I'd Like Some Ice Cream With That Cobbler

A few months ago I posted the recipe for my favorite peach cobbler; in that post I mentioned a variation that a friend of mine had come up with, making it into a yummy pear cobbler with one substitution (pears for peaches) and one addition, cinnamon. This weekend I found myself trolling the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator looking for something to make for a "goodie". When I spotted the jar of pears, I knew what a treat I had in store.

Ingredients:

• 1 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1 c milk
• 1 stick (1/2 c) butter or margarine
• canned peaches or pears (these can be commercially canned or home canned)
• cinnamon (forgot to include this in the picture)

Put the butter or margarine in a 1 to 2 Q baking dish, and place in the oven while it preheats

Meanwhile, mix the flour, sugar, milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon into a thin batter

Once the butter is melted, pour the batter into the melted butter in the baking dish.

Add sliced fruit of your choice--peaches, or in this case pears; you could probably do this with apples, as well.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, more or less (in this case I needed more--I used a 1 Q baking dish, which makes for a thicker "crust" and takes a little longer to bake--about 40-45 minutes; a larger dish makes a thinner topping and takes a shorter time to bake. A round dish takes longer, too, for the middle to cook.

Now for the part that sets this apart from other cobblers. Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon, then dot with a little more butter. (For peach cobbler, leave off the cinnamon, just sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter.)

Return to the oven for just a few more minutes (I usually turn the oven off at this point--the residual heat is more than enough to melt the butter and crystallize the sugar) This step adds the lagniappe--that little something extra that makes it special!

And then--just cool slightly (if you can stand the wait) and enjoy. You can add a little cream on top, or better yet, ice cream (neither of which was on hand when I made this!) Vanilla goes great with peach cobbler, but I can almost taste Blue Bell Cinnamon flavor with the pear.

Ummmmm!

Good cooking, and good eating!

For more recipes, see Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace, or Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!

New Food Pictures

I made a couple of things this weekend that I've previously posted just recipes, but no pictures; so today I'm posting a few pictures, and linking you back to the original recipe posts.

Sweet Potato Casserole

First up is sweet and luscious sweet potato casserole. This is not your typical Thanksgiving-day-yams-with-marshmallow-topping sweet potatoes. This dish has a yummy topping made with brown sugar, pecans, and butter that melts together into a praline flavored crust on top of soft and sweet mashed sweet potato souffle.

This particular dish is about a half portion of the recipe I posted. I couldn't find my regular chopper, so I used a salad shooter to chop the nuts--when I do that, it makes a finer crust than regular chopped nuts.

Sometimes when I used the very finely chopped pecans, if I have any on hand I like to put pecan halves on top to add some additional crunch, and sometimes just because they look pretty.

There's something that happens when I add the pecan halves on top that's more than the sum of the separate ingredients--the nuts tasted completely different, with a smoky, roasted flavor, which combines with the brown sugar and butter to a make a candied pecan taste that is out of this world.

Corn Casserole

Next up on the menu is corn casserole. This is another tried-and-true quick and easy recipe that literally everyone seems to like.

This really doesn't do it justice--the cream style corn and sour cream give this a sweet, moist inside; the whole kernel corn gives it the "chew" factor, and the melted butter gives the edge that crisp buttery edge that sets the rest of it off so well. For the complete recipe, see my earlier post, This Kitchen Has Been Closed.

I'm hungry now, so off I go to make my grocery list for this week. Something tells me it may be a little larger than usual.

For links to more recipes, see Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam or Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace.

Good cooking, and good eating!

This Kitchen Has Been Closed

I haven't been posting recipes lately, partly because I haven't been cooking much lately; last week I was mostly home alone, and I confess I ate hot dogs three out of five nights (Bar S wieners, $.77 pkg, Brookshire Brothers hot dog buns, $.88 pkg, and Wolf brand chili, $1.59 a can) When I do cook, lately it's been the same recipes I've already posted, or something that I didn't take pictures of, or something not picture-worthy. I kept thinking every day that "tomorrow" I'd cook something new or make something I hadn't posted so I could take pictures, but somehow I never did.

So today I'm going to get back on track by posting one of my favorite quick and easy Corn Casseroles, beloved of children and adults everywhere. I seriously have never met anyone yet who didn't like this, although I'm sure they exist somewhere. No picture, but I'll remedy that as soon as I can.

Ingredients:

• 1 pkgs corn muffin mix (Jiffy or Corn-kits are the best)
• 1 can cream style corn
• 1 can whole kernel corn, slightly drained
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 stick butter

Put the stick of butter in the baking pan/casserole, and put in the oven to melt while the oven is preheating. Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients; pour into pan with melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the center is set and the edge is starting to brown.

For links to more recipes, see Tasty Tuesday, now hosted by Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace.

Good cooking, and good eating!

The No-Peel "Peeled" Potato

A friend of mine sent me an email with a link to this video. I knew you could do something similar with tomatoes, but I never knew you could do this with a potato!

This is cool!





No more excuses for me for not making "real" mashed potoatoes for my husband!