Mangia, Mangia! Italian biscotti from the Walla Walla Italian Heritage Association- repost

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I bring delicious Italian goodness!! If you've been visiting for 2013 or so, you;ll recognize this recipe. I had planned to do post about the sushi we made but there's a stomach virus going through our family and guess who is the last to get it? That's right... me. So, I promise to type up the sushi post next week. For now, I'll be lazy and cut and paste. Then crawl back into bed. :P

So, here it is!

I was at our homeschool girls' book club last week and spent a few glorious hours in a warm and beautiful kitchen, eating apple crisp with piles of real whipped cream topping! Even though I had eight BAZILLION things to do (like get my hair cut and go to Home Depot- those things are not related) I had a fabulous afternoon chatting and eating. Who cares if our refrigerator is on its last legs? Not me! Or at least, I don't care when I have a plate of warm apple crisp in front of me.

 

Now, as I was chowing down on that deliciousness, I spied a little cookbook on my friend Terri's shelf. You all know I love a good cookbook.

 But... I had an ulterior motive. See, Terri makes the most AMAZING biscotti. If I could get my hands on that recipe, I could have biscotti every day, as much as I wanted! A devious plan was hatched.

 She so sweetly let me borrow the cookbook. I got it home and started to page through it. You know how you can tell a person's favorite Bible verse by how the page looks? Well, I didn't have to look far for her favorite recipe. Past the braccioli, past the tarduci, past thecardiletti, the latte dulce and the cassata alla siciliana, there it was...

 Behold, the page of the biscotti recipe! Ooooo, I rubbed my hands together in maniacal glee! I was never going to want for biscotti again!

1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3 eggs
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp anise flavoring
1 c chopped nuts
 (The recipe was submitted by Pam Daltoso Hamilton, but there was another underneath by Anna Perfetto, and another by Mary Locati and another Carmy Destito, under that one by Rose Zaro.
Since Terri is a Biagi, I'm assuming she knows her biscotti. And if not, I'll just have to TRY THEM ALL.)

 Small child is having a wonderful time chopping walnuts from our tree. I don't have the heart to tell him that we only need a cup.

 Ooooh, what a pretty bowl! I wonder where I got that? (From Terri, of course!) It smells like... biscotti.

 So, cream the butter, sugar, eggs. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add them, mix well. Now add the nuts and the anise flavoring. (Of course, I didn't have anise flavoring. I don't even like anise. When I lived in France they drank anise liqueur and it was DISGUSTING. So, I'm assuming that vanilla will be just as good.)

 The dough will be very sticky. Grease the sheet well. Heat the oven to 350F. Shape the dough into long rolls.

 While the biscotti cooks for 30 minutes, browse the rest of the recipes.

 Edna is murmuring to herself. "Questa sembra delizioso!" A few minutes later, she makes a noise. Apparently, the pork sausage/ cinnamon spice cake was not meeting with her approval, even though it says it's great with a caramel frosting. I peeked over her shoulder and said she should definitely try the pizza-by-the-yard recipe. "Vorrei un piatto con formaggio..." she mutters. And there's even a recipe for making your own cheese that dries in a string in the basement! This book has everything! (Of course, we have no basement, but that's no matter...)

 The oven beeped and I checked the biscotti. They were huge and fluffy. But I'd set the timer for 20 minutes, just in case my oven ran hotter than the recipe needed. I put another ten minutes on. Edna was eyeing my new Pinterest activity. It's a heart cut from a map, and the place is my honeymoon. Edna snickered and said it looked like a broken heart! She's so funny. Now all I can see is a framed broken heart.                
     Che romantico!!

 After 30 minutes, remove the biscotti and let cool for 15 minutes. Slice diagonally. Put them back in the oven for ten minutes. This is what makes them super crispy.

 I couldn't even wait for them to cool. It was BISCOTTI time.

