Another Birthday - Wow!

Well I can't believe it but another birthday has come and gone. Back when I hit the big 4-oh, I remember feeling bad and thinking I was getting old. Well, 40 is looking pretty young to me now! But I've gotten over feeling bad about my age -- getting older, after all, beats the alternative!

Anyway. In honor of my birthday, I baked myself a cake. Actually I baked myself a third of a cake. Well, half a cake. Sort of. It was a two-layer half-cake made with one-third of a recipe.

Let me explain. We have a family chocolate cake recipe, passed down from my great grandmother. It won an award at the county fair one year. It's a great cake, light mocha flavor and a texture that is out of this world. So that is the cake I wanted for this momentous occasion.

The thing is, though, it's big cake. And there are only two of us here to eat it, and what with Thanksgiving and all, there was already a large pumpkin pie in the refrigerator. So I decided to make half a recipe -- but the recipe calls for 3 eggs. What to do, what to do. Then I decided that since this cake can be baked in 3 layers, I'd just make 1/3 of the recipe and bake it in a single layer. And since I still wanted a layer cake, I would cut the later in half after it was baked and iced it just like a regular layer cake. As you can see, it ended up looking pretty good!

Well -- here's the recipe for the whole cake. You'll just have to put up with the commentary -- this is a family recipe, and I want anyone who tries it to have a good result. You'll see, it's worth the effort!

Award-Winning Chocolate Mocha Buttermilk Cake

Handed down from my great-grandma, Ellen Ulery.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans, or three 8-inch round cake pans. Dust lightly with flour and set aside.

Sift together:

2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda

• If you must use regular all-purpose flour, sift it before measuring the 2 cups.
• You can use regular white sugar instead of superfine. But cake flour and superfine sugar will yield a more tender cake with a wonderfully smooth texture.

Melt in the top of a double boiler:

3 squares (3 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup strong coffee

• If you don't have a double boiler, set one pot in a larger one that has water in it. Chocolate needs to be melted at a low heat. If the bottom of the pot it's in is touching the flame, the heat will be higher than it ought to be for melting chocolate.

Set the chocolate mixture aside to cool (remove the bottom part of the double boiler with the hot water in it before setting aside).

Cream together:

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup superfine sugar (see comments, above)

• Butter should be room temperature before you start. You can use your microwave to defrost it but only if you are sure you can do so without melting it. Much better to leave it out of the fridge for an hour or so before you start.

Separate:

3 eggs, 1 at a time, reserving whites

• Separate each white into an individual cup or small bowl before adding it to the others. This way, if you get yolk in one, you will not ruin the whole batch. You will need 3 egg whites, and since they will be whipped, you cannot have any yolk in the mixture -- none at all. If there is any visible yolk in them, the whites will not whip.
  

Mix the yolks one at a time into the butter and sugar mixture. Mix each one thoroughly, it will help the sugar to dissolve and make the mixture smoother.

Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the butter, sugar and egg yolk, and then add:

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix thoroughly. Now is the time to stir as much as possible, before adding flour to the batter.

Measure:

1 cup buttermilk

• If you do not have buttermilk, you can substitute 1 cup of milk and 1 scant teaspoon of vinegar. This will curdle the milk -- just like buttermilk is curdled. This indicates acidity that is needed to interact with the baking soda.

Add the flour and buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture, mixing after each addition: one-third of the flour, one-half of the buttermilk, one-third of the flour, last one-half of the buttermilk, last one-third of the flour. When adding the flour: fold it in rapidly but do not overstir; it's okay if there are a few bits of dry flour (but no big lumps) after each addition of flour.

Add to the egg whites:

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional; aids in whipping)

Whip the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. They should hold a soft peak and have a good volume. Now fold the egg whites into the batter.

• Fold them in rapidly, evenly but without overmixing. The goal here is to incorporate the air of the egg whites into the batter; if you overmix you will negate the effort. Don't worry about a few small bits of visible egg white, but no big unmixed masses please!

Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans and place in the oven. Bake 25-35 minutes (shorter time if making 3 layers, longer time if making 2 layers). Cake is done when (a) the center does not wiggle when touched lightly with a finger; and (b) a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean (no uncooked batter on the toothpick).

Remove from the oven onto cooling racks or boards. After about 10 minutes, remove the layers from the cake pans and allow them to cool completely.

When the layers are thoroughly cooled, ice with the following icing:

French Mocha Icing

Beat until soft:

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) butter

Sift or stir together:

2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Stir the sugar mixture into the butter and mix thoroughly.

Add:

3 tablespoons strong hot coffee

Beat until the icing is smooth. If too thin, add powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. If too stiff, add more coffee, 1 teaspoon at a time. The icing should be soft enough to spread easily and stiff enough to hold its shape when on the cake.

