I mentioned to my FB friends that I was making a cherry tart for the 4th of July, to which one replied, "No, a Cherry LeTarte!" Since I was making the fabulous Donna's equally fabulous Easiest Fruit Tart Ever recipe, I really can't claim the honors for that one. (If you want to see my variation on Donna's recipe, it's here.)
The dessert below however, is an elaborate fuss to make, but totally worth it. It was received with such enthusiasm, I renamed it the Caramel Walnut LeTarte.
Well, I have fallen behind on my goal of posting every day, but I can give you a summary of DF 22 and 23. DF22 was not one of my better days... I spent most of the day in bed, sleeping. I think it was a combination of exhaustion from my road trip and a reaction to the alcohol I drank (ONE glass!) on date night.
It's becoming clear I should just avoid all alcohol. That means cutting out my twice annual margarita with friends at the American Library Association conferences, LOL! Although, this year I did have a cocktail on my birthday and on Valentine's Day as well, bringing my annual total, counting this weekend's hard cider, up to 4 drinks. I have a one-drink limit when I do imbibe. I have too many extended family members suffering from alcoholism to want to flirt much with that disaster. Also, I take several medications and do not want to end up like Karen Ann Quinlan. As I mentioned, wine tends to give me a headache, even white wine, even just one glass, so I never drink it.
After emerging from my semi-comatose state, I seriously wasn't feeling the urge to cook. DC graciously took us out to eat. We had Italian, where it's fairly easy for me to find one or two naturally dairy-free menu items that agree with me. Both of us had about half of our food boxed up, since we couldn't finish it all.
Which was a good thing, since on DF23, I still had not done much shopping, leaving us with not a lot of options for vittles. So, we ended up just eating our leftovers from the day before. BORING. But tasty, nonetheless.
I must confess, I did eat a large bowl (to finish off the carton) of soy-based Purely Decadent frozen dessert, in the Pecan Praline flavor. After having tried this flavor twice, I cannot recommend it. There is a fairly prominent soy taste as well as a somewhat unpleasant oily texture, which gets worse as the stuff melts. My recommendation: skip it.
I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. The meal I cooked last night was a total dud. Well, maybe not total, since the tomato salad I made was quite a hit with DC. The funny thing is, I've made this dish before at least a couple of times, and enjoyed it. It was a recipe from one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks, Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. It's called Spice Market Melange of Cauliflower and Chickpeas. It has a combination of seasonings that is somewhat Moroccan, somewhat Indian. I'm not even going to bother posting any photos of the train-wreck of a meal I made.
I think part of the problem is that I tried to reverse-engineer the recipe to make it NON-vegetarian for DC. When I want to add protein to this dish, I usually choose some savory baked tofu. Which DC won't touch. So I figured I would substitute soime chicken breast. What could be wrong with that? Chickpeas, cauliflower, and chunks oif succulent chicken. Nothing, except when I pulled the chicken out of the freezer to defrost it just before time to cook dinner, it became apparent that the chiki was past its prime. I had let it sit in the fridge for a few days before realizing I wasn't going to use it right away and so transferred it to the freezer., Too bad it was already worthy of being tossed!
So, I had to make up a new gameplan quickly. A rummage through the freezer yielded a small amount of ground turkey and a slightly larger amount of ground sirloin. I figured I would brown them together and toss them into the finished dish. After I had finished browning the meat, it occurred to me that a much better idea would have been to make some nice, garlicky meatballs either to add to the cauliflower dish or serve along side. Because adding the browned meat to the chickpea, caulflower and tomato mixture just did not work. It was barely edible. The flavors did not complement each other at all.
Then of course, I also made the mistake of cooking a 7-grain pilaf to serve under the dish. I've been having some blood sugar issues lately and really need to get back to eating whole grains. This however, was not the right dish to serve over a 7-grain pilaf! DC sweetly ate some of the dreadful mixture and even pretended it was good. (Did I mention he's very sweet?) But I could not deny the awful truth: I had created a culinary abomination. Utter failure.
