Favorite Yellow Cake - Tasty Tuesday!

My birthday was Saturday.  And if I want a cake, I have to make it myself.  Since I was already making chocolate chip cookie cupcakes for a friend's daughter's birthday party, I wasn't feeling super creative on what I wanted for myself.  I just wanted something I knew I could make easily to take to the Northwestern tailgate.  The answer is deliciously simple: my favorite yellow cake.  It's super quick to throw together, and it tastes so good!

Favorite Yellow Cake

Ingredients:
1 c butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c sugar
4 eggs
3 c sifted flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 c milk
1 t vanilla extract
1 t almond extract  (if you have none, go with 2 t vanilla)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your pans either by using the lazy man's way out (Pam) or butter and flouring them.  You can use a 9x13 pan or 3 9 inch rounds.  Guess which I usually do....

Beat together the butter and sugar until they are fluffy and lightened in texture, just as you do with most recipes.  It is important that the butter be room temperature.  When it's cold, it doesn't fluff as well, and you don't get the same light texture to your cake.  Trust me.

Add your eggs one at a time.  Beat well between each addition.  You want the light texture from your eggs, too, but you don't want to overbeat these, so don't leave your mixer on for minutes at a time.

Add the salt and baking powder, mixing well.  Add 1 cup of the flour and stir gently.  This is when I stop with the electric mixer and move to a large spatula to ensure I don't overmix the batter, which results in bubbles in my cake and a too dense, crumby texture.  Add half the milk, as well as the vanilla and almond extract.  Mix with your spatula until incorporated, stirring from the bottom to the top.  Add another cup of flour, stirring again.  Add the remaining milk, stir.  Add the last of the flour and stir until just combined.

Pour your batter into your prepared pans.  Bake in the 350 degree oven for 24 minutes for the rounds or 30-33 minutes for the 9x13 pan, testing to ensure the middle is baked before removing the cakes.

Let cool for ten minutes in the pan, then turn out to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.  Frost as desired and eat within a day or two.  I made a mocha frosting for this that was awesome.  It's super easy to make frosting and so forgiving.  One day I will make a video showing how to rescue frosting from various issues because no matter how much I've accidentally put in too much milk or powdered sugar or whatever, I can always bring it back to a wonderful frosting - and you can, too, if you have the confidence.

Mocha frosting?  A little espresso, half a stick of butter, half a cup or so of cocoa powder, a couple tablespoons of milk, and 2-3 c powdered sugar.  Mix together the butter and sugar, add the milk, add the cocoa powder and espresso and mix again.  Then beat until it's fluffy.  Adjust your ratios until you like the texture, then frost immediately.

Oh, and then sing happy birthday to me.  Loudly, please.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes - Tasty Tuesday

I know, I know... it's not Tuesday.  I bet you thought I forgot about posting my usual Tuesday recipe.  Believe me, I tried.  Unfortunately, I had a stomach bug, and writing about food was painful - literally.  Fortunately, I'm feeling at least moderately better today, so I still get my post up.

This week is another focus on sweet treats.  I'm grateful that Mister Man's school doesn't only still allow students to bring in birthday treats, but the treats can be homemade.  I know this is becoming more and more rare and that there are plenty of people who have an issue with it, but we don't do sweets often, so I'm fine with it.

This year, he told me that he didn't care what kind of cupcakes I made for school "because they're always yummy, Mommy."  And he'd already put in a special request for apple cupcakes for his birthday party.  And apparently that's another recipe I need to post -  they were awesome, although some of the eight and nine year olds' palates weren't quite ready for them.

So what did I do for school?  I made chocolate chip cookie cupcakes - the best of both worlds!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1 1/4 c brown sugar, separated
1 t vanilla, separated,
2 eggs
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c flour
1 c chocolate chips

Directions:
In a bowl, beat together the butter and 3/4 c of the brown sugar until it is lightened in color and fluffy.  Add one egg and 1/2 t of vanilla, and beat again for another minute.  Add the baking soda and salt and mix again.  Add the flour and stir until just combined.  This will be much thicker than your usual cupcake batter, but you did it right - don't worry!

