Sweet Potato Puree

     Fall vegetables seem to be my current focus on the blog lately.  My favorite vegetable of all time, during any season, is the sweet potato.  Rachael Ray has stated many times that the sweet potato is the most nutrient dense vegetable you can purchase in the grocery store.  While I am not sure if this is 100% accurate, I certainly would like to think that she is correct.  My love for sweet potatoes developed at an early age, when my grandmother introduced me to sweet potato soufflé.  We lived far away and would travel to see her around the holidays.  It never failed that she always made her delicious sweet potato soufflé, topped with brown sugar and pecans.   As we said our goodbyes, she would hand me a small carryout container to snack on during the drive home.  Most kids like candy, chips, Little Debbie’s and various other junk foods.  I prefer the sweet potatoes and have never quit loving them to this day.  The recipe below is a variation of a recipe in Ina Garten’s latest cookbook, Foolproof.  While it isn’t my grandmother’s soufflé, it is a lighter twist on my favorite vegetable that can be served any time of the year.  

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

·         3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

·         ¾ cup almond milk

·         ½ cup coconut oil

·         ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

·         2 teaspoons kosher salt

·         ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1.      Place the sweet potatoes in a steamer and steam for 25 minutes, or until very tender.  Move the potatoes to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add the almond milk, coconut oil, orange juice, salt, and pepper.  With the mixer on low, blend together for 10 minutes.  The sweet potatoes should be very smooth.  To keep warm or to reheat, place the sweet potato puree in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Yields 6 servings.  

Publix – February 7, 2013

     Today is my brother’s birthday and we will be celebrating tonight with family and friends at my parent’s house.  Guess who was in charge of the menu plan and cooking?  If you guessed me then you would be correct.  Eight people will be at Christopher’s birthday dinner tonight, so I knew I would be planning for many different taste buds.  My parents normally have steaks every Saturday night.  This is a major family tradition on both my mother and father’s side of the family.  I am not sure if it has something to do with the time period in which they were raised, or if it is a coincidence that both of their families had this routine Saturday night meal.  My brother requested that we have a different meal for his birthday than the usual steak supper.  Although he said steaks were fine, he wanted different side dishes and something besides a dry rub on the steaks.  I turned to one of my most reliable sources – Ina Garten.  No, Ina and I have never met, but sometimes I feel like we could hang out together.  I have every single one of her cookbooks and have read all the notes and tips that she suggests throughout her books.  I know her recipes are always successful or “Foolproof,” which is the title of her newest book.  After browsing through several of her books, I came up with this menu:

·         French Bistro Steaks with Provencal Butter

·         Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

·         Green Salads with homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and homemade Vinaigrette

·         Strawberry Cheesecake

Of course, I am still very much committed to our real food, organic diet, so everything is being made from scratch – right down to the homemade graham crackers I made for the Cheesecake graham cracker crust.  My parents and I are both providing the food for tonight’s meal and luckily they are taking care of the steaks.  Steaks for eight people would certainly blow my budget!  I will blog about the cheesecake later, because I still have to make the topping this morning.  I am crossing my fingers that this birthday meal turns out great! 

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Publix Greenwise Organic milk @ $3.89

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Butter @ $5.69

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   Publix Greenwise Organic  Coffee @ $5.99

o   1 lb. Gourmet House Organic Brown Rice @ $1.35

o   (3) Chicken of the Sea canned salmon @ $3.75

§  (2) $1.00/1 manufacturer coupons - $1.75

o   Lindsay Capers @ $1.69

o   Spice World Coarse Ground Black pepper @ $1.34

·         Meat

o   Springer Mountain Farms boneless, skinless chicken breasts @ $4.99/lb. - $10.28

·         Frozen

o   (6) Green Giant boxed peas @ $5.97

§  (2) $1.00/3 manufacturer coupons - $3.97

o   Cascadian Farm Organic Strawberries @ $3.49

§  $1.00/1 manufacturer coupon - $2.49

o   Publix Greenwise Organic Vanilla ice cream @ $3.50

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.38

o   1 head green cabbage @ $2.07

o   3 lb. bag yellow onions @ $3.29

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Carrots @ $1.29/lb.