Ice the top of the bottom layer, then place the next layer on top. Now ice the sides, and finish by icing the top.

Final notes: This cake bakes higher at altitudes of 2500 feet or more. It is a tender batter, so do not open the oven until you are ready to check it for doneness, and don't slam any doors near the kitchen while it is baking. If your oven runs hot, either lower the temperature or check at 20-30 minutes. Baking too long can make a dry cake, even if it doesn't burn it. These are good rules generally when baking cakes.

Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup

Soups are one of my very favorite foods. There is nothing more comforting than a hot bowl of soup, accompanied by bread or crackers. And there is something so wholesome about them that you can almost feel the vitamins and nourishment being absorbed as you eat.

There are light soups and hearty soups, hot soups and cold soups, mild flavored soups and spicy soups. One of the most amazing thing about soups is what different results you can get starting with the same basic ingredients.

The soup I am sharing today is one of my favorites. It is basically a chicken and vegetable soup, brightened up with lime and black and red pepper flavors, and served over tortilla strips or corn chips. The recipe includes directions for making vegetable stock, but if you are pressed for time you can use prepared stock with great results.

So without further ado, here is my Tortilla Soup recipe and directions. I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!

Overripe Bananas? Make Banana Bread!

I bought bananas last week and we seem to be out of the habit of eating them up very fast. For some reason in this dry climate, bananas ripen very quickly. By Friday, the smell of overripe bananas could not be ignored, so I knew there was just one thing to do: make banana bread! Since I've been on an economy kick lately, let me emphasize this: never throw out those overripe bananas, if they are anything short of spoiled. The riper they are, the more sugars have developed and they are perfect for banana bread!

This bread mixes up quickly and takes about one hour to bake and 1/2 hour to cool to where you can slice and enjoy it. Yummm, you will never be tempted to throw out those old bananas again!

Here is the recipe:

Lime Banana Bread

A wonderful banana bread recipe, adapted from one in the 1946 edition of Joy of Cooking. The lime juice and zest gives it a nice citrus zing! Please read the whole recipe and notes before starting.

2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c butter
3/4 c sugar (all white, all brown or half each)
1 egg

2/3 to 1 c mashed bananas
juice of 1 lime
finely grated zest of 1 lime

3 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease one 8x4 inch baking pan

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and set aside

Stir sugar into butter and mix until smooth
Break egg into butter and sugar mixture and stir until very smooth

Peel ripe to very ripe bananas, break into large chunks, and mash with a fork or potato masher. Mash them until there are only very small chunks left in the mash. Grate the outside of the lime with a fine grater before cutting it in half and juicing it. Add lime juice and zest and stir until well mixed.

Stir the banana and lime mixture into the butter, sugar and egg mixture and stir until well mixed.

Now add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, the flour in 3 parts and the milk in 2 parts in between adding the flour parts. Stir only enough to mix it in; a few dry flour spots is okay, just don't leave big flour chunks. Use a large wooden spoon and make sure to bring up the banana mixture from the bottom while mixing.

Now spoon the batter into the baking pan, place it on a cookie sheet in the pre-heated oven, and cook for about 1 hour. I usually set the timer for 50 minutes, and check it then -- better to take it out right when it's done. Check by inserting a small bamboo skewer or a knife blade into the center of the bread; if it comes out clean (it can have a crumb or two, just no wet dough) the bread is done. If it's not done at 50 minutes, give it another 10 minutes; after that, test every 5 minutes if you need to leave it in.

Remove from oven and leave it in the pan on a breadboard for about 10 minutes. Then remove it from the pan and let it cool on the board or on a wire rack until cool. Or you can start slicing when it's still a little warm. Serve with milk, tea, or coffee.

Notes:

- The loaf pictured looks a little low because I put it in a larger loaf pan, not having the 8x4 loaf pan that is called for. I could have put the double recipe into this larger pan but wanted to save a loaf for later. So while the shape came out a little different, the taste was still wonderful!

- Butter should be room temperature, somewhat soft but not melted

- if using brown sugar, remember to lightly pack it in the measuring cup

- The lime juice adds flavor to the banana bread, and mixing it with the banana mash keeps it from oxidizing and turning brown.

- I usually decide how much banana bread I'm going to make depending on how much mashed banana I get from whatever overripe bananas are lying around and need to be used. This recipe has a lot of leeway: you can use from 2/3 to 1 cup of mashed banana. So if you don't quite have a cup, go ahead and make this recipe anyway. No need to adjust anything else. Or if you have 2 cups, like I did this time, just double the recipe and make 2 loaves.

- Remember, you can stir all you want before you add the flour, and the more you stir the more the sugar dissolves and the smoother the mixture gets, giving a finer texture to the finished product. In this recipe most of the heavy stirring should be done before the banana mixture is added.

