Grandma & the Texas Sheet Cake recipe

My Grandma was such a unique person, she was a pioneer in so many ways! She married my Grandfather in 1929, he was literally a "one arm house painter."

Grandpa lost his left arm when he was 19 from a misfiring shotgun. He was hunting on horseback and was in the woods alone. After the injury he passed out on his horse & the horse took him back home. He always laughed and told me" I survived WWI and blew my own arm off!" He was so funny, loved life & never let his lack of a left arm slow him down.

They lived in rural Central Texas on a farm, raised cattle & cotton. Grandpa was the county Tax Assessor & House Painter.  Grandma was a preacher! What a combination...

Grandma was such a serious soul. It was hard to get her to laugh, she was so intense about everything. She loved her family incredibly and wanted to help everyone around her. She was going to being a school teacher but felt that God wanted her to be a preacher.

She would have made a good teacher but I would have felt so sorry for those students! Grandma was a strict disciplinarian to say the least. So God knew what he was doing when he lead her down the path to preaching. Although it wasn't common in those days for a lady to preach, no one ever called Grandma ordinary!

During the 1940's they pastored a church in Beat Five, Texas. She would always tell me "I left all the dealings to the men, I just preached & prayed!" And a great preacher she was!! She could make me shake in my shoes when she preached, mostly because I was afraid she would use me for an example in her sermons.

She taught me so much about being my best, but mostly she gave me unconditional love. She taught me to cook & show hospitality to everyone who entered my home. My love of cooking & feeding others comes from years of watching my grandmothers lovingly prepare food for their families.

Grandma was a stickler on the rules. I tend to see most things as black & white, I'm sure that came from her too! I appreciate this heritage more than I can say. She shaped me into the strong woman I am today.

Thinking about the holidays always reminds me of those who are no longer with us, but when we cook their recipes they live on in our minds.  My grandma always made a Texas Sheet Cake. She was so funny, she would put pecan halves on top so there would be 20 pieces with a pecan half on each one. We all expected that cake, and as you can see in the picture, even after she was well up in age she still felt like she had to make it. She said it just wasn't a holiday dinner if she didn't!

Holiday cooking is a heritage to pass on to our children & grandchildren. Start traditions with your families now & one day they will just have to have that "Texas Sheet Cake" memory of you for the holiday's.

I am happy to share this recipe with you, it's a common one but Grandma's was just a little better! Think that may be a childlike belief...but hey it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Grandma wouldn't use store bought pecans, they had to come from a friends tree & she had to shell them herself...wonder where I get the set in my ways behavior?

Texas Sheet Cake

CAKE

1 stick margarine

1/2 c. shortening ( these two can be replaced with 2 sticks of butter)

1 cup water

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

ICING

1/2 cup butter or margarine

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 lb ( 2 cups) powdered sugar

6 tablespoons milk

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the cake, combine the butter, water and cocoa in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Add the butter mixture all at once, and stir to blend.  Whisk eggs and buttermilk together, add to the batter and mix well.  Pour the batter into a 9x13 pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Just before the cake is done, make the icing: Combine the butter, milk, and cocoa in a large, heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, mix well. Add the icing to the cake while it is still warm & pours easily then add the pecans. Grandma used halves, but I used chopped sometimes, hope she doesn't know!

Smoked Chipotle Turkey Breast

Smoked Turkey is one of my favorite meats. I love to eat it straight from the pan,& so does everyone else in our family! We smoke whole turkeys when we have lots of time, but if you want the smoked turkey experience & have less than a few hours to get it, try a half turkey breast.

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q has a chipotle sauce that is really great. The chipotle taste is prominent but it also has a cumin and garlic note that is very pleasing. This sauce adds a smoky flavor to your meats from the inherent taste of the chipotle itself.

If you haven't tried chipotles, you should give them a chance. These little wet, wrinkled chili peppers come in a can & are packed in adobo sauce. It isn't necessary to remove the sauce, it actually adds incredible taste to any dish.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/416613-chipotle-pepper-benefits/?utm_source=popslideshow&utm_medium=a1

We marinated our half turkey bone-in breast in the refrigerator over night in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of Williamsons Spicy Chiptole BBQ sauce & 2 teaspoons of pecan flavored liquid smoke. If you have never used a smoke flavoring, you can find it in the grocery isle with the steak sauce, bbq sauce etc. I like the pecan because it doesn't overpower the other seasonings.

