Blueberry Bread

This is my favorite kind of stupid-easy recipe. Not only is it truly stupid-easy, but it’s handed-down stupid-easy. It’s stupid-easy with history, People, and that’s the best kind!

I was given this recipe by my adopted grandmother. This woman is truly the embodiment of grandmotherly loveliness, and she’s a practiced hand in the kitchen. She makes this recipe a lot - as do I - because it’s both easy and versatile. One doesn’t need blueberries - one can use pretty much ANY yummy filler - or none at all; one can make a cake or a loaf or cupcakes; one can eat this as dessert or a snack or breakfast. Truly, it’s culinary acrobatics at its finest, and here’s how you do it:

Set your oven to 350° and either grease and flour your pans or line cupcake tins with papers and set aside. Cream together a stick of butter with one egg and a cup of sugar and set aside. Sift together 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then pour, into a separate container (I use my Pyrex measuring cup), one cup of milk with a good blop of vanilla extract (the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, but I’m SURE I use more than that; I never measure it and I have a particular affinity for vanilla). Bring the butter mixture back and add the flour and milk alternately until all the ingredients are combined. Fold in about 2 and 1/2 cups of blueberries (or whatever mix-in you’re adding) and turn the batter into whatever cooking vessel you’ve prepared. Sprinkle the top with sugar, if you’re into that sort of thing - and bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes for the loaf pan; your baking time will be decidedly less - only about 11 minutes or so - if you’re baking in a cake pan or cupcakes, so keep an eye on them. They are done with the toothpick test.

I make this most often with blueberries, but I’ve also had fantastical luck with cinnamon and brown sugar swirled through, chunks of peaches, strawberries, and even rhubarb and raspberries. It is a consistent winner, and I hope you enjoy it half as much as we do.

Muddy Dirt Cake *EDITED!*

Several years ago, I made a chocolate cake for my daughter’s birthday. Nothing special, really - just a chocolate cake that I was intending to frost with chocolate frosting.

You know what they say about intentions and the road to hell, right?

I’m not sure how it happened, but the cake would not come out of the pans. YES, I greased and floured the pans; I’m a Goddess in the Kitchen, remember? For whatever reason - whether the oven temperature was off or the humidity was wrong or the moon was in retrograde - those cakes dug in and hung on, and the only way I could get them out of the pans was in pieces.

There I was with a recipe’s worth of cake bits. Frustrated, but entirely undaunted (by then, I’d learned to look at challenges as just that - challenges - and to not let myself get too worked up), I came up with a plan. I further crumbled the bits and put them in a glass dish. Then I put together a couple of batches of chocolate pudding; the cook-and-serve kind because, really? Instant? Not so much. (And yes, I use pudding mixes. Like brownies, the stuff from the box just comes out consistently better.) Once the pudding had chilled, I folded it into the cake bits, blopped a little bit of whipped cream on top and voilla! Muddy Dirt Cake. Though it wasn’t PRETTY, the dirt cake went over HUGE with the under-five set. The grown-ups seemed to like it pretty well, too.

I’ve made this cake on purpose several times since then. Sometimes I use boxed cake mix, sometimes I start from scratch, but I always use Jello or Royal cook and serve chocolate pudding for the “mud” component. My family doesn’t require theatrics, but if they did, I would pretty this up by serving it in a clean (preferably glazed) flower pot and sticking either sugared or silk flowers in. You could make it more kid-friendly (as if it’s not enough already!) by mixing in some gummy worms and putting some candy bugs on the top. Either way, this is stupid-easy yumminess at its finest.

Edited to include this photo of Punkin’ Pie’s 11th birthday cake, complete with silk flowers and gummy worms.  The girls came to the table and didn’t know where the cake was until I pointed it out to them.  It was a HUGE hit:

Rhubarb-Pecan Bread

A few years ago, I took a graduate class titled “Literature in Early America.” The class was taught by an amiable professor who also happens to be one of the country’s leading experts in Shaker history, literature, and culture. The class covered a whole lot of other literary traditions, but that little group figured heavily into the mix.

The class was a lot of fun, not only because the professor was a lot of fun, but because he was genuinely interested in allowing us to learn in ways that made sense to us; he didn’t prescribe assignments so much as make suggestions for our investigation. For example, one of the projects he offered up was a gravestone study. We studied the art and iconography of colonial gravestones! In a LIT class! It was fantastic! I got to research on of my (adopted) ancestor’s stones in a nearby town and wrote quite convincingly that his stone was more ornate and larger than his parents’ simple carved boulders because he managed to achieve a much higher status in the community; he became a Supreme Court judge - one of the first in the colony.

But I digress…

The final project for the class was left almost entirely up to the discretion of the student, and I decided that I would study the Shakers. We have a couple of Shaker villages in New England - one of which is still a living community - and I’ve always been interested in their art and, more importantly, their cuisine. I came up with the idea to do my final project around a Shaker meal, that I would cook for my class, and relate the idea of cooking to the foundation and maintenance of family. In Shaker tradition, the group is considered a family, and that concept of relation is essential to their community and their faith. I would investigate how cooking and sharing meals together helps to create and strengthen familial bonds, and then connect all that to some poetry and songs that the Shakers hold as foundational to their faith.

My professor loved the idea (as did my classmates, who were looking forward to a home-cooked meal in class). After an introduction to Sister Frances through my professor, I was invited to spend a day in the kitchen, helping her prepare the noon meal for the family. We talked about her history in the kitchen, we talked about my children and my schooling and my plans to be a teacher (doesn’t she just look like a friendly grandma who would ask me about such things?). We baked chickens and peeled potatoes. We set the table, said prayers with the family, and ate together. We had a lovely afternoon and, when it was all over, I left with a couple of recipes and some memories that I pull out every spring around rhubarb season.

