I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

sour cream

Blueberry Pudding Pie

blueberry pudding pie

I have been doing plenty of online window shopping recently.

I think that happens when you are dying to embrace a new season- the weather and the clothes! Spring = new Sperry’s!!

Plus, I think that having a baby and loosing a ton of weight helps. THE BEST!

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So, I’ve been window shopping the blazer right now. I want to buy all these blazers I see to jazz up outfits. I just said jazz. I’m such a lame mom. Sorry Autumn.

But I do, I want to wear blazers with jeans and dresses and skirts and such. Like I just bought this one in 2 colors. And I want this polka dot one. And this one is amazing but way, way too $$$.

Anyway, it’s Friday so I’m happy 1) it’s almost the weekend 2) Grimm is on tonight 3) it’s time for a new pie recipe!

I made this Blueberry Pudding Pie because I bought the largest container of ripe blueberries from Trader Joe’s (I drive much further to go to TJ’s because I don’t have to deal with morons like at the moron filled grocery store in my town) and while I love blueberries, (and so does Kemper and the rabbits) I couldn’t get through them fast enough. So after a bit of Pinteresting* I found this awesome Blueberry Pudding Pie.

This pie is crazy easy to whip up and is so good. The blueberries and the nutmeg andcinnamon flavors in the pudding are so good together. Honestly, I kinda had my doubts but it’s so good.

The one thing is that I really suggest that you use small blueberries in this pie. It will make cutting it so much easier as it will hold up a bit better. Trust me. Cool.

I’m looking forward to making this pie while we are up in Maine this summer. I can’t wait to get my hands on fresh Maine blueberries!!

*Pinteresting is my new Googling

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Blueberry Pudding Pie

Makes 1 9″ pie, 8 slices

Ingredients

  • 1- 9″ pie crust (if using a store bought crust, softened as directed on box)
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen organic blueberries, thawed, well drained
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup half and half
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Process

  1. Heat oven to 425°F.
  2. Place the crust into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Prick the pie crust on the bottom of the pie plate  with a fork. Bake for 7 minutes.
  3. When you remove the pie crust from the oven, evenly place the blueberries into the pie plate.
  4. While the pie crust is blind baking,combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl and thoroughly mix together until smooth. Pour over the blueberries.
  5. Return to the oven; bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; carefully cover edges of crust with foil. Bake 30 to 32 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 20 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store in refrigerator.

Sourced from Pilsbury

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa and a Creamy Lime Drizzle

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa

I’m skipping this week’s edition of Monday Munchies post to bring you a great recipe and GIVEAWAY!

I’ve been on a taco kick recently. In 1 week I had tacos 3 times. 3 times!! But the best part was that each were so different. I just love how versatile they are. I made ground turkey as the filling, then I had fish tacos when my mom and I were out to lunch when she was visiting last week, and then I made these tofu tacos. Each were so good in their own way.

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-1

Have you ever made tacos with tofu before? I never had but once I saw this recipe I knew I had to give it a try. I’ve used Nasoya’s great Organic non-GMO tofu in endless stir fry’s but I figured that I would change things up and give this recipe a try.

Boy, it did not disappoint!

The tofu was firm, crispy, and flavorful. It was great for a filling as a taco. In fact, it kinda reminded me of fish tacos. The texture was light like fish and it had a nice crisp coating on the pieces as well. No, it didn’t taste like fish so I wasn’t fooled there but the way that tofu absorbs flavors is spot on in that is soaked up the umami rich Worcestershire sauce and then it became best friends with the cumin in the dredge. Bestest of friends. (ugh, where is my mind?)

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-3 Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-4 Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-5 Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-6

Anyway… the Nasoya TofuPlus is great to use in recipes like this, as well as stir fries, such as this Spicy Peanut Stir Fry. But if tofu is new to you then you should know that tofu comes in different firmness. You can use something like silken which you can use in these Carrot Cake Squares. Nasoya’s TofuPlus is verasitle so you can use it from everything to breakfast smoothies, grill it and serve it on a salad, to even making dessert with it!

The tofu is great but you can’t ignore that the mango salsa and the creamy lime drizzle add great flavors to the tacos as well. They really pack a punch to tie the flavors of the tacos together. Kinda creates the perfect bite sorta thing. You get the heat and tang from the creamy lime drizzle and then there is great balance from the sweetness from the mango in the salsa. Plus you get some crunch from the red pepper to add some nice texture to the tacos. yum!!

