Sparkling Cranberry White Chocolate Cake

 

This might be one of my favorite cakes I have ever made. It cooked up like a dream, and the moistness of the cake along with the white chocolate icing just made it fantastic!                      

                                                                                               

I made this as a late November birthday cake, but it is perfect for any celebration this time of year.

The layers of this cake were spotted with fresh cranberries, which gave the cake a tartness that complemented the sweetness of the white chocolate icing perfectly. 

This cake recipe is a winner, and I did something I don't often do: I followed the recipe pretty much just like it was written. The only thing I did differently was glaze the cranberries and leave them in the fridge for just an hour, where the recipe suggested to leave them in overnight. My cranberries were just fine with the shortened time invested in sugar coating them.  The recipe can be found at: Life, Love, and Sugar.

In Victory,

Sherry

Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

 

I decided to try a new way to serve sweet potatoes this year. I made a sweet potato and ginger soup.

The soup was thick because I reduced the liquid a little, but you can make it more liquid by adding the 2 cups of chicken stock. 

The soup was really filling and delicious with a touch of honey added.

Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup (Instant Pot-Easy)

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 1b. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic

1 3/4 cup of chicken stock (recipe called for 2 cups)

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup of heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

I added sweet potatoes, chicken stock, olive oil, honey, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper to the Instant Pot and cooked 20-25 minutes on manual. Take a immersion blender and puree soup adding the heavy cream and mix to get the consistency you want. Garnish with parsley.

Serve hot.

Recipe adapted from: The Fix It and Forget It Mediterranean Diet Cookbook 

Enjoy! 

In Victory,

Sherry

Orange Ginger Honey Cakes

Baking and autumn go together. I had in mind to use these little mini loaf pans for a seasonal treat, and this was the recipe that I thought sounded good. The fall light coming in this window just wows me every year! These photos are straight out of the camera. 

This recipe would make a single loaf pan (8.5 inches x 4.5 inches). I used these mini loaf pans and filled all of them three-quarters full but one. I skipped the turkey. I am taking this autumn slow; I am not rushing the seasons. 

Here are the finished cakes popped out of the pan. They come out perfectly when you grease the pan and dust it with a little flour. 

Here I am pouring on the orange glaze. That glaze is what makes the cakes so delicious! 

They were incredibly moist and perfect for a little treat after dinner or with a tea or coffee. 

Orange Ginger Honey Cakes with Orange Glaze    

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoons fresh orange zest

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup milk

Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. (175°C)

Grease pan and dust with flour. Mix dry ingredients in on large bowl. Whisk butter, honey, zest, juice, eggs, and milk in another bowl. Combine wet and dry mixture gently till incorporated but not overmixed. Fill cake molds 3/4 full and bake 18-22 minutes. Let the cakes cool 5 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. I cut the raised cake off the bottom of the loaves so they would sit flat on a serving tray. Let completely cool. Whisk the fresh squeezed orange juice with the sifted powdered sugar in a small saucepan and  cook on medium until reduced by half and desired consistency. Place your cakes on serving tray and pour on the slightly cooled glaze. The cake will absorb the glaze and be so moist. The cake will keep on the counter five days in a sealed container. 

Yield: 5 small loaf pans.

Recipe adapted from: Admuda.com

Enjoy!

In Victory,

Sherry

Beef and Noodles

Beef and noodles is a common dinner here in the Midwest. I moved here over thirty years ago, and when I got here there was much excitement when someone was having beef and noodles. When I first tried it, I was very underwhelmed. I never saw what the big deal was about beef and noodles. Then I, for some reason I am not sure why, just made my own version of it one day, and then everyone that tried it was very excited about my beef and noodles. I still don't see what the big deal is, but it is a comfort food, and comforting it is.

I never saw a recipe just like mine until I came upon this cookbook online. This is The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook printed, in 1944, at the height of World War II. If ever the whole world needed a comfort food, it was then. Lily, in her infinite wisdom, wrote several cookbooks. This one is a jewel. Lily was British and became an American. She brought with her many of the thrifty bits of wisdom that the British came to use on a regular basis during the times they endured during the war. This cookbook uses whatever you have on hand and makes a very adequate meal out of it.  

