Tuxedo Pudding!

The Maine House is heading back home for a visit....well, actually a celebration! The engagement party of Greg and Jenn is set for Saturday evening. Family and friends are gathering to toast the couple over margarita's and some of the best Tex-Mex food on the patio of a Fort Worth hotspot! We have been planning this for a while so the fact that this day has finally arrived has been so, so exciting! I promise to take lots of event pictures and keep you all updated. We will also be celebrating the engagement of Nick and Cat. Although, they had a surprise gathering of friends the night of the proposal, this will be the time when The Mori's from Atlanta, and Darling and I will get to kiss and hug these lovely, "brides and grooms- to- be!" I was thinking of weddings and the emotions that surface during the ceremonies. There are some photographs that capture these feelings so very accurately, that descriptions are not needed. They are at times bittersweet, yet the loveliest of thoughts.......

A Maine House Mosaic

In the meantime, as we pack our bags, we savored an old time favorite from Mother. It is a pudding she made many times and it seemed to fit the mood of our quick Italian night earlier this week! Be sure to try this comfort dessert. It can be so elegant served in little parfait glasses!

Tuxedo Pudding Parfaits

Vanilla Pudding

2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Pinch salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, divided

1/2 cup light cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a 1 quart, heavy-bottomed, non-reactive pot, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Mix thoroughly with a spoon, pressing out any lumps with back of spoon. In a small cup, beat egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk with a fork. Add to cornstarch mixture; stir to mix thoroughly, pressing out as many lumps as possible. Heat remaining milk and cream until very hot, then gradually add hot liquid to cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly.


Place pot over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. (Just before boiling, the mixture will lump and look terrible. As it boils, if you keep stirring, it should thicken and smooth out.) Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. Let stand for a minute, then stir gently. Divide evenly among wineglasses. Let stand at room temperature or chill while preparing chocolate pudding.

Chocolate Pudding

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons sifted or strained unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Pinch salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, divided

1/2 cup light cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional garnish:

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Shaved or grated semisweet chocolate

In a 1 quart, heavy bottomed, non-reactive pot, combine sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt. With a small whisk, mix thoroughly to combine, getting out as many lumps as possible. In a small cup, combine egg yolk and 2 tablespoons milk and beat well with fork. Add to cornstarch mixture; stir in well with whisk (mixture will be thick). Heat remaining milk and cream until very hot, then gradually add hot liquid to cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly with whisk.


Place pot over medium heat. Prepare in the same way as the vanilla pudding. Strain through fine strainer into heatproof container of at least 1-1/2 cup capacity. This pudding will be much thicker than the vanilla pudding. Spoon or gently pour chocolate pudding on top of vanilla pudding, dividing evenly among wineglasses.

Chill pudding until set, at least two hours. Eat within 24 hours of making. If desired, garnish with lightly sweetened whipped cream and shaved semisweet chocolate just before serving.

The Ultimate Comfort Dessert!

The Reading Corner...Can A Mud Pie Be Enchanting?

 A mini masterpiece for children!

"Mud Pies and Other Recipes" by Marjorie Winslow

I came across a favorite childhood memory.....I can hear Mother reading in a funny british accent now....and together, we created an afternoon tea party! "Mud Pies" features imaginative ways  to prepare "nature recipes" for the littlest cooks. Ingredients such as flowers, dirt, sand, leaves are used in every wonderful dish. Menus include "Stuffed Seashells" and "Wood Chip Dip," "Mud Puddle Soup," "Dandelion Souffle," "Roast Rocks" and "Pine Needle Upside-Down Cake," this will encourange young children to turn off the television so they can go outside and cook a gourmet meal for their dolls.

Doll cookery is not an exacting art. The time it takes to cook a casserole depends on how long your dolls are able to sit at table without falling over. And if a recipe calls for a cupful of something, you can use a measuring cup or a teacup or a buttercup. It doesn't much matter. What does matter is that you select the best ingredients available, set a fine table, and serve with style.

