In my Kitchen : Pear Cake

Feels like falls this week. Temperatures are dropping, leaves are dropping,  daylight hours are really dropping. Mornings are really dark all of a sudden. The trees are all turning lovely colors and it's apple and pear time again. 

 Long before I ever got a goat named Nellie I knew a  lady named Nelly. Which I completely forgot  until I pulled out her recipe.  The human Nelly is an excellent baker and a veteran of the pot luck scene. This cake can be made apples or pears; in regular loaf pans or multiplied for an army. 

Nelly's Apple Cake

4 c. apple chunks

3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

2     eggs

3/4 c. veg. oil

1t.  baking powder

1t.  baking soda

1t   cinnamon

1t.  salt

1t.  vanilla

Bake at 325' for 90 mins

9 x 13 baking dish or 2 lined loaf pans

This is the easiest cake ever; just mix up the batter and then dump in the fruit. Let it cool to room temperature before removing from the pans - the cake is very tender and will fall apart if your not careful. So have patients.  Which is hard because the scent of spices and fruit will be wafting out of the cake.

For the pear version - you can just swap out the apples for pears, changing nothing else, and have the cake be wonderful. For a more fabulous Pear Cake I exchange the cinnamon for cardamon and the vanilla for almond extract. 

In My Kitchen : Goat Milk Ice cream

The weather has leveled out with the temp not falling below 75 degrees in the afternoons. It's officially ice cream time.  Now that Nellie has come into her milk I see lots of ice cream in my future.  

Goat Milk Ice Cream

yield 1 quart

4 cups goat milk

1/2  - 3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp  vanilla  or 1 vanilla bean

Combine in a blender (this will pulverize the vanilla bean) 

Freeze according to our ice cream maker's instructions. 

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I have an older version of the Cuisinart® Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt Maker so it takes about 25 - 30 minutes to turn into soft serve. 

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Pictured above is a maple flavored version of the same recipe.  Instead of the sugar and vanilla I put in 1/4 cup Maple syrup.  The result is like a frozen maple bar. Yum!

Gift Factory - - Fudge

clockwise from top left: white chocolate lemon, orange, peppermint, and dark chocolate with chili

Fudge is Christmas staple in my family. Over the years we've made many variations on the original recipe. This year with all the candied citrus around, it got added in too. The chili flavored batch is an homage to Cowgirl Chocolates, spicy truffles. An old favorite of mine; although not well liked by any of the males in my family.

The poor card is looking a little worse for wear these days after so much use. I don't remember who Robert was but apparently he didn't like messing around with boiling cream anymore than I do.

 For an easy print - non stained- version -- Foolproof Fudge recipe

In my Kitchen

Tamale pie is an old family favorite.  My grandmother made it in mass, huge pans of it that barely fit in the oven. As a child I was always amazed at the size of her cookware. Casseroles  the size of sheet pans and cast iron skillets that started at 17" wide.  She was the master at cooking for a crowd. Her original version of this recipe started a day ahead by selecting a chicken out the flock. My Mom wrote down an updated version sometime in the 1990's for a family cookbook. No butchering needed.
Although if you are starting with a whole bird (for the freezer isle) I highly recommend getting a set of poultry shears. I purchased  a pair for our Cornish X adventure. It makes breaking down a bird so much easier, I don't worry about a slippery knife getting away from me. 

Grandma Helen's Tamale Pie
This is my first foray into Google Docs so let me know if it doesn't work.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been raining and cold all week. Feeling very much like March instead of May. The garden is coming along and so are the weeds. The wet weather seems to have encouraged everything to burst from the ground at an alarming rate. If you stand in one spot too long you can see the grass grow. As a reward for pulling wheelbarrows full of weeds from the beds; I made Oatmeal Cookies. I'm not sure where this recipe comes from but my family has used it forever. These were often included in lunch boxes to grammar school and packed along to all the Boy Scout events.

This is the old card out of the recipe box in my Dad's handwriting. I don't always add nuts and this time I didn't have enough chocolate chips so I used white chocolate.  The white chocolate also had the nice effect of filling the house with a lovely vanilla sent when they cooked.

Brownies & Hearts

It's cold this morning. Like 15 degrees cold.

In all fairness the sun is out,  the birds are singing, and the fields are sparkling white. (Blindingly so.) The landscape has been really beautiful, if a little monochromatic of late. So to counter act winter I made brownies and a crochet heart. (Valentines day is encroaching)  The brownie recipe is an old stand-by  from Fine Cooking.  It's a one pot wonder that makes up in a flash and comes out fabulously fudgy.

Although now that I think of it, I'm not sure I've really ever had a bad brownie. Maybe one with too many nuts. I have a thing about nuts diluting my chocolate.

But I digress; the heart can be found here. The Internet is a buzz with Valentine related stuff these days. Mostly I've been ignoring it, but I needed a little color today.

Dutch Baby and Berries

The new year started off with a high of 20 degrees and iced over sidewalks. So with a roaring fire in the stove and strawberries from the freezer I threw together a fabulous New Year's breakfast.

  

 My Dutch Baby recipe is from an old copy of The Best of Sunset. It's one of those really simple dishes that always seems spectacular and decadently festive. It's really just a giant pancake that puffs in the oven and then piled with good things. This time I smothered it with yogurt and berries. It's equally lovely with fried apples and maple syrup.

 

 

There is something wonderful about having summer fruit while it's below freezing outside.

Head over to  http://dutchbabypancakerecipe.blogspot.com/ for lots of recipes and variations.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year too.

November mailing

 November mailing for the Ships Project always includes handmade Christmas ornaments. So in addition to 7 wool hats an assortment of felt decorations are heading overseas.

For some reason the idea of gnomes at sea makes me laugh. Probably sleep deprivation.

Click the link for more information about this group and how you can get involved.
THE SHIPS PROJECT

In my Kitchen

 It's salsa time!  Sunday brought dark skies and high winds to this part of the world, making it a perfect time for a little canning.

My versions of tomato and tomatillo salsas involve a lot work by the Cuisinart and very little work by me. Basically I throw things into a pot and cook just until it tastes good. The recipes I get out are for general reference as I can't seem to follow one exactly. I tend to measure things by the hand full. I've posted the recipes if anyone wants to try them. Just work around the water spots and hand written notes.Salsa seems to one of those very subjective things. Everyone likes a different level of heat.

**microwave peel your garlic; 30 seconds or less on High, garlic will explode out of it's skin

Canning info and supplies:

Fresh Preserving.com

Renee's Garden Seeds Putting Food By (Plume)

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

Pickles and Relishes: From Apples to Zucchinis, 150 recipes for preserving the harvest [Paperback]