How to Bake a Cake without an Oven!

I still have not seen the repairman to fix my oven, but I am up for any challenge!  Well I have taken my first “AG”venture – to the small town of Medora, Indiana for the National Maple Syrup Festival.  I was asked to participate in the Judging of their Sweet Victory Challenge for the adult dessert competition.  It was about a two hour drive from Indianapolis to Medora and it was a nice sun shiny Saturday as we traveled through the curves & hills of Southern Indiana.  I arrived early and caught a shuttle to Burton’s Maplewood Farms.  Once there we walked the Maple Sugar Trail and along the trail they had set up a demonstration on making maple sugar.  We learned that early settlers were not interested in making sap from the maple tree into syrup – since they did not have refrigeration; they had no means to store syrup.  Instead, they boiled the sap down even further, to make maple sugar.  This staple could then be stored for long periods of time.  Maple sugar was used as a sweetener and could easily be converted back to syrup.

We made our way over to the Sugar House where sap that had been collected from the maple trees was boiled down to maple syrup.  Here we were able to taste some of the syrups that Burton’s Maplewood Farms was making.  We tried the “early harvest” syrup that was light in color with a lightly sweet maple flavor.  Then they gave us a sample of the “late harvest” syrup – it was much darker in color and very rich in maple flavor.  However my favorites were their syrups that Burton’s have aged in oak barrels.  They are aging syrup in Rum, Bourbon and Brandy barrels – these are amazing infused maple syrups, a must try in my book.

After our visit to the farm, it was back in town to judge the adult dessert flight.  We had three desserts to judge on appearance, use of products (the Maple Syrup & King Arthur Flour) and of course taste.  It was a great experience and gave me the inspiration for a cake I am sharing with you.  I wanted to give you a dessert with Maple Syrup and I still have no oven!  So I packed up my supplies and headed to my Sister-in-Law’s to bake this cake.  Enjoy!

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake – Maple version.  Taken from the book, “Home on the Farm, If Chickens Could Talk” written by Lorene McCormick Burkhart.

FOR THE CAKE: ·         1 ¼ cups boiling water ·         1 cup oats (quick or old fashioned) ·         ½ cup butter, softened ·         1 cup granulated sugar ·         ½ cup shredded coconut ·         1 cup firmly packed brown sugar ·         1 teaspoon vanilla ·         2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup ·         2 eggs ·         1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour ·         1 teaspoon baking soda ·         ½ teaspoon salt ·         1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ·         ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

FOR THE FROSTING: ·         ¼ cup butter, melted ·         ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar ·         3 tablespoons half& half ·         1 ½ tablespoons of pure maple syrup ·         ¾ cup shredded coconut

For cake, pour boiling water over oats; cover and let stand for 20 minutes.  In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy; gradually add sugars - beat until fluffy.  Now blend in the vanilla, maple syrup and eggs.  Add oats mixture and coconut, mix well.  In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and blend into the creamed mixture – mix well.  Pour batter into greased and floured 9-inch square pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes. Do not remove cake from pan.  For the frosting, combine all ingredients.  Spread evenly over cake.  Broil until frosting becomes bubbly.  Cake can be served warm or cold.



It's me in the middle - 3rd from the left.



I hope you all enjoy this cake – the frosting is to die for!  Next year you really need to check out the National Maple syrup Festival, it is an enjoyable and educational event for the whole family.  You may even want to try your hand at entering the Sweet Victory Challenge – if so I will be there to Judge!

Don’t forget to “AG Me On! – I am still looking for challenges or places for a new “AG”venture.  Until next time – Keep your Foodie Fluids Flowing, and AG Me On!

How to make the Peyton Manning Burger!

What a month - I am thinking of changing the name to my blog to “Cooking with an Oven!”  It has been over 30 days since my oven went “ka-put!”  I have realized in these past 30 days or so, how much cooking I do using my oven.  Dinner planning has been a challenge in itself.  I have been trying to eat better, but it’s hard to bake fish with no oven!  So, I have defaulted to frying my fish on the stovetop (Don’t tell my Doctor!)  I have found myself frying too much on the stovetop and using the microwave.  I just need a repairman that will come out to fix the oven on MY TIME.  Hopefully my oven can be fixed, because if not comes the questions: “Do I change my appliance colors?”, followed by “Black or Stainless Steel?” And you know if I replace the stove, the refrigerator is going to have a meltdown, and I will have to replace it, too, Murphy’s Law!  I guess that is what happens when all of your appliances are the same age – over 10 years old!

