52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Weeks 6 & 7! It's a Twofer!

Ok, so I realized last week that I had somehow gotten a week off my schedule and that I'd better double up this week!

I also realized that I had no desire to bake something sweet. In fact, I was in the mood for something healthy! Well, at least I thought it would be healthy...

First up, I made some seemingly simple Apple Chips. They didn't turn out exactly how I expected them to. I guess I was expecting them to be nice and crispy, but they turned out a little less so. Some of them were downright chewy.

They were simple, though. First, you wash and cut the apples. I decided to use a variety of apples: Gala, Red Delicious and Granny Smith. Yum! When you cut them, make sure you put them in a water and lemon juice. You don't want to make up a bunch of brown apple chips...oh wait. They turn brown anyway.

Once they're all cut up, let them soak in a simple syrup bath for a few hours. Yup, that's right. Hours. 

Now here's where I think I messed up...I followed the directions and put them in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. They weren't ready. I don't think I blotted the syrup off them as much as I should have. I guess I should have read the directions more carefully. 

Anyway, I jacked it up to 300 degrees and left them in there for about 2 more hours. Then they were ready enough...

I wasn't such a huge fan, but other people liked them. I call this one a draw. Not a success in my book, but not a failure either.

Now for what WAS a success!!! Oh man, this chicken was so good! If it wasn't a huge pain in the butt,  I would make it every single night!!

I found this recipe on Pinterest but can't seem to find it now. And, to be frank, I don't remember what I put in everything. I know there was lemon zest, lemon juice, heavy whipping cream, parmesan cheese, Italian bread crumbs, eggs, chicken, milk and some other stuff...

Sorry, but there are some really yummy pictures and I will post the recipe when I locate it!!

One piece of chicken in each stage of the breading process...

Finished product. It was so good! I promise I'll post the recipe soon!

52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 5 - Teeny Tiny Pies

Can I just say that I am loving this challenge? I know I'm the only person who will be disappointed in myself if I don't finish, but I've really been enjoying forcing myself to make the time to try something new each week! Even if I'm tired, busy or uninspired, I will push myself to do something that week! 

With that said, I'm OBSESSED with this one…

I originally got the idea for this week's recipe from my version of food blog porn, The Smitten Kitchen. Side note: I love everything about this blog. The food-tography, the recipes, the overall feel and personality of the blog…it's like when I get to buy bridal magazines, find a new craft blog, or get to watch a Martha Stewart holiday special: perfection. When my new kitchen guru started this project, she almost didn't share it with her readers because she thought it was too much work and "overly precious." There are no better words to describe this recipe than "overly precious." 

I won't lie and say that I did things the same way that they were done on the Smitten Kitchen blog because, as she said, they were too much work. In fact, once I realized how much I had to get done before our trip to Florida to see our buddies, Randi and Kristina, I knew I had to find a different version of this recipe that was a little less involved. I found a great one, but then I decided to make it up on my own. So, here you've got a recipe that, unfortunately, has very few specifics:

Teeny Tiny Apple Pies:

1 bag of apples (minus 3 because I got tired of cutting them and figured I had enough and it worked perfectly) 

3-6 tbsp white sugar

2-5 tbsp brown sugar

some allspice

some nutmeg

some cinnamon

2 tbsp cornstarch

water

lemon juice

2 boxes of store-bought pie crusts (gasp! I know…but sometimes you just don't have time)

Extra sugar and spice mix

1 egg

First things first, fill up a bowl with water and lemon juice. When you finish peeling each apple, put it into this bowl so that the apples don't turn brown. It doesn't matter what color apple you use. I like granny smith apples the best, so that's what I used. After peeling all the apples you think you'll need (it's best to leave a couple unpeeled. If you decide you need more, you can always peel and cut them later, but if you peel the entire bag, like I did, you'll end up throwing away 3 perfectly good apples because you're going out of town and can't leave a bowl of peeled apples and lemon water on the counter. If you do, you'll get bugs), begin cutting them into little bits. I tried to get mine as small as possible. If someone knows of an easy way to cut all those apples into small bits, please let me know. Better yet, if there is some sort of machine that will peel them, core them and slice them, please direct me to it and I will thank you greatly. I plan on making this recipe again fairly soon because they were delicious and I want it to be a bit easier. 

