Project Karma and a Cookbook Giveaway

Photo from From Cupcakes to Caviar.

It seems impossible that we're approaching the three-year anniversary of when my husband went into the hospital ... and didn't come home for a long time.

Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then.

If you haven't been reading this blog for that long, the short story is that he drove himself to the clinic, they sent him to the ER and shortly afterwards he was in the ICU awaiting surgery. Things went wrong, they told me there was no hope - pick a time to pull the plug - and the next day he woke up and his condition started improving. Slowly.

Meanwhile our money situation was dire, and hospitals aren't cheap. Although I hated the idea, I wrote a blog post and asked for donations. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of strangers. And grateful to friends. And astonished at how my life could go from worrying about whether Bob would have a home to come home to ... to being comfortable spending time with him, knowing that the bills would be paid for a short while. I could breathe for a while.

It was the worst time of my life, and also the most amazingly wonderful time, when I realised how wonderful people really are. I felt very loved and very comforted at a time when I needed it most. And it wasn't even the money, but it was the fact that so many people were so caring.

I promised the universe that when I was in a position to give back, I would. I'm a big believer in karma, and in doing good without expectations of payback. Paying it forward, so to speak. And paying back when good things have come your way.

Have a cookie. Photo from From Cupcakes to Caviar.

For me, that payback time is now. And I'm asking you to help me with that payback. Please.

My friend Janet Brand - you might know her from the blog From Cupcakes to Caviar - just asked online for prayers and good wishes, and when I pressed her for details, she reluctantly told me.

Janet's husband's company recently stopped providing health insurance for spouses, and the family can't afford to pay for private health insurance to cover Janet. They're one of the many families who make too much money to get free insurance, but who struggle every month over paying monthly bills, food, and other expenses, and there's not enough left for that big insurance bill every single month.

I know exactly what that's like. I was there, too. So, like me, she crossed her fingers and hoped that everything would be fine. And ... she's not. She's experiencing symptoms of a very treatable type of cancer. She knows it well because it runs in the family. She knows what the future looks like, but she can't afford to pay for treatment, and she can't afford medical insurance.

She was asking for prayers and good thoughts, but what I want for her is medical help.

So, here's the plan. I twisted her arm really really hard, and she set up a GoFundMe campaign to collect money to pay for her insurance and her deductible. She's not asking for money for a blogger trip, or a new dishwasher. She's not asking for money to buy shoes. She needs money for basic healthcare to save her life.

Janet has two children who need her a lot (besides the ones who are grown) - one in grade school, and the other is special needs. It's not like she can run out and get a job, because childcare would cost more than she could earn. She's a hardworking gal who takes care of her kids, her house, her husband, and her blog. Now she needs some help taking care of herself.

Can you help?

Janet is one of the funniest people I know, and I absolutely refuse to lose another friend because they delayed medical treatment.

If you have some spare money, consider sending some to her GoFundMe campaign. She's only asking for enough to cover insurance and the deductible for a year, but I'd love to see her get a cushion to cover food and maybe some childcare, because there may be some days when she's not going to have a whole lot of energy for daily tasks. And she will need insurance next year, too.

You don't need to donate a lot. Even $5 will help her reach her goal. Even $1, if that's what you've got to give. It adds up.

If you don't have money, then consider sharing this blog post, or directly share a link to the GoFundMe campaign.

If you are a blogger and you'd like to write a blog post that mentions this campaign, email or message me on Facebook. I might be able to offer a little extra bonus giveaway for your readers as a thank-you from me.

If you're a blogger and you have a vast (or small) audience on social media, but you don't want to write a blog post, please just share a link. Please?

Janet is a real sweetheart, snarky and humble and funny. I nearly had to hit her over the head to allow me to do this for her.

She didn't want to ask for money, and she only agreed when I pointed out that her children really need her. And then she thought about it. If she wasn't there, her husband couldn't take care of both children and still work. Her special needs child would probably end up in a home ... and that's when she finally agreed to let me do this. Not for herself, but to make sure her family is okay.

She truly needs your help. Please do what you can for her.

And now for the GIVEAWAY

I have ONE copy of my cookbook, Make Ahead Bread to give to one lucky winner.

You do NOT need to make a donation to enter the giveaway, but there will be bonus entries for sharing links on social media. See, you can help without opening your wallet!

I may be offering extra books if donations entries and/or donations exceed my expectations.

