Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

This is my first entry to Rachel's Baking Challenge. The theme for June's challenge was strawberries. My first thought was strawberry pie, but truly pie is not one of my giftings in cooking. And then I thought about rhubarb. I had plenty of it growing in my garden and I love the combination of strawberries with rhubarb. But what to make that is tasty and not so common? I pulled out an old cookbook my mom had given me. It is called Cookery Carosel and was produced by the MEI ladies auxiliary in the 80's. I have the second printin (1988). For those of you going who? What? MEI is a private school in the town in B.C. I grew up in. It stands for Mennonite Educational Institute and no, I didn't go there. But having grown up in a community with lots of Mennonite families, I know just how wonderful their recipes are! I found a recipe for Rhubarb Cake and adapted it to add strawberries. The result was really tasty. It's a coffee cake that we served up with ice cream. My friends who we shared it with really loved it.


1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup rhubarb, cut up
1 cup strawberries, cut up
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour milk
2 cups flour

Mix as for any cake, pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Top with:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes.

I used a large springform pan (like you would for cheesecake) to make this as a round cake rather than a rectangle.

The original cake called for 1 1/2 cups cut up rhubarb and no strawberries.

*Sour Milk - I had to look this one up: 1 tbsp lemon juice plus enough milk to make one cup

Summer Greek Feast

This picture gives you the complete wrong impression that my son would actually eat all of this wonderful food. He won't. He'll eat the pita chips and hummus. The rest he will point at and say, 'no like this!'. 'sigh' - one day perhaps.
This Greek themed dinner included hummus, tzatziki, Greek Salad (all of which I've posted before), BBQ chicken skewers and pita chips.

BBQ Greek Chicken Skewers

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup Greek Seasoning

Chop the chicken into 1 inch cubes. Toss everything into a bowl, coating all your chicken pieces well with the seasoning. Thread the chicken cubes onto the skewers. BBQ until the meat is cooked through.



Seasoned Pita Chips

This recipe comes from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry by Janet and Greta Podleski. (Titled Bewedged)

1 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the shaker, not grated, it was fine)
3 6 inch pita rounds (with pockets)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp each garlic powder and onion powder

Preheat oven to 350*. Crush the dried rosemary with your fingers and combine it with the Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Set aside. Using a sharp knife or kithen scissors (I used a pizza cutter), cut each pita into 6 equal wedges (I thought these were too big so I cut them into 12). Peel back the layers so you end up with double the wedges. Place the wedges, rough side up, on a large baking sheet. Do not overlap (I ended up using 2 sheets). In another small bowl combine the melted butter and olive oil. Brush the olive oil mixture over all the wedges. Sprinkle wit the cheese/rosemary mixture. Bake on a middle oven rack for about 10 minutes. Watch that they don't burn! Excellent dipped in hummus!

Chicken Salad Wrap

This is one of my favorite easy things to make. I will make a bunch on a Sunday and have wraps ready for the week for lunches. Now that most supermarkets sell cooked rotisserie chickens for a reasonable cost, I'm finding they are a great way to get some delicious meat for recipes needing pre-cooked chicken. I'm putting this post in this week at Deb's Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sunday (and Salad and Sammie Sunday too). Her blogroll will be up sometime tomorrow. Check it out for some good eats!

1 rotisserie chicken, chopped into chunks
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar)
2 generous spoonfuls of light mayo (to your liking)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together in a medium mixing bowl. Scoop onto a wrap of your choice and roll and fold. They keep well if wrapped in saran wrap right away and kept refrigerated.

Post 100 is...Cheeseburgers!

So I'm still not on par with my blogging life, but I'll get there. Today was my last day of work for a little while (ahh, summer vacation), and what better way to celebrate what I consider to be the beginning of summer than a post about homemade burgers and potato salad?

Burger Patties

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup BBQ sauce of your choice

Mix everything together with your hands. Shape into patties, your preference of size. BBQ. Add more BBQ sauce as the burgers are cooking for additional flavour. Add cheese to melt on if you wish.