I placed my apple bits in a little water/lemon mixture as well. I hate brown apples. Once you've cut up enough (I know I should have a measurement here, but I just don't. Sorry) apple bits, move them into a sauce pan with a little water and sugar, dissolved and almost boiling. I said 3-6 tbsp for 2 reasons: 1. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing and 2. I was just looking to get a thicker consistency for my apple mixture. Once almost boiling, add the white and brown sugar and the rest of the spices. I should have done this, but didn't: dissolve your cornstarch in a little water before you add it to the mixture. If you don't you'll end up with little clumps of cornstarch in the pies and it will make you mad.

Boil everything for about a minute and then let simmer for 10 minutes. Feel free to taste test your handiwork. You want to make sure it's a perfect balance between sweet and tart and that your apples aren't too mushy. 

While you're simmering down now, you can roll out your pie crusts until they're just a bit thinner. You don't want them too thin, or else everything will fall apart. I found one of Evan's beer sample glasses (from Sweetwater Brewery) that holds about 4-6 oz to use as my pie crust cutter. I cut as many circles as I could from all 4 of the pie crusts (I got the Pillsbury kind because they were on sale for 5 for $5 at Publix and they each held 2 pie crusts) and set them on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. 

I lined them up 2 by 2, like Noah's animals…you've got to have a bottom and a top for each pie. For the top, make sure you cut 4 little slits in the crust. For the bottom, wet the outer edge slightly with water; this will help the two pie pieces to stick together. Put about 1/2 spoonful of the apple filling on each bottom crust. Place the slotted crust on top and press down the edges with a fork. Aren't they adorable already?

When you've filled up one cookie sheet, crack an egg and mix a little water in with it and "wash" each pie with the mixture. Since pie crusts take a little while to brown in the oven and we're only making tiny pies that bake for a considerably shorter period of time, the egg mix will help brown things nicely. Also, it helps the sugar and spice mixture stick to the crust. Oh yeah, sprinkle with the sugar and spice mixture. 

Place your full cookie sheet (you can load these up since they don't expand) in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes, or until nicely browned and get cracking on the next batch. 

Please, let them cool before you attempt to eat them. I'm speaking from experience here. I was really anxious to try them and really hungry when they came out of the oven! Seriously, let them cool or you won't be able to enjoy any food for about 3 days. :( 

There you go…aren't they adorable? 

Here are some situations in which these would be the most adorable food-gifts ever:

• Housewarming present for your in-laws who are watching your dog for the weekend in their new house(thanks, Martha and David! Cali enjoyed herself!)
• Get well present for your sick friends who are letting you borrow their dog crate for the weekend so that your in-laws can actually sleep at night instead of worrying about your dog and their dog conspiring against them! (thanks Stoll Family! Hope everyone is all better finally!) 
• Hostess gift for the friends you're driving down to Florida to see and haven't seen in months! (Thanks Randi and Kris for being such awesome hostesses!)
• Breakfast for same hostess friend who got stuck in the airport in Indianapolis because US Airways couldn't get their pilot there on time and then refused to give any of the 50 people on that flight vouchers for accommodations or food even though they "delayed" their flight from 8:00 pm until 7:30 the next morning. Ever spent the night in a snow globe? Randi has.
• Thank you gift for the sweetest little old lady in the world who lives in a REAL CASTLE on the Jacksonville river area and was kind enough to tell us the entire history of her house when we so rudely interrupted her gardening. Also could be used to butter her up in the future so that maybe she will invite us in to see the gorgeous architectural features she described in great detail. (I want to adopt this woman, but, since her family all lives in the houses surrounding hers, I don't think she needs anyone to take care of her…)
• First day of school lunch box treat
• Last day of school treats for the teacher
• and many, many more…

I encourage everyone to give these a try. Evan and I are actually on the way home from Jacksonville right now and I'm trying to figure out if I have time to make more before I need to go to bed tonight. I'm guessing no, but I really want to…

Eat a tiny apple pie a day, keep the frumpy grumps away! :) 

52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 4 - Sweet Tooth

This week's recipe is a fun one! Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Shortbread Cookies! Yum!

