image from www.istockphoto.com

While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/17/09 at Exit 51.

Tastes Like That Good Old Fashioned Lemonade

In my childhood, a container of Country Time mix was the closest we ever got to homemade lemonade.  You remember Country Time, don’t you?  It “tastes like that good old fashioned lemonade”, or so they say.  I say it tastes like: Sugar, Fructose, Citric Acid (Provides Tartness), Natural Flavor, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Maltodextrin, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Citrate (Controls Acidity), Magnesium Oxide (Prevents Caking), Calcium Fumarate, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Color, Yellow 5 Lake, Tocopherol (Preserves Freshness).  How’s that good old fashioned lemonade? Call me silly but I thought lemonade was lemon juice, water, and sugar.

I never really thought about making lemonade until Deb at Smitten Kitchen posted her Watermelon Lemonade.  And then, of course, I had to try it immediately.  Much the same way that “when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen”, when Smitten Kitchen posts something so beautiful in its simplicity, I have to try it.  And you should too.  But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself and see.

Watermelon Lemonade

Smitten Kitchen Adaptation of Bubby’s

These quantities make enough for two single servings.  Really, if you’re going to go to the trouble of pureeing some watermelon, you might as well puree the whole thing.  I put the ingredients into separate containers so that all I have to do to refill my pitcher is measure them out and mix them together.

If you don’t have a juicer, lemons are easier to juice when they are warmed slightly.  Considering that I juiced about 5 pounds of lemons for this recipe and am sans juicer, I improvised.  Here’s how – place four whole lemons in the microwave and nuke them for about a minute.  Let them sit on a plate for another minute or so and then CAREFULLY cut them in half.  The microwave superheats the juice inside which likes to spurt out as you cut the lemons open.  I’ll say that again…BEWARE. HOT. LEMON. JUICE.  Using a handheld reamer, the lemon halves will now easily give up their juice and pulp.  As Ina would say, how easy is that?  Then again, Ina has a juicer.

• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup fresh watermelon puree, strained through a coarse strainer to remove seeds
• 3 tablespoons simple syrup (recipe below)
• 3/4 cup cold water

Stir watermelon puree, lemon juice, simple syrup, and water together.  Serve over ice.  If you’re in a party sort of a mood, add a shot of your favorite vokda.

Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Simmer sugar and water together until sugar has completely dissolved.  Let cool.  Store leftover syrup in the refrigerator.

If you’re feeling especially sassy, gently flavor your simple sugar by adding a bit of herb like fresh rosemary or thyme as you heat and cool the sugar and water.

{printable recipe}

Yes, this recipe requires a long lead time from prep to table.  But the amount of time actually spent standing at the stove is minimal.  In fact, I started watching Independence Day while the onions slowly caramelized.  When it was time to sear the beef, I hit pause on the Tivo.  I browned, deglazed, simmered, and transferred everything to the oven.  And then I finished watching the intergalactic smackdown from the comfort of my air-conditioned living room.  By the time the world had been saved from the space invaders, Pot Roast Carbonnade was ready to come out of the oven.  My work, besides  boiling up some egg noodles, and taking the credit for a fantastic dinner, was done.

I’ve got a few other beef stew recipes in my files but from now on I’ll be making Pot Roast Carbonnade when I’m in the mood for roasty, stewey goodness.  Because if there were only 36 hours left before complete annihilation of the human race, this is one of the dishes I’d want on the table at my last supper.

Pot Roast Carbonnade

Adapted from Melissa d’ Arabian

BAH Note: The beer, caramelized onions, prunes, and bacon combine to give this dish a slightly sweet, complex flavor.  While the juices are luscious and silky, you will want to skim as much fat off the top as you can.  Check the amount of liquid in the pot after one hour of cooking.  If it is low, add additional beef broth or water.   Serve this with hearty bread or buttered noodles.

BAH Tip:  Be sure to dry your chuck with paper towels before you cut it into cubes.  The drier your beef is, the better it will brown.

• 1/2 pound thick cut bacon, cut into lardons
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into large cubes
• 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut unto large pieces
• 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
• 12 ounces beer (I used Blue Moon)
• 6 pitted prunes
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme (or 2 tablespoons fresh)
• 1 cup beef broth
• kosher salt and black pepper

In a large dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium low heat until it renders off its fat and becomes crisp.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon from the pot.  Add the onions to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are caramelized, approximately 45 minutes to an hour.  When the onions are done cooking, heat your oven to 325 degrees.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the pot while leaving the bacon fat behind.  Add the vegetable oil to the pot and, working in batches, sear the cubes of beef until nicely browned all over.