The only successful part of the meal was the tomato salad I made kind of as an afterthought. Nothing could be simpler-- it's just something my mom used to whip up quickly to use up all those summer tomatoes. All you do is cut a couple of tomatoes into small wedges, add some sliced scallions or cucumber, and dress with mayonnaise, salt and pepper. I don't know why, but ripe juicy tomatoes are magic with mayonnaise. That's it. DC loved the salad so much he was practically licking his bowl. Although that may have been from sheer hunger, since the rest of the meal was quite inedible. IT went straight into the garbage disposal!
It's a good thing I had picked up some coconut-milk Purely Decadent "ice cream" to try-- it would have been a grim evening indeed without desssert. I got the chocolate flavor, which turned out to have cocoa in it after all. DC had more vanilla ice cream with apple-cinnamon topping. I enjoyed my dairy-free frozen treat, but the unmistakable flavor of coconut permeated, even through the chocolate. It was kind of like eating a Mounds bar. I love coconut, and it went well with the chocolate, but I'm not so sure that coconut undertone would be good with every flavor. I will have to try one or two of the other coconut-milk flavors to see if they all taste of coconut. The nice thing about the coconut-based Purely Decadent is that all the flavors appear to be SUGAR-free as well as dairy-free. It looks like they are all sweetened with Agave syrup. Good to know, since I'm trying to cut down on sugar consumption.
So, DF10 was pretty much a bust. Luckily, today's meal came out much better-- I will post about it tomorrow.
Although normally I avoid most ready-prepared foods at the grocery store like the plague, sometimes a judicious selection, rounded out by a home-made dish or two, is sanity-saving!
Both DC and I had to work today, so by the time, well, ok, well past the time, to think about dinner, I was feeling tired, with no plan and no desire to do any marketing. My mind was a big blank, as the dish I had been thinking of making would require a trip to WF on the other side of town. Then a happy thought struck me: this is the day the Teeter has prepared bbq baby back ribs on sale for half-price! I'm not that crazy about ribs, especially the pork ones, but DC is just in heaven with a big ol' plate of any kind of ribs.
A quick perusal of Sheila Lukins' cookbook All Around the World revealed a dairy-free and wonderful West Indies style sweet potato salad that sounded like a perfect accompaniment to the ribs. Funny, I haven't looked at that book in literally 5 years, and of all the cookbooks on my shelf it said "Pick me! Pick me!" Sheila's food is always terrific. The recipe required only a few ingredients from the Teeter, some of which I needed anyway. List in hand, I set out for the Teeter.
DC inquired as to what was for dinner, casting a suspicious glance at the Indian cookbook I had rejected and left sitting on the sofa. I just smiled and said, "You're gonna be happy!" I haven't made ribs since last summer sometime. The nice thing about our new house is there is a Teeter within walking distance (though being in a hurry, I took the Juicebox, our hot-lava colored Scion).
While at the Teeter, I picked up what I needed, including a rack of ready-to-heat ribs. Then I thought, we haven't had dessert in several days, since I've been trying to cut down on my sugar consumption. I decided to check out the frozen dessert offerings. AHA! The Teeter carries Purely Decadent, a dairy-free premium-style "ice cream" I've been wanting to try. At $5.50 per pint, I had picked it up and put it back several times at WF. But what the heck, it's the weekend, let's have a little treat!
Of course, this being the Teeter, there was nowhere near the selection of flavors. Turtle Mountain, makers of Purely Decadent, have recently come out with a coconut-milk version of Purely Decadent, in addition to their original soy-based line. The Teeter carried a few flavors of each. I picked up the Chocolate flavor of the coconut-milk variety and looked at the ingredients. In addition to the coconut milk, I noted there was NO SUGAR-- it's sweetened with agave syrup! On the down side, I did not see chocolate or cocoa anywhere on the ingredient list. They used carob instead. Which is fine, if you are in the mood for carob, which I was not.
