Buttons and Bows

Is anyone else terribly ready for a vacation? Even though I just took one a month ago it seems so far. I'm already ready to get away. I need to take a personal vacation alone and just chill out. I'm sure that would be really great but I'd probably be bored by the second day. Maybe if I had my sister come then it would be better. Right about now she's one of the few people I could actually want to go away on a vacation with. I just need a break from life, how about you?

Speaking of my sister though... Sis was testing out recipes for a future brunch at her cafe. I was the lucky taste tester. Today I am featuring one of her recipes for breakfast! This only took me a few weeks... I mean months to post. I somehow sadly lost this posting in between all my others. 

Buttons and Bows

Yield ~ 12 

2 cups Bisquick mix

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together bisquick, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, milk, and egg to make a dough. Sprinkle flat surface with some extra bisquick and knead the dough a few times and roll it out. To make the bows you can cut strips and just fold one piece over the other. Otherwise you can just make the buttons which are just little balls of dough and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes then immediately brush them with the melted butter then sprinkle the sugar on them. If you do not have a brush (along the lines of marinade brush) you can dip them halfway in the melted butter.

Mexican Slaw

It's Monday... again. My Monday is slightly rougher than my normal Monday but it's my fault. I had a Sunday Funday yesterday but I don't regret it. Having those random days like that are always a blast. I went to brunch in Federal Hill in Baltimore then made a pit stop at a local restaurant on the way back and further broadened my new found red wine horizons. I then ended the day by making some form of an apple pie dish and eating half of it. I say some form because it wasn't pie but I don't even know what to call it. I can't even tell you what the bottom part of it was. It kind of just consisted of some doughy cakey bottom with apples and a streusel topping. Maybe I should give Hannah Hart a call and chat with her about my Sunday shenanigans. I'd say my day was a success. 

Remember that Mexican slaw I told you about that went so well with those little pies on Friday? This is it! It really goes great with any kind of Mexican style dish. It's so light and refreshing and it's a great compliment to those heavier main dishes. 

Mexican Slaw

Yield 6 cups

Prepackaged coleslaw mix (cabbage, carrots)

3 tablespoons rice vinegar 

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon canola oil

juice of 1 lime

large handful of chopped cilantro

1 jalapeno, diced

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Let sit in refrigerator for about an hour so the flavors set in together. 

Mexican Dinner Pies

It's Friday! Time for the weekend and maybe a little winning of 540 million dollars. Muahahahaha. But seriously, I know I'm 1 of like 176 million who fell victim to the urge to get a ticket. Unlike everyone else though, I got mine with a decaf coffee and some skittles. So, I've already won with the whole Skittles part. Plus, when 11 o'clock comes around tonight and I don't win it will be ok cause I have a bottle of wine at home already with my name on it, specifically for drowning my sorrows in. Just kidding... sort of. Anyway, enough about the lotto and more about food as usual! The other day I was feeling like I needed a little spice in my life and what better way to get it than Mexican, duh. Mexican dinner pies to save the day! More like a mixture of a pie and biscuit but who really cares anyway? They are muy bueno and quite tasty with a side of some Mexican Slaw which will be coming up next. Make these tonight and serve them up with a couple margaritas to celebrate the weekend.

Mexican Dinner Pies
Yield 12 pies

1 pound chicken
1 onion
1/2 green pepper
1 cup corn/black bean salsa
1 cup cheddar cheese
dash of garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, and red pepper flakes
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bisquick
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut up chicken into 3/4-1 inch squares. Put a little oil in a pan and add in the chicken, onion, green peppers, and dash of garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, and red pepper flakes. If you like spicy, go a little heavier than a dash of red pepper flakes. Cook until chicken is finished, then mix in the salsa. In a bowl, mix the milk, bisquick, and 2 eggs. Pour about an ice cream scoop sized amount into the bottom of a greased cupcake tin. Then put enough of the chicken mixture to fill it up about 2/3 of the way. Next sprinkle as much cheese as you would like on each hole. Last pour another ice cream scoop sized amount to fill up each little cup. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

In my everlasting attempt (I say attempt for a reason) to always eat healthier I came across an idea for a cauliflower pizza crust through my constant food browsing. Lately this word has just meant pinterest. I click on someone's pin then I find myself immersed into another fellow food blogger's site. Then I am lead to another and another and there goes over an hour of my time. The internet is and will be the downfall of me. It's no wonder I'm left wondering why I have zero time to do anything. Last year I rarely used my computer, now I have so many bookmarks it's almost a miracle of God that pinterest was created. I tried for a very long time not to jump on the pinterest band wagon but I had to give in and upgrade my Facebook to timeline just so I could join. Now my Facebook is just even more confusing.

