Thursdays Are For Cooking

| August 22, 2019

Monarch butterfly

Fall is around the corner. According to meteorologists, because the Sun is in a dormant state, we’re getting the same lack of solar heat that occurred during the Little Ice Age, so you might want to take that into consideration when you stock the pantry.

Make-ahead  things like shredded chicken or shredded beef, stuff to use in future meals, can be cooked, portioned out into freezer bags and frozen for future use in hearty soups and stews. Those require merely browning in the skillet, then put into the crock pot with the cooking fluid from the skillet for about 7 to 8 hours plus a cup of water or broth, and when finished, divided up for freezing for future meals.

In the fall and winter, we want comfort food, and this time, it’s Real Fake Pecan Rolls, otherwise known as pecan pie upside-down cake. This is a quickie from Betty Crocker that you can make as soon as you’re up, or the make it night before and warm up briefly in the oven on very low heat, or in the microwave for a very, very short time.  Make sure you have lots of butter on hand as an accomplice to enhance the flavor.  I don’t think it will last long, so prepare the recipe accordingly. (If your kids and grandkids don’t like this, they are space aliens.)

Ingredients: 

Topping

1/3 cup butter, melted

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 cup pecan halves (Oh, what the heck: double this topping recipe! It’s where the butter goes when it’s baked!)

Cake

1½ cups Original Bisquick™ mix

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Glaze

½ cup powdered sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons milk

(Note: to make this glaze even more succulent, add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.)

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray; line pan with cooking parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter, brown sugar and water until well blended. Stir in pecans to coat evenly. Pour into the baking pan, and spread pecans in an even layer; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cake ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Pour the batter evenly over the pecan mixture in the pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Run a knife around the side of pan to loosen the cake. Cool the pan on cooling rack 5 minutes. Place a heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn the plate and pan over. Remove the pan. Place any pecans that may still be in the pan on top of the cake. Cool 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of the milk until well blended. If too thick to drizzle, add additional milk, 1/4 teaspoon at a time.

Drizzle the glaze with a fork over the top of the pecan cake. For 8 servings, cut into 8 wedges. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator (if there is any left, that is).

Note: reheating this in a microwave is okay, but since it’s a cake, too long a time will dry it out. 10 to 15 seconds on low, no more, and put some butter on it before you reheat it.

Category: Economy

7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Haywire Angel

I can’t wait to try this out at home!!

11B-Mailclerk

“y’all hold mah beer n watch me cook this!”

Haywire Angel

You don’t know the half of it LOL

5th/77th FA

8 serving my a$$. Maybe 2. Y’all refill mah coffee and watch me eat this.

Goes well with some verniller bean ice cream too.

AW1Ed

Parchment paper, Ex? Look who’s punching above her weight*grin*

Easy Spaghetti.
You’ll need:
One pound Italian sausage, bulk or in the casing, sweet or spicy. I like spicy with casings, and cut them up into bite-size pieces.
One sweet onion, Vidalia if available, chopped,
One bell pepper, not green. The colorful ones have much better flavor. De-seed and slice.
Mushrooms- small white button ‘shrooms leave whole. Slice the larger ones. Bay leaf- whoever gets the bay leaf does the dishes. Pasta, S&P, Italian or Mediterranean spice mix, Newman’s Own Marinara Sauce, parm cheese and red wine.
You’ll do:
Saute the sausage until brown, remove to a plate and let drain.
Saute the veg. Remove and deglaze with the red wine.
Sausage and veg back into the pan, add Newman’s Own. Bring to a simmer stirring as needed.
Prepare the pasta. I add a fat pinch of salt prior to the water prior to coming to a boil.
Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings as needed.
Plate it up, scatter on a generous amount of the parm, serve with a green salad and garlic bread.
And the red vino.
This pretty much my barracks recipe. Making this at 0300 after an loooong flight wasn’t unusual. A couple/three of my crew members would show up with beers or vino. There never seemed to be any leftovers.