Potato Salad

6-8 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 eggs
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 generous spoons of light mayo
a good squirt of mustard
salt and pepper
dash of paprika

Boil potatoes until cooked. Boil eggs until they are hard boiled. Cool both. Peel and chop eggs when cool. In a medium bowl add all the ingredients except paprika together. Mix together. Sprinkle paprika on top.

Pasta with Shrimp

Life has a way with catching up with you. This past week has just been so busy and slightly chaotic around here. I'm gearing down for the end of my work year. The last day with students was Friday and this week will be filled with classroom clean up and year end paperwork. I'm very much looking forward to the break. My mom arrives for a visit tomorrow and we are all very excited about that (especially my 4 year old who has many plans for him and his Gramma!)
I fully intend to go back and peruse all of your lovely blogs at my leisure over the next week or so. I'm sure I've missed some great dishes!
This pasta was one of those complete accidents that turned into such a delicious dish. I made it on a night where I was just busy. I think I fed the kids chicken strips and fries and forgot to feed myself. When my husband came home from work after the kids were in bed I decided to thaw some shrimp and see what I could make with it. This is what I came up with. It was very tasty, so much so that I've planned to try it again with scallops in my next menu rotation. The measurements here are approximate as I was just throwing stuff in.

1 cup pre-cooked shrimp - thawed in cold water, drained and pressed with paper towel to remove excess water
1-2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1-2 cloves pressed garlic
1 tbsp mixed Italian seasoning herbs
1-2 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp parmasan cheese

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once vegetables soften, add shrimp, herbs, mustard, cheese and salt and pepper. Mix all together and heat thoughroughly. Add pasta of your choice and mix everything together well. We used whole wheat spagettini.

Cherry Chocolate Muffins and a Bananaberry Smoothie

Well, my oldest son asked me to buy some cherries not too long ago. Sure. Unfortunately, he decided that the best way to enjoy cherries was to make cherry juice and squish them. After cleaning up a good sized mess (note to self, never leave 4 year old with cherries unattended), I hid the rest of the bag in the back of a fridge drawer.

Coincidentally, I started noticing cherry based posts on some of my favorite foodie sites. One for chocolate cherry muffins caught my eye. This morning I decided to bake those muffins. But do you think I could find the original post? Why, oh why didn't I bookmark it? I should know better, I'm not going to remember who posted it...there are too many lovely recipe sites out there. So I started to search. Yes, I went through each blog site and typed in the word cherry to search. After about 10 blogs I found it. It was at Joy in My Kitchen. The recipe can be found here.
The muffins turned out quite nicely. I did omit the chocolate chips as I had used up what I had earlier this week making chocolate chip cookies. My son really liked them too.
I thought smoothies would make this into a more complete breakfast. They are so great and so easy. This version had:

1/2 container of vanilla yogurt (650 g size, PC provantage brand)
1/4 cup skim milk
2 generous cups of frozen mixed berries
2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks

Everything goes into the blender and blend until smooth. I did have to stop a couple of times to push the fruit down, but it all worked and tasted so delicious.
The funny thing was my youngest who watched me make the smoothies. He saw me put the banana in and said, 'no like banana Mama', but he was the first one to ask for seconds of the drink :o)

Would the real Neiman Marcus Cookie please stand up?

As I was purusing through my favorite foodie sites tonight one post in particular caught my eye. Barbara Bakes posted the $250 Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe. Interesting! I had read this story more than once in my email, but never made the recipe myself. The cookies look delicious.
Then I got to thinking, trying to remember exactly how the story went. I went to my favorite 'is it real' site truthorfiction.com to check it out. I found the story - I also found out that the story is fiction!
Here's the story as it appears in the emails:

A TRUE "GET EVEN STORY " MUST READ The following is a story of a lady who decided to get even with a company that ripped her off. I thought it was an interesting way for one to get even and illustrates the power of people when empowered with the Internet. Enjoy...Not A Joke

My daughter & I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas & decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus cookie". It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe". Well, I asked how much, and she responded. "Only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I agreed, just add it to my tab, I told her.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Neiman-Marcus andit was $285.00. I looked again and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250.00". That's outrageous!

I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them the waitress said it was "two-fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars by any *POSSIBLE* interpretation of the phrase! Neiman-Marcus refused to budge.

