Black Forest Trifle and a Chuckle of the Day for You!

Brownies made their debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, so in my way of thinking, that officially makes brownies the state dessert for Illinois, which leads on to this decadent sweet dessert...

It has all the flavors of a Black Forest Cake, but without the fussiness of a layer cake:  it’s Black Forest Trifle.  

Honeyed Winter Citrus Salad

Growing up, my parents and brother were crazy about fruit; there was never a shortage of it in the kitchen, with Mom dishing it out every chance she got.

I didn’t get it…  

Then Bill and I married…  Two sons, a grandson, and many years later, fruit lovers still rule in my family.

And I still don’t get it…

Am I alone in this?  Maybe I’m missing out on Mother Nature’s bounty, but I could never eat another piece of fruit for the rest of my life and be OK with it!

Colorful anyway!

With the exception of the very few fruits I do enjoy occasionally (rarely):  grapefruit, cherries and pineapple, blueberries and blackberries, plus apple pie and banana bread.  The first 2 are why I love this fruit salad!

If there's no pie, a simple fruit salad can be the perfect ending to your dinner, maybe more appropriate than an elaborate combination.  

Ruby red grapefruit tastes great with it’s tart and tangy flavor, it’s higher in some nutrients, such as Vitamins A and C, than white grapefruit, making it the better choice for us grapefruit lovers.

Navel oranges, the “winter” orange, have a lack of seeds, easy to peel skin, and juicy flesh.  The orange grows a second “twin” fruit opposite its stem.  The second fruit is underdeveloped, but from the outside, it looks like a human navel, hence the name.

Peeling and segmenting grapefruits and oranges is a breeze, here’s the method I’ve been using for years.  If you’ve never tried it, give it a try, it’s easy peasy!

And who doesn’t like maraschino cherries!  The cherries are preserved, sweetened cherries, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries such as Royal Ann or Rainier varieties.   

They’re the “cocktail cherry” in many cocktails, or used as a garnish on foods ranging from fruit salads to baked ham, to ice cream sundaes and pastries, with no pineapple upside-down cake being complete without maraschino cherries.

Toss it all together with a light dressing of honey and lime juice with a touch of strong, spicy, citrusy, aromatic cardamom for added flavor.  

Hope you like it!

Winter Citrus Salad w/Honey Dressing

Ingredients:

2 ruby red grapefruit, peeled and ends trimmed
4 navel oranges, peeled and end trimmed
6 maraschino cherries or more, sliced
¼ t ground cardamom
2 tablespoons honey 
1 tablespoon lime juice

Method:

Peel the grapefruit.
Place a sieve over a medium bowl.
Hold a grapefruit over the bowl, and using a paring knife, cut along the membrane on both sides of each segment.
Free the segments and let them fall into the sieve.
Repeat with remaining grapefruit and oranges. 
Place the fruit segments in a salad bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together cardamom, vinegar, honey and lime juice, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Pour over fruit.
Add sliced cherries and toss lightly.
4-6 servings

Printable recipe


Enjoy!

Berry Fresh Cherry Salsa for Your Grilled Meat

 Woo hoo!

 

It's cherry picking season 

here in the 

Upper Midwest!

 

 Vintage linen postcard by Curt Teich Co of Chicago

I like to put cherries in any dish, any time I can ~ this great salsa is one example!
 

It’s a fresh and fruity salsa, it’s kicking’ jalapeño, it’s delicious!

I’m a huge fan of cherries ~ there’s even a cherry or two in my header here but, now I’m talking about eating them more ways than fresh off the stem, as in pies and jam, chocolate-covered, trail mix, wine, or mustard.

The juicy ruby-red  gems are perfect for a fresh fruity salsa.  You need to try it if you haven’t experienced it.

Cherry salsa is a spicy sweet condiment that’s perfect along side grilled chicken, pork, salmon, or your favorite white fish.  

Control the heat by removing all of the ribs and seeds from the jalapeño for a milder salsa.  Chop the ingredients as coarse or fine as you like, I like it chunky myself.  Swap cilantro for basil, if that’s your taste.

