2007 September

Totally Awesome, Fer Sure Dude….

September 19, 2007 by Peabody · 66 Comments

In the words of Hannibal from the A Team...”I love it when a plan comes together.” Yes, I am a product of the 80's. I wore scrunchies in my hair, big sweaters, neon colors, stir-up pants and my Sony Disc man was the coolest thing ever! Or should I say it was totally bitchin'. My bangs were super high and sprayed with so much hairspray that I must have killed at least a dozen brain cells a day inhaling all that Aquanet. My hair was badly permed and my goal was to dress like Jeanie, Ferris Bueller's sister. Watching the movie now makes me cringe...her pants were pretty much up to her boobs. Very attractive. The 80's was the first time I ever had Bailey's Irish Cream. Now before you envision some teenager doing shots of Bailey's(yuck could you imagine?), it was simply a sip of my mom's coffee that was spiked with Bailey's. But I remember it being good. Not like any of the other “yucky” alcohol I had tasted thus far. The flavor stuck with me and whenever my mom would make … [Read more...]

Filed Under: chocolate, dessert ·

Southern Hospitality…

September 17, 2007 by Peabody · 41 Comments

I have mentioned before how when I married a Southern gentleman I assumed I would have to do some Southern cooking. I bought many a Southern cookbook and many, many people upon hearing that I had married a Southern gent offered up their mother or grandmother's recipes. I not of course realizing at the time that my husband really only eats one Southern food(that being fried chicken) gladly took all the recipes I could get. One recipe that I seemed to get over and over was for peach cobbler. But not like any cobbler I have ever had. See where I am from, peach cobbler is some peaches tossed with some sugar and sometimes spice and then toped with either a biscuit kind of topping or crumbled up dough and oats with sugar and nuts. So when I kept reading the very similar cobbler recipes I found it fascinating that the peaches went on top and that it was more cake like. Hmmmm. All of the recipes assured me that the peaches would go to the bottom and the cobbler would go to the top...they are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: dessert, fruit ·

How I roll….

September 14, 2007 by Peabody · 21 Comments

When we arrived in Seattle three years ago(October 1st) I'm surprised I didn't strain my neck somehow. It whipped around the car as we traveled lost through the city in search of our corporate housing. What was causing my head to spin around you ask? Trees. Not just trees, trees turning colors. You see seasons don't exist in Phoenix Arizona unless you consider warm, hot and super crappy hot to be seasons. Oh sure Canada has seasons but I had lived in Arizona so long I forgot how wonderful the changing of the seasons can truly be. My husband having been raised on a tree farm could have cared less and made fun of me most of the day. I stare out my window at the lone tree that has decided that it is already Fall. Bright red leaves against the sea of green behind it. A symbol of all the wonders that are about to come as the season will be changing. I get to drag out my sweatshirts to help cover up my love of food :P. I get to bust out the flannel sheets and be enveloped by ultimate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: dessert ·

Once more into the candy bag….

September 12, 2007 by Peabody · 47 Comments

Since I enjoyed turning Almond Joys into bread, I thought I would try once again to take a candy and make it into a baked good. This time around I thought I would be kind and make something my husband would eat. Since Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are high on his lists of favorite candies, I decided to pay tribute to those. Now, I don't nearly enjoy Reese's as much as Almond Joy, though they are good for portion control because I only am able to eat two before I start to get peanut butter overload. This cake however is a different story. Not thinking I would really even eat anything more than a piece, I cleared a whole mini cake no problem. The recipe is nothing new. I have already made this cake a year or so ago, the difference being the use of the peanut butter chips. The other difference is the use of my mini(4-inch diameter) tart pans. I used those to give the cake a more peanut butter cup look. If you get too much rise on your cake you can always trim off the top with a bread … [Read more...]

Filed Under: baked goods, chocolate, peanut butter ·