Check out the Photos page at the top of the blog and click on “An Amusing Visitor”. It’s something a little different.
Enjoy!
Tag: chewy
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Tornado Time In Texas
Night before last a rapid and dangerous storm blew through Texas in the middle of the night. I am eternally grateful that there was no damage to my home or yard. It was verified that a tornado did blow through my community and the path of evidence was clear-cut. Trees down, metal mangled, fences laid flat, vehicles smashed by fallen trees, awnings crumpled. The destruction could have been much worse and I know all in this town are thankful it was minimal in the big scheme of what is known as a tornado.
The worst for us was loosing power for eight hours. When we lost electricity at 2:20 a.m., one thing going through my mind, once I knew the danger of a tornado at my home had passed, was how I was going to pull off catering a meal for 34 people in my kitchen. I silently prayed that the power would be restored by 8 a.m. and all would go without a hitch. However, when my battery operated alarm went off at 7 and we still had no electricity it became clear I had a bump in the catering road. To make matters worse since we had no power, I had no coffee. Not a good start to the day. I generally don’t say a word until I’ve had about three or four sips of coffee then a word or two leaks out of my mouth, not before. Realizing that I could not wait to speak until I’d tasted some fresh, hot, rich, wake me up coffee, I discussed my dilemma with adoring hubby .
As luck would have it I was catering lunch for the studio where he works as a commercial photographer. (No, he does not shoot all of my fabulous photos for this blog, only on occasion do I hand the job over to him, thank you.) The decision was made that we would load all the ingredients, my knives, a cooler, large bowls and pans, etc. into my vehicle and transport it all to the studio for me to prepare there. As is standard for most big studios there is a very large and well equipped kitchen. And, most importantly they would have a pot of hot fresh coffee waiting for me. This seemed like the best thing happening – so the story goes.
The chosen menu for my catered meal was King Ranch Chicken. King Ranch Chicken is a casserole. I am not a big fan of casseroles and I don’t usually make the them. KRC is a staple on the dinner table in Texas however, and I figured it was about time I figure out how to throw one together. A side note about casseroles. A few years back while staying with a friend, Miss T asked the mom what was for dinner. The mom told her “tuna casserole”. Miss T’s reply, “I don’t think I like tuna casserole”. The mom, “You like tuna, potato chips, noodles, cheese, right?” “Yes, mam”, answered Miss T. “Oh, then you’ll like tuna casserole, it’ll be ready in a while. I’ll call ya’ll when it’s done”, the mom responded as she dismissed Miss T. My daughter, however continued to stand in the kitchen with a disgruntled look on her face. Mom, “Need something else?”. Miss T, “yes, I don’t think I’m gonna like it because I don’t think I like casserole!”. The mom rolled in the floor with laughter and couldn’t wait to share the story with me. Each time the topic of casseroles comes up, and it is noted that I don’t make them, we retell this story and laugh at the mystery of “casserole”.
Casseroles often are mysterious, as ingredients are disguised under sauces and cheeses. I’m rather dubious about the success of casseroles if it weren’t for Campbell’s “cream of” soups. They appear on many casserole recipes. I have never understood how the cream of mushroom with its pathetic, rubbery little flecks of mushroom, or the cream of chicken a weird color of yellow, containing miniscule bits of chicken, can either one pass for real soup. But I suppose if it weren’t for them King Ranch Chicken wouldn’t exist.
On this day it would exist much to the pleasure of all the photographers, stylists, art directors, managers, assistants and pressers ready for the echo across the PA system of “lunch is ready!”. It was noted to be the best KRC casserole served at the studio, nice spice, and generous amounts of chicken in every bite. Success in the face of diversity.
Enjoy! Please don’t leave without saying a little something in the comments section below.
