Now that I’m the proud owner of the most wonderful stove in the world, I fear this may become a food blog.
Meet Beatty’s Chocolate Cake (courtesy of Ina Garten) which I made for Father’s Day! It’s wonderfully moist with a bit of a mocha flair although not to be confused with mocha cake proper.

Then there’s homeade cheese danish which could very well be the easiest yummy recipe known to man.

And then you can top it with homeade strawberry jelly and fall in love with danish all over again.

Here’s how simple it is: (and I can’t take credit for the recipe)
Preheat oven to 350.
Unfold and press 1 can of crescent rolls into a 9×13 pan.
Mix 2 sticks of softened cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar, 3 egg yolks, and 1 t. vanilla.
Spread this mixture over the crescent rolls and then unfold another can of crescent rolls and lay it on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Brush the top with egg wash (the leftover whites from the mixture) and then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 35 minutes and cool before slicing.
Enjoy as is or top with preserves.
Serve to your wonderful family!

(Steve modeling his homeade Father’s Day gifts!)

There’s a convoluted story behind these griddlecakes and before I give you the recipe—which you most certainly should try—I must tell you the story.

Remember these?

The tacky charming little wooden calendars that everyone had in 1985? You know the one that came with holiday-decorated wooden chips so that you could put an American flag up on July 4th and a pudgy little painted wooden Santa up for Christmas? Surely your mom had one. Perhaps you still do. {My profuse apologies if you love yours. Maybe they are kinda quaint.}    But my sister and I used to ruthlessly poke fun at the one in my mom’s house. And we’d pretend to fight over who would inherit the wooden calendar. Except in true Appalachian style, we’d never say ‘inheritance’—-instead, we’d call it ‘my part’.

I’ve known since I was 10 years old what I wanted ‘my part’ to be so I began campaigning early for the cookbook that my mom used when she made griddlecakes.

I’d fake-fight for the calendar but I’d catfight anybody for the cookbook. My sister was not that attached to it thank goodness. And anyways, I had agreed to relinquish all rights to the calendar? Sacrificial love, ya know. I could make griddlecakes and she could put up the wooden St. Patrick in March.

It was several years ago when my mother officially gave me the cookbook and I remember it vividly. It was like a right of passage. I’m pretty sure I got verklempt. So I keep this very heavy, beautifully bound cookbook in my kitchen as a tribute to my mom and her griddlecakes. Of course, I’ve altered it slightly but it does make the best pancakes ever. And I love that they’re called griddlecakes. Because that makes me think of my mom in a blue terry cloth short set with a hood and  a killer tan standing over a batch of these:

And now for the recipe.

2 cups of all-purpose flour

6 t. of baking powder (yes, 6!)

1 t. salt

2 T. Sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of milk

3 T. oil

Mix and ladle onto hot ungreased griddle.   Cook until dry around the edges and  golden brown on bottom and then flip and finish cooking.    Enjoy!

This post is dedicated to the ever talented and wise Todd Wilken: who is a self confessed lover of cats and fish tacos.   We owe a debt of gratitude to Todd, Jeff and Craig for their tireless committment to ‘equipping the priesthood of all believers‘.   You can subscribe to their podcasts on iTunes or listen directly from IssuesEtc.org. They faithfully proclaim the gospel every day through a variety of current issues and theological topics and have a highly qualified panel of guests.   Todd posted a very funny facebook stream about fish tacos and it inspired me to write a little tutorial.   So here ya go.  Fish tacos ‘for the thinking christian’.

I first had fish tacos in Des Moines when Stevie and I were visiting Malachi, Savannah, Marcus and Nicholas. As we walked into the little dive by the water, I was skeptical. I like tacos and I love fish. But fish tacos? Really? But I’m a professing foodie so I’ll try almost anything. They were absolutely divine and I’ve been working on my fish taco skillz ever since. If you’re beginning to wonder whether or not this is a food blog, just know that I want to post a recipe everyday and often restrain myself. Everyday when I’m making dinner, I think, “Oh how my friends would love this recipe.” But then my children start whining about how hungry they are and beg me to stop taking photos of the food. Maybe I need a food blog. And maybe you need to try fish tacos.

Oh and give this a listen while you make them!

Here’s what you need:
Lime cilantro cole slaw
Seasoned black beans and rice
Beer battered and fried fish
Pico de gallo or homeade salsa

Lime Cilantro Cole Slaw:

Mix one bag of angel hair coleslaw with the zest and juice of one lime,  a handful of cilantro chopped,  one large tablespoon of miracle whip,  1/2 t. sugar,  1/2 t vinegar,  and one large tablespoon of regular mayo or sour cream and salt to taste.   Mix well and let sit until ready to use.   Before you serve it, taste it and reseason if needed.

