Saturday, January 29, 2022

SPANISH CAKE FROM THE ENGLISH KITCHEN

There are some amazing food blogs
on line and one I enjoy is Marie's



She now lives in Canada and 
her blog is very popular.  She
is also on Face Book which she
uses to point people to her blog.



Yesterday I saw her recipe that caught
 my eye for a little Spanish Cake with cinnamon and maple extract and nuts
 (I used pecans).  I went right to the kitchen after printing it out
 and we had some with our dinner and 
sent some to our "more senior than us"
 neighbors.  That sounds funny but
 seriously, he is 93 years old.


Marie's recipe was for one small cake
so I just multiplied the ingredients by four
and made a 2 layer cake.




Please help yourself to a slice and
have a cup of tea.


We are having a sunny January Day
and enjoying the brightness even
though it is very cold.  As I look
out on our fish pond all frozen
I feel sorry for the fish who just lie
still down at the bottom.


As January comes to a close
I hope you stay healthy and
happy.  Maybe you are already
in the kitchen getting ready to bake!

Friday, January 21, 2022

FIRESIDE LEMON MERINGUE PIE AND TEA

 Winter is a wonderful time to read,
watch old movies and learn something
new.  I have so many interests that getting 
bored doesn't seem to be a problem for me.



Every season has it's special delights.
I just "refreshed" my birdfeeders earlier
today since they were way down in seed.
  As I went out on the deck I heard masses
 of birds up in the trees.  There were 
hundreds of bluebirds but they just seemed
 to be resting way up and not coming
down at all.


BLUEBIRDS
There in the trees and up in the sky
Bluebirds on branches 
Hundreds rest,  waiting to fly
I tried to entice them
With birdseed and rye
But they seemed on a journey
So we bid them Goodbye!





Today I made a Lemon Meringue
Pie.  I wonder how many of these I've
baked over the years?



Let's take a seat over by the cozy fireplace
and enjoy our pie.



You might want to bake this pie too:

Prepare a pie shell and bake it! I use the old recipe of 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup Crisco and 3-4 Tb ice water) Bake 450 degrees about 8 min 

The ingredients for pie are as follows but
frankly I doubled this for a really deep
dish pie.

1 1/3 cups of sugar, 4 Tb cornstarch, 1 Tb flour, 1/2 cup cold water, 1 1/2 cups of separate water ready boil, 4 egg yolks slightly beaten, 2 Tb butter, 1 Tb grated lemon rind, 1/3 cup lemon juice

For the meringue you will need 4 egg whites, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and 1/2 cup sugar

Combine the 1 1/3 cups of sugar, the cornstarch, the flour and cold water in a medium size saucepan and blend them together until smooth.  Stir in the boiling water and cook stirring constantly 
until the mixture begins to bubble and is thick.  Simmer about 2 minutes and keeping stirring to keep from burning! Remove from heat

Now blend about 1/2 of this hot mixture into the egg yolks and return all to saucepan and cook about 2 minutes.  Remove again and add butter, lemon rind and juice and stir through well.  Set aside to cool slightly.  Stir to let out steam and help cooling.  I put the bowl in the refrigerator to cool.  Once cool I pour it into the baked pie shell and put it into the baked pie shell and I go ahead and refrigerate.  I find this works for me but I do see people do this step differently here.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a medium size bowl. Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating still stiff. 

 When the pie is cold in the refrigerator, spread egg white meringue on top.  Put in the preheated oven of 400 degrees for about 6 to 8 minutes - watch for browning.  Cool on a rack - when cool refrigerate again for several hours.



Tuesday, January 11, 2022

CHERRY TARTS & TEA IN THE KITCHEN

 The kitchen at our house is the perfect
spot for tea because there is a fireplace
we turn on with the flip of a switch.
Sometimes we walk in the door and
that's the first thing to happen to take
the chill out of the air.



So let's enjoy a cup of tea and a little
cherry tart.  You can make up the recipe for
the butter shells and freeze them so they
 are ready to use when you need them.

and here. I recommend you make them
up on a day when you really don't plan
to need them.  Then, freeze them taking
out whatever you need for your occasion.
Today I just put some canned cherry pie filling in these with a little whipped
 cream on top but of course you could 
make your own various types of filling.

The recipe in the link actually makes
around 100 shells in the mini muffins
tins.



We are using my English Devonshire brown
transferware by Johnson Brothers.


We were at the market today and I 
found some sweet flowers.  Please pour
yourself a cup of tea.  Winter is really
just getting started so this is a good time
to think about some indoor hobbies or
crafting.  Perhaps you like to bake.
There are so many things to keep us busy.








Monday, January 3, 2022

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

 I did not blog as much in 2021
but I do want to share my review of
some of my blog posts.  Looking at
the photos today causes me to miss
my flower garden!  Let's go back
though to a year ago and start:

JANUARY:


 
FEBRUARY:



MARCH:



APRIL:



MAY:



JUNE:



JULY:


Sunday, January 2, 2022

JUST A DUSTING OF SNOW

 


Last night we got our first winter
dusting of snow.  It seems to be
staying on the ground since it
was 9 degrees out this morning.
You can see our birdbaths and
garden statuary are covered with
 plastic bags to protect them.


In Missouri things shut down because
of ice issues.  This is how our koi pond
looks in winter with netting over it.
We keep the water feature going but
it all freezes over.  I am glad I am
not a fish!  They go down to the center
where it is 36" deep and just lie still.





It's a perfect day for a cup of tea
and bird watching.



Saturday, January 1, 2022

A NEW YEAR IS HERE!


 (I am pretending we have snow
in Missouri as we might get
some late today) Our area actually
gets ice here and our church has
already canceled for Sunday.