Peach Cake

20130823-225159.jpg

This recipe is from Ina Garten. I originally shared this recipe when I made it with strawberries in my Strawberry Cake post.

My husband’s favorite dessert is this cake. When peaches are in season, I have to remember to make it. I like to keep him happy. You know the saying, “Happy husband, Happy WO-man.” Or “Happy Husband, Happy Homeland.” Oh nevermind, you know I am horrible at jokes.

Anyhoo, off to bake a cake:

Ingredients:

1 stick softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (divided into one cup and half cup)
2 extra large room temperature eggs
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large peaches, pitted, peeled, sliced into wedges

Optional:

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I do not like nuts in my desserts, so I omit these. They are part of her recipe. You can add them if you please).

20130823-224500.jpg

20130823-224533.jpg

20130823-224607.jpg

20130823-224643.jpg

20130823-224740.jpg

I just follow her very easy recipe. Seriously, this might take five-ten minutes to make. Then you just have to wait for it to bake. I am not posting the recipe, because I just want to share what I like to make. I did not invent this, so ethically and legally I cannot post the full details. However, bliss is just a click away. ; )

I bake mine for one hour and fifteen minutes. She says to bake it for 50-55. This has never been the case for me. I serve it warm, in a bowl, with vanilla ice cream on top.

I promised my husband I would bake him this cake last week. At 8:30 at night, I remembered. I started the cake and realized I only had one egg. Therefore, I halved the recipe in these pictures. If you follow the true recipe, your cake will look much more impressive.

Regardless, it ended up being fantastic. It still took one hour to bake. So, he ended up getting his much needed dessert at 10:00 that night. He ate this for lunch the next day. Uh oh, my bad habits are wearing off on him!

And being that it was 10:00, I forgot to take a final picture. This is a bummer, because the best part about this recipe is how it puffs up like magic in the oven. (Eventually, I will update with a pretty picture of the real deal. But I wanted to post this recipe while peaches are in season.)

20130823-224808.jpg

Hence, the final picture in bed (with cinnamon ice cream).

Oh well, I can’t think of a better way to end the night.

Strawberry Cake

Oh! The smell of this cake baking throughout the house is absolutely amazing. It is an aphrodisiac to the male senses. This is my husband’s very favorite thing. I normally make this with peaches, but they are not in season right now. Strawberries happen to be on sale for $1 a pound here. I substituted one pound of strawberries for the peaches. I think that makes this cake less than $2 to make.

20130425-122939.jpg

The recipe is from the lovely Ina Garten. Here is the link.

20130425-123016.jpg

20130425-123050.jpg

20130425-123134.jpg

You will never regret making this cake. It poofs up like magic in the oven. It is a cinch to whip together. Even with time accounted to chop the fruit, the cake cannot take more than ten minutes to make. It is delicious. You will be a hero. Ina Garten’s recipe states it should bake for 50-55 minutes. My cake took 83 minutes to bake in the oven at 325 convect bake. Make sure your toothpick comes out clean. At 55 minutes, my cake was still very jiggly in the middle. And, whilst I have nothing against jiggly… afterall, I am that very adjective myself… I do not want a jiggly cake.

20130425-123203.jpg

20130425-123445.jpg

I serve it straight out of the oven with vanilla ice cream spooned on top. The peach cake is better than the strawberry version. I will post pictures of that one in the summer. Until then, what could be better than warm cinnamon and sugar cake melded with strawberries and creamy cold ice cream melting in your mouth?… I cannot think of anything.

I think Ina Garten is amazing for coming up with this recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie is something I had always been intimidated to make. It seemed quite difficult. I knew, however, that the key to many a heart lay in making this pie. Now I make chicken pot pie on a regular basis. This is what my friends request when they are sick in bed. It is what I recently left for our sweet petsitter to eat while she watched our furry darlings.

I hope you enjoy the following comforting dish as much as I do!

The following recipe was adapted from Ina Garten’s Chicken Pot Pie recipe. I have changed it a little to make it easier. I am sure hers is better, because she is amazing. However, we all know I am lazy and want quick results. Here is a link to her original recipe

Ingredients (this will make two pies)

2 rotisserie chickens (I only dice the breasts on these, you can use all the meat if you prefer. I do not use the skin) (when I double recipe, I buy three rotisserie chickens)
1 cup of diced carrots (this is usually 1/2 pound and I buy the crinkle all ready cut for you carrots in a bag)
1/4 cup diced onions (I use frozen diced onions)
1/4 cup of frozen peas
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 chicken bouillon cubes
5 cups of salted chicken stock (I usually use one quart and one of those little cartons of chicken stock, they come in packs of 4)
1 and 1/2 sticks salted butter
2 packages of 2 refrigerated pie crust (I prefer Pillsbury and it has to be refrigerated, not frozen)
3/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you have a convection oven, like I do, preheat to 350 degrees on convect bake. Dice up your rotisserie chicken. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, boil the water for carrots. Once boiled, add carrots and boil for 7 minutes.

Drain boiled carrots into a colander in the sink. Return the now empty sauce pan to the stovetop and add the chicken stock and bouillon cubes to it. Bring to a gentle boil. While that is simmering, proceed to the next step.

Take pie crusts out of refrigerator at this time to soften.

In a large pot on the stove, melt your butter over medium low heat. Add onions and sauté until softened. This takes 8-10 minutes. Add the flour and continuously stir mixture for 2 minutes.

20130331-203455.jpg

Turn off heat to chicken stock. Pour the chicken stock/Bouillon cube mixture into the pot with onion/flour/butter mixture (the roux).

20130331-203703.jpg

Stir continuously until it is beautiful and thick. Turn off heat.

Add carrots and peas and mix together. Add chicken. Add cream. Stir. Taste mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. I hate when recipes say that! Just tell me how much to add! For me, this is usually 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper. Stir together.

20130331-203804.jpg

In two pie pans, lay one layer of the pie crust down in each evenly. Pierce with holes. Pour 1/2 chicken pot pie filling in pie tins.

For the next step, you can make the top of your pie crusts pretty, by simply stamping the center of each one with a cookie cutter.

Lay your now pretty pie crust tops on each pie evenly. Pinch together edges. Pierce top with fork to allow steam to escape.

20130331-203930.jpg

Place in oven and cook for 45-50 minutes. Mine usually takes 50. Remove from oven once top of pie is golden brown. Turn off heat. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

20130331-204008.jpg

Oh my gosh, now eat that bad boy! So yummy!

Total cost for two pies: $20.47

2 rotisserie chickens $10
2 packages pie crust $3.98
1/2 package carrots $1
1/4 cup frozen diced onions $0
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream $1.75
1 and 1/2 sticks butter .99
1/4 cup frozen peas .25
2 bouillon cubes .66
5 cups chicken stock $1.84

Please let me know if you try this. I love to hear from you!