Chocolate Therapy Redux, The Recipe

I have a bad habit.

Well, I'm sure I have more than one, but this is the one I'm willing to admit.

It drives my family crazy, but doesn't seem to bother me enough to change it.

You see, I tend to modify almost every recipe I try. This is especially true of baked goods.

So, what's the big deal?

Well, I don't write down my modifications.

This wouldn't be a problem if I was able to remember the changes I make, but alas, it just isn't so. When there's a less than spectacular result, it doesn't really matter. But when it's great, it may end up being a one-hit wonder, never grace our dessert plates again.

With this caveat in mind, I've decided to try to remember the changes I made in the recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Chocolate/Ginger Crumbles. If you try it and it turns out great, thank you.

If it's icky, please accept my apologies.

1 cup white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I may have switched these two around)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sour milk (add a couple tablespoons lemon juice or cider vinegar to milk to sour)

about 1 can or two-ish cups pureed squash

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1 T vanilla

1 3.5 oz bar Green&Blacks bittersweet dark chocolate with crystallized ginger pieces, finely chopped.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Mix flours, white sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in small bowl.

Blend together the sour milk, squash puree and brown sugar on low speed with mixer. Stir in the oil, honey and vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients, stirring until just mixed. Stir in bittersweet chocolate crumbles.

Bake 60-80 minutes, until cake tests done.

Cool at least 15 minutes before removing from pan.

When cake is completely cool, frost with a simple powdered sugar icing, about 1 cup powdered sugar, a dash of vanilla, pinch of salt, 3 T of cocoa powder and enough milk to reach desired consistency.

Drizzle over cake.

Enjoy!

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge - Week 11

I've been working my way through the freezer, trying to use up my stores of meat and veggies. We don't eat much meat, so this locally-raised smoked ham has been in my freezer for longer than the recommended 6 months.

Fortunately, a coating of brown sugar glaze and a short time in the oven and it turned out great.


Twice baked potatoes always seem the perfect accompaniment to ham, and these were local spuds as well. Some of the dairy ingredients were local, some weren't. Oh, but the paprika on top is straight from Hungary. My dh brought home a package for me from a business trip last year, so I think I'm counting it as local!

It's a lot of trouble to restuff the baked potatoes, so I always just leave the skins on. I cut up the potatoes skins and all, then mash them with the butter, milk, sour cream, and salt.

I think I'm on a scone kick.

These are orange-currant scones, with local flour, butter and currants.

Admittedly, the grated orange rind came from afar, but my son was home from college and these are his favorites.


These local strawberries from my freezer and home-canned peaches (from Missouri) were a perfect accompaniment to the scones for dessert.

Oh, yeah.

I haven't made that borscht yet...

Cooking for Company

I don't usually buy my ground beef at the grocery store. I have never bought Minute Rice for my family or friends, either.

And wieners?

Um, no, not unless you count the locally produced bison dogs we had last fall.

What could possibly account for such a lapse in culinary judgement?
What, you may wonder, got into me?

Well, it's not so much what got into me as what was coming out of this guy...

Poor Gil.

He's sick as a... dog.

We took him to his vet on Saturday when he added vomiting to his symptom. She gave him a shot and meds to stop the diarrhea and drew blood to check for any underlying problems.

I cooked him up a doctor-ordered special diet of hamburger and white rice.

And it's true what the say... a mouth full of wiener does help the medicine go down

We thought he was on the mend.

Until last night.

He wouldn't take his last dose of medicine, not even with its wiener coating.

And he awoke throughout the night with more diarrhea.

When he refused to eat this morning, we knew he had to go back to the vet.

The news isn't good.

Gil's blood test indicated pancreatitis.

I called his mommy on vacation, she's in contact with the veterinarian, and Michael has Gil at the vets for follow-up care as I write this.

I feel so bad for the poor little guy. He acts like he doesn't feel good and probably is in some pain as well.

Hopefully this will be a one-time short episode and will be under control in a day or two.

In the meantime, Aunt Karen will be here to love him and care for him.

The girls will give him extra cuddles.

And Michael, thank god, will continue to take the night shift.

Cats Rule...

Dogs...

Um, yeah.

Chocolate Therapy Redux

If ever I needed some chocolate therapy, believe me, it's been this week.
Not only has my oldest son left for 5 months in South Africa (it's been 3 whole days and I haven't heard from him yet), but I'm dog-sitting for a friend.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to do it and I owe her - she's watched my dogs and it's a relief to know I don't have to worry about them when I'm out of town.


But my friend, she makes it look easy.

Granted, she's admitted that she often finds it easier to relate to dogs than to humans, something I can certainly commiserate with, but if Cesar Millan ever retires, my friend could easily take his place as the dog whisperer.

So, I now have a small pack of dogs in my house, including my ever-increasingly crazy St. Bernard. At 5 months old, she's growing into her puppyhoood, full of insane energy and toddler mischief. Just this morning I caught her emptying a Kleenex box one tissue at a time, bouncing from couch to couch, chased her to retrieve a ball of yarn, removed a multitude of Kleenex bits from her mouth and jowls, saved all but the cover to a cookbook left on the couch, placed several magazines high out of reach, distracted her from chewing on the entryway rug, put the dog bed out of reach of chewing high up on top of the television... you get my drift.


Our guest, Gil, is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, as sweet as sweet can be. Except he's got some anxiety issues (hmm, I guess you could say he fits right in) and has decided that Sarah belongs to him. He also stays close to my side all day, ready to combat Wally and Ivy, if necessary, to keep me to himself. I thought it was wild having two big dogs romping in the living room, but add in a territorial midget and the romping quickly turns into a rumble.

