Cupcakes and Easter Treats

Introduction

Ah, spring. Isn’t it just wonderful? I don’t know about you, but I feel like an entirely new person, like I’ve been let out of jail. Like all the early evenings I sat in the house wishing I could take a walk but it was dark out and cold and lonely and I was trapped inside have just dissolved into the background noise that washes underneath all the melting-water bridges of every winter I’ve ever slogged my way through.


Now, here in the my town, anyway, there are all these white and pink fruit blossoms, yellow tulips and daffodils, the tiny purple fairies of grape hyacinth that make you stop to bend over and speak to them without moving your lips (lest the neighbors think/realize you’re nuts). And the ducks are doing odd things. And there is a dove on a nest in my dining room window. And my peas are in the ground! And it’s raining! And baseball season starts on Sunday. And my heart has awakened. And it’s a whole new world.


They tell me that SoCal and Texas and Florida have seasons, too, and that once you’ve lived there a while and paid attention, you begin to see them change. Of course this is true. Wouldn’t it be divine if, included with our Spring recipes, we wrote a sentence or two about our experiences of spring in our respective parts of the world? Or, if there is a memory of a place, a spring somewhere far away you’d like to muse upon, here we are – the audience and the opportunity.


For those of you who are still feeling daunted by this whole thing, here’s an idea:


What if you got the kids/grandkids involved? What better way to get them into observing these magical changes in the natural world around them? How lovely to encourage the sharing with the extended family? And writing (sorry, former writing teacher here)? How fun to have them help you compose a word or two about the change of seasons, and then concretize those by helping cook the dish you’re submitting with their writing of those observations?


Anyway, I know we’re all looking forward to the lovely spring recipes. Cupcakes? Candies? Easter treats? Lamb roast? A salad with mint and sorrel? What else? Two years ago I made some cupcakes with vanilla bean icing. Maybe I’ll see if I can modify that lovely white cake with lemon curd between the layers into a cupcake. How would that work? Could I inject the curd into the cupcakes, so they’d by like a springy Hostess Cupcake? Hmmm. How hard can that be?

All My Love,
Margaret

Et tu, Pot Roast?

Alas, even the most sublime of winter companions must travel north by the end of March. “Must” is relative, of course, to whatever. But with license I’ll say that once the croci are up and April approaches I get in a totally different sort of mood, myself, here in the temperate Zone 6. After aperire mood isn’t even the issue, heat is, and if I decide to suffer through the roasting of meat it’s only to have it put away cold for sandwiches and salads.

So, Dominae et Dominus, send forth your final offerings of Winter, for Spring is upon us and the winds are bound to shift. Any roast meat, even chicken?
--Margaret

Roasted Root Vegetables

Kristy says: This was the most pleasantly surprising dish for me! I thought I would never eat these things in a million years when I saw them raw! We first made them when we had a dinner party with our 80+ year old neighbors, their children and grandchildren. Everyone loved them and were, too, surprised that they liked them so well. They were so sweet and full of aroma and flavor. Plus, I’m guessing they were pretty healthy, too (an added bonus)! They look so pretty on a plate because they are so colorful after roasting. Enjoy!

Turnips
Parsnips
Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Rutabagas
Beets
Celery root
Onion

If you can’t find all of these particular root vegetables, don’t worry, just use what you can find.

1. Preheat the to 435 degrees.
2. Cut the vegetables into relatively thick chunky sticks.
3. Coat with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Bake on a flat cookie sheet for 40 minutes.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

-- Bill and Kristy Howard

Lisa's Simply Delicious Roast Chicken with "Hmm, What's in That?" Mashed Potatoes

So basic a beginner would have no trouble.

I love the idea of eating food that makes one feel like a princess, so I will be picking up some full-fat (yum) Velveeta and giving these [see "Nancy Howard's Twice Baked Potatoes") a try. We could all (our taste buds included) certainly use a bit of royal treatment.

I love roasted chicken and although it's as basic as can be, it's the food I crave when I'm on the mend from a cold, as well as when I'm cranky and in need of comfort. It's so simple, so tasty, makes a nice meal for company or just yourself, great leftovers and the scraps are the base for soup.

1. Preheat oven to 325 or 350.
2. Buy a fresh whole chicken, rinse outside and in (lightly salt cavity).
3. Set in a roasting pan (rack is helpful but not necessary).
4. Insert a cut lemon and onion in the cavity.
5. Rub skin with soft butter, salt and pepper (use other spices if desired).
6. Place in the oven uncovered, approximately 15 - 20 minutes per pound (or more -- I like mine WELL done and crispy).
7. Baste with juices in bottom of pan periodically (if breast gets too brown, cover it loosely with foil).
8. Cook until the chicken juices run clear when pierced deeply in the thigh, or to 170 degrees if you use a meat thermometer.
9. Let chicken cool (loosely covered with foil) for at least 10 minutes before carving.