Salt-Block Pickled Zucchini

A while back, I picked up a salt-block-cooking cookbook at my favorite used bookstore.

No, the store isn't used. Most of the books are, though.

I didn't happen to have a salt block to cook on, but I figured that I'd get one eventually, and the book looked really interesting.

The book made it very very clear that grilling on a salt block is not for the faint of heart or the impatient. The salt block has to be heated slowly and there's still a chance it can break suddenly. Or even sort of explode.

Besides heating the salt block slowly, the other really important thing to keep in mind is that not all salt blocks are rated for cooking.

The ones with certain types of flaws are much more prone to breaking and should only be used for serving or for cold uses.

A few weeks after I got the cookbook, I got an email from the PR firm representing a company called SaltRox. And guess what they make? Yup, salt blocks. It was like karma. Salty, savory, delicious karma.

I was pretty happy to see that the salt blocks from SaltRox were rated for cooking, and it said so right on their website. Which is great, because I doubt most folks would be able to tell just by looking at the block. I sure couldn't.

Since salt blocks are a natural product, you'll always see lines of different colors - that's not a flaw. But it does make them very interesting to look at.

While searing a steak on a hunk of salt sounds really interesting, I'm betting most folks would use the block for other purposes, It's lovely for serving, and you can use it for salting or pickling foods. I also saw a recipe for drying food. Or you just display it. It looks really beautiful, and it changes depending on the light source.

The thing to remember if you're going to use the block for serving is that it's not a big pink plate - it's a giant freaking slab of salt. So if you put food on top of it, the food will get salty, and the longer it sits, the saltier it will get.

The food will also begin to lose moisture, if it's something that has moisture in it. I mean, a cracker isn't going to start weeping, but a slice of tomato will definitely lose water and get salty pretty quickly.

I browsed through the book to find something to make that would showcase the salt block, and I settled on a recipe for pickled vegetables. I decided to use zucchini.

But when I got to assembling ingredients, I realized that the recipe had a major flaw. The introduction talked about how the olive oil was essential as it kept the salt from being to aggressive. But there was no olive oil in the recipe. None. Zip. Nada.

Oops.

So I decided to have some fun on my own. The resulting zucchini slices were like brined pickles, but done in much less time, and using a much more interesting method. I'm definitely going to be messing around with pickling on the block a lot more, and maybe I'll even make one of the other recipes from the book. The seared scallops looked pretty amazing.

Salt-Block Pickled Zucchini

1 medium zucchini
1 tablespoon cider or wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry dill
Several grinds black pepper

Have your salt block standing by. Since the zucchini will release moisture, it's a good idea to have the block on something that will catch the drips.

Slice the zucchini in 1/4-inch thick slices. You don't want them too thin, or they'll be too salty.

I cut mine on a slight bias, but cutting them into rounds is fine. I ended up with 12 slices which left plenty of room on the block, but it was plenty for pickles to go with dinner.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to make sure the sugar dissolves. Add the zucchini and stir to coat.

Let the excess liquid drip off of the zucchini back into the bowl, then arrange them on the salt block. Reserve the remaining oil/vinegar mixture.

Let the zucchini sit for 15 minutes, then turn them over and let them sit for an additional 10 minutes.

You can taste one now and assess the level of saltiness. If you want them saltier, leave them on the block a few minutes longer. Pat the zucchini dry on both sides with paper towels.

Arrange the zucchini on a plate and drizzle with some of the reserved vinegar and oil mixture.

More about salt blocks

Salt blocks aren't like other cooking surfaces. They get crazy hot and retain the heat. And they wear away when you use them.

And you can't clean them like normal cookware.

You can certainly scrub a salt block to get rid of baked on food or to remove food residue. But you shouldn't use soap, because the salt blocks are porous, and you don't want soap in your next batch of food.

On the other hand, salt is a bacteria-killer, which is why it's used in food preservation. You certainly want to get food residue off the salt block but you don't need to worry about the fact that you can't use soap or shove it in the dishwasher.

They're also heavy and can be slippery when they're wet.

If your salt block does break, you have a couple of choices. You can still use it with the pieces snugged up next to each other. Or, if it's a small corner that broke off, you can crush it, grind it, and use it like ... well, like salt. And when the salt block has worn away so much that it's no longer useful - or if it has broken into too many pieces - you can bust it up, crush it, and use it to fill your salt grinder.

