Food Friday: Ding Dong Cake

Here is an example of, I don't know, less than ideal?!  Last week I was doing some admin work on Facebook then got drifting off onto my own newsfeed.  There was a recipe for Ding Dong Cake which looked pretty good.  If you remember Ding Dongs, this was supposed to be like them, only lots larger.  Well, we were planning our first lunch potluck in the office and I decided to make the Ding Dong Cake for that.

There are three steps:  the cake,  the filling, and the ganache icing.

Each of these steps came with its challenges in my mission kitchen.  The first issue was that I did not have 2" cake pans to bake the cake in.  Consequently one of the pans spewed batter into the bottom of the pristine oven, and baked on.  Yay!  And I mean that very insincerely!  I have had a bowl of white vinegar sitting in the oven for two days now, hoping that when I get home tomorrow it will prove to have worked at loosening up the mess so I can clean it prior to the next baking extravaganza.

Another issue was that I did not believe that the filling would be any good.  I had seen that sort of filling forty years ago in northern Vermont but still did not believe it would work.  Well, it did work.  Mostly.  I think that the butter and sugar really do need at least 5-6 minutes of beating, if not the ten minutes actually called for.  Maybe in my Bosch mixer at home it would have been better.  I only beat it for 2 or 3 minutes...mainly because my "nice" silicon spatula was eaten by the metal beaters in the Mixmaster and had to be tossed out.  That made me sad...and kind of put my off my stride.  I think that with a few more minutes of beating all the sugar would have dissolved into the butter, or whatever it does.  It was smooth enough that it was edible and not overtly granular, but could have been better.  And it did taste okay.

The final challenge was the ganache.  The recipe called for 2 cups of heavy cream heated to just below boiling in the microwave to be then poured over 16 ounces of chocolate chips to let sit for two minutes before stirring.  Well, I did not have a 16-ounce bag of chocolate chips.  Twelve ounces is two cups but I did not take the time to do the math to figure out how many chips were necessary, so I poured in a few more.  That did not seem to be enough so I poured in more.  By that time the cream had cooled enough that the late chips did not melt all the way, so it was kind of a fiasco.

Here is the ganache hardening in the refrigerator.  You can see that, rather than the silky smooth perfect ganache that it should be, it is rather bumpy with chocolate warts all over it.  Plus I can tell you that the cake weighed about five pounds, mostly chocolate chips!

Despite the not-beautiful appearance (I called it a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Cake), it did not last long.  In fact there was only enough to take home for Dear One to have a good piece and me to eat a little piece. I had only eaten crumbs at the potluck because there were so many delicious savory offerings.

So, all in all, I suppose it was a success, but I won't make it again until I am home with my own kitchen equipment. I would like to make it and have it be tasty AND beautiful...

Mission Knitting: Wedding Gift

Friends eloped a few weeks ago.  Since then I have thought of knitting them something to celebrate.  I started out to make some kitchen scrubbies since everyone needs them BUT  I forgot that I used a US 11 needle for the last ones I made.  The needles I used to start these scrubbies were US 8.  Even though I was using two strands of worsted weight cotton yarn held together, on fifteen stitches it was obvious that this would not be a kitchen scrubbie so I changed to making coasters.

The project helped me use up several balls of yarn.  The family is a combined family with at least eight people so I made four colors of double coasters.  The box I made to send them is kind of cute but not quite large enough.  I will probably send it anyway...since I like handmade boxes.  I will have to make a belly band to hold it together...

They do not look like much but they will be great to put under mugs of hot chocolate.  In fact, I might make some for us, but not until I get the baby sweater project finished.  I was able to finish these while watching the live streaming of the Messiah from Temple Square.  We usually watch this at Christmas but it is actually Easter music. 

If you want to watch or listen to it, it is still available whenever you want until April 9, 2018  at LDS.org.  There is a 30-minute program before the actual music starts all about The Messiah.  Pretty interesting...but you can move the slider in about an inch until you see "The Concert Will Begin Shortly"on the screen.  I will be listening again, probably tomorrow night.  This music is so glorious.  Great music to knit by!

