family

I Take That Back aka Vanilla Cakes

Hey, y’all.  🙂

What’s up?

It’s still so so very hot here.  The new business is going great but I had a little health setback last week so I wasn’t really in the mood for blogging.

Since we last met…we had our Christmas in July meal.  🙂

Dinner out. (Longhorn)

 🙂

Had to get a new whisk. 🙁  For years I used my Meme’s whisk ’til it finally wore out and then I switched to my Mema’s. It just made me feel like a little bit of them was still helping me out in the kitchen. I kept trying to piece the last one together but it finally met its last bowl so I got this one.  I have to admit it’s pretty good. 🙂 Still miss my beloved ones though.  🙁

Made some chicken fried chicken with gfjules.

😉

Y’all know I’m a proud Texan Southern girl…how had I never heard of sugar butter? Rolling a chunk of butter in sugar? I feel like someone in my youth failed me.  😉

I know some of y’all only read here for my political stuff but really what’s left to say?  I don’t want to type that horrible piece of garbage’s name on my blog. Watching him go after the parents of a dead SOLDIER makes me want to vomit. The only thing worse is watching / listening to those of you who continue to support him. There’s a very special place in hell…

 

Now how bout some cake to make the good and decent amongst us feel better 🙂

 

So a while back I told y’all about this cake and said it was the only vanilla cake I’d ever need.

Please forgive me for I was wrong.  🙂

This gfjules recipe right here is the only gluten – free vanilla cake recipe I’ll ever need. 🙂

Now y’all know we’re a rum cake family.  Plain, orange, lime, strawberry as long as it’s got rum we’ll give it a try.

I’ve wished so many times that Jules would make a vanilla box mix to go along with her other mixes.

Well a couple of weeks ago I saw she posted that vanilla cake recipe and called it the best ever or something like that. Of course I’d have to be the judge of that myself. 😉  So that night I took her recipe and weighed out all the dry ingredients into a bag and put it in the cabinet. Then this weekend I used it as a dry mix for a traditional rum cake. I used her liquid ratios but subbed some of my own liquids (so rum instead of milk…a mix of butter and oil instead of straight oil) plus a box of vanilla pudding. Just like the traditional Bacardi Rum Cake recipe we all grew up with in the 70’s.

I didn’t even mix it with a mixer.  I just used my Danish dough whisk thing.

This worked perfectly.

Only vanilla cake recipe you’ll ever need.  🙂

Ok that’s all for today.  Hope things are great in y’all’s world and that you’re still staying cool. 🙂

See y’all soon.  🙂

🙂

 

German Chocolate Brownies

Hey, y’all. 🙂

Is it 10 million degrees where y’all are?  It sure feels like it here.

Even so I did do some cooking this week.

If you read the old blog you know that fig preserve making day is one of my most favorite days of the year. 🙂  I guess because of all the rain we had all winter / spring…this year’s figs are out of this world good.

That second to the last pic is to show y’all what I’ve been doing with Glutino crackers to make them more palatable for me and for the non celiacs in my life.  I melt a little butter. Brush it all over the crackers and then bake at 325* in the convection over for just a couple of minutes. They don’t get soggy at all and once they cool off you can store them in a Ziploc bag and they stay super crisp for weeks.

Up next…

A batch of my Mema’s shrimp pasta salad.  I used that Barilla gluten – free pasta (macaroni size) I wrote about a while back and hands down they made the best gluten – free batch yet. I’ve tried other gluten – free pastas with this recipe and they are awful compared to this (actually all other gluten – free pasta is awful compared to the Barilla).  I’m so scared they’re going to stop making it.

I didn’t have any gluten – free croutons made up so I used crushed up Doritos on top.  No need for croutons anymore. 🙂

I know some you only stop by here for my political thoughts / rants but today I’m gonna hand the mic to this awesome 14 year old boy…and by extension his parents.  In EVERY way imaginable y’all are doin’ it right. 🙂

 

Now to those brownies…

First let me say that for a full brownie pan you should double the amounts listed below. These are thin because we don’t need a full pan in the house right now due so some blood sugar issues of others in the house and I couldn’t find my smaller pan so we’re just having thin brownies. 🙂

2 oz German Chocolate and 6 tbsp Butter. Melt completely and cool.

