Sunshine Torte

Swedish Sunshine Torte

From Kay’s Great Great Grandmother

This cake is all real.  Butter.  Sugar.  Flour.  Eggs.  That’s it.  Kay recommended adding vanilla, so of course I did, and it was wonderful.  We joke that most Swedish recipes begin with either fish or pickling something, but boy do they know how to do desserts right.

This Bundt cake is so dense and heavy and heavenly!  It’s like eating cake batter inside a buttery crispy cake crust.  I remember Kay serving this when I was a kid and I always thought it looked too brown on the outside, but I was wrong.  The cake is indeed a darker brown than I would want from a regular cake, but here it caramelizes and gets crispy and chewy with an intensely smooth interior.  It crumbles just right and is just the right amount of sweet.  I was instructed to serve it in thin slices, not hunks, because it’s better that way. If someone wants more, they can always get it.  Kay says that my Great Uncle Irvin was a big fan and would try to take a chunk at a time.

This recipe boasts that it’s a pound, a pound, a pound and pound of each of the ingredients.  Kay was smart enough to convert that to conventional measurements that work well for the recipe.  I’ve included both below.

The recipe felt weird to me at first because you cream the sugar with the eggs and then separately you cream the butter, and add flour to the butter.  Now I think it is the secret to the velvet insides and epic crust.

Recipe for Sunshine Torte

1 Pound of Sugar (2.5 cups)

1 Pound of Eggs (6 eggs)

1 Pound of Flour (3.5 c of Cake Flour or All Purpose)  (Kay doesn't bother sifting)

1 Pound of Butter at room temp  (Kay uses salted, but she says it doesn't matter)

Splash of Vanilla at the end  (Optional, but I wouldn’t argue with a master!)

Preheat Oven to 300-325 degrees, only you know your oven! 

Let Eggs and Butter come to room temp before starting.

She says the secret to this recipe is to beat beat beat beat beat beat and then beat some more.  Everything should be very very very very very very well mixed.

I used an electric beater.

Cream Sugar with Eggs until light. Keep on beating and beating.

In a separate bowl, beat the Butter until smooth.  Add Flour to Butter gradually until smooth.

Gradually add creamed Sugar and Egg mixture to the Flour and Butter mixture.  Secret is to mix and mix and mix with beaters.

Beat well.  Then beat some more.

Then add some vanilla.  I have awesome vanilla from Mexico and I added a capfull.

Butter and flour a Bundt cake pan.  Teflon!

Will be smooth, not runny, when done.

Bake at 300-325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

When it's done it's slightly pulled from the edges.  It will still keep cooking when you take it out because it's so dense.  The outside will be fairly brown.

To Serve:

Sift powdered sugar over it. 
Slice thinly.

Frequently served with berries on the side. 

Cleaning Up

I'm working hard to clean up what I eat by eliminating added sugar and "white" stuff in general.  My dad always preached (but did not practice, as most of us don't!) to not eat white stuff.  Anything with white flour or white sugar.  I've eliminated white stuff, finally, and I'm working to reduce empty carbs in general.  Like those found in my beloved potatoes.
Beloved?  I "Love" food?  Need to ponder that a bit more.  It's Fall and I do want cozy food, just have to reimagine what that is given my new dietary goals.

I'm going to make the Simple Italian Soup (I'll add a link if I can figure out how) from this blog and just not add the pasta.  Boom.  Nothing white, nothing extra.  Just veggies.  *Maybe* some brown rice as I've been having some stomach touble and I think I could use a little more carbs as long as they are good carbs.

As for substitutions as opposed to eliminations, so far almond flour has been a winner in our household.  The favorite so far is Cinnamon Pancakes (will update later!).  Coconut flour, on the other hand, is the loser.  It's gummy.  It's weird.  I don't like it for anything I've tried. 