Mission Sewing Project: Adding a Zipper to Pocket

Last fall I found a soft hooded jacket that I thought would work well for the non-winter they have here in Oregon.  It was really just the ticket, even having two good side pockets.  Ever since then I have thought of inserting a zipper into the pockets so I could zip in the phone and ID.  Yesterday I did it.   Well, I did one.

It is not a fancy job but it works.  All I need now is to find my 1 1/2-inch split rings so I can insert one in the zipper pull to make it a snap to zip and unzip.

Seamstresses will be horrified but I am happy enough with it.  For a fifteen-minute job, it is okay with me.

In my own defense, it was a curved pocket with knit fabric.  When I do the other pocket, if I do,  I may try a different insertion method...

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Fake Alfredo Sauce

Dear One loves macaroni and cheese.  We had some leftover cream cheese in the refrigerator so I thought I would turn it into a sort of ersatz Alfredo sauce.

Quick and Easy Fake Alfredo Sauce

In sauce pot melt 1/2 cup butter then add 8 ounces softened cream cheese.  With a wooden spoon, stir together until it is smoothly combined.  This takes some time.  Toward the end you can use a whisk but not before or you will whisk the butter all over yourself and the stove top. Ask me how I know.

When the butter/cream cheese is well amalgamated stir in 2 cup milks,  a few tablespoons at a time to make a nice thick sauce.  When the sauce is thick, stir in 2 teaspoons granulated garlic (or less if you are not a fan, but don't leave it out altogether), 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 1 Tablespoon dried parsley.

When this is all nicely mixed, stir in 6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese and continue stirring until smooth and melted.  Pour over your favorite cooked pasta, or even some fresh-out-of-the-oven baking powder biscuits.  You will like it.  I am pretty sure.

Here is my bowl of Alfredo sauce and pasta.  I threw in a LOT of steamed broccoli to drop down the refined carbohydrate content.  In fact, you see all the pasta there is.  The rest is broccoli. It was really good. I could NOT talk Dear One into trying it that way.  Too bad for him.  Really good for me!

We just gave the leftovers to the missionary elders since Dear One is okay with one meal of leftovers but two is stretching it.  There was enough for us to have small servings and the Elders to have large servings.  That made me happy to share.

Food Friday: Power Greens and Onions--Sautéed

The tummy has been a little off for a while so I decided to go back to the old standby: dark leafy greens.  This time I got some baby power greens at Costco.

For breakfast I peeled an onion then cut it from pole to pole.  After slicing it as finely as I could I put it in a little extra virgin olive oil in the cast iron pan and started it on medium heat.  After about three minutes I added about 8 ounces of the power greens, stirred them around, then covered with the lid and left them for three minutes.

After removing the lid and stirring again, I shut off the burner and let them sit on the residual heat for another five minutes. 

Luscious breakfast!  Truly.

I think I will make more for supper....

March Birthday Card

This card started out being a pen and ink card to which I planned to add some watercolor.  That is not what I turned out doing.

It is always fun to mat a card and make a matching envelope.  Love those We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Boards!!

Munchie Monday: Carrot Onion Crackers!

Last week our food dehydrator arrived.  Not without some hassles but we now have it and IT WORKS!

For some time, maybe two years, I have been watching Tanny Raw on YouTube and her dehydrator crackers videos.  I made some once in our round dehydrator at home and thought they were okay.  Now we have a square dehydrator which is much easier to use.

First crackers were Carrot Onion crackers.

In the high speed blender I did a "wet chop" of 1 Vidalia onion and 2 cups celery then drained them in a colander while I prepared the other ingredients.  Into the blender went 2 cups orange bell peppers, 1 cup carrots, 1/2 cup tomatoes, 1/2 cup raisins and 1 Tablespoon paprika.  Tanny called for smoked paprika but I did not have any.  She also called for 1 Tablespoon garlic powder which I totally spaced out on and did not add.