Berry Boats

Pick a middle sized-rhododendron leaf and turn the underneath sideup. This forms a little green boat. Now, pick up the tiny berries, in all colors, that grow on the bushes and sometimes on the trees. Fill the boat about half full of the berries and serve.

This fruit cup also makes a nice fruit salad on a hot day.

 

Boiled Buttons

This is a hot soup that is simple yet delicious.

Place a handful of buttons in a saucepan half full of water. Add a pinch of white sand and dust, 2 fruit tree leaves and a blade of grass for each button.

 Simmer on a hot rock for a few minutes to bring out the flavor.

Ladle into bowls.

STUFFED SEA SHELLS

Scoop up a shovelful of sand that has just been licked by a wave.

Pack this into the tiniest sea shells you can find .

Sprinkle these with a pinch of dry sparkling sand and serve.

HOT DOGWOOD

Pick a flower from a dogwood tree. Remove the petals and place them on a flat pan or rock. In each petal wrap a long green pine cone and secure with a toothpick.

Broil in the sun.

 FRIED WATER

Melt one ice cube in a skillet by placing it in the sun.

When melted, add 1 cup water and sauté slowly -- until water is transparent.

Serve small portions, because this dish is rich as well as mouth-watering.

DOLLYPOPS

Pick a dandelion from the lawn carefully, so as not to disturb the fluff.

Hand it to your doll and tell her to lick.

Fairy Doll Marie in the Cottage Room at The Maine House

For parents who want to make their children's childhood as full of fantasy and dreams as possible, this book is a lovely imagination booster.

Doggie Treats!

Today, The Maine House pays tribute to Carolyn Gracie! Miss Carolyn has a passion! Actually, she has many true loves and talents. But it is her dedication for ensuring that animals receive tender loving care that I love the most!

A Maine House Mosaic

Carolyn has been in the broadcasting business for the past thirty years and it was while living in Los Angeles, that she was actively involved with several pet rescue organizations, working with animals who needed help and homes in much of her spare time. She also promoted their cause regularly on her radio programs, which earned her the Southern California Women in Business Woman of the Year Award for Broadcasting in 2004. She was also honored with the Angel Award from the California Wildlife Center that same year. Today, she continues to promote pet rescue and adoption. At home, Carolyn and Eric share their living space with a variety of furry and feathered "kids", including dogs, cats, parrots and rabbits. Carolyn is also an avid gardener and can often be found out among the rose bushes along with a pet or two."

Carolyn's Homemade Doggie Muffins

1 cup cooked ground beef OR ground turkey

3/4 cup water or low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal (old-fashioned or quick-cooking)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 small carrot, grated

1 small apple, diced

1 egg

1/2 cup low-fat shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together all ingredients except the cheese. Spoon the mixture into two mini-muffin tins or one regular size muffin tin (metal or silicone). If using metal tins, be sure to coat with cooking spray before adding mixture. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes for mini-muffins/25 minutes for regular size. Cool for about 15 minutes before serving to your favorite canine pals. Store them in an airtight container for up to three days, or you can freeze them for up to three months. Doggy-licious!

"Here's a special treat for your canine friends that they'll ''gobble'' up!

It's yummy and healthy for them, and best of all, you can make it yourself!
 This makes enough for my eight dogs to share and is much healthier than giving them
 table scraps."

Carolyn's Homemade Turkey Loaf Treat for Dogs

2 lbs. ground turkey

2 eggs

2 cups of cooked rice (brown or whole grain is best)

8 oz. peas

3 carrots, diced

1 apple, diced

2 cloves minced garlic, optional

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well (using a hand blender or by hand). On a baking sheet, form the mixture into the shape of a large dog bone. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes. Let cool and serve.

"Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe.

 We are the focus of their love and faith and trust.

They serve us in return for scraps.

It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made."

 ~Roger Caras

Mushroom Lasagna.....Eating for Health!