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So in conclusion- what? is this a essay or something?- these Crispy Tofu Tacos made with Nasoya tofu are just perfect for a Meatless Monday dinner. Have you done Meatless Monday before? You should give it a try. It’s a great night to change things up to kick off the week. You know, so you can take the week by the horns and kick some butt!

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa-2

If you want to try these tofu tacos, or other great recipes using tofu, then be sure to enter my Nasoya GIVEAWAY after the recipe!!!

Crispy Tofu Tacos with a Mango Salsa and a Creamy Lime Drizzle

Makes 8 Tacos

Ingredients

For the Filling

  • 1 package Nasoya Extra-firm tofu, rinsed and patted dry
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon grill seasoning or seasoned salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil

For the Mango Salsa

  • 1/2 cup diced mango
  • 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced avocado
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

For the Creamy Lime Drizzle

  • 1 teaspoon lime zest
  • 2 Tablespoons lime juice
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 Tablespoon minced pickled jalapeno peppers

8 flour taco sized tortillas or 16 taco sized corn tortillas

Process

  1. Prepare the lime drizzle by zesting the lime rind into a small bowl. Juice the zested lime into the bowl and then add the sour cream and jalapeno peppers. Mix well to combine.
  2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining all of the salsa ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
  3. Prepare the filling by slicing the tofu lengthwise into 6 slices, and then quarter each piece resulting in 24 total rectangles; set aside.
  4. In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with the Worcestershire sauce. In another shallow bowl, mix together the cornstarch, grill seasoning and cumin.
  5. Heat oil in large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Dip each piece of tofu in the egg mixture, dredge in the cornstarch mixture, and then cook in the skillet for about 3 – 4 minutes per side (top and bottom) or until brown. Do not crowd in the skillet, so prepare the pieces in batches, if necessary.
  6. Heat tortillas according to the package directions. Assemble the tacos by placing 3 pieces in taco then dressing with the mango salsa and topping with the creamy lime drizzle.

Slightly adapted from Nasoya

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If you would like to win some Nasoya coupons for your own tacos, stir fries, smoothies, and much more, then all you have to do it leave a comment on this blog post telling me how you would use tofu in your own cooking.

For an extra entry tweet the following: “Tofu Tacos? Yes! perfect for #MeatlessMonday. These Crispy Tofu Tacos are a must try! http://wp.me/pzEAP-44I Plus a giveaway!” Come back here and leave a comment telling me you did this.

For an extra entry LIKE Nasoya on Facebook. Come back here and leave a comment telling me you did this.

*While I did receive complimentary product from Nasoya, these opinions are entirely my own.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Sour Cream Pound Cake – an easy alternative quick dessert for the whole family

Sour Cream Pound Cake

So one of my favorite things about pregnancy is the newly acquired sweet tooth I have. Between gummies, jelly beans, and Oreos I can’t get enough sugar. Thankfully I have upped my natural sugars as well by eating apples and peaches like crazy. But for the girl who could eat salt with a spoon, this is a weird thing for me.

Another favorite thing is how I can easily slip in an Oreo here or there and not put on the lbs. The Bean is doing its part nom-ing on everything I eat so I get to eat plenty more without the urge to hurl myself on the floor sobbing every time I get weighed. Sweet!

So that has led to some ‘bakenesting’ and getting to enjoy some amazing cakes and things recently.

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I had a container of barely used sour cream just staring at me in the fridge and I knew I shouldn’t let it go to waste so a bit of googling around and came across this Sour Cream Pound Cake. This is one of the fastest, easiest, yummiest cakes to make. The bake time does take a while but in terms of prep you can whip it together in about 5 minutes once everything is at room temperature.

I brought this into work so 1) I didn’t eat it all myself 2) I’m filling them up with goodies now to get them through when I am out on maternity leave. We had it plain but it would make for a great base for some macerated berries and whipped cream. Or maybe you could grill it and top off with nutella and some sliced bananas. Dang… I’m hungry again!!

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Sour Cream Pound Cake

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound butter
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 10-inch bundt or tube pan by spraying very generously with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a small bowl, shift together the baking soda and flour; set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
  4. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract mixing until incorporated.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternating with the eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time.
  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Sourced from Food Network

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

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There has been so much going on lately. I love being busy but it typically means that something slips. Most often it is what we eat or laundry. oh well. But Kemper is keeping us busy with nice nights out playing around and some design reports that Price and I are working on for our city for some downtown redevelopment. Very different things but both enjoyable and fulfilling.