Now that I have that off my chest, this month I am bringing to you two delicious recipes that feature Indiana Maple Syrup.  As a new blogger, I was honored to be asked to participate as a Judge in the National Maple Syrup Festival Sweet Victory Challenge in Medora, Indiana.  Knowing that I was going to be part of this festival, I decided to come up with my own clever recipe spin – and that is what I am sharing with you’ all – my maple syrup infused hamburger, The Peyton Manning Burger!

Wow, this recipe is one to keep in my Playbook – a guaranteed Touch Down for sure!  And you will be scoring extra points when you serve this burger to your family and friends.

Manning Mayo:

½ Cup Mayonnaise

½ Cup crumbled Bleu Cheese

1 Tablespoon Real Maple Syrup

For Burgers:

1 pound of Maple cured or infused Bacon

1 ½ pounds of Ground Round, Ground Chuck or Ground Beef

½ Cup of Chunky Applesauce

1 teaspoon of your favorite Steak or Grilling Seasoning

2 Tablespoons of Real Maple Syrup

½ teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon Pepper

1 sliced Red Onion

Leaf Lettuce

Hamburger Buns

You will need to make the Manning Mayo first – In a bowl mix all the ingredients, cover and place in the refrigerator until needed.

Next – In a large pan, fry your bacon until done – set onto a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.  Drain bacon grease from pan, reserving one Tablespoon for frying your burger (unless you plan to grill them outdoors).  While your bacon is frying, you can combine in a large bowl the ground meat, applesauce, maple syrup and the seasonings.  Mix thoroughly, but don’t over work the meat.  Divide into six patties and fry to your liking.

Place the leaf lettuce and a slice or two of the red onion on the bottom of your hamburger bun s and add the burgers.  Now top with the maple-cured bacon and add a generous dollop of the Manning Mayo and complete with the bun top.  Pass complete, 1^st and GOAL!

In developing this recipe, I have learned – by mistake- a few things.  Cinnamon & beef don’t go together, and if you cook bacon with maple syrup and brown sugar, you get a salty candy treat.  I hope you enjoy this Burger as much as the  Indianapolis-area and beyond have enjoyed Peyton and all he has done for the Colts, the City and many charities… you will be missed, Peyton!

Until next time – Keep your Foodie Fluids Flowing, and AG Me On!

Breakfast Bread Pudding

I am currently reading the book, “Home on the Farm, If Chickens Could Talk” written by Lorene McCormick Burkhart.  It is a great and amusing book that tells the story of life on an Indiana farm in the 1930s and 1940s.  I noticed that food was a very important part of life on the farm and even social events seemed to revolve around it.  Back then it was an important job to keep not only your family fed daily, but also farm hands during the day.  And if that wasn’t enough, you had to make sure the family had food during the winter by canning & preserving fruits & vegetables during their peak season.  You could not run down to the supermarket like we do today.  One of my favorite parts of this book is that Lorene Burkhart added a collection of favorite family recipes, including two biscuit recipes – one of which I will share with you.

Mile High Biscuits

• 3 cups sifted flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup shortening
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Combine egg and milk and add to flour mixture all at once, stirring with a fork just enough to make a soft dough that sticks together.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 15 times, then roll to 1-inch thickness.  Cut with floured 2-inch cutter and place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake in a 425°F preheated oven 12-15 minutes or until golden brown – makes about 16 biscuits.

So to continue with the biscuit theme this month I am sharing with you a recipe from Paula Deen that I have tweaked to make it more of a breakfast casserole.  I love watching the Food Network and have enriched my recipe library with those I have seen on their shows.  I have many favorite Food Network celebrities and while watching one--Paula-- I thought to myself, “If I just added this and switched up that, this would make a great breakfast dish.”  So I did and it was scrumptious (better than yummy)!

Before I give you all the details –…I must share a secret  … my oven is possessed! It all started two weeks ago. I would go to use the oven and no heat…no gas.  I would go back and then...as Emeril would say “BAM!” magically “fix” itself.

