This happened this morning. Peter is a senior, Susan is a junior, Lucy is a freshman, and Edmund is in 5th grade.
About an hour later, Jill woke up and asked if she could wake up the girls. "They're not here." I replied.
"Where is 'em?"
Heartbreaking.
Last night, this happened.
There's a dish of these in there, so I can link this post up to Anne's Mystery Ingredient Monday: Pickles.
Cornichons are wee pickles. We love 'em.
Tasha's original Mystery Ingredient Monday plan was to see how it goes for the summer. We've decided to give it a rest for now, but who knows what the future will bring.
This week's link-up will be over at The Bazin Chronicles, when Anne gets home from her first grade classroom. Be sure to visit A Clan's Tale and see if Tasha was able to keep her dessert streak alive.
I've got a book to finish for #WWRW. I hope you do too!
For Tasha's choice of strawberries, I made the Strawberry Pretzel Salad featured in this month's issue of Cook's Country (Aug./Sept. 2013).
We ate this during our annual summer viewing of one of our family's favorite movies, Jaws. Very appropriate, I think.
Everything tastes better with pretzels: beer, ice cream, chocolate, shark movies. Pretzel buns are great too. When I saw this recipe uses a ground pretzel crust, rather than your typical graham cracker, I had to try it. I've been thinking about designing a pretzel crumb crust for pies for awhile, but I'm more than happy to let Christopher Kimball and his crew take over.
Peter is my pickiest eater, especially when it comes to fruit. He will only eat apples and grapes. For real. He did enjoy a chocolate covered strawberry once, and he has succumbed to the wiles of lemon-butter sauces on food, but that's as adventurous as it gets.
After I had been boiling strawberry puree, Peter came in and said, "What is that amazing smell? It smells great in here." And it really did. It smelled like Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Kingdom on 'roids. But he still didn't eat it.
That white filling is cream cheese and whipped cream and sugar. There's a lot of sugar in this dish. Not that that's a bad thing...
Need a fancy dessert that feeds a crowd? Want to serve something red but don't do artificial food colorings? A future Mystery Ingredient happens to be pretzels or cream cheese and you wanna play along? You won't go wrong with Strawberry Pretzel Salad.
But please don't make the regular web recipes out there. You don't need Cool Whip and Jello to do this right.
Because I love you readers, but don't want to give you my login and password for my paid online subscription to Cook's Country, I'm a copying the recipe here which is probably illegal.
Do yourself a big favor and read the fine print about thawing your frozen strawberries the night before.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad (serves 10-12)
For a sturdier crust, use (thinner) pretzel sticks not (fatter) rods. Thaw the strawberries in the refrigerator the night before you begin the recipe. You’ll puree 2 pounds of the strawberries and slice the remaining 1 pound.
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Pulse pretzels and ¼ cup sugar in food processor until coarsely ground, about 15 pulses. Add melted butter and pulse until combined, about 10 pulses. Transfer pretzel mixture to prepared pan. Using bottom of measuring cup, press crumbs into bottom of pan. Bake until crust is fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Set aside crust, letting it cool slightly, about 20 minutes.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream cheese and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and, with mixer still running, slowly add cream in steady stream. Continue to whip until soft peaks form, scraping down bowl as needed, about 1 minute longer. Spread whipped cream cheese mixture evenly over cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, process 2 pounds strawberries in now-empty food processor until pureed, about 30 seconds. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over medium saucepan, using underside of small ladle to push puree through strainer. Add remaining 1½ cups sugar and salt to strawberry puree in saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles begin to appear around sides of pan and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes; remove from heat.
4. Sprinkle gelatin over water in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Whisk strawberry puree into gelatin. Slice remaining strawberries and stir into strawberry-gelatin mixture. Refrigerate until gelatin thickens slightly and starts to cling to sides of bowl, about 30 minutes. Carefully pour gelatin mixture evenly over whipped cream cheese layer. Refrigerate salad until gelatin is fully set, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Serve.
Out of my extensive repertoire of blueberry delights, I made the annual Triple Summer Berry Pie. This recipe is in one of my America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, I don't know which one. It wasn't in The Quick Recipe, that's fo sho. It was featured in an episode of Season 4 if you watch the America's Test Kitchen show.
I actually made two pies, because....well it's really good and a lot of work, so why not?
Plus, we got invited to dinner at the home of another large family, so we shared.
Technically, Susan made the crusts either Friday or Saturday. Yes folks. Those graham cracker crusts sat on my counter for 24-48 hours covered with plastic wrap. Would you believe it? The crusts were especially complimented by our host.
If you have to buy your berries, rather than pick them from your own backyard, it can be an expensive pie. Fortunately, I hit that sweet spot in August when everything is in stock and reasonably priced.
Graham Cracker Crust
9 graham crackers , broken into rough pieces
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and warm
Or you could just buy your crusts. Gasp!
Berry Filling
2 cups fresh raspberries (about 9 ounces)
2 cups fresh blackberries (about 11 ounces)
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons red currant jelly or whatever seedless red or even purple jelly or preserves you have on hand. I've thrown out so many jars of expired red currant jelly that are missing 2-4 tablespoons, that I save the bucks and use something else.
1. FOR THE CRUST: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In food processor, process graham crackers until evenly fine, about 30 seconds (you should have 1 cup crumbs). Add sugar and pulse to combine. Continue to pulse while adding warm melted butter in steady stream; pulse until mixture resembles wet sand. Transfer crumbs to 9-inch glass pie plate; form crust using 1/2-cup dry measuring cup. Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 15 to 18 minutes; transfer to wire rack and cool completely while making filling.
