My first student today is sick, so I have an extra hour this afternoon.  I am getting my list together for grocery shopping, and I want to go ahead and get the ingredients for the pies I am planning to make (and perhaps one non-pie dessert).  I wanted to extend a moment of thankfulness for my recipe box, and by extension, my family!  Let me explain.

My recipe box was a wonderful gift from my grandparents for Christmas several years ago.  The recipes are from my grandmother and my grandfather made the box.  All of my aunts and uncles and most of my cousins (all?) have the same recipe box, containing the same recipes.

The box contains some of the greatest recipes in the world.  My grandmother is a terrific cook and a phenomenal baker and I learned many recipes from her.  When I need a good recipe, I always look in this box first.

Right now I live farther from my family than I have before–I used to live at home with my parents, then in Cleveland I was near my grandparents and some aunts and uncles (and brother in Columbus for awhile).  When I lived in Charlotte I was just a two hour drive from my parents.  Now…it’s a long way to anyone…12 hours home, 7 hours to Wauseon, etc.  But when I pull out my recipe box to look up a pie or cookie recipe, I feel very close to my family.

Today:  I’m thankful for my family 🙂

Okay, today I’m going in a slightly different direction as far as the Giving Thanks Project goes.  I was thinking about what I was thankful for today, and I realized it had to be…processed cheese.

Let me back up.  I don’t eat too much cheese these days, only a couple of times a week (okay, maybe that’s a lot?  but I want it MUCH more, so it doesn’t feel like a lot.)  Sometimes I like to make scrambled eggs with cheese.  I will add other stuff like spinach, mushrooms, garlic, onions, salsa, olives, whatever I have on hand.  The last time I made this, I used swiss cheese.  I really like swiss cheese, especially with turkey on a sandwich.  But it didn’t work in my scramble–it simply disappeared into the mix.  I felt the calories were totally wasted!  I couldn’t even tell there was cheese at all 🙁

I wanted that awesome MELT-i-ness in my egg scramble.  And I think, really, the only answer is to use a processed cheese.  I got some slices of processed cheddar cheese from the deli at the grocery store, and tada!  They are PERFECT for this.  So today for lunch I had eggs, spinach, mushroom, a slice of delicious processed cheddar cheese (not even sure  how that works but it melts like a dream and tastes great!), and for the added protein after a tough workout, a bit of tuna also.  It was absolutely delicious!  Thank you, PROCESSED CHEESE (click here for wiki entry to learn more about processed cheese versus real cheese).

Sunday was a simple plan:  Rehearsal, run 4.5 miles, make two desserts.

The run was exciting–the longest I’ve run since the half-marathon!  Of course, it only builds from here.  Next weekend is another 5k, (maybe) with a friend, though I’ll run it alone if necessary as I’ve registered already!  I want to try to run more of it, less walking…should improve my time.

Desserts:  One for each upcoming party.  First I made Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies for a “Pumpkin Party” on Monday night.  I got the recipe here.  The hostess of the party is vegan, so I thought it would be a nice treat to take.  That said, even without butter, cow milk, or bacon, these are still delicious!!

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies

Adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375*F. In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients (pumpkin, oil, sugar, brown sugar, almond milk, vanilla) and stir well. Sift in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, spices) and stir to combine. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in chopped pecans and chocolate chips (optional). Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and even out the top with a spatula. Bake for 25-28 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool before slicing.

(I added more brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice after tasting the batter.  Additionally, I used MORE pecans and dark chocolate chunks than the recipe states.  Use your taste/discretion.  Also, the toothpick didn’t come out clean even after an additional 10 minutes so I gave up and decided worse case the middle ones would be gooeier.  We’ll see what happens!)

Other cake:

I have wanted to make this recipe for raspberry buttermilk cake for a long time.  Finally an opportunity!  Chris doesn’t care for raspberries so I decided to substitute strawberries.

Then things took a bad turn.  I did not do the toothpick test as the top was super brown…in retrospect, a HUGE mistake.  When I flipped the cake, it felt apart, and then I dropped the pan on it and smooshed the cake completely.  It felt to bits 🙁

I didn’t take a picture as I was just too upset.  I almost started crying!  Then I ate a few of the bits, as did Chris.  It tasted delicious.

A few hours later, I decided to try again.  I made just a few changes–I set the oven just slightly lower so it (hopefully) wouldn’t overbrown.  We made SURE it was done–I stuck a variety of toothpicks in various places, and CAREFULLY flipped the cake out.  SUCCESS!  It held its shape.  Hopefully it will taste as good as the last one, or better….

Text from Smitten Kitchen website:

Makes one thin 9-inch cake, which might serve eight people, if you can pry it from first two people’s grasp

1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (146 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large (57 grams) egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 oz)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter (see Note) raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

[Baking time updated, shortened, after so many of you concurred that this cake bakes crazy quickly.]

Note: Directions like “scatter” always scare me. Where’s the science? Here’s what my neuroses taught us: the ones that were downward were almost all swallowed by the batter. The “o” ones stayed empty, like cups. Both were delicious.

Make your own buttermilk: No need to buy buttermilk especially for this or any recipe. Add one teaspoon tablespoon [updated, as an astute reader pointed out that the larger amount is more common] of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it sit until it clabbers, about 10 minutes. Voila, buttermilk!

We were invited to an Oktoberfest Party on Sunday night.  I wanted to bring something  in the Oktoberfest spirit to eat, but couldn’t think of anything other than sauerkraut, sausage, or bratwurst.  Naturally I turned to the “google” for help.  I found a delicious looking “Apple Kuchen” recipe.  Basically it’s a cake with apples on top, but was delicious (and very German)!  The crust turned out a bit hard and stuck to the bottom, but I brought home an empty pan, which is always a good sign.