Mmmm!  Now for some salty tortilla chips for dipping!

Cherry Salsa w/Basil and Balsamic Vinegar
Printable recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups sweet cherries, pitted and chopped
1 jalapeño, chopped
¼ cup onion, chopped
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
Chill for 1 hour before serving.
Makes about 1½ cups




Enjoy!

Chocolate-covered Cherry Cookies

I’m right in the middle of “cookie baking season,” and I have finally found my new favorite Christmas cookie ~ that just happens to include cherries!

This recipe is adapted from the “Taste of Home Christmas Cookie Cookbook.”  The chocolate cookies turn out rich and decadent, with the cherries topping them, and then fudgy chocolate frosting blanketing the whole cookie.  

The cookies are a bit unique in that the frosting is spooned over the cookie before baking.  The frosting becomes creamy, and the cookie, moist and tender. 

Sinful is really my word for them.  If you like cherries and chocolate as much as I do, this will probably be your new favorite Christmas cookie too.  

Actually, I intend to make them now and then ~ hear that Bubba?

Ready to bake

Chocolate-covered Cherry Cookies

Adapted

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1½ cups flour

½ cup baking cocoa (Hershey’s Cocoa)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

48 maraschino cherries, blotted dry

Frosting:

1 cup (6-ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup sweetened condensed milk

1 to 3 teaspoons maraschino cherry juice

Method:

In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla.

Combine the dry ingredients, and gradually add to creamed mixture (batter will be very firm).

Shape into 48 balls, about 1-inch round.

Place on ungreased baking sheets.

Make indentation in center with your thumb, being careful to not go all the way through dough to baking sheet.

Place one cherry in thumbprint of each cookie.

For frosting, melt chocolate chips in condensed milk in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.

Add cherry juice and stir until smooth, not runny.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of frosting over each cookie (the frosting will spread over cookie during baking).

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, (I test cookie dough with a toothpick coming out dry).

Cool on wire racks.

Makes 4 dozen

They are addictive, to me!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes! 

Dressing or Stuffing with Variations

Growing up on the farm in Pickerington, Ohio, it was always dressing; never stuffing, and it stayed dressing, after moving to Louisville later.  It never had cornbread in it. 

 

Here’s the scoop (I think!):  If it’s not cooked in the bird, it’s dressing ~ if it is cooked in the bird, it’s stuffing.  Sometimes I stuff the bird, sometimes I don’t, and other times, I do both; but it’s all dressing to me.

Last weekend, I made an early Thanksgiving dinner for some people we were happy to have visit.  Along with all the usual Thanksgiving dishes, I wanted to try this recipe from Christopher Kimball’s, The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook.  This is one of my favorite cookbooks, sort of unique as it is filled with old farmhouse “receipts” which are in the spirit of farmhouse cooking ~ using simple ingredients, simply prepared, and updated, or not, by Keller. 

This is a basic country dressing, made a touch more elaborate with the addition of apples and dried cherries.  Pecans, walnuts, or almonds, may be added, as well as chestnuts, prunes, raisins or browned sausage meat.  As it only takes a half-hour to bake, it can be put in the oven at the point when the turkey is done, since the bird has to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

I will be making this again on Thanksgiving Day! 

Oven-ready

 

Poultry Dressing

Adapted

Ingredients:

4 cups homemade bread cubes, rice, cornbread or barley

4 tablespoons butter

1½ cups chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup scallions or chives

1½ cups dried cherries, or raisins, apples or prunes

½ cup pecans, or walnuts, toasted (optional)

½ pound sausage meat, crumbled and browned

2 tablespoons minced fresh sage, thyme or oregano

¼ cup white wine

¼ to ¾ cup chicken broth, do not use so much as to make it mushy

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Heat butter in a skillet and sauté onions for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add celery and scallions; sauté for 2 minutes.

Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl.