That was the easy part. Now is when it gets time consuming.
3. FOR THE FILLING: Combine berries in large colander and gently rinse (taking care not to bruise them); spread berries on paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet and gently pat dry with additional paper towels.
4. In food processor, puree 2 1/2 cups mixed berries until smooth and fully pureed, about 1 minute. Strain puree through mesh strainer into small nonreactive saucepan, scraping and pressing on seeds to extract as much puree as possible (you should have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups). (That part right there can take upwards of 30 minutes, particularly if you're making more than one pie.) Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in small bowl to combine, then whisk mixture into puree. Bring puree to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon; when mixture reaches a boil and is thickened to consistency of pudding, remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, and set aside to cool slightly. You are all hot and bothered after straining fruit puree for 30 minutes, hope you wore an apron! Now, you MUST stir constantly for another 17-30 minutes while your puree thickens. You can stop just long enough to grab a frosty beverage from the fridge. Or holler for a responsible youth to do this part. The window from when the pudding is ready to when the pudding is chunky overcooked glop is rather small. But don't worry. You are going to add that tablespoon or two of lemon juice, right? Whisk that in and everything will be fine.
5. While puree is cooling, place remaining berries in medium bowl. Heat jelly in second small saucepan over low heat until fully melted; drizzle melted jelly over berries and toss gently to coat.
The jelly only serves to make the whole berries on top shiny. That's why any seedless jelly or preserve will work. I used seedless red raspberry here.
Pour slightly cooled puree into cooled pie shell; top with fresh berries. Loosely cover pie with plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled and puree has set, about 3 hours (or up to 1 day).
Serves 8
Someone I know has said that this is his favorite pie of all time. It's definitely my favorite fruit pie. And it's totally worth every penny and every minute spent on it.
You can enjoy it all by itself, or add a wee dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
In honor of my two week stint in the MItten state, Blueberries is the ingredient of the week. With a little bit of good weather, I may go take mine off of Uncle Bill's bushes here on the lakeshore.
I also vow to make something with wine and something with leeks to make up for lost blog link-ups. Big thank yous to Tasha and Anne for being patient with me.
This week I made my tried and true Sweet Potato Salad from my tried and true The Quick Recipe cookbook from the America's Test Kitchen people.
Normally, the sweet potatoes get cut up into 1/2 inch chunks tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted in the oven at a high heat.
It was too darn hot for that!
Name that musical.
So, I researched some online versions of grilled sweet potatoes. Most online experts say to cut the potatoes in either thick slices or wedges. I went with wedges.
Some recipes say to boil the potatoes for a time before grilling. Our temps were in the mid-90s this week, and we do NOT have central air conditioning. (I am NOT complaining. I love the heat. I refuse to put a window unit in my bedroom because I feel claustrophobic if I can't sleep with the windows open at night. Most nights, the air cools off enough to be quite pleasant. Sitting by open windows in the morning as I type this.) I went with the no boil method.
In hind sight, the potatoes took forever to cook and were still a teensy bit underdone, so if I went the grilling route again, I'd definitely boil them or microwave them first.
Grilled Sweet Potato Salad (adapted from the Roasted Sweet Potato Salad recipe in The Quick Recipe cookbook)
serves 4 which means I double it. I double everything, everyday. Double the pleasure, double the fun.
2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds) scrubbed, quartered lengthwise, but my quarters are always too thick, so I slice mine into eighths, which is like the opposite of doubling.
1/3 cup vegetable oil
salt and ground pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, see how I highlighted this with a Dijon color? Fun with Mustard!
2 medium scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin
5 ounces jarred roasted red peppers, drained, dried, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (aobut 1/2 cup
In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the oil, a 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.
Grill the potato wedges until tender over medium heat or coals or whatever. I didn't exactly do this part. It took a long time, like 10-15 minutes per side. By tender, I mean you can stab the thickest part of the wedge with a fork or a paring knife very easily, with no crunchy resistance. Overdone sweet potato is better than underdone sweet potato
When the potatoes are done, set them aside to cool slightly. Then chop the wedges into 1/2 inch thick pieces.
Transfer the potatoes to a bowl and toss with the Dijon, scallions, and roasted red peppers. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper to taste. If the salad seems dry, whisk 2 tablespoons of oil with another teaspoon or two of Dijon to freshen it up. Grilling the sweet potatoes seems to burn off a lot of the oil.
Serve immediately.
Don't forget to visit Tasha to find out next week's ingredient and visit Anne and the other linker-uppers for more Mustard Fun!
What? You think I should have prepared better for this Monday's post? I'm looking at you, Anne.
You have no idea.
I chose to make the tried and true Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake that is out of this world.
It's from Cook's Country, per usual.
Yesterday, I sent Peter into the store to pick up lemons, buttermilk, and those disposable 9x13 baking pans. I am making two of these bad boys, and then cryogenically storing them in order to transport them up to Michigan next week.
See, my mother-in-law thinks it would be great if the entire family reunion ate dinner together every night. That's 37 relatives plus our Spaniard. Five or six different family units are each assigned a night to cook and a (different, praise God) night to clean up. We get to choose our own "themes."
We are cooking a Ron Swanson themed meal next Monday.
In addition to beef and whiskey, we are going to offer a dessert. Enter the Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake. A little femininity to go with the testosterone heavy food, this cake is light and lemony, covered with a powdered sugar glaze, then topped with a lemon-sugar crystal concoction. The cousin frenzy should reach maximum volume about 9pm, EST.
