Green Chili Egg Casserole

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Angie

Green Chili Egg Casserole

I have a confession: I love potlucks. They’re fun and the easiest way to try out a new dish without the obligation of preparing the whole entrée yourself just to find out you didn’t really like it or it didn’t turn out as you expected and what you thought was going to be really great, was nothing more than a failed attempt.

I have another (slightly truer) confession: I’ve become a bit of a food snob and so when we have potlucks, I’m a bit disappointed when people bring prepackaged foods. What’s the point of that? Oh, I know. There are those who like to cook and those who like to eat what other people cook, but because it’s a potluck, feel obligated to bring something so swing by the grocery store and grab something. Although, the other day, we had a breakfast potluck at work and people went all out. There was more home cooked food than store bought. Breakfast/ brunch is good like that.

Forkfull of green chili egg casserole

This dish is easy to whip up and bake before work, and with the help of the insulated travel bags and heating pack (and only living 10 minutes away), it maintained a good temperature. This dish is made in a 9×13 pan, but can easily be scaled down for a 9×9 pan.

Ingredients:

  • 2 4oz. green chili cans, diced
  • 8 eggs, slightly beaten (I used 9 to finish off the carton)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 120z can of evaporated milk
  • 1 small can of tomato sauce
  • 1 lb. grated sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 lb. grated Monterey Jack cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Line the bottom of the pan with green chilis and top with sharp cheddar cheese. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, Worcestershire sauce, evaporated milk, and cornmeal. Pour over the cheese and chilis. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. Add 1/2 lb. of Monterey Jack cheese, drizzle the can of tomato sauce all over the top, add remaining cheese and return to oven until cheese melts.

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Posted in Breakfast, Mexican, Uncategorized, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Roasted Lemon Chicken

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Angie

Roasted chicken

Admittedly, I love everything about rotisserie chicken. Its flavor, its juiciness, its diversity in dishes, and flexibility of using now or freezing for later. You don’t need to sell me on it, I’m already a fan. When I came across a recipe for a roasted chicken by a well known chef, I took pause, and thought, “I bet that’s really good.” I made it for a Sunday dinner a few week’s back and truth be told, was completely unimpressed by it and found it utterly lackluster. Clearly, I have trained both mine and my family’s taste buds to rotisserie chicken. I was drawn by the simplicity of the ingredients and know full well, sometimes dishes don’t need 101 ingredients in order to make a stand alone dish. I entertained the idea of adding garlic (always garlic!) or some thyme and rosemary, when I thought better of it and decided to be a purist and follow the recipe as is. I should have listened to the flavorful voices in my head and when I make this again, because I will, (it’s roasted chicken, after all) I will include the garlic, thyme, and rosemary. Then, and only then, will my taste buds be happy.

Ingredients:

  • 1 (4 – 5 lb) roasting chicken, giblets removed
  • 1 large yellow onion, sliced thick
  • olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 lemons, quartered
  • 2 tbsps. unsalted butter, melted

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If rinsing/ washing your chicken is your thing, do it and pat the top and sides of the chicken dry. If not, no need to. In a roasting pan or baking dish, add the onion and drizzle with olive oil, tossing to incorporate. Place the chicken on top of the onions and generously season the inside of the cavity with S&P. Insert the quartered lemons inside the chicken. Using a basting brush, brush the tops and sides of the chicken with the melted butter. Season generously with S&P.

Roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

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Leah’s 13th Tie Dye Birthday Cake

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Angie

side view

For her 2nd birthday, I made a chocolate cake and we all laughed until our sides hurt because upon first bite, her eyes widened in delight, and with cake crumbs stuck to her mouth she declared, “I luv cake! Chocolate caaaaaake!”She said it on repeat and just like that, those phrases were cemented into our family dialogue. 2 to 13 happens in 4,015 days which is a significant chunk of time, but in moments captured and sealed in memory, seems quite a bit less. What’s the saying? The days are long, but the years are short. How true!