King Ranch Chicken
Ingredients:
9 pounds chicken, cooked and cubed
2 10 oz. cans Rotel tomatoes
2 1/2 dozen corn tortillas
4 10 oz. cans cream of chicken soup
2 10 oz. cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10 oz. cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 pounds grated cheddar & Monterrey jack cheese
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. black pepper
2-4 tsp ground chili powderCoat the inside of a steam table size aluminum pan with cooking spray. Saute onion and bell pepper in a little olive oil in a pan until fragrant. Add all soups, broth and Rotel into a large saucepan. Heat and when beginning to boil add onion and pepper mixture, spices, and black pepper; lower heat and simmer for a few minutes. Meantime layer corn tortillas in bottom of pan. Spoon the hot soup mixture over the tortillas, sprinkle some chicken and cheese over the soup mixture. Add another layer of tortillas and repeat process until you have 3 layers, being sure to finish with a generous layer of cheese.
Bake in a 350* oven for about an hour or until center is bubbly and cheese begins to brown. Allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.
This recipe serves 24.
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The One That Got Away
Do you ever have days when all you wish to do is stay at home? I have oodles of days when that is my wish. This entire weekend I wished for that – but it didn’t work out so well. I don’t mean to complain, but I will be looking forward to the next day that looks like it might be one when I do not have any reason to get in the car and drive anywhere. So it goes. Something rather comical happened to adoring hubby and me today. I’m going to share it with you.
Mr. F had received three calls about bee swarms this morning, all with requests to have them removed. He called and asked if I felt confident enough to remove one by myself, or better yet with adoring hubby’s help. He told me he’d loan us an extra bee suit and gloves so he would be safe from stings. I was thrilled to experience capturing a swarm on my own. After all this is the business of bee keepers. We gathered all the necessary equipment, a sheet, a bucket, the bee brush, a fruit jar with holes poked in the lid, a hive box, lid and a net to wrap it all up in, and a ladder. This swarm was about 8 feet up in a tree. I had a plan of how we would capture the swarm and we were set.
We arrived at the residence and nobody was home so we began setting up our equipment. Hubby was having a little difficulty adjusting his bee hat to fit his head. As he was making the final adjustment I noticed a few bees buzzing near me but when I lifted my head and looked up there were thousands of bees circling above us. My first thought was several of the bees had gotten stirred up by the ferocious wind we were experiencing at the time, but when I looked at the tree and the spot where the bees were gathered, there was not even one bee there. Our mouths fell open in disbelief as those thousands of bees circled up and out of sight! Neither of us knew what to say or think for a few seconds and then we both just started to laugh. It’s swell when a husband and wife can dissolve into laughter together. It’s the best part of marriage. We look forward to our next opportunity to go on a bee keepers adventure together and I know my next shopping spree will be to buy my adoring hubby his very own bee suit and hat – one that easily fits his head!
A side note to my story is that Mr. Floyd was to pick up the other two swarms today and they also both took off before they could be captured. He received a call from another bee keeper who experienced the same incident today. Adoring hubby attributes it to the change in weather predicted to take place later this evening. I’m not sure the reason but find it interesting that it happened four times in the same day in four different locations with three different bee keepers attempting to capture swarms. What I do know is that bees have been around for millions of years and I’m reasonably sure they have one up on us bee keepers when it comes to what is best for them. Welcome to bee keeping!
Meantime it is a beautiful, warm, sunny, if terribly windy day in Texas. We will be grilling baby back ribs for our last weekend meal and my juicy tomato salad will be a wonderful side, along with corn on the cob and fresh-cut, sweet pineapple spears. I’m sharing the tomato salad recipe with you because with summer around the corner this becomes a staple in my home. I fancy tomato salad with just about anything. Be sure to have a warm loaf of Italian bread on the table for dunking in the dressing. That alone could be a meal in itself.
Enjoy!
Linda’s Tomato Salad
4 Roma tomatoes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
dash of kosher salt
Shy 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oreganoSlice tomatoes. Mix dressing ingredients together and pour over tomatoes. Set aside and toss gently several times before serving. I like my tomatoes at room temperature. Depending on how long you will be marinating the tomatoes you may need to refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.
