Ding Dong, Cake is Calling

I’ve decided that happiness is a big Chocolate Cake! It greets you when you open the door, and is patiently waiting for you to get everything done so you have time for it. It doesn’t chastise you for being late and when at last you embrace it, it opens its arms and wraps itself around your soul. Ah! Such contentment.
Obviously this isn’t just any Chocolate Cake. I confess I found this recipe on Facebook. Yes, I’m a closet Facebook junkie and Pinterest also. I printed a copy of the recipe off, then after reading it over I decided it needed tweaking.
When it comes to recipes I can’t just leave them like they are, I have to make them better. Where the recipe call for Devils Food cake mix and follow the package instructions, I changed it. Where the Recipe called for a container of premade chocolate frosting, I changed it. I did not change the recipe for the filling though, it is great like it is.

Ultimate Ding Dong Cake

Cake Recipe:
1 Box Devils Food Cake Mix
1 Large box Chocolate pudding
½ Cup Sour Cream
4 Eggs
1 Cup of water
1/3 cup Oil
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2- 8 or 9 inch round layer pans. Place the cake mix and pudding in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix at low speed for 5 minutes. Then mix at medium speed for another 10 minutes. Make sure all of the dry ingredients are fully mixed in. Divide the mixture between the 2 pans and spread out evenly in each. The mixture will be thick. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Test the cakes by inserting a toothpick into the center. When it comes out clean it is done. Let cool for 10 minutes then gently run a butter knife around the pan between the cake and the pan. Cover the first pan with a plate that is wider than the cake and turn everything over so the cake is resting on the plate upsidedown. This is the bottom 2 layers. Remove the cake pan. Do the same thing with the second cake pan only put a piece of wax paper over the cake so it is between the cake and the plate. This is the top 2 layers. Remove the second pan. Place the cakes in the freezer for 30 Minutes. This makes them easier to cut and handle. After 30 minutes remove the cakes from the freezer and slice each one into 2 layers.

Filling Recipe:
8 Oz. Cream Cheese Softened
½ Cup Butter Softened
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1-8 Oz. tub of cool whip
While the cake is baking cream together the Cream Cheese and Butter. Blend in the powdered sugar. When the cake is cool enough to frost fold the Cool Whip into the Cream Cheese mixture. Starting with cake on the plate with no wax paper carefully pick up the top half and place it to the side. Spread 1/3 of the filling on the first layer, but leave it about ¼ inch from the edge. Add the next layer of cake crumb side down and gently press it down just to even it out. Add another 1/3 or the filling and flip the next layer so the 2 bottoms from the cake pans are facing each other, add the last 3rd of the filling and flip the next layer so the wax paper is on top of everything. Remove the wax paper. Your 4-layer cake is ready to frost.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting:
16 Oz. of Semi Sweet or Bitter Sweet Chocolate, Chopped finely and placed in a heatproof dish.
1-1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
4 Tablespoons Butter

In a saucepan bring Cream and Butter just to the boiling point and remove from heat. Pour over the Chopped chocolate in the heatproof dish and allow the dish to set for 3 or 4 minutes. Start stirring the chocolate and cream together gently until it is completely incorporated and smooth. Don’t stir hard or whip it, you don’t want any air bubbles in it. This can be drizzled over the cake immediately or slightly chilled and spread over the cake. I like to set the bowl of chocolate Ganache into ice water and stir it until it reaches the consistency for spreading. Carefully spread the Ganache on the cake to completely cover it. Store the cake in the refrigerator.
Any left over Ganache can also be left in the refrigerator to become solid and used to make small truffles to eat or to decorate the cake with. Simply roll a small amount in between you hands to make a ¾ to 1-inch ball then gently roll in powdered cocoa, finely chopped nuts or Coconut flakes.
Optional: As an after thought for the next time I make it. I will spread a little Raspberry jam on each layer before I spread the filling on or maybe Orange Marmalade or Cherry Jam. Mmmmmmm!

