7-Up Pound Cake

Well… 7-up Pound Cake is a bit of a stretch, since I bought the generic Wegmans W-Up, but you get the idea. Dan’s co-worker brought this cake to a party at our house and we all voted it hands-down, the best pound cake EVER! This was a giant compliment to his 14-year-old daughter, who was responsible for actually making the cake. So I figured if she could make an amazing cake, I could too. A few weeks later, I received a bundt pan as an anniversary gift and Labor Day weekend provided a perfect opportunity to bake a cake to share. My main goal was to make sure the outside of the cake had that amazing crusty goodness of the original. An hour and 15 minutes seemed like a really long time in the oven, but I was very happy with the result – crusty goodness!

I do think the cake may have had a bit of a shock as I flipped it onto the plate, but it survived its descent from the perfectly non-stick pan and was free of blemishes. On to the icing… The recipe warns not to make the icing too thin, because it will melt even more on the hot cake. So I created a mixture that bore a slight resemblance to concrete and began spooning it onto the cake. Lump by lump. And the family gathered to watch the globs of icing s-l-o-w-l-y migrate down towards the plate.

Okay, maybe another drop or two of water next time! I would like to have another try at making the icing look attractive. Cake #1 is almost gone, so that opportunity may not be too far down the road!

7-Up Pound Cake

Dan gets all the photography credits for this project – the rest of us were busy staring down the icing that was taking it’s sweet time (pun intended) crawling down the sides of the cake.

Mmmm, mmmm good! This cake is definitely a winner – and it’s EASY!

Inside-Out Burgers

I’ve never made “stuffed” burgers before, although there are plenty of recipes that call for various ingredients hidden in the depths of the burger patty. I didn’t have anything exciting planned for last night’s burgers, so I decided to try a small experiment and just put the cheese inside.

Since I always buy bulk packages of ground beef and divide them up before freezing, I never really know how much beef is in each smaller package. I’m guessing this one was around 1 1/4 pounds. All I added to the meat was about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Then, instead of dividing the mixture into only four patties, I made eight smaller flat ones. Layer some cheddar cheese slices on top of half the patties…

Place another patty on top of each “cheesed” patty and pinch the edges together…

Okay, come on. You have to be impressed that I stopped right in the middle of the patty-making process, scrubbed my hands clean, located the camera, and managed to take a picture with one hand while handling raw meat with the other! AND, I did so without dragging the lens cap through the burger patties.

The inside-out burgers were a success. Simple burger patties, cheddar cheese inside, toasted buns, and of course… ketchup. Although the ketchup in the following picture really doesn’t make the burger look particularly appetizing. Ah, well. You win some, you lose some.

Inside-Out Burgers

Chicken Enchiladas

Healthiest meal of the week… chicken enchiladas! You think I’m joking. This has most definitely not been a week filled with healthy meals. There were two recipes for chicken enchiladas on our recipe site, and I’m not sure I ever made either one (which makes me wonder what I was thinking when I added them). Nevertheless, I’m trying to cook some of the things that we already have recipes for, but are lacking pictures. So, I picked the enchilada recipe that sounded best and was pleasantly surprised with the result.

Before all the saucy goodness…

After all the saucy goodness, plus 45 minutes in the oven…

Come on, you didn’t think I could actually take an ATTRACTIVE picture of chicken enchiladas slathered with sauce and cheese, did you? Well, I plated the enchiladas and topped them with some fresh tomatoes and dried cilantro and it made for a slightly better photo op. Slightly.

Chicken Enchiladas

Very tasty dish – Just be careful of the jalapenos. Make sure you take the seeds out, and even then, they can sometimes be pretty spicy!

A happy fusion

A fusion of what, you ask? Well… (drumroll) a fusion of this blog and the recipe site that it always links to. In a short time, we will unveil the brand new site – heateatrepeat.com. Now, I will stress that the new site is NOT ready for viewing just yet. Right now, there are merely snippets of recipes and blog entries, in no particular order. It is a long process to transfer and reformat 237 recipes, plus blog entries. I am making this process exponentially more difficult for my husband by continuing to add recipes, edit recipes and write new blog entries. Tonight, I received a very dirty look when he realized I added yet another recipe.