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Spontaneous Cuisine
I quote Pearl Bailey…”The fact is that it takes more than ingredients and technique to cook a good meal. A good cook puts something of himself into the preparation – he cooks with enjoyment, anticipation, spontaneity, and he is willing to experiment”. This statement pretty much sums me up. I begin with anticipation of enjoying the preparation as well as the meal itself. Experimentation has turned out some of the best meals in my kitchen and spontaneity is what keeps stress out of my kitchen.
If you’ve read my blog you know by now that often times I look to see what is on hand and prepare my meals from those ingredients. Most of the time this works out beautifully. The other night was a perfect example of this method of food preparation.
I had purchased some pork tenderloin – on sale buy one, get one for a penny. Great place to begin my journey – a nice pork tenderloin. I knew rosemary and garlic would take part in this concoction and after snooping around in the frig I pulled out the nearly empty jar of orange marmalade. I wanted something more so I snipped some Italian parsley leaves and got out the pepper grinder. The rest is history.
I whipped up some potatoes and some fresh peas and produced the perfect spring dinner. The pork was flavorful, juicy, and tender with just a touch of sweet from the marmalade and a touch of savory from the rosemary and garlic. Perfect combination and so simple. My favorite meal – simple, delicious, flavorful and pretty on the plate.
Orange Pork Tenderloin
1 pork tenderloin
2 tbsp. orange marmalade
1 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary – chopped
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp fresh Italian parsleyPreheat the oven to 350*. Spray inside of a 9×13 Pyrex dish with cooking spray. Place pork into dish and drizzle marmalade over tenderloin. Next sprinkle garlic, parsley and rosemary over top and sides of pork. Finish with fresh grated black pepper over all.
Bake about 40 minutes or until cooked through but still juicy. Remove from oven, cover with foil and let sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
Enjoy!
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Going Green
One of the perks of capturing swarms or removing bees from people’s yards is they might toss you a bone in the way of a few bucks or in this case a lovely bunch of fresh-cut asparagus. When I helped my bee man remove the bees from the water meter box a few days ago the gentleman who’d called for help was grateful the bees were successfully removed. Mr. F. would’ve dug a couple of bucks to help with gas since it’s gone sky-high but the guy said,”My garden hasn’t really taken off yet but I do have some fresh-cut asparagus, can I offer you any?” Using a thumb to gesture toward me, Mr. Floyd responded with, “She’d probably like it, I don’t like it”. I smiled and said that I’d love to have a bunch of fresh asparagus. The home owner disappeared and returned shortly with a bag full of asparagus, bright green, purple and cream in color, smelling like it had been cut early that morning. We thanked him and he thanked us and off we went.
The next day being a Saturday all I could think of was throwing something on the grill and I wanted that asparagus to be part of it. I rubbed some boneless pork ribs down with a few spices and garlic and left them to sit for a while. In the meantime I cleaned and broke the ends off of the asparagus. I decided it would stand on its own in flavor so all I did was place it in a baggie with some olive oil, a little smidge of kosher salt and a dash of pepper. When the ribs were almost ready I laid the asparagus over medium hot coals and allowed them to roast until they were tender. If the photograph above doesn’t make your mouth water for some fresh asparagus, perhaps you don’t like it.
All I can encourage you to do is find the freshest asparagus you are able and do exactly what I did. It was the absolute best serving of asparagus I’ve ever tasted. It was crisp, tender, sweet and simply put “absolutely delicious”!
I must give adoring hubby a big thank you for taking a photo that truly captures the beauty of that vegetable in its raw state. Most of the photos on my blog are taken by me but occasionally I have to turn it over to the pro in the family and let him work his magic. Thanks honey!