Return all the beef cubes to the pot along with any accumulated juices.  Add the onions, carrots, bacon and prunes.  Add the flour, stir it in, and cook for about one minute.  Add the beer and use a spatula to deglaze the bottom of the pot.  Add the beef broth and thyme and bring the mixture to a simmer.  Cover and transfer the pot to the oven.  Cook for two hours or until the beef is extremely tender.

{printable recipe}

Pies, y’all. Wannabe Whoppie Pies.  But that’s not what I started out to make.  Nope, not in the least.  I set out to make a Retro Recipe for Vanilla Wafers.  I’ll admit that maybe my attention was spread a little too thin.  I had orange chicken going in the kitchen, was stumbling my way through a sewing project in the dining room, and really wasn’t paying attention to Vanilla Wafers.  I creamed the butter with half of the sugar called for and didn’t realize it until all the eggs and half the flour and milk had already been added.  I then spent a good five minutes trying to figure out which would be a worse way to break the recipe – by having not enough sugar or by adding more sugar too late in the process. I decided to gamble and see what would happen if I added the rest of the sugar along with the flour.  To say that what I pulled out of the oven was not what I was expecting would be an understatement.

Let me back up a moment.  These Retro Recipes, unlike many modern recipes, don’t come with description of the final product.  And there are no pictures.  So I read Vanilla Wafer and in my mind I saw little Nilla Wafers.  And I began to set my expectations of how my work creaming and blending and mixing  was going to pay off.  I started imagining bite sized cookies, crunchy, redolent with vanilla, that are perfect eaten by the handful adorned only with a glass of cold milk.

What I should have imagined were flat, cake like rounds.  Even Merriam-Webster knows that one definition of a wafer is a thin, crisp, cake.  Mine most definitely satisfied two of those descriptions.  And the edges were rather crisp.  So I suppose I should fault my expectations, and probably my process, because what I got does technically meet the definition of a vanilla wafer.  It just wasn’t a nilla wafer.  My bad.

After assessing the situation, I couldn’t decide whether to bake off the rest of the batter or not.  On the one hand, I was expecting one thing and got another.  On the other hand, what I got wasn’t so bad.  You know how you get scraps and thin slices when you level off the top of a cake?  That’s what these were like.  And as nice as that was, I couldn’t decide.  So I left the decision up to The Mistah who enthusiastically gestured his thumbs up as he stuffed Vanilla Wafers in his mouth.  How could I argue with that?

I couldn’t.  But then after I ate a few more of these cookies, I started thinking that they need a little something.  A sauce.  Or a frosting.  Or a filling.

And when I remembered that I bought a container of marshmallows because I needed 12…well, you can see how it was only a hop, skip, and jump from Vanilla Wafers to Wannabe Whoppie Pies.  As The Mistah and I bit into toasty, melted marshmallow sandwiched between moist, cakey wafers I declared that I was freaking awesome.  I think you just might too when you try these.

Wannabe Whoopie Pies

BAH Note:  I do plan to go back and make the Vanilla Wafers again, closely following the directions, to get an accurate sense of what they’re really supposed to be.  While the recipe states a yield of 5 dozen cookies, this attempt yielded maybe two dozen.  I stored them on a plate covered with plastic wrap and noticed that they were going stale after only two days.  So assuming that they really are supposed to be thin, cakey rounds, I’d recommend not letting them sit around too long.  These Wannabe Whoopie Pies would be fun to serve after a casual dinner party (just be sure your marshmallow toaster isn’t already toasted  him/herself because cleaning up burnt marshmallow off the stove is no way to end an evening).

BAH Tip:  I used a burner on my gas stove top to melt the marshmallow.  Don’t have a gas stove?  Further tests revealed that I could get similar results by microwaving a full size marshmallow for 8 to 10 seconds on 30% power.  It won’t brown up but it will get warm and melty.  As soon as you see the marshmallow begin to puff up, regardless of how much time is left, pull it out of the microwave and carefully transfer it from the plate onto the cookies with a spoon.

• 1/4 pound butter (mine was softened a bit)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup sifted flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• bamboo skewers
• marshmallows

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until soft.  Gradually add the sugar and blend well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, blending thoroughly after each.

Add the flour and milk in two or three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

Using a small ice cream scoop, drop six portions of dough on a cookie sheet.  Space the dough so that there is about two inches between each portion.  Bake for 10 minutes until the edges turn golden brown.

Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.  Repeat with remaining dough, baking one pan at a time.

