On, Wisconsin!

Cheese is a big deal at our house.



There are no fewer than 5 different kinds of cheeses in our refrigerator as I write this. Not to mention milk, buttermilk, yogurt and ice cream in the freezer.
I'm originally from Minnesota but having spent the majority of my adult life in Wisconsin, it's safe to say that "The Dairy State" was not lost on me.

That being said, we were lucky enough to spend some time in our beloved Wisconsin last weekend.



That's my, "you're far too close with that camera" face.

K was a groomsman in the wedding of one of his high school buddies.



They are such a cute couple.



And they are so fun to see together. I wish them a wonderful, long and happy life as husband and wife.



The wedding was a blast, to say the least



I got to spend the weekend celebrating the start of wonderful couple's marriage with a group of our amazing friends, see the changing fall leaves, play with K's baby niece, experienced a little bit of a thunder storm and I did it all with my most favorite person.

Extreme weekend bliss!

After returning from the lovely fall weekend in Wisconsin, I found myself at the end of October and realized I hadn't done a lick of fall baking.



And what's more fall than a rosy ripe apple?



And there's not a whole lot that goes together better than a crispy tart apple and an extra sharp cheddar.



The trick to making a scone with a tender crumb is cold butter and very little fuss. I don't know if you could ask much more from a recipe.



The quicker you work the butter into the flour and the less you handle the dough, the lighter and fluffy your scone will be.



This recipe is about as close as you can get to baking instant gratification.



And I really don't think there is such a thing as too much cheese



And that is absolute contentment.



Cheddar and Apple Scones

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Makes 6 large or 8 medium scones

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees

1 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 Cup Cold Butter Cubed
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese with extra for sprinkling
3/4 Cup Peeled and Diced Apples

Sift together first 5 ingredients into a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until there are small pea sized pieces of butter. You can do this with a fork, pastry blender or your fingers.

With a wooden spoon, stir in buttermilk, just until moistened. There might be little bits of unincorporated flour in the bottom of the bowl. That's okay, just don't over work the dough.

Gently fold in the cheese and apples. The moisture from the apples will pick of the remaining bits of flour in the bottom of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and pat into a round about 12 inches in diameter.
There's no need to be exact or perfect at this point. Just whack it out into 6 to 8 rough triangle shapes. It will taste better the less handling you do.

Gently transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with a little extra cheese.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 15-18 mins or until light golden brown.

Cool on a rack for 10 mins. Best if served warm slathered with butter. Because of the moisture in the apples these don't keep their just baked texture very long but you can store them up to 2 days in a sealed container.

Depending on the sweetness of your apples and your sweet tooth preferences you can add more or less sugar to the dough. Because the apples I used were quite tart I used 3 tablespoons and instead of plain white sure I used raw turbinado sugar.

I would suggest a very tart baking apple that will hold up well to baking. A gala or granny smith would work just lovely for this recipe.

Bits and Bobs

This is the face I get when I've been spending too much time on the computer...

Disapproving, no?

So, I stepped back from the computer for a bit and did some other things.

Like playing with our new kitchen toy:



It's a Toddy Cold Brew Coffee System. Please disregard the knife and cutting board in the background. That has nothing to do with this post other than the fact that it had just sliced up a snack of cheese and sausage, which as you can see, there were no leftovers.



Here's K reading the directions. It was a little more intense than the standard put the coffee grounds in and add hot water method.
Check the T-Shirt. I found it highly appropriate as the Brew Crew won the final game in a 5 game series tonight that has now put them in the National League Championship Series. Go Brewers!



Look at that concentration. This cold brewing coffee is no joke, people. NO JOKE!



You put the filter in and then you add 1 cup of water.



And then you add 6 oz of coffee. 6 oz. ONLY. I'm not kidding, this is serious stuff.

Stop laughing!

I just bought a pound from Trader Joe's. Nothing fancy or expensive.



6 oz. Measured and poured carefully. Very carefully. Seriously. Come on. If you're not gonna take this seriously then you can just go to Starbucks and buy your own latte. Jerk.

And then you add 3 cups of water on top of the grounds.

And then add another 6 oz. of coffee.



And on top of that you add 3 more cups of water.



At this point in time you will need to use every ounce of your self control to restrain yourself from straight up stirring the coffee and water.

Like, seriously. Every. Single. Ounce.

If you stir it, it will cause the filter to clog and then, well, you're just SOL.

You can however use the back of a spoon to pat it down a little bit.

That's like telling a hard core sugar addict to eat a piece of fresh fruit when they're craving a cookie or slice of cake.
While we're at it, don't ever say something like that to me. I'll smack you.

OMG! JUST LET ME STIR IT!!!




If you were wondering, I didn't stir it.

It sat undisturbed in our fridge overnight.

Kev pulled the plug and let it drain the next morning. Sorry, I don't have any good post drainage pics.

But, let me tell you, it is seriously one of the best cups of regular black coffee I've ever had. EVER. I'm SERIOUS!

Let's see. Some other activities.



We hit up some wineries north of Santa Barbara while my Dad and Step-mom were here visiting.



We went to Firestone winery first and hit up a tasting of 3 whites and 3 reds.



If you were wondering the 2010 Gewurztraminer was my favorite.



From there we rolled up on Foxen winery.

My favorite was 48 bucks. That's all I remember about that.



And then we went to the Fess Parker winery.

