I Could Be a Vegetarian

Is there such a thing as a bacon grease vegetarian? If so, then this dinner qualifies as vegetarian,

and I could so be one.

I realized this afternoon that I had an opportunity to make dinner at the farm and I knew right away what I'd start with.

Purple hull peas.

If you have never had purple hull peas, then you need to suspend everything you've ever thought about peas. There is none of the mush, none of the whatever is gross about regular old frozen green peas that most of us think of when we think of peas (which by the way is all I do with them).

Purple hull peas are my favorite summertime-at-the-farm treat, but I can tell you from scant experience, they are not easy to come by. Shelling them is not for the faint of heart, and supposedly picking them isn't that easy either. But they are so worth whatever sweat was used to get them to the table (Says the girl who didn't have to sweat to get them to the table. But I totally would have. Paid somebody to.)

So imagine my panic when Kyle told me a few weeks ago that deer had eaten the peas in my in-laws' garden. (Clearly there is not enough hunting going on around here.) Anyway, fearing I'd keep the grandchild away if there were no peas, my beloved in-laws traded some of their honey for a neighbor's peas. Whew! Crisis averted! But unlike previous summers, peas would not be plentiful this year.  Hence the reason I hurried to start the peas while Lily and Grammie were deep into a game of blocks, figuring it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. All you do is stick them in some water with an onion and some salt and let them simmer for 30 minutes or so. Oh how I love a dish that is as easy as it is delicious.

Next on the menu for my veggiepalooza was another one of my farm favorites-- fresh yellow squash and zucchini, carmelized down in a bit of olive oil with an onion, salt and pepper. Yummo.

If peas are my favorite summer harvest, then my in-laws' tomatoes are a close, close second. Maybe even first and a half. These tomatoes are a distant relative to the red fruit you think I'm talking about. They have just the right balance of sweet and acidic, juicy and firm. They do have a thick skin so my MIL peels them, chops them coarsely, sprinkles some salt and pepper and serves them only to people we love.

So far, this is a purely vegetarian meal, with only organic, home-grown, just-picked veggies. But wait-- Texans can't eat their peas without cornbread, so Jiffy to the rescue. But do you know what country folk do to their cornbread? Me neither, but I do know that my precious MIL melts bacon grease in muffin tins before she pours the batter in to get a crispy, smoky brown crust on these little pockets of love. They were as good as you're thinking, and totally worth ruining the vegetarianism of this gorgeous dinner. 

God bless Texas!

Semi-Cake Mix Chocolate Cake

I have always loved baking cakes but I have sometimes been hesitant to make from-scratch cakes, because I was never thrilled with the work to deliciousness ratio.  I mean, why use a complicated recipe with 15 ingredients when you can get a perfectly delicious cake using a cake mix? And then I happened upon a very happy mixture of the two - no pun intended- when one of my cooking heros, the famous Cindy M, told me that she sometimes adds ingredients to cake mixes to make them yummier. Granted-- Cindy is known far and wide for from-scratch cakes that make you want to move in, but sometimes even the best bakers use mixes. Thankfully she's also generous, and she let loose some secrets to turning a so-so cake mix into a "oh my gosh I need this recipe" crowd pleaser.

My family is filled with chocaholics, so all of the birthday cakes made around here are some variation of chocolate. The variations for my brother Danny (bottom picture above) and his oldest son Rhys include extra chocolate. For Danny's cake, I added chocolate chips, chocolate pudding mix and a stick of melted butter in place of the oil that the recipe calls for. Yes, you read that right- what recipe does melted butter not make better? The filling between the layers was cream cheese mixed in the food processor with oreos, which, if you haven't tried-- stop reading right now and go to the store for oreos and cream cheese.

For Marlow's cake (top photo), I made the budding epicurean an extra-moist cake by adding a half-cup of mayo and a package of chocolate pudding mix. Are you getting my theme here? Extra fat- in the form of mayo, melted butter or sour cream, add something special to an ordinary cake. Chocolate chips, chocolate pudding mix or melted chocolate add an extra-chocolatey element. Fun fillings like the cream cheese-oreo mix or even store-bought frosting spiked with your favorite candy (think M&Ms or Butterfinger) add yet another delightfully homemade element to your semi-store bought creation.

As far as decorating goes, I like to personalize birthday cakes with colored sugars, rolled fondant, or piped flowers, all of which can be made by the most novice of bakers-- but that's another post. In the meantime, let me know what your fave add-ins are.