Peach Cobbler

I've done a pretty horrible job of keeping up with the blog lately. Honestly, I've just lost interest in it. I think I've gotten lazy. I still enjoy cooking, but I've gotten to where I don't want to upload pictures to my computer, then fight with Blogger to get them inserted into the posts. But I'm going to try to keep it up a little better (I know, I know...how many times have I said that lately?). I was looking through my pictures, and I've got a pretty serious backlog of food pictures, which is good, because these days by the time I get dinner ready, all of the natural light is gone. I found this picture of a peach crisp I made this summer, and it reminded me of just how delicious it was:
This summer, my mother-in-law brought me some fresh peaches from the Henry County Harvest Showcase. My father-in-law really wanted some more peach shortcakes, but I was more interested in a peach cobbler. Besides, I had a new cookbook that I wanted to use! This recipe comes from the Cooking for a Cure cookbook that was created by the Dillsburg (PA) Relay for Life, Team Lollipop. David's aunt and two cousins have tons of recipes in the cookbook, but this wasn't one of their recipes. (Sorry Aunt Mary! We'll try more soon!) Anyway, the peaches were perfect, and this crisp was delicious. I'm certainly aware that there are probably very few (if any) people who can get a fresh peach this time of year, but I don't see why frozen peaches wouldn't work.

Peach Crisp

Kim Walden

4 cups sliced peaches

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup butter, softened

whipped topping or ice ream

Spray an 8x8 square baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange peaches in pan. Mix together brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter; sprinkle over peaches. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream.

TWD: Tender Shortcakes

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Over a week, to be exact. I apologize. As I told David yesterday, I think I've lost my mojo. I just have been in kind of a funk over the last week or so and haven't felt like doing much of anything...even cooking. Things around here have been pretty darn boring lately. But I think I might be getting a little bit of my mojo back. At least I made my shortcakes!
Aren't they pretty? These were just right for getting back into the swing of things. As I was mixing the dough, I thought to myself, "I really enjoy this." However, I was very afraid that I would overwork my dough. It's what I do, remember? I like to knead and knead and knead! But I used some restraint, even though I thought that maybe I had kneaded too much. But it looks like they turned out okay!

David's mom and dad just got back from Florida. They brought us some delicious peaches, and as soon as Shirley gave them to me, I knew they were destined for shortcakes! They were delicious, and they were perfect with the slightly sweet shortcakes and the lightly vanilla-flavored whipped cream. YUM! These shortcakes were so good...better than the ones I used to make with Bisquick (gasp!), but really just as easy!
We've got Cathy, of The Tortefeasor, to thank for this pick. This was a perfect choice for this time of year! If you've got fresh berries or peaches, please click here for the recipe!

TWD: Quick Classic Berry Tart

Dorie's description of this tart is spot-on. However, I'd add one more adjective to the list: forgiving. I did everything wrong when I was making this tart, but it still turned out great! Thank goodness...because it was Mother's Day dessert!
First, I made the crust, but when I dumped the crumbs into the tart pan, I realized I hadn't buttered it. So I dumped them back out, buttered the pan, then dumped them back in. After covering the crust with the buttered foil, I threw it into the oven. Yep...forgot to freeze it beforehand. I decided to go with it and see how it came out. It worked perfectly!
Then, I cooked my pastry cream too long. When I tried to give it a little whisk to loosen it up to pour into the shell the next day (after being refrigerated overnight), it looked like scrambled eggs. It was the consistency of scrambled eggs, too. Chet suggested that I dump it into the KitchenAid for a quick spin with the whisk attachment. We decided I couldn't make it worse than it was, so I turned my mixer on high and let it go for a bit. Still, it seemed like scrambled eggs. So I poured in some more half and half and mixed some more. Then more half and half, then more mixing. Finally, by the grace of God, it came together and looked like perfect pastry cream!
Kroger thinks an awful lot about their berries this time of year, so I just bought a pint of blueberries for the top. My tart doesn't look quite as lush as the one in the book, but it sure was tasty...especially considering all of the disasters I encountered along the way.
If nothing else, I learned this from Dorie's Quick Classic Forgiving Berry Tart: do not bake when in serious emotional distress. Bake a batch of boxed brownies, buy a quart of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, and make hot fudge sundaes instead. But if you're not having one of the worst days of your life, PLEASE make Dorie's tart! It's wonderful! (And forgiving.)

