Irish Soda Bread

Four days in Ireland was all it took to make me fall in love with "the green island." I wasn't even there during the beautiful, more tourist-season months, but I thought the land gorgeous and the people extremely friendly. I went for a few days over spring break during my college freshman year and met up with my friend Sara, who is known for her international travel shenanigans.

Sara -who is even smaller than I am- and I hitch-hiked, took buses and trains, walked, and even took a ferry during our European adventure and, amazingly, we both made it back to the US unscathed. Although there were definitely some mishaps, like wandering around the boat dock on a wet and cold night for over an hour trying to figure out how to get to the entrance of the boat and while trying hold on to way too much luggage, including a banjo. Not gonna lie, I think we might have cried in frustration and exhaustion at some point.

However insane parts of our trip were, I look back on it and smile, especially when it comes to soda bread. Every where we went, there was always soda bread and soup on the menu. Soda bread is wonderful when fresh out of the oven and spread with real butter (don't even think about degrading this wonderful bread with such an atrocity as margarine).

The weather here in Kentucky has been cold and wet the past few days, so it put me to craving some Irish soda bread, which I happily made with the little two-year old boy that I babysit. It turned out great and can even be considered good for you -if you don't smother it with butter and a good amount of orange marmalade.

Irish Soda Bread

*yes, I know "real" Irish soda bread has buttermilk or sour milk, but the plain yogurt really works well in this. All of you die-hard Irish soda bread purists, please forgive me.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups bread flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup wheat bran

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 425°F. Place a baking sheet in the oven to preheat.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, bran, baking soda and salt. Using a pastry blender or your own two hands, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the yogurt and stir to blend, forming a rough ball. The dough will start rising as soon as the baking soda comes in contact with the yogurt, so work quickly to form the dough. Knead the dough for 30 seconds or so to ensure that everything is mixed in.

Take baking sheet out of the oven (or ask someone else to do it for you, since your hands will be covered in dough). Form the dough into a dome and place on baking sheet, then sprinkle the dough with flour, spreading the flour lightly over the surface. Using a sharp knife, cut a shallow X in the loaf from one side to the other.

Bake until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm. Any leftover bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for a week, but mine never lasts that long.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch, by Georgeanne Brennan, Elinor Klivans, Jordan Mackay and Charles Pierce (Oxmoor House, 2007).

With Chocolate and Strawberries, Who Needs Diamonds?

I met Bekah in college when she needed a ride to church and she, through a mutual friend, heard that I had extra seats in my reliable, adorable Honda CRV (I love my car, can you tell?). Bekah and I quickly became friends, but it wasn't until she began dating one of the guys in my friend-group, Ben, that we really got to know each other. She is definitely the spunkiest, friendliest, Spanish-speaking, God-fearing, Pennsylvania girl I have ever met.

Also, I must say: just the other week, Ben got down on one knee and asked Bekah to marry him.

*Congratulations, Ben and Bekah, you two are perfect for each other.*

I say all that in order to introduce my Strawberry Chocolate Cobbler that Bekah and I made, and quite possibly perfected. We usually go to her sister's late-night get-together on Tuesdays, but it was cancelled one week, so we thought strawberries and chocolate sounded like the perfect substitute. I would say it might be better than being in love, but I have a feeling Bekah would disagree. However, it is the perfect combination of textures and flavors: a moist cake layer that almost feels like a brownie, chocolate-saturated strawberries, and a hot fudge-like chocolate layer on the bottom. Bekah and I agreed: when served with vanilla ice cream, it is absolutely divine.

Strawberry Chocolate Cobbler

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar, divided

1 cup self-rising flour (1 cup AP flour+1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder+1/2 teaspoon salt)

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, plus 3 tablespoons

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pint washed, hulled, and sliced fresh strawberries, divided

1 cup boiling water

Vanilla ice cream for serving (really, it just makes the dish, you really will want the ice cream)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the butter in an 8 by 8-inch baking dish and put the dish in the oven until butter is melted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and set aside. In a medium bowl combine 2/3 cup of the sugar, the flour, and 2 tablespoons cocoa. Add the milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Pour over the melted butter in the baking dish. In a separate medium bowl, combine the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar, remaining 3 tablespoons of cocoa, half of the strawberries; sprinkle evenly over the sugar mixture. Slowly pour boiling water over top of the cobbler. Bake until top of the cobbler looks set, about 40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream and sprinkled with the other half of the strawberries.

Adapted from Paula Dean's Chocolate Pecan Toffee Cobbler

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chocolate-pecan-cobbler-recipe/index.html)

Clafouti

On a lazy Saturday afternoon, as I was folding laundry and thinking about other boring household chores and such, there was a knock on my door and and a little girl's voice asking if I was going to make anything that evening. By "make anything," she meant if I were going to bake or cook. I hadn't planned on it, but then I remembered this simple clafouti recipe just waiting to be tried.

*fyi, I live with the family for which I babysit, which explains why a little girl was knocking on my bedroom door*

The first time I heard about clafouti was in a McCormick cook book that, in my opinion, is not a very good cook book for recipes, but it gave me a lot of ideas and helped me with the basics. Since I had never had clafouti and did not trust the recipe in my book, I looked online for a simple recipe that I could use.

I found out that a clafouti is somewhere between a cake and a custard, reminds people of French toast, and can have pretty much include any kind of fruit you want. It reminded me of an easy cobbler. So yeah, cake, custard, French toast, cobbler. How can you go wrong? I am pretty sure you could eat it as a yummy breakfast, as well as a dessert.

I decided upon Alton Brown's recipe for a dutch oven, but I used a souffle dish. The first time I made it, it came out well, but I am a big fan of the custard-y, cake-like stuff, so the next time I made it, I halved the amount of fruit in it. I served it with organic, vanilla yogurt. Below is the recipe for the second time:

Ingredients

6 ounces fresh or frozen cherries, strawberries or blueberries (I used blueberries).

Perhaps try apples baked with brown sugar,

peaches, or even apricots or pears (canned or fresh)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Add cinnamon and/or nutmeg?

2-3 tablespoons butter, for the dish

Directions

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F

Butter the bottom and sides of your dish. If using fresh fruit, rinse, stem and pit the. If using frozen, place the fruit into a colander and allow to thaw completely before using. Discard the juice. Spread the fruit evenly over the bottom of the Dutch oven.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy and lightened in color. Add the milk, vanilla and flour and whisk to combine. Pour the batter over the cherries.

Bake on the middle rack, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the Dutch oven, slicing and serving.

Fancy-Feeling, But Simple Breakfast

Mmmmm. That's all I have to say about this.

Granola bread slathered with plain Greek yogurt and drizzled with honey.

Complex carbs and fiber, protein and calcium, and yumminess. Oh, and the apple too, just to get a fruit in there.

I felt so European while I was eating my breakfast this morning. Like I should be in the French country side watching the sunrise and reading the newspaper. Being in the middle of Kentucky's rolling hills at 8am is good enough though.

I got the idea and the bread recipe for this from the blog www.proofofthepudding.wordpress.com's October 27, 2008 posting.

It's a no-knead bread, which I don't quite understand the point of, since kneading is my favorite part of making bread. Also, no-knead bread takes just as long as, or longer than, traditional kneaded breads, so the point of it really makes no sense to me. Oh well, this bread tastes delicious!

Anyway, Proof of the Pudding originally had this bread with ricotta cheese and honey, but I don't have any ricotta cheese in the house and Greek yogurt seemed much healthier.

Granola Bread

Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and www.proofofthepudding.wordpress.com

2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated yeast

1/2 cup honey

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granola (any kind, I used my homemade stuff I had on hand)

Neutral-tasting oil for greasing the pan

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

In a 5-quart bowl or lidded container, mix together the water, yeast, honey, oil, cinnamon and salt. Stir well.

Mix in the flours and granola without kneading, using a wooden spoon. You may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

Cover the container — not airtight — and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, about 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after this first rise, but it is easier to handle when it’s cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.

On baking day, grease a 9″x5″ (or 8″x4″) nonstick loaf pan (it is important to use nonstick, as the dough is very wet). Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and divide into two equal pieces. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

In other words, take each of the 4 the corners of the dough and fold them into the middle, look it up on youtube if you are still confused (I did).

Stretch the ball into an oval shape about the length of the pan and drop into the prepared pan. Allow to rest for 1 hour and 40 minutes (or 1 hour if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 375F.

Right before baking the bread, brush the top with the egg wash and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of granola, if you would like. Place the bread in the center of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until richly browned and firm. You may need to cover the loaf with aluminum foil to prevent the granola topping from burning. When done, the bread will sound hollow when tapped and the internal temperature will be ~205F.

Allow to cool completely before slicing. Serve in thick hunks, covered with plain Greek yogurt and drizzled with honey.

Yield: 2 loaves worth of dough, although the recipe can easily be halved

Shoe Tying Cake

Mmmm, chocolate cake for 4-6 people. Yum.

No left overs, so no temptation to eat it for breakfast the next day (that may seem sad, but your body will thank you if you go for the oatmeal rather than the cake).

What was the occasion? Well, it was a very important week in the life of the little girl I babysit -she learned how to tie her shoes all by herself! To celebrate, she and I made a chocolate cake. She has been asking for one for the past 3 months or so, so it seemed fitting to finally make one in honor of such a milestone.

This was my first time frosting a cake and I wasn't really in the mood for a heavy butter cream frosting, so I made a whipped cream frosting. It added a cool and light touch to the cake, since the cake was a little dense (it probably would have fared very well with a butter cream, actually).

I am forever in search of the lightest cake ever, one that simply melts in your mouth and you barely know it's on your tongue. I believe I will try a chiffon cake next time in an attempt to achieve my cake nirvana. I spent probably half an hour reading up on chiffon cakes today. Who knew that they have only been around a few decades? Some guy in California came up with them. They are supposedly a mix between a sponge cake and an angel food cake. I am excited.

Let me know if you need a cake for a party, it will give me the perfect excuse to try a chiffon cake. Oh, and please buy me a bundt pan to make it in.

Tastes Like a Restaurant

Leaving Florida and it's delicious seafood is always hard, so I decided to make my own seafood dish. The original recipe for this, by Ina Garten, is supposed to feed 6 people, but I doubled the shrimp and still feel like it only feeds 4. Maybe that's just the seafood-lover in me.

This recipe comes together so quickly (20-25 minutes), is super yummy, and would totally be a legit dish to serve to guests. After getting home from the gym last night, I only had 45 minutes to eat and get dressed up for a party. I was able to make this, eat, and still have a full 12 minutes to get dressed and put on make-up. Definitely a winning recipe to me.

I boiled the water for the pasta while putting together the butter and defrosting the shrimp. By the time I finished the butter and prepping the shrimp, I put the pasta in the boiling water at the same time I put the shrimp dish in the oven. With about 4 minutes left on the pasta, I tossed in some frozen green beans into the pasta and boiling water. As a result, the shrimp, pasta, and green beans were all ready at the same time.

This dish went perfectly with the homemade carrot cupcakes and mascarpone icing that I had made earlier in the day (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/carrot-cupcakes-with-mascarpone-icing.html)

Shrimp Scampi, adapted from Ina Garten

Serves 4

Ingredients

40 jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined (I used frozen, pre-cooked, so I just defrosted them)

3 tablespoons good olive oil (really, why would you buy anything but GOOD olive oil?)

2 tablespoons dry white wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon wet garlic

1/4 cup minced shallots

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1/4 teaspoon crushed rosemary

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 large egg yolk

2/3 cup bread crumbs

fresh green beans and linguini, for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil, wine, salt, and pepper to taste. Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the softened butter with the garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, and bread crumbs until combined.

Starting from the outer edge of a 14-inch oval gratin dish, arrange the shrimp in a single layer. Pour the remaining marinade over the shrimp. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until hot and bubbly. If you like the top browned, place under a broiler for 1 minute. Serve with fresh, blanched green beans and whole grain linguine for a delicious, fairly nutritious meal.

Dutch Apple Pancake for One

Due to the fact that I woke up late and decided to work out in the morning today, I didn't have breakfast until 1:30pm. That means it is now 3:30pm and I am ready for a light lunch. An apple pancake sounds perfect on this cold and overcast Sunday afternoon. It is still in oven as I write this, but it is puffing up perfectly. I will add a picture when it take it out, then I will proceed to read The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge in my over-sized armchair/rocking chair. I might fall asleep though, so coffee might be in my immediate future too.

