I'm late, so late, and am very sorry it took so long to get this posted. I've been just a weensy bit busy. The week of the potluck I was baking a wedding cake and a groom's cake. Then I was working on my latest cookbook, and editing a manuscript and well time just flew past me.
It would have hit but I'm good at ducking.
So here goes.
Well, here's what everyone brought and shared and life was good.
We've got some great and inventive cooks in our area and it's always fun seeing what they make and bring.
We had this, and look how gorgeous the presentation was and it tasted good as well. Pork loin with apples, potatoes, onions and celery nestled on a bed of sauerkraut.
and Spaghetti and meat sauce with some garlic bread.
Deviled Eggs, always a popular item
Some Shepard's Pie
Chips and Home made Salsa
Penne Pasta baked with cheese.
Fajita's, Pork, Chicken and Beef
With a totally awesome sauce. I need this recipe, hint.
There were also some cheese and crackers and lunch meat
Grilled Pork Loin and Sweet Potatoes
Another lovely Pasta salad
And for the Desserts...
This is self explanatory.
I've had this cake many times, I even have the recipe for it. It's baked in an electric skillet and is totally delicious. I just need an electric skillet to bake it in.
There was also another delicious cake, topped with a wonderful frosting.
We also had this as a choice
And a Chocolate Silk Pie
and last but not least, cookies dipped in Belgian Chocolate.
And I didn't get a picture but there was also Pineapple.
So that's it for this month, a little late but you're still welcome to drool over it. Our next potluck will be in October and I'm thinking of ideas for it as well.
It's time for the Fantastical Food Fight hosted by Sarah of Fantastical Sharing.
This month theme or food I should say is all about Bananas. The 21st of the month is the International Banana Festival and it's being celebrated in not only Fulton, KY but also in South Fulton, TN. I wonder how close those places are to each other. I guess I could google it, but I want to finish off here before I get distracted, again.
I was inspired by this recipe Banana Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze from Celebrating Sweets.
And then I played.
I think I've been watching too many episodes of the Great British Bake Off Master Class, cause Mary Berry keeps giving me ideas. In this case I actually beat the egg whites and then folded them in for a lighter touch to the cake. It worked.
This is also the cake I made for the Legion Cake Raffle a couple weeks ago. I bake and donate a cake every other week for them to raffle off. The money raised goes to various needed projects in our community. The people who win the cake usually share it, but sometimes they take it home and keep it all to themselves. And that's what the winner did last week. He took it home.
I made a killer toffee sauce to pour over it, and in fact, cheated a little and took some of the batter and baked it in a small (4inch) springform pan. And I'm so glad I did.
Cause that way I got to taste it and I can say without any doubt, I'm making this again. I poked holes in the cake before pouring the hot toffee sauce over it, thinking it might make the sauce soak in, but instead it soaked in from the bottom and after taste testing it I got a WOOHOOOO sugar rush.
And I'm making this again, just as soon as I get a stash over overripe bananas in the freezer, I'm thinking I should have enough by next week...
prep time: 15 minscook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 hours and 15 mins
This cake is nothing like regular Banana Bread. It's not that dense and holds up beautifully.
ingredients:
Cake
3 cup AP flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 cup Salted Butter
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3 large eggs, separated
4 large bananas, mashed
1 cup sour cream
Toffee Sauce
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 12 cup bundt pan.Set aside.
Separate the eggs, and beat the egg whites until stiff.Set aside while you prepare the rest.Mix the dry ingredients together, set aside while you cream
the butter, sugar and egg yolks together, until the sugar has broken down a
little. Add the mashed bananas and mix well. Then add the sour cream and flour in
two parts, alternating each one.At
the end, fold in the egg whites, carefully but making sure to blend them
without leaving any little bits of egg. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top a little.
Bake for 55 minutes and check for doneness after 50 minutes, increasing
the baking time by 5 minutes at a time.
Turn out onto a wire rack and remove the pan.Let cool.
Make the toffee
sauce while the cake is baking.In a
large sauce pan or pot, melt the butter over medium heat, then add the brown
sugar.Whisk together until the butter
and sugar are well combined, let it cook for 3-4 minutes, then whisk in the
heavy cream.Continue to cook, letting
it come to a boil.Stir it constantly
and let it continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes or so.Take off of heat and allow it to cool.This mixture will bubble up and almost
double in size as it's cooking so it helps to have it in a larger pot than you
think you'll need.
