Recipes

Caramel Pie

April 4, 2014

I had really planned on sharing a pie post last week. So bummed I missed sharing a great pie but I’ll be sharing it next week instead so not is all lost!

It’s just that the week got away from me. Such a busy week for work and stuff going on with Autumn. Price took Autumn to the Dr on Wednesday for her 4th month check up so it gave me the chance to stay really late to catch up on hours at work. Which, of course, put things behind for me for blogging.

Then I worked from home on Friday since she then had 2 appointments at Boston Children’s Hospital. But those came with good news as they cleared her from having to use her hip brace! Horray!!

Anyway, she’s still our little bean. When Price took her to the Dr’s they said she’s 50 percentile for length and head circumference but 5 percentile for weight. She weighs a whopping 11lbs 2oz. I think I’ve eatten bigger burritos than her (I kid!). So the 0-3 month (8-12 lb) stuff still fits just fine and she’s 4 1/2 months.

I think she needs a slice of pie to help her gain some weight! ha!

Anyway, this Caramel Pie is LEGIT.

Tomorrow is National Caramel Day so I had to make a caramel pie. Obviously. And let me tell you that this pie is awesome. Really sweet but really awesome. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t like sweets then just cut a smaller slice since you might find this too sweet but you should not pass it up.

Plus, it’s super easy. It takes time to prepare but it’s so easy.

The caramel is made by putting cans of sweetened condensed milk into a pot of water and simmering it for 3 hours. Yes, that takes a l-o-n-g time but that’s it. You just have to make sure that water is always covering the cans, but that’s it. Then the rest is just about baking a pie crust and thawing up some prepared whipped topping prior to assembling it all together. Sure, you can make your own pie crust and whipped cream but I’m all about ease at this point. You do what works for you.

In fact, I prepared the caramel filling the night before I assembled the pie because that is what fit into my buys schedule. The filling was chilled and therefore denser than if it was still a bit warm so I just ended up scooping it out of the cans and putting it in the still warm pie shell. That helped soften it up to be able to smooth things out.

Whip up this pie and you’ll be in love with every bite!

Caramel Pie

Makes 1 9″ deep dish pie

Ingredients

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 (9-inch) prepared pie shell (I used a Marie Calendar’s Pie shell)
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
Garnish- chocolate chunks/mini chips

Process

1. Place the unopened cans of condensed milk in a large pot. Add enough water to completely cover cans. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 3 hours, adding water as necessary to keep cans covered. Carefully remove from water and then set aside to cool enough to handle.

2. Meanwhile, bake your pie shell according to directions; set aside to cool. As well, thaw the whipped cream topping just prior to assembly.

3. To assemle, open the cans and pour the caramel into the pie crust. Even out the top of the caramel prior to spreading whipped topping over the filling. Top with the chocolate and then chill for 1 hour or overnight.

Sourced from Culinary Covers

Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches

March 31, 2014

Since having Autumn Price and I have really been making a point to have dinners together at the table. No more eating in front of the TV. She has no idea what is going on but it’s just nice to feel more settled at dinner with all 3 of us involved. When she was younger we would put her in her bouncy seat and put that on the table. Now that she is a whole 4 1/2 months (ha!) she sits in her high chair and ‘eats’ her hands.

I really try to plan out dinner for the week so that it’s quick prep time for us to make or finish assembling the meal. Some days it’s salad. Some days it’s soup. Some days it’s tacos. The best meals are quick to prepare and make enough food for leftovers. But leftovers get played out and boring. So then you have to turn to trying something new so that it makes dinner together so much fun.

These Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches are just the perfect solution for changing things up for dinner.

And that is why I love participating in Secret Recipe Club so much since I get to learn about other people’s blogs and get to try new to me recipes. So much fun!

This month I had another Nicole’s blog called Hapa-Tite. She has such a fun blog with great recipes that highlight her diverse background that include Chinese, Cherokee, German, and American, all while being culturally Hawai’ian. Plus it was fun to get a blog from a fellow Nicole!!

We picked these sandwiches out because we realized that we hadn’t had fish in awhile so it would be good to try something new when incorporating more fish into our dinner routines. This sandwich has great flavors and textures so it really elevates things from your standard fish sandwich.

I made some minor changes to the recipe that Nicole shared because of what I could get at the grocery store and some preferences. I was on my 2nd trip to the grocery store and I couldn’t find chives so I grabbed some green onions instead to still have that onion-y flavor in the sandwich. Then instead of the wasabi mayo, I made a sauce with some mayonnaise, wasabi and a few other things I grabbed from the fridge since I knew we wouldn’t actually eat wasabi mayo so it wouldn’t get used so there was no sense in buying it.