Well, I decided to this recipe was so good that I would make it for our church coffee hour.….  That weekend, Friday I believe, we decided to have baked fish for dinner.  So I preheated the oven, prepared the baking dish --BUZZ!  The oven was now ready for dinner’s main course, or was it? (Do you hear The Twilight Zone theme?)  I opened the oven and there was no heat – it wasn’t even getting any gas.  We had fried fish that night. 

Both Saturday & Sunday – same thing - no heat. 

I finally decided to call the repairman (or maybe a priest) but then… you guessed it “BAM!” While cooking we heard what sounded like the lighting of the gas grill, which by the way isn’t working either.  So I tried to preheat the oven and to my surprise it lit – so we had crescent rolls that night.  It was a fluke, it hasn’t worked since.  Oh well, it is over to Mom’s or Sis’ to bake!

Breakfast Bread Pudding

• 1 pound of ground sausage, cooked & crumbled
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 2 cups (8 oz.) bleu cheese crumbles
• 2 cups (8 oz,) shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 chopped bell peppers (Red, Yellow or Green)
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 2 jalapeño peppers, diced
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 3 eggs
• 12 day old buttermilk biscuits

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a skillet, fry your sausage until done, crumble while frying - then drain the grease.  Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.  Now sprinkle ½ cup of the bleu cheese & ½ cup of cheddar into the baking dish. Melt your stick of butter over medium-high heat and then add the bell peppers and onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Now stir in the thawed corn and jalapenos and cook for 1 minute more. Take the skillet off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the cream and eggs. Crumble the biscuits and the remaining cheese into the egg mixture and stir to combine. Now add your sautéed vegetables, sausage and then salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Bake until golden and set in the middle, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and serve hot.

Hot out of the Oven!
With the lights, it does look like a Oven Monster

To all my “AG Me On” Foodie Followers – this was a tough month, two biscuit recipes to bake and my oven has decided it is only going to work when it wants to.  I need to thank the local market for carrying prebaked biscuits!

I hope you enjoy my version of this Food Network recipe.  I will be visiting the National Maple Syrup Festival which is held the first two weekends in March at Burton’s Maplewood Farm and Medora Community School…stay tuned to hear of my AGventure!

Until next time – Keep your Foodie Fluids Flowing, and AG Me On!

Biscuits fit for the “King”!

This month I am going to dazzle your mind with two great and unexpected recipes using the common biscuit.  My inspiration for this first one is the “King of Rock & Roll” Elvis Presley.  Did you know that February was a very special month for Elvis?  On February 1^st in 1968 Elvis became a father when Priscilla gave birth to Lisa Marie.  So my “King” inspired dish de jour is…Elvis’ Biscuits & Gravy.  But first, let me give you some history on a recipe that I believe would even make Paula Deen cry for joy!

For the past 14 years or so my Indiana family (yes, I grew up a Michigander – but I am now a proud Hoosier) has been teasing me with a dish that I really thought they made up, “Chocolate Gravy.”  I had never heard of such a thing before and I even wondered what you would eat it with-- definitely not steak and potatoes.  Well last year, during a family vacation, I found out.  I was awakened to the sounds of breakfast being made and as I made way to the kitchen I was told we were having “Chocolate Gravy & Biscuits” for breakfast.  What a treat!  I watched in awe as they made the gravy and as it was done watched everyone split open their biscuits and dredge them with the savory chocolate liquid.  Now came my turn, don’t get me wrong – I like chocolate, but in moderation.  That was just WAY too much chocolate for me to eat in one sitting.  I thought to myself, what can I do to make this it more to my liking?  I remembered we had a jar of peanut butter in the cabinet (actually there were four jars – everyone had to bring there own on this trip) and I put a generous helping on my open biscuits then spotted the bananas.  Yes, I peeled one and added slices to my creation.  Next of course came the gravy, not too much – I still want to taste the other ingredients.  So on to the breakfast table and as I sat down everyone stopped eating -- looking at my plate wondering, “What did you do?”  They all had to try my new creation; it was an instant hit and a great piece of family history we all treasure.  Jokingly this dish was dubbed – “Elvis’ Biscuits and Gravy.”

Let’s start with the Chocolate Gravy – with these five simple ingredients you will make the most decadent gravy you will ever have.  In a skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add 2 tablespoons of flour to make your rue.  Now over a medium heat, add 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.  Continue stirring and simmer until gravy is the right consistency – about 6 minutes.  This will make enough gravy for about 4 servings.  Now you are ready for a breakfast that will have you singing, “You are Always on My Mind”.