On the soy-based side, there were 2 kinds of Vanilla, which I thought might be too plain to cover up any soy undertones, Cookie Dough (I'm probably the only person in the world who hates Cookie Dough ice cream), and Almond Mocha Fudge. I do not care much for coffee-flavored things, but the description mostly talked about chocolate flakes and almonds. The ingredient list had lots of things on it I have never heard of, and I noted that the Soy version has 20 calories more per serving than the Coconut milk kind. What to do, what to do.... In the end, the real chocolate in the soy version won me over, so Mocha Almond Fudge it was! Sometime I do want to try the coconut milk stuff, especially since it's sweetened with agave, which my doc had recommended I start using in place of sugar.ChefBliss, if you are reading this, I need some agave tips!
I was all set to pick out some B&J for DC, when I remembered we had 2 pints of B&J vanilla at home, leftover from the 3 pints for $10 sale at the Teeter before I knew I was going to be eating dairy-free. At our house, we mostly tend to eat vanilla ice cream on top of something else, like peach cobbler, rather than by itself. Just as I was wondering if we had any chocolate syrup at home to dress up the vanilla, I caught sight of a new Smucker's topping: Apple Cinnamon! Apple desserts are DC's favorite-- I'd heat up the topping and it would be kind of like apple pie a la mode, without my having to make the pie!
Feeling triumphant, I headed home. I popped the ribs in the oven to heat, drizzling them with a little Num Num sauce for good measure, and turned my attention to the sweet potato salad, which was blessedly quick to prepare. We had leftover corn and limas from Cuban porkchop day, which would round out the meal nicely. Lured by the smell of bbq, DC emerged from the study and said "Woo-hoo!! I smell ribs!" I just smiled and said, "I told you you were gonna be happy!"
The sweet potato salad is a real winner, especially if you are addicted to sweet-hot flavors like I am. It does contain curry powder, which I know not everyone enjoys. But we both loved the salad, and it went well with the ribs. Here is the recipe for
Sunny Sweet Potato Salad by Sheila Lukins Serves 8
Ingredients: Coarse salt to taste 1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. cubes 1 lb. Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. cubes Freshly ground black pepper, to taste *2/3 c. mayonnaise 3 T. mango chutney, finely chopped 2-3 T. best-quality curry powder 4 scallions (3 inches green left on), thinly sliced on the diagonal 1 T. chopped Italian parsley
1. Bring 2 medium-size pots of salted water to a boil. Cook the sweet potatoes in one pot until just tender, 5-6 minutes. Do not overcook. Cook the Idaho potatoes in the other pot until tender, 8-10 minutes. When the potatoes are finished cooking, drain them and combine in a bowl with salt and pepper to taste.
Here are the sweet potatoes, waiting for the white potatoes to join them! 2. For the dressing, mix together the mayonnaise, chutney, and curry powder; gently fold it in to the potatoes with a rubber spatula. Fold in the scallions and parsley. Serve at room temperature. This potato salad keeps covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Sheila's recipe calls for a whole cup of mayonnaise, which is way too much for the amount of potatoes. I was going to cut it in half, and then decided to try 2/3 c. That seemed about right; even a bit less would have been fine. Also, I chose to use the hot mango chutney, which was perfect for this dish. It gave it a nice kick without adding too much heat. The quality of the curry powder is important here, an indifferent mixture could ruin the dressing. My sister got me some very nice Madras curry powder from the Oliviers & Co. boutique in Paris a few years ago, and that's what I used. In India, of course, curry powder is not used, instead, fresh spice mixtures are created for each dish. I ran out of the Oliviers curry powder, and it was all I had, so I had to wing it for about half of the amount called for. I added some garam masala, ground cumin, and some turmeric to the mixture and it was perfect. 3 T of curry powder is probably too much, so add it in small amounts until you are happy with the taste.