We loved this recipe because of the flavors, textures, and ease of putting together. We’ve already been talking about when we would make this again. This would be a great dinner option for you if you are in the middle of lent as well!

This Crispy Asian Fish Sandwich is a real winner for lunch or dinner. I swear that you will be hooked. whomp whomp!

Crispy Asian Fish Sandwiches

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

2 white fish fillets, preferably tiliapia, 6-8 ounces total
1/2 Cup flour
1 eggs
¾ cup panko bread crumbs
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon garlic powder
canola oil
2 sesame seed buns
1 lemon, sliced into 4 long wedges
Toppings: thinly sliced English cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro

For the sauce

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon wasabi
1 teaspoon ponzo sauce or soy sauce
1/2 of a scallion thinly sliced

Process

Prepare the sauce by combining all of the ingredients. Set aside.
Liberally season both sides of the fish fillets with salt and pepper.
Place the flour in a medium dish; beat the eggs with a splash of water in a second medium dish; and combine the panko with the ginger and garlic powder in a third medium dish.
Coat the fish fillets evenly in the flour, then beaten egg, and then panko mixture.
In a large skillet, heat the oil, about 1/4 inch, over medium to medium-high heat. Fry the fish until golden, about 3 minutes on each side.
While the fish is cooking, lightly toast the buns.
Transfer the cooked fish to a paper towel-lined plate to drain off excess oil. Squeeze 2 wedges of lemon over the fish.
Serve on the sandwich buns with the sauce, toppings of your choice, and a wedge of lemon.

Inspired by Hapa-tite

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

Check out my 2 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

March 24, 2014

This weekend Price and I went to visit a wedding venue location in the Berkshires. I guess we should do some sort of wedding planning… only been together 9+ years and engaged since Sept. Oh, yeah… and we have a baby together. Been kinda busy with her.

Well, Crissey Farm has beautiful details, great menu options and price points, and it’s in a great location. Unless something incredible jumps out to us this week it seems like that is the place. Plus they have availability in August, November, and this winter.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars-1

The owner suggested a New Year’s Eve wedding as they have had so fun ones in the past. He explained that we could get married in front of one of their fire places. I love that idea, but I loved the idea of getting married on 1/2/15 even more as that would be our 10 year anniversary together. But once Price and I thought about the logistics of everyone traveling from WA, AZ, PA, NY, NH, CT, AND FL it became to risky in dealing with travel issues. This winter sucked, and it snowed 8″ inches on our anniversary, so we ultimately decided that was not a risk we would want to deal with.

So that leaves August and November. We quickly ruled out November as all the leaves have fallen at that point so it just won’t be as pretty for pictures. Plus, we would be juggling with Autumn’s first birthday and then Thanksgiving. Just too much going on there.

Now if you look at the calendar you would see that there are only a few months between now and August. So if we decide on that things will be fast passed. That really is okay since the simpler the better for us. Plus Crissey Farm is basically 1 stop shopping since they handle everything so we don’t need to worry about silly suff like linen rentals.

Anyway, if we’re actually cracking down and getting married this year I better stop eating sweets like this!

Well, honestly, breast-feeding and it’s associated weight loss is THE BEST thing ever. hehe! So, I’ll get to enjoy a few of these every now and then.

I used the Nestle Toll House Spring Time Baking Morsels instead of just a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. The Spring Time bag is only 10oz so jut be sure to add another 2oz of chocolate chips to get to the 12 oz needed for the recipe.

These are basically just cookies but they have a softer texture because there is less surface area to them in the bar form compared to the cookie form. Love that. Just like I love the sugar cookie bars I made before.

Enjoy these yummy treats!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Makes 24 bars

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Process

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13×9 metal pan.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
Spread into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 24 bars.

Slightly adapted from Nestle

Post contains affiliate links

Incredibly Easy Chicken Pot Pie

March 21, 2014

Finding quick, easy recipes is my jam right now.

I’ve been attacking Pinterest like crazy looking for quick/easy dinners like one pot dinners, slow cooker meals, quick pasta dishes, and salads. I’m so looking forward to all the salads we are going to be eating once the weather warms up. Yes, we eat plenty of salads in the winter but we just get all wild and crazy in the spring and summer. Ah, greens bliss. Plus they are super quick meals to toss together which is key right now.

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Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie

March 14, 2014

It is finally going to be nice out tomorrow so we are going to test drive some cars!

I feel like I’m betraying our other car. Ahh poor Frank the Tank.

But Frank is just too small now. Not in the ‘we have a new baby and have tons of stuff small’ but ‘we have a new baby and no one can sit in the passenger seat now because of the car seat’ small. Yep, that’s what happens when your Scion Xa is the size of a matchbox car. It means with the car seat in the back you can’t sit in front. Well, you can but then your knees are touching the dashboard and that’s not the safest thing.

