I haven't died, and I certainly haven't starved to death!!

Yes, I still have been cooking, but no I haven't been blogging. Cooking is dang fun, blogging is only semi-fun. So much has been going on, so blogging is at the bottom of the list. Cooking however, is NEVER at the bottom of the list!!

A few highlights from the last couple months . . .

1. Got swine flu over thanksgiving, didn't cook a thing.

2. Christmas time was great, but did more skiing than cooking. Didn't open one present, it was so nice!!!

3. Went to NYC with my mom and sisters. Ate at Bobby Flay's restaurant, believe him and his throw downs, it was incredible!!! Went to a taping of the Rachael Ray show, they told me they probably aren't going to do "Hey Can You Cook?" What a bummer!! After watching her tape her show, I can frankly say, Martha Stewart was right, Ray Ray is a poser. Bobby Flay, not a poser, his restaurant was some of the best food I have ever had!! Also note, raw oysters are now officially my favorite food.

4. Went on a 5 day ski trip with my entire family in Telluride. The final party before my mom and dad move to Africa. It was a blast!! I cooked all the food (32 people), and witnessed my 6 and 8 year old ski double black diamonds and huck some pretty big jumps.

Anyhow, I am still cooking and still obsessed with this recipe but I have rigged me the master bread cooking system.

this
/div>

plus this

equals this

My enormous magnalite pot is my pride and glory. I bought this french bread pan at Williams and Sonoma. I took it to my dad's manufacturing plant and had them shave down the ends so it would fit perfectly inside the pot. So instead of making two round loafs, I can make two beautiful french bread loaves. So I raise the bread in the french bread pan, and when it is ready, I drop the whole pan straight into the hot magnalite pot and replace the lid.

I did make a small modification to the recipe since I posted it, My bread was always coming out a little flat. I think it was because the oven was too hot. So now I pre-heat at 450 degrees. After I put the loaves in (still in the Williams and Sonoma pan) I keep it at 450 the whole time, including when I remove the lid to let it brown. Lid on, 25 minutes, lid off 15 minutes.

This is darn good french bread. The crust has the crackle, and the bread is soft and chewy.

Anyhow, don't hate me if I don't blog. Oh wait, no one is reading anyway, so I should be good!

Pope is making the news

This month my Dad is retiring from his position as CEO of US Synthetic and he and my mom are moving to Kenya. For the last 10 years, my dad heart has been in Kenya. Striving to help families who face life threatening poverty to become economically self reliant. He started a micro-credit bank in Kenya, and he also plans on starting other enterprises to create jobs while he is there.

KSL featured him on the news (look for my fat face in the red on stage briefly). He was also featured on the front page of the Deseret News last saturday. Proud of you dad, can't wait to get over to Kenya with you!

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

For information about my dad's exciting projects to help fight poverty click

here

here

and here

Brigham Young's Doughnuts

My blog is getting lame. It only took me a year to get bored of it. Blogging is soooo 2009. So it will probably continue to be lame for a while, but my blog is helpful when I have no desire to clean my house. I know I can post a blog entry! Sit down at my nice comfy chair and be in front of my sweetheart, my big screen mac. House work? what house work?

This picture is officially ancient. We now have about 2 feet of snow in our yard. However, these doughnuts will be great for my future sledding parties!

I am the queen of clipping out recipes from magazines and newspapers. I have a huge stack of clippings. This is the first time I have EVER actually used a recipe I have clipped. I clipped it from the Salt Lake Tribune back in July, and have just now used it.

Now I am a cake doughnut person. Yeast rise doughnuts are ok, but I would pick cake doughnut any day! These doughnuts are great and really easy. They are only good the day you make them, the next day they are hard as a rock.

These doughnuts are supposedly the doughnuts Brigham Young ate for breakfast. A real pioneer recipe.

Brigham Young's Doughnuts

5 1/2 c flour

2 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 1/2 t ground nutmeg

2 c buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 c sugar

6 T butter, melted

oil for frying

Preheat oil to 375 (I used a fryer). Combine flour, salt nutmeg, baking soda. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, buttermilk and sugar. Then add the melted butter to the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon till just combined, the dough will be sticky. Let rest for 5 minutes. Roll dough out on a well floured surface to be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. I cut the doughnuts out with a widemouth canning ring and used a medicine cup (or a shot glass) to cut out the holes. Collect the scraps and make more doughnuts. Frying the holes make yummy little treats. Put the doughnut in the fryer, when the dough starts to crack on the top, it means its time to turn it over. Cook until both sides look golden brown. Drain on paper towels or a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. They taste good plain, or with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Everettisms

Feels like I have been gone a while! Thanks a lot SWINE FLU! I don't really know if it was swine flu, I wasn't going to pay the doctor 100 bucks (thanks America's awesome health care system) to tell me I have a virus. I was totally out for 5 days and completely missed Thanksgiving. My mother was left to cook the whole Thanksgiving meal herself. She pulled it off great despite putting whole cloves and baking soda in the sweet potatoes. I didn't matter to me because I didn't feel like eating anyway.

So I am just barely starting to feel like I might live. So hopefully I can get back to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, my I have a boy turning 5 years old today. I begged him to let us celebrate his 4th birthday again, or better yet his first birthday! I don't want him to grow up. He refused. Although his is a year older, he still is giving me some gems . . .

He said he wants to have his birthday party at Wall-Mart and invite everyone who is at Wall-Mart to his party, that way he will get tons a presents.

