Pealightful 100th Post and GIVEAWAY

I have mentioned before that I fell heir to my grandmother's recipes and cookbooks upon her passing.

It has taken a while to go through all of them and see what treasures I have.

One that I perused this weekend was called Look Who's Cooking !

Produced in 1954 by the Junior Women's Club of Norfolk, VA (it only cost $1.50).

The book is made of chipboard and the title was painted on (you won't find that in Barnes and Noble).

The pages of the book were lovingly typed on both sides:

I selected Date and Nut bread to make (recipe provided by Dot Carswell), I veganized it:

1 C dates chopped fine
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C Earth Balance, melted in
3/4 C boiling water
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax and 3 Tbsp water...this is my substitution)
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Mix dates, sugar, Earth Balance, and water then allow to cool.

Add remaining ingredients and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

You come out with a delicious, not too sweet, moist morning treat to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea.

Or maybe you enjoy it while perusing your copy of this:

Oh sorry my bread got in the way :)

Yes today in celebration of my 100th post, no please don't stand and applaud, I am giving away a brand new copy (purchased by me) of Mama Pea's Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love.

I am so excited to have made it to this first blogger milestone and I really have to thank Mama Pea because she is one of my strongest inspirations for actually writing a blog.

She is so witty, slightly inappropriate clever, and of course full of fantastic recipes.

Did you know her book made it to the New York Times Best Seller List?  Yep sure did.

So I want to share the Pea love with one of you (and there may be some dough balls included with the book).

Each of the following items will score you an entry:

1) Comment on this post (anything will do I love to hear from y'all)
2) Follow my blog and comment to me that you did (or if you are already following let me know that)
3) Put me on your blog roll and then comment that you did (or if you already have let me know)

The giveaway will be open till 11:59 EST Wednesday November 30th.

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Nana's Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cinnamon Crunch

Today I am featuring another recipe by my Nana, hopefully you won't get tired of her recipes.

I fell heir to her recipes boxes and books and have just had a wonderful time going through them and pickig out the ones I wanted to try.

For some reason, I don't know why, but the desserts are always the first ones I want to do.

So today I give you Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cinnamon Crunch

4 eggs
3 C all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 lb butter
2 C sugar
1 pint of sour cream
2 tsp baking soda

Crunch Mix:
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C chopped nuts (I used my almonds again from my milk experiment)
1-2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together and then add your eggs.

Add in your sour cream and incorporate.

Add flour and baking soda and mix completely.

Put 1/2 of your batter into a greased 9x13 pan.

*Here I used two loaf pans instead of a 9x13

On the batter sprinkle half of your crunch mixture.

Pour your remaining batter on top and then put the rest of the crunch mix on top of that.

You will have nice layers of batter and crunch, but to mix it through out your cake use a knife and swirl it through the batter a few times.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour if you are using loaf pans.

When the time is us this is what you'll be rewarded with:

Just remember to let it cool off because it is REALLY hot when you cut that first slice (I may have a small burn in my mouth to attest to this safety issue).

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday.

Just to let you know I will be hosting a Pealightful giveaway on Monday in celebration of my 100th post.

Have a great day!!!

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Nana's Pumpkin Spice Cake (vegan style)

This weekend was unseasonably warm here in North Carolina.

Just when I thought the cold weather was here to stay we had a bright and sunny Sunday which involved lots of playing outside.

Before we played we had to make a stop at Costco after church.

Somehow I don't know how...this ended up in our cart:

Yes I now have the mother of all blenders and I am more excited than Andrew in this picture.

The first thing we made you ask?  A green lemonade...which was delicious and refreshing for a warm Sunday.

I also made this which is perfect for Thanksgiving or any of the other 364 days of the year.

Nana's Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 2/3 C sifted all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 C light brown suger (firmly packed)
1/3 C shortening (softened)
1 C canned pumpkin
1/2 chopped nuts (I used leftover almonds from my almond milk that I made here)
1 egg (regular or flax)

Put all of your ingredients into one bowl and mix until incorporated (you just can't get any easier then this).

At first it will look like this:

Put the batter into a greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

It will come out looking like this:

Now I did add a quick icing (powdered sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla, and a splash of almond milk).

This cake is so moist and full of spice.

It would have been delicious on it's own (making it more a quick bread), but with the icing you take it to a whole new level of love.

Show someone you love them and whip this up.

Do you have a dessert from a relative that you love and is easy?

I hope you all are having a wonderful Monday only 3 more days till Thanksgiving....YEAH!

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Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today my grandmother was taken off of life support and allowed to go on to the next phase of life. 

It was an extremely sad day, but one that brought a little relief. 

You see she had open heart surgery on October 9th and through some complications lost a lot of blood that ultimately left her brain dead. 

The doctors kept her on life support while they determined if recovery was possible, in the end it was not.

A very sad day for my grandfather as he bid her farewell, only to join her a year later on December 2, 2008 (5 days before their anniversary...I think he knew he had to be there with her).

I think about them often and when I saw this cloud formation in the sky I snapped a pic because it look just like an opening to Heaven, at least to me. 

One day I know I will see them again.

I love you Nana. 

You continue to be my cooking and baking inspiration.

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Angel Food Cake Nana Style...NOT!

So some of the fondest memories I have of my grandmother involve food.  Seriously the woman was a phenomenal cook and baker.

