Friday Lunch Club

"Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable."
~ Ina Garten, 'The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook'

I relate so well to this quote by Ina. It reflects the same basic ideas I've shared in "Sweeter by the Beach", "Meet me in My Cape Cod Kitchen" and the many articles I've written and published over the past few years like For the Love of Lobster, Fun & Fabulous Holiday Gifts, Comforts of Baking and most recently Food as Gift.

Sharing food for me, really is about making people feel comfortable.

Over the Holidays, I went to a party where an acquaintance told me about a Friday Lunch Club. She gathers girlfriends once a month and invites them over for lunch on a Friday. The idea is to make and share one of your favorite recipes, print up copies of it and send guests home with it so they can make at a later time.

I thought it was such a simple and fun way to get girlfriends together. So I've decided to host a Friday Lunch Club at my house this Friday. For this first one, I'm going to keep it simple: home made soup, a vegetable quiche and one of my favorite cakes that I don't make very often: a layered banana cake with chocolate frosting.

Happy New Year, Easy Recipe for Chocolate Shortbread & Cake Balls!

"In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want." ~Irish Toast

I baked Chocolate Cake Balls yesterday (pictured here). I'd been so busy baking for others throughout the holiday season that I never got around to making these for my kids and they are one of their favorites.

I like the sentiment in the Irish Toast because my friends have always been such an important part of my life. I have a couple of friends that I am still close to today from early grade school. It is such a blessing to have good friends.

As for the Recipe for Chocolate Shortbread I wanted to share it here because I plan to bake it later today for a New Year's Dinner I'm making to celebrate my son's birthday. I'm making a black pepper roast, garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach & feta quiche. I thought the shortbread's would be something simple and yummy to go along with it.

Chocolate Shortbread

(with these you may have to begin any new year diets tomorrow)

1 cup butter

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ounces milk chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

2 cups all purpose flour

In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar, until light and smooth. Beat in vanilla and melted chocolate. Stir in flour until just blended. Spread into a greased 13x9 baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for about 40 or so minutes. Let cool completely and then cut into squares.

Quick & Super Easy Recipe for Sausage Egg Bake!

Sophia wanted to invite some friends over this week to decorate sugar cookies for her class party. I made a ton of snowmen, stocking and star shaped sugar cookies and left them for the girls to decorate. They had fun.

I'm happy I was able to finish my grading for the semester and take some time to let her have friends over. They giggled a lot and the kitchen was a mess with green and red frosting, white snowflake jimmies, green colored sugar and mini candy Christmas trees.

They decorated enough for everyone in the class and made sure there were enough for the teacher and her aides. We packaged them in a large container and wrote all their names on top and sent them in this morning.

It's hard to believe Christmas is the day after tomorrow. One of my favorite meals of the year is Breakfast on Christmas morning. I decided to make a Sausage Egg Bake, Warm Cinnamon Rolls, Fresh Fruit and Orange Juice.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Blessings for a Prosperous and Healthy New Year!

Recipe for Sausage Egg Bake

9 large eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions

1 1/2 cups shard cheddar, grated fine

1/4 cup milk

ground spicy sausage, cooked to brown in a skillet, at the last minute add the scallions to soften

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking dish. Beat the eggs in a small bowl until smooth and add the milk. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper to taste. Mix the browned sausage and scallions into the bowl with eggs and gently add in the cheddar. Pour into greased baking dish and bake for about 25 minutes. Enjoy right out of the oven!

Busy Busy Bakers & Another End of Semester!

There's been lots of baking going on at my house this week. I like to bake for neighbors, my kids teachers, other friends at the holidays and I often bring in cookies on the last day of my classes for the semester. In my English Composition classes this week, I brought in Coconut Pound Cake drizzled with Chocolate, Sugar Cookies topped with Crushed Candy Canes, Chocolate Chip Cookies with a hint of Peanut Butter and Cranberry Biscotti.

The cookies were definitely a hit with my students. We played a couple of word games on the last day. We wrote a Community Story and played 'Passadoodle'. It was fun.

I like my students to leave with the idea that although College writing requires them to work hard and write well throughout the semester language and literature can be fun!