They would not refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point."

I explained to her the criminal statutes which govern fraud in Texas. I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State's
Attorney General for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, it doesn't matter, and we're not refunding!! your money."

I waited, thinking of how I could get even, or even try and get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250.00, and now I'm going to have $25,000.00 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every Cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250.00 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus... for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I said, "Well, you should have thought of that before you ripped me off," and slammed down the phone on her.

So here it is!!! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can
possibly think of. I paid $250 for this... I don't want Neiman-Marcus to *ever* get another penny off of this recipe....
********************************
THE NEIMAN MARCUS
COOKIE (Recipe may be halved):
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine
powder.)
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 - 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice, but we liked pecans best)
***************************************************
Cream the butter and both sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking
powder, and soda.
Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two
inches apart on a
cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
Makes 112 cookies.
**************************************************
Have fun!!! This is not a joke-this is a true story. Ride free, citizens!
PLEASE PASS THIS TO EVERY ONE YOU KNOW!

Great story, but not true. (Cookie is still worth making though).

Truth or Fiction posted this find: This is one of the classic urban legends. It has circulated for decades and various versions have named different restaurants and hotels, although one of the most common versions says it happened at Neiman-Marcus.

Hmmm....very interesting. So I googled Neiman Marcus and they have addressed it on their site. Their post reads like this: An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free.

Oddly enough (or maybe not) their cookie recipe is completely different than the one in the email version. Here it is:

Ingredients

# 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
# 1 cup light brown sugar
# 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
# 1 large egg
# 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
# 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
# 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
# 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
# 1/2 teaspoon salt
# 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
# 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips



Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

So, I thought I have all these ingredients in the house, why not make this version and share. So really we get 2 great cookie recipes out of all this hoopla. Both very yummy!

You can find more Neiman Marcus restaurant recipes free here.
To find a recipe just choose a store and from there you can find recipe links.
The original cookie recipe is found here

Oven French Toast

I haven't made French Toast in a long time. And I've never made it baked in the oven before. I'd always pan fried it. I really didn't want the hassle of making pancakes this week and we hadn't been eating up the bread like we usually do, so I thought French Toast. My husband says he didn't notice a difference between this and the pan fried, but I think that's because he got the first batch which I didn't bake as long. Mine came out of the second batch, which baked a little longer and I found crunchier and better than pan frying.

8 slices bread (I know some people who wouldn't use whole wheat for this, but I love whole wheat, so that's what I did)
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla (I actually messed this up and put in a tbsp and it was so yummy vanilla-y that I may just always put that much in in the future)
1 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Pre-heat oven to 500*. Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar and salt together, set aside. Using a 9x 12 or 13 baking dish (like a cake or lasagna pan) add half of the butter (just the butter) and put in oven to heat and melt. Take pan out of the oven and give the melted butter a good swoosh around. Dip each piece of bread completely in the egg mixture (allow excess to go back into the bowl) and place on baking pan (I was able to do 4 pieces of bread at a time). Bake for 3-4 minutes, flip over and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Melt remaining butter in pan in between re-loading up the pan. Serve with butter and syrup. It tastes good and your house will smell great with that vanilla - yummy!

Pierogy Lasagna with fried peperoni

This was something I had once at a potluck and always wondered about. I love pierogies. For those of you who don't know what they are, (and there are those of you out there, I know), they are a kind of dough filled dumpling, usually filled with a potato mixture. They can be boiled, and fried, sometimes baked too. You can find pierogies pretty easily in the potato section of your freezer section at your grocery store.
A pierogy lasagna has a similar idea, getting the flavour of the potato filling, but using lasagna noodles for the dumpling dough part. I didn't have a recipe to do this, so I made one up.

12 lasagna noodles, boiled as per box directions(this was the first time in a long time that I'd bought regular lasagna noodles instead of whole wheat - I didn't think whole wheat would give it that pierogy taste I was going for)
8-10 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks and boiled until soft
1 tbsp margarine
1 onion, diced
1 cup cheese (I used swiss in the filling, but any hard cheese would work)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheese (I used cheddar for the topping) - grated

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Drain the boiled potatoes. Add margarine and mash thoughroughly. Add onion and grate the 1st cheese into the mixture. Mix well, so cheese melts in. Add salt and pepper and mix again.
Grease a lasagna pan with oil or margarine. Layer 1st layer with 4 noodles. Spread half the potato mixture over top. Layer next 4 noodles. Spread rest of potato mixture on. Layer last 4 noodles, grate cheese on top. Bake for about half an hour. Serve with sour cream.

