Mother Week Continued--The Corner Cafe

The fourth installment of Mother Week features a favorite recipe from my Grandma Sis, a.k.a. Sissy. I debated for some time over what recipe to use, but ultimately decided that her decadent Heath Bars would fit the bill. Sissy has been making them for years and they are a no fail treat that I always request when she has us for a meal--that and boiled dinner, but somehow that didn't seem like a good thing to make post St. Patrick's Day. As a child I spent a great deal of time with all of my grandparents since we all lived within a 3 mile radius. I am forever grateful for that time and can't imagine how different my life would be without having the impact of their love and kindness within such a short distance. When I think of the memories I made and continue to make with my Sissy, I immediately am reminded of what an amazing woman she is. Growing up with three brothers, Sissy grew a thick skin and is one of the strongest ladies I know. I watched her, with grace, care for my grandfather throughout his battle with Alzheimer's and was touched by her selfless example of love. And now, in her 89th year, I still watch in amazement at how active she is. We are so lucky to have you!! So Sissy, thank you for everything from taking me to the "city", to having sleepovers, to letting me play with your arms in church. The memories you have given me make me smile every day!

**I will post a picture once the bars have set up**

Heath Bars

1 c. Imperial margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans
1 package graham crackers
1 bag milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil. Meanwhile, line a 9 x 13 glass pan with graham crackers. Once mixture comes to a boil, pour over graham crackers and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Allow to melt and then spread gently.

Oreo Fudge Bars

Although I could gorge myself on dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Matt is not the biggest fan. When I stumbled upon these Oreo Fudge Bars, he actually had a fairly enthusiastic response, so that was my green light. This recipe comes from Baking Blonde's Weblog, and we definately will keep this in our arsenal!

1 16oz. package of Oreo cookies
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 tsp salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Preheat the oven to 325.
Line a 9×13 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.
Set aside 6 Oreo cookies for the topping.
In a food processor grind the rest of the cookies. If you don’t have a food processor, just pound with a rolling pin until the cookies are fine crumbs. Add the salt to the crumbs and stir to combine. Melt butter and gently stir together with the cookie crumb mixture.
Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Coarsely chop the remaining cookies into chunks and set aside. Over a double boiler or in the microwave, melt 3/4 cup semi-sweet and 1/2 cup milk chocoalte chips together with the condensed milk and vanilla. Stir frequently until smooth. Spread evenly over the prepared cookie crust. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips and the Oreo cookies chunks over the top of the filling. Press down gently into the chocolate topping.
Bake for 20-22 minutes . Allow to cool on counter for 1 hour. Chill in fridge until completely cold and set before cutting into bars or it will make a big mess.
*These are not too great hot from the oven but are great after chilling and the filling has set.

Chicken For Dinner, Baby

I have been meaning to get this post up for about two weeks, so here goes.
After hatching a plan with my good friend Timm, we decided to get together at least once a month to tackle a dish that in some way we were reluctant to make on our own. The first installment happened to be the French classic Coq Au Vin. We were guided in our journey by hottie chef Eric Ripert and his cozy winter dinner menu. We loosely followed his interpretation and rather than serving it with egg noodles, we made an updated version of the aforementioned No-Knead Bread. Let me just say that it was a home run. We paired the dish with a beautiful salad of baby greens topped with a meyer lemon-based viniagrette, goat cheese, and pears. We were really ambitious at the beginning of the day and were going to throw together a chocolate souffle, but laziness and a lack of semi-sweet chocolate took over and we ended up making a Dorie Greenspan version of blondies. It wasn't exactly frenchy, but they were tasty.
A note on the coq au vin: if you decide to give this a try, we suggest that you add the breasts to the dutch oven after the dark meat cuts, because the breasts were slightly overcooked. Oh, and for those of you who were former Buddy Rhubarb fans, Bubba is out of retirement!!! I don't know if it was the rooster, the Dr. Love blaring from the amps, or the fine atmosphere of the Pompeii Bar, but I am still waiting for an encore. Maybe next time Faith will be on the mic??

PBJ Bars

We had some company tonight and we all know you can't have company without dessert. Ina's PBJ Bars looked simple, and who doesn't like the combo? They did go together easily; smooshing the topping on was the most labor intensive part. My only complaint was that they were a bit dry, but if you dug milk you would be in business--make mine chocolate!! Oh, and don't you just love it when your company brings along a lovely bunch of flowers?
And in other news: Made a second loaf of no-knead today, and was even happier with the results. I added an additional pinch of salt and let the first rise go for 15 hours. It seemed to make a difference, but the added salt was where I really picked up the flavor. I could totally see myself making this bread weekly and beginning to experiment with some additions such as cheese, garlic, and the likes.