Making Whoopie...pies, pumpkin whoopie pies

My sister is on her way to Louisville which can only mean one thing, I have to whip something creative up for her judgemental taste buds. While on a run earlier this week, which just happens to end at the Wine Rack no matter the millage or the day, I noticed pumpkin beer in the window, a favorite between the sisters. I came home and begin looking for that extra special pumpkin recipe when I stumbled upon one of my favorite blogs. After reading the list of ingredients, there was no way I could compete to make it my own so I present you with Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, from Erin's Food Files.

While you're there, check out her other amazingly delicious treats. Erin is a good friend of Megan and from what I hear, quite the chef. My whoopie pies are in the cooling stage but from licking the bowl throughout the process, I can already tell these are going to be a hit!

* This is not a picture of the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies as my camera is toast. However, this is my jack-o-lantern from last Halloween, so it counts.

For you meat lovers

So, I am by no means a vegetarian. I just have a strong distaste for touching raw bloody carcass prior to gnawing on its bones, that, and I do feel bad for the little guys. However, I am a huge huge huge fan of bacon and bison. Thus I present you with this:







If you haven't tried bison, it is much less fatty and greasy than beef and is huge here in Kentucky, that and fried green tomato blt's which I will attempt one of these days. Back to the bison, simply season with salt and pepper and throw it on the grill with some potatoes and veggie kabobs and you have yourself a well balanced meal. I prefer mine medium to medium well, but if charred is your thing, by all means go and ruin it. Now to the veggie goodness, I opted for eggplants and squashes from my CSA basket, added in green pepper and tomato with minced fresh garlic. Mmm mmm good.

Veggie Burger Deliciousness

So this one I totally stole from Megan, but since she's much too busy to entertain you, I am taking the credit. While I have not quite mastered the stability of these yet, the taste is there and that's really what counts.

2 cans black beans (rinsed, drained, and mashed)

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

2 eggs

1 ear corn, off the cop

3-4 garlic gloves minced

1 package saltines

salt

pepper

chili powder

cumin

squirt hot sauce

small handful shredded cheese

Finely chop up the onion and peppers and drain them as much as possible. Wrap them up in towels being careful not to spill them on the floor to soak up some of the moisture. Mix all the ingredients with the mashed black beans and make yourself some patties.

Tips

Things you can add to help keep the patties as patties: flour, oats, cooked rice, sweet potatoes. egg whites, etc. etc.

If you plan on grilling these, which is by far the tastiest method, freeze them in patties first.

Basically throw everything together and make patties.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooo blog world, I'm back, camera or not. After many weekend away, I have decided to spend this one indoors cooking, except for that little stint with blogging buddy Megan in which we drank champagne and visited the many Louisville festivals. My favorite of the recipes was French Onion Soup. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a delicious bowl of tasty goodness and wait until you see the soup crocks I bought in Chicago.

After much google searching for the perfect recipe I came across the following from Cooking Light. I halved this recipe and substituted fake beef broth for the real deal. At Whole Foods I discovered Vegetarian Better than Bouillon fake beef paste stuff in a jar. To make a long story short, it's delicious. So here it goes:

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups thinly vertically sliced Walla Walla or other sweet onion
4 cups thinly vertically sliced red onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dry white wine
8 cups less-sodium beef broth (I used the fake stuff, no cows for me)
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
8 (1-ounce) slices French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
8 (1-ounce) slices reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

Preparation
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in sugar, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat to medium; cook 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high, and sauté for 5 minutes or until onion is golden brown. Stir in wine, and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and thyme; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours.

At this point I divided my recipe into the cute little crocks shown above and placed them in the fridge for individual indulgences.

Before Service

Warm soup in oven. Remove from oven.

Place bread in a single layer on a baking sheet; broil 2 minutes or until toasted, turning after 1 minute. Or if you're me the bread is already stale and you can skip this step.

Place bread on top of soup and layer with cheese. Broil 3 minutes or so or until cheese begins to brown. You might place a pan underneath these so you don't burn the dripping cheese.

