A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Holiday Deliciousness: Panettone Bread Pudding with Orange Rum Sauce

 

 

 It's only five months until Christmas! Yes, I know we still have tons of triple digit days left to go--that's why I'm thinking about Christmas!  Without being a begger, it sure would be nice ot have a crisp, cool fall this year, or any fall. But enough of my whining.  I'm showcasing this recipe today to remind myself to "Giddyup", start knitting those Christmas presents and as hope that this heat will end. Some day.  Probably somewhere over the rainbow or something. In the meantime, mark this one for your holiday season this year because it's one of my favorite bread puddings.

I used pannettone, an Italian Christmas egg bread made with raisins and citrus, but any sweet egg bread or Christmas bread such as stollen will work beautifully.

By the way, there are no nutrition counts for this one....because I'd like to continue enjoying it.

Kids Decorate Their Own Cake: Sydney's Butterfly Cake

One of my nieces' and nephew's favorite birthday cakes wasn't one that I decorated elaborately, but that I baked and put borders on, then let them decorate with candy pieces.  Sydney has always had a love affair with butterflies so for her 10th birthday I baked a simple butterfly-shaped cake (Wilton pan), piped purple borders and simple wing marking patterns, bought skittles, M & M's, gumballs, and sweet/sour candies and assigned each of them one quarter of the cake space. 

Look at those serious faces! They enjoyed it, as you can see in later pics, but they took the decorating seriously, carefully choosing their colors and gently placing the candies on the cake. 

Look at those adorable faces!

 I'm pretty sure Sydney LOVED her cake, aren't you? 

 

 

Last Minute Pantry Pasta Salad with Vidalia Onion Dressing

One of the great things about summer cooking, of course, are all the fresh vegetables for salads of all kinds, including pasta salads.  However, in my own experience, there are times when I don't have the time to shop and chop, or I've simply run out of time and need a quick pot luck salad that tastes so good people don't necessarily notice the missing fresh cucumbers that are de riguer in summer pasta salads.

I think of this as one of my tricks or cheats and smile as I simply say "thank you" to the compliments anytime I show up with this dish.  All it takes is a few ingredients hanging out in the pantry as my "Oh crap, I forgot I needed to make something for work!" saviors.

Most of the pasta salad recipes I've seen and made call for either bottled Italian or Creamy Italian dressing or a home-made version.  My personal quirk is to use a wonderful dressing made here in the Ozarks by Ott's, originally born as a small cafe in Carthage, Missouri on Historic Route 66.  The restaurant went out of business but the Mr. Ott began bottling his famous dressing, named appropriately Original Dressing (a red, sweet vinaigrette unlike anything else!) and now bottle more than 34 dressings along with a line of BBQ sauces for Branson, Missouri's Silver Dollar City theme park. 

Sydney & Kaylee Birthday Party 2012: Pink Rice Krispy Cake with Buttercream Borders

In my family, as much as we love decorated cakes, we're not very big cake eaters.  At least, not me and my siblings. We grew up the children of a cake decorator so while all of our friends were jealous of the presence of cake and buttercream in our house all the time, we got sick of it!  We often laugh about what rotten kids we were to our Mom who would volunteer to make us any kind of outlandish birthday cakes we wanted but because we had so much cake around us every day we all requested things like my banana bread favorite, our brother Kenneth's angel food cake with no frosting, our dad and brother Carl's pie requests, and my sister Suzanne's Rice Krispy treat wish.  What whiners we were! "Pleeeeeease, Mom. Do not make us eat cake!" What kind of sick children were we?

While we were planning Sydney and Kaylee's birthday party last week Suzanne and I were talking about cake, or the lack of it being okay, and told stories to the nieces and nephew about our childhood brattiness and the fact that Suzanne's wedding cake just out of high school (1988) was made of Rice Krispy treats because she emphatically did not want cake at her wedding.  I see Rice Krispy cakes on Pinterest now all the time and people kind of verbally smack themselves in the head and comment "That's so cool! Why didn't I think of that?"  I'm proud that our Mom was 25 years ahead of her time, making my sister's whole wedding cake from Rice Krispy treats and everyone at the wedding loved it.  After that wedding Mom got tons of orders for rice krispy treat wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and anniversary cakes--she was a wedding cake pioneer in our little town in the Ozarks.

