Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

To start I have to say that pinterest is pretty awesome. I didn't do it for a while thinking it  as no different than any other of those media sites, but I checked it out after some urging from my amazing mother and I saw some pretty awesome stuff. I always like to look at the food stuff, and then I saw a picture of these apple cinnamon roll things, and I was drawn in! I tried making them and they turned out awesome! I highly recommend trying them! Oh and WARNING! THEY ARE STICKY!

Edit: I made these recently will bourbon soaked raisins and that made them even better!  So if you would like to do that add raisins that have been soaked in a third cup of bourbon for forty minutes.  Then have a cream cheese frosting with three tablespoon of reduced bourbon mixed in it.

What you need:

The Dough:

2 cups of milk (I used fat free)
1 packet active dry yeast.
2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
6 1/2 cups flour sifted (Plus a little more))
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter unsalted, at room temp.
Cooking Spray

The Filling:

2 cups peeled and thinly chopped apples. (I used granny smiths)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
 4 TBS cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup melted butter, unsalted
1/8 teaspoon salt

What You Do:

1. Preheat over to 350F 
2.  Start heating the milk  in a saucepan until it is 110 degrees
3.  Combine sugar and yeast and hot milk in a stand mixer
4.  Add salt and 2 1/2 cups flour to bowl  and mix for two minutes
5. Add eggs and 1/4 cup softened butter
6.  Add remaining flour half cup at a time. Wait until the previous  addition is fully incorporated before adding the next.
 7.  Remove from bowl or use dough hook and kneed for five minutes, or until it is smooth. Then put back and bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray, turn over dough once so it is thinly covered with the oil, ans cover with towel and leave to rise for 40+ minutes.

While it is rising!

8. Combines sugars and spices for filling and stir with apples
9. Roll out dough on flowered counter  top into a rectangle about 1/4 inch in thickness and brush with melted butter leave a 1/4 inch  boarder at the ends with no butter
10.  Add cinnamon apple mixture evenly over dough and roll up tight and cut into 24 even pieces and place in cupcake tin with liners.
11. Leave to rise 30 min and brush rest of butter over them
12. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until tops are golden

When they are done let them cool and then add glaze.  If you need a recipe try this one.

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs milk

1 Stir to combine.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

Well not too long ago a friend of my moms gave her two massive zucchinis that he had grown, and we were not quite sure what to do with them. The first one we managed to use just by using in out sauteed veggies, but we wanted to get a little creative. After a little searching an a lot of pinterest we came up with the idea of a zucchini bread  with a lemon glaze. This thing went fast! It is great for breakfast or a late nigh snack. I hope you try it an like it as well.

What You Need:
The Bread
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (I just used a cheese grater with the raw zucchini)
2 cups  flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tsp baking powder
1 eggs
 2 medium lemons
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup sugar

The Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 lemon

What You Do:

The Bread
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl
3. In a small bowl combine eggs and sugar, beat until combined
4. Add vegetable oil, buttermilk, the juice and zest of one lemon to the egg mixture and mix well.
5  Add the wet mixture to the dry  and mix together and then fold in zucchini.
6.  Pour in  to an 8x4 loaf pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife can be inserted in the middle and come out clean.
7. After bread cools pour on glaze.

The Glaze
 1. Combine juice of the lemon and powdered sugar and stir.
  
All that is left is to enjoy!


 

Baked Penne

A few days ago I went to a girl friend's of mine. At first I was only going to show her an idea I had for miniature chocolate cream pies, but then I thought, why not I will make dinner too!  So I did it! I made dinner for her, her husband, and their baby who is the most adorable, expressive baby, in the world!  Now this dish can be as nice or as complicated as you wish. You can make your own sauce or break out the prego, classico, or  your whatever favorite store bought spaghetti sauce is. I myself made my own and I have the concoction of spices I used below.  And just because I can I will dedicate this little recipe to the wonderful Sonya, Charley, and baby Arianna.

Oh and this serves 4 to six depending on how big a serving each person has. 

