susan hayward photography

Recipe: Easy Cinnamon Rolls

photograph by Susan Hayward

Do you ever get a hankering for cinnamon rolls but don't feel like scalding milk, kneading dough, waiting for the dough to rise, and doing all the other stuff involved in making the darn things? Why not hop on over to Cinnabon and just buy one, right? Well, not to worry. You can satisfy your craving without slaving over the stove or forking out your hard earned money. Remember Janni Totsch's Easy Roll Recipe ? You can make cinnamon rolls with it, too! 

Here's how to modify it for cinnamon rolls:

6½ to 7 cups flour (I use 6 cups of regular flour)

2½ cups hot tap water (run the tap until you see steam. That's when you know it's hot enough)

2 tablespoons quick rise yeast (or 2 packages)

⅓ cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 cube (½ cup) butter or margarine

1 egg  

Filling for cinnamon rolls

melted butter, to taste

cinnamon sugar, to taste (or you can use brown sugar and then sprinkle cinnamon on top)

nuts (optional), to taste

butter cream or cream cheese frosting

Measure flour into a large bowl. Put remaining ingredients into a blender and mix well. Pour over flour and stir with a wooden spoon until all of the flour is mixed in. Cover with a wet towel (or a clean plastic bag that you can tie shut) and let rise for one hour. (Note: dough will be sticky. DO NOT ADD EXTRA FLOUR.)

Using cooking spray on your hands will keep the dough from sticking to you while you work with it in this next step. Split the dough into 3 parts. Roll each out on a sprayed/greased counter to about ¼ inch thick. You'll have a big rectangle. Next, slather melted/softened butter on the dough. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top of that. If you like nuts, toss the nuts on top of everything. Roll the dough up into a fat log. With the seam side down, take a piece of fishing line (a new piece of course, and not one fished out of a tackle box!) and cut slices of the log to make rolls. A slick way to do this is to hold both sides of the fishing line, slip it underneath the log, then draw up the two sides and cross them over as if you were getting ready to tie a knot. Voila! You will have a slice of cinnamon roll. Alternately, you can use a knife, but the fishing line doesn't squash the dough like a knife will.

Place your rolls on a greased pan and let rise until double (about 15 minutes). I like to place mine close together so they rise high instead of wide. 

 

Bake at 375º on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes. When they're just slightly golden on top, pull those puppies out and turn them out on a cooling rack. When they're cool, frost them with copious amounts of butter cream icing. 

Here's a recipe for frosting. 

½ cup softened butter (more or less to taste)

3 cups or so of powdered sugar 

5-6 tablespoons milk or condensed milk

1 tsp of good quality vanilla

Whip with an electric mixer. Taste and add as you go along. If you want your frosting thicker, add more milk. If you can't taste enough vanilla, add a little more. If your frosting is too runny, add more sugar. If all you can taste is sugar, add more butter. Frosting is very forgiving. Unlike my cat.  

Bon Appétit!

A Beautiful Meal in a Box

My friend Corrine Miller is not only a generous and gorgeous woman, she's a talented chef. When asked to create a meal for 300 that could be packaged in a box, this is what she came up with. 

First, a yummy chicken salad wrap with lots of goodies inside, wrapped in unbleached parchment paper and tied with green raffia. 

The vegetables on the side were nestled inside a hand-made french fry box. 

For dessert, key lime pie bars with an edible flower on top, courtesy of Gail Madsen Clayton, master gardener extraordinaire. 

I told Corrine that had I been in charge, the meal would have been a disaster. I would have suggested Peanut Butter and Jelly, a sack of chips, an apple and a popsicle for dessert. I also would have just thrown everything in paper sacks. I guess there's a reason no one asks me to plan these things. But thank heaven for people like Corrine who know how to make things special.

If you want to make your own french fry boxes, here's a template:

Recipe: Crêpes

My friend Corrine is a fantastic cook. That's why when she said she would teach a class on crêpes, I signed right up. I've always thought these anorexic pancakes would be too difficult to make, preferring instead to buy them from cute little roadside kiosks in Europe and hippie hang-outs in San Francisco. But let's be honest. How often do I make it to those places when the crêpe mood strikes? Once every five or ten years--if I'm lucky. So you can see why it was necessary to channel my inner French woman and learn how to make these things in my own kitchen. (Admittedly, my inner French woman mostly wants to lounge around eating bon bons by the sea, looking très chic in a billowy sundress,a big floppy hat, and huge Audrey Hepburn sunglasses. And her name is Monique. Or Chloe. Or Brigitte.) 

Corinne gave us recipes for a number of different crêpes, but I prefer Rich Dessert Crepe Batter, because I love desserts, and if they're described as "rich" and not "low fat," which is never as good, it's all the better. Despite the name indicating that these should be eaten at the end of the meal, in our house they ARE the meal.

4 eggs

¼ tsp salt

2 cups flour

2-3 Tablespoons sugar

2 cups milk

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ tsp vanilla

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs and salt. Gradually add flour alternately with milk, beating with mixer or whisk until smooth. Beat in melted butter. 

OR, you could take the easier route (my prefferred method) and throw it all in the blender for one minute. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula and blend for another 15 seconds or till smooth.

To cook, use a ⅓ cup measuring cup for a large 9-inch crêpe pan and ¼ cup measuring cup for a small 8.5-inch pan.

Cook on medium heat for about 1 minute until the batter no longer looks shiny and turn and cook for 20 seconds on the other side. The crêpes should be golden brown. As my children say, they will look and smell 'licious.

 

Topping Ideas

Corrine says that you can fill dessert crêpes with any fruit or pudding, custard or whipped cream or crème fraîche. They're also yummy with apricot or raspberry jam, folded and topped with powdered sugar. As an even more special treat, she recommends fresh peaches in season, topped with crème fraîche.  We like our crêpes smothered in hazlenut spread with sliced bananas, whipped cream and strawberries. If you really want to get a few more cavities, you can top the whole thing with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, preferably the real stuff, but in a pinch, the Hershey's variety will suffice. However, Brigitte would not approve. She would purse her lipsticked lips and tell me that nothing but Valrhona would do. But Brigitte lives in Paris, with only a yappy little dog to take care of. I, on the other hand, live with a bunch of boys in Suburbia, land of high-fructose corn syrup and those mysterious "natural flavorings" listed on the back of plastic bottles made in China. So anything goes.  

  

  

Recipe: Universal Muffins

This recipe comes from Amy Dacyzyn's Tightwad Gazette, with a few tips from The Best of Betterbaking.com and my own variations

I love to make muffins for breakfast (and snacks), but I don't always have the ingredients to follow a particular recipe. Then I came upon this idea for using what you have on hand to concoct some seriously yummy muffins. I had some blueberries in the fridge the day of this shoot, so that's what I used. But I've also made apple, peach, banana, pumpkin, cranberry, and even pear muffins using the same basic recipe. 

