Yea, I need a decent camera. Moving on…..

I was given this recipe by a friend, and I usually do it in the recommended sheet cake size, but for today, we went with squares.

This is the most lemony cake I’ve ever had, and I LOVES it. Hope you will too!

Triple Lemon Cake

Cake:
1 Lemon Cake Mix
1 sm. box Lemon Jello Gelatin mix
4 Eggs
2/3 c. Vegetable Oil
3/4 c. Water

Lemon Glaze
2 c. Powdered Sugar
Zest of 2 Lemons
Juice from 2 Lemons

Spray inside of 9×13 cake pan with nonstick spray.

Combine cake ingredients util well blended; pour into pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick come out of center clean. If doing smaller cakes, the time will be closer to 35-4 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, but not completely.

While the cake is cooling, combine glaze ingredients and stir util sugar is dissolved. Use a log tined fork and poke holes across the top of the entire cake. Pour ALL of the glaze over the cake, covering the entire surface. Allow glaze to soak in before eating.

Keeps in the fridge.

Recipe via Christine Cunningham, with credit to her mom, Rosie Cunningham.

Have a good holiday!

The first bread I ever tried to make was a Rosemary-Olive Oil Bread because these loaves cost $4 or more when we can find them. We really like the bread, but not the cost. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work, even after playing around with it in ways suggested by a friend who bakes bread on a regular bases. I finally put the recipe aside and started working with less fussy breads to learn the process. Once I got those down, I finally came back to this one, determined to get it down.

The first attempt came out okay, but I had forgotten that I had made some of the failed changes a part of the recipe, so the dough came out soft and flat and had a few other issues. The bread was better than previous attempts, but still not quite right.

So I made a second loaf, though I still made some other changes: I went to 1 1/2 for the dough to get a larger loaf (turned out to be not quite necessary to do that, because we ended up with a huge loaf as a result, but, we do love the bread…lol), reduced the salt (BP concerns), and had to watch the water. And that last turns out to be the key to this bread. You have to start with the smaller amount of water, and add a little at a time while doing the first knead to avoid an overly dry, stiff dough.

The result was this….

Here’s the full recipe, with the lower measurements in parenthesis, in case you’d like a smaller loaf than the monster we got.

Rosemary-Olive Oil Bread

4 ½ c. Bread or All Purpose Flour (3 c.)
2 tsp. Salt (1 1/2 tsp.)
1 ¼ – 1 ½ c. Warm Water (110-115 degrees) (3/4 – 1 1/4 c.)
1 ½ pkgs Instant Active Dry Yeast (1 pkg)
1 ½ TBL Sugar (1 TBL)
1/3 c. Olive Oil (1/4 c.)
2 ½ TBL Coarsely Chopped Fresh Rosemary (1 1/2 TBL)

Oil or butter a large bowl; set aside. Combine flours and salt in medium bowl; set aside. In another large bowl, combine 1 ¼ c. (3/4 c.) water and yeast, stirring until creamy (about 5-10 minutes); add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined. Add flours. Add more water as needed. Knead on lightly floured board until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Place in oiled bowl and turn to coat; cover with towel and let rise about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down; knead gently. Either shape into loaf and place in greased loaf pan OR shape into a ball and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet, cover with towel, and let rise another 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Remove towel, dust with flour. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

You may need to add more water than what’s listed; just keep an eye on the dough. If it’s too dry and stiff, add more, but small amounts at a time. I started with 1 1/4 c, but the dough was VERY dry, and I ended up adding at least 1/4 c. more to get a decent dough. It rose beautifully both times, which was a huge problem in my first attempts (the second rise in particular just wouldn’t happen the way it should).

Also be aware, it doesn’t rise “tall” as much as “out”, so you may want to use a loaf pan if you want a taller bread.

