Quesadillas ~ the machine

We are invited to a party July 21st in Cincinnati and I thought for my contribution I would take my Quesadillas machine and my mini pie baking machine and turn out interesting offerings for the many guests. I'm sure you have seen these machines advertised and I actually use mine pretty much.  On the family outing for Thanksgiving at the beach house, Joe turned out tasty treat after tasty treat with my pie machine. Now that we have mastered using the pie machine, finding out that puff pastry works best as the top of the mini pie  and regular pie  crust as the base makes flaky, high pies in about 10 minutes for four pies. With ice cream--everyone can have their pie choice and topping of choice. Scissors work best at cutting the triangles for the Quesadillas.  On these I used Jalapeno pepper slices as an added kick.  Any kind of cheese or meat can be used--left overs make a great Quesadilla.  The servers made these up for the graduation party in May as an extra offering and they were gone in a flash.

I once was fascinated with the progress of Martha Stewart.  I got over it.  This week, however, Cook's Corner featured a recipe that sounds good for a picnic or grill party.  I am going to try this layered salad--a new take on an old stand by from Martha's newest book (I think book number #76.) I won't buy the book, but I will try this salad...maybe for the July party.

2 cups hard wheat berries or pearl barley (see Note)
2 quarts water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/1/4 cups thinly sliced celery
1/1/2 cups dried cherries, preferably tart
8 ounces Maytag blue cheese, crumbled
5 large carrots, grated
1 small head green cabbage, thinly shredded
Place wheat berries in a pot. Add water. Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the berries are tender, about 40 minutes. Drain. Transfer to a large glass serving bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, sugar and celery seeds. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow steady stream until completely combined. Drizzle 2 tablespoons dressing over wheat berries.
Arrange celery slices over wheat berries. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons dressing. Cover the celery with cherries. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons dressing. Crumble half of the blue cheese over the cherries. Drizzle with half of the dressing.
Layer carrots over blue cheese. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons dressing. Crumble the remaining blue cheese over. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons dressing.
In another bowl, toss the cabbage and remaining dressing. Arrange over the blue cheese. Cover salad and refrigerate 24 hours to allow flavors to blend.
Serve at room temperature.
Note: Wheat berries, or whole wheat kernels, can be found at specialty foods stores and in the natural foods section of some supermarkets.

Barefoot Contessa featured this cake on her show last night (again).  She repeats so much that one feels forced to produce the item so she can move on.  I do want to try this because it looks to be very tasty.

Sticky Toffee Date Cake:

Ingredients

• 1 pound dates, pitted and chopped
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 8 ounces butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/4 tablespoons baking powder

Ingredients

For the Sauce (for 1 cake):

• 1/2 pound butter
• 1 cup brown sugar (8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-round cake pans or 20 muffin tins.

Place the dates in large saucepan with 3 1/2 cups cold water. Bring to boil, stirring a little to break up the dates. Then leave to simmer for 1 minute before removing from the heat. Stir in the baking soda (which will cause the mixture to bubble up).

Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, occasionally scraping down mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract and then the flour and salt and mix briefly to give a lumpy dough.

Next, add the warm date mixture in two batches. Scrape down the sides of bowl in between mixing. The dough will now be quite watery but don't worry! Finally add the baking powder (this will bubble up also).

Pour the batter evenly into the two pans or muffin tins. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes for cake pans and about 20 minutes for muffin tins. Test if they are cooked with a small knife or toothpick, it should come out clean when cakes are done.

Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer gently for a minute or two until thickened and well blended.

When the cakes are done, poke little holes all over with toothpick, this will enable the sauce to be absorbed more easily. Pour the caramel sauce over cakes while both are still warm and leave to soak for about 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out upside-down onto serving plates (the bottom is the most sticky bit!).

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream