Beans Beans the Magical Fruit...

So yeah. Beans and I have never had a good relationship. Frankly, I loathe them. I hate the pasty texture of beans and the flavor certainly doesn't make up for texture, IMHO. I realize that I am in the minority and that I'm the weird one and I'm okay with this. :P No, seriously, I've been trying to get over my bean thing, especially this past year. My sister turned me on to a bean dip at a Mexican restaurant we like and I fell in love with it. Course it comes with 4 inches of the creamiest most delectible melted cheese on top so I can barely taste the beans, but nevertheless, I am now eating refried beans! Woot! Also, I've bought cans and bags of different types of beans. I even have "beluga" lentils sitting in my pantry! I WANT to like beans, dammit! Problem is.. I've overcome my dislike enough to PURCHASE beans, but they are all pretty much still sitting in my pantry. boo. So one day I get a email from a lovely gal named Lauren. She had a question about recipe archiving and although I couldn't help her (my recipe archive is archaic, and that's putting it nicely), her email was an introduction to her blog, Healthy Indulgences. Actually, I've mentioned her before in the Shrimp Fried "Rice" post of a few weeks back. Well the most recent recipe she had posted was this amazing looking flourless chocolate cake. Please.. go look right now. Seriously. When you are done drooling, come on back.. we'll wait for you. Didn't I tell you? Ah-mazing. AND it's gluten free. AND it's sugarless. AND it only has 5.7 grams net carbs per 1/10th of the cake.. that's a pretty decent sized slice! So other than substituting the sugar, what makes it so different from other flourless cakes? One of the main ingredients is BLACK BEANS. Yes, you read me right.. BEANS. WTF? I'm still unsure what place the beans take, other than ensuring a very moist cake. Does someone else know? Lauren? :) But you can't taste bean in the cake AT ALL. All you taste is deep, rich chocolate. So rich, in fact, that 1/10 of a cake is actually too big of a portion. Especially when you slather it with Lauren's low-carb chocolate buttercream frosting. *swoon* So all of this sounds fabulous doesn't it? I mean, LOOK AT THAT PHOTO on her blog. Now look at THIS photo: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Mmmm hmmm.. mine turned out to be the height of ONE of Lauren's layers. teeeee! GO ME! AGAIN! I swear to the baby Jebus, the fuckin' baking Gods just have it in for me. They NEVER cut me any slack. In fact, I'm sure they'd rather munch on LIVE BEES than make ANY baking project go perfectly for me. Fakk me, I'm not even asking for perfect, just you know.. correctly?? Gah. So here's what happened. I normally have just about any kind of cocoa you can imagine in my pantry. But I'll be dipped in turtle shit, if this time.. this ONE time that I needed regular old cocoa powder, I didn't have any. I have like TWENTY containers of Hershey's Special Dark dutch process cocoa and 15 containers of Scharffen Berger DUTCH PROCESS cocoa, but no regular old cocoa. Can you even imagine? Okay.. so there's the first "tweak" - using DP cocoa. The 2nd tweak was omitting the baking powder because of the DP cocoa. Ya'll might remember The Mothership and her twin brains? Well the "brain" reaction was due to the fact that I used baking powder with the DP cocoa and I didn't want that to happen with this cake, so I omitted the baking powder and used baking soda only. You'd think with 5 eggs the cake would still rise quite a bit more than it did, but my baking soda must be super old or this cake really needs the baking powder too? Fakk if I know, I can barely butter toast without some kind of chaos ensuing, let alone figure out the science behind what reactions are caused by what ingredients for crissakes. Everything else stayed true to the recipe. I used both Stevia and Erythritol. My cake was just sweet enough, actually a little less sweet than other flourless chocolate cakes, and that was perfect for me. I prefer less sweet when it comes to my chocolate. I even wrapped this cake up after it cooled and stored it in the fridge over night before frosting the next day, to ensure no beaniness. The frosting turned out wonderfully.. wasn't too sweet and had a great creamy texture. Slightly on the "cool" side, which I read is a characteristic of Erythritol.. it imparts a minty coolness into whatever you make with it, unless you add Xantham gum, which in this instance wasn't necessary. But even the coolness didn't take away from the deep chocolate flavor of the frosting. Two things I didn't like about the cake. Apparently Erythritol doesn't like to be refrigerated. It forms crystals that really take away from the texture of the cake.. it makes it feel like the cake is stale directly under the frosting. Another textural problem was that mine ended up being almost "solid" compared to Lauren's cake which was fluffy and full of air bubbles. The texture was a little on the spongy side. I took the cake into work, even though I could have eaten the whole damn thing without much guilt or bad side effects to my blood sugar. (I just don't want to get in the habit of having any kind of sweets in the house for more than a day or two) Two of the guys tried it the day I brought it in. One will eat anything that's chocolate and can't form an opinion other than it's good or bad. To him it was "good" - but I can assure you, had I dipped a dog turd in chocolate, he most likely would have said it was "good" because there was chocolate involved. The other guy always gives me good opinions on what I bring in.. not just good or bad, but why so good or why so bad.. and he said the flavor was really amazing, but the texture was off. Then I told them both it was sugar free and made with beans and neither could believe it. hehee! So two of us both thought the texture was off. Before writing this post, I left a comment on Lauren's blog with my opinion of the cake and what I did and didn't like.. she's already answered my questions! You just have to lurve her ;) I'll make this cake again, it's too damn good for someone like me who can't have a boat load of carbs at one sitting anymore. I'll use REGULAR cocoa powder, baking soda (which I will make sure is fresh) AND baking powder. A tip Lauren just gave me was to make sure I dust the pan with cocoa powder all the way up the sides so that the cake can climb. I didn't realize that. I'm unsure how far up I went last time, but next time I'll make sure the sides are dusted completely. And the last change will be, I won't refrigerate. My goodness, I'm hesitant to say it, but maybe with Lauren's advice and my making sure I've got the correct ingredients.. the next cake will turn out.. correctly? I'm unsure how I'd react? Myocardial infarction? Pee-Pee in my pants? Call Guiness?? Stay tuned my friends.. this could get interesting. ;) xoxo

Thanks, Sherry!

Most of the food blogging world already knows, but we lost a dear friend last week. Sherry of What Did You Eat? passed away suddenly. :( As a tribute to Sherry, many of us prepared one of her recipes this past week and are blogging about them today in tribute to such a wonderful woman. I found Sherry's blog a couple years ago and became a fan from the beginning. She made me laugh and her recipes sounded delicious. And then she joined the Daring Bakers and we got to know each other a little better through e-mail. She was a joy to chat with and I really loved getting to know her through her stories on her blog. I've many memories of things she'd said to me, but there is this one comment she made that had me absolutely rolling - tears streaming down my face and an effort to catch my breath.. it was regarding a certain recipe we were making and what a bitch it was. No one was having any luck and we were all frustrated. But she managed to find the exact right words to make it all seem not so bad - I have a feeling she did that often in her life.. helped those she loved and cared about feel better when they weren't in a good place. The world is a sadder place now that she's gone. Fortunately, many of us have memories to keep her close to our hearts and we've got her recipes to keep us thankful she was such a great cook! So in tribute to that beautiful woman, I made one of her many recipes that I've got tucked away in my recipe file.. This is a vegetarian dish that she enjoyed and was written by her favorite chef and cookbook author, Deborah Madison. The book she chose this recipe from is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and it's called Fideos, Dry Mexican Soup. This is a perfect recipe for a warm day.. it was easy to put together and didn't take much time in a hot kitchen. The changes I made were to use organic chicken stock from Trader Joe's, but adding the same spices to it that Sherry did. Since Hubbs loves noodles and carmelized onions together, I just mixed them into the noodles instead of pureeing them. And finally, thanks to a left over rotisserie chicken, I shredded some breast meat and threw it into the mix for a lil protein. I served it simply with sliced cukes from our garden dressed in balsamic vinegar and a lil olive oil. It really was delicious and will become a regularly made dinner for us. I thought about Sherry the whole time I prepared it and while we were eating it and I couldn't help but feel that she was smiling down upon us in approval. Thank you Sherry, for the laughs, the insight to your life, the friendship and for my knowing I've been blessed to have you in my life, for however brief that time might have been. Ya'll can read about the recipe on Sherry's blog here xoxo

WCC No. 26 Round-Up - Pressure Cookers, Dutch Ovens and Crockpots - Oh My!

Well right off the bat before I say anything else.. Ya'll are AMAZING! The quality of recipes that landed in my email inbox pretty much blew me away and I truly cannot wait to try each and every one them out myself! Thank you so much to everyone who participated.. the variety in this round-up will surely hold a recipe or TEN of interest to all who read through it. :) If you just landed on the planet or if the sun is blocking your view of the title to this post, I am talking about this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge. The WCC is the baby of one of my most favorite people in all the world, Sara. Sara came up with this idea three years ago and it's been going strong ever since. The WCC is one of my most favorite events, and probably the only event that I can say I participate in as often as I can. I love the themes that are picked, this event always feels laid back and fun and I rarely feel pressured - because 9 out of 10 times, the theme chosen is usually broad enough that I never have a hard time finding a recipe that will work. Thanks for that, past and future hostesses and hosts! :D So for my inaugural hosting gig (I say that because I hope there will be future months where I can host again! hee!) I chose "Pressure Cookers, Dutch Ovens and Crockpots" as my way of saying BUH BYE WINTER. A last send off to the chilly winds, oppresive blankets of snow and the hateful freezing rains that coat everything in a hard shell of slippery ice.. screw that noise! I want the first flowers of Spring! I want the trees to start budding! I want the sun to shine again! And for those of you who have winter waiting right around the corner.. think of this round-up as a bevy of deliciousness that you can refer back to on those cold mornings or evenings when you just want something quick, easy, tasty and comforting for dinner. :) Starting off our "it's been nice, winter - now go the fakk away" round-up is: One of the funniest gals on the block.. a New Yorker turned Londonite (word?) and loving it.. and one gal who ALWAYS makes me drool through my laughter, AnneMarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. AnneMarie decided to make a very sexy George Clooney taking one of his pot bellied pigs for a walk. Wait. Did she even cook anything? George was mentioned.. I just.. zoned.. AHA! A most delicious dish of Chicken, White Wine, Saffron, Pine Nuts and Raisins! Yes it's all coming back to me now.. this screams elegance to me.. light and delicious that would be just as wonderful in winter as it would be in summer. A stunner, AnneMarie (and no, I'm not talking about George this time) - thank you my love! :) I just realized this round-up is full of Ohioans! Our first represent is Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie. Welcome Fran!! And what a way to represent what I fondly call, The Armpit of the Midwest, than this beautiful presentation of Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers. Wow, they are just so pretty and what a fabulous way to use some of the bounty from our garden this summer! I look forward! Thank you! Thank you! Gretchen of Canela & Comino has shared with us a recipe for Spicy Pulled Pork and reminds us that, indeed, the crockpot is not just for winter! And she's right.. the crockpot is a perfect vessel to make delicious meals without heating up your kitchen/house on a scorching July day. And what better mid-summer night's dinner, while the sun sets and the day gets slightly cooler.. some spicy tacos! Fantabulous! Thank you so much for the recipe and the reminder, Gretchen. :) Awww my sweet sister and partner in crime, my beautiful co-founder of the Daring Bakers, Ivonne, took some time away from everything that is going on in her life right now to make us this delicious and OHMYGODIWANTSOMENOW Rice Pudding with Dulce de Leche. Hello? Me.. over here.. holding a spoon.. I want some. Now. Please? Thank you so much, sweetheart. :) Here's a lil ah-spicy Italian Meat-ah Ball Chicken Cacciatore made by Erin of Dinner and Dessert! You sure know the way to my heart, Erin.. I love love love Chicken Cacciatore! And I haven't had it since my mom made it years ago. Whenever I crave it, the thought of a long cooking time usually changes my mind, because I don't have the time after work, but throwing it all in the crockpot is genius! Well done! Thank you so much for sharing with us! :D A very Happy Baker, SaraLynn the adorable, brings our first boozy delight.. and when I say delight, I mean the total pig out, game on, man (and woman) pleaser and tummy filler upper.. Brats in Beer! Yum! We make these often, but usually grill top.. which means not so much in the winter.. again, the crockpot sure does come in handy! Toss those beautiful brats, thinly sliced onions and a whole lotta beer in the crockpot one afternoon and a few short hours later when the grumbellies start making some noise - you've got dinner! Fantastic! Thank you SaraLynn! :D Well well.. here we are.. it's Sara. The love of my life. The apple of my eye. The cream in my coffee.. Sara who started it all with i like to cook and then WOW'd the blogging world with her Weekend Cookbook Challenge! The WCC is one of the longest running monthly foodie events and by the looks of it - and how hard it was to find an open month to host :P - has no signs of stoppin' any time soon! Which makes me a very happy camper. As do these amazing veggie dishes.. Oh how I loves me my veggies.. Firstly (yes, not 1 but 2 dishes) she made Provencal Vegetables from Bouchon, one of her many cookbooks. Would you just take a moment and thank the cast iron Gods for such sexiness? Something that looks that good can only make foods taste so much better.. and Thomas Keller behind the recipe can't hurt much either, right? :D As promised, her second dish is