Bring on the Chili Weather

Tex here, and y'all have no idea how envious I am of Jan. A blizzard?! In October?! How cool is that?

But Jan isn't the only one whose weather has been a'changin'. Here in Texas, we took a blow from that same front. No snow, of course, but in less than twenty-four hours we went from a balmy ninety-something into the fifties, with a stout north wind accompaniment. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of  deal. However, our youngest son had a marching band competition that day. Outdoors!

Now, many of you know that I grew up in Michigan, so I know what cold weather really is. But these Texans are kinda funny to watch when the temps drop below seventy. Sitting out in that stadium Saturday, I wore nothing more than a windbreaker over my three-quarter length sleeves and I was fine. Wished I had some gloves because my fingers were cold, but that was it. But sitting there, I watched the hundreds of people that poured into the stadium. Some were in shirt sleeves, some wore jackets, a few had blankets, and then, every so often, I'd see someone in their heavy winter coat. I kid you not. Big old puffy things with the fur hood. I mean, really? How wimpy can you get?

As the preliminary part of the competition came to an end, the temps continued to topple and the rain drew closer. Hubby and I left the stadium, however, to do this, you had to go beneath the bleachers, which was enclosed, but had gates on each end that created this bone-chilling wind tunnel effect. So by the time we made it to the car, we were cold. So I looked at hubby and said, "I'm making chili for dinner."

If you'd like that recipe, you can find it here.

But I wanted some cornbread to go with my chili. Usually, I just whip up a pan of plain old cornbread, but I wanted something with a little more zing.

Bring on the Green Chili Cornbread.

Once again, I feel the need to share that green chilies are not hot. They are tasty and have a little bit of zing, but they are not, I repeat, NOT hot.

So, here's what you're going to need:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose or bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 - 8ish oz. can cream-style corn
• 1 - 4 oz. can diced green chilies
• 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Add 1-2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil to your baking pan. If you want it extra yummy, you can use bacon drippings. And put it in the oven to get that oil nice and hot.

 

Now mix your dry ingredients together. Give 'em a little stir.

 

Add your egg, cream corn, green chilies, and buttermilk and stir well. You could even throw in  a little cheese, but I didn't think of that until later.

 

Once your oven has reached 350, remove the pan and add mixture to the hot pan.

Can you hear it sizzle?

 

Now hurry and get it back in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.

My goodness, this smells yummy. See the green chilies.

 

Let the pan sit and cool for a few minutes before cutting. Yes, I had a hard time waiting.

 

This was so good, I almost forgot about my chili. The cream-style corn adds a hint of sweetness that really compliments the zing of the chilies.  

 

So we're back to eighty degrees today, but that little taste of fall/winter was enough to get me going.

 

How about you? I'm sure it's already fall where you live, but are you ready for winter?

 

 

 

 

BLIZZARD WARNING! Shelter at the Cafe and share the Caramel Swirl Cheesecake!

Hi everybody! It's the Fresh Pioneer. I know I usually show up on Wednesdays, but there was a massive blizzard warning and I decided to head to Jan's. What was I thinking???

Now we're snowed in.

Of course, Thatcher is having the time of his life! He's thinking blizzards are the best thing ever! That's because he doesn't have to drive. And he's not stuck at work like Jan's husband. Or without power or internet like Jan.
But remember, this is Yankee Belle Café so we've got lots to eat. And cook. And talk about.

So, while the boys play outside, Jan and I reminisced about her post this time last year.... Caramel Swirl Cheesecake!!!
This is her post from last October. Pull up a chair, let's watch the snow and enjoy a little dessert!

(But first, a fun little drawing I found but have no clue which artist gets the credit! Doesn't this look like Beatrix Potter?? Anyway, if you know, tell me! If not, we'll admire them anonymously.)

October 2012
The recipe is from "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion" - by far the best cookbook I've bought in a long time.

And don't think cheesecake is hard to make! It's time consuming, but not hard.

The biggest misconception people have about cheesecake is that you have to make it in a spring-form pan. It helps to have one, but you can also use an 8x8 baking dish, and it works just fine - although maybe not so pretty.

But when something tastes this good, does it really matter how it looks?

There are two recipes here - one for the crust and one for the filling. We'll do the crust first.

Pate Sucree (or pasta frolla in Italy)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon non-fat dry milk (optional, but helpful for browning and tenderness)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 ounces) cold butter
1 large egg yolk (sorry, this time it's a permanent separation)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water


Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, dry milk, sugar and salt, and then cut in the butter.

Whisk together the egg yolk, vanilla and water in a small bowl, and then stir the liquid into the dry mixture.