TWD: Chockablock Cookies

This is another one of those recipes that I've looked at over and over again since I got my copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours. I loved the fact that there are so many mix-ins (and so many suggestions for variations of mix-ins) in the recipe. It was so nice to know that I could make these cookies with pretty much whatever I had on hand!
I used walnuts and dried cherries, and I included the coconut (which I really didn't even notice in the finished product) and the chocolate. I've checked out a few of the other TWDers who've made these cookies this week, and it seems like everyone used different nuts and or/dried fruit, but all of the cookies look amazing. I just LOVE that we're all making the same "recipe," but we're all getting custom cookies!
A few TWDers were afraid of the molasses in the batter. I went for it (because I had the molasses on hand from these), and I thought I might regret it when I tasted the batter. You see, I'm a batter licker. I can't resist it. If there's batter (or dough, for that matter) of any kind, I have a compulsion to eat it. And most of the time, I'd really prefer to eat the batter than the finished product. So I was a little worried when I tasted this batter (okay, maybe taste isn't the word...I ate at least 2 cookies' worth of batter) and it was really molassesy. But I perservered and baked the cookies...and I was pleasantly surprised. The molasses flavor was just right.
These cookies are great for so many reasons. Again, they are fully customizeable. They don't spread. They stay soft and chewy. And they kind of remind me of trail mix! If you're in the mood to make some of these delicious cookies, visit Mary at Popsicles and Sandy Feet. She's responsible for this wonderful pick, and she's got the recipe. Happy Baking!

TWD: Cran-Apple Crisps

I had planned on making these little Cran-Apple Crisps last week for TWD, but life just got in the way, as it is wont to do these days. I finally got around to making them late tonight, just in time for David to have a little snack during the UK game. These were the perfect warm-up for tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast.
These little crisps are the perfect fall dessert. The apples, cranberries, and raisins are perfect complements to one another. The crisps aren't too sweet; in fact, it's the tart cranberries that make it work, I think. The crumble on top is wonderful...David said it was his favorite part. With brown sugar, oats, and sweetened shredded coconut, what's not to like?!
Dorie's recipe makes 8 individual crisps, but tonight, I just made two...one for me and one for David. But I made the whole recipe of the crumble topping. I thought it would freeze well and be very handy to have for future impromptu crisps this winter!
Em, of The Repressed Pastry Chef, chose these tasty little desserts as her TWD selection. And her blog is actually right above mine in the TWD blogroll, so we're neighbors! You can check out her blog for the recipe. These came together very quickly and easily, which is always a plus, especially this time of year. Great choice, Em!

TWD: All In One Holiday Bundt Cake

I love bundt cakes. Maybe not quite as much as Mary, The Food Librarian, but they do have a special place in my heart. They're a homey dessert. Simple, not fussy at all. You can frost them, or just dust them with powdered sugar. They're perfect. And I've had my eye on this one ever since I got my copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours...the Dorie Greenspan cookbook that inspired the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group. I love fall flavors, and I love bundts, so this was perfect.
It's full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger...fall spices that I adore. And diced apples, fresh cranberries, pumpkin puree, and pecans. All of the flavors of our favorite holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas!) are in there. What's not to love?! As is the case with all bundts, this one is very simple to put together. Britin, of The Nitty Britty, made a great choice...it's probably what I woudl have chosen, if I didn't happen to be the 251st person in the recipe rotation!

Anyway, I'm very thankful that Laurie has given us permission to bake the recipes out of sequence this month. I wouldn't have had time to make (or acquire the ingredients for) the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake this week, but I could throw this together in my spare time Sunday night. If you visit the other TWD bakers this month, you'll see that we're all probably baking out of sequence, which I think will be pretty fun and interesting. You'll notice in my pictures that I didn't make the maple icing... and that's because this beautiful bundt is going in the freezer for a future date.

