Cheesy Spinach Squares

Posted on April 26, 2016

Onto another one of Gram’s cook books. This time, it was one she happened to have a few of her own recipes in. I’m fairly certain that it somehow was connected to The Shriners. Both my grandfather (an actual Shriner, who also dressed up as a clown for many of their parades) and grams were involved in the Shrine. I mean, she still has ticket stubs to the ‘ladies luncheon’ she attended as a book marker… leave it to grams to keep something from 1986 haha.

Delving through the treasure trove of cookbooks grandma left me is pretty fun. It’s like a treasure hunt every weekend… looking for a new recipe that’s sucks me in. This one is no exception.

Now, for those that know me, they know I’m a HUGE cook. I’m always cooking and I’ve tried to recreate, remake, and frankly…. all around experiment with just about any food I come across. This recipe is a first for me. Seriously…. something I have never eaten or seen a recipe for. This is like a combo of a strata… cheese bread… and appetizer. It’s definitely unique and delicious. The recipe is called Spinach Cheese Squares and it’s from Mrs. John Carter.

Now just to be honest, I messed up and mistakingly only got one package of spinach to make this. In reality, I think that it is better with the one package. But feel free to use two packages. I also snuck in some garlic and onion powder to give it a little more flavor (and garlic makes everything better… duh) and I’m telling you… this is really good. You could also totally add in some chopped onions or sautéed mushrooms if you’re feeling crazy. I think either would be a winner. In reality, I don’t even know what I’d classify this as. It could be an appetizer, but you could also serve it as a side. Heck, if you’re not too hungry, it could be the main course. So without further ado, I give you…. drum rolllll… Spinach Cheese Squares.

Spinach Cheese Squares:

4 T butter
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt (we added a little more, but this is more to taste)
1 tsp baking powder
1 lb sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 or 2 pkgs chopped spinach (depending on your love of spinach), thawed and drained
1 tsp of garlic and/or onion powder (optional)

First, make sure to pull out spinach to thaw. Preheat oven to 350°. In a 9×13 pan, melt butter in oven and remove. In a bowl, beat eggs, add flour, milk, salt, baking powder, and optional garlic/onion powder. Mix well. Drain spinach well. I find the easiest way to do this is with a dish cloth. Place spinach in the center, roll cloth around the spinach and squeeze until most of the liquid has been removed. Slowly add cheese and spinach, and make sure they are blending well. Pour mixture into buttered pan, spread evenly. Bake in oven at 350° for 35 minutes. Remove and cool 10 minutes to set. Cut into bite sized squares and enjoy! The hubs and I both agreed this was better warm. This also keeps in the fridge quite well and is easy to reheat. You’ll thank me later. This seems to be a good ‘veggie hiding’ recipe for kids too!

*For more info on the health benefits of spinach check out Helen’s article here!

Photography and writing by:

Alysha Yoder Photography

(b) www.alyshayoderphotoblog.com www.alyshayoderphoto.com

(e) alyshayoderphoto@yahoo.com (p) 610.762.7810

Sweet Orange and Coconut

Posted on April 11, 2016

Last Monday would have been Grandma’s 82nd birthday. This was the first year I didn’t get to call her, hear her laugh, and share in another year of her life. Since Gram’s birthday was typically around Easter, we always double downed and did 2x the celebrating. If you’re part of the Yoder clan, every birthday my mother (or grandma) will cook you a dinner and dessert of your choice. Seriously, one of the biggest perks ever. Anything and everything. Nothing is off limits. My gram’s always requested orange cake with whipped coconut icing. It was her favorite. One of my favorite photos of her is two years ago blowing out the cake my mom had baked for her.

Today, in my little ode to grams, I decided to make her favorite. Orange cake with coconut icing. Now, in normal grandma form, I decided to spruce up something store bought. Yes, I bought a box cake. Sue me. I went with Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Yellow Cake. This calls for 3 eggs, 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup of butter. By changing the water into orange juice, a dash of orange extract and some orange zest… VOILA, awesome cake that NO ONE would be able to tell was store bought. Save’s you some time and money, which in my book is always a plus!

Now, I did make the icing from scratch. Cream cheese icings are always my favorite and gram’s LOVED whipped sugar icing so I combined the two into one awesome combo. I know that orange and coconut is not normally a combo most people are used to, but trust me, you’ll enjoy this! A little tangy with a little sweet. It’s the perfect combo for the wonderful lady that was grams. So without further ado, Orange Coconut Cake.

Quick Orange Cake:

1 box cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s Butter Recipe Yellow Cake)
3 eggs
1/3 stick softened butter
3 Oranges (to make 1 cup of juice + zest)
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 T orange extract

Preheat oven to 350 °. Open and pour cake mix in a large bowl. Add butter, eggs, and orange extract. Zest one orange into mixture. Juice three oranges to make 1 cup of orange juice (you could just use orange juice as well if you want). Mix all ingredients together well. Pour in pre-greased 8″ cake pan (make sure this is a tall 2.5-3″ pan). Put in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until inserted knife comes out clean. Place cake on cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing.

