Perfect Holiday Cake

This week I wanted to not only try some new things but reflect on an original recipe I created and try to perfect it. I'm totally in love with this cake now (as is my aunt and half the people I work with -the other half didn't get a piece..LOL)I originally posted the recipe April of LAST year as a Sweet Potato Cake. This time I used pumpkin and made a few changes. The effect was phenomenal.

Perfect Holiday Cake (Feel free to give me name suggestions)

Ingredients:
3 cups self-rising flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 tsps cinnamon
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
Filling:
8oz cream cheese (softened)
1 egg
3 tbs sugar
Topping:
Pineapple rings
1/2 stick butter
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chopped nuts (optional, I didn't use these since my aunt has allergies but they would make an awesome addition to the cake or even sprinkle on top)

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375. Mix pumpkin, eggs, shortening, vanilla, pineapple, pineapple juice together. In seperate bowl mix flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg. Slowly add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend well. Do not over mix. Mix Filling Ingredients together in a seperate bowl and set aside.

In skillet melt butter, add brown sugar-stir over medium LOW heat until melted and mixed. Pour into a bundt pan (I use a stoneware bundt pan but this would probably work in other kinds of cake pans). Arrange pineapple slices into mixture. Pour half of pumpkin batter on top, pour cream cheese mix in, swirl slightly and pour the other half of pumpkin batter in. Bake approx. 1 hr or until tester comes out clean.

Epic Failures: Sandra Lee and my Pumpkin Tenders

This is a quote from Anthony Bourdain on Sandra Lee:

"She makes her audience feel good about themselves. You watch her on that show and you think, "I can do that. That's not intimidating." All you have to do is waddle into the kitchen, open a can of crap and spread it on some other crap that you bought at the supermarket. And then you've done something really special. The most terrifying thing I've seen is her making a Kwanzaa cake. Watch that clip and tell me your eyeballs don't burst into flames. It's a war crime on television. You'll scream."

This quote made my day. Thank you Valentine for finding it. For some unexplainable reason, this woman grates on my nerves more than an orange zester in Florida on Thanksgiving. Her booze soaked show is an insult to those who actually LIKE to cook. Opening cans and slapping some ugly pastel frosting in a ziplock bag does not equal COOKING. You think I'm kidding? The proof is in the pudding (aka Youtube).

Having said that, I must admit that the best cooks have failures. Things don't always come together working from scratch. Which is something Sandra Box-A-Lots-LEE will never understand. It's really hard to mess something up when you are dumping it from a box and adding water. Take cooking classes from EASY BAKE OVEN does not qualify you for your own Food Network show (there is a conspiracy here, I'm sure of it. BJ Queen anyone?)Sorry MOM, I know you like her and my rudeness is in no way a reflection of your upbringing. I learned it all on my own. *wink*

I also must admit that even I have failures in the kitchen. GASP. That hurt to admit. LOL My attempt at Pumpkin Cookies did not turn out well. They came out little pumpkin Cake blobs. Nice taste. Terrible texture for a cookie. Lumpy Pancakes would be a better description. They were also resembling Chicken tenders which does not bode well for their aesthetic appeal. Fortunately, the guys at work whom I adore dearly and are always ready to be my guinea pigs, scarfed them down. (I think they were truly afraid to offend me in case I didn't bring more goodies...its okay..I know ya'll are bald faced liars and I love you for it.) They did however get dubbed "Pumpkin Tenders". Sigh. Back to the drawing board. Here is the recipe for those of you brave enough to try altering it to get a better version. Happy Experimenting!

Pumpkin Tenders (okay okay Cookie Blobs if you prefer)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tbs maple syrup
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups self-rising flour (or all purpose flour plus 1tsp baking soda)
1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Directions:
IN a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in honey, syrup and egg. Stir in pumpkin. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir flour misture into the creamed misture. Add the milk.

Drop dough onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for about 10-12 minutes. Do not overcook because bottom will burn, so watch them closely to get the timing. Cool on sheets for a minute or two then move to cooling racks.