Here you go:

• 2 to 2 1/2 cups grain (as in flour-whatever kind you have on hand. You can use half whole wheat if you want, or grind some oats in the blender to make some oat flour)

• 1 cup milk, or buttermilk, or milk that has been soured with vinegar (1tsp vinegar to 1 cup milk)

• Up to 1/4 cup fat. (I use 1/2 cup vegetable oil, but you could use melted butter too.)

• 1 egg (you can replace the egg using 1 full tablespoon of soy flour and 1 tablespoon water)

• Up to 1/2 cup sweetener (My family likes them sweeter, so I use 1 cup white sugar or 1 cup brown sugar.)

• 2 teaspoons baking powder 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla (optional)

• 1 tablespoon grated citrus zest (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, but really tasty with the fruit additions)

• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 additions. This could be chopped fruit, fresh or frozen berries, shredded zucchini, or carrot, pumpkin purée, applesauce, mashed banana, cranberries, etc. 

Topping

Sprinkle brown or white sugar on top. 

Or, make some streusel topping:

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together with a fork or your fingers in a small bowl. Set aside for later.

Mix dry ingredients together with a whisk. Mix wet ingredients together (sometimes I just throw the wet ingredients in the blender to mix). Then mix the wet with the dry ingredients and fold in the additions. Spray or grease your muffin tins and fill until two thirds full. Sprinkle on topping and pop in the oven. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Recipe: Peanut Butter and Carrot Sandwich

Ok, I know this sounds…unique. But it is actually really good! And good for you, too. (As long as you don't go too hogwalla on the peanut butter.)

This recipe was inspired by Marilyn Diamond's The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit For Life Kitchen, a cookbook gifted to me by my cousin on my wedding day. Unfortunately, this cookbook is out of print, so if you want to buy a copy you will have to search for it used. Even if you aren't vegetarian, there are a lot of good, wholesome, tasty recipes in Diamond's book.

Here we go:

2 slices whole-wheat or other whole-grain bread. You can toast it if you want to. I never do.

Peanut butter, the natural kind or whatever you have on hand

1 carrot shredded (make sure it is sweet. A bitter carrot will ruin your sandwich.)

Lettuce, spinach, or alfalfa sprouts (I don't care for sprouts so much, so I use lots of lettuce or spinach)

1. Spread bread with peanut butter

2. Add carrots, then lettuce or sprouts

3. Eat

The idea is that the vegetables will help you digest this meal easily. If you add meat, you'll overtax your system (not that you'd want to add meat with peanut butter). If this sounds like food combining, you're right. It is. I was a food combining fanatic for a number of years. And while I don't practice it with the same ferocity (or even at all most of the time), I must admit that I feel really good when I don't mix meats with starches for every meal. So try this sandwich out. You might just find that you like this version of food combining.  

 Bon Appétit!

Recipe: NY Times No-Knead Bread

Voila! Your friends and family will think you slaved over this bread. Shh! Don't tell them that it only required stirring skills and a great amount of patience. Just eat it and smile!

 All photographs copyrighted by me, Susan Hayward.  

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Warning: This recipe makes a whole bunch, so you may want to half it. But if your family is like mine, they'll eat a ton, so go for it!

If you get tired of baking half way through, the dough freezes beautifully. Just glob it onto a rectangle of foil, shape the dough into a snake (about the width of a boa constrictor), wrap the foil around it, label with cooking instructions and pop it in the freezer. The next time someone asks for cookies just unwrap, slice, and bake!

Here you go:

Cream these ingredients together: (I used my Bosch mixer because I have no upper body strength)

4 cups white sugar

2 cups brown sugar 4 cups margarine (or butter, my best friend) 4 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla

Mix the following in a huge (and I mean HUGE) bowl: (I ended up using my hands to mix everything. That's kind of more fun than using a spoon anyway)

6 cups oats

6 cups flower 4 tsp. baking powder 4 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. salt

Stir both mixtures together. (By this time I was huffing and puffing trying to stir. So I resorted to using my hands again, which worked a lot better than a mixing spoon.) 

Add either 2 cups cho. chips or coconut (Susan S. mixes both) (I added 3 cups of chocolate chips, figuring you can never have too much chocolate.) Again, I mixed this with my hands since I hadn't exercised that morning and counted this as my workout. Also, I got to lick my fingers afterward. And yes, I washed my hands when I was done!

Bake at 350 for 12 min. or until golden brown. I like to pull my cookies out a little before their cooking time is up and let them cool on the cookie sheet for about five minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. But if you like your cookies crisper, let them cook the entire time and transfer them to a cooling rack immediately.

Bon appétit!

Thrifty Thursday Recipe: Cookie Cereal

Cookie Cereal

So I made these Nutella cookies for the first time the other day and the first batch came out overcooked even though I followed the directions (see the post for March 18). Everyone avoided the too-crisp and slightly too-brown cookies in the pile, including myself. What to do? I thought of living in the Ukraine, where I learned to eat burned food with the burned side up so my taste buds wouldn't get to the blackened bits until later in my chewing, when it didn't matter so much. Then I remembered a cereal that I used to eat as a kid made out of graham crackers soaked in milk, with loads of sugar on top. A few of my brain cells got together and formed themselves into an idea. And thus, Nutella cookie cereal was born.

I took the overcooked cookies, broke them into pieces, and put them in a tea cup (only because that's what I had handy. A bowl would work better). Then I poured milk over the whole thing and left it to soak. About five or ten minutes later I came back to a scrumptious concoction that tasted just like my childhood favorite. I could hear the children shouting over some sillly Wii game downstairs while I sat at the kitchen table, slowly eating my cereal, thinking about Saturday morning cartoons and flannel nightgowns, big sisters and mom hugs. I also thought of all the overcooked cookies I threw away that could have made some seriously good cereal. 

The moral of the story is: When you're overcooked, get soaked. No wait, that's not it. Everything tastes better with sugar on it? What do you think the moral is?  

 

  

Recipe: Nutella Cookies

This recipe is from the Cleavage Lady, otherwise known as Giada de Laurentiis. Her latest book,Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites is packed with gorgeous photographs of food, and plenty of pics of Giada's ever-present cleavage. I say this with envy, not to make fun of Giada (though I do wonder if stuff ever falls in the canyon between her breasts and she has to fish it out. Is that sanitary?) If I were to wear a low-cut blouse, you would not see cleavage, you would see sternum. 

Giada (we're on a first name basis now that her book is responsible for my library fine) named these "Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti," though they're more like  a drop cookie than biscotti. These cookies turned out crispier than I usually like. So I have a few tips of how to avoid that if you are a squooshy cookie person like me. (I know biscotti is a crisp cookie that you dip in hot drinks. And these cookies do taste yummy dipped in milk or hot chocolate. I just like my biscotti hard and my cookies soft.)