One of the recipes I was given was this one. It’s for a quick bread whose main flavors are rhubarb and pecan, and it’s fantastically yummy (and easy; remember what I said about how much I love yummy and easy?). Because good things should ALWAYS be shared, I’m sharing this - another of my favorite recipes - with you.

Rhubarb Pecan Bread

Preset your oven to 350•

1 1/2c brown sugar
1 beaten egg
2/3c vegetable oil

Combine these in a large bowl and set aside.

1t baking soda
1t vanilla
1c buttermilk
1t salt

Whisk these together in a measuring bowl.

Measure out 2 1/2 c flour and add to the sugar, egg, and oil, alternating with the milk mixture.

Stir in 1/2c chopped pecans and 1 1/2c chopped rhubarb (I usually add more rhubarb than that, but that’s just me).

Pour into greased and floured pans, sprinkle with sugar, and bake 1 hour or until the loaves test done. I tend to bake these in mini-loaf pans, so they’re portable and giftable.

(*I nailed the final assignment. I brought in Shaker fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and scallions, the rhubarb bread and a Mother Ann cake. How could I POSSIBLY get a bad grade for that?)

Beanie’s Favorite Dinner

In honor of my younger daughter’s ninth birthday, I offer you the recipe for her favorite dinner; macaroni and cheese.

Once I figured out how yummy and stupid-easy it was to make mac-and-cheese from scratch, I’ve never since bought a box of the orange stuff. Seriously, you can have the sauce made in the time it takes the elbows to boil, and buying pre-grated cheese takes all of the “work” out of this process.

The recipe as it appears on the back of the Prince elbow macaroni box - my main inspiration for this dish - is as follows:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cook 8 oz of elbows according to package directions (boil in 3 quarts of water and 2 teaspoons of salt for 6-8 minutes, depending on desired firmness). Drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter, then stir in 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Carefully stir in 2 1/2 cups milk and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Add 1/4 cup minced onions and 2 cups of shredded Cheddar cheese and stir until cheese melts. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Mix sauce into elbows, pour into a buttered 2-quart baking dish, top with 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes.

I alter that recipe quite a bit, actually. For starters, I double the sauce; there’s really not enough sauce in the original, especially if you’re going to have leftovers the next day. I cook slightly less onion than is called for in a doubled batch, minced almost to invisibility, in the butter, then I stir in the flour and cook the mess together for a good 4 minutes or so, just to make sure the raw flour taste is cooked out. I heat the milk in the microwave for a bit, too, which makes its integration into the roux much easier. I leave the salt and pepper out altogether and add about half again as much cheese as is called for (and I use the good stuff, too; Cabot Hunter Cheddar). Finally, I toast the bread crumbs (a combination of Italian-seasoned and panko) in a little butter before putting them on top of the dish and popping it in the oven. I suppose one could also sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the crumbs, but any that I save over to do that gets eaten by passing children and husbands (and the occasional kitty cat).

For reasons I can’t explain, we almost always serve green beans with anything with Cheddar as its main component. The original recipe is supposed to make 4-6 servings, but the doubled version feeds the four of us with enough left over for a healthy lunch the next day.

YUM!

First Course

I’ve been meaning to open this site for a while now; not only do I love to share recipes (and I love to receive recipes that others are willing to share), but I’ve long longed for a place where I can keep all my favorites in one easy-to-search spot.

Welcome, then, my friends, to Mrs. Chili’s online kitchen! Pull up a chair and grab a spoon!

Almost all of my favorite recipes are what I proudly call “stupid-easy.” They’re concoctions that are crazy-simple to put together but which consistently earn me acclaim and adoration and the reputation as a Goddess of the Kitchen. I sometimes feel guilty about accepting the accolades for these dishes - I’m certain that if my diners knew how easy these recipes are to throw together, they might be a little more stingy with their praise.

My plan here is to give you the recipe as I found it (if such a thing exists; often, I make stuff up as I go), then give you the modifications that I’m likely to make when I cook the recipe myself. If you come up with another way of tweaking the instructions or the ingredients, be sure to let me know!

The first recipe I’m going to share here is one of my most favorite comfort foods, and truly one of my most simple recipes - seriously; five ingredients and no special skills required. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

Vanilla Rice Pudding

In the bowl of a slow cooker or a large saucepan, combine

1/2 cup of arborio rice

3 cups of milk, 1 cup of cream

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Simmer on low, covered, until the rice is al dente and the mixture is thick.

Sometimes, I’ll go exactly half and half on the milk and cream - 2 cups of each - and sometimes I’ll go with 3 cups of actual half-and-half and one cup of milk if I’m out of heavy cream. I tend to go a tiny bit heavy on both the sugar and the vanilla, and I’ve discovered vanilla bean paste (which I buy at Trader Joe’s) which imparts a lovely speckled look to the dish. I suppose one can also split and scrape a vanilla bean and leave it to simmer in the rice, but I almost never have whole vanilla beans around my kitchen.

How quickly I want this in a bowl is going to determine which cooking method I’ll use - the stovetop is a bit quicker than the slow cooker, but the stovetop also requires a bit more of my attention than the Crock Pot. I’ve also been known to stir everything together in a lidded baking dish and put it in a 250° oven, but only if I’ve got all day.

I serve this both warm and cold though, to be honest, I only eat it cold right out of the container while standing in front of the open refrigerator door.

YUM!