Cold Oven Pound Cake with Crushed Strawberries

The kids and I had this for supper this evening:

Brad happened to be gone so I just cooked up a bunch of veggies from the garden and served some cheese along side. The meal was delicious (thought I) but I knew that the kids would not be thrilled.

So I made a cake for dessert. I wanted to use the last of the strawberries in an extravagant fashion and we were not disappointed.

I cut this recipe out of the Lancaster Farming paper. It’s a weekly newspaper full of things that farmers like to read…ads for tractors and equipment and articles about anything concerning agriculture. There is a section for the cooks in the family, too: recipes and a food question/answer part. I always look forward to that section, especially this month. June is dairy month and lots of people submit their favorite dairy recipes.

Anyway, I cut this cake recipe out two weeks ago and figured it would make the perfect base for strawberries. With all of that butter, sugar, and cream cheese, it sure was extravagant! And it was a good way to use up a bit of the cream cheese I made a few weeks ago.

From the words of Joy, the recipe contributor, “This is the pound cake that tastes like the kind “grandma” use to make!”

Cold Oven Pound Cake

Adapted from Joy Timmons’ recipe in The Lancaster Farming, June 2013

Note: I made a third batch of this and got a small cake out of it. I didn’t want a large loaf.

3 sticks butter

3 cups sugar

8 oz cream cheese

6 eggs

1 t vanilla extract

3 cups unbleached flour

Cream the butter, sugar, and cream cheese until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and then the flour. Pour into two parchment-lined loaf pans (I used 4 x 8-inchers). Slide the cakes into a COLD oven and set the temp for 300 degrees F. Set the timer for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check the cakes. You may need to give them a little more time. They should be golden brown around the edges and a toothpick should come out clean. Remove them from the pans when they are finished baking and cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaf cakes

Crushed Strawberries

This recipes hails from the Mennonite Community Cookbook. It originally called for 1 full cup of sugar. I figured if I put all of that in, I might as well just spread jam on my cake!

2 cups well crushed fresh strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Stir to dissolve sugar. Refrigerate a few hours to chill thoroughly. Serve over ice cream, cake, or breakfast carbs of your choice.

Read Full Post »

Macaroni and Cheese with Stewed Tomatoes

I know there are a million macaroni and cheese recipes out there but I thought I’d share mine. I suppose I should say it’s adapted from somewhere but really, macaroni and cheese is about as adaptable as it gets so everyone has their particular little twist. This just happens to be mine.

We eat it with stewed tomatoes and green beans…a classic childhood meal of my family and I’m glad Brad has taken to the tomatoes. The two are a delicious pair. Um, the macaroni and tomatoes, that is. Not Brad and tomatoes.

Macaroni and Cheese

9 oz (a generous 2 cups) uncooked macaroni

3 T butter

4 1/2 T flour

2 1/4 c milk*

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

9 oz (a generous 2 cups) shredded cheese (I like sharp cheddar and co-jack)

Cook the macaroni in boiling water until al dente (I don’t bother salting the water since this is a salty dish anyway).

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a sauce pan. Whisk in the flour and then while continuously whisking, slowly pour in the milk. Keep whisking until smooth. Add the salt and pepper and stir until it’s thick and bubbly. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese.

When macaroni is done, drain it and then mix it with the cheese sauce. Pour into a 7 x 11 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 til bubbly and a bit brown on top, about 25 minutes. Serve immediately with stewed tomatoes.

Serves: 6

Stewed Tomatoes

1 quart canned tomato chunks

2 T cornstarch

2 t honey

1/2 t salt (if tomatoes are unsalted)

Mix everything together in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and serve.

Yield: 1 quart

Read Full Post »

Stuffed French Toast, Strawberry Sauce, and Weekly Menu for 12-24-12

Well, I did so much baking last week that I don’t have much in the way of kitchen duty for the beginning of this week at least. I love  family get-togethers! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Monday: Christmas with my family…I’m providing assorted desserts

Tuesday: Christmas with Brad’s family…I’m providing cupcakes and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Sauteed Chicken Breast, Peanuty Noodles, Green Beans

Thursday: Beef Veggie Soup

Friday: Burrito Bake, Green Beans

Saturday: Venison Steaks, Stuffed Potato Skins, Broccoli

Sunday: Negotiable

And now, a delicious breakfast recipe, in case you don’t yet have any ideas for Christmas morning!

I made this yesterday morning for breakfast. I figured we’d be eating pretty heavy on Christmas day so we’ll have something light first thing that morning.

This is not a light dish. I typically eat about 3 pieces of French toast but I can only eat one of these “sandwiches”. The cream cheese really fills you up. We love it, though. With good homemade fruit sauces, it really is quite delectable.