Summer is coming! I know it! It's time to begin our walking program and plan on summer food recipes. Now I know you are thinking that I seem to write about "big ole' fat southern food", and yes, that's pretty much the way I cook! These are food dishes I grew up with from our Grandmothers and Mothers! That's ok, because we do not dine on these recipes all of the time. We do try to eat healthy most days and summer foods are so darn beautiful and delicious, it would be impossible not to delight in the bounty of this season. Here are some smart tips on incorporating these particular foods in your menus for healthy family dining!

A Maine House Mosaic

Eat smart! Happily, there are a host of delicious foods designed by nature to turn up your fat-burning furnace, flatten your belly, and take a big bite out of your appetite.

Mmmm. Creamy and tangy Yogurt is loaded with calcium -- and studies show that calcium may curtail weight gain by hindering the absorption of fat in the small intestine.

 Eggs beat out carbs when it came to helping folks feel full longer and helping them beat back snack attacks later in the day.

 Pistachios offer lots of hunger-curbing protein and fiber. All of these qualities together explain why adding pistachios to the diet helped dieters in a study curb their appetites and lose more weight.

Of all the foods rumored to boost weight loss, grapefruit is likely the most famous. And research confirms that this fruit's get-slim celebrity status is for real. One study in particular revealed that eating half a grapefruit before each meal helped dieters shed more pounds than people who skipped the tart appetizer.

Avocados! This green goddess of heavenly, creamy taste can help you whittle your waist. It's true! Researchers suspect that the unsaturated fat in avocados may ratchet up body levels of the hunger-halting hormone called leptin -- a hormone that lets your brain know that you're full, so you stop eating.

If you want to try an easy and tasty calorie-cutting trick, then replace the meat in your favorite recipes with mushrooms. You'll automatically cut about 420 calories out of a meal, partly because you'll skip all the belly-padding saturated fat contained in meat.

Invest in a good Olive Oil!  Use it in salad dressings and marinades because it contains a hunger-busting monounsaturated fat called oleic acid -- which triggers a complicated process in the gut that ultimately tells your brain you're full and makes you want to stop eating. It's heart healthy!

Ready to trade your belly bulge for a flat tummy? Then toss your refined grains into the garbage, and eat more whole grains instead. Research shows this one move can help whittle your middle. We're talking brown rice, quinoa, steel-cut oats, whole-grain cereal, and 100% whole-wheat bread and pasta.

Red Pepper! I love them! Add some heat to your meals and you'll boost not only the taste but also the effectiveness of your weight loss diet. A dash of cayenne pepper or some diced jalapeno or red peppers will do the trick. They all contain capsaicin -- the heat-inducing compound in red peppers that, according to research, tamps down appetite and curbs food intake later in the day. A similar compound in sweet peppers may hinder fat storage, too.

 PORTOBELLO LASAGNA

Kosher salt

Good olive oil

3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles

4 cups whole milk

12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms

1 cup freshly ground Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tablespoon salt and a splash of oil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.

For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside. Melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring first with the wooden spoon and then with a whisk, for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Set aside off the heat.

Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems. Slice the caps 1/4-inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan. When the butter melts, add half the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices. If they become too dry, add a little more oil. Toss occasionally to make sure the mushrooms cook evenly. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set all the mushrooms aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of an 8 by 12 by 2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce, then 1/3 of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan. Repeat 2 more times, layering noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and Parmesan. Top with a final layer of noodles and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

A Day of Sun, A Week of Rain...It's Baking Day!

One Day! That's it! One day of sunshine last week! I managed to snap a "glimpse" of spring at The Maine House on Wednesday as I quietly walked the gardens and listened to the sounds of nature chirping away? We have discovered that this May has been very typical of New England during late spring. We throw on our jackets and escape 0nto the walkway along the coastline. We listen to the sounds of the ocean and the lonely, echoing cries of seagulls cruising the shoreline! It's time to head back home for something warm from the oven and a hot cup of New England coffee!

