Feelin' Fruity

Its getting to be that time of year, and even though Mother Nature is clearly trying to piss me off, Spring is still on its way. One sure sign of spring (at least around here) is the arrival of strawberries in the local stores. I do love me some strawberries.

I picked up a quart box the other day, intending to eat them immediately for breakfast and got sidetracked. I re-discovered them in my fridge yesterday morning, starting to look, well, less than appealing. Still quite edible, just not quite so pretty. You know what I mean, I know you do. And, very often, berries like this get wasted.

Not in my house.

All this means is that its time to make Strawberry Upside-Down Cake. And, shockingly, my husband loves it. Go figure.

I picked up this recipe years and years ago, in the land-of-my-former-life from a co-worker in my directory assistance operator days. It fits in quite well with my repertoire of ever-so-easy recipes. Plus, as a bonus, it lets me use up aging berries from the fridge. I have also done this with other fruits, but strawberry is by far my favorite, as the berries break down very nicely and practically absorb into the cake.

Strawberry Upside-Down Cake

1 boxed white cake mix, batter prepared according to directions on the box

1 quart (more or less) strawberries, cleaned and halved or quartered (depending on their size)

1/2 pint heavy cream (or one cup if you keep a giant carton in the fridge like I do)

Here's the hard part (can you sense the sarcasm?): put the strawberries in the bottom of a baking pan.... 8x8, 9x13, or somewhere in between. Use whatever size pan is the right size to accommodate the amount of berries you have. In this case, my pan was an odd size, about 8x11. Just try to spread them out so its a nice, even layer. You do NOT need to grease the pan.

Pour the prepared cake batter evenly over the berries.

Drizzle the cream over the cake batter, so that it is evenly distributed over the cake. If you pour slowly, it will just sink right down into the batter. Don't stress out if it doesn't look gorgeous, or if you slop it around a bit. It will be fiiiiiine. Even if you just dump it all on top in a puddle. It will still be ok.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. You'll need to leave it in longer if you use a smaller pan (because the batter is deeper). When you check it for doneness, just give the pan a jiggle and if it doesn't wiggle in the middle anymore, its probably done.

Here's the important part. Let the cake REST. You can eat it hot, but it will be more like strawberry cake pudding because the hot berries that have been stewing in their juices will slosh all over the place and the cake will fall apart. Still tasty, but not pretty or easy to serve. I have, however, spooned this over vanilla ice cream before, and it is quite nice.

If you let the cake cool down, even leaving it in the fridge overnight, the berries will gelatinize (is that a word?) and absorb back into the cake. And it will look like this:

Serve this with a nice dollop of whipped cream and you have one wonderful (and easy) springtime recipe. And you don't have to waste those ugly berries. You can't tell they were starting to turn now, can you?

Here's the funny part: The hubs very excitedly asked if this was for him to take to work the next day, and I said yes. But this morning, he forgot to take it. Guess what I'LL be having after lunch today.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA!!!!

Wanna-be Potato Ho

Ok, well, if I could find the link right now, I'd link back to the Potato Ho story, but basically, its about a bunch of us that just looooove potatoes. Technically, that's my husband, and not me, so I'm not going to intrude on the Ho-down.

Also, apparently I picked this idea up from a blog I was just skimming and don't follow, because I can't for the life of me find it now, but I would gladly give credit where credit is due if I could.
(I know, I'm such a slacker!)

If you've gotten to know me, even the littlest bit through this blog, you know that my husband drives me crazy - at least as far as cooking for him goes. (ok, maybe sometimes for other reasons, too, but that's a whole other post!) He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and believe me, I get tired of making the same old side dishes night after night, whether I eat them or not.

I ran across this idea yesterday on another blog and decided to give it a try. I mean hey, its potatoes, and cheese. How could the hubs not like it, right? Right. So here we go. I altered the recipe slightly, as it called for russets, and I had some nice reds. It also added some other seasonings in the oil, but I went for simple. With the hubs, when trying something new, that's the best way to go.