I like to hear what they write for a Community Story; it's always wacky and wild plots with outrageous descriptions. It'll be nice to have a break for a little while (to spend time with my own kids) before the Spring Semester begins.

Cupcakes, Fuzzy Pink Slippers & Fig and Prosciutto Puffs!

T'is the season for Holiday Parties. I love a good party. And at times the Holidays seem like one of the few times I get a chance to see certain people. It's fun to catch up with people I haven't seen in awhile.

I can't go to a party empty handed so I baked some fun cupcakes earlier today-butter flavored cupcakes with blue frosting and green sugar.

I also brought the new appetizer recipe I came up with right before Thanksgiving because it's easy and good and people really seem to like it.

Recipe for Fig and Prosciutto Puffs

Mini Phyllo Shells
Fig Jam
Prosciutto, Sliced into pieces
Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

On a baking sheet place the mini Phyllo shells. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop a teaspoon of jam on the center of each pastry shell. Place small slices of prosciutto on top of the jam and top with a sprinkle of shredded pepper jack cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry shells are brown.

Oh ya, and as for the Fuzzy Pink Slippers, I did some Christmas shopping today and in an effort to take good care of myself throughout the holiday season I decided to buy myself the cutest and most comfortable slippers I've ever had. It seems like if I remember to take care of myself too, I will enjoy the hectic holiday season so much more. Just a thought, but maybe it would work for you too? Not the pink slippers, but the taking time for you around the holiday!

Kindness, Cake Balls & NYC!

It was my kids Dad's birthday this weekend and even though we are no longer together I decided it was worth the effort to help my kids put a mini birthday celebration together for him. I helped my daughter's buy a quesadilla maker, the ingredients for a dinner they would make for him at his place last Friday and other decorations. I also baked a pie to send over too because what's a birthday without desert? From what my daughter's said, the dinner came out delicious and he seemed to appreciate their efforts.
Regardless of how things turned out between he and I, I want my kids to know how important it is to show kindness and appreciation for the people you care about and what better way then to help them make a celebration for him. I didn't have to be there, it was enough of a reward knowing my girls had fun in their efforts. I have to admit, I also think it's pretty cool that my daughter's are learning the art of cooking and sharing good food too. Something I hope to share with them for years to come.
My oldest daughter and I took a day trip into NYC on Saturday. We had a lot of fun. After a long effort on my part I finally finished my book proposal for "Sweeter by the Beach" and sent it out to a New York Agent for her to take a look at last week. I was happy to finally complete it because I tried to get it done by summer's end but between the kids and my teaching job it simply took longer than I expected.
We had a blast tooling around the City. The cool thing was that at one point I realized we rode right by the Agent's office Building where I sent it to. I hope it gets published someday because it has been a fun project and I think people would enjoy seeing what it's about.
As for making Cake Balls, I baked some late Sunday afternoon because the holidays are fast approaching and I need to get a jump on my baking now before all the party's get underway.
For my first batch of the season, I made chocolate dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes. (Yum!)

How Time Flies & Giving Thanks!

It's hard to believe that my niece will turn twenty tomorrow on Thanksgiving Day. I remember the day she was born. I was living in Hermosa Beach, CA at the time.
We had plans that day to go to her Dad's sister's house for Thanksgiving Dinner, but got the call that my sister had gone into Labor. We drove to the hospital to meet her. I remember thinking she was so little, so cute and absolutely perfect! It's amazing how much life has changed in those twenty years and how fast the time flies.
I was doing my holiday baking by candle light and a fire early this morning. It's cold, dark and rainy today and the candle and fire made the house feel less gloomy.
The house was quiet and I had a chance to think about many Holidays I've spent in the past. I thought about that day twenty years ago, but I also remembered how much I used to love the holidays when my Nana and all her sister's were still alive. My grandparents used to attend a Catholic Church that would sing and deliver part of the message in French. I remember feeling as if there was something so special and sacred about that. Even if, I didn' understand exactly what was being said and sung.
Another favorite memory I have of Thanksgiving's past is all the pies my Aunt Ollie used to bake. She made pie perfection- chocolate cream, apple, pumpkin and pecan pies! As a kid, I couldn't wait until dinner was done.
I hope you have a peaceful Thanksgiving and remember to take time to give thanks for even the little things.

