Ike turns 6. We get cake!

So, I have lots of wonderful things we've made in the last two weeks (fried chicken and banana bread recipes to come)... but the most intriguing for me has been today's enterprise:  Chocolate Birthday cake from an Ina Garten recipe.  Chocolate cake is not my favorite thing, in fact, I would never order it at a restaurant and I have never asked for it for my birthday, and I usually turn it down when offered it at a party. I often would rather have NO cake instead of chocolate cake.  Now a brownie-- well--- that's a whole different thing!  I think it has to do with sweetness, moistness and how disappointing most chocolate cakes are to taste compared to how they look ( just like pies from the grocery store-- usually a sorry and sad disappointment).

But when your 5 year old says that for his 6th birthday all he wants for dinner is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and all he wants with it is chocolate cake (can you say- "all sugar meal") ... well...  you make the damn cake!

Anyhow I chose this recipe out of the gazillion I found because it got such rave reviews.  I'll post later what our reviews are (since it isn't time to cut it yet... not till Scott gets home). But this is what it looks like

From the smidgeon of cake I broke off and the testing of the icing both Isaac and I did before putting on the sprinkles- I think we may have made the first chocolate cake I've ever really liked.  but I'll let you know when I come down off of the sugar high tomorrow!
Here's the recipe in case you can't wait for the review and want to just go ahead and bake some cake.

The Recipe is a Barefoot Contessa Recipe called Beatty's Chocolate Cake, and I just have to say, I really like her recipes, cooking and her style...

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting:

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Gratuitous pictures... not of food...

My kids are really funny and fun. This may not be a food pic, but this is a first day of school taken at the breakfast table pic, and a quick hug leaving the kitchen and those are super good too!

Fruit Crisp = heaven

So, we've moved. We've got a great kitchen, and we've finally had a chance to start cooking in it.  And so far it's been a lot of fun.  One drawback is that we haven't yet replaced all of our spices and baking type things (I hadn't been able to bake since last summer) and so.. we didn't have everything on had that I wanted and needed to make dessert.  So - on Monday night -- I decided to make something with what he had on hand.  We had cherries, lemons and cinnamon (this allowed me to make a delicious cherry sauce) that i thought I would pour on some shortcakes, cause we had biscquick on hand.  BUT, we didn't have time then at the end of the night to make the shortcakes.  So - on Tuesday I went out and picked up flour which allowed me to make a crisp with the cherries and the other fruit we had to use up from the fridge.  It turned out great and was something I never would have made if it hadn't worked out in this weird, awkward, and wonderful way.  Here's what I did if you ever want a little taste of heaven...

Fruit Crisp:
2-3 peaches peeled, pitted and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup of blueberries
cherry sauce (see recipe below)

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

vanilla ice cream as an accompaniment if desired

Spread peaches and blueberries evenly in the bottom of a buttered 8-inch-square pan.  Pour cherry sauce over the top. In another bowl blend the brown sugar, the flour, the oats, the salt, the cinnamon, and the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly over the fruite and bake the dessert in the middle of a preheated 375°F. oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until it is crisp. (For a crisper topping, after baking the crisp broil it under a preheated broiler for 2 minutes.) Serve the crisp warm with the vanilla ice cream.

Cherry Sauce:
2-3 Cups of Cherries, pitted
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup red wine
juice of 1/2 half a lemon
3 tablespoons of sugar (or less, if cherries are very sweet)
cinnamon to taste

Simmer cherries over medium high heat with all of the other ingredients for at least 20 minutes, or until the liquid reduces and cherries are soft.

So-- the cherries on their own, delicious, but with some peaches and blueberries- heaven....there were no pictures to be had-- cause we inhaled it!!!

Change- it is a comin'

So, No pics today, but a quick but important update:

Our little family is moving, to a place with an oven that works.  Everything is changing.  And - in this case- particularly in my food world-- change is good!  We will have a kitchen that is a little bigger- but mostly-- we will cook.  I am so happy! Yay-- so the blog will be back and be better-- come-- oh-- september! YAY!!

A post - post London

So, I haven't been taking pictures of food (outside of beers in London).... But, we have been cooking.  And now that we're back from London (land of pies and ales, and very few veggies) we felt driven to really eat better.  So - tonight-   lots of veggies, olive oil, salt and pepper.  one grill.  and then, deliciousness. Tonight it was a weird and large combination of veggies-- zuchini, asparagus, new potatoes, mushrooms, and a few chicken tenders.  All grilled. Then we also grilled pineapples and mangos that had been hanging out in brown sugar for about an hour.  They turned out GREAT.  The mangos were good on their own, but super delicious after being grilled. We also had an incredibly soft, fresh, light sourdough bread.  So light and lovely...

