Grandma Jean's Candy Popcorn

Growing up in Arkansas, one thing that always reminded me of Christmas was Grandma Jean's candy popcorn.  She would make a batch of red and a batch of green and have it sitting on the counter in a hugantic metal bowl.  It was completely addicting!!!

Last year, as I was looking for a retro dessert for my Christmas party, I remembered the recipe and have fallen in love with it all over again.

Here is the recipe:

Grandma Jean's Candy Popcorn

4 quarts popped popcorn (popped stovetop is the best - and popping it in Coconut oil is even better)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
Food Coloring (I found out that they make organic food coloring out of vegetables - made me feel better about using it and the color was actually even better than with traditional food coloring).

Put sugar and water into a pan and boil until a drop of the mixture into a glass of cold water makes a soft ball.  Just keep stirring after it starts to boil and every once in a while check to see how the mixture feels in the water.  In the beginning, it will simply dissipate and then it will make a soft drop in the bottom.  When you can turn it into a ball in the water with your fingers, it is ready.  Don't over process or it won't be as pretty.

Add vanilla and food coloring to your preference, pour it over the top of the popcorn and stir.  You will need a very large bowl to do this in or you'll make a mess (trust me, popcorn will go everywhere if the bowl is too small).

You can also add nuts to the popcorn if you want.

Grandma's Banana Puddin

No holiday would be complete without my Grandma Haley’s Banana Pudding. As a matter of fact, so family gathering would be complete without having a bowlful of this rich banana/custard/vanilla combination…..heavenly….the perfect end to a laaarrrge meal!

This holiday season, The Man and I hosted a Southern/Serbian dinner for a few of our friends. For my contribution, I made Chicken and Dumplins, Dressin, and my grandma’s Banana Puddin. Although I have a recipe that I love for Banana Pudding, I used the recipe I learned from her this summer….OMG…..perfect!

Here is the recipe:
(this is for a small batch, I doubled the recipe for my party and put it in a larger bowl)

2 cups of milk (warmed in the microwave or on the stove - prevents lumps)
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
½ cup flour
2 eggs beaten
Ripe Bananas
Vanilla Wafers - don’t skimp and get the generic - if you are in the south, use Jackson, otherwise any good brand will do.
Stick of Butter
Tsp vanilla

In a bowl, combine flour and sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir eggs into flour/sugar/salt until it makes a paste. Add a bit of warm milk to thin the mixture and pour into a medium saucepan. Turn on heat to somewhere between medium and low ( you have to gauge this - you don’t want lumps, but you don’t want to stand in front of the stove until your gray hairs multiply). Stir constantly (stirring with a whisk helps) to keep custard from sticking to the bottom. When the mixture is thickened, turn off the heat and add a stick of butter and vanilla. Stir until butter and vanilla are combined with the custard.

Find the prettiest bowl you own - I typically use cut glass bowls. These photos were taken at my Grandma's house and we used a square, handled white dish  For this recipe-the small batch, the bowl doesn’t have to be large….medium-sized will do perfectly. If the bowl is too big, your layers will not have a lot of custard. If it is too small, the bananas and wafers get lost in all of the custard.

Layer….vanilla wafers then custard then small slices of bananas (the important thing is that the wafers are on the bottom, otherwise it makes no difference). Layer a few times - end with a layer of custard on top and put wafers upright around the edge of the bowl, sunk halfway into the custard. I typically put a few wafers in a design on the top of the pudding.

Per my grandma’s tradition, I do not serve this dish cold (except for leftovers--which are amazing in their own right). I serve it warm or room temperature like a custard-based pie. Enjoy!!

Temptations....No Bake Cookies

The other day, I was desperate for chocolate.....absolutely, positively desperate.  I tried water, I tried wine, I tried healthy salsa, but my momma's no bake cookies were calling my name.  After posting a photo on facebook, I was asked for the recipe.....so here goes.  My momma calls them boiled cookies, some people call them prailines, some cow patties....no matter what you call them, they are sure to satisfy a hefty chocolate craving.  Luckily, the man took the rest to the office or I would have been in a chocoalte coma after 24 hours. 

Boiled Cookies

3 Cups of sugar

4 Tbl cocoa (I use Hersheys or Hersheys dark, although I use other higher quality cocoas for other things, the Hersheys work best for this recipe)

3/4 Cup whole milk

1 Stick of butter

Dash of Salt

Mix ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat, stirring often.  Put out sheets of waxed paper (or aluminum foil) on your counter top/table top.  Bring mixture to a good rolling boil (more than a few boil bubbles, a nice hearty boil) and boil for 3 minutes.  (This is actually one of the few times I use a timer.....if they are undercooked, they won't harden.....overcooked and they are dry).  Remove from heat and add:

1/2 Cup peanut butter

2 Cups oats

1 Tsp vanilla

Stir briskly and quickly drip spoonfulls on your waxed paper.  Let sit until hardened. 