Great served with baked, roasted, or mashed potatoes, or...

Lisa's "Hmm, What's in That?" Mashed Potatoes

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add some salt for flavor.
2. Wash and peel any kind of potatoes, cut into chunks.
3. Wash and peel rutabagas cut into chunks (approximately 50/50 mix of potatoes and rutabagas).
4. Simmer until all are tender (approximately 20 minutes, depending on size of chunks).
5. Drain root veggies.
6. Pour milk into the saucepan, heat until just bubbling, add some butter.
7. Add potatoes and rutabagas to the hot milk and butter mixture and begin to mash.
8. Add more milk, butter, salt to taste if needed.

Serve nice and hot.

Note: Save the chicken carcass for soup (see, Daddy, your cries at the dinner table to "save it for soup" sunk in). Cut off good meat and wrap separately in foil to add back at end. Bones/meat can be frozen. Simply cover bones with water, add some carrots, onion, pepper. Simmer covered for several hours (at least 4). Skim off "scum" while bones simmer. Separate bones and veggies from broth, discard solids. Salt broth to taste (takes a bit). Add fresh or frozen veggies (endless combos) as desired (I buy a frozen "soup vegetables mix" w/okra). Add rice or pasta if you'd like, simmer until everything is tender (check salt/pepper again). At this point add back the cubed chicken meat that you've reserved (adding it earlier will toughen it) until warmed through. Mmmmm~ Enjoy! Soup can also be frozen.

-- Lisa

Bison Roast with Burgundy and Figs

Last fall I picked up a beautiful bison roast at a good local butcher. I conversed with him a bit on the issue of fat content and cooking methods, as bison is extremely lean and I worried about the roast being dry. Then, working off of his time and temperature instructions, I went home and devised this recipe. I know it looks long, but it's really simple. I'm telling you truly that the figs and wine together with the rich meat make soul wrenching combo -- and what all this does for the vegetables is unbelievable. Of course a pot roast of cow will work fine, and you may speed up the oven a bit if you choose the mooer.

You'll Need:
A Dutch oven or other heavy, oven-proof pan
A chuck roast of bison, not a fancier cut.
Carrots, one bag of baby organic
12 boiling potatoes, quartered
6 small whole Onions, peeled
1 small onion, chopped medium fine
10-12 small, or 5-6 large dried figs
1 cup Burgundy, or dry red wine with fruity notes, or even port
2-3 tbsp. course salt
1-2 tbsp. freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. allspice
Olive Oil

How long to cook it? That depends on the weight of your roast. Ask the butcher when you buy the meat how long the cut should cook at 300 degrees. Most sources say 22-25 minutes per pound of meat, or until internal temperature is 140-160 degrees.

1. Position a rack in the lower part of the oven and preheat the over to 300 degrees.
2. Rub the some olive oil, the salt and pepper on both sides of the roast. Now leave the meat out and let it come to room temperature, about half an hour.
3. While the oven is heating and the meat sitting, peel the onions, quarter the potatoes, and rinse the carrots.
4. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pan over medium heat (it will go in the oven later). Add the chopped onion and the allspice. Cook until the onion is caramelized to a light brown.
5. Once the onion is browned, set the roast in the pan, on top of the onion. Don’t move it. Let it sit there, undisturbed, for five minutes, then flip it over (it should be nicely browned by now, if it’s not your heat may be a little low – in that case just raise the heat and let it keep browning before you flip it).
6. Sear this side until it’s browned.
7. Remove the roast to a platter.
8. Add the wine to the pan to deglaze, letting it come to a quick boil as you scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any tasty bits on the bottom and sides. Do not cook the wine off.
9. Turn off the heat.
10. Put the meat back in the pan. There should be wine in the bottom of the pan.
11. Set the potatoes, carrots, onions, and figs around and on the meat, then season lightly with salt and pepper.
12. Tightly cover the pan with a lid or foil.
13. Put the pan in the center of the oven.
14. Cook to desired doneness.
15. Remove the pan from the oven.
16. Remove the lid.
17. Let the meat rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting it. Serve with a fresh salad and crusty bread.

-- Margaret

Nancy Howard’s Twice Baked Potatoes

[Because potatoes are a root vegetable.]

