Cookie Exchange 2009

We had 8 cookies and 6 people... one could not make it, but brought cookies anyway, and dear Carol made two cookies to represent her and Teresa. Yippee! The picture above shows Michelle's Angel Wings, Angelica's Festive Cranberry Crunch Bark, Janet's Gingerdoodles, Carol's Brownies and Sand Tarts and part of Adriana's Krinkle Cookies.

For some reason, the official Cookie Exchange photographer did not take a picture of ALL the cookies, including mine, Toffee Caramel Squares.

My cookies won best tasting at my office's cookie exchange, which brings my reign to two years. They are easy and very tasty!

Tonya's Buttermilk Pralines (also not photographed.. must get new photographer...) won for best tasting and they were delicious! They melt in your mouth without being too sweet.

Carol's Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies were voted prettiest. Carol iced and decorated five different ways. The coffee powder is a perfect addition to all the chocolate and really adds a nice flavor.




Here is Angelica, me, Tonya, Carol, Janet (with sleek, straight 'do!) and Michelle. Oh! And there are my cookies in the bottom right corner.




I wanted to serve savory appetizers to keep us all from going in to sugar comas. I made a double batch of my mom's famous vegetable dip:


1 packet Zesty Italian seasonings packet
8 oz cream cheese (can use low fat)
4 oz sour cream (can use low fat)

Mix all with a hand mixer and then use some milk to change to the thickness you like. You can also add more garlic salt or other herbs (I added some fresh rosemary).


I also served Florentine Artichoke Dip . As suggested by a reviewer, I made the following adjustments: used 1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts (cut up) and only 1 block of cream cheese. I think this was every one's favorite appetizer!


For drinks I had Hot Apple Cider, and a fruit punch with cranberry, pineapple and orange juices and ginger ale. I realized later I neglected to add the ginger ale to the punch. Oops. I also added a small jar of cherries and floated frozen orange slices to keep it cool.


Rounding out the menu was the cheese log I had at Teresa's shower, mixed nuts, cheese, sausage, fruit and crackers.


Here we are again at another angle... we pose so nicely.

Pancakes

While I do not think cooking through my new favorite cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is akin to cooking through Julia Childs, I am going to do it anyway. Even if it does not make me rich and famous!

I love pancakes. I will eat them for any meal. Lately I have wanted to make them from scratch. And scratch does not include Bisquick! Or maybe it does.... anyway, I was looking through my refrigerator, trying to decide what to do with that half used container of sour cream, when egad! Pioneer Woman has a recipe called "Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes". They were so easy! And soft and golden brown. Plus, the recipe calls for cooking them in an iron skillet. I NOW HAVE AN IRON SKILLET! And sour cream! This recipe is begging me to make it.

The recipe says it makes twelve, 4-inch pancakes. I made 5. Yes. Ok.. so one was like 6 inches, some were 5 and I guess that explains it. I ate the remainder tonight, after heating them in the oven, and they were just as delicious as last night!

Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes
by The Pioneer Woman

1 cup sour cream
7 tbs flour
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place iron skillet or griddle over medium-low heat to get it hot.

In a medium bowl put in sour cream, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir together gently, and stop short of completely combining.

Whisk together the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl.

Pour the eggs into the sour cream/flour mixture and stir together gently. Do not worry about completely combining.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and pour in some batter. Cook a couple minutes each side, until golden brown and done in the middle.

Serve with butter, syrup, or however you like to do it!

YUM!

What I have been cooking....

I love buying bananas. If I don't eat them, they become a fabulous banana creation. I have a core group of friends at the office and they love helping me out by eating my goodies. Thursday night I made banana muffins. These had a great struessel topping and were very moist. I was able to make 12, unlike the recipe which says only 10.

I recently bought a lodge iron skillet. It is enamel coated and other than it being blue when I wanted red, it is perfect! And it was on sale, which is why it is blue when I wanted red. I made this corn bread recipe tonight and it was wonderful! I feared it would be too sweet, but not at all. The pan cleaned easily with some hot water and a dish towel. Next I want to make an apple pie in it, or maybe a cake. Whatever the pioneers would make in their skillets.

The corn bread was served with mashed potatoes, asparagus, cranberry sauce and TURKEY. HEB had a special where if you buy a pre-cooked turkey you get all kinds of other items for free. The turkey was very good and I will be eating on it the rest of the week. Which is fine, because I will be in Mexico for Thanksgiving and most likely eating fish tacos rather than poultry.


My mom joined us for our pre-Thanksgiving feast and she brought the dessert. It was chocolate mousse torte made with nilla wafers. It was very good and very pretty.

Chocolate Mousse Torte

Nilla Wafers
4 squares Baker's semi sweet chocolate, divided
2 packages (3.9 oz) jello chocolate instant pudding
2 cups plus 2 tbs cold milk, divided
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip, divided
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
raspberries for garnish

Line wafers on the bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie pan.

Melt 3 squares of chocolate.