The salad was really delicious. It would be fun to experiment with adding some other ingredients in place of the white potatoes, like jicama. Although jicama throws off quite a bit of moisture. Boniato, the white sweet potato popular in Latin America, would be perfect here.
Here's DC's plate. Not bad for a pick-up meal!
And a closer look at the potato salad!
DC loved his vanilla ice cream with the apple topping. He joked, "This is kind of the opposite of what I usually eat, apple topped with ice cream!"
With haunting memories of frozen Tofutti "dessert" from grad school days floating through my mind (ugh!), I was very pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture of the Purely Decadent Mocha Almond Fudge.
Here's a look inside: MMMMMMMMM!
Despite the coffee flavor, I found this to be absolutely delectable. It was just as rich, creamy, and dense as any Ben & Jerry's or other premium ice cream flavor. The small flakes of chocolate scattered throughout were wonderful-- not too big, so they weren't hard and overwhelming. What I enjoyed the most was the contrast between the silky smooth "ice cream" and the crunchy slivers of toasted almond liberally scattered throughout.
I am a true ice cream connoisseur. I am very picky about quality and taste-- don't even mention the words "soft serve" to me. I scoff at the very idea of "Dairy Queen." I love ice cream so much that when I lived in Chicago, I would run down the block to the homemade ice cream parlor for a small to-go cup most nights after dinner, even in the ice and snow! So I am amazed to tell you that the Purely Decadent was every bit as delicious as dairy ice cream-- I won't be missing real ice cream with this stuff around! In fact, I almost like it better than real ice cream, because it has the creamy texture and wonderful flavor of ice cream without the heaviness. For once, I did not feel like I had just eaten something the roughly the size of Seattle after finishing my bowl. The mocha flavor was definitely there, but it wasn't overwhelming, so I actually enjoyed it! I would have no hesitation to serve this to company.
It's AWESOME!!! 5 stars!! Unfortunately, I can't give you DC's opinion of the soy ice cream. For one thing, he would have complained that it was messing up his perfect balance of flavors between the vanilla and the apple-cinnamon. For another, he detests anything even vaguely coffee-flavored. So I didn't even bother asking him to taste it. Ah well, more for me!!!
Now I can't wait to try the coconut milk version to see how it compares! I think I should do that right away, don't you? No sacrifice too great for the Cause!
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!
I've been AWOL from DomesticMuse. I have missed blogland-- reading the blogs that always brighten my day and posting to my own. Things around here have been, well, CRAZY. And look to stay that way for a while-- as I will be traveling for business this week AND next week. This week I'm going to Atlanta (work HQ) for the nostalgic occasion of the very last SOLINET Annual Membership Meeting. It's the last because on April 1 we merged with PALINET, another library consortium, to become Lyrasis. So SOLINET, the Southeastern Library Information Network, no longer actually exists. But our membership meeting has been scheduled for a year now, so SAMM09 it is. It should be a blast-- I really love getting to know our members. And I'll be getting to know my new colleagues as well. But it sure does make things so hectic at home!!
I'll be gone Wed.-Fri., back late Friday evening. And next week, I travel to the Johnson County Public Library (near Indianapolis) to begin working with staff there on redesigning some processes.
When I'm busy and stressed, cooking is very soothing, even though I don't have a lot of time. So I compromise by falling back on old (and new!) favorites--- that are easy to prepare and delicious and comforting to eat. That way, we don't have to be on what Kendra over at Homegrown Housewife so aptly calls the "all-fatty, all-nasty" chain restaurant diet. (Hers was the "all-fatty, all-nasty lunchables and peanut butter diet" that her poor family has been on due to illness.)
Here are my 5 EASY DISHES for when life is moving a little too fast:
Reeni's Spaghetti and Meatballs
Match-Made_in-Heaven Broccoli & Bacon Salad
Vanilla Malted Milk Ice Cream
Cherry-Almond Shortbread Crumble
Butterscotch Finger Cakes
Several of these tried-and-true gems are from the cherished blogs of pan-pals. (Thanks, ladies! What did I DO before I met you?)