Here goes:

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature (you could add a bit more to make the cookies softer. Just don't go hog walla. Maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup more)

1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella or Kroger brand hazelnut spread (buy it at Smith's)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped toasted, skinless hazelnuts (I didn't have any nuts. Besides, I don't like nuts in my cookies or cakes. The cookies turned out tasty without them.)

To toast the hazelnuts, spread them on a baking sheet and place in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden and fragrant.  

Preheat oven to 375º F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment, or spray it with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, chocolate hazelnut spread, and both sugars together, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the hazelnuts and stir until just combined.

Using a tablespoon measure, drop spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, spacing the mounds about 4 inches apart (the cookies flatten and spread as they cook, so really listen to this direction). Use the tines of a fork to flatten each mound. 

Wait! If you don't want a flat cookie, don't squish the dough with a fork. Just spoon it onto the cookie sheet and bake it. 

Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

I found that baking 10 minutes was too long. Try 8 minutes first. 

                                                                                         

Serve with milk or a hot drink. 

Bon Appétit!

Recipe: Easy Rolls

I've never been a roll maker. With all that scalding of the milk, endless kneading,forming into clover leaves, and rising times, it looked like a recipe for yet another kitchen disaster (I'm personally responsible for two kitchen fires--but that's a post for another day.) Then my friend Janni Totsch taught a group of us church ladies her magical roll recipe that looked not only do-able, but darn right easy. To my surprise, the first time I made them, they turned out perfectly. And the second and third time too. That was enough to convince me that with Janni's help, maybe I could be a domestic goddess after all.

Take note: Even if you're serving something crummy for dinner, you can disguise that fact with these rolls. Your family will beg for them. Sometimes we just have salad and rolls. Or tomato soup and rolls. We probably could have just rolls for dinner and everyone would be happy. Especially me!

Here's Janni's recipe:

Ingredients:

6 1/2 to 7 cups of flour (I use 6 cups. Janni also uses bread flour)

2 1/2 cups hot tap water (run the water until you see steam, then fill your measuring cup)

2 Tablespoons quick-rise yeast (or 2 packages)

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 cube (1/2 cup) butter

1 egg

The first thing to do is measure flour into a bowl--a big one. Use a butter knife to level off your flour so you know you have the exact amount you intended to put in there.

Put remaining ingredients into your blender and mix until well blended. You might be thinking the hot water will kill the yeast, but it doesn't. Honestly. You want the water to melt the butter and dissolve the yeast and the sugar. 

 Pour all that stuff from the blender into your flour bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until all of the flour is mixed in. The dough will be really sticky, Like this:

You'll think, "That is too sticky, I'll just add some more flour." DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR. Just let it be sticky. Everything will turn out all right in the end. 

The next step is to cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise for 1 hour. I use a clean plastic trash bag to cover my bowl. I close it with a loose knot and set it on the carpet in the sun. This acts as an incubator of sorts, helping the dough to rise quicker while maintaining its moisture. In the summer, if I'm really short on time, I've also been known to set my dough in a hot car with all the windows rolled up. Works like magic. 

 

Once your dough has risen for an hour (or doubled in size), it's time to form your rolls. Because the dough will be so sticky, use non-stick spray on your hands. You'll have to spritz your hands frequently through this process. You could use oil or butter as an alternative, but the spray is handier. Spray your cookie sheets too.  

 

Take a wad of dough and kind of flatten it out like you are going to make a miniature pizza crust. Take the edges and scrunch them together, as if you were making a mushroom top. This is the underside of the roll in the picture. You'll want to turn it over when you place it on the greased cookie sheet. 

 I like to place my rolls close together on the cookie sheet so they'll rise taller instead of flat and wide. Use your trash bag to cover the rolls and put them back in the sun to rise until double, about 20-30 minutes. 

When they look nice and poufy, remove the bag, turning it inside out as you do. Some of the dough will probably be stuck to the bag. You don't have to throw it out just yet. I put dough bags over a kitchen chair and let the dough dry, then shake it off in the sink. Then I line my trash can with it.  

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes on the middle rack.

The rolls will be golden on top and smell heavenly. 

Be sure to turn the rolls out onto a cooling rack so they don't get soggy. 

You can try to resist eating one immediately, but you will lose that battle, my friend. 

I like my rolls plain, but the kids like theirs with butter and jam. These taste best on the day you make them, but you can work around this by freezing what you don't eat that day in ziplock freezer bags. Even if you think you will eat more rolls the following day, freeze them overnight. I'm not kidding. If you freeze them, they will always taste fresh. 

 Bon appetit!

Digital Thanks!

Special thanks to Susan Sudol for HUGE DELICIOUS chocolate chip cookies. I was only going to take a bite, but before I knew it, an entire cookie had disappeared! Perhaps Susan, you will give me the recipe to share on the blog?  

Love,

Susan Hayward 

PS

Your plot to "fatten me up" is working! I couldn't help eating a cookie after photographing it. Thus, today is an overall day and not a skinny jean day. That's ok, though. I like overalls better!

Wednesday is for Wow, I Love Food

Nutty for Nutella

I don't spend much on furniture, clothes, or accessories. But I will fork out the bucks when it comes to food (within reason, of course). That's why I was skeptical when my husband Rick came home with the Kroger version of Nutella instead of the real deal when I sent him to the store. 

"It was a dollar cheaper than the other stuff," he told me as he pulled it out of the grocery sack. "I read the ingredients and they're the same. So I figured it couldn't hurt to try."

Rick set the new jar on the table as well as the tablespoon or so we had left in an old Nutella jar. We began to eat, spreading the Nutella imposter on freshly made crepes. Rick was the first to take a bite. "Huh," he said while chewing slowly. "This is actually better than Nutella." 

I couldn't help but pick up the two jars to examine them both. Both versions do have the same ingredients, save a small difference in lecithin, whatever that is. But having no evidence that the ingredients themselves were equal in quality, I remained dubious. I sniffed each jar. The Kroger version certainly smelled nuttier. And when I finally had a taste, I had to admit Kroger's "Hazelnut Spread" beats Nutella by a mile. It was like the difference between frosting made with shortening versus frosting made with butter. You can always tell which is which by the complexity of the flavor. This came as a shock to me, a professed European-stuff-tastes-better-than-American food snob. I mean, even if I read about French food I start to salivate. Reading a McDonald's menu just doesn't have the same effect.  

I sat with both jars in front of me, savoring the chocolaty, nutty, silky sweetness of the Kroger hazelnut spread. Examining the labels closer, I noticed that our jar of Nutella, which its maker Ferrero touts as "the original creamy, chocolaty hazelnut spread" was made in Canada. "Hey!" I told the family in an outrage. "This stuff isn't European--it's not even made in Italy." 