As soon as the cake is cooled, pour the still warm toffee
sauce over the cake in a pleasing pattern and serve.If you wish you can keep some of the sauce back to serve with the
cake.
It's all my fault this month or is it that I'll just take the credit for this month's Soup Saturday Swappers theme.
I can't make up my mind which one it is.
The theme this month or our assignment or our challenge is to make a Potato Soup. You can use regular potatoes, red, yellow, white, purple, russet, fingerling, or sweet potatoes. ( I think I mentioned most of the major potatoes). Potatoes have to be the main ingredient. You can make a hot soup, a cold soup or something in between. So here goes.
I was going to make a potato soup my niece made for us once. It was so good and I got the recipe at the time, but I put the recipe somewhere safe and one of these days I'll find it and then watch out world, I'm coming through.
But in the meantime, I had to come up with a soup for this month's theme.
Potato Soup.
Do you have any idea how many potato soup recipes are on the internet? Yeah, me neither, but there are a lot.
You can go French with a lovely Vichyssoise, and it is a soup I love but I wanted something hot. And didn't feel like searching high, low and in between for leeks either.
I looked at Ireland for their potato soup, but it didn't appeal.
I even looked at my Danish roots but didn't feel like cooking a ham to get the stock.
So I did a search of my freezer and my fridge, and look what I came up with.
I had some lovely pork stock in the freezer as well as some chicken stock and there was most of a bag of Heirloom Carrots in the produce bin along with a couple of parsnips. I'm calling this Roasted Potato and Heirloom Carrot Soup. It can be made totally vegetarian or add some pork to it for a heartier take.
And you know what happens when you roast vegetables.
They get sweet and luscious and totally yummy.
And you have to stop eating the freshly roasted vegetable so you can leave some for the soup.
Wait, that was me.
To start with I tossed the peeled potatoes, parsnips and carrots in a little olive oil, sprinkled them with a teensy bit of sea salt and roasted them in the oven for over 20 minutes at 450 degrees.
I turned them over after ten minutes and then turned the broiler on for an additional 2 minutes.
While they were roasting I had the chicken and pork stock on top of the stove simmering away. I tasted it for seasoning and turned off the heat. As soon as the potatoes and carrots were done, I put them onto a cutting board and chopped them up a little more.
The soup was really thin so I added a little roasted garlic instant potato flakes to the soup, let it cook another minute to thicken just a tad and then I dumped the chopped potatoes, carrots and parsnips into the pot, and let it come back up to temp.
I added some cooked pork to the top of my bowl that I'd browned a little and decided that from now on, the pork will definitely be a part of the main soup. And of course a sprinkle of chives.
prep time: 5 minscook time: 21 minstotal time: 26 mins
This is a great soup for those cooler temperatures. A quick and hearty soup, which can ready in just a half hour or so and tastes like you've been slaving all day. Serve with a crusty roll for great tasting meal.
ingredients:
6- 8 cups pork or
chicken stock
2 potatoes
2 orange carrots
2 purple carrots
2 white carrots
2 parsnips
1/4 cup EVOO
salt to taste
1/2 cup finely chopped cooked pork
1/2 to 1 teaspoon oil
2-4 teaspoons instant garlic potato flakes
1-2 teaspoons chopped chives
instructions:
Turn oven on to 450 degrees.Get out a pan with sides.Spray with some non stick spray.
Peel the potatoes, carrots and parsnips.Cut the potatoes into quarters, and set
aside.Cut the carrots into
chunks.Sprinkle them with some olive
oil and a little sea salt.Toss
together and place on baking sheet.Roast at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, turn over and roast an addition 10
minutes or until the vegetables are done.If the veggies aren't browned, place them under the broiler for an
additional 2- 3 minutes.
While the vegetables are roasting, bring the stock to a boil, cook for a couple
of minutes, and add some instant potato flakes.I used the roasted garlic kind.Whisk it into the stock and let cook for a couple of minutes.
Take the roasted vegetables out of the oven, and do a rough
chop.Add to the soup and let it come
to a quick boil.Remove from heat.
In a small pan, heat the teaspoon of oil, and add the finely
chopped cooked pork.Let it brown a
little.
Serve the soup in bowls and add the browned pork to the
top.Garnish with a little chopped
chives for color.
Note: You could also make this a total veggie soup by using vegetable stock and not using any pork. Although I think some fried crispy tofu would taste good with it as well.
I've also been a teensy bit busy this week. I baked not only a wedding cake but also a grooms cake and am heading down to decorate the groom's cake right now. Both of which are in the freezer for now.
