A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Glenna's Buttermilk Pound Cake

 What most people I know think of when you use the generic term "cake" is technically a butter cake, typically eggs and butter or oil beaten together and the dry ingredients then added, as opposed to a  chiffon cake, a lighter textured cake where the egg whites are whipped separately and folded into the batter.  Pound cake is butter or chiffon cake's sweet, voluptuous cousin, with rich, velvety crumb, created from not just eggs and butter but LOTS of eggs and butter!

Originally named "pound cake" for the simplicity of its ingredients: pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour... it has long since been cut down to what we think of us "regular" cake size and customized in endless variations. This buttermilk and vanilla recipe is rich and. satisfying with straight-forward, simple ingredients that showcases what, to me, is almost a religiously divine combination: butter, flour, and sugar...and an oven. .

To fancy it up, add fresh strawberries or a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce. For me, I just cut a slice, pick it up, and don't bother dirtying a fork and plate.

Pinterest Recipe: 1, 2, 3 Cobbler: Fruit, Cake Mix, Sprite...and that's it!

"Hi, My name is Glenna and I, too, am addicted to Pinterest."

I admit it.  I have a million (well, maybe not QUITE that many) pins of recipes and crafts that I will, I promise myself, someday cook, create, paint, plant, or read. 

I pinned this cobbler photo/recipe earlier this very afternoon and thought "I have all three of these things on hand, why not tonight?"  So, along with the spaghetti, homemade bread, and roasted garlic we had for dinner, we also have this lovely peach (or the original is berry) cobbler to enjoy for a little something sweet to end the night on.

I tracked this photo back to Jennifer's blog "Living a Changed Life", Be sure to check it out  and follow her amazingly inspirational weight loss journey. 

I followed the directions which are just as simple as the directions someone has written on the Pin itself:

Feb 12, 2013: Happy Fat Tuesday--Mardi Gras King's Cake

 This is my very very favorite King Cake recipe. I've made it for several years and it's always a huge hit. It's a great combination of buttery pastry, creamy fruit filling, and just enough sugar to be a dessert but not so sugary that it's overwhelming.

Copycat: Better than Fig Newtons Fig Cookie Bars

 

We were craving something sweet this weekend, so rummaging through the pantry I found a jar of no-sugar-added fig jam from The Amish Country Store in Branson and said to myself "Self?  If I baked this wonderful jam over a shortbread crust, wouldn't that make for great home-made Fig Newtons?" 

It did!

The shortbread crust is a mix of cream cheese and butter, along with a mix of all-purpose flour and long cooking oatmeal.  The cream cheese and oatmeal make for a chewier crust, while the crumbled topping give a little extra crunch. Once the cream cheese and butter have softened, it's also a quick prep using only two bowls, one spatula, a mixer and a baking dish.

We tried to wait until they'd completely cooled but it was a lost cause. I can officially attest that they're yummy both still warm and cool and will store up to several days in covered container...if they last that long! 

Fudgey Fudge Brownies

I must confess. I am one of the few people on the planet who doesn't crave chocolate. Not only does that make me a weirdo, it must be genetic because my Auntie Miranda and my brother, Kenneth, aren't big chocolate fans either. I thought it was just the three of us against the world until the other night one of hte gals I work with, Lauren, admitted she doesn't like chocolate either.

But.  I like this chocolate brownie.  Does my previous confession sell this recipe?

Auntie Miranda is the one who figured it out.. We don't like milk chocolate but we all three (don't know about Lauren) occasionally do like to eat dark or semi-sweet chocolate.  Another plus for this recipe is that its chocolate flavor comes from chocolate chips, not cocoa. Nothing wrong with cocoa but it does make for a different taste.  The chips or bar chocolate make the difference for me.

Easy Baked Custard with Caramel Sauce

 Baked Custard... one of my top comfort foods since I was a kid.  Baked custard is very similar to the caramel flan found in Mexican restaurants, although good caramel flan usually has a crunchy sugar coating on top rather than a caramel sauce topping.

