A Sign of the Times

Recently a cookfriend shared something with me which I found startling. She is a veteran teacher, 37 years to her credit. At the start of this school year, she asked middle schoolers to raise their hands if they had ever licked the beaters from their mother's cake  baking. Out of 71 students over the course of the day, the responders were 3. And all 3 of them had licked beaters of GRANDMOTHER'S baking, not from mom. This touches me deeply on so many levels that I am nearly without words to type. It makes me so very sad for those students and their entire generation because so much love has surrounded my baking and probably yours, too, if you are a blog follower here. Cooking is therapy for me and also an avenue to demonstrate love. So what am I going to do? Bake a cake - even trying a new recipe from my favorite Cake Mix Doctor... Susan's Lemon Cake... at the recommendation of my bestie from sixth grade whose large family gave it a big thumbs up. Maybe we should start a grass roots movement for a Lick-A-Beater Day. 

Coexisting With The Herd

   Houston, we have a problem. If you are Facebook friends with me or even a blog follower, you  know that I have a love/hate relationship with these critters from the woods. Last September I wrote a letter to the deer in a blog detailing the deterrent I was using at that time, Deer Off. It was entitled, "Deer Friend." Now I have another deterrent tip for you which was information shared with me at Home Depot earlier this summer. It is not marketed as deer deterrent, but I am finding it to be most effective this year and easier to apply than the mixing and spraying required by the Deer Off. It is a fertilizer called MILORGANITE. A sales representative from the manufacturer actually introduced me to it when I was looking for the Deer Off. He said it has fox urine in it and they have found it to be offensive to the deer. It is triple positive: 
  1) successfully keeps deer from munching on my prize landscaping though they are   obviously still here (photo taken this morning)
  2) application is simply sprinkling the fertilizer everywhere you want to keep them away - no watering in necessary! Unlike the Deer Off, rain is not washing it away and therefore leaving your landscaping unprotected until you can spray again.
  3) it is dirt cheap - 40 pound bag is around 12 bucks... yes, BUCKS...
   And oh, by the way, because it is fertilizer, you should see my oakleaf hydrangea. It has nearly covered a large window out front. Not one leaf chewed off. I have had a rabbit problem as well. They had eaten down the monkey grass to the nubbins this time last year. Not anymore. Beautiful all the way around this old ranch home. I have added my iris/daylily bed to the areas being treated just last week. It will be interesting to see if I have more than 3" of growth next spring in that pitiful bed. For the price it is worth trying the Milorganite. Set the alarm on your phone and apply monthly. It will take you 10 minutes or less. Good luck coexisting with the critters in your neighborhood.

Twice Baked - Twice as Nice

 Recently my daughters took me to a cooking class where twice baked potatoes were part of the menu along with several different cuts of steak. While their potatoes were satisfactory, they paled in comparison to my cookfriend's method. So, I felt the urge to prepare some for us and pass along this information. First of all, forget the "split the potatoes in half" part. Use a whole potato for each person. Really - who wants HALF of anything so good? Once potatoes are baked, core out the top of each potato, leaving the "boat" firm enough to handle the potato filling. Lightly salt the empty potato boats with kosher salt. In a mixing bowl, put a couple of tablespoons of butter, all of the warm potato pulp, kosher salt & white pepper, then mix with mixer. This will make for smoother potato pulp. Add milk or half and half - enough to make smooth and creamy. Place filling into pastry bag with large tip & press into potatoes. Top with a high grade cheddar cheese & minced green onion. If you have sour cream, you can use a bit of that and not as much milk. Bake 30 minutes on 350. I saw potatoes no prettier than mine at an upscale carry-out bakery this weekend for nearly $6.00 a piece. Not kidding. Can hardly wait for dinner tonight.

Publix Strikes Again: Fresh Basil

    I have not been very successful with herb growing in the past but decided after a recent trip to CA to try one more time. "Aim small, miss small" was my motto. (Think "The Patriot" movie). The scent of rosemary in SHRUB size in Lodi, CA, was my motivator. What a magnificient fragrance. My little rosemary is doing well since early summer, so I wanted to move on to add basil. This week Lowe's did not have any basil and said I wouldn't be able to get it until next spring. Then I went to Publix. Yep, there it was. 
    This is a delicious and different sort of pasta salad which is greatly enhanced by using fresh basil, a pasta salad even my husband likes. He is sort of like his brother-in-law, Mark, who generally says about pasta: "I like mine hot and with cheese." A friend from west TN shared this with me some years ago. Never a bite tossed in the trash. Very compact, too, so remember it for your tailgating this fall.

Orzo and Wild Rice Salad

1 box Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice, cooked according to pkg. directions

1 1/3 cup orzo (uncooked), cooked according to pkg. directions

¼ cup olive oil                           

1 Tbsp. sugar

¼ tsp. oregano

salt & pepper

¼ cup white wine vinegar 

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp. fresh minced basil (or more)

 ½ cup dried cranberries

 chopped fresh parsley

1 or 2 - 11 oz. cans white shoepeg corn

pine nuts, toasted

1 bell pepper, chopped

Cook rice and pasta as each pkg. suggests. Drain pasta thoroughly. Prepare dressing while rice and pasta are cooking. Combine all ingredients and chill several hours or overnight.

Another Mud Pie

Publix has their premium brand of ice cream currently on sale, so I have been to purchase the Barnie's coffee flavor for another mud pie recipe. If you are new to my blog, you can revert back to May 2012 when I posted the first Mud Pie recipe. This particular recipe is from a cookfriend who lives in College Station, TX. I like this recipe especially because the crust does not have to be baked, so it comes together very quickly. I really love the almonds and chocolate syrup in this recipe. I have added a tsp. of espresso coffee powder to the fudge syrup to play up the coffee flavor. I always double recipe... bulk baking, of course. This time I did one pie and 6 individual tarts. Can hardly wait until tonight...

Mud Pie

1 & 1/4 cups crushed Oreos* + 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 stick margarine, melted 

1 quart coffee ice cream, softened                                               

1 jar Smucker’s fudge syrup + 1 tsp. espresso coffee powder
almonds                    

whipped cream

1. Crust: combine Oreos & sugar with melted margarine & press into pie pan.Spread on softened ice cream.

2. Pour half of the jar of syrup on ice cream & swirl together with spoon slightly. Sprinkle with almonds and drizzle on remaining syrup. Top with whipped cream & extra almonds. Keep frozen. Allow to thaw about 10-15 min. before slicing and serving.  
*1/3 of a 16 oz. pkg. of Oreos will yield 1 1/4 cups of crumbs.