After finely chopping this batch of ingredients I added the already-chopped onion/celery mixture and blended some more until the bits all were about the same size.  Tanny does not do it that way but I worried about chunks making the crackers fall apart.

At this point I brought out one dehydrator tray and put it on the counter then dumped the pulp onto the silicon-sheet-lined tray (these silicon sheets did not come with the dehydrator and were rather costly but the really work!).  I put it all on one tray and spread it around to make it a nice fat layer, probably thicker than one-half inch.  In retrospect, I should have made it on TWO trays, which I will do next time. And there will be a next time!

After making a nice even layer I slid the tray into the dehydrator and turned it on to 125 degrees F.  Tanny uses 105 degrees, I think, since she is rigidly raw. I am not there yet.  I just wanted something to munch on that isn't killing me slowly...though that seems to be speeding up lately...at least that is how I feel.  Anyway,  after twelve hours (I put the crackers dehydrating at 7:45 PM.  The next morning I pulled them out at 7:30) I pulled out the tray and found them dry enough that I could flip the cracker sheet over and pull off the silicon mat to let them dry more thoroughly.  We then went off to a family history conference.  Late in the afternoon I looked at the crackers again and found them more chewy than crisp so I set them going for another ten hours but dropped the temperature to 115 degrees F.  The next morning I pulled them out and, voilà: crackers! 

They taste good.  Sort of sweet.  Since they were so thick, when I "scored" them before cooking that did not take in a very uniform way so this is what I got.  Funny thing is that I ate a little bit of this first batch, really, a very little bit, and was not hungry all day.  Something else may have been going on, I guess, but I am going to attribute the lack of hunger to the crackers. 

Even funnier thing:  when we came home from Family Home Evening and Dear One was preparing to watch a little NetFlix, he went into the kitchen and got the box of crackers and brought it to the couch!  Funny!  I don't know if he actually ate some but the cover was off and he was chewing  when I came back from talking with Daughter on the phone, so I think I can safely assume he ate some for a snack.

As I mentioned before, I will make these again.

 You can see that the crackers are a little dark. I think that is from setting the dehydrator at 125 degrees F.  I probably won't dehydrate crackers at that temperature again.

Sauerkraut: Failure!

What a bust!  I started some sauerkraut "going" thirteen days ago intending to let it "work" for two weeks.  Thirty days is often recommended in recipes...but I didn't think I could wait that long.

Today I decided that it did not look very good and opened it up.  Yep.  Fail!  There was a nasty white bunch of glop on top.  Even with these supposedly foolproof covers, the vegetables spoiled.  Well, I did use a head of cabbage that had been in the refrigerator a LONG time, so I am not giving up.  I really really like sauerkraut.  In fact in the last week I have had Reuben sandwiches twice.  Yummy!

These are pictures of the sad facts in the matter:

Nasty looking business on top of one jar.  The other jar did not look bad...

...until I opened the second jar.  This is what I found on top of both of them, so out they went.  I pulled out the glass marbles I had used to hold down the cabbage and carrots, and rinsed them off.  (I put them in a can that had had sweetened condensed milk in it when I made some key lime pie that I will talk about soon!!!)

After removing the marbles I poured off the scum then started shaking the jar to move the cabbage into the garbage disposal since there are no ways to do composting around here as far as I have been able to ascertain.  About halfway through the jar I started pulling the sauerkraut out with my hand.  Huh!!!  It was not slimy.  It was firm and crisp.  Is it possible I was dumping some perfectly good sauerkraut?  I don't know. I was not brave enough (or maybe stupid enough) to try it.  

Now the jars have been scalded and are ready to try again with so fresh (though it is March) cabbage.  Maybe I will wait until harvest time then try again.  I will not give up the ship on this...

A Glorious Day for a Walk

Today since I did not wake up early enough to go swimming (need to be at the pool at 5 AM if I want to swim before the young swimmers show up for swim team) I decided to walk to work. It is only half a mile so it was not likely to wear me out too much to get any work done at the office afterwards.

