Creamy Beets (Southern Living, 1980)

Yes... before we go any further, I made a recipe entitled "Creamy Beets".  A couple of take aways - I like beets.  I did not, however, love this presentation of beets.  It was good enough to determine I would like to try beets again, though, so it wasn't too bad.

On page 136 in Southern Living, 1980; Creamy Beets are as follows:

I truly didn't change too much.

Creamy Beets

1 1/4 lbs. fresh beets

1 tbls lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

5 drops hot sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

- Peel & cut beets, steam

- Add remaining ingredients to cooked beets, except sour cream, over medium heat until warm.  Remove from heat and add sour cream, stirring constantly.  Serve warm.

The Steamed beets, ready for the remaining ingredients.

The final product.  I don't think this picture does the PINK color justice.  I'm really surprised Chris ate this... I guess after all of these years he does love me ;0)

I think my downfall in the looks was peeling the beets prior to cooking them...  As this was the first time I have ever made beets, I was in a time pinch and wanted to skip the cook, cool, then peel steps.  Seeing my hands dyed red while peeling/cutting the beets I kept thinking this would be a disaster and my white steaming basket would never be the same again.  I am happy to say, the red stain washed off easily.  From the steam basket and my hands.  What a relief.

Until next time,

Chery

Good Old Southern Popovers (Southern Living 1979)

Well, when I saw the recipe for Good Old Southern Popovers, it intrigued me.  A roll - with no yeast.  I am not a yeast bread maker.  I want to be, but I'm just not daring enough I guess.  I tried one yeast bread recipe from Southern Living 1979 while we were at the beach.  I didn't even report out on it, because I just wasn't impressed.  I know I shouldn't give up so easily, but I'm always worried that I'll get distracted and forget to take care of the dough.  Maybe one day life will settle down a little, and I'll have time to devote to a yeast bread...  Nah. 

Back to the popovers.  Little Miss helped me with this recipe.  She wanted to wear her apron and thought I needed to wear mine, too.  No pictures of that, sorry!  Little Miss really loved being a "cooker".  Anyway, this recipe was quite easy. But, I was very concerned over the temperature of and length of time in the oven.  However, not being a popover expert, I decided I'd stick to the recipe.

I wish I'd listened to my little inner voice on this one.  The popovers were WAY over done, as you can see, and I even took them out of the oven a little early.

I'd like to try it again, just because the recipe was easy, but I will definitely decrease the time in the oven to closer to 20 minutes for the first bake with the oven down to 400F.  If / when I do that, I'll let you know the results.

Lindy

Cinnamon-Chocolate Cupcake (Southern Living 1981)

I love cupcakes. And cookies. And ice cream. And cakes. Okay, fine. I love dessert. I saw this recipe and just had to try it! Cinnamon + chocolate = Yum!

First of all...microwave cookery struck again. Really, who cooks cupcakes in the microwave? I couldn't bring myself to even try, so here comes the first modification. Second, I doubled the recipe and only got 17 cupcakes. I also changed out the vegetable oil for coconut oil. I thought it was interesting that the cupcakes were eggless, but I knew the vinegar and baking soda together would probably do something with that.

 I followed the directions until it got to baking time. 

I decided that 350 was a good temp to start with, then I just watched them until I thought they were done. I guess it worked okay.

After the cupcakes were out of the oven, I started on the frosting. I took a bit to The Hubs for sampling. He said it tasted like a honey bun. I asked if that was a good thing, and he said yes. Whew!

I packaged them up in my cupcake carrier because we were heading to dinner at Lindy's. We'd had Little Man to spend the night and returned him home via dinner together (+ a friend of Lindy's and her family). Fun drop off! PS I love my cupcake carrier - and I get tons of compliments on it! It's so handy! A gift from my grandmother - she gives the most thoughtful and best gifts! 

These cupcakes were a winner. 

Really, everyone liked them! Or at least, everyone said they did. Junior ate leftovers x 3, J-Boy x 2...so that's a success in my book! In my opinion, the frosting overpowered the cake a bit, so it would be nice for the cake part to be a bit bigger.

If I was going to make them again, I would still double the recipe, but just make 12 cupcakes and probably not double the frosting. With 17 cupcakes I had some frosting leftover. This is a good go to recipe - especially when you don't have any eggs on hand.

~Audry