I have a tendency to jump the gun sometimes…my husband would tell you I start listening to Christmas music entirely too early (which I think is debatable), I always buy Spring flowers and potted plants when it’s still too chilly out, and I start cooking/baking with pumpkin, apples and butternut squash when it’s still 90 degrees.  It’s just that I get excited about seasons! It happens every year (especially when Fall comes around!) and this year is no exception.

I’ve had this recipe saved for about a year now.  I copied it out of my mother’s Southern Living magazine last Fall and somehow just now got around to making it. Chicken and Corn Pie with Cornbread Topping…mmm, now doesn’t that sound yummy?? And it was, too – really yummy, actually! But after making it, I realized (ok, ok, so I pretty much knew all along…) that it really is a dish that is better served when it’s chilly or cold outside – however, I just couldn’t wait that long! I’m ready for Fall now! The filling is more like a thick stew (which I love!) and the cornbread topping is really cheesy and yummy- and the great thing is, it’s really versatile- you could put in ground beef, or another kind of vegetable…lots of possibilities! I think this would be a perfect dish for watching a football game when it’s nice and chilly outside! In fact, I’ll probably serve this again when the hubby and I are at home watching the Fightin’ Texas Aggies one saturday!

Chicken and Corn Pie with Cornbread Topping
-Southern Living Magazine, October 2008

1 (10-oz.) can enchilada sauce
1 (10-oz.) can Rotel Tomatoes
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (2- 12.5-oz. cans chicken, drained, may be substituted)
1 (6-oz.) package Mexican-style cornbread mix
2/3 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Mexican four-cheese blend, divided

Preheat oven to 375°. Stir together enchilada sauce and next 3 ingredients in a 3 1/2-qt. saucepan over medium heat until combined; cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Stir in chicken.
Whisk together cornbread mix, next 3 ingredients, and 3/4 cup cheese in a small bowl just until blended.
Pour chicken mixture into a lightly greased 11×7 inch baking dish. Spoon cornbread mixture over hot chicken mixture. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve with sour cream and jalapeno peppers if desired.

Mmmm, look at this moist, chocolatey cake; so full of deep chocolate flavor, covered with sticky dark chocolate ganache….and filled with….zucchini…?!?! Yep, you read correctly – zucchini.  I know it sounds disgusting, but you’ve all had or heard of zucchini bread, right?  Well, there’s really not much of a difference – using it in a sweet, spiced quick  bread or baking it into a chocolate cake – it’s all the same!  And believe me when I tell you you can’t even tell the zucchini’s in there; no, seriously!  I first saw this on The Repressed Pastry Chef and it looked so good I had to get the recipe.  And then I saw it again…and again…food bloggers all over the place have been making this cake lately!  I figured I needed to make it ASAP and see what all the fuss was about.  I’m so glad I did, too! This was an amazing cake – the most moist (moistest??) chocolate cake I think I’ve ever had…and like I said before, there isn’t even the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary.  I know what you’re thinking – if you can’t even tell it’s there, why put it in?? Am I right??   I wondered the same thing, but Em over at The Repressed Pastry Chef told me that it adds a ton of moisture – boy was she right! And the great thing is, you don’t use all that much butter – the zucchini makes it plenty moist.  You might still be thinking “eww..”, but you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that this cake is absolutely and completely delicious.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
-The Repressed Pastry Chef

For the Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the Icing
3/4 cup heavy cream
9 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.
Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.
To prepare the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Wait 3-5 minutes then stir to combine. It will thicken as it cools… when warm (but not hot) pour over cake and smooth with offset spatula. Allow frosting to set for about 30 minutes before serving… or not

Here’s a cute story:

Once upon a time, when my parents were newly married (and I mean “newly” – they probably hadn’t even been married a week yet!) and just home from their honeymoon, my mother wanted to cook my daddy one of his favorite meals for their first married dinner at home- stuffed peppers.  She worked hard in the kitchen and came out with a big platter of beautiful looking stuffed peppers.  As they sat down and started to eat, they both noticed something wasn’t quite right – the peppers were crunchy! It was then my  mother realized she’d neglected to cook the rice before adding it to the filling! She was so embarrassed, but my daddy kept on eating and said he thought they were great anyway – what a great husband!

