Hey, bloggie.  I bet you wondered if I had forgotten you.  I haven't.  I've actually been cooking and baking more now.  Fall does that to me.  We have had a few cooler days here in NC, emphasis on the word few.  This is one of the times I miss home the most.  The trees are beautiful right now back home.  Not so much here, but they'll get there. 
Back home we have this amazing apple orchard called Edwards, if you are within 100 miles of Caledonia, IL, go.  Please.  Go for me.  They are set in the back roads of a tiny country town about 2 hours away from Chicago.  Winding side roads take you past fields of cut corn, old tractors and sweet doggies protecting their front porches.  You park in the corn field and walk on up to the rust colored barns that sillouhette in the fall sky.  Smell leading you all the way....


~ Cake
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking posder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
2 tsp finely grated apple (Yup, I did that.  It was juicy.
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup cream cheese (5 oz.), room temperature
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup fresh apple cider or juice

~Glaze
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
2 Tbsp apple cider or juice
1/12 Tbsp orange juice

Hey, everyone!  I hope that your Labor Day weekend was wonderful!  Ours was.  We had lots of food, lots of sugar and lots of fun.  Just how it should be.   About a year ago, while I was at Harris Teeter looking for an easy dessert because God forbid my children and hubby not have dessert after every meal and I ran across Coconut Pecan cookies in their bakery section.  I thought they sounded delicious, so I picked a container up.  Oh my word, we loved them.  Loved them and all 12 were gone in a matter of minutes.  Oink, oink.

So, last week I picked up another container and again, we inhaled them.  At which point my son turned to me and said, "Mom, can't you just make more?".  Weeellll, baby.....of course I can!  Duh.  So, I took out all of my favorite cookie recipes and thought about which one best matched the texture and flavor I was looking for and then I tweaked and messed and pondered and drank a glass of wine and baked and facebooked and baked and taste tested and...voilå!!  Perfection!  We think that they are better than Harris Teeters, they taste amazballs and do not have any preservatives or icky things in them.  Who needs preservatives in cookies any way?  My household certainly doesn't.

I hope you guys make them and if you do, let me know what you think!


2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups of shredded sweetened coconut
2 cups of pecans


~Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Prepare cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

~In a stand mixer beat butter until pale, about 2 minutes.

~Add sugars and beat until fluffy, another 2-3 minutes.

~Add eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition.

~Add vanilla.

~Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl.

~Add dry ingredients to the wet in 2 - 3 additions, mixing until just combined each time.

~Place mixer on low and add coconut and pecans.  Mix until just combined.

~Drop by well rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.

~Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating halfway through.

~Enjoy!!!

Toppings~ this is what we used, this time.  We are going to make a chicken alfredo one soon!  (yum!)
Baby Portabellas
1 large clove of garlic
Sausage, I used one package of Jimmy Dean All Natural
Pepporoni, I used a package of Boar's Head
Onions
Mozzarella Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Olive oil

Pizza Dough~
1 cup of liquid total, separated--1/4 cup for the yeast
 (SS used 1/4 cup juice from cooking the mushrooms, I didn't have that much, so I just used what I had & adjusted and used water for the rest.  She suggests using 1/2 cup of tomato juice also.  I didn't use that either, but I bet that would be delish!)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast (I use Fleishmann's in a jar)
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
cornmeal, for sprinkling

~Prepare your pizza dough first, to allow it time to rest.

~Pizza dough directions~

~In a small glass bowl or Pyrex measuring cup, place 1/4 cup of water.  Warm water to about 110 degrees F.  Add the yeast and stir.  Set aside and allow it to proof.

~In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, add the sugar, salt, flours and seasonings, give it stir. 

~Create a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the olive oil and liquid (however you made it up;  mushroom juice, tomato juice, water.   It should equal 3/4 cup water or mixture + the 1/4 cup with the yeast and total 1 cup)

~Turn on the mixer and mix until dough has formed a ball and sides of bowl are clean, about 3-5 minutes. 
**Alternatively, put dry ingredients in a bowl, create a well, add liquids and use a wooden spoon and/or hands until dough forms.

~Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto a clean surface and knead dough a few times into a big ball.