The recipe calls for cake flour, which brought my efforts to a screeching halt until The Happy Mother reminded me via Instagram that I can make my own.
Enter fractions. I do love me some fractions.
In the midst of this process, I replied to numerous texts from Spain-side Susan, let in the plumber, approved his estimate, paid mucho dolares for hairball removal from the girls' shower drain, sent the girls angry texts about that, let the Chef know that I just blew through another pile of his hard-earned money, forgot whether or not I put in the salt already, and ran out of powdered sugar for the glaze.
At some point, I realized, "I'm going to need a bigger bowl."
I also made the classic blunder of juicing my lemons before harvesting the zest. Don't text and cook, people. That's how I lost my fingerprints.
There's a right way and a ridiculous way to do just about anything.
Once complete, the finished products will look like this, but with the addition of a decorative garnish of freshly picked Michigan blueberries.
So what about next week?
I'm breaking away from plant products and choosing......
..................................
..................
MUSTARD!
or mus-turd.
Actually, we have quite a collection of mustards around here. Jalapeno, hot and sweet, country-style, Dijon.
Mustard is great on pork chops, in a cream sauce, in a vinaigrette, on a bratwurst, with a big, soft, pretzel and and ice cold beer.
I double dog dare you to come up with a dessert for this one, Tasha.
My late sister, Mary, discovered these at a restaurant in St. Charles, Missouri, Miss Aimee B's. There's a gift shop in Miss Aimee B's establishment, where they sell a cookbook in which all of their delectable secrets are published.
Rather than purchase the cookbook, my ingenious and frugal sister committed the recipe for Peach Bombs to memory.
Mary shared the recipe with me, and I've made it lots of times. I made it for my friend, Sara, and she blogged about it on Pots and Peter Pans, a recipe/cooking site that I am also a contributor to.
Fast forward some years, my brother Ed got engaged to a Louisiana girl named Adaire. The first time my family met Adaire's family, Adaire's mother made Peach Bombs for them, citing the Pots and Peter Pans blog that friends' of cousins or cousins' of friends of theirs also contribute to.
Adaire's family served my family the same dish that my sister had discovered and promoted. Peach Bombs Go Viral!
It's a very simple recipe, especially if you buy Pillsbury Just Unroll! Pie Crust found in the refrigerated section near the biscuits in a can, etc.
Patrick calls them "bald heads."
Can you guess why?
Peach Bombs adapted from Miss Aimee B's, St. Charles, MO
serves 4 that's why I always double or triple it
4 peaches
1 unbaked pie crust
Wrap each peach in 1/4 pie crust. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
1 1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon or tablespoon of almond extract (Mary was never quite sure about this ingredient. I've made it both ways and either is amaze-balls. It depends on how much you like/love almond flavoring.)
1 beaten egg
Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan. Cook stirring constantly until the sauce boils and thickens.
We forgot the egg, so our sauce was quite thick but still in-cred-dee-blay.
Serve sauce over peaches. Serve with whipped cream or a la mode. Prepare to be showered with praise and gratitude.
On Tuesday, I had big plans to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy placemats.
Aaaaaaaaand I just lost 92% of all my readers with that sentence.
Wait, no. You might be the only one left. You reading this right now. Thank you for staying with me. It's gotta be a corporal work of mercy. Visit the imprisoned, Read the readerless, Clothe the naked, Change the poopy.
Well, you're still here, so I'll keep going with my other six takes.
Burke’s Bacon Bar is opening in late July, specializing in sandwiches that all involve bacon: strips of bacon, bacon powder, bacon dressing. I don't know who Burke is, but he is a genius.
I'll be on vacation in late July, but in August, I.am.so.there.
3.
Last night, watching the fireworks, and the kids with their glow bracelets (best $5 spent ever) and their fancy pull-n-peel-licorice, my friend said, "I love two-year-olds."
Crazy Lady was referring to Jill, whom I also love, but it is a strong love, tempered by the trial of a two hundred plus tantrums.
Case in point, here is an excerpt from an email I sent Susan, in an effort to cheer/scare her homesickness away:
I want to tell about yesterday. J is doing this thing where she wakes up super early with me, takes a 2+ hour nap sometimes as late as 3:30-5:30 and then stays up til midnight. Dad has been on my case to make her more normal, and get her to nap less etc.
Yesterday, she went down for a nap at 3 and I woke her up at 4. I was doing the dishes and I was scraping P’s left over chili in the garbage. She started yelling, “I want that!” and grabbing handfuls of chili out of the garbage. Then she was cry/yelling because I loaded the bowl and the dishwasher was running! So I had to get out a new bowl and then scrape garbage chili out of the trash for her to eat.
Later, after Edmucn got called up to play in a baseball game (spur of the moment fill in for a player on vacation), I heated up a bowl of not garbage chili for him to eat on the way to the game and she insisted on carrying her bowl of garbage chili to the car. She ate it all on the way there and threw the bowl down. After I dropped him off, I stacked her dirty bowl on his and she started wailing again. She wanted the bowl back. So I gave it back to her. Now, I’m driving home and I hear the bowl hit the far window of the car and she’s wailing for me to get her bowl back and I say I can’t, because I’m driving and she yells, “I wanna hit you! C’mere!”
Just another day with Jill.
I'm not whining. I've been here before, nearly always with multiples in diapers and/or pregnant. But I challenge all two-year olds to a Battle of Wills Throwdown with Jill. (You hear me, Grace?)
Jill's qualifications include screaming until BURSTING BLOOD VESSELS IN HER FACE AND VOMITING if I remove her diaper for her and assist with that in any way, and TheFury of a Thousand Burning Suns if you or any well-intentioned relative or passer-by touch her hair. Or attempt to smell it.
