A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I am having so much fun with the church coffee cart for so many reasons. One, I am helping people and helping the church doing what I love to do – feed people, an two, I also get to try so many different things that I might not otherwise make. These orange espresso brownies are one example of things I would not normally make unless I was either cooking them for others, or I was going to eat them all by myself. Larry does not like coffee or anything coffee flavored. I love coffee flavored foods, especially a good mocha, but I really DO NOT need to eat a tray full of brownies all by myself.

I am still using up my fruits, Strawberry-Kiwi Cake and I have almost used them all up. WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! This time, I was using up some of my oranges. These were another big hit today. They all disappeared after church today, and that is always a good thing. 🙂

Orange Espresso Brownies

These brownies are decadently rich, but oh so full of flavor. The little hints of coffee and orange really brought out the chocolate flavor and added character and depth to the brownies. I doubled the recipe because I was making them for a lot of people.

Spray an 8×8 baking pan with cooking spray then add a light coating of flour.

Preheat the oven to 325* F or 170* C

1 cup dark cocoa powder or dark chocolate

1 stick + 6 TBSP melted butter

4 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 1/2 TBSP instant coffee of espresso granules

1 tsp orange extract

Mandarin or cutie orange slices, optional

If you are using chocolate, melt it with the butter over a double boiler until it is all melted and blended together. Stir constantly over a low-medium flame. If you are using cocoa powder, which I did, mix the cocoa powder in with the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together for about 2 minutes with the whisk attachment or by hand. Then add the coffee and mix together again. Add the butter and flour mixture and mix again until just blended together. Do not over mix.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly to cover the pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes . Allow the brownies to cool before cutting.

I had some leftover orange frosting, so I added just a little dab to each brownie as “glue”. Next I added an orange slice on top of the frosting. And lastly, I gave the brownies a quick dusting with powdered sugar. The orange slices made them look very colorful and pretty, plus I was using up some more of my fruit. I was on a mission after all. 🙂

Life is short. Always make room for dessert, even if you have dessert first. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Pretty in purple. These little flowers are all over the Caribbean. They are so pretty, especially when they are dancing in the wind.

I think these are all the same flowers just in different colors. All I really know is that no matter what color they came in, they were very pretty.

An update on the name of thee flowers. I just found out they are called Ixora – a pretty name for these pretty little flowers. 🙂

The other day, when we did our Super Bowl spread for church, I had a lot of fruit left over. Cooking At Home Again Larry said there was NO WAY I could use it all before it went bad. HMMMM! You would think after 21 years together, he would know NOT to test me like that. I will ALWAYS rise to the challenge, especially when it comes to the kitchen and food. 🙂 He is right in that I haven’t used it all up yet, but I am still being very creative with it, and have already gone through quite a bit of it. And I am not done yet. I am on the clock because we all know fruit does not have a long shelf life. I think I will make it though. I have confidence in my creative abilities. 🙂 All the strawberries, berries and kiwi are all now gone. I did not use up all the strawberries, but Larry finished them off this morning by making strawberry waffles. So I can cross berries and kiwi off the list.

One of the creative ways I was able to use up some of my fruit was by creating a new cake. I made a strawberry-kiwi cake.

I started off with a basic bundt cake and then got creative. The fruit in the cake is kiwi. The frosting is strawberry white chocolate. Then I added more kiwi as a cake topper.

Strawberry-Kiwi Cake

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

4 TBSP butter, melted

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups kiwi, diced small

Preheat the oven to 375* F or 190* C.

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray then line it with a light coating of flour.

Combne all the dry ingredietns together and set aside.

Whisk together the eggs, cream and melted butter then add to the flour mixture and mix together until just blended. Add the kiwi and fold into the batter. Then spoon it into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Allow the cake to cool completely before adding the icing.

For the icing, I used some of my leftover white chocolate ganache, and then added fresh strawberries. I put them all in the food processor and blended everything together to make a smooth and creamy frosting. Then I generously drizzled it over the cake and topped it with more kiwi.

I know the frosting is delicious. We will see how the cake turns out. The little tiny bit I tasted was very good, so I am sure it will be just fine. The test will come tomorrow. Let’s see how what the congregation thinks. 🙂

Stay tuned for my next creative fruit adventure. I think you are going to like that one too. 🙂

As I always say, don’t be afraid to play with your food. That’s when it starts getting really fun. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

This is just a fun little extra thing I thought I would share. Apparently the little itty-bitty house I grew up in, in Pasadena, CA has sold once again. It just sold for $970,600. Yep! Almost $1 million for this tiny two bedroom/1 bath house. When my parents bought it, they paid $17K. When I sold it 15 years ago, I sold it for $450K. It has more than doubled since then. Granted, A LOT of upgrades have taken place, but still, nearly $1 million?????? Seriously????? The funny thing is my current house is literally 5x the size of this house, and we have an open space park with all our lakes literally right behind us, and our house is less expensive, though not by much. I guess it all comes down to location, location, location. But I will take my big house on the lakes ANY day and EVERY day over living in LA. You couldn’t pay me enough to EVER live in LA again. I don’t even like to visit.