It's a black velvet cake with black cream cheese frosting and a batman theme. Should be fun.
Check out the final cakes. I was rather pleased with myself.
In the meantime, check out some other great soups.
It's time for the monthly Baking Bloggers Challenge. OK so it's more of a theme but still...
Sue of Palatable Pastime is our hostess and every month we get a challenge or theme.
This month we're tasked with making either Biscuits or Scones.
And I was torn. I love both of them. I grew up in a place that has a strong British influence and met many varieties of scones over the years. I made some really lovely scones a couple of months ago for an Improv Cooking Challenge and was tempted to make some more but I've really been craving biscuits lately as well.
And...
I admit it, I kinda copied a recipe but made it my own cause I used some of my Master Mix to make these biscuits.
And can I say WOW!!!! I didn't expect them to be this good, quite frankly.
I wanted a biscuit that could be made quickly, eaten on the run, and not only taste good but have enough good stuff inside so that it was more of a 'stick to the ribs' kinda biscuit.
Now I do live in the south and biscuits are pretty common around here. We've been known to cheat and buy ours at places like Popeye's, and other fast food places sometimes, because the biscuits are that good.
But, we also make our own and it's one of those things, that every family has their own favorite recipe and no one makes theirs as good as their Memaw's or their Granny's or Dad's.
When I was still cooking for the Senior Center a few years ago now, I used to make these biscuits, called 7 UP Biscuits using Bisquick. And when I made them, they disappeared, fast. They were actually requested, a lot.
But as I said before, I wanted to make something a little more substantial, and this is what I came up with.
I forgot to melt some butter for the tops, so I just spread a little softened butter on top.
And it didn't hurt a bit. They do spread out a bit though.
Just out of the oven, the steam was rising when i split one open.
If you add an egg in the middle...
And top it with more cheese, it's kinda like the place with the big capital letter on it.
But it tastes 1000% better.
The rest of the biscuits are wrapped and in the freezer for a quick breakfast/lunch/snack.
I'm thinking one or maybe even two of these would satisfy most teen's appetites as well.
prep time: 10 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 25 mins
Bake them ahead of time and freeze for a grab and go breakfast. Or just serve them hot with a an egg on the side if you like.
ingredients:
2 cups Master Mix
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup + Sour Cream
1/4 cup clear soda
2 tablespoons + 1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup small cubed ham
1/2 cup small cubed Monterey Jack Cheese
1 teaspoon chopped chives - optional but good
instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter. Grease a pan and pour 2
tablespoons melted butter into a pan with sides, tilt to cover the
entire pan with butter.
Whisk the soda and sour cream
together. Add the ham and cheese to the dry ingredients and then add
the wet. Mix together lightly, until it is just combined. Turn out onto
a floured surface and pat into a rough rectangle. Cut into squares and
place the biscuits into the pan, and brush the tops with the remaining
butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or so or until the tops are browned and
biscuits are done. They should split in half easily when done. Eat
right away as is or add an egg and some cheese to the middle. You can also bake these in
advance, stick them in the freezer and just zap them, and eat as a quick grab and go breakfast on the way to work or school.
I want to thank my fellow food bloggers for their participation in my online Virtual Tapas Time Party. I so enjoyed what they brought to the table and between us all we had a great overview of the book.
Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm brought some Sweet and Spicy wings. And the great cook she is, made them her own with a couple of tweaks. Here's a picture of my wings.
This is how I made it.
that went very well with the Seedy Crackers that Sally from Bewitching Kitchen made. And again, a picture of my crackers. I make them on a regular basis, they are that good.
Again I want to thank them all for their participation and their kind words.
Now I need to get back to work, I've got more cookbooks coming up, the first of which will be a Shrimp Cookbook, featuring some of my favorite Shrimp Recipes.
My first cookbook Hygge - Danish Food and Recipes is still available and would be
a great gift for any foodies in your life who want to explore or get in touch with their Danish cuisine roots. Available as a Kindle e book ($9.99) or in paperback.
It's that time of month again, the First Monday of the month and time to add your favorite recipe from last month.
Not the one with the most views, but your own personal favorite, the one you'll be making time and time again.
I launched my cookbook, Nibbles and Bites the other day, but also did a fair amount of cooking and baking last month and I'm having to flip a coin and eliminate some of the dishes I made.
I made a couple of Danish recipes, they'll be included in the rewrite and added to my other cookbook Hygge when it gets re-released.