I don't have any tasting pictures because the joint was packed and we didn't actually get to do any tasting but at least we can say that we've been to Davy Crockett's winery.


Now, I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for me to explain who Gertrude was. Sorry to leave you hanging like that.

Gertrude Littlefield was a neighbor down the street from my Grandmother's.
She was a school teacher originally from Amery, WI. Her husband Maurice (everyone just called him Morris) was originally from North Dakota but he and his brothers bought land in Amery and were farmers there until they moved to Minneapolis.

My dad says that he can remember her really liking the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and she would make her own ice cream and have all the neighborhood kids over to share.



And to top it all off, my Aunt Mary sent me a photo of the banana bread she made with Gertrude's Recipe.

Hers looks much better than mine. As you can see, it's studded with chocolate chips.

Mmmm, chocolate chips.

She used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all purpose. All really good decisions.

Have you made Gertrude's Bread yet?

Warning: Re-entry can be a little tricky

I'm having a little bit of a hard time coming back to reality.

Can you guess what I did this weekend?

I didn't spend it baking.

Or cooking.

I wasn't at the beach.

I didn't watch a single minute of football.

I spent the entire weekend in Palm Springs.

I attended Homefries U.



Hosted by these two lovely ladies:



Joy The Baker and Tracy of Shutterbean

They taught us how to make breakfast pizza.



What? Pizza for breakfast? Yes!



And brown sugar bacon.



Yes, indeed.

We learned about what makes good pictures.



We got schooled in spirits and wine by Nathan and Whitney.



Whitney explained to us why there is absolutely no reason to drink bad wine ever again.



I bought it, hook, line and sinker. :)



Nathan taught us how to make proper cocktails like grown-ups.



Gin. Get on that train. It's the place to be.



We made friendship bracelets.



And laid by the pool.



And learned about spices.



And we ate. A lot.



Best of all, I met a ton of like minded, awesome people.

Now, I got nothing to do but count the days until the next soirée.



Can you really blame me?

Gertrude's Banana Bread

I'm gonna be real honest with you. I don't know who Gertrude is. I probably should. I'm sure my dad knows. I'll convene with him about it in a week when he's here for a visit and get back to you all.



This recipe was kind of an exploration or sorts.



First, if you will please refer to the shot of the back of the card it says that it is "similar to banana nut bread of ranch house". This intrigued me. So I did a little digging and came up with THIS.

How cool is that? I was quite thrilled with that little nugget.

Then I continued on.

There were quite a few things I needed to figure out first.

1) "Don't Use Big Loaf Pan- Use Small-Makes one loaf"
Ok, um, big vs small. I have big and small loaf pans but my big ones I find to be very standard sized loaf pans and the small ones are quite small, like mini almost. So, I go with the big knowing that if I were to make the recipe without doubling it, it still wouldn't all fit in my small loaf pans to make one loaf.

2) "Double Recipe"
Yes, well, I had 4 bananas to use up, so I did indeed double the recipe

3) Complete lack of baking temperature.
All is not lost. I made a guesstimate at 375 degrees solely based on the fact that quick breads I have made previously are between 350-375 and it doesn't matter anyway because I can never really tell what the temperature of our very antique oven is.

4) I love me some super sweet dense almost syrupy banana bread. I especially like it with some chocolate chips thrown in. With a gigantic glass of ice cold milk. With that being said, I will be attending the wedding of one of K's good friends in about a month so this is not the banana bread I will be making. Whole wheat and bran was used. Fiber is good for your waistline. :)



I creamed the shortening, sugar and egg as instructed.



In a separate bowl I mixed all of the dry ingredients.



I mashed the bananas with buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract in yet another bowl. That's 3 bowls we've got going here. I promise you the bread is really fantastic. It's totally worth the dirty dishes.



I chop, chop, chopped the nuts. I need a mezzaluna for tasks such as this. That and a bajillion other kitchen things. It would all make it so much easier, wouldn't it?



After alternating adding the wet and dry ingredients to the shortening mixture, I folded in the nuts.
I used a great deal more nuts than what is in this picture. After I took this picture I looked at it and thought, that needs more nuts (insert "That's what she said" joke here)



I buttered and floured 2 loaf pans because after mixing up the batter I was so afraid that not all of it would fit in one pan.
I love buttering and flouring bakeware. I can actually remember my grandma showing me how to do it. "get the corners" and "flour them over the sink".-Do you think I remember that part every time. Um, no.



I probably could have put all of it into one pan but then I would have only had to butter and flour one pan and what fun is that?



Plus, I'm going to wrap up and freeze the other one for future enjoyment!




Gertrude's Banana Bread (with adjustments as above)

Makes: (2) 10"x5" loaves

1/2 Cup Shortening
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
4 Large very ripe bananas
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Almond Extract
1/2 Cups Lowfat Buttermilk
3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Oat Bran
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 Cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Butter and flour your loaf pans and set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the shortening, sugar and eggs and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, bran, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside.

In another medium bowl combine the bananas, buttermilk, vanilla and almond extract. Mash the bananas until they are good and mushed up but still have some pea sized lumps.

Alternating between the flour and banana mixtures add a 1/4 of the mixtures at a time to the shortening mixture until all is just combined.

Divide batter between loaf pans and spread out evenly.

Bake 55-60 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve slices warm with a good smear of butter. This will totally cancel out the whole wheat and bran which is exactly how I like it.