Election Day Cake - Vote Yummy!

So I'm immortalizing another "Dad Tradition" with this entry and sharing the recipe for Election Day Cake. I remember him making this from the time I was little. Elections have always been a big deal for my father. If he hadn't become a pastor, I seriously believe politics would have been his second choice. From my childhood, I most vividly remember the Dukakis-Bush Election in 1988. My sister and I made posters for Dukakis and printed out blank maps so we could color in the states as the results came in. To this day, I have to print out a blank map to color during the election results. Tomorrow, my sister and father are both hosting the Election Day Parties. I'll be at Alison's since she's closer to me, but both parties will feature soups, breads, and the following: Election Day Cake. This recipe actually comes from a newspaper article by Ginnie Mulkey, though she credits the recipe to "some anonymous creative woman."

Ingredients
4-4.5 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 ground cloves
1/4 ground mace
2 pkgs. active dry yeast
3/4 cup margarine (softened)
1.5 cups very hot water
2 eggs (room temperature)
1.5 cups seedless raisins
3/4 cups chopped nuts
1/4 cup chopped citron (optional-but recommended)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix 1 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and mace. Also, in a separate bowl, mix the yeast with some lukewarm water to begin activating it. Let it sit aside for a bit.

My dad knows what he's doing when it comes to yeast!

  2. Add softened margarine to the flour mixture. Gradually add the hot water and beat about 2 minutes with electric mixer.

3. Add eggs and 3/4 cup flour. Beat at high speed two minutes. Add raisins, nuts, citron and rest of flour so that the batter becomes thick. Stir until well combined.

4. Turn into a greased tube pan. I had no idea what a tube pan was. If you're like me, here's a picture:

5. Cover and let rise in a warm place until about doubled in size. It will be about an hour and a half.

6. Bake in a 375 degree oven about 45 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack. Then you can garnish with a sifting of powdered sugar.

It will smell amazing in your house while this is cooking. Get super creative and add some red and blue sprinkles for an extra dose of patriotism.

And don't forget in all the excitement of baking your Election Day Cake to actually get out there and VOTE!!!

Monastery Cherry Jam and Jelly

So, over this past weekend, I went on a retreat to a lovely Benedictine Monastery just outside of Madison, WI. If you want to read all about this gorgeous place, click over to my other blog at http://bloggedyblogblog-mindylou113.blogspot.com/. But for this entry, I'm focusing on a canning class they sponsored Thursday night. If you've ever been curious about canning or just think those little mason jars are too adorable for words, read on.

Let me start by saying that if crepes intimidated me, canning my own jam and jelly absolutely petrified me. I was so excited when I saw this class was being offered to visitors on the exact day I was arriving! It was Fate! So I signed up and talked my dad into doing the same.

 The class was led by Pat Hobbins-Kemps. Here she is:

The recipe I'm including is her recipe, although she was quick to point out that she really just takes it straight from the included sheet from the pectin package! So, let's get the ingredients out of the way:

Ingredients: Cherry Jam
4 cups chopped sour cherries
4 3/4 cups sugar (get this measured-super precisely-before starting, trust me.)
1 packet pectin
1/2 tsp butter (this cuts down on the foaming)

Ingredients: Cherry Jelly
3 1/2 cups sour cherry juice
4 cups sugar (same as above.)
1 packet pectin
1/2 tsp butter

You'll also need mason jars (we used little ones and doubled the recipe, but if you get 10 jars you should be okay on the single batch). I'd recommend making sure you have a canner (see below), a large pot, some hot mitts, a long spoon, the correct tongs (again, see below), and something to scald the lids/caps in. 

I am now going to tell you the FIRST BIG RULE: Do not cut the sugar amount. I know it seems like a lot. But if you change it, the jam and jelly will not form correctly. If you need to find a diabetic option, I'm sure they exist, but I don't know the trick there. So for this recipe, make sure you stick to the amounts given.
 