There is a great bridge quite near our apartment complex.  As you can see, I stopped to take a picture of the bridge and got a shadow also!  Notice the moss beside the path.  There is moss EVERYWHERE out here! The trees are furry with it.  Even the parking lot pavement is covered with moss.  Every so often someone comes by and scrubs up the moss, I think, because all of a sudden there will be next to no moss left then over the period of a few weeks there is a green sheen visible again.

This half mile walk took me twenty minutes. I just had to stop and take pictures along the way!  The walk felt good physically and also mentally and now I feel so virtuous that I will have to do it again....

Munchie Monday: Kale Salad, a New Rub!

Kale salad is one of my favorites: kale, sweet onions, broccoli, and celery.  I had not made any in a while so was excited to get it together enough to make a big batch. I was rather in a hurry so, after chopping the kale and putting it in the bowl, I only massaged the kale for about a minute.  Two minutes at the most.  Bad idea!

When it came time to eat a bowl of salad, I found it to be bitter.  Well, kale really is a bitter herb, but this was the first time it had tasted bitter to me.  I had a LOT of it.  What to do...!

Well, this morning I put the cast iron skillet on the stove and started it heating on medium heat.  When it was sort of hot I added a tablespoon of olive oil then filled the pan with kale salad.  Sautéed salad here we come!  After stirring for a moment to get a tiny smidgeon of olive oil on as much of the salad as possible, I put on the cover and walked away to do something else.  In about five minutes I came back, stirred it again, then put the cover back on and shut off the electric burner.

In five more minutes this is what I found:

This is so good and the bitter is gone, or if not gone, at least manageable.  Love kale!  So good for our bodies.  So good for our souls!  I mean, after all, I don't know ANY healthy-eating expert who doesn't think we should be pouring kale down our gullets on a regular basis.  Sautéed kale may be the thing for us all!

More Fun Knitting and Paper Crafting

There is a baby shower tonight.  Not being a creative thinker, I just knit up several baby washcloths from some new cotton yarn I found at Joann.  I cast on 21 stitches and used US size 8 needles. I usually like firmly knit wash cloths but for a baby I thought loose and soft was a good idea.

The box is double-sided cardstock.  I liked it.  Same hinged box as before but I used 12 by 9 inch paper.

Quick and Easy Gift Bag

A dear  Church Service Missionary was concluding his service after working in the office for five years.  He wants to clean his garage so I knit him some cleaning cloths.

One of them was knit in seed stitch since he takes very good care of his roses.  The other is in garter stitch.  They are both rather thick cloths since I held two strands of worsted weight cotton yarn together and use a US 10.5 knitting needles. I think I cast on 15 stitches but it might've been 18.

Next I wanted a bag to give them in.  I took two pieces of 12 by 12 inch double-sided yardstick.  On three edges of both sheets I scored at 3 inches.  On the fourth side I scored at 1 1/2 inches.  I folded on the score lines then on the 1 1/2 inch side I folded the paper with desired inside folded to the outside. This becomes the top of the bag.  Next, on one of the pieces of yardstick I cut off the 3-inch squares at the bottom of the bag, the folded along the lines.  On the other  piece of scored paper, I cut horizontally into the middle making two 3" flaps and a six-inch by three-inch middle section.

Since I did not take any photos of the process, I can only say that you make folds then put the two halves of the bag together with glue.  I used Elmer's Extreme Glue Stick. I think a hot glue gun worth have been quicker but it also probably would have made lumpy parts.  It would have held together well, though.  You could go on YouTube and look for "Easy Gift Bags" or something like that.  This description will help you find it.

 If anyone really wants me to, I will look for it myself, just not tonight.

This is what it looked like:

One final thing I did with the bag was to pinch the tops of the two ends to give it more of a "bag" look.  I paper-punched holes for the ribbon handles.  Elder A was happy with the gift though I only signed my initials, something he had not seen before and did not know who it was from.  He is such a kind man.  We already miss him two days (the weekend) later...