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Homemade Kefir

At any one time my kitchen can look like, well, a kitchen or the laboratory of the mad Herbalist.  My kitchen has seen sourdough, yogurt making, canning, hydrosol distilling during lavender harvest, and wine making.  I’ve even made Kombucha tea.   All of these have ended up with herbs or spices in them at one point or another.  Now I am enjoying the experience of making my own Kefir.

Kefir is actually fermented milk.  Unflavored, it tastes a lot like plain yogurt and has the texture and tang of buttermilk.  It’s a very healthy drink with 10 times the probiotics or live cultures that are in yogurt.  Most important, Kefir is very easy to make.

All you need to make Kefir is Milk, Kefir Grains, a strainer, a bowl, and containers to make and store it in.  I make and store the Kefir in glass-canning jars because glass is nonreactive.  The hardest thing about making kefir is acquiring the live Kefir Grains and that is simply finding someone who has extra, because yes they do multiply or order them off the Internet. It is important, as with all cooking, that the containers and utensils used for making Kefir are very clean.  I simply hand-wash everything and rinse in hot water after every use.

My Internet order of Kefir Grains contained only about a ½ teaspoon of grains.  The Grains were small and dormant.  Looking skeptically at this little package of grains I thought this is never going work, but there were pretty detailed instructions enclosed and the guy guaranteed this would work.  Everything you see on the internet is the truth.  Right?

Kefir Grains upon arrival and other useful things

The first thing I had to do was to coax the grains back into action. This is basically putting them in a small amount of milk in a glass container on your counter and changing the milk every 12 hours for about three days.  If you forget to change the milk that often don’t worry it doesn’t hurt them.  You will notice the grains becoming larger, there will be more of them, and the milk will start to thicken quicker.  Unlike making yogurt there is nothing to heat up.  Kefir doesn’t need to be kept in a warm area to make it work.  I keep my extra grains in a jar of milk in the refrigerator.  They still make Kefir and the grains still multiply.  The grains that you purchase almost always arrive with instructions on how to care for them.

Health Kefir Grains after about a week.

To separate the Kefir from the grains put a nonreactive metal strainer over a bowl and slowly pour the contents of the jar into it.  Make sure to scrape out the bottom of the jar to get all the kefir and grains.  Stir and nudge the thick liquid through the strainer. The grains will remain in the strainer.   Put the grains into a clean jar and add milk for you next batch.

Finished Kefir, fine mesh strainer and 4 cup measuring cup, and container of extra grains.

After the first three days increase the amount of milk to 1 cup and when you have at least a tablespoon of grains you can increase the amount of milk to a quart.  One tablespoon of grains will make up to a quart of Kefir.

It is not unusual for Kefir to separate in layers.  This is actually curds and whey.  You can just stir the contents of the jar back together before you strain it.  Your house temperature will dictate how fast the kefir thickens.  During the hot summer days my Kefir will start to separate in as little as 8 hours, on these days I set it in the refrigerator after I see it start to separate until I strain it the next morning.  On cold winter days it stays on the counter from one morning to the next when.  If I don’t have time to strain the Kefir it can stay in the refrigerator for a few days to a week or more.  It can even stay on the counter for a week but will probably be more like a very tangy cheese.

Kefir after it separates.

Finished Kefir

Kefir has many uses.  It can be used in place of buttermilk in recipes, to make salad dressings, drained to make a soft spreadable cheese, to make smoothies or even consumed plain.  My favorite is smoothies.  Especially when local fresh ripe fruit is in season.  Lately I’ve been making refrigerator Oatmeal.  It’s a raw food so it isn’t cooked.  I make 4 jelly jars full at a time so I have a grab and go breakfast ready in the morning.