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Since we have been so busy I have been relying on some super simple meals or take out to keep our nights moving along. One of the cookbooks that I have been turning to is The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. I love the idea of assembling a casserole  leaving it be to bake and then having leftovers for another meal. Among the over 400 recipes (oh my!) the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole jumped out to me one night so I whipped it up and we loved it so much. So, so much.

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This took about 30 minutes for assemble and then another 35 to bake up. I cooked up some chicken breasts but you can easily shredded some rotisserie chicken instead. The dish is so flavorful and so cheesy. I can’t not love a cheesy dish. It’s really hearty so it can be stretched from 4 servings to 6 with a side of veggies or a side salad.

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I only made one change to the original Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole recipe from The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. The original recipe called for Cream of Chicken Soup but 1) I didn’t have it 2) it sounds really gross, which would be why I didn’t have it. So instead I used Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup since it didn’t have ‘mechanically separated chicken’ or ‘chicken fat’ in it. If you happen to make your own Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup instead of using canned, then I suggest you do that. It’s sure to only make this wonderful casserole even better.

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Dig in. You know you want to.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Makes 4 hearty servings

Ingredients

  • 1 6-ounce package long grain and wild rice mix
  • 1 medium white onion, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 10.5-ounce or 10.75-ounce can of cream of mushroom condensed soup
  • 1/2 cup light sour cream
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine or low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed basil
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Process

  1. While preparing the rice according to the package, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the onion and celery until tender.
  3. Sir in the soup, light sour cream, wine, and basil until evenly combined. Add the shredded chicken and rice and mix until just combined.
  4. Transfer mixture to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until heated through.

Breakfast Burritos

 

One of my favorite things about the weekend is that we can enjoy a leisurely breakfast together. Our Saturday’s are typically crazy so we really savor our Sunday mornings. The paper comes and that is the day when we make breakfast. Before we had a coffee maker Price would leave to get coffees while I cooked. Before we had a coffee maker, Price would leave to get coffees while I cooked. He would come back with a massive hot coffee for himself and a massive iced coffee for me. Now that we have a coffee maker we make breakfast together (if I can pry him away from Sports Center) and sip mugs of hot coffee all morning while we go through the paper. Clearly, we are 80 years old deep down…

 

 

This breakfast came together rather quickly as I had thought about it the night before. We were making dinner and having baked potatoes with it and figured I would throw a few extra potatoes on the baking sheet to use for breakfast hash. Well, when the time came to make breakfast, we decided that breakfast burritos would be fun so we whipped them up quickly.

It is a quick breakfast that only really dirties 1 skillet. The hardest part is not to fill your burrito too much. If that just happens, then grab a fork and take a bit off the top so you can roll your burrito! I would have preferred to have black beans in my burrito, but didn’t feel like opening a can for just a bit of beans so I opted out. We enjoyed these because they were so good, simple, and filling. Plus, they are a great way of using up large burrito or sandwich wraps at the end of a week.

 

 

Breakfast Burritos

serves 4

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of bacon
  • 2 baked potatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 white onion, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 8 eggs: 4 whole eggs, 4 egg whites
  • 4 burrito tortilla wraps
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese, such as chedder or montery jack
  • 1 large tomato or 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • sliced pickled jalapenos and black olives, optional

Process

  1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. When done, reserve 2 tablespoons bacon drippings in the skillet and set aside on paper towel lined dish.
  2. In the same skillet add the onion and potatoes. When they have browned, add in the taco seasoning and water to the skillet. Gently mix
  3. While the potatoes and onions are cooking, beat together the eggs in a large bowl.
  4. Once the potatoes and onions have adsorbed the water, push the mixture to one side and add the eggs to the other side of the skillet. Scramble the eggs together with a rubber spatula as they cook. As the eggs begin to set, combine the eggs with the potato and onions. Continue to gently cook on low until done.
  5. Assemble the burritos but laying out a burrito tortilla on your work surface. Add 1/4 of the egg mixture to the 1 side of the burrito. Break 1 strip of bacon apart in half an place on the eggs. Add the your desired toppings, such as the tomatoes and cheese.
  6. To wrap the burrito, fold over the short ends of the wrap. Your burrito is now longer than it is wide. Begin to roll the end with the mixture over, while keeping the sides in, until you have completely rolled the entire burrito together.
  7. In a large skillet or grill pan on medium-high, place your burritos flap side down so the flap will seal closed. Flip over once to allow the other side to crisp as well. If you burrito was too full, or if you prefer to not have the burrito warp crisp, then wrap the burrito in aluminum foil to help keep it all together.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Ultimate Healthier Mashed Potatoes

I am of the camp that worships lumpy mashed potatoes. While I have plenty of issues with the texture of foods I am eating, I love the contrast of a bit of firm potato that is cozy with some smooth, velvety mashed potato. I think mashed potatoes is such a great food since it is a great side and a great starter to other reuse recipes, like potato pancakes or soup. Plus potatoes are so affordable that they can help keep you making great dinners and keeping budget.