Fried Peperoni

Cut a peperoni stick into medallions. Add a little bit of cooking oil to a frying pan (just a tsp really). Swish oil around to grease pan. Cook peperoni over low-medium heat, browning both sides.

Fiddle-dee-dee

This is my first post request! Chef E posted about fiddleheads a couple of weeks back. Knowing that fiddleheads were a local dish where I live (New Brunswick, Canada) she asked if I would write about them too. So here I go.
I will be honest, I had never heard of fiddleheads until I first came to visit my (then) fiance during his college Christmas Break. We were having a New Years Supper with some people that he had gotten to know and one of the ladies had made a dish from fiddleheads that she had frozen the spring previous. I liked them. Fiddleheads are a kind of fern that is edible. I've eaten them plain (as seen in this post) and cooked in a casserole in place of broccoli. They are available fresh in May, so you have to get them when you see them.

We often see fiddleheads growing wild around here. This picture was taken on a recent hike at the Nature Park. There are so many of them along the path.

This is the fiddlehead statue at the Saint John Arts Centre uptown. Kind of a neat local landmark celebrating both something local as well as something arty (an actual fiddle). This statue is right around the corner from the church my husband works at.
So how to cook fiddleheads? Well, pretty much the same as any other green veggie. Wash them first. Steam them. That's what a did this time around. Some people like to soak them first. I added a little butter and salt and pepper when they were cooked.
I served these with baked potatoes, corn and honey mustard chicken. (mix equal parts dijon mustard and honey - pour over boneless, skinless chicken breast, bake at 350* for 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through). Nice meal altogether.

Pay it Forward Giveaway Winners!

In my very non-scientific method of pulling a name out of hat we have 2 winners of the Pay it Forward Giveaway!
First, my son let me use his Bruins hat because as he says, "a hockey hat will make your blog cooler mom"

He got to reach in, very serious-like, to draw the first name

And the frist winner is Carrie of cookingwithcarrie.blogspot.com

My youngest got to pick the second name (it was trickier to see the name on this paper) and the winner was Karen of Green Onions (evanandkaren.blogspot.com)

Congratulations ladies - send me your mailing address ASAP so I can send you off some goodies :o)

Last Chance to Pay it Forward

Hey Everyone - my Pay it Forward contest ends tonight at midnight! You can enter by leaving a comment here or on the original post here.
What is a pay it forward giveaway?
There are so many lovely giveaways in blogland, bloggers eagerly commenting and abuzz with the excitement of winning an unexpected gift, but that’s it. Someone wins, and then the generosity comes to a screeching halt and we go on with our lives. Nice, but lacking in momentum. This giveaway is a little different, however, because the “receivers” are also to become “givers”, if you will. In fact, that’s the most important rule of the game...


The rules:

I will send two people who leave a comment on this post a gift within the next 365 days. I am willing to mail anywhere in the world, so don’t let that stop you from commenting. The catch is that you must have a blog and be willing to do the same thing. To enter, leave a comment on this post, no later than Friday, June 5 by midnight, Atlantic time. I will announce the winners on Saturday, June 6th.
Cheers!

