Martha A. Cheves's Blog, page 104

Simple Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups confectioner's sugar
food coloring (optional)

Combine butter, cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl and beat well with an electric mixer until smooth and spreadable. Add a drop of food coloring and blend well into your frosting.

This is a good frosting to sprinkle with coconut. When I make a coconut cake using this frosting I frost the top of my bottom layer, add a heavy amount of coconut, frost the bottom of the next layer and place it on top of the coconut. This "glues" the two together and keeps it from slipping due to the amount of coconut.

Stir, Laugh, Repeat review by Deborah S. Hockenberry

Move over Rachel. Move over Paula. Make room for Martha Cheves! In her new cookbook, `Stir, Laugh, Repeat: Finding Joy While Playing In The Kitchen' there are easy meals for everybody and every tastebud.

In each recipe you'll find helpful tips plus stories about Martha's family, food testers and about Martha herself. Because of these humorous stories and kitchen tips, not only is `Stir, Laugh, Repeat: Finding Joy While Playing In The Kitchen' is also a great book to read!

All of Martha's recipes can be converted to any kind of diet that you might be on easily. I even found some that look like they would work in my crockpot. This cookbook is a must-have for anyone who either likes to cook or just eat!

Granola

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3 cups old fashion oats
1 cup Bran Buds
3 Cups Honey Nut Cherrios
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
3 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 pkg (6 oz.) dried cranberies
1 pkg (10.5 oz.) mini marshmallows
3/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  In a large bowl combine oats, bran buds, cherrios, brown sugar and coconut.  In a small bowl combine oil and syrup.  Pour over dry mixture and stir (I use my hands for this).  Pour onto 2 large cookie sheets with sides.  Bake 1 1/2 hrs. stirring every 15 minutes.  You want the coconut and pecans to become slightly toasted and pecans.  Pour 1 pan back into large bowl.  Sprinkle with the marshmallows.  Pour other the other pan on top of the marshmallows and toss while still warm.  Cool and break into pieces.  Store in covered dish or in plastic storage bags.

Changes - Add a few milk chocolate, peanut butter or white chocolate chips.  Change the nuts.  Add a little cinnamon to the mix. 

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Mini Pizza Cups

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This is another dish from my Hormel Early Christmas Party.  These are made simply from using the following:

Wontons
Pizza Sauce
Hormel Turkey Pepperoni
Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place your wontons in small muffin tins.  Add 1 tsp. of pizza sauce, pepperoni and then cheese.  Bake about 10 minutes or until cheese has melted and wontons have browned lightly.

The list of changes to this dish is as long as your imagination.  You can add mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, just about anything that you might enjoy eating on your pizza.  These are perfect served hot as well as at room temperature.

Cheese Spreads using Hormel Bacon and Ham

The cheese spreads I made for my Hormel Christmas Party were very simple and can be changed in a number of ways to fit your own taste.  Here is the basic recipe:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
Hot sauce, to taste, optional
8-10 butter crackers, crumbled
Hormel Ham or Bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix mayonnaise, shredded cheese, cream cheese and hot sauce.  Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.  Spread mixture into dish.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until cheese has melted and dish is bubbly.  Sprinkle with crumbs and ham or bacon.  Serve hot or room temperature.

[image error] Changes can be made by thinking with your taste buds.  Add dehydrated, chopped onions; garlic; mushrooms; dill weed; or maybe some chopped green onions.  Change up the topping by using crushed cheese crackers instead of butter crackers.  You can even add the ham or bacon in with the cheese instead of sprinkling over the crackers.  Or leave the crackers off completely and decorate with chopped olives for a holiday look.  A Fun Recipe!

Iron Foodie 2010 Contest

                                                                       I'm entering the Iron Foodie 201 contest sponsored by Marx Foods and Foodie BlogRoll.  This sounds like a really fun contest.  There will be 25 challengers selected to participate and I plan to be one of them.  Here is what I have to do 1st.

1) - I have to answer a few questions.

 Q. Why do I want to compete in this challenge?
 A.  I love a good challenge, especially when it comes to food.  One of my favorite things to do is create new dishes or take complicated recipes and make them simple.

 Q.  Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would I like to spend the day in and why?  Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antonie Careme or The Swedish Chef?
 A.  This is a tough one to answer.  I admire Julia Child for her determination to break into a world normally dominated by men.  Thomas Keller who started as a cook and followed his dream to own some of the best restaurants in America.  Ferran Adria for his application of science to the culinary world.  James Beard for awarding the best of the best.  Marie-Antoine Careme for her contribution to the dessert world and The Swedish Chef for adding humor that sparks the interest of cooking in children.  Now for my answer.  I would choose Julia Child.  She strikes me as one who would laugh at mistakes I might make while being taught by someone as great as she was.  She is what I would call a "real person."

 Q.  What morsel am I most likely to swipe form family and friends' plates when they aren't looking?
 A.   There are actually several answers to this one.  If you have anything coconut on your plate you better guard it from me.  If you have shrimp on your plate you better guard it.  And if you have anything with melted cheese on your plate you better take the plate with you wherever you go.