And while it was tempting to tell you about them, I had to go with the recipe I made for the Baking Bloggers group.
It was over the top, YUMMY! I made them for the Legion Cake Raffle. I make a cake or cupcakes every other week and donate them for their raffle. The money raised goes towards purchasing needed items for our community. My little way of giving back.
However, the challenge for Baking Bloggers was to make Brownies or Bars and I had this recipe bookmarked, Triangle Delights Bars.
I actually bookmarked it a couple of years ago, and was waiting for the right opportunity to make them.
They got rave reviews from not only me (can anyone say sugar coma?), but from everyone who tasted them.
So there it is, my Favorite Recipe for the month.
But before you go link up here's how to get copies of either cookbook. Nibbles and Bites - A Compilation of Appetizers, Canapes and Finger Foods. Available both in book form and as an ebook.
or
if you're in the Carrabelle or Apalachicola, Florida area, you can pick up an autographed copy of the book at either Shop by the Sea in Carrabelle or Downtown Books and Purl in Apalachicola
My first cookbook Hygge - Danish Food and Recipes would be
a great gift for any foodies in your life who want to explore or get in touch with their Danish cuisine roots Available as a Kindle e book or in paperback. Autographed copies are also available at the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa or on their website.
I'm so excited and so pleased you're joining us for my first virtual Tapas Time party, featuring recipes from my new cookbook, Nibbles and Bites.
I asked a few bloggers I know if they'd like to join me for the party and they said yes. So here we are with what we made from my cookbook.
As usual at a Tapas Time Party, I made a variety of appetizers.
I love appetizers, what can I say.
I did cheat and have this first though.
My late sister, Tania introduced me to this delicacy, as it were and between the two of us, we could polish off a large rye crisp cracker, spread with cream cheese and topped with Roasted Raspberry Chipotle preserves. I didn't have any of the large Siljans Crispbread (they're 11 inches across) but did have rye crisp crackers a friend picked up for me from Ikea a couple weeks ago.
I dedicated the book, Nibbles and Bites to Tania.
So Tania, here's to you and all the times we laughed and talked our way through a snack or a meal.
I always have some of these on hand, I call them Suncoast Crisps and when you serve them with an Herbed Spread or plain cream cheese or just by themselves, they're especially delicious. BTW, they're also a great energy snack when hiking or biking. Nothing says you can't have food that is multi-purpose. (Page 64 in the book).
I also made up some Vegetarian Potstickers because it's been way too long since I've made them, and even if it's a bit of work to make them up, you can always freeze them and just pull out enough for a quick cocktail munch or starter.(Page 133 in the book).
OK, you got me, I make a meal out of them, a lot of the time. But they make so many it's a great snack to keep on hand in the freezer. And true confessions time, I actually made these last week and barely got to taste them, they disappeared fast.
I want to thank my fellow food bloggers for participating in this virtual party and making stuff from my book. I'm a little partial to it myself and tried to include recipes that weren't the tried and true, but were also easy to make and somewhat budget friendly.
It's also going to be fun to see what tweaks they made to the recipes. As I keep saying, you're the cook and you need to make it to your taste and feel free to modify. I know I do.
And...
Wait, just a minute, my Danish side came out and I had to hurry up and light some candles to help make this even more Hyggeligt.
Whew, that was close.
if you're in the Carrabelle or Apalachicola, Florida area, you can pick up an autographed copy of the book at either Shop by the Sea in Carrabelle or Downtown Books and Purl in Apalachicola. Nibbles and Bites is also available at the Crooked River Lighthouse gift shop.
My cookbook Hygge - Danish Food and Recipes would be
a great gift for any foodies in your life. Available as a Kindle e book or in paperback. Autographed copies are also available at the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa or on their website.
and Spaghetti and meat sauce with some garlic bread. 
Deviled Eggs, always a popular item
Chips and Home made Salsa 
Penne Pasta baked with cheese.
Fajita's, Pork, Chicken and Beef 
With a totally awesome sauce. I need this recipe, hint.
I made a Southwest Casserole, 
There were also some cheese and crackers and lunch meat
Grilled Pork Loin and Sweet Potatoes
I've had this cake many times, I even have the recipe for it. It's baked in an electric skillet and is totally delicious. I just need an electric skillet to bake it in. 
There was also another delicious cake, topped with a wonderful frosting.
We also had this as a choice
And a Chocolate Silk Pie
and last but not least, cookies dipped in Belgian Chocolate.
And I didn't get a picture but there was also Pineapple. 
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