On to the reason I even brought up pinterest. Cauliflower pizza crust... this crust was really good! It was a definite change from your typical pizza crust but it reminded me more of a flatbread. Now you should go make this crust and create as many culinary masterpiece pizzas as you wish. I just loaded mine up with a bunch of vegetables and some shredded chicken. I thoroughly enjoyed mine and I know you will too!

Cauliflower Crust
Yield ~2 8 inch pizza crusts

2 cups grated cauliflower
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 egg
1 tablespoon pizza seasoning
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take a head of cauliflower and grate ~2 cups of it. If you have a food processor you can put about half the head of cauliflower in and pulse it. Next mix this in a bowl with the mozzarella, egg, pizza seasoning, and salt. If you do not have pizza seasoning you can just throw in a dash of dried basil, oregano, and some garlic powder. Spray a cookie sheet and cut mixture in half and form pizza crusts. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes depending how crispy you like your crust. Take out crust and put toppings on and increase heat to 500 degrees. Place back in once complete with toppings and bake another 5 minutes or so.

Breakfast Cookies

Good Morning! Hopefully you all had a good weekend. I am just coming back to work today since I was at my friends wedding this weekend which by the way the most amazing culinary experience of my life. I've never experienced such a large and tasty cocktail hour ever. This resulted in a mondo food overload though which requires some healthier eating to make up for it. These "cookies" could probably do it. They really could be eaten any time of the day too. They are totally suitable as breakfast, or part of your lunch (or dinner), a snack, or dessert! Although, I would eat a huge bowl of the chocolatey-est cookie dough for breakfast so personally, I don't need a "healthier" version to take it's place. Most people don't participate in those kind of escapades though which is why we have these guys. They remind me of oatmeal raisin cookies with a touch of banana. They are mighty tasty though and don't use any flour, butter, or sugar. All you need is already in the main ingredients.

Breakfast Cookies
Yield ~30 cookies

1 1/2 c oats
3/4 c coconut
1/2 c ground almonds
3/4 cup raisins
1/4 c oil
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one bowl mash the banana and mix in the applesauce, oil, salt, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and maple. Meanwhile toast the almonds to bring out the flavor then place in a plastic bag and mash them into small pieces. Add those to a separate bowl with the oats, coconut, and raisins. Then pour in the liquid mixture to create "dough". Form into small balls about 2 tablespoons large and place on a sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for about 16 minutes until dough is drier.

 

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Here I am, leaving you with my last St. Patrick's food posting of the year. Maybe you're kind of glad about this and you'd rather me be making Thai or Mexican posts. I know I might prefer to be eating those currently or maybe not considering I just ate 6 cookies. Eeeep! If you have followed any of my recent posts though, you have read about my quest to cook corned beef and cabbage. Lent put a little damper in my plans but I wasn't about to give up. I did a quick rescheduling for the corned beef and set out to make it this past Saturday. Step one: set up everything in the crockpot. Step two: Set alarm for 1AM to get up and plug in and turn on crockpot (which I thought I did) Step three: Wake up to amazing smells of beer and meat. Step three never happened because for some unbeknownst reason the darn outlet wasn't working! My crockpot doesn't have a light that goes on, you just switch the knob to low or high. When I woke up at 7:30 I smelled nothing and quickly realized crockpot never was on. Once again my plans were thwarted. Another readjustment and quick thinking and I put everything in a huge pot and boiled it for 3.5 hours. Luckily, it turned out perfectly and it was the best tasting fall apart corned beef and cabbage I've had.


Corned Beef and Cabbage

2.5 pounds of red potatoes
3+ pound corned beef (and seasoning packet)
1 head of cabbage, quartered
1 cup carrots
1 onion
1 12 ounce can of beer
2 tablespoons brown mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Cut up potatoes into quarters and onion into slices. Place onion, carrots, and potatoes at bottom of crockpot or large pot. Add in brown mustard and brown sugar. Place corned beef on top of vegetables and pour seasoning packet on top of the beef with garlic powder. Last add in the beer and enough water to leave about 1 inch of the meat uncovered. Now, if you are going to cook this in the crockpot turn it on low and cook for about 10 hours. When you have about 2-3 hours left add in the cabbage. If you are cooking this in a large pot go ahead and add in the cabbage and turn the heat on high and bring to a boil. After it has been boiling for about a half hour, reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for another 3 hours. By the end of both of these cooking methods the meat should be falling apart and perfect!