Set up your cupcake tins with liners, and fill each liner about half full of the cupcake batter.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  While these are baking, start the chocolate chip cookie topping.

In another bowl (or the same one if you're feeling like washing fewer dishes), mix together the last 1/2 cup of brown sugar, the second egg, and a pinch of salt.  Beat at high speed until it's formed almost a meringue.  This will take a few minutes, and it will be very runny.

Stir in the chocolate chips and other 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  When the cupcakes have finished their 15 minutes in the oven, turn the oven up to 425 degrees.  Spoon a dollop of the topping onto each cupcake.

Bake the cupcakes at 425 for another 10 minutes.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan before frosting.  When you frost them, keep in mind that the topping really is like a meringue and will crack if you put too much pressure on it.  Instead, pipe frosting on, or do a ganache that is really liquidy when you apply it to keep it from ruining your cupcakes.

Yum!

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Apple Cider Donuts - Tasty Tuesday!

I had one cooking goal this fall.  Well, one that's specific to this fall anyway: to make apple cider donuts.  I absolutely adore them, and it's one of those treats that I buy every year.  Why I haven't made them, I don't know.  I've made pumpkin donuts before, and they aren't hard... they just make a ton of donuts.

So this past weekend, I set out to make my donuts.  I was originally going to make the traditional round donuts with the holes in them until I realized that I prefer eating the little "holes" and that the round donuts are not my friend.  Yes, this is an easy recipe - and I made it dairy free so Little Miss could enjoy it, but it wasn't originally so (see notes for the changes).

I've shared them with several of my friends, and I have half the recipe sitting in my fridge to make later today.  They're awesome.  And fun.  And oh what a special treat, right?

Apple Cider Donuts

Ingredients:
2 c apple cider
1 c sugar
1/4 c butter, room temperature (or butter substitute for dairy free)
1/2 c buttermilk (or rice/soy/coconut milk with about 2 T mayonnaise - trust me)
2 eggs
3 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
Additional sugar and cinnamon for rolling post frying

Directions:
Reduce the apple cider.  This will take about a half hour or more, and you can do it in advance then stick it in the fridge for when you're ready to make donuts.  My husband also decided this was a really good topping for ice cream.  Just sayin'.  Boil the apple cider until it's reduced to about 1/4 cup.  It will be slightly thicker and much darker than when it started, but don't burn it.

When you're ready to make the donuts themselves, measure out the butter and place it into a mixing bowl.  Personally, I love using my special liquid/dry measuring cup for items like butter that tend to stick in a regular measuring cup - honey, mayonnaise, etc are much easier in this, too.

Beat the butter with the sugar, just like your normal baking recipe.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well until combined.  Add the reduced cider and buttermilk, and beat again.   Add the cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, then mix until fully incorporated.

At about this point, you'll want to start heating your oil.  You want a wide pan, deep enough to hold a couple inches of oil.  Heat on medium high to 350 degrees.

While the oil is heating, add the flour and stir until just combined.  Flour your working surface with extra flour, and pull out a clump of dough.  Carefully roll it in the flour until you can work with it and create a snake like you did in kindergarten with clay.  Using a knife or a board scraper, cut off half inch sections of dough.

When you think the oil is hot enough, drop in a test dough ball.  You want it to immediately start bubbling around your dough.  If it doesn't, your oil isn't hot enough.  Pull it out, and try again in a few minutes.

Place several donuts at a time, but be sure there is plenty of room for them to move and expand.  They will take only a minute or so to fry on each side before you need to flip them over.  A fork or slotted spoon or chopstick works perfectly for this.