I thought about typing the whole name of this week's recipe in the title, but it was way too long. Although, when I began this week's recipe, it was a little bit shorter. 

I was simply going to make cheesecake cookies. I found the recipe on (what else?) Pinterest...I swear. I really think there should be a support group for people like me. I get on Pinterest and, somehow, lose hours of my life. It's a little bit like getting stuck in the Target Time Warp; you just start meandering around looking at things you don't need/have no use for when, suddenly, you find yourself in the baby aisle holding a tiny pair of frilly socks (that you have absolutely no need for since you haven't even made it to your one-year anniversary and therefore, according to your husband, are not allowed to start thinking about babies) and you have no idea what time it is or how long you've been there. Target, like casinos, is devoid of windows and tricks you into thinking time isn't passing. That is how Pinterest has become for me. I will start, innocently enough, looking at what my friends have pinned. When I'm bored with that (sorry, y'all, but you repin the same stuff from each other all the time. Maybe I just need more friends), I'll start searching random categories. At some point in time, something will light the spark of creativity (or sometimes crazy) in my brain and I will begin searching for specific words. 

That's basically how I ended up finding this recipe. I have no idea what I started off looking for, but, after quite a few moments of indeterminate length, I decided I needed cream cheese cookies, which, ultimately, led to cheesecake cookies. 

The original recipe is yummy as is, but I really wanted something with chocolate. So I decided to add it. I'm not really sure if the original cookie was supposed to taste like a shortbread cookie or not, but that's what it felt like to me when I was all done. I also added some spices and might possibly have lost count of how many cups of flour I used, but this is what we ended up with:

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Shortbread Cookies*

*(forgive me for the large quantities, but I tripled the original recipe so that I would have enough to send to E's office, take to my office, send to our leasing office ladies, drop some off to our new-mom friend who was told to gain weight 2 weeks after her baby was born (I know, right?) and still have some to eat at home - more about that later)

2 1/4 cups Butter (unsalted and room temperature)
9 oz cream cheese (such a pain since they only come in 8 oz packages...7 oz left over...thoughts?)
2 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla 
6 (or so) cups all-purpose flour
heaping dash of Allspice
dash of cinnamon 
pinch of salt
1 bag of mini chocolate chip morsels 
a bowl of graham cracker crumbs

In terms of work, these don't require all that much. They're time-consuming only because of the steps you take in the end. The actual mixing portion of this recipe is easy-peasy. 

You'll want to begin by combining your butter, sugar and cream cheese until the mixture is smooth like...butter...hm. It needs to be creamy. You know what it looks like. Then you'll add in your vanilla. 

Now it's flour time. Here's where I got a little squirrelly in my attention span. I kinda lost count of how many 1/2 cups of flour I added into my dough. Since I was doing them in 1/2 cup increments, it seemed like it was taking forever. When things take forever, I get bored and my mind wanders and I start to say things like "tequila" instead of counting (anyone now have the "tequila" song stuck in their head? Ba da dada dada da...Ba da dada dada da dum...Ba da dada dada da...Ba da dada dada da dum...Ba dada DA dum...Ba dada DA dum...Ba dada DA dum...Bada dada dada DUM...TEQUILA!) See what I mean? I get distracted. Point is, I lost count and might have added a little more or a little less than 6 cups. I stopped adding when I felt like they were thick but not too floury tasting. 

Then I added the spices. I didn't really measure them. I really just went by taste. I felt that the dough needed a little something, so I added a pinch of kosher salt at first. Still not quite there, so I threw in some Allspice (a good bit more of this than the salt, mind you...don't get me started on the awful experience I had with salt and cookies when I was 10 years old...worst cookies ever...I've been mindful of the salt ever since) and some cinnamon. Now we were cooking! 