Enjoy, it's delicious

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

As I celebrated the big 26 this weekend in Evansville, I remembered, I have a blog. A very very sad blog with lack of posts. So what if I don't have a camera, if it's worthy enough, it can be visually described.

My late birthday weekend was filled with food. I had a delicious angel food cake (made by Betty Crocker herself) topped with the freshest of fresh berries. And my mother has apparently been keeping up with my food blog because I received a brand spanking new rolling pin for my birthday. Yes, you heard that correctly. Goodbye empty Svedka vodka bottle, hello delicious wood rolling pin. I also got a hand mixer, can opener, and mixing bowls. Who knew a 26 year old would be so thrilled over such commodities.

We also ventured out to take in the new flick Julie and Julia. If you haven't gone, you should. It is fabulous. If I only had the blogging/cooking skills as portrayed in the movie. Well, for one, I'd be enormous. The main ingredient in each dish is butter. But honestly, quite a good film.

Since I can't simply post about my fabulous weekend, that did come complete with the best 60 minute massage ever, I have posted a new favorite snack.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats
You make these the traditional way, bag of marshmallows, stick of butter, small box of krispies. However, try adding about 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup peanut butter while melting the marshmallows and butter. Your taste buds will thank me, your gut, not so much. I could have eaten 1/2 the pan the first night. Luckily these were going to the local Gilda's club, so none stayed in my kitchen!

Enjoy, and I promise to not abandon you anymore poor blog.

Goulash, or something like it

First and foremost, I apologize for the picture. My camera bit the dust shortly after the upload. Thank goodness I have a birthday coming up, hint hint.

Growing up, everyone has that one food that they hate, well, I had many, but the one that you hate, and then as you get older, you love. Mine was my mom's goulash.

Goulash, well, sort of, kind of goulash. Each member of my family makes this completely differently but for some reason it all has the same name. This is my version.

My Version

Small Onion

Clove of Garlic

Green Pepper

Half bag veggie crumbles

Big can diced tomatoes

Cooked elbow macaroni (use your best judgement, I went with half the package)

Salt

Pepper

Cut up vegetables and cook with veggie crumbles until they are no longer frozen(the veggie crumbles that is). Add diced tomatoes, 2 pinches salt, 2 pinches pepper. Stir until hot. Add to cooked, drained noodles and season to taste.

You can use ground beef, but, I don't like to touch it so I opted for veggie crumbles. You all missed the bison steaks I cooked up this weekend, hehe.

*Note, there is no mention of the corn, it tasted like earth.

homemade mayo!!

i dont eat it very often so there is really no point in buying it.  but, while bobby was here for the 4th of july i was cooking like a mad woman and realized that i needed some for the coleslaw i was making.  i didnt want to go to the store and richard and bobby had downed an entire bottle of jager in 30 minutes so they werent going either....

hummm... what is a girl to do???

make her own, of course!!! :)

this recipe is so so so simple!!

ingredients:

1 egg

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 teaspoon powdered sugar

1 1/4  cup canola oil

mix everything except oil together in a blender.  NOTE:  ALL INGREDIENTS NEED TO BE ROOM TEMP!  slowly add oil while continuously blending.  i actually doubled everything because i was making avocado ranch mayo.  (hence the empty avocado and ranch packaging)  for that i used 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 avocado and 1 packet of hidden valley ranch dry mix.  mash up the avocado and mix everything else in with it.  it is really really good  :)

comfort food

i dont know what my deal has been lately but ive been craving carbs!  i didnt exactly know what i wanted but i know i wanted to feel full.  so, while richard was playing with his toys (aka turntables) i decided to make something yummy and this is what came about....

i took this recipe and made my own little version of it.

ingredients:

12 ounce package dry gemelli (its pasta... use whatever you want)

small onion

1 pound fake sausage

1/2 cup white wine

1 15 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

6 ounce can of tomato paste

14.5 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes

shredded cheese... the more, the better :)

preheat oven to 400.  you will also need to start boiling water for the pasta and get that going.