While they are frying on the first side, prepare your finishing station.  On a cookie sheet, place a wire rack.  Atop the wire rack, lay paper towels so that the grease can fully drain from the donuts.  Prepare a bowl with 1 c sugar and 2 t cinnamon to roll your donuts in after they've drained for a few minutes.

Now you're ready to start the assembly line.  Fry a few, flip.  Add some more while the first ones are frying on their second side.  You'll know they're ready to flip when the bubbles start reaching the top of the donut and the sides are a beautiful golden brown.

Pull them out with a slotted spoon when they're done, and add some more.  Let the donuts cool and drain for a few minutes before rolling them in the cinnamon sugar and placing them on a separate plate. Keep frying, rolling more donuts, flipping, and draining until the donut dough is all gone.

The donuts are awesome still warm, but they will keep in a tightly sealed container with a paper towel under them once they've cooled for up to three days.  If they last that long.  If you don't want to make all your donuts at once, you can refrigerate your dough for a couple days.  Make sure you bring it to room temperature - or close - before you fry them, though.  If batter is too cold, it will absorb the grease before frying and will be a much heavier and not as yummy donut.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Tortilla Soup - Tasty Tuesday!

So yes, I've posted a tortilla soup recipe before.  And it's good.  But I gotta say, this one is way easier. And just as yummy.  And the wee ones liked it better, possibly because I put fewer "spicy" ingredients in it.

This is one of those "recipes" that I made in desperation.  I knew I was going to be running around all yesterday afternoon and was going to walk in the door long enough to drop the wee ones off for dinner before heading out again.  Welcome to my life.  If I didn't want them eating fast food (and I didn't), I'd have to have dinner ready for my husband.  That meant something in the crock pot, and that's where I drew a blank.

I literally tossed four frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot while I debated what to make.  I had tomatoes, so I added two cans of that.  And some chicken broth.  Before I knew it, I'd made tortilla soup with less than five minutes' prep time.  No joke.

Of course, neither of the wee ones would want to try it if they knew what was in there.  My secret?  I had them close their eyes and then smell the deliciousness wafting from the crock pot.  Both agreed it smelled awesome.  And voila, they tried, ate, and loved the soup.  Yay!

Yes, I have a photo of the soup in a bowl.  I don't have any photos of me making it because, honestly, they aren't pretty.  And this is so easy that it doesn't even need photos.  Seriously.

Crock Pot Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
4 chicken good size chicken breasts - yes, I used frozen because it's what I had; use fresh or frozen
2 cans diced tomatoes, the 14.5 ounce size
3 c chicken broth
1 can enchilada sauce - I used mild because it was for the wee ones, but use your favorite
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 c frozen corn
2 t salt
1 1/2 t cumin
2 tortillas
oil
Optional: chilis, 1 t chili powder, juice of a lemon

Directions:
Seriously.  This is the easiest ever.  Put your chicken in the crock pot.  Add the tomatoes.  Add the chicken broth.  Chop your onion and add it.  Dice  your garlic and add it.  Add the enchilada sauce.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or me version: on high for four hours (because I had the frozen chicken, remember?) then on low for 2 hours after that.

Pull the chicken from the soup, and gently shred it.  The meat will literally fall apart, it's so tender and yummy.  I just used the back of a spatula to shred it.  Add the chicken to the crock pot again, and add the cumin, then stir.  Add your corn and salt, and stir again and you're done.

If you're using the optional ingredients, go ahead and add the chilis and/or chili powder at the beginning.  The lime juice gets added just before serving.  What else would you include?

To add the tortilla strips to make it truly a tortilla soup, brush them lightly with oil.  Place one atop the other and cut into thin strips, then cut the strips into the length you like.  Place them on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or a sil pat.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes until they're browning and crispy.  Place them atop your soup as you serve it (if you like sour cream, I've heard that's good, too, but it's never in my house because I don't like it personally).  You can store the extras on the counter in a sealed container for 3 days or so.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Cream Of Celery Soup - Tasty Tuesday!

