Sweet Somethings

photo of "cupcake pops" from Bakerella

After my recent pupcakes adventure, my sister hooked me up with the most awesome sweet-treats blog ever: Bakerella. After reading through the creative cooking posts and browsing the delicious photos, I want to go inhale a ton of something cakey and gooey.

Which makes me think it's only fair to issue a little warning...

WARNING: Bakerella will cause intense, unignorable cravings for chocolate cake, frosting, and sprinkles and an unexplainable desire to craft high-calorie miniature bits of edible cuteness.

You can satisfy your craving with the recipe for the cupcake pops, above, courtesy of the Martha Stewart show (which featured Bakerella queen, Angie Dudley, last April).

And look at her adorable little Hello Kitty cake bites! And you guys thought my pupcakes were cute.... I ain't got nothin' on these. Nothin'.

A Sweet Treasure

We have collections of old books all over our house: on the mantle, our nightstands, even in our powder room! Hunk's grandfather's calculus book, my mom's Uncle Wiggly series from her childhood, an old family Bible, my grandparent's Reader's Digest volumes....and many more I've picked up at antique stores through the years.

One especially raggedy volume that sits beneath a picture frame on the back of the piano caught my eye the other day. Its spine has deteriorated beyond recognition, and I suddenly realized I had no idea what its contents contained. I opened it and was thrilled to discover a treasure: my great grandmother's hand-copied recipe book!

Here it is:

In its pages are recipes for many interesting little items, like Crisco Salmon Treats (I should make those for the next shower I host. ha!). I also now possess recipes for homemade catsup and four different types of pickles.

Also tucked within its pages are clippings from old magazines and newspapers, which offer such an intriguing glimpse back in time. Check it out:

Tuna squares, anyone? ...Anyone?

Love her 'do.
(And is it just me, or are several elements of this ad...suggestive??)

These next two pics were featured in an article on "modern kitchens." Check out that lovely light fixture! Actually, I think I saw that at IKEA a few weeks ago....

Since Bug LOVES to cook ("gook! gook!"), we decided to try my great grandma's recipe for "Sunshine Cake." Although I overcooked it a bit (couldn't quite figure out what "bake in a moderate oven for 30's-40's" meant), it was pretty good! Kind of like a pound cake.


Bug approves of the batter...

...and the cake!!

Whole Raw Chicken: A Rite of Passage

Raising four kids, my mom was Master of the Chicken. I can't remember a week that didn't involve me eating a chicken part of some kind, and most of my childhood memories are infused with the aroma of boiling livers on the back burner. (Being the days of pre-cholesterol awareness, my parents actually paid us to eat them! The abuse we suffered.)

So, as I have made my own way into adulthood and now into motherhood, I always knew I could count myself as a "real woman" when I mastered The Chicken. I quickly discovered that chicken breasts are a breeze, but every time I encountered an entire bird in the poultry aisle, it always looked so...well, chickeny. I prefer denial when I eat my meats. If it looks like it might bock at me, I shy away.

But, in these economic times, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and so one day in Walmart, feeling brave, I put a couple whole birds in my cart. Actually, to be accurate, I put them in produce bags in my cart. They looked like they might ooze something onto my hotdog buns.

I took home my little featherless friends and after scouring Allrecipes.com, Barefoot in Paris and Southern Living, I came across a winning combination. What joy!

Here it is, my passage into womanhood, my recipe for a WHOLE chicken!

1 3-5 pound chicken (devoid of gross inner parts)
olive oil
1 lemon
fresh or dried thyme
lemon pepper
1 whole onion

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse chicken inside and out. Pat dry with paper towels. Arrange breast-side up in lightly greased dish (13x9x2). Tuck wings under and tie legs together with kitchen twine, if desired. (It tastes the same spread eagle.)

Rub outside with olive oil. Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice all over chicken, including inside cavity. Put lemon halves into cavity.

Rub (or put sprigs of) thyme under chicken skin on breast meat. Sprinkle more thyme on chicken, including legs and wings. Sprinkle thyme (or put sprigs) inside cavity. Sprinkle lemon pepper all over outside.

Slice onion into skinny wedges. Separate onions, sprinkling in pan around chicken and tuck a few inside cavity. Slide several onion slivers under skin on breasts, too.

(You can also put potato wedges and carrot slices in the pan to bake with the onions: a one-pot wonder!)

Bake for about 18-20 minutes per pound. Check for doneness: when juice runs clear when a knife is inserted between body and leg and when meat is white throughout depth of breast.

Not only does this chicken taste unbelievably good, but it's like a really yummy aromatherapy session while it's baking. (Yes, I just totally set myself up for a Jeff Foxworthy one-liner.)

Welcome to womanhood!