Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is enjoying their day. It's been raining here off and on all day but that's OK, it's been a nice and relaxing day.

For our dinner I brined Cornish Hens all night and WOW it payed off. They
were delicious. Add in the mashed potatos, garlic green beans, deviled eggs and rolls and we had a pretty great meal. Dessert...Chocolate Cake with Strawberry cream cheese frosting between the layers and plain cream cheese frosting on the outside. YUM!

Hope everyone else enjoyed the day with good food and good company like I did.

Sopaipillas with Chocolate Sauce

Chocolate Sauce

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the Sopaipillas
Vegetable oil for frying
Flour tortillas cut into wedges or strips.

Granulated Sugar and or Powdered Sugar for dusting.

In a sauce pan bring 1/4 cup of water, brown sugar and salt to a boil, stirring until the sugar totally disolves. Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla and continue to whisk until well blended.

(Remaining sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

Heat oil in pan until approximately 350. In small batches fry the tortillas, turning once. Approximately 2 minutes per side.
Place tortillas on papertowel and sprinkle with sugar and or powdered sugar. Plate and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

"There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate." - Linda Grayson

This recipe was given to me from Miss Vittles Catering over on facebook. It is from the Joy of Baking and it is Amazing!

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (we both used cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup corn or canola oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, egg and vanilla and beat until creamy and smooth. Set aside while you make the Chocolate Cupcake batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes: First, in a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate blowl mix the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until smooth. Evenly divide the batter amon the 12 muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes until the cream cheese filling is a little brown and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch. Remove and cool.

The cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 or 4 days.

ENJOY!

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman
that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The
woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have
the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to
the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and
sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So
they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an
escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the
grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every
time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.


Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have
the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy
gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really
did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their
brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the
green thing back in her day.


Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in
every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish,
not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, they
blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric
machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item
to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not
styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to
cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They
exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to
run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a
cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They
replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the
whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.


Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to
school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a
24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not
an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they
didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from
satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest
pizza joint.

It’s a crying shame that we didn’t have “the green thing” back then!

Sunday's at Grandma's

My Grandparents were farmers who grew or raised probably 80 percent of their food. My Grandmother always had the root cellar that my Grandfather built for her full of her home canning. I remember many summer afternoons in the kitchen with her canning dozens of jars of tomatoes, beans, relishes, pickles and too many other veggies and fruits to mention. Her freezer chest was always full of strawberries, blueberries, pie crusts, sweet corn to name my favorites. She was a homemaker who ran her home more efficiently than I can even begin to explain.

Watching this I picked up many of my beliefs and ways of doing things one being keeping a well stocked household.

Some of the reasons I continue this tradition...
I don't have to worry about running to the store after working 10 1/2 hours and I'm tired and hungry.
If I get sick, or have a headache or just don't feel good...I have what I need at home.
I can plan my shopping trips around sales, my free time and how I feel, saving me money and sanity.
If the weather is bad, we'll have what we need until we can get out.

Living in Southwest Florida for over 20 years also was a motivator. Hurricane season can get rough. Even if the storm isn't headed directly at you, all of the surrounding people from every other direction will descend upon your town buying up all of your gas and food.
Our last year there Hurricane Charley payed us a visit. Spending that week in August in South Florida with no power was miserable because of the heat but we had everything else that we needed and were otherwise comfortable.
Now that I'm in Illinois there are other weather related emergencies that could easily happen such as tornadoes, snow storms and thunderstorms.
I think no matter where you live you should have at least two weeks worth of food and necessities stocked up.

So I hope you consider organizing your supplies and stocking up a little.

You can start by making a list of the household items and food that you use on a regular basis. When you see them on sale or find a great coupon for the item pick up two or three extras.

You'll save tons of money, time and your sanity.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Spiked Orange Frosting

Hershey's Chocolate Cupcakes

1/2 stick of unsalted butter melted and cooled
6 tablespoons of Hershey's Cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk room temperature
1 egg room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/ cup boiling water

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees
Line cupcake tins with papers

In a large bowl, sift together cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Add butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Mix ingredients for 2 minutes. Slowly add boiling water and continue to mix. Batter will be thin.
Bake approx. 25 minutes.

Spiked Orange Frosting (from the book Crazy about Cupcakes by Krystina castella)

3 tablespoons of orange juice
3 tablespoons of Triple Sec
3 tablespoons of room temperature unsalted butter
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of orange zest
pinch of salt

In a small bowl mix the orange juice and Triple Sec.
In a medium bowl cream the butter. Add the sugar to the butter, alternating with orange juice mixture until desired consistency is reached.
Stir in 1/2 of zest and the salt. Beat on high speed for 1 minute until creamy.

Frost and put a pinch of leftover zest on top of cupcakes.

ENJOY!

Orange Kiss Me Cake

My Mom used to make this cake all the time through my childhood and it was my absolute favorite.

3/4 Cup Orange Juice-(I use the juice and zest of one orange)
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp Triple-Sec Liqueur
2 Eggs
1 Cup Raisins
1/3 Cup chopped Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and Flour pans

Mix orange juice with flour, sugar, soda and salt. Add butter, milk, eggs and triple sec. Mix approximately 2 minutes on medium speed. Fold in raisins and nuts.

Nut Topping
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup chopped Walnuts
1 tsp Cinnamon

1/3 cup orange juice-(I use the juice and a little of the zest from another orange)

Bake about 40 minutes for a 13x9 glass baking dish.

Drizzle the warm cake with the orange juice and sprinkle on the Nut Topping.

**This recipe originally called for 1 can of thawed orange juice concentrate. I modified that with the oranges and liqueur. Both ways are delicious!