It's cold in Chicago now.  Our beautiful days of sunshine and 70s are gone.  It's no longer easy, comfortable, or even possible to go outside without a coat.  In my mind, we've officially entered Soup Season.  Earlier this week, I made my Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, and it was good.  Last night, I did a new one, and it was awesomely yummy and again perfectly healthy.

Interestingly, my Cream of Celery Soup doesn't require any cream or milk.  And since I was in the process of doing a 14 day gluten free challenge, I was happy to make this gluten free, too.  Potato does an amazing job of making a beautiful thick texture and a creamy taste.  I've used this technique before with my potato and corn chowder that has barely any milk in it.  It feels wrong calling it "cream of" when there's no cream or milk, but this is exactly what it tastes like.

And this soup was good.  Even my husband who doesn't like celery ate it, and Little Miss kept taking spoonfuls from my bowl after she finished hers.  That's a good sign, right?

Cream of Celery Soup

Ingredients:
6 good size celery stalks (about a pound, but my digital scale broke, so I'm guesstimating)
1 medium baking potato
2 T oil or butter
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
3/4 c dry wine
4 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock to make vegan)
1/2 t nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Chop your celery into small pieces.  I cut my stalks in half lengthwise (after washing them well) and then chopped them into 1/2 inch pieces or so.  In a heavy soup pan, heat the oil (or butter).  Add the celery and cook over medium low heat.  Stir, then chop the onion after peeling it. The onion should be about the same size as the celery.  Add the onion to the pot and continue to cook.

Cut the potato into similar small chunks.  Personally, I like keeping the potato skin on, so I don't peel it.  If you feel differently, go ahead and peel it.  You want these smaller than you normally would so that they cook more quickly in the soup.

Smash the garlic and remove the skins.  Add the smashed garlic to the onions and celery and cook for a few more minutes, stirring periodically.  You want to cook it until the onion is fairly translucent but before it truly caramelizes.  At this point, add the wine, and cook it down until the wine has reduced by about half.

Add the potato after the wine has reduced, which will only take a few minutes.  Then add the chicken stock - adding the potato first means you don't get splashes of stock.  I'm always thinking, and no, I didn't learn that one the hard way, why?  Add the nutmeg, and stir once.

Bring this to a boil (cover it to bring it to a boil more quickly, then remove the cover once it boils), then turn it down to a simmer.  Cook for 15-20 minutes when the potatoes are soft but not mushy.

Use your immersion blender - still my favorite kitchen gadget - to puree the soup.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use your regular blender.  You'll puree it in batches.  Don't fill your blender more than one-third full of a hot liquid, and be sure to use a kitchen towel to hold the lid on.  You don't want the pressure from blending hot liquid to case the top to fly off and spray scalding liquid, so be careful (see, this is why I love my immersion blender - it reduces danger, and it's useful).

Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.  This is fantastic, even for me who doesn't like celery.  It's a light, fresh and slightly sweet flavor that is a perfect fall dinner.  Because this is such a light soup, it may work better as part of a meal rather than the entire entree.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

S'mores Bars - Tasty Tuesday!

This past week was teacher conferences.  Our PTO provides dinner for the staff both nights of conferences, knowing that they're constantly running.  They absolutely appreciate it, and they adore that we make everything homemade for them rather than catering it.  I signed up to bring a dessert and wanted to bring something creative.  There are always a ton of brownies and cakes.  So I decided to make s'mores bars.

I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I had marshmallows, chocolate, and tons of graham crackers in my house, so there had to be a way, right?  I finally decided to do a takeoff of a shortbread bar recipe, and my luck held - it worked.

I brought a sample to a friend before conferences, and she ate the whole thing in one sitting.  After conferences, there were no leftovers even though desserts are usually overboard.  I made them again to bring to the Chicago Food Swap this past weekend.  My husband requested that I just trade with myself.  And they went over nicely at the food swap, too.  Even Mister Man liked them.  This was his reaction to them after he'd finished his sample.

