Thanks Georgie

A Gift from a friend.....

I'm not sure where to put this post...as it is not exactly a cooking blog, nor a book blog, but it does have food in it, so I guess here is good enough.
Yesterday at work, my phone rang, and it was my good friend Georgann, whom I hadn't talked to for quite sometime. E-mails, yes, but over the phone, no.
She asked if I was going to be home today because she was sending me something perishable.
I said yes.
I was intrigued.
Our conversation was short.

We have been (the original Friday Friends Forum) discussing Jell-O salads, and I jokingly asked if that was what she was sending me. She just laughed. (I shared this in the FF Forum and I know everyone was just waiting to see what she was sending... it was perishable was all we knew)

The afternoon, the DHL man showed up at my door! How exciting.

I try to sneak a quick picture before he drives away..... I am not quick enough, it is blurry.

The Box. wow! This is exciting.

I slowly open the box....

awe... a note from Georgann!!

WOW! How fun.... she knows me, she really knows me. I love apples and all things apple desserty. (If Theda is the pumpkin Friday Friend, I am the apple one).
She sent me a Fuji apple with homemade caramel and chocolate, sprinkled with almonds and coconut.
THANK YOU SO MUCH GEORGANN!!
It was a huge apple. I mean really big.

mmmmm good.
Opening......

Slicing. Look at that caramel!

and a bite out of it!! Blurry as I am shaking in my boots with ecstasy.
(it was really good)

Yay! A wonderful surprise gift in the mail.
Thank you.

Chicken Vegetable Bake

Chicken Vegetable Bake
from...my mother in law!

This really is the easiest thing in the world to make, but it looks like you slaved all day.
Roasted chicken and vegetables is really all it is...but a different take on how it's put together.

About 10 years ago, my mother in law, Teresa, put together a family cookbook and gave it to everyone as a Christmas gift. It was fun, because my in-laws let the whole family know they were going to do this project in January, so all year long we were all sending in our recipes.
And we are a pretty big family.

This year for Christmas, I will make copies of the family cookbook for my 3 sons and 2 daughters-in-law, to give them for their own collection.

Chicken Vegetable Bake

1 3-4 pound chicken or chicken parts
3 T. vegetable oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste
2 large onions, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
5 large potatoes, cubed
1/2 pound small whole mushrooms, cleaned
5 large carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Brush chicken with 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan and brown for 20 minutes in oven. Meanwhile sauté the onions in remaining oil, until nicely browned. Stir in the chicken broth.
Remove chicken from oven. Place potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, and celery around the chicken (or on top of in my case) and pour browned onions over all. Lower oven temp to 350 degrees. Cover the chicken and veggies and bake 1 1/2 hours.

The browned onions enhance the flavor of the chicken and other vegetables. Good served with a green salad and hot rolls and dessert.
From the kitchen of Teresa Belcher.

** you can use any combination of veggies you want to roast. I added some brussel sprouts and kept my potatoes whole and had 2 different types of mushrooms.
I also didn't cover them... I let them "roast" and get good and browned.

epilogue

Camron: Grandma? Did you make this cake?
Me: yes, Cam, from scratch!
Camron: It's verrrryyy good.

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting.
Coffee is the secret ingredient in this tantalizing cake that's covered in a satiny peanut butter-cream cheese frosting.
(that's what the recipe says)

The cake is easy to make. And it's good. To be honest tho, one must like peanut butter to like this frosting, but if you do? YUM...MEE!

Today, during our lunch hour, my friend Betty and I are walking. Yes, we're going to spend the hour walking the perimeter of the sports complex. It's 38 degrees right now at 6:30 a.m. At noon, it will have warmed up into the 40's. High 40's or low 50's.
If it seems like one might need some insulation, you are right! And this cake, this chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting will help you get that little extra layer of fat that you might need to keep you warm.
So, just eat one piece (at a time). And make is sparingly (once a week), or just throw caution to the wind and eat, but take up the walking.
I mean, what's a girl to do, really?
I have no will power what-so-ever..... so (sigh), I will have my cake and eat it too, and then, walk, walk, walk.

Seriously tho, it's a great little cake. Easy to make and it disappears fast. My husband is not a big peanut butter fan, but he does like this cake.
It's from an e-mail subscription from Better Homes and Gardens, Homecooking magazine, which was spotlighting "Down-home Desserts from the heart of Iowa", November 2000.


Simple ingredients
some flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, baking powder, salt, and eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, instant coffee (the secret ingredient---LOL )

Mix it all together

The batter will be thin

Put it in the oven at 350, take it out and let it cool while you have a cup of coffee.






On to the frosting
cream cheese, peanut butter, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar and chocolate chips.





Just mix it all together and frost!

Cut and serve. Wa-lah!

