Pickles!

OK - I'm getting pretty late to be posting this, but on the off hand that your garden is bass-ackwards like mine was (I blame the late tomatoes on the cool temperatures ...), there might be the off chance that you might have some cucumbers to pickle? No? Well, then can 'em next year or come over to try a jar of mine!

After my moderate success with the Bread and Butter Pickles (my mama loved 'em ... that's about all the praise that I need), I got all cocky and decided that although I go through about a jar of dill pickles every two years or so (more if I'm making Bloody Mary's), I needed to try and can some dill pickles.

I ended up making two batches of dill pickles - the canned variety and some refrigerator pickles (my kitchen was a disaster area and I was running out of jars.). Here's both ...

I found my canning recipe from AllRecipes.com. This recipe was submitted from a woman who got it from some farmer's wife. If you ask me, that's a sure sign of a winner.

Dill Pickles
from AllRecipes.com

* 8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
* 4 cups white vinegar
* 12 cups water
* 2/3 cup pickling salt
* 16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
* 8 sprigs fresh dill weed
* 8 heads fresh dill weed

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash cucumbers, and place in the sink ( I use the bathtub!) with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 2 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Sterilize 8 (1 quart ) canning jars and lids in boiling water for at least 10 minutes.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the brine to a rapid boil.
3. In each jar, place 2 half-cloves of garlic, one head of dill, then enough cucumbers to fill the jar (about 1 pound). Then add 2 more garlic halves, and 1 sprig of dill. Fill jars with hot brine. Seal jars, making sure you have cleaned the jar's rims of any residue.
4. Process sealed jars in a boiling water bath. Process quart jars for 15 minutes.
5. Store pickles for a minimum of 8 weeks before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The second recipe I tried was called "Dan Koshansky's Refrigerator Pickles." This one was my kind of recipe, once I got over my fear that I had to leave the jars out for a couple days for the cukes and the brine to "sour." I have sampled these delectable little babies and I gotta be honest - I fear no vampires and I think that I could eat an entire jar in one sitting - thereby ensuring that my husband wouldn't approach me either. These are pretty damn special.

Devil Tequila!

I went to a very good party last night. And as I sit here this morning, alternating sips of coffee with chugs of water, I reflect on the easiest margarita recipe that I've ever (drank) heard of.

Let me set the scene - I drove to Northfield last night to spend some time with a dear friend. We went to another party where grilled burgers and beer were the agenda. And then this guy named Todd showed up with a plastic grocery bag in hand ... in the bag he had a bottle of Jose Cuervo, a couple cans of frozen limeade and a pitcher. Here is Todd's ridiculously easy margarita recipe ... I will drink these again, but not until my stomach decides that it likes me again.

Todd's Ridiculously Easy Margaritas
by some guy named Todd

Equipment needed - standard sized pitcher
1 can frozen limeade
1 can beer (Corona is pretty darn tasty ...)
tequila

Dump the limeade into the pitcher and rinse that puppy out by filling the can with tequila. Then dump in a beer. Adjust to taste (i.e. - for the first pitcher you're probably going to want to add more beer or even Sprite because this is a pretty strong mix. After that - well ... )

Word to the wise ... this recipe will sneak up on even the most veteran drinker. Drink responsibly. And if you've ever had any acid reflux problems, you might want to avoid this entirely.

Meet my photographer …

Regular readers of Shelley Bakes! probably notice that the quality of my blog’s photos have improved. Did I take photography lessons? Did I remember some of those lessons taught to me from my newspaper days when the photogs would growl at me if I dared bring back a blurry picture of an accident scene?

Nope – I just enlisted the skills of someone who is more photographically skilled than I am. And that’s my husband Ryan. I figured you all would like to meet him.

If your wife is absent and you need to make something for dinner, what would you eat?
This has happened to me before, so I've had to plan for this unfortunate situation. First -- leftovers: are there any? If yes, are they still good? If yes or maybe, that's dinner. If the answer is no, I look for something simple -- which usually involves a sandwich, a bowl of cereal, anything made with a microwave, or a delicious bass.

What is your favorite food?
I don't think I have one -- is that wrong? There's so much out there to enjoy. I'd feel like I was betraying all my food friends if I had to pick just one. Try explaining yourself to an angry muffin sometime -- no thanks.

