Pajama Pundits

I've seen commercials before that I thought encouraged bad behavior in children, but never one quite as horrible as this one.

It practically leaves me speechless.

Okay, so one person requested the recipe... but she's really, really popular around here.

I got this recipe from a cousin who is a nurse. She said she got it from a co-worker. I'm guessing, after trying these that they both work in a cardiac unit and circulating this recipe is a form of job security.

As much as I love butter, I couldn't quite bring myself to use all that the original called for. The original said this recipe would make 24 medium-sized rolls. Mine were about 3" in diameter and there were 50 of them. They are so rich, that's plenty big.

The Dough

7 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk
3 T instant yeast
1 T salt
2 large eggs (or 3 medium)
3/4 cup butter (melted)
2 cups water

Measure and blend dry ingredients, including yeast. Measure wet ingredients into mixer bowl. Add dry and stir until moistened. With dough hook, mix for 10 minutes. The dough will be very soft, almost moist. Let rise until double.

The Filling

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 T cinnamon (more or less to your taste)
2 cups butter (reserve 1/4 cup)

Mix sugars and cinnamon until blended. Melt butter.

Roll out dough as thinly and as near to a square or rectangle as possible. Spread melted butter over dough and top with cinnamon mixture. Choose an edge and start rolling the dough up. Cut 1" slices and place 1/2" apart on jelly roll pan. Brush tops with reserved butter and let rise. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

The Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 T. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup milk

Blend all ingredients together using the paddle or whip attachment. Add milk (1/2 teaspoon at a time) or powdered sugar (1/8 or 1/4 cup at a time) until you get a consistency that is just slightly too thin for cake icing.

While the rolls are still hot, drop approximately a tablespoon of icing on each one and spread it as it melts.

Eat. Enjoy. Check your cholesterol.

UPDATE: Belated link to Carnival of the Recipes at RDoctor Medical. It's supposed to dedicated to healthy food, but I think some not quite so good for you snuck in. There's also a link there to a post titled Worst Thankgiving Dinner Recipes: How to cook a Thanksgiving meal that ensures you'll never be the host family again. I'll have to check that one for sure!

Gifts of food should always include chocolate, or something that goes well with chocolate. This is not an ironclad rule, but before you protest too much, tell me what, other than certain animal innards and green vegetables, doesn't go well with chocolate?

If you're the type of person who gives chicken livers and cans of spinach for Christmas presents... well, what can I say?

Until my daughter made Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread for me, from a recipe given to her by the mother of a friend, I would have said chocolate and pumpkin don't go together. I was a fool.

Her husband loves these, and she's tinkered with the recipe over the years, catering to his taste.

All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1 16 oz can pumpkin
3 cups plain flour, unsifted
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 bag mini chocolate chips (can use full size, but mini melt better)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix first 4 ingredients well. Add dry ingredients and spices. Mix thoroughly. Fold into chips. Grease and flour pans. Divide into small loaf pans or muffin pans. (makes great mini muffins). Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes. Best the day after.

Personal experience note - experiment with baking times and oven temperature, as your mileage may vary.

If I were giving baked goods this year, it would probably be cookies. I'd use one or both of these recipes I've submitted to previous carnivals, No-Name Cookies or Snickerdoodles.

This year I'm sending marshmallows. The basic recipe and technique is from Test Recipes: Marshmallows at Cooking For Engineers. I've made some changes and additions and... um, some messes.

Through experience, I discovered that lining the pan with plastic wrap, lightly oiling it (use a light oil, like canola that has little or no flavor), then dusting that with a mixture of 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part cornstarch, works better.

I don't have a candy thermometer, so I used the cold water test to determine if the sugar syrup was ready.

After the mixture has set for several hours, I turn the pan upside down on a cookie sheet or cutting board lined with plastic wrap prepared the same way.

Through impatience, I learned that letting the mixture set overnight makes it easier to cut. No, make that possible to cut. Impatience gave me some really sticky messes to clean up.

I also don't have a pizza cutter, so I used a round cookie cutter. I discovered that these cute round marshmallows fit perfectly in a cup of hot chocolate and decided that made them unique enough to give as gifts, especially if the recipe worked as well when I added flavors. I get 15 round marshmallows out of a batch instead of 40 little square ones.

For cinnamon marshmallows, I added a heaping tablespoon of cinnamon to the sugar.

For peppermint marshmallows, I substituted 2 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract and 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring for the 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

The peppermint marshmallow in Ibarra Mexican Chocolate has already got rave reviews from the younger daughter.

It's an Appetizer Party at Blog o 'Ram.

The 67th Carnival of the Recipes. Grab a glass of water and enjoy!

Nothing tastier, little easier to prepare. What's not to like?

Slice some good quality fresh, moist mozzarella about 3/8" thick.

Slice some good fresh, ripe (vine-ripened if you can get them) tomatoes about the same thickness.

