Whipped Cream Frosting

It was requested that I post this recipe....

I've always loved whipped cream frosting ever since Costco began (back when it was the Price Club) and I first had one of their famous sheet cakes with whipped cream frosting....back when it was around $10! Shortly after being married, I began to hunt for a way to make that same wonderful frosting. As time went on I began to really hate sugar and butter frostings. Then, I found it.....here it is so you too can make impressive whipped cream frosting.

Whipped cream frosting is different than just whipped cream. To use whipped cream as an actual frosting, you need to stabilize it so that it can sit out and not melt. There are different kinds of stabilizers but my preferred choice is piping gel. Wilton makes a clear gel that you can buy in a small tub at cake decorating stores and some craft and party stores. Piping gel is designed to be tinted with food coloring and then used to write words on a cake or cookies or use it to make an area of your cake look like water. Using it in your whipped cream frosting makes it stabilized so that it won't melt even when sitting out. I've used this to frost wedding cakes that sit out for a few hours.

So, here's how you make it. You'll need:


2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
4 tablespoons Wilton Piping Gel
1 teaspoon clear vanilla


Why "heavy" whipping cream?
Because it will whip faster and thicker than not heavy whipping cream.


Why "powdered" sugar and not granulated sugar?
Because granulated sugar will leave a gritty texture to your frosting. Using powdered sugar will give it a smooth texture. I do not sift my sugar...there is no need to.


Why "clear" vanilla?
Because regular vanilla will turn your white frosting into an off white color. If you want pure white frosting then you have to use clear vanilla.


Directions:
First- whip the whipping cream until it begins to thicken but is still smooth.
Second- add the sugar, gel, and vanilla
Third- continue whipping until the cream begins to take on a moldable thickness. A good judge of whether you've whipped it enough to use it as a thick frosting is whether or not it holds in the beater attachment on your mixer. If it falls through, it's not done. Just be careful to not whip it so long that it begins to separate into butter and liquid (buttermilk).


The measurements above are just a guide. I actually don't measure anymore. I just dump in a large amount of cream and spoon in sugar until it tastes sweet enough....add a dash of vanilla and a couple spoons of gel and I'm good to go.

Fillmore Orange Cake (Dreamsicle Cake)

Disclaimer...sorry the pictures aren't that great of this cake...but trust me, it taste so yummy!

I got this recipe back when we lived in an orange orchard farming town in California called Fillmore. It was given to me by a friend (Tracy) from church there that had gotten it from a school cookbook which was submitted by some ladies she was friends with. The recipe reads, "from Martha from Carol." (I've left out all the last names. I knew Martha but only relatives of Carol. All of these women's families go back many generations in that town and getting to be a part of their lives for a little bit was such a blessing. Every time I make this recipe (now one of my husband's favorite deserts) it always brings me back to the smell of orange blossoms as I walked to church strolling my baby. So, in all reality, I don't know who really created this cake recipe but I can tell you that the wives of orange orchard farmers sure do know how to make an orange cake!

The recipe doesn't come with very complete instructions so this is how I do it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together:

1 yellow cake mix

1 3 oz box orange Jello

4 eggs

3/4 c oil

3/4 c water

Pour into a buttered 9x13 glass pan. Bake for 30-35 min.

While the cake is baking, juice oranges to get 2/3 c fresh squeezed orange juice (at least 2 large oranges). Mix together the orange juice and 1 lb. powdered sugar, 2 tbsp unsalted butter melted, and the zest of one orange. (be careful not to get any of the white rind from the orange peel because it will be sour)

When the cake is done baking (center comes out clean with a cake tester) the center will be puffy. While it is still warm, poke holes with a fork all over the top. Pour the sugar glaze topping on it and it will soak into the holes.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream making it similar to a dreamsicle.

Variations:

~serve warm or cold (some prefer it cold and some prefer it warm)

~use lemon juice and lemon jello for a lemon flavored cake.

Sour Dough Starter

My sister asked me how to make sourdough bread so I'm going to post how to get a "mother" started. The starter is called a mother. It's the soured reserve that you use to take from and mix into your bread recipes to make them sourdough.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tbsp yeast (optional)

you can make a starter using only flour and water or you can cheat and speed things up by adding some yeast to it. Mix the above together in small container set in a place where the temperature is somewhere around 70-80 degrees. You need to either leave the lid propped open or cover it with a cheese cloth so that natural yeast can get into your mother.