I. At the top of my list isReeni's Spaghetti and Meatballs, from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice. OMG, it is the stuff of the gods. I had to positively beat the guys away from the kitchen while it was cooking. They kept wandering over to say how good it smelled and ask when we would eat (in the middle of the afternoon!!). I call it "easy" because you can fix it and then let it simmer while you go about your very busy business.
I'm telling you, Reeni is an absolute genius. When we were growing up, my mother NEVER!!!! made meatballs. Never. Seriously. She told me it was because in our family "we" didn't like them. Having made them a few times myself over the years, I am now pretty sure that what "we" didn't like was not the meatballs, but the mess meatballs make in the kitchen. Reeni has solved that problem ingeniously by baking the meatballs. What an awesome idea! No muss, no fuss, and buh-bye, grease! Reeni's meatballs are fantastic! Spicy, flavorful, tender, juicy. Pretty much meatball heaven. You can find Reeni's recipe here.
First, soak some bread cubes in milk. Reeni says to take off the crust, but I cheated and didn't.
Then you combine all your meatball ingredients in a bowl, and form into golf-ball sized balls. (This is easier if with wet hands.) One thing I did was to add about 1 c. of water to make the meatballs fluffy and tender. Aren't they beautiful? They are about to go into the oven here. (Well, OK, some of them ARE litte conehead meatballs, but what's not to love?) AND coming OUT of the oven! Easy!!
While the meatballs are baking, you can make the sauce. First, saute the onion, garlic and peppers in olive oil. Then add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Add the meatballs and let it all simmer, Reeni says at least 35-45 minutes, but the longer the better. You should stir from time to time, but be careful, it does spatter! You can see it has just bubbled here.
I've added my meatballs to the sauce here.
Since my afternoon was going to be really busy, I started the sauce at about 2 and let it simmer several hours until dinner, while I dashed about doing stuff. Since there would be several hours for the flavors to blend, I added my own personal favorite "secret" ingredient for any Italian soup or sauce: some parmesan rind. When the cheese is too thin to grate anymore, I save the rinds, which are still 100% cheese, just for this purpose. (I keep 'em in the freezer, wrapped in waxed paper and inside a ziptop bag.) It's easy to see the distinctive little dots on the cheese rind that tell you it's real Italian Parmigiano Reggiano. It gives a wonderful, wonderful flavor to anything it simmers in! Depending on how long you simmer it, it will either stay mostly in one piece or just meld into the sauce/soup. If it is still in one piece at serving time, you can remove it and dice it up in little bitty pieces and then return to the sauce so everyone can enjoy it. (Or just save it for a special treat for you, warm with some crusty bread!)
Serve the meatballs and sauce over real spaghetti with more real parmigiano. It doesn't get much better than this!
II. Broccoli Salad This broccoli salad is perfect for rounding out a simple meal. It is colorful and super delicious. Even DC, never a big broccoli fan, loves this salad. It's so much tastier and fun than plain old steamed broccoli. I love steamed broccoli, but it's nice to get out of that rut sometimes. And the fact that it's a salad is particularly nice at this time of year when the weather is getting warmer. We had this for dinner on Saturday along with Kat and Matt's delicious Peanut Turkey Burgers and my beloved oven-baked sweet potato steak fries, both of which I blogged about here. The broccoli salad is nice for a potluck, too and very often is one of the first dishes to be emptied, I've noticed. It is a Shirley Corriher recipe which I have modifed a bit to suit my taste.
Mrs. Jellybelly, this is for you!! OK, let's be honest, is not everything in the world just better when you add THIS?? Yes, indeedy, here we have 8 crispy slices of WF's finest applewood smoked bacon, and one of the secrets to this salad's success. The other is the sweet-tart dressing, which I simply adore. I must caution you, however, from eating too much of salad at once, as it CAN be toot-producing.