Autumn Fires & Freshly Baked Tortilla Strips!

Last week when I made the batch of Chicken & Corn Tortilla Soup, I roasted corn in olive oil, added garlic, cumin, coriander, sage and red pepper, tomatoes, scallions, chicken broth and diced chicken. I also baked my own tortilla strips and they were so easy and good I thought I'd add a quick recipe here.

Take Flour Tortilla's and brush them with olive oil on both sides, slice into small strips and place flat on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 or so minutes, until brown.

Freshly baked tortilla strips are great to top off a bowl of soup or as a crunchy topping for a leafy green salad.

As for the Autumn Fires, I've been making them a lot lately. It's so relaxing to be home and have a fire going to warm the room.

Memories, Laughter and Chicken & Corn Tortilla Soup

“When someone dies, you don't get over it by forgetting; you get over it by remembering, and you are aware that no person is ever truly lost or gone once they have been in our life and loved us, as we have loved them.”

― Leslie Marmon Silko

I spent part of last week at a family wake and funeral. Overall, the experience was deeply sad and I can honestly say I learned a lot, was gifted with the pleasure of recalling many memories and besides the nature of the event that brought us all together I did have the opportunity to laugh quite a bit. Laughter is good medicine, especially when it's shared with people I deeply love.
Silko's right it 's by remembering that no person is ever truly lost once they have been in our life and we have loved them.

One memory in particular I enjoyed sharing was of an old family friend who would have us to their home each year on the night before Christmas. It was a big white house set high on the hill. I remember a large hidden attic, a back stair case from the bedrooms down to the kitchen and an old wooden chute that the kids would drop their laundry in. It would turn up in the basement right next to the washing machine. I used to think this was brilliant.

The Mother, a good friend and cousin of my Mom's was an impressive baker. At the end of a large meal the dishes would be cleared and the table would be replaced with all kinds of scrumptious pies, cheesecake and cookies.
After I returned home from the Funeral, I was eager to share food and new memory with friends and family. I made hot rosemary rolls, a Coconut Joy Pie and Chicken & Corn Tortilla Soup. I made a fire in the kitchen fireplace and called a few friends to come over. Late last night, Sophia said the Pie was 'amazing' and Bella said the soup was 'so yummy'!
And either way, the loss of our loved one will remain. Yet, we still must get together, eat good food and make new memories along the way....

Pies, Pecans & Libraries!

When I got my library card, that's when my life began. ~Rita Mae Brown

I adore our Library system on the Cape. I'm constantly stopping at one of the many branches and either looking for a good movie, music or book to check out. I go there first when I hear what my book club is reading next.

When I need something for one of my classes, I often stop there before the campus library because it simply feels more like home. And I know that part of why all three of my kids have such a strong love for reading is the many times I've brought them there. There's nothing better than getting a library card and using it. So when the Children's Librarian recently asked me if I wanted to bake pies for the annual volunteer luncheon I felt it was the least I could do.
I baked a Cranberry Apple Pie and a Pecan Cheesecake Pie. Fall on Cape Cod is Cranberry harvesting season and cranberry's are in such wonderful abundance. My oldest daughter says, the Pecan Cheesecake Pie is the best dessert she's ever tasted. I offered to bake the Pecan Cheesecake Pie because the Fall always reminds me of the years we spent in Dallas collecting and shelling pecans from the many trees in our neighborhood that produced them. And for those who had never tasted a Pecan Cheesecake Pie, I didn't want them to miss out. It's such a perfect combination of creamy and crunchy.

In case you feel like doing some baking this weekend and have yet to taste this particular pie I'll leave you with my version of the recipe. You can use either a refrigerated pie crust or use my recipe for a simple pie crust in "Meet Me in My Cape Cod Kitchen".
And, if you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!

Pecan Cheesecake Pie
1 pie crust, placed in the bottom of a pie plate, fold edges and crimp.

8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs, divided

3/4 cup sugar, divided

2 tsp. vanilla extract divided

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

1 cup light caro syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place rack on lowest position in oven. Combine the cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and the salt. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture into crust. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the cream cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, corn syrup, 3 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour the mixture over the pecans. Place on the lowest rack and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the pie is set.
Cool completely. Enjoy!