Home Cooking: Potato Soup and Fried Apples

First, it may be spring per the calendar, but, here in Texas, we are having a rainy day, and tomorrow it will be stormy and cooler. So that makes it perfect weather for soup, right?

Second, I don't understand why the apple recipe I'm talking about is entitled Fried Apples, because, to me, they are cooked, sautéed, caramelized even (as in just some cream shy of being homemade caramels).

Regardless I'm craving both the soup and the dessert, and am enjoying them again this month.

I love The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup recipe, and it's great even without the heavy cream added. Although I would happily add it, if only it were found in my fridge. For added convenience when making this soup, I use frozen veggies (whether labeled for soup, for fajitas, or simply a seasoning blend containing the Holy Trinity), and I also bake extra potatoes one night to dice into the soup I plan to make the next day. Find Ree Drummond's recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/01/perfect-potato-soup/.

For a quick and easy Fried Apples recipe, here's a good one: http://southernfood.about.com/od/apples/r/bl80905e.htm. I must admit the smell of cinnamon makes me think of Thanksgiving and Christmas, even if it is April.

Enjoy!

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Deep-Dish Fruit Pizza from The Pioneer Woman

Here's her link:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/01/fruit-pizza/ for the basic recipe.

Note:  Allow three hours from start to finish on this one.  There's the one-hour-in-the-fridge time and then the cool-off-the-cookie-crust-before-frosting-it time.

My taste test of the raw cookie dough (yes, I know) and the icing each passed my muster.  Meanwhile, my baked cookie crust is cooling.

Since I'm now post-28-Day-Break-Free Plan of JJ Virgin's, I did some substitutions.  After you go "Break-Free," you cannot turn it off.  It's like copyediting.  Once that spotlight is turned on, I find mistakes everywhere--in my pleasure reading, in professional blogs, in TV show headers (like telling us the time, date and/or place), even in freelance contracts.  Now I have that same attention to detail with my meals, snacks and desserts.

Since I was playing around big time with substitution of ingredients, per JJ Virgin's list of seven food items most likely to upset our system, I cut the original recipe in half.  This is my first day reintroducing elements back into my diet and I didn't want to overstress my body with the shock of corn (oil), sugar, eggs, butter, milk and gluten.

So, here's what I did to Ree's original recipe (which I have never tried before but I'm sure was wonderful, as is).  I used coconut oil instead of butter (one less possible food sensitivity to ponder).  I bought organic sugar specifically for use in this dessert but I went with Stevia to avoid the "sugar" element.  After all, I made oatmeal raisin cookies with Stevia per the recipe on the package and Stevia survives the oven.

Now, I did use less Stevia than the sugar listed.  That works sometimes.  A half recipe calls for 3/4 c. sugar and I used 1/2 c. Stevia.  [Okay.  I stopped to put it all together and have a piece.  I couldn't wait.]  Even for me, with my sugar cravings under control, I'd use the full 3/4 c. for a half recipe next time.  I wanted the iced sugar cookie experience, not really a cheesecake one.  At this time.

I didn't have an orange, so I used lemon zest.

I used one regular egg (not organic).  Should have gone organic.  I maintain an underlining assumption--if I am to eat one of the seven "sensitive" foods--that going organic's gotta help, along with four-day-apart spacing, if and when needed.  Maybe next time I'll spring for the free-range versions.

Instead of whole milk, I used cream.  After all, I had some in my fridge and needed to use it up.

I replaced all the flour with gluten-free.  I used Hodgson Mill's Gluten-free All Purpose Baking Flour.  It is pure white and light.  Beautiful.  This was my first voyage with this flour and it rates five stars, in my book.  (I am not getting paid by any of these brands to promote them.)

I forgot to halve the 3 tsp. baking powder but wasn't worried about it too much.  Sometimes with these "other" flours, you need the extra leavening added in.  Not here though.  I ended up with a crumb crust texture, instead of a solid cookie.  Now I know for next time.

Onto the icing part.  I realize this may come as a shock to many of you, but yesterday was the first day I ever bought marshmallow creme.  Weird, right?  I don't like my chocolate fudge diluted.  Although I do like that Mississippi Mud cake with the layer of marshmallows or the creme between the cake and the icing.  Yum.

Boy was I surprised to find out that marshmallow creme is just seven-minute frosting in a can, IMO.  So next time I make this recipe, I'll do my own icing, maybe even from Stevia.  Who knows?  It might work.  If not, I'll try it with the organic sugar I bought.  In fact, I think the icing alone will serve me, sans the cream cheese.

I topped my dessert pizza with all strawberries as they were the oldest fruit in my fridge and needed to be eaten soon.

Oh, and my raw cookie dough was pressed directly into the 9x9 pan I both chilled it in for an hour and thereafter baked it in.  I did grease the pan with 1 T. coconut oil (great oil for moisturizing your face as well as high-heat frying, with no odor, thus better for desserts than olive oil).

I cooked the crust at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Maybe my crust was thicker than intended.  Plus my oven cooks a little hot so I like to start off 25 degrees lower.  I can always brown at a higher temp at the end.

My stomach was all aflutter (and not the good kind) with the influx of "new" foods, having denied myself sugar/marshmallow creme, eggs and dairy cream for almost a month.  All from a single 1/12th square from a 9x9 pan.  I was actually having a sugar high for about ten minutes, but it has since calmed down.  Now I'm left with a too-full feeling and I'm trying to aid that with drinking a lot of water.  Maybe following up with a cup or two of some hot peppermint tea will cure what ails me.