chop up that onion.  i cant get enough of my nicer dicer.  it is the best thing i have in my kitchen right now... until i get my kitchenaid standing mixer.  dont worry nicer dicer, i will still love you equally.

you will need to brown the meat.  obviously, you dont have to use fake sausage but sausage is needed for this recipe.  so, for you meat lovers... go ahead and eat little wilbur.  anyway... once you start to cook the sausage, add the onion and cook until evenly brown.  (if you are using real meat, once the meat is finished cooking make sure to drain that nasty, greasy fat)  then add the wine, spaghetti sauce, fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste.  simmer for about 10 minutes.  stir occasionally.  (are you jealous of my cast iron skillets?  its ok, you can be) :)

next toss pasta with the sausage mixture.  from this point, you can do what you like.  you can throw this is a greased 9x13 pan, cover it with cheese and bake it or you can layer it.  one layer pasta, one layer cheese, one layer pasta, one layer cheese... you get the point.  (layering is what i did)  

bake for about 20-25 minutes and then enjoy!!! :)

it was really really really good.... this recipe is very versatile and super easy to make.  you can add and take out whatever you want.  since it is just me and the boy, this dish lasted us all week.  well, i also make eggplant parmesan so between the 2 of those dishes we were set! :)

Homemade Tortillas

Literally, I'm cooking with cocktails. I was in the mood for a cheesy quesadilla but had no tortillas. I whipped up some real quick. However, I lack one important thing, a rolling pin. Thank goodness for vodka bottles, and have you tried Svedka? Cheap, delicious, and look how cute that little bottle is. Goes great with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, or even pink crystal lite!

Tortillas

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup Crisco

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup warm water

Work Crisco (or any vegetable shortening) into the flour until crumbly. Dissolve salt into water and add too flour mixture. Mix until goopy.

Knead dough for 3 minutes and then divide into 12 small balls. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes to an hour.

Heat skillet, no oil. Roll balls of dough into flat, very thin shapes (I couldn't get circles for the life of me, I went with blobs). Cook for about a minute on each side watching carefully not to burn them.

Let cool between paper towels, store in an airtight container.

Fill with your choice of wholesome goodness. I opted for cheese this evening, but cooked up a delicious vegetable mixture for tomorrow's lunch. (Squash, green pepper, onion, garlic, and some vegetable that looks like a cross between a squash and a cucumber. Sprinkled with some black pepper and Italian seasoning and topped off with juicy pepperoncinis, sure to make the coworkers jealous).

"they melt in your mouth" (thats what she said)

ok, sorry... i couldnt help myself on that one.  but the quote is real and she really did say that :)

4 words

honey chocolate chip cookies

yes.  they are amazing.  you might not be ready for it....

i found this recipe and decided to make a little bit of a twist to it.  i really had been wanting to use the honey i had recently bought at the farmers market and thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

 

ingredients - 

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda (i didnt have baking soda so i used baking powder.  i used about 3 tsp)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup crisco (melted and cooled)

2 cups chocolate chips

1/2 cup honey

in medium mixing bowl, mix sugars, crisco, eggs, honey and vanilla until combined.

in a large bowl, mix flour and baking powder until combined.  then add sugar mixture to the large bowl and fold into the flour mixture.  add chocolate chips until it looks amazing and you want to eat all the raw cookie dough :)

i let the dough cool for a few hours before baking it.  actually, in all honesty... this was the night amanda came over with her wine charms.  i let the dough sit for about 5 hours and then made the first batch.  (i only have one cookie sheet)  then i realized it was almost midnight and i needed to go to bed.  i ended up waking up at 6am (which came entirely too early) and made the rest of the cookies.

but, all in all.... it was worth it.  these cookies are pretty damn amazing and everyone at my work (and richards) ate them right up.  i will be using this recipe again because its a no fail kinda deal :)