Oven Fried Potato Slices
5-6 red potatoes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Paula Deen's House Seasoning (except I am cheap and I make it myself. If you know Paula, its just a glorified way of saying "salt, black pepper, and garlic powder all mixed up")
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)


Slice the potatoes up, about 1/4 inch thick, leaving the peels on. Toss them with the oil in a Ziploc bag to get them all evenly coated. (Yes, you could just drizzle the oil on and rub it around if you are feeling green and want to save the plastic, but the recipe I saw suggested this method, to ensure all surfaces were evenly coated, as well as leaving the excess oil in the bag instead of letting the potatoes sit in a pool of oil on the pan, and it worked quite nicely for me) Layer the slices on a baking sheet, overlapping just slightly so that air can get around them, and sprinkle with House Seasoning.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until they are nicely done, and starting to crisp up. If you like your potatoes crispy, leave them in longer. My husband likes his more on the mushy side.
When the potatoes get to the "done" stage (according to your preference), pull them out and sprinkle lightly with cheese. Then pop the pan back in the oven and turn the heat off. Let the cheese melt and serve!
It was a hit with the hubs last night, and I served it along side some barbecued pork steaks. Speaking of which, don't be surprised if you start seeing a lot of pork chop and pork steak recipes. We just got a half a beef from the locker, and I still have a ton of pork leftover that I need to use up!

Enjoy!

You Coulda TOLD me....

Ok, really, SOMEBODY could have told me that I forgot to include the recipe for the green beans...seriously. I scanned it and everything, before I even posted about it! Here it is!

Chicken Fried

From the time I started dating my husband, he talked about his grandma’s cooking, and how I should learn to make some of her dishes. Her famous “One Pot”, her peanut butter cookies, and, his favorite, her Fried Green Beans. Yep, that’s right, my husband actually WILL eat a green vegetable…. as long as its fried.
We all know how life can get away from you, and sure enough, his Grandma passed away just a month before we were married. I never did get the chance to ask her about any of her recipes, which I honestly figured she had never written down anyway, as most old farm wives cooked that way.
I tried to make the Fried Green Beans on several occasions based on the hubs’ memory, and he enjoyed them thoroughly, even though there was definitely something missing.
Last summer, I was looking for another recipe, and remembered that Matt’s sister inherited Grandma’s recipe box. A large plastic contraption jam packed with newspaper clippings and scrawling notes on scraps of paper and envelopes. We sat down at the kitchen table and scoured the collection for a certain “Custard Pie” recipe. Hidden among the pages was a newspaper scrap, yellow with age (the reverse says it is from “The Workbasket”, August, 1986), holding this heading, “Chicken Fried Green Beans”. Hallelujah! This scrap of paper now resides in MY recipe box, and when the hubs has been especially decent, I dust it off for a special treat.

Now, this is far from the battered version of Fried Green Beans that you will find at restaurants like TGI Friday’s, but even I have to admit, there is something kinda tasty about them. The recipe just calls for a can of green beans, but Grandma always made them with French Cut Green Beans, so that’s what I do, too. Also, I would bread these immediately before frying. If you let them sit too long after dredging them in the flour mixture, the moisture in the beans is absorbed into the coating and they start to clump together. These are best if they stay separated. Add a little extra flour, if necessary.
Last night I served this on the side of Chicken Fried Steak. I figured I might as well stay with the theme.

My Baby is not a Baby Anymore

(Atually SMILING for a picture with his birthday cake)

It seems like just yesterday that I was trying to break Little Man of drinking from a bottle, and now he is a full blown, potty-trained preschooler. Saturday was his fourth birthday, and we celebrated twice.

(Ty's classmates singing "Happy Birthday to Ty")

Friday, we had a little party for him at school, with ice cream for a snack, crafts to do with the kids, and treat bags for everyone to take home. All the kids had fun, I only wish I had gotten a picture of them all in their new craft aprons that they made.
Saturday, We had the party at our house for the family that could be there, complete with dinner, and cake and ice cream.

