This week’s pick is Flaky Apple Turnovers, chosen by Julie of Someone’s In The Kitchen. I love apple turnovers (honestly, my favorite kind is the store-bought frozen kind that comes with the little triangle of frosting….mmm…), so I was excited to see these on this month’s line-up. Basically the filling is just chopped apples, sugar and cinnamon; but Dorie says you can also add a little jam, so I added some homemade peach preserves as well as homemade plum jam. I was really glad I did this because it added a lot of extra flavor.
It was nice to have a dessert involving apples (I’m finding myself getting a little tired of chocolate lately…weird!) just as the weather has started getting a little cooler and “Fall-y”. If you’d like the recipe for these turnovers, check out Julie’s blog! Go make you some flaky apple turnovers and enjoy the weather!!
Ok, I know I’ve been sort of MIA lately…it’s been a busy couple of weeks (translation: I started teaching voice lessons last week and have 12 freshman girls…it’s not the easiest thing in the world trying to get someone to open their mouth wider when they obviously think you’re the biggest loser that ever walked the earth…). But anyway, here I am, back to normal (hopefully) and blogging on a regular basis again! Let me just take a couple of seconds to tell you about this bread…it’s seriously good. I was browsing allrecipes.com for zucchini bread and just wasn’t feeling all that impressed with the recipes. They all sounded pretty boring to me. So I finally just closed my eyes and picked one (sort of) and ended up with this recipe. I’m SO very glad I did, because this turned out to be really, really good!
The inside of the bread was soft and incredibly moist, with just a hint of spice (I don’t like an overpowering amount, so this was just right!), and the top of the loaf had sort of a crust on it that was crumbly and delicious – the top crust was by far my favorite part! I can tell you with complete honesty that I will most definitely be making this recipe over and over again! It’s just perfect for Fall….or for those of us who just have to pretend it’s Fall since it’s still a blazing 95 degrees outside…ugh.
Zucchini Bread
-allrecipes.com
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts
Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. (I sprinkled a little brown sugar over the top before baking and it helped to create the nice crust!)
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
**Note: This recipe makes two loaves – I cut it in half and came out with one perfectly sized loaf.
In the town where hubby and I grew up, there is a small little restaurant called The Purple Turnip that serves really good “chick food”. If you were to go for lunch on a weekday, you’d see 90% women – teachers, old ladies, business women and “ladies-who-lunch”…of course there will be the occasional male, but chances are he was dragged there by his wife. Their biggest seller? Quiche. It’s SO good. It’s different every day. Sometimes it has broccoli, sometimes spinach, sometimes asparagus…but it’s always totally delicious. Naturally, everytime we’re visting home, I always want to go to Purple Turnip. Quiche, followed by out-of-this-world tiramisu. Perfect.
Recently, I had a major hankering for quiche, and since an hour’s drive to Purple Turnip wasn’t in our near future, I decided to just make my own awesome quiche. And boy was it good! I was really pleased with the way it turned out – light and fluffy and filled with tons of asparagus, mushrooms and bacon…YUM! I will most definitely be making this one again!
Quiche with Asparagus, Mushrooms and Bacon
1 9-inch pie crust
7 large eggs
3/4 cup half and half
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained (you can use fresh, I just happened to have canned on hand)
4-6 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press pie crust into a pie plate and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half and salt and pepper. Add the chopped asparagus, mushrooms, bacon and cheddar cheese and stir to combine. Pour into pie plate and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until quiche is set (the center might still be slightly jiggly- that’s ok). If it starts browning too soon, cover it with a foil tent. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
*I like my asparagus slightly crisp, so I don’t cook it before putting it in the quiche; but if you like it really tender, you can blanch it in some boiling water for about 5 minutes before adding it to the egg mixture.
I’ve been taking the Wilton Cake Decorating classes over the past month (Course 1) with a good friend of mine; we really enjoyed it and learned a lot! I didn’t know how to even do a simple flower, so this course was especially helpful to me. In the first course we learned things like roses, sweet peas (my personal favorite!), hearts, clowns (eww), shell border, stars, dots and lots of other things! I managed to get some pretty good pictures of my last cake, but the clown cake didn’t get photographed, and my friend Andrea took a picture of the first cake with her little p&s camera – here are some of the pictures.
