Treats: Sour Cream Pound Cake

My sister is a genius. As you know, I am a hapless baker. As such, I have been having a hard time getting cakes to turn out without splitting in half in the pan, and so tonight, as I prepared to separate a sour cream pound cake from its pan, I decided to do what I should have done three cakes ago: call Mrs. Plourde for an assist. I asked her how long to leave it in the pan before flipping it out and she gave me this sage advice: "About 10 minutes. If you leave it in less than that, it won't come out and if you leave it in longer than that it won't come out." So I set a timer and, like magic, this gorgeous specimen emerged in all its glory. I actually yelled "hooray" out loud when it appeared on the cooling rack in one piece. (Mr. Fritz had yelled something similar to that a few minutes prior when his beloved Buckeyes scored a touchdown. I told him after my "hooray" that I could totally identify with his joy...)


This particular pound cake, "Grandmother Paula's Sour Cream Pound Cake" is a Paula Deen recipe. I am not typically a Paula Deen fan. Her stuff seems heavy and her accent and folksy manner drives me bananas. But this recipe looked super simple when I came across it on the Food Network's web site, so I decided to give it a try in this week's quest for a good breakfast treat for Mr. Fritz. The batter tasted great (yes, I tried a little bit off of the beater) and so I'm expecting the cake will as well. If nothing else, did I mention that it looks spectacular? Go Mrs. Fritz!

Dinner Tonight: Chicken with Easy Peanut Sauce

Another night, another oooold recipe that I've finally gotten around to trying. This time, it's Jean Carper's recipe for Chicken with Easy Peanut Sauce. Mr. Fritz and I both liked this a lot, and since it lived up to it's "easy" title, I definitely plan to make it again.

Jean calls for grilling chicken breasts for 7 minutes. We don't have a grill, so I threaded bite-sized pieces of chicken onto four metal skewers and broiled them for around 8 minutes, turning each skewer once mid-way through cooking them. While they were broiling, I made the peanut sauce - you just put peanut butter, garlic, a bit of soy sauce, and some chicken broth into a bowl and nuke it for three minutes.


I plated the chicken with steamed pea pods and basmati rice and served the peanut sauce in a ramekin on the side. It made for a nice looking plate and each element was really good both individually and collectively. And considering there were four components to the meal, cleanup was still pretty quick.

Dinner Tonight: In-a-Hurry Chicken Curry

I clipped this chicken curry recipe years ago from USA WEEKEND and just now got around to making it. Looking for something easy to prepare tonight, I finally got around to making it. With just a few ingredients, it was super simple to make but it was a little too spicy for my tastes. If I make it again, I'll use less curry. I liked the addition of golden raisins and pineapple - the sweetness cut the heat a bit. But not enough...

Dinner Tonight: Calzones with Italian Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Last night, Mr. Fritz and I watched the Seinfeld rerun in which George gets the Yankee's owner hooked on calzones from a local pizza place. In true George fashion, he ticks off the one of the workers at the restaurant, finds himself banned for life, and has to turn to Newman to procure Steinbrenner's daily calzone fix. The episode made me laugh. It also made me think about making calzones after a long calzone hiatus.

So, tonight, I used refrigerated pizza dough, Italian sausage that I precooked on the stove, a shredded mix of Italian cheeses and the final bit of the roasted red pepper sauce I made previously to cook up a couple of calzones. They took a quick 13-minute trip through a 400 degree oven and were good to go. Verdict: pretty good and fast meal for a Tuesday night!

Dinner Tonight: Shrimp, Feta and Orzo Salad

During the year after our wedding, I found myself on the receiving end of a magazine called The Nest. I think it came to me automatically because I had used The Knot to help me stay organized as I planned our big day. In any case, the magazine came around once every few months and then, once we hit our one year anniversary, it stopped. I guess once we were past being newlyweds they assumed we were fully "nested". In any case, I actually sort of enjoyed the magazine and got a few good recipes out of it. Among them was this one for Shrimp, Feta and Orzo Salad. It's a hybrid of a hot and cold salad - warm shrimp over a cold orzo pasta salad, served on a bed of lettuce. I definitely picked the wrong season to make this - eating a cold salad in front of a roaring fire is just sort of ridiculous, and needless to say, Mr. Fritz wasn't really a fan of the dish, mainly because of the temperature.

Regardless, I think it's worth posting here because it has a good mix of flavors and textures. And in the right season (for the record, the recipe ran in the Spring 08 issue), would probably make for a great meal.


