Baking Hen Shoulda Been a Stewing Hen!

The Baking Hen
Wow! I bought a "baking hen" a couple of weeks ago. Note the parentheses, I am being sarcastic
After thawing the frozen bird, I was ready to bake it for supper last night.
And the Meat Thermometer Said...
I baked the hen using a meat thermometer and took it out when it reached the correct temperature for poultry. Pushing gently down on the drumstick of the bird, I found that there was very little yield in that drumstick joint. Quickly, I relocated the meat thermometer from the middle of the breast to the back of the breast by the thigh. Yep, the thermometer still read 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The bird was done.
A Rubber Chicken or a Tough Old Bird?
However, after letting it rest for 20 minutes, my serrated knife acted like I was trying to cut through a firm, rubber ball. After switching to a newly sharpened butcher knife, I managed to cut off some breast meat for supper. The meat was done and wasn't dry, BUT Bill and I had to cut it up with steak knives. Our jaw muscles had a nice workout though.

Laughing through our meal of "tough old bird", we finished dinner and the remainder of the "baking hen" went into a large pot of water on the stove. Once the water started simmering, I tried to stick a fork into the bird every 30 minutes. It took two full hours of simmering to make that hen fork tender!

I am positive I bought the world's oldest baking hen AND it should have said stewing hen on the outside wrapper!

To conclude this post, chicken and noodles will be on the Bonham menu next.

SalleeB Shares: Subpar Desserts for $16

Hi there. Last night the hubby and I had dessert at a local chain restaurant.
You know the saying, "hindsight is 20/20"? NOW we know ordering dessert was a bad and costly idea. After a lengthy wait, long enough that we thought our order was lost, the two desserts and beverages arrived.
Should've Looked at the Price
Now I do have to say that the hubs didn't look at the menu price because the words "Chocolate Lava Cake" robbed him of his common sense. lol...lol  Chocoholics know what I am talking about don't you? Yes, we are taking part of the  blame for the dessert debacle.
The Hubs Chocolate Lava Cake
Bill's chocolate lava cake looked good except for the two walnut sized scoops of vanilla ice cream. The size of the lava cake actually made the minuscule scoops look even smaller.

Being in tune with the hubs, I knew he didn't like it because he paused after he chewed the first bite of cake once.

He went ahead and ate it, but probably shouldn't have because he told me the ice cream tasted "weird." Also, the "lava" was chocolate syrup drizzled over the cake and maybe a little bit in the center.
My Strawberry Cheesecake
I did look at the menu prices and figured about $4.00 for a slice of strawberry cheese cake would be good. After all, it is hard to mess up cheesecake.

My slim wedge of cheesecake was about two inches wide at the outside edge. Since I am trying to cut calories, it was the perfect size and it taste great!

By comparison, the cheesecake just made the quarter of a cup of  thawed, frozen strawberries and juice look slightly pitiful. Yes, that was what topped that lovely wedge of cheesecake.

Comparing Bill's dessert with mine, mine was the better of the two sweet treats. Cheesecake won over chocolate this time.

The waitress arrived with the bill for our lovely desserts.
Yes, you hear sarcasm. Here is where the hubs went into price shock. Silently he handed me the ticket so I could read it and go into price shock with him.

Chocolate Lava Cake with vanilla ice cream     $6.49 

Strawberry Cheese Cake                                      $3.99

Coffee                                                                   $2.49

Soda                                                                     $2.49

Total                                                                     $15.46  before tax was added. 

Wow! The beverage prices were sky-high!
I am going to rant a little bit here. For $2.49 I can buy two, 2-liter bottles of soda! AND when you fill a glass full of ice you might have 4-5 ounces of soda in your glass. The hubs may have drank 20 ounces of soda. What the heck?  Additionally, my coffee cup might have held about 8 oz. of coffee and I only refilled it once! For $2.49 I should have drank half a pot!

Okay, I am trying to calm down and remember things like overhead that a restaurant has to deal with.

I think what bothers us the most about our dessert experience, is that we could have gone to another local restaurant and eaten a meal with drinks, and dessert for an additional $5.

Sure, the dessert wouldn't have been cheesecake, but the self-serve ice cream and dessert bar would have been infinitely better than Bill's chocolate syrup lava cake and weird tasting ice cream!

Here in the Ozarks we have a lot of  folk sayings and I am going to conclude this post with my Great-grandma's favorite saying:

Don't buy a pig in a poke, or Don't buy something you haven't looked at! 

Mom, How Do You Make Your Mac n Cheese?

Food allergies are tough to deal with. 
My daughter Ashley is allergic to yellow dyes: FDC 5, FDC 6, and FDC 10. These three dyes are found in an incredible number of food and nonfood products. Packaged macaroni and cheese always has one or more of these items in the cheese portion AND all types of cheese food products also contain these three dyes. Hence, Ashley grew up eating healthy. 

I made homemade mac and cheese for her entire childhood with white American cheese, Colby Jack, or mild Cheddar cheese colored with annatto. 

Now this daughter did not want to learn to cook from her mom.
No, she was too busy running track, cheering, or participating in band concerts. However, now that she has children and is cooking more meals. I am regularly receiving phone calls that begin with, "Mom, how do you cook..."

Last week, she wanted to know the secret to making my mac and cheese. 
Unbeknownst to me, she had tried and tried to make it on her own and couldn't get it to turn out correctly. 

The "secret" to my mac and cheese is homemade cheese sauce.
When I told Ashley how to make the cheese sauce she exclaimed, " That's IT!"
I valiantly managed to smother my snickering. 
About two hours later I read this post on her social media page:

Yep, this a a proud momma moment and a moment to smile from ear to ear. 