This recipe is very quick and easy to put togetherr and makes for a great dessert warm or cold. 

Jenn's Yummy Pecan, Rolo, & Pretzel Chip Nummies

 

 Our friend, Jenn, brought these to our annual New Year's Eve party and they were a huge hit: the perfect combination of crunchy, salty, sweet, nutty, and chocolate.  They're a quick and easy addition to any dessert table that will disappear faster than any other treat.

Thank you, Jenn!

Celebrating with Baklava

 

 While the entire rest of the food blogosphere posts nice diet recipes for at least the first week of the new year, I'm going to go radical and tempt your tummy with step-by-step photos of how to make the sublime, baklava, my favorite densely rich, sweet, and decadent treat that's a pastry I can only describe to the unititiated as a cross between a bar cookie and candy.  Or as simply "the most yum in a bite I know of!" It's created from layers of paper thin pastry dough brushed with butter and filled with pistachios, walnuts, and almonds, along with warm spices and soaked in honeyed syrup.

Baklava can be traced back to the "cradle of civilization", Mesopotamia (the modern Iraq area), in the thousands B.C. but its most commonly associated with the Ottoman Turkish Empire of the 15th and 16th centuries whose capitol was Constantinople (modern day Instanbul, Turkey).  I'm pretty confident you can consider that a dessert must be good if it's been around for 5,000 years, don't you?

I'll admit that I assumed baklava would be difficult, or at least complicated. to make but the truth is delightfully that it really isn't. There a lot of steps, but most of them are all about the layering of pastry and filling.   For anyone experienced in working with phyllo dough I would consider this easy to make, and even for those who've never worked with phyllo before, I would still say it's only a low medium in difficulty.  The key to the recipe is in the steps and preparing the work space.  Some baklava makers create the pastry first and then make the syrup while baking so that it remains hot. I make the syrup first and set it aside while I make the pastry so that even though the syrup is close to room temp when poured as the final step, the baklava is so hot it quickly soaks in.  Having a little counter space is the only clincher to working with phyllo dough because it's easier to lay it out, then move it in towards you to butter and stack.  You'll see what I mean as you read through the recipe and see the photos.

Nannie's Banana Pudding for Gene

 

Suzanne's Cookies, Cookies, and Turnovers

 Mmmmmm...look all the cookiesand  goodies my sister, Suzanne, has been baking at work (Casey's at South Campbell and James River Freeway).  AND she even brought us doughnuts the morning before my gall bladder surgery.  One of her husband's, Charles, white-iced, cake doughnuts was the very first thing I ate on the morning after my surgery, that would be TODAY.  No nause, no puking, no discomfort (except for my incicions, of course). I will always remember that dughnut with great pleasure!

By the way, the butterfly is in honor of Suzanne's youngest daughter's, Sydney, favorite and the lady bug is honor of her oldest daughter's, Jordan, favorite.  They've loved butterflies and ladybugs since they were little girls.  So cute.

My first post-gallbladder dinner is not quite decided yet and I intend to keep off the 20 lbs I lost, but tonight I feel like celebrating--no chicken and rice soup, no dry toast, no plain baked potato. I won't go crazy but I can't wai to eat a real meal again, and cook again!  I've actually missed cooking (even the smell of food made me nauseated for weeks) more than eating so the next couple of weeks should be great for Gene. In  a couple of days I'll be able to take over the kitchen again.  Not that he's a bad cook, but I'm sure, even though he doesn't complain, that he's tired of cooking and taking care of me.  I'm so thrilled to see a light at the end of the pain and nausea tunnel!

Huge thanks to everyone who's helped me:  Gene, my sister, my niece Jordan, Auntie Miranda, Ann:  thank you thank you thank you!

Love the heart cookie! 

Mmmmmm...turnovers! Someday soon....