When ready to assemble the Pies, place two cookies face down on a plate.  Place a marshmallow on the end of a bamboo skewer and carefully toast it over a gas stove top burner.  When the marshmallow is toasted, place it on top of one cookie.  Top with the second cookie and carefully remove the skewer from the marshmallow.

{printable recipe}

image from www.istockphoto.com

Earlier this year I had sinus surgery.  For whatever reason, I completely underestimated how completely wiped out I would feel after my little procedure.  I had figured that a couple of days later I would be bouncing around full steam ahead.  The reality was quite different.  It was all I could do to take a shower and get dressed.  Darvocet became my best friend.  We spent quality time together camped out on the sofa.  We drank Diet Coke and lots of smoothies.  We watched crappy daytime television.  And we discovered that bad haircut aside, Holden Snyder looks almost exactly the same in 2010 as he did in 1995 when we last caught an episode of As The World Turns.  Cooking was the last thing on my mind.  But since mine is not the only mouth in this house, and the food doesn’t just magically appear, I had to come up with something for The Mistah to eat besides peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

Beth at 990 Square came to my rescue with her recipe for Chicken with Wild Rice Soup.  It requires minimal prep and takes advantage of that kitchen workhorse otherwise known as the crock pot.  Under normal circumstances, I would have moved on to some other project after I got the vegetables prepped and had everything going in the crock pot.  As it was, that twenty minutes of chopping, sweating, and sauteeing was as much work as I could stand that day.  So while the slow cooker did its thing on the kitchen counter, I did my thing on the sofa.  There may have been some light snoring involved, but the only witness was the cat and he knows better than to incriminate the human that feeds him.

Chicken with Wild Rice Soup

Adapted from Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever

BAH Note:  For a thicker soup, use 1 1/2 to 2 cups of rice.  If the soup is too thick, it can be thinned out with cream or milk just before serving.  Don’t have a crock pot?  No worries.  This recipe can be adapted for the stovetop.  Once the vegetables are prepped and everything is in a large pot or dutch oven, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook covered for 90 minutes.  If the rice is not tender after 90 minutes, continue to cook, checking for doneness every 30 minutes.  Or bring everything to a boil on the stove and then cover the pot and place in a low oven (about 250 or 275 degrees) for 2 to 3 hours or until done.  I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store but you could roast a couple of breasts to get the 3 cups of cooked chicken.

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
• 1 cup wild rice, uncooked

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrot, celery, herbs, salt, and pepper and sweat for 5 to 10 minutes until softened.  Remove the vegetables from the pan and place in the slow cooker.

Return the pan to the stove and add the rice.  Cook until the rice glistens and starts to smell toasted.  Transfer the rice to the slow cooker.

Return the pan to the stove and add the mushrooms.  Cook until the mushrooms release some liquid and start to brown.  Add the mushrooms to the slow cooker.

Add the chicken and broth to the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low 4 to 5 hours until the rice is tender and the soup has thickened.

Taste for seasoning and add additional salt, pepper, or herbs.

{printable recipe}

On those days when I don’t have it together enough to make homemade chicken noodle soup, Bon Appetit – Fast, Easy, Fresh has me covered.  Assuming that I put chicken broth, turkey breast, and rice noodles on my shopping list, I can have soup in under 30 minutes.  Don’t believe me?  Try it yourself and see.  But don’t say I didn’t warn you.  Once you realize how easy this is to make, you just might find yourself regularly putting the ingredients on your grocery list.  Because who doesn’t love a super quick meal that tastes like it took all day to make?  Better yet, make a double batch and freeze half for later.  In cramped freezers like mine, portion it out into quart sized freezer bags for easy freezing and thawing.  They store much better than plastic containers.

Asian Turkey Noodle Soup

Adapted from Bon Appetit – Fast, Easy, Fresh

BAH Note:  I take the easy way out with the turkey breast and get it at the deli counter.  The person helping me usually gets a puzzled look when I ask to have a slice of turkey breast that’s about an inch to an inch and a half thick.  But it works perfectly.  You could roast a turkey breast at home or maybe even find one prepared in the rotisserie section of the grocery store.  But don’t be afraid to ask for it at the deli counter.

• 3 1/2 ounces medium wide rice noodles, broken in half
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly into about 8 rounds
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 cups diced turkey breast (about 8 to 10 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon dried chives
• 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger (not sugar coated), minced

Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions.  Rinse, run under cold water to cool, and set aside.