Now, I hear these keep well in tupper ware, but they were GONE by the next morning. It wasn't me, I only had two.
Okay, maybe four.
   ALL RIGHT. I lost count! I admit it! I'm a biscotti glutton!

 But now I have the secret recipe and an unending supply, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

  Fino alla prossimo volta, i miei amici!!

(And now from 2016, I hope everyone is well and enjoy the recipe!)

Butternut squash cake with whipped maple topping

Hello everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a sweet little something for your Fall! I don't know about you but I LOVE this weather. I love the apples, the leaves, the cool air, the fires in the evenings. Most of all, I love Fall food!

For once, an actual picture of the food I will be cooking and cyber serving. (See, I'm so smart I always post the first pic of something really pretty because that shows up on the link. Crazy like a fox, I am. If I posted a picture of the actual food no one would ever click.)
                                              

 So, first you need 4 cups of butternut squash, cooked and blended. (I'll pause while you get that done... *taps toes impatiently* Wait, you can buy them in little packages that go in the microwave?? Huh.)
 Preheat the oven to 325F. Rub tummy and say , "This is going to be delicious!" Positive thinking matters.

Blend one cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of butter, 3 eggs, 3 tbs lemon juice and the 4 c of cooked squash together with ONE CUP of flour. Edna went to town with this. Squash was flying everywhere! But she was happy so I let her go...

 (Mmmmm. Edna says that butternut squash is VERY GOOD FOR US! Lots of Vitamin A and C and fiber. Of course, I think she meant it's really good before we put all that butter and sugar in, but we'll just pretend it's still going to make us super healthy!)

Next add in a small bowl ONE MORE CUP of flour plus :

2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 allspice

Mix well and add into the main mixture. Pour into small ramekins (I love those things!) or a shallow baking dish.

Place the ramekins in one inch of water and bake for about 30 minutes. They seemed to take a long time to cook. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe it was all the small people clinging to my legs and pleading with their big, googly baby eyes for SQUASH CAKES.

So, finally they're done (the tops are cracked, which is what one recipe said, but even then they were coming out goopy when poked, so I gave them more time). 
So, the original recipe said the topping was sabayon flavored with Jack Daniels, which had been left alone for three weeks with two vanilla beans 'infusing the flavor'.
  Got all that???
So, I went to my local supermarket, paid $15 for two whole beans, bought some whiskey, plopped in the beans, and left it in the laundry room for three weeks...

 Fine, I did no such thing. Honestly, I think that part of the recipe was a test to see who was paying attention.

So, heavy cream whipped by a strong man, while the bowl is held by a small boy. (How's that for specific??)
Add 2TBS sugar, 1TSP vanilla and 2 TPS maple flavoring.  One dash of cinnamon for pretty.

 

Here's Edna all cleaned up and enjoying her serving of squash cake. She asked for just a few bites because she's watching the sugar. 

I think this was one of the best things to ever have emerged from my oven. The smell was amazing and the taste was perfectly light, not too gooey or heavy, and definitely not just pumpkin flavor. Even without the Jack Daniels-vanilla bean pod- sabayon, it was delicious.

 

 

 Until next week! I have some great apple recipes coming up and can't wait to share them! Feel free to pop by my facebook page at Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits or my blog at The Things That Last!

 

Nothing says Spring like Lilac Jelly !

Happy weekend, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have an interesting recipe for you. I've been cooking all month since I only have one deadline left. Although, I had a hard time choosing what to bring to the cafe, Edna helped me decide.

The lilacs are in bloom!

Did you know there are over 60 varieties of lilacs?

We have our half an acre of a backyard ringed with lilacs and there are four different varieties. My favorite are these double blooms.

So, to make lilac jelly we must have lilacs! You'll need 2 cups of packed blossoms. This means stripping the flowers from the bushes and picking off the green stems.

I doubled my recipe, but you'll need a package of Sure-Jell.

Rise your lilac blossoms in cold water.

