We had a friend whom I loved very much - a woman named Johna.  Johna waxed eloquent about her home state of Texas and said things like, “I’m fixin’ to…” and “y’all,” and “I reckon….”  Johna taught me about loving your husband with your whole heart and how faith in God can turn a less-than-desirable situation in to one that is pretty darned amazing.  She taught me about “real cornbread” (which, although I tried, I still don’t like) and taught me the finer points of making my award-winning chili.  She died far too young (in her early 50s) and is deeply missed, more than 10 years later.

But in our home, Johna lives on in the recipes she shared with me.  One is her cranberry salad, which I make during the holidays, and the other is with her Mounds (and/or Piña Colada) Cake.  The cakes are dependent upon a product which is challenging to find, namely Coco Lopez.  Coco Lopez is a sweetened coconut milk that’s often used in mixed drinks, but can also be used for desserts.  The cans are small and it’s fairly expensive.  When you pair those factors with “hard to find,” most people will simply do without a cake that requires it, no matter how luscious it is.

We have another friend, Ashley, who is a coconut fiend - even more than I am coconut-crazy.  A few years ago, I made her a Piña Colada cake (the kissing-cousin to the Mounds Cake) and this year, we celebrated her birthday with the Mounds Cake.  The trouble was that I only had a small portion of Coco Lopez in the freezer, leftover from the last time I used it.  And as I pulled it out, I realized that I didn’t have enough to complete the cake - and Mark had the car for the day.  This was going to be a problem.  I found no recipes online for anything of the sort, so I set about to create my own.

I looked in the cabinets and realized that my coconut-nuttiness was about to pay off - because although I didn’t have Coco Lopez, I did have something better:  real, organic coconut.  I reasoned that with this coconut product, which is finely-ground coconut and contains all the oil of the coconut, I could make my own version of Coco Lopez for a fraction of the cost, none of the inconvenience, and that it would likely taste much better.

Coconut Cream Concentrate is a product from Tropical Traditions, and is finely ground coconut (and nothing else) that tastes like fresh coconut, but comes in a jar.  It’s the safest and easiest way to eat fresh coconut here in the States (coconut spoils VERY rapidly outside of the tropics), and I keep it on hand for making curries, coconut milk, and other Asian and Indian recipes.  I’ll also be trying Wilderness Family Naturals Coconut Spread, which appears to be the same product, but through a different company.  Regardless, either product will work and it’s the base of this coconut cream recipe.

I liquified my coconut cream concentrate and added a bit of coconut oil in to help with consistency - sometimes the CCC can be very dense, especially at the bottom of the jar, which is what I was dealing with.  I stirred it around vigorously and then measured out what I needed.  At the same time, I created a simple syrup, which is made from equal amounts of sugar and water.  When the syrup boiled, I added in the CCC and stirred it well - and voilá!  A very tasty, much fresher version of Coco Lopez.  I’ll post the recipe here and the Mounds Cake recipe beneath it.

Sue’s Sweetened Coconut Cream

• 5 T. coconut cream concentrate or coconut spread, liquified (or as smooth and liquified as possible)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. water

In a saucepan, combine sugar & water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Once syrup boils, remove it from heat.  Stir in coconut concentrate and move back to burner, stirring constantly over low heat.  When you see the sweetened coconut cream come together, give it a few more stirs and remove it from heat, allowing it to cool to room temperature.

Johna’s Mounds Cake

• 1 dark chocolate cake mix, including whatever is required by box-directions
• sweetened coconut cream (or nearly a full can of Coco Lopez)
• 1 batch sour cream frosting (recipe below)
• sweetened shredded coconut for garnish

Make the cake according to the box directions; bake, and as the cake cools (keep it in its baking-pan), poke the top of the entire cake with a fork.  You’ll want holes ALL OVER the surface of the cake, so don’t be shy with the fork.  Once the cake’s top is pierced generously, pour the sweetened coconut cream all over the cake and allow it to absorb.  I generally allow 2 hours for absorption; the cake should be completely cooled by the time you frost it.

Johna’s Sour Cream Frosting

• 1 c. sour cream
• ½ c. granulated sugar
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Combine the sour cream and sugar, making sure the sugar dissolves in the sour cream.  Gently fold in the whipped cream (the frosting will be somewhat thin as you fold in the whipped cream).  If you wish to have a stiffer frosting, in addition to whipping the cream, whip up 2 egg whites with a touch of sugar and fold in both the whipped cream & meringue to the sour cream-sugar combination.  Use the frosting immediately.

Assemble the cake (if necessary - I tend to use a 9×13″ pan for this cake), frost it, and garnish it with shredded coconut.  This cake is DIVINE - light, not overly-sweet, very moist, and perfectly coconut-y.  It’s a healthier-version of  Mounds candy bar - and is perfect for celebrations of all sorts.

Enjoy!

Every so often, a friend re-introduces me to a dish I thought I didn’t like.  Pesto was one of those dishes - the only other time I’d had it, it was so strong and overpowering that I figured all pesto was not for me.  Plus, there was the green-colour-thing; I’m not a fan of guacamole (at all) - mostly because of the texture, but partly because of the colour, too.

Geneva changed all of that for me.  She’s a delightful friend and loves to experiment in the kitchen - possibly as much as I do.  We had dinner with G and her husband, Jeff, a few months ago and she surprised us with pesto over penne pasta with asparagus and a few other delightfully crisp veggies tucked in for good measure.  Brendan cleaned his plate (not once, but twice!) and I was delighted that it wasn’t like the pesto of long ago.