 

Cherry, Cinnamon, and Maple Refrigerator Oatmeal

• 1/4 cup uncooked old fashion rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon steel cut oats
• 1/3 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Kefir
• 1 &1/2 Teaspoons Chia seed
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
• 1 Teaspoon Vietnamese Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped sweet cherries

Put everything but the cherries into a 5oz. jelly jar or an 8oz. mason jar.  Put the lid on and shake until everything is well combined.  Remove lid and top with cherries and mix well with a spoon.  Put the lid back on and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.  Open and enjoy.  You can also add a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix.  Adjust the maple syrup to your liking.

 

Dinner with Family

Not long ago we were invited up to have dinner with my son Vinny and my new Daughter-in-Law Kendelle at their home.  We try to get together every couple weeks or so and it is always a very relaxing evening.

We offered to take them out to a local pub for dinner, but Kendelle had a new recipe she and Vinny wanted to make for us.  I’m really glad that she insisted on making the dinner because it was one of the best meals that I’ve ever had.

When we arrived Kendelle told us we were having Salmon with Pesto, Garlic Roasted Potatoes, and Fresh Green Beans that I had pick from our garden the day before.  For dessert I brought Double Chocolate Banana Bread, which was also a new recipe that I had wanted to try out.

Ken and I raised 2 sons and I always felt that making sure they knew how to cook was important to their survival.  I taught them the fundamentals of using fresh food from local sources and what was in season before it was popular.  That is how I was raised, eating things from the garden all spring, summer, and fall.  Then putting a few things up for the winter and supplementing from the grocery store in the winter.  They added their own love of new foods and the fact that they are both adventurous cooks.  Kendelle has brought her own flare and willingness to try new recipes to the mix.

While I enjoyed Kendelle’s company in the kitchen Ken and Vinny manned the Grill.  The Salmon was brushed with Olive Oil and the pesto was divided into two dishes.  One dish held the pesto that would go out to the grill and the other held Pesto for later as a topping for the cooked Salmon.  Vinny placed the Salmon on the hot grill to cook one side and spread some of the Pesto on the other side.  When the Salmon was part way done on the first side, about 5 or 6 minutes, he flipped the Pesto coated side down and covered the cooked side with Pesto.  He placed the lid on the grill for another 5 or 6 minutes.  With gentle pressure he checked the Salmon for doneness, it should be firm but give slightly to the pressure.

As we served ourselves and went out to the deck to enjoy dinner together we topped off the salmon with some of the fresh Pesto that was in the second bowl.  The Pesto was divided into 2 bowls so that no cross contamination could occur from the raw Salmon.  The Meal was wonderful, the Family being together is adored, and Life is good.

Here is good Pesto recipe to try out.  It is not only good on Salmon, but on chicken, roasted potatoes, pizzas and even grilled ham and cheese!  There is enough in this recipe to freeze some for that fresh taste of summer basil during the winter.  What to heck else are we going to do with all this basil?

Pesto

4 Cups Fresh Basil Leaves, Packed

4 Cloves of fresh Garlic, Crushed

¼ Cup Pine Nuts, Toasted

1 oz. of Parmesan Cheese, Grated

1 oz. of Romano Cheese, Grated

¼ to ½ Cup of Olive Oil

In a food processor mix the first 3 ingredients and pulse to chop very fine.  Add the 2 cheeses and pulse to blend well.  Switch to constant high speed and pour the olive oil in a steady stream until you have a thick sauce about the consistency of mayonnaise.

Pesto can be frozen then thawed for later use.

 

The Cooking Connection

My pie recipe, made with my Grandma's rolling pin, in my Mom's pie plate, on a hot pad that my Grandma crocheted.

As the snow swirls around outside the best thing I can do for myself and my husband is bake.  He has had a real craving for one of my Apple Pies, but it got put onto the back burner with all the cooking that the holidays require.  So with peeler in hand and apples that were crying to be used before they went bad, I resolved that this was the day!