Now you too, can make my homemade Mac n cheese.                         Click Here  for the recipe.

Almost a Fail - Pineapple Pecan Cake

Not the prettiest cake, however it taste GREAT as it slides over your tongue!

Girl sees recipe and thinks,"Yum!"
After scanning the pantry and 'frig shelves, girl thinks,

"I bet that pineapple cake mix would work just fine AND cherry pie filling with pecan cream cheese frosting will be amazing!"

Lovers of cherry pineapple dump cake, you all know what I'm talkin' about don't you?

Anyway, I assembled my ingredients and began to follow the recipe directions exactly, except for my adjustments.

Then, the hubby said,"Who is that cake for?" and I being a good wife replied,
"For you honey"
Guilt caused me to say it. I swear. I know he isn't getting enough quality time with me lately. 

Cake batter ready for the oven. Ignore the aluminum foil in the picture.  I was making supper and baking at the same time. 

Even though I knew that cake needed to be cooled on the baking rack, wrapped up in plastic wrap, and chill in the 'frig overnight, I told him it was for him....tonight.

I need to make sure my man knows he is first, don't I? Go ahead, laugh with me!

Now onto the sad part, the fail.

I used a pineapple cake mix I bought on sale to see how it would taste. Here is a one word description for the taste of the cake mix- artificial.

Yep, I could taste the artificial pineapple flavoring in spite of the fact that I put a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, juice and all, into the batter.

Impatient to get the cake to cool down,
I placed the almost hot cake in the freezer compartment of my 'frig for an hour or so. Thinking it was cool because it was cool to the touch, I cut the nine inch, round layer in half to discover.....warm cake.

Too bad I had already separated the halves.
The cake hadn't separated cleanly in half. The warm center of the cake stuck together and pulled the center of the top cake layer out,leaving a bowl shaped center in the cake round. AND, the darn top layer started cracking apart.

However, I went ahead with filling and stacking the cake.
Carefully, I spread a thin layer of frosting over the cut sides of each layer before piping a border, or dam of frosting, around the outside edge of the bottom layer. The cherry pie filling filled the dam, or circle of frosting on the bottom layer. Quickly, I flipped the top layer onto the bottom layer, spread more pecan cream cheese frosting over it to hide the cracks, and sprinkled it with chopped pecans.

Yes, I could have waited, but the hubby was waiting for a slice of cake! 

Yes, my cake was almost a fail.
After sitting in the 'frig overnight, the cake settled down and sliced into beautiful even slices! After spending twenty-four hours in the refrigerator, the artificial flavor was not nearly as apparent. Plus, cherry pie filling and pecan cream cheese frosting do indeed meld into a sweet, silky smooth marriage of flavor that is heavenly.

Moral of this Story
 "Haste in cake makes waste." BUT we still ended up with a slice of homemade happiness on a plate!

After chilling in the 'frig overnight, the cake sliced perfectly.

For the original, great recipe     CLICK HERE      The frosting alone is worth having the recipe! 

NOTE
The original recipe calls for an 18 ounce cake mix. Due to downsizing, most cake mixes are NOW less than 16 ounces. You have two choices.
1. Use two 8 inch round pans, or
2. Use 2 boxes of cake mix, fill three 8 inch round pans, and make cupcakes with the extra batter.          

Almost a Fail: Sugar Cookies

OMG! I have been making my sugar cookie recipe for years and almost failed at making a batch! 

I knew the dough was crumbly.

However, kneading it by hand helped. The dough began to hold together and form a dough ball. 

This is where I should have realized something was wrong, but didn't

After an hour of chillin' in the 'frig, the dough should have been ready. I put half of the chilled dough onto the silicone mat, pressed it flat with my hand, and attempted to roll the dough out into a sheet with the rolling pin. 

The dough crumbled under the rolling pin. 

This is where I finally realized there was a problem!

I took a pinch of dough and taste tested it. YUCK! No Sugar! I left out the cup of sugar!

Throw it away or fix it?

I needed to fix this dough. I had used the last stick of  butter, the store was closed, the nearest open store is 15 miles away, and I had to have those cookies the next day for a church event! I needed to fix this cookie dough.

Saved It! 

After thinking about the problem for a minute or two, this is what I decided to do:

• I measured out the missing 1 cup of sugar and added 3 Tbsp. of water to it
• gently stirred the water into the sugar until it was well blended
• Added the sugar water mixture to the dough
• Kneaded the sugar water mixture into the crumbly dough for about 5 minutes
• Within a minute the dough began to hold together and feel more like sugar cookie dough

After about 5 minutes the sugar mixture was completely incorporated and the dough felt like normal cookie dough

• Chilled the dough AGAIN for about 45 minutes.
• Rolled out the dough without a single problem, and the cookies baked normally!

Woohoo! I saved the cookies! 

Too Busy to Cook!

Lately, casseroles and skillet meals have been the star of the Bonham menu. During my recent illness, I did drag myself into the kitchen and make homemade chicken soup with thick, chewy noodles. Sadly, I didn't take any pics - just dumped ingredients into the crock pot and went back to bed. 

Happily, my new position at work is beginning to feel like I might know what I am doing. Been there? Happily, this is my off week for breakfast duty; more time to prepare for the day and upcoming week is appreciated.  

Additionally, I am leading a four week bible study at church. Since I am the leader, I feel obligated to do massive amounts of study. Did I mention I am an overachiever? Yep, once a commitment is made, my focus becomes laser beam narrow. 