And here’s the loaf right out of the oven:

I attempted a more oblong than round loaf. More than likely next time I’ll use a loaf or similar tall pan to get a taller loaf. Regardless, I’m quite pleased with it. And the aroma while it was baking was wonderful. I find working with fresh rosemary a bit of a pain, but love the smell of it. And the flavor was beautiful.

When I first started making bread, I really had some problems with it. I initially started with a Rosemary-Olive Oil loaf, but it just wouldn’t rise/bake correctly.

So I went to something a little less exotic. Wheat Bread. Not whole wheat, but that was fine. The recipe was an easy one, and that’s what I needed. But I ended up with the same problems. So I hunted down information on baking bread, created a tips card, and using that card, I finally had success. The only thing I didn’t like is that the loaves seemed small, and I wanted store height bread.

So then I played with the recipe. First I tried a citrus version recommended by a friend. Didn’t go over so well with the family.

My last playing, though, was to take half the wheat and make it rye, and I increased the amount of dough by going to one and half times the recipe.

And the family loves it and the loaf is…well, here, take a look!

That loaf is fresh from the oven and, even though you can’t see it, was steaming at the time of the picture.

Easy Wheat-Rye Bread

1 1/4 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1 c. Rye Flour
2 1/4 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2c. Warm Water (between 110-115 degrees)
1 1/2 pkgs Active Dry Yeast
3 TBL Honey
3 TBL Brown Sugar
3 TBL Butter, Melted
1 1/2 TBL Milk
1 1/2 TBL Unsweetened Applesauce (opt, but adds moistness)

Oil or butter a large bowl, set aside. Combine flours and salt in a bowl; set aside. In another large bowl, combine water and yeast, stirring until creamy (about 5-10 minutes), add remaining ingredients (I usually add the sugars and applesauce first, stirring in each before adding the next) and mix until well combined. Add flours. Knead until smooth and elastic—dough will feel slightly grainy and a bit sticky, though it won’t stick to your hands—about 10-15 minutes. Make a ball and place in oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with towel, set in warm place, and let rise 40 minutes OR until doubled in size. Punch down and knead gently and lightly until smooth; shape into a loaf and place into a greased loaf pan**. Let rise 30 minutes OR until about doubled in size. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350. If it browns too quickly, cover with tinfoil. Let cool a few minutes, remove from pan, finish cooling on wire rack.

** A regular loaf pan works; it makes the bread taller and wide. A taller loaf pan would keep the top from going to wide.

The results: beautiful bread:

I actually like the flavor of the rye-wheat combo better than the wheat only. The Chef says it’s okay, like he says the wheat bread is okay; he most definitely did not think the citrus bread was okay. lol

And the smell while it was baking was wonderful.

So I think this might end up being our regular bread from now on. And here’s my tips for anyone interested.

Tips For Baking Bread

1. Watch water temp by using a thermometer. Keep it between 85 and 115 for the best results with your yeast.

2. Allow yeast and water to sit sit at least 5 minutes to activate the yeast; it should be creamy and bubbly and have a yeasty smell.

3. Salt kills yeast. Do not add salt directly to the yeast mixture. I combine it with the flours and add the flours after all other ingredients.

4. If finding a warm place to allow the dough to rise is a problem, try using the oven. Turn it on to 200 degrees and let warm up, then turn it down at least halfway to off (one place recommends turning it off completely, but I’ve found that to result in an oven that’s too cool). Place covered dough in warm oven to rise.

5. Go by how far the bread has risen, not how long it should take. If it’s not doubled, it’s not ready.

6. For the second rise, do not over-knead the bread or add too much flour. Be gentle.

7. Softer doughs rise faster. If a dough seems too stiff, add a TBL of water before the first rise. Don’t add too much water, though.

With these tips, and the fact that my other breads seem to be working out fairly consistently now, I feel just about ready to tackle the Rosemary-Olive Oil Bread. I’ll post a picture if I manage to get it right.

