Meet ZoZo, My Little Pumpkin

Sadly, my 5 year old sous chef, Calico, has left my tutelage  and moved on to a higher institution of learning.... kindergarten.  Fortunately, for me, she hired her replacement before she left. I would like to introduce you to ZoZo. Now, ZoZo is 3 years old and already quite adept in the kitchen. For her debut she wanted to demonstrate how to make Gooey Pumpkin Cake.


ZoZo

We found this recipe on the Food Network website, courtesy of Paula Dean, and thought we'd give it a try. It took only about 15 minutes to put together and 45 minutes to bake.  The aroma of pumpkin and spices baking in the oven always helps to usher in the new season and makes me glad autumn has arrived.


PUMPKIN GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Cake:

Press into pan

• 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

ZoZo will demonstrate how to add the melted butter to make the filling in the video below.




To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake, as the center should be a little gooey.

As ZoZo so simply says, "DONE"!

Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Friends are like penne from Heaven

Friends are incredible gifts, and I have been blessed with many over the years. Fortunately for me, most of these friends are incredible cooks. Put us in the same room, and we'll soon be talking about food. We even talk on the phone before we get together about the food we are going to eat when we get together. We love to prepare and eat food!

After one of our recent food conversations, I got an idea. Wouldn't it be fun to spotlight guest chefs on this blog? Most of my girlfriends know more about cooking than I do so why not share their experience and knowledge with my dear readers so we all can benefit from each other.

Today’s recipe is from a friend I played soccer with 25 years ago. Laurie and I were on a women’s team called the Goal Diggers. I was one of the worst players on the team, Laurie was one of the best. She has carried her soccer skills into the kitchen. Instead of dribbling soccer balls, she’s drizzling olive oil, and a whole lot more.


This meaty penne pasta dish is a family recipe that Laurie has tweaked in her own stylish way. Like many great cooks, she doesn’t often use printed recipes. The knowledge is in her blood and she goes by instinct. These measurements are approximate, so feel free to increase or reduce the ingredients to your liking.

PENNE FROM HEAVEN

2 -28 oz. cans Tomato Sauce
½ cup Red Wine
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 lb. Ground Italian Sausage
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium White Onion
4 cloves Garlic
Fresh Rosemary Sprig
Fresh Oregano Sprigs
1 lb. Penne pasta

DIRECTIONS FOR SAUCE
Brown beef and sausage in a frying pan, drain fat, and set aside.

Mince onion finely in food processor

Saute minced onion and chopped garlic in olive oil. Once onion is translucent, add tomato sauce, stir to mix. Add desired amount of red wine, salt and pepper. Add browned beef and sausage. Add whole sprigs of rosemary and oregano. Cook on low heat for 2-3 hours. Sauce always tastes better heated up so I usually prepare the night before, let cool in fridge overnight, then put back on the stove the next day. Prepare penne pasta al dente. Before mixing sauce with pasta, pull out the herb sprigs.

Serves a crowd.

Is it a pie or a cake?

You want dessert, but you can’t decide if you want cake or pie, vanilla or chocolate. Well, Boston cream pie has it all! This recipe has vanilla cake layers, a chocolate cake layer, and a vanilla cream filling. To top it off, it’s drizzled with a rich chocolate glaze.

This dessert will satisfy your cake/pie/chocolate/vanilla craving with one bite. But one bite won't be enough.

BOSTON CREAM PIE

CAKE
1 yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

FILLING
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
¼ tsp. salt
2 whole eggs
2 cups milk
1 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp light corn syrup


CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two round 9” cake pans and set aside. Mix cake mix with water, oil, and eggs as directed on the cake mix box. Pour 2/3 of cake batter into one pan. Add 2 Tbsp cocoa powder to the remaining cake batter still in bowl. Pour into other round cake pan. Place both round pans in oven and bake as directed on box, except the chocolate layer will require about 5 minutes less time than recommended and the vanilla layer will require about 5 minutes more time than recommended. Cake is done if toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cake cool.

FILLING
In saucepan mix sugar, flour, and salt together. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and stir until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk remaining ½ cup milk with eggs until smooth. Add to saucepan and whisk constantly until thick and bubbling. Stir for 2 more minutes, then remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Place plastic wrap directly on filling to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool. (if you prefer, you can use some packaged vanilla pudding mix instead of making the filling from scratch, Follow directions on the box, but add 2 Tbsp. more milk than called for, and 1/2 tsp vanilla).

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
Warm whipping cream, corn syrup, and chocolate chips over low heat until melted and smooth.

Remove vanilla cake layer from pan and split it into two even layers. Place bottom half, cut side up, on cake platter and top with half of cooled cream filling, smoothing evenly to edges. Cut off top of chocolate layer to make bottom layer flat and about ¾” thick. Discard top part of chocolate layer (or, just eat it). Place the chocolate layer on top of filling. Top with the rest of cream filling and smooth to edges. Place last vanilla layer on top of filling and press slightly to stabilize layers. Chill cake for 15-20 minutes. Pour warm glaze over cake, smoothing it to edges. It’s OK for it to drip down the sides.

Serves 12

Let me tell you about this wonderful butterscotch torte

This is a recipe that's been around. I have seen it several times in the Valley Children’s Hospital All Guild Cookbook, Cooking is a Lark Cookbook, and my mother’s recipe box. But I give you a twist on this torte recipe.

My twist is in the presentation. All of the recipes I've seen call for a 9x13 rectangle pan. But, I like to make it in a springform pan to show off the layers.