I’m making a little diversion in my method for writing about all of my bee adventures as I seem to have a lack of time lately but so much bee business I want to share with you. Today I’m going to share a bee story right here on the front page as opposed to having you go up to the Bees & Honey page. Yesterday was another exciting day in my bee world. I went to help capture a swarm of bees hanging from a short tree. I sure was thankful that it was a short tree and they were low in it. The capture was extremely successful as I located and caught the queen as well as coaxing almost every single bee into the hive! Now that is satisfaction at not only becoming skilled at this removal thing but pride at saving just one more colony of bees looking for a new home. They are safely living in my bee yard in Hive Miracle – so named because it’s a miracle that hive has any queen at all – it now has 2 queens in residence and 3 queen cells, where new queens are growing. Mr. Floyd says its queen storage. The queens are in their respective cages and being tended to by the girls. For more on this story stay tuned later in the week when I’ll write about releasing one of the queens and all that will take place in Hive Miracle when I take on that task. Meantime, below check out a couple of photos of yesterday’s removal – you’ll notice the bees making a beeline for the hive box they would be transported to my yard in. It’s quite a site!
Enjoy!
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For The Love of Lemon
Welcome my friends! My apologies for having been gone so many days. This past week did not allow time for me to join you here, at The Orange Bee. My absence has been at the forefront of my thoughts everyday. I am happy to return and share with you an ideal recipe for this warm, lively time of year, Lemon Cake-Bread.
This recipe goes together quick and easy. In all probability you have the ingredients on hand, which makes for a last-minute decision to whip up a loaf or two. I’ve always made this and referred to it as “Lemon Bread”, however when I made it yesterday Miss T was asking what went into the bread. As I listed ingredients; sugar, eggs, butter, lemon, flour, etc., she asked, “what about yeast?”. “There isn’t any yeast in this bread”, I responded. In her ever so canny way she stated, “sounds more like cake than bread”. That was all it took for me to rename it. It will now and forever go by the name “Lemon Cake-Bread”.
If you do not enjoy lemon you’ll not need to bake a loaf as the lemon flavor is predominate. Lemon is one of the flavors I especially relish and quite often will choose lemon over chocolate. Gasp! Yes, it’s true time and again lemon will win out when I am choosing a dessert.
Writing about my love of lemon triggers my thoughts to days past when living in southern California lemons, limes, grapefruits and tangerines grew abundantly in my back yard. What a wonderful way to spend a morning, choosing the perfect grapefruit for breakfast or the juiciest lemons for pie, or the ultimate tangerines for fresh squeezed juice. Ahhh….those were the days. I have a desire to add citrus trees to my yard but alas they will not be healthy and productive in the black soil given to work with. I can only imagine how happy my girls (bees) would be to produce orange blossom honey – how happy I would be to share it with friends and family.
This week was an incredible week with my bees. The majority of my one free day this past week was engulfed in bee adventures. What a day it was! To sum it up, I’ve acquired the “Rita Hive’, which is also referred to as hive #3. I now have more queens than when I last wrote and I assisted in capturing a swarm as well as boxing an entire colony of bees living in a water meter box! Oh, yes – it was an utterly thrilling day in the life of a bee keeper. For more of this story check out the Bees & Honey page at the top of my blog – The Bees Have Arrived – Lovely Rita.
Enjoy!
Lemon Cake-Bread
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
grated rind of two medium – large lemonsLemon Glaze
juice of one large lemon
1/2 cup sugarCream butter, sugar and eggs. Add milk and stir in dry ingredients and lemon rind. Bake in loaf pan at 350* for 45 minutes. You can also use two small loaf pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
Stir ingredients for lemon glaze and pour over bread while still warm.
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Lovely Rita
So much has happened in the bee yard this week. The interesting thing is, all the events are important and for a bee keeper thrilling. I have so many new photos to share with you as well as adventures to relate. I can’t decide where to start, but I think you might be wondering why I named hive #3 the “Rita Hive”. If you are short on time I’m warning you, you are about to be stung by a rather lengthy story. Continue reading if you will.