Cue the chocolate chips! I know it sounds silly, but I chose mini ones because they're just cuter and I like the chocolate flavor but don't like how big morsels can feel, well...almost disruptive of the other flavors. Mini ones just seem to blend in better while satisfying my chocolate craving. While the mixer was doing it's thing, I turned the oven on to 375 and let it heat up. I also crushed up some graham crackers and put them in a bowl. Once the dough was ready, I put parchment paper on my cookie sheets and got to rolling. 

It's tedium time! I guess it may not be quite as tedious if you don't triple the recipe like I did, but it sure did seem like it. You're gonna start rollin', rollin', rollin'...keep those dough balls rollin'...

I am such a dork. Yeah, roll a whole bunch of dough balls and, when you've got enough to space out nicely on your cookie sheet, start covering them in the graham cracker crumbs. They don't spread out too much, so I easily fit 12-15 on each large cookie sheet.

Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, or until they're puffed and lightly browned. 

Let cool completely before you try to eat them. They taste much better! 

Just ask Cali...

She looks innocent...

Apparently, while I was hanging out with Katie, the aforementioned friend who just had the sweetest little baby girl, Cali decided that I hadn't wrapped the "Shevan" portion of the cookies up tight enough. When I came home, I went into the kitchen to grab a cookie and found this: 

But she's not...bad dog!

Yeah...but it was on the floor. Out of 25-30 cookies, she had left us 4. I decided not to take these to work because, as you might have guessed, my coworkers aren't fond of dog slobber covered floor cookies.

At least I ate one before I left...

Oh, and to all of E's coworkers...you can blame Casey for hoarding the second round of cookies I dropped off on Friday. I told her to share. She apparently doesn't like the rest of you. :) 

And, in case you were wondering how the previously posted marshmallows work for indoor S'mores, here's a teaser: 

Maybe, if I feel like it, I'll tell you how I made these. They're not all that exciting, but they were tasty! 

If you're really lucky, I might even tell you how to make these super yummy S'mores Bars...

I might just keep this one to myself though...they're just too good!

52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 3 - English Muffins

Ah, dear friends...this blog post is far overdue. Some of you might have seen on my facebook status last week that my blog decided to "pretend" it was saving my post without actually doing so. I discovered this only after I thought I had published and subsequently exited out of the post...as you can guess, my super long post about the yummy deliciousness I had so eloquently written had disappeared into the vast nothingness of the interwebs...

That is why, lovely readers, you will be denied the opportunity to read a post that can only be described as pure literary genius. I know it sounds like I'm leading up to a sorry excuse for why this post may lack in some way, but, I promise, it won't. I pledge to do my best to recreate the fantastic, witty blog I so sadly lost. 

That said, let's jump right on into the recipe for this week...or, actually, last week, I guess. 

As part of my "healthy eating initiative" that I wrote about in my "New Year, New Me" post, I have decided to attempt to create as many things from scratch as I can. I already tried the marshmallows (clearly, I have not put these "scratch" items in order of how commonly I will make or use them...I am picking at random here) and thoroughly enjoyed that whole process (especially the eating portion...yum!). This week, I decided I would like to try English Muffins. 

Why English Muffins, you ask? Well...it was my day off. I opened the pantry to get out my usual cereal (off-brand Special K Red Berries for the win! Woot!) only to discover that we were all out! I did not feel like going to the store or out to eat at that unholy hour of 10:00 am (besides which, by the time I got dressed, most breakfast menus would be gone! Pity...). I started thinking that I could make something...but what? Maybe it was the fact that I was watching Downton Abbey, but I had a HANKERING for some English Muffins. Now, mind you, we didn't actually have everything we needed to make these muffins, so I did actually end up having to go to the store later. In the mean time, I decided to eat some dark chocolate m&ms that were on the nightstand in the pantry. 