Here’s another story:

Once upon a time, when Joel and I had just been married and had just gotten home from our honeymoon, I wanted to cook a nice meal for our first married dinner at home. I picked out a nice noodle  casserole recipe and went to work.  As my new husband and I sat down and started eating…lo and behold, the casserole went, crunch! crunch! and immediately I knew I had flubbed up somehow. Just as my mother had done years before when she was a young bride, I had neglected to boil my noodles before putting them in the casserole.  Just like my sweet daddy had done, my hubby kept right on eating and said it was delicious and that he liked it crunchy, while I sat there blushing. Like mother, like daughter, I guess!  Lucky for our husbands, we’ve both grown quite a lot since our first married days!

Believe it or not, when I was a kid, I hated these things.  I hated peppers, I hated onions…I hated most things, it seems like.  I didn’t even try these until I was almost married – my mother coooked them and I finally decided I’d give them a try.  I ended up really liking them and getting the recipe from her.  Finally, last night, I decided to make them myself – I did them exactly how my mother does them and WOW, these are SO much better than I remember!!  They’re hearty and filling and have tons of great flavor! We both ate like pigs and cleaned our plates! Luckily, there’s one left and I get it for dinner tonight since hubby is going to a boys’ night! Yee haw!!

My Mom’s No-Bake Stuffed Peppers

2 medium bell peppers (any color – I used yellow)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon basil
1-15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups rice, cooked
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cut peppers in half lengthwise. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, drop the peppers in and boil for 5-6 minutes. In a small bowl, mix tomato sauce, basil and sugar and set aside. Brown meat and onion in a large skillet; drain. Stir in 1/2 the tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of the rice and the salt. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes; stir in cheese. Spoon meat mixture into peppers and place into skillet. Pour remaining tomato sauce around peppers; cover and simmer. Top with additional cheese, if desired. Serve on top of remaining rice.

These really are SO good – do yourself a favor and try them out soon! I promise you’ll love them! Just don’t forget to cook the rice first!   Enjoy!!

This week’s dessert was certainly a nice change of pace from all the chocolate desserts and cakes I’ve been making lately.  Something with apples sounded perfect to me…I was really looking forward to making these bars.  Thanks to Karen of Something Sweet by Karen for choosing these Applesauce Spice Bars…they hit the spot!  The cake (or bars, I should probably say) itself is really moist and light with dark rum, pecans and chunks of apples baked in, and the glaze…oh man, the glaze…sweet, sticky and caramel-y; the glaze made these bars.  I followed a few fellow bakers’ advice and doubled it, and was very glad I did – that glaze was by far my favorite part!  My hubby really liked these;  needless to say, they didn’t last long!

See that glaze??? Oh boy….it’s just calling my name!!  And look at those nice, big chunks of apples and pecans…and the flecks of spice…beeeeautiful!!  If you’re looking for a nice change of pace – head on over to Karen’s blog and get the recipe; you’ll love ‘em, I promise!

The swim suit section of clothing stores have been replaced with back-to-school clothes; at my local Wal-Mart, the shelves that were once lined with plastic Tiki-themed party decorations, ice chests and cute plastic outdoor dishes are now filled with school supplies as far as the eye can see, and kids everywhere have that familiar look of wide-eyed dread on their faces.  This can only mean one thing – the new school year is upon us and summer as we know it is in its last days.  My sister and all of my teacher friends all have to go back to school next week, and pretty much all of them are doing their darndest to enjoy their last few days of freedom.  I guess I feel kind of guilty because I too, am a teacher…but the best kind of teacher- a voice teacher. I teach like, 3 days a week and I don’t even go in until after noon.  How awesome is that? (ok, ok, I’ll stop rubbing it in your faces…..neener, neener, neener!! Hehe, ok now I’m done, I promise!)

I know a lot of people are bummed that the summer is just about over, so I thought I should post something that reminds us all of a good old fashioned summer; and really, what’s more perfect than warm apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream? Not much…

I know apple pie is probably better enjoyed around the Fourth of July, but I figured it’s one of those desserts that works all summer long! I actually made this a couple of weeks ago for my in-laws and grandmother-in-law, Meme.  Meme and I sat together and enjoyed big, warm slices of pie with homemade vanilla ice cream…we really enjoyed our pie!! Meme loved it so much, I sent some home with her for her coffee the next morning.  Seriously, this was some of the best pie I’ve ever had in my life…and no surprise, it’s Dorie Greenspan’s recipe. She never fails me! This was actually the first time I’d ever brushed my pie crust with cream before baking it, and I was super happy with the result – I’ve never gotten a more beautiful crust!

