Comfort food for a cold winter's night!

Did someone say CAKE???? Cake is one of my favorite desserts! Mmmmm!!!

Everyone has beautiful kitties! I love kitties!

Ooooh. Pretty cake Ric. I just had a piece of the cake I made for the church bake sale. The cake was so ugly I bought it back immediately. After mass, one of the ladies said, "Oh honey, I saw that cake and you paid too much for it. Here, take a couple of these cookies." She didn't realize it was my own cake. Isn't that funny LOL.

My kitty is here next to me all curled up. It's really cold this evening, but the heavy rain is over and a sunny day is predicted tomorrow. Good night all. God bless and sleep well.

Pam, That is funny!

WINDOW TEST in the process of knowing your dough is worked enough and is ready to be proofed. You may need someone to show you the window test. If someone knows how to explain this with words I sure would like that help.
......best I can explain it. Take a golf ball sized piece of dough and work it down between your hands playing the dough with your fingers to a state so thin you can almost see through it. When doing this the dough should be very thin elastic, smooth and not tear. If you get this right you are ready to proof it. If not work the dough some more.
......I do this working my thumbs and the next three fingers on both hands. Maybe the little finger gets in the act too but usually not. Your action is not to different from a pizza baker tossing his dough. You are moving just a little between your hands. Long fingernails may not be desirable when making this test.

Thanks, Doc. Why do they call it the window test? I thought you were going to stick it on the window or something.

WINDOW TEST QUESTION
It is the language of the baker's books. I have no idea. Why do we click on start to shut down our computers?

LOL

Lucille Ball window test, if it sticks to the window you need more flour.

LOL, I can just see her doing it too!

Sally, thats a good one!

Doc, I always go by feel, I wonder if the WT is a man thing? I don't think men have the fine touch like us girls. I know when I do dishes I can tell by the feel if I got them clean, after hubby does dishes I end up redoing some of them, some grease, dried oatmeal, whatever is still on the plates.

Just wanted to let you all know that the cake tasted even better than it looked. YUMMY!!
I had some for breakfast this morning and I'm having another piece tonight. LOL

Holly, you mean there is some of that cake left! I'll be right over LOL

Look that this (hope the link works)
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/raspberry-fudge-fantasy-torte/205099e4-e942-436a-af53-7f37c18ee279?WT.dcsvid=MjA5NTcwNzA3MAS2&rvrin=5728C15E-0A83-DC11-920E-00110A5B41E6&WT.mc_id=Newsletter_BettyCrocker_12_14_2009

FRIED CORN MEAL MUSH..............The following is my creation from several Polish uses of corn meal mush. Start with four cups of water wisking nearly all the time you are adding slowly one cup of yellow corn meal. If you hurry this step you will get lumpy corn meal. Somewhere along the way add one cup of oatmeal, two or three ounces of butter, two sliced bananas and two or three hands full of raisins, a teaspoon full of Kosher other sea salt and three envelops of Splenda. Add water to end up after five or more minutes of simmering with a heavy pudding. Pan the whole works into a one pound bread pan that has been greased. I use Pam.

Let cool and further cool in the cooler over night. Slice about half inch slices and fry to a rich light brown in your favorite butter or butter substitute. Serve hot. Drizzle a tablespoon full of honey or syrup. No sugar jellies will go nicely too. Calories and all other factors will be equal to oatmeal handled the same way. May also be eaten warm with milk just like oatmeal. Figure about 300 calories in a four ounce serving. Add fifty calories if you use real butter.

Just like oatmeal it serves up very inexpensively.

Pineaple and coconut is another good combination. Apple slices and applesause works. Add the spices and sweeteners of you likes for a fried corn meal apple meal.

Ohooooo I have not had Fried Corn Meal Mush in a long time, real comfort food. Just plain, fried in butter till it has come crisp edges and poor on the syrup. Now that's good eats!

Nice recipe, Doc. Thanks!

Call it fried polenta and you can charge three times as much in your restaurant. Add some pureed unidentifiable pig parts and its scrapple. I do like scrapple!
By the way, I've been getting some PA food at the WEIS market here and gotta say--I think PA agricuture is better!

Sally, Weiss has some really nice stuff, but there isn't one in my area. When I go to visit my sister, I always stop in there. They have some wonderful baked goods, especially their crispy chocolate chip cookies

It's funny about scrapple. When I tell people it's mostly cornmeal, for some reason, they don't want to believe me. There are strange rumors about it having sinister ingredients. Of course, it's a big favorite here, but hard to get elsewhere. There are those who like it thick and soft and others enjoy it thin and crispy. I like it both ways.
We used to make sandwiches from it on rye toast with sauted onions and fried tomatoe slices.