With the new year upon us, I thought I would share with you a great mashed potato recipe that is a lot healthier than a lot others out there. Now is the time for everyone to resolve to loose weight or save more so a mashed potato recipe is a great way to start the new year. We are trying to do both so I anticipate making some fun recipes with potatoes like this in the upcoming year.

These mashed potatoes use substitutes to make it healthier while still having great flavor. We pretty much only have skim milk in the house so I use that instead of a full fat milk. I do use butter but not too much considering the size of the batch of mashers. The thing that really makes these mashed potatoes thick an flavorful is low fat sour cream.

Ultimate Healthier Mashed Potatoes

*serves 10-14 people*

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds of waxy potatoes, such as Yukon or Red
  • 2 tablespoons of salt, divided
  • 6 tablespoons of butter
  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 16oz container of sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups of skim or low fat milk
  • 1 tablespoon of black pepper

Process

  1. Chop all the potatoes in even sided pieces, approximately 1 1/5″ cubed
  2. Add all the potatoes and 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of boiling water.
  3. Boil until fork tender, start checking after 15 minutes.
  4. Drain tender potatoes, leaving them in the colander while you do the next step.
  5. Put the 6 tablespoons of butter and garlic back to the pot on low. Cook until butter is melted and garlic is golden brown.
  6. Add the potatoes back to the pot and cook for 2 minutes while stirring .
  7. Add the milk, sour cream, salt, and pepper to the potatoes and combine into the potatoes while mashing.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Buffalo Chicken Pita Pizzas

Last weekend was Price’s good friend’s 30th birthday. To celebrate, another friend stayed with us so we could all go out on Sturday night. As the guys were marathoning through video games and episodes of Ninja Warrior, I bugged them about what to have for a lunch/snack because I knew it would be hours until dinner. I started by suggestions snacks and things seemed settled on a dip, then they picked buffalo chicken dip with chips and veggies. As I started to plan and double check they changed their minds and decided on buffalo chicken pizza.

  

I planned on using a pre-made pizza crust to make the pizza quickly for the guys. Then I debated on making them using sandwich wraps, similar to my Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza with Ricotta, Mushrooms, and Red Onions, but then I decided to go with sandwich wraps. I figured that thicken pita bread would stand up better to the heavier buffalo chicken. All that thought for some simple buffalo chicken pizzas.

  

The pizza really delivers an intense buffalo chicken flavor. Most buffalo chicken pizzas I have had don’t pack the same punch since they use some sauce on the chicken and on the crust. Instead, I made a thicken sauce with the sour cream and buffalo wing sauce to coat the chicken completely and have a thicken sauce on the pizza. Typically, the heat from the buffalo sauce is counter balanced with the blue cheese dressing and celery. In this case, the sour cream cuts the heat. I didn’t want to add celery to the pizzas so I added avocado to represent the green you typically have on the plate.

  

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

*Serves 3*

Ingredients

  • 3 whole wheat pitas
  • 2 10 oz cans of white meat chicken, rinsed or 2 large breasts of cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce, I prefer Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce
  • 4 oz of sour cream
  • 12 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 half of red onion sliced
  • 3 oz of blue cheese, crumbled
  • half an Hass avocado, diced
  • 3 scallions

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 425
  2. Split the pitas. Lay them out on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 5-8 minutes. They should be slightly crisp.
  3. While the pitas are baking, combine the chicken with sour cream, and buffalo wing sauce.
  4. Put 3 tablespoons of ricotta on each pita, spread out evenly.
  5. Divide the buffalo chicken evenly on the pitas.
  6. Sprinkle slices of onion and pieces of blue cheese evenly on each pita pizza.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the onions have shriveled and the blue cheese has melted.
  8. Let cool for 5 minutes, then add pieces of avocado to the pizzas and cut some scallion on each pizza. Then cut each pita into 4 pieces.

Very Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Dip

This Very Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Dip is a party favorite. Skip the tedious poppers and mix up this jalapeno popper dip- easy & delicious. Spicy too!

Post from 2/3/2011, photos updated 2/25/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE 

One of my favorite foods to eat while watching football is a jalapeno popper. I love the crunch from the outside breading, the heat from the jalapeno, and creamy, cheesy filling. The perfect bite!

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