Before baking

After baking =)

Dutch Apple Pancake for One. Adapted from William-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 apple

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 flour

1 tablespoon wheat germ*completely optional, can be substituted for oat bran or milled flax seed

Dash of salt

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 400F.

In a small fry pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the apple, cinnamon and granulated sugar and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the apple begins to soften and brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Set aside.

In a bowl, using a whisk, beat the egg. Add the milk and whisk until blended. Sift the flour, wheat germ, and salt into the egg mixture and whisk until just blended.

Place the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in a small cast iron skillet or oven-proof fry pan and place in the oven until melted (my oven was still pre-heating at this point). Once butter is melted, take pan out and whisk the egg mixture into the pan. Arrange the apple slices evenly on top. {Place back into the oven and bake until the pancake is browned and puffed up, 15 to 20 minutes (mine only took 15, but my oven cooks everything faster than any other oven I have seen). Dust with confectioners sugar or drizzle with agave nectar and serve immediately.

All ready to eat =)

Homemade Complex Carbohydrates

This morning I taught Chris, the cutest two year old in the world, how to swim. Well, at least, the first part of swimming: being comfortable in the water and kicking. Afterwards, I decided that I just couldn't wait until the weekend to try making homemade bread, so I stopped at Kroger and bought some bread flour and active dry yeast. After the rapid rise yeast fiasco with the cinnamon goop, I wasn't taking any chances.

Even with it being my first time making bread, this is absolutely delicious. I couldn't help but sneak a slice before dinner time -it smelled way too good! The honey subtly flavors the bread and makes it just the perfect amount of sweet.

I ate it for dinner as a vanilla-almond-honey sandwich tonight (mix almond butter with vanilla extract, spread on bread, drizzle with honey). If I had the time to bake this every week, I might consider never buying store-bought bread again. Also, it was very easy, which is good, since I was quite scared to attempt anything with yeast again, just in case I happened to waste perfectly good flour and such like I did with the cinnamon goop.

I received this recipe from Grace, one of my hall moms on First Glide at Asbury University. She and Judy are one of the many reasons why Asbury is such a priceless experience. They truly love us First Glide girls. One of my favorite Asbury memories is the First Glide Brunch that they would host every year. So much delicious food and so much fun!

Allen's Simple Honey Wheat Bread

Grace calls this "Allen's Bread" because Allen, her husband, makes it so often.

Ingredients

3 cups warm water

2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup honey, divided

5 cups bread flour (white)

5 tablespoons, divided, melted

1 tablespoon salt

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Preparation

In a LARGE bowl, mix warm water, yeast and 1/3 cup honey.

Add 5 cups bread flour and stir to combine.

Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt.

Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour.

Flour a flat surface, or use a flour pastry cloth, and knead with whole wheat flour.

The dough dough should no longer be too sticky, just pulling away from the counter.

This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour.

Place in a greased bowl. turning once to coat the surface of the dough.

Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm for half an hour or so.

For a warm place, I heat the oven to 200F, turn off and let cool down for 5 minutes, then put the dough in.

Punch down and divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9x5 inch loaf pans and allow to rise for an hour.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake.

Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

Cool completely.

The butter prevents the crust from getting too hard.

Sweet Potatoes!

My desire for a sweet potato pie began around New Year's when I was running at the gym and thinking about meals to make -yes, I know, what a time to be thinking about food. It makes sense though, I mean, I gotta fuel my body after running 6 miles and lifting weights, right?

Anyway, I got this idea for chicken burgers and carrot fries with a glass of milk for dinner, then sweet potato pie for dessert. I have been searching through sweet potato pie recipes ever since (ie, two weeks).

I didn't make the chicken burgers (yet), but I did make a sweet potato pie =). I made it Monday and it was gone by this afternoon. Not bad, considering it's only 3 adults and 2 children under the age of 5 who have been eating it.

It was delicious and I will totally make it again, although I might cut the sugar down to 3/4 cup. Anyway, I totally recommend this recipe. I found it online. My boss, who told me she does not even like sweet potatoes, loved it.

P.S.