This recipe is so easy!  Let me know how you like it! 



Cooking with Grandma

Check out my guest post on http://www.recipelion.com/  Cooking with Grandma.  After reading it again, I am suddenly hungry!!! 

Here is the link.  Enjoy! http://blog.recipelion.com/guest-post-cooking-with-grandma/

Picnic Fame

My love affair with the picnic began when I was a small child, when we would make pimento cheese sandwiches and cookies, throw them in the ice chest with some cokes and head to the lake for the day. Later, as an adult, I was introduced to a whole new level of picnicking at Symphony on the Prairie…..what I affectionately call frou-frou picnicking….with real wine glasses, serving bowls, cloth napkins, candles, cheese boards, and a beautiful spread. I adopted the practice of frou-frou picnicking with gusto….developing my own picnic style….finding accessories along the way….baskets, cheeseboards, wineglass holders for the lawn….

Last year, the Man and I decided to take our frou-frou picnic to the infield of the Indy 500. I had always sat in the stands for the race, but was intrigued with the idea of a day-long picnic watching pretty cars go by at 200 miles per hour. Now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway doesn’t allow glass containers, so we had to get a bit creative. I tend to be a *bit* of a wine snob, so boxed wine was out of the question. The Man and I wandered up and down the liquor aisle until we found it…..a box of pre-made margaritas. It was small enough to put into my small cooler so we were set!! We put my pink-striped tablecloth in the picnic basket, along with my amber polypropylene margarita glasses and a deck of cards and created our picnic fare. We cubed gouda and cotswolds cheeses, stirred up some fresh guacamole, rolled up roast beef and cheese pinwheels, and made our famous Tunisian Cous-Cous Salad. Since it was quite toasty outside, for dessert we made a fruit salad with strawberries, Marscapone cheese, and walnuts. It was a feast fit for a king!!!

At the track, we found the perfect picnic spot halfway up the berm on Turn 3. We spread out the pink tablecloth (please don’t judge him for the pink…..he was just makin’ me happy!), arranged our fest just so, and poured ourselves margaritas. Life is good!!! A voice behind me shouted, “are those champagne glasses?”

Read the rest of the post on recipe lion:  http://blog.recipelion.com/guest-post-picnic-fame-from-becky-p-divorced-diva/

Check me out on Recipe Lion!!

Hooray!!  I have been asked to become a guest blogger on a recipe site.  I guess all of those hours spent cooking have worked their magic!  Check out the Recipe Lion blog page at:  http://blog.recipelion.com/

Here is a copy of their announcement:

RecipeLion is pleased to introduce a new guest blogger! Her name is Becky, and she has an awesome blog of her own called The Divorced Diva’s Guide to Survival.

Growing up in central Arkansas, Becky was greatly influenced by the Creole cuisine from Louisiana, Mississippi delta rice-based dishes, Texas BBQ and, of course, the flavorful food of the south. She watched her grandmas create flavorful dishes from food they raised and grew on their farms and learned at an early age the age old wisdom in entertaining…if you have enough good food, everyone is happy. Becky’s travels throughout Europe and Asia have refined and expanded her culinary horizons.

Becky raised her two children on a 650 acre farm in Rush County, Indiana where they raised horses, dogs, cats, cattle, chickens, ducks and sheep. Now that her children are grown, Becky lives in Carmel, Indiana where she scours local farmers’ markets for the freshest produce, grows herbs, tomatoes, and peppers in her back yard garden and supports local producers and resellers of fine foods. When she is not cooking and drinking fine wine, Becky is a Realtor at the Dream Home Company in Indianapolis.

Check out her blog, The Divorced Diva’s Guide to Survival.

Welcome, Becky!

Coca-Cola Cake Recipe

Growing up in the Great State of Arkansas, potluck dinners and lunches were a favorite! It was always a good day when someone brought a coca-cola cake!!!

As requested on Twitter, the following is my coca-cola cake recipe. This recipe was adapted from my fav-o-rite cookbook by Nigella Lawson, How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I use this book a lot!!

When making the cake this time, I followed her instructions to put it in a spring form pan lined with foil, however, the cake is most often made in a 9x13 cake pan. I liked the look of the pretty, round, chocolaty cake, so I will probably prepare it this way again……it’s yummy!!!! Although I haven’t tried this (yet) I imagine that one could substitute a cane syrup root beer or some other more “organic” drink.