Everett is obsessed with sugar cereal, he loves it with all his heart. So for the Thanksgiving break I bought some cinnamon toast crunch. When I gave him a bowl of it he said two things.

"Mom, I can't believe I am eating this right now!"

also

"This cereal must be from Wal- Mart because all junk food comes from Wal-Mart!"

Yesterday Everett heard the primary song, "I am trying to be like Jesus." and he said,

"Mom I am always trying to be like Jesus. I always try to walk on water, but I take one step and I fall right in every time!"

Happy Birthday Everett!

Thanksgiving

The super bowl is here! Thanksgiving day. Tomorrow you will see me at Coscto buying food to feed 40 people. Bring it on baby! Last year I did the 12 days of Thanksgiving, please review . . .

• If you want an easy roll recipe that will knock everyone's socks off, try my family's out of this world rolls recipe. I have been eating them since out of the womb.

• Want to free up the oven for the rolls and all the other stuff you need to bake, cook your turkey in a roasting pan and make in D good.

• Delish stuffing only comes around once a year. Ours has mushrooms and pine nuts.

• Does gravy frighten you? Learn how to make gravy now! (and see me in my kitchen at work).

• Now I don't do creamed corn, but I do cook frozen corn without water, and it makes it tasty. Try it!

• This is truly a no fail pie crust and I don't understand why isn't the only pie crust recipe in the world, because it is so easy, and without a doubt the best tasting pie crust on earth.

• The question is, why are they called mashed potatoes when we all know we should be ricing our potatoes!

• These pie fillings are easy and the best!

So good luck one and all and happy thanksgiving!

Custard and shortcake with berries

Under these berries lies a delicious little secret . . . . .



Now this is one of the most heavenly desserts I have ever put together. This is because I have combined two of my favorite desserts, strawberry shortcake and creme brulee.

First you must make the custard for the base.

4 c heavy cream
3/4 c sugar
7 egg yolks
1 1/2 t vanilla or one vanilla bean scraped (I used the bean)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and get some water boiling. Meanwhile. In a sauce pan heat the cream (first add the vanilla) till just before it boils (its ok if it boils, no biggie). While the cream is heating up beat together the sugar and eggs till the eggs lighten in color and it is smooth. When the cream is hot, ladle the cream into the eggs very slowing while stirring. you want to temper the eggs and not create scrambled eggs. If you introduce the heat slowly, that is called tempering. Once all the cream is combined run it through a fine sieve to get out any accidental scrambles. Pour into six ramekins evenly. Place into a roasting pan. Place in the oven and add the boiling water in the pan. Be careful not to splash water into the ramekins. Insure the water reaches half way up the ramekins. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. The custard should look set but be slightly wiggly in the middle.

Once they are done, let them cook in the fridge for at least two hours, but can be done in a day advance.

Next make the shortcakes.

1 c flour
1/4 c butter
1/4 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 baking powder
1 egg
1/4 c buttermilk

In a food processor (or by hand if you are old school) combine flour sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut in butter by adding it to the flour and pulse a few times with the food processor. Beat the egg and buttermilk together. Add to processor and run until all combine and makes a ball.

Drop dough onto a cookie sheet with a mini ice cream scoop. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until light golden and cooked throughout. Cool.

Top custard with a shortcake and top with fresh berries, then top with fresh sweetened whipped cream.

To brine or not to brine?

First of all let me say that the hardest part of doing this blog is the photos. You know how many countless great things I have cooked and forgotten to take a picture before we ate it all? It happens ALL the time. Like for instance this Sunday I cooked a dandy of a turkey, but I forgot the picture, I could take a picture of the ziplock full of leftover turkey, but that wouldn't do it justice now would it.

Why did I make a 20 lb turkey for Sunday dinner do you ask? Because I wanted to ask myself the question, to brine or not to brine. I have always brined, because I always want to do things the best way, not the easiest way . . . usually. But frankly, brining is a big pain the rear. My turkey from last year was really good no doubt, but was it the brine? perhaps. So I have been reading turkey recipes and putting my ear to wind every time I hear turkey. So many different ways to do things, cook it upside down, deep fry it, buy a pre brined turkey, inject it . .bla bla bla. Which one shall I try first? What sang to me the most was putting butter and herbs under the skin of the turkey between the breast and the skin.

So this is what I did. The night before I made an herb butter with a stick of butter, three cloves garlic minced, about a teaspoon of sage, thyme and rosemary, and a pinch of salt and pepper. I mixed the butter and herbs together and rolled it into a loaf in parchment paper, and put it in the fridge. The next morning before church, I preheated the oven to 325 degrees. I rinsed the turkey and patted it dry. I seasoned the cavity with salt and pepper and stuffed it with stuffing. Next, sliced my herbed butter loaf into thin slices. I loosened the skin from the breast of the turkey gently and slid butter under the skin all over the turkey. I put it in the roasting pan, coated the top of the skin with olive oil and liberally salt and peppered it. Then I put it in the oven and roasted it for about 4-1/2 t0 5 hours. 2 of those hours were uncovered the rest were covered. I used a digital thermometer to make sure it read 165 degrees (it actually was about 170)

I have to say, it was a great turkey. Moist and flavorful. I felt so much easier not to brine! and I couldn't really see a difference. That being said, I must admit I am not a turkey officianato. Turkey is merely a vehicle to plate all the other great things for thanksgiving, as far as I am concerned. Its no beef tenderloin if you catch my drift.

So this year, I am not going to brine. Its a pain. Hope not to disappoint.