Injecting a mixture of half sauce & half olive oil into the breast will keep the meat moist while smoking. It's also healthier than butter, but if you need the butter...it's your call!

When you are ready to start smoking the turkey breast, remove it from the fridge & let it sit on the counter & come to close to room temperature. About 15-20 minutes will usually be enough time. While it is resting, start your wood pellets in your smoker box on your gas grill. I turn my grill to high & sit the smoker box in the back corner. Do not wet the pellets or wood.

I like to smoke my turkey breasts in an iron skillet. I do not wrap in foil, that tends to steam the meat & you don't get the results you are looking for.

After about 30 minutes the grill should have enough smoke to start the smoking process. Reduce the temperature to medium indirect heat. With the turkey breast in a well seasoned iron skillet, coat it on all sides with the sauce before placing it on the grill. 

What I like about Williamson Bros sauce is the consistency. It isn't thin, but it isn't thick & sticky. This type of sauce is the best for gas grill smoking because of the lower sugar content of the sauce.

During the smoking process I apply sauce to all the sides every 10 minutes.

Remember that you should have your grill on medium indirect heat. The temperature inside the grill should be about 300 degrees. The skillet should be sitting in the middle of the grill with no flame under it. Although this is only a breast, it can dry out quickly so keep it well marinated with sauce.

I cook my turkey breast to a temperature of 170 degrees. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes on my grill, but ever grill is different & the outside air temperature is a factor also. Just judge your doneness on that meat temperature...this is just a really great reason to go buy a cool meat thermometer!

 After it cools a little, I remove the meat from the bone, leaving the skin intact. You can remove the skin but it really adds to the taste & look of the smoked turkey.

We added Williamson Bros Spiccy Chipotle Bar-B-Q sauce to the top of the turkey breast. Simple turkey taken to another level. Healthy & delicious, we had baked sweet potatoes from the grill to complete this meal. Oh & we had salad...just hard to do on the grill! Although I am wanting to do the grilled romain lettuce so who knows...we just might do that!

Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q sauces impressed me in many different ways, but one of the things I loved was the low sugar content. Many people who are on a sugar restricted diet must avoid bbq like the plaque. Being a RN & working with diabetics I can say this sauce is a great choice for sugar & carbohydrate counts. Best part is they are really good!

Visit Willamson Bros Bar-B-Q website today!
www.williamsonbros.com

Southern Comfort Foods

Southerners love comfort food...wait what am I saying, we eat food for comfort! How do we define comfort food? For most of us, it's what we grew up eating. These are the dishes our Grandmothers & Mothers made everyday or maybe just on special occasions. Regardless of where you are from, you have your own definition of comfort foods.


Just saying "comfort foods" makes my mouth water for mashed potatoes & gravy, fresh green beans & new potatoes or chicken & dumplings. My Southern grandmothers were such great cooks, they put love into everything they cooked & that's the secret to comfort foods. 


Last week I found two new side dishes that have joined the ranks of our families comfort foods. I reviewed "If You Can't Stand The Heat" by Robert Medina several weeks ago. The BBQ Shrimp were beyond delicious! If you feel the need to salivate over a computer image, read my blog post about these little treasures.

Last week I tried Green Beans with Fried Sage & Cheese Grits from "If You Can't Stand The Heat".
The green beans are an easy recipe but they definetly need to be fresh if available. Green beans, bacon,butter, & more great ingredients make these delicious for sure! I had never fried fresh sage, so I may have gotten it a little overdone..notice I don't say I burned it! Regardless it was still good & had great sage taste. This recipe called for applewood bacon, this is a key ingredient. The bacon added so much flavor & the applewood was really great. Don't just use a plain bacon if you want to experience the beans at their best! It is defiantly a go to side dish for lots of meats. We had it with BBQ Chicken & Blue Cheese & Chive Smashers.
 
