When is a cake not a cake?

When it's a plate of spaghetti!


This was a fun cake to make and eat! It's a crowd pleaser, yet so simple and doesn't take much skill at all!

I gently sculptured a plate in the top layer but you don't have to go to that much trouble. Just pile on a lot of frosting-spaghetti, squirted straight from a Wilson decorating tip. The spaghetti sauce is pie cherry juice out of a can. I used the cherries themselves in something else. If the juice is too thin and runny, mix a little corn starch into it until it's the consistency you want.

Told you it was simple! Want a piece?

I got sauced today!

I fall off the wagon and get sauced about once a month. It's really easy to do in the microwave and the results are terrific.

Just combine:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt



...in a one quart glass dish (it needs to be that large to prevent boilover) and microwave for two minutes, stirring after one minute.




Gradually stir in 1 cup milk. Stirring every minute, microwave for 3 1/2 minutes or until thick and bubbly. A wire whisk or fork will give you a smoother sauce with minimum stirring.



This makes one cup of white sauce...


...and is really good on salmon patties, among other things.



Variations:

• Curry sauce - Add two to three teaspoons curry powder along with flour. Follow above directions.
• Thick sauce - Use three tablespoons flour instead of two tablespoons. Follow above directions.
• Dill sauce - To finished sauce, add two teaspoons dill weed and one teaspoon lemon juice.
• Horseradish sauce - To finished sauce, add one to two teaspoons cream style horseradish.
  
• Cheese sauce - Add a cup of shredded sharp cheese and a dash of cayenne pepper to finished sauce. Microwave another minute or two to melt cheese.

Would you like to know how to make microwaved gravy?

Delish dish from Jamie
at Bumps In the Road

Jamie calls this dish Potato Sticks. I call it good and easy.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut how you like them.
2 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup butter


In a 9" glass dish make a layer using half the potatoes, half the seasoning, half the cheese, and half the butter. Repeat using remainder of ingredients.


Sprinkle with paprika. Microwave covered for about 15-18 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.


I served the potato dish with fried (in olive oil) pork chops heaped with fried (in olive oil) onions, corn, and our favorite biscuit. Yummy.

Thanks, Jamie.

Leftover Medley

Halfway through meal prep Sunday I decided to post this quick and yummy leftover dinner, hence the lack of follow-along photos. But this is so simple, I know you can do it without pictures! Concentrate, Malisa!

I took the slab of prime rib I'd brought home in this doggie box when IT Guy and I had a night on the town Friday evening, cut it up into little pieces, and pan stir-heated it in some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). I boiled some just-like-homemade egg noodles (although I must admit I do like to make my own noodles. And they DO taste better than these but these were good too!).

I mixed the drained noodles, the drained meat, some leftover broccoli, a half can of Ro Tel original tomatoes with chili (froze the rest in a baggie for next time), a gob of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.

Hmmm, it was prettier before it was mixed! Anyway...

...I added fresh-from-frozen biscuits and it was a quick, yummy leftover meal that didn't taste like leftovers.

Shrimp sticks!

I got a comment the other day from someone who asked where my recipe section was. I assume they had confused me with a blogger who can cook!

That's not to say that I don't have a favorite meal that isn't restaurant-bought, though, because I do. It's shrimp sticks!

I buy frozen, extra large, raw, easy peel shrimp with the shell on that are already deveined. Every part of that description is important, from the frozen to the deveined. I mean, why buy trouble and this shrimp is trouble free!


Defrosting is simple. I just run cool water into a bowl of shrimp until it's easy to pinch the tail off and strip off the rest of the shell.

A peeled shrimp minus tail and shell looks like this.

I run a food stick into the middle of their little bodies. Notice I broke the stick to fit my pan size.

I melt butter in a pan, add a couple slices of fresh garlic, and grill them shrimpies until pink on one side. Then I flip them over, and grill until pink on the other side. You want the shrimp pink and opaque, not pale and translucent.

Flipping the shrimp is where the stick comes in handy. It only takes a second to flip them all, whereas if I flipped them one by one, some may be overdone while others may be underdone because of the time it would take.

Now for the dipping sauce. This is personal but I use about 2 tablespoons of horseradish sauce (I like Kraft), a teaspoon of ketchup (I like Hunt's), and four drops of hot sauce. Mix it up good. Taste to see if you'd like more of one thing or another.

Serve with brown rice, a vegetable, and maybe a roll.

Shrimp and sauce are great for a snack too!

A last minute Christmas gift you can make. Ninety-second post and counting!

So here's the scenario:

Some fool of a friend (I'll say PJ to keep it simple) calls and says she's coming over. It's close to Christmas and you know she's bringing you a really nice gift (she'd better!) but you have nothing for her (a mere oversight, I'm sure).

