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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Chocolate Harvest Cake with Pumpkin Filling & Ganache

Emily's Birthday Cake Tradition:
Chocolate Harvest Cake with Berries




       When I asked my sister what type of cake or dessert she likes these days, in preparation for making her birthday cake, she unhesitatingly and immediately answered "Chocolate Harvest Cake."  Since Emily has been overseas or far away for at least a decade worth of birthdays, I was so eager to finally bake for my sister's day, but had never made "Chocolate Harvest Cake."  Emily emailed the recipe to me and soon I was making homemade chocolate cake, a creamy pumpkin cream cheese filling and a chocolate glaze, topped with berries, almond slivers, and red seedless grapes. 
 
 

       I am so thankful that my sister was home for a birthday, especially such a milestone birthday (30th), and that she has shared such a delightful recipe with me.  My favorite part was laying out the toppings atop the drizzled cake.  The almond slivers reminded me of Swedish straw ornaments as they radiated out from the center of the cake.  And the taste of red grapes with the rich chocolate ganache is akin to chocolate fondue.  I never would have attempted decorating a cake with grapes, but now I will never forget the possibility!  Thank you, Emily, for not only being such an amazing sister and an amazing mother to your three young boys, but thank you also for being such an amazing baker!  Happy Birthday!  May this year bring you a happy, settled, peaceful home and may it satisfy all your deepest dreams!

The Recipe:
Chocolate Harvest Cake:

Cake:
1 c buttermilk
1 c water
2/3 c cooking oil
2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour (I used 2 c plus 4 T cake flour)
3/4 c cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour two 9 inch round pans.  Whisk together ingredients (I used the whisk attachment on my kitchen aid mixer and I did whip the eggs for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients) and pour into pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes, then remove from pans.

Filling:
8  oz. cream cheese
1/3 c canned pureed pumpkin
1/4 c sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Whip all ingredients and spread between cake layers.

Glaze:
1/2 c whipping cream
4 oz semi-sweet chips, chopped (I used mini morsels so I didn't have to chop them--I'd love to try this with milk chocolate!)

Melt and mix over medium heat.  After mostly smooth, remove from heat and let cool for fifteen minutes.  Pour over cake.  Decorate cake with seedless red grapes, black berries, toasted hazelnuts or almonds, and/or shredded orange peel.
 

Crayon Resist Watercolor Birthday Banner

A Birthday Banner for Aunt Em


     Preparing for my sister's 30th birthday, Liliana and I decided to make a little birthday banner. I adored making crayon resist art when I was little, so I figured Liliana might, too. She did! I took a white crayon and drew the letters in "Happy Birthday Emily" (one letter per paper triangle) and then added little patterns and pictures such as happy faces, balloons, and a smiley cupcake. Since I was drawing with a white crayon on white paper, it looked to Liliana as if the paper was blank.

     Next, Liliana watercolored onto the pennant shaped paper, and giggled in glee as she discovered white letters and drawings appear as if by magic. Since the crayon is made of wax, the crayoned part of the paper resists the water-based paint so the white crayon shows through the paint.
     
              After the paint dried, I stapled the paper together and we had a little homemade art project to celebrate my sister.  And all we needed was a white crayon, some paper and some watercolor paints.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Old Barns: Humble Settings with So Many Memories

Old Barns: Humble & Majestic
 
Liliana runs toward the "Old Barn"