Beat pudding mixes and 2 cups of milk with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in melted chocolate and 1 cup of cool whip. Poor into prepared pan.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and remaining milk with mixer until blended. Stir in 1 cup of the remaining cool whip. Spread over pudding.

Garnish with raspberries and chocolate curls from remaining square of chocolate. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Teresa’s baby shower, November 7, 2009

For our November gathering, we hosted Teresa’s baby shower at Carol’s house. Tonya had this thoughtful idea and we were able to showcase our skills!

We had a full spread, masterfully displayed by Carol. (Imagine pickles and olives on the empty tray).

On the menu:

Fresh fruit with Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
Zest of 1 orange
Juice from orange

Mix together the cream cheese and marshmallow cream.
Add zest. Add orange juice to get desired consistency. (smooth and creamy)

Crudites with Cilantro Dip

Crudites is the word of the day.

cru⋅di⋅tés  / kroo-di-tey; Fr.

–noun (used with a singular or plural verb) French Cookery. an appetizer consisting of a variety of raw vegetables, usually cut into strips or bite-size pieces, and served with a dip.

Gazpacho Salad Pasta
(Serves 10-12)

1 - 16 oz box Bowtie pasta
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 - 4 oz can sliced black olives, drained
2 tsp garlic salt
½ cup sliced salad olives
1 cup cilantro, chopped
6 green onions finely chopped (green and white ends)
1 – 8 oz bottle Ranch dressing
1 - 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped


In a large pot, bring water to boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions on package. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water. Combine pasta with the remaining ingredients (except cheese). Mix. Chill overnight to let flavors marry. Just before serving, top with shredded cheese if desired.

Maple Nut Cheese Log

Also served were:

Mary’s Chicken Salad Croissants

Cream Cheese with Cranberry Pepper Jelly

Yellow Cupcakes with Butter cream Icing. These were beautifully decorated by Tonya with green leaves and pink, blue and purple flowers. The icing was so light and very delicious.

Watermelon Buggy with fruit. Carol is gifted and so creative!

Fruit Punch (which mixed really well with white wine)

Congratulations, Teresa and Charlie! We can't wait to meet your little girl (who I hope comes on January 25, 2009, weighs 6 pounds and is 22 inches long).

October 2009 Gathering at Janet's

Fall has arrived in Houston! We missed Teresa this time, but we are all looking forward to our special celebration with her next month.

Now that we can walk outside without melting, it seemed a good time to prepare some seasonal dishes to celebrate. Janet got the ball rolling with our main dish recipe, roasted pork and apples with cider glaze.

Tonya chose to bring an appetizer, crostini with roasted garlic, goat cheese and apple chutney.

Carol went all out with a soup AND salad, and both were delicious. The butternut bisque and pear, roquefort, pecans and mixed greens with celery vinaigrette recipes are by the Dining Diva, Molly Fowler.





Angie rounded out the entree with two side dishes, sweet-roasted rosemary acorn squash wedges and brussel sprout salad with pancetta and cranberries.

Mary, who is queen of donuts and desserts and still fits into those slim blue jeans, brought cinnamon roll bread pudding ... who wouldn't love that?!

Muffins!

Bananas that need to be eaten usually drive my weekend baking. I flipped through my "to be tried" recipe pile and found this recipe for Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins. As I have fresh blueberries frozen, this recipe seemed to fill my needs.

As I normally do, I modified it. (on a side note.. I recently read an article by a chef where she says to modify recipes before you make them the first time if you want... some people say to make it "as is" first, and THEN modify, but she said go ahead and do what you want. I like her.) I added some shredded coconut and pecans. Not too crazy, just adding more to the "Healthy" part.

The muffins were excellent and I will make them again!

My Husband, the Chef

My status as pastry chef for the household is in jeopardy!

Joe made a pumpkin crumb cake last week. It was so delicious we ate it before I got a chance to take a photo.

Today, he baked an apple cake. He must be quite pleased with himself, because he has decided to rename it Saddle Creek Apple Cake, after our street. This recipe comes from a book my Mom gave me, Cooking Texas Style. The master chef thought a glaze might enhance the dessert, so he tested that out on one half of the cake.

He e-mailed me a photo of the finished cake while I was still at work, so I was dying to get home to try it. It was so moist and delicious! I am incredibly impressed that my husband baked any cake, especially one that did not even involve a cake mix.


Saddle Creek Apple Cake

A moist, delicious cake chock full of goodies that makes a wonderful gift-giving cake, especially in the fall when thoughts turn to cool weather, apple harvest time and mulled cider.

2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon rum
3 cups raw apples, diced
half cup raisins
half cup nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube (bundt) pan.
Beat the eggs well.
Add the sugar and beat again.
Add the vegetable oil and beat until smooth.
Sift together salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour.
Add to the egg mixture.
Blend in vanilla and rum.
Fold in apples, raisins and nuts.
Bake for approximately 1.5 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.