Blueberry Pie

Fall is just around the corner.. I feel it! .. Actually I feel really hot and muggy, but I also feel Fall coming! Last year I said I was going to make pies. It really was on my Fall "to-do" list. But it never happened. So I'm getting a head start this season! I made my first pie today! .. Well, okay, I've made cooked chocolate pudding pies for Thanksgivings, but this is my first "other kind" of pies. And I have to confess, it's not completely homemade. The crust is homemade, the blueberry is canned pie filling. hehe! Baby steps, people!

I found Your Homebased Mom's pie crust recipe on Pinterest.

I read on other websites to use COLD shortening and COLD butter. So I scooped out what I need of shortening, and stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes. It's usually in my pantry and the humidity here keeps it super soft. I cut my butter up in little chunks. Then just followed the recipe. My dough didn't turn out very flexible and .. non-tearable. Lots of recipes say not to handle the dough too much, but I don't really know what that means.. cause I try to get it all together and mixed well. I guess pie crusts is an area I will need some practice in! It still looks okay! I just had a hard time getting the top crust over the pie and fixing it pretty without it breaking a little in places. 

I made sure to poke holes in the bottom crust several times with a fork to prevent it from bubbling and poofing out during baking. While I rolled out the top crust, I kept the bottom crust in the freezer to keep firm. I used a little paring knife to cut out the heart on the top. A little fondant cutter would work perfect too! I'll have to get some just for things like this. In went the canned pie filling, on went the top crust.. which was the part I struggled with most, because the dough was starting to tear. I snipped away all the excess dough hanging from the sides, pinched the edges, then brushed water on top of the crust and sprinkled a little bit of sugar. I watched Martha do it in this video. 

The instructions on the can of pie filling said to bake it at 425* for 30 minutes. I put it on the bottom rack and baked it for 15 minutes, then took it out and covered the edges with tin foil pieces so they wouldn't burn. I put it back in the oven, on the top rack, for about 10-15 more minutes. 

And here's my pretty blueberry pie! It's just so cuuuute!

Y.U.M !!

For this "Perfect Pie Crust" Recipe, visit Your Homebased Mom

Christmas Caramel Popcorn

Want a super yummy treat to make for your Christmas Eve or Christmas day get-together? This caramel popcorn is UH-mazing!! I promise! I made a huuuge bowl of it for our church Christmas party and came home with an empty bowl! I found the recipe on Baked Perfection. 

So what you need to do first is pop a whole bunch of popcorn. Instead of popping the microwave bagged popcorn like Risa did, I just did it on the stovetop in a ginormous pot!

If you have popcorn kernels, the directions will be on the bag. But you will pour a little bit of oil in the pot, maybe about 1/4 of a cup. Turn the stove on to about medium low. Then you put ONE kernel inside, close the lid and wait to hear it pop. Then you'll know the oil is hot enough to pour in the rest of your kernels. You'll only want one layer of kernels in the pot, so pour them in till the whole bottom pan is filled of one layer- no kernels on top of each other. Then you just shake the pop around a little here and there. It makes lots of noise banging around. :) But I LOVE hearing the sound of the popcorn popping!

After it's all popped, I split it between 3 of my sprayed glass baking dishes. 

Then you move onto making the caramel! Here's what you'll need for that:

3/4 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar

1/4 + 1/8 cups of light corn syrup

1/4 + 1/8 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

red and green food coloring

Start by heating your butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a medium sized pot. Stir, making sure to get all the clumps out. Bring it to a boil and keep stirring. Then let it boil for about 5 minutes. I let it sit without stirring too much. After 5 minutes, remove it from the heat and immediately add the baking soda and vanilla. The baking soda kind of changes the color and makes the caramel look a little puffier.. maybe that was just my eyes.. 

Now we want to split the caramel 3 ways. So first I pour 1/3 of the caramel over one dish of popcorn (just eyeball/guesstimate what 1/3 is). Then I pour another 1/3 of the caramel into another pot and added green food coloring, then pour it over a dish of popcorn, then I added red to the remaining caramel left in the other pot. I actually had my Hubby's help because I was stressing about the caramel setting too quickly before I could get all of it done! So I actually reheated the last bit of caramel again to get it pour-able again. As hubby was reheating and stirring, and I was stirring and coating the other dishes of popcorn. When the caramel cooled a bit, I put down my spatula and just used my hands to incorporate the caramel all over the popcorn. 

