Fruit Cobbler for Dummies

When I was younger, so much younger than today, 

I needed much help with baking and simple recipes for dishes that my new husband
could actually recognize, once made. And if recognizable, actually edible.

One evening, a month into our marriage, a friend came to our tiny apartment bearing 

a blueberry cobbler that was buttery, full of fruit, moist, and crunchy around the edges. 

Perfect.

I thought she had slaved over it for hours. Nope, and she wrote it down for me that instant.

It was easy-peasy, dummy-proof and I have used ONLY this cobbler recipe, ever since.

I am the dummy that needed cobbler intervention.

Fruit Cobbler for Dummies

1 stick of butter, cold

1 cup of regular flour

1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

1 tbsp. vanilla extract (optional)

1 pint fresh blueberries/blackberries (washed) or 5 pitted/sliced peaches

1/2 gallon of vanilla bean icecream

1. Turn oven to 350 degrees. Put stick of butter into 8" X 8" glass pan (to double recipe: use an 8" X 10" pan), then put pan into oven to melt the butter. This takes about 5 min.
2. While butter is melting, whisk flour, sugar and baking powder together. Add milk (and vanilla) whisk till lumpless.
3. Take pan from oven, and pour batter into center of pan, right over melted butter.
4. Spread fruit evenly over top of batter. DO NO STIR. Leave as is.
5. Return pan to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, and remove when top is golden brown.
6. Let cool for 10-15 minutes.
7. EAT IT UP YUM!

The land will yield its fruit;
you will have all you can eat.
~Leviticus 25:19

.

Mom's Sour Cream Pound Cake

My favorite "food" on the planet is popcorn.

My next favorite "food" is my mom's Sour Cream Pound Cake.

It is sinful, heavenly, buttery, denseness and if I have to repent after eating 

a slice (or 5), I allay some of my guilt by sharing it with you.

When mom comes to town, we have to make it, but she usually she tweaks it (it's her recipe)
and I think she is done doing that.

MOM'S SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of salted butter, softened)
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs (room temperature)
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. lemon extract (or zest of one lemon)
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• Blueberry (or strawberry) sauce and whipped cream

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

In separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream to first mixture till smooth.

Add extracts.
With a pastry brush, butter inside of tube pan, then flour the inside of the pan.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes in pan, invert onto plate.

Wait 15 minutes. Eat half of it while it's warm. Sharing is optional.

These are the main ingredients I use.

Zulka is found at Wal-Mart in the Hispanic section, It is raw sugar that hasn't been bleached.
It's around $3 for a 4 pound bag.
I love the flavor of raw sugar, it is richer and I try not to eat bleach too often,
it's probably not good for us.

I also use unbleached flour. for the same reason I eat unbleached sugar.

REAL butter.
No soy butter, margarine, olive oil spread, etc...
Just two ingredients: cream and salt.

Make some coffee as if mom were with you and then eat some cake.

Mom, I remember you making this cake once when I was a young teen.
You told me, after I'd had one slice, that I wasn't to have another.

I snuck one anyway.
I took it to my room and hid it.

I found it some 6 years later in a box in my closet, when I was moving out of your home.
It was as hard as a rock, but you know what?
I still considered eating it!
(Don't worry, I didn't).
(I love crunchy things, what can I say)?

Now when I make it, I still eat the crusty end of this cake first.

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.  ~Spanish Proverb

Scrumdiddilyumptious Carrot Layer Cake

scrumdiddilyumptious (adjective) : Hugely scrumptious; extremely delicious

Okay, girls, here is the recipe you have all been waiting for!

I have been making this cake for years.

It is most requested by friends and family as their birthday cake.

Even by those who profess to not like carrot cake.

Between the layers is a caramel cream filling, which is my most favorite part!

The buttery cream cheese frosting is fluffy and heavenly!

It weighs 10 pounds!! (Seriously, I weighed it!)

Make it if you dare.

(I lowered the sugar from the original recipe.

Use butter only.)

CARROT LAYER CAKE

• FILLING:
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
  CAKE:
• 1-1/4 cups canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups finely shredded carrots
• 1 cup raisins, soaked (for an hour+ in water to plump them, drain)
• 2 (4 oz.) jars carrot baby food
• 
  
  FROSTING:
• 1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened
• 2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• box of confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Filling: In a saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Turn burner to medium heat. Stir in cream: add butter. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Set aside to cool.