Turning 13 is groovy, baby! While the theme of her cake is totally unrelated to Austin Powers, she has been on a reading kick of the Percy Jackson series and requested this tie dye cake. As has been the case in the years of making cakes, I bake them and Chris decorates them. In addition to her tie dye cake, she was specific about what the top of the cake would look like as well:

dah sass mastah

Classic Leah! She could barely contain herself amongst her friends when it came time for me to cut and serve the cake with its momentous tie dye reveal. She squealed with delight. Nevertheless, with 8 girls between the ages of 12 & 13, it was not quiet at our place this past Friday night. Chris declared, as he does every year, no more sleepovers! And, I reminded him, as I do every year, it’s memory making for the girls. With that said, I’m not gonna lie, back to back sleepovers and birthdays galore is enough to tire the best of us out. We’re all looking forward to a little downtime and peace and quiet.

Ingredients:

  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 2/3 cups sugar, superfine is best
  • 1 tbsp. baking powder
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • 12 tbsps. unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 4 large eggs (using egg whites only) + 1 whole egg
  • 1 cup milk, at room temperature (I used 2%)
  • 2 tsps. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. almond extract
  • 6 gel food colors of your preference

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease, line with parchment paper, grease again and flour 2  8″ or 9″ round pans (I used 8″ pans); set aside. If you don’t have superfine sugar, you can create it by using regular granulated sugar and pulsing in a food processor.

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients and then add the room temperature butter and mix until evenly crumbly, like fine damp sand. It may form a paste, depending on the temperature of the butter, how much it’s mixed, and granulation of the sugar used.

Add the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Lastly, add the whole egg, and again beat well, and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together the milk with the vanilla and almond extracts. Add this mixture, 1/3 at a time, to the batter. Beat 1 to 2 minutes after each addition, until fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Evenly distribute the white batter into 6 bowls (approximately 1 cup per bowl) and add different gel food coloring to each bowl, mixing to fully incorporate the color. Working from left to right, in one round pan, place approximately 3/4 cups of the first colored cake batter into the center of the pan. As you move along from each bowl of different colored cake batter, you’ll use less and less. With the second round pan, and working in reverse order, place approximately 3/4 cups of the last colored cake batter into the center of the pan and repeat with the remaining batter until it’s all used.

colored bowls

batter in pans

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes for 8″ or 9″ rounds or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pan comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing from the pans to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled completely, I made a buttercream frosting, and per her request, colored it blue. Chris, of course, did the artistic work on the top of the cake.

Leah’s birthday sums up all of our birthday celebrations and we’re thankful to add another year of all of us to the books.

Cake recipe adapted from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/tender-white-cake-recipe#reviews

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Posted in Cake, Desserts, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Chinese Chicken Salad

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Angie

Chinese Chicken Salad

This is one of those salads that is all mine. I don’t have to worry about anyone in the family stealing my lunch. In fact, when I mentioned what it was that I made, they all turned up their noses. Fair enough, mi familia, fair enough. They can stick to their staple boring salad while I experiment with some flair.

Ingredients:

for the salad:

  • 2 cups shredded carrots
  • 1 head of a large Napa cabbage, chopped into thin strips
  • 2 tbsp. black sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp. white sesame seeds
  • 1/2 – 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

for the dressing:

  • 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 3 tbsp. finely minced/ grated ginger
  • 3 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. Hoisin sauce
  • 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tsp. spicy chili sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 5 chopped green onion, both white and green parts

Preparation:

In a large bowl, add and then toss together the carrots, cabbage, black and white sesame seeds, and chicken.

In a container that uses a sealed lid, add the remaining ingredients: soy sauce, white wine vinegar, ginger, olive oil, Hoisin sauce, sesame oil, spicy chili sauce, sea salt and chopped green onions. Secure the lid and shake vigorously. Serve in a bowl and drizzle with desired amount of dressing.