I was rummaging in my cupboards today and found a can of pumpkin filling and sweetened condensed milk. We’re not big pumpkin pie eaters, but I thought a pumpkin something might be a good thing to use for playing with our new ramekins, which we have yet to use for anything and don’t have ingredients for much of anything. So I looked at the recipe on the can, then I looked online, and then I combined 2 recipes to come up with this one.

1 15 oz can Pumpkin filling
1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 c. Bisquik
2 TBL. oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. allspice
dash ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350. Spray ramekins with non-stick spray. I believe my ramekins are 4 oz.

Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. You can adjust spices to your preference. Ladle filling into prepared ramekins and set them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Makes 7.

We added a little home made whipped cream, and they were pretty good. The texture is somewhere between pie and cake, but not quite either. So I’m calling them pumpkin cups for now. I’m not too sure I have the spices 100% right, but some may want more spice and some less, and since they only really affect flavor, I figure anyone else making it will play around with them anyway.

We’re not big on pumpkin in my house (never even get it for Thanksgiving), so I don’t know if we’ll make these again, but they really were pretty good.

Wednesday nights are my cooking nights because the Chef is in class, and for the last few weeks I’ve been playing with polenta. The first polenta we tried was too sweet, but the second one didn’t have much flavor. I think this week we may have found one that’s just about right.

Tonight’s dinner was cheese polenta with garlic topped with roasted honey chicken and a side of apple-pepper “slaw”. I started thinking about it last night and we put it together today. Don’t have specific measurements for some of it, but we’ll give it a shot here.

I started with the boneless chicken, which I cut into 1-2″ strips (can’t see so well in the picture since the Chef deboned chicken leg quarters and they were, um, messy? lol). I added 1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced; 1/2 c. (or more) of honey; salt and pepper to taste; and about 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. I mixed these and then let it marinate for an hour. The reason for the honey was to add some of the sweetness to the polenta when they’re combined.

Then we (my oldest daughter helped out tonight) prepped the mushrooms: washed them, cut them into 1″ slices, and combined with a little EVOO, salt, and pepper. They were then spread over a cookie sheet. The above is the mushrooms waiting to go into the oven.

Finally we prepped the slaw: 1 green bell and 1 red bell, both very thinly sliced; 1 Rome apple, also very thinly sliced; and some thinly sliced red cabbage. I mixed these in a large bowl with a little lemon juice (to keep the apple from browning). The above is the slaw waiting to be warmed up.

Now we were ready to get dinner together. Oldest started the polenta using this recipe but modified a little bit…very little bit, but a little bit (we also increased the amounts because we have 7 people to feed, lol):

2 garlic cloves, minced (we’ll be increasing this to 3 or 4 next time)
1 c polenta
2 c milk
2 c water
salt to taste
1 c shredded cheese of choice (we used colby-jack, but might try something stronger next time)

Sauté the garlic in a little EVOO until it just starts to turn brown. Whisk garlic, polenta, milk, water, and salt together in saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. After reaching a boil, turn heat to low and let sit with lid cracked for 15 minutes. Mix Parmesean into polenta.

While the polenta is cooking, place mushrooms in oven at 425 for 10-15 minutes. We found 10 to be too short.

In same pan that the garlic was sautéd in, sauté the honey chicken and onions until cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to place in bowl. Now add the “slaw” and sauté for about 5 minutes.

When ready, place some polenta on the plate, cover with some of the mushrooms, top with chicken and onions. Use tongs to add some “slaw” on the side.

I really was surprised how well this came out and at how much the kids liked it. Like I noted, we’re looking at adding more garlic and roasting the mushrooms a bit longer. Other than that, the flavors actually all worked out really well together.

I found this recipe on TasteSpotting last night, and we decided to give it a try today as a possible alternative to the standard Mozzarella Sticks. The recipe here is pretty much what was posted to TS, but I did make modifications in the procedure based on what we learned today. Changes we’ve already tried will follow the recipe, as well as a few other notes.