Now you will need:

• Biscuits – I would use your favorite recipe or store bought.
• Peanut Butter – Creamy or Chunky, your choice.
• Bananas
• Chocolate Gravy

Once you have made the gravy and freshly baked your biscuits, split biscuits in two and place on your plate.  Add a generous helping of your choice of peanut butter and top with banana slices.  Now comes the fun part – cover the biscuits with the chocolate gravy.  I will leave it up to you, either just a drizzle or a drench – I prefer somewhere in the middle.

Now share this with someone special – remember Valentine’s Day is coming up!

Until next time – Keep your Foodie Fluids Flowing, and AG Me On!

Chicken Fried Chicken Chili

Hello!  I just want you all to know that I am very excited about “AG Me On!” and hope you will join me in the excitement.  I was overjoyed to be asked to join fellow ISDA bloggers.  I never imagined that I would be part of the blogosphere, let alone have my own blog, just from submitting guest articles and recipes for the Indiana’s Family of Farmers (IFOF) blog.  My name is Dennis Henry - I work for the Indiana Grain Buyers & Warehouse Licensing Agency under the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.  Among my many duties as licensing officer with the Agency, I manage our part of the ISDA website – this is how I became involved in social media.

My hopes for “AG Me On!” are to bring to you recipes with a twist.  Something you have not thought of before, recipes that you just HAVE to try - all focusing on Indiana Agriculture.  Mostly I hope to engage my audience with your ideas, challenges and even bring you all on “AG”ventures to some of Indiana’s great food finds.

When we were brainstorming to start this blog, we went back to what I had previously created for the IFOF blog – “BBQ Pulled Pork Chili” and “Buffalo Chicken Chili.”.  Both of these chilis are must tries in my book!

 OK, now we have our theme for the Month, Chili – now what recipe should I share?  I had so much fun with the BBQ Pulled Pork Chili that I had created last year; I knew I had to keep these creative juices flowing.  Then suddenly it came to me – Chicken Fried Chicken Chili.

Chicken Fried Chicken Chili

·         3 large Chicken Breasts – diced

·         2 medium or 1 large Onion – diced

·         3 Jalapeños – finely diced (remember to wear gloves)

·         2 – 3 cloves of Garlic

·         2 tablespoons of Chili Powder

·         1 tablespoon of Cumin

·         1 teaspoon of Pico de Gallo

·         1 teaspoon of Cocoa Chile Blend ( a spice mix of Cocoa Power & Chipotle Pepper Powder)

·         2 – 4 oz cans of diced Green Chiles

·         1 – 48 oz jar of Great Northern Beans

·         1 cup of frozen Corn

·         4 cups of Whole Milk

·         2 cups of Chicken Broth

·         Olive Oil

Add one tablespoon of Olive Oil to a large fry pan.  Add the chicken, onion and spices – brown the chicken and add the Jalapeños and garlic when the chicken is almost done and the onions have started to soften.  In a large pot, combine the milk & chicken broth under a medium low heat (you do not want to scorch the milk).  Add in the chicken mixture and the remaining ingredients.  Simmer until hot, you may also want to put the ingredients in a slow cooker and let is cook that way.  I thickened up the chili with a mixture of water and corn starch.

Now here comes the Chicken Fried part of this dish.  We are chicken frying oyster crackers – yes, oyster crackers.  These came out so good; you may want to use these with other chili and soup dishes.

You will need:

·         One bag of Oyster Crackers

·         3 cups of Cooking Oil

·         ½ cup of Buttermilk

·         1 cup Flour

·         Spices: Salt, Pepper & Chili Powder – to your taste.

In a small pot – heat up the cooking oil – I like peanut oil for this.  Prepare your work area with 2 bowls, 1 containing Buttermilk and the other containing the flour & spices.  Use the assembly line method – dredge the crackers in Buttermilk, then coat with the flour mixture, then deep fry them.  They will only take about 20 to 30 seconds.  Scoop out the deep fried crackers and let them drain on a cooling rack over paper towels to catch extra oil.  Let cool and enjoy with the Chili!

Until next time – Keep your Foodie Fluids Flowing, and AG Me On!