1/2 cup Flour gfjules of course plus 1 cup Sugar and a dash of Salt

Add melted Butter / Chocolate plus one Egg and a splash of Vanilla. Super easy.

Spread into pan and baked at 325* in the convection over for about 23 minutes.

If you’ve never used German Chocolate for baking…go get you some right this minute. 🙂  This is like brownies on crack…just how I prefer my crack I mean brownies. 😉

Ok that’s all for today.

Hope y’all are having a great weekend and are staying cool.  🙂

See you soon.

 

Hodgepodgin’ It Today

Hey there, y’all. 🙂

How was your 4th?  Cool I hope. 🙂

Today’s eats are mostly new ways of making things I’ve already blogged about before (recently)…but they were so go I want to share and give y’all some different ideas of how to use them.  🙂

Since we last met…

So last time I wrote about that Snicker’s cake but we hadn’t cut into it yet and I was the only one who’d tasted it (anytime I make something for other people I make a little mini tester to make sure it’s ‘other people’ worthy). Papa B said it was the best cake he’s ever had. Thank you, Papa bear. 🙂

A couple of days later I wasn’t feeling peanut-y so I scraped off the toppings and poured some warm leftover ganache over it. OH MY GOODNESS this was even better. 🙂  This is my new plain chocolate cake recipe right here. I can’t image ever needing another one.  🙂

That cake was for Father’s Day and of course Papa B wanted chicken fried steak. This was my first time using gfJules for frying. It was fantastic.  Another 3-pointer for Jules. 😉  Isn’t that piece of meat an interesting shape?

Yacht Rock is back. 🙂

So are snow cones. Wedding Cake FTW.  🙂 When we were little in the summertime…at the bay…every day at 3pm Mema or Pappy would take us to the only little store for miles and we could get a treat. 3pm because it was after their nap time. You know…be quiet while we sleep and you can have a treat. 🙂  I always got one of those old school three flavor snow cones in the paper cup with the pointy bottom.  A couple of times a week now we go get snow cones…at you guessed it…3pm – ish.  🙂  We weren’t doing it that way on purpose at all but then realized we always went at the time. 🙂

Back to the eats…the next week a neighbor brought over a box of fresh Fredericksburg peaches so I made some preserves with them and Mama B said she wanted a peach cake or cobbler.

So I used this recipe and subbed the peaches for the blueberries.  It was another win. 🙂  And this my new go to yellow cake. Can’t imagine ever needing another one. The fam got to this before I could get a good pic.

 🙂

Made some individual lasagna and I used this recipe for bread to make garlic toast.  Instead of the butter in the dough though I used an equal amount of sour cream.  This was a huge win too and how I will be making it from now on.

😉

For the 4th I made some homemade banana pudding. I made the vanilla wafers and just subbed gfJules for the flour.  It worked great. I’ll add the wafer recipe at the end of the post.

So earlier this year I started a business.  This is how my car seats look when I leave the house now. Packages ready to drop off. 🙂  I’m loving it a lot but it takes a lot of energy which y’all know I struggle with.  It’s also a reason why blog posts are so sporadic right now.

The other reasons being…health and heat. It’s just so hot I don’t really feel like turning on the oven for baking more than once a week or so.  We’ve had heat advisories down here for like the last 2 weeks.

So anyway…that’s what’s going on here. Hope y’all are staying cool in your parts of the world. 🙂

See y’all soon.  🙂

Vanilla Wafers

1 1/3 cups Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/8 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 stick soft Butter

1 Egg

4 tsp Vanilla

2 tbsp Milk

Directions

Oven 325*

Mix dry.

Add wet.

Mix well with spoon, hands, mixer. I used a wooden spoon.

Portion out dough balls.

Icebox for 30 minutes or freezer for 15.

Bake 15 – 17 minutes.

Cool on racks.

 

Pizza Time

Hey, y’all. 🙂

Sorry for the longer than norm absence.  I just haven’t felt like blogging.  Lupus fatigue and other stuff.