Puerto Rican Cheese Fritters
2 c. water
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 c. cornmeal
1 c. shredded cheese
oil for frying

Boil water and salt, remove from heat and slowly stir in cornmeal to avoid lumps, add cheese. Let cool, then place in fridge for about 30 minutes (cover to avoid having the top drying out and getting crusty). Heat oil to about 350*. Using about 2 tsp per fritter, form cornmeal mixture into oblongs about 2″ long. Fry until golden and done on the inside.

The first thing we noticed is that the cheese we chose wasn’t particularly strong enough: there wasn’t a whole lot of flavor. In fact, the fritter seemed more like a cornmeal version of hush puppies and were pretty bland. (We were trying them without any dipping sauce to get an idea on their flavor before we played with them; and we’d fry one, taste, make a few changes, then fry another.) We used queso fresco crumbling cheese, and the mild flavor of the cheese was overwhelmed by the cornmeal, at least at these measurements.

So, we increased the cheese until we had about 2 1/2 cups. We also added about 1 1/2 TBL paprika and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper. While all this helped, we’re thinking about adding some cubano peppers. We still have some of the dough left, so we’ll make the adjustment and I’ll edit to indicate how it came out. We like to taste the food we’re making without overwhelming it with too much spice, but this one just might need the spice to work out.

The other thing I noticed was that you definitely have to watch the oil temp and the thickness of the fritters or they won’t cook through.

Even if we tinker with this recipe enough to where we like it at home, I’m not sure it will land in SaxyK’s. I don’t think it would work well as a catering recipe since it’s definitely a serve hot recipe, but it might work in the restaurant.

Or the Chef may just want to stick with Mozzarella Sticks.

ETA: So we tried adding the peppers (1 each poblano and cubano), and the things fell apart in the oil. don’t know if we’ll be trying again. We’ll see.

One of the things we’re already working on for the new restaurant is soups. We know we’re going to use a Minestrone we only minutely modified (and I’ll be happy to share at some point), and I’m working on a chowder. But one soup we’ve put together, and are still tinkering with a bit, is a loaded potato soup that started off as a meld of two other potato soups. Here’s the original recipe that I came up with by combining two other soups and needing to use a fennel bulb:

Chunky Potato, Ham, & Fennel Soup
3 med. potatoes, peeled, cut into small cubes, & cooked
2-3 TBL olive oil
3/4 c. red onion, finely chopped
1/2 lg fennel bulb, finely chopped
3 TBL all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
3 c. chicken stock
1 c. milk
2 c. chopped/cubed ham
1 c. shredded kolby-jack cheese (or cheese of choice)

While potatoes drain, heat olive oil in large soup pot; add onion and fennel. Saute until soft. Add flour and stir until smooth; add pepper and stir for about 1 minute. Add potatoes, stock, and milk; stir well. Bring to boil and add ham. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Pour into bowls and top with cheese.

Since this first incarnation, we’ve doubled the ingredients (just because that’s what we needed to do to cover our family); added sour cream, bacon, parsley, and scallions; changed the cheese to sharp cheddar; and changed the name (because this is planned as a SaxyK’s offering, no specific amounts are being listed).

Today, we’re trying the recipe in a crock pot and without the fennel. We have yet to have this soup the same way twice: first we had it like the above, then we had it with the changes just noted plus I had to play around with the milk/stock ratios and use water for some of the liquid because we didn’t have enough stock, today it’s going into the crock pot, and the Chef would like to try it with broccoli at some point. One of these days we’ll settle on the final recipe, although it’s likely to be a little different at the restaurant even then since my Chef is like most chefs and doesn’t measure much of anything.

As for the soup, which is now being called Loaded Potato and Ham Soup with Fennel, it’s a really nice, hardy soup. Perfect for cold winter days, low pantries (if you minus the fennel, though that’s not expensive at all if you go to a farmer’s market like we do, most everything is a staple for most families), and leftover holiday ham. And with the potatoes, ham, and veggies, it’s also pretty much a complete meal.