Herbed New Potatoes from everyone's favorite barefooted Contessa. hee! Those are some tots that I could eat every night for dinner - hell they'd be perfect for lunch and/or breakfast! YUM! Thank you so much for allowing me to host! For two fabulous veggie recipes from two fabulous cookbooks! And for just bein' my friend. xoxo A loyal participator in the WCC is the very awesome, Michelle, of Je Mange la Ville. I've been lurking on Michelle's blog for a couple years now and have made some of her recipes - always a treat! On St. Patrick's Day, she and her hubby celebrated with an authentic MEXICAN meal! heeee! Always keepin' those leprechauns on their toes! And whoooo baby, does this crockpot fiesta look amazing! Pinto Picadillio is what it's called. I call it fabulous! Thanks so much, Michelle! Judy of Judy's Gross Eats has joined in! Yay! Judy who should change the name of her blog to "Judy's DELICIOUS Eats" because there's not one gross recipe anywhere! Especially this Moroccan Chicken! There is absolutely nothing in this recipe that I don't adore and I so look forward to making this. I know Hubbs will love it too. Thank you, Judy! You're a doll! An absolutely non-gross doll! :) Peter from Kalofagas is slingin Okra around his pressure cooker.. two things I'd naught thought to join together. Hmm.. and Peter tells us that Okra is also very popular in Greek cuisine. Another thing I didn't know. Well, not only was it a day of learning a few things, but also a day of excitment as Peter submitted Okra Two Ways! Both dishes look divine - thank you so much, Peter! :) Talk about re-thinking the uses of a pressure cooker.. honestly, I thought it was all about liquids and meats.. no sauces.. no vegetables.. and then I came upon a lovely email in my out box from KC of Kits Chow. KC submitted this recipe for Braised Short Ribs, which in and of itself is a lil slice of heaven on a plate! But I couldn't help myself in wandering around her blog for a while.. she makes all kinds of things with her Pressure Cooker - she uses a steamer basket and a ceramic bowl and creates all kinds of culinary deliciousness! Thank you so much, KC! I am officially hooked on your blog. :D One of Germany's most gifted and lovely cooks as well as a long standing member of the WCC, Ulrike of Küchenlatein! As always Ulrike brings something fabulous to WCC round-ups and I always look to see what she's created. For Pressure Cookers, Dutch Ovens & Crockpots, she has made succulent Smoked Pork Neck in Pineapple Sauce with Dried Cherries and Raisins. Will you look at that photo? OMG it looks DELISH! Thank you so much, Ulrike! :) Next is Lisa (love your name!) from LadyConcierge. In my humble opinion, Lisa has brought the sexy back to Pot Roast. Seriously, doesn't that dish make you all warm and tingly inside? Way to go! And thanks so much for sharing, Lisa! Liberal Foodie a fellow Ohioan, had a busy day of NOT shopping at Ikea and finding some delicious items at the local Halal Market. One of those items was some lamb, which she chose to highlight in an Irish Lamb Stew for St. Patrick's Day. The recipe sounds delish and there's a whole bottle of beer in there, so you KNOW it's Irish. hee! Sounds like you had a fun evening - wish I could have been there! But hey.. since I wasn't, this was a pretty good second. Thank you so much! :D Robin of Made With Love brings us another Irish dish - that really wasn't what the Irish of days passed actually ate! Did you know that? The true boiled meat with cabbage dinner was most likely bacon, or salt pork - because there was no refridgeration back then, they had to preserve their meats in salt. Makes sense! I'm sure it was absolutely delicious a 100 years ago, but Woo baby, there's nothing like Corned Beef and Cabbage and Robin's version made in her crockpot looks incredibly yummy! I had to block the view of my monitor from Hubbs as I was reading Robin's post.. if he would have seen it I would have been shopping for a corned beef brisket that afternoon! hee! Thanks for giving me a new way to make this incredible dish, Robin! Awww.. he holds a place in me heart, he does.. Mike from Mel's Diner is up next. The king of 20 questions, the laugh of the party, the very nice man who turns quite curmudgeon-y when presented with a boat load of lamb, some spices and none too big onions for stuffin'. :D Sick he was! Yet he still slaved over his beloved pressure cooker with Nigella close by to bring us this delicious dinner of Beef With Anchovies And Thyme a la Pressure Cooker! heeee! Aww look at that beef.. so tender. And who can say no to noodles?? Not I! Thanks Mike.. hope you are feeling better. :) Our second dessert! The extremely talented and not quite yet there almost stir-crazy mom of two gorgeous babies, Aidan and Cole, Holly of PheMOMenom brings us this KICK ASS lookin' Caramel Apple Rice Pudding - I have just one word to describe this dessert.. *slurp* Holly you are the bees knees! Thank you sweetheart! :D Who's the sexiest hoochie mama blogger of all time? Kelly is! 