Blue Cheese & Chive Red Potato Smashers

Serves 4

Serving size : 1 cup
8-10 medium sized red skinned potatoes
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
2 tsp. dried chives or 2 T fresh chives, depending on what’s available
½ cup half & half
1 T butter
¼ tsp. salt (blue cheese is very salty, so taste & add more if needed)
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper (can be omitted)

 Wash potatoes & place in a pot, I prefer the rustic look of leaving the skins on but you can peel if you want to.  Add cold water to cover the potatoes well, add the chives now to the water   Place pot on stove at high heat & bring to a boil. Boil until potatoes are fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Check often because all potatoes are different depending on type & freshness.

While potatoes are cooking, in a smaller saucepan mix together the half & half, butter, & salt. Bring to a medium heat, but do not boil. Add the blue cheese & stir well to blend. Add the cracked black pepper. Turn off heat...

When the potatoes are fork tender, drain them well in a colander. I always put the drained potatoes back into the pot I cooked them in, it’s still warm & that helps keep your potatoes warm until you are ready to serve.  Just be sure the pot has no water left in it, it needs to be dry, don’t wash it out though!  

Add the cheese & milk mixture to the hot potatoes. I prefer a hand masher for these, but an electric mixer would work okay, just don’t want to over mash or they become creamed potatoes. Mash until well mixed with the milk mixture. Taste & add salt & pepper to your taste. 
To serve you can sprinkle some fresh green onions & cracked black pepper on top!

                                                                                                                                     
I must admit only a few years ago I learned to eat grits. My mom never cooked grits because her mom didn't. My dad's mom did but they were simple grits that I will admit I never acquired a taste for. Granny always added blackstrap molasses & butter to grits. Blackstrap molasses is an acquired taste & not one that a child is happy to experience. If we complained of feeling sick because we didn't want to do something, she would reach for the blackstrap...we recovered very quickly from our ailments!

This may look like chocolate but it's bittersweet blackstrap molasses!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses

As an adult I love molasses, blackstrap is hard to find but I buy all they have when I do find it! Granny would be so proud to know I not only enjoy it ,but according to her I should be the healthiest person on the planet!

Robert Medina's Cheese Grits from "If You Can't Stand The Heat" are why Southerners love grits!
They are decadent, full of whipping cream, butter & cheese. I didn't have whipping cream on hand so I used fat-free half & half. I will say that if using the whipping cream makes it better then I couldn't stand it. The recipe calls for sharp white cheddar cheese, I used chipotle cheddar in my grits. They were delicious, creamy & full of spicy flavor. That's what Southern cooking is...making substitutes when you don't have something in the fridge or cabinet. I am now a grit lover thanks to Bob! Now when I have to go to the gym an extra day a week I will remember it's all worth it for the grits!

"Barbeque Shrimp" ...there should be a support group

The new cookbook by Robert Medina doesn't fail to deliver on it's promises! His "Barbeque Shrimp" is addictive. I made this recipe yesterday & just can't stop think about it!

New Orleans Barbeque Shrimp is cooked in a huge skillet at your stove top. It's like a swimming pool of delicious butter, garlic & spices for those shrimp to take their last swim.  

Start with the biggest ,freshest, head-on shrimp you can find. Colossal 10 count are the best if they are available. Don't waste your time using frozen shrimp or those who have lost their little heads. This dish should only be made with the real thing..head-on huge shrimp.  I promise you will be glad you did.




These are 10 count head-on fresh Gulf Shrimp



Rinse shrimp in cool water
then place in colander to drain.
Don't remove the heads!!
Now prepare their pool...

Add Shrimp to their swimming pool!

                                                                                   

There is something to be said for less words are more!

This meal is meant to be shared with friends. In the South when we have a crawfish or shrimp boil, we cover the tables with newspapers for easy clean-up. I think this dish calls for that too, that way everyone can feel comfortable shelling and stacking the heads and shells while eating. Must have lots of crusty french bread to dip in this wonderful pool of garlic, spices, & butter!

Please don't just scoop up those heads & shells and say good-bye yet. Throw them in a pot of boiling water and any remaining juices & make some of the best shrimp stock you ever tasted. I'm the proud owner of three quart jars full of this liquid gold, what a nice reward after this great meal!

"If You Can't Stand The Heat" will be released July 12, 2011. It is available now for pre-order at Barnes & Noble online. You don't want to miss owning this cookbook.

Shrimp Boats have arrived in Nebraska...

