Ardyce's Fruit Cocktail Cake

I'm not much of a dessert lover. I especially shy away from foods that are exceptionally sweet, like pecan pie or brownies. I know, I'm weird, but just the thought of putting all that sugar in my mouth makes my teeth hurt. I much prefer a fairly light dessert like a sorbet, flan or a soft and luscious creme brulee.

However, I made an exception to my own self-imposed rule for this wonderful cake...



Ardyce, my friend and former co-worker, brought this cake to a potluck when we both worked at the local university. I hesitated to try it because it looked ooey-gooey-sweet...not my cup of tea at all. But Ardyce tried and loved what I brought to the table, so I felt compelled to reciprocate. I'm glad I did.

This cake is sort of a cross between a cake and bar. It's super moist, chock full of fruits; it's tender, but dense, and topped with a mixture of brown sugar, chopped nuts and coconut.

Last week, when I was craving something really tasty for dessert and went searching for a recipe that would inspire me, I came across Ardyce's recipe.

I had my piece of cake with a little bit of ice cream (low sugar & fat, just because), but it's delicious all by itself.

Ardyce's Fruit Cocktail Cake
adapted from a recipe by Ardyce Coffey

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 pinches of salt
• 2 - 15 ounce cans of fruit cocktail with syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but you could also use pecans)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with oil, Crisco or cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, soda and salt with a small whisk to combine. To the dry mixture add the fruit cocktail (syrup and all) and eggs...


...and beat to combine with a hand or stand mixer. Pour into the well greased baking pan.



In a small bowl, mix the chopped nuts, brown sugar and coconut. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter.



Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until done. Remember, the cake will be very moist. And, don't be alarmed if the brown sugar does not fully caramelize at first. The moistness of the cake will eventually dissolve the brown sugar.



Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Ode to My Dental Hygienist

I'm not different than most people. I hate going to the dentist (sorry to all you DDS's). I even hate having my teeth cleaned. But twice a year, I make the trip to Little Rock to see my hygienist.

A visit to my dentist's office always starts with that dreaded test. You know the one where he or she pokes that metal thing between your gums and teeth to come up with "the number." I aim for at least a 3, cringe if she says "4" and am mortified if she says "5" because then she can tell I've not flossed consistently.

Once the test is over and I've hopefully passed at least with an "okay, but you need to do better here, here and here," she gets down to the scraping, polishing and flossing, then my teeth are clean and slick and on my way out of Baptist Towers One, I head for Starbucks to start the process all over again.

But, I love Jamie, my hygienist. She's young (under 30), sweet and funny. She is also married with two kids, a little girl six and a little boy almost a year. She is a busy working mom.

Jamie says she visits this blog regularly and loves the recipes, but has yet to cook anything. I completely understand. I have more time on my hands to cook than she does. I probably wouldn't be doing this blog if I had as much on my plate as she does.

So, Jamie, this recipe is for you. It's so simple even your 6-year-old daughter can help put them together. It is Potato Gratin or, more simply, sliced potatoes layered in muffin cups with a little cheese and cream and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. Once you get them in the oven, throw your pork chops in the frying pan, your veggies into the microwave and dinner is on the table in 35 minutes.

I adapted this recipe, once again, from the final "pilot" Melissa d'Arabian did for the Next Food Network Star.

Potato Gratin
adapted from the original recipe by Melissa d'Arabian on the Food Network

• 2 large potatoes (I think the original recipe calls for russets. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and I washed, but did not peel them. You can peel them if you like.)


• Some grated cheese (I had some sliced swiss that I used, but you can use cheddar, parmesan, pepper jack...whatever your family likes)


• Some sliced green onions or chives (If your family doesn't like these, leave them out)


• Some heavy cream (I used about 2 tablespoons for each muffin cup. If you use the regular muffin tins, use a little less cream)


• Salt and pepper to taste


• Cooking spray


• One muffin pan (I used the large size with six muffin cups, but the regular smaller size would produce a perfect serving size for young children)

Preheat your oven to 375°

Spray the cups of the muffin cups with cooking spray. If you are using the large muffin tin, spray all six cups. If you are using the regular size, spray eight muffin cups. You can increase the number of cups, i.e. servings, by merely using a little more of the ingredients (another sliced potato, more cheese, etc.) until all the muffin cups are used.

