While the Germans have been in town, we have gone dancing 3 weekends in a row.

So it’s ridiculous how long it’s been since I posted!  I pretty much had to stop all activities except for grading.  Well, that and hanging out with our German friends.  They come every year for a school exchange, and I must say that they are pretty fantastic people.  In the past month, we have done lots of eating from Pei Wei, Margo’s kitchen, Glen’s grill, and Marcus’s fabulous Thai dish.  It has also been prom season around here, and I have chaperoned, fixed hair, done make-up, and taken tons of pictures.

Our Germans’ month here has turned into almost 6 weeks because of the Iceland volcano.  They can’t fly home!  I really love having them here, and I wish they could stay forever.  But I know that they really want to get home, and their 24 students want to get back to their families.  We just want them to be safe.

Marcus and Daniela are “our Germans” and they are fantastic!  Every time we are all together, the laughing is uncontrollable.  Have you ever had this kind of laughter, where your sides hurt, over and over again?  These Germans–it’s like we’ve known them our entire lives.  And they have a way of bringing out the best and funniest in all of us.  This past Monday night, Marcus cooked a great Thai dish that I will be posting the recipe to soon.  It was their last night in town (or so we thought anyways).  There Marcus is, cooking this beautiful Thai dish with dried chilies from Margo’s garden that she has hanging over the stove, chopping vegetables and things.  We are all sitting around, drinking wine and talking.  It is a warm place, cozy with friends and good-natured familiarity.  Everyone is really laid back, the conversation is always interesting, and I look up to see  that Marcus is wearing a t-shirt with a tiger face on it.  The tiger has a patch on one  eye and a tear rolling out of the other eye.  It read, “Eye of the Tiger.”  You just can’t beat that.

Tonight we will be going dancing again…for the third weekend in a row.  Daniela is always a fun dance partner, and she is really beautiful, too.  Last weekend, as we left the dance club, I looked up to see several forlorn looks on guys’ faces, quite sad to see her leave.  Marcus and Daniela have definitely inspired a trip to Germany in the future for us.

Joe’s birthday was also this week.  I did have time to make him a most beautiful trifle with lemon-scented vanilla pudding, angel food cake, Creme de Cassis liqueur, whipped cream, and some excellent fresh berries.  It is delicious and light enough to enjoy on a warm evening.

Lemon-scented vanilla pudding just means that I zested a lemon and squeezed some fresh lemon juice into vanilla pudding after it set.  It livens up the flavors of the berries.

Ingredients

• big package of vanilla pudding
• whipped cream or cool whip ( I used light)
• large package of fresh blackberries
• regular sized package of fresh blueberries
• regular sized package of fresh strawberries, sliced as you go (save one or two pretty ones for the decoration on the top)
• angel food cake
• Creme de Cassis Liqueur
• juice of half a lemon and its zest

The layers are as follows:

• Mix vanilla pudding and whipped cream (or light cool whip) for the first layer in the bottom of the dish.
• Place evenly sliced pieces of angel food cake on top of that.  Make sure that however thick you want the cake, you definitely don’t want to cut too much of a wedge so that your layers will be more even.
• Brush the cake with Creme de Cassis liqueur.  The angel food cake will soak it right up.
• Place clean, fresh berries on the cake slices.  I mixed them all together, but you could have a layer of just strawberries (then, blueberries on the next round, then blackberries on the next round)
• Spoon on a layer of lemon-scented vanilla pudding
• another layer of angel food cake–keep in mind that you want to cut smaller pieces, too, to fit in the little, unfilled spots
• brush cake with liqueur
• another layer of berries
• pudding
• top with whipped cream
• make a nice design with the leftover berries on the top of the whipped cream

Save some berries to make a design on top of the trifle.

A finished holiday beauty: The edges of this pumpkin cheesecake develop into a beautifully rich golden orange.