Now we are getting a new car so that it doesn’t mean that one of us is playing chauffeur.

Thankfully, Frank has been paid off for years so he is sticking around and will be the car we use when we are just running errands. I can’t ditch Frank yet! He only has 115K miles under the belt and he has plenty more in him!

Tomorrow we are looking at a Mazda CX5 and then next weekend we are going to check out a Toyota Rav4. Price has done endless research on endless models of cars and they are our top 2 cars.

Truthfully, I’m a bit nervous to test drive cars because I’m so used to how mine handles and this time we are going to get an automatic (for various reasons). Aside from rentals, I’ve only ever driven standard cars and when I drive automatics I tend to drive with 2 feet. I’m sure the sales guy is gonna love it…

Anyway, today is Pie Day here on the blog and Pi Day! #doublepieday

So I made this doozy of a pie for the occasion. This Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie is what happens when you stuff some Samoa Cookie pieces in and on a Cool – Whip based pie. And don’t forget the added coconut, caramel, and chocolate that is in and on the pie too!

This takes almost no time to whip up but the killer part is waiting for it to set up and freeze again. But the wait it worth it.

DIG IN!!!

Frozen Samoa Cookie Pie

Makes 9″ pie

Ingredients

1 Nilla Wafer Pre-made Pie Crust
8 oz of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons low-fat milk
1 container (8oz) Cool Whip, at room temperature
12 Samoa Cookies, cut into dime sized pieces, divided
1 cup shredded coconut, divided
chocolate syrup (about 1/2 cup)
caramel sundae syrup (about 1/2 cup)

Process

Whip the cream cheese in a mixing bowl for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and milk and mix until fully incorporated it into cream cheese.
Gently fold in the Cool Whip until it’s well blended together
Put half of the filling mixture into the pie crust. Then put half of the coconut on the filling. Drizzle a lot of the caramel and chocolate sauces on the filling. Lastly, add in half of the cookie pieces.
Pour the rest of the filling mixture on top of the fillings later. Spread evenly with a spatula.
Sprinkle the remaining coconut and cookies on the top of the pie. Gently press into the top of the pie. Then generously drizzle with the caramel and chocolate sauces.
Put the pie into the freezer to set up. I suggest at least 4 hours, but overnight is preferred.
When ready to serve, remove from freezer and cut into all the pieces (8-12). (Cutting the pieces at once when frozen makes it easier to do.) Remove slices from pie plate and let thaw slightly on serving plate.
Serve slices with more caramel and chocolate sauce. And a bit of whipped cream doesn’t hurt.

Inspired by Beyond Frosting

Homemade Shamrock Shakes

March 13, 2014

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard…

Okay, so I had to. I really did.

Let me explain.

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Thin Mintini

March 12, 2014

It was sooo so nice here in Boston yesterday. It was 60 and sunny and the perfect preview to the spring I am desperately waiting to arrive. And yet, it’s cold again today with a bit of snow on it’s way.

UGH!!!!!

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World’s Best Cheesy Spinach Dip

March 10, 2014

This is my favorite party food. F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E.

I remember my mom serving this for parties when I was growing up. Tucked inside her copy of The Joy of Cooking was this photocopied magazine ad from Velveeta. It was well warn and dirty from many years of use. It was the perfect family party staple.

And now that tattered, loved xerox’ed copy of “Cheesy Spinach Party Loaf” has been passed down to me. It is a simple cherished piece of paper that holds many tasty memories from my childhood. As well, it is the key to a great party.

This was something I could help my mom make when I was younger once she prepped the veggies for me. Then it was my job to sautee the veggies and melt the cheese and mix in the spinach. It was fun being part of the party prep.

And now I get to make this all on my own! Ah bliss.

I might have to admit that I’ve whipped up the dip to divide into little batches, which then might have been eaten as dinner… what? Don’t judge. There’s spinach in there… totally healthy. ha!

This dip is wonderful to serve at a large party, but in the case that it would hang out for a while, I would actually put the dip in a mini slow cooker to keep warm. Instead of cutting the boule into the bowl, just cut the bread into 1″ cubes.

As well, this is easy to double and triple depending on the size of your party. I swear people will just go head over heels for it!

World’s Best Cheesy Spinach Dip

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

1 – 1 1/2-lb boule bread, such as sour dough
1/3 cup butter
1 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1 lb package Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Serve with veggies, such as pepper strips, and bread from the boule

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice off from top of bread and then remove center leaving 1-inch shell. Cut the removed bread into bite-size pieces.
Place the bread bowl and cubes on a rimmed cookie sheet. Toss the bite-sized pieces throughout the 20 minute baking process.
Saute pepper, celery, and onion in remaining margarine until tender.
Add the Velveeta cheese and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted.
Stir in remaining ingredients; heating thoroughly while stirring constantly.
Pour into the bread shell; serve with the reserved bread and assorted vegetables.