S'mores Bars

Ingredients:
3/4 c butter at room temperature
2/3 c sugar
1 egg at room temperature
1 t vanilla
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
20 graham crackers
1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c chocolate chips
20-25 large marshmallows

Directions:
Crush your graham crackers.  I love pulsing them in my blender, because it's easy and not messy.  I've found that the best way is to break the graham crackers in their quarters and do half, pulsing until they're just about crushed, then adding the other half and proceeding the same way.  Otherwise, that large bag and a rolling pin or can works well, too - and helps get rid of frustration.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  It doesn't get light and fluffy if the butter is cold, so make sure it's at room temperature.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat again. until well combined.  Add the baking powder and mix once again.

Add the graham crackers and flour and stir until just combined.  Grease a 9x13 pan and put the graham cracker mixture into the pan, reserving around a cup or a little more for a topping.  This is a press with your fingers exercise.  I tried to be dainty and use my spatula, but it didn't work.

Pour the chocolate chips over the crust into a nice, even layer.  You can use chocolate bars (it takes about 7), but the chips taste better and are cheaper.  The marshmallows are the next layer.  Take the marshmallow in your fingertips and use your other fingertips to twist and pull it apart so you have two non-smushed marshmallow halves.  Place the halves sticky side down in rows over the chocolate.  I did five halves per row, but do what works for you.  Crumble the last of the graham cracker mixture over top that, and voila!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Let them cool fully before cutting.  By using the large marshmallows instead of mini-marshmallows, you've given yourself room to cut without your knife getting stuck in marshmallow and the topping pulling off.  See?  I'm thinking!

Once they're ready, you can serve them at room temperature and store them in a sealed container for three or so days.  If they last that long....

Mister Man decided he needed a fork to eat these.  Smart kid.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Hot Apple Cider - The Adult Version

This week's #VlogMom prompt is being answered a little late, but when it comes to yummy alcoholic drinks, better late than never, right?  I didn't mix up any for myself in this video, but I'm tempted to do so now.  I just have this thing about drinking when I'm home.  Alone.  With wee ones around.

Kelli Williams from Momma Needs a Beer asks:

As the weather starts to cool, what is your go-to belly-warmer (beer, cocktail, etc)?

So how about you?  What do you drink when it gets cold out?  I'd love some more inspiration.

Cherry Cake with Fudge Filling and Triple Berry Frosting - Tasty Tuesday!

So Mister Man is officially 9.  While we haven't had his birthday party yet - and to be honest, I haven't planned it so shhh - we did celebrate as a family the day he turned 9 on 10/11/12 (seriously, how cool is that?).  And celebrations mean one thing: he gets to choose his dinner and the kind of cake I make for him.

Once again, he chose French toast, so once again I didn't actually eat the birthday dinner I made.  I know... I make an awesome French toast, but I don't like it.  Go fig.  I just discovered that I haven't put up my recipe for this, so apparently that happens the next time I make it.  Because you want that recipe.

Mister Man also asked for a cherry cake with triple berry frosting.  It was good.  Really good.

Cherry Cake

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 3/4 c sugar, separated
4 eggs, separated
2 3/4 c flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1 c milk
1 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract, same quantity)
1/2 t almond extract
1 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/4 t cream of tartar

Directions:
Beat the butter until it's creamy.  Slowly pour in 1 1/2 cups sugar while it's mixing (save the extra 1/4 cup for later), and beat on high until it's lightened in color and nice and fluffy, somewhere around three to five minutes of beating.  Separate your eggs while the butter and sugar are mixing.  Slowly add the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well between each addition.

Add the baking powder and salt, and mix well.  Add 1 cup of flour and stir until mostly combined.  Add the vanilla, almond extract, and 1/2 of the milk and stir until combined.   Add 1 more cup flour, stir.  Add the rest of the milk and stir.  Add the last of the flour and stir one last time.  Next, add the cherries, and carefully stir until just combined.