You know that your sourdough starter is ready when it forms a bubbly froth on top of it...you can now use it, refrigerate it or freeze it.

Once you use some you need to replenish the mother by adding 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. You won't need to add yeast again because it's already growing more of it's own yeast. If you haven't used any for two weeks, go ahead and throw out half of it and add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. This will "feed" it as the weeks roll on without you using it to make bread.

While in the fridge, it will get a liquid on top of it that is dark brown or gray in color. This is normal, just stir it back in.

Instead of typing out full instructions here, I found this very well written page that explains how to make a starter and how to use it. I will post my sourdough recipes once my starter is ready to use next week.

Costco Finds

Blueberry bushes to plant in our garden this year
Organic/free range chicken broth
Ground turkey
Deceptively Delicious Cookbook
Weight Watchers Cookbook
How to Cook All Things Vegetarian Cookbook
Superfood (green drink)- love that stuff!
Fresh deli poultry has new packaging....small plastic sections
Corned beef
Organic ground beef
Omega 3 Fatty Acids Fish Oil Gummies for Kids! (great natural stress reliever!)
Carne Asada Marinaded (can't remember if I've told you about that one before or not)
Chicken and wild rice casserole
Vegetable Whole Wheat Lasagna -love that stuff too!

Polenta and Mushrooms

I've seen some recipes recently that are similar to each other in using polenta and mushrooms and thought I'd give it a try. I had never had polenta before and being that it's mashed corn, I figured it would be pretty healthy and work well as a rice or pasta substitute.

So I bought pre-made polenta (you can also buy it in a box and you cook it like cream of wheat -you can serve it soft like cream of wheat would be or you can refrigerate it and it will harden so you can slice it) and sliced and fried it up in a little olive oil. While that was sauteing, in a separate pan I sauteed in olive oil:

1 package of baby portobello mushrooms (often called baby bells) cut in half

1 small package of sliced white mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

1/4 of an onion diced

about 5 chopped sun dried tomatoes

1/2 cup quartered artichoke hearts

salt

pepper

1/4 marsala wine

2 tbsp butter

I let the mushroom mixture cook and reduce. Then I served the mushrooms over the polenta like I had seem on some of the cooking shows.

Now I have to honestly tell you that I'm not crazy about the polenta. I'm going to try making it in a few other dishes though just to see if I like it some other way (say a Mexican dish). But overall this was a great healthy vegetarian meal especially if you love polenta....most people I've talked to love it,,,I guess it's just me. =0)

High in Iron -Steamed Beets

The last of my favorite 'high in iron' foods. Beets! All I do is cut off both ends, rinse them and steam them. Once they've been steamed till tender with a fork, remove them and while they are still warm remove the skins. The skins will slip right off. You can then slice them and serve them warm with butter and salt or slice them and refrigerate them till ready to use on salads. Or puree them and add them to pancakes or chocolate cake. Beets are a great source of iron.

High in Iron -Spinach

Spinach is another super iron food. Several of my recipes on this blog include spinach and I encourage you to start cooking with it if you haven't tried it. It's so versatile in that it can substitute for lettuce but also be cooked into hearty meals. You can make salads out of it, use it on sandwiches, add it to just about every pasta dish, add it to breakfast burritos, casseroles, sautes like stir fry, and so much more....Get your iron with spinach! =0)

It comes in bags in the store already washed and fresh to use, it comes frozen in a box after it's been cooked and steamed, and you can also buy it in a bag already chopped and frozen for you. I prefer the fresh bagged type and I love the "baby spinach". Don't forget that you can steam a bunch of this and then puree it....add it to sauces, stuffings, cakes, and brownies. Adding 1/4 cup will make chocolate cakes and brownies extra moist and yummy.

High in Iron -Cream of Wheat

Cream of wheat is a great source of iron. I'll be posting a few other good sources of iron for you in the next few days. Getting iron in is especially important for those who eat little or no red meat. If you've taken iron supplement pills before then you know how unpleasant that can be. Even though the amount of iron in foods is less than what is in a pill you are still usually getting more iron from the food sources than you are from the pills. The reason being that your body is able to absorb more iron when it's consumed through a food rather than a pill. When I was pregnant I would eat cream of wheat at least once a week and my doctor was always amazed at my blood tests....he figured I was eating a huge steak for dinner every night but I wasn't.

The problem with cream of wheat??? the response I get most of the time is YUCK! =0) Try cooking it up the way you would oatmeal and serving it the way you do oatmeal and maybe then you'll like it if you haven't in the past. It's easy to make and I recommend making the 10 min. version because it's less processed. My store only carries the 2 1/2 min. on up from there so that's what I buy but 10 min. would be even better.

All you do is measure the water, bring it to a boil. Measure the cream of wheat, add it to the boiling water, stir and cook on a simmer till it's done. It's super easy!

Strawberries and cream

This is a great little simple dessert. Makes me think of summer even though summer is still quite a ways away. Just chop some strawberries and add some whipped cream.

A note about strawberries. Once they are picked they do not ripen. So keeping them out on the counter to ripen will only speed up their rotting process. Store them in the refrigerator till ready to use and do not rinse them until you are ready to use them.

Answering Questions

I've been asked a few questions lately and even suggested to me that I put these on the blog. So, I'll attempt to answer them for you here.

1. How do you figure portion sizes for company or large groups?

It's better to have too much than not enough. Start with looking at a dinner plate. After figuring out your menu think about how much each person is going to put on their plate. Then consider what your group is made up of. Is it made up of mostly women (eat less), teenage boys (eat more than anyone!), or men? Males tend to always have seconds...generally speaking. Women tend to eat more salad than anything else. Keep these things in mind and then divide up your menu by sizes that fill a dinner plate. Also, for children, you can figure them as a 1/2. So whatever you would figure for an adult, cut it in half for a child. This still maybe way too much for a child to eat but that way you've padded your amount so that you have extra food or plenty of food (depending on how you want to look at it).

Here is a general guide:
1 cup - starch (rice, pasta, potato)
1 chicken breast per person (even if most people eat only half, you have
built in extras)
Red meat - the serving size of 1 chicken breast
1 cup - salad (if all women in the group, plan on at least 2 cups of salad
per person)
1 cup - veggie
If you are serving a 9x13 casserole figure it to be 9 pieces per pan
instead of 12. This will give you a little extra if you need it for seconds.

Not everyone will eat the amounts figured above but that's the whole
point...that way you have plenty of food and enough for leftovers. It's better
to have too much than not enough. Another tip I like to share with people is to
try to serve a hearty bread with a meal. This helps to fill people up. Never assume that just serving a casserole will be enough food for a group or company. You need to make a veggie, salad, and serve bread.

If serving just a soup and salad lunch be sure to serve bread (figure two
slices per person). Soup you can figure about 2-3 measuring cups per person and
2-3 measuring cups of salad per person.

All of these measurements should help insure that you have plenty of food and won't run out.

2. How do you cook enough for leftovers?

Double what you would normally make for your family. =0) Freeze the leftovers as a freezer meal for another night or divide it up for lunches the next day.

3. Are all the pictures on the recipes your own pictures?

90% of them are. There are a few that I've gotten off the web that look exactly
like my recipe when I make it. The ones that are off of the web are mostly the
play dough, ornaments (some of them), a salad, and a cookie. The rest are
all my own photos.

4. Have you tried all of the recipes on your blog?

Absolutely. I wouldn't post something that I haven't had myself. The only
exception is when I've posted a link to someone else' blog or the recipes that
others have suggested that I haven't had a chance to try yet. But all of the
daily posts are recipes I've made and taken pictures of.

5. Do you spend a lot of time cooking?

Yes. =0) I spend a lot of time in the kitchen...sometimes more than I like. I have always tried to cook at home as much as possible...even before having kids. I've always felt that this is my responsibility as a wife and mom to provide
healthy home cooked meals for my family. It helps that I like cooking but even
then, it is a chore sometimes. I tend to search for easy dinners to make since
that is my biggest challenge. But it's worth it, it saves our family money to
not eat out as much, it's healthier, and it creates an atmosphere of family
connection and conversation that we don't seem to have in a restaurant as much.

6. Do you always measure?

Nope! In fact, writing this blog has forced me to measure more. Most recipes
call for about a tsp of most herbs so you're pretty safe adding about a tsp to
most recipes of just about anything. Measuring is most important when it comes
to baked goods...breads, cakes, etc. But when I'm making meals I generally don't
measure.