Before JJ Virgin's elimination diet, I had no discipline when it came to serving size.  Boy, has that changed.  I note my stomach's reception of each meal now.  I stop to decide what to eat with great care, making wiser choices.  Thank you, JJ!

Denise Barker, author
Good Ole Boys, a love story
Professional Freelance Copy Editor

Ree Drummond's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

As authors, we can read other authors' books, watch a million movies, camp out at the library, all in the name of research.  What a grand career we are in. 

So, under that guise, I have listened, so far, to two-thirds of the inspirational audiobook written and narrated by Ree Drummond entitled Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, a love story about how the author met, dated and married her husband.  This is The Pioneer Woman from the website of the same name, with her online collection of all her loves:  photos, recipes, family, movies, homeschooling.  She can even be found on TV with her cooking show.  And her true-life love story should make everyone jump for joy that true love exists, that men like Marlboro Man live and breathe, and that they apparently love their women, happy flaws and all.

Ree did the taping on her audiobook.  She seemed to be sticking straight with the script, although I would be dubbing in more afterthoughts, side notes, laughter, crying, what-have-you.  I'm impressed she held it together when narrating her personal story, including recalling her propensity for Lucille Ball-like incidents, her own mistakes.

I'm not completely through the taped book, but it is uplifting, even while wrapped in reality.  Of course, I'll finish listening to the audio today, and may have to do so over and over as I try to separate myself from the sheer joy of the story to be objective enough to see her writing techniques.  Even if I'm not capable of that distancing, it would be no hardship to hear the whole wonderful how-we-met rendition over and over.

May we all share in such happiness, love, life.  Have a good one, everybody!

P.S.  Per a quick internet search, the movie rights to Ree's love story have been bought.  I hope we get to see the movie soon, but . . . there is no guarantee how fast that will happen.  Still nice to know it is being considered.

P.P.S.  I finished listening to the audiobook the other day.  My first leg of reading was the more fairy-tale events leading up to real life.  So the story has its sad moments, its tense moments and, even as a blog reader knowing she has four kids, the oldest is female, you get caught up in the story events, like guessing the sex of their first child:  "I just know it's a boy."  Plus hearing or reading about a "three-week honeymoon in Australia" sounds wonderful, doesn't it?  Wait until you hear the details of their honeymoon.  It just goes to prove that things on the outside, or on paper, are not what they seem.  Still, good reading.  Realistic.  Honest.  And proves true love, that magical, mystical, blissful, passionate version we thought was meant only for romance novels, can exist in real life and wins out over "small" things like not having a dishwasher with your first infant, or having money troubles, or going from a city life to a working ranch where there are no days off, no ice days or other such weather-related cancellations, no sick days, no ten-holiday-a-year benefits.  I said it before.  I'll say it again.  Inspirational.

Check out ThePioneerWoman.com

First, let me say "Thank you, honey!" to that lovely, organized, productive young woman buying canning jars who led me to this website--which I have added to my favs on the right-hand sidebar.

Second, a disclaimer.  I haven't even begun to mine all the gold in this newly found haven.  So if I misstate anything herein, forgive me for my lack of time to lose myself in this wonderful world.

Third, you gotta love The Pioneer Woman who describes herself as channeling "Lucille Ball, Vivien Leigh and Ethel Merman" all the while homeschooling, cooking, (still) loving and lusting after her husband, living on a ranch, completely adoring children and pets (hers and others), who somehow has time to blog, watch favorite movies and TV shows, PLUS maintains her sense of humor.  Her name is Ree.  And she's my newest Hero.

Despite not yet finding all the treasures of her website, I'm in rhapsody!  I've found a fellow soul mate who loves all the things I love, and you can tell "respect" resides deep within her soul.  I don't know who does all her photography stills, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out Ree is as great with a fancy camera as she operates within her other gifts.

Although I don't live on a ranch, in my mind, living in the country is a sometime circular goal.  If you were born and raised in a rural area, you probably couldn't wait to leave and get your taste of the "big city."  As you grow up, however, you may again yearn to live in the place where your roots began.

For others, it's more of a linear goal, made with the passage of time.

As for me, I was born in Baton Rouge and while it may have boasted 250,000 or so people when I moved, it was neither rural nor big city at any remembered point during my childhood and teenage years.  I guess that middle-position birthplace has me swaying from big city to small town, like my car-buying purchases range from two-door to four-door and back again.

Still, after living some decades myself, I find my choices of residence moving farther and farther out from the big city.  My current home is in a wonderful town/city that, at the time of my original purchase of my house, was a nice place with a small-town feel and yet big-city perks.  Now it's one of the fastest growing cities in my State if not one of the top fifty/one hundred in the whole U.S.  Not sure I like the possibility of losing the coziness factor due to our population explosion.

But regardless, I treasure my space and lots of huge old oaks and evergreen bushes and the occasional wild critter coming to my back door to eat up the rest of the cat food.  I don't see the sunrises or the sunsets because of my subdivision's housing development--and the aforesaid trees--but one day, I will own my dream (and go-green) home atop the highest hill on my five acres or more, just so I can be witness to each uniquely beautiful rising and setting of the sun.

That's one of my dreams.  I love people who inspire them, such as The Pioneer Woman.  Go find yours.  THAT is the fountain of youth.