Her hair smells really good.
"I can tolerate a hug, but do not touch my hair."
If you're coming to Michigan for that Thornton Family Reunion this month, please be aware of the hair thing. She holds long grudges too. Consider yourself forewarned.
You have to have read the book. Or at least a goodly portion of it.
You should read books! Not magazines or internet articles (sorry Mental_Floss).
The book must have been read in the recent past, like in the last week or so. Or yesterday at nap-time.
You should blog about it and link back to the WWRW link-ups. As a matter of courtesy, check out some of the other linker-uppers.
Nothing else matters. Fiction, non-fiction, classics, hot off the presses, out-of-print, board books, the Bible, the dictionary, whatever is printed and sold as a book qualifies.
WAIT! One Last Rule: Thou shalt not freak out or judge if this link-up is not up absolutely every Wednesday. I'm no Jen Fulwiler. But I'll do my best.
6.
I grabbed the latest issue of Food Network magazine, because my good friend, Ree aka Pioneer Woman, is on the cover. Well, that, and there is gorgeous giant ear of corn wrapped in bacon.
This year, I found Chipotle Gouda (be still my heart) at Costco which made the dish even spicier better. I recently brought a big bowl to a housewarming party.
Never mind that we were four hours late getting there. Never mind that dessert had already been consumed and the keg was starting to float. People swarmed over that pasta salad like flies on my garbage cans.
My sister-in-law, who is also pregnant, luuuuuved it. She said, and I quote, "The sweetness of the basil pairs perfectly with the heat." She also said, "You HAVE to make in this in Michigan!" To which I replied, "Random Nephew, Go get me another beer."
7. Silly YouTube video of the week: The Lumineers "Hey Ho" with Back-up singer, Harry Caray.
For Beet Week, I made a variation on a Cook's Country recipe. Cook's offers the Beet, Apple, and Walnut Salad recipe in the June/July 2006 issue. Their recipe uses 5 oz. of arugula, but I'm using Superfood Baby Kale or Kales as it says on the bag. Their recipe uses bleu cheese, I'm using goat cheese. Their recipe calls for roasting and peeling your own beets, I'm using Love Beets which are ready to eat.
Cook's Country suggests wearing gloves while preparing beets. I wonder why. BTW, that's iced tea, not pale ale.
My Beet, Apple, and Walnut Salad adapted from Cook's Country complete with Pioneer Woman style photos.
Lemon not pictured.
Ingredients
2-4 Love Beets or other cooked and peeled beets, diced
5 oz. baby kales or spring mix or arugula or lettuce of your choice
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasting optional)
juice of one lemon sprinkled over
1 granny smith apple cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles or feta or bleu
For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.
Mix your salad fixings in a big bowl. Whisk your dressing ingredients in a small bowl. When ready to serve, toss the salad with the dressing. Done!
Cook's Country adds 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley to the salad. I'm going to throw some grilled chicken strips on that bad boy and call it "dinner." Do what you gotta do.
I'm curious to see if anyone participates, because I got a lot of whiny feedback about beets to which I replied, "Grow Up!" and "Go Put Your Pants On!"
Don't forget to visit Tasha to see what's cooking next week!
Here's the link up for grown-ups wearing big pants. If you want to play along and you have your big pants on, but you don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your maturity creativity!
Imagine the greatest omelet minus the bacon plus lightly fried warm corn tortillas. But imagine that it's not really an omelet, more of a sloppy scrambled egg dish. Looks messy, tastes yummy.
I got all caught up in PW's vibe and used cast iron, even though I knew this would happen.
According to my friend, Mr. W.K. Pedia, migas traditionally may have been eaten during Lent.
I had the same idea! This would be a great meatless Friday breakfast. Of course, with the addition of chorizo, or bacon, or chopped ham, or breakfast sausage, it would be an even better Meat Friday breakfast.
I must have been channeling Anne this week, because I started making this dish at 8am, only to realize all of the packs of tortillas I have in the freezer are flour. So I thought I could just skip that part. But about 8:26am I realized that the corn tortillas are critical, otherwise you just have scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese. Patrick saved the day however, and Edmund was only a teensy bit late to the Totus Tuus day camp that started at 9.
Edmund, Jill, and I all had the migas. Patrick being the loco cheese hater that he is, declined. Edmund and Jill both commented on the spiciness, but Edmund was not deterred. He cleaned his plate in record time. Jill...did not.
Yes, they are hot. I made a half batch, which according to PW feeds 3-4 people, but I used one entire jalapeno. Plus, I used pepper jack cheese. I did not use green peppers, as the recipe says, because I didn't have them and everybody knows red peppers are better anyway.
How hot are they? Well, I was sweating and my nose was running by the time I was finished, but my face did not melt off.
I've been channeling Anne all week, because I had originally planned to make Salsa Verde only to discover that my amazing ethnic supermarket has neither fresh nor canned tomatillos. They do however have yucca (which I love) and cactus.
Though I'm tempted to choose yucca as my Mystery Ingredient, I'm going with something slightly more mainstream (ie: it's currently available at my Costco).
BEETS!
Above they are are displayed amidst all of the post miga mess. (No, white wine vinegar is not an ingredient in migas, just didn't get all the groceries put away.)
The Costco beets come in four tidy packs of four cooked beets, and mine are dated good until mid-October.
Stain your fingers and your cutting boards purple while rockin' with the BEET. (sorry not sorry)
This happened this morning. Peter is a senior, Susan is a junior, Lucy is a freshman, and Edmund is in 5th grade.