7. Do you cook every day to post?

NO! That would be too hard! I usually have about 30 post drafts on average
ready and waiting. I work on several of them at a time when I have a chunk of
time. I usually will cook quite a bit one day and then use it for 2-3 posts. I
have several posts (recipes) in my drafts that are just waiting for
pictures...which means I have to make the recipe at some point.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

I love oven roasted or BBQed veggies. This is an easy way to make restaurant tender broccoli and cauliflower. You'll love this if you love fire roasted veggies and if you like your veggies just tender instead of cooked into mush.

1/4 c first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
3-4 minced garlic cloves
2 heads of broccoli florets
1 large head of cauliflower
salt

Wash and break apart (or cut) florets of broccoli and cauliflower. Toss in bowl with olive oil and garlic cloves till well coated. Spread florets out on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Bake uncovered in a 375 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until desired tenderness. Sprinkle with salt before serving.

Crockpot Curry Chicken

Okay, I made this up..... =0) It turned out really good. I'm always looking for more ways to cook chicken since we don't eat much red meat. My mom made a curry chicken recipe when I was growing up that I loved and I've been thinking about that lately so I decided to try to come up with an easy crockpot recipe. I started with a curry chicken crockpot recipe that called for cream of chicken soup (which I wasn't crazy about using)...so I omitted that and made up my own recipe along the way. It's pretty healthy! I think you'll love this if you like mild curry. My kids liked it. It was not spicy at all. If you like spicy curry dishes, you'll want to add more curry. Maybe try doubling the curry to start.


3-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp butter
1/4 c Marsala wine (sherry or any red cooking wine will do)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp curry
2 chopped green onions (or 1 tsp dried minced onion)
2 minced garlic cloves

Sauce:

1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 stick butter
water


Place chicken, butter, wine, salt, pepper, curry, onion, and garlic in the crockpot at around noon. Cook on low. Before ready to serve, remove chicken and set aside. In a skillet, make a rue by melting the butter in the skillet and then adding the flour. Whisk till blended and bubbly and add the liquid from the cooked chicken in the crockpot and whisk till thickened. If too thick, add some water. This makes a curry gravy for your chicken. Return the chicken and the sauce to the crockpot till ready to serve.



Serve over brown rice.

One more blunder

After reading Jessica's funny blunder, I realized that I completely forgot to post this one on my original post......I was in a hurry as I threw the ingredients into my bread machine for this bread that I make all the time. Well, you can't get lazy about bread measurements or this is what happens. I didn't pack the flour well as I was measuring it and I even told myself "you should measure this out better" but I didn't listen. So I'm introducing my new Cave Bread to you! =0) LOL

Whole Grain Mini Pizzas

I've been able to find whole grain wheat english muffins which makes this old mommy-stand-by an even healthier option for lunch.

Split english muffins in half. Let the kids sauce them, top them with their favorite toppings and sprinkle their own cheese. Into the oven for about 15 min. on 400 degrees and you're good to go for a whole grain lunch.

I took a picture of the finished product but yet again, my camera deleted it. I'll be reformatting that memory card.

Cooking Blunders

Okay, I thought it would be fun to post some of my cooking blunders. I'm always trying new recipes and with that comes success and failures. I also have some funny kitchen blunders in general to tell you about. So, lest you think I always have perfect cooking....well, ha-hum....

So this first picture is a recipe I got off of the foodnetwork website. It's a whole grain pasta mac n cheese recipe made with sweet potatoes. Well, it was awful! It was so bad I couldn't eat all of my serving. I threw the rest of the dish away when everyone was done with dinner that night. Note to self, sweet potatoes and cheese don't go together!

This next picture is a baked oatmeal recipe I tried awhile back. It's NOT the one posted on this site. That one is actually GOOD! This one was about an inch thick when it was done and tasted like it had a cup of salt in it! LOL.

Okay this one wasn't the recipe's fault..it was chef error. These veggie packed oatmeal chocolate chip cookies turned out okay but when I looked back at the recipe the next day I realized that I put completely wrong amounts of some of the ingredients. At least they were edible. I'll try to make them again the right way and post them on here.

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In my early years of cooking and married, I got a recipe from some friends for a pot of beans that was supposed to be spectacular. I soaked them all night, cooked them all day and worked hard at making this pot of beans. My dear husband and I got home from work and could hardly stand the terrible stench that was coming from our kitchen and filling our whole apartment. What was it? The pot of beans. We both looked down into the pot and agreed that there was no way on this earth we were going to be able to eat that. Down the sink it went with the garbage disposal running and off to a fast food restaurant we went. I haven't made a pot of beans since.