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Baking Day at The Maine House!

Can you smell the Vanilla, Cinnamon and Chocolate?

Estelle's French Vanilla Cookies

1 French vanilla cake mix

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Icing

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons milk

4 cups powdered sugar

To make cookies combine ingredients with an electric mixer. The dough will be stiff enough to roll into 1-inch balls. Place balls on a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Flatten balls to about 1/2-inch thick. Bake cookies in a preheated 325 degrees F. oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until somewhat firm in the center. Remove from oven and cool before frosting. I sprinkle the frosting with a little nutmeg!

Make icing by combing all ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. Add food coloring, if preferred. Spread on cookies with a spatula and add sprinkles or spices!

When icing has set store cookies in a tightly sealed plastic container. This will give the cookies their cakey texture after several hours.

Estelle's Chocolate Chip Coffeecake

1 stick of butter

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Filling and Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter, sugar and eggs, add sour cream and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, make cinnamon mixture with sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips, and pecans set aside.

Place half the batter in a 9" X 13" inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture over the batter. Cover with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon mixture over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

If you prefer fruit and do not want chocolate chips in this, make as directed (omit chips), but before sprinkling on the cinnamon/sugar mix on the top, slip some thin freshly sliced apple pieces in rows into the batter than sprinkle on the last of the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top. Bake as usual.

Estelle's Outrageous Blueberry Muffins

2-1/4 c cake flour

1-1/2 c sugar

3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

3/4 c milk

2 extra large eggs

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp water

1 pint (16 oz) fresh blueberries or equivalent frozen and patted dry

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In large mixing bowl, place flour, sugar, shortening, milk, eggs, baking poweder, salt, vanilla and water. Blend at low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl and mix at high speed for 6 minutes.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each 1/2 full. Add 6-10 blueberries to the batter in each cup, mixing in several and leaving some at the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and allow muffins to cool completely or until just warm enough to eat.

P.S. Add a bit of lemon zest to make these great muffins even better.

P.S. Mix all ingredients, but berries into 1 bowl. In this recipe, the blueberries are added individually to each muffin cup so the batter doesn't turn blue/purple. Make sure to to thoroughly dry blueberries if using thawed berries.

Ahhh! There is nothing like staying home for real comfort!

Jane Austen

The Reading Corner....Heartbreak Cafe!

Miss Judy and I were having one of our long phone conversations the other day, when we began discussing our latest reads. She was telling me about "The Blue Bottle Club" authored by Penelope Stokes. It sounded like a book I would like, so off we went to our local bookstore to browse about and spend the afternoon drifting from aisle to aisle until Darling and I both found two or three books a piece. They were out of "The Blue Bottle Club", but I did come across another book authored by this Mississippi-born writer, "Heartbreak Cafe."

It begins by......"There's two things in life a man can't get enough of," my mama told me. "Good cookin' and good lovin'." I was hooked! The story takes place in Chulahatchie, Mississippi with mentions of Ole Miss and flawed characters known as Peach Rondell, Tansie, Scratch, Boone, Fart (real name Theodore) Unger and Dee, the main character. Dee finds herself fifty-one, untrained, a new widow and pretty much penniless. Her life has crumbled before her, but she forges ahead, relunctantly, and falls back on her one true ability, cooking. Hence, the birth of the Heartbreak Cafe, which becomes the meeting place of this group of unlikely friends. There are a few "special recipes" included toward the end which are each inventions of the characters!

Scratch's Comfort Sandwich

With a Nod to the King of Rock N' Roll

This is pretty unhealthy, especially coming from a man who had dreams of becoming a surgeon. But comfort food is all about comfort, now isn't it?

2 slices of white bread

Creamy Peanut Butter

Strawberry Jam

2 Slices of Spam

Spread peanut butter on the two slices of toast. Add strawberry jam to the peanut butter on both sides. Fry up the Spam in a skillet. Lay the Spam on top of the peanut butter and jam and close er' up. Perform a surgical incision diagonally from corner to corner. Good with Milk!

