Grandma Lulu Bancroft’s Lemon Cake Pie

by penji1

This was by far the most fun thing to cook for Patty and Raymond today!  It smelled divine and I told Patty that I was going to have to come home and make one for us so that we could try it but I’m too tired today from all the cooking so it will have to be another day.

1 pie crust (I cheated and used a Pillsbury frozen one because I knew how much I had to make today and knew I wouldn’t have the time to make a pie crust from scratch)

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 heaping tablespoons flour

1/3 cup butter

2 small – medium lemons

3 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups milk

Combine sugar and flour.  Cut in butter with 2 knives or better yet a pastry blender until pea size.  Zest the 2 lemon rinds then juice the 2 lemons.  Add lemon zest and juice to the butter mixture.  Add the yolks of 3 eggs and beat well.  Add the milk to the mixture and mix well.  Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and the fold them into mixture.  Pour into pie shell that has been baked for about 5 minutes to help set the bottom.  Bake in a 425 oven for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 375 for about 30 minutes longer.  Put pie on rack closest to bottom of oven.  You may have to cover edges of crust with foil to keep from burning.

Kathy’s Enchiladas

by penji1

More food for Patty and Raymond!  The recipe as listed below made the above two pans of enchiladas.  The instructions said you could make them soft or crispy, so I did a pan of each (soft on left, crispy on right).

2 pounds ground beef

1 small can diced ortega chilis (left these out for Patty and Raymond)

1 small can diced olives

1 small onion, peeled and diced

2 large cans enchilada sauce, warmed

3 dozen corn tortillas

2 pounds grated cheese, Jack or American or both

Brown ground beef, chilis, olives and onion.  Warm tortillas and then dip into enchilada sauce.  Put into a 9 x 13″ pan, 1 at a time, and spoon an ample amount of meat mixture and cheese on the sauce coated tortillas.  Roll up and scoot tortillas into a corner snug against the pan.  Keep filling warm tortillas, rolling and pushing against the last one until pan is full.  Pour 2 soup ladles of sauce over rolled tortillas.  Sprinkle grated cheese over top and bake at 350 for 35 – 40 minutes.  If you want soft tortillas, cover with foil during baking and if you want crispy, leave them uncovered.  Cut the remaining tortillas into wedges, fry in hot oil, drain on paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

Apricot Chicken Bake

by penji1

Another dinner for Patty.  I mixed the sauce ingredients together and decided that it didn’t look like quite enough so I doubled it and then I ended up doubling that again and then it looked like enough!  🙂

1 chicken, cut up or your favorite pieces (I used 5 chicken breasts)

1/4 cup Russian dressing

1/2 package dry onion soup mix

1/4 cup apricot jam

Put raw chicken pieces in 12 x 9″ casserole dish.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.  Bake in a 300 oven uncovered for 2 hours.

Crispy Jello Salad

by penji1

Also requested by Patty.  I thought I had a jello mold around here somewhere but couldn’t find it so couldn’t make her a fancy jello salad, bummer!  This is a picture of the bottom of the jello as I didn’t want to take it out of the mold before delivering it to her, too hard to transport that way.

1 large box (or 2 small) lemon jello

2 apples

1 cup finely diced celery

1/3 cup chopped nuts

Mix jello according to package directions.  Dice apples, celery and nuts (if desired) and pour into mold.  Let set in fridge as per package instructions.  Serve topped with mayonnaise if desired.

Patty’s Beef Stew

by penji1

Dinner #2 for Patty as requested, Beef Stew.

2 pounds stew beef or a cut up chuck roast (I went with the stew meat)

1 onion, diced

4 – 5 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 – 5 carrots, peeled and cut into slices

3 quarts hot water

3 – 4 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet (couldn’t find this in the store, google said a good substitute was Worchestershire sauce so that’s what I used)

flour

salt and pepper

2 bay leaves

oil

Dredge the stew meat in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.  Brown the meat in oil.  Add onions and cook along with meat.  Add hot water and Kitchen Bouquet.  Whisk in (to avoid lumps) 1/4 cup flour.  Add bay leaves and cook on medium heat until meat is almost done, about 1 1/2 hours.  Add potatoes and carrots and cook until vegetables are done (other vegetables can be added here if desired).  Salt and pepper to taste.  Remove bay leaves before serving.

