PineApple Upside Down Cake

Well, let me tell ya. I haven’t made a pineapple upside down cake in decades. Literally.

I recall my mother made them. I am more a frosting kinda girl, so I pretty much dropped it off my repertoire. Until.

Until I joined Justapinch and started seeing recipes in large doses, and saw this one, and just had to try it. And it was amazingly good.

So, now I found another recipe in Cook’s Illustrated, which calls for fresh pineapple and one of these days I’ll make it too, and let you know, if fresh is better than canned. For now, just weep over this, and bring out the whipped cream if you dare.

This recipe is Teresa Dilbert’s and can be found here. I reduced the sugar a bit, but that’s all.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/3 sticks of butter
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 20 oz can pineapple slices
• Maraschino cherries
• 1/2 – 2/3 c chopped pecans
• 1 1/3 sticks of butter
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 c flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cinnamon
• 1/2 nutmeg
• 1 c buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Using a cast iron skillet (12 inch), melt the first 1 1/3 c of butter. When melted add the brown sugar and stir until all melted in. Take off the heat.
2. Place the pineapple slices around and one in the middle and then add a cherry in the center of each. Scatter the pecans around.
3. In your mixer, place softened 1 1/3 sticks of butter and the white sugar. Cream until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and fully incorporate. Add the vanilla and mix in.
4. Add together all the rest of the dry ingredients and whisk. Then add alternately to the mixer batter, the dry ingredients and the buttermilk.
5. When mixed, using a spatula to push the batter into the skillet over the pineapple. Use a frosting off-set spatula to spread it around evenly. (Batter is fairly thick)
6. Place in a 350° oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Serves: 8

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Eureka! That’s Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese is easy. Make a bechamel sauce, add cheese, stir in the macaroni, dump in a baking dish, cover and cook until bubbly.

Except that it sucks pretty much. It’s okay when you first eat it, but when you reheat it, it’s tasteless, dry and just plain blech.

My husband has eaten (during periods in his life) a ton of mac and cheese. He pretty much could take it or leave it. Okay, honestly, mostly leave it.

Until I found this magic secret from Ms. Carla at The Chew. Add some cream cheese. And don’t bake it. (I guess you could if you wanted.)

And I did that, and added a bit of my own idea, and didn’t add some of hers, and well, I can tell you, my husband declared this to be “the best mac and cheese I’ve ever eaten.”

With Carla’s additions of onions and bacon, this is a main dish. I made it without and used it as a side dish to barbecued ribs. We feasted!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 c warmed milk
• 2 cups shredded cheese (any combination of cheddar, sharp, medium, jack, pepper jack, Gruyère, etc.)
• 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• salt and pepper to taste (or any thing you might like such as a bit of chipotle powder or cayenne)
• 1 c toasted bread crumbs (homemade or not as you choose)
• 1 c caramelized onions
• 6-8 slices bacon, cooked, and crumbled
• 2 c elbow macaroni (or other pasta), cooked and drained

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan, add the flour and cook for one minute.
2. Add the milk and continue heating until it boils and thickens.
3. Take off the heat, and add the cheeses and stir until melted.
4. Taste for saltiness, and add any needed salt and as much pepper as you like
5. Add the cooked macaroni, and stir until combined.
6. Add onions and bacon if using.
7. Spoon into a serving dish and place a nice coating of bread crumbs over. Serve.

Serves: about 6 as a side, less if it’s the main dish obviously.

 

 

Elevating the Lowly ColeSlaw

 

 

Let’s face it. Coleslaw is about as exciting as iceberg lettuce.

No wonder.

In restaurants, it’s relegated to a tiny bowl or worse yet a paper cup. It is swimming in a white water, and you have to drain each forkful before moving it to your mouth.

At home, it’s not any better. You reach for a bag of “pre-shredded” mix, and grab a bottle of something called “slaw dressing” and pour it on. It’s a crime that the dang stuff don’t mix itself for ya.

But coleslaw is a glorious side, and can be a perfect beginning to succulent fried fish, or a great Coney dog. And don’t get me started if we talk about some hot and spicy ribs.

So, listen up, vary it up, and rediscover cabbage!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 c shredded cabbage (do it yourself for heaven’s sake. It’s so much prettier!)
• 1/2 c assorted additions such as red cabbage, radish sticks, chopped scallions, broccoli “slaw'”, celery and/or carrots
• 1/3 c mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp vinegar. Choose from white, cider, wine, rice wine, lemon or lime juice.
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cayenne, or 1 tbsp horseradish
• 1 tsp or more of toasted celery seed, parsley or cilantro, lemon scented herbs, mint, or anything that strikes your fancy (for the fresh herbs I’d say 2 tbsp.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine your veggies in a serving bowl.
2. Place mayo, vinegar of choice, sugar, pepper, and salt in a small bowl and whisk.
3. Add whatever spices or herbs you have chosen to the dressing.
4. Pour over the veggies and mix. Eat immediately.
5. This dressing is thick but it will bleed out over time, so refrigerated leftovers will still get some liquid in the bottom. So try to plan just the right amount to be eaten in one sitting.
6. Note that you can change up the ingredients in both dressing and the veggies to compliment your main dish.

Serves: 3-4 

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This is the ONE! LASAGNA!

It got to the point where I stopped making lasagna. It just never turned out right. It was either too sloppy or too dry, or two bland, or some combination of all three. And did I mention it was bland?

I followed all the “appropriate” recipes. And I gave up. What was all the hullabaloo with lasagna anyway? Everybody drooled over it. They were liars.

Then, I was watching The Chew, and I saw Joy Behar, who is undeniably Italian. And she made hers. And I realized what I had been missing.

Not that this is exactly her recipe. I make my own sauce and I am quite happy with it, thank you very much.

But she inspired the proper cheese filling.

And well, if you make this you will see why it is undeniably the best lasagna.

It seems more daunting than it is. The sauce is the only time-consuming thing, and it’s basically the “Not Quite Your Wise Guy Spaghetti Sauce” with some meat.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Sauce

• 1 lb pork sausage (fennel and I don’t like each other, feel free to use Italian sausage here)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp hot pepper flakes
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 2/3 c red wine
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

For the Cheese Filling

• 16 oz container of ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2/3 c grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c freshly chopped parsley

Remainder of Ingredients

• 9 lasagna noodles (softened in hot water) My lasagna pan perfectly makes 3 layers
• 8-12 oz fresh mozzarella cut into slices
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/3 c grated parmesan

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Saute the sausage until done, remove from pan and set aside
2. Saute the onions until translucent. Add the pepper flakes, the garlic, and tomatoes and oregano.
3. Simmer until nearly dry. Then add the wine, and simmer until a “sauce” consistency has been reached.
4. Add the sausage back in, taste, and season accordingly
5. Make the cheese filling but mixing all those ingredients together.
6. Put your lasagna noodles into hot water until softened.
7. Assemble the lasagna by starting with a very light layer of meat sauce in the bottom, the noodles, 1/3 of the cheese filling, about 6-8 pieces of the fresh mozzarella, more sauce, noodles, filling, mozzarella, sauce, noodles, filling, sauce, the 2 cups of shredded mozzarella and the parmesan on top.
8. Pre-heat oven to 375° and bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbly. Sit out for 15 before serving.

 

 

Swap Me A Grape, Chicken Salad

I know, you hear the words Chicken salad and you think of gobs of mayo, runny white water, some celery, some soggy chicken, and a few pieces of apple, laying on a limp piece of lettuce.

Well, that just goes to show what you are missing.

There are eleven hundred variations that will keep your menus fresh and your taste buds hoppin’.

This makes the best lunch around.

I’m going to give you general proportions and then all the possible swap-outs you might consider. Just be creative.

If you have other ideas, please leave a comment. This is one of my favorite lunches and I never tire of new ways to make it.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of cubed chicken
• 1  1/2 c raw veggies
• 1  1/2 c fresh fruit
• 1/3 c dried fruit
• 1/3 c nuts or seeds
• 1/2 c mayo
• 1 tsp pepper (at least)
• salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. The chicken can be poached, roasted, grilled, sauted. Just make it yourself please. A half breast will yield about 2 cups. If you end up with more, either use the excess for a chicken sandwich or adjust the recipe accordingly. If you must, buy store-bought cooked chicken, but really it takes 3 1/2 minutes to put a seasoned chicken breast in the oven to roast at 425° for an hour.
2. Veggies can include celery, radishes of any kind, carrots, cabbage sliced very very thin, water chestnuts, dried off, sweet peppers, scallions (sparingly), cauliflower and broccoli, summer squash, sprouts and so forth. The key here is cut them fairly small, and make sure they are crunchy. Make sure they are pretty dry, since you don’t want puddles of mayonnaise water at the bottom of the bowl.
3. Fresh fruit can include grapes, apples, pears, mandarin oranges, mangoes, papaya, and other fruit that is not full of water, and also avoid things that are very fragile. Raspberries, blueberries and strawberries are okay, but plan to eat the salad quickly before they bleed out juice.
4. Dried fruits can be anything from dried cranberries, cherries, raisins of all kinds, figs, dates, mango, peach, pear, papaya, and so forth. Cut them up if they are large.
5. Nuts include walnuts, almonds, pecans, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts. Again, these will not last well, and left overs will find your nuts spongy, so add just before you are ready to eat, and avoid leftovers.
6. Mayonnaise can be plain or one of the newer infused types like olive oil and pepper. I think I would avoid hot infusions although a fresh jalapeño might work in some mixes.  If you like yogurt, use it instead. The Greek yogurt would be more to my taste.
7. Add parsley if you like, curry is nice, honey would go well with the yogurt certainly. I find pepper is great, but not much in the way of salt. If there are other spices that you think would work with the fruit, by all means mention it!
8. Keep the dressing just enough to coat. Too much just buries the flavors.
9. If you find you end up with leftovers, then when you return to it the next day, I’d put it in a sieve and let any water drain out. That will help it a lot.

