Slow Cooker Baked Beans

I am so sick of spam comments. This week I had two major food sites spam me. I expect spam from small sites, but these were pretty major food selling sites that obviously set up fake accounts to leave fake comments with link backs to their sites. I expect more of larger sites, they should be able to get links without shady tactics. The funny thing is if they had asked for a review I would have done one with a no-follow link. However, PR companies have figured out that they can have follow links on sites by spamming in the comments. I really hate this practice and have thought about emailing the two companies that left their addresses as spam comments. I'm not going to name names, but they are big enough to know better. Maybe I should be flattered that a company that large decided to spam me for a follow link, but I'm not. I'm just annoyed.

On to lighter subjects, food! Last week was very hot so I used my slow cooker most of the week. I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Baked Beans from the May/June 2014 issue of Eating Well Magazine.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 8 hours and 15 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active, and makes 12 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, I used dried navy beans, homemade chicken broth, and sweet onions. These are just personal preferences. Additionally I left out the bourbon. I don't keep liquor in the house except for cooking and I didn't want to have to buy a small bottle just for the the recipe. Finally, I found that my beans needed a little longer than the recipe stated. I always let my beans cook 8-10 hours on low, I like my beans very tender and this recipe was no exception.

As with any recipe with bacon in it, my kids loved this dish. The beans were sweet, without being overly so, and with 10 grams of protein per 1/2 cup they were a nice way of sneaking in beans to my family's diet. If you aren't a big fan of maple syrup or brown sugar you could try substituting other sweeteners such as agave etc. and the beans could be changed to great northern or switched to canned and the time cooking time decreased.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Baked Beans.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Maple Bacon Topping

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Maple Bacon Topping

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that customer service has gone downhill since the economy started having problems. My husband had bought a shirt from a national bookstore chain and found a very noticeable defect. There was a string that when pulled took off part of the screening on the t-shirt. It was obviously not wearable with the defect so he figured it would be easy to return. He came out of the store after attempting to return the shirt very upset. Apparently the female manager was very abrasive and kept repeating that the corporate policy stated that they weren't allowed to do returns without a receipt. Now I am a very nice person until you upset my husband or kids, then I fix the situation. I quickly called the store location where the shirt was bought (the state capital) and talked to a very nice manager. He informed me that it wasn't corporate policy and that the store manager in our city was wrong. Long story short I went back to the store where my husband had a problem and fixed the problem. They tried being rude to me until I informed them that I had already contacted corporate and the other store location. Then they attempted to apologize profusely. At the end of the day I got the situation remedied, but I was still unhappy with the whole experience. It just reminded me of how far down customer service seems to have gone. This week I was in a baking mood so I decided to make a cake. My husband and two boys are huge bacon fans so I decided to try incorporating it into my recipe. After combining a few recipes I ended up with a recipe for Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Maple Icing and Chocolate Bacon Crumbles.

Stormy Day in Huntington, WV

I combined three different recipes for my final cake. The first recipe was for Double Chocolate Bundt Cake from Food and Wine Magazine. I left off the glaze and used dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet. For the glaze I followed a recipe for Vanilla Bean Bourbon Glaze. Instead of using a vanilla bean I used vanilla extract. Additionally I increased the amount of bourbon to two tablespoons. For the bacon topping I baked my bacon in the oven following a recipe from the Food Network. Then I dipped the chopped bacon in a small amount of dark chocolate. I allowed the cake to cook and then dripped the glaze over the top and added the chocolate covered bacon.

Roof of B'nai Shalom Synagogue (it was rainy and through a window so sorry for the blur :)

Since I did not make this cake gluten free I was not able to try it myself. I did eat a little bit of the bacon and the glaze. They were both really good. The rest of my family ate the cake. According to my kids the glaze and the bacon were the best parts. They aren't big fans of cake, so it's not surprising that they loved the glaze and not the cake as much. Eventually they tried the cake and liked it as well.

For the recipes go to Double Chocolate Bundt Cake, Vanilla Bean Bourbon Glaze and Roast Bacon.

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Bourbon Maple Bacon Topping

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A recipe for chocolate bundt cake with vanilla bourbon glaze and chocolate covered bacon. A great combination of flavors!

Preparation Time: 0h, 30m

Total Time: 2h, 0m

Yield: Serves 12

Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions and Homemade Bread

Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onion and Homemade Bread

Today the weather was mild and it made me think about spring. I love spring and I am so ready to start my garden and enjoy the warmer weather. One of the other things i love about spring are the vegetables. In my house spring vegetables means one thing, ramps. Haven grown-up in Seattle I had never heard of a ramp before moving to West Virginia. Then I happened to marry someone from the edge of the Monongahela National Forest and the heart of ramp country. The first year we were married his mom brought us a large bag of dirty roots, I thought she was crazy. Then my husband explained that they had to be cleaned first and then could be used the same way as a onion or leek. I feel in love with them. Now every March I start asking my mother-in-law if the ramps have started to appear. With the warmer weather and start of March I am busy thinking about all the dishes that I will make this spring. Onions in general are a big spring item in my household and this week I tried a new recipe for Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions from Redbook Magazine.

Gluten Free Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 33 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 sandwiches. I made two versions of this sandwich, one for my husband and two boys and one for me. For my version I used gluten free bread, which I made from scratch and for the version for my family I made homemade crusty bread using the Dutch oven. For the cheese I followed the suggestion and used Gruyere and Sharp Cheddar. Instead of grilling the sandwiches on the stove I used my indoor electric griddle. I love using my griddle, it reduces the chance of burning and the crust always comes out even.

I served the sandwiches with tomato soup and the combination was delicious. The recipe for the tomato soup will be up on my blog tomorrow night. My boys ate their servings without the onions. They aren't fans of onions, but love grilled cheese sandwiches so they loved them none the less. My husband absolutely loved the sandwiches with the homemade bread and ate three for dinner. This recipe was definitely a hit and can be modified to use whatever type of cheese you prefer.

For the recipe go to Grilled Cheese with Bourbon Melted Onions.

Saveur Lane Cake

Every week I try to test out one dessert recipe from a cookbook or magazine that I haven't made previously. Instead of making the simple cookie recipes I always make, I have been attempting to broaden my baking horizons and try new techniques and baking methods. Recently, I have also been trying to include a larger variety of magazines in my reviews, instead of sticking to the two or three that I always read. With this in mind I set about to find a dessert to bake and was pleased with the prospect of the Lane Cake from Saveur magazine.

Since this is a layer cake, there are a number of ingredients. In total for the cake, filling, and icing there are 21 ingredients. All the ingredients are basic baking ingredients and were easily found at my local grocery store (with the exception of the bourbon which I purchased a the liquor store). This recipe takes some pre-planning since there is cooling time and the process of preparing all the components. In total the entire recipe took me approximately 3 hours. I should state that I haven't made a layer cake since last Christmas and my oldest son was helping me in the kitchen, hence why my layers aren't sliced perfectly. I made not modifications to the recipe and prepared everything as directed.

This cake has a very light texture similar to an angel food cake. I loved the bourbon filling and my whole family was surprised by how delicious the cake turned out. The recipe did take a decent amount of prep, but it was easy enough that my five year old was able to help me with the majority of it. Slice the pieces thin, since this is a very rich cake and can serve a crowd. This would be a great recipe to take to a gathering or for a dinner party, and makes an impressive presentation sliced.

For the recipe go to Saveur Lane Cake.