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup cooking oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. instant coffee crystals
1 cup cold water

For cake, grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs and 3/4 cup milk, the oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, then on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Dissolve coffee crystals in the cold water; add to cocoa mixture. Beat on low speed until smooth--batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

1 3-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs. milk
1/3 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbs. miniature semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

For frosting, in a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and peanut butter--mixture will be thick. Gradually beat in the milk and the vanilla. Beat in enough powdered sugar to make a good spreading consistency. Spread on cake.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired.

Halloween Night and a great appetizer

(yes, this is our garage)

Last night was Halloween.... I love it.
Well.... I just like the "fallishness" of it.
I like spooky stories and I like spooky movies (not horror, slasher movies, but good old-fashioned spooky movies).

I made a couple of pots of chili early in the day, so that in the evening people could just help themselves to something hot to eat. (chili's will be posted on my soup blog.... later today, http://ahhhsomesoups.blogspot.com/ )

We are pretty much the stopping point for a lot of our friends with smaller children. The nice end of the evening house, after a long haul from house to house to house Trick-or-Treating. In our neighborhood we get between 200-400 kids, depending on the weather, if it's a school night, etc. So, it can get kind of hectic and I didn't need to try to be making supper while answering the door over 100 times.
Last night was a perfect night for little ghouls....around 4:00 p.m. the wind stopped blowing and it stopped sprinkling, and was just a nice calm evening.
My friend Robbie brought over an appetizer... I'm not sure what we should call it, so I will call it "Robbie's appetizer".
Pita bread with chopped tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkled blue cheese, then popped them in the micro-wave to just make them warm. The cheese wasn't even melted---just warm.
They were SO GOOD.
So, I stole the recipe.... LOL ..... named it after Robbie and am blogging about it. (as well as pictures of my little Friday Friend spooks)

Robbie's Appetizer

Whole Wheat pita bread
cherry tomatoes
fresh basil
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
crumbled blue cheese

Mix tomatoes, basil, olive oil and vinegar to taste. Sprinkle across a pita and crumble on the blue cheese.
Micro-wave until just warm.
Cut into triangles and serve.
Yummy! (if you like good stinky cheese)

And who stopped by on Halloween Night?

Makenna and Max. Makenna was a Godsend, as she loved to hand out candy....and she we were the last house on their stop, she, as the ghostly bellhop, gladly manned the door.

Nathaniel and Matthew, aka ghost and goblin, who enjoyed watching Disney's Icabod and Mr. Toad in my family room, while their mother and I and others enjoyed wine/beer and chili. Hey...we had the bellhop handing out the candy, so our duties were done, time to relax.

And Jenna and Nikki, back left and front right... I don't know who their friends are...

and Jenna and Nikki's mom...

Earlier in the day... my grandson, Camron came by.

They have the same pretty blue eyes....

Yesterday at 2:00, my doorbell rang and there were three young boys....about 4th/5th grade who were already Trick-or-Treating.
I told them to come back at 5:00.

Was that wrong? Mean? I had the candy..... and I was home, I just though it way too early to be out.
???
and I am not a Halloween Scrooge!! (as you can tell)

Earlier in the week, I had asked the "Original Friday Friend Forum" this:

Pumpkin

either a term of endearment
pumkin, can you grab that spoon for me?

or...an idiot?
pumpkin head!

*****
and a few of them responded....
from Sally in PA:
My October baby, Shelley, was always Pumpkin.

from Linda in WA:
I told Braydon (grandson) he was my pumpkin (term of endearment) and he told me hewas going to sit on my porch, 'cause that's where pumpkins sit.

from Theda in OR:
I am baking two different pumpkin desserts. So I can only associate pumpkin with happy sweet things. Such as last Friday going to the pumpkin patch with my little "pumpkin" (24 year old daughter). Picking out just the right pumpkin, eating the best caramel apples and buying donuts for breakfast the next day.


me/debbie in NV:
and that, my friends, is what Halloween is really all about.....caramel apples and donuts.
mmmm.....mmmmm......mmmmmm........LOL

Happy Birthday

On the Writer's Almanac this morning, there was this blurb:

It's the birthday of the woman who wrote one of the most popular cookbooks in history, Irma Rombauer, (books by this author) born in St. Louis, Missouri (1877). The author of The Joy of Cooking actually wasn't a good cook at all, but she was a famous hostess in St. Louis, and she wrote a cookbook for people like her, people who needed straightforward directions and simple ingredients.

This is me...I like to entertain. Okay, wait a minute. I "can" cook, and I'm not all that famous of a hostess here in Winnemucca. I do like to entertain tho, people like my parties. And... I have this cookbook in my collection.

no TWD

I plan to get back on track with Tuesdays With Dorrie next week. Hopefully I haven't been kicked out. I'll be very sad, if that's the case. I've missed the last three. And I'm so sorry to have missed these cupcakes. HEY....I might do them tonight and post at midnight...then, I'm still in the game!