Match-Made-in-Heaven Broccoli and Bacon Salad serves 6-8
Ingredients: 3-4 c. broccoli florets, with about 1/2 in. of stem attached (save the remaining stems for another use) 8 slices bacon (your favorite kind) 1/3 c. dried currants OR raisins of choice (I was out of currants so I used golden raisins) 1 sweet white onion, peeled, halved lengthwise (through the north and south pole), thinly sliced cross-wise and separated into "rings" 1/2 c. mayonnaise (preferrably Hellmann's or homemade) 1/3 c. sugar 3 T. apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste
First, get your bacon started. I like to bake mine-- first, you don't have to mess with it much, except to turn it once; and second, it cooks up flat and pretty and browns evenly. I put mine on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake in a PREHEATED 400F for 10 minutes, then turn and put it back in the oven. Check for doneness at 7 min. I like mine extra-crisp, so I often put it back in for a couple of minutes. Be careful not to leave it too long, because it can burn slap up on you faster than you would think. The kitchen timer is most definitely our friend here. When the bacon is browned to my taste, I let it drain on paper towels. The reason I say make sure the oven is already preheated is that I found, tragically, that stuff burns if you put it in the oven while it's preheating. (I could get away with this on my old stove.)
While the bacon is cooking, prep your broccoli. OK, let me just say it-- we are going to COOK the broccoli. I just can't handle raw broccoli, either taste-wise or otherwise. I think the reason many people do not care for broccoli is that it is either chronically undercooked, unchewable, and cabbagy-tasting, or over-cooked and bitter, or undersalted and bland.
My broccoli-wrangling method, developed over years of rigorous testing, is simple and fool-proof. Fill a 4-qt. saucepan 3/4 full of water, and add 1-2 t. salt. (Worry not, we will drain off the cooking water, and the salt will bring out the best of the broccoli.) Bring the water to a boil over hight heat. Add your broccoli florets and cook for EXACTLY 4 minutes from the time you drop them in the water. Meanwhile, prepare an ice-water bath by filling a large heat-proof bowl with half ice and half water, and set on the counter. Set a colander or mesh strainer in the sink. When the broccoli is done, dump hot broccoli into the strainer in the sink (sayonara, cooking water!) and then plunk the whole thing, strainer and all, into the ice bath to stop the broccoli from cooking any further. It should be perfect-- tender, flavorful, and digestible, but not overdone. When it's completely cool, remove the broccoli from the ice bath and drain.
I also have a trick for making raw onions more enjoyable. Slice them up, then soak in water and ice for 20 minutes. Remove and drain well on paper towels. The ice water takes the edge off the raw onion flavor, and makes them incredibly crisp and juicy. I made the mistake of mentioning to confirmed onion-hater DS that I had added a sweet vidalia onion to the salad, and his response was "Onions??? I thought those were cucumbers!" whereupon he stopped eating them and began picking all of the onion slices out of his salad. GRRRRRRR!!!! Teenage boys!
In your serving bowl, combine the mayo and the sugar. Whisk well. Then add the cider vinegar, whisking well to get rid of any lumps. When you are ready to serve the salad, add the broccoli, currants or raisins, onions, and toss thorougly with the dressing. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top.
NOTE: if you are not planning to eat all of this at one time, use and combine only as much dressing and other ingredients as you will eat at one sitting. Package all the leftover components separately, and combine them just before you plan to eat them. Otherwise, your broccoli will turn a very unattractive shade of gray-green and your bacon and raisins will get soggy. Ewwwwww! Not pleasant.