On to the Directions! One last caveat before getting started: Make sure you have a couple hours set aside where you will be uninterrupted for this process. You have to keep your focus on the cooking or you might burn your fruit. Also, you're dealing with sterilization and high heat. So you're going to be moving fast once things get rollin' and you'll want to make sure no little pitter-patterers will be under foot. Okay, caveat done. Let's get cookin'!

Directions: (This is for the jam, but the jelly process is pretty much identical. The difference is really just ingredient-based.)

1. Wash your mason jars with hot, soapy water. Then put them upside down into a water-filled canner. (I had no idea what a canner was, so here's a photo of what we were using.)

See where those handles are sticking up? It's like a little wire basket that the jars can sit in and then they go into the boiling water an inch or so. You really need the lip to be covered. Boil your jars for at least 10 minutes. Pat is a nurse, so her comfort level was closer to 20 minutes. I'd err on her side of caution, just saying. You're also going to scald the lids, see to the left of the jars? Keep them in a single layer and add more in as needed. These don't need to boil as long, but it's not going to hurt them to boil the same time as the jars.

2. Prepare the fruit. Make sure any stems, pits, vines, and not so desirable pieces of fruit are removed. Then chop. We used a really great food processor that I am decades away from being able to afford. Our cherries weren't totally chopped. We left them sort of chunky. It's a matter of preference. Here are the cherries before being mashed:

Let me just say: that whole kitchen smelled like cherry pie. It was divine.

3. Here's the SECOND BIG RULE: Measure the ingredients exactly. Do not guess. Do not fudge. Do not pass Go. This is not an easy rule for me. I work best when I can dash this and pinch that. But it won't fly on this one, so get precise. Pat also recommended counting out loud to make sure you don't lose count. It's good advice. So put in the exact amount of cherries using a liquid measuring cup. Get eye level to the measuring side and put it into a large cooking pan. Add the pectin and the butter and stir until the pectin is dissolved and the butter is pretty blended.

4. Bring the fruit mixture to a rolling boil. This means that it doesn't stop boiling when you stir it. You'll want it on high heat and make sure you're doing your best helicopter impression at this point. Hover over that baby and keep stirring. There's no such thing as over-stirring, so don't be shy.

5. As soon as it reaches the rolling boil, add your sugar and stir it in quickly. Return to a full rolling boil and keep it boiling for EXACTLY one minute. This is why you're hovering. Watch the time or count to 60, but keep track. After a minute, remove it from heat and skim off any foam that may have formed. Then get ready because the speed round is here.

6. You're going to use a pair of tongs (See images below for tong instructions. The bad ones will drip hot water down your arm. Use the others for your own safety.) to grab out the jars. Tip a jar and grab it by the lip. Don't try to fit the tongs around the circumference of the jar; they'll slip. Set it on the table.

Bad

Good

7. Dip a measuring cup into the hot fruit and then pour the fruit into the jar, leaving about 1/4 inch empty. Don't leave more than this or there will be too much excess space in the jar and it may not seal properly. Dip the tongs in the boiling jar water and then grab a lid/cap combo. Quickly cover the jar with a cap and then screw the lid on. Be careful not to touch the cap (the flat part with the rubber edge) because this will contaminate it. Just use your tongs to place it on the jar and then you can touch the part of the lid that screws on. Get it tight, but THIRD BIG RULE: Don't pick up the jar to do this. Keep it flat on the table to keep any product from touching the lid or cap and preventing it from sealing.

8. Let it stand for 24 hours. Make sure to put space (at least a few inches) between the jars so that air can flow around and between them. FOURTH BIG RULE: Don't re-tighten the jars after cooled or you will break the seal. Also, resist the urge to push on the top of the lid or you may break the seal. Basically, as soon as you tighten the lid, leave them alone. You'll hear them start to make a popping noise as the seal locks in. This is very exciting and caused a grand sense of pride among our group.

That's my dad, gracefully topping off the jar with a cap.

 9. Store unopened jams and jellies in a cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year! Refrigerate opened jams and jellies up to 3 weeks.