When all the popcorn is coated with caramel it gets baked in a 250* preheated oven.

Set the timer for 15 minutes.

When the timer is done, stir the popcorn around. 

Set the timer for another 15 minutes. 

Then stir the popcorn again. 

Then set the timer for the last 15 minutes. 

Now it's done! 

Taste your homemade caramel popcorn and freak out because it's so great and you'll never buy caramel popcorn at the the store ever again! ... Atleast, that's what I did! 

I made another batch just for Hubby and me later that week since we didn't get much of it at the church party! .. I just didn't add the food coloring step.

Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!

Peanut Butter Krispies

While browsing Pinterest tonight, I stumbled upon a recipe for these Peanut Butter Krispies. Not only are they a yummy little treat, but they aren't loaded with a bunch of junk {aka "sugar"}! I'm interested in finding yummy things with less sugar, so I jumped up and made my way to the kitchen. Seriously, that's the quickest I've ever gotten around to actually doing a Pinterest inspired recipe/project! 

This is really super quick! And I just happened to have a leftover bag of Rice Krispies hiding up in the pantry! Whoo-hoo! (I think they're actually leftover from when I made Rice Krispie Treats- hahaha!) 

Here is all you need  ..

Melt the peanut butter and honey together in a pot on the stove. I kept it on low and kept stirring it until it was mixed and melted really well. Then remove the pot from the heat and add and stir in the vanilla, then add the rice krispies and stir it up. Now it's ready to dump into a dish. I used my 9x13 dish.. I wish I had something a little smaller (always wish that) so whatever I'm making will be thicker and not too thin, oh well.

I don't think it sets really.. unless I didn't let it sit long enough before I dove in for a bite! But I think because of the ingredients, it's just a really soft treat. It's still yummy! Now I know what I can whip up when I get a craving for something sweet! : )

I think I need another bite....

Easy Cookies and Cream Dessert

Tonight we had my Hubby's parents over for dinner. I made those Ultimate grilled cheese sandwiches I was telling you about the other day! They loved them for sure!

And this is what we had for dessert!

Cookies and Cream Dessert!

SUPER quick and easy to make, nothing to it! 

This is how I made them 

{you're gonna laugh at me for even posting about them!}

Box of Jell-o Cookies and Cream 

instant pudding

Cool Whip

Oreo Cookies

Make pudding according to box instructions. 

Divide pudding into glasses 

It really should be pretty clear glasses so you can see the beautiful goodness! 

..just sayin! .. I used my short drinking glasses, since that's all I had! : ) I still thought they were adorable and Hubby said they looked so fancy!

Crush up some Oreo cookies in a bowl

Layer crushed cookies ontop of the pudding.

Now plop a couple hearty sized giant spoon fulls 

of whipped topping right on top! 

I gently spooned it around to get nice and and even 

and also was careful not to make a mess all over the glasses. 

Cut two cookies in half and 

poke a half in the top of each cup

Sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs on top.

Chill in fridge!

YUM

 Quick, easy and just enough dessert!

 

Ulitimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Have I got a YUMMY something to share with you today!

The restaurant where I waitress makes this sandwich called the Ultimate Grilled Cheese, and one of my customers ordered one yesterday, but wanted it made with a different kind of bread. But the cook overlooked the choice of bread I wrote and made the sandwich like regular, then realized what she did and made another sandwich. Well we can't let food just go to waste now, so my supervisor and I ate that sandwich- WOW! It was THE BEST grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had! After work I rushed to the grocery store and bought bread and cheeses to try and mimic the sandwich. I did. And here's how I made it so you can make one too! : ) 

 Ultimate Grilled Cheese Copycat! 

Sour dough bread

Cheddar cheese

 Swiss cheese

Parmesan cheese

 * The restaurant makes it with Panini bread but the grocery store was out.

*  I used grated Parmesan Cheese. Found little containers of it near the deli section. 