- The biggest trick when baking is to know when to stop stirring once you start adding flour. Don't overdo it! Luckily, in the case of banana bread, there's plenty of leeway. If you're a beginner, relax: it may turn out to be not as tender as it could be, but this is a very forgiving recipe and it will still be great.

- Substitute lemon or orange for the lime, for a different citrus accent. If using oranges, you can also substitute orange juice for the milk to give a stronger orange flavor.

Enjoy!

Chicken, Sweet Peppers and Onions - Dinner for Four

We all want to eat well, and in this day and age most of us don't have hours to devote to cooking each day. This meal will feed four, is healthy, colorful, and delicious. Most of the work consists of chopping the vegetables and chicken. I estimate about 1 hour from start to finish, before you can all sit down and eat. So without further ado, let's get started!

Chicken, Sweet Peppers and Onions

NOTE: Please read the whole recipe including that for the sides of rice and collard greens, before starting.

Trim and chop into bite sized pieces (1"x1" to 1"x2" or so):

2 medium yellow onions
3 sweet bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange looks great)
(note: don't use green peppers for this dish, totally different flavor)
1-1/2 lb. chicken breast

Set each group of chopped items aside.

Note 1: Save the vegetable trimmings and put them in a jar in the freezer, for later use in making vegetable stock.
Note 2: I keep frozen chicken tenders as backup for when I don't have fresh chicken on hand. I can bring out the ones I will need the night before to defrost overnight in the fridge.

See the White Rice, Collard Greens and Sauce for Greens items below, get all of those items ready since we want to start cooking everything at the same time. Now it is time to start cooking:

Start the rice and collard greens cooking, as described below.

Place 2 tbsp olive oil into a large frying pan. Add:

2 tsp each: fresh coarsely ground black pepper, oregano, thyme and sage
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (or a pinch)

Put on high heat until the oil is hot (you can test by dropping a single drop of water and see if it sizzles; please be very careful when doing this! hot oil is very hot and can jump out of the pan! so just a very small drop of water please!). When it is hot, drop the chicken pieces into the pan and sauté, leaving the pan on high heat. Use a spatula to turn them while cooking and keep them separated. When the chicken pieces are white and coated with the oil and seasonings, remove them from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Now add another 1-2 tbsp olive oil to the pan, leaving it at high heat, add the onions and peppers and sauté until the onions begin to become clear. Add the chicken back into the pan, add 3/4 cup white wine, turn down to medium heat, and let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes to let the alcohol cook out. Test the flavor and add salt to taste.

Note: I tend to salt lightly, letting people salt their food to taste at the table. The last time I made this dish we used low-sodium soy sauce at the table instead of salt and it went very well with the dish.

Serve by placing rice on the plate, then the chicken with pepper over the rice, and the dressed collard greens on the side.

Enjoy!

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White Rice

1-1/2 cups dry uncooked white rice
2-3/4 cups water
1/4 tsp. salt

Rinse the rice by placing it in a strainer and running water over it until the water runs mostly clear. This removes the powdery coating that is on most rice, and keeps it more fluffy and less sticky. Set aside until ready to start cooking -- about the same time you start to sauté the chicken and peppers.

When ready to start the rice: Place the water and salt in a pan, bring the water to a boil over high heat, then put the rice in the boiling water. Leave it on high until it comes back to the boil, then reduce heat to low, and cover loosely. From this point it will take 20 minutes for the rice to cook and absorb the water. DO NOT stir the rice while it cooks; DO check the rice and make sure the heat is LOW -- burning the bottom of the rice is disastrous, as the burnt flavor will make its way through the entire pot. Finally, rice expands a lot while cooking, so make sure the pot has room.

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Collard Greens

Collard greens are my second favorite green, after beet greens. One of the nice things about collard greens is they are very thick and strong, so they can take a good long cooking -- no need to hover over them and make sure you haven't overcooked them. The trick is not to undercook them!

Take 1 bunch collard greens, remove stems and chop into bite sized pieces -- 1"x1" to 2"x2" in size, more or less. Remove the stems, and also the thicker part of the center of the leaves. After they are chopped, place them in a colander and rinse thoroughly, ensuring there is no dirt or grit in the greens. Set up a pot with a steamer, put 1-2 cups of water under the steamer (not enough to come up through the holes of the steamer), then place the collard greens in the pot and set aside. You will start cooking this at the same time you start the rice. Once they start to steam, turn down the heat and let them steam for 20 minutes until tender.

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Dressing for Greens

This is my standard dressing for cooked greens. It always gets rave reviews.

1 tsp. dark balsamic vinegar
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. to 1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Place above ingredients in a small metal pot (I use a metal 1/2 cup measuring cup for this) and place over heat, holding the pot in your hand and moving it to swirl the sauce while the butter melts. Remove from heat when the butter has fully melted.