Seasoned Black Beans and Rice:

Drain two cans of black beans.   To the drained beans, add salt to taste, 2 t. of ground cumin, 1 t. of garlic and herb seasoning, and 1 cup of cooked rice.   Mix well.   Top with 1 cup of cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Beer Battered Fish:

I use Paula Deens’ recipe for the fish.   I buy frozen tilapia, thaw it and cut it into small-ish pieces.   And I fry in peanut oil.  It makes all the difference.   Besides seasoning the fish before I dip it in the beer batter, I also sprinkle it with a little Lawry’s seasoned salt after it comes out of the fryer.   Keep everyone out of the kitchen when the fish comes out or it’ll be all gone before you can assemble the tacos.

Homeade salsa {winter version}

Salsa is not quite as fun in the winter without fresh tomatoes.    But here’s a pretty darn good version of fresh salsa without fresh tomatoes.

Drain one large (28 oz) can of Cento roma tomatoes.   These are whole romas.   Add them to your food processor or blender along with 1 seeded jalapeno (or less if you don’t like heat), 1 peeled avocado,  3 cloves of garlic peeled,  the juice of two limes,  1/2 red onion, 1 T. honey, salt and pepper to taste, and a big handful of cilantro.  I also added a little squirt of sriracha for more heat.   Pulse until it’s well mixed.

You’re almost there. Take small soft taco tortillas and heat them gently in the microwave and then layer all your yummy ingredients; fish, black beans and rice, slaw and then salsa. Serve with your favorite beverage to your favorite people.  And enjoy!

I thought it was high-time mocha cake gots its’ own post. Mocha cake deserves more than to be thrust in the corner while beef-potato-cabbage soup struts its’ stuff. Mocha cake is not an afterthought; nor a recipe to be thrust to the bottom of another post.  Mocha cake stands alone as the single best weapon in my recipe arsenal.  {As I overdramatize mocha cake, I begin to wonder if I have at some point, given mocha cake it’s own post—but the overdramatization is so much fun, I decide I don’t care.}

Mocha cake has become my magnum opus.

I only bring mocha cake to VERY special occasions. If I bring you mocha cake, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and declared my love. ANd I’m pondering bringing mocha cupcakes to Blissdom.

Pondering, I said. I’ve also pondered making cute little bookmarks. Or my standard chocolate shortbread cookies.

But I mean, if I bring mocha cupcakes to Blissdom then I won’t know if you love me for me or for my cupcakes. Right? So just in case I chicken out and can’t commit, I’m finally giving you a gorgeous pdf file of mocha cake.

And pdf-file making may seem of little consequence to some, but I’m old. Like 40 remember? So, if I make a pdf file of mocha cake for you that’s a pretty strong statement of how committed I am to this relationship.   You know what they say about commitment though,  why read the blog when you can get the pdf for free?   So don’t take this recipe and run.   I’m laying it all on the line HERE people.  I’m giving from my heart with reckless abandon.   See ya tomorrow, right?

*very important note: this is not my original recipe. It was given to me by a friend a few years ago. It has become ‘mine’ by common law. I’ve made it so many times that there can’t possibly be someone out there who ‘owns’ this recipe more than me. But if you happen to know who the author is, please share! I think it came from a magazine more than ten years ago.  Here’s the nuts and bolts but surely you want the cute copy here.

Cake:                                                                         Icing:

2 cups all purpose flour                                        2 sticks softened butter

1 ½ cups sugar                                                       1 T. vanilla

¾ c cocoa                                                                1/8 t. salt

1 t. baking powder                                                2 pounds powdered sugar

¼ t. salt                                                                   ½ c strong brewed coffee

1 ½ sticks butter, softened

3 large eggs                                                             to chocolate icing only add:

1 c. water                                                                       ½ c cocoa powder

1 ½ t. vanilla                                                         Garnish with shaved chocolate

Directions:

Heat oven to 350.  Grease and flour 2 eight inch round cake pans.  For the cake, beat butter, eggs and vanilla.  When smooth , alternate adding dry ingredients and water and beat for 3 minutes.  Divide evenly between the cake pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

For the frosting:  Mix butter, vanilla and salt and then slowly add sugar and coffee, alternating.   Beat until smooth.  Remove about 2 cups of the frosting and place into a  freezer Ziploc or cake decorating bag.   Add ½ c cocoa to the remaining frosting.  Use this chocolate frosting to ice the actual cakes and then save a little to make a few chocolate ‘points’ on the cake.  Using the buttercream icing that you put in the bag, pipe points onto the cake.  Use up all the frosting and then do the same with the remaining chocolate icing.

Ta-Da!

**Post-edit:  While we’re on my favorite topic of food,  I made this for dinner on Monday—todiefor!  It doesn’t sound that great but it is.  Trust me.

And I’m making this for dinner tonight.  It gets great reviews and looks interesting!   Happy cooking.   Happier eating.