Shrimp, Feta and Orzo Salad
Source: The Nest magazine
Serves 2

1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 Tb. fresh lemon juice
2 Tb. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh oregano leaves (I used dried)
salt and pepper
1/2 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
3/4 cup orzo, uncooked
1/3 c crumbled feta (about 2 oz.)
1 medium tomato, chopped
3 scallions, sliced
1/2 c packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 avocado, chopped (this is my addition)
1 c baby greens, washed and rinsed

DRESSING
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c fresh, flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp. minced fresh oregano leaves
pepper
1/4 c olive oil

Directions
In a bowl, whisk together garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Add shrimp to marinade, stirring to coat well. Marinate shrimp, covered and chilled, 1 hour. Prepare grill pan. (Note, I let it marinade for awhile, but not a whole hour, and it was fine. Also, I didn't used a grill, I just sauted the shrimp when I was ready to cook it.)

Meanwhile, cook orzo according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool.

For the dressing, combine all six ingredients in a blender until emulsified.

When orzo is cool, stir in feta, tomato, scallions, and parsley leaves. (Note: I added a chopped up avocado as well because I had one on hand - I thought it made the dish better). Add dressing to taste and toss well. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove shrimp from marinade, discard marinade. Grill shrimp until just cooked through about 2 minutes on each side. Using tongs, remove shrimp from grill pan and toss gently with orzo mixture. (I just put all the shrimp on the top of each dish of salad. But I probably should have tossed it all together...)

Line salad bowls with baby greens and fill with orzo salad. Serve.

Treats: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This afternoon I made these excellent cookies for Mr. Fritz. The recipe is from Real Simple and it's easy enough that even I couldn't screw it up. The hardest part (or rather, the part that takes the longest) is unwrapping all of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. But honestly, the result is worth the effort. My only issue with the recipe: it claims to make 48 cookies. I was able to get 24 out of the first batch of batter I made a few weeks ago and just 18 (albeit pretty big) cookies out of today's batch. Regardless, if you have a bag of mini Reese's leftover from last night's festivities, I definitely recommend giving this recipe a try!

A Perfect Fall Dinner

Welcome, November! The weather had a bit of a chill to it today, which put me in the mood for comfort food. Which was perfect, since we were expecting our spectacular friends Mr. Leamon and Ms. Kuhn over for dinner. I spent the afternoon preparing the meal so that I could fully enjoy spending time with our guests. On the menu: my favorite salad from Foster's Market in Durham, North Carolina, chicken pot pie, and my mom's apple crisp. I made the chicken pot pie and the apple crisp all the way up to the baking stage during the day, then put the pot pie into the oven about 30 minutes before our guests arrived and put the apple crisp into the oven as soon as I pulled the pot pie out. And I presliced all the ingredients for the salad, dousing the avocado and apple slices in lemon juice so that they wouldn't brown, and made the dressing, then assembled the salad just before we were ready to eat it. The meal was delicious - exactly what I had hoped for!

While I'd made the salad (which I first encountered while visiting Mr. and Mrs. Stevens in Raleigh a few years ago) and the pot pie (a Pam Anderson recipe for USA WEEKEND) many times before, this was the first time I'd ever made my mom's apple crisp. Her recipe was a little vague - she didn't specify how many apples to use or how long to leave it in the oven, and when I called to ask her, she said what all great cooks would say: "bake it till it's done." Translated: for a 9x13" pan, use 7-8 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks and bake it for around 30-40 minutes, or until the apples are nice and tender and the "crisp" is golden brown. Taking a bite of the finished product immediately transported me to my childhood, a very happy time indeed! Thanks, Mom, for the apple crisp and for always being so good to me!!

Avocado, Cucumber, Green Apple, Feta Salad
Source: Foster's Market, by way of Mrs. Stevens

Grated zest and juice of one lime
1 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tart apple, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and sliced 1/4 inch thick
4 cups watercress, washed and trimmed of tough stems
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 onces feta, thinly sliced

1. stir the lime zest and juice and vinegar together in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until all in incorporated. Stir in the mint.

2. In separate medium bowl combine the apple, avocado, cucumber and watercress. Drizzle with the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper, and toss gently. Arrange the salad on a platter or individual plates, top with the feta slices, and serve immediately.


Apple Crisp
Source: my sweet, amazing, talented mother

7-8 apples, cored, peeled and roughly chopped into good sized chunks
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup oatmeal (the old fashioned kind, not the quick cooking)
1 stick of butter, melted
1/4 tsp. cinnamon*
1/4 tsp. nutmeg*
1/4 tsp. salt
vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a 9x13" baking dish with the apples. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour mixture over the apples. Bake for 2o-30 minutes or until the apples are nice and soft and cooked through. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

*says Mom: "if you wish, you can use more or less cinnamon and nutmeg."

Enjoy!!