Strawberry Cake

With a surprise snowstorm in the middle of March, I needed a taste of summer. As a result, this cake just kind of came together. It was easy to make but took some time for refrigeration. I think it turned out very yummy. Everyone else seemed to like it, too.


Strawberry Cool Whip Cake

1 box strawberry jell-o
1 container cool whip, thawed
1 box strawberry cake mix
1 pint strawberries, washed & sliced

1. Frosting: Make the jell-o according to directions on the box. After adding the cold water, fold in the thawed cool whip. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
2. Make cake according to directions on box. Allow to cool completely.
3. If layering the cake, then spread a bit of the frosting on top of the first cake, then place the second cake on top of it. Use the rest of the frosting on the entire cake; the frosting will get a bit runny as you work with it. Refrigerate finished cake.
4. Garnish the cake with the sliced strawberries.

Sweet Potato Soup

The other day I somehow went over-board making Baked Chicken on Roasted Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes. I used the left-over chicken for chicken quesadillas (of course), but what to do with all that left-over potato/sweet potato? The sweet potatoes were cooked almost to the point of falling apart, which to my mind suggested "soup." So here's my on-the-fly recipe for potato/sweet potato soup.

First make Baked Chicken on Roasted Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes

--Peel and cut several baking potatoes and sweet potatoes in a 2" dice
--Rough chop one onion
--In a roasting pan, toss diced potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onion with 1/2 envelope of onion soup mix (no oil--the chicken will provide plenty of fat)
--Remove skin from chicken drumsticks and bone-in thighs (from all the pieces, or just some of them, depending on how much/little fat you want). Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper, garlic powder (don't over-do it), and "Herbs de Provence"--ie. basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, savory, thyme, lavender (I didn't even know lavender was edible, but it's listed on this herb blend I used). Let sit about 20 minutes for seasonings to permeate the chicken.
--Arrange chicken parts on top of diced potatoes/sweet potatoes.
--Cook chicken and potatoes at 375 deg. F. for 45 minutes until chicken reaches at least 165 deg internal temperature and the vegetabels are soft.

I turn the chicken after 30 minutes so that it browns on both sides and sometimes even turn on the broiler for just a couple minutes at the end so that the chicken looks good and browned. People in this house seem to have a thing against pale chicken.

Also the sweet potatoes will be noticably softer than the baking potatoes, but other than adding the sweet potatoes after 10 minutes of baking--which would mean taking off the chicken, mixing in the sweet potatoes, and replacing the chicken--I don't see how to avoid that.

--Once your family has had its fill of the chicken and potatoes, season the left-over roasted vegetables with a little tarragon and thyme, and salt and pepper if needed.
--Add chicken broth and fat-free half-and-half (or other choice of cream/milk) in a ratio of 2 parts broth to one part cream. Actual amounts depend on how much vegetables you have and how thick or thin you want the soup to be (for 4 servings of fairly thick soup I used 1 cup broth and 1/2 cup half-and-half).
--Blend the vegetables with the liquids to a smooth, creamy consistency.
--In a sauce pan, gently heat through.

Uche said it was "okay"--maybe he was put off by the orange color--but I quite enjoyed it. I wonder how it would be with roasted apple or pears, maybe topped with toasted pecans.

Risotto

I have recently discovered risotto and boy is it yummy! It takes a special kind of rice called arborio rice which is a little bit pricey but worth it. I haven't actually tried any other kinds of rice but when I was researching just what arborio rice is, I read that any other kind of rice will just get mushy.I'm going to start with the basic recipe (from the back of the package) and give a few ideas to tweak it.

Arborio Rice

1 cup uncooked rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

salt and pepper (optional)

grated parmesan cheese for excitement

Saute onion in oil and butter for three minutes, or until soft. Add rice and stir for about two minutes. Stir in one cup of broth and cook and stir until all of the liquid is absorbed. Add rest of the broth, a cup at a time, cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup. When all of the liquid is absorbed, stir in parmesan cheese.

There are no times listed, probably because it depends on your pot. The last time I made it, I noticed how long it took. In a wider, shallower pot it took about 30 minutes from the time I added the rice. Basically you have to stir it regularly, not necessarily constantly, and pay attention to it. When I make it, I serve it with a simple main dish that doesn't take much work; chicken I can just put in the oven and leave it alone or even leftovers.

Variations:

Mushroom Risotto: Add fresh, sliced mushrooms and saute with the onion.

Sweet Potato Risotto: Peel and dice two smallish sweet potatoes. Add them to the pot when the onion is sauteing. By the time the rice is cooked, the sweet potatoes will be soft. Mix in chopped pecans with the cheese at the end. (Jason has decided he likes risotto better with some crunch to it to break up the softness.)

