Hot Tomato Grits and Tres Leche cake

Since Miranda and I decided to name this blog "Cheese Grits and Jesus" we knew that we were going to have to search high and low for the perfect Cheese Grits recipe. We didn't have to look far! I heard through the grapevine that a lady from our church, Mrs. Diane, made the best cheese grits ever. I got in touch with her and asked for her recipe. When I got it and saw how easy it looked, I knew we had to try it. So Friday night Jeremy, Jackson and I headed over to Miranda's house to make the Hot Tomato Grits. We fell in love with them! They were so simple to make, and everyone (husbands and children included) loved them! And get this...they even taste wonderful re-heated. I've never even considered re-heating grits before but these were so good, even the second time around. This will go down as one of those "you have GOT to try this" recipes. I hope you enjoy!

Hot Tomato Grits
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups quick grits
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can Rotel tomatoes (add a second can if you really like it spicy!)
2-1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Bring Chicken broth to a boil and slowly add grits, stirring constantly while adding to prevent lumping. Turn heat down and continue stirring until desired consistency. Add salt and pepper and tomatoes. Add cheese - when cheese is completely melted, transfer to heated crock pot. Add crumbled bacon and garnish with extra tomatoes and 1/2 cup extra cheese.

Mrs. Diane also sent me a few tips for this recipe: You don't have to put these in a crock pot - that is only to keep them warm for serving. When cooking the bacon, put on a cookie sheet and bake it. If you put the bacon in the oven at the same time to start cooking the grits, they will be ready about the same time. (*This worked amazingly well for us!) By doing that, the whole recipe comes together in about 15 minutes.

This make a really big batch, so if it is just your family, cut it in half. However, when you cut it in half, remember to use only half a can of rotel because it will be really spicy if you use a whole can in a half batch.

And since we were trying a new recipe, I decided to get all wild and crazy and make a cake from scratch.

I'll let that sink in a moment....

I've never made a cake from scratch before. Frankly it's much harder than opening a box of cake mix and adding an egg and water. Much harder.

So I decided to make the Pioneer Woman's Tres Leche cake. I made a cake that I've never even tasted before. That might have been my first mistake, because y'all, this cake was hard to make. Maybe I should have started with something a little easier.

Is this a good time to tell you that I've never even separated egg whites from egg yolks before? I feel like I need to say something like, "Hi, my name is Amy. I'm 29 years old and I've never separated an egg before."

Anyways, with this recipe I was busy separating eggs, folding stuff into batter, whipping, and dirtying about 30 dishes. The total cake cooking time (including icing) took 2 1/2 hours which is about 2 hours longer than baking a boxed cake mix. So here's the recipe:

Tres Leches Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup heavy cream

1 pint heavy cream, for whipping
3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs. Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry. Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable. Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

We ate the cake over at Miranda's and we all decided that the cake was kind of "eh." I've never had a sponge cake before, and this was definitely very spongy. We all decided that it just wasn't quite sweet enough (despite all the sugar) for our tastes. Nothing at all against Pioneer Woman, because she is amazing, but I think I bit off a little more than I could chew with this recipe. Miranda and I both decided to go ahead and share this recipe, despite our so-so rating, because everyone has recipes that didn't work out quite great for them. If someone loves tres leche cake, then they might want to give this a try. I, however, will not be making it again. I found another cake recipe that knocked my socks off. I'll share it soon!

And now I'm off to go dream of those cheese grits again!