For those of you teachers out there who are trying to squeeze everything you can out of these last days of summer, I highly recommend making yourself a big, beautiful apple pie.  Enjoy a big slice out on your front porch at night and watch the fireflies…savor every moment, because the next day, you should probably start getting all your school supplies ready! Hehehe, sorry, just couldn’t resist!

All-American Apple Pie
-Dorie Greenspan

9-inch double crust pie dough (recipe below)
4 pounds (about 6 very large) apples
3/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I omitted)
2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the Glaze (optional, but highly recommended!)
Milk or heavy cream
Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar

Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
On a well-floured surface (or between wax paper, or plastic wrap), roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Fit the dough into the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a 1/2 -inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a 1/8-inch-thick and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the crust in the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling. (The crusts can be well covered and kept refrigerated overnight).

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core and slice the apples into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Put the apples into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss everything together really well. Let the mix sit for about 5 minutes, until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.

Remove the pie plate and top crust from the refrigerator and put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the crust and then turn the apples and their juices into the crust. The apples will heap over the top of the crust. Pat them into an even mound. Dot the apples with the bits of cold butter.

Very lightly moisten the rim of the bottom crust with water, then center the top crust over the apples. Either folds the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimps the crust attractively, or presses the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you’ve pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely.

Use a sharp paring knife to cut about 6 slits in the top crust. Use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of the center of the crust as a steam vent. If you’d like, brush the top crust with a little milk or cream and sprinkle it with sugar (I used cream and it turned out absolutely gorgeous!).

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 50 to 60 minutes (total baking time is between 65 and 75 minutes), or until the crust is gorgeously browned and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After about 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it’s browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it rest until it is only just warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough
-Dorie Greenspan

For a 9-inch double crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1/3 cup very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
About 1/2 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Until you have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 table spoons of the water add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get the dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Divide the dough in half. Gather each half into a ball, flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling.

Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this week’s recipe.  I mean, the title sounds great – ‘Brownie Buttons’ – pretty cute, right? But I’m super-duper picky when it comes to brownies and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about mini-mini brownies.  A lot of members had said this recipe didn’t quite do it for them, or that they stuck, or the glaze wasn’t good…I didn’t have very high hopes.

But, as it turned out, these were really, really good! I don’t know about everyone else’s, but mine had sort of a chewy, almost crunchy outside, with a really soft, fudgy inside….I wan’t expecting that! I loved the texture of these!  Instead of the white chocolate glaze (I can’t stand white chocolate), I used a little dusting of powdered sugar, which really went well with the bitterness of the chocolate. These were just all around good-  fun to make, fun to eat and super cute to boot!

Thanks to Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen for picking this week’s recipe – check out her blog and get the recipe. These would be so fun for kids or to take to work – easy and fun to eat! I’ll definitely be keeping this recipe close by!

I didn’t get a chance to make this in time for last week’s TWD, but I sure wasn’t going to let this recipe pass me by!  I knew as soon as I got the chance, I needed to make this cake. Luckily, my friend Courtney was coming to visit last week, which gave me a great excuse to bake it.  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much more than a regular old banana bread out of this cake – and it was, actually, very similar to banana bread…but SO much better! This will be my go-to recipe for banana bread now (I thought it was closer to a bread than a cake).  Courtney, hubby and I all loved it. It was so good, I’m making it again for my mother, who is coming to house sit and dog sit for us while we’re out of town this week. I know she’ll love it with her coffee!

This cake was chosen (last week) by Mary of The Food Librarian. She has a great blog – be sure to check it out and get the recipe for this! You won’t be sorry!  Come back tomorrow for my (regularly scheduled and on time!) TWD post – Brownie Buttons.  So cute!!

It’s that time again! Here is my monthly “You Want Pies With That?” blog entry! This month’s theme is “Nuts About Pie”, chosen by Jaque of Daisy Lane Cakes.  We could make any kind of “nutty” pie we wanted – at first I thought about doing a really tasty pecan pie or some other kind of pie chock full of nuts.  However, my hubby doesn’t like nuts at all, especially in pies, so I had to get creative. Late one night as I was trying to fall asleep, this idea popped into my head and I loved it! I present to you, the Elvis FlufferNutter Pie.

For those of you who are wondering what the heck fluffernutter is, I’ll explain.  Take the fluffernutter sandwich, for instance – two slices of bread: on one side, marshmallow fluff, on the other side, peanut butter; put the two slices together and voila! Fluffernutter! I thought a pie made out of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff would be great, but then I decided adding bananas would make it extra special! Plus, I could “Elvis-ize” it that way (since Elvis was quite fond of his peanut butter and banana sandwiches!)! Perfect!

