Desserts - grace grits and gardening

Heavenly Coconut Cake

March 29, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

I made this cake a few days ago inspired by a Pinterest recipe. I tweaked it a bit (because I was at my mother’s house and didn’t have all the ingredients…) Had the cake been any more delicious, I’d have eaten the plate.

So simple and perfect for holiday entertaining!

Ingredients

1 white cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/4 cup coconut oil (the cake mix called for 1/4 cup vegetable oil. I substituted coconut oil which provides health benefits and adds a coconut flavor to the cake.)
1 14 oz. can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz. package sweetened coconut
1 container of Cool Whip, thawed

Method

Bake the cake according to the directions using mix, eggs, water and oil.

While cake is baking, toast coconut in a skillet.

Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, poke holes in it.

Typically, I would make neater, rounder holes with the end of a wooden spoon, but since I was at my mother’s house and she has very few utensils, I made ugly slices with a knife. (FYI – Momma stopped cooking after Daddy died, and her kitchen is suffering…)

Pour the milk over the top of the cake and let cool completely.

Once cooled, ice with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Yum.

Easy.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Lemon Thyme Blackberry Cobbler

January 6, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

I am excited to be a new regular contributor to Inspiration Café! Each month I will be sharing information about gardening, specifically herbs, recipes and gardening projects. My personal blog, Grace Grits and Gardening, includes stories of family, food, garden, life, and tales of growing up on a farm in Northeast Arkansas. A bit of personal info…my husband and I live in Dallas, but recently purchased a small home in Fayetteville, Arkansas where we hope to retire…someday… We are empty nesters with two amazing children (Longhorn daughter, Razorback son), but our miniature schnauzers, Lucy and Annabelle, run the household.

Annabelle and Lucy

I’m a big believer in herbs. They are packed with antioxidants and full of health benefits. Plus, herbs are the only crop I can successfully grow in my postage-stamp-sized yard under the blazing Dallas summer sun. And, as the daughter of a cotton farmer, I must grow something…

Lemon Thyme Blackberry Cobbler

An entire bag of lemons stared at me each time I walked through the kitchen. (My husband tends to overbuy when he does the grocery shopping.) With lemons to somehow use up and enough thyme for a restaurant, I decided to add both to my simple blackberry cobbler recipe. If the combo lemon/thyme/blackberry turned out to be disgusting, only the schnauzers would know…

It smelled heavenly. It looked heavenly. I took a teeny tiny sinful bite to make sure it was edible. Very delicious! Both the lemon and thyme added a little something-something to the recipe. I immediately packed up half of it for a few neighbors, yet left a bit for John’s dessert. I managed to successfully ignore it the remainder of the afternoon.

Like everything I cook, it’s super easy. If the recipe is difficult, I move on to something else.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 stick unsalted butter

1 & 1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup self-rising flour

2 cups of blackberries (frozen or fresh)

Zest of 2 large lemons

Fresh Thyme – 2 teaspoons chopped

butter+lemon zest

Method:

1. Melt butter in the microwave. Mix the zest of 2 lemons into the butter. Use a tiny bit of this mixture to butter your baking dish.

2. Rinse and pat dry the blackberries. Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of the flour and the thyme together and sprinkle this over the blackberries. Gently Mix.

3. Pour 1 cup of sugar and remaining flour into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk. Mix well. Then, pour melted butter/lemon zest in and whisk it all together.

see the thyme sprinkled on top?

4. Pour the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter; distributing evenly.

5. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the top.

6. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. About 10 minutes before it is done, you can sprinkle a bit more sugar and thyme over the top if you would like. The sugar will give it a bit of a crust & sparkle on top. And, you probably will have a lot of leftover thyme, so you may as well use a bit more.

A shout-out for thyme... In medieval times it was regarded as the plant that provided courage and vigor. The ancient Romans used it as a treatment for depression. It contains antioxidants and essential oils thought to alleviate stress, provide a calming effect and relieve aches and pains in the joints. One teaspoon crushed, added to boiling water, steeped for 10 minutes and then strained, makes a great tea, which will help with sore throats, coughs and mouth irritations. You can add a bit of honey to sweeten.

A big thank you Inspiration Café for allowing me to become a regular contributor! I hope you will stop by and check out my blog at Grace Grits and Gardening. I love comments and followers.

Sugar Sugar!

August 7, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

This past weekend, in a weak moment I shall blame on the blazing temperature which is affecting my judgment, I bought a party size bag of peanut M&Ms. ThereWasNoParty. I don’t typically eat that much candy or chocolate. Sometimes a girl just needs a fix.

My craving would have easily been satiated with a regular, one-serving, sane-person-sized bag of M&Ms, but NEVER would I EVER buy a small sized bag. That would be buying junk food obviously meant to be inhaled by yours truly.

Instead I opted for the Route 44 bag large enough to feed a class of 3rd graders after recess. It comes with the possibility of sharing with a crowd, the suggestion of a party. A hint of fun times to come. Yippee.

In a crystal bowl, the M&Ms become art on the piano like a vase of flowers. A pop of color. Visitors can partake as if the M&Ms are fancy hors d’oeuvres, like a bowl of Spanish nuts for impromptu guests who stop by. ThereAreNoGuests.

Jeff, our builder, did stop by the other night to discuss our hail damaged roof. He ate two M&Ms from the bowl. I felt like such the hostess:)) Melissa, our neighbor, stopped by to ask if we wanted to sign a petition. We were so wrapped up in Season Two of Mad Men I totally forgot to offer her any ‘dessert’! Bad hostess:((

Of course, I am the only one eating them. I’m the only one here. John is at work or out of town. The dogs can’t eat chocolate.