I felt like we'd been ripped off all these years, smacking our lips over what we thought was a gen-u-wine product made by exuberant Italians way across the sea. But no. We'd been chowing down on nuts ground by people who speak English just like us, aside from a few elongated vowels here and there. How pedestrian. How North American. How disappointing.  

We looked at the Kroger jar, expecting to see that it was made in China or Mexico. To our surprise, we found  "PRODUCT OF ITALY" printed in tiny capital letters on the back. That's when everyone had seconds, taking great slabs of the Kroger stuff to put on our crepes. Though far less exciting to say than Ferrero, Kroger does have a superior, authentically Italian product in their Hazelnut Spread. I give it five stars for taste and value. Buon Appetito! 

Twiggy Tuesday: Collard Wrap Recipe

This is a great alternative to a traditional bread sandwich or tortilla wrap. Collard greens provide a good sturdy base, not to mention they're low in carbohydrates and oh so good for you. Here's an idea of what you can put inside your wrap:

 

This is a picture of cooked chicken, goat cheese, avocado slices and salt and pepper on a base of Best Foods Mayo. Now, I know you're saying, "Mayonnaise? Cheese? Those are so high in fat!" Don't stress out. It's good fat. If you use the low-fat or fat-free mayo and/or cheese it won't taste as good and you'll end up eating more of it. Plus, you'll be ingesting all those funky chemicals they put in the low fat stuff to make it edible. I say eat real food and enjoy it. (Admittedly there are those times, usually after Christmas when I've overindulged, that I buy the fake stuff in a panic to lose weight. But I always regret it.)

You can put whatever you want on your collard wrap. Lunchmeat, cheese slices, steak--you could even make collard tacos. The collards are so sturdy that they can handle almost anything. I have found that having a flour-less wrap is easy to digest, it's tasty, and it keeps me from outgrowing my jeans!

Bon Appetit!

    

Green Smoothie Recipe

"Try it, you'll like it," my sister Laura urged. She handed me a little plastic container with thick green liquid in it. I opened the lid and sniffed. I've had green drinks before and they all tasted like dirt. I've also subjected myself to about every herbal elixir out there and every single one made me gag. Now if I need some herbs I take them in capsule form. Or I smoke them. (Just kidding on that last part.)  

But Laura's concoction actually smelled good. "It's a green smoothie," Laura said. She took a bendy straw from her purse and handed it to me. (That is so like my sister to think of everything, even the straw.) I took a timid sip. Then another. And I have to say that it was very yummy. Kind of green in a sweet way, with a bit of fruitiness that lingers on the tongue. It tasted more like a treat than a health food drink. And you know how I feel about treats.

"Hey, this is actually good," I told Laura. 

Laura smiled. "I told you so," she said. 

BEHOLD, THE RECIPE.  Note that this is a black and white photograph so as not to scare you too much. This is not the prettiest drink (although as Kayla pointed out, it is a perfect St. Patty's Day beverage--thank you Kayla!), but trust me, you can hardly taste the greens. 

I buy many of the ingredients for my smoothies at All Seasons Market on 700 East and 8800 South. The vegetables at All Seasons are tastier than what you get at a big chain store. The prices are great (99¢ each for a head of spinach, kale or collards), and the customer service is wonderful. Check out my post on February 12, 2009 for more about this amazing local market. 

Here goes:

1. Pour about 1/2 cup water into your blender jar. 

2. Wash some spinach, about two big handfuls of the stuff. Make sure your spinach is brilliant green,not dark and slimy. (Slimy stuff will make your smoothie taste like pond sludge.)

 

Take note: You can buy huge bags of prewashed spinach at Costco, but I have found that the spinach from All Seasons tastes much better. I used to think washing bundled spinach was a chore. However, if you fill a bowl with water and throw the spinach (ends chopped off) into it, the dirt sinks to the bottom. Drain and refill the bowl a couple of times, swishing the spinach a little. Voila! You have clean spinach. 

3. Wash a few leaves of collard greens. Rip off the lettuce-y part from the center rib and stuff the lettuce-y stuff into the blender with the spinach.

4. By now your blender might look really full. That's ok. It will all get chopped to bits and shrink soon. If you are worried about it, give the blender a couple of whirls. I have to stop my blender (from my Universal Bosch machine) and push down the ingredients with a big wooden spoon every so often.

5. Get your kale out. Wash a leaf or two and rip out the rib, keeping the frilly leaves to stuff in the blender. Beware that kale will absorb the toxins from your body and spit them out with nary a thought for your weekend plans. So go easy on it. 

6. Blenderize, baby. Mix it up until all of those greens look like a freaky juice for aliens. Do not drink it yet. You are not done. Now you have to make it taste good. 

7. Chop an apple in half, removing the seeds and stem. Leave the peel on. That's a good source of fiber. Throw all or some of the apple in the blender.

8. Chop a pear in half, removing the seeds and stem. Again, leave the peel on. Throw half or whole of that in the blender.

9. Throw in a banana (or half) if you want. A frozen banana will make it more creamy.

10. Add a handful of frozen or fresh blueberries.

11. Blend, blend, blend. 

12. Drink with a straw so you don't end up with a green mustache, which would be hard to explain.

13. Marvel that something so very good for you can be so delicious. You have just eaten more greens in one drink than most people eat in a week. Pat yourself on the back!

NOTE: This is a lot of fruit, I know. When I feel like my blood sugar is too spikey, I cut down on the fruit, sometimes to just the blueberries. Fiddle around with it until you find a combination that works for you. 

ANOTHER NOTE: This will make a Big Gulp sized smoothie. Some people drink the whole thing for breakfast. Some people drink it through the day in 8 oz. portions. You can also drink a little today and save the rest for tomorrow. It will still taste good.

ONE MORE THING: Don't add peanut butter. I tried that once and it was a big mistake. Yech. And don't try to make it into a soup by omitting the fruit, adding chicken, and warming it on the stove. That was an even bigger mistake.        

When I drink green smoothies my complexion clears and I feel healthier. They will do the same for you! Cheers!

 

Borscht Recipe

As an LDS missionary in the Ukraine, I ate borscht nearly every day for sixteen months, sometimes for three meals, depending on the number of appointments we had with babooshki, our Ukrainian grandmothers. Near the end of my stay, a friend of mine taught me how to make this soup. But as she had made it so many times that she could make it even if struck blind, her measurements were a little sketchy. "Just put a handful of potatoes in," she told me. She chopped some potatoes into cubes and threw them in the pot. Then she thought for a minute and threw some more in. "How much was that?" I asked in a panic. "A cup? Half a cup?"  My friend just laughed. I wrote down Two Luba handfuls on my paper. I just hoped I could remember how big Luba's hands were by the time I got home. 

