Black Bottom Cups

Another recipe from the Owensboro Junior League cookbooks! Made this one because I had to: we set up a booth at the Taste of Owensboro to hand out samples. I made over 100 of these tiny little cupcakes!

Look at what my mommy bought me!! Isn't it puuuurtty? (OK, I'll admit I'm a bit old to be calling Mom 'Mommy', but when she buys me a KitchenAid mixer.... Well... I'm not ashamed to stoop.) You can see my partial reflection in the bowl handle. So shiny and new~. Not after this, however! Was just looking for an excuse to use it.  Worked like a charm. Cheese cakes will be soooo much easier now. Although, having to hold that hand-held beater for half an hour was a calorie-burner, making it easier to justify the eating of said cheesecakes. Oh well!

This was my first time using a mini-muffin pan. Cooking small bites like this changes the cooking time, so I reduced the time called for originally in the recipe by half, and then watched very, very carefully. Wound up being that in my oven, 21 minutes turned out little cups of perfection.

I doubled the amount of cocoa called for in the original recipe. Nothing wrong with extra chocolate!! I could see making these with a pre-packaged box of brownie mix for the base, instead of making it from scratch. I'm not sure why the recipe calls for vinegar - it had a very potent smell as I was making these. Scent was completely gone by the time they had finished baking.

One of the other Junior Leaguer's who baked these had a problem with burning on the edges. First question I asked her was if she had a gas stove - yes - and did she use an aluminum or steel cup cake pan? Steel. (The ones in these picture are steel - they have a darker color.) For some reason, gas will fry baked goods if made in a non-aluminum pan. (Discovered this through personal experience.)

Also, make sure to use A TON of cooking spray in the pan if you aren't using paper cups. They really stick to the pan sides.

 Cute and tasty!!

Black Bean Soup

Still trying to keep it healthier! This recipe appeared in my email box from Allrecipes.com, and as soon as I saw the title, I knew I had to try it.

Panera Bread's Black Bean soup is one of my favorite healthy options, and it's quite easy to make. Even when jazzed up! The secret to getting that smooth, creamy texture is blending the beans. I mixed all the ingredients together, including the salsa, as recommended in the original recipe, and blended. However, I set aside half a can of the black beans, keeping them whole, which makes it closer to the Panera version.

I also added half a can of corn, plenty of cumin, and some diced red peppers. I used a very spicy habanero salsa for some serious heat. If you don't have habanero salsa, I would suggest doing a few dashes of cayenne pepper, until you get the level of heat you prefer.

So, I took the picture on the right a few days ago, and I just have to comment on it. Ah, life in Kentucky! Always something culturally interesting going on in these here parts. 

John and I went into a very large local gun store the other day (the biggest in the state, apparently), called Whittakers. John goes into a gun shop thinking about bullets, I go in and immediately started thinking about... marketing!

A pink shotgun like you see to the right (sorry for the bad lighting in photo) strikes me as a ploy to get women interested in firearms. There are a few women around here who like guns (or at least say they do. I do know a fierce huntress, but she bow hunts.) It's not exactly a secret that the white male is an aging, shrinking segment of the US population. And if you've ever been to an NRA meeting, you'll know that 'diversity' is a word it's manly members probably have to look up.

Getting to the point, if your main customers are an aging, shrinking group, you as a gun manufacturer have got a long-term problem. The solution? Find a new market! Clearly, its working: I saw this gun and immediately told John that when the zombie apocalypse arrives, he had better have a pink camo gun (utility wise, I'm not sure how effective a pink camouflage gun would be when hunting Bambi, which I interpret as further evidence for my marketing theory) in the closet for me. I won't shoot with anything else!

Anyway, back to the recipe! This soup was AMAZING. I added ground turkey for extra protein in this particular version, but it would be just as good without.

Fish in Panang Curry sauce with Thai 'Sweet and Sour'

On Saturday John and I went to see the Kentucky Wildcat's attempt *cough, cough* to play football in Lexington. (I've never seen such bad football. And Kentucky is an SEC team! I really wouldn't be surprised if the team shows up in the ESPN worst 25 list this season. Kentucky - fantastic at basketball, but apparently never learned how to play with the pigskin. The current coach will very likely be let go this year, so the debate is already going for who the next coach should be. John suggested the coach be fired now, and Calipari take over. Could only help.)