'kay this woman keeps me in stitches and Kleenex in business with all the droolin' I do over at her blog. This recipe was definitely a 10 Kleenex recipe.. My gal, she made us some SERIOUSLY Savory Chicken and Dumplings! Would you look at the size of that dumpling?? Ohh and those veggies are makin' my engine roar.. or maybe that's just Kel's affect on me.. SAUCY! ;) Love ya babe.. thanks so muchly! Next on this list of talented cooks is a new friend of mine and another fellow Ohioan, Mary of Shazam in the Kitchen! Now ya'll? Send lots of prayers and good wishes for our Mary as she just had a pretty extensive knee surgery a few days ago.. and she's got a long road of recovery ahead of her.. We wish you nothing but the best, sweets! And bless your heart (and your rolly computer chair) for getting in the kitchen and creating for us another boozy and delicious crockpot creation, Lamb Chops in Beer - SWEET! Tender meat and lots of veggies chillin' in a warm and bubbly beer bath.. Oh yeah.. sweet sweet yuminess! Thanks again, Mary! :) Hey.. before we move along to the next talented cook, I'd like to also mention another friend of mine who has also just had surgery - a fellow Daring Baker and all around super sweet gal, Amanda of Little Foodies is recovering from back surgery.. can ya'll squeeze her in your prayers and good thoughts as well? We're wishing you a speedy recovery, love! xoxo I'm quite proud of our next brand spankin' new blogger.. Lovelycats of Sherry Trifle started out submitting her posts to me on the Daring Bakers Non-blogging Members Blog and has since struck out on her own with her brand new blog. Congrats! The WCC was honored to be one of her first posts and she bring us this delicious Red Curry Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk. Having just reviewed a cookbook with recipes chuck full of curry and coconut milk, I can confidently say that this dish IS delicious. And cooked in a crockpot.. how fab is that? Thank you very muchly, Lovelycats! :D Chelle of Sugar & Spice joins in on the fun and brings to the table a lovely Pot Roast that I'd be proud to serve my family. During the magnificent Blizzard of 2008, Chelle whipped out her crockpot and a book of crockpot recipes put out by Cooking Light Magazine (I must get this book!).. I can attest to recipes in other Cooking Light Annual Cookbooks, everything I've had has been flavorful and shockingly good (low fat? low calorie? good for you and tastes good? Well I'll be dipped!), so this recipe will not disappoint! Thanks for sharing this with us, Chelle! :) Another favorite blogger of mine, Deborah of Taste and Tell decided to finally try her hand at cooking Cornish Hens.. Roasted Lemon Almond Cornish Hens.. and in the crockpot no less! Hurray! I love Cornish Hens and have only roasted them before.. am just tickled with the thought of throwing a couple in the slow cooker one Sunday! And this might have to be the recipe I use.. lemony poultry.. *happy sigh* Much abliged, Deborah - as per usual you always have me craving! :) I dare you to find me a sweeter gal than our Gabi of The Feast Within! Always with such nice words to say and with such talent in her kitchen! I saw this Latin concoction and instantly started to swoon. Her Mom's Chalupa recipe is just begging to be made with a nice big dollop of both sour cream and guacamole! Ole! hahahaha gawd I crack myself up with the corny shit I come up with.. Ole! *ahem* Thank you, sweet Gabi.. this is going to be made for our annual summer party! :) Another fabulous Mary on our list.. and guest at Chez La Mia Cucina last summer, Mary the Breadchick from The Sour Dough! Yay! 'kay well Mary wins the Grand Poobah Award for most entries in one post for the use of her crockpot! You go girlfriend! Along with the gorgeous Swedish Stuffed Cabbage pictured above, Mary also made Pot Roast, Hamburger Soup, Corned Beef & Cabbage, and, a Mini Meatloaf! hahahahaaa! Fabulous! Bread Maven and Crockpot Queen! Hugs and smoochies! Thanks sweetie :) Jill of Veggie Queen Adventures, wowed me with this gorgeous salad.. her Orange Scented Beet Salad to be more specific. Sweet beets, cooked quickly in the pressure cooker and then tossed with spicy greens and an orange scented vinaigrette.. I don't think a more simply made salad could be any better. What a fabulous recipe.. thank you so much, Jill! And finally.. the old windbag herself.. Me. :) Well I made my Mom's Spanish Rice and frankly? I outdid myself.. it was sheer tomato-y goodness. The rice was cooked to perfection, the ground beef and veggies were flavorful.. the rice soaked up just the right amount of the sauce.. oh yeah.. we enjoyed this two nights in a row. And then I also made these amazingly simply and unbelievably good, Italian Wings & Potatoes for another foodie event, but would feel awful to not include them here because this is a place someone might come lookin' for a slowcooker recipe and it'd be a crying shame if they missed out on these. Not kiddin.. SO GOOD! Thank you so much to all of you.. this was a lot of fun and I can't wait to experiment with all these delicious concoctions! Ya'll rock. :D Thank you again, Sara my love.. now bring me some taters? ;) xoxo

A Delicious Discovery

How was everyone's weekend? Good, I hope! Mine was pretty nice.. the snow started to melt on Saturday morning with temperatures soaring to a whopping 50º F! Now that might not seem very warm to many of you, but for us northeastern Ohioans, that's shorts and flip-flops weather! I was almost tempted to put mine on. ;) Unfortch the wind was blowing around 40 mph so outside time wasn't as pleasant as I'd hoped it would be. Nevertheless, the wind did not take away from what ended up being a great weekend because I got some baking done, I watched a really cute (predictable, but cute - No Reservations) movie, spent some time on the phone with my favorite French baking guru, Ivonne and I received an e-mail from Nick Malgieri (squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) who is going to be writing an article for the food section of the Washington Post and looks like our Daring Bakers might be mentioned! WOO HOO! And I discovered a fantastic dessert in my research for my latest article at FoodieView, which will be up later today. Not too shabby of a weekend, eh? :D So the article at FoodieView is on snow day desserts.. I chose to highlight two of my favorite types of desserts, bread puddings and self-saucing puddings. I could eat both of these types of desserts year round, but they are especially good in the cold Autumn/Winter