Tag Archives: bake

Weekend RoundUP September 1, 2012


End of the week, beginning of the month!  Happy September!  Got apples?  I’ve got gallons and gallons.  A few apple recipes will be coming your way!!  You can PRINT the recipe for Autumn’s Caramel Apple Crisp from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box.  Yum!

I had such a good laugh this week that I just have to share. :)   This little post was written on Facebook by my friend Dede, from Alliance, Nebraska.  Dede and I go waaayyy back to the day we were both in nurse’s training.  Oh my … I digress.

Dede writes:

Loving the cool breeze. Was outside reading a magazine around 8… getting dark.  Front door is open.  Spot starts to bark. So I think someone is at the door. To the front door I go. It is dark. I think I see someone staring at me. I scream. Turns out it is my reflection in the glass of the door.  I shut the door. No more barking and no more screaming . :-)

I know I said NO MORE green tomato recipes and then look what pops up across my radar?  Fried Green  Tomatoes with Mozzarella!  Now really, who can resist these?  I am on the hunt for some more green tomatoes …. hmmm, wonder where my chief culinary consultant and gardener is hiding them???  Thank you Des at Life’s Ambrosia for sharing yet another fabulous green tomato recipe!


I posted this picture of my freezer corn on Facebook.  My freezer is beginning to fill up with little packets of goodies like this frozen corn and I love it!

I haven’t actually taken time to blog about freezing corn but you can find the recipe in my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box.  We take the corn off the cob, cook for a bit with some sugar, salt, water, and butter.  We absolutely love this corn and as the winter wears on we will begin to hoard it so it will last us until next summer :) I think you will love it too!

A picture’s worth a thousand words … here are this week’s recipes!

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  • apple cake on stand apple cake on stand
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  • apple cake plain apple cake plain
  • gr tom cass onions gr tom cass onions
  • Gr tom casserole crackers Gr tom casserole crackers
  • Green tomato casserole baked Green tomato casserole baked
  • Young Buck Young Buck
  • Sweet little fawn Sweet little fawn
  • Pecan Caramel Pie single Pecan Caramel Pie single
  • Pecan Caramel Pie w/tea Pecan Caramel Pie w/tea
  • pecan pie plates tea set pecan pie plates tea set

It’s a long weekend as Labor Day approaches.  How are you saying good-bye to summer this weekend?  I do hope it will include some wonderful food -  for the body and for the soul.

~Blessings, Catherine

 

My Caramel Pecan Pie

What do you think about caramel?  The taste, slightly sweet, very rich, gooey? Truth is, I can get obsessed about caramel with just the slightest encouragement.  There are the Sweet and Salty Chocolate Caramel Bars, and Banoffee Pie just for starters!

As you already know I am a BIG fan of Turbinado sugar, also known as sugar in the raw.  Since I bought this box I have tried it “here and there” with great success.  When my friend Nancy was visiting from Colorado I thought it only fitting to serve a very southern pecan pie before she returned home.

As I was gathering ingredients to make the pie my eyes landed on my little box of Turbinado sugar.  Oh my gosh … little did I realize what would happen when I substituted sugar in the raw for granulated sugar in my pie recipe. 
One of my favorite pie crusts is called “all butter crust.”  It goes together beautifully with unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, salt, a little sugar and ice water.  It is a very tender crust when rolled out but worth the effort.  The custard is made with the usual eggs, unsalted butter, salt, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and pecans.  The change comes when Turbinado sugar is substituted for the granulated sugar.  Before I baked this pie I sprinkled a few teaspoons of the sugar in the raw across the top.
The result is a pecan pie with a custard that resembles a beautifully rich caramel! I thought it would be good, but I sure didn’t know it would be GREAT!  For me — the best of all worlds! If you like pecan pie — give this a try! It’s wonderful.  Oh, and Nancy did love it also :)

PRINT the recipe from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box.

Today starts week 31 of our walk through the Bible. We are in the middle of the book of Jeremiah. Each week I post a daily Bible reading that only takes 10 to 15 minutes. I hope you will join me!

Jeremiah 30:1-3

New International Version (NIV)
Restoration of Israel

30 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. 3 The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity[a] and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”

~Blessings, Catherine

Black Bean Brownies

I have heard about black bean brownies for several years.  I’ve never had any interest in them at all.  I’m not all that fond of chocolate and black beans … well truly, aren’t they meant to be eaten with a plateful of Mexican food?  Yes, my black beans shall be served with Chicken Enchilada Casserole … until Meagan of Scarletta Bakes posted this picture:

I love this picture and as I read through her blog post I started getting a little more serious about black beans and brownies all wrapped up in the same bite.  Dense, rich, luscious.  Then one day I was rummaging through my bottles of extracts and I came across this cute little bottle, actually I have two of them, gifted to me some time ago by my Florida-friend, Kathy. GODIVA Liqueur.