Oh, and I almost forgot (ha!) to mention that he's having some diarrhea issues. Gil lives on a small acreage and has been known to not only happily wallow in rotten carcasses, but to partake in these unexpected culinary delights as well. I surmise he had a little snack shortly before my friend left and the after-effects just need to work through his system.
Um, yeah.
Poor baby, it's hard to be sick when your mommy is out of town.

Wally is taking this all in stride, having just about finished his own antibiotic prescription. He got some kind of bacterial infection last weekend that caused him to cough horribly. It was probably a new strain of kennel cough, or some such. I think he's enjoying his new status as "the good dog."

The weather is still cold, with plenty of snow still on the ground and my fireplace is temporarily out of commission.
The situation definitely calls for a little therapy a la Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate/Ginger Crumbles.


Yep.
I feel better already...

Last week Heather gave me The Tree of Happiness Award.
She said I make her laugh, which is quite a compliment. Though I have to tell you, Heather, ever since you wrote that, I haven't had a single funny thought!

I'm supposed to list 6 Things That Make Me Happy

So, here goes: 1) First and foremost is my darling husband. Not everyone can say that someone in this world adores her, but I can. Michael loves me, cherishes me, takes care of me, makes me laugh, is a wonderful husband, is gorgeous, stands by me in good times and bad, and makes me feel secure. He props me up when I'm going through rough spots and allows me to do the same for him. We are partners in everything we do. How did I get so lucky?

2) My children, of course. I have never known a more fierce and abiding, unconditional and all-encompassing love, than what I feel for my children. They amaze and delight me on a daily basis. Of course, they also frustrate and annoy me at times, but I drive them crazy, too. What I call a perfect mother/child relationship! They are not only emotionally open and supportive with me, but also with each other. They are smart, funny, creative, talented, caring, loving individuals. I couldn't be more proud to have Stephen, Zachary, Sarah and Melissa as my children.

3) My pets. As crazy as my menagerie of 2 dogs and 4 cats makes me, the love and devotion they inspire in myself and my family is immeasurable. When I've been without a pet in the past, I've felt somewhat incomplete. And though I wouldn't miss the fur tumbleweeds, the barf, the vet bills or the muddy footprints, I would miss each and every one of my sweet furballs. Now, Fanny, stop drinking my milk, Lester get off the table, and Ivy, leave that cat alone!

4) My friends. I have had good friends come and go way too often in my life. But my friends now I know will be mine forever. They give me advice, unconditional support, laughter and camaraderie, and are a lot cheaper than therapy. I don't know what I would do without them!

5) Good food. Some people eat to live, but I definitely live to eat. Along with this love of good food is a true enjoyment of cooking and baking. I find nothing more satisfying than putting together a fabulous meal - but don't ask me to do the dishes! Doing virtually all our cooking from scratch makes it difficult to enjoy eating out, but that's probably a good thing with our current need to economize.

6) My new high-efficiency wood-burning fireplace. I have always loved the beauty and aroma of a wood burning fire, but knowing I'm not only saving money on my energy costs, but doing it in a "green(ish)" way, makes me swoon with delight. I get really crabby when I'm cold, which usually starts in October and lasts into April. Having this delicious source of warmth has made me much easier to live with.

Now I'm supposed to tag other blogs that make me happy.

• The Unzone
  Chris is an unschooling guru right here in the heart of Iowa. She's an incredible mother, mentor, and friend. I'm so glad she's started posting again!
• Is this Heaven? No, this is Iowa! I just discovered Claire's blog a few weeks ago and I love reading about her adventures on a small acreage with lots and lots of animals. She living the life I wish I had the energy to pursue. You really need to check out the pictures of ducklings in her bathtub!
• Touch the Earth Farm I visit Danielle's site so often she probably thinks I'm a stalker. Another unschooling mom living the sustainable lifestyle on a small acreage in Maryland. She has cows, pigs, chickens, and goats, runs a CSA, sheers her own sheep, makes her own cheese, even cures her own pork! An inspiration.
• Living in a Local Zone A Connecticut localvore I "met" through the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge. Love reading her blog as she plans her garden, cooks, bakes, and dedicates herself to a local, more sustainable lifestyle.
• Beyond the Blue Gate Another Iowa blog about living on an acreage, running a CSA, cooking and the country life. Jill and her husband are familiar faces from the Des Moines Farmer's Market and I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to join their CSA soon.

We'll see if any of these people read my blog often enough to notice they've been given an award!

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge - Week 9

Cook with an ingredient you don't usually use.

As soon as I saw this month's challenge, I knew my fate was sealed.

Despite assiduously avoiding it for decades, my time had finally come.

There was no getting out of it.

No excuse would suffice.

Yes, that's right. I would finally have to conquer my extreme aversion to squash soup.

The mere thought of pumpkin, butternut or acorn pureed in a bowl made me gag.

Literally.

But I stealed myself for the inevitable horror, found a recipe, and assembled the ingredients.

I was prepared for a lot fruitless work, making soup that no one would eat, save the obligatory first bite.

Sigh.

There's always pizza delivery, right?

Was I ever pleasantly surprised!

I made Corn, Bean and Pumpkin Stew, using local beans, home canned tomatoes, home frozen sweet corn, local onions and garlic, and a pureed butternut squash from our garden. The squash was supposed to be prepared in cubes, but I found using my already pureed squash worked just fine. The soup was nicely spiced with cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, paprika and serrano chilies.

The perfect accompaniment to the soup was corn meal and currant scones topped with homemade apple butter. The cornmeal and flour were local and I used currants my girls and I dried last summer from our fruit CSA.

Finally, for dessert, my daughter made this yellow cake using the first two eggs our chickens ever laid. Quite exciting!

I stand humbled and chagrined by my former aversion to squash soups.
Next up, borscht.
(Gag, gag)