Chatbug Karen

A fellow blogger had a picture of gelato on her blog and it reminded me of the time we went to The Hill in St. Louis and had gelato. It seems that everyone, including a raleigh business lawyer, has had gelato except me!

Gelato is an Italian frozen dessert similar to ice cream. Well, I wasn’t impressed. Nothing can hold a candle to Atz’s Moose Tracks. For those of you who are interested in how gelato is made, I did find the following recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Gelato
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream

4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, mix milk and cream. Warm until foam forms around the edges. Remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until frothy. Gradually pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture gels slightly and coats the back of the spoon. If small egg lumps begin to show, remove from heat immediately.
3. Pour the mixture through a sieve or fine strainer into a bowl. Cover, and chill for several hours or overnight.
4. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a sealed container, and freeze until firm. If the gelato is too firm, place it in the refrigerator until it reaches the desired consistency.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

While in Branson, we ate at a restaurant known for their scrumptious seafood. Landry’s also makes a wicked bananas foster. I have never seen such a large portion served on one plate. Unfortunately, we were too full to order dessert but that didn’t stop us from drooling over it.

Look at that crepe filled with banana and drizzled with chocolate/caramel.

I was not compensated for writing this about Landry’s yummy dessert. I certainly would have eaten it if offered!

I hope you are able to enjoy delicious desserts this summer. You can find yummy dessert gift ideas at http://www.cherrymoonfarms.com/brownie-pops-pop.

I made this for a recent get together.

Heath Bar Dessert

1 (1 lb) package lorna doone cookies, crushed
1/2 cup margarine, melted
2 pints butter pecan ice cream, softened
2 (1 1/2 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding
8 ounces Cool Whip
4 Heath candy bars or Skor candy bars, crushed

Mix cookie crumbs and margarine together and press in bottom of 13×9 cake pan.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
Cool.
Mix ice cream and pudding mix together well.
Pour over cooled crust.
Spread cool whip over top.
Sprinkle with crushed candy bars.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve.
May also be frozen but set out at room temp for about 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

When the kids are visiting, any healthy eating goes out the window. I refuse to listen to hemo rage reviews and read information about diet supplements! Life is to be enjoyed and when my family gets together, we entertain around the dinner table. Last Tuesday was my birthday and so, my daughter and I decided to make a cake. I recommended cherry chip because that is her favorite birthday cake and since we didn’t get to celebrate with her in January, we could eat her cake now. My favorite dessert is cheesecake. We put the two together and came up with this recipe. We were in the grocery store looking up recipes on her iPhone. I love being able to do that. Too bad I am too cheap to get a phone like that for myself. My son has web access on his phone too and was able to make us dinner reservations while en route to the restaurant. It was fun being seated ahead of the crowd of people lined up at the door.

Cheese cake recipe
from halfhourmeals.com
2-8oz packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
9in graham cracker crust
chop up cherries
Beat ingredients together, mix in cherries, bake at 350 for 30 min. Add desired topping, bake 10mins, til center is set.

I wish my husband would have had the push he needed to go to culinary school when he graduated from high school. That field was not as popular as it is today. He had various jobs, electrician’s helper, meat cutter and now that he owns his own business, he is a floor covering merchandiser. It is a rewarding field but his first love, in my opinion, is cooking.

For three days now, he has been talking about making French toast. That sounded great to me! I didn’t know he would be fixing gourmet French toast. LOL OMG! It was wonderful. He took a loaf of bread and cut it into thick slices, stuffed them with cream cheese and grape jelly, dipped them in egg batter and fried them. Yummy.

If you notice I am mia, I am in the basement, walking on the treadmill.

While my daughter was home for the holidays, she made the most delicious scones. I love scones. They are not as sweet as a donut but a bit sweeter than a biscuit. I wish she had left the recipe because I am so hungry for scones. I did find this recipe online.

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
* 1/2 cup raisins (or dried currants)
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1 large egg

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

One thing I learned while my kids were home, I need new cooking supplies! Now, I am not talking about kitchen sinks, appliances or new cabinets. I need new measuring cups and wooden spoons! My old Tupperware measuring cups are stained and I don’t even know where to find my wooden spoons. It takes kids who cook to point out all the things I NEED. I need a zester. I didn’t know what a zester was before my kids decided they enjoy cooking.