The dough should be crumbly, but should hold together when you squeeze it.

Press the dough into the bottom of your pan and about 1/2 inch up the sides.

Prick the bottom all over with a fork, and then bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

It should be lightly browned.

Remove it from the oven and set aside to cool.




Before you do anything else, reduce your oven temperature to 325 degrees. You'll thank me later.

And now it's time for the good stuff!

Caramel Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients:

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature (or you can go to a warehouse store and buy the huge block)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

You'll need to put your mixer to work on this one, but don't work it too hard. You want to work at gentle, slow speeds so you don't incorporate air into the cheesecake mixture. I use my whisk attachment, but you can also use regular beaters.

At slow speed, beat the cream cheese until it's soft and doesn't have any lumps. Scrape the bottom and sides of your bowl a couple times while you do this.

Add the sugar and salt and mix until well blended.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well blended and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Now add the vanilla and cream slowly, and mix until it's well blended.

Measure out 3/4 cup of the filling and put it in a small bowl, and then pour the rest into your pan, on top of your crust.

Now comes the fun part. I used these caramel bits, but if you can't find them, use regular caramels, cut them into small pieces, and continue.

Measure 3/4 cup caramel bits into a microwave safe bowl, add a couple Tablespoons water, and heat in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, until the caramel is melted and you can stir the mixture into a nice, smooth bowl of caramelly goodness.

Mix your caramel into the small bowl of cheesecake filling, stirring until its all smooth.

Drop the caramel mixture onto your cheesecake filling by the tablespoon-full. Don't worry about squiggles or drips.

Next, take a knife and gently zig-zag through the dollops of caramel.

Now, isn't that pretty?

Make sure your oven temperature is at 325 degrees (aren't you glad you turned it down earlier?), and put your cheesecake in the oven. Bake it for about 45-50 minutes, or until lightly browned and slightly jiggly in the middle.

The cheesecake will puff up like nobody's business! But it won't last.

Turn your oven off, open the door slightly, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. As your oven cools, your cheesecake will continue baking (no more jiggly center) and cool slowly (hopefully, no cracked top!). And it will deflate.

After an hour, take the cheesecake out of the oven, run a knife around the edge to allow the cake to pull away from the pan, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Yours shouldn't be this brown.

I'm still fighting with my oven - it refuses to keep an even temperature - but I'm sure this cheesecake will still taste good!





If you're here too early on Monday morning to see the final results, check back in later in the day - I'll post a picture of a slice of heaven - I hope :)

Oh! And a bonus recipe! If you want to make Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, just substitute chocolate chips for the caramel. Now, isn't that easy?

Monday morning update:

Except for the extra brown top, I'd say this cheesecake deliciousness was a success. The only complaint I would have is that the caramel swirls are too similar in color to the regular cheesecake, so they don't stand out - but you can taste the caramel!

I remember our cheesecake at conference having more of a caramel texture to the swirls, so when I try this again, I think I'll use 1 1/2 cups caramel bits instead of 3/4.

On the other hand, the chocolate swirl is so good...

One other difference between this cheesecake and others I've had - I followed the recipe's suggestion for a sweeter cheesecake and used all cream, instead of 1/2 cup cream and 1 cup sour cream that the Classic Cheesecake recipe had.

This cheesecake doesn't have that classic tang that I associate with plain cheesecake, but it is still so good!



--------All right, peeps! It's The Fresh Pioneer again. Jan has gone out to shovel the walk so I'll be handling the comments here at the café. Here's to winter and some delicious cheesecake and having someone ELSE shovel the walk!

Toasting Special Olympics, My Daughter, and Oatmeal

This is my daughter:

Isn't she pretty?

This is the building she is jumping off, excuse me, rappelling off this weekend. Man O swears there is a difference between jumping and rappelling. Did I mention this building is 35 stories?

It's the tall one. Sigh.

This is the reason why: Special Olympics fund-raiser.  One of ManO's family friends has been a participant in Special Olympics since 1968. Marty Sheets is one of the most famous athletes of the games and is featured in a painting with Eunice Shriver, founder, in the National Portrait Gallery in DC. You can read about him here.  

We had to get up at the crack of dawn to get downtown to see our daughter go down in the second wave of participants. Man O wanted to know originally if we could pay her NOT to jump, I mean rappell, but he has mustered his daddy courage and we are going to go watch.

We needed comfort food for breakfast. Fortunately, October starts oatmeal season at our house.

You can see my ghostly image in the glass.

I've been looking at a way to make my gluten-free oats special. Yep, oats have gluten unless they are grown in special fields. I found a simple trick. So simple I was totally flabbergasted.