SO, we’re to the point where you find out WHY I’m telling you this. I’m going to try to enter new recipes into the new site from this point forward, so as not to confuse the transfer process (and so I don’t have to sleep in the guest room). This means that when I link to a new recipe, it might take you to the new site. DO NOT BE ALARMED! This is okay. But I will remind you again, the site is NOT finished and is NOT ready for you to search around. That said, I’m sure you will anyway. I teach eight-year-olds, who, when told not to do something, will always do it. Ten times out of ten. And you know what? You aren’t all that different from eight-year-olds.

Almond Chicken Casserole

Long day of laziness – check. A couple hours of fun on the tennis courts – check. Dinner – check. Who cares if it didn’t make it to our plates until 9:00? A friend said she made this Almond Chicken Casserole and it was AMAZING. It’s been on the recipe site for a long time, but I think I only made it once… a long time ago. However, I will at least apply the “amazing” title to the toasted cubes of bread on top of the casserole – yum!

I wish I could say I was adventurous with cheeses, but that would be a lie. It’s not that I’m afraid to stray from the basics, but I’m not a big fan of spending mucho dinero on artisan cheese and not being able to use it up before it goes bad. We have gone through a couple packages of fresh mozzerella this summer and a significant amount of cheddar in the last few weeks. So the Swiss cheese in this casserole, although not exactly adventurous, was a welcome change. So exciting that I decided to take a fun picture of it.

The next time I make this dish, I will change a few things. First of all, it calls for a CUP of mayonnaise. I could die from that. If you don’t see any more posts this week, you’ll know that I actually did. Death by almond chicken casserole. I think half that amount would be fine… but still, I might try to substitute some sour cream or cream cheese for part of the mayo. Second, less celery and more almonds. Otherwise, I’ll have to change the title of the recipe – 1 1/2 cups of celery and 1/4 cup slivered almonds does not an almond chicken casserole make. It makes celery casserole. Third, always, always, always use red peppers to add a bit of sweetness. Green peppers are good for Italian classics, and they’ll work in a pinch when you have a green one that needs to be used up (which I did), but red is hands-down better for this meal. Anyway, it’s a tasty combination. Give it a try!

Almond Chicken Casserole

Black Beans & Rice

Typically, I enjoy grocery shopping and cooking for two. Before my husband came along, I was only cooking for one, so my collection of recipes from the past ten years mostly require small proportions of ingredients. Usually this is not a problem, but there are several things that I really wish would come in smaller packages. It’s not that the ingredients are particularly expensive, but I hate to use just a little and throw out the rest. So I always save what’s left, vowing to use it in another recipe. This results in a refrigerator full with tiny containers of leftover items that linger for weeks, are rarely used, and are eventually disposed of once they are deemed past their prime. Chicken broth and tomato paste top the list. Black beans are further down the list, but their large cans are still a nuisance when I only need a handful of them for a salad or side dish. I have been on a quest to use up all the “little bits” this week, and this recipe conquered leftover black beans, chicken broth AND a slowly wrinkling green pepper. As usual, I turned to the garden for at least one ingredients – jalapenos. And after I chopped the vegetables, I noticed that they were very close to being in a smiley-face shape (I did nudge the corners of the smile a bit)!

jalapeno pepper, garlic, green bell pepper, onion

The recipe for Black Beans & Rice seemed almost brainless. A few veggies to chop, a few cans to open, a few spices to sprinkle in – done. I was very excited with how quickly this process went. About 30 minutes from start to finish. Until I read the last direction more carefully… “Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally”. Crap. Definitely wasn’t planning on the extra 30 minutes! Luckily, I usually take forever to make dinner, so Dan wasn’t realistically expecting a meal anytime soon. So I simmered.

simmering black bean mixture

Note: I added another can of black beans after I took this picture. At first, I doubted the recipe and thought it required an outrageous amount of black beans. But I asked Dan for his opinion and he sided with the cookbook. So, in went the remainder of the black beans. And eventually, they were done with their simmering party and we got to eat!