Cake: In a large bowl, beat oil and sugar until well-blended. Combine the dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture alternately with eggs. Stir in carrots, raisins and baby food.

Separate into three greased and floured 9-inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting: In a medium bowl, whip the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until smooth. Whip another 2 minutes.

Spread 1/2 of filling on one layer and 1/2 on another. Frost top ands sides of cake.

Store in the refrigerator.

Yield: 16-20 servings.

The Art of French Cooking- Week 8- Salade Nicoise

Thank you for the SWEET 16 birthday wishes for my daughter yesterday!

She was touched to read the notes from each of you!

What wonderfully SWEET girls you all are!

I am happy to know you!

This week, we made an EASY, PEASY salad 

and included 3 things from our organic garden!

Salade Niçoise

[Mediterranean Combination Salad]

• 3 cups cold, blanched Green Beans
• 3 or 4 quartered Tomatoes (these came from our garden)
• 1 cup FRENCH VINAIGRETTE DRESSING:

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar

1/2 small shallot or green onion, peeled and minced (about 1 tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3T to 4T olive oil

fresh herbs, if desired

• 1 head Boston Lettuce (I used 1/2 of a 10 oz. package of organic baby greens)
• 3 cups cooked, cooled, red Potatoes, cut into 2" chunks
• Lg. can white Tuna, drained, flaked
• 1/2 c. pitted black Olives
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, cold, peeled, quartered
• (6-12 canned anchovy filets-we did not use these-Miss A likes them, but the rest of us don't)
• 2-3 TSBP. minced, fresh herbs (we used scallions and thyme from the garden)

Blanching Green Beans:

Drop beans into boiling water for one minute.

Rinse with cool water.

Refrigerate until ready to assemble the salad.

I LOVE black olives! Do you?

Thyme, green onions.

The salade is beautiful!

Drizzle with Vinaigrette Dressing.

We added a loaf of bread w/BUTTER (yum)

and blueberries in (whipped) cream w/mint (from the garden) garnish,

and called it dinner!

Review:

This is one wonderful salade!

This is not the first time we have had it,

nor will it be the last.

It is wonderful with the vinaigrette dressing!

Light, crunchy, tangy.

What wonderful summer fare.

Did I mention it was wonderful?

YOU. MUST. MAKE. IT!

We give this:

* * * * *

out of

* * * * *

Till next time,

Bon Appetit, y'all!

The Art Of French Cooking- Week 7 - Filets de Poisson Poches a Vin Blanc

This week, I decided to make salmon,

which our family loves the most of all fish choices.

If you are like I was when we decided to add more fish 

to our diet,

you didn't know how to prepare it

so it would not taste too "fishy".

Salmon, to us, is a wonderfully not-as-fishy-tasting choice.

Filets de Poisson Poches au Vin Blanc

[Fish Fillets Poached in White Wine]

The French use sole, or flounder, but that's not what I had in my freezer.

• 2 TBSP minced green onions (these came from the garden!)
• 4 salmon fillets
• salt and pepper
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine or 2/3 cup white vermouth (what I used)
• water

Sprinkle half the onions in the bottom of a skillet.

Season fillets lightly with salt and pepper and lay them over the onions.

Sprinkle fillets with remaining onions and drizzle olive oil over the fillets.

Pour in the wine or vermouth, and add water so fish is barely covered.

Bring to a simmer for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.

The fish is done when a fork pierces the flesh easily.

Place a cover over the pan, and drain off the liquid.

Serve.

We had "squish" (as my girls call it) and zucchini from the garden, too.

I sauteed them with English Thyme from my herb garden.

Added brown rice, and called it a meal.

Review:

We thought the fish was "all right",

it definitely smelled good, like most French dishes we've tried so far, 

while cooking.

We could taste the vermouth, and that was okay

because it gave it a fancy restaurant flavor,

like those sauces that accompany expensive fare.

The fillets were flaky, yet slightly dry.

The cookbook gave us an option to make a white sauce 

with the liquid that got drained off,

but that involved butter and we were trying to make the dish lighter.

As far as having a "fishy" flavor, it DID NOT.

This was THE EASIEST recipe to make.

I will be making it again, 

only with a white sauce.

We give this:

***

out of

* * * * *

Till next Saturday,

Bon Appetit, y'all!