Sex in a Pan

Okay this picture does not do this dish justice at all! It all started with an innocent work potluck lunch. Anne signed up for salad and wrote 'the Salad of Love', the next teacher to write her dish on the list wrote 'the Salad of Lust', and jokingly I said, "I'll make Sex in a Pan to keep with the theme"...so I did.
One thing about making this dish (besides its incredible goodness) is that you need a lot of bowls to make it, so be prepared. I actually used the full amount here to spread over a large dessert pan and a small one. My husband and sons get tiffed if I make something yummy for work and not for them. But you can still use the full amount with just one large dessert pan.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup butter, melted
2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered icing sugar
2 cups whipping cream
2 (3.9 ounce) packages instant chocolate pudding mix
3 cups milk
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
skor toffee pieces

Preheat oven to 325*. In a small bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs and white sugar. Add chopped pecans. Stir in melted butter or margarine until all ingredients are combined. Press mixture into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Beat together cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled crust. Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Spread half of whipped cream over cream cheese layer. In a small bowl, whisk together chocolate pudding mix and 3 cups milk until smooth. Pour over whipped cream layer. In another small bowl, whisk together vanilla pudding mix and 3 cups milk. Pour over chocolate layer. Top with remaining whipped cream. Chill overnight. Sprinkle some skor toffee pieces right before serving.

Only a few days left to enter the Pay it Forward Giveaway!

Muffins and a craving

These are Lara's (of Recipe Shoebox) Maple Muffins. She posted hers on Thursday and I knew that's what I was making Saturday morning. MMM, they were really tasty and so commented my toughest critics (aka my 4 and 2 year old). Definately a keeper!
Pictured below is my favorite craving. It is the Thai Hut's Pad Thai. I get serious cravings for this dish. I have tried to copy it, and I've come close but I can never get it as good. Jonathan and I were at a wedding Saturday night. I knew (but forgot) that it was a dessert buffet and didn't have dinner beforehand. Afterwards we were enjoying a kid free evening and reluctant to go home. So we just drove around and talked. And then I realised I was hungry (this is about quarter to 10) and I really wanted Pad Thai. We were on the other side of town and hit every red light between here and there. We walked in at 5 past 10. The owner said that technically they were closed, but if I turned their open sign off and locked the door he would make us some Pad Thai. Oh that is the nicest thing anyone had done for me all day. We took it home and feasted. Mmmm, now I want some more :o)

June Strawberries

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Gorgeous aren't they? Mmm, I love fresh strawberries. (Alright and technically I know that these are May strawberries but June Strawberries just sounds so much better)
My friend Hilary asked me way back at New Years if I would make one of the desserts for her wedding to another friend of ours Shawn. I was so delighted that she would ask. And I have to admit that I hemmed and hawed about what I would make. I wanted it to be good. I wanted it to be light and weddingish. I knew that their wedding was to be relaxed and casual, but special and I wanted to make something that would match that atmosphere. And then I read a post at Cheat Day Cafe in April. It was Melody's strawberries with fat-free cheesecake filling. They looked heavenly and I knew I had found a match. As I was admiring them one day I asked my husband what he thought. He thought they looked great but had I considered chocolate dipped strawberries? Ooohh, no I hadn't, but now I did. As I looked up chocolate covered strawberries I came across white chocolate coconut dipped strawberries too. Now we're talking. Now we are in strawberry heaven. So I made all three.
I changed Melody's recipe only slightly. I couldn't find any cheesecake flavored pudding, so I used vanilla. I also had trouble getting the stiffness I wanted for the filling, so I added about a half cup of icing sugar. It worked and the result was lovely (not as pretty as hers, you have to take a look) but I was pleased.
Making chocolate dipped strawberries was easier than I ever thought. The only tricky part is making sure not to overcook the chocolate. Once you have it melted to the right consistency you have to work fast. I made mine by melting a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave on low heat. Stir every couple of minutes until it's nice and smooth. Then dip the strawberries in and set on wax paper to harden the chocolate shells. Keep at a cool temperature.
The white chocolate coconut ones were similar only I melted a bag of white chocolate chips and then had a bowl of finely flaked coconut ready. Dip in the white chocolate, dip in the coconut and set on wax paper to harden.
There is a trick to making the chocolate look nice. Twist the strawberry as it is in the chocolate to coat it well and continue to twist as you take it out.
I made 2 large trays of the strawberries. I made 30 cream filled, 15 white chocolate coconut and 15 chocolate dipped (these were very large strawberries) - plus a few practice ones for my family. I had a lot of compliments on these. I just couldn't believe that something so pretty and tasty was so easy to make.

Here are the bride and groom at their wedding this past Saturday - don't they look so happy? The wedding was really so perfectly them. Fairly casual and fairly special.