Also don’t let the cooking part of the cake recipe intimidate you -- it doesn’t take more than a few minutes and the results are heavenly!!!

Coca-Cola Cake

Cake:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour (I used cake flour--always stir or sift flour before measuring)
¾ cup plus 1 T sugar (I simply added half of the ¼ cup measuring cup extra)
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk (don’t substitute this--it makes the cake!!!)
1 tsp vanilla (use the real stuff not the fakey stuff for best results)
½ cup butter (again don’t substitute--margarine is just not the same)
2 tbl cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s special dark--although Ghirardelli is my standby)
¾ cup coca-cola

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put in a baking sheet (I used a baking stone). Prepare your spring form pan by lining it on the outside with aluminum foil (it will drip) and grease the bottom and sides (I used veg oil, but you could use butter).

In a saucepan, gently (ie: low heat) melt butter, add the cocoa powder mixing until it is smooth and add coca-cola. You don’t want this to boil. While you are waiting for butter to melt, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl (you will eventually put all ingredients in this bowl). In a small bowl beat the eggs and add buttermilk and vanilla.

Pour the warm coca-cola mixture into the flour mixture and stir until well blended. Add the buttermilk mixture and stir well. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for around 40 minutes (for the spring form pan) or until a cake tester comes out clean. Now, this is a very thin cake, so if you check it and it’s not quite done, don’t wait too long to check again as you want this cake to be moist!

Put cake on cooling rack for about 15 minutes before unmolding. When ready to unmold, carefully run a butter knife along the edges to ensure it doesn’t stick. Place the cake on whatever serving dish you are going to use. The icing drips and runs, but that is part of the charm.

Icing:

1 ½ Cups powdered sugar
2 T butter
3 T Coca-cola
1 T cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla

Sift the powdered sugar (I didn’t - - but I had to make sure the lumps were smushed with a spoon). In a saucepan, melt butter on low heat and add coca-cola and cocoa and stir until all is combined. Remove from heat and add vanilla and slowly combine powdered sugar stirring out the lumps.

I poked the cake with a toothpick and poured a little bit of extra coke over the cake for extra moistness (not too much). Pour the warm icing over the cake and allow to cool completely before serving. (When I was growing up, some people added pecans or walnuts to the icing or on top).

Birthday Symphony

Mid-week I found myself meandering though the aisles of the Carmel Public Library looking for that perfect cookbook - - that cookbook containing the recipe for my birthday dinner. I held one book and then another…..and another. Finally, my hands rested on the one - Chez Jacques by Jacques Pepin. I thumbed through the book and found it…the recipe!! Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce (or boeuf bourguignon). Mmm…. heaven!

Although I can make a beef stew in my sleep, this recipe is somewhat different in its approach and therefore, made the perfect recipe to experiment with on my birthday. Flipping through the book, I found a recipe for a tapenade……NOW we’re talking!! I love nothing more than to eat and drink while I cook. The thought of a pungent tapenade on a crisp warm baguette and a glass of red wine just about put me over the edge!

The beef strew recipe called for 2 pounds of flatiron steak - - a luxury for sure! I typically use a chuck roast or stew meat……but Jacques said flatiron and flatiron it will be. I went to Vine and Table to choose a wine to accompany our dinner. Jacques mentioned for this recipe, one should use the SAME wine to cook with so a good, yet inexpensive, red wine was in order (the recipe called for an entire bottle in the stew). I chose the Rosemount Estate Mudgee Hill of Gold Shiraz for its full body and soft aromatics. Actually, this wine has become a staple at my house lately.

I rushed home to get the house in order before The Man arrived. Walking through the door, my house seemed a little chilly. It had been quite the cold week, so I thought nothing of it. I walked over to the thermostat and turned it up a couple of degrees.

Continue reading at the  Vine and Table Wine Blog

Cooking is Beautiful.....

The Man and I have decided to share our adventures in cooking with readers for a food and wine blog at Vine and Table in Carmel.  http://www.vineandtable.com/

Click on the link after the intro paragraph to read the post in its entirety.....

Cooking is beautiful - - it’s art using Le Creuset and local produce en lieu of paintbrushes and pastels. The combining of ingredients…the chopping…the preparations are, for me, therapeutic…creative…and even sensual. There is nothing like drinking a glass of fine wine, stirring your creation and dancing to Amos Lee in-between tasks........

http://www.vineandtable.com/blog/post/2010/02/06/Cooking-is-Beautiful.aspx

Enjoy and bon appetit!