cherries

I had some cherries that I bought at the farmers market and they had been sitting for almost a week - so it was time to take action. I don't really know what to do with cherries like this except for eat them plain. Do you? Ideas welcome for next time.

So, this time I tried using them in cupcakes. First, I put the cherries in about 1/4 c. water and 1 Tbsp. sugar in a small pan and boiled them (stirring frequently). They didn't really sauce-up like my blueberries did... but they did soften, so when they were soft, I drained them (keeping the juice), let them cool, and then squeezed the pits out. I put the cherries (less pits) and juice into my food processor, and chopped it up. I think I ended up with 1.5 c. of cherry mash (that's what I've decided to name it.) This was probably more work than it was worth...

I made this recipe for white cake, subbing 1 tsp. of almond extract for one of the tsps of vanilla. I added the cherry mash, and gave it a whirl as cupcakes. I baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and that was perfect.

Then, I used this butter cream frosting recipe for the top.

They're pretty tasty, but as I said before, the whole cherry prep was probably more work than it needed to be. Oh well, fun to try something new.


Here's the finished product.By the way, it's one of my pet peeves when I see someone post a picture on a recipe site for cake - and you can't even see the cake. Just the frosting. If people want to put a picture of a decorated cake, put it on the frosting recipe. :) And don't worry, I'm not talking about you - just in general.

 

 My cake is not decorative, so here's a picture of the actual cake - it was kind of purple-y:

 And then I remembered I had kept a cherry for the picture. Now it's decorative:

 
 So, what else can I do with cherries like this?

something old, something new

This past week seemed exceptionally busy - work during the day and something almost every evening. And then Friday I was sick (booo). Yesterday was spent at home (yay!) doing laundry, etc... I'm not sure about you, but when I have those weeks where I'm gone all week and eating out a lot, the only thing I want is something made at home. It could even be macaroni and cheese, but as long as it's made at home, I'm happy. And when it's better than macaroni and cheese, that's even better!

There was lots of at-home food happening this weekend, and it was awesome. I bought buttermilk yesterday to make corn fritters that we saw on Down Home with the Neelys on the Food Network. (They were good, but I didn't take a picture, so I'll make again and post sometime soon.) Believe it or not, I don't think I've ever made anything with buttermilk before. So, now I have all this buttermilk to use and am determined to use it all and not let it waste.

So, this morning, I made pancakes with buttermilk - but not regular buttermilk pancakes. I found this recipe for Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes on Allrecipes.com. I'm pretty sure this is going to be my go-to pancake recipe because I loved them - and it's all stuff I normally have in the house (except buttermilk, which I understand you can 'make your own', so we're good.) I followed the directions exactly, except I used all-purpose flour for all flour, because I didn't have wheat flour.

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes
(this is my something new - I've never tried this one before)
10 Tbsp. quick cooking oats
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 c. buttermilk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 egg

Mix dry ingredients well in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl (I used my food processor and whisk attachment), beat the egg, oil and buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown.

And my something old? Instead of syrup, I used up some blueberries I bought this week on sale and made blueberry breakfast sauce that I've made before - and it was yummy! (again)

The best part? It's all pretty fast, to do!

Now, I'm making refrigerator pickles to replace the mistake ones I made last weekend (more on that soon).

Also, if you're interested in checking out some of the other things I've made, you can check out the food archive.

my favorite new toy

A couple of months ago, I got my new favorite toy - my Tupperware food processor. (Thanks, Shelly!!)

I hate cutting onions and jalapenos, in particular, and am super pumped about something that does it for me. I still have to cut the jalapeno in half, and quarter the onion, yet, but I still feel like I'm winning in a big way because that's the end of it.

For example, I made salsa yesterday (and a several other times already) and it's awesome. I put the onion, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro in the processor.

 

And then I turned the crank a few times and it was all cut (and I had no onion tears or jalapeno-finger-in-the-eye - woot!)

And then I threw the tomatoes in (crank, crank) and added fresh corn and a bit of salt... and voila!

 

Fresh salsa is the best... and I love my food processor that makes it so easy! It seriously takes 10 minutes (including any prep time) and tastes so much better than store bought. I have used it a bunch of other times to cut up stuff, and have used the whisk attachment to make eggs. I'm told I can even use it to crush up Oreos and add ice cream to make my own blizzard - but I haven't tried that yet, but it's sounds good to me! I'm excited to try guacamole, too. 

Thanks, Shelly, for convincing me to get this - I am lovin' it.

Now if anyone knows what else I can make in it, let me know! So excited!