Slice the potatoes very thin. Use a mandolin for this if you have one. In each muffin cup, layer potato slices, cheese, onions and season lightly with salt and pepper (if you use parmesan cheese, be careful not to over-salt, as the parmesan is already pretty salty).

When all the potatoes are used and the muffin cups are almost full, top each muffin cup with 1 - 2 tablespoons of the cream.

Cover the muffin pan with foil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for another 15 to 20 minutes. Test doneness with a fork.

When done, remove the muffin pan from the oven and immediately turn it over onto a cookie sheet that fits snuggly over the muffin pan. The gratins should come right out. If one or two of them sticks, flip the pan upright, run a knife around the edges and lift the gratin out of the cup with a fork and knife. Serve hot.

How easy is that? Jamie you could do this!

4-Step Chicken & POM Wonderful

Getting ready for vacation is just a crazy time.

We've rented a travel trailer and we are setting aside stuff to pack in it when Tom picks it up later this afternoon. But, we've been getting ready for vacation for a week in order to be gone on vacation just less than a week. Go figure

Because we are so busy, I've tried to pick dishes that cook quickly and are delicious, but I started running out of ideas. Then I remembered I copied down the recipe for Melissa d'Arabian's Four Step Chicken. In case you haven't been following the most recent season of The Next Food Network Start, Melissa was the winner. In her last taped demo she did for the competition, Melissa made her version this dish, in addition to Potato Gratin made in muffin cups (I'll share that dish another time).

Basically, Melissa's chicken recipe is four steps:

1. dredge in flour & saute
2. add aromatics
3. add liquid
4. finish with butter

Easy enough, except that she also claimed that you could use different aromatics and change liquid ingredients. The recipe she uses includes chicken broth and lemon juice. I thought I'd try some of the POM Wonderful pomegranate juice I received. This is what I did.

Four Step Pomegranate Chicken
adapted from Melissa d'Arabian, Food Network

• 2 large chicken breasts


• 3 tablespoons olive oil


• 1 onion, sliced thin


• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced


• 1 cup chicken broth


• 1/2 cup pomegranate juice


• 1 tablespoon butter


• flour for dredging (about 1/2 cup)


• salt & pepper

As Melissa suggests, I first sliced the chicken breasts in half crossways ~ essentially butterflying them, but then cutting all the way through, which results in four flatter pieces. Cutting them like this eliminates the need to pound them flat, which I usually do.

Put the flour in a plastic bag. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place them in the plastic bag with the flour and gently shake or tumble the plastic bag until the chicken pieces are coated evenly.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Remove the chicken pieces from the bag one at a time, shaking off the excess flour, and lay them in the pan. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes on one side until golden brown, then turn over and cook another 2 to 3 minutes again until golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep warm.

To the remaining oil in the pan, add the onion slices. Cook 5 to 6 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute.

Add the chicken broth and pomegranate juice to the pan, scraping all the brown bits from the bottom. Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until just slightly reduced.

Add the butter to the sauce and stir the sauce until the butter has melted and incorporated into the liquid.

Add the chicken back into the pan and cook for a couple minutes in the sauce.

Plate the chicken and spoon some onions and sauce over the top.



I honestly did not expect this dish to be so darn good or fast. I loved it and so did Tom.

That's not to say I didn't hit a snag ~ just one. I nearly destroyed the chicken trying to cut it. It takes a very sharp knife and a steady hand.

But, the dish really was fast. I think I had dinner on the table in 40 minutes, and that included baking the Potato Gratin an extra 10 minutes more than the recipe called for. Not bad for fast food.

I loved this dish so much that I want to try using the same 4-Step process with other meats and liquids; like salmon and orange juice, or pork and apple juice. The combinations are endless.

But, for now, I hope you'll give this recipe a shot, then let me know what you think.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing

I did it. I deleted a food blogger from my Google reader. Actually, I've deleted more than one.

