Jam Cake

About 22 years ago, I visited my Grandma.  Grandpa had already passed away and this was the first time I had visited "down home" on my own.  My grandma and grandpa raised 13 children on a farm in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico - Colonia Dublan, to be exact.  I never lived there, but grew up referring to the farm as "down home".  

She was a wonderful lady. A true matriarch.  She (and my mom - the oldest of the brood with 10 brothers and 2 sisters) would joke that, to the brothers, pie came in round pieces.  On that visit, I questioned her and listened to her stories  as I had never done before.

This visit was when she told me that her beloved Charlie's (Grandpa) favorite cake was jam cake, especially blackberry jam cake.  I always envisioned it as yellow cake with jam spread between the layers.  Then she made one.

My vision was wrong.

Hers was so right.  It was a dense, moist, spicy cake. She didn't frost it, just glazed it, and served it with whipped cream.  Yum.  I didn't get the recipe.  This is the closest I have come.  It's just as I remember it.  I didn't have blackberry jam - it's the end of February, we have already eaten the blackberry - so I used plum.  I think you could use whatever jam you want, just vary the glaze.  I made a lemon glaze with this cake, but a vanilla glaze would be great with strawberry.

Here you go.

I also didn't have any buttermilk and didn't want to go to the store.  It is really easy to make, though.  Just put 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup.  Fill the measure to 1 cup with milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes and use as buttermilk.  Easy.

Jam Cake

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup jam (whatever kind you want)

3 eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add the eggs and jam and mix it up.

Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk to the jam combo.

Mix it up.

Spread into the prepared cake pan, it will be thick.

Bake at 350 for about 55 - 65 minutes.

Invert the cake onto a cake dish.  Let the cake cool slightly.  Poke it all over with a toothpick.  Pour the glaze slowly over the cake, letting it absorb into all the toothpick holes.

Serve with whipped cream if you want.

Lemon Glaze

juice of 1 lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

Combine the 2 ingredients.  Don't worry if it is lumpy.  Stir it up and let it sit.  Stir it again.  The lumps will go away.

Hungarian Goulash - slow cooker style

I remember the first snow of the season.  It was so pretty.  Everything was white and clean, fresh and exciting.  I loved it.  I am sure I will love it again next time winter is beginning.

I am over it for this year.

I want the snow to go away.

Now.

Over it.

That said, it is still very cold.  We are expecting even more snow this week.  It is still time for what I consider winter food.

This was something that my family really enjoyed.  It is really easy, as most slow cooker meals are.  Go ahead, try it.

Hungarian Goulash

3 pounds (use more if you want) beef, cut into chunks (I bought pre-cut stew meat at the grocery store)

1/4 cup flour (use cornstarch or rice flour if you are gluten-free)

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 large onion, large dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

1 cup water (just fill the can 1/2 way)

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup sour cream (plus more for garnish if desired)

noodles, rice or mashed potatoes to serve with the goulash

Turn on your slow cooker to the high setting (you will turn it down later.)

In the slow cooker, combine the beef, flour, sugar, salt, paprika, dry mustard and cayenne. Stir it up.

To the beef mixture, add the onion, garlic, tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir it up.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and change the heat setting to low. Cook on low for 7 - 8 hours.

When the stew is cooked, remove the lid of your slow cooker and add the sour cream.

Serve over cooked noodles or rice or mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

 

I am on a marmalade canning kick.  It is really good and citrus is cheap this time of year.  It tastes good, too.  One of my kiddos has discovered Nutella and orange marmalade sandwich.  I know.

 

This recipe is for Meyer Lemons.  Don't substitute regular lemons - it won't work very well.  Meyer lemons are in a category all by themselves.  They are somewhere between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange, with floral undertones.

 

This marmalade is good on it's own, but try it with blueberry muffins or as a base for a berry tart.  Yum.

 

 

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

 

4 cups sugar

6-8 Meyer lemons (about 1 cup of chopped up fruit and juice)

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon butter

1 package (3 Tablespoons) of low or no sugar needed powdered fruit pectin

 

Measure the sugar into a bowl.

 

Using a zester or a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from the lemons.  You don't want the pith (the white part), it makes it bitter. If you used a vegetable peeler, cut the strips into very thin slices.

 

Transfer the strips to a large pot and add the water and baking soda.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the peels have softened, about 5 minutes.

 

While the zest is simmering, cut the remaining pith from the lemons, working over a bowl to catch the juice.

Slice and chop the fruit.  Try and get out all of the seeds.  If you miss some, just tell people that is how you know that it is real. 

You should have about 1 cup of fruit and juice.

 

Add the fruit and juice to the pot with the zest.  Add the butter.  Sprinkle the pectin over the mixture and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.

 

Add the sugar all at once.  Return to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard for one minute.  Remove from the heat.  Ladle the marmalade into hot sterilized jars and process them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Set the jars on a towel on your counter and wait for the "pings" that say that the jars have sealed.

 

Voila.



Orange Marmalade - easy

I went to the grocery store to get some orange marmalade to make orange glazed chicken.  I was shocked to see how much the good stuff cost!  A 12 oz. jar of a common (not the most expensive) brand was over $6!!

 

Seriously?!

 

I realize that I haven't shopped for jam or marmalade in a very long time, but...seriously!

 

Then I went to the produce section.  A 4 pound bag of oranges was only $1.50.  That's right, no more thinking of buying marmalade.

 

Homemade all the way.

 

This recipe made 7 half-pint jars.

 

It didn't cost $6 a jar, either.

 

 

Orange Marmalade

 

4 medium oranges, washed

2 medium lemons, washed

2 1/2 cups water

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 box low-sugar fruit pectin

1/2 teaspoon butter

5 1/2 cups sugar

 

Bring a large pot of water (you know, your canning pot) to a simmer.  Prepare your jars.  Pour boiling water over lids and let them stand in the hot water until ready to use.