About an hour later, Jill woke up and asked if she could wake up the girls. "They're not here." I replied.
"Where is 'em?"
Heartbreaking.
Last night, this happened.
There's a dish of these in there, so I can link this post up to Anne's Mystery Ingredient Monday: Pickles.
Cornichons are wee pickles. We love 'em.
Tasha's original Mystery Ingredient Monday plan was to see how it goes for the summer. We've decided to give it a rest for now, but who knows what the future will bring.
This week's link-up will be over at The Bazin Chronicles, when Anne gets home from her first grade classroom. Be sure to visit A Clan's Tale and see if Tasha was able to keep her dessert streak alive.
I've got a book to finish for #WWRW. I hope you do too!
For Tasha's choice of strawberries, I made the Strawberry Pretzel Salad featured in this month's issue of Cook's Country (Aug./Sept. 2013).
We ate this during our annual summer viewing of one of our family's favorite movies, Jaws. Very appropriate, I think.
Everything tastes better with pretzels: beer, ice cream, chocolate, shark movies. Pretzel buns are great too. When I saw this recipe uses a ground pretzel crust, rather than your typical graham cracker, I had to try it. I've been thinking about designing a pretzel crumb crust for pies for awhile, but I'm more than happy to let Christopher Kimball and his crew take over.
Peter is my pickiest eater, especially when it comes to fruit. He will only eat apples and grapes. For real. He did enjoy a chocolate covered strawberry once, and he has succumbed to the wiles of lemon-butter sauces on food, but that's as adventurous as it gets.
After I had been boiling strawberry puree, Peter came in and said, "What is that amazing smell? It smells great in here." And it really did. It smelled like Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Kingdom on 'roids. But he still didn't eat it.
That white filling is cream cheese and whipped cream and sugar. There's a lot of sugar in this dish. Not that that's a bad thing...
Need a fancy dessert that feeds a crowd? Want to serve something red but don't do artificial food colorings? A future Mystery Ingredient happens to be pretzels or cream cheese and you wanna play along? You won't go wrong with Strawberry Pretzel Salad.
But please don't make the regular web recipes out there. You don't need Cool Whip and Jello to do this right.
Because I love you readers, but don't want to give you my login and password for my paid online subscription to Cook's Country, I'm a copying the recipe here which is probably illegal.
Do yourself a big favor and read the fine print about thawing your frozen strawberries the night before.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad (serves 10-12)
For a sturdier crust, use (thinner) pretzel sticks not (fatter) rods. Thaw the strawberries in the refrigerator the night before you begin the recipe. You’ll puree 2 pounds of the strawberries and slice the remaining 1 pound.
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. Pulse pretzels and ¼ cup sugar in food processor until coarsely ground, about 15 pulses. Add melted butter and pulse until combined, about 10 pulses. Transfer pretzel mixture to prepared pan. Using bottom of measuring cup, press crumbs into bottom of pan. Bake until crust is fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Set aside crust, letting it cool slightly, about 20 minutes.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream cheese and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and, with mixer still running, slowly add cream in steady stream. Continue to whip until soft peaks form, scraping down bowl as needed, about 1 minute longer. Spread whipped cream cheese mixture evenly over cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, process 2 pounds strawberries in now-empty food processor until pureed, about 30 seconds. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over medium saucepan, using underside of small ladle to push puree through strainer. Add remaining 1½ cups sugar and salt to strawberry puree in saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles begin to appear around sides of pan and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes; remove from heat.
4. Sprinkle gelatin over water in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Whisk strawberry puree into gelatin. Slice remaining strawberries and stir into strawberry-gelatin mixture. Refrigerate until gelatin thickens slightly and starts to cling to sides of bowl, about 30 minutes. Carefully pour gelatin mixture evenly over whipped cream cheese layer. Refrigerate salad until gelatin is fully set, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Serve.
Out of my extensive repertoire of blueberry delights, I made the annual Triple Summer Berry Pie. This recipe is in one of my America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, I don't know which one. It wasn't in The Quick Recipe, that's fo sho. It was featured in an episode of Season 4 if you watch the America's Test Kitchen show.
I actually made two pies, because....well it's really good and a lot of work, so why not?
Plus, we got invited to dinner at the home of another large family, so we shared.
Technically, Susan made the crusts either Friday or Saturday. Yes folks. Those graham cracker crusts sat on my counter for 24-48 hours covered with plastic wrap. Would you believe it? The crusts were especially complimented by our host.
If you have to buy your berries, rather than pick them from your own backyard, it can be an expensive pie. Fortunately, I hit that sweet spot in August when everything is in stock and reasonably priced.
Graham Cracker Crust
9 graham crackers , broken into rough pieces
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and warm
Or you could just buy your crusts. Gasp!
Berry Filling
2 cups fresh raspberries (about 9 ounces)
2 cups fresh blackberries (about 11 ounces)
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons red currant jelly or whatever seedless red or even purple jelly or preserves you have on hand. I've thrown out so many jars of expired red currant jelly that are missing 2-4 tablespoons, that I save the bucks and use something else.
1. FOR THE CRUST: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In food processor, process graham crackers until evenly fine, about 30 seconds (you should have 1 cup crumbs). Add sugar and pulse to combine. Continue to pulse while adding warm melted butter in steady stream; pulse until mixture resembles wet sand. Transfer crumbs to 9-inch glass pie plate; form crust using 1/2-cup dry measuring cup. Bake crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 15 to 18 minutes; transfer to wire rack and cool completely while making filling.