 
There were no major differences between the jam and jelly for these two recipes. IF you are doing a different jelly recipe, you may need to boil the fruit first and then strain it to get the "juice" only. Jelly doesn't use any fruit chunks or bits. Only the juice. We had cherry juice at our disposal, so we didn't worry about this. Again, the pectin box comes with instructions and recipes for a variety of jams and jellies, so you can't go wrong following those.

The biggest lessons we learned from the class centered around sterilization and quickness. If you pay attention to those parts of this blog, you should have success in your canning experience!

Big thanks to Pat and Holy Wisdom Monastery for this amazing learning opportunity! Enjoy!      

Fat Tuesday Donuts: Fasnachts

Prepare yourself for the most amazing donut you will ever eat.

Ready?

Okay, here's the story: I grew up watching my dad make these over the course of two days. He would start them Monday night and wake up before the sun to finish them on Tuesday. I would wake up to find every surface in the kitchen covered with cut up dough in a variety of odd shapes. It would take him awhile to get them all fried up and coated in either a glaze or plain sugar. The sugar ones were always my favorite and that's what this recipe is for. Even though he used to make them in two days, they can be done in one if you have the time to let them rise twice. Either way, these are not an instant gratification sort of project, but like the oatmeal bread article from awhile back, they are worth the wait.

INGREDIENTS
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chunked
1/3 cup of lard plus lots more for frying (don't get Crisco, find old school lard if you can)
1 cup of milk (I used whole milk, but anything is fine)
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. salt
2 pkg. dry yeast (this is double the original amount. Trust me.)
2 T. warm water (this is to activate the yeast, so make sure it's not too hot.)
1 cup potato water
2 eggs, beaten
9 cups sifted flour

Here we go.

1. Toss the potatoes in water and boil until soft. It'll probably be about 15-20 minutes. Before draining, make sure to save 1 cup of the potato water. Set that aside and drain the taters. Then transfer them to a big bowl and mash them up. I used a hand mixer to get them really smooth.

2. Mix the yeast with the warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set it aside to activate. When it's ready, it will look like this:

3. Scald the milk. I'll be honest: I looked this up in The Joy of Cooking to make sure I knew what it meant. It means to heat it on the stove until little bubbles form around the edges. So not to a boil, but just beyond a simmer. :) Now remove the milk from heat and let it cool to lukewarm.

4. Melt the 1/3 cup of lard. I do this in the microwave. Then set it aside and let it cool to lukewarm. It will look like this:

*It's important to let everything cool to lukewarm because you're going to be adding these items to your yeast. If they're too hot, your yeast will die. Not to sound too melodramatic, but it really will. And then you'll get a bunch of donut bricks. I speak from experience here. Wait longer if you're not sure the stuff is cool enough. 

5. In a big (and I mean BIG) bowl, put the active yeast, sugar, salt, milk, egg, potatoes, and potato water. Get that all mixed together. Then gradually add the flour. Add the lard at the end when all the flour is blended in.

6. Knead until well mixed. You're gonna have to get your hands in there and get dirty! Add more flour, a little at a time, as and if needed. Let it sit in a warm room. Here is where you can leave it overnight if you so desire. I let it sit in the kitchen for about 2 hours and turned the oven on to about 300 degrees just to keep the room warm.

7. When it's a) the morning or b) doubled in size, turn it out on a floured surface and divide into smaller balls of dough. The recipe calls for 4, but if your space is smaller, you may want to take smaller bits at a time.

8. Roll each section out to about 1/3 inch thick. No need to measure. Just know that they're going to sit and double again, so you want them fairly thin at this point. Cut them using a pizza cutter or cookie cutter. Mine end up being a variety of odd shapes, but be as perfect or imperfect as you want.

9. Now leave them alone to double in size again. They'll look something like this:

10. Now get ready for some work. Hey, you've had around 4 hours of down-time already! Okay, put a big ol' chunk of lard in the frying pan and heat it up until it melts and starts crackling. It's really between a pop and a crackle, but you'll hear it talkin' to you!