Polenta also has two sets of fans, those who like it soft and creamy and those who like it hard in slices..

Here's a great recipe that I got from the demo lady at Trader Jo's. No one can ever figure out what it is, but everyone is wild about it.

Italian Polenta Casserole

2 Tubes prepared polenta (or make your own loaf)
16 oz Italian Four cheese blend shreaded
1 quart Italian Tomato Sauce
Granulated Garlic
Italian Herbs
Black pepper
Red Pepper flakes if desired
Olive oil

Set oven to 350. In large frypan or two, heat olive oil for frying. Slice polenta into 1/3 inch slices. Pour granulated garlic on plate. Dip polenta slices in garlic. Add to fry pan and brown slightly on both sides. Set polenta on paper towels to drain.

Using a 2 to 3 quart casserole, pour some of the tomato sauce on bottom. Then place a layer of the polenta in the pan. Then sprinkle some of the 4 cheese mix on top and sprinkle your seasonings here too.. Repeat this order until you use up all ingredients, ending with cheese on top. bake casserole for 45 mintues. Let cool for 15 minutes uncovered before serving. Yummy!!

Weis sweet italian sausage is great! But so is Ostrowski's from Baltimore. But I did not like the Polish cheese from Weis deli. Smells like swiss and tastes like nothing. I just thought I'd give it a try.

I got fresh brussels sprouts at Weis and they are much better than frozen. Last year they had big packs of them cheap. Our other grocery had brussels spouts ON THE STEM last week, That was impressive but impractical. A two foot long stem with sprouts. Silly.

I take my scrapple crispy on the outside and exactly 1/4 " thick, not too much mush in the middle, as breakfast "meat", Rapa brand. The sandwich sounds good, have to try that someitme.

OOh, tonite we had a small boneless ham with corn pudding and scaloped potatos (potatos layered with sharp cheddar from deli, salt and white pepper, and evaporated milk added halfway up the taters,) and brussels sprouts and baby carrots .Even dessert- magic cookie bars minus the coconut cuz I didn't realize I was out until too late.

HM, time for bed, another busy day tomorrow, today was nice compared to yesterday, heck today was AWESOME compared to yesterday!!

Wow, Sally, that sounds like a great meal, even without the coconut. I'm impressed. I saw those Brussell Sprouts at the market too and wondered how I would store them, so I passed on them.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2009 11:15 PM

I have made corn meal mush with saussage and bacon. By purchasing the different levels of smoke and spices the fried corn meal takes on slightly different flavors. I have experimented with various cheeses and herbs but that is going away from my desires. I am not much of a cheese person. To me cheese and garlic become ruined cheese and a funky cornmeal batch. LOL If someone served it to me and I had no leftovers I would try anything once on the outside chance I might like it.

Yes I have seen fried cornmeal mush renamed to new one ups mans ship language.
The bottom line for me is simple. If I pay top dollar in any food establishment and the food is not to my liking I set it aside to ask for a substitute item or credit on the billing. If it is a quality establishment the request is always handled in a professional manor.

I was not sure where to post this, but I was looking up how to convert the amount of cake yeast (which some of my old recipes call for) into the dry yeast.
Here is everything you want to know about yeast and then some.

http://www.foodsubs.com/LeavenYeast.html

We finished our first diner tonight, it was sort of special with longtime friends. Tate's dad was a Navy Chief and cook and after he died they gave me his crab shaped baking ramekins. Tonight I served up a Baltimore Style Crab Imperial in them and followed with a New Orleans Style Jambalaya. Tate said I did his daddy proud! Ric

Ric, I don't doubt that you did!

Thanks Stormy, They even liked the wine! I got a Riesling from Bully Hill, and it was tasty.
I believe the Bully Hill label is the same guy who started Taylor. Most of the Bully Hill wines we have tried were very good. Ric

More comfort? Hubby and I alone the next couple of days, and have already had the "big" dinner.
So... we are having the foods we like for Christmas!

Tonight is an easy "homemade" chicken potpie!

Package of two Pillsbury Pie Crusts, room temperature
One 12.5 oz. can of chicken in water, drained (I use white meat only)
One can of cream of chicken soup
One 12.5 oz. package of the frozen mixed veggies that you steam in the bag (steam in microwave according to label)
One egg
One Tblsp. margarine
Season to taste

Grease pie pan. Press one of the pie crusts into pan, leaving an overlap around the edge. Mix all other ingredients thoroughly and pour into pan. Lay other pie crust over the top and press edges together, rolling into an edge crust. Make vents in top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so, until both crusts are golden brown. Let sit on counter for 15-20 minutes before cutting.