Hmmm, I wonder what black bean brownies would taste like with a bit of GODIVA liqueur? My first thought is that I can’t tell the Chief or my Sous-chef-dish-washing mom that the brownies are made with black beans.  That little nugget of information needed to remain a secret :) I researched other recipes for Black Bean Brownies and ended up using a combination of several.

The beans went into a strainer and were rinsed.  Eggs, beans and melted butter were poured into a blender.  At this point I am quite skeptical because I have never really had luck mixing batter in a blender.

Okay,so  it worked well.  Surprise.  The rest of ingredients went into the blender. I dissolved the coffee granules in a little water and added to the blender. Although the Godiva liqueur is optional, I highly recommend it or your favorite chocolate liqueur. It adds an outstanding richness to the brownies. I poured the batter into a 9″ x 13″ greased baking dish. The brownies were baked for about 40 minutes. These brownies are very dense and can easily be cut with a cookie cutter.  Once they were cool I started “playing” around with my cookie cutters.


The brownies are equally good sprinkled with powdered sugar or frosted with a favorite frosting.  In the end why bother making brownies with black beans?  For one thing, black beans add a touch of fiber — that’s always good, right?  Plus, what a conversation piece your brownies will be.
It will go something like this:

Chief: What did you make?  It smells great in here!
Me:  Just a little chocolate for my sweetheart and mum.
Mum: Those look so cute.
Me:  Thanks (nervous sigh).
After dinner

Me: Who wants dessert? 
Chief: Definitely. Is this a new recipe?
Mum: Delicious, really rich. Have you made these before?
Me:  No, I haven’t made them before. Yes, a new recipe…. I made them with … black beans.

Silence.

Me: Who wants another piece?
The family: sure … count me in … just another little bite …
Me: Whew.

PRINT from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box
Happy Cooking! ~ Catherine

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130 NIV

If you are reading through the Bible with me, this week starts the book of Isaiah!

Weekend RoundUP with Squash Relish

Last spring my neighbor Gaye was telling me about a squash relish that she makes and serves with pinto beans and cornbread.   Growing up in Nebraska my mom would make white navy beans and ham with cornbread, but it wasn’t until I married my Southern-born husband that I actually cooked pinto beans.  I was a very, very picky eater as a child (wish I were a little pickier these days!) and beans were never of any interest to me.  I have had a good 20+ years of practice making pinto beans and cornbread and today I like them.  I asked my main-man-gardener if he would grow some yellow squash so that I could make this relish. The idea of a tasty relish on the side with pinto beans intrigued me.

The squash grew beautifully and I bought sweet Vidalia onions to use in the relish.  Sweet peppers, red or green are good in this recipe too.  Ours weren’t quite ready from the garden when I canned the relish so I didn’t use them this time.


I diced the squash and onions, added some canning salt and let them sit overnight.  The salt brings out the liquid in the squash and then is drained off.

Vinegar, sugar and spices are added and then everything is simmered for about 30 minutes.

At this point the relish is ready to be canned.  I like to can.  I get a lot of  satisfaction when the jars are cooling and I hear the little ping –plunk – plunk – as the lids are sealing.


I am by no means an expert canner but since I want to share some of my best canning recipes with you, I suggest that you follow experts on “how to can”.  I like to use my Ball Blue Book or the best website I have found is at PickYourOwn.org.  This website has a huge amount of information and follows the latest updated techniques as outlined by the USDA.

This batch makes 5 pints, so you’ll need 5 pint-sized canning jars with lids and rings. The relish is canned using the water bath method.  Each pint will serve 4-5 depending on how you are using the relish. This relish is a good choice to serve with chicken, fish, pork or beans!

PRINT Squash Relish Recipe from my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box

Recipes from the kitchen this week include a side dish pie, a dessert pie and awesome  birthday cupcakes!

Yummy Vidalia Onion and Parmesan Tart
TWD:BWJ Blueberry-Nectarine Pie
Black and White Irish Cream Cupcakes with Bailey’s Cream Frosting

Many Blessings and Happy Cooking ~ Catherine

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  • baking with julia book backside baking with julia book backside
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“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV

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