Not So Nice- Not So Easy Caramel Icing...

Generally, you know what level of cook you are. You may be the kind of cook that struggles to boil water or you may be the kind that can make grass cuttings and gravel rocks taste great. I would say I am somewhere between the two. That being said, you should also be able to discern which recipes are out of your league and which ones are easy-peasy.

I was feeling froggy. I wanted to try a recipe just barely out of my league- after all, that's how you get better- push yourself and I had had my eye another of my Moma's recipe's from her cookbook. I wanted to try the caramel icing recipe. I mean, if done right, caramel icing is just so decadent. And I want to be a cook that can do caramel icing.

So, I took a look at the ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 (5 ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

I had them all! It was a go! I did decide to half the recipe because I only had 2 cake layers stashed in the freezer.

The instructions say to brown the sugar over medium heat stirring until it turns a dark caramel color.

Okay, check. Then the directions say in another pot combine the other two ingredients and bring to a boil stirring constantly. This did call for a bit of ambidexterity- but, I had it going.

And then you add the caramelized sugar to this butter slash evaporated milk mixture and continue to cook for another 3 minutes stirring constantly. Then set it aside and let it cool for about 10 minutes... dum-dum-dum- this is when I found the specks of Teflon.

You can't really see them in this picture- but, I put it in the Zip Loc to throw away. I can't eat Teflon- even if it does taste like caramel icing.

It is at this point that I would like to tell a side story. When Baby Bub was born, one of my best friends came to take care of us. At one point, I asked her to cook me some mac n' cheese while I hopped in the shower. I just wanted some Kraft (in a blue box) macaroni and cheese. After scoffing at me and exclaiming she didn't know how to make that because she doesn't cook that, I told her to follow the directions on the side of the box. When I got out of the shower, she had it made... except she had used a metal fork to stir it in my Teflon coated pot and there were little Teflon flakes in it- oh Lord. I should have thrown that pot away then but, for some reason, I didn't. Fast forward to caramel icing and me using the whisk- and there you have it. First batch of caramel icing in the garbage. The moral of this story: keep metal utensils far, far, far away from non-stick, Teflon coating. 

After 60 seconds of loosing my grip, (did I mention I was on the phone the whole time with my Moma) I decided that this icing had not gotten the best of me! I had just enough of the ingredients to go at it again. So, I got back in the saddle, went through all the above steps and got to the part where you are supposed to let it cool for 10 minutes- almost there.

I let it cool longer than 10 minutes- closer to 20 minutes. And then I got out my hand mixer and mixed and mixed and mixed and mixed.

I seriously thought I had mixed enough but... not so much...

(Notice all the icing on the plate- it's supposed to be on the cake!)

Weeelllll, you win some and you loose some. Although the 2nd time was not the charm, I will certainly come back to this not so easy caramel icing. I will master it- someday.

Brine Thy Swine!

There are some tricks to making sure that your meats are tasty when you sit down to eat them. Just like you marinate chicken, you need to brine your pork. Bub is the one that taught me this business about brining swine and he learned it from his brother-in-law. Bub makes the best ribs. Hands down. (More on that later) And he always brines them overnight.

So, I applied the same principle to pork chops. Here's the deal with making a brine. It has always got to have vinegar of some sort in it. And then all the rest is just extra. Milk also helps make the meat more tender. For my brine I used

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp garlic
• 1/2 tbsp poultry seasoning (yes, I know.)
• salt and pepper

Pour all this in a zip loc with your pork chops and let it chill for several hours.

When I get ready to cook them, I take them straight out and proceed with it- either to the grill or cast iron skillet or oven or whatever. In this instance, they went on the grill.

Sweet Potato Casserole- Good for Your Soul.

If I could, I would eat sweet potato casserole every day of my life. I love it. Let me be clear though, I am not talking about the one with marshmallows. You can keep those marshmallows! I am talking about the one with the brown sugar/ butter/ flour and sometimes pecan topping.

Used to, I got it twice a year: Thanksgiving and Christmas. But all that changed when I took an interest in cooking and figured out that it is really not that hard to make. So now, we have it once every 6 weeks or so- I think that is often enough to not feel deprived and yet not so often that having it looses its special-ness. Also, I have to say, being as it's my favorite I know a good sweet potato casserole when I taste it: they are not all created equal. My Moma's recipe is one of the best and it really is easy to make (and it's in her cookbook).

There are two parts to the recipe, the sweet potatoes and the topping. Here is a list of all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes.

• 6 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) melted butter 

and for the topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Now, I would like to speak on what to do to get your sweet potatoes cooked and mashed. You can used canned but fresh is better and you can boil them, but baked is better. What my Moma does (and what I do) is line a cookie sheet with foil and bake them on 400 F until they are soft. Depending on how many you are cooking, depends on how long it takes. I usually bake a bunch of them, mash them and freeze the extra. Once they are baked, the skins will just peel off much easier than peeling them with a potato peeler. And also, they need to be pureed in a food processor so that the strings in them are destroyed.

Once you have your sweet potatoes pureed in the food the processor, combine all the sweet potato ingredients being mindful that if you put eggs in hot sweet potato puree you will have a mess, so let them cool a bit before you combine them. Once combined place the mixture in a greased 9 x 13 Pyrex.

For Bub and I, I halved the recipe and put it in Corning ware. And then I mixed up the sweet potato casserole topping. This time, I left out the pecans- trust me, either way, it's excellent!

And sprinkled it on top. I did not half the topping recipe because I like a lot!

Cook it on 350 F for 30 minutes or until the topping is nice and brown (rather than tan).

Yum! Enjoy!

So, here's the recipe in full:

• 6 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 stick (1/2 cup)

Puree sweet potatoes in a food processor and combine all ingredients and place in a greased 9 x 13 Pyrex. Combine the following ingredients and crumble on top of casserole. Bake on 350 F for 30 minutes.

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup pecans, chopped