I'm also going to try a recipe I found online for Pumpking Pound Cake.  I'll update here to let you know how it turns out.  
I can already tell you that I'll be adding butter and more salt.  :)

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/pumpkin_poundcake.html
DOTTIE'S PUMPKIN POUND CAKE
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup granulated Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch to 1/8 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
6 ounces almond flour, about 1 1/2 cups
Grease an 8x4" loaf pan well or line with foil and grease foil. In a medium bowl, beat the pumpkin, Splenda, baking powder, vanilla, spice and salt, if using, with an electric mixer until well blended. Beat in the eggs, then the almond flour. Add a little water, if needed, to make a thick, but pourable batter (I didn't need it). Pour into the pan and bake at 300º 60-75 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan a bit and a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. The toothpick came out clean at 60 minutes, but it needed to brown a little more. This comes out so moist that the extra baking time will be fine. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and peel off the foil; cool completely on a rack before slicing. Store in the refrigerator or freeze. Makes 1 loaf or 12 servings
Can be frozen With granular Splenda:
Per Serving: 130 Calories; 9g Fat; 6g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs With liquid Splenda: Per Serving: 122 Calories; 9g Fat; 6g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs

Grandma's Fruit Salad

This is my dad's mom's recipe.  We lost Grandma twenty years ago, Dad 9 months ago.  Hurts my heart to think about them but it warms my heart to make food that they loved.  Grandma loved this salad and whenever she would make it she would add bananas at the last minute then make sure to tell us to eat them.  Every time.  You HAD to take bananas in your bowl or they would turn brown.  Over the years, it became a joke with her, culminating in her telling us to "Eat the GODDAMN Bananas!". 

Grandma's Fruit Salad

2 grapefruits

1 can pineapple- drained

2 oranges

1 can mandarin oranges

Maraschino cherries with some juice

 

Peel and chunk up the oranges and grapefruits.  Make sure to squeeze out the grapefruit halves to get the juice into the bowl.

Stir in the cans of mandarin oranges and the drained pineapple.

Add some cherries to taste (I usually cut them in half)

Add some of the cherry juice to taste - we go for color as well.  The juice is a little pink.

 

RIGHT BEFORE you serve it, cut up a banana.  Yell at everyone to eat the banana.

 

I've added grapes before as well if I have them around - they are good. 

 

Her recipe makes a good sized bowl and, without the goddamn bananas, will keep about a week.

Fall Breakfast for Dinner

It's Fall.  Yippee!!!  Time for real cooking to begin again.  One of the first things I crave when the weather cools is my mom's Stuffed Squash.  But this isn't your mother's stuffed squash....it's MY mother's stuffed squash.  Think of a perfect Fall breakfast, then have it for dinner.

Recipe from mom....

STUFFED SQUASH

 

1 or 2 Buttercup squash- depending on the size

2 lbs bulk pork breakfast sausage 1 hot and 1 mild

1 lg onion, chopped

~ 1/3 of a loaf of Italian bread, crust removed and cubed

Maple syrup, butter, salt  and a 9”x13” casserole

Cut the squash in half and clean out the seeds. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and put the squash cut surface down on the baking sheet and bake at 425°F for about 40 min.

Or

Pierce squash all over with a knife tip. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 375° for about 1 hour. When soft, peel and seed.

While the squash is baking, spray the casserole with PAM. Then in a large skillet, brown the sausage, breaking it up into little bits. When the sausage is almost done, push it to the back of the pan and add the onions. When the onions are brown, push them aside and brown the bread cubes-you may need a little oil here. Then mix it all together and turn off the heat.

 

****Mom and I have different opinions here.  I do the onions first.  Probably makes no difference but thought I'd point it out anyway.***

When the squash is done-it will be soft- scoop it out of the skin and put it in the casserole. Add salt and a few pats of butter and mash it around. Smooth it out and drizzle with the maple syrup. Then add the stuffing and drizzle again with the syrup.

Put the casserole back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes-the top will get crispy.

 Notes: Other types of squash work-buttercup is my favorite. I used to make this by stuffing a half of a squash but it’s easier to eat this way. But sweet dumpling squash are very pretty stuffed.