Shall we catch up? 😉

First though, Happy Birthday, Mama B.  I love you so much. 🙂

I say this all the time but in the grand parental lottery we hit the supper dupper jackpot with ours. 🙂  Mama B, you.are.everything and I know I can speak for Sister B and even Papa B when I say none of us would be half the people we are without your constant unconditional love, compassion and support.  I love you. 🙂

Made up the dough and balls the night before. One thing I’ve noticed when using gjJules flour with cookies…they turn out and hold together so much better if you chill the dough over night.

She wanted her usual batch of B-Day chocolate chip cookies instead of a cake so I made our fam fav Neiman’s cookies using gfJules flour.  As you can see it worked perfectly in yet another recipe.  🙂

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What in the expletive is this supposed to be?  I wouldn’t wear this if they paid me the $155.

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Ran out of my beloved Hawaiian Mac Oil.  Thank you, CA for replacing my stash. Love you. 🙂

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Y’all supporters are so…well mostly sad but also funny.  Throwing your support behind this failure just because he’s as racist as you are.  Sad…but still funny.

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Can somebody explain those Hadid model people to me…twitter style in 140 characters or less?  Like what do they do?  Are they like Kardashians…talentless semi pretty people famous for basically doing nothing but looking semi pretty?

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Now…about that pizza. 🙂

Overnight icebox rise.  That looks weird.  I had tucked the dough all up in a ball and that’s how it opened up as it rose.

6 inch pans.  The little specs you see are spices in the dough.

Bottom didn’t get quite crisp enough for me so I did the skillet crisping trick for about 2 minutes. Perfecti.

So remember when I ordered all those gfJules mixes after Christmas? Well this was one of them.  Now before I say anything else let me say that I’m sure the recipe on the box works great but I’m far too much of a pizza snob to ever put egg whites in my pizza dough.  Again this is my preference.  You do you and don’t worry about me. 😉

Most of my new readers lately end up here by searching for Jules flour so I’m sharing this to show that it even works doing something different with it.  If you read the old blog you know my fav homemade pizza dough is the mock Pizza Hut pan pizza dough.  I know.  I just said I’m a pizza snob and I love Pizza Hut dough.  That’s right.  Shoot me.  On second thought all these pieces of human garbage running around shooting people…no don’t do that.  😉

If you’re not familiar with that dough recipe it’s been going around since the mid 80’s…although when I went to find a link for it here I found several fairly new blogs posting it like it was something the blogger just created themselves yesterday.  Whatever.  Plenty of us have been making it since the 80’s and know y’all are lying.

Anyway…if you’re not famil with it it’s just flour, dry milk, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, water and then PAM type spray for the edges.

I’m gonna add what I did in recipe form at the end of the post but I just used 1 pizza pack (each box has 2) for the flour, sugar and salt. Added my own milk powder (I use Peak dry whole milk powder), yeast and water.

Side note…Jules has some sort of dairy free powder included in the mix but we’re not dairy free and I mean really have we not met? I don’t do dairy free. 😉

It turned out fantastic.  Her pizza mix has spices already in it (like garlic and oregano) and it smelled so strong when I mixed it up.  I was honestly a little worried about it…but it’s perfectly seasoned.  Even Mama B was able to eat it and she’s super sensitive to overly seasoned stuff.

If you’re looking at the Jules mixes and have to pick one or 2 to try I say go with the pizza and pancake mixes.  You won’t be sorry.  🙂

That’s all for now. 🙂  Y’all have a good weekend and I’ll see you soon. 🙂

Music for Mama, B. She loved(loves) this song and to this day every single time I hear it I think about her, Neelie, Marsha.  🙂

Pan Pizza Dough Using gfJules Pizza Dough Mix

1 pack of gfJules Pizza Dough Mix

2 tbsp dry Milk Powder

1 tsp dry Yeast

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 cup warm Water

3 tbsp Oil (for pans split between each pan)

PAM type spray for edges

Directions

This made 2 six inch pan pizzas.

I mixed everything up with my hand mixer with dough hooks for 5 minutes.