Slice and butter outsides of bread like you would a normal grilled cheese. Cut thin slices of swiss and cheddar cheese. On one slice of the bread I put slices of cheddar down first, then sprinkled a good layer of parmesan, and topped that with slices of the swiss cheese. In my heated pan on the stovetop I laid the slice of bread with cheese inside and heated it awhile before adding the top piece of bread. I actually covered my pan with a round pizza pan to keep in the heat for a minute to allow the cheese to melt a bit faster. After adding the top piece, flip sandwich over carefully and wait till other side is golden and crispy! -- pretty much made just like a normal grilled cheese sandwich! 

It's soooo good! Pretty sure I'll never make a grilled cheese the "old" way ever again! 

I ate mine with some of my chicken and rice dish

Okay, now go make one for yourself!

happy grilled cheesing!

Beef Stew and Dumplings

OoOooHhh... this was a GREAT dinner tonight! .. seriously, I'm wanting to eat leftovers for a midnight snack! I thawed my meet cubes in the fridge over night and got it all started in the crockpot at 9 this morning. 

Here's the recipe I found online, but I'll just share here what I did for mine tonight cause it's just a tad different.. not by much though.

1 carton of beef broth

1/4 - 1/2 cup of Italian dressing

1/4 - 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1 lb. of 1-1/4 inch stewing beef cubes

1 lb. potatoes cut up in chunks

4 large carrots cut in chunks

onion chopped up (I never use a whole one for the two of us!)

little bit of chopped fresh garlic (I added that) 

I put the broth, Italian dressing, BBQ sauce, and oregano together in the pot first. Then I browned the beef cubes for barely a minute in a pan on the stove and added them to the pot, along with onions and garlic. Turned the crockpot to "low." The potatoes and carrots actually didn't go in until an hour later, cause I had to run to the store to pick up some carrots. So I just decided I'd wait to put the potatoes in when I got back. The recipe said it should cook for about 8 hours on low. Mine was done probably around 6 hours, but I kept it going till Hubby got home for break. (The meat was perfect and tender!)

At around the last hour of cooking, I added a mixture of 3 Tbsp. of flour and 1/4 cup of water to the stew.. The recipe said to remove the meat, potatoes and carrots before putting those two ingredients in, and then serving it with pouring the thickened up juice over the top. But I just left everything in. It didn't really thicken up too much anyway. 

I also made dumplings! Hubby's grandma made a yummy stew with stew dumplings one Sunday afternoon and I LOVED it! So I found a recipe for those too, since I'd never made them before ..(I hadn't even eaten them before till I had them at his grandma's!) These are super easy to make! 

Dumplings for Stew: 

1 cup of flour

2 tsp. of baking powder

2 Tbsp. of dried parsley

1/2 tsp. of salt

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup of milk

2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil

First combine the dry ingredients, and then beat together the milk, egg, and oil in separate bowl. Stir that into the flour mixture. It will be really sticky and gooey. 

Just plop the dough into the crockpot by the spoonfuls, right on top of the stew. 

Twenty minutes should be enough time for the dumplings, so the recipe says. Mine actually cooked for about an hour. Hubby was supposed to be home at 4, so I put the dumplings in at 3:30.. but he wasn't able to get home till around 4:30! They were still perfect and yummy! 

Oh baby, it was the best meal I've had in a while! I know I just followed a simple crockpot recipe, but I'm still proud of myself for tonight's dinner. .. I'm not so great at cooking dinners.. most of the time I just don't like to.. That probably sounds terrible, but ... oh well, it's the truth :) I didn't say I "don't" make dinners. It's just not my favorite thing to do is all. Anyway, dinner was YUMMY over here! .. and I'm kind of craving some more right now! . . .

Crock Pot Apple Crisp

I. Love. Fall. 

.. I know, I've said it before.. many times, but I just really do love it! When the days start turning into fall I get this feeling in me.. The smells of fall, .. in the outdoors, in the kitchen, candles.. The chilliness, coziness, pulling out some light scarves, comfy sweaters... Yes, I'm getting to my point of this post, I'm just building it up! 