o   1 bulb garlic @ $0.45

Total before coupons              $69.38

Less: coupons used                 (10.00)

Total with Tax                        $59.38

Happy Birthday Mama - Mashed Butternut Squash

     On January 13, we celebrated my mother’s birthday.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday, so we had a birthday lunch at my parent’s house.  I gave Mama two different menu options.  She chose Herbs de Provence Roasted chicken, Mashed Butternut Squash, and Sautéed Asparagus.  Everything was delicious and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the main dishes.  Her birthday cake is a different story.  I usually make Mama a chocolate cake for her birthday.  Remember these? Double Chocolate Layer Cake & Claire’s Dark Chocolate Cake.  She is not supposed to eat chocolate anymore so we had to come up with a different alternative.  Mama gave me a recipe for an apple cake, which I have made before.  The cake was supposed to bake for an hour, but after an hour and a half the cake tester still came out wet.  I gave it a little more time in the oven but was worried about burning the outside.  The recipe stated that the cake should cool completely in the pan.  I reasoned that it would continue to cook in the pan so I would go ahead and take it out.  This was a bad decision.  The cake also had a glaze that was supposed to be applied as soon as it came out of the oven.  After letting the cake cool for several hours, I decided to remove it from the bundt pan.  Bad decision number 2.  The cake fell apart completely and it wasn’t even cooked!  I stared down at a plate of uncooked, mushy, cake.  My first reaction was to scream but I instead held it together.  I tossed the whole cake, glaze and all, back into the mixer.  Then, I beat it until it held together like dough.  I then mashed it down into a 9- inch round cake pan and baked it for 30 minutes.  This apple cake now became twice-baked apple cake and it was delicious.  The cake was more dense and moist than what the original recipe would have been.  I am sure this is due to the glaze being baked inside the cake.  Astatically speaking, the birthday cake needed help.  I caramelized apples in a skillet with brown sugar and butter and then spread them on top of the cake.  The only reason I am not blogging about my twice-baked apple cake is because I do not have a concrete recipe to share.  Everything was a gamble and it happened to turn out in my favor.  Another birthday cake disaster averted!  Unlike the apple cake recipe, the mashed butternut squash recipe comes from the always reliable Ina Garten.  It was easy to make and tasted great!  Even the men in my life who don’t always care for “sweet” vegetables loved it!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

·         4 to 5 pounds butternut squash (2 small or 1 large)

·         3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         3 tablespoons coconut oil

·         ¼ cup brown sugar

·         2 teaspoons kosher salt

·         ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

·         ¼ cup almond milk

Directions

1.      Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Peel and cut the butternut squash into ¾ inch cubes.   Toss the squash with olive oil, coconut oil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.  Spread on a large sheet pan and roast for 40 minutes, flipping halfway through.  The squash should be very tender when pierced with a fork, but not browned.

2.      Transfer the roasted squash and any accumulated juices to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment.  Add the almond milk and beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until thoroughly combined and slightly fluffy.  Keep warm or reheat over a bowl of simmering water.  If reheating, add an additional ¼ cup of almond milk.  Serves 6.  

My mother is probably going to kill me but here are a few pictures from her birthday.  I was told not to publish any because she was "having a bad hair day."  

 

Mama with her birthday cake

 

The hubs and I

 

The whole family minus J.T. and Otis.  J.T. was taking the picture and Otis hates having his picture made.  

 

I told my parents I wanted a good picture made.  

This is what they gave me.  

The birthday girl wanted her picture made with her favorite grandson, Otis.  He wasn't having it.  I told you he was camera shy.  She was pointing at the camera trying to get him to focus.  That never happened.  