My only partially free day this past week was Friday, after eleven in the morning. I was looking forward to a little free time but on Thursday night Mr. F called to see if I wanted to assist him in removing a hive from a water meter box, in the ground. He’d received a call from a man who couldn’t work in the part of his yard where the water meter was because it was buzzing with bees. We weren’t sure what we would encounter when we arrived but we headed over around eleven on Friday morning.
Upon closer inspection we found a very healthy colony of bees happily and busily living in the water meter box. Donning our bee suits and toting the smoker we lifted the lid to the box and discovered the bees had built comb onto the lid as well as filling the entire box with comb, eggs, larva, and honey. We knew there was a queen present by the number of freshly laid eggs and young larva, visible in the comb cells. Being the experienced bee keeper that he is, Mr. Floyd brought all the necessary tools to accomplish removing the hive surely and safely.
He began the removal by cutting off the comb from the lid of the meter, cutting it to fit a frame and securing it with rubber bands. This is not a hard task but it tugs on your heart-strings as unhatched bees are lost in the process. After filling two frames with the natural comb he informed me it was a little hard for him to get down on the ground and that I would be removing the remainder of the comb from inside the meter box. Whoa, Nellie! What you should picture at this time in my story is, thousands of bees buzzing around the yard where we are working, bees crawling and flying all around us and many staying inside the box to guard their hive. Literally thousands of honey bees, gentle and calm but concerned for their well-being.
Being ever mindful of not harming even one bee if I can help it, I got down on my hands and knees to begin the removal of the comb from the meter box. This requires using a hive tool, much like a mini crow bar – to break away the sections that the bees have adhered to the box with bee glue, also known as propolis. Now you realize I am sticking my hands and arms, up to my elbows into this meter box to perform this task. I am feeling so protected hidden in my bee suit and I jump right in. Moving slowly, deliberately and cautiously all at the same time I sever the first piece of comb from the box. Success encourages me to continue until I have removed every piece of comb from inside the box, without the loss of even one sweet bee. As I pull out sections of comb we patiently observe each piece for the resident queen, but we are down to the last piece of comb and we have yet to spot her. As I pull out the last piece I notice it is full of honey. I tell Mr. Floyd that I see delicious honey oozing out and he makes the comment, “the queen doesn’t like to walk around on honey”. This is somewhat dismaying as it’s the last piece and we’ve yet to locate the her. I handed him the comb and stood up to help look. Knowing she doesn’t “like” to walk around on honey and this frame is nothin’ but honey I’m feeling a little disconcerted since I don’t need any more orphan bees moving in. But lo and behold we spotted her walking around on the other bees – not the honey, mind you – and I gave a little shout of joy! Once she was in plain sight we had to capture her and put her in a little queen cage. Mr. F. left me holding the comb to acquire the queen catcher and instructed me not to lose sight of her or let her fly. Right!! How the heck do you make sure a bee doesn’t fly? Thankfully she just wanted to hang with her ladies in waiting and he returned with the queen catcher. The queen catcher is a little contraption that resembles a hair clamp. He opened the hinged catcher and placed it over the queen, enclosing her in safety, not to escape or disappear. Then he placed her in her queen cage and handed her to me to place amongst the court awaiting her in the hive.
Once I placed the queen inside the hive I moved the hive closer to the meter box and after a few minutes the bees began to make a mass exodus from the meter box into the hive. They can smell their queen. Mr. Floyd told me to help them by sticking my hands down into the box, gathering the bees in my gloved hands, and dropping them into the hive. I was enamored by the feel of their tiny wings beating against my hands. I can’t describe the feeling of little, rapid, exquisite wings beating against my hands as I lifted them out of the box and into the hive. I’d like to try it without gloves – someday.
After assisting as many bees as I could capture in my bulky gloves into the hive we left for about an hour to give the remaining bees time to head on into the hive. When we returned there were few bees left roaming around aimlessly. We completed closing the hive and netting it for transport to my bee yard.