Chicken Salad

I'm a fan of healthy eating. I'm also a fan of budgets, to-do lists, and conservation. So when I can plan menu's that use leftover ingredients I am one happy girl. My favorite thing: WHOLE CHICKEN. Do not be scared of the whole chicken. You can grab a few during a sale at the grocery store for 2-3.00 a piece. A WHOLE Chicken for less than 3 dollars. That's about four meals people. You can pop a whole chicken directly in the freezer to use for later. So simple to fix. Once you do it, you will kick yourself for not using whole chicken ALL the time.

I know some of you health nuts out there will never survive without your lean, skinless, boneless Outrageously priced cutlets but really, you know where that comes from right? A WHOLE CHICKEN. Can you imagine little boneless, skinless creatures rolling around in the dirt on a farm? ::giggles::

After rinsing and patting dry, throw a whole chicken in the crock pot (you don't have to remove the neck and innards if you are squeamish about sticking your hand in the cavities) on top of a bed of course chopped onion. Add some salt and pepper, parsley, and rosemary. Sprinkly with lemon juice and pour hot water in to cover chicken. Set the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours and off you go.

When done, dump the whole thing through a large strainer over a bowl. This seperates the good flavored broth from the chicken. Let the chicken drain and set aside. Pour your broth into multiple containers (2 cup measurements are good) and freeze for future recipes (soups, stews, stuffings, etc.)The chicken will fall apart. Literally. Just pick out your meat pieces and discard the onion, skin and bones. Now you have perfectly cooked chicken to make stews, casseroles, sandwhiches, etc from. One recipe to try:

Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
Chicken pieces from cooked chicken (both light and dark meat but more light)
Celery (2 stalks)
small-medium Onion
1 tsp celery salt
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 tsp dried Rosemary
1 tbs dried Parsley

In a food processor, coursely chop one small-medium onion and two stalks of celery. Add your chicken pieces and course chop til small chuncks of veggies and meat but don't mince it. Add salt and pepper to taste, a dash of parsley and rosemary. Add Mayonaise until creamy. SIMPLE, perfect and SO delicious.

I like to serve it on warm dinner rolls with green leaf lettuce and a side of fresh cut fruit. Makes a wonderful light lunch or dinner and is great for parties.

Maple Brown Sugar Cookies

After a very stressful evening, I jumped into my kitchen to experiment with some new recipes I'm toying with. I want a variety of cookies in my Holiday Tins this year and after much taste testing by my co-workers (such a hard life they lead around me) I think it is unanimous that this cookie should make it into the line-up. ENJOY!

Maple Brown Sugar Cookies

2 cups flour ( I use Self Rising which alleviates the need for the next two ingredients)

1 1/2 teaspoons bakingpowder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoonful of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside. Sitr together the 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and 1/2 cup brown sugar and set aside.

Cream the butter and shortening. Add the sugar and the syrup and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. Mix in the dry ingredients.

Roll into 1" balls and roll the balls in the brown sugar/ cinnamon mixture. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake for approx. 10-12 minutes. Cookies should soft (almost underdone) when you take them out to give them a nice crisp outside and slightly chewy inside. Makes about 30 cookies.

Up This Week

I'm going to make once again the Sweet Potato Upside Down Cake to perfect the recipe. I'm also going to try a Pound Cake Recipe for Brandi's Birthday and Cranberry Muffins, Maple Brown Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Nut Cookies. These items, once perfected, will be added to my available menu for purchase.

I'm currently obsessed with anything FALL feeling or Thanksgiving Related. I'm cooking an entire Thanksgiving Feast for my In-laws this year. I'm very excited to bring out a few favorite recipes and try a few new ones. So if you can't find me browsing the web for recipes, my butt is probably parked in front of the TV glued to the Food Network.

It has long been a passion of mine to make a living from cooking/baking and/or gardening. I've never been quite sure HOW I wanted to do that though: Writing Cookbooks/blogging, a Show on Foodnetwork, bakery or small catering business. I just want to feed people and be in my kitchen as much as possible. For now, I'm satisfied playing with recipes, blogging and feeding friends. Will it be more one day? I hope so. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy my triumphs, my catastrophe's and my unsolicited opinions and reviews!

Big Changes

For the next few days, this blog will be undergoing renovation. I have decided to streamline and expand topics to encompass more of my domestic interests and provide my readers with more variety. Please bare with me as we change it up a bit because I am super excited to bring you the new Garden Gourmet.