The strawberry sauce recipe I have here is my very, very favorite. Seriously. It makes a great topping for pancake, waffles, French toast, and desserts as well. It’s especially tasty on angel food cake.

Stuffed French Toast

bread (we prefer the cheap bought stuff for French toast!)

cream cheese, softened

fruit sauce/pie filling of your choice

eggs

milk

toppings of choice

First make your egg/milk mixture. I  usually do about equal volumes of eggs and milk. I don’t know if that’s proper for French toast but it’s how I do it.

Then, spread one side of each piece of bread with cream cheese and put a dollop of fruit filling in the center of one piece. Spread it out and then lay another piece of bread on top, cream cheese side down this time.

Dip the “sandwiches” in the egg mixture. Make sure both sides are coated in egg. Fry in butter on a medium-hot skillet until golden brown. Top with maple syrup, more fruit, yogurt, pudding, etc.

Strawberry Sauce

adapted from my mom’s recipe…which actually comes from my grandma, I think

1 quart canned strawberries*

3 T sugar

3 – 4 T clear gel

pinch salt

1 quart sliced frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Drain the canned berries really well. (I then feed the berries to the chickens since they don’t have much flavor any more). In a sauce pan, combine the strawberry juice, sugar, clear gel, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook a minute or so to make sure it’s thickened. Pour this thick juice over the frozen strawberries. Chill. Eat. Mmmm.

*I use 1/2 cup sugar in each quart of strawberries I can. I also put 2 T in each quart that I freeze. If you are using unsweetened berries, you might want to adjust the sugar accordingly.

Yield: 5 to 6 cups sauce

Read Full Post »

Eggplant Parmesan

The morning after returning from the cabin found me in the garden. I picked all of this:

proceeded to make my kitchen look like this:

and ended up with all of this:

Pictured from left to right: salsa, roasted tomato sauce (2 kinds), tomato chunks, and tomato juice. Not pictured: a large pot of cooked beets that got frozen, 3 bags of cucumbers (still sitting in my fridge), a few roasted red peppers (method to come soon), eggplant parmesan, and a big bag of zucchini that got turned into zucchini pizza.

Oh August, I have such a love/hate relationship with you!

(Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for the abundance. It’s just daunting sometimes.)

Now let’s have some eggplant parmesan. We (Brad, Tage, and I) love this stuff but it was like making Jada eat sandpaper…every bite went down hard. But don’t let her dislike of the stuff deter you. This is a wonderful late summer recipe. It’s easier on your health than traditional eggplant parmesan in that the eggplant isn’t deep fried, just lightly pan fried. And I particularly love the tomato sauce. It makes the dish, in my opinion. Simple and chock full of veggies.

Eggplant Parmesan

Adapted from The Central Market Cookbook, recipe submitted by Rose Meck

1 medium eggplant

1 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 T chopped fresh parsley

2 T chopped fresh basil

1 t salt

4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T olive oil

1/2 t salt

2 T tomato powder* or paste

1/2 – 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices. Lightly fry in a bit of oil and place in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, herbs, and salt. If you use homemade bread crumbs and freshly grated cheese, you may wish to run them through the food processor to make them really fine. Sprinkle this mixture over the eggplant slices.

In a sauce pan, simmer the tomatoes, onion, pepper, garlic, and oil for about 20 minutes. Add the salt and tomato powder or paste. Blend with a hand blender just a little to smooth it out a bit. I like my sauce to be half smooth, half chunky. Spread the sauce on top of the eggplant.

Bake at 375 for 15 to 30 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Serve: 4-6

*Tomato powder: I dry tomatoes in my food dehydrator until crispy and then blend them up to make a powder. I use this in place of tomato paste in most recipes. If you want, you can stir water into it to actually make a paste but if there’s already liquid in the ingredients, I just throw the powder in.

Read Full Post »

Chocolate Syrup

Notice I contributed a lot of sugar to the party meal? Sorry. There will be some more healthy recipes next week!

picture courtesy of Kate

Now whoa. This stuff is killer. I’m never making another chocolate syrup recipe. Ever. Such deep, buttery flavor. To. Die. For.

Chocolate Syrup

Adapted from a recipe my mom found on the internet

3 cups (21 oz) sugar

1 cup (8 oz) salted butter

1 1/2 cups (12 oz) evaporated whole milk

1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) Aristocrat cocoa powder

2 t vanilla

Put the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and cocoa in a large, heavy sauce pan (the mixture foams when boiling). Bring to a boil and boil for 7 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve warm or chilled on ice cream, cake, or even in your coffee.

Yield: 3 3/4 cups

Read Full Post »