Fall makes me want to bake things! Lately I'm wanting to bake all sorts of yummy sweets. I haven't jumped at every urge to bake something though, thank goodness! But I was recently inspired by one of the blogs I follow {A Law Student's Journey} to make apple crisp in the crock pot! Mmmmm. So I tried it! And boy was it gooooood. I looked online for some recipes, and I kind of followed a few different recipes. 

How to make Apple Crisp in your crock pot

I peeled and sliced about 8 to 10 apples (6 cups sliced apples). 

Mine were actually small apples, so you may want less apples if yours are larger. I just bought a bag of apples. 

After peeling and slicing, I threw the apples into the crock pot. 

Then in a small mixing bowl I added these ingredients: 

1/3 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mixed that up then dumped it into the pot with apples and stirred it up. 

Then I added 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and stirred that up.

{The smells were already getting to me!} 

Next for the topping.. 

Mixed these ingredients in a bowl: 

1/2 cup of flour

2/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

 {one of the recipes I was following didn't include oats, so I added oats from another recipe, and cut out half the flour. Not sure if cutting the flour is necessary.. but that's what I did}

Then I cut 1/2 cup of butter into little pieces, added that to the flour, sugar and spice mixture and squished it all up with my hands into a crumbly mixture- great fun :)

Mmmmm I love crumble toppings! 

The topping mixture just goes right on top of the apples. Y.U.M.

On goes the lid, temperature set to LOW. Leave it for about 3 hours then take the lid off for about an hour so the crust topping can .. do what it's supposed to.

I couldn't wait to find out how this would turn out! I've never made an apple crisp  in my life! I've actually never done these kinds of baked goods before. Apple pies, apple crisps, other fruit pies.. 

Here's a look at it all done and ready to be eaten up

And it was definitely eaten up! We had Hub's parents over that night to enjoy some of it with us. They loved it and said it was super yummy! I'm not really crazy about apple desserts, but this was great! 

Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M - Y.U.M 

This is me beaming with pride for making my first apple crisp 

And this is Hub's saying to himself, "My wife is AWESOME!" :) 

{Yes, I have attained the gift of reading my husband's mind.}

Enjoy, and have yourself a yummy fall treat!

Chocolate Chip Cake

I made a cake. Last night at 12:00!

Yesterday I found a a square cake pan while I was out thrift shopping. Thought it would be fun to make some square cakes. So I brought it home and while hubby was preparing his sermon for next Sunday night I was making use of my new-to-me baking pan. 

Last Sunday we celebrated a cousin's birthday and his cake was a white cake with blueberries throughout it. It gave me an idea to try a chocolate chip cake. So I looked up a recipe online and found one. 

Isn't it cute?! 

It was getting late and Hubby wanted a piece so bad, so I frosted it while it was still warm.. hence the frosting spillage all over! I was hoping for the pretty drizzle drip down the side look..

Yes, it's a thin layer of frosting, but Hubby doesn't care for too much chocolate so I went easy on it.

Aren't the little blue plate/dishes SO adorable! I also found them yesterday while thrifting. There are four of them. I'm such a sucker for little dishes and things like this! Look how small they are compared to Hubby's hand! Love it!

M..mm..mmmmm. It was yummy :)

And Hubs went back for more! (and he tells everyone he doesn't like chocolate! I think the longer he's living with me the more he HAS to learn to like it. haha .. although, he did scrape the frosting off!!)

Now for the recipe!! 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil {I used 1/3 cup apple sauce instead}

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 egg

Chocolate chips {I didn't really measure this}

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking power, and salt.

2. In small bowl whisk together egg and vanilla. 

3. Make two small wells in the flour mixture; Pour oil in one, and the egg/vanilla in the other. 

4. Add milk and stir until well mixed. 

5. Add some chocolate chips!

6. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350* F. 

Most the chips seemed sink to the bottom.. so I was thinking maybe next time I try this I'll put the cake in the oven for about 5 minutes and then pour some chips in so they don't (hopefully) all sink to the bottom. But either way, it still turned out really good!

And for the frosting {mom told me this!}

In a big coffee mug:

Fill cup almost full with powdered sugar.

Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of soft butter and cream them together really good with a fork.

Add a tiny bit of milk and stir well. Add enough milk to get the right consistency. 

Then add cocoa! (however much to your taste!)

Enjoy!