Anyhow-- tomorrow night we'll make a pasta with the leftover veggies and chicken.  There were no mushrooms left- because- well-- Max lives here.  And the girl LOVEs a mushroom.

For dessert-- Stauffers has made their own fresh chocolate cookies (crisp ones) to make Ice cream sandwiches with.  So we made some with Moose Tracks and some with Haagen Daas ginger flavored ice cream.  They would be better with vanilla or dark chocolate ice cream-- but the cookies were just PERFECT!
So-- a fun night for food.
On the family note-- Max is sick and has been coughing like crazy (croup) and getting nosebleeds (yuck) and Isaac is jet lagged (as are his dad and I) -- so- I am hoping we all get some sleep.  and to encourage that.  I am drinking this

A simple Pinot Gris

It's no Organic Honeydew Ale (a delicious treat from London).  But it will do for now.  And it is definitely making me sleepy-- so -- maybe tonight, I'll sleep.  Hopefully our kids will too.

So- that's it... bread, family and wine...  things i love.

G'night...

A Mushroom Addiction

Even though we're making lots of food at home lately (and some pretty great things I must say). I've had little time to post anything new.  But tonight is an odd evening, and I thought I'd sneak this in.  We're ordering pizza, but have some mushrooms we need to use.  So as an appetizer before the pizza we are having some homemade, addictive stuffed mushrooms.

Here's the recipe my family stole from a neighbor back in the 70's.  It's simple, vegetarian, and great for serving when you have company coming and want something delicious, unusual and easy.






Stuffed mushrooms (Donna Style)

Button Mushrooms
Italian breadcrumbs
Sweet vermouth
And our addition -- Fresh good grated parmesan cheese


Clean the mushrooms.
Remove the stems and chop off the very edge where it is really tough.
Chop the rest of the stem into small bits.
In a small bowl mix the mushroom stems with italian breadcrumbs (equal amount to the amount of chopped stems you've got.  If you'd like to-- add a little parmesan here - we used about 3 tablespoons or so to about a cup of the mushroom mixture.
Add enough sweet vermouth to moisten the crumbs and hold the mixture together.  Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture.
Broil on low rack and on low broiler setting until mushrooms are soft and the crumb mixture is browned.

There is something oddly addictive about these.  I think its the sweet vermouth.  Anyhow our two year old has eaten four of these so far and would probably eat a full dozen if we let her!
Mushroom addict. :)

Orzo

I was sick all last night and all day today.  I pretty much lived on Ginger Ale, Crackers and one small yogurt.  Then this evening as I was finally feeling a little better and a little hungry I remembered:  I have children.  A family even.  I don't get to be sick.  So I had to find something that could feed them, potentially I could eat it, was made of ingredients we needed to use up right now AND  wouldn't make me gag while cooking it.  Scott and I can rely on each other for days like this-- but neither one of us likes to "stick the other" with all of the family care stuff (and clearly I was not on my deathbed - at least- not by the evening)... so ... after puzzling for a little while- this is what I made:

                                      







Orzo with Zucchini    


Ingredients:
Olive oil -2T

3 small zucchini- diced into chickpea sized pieces                                      
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
italian seasoning
Chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
Orzo (small box or bag)
Feta (1/2 cup)
A squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Boil water and then start orzo (takes about 8 minutes for al dente pasta)

Toss Zucchini, olive oil, garlic and some italian seasoning in a skillet cook for about 5 minutes over medium high heat.  Then add chickpeas and cook until heated through.
Drain pasta - add Zucchini and Chickpeas then crumble feta and  add it in too.  Squeeze some lemon juice over it.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Simple, easy and stomach tolerant. It was also tolerated by the little people who don't normally eat zucchini, but have a hard time saying no to pasta and cheese.

We actually didn't have enough feta tonight, so i was going to add a good bit of parmesan to each of their plates, until that is, we found our two year old in the dining room eating the block of parm.  Just gnawing away on it... like a little rat...

Thank goodness it was the generic cheaper stuff (still too pricey to be a snack for a two year old!!!)... anyhow... it was good even without a lot of cheese (and it was probably better that I just keep it simple). All of this was served alongside and Icy cold, high quality ginger ale.
I think I'll have another glass right now!