Luba laughed and talked the entire time she cooked. In the whirlwind of conversation, I lost track of ingredients. So did Luba. I did my best to write down what I remembered seeing her peel, chop and shred. But when I came home and tried to produce an authentic pot of borscht, I couldn't make sense of my paper stained with beet juice, written half in English and half in Russian.

I looked in books and found a few recipes for "Quick Borscht" which called for canned beets and potatoes. That didn't even come close to tasting like what I remembered. Then I had kids and forgot all about borscht for many years and became a connoiseur of macaroni and cheese. Then I stepped into All Seasons Market and saw the beautiful deep purple cabbage and beets that looked like they had just been unearthed from the garden. Suddenly I had to have some borscht.

I called up my friend Christie who had also served a mission in the Ukraine. Luckily, she had a reliable recipe. And, combined with advice from allrecipes.com on the internet, I made a darn good pot of soup. 

One caveat: Every region and person has their own version of this recipe, so you can play with it and come up with your own personalized rendition. It also can be made with or without meat. No matter what, it will warm you up inside and out. 

Another caveat: Use good ingredients. Nearly everything I made my soup with came from All Seasons Market on 8800 South and 700 East in Sandy.

One more thing:

If possible, don't use canned beets. They just don't taste as good as fresh. 

Ukrainian Borscht

I'll be honest with you. You're going to have to chop a lot of vegetables. But once you're done, the soup comes together quickly. Add some good bread and you've got yourself a good winter meal, tonight and tomorrow night. (The second night it's even better!)

2 Liters water (I added more as I went along) You can also throw in a few cans of broth, chicken or vegetable or whatever you have on hand.)

Sausage (optional) (I used a pound of kilbasa sausage made by Colosimo's.) 

Red cabbage (in the summer we always ate Green Borscht made with green cabbage)

3 Carrots

3 Beets

3 medium Potatoes

1 Onion

2 Tomatoes (I used 3 ripe Roma tomatoes or you can use 8 oz diced canned, drained)

5 cloves of garlic

3 teaspoons sugar

salt and pepper to taste

sour cream, for topping

Crumble or slice sausage into a skillet and cook until no longer pink.

Fill a pot with the 2 liters water and set it to boiling. While you're waiting for the water to heat, chop up half a head of purple cabbage in thin slices. (You can shred it if you want, but I prefer nice long pieces of cabbage in my borscht.) When the water's boiling, throw in the cabbage.

Slice or shred your carrots and beets. (I julienned mine--well, at least my own version of julienning, which is to slice on the diagonal and then cut into little sticks.) Saute the carrots and beets in a bit of olive oil.

Thinly slice your onion and saute that as well. (I used a Vidalia, and though regular onions send my stomach into turmoil, the vidalia went down just fine.)

Peel and cube your potatoes. (I used Yukon golds purchased at the farmer's market in the fall from Jensen Farms. They are delicious, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the Jensens don't use pesticides.) 

By now you have a counter covered in vegetables and a house that smells of sausage. The kids have come upstairs and asked, "What's for dinner?" twice already and you've realized that you're getting hungry too. No worries. You're almost done.

Take all of those beautiful vegetables and that aromatic sausage and add it to the pot. You might be thinking the water looks a little too sparse to handle all that stuff you put in. You're probably right. Add more water until it looks like there's enough to cover your ingredients. Bring the whole shebang back to a boil and then turn down the heat to medium or low--just enough to keep the bubbles going but not enough to make everything boil over-- so those vegetables will soften up. 

As the soup cooks, cut up your tomatoes. Mince your garlic. Listen to some music and drink some water. Throw the tomatoes and garlic in the pot. Give the soup a good stir with a big wooden spoon. 

When it looks like the vegetables are ready, toss in 3 teaspoons of sugar, more or less according to your taste. Season with salt and pepper. 

Now, this last part is vital: 

Ladle into bowls and serve with a dollop of sour cream (and don't get that fat free stuff). Stirred into the soup, that sour cream will transform the borscht into a pink bowl of creamy wonder, like so:

I had toyed with the idea of serving the borscht like this:

but that didn't seem right. My favorite memories are of sitting in a Ukrainian kitchen eating this soup, chatting with the cook as she took a large round loaf of brown bread from the bread box and cut it into thick slices. There are few comfort foods I like more than good bread dipped in even better soup. Borscht is not fussy food. It's down home cooking Ukrainian style. 

After the borscht: Of course I had to eat it when I was done photographing it!

  

A Beautiful Treat

A Classic Pearing

With how simple this is to make, it's easy to indulge in a naturally sweet, delicious treat.

 

Ingredients:

Ripe pear, any variety

Blue cheese

Toasted walnuts

To toast walnuts, throw a handful on a cookie sheet or pie tin and toast in a 350 degree oven until you can smell a comforting, nutty aroma filling the house, usually around 5-7 minutes. (If you keep your nuts in the fridge it could take a little longer.) Careful not to let them burn! You can chop them or leave them whole. It's up to you.

Blue cheese: any variety will do. I buy mine in bulk at Costco, cut the ginormous hunk into little cubes and then freeze in a ziplock baggie. I use a cube or two per pear for this treat.

Slice your pear and arrange it in a nice pattern. Crumble blue cheese on top. Sprinkle with your toasted walnuts. 

Voila! You have a nice sweet snack or light meal. I find that if I eat this for a meal on a regular basis, my pants get looser. Go figure. It's delicious, natural and healthy too! 

Bon Appetit!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

A Hearty Breakfast

My mother is famous for making every holiday special. For Valentine's Day she would cut our sandwiches into hearts and serve pink milk with breakfast.  And of course, she'd always add a special note on the napkin. 

This year, I thought I'd try my hand at making heart pancakes, pink milk (add food coloring or buy strawberry mix), heart toast, and Brown Cow brand yogurt (with cream on top!) mixed with raspberry jam.  Oh yes, be sure to add strawberry syrup and strawberries cut into hearts. Your sweethearts will feel extra special with this nifty holiday breakfast.

PS

To save time you could make pink pancake batter and cook as usual. Instead of trying to cook your pancakes in a cookie cutter or one of those special pancake forms, cook as usual and THEN cut with a cookie cutter.  Much easier.  Trust me. 

PPS

You can also make eggs with the cookie cutter shape.

Local Shopping at Its Best

All Seasons Market 

8800 South 700 East, Sandy • 255-9995

The other day I was yearning for an experience food writer Ruth Reichl describes in her book, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise.  The way Reichl writes about about shopping in New York's neighborhood markets made me want to move there.  And that's saying a lot considering the last time I was in New York City during the late Eighties, the subway terrified me and the city streets were so unkempt and creepy that I vowed never to go back. But the New York City Reichl describes sounds downright homey. The shopkeepers know their customers by name.  They offer fresh produce and local specialties. They suggest recipes to go with the goods. Reichl's shopkeepers care about the quality of their products and their customer service, not just the bottom line.  It reminded me of shopping in Europe at small corner shops and roadside stands, all within walking distance, and all locally owned. 

I finished Reichl's book depressed that I live in a big-box-store city bereft of any unique qualities.  I have gone to Wal-mart and Target in many cities and in every instance completely forgot where I was, which I guess is the point. Same merchandise, same store layout, same design. A Target in San Diego is just like the Target in Sandy, which is just like the Target in Orem. 

Then I happened upon All Seasons Market on 700 East and 8800 South here in my own little corner of Sandy. And suddenly, I found what I was looking for.  

Maybe it's because owner Vito Lema lived in New York City, but somehow stepping into this tiny grocery store made me feel like I live Reichl's world, in a place where the shopkeeper knows my name (he did by the time I left) and even walked my groceries to the car.  The fruits and vegetables were fresh and bright, beautiful to look at and even better to eat.  And the prices! After years of shopping Wal-mart and other grocery chains, I've been duped into thinking they always have the best deals.  Not so. Lema proves that smaller stores can offer quality foods at comparable--and even better--prices.  Take the organic broccoli I bought for 99¢ a pound, an unheard of price for organic, especially in the middle of winter.  Gorgeous red peppers sell for 50¢ (delicious roasted and added to spaghetti sauce or homemade pizza), and lush spinach goes for 99¢ a bunch. And if you like salad, you'll swoon over crisp romaine, red and green leaf lettuces at less than a dollar a head, long lovely stalks of celery and avocados packaged in their own plastic boxes for only 50¢ each. I'm not the most consistent cook in the world, but for some reason beautiful vegetables make me want to spend an entire day cooking. That's why when I shop at All Seasons I get in the mood to whip up salads, roast vegetables and juice some big, sweet carrots. During my most recent visit I developed a craving for borscht, which I haven't made for years. So into my basket went a deep purple head of cabbage, two big sturdy beets and a few onions. Then I spied some asparagus, which reminded me of spring, so I tossed those in my basket. Then collards that made me think of a green smoothie recipe from my sister.  Oh, and some kale to make a soup from my vegetarian cookbook, and an eggplant because I love eggplant Parmesan.  And two ruby red tomatoes that brought back a memory of when my mother visited from California and ordered a sandwich at Subway. When asked if she wanted tomatoes she stared at the pale slices still firm and green on the inside and said, "Ewww. Those won't taste good at all. Don't you know you're supposed to let those things ripen on your windowsill until they get a nice deep red?"  

And the list goes on. It just goes to show you that Vito Lema's store can inspire even the most reluctant of cooks, reminding us of how delightful it is to work with good ingredients. And just as a home cooked meal can nourish our spirit as well as our body, shopping at a charming local market like All Seasons can do the same.  

Lema stocks a good variety of fruits and vegetables at great prices.

____________________________________________________________________________

Have you ever bought a zucchini one day only to have it go moldy on you the next?  That doesn't happen when you shop at All Seasons. "Customers say that my produce lasts longer," Lema tells me as he carries my groceries to the car. As a former produce manager, he knows that bigger stores keep their produce in storage for days before they put it out for the customer. "I don't keep my produce in the back for a week before I put it out," Lema says. "I don't order too much and I put it out right when I get it."  You may not find a mountain of lettuce, half of which is wilted or slimy or rusty at the edges. But you will find a small display, carefully chosen and cared for, that is guaranteed to taste as good as it looks. 

 

Kiwis, asparagus, locally made tamales, and avocados priced right.

Karen is a regular at All Seasons Market."I try to buy all of my produce from Vito," she says. "I can get almost everything I need right here." That's my plan too.  I like the small town feel of the place--and the novelty of enjoying a conversation with a real live person at check out, not a machine. How many self check-outs will carry your groceries for you or throw in a lolly pop for the kids?  

Though Lema orders from other suppliers in the winter, in the summer he grows his own produce organically on land behind the store. 

          

 All Seasons Market also carries a large selection of locally        produced bread, milk, cheese, apple cider, and Colosimo's  sausage. Lema also makes sandwiches to order.  Call ahead and  he'll have it ready by the time you get there.

All Seasons Market is worth the trip! Not that it's much of a trip.  Located on 700 East and 8800 South, it's a mere five minutes from the big box stores.  But careful! If you drive too fast, you might pass it, not to mention the sign on top of the building might confuse you. For fifty years a man named Cy owned the place, hence the name. It looks like this:

 

But the current name is actually:

And the front looks like this:

 There's even a road named after Cy. The  market's parking lot is located directly  north of this sign. 

Bon appetit!  

Shop local and eat well!

Granola Bars

This recipe comes from Recipes from the Old Mill.  I altered it for those of us who can't tolerate too much wheat.  

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 c. crunchy peanut butter

3/4 c. honey

2 T hot water

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 c whole wheat flour (or spelt flour or white flour)

1/4 c wheat germ (or 2 T. ground flax seed)

1/2 c sunflower seeds or nuts (I like chopped almonds or pecans or a mix)

1 T. sesame seeds

1 c. chocolate chips

1/2 c. raisins or other dried fruit, chopped up into little bits

1/2 c. coconut (optional)

1.  Mix brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, water, and vanilla until well blended.

2. Stir in rolled oats, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, sunflower and sesame seeds, chips, raisins and coconut.

3. Press mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.

4. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cut into bars while still warm.  

Yummy!

Heart Cupcakes

As Valentine's Day is around the corner, I rummaged through my books and pantry to find a good treat to make.  During a mega case-lot sale in October, I bought tons of yellow cake mix, assuming that my husband and sons would request yellow cake with chocolate frosting for their birthdays, a Hayward family tradition that can be traced back generations in the family food genealogy.  But they surprised me and asked for decadent raspberry chocolate cake (I've posted the recipe on this blog) instead.  "Box cakes just don't taste as good," my husband said.  And he's right.  But when the mood for cake strikes and time is tight, boxes work just fine. 

 

So with all those mixes and a craving for a treat, yesterday I decided to try something I'd read in a book called The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn.  This idea comes from a Gazette reader by the name of Nancy.  Nancy suggested using a marble to create heart shaped cupcakes that look like this:

© Susan Hayward Photography

Isn't that cute?  Using Nancy's idea, I'll show you how to make these.  With four dozen of these puppies under my belt, I can give you some pointers on what to do. (And what not to do!)