My mom didn’t (yet) provide a story, so I’ll just make a little comment of my own: It seems to be a human tendency to favor the flavors we’ve been raised on, more or less, and I must have this quality, too, even though I like to try new versions of things. All I know about my mom’s twice baked potatoes is that I’ve never had any I liked better. Hers are, compared to most others, delicate. There is none of that heavy, chunky, welcome to Steaks ‘R Us uber-substantiality to them. And I like that – their lightness. It’s possible to feel like a princess while eating these, which is, with certain dishes, a quality assurance test I often employ.

Oh, she did point out that the Velveeta is mandatory. "Nothing melts like Velveeta," she said. We also agreed that the full fat version is far superior to the so-called "Lite." It's your life, but I'd say there are less traumatic ways to cut down on bad fats than by adulterating your Velveeta (or half-and-half, or mayonnaise).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Four dry baking potatoes (Russet or Idaho)
Enough hot milk to make stiff-ish whipped potatoes
1/8 lb. or so of unsalted butter (at room temp. if possible)
Salt
Pepper
Velveeta, four medium-thin slices


1. Liberally grease the potatoes with butter or shortening.
2. Place potatoes directly on the oven’s middle rack.
3. Bake about 1 hour, 15 minutes, until easily pierced through to center.
4. Remove from oven, but leave the oven on.
5. Cut the potatoes open -- in halves – immediately, to let steam escape (otherwise they will become too dense).
6. Heat the milk in a sauce pan.
7. When the potatoes have cooled just enough to handle, scoop the potato insides into a mixing bowl, being careful not to break the skins.
8. Put the butter on the potatoes to melt, and stir in.
9. Add some salt and pepper.
10. Stream in a little bit of the hot milk, stir, and begin to whip. Add milk as needed – but remember, you want a fairly stiff mixture.
11. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
12. Put the whipped potatoes back into the skins, top with Velveeta, and put back in the already-hot oven until the Velveeta melts.

Serve hot. Grilled meat and a green salad won’t hurt.

-- Nancy Howard

February: Bean Recipes For R.L. Howard

I am pretending, for the duration of this post, that it’s not quite March, that I’m writing in February. This is necessary in order to have this retrospective introduction archived with the February bean recipes. We all know now that I’m writing this on March 2, but in the future, if there is still electricity or phenomenon enough of whatever sort to run computers and networks, we won’t remember it, and will think this intro fits seamlessly with the Feb. theme. Or would, if I weren’t writing about it. Enough postmodern silliness.

At any rate, it’s pleasing, quite, to see these four recipes adorning our first full month here. You’ve no idea how therapeutic and purely fun this project is for me. Sitting here at my boring tech writing job, these posts are renegade bursts of something akin to creativity, little breaks from the (hyperbole alert!) drudgery of capitalism and service to The Man I'm forced to undertake to pay the rent. Breaks that give me pleasure and purpose.

I found out this week that there is a community garden in my neighborhood, and I am going to get me a plot. It’s been a few years since I was able to grow my own vegetables, so watch out. I may have to wax about it in here. If anyone else is doing culinary gardening, by all means share. Once we get into summer, a word about how an ingredient made it from plot to pot will add that always desirable hint of glamour to a recipe. If glamour and compost are as intertwined in your minds as they are in mine.

That said, underlying are the bean recipes that Lisa, Molly, Nancy T., and Aunt Janey sent in, then mine. I hope that, in some small part, this teensy tribute to my departed father will somehow let him know, through whatever ethereal relationship exists between cyberspace and spiritworld, that whatever neglect I demonstrated toward him during life, I still loved him and remember many things fondly – not the least of them his love of food and drink, which I have obviously inherited from both genetic pools, and thank him for, and you, and will, along with every bit of love that inexplicably manages to come my way, refuse to take for granted as long as I have the sense to know who and where I am.

Janey's 30 Minute Beef and Black Bean Soup

I do want to share this recipe because it is so simple, tastes good and is hearty. It can be either vegatarian, turkey or beef. I made this for Nancy and Daddy. They loved it, and Nancy gave the recipe to her hair dresser who tailgates at Rams and Cardinal games. She has served it to that gang and they loved it - especially in the fall.

This recipe doesn't take the place of a slow cooked bean soup recipe -- that slow cooked flavor can't be beat -- but this is a good quick one.
Aunt Janey Meek

1 lb. coarse or chili-grind beef chuck (I use a regular ground 93% or lower fat beef).
1 (11 or 19 ounce) can black bean soup (I always use Progresso)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained (I use 2 sometimes)
1 1/3 cup water
1 cup medium or hot chunky salsa

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup light sour cream
Fresh cilantro sprigs

1. In a Dutch oven, brown the beef over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until no longer pink, breaking up into crumbles.

