Cooking the Blues Away: Beet Cake

The days are shorter, the holidays are here, so I'm back cooking my blues away. I made this beet cake from tiger in a jar's video recipe I found over at designmom. It was a hit, and I loved the looks of shock when everyone discovered the chocolate cake was actually a beet cake.

 

 

You will want to watch this lovely recipe video, but here is a standard list of ingredients with my additions in parentheses:

 

Beet Cake

2 c. beets (pureed)

2 c. flour

1 1/2 dark brown sugar

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt (kosher)

1 t. vanilla (Mexican)

1 c. butter

3 eggs

(dash powdered sugar)

(heavy cream whipped)

(mix ingredients together, bake for 30 minutes at 375)

(allow cake to cool, then dust with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream)

Cooking the Blues Away: Day Four

Just so you know, I have been cooking a lot, just not blogging about it. So far the cooking and poetry therapy really aren't working so well, so I'm going to try potato therapy, (this fabulous idea is inspired by the book title Potatoes Not Prozac). Maybe I should just make my own Mr. Potato Head figures and forget about it. Could be fun. I mean, winter doldroms really can't be that oppressive when there's a troupe of potatoes on the kitchen counter dressed for every occasion: hoedown to cocktail party.

Speaking of potatoes, I made a pretty spectacular fritatta/quiche sauteed vegetable pie which I adapted from a Moosewood Cookbook recipe. I'll post that recipe another day. btw, if you haven't ever heard of this cookbook, don't google, get in the car right now and head to the bookstore for an hour of thumbing through Mollie Katzen's no-frills, handwritten recipe book that is certain to stir your senses.

It's the season of family celebrations, and that always means an abundance of sweet treats. A friend brought this treat as a gift the other weekend, and I couldn't stop eating it, so she gave me the recipe. For lack of a better name, I'm calling it salty sweet crunch treat.

Salty Sweet Crunch
6 cups Captain Crunch
2 cups small pretzels
2 cups roasted almonds
1 pkg CandyQuik (vanilla or chocolate)
note: I've only found CandyQuik in Target stores
1 large cookie sheet
wax paper

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix Captain Crunch, pretzels, almonds.
Microwave CandyQuik for one minute.
Stir melted CandyQuik over mix until mix is saturated.
Spoon mixture onto wax paper-covered cookie sheet.
Put in refrigerator until cool, (or if you live in a freezing climate like mine, outside for a nano second will do the trick).
Break mixture into sections.
Serve.

Cooking the Blues Away: Day Three

I don't like shopping. Foraging for treasure in thrift and used bookstores, this I like. I say NO to Black Friday! (when my daughter was two, she'd throw her right hand into a rigid salute by the side off her head and emphatically say, I say no!)

I did not leave the house, except that I had to pick my daughter up from work, but that's a story for another day. I spent the day lazing about, talking and texting friends and family, cleaning up the last leftover clutter from Thanksgiving, watching Ovation tv's Framed photography programming, baking a pie, and then later, quiche, and letting the dogs out and in and out and in x infinity. Harley had three outfit changes yesterday. Today, he went au natural. He's getting a bath tomorrow.

My plan for the day was to stay home and not spend one penny, but, I finally relented and went to the grocery store since we were out of milk and I needed a red pepper for the quiche.

I took a photo of the pie and will post it here later. I didn't take photos of the quiche, although both were equally deserving. Recipes for the pie and quiche are provided below. My husband liked the quiche and loved the pie, and hopes this is not the one and only pie I make.

Homemade Blackberry Pie
3-2-1 Crust:
3 cups flour
2 cups shortening (yes, I know shortening, but it makes the best crust!)
Pinch salt
1 cup water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix flour, shortening and salt together using a pastry cutter.
Add water and mix with wooden spoon (or chopsticks - my friend Chingling taught me traditional cooking using only wooden untensils and they actually work best, but stick with the pastry cutter since there isn't a wooden equivalent).
Knead dough with hands.
Flour surface.
Roll dough to even consistency.
Place on buttered pie pan.
Trim edges.
Decorate crust edges however you like. (I used a fork for the crust decoration).
Option: I like to cut shapes for the upper crust with my vintage heart cookie cutter.

Pie Filling:
3 cups blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbls cornstarch

Directions:
Mix blackberries and sugar in blender.
Heat blackyberry mix to a boil, then add cornstarch.
Reduce heat and simmer for at least five minutes.
Pour mix into pie pan.
Place dough hearts on top of mixture.
Cook for 30 minutes.


Sauteed Vegetable Quiche
1/4 cup butter
1 Onion
1 Red pepper
1 cup mushrooms
Dash: salt, pepper, thyme, basil, Tapito hot sauce
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tomato
1 cup Swiss or sharp cheddar cheese
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk

Directions:
Melt butter and sautee vegetables, then mix in spices and hot sauce.
Spread cheese in bottom of pie crust (see 3-2-1 crust recipe).
Spoon vegetables on to of cheese.
Blend eggs and milk, then pour on top of vegetables.
Slice tomato and place on top.
Sprinkle parsley over the entire surface.
Bake for 45 minutes or until center is solid.

