One Cake Wonder

When it comes to birthdays, I am a one-cake wonder.  The cake may take many shapes, but underneath, it's always my mom's devil's food cake with "Sharon's White Frosting."  Ehren and Christian's birthday is coming up soon, and tomorrow is the day they are taking birthday treats to school to share with their classmates.  Tomorrow morning, they will wake up to these little monster cupcakes:

Last year, Ehren and Christian wanted a strawberry cake, so they got this version:

Mom's Devil's Food Cake

1 c strong coffee

1 c buttermilk or sour milk (just add a couple of teaspoons of vinegar to the milk to sour it)

2/3 c oil

2 c flour

1 3/4 c sugar

1 Tbsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 c cocoa

1 egg

Mix all ingredients (if the coffee is still hot, add the egg after mixing the other ingredients).  Batter will be thin.  Pour into either two round cake pans, one rectangular cake pan, or 24 cup cakes.  If using a cake pan, make sure to butter and flour the pan before adding the batter.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes (or shorter if making cupcakes). 

Sharon's White Frosting

1/4 c sugar

3/4 c light corn syrup with vanilla

2 egg whites

Bring sugar and corn syrup to a rolling boil over medium high heat.  Stir constantly.  Let boil for about 1 minute.  Beat egg whites until stiff and pour the sugar/corn syrup mixture into the egg whites in a thin stream while beating on high speed.  Frosting will be soft.  It's a lot like marshmallow.  1-2 drops of red food coloring makes a beautiful pale pink frosting!

Stockup Sunday - Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Ok, please trust me and read on even though the word "broccoli" is in the post title.  My kids - all of them - LOVE this broccoli soup and so do I. 

Here's how I got started making it.  One fall a couple of years ago, we were visiting my cousin who has an organic vegetable farm.  The kids and I were out walking in the field, which was full of broccoli plants about to be disked under.  The boys thought it was so much fun picking broccoli side shoots that we ended up going home with bags of broccoli. While trying to figure out what to do with all this broccoli, I found a broccoli and cheese soup recipe on the Food Network web site.  I made it, and it was delicious, but I was scratching my head trying to figure out how to get the kids to eat it.  They were watching a movie in their room, when I said, "Boys, I made this really yummy creamy soup with CHEESE in it.  It's really CHEESY and it's SO GOOD."  I went on and on about the cheese, thinking they would go for that, but they didn't bat an eyelash.  Finally on my way out of their room, I mumbled something about broccoli.  They both jumped up and shouted, "Broccoli!?I?" {well why didn't you say so mom?} and ran into the kitchen to try it.  They each ate a whole bowl full and asked for more.  It was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced.

The recipe is very small, so I almost always double it.  I follow the recipe pretty closely with only a few small adjustments  First, I don't bother with the croutons shown in the original recipe.  Second, I just use salted butter and omit the salt.  Finally, if I make it in the summer, I used fresh broccoli and fresh thyme, but if I make it in the winter, I use frozen broccoli and dried thyme (reduce the amount when using dried).  Believe it or not, the fresh thyme makes a huge difference in flavor, but it's just too expensive at $2.99 a package to buy fresh in the winter.  In the summer, I have it in the garden.  The amount of cream (half and half works fine) and cheese can easily be reduced without ruining the soup.  You can blend the soup very smooth if your kids have food texture issues. 
The other interesting thing that I have discovered is that the kids actually like the soup better without the cream and cheese, so when I make it, they all eat a bowl before I stir in these last ingredients.  Dad doesn't eat it without offsetting all the broccoli with a little cream and cheese, so we add these before he eats any.

Stockup Sunday - Pasta Salad

If you're new to my blog, Stockup Sunday is one of my "working mom" tricks to make my week a little easier.  You can read more here.  Below is one of the things I made last Sunday.  I'm trying to think up a delicious, exotic-sounding name for it, so if you have any ideas, let me know :-)

Ingredients

1 lb pasta shells cooked and drained

1 handful of sun-dried tomatoes roughly chopped

2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach roughly chopped

1 medium red onion chopped

1/2 c crumbled feta cheese

1/4 diced salami

1/4 c sliced pickled hot peppers (any variety you like is fine)

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

1 c italian dressing*

Directions

Toss all ingredients together and let stand at room temperature for an hour or so before eating or refrigerating.

* Italian Dressing - I use this recipe and keep the dry mix on hand in my pantry.

Notes

I like this recipe because it's easy, and it lets me use some of the things I preserved from my summer garden (the sun-dried tomatoes and pickled hot peppers).  You can do all the chopping while the pasta boils, then rinse the pasta and toss it all together.  Done in 15 minutes (even faster than Rachel Ray).

Got leftover chicken?

Chicken Enchiladas

cooking oil
12 corn tortillas
14 oz can enchilada sauce *
1-2 cups cooked chicken (shredded or chopped)
1 can black beans **
1 small bunch of green onions (sliced, including the greens)
16 oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Spray the bottom of a large glass lasagna pan with cooking oil.  Pour in a little of the enchilada sauce (just enough to thinly coat the bottom of the pan).  Take

* If you don't have any enchilada sauce, you can use salsa as a substitute.  Just put salsa in the blender, add a little cumin for flavor, and blend until smooth.

** If you can get beans with seasoning, such as cumin, I highly recommend them.  Kuner's Black Beans with Cumin and Chili are my favorite, but I think they're only available in Minnesota (possibly in surrounding states too).

Going Green

The remains of one of my favorite salads.

Salad
1 bag of baby spinach
1 bag of mixed greens
1 cup craisins
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup candied almonds - see below
1 red onion sliced
dressing - see below

In a large bowl, toss greens with the amount of dressing desired.  Toss in 1/2 to 3/4 of the craisins, cheese and nuts.  Top salad with remaining craisins, nuts and cheese.

Candied Almonds
Start with about 3-4 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup nuts (use almonds, walnuts, pecans or whatever is on hand).  Add nuts and sugar to a pan over medium heat.  Stir constantly until sugar begins to melt and coat nuts.  Add more sugar as needed.  Once all the sugar has melted, remove from heat and set nuts on wax paper to cool.

Dressing
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dry mustard (you can substitute prepared mustard)
1/4 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup cider vinegar
2 cups oil (such as vegetable or canola)

Mix all ingredients except oil in a large jar with a lid.  Shake until well mixed.  Add oil and shake again.  This recipe makes a lot of dressing, so save some to be used later.

Cajun Christmas

The Cajun bloodlines on my husband's side of the family mandate certain Christmas traditions.

Yes, those are my kids eating raw oysters.  Dad convinced them oysters might taste better if they closed their eyes.  Oyster Tally:  Anna - 3, Ehren - 1, Christian - 0.  What are your unique Christmas traditions?

Stock Up Sunday

On Sundays, I try to make a few things for the week, so I don't have to cook each night after work.  My little helper and I made this Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup. 

Later, I also made Friendship Soup and cut up snacking vegetables for the week.  Finally, to balance out all that healthy stuff, we made the super easy Fudge recipe you find on the back of the marshmallow creme jar.  To economize, we substituted 32 large marshmallows instead of the marshmallow creme.  Yes, it has 3 cups of sugar.  Here's wishing you a sweet Christmas.