A Fond Farewell with a Traipse Down Memory Lane

 I felt like I should make some splendid recipe for my final post here at the Cafe, but when you've gone over a year with no oven (thanks, pandemic!), it's kind of hard to continue being creative.

But then I came up with another idea - I decided to share my favorite memories about each of my cohosts here at the cafe.

Mondays are Jan's days. I loved reading Jan's posts because I got a glimpse of a life that is so very different from my NYC life.

I'll probably never get to visit the Black Hills, but Jan showed us their glory in all seasons from

Come for a hike with me 

to The Best Christmas Tree Hunt Ever!

Thanks, Jan! I'm going to miss my forays into your neck of the woods!

Tuesdays mean Mindy is dishing up about ranch life. What I will remember most about Mindy's posts is that she's the one to blame for my snake cover.

I was writing a scene in Texas Witness Threat and I needed to distract my hero. I thought of Mindy and her rattlesnake posts and decided to use one. Ooops.

Mindy has shared so many wonderful posts with wonderful recipes like Texas Sheet Cake, but I love this one - Armadillos are NOT Cute. 

*shudder* 

Someday, Mindy, we'll meet up at another RWA.

Wednesdays were mine so we'll pass right over them.

Moving on to Thursdays and hundreds of posts from our Yank, Ruthy in the cozy yellow farmhouse. But honestly, only one word comes to mind - PUMPKINS!

Except not really. When I think of my favorite Ruthy posts, they all center around the children. We watched these little ones grow from teeny babies to real people! 

Thanks for sharing the grandchildren, Ruthy. You've baked some amazing memories in that Yellow Farm House! Someday, if you ever make it back to NYC, coffee is on me.

And finally we had Fridays with Missy - The Belle.

When I think of Missy's posts a few things come to mind, but primarily: 

Family 

Food photography 

and food delivery services like Dinnerly.

And I'd never even heard of Chocolate Cobbler before Missy!

It's always sad to close the doors, but it will be great to have an archive of fabulous recipes that come with a bonus of sweet memories of time spend with friends.

One of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes sums it up quite nicely: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. 

So very much has happened within the walls of this cafe, so we should all be sporting wide smiles!

And Fenway sends fond farewell wishes as well.

Love, Cate

Looking back - A Favorite Guest Post

 Mindy gave me a wonderful idea with her post yesterday. I went back to see what some of my first posts here were. This is one of my favorites. I made it as a guest post before I was a regular. 

British Cheese and Onion Potato Pie

I know it’s January and we’re supposed to be being good and eating low-carb and all, but potatoes are good for you. Really. They’re a good source of potassium, so think of this recipe as good for your blood pressure. Besides, it’s the perfect warm up your insides food for a cold January day.

Whew! Now that I’ve gotten the rationalizing out of the way, let me tell you about this recipe.

My youngest daughter is a vegetarian which is fine most of the year but it makes holiday meals difficult for her. This year I was trying to find a recipe to entice her while everyone else was savoring the Christmas ham.

2021 update - she later became a vegan so no more eating this. :(

I stumbled across a recipe on BBC for a Cheese and Onion Pie. Since my daughter spent a wonderful month in London this summer and was still longing to go back, I figured this would be a hit.

This is the basic BBC recipe:

Ingredients

For the pastry

·       450g/1lb plain flour, plus extra for dusting

·       2 tsp baking powder

·       ½ tsp salt

·       120g/4½oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

·       1 free-range egg yolk

·       50g/2oz parmesan cheese, grated

·       120ml/4fl oz water

·       1 free-range egg, beaten, for glazing

For the filling

·       1 medium potato, peeled and cut into cubes

·       2 onions, finely sliced

·       1 tbsp plain flour

·       50ml/2oz whole milk

·       50ml/2oz double cream

·       150g/5½oz mature cheddar cheese, grated

·       ½ tsp English mustard

·       ½ tsp cayenne pepper

·       salt and freshly ground black pepper

I’m going to be honest with you – I didn’t follow the recipe much at all.

First, I didn’t make the pastry crust. I used the Oronoco Farms frozen crust I had in the freezer. My daughter loves that crust so why mess with it?

Second, I basically used the ingredient list and then adapted it to what I had on hand. I used about 8 large potatoes, peeled them and set them to boil.

  

While the potatoes boiled, I diced 1 sweet onion and 1 red onion and sautéed them in Irish butter until they were translucent.

Then I mixed the potatoes, the onion mix, some milk and lots of cheese and layered it into the pre-baked pie crust, topped it with an extra layer of cheese, and set it to bake about half an hour at about 350 degrees.

The result was delicious. Both my daughter and I ate way too much of it and then we enjoyed leftovers for a few days. It was that good!