This comes straight out of The Taste of Home Cookbook.  I don’t know why I was always wary of cheesecakes.  Perhaps it was the disastrous efforts of trying to make my mom’s famous fudge.  Candy is a real doozy.  But I will perfect my mom’s fudge this year.  And of course I’ll be sharing the recipe.  Also look forward to some Martha Washington balls from my mom’s friend Ruby this Christmas.

I write this as my heart breaks about my oven.  The coil caught on fire earlier tonight, and I almost cried.  Especially since I had just deposited an Enchilada Verde Casserole with a homemade creamy cheese sauce.   It was vegetarian, and I think it was going to be amazing.  I wish I could just get a whole new oven/stove.  At least this didn’t happen yesterday when I was in the middle of cheesecake mania. Because that would have been a REAL tragedy.  Hooo doggy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dessert

3/4 finely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
3/4 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (about 12 squares)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
2 tbsp chopped walnuts (again, I only had pecans–my mom keeps me stocked)

• in a small bowl, combine the walnuts, cracker crumbs, sugar and spices
• stir in the butter
• press onto the bottom of an ungreased 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom (I used a 9 inch spring form)

This is what my crust looked like after I pressed it into the bottom of the pan. It sure does smell good!

For the filling:

• in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth
• add eggs and beat on low speed just until combined
• add pumpkin and 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• beat on low speed just until combined
• the book goes into great detail about not over-mixing because it would cause air bubbles, cracking, etc.  I followed these instructions exactly
• pour filling into crust
• sprinkle with nuts and remaining cinnamon (I did not have the 1/4 tsp reserved to the side.  I left it in the little sprinkler so it would sprinkle on evenly.)
• place pan on a baking sheet
• bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set
• cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and run a flexible metal knife or icing spatula around the edges to loosen
• continue cooling on the wire rack for 1 to 1.5 hours (it continues to cook the inside as it sits)
• store in the refrigerator

Just pour the cheesecake filling into your spring form pan over the graham cracker crust.

Recipe Review Rating=10 out of 10!  Bake time was perfect, taste is simply incredible and multi-dimensional, crust is amazing.

*submitted by Melissa Davies of Clermont, Florida for the 2008 edition of The Taste of Home Cookbook

This New Orleans pineapple-apple bread pudding with bourbon sauce will make you want to slap yo grandma.

Holy crap, y’all! This is going to make you want to slap your grandma it is so good. My mom found this recipe from a Southern Living magazine. When she was making it the first time for herself, she talked about all the ingredients over the phone. And it became my mission to get a copy of this fabulous thing. She’s made it several times since, and she has started calling the bourbon sauce “dooky sauce.” Yes, Maxine is a trip.

I tried it out this past weekend, and we liked it so much that we had it for breakfast the next morning, too. Shoot, after I write this, I’m going to warm some up. It is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

We made a half recipe because it is only the two of us. The recipe below serves 8.

Recipe Review: Pineapple-Apple Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

1 (16 ounce) day old French bread loaf, cubed
2 (12 ounce) cans evaporated milk
1 cup water
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 large Red Delicious apple, grated
1 cup raisins (or leave them out if you don’t like them)
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up and softened
Bourbon Sauce

• In a big ole bowl, combine first three ingredients
• Stir in eggs, blending well
• Stir in crushed pineapple and next four ingredients
• Stir in butter, blending well.
• Pour mixture into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish
• Bake uncovered at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes or until set and crust is golden.
• Remove from oven
• Let stand 2 minutes.
• Serve with Bourbon Sauce

Bourbon Sauce

3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp bourbon or whiskey
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg

• Melt butter in small saucepan over medium low heat
• whisk in flour
• cook, whisking constantly for 5 min
• stir in sugar and cream
• cook, whisking constantly, 3 minutes or until thickened (you’ll know)
• Stir in bourbon, vanilla, and nutmeg
• Simmer 5 minutes

From Chef Leah Chase, Dooky Chase Restaurant, New Orleans, Louisiana

Published in Southern Living