This was my first cake….not the greatest, I know. My writing skills are really lacking…(Sorry it’s blurry…I had to resize it and it sort of looks like crap. Plus, it was taken with a point and shoot…).
The last cake of the course.
Sweet peas….my favorite!
I’m planning on taking the other two courses, which include fondant, royal icing and a wedding-style cake! Hopefully I’ll get pretty good..eventually! 😉
This week’s recipe was chosen by Melissa of Life In A Peanut Shell. Unfortunately, I actually didn’t have a very memorable experience with these brownies. It’s too bad, too, because they sounded fantastic. Maybe I did something wrong…who knows. They looked pretty, though! 🙂
These were supposed to be marbled, but my cheesecake batter was so runny, I thought it best to just leave it be. I sort of liked seeing the two distinct layers, though. The sour cream topping was really nice, too- I’ll probably use that for future cheesecake recipes. I think what I didn’t like about these was the dense fudginess of the brownie layer – it was just too fudgy for me, believe it or not. BUT – as always, I’m still really glad I tried these. They were tasty overall….just not something I’d make again, probably. Better luck next time, though! Head on over to Melissa’s blog and check out the recipe – these just might be your cup of tea!
I have a tendency to jump the gun sometimes…my husband would tell you I start listening to Christmas music entirely too early (which I think is debatable), I always buy Spring flowers and potted plants when it’s still too chilly out, and I start cooking/baking with pumpkin, apples and butternut squash when it’s still 90 degrees. It’s just that I get excited about seasons! It happens every year (especially when Fall comes around!) and this year is no exception.
I’ve had this recipe saved for about a year now. I copied it out of my mother’s Southern Living magazine last Fall and somehow just now got around to making it. Chicken and Corn Pie with Cornbread Topping…mmm, now doesn’t that sound yummy?? And it was, too – really yummy, actually! But after making it, I realized (ok, ok, so I pretty much knew all along…) that it really is a dish that is better served when it’s chilly or cold outside – however, I just couldn’t wait that long! I’m ready for Fall now! The filling is more like a thick stew (which I love!) and the cornbread topping is really cheesy and yummy- and the great thing is, it’s really versatile- you could put in ground beef, or another kind of vegetable…lots of possibilities! I think this would be a perfect dish for watching a football game when it’s nice and chilly outside! In fact, I’ll probably serve this again when the hubby and I are at home watching the Fightin’ Texas Aggies one saturday!
Chicken and Corn Pie with Cornbread Topping
-Southern Living Magazine, October 2008
1 (10-oz.) can enchilada sauce
1 (10-oz.) can Rotel Tomatoes
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (2- 12.5-oz. cans chicken, drained, may be substituted)
1 (6-oz.) package Mexican-style cornbread mix
2/3 cup milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Mexican four-cheese blend, divided
Preheat oven to 375°. Stir together enchilada sauce and next 3 ingredients in a 3 1/2-qt. saucepan over medium heat until combined; cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Stir in chicken.
Whisk together cornbread mix, next 3 ingredients, and 3/4 cup cheese in a small bowl just until blended.
Pour chicken mixture into a lightly greased 11×7 inch baking dish. Spoon cornbread mixture over hot chicken mixture. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.
Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve with sour cream and jalapeno peppers if desired.
