Lotsa Berry Angel Food Tall Cake

 Have you ever wondered why we call it a short cake and not a tall cake?  I mean when I think of cake I see them stacked high and proud.  We'll blame ole Will Shakespeare for the short cake description.  After all, "What about Alice?"  

Are shortcakes always intended to be made with strawberries, are we breaking some important cardinal rule for making our tall shortcakes with say blueberries or mixed berries?  We could rename it, Marry instead of Alice, and why not?

I'll bet your wondering why I keep referring to an Alice or a Mary, these are two of the sisters in the play, "The Merry Wives Of Windsor."  Alice Shortcake and Mary Windsor.  I guess we'll have to call it Tall cake from now on.  

From now on I'm making Lotsa Berry Tall cake covered in whipped cream on Angel Food.  So, it's Angel Food Lotsa Berry Tall Cake.  Just to keep the political occupation away from Billy Shakespeare's Elizabethan poetry.  

So the next time you decide to create a desert put your own spin on the name and you might find out you've accidentally created something tasty and satirical at the same time.  

Peace and Balance,

John 

Real Good Raspberry Pancakes

 

Occasionally I cook.  I've since learned how to actually cook through the tutelage of my Cheffy wife, and her dear mother, who after her passing I found a certificate from a culinary institute declaring her as Chef.  So, I learned from two very good cooks.

Being a science oriented sort of fellow, I'm a believer in certain technologies that have snuck their ways into the modern kitchen.  Things that the purest would subject to snobbery and elite prejudices.  Objects such as the Microwave oven. Which I personally find as a time saver and if used properly can cook up a plethora of real good stuff.  

This morning I created a fairly passable recipe for the Raspberry Pancake, here it is:

Add about a cup and a half of frozen raspberries in a microwave safe container.  Add about a teaspoon or so of sugar and mix well.  Microwave on high about 2 mins and stir container then put aside.  Depending on your taste, the amount of time you want to spend, and your inkling for a thing called, "Scratch", however you mix up about a cup of pancake batter, let sit for about a minute to a minute and a half.  Mix half the Raspberry mixture into the batter and stir well.  The next step is important because this is the only area where butter or margarine is used.  On a HOT griddle melt a goodly portion of butter and let it simmer for a few seconds then add the batter mixture and let them fry until you see bubbles then flip.  Let sit, then flip again for measure.  This morning I served them up with Jimmy Dean sausage links, the rest of the Raspberry mixture as a syrup and a dollop of whipped cream.  For myself a couple of fried eggs, my wife can't eat those things, so more for me.  

All turned out real good and passed the Cheffy inspection and taste test.  It was a good breakfast.  

Feel free to try it out and let me know how it goes.  Here's my disclaimer: if it sucks, So sad to bad...

Peace and Balance,

John

Pumpkin Pie

 

Is a pumpkin a fruit or a squash?  According to Dr. Joe Masabni of Texas A&M Agri, a pumpkin is neither a squash, nor a vegetable.  A pumpkin is an old fashioned fruit because anything that starts as a flower is botanically a fruit.  Giving us some insight on a pumpkin's potential pie filling properties.

Pumpkins are a good source of Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Vit. D, B6, and Magnesium.  A good source of dietary fiber and about 95 calories for a small pumpkin makes it an excellent food source.  The pumpkin could even be verging on the primoradial edges of being a super food.  Just think pumpkins and bananas standing hand in hand on the precipice of food immortality.  

Generally beginning with the Holiday season, Thanksgiving thru Christmas and New Years, one of the staple experiences is Grandma's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie.  The pumpkin pie takes all the good things about a pumpkin, the healthy stuff, and blends it with the stuff of the holidays that are only good for you during this time of year.  Things like: Sugar and Brown Sugar, Molasses, Allspice, Cinnamon, Butter, Evaporated milk, and of course cooked and smashed pumpkin all mixed together and baked in a real nice pie crust at 375 degrees for about an hour until the center of the custard is wiggly, yet firm and a toothpick emerges un-sticky.  Pumpkin Pie, yum.

In order to serve a good pumpkin pie properly the chef needs a large quantity of home made whipped cream.  This is fairly simple to create.  Some Heavy whipping cream, sugar, and a touch of vanilla is all it takes.  Mix it all together in a large bowl, stick a blender in the bowl and turn it on high until the ingredients are magically transformed into that frothy sweet stuff we know as whipped cream.  Oh boy...

Now the proper deployment of the whipped cream.  A method of distribution is to find the largest spoon, ladle you have in your spoon drawer and dip it into a cooled bowl of your homemade, thickened, whip cream and plop a healthy quantity on a goodly slice of pie.  The word dollop does not apply as it is not an adequate description for the proper amount of sweet whipped goodness on top of your pumpkin pie.   Grab a fork and dive in.  If need be a spring board can be made available. 

For me a good pumpkin pie does not usually survive a sitting.  You may have surmised by now that pumpkin pie is like mother's milk to me.  Pumpkin pie in my world is a year long experience, as it should be.  Pumpkins are indeed a Super Food.  Immortality is right around the corner, now to add some banana.

Peace and Balance,

John