What to do, what to do, what to do?

In less than five minutes you can make PJ a lovely gift - a cup of cake!

First, you dig in your cupboard for a seldom-used-but-still-lovely cup and saucer. PJ gets to keep it so you don't want it to be part of Grandma's china. Then you spray the cup with cooking spray because you're too lazy to smear butter in it.

In a separate little bowl, you mix the following ingredients:

2 Tbsp flour (I used cake flour)
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp oil

Pour the mixed ingredients into the lovely cup. It doesn't make much but don't be fooled into adding more. The cake needs room to cook up and then fall back into cup.


Microwave on full power for 60 seconds. Depending on the power of your microwave and your altitude, you may need to adjust the cooking time. If so, only cook in additional 15 second intervals. If you overcook the cake, you might need a chisel to chip it out of the cup!

When finished, the cake should be nice and fluffy. Residue from its rising will remain on the upper cup. Just wipe that away with a wet paper towel.


Frost with store-bought frosting. It's a microwaved cake, for heavens sake. Don't go to too much trouble!

But add a bow. After all, it's for PJ and she's an artist.

Thanks to rlege for this recipe!

Recipe today, pictures tomorrow, eatin' Thursday!

I would be amiss if I waited any longer to post this pie recipe. Tomorrow would be too late and you'd hate me all Thanksgiving weekend! What's more, your family and guests would hate me too and I couldn't stand that much hostility.

It isn't even the pie filling that I want you to try. As good as the buttermilk pie is, it's the pie crust that makes the pie so wonderful. I truly believe I could pour ketchup into the pie crust and my children and grandchild would lick their lips and proclaim my supremacy in the cooking arts!

The secret is in the lard. Yes, LARD! As much as I encourage healthy eating, my pie crusts are made from good, old-fashioned lard.

THE Pie Crust Recipe
(Be sure to read crust-making hints at the end!)

For one-crust pie:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp lard
2 tbsp cold water

For two-crust pie:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp lard
3 tbsp cold water

Combine four and salt in bowl. Blend with pastry tool or 2 knives (don't ya feel like your grandma doing that?) until mixture is balled into size of peas. Slowly mix in water with fork, then gather together with floured hands. Separate into two balls if doing two crusts. Roll out on floured pastry cloth. You should know the rest. If not, call your mother because you need more help than this blog can give you.

Now for hints:

• Use cold water so lard doesn't melt. That goes for when using shortening too.
• Add only enough water to moisten flour. Too sticky dough makes a tough crust.
• Handle dough as little as possible and only roll out pastry ONCE for tender, flaky crust!!! If it rips, just patch it with more crust. Who's gonna know?

Buttermilk Pie Filling

9 inch unbaked pie shell
3/4 stick butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
3 level tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar with mixer. Add flour and beaten eggs; beat well. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 45 to 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

Doneness is the tricky part of this pie. I want the center solid, not runny. I want the crust edges not burnt. In fact, I put protection (homemade [tin foil] or store-bought) around the edges. I stick a sharp knife in the center when I think it's done. If it comes out clean, yippee, it's done. If not, five more minutes, then check again.

This is yummy pie! I'll make two buttermilk and two pumpkin pies for Thursday and hope to have at least one leftover piece of both that I can sit down and eat in peace when the children have gone!

Texans love to get sauced!

Beer, our State Beverage, is a Texan's favorite sauce, poured onto grilling meats for flavor and juiciness and into our men for the same reasons.

Bar-b-que sauce is a close second to beer. Slightly sweet and very tangy, it's soaked into our meats before we cook, slopped onto them while we grill, and dunked into during our meal. We douse it on our beans and wipe it off our plates with our biscuits.



Texas bar-b-que sauce doesn't come from bottles or stores. We make it at home from cherished family recipes. Needless to say, it will be featured as a dipping sauce this Thanksgiving at many a Texas table, giving the family turkey considerable flavor.

Silver and hair-on leather napkin rings
bought at Primitiques 'n Poetry.

Family recipes aren't given out lightly. We Texans have to feel a closeness with you and, if I may be so bold to say, love you.

With that said, here is my family's bar-b-que sauce recipe. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does.

Mary Lou’s Bar-b-que Sauce

Makes about a pint. (You'll be surprised how far that goes but if in doubt about how much you'll be using as a mop sauce when you're grilling your meat or if you're having a bunch of people at dinner, double the recipe. It will be good in the fridge for several days.)

1c catsup
1T mustard
2T Worchestershire
¼c vinegar
¼c sugar
1t chili powder
½t paprika
¼ stick oleo
½t salt
½t pepper
¼c onions chopped

Heat until bubbles first appear, stirring occasionally. Add water for desired consistency (I don’t. We like it fairly thick).

Happy Thanksgiving cooking!