#Baketogether: Vanilla Pots De Creme With a Secret Sauce

It's been awhile since I've participated in #baketogether. Every month I would see the challenge, come up with a few twists on Abby's recipe, have every intention of doing it, and then the month was gone. I was particularly disappointed in myself last month with the lack of whoopie pies in my house, as they are one of my husband's favorite treats. Such is life.

But this months #baketogether was to put a twist on Abby's vanilla pots de creme. I have a special spot in my heart for pots de creme. They are easy to make, but seem all fancy, so I feel like I'm really treating myself when I make them. I had several ideas for different variations on her original recipe but the one I settled on was to make a chocolate wine sauce to compliment the strong vanilla taste of the pots de creme. There is nothing complicated about the sauce, it is simply red wine and chocolate. The thing I did that made it special was to put the sauce on the bottom and then pour the custard on top so that when you dip your spoon into it you find a little surprise at the bottom. The other advantage to doing it this way is that the sauce is something you dip into, this way you still get the full vanilla flavor but the last taste in your mouth is a really lovely wine and chocolate flavor. I really enjoyed them.

Vanilla Pot De Creme with a Red Wine Chocolate Sauce

Pot De Creme recipe by Abby Dodge

Red Wine Chocolate Sauce by Amanda Benoit

(Makes 4 pots de creme)

Printable version for the sauce

Ingredients for the Red Wine Chocolate Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups of red wine (a Cabernet works well for this)
• 4 tablespoons of semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions for the Red Wine Chocolate Sauce:

1. In a small sauce pan over medium-low heat combine the win and the chocolate. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture has reduced by half. Set aside while you make the pots de creme.

Ingredients for the Pots De Creme:

• 1 vanilla bean split or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste
• 1 3/4 cup half & half
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt

Directions for the Pots De Creme:

1.Measure the half and half in a 2-cup glass measure.

2. Position the vanilla bean on a cutting board and, using the tip of a sharp knife, split the bean lengthwise down the middle. Slide the edge of the knife down the cut side of each piece of the bean to release the seeds. Add the seeds and vanilla bean pieces to the half & half. Heat the mixture in the microwave until very hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover and let the mixture steep 30 or up to 2 hours. The longer the half & half and the vanilla bean and seeds steep, the more pronounced the vanilla flavor.

3. Position the oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 325°F. Arrange four 6-ounce ramekins in a baking pan with 2-inch high sides. I use my 8-inch square baking pan. Divide the red wine chocolate sauce between the four ramekins.

4. In a small saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar and salt until well blended.(Don’t let them sit or the eggs will begin to break down.)  Uncover the half & half and, whisking, slowly pour the half and half (with the vanilla bean pieces) into the yolk mixture. Whisk until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a spoon or heat-proof spatula, until thickened and coats the back of a spoon or spatula (170-172°F on an instant read or candy thermometer), about 4 to 5 minutes.

5. Slide the pan from the heat and fish out the vanilla bean and scrape any custard from the pod back into the custard. Stir in vanilla extract or paste, if using.  Pour the custard into the ramekins over the backside of a spoon so that the red wine chocolate sauce remains as a separate layer in the bottom of the ramekin. (for a super-clean pot filling, I like to pour the custard back into the 2-cup measure and then pour it from there into the ramekins – the pour spout makes it so easy.) Carefully fill the baking pan with hot tap water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins and cover the pan loosely with foil.

6. Bake until the pot de crèmes wiggle like jello when nudged, 35 to 45 minutes depending on thickness of the ramekin walls. Transfer the baking pan to a rack let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 2 days before serving.

Don't Tell My Kid's Dentist I Did This

Hello there. I know it's been a bit but such is life with a newborn. I've come to peace with the fact that only half the house might get vacuumed at a time and that the most important things are a fed family with clean clothes to wear. The first few months are always the hardest while you walk around in a daze from lack of sleep and try to figure out the new "normal" in your house. BUT look, here I am. I managed to get most of my chores done and *GASP* all the kids are down for a nap AT THE SAME TIME <- can I get a virtual high five? I figured I'd take a few moments and do a recap of Lily's 5th Birthday, because while some things are taking a backseat in these first few months of being a mom to four my daughter's 5th Birthday was not going to be one of those things.

Lily is like me in almost every way, including starting to plan out her Birthday months in advance. So, I wasn't the least bit surprised when back in August she saw a picture of a Candy-land themed cake that she wanted for her Birthday. The funny thing is that this wasn't my first time being a part of or planning a Candy-land themed party. My mom did two of them for me when I was growing up. I loved them because my mom took construction paper and made a life-sized Candy-land board for my friends and I to play on. It was awesome. So when Naiya turned 5 I did a Candy-land party for her with the same life sized Candy-land board in our driveway and make your own cupcakes for the dessert. All the little girls seemed to love it.