Shortbread Cookies

     You may remember that just a week or so before Christmas, I became very ill.  It was difficult to accept that my beloved Christmas cookie boxes would not be made or delivered this Christmas.  I managed to make a few at the beginning of December, but was waiting to pass out the rest of my cookie boxes as the big day approached.  No cookies this year L.  You see, I was going to make this recipe for shortbread cookies.  I had already done a trial run in late November and my parents and husband highly approved.  My cookie boxes and packing accessories were just waiting to be filled with freshly baked cookies.  I was so disappointed that I couldn’t bring these cookies to our family Christmas weekend, which fell the weekend before Christmas.  For a few days, J.T. and I, my parents, brother, and sister-in-law to be were able to gather under one roof to spend time together.  It was a fun weekend and I wish it happened more often.  I was able to make “Merry Belated Christmas/Happy New Year” cookies.  The only recipients of these tasty treats were my parents and husband…again.  I delivered a box of shortbread cookies to my parent’s house, the day before they returned home from a New Year’s trip.  I knew they would be surprised and delighted to receive them and they were.  The remaining cookies were given to my husband, because he eats dessert every night before bed – with ice cream.  Since J.T. actually helped me make the cookies (as you will see pictured below), it made eating them even more special.  Yes, he picked out teddy bear and “X” shaped cookie cutters. 

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

·         ¾ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

·         1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

·         3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

·         ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1.      In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until just combined.  Add the vanilla paste. 

2.      In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.  Mix the double until it comes together.  Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a disk.  Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

3.      Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick on a floured surface.  Cut out the cookies using your cookie cutter of choice.  Cookie cutters with minimal corners work best with this dough.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes (this will depend on the size of your cookies).  Watch the cookies very closely because they can brown quickly!   Yields about 30 cookies.  

Coconut Cake – Happy Birthday Daddy!

    Although I have no idea why, I hated coconut as a child.  My brother and mother were not big fans of it either, but my dad loved it.  Every year someone in our family makes my dad a coconut cake for his birthday.  Many years, my aunt would be the one to do this.  However, over the last few years, as my love of cooking and baking has grown, I have been the one to make coconut desserts for my dad.  Last year it was a coconut pie and the year before that it was a coconut sheet cake.  This year, I decided to try Ina Garten’s Coconut Cake – a double layer, butter cream frosted cake sprinkled with shredded coconut.  It was a hit.  My dad’s birthday falls the day after Christmas.  We normally have his favorite meal - my mother’s Hamburger Noodle Casserole, Tossed Salad, and Coconut Cake.  The hamburger noodle casserole is a far stretch from a healthy meal, which is the main reason Mama only makes it once a year.  It is made up of egg noodles, ground beef, onions, Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, tomato sauce, and smothered in shredded cheddar cheese.  Coconut Cake was a sweet way to end Dad’s Italian inspired birthday lunch. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

For the cake:

·         Coconut oil, for greasing the pans

·         ¾ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         2 cups sugar

·         5 large eggs, at room temperature

·         1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

·         3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon baking soda

·         ½ teaspoon kosher salt

·         1 cup milk

·         4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:

·         ½ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

·         1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

·         1 pound confectioners’ sugar

·         6 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1.      To make the cake:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9-inch cake pans with coconut oil.  Line each cake pan with parchment paper and brush the parchment paper with coconut oil.  Dust each parchment paper lined pan with flour.  Set aside.

2.      On medium-high speed, cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, about 4 minutes or until light and fluffy.  Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla bean paste.  With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix until the batter is just combined.  Fold in the coconut.  Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.  Bake for 30 to 35, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Leave the cakes in the pan to cool on a rack for 30 minutes.  Turn the cakes out of the pan and cool completely on rack.     

3.      To make the frosting:  In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla bean paste on low speed.  Very slowly, add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Do not whip the icing. 

4.      To assemble the cake:  Place one layer, top side down, on a flat plate.  Spread the frosting on evenly.  Place the second layer on top of the first layer, top side up.  Frost the top layer and the sides.  Gently press the coconut into the frosting.  Serve the cake at room temperature. 

Cook’s notes:  

·         You may use butter to grease the cake pans, instead of coconut oil.  

·         I used salted butter in the cake batter because that was all I had on hand at the time. 

·         Ina’s original recipe calls for both almond and vanilla extract.  I didn’t feel like paying $5.00 for a tiny bottle of almond extract, so I substituted vanilla bean paste instead.  Vanilla extract may be substituted for vanilla bean paste. 

·         Although I was very unsure about this particular ingredient, I used Bird’s Eye frozen shredded coconut.  I let the coconut defrost overnight in the refrigerator.  The ingredients on the bag were coconut and sugar, so I assumed it was sweetened coconut.  It worked out just fine.