 Q.  Sum up your childhood in one meal.
 A.  Thanksgiving dinner!  My mother would spend the week before making cakes and pies.  I would see them sitting around the kitchen wanting so badly to pinch a bite.  When the day would finally come I would spend the whole day "balancing" my food so I could eat all day.  The dressing and gravy were my favorite.  And the potato salad, green beans and sweet potatoes.  That was the favorite time of the year for me when it came to food.  

 Q.  The one mainstream food I can't stand.
 A.  No problem answering this question.  I HATE LIVER!  If someone wanted to torture me, feed me liver.  I actually sat at the kitchen table for a whole day because I wouldn't eat my liver.  No matter how you prepare it, I don't want it!

So, cross your fingers and say a prayer or two and hope I'll be one of the 25 chosen to participate in the Iron Foodie 2010 Contest.  I've tried and even worked up a few recipes for Marx Foods' mushrooms.  Through the contest, Marx Foods will send 8 secret ingredients of which 3 must be used to create my signature dish.

Wish me luck!  And while you're at it, visit the Marx Foods and the Foodie Blogroll sites.
                                                                     

Root Beer Float Cake

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Ok, here is the recipe for the Root Beer Float Cake that I made for my Hormel Christmas party. 

1 yellow cake mix (18 1/4 oz.)
1 1/2 cups root beer (I used Uncle Scott's Root Beer)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients and beat with electric mixer until smooth.  Pour into your choice of pans that have been sprayed with non-stick spray.  (I used 2 small rectangle pans making 2 small sheet type cakes but you can use a Bundt pan.  Just make sure you adjust the cooking time for the pan.  You can find use the suggested time listed on the cake mix box.)

Icing:

1 carton (7 oz.) marshmallow cream
1/4 cup root beer

Mix together until smooth.  I iced my cakes while they were barely warm allowing a little of the icing to soak into the cake.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This recipe was sent to me by Suzanne Ramsey from Uncle Scott's Root Beer.  The only change I made was to the icing.  Her icing called for 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 3 Tbsp. root beer and 2-3 drops of vanilla.  She made hers in a Bundt can and poked holes in the top of the cake allowing the glaze to seep into the cake.  When I made up my icing I thought about the flavors in a root beer float. You have the vanilla as well as the root beer.  Since marshmallow cream has a vanilla flavor I decided to use that as my icing base hoping the root beer would give me the flavor I was looking for.  It worked!  When you take a bite of this cake you can pick up both flavors... vanilla and root beer.  For the Christmas theme I sprinkled one cake with red and green sprinkles.  The other cake I sprinkled with finely chopped pecans. 

One of the authors I done reviews for, Aggie Villanueva, sent her favorite Root Beer Float recipe to go with one of her reviews.  In her recipe she added chopped pecans, a little cinnamon and chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.  This sounds like a delicious combination and can easily be added to this cake by adding just a little cocoa powder to the marshmallow icing and then sprinkling the iced cake with a little cinnamon and the chopped pecans. 

Early Christmas Party

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Thanks to Foodbuzz and Hormel, I had a Christmas Party on Halloween Day.  I had originally thought about having a Halloween Party but thought my recipes using some of  the Hormel products would be more useful with the Christmas holidays coming up. 

I'll start with the bottom right corner and going clockwise.  The cake is a recipe that came from Uncle Scott's Root Beer which is actually bottled here in NC.  The cake's recipe came from the company but the icing is one I created myself.  Watch for my post later for Root Beer Float Cake.  Next, bottom left, are my Ham & Mushroom Finger Sandwiches.  This is using Hormel ham and the recipe was posted last week.  To find this recipe, scroll down or type the sandwich name in the search above.  Just above the sandwiches you'll find a Peppercorn Hormel Tenderloin.  This was baked according to the package.  Before plating I sliced and inserted mushrooms between the slices.  Above the tenderloin you'll find 2 spreads.  One is topped using Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon, the other is topped with chopped Hormel Ham.  The recipe for this spread will be posted later and will be called Bacon Topped Cheese Spread.  Next, going up, you'll see my Mini Pizza Cups using Hormel's Turkey Pepperoni.  If you like thin crust pizza, you'll love these.  This recipe will also be posted later.  Directly across from the Pizza Cups are Mini cups made with leftover filling used in my Ham & Mushroom Sandwiches.  I'll include the directions for these when I post the Mini Pizza Cup recipe.

[image error] All dishes are so simple to make.  All ingredients are commonly found in most kitchens, no specialty ingredients.  They can all be made in advance and served at room temperature.  So, how did it go over with my guests?  I will say that I have very few leftovers and the rankings from 1 - 10 were all ABOVE 10.  My last report came in as an 11 so I would say all dishes were a hit.

Simple Dark Chocolate Frosting

18 oz. (1 12 oz. pkg plus 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
a pinch of salt

Place chocolate chips in a medium size metal bowl or pan. In a sauce pan bring cream just to a boil over medium heat. Pour hot cream over chocolate chips and add butter and salt. Whisk until the chips are melted and the frosting is sooth and spreadable. Cool until barely warm before frosting your cake.