III. VANILLA MALTED MILK ICE CREAM (makes about 1 qt.)
I have shamelessly adapted this recipe slightly from Kat's heavenly-delicious Red Velvet Gelato Sandwiches. If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, I might well choose the sandwiches!! This ice cream has an amazing flavor-- rich and toasty, and sooooooooo much better than plain vanilla ice cream. It's fabulous all by itself, but is also a perfect foil for all kinds of baked goodies. I oomphed up the flavor with some vanilla powder (I love that stuff!) and extra malted milk powder. You must have an ice cream maker to prepare this, but it could hardly be simpler.
In a 4 c. glass measure, combine 2 c. whole milk and 1 c. heavy cream. Heat in the microwave until warm, about 2 minutes. Add 3/4 c. sugar, 3/4 c. malted milk powder, and 2 t. vanilla powder (or vanilla extract). Stir until ingredients are dissolved. Pour into a stainless steel bowl and immerse the bowl in an ice water bath. Whisk until mixture is cold. Pour into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. That's all there is to it! Store in an airtight container in the freezer.
IV. Cherry-Almond Shortbread Crumble
Looking for something to go with that ice cream?? This is the perfect accompaniment. DC is so totally a fruit pie man. I am so totally a cake and custard and chocolate nut. Can this happy home be saved?? Yes!!! Fruit dessert + creamy delicious accompaniment=relationship heaven. OK, just so you know, I am SO totally cheating here. I took Donna'sEasiest Fruit Tart EVER recipe from My Tasty Treasures, made a few small changes, and gave it a new name. I admit I am positively unAmerican (or at least, as unAmerican as an American Indian can be), but I have never really cared for cherry (any fruit, really) pie. Don't like pie crust in general, and am not so crazy about uh, glueyness of pie filling. However, this "tart" crust tastes just like shortbread cookies to me, and it has made me a fruit tart fan. Plus, it's so easy, even I can't mess up the crust!
Preheat your oven to 350F. Now, for the secret ingredient: process 1/2 c. slivered almonds (toasted if you like) in the food processor until they are the consistency of coarse crumbs. Next, combine 3 c. of flour and 1/2 c. of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add 2 sticks of butter, melted, and mix until dough is crumbly, but holds together when squeezed. Pat 1/2 of the shortbread mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a springform pan. (I need some new pans. The non-stick coating is starting to come off.)
Cover the bottom crust with the ground almonds, spreading them evenly. Now, open a can of cherry pie filling and pour a little into the pan on top of the almonds. Add 1 t. pure almond extract to the can and stir well. Then pour the rest of the filling into the crust, leaving about 1/4 "of crust around the sides. Now crumble the rest of the shortbread dough over the top of the cherries and almonds. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until golden. EASY!!!YUMMY!!!! Serve warm with malted milk ice cream. It's like a trip to the soda fountain, but better!
Papa Bear plate
Baby Bear plate
Mama Bear plate
V. Butterscotch Finger Cakes
These incredibly scrumptious little treats are from Bunny's Warm Oven. They are just fabulous, they literally melt in your mouth. Bunny's turned out much prettier than mine, but they are very simple to make and fantastic to have on hand for afterschool snacks or to enjoy with afternoon tea! DS adores them. The original recipe is from King Arthur Flour (my favorite!!!), who created them in memory of the long-departed and apparently deeply missed "Tasty Kake Butterscotch Krimpet." I never had the pleasure of tasting a Krimpet, but I cannot imagine it could be any more delicious than these wonderful finger cakes. Here is the recipe.
Bunny, you are a woman after my own heart!!
Well, these are 5 of my faves for when the going gets tough. I hope to be back soon with more exciting and original recipes, but lately, it's been back to basics at our house.
Hope everyone enjoyed Mother's Day yesterday! DS actually made breakfast in bed for DC and me. I was so proud of him! He is a real sweetie pie.
A true Gemini, I am the product of 2 cultures: the American South (on my mom's side) and the Anishinaabe nation. I'm a librarian, a CEO, and a mom to a teenager and a greyhound. Passions include cooking, fitness, wild rice, chocolate, fine cuisine, bbq (NC-style, of course) and hot buttered biscuits.