Penelope Stokes was raised and received her formal education in Mississippi. She left the South after graduate school and spent fourteen years in Minnesota, teaching and editing. It was here she began her writing career. "I did a bit of wandering—Georgia, Connecticut, back to Mississippi for a while—but it didn't take me long to realize that my soul's home could only be one place: Asheville, North Carolina, a small city in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains."


Penelope states that being a southern writer is, in many ways, bred in the blood and the bone. "Place is very important to me—not just the physical environment of my home and office and the vistas I take in on a daily basis, but that "sense of place," the internal compass that keeps drawing me back to where I belong, to the connections that nourish my soul."


"Because in the long run, fiction is about people. Not just about what happens to them, but about what happens in them—the spiritual, emotional, and psychological passages that lead people to an understanding of their inner selves, and of one another. I write about the heart, the mind, the soul. I want to write novels that combine authenticity of character with profound spiritual dimension—books that are original, imaginative, and intrinsically true to life. I want to draw readers in, allowing them to perceive a different kind of world—one marked by purpose, significance, and most importantly, hope."


" I believe that ultimately, our character is determined not so much by the certainties we cling to, but by the uncertainties we are courageous enough to face. When we're committed to going deeper, to following the unknown path, our journey can lead us to an understanding of our own inner being, to a connection with a power that is both within us and beyond us. And that understanding, that connection, gives meaning and purpose to our days."

A Final Word From Dell

Right before she died, my mama said, "Dell honey, lemme tell you something. When you come to the end of your days and are looking down the barrel of eternity, ain't nothin' gonna matter in this life or the next, except how well you loved the people you love."

Rasberry Tiramisu...Entertaining The Boss!

Hurry....think......the boss man cometh....what do we serve to make a good impression? Oh, I have the perfect menu figured out....some of this can be made ahead of time and assembled right before serving which can save so much time and make the evening a little less stressful! We want our meal to be something everyone usually likes and finds it to be comforting and satisfying! So The Maine House dinner menu for this special evening is going to be.....

Estelle's Brisket

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Honey Glazed Carrots

Italian Green Salad

and the

Pièce de résistance is a French term (circa 1839), translated into English literally as "piece of resistance", referring to the best part or feature of something (as in a meal), a showpiece, or highlight.......

Estelle's Rasberry Coconut Tiramisu

The Mississippi 2009 Grand Prize Pound Cake

1 (18.25 ounce) Coconut Supreme Cake Mix

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine cake mix and sugar with hand mixer. Add oil, sour cram, eggs and vanilla and beat 2 minutes. Pour batter into a greasted and floured heavy bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes. Do not open the oven during baking. When the cake is done and browned, remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from bundt pan onto serving plate!

Rasberry Tiramisu

1 cup seedless raspberry jam

6 tablespoons orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)

1 pound mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 1 pound cake cut into  1 1/2-inch pieces

3 (1/2 dry pint) baskets fresh raspberries

Confectioners' sugar, for serving

Stir the jam and 4 tablespoons of the orange liqueur in a small bowl to blend.
Combine the mascarpone and remaining 2 tablespoons of orange liqueur in a large bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream, sugar, and vanilla in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Using a large rubber spatula, stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture to lighten. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture.


Line the bottom of a 13" x 9" x 2" glass baking dish 1/2 of the cubed poundcake. Spread half of the jam mixture over the cake. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over the jam mixture, then cover with half of the fresh raspberries. Repeat layering with the remaining pound cake cubes, jam mixture, mascarpone mixture and raspberries. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. Dust with the confectioners' sugar and serve.


So, be sure to set the mood for a lovely evening..use your good wedding china, the silver, light the candles you place on your silver candlesticks, use the roses from your garden for your centerpiece and play some Billie Holiday tunes!

Estelle's hopes this gives you an idea for when you too have

very important dinner guests!