Did I forget to mention that I teach the 5th/6th grade Sunday school class too? And, a volunteer for the Christmas committee in our chapter of Christian Motorcyclists Association? And, getting ready for the Sunday School Christmas play?

Food preparation has taken a back seat to other pursuits. I became painfully aware of this when I went to the dollar store Sunday morning and bought four bags of sugar-free, chocolate candy for the Pastor Appreciation Dinner. Lower your eyebrows! I did put each type of candy into an individual glass bowl. Presentation was pretty! lol...lol 

Rosy Rhubarb Cupcakes - Not Quite a Cupcake

While I was looking through a Taste of Home cookbook,cupcakes For Every Season, a recipe for "Rosy Rhubarb Cupcakes" caught my attention. The title caught my attention and took me back in time to my Grandma Pansy's house outside of Rolla, Missouri on V Highway. 

My Grandma Pansy had a rhubarb patch. In the Ozarks, a patch can be a postage stamp size area or up to an acre in size. Grandma's rhubarb patch was small but she harvested enough rhubarb to make several pies and still be able to freeze three of four quarts for winter pie use.

Eating rhubarb pie at Grandma Pansy's house was a treat, but I never seem to get around to making a rhubarb pie. Cupcakes, on the other hand, are baked regularly at the Bonham house. I was intrigued with the idea of a rhubarb cupcake. Next trip to the store, I bought a bag of frozen rhubarb to use in the cupcake recipe.

Rosy Rhubarb Cupcakes - Using the Recipe for The First Time

Carefully reading through the recipe for the third time, I was wondering about the liquid to dry ingredient ratio. One cup of liquid to two cups of flour with no other liquids makes a thick batter.

However, the finely chopped, raw rhubarb would add a small amount of liquid to the batter while cooking. I decided to follow the recipe exactly, instead of adding more water. I try to follow a recipe exactly the first time I use it.

The mini-food chopper finely chopped the thawed rhubarb. Setting it aside, I quickly assembled the liquid and dry ingredients. The batter turned out to be thick, but I restrained myself from adding more liquid.

Another warning flag started waving in my head. The total amount of baking powder and baking soda was 3/4 of a teaspoon. Hmmm..these cupcakes were not going to rise like a cake batter cupcake.

The finished batter was thick and easy to spoon into the cupcake pans. Into the oven for 30-35 minutes.

Rhubarb Cupcakes - The Finished Product

Pretty on top! Love using a Wilton 2D decorating tip to pipe roses! 

The baked cupcakes were golden brown. (My daughter arrived with my grandson about this time. I was distracted and forgot to take pictures of the cupcakes coming out of the oven) The paper liners were no longer pretty. Oh darn! Carefully I set each hot cupcake onto the cooling rack. After 25 minutes, the cupcakes were cooled enough to taste. 

My taste testers, hubby Bill and daughter Ashley, each took an unfrosted cupcake, pulled the paper liner off, and took a bite. The consensus was:

1. The cupcakes were more of a muffin than a cupcake. 
2. The tops were crisp while underneath was nice and soft. A nice contrast. 
3. The rhubarb flavor was light. We had expected it to be stronger.
4. The cupcakes were not very sweet.
5. I did not taste ANY nutmeg at all, or think the nutmeg made the flavor pop. The recipe said it would.

Next, I frosted three cupcakes with buttercream frosting and my taste testers and I went to work again! lol...lol The consensus was:

1. The buttercream frosting provided a needed layer of sweetness to the cupcake, but masked the rhubarb flavor. 
2. The cupcakes taste like a frosted muffin, not a cupcake.
3. The nutmeg was nonexistent. 

After the tasting was over, I frosted the remaining cupcakes, placed them in a cupcake carrier, and put them in the refrigerator. Sometimes, fruit flavors will get stronger after refrigeration. I was hoping this would happen with the cupcakes. Sitting overnight in the refrigerator did help the rhubarb flavor to be more apparent, but the frosting still overpowered the rhubarb. 

Rosy Rhubarb Cupcakes - The Final Assessment

1.  I would NOT call this a cupcake. I would call it a muffin. 
2. Eat the muffins warm with vanilla ice cream! Yum!
3. Do not use buttercream frosting. Try with cream cheese frosting, or sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

The three of us did enjoy eating some homemade happiness on a plate! If you would like to make a nice Rosy Rhubarb MUFFIN - click here for the recipe.

My Desire to Bake - An Original Poem

SalleeShares - Where's Chef Lenny?

The five minute teaser for Food Network Star was recorded on my DVR this morning. Just a quick look at a few of the new contestants. Four, or was it five, contestants did a thirty second bio about themselves and their food point of view. Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentis, who is always looking elegant, were on hand to give a snap critique. Then it was over. Yes, just a taste of the show to make us come back for more! However, a question popped up into my head, " Where is Chef Lenny?"

The winner of last year's Next Food Network Star  is no where to be found on Food Network. I started following Chef Lenny on Twitter during last year's season of the show, but his last tweet was June 16, 2014. In an effort to find something current, I clicked on the cheflenny.com link on his Twitter page. The website is just a collection of food recipe categories that lead to sponsored links - Paid ad links - nothing personal is to be found at cheflenny.com

A Google search led me right back to the Food Network's "Chefs and Hosts" page. Everything on Lenny McNab is from Season 10's show. Nothing new there. As I scanned down the search results, I started seeing references to Chef Lenny and obscenities he had posted online before he was a contestant. Grub Street had a post"Click Here for article"  and so did The Braiser. "Click Here to read" Uh oh, not good news. However, The "Food Network Gossip" was the most enlightening about ,"What happened to Chef Lenny?". Read here.