Salmon Loaf

by penji1

I spent today cooking for my friends Patty and Raymond again.  Patty gave me a copy of her cookbook called “Patty’s Cakes and Things” so that I could make some of her favorite foods for her.  She requested salmon patties but the recipe said you could also make a salmon loaf so I opted for the loaf as it seemed like it would freeze better than the patties.  I doubled the recipe to make an extra big loaf for them so that maybe they could have a couple of meals out of it.

3 eggs

1 (16 oz) can salmon

2 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (about 5 slices) (I used my food processor and ground up the slices of bread that way)

2/3 cup chopped celery

1/3 cup chopped green onions

Mix all ingredients together and form patties.  Fry in a frying pan until brown on both sides.  Or you can put the entire mixture in a loaf pan (I sprayed it with Pam first) and bake in a 350 oven until done, about 45 – 50 minutes.

Hearty Stuffed Shells

by penji1

Here is one of Bob’s all time favorites so I made it for Valentine’s Day dinner.  It’s not hard to make, just a little time consuming but it’s really tasty in fact Bob has been known to sneak down in the middle of the night and eat it cold!  This is another one of those recipes that I’ve had forever and so can’t remember where it came from.

1 1/2 pounds hamburger

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 (32 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 egg

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3/4 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper

3/4 package (12 oz) jumbo shells, cooked according to package directions (I always cook the whole package because some of the shells are broken and unusable so if you cook the whole package then you will have enough)

6 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 375.  Brown beef with onion and garlic.  Combine meat, bread crumbs, 1 cup sauce, egg, Parmesan cheese and oregano.  Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in 9 x 13″ pan.  Fill each shell with 1 tablespoon of meat mixture and place in pan.  Top with remaining sauce.  Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with Mozzarella and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Triple Cheese Flatbread

by penji1

I made a big dinner for Valentine’s Day – Hearty Stuffed Shells (Bob’s favorite, will be the next post), Green Beans with Garlic Butter and Walnuts (everyone loves these, they are already on the blog) and this Triple Cheese Flatbread which I got in an email from Bisquick.  It is pretty easy to make and really tasty, we ate almost the whole thing.

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup hot water

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used Mozzarella)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1  Heat oven to 450.  In medium bowl, stir Bisquick and hot water until stiff dough forms.  Let stand 10 minutes.   Place dough on surface sprinkled with Bisquick and gently roll in Bisquick to coat.  Shape into a ball and knead 60 times.

2  On ungreased cookie sheet, pat or roll dough into 12″ square.  Brush butter over dough.  In small bowl, mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over dough.

3  Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Basic Cake Pops

by penji1

Bob got me Bakerella’s cookbook “Cake Pops” for Christmas and I’ve been waiting for a chance to try it out and so I decided that since I’m always making things for other people that for Valentine’s Day I would make Cake Pops for my family.  They came out pretty good although I did have a few problems along the way so I’ll share those with you to hopefully help you avoid them.  Also this isn’t a quick process, it took me good 2 hours to make them and that didn’t include baking the cake which I did the day before so set aside a block of time to make them.

1 (18.25 oz) cake mix plus ingredients to make cake (I used Devil’s food)

1 (16 oz) container ready made frosting (I had homemade vanilla buttercream frosting left over from when Melonie and I made the fondant cakes so I used that instead)

48 oz (3 pounds) candy coating (like Wilton candy melts)

48 or so lollipop sticks

1  Bake cake as directed on box, using a 9 x 13″ cake pan.  Let cool completely.  (I baked the cake the day before I made the pops and covered it with plastic wrap but I should have just let it sit out uncovered because it got really moist which was a bit of a problem when it came time to crumble it all up.)