There it is, all wrapped up. I loved the scent of this bundt baking, but it's killing me to not know what it tastes like! I'm keeping it for any number of upcoming holiday events. It might end up at CUB's Thanksgiving potluck, or I might keep it myself for our Thanksgiving dinner. I can't decide. But I do have plans on making another batch of the batter and baking it in my mini loaf pans for Christmas gift. Yum!

TWD: Flaky Apple Turnovers

For this week's assignment for TWD, we have Julie to thank. Her cute little blog is called Someone's in the Kitchen, and she's quite the baker! Besides TWD, she participates in Operation Baking GALS and Cookie Carnival. I'm jealous of someone who has enough time to participate in all those baking events!
She made a great pick this week...Flaky Apple Turnovers. At first, I was intimidated by the idea of making the dough...I though turnover dough had to be extremely tough to make, right? I mean, how in the hairy would I get all of those flaky, tasty, layers? But leave it to Dorie...she took all the guesswork out of the equation and I made my first flaky pastry dough. Woo Hoo! It was interesting...besides the butter, sugar, and flour, the recipe called for sour cream. I've never done that before. I've made dough that had cream cheese in it, but never sour cream! After some chilling, folding, and rolling, I had a nice looking (and tasting) dough.

I didn't have a cookie cutter the right size, but it worked out well because I didn't roll my dough out thin enough. I just rolled each round out to the right thickness, and it worked fine! At first, I added too much filling and I struggled to get my turnovers closed, but I cut back on the amount of filling in each turnover, and they turned out perfectly.
The filling was simple. I used Granny Smith apples, as Dorie suggested, and I had a little filling left over. I ate a few bites of it straight out of the bowl. Delish!

We had these turnovers as a dessert after Mama's birthday dinner, and she was impressed. She said they reminded her of a fried pie, except baked (since she saw me take them out of the oven). She said, "They must be a lot healthier than fried pies, right?" Um, no. Has anyone made an acronym out of the name of this week's TWD assignment? Try FAT. There's still plenty of butter, sugar, sour cream, etc. in here to keep it from being considered healthy. But, oh...they're good! The best part is that you can assemble them and freeze them. Then, just take a frozen FAT (Flaky Apple Turnover) out of the oven, brush it with a little egg wash, bake it in the oven, and in about 20 minutes, you'll have a delightful little dessert! YUM! Thanks, Julie, for choosing this recipe! If you want to make the FATs, or if you want to try any of the other goodies Julie's been baking, you'll need to visit her little corner of the Internet...Someone's in the Kitchen. Happy baking!

Grilled Nectarines

Growing up, we never really had dessert after dinner at our house. Dessert was a real treat, and it usually went along with a special occasion, like a birthday or something like that. When I went away to college (at Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, KY), our dining center was (and still is) amazing. The food was (and still is) delicious! There was always a huge buffet of desserts available after every meal, so it became a habit to get dessert after lunch and dinner. It was a bad habit. When I graduated and moved into my own apartment, I broke that habit, mostly because I just didn't keep a lot of sweet stuff, so it wasn't available. Then, a few years later, I started working for Cedar Lake, and dessert was provided to our clients after every lunch...so I got back into the dessert habit again! I don't work for Cedar Lake anymore, but the habit has gotten much harder to break. Still, after every meal I eat (except breakfast), I think to myself, "Now I need a little something sweet." Today after lunch, I felt that way, but I made a healthy little dessert for David and me.

Since it's late summer, stone fruits are in season, so I picked up a couple of nectarines during my last shopping trip. I've seen people everywhere grilling stone fruits of all kinds, so I thought I ought to jump on the bandwagon and see what the fuss is about!
Grilled stonefruit (nectarines, in this case) is amazing. It's so simple...I just sprinkled a little brown sugar on the flesh side and laid it on a well-greased grill pan for a couple of minutes, until it got a few little grill marks (not as dramatic as I had hoped for, though). I added a little vanilla yogurt and a drizzle of honey, and it was as good as an ice cream sundae...no kidding! The sweetness of the nectarines just seemed to be intensified by the grilling. It was a simple, delicious little dessert that took no time to prepare. If you've got a fridge full of stonefruit, you need to give this a try! Yum!