If you remember, I am a big fan of Chef Luca della Casa. Chef Luca is now front man for Isabel Tuna. Congrats Chef Luca. My next question is: "Why isn't Food Network featuring a show with Chef Luca?" Seriously, he has camera appeal and fan appeal with his 100 watt smile. Read the latest tweets from Chef Luca by clicking here

I hope the contestants this year had thorough background checks. You would think that would be the FIRST thing a network would do. 

SalleeShares- Holiday Baking Championship Week 2

#BakingChampionship

On the second week of Christmas my true love sent to me, seven bakers baking...lol.  I am gaining the Christmas spirit through my television viewing of Holiday Baking Championship! 

Week Two's Theme: Classic Holiday Flavors
Fall flavors and spices such as cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin, caramel, chocolate, nuts, and apples remind me of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.

Heat One: Eggnog Swirl Dessert

The seven bakers were excited to hear Bobby Deen say they would be baking with eggnog and would have sixty minutes before the heat was over. However, most of the contestants were not thrilled that the eggnog had to be in a swirl dessert.

The Bakers' Dessert Choices

• Pastry Chef Bill Liscomb chose to make Baked Eggnog French Toast and serve it with swirled eggnog and maple syrup. Personally, I didn't think this qualified as an eggnog swirl dessert, but was a breakfast pastry or breakfast choice
• Naylet Larochelle, the home baker who won the Week One main heat, chose to prepare Swirled Pumpkin Tart with Eggnog Whipped Cream. Yum!
• Caterer David Bondarchuck decided upon Eggnog and Spiced Cake Swirl Cupcakes. 
• Family Baker Dante Morasco's dessert of choice was Chocolate Espresso Obsession Eggnog Cheesecake. Seriously, I didn't understand the obsession part of the title. Is an obsession a new type of pastry? Am I that far off the web here in Mid-Missouri?
• Master Baker Punky Egan's choice was a streusel topped, Eggnog Pumpkin Swirl Muffin with Pumpkin Butter.
• Pastry Chef Terra Nelson immediately went with a brownie that featured a sweet potato puree and graham cracker crumb base. The top layer was reduced eggnog stabilized with white chocolate and, a Louisville, Kentucky staple, bourbon whiskey. 
• Professional Baker Erin Campbell's choice was Sweet Potato Cheese Cake with Gingersnap Crust and Eggnog Anglaise.  

Presentation to the Judges

Pastry Chef Duff Goldman, Chef Nancy Fuller, and Pastry Chef Lorraine Pascale were less than thrilled with the taste and/or presentations by:

• Dante - Judge comments included, "Where's the holiday?" The piped chocolate "modern" Christmas tree design on the plate didn't work.
• Erin - A kind comment for a rough presentation, "Not a looker, but delicious." Erin struggled with having a raw cheesecake and decided to put scoops of the cheesecake into small ramekins to finish baking. 
• David - Unanimous agreement from the judges, "Frosting is waxy." "Pedestrian." Not what a professional baker wants to hear!
• Bill - His final presentation was beautiful BUT the eggnog wasn't the star. The judges agreed with my thought that French toast isn't a dessert and it wasn't swirled.

However, four bakers all found favor with the three judges.

• Terra - Served a shooter of Mamaw's Spiked Eggnog with her upscale brownie. "Fab plate of food!" and "Redemption tastes good." were two of the comments bestowed upon Terra's dessert. Terra barely stayed in the competition last week. Redemption is indeed sweet.
• Naylet - The trio of judges all agreed the eggnog flavor was spot on. Duff Goldman asked her if she would teach him to bake. Straight faced humor from the Charm City Cake owner. 
• Punky - A beautiful presentation and flavor. 

And the Winner of Heat One is: Terra Nelson

Terra's main heat advantage? The use of an electric spice grinder. The other six bakers had to use a mortar and pestle to grind spices with. Cutthroat Kitchen's Alton Brown must have had something to do with this advantage! 

The Main Heat Challenge

Each baker was challenged to make a dessert using three classic spices and two sugars in sixty minutes.

An electric spice grinder was a definite advantage because all of the classic spices were whole. Whole nutmeg, whole allspice berries, whole cloves, rolled cinnamon bark, and a variety of sugars were presented to the seven bakers at the beginning of the challenge. 

A Bad Baking Day on National TV

• We all have bad baking days. However, most of us do not have a bad baking day on national television. Last week, Terra Nelson found out what this feels like. 
• This week, it was Erin Campbell's turn to burn a batch of caramel three times AND had her beaten egg whites collapse into soup for her souffle. Her end product completely failed to impress the judges. What kept Erin in the competition? She took on an ambitious dessert and did not quit attempting to scale each barrier that could have prevented her from completing a dessert. 
• Naylet cut herself twice in the first few minutes while grating a roll of dried cinnamon bark on a hand-held grater. However, she also kept baking after the medic bandaged her injured digits.

Seven Bakers Baking

1. Cakelet with Peach Cranberry Compote  by Naylet
2. Spiced Bread Pudding Chocolate Souffle with Caramel Sauce by Erin
3. Apple Nut Cake with Cream Cheese Drizzle by Terra
4. Hamantaschen by Dante. A hamantaschen is a traditional Jewish cookie that is shaped like a triangular hat around a filling.  
5. Gingerbread Man Cookies by Punky
6. Five Spice Orange Holiday Loaf by David
7. Three Spice Creme Brulee by Bill

Outstanding Bakers

 Bill - Nancy and Lorraine love the Creme Brulee. Duff said," it's about the process." and he felt the custard was a tad over baked. 

Dante - Lorraine complemented Dante on his,"great pastry."

