Welcome to the world Lucy Vivien Haugh.

Julie Courtright

On air: Sunday and Monday evenings, reporting throughout the week

Email: juliecourtright@clearchannel.com
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I would love to hear from you. Drop me a line at juliecourtright@clearchannel.com

Hi, I'm Julie Courtright my last name might be familiar to you if you're a longtime listener to Cleveland radio. My Dad, Ken Courtright was a radio newsman who's legendary voice filled the Cleveland airwaves from the 1950's through the 1990's. He even worked at 1100am when it was originally WTAM, WKYC, and 3WE. He is the reason I'm here today. He taught me a love for radio and reporting the news. I've worked at several radio stations in my career including 99.9 FM WTUZ in Uhrichsville Oh., 930AM WEOL in Elyria Oh., and 1320 WOBL in Oberlin Oh. Now I'm proud to be here at WTAM 1100, Cleveland's Only News Radio.

Just a Little Flaky

   For as long as I can remember I’ve always been fascinated by cooking. I could watch “The Food Network” all day just to see the chefs take ingredients and create something wonderful. I love just leafing through cookbooks that I’ve read hundreds of times, just to study recipes and dream about making them. For me, cooking is a stress reliever. I don’t cook for a living so it’s an escape from everyday life. My husband is a chef and has a much different perspective. Food is work for him so getting out of the kitchen is his escape from everyday life. I think it’s a little sad how working in the food industry can strip someone of their love for cooking. Anyhow, my husband is a culinary artist. I am a cook, and a baker. I love to bake because I love following recipes, using the exact ingredients the exact way the recipe is written, and creating the perfect replica of the picture beside the recipe. That’s what separates me from a culinary artists, I don't create, I re-create.

Me posing with one of my proudest creations, a lemon curd pie with homemade crust.

   I always had one “Achilles Heel” when it came to baking. I could never make a perfect, flaky pie crust. I would watch Alton Brown, Martha Stewart, and Tyler Florence show how making pie crust was easy, and fail proof. I would try and something would always go wrong. It was either too floury, or so tough you could break a fork on it. Why wasn’t my pie crust turning out? I was following the recipe to a “t”. I did everything they did. This became more than a challenge to me. Now, creating the perfect pie crust became my personal odyssey.
   Flour, water, sugar, butter, and salt: five simple ingredients that were taking over my life. I couldn’t understand how mixing these five substances could create such different textures depending on how you did it. The best advice I read was from Martha Stewart, who said to make sure the water is ice water and the butter is ice cold. I started putting ice cubes in my water before scooping tablespoons of it into my dough. I don’t know how, but that worked. I also learned that pie crust is very visual, and the amount of ice water that goes in varies, in the summertime it’s less water, in the winter it’s more. And the flour can be tricky also, you have to look at and feel the dough while you’re adding it. If you add too much flour, your crust is ruined. It’s the same thing when you’re rolling out the dough. If too much flour goes in, you might as well start over again. In my journey I found a recipe for the perfect butter crust in a library book. This recipe has become my go-to pie crust recipe.
   It took a lot of work, but I can now proudly say that I can make a pretty good pie crust. And one thing I learned in my quest for the perfect pie crust is to not be afraid of failure. Sometimes your pie crust won’t turn out, but that’s okay. When you fail, start all over again. Pie crust is not something you can count on for always being loyal. It’s like many things in life, it can be challenging, but I’m always up for a good challenge.

All Butter Pie Pastry (for a double crust pie)
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbl. Sugar
1 tsp.Salt
1 cup ( 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter (ice cold)
½ cup cold water (ice cold)
Mix the flour, sugar and salt until they are blended. Cut the butter into small cubes and add that to the flour mixture. Either mix with your clean hands or a pastry blender (cutter). You’re food processor could also work if you have a pie crust blade. Mix until you have a consistency of small balls. Add the water by tablespoon. Start with one and blend. Add water until you have a light dough consistency (it should not be sticky). Immediately make the dough into a big ball, then cut it in half. Put it on a lightly floured surface, roll it out and place in your pie plate.

A Red Carpet Recipe

As the celebrities walk the red carpet in glamorous gowns and tuxedos, for us non-celebrities, it’s always fun to watch the glitz and glamour of Hollywood in the comfort of our own living rooms.

Growing up, the night of the Academy Awards was always like New Years Eve for me. The excitement of filling out ballots and crossing my fingers that my favorite star would win. What would they say in their acceptance speech? Would they cry? Would it be controversial?

I also always loved the live musical performances. Those are some of my fondest memories. Oscar night is always a fun night to munch on desserts and snacks. Here’s my favorite Peanut Butter/ Chocolate Cupcake recipe. They're easy to make and fun to eat.

Amazing Peanut Butter/ Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients For the Cupcakes: •

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup whole milk

• 2 cups chopped salted roasted peanuts, plus more for garnish

• For the Nougat Frosting:

• 4 cups marshmallow creme (about 2 (7-ounce) jars)*

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

• Pinch of salt

For the Chocolate Frosting:

• 6 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

• 1/4 cup whole milk • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Make the cupcakes: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs and both sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Gradually beat in the melted butter and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture, the milk and then the remaining flour. Fold in the peanuts but don't overmix. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups, filling each about halfway. Bake until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pans 10 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Make the nougat frosting: Beat the marshmallow creme, peanut butter and salt with a mixer until smooth; set aside. Make the chocolate frosting: Put both chocolates in a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave on 50 percent power until soft, about 1 minute. Stir, then continue to microwave until melted, 1 to 2 more minutes.

Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and salt and beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Spread nougat frosting over each cupcake, then top with chocolate frosting, leaving some of the nougat exposed. Garnish with peanuts.

Hope you enjoy!

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Sunday, December 02, 2012

On September 29th, 2012 our lives changed forever as we welcomed our baby girl Lucy Vivien Haugh into the world. Stubborn like her mommy, she didn’t want to come out. She was already one week past her due date and I hadn’t gone into labor so my doctor decided to induce. My labor started the morning of September 28th and lasted all day. I finally started pushing at midnight on the 29th. Three hours of pushing and still no Lucy.

The decision was made that I needed to have a c-section. I was never so happy to have surgery. I remember thinking “Yea! I get painkillers!” Lucy was born at 3:54 in the morning and I’ll never forget the first time I saw her beautiful face.

It’s amazing how much joy and love a tiny little baby can bring into your life. I can’t remember what my life was like without her. The way she smiles in the morning just lights up the whole world. All the little things she does, the way she dances when we wind up the mobile over her crib and falls asleep in her bouncy chair with her head turned to the side and her hand in a fist.

She’s so perfect. I now understand a mother’s love. I’ve never felt so much love in my life. It’s amazing how, at only two months old, we can already see little hints of Lucy’s personality. I like to guess what she’s going to be like when she gets older. Will she like ballet or baseball? Will she want to take piano lessons? Maybe she’ll become a concert pianist, she already has long slender fingers, perfect for a keyboard. Maybe she’ll be a writer, or a doctor, or she might want to be a news reporter like her mom and her grandpa. Whatever she does, I just hope she’s happy. I hope she’ll always have that smile that lights up the world.

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