I started with a plain ‘ol pie crust (blind baked), topped it with a layer of sliced bananas, then a layer of peanut butter mousse, and topped it off with  marshmallow fluff and more bananas. Not your normal, run-of-the-mill pie, but hey, it was still darn tasty! I was actually surprised at how good this tasted. My good friend Courtney is staying with us for a few days, and she helped me make the pie and served as my honorable taste-tester. We both really enjoyed our slice!

Elvis FlufferNutter Pie

1 9-inch pie crust, blind-baked
3 bananas, thinly sliced
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (not natural)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 jar marshmallow fluff

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the heavy cream and powdered sugar until firm peaks form. Transfer to another bowl and refrigerate until needed. In the same mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy; add the peanut butter, cinnamon and milk and continue to beat until mixed. Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Place the sliced bananas in a single layer on the baked (and cooled) pie crust, then top with the peanut butter mousse. Spread a layer of marshmallow fluff and top with additional bananas. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Peanut butter mousse adapted from Dorie Greenspan

This was an incredibly fun pie to make…and eat! We really enjoyed it! Head on over to the You Want Pies With That? page in the next few days and check out everybody’s fantastic, nutty pies!

You may have remembered me saying that I got myself a copy of David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop recently.  Well, obviously I just love it…I’ve already made quite a few treats from it and they’ve all been totally delicious.  But I have to say that this one takes the cake.  I completely fell in love with gelato when I first tried it in Germany a few years ago, and then again in Italy (it just doesn’t get better than that…big scoops of gelato at a cute little street cafe on the Amalfi Coast) and we were lucky enough to live less than 5 minutes away from a great gelato shop for two years.   So I make/eat the stuff whenever I can!

When I first got this book, this gelato recipe was the very first one that I marked to try.  It didn’t take long for me to give it a go, either.  This is definitely one of those recipes that requires a lot of time to make – not just a “throw it all into the ice cream machine” kind of recipe; but it was totally worth all the extra effort – totally and completely.

This particular recipe is called Gianduja Gelato – Gianduja (pronounced jahn-doo-yah) basically means hazelnut and chocolate. Considering I have an undying love for this combination, of course I was over the moon for this gelato. It’s so amazingly creamy and chocolatey with a good amount of hazelnut flavor.  Perfect, in my opinion! My hubby went nuts for it too.  I know this is a recipe I’ll be making over and over again for years to come.

Gianduja Gelato
-David Lebovitz

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
4 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
5 large egg yolks
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rub the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel to remove as much of the papery skins as possible, then finely chop them in a food processor or blender.
Warm the milk with 1 cup of the cream, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.
Once warm, remove from the heat and add the chopped hazelnuts. Cover and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
Put the milk chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat the remaining 1 cup cream in a medium saucepan until it just begins to boil. Pour it over the milk chocolate pieces and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Set a mesh strainer over the top.
Pour the hazelnut-infused milk through a strainer into a medium saucepan, squeezing the nuts firmly with your hands to extract as much of the flavorful liquid as possible. Discard the hazelnuts.
Rewarm the hazelnut-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm hazelnut mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the milk chocolate mixture. Add the vanilla and stir until cool over an ice bath.
Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Toasting Nuts
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Spread the nuts in an even layer on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake the nuts in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring them once or twice while baking so they toast evenly. To see if they’re done, snap one in half: it should be lightly golden brown throughout.
Let the nuts cool completely before using unless the recipe indicates otherwise.

(That’s my hubby enjoying his gelato). This is seriously some of the best ice cream I’ve ever made…if you have an ice cream maker, you should totally give this one a try! You’ll fall in love with the chocolate/hazelnut combo, I guarantee!

Sing For Your Supper has a new home….and a completely new look!! My sweet hubby has spent the last month working on getting me moved from my last blog to this one – I’m so excited!!! Hopefully WordPress will be a little easier for me to work with than my last one. Special thanks to my good buddy Andrea for coming up with this cute design – I love it!!! We’re still working out a few kinks, so please let me know if there are any problems seeing my page or subscribing to my RSS feed. Look around and enjoy the new me!

P.S.  Please bear with me as we get those kinks worked out.  Right now we’re getting an error when you post a comment.  Your comment will show up, but you will see an error message.  Just ignore it for the time being.