Because I didn't pay too much attention to the recipe I found originally, I ended up getting ingredients that were close, but not quite right. Good thing there is a huge database of knowledge about all things cooking, pet care, medical and otherwise: The INTERNET (also known as the thing I rely most heavily on for everything I do other than sleep. Actually...I have learned a lot from the internet about sleep habits). 

With my trusty tools, Google and Pinterest, by my side, I found the perfect recipe. Actually, I found a really nifty website called The Fresh Loaf. It has about a bajillion different bread recipes for me to try when I can create the time! For now, we'll just focus on the task at hand...

So, the recipe called for everything I had picked up/had lying around the apartment. Let's begin:

1/4 cup warm water 
1 tablespoon (1 package) active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or, in my case, bread flour...oops)
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup warm buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter
Cornmeal (for dusting)

You begin by preparing your yeast. You can use instant yeast if you have it on hand. I don't know why, but I always prefer to use the active dry yeast. It just seems to make things fluffier. I could be totally wrong about that, though, so don't quote me on it. Anyway, take your warm water and dissolve the sugar in it. Then add your yeast and let it do its thing. You'll notice it get all frothy on the top and the delicious yeast smell to begin to tantalize your senses. I love bread, by the way...

Ok. So, you're going to combine the salt and 2 cups of the flour while the yeast is frothing it up. I combined them in the bowl to my stand mixer so I could attempt to use it for bread making purposes for the very first time. You can use whatever bowl you want if you're not cool like me with my mixer. Side note: everyone should get married. That is how we got all of our cool stuff. If you don't want to get married, you should start yourself an "I'm NOT getting married registry" so that people know what you want for birthdays and stuff...

Anyway! Now you will add to this mixture the following items: egg, yeast mixture, warm milk or buttermilk and melted butter. Mix together using the paddle attachment on your mixer (or your lame hands and a spoon or fork if you must) until everything is creamy. Then begin adding the rest of your flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Only add enough until the dough is coming off the sides of the bowl and it looks like a big blob of yummy yeasty dough. 

I didn't "knead" this dough one bit...but I wanted it! ;)
Yes...I know I'm corny.

Then you can switch out your attachment to the hook for the KNEADING section! If you don't have a mixer, you can do it the old fashioned way. Knead it for a good while and then place it into a clean, oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled. This should take 90 minutes...or, roughly, the length of a really crappy Katherine Higel movie. 

Come on, dough...RISE UP!

Once doubled, you should throw some corn meal onto a clean, flat surface and roll the dough out. Be careful not to make it too thin or too thick. About 1/2 inch should do it. Use a biscuit cutter or cup to cut the dough into circles.

Here is where things get interesting in my world. When you get ready to put your muffins on the griddle or hot pan (by hot, I mean medium hot), do not, I repeat DO NOT, put butter on the griddle or skillet. You will not achieve the desired results if you do this. 

Yup...that's butter right there. Not a good decision.
You live, you learn, you get messed up muffins.
But you never make that mistake again!

Cook the muffins on each side for 5-10 minutes, or until the appropriate level of toasted brown has been reached. Another note: don't get distracted by that awful movie you were watching and forget to flip the muffins. No one likes a burned bun...no one. 

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
Of course, I'm only showing you the pretty ones...

Overall, this was a great learning experience. Some of them turned out great, while others...not so much. We enjoyed them, though! We'll see if I have the courage to try again and maybe tweak the recipe just a bit. Not a fail...but not a resounding success, either. 

Enjoy!

52 Recipes in 52 Weeks: Week 2

First off, I would like to apologize for the extreme delay in posting this. I guess it was really supposed to be last week's recipe and, while I did actually make it last week, I was a little behind in the creative writing department. 

Don't judge. It's been a busy week. 

Anyway, Week 2 in my New Year's Self-Challenge was a particularly fun one! 

I've seen a huge upswing in people making their own marshmallows and I have always wanted to try it myself, but haven't been that excited about making a huge sticky mess in our teeny tiny kitchen. I did a lot of research on this one though and found out that it's much easier than it would seem. And everyone ensured there would be no sticky mess. So, I womaned up and dove in. 