Attempt at Drawing From a Photograph

My dear friend E paints wonderful watercolors.  Many of them are the Savior, Jesus Christ. I love them.  She has told me I should, too, even though I mostly paint flowers and landscapes.  When I paint at all.

Today I was thinking about her at the same time I was scrolling through Facebook.  There in front of me was a picture of the Savior. I took of a pencil and drew what I saw on the corner of a sheet of instructions for the Referral Manager.  Well, it was the closest piece of paper at hand.

This is the picture.  It does not look like the Savior.  I, myself, do think it looks like a person, however.

There is no way anyone could figure out what picture I was drawing from.  It was kind of fun so maybe I will do it again.  I guess I really do want to learn to draw because for one of the watercolor classes offered by OSHER at Dartmouth the blurb about the class said prospective students needed to be very good at drawing before taking the watercolor class. That has been in my head for ages.  Maybe I will try again soon to draw something.

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Herbed Biscuits

Biscuits can be so comforting.  We like Eggs Goldenrod on biscuits.  I have posted about cheesey biscuits.  This time I made some herbed biscuits.  They were certainly edible.  The recipe makes 9-12 nice biscuits.  There are only three left!

Quick and Easy Herbed Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon parsley
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add the shortening and cut in well.  Add the milk and cream and stir with a long-handled wooden spoon until mixed together.  Put a little whole wheat flour on your counter and put the dough on it.  Knead together 3-4  times then push the dough together into a nice fat rectangle.  Cut into squares with a pizza cutter.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.  Check to see if they are done.  Your oven may be different than mine.  I had to bake another 2 minutes for 14 minutes total.

These were good right out of the oven with butter on them.  They were particularly good with the Eggs Goldenrod on top.  Would have been superlative if I had had life enough to make some sautéed kale and broccoli salad.  Maybe next time.

Food Friday: Egg Salad with Red Curry Paste

Last week I made some rather insipid egg salad.  It still smelled safe and since I was hungry I decided to spruce it up a bit.  At home in Vermont I always put curry powder in the egg salad mixture.  I did not have any curry powder here.

Looking in the cupboard I found a container of Red Curry Paste which I ill-advisedly purchased months ago.  I wondered what would happen if I added it.  Since I was not planning to foist any of the souped up salad mixture off on Dear One I went ahead and put in one-quarter teaspoonful.  After stirring up in great shape, I spread a pile of it onto one slice of bread and ate the open-faced sandwich (at least that is what I call one slice of bread with something on top).

The new egg salad was okay. It was not great.  Not even very good, because, in the first place it was rather dry since I had been very sparing with the mayonnaise, and second, because I probably should have put in more of the red curry paste.  I did eat it, disappointment though it was.  Next time...!

Since then I went to Winco's bulk spices bins and purchased a good amount of curry powder.  Probably I will never make egg salad again so the curry powder will just sit on the shelf.  Which will be a mistake since it smelled really nice and fresh and spice.  Maybe I have talked myself into hard-boiling more eggs.  Instant Pot, here I come.  Just not tonight....!

Egg salad with red curry paste mixed in.  You can see tiny flecks of red. That is it.

Second February Birthday Card

It was time for another February birthday card. This one turned out less than I had hoped for, but in the end I sent it anyway.

The paper was some different watercolor paper that I embossed using a lovely embossing folder and the Big Shot.  The embossing went very well and made a very nice impression.  Even though the paper is 140 pound, it is low quality, or maybe it is wood pulp instead of cotton based.

It was fun to play with the water color crayons I purchased after the free watercolor class I took at Michaels a couple of months ago.  Since I did not remember anything the nice teacher told me I basically made a mess of the paper but it is colorful and somewhat hopeful, at least to me so I mounted it pink paper and made a green bird envelope.

Hopefully she will like it.  I love her so if she does not, well, I will just have to make another one until I make a card she likes.