~Divide ball into 4 equal parts.  Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest while you prepare toppings.

Toppings directions~

~Clean off mushrooms with a damp cloth.  Snap off stems and slice.

~Peel garlic clove and mince.

~Heat a sauté pan over medium heat.  Swirl in some olive oil...swirl it, it makes you feel like Emeril or Giada.   Add mushrooms and garlic and sauté for a few minutes.  Salt and pepper, to taste.  If your mushrooms become dry, like mine did, add a little white wine--1/4 to 1/3 cup should do the trick.  (water or chicken stock would work also)

~Place sauteed mushrooms on a plate and reserved liquid in a measuring cup.

~In the same pan over medium heat, add some olive oil and cook your sausage.

~While sausage is cooking, chop your onions and grate your cheese!

Now that all of your toppings are prepared, let's get back to our pizza crust.  Obviously, guys you can do this in any order that works for you.  Just make sure that the dough has at least 20 minutes to relax.

~Sprinkle cornmeal onto a clean counter top.

~Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thickness.  This gave me 6-8 inch round pizzas.

~Start your grills!!!

~Take all of your toppings out to your grill.  You will need to have them at the ready.  (I never say that in real life...at the ready?)

~We have a propane grill and my hubby preheated it to 350 degrees F.

~We placed the rolled out dough on the grill, closed the lid and let it cook for about 3-5 minutes.  At that point the dough began to bubble (see above pic) and so we flipped it because it seemed like the right thing to do.  It was.

~Now that you have flipped the pizza, you need to hurry up and put the toppings on and close the lid to your grill.  Allow about 5 minutes to melt cheese and finish cooking the dough.

~Plate and enjoy!!!

Hey ya'll!  I hope your week has been going wonderfully.  Our's has been busy but great, I had every intention of posting yesterday but swim practice and ice cream got in the way.  Sorry.
 
On Tuesday, Jeff went with me to my swim lesson to get a few pointers on technique for the triathlons he has coming up--mainly the 1/2 Ironman in September.  It was fun to have him there.  He knows how weird I can be about the water.  He also knows that I want our babies to be ridiculous swimmers.  Ridiculous, like Phelps, but without the pot.   (I actually <3 Phelps!  Go Team USA!!)  Our babies are really good swimmers and getting stronger every practice.  And well, I just don't want to be left behind.   So, I faithfully go to lessons and faithfully practice in between lessons.  And, I am so excited to say that we can now put the "Can only do the backstroke, because her butt makes make her float" excuse in the bullshit bucket, because guys it's official, I CAN SWIM.  Like Phelps!!!  But a wee bit slower.  And a little less graceful.  And Jeff was there to see my first attempt at freestyling and then my first 25 down the pool!  I thought that, that was kinda cool.  I wonder if he feels so silly proud of me like I do him when he does something great or hard.  Mostly, I think he just thinks, "Argh, I married that crazy by choice.".  lol

This week while I was at the grocery store for the 3rd time in one day, I saw the Real Simple Magazine, and I picked it up.  Inside, they had lots of great, quick dinner ideas.  And like most families, we need us a few quickies during the week, with homework, swim practice, juijitsu and tri training, dinner can turn into a stressful event quick for me.  This recipe is so quick and delish.  (How many times can I use quick, in a paragraph?!)  I toasted rolls, filled them with the crab salad and served the hoagies with some raw veggies and chips.  It took all of 10ish minutes, and the babies all loved it and I felt good about serving it to them. 

~~Guys, I wrote that LAST Wednesday and am now sitting in swim again, trying to finish this post!  LOL  I bet you've all had weeks like that, where you just can't catch up!~~

1 apple, diced
Puff pastry
Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
brown sugar
butter
cinnamon



~Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

~Roll out puff pastry to about a 1/8 inch thickness, lightly flour your work surface. 

~Cut puff pastry into a circle.  I used my 3 inch cookie cutter.

~Place circle puff pastry on your prepared baking sheet.

~Dice apples.  Place a few diced apples in the center of your puff pastry.

~Add about a teaspoon of butter and brown sugar.  Add a pinch of cinnamon.