Why stir so little?  You don't want the flour to form gluten strands, which happens when you overmix it.  That's why you get bubbles in your muffins and cakes, which is not the look we're going for.  It also makes them tough, and we want a nice, light cake.

Next up is the egg whites you've been saving.  When they start, they'll look like this:

Add the cream of tartar, and start beating the egg whites.  Once they've gotten nice and frothy, go ahead and slowly add the last 1/4 cup sugar you were reserving while still beating the eggs.  Continue to beat them until they form soft peaks.  If you overbeat, they'll dry out and get nasty - again, not what we're going for.

Add about 1/4 of the beaten egg whites to your cake batter, and stir gently to combine.  You need to sacrifice some of the lovely fluff so the batter loosens enough to accept the rest of the egg whites.  This helps make the cake stay light and fluffy.  Once you have the first bit incorporated, pour the rest of the egg whites into the batter and gently fold the egg whites into the batter.  Scrape with a spatula under all the batter and twist to lift.

Grease 2 9x2 pans well (or 3 8x2).  Pour the batter evenly into the pans, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the cake tester comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool in the pans on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes before inverting them to remove from the pans and cool the rest of the way.  Once they're fully cooled, frost as desired.

So.  We did a fudge filling (because my dad wanted chocolate in there) and a triple berry frosting.  While this looks like I used some sort of dye, I didn't.  And the crumbs?  Because of the cherry bits in the cake, the knife sticks some while cutting and pulls them loose.  This is actually a cake that doesn't have a lot of crumbs because it is so moist and yummy.

I don't measure anything when making frostings or fillings, so play with them.  They're very forgiving.

So the fudge filling: I used about 3 T butter, 1/2 c cocoa powder, 3 T milk and 2 c powdered sugar.  Oh, and a teaspoon or so of vanilla.  Maybe.  Basically, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add the milk and cocoa powder and stir.  Start adding powdered sugar.  Add a little more milk if it's too thick.  Add powdered sugar until it's as thick as hot fudge sauce (not chocolate syrup).  Keep stirring over the heat until the fudge starts falling off the spoon cleanly.  Stir until it's cooled down to almost room temperature and has thickened nicely.  The constant stirring helps incorporate air and keeps it soft and yummy.  Spread it on the cake.

And the triple berry frosting?  I used maybe half a cup of frozen berries, 2 T butter, and powdered sugar, maybe 3-4 cups.  Again, heat the berries and butter in a heavy saucepan until they're melted, then start adding the powdered sugar.  After awhile, I used my immersion blender to puree the berries in the frosting, then added more powdered sugar and cooked for another five minutes or so.  I stirred while letting it cool some, then spread it over the cake.

Yum.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

How To Cut A Pineapple - Tasty Tuesday!

So this week is a little different.  Instead of providing you with a recipe, I'm sharing a tip I use all the time with the wee ones when I'm making snack for school.  They adore pineapple, as do I.  We have it all the time, by itself, in a smoothie, chopped and over ice cream, and more.

But do you know how to cut up a pineapple?  You see them for sale all the time in the store (I got this one for $1.98 the other day), but what do you do once you buy it?  Cutting and serving it is simple, and today you get my demonstration, along with a few other tips.

A couple things to note.

First, when I am cutting, I always move the material I'm cutting so that the flattest surface is against the cutting board.  The last thing I want to have happen is for something to roll and me to cut myself - badly.  I do this for anything I'm cutting, whether it be a carrot or a potato or an onion.  Always create a flat surface, then cut with the against your cutting board.

Second, always use a sharp knife that is the right size for your job.  A dull knife won't cut cleanly through what you're trying to cut.  You will have to use more force, and it's likelier that something will slip or that you will cut yourself.  Find a professional knife sharpener near you, and sharpen regularly.  And use the right size knife.  My husband has a penchant for using a paring knife to cut vegetables.  Just like when a knife is too big, a knife that is too small is also dangerous.

