14 layer bars! Ridiculous!

I was out of work a day last week because I felt quite yucky, but by afternoon, I felt a baking urge coming on. I had little in the house to work with - some oatmeal, some chocolate, some nuts, some butter. I went to the Food Network site and started browsing around...and found a recipe for 14 layer bars - much more grand than the standard 7 layer bar. I was intrigued as to whether it would be good or not, so I plowed ahead and made them.

I split these between two 8-inch baking dishes - one would stay behind with Mr. R and one would go with me to B-lo.

At its base - butter, graham cracker crumbs, vanilla wafer crumbs, chocolate graham cracker crumbs:


Then coconut and oats:

Then the chips - butterscotch, peanut butter, and chocolate:

Nuts! In my case, pecans, walnuts, and sliced almonds:

And finally, blobs of cream cheese and a light coating of sweetened condensed milk:

Bake in the oven until golden and voila - 14 layer bars.


I have to admit, I did not actually try them. I was too full to try them in B-lo, and by the time I got back to Cbus, Mr. R had eaten them all. They were VERY easy to make and may make a reappearance at a football party in the future - throw together baking is the way to go, I think.

Quick bread

After a lovely weekend in B-lo, I got home and was flipping through the newest Southern Living and found an article on quick breads - breads that don't require yeast to rise - and the recipe for Southern Soda Bread jumped out at me for some reason. I realized I had all the ingredients, so set about making it, and within 50 minutes of seeing the article, the bread was cooling on the counter.

Even better, I didn't need the big mixer. In my lovely Nigella mixing bowl, I mixed the flour, sugar, salt, powder, soda, and eventually egg, butter, and buttermilk.


Then baked...it took quite a bit longer than the recipe's required 30-35 minutes - mine was more like 45-48 minutes. I ended up buttering the top to get it a bit browner.


I had some for breakfast this morning, just lightly toasted and buttered. It was pretty good. I'm not sure why anyone thinks this has anything to do with Irish soda bread (which contains raisins - yuck - and caraway seeds) but it was a nice, very easy bread to whip together on a whim and have for morning breakfasts.

The pie of shepherds

So, I got this month's Everyday Food, which featured a variety of one-pot comfort dinners, including a version of shepherd's pie. I didn't really LOVE everything about that recipe, nor any other recipes I tracked down, so with the help of Miss M, I Macguyver'ed up a recipe that was pretty darn tasty.

First, my mirepoix plus garlic. I did have more onions, but I'd already put them in the pan before I took the picture.


Then, as so many of my recipes start, saute onions in a little olive oil. Plus a random carrot and some celery accidentally.


Meanwhile, I got 2 pounds of peeled, chopped Russet potatoes going in some salted water.


After 10 minutes, I added in the carrots and celery along with some salt and pepper.


Then two cloves of chopped garlic and a little over a pound of ground beef - this was actually a coarsely-ground chuck. When the beef was about halfway browned, I added some dried thyme and rosemary.


Once the beef is browned, I added in a heaping teaspoonful of tomato paste - I didn't want this tasting too "Italian-y" so I didn't want to overdo it on tomato flavor. And some lovely Worcestershire sauce - several good squirts. Then, I added about 1/4 c of flour, and let that cook for a bit. Then I poured in a cup of beef broth and let that simmer until thickened.


Meanwhile, the potatoes were done - time to mash with some butter, milk and grated cheddar.



Back in the other pan, I added in several handfuls of frozen peas and got those warmed through. Then it was time to assemble - ladle the stew into a casserole dish...


And top with mashed potatoes - I dragged a fork through the top of the potatoes for a decorative flair.

Then I threw on some more cheese and put it in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes - put the broiler on for the last 4-5 minutes. Mmm...crispy top.


This tasted really good, even if it didn't look very pretty.


My only changes in the future - let the carrots and vegetables saute for a lot longer - they were a bit crunchy; add more peas (my mother was visiting, I didn't want to overdo it with green veggies); the ground beef was fine, but I know it would be super delicious with some leftover brisket or chuck roast; definitely let the potatoes get crispier on top BEFORE adding the cheese. This was a very good dinner though, and I look forward to making it again through the winter.

More canning fun

This past weekend, I did more canning. We have tomatoes coming out of our ears, and a fair number of jalapenos, too.

I made an unsuccessful pepper jelly - it didn't gel, so it is now in the fridge awaiting a future fate - but here is a picture from when I was still hopeful.


