Potato Salad

I am pretty picky about potato salads, I usually think it sounds good and then I am almost always dissapointed.

My roommate made this recipe today and I was pleasently surprised so I thought I better mark it down.  It is a bit sweeter than traditional potato salad, but had a nice variety of flavors.  I also believe that you can toss in whatever you want to salads so I will just give the dressing recipe.

7 potatoes cooked, peeled, and cubed

Dressing: 

1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
4 Tbsp butter
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup onion, chopped

Combine sugar and cornstartch in a saucepan. Add vinegar, milk, egg, butter, celery seed, salt, and dry mustard.  Cook over a low heat, stirring continually until thick and bubbly.  Stir in the mayo and chopped onion.  Cool.  Gently fold sauce over potatoes.  Add additional stuff and refridgerate until ready to serve.

Stuff :
3-5 hard boiled eggs, chopped
small cubes of cheddar cheese
salt, pepper, paprika
a little bit of mustard to taste
chopped celery
1/2 cup dill pickle relish or chopped pickles

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

August 8th was leave a Zucchini on your neighbors porch day, so tis the season to make treats a bit healthier by sneaking Zucchini into them.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake:

2 cups finely shredded Zucchini (2 small or 1 large zucchini)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate ganache

1.  Mix applesauce, sugar, and vanilla.
2.  In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. put through sifter as pouring into sugar mixture. 
3.  Stir together until well incorporated. 
4.  Add Zucchini, folding in until well incorporated.
5.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.  Spread mixture evenly in pan and bake for 25 minutes.
6.  Cool and make ganache.
7.  Pour over cake and serve.

Chocolate Ganache:

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz heavy cream

Melt chocolate and cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring continually until chocolate is fully melted and mixed with the cream. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

A different type of Cake Pop.

We made these cakes from soda pop cans for Cyrus' birthday and Shawn's Bachelor party at work.  They were super easy, cheap, and made an impact.

20-30 cans of soda/beer
3 tiers of cardboard cake circles
Ribbon

The amount of soda you need depends on if you want to make a solid layer or a border.  For the bear cake we made a solid layer and for the Mt. Dew cake we just made a border and filled it with a favorite bag of candy.  Make your base, place smaller carboard circle on top, make next layer, repeat.  Wrap each layer with ribbon.  It is easy and can be adjusted as needed.

Cast Iron Peach and Raspberry Cobbler

I love cooking with my Cast Iron skillet, but don't do it nearly enough. I also love using  fruit in season when it is cheap and super tasty.  When I saw this recipe on the Lazy Homesteader I decided to give it a go.  It was great, here is my variation:

Peaches, Raspberries

6 Tbsp butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk

Peel and slice 2-3 large peaches, wash raspberries (I used about 2 cups of sliced peaches and 1/2 cup raspberries, but this is open for options depending on the type of fruit and how much you like in your cobbler).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Slice up 6 Tbsp butter and place in bottom of the pan. Set in preheating oven to melt.

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Create a well in the center and pour in milks.  Stir until mixed all together. 

Remove hot skillet from oven when butter has melted and pour batter on top of melted butter.  Spread around slightly to fill to edges but this isn't percise and it's okay if butter come up a bit over the top of batter (as the Lazy Homesteader mentions, this is a LAZY cobbler, which means easy and not precise).

Place fruit evenly on top of batter.  Return to oven and bake for 1 hour.  Serve warm with vanilla icecream.

Happy Birthday Harry, Recipies

Yorkshire Pudding

(adapted from simplebites.net)

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup water
4 eggs (at room temperature)
1 stick butter at room temperature

Sift together flour and salt.  Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in milk and water.  Whisk until well incorporated.  In a small separate bowl beat eggs until frothy.  Beat into other ingredients.  Refrigerate mixture for at least an hour.  Generously grease two 12-cup muffin tins with softened butter.  Place in oven and preheat to 400 degrees.  While oven is preheating remove mixture from refrigerator and whisk until small bubbles appear on surface.  Remove tins from oven when butter is browning and smoking slightly.  Immediately and quickly fill each tin with approximately 1/4-1/3 cup of batter, fill all cups evenly and not too full as it will puff up while cooking.  Place back in oven as soon as filled and bake for 20 minutes, until puffed and edges are lightly browned.  Serve immediately with roast beef and gravy.

Cauldron Cakes

There are so many amazing versions of cauldron cakes that have been created.  Some are spicy, some chocolate, some have cauldron handles and some have potions spilling forth.  For this party I didn't have a lot of time so I kept it simple.

1 brownie mix

1 vanilla buttercream frosting (recipe below)

Raspberries

Gold Flake sprinkles

Mix and bake brownies according to packaging, except bake them in a well greased mini muffin pan.

Mix up vanilla buttercream as brownies cool completely. 

Vanilla Buttercream:

1/3 stick butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Mix butter and powdered sugar together until crumbly.  Stir in vanilla and milk and blend until creamy.  Add more powdered sugar or milk to achieve desired consistency. 

Frost brownies, sprinkle with gold flake sprinkles and place a washed raspberry in the center.

Acid Pops:  I made these as directed on The Pastry Affair.  The only change I would make would be to use Karo (corn) syrup rather than honey because I don't like the flavor of honey and thought it was too overwhelming.





Oatmeal Chip cookies.

Oatmeal Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Cream butter and sugar.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Sift in baking soda, salt, cinnamon.  Stir in flour and oats.  Add chocolate and butterscotch chips.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease large cookie sheet.  Roll dough into balls, just smaller than golf balls.  Bake for 9 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack and cool.  Makes 3 dozen large cookies.

Literary Delights: Matilda

When I was a kid, my mom would always enroll us in a summer reading program at our local library.  I loved to read and I loved completing these challenges.  I also love cookbooks that are related to books and have amassed quite a collection.  I want to try some of these recipes this summer and share the sucess (and possible disasters here).

up first from my Roald Dahl cookbook is an adaptation of "Bruce Bogtrotter's Cake" from Matilda.

Purchase Here.

Bruce Bogtrotter is a boy at Matilda's school who dared to eat the Trunchbull's chocolate cake.  As punishment she makes him eat an entire cake in front of the school.  "She glared at Bruce Bogtrotter who was sitting on his chair like some huge overstuffed grub, replete, comatose, unable to move or speak. A fine sweat was beading his forehead but there was a grin of triumph on his face." -Roald Dahl

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 sticks of butter (3/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
6 eggs, separated
Ganache (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Grease a 9 inch springform pan (can use a round cake pan but a springform is a lot easier to use)
3.  Separate egg whites and yolks into 2 bowls.
4.  In a microwave safe glass bowl melt butter and chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth.  (takes about 1 1/2 minutes)
5.  Beat egg yolks and add yolks, sugar, and flour to chocolate mixture. 
6.  Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold into chocolate mixture, one half at a time, until incorporated.
7.  Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes.  Walk out of the kitchen and try not to go back in until baked because movement can shake cake and make it fall.  Will form a crust on top and appear undercooked in the center if you poke it with a knife or toothpick.  The cake is cooked and will set up more as it cools.
8.  Allow to cool in pan on a wire rack.  While cake is cooling make Ganache.

Ganache:
1 1/2cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz heavy cream

Melt chocolate and cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stirring continually until chocolate is fully melted and mixed with the cream.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

9.  When cake is mostly cool turn out onto a plate (the center will sink slightly).  Pour ganache over the top (be prepared for the ganache  to run all over when cake is cut into).

10.  Enjoy with some milk or icecream, this cake is intense!

via.