Ty had a great time, opened lots of presents (the big winner this year was the new Big Wheel, courtesy of Grandma La-La).

Considering that I spent the vast majority of the weekend either cleaning FOR the party, or cleaning up AFTER the party (including using the Rug Doctor on my carpets yesterday and this morning), I think I need a weekend just to recover from my weekend. Hopefully I’ll get that this weekend, when all I have going on is the International Bead Show in Collinsville! We had a great time last time we went.

That’s all for now…gotta get back to my regularly scheduled week! Here are a few more pictures to get you smiling!(Blowing out the candles...and yes, that is a piece of garlic bread in his hand)(Licking the "dubloons" from his Pirate cake)

Baked Tortellini….for a Crowd?

When I have the family over for an event (and I mean the in-laws, not MY family), it isn’t always easy to come up with a meal to serve them. Although my husband is the worst, they are still a fairly picky punch of eaters, so instead of making something I would consider fun or tasty, I cater to their tastes.
This Saturday was Little Man’s fourth birthday and we had the party at our house. Since the apple never falls far from the tree, he is a little picky eater, himself. SO, what is always a winner with picky eaters? Pasta. Dripping with sauce and cheese, of course, and garlic bread. Naturally, since we had people over, Little Man had to make me look like “mother of the year” by refusing to eat anything but garlic bread and the frosting from his cake, but what the hell. I’m use to it!

Something else that is always difficult for me is determining how much food to make for the occasion. I mean, I need enough for everyone, plus second helpings if they like it, plus a plate to take to Grandpa later, plus leftovers for the hubs to take to work for lunch on Monday. In this case, I made 2 9x13 pans of pasta and two full loaves of garlic bread. Everyone loved the pasta, except for my husband, who complained that the sauce tasted “different”, meaning it wasn’t exactly the same as the one time in his life where he actually liked pasta sauce, and complained that the cream I put in it made it “tangy”. WTF? Can you say “looking for excuses to complain?” Yeah, I knew you could.
So, needless to say, he won’t be eating any of the leftovers. In the end, I still have a full pan leftover, although I haven’t made a plate for Grandpa yet. I’ll do that later today. Suffice it to say, my co-workers won’t need to buy lunch today. For this post, I’m going to give you half the recipe, enough for one pan of pasta.

Baked Tortellini
1 bag of meat filled tortellini
1 bag of cheese filled tortellini
1 LARGE jar of your favorite pasta sauce (in this case, Ragu Parmesan Romano, because its what the family will eat), not sure how many ounces that is, but it’s the big plastic jar with the indents to make it easier to hold onto. Not the giant, Duggar-family size jar, but bigger than the regular one. Runs about $3.67 at Walmart)
½ cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Boil water in a large stock pot and cook the tortellini just until they float to the surface. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, warm the pasta sauce gently, and stir in the cream, making a nice “pink” sauce. When the pasta is done cooking, drain it and add it into the sauce. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 pan. Top with the shredded mozzarella. Cover the pan with foil and bake 20 minutes or until nice and bubbly. (Or, in this case, until the family arrives.)

**NOTE: If you have ever made anything baked with cheese on top and growled at your oven when you peel the foil back and most of the cheese comes off with it, you will love this. Reynolds Release Foil. I am usually skeptical about new products like this, but a while back I bought a 3-pack of foil, and didn’t notice until I got home that one of the rolls was the new “Release” foil. It has a "dull" side that is supposedly "non-stick". I decided to give it a try on this dish. Lo and behold! The cheese did not stick to the foil. Not even a little bit. And yes, it was touching the foil. I am impressed enough that I’ll use it again.

I served this with a huge pile of garlic bread and a nice tossed salad, but try explaining why you’re taking pictures of your food to a family that doesn’t understand blogging….so, I snapped a couple of quick shots of the pasta and that’s about it. Enjoy!

AAAAaarrgghhh!!!!