David - What a turn around from the first heat! David's bread was deemed,"Awesome!" by Duff Goldman. A lovely presentation with two wonderful sauces. 

Struggling Bakers

• Punky was the eliminated baker. Her soft,under spiced gingerbread men with whole spice decorations fell flat with the judges. All three judges expected more from a master baker and thought Punky played it too safe.
• Erin - Bad baking day, but she stayed in the competition.

Safe Bakers

Terra

Naylet

The Week Two Winner: Bill Liscombe and his Spiced Creme Brulee.

Not Quite a Fail: No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

Chocolate and cheesecake. A simultaneous craving for chocolate and cheesecake was the seed that sprouted into my idea for no bake, chocolate cheesecake bites.

The desire for chocolate and cheesecake had me in the kitchen scanning the pantry shelves and the refrigerator shelves.

 Hmmmm...a no bake cheesecake mix, chocolate almond bark, milk,.......AND chocolate syrup.

Those ingredients made perfect sense for making a chocolate cheesecake.  Brain cells continued to process the bytes of thought into a more developed idea. Finally, a plan emerged from all of the processed ingredient data and options.

THE Plan

1. Use the no bake cheesecake filling, but not the graham cracker crumbs.
2. Flavor the milk for the cheesecake with chocolate syrup.
3. Use the mini-muffin pan with liners for cheesecake bites.
4. For the crust, use melted chocolate almond bark.

One, nagging thought did keep popping up for attention - What if the chocolate syrup, an added liquid, caused the filling to remain soft? 

You know what I did, right? Told myself it would be just fine.  Anyway, let me continue this not quite a fail tale. 

The Plan Worked Well

• The cheesecake filling blended very well with the chocolate milk.
• The melted chocolate bark was somewhat thick, but it smoothed easily with a teaspoon.
• The cheesecake filling was quickly poured into each liner.
• A last minute addition: shaved, chocolate almond bark on top of the cheesecake bites.
• The completed, pan of twenty-four bites went into the refrigerator on the top shelf. 
• The timer was set for one hour.

Beep-beep-beep. One hour was up.

Anticipation was high as I removed the pan from the refrigerator. Carefully, I removed one bite from the pan and gently began to remove the liner. 

Remember that one nagging thought about the filling? 

The outside edges of the cheesecake filling remained attached to the liner. Oh well, the cheesecake bite still looked good and the chocolate almond bark was firm.

Greedily, I popped the whole bite-sized treat into my mouth.

Luscious, chocolate cheesecake sent my taste buds into a flash mob dance. My teeth parted to bite into the chocolate bottom, and encountered a disc of chocolate almond bark. 

Remember the last time you bit into a solid chocolate Easter bunny? Biting into the chocolate bottom of the cheesecake bite was exactly like that moment. 

However, I remained optimistic. I am a "glass half full" woman. After all, the cheesecake box directions said to, "wait at least one hour before serving." The filling could still get firmer. Plus, the bottom was solid, but it was chocolate.

24 Hours Later

The cheese cake filling was still slightly soft. The outside edges of the cheesecake filling continued to stay on the liner. 

In Conclusion

The slightly soft, chocolate cheesecake filling had my taste buds dancing with happiness. A perfect blend of chocolate and cheesecake flavor. Chocolate almond bark is chocolate almond bark, it always makes me happy to eat it. My brain cells have already been busy formulating a new plan for making No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Bites. Keep checking in because I have another box of  No Bake Cheesecake!

Sallee's Six: The Apple Edition

Cinnamon Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cake.

Apples make me think of apple pie and bobbing for apples. Today, we do not bob for apples at fall festivals or harvest gatherings. Too unhygienic. Apple bobbing may be a curiosity now, but everyone has a favorite apple pie recipe or apple laden dessert. Listed below are six links to kitchen tested, amazing apple recipes for every meal and event.

Sallee's Six: The Apple Edition              

1. Food Network has an amazing list of fifty, yes fifty, food items that you can make with apples. The list includes main dishes, desserts, and side dishes. 50 Things to Make With Apples
2. Allrecipes.com has over a thousand apple recipes that have been reviewed and rated by home cooks. Apple Recipes
3. Mr. Food Test Kitchen has 34 quick and easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Mr. Food
4. My favorite place for recipes is BettyCrocker.com! Betty's list of Newest Apple Recipes includes Apple Crisp Crepes, Streusel Topped Apple Cheesecake Bars, and six more delicious apple offerings.
5. A healthy alternative for apple recipes, Cooking Light has 31 Apple Recipes for every meal and every occasion. 
6. Last, but not least is a Top 10 Apple Desserts recipe list from Taste of Home. How about making some Caramel Apple Bread Pudding? 

Apple Wisdom from Mom

My mother was taught many lessons with country proverbs. Mom then felt obligate to teach those same lessons to my siblings and I. Listed below are six of her favorite apple sayings. (idiom or proverbs)

1. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
2. You are the apple of my eye.
3. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
4. Don't be a crab apple.
5. One bad apple spoils the bunch.
6. As American as apple pie.

Not Quite A Fail - PB&J Oatmeal

You are used to reading food blog posts that feature wonderful,carefully tested recipes. What about the food ideas that do not work out? Surely adventurous home cooks and bloggers have tried an idea that does not work.

Truth time: Some of my attempts to create a new recipe do not work out. This morning was one of those days. Prepare to read about a Bonham Business Breakfast idea that did not create ANY eye appeal.

The Problem - No Sweetener
Bill loves a big bowl of buttery oatmeal that is sweetened with brown sugar. My bowl of oatmeal had no butter and no sugar. Gruel-like is the best description. Why? I forgot to buy my sweetener. What was I going to do? Logical thinking is hard for me in the morning. Especially before I consume at least two cups of coffee.

Birth of a Solution or My Best Morning Thinking

• Hmmm....grape jam would make it sweet. And peanut butter would taste great with the grape jam. Eagerly, I reached into the refrigerator for the jar of grape jam. The jar of creamy peanut butter was next. 
• How much was I going to use? Two parts jam to one part peanut butter would sweeten the oatmeal and the peanut butter. 
• Two rounded Tbsp. of grape jam went into the bowl with the cup of oatmeal and two cups of water. Yes, I super size my morning oatmeal.
• One generous Tbsp. of creamy peanut butter followed.
• The bowl of oats, jam, and peanut butter went into the microwave for three minutes. 
• I removed the bowl from the microwave and stirred to blend the melting jam and peanut butter.
• The normal oatmeal color changed into...........pale gray. Great that sure looks yummy.
• Thinking it would look better after completing the cooking time, I placed the bowl back into the microwave.
• Two minutes later, I removed the bowl and stirred it well. Pale gray became grayier. At least I could smell the peanut butter.
• Taste test.....barely discernible grape flavor, nice peanut butter flavor,  no sweetness.

What Now?

Brown sugar sweetened the oatmeal. I do eat my almost failed dishes. The grayish, peanut butter flavored oatmeal was much better with 2 Tbsp. of packed brown sugar. 

Note to Self:

Stick with fruit flavored oatmeals. When hungry for PB&J, make a peanut butter and jam sandwich. 

A Surprise Breakfast for Great Grandma Tucker

Front Center: Great Grandpa Marion Tucker and Great Grandma Ella Mae Tucker 

Back L - R:  Francis, Neal, Shirley(Shirl), My Grandpa Millard, and Roland 

Oatmeal reminds me of my Great Grandma Tucker. Great Grandma started me on the healthy breakfast path when I spent weekends with her. In fact, I cooked my first bowl of oatmeal at Great Grandma's house.

Early one morning, I woke up before Grandma and wanted to surprise her with an oatmeal breakfast. My five year old self carefully crept out of bed and went into the kitchen to begin the morning meal. What could have been a disaster ended very well.

I had carefully watched Grandma Tucker prepare our breakfast oatmeal many times. Feeling very grown up, I began my surprise. Opening the cabinet, I reached in for the oatmeal pan. Slowly,standing on a chair, I took the oatmeal box out of the cabinet. The rolled oats scoop was in the round oats box. One scoop of oats went into the pan of water, just like Grandma did it. Time to get off the chair and move the pan from the sink counter to the stove counter. Carefully, standing on tiptoe, I placed the pan on the counter by the gas stove, pushed the chair up to the stove, climbed onto the chair, and moved the pan onto the front burner. Time to light the stove! Pausing for a moment, I thought about everything I had watchedGrandma do to light the stove. Reaching for a match out of the metal matchbox holder, I lit the match, turned the burner knob, lit the front stove burner, and turned the stove knob to the right mark, Still standing on the chair, I let the oatmeal come to a simmer. Just about the time the oats were done, Grandma appeared in the kitchen.

Her eyes went wide and I knew I had surprised her. "Grandma," I said proudly."I fixed breakfast for you!" Grandma opened her mouth and closed her mouth. I had a vague feeling I had done something wrong, but did not know what. Suddenly,she smiled gently, hugged me, and said thank you.

After breakfast, Grandma told me I was a wonderful,  kitchen buddy. She quietly told me that kitchen buddies waited for each other before cooking. I promised that I would wait for her before I cooked again.

After that morning, my Grandma Tucker started asking me if I was going to be her kitchen buddy before we went to bed. Happily, I answered,"Yes, Grandma. I'm a good kitchen buddy!" and Grandma would say,"Yes, you are!" accompanied with a big hug.

As I grew older,  I realized how dangerous what I had done was. My admiration for my Grandma Tucker's self control taught me a lesson that I didn't fully appreciate until my own daughters wanted to begin cooking.

#TBT 

SalleeShares: Food Network Star Final 3

Alright foodies, my prediction was correct! Sarah Penrod did not make the final 3.

The first challenge was a 30 second promo. 

The four finalists; Lenny McNab, Nicole Gaffney, Luca Della Casa, and Sarah Penrod were told that this would be the most important thirty seconds of their lives. Only three would get the chance to film a pilot. Naturally, all four finalists felt the pressure of the moment. 

Bob Tuschman, Susie Fogelson, and the mentors viewed each finalist's pilot with them and offered a critique. After watching the pilots, I knew Luca and Nicole would be filming pilots. 

However, Lenny and Sarah seemed to be tied.

Lenny looked strained and nervous.No one seemed more surprised to be in the final three than Lenny! His cooking skill and authenticity won him a spot in the final three.

Sarah came across as trying hard to be convincing. Sarah looked stunned to be going home instead of Lenny. 

Robert Irvine was the guest mentor for the pilots. 

All three finalists were a little star struck when they each met Robert. However, Robert was gentle with them. All three pilots are very good!

• Luca was completely natural with his 1000 watt smile firmly in place.
• Lenny relaxed and did a great job. 
• Nicole was a little shaky and serious. In my opinion, she is in third place. 

Who is going to win?

I think the next Food Network Star is going to be......Luca Della Casa. My prediction record is 3 out of 4. will it be 4 out of 5 when the voting stops? 

Make sure you vote for your favorite Food Network Star finalist before August 6, 2014. 

