Heather's Bytes

Katsudon means pork cutlet rice bowl (I don’t know for sure, don’t quote me) and is a popular Japanese dish. Mike gets them at a little shop close to his work, and asked me last week if I’d find a recipe for it.

All the ingredients were easy to find (in fact, the only thing I had to pick up was a new bottle of rice wine vinegar), but it was the combination that threw me a bit: fried panko-crusted pork chops that are cooked in a sweet sauce with eggs over rice. My first thought? Weird. But I’ll try anything once.

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[Don't bother trying to clean your glasses or rub your contacts - the above picture has the lovely "halo" effect after letting my kids "use" the camera and they tried to, I don't know, clean the lens with a finger or something.]

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, which I’m happy to be picking up again after nearly two months away, was a delicious chocolate loafcake chosen by Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes.

You know how sometimes you get a craving for something, so you get the food that you think you’re craving but it’s just not quite right? I do that with chocolate cake. I’ll see a picture or read a recipe and think “ooh, chocolate cake sounds really good,” and it’s all I can think about until I make it (don’t worry, my family has no problem with this particular issue).

It never quite hits the spot, though. The chocolate’s there (and I’m always good with chocolate) but there always seems to be something missing.

This, however, is exactly what I crave when I think of chocolate cake. The cake itself is made with sour cream, which I love in sweet foods, and the frosting is simply melted chocolate with sour cream, too. The cake is also cut into layers with raspberry jam in between, which just adds to the perfect-ness of it all. This is a craving-worthy chocolate cake.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was a nice change — instead of the usual sugary treat, we did Sweet Cream Biscuits, which worked out really well because I was able to make them to go along with dinner last night! The recipe was chosen by Melissa of Love At First Bite.

These biscuits are a spin on a traditional baking powder biscuit and use heavy cream and a bit of sugar, but no butter or shortening. There’s a very light sweetness, and with a pat of butter they were the perfect addition to last night’s dinner of pork chops and mashed potatoes.

My pint of cream had a little leftover after I used the one cup necessary for the biscuits, so the girls poured the leftover cream into a glass container and made butter for the biscuits while dinner cooked!

Anyway, these were delicious and I’ve got the recipe bookmarked now so I can get to it quickly when I need a side for dinner.

I think I’ve found the most decadent chocolate dessert ever. Over a lazy weekend last fall I was doing a search over at Food Network and this was on the front page. On a whim I decided to give it a shot because wow, that’s a lot of chocolate and I needed to try it!

So they were originally called Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars. But here’s the thing: I’m not terribly crazy about hard candy — and especially candy canes — crunched up on top of softer desserts. I like them on their own if I’m in the mood, but otherwise no, leave my desserts alone!

So I substituted chopped walnuts instead and I can’t imagine these with anything else. I really don’t think the candy cane would have worked as well unless you added a touch of peppermint extract to the top layer, but honestly even that I think would be overdoing it.

I think I’d also add just a touch more melted butter to the crushed Oreo crust because it crumbled more than I’d like after it was baked.

My two nine-year-olds helped me with the pictures (as you can imagine, it was nearly a fight to the death over who would get to take which shots, but as you can see it all worked out in the end. ) Read More