I buy the sausage when it’s on sale and keep it in the freezer until I’m ready to use it. If I have only mild sausage, I add some crushed red pepper. I’ve used Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean and no name bulk sausage-they all taste the same to me.

Real maple syrup works best for this. I get a big container at Costco.

I say Italian bread but what is really needed is a sturdy bread.

You can use more onion. I usually do.

While the squash is baking and after the stuffing is made, you’ll have time to make a salad, etc.

The bake time is flexible and you can adjust it to accommodate other things you have to do.

 

***Amanda here again. This makes a big casserole, so if you're just cooking for one or two, then obviously get less squash!  And get 1 lb of mild sausage and add red pepper flakes.***

Pizza Pizza

Most pizza recipes probably start out with a recipe for dough....but not mine!

I've made my own dough using a bunch of different recipes.

It's a lot of mess. Not really work, but mess with all the flower and the rolling and the waiting. Okay, so it's the waiting that I don't like.

My solution, and Mom I'm sure is proud of me for this, is to simply buy pre-made dough.

Oh! The Horror!

Oh - chill out. You usually buy pasta from A STORE. It's much easier and once you find one you like it makes pizza night way more fun that slaving over dough. I live in the South so I have Harris Teeter's all around and their dough is great. You could also go to a local pizza shop and buy some from them. Just don't buy it frozen unless you want to wait two days for it to thaw.
 

Now that you have procured the dough, let's talk about what makes this not-quite-homemade recipe so good. It's the sauce. My sister, AD, came up with this recipe and I've stolen it and I love it and I don't feel the least bit sorry. I will credit her with the title:

 

Adrienne's Awesome Pizza Sauce

1 Stick Boar's Head Pepperoni. *It Must Be This Pepperoni*

1 Large Can Plain Tomato sauce

1 tsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves Garlic

1/4 of an onion, diced finely

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste. I use about a teaspoon

Pre-heated pizza stone in a 400 degree oven or, in a pinch, aluminum covered baking sheet with something non-stick on it. I usually sprinkle grits on the pan as well.  Just a little. 

 

Heat up the Oil on Medium in a Medium sized Sauce pan. Soften the onion. You don't want it to brown too much.

 

Dice the pepperoni into discs and then quarters. (Like a pizza!) Put about 1/3 of it into the pan with the softening onion and oil. As the pepperoni starts to brown, add the garlic for just a minute or two.   I leave the garlic cloves whole and let it cook with the sauce, being careful not to ladle it on to the pizza.

 

 

Take off the heat, let it stop sizzling. Add the Can of Tomato Sauce and the Red Pepper Flakes. Stir.  Cook uncovered on low for as long as you can stand it. Let it bubble and stir occasionally - tomato sauce has a lot of sugar and will burn quickly if you don't babysit a little. You'll smell the difference when it changes from a raw tomato smell to a cooked, saucy (yeah! Saucy!) smell. Maybe an hour. If you don't want to wait that long, well, then, don't! Give it at least 20 minutes though.

 

While that's going on, you can prep the pizza dough, get out the cheese, etc.

 

This sauce is enough for two good sized pizzas.

 

I roll out the crusts, CAREFULLY place on the ATOMICALLY HOT pizza stone. Then brush with olive oil and poke holes with a fork. Bake for 5-10 minutes, just before it starts to rise.

Remove from oven. (duh!)

 

Top with sauce, cheese, the rest of the pepperoni, and whatever else you like. I use mozzarella and the cheap-o Italian blend. About half a package of each. 

 

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melting and crust is cooked.

 

 

I often just make one pizza and then save the sauce for next time. Makes pizza night CRAZY easy when you have homemade sauce ready to go.


 

Hope you like it!

It's cold out and I want soup

A family favorite is Cheap Italian Vegetable Soup. Sounds like we are saying Italians are cheap....let's change the name to Easy Italian Vegetable Soup. No, wait, that's no good either.

How about...

Simple Italian Vegetable Soup

In a medium sauce pot...

• Small amount of olive oil
• Brown some garlic and remove it
• Brown a diced onion
• Add water - as much as you like says Mom. Amanda says 2/3 of the way to the top of the pot.
• Add small can of tomato sauce. We like it plain plain plain so we can add our own spices, but do as you like
• If you are going to add pasta- bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta.
• Add can of mixed vegetables
• Heat through

We used canned veggies to keep it cheap. I mean easy. Darnit, I mean SIMPLE. Feel free to use a bag of frozen mixed veggies if you're feeling wild and crazy.

If you're planning to freeze the soup, then boil the noodles separately. I know....TWO pots?!?! But, if you freeze the soup with noodles in it then you get mush.

Mom's version of an old Weight Watchers classic...Taco Soup.  It is so easy and done in one pot!  One Pot!!!  Brown the meat, drain the fat, open seasonings packets pour in and stir, open cans of veggies and beans, pour in everything including the liquids, and stir.  Could not be easier.

 

Healthy Easy Taco Soup

• 1 large jar of northern beans
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 1 lb ground beef - browned and drained

1 can of water if you like more broth (Amanda adds about half a can.)

Brown and drain the beef - add everything else and cook 10-15 minutes

 

Even better with a little cheese, but that is pretty much true of everything in life.  Food, jokes, whatever.  You can use this for company by "dressing it up" put out bowls of toppings like 

chopped onion and tomatoes, shredded cheddar, and /or sour cream(or Greek yogurt) and taco chips - looks and tastes like a big deal and not much work or expense.

 

 

Stay warm out there!  Especially you folks in the Great White North of Michigan. 

 

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

Pumpkin is a family nickname for our cutest members.  We were all the cutest at one point but, frankly, we all aged out.  Except for our dogs.  Our dogs are always pumpkins.

Sometimes originality is overrated - it's oh so typical to have a pumpkin recipe during the fall but it's oh so good. So enjoy going with the crowd and enjoy this recipe. 

Trust me on spices and don't use a pre-made pumpkin pie spice for this bread. Or for anything really! Buy the cloves and ginger (I'm assuming you already have cinnamon). We complain every season about then having cloves and ginger in our spice cupboard for the rest of the year, yet by the time we need it to make bread and pies for next season, it's gone bad OR has somehow been used. (Ginger crisis of Christmas 2010 for example. Disaster narrowly averted by less-old ginger procured from Nonnie's spice collection.) Plus the pre-made pumpkin pie spices usually have nutmeg in them, and nutmeg is gross. Truth. 

**Update - I found a pumpkin pie spice I really like and Penzy's.  I used it fall of 2012 and the bread came out great.

 

The recipe below makes 4 loaves of bread. Don't even bother trying to half the recipe. Just don't. If by some chance of fate your entire social network is away and you have left over bread, then just freeze it. To pay homage to Steel Magnolias it "Freezes Beautifully".

Pumpkin Bread

2 Cups Granulated sugar

2 Cups Dark brown sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Cup Unsweetened applesauce

6 Large Eggs

2 16 oz cans Solid packed pumpkin (not the seasoned or pie stuff, just plain.  2 15 oz cans is ok, too)

2 Tsp Ground cloves

1 Tbl Ground cinnamon

2 Tsp Ground ginger

2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Powder

2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (I usually throw in a little more b/c I like vanilla!)

6 Cups Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.   Slightly different sized pans are okay.
 

Beat sugars and oil in a large LARGE bowl to blend. Mix in eggs, pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla.

Sift flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture 1 cup or so at a time. (Apologies for needing two bowls, but cleaning up a bowl that just had the dry ingredients in it isn't too bad.)

 

Pour into prepared loaf pans. 

 

Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  We usually rotate the pans about half way through and end up taking it out about 5 minutes early b/c we like it really dense.  We also just let it cool in the pans.

Remember, makes FOUR loaves.