This is a zester.

Now I know how my mom felt when I visited her house as a grownup and complained about her kitchen. Sorry about that, Mom.

Our usual breakfast on Christmas morning is a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee. I wish I could say that I put forth the effort to make homemade cinnamon rolls but alas, mine are the pop out of the tube variety. I love them and sometimes have to fight with other family members over who gets the gooey center roll. I do worry that we need to incorporate some multivitamin supplements into our diet over the holidays!

I sometimes envision myself getting up early and making a breakfast casserole. I have made this one a few times.
Bacon Breakfast Casserole
1 lb. sausage
6 slices bread
8 eggs
6 slices bacon
2 bags shredded cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Spray a 9×11-inch casserole dish. Layer with bread. brown sausage into crumbs and then cook bacon. Crumble both meats together. Mix eggs, salt, and pepper together. Sprinkle sausage and bacon and then cheese over bread. Pour eggs over the mixture and then cover and refrigerate over night and then cook 25 – 30 minutes.

After a wonderful, whirlwind of a weekend, it is good to be home. Hubby and I spent the weekend visiting our son and daughter in-law near St. Louis. What a place. I think you could eat at a different restaurant every night of the week for five years and not eat at the same place twice.

We ate at a brewery called Schlafly Bottleworks. It had great food and fun people watching. I don’t think I have ever seen more people with pink hair and Mohawk haircuts. Most of the crowd sat outside but I was freezing so we opted to sit inside. I had my jean jacket on and was still cold. I saw gals with sweaters and a coogi here and there but there were more people in shorts and sleeveless shirts.

Schlafly Bottleworks gives tours of their brewery but we arrived after hours so we settled in for a delicious dinner. Like I said, we sat inside and discovered we had to wait on ourselves. I don’t know why they don’t have a server in the bar area. There are 8 or 10 tables that would keep a server busy. We had to walk up to the bar and order our food. It was awkward to squeeze in between the other patrons and yell to the bartender.

I am not a beer drinker but the other members of my family each ordered a different type of beer. They had pumpkin, wheat and blackberry beer and said they were all good. I’ll take their word on that.

I saw that the man and woman, at the table next to ours, were eating pulled pork sandwiches. I immediately decided that was what I was having, it looked awesome. I was not disappointed. The pulled pork was topped with coleslaw. It was delicious and the slaw added a delicious crunch. The sandwich was delivered with a side of potato salad. The salad was good but I filled up on the sandwich so I didn’t finish it.

I hope we go back to Schlafly Bottleworks.

Last Saturday, I was hungry for apple anything. I would have liked a piece of apple pie or a big bowl of apple crisp but I didn’t have the ingredients. I only had the ingredients for half a batch of oatmeal cookies and so, that is what I made. Yummy! Oatmeal cookies are good for you aren’t they? All the health books say to eat steel cut oats to lower your cholesterol. Why do they call them steel cut? It reminds me of steel buildings. I imagine the steel cutting the cholesterol to shreds. No wonder my stomach complains after I eat oatmeal!

I used the recipe that was on the box of oats to make my cookies. The secret to fluffy, yummy oatmeal cookies is to use real butter. Real butter makes everything better.
photo from the Quaker Oats site
From the Quaker Oats cooking and recipe section:

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
# 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
# 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
# 1/2 cup granulated sugar
# 2 eggs
# 1 teaspoon vanilla
# 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
# 1 teaspoon baking soda
# 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
# 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
# 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
# 1 cup raisins
Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

* Prep Time: 20 min
* Cook Time Time: 08 min

According to the contributors over at Tasty Kitchen, August is National Peach Month. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me! I love peaches.

It is an art to pick out a good peach but when you do, it is magical. There is no shame in relaxing in your favorite outdoor chaise lounges, taking a big bite of a juicy peach and allowing the juice to run down your chin. That is just part of eating another of God’s greatest creations.

I have to rely on farmer’s markets and grocery stores to find peaches in our area. Most of the peaches I find are grown in northern Indiana and Michigan.

While searching for information on peaches, I discovered that there are many folk tales and traditions associated with the delicious fruit.

From Wikipedia:
In China, the peach was said to be consumed by the immortals due to its mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who ate them.