Well mine has been sitting long enough... time to eat!
Be back in a bit! Mmmm-mmmmm!!!!

Yummy! We had a mrs Buds potpie tonight. The grocery was mobbed, people buying shrimp steamed.

It was yummy!!!!
Mmmm Mmmmm good!

Looks great VWR. Chicken Pot Pie is one of my favorites. I love the one that Costco sells, but it is humongous. I have to serve it to company, or I end up eating it for 10 days.

Potpie sure has more 'stuff ' than the one we had. Don't ya think a lot of the conveneince stuff you can buy, you're paying for a lot of gravy, sauce, etc? I love the crust and gravy of potpie though. Oh well, I do like a certain level of convenience these days. I really enjoy making pie crust from a food processor, I am much more successful than the few times I tried it by hand. So I have two rounds of crust in the freezer; when you make any, it's so easy to repeat the process two more times and freeze it for another pie. But today I am making peach Betty for dessert after lasagne- I thought the fruit would be a nice change from all the cookies we've all been eating. Plus if I make this dessert, we get to KEEP more of the cookies step M is probably bringing.

I just took a load of cookies and such to our Rescue Mission. I had darn near enough to make tonights dinner needs. They are presently serving fifty for dinner. Last time I did this I saw the small dish of pudding with a cookie stuck in it. I saw the understanding eyes and expressions of appreciation. They also accepted my excess processed venison.

Look out culinary world, Here I come!!!! Santa brought me a Kitchen Aid to replace my aging Sunbeam and I'm chomping on the bit to try it out. I can't wait for it to quit raining so I can try it out on something nasty and airy. In the meantime I think JR and I may try it out on some cookie batter. I have some double chocolate fudge mix and some "dark" Reese's' cups to try out. I should be as big as a house for what I cook. My MIL always said she didn't like cooking for 2. I LOVE to cook, so I cook for 4 and drop 1/2 of it off.
My FIL loves it, because I'm a carnivore, and my GM taught me so many Depression Dishes. That woman could make gravy from something that smelled like meat. NO LAUGHS HERE, our times aren't bad till we look at theirs. Doc , if you read this, you have inspired a movement!!! The next family breakfast I serve will include fried mush! Lottsa calories, Ric

Ric, You will love your Kitchen Aid, I have had mine for 20 years and it has seen lots of cookie dough and cake batter, I later bought the grinder attachment and use it to grind nuts for my nut rolls, I have use it for other grinding too but it is a must for the nuts. I also bought one for my DD. It is a must for any cook.
Watch out for beating egg whites, it is easy to over beat them in a KA.

Santa was really good to you!

Yes, Ric, you will love it. It is an awesome machine. I also bought an extra bowl for mine, which I find comes in quite handy, when making more than one kind of cookie.

I looked the field over closely. I like to make six to eight cup breads. The big bad top of the line does'nt even groan over my torture. I would tell anyone Kitchen Aid and the biggest strongest you can justify. I just purchased the relatively new mixing blade that eliminates the need to scrape the sides of your bowl while mixing. It is very nice when making pancake batters, cookies and cakes. We've had Kitchen Aid for four or five years.

Ric..............that corn meal mush compaired with oatmeal has a little bit less of all the things we watch per equal servings. I presently have it on my somewhat controlled eating schedule three days a week alternating with oatmeal for breakfast. I can handle a four-five ounce serving with an ounce of 2% milk. That makes about 130 cals if I stay out of the molasses and real butter. If I still want to eat I add a piece of fruit.

Baked stuffed potatoes, stuffed with whipped garlic potatoes and crab imperial, served after asparagus soup with pumpernickel toast and sour cream. Came out pretty tasty. course it's kinda' hard to mess up asparagus,crab, and potatoes. Had to use my new toy to whip the potatoes, one word, AWESOME! LOL Ric
Just had to use up that left over crab. My FIL is coming by tomorrow, can't wait till he sees what is left over from tonight.

Ric, your the cooking King! Have you visited http://www.recipezaar.com/ it's an awsome site, lots of good things there.

Chris, I'll make a note to go look around that site. Here's one I like, you can search for a variation that suits your style, budget, or even what you have on hand. Ric

Ric , I have not been on that site for a long time, have to give it another visit.
I'll have to check out the "what you have on hand" feature. Right now it is Ham Ham and More Ham!

The Chicken Cardon Bleu turned out pretty good tonight.

I wish I had Ham, Ham and Ham. My sister only sent home a meager 3 slices for me. Not even the bone. She hates leftovers and never made a pot of soup in her life. You should have seen what I packed for her husband at Thanksgiving. Even sent him home with the freshly made soup.