I don't cook every single recipe I read from every post I receive. I couldn't. There are far too many. I think I subscribe to just under 90 blogs, most of them food related. When I do try the recipes, I attempt to post the results and give credit to the blog from which I "borrowed" the recipe.

I deleted the first blogger because credit was rarely given where credit was due. I attempt to skim through the posts in my reader on a daily basis, so I have a good idea of who is posting what sort of dishes. When I see some of my very favorite bloggers posting wonderful original recipes and photos, then two or three days later see this one blogger posting the same recipe with no credit to the original blogger, and I see this blogger doing it repeatedly, it just ticks me off. Delete!

Another blogger writes really well, gives credit where it is due, but even though the photos make the food look wonderful, the food sucks. I tried three of this blogger's recipes and all three were really just horrible, throw-in-the-trash-don't-eat-it bad. Sorry, but delete.

Yet another blogger posts recipes almost daily of the food cooked from the night before and only occasionally posts a recipe for something for which I could have already guessed the ingredients, and the rest of the time doesn't bother to give a recipe. Delete.

I'm getting much more selective with my subscriptions. Perhaps it will slow down the accumulation of posts I receive on a daily basis.

So with the general housekeeping out of the way, I want to share with you a dish I cooked (sort of) last night that was not my idea.

I have been craving salad. Big salads, with lots of stuff in them, but I'm tired of Caesar Salad (does anyone really get tired of it?), Mexican Chef's Salad, Cobb Salad...the whole lot. I wanted something different. Then I opened my Google reader to this post @ Beariatric and started salivating immediately. While I didn't use Tom's recipe, it was definitely his post that inspired me to put this salad together.

I've been using my son, Mike's, Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe for years. I think it is the best I've EVER eaten. And, I make an adaptation of Chef Paul Prudhomme's recipe for Blue Cheese Dressing from his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook. Mike's wings are flavorful and as spicy as you want to make them and Chef Paul's Blue Cheese is cool, but a little spicy with definite onion-y undertone.

For this dish, I adapted Mike's recipe to shrimp and halved Chef Paul's recipe for the dressing. This salad was cool, flavorful, spicy and satisfying.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad with Spicy Blue Cheese Dressing
Buffalo Shrimp recipe adapted from Mike Powers
Blue Cheese Dressing adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme Louisiana Kitchen

For the Blue Cheese Dressing:

1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used crushed red pepper)
1/2 pound blue cheese, coarsely crumbled

In a food processor or blender, combine the egg, onions and garlic; process a few seconds until well mixed. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin, steady stream; then add the buttermilk and seasonings and process a few seconds more until well mixed, stopping once to push the sides down with a rubber spatula. Add half of the blue cheese and pulse the mixture until the cheese is broken up into smaller pieces and combined with the dressing. Add the remaining cheese and just pulse a couple of times to mix, but leave the cheese somewhat lumpy. Remove to a jar or bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Makes about 1 quart of dressing.

For the Buffalo Shrimp Salad:

20 large shrimp, shells removed and cleaned and deveined
Buffalo Seasoning Mix (see recipe at bottom of page)
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce (Tobasco or Louisiana ~ I used Louisiana
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 bag of mixed greens
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 avocado, cut into chunks

Place the greens, iceberg lettuce, tomato and avocado in a large salad bowl. Keep cool.

To Make the Buffalo Shrimp:

Put the shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with 1-1/2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix and the flour. Mix until evenly covered. Set aside while you get the sauce ready.

In a small frying pan, melt the butter with the hot sauce. Add the remaining seasoning mix and cook one minute. Keep warm.

In another pan, pour in enough oil so that the oil is about 2 inches deep. Heat the oil on medium high until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the shrimp a few at a time (do not overcrowd) and fry for about 1 minute until just done and golden brown. Remove from oil and put in frying pan with sauce to keep warm. Continue this process until all of your shrimp have been cooked.



When all of the shrimp have been added to the sauce, dumped the shrimp and sauce into a bowl and mix well.

To serve, toss greens and lettuce well and pile on a plate. Top with shrimp. Pour Blue Cheese Dressing over all.


Seasoning Mix:

2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Use a fork or very small whisk to thoroughly mix the seasonings together and set aside.