2. Pour off the drippings.

3. Stir in the bean soup, beans, water and salsa. Bring to a boil (not a rolling boil), then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

4. Stir in the green onions.

5. Remove from heat. (The instruction "remove from heat" always makes me smile. Like you would leave it on the stove forever!)

6. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.

I do the green onions if I have them, the sour cream if I am trying to be fancy, and I don't keep cilantro. That would add a nice touch.

Makes 4 servings. Calories 510, Fat 23 g, Cholesterol 77 mg, Sodium 994 mg, Percent calories from fat 40%.

Nancy Thompson's Black Bean Soup

I think your Dad would have liked this one...
Nancy

2 cups dry black beans
Cold water
2 teaspoons baking soda, divided
3 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup butter
1-2 cups chopped ham
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons salt
Pepper to taste
1 cup white wine
Sour cream for topping
Grated cheese for topping
Chopped green onions for topping

1. Place beans in enough water to cover entirely.

2. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the beans.

3. Let soak for 2 hours and rinse.

4. Add water to cover and 1 teaspoon of baking soda and soak overnight (soda reduces the acid in the beans).

5. Rinse beans.

6. Cook beans in water in a large pan until soft, about 3-4 hours.

7. Saute onions, garlic, and parsley in butter, then add them to the beans.

8. Add the other ingredients.

9. Cook over medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 more hours. Add water if it gets too thick.

10. Top with sour cream, grated cheese, and chopped green onions.

Yield: 10-15 servings.

Molly's Delicious Beans

My darling daughter said, "that [email] was about bean recipes? i didn't even read it. here. enjoy: "

1 can refried beans
cheese
ketchup

1. heat up beans in a pan.

2. when they are warm add small cubes of your favorite cheese.

3. stir untill cheese is just melted.

4. put on a plate and cover in ketchup.

5. serve with corn chips.

serves 1-3, depending on how much you feel like eating.

i do what i can.
Molly

Lisa's Bean Dish!

Fast food! Also a great vegetarian dish! It's so quick and easy, all you have to do is throw it together. Works well with leftover rice, too.

Lisa's Mexicanish Kidney Bean Tostada Thingies

One can of Joan of Arc brand "Chili Beans" (mildly spiced kidney beans)
Hot cooked rice (one cup rice, 2 cups water and a good pinch of salt)
Pickled sliced jalepeno peppers (if you like 'em)
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or your favorite)
Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado (whatever you like)
Flour tortillas
Taco sauce, hot sauce, salsa and whatever else you'd like!

1. Warm the tortillas in the oven or microwave.

2. Spoon hot rice on the warm tortilla.

3. Add cheese.

4. Spoon hot beans on the rice.

5. Top with lettuce, tomato, jalepenos, and any sauces.

Submitted by Lisa

Beans in Honor

To commemorate my dad’s passing I’m posting one of his favorite recipes: Pinto beans and corn bread. This is also one of my favorite meals. I always assumed that my mom loved them, too, since she made them pretty regularly during my entire childhood. However, she’s just told me that she despises them, that she only made them because they were the one’s my dad liked! She had grown up with Great Northern beans, and reverted to those upon her divorce. Wow. I don’t remember ever having white beans at home. As a matter of fact, I recall quite clearly the feeling of culinary superiority that overcame me every time I was at a friend’s house and saw the shocking paleness of the beans they were forced to choke down – without any green relish! Maybe even without cornbread (can that be true?). This is so obviously a pre-second wave feminism story! These days, surely, one would make both types of beans. I mean, not at the same time. But alternate them. White, pinto; north, south; Yankee, rebel. But to give up one’s beans? Hardly. Ah, the sacrifices our poor mothers made. Anyway, she said that one night, when she and my dad were dating, he said to her, “My mom’s making cornbread and beans. Do you want to come over and eat?” Looking forward, of course, to the Great Northerns she said, “Sure.” Then, in the kitchen with Nonie she lifted the lid on the pot and, well, she says that Nonie told her she’d never forget the look on my mom's face when she saw the brown beans. “I’d never seen beans that color before!” she told me. So here they are. Beans of a different color.

The Lime Infused Cornbread is yummy, but feel free to use any cornbread you like. A cheesy one with hot peppers works fabulously.