Note: next time I make this, I think I will add the green onions to the salad instead of incorporating into the dressing. Also, while I was eating this, I thought some spicy peanuts incorporated into the salad would work well.

Adapted from: http://lindawagner.net/blog/2014/06/paleo-chinese-chicken-salad/index.html

 

 

 

Posted in Chicken, Chinese, Keto, Salads | Leave a comment

Praline Carrot Cake

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Angie

 

carrot cake on fork

I tend to shy away from statements like “This is the best (fill in the blank)” because it’s used too freely, but mostly, because ‘best ever’ is really a matter of preference. You say tomato, I say tomahto, type of situation. So instead of proclaiming this is the best carrot cake ever, I will simply say 2 things:

  1. This is hands down my favorite carrot cake. It’s in a class all on its own and stands out far above the rest.
  2. I’ve never known anyone, who, after taking a bite of this cake for the first time, didn’t close their eyes and “mmmm” simultaneously.

whole carrot cake

This recipe has been in the family file for a good while. My mom is a retired nurse, but back in the days of working in the recovery room, a fellow nurse made this cake for her birthday one year. Mom is a self proclaimed chocoholic, preferring chocolate over any other dessert. In my mind, I imagine her being gracious and thanking the woman who made this for her, and on the inside being slightly disappointed that it wasn’t chocolate with chocolate oozing more chocolate. Until she took her first bite. Refer back to the above referenced second comment.

Slice of carrot cake

You’ll have to try it out for yourself to determine if it’s worthy of the label “Best”. I can say with utmost certainty, if you like carrot cake, you will undoubtedly be quite pleased as will those that you share it with. My birthday was this past Sunday and it kicks off the rest of the family’s birthdays as well. Since I enjoy baking so much, it doesn’t bother me to bake my own cake; in fact, I prefer it. This rounded out our Easter dinner nicely. I promptly boxed up the remainder of the cake to take to work the next day. With four birthdays in a matter of weeks, we tend to get “caked out”, if you know what I mean. Although, I will say, this cake freezes well. It’s packed with dense, yummy richness, so a little bit goes a long way. My coworkers didn’t disappoint and they ate it up; one of them even stopped to tell me it reminded me of her late grandmother’s cake, but better. Ah, yes, food + memories = love.

Ingredients:

for the cake –

  • 1 lb. carrots (3 cups sliced)
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 1/3 cups oil (I used melted & cooled coconut oil, but you can use Canola/ Vegetable)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained (you won’t be able to taste it in the cake)
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut

for the praline sauce –

  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 3 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp. heavy cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

for the candied pecans –

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp. orange juice
  • 1 cup pecans

for the cream cheese frosting –

  • 1 8oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-4 tbsp. milk

Preparation:

for the cake –

Cook carrots in boiling water until soft. Drain and chop; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, line with parchment paper, and grease again 3 9 inch round pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, create a crater, add eggs, vanilla, oil, & pineapple. Beat on low speed for 1 minute and then add chopped pecans, carrots, & coconut. Pour evenly amongst the 3 prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, but depending on how the oven cooks, start checking at 28 minutes. Remove from oven when toothpick inserted into the middle of each pan comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool, in pans, on cooling racks for 15-20 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

for the praline sauce –

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and cream, stirring until it comes to a full boil. Reduce heat to a gentle boil for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally, remove from stove, stir in vanilla and let cool.

for the candied pecans –

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan. Combine brown sugar and orange juice, add pecan halves. Pour into pan and bake for 6 minutes, stir, and bake for another 6 minutes until nuts are brown and syrup is bubbly. Separate nuts on lightly greased baking sheet until cool.

for the cream cheese frosting –

Mix together the cream cheese, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually, add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition. Once all the powdered sugar has been added, add milk, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble the cake –

Starting with the bottom layer of cake, spread one inch of frosting on the top. Pour half of the praline sauce on the cake, blending into the frosting. Repeat same steps with second layer of cake, pouring the remaining sauce on cake, and blending in. Top with final layer of cake, frost all over, and add candied pecans.