TWD: Applesauce Spice Bars

Thank goodness we had another easy TWD assignment this week! I love a good baking challenge, but not during my busiest work time of the year. I work for Lindsey Wilson College's School of Professional Counseling, and we're in the last week before our Fall semester begins...so needless to say...life is crazy! But thank goodness for Karen, of Something Sweet by Karen, for choosing a delicious and simple recipe.
I was just telling David the other day that I'm tired of summer and ready for fall. I can only take so much heat and humidity before I start dreaming of crisp breezes, the smell of leaves burning, the softness of cozy sweaters, and the smells of autumn baking. This recipe was perfect for satisfying my fall yearnings! Apples, brown sugar, spices...all of the hallmarks of a fall comfort food recipe are here! Dorie's Applesauce Spice Bars were wonderful, and they couldn't have been more simple to prepare. The recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce in the batter, and I didn't have any on hand. However, I did have some homemade applesauce that I decided to use. Since it was sweetened, I cut back on the brown sugar a little...but not enough. These turned out a little too sweet for me, but delicious nonetheless!
If you're pining away for fall and need a little "pick-me-up" this week, you can grab this recipe from Karen's cute little website, Something Sweet by Karen. Enjoy!

Allison's Birthday Cake

Friday was my little sister Allison's birthday. She's the beautiful bride in the picture up there. I'm the Matron of Honor. That sounds old, doesn't it? Anyway, since it was her birthday, she got to pick her birthday treat from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours. She picked the Double Apple Bundt Cake. When I read the recipe, I thought two things: "Man, that sounds delicious," and "This sounds like a fall cake." And her birthday is in July. I mean, it's got apples, apple butter, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. It doesn't get more fall-like than that. But it was Allison's birthday, and by golly, if she wanted a fall cake she was gonna get it!
But listen to this. First, let me preface this by telling you that Kentucky in the summer is three words: HAZY, HOT, and HUMID. But this past weekend, we had the most delightful, cool weather you could imagine. It was about 70 degrees on Saturday and about 72 on Sunday! Woo Hoo! It felt like fall all weekend. The perfect time for a double-apple bundt cake! And didn't it turn out nicely? Allison made two requests: no nuts and no icing. She just wanted a dusting of powdered sugar. She's a nice, simple girl...like me! I think we're all pretty much simple folk, the Bickerses, Orrs, and Lawrences. She did get some good natured ribbing from Larry, Chet, and David about the absence of icing. As Mom and I were cutting and plating the cake, we heard her say, "WHEN IT'S YA'LL'S BIRTHDAYS, YOU CAN HAVE ICING!" She cracks me up. I love that girl.
The cake was absolutely fantastic. It was super-moist, and the apple flavor was perfect. It also came together incredibly easy, so it will definitely go into the rotation this fall. I usually have all the ingredients on hand to make it, too...that's always a huge bonus. Here's the recipe for you to file away for the first crisp, cool day of fall. Hopefully Dorie won't whip me for posting her recipe:

Double Apple Bundt Cake

Dorie Greenspan

For the Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 Tbs.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs

1 cup store-bought apple butter, spiced or plain (I used homemade that I've been hoarding for a while)

2 medium Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, and grated

1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup plump, moist raising (dark or golden...I used golden)

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)

For the Icing (Optional)

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

About 2 Tbs. fresh orange or lemon juice

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. If your pan is not nonstick, dust the interior of the pan with flour, then tap out the excess. Don't place the pan on a baking sheet--you want the oven's heat to circulate through the Bundt's inner tube.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth, thick, and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition; you'll have a light, fluffy batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the apple butter--don't worry if it curdles the batter. Still on low, add the grated apples and mix completely to blend. Add the dry ingredients, mixing only unil they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts and raisins. Turn the batter into the Bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding and uncooling the cake to room temperature. If possible, once the cake is completely cool, wrap well in plastic and let it stand overnight at room temperature to ripen the flavors.

If you're not going to ice the cake, you can dust it with confectioner's sugar just before serving.

