Sometimes A Quickie Is Just What You Need

Bet I got your attention with that title, didn't I?? :)

OMG, what a month it's been. I've been out of town on business 3 times, and have barely had time to tend to anything except work stuff. This week, except for Memorial Day, I have been too preoccupied, exhausted, or busy even to venture into the kitchen. DC and I have been eating out instead. Sad indeed! I miss cooking, and blogging, and reading and commenting on everyone else's blogs. Thanks so much to all of you for continuing to read and support DomesticMuse!

As you can imagine, my only 80% unpacked house is in sad, sad shape as well. And this has not been helped one bit by the fact that our idiot dog, Huckleberry, dined out of the garbage can two days in a row (despite the fact that I made certain the lid was tightly shut) and on day three, finished off his spree by eating a bag of DC's Doritos from the kitchen counter. (The counter!! Such bad, bad manners!)

Huckleberry has been extremely indisposed for the past several days, even needing to go out for what my dad so charmingly referred to as "hurry calls" in the middle of the night. Plus, we have almost used up a whole bottle of carpet cleaner!

Today, I was determined I was going to clean the downstairs thoroughly AND cook dinner, even going so far as to steam-mop the kitchen while DS and his dad were having an impromptu algebra tutoring session at my kitchen table. Poor DS has exams all next week. (DS's Dad: So what is the greatest common factor here? Me: WHOOOOOOOOSSHHHHHHHHH! WHOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH! DS: What? What? Dad: OK, you need to use the reverse FOIL method-- Me: WHOOOOOOOOOSSHHHH! (skid, crash) OH, SH$T! THAT WAS SLIPPERY! DS: Wait, what's a polynomial, again??)

For dinner, I was happy to find I had all the ingredients in the house for Nathan's Cuban Meatballs, always a huge family favorite. I posted about this fantastic dish earlier, but have included this don't-miss recipe below. I had also been cherishing the idea of making a cherry pie, but when the meatballs were finally simmering, I realized I was just too exhausted to do A Whole Pie. Still craving a homemade cherry dessert, I hit upon the idea of a clafouti instead.

In case you are unfamiliar with this humble but tasty traditional French dessert, a clafouti (claw-phoo-tee) is sort of a cross between a custard and a cake, and is generally fruit-based. Cherry clafouti is a classic flavor, but you will find recipes for everything from Apple Clafouti to Pumpkin Clafouti.

It's in the category of desserts that I call "Dump Its"-- where you open a few cans or chop up a few ingredients and dump everything in a pan, yet still come out with a yummy homemade treat. Of course, I wanted to put my own special spin on the clafouti, and here's what I came up with. It could hardly be quicker or simpler!

Cherry-Chocolate Chip Clafouti
by DomesticMuse

1 can cherry pie filling
1 c. milk chocolate chips
1/2 c. slivered almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Spray a 2 qt. baking dish with non-stick spray and layer the above ingredients in it.

In the blender, combine 1 c. whole milk, a pinch of salt, 4 eggs, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 t. vanilla, the grated zest of 1 lemon, and 1 stick butter, melted. Blend on low speed. With motor running, pour in 1/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour and process until combined. Pour the batter over the other ingredients, and bake at 375F for 40-50 minutes, or until browned and set.


I served ours with some vanilla ice cream, but it really doesn't NEED more than a dusting of powdered sugar.



A quick and easy dessert was a great way to end a busy day!