~Bake for 16-19 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden and the apples are soft.

~Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes.  However, while they are cooling, stay vigilant as sneaky husbands WILL swoop in and steal a tart and blame poor, sweet and innocent (not, just as bad as his Daddy!) Raleigh for the missing tart.

This is Raleigh.

I feel like I've been gone for ages!!   I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.  Our's was great.  We spent it at the beach with some friends eating ridiculously good food and having a great time.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know all about it!

So, we are finally at the end of our heat wave here in NC....we had something like 9 consecutive days in the 100's.  We keep expecting to pull into our driveway and see horses grazing on the hay our grass has turned into.  We are originally from the Midwest, where grass is green during the Spring/Summer, so it's kinda crazy here in the South where the grass is green during the Fall/Winter.  I keep threatening to buy spray paint and give it a little make over, but eh, for now it's good.  Truly (that's how you spell it, there's no "e"...true-ly, wth?), though that is one of the few things I miss from back home....other than family...simmer down, Ma.  I enjoy living out here, I really believe that my babies and I?  We were Southerners at heart before we were geographically.  Occasionally, I do feel like I need a passport to be here and I don't speak the language but that's happening less and less.   I'm becoming fluent in Southern and I'm pretty good at "Blessing her heart."  Did you know about "Bless her heart"?  You can say anything, I mean anything about someone, so long as you bless their heart, you're in the clear.  It's like a Southern penance.  I was going somewhere with this....ah, yes, 9 days no rain, crazy heat...then RAIN, beautiful and peaceful and thirst quenching rain.  Our grass was happy!   And cornbread is a rainy day comfort food in our home.  This cornbread has just a bit of kick and a lot of flavor.  We loved, loved it, and I hope you do too!



1 medium size poblano pepper
1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt



~Roast poblano pepper.  Peel the skin and discard.  (I roasted the pepper over an open flame then gave it a few minutes to cool down and peeled the skin off and discarded.  The skin should be pretty charred and black after roasted.)

~Dice pepper.

~Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

~Grease an 8 inch square pan.

~Melt the butter in large skillet.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar.

~Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended.

~Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into the butter/sugar/egg mixture.

~Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain.

~Add in pepper and cheese.  Mix until just combined.

~Pour batter into the prepared pan.

~Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy!!  And don't start a fight with your hubby for the last piece, just eat it when he's not looking!! xo

Happy Fourth of July, America!

On August 16, 2004, my baby brother, Eric, left for Marine Corp. boot camp and my perspective of many things completely changed.   Our country and our freedom, they are not free.  Something I've always known but never felt.  I feel it now.  The war, the casualties, the men and women soldiering on and fighting for me now have a face.  The face of one of my brothers.

Eric being gone at boot camp and training was hard, but deployments made my world shift.  Life went on and a lot of my world remained outwardly the same, but the colors were muted and sprinkled with fear.  We enjoyed life, but we enjoyed it with a sense of caution, a sense of emptiness and a sense of a potential a loss. Deployments were long and taxing, news of Marines hurt or involved in an attack spread through my family like wildfire and whoever spoke to Eric last would become a lifeline for timing and location.  Deployments were hard.  I can not imagine the pain a spouse feels, or a child whose parent is serving.

Every night, every single night from the moment Eric left US soil until the moment he returned, I said good night to him--I don't know if he heard me, but it calmed me. 


My brother is home and alive and well.  And we could not be more grateful or happy, we are among the blessed ones.  Not all are.  My brother lost his best friend, Hank, when an IED exploded beneath the Humvee he was in.  Eric had just passed over that exact area seconds before.  I can not explain the emotions that last sentence stirs in me... and I can not imagine the emotion that fact stirs in my brother.  I can not explain to Hank's Momma why her baby had to die, because I can not understand the why either.  Every answer I've heard sounds empty and hollow and just don't add up to a person's life.

Today, I don't have a recipe for you.  I only have a link to a story about an amazing man.  A man who gave for me and for you.  His particular story has touched my heart, because his job was very similar to my brother's and Hank's.

Please visit Taylor Morris's page and do what your heart tells you to.

With much love and gratitude to our Servicemen and women.