The BBC pie had a top crust, but I didn’t put the top crust on mine because I liked the bubbling cheese on top. I’m sure either way is delicious. (And the BBC one looks a whole lot prettier.)

I did a variation another night with artichoke hearts but that wasn’t as delicious as I’d imagined it would be. The artichokes just got mushy. I’d like to try it with salmon baked in but I’ll have to do that separate from my daughter’s portion.  NOTE: I did and it was fabulous.

Have you ever made something like this? Do you have any suggestions of things to add in for variety?

And here’s a link to the original recipe. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheeseandonionpie_89625

Cookbooks Under the Christmas Tree

 

It's been a while since I've bothered looking at any new cookbooks. You guys tease me a lot about my "innovations" in cooking, but the truth is, I've never been much for following recipes. I use them more as a jumping off place.

I imagine the same will hold true with these two cookbooks my daughter requested for Christmas, but the recipes and photos are so amazing that I just wanted to share them with you.

 I had ordered the Oh She Glows for Dinner months ago as a Christmas present, but I liked it so much that I kept it for myself and  sent another one to Maine for my daughter. The recipes in this book just beg you to try them.

There's a recipe for butternut squash, sweet potato and red lentil stew that looks gorgeous! It reminds me of some of the dishes I've experimented with. The recipe for that one is can be found here.

I LOVE mashed potatoes, but the carbs leave me needing protein, so I'm intrigued to try her "Sneaky Protein-Packed Mashed Potatoes." *hint - it involves chickpeas.

There's a smoky black bean veggie burger recipe and something called Sloppy Glows that seems like a lentil-based version of Sloppy Joes.

And so on.

But leave some room for dessert, because here comes Rachel Conners.

Rachel's Bakerita cookbook is just so beautiful! It inspires me to want to make all the things.

If you want to get an idea of some of the recipes, you can check out her website - bakerita.com

I could get lost over there. I'm particularly intrigued to try her recipe for London Fog Tea Latte. Doesn't that sound just perfect for curling up with on a winter afternoon?

There's a recipe for Chocolate Strawberry fudge and one for a grapefruit tart that is simply a work of art!

I could go on raving about all the fabulous recipes, but why don't you go Look Inside yourself - Bakerita

You can even read some of her inspiring story. I'll admit, I immediately felt a connection when I read these opening lines.

Yup. That would be me.

Honestly, after reading these cookbooks, I just want to go shopping and cook amazing foods all day!

How about you? Did anything jump out at you?

Also, I'm excited to say - ONLY TWO MORE DAYS BEFORE MY BOOK RELEASES!!!

Texas Witness Threat

Russian Tea Cakes - a Christmas Memory

I was commenting to my daughter the other day that this would be the first Christmas in over 3 decades that I didn't make these. #2020sadness

It's okay. I really didn't need all the butter and sugar, and I'll appreciate them all the more once I have a working oven again. And I figured that by sharing this post again, it was almost like having them since I can taste the remembered sweetness. 

Russian Tea Cakes

Butter Spritz cookies. Those were definitely a favorite with my girls when they were growing up. But somewhere along the line, the family favorite changed over from spritz to Russian Tea Cakes.

These super easy, delicious treats look like little snowballs.

They also camouflage themselves as pfeffernusse which means a lot of people pass them by, mistaking them for their spicier Dutch cousins. The better for those of us who know of their secret goodness!!!

While we're sharing cookbooks, let me show you the shape of the one this recipe comes from. It's so old (See copyright below) and tattered, and it falls open automatically to the Russian Tea Cakes page.

I love the introduction. (Click to enlarge.)

These are SO easy, I almost hate to give it away.

The recipe calls for:
1 cup of butter
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt (I never add this. I just use salted butter instead of sweet)
3/4 cups of chopped pecans

Additional powdered sugar to roll the cookies in.


So first you soften the butter. If you're in a rush, you can use the microwave (because this recipe is pretty forgiving). 

Cream the butter and sugar and add vanilla and try to avoid eating it all at this point because the dough is SO good.

Mix in flour, salt (if you're using it) and pecans.

This is where I also like to play with substitutions. Mini-chocolate chips work GREAT! I've been known to use rainbow sprinkles for colorful fun.



And this year I bought these.

Oh my stars.  I am going to have to find lots of excuses to bake with these babies!


So you roll them into little balls and bake at 400 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes. As soon as you take them out, you (carefully) roll the hot cookies in the powdered sugar. Once they've cooled, you roll them again.

And then you have something pretty like this.

The Betty Crocker website has a cool adaptation where you basically create a solid chocolate middle. Check that out here. Chocolate-Filled Russian Tea Cakes

FoodGawker has an entire page on possible variations. Ahhhhh. So many pretty cookies.