Geneva’s secret is roasting the garlic for a while - she recommended in a frying pan on medium heat, but I also found that if I cut the tops of the garlic cluster off (just a little bit), I could roast it in the oven at 300F for quite a while and not have to babysit it like roasting it on the stove.  The garlic sweetens like I’d never experienced before when roasted - there’s no pungency or bitterness at all in properly-roasted garlic.  Who knew?  I’ve successfully made this recipe twice since having it prepared for me - one serving was for dinner guests, and the other is currently in the freezer, awaiting the day when I have no idea what to make and failed to make a menu plan for the week.  Sometimes it happens.  What can I say?

As a result of this recipe, I’m also planning a large section of basil in the garden this year - so I need to get to seed-starting. 

Geneva’s Classic Pesto

• 3 garlic cloves, paper skins intact
• 2 cups fresh packed basil
• ½ c. olive oil
• ¼ c. toasted pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds
• ¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt/pepper to taste

Toast the garlic in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant and spotty brown (about 7 minutes). Cool garlic before peeling.  Combine the peeled garlic, basil, cooled nuts, and Parmesan in blender for smoother consistency - drizzle in oil through top of blender as ingredients combine for greatest amount of oil-emulsification and creamiest finished product.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Yield:  ¾ c. pesto, enough for 1 lb. pasta, cooked.  For added protein content, add in cooked, cubed chicken or canellini beans.  Delicious with steamed asparagus tossed with the pasta and covered in pesto - guaranteed to get my child to invite himself over to your home for dinner and to get him to lick the plate. 

Enjoy!

I love cooking from scratch.  But there are days (like yesterday) when I simply wasn’t put together enough.  Sunday afternoons are my time to put my shopping list and coupons together, to get a menu planned, and to organize my cooking plans for the week.  This past Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and I ended up making a batch of hummus and having some down-time before the party - getting nothing planned, sorted, or organized.

So when yesterday came, I was running behind and then found that the crappy dishwasher was about to be renamed the dish-dirtier, because all of the supposedly clean dishes in it weren’t.  And by the time Mark got that worked on a bit, I was staring down the barrel at 5pm and had nothing cooking for dinner.

Which brings in my go-to quick meal.  It’s not Sally-Fallon-approved and can be improved with brown rice, but at least it tastes good and has protein in it.  It’s not from a fast-food joint and it’s not a rotisserie chicken, although the latter is my idea of ‘fast food,’ mostly because I can get three meals out of one pre-roasted chicken.  There are just days when I have to be flexible and roll with the punches and meals like this in my arsenal insure that we at least have a home-cooked meal.  Happily, my guys love it - it’s saucy, comfort-food-ish, and has good flavour.  The celery adds a depth of flavour that cream of chicken soup doesn’t have, but cream of chicken will also work for this dish.

Cheesy Chicken

1 jar Ragu Double-Cheese pasta sauce
1 can cream of celery soup
4-6 frozen chicken breasts

Whisk the cheese sauce and celery soup in a pan or crockpot (if you’re thinking ahead) until smooth.  Place frozen chicken in the sauce, turn the pan on medium or the crockpot on high (for 3 hours; low for 6 hours).  When chicken is cooked, serve with rice or noodles & a salad.  Dinner’s done! 

So one of my “go-to” meals around here comes from my maternal Grandmother.  I was named after her and my mom tells me that I look a lot like her too, minus the red hair.  That came from my dad’s side of the family.  Grandma was Transylvanian - the area which is now Hungary.  And based on the skin tones in our family, we have some Romany (gypsy) in us, as well.  Too bad I didn’t get any of that (my consistent ability to turn lobster-shades in the sun confirms this), but whatever.

Anyhow, Grandma was a good cook - she passed down multiple recipes to us and although she was a busy lady, she seemed to do it all well.  She lost her sight late in life and passed away much too early (she was 66), but all of my memories of her are wonderful.

This dish is one we grew up with - my mom made it and always credited Grandma.  My husband wasn’t aware that macaroni & cheese could be anything except a side-dish, but the hearty-nature of this dish convinced him otherwise.  As kids, Mom always paired this with some of her hand-canned fruit cocktail, but I never make fruit cocktail and think the meal has enough carbs as it is, so I don’t do that.  It’s hot, smells amazing, and tastes even better.

One note:  the recipe calls for milk, and if your milk is really fresh (raw) like mine is, you’ll have to scald the milk first.  If you don’t scald raw milk, you will end up with noodles, cheese, and hot milk in the baking dish; if you scald it, you’ll get the congealing-effect that pasteurized milk provides and the meal will be cohesive in the pan & as you serve it up.

Grandma’s Macaroni & Cheese

1 box (12-16 oz) dried macaroni elbows (Dreamfield is my favourite)
1 lb. shredded cheese (I mix mild & sharp cheddar)
1 ½ c. milk (if raw, scald in microwave or on stove)
salt to taste

Boil the macaroni for the least-amount of time on the box, drain.  One pound of noodles will make a 9×9 pan nicely; if you want to do a 9×13, you can double the recipe or have a smaller finished product.  Spread ¾ of the cooked noodles on the bottom of the pan, salt to taste.  Sprinkle ½ of the cheese over the noodles, then top with the rest of the cooked pasta.  Salt to taste.  Sprinkle the last of the cheese over the top and toward the center of the pan of noodles & cheese, pour the milk.  Transfer the pan to an oven preheated to 350°F.  Bake for 40-50 minutes; top will brown beautifully and it will smell *heavenly*.  Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes, and cut in to pieces.

Serve with a green salad.

Mmmmmm.