To make the optional icing: Put the sugar in a small bowl an dstir in a squirt or two of either orange or lemon juice. Keep adding the juice a little at a time until you have an icing that falls easily from the tip of a spoon. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cake, letting it slide down the curves of the cake in whatever pattern it makes. Let the cake stand until the icing dries, a matter of minutes, before slicing.

Making Plans...

Last year, Shirley's garden was overrun with zucchini, and she had a bumper crop of blackberries. I took a bunch of the HUGE zucchini and shredded them up to freeze for future use. I did the same with blackberries. My family proceeded to make fun of me, because I had something like 36 cups of zucchini and 24 cups of blackberries. Well...it's gone! I've used it all up on things like blackberry cobbler, zucchini bread, and blackberry pie bars, so it's time to stock up. Here's what I did yesterday:

This year, I got smart. After I rinsed the blackberries, I laid them out on towels for an hour or so, then I spread them onto a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet and stuck them in the freezer overnight. This morning, I had individually frozen blackberries. Much more efficient than one big hunk 'o frozen blackberries. Right now, I'm at about 16 cups of blackberries. I heard this morning that there are more ripe and ready for the pickin'!
After shredding about 5 super-huge zucchini, this was what I had...

And then after squeezing most of the water out of it and packing it into four-cup portions, this is what I had...
Now, I've got a head start on my Christmas baking (little loaves of zucchini bread are always well-received), and I'll be able to make some more of those divine blackberry pie bars.

Peaches and Cream Muffins

One day last week, Shirley gave me some fresh peaches from Bray's Orchard in Bedford, KY. They were gorgeous, and they smelled sooo gooood. I chopped them all up and had plans for two things: Peaches and Cream Muffins and peaches with vanilla ice cream. I don't remember where I got this recipe, but rest assured I didn't create it. I can copy anything, but I don't have an original thought in my head. I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due. I love this recipe, because it's so versatile. You can use just about any kind of fruit. I've made strawberries and cream muffins (but you can't use frozen strawberries), and I'd love to have some blueberries and cream muffins, if blueberries weren't so darn expensive. Blackberries will be ripe in a week or so, so I'll probably make some blackberries and cream muffins too. The possibilities are endless!

Peaches and Cream Muffins

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 whole eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup fresh peaches, coarsley chopped

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

In a small bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beat one minute until light and airy. Add brown sugar. Beat in eggs, one at at a time. Beat in sour cream and vanilla.

Stir into flour mixture only until dry ingredients are moistened.

Fold in peaches and nuts.

Pour into muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes, rotating once during baking. Cool, and enjoy!

(You can make this into one loaf of bread, baked in a 8x4-inch loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes.)

Yields 18 regular-sized muffins.

It's David's Birthday!

Today is David's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! I've been telling him for at least two weeks that he needs to get Dorie's cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours and pick out his birthday treat. Finally, last night he got it out and made his selection. What did he pick? You won't believe it. He picked the Perfect Party Cake! What's the big deal? Well...unbeknownst to David, that's the TWD assignment for next week! It's a little too involved for a weeknight birthday treat, so I promised that I would make it for him this weekend. But for tonight's actual birthday treat, I have Joy the Baker to thank. I was looking around her beautiful (and funny!) site and came across Blackberry Pie Bars with Lemon Sugar. They looked delicious (and simple), so I decided to give them a go. The base layer is a pie-type crust made with lemon sugar (lemon zest rubbed into sugar, so that the sugar becomes lemon flavored/scented). You can even see the little flecks of lemon zest in the crust:

The next layer is a mixture of blackberries, sour cream, eggs, and sugar, and then there's a little more of the pie crust topping. After a stint in the oven, this is what you'll be rewarded with:

These were absolutely delicious! The crust is amazing. I'll be using that for other things in the future! I was thinking of a blueberry pie, perhaps. Mmmmm. Anyway, instead of birthday cake, David had a big ol' Blackberry Pie Bar with ice cream. I think he looks pretty pleased...
The recipe makes a ton of Blackberry Pie Bars, so the remainder will be heading to work with David in the morning. I hope the folks at CUB like them!
We've got some pretty sweet news to share, too. See the picture below? That's me and David, standing in what will be my new kitchen in about 6 or 7 months! We broke ground Monday morning on our dream home in David's hometown. We're so excited! We've found the perfect house plan, a fantastic builder, and we're on our way! Don't worry...I'll keep you updated! I may need some advice when it gets closer to kitchen planning time!

