Karen’s Opinion

Poor Val has not been feeling well and was a bit late getting Four Foods on Friday questions up for us to answer. Get well soon Val!

Here are the questions for this past Friday.

1. Are there any drinks you feel help you get better when you’re sick?
Unfortunately I was sick recently and can answer that good ole Gatorade was the only thing I could stand do drink.

2. Are there any foods you feel help you get better when you’re sick? Pancakes

3. Starve a cold, feed a fever. Do you believe this? I am not sure what this means. I am always hungry. Being sick never helps me diet.

4. Who cooks when you’re sick? My husband is usually the one who cooks in our house. He cooks when I am sick.

Every year around the fourth of July, I think I will make this cake. Perhaps, this will be the year! It sounds yummy.
Flag Cake
from the Barefoot Contessa
Ingredients

* 18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
* 3 cups sugar
* 6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
* 1 cup sour cream at room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 3 cups flour
* 1/3 cup cornstarch
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the icing:

* 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
* 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese at room temperature
* 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To assemble:

* 2 half-pints blueberries
* 3 half-pints raspberries

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour an 18 by 13 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed, until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mixing just until smooth.

Spread three-fourths of the icing on the top of the cooled sheet cake. Outline the flag on the top of the cake with a toothpick. Fill the upper left corner with blueberries. Place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake like a red stripe. Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe two rows of white stripes below the raspberries. Alternate rows of raspberries and icing until the flag is completed. Pipe stars on top of the blueberries.

I serve this cake right in the pan. If you want to turn it out onto a board before frosting, use parchment paper when you grease and flour the pan.

My husband should have been a chef. He is not only a great cook but he knows how to show off what he makes. Look at this beautiful array of food he fixed for dinner a few nights ago.

I just love it when my kids ask me for my recipes. It gives me hope that they actually liked what I fed them while they were growing up. LOL

I am at a weird place right now. My husband loves to cook so much that when I offer to do so, he talks me out of it. I am beginning to feel like he doesn’t like my cooking. Oh well. I love that he does the majority of the cooking these days.

Stacy, my daughter, asked for my cobbler and apple crisp recipes:

Nowadays, I buy the Uncle Buck’s mix at the Bass Pro store whenever we visit and use it to make cobbler. I did make this recipe back in December of 1998. LOL I mark things like that on my recipes sometimes. I also wrote “very good”. It was from the Taste of Home Magazine.
Apricot Cobbler
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup water
3 cans (15-1/4 ounces each)
apricot halves, drained
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
TOPPING:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk (can add more)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in water; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil and stir for 1 minute; reduce heat. Add apricots and butter; heat through. Pour into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. For topping, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk just until moistened. Spoon over hot apricot mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out clean.
Yield: 6 servings

Here is my Apple Crisp recipe. I made this just the other day.

APPLE CRISP
place approx. 4 cups peeled, sliced apples in an 8×8 baking dish
Over 4 cups sliced apples put 3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup water and cinnamon to taste.

In a mixing bowl:
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
add 1 egg and work until mixture is like corn meal

I use a knife and fork and cut them across each other to work the mixture.

Sprinkle over the top of the apples and bake at 350 degrees until brown, or about 1 hour. I cover with foil the last 20 minutes of baking time.

Note: I usually double this recipe and bake in a 9×13 baking dish.

For this weeks Tackle It Tuesday, I have decided I will cook something yummy for dinner. Hubby already has plans to grill out some pork steak and so I am going to make scalloped corn to go along with it. We will have a yummy salad with tomatoes our neighbor brought over from her garden.

Here is my recipe for Scalloped Corn

2 eggs beaten
1 can whole kernel corn using liquid (I like to use white corn)
1 can cream style corn
1 package jiffy style corn muffin mix
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 cup sour cream

Mix all and bake in a 9×13 baking dish. 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.