Cooking the Blues Away: Day Two

I woke early this morning to music. Both dogs were still asleep. I thought I imagined the music and it took me a minute to orient myself until I heard Tammy Wynette's twangy refrain, stand by your man, and knew my husband was out in the hot tub listening to his oldies. I swear the man was born in the wrong century.

I joined my husband for an early morning soak. The air was very cold, so the contrast of the hot water was invigorating.

Afterwards, I headed to the local coffee shop for breakfast with my father and uncle. I suppose I could label these Sunday breakfast meetings as coffee therapy and story, but to be truthful, blood pressure watch or drama du jour are better descriptions. The topic of the day was a local murder from the 1950's, about a neighbor who shot his wife in cold blood and got away with it with the old "crime of passion" defense. What's amazing is that this man married three more times. What were those women thinking?

The story: the neighbor's wife was in her early twenties, they had two daughters, she had enough of him so she asked for a divorce. It's unclear whether they were divorced or separated, but they were no longer cohabitating. Well, this neighbor "happened" to drive by, and "happened" to see his ex or soon-to-be ex sitting at the kitchen table with another man, so he went back to his place, got his gun, headed back to her place, kicked the door down, and while the male visitor was exiting out the kitchen window, the neighbor guy shot and killed her. Hardly a crime of passion, and even if it were, the ass hat is allowed to walk without any consequences? Infuriating. It helps to understand that the culture and time period were on his side, that he was well-connected. If he committed his crime today, he or a part of his natty anatomy would be a little forlorn pile of grass!

My father said he took the man's mother to the jail to visit him, and he remembers that he was sitting under a tree reading the Book of Mormon. I suppose in this case Hamlet was correct when he said, Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. The guy is still alive, one wife divorced him, at least one other wife is dead, (supposedly from natural causes), and he lives in a city called Eden. Can you believe it? If I ever have the opportunity to meet this man, I'll ask a couple questions I bet he's never been asked. And I'll get answers.

Okay, now coffee therapy is accounted for, back to cooking therapy. Our daughter (technically, my stepdaughter), her husband and his brother, and most important of all, the two-year-old grandbaby, came for a visit today. He can say his entire name: first name, two middle names, and surname, and he on occasion, also speaks in full sentences. We played Tyrannosaurus Rex, Legos, and Slinky.

My husband was in charge of cooking today, not only because it's Sunday, my day off, but mainly because I'm interested in cooking healthy, and he is deeply committed to cooking dangerously. He's a red meat, mashed potatoes with gravy and overcooked vegetables kind of cook and eater, and that's exactly what he cooked today: beef roast with garlic and loads of salt slowcooked in the crockpot, mashed potatoes with loads of butter, brown gravy, baby carrots, and white flour rolls, with you guessed it, loads of butter.

My cooking therapy today consisted of making one cup of hot chocolate. I asked the grandbaby if he wanted hot chocolate, he replied, want one. Of the two days of cooking therapy so far, today wins the prize.

22 November 2009 Lazy Sunday Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
1 sippy cup milk
2 Tbls Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate Chocolate Rasberry

Directions:
Microwave milk for 45 seconds.
Stir in chocolate mix.
Check temperature.
Serve.

Cooking the Blues Away: Day One

I suppose The Winter of My Contentment works equally well, especially since it alludes to wicked old Richard III, but whatever the title, cooking as a strategy to keep the blues from crossing my threshold, works for me.

My latest brilliant strategy for not getting depressed this winter, is to cook. I plan to cook whatever catches my attention, has potential for lifting my spirits, and the possibility for consumption by my family.

I began my cooking therapy yesterday by making minestrone soup. I made so much that I invited my parents over for dinner. Everyone literally slurped it up, no talking, just spoons clanking and lips smacking. For the majority of my cooking life, I've made dinner because somehow, the job fell to me. I think the "somehow" is that I"m the mom and I don't like to eat out all the time. Also, I've never been one to watch my family eat with a "I did that" smile of satisfaction. Although I expect "thank you" for my time at the stove, I don't expect kudos or raving. I have a lot of "foodie" friends where cooking is the center of their lives and conversations. I've purchased many, many cookbooks I have yet to use because of these people, and now, instead of looking at the pictures and thinking I'll make that someday, well, that day is here.

One thing you have to understand about my daily cooking life, is that my husband over salts everything he eats. He also adds Tabasco or soy sauce to everything. The majority of the time this confounds me. Sometimes it infuriates me. I mean, why spend the extra time to season with fresh lemon zest or basil leaves when it will be drowned in some condiment? Even though my ego isn't hooked to my cooking one little bit, I try not to think about all of the food doctoring that goes on at the dinner table. I suppose it's more a time/respect issue.

I am glad to report no one, my husband, my daughter, or my parents added anything to the soup other than crackers. Success!

21 November 2009 - Minestrone Soup
Ingredients:
1 pkg Delectable Additions Vegetable Soup Mix
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 lb browned turkey sausage
1 cup diced carrots, potatoes, celery, cabbage
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Tapito hot sauce
sour cream

Directions:
Boil 8 cups water. Add soup mix and simmer for 1 hour.
Brown turkey sausage. Add sausage, stewed tomatoes, and vegetables to simmering soup.
Stir in Tapito hot sauce.
Simmer 25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream.