Food

When I was working in the Cafe one of our regular ladies asked if I wanted any zucchini. I asked her if she had a garden and she said no, she lives next to a farm. The farmer allows her to pick what she wants from the farm. I thought that was very sweet of the farmer. I told her sure, I love zucchini. I was more than a bit surprised when she came back after lunch and brought me these. That big one is almost 14" long! I took the smaller one (which is still much bigger than ones from the store) and sliced it up like a cucumber. I froze them on a tray and them put them in a Ziploc bag. Those will be used with yellow squash or a couple family favorite dishes. The big guy I peeled and then shredded. The pieces were about 3" long. I layed those out on a cookie sheet and froze them also. Those will go in soups and for zucchini pancakes. I made a few zucchini pancakes already and they turned out great. They had a nice crisp crust and were pretty tasty.

Each Easter and Christmas I buy Peeps. The kids don't like them anymore but the dog and I do. I only eat a pack or two. I'm just a marshmallow lover. You can always find a bag of marshmallows in my cabinet. This week I have caramel/vanilla marshmallows. Anyways...Hubby stopped off at Walgreen's for his monthly cashew fix and he saw these Peeps freezer pops. He knows my marshmallow addiction and thought I would get a kick out of these. I was hesitant especially when I saw that the pops were marshmallow flavored and clear. I froze them and then caved and tried them today. The first bite was delicious. It reminded me of a creamy frosting. Halfway through it just got to be too much. The more I ate the funkier the taste became. Nice thought Peeps but a fail in my opinion.

Raw Cookie Dough Balls

This is what I was making after Thanksgiving Dinner. I already spent most of the day in the kitchen so I figured I may as well spend some more lol. I made the balls a week or so ago and they were in the freezer. All I needed to do was dip them in the chocolate.

I found the recipe here.  I used these candy wafers to cover the cookie dough balls. I love how easy it is to use these wafers. Just melt them in the microwave and you're ready to go. I bought these at A.C.Moore last year around Christmas I believe. I kept them in a dark cabinet away from the heat and they are still fine. My guys say they taste like Andes Mints. I also bought a bunch of other colors/flavors but we used them making Oreo Balls earlier this year.

Mish Mash

I have wanted an immersion blender for some time now. I recently became a happy owner and tested it out. That orange glop you see is actually some delicious butternut squash soup. It's just a bit thick but still yummy. I didn't have a recipe. I just winged it like I usually do. I sweated some onions, carrots, celery and garlic until the onions were soft. I added in 3 white potatoes and a medium size butternut squash. Both were pealed and cut into 1" cubes. I covered them with chicken broth and brought it to a boil. Once it came to a boil I turned the heat down to a simmer and let it go until the potatoes were soft. It took about 45 minutes. Then I took the immersion blender to it and made it smooth. I had a bowl for lunch and put the rest in the freezer. It will be great for quick dinners at work with a piece of hearty bread.

I also made faux banana ice cream and faux mango ice cream. For the fake ice cream you chopped up your fruit and place it in the freezer. After it is frozen you use the immersion blender to chop up the fruit until smooth. It comes out cold and creamy just like ice cream. It's great for me because of my milk allergy plus it's healthier than ice cream.

I also received this little package in the mail this week. Val  sent these out to all the participants in the YOE. The card says not to open until Christmas. I'm trying to be good and wait but I don't know if I will make it.

I also finished the main portion of the cupcake scarf. It just needs the embellishments. Plus, I am waiting on customer approval of the colors.

Apple Pie Bars

I have been a subscribe to Family Fun for several years. The magazine is loaded with lots of fun things and great information. Plus, each  month there is a kid friendly recipe. The recipe has great step by step instructions so you can prepare it with your kids. I have made several of these recipes and they always come out wonderful.

A couple months ago the recipe was for apple pie bars. Everyone in our house loves apple pie. My pies are usually delicious in flavor but are not very appealing to the eye. I have never been able to make one that doesn't have the big air pocket between the filling and the top crust. With this recipe you don't have to worry about that.

I used refrigerator dough to make it easy. It took two boxes because of the size of my pan. I just layed the dough in the pan and trimmed the extra off and added it in where it looked a bit skimpy. For the filling I had bought some McIntosh apples like the recipe calls for. They are Hubby's favorite so he will eat the left overs. The recipe said to use an ungreased pan...bad idea for a refrigerated pie dough. Next time I will use some pan spray because the bottom crust stuck miserably. That's why you have no inside pics. That and we ate it too fast. This was the most delicious apple pie we have ever had. The tartness of the apples played well with the sugar and cinnamon. I skipped the glaze on top because it didn't need the extra sweetness and we don't need the extra calories either. I think with the next one I will skimp a bit more on the cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top too.

