This is my Dad. I love him. Happy Father’s Day.

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I also have an iTouch, that I has the exact same songs on it as did my iPod mini that retired after 4 years. So this fancy DVD thing has a place to attach your iPod to it and it feeds your songs to the TV.

I have a few playlists, but last night I decided to put it on my Top 25. I had never looked at it. Here’s a snippet:

1. S.O.S. by ABBA
2. Midnight Rider by Willie Nelson
3. My Maria by Brooks and Dunn
4. Check Yes or No by George Straight
5. Angel Flying to Close to the Ground by Willie Nelson
6. 7 by Prince
7. Seasons of Love from the Rent Soundtrack
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2
9. Fernando by ABBA
10. Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn

I still don’t know what to think about the randomness in my top songs, but I’m sure that I need to listen to more Aerosmith. I have no idea how they didn’t make it to the top 10.

My song psychology moment did help time pass by while I marinated and cooked a rib recipe I found over at Homesick Texan’s blog. I’ve cooked with Dr. Pepper before, I made these tasty Cherry Dr. Pepper Cupcakes and they were delicious.

These ribs were sweet, smokey and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. I think you can’t ask for more from a rib. What I think really worked with the recipe is that the cooking method. If you’re going to cook ribs inside, I’d think you could create any variation of the recipe, but keep the cooking method and you’d end up with a great result.

I didn’t have chiplote powder, so I substituted anjo chili powder and smoked paprika. My variation to the recipe from Homesick Texas is reflected below:

Dr Pepper ribs

For the rub:
1/4 cup of salt
1/4 cup of black pepper
1/4 cup of brown sugar
4 teaspoons of mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
2 teaspoons of anjo chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of allspice

For the glaze:
2 cups of Dr Pepper
1 cup of ketchup
1/2 cup of mustard
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of molasses
4 teaspoons of smoked paperika

Two racks of St Louis ribs
1/4 cup of Dr Pepper

Coat the ribs with the rub, wrap in plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least four hours.

Heat the oven to 300 degrees and bring the ribs to room temperature.

In a foil-lined large baking or roasting pan, arrange the ribs with the meat side up, pour in 1/4 cup of Dr Pepper, cover pan tightly with foil and place in the oven.

Meanwhile, place all the glaze ingredients in a pan, bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes until thick and syrupy.

After an hour and a half, take the ribs out of the oven and spread some of the glaze on each side of the racks. Place back in the oven, meat side up and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take out the ribs and spread more glaze over them and cook for 30 more minutes or until ribs are desired tenderness.

At this point, take the ribs out of the oven, spread more glaze on them and then cook each side under the broiler for four minutes.

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You can hopefully imagine my shock when someone said to me that you can make all sorts of fruit butters using a crock pot! At first I was shocked and challenged them that perhaps I wasn’t explaining Apple Butter correctly. Because if they had ever had it they would understand that you couldn’t make something that delicious in a (I’m sorry) low rent crock pot!

But they insisted, that yes, you can apple, peach, pear butter all in a crock.

A short Google search later, I had proof and a recipe.

I used yellow peaches I picked at Schneph Farms in Queen Creek, Arizona.

The peach taste held its own, even with the cinnamon, all spice and cloves. Next, I’m going to can!

How to make Peach Butter from Pick Your Own:

It takes about 5 good sized peaches or nectarines (or about 10 plums) to make one quart of prepared peaches.  And each quart of prepared peaches cooks down to about 1 pint of peach butter.

You’ll need about 5 large peaches per pint of peach butter that you want to make!

For one batch in a 5 to 6 quart crock pot you’ll need about 30 medium to large peaches!  The rest of the measurements assume you’re making one full batch!

Peel the peaches.

Set the crock pot on low or medium heat.

To the crock pot gently stir in:

2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
4 cups sugar

Peaches

Cover it loosely or use a large pot splatter-guard. It will spatter as it boils slowly, so I also cover nearby surfaces with towels.  You don’t want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken.

Leave it to cook for 6 - 12 hours.  How long depends on the size and power of your crock pot, and how thick you like it, If you want to stir it occasionally, that’s fine but not necessary.

It will reduce in volume by about half overnight.

I used an imersion blender to smooth out the peach bits in the crock pot.

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What I do on a weekend morning is typically spontaneous. Sometimes I organize something that got out of whack , always start a load of laundry and if things are just right, I’ll start prepping dinner or lunch.

This morning, I woke up with the same routine, but I was hungry and I wanted biscuits. Well really I wanted Peach Butter and biscuits seemed like the best vehicle to get the Peach Butter into my belly!

This is my first attempt at making basic buttermilk biscuits. I had to improvise a few things like making a biscuit cutter and turning regular milk into (butter) sour milk. The process of making homemade biscuits turned out to be super easy. I had all the ingredients in the house and I’m sure the whole batch put me back .75 cents.