11. When that happens, start setting the donuts in the hot lard and let them get brown on one side. Then flip them over and brown them on the other side. Pull them out and dip in a plate or bowl (I used a pie dish, actually) of sugar. I recommend frying a pan full (about 3-5 depending on size) and then do the sugar. Then fry another round and sugar those.

12. This recipe makes about 5 DOZEN of these amazing things, so alert your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and hungry-looking strangers. The baker's spoils of eating the first one brings particular pleasure in this instance. They are best in the first two days. After that, they're fine another two days if you zap them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.

Bon Appetit!   :)

Breaded Pork Chops with Gorgonzola-Pear Salad

I have never cooked pork chops before. To be honest, I mostly haven't cared for them when I've eaten them. Part of this is the fault of my well-intentioned grandmother. She used to make pork chops with some regularity. They were always dry and tough, no matter what she did to them. Either she didn't realize, or she liked the jerky-style pork chops. I have had one or two non-jerky experiences, but on the whole it seems like a cut of meat that I can do without.

However.

Trader Joe's had a 3-pack of chops for about $5.00. They looked delicious and offered a lot of inspiration. I like trying new things in the cooking department. So I bought them. Then I set out searching the internet for the best recipe.

I didn't really come across anything that jumped out at me. Well, I didn't come across anything that I already had all the ingredients for, that is. But I've breaded things before and figured I'd do fine making up my own breading. I'd just find a recommendation on baking temp and time and go from there.

Now, having completed this experiment, let me first suggest that you get a meat thermometer if you're going to do this - or any other - pork chop recipe. I had to guess on the temps, so mine didn't turn out quite as juicy as they could have. Also, I'm adding in a step to these instructions that I didn't do. It's the sear step. This is also going to help lock in the juices for you. Okay, here we go.

1. Gather your ingredients. I made up my bread crumb mixture and used the following: breadcrumbs, basil, pepper, rosemary, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. Add whatever herbs and spices you're in the mood for. I also used 2 eggs and some flour. Amounts are sort of relative in this case. Depends how many chops you're doing and what size they are. Mine were center-cut boneless, and I had three. I ended up with leftover egg, flour, and breadcrumb mixture. If you're adventurous (or lazy like me) just use your judgement. Otherwise, check a few recipes and go from their suggestions. 

 2. This is the step I didn't do. Put some oil in a frying pan and heat it up. Sear the edges of each chop for about a minute a side. Not super long. Just enough to get it a little browned. This is going to help seal in the juices.
 
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take the first chop and dredge it through the flour. Really coat that sucker up. Then dip it in the eggs. Let the excess drip off before pressing all sides in the breadcrumbs. Continue with all your chops. 

 
4. Bake the chops for about 25 minutes or until the inside temperature is at 160 degrees. I'd check them a little before this time, just to make sure. Above all, you want to find the happy place between raw and too chewy. 

5. I also did a salad while the chops were cooking. For this you need spinach, pears, and gorgonzola cheese. I found all my stuff at Trader Joe's. 

6. I used two pears. 

7. Peel them and then chop into little pieces. Or medium-sized ones. Depends how you like your salad. 

8. Chop up the spinach leaves. I actually ripped mine because - again - I was feeling lazy. Either way. Then crumble the cheese. Toss everything together in a bowl. 

9. I used a fruity salad dressing to top my salad. I think anything balsamic would be lovely, too. It's definitely not a Ranch moment, though. I really like these Bragg dressings. Vinegar is so good for you, and their products are all very naturally healthy. Best place to find them is in specialty health food stores, like Whole Foods. Although, I did see them at Meijer, too. 

10. Once you have everything tossed together, all you have to do is wait for the chops to be ready. Pretty simple meal, I think. Here's how mine looked by the end: 

I hope you give this a try sometime. I plan on doing it again when I get a meat thermometer. Let me know if you have any other pork chop tricks!