SalleeShares - Food Network Star Week 9

#foodnetworkstar 

The Big Apple, New York City. I have never been to New York and can understand the excitement of the five finalists. I would be gawking and chattering like a chipmunk. To walk down the halls of the Food Network offices would be so scary-marvelous.

Woohoo! I am celebrating. Last week's Bonham Business prediction is in perfect alignment with the decision made by the Food Network Star (FNS) mentors. Butcher Babe Loreal Gavin went home.

A bit of advice for Loreal: Practice talking and teaching about food. Then, try again.You can do it Loreal. Your point of view was made for television. Yes, I am trying to encourage Loreal. After all, we both ride motorcycles and biker chicks need to hang together. 

Week 9 was about two challenges.

1. Visit a Chelsea Market business and learn about a summer staple. THEN, give a live camera presentation to the mentors who were back at Food Network HQ. No redoes here.

2. Solve a food problem for one of Rachael Ray's viewers. Rachael Ray is my cookin' shero! I know, I'm corny, but I love Rachael Ray. 

Challenge 1
I disagreed with the mentors decision on who did the best job. Luca has star power, a 1000 watt smile, and charisma. He did a great job and handled Bobby Flay's question well. Luca's smile shone through that camera lens and engaged the judges and viewers. However, the mentors couldn't hear me and picked Nicole Gaffney.

Nicole pulled everything together and did a great job. Remember, last week I did say that if she would quit trying so hard and RELAX, we would see a more polished Nicole. We did see the professional, friendly and capable Nicole, finally.

The Bottom Three
Cowboy Lenny just wasn't connecting with the yogurt, or the camera.
Texas gal Sarah started out well with the Santa Clause melon, but forgot to taste it.
Butcher Babe Loreal did not volunteer any information about why viewers should shop for meat at a butcher shop, her POV.


Challenge 2

• Nicole's advantage for winning Challenge 1: assign the family food problems to the other finalists.This challenge should have been fairly easy; if you used some common sense. Unfortunately, "common sense is so rare that it oughta be a super power!" Yes, it is a T-shirt slogan, but I really like saying it. Nicole put siracha sauce on a plate for children to eat. The youngest boy promptly spit out the spicy spoonful of food his mom fed him. Not what you want to see happen on national TV.

• Luca  did well, but unfortunately for him - the kids saw him put the cauliflower in the food processor. You cannot let the kids see the veggies!  Giada also pointed this out to the other mentors.

• Loreal made an involved dish of asparagus stuffed chicken breast for a family that wanted quick, budget friendly food for on the go.

• Sarah made sure everyone knew that she had cooked Loreal's dish for her own husband on Valentine's Day because the dish is special. Catty comments will not make you the next Food Network Star, Sarah. The mentors were clear that Sarah had not connected with the family, or the audience. 

• Lenny ripped his jeans during his cooking demo, OMG! However, he hid it well and continued with his cooking. Thumbs up to Lenny. None of the mentors realized  he had a wardrobe malfunction until he told them. Personally, I would have kept that info to myself. 

Who Will Go Home? - Week 10

Out of the final four, Lenny, Sarah, Nicole, and Luca, I predict that.....I am nervous to make this prediction...Sarah Penrod will be the finalist to go home next week.

My decision is based upon the fact that Sarah missed the mark on both of the challenges.

1. During the first challenge, she should have known to taste the Santa Clause melon before talking about it. Taking a bite out of half a melon to answer Bobby Flay's question," What does it taste like?" was a beginner's mistake. 
2. Yes, I did not like Sarah's catty behavior. BUT, as a mom, she should have been able to connect with the single mom and children.  

Sallee Shares: FoodNetworkStarWeek 7

I could not wait to watch Food Network Star. Which Star Salvation contestant had been chosen to go to Las Vegas?

My choice was Luca. I based my choice upon the fact that Luca had described Geoffrey Zakarian's omelet as a "French Omelet" and why it was a French omelet. Then he described the flavors in the omelet. Reuben's description was about the flavor profile of the omelet.

My choice was absolutely correct! Luca appeared in Las Vegas with the other six finalists of Food Network Star. The other finalists were amazed and stunned by Luca's improvement. Twice I heard Luca being asked if he used the Rosetta Stone to improve his English. His 1,000 watt smile was constantly flashing and camera engagement was not an issue.

Cowboy Lenny is such a character! He had the crowd at the pool eating out of his hand. He promised a belly flop in the pool if he won the challenge. He was not lying. Lenny took off his hat, unbuttoned his shirt, and belly flopped into the pool. The judges were fairly speechless. My eyes will not forget that scene anytime soon!

The contestant going home was Chris Kyler. Chris is such a personality, but he just couldn't get his food quality to match his on camera presence.

The rest of the finalists.
Nicole Gaffney is going to have to RELAX. In my opinion, she is pushing herself too hard and is having trouble putting everything together. Her "Coastal" POV* is good. I like it.

Emma Frisch can cook, but her voice puts me to sleep. She is trying hard to be energetic, but I don't think she will make the final four.

Loreal Gavin, Butcher Babe, is not always being Butcher Babe. She morphed from Butcher Babe into Party Gal on this week's episode. Stop It Loreal, Dang!


My guess for the next finalist to go home?
I think it will be Sarah Penrod.
Sarah changed her POV two episodes ago to "Texas." She still isn't presenting a clear POV.

*POV = Point of View

Kitchen Disaster Popcorn Mix

On Wednesday, this blog post was supposed to be an update about coating popcorn with almond bark and mixing in a cranberry nut trail mix that I found at the local Wally World store.

After shuffling some ingredients around on the pantry shelf, I discovered that I had forgotten to buy vanilla almond bark AND chocolate almond bark. Dang it!

