STRAWBERRY TART

Once again I wasn't all that excited about this tart. And once again I was surprised. I've never seen creme fraiche around here so a couple of days before I was going to serve the tart I made some. The crust was very easy and Dorie's suggestion about baking it fully worked for me because I actually forgot it was still in the oven when I started to smell it and had to run through the house to take it out. But when I cut it, it didn't crumble at all. I sliced my strawberries, tossed in a little sugar, a quick turn of pepper, and a dash of kirsch. I found some jam in the pantry, assembled the little slices and served to the company I had over topped with a little creme fraiche and got rave reviews. My husband ate three pieces raving the whole time about the creme fraiche. He's a pretty big fan of all things cream and butter. Very delicious and easy.

French Brownies

I knew I should have left those raisins out. I was kind of thinking they might meld into the brownie. I don't really like raisins but am not seriously opposed, so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have any rum so I subbed Kahlua which of course doesn't have enough alcohol to ignite so I burned of the alcohol by briefly boiling the raisins, Kahlua, and water which is the reason for igniting the rum I think.
This was a really easy recipe. The batter was delicious but the raisins added a strange chew in the middle of a really GOOD brownie.-+And then there's the strawberry icecream. It's all I had and it's Tuesday afternoon.

Sticky Buns

The recipe this week for Tuesday With Dorie was sticky buns. OMG are they good.
They took two days, a lot of butter, a hardworking Kitchen Aid, and some patience but I guess that's what sticky buns are about.
It all starts with a brioche dough (lots of butter), a rise (I used the proof mode on my oven because I had to go to work), a rest in the fridge (it got a little harder than I thought it would and didn't really rise more like other people's).
Also, I didn't roll it out quite enough and after I trimmed the edges and cut a couple too wide, I only ended up with twelve buns. A couple even tried to escape out of their rolls when put in the oven. The glaze was slightly harder than I would have liked but just a little flavor in your teeth to savor later.
I wish I could figure this whole blogging thing out (links, renaming links, moving around my photos) but I'm sure I will eventually. I just don't have a lot of time on my hands obviously. I'm off to fold laundry, clean house, and prep dinner before my beautiful little monkeys wake up from their naps. Oh yeah, and try to squeeze in a shower.

SNICKERY SQUARES

The recipe pick this week for TWD was tradtional Madeleines. I don't own a Madeleine pan and really didn't want to buy a pan that was for something so specific so I decided to make snickery squares.
First I had to make dulce de leche. Usually when a cookbook claims you can find an ingredient at your supermarket or local ethnic market, you won't find it here. So I bought two cans of sweetened condensed milk, covered them with water and simmered away for three hours. It worked!
The next morning I set about making the squares propping the children in front of the tv for Madagascar. I've tried making carmel this way before and it hasn't worked. The sugar has never turned back to carmel for me. It just stays crystalized so I was pretty skeptical and I'm not sure if this was how the peanuts were supposed to look. I was expecting something more like peanut brittle. I also am not sure if I should have simmered the condensed milk a little longer because the squares didn't really set up. The dulce de leche oozes out. They are very delicious though.

Horton

A lot of people will think this is weird but at the age of 36 I have discovered how great libraries are. I grew up in a very small town and the only library was the one at school and it was not spectacular to say the least. When we first moved to
Whitefish, I had a library card but took some books back late and then was scared to go back because I was afraid they'd want money.
Well, I finally went back because Lucy absolutely loves books and I can't keep buying them. Some children's books are a little spendy. It's been great and I've even been getting books for myself. I know, at 36.
So anyway, we got Horton Hatches the Egg. We read it a few times and one day we were out walking around and Lucy picked up a few river rocks. One really flat one and later on I discovered she was carrying it around and then sitting on it. Even putting it under her bumm in her car seat. She's keeping it warm and waiting for it to hatch. We're trying to figure out a way to make it hatch.
Kids sure are hilarious.

We went to dinner at a friends house last week and he had some great pine cones from some ponderosas at his house. All the pine cones around here are from spruce trees and not all that cool. I read that a great project for preschoolers is to paint pine cones with peanut butter and then roll them around in sesame seeds to make a bird feeder so we gave it a try. It was fun. Lucy really liked it. We tied one up in a bird house in the back yard and another at the end of a limb in the back yard. The next morning Lucy was very excited to see if we had any birds and then was very disappointed to discover the squirrels had got the one tied to the limb. And the one in the bird house hasn't been touched. Maybe it's too cold still.