Mmmm, look at this moist, chocolatey cake; so full of deep chocolate flavor, covered with sticky dark chocolate ganache….and filled with….zucchini…?!?! Yep, you read correctly – zucchini. I know it sounds disgusting, but you’ve all had or heard of zucchini bread, right? Well, there’s really not much of a difference – using it in a sweet, spiced quick bread or baking it into a chocolate cake – it’s all the same! And believe me when I tell you you can’t even tell the zucchini’s in there; no, seriously! I first saw this on The Repressed Pastry Chef and it looked so good I had to get the recipe. And then I saw it again…and again…food bloggers all over the place have been making this cake lately! I figured I needed to make it ASAP and see what all the fuss was about. I’m so glad I did, too! This was an amazing cake – the most moist (moistest??) chocolate cake I think I’ve ever had…and like I said before, there isn’t even the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary. I know what you’re thinking – if you can’t even tell it’s there, why put it in?? Am I right?? 😉 I wondered the same thing, but Em over at The Repressed Pastry Chef told me that it adds a ton of moisture – boy was she right! And the great thing is, you don’t use all that much butter – the zucchini makes it plenty moist. You might still be thinking “eww..”, but you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that this cake is absolutely and completely delicious.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
-The Repressed Pastry Chef
For the Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
For the Icing
3/4 cup heavy cream
9 ounces chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.
Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.
To prepare the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Wait 3-5 minutes then stir to combine. It will thicken as it cools… when warm (but not hot) pour over cake and smooth with offset spatula. Allow frosting to set for about 30 minutes before serving… or not 😉
Here’s a cute story:
Once upon a time, when my parents were newly married (and I mean “newly” – they probably hadn’t even been married a week yet!) and just home from their honeymoon, my mother wanted to cook my daddy one of his favorite meals for their first married dinner at home- stuffed peppers. She worked hard in the kitchen and came out with a big platter of beautiful looking stuffed peppers. As they sat down and started to eat, they both noticed something wasn’t quite right – the peppers were crunchy! It was then my mother realized she’d neglected to cook the rice before adding it to the filling! She was so embarrassed, but my daddy kept on eating and said he thought they were great anyway – what a great husband!
Here’s another story:
Once upon a time, when Joel and I had just been married and had just gotten home from our honeymoon, I wanted to cook a nice meal for our first married dinner at home. I picked out a nice noodle casserole recipe and went to work. As my new husband and I sat down and started eating…lo and behold, the casserole went, crunch! crunch! and immediately I knew I had flubbed up somehow. Just as my mother had done years before when she was a young bride, I had neglected to boil my noodles before putting them in the casserole. Just like my sweet daddy had done, my hubby kept right on eating and said it was delicious and that he liked it crunchy, while I sat there blushing. Like mother, like daughter, I guess! Lucky for our husbands, we’ve both grown quite a lot since our first married days!
Believe it or not, when I was a kid, I hated these things. I hated peppers, I hated onions…I hated most things, it seems like. I didn’t even try these until I was almost married – my mother coooked them and I finally decided I’d give them a try. I ended up really liking them and getting the recipe from her. Finally, last night, I decided to make them myself – I did them exactly how my mother does them and WOW, these are SO much better than I remember!! They’re hearty and filling and have tons of great flavor! We both ate like pigs and cleaned our plates! Luckily, there’s one left and I get it for dinner tonight since hubby is going to a boys’ night! Yee haw!!
My Mom’s No-Bake Stuffed Peppers
2 medium bell peppers (any color – I used yellow)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon basil
1-15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups rice, cooked
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Cut peppers in half lengthwise. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, drop the peppers in and boil for 5-6 minutes. In a small bowl, mix tomato sauce, basil and sugar and set aside. Brown meat and onion in a large skillet; drain. Stir in 1/2 the tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of the rice and the salt. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes; stir in cheese. Spoon meat mixture into peppers and place into skillet. Pour remaining tomato sauce around peppers; cover and simmer. Top with additional cheese, if desired. Serve on top of remaining rice.
These really are SO good – do yourself a favor and try them out soon! I promise you’ll love them! Just don’t forget to cook the rice first! 😉 Enjoy!!
This week’s dessert was certainly a nice change of pace from all the chocolate desserts and cakes I’ve been making lately. Something with apples sounded perfect to me…I was really looking forward to making these bars. Thanks to Karen of Something Sweet by Karen for choosing these Applesauce Spice Bars…they hit the spot! The cake (or bars, I should probably say) itself is really moist and light with dark rum, pecans and chunks of apples baked in, and the glaze…oh man, the glaze…sweet, sticky and caramel-y; the glaze made these bars. I followed a few fellow bakers’ advice and doubled it, and was very glad I did – that glaze was by far my favorite part! My hubby really liked these; needless to say, they didn’t last long! 🙂
See that glaze??? Oh boy….it’s just calling my name!! And look at those nice, big chunks of apples and pecans…and the flecks of spice…beeeeautiful!! If you’re looking for a nice change of pace – head on over to Karen’s blog and get the recipe; you’ll love ’em, I promise!