Sometimes I’m really proud of myself when I realize that something that seemed so difficult could be so easy to make. Even this dirty dish factor is minimal…one bowl, a baking sheet and a floured countertop are all that needed to be cleaned. Not bad by my book.

Buttermilk Biscuits by Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Makes 25

* 4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling and cutting
* 2 tablespoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into bits, plus 4 tablespoons melted
* 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt to combine. Add cold butter; pulse until mixture is the texture of coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Add buttermilk; pulse just until dough is moistened, 2 to 3 times.
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface; knead just to combine (do not overwork). Roll with a floured rolling pin (or pat with hands) to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut out rounds with a floured 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter.
3. Transfer to a baking sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. (Reroll and cut scraps only once.) Brush top and sides of rounds with melted butter. Bake until biscuits are puffed and golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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A few weeks ago I decided to change up my hair and I had bangs cut. My hair stylist said something about Heidi Klum and before I knew it I had a new look. I should issue an apology to Superwife, because I didn’t consult with her before I made this leap and she had to find out via a Flickr upload.

It seems to me that some people think the bangs make me look Italian. At least 3 people this week made a comment about it and truth be told, I’m okay with that! Italy far and away is my most favorite place in the world.

Perhaps it was all my Italianess this week that put Bellini’s on my mind.

I think this recipe is close to the original Harry’s Bar Bellini in Italy. It was crisp and refreshing. The original Bellini isn’t served like a peach diquari like you get at most restaurants State side.  (<–I don’t mind the frozen ones either.)

Arizona Peach Bellini

ingredients:
3 oz. peach puree
Drop of pureed raspberries
3 oz. Peach Schnaps
Champaign, Sparkling Wine or Prosecco to top the glass

Mixing instructions:
Puree ripe peaches in a blender and spoon into a large, chilled wine goblet. Sprinkle pureed raspberries. Fill with ice cold Peach Schnaps and champagne.

You can substitute peach juice or peach nectar for the peach puree.

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I’ve said before that I know I’m not an artist, but I really wish I was. So, the way I satiate my desire to be creative with the fact that I’m not is that I craft. I do a lot of paint by the numbers projects and I’m happy as a clam doing so. Now every now and again, I go outside of the lines, you know, put my own spin on it, but typically, I chug right along following the directions.

Last Christmas I worked on handmade gifts that included knitted scarfs, hats, and jars of instant hot chocolate mix. I loved seeing my loved ones in items I MADE! And who knows one of these days, everyone will get a pair of knitted socks (don’t hold your breath).

For Mother’s Day this year, at the eleventh hour, I found inspiration for a Spa in a Box. I found tutorials on the Craft blog to make Lemon Sugar Scrub, scented drawer fresheners and I procured a batch of homemade lavender soap from a friend.

I loved the Lemon Sugar Scrub! It was so easy to put together and I already have plans to make more.

Lemon Sugar Scrub by Katie Goodman

Ingredients:

Sugar
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lemon zest or other citrus zest
Lemon extract (optional)

One recipe makes 2 cups, enough for a 1-pint jar, or 2 half-pint jars.
Materials:

Microplane zester
Medium-sized bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing spoon
Container or jar for the finished product
Ribbon for decor

This project is great for reusing old jars that have been cleaned out (such as jam or sauce jars) or canning jars that you might have around.

Step 1: Combine 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup kosher salt, and 1 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until the oil is evenly distributed throughout the sugar and salt mixture.

Step 2: Using a microplane zester, grate the zest of 1 large lemon. Add zest to the bowl and stir to combine. If you would like a stronger scent, add 1/4 tsp lemon extract.

Step 3: Spoon the scrub mixture into a clean jar. Make sure to wipe up any spills on the outside of the jar. Tighten the lid on and decorate according to your tastes.

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Pretty soon we’ll have breezes that feel like you’ve turned on a hair dryer and pointed it straight at your face and night time temperatures that don’t  dip below triple digits. And when all your phone conversations to home have some sort of comment about the Arizona dry heat.

My summer cooking regiment in Arizona is an odd mix of “mix it in” salads and cupcakes. Salads because they’re cool and refreshing and cupcakes, because summer is the time of year when I feel most confined to the house. I celebrated one of the last heat tolerable nights of the Spring by making a Black Bean and Tropical Fruit Salsa.

Black Bean and Tropical Fruit Salsa

1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 cup of yellow corn
1 cup diced fresh pineapple
1 cup diced fresh mango
3 T finely diced purple onion
2 T finely diced jalapenos
2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 chopped cilantro
3 T fresh lime juice
Season with garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Mix in a bowl and give it an hour in the fridge so the flavors can mix.

