Crock Pot Cake

You all know about the thing I have going on with my crock pot and how much I love it. It's really no secret, but it's almost scandalous when you can make dessert in it. I made this cake a couple years ago when I cut the recipe out and then forgot about it until I recently organized my recipe box.

Lemon Poppy-Seed Cake
Real Simple

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
1 1/4 cups, plus 6 tablespoons, granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grate lemon zest, plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
whipped cream (optional)

In a bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/4 cups of the granulated sugar on medium-high until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and poppy seeds and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and slowly incorporate the flour mixture. Place a 15-inch piece of parchment paper in the bowl of the slow cooker, letting the excess come up the sides. Transfer the batter into the bowl of the slow cooker. Set the cooker to high and cook, covered, until set and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 2 1/2 hours. Combine the lemon juice and the remaining granulated sugar in a bowl and drizzle evenly over the top of the cake. Holding the parchment paper, transfer the cake to a rack. Let cool for at least 15 minutes. Dust with the confectioners' sugar and serve with the whipped cream, if desired.

Oh, the buttery goodness, complimented by the puckery tartness of the sugar-and-lemon-juice drizzle. How did I let this hide away for years?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The little leprechaun would like to wish you luck today!

“May good luck be your friend in whatever you do and 

may trouble be always a stranger to you.”

Don't Forget to Read This One

The Forgotten Garden

By Kate Morton

Right from the start, The Forgotten Garden had me hooked. Kate Morton tells the tale of Nell, a young girl arriving alone in Australia, fresh off a boat from England. Taken in by the dockmaster, she isn't told about her mysterious arrival until she turns 21. She is drawn back to England to search for her past and her family, only to leave it all behind again when she has to raise her granddaughter, Cass. After Nell's death, Cass picks up the threads of her grandmother's story and attempts to put it all together.

The story spans generations, decades, and continents and manages to never lose it's focus. Each chapter takes a different perspective and time period, from Nell's arrival in Australia in 1913, to her return to England in 1975, Cass's own trip to England in 2005, as well as the years before Nell's ship sets sail from England. The reader finds out bits of Nell's history as first she, and then Cass, trace the origins of a book of fairy tales Nell carried with her on the ship. Nell's notes drive Cass closer and closer to solving the mystery of her family, and the reader is privy to the lives of Eliza and Rose, cousins growing up on Blackhurst Manor in England, and a chain of events set in motion that they could have never imagined.

The use of fairy tales as a strong element in the plot reminded me of Winter Garden. In The Forgotten Garden, the fairy tales are written by one of the characters and serve as powerful clues to the truth behind Nell's past. Though fairy tales were a large part of the story, the central themes of mothers losing children and children losing mothers were what bound the story together and made the development of the story over several generations work. As each woman searched for her past, the discoveries she made filled a void in her life, even as she least expected it.

Lengthy and Lovely

Before this weekend, I had never eaten butternut squash. Are you surprised? I fed it to my baby, but I never ate it. But when I made the baby food, it looked so pretty and smelled so good that I knew I should be eating it. When I ran across this recipe in a cooking magazine (Cuisine at Home, I think), I pulled it out. Keith had saved seeds from our baby food squash, so I thought I would just file it away until we grew some of our own. Then I picked up another squash at the farmers' market, thinking I was going to need to make more baby food, but Bert is rapidly moving onto finger foods. So there I was, with an unallocated butternut squash on my hands. Four hours and a disaster of a kitchen mess later, I had a really tasty dish. Four hours is a bit of an exaggeration, but not much, because I had to roast my squash first.

Squash Spoon Bread

Puree:
2 1/2 cups cooked butternut squash*
1/2 cup cooked carrots

*I cut mine in half and roasted it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until tender. Half of my large squash made the 2 1/2 cups needed for the recipe.