NOTES: This can be a lengthy process, albeit worth it, if done all in one day. I made the cakes the weekend before. Once they were completely cool, I wrapped them in plastic wrap, stored them in gallon size bags, and placed them in the freezer. I made the candied pecans the night before and finished the process the day of.

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Posted in Cake, Desserts | 12 Comments

Homemade Ding Dongs

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Angie

 

 

best ding dong

I met one of my very best friends almost 15 years ago. I’d recently returned from maternity leave with Brianna and was working at the School of Medicine in the HIV program. There was an increase in the numbers of Spanish speaking individuals getting diagnosed and my supervisor decided it would be worth our while to learn Spanish. Enter Jaime. She owned her own business and one of the components was teaching people Spanish, or in some cases, teaching Spanish speakers English. I remember our first conversation. It was over the phone to schedule our first class. I heard a baby in the background and immediately thought, this is someone I could become friends with. As a new mom, and still relatively new to the area, I didn’t have but one friend with a little one. I later learned that the baby in the background was her nephew that she was babysitting. Her kids would come a few years later.

Whole Ding Dong with drizzle

Fast forward all these years and we’ve been through quite a bit together. As she wrote me last year, ‘through thick and thin, but really more like hard and harder.’ As is the case with true friends, they journey on in life with us not because they have to, but because they want to. Those are the keepers. The ones with whom you can share every day experiences, secrets, dreams, fears, tears, and so much laughter that sometimes end in tears. Today is her 40th birthday and even though it’s hump day, we celebrated both of our birthdays this past Friday. We went to see The Golden Girls play. How appropriate to celebrate us and our friendship by looking at each other as we sang along to ‘thank you for being a friend.’

Ding Ding half

I knew when I first saw this recipe, I would make them for her because we once had a sleepover at her house where she provided all the snacks, including the individually wrapped in tin foil Hostess Ding Dongs because she loved them. I packaged up some for her and her family and my family ate the rest. They were a big hit. Of course, I wanted her to have the best looking ones so the photo above was of one of the cupcakes that I’d filled a bit too much so that the top started to bust apart. Even with the top covered in chocolate, you can still see the crack. That’s what happens when I fill cupcakes for the first time: a learning experience. Such is life. Also, these photos were from shortly after they were made and I hadn’t let the ganache rest long enough to harden. No worries, though. If you decide to make these, store in the refrigerator and the coating will firm right up.

Ingredients:

for the cake :

  • 3 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate (you can use chocolate chips)
  • 1 1/2 cups brewed coffee
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

for the cream filling:

  • 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar

for the ganache:

  • 1 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:

for the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray muffin tins well with non-stick spray; set aside. Cupcake liners are not necessary so be sure that muffin tins are greased well. Chop chocolate so no pieces are larger than a chocolate chip. Place chocolate in a medium bowl or a 2 cup measuring cup and pour hot coffee over chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes then stir, making sure all chocolate is melted and well combined with coffee. Set aside to cool. Sift all dry ingredients together-sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In the a large mixing bowl (or the mixing bowl of your stand mixer) beat eggs on medium speed until frothy. Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla and chocolate-coffee mixture to eggs, beating well to blend. Add in sugar/flour/cocoa mixture, one cup at a time, mixing just to combine after each addition. Pour batter 2/3 full into the muffin tins. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, inserting a toothpick in the middle to test for doneness. Let cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in pan. Run a butter knife around each cupcake to loosen before turning out onto a cooling rack.

To bake as a cake: Pour batter into 2 9 inch cake pans that have been well greased and lined with parchment paper on the bottom. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45-50 minutes, using toothpick to test for doneness. Let cakes cool completely in pan. Using a plastic knife, run knife around edges to loosen before turning out onto rack or plate. NOTE: the original recipe warns of batter spilling over, so many of the commenters wrote of how they filled appropriately and also made a few cupcakes.

for the cream filling:

Pour cold milk into a small saucepan. Before turning on the heat, whisk in flour so no lumps remain. Turn heat on to medium low, and stirring, heat until mixture is thick, like a roux. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and let cool completely. Cream together butter and sugar on medium high speed, until fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add in the milk mixture and beat again until mixture resembles a whipped cream.