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So, then there was the time years ago when we had some friends over for dinner who will remain nameless, but here are their blog links...this one and this one and I was serving tacos out on the back patio...well after much chopping of lots of toppings and perfectly preparing the tortillas, we sat down to eat. It was then that I realized I had never cooked the taco meat. I asked my sweet innocent guests why they hadn't mentioned it as they watched me put everything on the table...they replied "we thought maybe you were vegetarian now." They were so kind...they were going to just go along with it. I had a good laugh and am still teased by my family about my meatless tacos. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had served beans at least but I didn't so it was going to be salad in a taco shell. I kindly asked everyone at the table to please stop serving their plates and give me about 10 min. to run in the house and cook the meat. I was SO embarrassed!

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I'm also still teased about the time I made my siblings baked potatoes that were under cooked. I made them eat them anyway and we all sat at the table crunching our apple hard baked potatoes. LOL. I was in high school...what can I say.

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So, I've shared my cooking blunders and now I want to hear yours! Don't be shy! The comments section is waiting for you to fill it up with cooking blunders. Please tell me I'm not the only one! =0)

Brown Rice Pilaf

My kitchen camera has been randomly deleting photos which makes it difficult to have a photographic recipe blog! =0) So, I had to get out my other camera and do some make-up pictures.

Here's a product that I've been wanting to try and also share with you. I tried it and it's good! It's whole grain brown rice pilaf. I'm always looking for healthy side dishes that are easy to make for dinners when I'm tired. =0) This one does take about 45 min. to cook though so you have to have some time available but it's easy because you just start it and walk away. Or you can cook it ahead of time and refrigerate it.

Hope you can find it or something similar in your grocery store. When I have time to really scan the isles, I'm amazed at what I find.

BBQ Beef Sandwiches

This is a very simple dinner to make.

Put a roast in the crock pot on low before going to bed. Let it cook all night and all day the next day. By dinner time it will be so tender that if you prick it with a fork it will shred with ease. Shred all the meat and then add BBQ sauce (don't drain the meat juices, the beef will absorb it when it's shredded). Serve it on dinner rolls with mayo and sliced provolone.

Your basic grocery store roast will make about 8 generous sized dinner roll sandwiches. Keep in mind when figuring out portion sizes that a roast will shrink to about half it's size when cooked that long.

For an added kick, serve it with saurkraut on the sandwhich or with a side of my homemade coleslaw. You can cut my coleslaw recipe in half and to make it simpler, use bagged shredded coleslaw from the store and just mix up the dressing recipe (half the recipe for 1 bag of slaw).

Hot Pudding over Ice Cream

I have memories of my Grandma Smith making this dessert when I was a kid. She would make chocolate cook n serve pudding and while it was still hot on the stove she would serve it poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's so yummy and simple.

My Grandma Smith is my mom's mom and she is now in her 90s. She had 9 girls and 1 boy (he is the baby of the family). My mom is number 5. Grandma is a great cook even though she doesn't like to admit it. She taught us all so much about being domestic and mostly what I learned from her I learned through my mom. Thanks Grandma Smith and Mom for teaching me to be domestic and passing on a love for cooking.

Every time I have this simple dessert I picture myself at Grandma's house having this.

Pizza Sauce

Well, I finally found the sauce I've been looking for. I put out this recipe request and got no response on anything to try in the comments. But, verbally, my friend, Kiley told me that they love Classico and I think she said the five cheese one. So, I decided to try Classico's Organic Tomato Herb Spice Pasta Sauce. It DOES remind me of what Numero Uno pizza sauce tastes like. I highly recommend it. And no, I did not doctor it at all. =0) We've been using it for our pastas and pizza sauce without adding sugar to it but sometimes I still sneak in some pureed veggies (like roasted red bell peppers and zucchini).

Sneaky Oatmeal

Don't tell my family, but I've been sneaking wheat bran, wheat germ, and flax seed into their oatmeal. Shhhhh! When you make it from scratch just add 2 tbsp (or more) of any of the above or combination of the above to the pot of cooking oatmeal. You can add as much or as little that works for you. Just be careful not to put too much wheat bran as to cause abdominal cramping and/or diarrhea.