Combine broth, shallots, fresh ginger, and fish sauce in a large sauce pan or dutch oven.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove ginger slices from the broth, add diced turkey, noodles, dried chives, and crystallized ginger and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add a pinch of kosher salt, or additional fish sauce,  if desired.

Enjoy plain or top with bean sprouts, a squirt of lime, or thinly sliced chiles for more heat.

{printable recipe}

Filed under: Cooking, Food, Photo, Recipe, Soup, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized Tagged: Asian Turkey Noodle Soup, Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh, Easy, Quick ]]> http://bonappetithon.com/2010/04/13/youve-been-warned/feed/ 2 pmf1852 Turkey Noodle Soup http://bonappetithon.com/2010/03/24/saturday-cooking/ http://bonappetithon.com/2010/03/24/saturday-cooking/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:00:36 +0000 Wendi http://bonappetithon.com/?p=1316 Continue reading →]]> Saturday is when I tend to do my big cooking.  By big, I mean recipes that take more time than I have on a weeknight.  Monday through Friday, recipes are of the quick and easy variety.  Sunday usually involves a little more time.  But Saturday, Saturday is when I hunker down and spend an entire day cooking.  Sometimes, I’m focused on just one recipe.  Other times, there are multiple dishes going.

What kinds of things am I likely to be cooking on a Saturday?  Slow roasted beef, short ribs, roast chicken, and oven pulled pork have all come out of my kitchen on a Saturday.  Most recently, I dug into the pile of recipes I haven’t made in a while for Cooking Light’s Beef Bourguignon.

This was one of the first recipes I was successful with when I decided to stop eating from cans and boxes.  It was a huge confidence builder to create a “fancy” meal from my apartment kitchen.  And then, I don’t know why, but I filed it away as a special occasion recipe.

I don’t know about you, but with the exception of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, I don’t have a ton of special occasions on my calendar.  So what sense is there in holding on to a recipe that you don’t make?  I find that I have to remind myself that it makes absolutely zero sense.  So Beef Bourguignon and I got reacquainted.  And we turned an ordinary Saturday into a special occasion.

Beef Bourguignon

Adapted from Cooking Light

BAH Tip: Although pre-cut stew meat is convenient, it’s not always the best value.  I bought a boneless chuck roast and cut it down myself.  It’s a little messier and a little more work to remove the fat and connective tissue, but I made the beef cubes as big as I wanted and saved a few bucks at the store.

• 2 1/4 pounds beef stew meat, cubed
• 3 slices bacon, chopped and divided
• all purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 1 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
• 8 cups mushrooms, halved (about 1 1 /2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

Cook half of the bacon in a dutch oven over medium high heat until crisp.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to a medium sized bowl.  Add half of the cubed beef to the pan with the bacon drippings, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until well browned on all sides.  Remove the browned beef from the pan, add it to the bowl with the cooked bacon, and cover to keep warm.

Repeat the process with the remaining bacon and beef cubes, sprinkling two to three teaspoons of flour over the second batch of beef after it is added to the pan.  Remove beef from the pan and cover to keep warm.

Add chopped onion and carrot slices to the pan and cook for approximately 7 minutes until the onion just starts to brown.  Add the tomato paste and cook for two minutes more.  Stir in the red wine and beef broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add bacon, beef, 1 teaspoon salt, mushrooms, thyme, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes.  Uncover and cook 1 hour or until beef is tender.

If your juices have not cooked down, carefully remove beef and vegetables with a slotted spoon, place in a large bowl, and cover to keep warm.  Increase heat to high and cook until the juices reduce.  Taste for seasoning and add one to two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, if desired.  Return beef and vegetables to the pan and serve.

{Printable Recipe}

I’ve cooked many a boneless chicken breast in my day.  If I’m being honest, I’ve ruined more than I’ve gotten right.  It all started in college, in a tiny campus housing apartment with an electric stovetop.  Neither UMBC nor the Office of Residential Life trusted us enough to put ovens in the apartments.  And for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to cook the chicken in the toaster oven before it eventually went up in flames. 

Ok, maybe I can understand why the Hillside, West Hill, and Terrace apartments were ovenless.  But it looks like things changed when they put up the new Walker Avenue apartments.  Not only do the kids today get apartments with ovens, they also get a volleyball pitch.  Those lucky bastards.

Note to the folks at UMBC: It’s 2010 and I’m still paying off my student loans so don’t even think about sending me a donation request.  If you want to give the kids a full size oven for their frozen pizza, bagel bites, and chicken breasts, some other alum is going to have to foot the bill.

