Katharyn's Baby Shower Cake

Consider this a picture post. The icing job above is not my best work. I transported many items to work for the shower, and, in the process, wasn't careful with the cake. Also, next time I will be sure to have extra icing to line the bottom.  You live and learn.  And I live and blog to remember these things.  :)

I tried a new recipe - an Ina Garten recipe, Beatty's Chocolate Cake.  With 1,062 reviews and 5 stars on the Food Network site, how can one go wrong?! 

I followed the recipe exactly except I omitted the egg yolk in the icing. (I was not about to feed a pregnant woman raw egg.  It can certainly be omitted.)  Coffee is the secret ingredient and, like in the reviews, even people who don't like coffee raved about the cake.  Super moist.  SUPER rich.

This is my cake topper.  I can thank google images for the inspiration.  The miniature clothespins are easy to find at Michaels.  I sketched out the basic designs myself.

Of course you will recognize the "Mother Daughter Tea" punch.  Katharyn's favorite.

 

My lovely coworker/co-hostesses surrounding the mom-to-be....

On a side note:  I often say how blessed and lucky I am.  It is true.  This week made me realize how everything can change in a matter of minutes and how quickly it all can be taken away.  Thanks to all my friends and family who checked on me and I ask you continue to keep the storm victims in your thoughts and prayers.  My heart goes out to those suffering and mourning the lost of loved ones.  No words on a blog can possibly describe how I feel....

3 Pictures Tell So Much

1. This is how I bake without Lance and Julie.  I make a MESS. I always have.  I am not sure why.  

Note: This is only one side of my kitchen.  

2. This is a glimpse into one side of my baking cabinet (yes, that is a tub of lard).  It is official I am a baker...

3. ... not a cook!  (Don't get too worried.  I have been eating out. A LOT.) 

Southern Biscuits and Gravy (OMG)

Southern Biscuits and Gravy - Alton Brown Style

Tonight we decided to start labeling our favorite recipes.  This recipe qualifies.  Keep reading.  And try this recipe.  You won't be sorry.  It doesn't take long and is worth it.   

 We wouldn't change the recipe one bit  (but if you did have less sausage, that would work).  You start by making the biscuits.  The list of ingredients for the biscuits are below. While they are baking for 20 minutes, you can complete the sausage gravy.

Southern Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons shortening

1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.)

Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. ("Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life," straight from Alton Brown.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes. 

 

 ....onto the Gravy.....

Sawmill Gravy

Ingredients:

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage (we determined this could be less) 

1/4 c flour 

2 cups milk 

Salt and pepper

Here I am hard at work cooking sausage in a cast iron skillet. When done, remove sausage from pan and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat. We barely had 2 T so we added a little butter.

 

Whisk away.  Whisk flour into the fat and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in milk a little at a time.

Return to medium-high heat and stir occasionally while the gravy comes to a simmer and thickens. (Be sure to scrape up any brown bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan, that's where the flavor is.) Check seasoning, add crumbled sausage and serve over our WONDERFUL biscuits.

 Wallah - the final result.  This was the best recipe we have done in some time.  We will be doing it again!

Mac and Cheese

Tonight Julie and I aim to perfect a "Southern Classic"...Mac N Cheese. We scoured over many recipes and chose the two below.   I think most can agree...it is hard to mess up mac n cheese.  It depends on your preference and what you are serving at your meal. If we had to choose, I think we would prefer recipe 1. This time we split the recipes in half.  And you can, too.  It might be something we continue to do in the future.

Recipe 1:  Mac and Cheese Edna Lewis Adaption 
2 cups elbow macaroni
Salt
2 1/2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese (cubed)

2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2/3 cup sour cream

2 eggs - lightly beaten

1/3 cup grated onion

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 1/2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

It is hard to tell below but the cubed cheese along with the macaroni gives it an extra cheesy goodness.  This sharp cheddar from Cabot (Costco) was the way to go!

Nutmeg.  Labeled "for use in macaroni and cheese and quiche."  Who knew?  Ok, I believe Julie and Lance knew (but not me).

We read some reviews saying it was "soupy."

And though it appears to be...

It really was perfect...

