Peach Crisp for Creative Sisterhood

Laying out a pile of forks reminds me friends are on their way. I love that feeling. There's an anticipation of friends coming by and sharing wonderful conversation with them, as well as something tasty.

Tonight was Creative Sisterhood. I was eager to take a break and enjoy some restorative time with friends. Four of us were here and it was a wonderful night. Martha got us started with a thoughtful question and things just mushroomed from there.

As I often do, I tried a new recipe tonight. The Creative Sisterhood members are sometimes my guinea pigs for new recipes and they're so gracious about it. I had a cookbook lying on the desk and picked it up and almost immediately flipped to a recipe for peach crisp. It sounded good. I didn't have any peaches on hand, but since I needed to go pick up a prescription anyway that was easy to remedy.

I just walked across the street and down the block to the grocery after leaving the pharmacy, and picked some up. I also popped into a store I'd not been to before, and found some regionally grown popcorn. I may not have previously mentioned my unnatural love of popcorn. I love to try different kinds. When I was in Ohio I bought a number of different kinds at Lehman's.

I have dubbed the Peach Crisp recipe very tasty, and very easy on top of that. I have a feeling this will become a staple.



Peach Crisp

1 large can sliced peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup margarine

Drain peaches, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Place those in greased 8 by 8 pan. Mix remaining ingredients, cutting butter into mixture with pastry blender. Sprinkle over peaches. Bake 30 minutes or until done in 375 degree oven.

I made a double batch in a 9 by 13 pan.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Creative Sisterhood

Tonight was Creative Sisterhood and it was a wonderful evening. All six of us were here and it was amazing to have the circle full and to share with each other on a meaningful level. Fabulous.

Of course, I shared my collage tonight. The only person in Creative Sisterhood that was at the retreat is Teresa so it was new to everyone else. It's good to get perspective from people who haven't been involved in the process. I know the group gave me some insights.

I made a new cake tonight. Yum! I have been working on a cookbook of recipes from Creative Sisterhood gatherings and realized as I was doing it that I cook a lot of chocolate things. I intended to do something different tonight. But, next thing I knew, the chocolate was melting with the butter on top of the stove and... well... the rest is history.



I had requests for the recipe so said I'd just post it. Frankly, the cake was pretty ordinary, but the frosting was amazing. I think this is the best frosting I've ever eaten. I changed the recipe, so I'm giving you my version here.

Chocolate Cake and Frosting

3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 Tablespoon baking soda
        (yes, Tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1 1/3 cups boiling water

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and blend in vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Then add sour cream and mix. Add water and mix. Batter will be a little thin - not runny, but a little thin.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. This makes three layers.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
2 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
5 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I made a double batch of icing and I do have some left, but I'm giving you the "normal" amount. What is printed here is NOT doubled. I generally want about 1 1/2 of a batch of icing so I almost always make a double batch.

For frosting melt butter and chocolate on top of stove over medium heat. Cool slightly while you mix sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Add melted mixture to sugar mixture and whip.

This frosting is fluffy and rich, but not overly sweet. If you want it sweeter you could use less unsweetened chocolate and more semisweet. The original recipe called for equal amounts but I thought that would be too sweet.

And, by the way, if you want those pretty swirls on your cake, use the back of a teaspoon. I was showing that to Virginia and Martha tonight. I frost it normal, so it's all covered, then I make the swirls out of the frosting that's on the cake.
If you want the sides really smooth, use a cake decorators trick and dip your knife or spatula in hot water first, then twirl the cake with the knife up against it and it was "melt" the frosting into a smooth side. I do swirls all over mine. I prefer that homemade look.
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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Three Bean Salad

I love Three Bean Salad. Frankly, I'm not even sure exactly what my incredible attraction to it is. But, I know it's very easy to make and mighty tasty. What more could you ask from a recipe?

To top it off, it's colorful and travels well. I never eat the raw onions, but I love how they flavor the mix. This recipe has the perfect blend of sweet and sour as far as I'm concerned.

Three Bean Salad

1 can yellow wax beans
1 can green beans
1 can kidney beans
1 onion, thinly sliced
2/3 cup vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
salt and pepper to taste

Wash off and drain beans, and add onions. Mix sugar, oil and vinegar and pour over. Let sit to meld flavors. Even after a couple of days these do not get so intense you can't eat them like some mixtures do.

You can also add a thinly sliced green pepper if you wish. Unless I have freshly picked green peppers I don't bother as they don't have much flavor unless they're right off the plant.

I sometimes mix a double batch of the dressing, so everything is fully covered from the first moment.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Creative Sisterhood

Tonight was Creative Sisterhood and it was a blast. We laughed a ton tonight, which is always nice.

September will be five years since we started gathering each month to share our lives. I recently looked at the original email I sent out about getting together and realized that the way it has developed is one of the dreams I had for it. But, I also thought we would make things together at times. We haven't done that yet, but we have created something special.

Connecting with people remains something I'm passionate about. I know, deep in my bones, that those connections are essential for us and that finding ways to facilitate that is critical to our well being. Tomorrow evening is our book discussion for "Eat, Pray, Love," and I think that's a way people can connect, too - ad hoc, no definite schedule from one time to the next. I am going to be really curious to see how the retreat weekend I've planned in April goes. That may, also, be a way to make connections.

I've been working on a Creative Sisterhood Cookbook - just a little project I thought would be fun. One of the things I've learned is that we eat a lot of chocolate. It's not that any of us minds chocolate - quite the contrary - but we've eaten a lot of it. And it's no one's fault but mine since I'm the one who decides what to bake. Apparently I'm chocolate deprived, and assume everyone else needs more chocolate, too.