Blackberry Pie Bars with Lemon Sugar

Joy the Baker/The Pastry Queen

For the Crust/Topping:

3 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3 sticks butter, chilled and cubed

zest from 2 lemons

Blackberry Filling:

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup AP flour

pinch salt

6 cups fresh blackberries

For the Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a jellyroll pan generously. Zest both lemons. Place sugar into a bowl; add lemon zest. Using your hands, rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar seems to feel a little wet from the lemon oil. Combine the lemon sugar, flour, salt, and butter in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture is dry and crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the jellyroll pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes while you make the filling.

For the Filling:

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the sugar, sour cream, flour, and salt. Gently fold in the blackberries. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust. You may need to distribute the blackberries evenly over the crust. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Cool for 1 hour before slicing into generous servings.

Other People's Food!

I'm a member of our very small church's women's group, which is called The Agape Women's Group. We have lots of fun together at our monthly meetings where we fellowship, work on service projects, and EAT. We have a "Secret Sisters" program in our group, where each woman is a "Secret Sister" to another. We provide encouragement and prayer for our "Secret Sister," and we try to give little gifts during the year for important events (Christmas, Easter, birthdays, etc.). In June, we have our Birthday Party, where we reveal our identities to our "Secret Sister", play games, and EAT. Our annual birthday party was last night, and while we had a small turnout, we had a lot of fun. Each member brought some food for our festivities, and I thought I'd let you take a look at what we had. Maybe if I can persuade everyone to give me the recipes, I'll include those in upcoming entries!

First, I'll show you what I brought:

They got a little mangled before I got to take a picture, but these are mini-turkey and cheese rolls (I also brought mini-ham and cheese rolls). I got the recipe from The Big Red Kitchen. Robin Sue has a ton of great recipes. The only thing I did differently was use different seeds. I used a mixture of caraway seeds and celery seeds, where Robin Sue calls for poppy seeds. I actually made these for May's Agape meeting, and they were so well-received that they were requested for this meeting, too! Luckily for me, I made too many in May, so I popped two pans in the freezer (pre-bake), so all I had to do was defrost them and bake them. It was a lifesaver, as this is the busiest week I've had in a LOOOOOONG time.

This is Midge's Seafood Pasta Salad. She is a South Beach Diet devotee, so she usually brings something "Beachy" to our events. This was GREAT! I'll have to get the recipe from her. Also, can you believe that after eating this salad, my cousin Brenda (our hostess) said she'd never eaten crab?! Geeze, Louise! We've got to get Brenda out more!
Devona brought this delightful Cucumber-Tomato salad. There's a good chance some of this came from her garden, but I never did hear for sure. Devona is a fabulous cook, and she's the leader of our food committee. She makes sure that we never go hungry!

These tasty little appetizers came courtesty of my Aunt Betty. She took green onions, covered the bottom half with cream cheese, then wrapped them in ham. So simple...so TASTY! I've got to remember this for future gatherings! They look so elegant!

Devona also put together this cheese/grape tray. Red grapes, delicious flatbreads, and Boursin cheese. Boursin cheese is becoming a pattern in my life. A couple of weeks ago, Earl and Shirley had some Boursin cheese at their house. Now, Devona brings it to the Agape meeting. I had NEVER had Boursin cheese before these two occasions, but I know it's been around for ages. I told Earl and Shirley that you can make your own Boursin cheese, and I have all the ingredients...I planned to fix some for them to have with their houseguests earlier this week, but life interfered with my plans. Now, after last night, I've got to make the homemade Boursin cheese to see how it stacks up. Keep your eyes out for that later in the week.

Did you notice anything about our spread? What was noticeably absent? DESSERT. You know why? Because that's WHAT I DO. I do dessert. Always. But this week has been crazy-busy for me, and I slacked off and didn't get it done. Therefore, we didn't get anything chocolatey, peanut buttery, cakey, custardy, flaky, or gooey. I'll have to plan better next year!