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St. Patrick's Funfetti Blondie Bites

St. Patrick's is almost here! Only a few more days to make as many green and Irish things as possible. This weekend I went to the Green Beer Races which is quickly becoming a tradition. This is the third year I've gone and it only gets better every year. It's green beer though so I don't know who would be able to resist that. Since I was in such an Irish mood I wanted to make some St. Patty's treats. My favorite cake is funfetti and I've been obsessed lately with blondies so I bring you the St. Patrick's Funfetti Blondie Bites! OK, so maybe they should really be called Greenie bites? Leprechaundie Bites? They aren't so blond once you add in that green food coloring. Andddddd you should really wait until they are completely cooled so yours turn out in perfect squares versus my oddly shaped ones. They just tasted so good I couldn't stop cutting/eating them immediately after they came out of the oven.

St. Patrick's Funfetti Blondie Bites
Yield ~25

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons oil
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
green food coloring
1/4 cup sprinkles

Candy melts (whichever color you prefer, I used green for St. Patrick's)
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix in with brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, and oil. Next add in the baking powder, salt, powdered sugar, and flour. Last mix in the green food coloring (if you'd like them to be green, omit if you want plain funfetti) and the sprinkles. Pour into a small baking dish. I used a small 6x6 but you could easily double the recipe for a 9x9 baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes, check on blondies and bake a few more minutes or as needed until firm. Let blondies cool, then cut them into 1 inch squares. Place them on a baking sheet and freeze for about 30 minutes. Once they have hardened up some, melt the candy melts in a bowl microwaving for 30 seconds at a time until completely melted. Place a square onto a fork and dip into chocolate shaking excess off. Then place the blondie on a sheet of wax paper to harden and add sprinkles if desired. 

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Spaghetti Cupcakes

The best part of today is my NEW blog banner! I'm in love with it and I have to thank my wonderful friend Allison for making it for me. She's a real pro with that design stuff. She's also a real pro singer too. She's so unbelievably talented and I'm so happy to have her in my life :) You should all let me know what you think of it in the comments! BUT anyway, what's a blog post without a recipe?

These are the dessert I told you all I brought to the Italian potluck dinner I went to last weekend... Spaghetti Cupcakes! I'd been dying to make these forever (like since last summer) but I never really had a reason to until the potluck. It was destiny, obviously Italy was calling my name. These probably didn't last longer than an hour. My recipe made a ton of them and I only brought half a ton. I should've brought all of them so I wasn't left alone with the rest on Sunday.

Spaghetti Cupcakes
Yield ~60 mini cupcakes or 24 regular size cupcakes

No Fail Vanilla Cupcakes
1 package vanilla cake mix
1 package vanilla pudding mix (3.9-5 ounce)
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Frosting
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
enough milk to get desired consistency

Strawberry Preserves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together eggs, sour cream, oil, water, and vanilla. Add in the cake mix and pudding mix and stir until all combined. Bake about 15 minutes or until slightly golden. For frosting cream butter and vanilla together. Add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add in milk until desired consistency is reached. To create the spaghetti noodle frosting you will either need a small tip for your frosting bag or you can put the frosting in a strong sandwich plastic bag and cut a small opening in the corner. Squeeze the frosting out in random directions to make it look like noodles. After you have finished, take about 3 tablespoons or so of strawberry preserves and mix it with 1 tablespoon of water. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on top of the frosting for sauce. If you are making larger cupcakes you can use Ferrero Rocher's to place on top to look like meatballs, for the smaller version you can use Whopper's.

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Baby Stuffed Peppers

These puppies make me happy purely by the colors. When you just look at this dish doesn't it put you in a good mood? What's even better is today I am going to the store to get little baby seeds so I can get a head start on our gardennnnn! I'm going to get so many types of peppers (and tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) then I can just have a bunch of these right outside.