One of her dessert's that brings back some of the fondest memories for me is her angel food cake.

It was always tall, light, and covered with a light glaze...YUM!

My grandmother passed almost 4 years ago and it has been at least that long since I had angel food cake and I decided it was time for me to give it a whirl.

I pulled out her recipes and got to work.  Now I thought about making this vegan but in researching my options not many people had had any luck with making a veganized version...apparently whipping eggs into a frenzy is something that is hard to replicate.

Instructions:

1 C egg whites
1/2 tsp salt

Whip these together until foamy, then add:

1 tsp cream of tartar

Beat until the egg white sand up in soft peaks, then add:

1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl sift 1 1/4 C sugar and 1 C cake flour

Fold your flour and sugar mixture into your egg mixture carefully.  Incorporate the flour mix slowly so as not to ruin the egg mixture.

In a tube pan flour the sides and bottom (no butter) and then pour in your batter.  Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.

This next step I thought was a little odd, but who am I to question the recipe of a baking genius.  Turn the heat off and allow the cake to remain in the over for another 10 minutes.

Then take the cake out and turn it upside down until it is cool.

So I was feeling pretty good about this until I mixed in the flour.  I felt pretty certain about half way through that things were not staying as fluffy as they should.  However while it was baking it smelled delicious and exactly the way Nana's would have.

Once I got it out of the pan though things were VERY apparent that I had not correctly put my ingredients together.  My cake was probably 1/2 the size of hers and not nearly fluffy.

To my credit though the flavor was very good and had a wonderful slight almond taste.  I made a glaze and that brought the cake together. 

To make it all the more special and to recall memories of years passed I served it on my Nana's china.

So give it a try and maybe try more then once, because apparently angel food cake takes a little work to get right.

I hope you all have a happy Monday!

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London Bars and 9/11

Yesterday was an emotionally draining day, and I know I am not alone in saying that.

I wanted to share with you a song that was played in my church service, "Shine" by David Crowder Band.  I think it fits the bill and helps with the healing, that 10 years later we still need:

Outside of watching the memorial service I did some baking and this is what I made:

London Bars

This is a recipe that my grandmother left me and one I don't think I had ever had the pleasure of her making for me (as you can see though the recipe card was well used).

I am very glad that I pulled this one out and gave it a whirl.  It calls for nuts but I substituted in chocolate chips.  I will preface this with saying that I wanted to make it vegan, but as I got into the recipe I realized I didn't have any egg replacers at my house.  I went to my local grocer and they didn't have any either (I was thinking a flax egg wouldn't produce the right effect)...so I had to use eggs.

Crust:

1/2 C Earth Balance

1 C unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 C brown sugar

Cream together Earth Balance, sugar, and flour. 

Your mixture, once everything is incorporated, will look a little like sand

Press your mixture into a dish

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes

While the crust is baking assemble the topping

1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 C chocolate chips (or nuts)
3 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C coconut (shredded and unsweetened)

In a stand mixer mix your eggs until they are light.

Add sugar, flour, and salt (continue mixing)

Add coconut and vanilla (continue mixing)

With a spatula mix in your chocolate chips and pour over top of the crust.

Place back in the over for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees

Cut into squares and serve

Be careful though because those suckers are HOT...don't worry I suffered through the pain because they were so darn tasty.

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My Grandmother's Sponge Cake

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Sponge Bob Square Pants."

No not that sponge...today I want to share with you my grandmother's sponge cake.

I have never made this before and thought it would be a fantastic way to use up the egg yolks I had leftover from one of her other recipes (which I will share next week).

Ingredients

1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C egg yolks
1 egg
1 1/2 C white sugar
1 Tbsp orange zest
1 Tbsp orange juice, strained
1/2 tsp lemon extract
3/4 C boiling water

In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. According to my grandmother you are supposed to sift these ingredients together (this breaks up the flour and can give your baked good a lighter texture), however I don't have a sifter so I took a fork and fluffed the mixture.

In a mixing bowl combine the egg yolks and egg. Mix on medium until eggs are thick and a wonderful lemon color (this will take about 3-5 minutes).

Add the sugar in batches, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Turn off the mixer and fold in the orange rind, orange juice, and lemon extract.

The nice thing about fresh squeezed orange juice for recipes is that often there is leftover (however not for long once my 3 kids sniffed it out and consumed it rapidly).

My grandmother's recipe calls for you to sift the dry mixture into the egg mixture...however I just used my trusty fork and sprinkled the ingredients in. You'll need to fold the dry into the egg mixture (this will take a little work but be patient and continue to fold, DO NOT STIR).

When you think all of the ingredients are combined add your boiling water and fold it in quickly. For me this "uncovered" some flour that wasn't adequately incorporated.

Next pour your batter into an UN-greased pan (I used a round bundt pan) and place in a 325 degree over for 1 hour.

Once your done cooking "hang" the cake upside down on a cooling rack for an hour. This will help the cake cool and hopefully easily release from the pan.

I had to take a knife around the edges to loosen it up and only had a minor incident with the cake once it was completely out.

However this has turned out to be a delicious treat and one that is enjoyed by the kids for breakfast with a smear of jam. I could also see this being fantastic with some sort of custard or cream in the middle and chocolate ganache on top.

For my first time out I wanted to make my grandmother's version from this point on though I will play with it and make it my own.

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