Pasadena is a giant suburb of Los Angeles, and is about 13-15 miles northeast of downtown L.A. It is very centrally located, which makes it very convenient for just about everything. A lot of celebrities and movie stars live in Pasadena too, because it is so close to the movie studios. And Pasadena is also home to the Van Halens. I used to go to their backyard parties before they made it big, and I used to run into David Lee Roth all the time too.

https://click.mail.zillow.com/f/a/WYrGJzmrlag-mSAImtUjvA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRj8Pa-P0UeZW1vLW5mc2hvbWVyZXBvcnQtbGlzdGluZ3Bob3RvBFcGemlsbG93QgpiCL5xDmJPWQQlUhVsX2JpbGxpbmdlckB5YWhvby5jb21YBAAAAAA~?target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zillow.com%2Fhomedetails%2F20875825_zpid%2F%3Futm_source%3Demail%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3Durn%3Amsg%3A2022021716002900e5fbea5b2306f3%26utm_campaign%3Demo-nfshomereport-listingphoto%26rtoken%3D150447a4-c59b-4342-83d8-8c4f52c8989a~X1-ZUyyxdxiy7bvux_282em

I have no idea what these flowers are, but they were so beautiful as their were dancing in the breeze, swaying from side to side., showing off their bright pink tails.

I am always trying to come up with fun, simple recipes for Noah and his brothers when I have lessons with them. I try to give them all a wide variety of recipes too. This time, Noah and I prepared blueberry muffins Blueberry Muffins for Lexi and a Denver omelette. Once again, they were a big hit.

Last I week, I found out Noah celebrated his big 21st birthday just a few days before my birthday, so we celebrated a bit this time.

At first, when I told Noah what we we making, he seemed a bit disappointed. But when the omelette was done, he gobbled it up and thoroughly enjoyed it. Omelettes are good any time. They are not just for breakfast any more.

Denver Omelette

2 TBSP bell peppers – we used a combination of green, yellow and red, diced

2 TBSP onions, diced

1/4 cup ham, diced

3 eggs, lightly beaten

salt & pepper to taste

dash cayenne pepper

1 TBSP butter for cooking

shredded cheddar cheese, or cheese of your choice, optional

Get a medium sized skillet nice and hot, and add the butter then and all the vegetables. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are tender.

Add the eggs and immediately swirl around in the pan so the eggs cover the pan completely. Continue to do this as the eggs cook, making sure to carefully scrape down the edges with a spatula the whole time. Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes, or until the center is cooked.

Once again, loosen up the edges with a spatula and carefully start sliding the omelette onto a plate, folding it as you go. If you would like cheese in your omelette, add it at this point, before folding it over, and then top it again with cheese if you want. It is a delicious classic.

Omelettes are very versatile. Unless you are making a specific type of omelette, like this classic version, there are no rules. You can add whatever you like to them.

There are no rules when it comes to cooking. Eat what you like, when you like it. Be a rebel. Maybe that’s why I enjoy cooking so much. We all know I am a true rebel. 🙂

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Rows of coconut trees. Coconuts and coconut trees are all over the island, from the little fledgling trees to the full grown trees. Coconuts are used for everything and are found in a lot of Belizan recipes.

Micah and Asher are not vegan, though they do eat a lot of plant based foods. They put in a request for some vegan desserts, and vegan desserts were what me made. One of the requests was for a vegan cheesecake. Well, to be honest, I have never made a cheesecake. I hate cheesecake. So that wasn’t on the menu. Instead, we made some vegan chocolate pudding and a vegan strawberry cake.

I didn’t take any pictures except at the very end. We were busy in the kitchen and we were on a timeline because they boys had another lesson closely following ours. Time was of the essence.

Vegan Chocolate Pudding

This is super easy to make, and unless you are vegan or have made this before, you are going to be really surprised that the main ingredient is Avocado. Yep, you read that right, avocado.

2 avocados

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup vegan milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Put everything into a food processor and blend together until smooth and creamy, then refrigerate until ready to eat. I did not take my food processor with me, so we just did it the old fashioned way and put some muscle into it. We mashed the avocados with a masher then mixed everything together by hand.

Our other vegan recipe for the day was a strawberry cake. Originally it was going to be a banana cake, but I found out that one of the boys was allergic to bananas. No problem. We substituted strawberries for the bananas and all was good.

Vegan Strawberry Cake

Preheat the oven to 375* F or 190* C.

Spray a 9×13 cake pan with cooking spray.

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup strawberry yogurt

1- 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

2 TBSP vegan butter

the equivalent of 2 eggs of vegan egg substitute

1 tsp vanilla

If using bananas, use 1 cup or 1 large mashed banana and 1 6-oz container of banana custard yogurt.

Just like any cake, mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix all the wet ingredients together and then carefully and slowly start incorporating the dry ingredients and mix together with a mixer. Mix until just blended. Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until it is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. When the cake is completely cooled, add the frosting and top with extra sliced strawberries if you like.

Powdered Sugar Frosting

1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 TBSP vegan milk

2 TBSP melted vegan butter

Mix everything together until it is smooth and creamy. Then frost your cake once it is completely cooled.

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy these desserts. they are good for everyone. So many people are afraid of vegan cooking, but it really is not difficult at all. You just have to know what to substitute.

Life is short. Make sure you make time to enjoy the desserts along the way. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Some more brightly colored flowers from Belize to help brighten your day.