Mary's March Madness

Ok...I don't really care for sports at all. I know it's almost un-American to admit that, but I just don't get the appeal of watching someone else get physical exercise.

That being the case, I am giving my own twist to the concept of March Madness, Mary style!  Since cooking is my sport of choice, I have decided to try different twists to recipes that I usually make for other holidays, but do them with a twist for spring.

David loves the rice noodles for the canned chow mein. Chow Mein is his kick back to college days, or in other words, when he was poor and had to cook for himself. Since we always seem to have Canned Chow Mein, we almost always have the noodles that goes with it. So as I was drinking my coffee late this morning, I was watching the birds at the bird feeder on the patio, something I do a lot and brings me joy and pleasure. I noticed that there was a robin in my live oak tree that has a nice sized nest in progress. That got me to thinking....what could I make that would represent bird's nests.

I couldn't help but think of my mom who made the chow mein candy at Christmas for gift boxes that we delivered to the doctors, nurses, patients, neighbors and family each year. I really loved the chocolate covered rice noodles, and sometime she added nuts to the melted goodness that she then spooned out into heavenly bites of winter wonder. It's funny but I don't associate that candy with Halloween as many do, since the candy does mildly resemble spiders. To me, the chow mein noodle candy is definitely Christmas.

The results of this afternoon's candy making

As I sat there looking out the window I realized that while I didn't have chocolate chips, I did have the Reese's peanut butter chips and white chocolate chips in the kitchen cabinet, and that if they were milted together would sort of resemble wooden twigs. I had also picked up a package of the Cadbury  Mini Eggs that are available in stores at this time of year, and that was all it took.

I took 1 cup of white chocolate chips and melted it into 1 cup of the Reese's Peanut Butter chips, then added half of a bag of the Chow Mein noodles. I just spooned the gooey mess by spoonfuls onto wax paper, and topped with some of the Cadbury eggs.  They really turned out looking cute and they taste heavenly. I think the guys at BP in Texas City that work with my husband are going to love getting these goodies tomorrow when he goes to work.

So this morning I was having my coffee and looking out the window in the living room and realized that the Carolina Jasmine just decided to burst out over night. I love how the jasmine frames my little Charlie Brown lemon tree along the back fence. It is almost like we planned the view for an overcast Saturday morning in March. I couldn't help but smile at the bright yellow blooms that seemed to be trying to defy the dreary start to the day.  I think they succeeded.

Saturday Morning in March

Sunday Fun In The Kitchen

So, this morning started as most Sunday mornings do with a cup of hot coffee in the kitchen. I was looking out my back window watching the squirrels playing on the back fence and I thought "What a beautiful morning!" It is hard to believe that less than 48 hours ago, we had ice on the trees and plants and the high temperature of the day was 32° F. It wasn't 8:00 a.m. and the temperature was already in the upper 50's.

Mornings like this inspire me to bake and as I opened my pantry doors and pulled out the shelf with the breakfast cereals on it, I happened to notice the jar of hazelnut spread I had on the shelf. "What," I wondered to myself, "could I make with that?"

As I drank my coffee I started going through ideas in my head. Bird's Nest cookies with a hazelnut icing dollup, thumb print cookies with hazelnut spread and orange jelly, or.......how about a nice hazelnut creamcheese jelly roll?  The last idea took hold and I couldn't let it go without giving it a try. Since I had never made a jelly roll cake before, I knew I had my baking goal for the day!  I found a great basic jelly roll cake recipe which I beefed up with just a touch of premium Mexica vanilla, about 1 teaspoon full, but otherwise I just followed the recipe. After I took the cake out of the oven and rolled it in a powdered sugar dusted towel, I let it cool and grilled a couple of burgers for David and my lunch.

After lunch I took an 8 ounce bar of room temperature cream cheese and put it in my mixer with about a 1/4 cup of hazelnut spread and beat them until they were light and fluffy. To that mixture I added about a cup of powdered sugar and beat it until it was well incorporated and the mixture was light and fluffy. Then I got my cold whipping cream out and added about a cup to another bowl and started beating the whipping cream on high until it could hold peaks of cream. Then I slowed the mixer to low and slowly added the cream cheese mixture to it.

I unrolled the cooled cake from the towel, spread a very generous layer of the hazelnut filling mixture to the top of the cake and rolled it back up. With the remaining hazelnut filling mixture, I iced the outside and topped with pieces of hazelnut.

We haven't eaten it yet, but it looks pretty good. I can't wait for dinner!