If you were on Death Row, what would you want to eat as your last meal?
It depends on why I'm on death row. My immediate thought is that I'd choose something ironic, based on my crime(s). But since we don't have time to list all the possible crime/food combinations, I'll just pick something generic... we'll say pizza. There. I said it. I'm dead and I don't care if the muffins are mad at me.

Anything else you’d like to tell the readers?
I don't think I'm going to do hamster style anymore.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake - Ina Garten

The first time I made this cake was for my birthday. I'm not a big chocolate cake fan, but since I was leaving my husband the next week to go on vacation without him, I figured I'd make HIS favorite cake for my birthday. (Get the logic?) And don't get me wrong - the cake? Brilliant. Moist. Delicious - everything a chocolate cake should be, even if you're not a freak for chocolate cake. The problem? I have an issue with following directions at times, so when Ina Garten wrote "Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans" I said "screw this" and I just grabbed my baking spray and tried to spray the hell out of my cake pans. And instead of two glorious layers of chocolate cake, the cake came out of the pan in delicious malformed chunks, leaving other chunks still in the pan. Ryan was still happy with this delicious mess and I chalked it up as a failure that would not show up on this blog.

But then I had a dinner party ... and I needed a decadent dessert. And I worship Ina ... hence, I decided to give Beatty's another go round. And this time, I buttered the frickin' pans and bought parchment paper!

Here's the result. I didn't use Ina's chocolate buttercream, instead I used the leftover raspberry coulis from Michelle's recipe at Big Black Dog in the middle and dusted the top of the cake with powdered sugar.

This cake could make me a chocolate cake convert yet ...

Beatty's Chocolate Cake
by Ina Garten, Food Network

* Butter, for greasing the pans
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
* 2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Cheese plate 101

Do you want to know why I don't like raw carrots? It is because they do not taste like cheese. Here's the story ... I was a wee lass of probably four or five and I remember watching "Sesame Street" and watching my beloved Ernie munch on a carrot in one of the skits. And to my little pea brain I saw "orange" which translated to "cheese" and I vaguely remember thinking that if I ate a carrot, it would likely taste like the best piece of cheese ... ever. My mom happened to be making soup that day and was chopping up carrots, so I ran into the kitchen and asked for a bite. You can imagine my disappointment.

I try raw carrots every couple years or so to see if I like them. Obviously, I don't think they should taste like cheese, but I still hate raw carrots. Love 'em cooked. Raw? Yick.

And no - my carrot story really has nothing to do with making a cheeseplate, but I just thought I'd share that story with you. Now I'll talk about cheese.

My friend Katie at Salt and Chocolate hooked me up with the cheese mongers at Ile de France who sent me a free sample of goat cheese. The free cheese had a two-fold purpose - first and foremost, I give them a shout out on my blog (and their goat cheese? Fabulous - my friend Anne even liked it and I was sure that she wouldn't because she's picky that way. Love you, Anne.) Secondly, I'm going to be entering their contest to show off who has the best cheese plate.

From my worship of Ina, I can appreciate a good looking cheese plate. A good cheese plate should have a number of choices for your guests to sample, it should also feature a combination of sweet and savory - red grapes paired with a sharp cheddar. Pears and Stilton - that sort of thing.

Here's my attempt at making a cheese plate - aside from the goat cheese and a brie that I offered as a nod to the Frenchies and their freakin' good cheese, I went with a few of my own favorites - some Irish aged cheddar, a smoked gouda, my favorite white cheddar from Target (it's $1.89 for a block ... what can I say? You don't have to spend a ton to get good cheese!) and some Amablu blue cheese from the cheese caves in Faribault, Minnesota. I also included an olive tapenade for color and variety, water crackers as a neutral palatte to pair with the various cheeses, a crusty baguette, tomatoes from my garden for color and some red grapes and dark chocolate.

I don't know if it's the prettiest cheese plate out there, but it's a step in the right direction to make these in the future.

My mama's cinnamon rolls

So my parents came up in August to stay a night and take my three youngest nephews to the Twin Cities. My folks arrived at about 6, we were at mine and hubby's favorite pizza place by about 6:30 and at around 8:30, when you would think that all of us should be in a carb coma, I decided to enlist my mom's help to make the cinnamon rolls I remember her making when I was a kid.

Don't get me wrong, you're not going to learn any family secrets in this particular post. In fact, this post goes back to the philosophy I started this blog with ... simple recipes for lazy people. But it goes to show that favorite memories don't have to involve extravagant vacations, money spent on really choice ingredients, etc. For me, all I need is some frozen bread dough, a soft stick of butter and some peanut butter and I have a little piece of paradise.