This past Saturday I went to an Italian potluck. I definitely brought a dessert but I really wanted to make a dinner dish too. I had to throw something unexpected in there. I love stuffed peppers so I decided to make those on a smaller scale so they were a bit more party friendly. One thing this meant though was I had a lot to carry to my friend's place. She lives in downtown Annapolis so parking is limited which means long walks to her place sometimes. On the walk home, somehow all the dishes ended up in a box being balanced on top of my boyfriend's head while we sang the Lion King song... I have no idea what to even say about that except it made the walk home much more enjoyable.

Baby Stuffed Peppers
Yield ~25 baby peppers

25 baby sweet peppers
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 lb ground chicken
1 onion diced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic
1 can tomato sauce (~15 ounces)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
dash salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil 3/4 cup rice with 1 1/2 cups water until cooked. In another pan spray with vegetable or canola oil and add in ground chicken, onions, and garlic on medium high. Keep on heat until chicken is cooked through. Once rice and chicken are cooked add them to a bowl and mix in the parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, worcestershire sauce, half the can of tomato sauce, and salt and pepper. Place the baby peppers in a casserole dish and then fill them with the filling. This could also be used for regular sized green peppers. It should make about 5 or so. Once you have filled all the peppers fill the dish about 1/2 inch with water and pour the rest of the tomato sauce on the peppers. Place uncovered dish in oven and bake for about 45 minutes.

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Colcannon Potatoes

Guess what!?! St. Patrick's Day is getting closer and closer. I love St. Patrick's, the last 3 of them my dad and I have gotten into some fun mischief so I always look forward to it. Whether it be roaming the streets of Grand Forks, North Dakota screaming "Yep, OK!, and You betcha" in typical North Dakota accents as we drank our green beer or going to the Eastport Green Beer Races it's always a blast. This Saturday, we're going to the green beer races again. So, today I'm bringing you a little pre St. Patrick's food inspiration. Maybe you can add this to one of your dishes in your Irish festivities.

The same day last week that we had all that crazy weather I made these potatoes too. Pops and I were going to the local Irish bar to hear to some tunes so I figured I'd make us a nice traditional Irish dinner to get us in the pre St. Patty's spirit. Originally I had planned on making corned beef and cabbage so I went out and bought everything for it. Then I realized the day before I plan to make this it's going to be Friday aka no meat day during lent. I was quite disappointed and I had to do some rethinking but I still got to use my potatoes and cabbage.

Colcannon Potatoes
Yield ~2 8 inch round pans or a casserole dish

9 red potatoes (1 1/2- 2 pounds)
1 cup milk
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 head of cabbage, diced
dash salt
dash pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut up potatoes into quarters and place in a pot of water. Bring to boil until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, cut up onion, cabbage, and garlic and place into a pan with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Saute with a dash of salt and pepper until vegetables are no longer firm. Once potatoes are finished cooking, drain the water out of the pot then mash your potatoes with milk, 1 tablespoon butter (more if you wish), salt, and pepper. Next fold in your cabbage and onion mixture. Place mixture into baking dishes and bake for 30 minutes or until tops get a nice browning.

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Banana Bread

What do you do when life gives you a ton of bananas going bad? Make banana bread. At least that's what I did. Friday was a great day to be inside baking. It was 50 and raining and I got off work early because one person did something well so the whole division got rewarded. Seems kinda silly but I'm not complaining. I came home and baked this and some Colcannon potatoes which will be on here soon! Meanwhile I had the weather channel (which I normally refuse to watch) on in the background so I could see what was going on with the weather. Yesterday was an epic weather day. Holy ridiculous tornadoes batman! It was unbelievable to look at the radar returns. It just looked like tornadoes could have popped up EVERYWHERE. If this picture below doesn't get you excited you must have serious problems.

Banana Bread
Yield ~1 loaf

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups banana (3 bananas) mashed
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tbs vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts
1/3 cup oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, wheat flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl melt the butter and add in the eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Then add the liquid mixture into the dry bowl along with the Greek yogurt. Last fold in the walnuts. Pour the batter into your loaf pan and sprinkle the top with oats. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until firm.