The swim suit section of clothing stores have been replaced with back-to-school clothes; at my local Wal-Mart, the shelves that were once lined with plastic Tiki-themed party decorations, ice chests and cute plastic outdoor dishes are now filled with school supplies as far as the eye can see, and kids everywhere have that familiar look of wide-eyed dread on their faces. This can only mean one thing – the new school year is upon us and summer as we know it is in its last days. My sister and all of my teacher friends all have to go back to school next week, and pretty much all of them are doing their darndest to enjoy their last few days of freedom. I guess I feel kind of guilty because I too, am a teacher…but the best kind of teacher- a voice teacher. I teach like, 3 days a week and I don’t even go in until after noon. How awesome is that? (ok, ok, I’ll stop rubbing it in your faces…..neener, neener, neener!! Hehe, ok now I’m done, I promise!)
I know a lot of people are bummed that the summer is just about over, so I thought I should post something that reminds us all of a good old fashioned summer; and really, what’s more perfect than warm apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream? Not much…
I know apple pie is probably better enjoyed around the Fourth of July, but I figured it’s one of those desserts that works all summer long! I actually made this a couple of weeks ago for my in-laws and grandmother-in-law, Meme. Meme and I sat together and enjoyed big, warm slices of pie with homemade vanilla ice cream…we really enjoyed our pie!! Meme loved it so much, I sent some home with her for her coffee the next morning. Seriously, this was some of the best pie I’ve ever had in my life…and no surprise, it’s Dorie Greenspan’s recipe. She never fails me! This was actually the first time I’d ever brushed my pie crust with cream before baking it, and I was super happy with the result – I’ve never gotten a more beautiful crust!
For those of you teachers out there who are trying to squeeze everything you can out of these last days of summer, I highly recommend making yourself a big, beautiful apple pie. Enjoy a big slice out on your front porch at night and watch the fireflies…savor every moment, because the next day, you should probably start getting all your school supplies ready! Hehehe, sorry, just couldn’t resist! 😉
All-American Apple Pie
-Dorie Greenspan
9-inch double crust pie dough (recipe below)
4 pounds (about 6 very large) apples
3/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I omitted)
2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
For the Glaze (optional, but highly recommended!)
Milk or heavy cream
Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar
Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
On a well-floured surface (or between wax paper, or plastic wrap), roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Fit the dough into the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a 1/2 -inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a 1/8-inch-thick and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the crust in the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling. (The crusts can be well covered and kept refrigerated overnight).
GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core and slice the apples into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Put the apples into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss everything together really well. Let the mix sit for about 5 minutes, until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.
Remove the pie plate and top crust from the refrigerator and put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the crust and then turn the apples and their juices into the crust. The apples will heap over the top of the crust. Pat them into an even mound. Dot the apples with the bits of cold butter.
Very lightly moisten the rim of the bottom crust with water, then center the top crust over the apples. Either folds the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimps the crust attractively, or presses the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you’ve pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely.
Use a sharp paring knife to cut about 6 slits in the top crust. Use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of the center of the crust as a steam vent. If you’d like, brush the top crust with a little milk or cream and sprinkle it with sugar (I used cream and it turned out absolutely gorgeous!).
Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 50 to 60 minutes (total baking time is between 65 and 75 minutes), or until the crust is gorgeously browned and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After about 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it’s browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.
Transfer the pie to a rack and let it rest until it is only just warm or until it reaches room temperature.
Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough
-Dorie Greenspan
For a 9-inch double crust:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 sticks very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1/3 cup very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
About 1/2 cup ice water
Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Until you have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 table spoons of the water add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get the dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.
Divide the dough in half. Gather each half into a ball, flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling.