Asparagus Chicken with Creamy Dijon Sauce

Adapted from Bonnie Moore’s recipe on Washingtonpost.com

BAH Tip:  After countless attempts at trying to make this type of creamy pan sauce ended in failure of the curdled, broken variety, it occurred to me that maybe I should try and temper the sour cream and mustard before I added it to the hot pan.  Tempering works with custard when I make ice cream so maybe it would work for my pan sauce.  You know what?  It worked beautifully.   A spoonful at a time, I stirred in about 1/4 cup of the reduced chicken broth to my sour cream and mustard mixture.  Then I added the mixture back to my skillet and whisked until it was smooth and creamy without a curdle or break to be seen.

• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch lengths
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets (or breast halves, cut in half lengthwise)
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup sour cream (regular or low fat, not non-fat)

Place asparagus and water in a microwave safe bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and microwave for 2 minutes.  Carefully remove bowl from the microwave, drain water, and set aside.

Heat the olive in a large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to pan.  Cook for approximately 7 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.  Transfer chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm.

Add wine to the pan, stir to scrape up any browned bits, and cook until it is almost completely evaporated.  Add the chicken broth and cook for approximately 10 minutes until it reduces by half.

While the chicken broth is reducing, combine the sour cream and mustard in a small bowl.

Once the broth has reduced, temper the sour cream and mustard by slowly stirring in some of the broth a tablespoon at a time.  Add the tempered mixture to the remaining broth in the skillet and whisk until smooth.  Cook until the sauce thickens slightly, approximately 2 minutes, remove from the heat and taste for seasoning.  Add salt and pepper as desired.

Add the chicken and asparagus to the sauce and stir to combine.  Serve over rice.

{printable recipe}

These truths I  hold to be self evident:

1. There are lots of food blogs out there.
2. It’s impossible to follow every one.
3. Clearly, I’m missing out on some good stuff.
4. That’s not a good thing.

Thankfully, the blogs I read help me to find some of that good stuff that’s on other sites.  So I’m giving Alice @ Savory Sweet Life a big BAH thanks for her post of Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp.  Otherwise, this gem would have gone unnoticed by me.  And as #4 states, that is not a good thing.

Jaden’s Coconut Shrimp

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons cognac
• kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar (if using sweetened coconut, omit)

BAH Tip: If using smaller shrimp, work in batches so that they do not steam.  You want them to cook quickly in the pan so it’s important that you only have a single layer of shrimp in the pan at a time.

Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and set aside.

Place a large frying pan over medium heat and add the coconut.  Stir occasionally and toast until golden brown.  Transfer coconut to a plate.

Return empty frying pan to stove and set over high heat.  The pan is ready when a bead of water sizzles on contact and evaporates.  Add oil and shrimp to the pan.  Cook for one minute then turn and cook for one minute on the other side.  Remove shrimp from the pan, leaving as much oil in it as possible.

Reduce heat to medium and add butter to the pan.  Once it has melted and starts foaming, add the green onion and garlic.  Cook until fragrant, approximately 30 seconds.  Remove frying pan from the stove and add the cognac, a pinch of salt, and sugar (if using).  Return pan to the stove and stir to combine.  Return shrimp to the pan and let the sauce thicken slightly and coat the shrimp.

Remove from heat, add the toasted coconut, and gently toss to combine.

Serve as an appetizer or add rice for an entree.

{Printable Recipe}

Should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to bring a cake somewhere but your cake carrier is missing in action, don’t despair.  Assemble the following items:

• 1 cooling rack
• 1 large disposable aluminum pan with lid
• 1 completed cake on a cardboard cake round (I made my own out of the cardboard container that a flat of soda comes in from Costco and covered it with aluminum foil)

Place the aluminum pan on top of the cooling rack.

Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut a flap into one side of the aluminum pan large enough for the overhanging cake round to come through.

Place cake in the aluminum pan and cover with the lid.  A portion of the lid may settle into the top of the frosting but this can be smoothed out later.  If you can’t find a pan with a lid at the store, just get two large pans.  Cut a flap into both of the pans and use one to cover the other, lining the flaps up on the same side of the cake.  You may have to reshape the top pan a little so that it fits securely inside the bottom pan.

Using the cooling rack as a base, grab your fabulous cake with both hands and go.

The second link is for folks like me who are obsessed with reusable market bags.  Now, you can have reusable produce bags in addition to your grocery bag.  I’ve never tried these myself but if they live up to their claim that “using these three bags just once a week can save as many as 150 bags a year” then that’s definitely a win-win.

Bon Appetit Hon.