That was the easy part. Now is when it gets time consuming.
3. FOR THE FILLING: Combine berries in large colander and gently rinse (taking care not to bruise them); spread berries on paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet and gently pat dry with additional paper towels.
4. In food processor, puree 2 1/2 cups mixed berries until smooth and fully pureed, about 1 minute. Strain puree through mesh strainer into small nonreactive saucepan, scraping and pressing on seeds to extract as much puree as possible (you should have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups). (That part right there can take upwards of 30 minutes, particularly if you're making more than one pie.) Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in small bowl to combine, then whisk mixture into puree. Bring puree to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon; when mixture reaches a boil and is thickened to consistency of pudding, remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, and set aside to cool slightly. You are all hot and bothered after straining fruit puree for 30 minutes, hope you wore an apron! Now, you MUST stir constantly for another 17-30 minutes while your puree thickens. You can stop just long enough to grab a frosty beverage from the fridge. Or holler for a responsible youth to do this part. The window from when the pudding is ready to when the pudding is chunky overcooked glop is rather small. But don't worry. You are going to add that tablespoon or two of lemon juice, right? Whisk that in and everything will be fine.
5. While puree is cooling, place remaining berries in medium bowl. Heat jelly in second small saucepan over low heat until fully melted; drizzle melted jelly over berries and toss gently to coat.
The jelly only serves to make the whole berries on top shiny. That's why any seedless jelly or preserve will work. I used seedless red raspberry here.
Pour slightly cooled puree into cooled pie shell; top with fresh berries. Loosely cover pie with plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled and puree has set, about 3 hours (or up to 1 day).
Serves 8
Someone I know has said that this is his favorite pie of all time. It's definitely my favorite fruit pie. And it's totally worth every penny and every minute spent on it.
You can enjoy it all by itself, or add a wee dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
In honor of my two week stint in the MItten state, Blueberries is the ingredient of the week. With a little bit of good weather, I may go take mine off of Uncle Bill's bushes here on the lakeshore.
I also vow to make something with wine and something with leeks to make up for lost blog link-ups. Big thank yous to Tasha and Anne for being patient with me.
This week I made my tried and true Sweet Potato Salad from my tried and true The Quick Recipe cookbook from the America's Test Kitchen people.
Normally, the sweet potatoes get cut up into 1/2 inch chunks tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted in the oven at a high heat.
It was too darn hot for that!
Name that musical.
So, I researched some online versions of grilled sweet potatoes. Most online experts say to cut the potatoes in either thick slices or wedges. I went with wedges.
Some recipes say to boil the potatoes for a time before grilling. Our temps were in the mid-90s this week, and we do NOT have central air conditioning. (I am NOT complaining. I love the heat. I refuse to put a window unit in my bedroom because I feel claustrophobic if I can't sleep with the windows open at night. Most nights, the air cools off enough to be quite pleasant. Sitting by open windows in the morning as I type this.) I went with the no boil method.
In hind sight, the potatoes took forever to cook and were still a teensy bit underdone, so if I went the grilling route again, I'd definitely boil them or microwave them first.
Grilled Sweet Potato Salad (adapted from the Roasted Sweet Potato Salad recipe in The Quick Recipe cookbook)
serves 4 which means I double it. I double everything, everyday. Double the pleasure, double the fun.
2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds) scrubbed, quartered lengthwise, but my quarters are always too thick, so I slice mine into eighths, which is like the opposite of doubling.
1/3 cup vegetable oil
salt and ground pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, see how I highlighted this with a Dijon color? Fun with Mustard!
2 medium scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin
5 ounces jarred roasted red peppers, drained, dried, and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (aobut 1/2 cup
In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the oil, a 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.
Grill the potato wedges until tender over medium heat or coals or whatever. I didn't exactly do this part. It took a long time, like 10-15 minutes per side. By tender, I mean you can stab the thickest part of the wedge with a fork or a paring knife very easily, with no crunchy resistance. Overdone sweet potato is better than underdone sweet potato
When the potatoes are done, set them aside to cool slightly. Then chop the wedges into 1/2 inch thick pieces.
Transfer the potatoes to a bowl and toss with the Dijon, scallions, and roasted red peppers. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper to taste. If the salad seems dry, whisk 2 tablespoons of oil with another teaspoon or two of Dijon to freshen it up. Grilling the sweet potatoes seems to burn off a lot of the oil.
Serve immediately.
Don't forget to visit Tasha to find out next week's ingredient and visit Anne and the other linker-uppers for more Mustard Fun!
What? You think I should have prepared better for this Monday's post? I'm looking at you, Anne.
You have no idea.
I chose to make the tried and true Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake that is out of this world.
It's from Cook's Country, per usual.
Yesterday, I sent Peter into the store to pick up lemons, buttermilk, and those disposable 9x13 baking pans. I am making two of these bad boys, and then cryogenically storing them in order to transport them up to Michigan next week.
See, my mother-in-law thinks it would be great if the entire family reunion ate dinner together every night. That's 37 relatives plus our Spaniard. Five or six different family units are each assigned a night to cook and a (different, praise God) night to clean up. We get to choose our own "themes."
We are cooking a Ron Swanson themed meal next Monday.
In addition to beef and whiskey, we are going to offer a dessert. Enter the Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake. A little femininity to go with the testosterone heavy food, this cake is light and lemony, covered with a powdered sugar glaze, then topped with a lemon-sugar crystal concoction. The cousin frenzy should reach maximum volume about 9pm, EST.
The recipe calls for cake flour, which brought my efforts to a screeching halt until The Happy Mother reminded me via Instagram that I can make my own.