Saute in 1 tablespoon butter:
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped

Add; bring to a boil:
1 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

Whisk in:
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

Combine:
Cornmeal mixture
Squash/carrot puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Beat; fold in:
3 egg whites

Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in the middle. Puree cooked vegetables. Saute onions until translucent. Add water, milk, and rosemary to onions; bring to a boil. Whisk in cornmeal and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Combine cornmeal mixture, vegetable puree, cream, egg yolks, butter, salt, and cayenne in large bowl. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into batter. Place in a greased 2-quart casserole dish and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until set.

If you are wondering about the texture of this, think of it like really moist and fluffy cornbread. Almost like pumpkin pie meets cornbread. Moist enough that you have to eat it with a spoon, hence the name spoon bread.

So, was it worth all the bother? Yes, but I'm going to file this one under holiday dishes because it was a lot of work for regular, everyday side dish. My plan is to take some of the squash we grow this summer and puree it with the carrots and then freeze that in batches so it is ready to go when I want to make this again. That would cut out a lot of the hassle, to not have to go through the roasting and pureeing and having the food processor taking up precious counter space. It was a long process, but Keith really enjoyed it, even if it doesn't make the cut for cholesterol-friendly food.

Oh the Shame

It's a sad day when I've let my dishcloth deteriorate to this condition:

Even the faucet is hanging his head in shame. But fear not, the situation has been remedied. After checking out a website my aunt clued me into, I chose this pattern and whipped up a new dishcloth in about an hour. That would be a baby-napping-hour, not a baby-tugging-on-my-leg-hour. So now the faucet can hold his head high again.

I would say that a new dishcloth makes doing the dishes fun, but I think you would know I was lying.

A New Spin on Vintage

A Vintage Affair

By Isabel Wolff

A Vintage Affair is the March pick for the library book club and I think this one will be a crowd pleaser. The book centers around Phoebe, the owner of a newly-opened high-end vintage clothing shop. She opens the shop after the devastating loss of her best friend and the dissolution of her engagement. As she searches for articles of clothing for the shop and greets customers, she meets people who help her to move past the tragedies in her life and embrace the possibilities of the future.

Isabel Wolff's characters were genuine and believable, and the story unwound naturally, at times sorrowful and then heartwarming. I loved the way the shop full of vintage clothing drew the characters to one another, almost becoming a character itself. It made the relationships between characters of all different ages pull together seamlessly, and the past and present mingled easily. A Vintage Affair wasn't a long book, but Wolff fleshed out the connections between Phoebe and a handful of minor characters in a way that crafted and deliberate, not hurried or added as an afterthought. I thought it was charming and engaging, with a weighty enough story that I didn't feel like I was reading fluff.

Spring Moss-t Be Close

I can't be the only one itching to get outside and dig in the dirt. We have had such mild winter weather that the birds are chirping and the daffodils along the side of the house are poking out already. Bert and I went for a walk around the block the other day and noticed some crocuses blooming already. And then we get a rainy, miserable day when we can only dream of being outside.

It might be too early to start planting things outside, but it seemed like a fine time get the green going indoors. When my mom came to visit the other weekend, she brought me some moss because I had been talking about starting a terrarium. Then we were poking around a thrift store and I found a nice little lidded glass container (maybe a candy dish?) that I thought would be perfect.

The whole process is really simple. Put a layer of gravel in the bottom of your container (which should have a lid, but not a tight-fitting one so it can get air), covered by a layer of activated charcoal. Keith had some around for the filter of the turtle tank, so I'm sure you can find it at a pet supply store or garden store. Then enough potting soil for the roots to take hold (I put about 2 inches in mine). Gently tuck your moss in and add a little water and you should be good to go. Now that I have moss on the brain, I'm seeing it everywhere: in the park, in cracks in the sidewalk, along the side of the house and garage. So if you want to make your own moss terrarium, you can probably scrounge up some moss for free on the north side of a tree or building.

And while the moss is nice and green and has me in the mood for spring, I couldn't pass up a $2 bunch of color at the farmers' market. Once in awhile, you can buy happiness and the funny thing is, it doesn't cost much.