While in Lexington, we went to one of John's favorite college-eateries: Bangkok House. This little hole-in-the-wall was located right off campus. Decent Thai food, not the best I've ever had. My curry was plenty spicy! John's main reason for loving the place is the unique sauce served on each table, and really great Pad Thai. The waiter told us the sauce was 'Sweet and Sour'. As far as I know, Thai food doesn't include Sweet-n-Sour, it's an American Chinese food concoction.

Of course, the waiter wasn't going to tell us what ingredients were used in their top-secret sauce. When they brought out our egg rolls, I placed a dollop of the stuff on a plate, and then proceeded to do the place-finger-in-and-analyze technique. Dab, taste taste taste, dab, taste taste taste. I turned sticky immediately, so the main ingredient had to be honey. A strong hint of hoisen... Hmmmmm, what is that slightly sour taste coming from? Not vinegar...Tamarind?

When we got home, I went straight into Katie the Mad Scientest mode. A half a huge bottle of honey later, and wha-bam! Nearly the same Sweet and Sour Sauce. Here are the ingredients:

Bangkok House's Sweet and Sour Sauce:

12 TBS Honey
1 TBS Hoisen
1 TBS Tamarind Concentrate

Mix all together. Place in jar.

Fish in Panang Curry Sauce

For dinner that night I made fish in Panang Curry sauce. Simple stuff.

Take 1 TBS Panang curry paste (I buy mine online from importfoods.com), place in fry pan, cook until fragrant. Then add 1/2 cup of coconut milk, just the rich, white stuff on the top of can, and one heaping TBS of Thai Sweet and Sour (or sugar is fine, too). Allow to cook down for a few minutes. Take 2 fish fillets, season with a few dashes of fish sauce. Place in pan with curry sauce, cook for 15 minutes covered, gently turning over once. During the last five minutes, take a few slices of red bell pepper and layer on top to steam. If you have Kaffir Lime leaf (I didn't), lay a few thinly sliced pieces on top. This recipe was originally pulled from SheSimmers. The foodie photography in this blog link is SOOOO much better than mine. Need to keep on working on those photo taking skills.

This is SPICY!! To reduce heat, either cut back on the amount of curry paste, or add more coconut milk. When I made this recipe, I originally did 2 TBS of curry paste. John and I both consumed about a 1/2 gallon of milk each to ease the fire. Serve with steamed rice and fresh veggies.

Tomato Pie

It has been a crazy almost two weeks since my last post. Significant things happened, reminding us how important it is to spend all the time we can with our families. Time is like air - it's free, but the less of it you have, the more precious it becomes.

I've done almost no cooking or baking over these past days, but I did get a chance to make something I've been wanting to try for months - Tomato Pie! With all the ripe tomatoes available at stands and grocery stores around town, I knew this would be a great time to try it.

I consider Tomato Pie a Southern recipe, although I've read blog articles from places far, far away from the humid mid-south that have made it. I didn't use hand-made pie crusts: no time. The recipe is altered from the Junior League of Owensboro's 'Home Again, Home Again' cookbook. I added fresh mozarella cheese, and substituted light mayo, slightly reduced in quantity. Also used dry herbs, instead of the fresh orginally called for in the recipe. Something has gotten into my herb garden, and eaten all my parsley! Robbers... (Probably the bunnies. They are everywhere in the neighborhood.)

Overall, very tasty, and earned much kudos from John and his brother Jeff, who was in town from Florida. Reminded us all a bit of pizza. Would definitely make again.

print recipe

Tomato Pie

by Adapted from Home Again, Home Again by JLO    September-10-2012

Ingredients

• 2 Pie Shells
• 4 large, ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and sliced
• 3/4 cup Hellmann's Light Mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese, cubed
• 1 1/2 tsps dried oregano, parsley and basil
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
• a few dashes salt

Instructions

1. Prick the pie shell with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. Remove from the over, maintaining the oven temperature.2. Layer the tomatoes in the pie shell, placing cubes of mozzarella at random. Mix the mayonnaise, oregano, basil, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Spread over the tomatoes. 3. Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Yield: 8 servings