 

Zest (remove the colored part of the peel) from your oranges and lemons.  Use a vegetable peeler or a zester.

Mix the peels, water and baking soda in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Enjoy the wonderful aroma wafting through your home.

 

While the peel is simmering, cut the white part off of the lemons and oranges.  Slice the fruit and chop into small pieces, removing any seeds you might come across. 

 

After the peel has simmered 20 minutes, add the fruit and juice to the pot.  Cover and simmer and additional 10 minutes.  You should have about 4 cups of fruit and juice.  I didn't take it out to measure, but it looked about right.

 

(Turn up the heat of your big pot of water to start it boiling.)

 

Stir pectin into the fruit in the large pot.  Add butter to reduce foaming.  Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil (that is a boil that you can't stir down) on high heat, stirring constantly.

 

Add the sugar all at once. (I like to pre-measure it in a separate bowl.)

Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

 

Ladle the hot marmalade immediately into the prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the top.

Wipe jar rims.

Cover with two-piece lids and screw the bands on.

 

Place the jars on an elevated rack in your canning pot with the boiling water.  The water needs to cover the jars by 1-2 inches.  Boil for 5 minutes. This is called processing.

Remove the jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely.

After the jars cool, check the lids by pressing the middle of the lid with your finger.  If the lid springs back, the lid did not seal and you need to put that jar in the refrigerator.  If they are sealed, keep them in your pantry.



Baking Powder Biscuits

Bread.

 

The staff of life.

 

Breaking bread.

 

“All sorrows are less with bread. ”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”
― James Beard

 

“The heat of the bread burned into my skin, but I clutched it tighter, clinging to life.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

 

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?”
― Julia Child

 

“You are the butter to my bread,and the breath to my life”
― Julia Child

 

I love making bread.  I also grew up (a lot of the time) in the South.  Bread then, oftentimes, comes in the form of biscuits.  Now, biscuits can be very personal.  Everyone's Granny has the best recipe.  Some people even say that it is not "from scratch" if you use a spoon or pastry cutter - only use your hands to mix the dough.

 

I like them all.

 

Here is one of my favorite biscuit recipes.  This recipe makes quite a few since we like extras for breakfast the next day.  Feel free to cut it in half.

 

 

Baking Powder Biscuits

 

1 cup shortening

5 1/4 cup flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk or half and half or cream)

 

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

 

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients - just whisk them up.

Add the shortening to the flour mixture.  With a pastry cutter, or 2 knives, or your hands, cut or rub in the shortening until it is in pea size chunks.

 

Add the milk to the flour mixture.

With your hands, stir until the dough holds together.

Once it is holding together a bit, knead (just keep it in the bowl) 10 times.  You don't want to over work the dough, it makes it tough.

 

Press the dough into a rectangle, about 3/4 inch thick, onto a lightly floured board.  Cut into rounds, making sure not to twist the cutter.  If you twist the dough cutter it will seal the edges of the dough and it won't rise properly.

 

Place on an ungreased baking sheet (I cover mine with parchment paper but you don't need to) about 1/2 inch apart.

 

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes, or until golden brown.



Hot Fudge - super easy and quick

How are those New Year resolutions going?  Mine is going great!  I, however, only resolved to take a nap 2 Sundays a month (at least.)  Older and wiser, remember?

 

Are you ready for hot fudge yet?

 

How about now?

 

Now?

 

Okay, here you go.

 

This is a recipe that I got from my dear friend, Cheryl.  She was over at my house one evening and just whipped it up.  5 minutes.  Really.  It takes that long to get the "jar-o-fudge" from the grocery store warm in the microwave.

 

This is better.

 

So much better.

 

Keep the excess in the fridge.  It will harden and is lovely to nibble on that way, or you can spoon a dollop into a bowl and heat it up again.

 

 

Hot Fudge

 

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 can of sweetened evaporated milk

 

In a double boiler (or a pot with a couple of inches of water and a metal bowl on top of that) bring a couple of inches of water to boil.

 

In the top of the boiler (or bowl) add the chocolate chips and butter.

Heat until smooth.

 

Turn off the heat and add the sweetened evaporated milk.

Stir until smooth.

That's it.

Apple Crisp

I'm behind on my postings.  So much to do, so little time.  I have been cooking and canning up a storm - biscuits, marmalade, soup, so many things.  I took pictures, but I didn't always write down what I did, thinking that I would remember.  Of course I would remember.

 

Or not.

 

My 16 year old kiddo says that he thinks that I should remake everything.

 

He would.

 

He, being 16, thinks he is hungry if his eyes are open.  Those were the days.

 

I did write down how I made this apple crisp, however.  It is my favorite.  It's not like I haven't made it before and won't make it again - I just don't usually measure.  You know what I mean.

 

If you want this to be gluten-free, just substitute rice flour or another kind of flour for the wheat flour.  It doesn't need to rise, so it shouldn't be an issue.

 

 

Apple Crisp

 

8 cups apples, peeled and sliced (I use 6 Granny Smith and 2-3 golden delicious.  You use whatever you have.)

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Topping:

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup flour

2 cups oatmeal (not instant)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (if you use unsalted butter, add 1/2 teaspoon salt)

 

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

 

Stir together first 5 ingredients. 

Spread the apple mixture in a 13x9 inch baking pan.

 

In a large bowl or food processor, mix together the remaining ingredients, except the butter.

Cut the butter into chunks.  Add to the oatmeal mixture and cut into (or pulse) until the mixture has pea size chunks of butter.

Sprinkle over the apple mixture.

 

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes, until the apples are soft ant the topping is lightly browned and crispy.

 

Serve warm or cold with ice cream or all alone.  It is lovely.