All this sweet potato pie made me want to make sweet potato biscuits and sweet potato creme brulee. Who knows if I will ever actually get around to doing that.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (about 3)

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I mixed my own)

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 T of lemon juice in a 1/2 cup measuring cup, then filled the rest in with milk)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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. 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.

Chicken Lasagna

Tonight I made a version of Emeril's chicken lasagna. I halved it, used ground chicken instead of shredded chicken, and used cornstarch instead following his directions to use lots of butter for a roux.

It turned out very well, though I am not quite sure if I think lasagna in general is worth all of the effort. It makes for a pretty presentation, but I think it is easier and just as yummy to use rigatoni or something and just toss it all together and bake it.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 lb mushrooms

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon wet garlic

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch (may need 3, depending on how/if it thickens)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 lb spinach, stemmed, washed, blanched, and roughly chopped

1 1/2cup Parmesan, grated

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for coating dish

1 lb ground skinless chicken

1/2 tablespoon Essence

1/2 box of oven-ready lasagna sheets (I needed 8 whole grain sheets)

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often until the mushrooms are browned and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and saute until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, slowly add the milk and then the cornstarch and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until thickened, 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, spinach and half of the Parmesan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the bechamel sauce until ready to assemble the lasagna.

Set a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Season the chicken with the Essence and place in the hot pan. Stir and break up the chicken until golden brown and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Coat a 11x7 casserole with olive oil, and spread about 2/3 cup of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay 2 sheets of pasta across the bottom of the dish and spread 1 cup of the bechamel sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle 1/3 of the chicken over the bechamel sauce, then sprinkle with 1/8 cup or so of the remaining Parmesan. Lay another 2 sheets of pasta over the chicken. Repeat one more time with the remaining bechamel sauce, chicken, Parmesan, and pasta, ending with a layer of pasta covered with bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan over the bechamel sauce. Place the casserole on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake, uncovered, until bubbly and well browned, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Note: You may be able to fit more than 2 pieces of pasta in each layer, depending. The pasta can be broken into smaller pieces to fill in the gaps.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Cinnamon Goop

A very important baking lesson was learned the hard way today: rapid rise yeast and active dry yeast are not the same thing.

Take note, if you use rapid rise instead of active dry, and you prep the yeast (let it sit in water for 5-10 minutes), your dough will not rise. At all. So don't even think about trying it.

Instead of cinnamon rolls, I now have cinnamon dough goop. I am going to try to cook it anyway.

Update: I ended up putting some of the dough in a muffin tin, some in a springform pan. The muffin tins ended up like really dense, cinnamon-sugar rolls/muffins/bread. The springform pan looks like a swirly, dense coffeecake/bread. Actually, maybe they are more like scones.... oh well.

Strawberry Season

After hanging out with some good friends on New Year's Eve, it was time for me to drive back up to Kentucky to my new "home." Due to my desire to still want to spend time with college friends, my need for cheap rent, and the predicament of having no job and grad schools not starting until the fall, I am living in the guest room of the family for whom I nanny. I have almost everything I need in my little room: a tv, a small fridge, a nice chair, my bed and dresser (of course), my own bathroom, and even my own entry.

When I do don't make dinner for the family, I like to make dessert. The kids (ages 2 and 5) love to help me bake. As my mom reminded me before I left for Kentucky, strawberry season, as well as citrus season, is upon us. In accordance, the dessert I made yesterday was my mom's strawberry pie. Next week's will be a key lime pie, but I am going to wait just for the right Floridian menu to include it in, or maybe just have it with BBQ, since I love my BBQ.

My Mother's Easy Strawberry Pie

Ingredients

1 pie crust (9 inch, already baked)

3/4 c water

3/4 c sugar

3 tablespoons (level) cornstarch

Add one small box of jell-o

1 quart of fresh, washed, sliced, hulled strawberries

Directions

Mix water, sugar, and cornstarch in saucepan on stove over medium or medium-high heat, cook until really thick and clear (will not really boil, but will usually make one big bubble at a time), remove from heat.

Add one small box strawberry jell-o (do not use sugar free) and stir in.

Add and mix in strawberries, pour mixture into prepared pie crust, set in fridge for an hour or so.