Be light with the liquid, starting out with only ¼ cup broth.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Butter a 2-quart baking dish and add dressing.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove foil and for an addition 15 minutes or until the dressing is brown and crisp on top.

ENJOY!!!

Just what do you serve on Thanksgiving ~ stuffing or dressing?

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Rice and Dried Cherries

Two towns northwest of us is Woodstock. The paved-brick town square holds a farmers’ market every Tuesday and Saturday throughout growing season.  This time of year, it’s jam-packed with a huge variety of colorful squashes. 

Music at the gazebo on market day

Few vegetables impart a better combination of nutrition, flavor and storability than squash.  Acorn squash is a winter squash that is one of my favorites for roasting.  They’re easy to slice, and bake with just a little butter, and have a delicious, slightly fibrous flesh. 

Even better, is to stuff the squash with this stuffing.  The hearty rice and sweet dried cherries make it a tasty autumn dish for your family and friends.  I think it would be even more delicious with a little sautéed sausage added to it for a holiday side dish.

As a side note, for those of you who may have seen the movie, “Groundhog Day,” with Bill Murray ~ it was filmed in Woodstock, as were several scenes from “Planes Trains and Automobiles.”  On top of all that, it was also the home of Chester Gould, the cartoonist and the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip.  It’s one famous little town!

Photo credit:  Columbia pictures Groundhog Day

 

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Rice and Dried Cherries

Ingredients:

2 acorn squashes, halved lengthwise and seeds removed

2 tablespoons butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, chopped

½ teaspoon dried sage

Sea salt and seasoned pepper, to taste

1 cup long grain white rice, cooked with chicken broth

1 cup brown rice, cooked with chicken broth

¾ cup dried cherries

½ cup chopped pecans, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On a baking sheet, arrange squash cut side won and roast until tender, about 30 minutes.

In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat.

Add garlic, onion and sage; season with salt and pepper.

Cook, until tender, 3-5 minutes.

Add cooked rice and toss to combine.

Remove from heat and stir in cherries and nuts.

Season the inside of squash halves with salt and pepper.

Divide stuffing among squash.

Serve

ENJOY!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and easy recipes! 

Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

If there would be one thing I’d like to hoard, it would be cherries.  And I’d be in paradise if I had my own cherry orchard!

Photo credit:  Cooking Light

Cherries are not only delicious; they’re healthy too, being in the top 20 of antioxidant foods. They’re chock-full of vitamins and fiber, aiding in the fight against cancer, pre-diabetes and neurological diseases. They could possibly aid in a good night’s sleep due to their concentration of melatonin. 

 My parents both suffered, from time to time, with pain, stiffness and swelling of their joints from arthritis.  I remember them including cherries in their diet as a way of reducing the inflammation.  Dad was adamant that it helped.

Besides all of the above, they’re even a pretty, fun decorative image on everything from tablecloths to swimwear!

Photo:  Napa Valley Vintage Home

Photo:  The Fashion Police.net
Cherry earrings too!

The bags of cherries in the freezer, led to making this delicious coffee cake.  This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe and one you must try if you also have a cherry fetish.  

Frozen dark sweet cherries may be substituted for the sour cherries, or canned tart cherries may be used.  Let the frozen cherries thaw before using.  This recipe makes a lot of crumb topping and I used every bit of it; you may not want to.  The sour cherries add a bit of tartness and sweetness in every bite that’s perfect for breakfast, brunch or just a snack!

Sour Cherry Coffee Cake                     

For the topping:

4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for pan

¾ cup flour, plus more for pan

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup packed light-brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Stir together all ingredients and set aside.

Ingredients for the cake:

1½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup buttermilk

2 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted, drained well and patted dry

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9” round baking dish, dust with flour, tap out excess.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Working in alternating batches, add flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. 

Beat until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan, and smooth with an offset spatula.

Dot top with cherries.

Sprinkle with crumb topping.

Bake until golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Let cool before slicing.

SWEET!!!

Be sure to visit my friend, Linda, at My Kind of Cooking!  She always gives us good tips and good and easy recipes also!