Month: March 2015

Breads · Desserts

Quick Crusts Ideas

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The last day of March? Really snuck up on me. It has been such beautiful weather here that all I have wanted to do is sit outside (you notice I don’t say, walk or run) and think about what I might want to bake next. When I was going through several baskets of recipes the other night, I came across this sheet I had torn out of some cooking magazine, but I don’t know which one.

I thought it would be convenient to post all of these different crusts on one posts, so you could print them up and tape them inside one of the cookbooks you use often. There are 6 different crusts. I will give several suggestions of which type of pie you might like to use the appropriate crust for. But be daring and experiment with them and let me know what you are using the crusts for.  It’s exciting to learn different recipes for friends.

Basic Crust Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine all crust ingredients, stirring to combine. Press crust into bottom and up sides of a 9″ pie plate. Cook for times specified below. Cool completely before adding your fillings.

Macaroon Crust

3 cups crumbled macaroons (about 9 cookies)

1/4 cup butter, melted

Cook for 10 min.

Use for:

chocolate pies, coconut pies, lemon pie, pineapple pie

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (isn’t it wonderful you can buy them already crushed now)

1/4 cup ground nut of choice *opt

3 tables sugar

5 tables melted butter

Cook for 6-8 min or until lightly browned.

Use with:

Any type of cheesecake filling, chocolate, lemon, strawberry ice box pie

Gingersnap Crust

1 1/2 cups gingerbread crumbs

2 tables firmly packed light brown sugar

4 tables melted butter

Cook for 6-8 min or until lightly browned.

Use for:

Any pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake filling, caramel, banana cream, possibly apple filling

Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

2 cups peanut butter sandwich cookie crumbs (about 16 cookies)

2 tables sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

Cook for 6-8 min, or until lightly browned.

Use for:

chocolate filling, peanut butter pies, apple pies

Daily Thoughts

Dumpster Diving

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

“Randy has hit an all time low. Yesterday we ran to the store to get a few items and while we were out, he told me that there were several sacks of clothing that we needed to drop off at one of the clothes donation boxes, so be on the lookout for one as we drove by parking lots. Well, I spotted one, so he pulled over and since I am such a giving person, I told him that he didn’t have to undo his seat belt and weather the wind gusts that were blowing profusely up to 40 mph. But that’s just the kind of person I am, thoughtful, kind and….well, at least I was until he did the unthinkable. When we were pulling up to the donation box, he slows down to a crawl and says to me, “look, isn’t that just the kind of seat we have been saying that we would go buy for Payton when the kids come over to eat?” I glared at him and said, “don’t even think about it Mister.”

So I got the clothes out of the trunk and placed them in the box. Feeling so very good about us keeping up with our closets this year and instead of putting all the clothes in a bin in our garage labeled, “SIZE WE WISH WE WERE”, we were going ahead and just giving up on that dream and giving the clothes away now, instead of letting the kids burn them when we are gone.

As I began to open the car door to get in, he continues, “just look, that seat is still in the box and it does look like exactly the one that we said would be perfect for our little 9 month old princess.” I reminded him that there are cameras all over the parking lot and if he thought for even one minute that I was going to have my rear end plastered all over a security camera screen in some warehouse somewhere, he was just crazy. After all, I am a author now. Authors don’t go stealing “junk” that sits outside the donation boxes in Walmart parking lots. What if the camera saw us and wanted to use us as examples of “why they ask people not to leave items outside the boxes ‘ and my rear end would end up on the 10:00 News. He told me I watched TV too much and, of course, they didn’t care if items were taken that were still sitting outside the donation boxes. How does he know that? Has he brought home other items that came from outside donation boxes? Does one really ever know their spouse? Maybe that is where he found my new ironing board? or the new lamp that he told me he found that was such a “great deal!”

Well, the new high chair is all sanitized and ready for Payton when she comes over next time. We won’t tell her parents where the chair came from, other than saying, “oh, it was such a great deal and was just exactly what we had been looking for.”  Randy just told me he had some errands to run and told me not to ask where he was going nor could I ask where he had been if he walks in the door with a doll house or wagon; just have the disinfectant out and ready. Wonder which news channel I should watch tonight?

