poke cake! Poke cake is very easy to make and really changes a regular store bought cake mix.

Poke Cake
1 yellow or white cake, baked and cooled
1 4 oz pkg jello (flavor is your choice)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
Cool Whip
Fruit Garnish (if you so choose)

Using a skewer or a toothpick or a thin knife, poke holes all over the top of your baked and cooled cake. Dissolve Jello in boiling water, then add cold water. Then pour the jello over the cake letting it seep into all the holes. Refrigerate overnight.

Top with Cool Whip and garnish with fruit as desired.

I used cherry jello and garnished with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries.

Very yummy and very easy!

That's Sweet!: Angel Food Cake

If I have ever made one in my life, I cannot remember it, so I think it is safe to say I made my first angel food cake today.

Certainly the first in my married life - I did not have the right pan before, but my Aunt Sib set it aside for me out of my Nanny's things and my parents brought it to me when they came to visit. This picture is of the cake's "good side". You are supposed to let them cool upside down, so the egg foam can "set", but it was really hot and I dropped it, so half of the cake kind of fell, but this one side is pretty.

I used Alton Brown's recipe.
The cake was served with strawberry sauce (pureed strawberries and sugar) and met with much approval :)

In the Cookie Jar: Giant Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Caleb helped me make these ENORMOUS cookies yesterday afternoon. They call for dried cherries and freshly grated orange peel. That is what I used, but I saw cherry flavored cranberries in the store and I think that they would have worked well in place of the cherries and peel combo.

The cookies are a little dry. They have a LOT of oatmeal in them, so I think they are more dunking cookies than anything else. I think they might work well as biscotti, but that is just a hypothesis.

Giant Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons apple pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the oats, flour, apple pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in cherries and orange peel.

Drop by 1/3 cupfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Press to form a 4-in. circle. Bake at 375° for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool. Yield: 1 dozen.

That's Sweet: Boy Scout Peach Cobbler

Rob taught Caleb how to make peach cobbler the way he did in Boy Scout camp. I think this is more of a dump cake, but "a rose is a rose" as they say and it is quite yummy.


Boy Scout Peach Cobbler

1 Jiffy Yellow Cake Mix
1 Can Sliced Peaches in Heavy Syrup
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
White Sugar

Line a loaf pan with foil and dump in the cake mix. Pour the peaches over and stir to combine. Top with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little white sugar - all to taste. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes checking for doneness along the way.

Rob said they cooked this in a dutch oven over coals at camp.

That's Sweet: 10-Minute Toffee Treats

This recipe comes courtesy of my talented mother-in-law, who has co-authored a book full of Christmas recipes, ideas, and stories including this amazingly simple yet impressively delicious candy recipe:

10-Minute Toffee Treats

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, then line with a single layer of saltines. In saucepan bring butter and sugar to boil. Boil 3 minutes. Immediately our over saltines. Spread. Bake for only 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Wait 4 minutes and spread. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool and break into pieces.

Caleb's New "Toy"

Along with all the toys and clothes my parents got for Caleb and Annalise for Christmas, they also gave each of them a J.C. Penney gift card. Besides new clothes, I have enough hand-me-downs for Caleb to keep him dressed until he starts kindergarten. So I didn't feel too guilty for asking him this loaded question:

"Caleb, do you want clothes or do you want an ice cream maker?"

His answer ;), "AN ICE CREAM MAKER!!!"

So here it is, Caleb's Ice Cream Maker:



And if it's still working when he goes to college, he can take it with him!

Well, today we made some AMAZING strawberry ice cream with fresh Florida strawberries.

The ingredients:
1 pint of strawberries
1 cup sugar - divided
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

First slice the strawberries and stir in the lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar, allow to mascerate for 2 hours.

Next drain the juice off the strawberries, combine juice, 2/3 cup sugar, and milk and stir until the sugar is disolved. Add cream and vanilla, follow ice cream maker instructions.

This is the cream mixture at the beginning of the churn. (Note: We added a tiny bit of red food coloring.)

In LESS THAN 30 MINUTES, it became soft serve ice cream!

We added the berry slices with 5 minutes to go in the machine.

After spending the rest of the day firming up in the freezer...isn't this the prettiest scoop of strawberry ice cream!

Caleb takes the inaugural bite!

Caleb says, "Ice cream...
"...GOOD!"