months. Seriously, what is better than throwin' on the flannel pjs, and getting under your favorite blanket with a bowl of something ooey, gooey, sweet, warm and delicious? It's times like that which make me almost enjoy winter. I had decided on two self-saucing puddings to highlight, but wanted a third. In my search I found an Apple Caramel Self-Saucing Pudding at Cook Sister which looked amazing. And so right up my alley.. I loves me my apple desserts! I knew I'd be making this in the near future, this would not go into the "to make" pile to be forgotten about down the road. I just didn't know I'd be making it two days later. :) I wanted to include a photo in the FoodieView article, so I wrote to Jeanne, the author of Cook Sister, to ask permission to use her photo. Unfortunately, she hasn't gotten back to me yet - so I decided that for the sake of the article, I really should make it myself so I can photograph it. Right? I mean, it's just good journalism, yes? :P Jeanne doesn't say where she got the recipe from, just that the original used dates. She had a taste for cooked apples, so voila! A warm apple cake, that is so moist and flavorful, with a gooey, buttery rich caramel sauce hidden beneath. She described it as "Heaven in a bowl" and I could not agree more. Super easy to make, hardly no time at all in preparation and almost instant gratification when it comes out of of the oven, because you don't want to let this pudding cool off completely. To be honest, the aroma from the oven scenting my whole house in apple-y goodness, had me tuckin' my spoon in while the pudding was still steaming. heeee! As per usual, I made a couple changes when I prepared mine. I used a Gala apple instead of the Granny Smith she used. I had a pint of heavy cream that was on it's way to a lumpy coagulated death if I did not use it up soon, so I substituted it in lieu of the milk. I added a 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon to the batter as well. Once I had the batter mixed together I thought it was a little dry so I ended up using an extra tablespoon of the heavy cream. My love of apples and raisins in desserts has me thinking that the next time I make this, a handful of raisins will be added as well. I was so happy with this dessert that I e-mailed Helene the recipe with a rave review, so she made it herself last night. hahahahaaa! She went with a different variation, so check out her blog in the near future to see how she made hers. :) Apple Caramel Self-Saucing Pudding Courtesy of Jeanne of Cook Sister Below is my version: The Pudding: 1 c. all purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar 20 grams butter, melted 1/2 c. heavy cream 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped The Sauce: 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar 2 cups boiling water 60 grams butter Preheat the oven to 350º F. and grease a 2 quart shallow oven-proof dish. (I used individual ramekins, not sure of their size but I got 4) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter, cream and chopped apple in a large bowl and mix well. Spread the mixture into the prepared dish(s). For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted. Pour the caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon over batter in dish. Bake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until firm in the center. Serve warm. These were great the next day, warmed up in the microwave for about 30 seconds, there was still plenty of sauce on the bottom. :) Enjoy! xoxo

Two of My Favorite People and Their Yumminesses!

Yeah.. it's my new word. Problem with that? :P Yumminess.. and adjective that describes both Kelly and Ivonne as well as their cooking! :) Reading Kelly's blog is just a sheer delight.. this woman can cook! She always seems to cook food that I'd love to eat and believe it or not, I am kinda picky when it comes to what trips my food trigger. True story! So when I saw her Blueberry and Mascarpone pancakes.. kids, my trigger had done tripped. I could not wait to try them for myself. And I did, that very weekend. Hubbs and I agreed, unarguably, that Kel's pancakes were the BEST blueberry pancakes we've! ever! had! Hands down, game over.. I will not eat another blueberry pancake ever! again! Seriously. The pancakes are kind of on the sweet side - or maybe they seem that way because of the tart blueberries. I dunno. But it was the perfect balance between tart and sweet for me. Of course I doused them in real maple syrup, but I tried a bite of the very last one that neither of us could manage to finsh, sans the maple-y goodness, and I'll be damned if it wasn't spectacular all on it's own. Oh no.. no syrup needed, my friends. This pancake is all inclusive! It's the whole package without the frilly wrappings and accoutrements! If you've never taken my advice before, and I can't say that I blame you if you haven't.. but TRUST ME on this.. try these pancakes. Like right now. GO. Kel's Blueberry Mascarpone Pancakes or The! Best! Blueberry! Pancakes! Ever! 1 1/2 c. flour 3 TBS. sugar 2 tsp. baking powder 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/2 c. mascarpone at room temperature 3/4 c. + 1 TBS. whole milk (I used 2% - it's all I had) 2 large eggs, slightly beaten 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. lemon zest 1 c. blueberries (fresh or fresh frozen -- without juice) I used fresh frozen Preheat oven to 200º F. and then turn oven off. (Give yourself enough time to preheat the oven right before you start making your pancakes, so that you can turn it off right before the pancakes hit the griddle or frying pan. Heat a griddle or cast iron frying pan over medium-low heat. In a medium sized bowl, sift dry ingredients together. In another bowl, whisk mascarpone, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest until well combined. Pour into dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Add blueberries and stir carefully into mixture. Ladle mixture onto hot griddle or frying pan that's been greased with a lil butter or non-stick spray and cook until bubbles surface and the bottom is goldeny brown. Carefully flip pancakes over and cook until goldeny brown and delicious. Place pancakes on a dish and cover with aluminum foil. Keep dish in warmed oven until ready to serve. Serve with butter and real maple syrup or eat plain (so good!). And then there's Ivonne.. my partner in crime. The apple of my eye.. the cream in my coffee.. the ying to my yang, if you will. :) There's been many recipes of hers that I've made myself and documented on this blog and I'm sure there will be many more in the future. She had decided to submit something to this month's HHDD - Pizza. And in true Ivonne style, she did not disappoint in either taste or presentation. She made sweet pizza sticks.. fluffy dough, with dimples full of brown sugar and butter. She hooked me with the brown sugar, but she had me at butter. *swoon* I made them the very night I read about it on her blog. I simply couldn't wait! Basically, I thawed some of my pizza dough - you could use any plain pizza dough, make a sweet dough or use the dough recipe given on 80 Breakfasts. Flatten it out on a cookie sheet and use your finger tips, or knuckles if you have long nails, to dimple the dough. You can either brush melted butter on the doughy dimples or pour it on - but if you pour, be careful not to use too much. Then you simply sprinkle the brown sugar on top in an even layer. I also added 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and 1 tsp. of cardamom to my brown sugar before sprinkling. I baked at 400º F. for about 15 - 20 minutes, when I noticed the crust was getting goldeny brown and the butter sugar topping was bubbly. (Is this the way you made it, Ivonne?) :) This is a great snack for movie watching or game playing. It's quite easy to eat and you can keep your fingers from getting greasy from the butter by hanging on the sides of the stick - yanno, so you don't butter up your Monopoly money or Wii controller. :P I also melted some left over ganache I had in my freezer for dipping purposes, and the dark chocolate ganache was a great match to the sweet dough. YUM! My only suggestion would be.. if there are only one or two of you enjoying this snack, I'd halve the recipe because these lil guys are pretty filling. :) Thanks for such delicious yumminesses, gals! Hugs and smoochies! xoxo

3 Daring Bakers in Cleveland and Gracie Comes Through Again!

Well right off the bat, I gotta tell yas.. I'm SO EXCITED! In less than 30 hours, Helene of Tartelette and Mary of The Sour Dough will be coming to The Armpit of the Midwest!! Hooray! I get another fun-filled long weekend with Helene and this time Mary is joining us as well! How flippin' lucky am I?? This actually started out with a plan for a bunch of Mid-west/East Coast Daring Bakers to meet up for a weekend in Rochester, New York. We picked Rochester, because it seemed to be the central area from which most of the gals were coming from. Unfortunately, as much as I think everyone wanted to attend, it seemed that the October date we picked wasn't good for many. We hope to try this again in the spring - so if you are interested, lemme know! =) But as that trip fizzled out, Mary suggested she and Helene make a trip to Cleveland! Party on! And so after much scrambling to find affordable plane tickets, many discussions on what we all wanted to do, an introduction to a website that allows you to make lists *swoon* and figuring out how much of our budgets will go to wine - we are finally at the weekend of FUN! WINE! BAKING! SHOPPING! WINE! GIGGLES! FUN! WINE! LAUGHTER! PEEING IN PANTS! WINE! and possibly VODKA! ;) So La Mia Cucina is closed to the general public for a few days while the cook gets plastered. ;) But I had to leave ya'll with something yummy, yes?! I'll keep this brief.. *cough*yeah right*cough* My Auntie's birthday was last week.. so I wanted to make her a birthday cake - something special that she probably had never had before.. something that might just stick in her memory for more than 5 minutes. :( So after a 3 hour search through every recipe site I could think of, I finally went to Gracie's blog where I always find something that screams out to me "BAKE ME DAMMIT!" As per usual, I did find something - her Pumpkin Butterscotch Cake. The cake came out beautifully - super moist and very pumpkin-y. I decided to go with a square 9" pan as I don't think I've ever made a square layer cake before. As you can see in my photos, my mad skillz at slicing a cake in half leave a lot to be desired. I believe my first layer was about an 1/8th inch thick where the top layer was about 3/4 inch think. :P Oh well.. you'll have that. :D I ran into a couple problems.. I used a lemon that looked as if he had a shady background - yanno, gettin' a lil smooshy in his old age? Well I found out - lemons really do go bad after they've been in your fridge for a month!! The tiny bit of lemon juice used in the butterscotch filling completely ruined it.. it was nasty. So I panicked because I was running out of time before we had to leave to go see her. I originally thought I'd just sub a cream cheese filling because I could whip that up quickly (there's a 45 min. cooling period with the butterscotch filling). First though, I decided to get the brown sugar frosting done as that had a 1 hour cooling period. Unfortunately, as much as I beat and then whipped this stuff it would not thicken.. I don't know if 1 c. of cream was too much? My kitchen was too warm? The frosting God's were getting me back from the past