The garden miracle...

Look at all the amazing produce that my garden presented me! Yet not. As my students say,"Oh Mrs. Longoria, quit clowning me."

I have to admit that only about 1/3 of the tomatoes are mine and pretty much nothing else came from my garden. The rest is from the lovely little German grandmother who lives next door to us. What did I do wrong? Which gardening god did I tick off? What can I do to appease the universe's karma?

It is finally hot enough for tomatoes to start taking off, but wait, it is Sept. which means in 2 weeks the frost date will arrive andgrowing season will be over.

I digress...

In good news, my back to school whoopie pies are delicious. I made a bunch, wrapped them individually and keep them in my freezer to put in my lunch each day (and, of course, I shared with other fellow teachers). I used an official whoopie pie pan, which looks sort of like a shallow muffin pan. However, I have been told by many people that you can scoop out the batter like cookie dough and drop it on a sheet pan for a more free-form pie. The middle (or the whoop of the pie as Daniel likes to call it) is good 'ole fashion marshmallow fluff straight from Beantown.

Here is what I used for my "back to school red velvet whoopie pies":

3 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. crisco

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. regular sugar

3 t. vanilla extract

10 drops red food coloring (more or less if you prefer)

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease whatever sort of cookie sheet or pan you are using.

Mix together: flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat together in a separate bowl: butter, crisco and both types of sugar. Mix on low until just combined then increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy (4-5 minutes). Next, add one egg at a time while beating the batter. Add food coloring and vanilla. Next, add half of the flour mix and 1/2 c. buttermilk to the batter, after it has incorporated into the batter, and the rest of the flour mix and buttermilk.

Use a cookie scoop and put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each cup of the whoopie pie pan (or see above if you do not have this pan). Bake for 10 minutes. Here is my warning as I over baked about 1/4 of my pies :( Check at 8 minutes and do a toothpick test. As oven is on longer, the latter batches will cook faster. Burnt whoopies=a sad baker.

Fill with marshmallow fluff, jam, or cream cheese.

Enjoy!

Fail!

I am on a streak of failed meals. I can't get my cooking chi together, maybe I need to paint my door red or something.This week, I experienced my first two days of summer vacation and they were joyous. What could be better than a fine homemade pizza to cap off a nice summer day? In effort to make the meal "healthier" I decided to make a whole wheat (ww) crust.

It should be noted that while I am a big fan of whole grains, many ww products are gummy and disgusting (ww pasta is the WORST!). Daniel, however, claims that he does not mind the off putting texture and consistently is pushing me to try more ww products.

I make a yummy regular pizza crust, so I figured that it couldn't be too different to make a ww crust. Turns out that while it is not difficult, it was fairly gross. So gross, in fact, that I will not bother to include a recipe.

What is this??? It looks like the top of a cobbler. I tried to spread it out but it was almost like cookie dough, it had no elasticity.

It turned out lumpy, gummy and not crispy at all. Daniel said he did not mind it, and polished up the leftovers for lunch today. At least the toppings were good (tomatoes, mushrooms, olives).

Does anyone have a better recipe? Suggestions? Mine was from the Better Homes & Garden cook book. Wish me good luck on my next cooking adventure...I need it.