This time for the invitations I created a game card that had the invitation printed on the blank side. I sent along a pawn I had used a cookie cutter for the outline of the shape and then used glitter glue to pipe out the details on each gingerbread man. They were very easy to make but I really liked the look of it when it was all put together.

The cake was set, but I changed the size of the cake from the sheet cake Lily had found to an 8-inch round cake, which was a better size for the number of guests we were going to have. Lily wanted a chocolate cake with strawberry filling. I found a recipe for a marshmallow frosting that was both insanely easy to make and tasted unbelievable. You can get the recipe for that frosting here. I used starburst for the path, various candies for the different stops, ice cream cones that I piped with chocolate frosting for the "castle" at the end, and gingerbread men around the side. Side note: I was really annoyed when I saw that they've changed the little candy hearts you get at Valentine's Day. They now say things like, "text me" or "tweet me". I searched through until I found enough of the old ones for the space on the cake.

I was planning on the life sized Candy-land game, but in our basement since it is winter. I did switch up the rules a bit though because I found that when I followed the traditional Candy-land rules at Naiya's Birthday that the game took too long. So I removed the "special" cards from the deck so that there was no skipping ahead, and likewise no getting sent back to the beginning. That also changed how you picked up candy along the path. So I just had the kids pick up candy as they passed each stop. The whole game took about 15 minutes to do which was a much better time frame for the kids.

Lily was grinning from ear to ear so I'd say the party went over really well and I have a hunch that Jude might be asking for this party at some point in his life, just not this year as I'm doing a super-hero themed party for him. I can't wait for it :) 

The Best Things Come in Small Packages

Just a quick post while baby boy takes his morning nap and I take a moment to have a small snack. Oliver was born at 4:11 pm, January 1, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz., and was the longest baby I've had at 20 1/2 inches. He is the most content and easy going baby I've ever had, and he'll need to be with the happy, loud, and busy family he was born into. We are loving every minute of him and can't wait to see his little personality bloom. What a great way to kick off 2013!

I hope you all had a great holiday, and that your new year is starting off on the most wonderful foot.

The Home Stretch

I figured I should get at least one more post out before the arrival of my baby boy. The official due date is December 30, so it's crunch time for me and I'm finally almost done with my list of, "must get done before baby" and am starting to move onto my list of, "I'd really like this done before baby". My husband has decided that I am a force of nature at the end of my pregnancies. I have decided I really need to find a way to bottle and sell that burst of nesting energy women get before delivering. I'd be a millionaire.

This new bundle of baby boy joy will be occupying any free time I've had so you can expect a lot less from me on this blog in the next several months. I'll write when I can but my focus is going to be where it should be: with my family.

We are all excited to welcome this new precious life into our home and into our hearts. The kiddos can't stop hugging my belly and love to feel their brother kicking around in what little space he has remaining. Jude has even named his baby doll after his brother and told me that he wanted the baby in his room so he could snuggle him when he cried. That boy melts me, I swear it.

So I'm wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season. Enjoy each other, love each other, and hold each other close.

xoxo

Homemade Advent Calender...a New Tradition

Growing up I had an advent calender every year at Christmas. Every door had a piece of not so great tasting chocolate. You know the type. It never mattered though, I always looked forward to it. It also gave me something to help count down the longest 25 days that took place yearly during my childhood.

When my eldest was old enough I started giving her advent calenders too. She always loved them as much as I had. So now Lily and Jude are "of age" and I considered getting them some calenders this year as well. What I really wanted to do was make them some sort of an advent calender and get some of their favorite treats to tuck inside. The only problem with that is that they're still going through their Halloween candy. Did I really want a bunch more candy in the house? No, not really. I swear our house busts at the seams with sweets and treats from October to Easter. I'm sort of over it. Besides I have other places I'd rather give my money to than out dentist. So I started thinking about how I could solve this problem.

One day on Pinterest I saw someone pin an advent calender that I thought was wonderful. Instead of a piece of candy for everyday there was an activity to do together. I loved it and decided that was what I was going to do. She had made hers entirely out of paper to hang on a door or a cabinet (You can check out her advent calender idea here). I wanted something a bit more durable that I could store easily and reuse as my kids grow up. I thought if I made it out of felt that it would last, but I had less than a week to put it together and a project like that would take me a lot longer than just one week.