Black Beans and Rice

P.S. I only made half of this recipe, and it made about 4 decent-sized servings.

Handy hint for freezing ground beef

I always buy chicken and ground beef in club packs because it’s significantly cheaper. The store-to-freezer hassle for chicken was just solved by Wegmans’ ingenious decision to start using “keeps fresh” packaging, separating the chicken into two-piece sections.

So far, no monumental improvements with ground beef packaging. However, if you separate the club pack of ground beef into smaller packages (1-pound or 1 1/2-pound balls), you will at least be ahead of the game when you want to take some out to use it. I’ve done this for a long time, but until recently, I always rolled each pile of beef into a ball before wrapping it. And every time, it takes FOREVER to defrost.

My husband finally asked me why I didn’t package ground beef into flat packages so it would defrost more quickly and evenly. Ha – why, you ask? Simply because I never thought of it! So now, I always freeze ground beef (or ground turkey, veal or pork) in flat packages.

I know you’re thinking these don’t look very flat… I know. I think I was in a hurry the last time I did this, and I ripped off pieces of foil that were too small. Instead of wasting all the tin foil, I had to squish the meat into a smaller shape. But you get the idea.

Watermelon Slush

Looking for a cool summer treat? It doesn’t get any simpler than watermelon slush. Fill a blender with watermelon slices (rind cut off!) and puree until smooth. Pour into a freezer-safe container and freeze overnight or at least a few hours until solid. Take the container out of the freezer about an hour before you want to serve it, so the frozen watermelon puree can soften a bit. Scoop into cups and drizzle with fresh lime juice to taste – this made for a really good flavor!

Watermelon Slush

I’m trying to work on my food photography… you can see I felt inspired here and tried to make the picture more fun by including watermelon slices and a big chunk of watermelon. The lime juice was an afterthought – although it shouldn’t have been! If I did it over again, I would have added a couple limes to the picture and maybe a lime slice over the edge of the cup. Maybe one day in the far future when I coax my camera off the automatic setting, my pictures will look a bit more “professional”. Till then…

Branded

One question: How did this happen??

Hot dog days of summer

Simple has been necessary this week. With the stress of staying home all day by myself, awaiting the ominous first day back to school next week, how could I possibly have the time to conjure up fancy meals? I fear the demands of a real workday might eventually be a slap in the face – but I’m ready. Enough of this laziness. I must once again have a purpose in life.

I suppose my current purpose in life might is to be an avid reader of Food Network Magazine. Okay, the truth is that I’ve only read two issues. But here we go with the hot dog edition… how do you like yours? For the entirety of my life, I’ve insisted that a hot dog should have ketchup. Only ketchup, nothing else. You can keep the chili, you can keep the sauerkraut, and for goodness sake, please spare me the mustard. If you are reading this in horror, I don’t care. I am ready to go public about my relationship with hot dogs, and I understand the possible consequences (alienation, glares, angry tirades from people who stand by their mustard convictions).

That said, I started this week with an open mind. Sunday’s adventures brought us to Ben’s Chili Bowl, where I ordered a foot-long hot dog with – you guessed it – chili. I have to admit, it was very good. Later in the week, we experimented with one of the Food Network magazine hot dog suggestions. Dan picked the Low-Country Dogs – topped with diced potatoes, corn and Old Bay Seasoning and served in a row of three attached dinner rolls. These were simple because all the ingredients just go one by one into a pot of boiling water.

Drain the entire pot, cut open the dinner rolls, pile everything inside, sprinkle with Old Bay and you’re ready to eat. For me though, these ranked well below Sunday’s chili dog. And neither one tops my all-time favorite – ketchup.

Low-Country Dogs