dotty’s pound cake.

While I’m taking my last hiatus from the blog for the summer (I promise, Tina), I’ve roped my dear Dorothy into guest posting in my steed. Of course, the pound cake she made is coming to my family’s house for the PGA so I suppose I’m getting the best of both worlds here: not having to bake and not having to post. Win!

Hello there! Pleasure to meet you. I am Dotty, commonly referred to as Dorothy, and you may recognize me from my one moment of true genius when I came up with the name for this blog. Now I’m looking after it today while the girls are busy. That’s right. I’m this blog’s Godmother. Or something.

So, lucky you! You have the joy of reading my stream of consciousness today as Crist has been very busy prepping for our afternoon of being ladies-who-golf at the first round of the PGA Championship today and Tina is trying not to melt in the Mitten. Ladies-who-golf is obviously a variation on our typical pastime of being ladies-who-lunch, and we’re pretty excited to be incorporating an athletic element into our afternoon drinking. That said, I canNOT show up empty handed in advance of said athleticism, and thus the Southern Pound Cake’s tee time is upon us. That’s a little golf humor for you. You’re welcome.

Southern Pound Cake
Serves: Well, that all depends. How hungry are you?
Courtesy of: Secret Family Recipe of one of my old roommates.
Hopefully she doesn’t read this blog, or I’m going to be in big trouble.

2 sticks of margarine, room temperature (sometimes I put them on the back left burner while the oven is preheating if they’re straight out of the fridge – MacGyver what!)
1/2 cup of Crisco (solid)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs, room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted (I don’t have a sifter, so I just whisk it around a little)
1 tsp. backing powder
1 cup of milk (just use whole milk, why would you skimp now?)
1 tsp. vanilla

If it ain’t Crisco, it ain’t Southern.

Preheat over to 350 degrees (I’m on my new computer and have no idea where to find the degree symbol)

Grease & flour bundt pan, shaking out excess flour. NOTE: I use real-deal unsalted butter to grease the pan for flouring. I’m pretty sure this is why it’s so crunchy and tasty and delightful. Trust and set aside.

You should see the flour in my sink right now.

Combine margarine and Crisco in a large bowl and beat on high speed to mix well. NOTE: If you don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer, hire someone to come hold the mixer for you. You’re going to need both of your hands for this one. (Also, with the Kitchenaid, my “high” mixing is usually around the 4 mark)

Clogged arteries never felt so good.

Add sugar and continue beating until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium (or if using a Kitchenaid, a 2…ish?) and blend in eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly.

Sift flour with baking powder (again, I just whisk it around not having a sifter)

Reduce mixer speed to low (1 on the Kitchenaid) and add dry ingredients to batter alternately with milk, beginning and ending with 1 cup flour. Be sure to mix in each addition – but DO NOT over mix. Trust me and my oven floor on this one. Blend in vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing out the top (and make sure you wipe off the middle of the pan if you’re a messy pourer like me – you don’t want to be scrubbing that later).

Almost edible already!

Bake about 1 hour, 15 minutes. I usually do 1 hour, 12 minutes. I’m that way.
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes.

Would they notice if I cut off a hunk from the bottom?

Turn onto wire rack to cool completely.

Who is the baker on the blog now? I’m the Southern Baker! Wee!

I think I might take too many photos (FORE!),
Dotty

white cheddar pimento cheese. and delicious ideas for it.

Y’all want to know what I did this past weekend?
I bought a large-ish seedless red watermelon and I cut it up using some hairbrained idea I saw on pinterest. Am I the only one who never thought of cutting the rind off first and then dicing up the melon? Someone tell me I’m not.

this blog not sponsored by target. yet.

It was so much EASIER!

Anyway. Something else I did this past weekend was make my own pimento cheese. I rarely, if ever, make my own pimento cheese. For one, I hate grating cheese, as much as I espouse the virtues of grating your own cheese.  That’s what a husband is for, y’all. He is a natural sous chef. For another, I have a perfectly good pimento cheese I can buy in the grocery store — and, perhaps more importantly, export to the Mitten when I travel. (If you ever find yourself in Publix buying 12 tubs of Palmetto Cheese, please expect some questioning from the cashier. Do not tell them you’re travelling to visit your internet friend, but do tell them Michiganders have never heard of pimento cheese. No one here believes me.)

