Video: Freshen Up with Spring Wines

This is a short fast wine tasting of some interesting offerings for Spring to refresh your tastebuds! Also, they are affordable wines. Choices of what to pair them with also discussed.

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Recipe: The Bonzo Cake (delicious calorie monster)

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From Denny: Like a lot of Louisianians I lived in the Atlanta metro area for some time. Let me tell you: awesome restaurants in that city! Since we lived there some have closed and new ones invented in their place, probably by the same restaurant group famous in the area (Pano's and Paul's).

I still remember the awesome White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie from the former Buckhead Diner! Actress Elizabeth Taylor (now 75 years old) used to order up as many as ten of these pies whenever she was traveling through the area. Yes, they were that good. Also, have the recipe too that the local newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, printed up for everyone at the height of the restaurant's popularity.

This recipe from the same newspaper's food section sounds killer good! Enjoy! Also, they have a great food section so clicking on the title link will take you there to explore other delights.

Since one slice of this cake is literally over 1,000 calories you might want to get 100 friends to help you eat this delicious monster! :)

If you happen to be traveling to or through Atlanta and want to check out Murphy's, then read this review so you know what to expect in the way of food, atmosphere and price, go here.

***

From the Atlanta Journal-Consititution:

From the menu of Murphy's
997 Virginia Ave., Atlanta, Georgia
404-872-0904

Q: I had a wonderful first experience at Murphy's on Virginia Avenue recently. The lunch portions are great! But the dessert was even better. I had the Bonzo, which consisted of a layer of brownie, then a layer of cheesecake, then a layer of chocolate mousse, all topped off with a whipped-style cream. It was fantastic! - Jan Phillips, Atlanta"

A: This dessert was created several years ago when the folks at Murphy's, a Virginia-Highland mainstay, noted that three desserts on the menu -- the fudge brownie a la mode, the cheesecake and the chocolate mousse -- did very well. "Wouldn't it be great if we could roll them all into one, " somebody said. Somebody else agreed and the Bonzo was born.

***

Bonzo Cake

Hands on time: 45 minutes

Total time: 4 hours and 45 minutes

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients:

For the brownie:

Shortening for the pan

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

1 1/3 cups cake flour

1/3 cup cocoa

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cheesecake:

25 ounces (three 8-ounce packages plus 2 tablespoons) cream cheese

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate mousse:

14 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 1/2 cups (11 ounces) whipped cream

9 egg yolks (from pasteurized eggs (available at Harris Teeter), to avoid slight risk of salmonella)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Instructions:

For the brownie: Grease a 10-inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt margarine. Add chocolate morsels, stirring often.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well.

Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture. Scrape bowl to get chocolate off sides and bottom of bowl. Mix well.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

For the cheesecake: Bring cream cheese to room temperature. (When ready to add cheesecake layer to cooled brownie layer, preheat oven to 300 degrees.)

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Pour mixture over cooled brownie layer and bake, checking after 45 minutes. If it is still liquid, continue baking up to 15 minutes until set. Remove and set aside to cool.

For the chocolate mousse: Melt chocolate in a double boiler and keep warm.

Whip cream and set aside. Beat egg yolks until volume has doubled. Add sugar and hot melted chocolate at medium speed. Immediately fold in whipped cream.

Spread chocolate mousse over cooled cheesecake.

Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes: A chocoholic's dream, this rich, decadent dessert takes a bit of time but is certainly worth the effort. Our tester, Sara Levy, said you could substitute unsweetened chocolate in the mousse layer if you like a less sweet chocolate. In addition, she said, you could make the dessert through the cheesecake layer and freeze it. On the day of serving, let it thaw, add the mousse layer and then chill before serving.

Nutrition:

Per serving: 1038 calories, 14 grams protein, 68 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 59), 102 grams carbohydrates, 402 milligrams cholesterol, 441 milligrams sodium, 1 gram fiber.

Everything I Know about Russian Dressing

Everything I Know about Russian Dressing - Who stole my Russian dressing?

From Denny: No dressing to be had for miles around in all the grocery stores! How to make your own? What's the history of this simple salad dressing? You will be surprised and amused with this good read!

Russian Dressing has been popular for decades here in Louisiana and there is nothing better than to make it fresh!

By Sally's Trove @ HubPages

Video: The truth about chocolate

From NBC News
(and what the plant looks like when it’s growing)

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Edible Ferns, Nuts, and Grasses

Image via Wikipedia

Edible Ferns, Nuts, and Grasses: "Natural intelligence plays a role in life, when it comes to who survives and who doesn’t, in a world fraught calamities and woes. You aren’t born knowing a lot of things, but if you are intelligent, you’ll grow up to deliberately seek some practical knowledge, along with the pursuit of learning all that “extra stuff” that won’t amount to much -- if you are caught unaware of what has already been provided for you, if only you knew where to look. Familiarity of edible plants falls into this category of practical knowledge.

In order to use edible plants intelligently in an emergency, you need to know what they look like, where they grow, and what parts are edible. Since there are thousands of edible plants found all over the world -- the best way to gain a little practical knowledge about them, is to ideally have someone point them out to you. If you are lucky enough to make the acquaintance of a local expert, always make a mental note of both the habitat, and the characteristics of the plants as they point them out to you.
Otherwise, it's a matter of mastering a few general facts and principles about recognizing plants..." 2 videos.

By Jerilee Wei