Transfer the filling into a piping bag, and using desired tip, slowly fill cupcakes, smoothing off the tops, as necessary.

To prepare as a cake: Place one layer of cake on an 8 inch cake circle, top side down. Cover with a thick layer of cream filling then place top layer of cake, top side down, on top of filling gently pressing down to secure layers. Place cake on a wire rack on top of a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

for the ganache:

Place chocolate chips in a large measuring cup. Heat cream and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until boiling, careful not to scorch. Pour heated cream over chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir chocolate to make sure completely melted and smooth.

Place wax paper or parchment paper underneath cooling racks, and place cream-filled cupcakes onto the cooling racks, spacing an inch or two apart. Using a serving spoon, or small ladle, pour ganache onto each cupcake, letting it run down the sides. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

To prepare as a cake: Slowly pour ganache over top of cake, letting it drip down the sides. If needed use a spatula to help spread ganache on top over sides. When ganache is set, cake can be transferred to a serving plate. Chill cake for 4 hours before serving.

Source: http://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/ding-dong-cake/

 

Posted in Cupcakes, Desserts, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Teriyaki Chicken Pineapple Bowls

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Angie

Teriyaki Chicken Pineapple Boats

My husband has gotten into the habit of sending me recipes that he sees and wants to try out (read: have me cook). Truth be told, this one surprised me because he’s not really a fan of Teriyaki chicken, but he sure did eat this up, post a picture on Facebook raving about it, and then proceeded to polish off what the girls didn’t finish. We’ll just go ahead and call that a success.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

  • 2 pineapples
  • 2 tbsps. oil (I used refined coconut oil)
  • 2 lbs. boneless/ skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup honey (I used raw honey)
  • 5 tbsps. sesame seeds
  • 4 cups cooked white rice, divided (I used Jasmine rice)

Preparation:

Slice each pineapple in half, lengthwise. I put Chris to work on these and he cut of the stems, but you can leave them on for aesthetics, if you’d like. Scoop out the insides of each of the pineapple halves leaving about a 1/2 inch thickness to maintain the sturdiness. Dice the pineapple and serve with the meal or refrigerate for later. Drain any juice that remains in the shell; set aside.

If you plan to use something other than instant rice, start with the rice so that it cooks and is finished at the same time as the chicken.

Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat, add oil, and cook chicken for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, and honey and add to the chicken. Increase the heat to high to bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to medium and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through and the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame seeds.

Assemble in pineapple boats, serve, and enjoy.

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Source:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/teriyaki-chicken-inside-a-pineapple?bffbfood&utm_term=.wpPMprAnWL#.vd5QxvNDR4

 

 

 

 

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Strawberry Scones

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Angie

strawberry scones

Out of all my scone recipes, this one is the very first I ever made, and by far, my favorite. They’re simple and simply sweet.

Ingredients:

for the scones:

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsps. baking powder
  • 8 tbsps. cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • 2/3 cups half & half
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 8-10 strawberries, stems removed & diced, 2 tbsps. reserved
  • 1 tablespoon half & half

for the glaze:

  • 1-2 tbsps. of diced strawberries
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tsps. half & half

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and butter. Pulse until the mixture becomes coarse and crumbly and transfer to a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat the egg and stir in the half and half and vanilla extract. Pour the egg/ cream mixture into the dry dough and stir until just combined. Stir in the diced strawberries.

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little bit of flour, and fold a few times. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out the circles and place on the prepared baking pan. Brush each scone with half & half and then bake for 12-13 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, add the diced strawberries and using the back of a spoon, mash slightly. Add the powdered sugar and stir in the half and half until desired consistency is reached and pour glaze over the top of scones.

