Browsing the blog archives for March, 2012.

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Healthy, Kids

In my quest to cut out the fake food around here, I embarked on finding just the right recipe to give fruit roll ups a try. This one does not involve any stove top cooking or even any pureeing, it’s just good quality jam and corn starch really. That and a little patience.

The wee ones all love these and maybe I do to. They’re excellent in lunch boxes and diaper bags (and in my Anthropologie purse).

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups via Health for the Whole Self

2/3 cup fruit preserves
2 tsp corn starch

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
Mix the fruit preserves and the corn starch in a small bowl. Cut a length of parchment paper.
Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
Spread out strips of the fruity goo on the parchment paper and bake at 225F for 45 minutes.
Homemade Fruit Roll Ups
Mine all spread into each other, but that’s nothing a pizza cutter couldn’t fix!!
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Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S’more Bars

Domestic

I wish I could remember which random ‘special interest publication’ this recipe came from. You know at Christmas you see Better Homes and Gardens and Good Housekeeping and even Martha and Pillsbury have a ‘special’ cookie magazine? It doesn’t come as part of a subscription, it has like 300 pages and is more than double the price of a regular magazine? This is from one of those from at least 5 years ago. Last year I went through my Hoarders-esque stack of closet of magazines and ripped out the pages I was holding on to them for. I put them in page protectors in a painfully organized binder. This post is proof that I actually bake some of those recipes too! So anyhoo, while that’s nice and tidy of me, there is no trace of what magazine I pulled it from. Whoops.

The recipe itself is too good for me to make on a regular basis, or at least to make without already deciding who I am gifting them too. They. Are. So. Good. They have a s’more taste to them with the graham crackers + marshmallow + chocolate, but I think the weird oaty base (and splattered on top as well) is what pulls it all together and really won me over. I first made them as part of our cookie tin the year I bought the magazine, and I’ve made them every year since for random Christmas treats but in the last year or two I’ve been making them whenever the mood strikes.

Must try! Make for a crowd!

Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars

Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S’more Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips or chunks

Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Cream the butter, then add the sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Add the flour and mix, then the oats and cracker crumbs.
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Line a baking dish (mine was 13 x 9) with parchment paper and press half of the dough into the dish. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
Sprinkle the mini marshmallows and the chocolate chips on top, now drop the rest of the dough, in tablespoon sized chunks on top of that and bake again for another 10-15 minutes.
Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S'more Bars
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Hard Candy / Urban Decay Grey Eyes

Pretty

I’m a real sucker for black eyeshadow and pink lips and this video only made it worse. Any combo of blacks and greys on the eyes with any kind of light to almost berry lips is a winner for me. So smitten with how cute this is! This is a look I wear far too often – almost always with bright pink nails.

Eyes are a blend of three shadows. I used Hard Candy’s Baked Meteor Eyeshadow in Black Hole on the lid, Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow in Gunmetal in the crease and Strip up the brow bone. Eyes are lined with Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Zero and finished with Hard Candy’s Lash Tinsel Glitter Mascara (under my Quo 808 lashes of course) in Spellbound and brows are filled in with Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Underground.

Cheeks have just a little Tarte’s Natural Beauty Cheek Stain in Sheer Berry Rose and lips are Too Faced’s Lip of Luxury in Cupcake.

Hard Candy / Urban Decay Grey Eyes

Hard Candy / Urban Decay Grey Eyes
Hard Candy / Urban Decay Grey Eyes
Hard Candy / Urban Decay Grey Eyes
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Vegan Fudge

Healthy

I had been trying my hand at vegan baking for a few month when we made a friend with a pretty severe milk allergy. 2/5 of us are lactose intolerant so we are no really that big on milk anyway, but I have always left dairy in the recipes I use and it never seems to bother us the way a bowl of ice cream might. But even a cup of milk in a batch of muffins was too much for our new friend and I had made fudge for the kids that he had to miss out on.

Thankfully, I found this kick ass recipe on Averie Cooks and it was super simple to make and even more importantly, it’s delicious and free of chemicals and rando garbage store bought fudge is full of!