Note: you can use all dark, or all white balsamic vinegar. In a pinch you can substitute apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar -- it won't be quite as wonderful but will still be a tasty dressing for the greens.

When the collard greens are done, reheat the sauce slightly, then put the greens in a bowl and toss with the sauce until the greens are fully coated.

Fall Is Here!

It's hard to believe that fall is here and we're already into October! The nights are starting to cool, and it seems like Halloween is right around the corner! And we all know what that means -- we'll be swinging into the holidays before we know it!

One of the staples of this season is the pumpkin. When I get pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns for Halloween, it always reminds me of the many uses of the pumpkin: pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin stew, and pumpkin bread. So in honor of the month, today's recipe is Pumpkin Gingerbread, made with lots of spices and fresh grated ginger. It's a very easy recipe, and it uses vegetable oil instead of butter, which makes it easy and probably healthier too.

Happy Autumn!

Speaking of Economizing...

Well as I mentioned in my last post, these days we're all thinking more about economizing. If you like to cook, you can save a lot of money by going out less often, and especially avoiding those fast foods that are no longer that cheap anyway. Not to mention the health benefits of eating fresher foods!

One great way to economize is to use every bit of the food you bring into the house. When I make soups or stir fried dishes, I chop up lots of vegetables such as onions, peppers, celery and mushrooms. There are parts of these vegetables that can't be used in the dish -- the onion skins and ends, the part of the peppers with the white membrane, the bottom of the celery and the mushroom stems. I save these in a large plastic jar and then put it in the freezer. I have two or three jars of vegetable pieces in my freezer at any given time. Then when they are all full, I take them out, empty them into a pot with a few quarts of water, and let it all simmer for a few hours -- add a little salt, strain through a colander or mesh strainer, and voila! A fine soup stock to use in all kinds of recipes. Sometimes that is the start of a homemade soup right then and there, sometimes I freeze the stock and use it later for soup or as the basis of a sauce or gravy.

Another thing to use for stock is picked over chicken bones. Sometimes I roast a whole chicken, and when we're done with it and have made sandwiches with all the extra meat the next day, I'll throw the carcass in a pot of water and boil that up for a few hours, either by itself or with the vegetables I've saved up for stock. Of course any meat bones or leftovers can be used for the same purpose. If your leftovers include nice pieces, cut those off and save them to use in the dish itself. This goes for chicken too -- peel off that white breast meat and those chunks of thigh meat, cut them into bite sized pieces and set aside for use in a soup or stir fry.

Tips for stocks:

1 - Some vegetables are strong and will overpower the other flavors. I would never use chard, or collard or dandelion greens in a soup stock. Some people think mushroom stems make it bitter, but I have not found that. On the other hand, I find that green peppers can take over from other flavors, so I never use too many in a stock -- only enough for an accent. It's all a matter of taste!

2 - Go ahead and use the onion skins -- they add color to the stock! I will throw the whole end of an onion in, but always make sure it's all rinsed and you aren't adding dirt and grit to the pot. Also don't add green sprouts of onions, any stems from peppers or other plants, nor the green parts of potatoes.

3 - Taste the stock before using. Salt it lightly if you like, but do not oversalt. You can add more salt when you use the stock, and people can always add salt at the table. Remember: you can always add more salt, but you can't take it out once it's been added.

4 - After you've strained your stock and have the cooked vegetable ends, etc., you can still use these for your compost if you wish. If you've made a chicken or meat stock, though, just discard it -- you don't want to attract foraging animals to your compost.

Let's Start Cooking!

Although I love going out to restaurants and sampling foods from around the world, there is nothing so comforting as cooking a nice hearty meal at home and enjoying it at the dinner table with family and friends. The aromas of the kitchen remind me of growing up on the farm -- hey wait, I didn't grow up on a farm! Even so, for me the wonderful smells of homestyle cooking evoke a simpler time when people's lives were not so fast and furious as they are today for so many of us.

There is no reason that home cooking can't be wonderfully tasty and, yes, even gourmet, without spending lots of money or hours in the kitchen. Remember the movie "Ratatouille"? What finally prompted the snooty food critic to give a rave review was a simple meal that brought him back to his childhood. There's a reason for those favorite comfort foods -- they were good, they were made with love, and they sustained us. What more could you ask?

These days we are all looking to economize. But there is no need to sacrifice flavor. Following is a very simple recipe, that is wonderfully tasty, filling, and inexpensive, and it takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. It's a recipe that came to me while wheeling my shopping cart past the meat section in the supermarket -- I spotted those 1-pound Kielbasa sausages, for about $5 each, and somehow knew just what I wanted to make with one. Click on the link to see slides that will take you through this recipe step by step:

Kielbasa and Cabbage

I promise you, this is a very tasty meal! Enjoy!

--Linda