TWD: Honey Nectarine Ice Cream

I can only remember a handful of times that I've had homemade ice cream. I can remember having it at a 4th of July party at my Aunt Betty & Uncle Bubby's house one year when I was really young. I can also remember having homemade chocolate chip ice cream that Chet made not long after he and my Mom started dating. There are a couple of other times that I can sort of remember, but it was always a pretty special occasion. Now I know why:
At the beginning of the month, when I saw that Tommi, from Brown Interior, chose Dorie's Honey Peach Ice Cream for this week's "assignment", I started getting busy tracking down an ice cream maker. Mom and Chet have one, but I think it's pretty big. I also asked Shirley if she had one, and she did...a 2-quart one. And both ice cream makers were the old-fashioned kind (at least they didn't have a hand crank!) that require lots of ice and rock salt...not the fancy-dancy kind that you sit on your countertop and just plug in. I was scared. It just seemed like there was so much that could go wrong! I was terrified that the salt and water would get in the canister and ruin my custard. But I had no problems. I had to make a modification, though. I used nectarines, because the peaches at Kroger were as hard as rocks, and this assignment kind of snuck up on me. I think Shirley was skeptical, but I think it turned out really nice.
See the tiny nectarine chunks? It turned out such a nice color, too. Since Earl and Shirley let me use their ice-cream maker, they got to sample the finished product. See...if you loan me cooking materials, you get to reap the rewards! I enjoyed the ice cream, but I didn't think it was out-of-this-world. Honestly, I'd rather have some chocolate, or chocolate chip, or something along those lines.

I told David about the ice cream makers that just sit on the countertop and require no ice or rock salt. He told me that maybe I could get one for my birthday or Christmas. I said NO! That would make it WAAAAY too easy to make homemade ice cream! The idea of getting out ice and rock salt and babysitting the ice cream maker on the front porch deters me from making ice cream on a weekly basis. Hogatha would like that, but I'm trying to keep her out of the picture. Moral of the story...now I know why homemade ice cream was such a treat growing up!

Back In Business!

I'm back! My camera issues are resolved, so I'm able to get back to my favorite hobby (well...besides cooking)! Tonight, David and I went to my cousin Jordan's high school graduation party, and I decided to take a berry trifle. I first had this trifle a couple of years ago at my in-laws house during their annual Father's Day party (wherein about 50 Klingenfuses get together, eat obscene amounts of food, then play games - volleyball, basketball, badminton, shooting sports, etc.). David's cousin's mother-in-law (hey...all are welcome...you don't have to be a Klingenfus to participate) brought this trifle, and it was delicious! She gave Earl the recipe, with two variations...the full-fat version, and the lightened up version. I made the lightened up version for our party this evening, and it was still super-good! The first thing you need to do is bake an angel food cake:

This is my personal preference, but I think it works better to bake your own angel food cake. You can buy one of the pre-made ones at the grocery, but they're a lot more dense, so the cream cheese mixture doesn't soak in as much. It's also cheaper to bake your own. It's your call!
I apologize that I don't have process pictures for you on this recipe...I was still having some camera issues. You'll find the recipe below, but it's really very simple. You just tear or cut your angel food cake into good-sized cubes, mix with a delicious cream cheese mixture, then layer with sliced strawberries and blueberries. It's a fabulous and easy dessert. And it's pretty, too!

Berry Trifle

Mike Slider's Mom (Mrs. Slider...I don't know her first name)

16 oz fat-free cream cheese

1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

8 oz fat-free whipped topping

1 angel food cake, cubed

4 pints fresh strawberries, sliced

1 pint fresh blueberries

4 Tbs. sugar substitute (Splenda)

Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until well-mixed.

Stir in vanilla yogurt and vanilla.

Fold whipped topping into cream cheese mixture. Add cake and stir gently to coat well.

In a bowl, combine the sliced strawberries wtih the sugar substitute. Layer the strawberries, blueberries, and cream cheese mixture in a trifle bowl, beginning and ending with the strawberries.