Russian Tea Cakes

Are there any traditional treats you're not doing this year?

The Daughter Bakes Bread

Remember back at the beginning of this pandemic, everyone seemed to be talking about baking banana bread. I wonder what happened with that?

My daughter decided to try her hand at bread making. Remember her success with the bagels?

She used this recipe from the NYTimes.  Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

The recipe called for dry sherry, but you could substitute apple cider vinegar. Both of those ingredients surprised me. I used to make cinnamon bread all the time and I never used sherry or vinegar. Have you?

Here are some photos.

I was pretty impressed - and wished I got to sample it!

Green Eggs without the Ham

I intended to post my latest quarantine hack today, but things got a bit colorful.

Let's go back a month or so. I bought a dozen eggs, but they were about to expire and I still had half the dozen left. I decided to scramble them and freeze them to keep them good for longer.

It was great because I could pull out a serving for a quick lunch, and they tasted fine.

So, when I went back to the store, I bought an 18 pack, figuring I'd repeat.

That's where it gets Seussian.

I scrambled the eggs and started to cook, and they looked lovely and fluffy.

But when I began to scoop them out onto parchment paper to freeze them, I noticed they had developed a greenish gray/silver tinge.

Oh no!  When you're trying to avoid trips to the supermarket, a wasted meal plan is not good!

Google to the rescue.

Apparently, when you cook a large quantity of eggs, they have a tendency to turn green because of the more prolonged high heat .
Aside - My first thought was to wonder if this is how Dr. Seuss got the idea.

The good news is the taste is not affected and they are perfectly safe.

So now I have a supply of frozen eggs to go along with my frozen milk cubes.

Oh, and I added pouches of salmon to supplement the tuna pouches because... well.. quarantine.

My daughter continues along with her fancier meals. Thai curry chicken with peppers in coconut milk sauce.

Cute puppy photo to make you smile.

How's July going for you?

My New Favorite Quarantine Discovery

Cooking for one doesn't hold much appeal, so I'm always happy when I find something that makes life easier and leaves more time for writing. If I can order it on Amazon? Even better.

My sister mentioned to me that she uses Starkist Low Sodium Tuna packets.

I'm a traditionalist. I've always gotten Bumble Bee Solid White in a can. It was the brand my husband liked, and that was fine by me.

But when I saw I could order a 24 pack box on Amazon, hey, this old dog can learn some new tricks.

But once the tuna arrived, I had to actually do something with it.

A)  I made tuna scampi.

It was so easy.  I heated some butter, garlic and lemon in a pan, added the tuna and simmered.

B) I liked this one even better!

I heated the tuna in some tomato sauce, added some basil, garlic and oregano, and served it over rice. It was good, but I'd made too much so I tossed it all together and stuck it in the refrigerator.

WOW!  That was the really good part. It chilled perfectly and made a cold tuna rice salad that was perfect for lunch. I added a few blue corn chips for crunch!

Apologies for the pathetic photo. I was halfway through eating it when I thought, THIS goes on the blog.


So what do you do with tuna beyond tuna salad?

A New Puppy and Quarantine Kid Makes Bagels

So the news this week is all about my daughters.

Youngest daughter got a new puppy.

He fits right in - already has his head buried in a book!

You may remember that on that looooong Christmas trip to Maine, in between the old car breaking down and me having to buy a new (to us) car, we had to have her kitty put to sleep. 😢

She was lonely up there in quarantine without a furbaby. She knew she couldn't replace her kitty, but a puppy seemed like a good idea. But Maine had restrictions on adoptions from out of state, so she was in limbo. She got a call on her birthday that the pup could be hers - whenever restrictions were eased. That happened June first.

Meet Teddy. (He is SO tiny - he weighs 5 pounds!)

Teddy has the wrong idea about yoga mats. When my daughter got the mat out to do her yoga, he decided it was time to play.

And then of course it was nap time!

I love this video because it captures his personality. He's only 5 months old, but already he's one determined pup. My daughter says he has no clue he's so small.

Meanwhile, back down in NYC, Oldest daughter did her second round of bagel making. For her first batch she used whole wheat flour, but they were a little more dense than she wanted, so she switched to bread flour for the second batch.  The recipe was based on one she found on Sally's Baking Addiction.


First she made the dough and allowed it to rise.

Next step was to break it into little balls and rise again.

Time to make them into bagel shapes...

BOIL

Add toppings and bake!

It sounds so simple, but I know it was a very long process. She was happy with the outcome and enjoyed them for breakfast for days.

What do you think? Have you or would you give bagel making a try?