Later in the day we moved them into my bee yard and I promptly began thinking of names. My adoring hubby said,”you should call it meter maid hive”. Not being fond of that name I asked him if he knew the names of any meter maids. He retorted with, “Rita”. Ah ha, lovely Rita meter maid sung by the Beatles on their Sgt. Peppers album. That’s it Queen Rita reigns over hive #3 and she is lovely, healthy and productive. After an evening of rest in the queen cage I released her from her temporary throne to the joy of all the bees in hive Rita. It’s good to be queen!
Besides being thrilling and adventurous removing bees in a situation like this is calculated, full of problem solving, hot, exhausting and requires great patience. It took us over two hours to complete just the initial removal of the comb from the box, then another hour to wait for the bees to move on in and another several minutes to prepare them for the ride home. When I next write a bee page I’ll tell about the attempted capture of a swarm of bees. I’m discovering that it’s never dull in the life of a bee keeper.
Stay tuned………
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Lucky #5 A Chili Cook-Off
If you’ve been following my blog you might remember I mentioned I would be competing in the Central Market Chili & Cornbread Cook-Off yesterday afternoon. My competition was not something to be sneezed at. Oh no-o-o they were not. It was clear that much thought and preparation went into each pot of chili and pan of cornbread. Every contestant there was a pleasure to meet and chat with. Each brought their own unique blend of chili and or cornbread, as well as personality.
The judges were given four categories on which to base their decisions. Those were creativity, presentation, flavor and passion. Some of us paid more attention to the presentation category than others. I brought some “props”, dried chiles, spurs, a snazzy cloth for my display space, LuLu’s paper mache chili pepper from 6th grade art class, a rusty metal “Lone Star”,an empty bottle of Lone Star beer, which had been added to the chili, and of course a tray with a bright, red chili pepper that I used to hold my blog cards!
After everyone was set up and had ample time to meet and greet the competition began. The judges were local firefighters and a fire chief. Now, if anyone could choose the “Winning” bowl of chili I suppose those guys are sufficiently qualified. All the CM employees present were introduced, the judges were introduced and next it was the participants’ opportunity to not only introduce ourselves but tell a story about our chili. Random numbers had been assigned and I was #5.
When it was my turn I told this story. “My Dad always prided himself on making a great bowl of chili and his chili is known as Lew’s Lone Star Chili. I now have a daughter who prides herself on being quite a good cook and she too has a recipe for what she considers to be the best bowl of chili. I agree each bowl is very good but for this cook-off I decided to meld the two recipes and make what would be the winning recipe. The two things that make my chili special is a bottle of Lone Star beer (which received hoots and hollers from the crowd) and I used ground elk, which came from Carter Mountain near Kremmling, Colorado. I’ve renamed the chili Lone Star Chili and I hope you’ll like it!” End of my story.
After the judges made their way around the room tasting and pondering each pot of hearty, red chili and delicious squares of cornbread they were escorted out of the cooking school to make their final decisions.
All of the contestants took this opportunity to score a bowl of chili or a piece of cornbread from each other and do our own taste comparisons. Everyone brought unique and delicious pots of chili. One lady used anchovies and chipotle, one sugar and vinegar, another used lots of garlic and ladled beans in the bottom of the bowls, one clever contestant put her chili right into her cornbread, calling in Cornbread con Carne.
After a while the judges returned with the CM folks in charge. It was announced that a winner had been selected. We all stood a little straighter, breathed a bit deeper and smiled bigger! Third place – drumroll please…. went to the clever lady with the Cornbread con Carne. Second place – drumroll please…went to “Grand Prize Chili”, the guy who dished beans into the bottom of the bowls. And our first place winner is……drumroll please….bada- bada- bada -bada -bada (drum rolls)….”LONE STAR CHILI”.
I know for a fact my mouth fell wide open before I smiled and clapped for myself! I felt a little goofy, happy, surprised and pleased to have been chosen the winner of the inaugural CM chili cook-off. For a split second my mind got all jumbled up and I thought to myself is that what I named my chili?
