A Tale of Poo and Potatos

I realize it's not particularly appetizing to talk about food and poop at the same time. But I now have an unfortunate association with the two and it goes a little something like this...

I have never in my entire life eaten a sweet potato pie, err should I say a piece of sweet potato pie. Robins husband brought me some HUGE sweet potato's from his families farm in northern Indiana. Being that I love to bake pies I thought here was the perfect opportunity...he brought 4 potatoes and they were large enough that one potato yielded 2 cups mashed!

I'm sure I have mentioned this before, but we have a little family business (an art gallery) and it's in an old historic house. We have a kitchen in the back of the house that's not part of the gallery, but it makes for some fun afternoons when it's slow and we can cook something. OK, now that that's out of the way you see how it is that I am cooking at work. So I fix the pie, put it in the oven and then someone came in the gallery. He asked me if he could use the bathroom. CRAP (no pun intended). I HATE letting strangers use the bathroom but can't seem to say no, or tell them we don't have one. Lesson learned the hard way today. I pointed to the hall where the restroom is and he practically ran ....great, this was looking bad. I won't go into all the gorey (explosive) details, but lets just say that I no longer have a taste for sweet potato pie.

WHY COULDN'T I BE BAKING A KEY LIME PIE INSTEAD!!!!!!

-Shelly

Crust (this is out of the 1950's Betty Crocker Cookbook)

3/4 stick of cold butter

1 cup flour

3 Tablespoons water (adjust if needed)

I just use a pastry cutter until everything is incorporated and starts to stick. Roll in a ball and put on a floured surface. Roll out...makes a 9" pie crust.

Pie Filling

2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Mix together mashed sweet potatoes, butter or margarine, and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and salt. Mix in spices if desired. Add to sweet potato mixture and stir well.
Mix together buttermilk and baking soda. Add to sweet potato mixture and stir well. Mix in vanilla extract. Pour filling into pastry shell.
Bake in preheated oven for 70 minutes, until set in center.

It's "Orchard" time again!

It's that time of year when we head down to the Apple Orchard for what else...apples, and wonderful preserves. Here is some tasty peach butter...perfect on warm biscuits.

Nashville Indiana: Hobnob Corner Restaurant

Here in the Hoosier State every fall a large number of people trek down to Nashville Indiana. Nashville is a rustic and historic little village that sits in Brown County. There are loads of charming little shops, art galleries, and the fall foliage is absolutely stunning! One of the must do things in the village is to go to The Hobnob Corner Restaurant. The building was orginally a dry goods grocery and sundries store built in 1868 I can't say that I've ever eaten anything other than dessert there but the Ice Cream Sunday is a must! It's huge, so best to split it, or as evident from the after pic you can only eat so much of it! Or if you want to skip lunch and just eat ice cream you could maybe polish it off...but it's huge!

Twinkie-Misu Recipe!

Thanks Lyndz! Here is the recipe for Twinkie-Misu.

Twinkie-Misu

1 box (containing 10) Hostess Twinkies

¼ cup strongly brewed coffee or espresso, cooled

¼ cup Kahlua (may substitute additional strong coffee or espresso)

½ gallon coffee (or coffee and chocolate) ice cream, softened slightly

½ cup bittersweet chocolate, coarsely grated chocolate shavings or sprinkles

Slice each Twinkie in half lengthwise. Line a 8½- by 4½-inch loaf pan lengthwise with two 18-inch-long sheets of plastic wrap, overlapping the sheets slightly in the center of the pan and letting the excess plastic wrap hang over all sides.

Place 5 Twinkie halves, cream side up, crosswise in the pan. Mix together coffee and Kahlua. Using a pastry brush, generously apply some of the coffee mixture to the cut side of each Twinkie. Spoon about a ½-inch layer of softened ice cream over the Twinkies. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of grated chocolate. Arrange another 5 Twinkie halves on top of the chocolate, cream side up, brush with coffee and top with another ½-inch layer of ice cream and another 2 tablespoons of chocolate. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, finishing with a layer of ice cream. Smooth the top, pressing down firmly. Pan should be filled to just above the rim. Fold plastic wrap over top of cake. Freeze for at least 8 hours.

To serve, carefully unfold the plastic wrap from the top of the cake and use it to lift the cake out of the pan and carefully invert the Twinkie-misu onto a platter. Remove and discard the plastic wrap. Sprinkle top with chocolate shavings and serve with mocha fudge sauce.

Mocha Fudge Sauce (Makes 2 cups ) 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream 2 1/2 tablespoons Kahlua, or to taste Pinch of salt In a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the brown sugar, corn syrup and espresso powder to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the cream, Kahlua and salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Blue Food

Did you know there really is no such thing as Blue Food? Even though Steak-in-Shake restaurant would have you believe otherwise. George Carlin once said that if you find a really true blue food you will have found the key to eternal life. Even blueberries are not really blue. Ever make a blueberry smoothie? It's purple.

Here's another thing to ponder? Why is artificially flavored raspberry "food" colored blue? Ever get a Dairy Queen rasberry Mr. Misty or eat a rasberry otterpop when you were a kid? YIKES!

Wait....what about blue cheese?

The White Trash Expo

A few weeks ago we girls from the Vin Kitch had a little clothing swap party. It was fantastic! We got a group of girls together to clean out their closets and bring over some "white trash" food. What could be more perfect...shopping and not spending any money and eating junk food. Truth be told it was only perfect while we were doing it... one should never consume this much processed food in one sitting...ohhhh tummy ache. This was hands down my favorite, it was so tasty I would have never guessed what the "white trash" ingredient was....we give you Lyndsey's "Twinkiemisu"!
Next we had "Hostess Kabobs"

and what is a white trash fest without some spam and cheese? Two wonderfully bad casseroles from Becky and Amy. One filled with Mac & Cheese and SPAM the other a mix of frozen mixed veggies, cheese, sausage and all kinds of other "garbage".


We also had some beenie weenies, Cheetos, moon pies, Frito's and bean dip, and some sort of spray cheese. OH and I must not forget there was a can of Vienna Sausages...these were eaten strictly on dares.

Simple is Sometimes Best

It's summer and still a little on the hot side, so who really wants to kill themselves cooking. I am so lazy that when I cooked my pasta, the last few minutes I tossed the green beans in with it. They stayed on the top and I just rinsed when when they were done. All fresh foods from the farmers market...fresh green beans, fresh tomato's, fresh basil and fresh chicken cutlets right off the vine! Har har har....I keed I keed. But what could be more simple than dredging a chicken breast pounded out through seasoned flour and cooking it in a little olive oil. Salt and pepper on the platter, grate a little fresh Parmesan cheese over your pasta and there you have it, simple and delicious!

Susan Branch and Her Stove

Author and artist Susan Branch not only has the most charming little books with lovely recipes, apparently her homes ooz charm as well. I only have one of her books, the Autumn book, I found it at Half Price Books. Is that not the greatest store on earth ( next to IKEA that is) . It's pumpkins, comfort food, and fantastic little watercolors. I thought I would check out her website and I urge you to do the same, her photos are full of all things home.

My grandmother had a stove very similar to Susan's, if the world were right there would be new stoves that look just like these gems.

Did I mention she also lives in my dream house? If "The Secert" reallllly works, Susan is mailing me the keys to this house as we speak! ;)

-Shelly