Arrange the mozzarella on a shallow serving dish, top each with a tomato slice.

Tear a handful of fresh, fragrant basil leaves and sprinkle them liberally over the tomatos.

Salt & pepper to taste (I don't think it needs much).

Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.

Take a moment to admire your handiwork.

Serve, with a nice white wine.

I didn't list amounts, just use what you need for as many people as you are preparing this for. Allow at least one slice mozzarella and one tomato slice for each person. The dish in the photo was prepared for six people, allowing two for each. There would have been one left over, but I ate it.

Of course, I'll submit this to the carnival, but the real purpose of posting it is so that I will have it handy next week while visiting my daughters. At my age, one doesn't want to trust memory completely...

The original recipe is from one of my MIL's handwritten recipe journals. She died before my husband and I met, and I didn't know about these gems until my FIL's death. My husband's favorite of all of them is Elvie's Shrimp Gumbo.

The first thing I did (after reading all the recipes and marveling at the beautiful penmanship) was transcribe them. I wish I'd had a scanner then. Then I gave the books to her oldest grandchild. First is the recipe as she wrote it, then the version I've come up with that's closer to the cornbread my mother made, for which no recipe was ever recorded.

Elvie's Bacon Flavored Corn Sticks

6 tablespoons warm bacon drippings
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup yellow meal
2 eggs, well-beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup sifted flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar

Grease pan with drippings. Pour boiling water over cornmeal in medium bowl. Add remaining drippings and stir until thick. Beat in eggs, then milk. Add sifted flour, baking powder, salt, sugar. Stir until well-blended. Put in heated pan. Bake.

Cornbread that's almost like my Mama's

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put shortening in a cast iron skillet and place it in oven to melt. (Voice of experience says don't forget it's there.)

Combine all dry ingredients. Add milk and eggs. Stir until blended. Retrieve melted shortening from oven, and remove approximately 6 tablespoons (3/8 cup). Add this to the batter, stirring until blended.

Sprinkle approximately 1 tablespoon cornmeal in the pan, mingling it well with the remaining melted shortening.

Pour batter into pan and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Maybe 20. Someday, I'll remember to actually time this. Maybe I should just say bake until done.

If there's a difference in the taste of yellow and white cornmeal, it's too subtle for me to discern. There is definitely a difference in perception and my mother always used white cornmeal and never used sugar. She said yellow cornbread with sugar was too much like cake.

She also used buttermilk, and I'm pretty sure she used only one egg. I don't think she used as much shortening as I'm currently calling for, but it's close. It's hard to tell because she just dipped a spoon into the shortening can and dumped it in the skillet. She measured the meal and flour by 'eye' or by 'feel' also.

Other than this recipe, the closest to my mother's cornbread is Martha White's Buttermilk Cornbread Mix. The recipes above are equivalent to two packages. The yellow cornbread mix is pretty close in taste to my MIL's recipe, which isn't overly sweet.

(I don't recommend these Martha White mixes. They don't call for an egg, and don't turn out nearly as well as the others.)

It's up in all it's Red White and Blue glory at Myopic Zeal. Enjoy!

A lesson in you get what you pay for?

My son once made cookies that were worse because he thought baking powder, flour, and powdered sugar were interchangeable since they were all white and powdery.

At least my son's cookie catastrophe was chewable, if not tasty. These "snickerdoodles" were neither. Granted, I don't have extremely strong hands, but I could not break them.

After pounding one with handle of a spoon, I popped a piece in my mouth. Big mistake. The taste was somewhere between cinnamon dust and cinnamon sawdust. The texture wasn't that good.

You can chew sawdust.

Wood has moisture.

Dust is soft.

The box says "original recipe". I suggest this company update theirs to appeal to modern tastes, though I can't imagine these appealing to anyone of any era. They could start with the one I use.

Even the military doesn't issue hardtack anymore.

•2 cups dry red beans
•16 cups water
•4 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled, reserve drippings
•1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (or too taste)
•2 cloves garlic, minced fine
•1 bay leaf
•3 cups Trinity*
•3 medium carrots, minced
•More water
•2 teaspoons beef base
•2 pounds polish, link, or cajun sausage
•4 cups cooked white rice**

Rinse beans, and look through them to remove trash. Cover with 8 cups of the water and let them soak overnight. The next day, remove any “floaters” and drain the water off the beans.

In a large heavy pot, sauté the Trinity*, garlic, and carrots in the reserved bacon drippings. Add the crumbled bacon, the Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, the soaked beans and 8 cups water. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat and simmer for several hours, adding water as necessary. The beans are done when they begin to “pop” or split and are tender all the way through. High altitudes require using a pressure cooker.

Slice and brown sausages, then add to beans. Season to taste, keeping in mind that the rice is bland.

Serve over cooked white rice with a wedge of cornbread, accompanied by some blues***.