This was my first time playing with soup, and everyone loved it (especially the second version). Considering how I’m not really a natural like my Chef, I’m pretty pleased it came out so good.

A few years ago we started getting Vanilla Bean Cheesecake for our Christmas dinner dessert. That thing is a pile of heaven on a plate, and I rarely shared any leftovers. This year, however, we can’t afford the $35-55 price tag, so I decided to make a cheesecake.

I have never made a cheesecake before.

First I searched around the net for cheesecake recipes. There must be a billion. I brought my choices down to three: one found at TasteSpotting, one with sour cream in it, and a Cheesecake Factory Vanilla Bean clone. After some hemming and hawing, and buying the ingredients for the sour cream cheesecake, I ended up deciding on the clone. What can I say: I love the vanilla bean. I also wanted to do the chocolate mousse topping for it and located a recipe for chocolate mousse. My decoration: crushed candy canes.

The cheesecake wasn’t too bad. I actually managed to pick up a springform pan for $10 (got a $5 discount with my Kroger card). I think I overcooked it a little: the sides are a bit dark. The top cracked and it sank when it cooled. It ended up being…ummm…a little unattractive. But it’s my first and I figured my mousse would cover at least the sunk in, cracked top.

Shouldn’t have counted on that. The mouse most definitely did not work: the chocolate got too hard in the fridge and then nothing set up when everything was finally combined. I ended up dumping it all, putting the Cheesecake int he fridge and going to bed (it WAS 3 A.M.).

This morning, on twitter, someone suggested putting sour cream on it and letting it soak in. I figured it wouldn’t soak in since the cheesecake was pretty chilled by then. But she did spark an idea, and I located a Sour Cream Cream Cheese Frosting. It whipped up nicely, filled the indention, and was the perfect canvass for my topping. Because my mousse failed and I still had some white chocolate chips, we crushed some of those up and added that to the crushed candy. It’s still not the prettiest cheesecake on the block, but it looks much better, and it is my first cheesecake.

And it tasted pretty good. Not heaven on a plate, but good enough.

I do think I want something different for the crust. It came out a bit dry. And I might want to try some sour cream or lemon or something in the cheesecake. I’ll have to think about that. The Cheesecake Factory vanilla Bean doesn’t have that tiny zing of tartness and I love it, but I also love that tiny zing of tartness you can find in some cheesecakes. lol

“Cheesecake Factory” Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (clone)
crust:
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 TBL melted, unsalted butter
filling:
1 1/2 lb. cream cheese, softened (3 – 8 oz tubs/blocks)
1 c. sugar
2 TBL flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 vanilla beans
4 eggs
2 TBL heavy cream
Procedure:
Heat oven to 350*. In bowl, combine crumbs, sugar, cinnamon. Add butter, mix well. Press evenly into bottom and 1/2″ up sides of 9″ springform pan. Bake about 8 minutes or until golden brown; let cool. In large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add sugar a few tablespoons at a time, then flour and vanilla. Add eggs and cream, beating on low speed until combined. Split open vanilla beans and scrape seeds and insides into batter (you can reserve pods for garnish), combine. Pour batter into springform pan and bake in the middle of oven until set—about 55-70 minutes (I did mine for 60, and I think it came out too dark). Center should be slightly soft. Remove from oven, loosen ring, and let cool in pan. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Remove outer ring.

Sour Cream Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 c. sour cream
2/3 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
Combine ingredients in large bowl and mix until well blended.

White Chocolate Mousse
1 c. white chocolate chips
1/4 c. water
2/3 c. sugar
1 c. whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Heat water in saucepan with sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate chips and melt until smooth. Set pan in cold water to cool then place in refrigerator until thoroughly chilled. Whisk smooth. Beat cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form; fold into cold chocolate.

I’ve included the mousse recipe even though it was a disaster and I’m not sure it will set up the way I need it to for a cheesecake. I plan to try again. Since the Chef would eventually like me to bake for his restaurant, I need to work on these things until I get them right, right?