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Chocolate Buttermilk Pielets

Hautelook.com is quite possibly the most evil site ever. I think the Devil created it to make us all poor. Every day at 11 o'clock new specials come out on clothes and homegoods and beauty products. When my friend first told me about this site I was not impressed. I could have cared less cause let's be honest, I'm not much of a girly girl. A few weeks ago I decided to give it another try. Every day my cart has something in it by 11:03. By 11:15 you have to decide if you want it and if you don't buy it right then, you lose it. I'm always scrambling to decide do I need it, do I want it? Will this make me look better!?!?! I get anxiety daily from this stupid website. My anxiety overtook me today and I ended up spending $45, sadness. Meanwhile, I bought a groupon yesterday for bikram yoga classes. I don't know what I was thinking. YEA, I totally want to stay in one pose for 5 minutes straight in 105 degree heat with men wearing tight little yoga shorts...

Maybe I will feel better about all this if I have one of these little pies today when I get home. I have a few left surprisingly. When I was trying to come up with these I wanted to use the last of my buttermilk and figured I could do it with buttermilk pies. I made them bite-sized since I was taking them to a birthday party. Every person I said those words to has almost recoiled in disgust. Maybe it's because it's more of a southern treat but buttermilk is not as bad as you think. At least there were only a few left so the name didn't get the best of them! These were so tasty and almost like a brownie in a little phyllo shell.     

Yield
~ 1 9" deep dish pie or about 50 mini pies
You can half the recipe to make 25 mini pies which is what I did. The recipe below is for the full serving though.

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
 3 eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

9" deep dish pie shell
OR
half a package of defrosted phyllo dough

If you are making the full size pie, get your frozen pie shell out to thaw or make your homemade version. If you are making the phyllo shells make sure your dough is thawed completely so it does not break. Unroll the dough and cut a strip off the pile of phyllo layers at a time, about 3 inches long. You will then have a pile of sheets about 10 inches by 3 inches. Take a layer and place on an oiled surface, such as a cookie sheet. Then spray it with vegetable/canola oil. Take another layer of dough and repeat until you have 8 layers of phyllo dough with spray between each layer. Then cut your strip into thirds and stuff each square into the mini cupcake tin spaces. They should look like the picture above.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix eggs, sugar, and flour together in a bowl, then add in the melted butter. Next add in the cocoa powder. Last pour in buttermilk and vanilla and mix. If you are making a full pie, next you can just pour the mixture into the pie shell. Place in oven and bake 60 minutes or until center is only slightly jiggly. If you are doing the minis, pour a tablespoon of filling into each phyllo shell you have made. Place them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or so.

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Blackberry Scones

Yesterday my day began by getting in my car at 5:45 AM to go to work. I turned on my Margaritaville radio only to find out it was National Margarita Day. Terrible timing to find this out. Obviously having a margarita at this time would be frowned upon. Plus it's a Wednesday AND it's Ash Wednesday, definitely not a party day. My party consisted of going to the gym after work only to end up in severe pain today andddd making blackberry scones. It all started because of buttermilk.

Many times you buy something for one recipe then you have a bunch leftover and you're like what the heck am I supposed to do with the rest of this? You couldn't possibly just waste it, especially if you're a cheap skate like me. That was me yesterday with leftover buttermilk from frying up some shrimp. I started thinking about what I could make. Scones sounded good and blackberries were on sale this week so it was my obvious choice. Also, since the weather has been so nice 60+ degrees! it made me want something summery aka berries.

I actually had never even had a scone before yesterday. This might make you question my recipe but I can tell you when I brought them into work they were gone within 30 minutes. Last night, I had my taste tester try them with me. After my first bite I was like "Is this what they're supposed to taste like!?" The response was yes. I had no idea they were more of a biscuit type thing.When I went to get them this morning, said taste tester had obviously taken another one out of the box after I went to bed.

Blackberry Scones
Yield ~12 scones

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk plus another ~1/4 cup
1 cup blackberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter in small pieces. Mix this together until mixture is crumbly, you may need to get your hands dirty for this. In another bowl, mix the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Next throw your blackberries in the powder bowl to coat them. This helps to keep them from mashing too much and running in the dough. You could even freeze them so that they are more firm. Next make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Carefully fold the ingredients together so that the berries stay as intact as possible. If the dough is too dry add in more buttermilk a tbs at a time.

Once dough is all mixed together, sprinkle some flour on your counter top or cutting board. Place dough on there and begin to spread out. You want it to be about 1 inch thick. Once mine was spread out it was about a 10x10 inch square. I then cut it into 3 strips and cut 4 triangles out of each strip. Place triangles on a greased cookie sheet. Next brush them with a little buttermilk and sprinkle some sugar on top. Put them in the oven for 16 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

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