*Trinity – equal parts chopped celery, chopped green pepper, chopped onions. I prefer green bell peppers and red onions, and chop the inner tender celery leaves as well as the stalk.

**Rice – Cover 2 cups uncooked white rice with 4 cups water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a rolling boil, cover, and simmer over lowest heat for 20 minutes, then “fluff” with fork. Do not stir rice during cooking or standing time.

Variations:
•Substitute chopped pancetta or ham for bacon
•Eliminate the bacon, add the sausage and vegetable skipping the saute step.
•Cut a small amount of sausage into 1/4 or 1/2 inch cubes, saute with vegetables. Still tasty, but very low fat.

Now for the blues***

Click on the photo to hear a snippet of "You Don't Know My Mind" by Huddy Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly. Click here to hear more snippets of some of his songs and Woodie Guthrie's by Little Richard, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Sweet Honey in the Rock. That CD — Folkways: A Vision Shared - A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly — is one of my favorites.

Fall is putting a lot of people in the mood for hearty soups judging by the number of soup entries this week. Therefore, I'm dedicating this Carnival to Soup, possibly man's first great intellectual achievement:

Soup is surely the ENIAC of early man--a transforming concept that changed his relationship to nature, increased his life choices, and created completely new needs and desires. One aeon he's a frugivore in the garden of eden...the next he's scavenging or hunting raw flesh and sucking bone marrow...then, almost suddenly, he's figured out an unbelievably complex process with tools to produce a hot meal. It's a gastronomic miracle, and it's art: multiple colors, multiple textures, multiple flavors--something created by man that had never existed before in the history of the world.

But let's start with...
Breakfast

A Groggy Breakfast, Rum Raisin French Toast, from Brian of Memento Moron. By the way, I see nothing wrong with Bananas Foster for breakfast.

Appetizers & Snacks & Beverages. Oh MY!

Huge Amount of Hummus, or Hummus by the ton, the Techno Gypsy says Uncle Gerry's Hummus is fantastic. I say double it and make four gallons!

David of third world county has been experimenting on himself with Chai Latte-esque. Should we all chip in and buy him a home chemistry set?

Candy Corn from Punctilious of Blog o 'RAM. I am so jealous. My Dad made fried liver when he was in charge.

Bread

When cooks in the Middle Ages spoke of "soup," what they and the people for whom they were cooking really understood was a dish comprising primarily a piece of bread or toast soaked in a liquid or over which a liquid had been poured. The bread or toast was an important, even vital, part of this dish. It was a means by which a diner could consume the liquid efficiently by sopping it up. The bread or toast was, in effect, an alternative to using a spoon...Soups were important in the medieval diet, but the dish that the cook prepared was often a sop that consisted of both nutritious liquid and the means to eat it. The meal at the end of a normal day was always the lighter of the two meals of the day, and the sop appears to have had an important place in it. In fact it was precisely because of the normal inclusion of a sop in this end-of-the-day meal that it became called "souper" or "supper."

6 Grain Italian Bread from Taleena of Sun Comprehending Glass. Included is a link to a good recipe for sourdough starter.

Dilly Crackers from Michele of Meanderings. She says, "Great with or without soup!"

Soup's On for the Main Course

Sausage & Pepper Stew - from Shawn Lea of Everything And Nothing. Yummy, with macaroni.

Easy Corn Chowder - from Cathy, the Chief Family Officer. I'm impressed with the creativity of the optional thickening agent.

Cheddar Chowder to warm your belly from Kevin of Seriously Good. "...cheddar chowder is fun to say ...a warm bowl of cheese? What's not to like?"

Soup, Soup, Beautiful Soup - from the Deputy headmistress of The Common Room. Contains a surprise ingredient that would have impressed Socrates.

Turkey Chili from Marsha at A Weight Lifted. No red meat, less fat, less cholesterol, less stress on the ole scales.

One Pot Taco Soup from KeWee's Corner. I'd just like to point out that one need not wait for a cold day to appreciate a hot meal. (Yes, the temp is back up into 80's here.)

Rum Tum Tiddy, with variations, from Triticale. He found this recipe in the second edition of Campbell's "Cooking With Condensed Soups".

My soup offering is Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup. I forgot to submit it to the carnival when I first posted it.

For the Main Course (when it's not soup :-)

Pimentón de la Vera Skewers from Martin of Ego. Grillers should bookmark this one. Then they should invite me over for dinner.

Janet's Sweet and Sour Sloppy Joes from Tom of Food for The Thomas. I think he left off an essential ingredient: huge stack of napkins.

Chicken Francaise from Riannan of In the Headlights. I think I could go wild for this too.

Beef Stroganov from Dave at The Glittering Eye. I'm guessing the ex-roommate left out the sugar when he stole the recipe. Or was it the mustard?