Serves: 2 possible 3, depending if you are serving with bread and beverage.

**I consider this a “sweet” chicken salad base. Savory Chicken salad is a whole other beastie!

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Stuff That Bird Italian Style

Dressing for Thanksgiving is one of those foods that comes down through the family and people tend to cling to those recipes.

But change is fun. Being adventurous is okay in food. You just never know when you find something utterly wonderful.

I was the old school. It was a celery, giblets, bread and sage kinda dressing for me. That’s what I grew up on.

I saw this recipe on GMA a few years back, and decided to give it a go, and well, I really liked it. I tweaked it a bit (since fennel hates me), but basically, it’s the same.

Do try to make this from scratch without benefit of boxed (eww) cornbread or those bags of cubed bread. The bread stales out over night for goodness sake, and if you have left-over cornbread from a chili dinner, well, wrap it and freeze it and you are set to go. Making cornbread is actually easy.

Once you have your ingredients, the rest is simple and fast.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (I use pork sausage instead)
• 1 lg onion, diced
• 7 ribs of celery, diced
• 6 oz of bacon (1/2 a package) diced into 1 inch pieces
• 6 c bread, cubed
• 3 c cornbread, dried out a bit and crumbled
• 1/2 c butter, cold and cubed
• 1 TBSP sage (dried) about 3 if fresh
• 1 1/2 TBSP poultry seasoning
• 1 TBSP salt (be careful here. I use unsalted stock. If you don’t you may need NO salt.)
• 2 c mozzarella cheese, cubed
• 1 c Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 c pine nuts
• 4-5 c chicken stock

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Saute the bacon until it has rendered it fat. Remove and discard most of the fat drippings.
2. Saute the sausage, onion and celery until done, slowly and not to burn.
3. Combine that and all the rest of the ingredients except the broth. Stir until fairly mixed.
4. Place in a buttered baking dish. Then pour the stock over until when a spoon is pushed down on the top, you can see juice. Don’t over do this. You can always add a bit more if after it sits, it appears too dry.
5. Place in the fridge if making the evening before, covered. Bring to room temperature before putting it in the oven to heat.
6. Heat at 350° for about an hour, assuming your baking dish is about 2 inches high. It just needs to heat through.

 

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Time for a Grown-Up Burger

People get very defensive about what they put on their burgers.

I get that.

After all, it’s what made “have it your way” a hit.

So before you hit the delete button, just hear me out.

Some day, you just gotta grow up. Get away from the childish ketchup and mustard. Break from the teenage years of  “lettuce, with a little mayo”, graduate from “pickles, but no onions”.  At least once in a while.

Ya know what I mean? Have courage, step up. Be an adult.

This recipe comes from the PioneerWoman. Some of her recipes I like, other’s not so much. This one was just plain and simple wonderful. Somehow it just works. So try it, or forever be known as a wimp.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground beef (fairly lean please)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium red onion
• 2-3 oz blue cheese
• 1/2 c mayo
• 1 jalapeno
• 3 kaiser rolls
• butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut the onion root to stem. Lay the flat side on the counter, and cut thin slices from root to stem. Place in a saute pan with a couple of tablespoons of butter and a bit of olive oil. Saute until caramelized. Probably about 30 min. (You can fry them at first and let them get a little black around the edges, but then reduce and cook slowly) They are caramelized when they are “done” and very limp and browned.
2. Add salt and pepper to the meat and mix gently by hand and then shape into three burgers. Cook in a saute pan or on a grill until done.
3. Mince the jalapeno and add to the mayo.
4. Open the rolls and butter and place under the broiler or on the grill until butter has melted and the buns have browned nicely.
5. Place burger on the roll, top with some of the crumbled blue cheese, add a tablespoon or so of the onions. Paint the roof with the jalapeno mayo and sit down, cuz if you don’t the taste will knock you down.

 

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