This “salsa” ate more like a spiced up black bean salad although that didn’t stop me from using a chip as my preferred delivery device.

Other mix in salads on this blog:

Confetti Salad
Quinoa Salad
Black Bean Couscous Salad

Other salad recipes:

Black Bean Confetti Salad at Smitten Kitchen
Confetti Pasta Salad at Good-bye Martha

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You can’t help but wonder by the candy when you’re getting anything in the store. It’s amazing! The other day they had candied pineapples with lemon and chili. The flavor profile looked interesting and I tried one.

Yuck! Seriously, the candy was bad all the way around, weird chewy, gritty from the massive amounts of chili powder and not a hit of lemon flavor.  But I thought there was some reason they put those particular flavors together, so undetured, I started planning how I could that profile into a cupcake.

What I ended up with was the idea to make a Pineapple Chili Upside-Down Cupcake with Lemon Creme.

If you get really close to the monitor you can see the little chili flakes on the pineapple. These were some of my favorite cupcakes to date. I was able to bypass the whole “frosting” bit by adding whipping cream to the top.

I may make a batch of these again this weekend, especially since I know that my friend Wendy and her cupcake loving husband Jonathan are out of town this weekend!

Lemon Curd

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Lemon Curd Creme

1 recipe lemon curd
1 cup heavy cream

Whip cream until it has firm peaks and fold in lemon curd. Chill for 15 minutes before serving.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

1 batch of your favorite yellow cake recipe
Fresh Pineapplie Chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)
6 T Brown Sugar
6 T Melted Butter
Chili Powder
Non-stick Cooking Spray

Prepare cupcake tins by spraying with cooking spray. Pour melted butter into bottom of cupcake tins, enough to cover the bottom with 1/8 inch of butter. Add brown sugar, about 3/4 T. Arrange pineapple chunks into a fan pattern on top of the brown sugar and sprinkle with Chili Powder. Give it a good sprinkle. If you don’t the taste will get lost in the other flavors.

Picture of prepared tins:

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I know, like you, I think I’ve never quite appreciated the versatility of Spam. Who knew? (Well maybe a whole island of people in Hawaii). After making the Spam and Chocolate Truffles, this line up of ingredients didn’t quite turn my stomach like that recipe did.

And actually substituted with any other meat, these would have tasted great. The comments I got at the Luau birthday party were, something like, “Oh, these aren’t that bad.” Only the complimenter’s voice was two octaves higher than it should have been which could be an indication they were LYING!

The assembly was really simple dice the Spam, mix in the ingredients and roll it all into a croissant dough.

Serve Warm.

Folks, I think this is my last installment of Spam related recipes. For more on Blue Ribbon winning recipes from Spam, visit their website.

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I think I learned some great house keeping habits growing up, but I can and often sleep peacefully with dishes in the sink. Now it never fails, in the morning when I get up, I’ll complain, “Why didn’t I take care of those last night!”

Did you catch the title of this post? Spam. Truffles. Let’s just say if you need motivation to do dishes before bed, whip up a batch of Spam Anything for a gag at a Hawaiian themed birthday party! You won’t want one single dish in the sink!

I had it in mind to make a batch of beach themed cupcakes for the birthday party. Let’s face it, that’s what I do. Cupcakes. Everyone should know that if it’s a bring your own dish party, it should always be assumed that I’m going to bring cupcakes. But then out at dinner on Friday (before the party on Saturday) someone said, “I’m going to try to make Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cupcakes.”

It left me speechless! I had to think of a plan B. You can’t have two batches of cupcakes at the same party. And that’s when it came to me. I should make something with Spam.

Here’s the motley crew of ingredients that would turn into Spam Truffles. Oh boy!

It was pretty darn interesting working with Spam. If food is about the senses, Spam really does cause a reaction on all five. I would even say it plays with your sixth sense as well (you get the feeling that there’s just something not right about it).

Spam Truffles
Adapted from this recipe from Spam.com

Ingredients

* 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1 package (7oz) sweetened shredded coconut
* 7 tablespoons cream of coconut
* 1 (16oz) German sweet chocolate, broken up
* 12 tablespoons softened butter
* 10 tablespoons pineapple, finely diced dried
* 1 can (12oz) SPAM® Classic, chopped in blender

Directions

1. Heat sweetened condensed milk,don’t boil
2. Turn heat to low
3. Add cream of coconut and chocolate, stir until melted
4. Whisk in butter until smooth
5. Add pineapple and stir
6. Add SPAM
7. Stir until mixed
8. Pour mixture into large glass casserole and refrigerate until thick, but not stiff (20 min.)
9. Using a teaspoon, shape into one inch balls
10. Roll balls in coconut
11. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet
12. To store, keep in a tightly covered container wrapped in lots of foil (will last one month in refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer)
13. The truffles hold their shape best when they’re cool.

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