And of course, tomatoes.

Satisfying lunch

Soft, yet not airy buns...Schmidt's bahama mama...sauerkraut....mustard....a v. tasty lunch.

More canning fun

And the weekend brought with it the arrival of my Mom's pressure canner and thus, more tomato canning.

First, I spent about 45 minutes peeling and semi-deseeding a lot of tomatoes, here is about 1/4 of the tomatoes:


And then Mr. R took over so I could sterilize the needed jars, rings, and lids (after a trip to the WalMart):


Then I got the tomatoes heating up so they could be "hot packed" My books all debated the merit of hot packing vs. cold vs. raw packing, so I opted for the safest.


And then began filling the jars - a bit of a messy proposition. I could have used a funnel-like device, but it wasn't a big deal - I was only dealing with 10 jars. I also added a squirt of bottled lemon juice to each jar, just to be extra sure that the acidity levels were up.


And into the canner they go - about 10 minutes to vent the release valve then 15 minutes of actual pressurized canning. Then an hour cool down.


In the interim, I strained the pulpy, seedy juice that was left behind (and not used in the jars) to make a tomato juice-like substance - I can use this when I make homemade marinara sauce or to flavor rice.


And here are the cans - the tomatoes lost a little bit of their red color and separated from the water a bit, but all the cans sealed - a success!

Paltry performance of pasta

So, I had mushrooms that were going to go off in short order and decided that the Thursday night meal would be some sort of mushroom pasta. R could get over the lack of meat. It only sort of worked out.

So, here's the star - my almost overripe (do mushrooms "ripen?") mushrooms - crimini in this case:


And some more of the lovely pasta Miss S sent us - mushrooms should go with wild mushroom pasta right?


My accoutrements for the pasta were garlic and thyme:


I put a small amount of oil in the pan and let the mushrooms sizzle away on fairly high heat


Then added the garlic and thyme and a knob of butter (yeah, I said it, KNOB):


Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta for about 5 minutes - and made sure to reserve some pasta water:

Into the pan with the pasta and pasta water and I stirred a LOT:


Parmesan cheese anyone?


And there we have it (ignore the giant garlic hunks on top) - it looks pretty and appetizing right?



Well, it smelled really good. But the taste was just off - I think maybe I just wasn't in the mood and the powerful mushroom taste of the pasta mixed with the seared mushroom taste from the mushrooms may have been a bit too much. There was a lot of woodsiness going on. I will not abandon this idea, but perhaps with a lighter pasta - and a more open mind towards the meal itself.

Roasted pork

Mmm. Roasted pork. Super delicious. That's about all the intro I need, I think...

First, I made a marinade/rub for the pork - garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and poultry seasoning (I couldn't find any sage in the cupboard) No salt, at least, not yet.


I lightly scored the pork roast, then rubbed in the flavorful mixture and let it sit for several hours


Hello my friends. You will make me a delicious gravy. If you see this stuff, buy it up - it is v. hard to find. Chicken, beef, even ham stock are easy enough - but pork stock is gold.


I apparently failed to take anymore prep pictures - here is our lovely food tableau.

Mmm....


Daisy is sad that she's missing out (don't worry, she got a nibble later on)

Eggs benedict

So, Mr. R roundly enjoys eggs benedict. Since we had a long weekend, I decided to try my hand at this dish, even though Hollandaise does little for me and I have egg issues anyway. I made the Hollandaise first (well, and by "made" I mean, failed at making).

First, I melted a stick of butter on the stove. Easy enough.

Meanwhile, I mixed what I thought was 1 1/2 egg yolks, some salt and pepper, in the blender. Gave it a little whirl. Then poured in the hot butter in a thin stream while blending. Then added a squirt of lemon.


The whole measuring eggs things came back to bite me - the sauce was too thin, too lemony, and just plain gross. Mr. R tried some on his eggs and didn't have a great report. Oh well.


Meanwhile, these are my first-ever poached eggs. Not too shabby?


I could only handle one egg at a time, maybe two, so the eggs that were cooked earlier went back into the water to heat up a tiny bit.


And the Canadian bacon and English muffins toasted in the oven (wow, a very international breakfast, no?)


Buttered muffin topped with bacon


and there's the eggs on top (with potatoes on the side). This was really quite tasty. Not my favorite breakfast ever (apart from the potatoes, those are always a favorite) but not too bad for a first effort.