Uncategorized

Individual Dessert Servings

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2015-03-24 12.05.12

Walmart has the cutest colored plastic mason jars which I bought to use for individual servings of either salads or desserts. Layered lemon pudding, combined with cream cheese topped a bottom layer of crushed shortbread cookies, then topped with blueberry pie filling and whipping cream, finishing off with a swirl of a little more crushed cookies. Served them to friends, who ate every bite. A great little summer, quick dessert when short on time and energy!

Go get some of these cute little jars, while they still have them!

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit

Almond-Strawberry Cream Cheese Bunny Bites

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2015-03-26 08.01.24Using a Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix, I just made the cake according to the box directions, in a 9×13 pan, but added 1 full teas almond extract. (I love wedding cake, so when I get a craving for wedding cake, I just make up this exact cake and add almond flavored butter frosting to it, wa la…wedding cake in an instant.)

Because I was needing just a little bite of something for ladies at a Bible Study today, I thought this would be the perfect little “bite” of something sweet for them. Just cut your cake into 2″ squares. The frosting is amazing and feels almost whipped. I had some Easter colored M&M’s on hand (of course, and peanut M&M’s and Hershey’s chocolate eggs and Coconut flavored M&M’s, can you tell our house is never without chocolate of many flavors?) which I just placed one on the top of each one. Setting the little squares in cupcake liners I swirled on the strawberry-cream cheese frosting and they turned out so pretty.

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Frosting

1 box of powdered sugar (about 3 1/2 cups)

1 stick of butter, softened

4 oz softened cream cheese

3 tables strawberry juice and if desired, a little whipping cream. Add these slowly as to not get mixture to thin. If necessary, add more powdered sugar if you get a little too much juice and it gets a little too thin. (Oh, what a dream that is of mine, to hear, “my she has gotten just a little too thin, don’t you think?”…will never happen)

Enough whipping cream and strawberry juice from frozen strawberries to get frosting to spreading consistency. You can omit the whipping cream and use all strawberry juice. I just had some left over whipped whipping cream in fridge so added that to the mixture. Beat until all lumps and cream cheese is blended well and is light and fluffy.

Chicken · Meats

Chicken and Artichoke Penne

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Looking for some new summer recipes, this one jumped off the page from my new Southern Living that arrived a couple of days ago.

1 1/4 teas kosher salt, divided

1/2 lb penne pasta

1 lb chicken breast tenders

1 1/4 teas black pepper, divided

3 tables olive oil

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 (9 oz) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

1 ( 6 oz) package fresh baby spinach

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 4 qt water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat. Add 1 teas salt; return to a boil. Add pasta; boil, stirring occasionally 11 minutes or until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water.

Sprinkle chicken with 1 teas each salt and pepper. Cook chicken in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 to 5 min on each side until golden on each side. Remove chicken from skillet. Add tomatoes to skillet; cook, stirring often 4 minutes. Stir in artichokes, 1/4 teas salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup pasta water. Reduce heat to medium and cook stirring often 3 minutes or until tomatoes burst.

Stir pasta, spinach and 1/4 cup cheese into tomato mixture; toss with pasta mixture. Top with remaining cheese.

1 1/4

Daily Thoughts

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!! (is that a word?)

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I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it…Spring is finally here. After many many gloomy days in the last couple of months, we have seen sunshine 2 days in a row. Honestly, I have always been a winter person, loving the fireplace, hot cobblers and stews. But I have found out this year, that maybe it’s my age, naw…surely not, but I don’t think I have ever been so excited to get flip flops out and put the coats in the other closet.

Today, we ate a sandwich outside on the patio to enjoy the breeze and the sunshine. I don’t even care if my dermatologist uses me for his poster child for what the sun will do to aging faces. It felt great to be outside.