2  Crumble the cooled cake into a large mixing bowl.  You should not see any large pieces of cake.

3  Add 3/4 of the container of frosting (I figured about 12 oz of frosting).  (You will not need the remaining frosting.)  Mix it into the crumbled cake, using the back of a large metal spoon, until thoroughly combined.  If you use the entire container, the cake balls will be too moist.

4  The mixture should be moist enough to roll into 1 1/2″ balls and still hold a round shape.  (I used my Pampered Chef mini scoop to get the right amount of cake to then roll into balls.)  After rolling the cake balls by hand, place them on wax paper covered baking sheets.

5  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours in the refrigerator or place in freezer for about 15 minutes.  You want the balls to be firm but not frozen.

6  Place the candy coating in a deep microwave safe bowl.  (I usually work with about 16 oz of coating at a time.)

7  Melt the candy coating, following the instructions on the package.  You can also use a double boiler.  Do not overheat the coating.

8  Now you’re ready to dip.  Take a few cake balls at a time out of the fridge or freezer to work with.  If they’re in the freezer, transfer them to the fridge now.

9  One at a time, dip about 1/2″ of the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted candy coating and then insert lollipop stick straight into a cake ball, pushing it no more than halfway through.

10  Holding the lollipop stick with cake ball attached, dip the entire cake ball into the melted candy coating until it is completely covered and remove in one motion.  Make sure the coating meets at the base of the stick.

11  Hold the dipped cake ball over the bowl and gently shake to remove excess coating.  Rotate slowly to allow excess to fall off evenly.

12  Stick the cake pop into either a styrofoam block or piece of wood with holes drilled into it.  (Bob took a large piece of wood and drilled a bunch of holes into it for me, worked great!)  Let dry completely.

13  Store cake pops in an airtight container or wrap them in individual treat bags secured with a bow.

Here are a couple of problems I encountered:

Several of my cake pops developed cracks in their candy shell after sitting out to dry.  Bakerella says that I rolled them to tightly or that they were in the freezer too long (this is probably what happened) and when they started to thaw and expand after being dunked, it cracked the candy coating.

Also I tried to get cute and make some heart shaped pops with a small heart shaped cookie cutter that I bought but there were several problems with this, first of all, they weren’t packed together tightly enough like the balls were and so when they were dipped they dropped a bunch of crumbs into my candy coating which then of course transferred to all cake pops dipped after them and also they didn’t retain their shapes too well after having a stick poked it them so I guess if you want to make heart shaped ones, you really have to form them by hand.

Valentine’s Lunch at La Jolla Groves

by penji1

Bob and I went out to lunch today for an early Valentine’s celebration at La Jolla Groves, a new restaurant located in the Riverwoods.  It was awesome!  Delicious food and an inviting atmosphere which made you feel like you were dining outside in a lemon grove.   I grew up in Southern California and have been to La Jolla often and this restaurant really invoked the feel of La Jolla.  If you live near me, I highly recommend it!  Here’s how they describe their restaurant:

“The Classy New Restaurant for Insanely Delicious Food made from fresh ingredients harvested from our own local organic greenhouse.
Featuring healthier food that tastes great!”

You can check them out on Facebook but their home page on the web is not current yet.

We decided to forgo any appetizers or salads in favor of saving room for dessert (which was the correct choice!) but they started us off with a basket of rolls, each one a different flavor – melt in your mouth white, wheat, a red one which tasted tomatoey and a green one (which we ate before I got a picture) which tasted spinachey, all delicious.

We decided to order two entrees and share so we opted for the salmon and the beef tenderloin, both excellent choices.  The beef melted in your mouth and the vegetables served alongside were cooked to crunchiness (which I love) and not to mushiness (which I hate).  The salmon was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside (just the way I like it) and the rice and veggies were cooked perfectly.  Can’t say which I liked better, they were both delicious!

We did the same thing with dessert, ordered two and shared.  The chocolate mousse cake was yummy with a tender texture and both chocolate and vanilla sauces alongside but the lemon cake was divine!   If you go there,  you must order it!  Perfect contrast between sweet and tart!   I want more already!

Bob and Penny give La Jolla Groves two thumbs up and will definitely eat there again, hopefully soon!