I found this delicious recipe, courtesy of MyBakingAddiction.com. Now, bear in mind, hers are much prettier and probably taste better, but, so far, no one has complained about their looks. Or taste, for that matter. 

I think I used a little more vanilla than I was supposed to, but they turned out really great! I will admit that I still like the bag kind, but homemade marshmallows are definitely better. I have yet to try them in S'mores or for anything other than eating by the bagful, but I'm excited to see how they taste with chocolate and graham cracker goodness surrounding them! 

I've also decided that I need to attempt bourbon marshmallows next. Anyway, enjoy! 

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows

1/2 cup water
3 (.25 ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water (yes, I'm aware it's on here twice...go with it!)
2/3 cup corn syrup
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon (or however much you feel like...) vanilla extract
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar

First off, you'll want to take that 1/2 cup of water and put it in your stand mixer and sprinkle the gelatin on top so that it can soak. I don't know how long it's supposed to soak or what consistency it's supposed to be before you combine the other ingredients to it, but I do know that it looked really weird and I had to stir in the gelatin a little so that all of it got soaked properly. 

While that's turning into really plain jello, take your 1/4 cup of water (see, told you it was necessary), corn syrup and sugar and pour them into a large saucepan. You'll want to stir this while it reaches the boiling point. Once it gets going, let it boil for one whole minute. 

Pour the super hot mixture into your gelatin glob and, with the whisk attachment on your mixer, turn that sucker on high. You're gonna let this do its thing for about 12 minutes, so set that timer and let's prepare your pan.

The original recipe said to use a 9 x 9 pan, and you totally can; I did. However, if you would like thinner marshmallows, you may use a 13 x 9 pan, which is what I wish I had done. No matter, they turned out great, but I would have enjoyed thinner ones. Anywhoski, take your pan and line it with plastic wrap. I actually got the metal pan wet first so that the wrap would stick, but if you have a ceramic or glass dish, you should be fine. Then, spray the mess out of that plastic wrap with a non-stick spray. Here's a tip: don't use the butter flavored one. Your marshmallows will have a slight yellow tint to them. Oops. 

When your timer brings you back to reality and you have whipped the mess out of the marshmallow mixture, it's time to add your vanilla. If you would like to preserve the crisp white look of your marshmallows, use clear vanilla (in addition to avoiding the previously mentioned yellow spray crap). If you want to try different flavors, feel free to substitute. I'm gonna do that with the bourbon next time. 

Mix it in, periodically scraping the sides of your bowl with a well-oiled spatula; you want to make sure the vanilla is all mixed in and mine kept splashing up on the sides and chillin' there. 

Once you've mixed it enough so that it forms stiff peaks (much like whipped cream but WAY thicker), you can pour it into your pan. With the aforementioned spatula, still well-oiled, pat it down so that it is flat, much like you do with rice krispie treats, but a lot less hard. 

Take another sheet of plastic wrap that has also been sprayed to death, cover your pan completely, and use your hand to pat it onto the surface of your marshmallows so that a seal is formed. 

And now we wait. 

For 4 hours.

Or overnight, if you started this at 10:30 at night and have to get up for work the next day...not that I did that or anything.

Once it has congealed sufficiently, oil up your knife or scissors and get cutting. You can use cookie cutters to make them into shapes. You can do whatever you want at this point...go bananas! 

You'll notice that the edges are sticky. You don't want that. Here's where your cornstarch and powdered sugar come in handy! Combine them in a bowl and, when you've got a completed marshmallow, plop it in the bowl and coat it. You don't want to put too much on it, because then it'll taste like cornstarch and powdered sugar instead of delicious vanilla, but you do want enough so that it's no longer sticky. Oh, another tip, don't be a dummy and place finished marshmallows in a bowl that wasn't dried off completely. You know what happens to marshmallows when they get wet? They dissolve into a gooey, slimy mess. 

And now you're done. :) Not so bad, huh? Enjoy! Yum!