Randy and I went yesterday and bought a new little patio table with 4 chairs, just the right size to use on these condo porches. We were so excited about the price and what a great deal we got, until we got home and discovered that it was a great price because we had to put the entire thing together. He told me it would be fun. That he could teach me a few things about assembling a table and that we would be proud of our project that we had built together. He said that if  he went first, I would know how to assemble a table if need be. I told him that  if he went first ,I would have enough insurance money to buy one already put together.  Now maybe it would have been fun, when we were dating or newly married, with all the stars in our eyes for each other to learn together all the furniture building projects. , We wouldn’t have seen all the loose screws that each of us were trying to tighten, only to realize that our muscles got a little “soft” during the long winter months of doing nothing except sitting on the couch eating all those delicious cobblers;  or all the nuts and bolts that kept falling and rolling under the car, and guess who had to dive under to retrieve them. Let’s just say that our little project didn’t bring us closer together. One of us, who shall remain nameless, even lost their balance trying to step over all the parts laying  out on the garage floor and ended up face down on the garage floor. In fact, by the time we were thru, we were barely speaking as2015-03-24 10.15.00 one of us sat at the “cute little table” outside to eat dinner, while the other one sat in the house, having dinner while watching the News.

But, we finally had it put together and we did learn a few lessons:

1. Just because the price is really cheap, usually means that even though the instructions say that it was inspected to be sure all the parts were there and functioning, don’t believe them.

2. Just because, as a couple, you have mastered emptying the dishwasher together without calling a divorce attorney, doesn’t mean that you are ready for the big projects of assembling furniture.

3. Be sure that you have your first aid kit close by, when you are using cutting knives and screwdrivers.

And one more lesson we learned yesterday, It’s usually worth a few dollars to have it put together before bring home. The extra dollars are still less than divorce attorneys.

Uncategorized

Cafe Homestead

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

We went on another adventure today with our brother and sister-in-law to Heritage Homestead, just a little north of Waco, TX.

We had heard from some friends that we needed to go there. I have lived in Texas off and on for years and had never heard of this little community that is tucked back away off the interstate 35. There are about 1000 folks that live there. Each family home schools their children and they grow their own food for the entire community. There is a pottery shop, a blacksmith, general store, diary and a gristmill, where I bought some freshly ground flour, just ground for baking. No preservatives, nothing has been taken out or refined.

We dined at their restaurant, Café Homestead. All I can tell you is that all 4 our us agreed that the food was some of the best food we have had in quite some time. The foods there are grown without any pesticides. The ice cream is made with organic milk. Randy and Don had the chocolate and said it was really good. We also had raspberry cream cheese pie that was made with the whipping cream and the cream cheese is made right there on site. The crust was made from just crushed pecans and butter. AMAZING!!!

If you are looking for a day trip anywhere around Dallas, GO!  We were able to watch a 14 min video about the community. We talked with several of the ladies and young men that were there and was fascinated about how they live in todays world, teaching their youth the importance of integrity, purpose and hard work. We watched as a young boy probably no more than 10 wiped down the tables in the restaurant with a smile on his face, then set it for a family of 4. It was just so great to see these young kids doing something besides play video games. They actually conversed with visitors and seemed to enjoy the interaction of people visiting their community.

So take a Saturday and head down Interstate 35. You will be transported to a much simpler way of life and some of the best food around. We plan on going back down to one of their monthly dinners. Here is a sample menu of what they served in February. Each month is a different theme and the dinners are $48 per person. Here is the Feb menu:

Berry Peach Tea

Blooming Onion with Dipping Sauce

Texas Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Fresh Herb and Gorgonzola Butter

Slow Roasted Glazed Carrots

Twice Baked Potatoes

Fresh Baked Rolls with Butter

Peach Fried Pies with Homestead Vanilla Ice Cream

We brought home some Homestead Fresh Baked Bread and the best Almond Cherry Scones you have ever put in your month. It was a lovely day, full of great food and laughter. Thanks Don and Janece for taking us.

Daily Thoughts · Salads

Dole Chipolte Cheddar Salad

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2015-03-20 15.05.42Am making dinner tonight for some new friends, parmesan chicken, rice pilaf, green beans, salad, Sister Schubert Rolls, of course, and lemon delight for dessert. On Wednesday I catered a luncheon for 9 ladies and served a salad that each time I serve it, people want to know what it is. So I thought I would tell you about it.