Yup, this is cookware you can eat.

I received a salt block from SaltRox at no cost to me for my use on the blog.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pudding Poke Cake

First up, I'm calling this a peanut butter poke cake, but I didn't actually use peanut butter. However, "chocolate and substitute peanut butter poke cake" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. And this tastes like peanut butter, so it's what people would think when you serve it.

But first, about the cake.

I had the urge to make this cake for quite some time. It started with a photo of a chocolate poke cake. But then I thought, gee, peanut butter would be fun. I love chocolate with peanut butter. But trying to shove plain peanut butter into the holes of a poke cake probably wouldn't be successful.

So then I decided that I needed to make a peanut butter pudding. That's something I've never made before, but it certainly seemed worth a try.

But! For the peanut butter, I used WowButter, which is a non-peanut, safe-for-schools product. There are more and more nut-free butters out there, which is a great thing for kids with allergies. This one is made from toasted soy nuts.

I used to buy toasted soy nuts as a snack, and the WowButter has a similar flavor when you taste it on its own. It has a nutty flavor without tasting like a specific nut. But the toasted flavor is a little more prominent than what I've noticed in standard peanut butters. It's a really nice toastiness.

But when the WowButter was used to make peanut butter pudding and then added to cake, I think most folks would just assume it's a nut butter. And that's a good thing.

For this particular cake, I used a box mix, but you could certainly use any chocolate cake recipe you like, as long as it's enough to fill a 9x13 pan.

Or you could make a smaller cake and use less pudding, like this wacky cake. Another smaller cake is Midnight chocolate cake, which is a little denser, and also very good.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Poke Cake

1 9x13 chocolate cake, freshly baked

For the peanut butter pudding:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup WowButter

For the whipped ganache frosting:
8 ounces (by weight) dark chocolate chips or bar chocolate, chopped
8 ounces heavy cream

The cake and pudding should be warm when they meet each other, so make the cake first, and start making the pudding while the cake is baking. You can take your time making the pudding, and if the cake isn't done when you're finished with the pudding, you can gently re-warm it.

To make the pudding:
Put the sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and whisk to combine and break up any lumps. dd the cold milk and stir to combine, making sure there are no clumps of cornstarch.

Heat the mixture on medium heat until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Add the WowButter and stir to combine. This mixture needs to be thick enough to turn into pudding when it has cooled, but it also need to be thin enough to pour and seep into the holes you'll form in the cake. If it's too thick, you can add a little more milk to thin it to a pouring consistency.

To add the pudding to the cake:
Use the handle of a wooden spoon (or any implement of a similar size) to poke holes in the still-warm cake. I didn't count the number of holes, but you do want to make sure you have multiple holes per slice of cake.

Pour or spoon the pudding onto the cake, focusing on getting it into the holes in the cake. Make sure the pudding is going down into the holes and not just forming a pudding bubble above an empty hole. You can use a skewer to make sure the pudding is settling into the hole.

If you have a significant amount of pudding left, you can poke more holes into the cake and add more pudding.

Let the cake cool, then refrigerate it until it is chilled.

To make the whipped ganache frosting:
This is simple to make in a stand mixer, but you can also make it in a bowl with a hand mixer. Make the ganache after the cake is cool, and just before you want to frost.

My favorite 9x13 pan from Silverstone.

Put the chocolate into the bowl of your stand mixer fitting with the whipping attachment.

Heat the cream until it is simmering. Add it to the chocolate. With the mixer on low speed, "stir" the mixture until the chocolate is fully melted. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to make sure there are no lumps of chocolate stuck to the bottom or sides of the bowl.

Turn the mixer speed up a notch or two and continue mixing. This will help the chocolate cool a little faster. If you're using a bowl and hand mixer, it's probably easier to just let it cool rather than stand there mixing.

When the chocolate is cool, it will begin to thicken. Turn the mixing speed up and continue beating until the frosting is as light and fluffy as you like.

To finish the cake:
Remove the cake from the refrigerator. If there are pools of pudding on top, scrape or spoon the pudding off - it will make the frosting harder to spread if there's a thick layer on top.

Frost the cake. You can serve the cake immediately, or refrigerate to serve later. The ganache will get firmer when it is chilled. Keep any leftover cake refrigerated.

I received the WowButter at no cost to me as a sample; I wasn't required to use it in a recipe.