How to Cut A Pineapple



Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Chocolate Stuffed Bread

It's fall.  It's officially fall by the calendar and by the weather outside in beautiful Chicago.  For me, that means that I'm back to cooking inside with the oven and that I'm starting to make more hearty dishes.

I made a bunch of bread dough this weekend, and I had some left in the fridge yesterday.  As I tried to decide what I wanted to do with it - breadsticks?  A boule?  More pizza? - I hit upon an idea.  I was in the mood for something desserty but not overly sweet.  I adore chocolate babka, but oh my word is that an involved process compared to the time I had at 7:30 last night.  Plus I already had dough made.

So I made my own version of most definitely not chocolate babka but something vaguely reminiscent of it.  And that loaf?  Twelve hours later, it's gone.  I think that's a ringing endorsement, don't you?

Chocolate Stuffed Bread

Ingredients:
1 recipe of your favorite bread dough - you could use my lazy version or even a baguette dough
1/2 c brown sugar (oops, I didn't measure)
1/2 c dark chocolate chips (nope, didn't measure that either)
1 t cinnamon

Directions:
Make the bread dough according to the regular instructions.  Let it go through its first rise.  At that point, you'll want to start deviating.  Flour your surface well.  Go ahead and get it nice and flat, maybe 1/4 inch thick or a little less and long. You want it maybe 4 inches tall and the rest goes to length.

Note that I am not being in the least exact in what I'm doing.  It's bread.  It isn't supposed to be perfect.  This is how people know you made it yourself.  Now for the easy part.  Sprinkle the brown sugar along the length of the dough.  You want just a hint of it, not covered like you would with a cinnamon roll.  The idea is to make the dough a little sweeter so that it isn't bread.  And chocolate.  It's a little more nuanced.

Then sprinkle the cinnamon over the brown sugar because cinnamon and chocolate are awesome together.  The chips go atop the sugar and cinnamon.  Gently press the chocolate chips in just a little so they'll hold but not so much that they poke through the other side of the dough.

Starting at one of the small ends, start rolling it up like a giant cinnamon roll.  Once you have it completely rolled, curl it around itself and press the two open ends together so that it makes a circle.  Again, this isn't exact.  You just want a shape for your bread, so have fun with it.

Place your bread onto a peel sprinkled with cornmeal to rise.  You don't want to have to touch it again and destroy the rising it will do.  If you are going to bake this in a pan because you don't have a peel and stone to bake it on, that's fine.  Simply make sure your pan is greased so it won't stick when you take it out after it's baked.  Let your dough rest for an hour to rise, lightly covered with a barely damp towel.

About twenty minutes into the rise, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Make sure you have a small, empty pan in the oven on the bottom shelf.  When the dough has finished its rise, go ahead and put it in the oven.  Immediately fill a cup with water and put the water into the empty pan to create steam.  This is how you have a nice crunchy crust on the outside.  Once you've added the water, close the door and don't open it again until the bread is done.

Depending on the size of your loaf, the cook time will vary.  With a normal size serving of bread dough, bake it for 35 minutes, but adjust based on your oven and amount of dough you're using.  I baked my smaller dough for 28 minutes, and it was perfect.

Try to let your bread cook before cutting into it, but if you can't... you weren't alone!  Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.

Tomato Tart - Tasty Tuesday!

I am not a pie lover.  Shh, don't tell anyone.  Most pies are ok, but it's rare that I'll voluntarily choose to eat pie.  That said, I love making and eating my apple pie (which is really a crisp).  And peach pie is one of my favorites, but I'd rather go savory.  I'm much more of a quiche girl, which really is just pie as a meal instead of pie as a dessert.  So does it surprise you to learn that I made a tomato tart last week and ate almost all of it by myself over the course of three days?

I didn't think so.  But hey, tomato tart.  That's healthy.  Ish.  Kind of.  Ok, more so than French silk pie, right?  Help me justify.  I need to, because it was that good.  And I'll probably do the same again.

Is it the prettiest pie you've ever seen?  No, but if you'll recall, this was the pie dough I made last week when I had my migraine.  And that food processor pie dough is pretty darn tasty.  Even if it wasn't so pretty this time around.

Tomato Tart

Ingredients:
1 pie crust, my recipe, your recipe, or another method
6 large ripe tomatoes with lots of flavor, preferably something heirloom
3 cloves garlic
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 c bread crumbs (again, I've used Panko for 15 years, and it's still my favorite - and no one's paying me to say that... yet!)
1 T herbes de Provence
1 1/4 c Parmesan cheese, shredded (shred your own, it melts better and tastes better) - and I just might have not even measured this and just put on enough until I liked it.

Directions:
Start by preparing your tomatoes.  You can go ahead and put  your crust into the pie pan or tart pan, but then stick it back in the fridge so it stays nice and cold.  You want to peel, seed, and dice your tomatoes.  It's not nearly as hard as it sounds.

To peel your  tomatoes, you need to quickly blanch them.  Get a pot of water simmering on the stove.  Then cut a shallow X on the bottom of each tomato.

Have an ice bath ready for the tomatoes for when they are done blanching.  Easiest way?  Get a decent size bowl, fill it with a bunch of ice from your freezer.  Add water, swishing the bowl as you do so to ensure that the ice doesn't freeze into a giant block and instead stays separate cubes.

Now your're ready to blanch the tomatoes.  Using a slotted spoon, carefully place a couple tomatoes into the water.  Let them sit for less than a minute before you fish them out.  Immediately place them in the ice bath.  I get into a rhythm with this where I will have two tomatoes in the ice bath, two tomatoes in the water, and two tomatoes being peeled and the timing of it works for me.  Figure out what works for you.

Once the tomatoes have cooled for a couple minutes, pull one from the ice bath.  You'll notice that the skin around where you had made your shallow X is peeling back by itself.

Simply take the skin, and pull it back. You'll be amazed by how easy it is to peel.  This also works for other fruits like peaches and the like, when you need to peel those.

Now the tomatoes are ready to seed and dice.  You want as much liquid out of the tomatoes as possible.  To do this, the first step is seeding.  Cut the tomato into pieces.  For a medium size tomato, six is usually enough.  For a larger tomato, I may need 8 or even 10 to ensure that each seed membrane is accessible to me.  Pick up a slice, run your thumb on the edge of the seeds, and they all pop out.  Do this for each tomato.

Go ahead and dice them.  You want them about a quarter inch square, but exactness isn't important.  Once they're diced, I like to wait a little to get the more water out.  I'll put them in a colander and let the juices seep out for another twenty minutes or so.  Although the breadcrumbs help keep the tart from being soggy, the more juice you remove up front, the better.  While you're waiting is a good time to go ahead and mince your garlic cloves.

Now you're ready to put it all together.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the breadcrumbs with the herbes de Provence and 1/4 cup of your Parmesan cheese.  Place this in the bottom of your pie crust, evenly covering the surface.

Now that your tomatoes have released their juices, go ahead and place them into a small bowl.  Add the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper to your tomatoes.  Stir it up and taste to make sure the salt and pepper is at a good level for you, remembering that you're still going to be adding a ton of Parmesan, so the salt can be a little light.

Place the tomatoes gently onto the bread crumbs, ensuring it is in an even layer.  Place the rest of your shredded Parmesan atop the tomatoes.  Place the tart into your 400 degree oven, and bake it until slightly browned, around 45 minutes or so.

This is great while still hot, or you can serve it room temperature.  Trust me, it's awesome either way.  This works wonderfully as an appetizer, or you can be like me and eat it for your meals.  Yes, it makes an awesome breakfast.  Just sayin'.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.  Rachel from A Southern Fairytale has an awesome Mouthwatering Monday linkup that I participate in, too.