So, after some thinking I came up with an idea to use an ornament tree and hang the envelopes with the activities on the tree. I also bought some jingle bells to hang in place of each envelope as it was opened so that the tree still served as a decoration for during the holidays. It took me 3 days to put together all of the envelopes, about 10-12 hours total. The kids were all excited watching each envelope being made. I decided not to tell them what I was doing until December 1, but they did know it was a surprise for them. So far they have really loved it. Every morning we open an envelope to see what we will be doing that day.

I made some activities really simple for busier days and others more involved. I like how it worked out because I just sat down with a calender knowing what my schedule was like and was able to plan the activities accordingly, knowing that some days would be busier than others. I also like the fact tat I can change out the activity cards as I choose and as my kids get older. If you wanted to avoid the cost of buying an ornament tree you could easily collect some branches and put them in a vase. You could even spray-paint the branches a festive color if you felt so inclined. I bought some stickers to label the days on the back. I also put a little tab of paper at the top of each activity card so they would be really easy for the kids to pull them out of the envelopes. Each envelope is 2x3 inches.

Everyday I will be posting the envelope I designed on Instagram. You can follow along if you'd like, my handle is "dabblings". I've also included a list of the activities that I planned below if you think it might be something you'd be interested in doing with your family in the future.

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

Advent activities (in no particular order):

1. Deck the halls
2. Put up tree and lights
3. Decorate the tree
4. Special treat (piece of favorite chocolate)
5. Watch a Christmas movie
6. Drink hot chocolate with candy canes
7. Donation to Toys for Tots
8. Donation to the local food bank
9. Design some gift tags
10. Make a new ornament for the tree
11. Color a Christmas page
12. Drive around and look at Christmas lights
13. Make and decorate Christmas cookies
14. Make a graham cracker house
15. Make and send out Christmas cards
16. Christmas craft (pomanders)
17. Make dog treats
18. Fill the bird feeders
19. Make bird seed ornaments
20. Make popcorn balls
21. Make egg nog
22. Read the real story of Saint Nicholas
23. Christmas craft (make Christmas magnets)
24. Read the Christmas story
25. Put baby Jesus in the manger

The Spaghetti Sauce I Grew Up On

I think there are an endless amount of variations on spaghetti sauce. Our favorite is almost always the one we grew up eating. Nothing seasons a meal better than nostalgia. So it should come as no surprise that although I love a variety of tomato sauces my favorite is my mom's.

My mom is a great cook. She got to being that way because deep down she is a fierce closet competitor. In other words, she seems all nice and sweet, but she plays for keeps, make no mistake about it. She has a friend named Doug that is not a closet competitor, he is very open about the fact that he wants to wipe the floor with you when you're in a competition with him. There is a reason I am telling all of this to you. You see, when my mom first got married her and Doug met through my dad. They bonded over their love of food and other things. They even started a little tradition of taking turns cooking meals. My dad and Doug's wife who also share a love of food had no problem with this. They also had no problem with the fact that Doug and my mom were constantly trying to one-up each other. My mom has told me a story about one time when she made a spinach pasta and an egg pasta and wove the two types of pasta together. Then she simmered them in a shallow saute pan and slid each woven piece of pasta onto the plates and topped them with a sauce. I mean really...who weaves pasta?

She got very good at cooking, and began cooking without measuring, which I have come to believe is a true sign of being comfortable in the kitchen. So, when I strapped on my apron to make the tomato sauce she made for me growing up I had to take the time to figure out and measure out the amounts of the different ingredients to get the recipe to be consistent, something anyone can recreate at home.

My mom's tomato sauce is very different than the sauce my mother in law makes (see that post here). It's different because it is a meat sauce with chunks of different vegetables throughout. It also uses mostly fresh ingredients, and it cooks in less than an hour compared to the hours my mother in laws sauce spends simmering away. Also my mom always made fresh pasta when she made her tomato sauce, which always took it to another level for me. There is nothing like fresh pasta. It's different, and even though I like my mother in laws sauce just fine, my mom's will always take first place in my heart and belly.

Printable version

Karen's Spaghetti Sauce

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 yellow onion; chopped fine
• 2 cloves of garlic; minced
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/2 a green pepper; chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 a pound of button mushrooms (or baby portobella mushrooms); sliced
• 1-28 ounce can of tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat heat the oil and melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 7 minutes.
2. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until the beef is no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the green pepper and the mushrooms. Continue sauteing until the the pepper and mushrooms are starting to soften, about 5 minutes. 
4. Add the tomato puree, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, and basil,  stirring to incorporate  Set the heat to low and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Check for seasoning and serve over linguine (I make my own for this dish. Recipe to follow)

Fresh Egg Pasta Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour (about)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 5 eggs

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl combine the flour and the salt. Form a large well in the middle of the flour. Crack the eggs into the well.
2. Using a fork, break the yolks of the eggs. Then, working from the outside of the eggs start to incorporate the flour until a dough forms. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until the dough is smooth, 3 minutes. Add flour if the dough is sticky. 
3. Wrap pasta dough in plastic wrap and allow to set out on the counter for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough and cut into linguine using your pasta maker. **Tip: Kids love to help with the making of the pasta.**
5. Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil. Cook pasta for 3 minutes. Serve with sauce.