       Old barns are humble, yet majestic, buildings.  An aging wooden barn, from the inside, is a grand shadow theatre on a sunny day with rays of light streaming through the cracks between each wooden board.  Sometimes the boards are warped, cracked, or altogether missing so unique patterns of light and dark stream across the barn floor.  Old barns have creaky doors which hide spelt bins, animal stalls, and rickety stairs. 
       On my parents' farm, there are two main barns (not counting the numerous sheds and the chicken coop that existed when I was a child) which went by the names of "Old Barn" (or "Big Barn") and "New Barn" (or "Green Barn") for many years.  The "Old Barn," although it still stores hay for wintertime cattle feedings, no longer holds any animals.  The barn still holds a vast array of memories, however.  Those dark, unlit rooms storing spelt and sheep wool were also the "secret passages" of my childhood play.  We were pioneers hiding from tornadoes, pirates locked in dungeons, or Trixie Belden solving her latest mystery as my brother, sister, and I ventured in and out of the dark nooks at the end of a storage hall. 
       As we grew older, the barns became the setting for hard work:  the seemingly never-ending unloading of hay that must be carefully stacked for safe wintertime feedings, the shoveling of manure as pens are cleaned, and the braving of the cold as we fed and worked with animals on frosty days.  Of course, it was my father who did the majority of all the work, voluntarily and with joy and it was us, the children, who with small doses of work learned large doses of work ethic and a love for nature and farm life.  I now remember the cold fingers from winter work and the itchy, scratched arms from summers haying as such happy moments, together as a family. 
       Friends and family sometimes joined us for farm work.  My own husband, Brian, shoveled manure on one of his first visits to the farm and he participated in many haying days.  Love prompts us to do such unfamiliar toils!  I remember my sister and I atop a particularly high load of hay as it was being driven into the Old Barn and we realized that the hay between us and Brian was taller than the huge barn door frame and would be toppled unto him and knock him off the wagon load if the tractor continued into the barn.  We yelled and screamed, but the tractor was too loud for the driver to hear us, so we yelled to my panicking husband "Jump!" so Brian was forced to jump and fall and roll away from the wall of bails coming his way.
       The Old Barn was also the site of one of my worst memories, the chicken massacre.  Every few years, one of us raised a flock of Barred Rock chickens (the ones with the amazing black and white pinstripes).  I had raised two groups of them previously.  My sister then had a turn at raising some from chicks.  Those chicks had a hard time of it.  First a weasel killed some, so Dad moved them into the bottom of the Old Barn which seemed safer.  One day, my little sister asked if I would walk up to the barn with her since it was time for her to feed.  I was in the middle of some project because I remember having a hard time deciding whether to go, but ultimately couldn't refuse my sweet blue-eyed sister whom I adored.  We ambled back the lane to the farmland, passed the New Barn, passed the pasture and the pond, and climbed the hill to the Old Barn.  As we entered the barn's bottom floor, mayhem met us.  Chicken parts lay everywhere.  A beak here, a claw there, feathers everywhere.  And amidst the remains of about 30 torn-apart chickens were two chickens which were alive but understandably crazy.  Those two chickens raced amid the carnage and cried out in the most horrifying squawks.  My sister, Emily, and I were stunned, then Emily started sobbing.  "My chickens!" she said in such despair and horror.  It was a dreadful scene and I remember hugging Emily to me and ushering her out of the barn as quickly as possible and thinking, "I almost didn't come out with her!  How could a little child have handled this scene all alone, so far from the house?"  Tears were streaming down my face as we re-entered our house and told our family of the event.
       Most barn memories do not have such horror connected to them, of course.  For that one memory, I must have thousands of beautiful memories, full of animal care and love, visual feasts of light and happiness amidst family, and the scents of new hay and rich sheep feed.  I remember celebrating a ram's birthday with a cake made from shaped grain, slumber parties in the hay loft, and finding baby kittens in the hay.  Barns are humble buildings full of their utilitarian purpose, but they are also majestic settings which highlight the beauty of harvest, family, and childhood memories.  I can't pass by a beautifully old barn without wondering, "What events occurred there previously?," "What memories does that barn hold?," "What animals and people once spent blissful or tragic moments beneath those weathered barn boards?"  Of course the answers to those questions are usually unknown, full of mystery and conjecture, just like those dimly lit, mysterious barn rooms where I played and imagined such adventure.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Soup on a Rainy Day

Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto
served with Homemade Oatmeal Bread





Two mini loaves of homemade bread
Mmmm: beans, carrots, spinach...
Cinnamon rolls
Liliana eats soup.
       This past Tuesday was a rainy, soggy, drizzly day--perfect for snuggling under a blanket with two toddlers on my lap and a stack of books beside me!  It also seemed like the perfect day to make my new favorite soup (Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto) and a batch of my Aunt Connie's Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread (made into two tiny loaves and a pan of cinnamon rolls).  My cousin Rachel came for dinner so we gloried in the stories of her recent engagement as we sipped soup and broke bread together.  Yay for rainy days, good books, healthy food, and a happy family!
 
 
 
Recipe for Chicken & Spinach Soup with Fresh Pesto
 
2 tsp/1 T olive oil
9 carrots, diced
1 red pepper, diced
chicken breast (thinly sliced)
1 lg clove garlic, minced
2 c reduced sodium broth
3 c water
1 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
3 oz baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 15-oz can cannelloni beans, rinsed
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c lightly packed fresh basil leaves
1 T pine nuts
freshly ground pepper
 
Directions:
Heat 2 tsp olive oil & add carrots, red pepper and chicken.  Cook until chicken is browned and carrots mostly cooked.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Stir in broth, water, and marjoram and bring to boil.  Reduce and simmer.  Transfer chicken to a plate and cut into smaller pieces.  Add spinach and beans to pot and bring to gentle boil.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Combine remaining 1 T oil, Parmesan cheese, basil, and pine nuts in chopper or food processor until pesto is combined.  Stir chicken and pesto into pot.  Season with pepper and serve when chicken is hot.
 
 
The original recipe can be found here.  My version has more vegetables, less broth bouillon, and the addition of pine nuts.  (somehow pesto is not pesto without pine nuts!).  Yummmmm!
 

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Black Bean & Rice Taco Salad

Vegetarian Taco Salad: 
a Green Salad with Long Grain Brown Rice & Black Beans



My recipe guru, Eating Well Magazine, had this recipe on their website, and I tried it last night and loved it!  See the link here for the official recipe.  See below for my version which has a little less chili powder (due to serving a 1 and 2 year old) and used colby jack cheese instead of pepper jack.  I used my parent's homegrown tomatoes and corn frozen from their crop and I will definitely be making this again!  I did cook up some hamburger meat for Brian but I was happy without the meat in this meal because it was so tasty as it was.  If you decide to make this, be sure to start the rice first since long grain rice takes 45-50 minutes to cook.  I just recently changed from using brown minute rice to using all long grain brown rice for recipes and it's sometimes hard to remember how long it takes the rice to cook!  Luckily, with this recipe, by the time I completed all the other tasks for the rest of meal preparation, the rice was ready to be used in the recipe--not that the recipe takes that long, it simply takes me that long to cook with two babies underfoot!


Black Bean & Rice Taco Salad

1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 c fresh corn kernels or frozen
3 tomatoes
1 1/2 c cooked long grain brown rice
15-oz can reduced sodium black beans, rinsed
1 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano, divided
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1/3 c salsa
2 c shredded romaine
1 c grated colby jack cheese
1 c tortilla chips (although only Brian used the chips)

Heat oil.  Add onion & corn, cooking 5 minutes (or longer if starting with frozen corn).  Chop 1 tomato and add to pan with rice, beans, chili powder, and 1 tsp oregano.  Cook until tomato cooks down, about 5 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

Chop remaining 2 tomatoes.  Combine with chopped cilantro, salsa, and 1/2 tsp oregano in a small bowl.  Toss lettuce with 1/2 of the salsa mixture and 2/3 c cheese.  Serve with the bean mixture, extra salsa, the extra cheese, and the tortilla chips.  I think Brian may have used some Tabasco or taco sauce as well, in addition to some hamburger meat.  I think guacamole and sour cream would be great with this dish, too.  Yum!




Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies


       I've always enjoyed my sister's recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, but for some reason couldn't locate my copy of the recipe so I made up my own (see below) since I had some extra pumpkin puree and a tiny pile of chocolate chips left over from making ganache.  This recipe only yields 12 cookies, which is perfect for our small family.  Often pumpkin-based recipes use a lot of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger but I wanted to focus on the pumpkin so you won't see those spices in the recipe, but they could be added.  I also tried using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour because I love the fine quality of cake flour and the lovely taste of cake flour.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 12 cookies

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c softened butter
1 egg
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c plus 2T cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c chocolate chips or more if preferred

Cream butter and sugar, add egg, then rest of ingredients except flour and chips.  Add flour and chocolate chips, stirring just until combined.  Drop in mounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until they look almost done (cookies will continue to bake even when cooling on a rack).

 

Happy robot girls devour a couple cookies:
 


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Playmobil Land Party



 


Maren pins the birthday hat on Playmobil guy

 
Welcome to Playmobil Land
& Elijah's Birthday Party
 
 
 
        Playmobil Land welcomed birthday boy, Elijah, and his family on their recent visit. My sister and my Mom unearthed all the playmobil stored in Mom's basement (all the classic ones from the 1980's that my siblings and I played with as a child, back when we had to travel to another state to even find a store that sold the European toy) so there was playmobil galore with which to play. Games included my hand-drawn "pin-the-birthday-hat-on-the-playmobil-guy" (which also served as the greeter as party guests arrived), a playmobil toss game, searching for hidden playmobil people, a playmobil bowling game (thanks to my sister), and a guess-how-many-playmobil-items-are-in-this-jar game (also thanks to my sister). Prizes and favors included lots of the playmobil mystery pack toy sets.
 
A cupcake holder held colorful "playmobil-colored"
napkins and some playmobil figures as decoration
        I constructed the funny-looking playmobil guy cake based on the original playmobil shape from back in the day (when they had the zigzag hair instead of the more realistic hair that playmobil has these days). The cake was surrounded by a border of real playmobil people, and a playmobil person was tucked underneath the birthday boy's piece of cake for added fun.  Decorations were mostly playmobil toys, a cupcake holder filled with colorful paper napkins and toys, and lots of hand-colored playmobil art.  My sister had them construct construction paper hats for their coloring pages, which the kids loved.  There is nothing more fun than family gathering for a child-centered theme party!  Happy Birthday, Elijah!  May every day seem like a playmobil paradise!
 
Hand-drawn template for the
 pin-the-tail face, coloring pages, and decorations


Maren colors in a
Playmobil coloring page
 
Decorations were hand-colored playmobil heads
(photocopied from the pin-the-tail guy I drew)
             
Playmobil "garland"



Birthday cake!


 


 
 


Playmobil figure bowling