When I’m doing something that doesn’t take a lot of concentration I either have to make a game out of it, i.e. how fast can I peel an apple or how long can I keep the peel intact without breaking it.  Or I can let my mind just drift.  Today it drifted.

It started when I spotted my cast iron fry pans that are a perpetual inhabitant of my stovetop.  Ken’s Mom entrusted these pans to me soon after we were married.  She had them stored in the attic of her house and asked if I would like them.  They had surface rust from not being used.  Young and dumb I thought to myself, “Who would want these old things”, but I was eager to please her so they came into my care. They had belonged to her mother and they needed to be used.  She told me how to care for them and then she told me stories about the women who had used them.  She told me stories about the family that they helped to feed and the food that they produced.

Then the stories all started to come back.  I was 5 or 6 years old again, standing by as my Grandma Skopec took a small disc of dough and set it on my Moms round kitchen table.  With rolling pin in hand she started to roll the dough out in all directions.  Larger and larger it got as I stood by asking endless questions.  Finally, she stopped for just a minute and explained that if she didn’t work quickly the dough would dry out and be unworkable.  I was welcome to stay, remember my questions and she would try to answer them when she was done.  As I watched, as quietly as was possible for me at the time, the dough became thinner and thinner until it hung off all sides of the table by at least 10 inches.  It was so thin you could almost see through it and there wasn’t one tear.  I can still see the look of satisfaction on her face.  That pastry recipe is in my mother’s recipe box in my cupboard, though I still haven’t attempted such a feat.

I remembered my Aunts and Mom gathered in a kitchen, cooking and talking, getting the food ready for a family get-together.  The food flowed from the kitchen to the tables that were set up.  My Mom’s special recipe potato salad was always served in her pretty ruby colored antique bowl.  I had just used this same bowl when I made my her Potato Salad recipe for Christmas.

My Dad liked to bake, and when he was laid off from Clark Equipment he made the best cookies and biscuits.  Much of this was learned when he Managed Thomas’s Restaurant in Niles for a short time.  He would explain why he mixed the ingredients the way he did and how you didn’t handle the biscuit dough too much or it would get tough.  He told me why he would flour the biscuit cutter after cutting each biscuit so it wouldn’t stick, and then gently lay the biscuits on the baking sheet.  They were the flakiest biscuits I ever tasted.  When he made cookies he would let me help mix the dough near the end when it was too thick to use a spoon on.  We would wash our hands and plunge our fingers into the thick gooey dough mixing in the chocolate chips and oatmeal.  The best part was licking our fingers when we were done mixing before he showed me how to drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet and put them into the oven.  The biscuit cutter and baking sheets are in my cupboard waiting for the next batch of biscuits or cookies.

My Grandma Quick would always let me help make piecrust.  She would flour the table in the kitchen to roll out the crust on, and then she would add a little flour to the top of the dough.  After rolling out the disc of dough to the right size she would drape it over her rolling pin and ease it into the pie plate.  She would trimming the dough to fit then hand me her rolling pin so I could make a small crust with the leftover dough.  As I roll out the crust for my pie, I remember the feel of her standing behind me with her hands on mine guiding them over the dough as we rolled.  I can feel the rhythm of the gentle back a forth motion and the feel of her wooden rolling pin in my hands as I shape and flatten the dough.  Yes, I’m using that rolling pin today and maybe someday I will stand behind one of my grandchildren helping them roll out their little pie crust.

Yes, many of the things that my family cooked with have taken up residence in my kitchen.  The bowls and biscuit cutters, rolling pins, and pie plates are all there, along with their recipes and the cooking heritage that they have bestowed on me.

As I drape my dough over my Grandma’s rolling pin and ease it into my mother’s pie plate I can feel all of my family’s cooks gathered around murmuring their approval.  What better thing to do on a snowy day than to invites these wonderful people back into my memories to warm my heart as their recipes baking in the oven warm the house, filling it with incredibly yummy scents and a feeling of home.