I was delighted that my cheering squad consisted of adoring hubby, Miss T, and my wonderful Mom. It’s nice to look up and see familiar faces grinning from ear to ear, looking at you with that “you did it” and I knew you would look. Thanks guys!
Oh, besides feeling totally pleased to have been the first place winner the CM folks added a little CM gift card for my future visits to the store. I’m reasonably sure I smiled the rest of the evening until my head hit the pillow and I closed my eyes. Well, truth be known I imagine I was still smiling even after the lights were out and I had drifted into la la land.
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Piece of Cake
I was craving chocolate cake. I do not know why but I was. It could be because I spotted this recipe in a magazine while I was waiting for a slow leaking tire to be repaired. I was hungry, the worst time to grocery shop or peruse recipes. Everything looks good when you’re hungry. All the recipes were tempting but I focused on chocolate cake. Did you ever find yourself in that situation? Slowly, deliberately, walking the aisles of your local grocery store tossing Cheez-It’s, Fig Newtons, Hostess Twinkies, bags full of fruit and veggies, grapefruit & cranberry juice, cheese, crackers, nuts and assorted other items that you may or may not normally consume, into your basket because at that time, it all looks good? At the very moment you pass the cookie and cracker isle your stomach gives a little growl and your mouth waters just a little at the site of all those cookies and crackers, so you toss in a few. Arriving home you wonder how you ended up with so many bags full of “stuff” and as you unpack you open a box here, a package there, and snack as you go. Finding yourself finally full, for the time being, you realize you really didn’t want all that junk anyway – you really wanted lunch! Lucky for me I was at the tire place.
This cake did not turn out to be a pretty cake but oh is it tasty! Moist and dense chocolate cake, that I’ll tell you would be fine without icing. I iced it, but the cake is the winner here. It turned out a little lopsided, and the icing was thick and runny at the same time. None the less it tastes swell. It is the easiest cake I’ve ever made; 2 bowls and a whisk. Minimal mess! Next time I’ll try a different icing as I’m not as happy with my icing as I’d hoped. I made basic confectioners sugar icing. Try your favorite icing recipe when you make it or try it with no icing and a cup of hot coffee. It’s a winner.
This weekend I’ll be preparing chili for the Central Market chili cook-off. The competition is on Sunday. Wish me luck!
All is well in the bee yard at this time. Busy bees carrying pollen and nectar back to the hive. Queen Heidi busy laying eggs and being fed and groomed by her ladies in waiting. They are ramping up for the honey bounty. I am too!
Enjoy!
Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee, at room temperature
2/3 cup canola oil
2 large egg whites
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla extractPreheat oven to 350*. Coat 2 9′ round cake pans with cooking spray. Cover the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray.
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, whisking well. In a separate bowl combine coffee, oil, egg whites, vinegar, and vanilla, whisking well. Combine coffee mixture with flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans; tap pans on work surface to break air pockets.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean. 30-35 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of cakes; invert cakes onto cooling racks. Remove parchment if necessary and cool completely before icing.
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Bees Are Not Boring
Queen Heidi For an update on my bees check out the “Bees & Honey” page – All Hail The Queen – The Heidi Hive. All week-long I’ve repeated the phrase, “welcome to bee keeping”. I’m astonished at how much I’ve learned and the many different experiences I’ve had in such a short time. Bees are not boring – nor is the keeper bored. Everyday brings a new adventure or a fresh look at the many aspects of bees. It is quite thrilling, stressful, thought-provoking, engaging, and enjoyable all at once.
I hope you are enjoying the ride along with me. Thanks so much for reading along. This Sunday I will be participating in a chili cook-off at Central Market. Don’t fret, food is still the basis of The Orange Bee blog and there will be new recipes up soon, as well as a story about the chili cook-off.
Enjoy!