Vegan Fudge

Vegan Fudge via Averie Cooks

1 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons dairy free margarine
1/2 cup coconut milk not light
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vegan Fudge
Vegan Fudge
Melt the margarine and coconut milk over medium heat until blended. Remove from heat.
Vegan Fudge
Vegan Fudge
In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, sugar, and cocoa, then pour the hot melted butter and coconut milk over top.
Vegan Fudge
Vegan Fudge
Mix! Mix! Mix!
Vegan Fudge
Vegan Fudge
Pour into a brownie pan and pop in the fridge for about an hour or two to set up.
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Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges

Domestic

This right here? Is husband food. Both the chicken wings and the potato wedges are far too spicy for 2/3 of the children, and I went ahead and made something different for all three of them anyway so my husband wouldn’t have to share. He has his favorites that the kids and I like too, like stew and chili and lasagna and chicken ceasers and things like that, but this kind of meal, the kind of purposely greasy but still made from scratch food you only really find in old school pubs and family restaurants, is defo his hands down number one love. Not just the combo of wings and wedges, but wings that aren’t off chickens that look like they starved to death and wedges that have been cut to actually resemble a wedge of some kind.

Next time I make these though, I need some cute pub-style baskets to serve them in!

Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges

Spicy Wedges
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large potatoes, washed and cut
Honey Garlic Sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon diced ginger
1/4 cup hot water
corn starch
Chicken Wings
1-2 lbs chicken wings
bottle of favorite hot sauce
1/2 cup butter
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
First wash and cut your potatoes into wedges. Then mix all the seasonings in a large plastic bag (sandwich bag style).
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Put the wedges in the bag, a handful at a time and shake it up to coat them. Bake them at 400F for about 15-20 minutes.
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
The sauce for the chicken is ridic simple. Just heat up your favorite hot sauce and add the butter. Cook it down a little, about 10 minutes or so before you toss the chicken in it.
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Toss all of the ingredients except the cornstarch and water for the honey garlic sauce in a saucepot and stir till it’s almost boiling. Then reduce the heat, mix the hot water with the cornstarch and then add a little of the sauce to the water/corn starch mixture. Slowly incorporate that back into the sauce so it will thicken up nicely.
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
I cooked the chicken wings in a little oil in my wok, but you can deep fry or bake them if you want. Coat the chicken in the hot sauce, plate the wedges separately and serve the honey garlic on the side.
Chicken Wings with Spicy Wedges
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Pulled Pork with Pilaf

Domestic

With a Greek mother and a painfully Canadian father (my grandparents from his side are from Saskatchewan and Quebec!) who was more than happy to adopt as much Greek cooking as my mother liked, we ate a lot of pilaf growing up. There is still a lot of pilaf going on over there – and now that Wee One #2 has decided it’s one of her most treasured things to eat, there is a lot of it going on around here as well.

When I was a kid I thought it was tricky, but by the time I was around 13 my Dad showed me how to do it and I’ve been making it since. Easy peasy!

Pulled Pork and Pilaf

6-8lb roast
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 cups water
1/4 cup molasses
Pilaf
1 onion
3 + cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup rice
2 cups water
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Mix all the spices for the rub in a bowl. Rinse off the meat and massage the rub into the meat.
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Mix the water and molasses and pour into the roasting pan with the rubbed pork. Slow cook this baby all day at just under 300F. I went with 270F for about 8 hours or so.
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Let it sit for 30 minutes or so and the shred it.
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
Pulled Pork and Pilaf
I waited till the pork was sitting before I started the pilaf. Chop the onion and garlic and chase them around a frying pan with the butter, until the onions are clear and the kitchen smells like garlic heaven. Add the water, set the heat to low and don’t touch it for about 30 minutes.

Everyone has their favorites, but pulled pork on a bun with a pilaf?! How can you not win friends with that?! Or have like, three helpings. Not that I’d ever have three helpings. Ha!

Pulled Pork and Pilaf
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Sables Diamant Vanille

Domestic

This is yet another recipe from the culinary school cook book I borrowed from my neighbor. 2011 was The Year of the Cookie and I’m still posting cookies I made. Let’s also ignore that 2012 is officially The Year of Soup and I’ve yet to show you any of the soups I’ve made thus far. Ahem.

Much like the other recipes I’ve tried in this book, I felt like a more accomplished domestic goddess as I baked these cookies. There is just something about this book that makes me feel fancy. Julia Child fancy, almost. Almost. I put on my sassy cherry apron while making them to balance out the fancy with ridic to keep the grown-upness in my kitchen to a healthy minimum.

These cookies are so smooth and buttery, as Julia would say ‘it stops your heart just to look at them’.