monstrosities I've made? I dunno.. but right before I panicked (AGAIN) and called My Guru - I shoved the whole mixing bowl full of it into the deep freeze. My Guru gave me some very good tips on how to thicken it up and she calmed me down in the process. Bless her. After we got off the phone, I checked the freezer and to my shock and happy surprise, the 20 minute chill thickened it right up! Even after frosting it and leaving it out for a few hours, it stayed thick and delicious! My new favorite frosting, by the way. ;) Now, back to that filling.. as it turned out, we ended up not going. *sigh* My mom didn't feel well (she's fine now) and wasn't up to the hour long drive. I was bummed. But, that left me with the rest of the afternoon, so I decided to try that butterscotch filling again - this time leaving the lemon juice out - and it turned out perfectly. That kind of perfect that allows you to keep dipping your spoon in, while blocking out your brain telling you to leave some for the cake & your ass telling you to have some mercy. Yeah, that kinda perfect. ;) I didn't get to do a nice fancy job in frosting this (as if I could) because my time had run out. And by my time running out, I mean - I had spent 6 hours on this cake already and my sofa & DVD player were SCREAMING at me. But looks don't count on a cake that is this good. Although a lil sweet with the brown sugar frosting and butterscotch filling, the moistness, the pumpkin-y flavor and the caramel hits from the filling was insanely good - especially the next day. Okay.. I'm done blabbering. Check out Gracie's blog for the recipe! I will make this cake again.. but I will double the batter recipe and make it in two layer cake pans as slicing one layer in half is not my forte :P and I will try the cream cheese filling with the brown sugar frosting - my guess is, I won't want to share it with my Auntie or anyone else. Am I bad? :P One last thing - I'm curious. What's your favorite cake flavors? You don't have to leave a recipe, if I drool over your fave, I'll hunt you down and pester the shite outta you until you give me the recipe. ;) But if there's a link you wanna share.. by all means... DO SO! heeee! xoxo

I'm Gonna Make Him an Offer He Can't Refuse

When my lovely friend, Sara announced that Paige from Chef Girl was hosting WCC No. 19 and had chosen "Dinner and a DVD" as this month's theme, I knew I had to get in on it. There is something about the Weekend Cookbook Challenge and me. We live on different parallel universes I think.. because for the life of me, I can never be on time. I either run out of time completely with no idea of what I could have made in the first place.. or I try to sneak in under the wire and beg Sara to include my lil recipe at the very last minute. Which is what I thought I was going to do this month.. hahahahaaa! That Paige though.. she's a fast rounder-upper! But that's okay, I'm still going to share this with yous guys because A- the recipe is KICK ASS and B- the movie is SUPER KICK ASS. And C- I went through the whole day dating everything the 19th :D First the movie - what every Italian daughter should own in her DVD collection - The Godfather. Of if you are like me, you would own The Godfather DVD Collection, which contains The Godfather Parts I, II and III as well as a BONUS materials DVD. And ya'll know me.. I'm always up for a bonus. :D This was a gift from my mom after my father passed. Do you find that odd? My father was The Number One fan of The Godfather Trilogy (although he'd never admit to liking Part III even though he watched it, easily, over 50 times). The man owned pretty much every gangster/Italian related movie ever made, but The Godfather was the movie he watched over and over again. Seriously, if I had a dime for every time I came home from school, woke up in the morning, came home from work at night, was helping prepare dinner, brushing my teeth, doing my homework or talking on the phone and heard the theme song to The Godfather start up on our TV, I'd be a fakking millionare. I do not joke nor exaggerate about this. His VHS copy is barely holding together, it's been played THAT MANY TIMES. It's too bad he passed before DVDs were the thing.. he probably would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven anyway had he known he could watch HIS MOVIE in high def. =) Did I ever mention that at my father's calling hours, we had The Godfather Waltz piped through the funeral home speakers? Oh yes. Yes we did. And so.. as you can imagine, I too have seen the Godfather movies a bazillion times and can pretty much recite Parts I and II from memory. Yes yes, I hold the same grudge as my father regarding Part III - so sue me. :P I knew this would have to be the movie I would chose for this month's challenge. And what goes better with a lil Marlon Brando, James Caan and Al Pacino? Why Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna! That's what!! I know I've blogged about this phenomenal recipe before.. but it is THAT good and goes SO WELL with a bulletproof vest fulla dead fish that I just had to blog about it once again. This time though, it's not exactly Mama Creampuff's recipe for I have tweaked and twiddled with it a bit. Not by much - you really can't screw with perfection too much, yanno ;) This being maybe the 5th or 6th time I've made it.. I've gradually added a lil somethin' somethin' to it - such as the rinds from parmigiano reggiano wedges and a handful or two of the grated good stuff. I also added a lil garlic.. my father would have shot me if I did not add garlic. And lastly, something I've done from day one, is use pork shoulder steaks instead of veal because I just can't do veal. So there you have it, friends.. The Godfather and Mama Creampuff's Lasagna - a true match made in heaven. :D xoxo