Pinterest Review - Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Cream Cheese Pound Cake***

Pinterest is addicting, but I've noticed that I can spend a good portion of my day repinning great ideas from Pinterest and actually do very little of them.  I've gotten better and I've started to try some of the recipes, crafts, etc that I've pinned, but I haven't even scratched the surface really.  So when I actually try something, I'll try to give a little review, because between you and me there's a lot of crap on Pinterest and I've had quite a few failures/disappointments.

Well, this review is most certainly not a disappointment (unless you're on a diet...like I am...).  I pinned this recipe from the blog Elizabeth's Edible Experience and it certainly looked good...and fattening.  We had a guest for dinner this evening so I made a dessert for the occasion and prayed that it would not flop.  I've had quite a few baking and cooking failures since moving to 7000+ feet.  High altitude baking has been a challenge, even with adjustments, but this turned out perfectly.

If I had looked a bit closer at Elizabeth's pin and saw that it was a recipe that originally came from Southern Living I would have realized that it would have been yummy...

...And the fattening part, well, let's just say that the app I'm using to track my calories (that's another post!), tells me that this recipe is 334 calories per serving.  I cut the bundt cake into 16 pieces so they weren't overly big.  You could easily take a 500-600 calorie slice and not bat an eye.  I also substituted margarine for butter and 1/3 fat cream cheese instead of full calorie stuff.  I'm sure my little pieces would have been much worse if I hadn't and I didn't want to spend another 20 minutes on the treadmill (or more) to make sure I didn't bust my calorie allotment today!

Honestly, I thought that cake was rich and absolutely sinful even with the changes I made.  Maybe some Egg Beaters instead of the 6 eggs would reduce it more, but I guess moderation is the key.  Here's the Southern Living recipe:

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter (or margarine), softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese (I used reduced fat), softened
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 c flour
6 eggs

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the sugar and vanilla and mix.  Add the salt and eggs and mix.  Finally, add in the flour a little at a time so you don't have more of it covering your kitchen than in the bowl.

Pour into a prepared (I used flour spray) bundt pan. Bake at 300 degrees (F) for 1 hour and 40 minutes (yes, you read that right).

Allow to cool before inverting to a plate.

We enjoyed our cake with some fresh strawberries.

So I rate this Pinterest pin a great success.  It's a keeper!

***Sorry about the poor picture-taking skills displayed here.  I'm not that bad of a photographer, but food is a challenge to me.  Perhaps I'll get better with age!

Guinness Stew Over Colcannon

This is a post originally published on my genealogy blog, but the recipe is so good that I thought I'd share it here.  Especially with Saint Patrick's Day only a week away!

With Saint Patrick's Day coming up (and me being 50% Irish), I've begun experimenting with various recipes so that this year's celebration does not resemble last year's dreadful corned-beef-and-cabbage-makes-me-want-to-vomit scenario.  I wanted to make a good Irish stew in my slow cooker but frankly all of the recipes looked like they may lack a little flavor so I switched to recipes for Guinness stew and after reading several and not finding one that really suited me, I decided to use my new found research of these recipes and create one with bits from all and add a little me to it.  I tried it out last week and it was very good.  It's a "go" for the holiday.  I served it over regular mashed potatoes instead of rice or noodles (that's why I didn't include any potatoes in the stew), but it will be served over Colcannon on the big day.

The Colcannon recipe was created last year.  I took the recipe from my "Little Irish Cookbook" and screwed it up when I did my shopping.  Well, it wasn't really a screw up.  I bought bacon for it thinking that the bacon was supposed to be in there and when I opened the book to start cooking realized I was wrong.  Instead of saving the bacon for another occasion I used the philosophy that "everything's better with bacon" and it turned out to be so true! :)

To be sure there will be more Irish recipes following as we approach the holiday.  They aren't family recipes in the sense that they were passed on to me, but recipes that I am making because of my love for my Irish heritage and wanting to start a tradition with my children that I can only hope they will share with their families as the grow up.

Guinness Stew

(the measurements are approximate but should be close.  Season to your taste!)

4-5 lbs beef stew meat
1 c. flour
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
3 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp beef broth (I used 4 tbsp water and added a scoop of beef paste since I don't keep stock in my house)
1 bottle Guinness (yes I used the whole thing)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp thyme, dried
1 tsp rosemary, dried
1 large onion (it was a monster.  Probably the size of 2 mediums...maybe 2 cups), chopped
1 (2 lb) bag of baby carrots
1 lb of mushrooms, quartered (or more if desired)
1 c. sour cream

Trim meat of any large pieces of fat (if desired) and place the stew meat in a large bowl.  Mix together the flour, salt and pepper.  Add to the beef and toss to coat.  Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add canola oil.  When hot add the beef (in batches, if necessary, adding more oil if needed) and brown.  Place browned meat in the slow cooker (don't cook the meat all the way through.  You just want to brown it.

Add the onion and carrots to the slow cooker.  In a bowl mix together the tomato paste, beef broth, garlic, thyme, rosemary and beer.  Pour over the meat and vegetables.  Set your slow cooker to low to cook (my slow cooker's lowest setting is 10 hours).

About 1 hour before cooking is done add the mushrooms to the stew (they came out perfectly). Tested it and adjusted seasonings to taste (I personally added a little additional garlic powder since the fresh didn't pack enough punch and some onion powder). Five minutes before serving I stirred in 1 cup sour cream.

Colcannon

8 med potatoes, peeled and chopped (The smaller the pieces the quicker they will cook)
1 bunch scallions, chopped (abt 8)
1/2 c. milk
1 small head of cabbage, shredded then chopped (discard stump)
1 lb bacon, cut into pieces
salt
pepper
butter


Place the potatoes into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Shred and chop the cabbage.  Add to a pot covered with water and bring to a boil.

While the potatoes and cabbage are cooking cut the uncooked bacon into pieces; fry until done.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Remove cabbage and potatoes when done (a fork will easily pierce a potato that is easily cooked).  Drain.  Return the potatoes to their pot to keep warm and for some of the water to evaporate from the potatoes.

While the potatoes are losing some of their moisture add the scallions to the milk and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Mash the potatoes with the milk and scallions, adding salt, pepper and butter to your taste (you know best your you like your mashed potatoes!).  Add the cabbage and bacon and serve.

NOTE:  If the potatoes are too wet simply place the mixture into a pot on the stove to evaporate some of the moisture.  You can simply add the milk a little at a time to avoid this, but ensure that all the scallions get in and aren't left behind in the milk if it's not all used.