Oh - and since this is my mom's recipe, there are no measurements ... you just gotta wing it.
Mama's Cinnamon Rolls
by Mama Sharon

2 loaves frozen bread dough, thawed and processed according to instructions.
1 stick of butter
cinnamon
sugar
Peanut Butter Frosting
1/4 c. confectioner's sugar
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter (use chunky and I will hunt you down)
milk ... eyeball it - you're gonna want about 2 T to start with

Preheat your oven to 375-ish.

Once you get to the point where you've raised the dough, kneaded it, etc., grab a rolling pin and some flour. It's time to roll your dough out into something that resembles a rectangle. (And yes, I made my mom do this because I SUCK at using my rolling pin.) Got a large rectangular shape? Good. Now grab your soften stick of butter. Mama Sharon used salted butter, I use unsalted - I guess it really doesn't matter. Spread butter all over your rectangle of dough - not too much, not too little. You're looking for even coverage and something to bind the cinnamon and sugar to the dough. So then you can be like my mom and sprinkle the dough with sugar THEN cinnamon, or you could be a wee bit anal retentive like me and mix your cinnamon and sugar together (2 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon - what you don't use in the rolls can be turned into cinnamon toast ...). Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon all over and then using the LONG side of the dough, roll the dough into a cylindrical shape. And now you will cut said cylinder into little ... rolls. And if you have a three year old like me in the house, you will give into her demands and give her the little end piece of raw bread dough in sincere hopes that she will be quiet. Put the rolls into a warm place and let them do one more rise - Mom and I were impatient on Friday night, so we didn't let them raise as much as they could have. Depending on the temperature, a half hour should do?

Bake until golden brown. While the little rolls of love are baking, grab a bowl and start mixing up the piece de resistance of this dish - the peanut butter frosting. Again, this is one of those things that you eyeball and taste until the consistency is right. While the rolls are still warm, go ahead and frost 'em.

Like I said - it's not the most glamorous dish that you're ever going to make for company, but it reminds me of my childhood and some of those happiest baking times when my mom was getting ready for the church's Fall Festival. We had a huge floor vent for our home's furnace and she'd line up her baking pans and bread pans on the vent for baking day.

I don't care how good of a cook I become - nothing tastes better than my mom's home cooking.

If you don't have kids, this pound cake is for you

I am smitten enough with the Web's Smitten Kitchen to have sifted flour three times for this pound cake on a recent occasion when the hubby and I had some company over. And I have to say this - the pound cake ... it was OK, but I've had better. Sorry, SK ... I still love your website.

Pound Cake
from SmittenKitchen.com who adapted it from James Beard's "Beard on Food"

Makes one loaf cake

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Salt
4 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Cognac (**My guest Chrissy decided that triple sec was the liquor of the day for this recipe)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan. Sift the flour onto waxed paper and then spoon it gently back into the sifter, adding the baking powder and a good pinch of salt. Sift the mixture twice more, each time spooning it lightly into the sifter. (This is the part of the tale where I'm standing in my kitchen marveling about how much time that I have to meticulously sift flour).

2. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until they hold soft peaks and then gradually beat in 1/2 cup of the sugar, two tablespoons at a time. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Fit the electric mixer with a paddle attachment and cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the remaining six tablespoons of sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks until light and lemon-colored and then add the liquor and zest.

4. Gradually fold the sifted flour mixture into the butter-egg mixture. Fold in the beaten egg whites just until the batter is smooth. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick pierced in the center comes up clean. Cool in pan ten minutes on a rack, then cool the rest of the way out of the pan.

And what's that topping my pound cake, you ask? My Twitter friend Michelle at Big Black Dog devised this wonderful raspberry coulis that I made to top the pound cake. And while it was a good addition, it was put to wonderful use later when I used it as a filling in Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake. Here's Michelle's recipe for Coulis de Framboise:

Coulis de Framboise:
1 1/2 c Raspberries
1/2 c confectioner's sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
1/4 c Riesling (**perfect excuse to use up the little bit of my friend Paul's homemade wine)

Coulis:
Rinse the raspberries. Put the raspberries in a food processor and whiz until completely pureed. Stir in the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice. In a small sauce pan heat the coulis until it begins to thicken. Add the wine and continue heating until it will coat the back of the spoon without
dripping.

Michelle was patient enough to strain the seeds out of her berry puree ... me? not so much.