Because I've recently realized that I provide chocolate a lot, I decided I'd make something non-chocolate tonight. I wanted to make a double batch of something so I'd have it done for tomorrow, too. So... tonight's offering was... White Texas Sheet Cake.

I have posted this recipe before, but just in case you didn't make a note of it then, here's another chance. This is - honestly - one of the best cakes I have in my recipe files. The only reason I don't make it more often is that I don't always keep sour cream on hand. That's what gives it the wonderfully moist texture it has.

While I'm on the topic of recipes, I now have a section on my website where I will gather any blog posts about food into one place. So, you'll be able to go straight to the recipes area and find things without having to wade through the blog.



White Texas Sheet Cake

I don't know why this is called Texas cake. I got it from someone who was born in Colorado and lived in North Dakota before moving to Kansas. Regardless of how its name came about, this is a cake that draws rave reviews every time I make it. It's so rich I generally cut it in pretty small, almost bite sized, pieces. Tonight, however, I made more generous pieces.

1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining cake ingredients. Pour into 15 by 10 baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until done. Cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting by combining butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, add other ingredients and spread over warm cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake Recipe

This is the latest recipe I've added to my collection. It's a chocolate oatmeal sheet cake. I realize it's not the prettiest thing, but it tastes amazing. It's a really dense, moist cake. There's something about the oatmeal that gives it a texture I find appealing. I have eaten it with and without icing. It's so moist it doesn't really need any.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

2 cups quick oatmeal
2 sticks margarine
3 cups boiling water
4 eggs
1 cup cocoa
3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 by 13 pan.

Pour boiling water over the oatmeal and margarine, let set for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add eggs to the oatmeal mixture, blending well. Mix in remaining ingredients and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until it tests done.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

A Brittle Kind of Day

Tonight was Creative Sisterhood. It was the first night in ages that all six of us have been here. I didn't really have a topic tonight. There were a lot of things on my mind, but I just didn't feel much like sharing. My life is going in so many different directions these days that it's a struggle for me to focus enough to verbalize even a fraction of what's going on in my head and heart.

I made peanut brittle tonight. It's odd how that came to be...

I went to Roy's today for lunch and while I was there a gentleman came in and gave Anne some cashew brittle. She generously shared some with me. I had thought last night about making peanut brittle for tonight so that seemed to be a sign for me.

Anne was talking about what a pain it is to make, and I told her it didn't seem bad to me. Bear in mind that last Christmas was the first time I'd ever made any, so it's not like I'm too experienced. After a quick lunch I went to buy some raw peanuts - the one thing I didn't have in the house - so I'd be prepared to cook at 5.

As if this isn't enough peanut brittle talk for one day, I have the food network on right now and Alton Brown is talking about - guess what? - making brittle. He makes it sound somewhat complex. Maybe I've just been having beginner's luck. And, I have a candy thermometer and I'm not afraid to use it. I know it's kind of cheating, but I'm not my Mama, and when I make candy without a thermometer it can just be an ugly experience. No one needs that.

Alton says there are times you're supposed to stir and not supposed to stir, but I can't tell you that. I guess I've been lucky because I haven't had any problems, even without this knowledge.

Here's the recipe I used. I don't recall where I got it but probably from allrecipes.com as that's one of my favorite spots online for recipes.

Peanut Brittle
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
2 cups raw peanuts
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. baking soda

Heat and stir sugar, syrup and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Add salt. Cook over medium heat to soft ball stage (234 degrees). Add peanuts at 250 degrees. Cook to hard crack stage (290 degrees), stirring often. Remove from heat.

Quickly, stir in butter and soda. Beat to a froth for a few seconds. Pour at once onto 2 well-buttered cookie sheets, spreading with spatula. Break up when cold.

When you add the butter and soda it gets all frothy for a few seconds. For reasons I don't fully understand, I particularly like this part. Maybe it's the cooking as chemistry part of it all.

Then you just pour it out to cool.

When it's cool just twist the pan and it cracks. Alton Brown held another pan over it and shook them to break. He also used a cookie sheet the same size and "stacked" them when he first poured it out to make sure there was only one layer of peanuts. That's a good trick to remember.

Caramel Corn

I made some caramel corn tonight. I'm just guessing it's not something that anyone with any medical training has ever suggested someone consume. But, given the time of year, caramel corn just seemed like the perfect thing to munch on tonight.

Of course, caramel corn isn't something I keep lying around the house. So, I whipped up my own.

I don't recall ever having made caramel corn before - don't ever remember thinking it would be something I wanted to eat before. But, it was easy enough to do.

I eat a lot of popcorn - not the microwave kind, but the normal kind. So, I popped a bowl of corn and meanwhile made some caramel sauce. I just poured mine over and stirred the corn a bit. I didn't coat it too thoroughly, but of course you can make as much as you'd like on yours.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white syrup

Mix and cook on top of stove. Let boil for one minute. It will look just like melted caramels. You just pour it over the popped corn and mix it up. If you're doing very much corn, it would be beneficial to do it in layers, instead of only pouring the sauce on top of a large pile of corn and expecting to be able to mix it well. I didn't worry too much about mixing mine completely.

All in all, it was a fine experiment. I have a bit of a sugar headache - how could that be with a concoction that is two-thirds syrup and sugar with the remaining third being butter?

Obviously, you can make this in any quantity you want - just use equal parts of the three ingredients. I used 1/2 cup since that's a stick of butter. Plus, I wanted to save some and see how it works later. I'm guessing just warming it up again will make it pourable the second time. We'll see.

Needless to say, I didn't consume the entire recipe. I like sugar, but that's over the top. 

Caramel corn seemed the perfect thing to have on a fall day. I guess people don't make popcorn balls for Halloween treats anymore. Pity.