Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

I made homemade buttercream icing for Charlotte's birthday cupcakes (a post I hope to put up here soon) and have since then been a little obsessed with icing. Eating leftover cupcakes cold from the fridge with ice cream on top was a little slice of heaven during the past week of 100-degree temperatures. So when I saw this recipe for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies in a cookbook ('wichcraft) that my mom brought down, and saw that it called for sandwiching two rich, sweet, nutty peanut butter cookies together with a peanut butter buttercream, I knew I had to make it.

My mom took that cookbook home with her, but I found a similar recipe online here. That's the one I followed, and I was very pleased with the results. The authors of that recipe suggest using nutella or jelly to sandwich the cookies, but please, please don't listen to them. Make the buttercream. Use the buttercream. LOVE the buttercream.

Incidently, I used Simply Jif for these cookies, which I understand to have a little less added sugar than other peanut butters. It worked just fine, and I didn't add extra sweetening at all. If you use regular peanut butter, you might want to taste the dough for sweetness before adding all the sugar, as it seemed like it might be too much with regular peanut butter.

Kale, Summer Sausage, and White Bean Soup

I don't know about you, but there's nothing I want more when it's 90 degrees outside and 100% humidity than a nice, steaming hot bowl of soup. Mmm. Refreshing!

So, this wasn't the ideal recipe for this time of year, but the planets aligned and I ended up getting some yummy summer sausage at a local store and I remembered this recipe that I had been wanting to try for a while. Here's my kind of haphazard recipe:

1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 ring summer sausage, sliced into rounds about 1/2 inch wide
Two bunches of kale, chopped or torn into pieces
1 can white beans (I used great northern), drained
1 T salt (but I like things salty, so perhaps this should read to taste)
1 t pepper
1 T fresh dill or sage, chopped

Chuck it all in a slow cooker. I cooked it on low for about 5 hours and it was perfect. Sorry there's no picture! We ate it all up too quickly.

Farmers Market Haul, June 13

Pictured above are my purchases from the farmers market this morning. I might make this a regular feature on the site, taking a picture of my Saturday morning haul and then later in the week posting what I did with the various fruits and veggies and herbs I got.

At some point in the next few days, the above will become a swiss chard lasagna, roasted turnips and beets, garlicky kale and white beans, sauteed sugar snap peas, and simple roasted new potatoes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

This recipe is adapted from one in a Country Cooking cookbook I have. Adapted because I decided to make it, spur of the moment, while shopping last week. I saw the cheap strawberries and remembered this recipe I had read a while back. I knew it had a cream cheese layer, so I bought cream cheese. I suspected it required sour cream, so I bought that, too. When I got home, I realized I only had one cream cheese package, while the recipe called for two. Oh, well. In hindsight, I can't imagine how the printed recipe could be better, because the ratio of cream cheese layer to strawberry seemed perfect the way I made it.

Another thing that makes this pie special is the dark chocolate layer. I completely forgot about this, so I didn't buy the appropriate dark chocolate squares or anything. But I did have about 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips left in my chocolate chip snackin' bag (c'mon, don't judge). And since my unofficial motto for cooking is "dirty as few pans as possible," I didn't melt it in a double boiler. Too fussy!

So here's how I made it:

Bake a pie crust for the recommended time. I used the rolled-up kind for this pie and thought it was delicious, more so than the pie shells.

Right away when the pie comes out of the oven, sprinkle your chocolate chips evenly-ish over the bottom of the pie. Pop back in the oven for a minute. Then pull the pie back out, and spread the now-melty chips around the bottom and up the sides a little bit. Then put the pie crust in the fridge to chill.

Blend together: one package of cream cheese (I used reduced fat, but don't use fat-free...that stuff is the devil), 1/3 cup sour cream (ditto low-fat versus fat-free), 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Once your chocolate has set and is cool, spread the cream cheese mixture on top. Refrigerate and chill for at least two hours.

Then, once that's chilled, top with fresh strawberries, hulled and placed stem-end down. I also cut the strawberries in half but kept the halves together on the pie for both appearances but ease of eating. I'm not sure how many this will take...it all depends on the size of the berries.

Then melt 1/3-1/2 cup of strawberry jam in the microwave (took about thirty seconds) and "glaze" the berries by pouring the jam over top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

How does my garden grow?

I was just out planting a few things in my garden. Yes, it's nine at night. And the sun had dipped below the horizon by the time I watered the new acquisitions. But not only is it the only time I can garden without the eager assistance of a nearly three-year-old, but I enjoy evening gardening. It's cooler, and quiet, and my garden has a lovely view to the west.

I thought it would be appropriate to write about my garden on this blog--the food blog--since this is a veggie garden and most of what grows out there will end up being consumed by my family and (possibly) written up on here.

I have in the ground: romaine lettuce, mesclun lettuce mix, raddichio, broccoli, sugar peas (which have been nibbled by the rabbits, I'm sorry to say), beets, onions, swiss chard, and two bell peppers (red and orange). Within the week I will plant the seeds for cucumber and watermelon, and get a few tomato plants in as well. Next to the house is a little plot that I've dubbed my herb garden. I have basil, oregano, thyme, dill, sage, and rosemary. I hope to plant some cilantro and flat-leaf parsley this week. I've also planted marigolds and nasturtium in both gardens.

I'll occasionally post garden updates and, of course, indicate when a recipe includes garden produce.

Are you gardening? What are you growing this year?

Dutch Oven Pancake--now with photos!

I am digesting this as we speak. And it is good.

I based this recipe off a couple different ones I found online. I've seen them variously referred to as German Pancakes, Dutch Baked Pancakes, and Oven Pancakes. I like my moniker, personally.

The recipe is super easy, which is why I've already baked, photographed, eaten and blogged about them before 8:30 a.m. Although the fact that Sam woke up at 5:30 a.m. might have something to do with it too.

Here's what you need:

4 eggs

1 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup flour

2 T. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat eggs in a bowl until blended. Add all the other ingredients and mix until smooth. (I used a whisk, but you could use a mixer as well. 7 a.m. is just a little too early for an electric mixer in my house). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Pour half of the batter into each.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 8-10 minutes. Slide warm pancakes onto a plate and serve with your choice: syrup, powdered sugar, fresh fruit, etc.

Results:

Jana: These are really delicious, more crepe-like than pancake.

Jeff: Nom nom.

Charlotte: Not a huge fan, but then she'd already had a yogurt this morning.

The verdict: Make it again!

Two months!

For the last two months, we've been subsisting on yogurt, Cinnamon Life cereal, and various canned goods we've scrounged from the pantry. In other words, I have been so busy with school work that I barely had time to grocery shop, let alone cook.

Yesterday, I handed in my final seminar paper of the academic year. Then I stripped naked and ran shrieking through Wescoe Hall. Just kidding. But I wanted to.

Look for the return of TigEats this week. I'm gonna cook my fool head off this summer, and I can't wait!