Smiling about all the stories we told, and already having planned to make Rice Krispy treats for the party, I decided to revive Mom's idea and go all the way with the girls' birthday and make it an unforgettable cake.

I'm pretty confidant the girls were pleased! 

Kaylee was really nuts about it!

Lisa's Cheddar/Feta Cheese Puffs

 

Three letters describe these little biscuit-like puffs:  O!M!G!  'nuff said!

Okay, also maybe: THANK YOU to my friend Lisa who sent me the recipe for these little darlings. Check out her web site at www.thecardboardschoolhouse.com for more recipes and home-schooling ideas.

 

Upside Down Potato, Thyme, & Onion Tart

 One of the best, most useful, things my wonderful cook of a mother taught me as I was growing up was how to think in substitutions. I know that sounds like an odd statement but I have learned in my adulthood that not every home cook has been given the benefit of those skills.  I know many wonderful cooks who, if they want to make a recipe and don't have certain ingredients they go to the store for those specific ingredients without any thought of "Hmmm...what do I have that would work, put my pantry or fridge supples in use, and be more economical than purchasing new items?" 

It doesn't always work but in many cases, it does.  For example, in many chicken, rice, and vegetable casseroles that call for, for example, fresh asparagus, if that's not in season, then 99% of the time, either broccoli or fresh green beans will not only work, but be delicious too.  In the example of this recipe, the red potatoes would make an excellent tart but what I had on hand were Yukon yellows, and they too were delicious.  For cheeses, this recipe calls for gruyere, feta, and mozzarella, so we need something with a bit of a tangy, something creamy, and some binding.  I had asiago (tangy), feta, and provolone (binding) available, and again, they were delicious in this recipe. I wish I had had fresh thyme available, but having only dried at the time, it's a simple matter of using half what the recipe calls for since dried herbs tend to be more intensely flavored (unless they're a million years old).

The next time I make it I may have the red potatoes in the house to use and maybe the fresh thyme too...or perhaps I'll try a little tarragon or rosemary, which would also be fabulous.  I love the combination of grilled onions, potatoes, and herbs:  the dinner trifecta!

Pork Cutlets with Bourbon Butter Sauce

 After feeling under the weather for a few weeks, I knew I was feeling better last night when I spent two hours in the kitchen making some new, some practiced recipes for one of the best dinners I've made in a long time, if I do say so myself.  To top the breaded pork cutlets, I created a smoky, complimentary bourbon butter reduction sauce, and for sides:  a simple green salad, potato and onion tart, and my friend, Lisa's cheddar and feta cheese puffs.

Those couple of hours reminded me how therapeutic working in the kitchen can be, To me, the satisfaction of making a great meal is comparable to creating a work of art or writing a good story. It makes me feel like me again.

Lots of great recipes coming up this week. today, the pork cutlets, and later in the week: the potato tart, Lisa's cheese puffs, my friend Mark's bacon leg, and another great kid-friendly meal from Pinterest.

Fast & Tasty: Coney Dog Casserole

This is another of those Pinterest recipes that is so simple and so tasty that I automatically wonder why I never thought of it.  Four ingredients, five minutes prep time, 30 minutes in the oven or toaster oven, and dinner's on the table with the exception of a salad or quick vegetable. It can also be prepped the night before a work day or church so it's even more accommodating to busy lifestyles.

Gene and I both liked this, sort of non-messy Coney's you can easily eat with a knife and fork (and don't have to get in the car and go to Sonic to get), plus I used only half a tortilla per hot dog so it has much less breading and more hot dog/chili goodness!

Good & Good For You: Easy Slow Cooker/Crock-Pot Swiss Steak over Creamy Polenta

 

I probably should have photographed Gene's bowl where there was lots of meat with some sauce instead mine which is a little bit of meat with a lot of sauce. Oh well.  Next time I'll think about it a little harder before I pic up the camera.

This is a super easy recipe for Swiss Steak for the slow cooker/Crock-pot. No braising, no fuss, no muss, just throw all the veggies into the crockpot, put the meat on top, pour the tomatoes over, turn that baby on, and go to  work (or for nightshifters like me, to bed) for the day and then come home or wake up to a lovely dinner. One of the other great things about this recipe is that you use a stick blender at the end to blend the veggies into a smooth sauce or you can leave it chunky. I like it somewhere inbetween so I blend most but not all and leave some chunks. Great over mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or egg noodles.