NO one told me about toasted oatmeal. I had to stumble on it on Pinterest. What kind of friends do I have???? Why toast oatmeal, you ask?  It gives the oats a rich nutty flavor that really adds something to a bowl at breakfast, cookies or granola.

Toasted Oatmeal

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Spread oats on an ungreased cookie sheet in a thin layer and place in preheated oven.

Toast a minimum of 10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

Your oats should look like this picture.

 
 How simple is that? One little step that makes all the difference.

Just like one little step off a tall building makes a big difference in the money our local Special Olympics has for events.

So, do you have an easy secret that makes one of your recipes so much better? Do you have any experience with Special Olympics or doing something crazy for charitable purposes?

PS: I'll check in and let you know how it goes! 

Tina Radcliffe’s Life is Chaos- Chicken Soup

A big thank you to Tina Radcliffe for her post today! Here's Tina...

Tina Radcliffe’s Life is Chaos- Chicken Soup

I’ve got a few balls juggling right now. Evidence my desk today. (I’m not proud of myself!!)

So I’m going to cut a few corners to make a meal that’s fast and will last through tomorrow.

One package of carrots peeled and sliced the way you like them.

One whole package celery, sliced and diced, and with the leaves on.

One or two onions chopped into big chunks

One or two garlic cloves smashed and chopped.

Feel free to toss in any refrigerator leftovers. We had some chopped green chiles left over from taco night and I tossed them in.

Knorr Chicken Stock (has no MSG) use all four packages

Grab a soup pot and fill it three quarters full with water.

Let this simmer on medium about two hours until the carrots are starting to soften.

Then add the chicken. YES! A rotisserie chicken. Any flavor but lemon.  Just toss that bird in.

In about an hour or until the meat is starting to fall off the bone, you can take the bird out and debone. Put the meat back in the soup. Salt and pepper the soup to taste at any time you take a break from writing or reading.

Add rice. Uncle Ben AMAZING Instant Rice Pouches.

Let it simmer on low for about an hour, or longer if you aren’t eating right away. I don’t put the lid on it at any time during the process.

Ready to eat with a nice loaf of bread (I’d eat the whole loaf for sure) or if dieting like me, sea salt breadsticks which are low cal.

Enjoy!

Tina Radcliffe writes inspirational romance for Love Inspired and romantic comedy as Tina Russo.

Her latest release is Love In Bloom: A collection of seventeen poignant and romantic short stories guaranteed to make you smile, laugh and remember your first love. (and yes, it's only 99 cents.)

You can find her at www.tinarusso.com or www.tinaradcliffe.com

Sweet Potato and Apple Bake, Fall Continues!

You don't need a recipe for this one, it was pure common sense, the sight of sweet potatoes and fresh Zestar apples calling to one another across the kitchen, very "Cathy and Heathcliff"!!!

"Zesty!!!!"

"Sweet Potato!!!!!"

It was music, I tell you, pure chemistry-riddled music! So I simmered those sweet potatoes in a nice kettle of water.... Just until they were fork soft, I did not burn them or mush them. This time.

And then I peeled those big, bad boys and when I burned my hands I got a clue and WAITED until they cooled down a bit.

(No one ever accused me of being smart... I'm just sayin'!!!!)

So I took out my 7" x 11" pan and gave it a little spray of Pam. Well, it wasn't really Pam, it was Sam's version, but I don't remember the name of it, Generic Baking Spray most likely....

And I chunked up sweet potato, then sprinkled it with brown sugar (you had me at hello!!!!) and some cinnamon and nutmeg and dotted with about two tablespoons of butter.

And then I layered peeled and pitted apple slices over it, I ate a few, they were very good!



Then more sweet potatoes, brown sugar, spices and butter.

Then topped with more apples.

Baked at 350 degrees with aluminum foil covering the top.

Oh, the smell.

Oh, the taste.

Oh, divine, I'm not kidding! Simple fall blend of flavors, just enough sugar and spice, it was like a feast for the senses.

I ate more than my fair share.

And that made me very, very happy.

More Pinterest Fails for Fall

Hello, everybody!  The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got some very cool projects here! We'll take it step by step. Ready? GOOD!

 

Get some pumpkins.

 

Drill some holes. Light some candles.

See? Totally easy!!!

Honestly, I love Pinterest but it drives me slightly batty. (harhar, get it?) Everything looks SO easy. And then.... reality.

How about PUMKIN CAKES??

 

So, I saw these cute little things. How easy does this look? Instructions and everything included, and I already had the ramekins. You know I love those little ceramic dishes. TOO FUN.