For every 2 cups of packed lilacs, add 2 1/2 cups of BOILING WATER.

At this point I'm thinking this is going to be a big batch! 

Weigh down the lilacs with a plate...

And let it sit overnight or for 8 hours. The water around the lilacs will start to turn brown. Don't worry, this is natural.

Edna had a wonderful time with this recipe. She said it all reminded her of one of her favorite poems.

Sometimes - Sheenagh Pugh

Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse.  Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss, sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen:  may it happen for you.

(And in case anyone thinks Miss Sheenagh Pugh is going to sue me for using this... here's her response to whether or not we can use her poem... And I should have left her name off, but Edna made me keep it. Sheenagh can come and discuss it with Edna.)

Of course, we have lilac here and not muscadel (those little grape hyacinth), but indeed, this spring is one of these "sometimes"!

OK, put away the poetry and strain out the blossoms.

Hmmmmm.... The kids are look at this and shaking their heads. 

For every two cups of liquid, add 1/4 cup lemon juice. 

Add  1/2 tsp butter, and one box of pectin to a heavy-bottomed pan.

Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add 4 cups of sugar. Bring back to a boil.

Remove from heat and skim foam. 

Let the liquid cool a bit and then add to clean jars.  They can be sealed with a ten minute water bath. (Put the jars in a pot half filled with water, and bring to a simmer, letting it boil for ten minutes.)

Letting them cool. I really do like how this color came out. I was a little worried by that brown muck in the measuring cup.

I did find some odd bits in the jelly, like insects trapped in amber, but I think it adds to the *ahem* charm of the product.

  Here is Edna, teaching "Sometimes" to the lilac jelly jars. We're going to send them out into the world with that little poem printed on a card, and tied with a raffia ribbon. Because, "sometimes our best efforts do not go amiss" and we wish it for you!

 Happy spring, all! We'll leave you with a picture of the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede. We were the ground crew for one of the pilots and even though we had to get up at FOUR IN THE MORNING, it was a wonderful experience.

 I just saw the sun rise!

 Almost all the brothers...

 Balloons getting ready for passengers.

 Almost... up....

 First in flight!

 Goodbye, balloon!

 Someone is sneaking up on us!

 Isabel wore two sweaters and a coat, thinking it would be cold. She had no idea she would be standing in front of the FIRE.

 Another launches from behind the trees.

 Our pilot, Ingrid, needed some human sandbags.

 Ana is ready to take a nap and it's only 6 AM!

 Little dude hated the sound of the burners. And there were a lot of burners.

 Lots of rainbows!

 The inside of the Liberty Bell. 

 Kids squishing the air out of the pocket, now that the balloon is wrapped back up and inside.

Ingrid taught Jacob the Daisy Chain knot and he's been practicing ever since.

 And then we were part of the Night Glow exhibit. Not early in the morning, but late at night.

 At dusk, all the balloons are fired up.

 All at once, like a race! Up, up, up!!

 This was ours. Great pilot, he was a hoot. And again, we were human sandbags to weigh down the balloon while the pilots made the balloons glow in unison with the music the played through the speakers.

 I went back to the sidelines for a bit and took a few pictures. There were about 15 balloons and they were beautiful at night. Thousands of people came to cheer them on. It was like the Fourth of July... but no fireworks.

 It gets hot right under the burners. But if you get out, it was chilly. Cold, hot, cold, hot.

Here's our pilot telling some story we can't really hear...

And the best part was our friend Mindy was here for a visit, all the way from Savage, Montana! Talk about togetherness time. "Hey, wanna come use your body weight to hold down a giant balloon while having your hair singed by propane flames?" And she said yes, of course, because she's cool like that.

One more thing! In honor of the paperback release of Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits NEXT MONTH, I'm giving away a Jane Austen/ Regency style bonnet on my blog. You know you want it! Edna has one in powder blue and it's quite fetching.