The key is letting it sit for 10 or so minutes.  It congeals.   Does this look amazing or what?  By this time the kitchen smelled fabulous!

Recipe 2: Ina Garten Mac and Cheese

Kosher salt
Vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small) - PEELED ;)
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

Julie and Lance don't just do bread crumbs.  They made their own bread (the day before) and made crumbs from that.  Things are homemade at the Smith Kitchen.

I do like the presentation of this mac and cheese.  The tomatoes are a great twist.  Due to some tomato plants Julie found at Costo this week, you may be seeing more tomato recipes soon!

Topped with bread crumbs...also another nice touch!

Walla...

Result:

We enjoyed both recipes.  Both were so different.  I personally liked the first one (and I think that was overall consensus) but Julie made a great point.  When put with the right menu, the second one could certainly be ideal.  The first recipe is cheaper due to the Gruyere cheese you have to purchase for the second recipe.   

If you have a recipe particularly dear to your heart, let us know.  We are still open to new recipes.  We may be eating mac and cheese for a few days, however.  Thanks to Julie and her salad I didn't feel TOO bad about eating it for dinner!

Happy π (PI) Day

HAPPY PI DAY!

Today, we celebrate Pi Day.  Yes, it is 3.14 aka March 14th.  My office is special.  We are geeks...and proud of it. 

Shelly was super creative, as usual!

Notice the green for St. Patty's Day thrown in? 

Oh, and that is my quiche in the back...it is spinach so it is green!

Sarah's decorative cookie pie!

In case you were wondering, no, I didn't make a legit pie this year.  I gave up sweets for lent.  I know, might sound crazy but I thought this year would be easier than the rest (been busy and distracted so my appetite disappears).   But this day made it a challenge!

However, I DID participate by baking a quiche.  It was my first attempt and I did not record it.  It was disaster...partly because I was on a 3 way call (trying to remember to mute during parts of it) and partly because I have a broken blender that was gushing raw egg.

I want to try again...so stay tuned!



Operation O'Carrs

What do you get when you add:

-hours of internet searching

-2 return trips to my house

-one additional trip to the grocery store (thanks Lance!)

-lots and lots of chicken

-"sweetness"

-lots of herb deliberation

-too many pecans

-LOTS of taste testing

and

-delirious singing of Camp Anawanna and reminiscing theme songs and other 90's tunes

.....Operation O'Carrs

I truly believe my mother didn't know of another Birmingham restaurant for years after I moved here.  I don't want to think of how many lbs of their chicken salad I've consumed.  I've had lots of great memories at O'Carrs.  Julie and I went on a quest to recreate the chicken salad. And while I don't think we matched it exactly, we got pretty darn close.  

Our journey started after my MIS class and their parenting class 5:00 Saturday night.  So, needless to say, it had been a long day for us all!

I bought a tub of the chicken salad so we could analyze what was inside.  It was confirmed that dill (dillweed as carol and I call it) is the herb of choice.  

There was no doubt the chicken salad had to be processed in the food processor (not sooo appetizing).  We are not sure how they got to that point so we boiled our chicken in some salt and paprika.  

 It most definitely contains grapes.  That was easy...

 Note: The container to the left is the store purchased and to the right is our creation.

Looking good... 

If we did stumble upon a killer recipe, we could make a killer profit.

Our final guestimation:

Julie and Shelley's Take on O'Carr's Chicken Salad

2 c. boiled chicken, chopped in processor

1tsp dill

1/4 c. grapes

1/8 c. chopped pecans

4 pinches paprika

2 oz cream cheese

3 T mayo

1 tsp honey

2 pinches salt

And while we didn't have fancy fruit, we did have fancy THEMED (aren't I good) crackers?

 Walla...

This is Lance's taste test. HILARIOUS.  The above plate had 2 of our recipes on it, along with the original.  By that time we had eaten SO MUCH of it, we knew.  After what I eat in the frig...I will probably NOT be eating any chicken salad for awhile (and darn if I don't have another O'Carrs Groupon waiting to be used)!

It is ALWAYS a fun time and great adventures cooking/baking at the Smith house!

***Update***
On July 22, 2012, I tried a cheesecake recipe similar to the O'Carr's recipe.  Click here to visit the blogpost.