Veggies & Sides

Green Beans Oregano, apparently one of El Capitan's favorite 'El Gobleador' Day foods.

Eggplant Parmigiana from the Techno Gypsy. I agree with his boys about eggplant, but I may have to try this technique.

Sweet Things & Desserts

Let's all wish Caltechgirl a Happy Birthday! How many candles should be atop her very favorite Red Velvet birthday cake?

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups from Christine will go well with Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea, or just about anything else.

Good Old-Fashioned Coffee Cake from Marie, the PractiGal who is not a coffee drinker. (Isn't it against the law to blog without coffee???)

Type "A" Personality Cupcakes from blonde sagacity. With photos! I was the type of mother who would have found mini sharks for the water. Maybe some streaks of blood in the water too. I should have been ashamed, but...

That wraps up the 64th Edition of the Carnival of the Recipes. Next week at Myopic Zeal is a patriotic Red, White, and Blue theme.

Unless... it's barbecue and beer.

Glenn Reynolds, up until this morning a source of generally sage wisdom, has revealed he is not a fan of Texas barbecue.

I won't bother emailing him to set him straight as many Texans and Texans at heart have already roasted him. He's reconsidering his position and an across-the-nation barbecue tour. Out of fairness, of course.

At least he had the sense not to diss Shiner Bock, which Pulled Pork Buster, Josh Wills, rightly notes is another reason why Central Texas (and it's BBQ) is a great place.

Tasty!

Comfort food is comforting. Could be that's where the name came from, reckon? Anyway, with all the disasters of the last month or so, I figure it's time to post a recipe for my favorite comfort food.

Nope, it ain't chocolate. At least not for me. After Snickerdoodles, I think the best comfort food is a good chicken fried steak, with all the trimmings, of course.

But today... it's Snickerdoodles I want.

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Beat butter and sugar (preferably in a mixer like this :-) Add eggs and vanilla, blend well.

Add half the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Blend well again. Add remaining flour.

Combine cinnamon & the 2 tablespoons sugar. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls, then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a flat-bottomed glass.

Or, a much quicker way is to use a scoop to deposit nice round balls of dough directly on the cookie sheet. Then coat the bottom of that glass with a butter, dip it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and flatten the dough balls.

Either way you choose to shape the cookies, bake them in a 400 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Eat.

There's really no need to let them cool for very long before eating.

The Glittering Eye is hosting this week, and a nostalgic fall theme seems to have emerged all on its own.

This is a handwritten recipe found in an old cookbook. I was anxious to try it as I've had the pleasure a few times of actually eating Aunt Juanita's biscuits.

They're good and because of the yeast do nicely as quick dinner rolls. Of course they're better with gravy - sawmill or chocolate, whichever you prefer.

1 pkg yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups flour

Aunt Juanita's instructions say "work like biscuits, place in refrigerator and use as needed".

I thought I'd go into a little more detail here with what has worked well for me the three times I've made them.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine 3 cups of the flour with the other dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and oil. Stir 'til well-blended. Add yeast/water. Stir again. Add flour until you have a soft dough that can be kneaded.

Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth.

At this point, it can be refrigerated. I have had great luck with making them into rolls, coating them with oil and placing them in pans, then refrigerating or freezing them.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten to record how long I bake them in a 375 degree oven. I suggest until nicely browned and done!

With all the blogging here today on weight control and body image, it seemed appropriate to post a calorie-laden, but refreshing desert recipe.

I made these a couple of months ago and they were yummy. I especially liked the crust. I'm leaving the recipe like I found it (somewhere on the web, but I didn't bookmark it), but I suggest baking for little longer. After 25 minutes, they weren't done. It took more like 35. Of course, my oven temp could be off.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter

Mix ingredients together with a pastry cutter. When it resembles coarse crumbs, press firmly in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg whites whipped lightly
1/2 cup lemon juice (preferably fresh)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add cream cheese and sugar to mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and vanilla, blending well. Gently blend in beaten egg whites and pour onto crust. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until firm.

Glaze:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
4 tablespoons lemon juice (preferably fresh)

Combine all ingredients, mixing to form thick glaze. Pour over cheesecake base and smooth out. Refrigerate overnight before cutting - which is the most difficult step in the entire recipe!

One Happy Dog Speaks is hosting the Carnival of Recipes. I don't know why he's so happy, because I don't think are going to be any leftovers.

The unrepentant swashbuckling Baboon Pirates is hosting the 22nd Carnival of Cordite.

... is here with Food & Guns.

Carnival of the Recipes at blogoram.

Carnival of Cordite at Resistance is futile!

"A man full of bile is not fit to pronounce on food."

Perhaps he needs a digestive?

After celebrating our independence from the British yesterday, today I feel compelled to defend them.

For breakfast this morning, I think I'll have beans on toast.

UPDATE: London's bid for Olympics looking good.