Tormented Kitchen

Hello, dear readers!  Welcome back for a lovely recipe. In honor of my dear hubby's birthday, I baked up something special.  At first, he wasn't sure what to ask for, so he mumbled something about coconut cake, then a pie, then he settled on something rhubarb.  Our rhubarb patch was doing well enough for me to get some for his birthday dessert. He got a crisp instead of pie or cake. Strawberry rhubarb crisp with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. It was heavenly! The middle daughter (the picky eater) was unsure about the stuff that went into the fruit layer.  I told her it's pretty much just sweet and sour strawberry, like sour patch kids. It worked!  I wouldn't say she loved it, but she ate some without flipping out.  I think we're making progress on reducing the pickiness. So for your dining enjoyment, give this a try.  It's sweet and tangy, sticky and oozy, buttery and crispy in all the right places. Ingredients For the fruit base 3 cups...

There is restaurant on Virginia Street that my hubby and I eat lunch at often.  Michael's Deli, if you are curious. They have fantastic salads and darn good gyros, too.  One of my favorite things they make is a peanut butter filled chocolate cookie. They only have them certain days of the week, so I don't always get them. After eating those cookies, and always wanting more, I had to make some at home this weekend.  I told my student employees my plans. They begged for me to bring some cookies to work. Unfortunately for them, the cookies didn't make it to the office. They were so good, I just couldn't bring myself to share! Ingredients 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder  1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1 egg 1 tablespoon milk 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter ...

Doesn't everyone love banana bread?  I will occasionally make it without nuts because sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't. Ba dum dum! (cymbal crash!) Ok, that was cheesy of me. Sorry. Anyhoo. I like banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, all sorts of quick breads.  This is one of my favorites. This batch, I made using chopped Brazil nuts and it was fantastic. Rose usually makes hers with walnuts, but my dear hubby (her grandson) is allergic to them. I typically choose pecans as my general go-to nut for baking. Ingredients 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups AP flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup sour milk (add about 1 teaspoon lemon juice to regular milk, let set until it's curdled) 3 large ripe bananas, mashed about 1 1/2 cups 1/2 cup chopped Brazil nuts, walnuts, or pecans Method 1. Cream the shortening and sugar until mixed well.  Add the eggs and vanilla. 2. Sift to...

Way back when I was a kid, my mom used to make bread pudding. She also had two different sauces and you never knew which one she felt like making until it was on the table.Sometimes it was a glossy lemon sauce. Sometimes it was whiskey sauce. I've had tons of bread pudding over the years and I keep changing what goes on top.  That depends on what ingredients I've added to the bread pudding itself.  Chocolate chips baked into the bread pudding with Chantilly creme on top is really good. I also happen to love the recipe below with pecan praline sauce on top. This example has a simple homemade vanilla caramel sauce drizzle.  Not to shabby for a weeknight, don't you think? Ingredients 1 small loaf (1lb or so) of cinnamon bread or white bread, cubed, I keep the crust on 6 eggs 3 cups milk, I used whole milk 1 1/2 cups heavy cream 2 teaspooons vanilla extract 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup vanilla sugar dash of salt 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon Method 1. Sprea...

It's birthday cake season! This past week, I made cupcakes for one student's birthday at work. She asked for chocolate cake and frosting that wasn't too sweet. I used my chocolate cake recipe and cream cheese frosting. They were super! One party attendee raved about how moist and light and fluffy they were, like clouds. That was so nice of her to say so! I decorated the tops with a squirt of Duff silver food color spray and Haley helped add the silver sugar sprinkles on top. Ingredients 1 lb cream cheese (or 2 8-ounce blocks, Neufchatel can stand in here if you can't find cream cheese) 1 cup butter (I used salted butter) 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar Method 1. Using a sturdy stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together  the butter and cream cheese. They should be soft, but not runny when you start, so slightly cooler than room temperature. I like to put my ingredients in a bowl out on the counter about an hour befo...

Pancakes are a breakfast staple at our house. If we don't have pancakes, then we eat their cousin the waffle at least once a week. Sometimes, we even make breakfast for dinner. The kids love it when I do that. I toss some bacon in the oven (yes, I cook bacon in the oven), then whip up some pancakes. Yumm-o! Pancakes are easy. If you're used to pancake mix in a box, you really have to try these.  They are not any more difficult to make from scratch, but the flavor is so much better. You can control the quality of your ingredients and use all organic (or not). Justin remembers eating pancakes at Grandpa Tony's house as a little kid. Tony would start putting things in a bowl and they would just turn out, without measuring. Sometimes you can do that, You just know since you've made them so many times. Just so you know, we always, always call these pancakes. They are also known as hotcakes or flapjacks, but I just don't like saying "flapjacks" or ...

For my birthday this past year, my dear hubby took me to a trendy bar/eatery.  The highlight was my drink. So I have carefully crafted my own improved version for home consumption. I used a hurricane glass because it made it prettier. As you know, a good part of the appeal of food and drinks are the appearance.  Make it pretty and taste good., and you will wow your friends. I have intentionally made this drink with and without alcohol, for one, because I am such a lightweight drinker! Without vodka, it was still fantastic! I can also share the mocktail version with the kids. I like my drink with the extra sweetness of vanilla syrup. If you are trying to cut calories, you might want to back off the regular syrup and switch to sugar-free and consider fat-free half & half. I know fat-free half & half is a mysterious chemical alteration of the real thing. But if you want that texture and creaminess, it's an option. By the way, a regular shot is in t...

Once upon a time, in the far, far away exotic land known as Oklahoma, the Young Heiress enjoyed eating a delightful concoction known as apple cake. It was mildly spiced with cinnamon and filled with succulent layers of sliced apples. The Queen Mother had searched far and wide for the perfect combination of yellow cake and crispy tart apples to please the Young Heiress. Yep, it's a mostly true story. This is the actual recipe for apple cake I enjoyed as a kid. It's also true that for a period of time, one of my nicknames was "the young heiress." It's a weird story and probably has nothing to do with what you would expect. Unless you were there or made privy to the details. I shall leave that story out for today. Ingredients for the cake batter 3 cups AP flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1/3 cup orange juice 2 teaspoons vanilla extract for the apple layers 3 tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced 2 teaspoons...

You know who loves breakfast? I do. You know who else loves breakfast? My kids. Sometimes I have to take advantage of the kids and their love of pancakes and waffles. I use it as an opportunity to get them to branch out. I find that often my kids will devour breakfast and then pick and snack the rest of the day, so it's a good time to get something nutritious in them. Ages ago, when I was a teenager learning the basics of cooking, I happened across a British recipe for oat waffles. They were good, but a bit more work than I was willing put out as a 14 year-old. About Thanksgiving, I ran into that recipe again. I hadn't seen it in years. I made it a few times with some changes. I tried using quick oats instead of slow-cooking oats and swapped out the buttermilk for regular milk. They were better. On a lark, I threw in some ground flax and wheat germ. It was so good. These waffles are filling. The texture is really light with a crisp edge and they are a little chewy from the...