Mini Pies

My daughter's birthday party was this weekend, and I wanted to do some fun and yummy party favors for the adults that were coming to the party. 

We ended up making some pies with homemade strawberry jam.  I'll be posting the homemade strawberry jam recipe soon.

Ingredients
Frozen rolled up pie crust or make your own dough. 
Any filling you wish, we used homemade strawberry/berry jam, chocolate chips & bananas. 

Directions

Cut your pie dough to your desired shapes with cookie cutters.  We did castles & crowns. 

Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Fill with your desired filling. Be sure to not put too much, otherwise - the filling will overflow.

Here's a pic of our desired strawberry jam.

Pinch the edges to seal the edges.  You can use a fork or take lollipop sticks and pinch the edges. Brush egg white wash on top of the pies to give it a nice toasty color when they're placed in the oven.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes, and place on a cooling rack to cool.  Your pies should have a nice toasty color.

Let cool and wrap in small treat bags & decorate accordingly.

Quick & easy tomato sauce

Making tomato sauce is usually a long long long process.  I know because I've done it.   With that being said, I try not to do this during the weekday, when I only have 2 hours when I come from work to cook dinner, feed the kids dinner, give the kids a bath, finish homework before ushering them to bed by 9pm.  So I usually pick a meal that's easy to cook, nutritious, but still yummy.

With the weather being so hot lately, I've been craving lots and lots of veggies, so I thought of this fun quick & easy tomato sauce.

Ingredients
4-5 riped tomatoes, cut into small pieces - Zyliss Red Tomato Stem Remover
2-3 carrots - cut into 1/4 size small pieces
1 whole garlic - minced (we love garlic in our house, so we naturally used a lot more)
1 yellow onion - diced
1 teaspoon of marjoram (if you don't have any in your pantry, feel free to use oregano)
1 tablespoon of garlic powder (didn't I mention we love garlic)
1 stalk of fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of red hot pepper (more if you like spicy, or leave out if this isn't for you)
Canola or Olive Oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium size pot and stir in the garlic & onion till fragrant.  Be sure to not burn these.  Toss in carrot & toss.  Wait approximately 2-3 minutes and start putting in the tomatoes. Look at the pretty colors with all the veggies combined.

Let these vegetables simmer in your pot on medium heat for 15-20ish minutes. Keep a close eye on this and stir if necessary.  You don't need to stand by your stove and keep stirring crazily, but what you're looking for is this. You'll be tempted to add water or chicken broth before it gets to this stage.  Resist that temptation, I promise you it would cook down.  At this point, add all the seasoning into the pot and stir to mix everything together. 

The longer this cooks, the more the sauce would thicken - I kept this on my stove a medium low simmer for approximately an hour (during that time, I bathed both my kids & helped them with their homework).

In the end, I topped this on top of some zitis.  This can also go on top of spaghetti, penne or any pasta you have in your pantry.

So no this isn't your traditional tomato sauce, but the flavors are great (especially since you're using all fresh veggies), the colors are vibrant, and it's quick and easy for a work night.

American Buttercream Frosting

We LOVE this frosting recipe from Glorious Treats

 

Often the most beloved element of a cupcake is the frosting.  A good frosting can elevate a simple cupcake to a delicious, rich dessert.  Classic American buttercream is surprisingly easy to make, and can be adjusted to your personal preferences using added flavorings, and adjusting the ratio of the ingredients.  American buttercream is simply a combination of butter, powdered sugar, vanilla (or other flavoring), and usually a bit of milk or cream- that’s pretty much it!   The frosting I love to use the most often is my Cream Cheese Frosting, which is simply a variation on American Buttercream, with some cream cheese added.  Free free to play with this recipe and adjust it to your palate.  This is a very sweet, classic frosting that pairs well with most any flavor of cupcake.

 

American Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (salted, or unsalted)
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (best quality available)
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or milk.
*Optional- As mentioned above, I like a cream cheese version of this frosting best.  The cream cheese adds to the creamy texture, and cuts down on the sweetness just a bit.  If desired, for a very light cream cheese flavor add 1/2 block (4 oz). cream cheese, leaving the other ingredients (as listed above) the same.  For a more traditional cream cheese flavor, reduce the butter to 1/2 cup, and add 1 block (8 oz.) of cream cheese.  If using a full block of cream cheese, you can reduce the cream or milk to 1 tablespoon total.
Flavoring options- An almost unlimited number of flavoring options can be added in addition to, or instead of the vanilla.  Orange and/or lemon zest, citrus extracts, mint extract, coconut extract or the seeds of a vanilla bean are all wonderful options.  In most cases I’ll still add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, then 1/2 teaspoon of the other flavoring.  For zest, add about 1 teaspoon fresh zest.  For chocolate buttercream, add 1/2 cup (good quality) unsweetened cocoa powder.
Directions-
* In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute). (If you are adding cream cheese, add it now, then beat until smooth)
* Add salt (if needed).
* One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.
* Add vanilla, or other flavorings and beat to combine.
* Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.
* Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.
* Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached.  If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick.  Continue to beat another minute or so.  The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.
Troubleshooting-
* If your frosting is not smooth, it is likely because the butter was not fully smooth before adding the other ingredients.
* If your frosting will not hold up when piped on cupcakes, your frosting has too much liquid or is too warm.  Put entire bowl of frosting in the fridge for 15-20 minutes and it will stiffen up.  If it is still too thin, then add 1/4 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar, beat well.

Recipe Source-  American buttercream first appeared in cookbooks in the early 1900′s (here’s a little buttercream history)  Countless sources since then have included very similar versions, always using some combination of butter (or shortening), powdered sugar, milk and flavoring.  The recipe above is simply the proportions I like to use.

Tortang Talong

This is the classic tortang talong recipe. But look out for the tip at the end of the post.

Ingredients :
250 g. of ground lean pork
1 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
1/2 c. of finely chopped onions
3/4 c. of coarsely chopped tomatoes
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. of flour
4-5 talong (eggplants)
salt and pepper
cooking oil


Cooking procedure :
Mix together all the ingredients except the eggplants and the cooking oil.
Cook the eggplants (boil, steam, grill or broil) until soft but not mushy. Peel off the skins, leaving the stems intact. Using a fork, flatten the meat of the eggplants. Divide the pork mixture into as many eggplants you prepared. Place the mixture on the flattened eggplants, patting the meat to make sure it is compact.
Heat a skillet or wok. Add about 2 tbsp. of cooking oil and heat until smoking. Carefully slide one stuffed eggplant onto the hot oil. Cook over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Add more cooking oil as you cook a new eggplant.
Serve with catsup.

If you want a really special tortang talong, lay a slice of cheese on the flattened eggplant before adding the pork mixture on top.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

We’re really not sure why we’re obsess with dessert lately, but who really can say no to treats. Oh. My. God. If you could take perfection, roll it in a ball, and dip it chocolate, this would be it. I’m not joking here folks. I’d strongly advise you to put down the mouse and get your butt to the kitchen, stat. While one of these little guys won’t hurt, good luck practicing self-restraint when faced with a cookie sheet full of them. It’s not easy. What is easy is whipping them up. Which I encourage you to go do. Immediately.

The cookie dough itself is egg-free, and potentially dairy free AND vegan if you get picky about what you coat them with.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Yield: 3-4 dozen

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
14 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.
When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.
Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week (though good luck making them last that long).