Support for the Victims of Hurricane Sandy #FBS4Sandy and an Auction Too

As I'm sure everyone knows the east coast was hit by a hurricane/super storm named Sandy a week ago. Where I live we were extremely fortunate not to get any damage from the storm. A few people lost power, a couple of limbs were knocked down from trees, but it was nothing like what areas in New Jersey and New York City got hit with.

Cover Photograph from New York Magazine

As I write this a nor'easter is hitting many of the same areas that were devastated by hurricane Sandy. Areas that are still recovering. Many people are still without power. My heart goes out to all of those people.

One of the really powerful things I get to do as a blogger is use my little corner of the internet as a platform from time to time. Well this feels like one of those times. My friend Barbara over at Creative Culinary had a great idea for food bloggers to put up a comfort dish on our site today. Something we would make for a friend or neighbor in crisis/need. 

I had already planned a post for this week with my mother in law's spaghetti, meatballs, and sausages that she made for my husband when he was growing up. It started as part of an idea I had for this time of the year which always has its roots set firmly in family tradition. I thought it would be fun to cover the different spaghetti recipes both my husband and I grew up with including the one I have come up with on my own as an adult. One spaghetti recipe a week for the month of November. The recipe I was planning on sharing is a perfect fit for Barbara's idea. 

You'll have to excuse the photographs as we are getting into the time of year when it's dark by dinner time and my food photography starts to suffer from it. I eat what I cook you know.

This is a great recipe because it really caters to the time you have available. If you have all afternoon you can simmer it low and slow on your cook-top and get a rich, thick sauce. However, it does double duty as a crock-pot recipe that you can start in the morning and have waiting for you when you get home for dinner. The sauce is a little thinner when you use the crock-pot and because of that I really do prefer to simmer it on the cook-top. My husband walked in the night I served this and as soon as he walked in the door you could see the contented look of nostalgia written all over his face. My mother in law's recipe is very different from the one I grew up with but it screams comfort food and so now I will share it with you.

**Please continue to read the post after the recipe as I am also doing an auction to benefit the victims of hurricane Sandy and I don't want you to miss that!**

Printable version

Jean's Spaghetti with Meatballs and Sausage

(Serves 6-8)

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1- 28 ounce can of tomato puree
• 1- 28 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1- 12 ounce can of tomato paste (fill the can twice with water)
• 3 tablespoons of dried minced onion
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for meatballs:

• 1 pound of ground hamburger
• 3/4 cup of whole milk
• 3/4 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 egg

Other ingredients:

• 1 pound of dried spaghetti
• 4-6 links of Italian sausage (sweet or hot) 

Directions:

1. In a large pot combine the tomato puree, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, dried minced onion, parsley, oregano, basil, garlic powder, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, partially covered. Stir occasionally to make sure the sauce is not cooking to the bottom.
2. Make the meatballs and cut the sausage links into 2-inch pieces. Add the meatballs and sausage to the sauce and continue simmering, partially covered for another 2 hours.
3. In the last 1/2 hour of cooking the sauce prepare the pasta. 
4. Check the sauce for salt and pepper. Serve sauce over pasta.

**To make this in a crock-pot combine all of the sauce ingredients in the crock-pot. Then add in the meatballs and the sausage. Cover and cook over low for 8 hours. Prepare pasta and serve sauce over pasta.

But wait! There's more! Maybe you like the idea of comfort food but know that the victims from hurricane Sandy could use more help than just a nice cozy meal. If you're so inclined you can click on the image below and make a donation directly to the American Red Cross. Every little bit helps.

Oh but wait...there's more!! Maybe you'd like a little reminder of the donation you made. A little something tangible to keep you or someone you love a little warmer in the winters to come. Well I knit this hat to auction off with 100% of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

I knit this hat from acrylic yarn so it is machine washable and dry-able. It is one size. The pattern allows it to have a lot of stretch so you can put your hair up under it if you feel so inclined.

The auction for this hat is over on e-bay. It is open internationally. The auction includes free shipping so all the money you give will truly go directly to the American Red Cross. Please consider bidding on this hat, it really is for a worthy cause. The auction will close November 14, 2012. You can access the auction by clicking HERE.