2025: Need I Say More? Rolling Along…

 

Well 2024 was a tumultous year and I find myself finally coming back to things that make me happy, like cooking and writing these entries. Shortly after my last entry Wolfie passed away and we were all so very sad. Then the Coyoties in our neighborhood discovered our chicken coop and we lost all but 2. Our favorite, John is still with us and I have to keep the chicken run locked up so she is safe from the coyotes. The second to last (Ron Weasly maybe? Though we could never really tell the two red ones apart) was so depressed at the loss of her red sister that she began trying to learn how to crow like a rooster-very loudly every am about 6:00. So, being in a city, this was problemeatic. Ron left us for a nice farm out in the Sandy area where she could crow to her hearts delight. My mom passed away on the eclipse, the first week in April and I spend many weekends going to Chicago to help my dad with cleaning up the house. I had to write a lot and process the first year of my life of not having a mom. My mom was not always the best mom, but she was my mom nonetheless, and it was nice to always have someone to talk to on the phone whom I could share my life with in a way that I cannot always with my friends. We suffered a happy loss in August when I helped Linnea move into the dorm for their first year of college at Oberlin in OHIO. And we welcomed two new siberian kittens into our home, Phineas and Ferb, a brother and sister who came home shortly before Linnea left. I have not had a kitten since I was really young and it has been fun realizing how much like toddlers they are. They became a wonderful little spark to round out a busy and sad year. And lastly we have a change in politics that will unleash the beginning of the end of the US as we know it. This is a change that I don’t believe for a minute was a decision made by the majority of Americans.

And now for food this week. Many dinner parties planned so lots of yummy things to cook:) For some reason I really felt like rolling things this week…..

 

Cabbage Rolls or Golabki

from The Spruce Eats

  • Salt (for salting boiling water)

  • 1 whole head cabbage (about 4 pounds)

  • For the Filling:

    • 2 tablespoons butter

    • 1 large onion, coarsely chopped

    • 1 pound ground beef

    • 1/2 pound ground pork

    • 1 1/2 cups cooked rice

    • 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

    • 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt, more as needed

    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more as needed

    • 1 cup beef stock

    • 1 cup sour cream, for garnish

Boil the salted water and place the whole cored cabbage in there. Cook for three minutes and then take out, peel 18 leaves off. Trim away the thick stem from each leaf.

Sautee the onion in the butter and then add to filling by chopping the remainder of the cabbage, beef, pork, rice, garlic, salt, pepper together.

Then assemble each cabbage roll by putting 1/2 cup of filling per cabbage leaf and roll closed.

Place in a le cruset cooker and pour 1 cup of beef stock over the rolls.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 60 min. Drain the liquid to keep in the fridge.

serve with sour cream on top.

Phineas and Ferb-8 months

Pear and Caramel Upside Down Cake

Caramel

3½ tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing

(heaping ½ cup) light brown or muscovado sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

3 1/2 medium Bosc pears, peeled, halved, seeds removed

Cake

(¾ cup) superfine sugar

(½ cup plus 6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

(1 cup plus 5 tablespoons) self-rising flour

(½ cup) blanched, finely ground almonds or almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 large eggs

3 tablespoons orange zest (from 2 to 3 oranges)

Heat the oven to 350°F

Use butter to grease a 9-inch round springform cake pan.

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter, sugar, and cardamom, swirling the pan until the sugar has dissolved and the butter has melted. Cook for 2 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth, stirring it well with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Carefully pour this into the prepared cake pan and spread evenly with whichever tool you stirred with. Place the prepared pear halves, cut side down, into the caramel.

  2. In a medium bowl, combine all the cake ingredients and whisk for 2 minutes, until the batter is light and creamy. Spoon this mixture carefully over the pears, without disturbing them. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

  3. Leave the cake in the pan and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before carefully removing the sides of the springform pan. Place a plate or cake stand on top of the cake, then carefully invert the cake. Enjoy it warm or cold. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

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