Sables Diamant Vanille

Sables Diamant Vanille via The Cook’s Book

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp, cut in pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups pastry flour
sanding sugar or sugar crystals

Sables Diamant Vanille
Sables Diamant Vanille
Place pieces of butter in your food processor and process until creamy.
Sables Diamant Vanille
Sables Diamant Vanille
Then add the sugar, vanilla and salt and process to blend it together.
Sables Diamant Vanille
Sables Diamant Vanille
Finally, add the flour and process to a smooth dough.
Sables Diamant Vanille
Shape it into a ball and divide that in three. Roll each ball of dough into a 2″ wide log. You may need to pop the dough in the fridge if it gets too soft (nobody likes it when the log goes soft on you). Ahem. Slice cookies from log.
Sables Diamant Vanille
Sables Diamant Vanille
Lay cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes.
Sables Diamant Vanille
Voila! Look at you all fancy and French and shit. Go watch Marie Antoinette and eat them with wine.
Sables Diamant Vanille
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Chicken Hot Pockets

Domestic

Today, I’m linking up with Kate Says Stuff, The How To Mommy and Obviously Marvelous

There are those recipes for 11 layer cakes that wow a room full of friends or a seriously huge batch of stuffing with all the random stuff in it that makes your entire extended family reach for seconds on Thanksgiving, and those recipes are wonderful and certainty have a time and a place (you know, like a going away party or, um, Thanksgiving). But what about like, Wednesday night dinner?

Enter this recipe. This not only always pleases my crowd (all of them at once even!) but if you’re feeling lazy short on time, you can make the filling over a bed of rice for a no hassle, no dough involved meal and make them just as happy. Wee One #1 loves this so much he requests it for lunch on the regular, and I always have to make a separate ‘lunch batch’ because there are never any leftovers. Never.

chicken hot pockets

Chicken Hot Pockets
1 batch pizza dough (or something similar) original recipe used a can of Grands biscuits
2 cups cup cooked chicken, chopped
2 cups condensed cream of chicken soup
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon dried onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

chicken hot pockets
chicken hot pockets
First, deal with the dough, however you choose to do that. Then heat your soup and add all the other ingredients to the pot.
chicken hot pockets
However you make the dough, you’ll need to divide it up into individual amounts.
chicken hot pockets
chicken hot pockets
Then with a little flour (or parchment paper), roll out each pocket and fill with about 1/4 cup of filling.
chicken hot pockets
chicken hot pockets
Fold it up as carefully as you can and bake them seam side down for about 30 minutes at 375F.
chicken hot pockets
Super simple, serious taste punch. I swear it’s the poultry seasoning + thyme combo combo, but really the overall combo of all the spices together with the chicken is a real winner.
3 Comments

Bubblegum Vodka

Domestic

After we made Skittles vodka when we first moved out to the woods, I decided to toss as many different kinds of candy in vodka as possible. Not all at once, mind you, but over time. Skittles vodka was a serious hit, likely because it was hella sugary. Gummie bear vodka was also a hit, also likely because it was hella sugary. I figured since I had made it work twice already that bubblegum vodka would be a homerun – it was defo hella sugary.

However.

It seems the common theme between Skittles and gummie bears wasn’t their sugar content. It’s that my girlfriends and I really like Skittles and gummy bears. I’m the only one out of the five of us that likes bubblegum. Whoops, sorry ladies. Bubblegum vodka shots did not go over well. So after we each had a shot and no one liked it we went back to wine, strained out the bubblegum chunks and left it in the mason jar in the back of the pantry. For like, 2 months. Then one night when a few other girlfriends were visiting, one of them wandered into the back of the pantry and found the very bright pink mason jar – and she polished it off. Which means that someone finally liked it!

Bubblegum Vodka

Bubblegum Vodka

All you need is a mickey of vodka and about 20-30 pieces of bubblegum. Use Bazooka gum to feel 8 years old again.

Bubblegum Vodka
Bubblegum Vodka
Chop all your bubblegum into smallish pieces.
Bubblegum Vodka
Bubblegum Vodka
Plunk the gum in a jar full of vodka and wait a few days! Then get loaded with your girlfriends!
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Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers

Domestic, Kids

This is one of those ridiculous after school snacks I have made for the kids that they absolutely loved, and I felt especially silly making! The kids next door were here when I made them and they thought they were hilarious and amazing. Both snacks are super easy to make and are a really cute and filling snack for wee ones (and maybe some grown ups too). 😉

Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers

Hot Dog Noodles and Chicken Fingers

Hot Dog Noodles
hot dogs
thin spaghetti, uncooked
Chicken Fingers
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 egg
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Just poke the uncooked spaghetti through sliced raw hot dogs and pop them in a pot of boiling water.
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Whisk up your egg and place your breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl.
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Mix the flour with the wheat germ and place in a shallow bowl. Pound out your chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap, slice them into ‘fingers’.
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Roll each piece in the flour/wheat germ mixture, then in the egg.
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Hot Dog Noodles with Chicken Fingers
Coat in the seasoned breadcrumbs, then bake for about 20 minutes at 375F.
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