I wanted to make some out-of-the-ordinary hamburgers, and so I opted for fancy buns, pepper bacon, and homemade pimento cheese. And the heavens opened and the angels sang. Matt and I decided that they were the best hamburgers we’d ever made.

White Cheddar Pimento Cheese

3 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
8 oz. block of Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/2 c. mayonnaise (don’t even pretend another mayo exists. Use Duke’s.)
half a jar of chopped pimentos
ground red pepper
salt and pepper

Combine cream cheese and shredded cheddar. Add in mayonnaise until all combined. Stir in pimentos, and season with red pepper, pepper and salt.

Now, listen here. Be loose with the seasonings, and the mayo. I used a little less mayo because I was putting the pimento cheese on hamburgers and I wanted it to be a little thicker. When we made sandwiches the next day, we added some mayo and mixed it up. It totally depends on whether you want your pimento cheese to be gloopy, or thick. Also, go heavier on the ground red pepper than you think you should. Pimento cheese should have a bite to it — or at least in my opinion. I seasoned and tasted, seasoned and tasted, until I got it the way I wanted it.

The next night, I planned to make Tina’s fried green tomatoes because I’d gotten 4 in my Brown Box Saturday. I got to fixin’ the tomatoes, and Matt said, “what if we used your pimento cheese instead of the goat cheese?” And I realized in that moment that I had indeed married a genius of a man.

Y’all.

also would work for a meatless monday meal.

Make them tonight, as you get ready to pull for the Gamecocks to beat Kent State. We have to win this game, ok?

I feel sorry for those with no pimento cheese in their lives,
jcristg

watergate salad.

When I made this for my family at Easter, Tina threatened to quit the blog if I posted it. Naturally, I waited until she forgot about it, made it again, took photos and am now posting it. I hope you’ve enjoyed her posting here on The Dough Will Rise Again; I just could not keep this classic from you any longer.

Yes, this is full of all sorts of food-that’s-not-really-food. If you’re doing any sort of clean eating/paleo diet? This is not for you. But if you want a side – or a dessert – that reminds you of holidays with your grandparents, then Watergate Salad is for you.

Watergate Salad
a classic.

8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed (I use reduced fat)
20 oz. crushed pineapple, with juice
small box Jello Instant Pistachio pudding mix
1/2 c. chopped pecans (I left out this go-round. I’m aware this is an abomination.)
Half a bag of miniature marshmallows

Mix first 3 ingredients until smooth. Stir in pecans and marshmallows.

Chill for at least an hour before serving.

You’re welcome.
jcristg

tomato pie.

Summer is my favorite time for vegetables. I don’t love the greens and root vegetables of the winter and early spring, and wish we had access to butterbeans and corn and squash and tomatoes all year long.  I don’t have to struggle with sides in the summertime, as the grocery stores and markets are full of colorful and delicious produce. It’s just a wonderful time of year.

Once we pick up some great tomatoes, Matt knows it’s not long before a tomato pie is on the menu. If you’ve never made one, you need to try this as soon as you have quality ingredients. It will become a classic in your family immediately. It’s rich, so you don’t want to serve it alongside anything equally as decadent. I like it with grilled chicken or even a steak.

Tomato Pie.

1 pie crust, baked and cooled
2-3 tomatoes, thickly sliced
2-3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped basil (you can use dried basil)
1 cup Duke’s mayonnaise (light is fine)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (diet cheese is an abomination)

Preheat oven to 350.

Lay sliced tomatoes in single layer in pie crust. Add salt and pepper, and some of the onions and basil. Add another layer of tomatoes, with salt and pepper and onions and basil.

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and cheese. Gently spread over the top of the tomatoes, mixing up more mayo and cheese if needed.

Bake pie for 30 minutes, or until browned.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why not add some pimento cheese in lieu of mixing up your mayo and cheese? And to that idea, I would say it’s not bad. I tried it last summer but found the pimento cheese to be too greasy for our tastes. To each their own!

I hope they still grow beets in summertime,
jcristg