Homemade Starbucks

I usually don't see the rational in paying more than $3 for 10oz of coffee, but Rob babysat Caleb for me on Tuesday morning while I went to Publix and I wanted to suprise him with a Mocha - his favorite. While I was waiting in line I was tempted by the rows of fancy danishes and coffee cake. One option was Chocolate Cinnamon Bread - and it was calling my name! But I resisted and was rewarded, because at the pick up end of the counter, there were little recipe cards for Chocolate Cinnamon Bread. Caleb and I made it today and WOW! It's really not bread - more like a chocolate pound cake with a hint of cinnamon. Here's how to make it at home:

Chocolate Batter:
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temp.
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coca
pinch ground ginger & cloves

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time - wait til each egg is no longer visible before adding the next. Combine flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking soda & baking powder - add to creamed mixture a couple of spoonfuls at a time until well mixed. Combine liquid ingredients, pour in and mix well. Pour batter into a loaf pan lined with parchment. Combine crust ingredients and sprinkle liberally over the batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool, remove from pan, serve slices with coffee - Starbucks, 7-11, I don't think it matters at this point. ;)

That's Sweet! : Clean and Easy Beignets

I discovered this trick by accident yesterday. I was making Curry Chicken Pot Pie, which calls for puff pastry on top. I had left over puff pastry and didn't want to throw it away, so I cut it into little squares and put it on a greased piece of foil. I popped it in the oven for about 13 minutes. While they puffed and browned, inspiration struck. Why not dust those little puffy squares with powdered sugar? So when they came out of the oven, I did.

Without mixing dough or messing with boiling oil, I made little puffy sweet bites that taste remarkably like Beignets. Served warm with a cup of coffee, you might just think you're in New Orleans!

In the Cookie Jar : Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

I made these cookies twice during the holidays. They were so good; I think I’m going to celebrate Christmas in July, just to have an excuse to make them again! They’re kind of a cookie version of Peppermint Patties.

Making pinwheel cookies isn’t really hard, but it is a little trickier than drop cookies. The first batch I made weren’t very round (but they still looked nice). When I made the second batch, I slid the dough roll into a long glass container I have for storing pasta, then put the whole thing in the fridge. They were much more round and spiral-y.

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies*

First make regular sugar cookie dough – recipe follows:

3 c. flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 c. unsalted butter (softened)
1 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk

Sift dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter and sugar, add egg and milk, beat to combine. With mixer on low, gradually add dry ingredients. Beat until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Now instead of rolling this out and cutting it into Christmas trees…

Split the dough into two roughly equal balls in two separate bowls. In Bowl A – add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 3 ounces of melted unsweetened chocolate – squish with (clean) hands until all the dough is chocolate colored. In Bowl B – add 1tsp peppermint extract, 4 or 5 crushed candy canes (about ½ cup), and the yolk of 1 egg – again squish with (clean) hands until fully mixed.

Cover both dough balls and refrigerate for 5 minutes. Then, roll both dough balls out to ¼ inch thickness (roll on powdered sugar instead of flour). Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate dough and press around the edges. Roll dough into a log, wrap in wax paper and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat over to 375, cut dough into ½ inch slices and place cookies 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet (*using parchment is a good idea, the melted candy cane bits really adhere to the baking sheet). Bake for 6 minutes, pull out the pan, turn it around and bake 7 more minutes. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes, move to wire rack to cool completely.

Yields: not nearly enough

*Alton Brown, Food Network.

Happy Thanksgiving : Sugared Cranberries

These little treats are sweet and tangy, they look great garnishing cakes, pies, or gelatins, and they are so easy to make. All you need is:

1 part granulated sugar
1 part water
1 part cranberries
Superfine sugar (AKA regular sugar that you ran through the food processor)

First make a simple syrup by mixing the water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Stir so that the sugar dissolves and then bring it just to a simmer (**DON'T LET IT BOIL**). Take it off the heat, stir in the cranberries, then pour all of it into a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it set overnight (or at least 8 hours).

Drain the syrup off the berries (don't rinse them!) and place the superfine sugar in a shallow dish. Add the cranberries and gently shake the dish so that they roll around and get coated in sugar. Move them to a pan so they can lay in a single layer. Assuming you aren't storing them in a bathroom (and that it isn't August in Florida), they will dry in about 1 hour.

The heat from the syrup will cook the cranberries just enough (if you boil them they will pop). Letting them sit in the syrup will make the sugar stick. The final result is a candied little berry that has a crispy sweet bite to contrast a cranberry's tartness. Trust me, you can't eat just one!

Writing in Chocolate

I discovered a new way to melt chocolate and use it for decorating. Chocolate melts at a very low temperature, which means you should never just put it in a pot and stick that pot on a burner. You can melt it in the microwave, but you have to pull it out every few seconds to stir and check it. The best way (most of the time) is to use a double boiler. Since you need very little heat you can boil the water, turn off the burner and then set the top of the boiler with the chocolate. You don't have to be there to check it or stir it, a few minutes later it will be ooey gooey.

I needed to melt chocolate, then put the melted chocolate in a baggie, snip off the end and "draw" with the chocolate. The double boiler was fine, but it wasted a lot of chocolate transfering it to the bag. So the next time I was in this situation I dropped some chocolate chips in a baggie and took out a dish rag. I got the dish rag wet and rang it out, then popped the rag into the microwave for about 30 seconds. Then I took the steaming hot rag and wrapped it around the baggie. Minutes later, the chocolate was melted in the bag! Voila! And no mess!