I love salads, but I don’t like to make them. Much more fun to make a cake. But I know that salads make the meals seem complete. I have happened upon a premixed salad in a bag. (before you turn up your nose, I have never liked bagged salads, it seems that I can always taste all the preservatives in them and why did I ever even pick up one of these bagged salads in the first place, but am so glad that I did.)

The salad is Chipolte Cheddar by Dole and it is truly a great salad. I have served it to about 4 different groups of people and even my oldest son, who is truly a food snob (sorry Jason) told me how good it was and where I got it. It has the dressing included and it is just a great salad. I served it with Green Chile Chicken stew on Wed and all the ladies raved about it. So next time you hop (it’s almost Easter, I have to hop) over to the grocery store, do yourself a favor and pick up a bag of Dole Chipolte Cheddar. You will be a fan, I promise.

Desserts · Fruit

Lemon-Blueberry Layered Dessert

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Why does Spring conjure up thoughts of lemon? Is it the soft color of yellow that comes to our minds, or the crisp, sweet-tart flavor that lemons give us when they are used in dishes. Whatever the reason, lemons seem to just scream “SPRING” and this recipe taken from Southern Living 2005 just seemed like the perfect dessert to serve next time we have friends or family coming over for dinner. I know you must think that my house is wall to wall magazines, but Mr. Randy has cracked the whip about throwing out old magazines, so now, he tells me to just go through them and cut out the ones that I want to keep, because we have no more end tables to stack magazines on and he refuses to give up bed space or breakfast table space for magazines. This recipe was ripped out when we moved back to Texas, before he had the chance to just pick up a stack and haul them to the dumpster.

Makes 8 servings

15 lemon cookies, coarsely crushed (about 2 cups)

1 (21 oz) can blueberry pie filling

1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed (hum…I just can’t do that, will have to make whipped cream, just don’t care to much for Cool Whip) so will whip up 1 cup of whipping cream, using about 1/4 cup sugar added.

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (6 oz) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

Sprinkle 1 tables crushed cookies into each of 8 (8 oz) parfait glasses. (or use pretty wine glasses)*you can actually make this into a trifle if desired instead of individual servings.

Spoon 1 1/2 tables pie filing over cookies in each glass.

Spoon condensed milk and lemonade into a bowl; mix well and then add the whipped topping and stir until combined. Spoon 2 tables whipped mixture over pie filling in each glass. Repeat layers once more. Top evenly with remaining crushed cookies. Cover and chill 4 hours.

Cakes · Desserts

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

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*2015-03-17 15.55.50

Strawberry and Cream Cheese make such a delightful Spring flavor. I am catering a luncheon for a friend tomorrow and since it is suppose to be raining all day, I wanted to end the lunch time with something that would put a “spring” in their step, so I decided to make strawberry cream cheese cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting. Each lady has a little pink bag to take away, filled with the chocolate-toffee biscotti I posted a couple of days ago.

Cupcakes:

1 box of Duncan Hines Strawberry Cake mix. *This was the ingredients on the cake mix I bought, but which ever brand you use, use ingredients listed on back of box.*

*3 eggs

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup oil

Filling:

4 oz of cream cheese, softened

2 teas flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teas vanilla

Mix all filling ingredients together until well mixed.

Mix cake mix according to directions. (different brands call for different measurements, so be sure to follow the ingredients on the back of the cake mix you buy.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Drop about 1 tables cream cheese filling in center of batter. Bake about 18 min or until cupcakes tests done. Cool on wire rack and frost with frosting given below.

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter, softened

Small container of frozen strawberries, thawed. Drain off some of the juice in a small container to use in frosting. You can use the strawberries for another use.

Enough of strawberry juice that you have drained off frozen strawberries to get frosting  the consistency you need to cover cupcakes. I used about probably 2 tables of juice. If it gets too thin, just add a little more powdered sugar.

Be sure cupcakes are completely cool before frosting and store in covered container in fridge.

*I bought the heavy cupcake liners that you can actually bake in. Just set them on a baking sheet and fill them according to the instructions. They make such a pretty presentation, other than just cupcake liners.