Florida Pie

I tried all morning to get this done and my 1 1/2 yr. old just wouldn't leave the buttons and mouse alone.
So anyway, this weeks pick was from Tuesdays With Dorie was Florida Pie. I really like lime and have never had Key Lime pie. I once read in a Cook's Illustrated magazine that the difference in flavor to regular Persian limes isn't really worth juicing the little suckers. And in this little corner of Northwest Montana I would never consider driving all over the valley with two young kids looking for Key Limes.
I don't usually have a lot of success getting juice out of limes. I usually try rolling them around on the counter to soften them up but the first one I tried didn't yeild much at all. I've always heard another way is to warm it in the microwave but I've never tried it. It worked A LOT better. I only had to use four limes.
Also, I got impatient with my first attempt at heating the egg whites and ended up scrambling them. I tried to whip them up anyway but of course it didn't work. I had to separate four more eggs and took it a little slower and it worked great.
Overall, I thought this pie was really good, but if I made it again I would probably leave the coconut out of the meringue. I thought it was a little too much.

peanut butter torte

I was so excited to make this dessert, with good reason. It was so delicious. However, being time to get into a bathing suit, I had some trouble with it. I'm really hoping next weeks pick will be something not so fattening. And I'm one of those that thinks if you're eating dessert, you might as well eat dessert. I don't like to goof around with low-fat, no-fat, I prefer desserts as they're meant to be.

I was scared of this one. Whipping cream, cream cheese, peanut butter, Oreos (which I have a serious distaste for), what's a girl to do? I ended up taking this to two different dinner parties and still had two pieces left which my husband put down no problem. He has an incredible metabolism. He's been weighing himself before bed and again in the morning and somehow while he's sleeping he loses seven pounds. Why doesn't that ever happen to me?

Lucy and her friend Dale pushing around the pink Cadillac. A super cute toy Ross' mom got from Mary Kay. Having tons of fun this day and we're so happy to finally have some good weather. It's been rough.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Tart

I was curious about this cake. It is a recipe I would never consider making. I don't have a 10 1/2 tart pan and was not willing to drag my two young children into Bed Bath and Beyond 15 miles from here to buy a new tart pan. It just so happens that sometime last year I got a wild hair to make an upside down peach cake and HAD (I'm sure you all understand) to order this pan. So I made it in the cake pan and I'm glad I did. No overflowing.

Anyway, I was pretty skeptical. I wasn't so sure about spending money to make this cake that I was fairly certain we wouldn't like. Figs? Ricotta? Polenta?

It was awesome! Loved it.

This is why I love the whole idea of Tuesday with Dorie. And I cannot wait for the peanut butter torte. :):)

chili

So in our house we have a thing about chili. I really like it and my husband (his name is Ross) only likes Nalley out of the can. I find that to be about the most absurd thing I've ever heard and I'm always trying new recipes to persuade him away from this liking. I never works and about three years ago I stopped trying. For some reason when an issue of Cuisine at Home came with a recipe for Italian Chili I decided to try it. It wasn't very good and I ended up putting it in the freezer hoping I would eat it when Ross was away, knowing full well I probably wouldn't.

Well, when I was looking through Baking, From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan I came upon a recipe for Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins I thought to myself, 'what a perfect time to try and get Ross to eat that chili he didn't like'.

Well, the muffins were good but I was frustrated that the paper was stuck to the muffins. But the flavor was really good. Then when I was putting the kids to bed and opened the microwave to warm their milk, there was the butter I had melted and left to cool before putting it in the batter. No wonder. That's what you get for multitasking. "Mamma, I wanna take a bath, mamma, I wanna take a bath, mamma, I wanna take a bath", all the while making dinner and blogging.

So I remade them this morning and they were really good.

And the chili was so much better after sitting in my freezer for two months.

I know this is kind of a step backwards but I'm going to try and entertain my family and other friends with my new blog.

Charlie, our 15mo. old broke his leg by falling down the stairs. This is him in the Bierstube on The Big Mountain walking with his cast on. Silly boy was crawling up the same stairs he fell down four days later. And also Charlie sleeping with his cast on. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, having a 15 mo. boy with a cast. I begged the dr. to make it below his knee but he said "no way". It didn't take him long to start walking with it on. The thing was nasty when it got taken off.

Big Bill's Carrot Cake

I really love carrot cake so I was pretty excited when that was the pick this week even though I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with a whole cake without an occasion.

I should have followed my instincts from the beginning because Dorie doesn't say to line the bottoms with parchment and I know better but I tried anyway. Of course I couldn't get it out of the pans. I'll never do that again.

I tried the dried cherries because I think warm plump raisins are foul and I didn't have craisins. The cherries were delicious and a great suggestion made by someone. I acutally thought the cake had too much stuff, not enough spices, and not enough frosting. Definitely not enough to run over the edges like the notes said. I also thought the frosting was too sweet. I was concerned the recipe only called for 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 lb. confectioners sugar.

I'm really excited to be involved with TWD. Next weeks recipe is something I would never consider making. And I'm really glad to start baking and cooking again as I feel my life has only been about children in the last four years.