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Adapted from: http://www.jamhands.net/2014/03/strawberry-scones.html

 

Posted in Breakfast, Scones | 12 Comments

Cream Puffs

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Angie

cream puffs

Out of my daughters, Leah is the one who can be found in the kitchen making breakfast, cooking or baking something. Bri will be found there too, enjoying whatever it is that’s been made as well as cleaning up the kitchen as they’ve struck a deal that whichever one cooks, the other one cleans up, so it’s usually Bri on kitchen duty. Recently, Leah had a class project on Germany and decided, after perusing the internet, she wanted to bring homemade cream puffs to share with the class in addition to her presentation. Like mother like daughter, she opted to do a trial run. She made everything herself and I only assisted her in the assembly of the cream puffs by piping in the filling as she held onto the puffs. Naturally, we did a taste test and what ensued was lots of giggles, filling, and smeared napkins!

It’d been years since I’d had a cream puff, perhaps even decades so I was caught off guard when I bit into it and the filling seemed to go everywhere but my mouth. Leah bit into hers and had the same result. At that moment, we decisively agreed something significantly less messy would be a better option to serve to her class. She packed up the rest of the cream puffs and took them to her friend’s house that night where she and a few of her other friends spent the night, and in the morning, she told me how even though she warned her friends, they had the same experience.

Ingredients:

for the puffs:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 eggs

for the filling:

  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix

Preparation:

for the puffs:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium size sauce pan, bring the water, butter, and salt to boil and boil until butter is melted. Remove from the heat (but don’t turn the heat off as you’ll return to it in a moment) and add all the flour at once, stirring until smooth and mixture comes away from the sides of the pan. Return to the heat and stirring constantly, cook for 1 minute.

Allow to cool slightly for a few minutes, and beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Drop by tablespoons onto the baking sheet, leaving space between the puffs. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden and crisp. DO NOT open the oven door during the first half of baking or the puffs wills collapse.

Upon removing rom the oven, immediately cut a small slit in the side of each puff to release the steam. Allow the puffs to cool thoroughly. Once completely cooled, using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the tops off each one or pipe the filling into the puff.

for the filling:

Prepare the filling by whipping together the whipping cream and instant pudding mix until thick. Pipe filling into the puffs. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Source: http://www.quick-german-recipes.com/cream-puff-recipe.html

 

 

 

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Fresh Homemade Salsa

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Angie

Fresh Salsa with chip

I’m of the belief that if you have the ingredients on hand, homemade is always, always mo’ better than jarred. I also wonder, why buy “fresh” salsa when it’s so easy to make at home? Not to mention cheaper. I almost always have jalapenos, either on the counter or ones that I’ve tossed in the freezer to use as I need to. Canned tomatoes work just as well as fresh. Toss it all in the food processor, give it a whirl, and ta da! You’ve got some yummy salsa to dip your chips into, or add to your scrambled eggs, or use in various recipes. Another advantage to making it yourself is that you can doctor it up so it’s exactly the way you like it. Hotter? Add more jalapenos or even a habanero. Garlicky? Add one or two more cloves. You like a chunkier salsa? Control the pulsing of the food processor or blender. You get the drift. But the true bonus? You can’t really mess it up. Now how’s that for cooking 101?!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 of a large onion or a whole small onion (I’ve used red, yellow, and even white – it’s just preference or what you have on hand)
  • 1 26oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved in case you want a thinner salsa
  • 1 or 2 jalapenos, deseeded and membranes removed (or toss the whole dang thing in there! minus the stems, of course)
  • the juice of 1/2 of a lime
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1/2 cup of cilantro
  • 2 cloves of garlic

Preparation:

Toss the above ingredients into a food processor or blender, and pulse until desired consistency is obtained. If needed, add in some of the reserved water from the tomatoes. Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Posted in Appetizers, Homemade Spices/ Sauces & Mix, Mexican, No-bake, Sides | 2 Comments