BUTTERSCOTCH TORTE

LAYER #1: CRUST:
1 cup flour
½ cup cold butter (I stick)
1 cup nuts, finely chopped (walnuts, pecans, or almonds)
½ cup powdered sugar (optional)

Mix flour and butter in food processor until crumbly. Stir in chopped nuts and press into bottom of 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until slightly brown. Cool.

LAYER #2: CREAM CHEESE LAYER:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cool whip (buy 8 oz size)
½ tsp vanilla

Whisk all ingredients together and spread over cooled crust.


LAYER #3: PUDDING LAYER:
2 small packages instant pudding, any flavor
3 cups milk

Mix pudding and milk together and spread over cream cheese layer.

LAYER #4: WHIPPED TOPPING LAYER
Cool Whip
Chopped nuts (optional)

Spread remainder of 8 oz. Cool Whip over pudding layer. Sprinkle nuts over the top. Chill several hours.

Serves 10-12

The beauty of this dessert is that it looks great, is easy, and can be made with any flavor pudding you choose. The torte in the photo above was made with butterscotch pudding with sliced toasted almonds sprinkled on top of the Cool Whip. Butterscotch flavored pudding makes this dessert very unique, but it is equally good with chocolate (with nuts or chocolate shavings on top), lemon (with lemon zest on top), or coconut (with toasted coconut on top). Use whatever flavor pudding suits your taste. Although the recipe calls for instant pudding I prefer the taste of cook and serve pudding. Either way, it's yummy.

Sometimes entertaining is simple

There are times when cooking an extravagant meal isn't the right choice. Like the time recently when I was in Pismo Beach. All I needed was a glass of wine and the tallest sand dune on the beach.

Rich and gooey Molten Lava Cakes

I came across this fabulous recipe many years ago in an issue of Bon Apetit. It is delicious, easy and impressive. If you like rich gooey chocolate desserts, you will love this gem. I usually make the batter earlier in the day or the day before and refrigerate it. Then I can visit with my friends up until the time the cakes go in the oven.

MOLTEN LAVA CAKES

5 oz.(3/4 cup) bittersweet(not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup all lpurpose flour

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Butter six 3/4 cup custard cups and dust them well with granulated sugar. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and egg yolks in large bowl to blend. Whisk in sugar, then chocolate mixture and flour. Pour batter into custard cups, dividing equally.

Bake cakes on cookie sheet until sides are set but center remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes or up to 14 minutes for batter that was refrigerated.

Run knife around hot cakes to loosen and immediately turn cakes out onto plates. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy.

serves 6

I usually wear heavy rubber gloves when turning cakes onto plates to keep from burning myself. It works well to place plate upside-down over custard cup and turn over to shake cake out.

Don't let cakes sit in custard cups too long because they will continue to cook, making them less gooey. Gooey is good. The hardest part about this recipe is judging the time. Since ovens vary slightly, you just have to experiment. If you want it even more rich, add a teaspoon of espresso powder disolved in one teaspoon of hot water, and add a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix these into the melted chocolate.

This goes great with a Ficklin tawny port.

Summertime and the farmers market is easy

We're coming up on the weekend and that's a good time to visit one of the many farmers markets in the bountiful San Joaquin Valley. We're so fortunate to have access to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that come directly from the farm. This, after all, is the most productive farmland in the world, and it's in our backyard. Take advantage of it.

One of my favorite farmers markets is the Vineyard at Blackstone and Shaw Avenues in Fresno, which is open on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. But I also like the Friday night farmers market in Old Town Clovis and the downtown Fresno market on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Sometimes I go to a farmers market with a shopping list, but other times I just pick up what looks appealing and interesting. It's also a special treat to learn about produce I'm not familiar with, such as that offered by Southeast Asian farmers who have begun frequenting the farmers markets in the San Joaquin Valley. They are always willing to give suggestions on ways to prepare their unique vegetables.

At farmers markets, you can get anything you want, sort of like going to Alice's Restaurant. But there's also the traditional fare. Last week I picked up some fresh mushrooms and red onions for a special sandwich.

I sliced up the mushrooms and onions and threw them in a pan with a little olive oil and minced garlic. Oh, did this concoction ever smell devine, and I couldn't wait to taste it. I sauteed this all together until the ingredients were soft. I poured in a little red wine, a dash of salt and some freshly cracked pepper, and let it all cook down for about 10 minutes.

I toasted some French bread and melted jack cheese on top, and then piled the sandwich high with the onion-mushroom mix. It was a great vegetarian meal. Simple to prepare and inexpensive. Best of all, it was yummy.

Nothing beats home-grown tomatoes

My garden is producing like crazy this week due to the 100-plus temperatures in California's San Joaquin Valley. My tomatoes are especially plentiful and delicious this season. Nothing beats a tomato that has been allowed to fully ripen on the vine. There is a sweetness and redness to home-grown tomatoes that is unmatched in store-bought varieties.

With the abundance of backyard tomatoes this year, I've had to get busy finding ways to use them. One of my favorite ways of serving vine-ripened tomatoes is in this easy and fresh-tasting Caprese dish.

CAPRESE

2-3 vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 - 8 oz. tub whole milk fresh mozzarella cheese balls (found at Trader Joe's or many grocery
stores), sliced 1/3 inches thick.

8-10 fresh basil leaves, cut in thin strips.

Olive oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Fresh cracked pepper and salt to taste.

Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick and place two slices in single layers on individual salad plates. Top each tomato with a slice of mozzerella cheese and sprinkle with strips of basil. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top. Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper and salt. Garnish with sprigs of basil, if you desire.