Something About Nothing

I keep seeing people doing these Throwback Thursday posts on their blogs and Facebook and I decided that I would throw one back out here.  This throwback is from before I was born.  My neighbor brought over a November 1953 copy of Ladies Home Journal. Check out the cover. Beautiful woman, lots of great red lipstick, I think she could easily be on the cover of a magazine today and be considered in style.  Funny how those things come back around. There are a lot of interesting articles, ads and recipes too -  like this lovely *gag* creation! Did anyone ever eat this creation in their early days? Please tell me it tasted better than it looks because I think I'm going to go find the bathroom. I hope this recipe doesn't come back in style!

Nothing better on a Sunday evening than cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Yum. I LOVE frosting! My daughter made cupcakes to take to a potluck dinner and asked that I make the frosting.  I've had so-so results with my frostings and am always looking at new recipes.  I decided it was time to give my friend Jamie a call.  Jamie is an expert cake maker.  She made all the cup cakes for my daughter's graduation party . It turns out that the chocolate frosting recipe she likes best is one she's tweaked from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa! We made it and it was fabulous! I didn't follow Jamie's suggestions to the letter but the frosting was successful and everyone is happy.  I used the larger amount of cocoa and next time I may tone that down just a bit but it was still fabulous. 1/2 cup butter, softened 3 Cups Powdered Sugar 1/2 to 2/3 Cup cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk (I used evaporated milk) Beat it all up s...

I know summer time is a time for eating light salads and such but every now and then you just gotta eat PIZZA!   And I'm not talking about the kind you buy in a box (unless of course you live in Chicago, then go right ahead and pick up the phone!); No, I'm talking about homemade delicious pizza! A few years ago I developed a recipe for pizza that my family and I love:  Iron Skillet Pizza.  It is a thick crusted pizza but because of baking in an iron skillet the crust is just perfect!  I shared the recipe on my friend's recipe blog  but I decided it was time to share it here: Ingredients: Pizza toppings of choice 1 cup shredded pizza cheese or mozzerella cheese 1/4 - 1/3 cup bottled pasta sauce (such as Prego) 2/3 cup warm water  1 Tbsp Oil (I use canola oil) 1/2 tsp Salt  1 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour 1 tsp SAF Yeast (or any quick rise yeast) Combine 3/4 cup flour, salt and yeast. Add water and olive oil. Stir to make a smooth batter...

My friend, Juliette, made this wonderful bread and let me have a taste. It is a No Knead recipe from the Vegetarian Times website. It was so delicious I had to make it for my family. I didn't have the Sugar Crystals the recipe called for to be sprinkled on the top and I found that they do indeed add to the slight sweet flavor of the bread.  Despite the missing sugar crystals the texture was soft and beautiful like the other No Kneads I've made and the fragrance of the Cardamom was so Christmasy.  Apparently Ikea sells the sugar crystals so I will have to pick some up the next time I drive south and make this again.

A few weeks back I posted photos of my girls making Fried Pies with my Mom. We were carrying on the tradition passed down to us by her Mom but every since Grandma has passed on we knew there was something not quite right with the pies. The dough was off. I now know why. I did a little research online and found that we should be using our recipe for biscuit dough NOT pie dough. (You should really watch this video of an elderly woman from Kentucky making these pies. I love her accent.) The video does not give amounts for her recipe but more of a "this is how it's done." I, on the other hand, am going to share the recipe I made to make these delicious pies - but first a few pictures. Yummy fresh apples from the farmers market. I used these Jonathans mixed in with a few Granny Smith's from my Mother-in-laws tree. The apples are cut up and cooked down to make the filling. . . this is what was left after I filled the pies. We enjoyed it straight from the pan as ...