After you've made your batter, take a cupcake liner and fill it half way.  DO NOT FILL IT TO THE TOP. Trust me, if you fill it to the top you will not get the heart shape, just a blob.  AND TRY NOT TO SPILL BATTER DOWN THE SIDE OF THE CUP or you will be sorry.  I'll tell you why in just a minute.  I filled the liners in my hand before placing them in the pan to avoid spilling so much.  Place a small marble (not a shooter) in each cup, then place the half-filled liner in the pan, arranging the marble between the pan and the liner like this:

© Susan Hayward Photography

If you spill batter down the side it will bake around the marble and you won't get a nice clean heart indentation in the middle and it will look like someone gouged the side with her thumb.  Once you dig out the marble from the cake, you will end up ripping the top and creating an imperfect dip in the middle.  And that, my friends, would not be the Martha Stewart way, which is to make things practically perfect in every way.  Of course, if your philosophy is like mine, you reach a point when you just want to get things done, and if you end up with marbles attached to your cupcakes, no biggie. They will still taste better than the horrible supermarket bakery cupcakes  and any rough edges can be camouflaged with frosting reasonably well.    

Get the marble all the way down to the bottom of the pan, not resting on the edge of the cupcake liner.  The farther down you get your marble and the more careful you are to fill your cups half way or even less, the better the heart shape you will get.  Bake these as you would normally, without altering the time.  Oh, and make sure you use glass marbles.  The plastic marbles from that old Hungry Hungry Hippo game will melt!!

© Susan Hayward Photography

While the cupcakes bake, make your

frosting

I have found that if you add a bit of homemade frosting to a mix cake you can almost fool people that the whole thing is homemade.  I know that food manufacturers have led thousands of us to believe that a can of frosting is the way to go, but I'm here to tell you that canned frosting tastes kind of funny.  At first bite, it's good.  Then you realize the color's off a bit and there's a chemical lurking in there somewhere.  And you can't taste butter.  Please do not use shortening in frosting.  Just don't. Shortening is hydrogenated oil.  It is not butter.  And don't use margerine.  Use butter.  Not butter flavored margerine.  BUTTER.

I didn't have milk, so I substituted cream instead.  And it turned out just fine--although I could have used more butter!

2-3 cups powdered sugar

6 (or more) tablespoons butter at room temperature

5 tablespoons whole milk, or cream, or evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix it all together.  If your powdered sugar is kind of lumpy, stir it with a whisk for a minute before you add everything else.

I like to put my frosting in a decorating bag with a large-ish tip to frost cupcakes.  First I make an outline of the cupcake, then a few squiggles in the middle, and finally smooth it all out with a small icing spatula.  This method makes a clean edge and a creamy smooth middle.  When I've tried to apply frosting with a knife, it comes out looking choppy.  It also helps to keep a glass of hot water nearby to dip your spatula into every so often to keep it clean and to soften the frosting as you apply it.  You can add sprinkles or leave the tops naked.  

Bon Appetit!

© Susan Hayward Photography

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

There's a recipe going around my church congregation that uses spice cake mix as the base for this cookie.  I have made it a couple of times and, while it's a good time saver and turns around pretty good, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from scratch come out far tastier.  Remember that pumpkin tart I made earlier last week?  Well, I had to do something with all that leftover pumpkin.  And with these cookies, you can pretend they're healthy with their orange color that makes one think there must be some beta carotene in there somewhere, right?  At least I think that I can see better after eating these!

This recipe comes from Janet Nelson, who published it in Sharing Our Best, a BYU Bookstore Employee Cookbook.  

1c brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 c pumpkin

3/4 c butter

Cream the preceding ingredients together until they look creamy and delectable.  

Next, mix together the following:

2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the wet and the dry ingredients, then add your chocolate chips, about 1 cup or so.  Scoop out dollops of the dough onto a GREASED cookie sheet.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (I baked mine at 18 minutes or so, then let them cool a few minutes on the cookies sheet before I transferred them to a cooling rack.  Triple the recipe for a good sized batch.

Bon Appetit!

Apple of My Eye

© Susan Hayward Photography

Just messing around with some apples.  I might make a cobbler out of these tonight.  Or I might just juice them.  Or maybe eat them out of hand.  Or maybe just take some more pictures!

Paul and Palmiers

If you love pie crust, you'll love these cookies.  Palmiers are light, flakey and buttery.   I haven't had one in a couple of years.  The last one I had was in London with my hubby from a pastry shop run by Frenchies, or at least English who could fake a French accent really well.  So when I spied these at Gourmandine (?) in downtown Salt Lake City I had to buy one.  And of course I had to take a picture of it.  Now that was tricky, because I live a good half hour away from the place I bought it.  It took all my will power to not eat the darn thing on the way home.  But I knew that it would make a better picture whole rather than in pieces, so I resisted.  Luckily, after pictures, I got to eat most of it, as the kiddoes weren't too sure about the look and the shape of it.  It was every bit as good as that one I had in Europe, if memory serves me right.  The only thing missing was a steaming cup of hot chocolate (a Mormon hot toddy) to dip it in, as it is hard and cruchy rather than soft and gushy like a cinnamon roll.  I have made it a goal to go to this little bistro once a week until I've tried all their treats.  Which, happily, will take me a long time.  Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted!  (pun not intended, but effective nonetheless.  Is that one word?)

   

Snicker Doodles

© Susan B. Hayward Photography

Don't you just love generous neighbors?  My neighbor Janet brought over these delectable cookies.  She's a great baker.  At Christmas, she makes wonderful pecan bars.  Hummm.... that might be my next baking adventure.  Thanks Janet!

REAL Whipped Cream

I grew up on whipped cream from a plastic tub.  Then I discovered how fakey it tasted compared to whipping cream you whip yourself that doesn't have weird chemicals in it that you can't pronounce and shouldn't be in your body.  

    

Here goes:

You take a pint of whipping cream, a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla and whip it until it thickens and becomes looks like the stuff in the tub, only better.  I use my Bosch mixer to whip it.  I've tried by hand but that takes all day long.  And I can't wait that long.  Plus, I don't have the upper body strength.

Pumpkin Pie Tart

© Susan B. Hayward Photography.com

The main reason I wanted to make this tart is to use my tart pan, which I bought to make a grape tart when we had extra grapes from a friend.  It took me an hour to take the skins off the grapes.  Then, when the tart was finally done, nobody liked it except me.  Of course, it didn't occur to me that nobody else was eating it until I took the last piece and realized I had single handedly eaten the whole thing.  By myself.  Ooops.

But we all like this one.  I think traditional pumpkin pie made with organic pumpkin from Whole Foods--it does make a difference-- and whole milk still prevails, but this is a nice twist, what with the cream cheese in it.  I have been listening to Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells, so forgive me if I drawl in this post.  The narrator's Southern accent is stuck in my head.  