Enter fractions. I do love me some fractions.
In the midst of this process, I replied to numerous texts from Spain-side Susan, let in the plumber, approved his estimate, paid mucho dolares for hairball removal from the girls' shower drain, sent the girls angry texts about that, let the Chef know that I just blew through another pile of his hard-earned money, forgot whether or not I put in the salt already, and ran out of powdered sugar for the glaze.
At some point, I realized, "I'm going to need a bigger bowl."
I also made the classic blunder of juicing my lemons before harvesting the zest. Don't text and cook, people. That's how I lost my fingerprints.
There's a right way and a ridiculous way to do just about anything.
Once complete, the finished products will look like this, but with the addition of a decorative garnish of freshly picked Michigan blueberries.
So what about next week?
I'm breaking away from plant products and choosing......
..................................
..................
MUSTARD!
or mus-turd.
Actually, we have quite a collection of mustards around here. Jalapeno, hot and sweet, country-style, Dijon.
Mustard is great on pork chops, in a cream sauce, in a vinaigrette, on a bratwurst, with a big, soft, pretzel and and ice cold beer.
I double dog dare you to come up with a dessert for this one, Tasha.
My late sister, Mary, discovered these at a restaurant in St. Charles, Missouri, Miss Aimee B's. There's a gift shop in Miss Aimee B's establishment, where they sell a cookbook in which all of their delectable secrets are published.
Rather than purchase the cookbook, my ingenious and frugal sister committed the recipe for Peach Bombs to memory.
Mary shared the recipe with me, and I've made it lots of times. I made it for my friend, Sara, and she blogged about it on Pots and Peter Pans, a recipe/cooking site that I am also a contributor to.
Fast forward some years, my brother Ed got engaged to a Louisiana girl named Adaire. The first time my family met Adaire's family, Adaire's mother made Peach Bombs for them, citing the Pots and Peter Pans blog that friends' of cousins or cousins' of friends of theirs also contribute to.
Adaire's family served my family the same dish that my sister had discovered and promoted. Peach Bombs Go Viral!
It's a very simple recipe, especially if you buy Pillsbury Just Unroll! Pie Crust found in the refrigerated section near the biscuits in a can, etc.
Patrick calls them "bald heads."
Can you guess why?
Peach Bombs adapted from Miss Aimee B's, St. Charles, MO
serves 4 that's why I always double or triple it
4 peaches
1 unbaked pie crust
Wrap each peach in 1/4 pie crust. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
1 1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon or tablespoon of almond extract (Mary was never quite sure about this ingredient. I've made it both ways and either is amaze-balls. It depends on how much you like/love almond flavoring.)
1 beaten egg
Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan. Cook stirring constantly until the sauce boils and thickens.
We forgot the egg, so our sauce was quite thick but still in-cred-dee-blay.
Serve sauce over peaches. Serve with whipped cream or a la mode. Prepare to be showered with praise and gratitude.
On Tuesday, I had big plans to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy placemats.
Aaaaaaaaand I just lost 92% of all my readers with that sentence.
Wait, no. You might be the only one left. You reading this right now. Thank you for staying with me. It's gotta be a corporal work of mercy. Visit the imprisoned, Read the readerless, Clothe the naked, Change the poopy.
Well, you're still here, so I'll keep going with my other six takes.
Burke’s Bacon Bar is opening in late July, specializing in sandwiches that all involve bacon: strips of bacon, bacon powder, bacon dressing. I don't know who Burke is, but he is a genius.
I'll be on vacation in late July, but in August, I.am.so.there.
3.
Last night, watching the fireworks, and the kids with their glow bracelets (best $5 spent ever) and their fancy pull-n-peel-licorice, my friend said, "I love two-year-olds."
Crazy Lady was referring to Jill, whom I also love, but it is a strong love, tempered by the trial of a two hundred plus tantrums.
Case in point, here is an excerpt from an email I sent Susan, in an effort to cheer/scare her homesickness away:
I want to tell about yesterday. J is doing this thing where she wakes up super early with me, takes a 2+ hour nap sometimes as late as 3:30-5:30 and then stays up til midnight. Dad has been on my case to make her more normal, and get her to nap less etc.
Yesterday, she went down for a nap at 3 and I woke her up at 4. I was doing the dishes and I was scraping P’s left over chili in the garbage. She started yelling, “I want that!” and grabbing handfuls of chili out of the garbage. Then she was cry/yelling because I loaded the bowl and the dishwasher was running! So I had to get out a new bowl and then scrape garbage chili out of the trash for her to eat.
Later, after Edmucn got called up to play in a baseball game (spur of the moment fill in for a player on vacation), I heated up a bowl of not garbage chili for him to eat on the way to the game and she insisted on carrying her bowl of garbage chili to the car. She ate it all on the way there and threw the bowl down. After I dropped him off, I stacked her dirty bowl on his and she started wailing again. She wanted the bowl back. So I gave it back to her. Now, I’m driving home and I hear the bowl hit the far window of the car and she’s wailing for me to get her bowl back and I say I can’t, because I’m driving and she yells, “I wanna hit you! C’mere!”
Just another day with Jill.
I'm not whining. I've been here before, nearly always with multiples in diapers and/or pregnant. But I challenge all two-year olds to a Battle of Wills Throwdown with Jill. (You hear me, Grace?)
Jill's qualifications include screaming until BURSTING BLOOD VESSELS IN HER FACE AND VOMITING if I remove her diaper for her and assist with that in any way, and TheFury of a Thousand Burning Suns if you or any well-intentioned relative or passer-by touch her hair. Or attempt to smell it.
Her hair smells really good.
"I can tolerate a hug, but do not touch my hair."
If you're coming to Michigan for that Thornton Family Reunion this month, please be aware of the hair thing. She holds long grudges too. Consider yourself forewarned.
You have to have read the book. Or at least a goodly portion of it.
You should read books! Not magazines or internet articles (sorry Mental_Floss).
The book must have been read in the recent past, like in the last week or so. Or yesterday at nap-time.
You should blog about it and link back to the WWRW link-ups. As a matter of courtesy, check out some of the other linker-uppers.
Nothing else matters. Fiction, non-fiction, classics, hot off the presses, out-of-print, board books, the Bible, the dictionary, whatever is printed and sold as a book qualifies.
WAIT! One Last Rule: Thou shalt not freak out or judge if this link-up is not up absolutely every Wednesday. I'm no Jen Fulwiler. But I'll do my best.
6.
I grabbed the latest issue of Food Network magazine, because my good friend, Ree aka Pioneer Woman, is on the cover. Well, that, and there is gorgeous giant ear of corn wrapped in bacon.
This year, I found Chipotle Gouda (be still my heart) at Costco which made the dish even spicier better. I recently brought a big bowl to a housewarming party.
Never mind that we were four hours late getting there. Never mind that dessert had already been consumed and the keg was starting to float. People swarmed over that pasta salad like flies on my garbage cans.
My sister-in-law, who is also pregnant, luuuuuved it. She said, and I quote, "The sweetness of the basil pairs perfectly with the heat." She also said, "You HAVE to make in this in Michigan!" To which I replied, "Random Nephew, Go get me another beer."
7. Silly YouTube video of the week: The Lumineers "Hey Ho" with Back-up singer, Harry Caray.
For Beet Week, I made a variation on a Cook's Country recipe. Cook's offers the Beet, Apple, and Walnut Salad recipe in the June/July 2006 issue. Their recipe uses 5 oz. of arugula, but I'm using Superfood Baby Kale or Kales as it says on the bag. Their recipe uses bleu cheese, I'm using goat cheese. Their recipe calls for roasting and peeling your own beets, I'm using Love Beets which are ready to eat.
Cook's Country suggests wearing gloves while preparing beets. I wonder why. BTW, that's iced tea, not pale ale.
My Beet, Apple, and Walnut Salad adapted from Cook's Country complete with Pioneer Woman style photos.
Lemon not pictured.
Ingredients
2-4 Love Beets or other cooked and peeled beets, diced
5 oz. baby kales or spring mix or arugula or lettuce of your choice
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasting optional)
juice of one lemon sprinkled over
1 granny smith apple cut into matchsticks
1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles or feta or bleu
For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.
Mix your salad fixings in a big bowl. Whisk your dressing ingredients in a small bowl. When ready to serve, toss the salad with the dressing. Done!
Cook's Country adds 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley to the salad. I'm going to throw some grilled chicken strips on that bad boy and call it "dinner." Do what you gotta do.
I'm curious to see if anyone participates, because I got a lot of whiny feedback about beets to which I replied, "Grow Up!" and "Go Put Your Pants On!"
Don't forget to visit Tasha to see what's cooking next week!
Here's the link up for grown-ups wearing big pants. If you want to play along and you have your big pants on, but you don't have a blog, instagram or tweet it #mysteryingredient, or tag us in a facebook post about your dish so we can marvel your maturity creativity!
Imagine the greatest omelet minus the bacon plus lightly fried warm corn tortillas. But imagine that it's not really an omelet, more of a sloppy scrambled egg dish. Looks messy, tastes yummy.
I got all caught up in PW's vibe and used cast iron, even though I knew this would happen.
According to my friend, Mr. W.K. Pedia, migas traditionally may have been eaten during Lent.
I had the same idea! This would be a great meatless Friday breakfast. Of course, with the addition of chorizo, or bacon, or chopped ham, or breakfast sausage, it would be an even better Meat Friday breakfast.
I must have been channeling Anne this week, because I started making this dish at 8am, only to realize all of the packs of tortillas I have in the freezer are flour. So I thought I could just skip that part. But about 8:26am I realized that the corn tortillas are critical, otherwise you just have scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese. Patrick saved the day however, and Edmund was only a teensy bit late to the Totus Tuus day camp that started at 9.
Edmund, Jill, and I all had the migas. Patrick being the loco cheese hater that he is, declined. Edmund and Jill both commented on the spiciness, but Edmund was not deterred. He cleaned his plate in record time. Jill...did not.
Yes, they are hot. I made a half batch, which according to PW feeds 3-4 people, but I used one entire jalapeno. Plus, I used pepper jack cheese. I did not use green peppers, as the recipe says, because I didn't have them and everybody knows red peppers are better anyway.
How hot are they? Well, I was sweating and my nose was running by the time I was finished, but my face did not melt off.
I've been channeling Anne all week, because I had originally planned to make Salsa Verde only to discover that my amazing ethnic supermarket has neither fresh nor canned tomatillos. They do however have yucca (which I love) and cactus.
Though I'm tempted to choose yucca as my Mystery Ingredient, I'm going with something slightly more mainstream (ie: it's currently available at my Costco).
BEETS!
Above they are are displayed amidst all of the post miga mess. (No, white wine vinegar is not an ingredient in migas, just didn't get all the groceries put away.)
The Costco beets come in four tidy packs of four cooked beets, and mine are dated good until mid-October.
Stain your fingers and your cutting boards purple while rockin' with the BEET. (sorry not sorry)