Adapted from Velveeta, circa 1988

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

February 28, 2014

Yay!!! It’s Girl Scout cookie season!

I get Girl Scout cookies every year. Typically I order them from one of my coworker’s daughter but being out on maternity leave I missed my chance to order from her. I was a little afraid that I would totally miss out on the opportunity to get those addictive Girl Scout cookies. But then I saw that a local troop would be setting up a table in my office building. Perfect! So I ran down one day and loaded up on this annual treat.

Now Girl Scout cookies are great on their own but I’ve learned that you can enjoy them in a variety of ways, including in baked goods, like the Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars I made last year. How can you go wrong with adding cookies to a dessert? You can’t! It just makes it better.

Well, I had a box of Thin Mint cookies staring me down daring me to get to work. I had plenty of things in mind like cookies inside of cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream but ultimately decided to use the Thin Mints in a pie recipe. A minty, chocolaty pie… yes!!

This pie uses the Thin Mints in the no bake crust and then the minty chocolate pudding filling is garnished with whole Thin Mints. A whole cookie with each slice!!

This is such a simple pie to whip up. It takes about 20 minutes of active cook time and, thankfully, you don’t dirty many dishes either.

Making the pudding filling is very easy but you can’t rush it or neglect it either. If you cook it on too high of a temperature or don’t mix it enough you run the risk of burning the mixture. If you burn it you have to start over again and use some serious elbow grease to scrub your pot. And you don’t want to go that. You want to eat pie.

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

Makes a 9″ pie, 12 slices

Ingredients

Pie Crust

24 Thin Mint cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 egg yolks
3 cup milk, any fat content (I used non-fat milk)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

To create the pie crust:

Add the Thin Mint cookies to the bowl of a food processor and process until crumbs form.
Add the melted butter, mix well.
Firmly press the cookie crumb mixture into a 9″ pie plate.

To make the pie:

Sift together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a 2 quart saucepan.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk. Slowly pour milk mixture into sugar mixture and stir to mix.
Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a low boil. Continue to stir continually while it cooks for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and peppermint extract. Add the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and the mixture is well blended. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes.
Pour into the Thin Mint cookie pie shell. Lightly lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of pie filling before refrigerating for several hours until chilled.
Garnish with 8 Thin Mint cookies around the edge of the pie plate so that each slice would have a cookie.

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Looking for more Girl Scout Cookie Recipes?

Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars

Samoa Cookie Cocktail

Guilt-Free Cheesy Fiesta Popcorn

February 27, 2014

I know exactly what I will be doing on Sunday night… watching the Oscars!!! I love award show season. Do you watch too?

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Chocolate Chunk Scones

February 25, 2014

I think the first time I had a scone was when I was in 5th grade. Well, I might have had them before then but I distinctly remember having them at this point and they seemed new to me. Anyway, I was in the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program at school. We were doing a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I don’t remember which character I was but I do remember that I was NOT talented and gifted in the area of memorizing the play. Oh, I had such stage fright because of it!

Well, to connect things back to everyday life our teacher brought in scones, crumpets, clotted cream, jams, and teas for us to enjoy one day while we discussed and practiced the play. I was more interested in the treats than the play. What else is new?

Those scones were good but paled in comparison to these Chocolate chunk Scones. Well, those scones back in the day weren’t packed with chocolate hunks. My teacher was no fool… she was not going to bring in chocolate to a bunch of 5th graders. ha!

I mean, seriously… just look at these babies! They are studded with chunks of chocolate and drizzled with a luscious glaze. Sign me up!!

These scones take about 10 minutes to whip up and another 20 minutes to bake so you’re going to be enjoying these guys in no time at all. They are great warm and great cool so it wouldn’t be unheard of to have one for breakfast and another for lunch and another for a snack… oh, so that’s not normal. Well, excuse me!

Chocolate Chunk Scones

Makes 8 scones

Ingredients

For the scones:

9 ounces (or approximately 2 cups) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small chunks
5 ounces chocolate chunks
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Process

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the cold butter, and quickly rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mixture resembles wet sand with a few small lumps of butter remaining. Add the chopped chocolate and toss to combine.
Meanwhile, whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl, gently tossing with the flour and butter mixture. Add just enough of the wet ingredients to bring the dough together as you stir gently. You don’t want the dough to be too sticky.
Once the dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a large disc, and cut the disc into four equal parts. Then, shape each quarter of the dough into a disc and cut it into four wedges. Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops of the scones are slightly golden.
As the scones are cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Drizzle the glaze over cooled scones. Store in an air-tight container for up to 2 days.

Slightly adapted from My Kitchen Addiction