I won't go into a full cookbook review, but it has menus for a liberal diet (one where you have resources), a moderate-cost adequate diet, a minimum-cost adequate diet, and a restricted diet for emergency use only. The implications of having this knowledge are a really useful way to keep you and your family resilient. It was this information that made me dive into this cookbook, and then I found it: my way of making beef and noodles.

 In this recipe book Lily calls it creamed noodles. It is basically a white sauce poured over noodles.

I make a beef gravy and pour it over the noodles and beef. There are versions of this, often with a can of cream of mushroom soup in it. Mine is just beef gravy, beef, and noodles. One other change I made is that I use fettuccine noodles, because I am not a fan of the Amish-style egg noodles.

Beef and Noodles (Creamed Noodles)

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 ounces of dried fettuccine, cooked and drained 

2 quarts of water, to boil noodles

1 cup or more of shredded beef roast, leftovers will work. 

1/2 can Keystone beef roast is usually how I make it.

Sauce: 

I make a thicker sauce, so I use more butter and flour than a thin sauce.

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups of beef broth

Method:

Put the fettuccine into a 2 quarts of boiling water to cook. When noodles return to a boil after you have added them to water, cook for 12 minutes. About half way through the cooking (6 minutes) add the beef roast to your noodles, so it can warm and incorporate into the dish.

While noodles are cooking, make your beef gravy sauce.

Use a separate medium saucepan and melt your butter into it. Add the flour and whisk this roux for 2 minutes. Slowly pour in your beef broth. You can add a cup and then later another cup or all at once and it will eventually thicken into your gravy. Stir continuously until you have the desired consistency, I make mine thick.

Drain the water off of the noodles and the shredded roast. Pour the beef gravy sauce into the noodles and stir until all noodles are coated in the gravy.

Serve hot. 

There you have it! Beef and noodles with a WWII spin as creamed noodles. It is my favorite way to make them. I have never written this recipe down; I always make it from memory. All the children I feed love them, and they are easy to make; best of all you can use leftover beef roast. I have even used leftover beef and beef broth from French dips to make this, and it all turns out good.

In Victory,

Sherry

Pear Tart

Today I am sharing a really easy pear tart to serve with your coffee. I tried the puff pastry a few weeks back when I made chicken pot pie, and I was eager to try it with a dessert.

It is such a pretty way to present a treat to go with your coffee for autumn. I put them on a plate on the counter and put a glass cake dome over them and say I am "coffee shopping my house."

Quick Pear Tart

Servings 6-8

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

3 ripe pears, thinly sliced 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 plus tablespoons honey for drizzling

powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. (200°C) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or baking Silpat sheet. Roll puff pastry out to fit your baking sheet. (This would be a standard cooking baking sheet.) Prick the pastry with a fork to prevent over puffing.

Toss 1/4 of a pear in the lemon juice and then place in a plate and thinly slice for the tart. Arrange the quarter of the pear on each rectangle of the puff pastry overlapping the slices for presentation. Brush the melted butter over the pears. Shake a little cinnamon over each rectangle of pear slices. Bake 20 minutes, until the desired browning occurs. Drizzle honey on each rectangle over the pears and dust with sifted powdered sugar. 

May refrigerate up to 3 days covered.

Recipe adapted from: Fruity Desserts

The last of the zinnias and snapdragons all faded with their fall colors.

In Victory,
Sherry 

Rainy October Day

It was a rainy October day, and this one rose was calling me outside to take some pictures.

Plants I want to try to save have been tucked into the greenhouse for the cooler nights.

Most of the mums keep on giving a beautiful display, while some of them are fading fast.

Pansies are so beautiful in spring or fall. I always have them in my garden.

The purple basil is still satisfying the bees right up till the end of the season. 

Rainy October days are comforting; the garden is saying goodbye to me one flower at a time, and in the spring it will come back one flower at a time after a period of rest.

In Victory,

Sherry