I think next time I better make a double batch because it was gone in a couple days. Delicious!

Whoopie Pies

I've been seeing some really yummy  looking whoopie pies on a few blogs lately. I decided that I just had to have some.

I went on a search for a recipe that did not have any milk (due to my allergy). I found one on my favorite recipe site, AllRecipes.  I used an ice cream scoop to make the cookies. After making a couple dozen scoops I became bored scooping.

So, I made a giant whoopie pie. I used a couple brownie pans. This wasn't one of my better ideas though. Actually, it was a good idea just not followed through very well. The cake portion is too thick. If I had sliced each cake in half and layered frosting in between each layer it would have been better. As it is though, they tasted just like devil dogs.  Of course these are not very healthy with the shortening but they are soooo good.

Decorating the tree

Each year around this time I go out and pick up one of those gingerbread house kits. Sometimes it's a house, sometimes it's a train. Last year it was gingerbread men. The kids (of all ages) love to decorate them but nobody really likes to eat them.

Fast forward to this year. My oldest Justin (21) works at Bob Evan's restaurant. Each year during December they have their annual holiday party. Any employee that wishes can bring in something to eat. They have a contest to see who has the best prepared dish. They actually do this throughout the year for different holidays. Justin always asks for my input about what to make. I've noticed that the winners have usually made something that looks fun. The best tasting isn't always a sure fire winner. Over the years we have made stuffed peppers (requested many times since), red velvet skull cake, and other desserts. Justin's first idea was cheesecake. Then he realized that we didn't have a springform pan plus the work involved. Since there isn't much wow factor involved he decided to change his dish. Then he thought about mac and cheese but the one he liked had 7 cheeses and wasn't in his budget. I try to stay out of the decision making until he has tossed around a few ideas first. Then I do an online search. Justin gets sidetracked online and doesn't look at all the blogs that I do. Anywho....we decided on a Christmas tree cupcake cake. I saw some fun pumpkin ones during Halloween and figured we could do a tree easily.

 

Here is the prototype that me and the other two kids worked up last night. I have several food allergies so I needed to make everything from scratch if I wanted to eat any of it. When Justin makes his, we will use a cake mix and canned frosting. They just make a better appearance. We will also use a variety of candies to decorate the tree with. I'm thinking peppermints, holiday M&Ms, rope licorice, etc.

 

I used mini cupcakes for our version. I used a simple white cake recipe I found online. I swirled some neon pink food coloring in just for fun. I laid them out to resemble a Christmas tree shape plus a trunk.

 

I can't eat butter, shortening, or milk products so I had to search out a good frosting recipe. I found this one over at Recipezaar.  It reminds me of a fluffy marshmallow. Not too sweet and nice and creamy. I colored some yellow for the star and some more brown for the trunk. The brown didn't get dark enough because I was worried that the liquid food coloring would thin out the frosting too much. The rest was colored green.

 

We used some non-periels for the ornaments. Then the kids outlined the ornaments with gel food writing tubes.

 

Then they used the gel writers to make the garland. It was fun and kept the kids busy for a few minutes last night.

Once Justin makes his, I will post a pic so you can see how his looks.

Pepperoni hint

My family loves to make and eat home made pizzas. Pepperoni is always on the ingredient list. I almost always buy turkey pepperoni because it is healthier and less greasy than the regular type. Even the turkey can get greasy though. I normally buy the thin slices but this time all they had at our store is the thick slices.

To help cut back on all the extra grease on your pizza, pre-cook your pepperoni in the microwave. I read this hint awhile ago somewhere on line and thought it was a great idea!


Line your pepperoni up on a paper towel covered microwave safe plate. We don't use paper towels, so I just used a few napkins instead. Then cover the pepperoni with more towels. The above picture is after microwaving for 1 minute. Since the pepperoni is thick, I cooked it for a 2nd minute.


This picture shows the napkins from the top of the plate after the first minute of cooking.


After the second minute...


If you use regular pepperoni, your paper towels will be much, much greasier. Adjust your cooking times to go with the thickness of your pepperoni. If you cook it too long, the edges will curl up and you will have cup shaped pepperoni.

Every little bit helps when you are trying to watch what you eat. Plus, we don't care for greasy pizzas.