Okay...so the shrimp came by UPS air, but that didn't sound as exciting as Shrimp Boats arriving in Nebraska. Although if you would have seen me waiting by the door for the UPS truck this morning,you would have thought I had won the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes!

When the man in brown walked up to the door with that white cooler my heart started to beat faster. Those of you from the South that are displaced elsewhere get it; those of you from everywhere else may be confused.

Southerners love their food & connect it to most everything else in their lives. We don't eat to live, we live to eat. Now that doesn't mean we can't wait to get up & eat that bowl of oatmeal. I've never stood by the fridge waiting for a head of lettuce to make it's appearance! Now if that lettuce is going on a grilled burger with guacamole & smokey chipotles...we might get a little more excited.

I was lucky enough to live on the Gulf coast of Texas for a few years & learned to eat lots of kinds of seafood. My favorite thing in the world was going to the shrimp boats to buy my shrimp fresh. There is nothing in the world like the taste of fresh Gulf shrimp!

When I received this gift of home today, it almost brought tears to my eyes just looking at the outside of the cooler. Sexton's Fresh Shrimp Destin, Florida is sitting on my kitchen table & I know the best shrimp in the world is only some packing tape away!

These shrimp are huge! Shrimp are classified by number of shrimp per pound. The shrimp you get at the chain (think Red..) seafood restaurants are about 26-30 count at the best. That means there are 26 to 30 shrimp in a pound. Boiled or cocktail shrimp are usually 41-50 count. This website has lots of great information on shrimp, check it out
http://whatscookingamerica.net/ShrimpTips.htm


The shrimp resting in my fridge are 10 count. The extra blessing is they are head on!

Yes, we want the heads when we boil or saute shell-on shrimp, just not when we fry a shrimp. If you have heads on shrimp & want to fry them, save the heads & shells for making shrimp stock or gumbo. The head has lots of flavor & fat that will just blow you away when used in stock.

I am making "Barbeque Shrimp" tonight from the cookbook "If You Can't Stand The Heat" by Robert Medina. I'll let you know tomorrow if I survived without going into a shrimp coma. If you have eaten BBQ shrimp, you know there is no grill involved. It takes a bath in butter & oil with other goodies thrown in. The sauce is just begging to be dipped. The crusty french bread is patiently waiting for it's swim!!!!

Butter, Oil, and Shortening , yes you can eat them but not with a spoon!

Resolve to Change #4
Don't give me Trans Fats..no really!

In 1998 the World celebrated the 125th anniversary of margarine. In 1920 as we entered World War I, the shortage of butter brought on the dependence in America to the synthtically produced spread. If you didn't have cows to milk and make your own butter then you ate margarine. People became accustomed to the artifical butter and didn't have the craving for that rich buttery taste.

Butter came under a great deal of scrutiny when it was found that the high levels of saturated fat could cause heart disease in some people. Many people were advised by their doctors and nutritionist to switch to margarine. Then we did an about face and could no longer use the margarine because of trans fats which were found to raise LDL, the bad cholesterol and lower HDL,the good cholesterol. So we chunked the stick margarine and went to the tub, which didn't have trans fats. Now in 2011 butter is on the list of things to use sparingly with heart disease, due to the saturated fats...feels like we are little mice on a wheel!

I will admit I eat butter very sparingly because my family has a history of heart disease. You really can't use tub spread on fresh corn on the cob! I cook with canola oil or olive oil, but you have to remember that they all have LOTS of calories. My favorite thing to do is use 1/2 teaspoon of melted butter to 1/4 cup canola oil when a recipe calls for oil. It gives it that buttery taste we need but with much less saturated fats. Trans fats are the final answer after all this research. They are in so many of the fast food items that I have given most of those up.

When you are looking for information on your health and diet, be sure the source is trustworthy and un-biased in their writing. There are so many scams for diet and advice on the Internet that it makes you want to just say enough already, just give me the facts. I always lean towards medically based sites because they seem to be less radical and more fact based.
This website at the Mayo Clinic gives great substiutions for recipe ingredients. I have also listed it in my favorite websites on my blog.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00585

Moderation is the key to a good life and it is the hardest thing to accomplish at times. When I shop for food I look for labels with very few ingredients. Why do I want to eat things with names I can't pronounce? My feelings on preservatives and additives are very strong...and Southern women don't mind telling you just how we feel!!