Velvety Pumpkin Tart

For the crust:

1 cup gingersnap crumbs (from 20 snaps.  I ground them in my food processor.  You could also use a blender)

1 T. sugar

3 T. butter, melted

For the fillling:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 c. canned, solid-packed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. table salt

1 large egg (use a good brand)

1 large egg yolk 

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1.  Heat oven to 350.  Get out your 9.5 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

2.  Make the crust:

In a medium bowl, combine the gingersnap crumbs and sugar.  Stir until well blended.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and mix with a fork until evenly moistened and well blended. 

Dump the crumbs in your tart pan.  cover with plastic wrap and mush the crumbs around the bottom and edges of your pan.  The plastic wrap keeps your hands clean.  Remove the plastic wrap when you're done.

Bake the crust until it is slight darker, almost 10 minutes.  Prepare the filling while it bakes.  If the crust is done before you are, take it out of the oven after 10 minutes and put it on a cooling rack.

3.  Reduce the oven temp. to 300.

4.  Make the filling:

Combine cream cheese and sugar.  Beat with an electric mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand-held mixer on medium speed until it looks smooth and creamy.  Add the pumpkin, cinn., nutmeg, salt, and cloves and beat until well blended.  Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until just incorporated.

5.  Dump the filling into your baked crust.  Pop the whole shebang into the oven and bake until the filling barely jiggles when the pan is nudged, about 30-35 minutes.  Tranfer the pand to a rack and let cool completely.  Refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours or so.  (Now, if you're impatient like me and you live in snow country, cool the tart on your deck outside to speed things up.  And if you think you'll die if you don't have a piece of it sooner than three hours, pop it in the freezer for awhile.  Serve with REAL whipped cream (recipe to follow).

•This recipe came from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge

Baked Dijon and Tomato Eggs

Use Eggland's Best eggs or cage free eggs for this recipe.  Much tastier than the cheaper eggs. 

© Susan B. Hayward Photography

Baked Dijon and Tomato Eggs

Preheat oven to 350.  

One or two eggs perperson

1 tsp mayonnaise per egg

1 tsp dijon mustard per egg

1 large sliced tomato

Salt and pepper to taste

Lighty grease a muffin tin.  Place a tomato slice in the bottom of each cup.  Crack egg on top of the tomato.  Mix mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.  Spoon one teaspoon of mixture on top of the egg.  Place in oven on the top rack and cook until slightly browned and eggs are cooked.

Cook for 5-10 minutes for soft, 10-12 minutes for medium and 15 minutes for well done.  

Note:  Tomato can be replaced with smoked salmon or smoked turkey.

•this recipe is from The Body Knows Cookbook by Carolyn Sutherland.

© Susan B. Hayward Photography

Collards Are Green (but this one's black and white)

The other day I was at Wild Oats (er, it's something else now I guess--Whole Foods?) and discovered the biggest collard greens I have ever seen.  We're talking Texas huge here.   Ginormous.  Big as those leaves you see people in movies fanning royalty with.  So instead of eating them, I photographed them!

Pear Shaped

Treats!!

Thank you Taylor Berhow and Angie Battaglia for bringing me treats last week!  I was just going to have one bite.  But you know how that goes…

Taylor brought me this adorable cupcake.  She tiptoed through the snow and left it on my doorstep.  It was by far the best carrot cake I have ever had.  Carrot cake isn't usually my favorite.  But this one rocked.  And it was almost too cute to eat.  But I believe in food over fashion. 

 

Angie brought me this little bundt cake.  Yummy!!

red raspberry chocolate cake

I hate to cook, but I love to bake.  Up to a point.  By the time something comes out of the oven, about all I want to do is eat it.  I can handle pouring a glaze or perhaps slapping on some frosting, but only if it takes five minutes or less.

So when my son asked me for red raspberry chocolate cake for his birthday, I almost broke down and offered to buy one of those cheater cakes at the grocery store instead (you know, with the fakey tasting, garishly colored frosting, usually involving some Disney characters on top).  But I have raised my kids to discern the difference between home made and box cakes and real (as in made with butter) versus fake (as in made with shortening) frosting.  We are sugar afficionados at this house, even if I can't spell it.  

"Oh, all right," I said, digging through my recipes as my son smiled and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.  My husband, who had just requested the same cake the month before, warned the kids to stay out of my way when it came time to actually bake the thing.  

"Wouldn't you rather have my chocolate sheet cake instead?" I asked my son, hoping that he would settle for something easier.  

He thought for one millisecond.  "Nope."

I will post this recipe so you understand what a beast this can be.  And how absolutely worth the two days it will take you to make it.  It is just like the cliche:  sinfully delicious.

  

Sinfully Delicious Red Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Listen up!  This recipe is my version of a cake featured in Paris Sweets, a cookbook written by an American food writer who lives in Paris (lucky duck).  I make it much sweeter than the original.  Also, the cake recipe comes from Mary Ellen Maxwell who submitted it to a BYU Bookstore cookbook (1998).

TAKE NOTE:  THIS CAKE TAKES TWO DAYS TO MAKE.  PLAN AHEAD!!!

Cake recipe:

2c flour

2 sticks butter

5 T cocoa

2 eggs, slightly beaten (Eggland's Best or cage free eggs are the best) (yes, you can taste a difference)

1 tsp baking soda

2c sugar

1c water

1/2 c buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla (best quality)

Combine the flour and sugar in a heatproof bowl.  In a saucepan, bring to boil 2 sticks butter, water and cocoa.  Pour this over the flour and sugar mixture.  Add buttermilk, eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and baking soda.  

Butter a 9-inch springform pan, dust with flour, shake out the excess, and put the pan on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  (I also cut a circle of parchment for the bottom of the pan, butter it and flour that too.  The cake comes out of the pan easier that way)

Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  You can double the cake batter to make a taller cake if you want.  But it will take longer to cook.

Once the cake is done baking, put it on a cooling rack and after 10 minutes remove the sides of the pan.  Invert the cake onto another rack, lift off the pan bottom, then turn the cake over onto the first rack.  cook the cake right side up on the rack.

The rest of the recipe will come later.  I have a brain cramp right now!

   

  

Pecan Pie

For years now I've devoured my brother-in-law's home made pecan pie, which I beg him to bring every Thanksgiving.  But this year he and his family went to Hawaii for Turkey Day and left me without any dessert.  So I ventured into pie territory and made my own--complete with homemade crust.  (I planned on buying a crust, but my dear little boy, the youngest left at home while his brothers ran off to play, refused to go to the store.  I know you're thinking, "Well, just make him go.  Be the parent."  Obviously, you do not know how stubborn my youngest can be.)  

So here it is, a delicioius, homemade pecan pie made with all natural ingredients.  No fake stuff.  No margerine (which I'm told is one ingredient away from plastic).  Lots of butter.  Lots of real pecans, not pecan flavoring.  Totally fattening.  And totally worth it.  So, dear brother-in-law, you do not have to fear Thanksgiving next year.  I have found my pecan powers deep within the cellulite of my psyche.