October 31st, 2008
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! I hope everyone is having a fun filled, sugar high kind of Friday! I had the best surprise today…My Blogging by Mail package arrived from Julie of Monkee-in-the-Middle.
This is a fun event to participate…like a blogging Secret Santa. Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness emailed us the name of another blogger and we were to send them 10 of our favorite things. Now if I count correctly, Julie seems to have gone over the 10 item limit. She sent me halloween candy, hot cocoa mix, teas, Lavender soap, pureology shampoo and conditioner, a bath set with body wash, lotion, shampoo and conditioner, biscotti, chocolate bars, thank-you cards, gift tags, notebooks, spiced stirring spoons…I love it all! Thank you so much Julie!!! It was such a wonderful surprise!
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October 28th, 2008
There are about six weeks left before exams…I can’t believe that the semester has gone by so quickly. It has not been too bad and most days, I enjoy it. I love being in such an intense environment and surrounded by people who really enjoy learning and arguing. My friends and I will sit around debating and sometimes just laughing about the cases. However, by the end of the day, my brain tends to ache from working so hard. Sadly, I’ve barely cooked. I normally just want something quick and easy. But today, I decided that I needed a good warm comforting meal because as my exams get closer, I feel the stress mounting. I made chicken pot pie with buttermilk biscuits. It is delicious! Perfect for these cold windy Chicago days!
Chicken Pot Pie with Dill Biscuits
(adapted from Wandering Chopsticks)
1 buttermilk biscuit dough (I use this one from Nook & Pantry…just add 1 teaspoon of dried dill)
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1 onion, diced
1 or 2 chicken breasts, thighs, whatever body parts you want, sliced into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup buttermilk, milk, or cream
2 tblsp flour
Salt and pepper to taste
On medium-high heat, saute diced onion until softened. Add diced chicken and stir until almost cooked through. Then the vegetables and mix. Dissolve 2 tblsp of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of milk and mix into the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture into a pie plate. Using about 1/2 cup of dough, shape the biscuits into circular shapes and place them on top of the mixture. Or you can just spoon heaping tablespoons of biscuit dough onto the mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30-35 min.
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October 14th, 2008
My dessert tastes tend to be seasonal. With the fall days upon us, my cravings seem to be for spice cakes, gingerbread, apple or pumpkin anything! There is nothing more comforting than the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves permeating the house.
When Ginny sent me the link to Allen’s “Making History Food Event” by Recovered Recipes, I instantly thought of “Depression Cake.” As a child, this is a cake we would make usually at Christmas time. At some point, we stopped making it and the recipe was lost. When I was in high school, I was visiting a friend and looked through an old Betty Crocker cookbook. They had a recipe that was what I remembered as “Depression Cake” only it was called “Fruitcake Bars” and contained chopped nuts. I was happy to discover an old favorite and I’ve been baking it ever since.
I did talk to my mother to ask why they called it “Depression Cake.” She said that during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, it was difficult to afford butter and eggs and this cake didn’t use either. Once WWII started and rationing occurred, this cake was a perfect dessert. The icing is very different, more like a glaze and dries to a hard crust.
DEPRESSION CAKE
(aka Fruitcake Bars from Betty Crocker)
1 cup brown sugar, packed 2 cups flour
1 & 1/4 cups water 1 tsp salt
1/3 cup Crisco 1 tsp baking soda
2 cups raisins 1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
Mix brown sugar, water, Crisco and raisins in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Mix the dry ingredients together on a wax paper and add to the cooled mixture. Mix well. Spread in a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35min.
Icing:
1 – 2 egg whites (depends on the size of the egg)
Confectioners’ sugar
Stir sugar into egg whites until you have a thick, white paste. Spread on cooled cake and put colored sprinkles on top.
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