Beans in Honor

A large, heavy pan, like a Dutch oven
A bag of pinto beans
1 big onion
Two bay leaves
(a ham hock)
(pinch of cayenne pepper)
3 TBS Olive oil
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Water (see package, but generally to cover plus two inches or so)

Serve with:
Green Tomato Relish (or pickle relish, if you must; chutney works nicely, too)
Hot Sauce
Lime Infused Cornbread (recipe follows)

1. Prepare the beans according to package directions. (Don’t add the salt until the end, when you’re adding the onions, or the beans could get tough.) If you’re using the ham hock add it when you turn the heat down after the boil.

2. Add the bay leaves, cayenne and black pepper, if you’re using that.

3. An hour before the beans are ready you may prepare the corn bread (below), so that it will come out of the oven when the beans are ready.

4. When the beans are almost done, sauté the onion in the olive oil. Add half the salt to the onions, half to the bean pot. Cook for 20 minutes or so.

5. To serve, put a piece of cornbread in a bowl and ladle beans over it. Top with the relish or chutney and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Lime Infused Cornbread

Lime and pepper work so well in cornbread, it’s amazing. I stumbled upon this combo by accident. I'd prepared the lime-infused yogurt to serve with a soup, then forgot to top the soup when I served it. A couple of days later, making cornbread, I tossed the forgotten yogurt into the batter in place of part of the liquid. Then, mysteriously, I added some fresh ground black and some white pepper. Wow. It turned out great!

1 box of cornbread mix (or your favorite basic recipe)
1 can corn, drained, liquid saved
2 TBLS fresh lime juice
Zest from 1 lime
½ cup yogurt*
2 eggs (even if the box calls for 1)
White and Black Peppers
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven according to box directions.

2. Zest and juice the lime and add both to the yogurt*. Refrigerate the yogurt over night to infuse.

3. Prepare the cornbread according to package directions, with the following exceptions:

4. Use TWO EGGS if it calls for only ONE.

5. Add the drained can of corn.

6. Replace the liquid called for on the box with the yogurt, and enough of the drained and saved corn juice to make up the called for volume plus 1/8 cup.

7. Heat the oil in an iron skillet over high heat for a moment, until it is very hot but NOT smoking.

8. Pour a teaspoon of the hot oil into the cornbread batter, then give it a quick (almost perfunctory) stir.

9. Pour the batter into the hot pan and quickly put the pan in the oven.

10. Bake according to package directions, more or less, but definitely until the thin-object-comes-out-clean-when-inserted-in-the-center rule takes hold.

11. Let cool for 15 minutes or so, then invert onto a platter and serve.

* I use a homemade yogurt I make from goat milk. It’s fairly runny. Use your favorite yogurt, but if you can get hold of some European style (especially Greek), try using that.

Note: The hot skillet method, as we all know, makes a very nice crustiness on the bottom and sides of the cornbread. I suppose we all also know that the less stirring of the cornbread, the better -- stir it just enough to get the job done, no more.

Submitted by Margaret Howard

Nancy Howard's White Chocolate Cake

The Story

Visiting my mother this last weekend she asked my brother Bill and I if we remembered the white chocolate cake she used to make. I was sorry to have to admit that I didn't, and Bill, well, I think he avoided answering at all (he's always been more 'diplomatic' than I). Knowing the power of scent and its sister, taste, though, I'm wondering if memories will emerge when I bake this cake. My mother then gave me this recipe, handwritten, which I will save in a file I'm keeping. I've written it down absolutely verbatim, above. I think she was inspired to give me this and the Italian Cream Cake recipe she loves by our most recent Birthday Cake Incident. I knew that she loved Italian Cream Cake, so I made her one for her birthday. She said it was good, but that the one she always made did not have pecans in the icing, and she would find me that recipe. I guess she ran across this white chocolate one as she was looking for the Italian (haven't well all had surprises while looking for some Italian?). Anyhow, enjoy!

Melt ¼ lb. white chocolate in ½ cup hot water. Set aside and cool. Cream together 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar until fluffy. Mix in 4 egg yolks, 1 at a time & beat well after each addition. Add melted choc. & 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 ½ c. sifted flour & 1 tsp. soda. Add alternately w/ 1 cup buttermilk. Do not over beat. Fold in 4 egg whites beaten stiff but not dry, 1 cup pecans, 1 cup coconut.

Bake in 2 layers @ 350 degrees 25 to 30 min.

Icing

Mix together small can evap. milk, 1 cup sugar, 4 tsp. butter. Bring to boil stirring constantly. Have 3 egg yolks ready, slightly beaten. Blend cooked mixture in pan. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Cook over low heat until thick, about 15 min. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup coconut, 1 cup nut meats.


Submitted by Margaret Howard