Substituting white chocolate chips was supposed to be the solution to this problem. However, my genius brain decided that the melted white chocolate chips were too thick. The solution to that problem was to melt butter with the chips. This is a solution if you melt the butter to the same temperature as the melted chocolate before you mix it together, but I didn't do that.

 Nope, I just chunked up the cold butter and stirred it into the melted white chocolate. The chocolate promptly seized. As a watcher of cooking programs, I have seen chefs and cooks say that their chocolate "seized". Now I know exactly what that means. The thick, melted chocolate became a gummy, stiff, granular mass.        

                                                                

Now what? Fortunately, there was a bag of  milk chocolate chips in the pantry. Putting melted milk chocolate on popcorn wasn't my favorite choice, but getting a blog post done caused me to go ahead and follow this plan. The melted milk chocolate chips were thick and going to stay that way!

After stirring the chocolate into the popcorn mixture, I carefully spread it out onto a wax paper-lined tray and put it in the freezer for five minutes like I do with almond bark. Carefully I pulled the tray out of the freezer. The chocolate promptly began to sweat and return to a thick, sticky state. OMG! Now what? Bill was the recipient of a bowl containing sticky, chocolate covered popcorn mix. Then, I dumped the rest of the mess into a repurposed ice cream bucket and went to bed.

Yesterday, I took the lid off of the ice cream bucket and found that in the eighteen plus hours that I had ignore it; the milk chocolate had returned to a solid state on the popcorn. Milk chocolate coated cranberries could be my new food crave! Bill and I ate most of the bucket while watching Grudge Match last night.

Moral to this story:

No almond bark on the pantry shelf means no popcorn mix in the bucket.

Ingredients

Yields about 10 cups of popcorn mix 

1. 1 - 10 oz. bag of Cranberry Nut Trail Mix (main ingredients are dried cranberries, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and dark chocolate chips)                                                                               
2. 2 - 2.75 oz. bags of  94% Fat Free Microwave Popcorn, popped (about 10 cups)                 
3. 12 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips                                                                                             

       

Directions

• Follow package directions and pop the popcorn in your microwave
• Place popcorn in a large bowl
• Add Cranberry Nut Trail Mix to the popcorn
• Melt chocolate according to package directions
• Slowly stir into the popcorn mix
• Spread onto a wax paper-lined shallow tray
• Allow to dry until the milk chocolate is hardened.
• Put into a large lidded container. I used a repurposed ice cream bucket.

To make some vanilla almond bark coated yumminess follow the recipe for my original popcorn post.

Bulletproof Coffee and What Your Coffee Choice Says About You.

I am a coffee purist

I love coffee. Hot, dark, steamy, full-flavored, robust coffee.My automatic brew coffee pot has a fresh pot of coffee ready for me ten minutes before my alarm goes off. The aroma of the fresh brewed pot is the first thing I smell in the morning. That's my idea of a great morning!

 My daily coffee is Maxwell House French Roast. Black. No cream or sugar.

I have coffee that I prefer to drink, such as Folger's Gourmet Blend, but that isn't what I usually drink. Why not the Folger's you ask? The Maxwell House French Roast is consistently a dollar or two cheaper, that's why it isn't coming home with me. Budget, budget, budget.

Bulletproof Coffee Recipe

One of my Facebook friends drinks "Bullerproof Coffee". The recipe is interesting and my cousin, Sarah wants to try drinking it. Me? I don't think so. I just want pure, unadulterated, dark roast coffee in my cup. Call me a purist.

• I drink Bulletproof Coffee from The Bulletproof Executive. I grind my beans and use a french press. I drink it black or with butter and oil during the week. (bold type added by me)

September 13 at 5:25pm

• Sallee Bonham I have learned something new. Never heard of this before. Why butter or oil?

September 13 at 5:27pm via mobile ·

•  I use both in the same cup of coffee. 2 tbsp butter (grass-fed, organic, unsalted) and 2 tbsp MCT oil, or Medium Chain Triglycerides oil.  I drink it for energy and because it's usually hours before I get a chance to eat. This fills me up and gives me plenty of energy to get through the morning. It's called "Bulletproof Coffee". created by the same guy I buy my beans from.

 

From Psychcentral - What Does Your Coffee Reveal About You?

Drink	Personality Traits	The Light Side	The Dark Side
Black coffee	Old school Purist	Keep things simple Patient Efficient	Can be quiet and moody Abrupt and dismissive Sort of set in their ways Resistant to making changes
Latte drinkers (folks who add milk/cream and sugar)	Comfort seekers People pleasers Open book Like to soften the bitterness of life (like they soften the bitterness of coffee)	Generous with time Will go out of their way to help others	Can get over-extended Don’t always take great care of themselves
Frozen/ blended coffee drinks	Try lots of new things Socially bold Trendsetters	Childlike Spontaneous Imaginative	Fall for quick fixes Don’t always make healthy choices Can be reckless
Decaf/ soy milk/ Very specifically ordered coffee	Like being in control May be labeled selfish Obsessive Perfectionist Very aware of their health and bodies	Monitor their health Tend to make healthy choices	Overfocus on rules, control and order Overly sensitive Tend to be worriers
Instant coffee	Traditional in some ways Laid back Procrastinate	Take life as it comes Don’t get too lost in details	Too laid back Put things off and may neglect basic health issues Poor planners

Do You Recognize Yourself ?

The black coffee drinker does seem to be fairly accurate in describing some of my character traits. Leave a comment and tell me if you think the table accurately describes you. This is for fun, so don't take it too heart.