Cream Cheese Delights

I haven't actually made these but I have eaten them and they are yummy.

2 8 oz. packages of crescent rolls

2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese

1 1/2 cup sugar, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg yolk and white divided

1-2 cups chopped nuts (I had it with sliced almonds)

1 tsp. cinnamon

Grease 9x13 pan and line with one package of crescent rolls. Mix together the cream cheese, 1 cup of the sugar, vanilla and egg yolk and spread it on top of the rolls. Spread the second package of rolls over the cream cheese mixture. Mix together the egg white, 1/2 cup sugar, nuts and cinnamon and spread it on top of the crescent rolls. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool adn refrigerate overnight. Cut into squares.

Popcorn Party

Dominic came up with a great idea for popcorn - add different seasonings. So we made a lot of plain popcorn and went to town. The seasonings listed are the ones we used. Feel free to try different ones, then tell me in the comments how they turn out.

Flavorful Popcorn

quart-sized, resealable baggies
Butter Buds
Parmesan Herb seasoning, by McCormick
Ranch salad dressing mix
Cheesy Taco seasoning mix, by McCormick
hot chocolate powder
plain popcorn, lots
kettle corn, microwaveable

1. Prepare the baggies by putting 1 - 2 tablespoons of each seasoning in its own bag. Label the bags.

2. Pop the popcorn in an amount that's reasonable for your family. Air-popped corn with butter and no salt works great. I imagine that a low-sodium microwave popcorn would also work well.

3. Fill the bags about half full with popcorn. Seal them up and shake the bags. Kids really like doing this part. Enjoy your popcorn!

Our verdicts:
Butter Buds - tastes like regular buttery popcorn, but less greasy
Parmesan Herb - subtle; good for a little extra flavor
Ranch - much bolder; reminds me of ranch Doritoes
Cheesy taco - very bold
Ranch + cheesy taco - yummy combination
Hot chocolate - used with kettlecorn, it's a delicious dessert popcorn

Man-cakes

We were watching Man vs. Food the other day. The third season is on Netflix, if anyone wants to watch it. Adam was in Boulder, Colorado, when he went to this restaurant that served pancakes with bacon and sausage inside and egg on top. My kids all said they wanted to try it. So the following Saturday we made gigantic pancakes (1/2 c. batter instead of the usual 1/4 c.) We cooked up some bacon and sausage, cut them into bite sized pieces and sprinkled them into the cooking pancakes. We made them to order, of course, sausage in one, bacon in another, some wanted both. Then I made some eggs. Aaron and I had over easy, like the restaurant; my brother and kids had scrambled. Then we stacked them all up and poured syrup on top. I was surprised at how good they were. All the kids liked them. My brother declared it the best breakfast ever. The salty from the meat and the eggs was the perfect foil to the sweet syrup. The pancake stack was called something else at the restaurant, saddlebags I think, but I'm calling them man-cakes. Hooray for breakfast!

Tamarind-spice Glazed Roast of Brussels Sprouts,Onions and Chickpeas

I got this recipe from a weekly email I get called Weeknight Kitchen. It's from the NPR show Splendid Table (I believe I've mentioned it before). This turned out better than I thought it would be. Not that I didn't think it would be good, I just didn't expect it to be this good.

3 large garlic cloves

2 tightly-packed tablespoons fresh cilantro

1 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced thin

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 in pieces

1/2 to 3/4 pound Brussels sprouts, quartered

1 large red onion, cut into 1/4 in wide wedges

1 cup tightly packed arugula, curly endive or spring mix (I used spring mix)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon cross over spice blend (basically a mix of 2 parts cumin, 4 parts coriander, and 1 part black pepper)
1 1/2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice with a bit of zest and 1/2 teaspoon sugar (I ended up using 2 tablespoons tamarind nectar, found in a can in the Mexican section of the store)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons oil (it was a bit oily so you could get away with 2-3)

Heat oven to 450 and put cookie sheet on the middle rack. In a food processor (I used our chopper) process the garlic, cilantro and ginger - don't puree them. Turn the mix into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and toss to blend. Carefully put it all on the hot pan, spreading it all out. Roast for about 40 minutes, turning often and scraping the brown glaze from the pan's bottom, or until the peppers are tender, the greens are brown and chickpeas crisp.

Put into a serving bowl and add 1-2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate if desired. You can also garnish with more cilantro and plain yogurt. To make it a complete protein, serve with rice.