 So, we started with a mix. Note small children stirring the goop. Wheeeeee!

This picture makes me laugh. This is probably a good pictorial rendition of their personalities.

 Place goop in greased, floured ramekin until half full. Put it in the oven for 18-20 minutes. They're like giant cupcakes. You can check at 15, but mine were still raw in the center.

 Mix orange frosting. This may be where I started to go wrong.

 And green frosting. This one turned out better.

 My friend gave me these. Aren't they hilarious?? Salt and pepper shakers... Pillsbury style.

 She also had this awesome Pyrex bowl. I saw it on her porch, filled with water for her dog. I tactfully suggested she take that gorgeous piece of vintage cookware and put it in the kitchen. Ok, maybe not so tactfully. I might have been sobbing in distress. Anyway, my friend decided I should be the new owner of the dog bowl... I mean, vintage Pyrex (Amish butter press pattern). She also makes home made biscotti. She filled the bowl with it (AFTER washing it, in case you think she was getting revenge) and handed the whole kit and caboodle to me. *thrill*

 So, back to the mini pumpkin cakes.

 Slice the round parts off so it sits nicely.

 Uhhhhhhhh. I poured the frosting on.... And dripped on a bit of green for the top.

 At this point my kids are howling with laughter. We couldn't even think of anything it COULD have been... It's all starting to remind me of last year when I tried to make a fancy cake and it turned into the Frankencake. In case you need a refresher of that disaster, it's here.
So, it obviously wasn't working and I had no idea how to salvage it. Then I remember Ruthy once saying that cake is only a vehicle for the frosting.

Hm. What if.... we made a backwards cupcake? An anti-cupcake? An inverted cupcake? A.... puddle of frosting with cake on it?

So, this is what we ended up with and it was a huge hit! I love kids. They're so thrilled with anything. No matter how really odd it is. As long as it's chocolate cake with a fun color of frosting, they don't really care how it gets to them. It was pretty messy and I was glad no one actually tried to drink the frosting out of the bottom of the plate, but all in all, it will go down in our family history as yet another EXCITING fall craft.

 Until next time!

Recipe Organization - My Way

When I first got married, long, long ago, I received my first Betty Crocker Cookbook and another recipe book that has become very dear to me over the years. The woman who gave it to me, those thirty plus years ago, also gave me a sugar cookie recipe that I use to this day.

 

However, as time went on and I acquired more and more recipes, my poor little book had to be rubber banded closed to keep stuff from falling out. That's when I "upgraded" to the recipe file.

Truth be known, I only switched to this a few years ago and it didn't hold up very well. The fuller it got (which was more so than you see here), the more it tore.

 

So in a burst of inspiration, with a nice dose of dreaming, I decided I was going to get organized.

 

HAAAAA, HAAAA, HAAAA!!!!!!

 

Yes, being organized has always been a dream of mine. I have yet to achieve a state of organization, but I'm working on it. Small steps, you know. Starting with my recipes.

 

To get this ball rolling, I needed some cool stuff to inspire me. And how wonderful that it happened when they were bringing out all those wonderful back-to-school supplies. Oh, how I love that time of year. And it's not just the prospect of a quieter house. It all those school supplies. Colored pens, cool folders and binders, colored pens, notebooks, colored pens.... Okay, so you get the point.

 

I already had my trusty label maker, so all I needed was a colorful binder, some pocket dividers with tabs (I went for the 8 pack), and some sheet protectors (very cheap this time of year).

 

I put my dividers in first, then made nice little labels for each one. As you can see, this is still a work in progress. And my bread label needs to be straightened. :)

 

Then, in each category, I sorted my recipes. Alphabetical overall, but I also grouped them by like items. Holiday stuff, Mexican, Italian... Oh, and the pockets on the dividers came in handy for small cut-out recipes that I don't use very often.

 

Each recipe went into a sheet protector. As you can see from my beloved pumpkin bread recipe, this will save them from any further damage. I can goober the pages all I want, then simply wipe them clean. (No, goobering is not something I make a habit of, but hey...sometimes the pumpkin flies)

 

And for those small recipes that I use frequently, I taped those to a plain sheet of copy paper, usually more than one per page, then slide that page into the sheet protector.

See, both appetizers that would go great with a Mexican-themed meal.

 

I can't wait to finish this project, but I've still been able reap the fruits of my labor a time or two. I love it. It lays flat when I open it and I can even mark on the page with a dry erase marker, should I so desire. (Hey, any excuse to use those colorful pens)

 

Oh, and I can't wait to add a cool cover to the front of the binder. Just imagine the possibilities.

 

What do you do with your recipes?