Let rise on the counter til it almost doubled then into the icebox overnight.

Dived dough and shaped.

Transferred shaped pizza dough to pans.

Sprayed all around the dough edges with Crisco butter spray.

Didn’t do a rise at all.

Baked at 375* in the convection oven without toppings for 10 minutes then with toppings about 15 additional minutes.

Bottom wasn’t as crispy as I like (because I used regular pans instead of cast iron) so I heated a skillet to med-high and heated the pizza for about 2 minutes.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

Hey, Y’all how’s your Tuesday going?

Hope you had the best holiday weekend. 🙂

We did our usual Tex – Mex fiesta.  That’s my sad plate. 🙁

One of my fav gifts.  🙂  Have y’all seen these coloring books for adults?  Supposedly it’s supposed to help you zen out.  Surprisingly it does kinda work.  I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal until I wanted some different coloring pencils and Hobby Lobby told me they’d been sold out for a couple weeks.  Even Amazon is backordered til late January (for the wax pencils).

My favorite gift…

Every year Papa B gives us each a fun or silly gift that he picks out without Mama B’s help. 😉  Sometimes they are super crazy but this one…is perfect.  Thanks, PB. 🙂  I collect pigs.  It says Barnyard Diva on the front and Raised in a barn and proud of it on the back. 🙂

So…I have this new mug and need something to put in it. 😉  What’s a girl to do?  Make some homemade hot chocolate mix of course.

1 1/2 cups dry milk

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup white choc chips

1 large box chocolate pudding mix

Have y’all seen that recipe?  You food processor dry milk, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, white chocolate chips and this wasn’t in the recipe but I added a large box of chocolate pudding mix til all powder-y and almost smooth.  The chocolate chips don’t completely break down but they melt quickly when you make up the hot chocolate.  Then when you want to make a cup of hot chocolate you mix 1/3 cup of the mix with 1 cup boiling water.  This is definitely a keeper.  The reason I added the pudding mix is because normally when I make hot chocolate I use more than a little heavy cream to make it thicker.  I can’t have anything really heavy or rich right now but still wanted a thick hot chocolate.

The latest in my ongoing testing of gfJules gluten – free flour.  Look at those bubbles. 🙂  I’m really loving this flour.

Randoms

  • “A perfect storm of errors” ? That’s how we’re describing the MURDER of a child now? Disgusting. That poor mother. Hell is too good for these authority figures a$$holes running around MURDERING kids. Way too good.

 

  • Ya know…the last time I checked you can’t just walk into a police station…tell them you want to be a cop and have them respond by handing you a gun and a badge.   Y’all are supposed to be highly trained individuals. If the only way you’re able to take down a TWELVE year old child is to shoot him…well you just completely suck at your job and need to take a seat while someone more qualified gives it a try.

 

  • Newsflash media covering political candidates…unless you were in the room when something happened nothing you say is fact. I don’t care how good you think your sources are…it’s still nothing more than the information those who WERE actually in the room or wherever want you to share. Stop it. Stop acting like what you say is the be all end all.  And those of you giving too much informational power to one person or group of people?  Y’all need to stop that too. 😉

  • Am I the only person in the world who thinks Star Wars is the dumbest thing ever?  Ok maybe not ever but y’all know what I mean. I don’t get it at all.

 

  • Have y’all watched this documentary…Soaked in Bleach?  It’s about Kurt Cobain, a PI and Courtney Love.  Apparently Courtney hired the PI to find Kurt after he checked himself out of rehab.  The PI didn’t believe anything she said and after Kurt’s death he started investigating it as a murder instead of suicide. I’d always thought the ‘Courtney killed Kurt’ stuff was just distraught fans who couldn’t accept the suicide. This docu totally changed my opinion.  I still can’t quite wrap my head around how someone as drugged up as she was at the time could have orchestrated a murder but the ‘evidence’ the PI presents in this docu is just way too much to ignore.  I’m not saying I 100% think she did anything I’m just saying the docu makes me question everything I used to think about it.

Ok that’s all for today.  See y’all soon.  🙂