Make sure someone enjoys the batter with this one haha. Don’t worry, the hubs licked the bowl first. Now, onto the icing!

Coconut Whipped Icing:

1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar (or icing sugar)
1/2 T orange extract
1/2 T of vanilla extract
1-3 T of milk (optional, add to icing if you would like it more runny)
1-2 cups of shredded coconut (put more/less depending on taste)

Place softened butter in bowl. Beat until creamy. Add room temperature cream cheese, whip with butter until smooth. Add both vanilla and orange extract. Beat until smooth. Slowly incorporate powder sugar. If the icing is too thick, add milk a tablespoon at a time to thin out. Before icing cake, add wax paper around bottom of the cake. This will make sure that you don’t get icing all over your plate and create a picture perfect cake! Pour icing on cake and spread evenly. ***Make sure cake is completely cool before doing this. Once icing is even, sprinkle coconut on top and sides. Allow icing to set, remove wax paper, and serve. Enjoy!

Photography and writing by:

Alysha Yoder Photography

(b) www.alyshayoderphotoblog.com www.alyshayoderphoto.com

(e) alyshayoderphoto@yahoo.com (p) 610.762.7810

6 Comments

Berries and Custard

Posted on March 20, 2016

This is certainly a VERY old school (80+ years) family favorite that I’m about to share with you this chilly Sunday. It’s so old that the recipe is in both grams and great grams cookbook as well as a recipe card. I guess gram’s REALLY didn’t want us to forget this one lol. She certainly had it memorized.

Now if you know anything about the large Pizor-Yoder (and now Bailey clan), our family… aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings all get together every Christmas (and really as often as we can) and pretty much cook, play cards, laugh, and have an all around good time. You’ll certainly see some fun blog posts around that time (definitely including some mojito recipes… yummm). Our family ALWAYS make this custard recipe whenever we’re together. It’s actually my great-grams ‘cornstarch recipe’ and is known by just about everyone. Anyone who ever tries it wants a copy of the recipe. I even remember making this for my sister’s host family in Scotland, so it’s been shared in multiple countries too! It’s a truly amazing dessert and is comprised of fresh, simple ingredients.

In the summer, we’d go pick fresh berries off our neighbor’s bushes or get peaches at the farmer’s market and serve them over this custard. When the custard’s still hot everything kind of melds together in a truly magical way. We always had the ongoing tapioca vs. no tapioca argument in my family, as we were always 50/50 split on the matter. Grams and mom also used this as a pie base or custard base, which is fairly easy to do. Here’s some tricks of the Pizor-Yoder custard trade:

Add 1 T of good cocoa to make chocolate custard
Add 1/2-1 cup of shredded coconut to make coconut custard
- Do both of the above with a tsp of almond extract to make Almond Joy
Add zest and juice of one lemon to custard, pour in baked pie crust. Add whipped eggs whites (meringue) to the top and bake for lemon meringue pie.
Add a cup of quick tapioca (or a cup of large pearl that have been soaked overnight) for tapioca custard.
We substituted coconut milk for regular milk before to make lactose free custard (also makes it a little more primal/paleo if you use coconut sugar instead of white sugar)
My grandpa’s favorite was always to put pitted cherries on the bottom of a baked pie crust, cover them with tapioca custard and have custard cherry pie.

It’s seriously one of the best base recipes that can also beautifully stand on it’s own or be whipped up into any manner of desserts. I have so many memories of gram’s stirring this on the stovetop for all the grandkids. This has always been a staple in our households, and hopefully it can become one in yours now too!

**Also, as a side note, the hubs and I are taking a little hiatus the next two weekends. I’ll be doing a little post on New Orleans next weekend but then we’ll be out of the country so a fun island post to follow soon! However, gram’s recipes will be postponed for our little break! Check back soon!

Old Fashioned Cornstarch Custard:

Now, we always double this recipe (cause the family can never get enough of this) but this will make roughly 3 cups of custard by itself so plan accordingly!

2 rounded T cornstarch
1 pint milk (2 cups)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup sugar (can add more or less to taste)
2 egg yolks
1.5 – 2 T of butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together cornstarch and sugar until combined well. Slowly add milk and mix well to ensure no clumping (with cornstarch). Separate eggs, add yolks and salt. Stir everything until combined well and place on stove at medium high heat. Continuously stir mixture to avoid scorching until mixture thickens. Once it thickens, add butter and vanilla. Remove from heat and still until well combined. My family can never wait for this to cool and pretty much eat it as soon as it doesn’t burn our mouths but feel free to cool and serve cold as well or make a pie! Enjoy!

Funny moment is always when Gizmo comes in and looks at us making food sitting on the floor. I’m pretty sure he thinks we’re nuts. Captured a little moment of that today.