What You Need:

24 oz. spaghetti sauce (OR make the one I have below))
1 lb ground turkey (OR other meat))
3 cups penne pasta
1 cup cremini mushrooms sliced thin (opt.)
1 cup mozzarella (or more if you are a cheese lover)
2 TBS dried parsley ( 4 TBS fresh)

How to Make it

1. preheat over to 350F
2. Boil water in a large pot. Enough water so when past is added the water will be about an inch over the pasta while waiting for water to boil and pasta to be done add meat.
3. Cook meat in a ten inch pan until browned and then add the sauce to it.
4. combine Pasta and meat sauce.
5. Pour half pasta in a 9x9 dish.
6. layer the top with the mushrooms, and then cover with remaining pasta.
7. Top with Mozzarella and parsley and bake until cheese melts 

The Tomato sauce:

What you need


1 24 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 TBS Italian seasoning
2 TBS dried onions (You can use fresh if you want)
4 TBS Garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 black pepper
1 dash paprika
1 dash oregano
1 sash dried parsley
Oh and add about a TBS or two of water from the water the pasta boils in.

How to make it

1. Combine ingredients in sauce pan over medium heat and stir occasionally.  The longer you cook it the better the flavor of the sauce. I did mine about fifteen minutes because of how time went, but you can do your longer if you want.

Blubbering Blueberry Pie

Now why have I called this blubbering? I do not rightfully know....because you will cry it is so good maybe? I want to say yes, but really is because I just thought the name sounded cute.  Now I know this is two pies in a row, but when I found out my parents were going to my grandparents I decided I wanted to make my grandpa a pie. HE really likes pies, and at first I was going to make him a custard pie. The last time I made it he really liked it, but when I opened my fridge I found I had used the last of my eggs a couple days earlier when I made the banana cream pie.  So, I though a fruity pie, but then we had  only two apples, and no strawberries, but we did have a nice big bag of frozen blueberries! Now I would like to note you can use fresh berries in this pie. I just used frozen because it is what I had.

Here is what you will need:

The pastry for a two crust nine inch pie (NOT PREBAKED!)
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4  teaspoon  ground cinnimon
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
4 1/4 cup of blueberries (if frozen partially thawed )
1 TBS  butter(melted)

What you have to do:

1. Preheat oven to 425F and ling the bottom of your pie pan with half of the pastry.
2.  Combine sugar, flour, blueberries, cinnamon, lemon, and lemon zest.
3. Pour the berries into the prepared pie pan.
4: Lay the half of the pie pastry on top of the pie pan  and crimp the sides to the bottom and top pastries attach. C t slits into the top pastry.
5. Brush top of pie and corners with melted butter, then wrap edges in foil.
6. Bake  thirty minutes, then remove aluminum foil and bake  ten to fifteen minutes longer.

And here is the final product. 

Banana Cream Pie

Well I have been planning on making this pie for a little while. You see my Youth pastor was leaving and so me and another leader decided to put something together to say good bye for him. We made a card for him,  we had a hat and put little inside jokes all over it using little pins....One was a parrot. We wanted one other thing too though.  I was going to make him  the chocolate cake I have on here, but then I found out he didn't like cake,  but his daughter told me he loved banana cream pie, and so I thought, hey I can do that! And so I did, and everyone liked it! Even someone who didn't like bananas all too much. I hope you get similar reviews if you make this.  I adapted the recipe from one I found in a really old betty crocker book.

Here is what you are going to need!

1 baked nine inch pie crust
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups whole milk
4 egg yokes
3 tablespoons of butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon banana extract
1 large banana, diced into quarter inch slices

Oh and if you want you can reserve  the egg whites and make a meringue to top the pie.

How to do it:

1. combine the dry ingredients in a sauce pan and add milk slowly over medium heat. Stirring constantly. Seriously stir constantly or it will burn.
2. When mixture thickens and boils add  half the mixture slowly to the egg yokes stirring constantly still (You don't want to cook the egg yokes)
3. Add the egg mixture to the sauce pan again and bring back to a boil for one minute.
4. Remove from hear and add butter, banana extract, and vanilla extract.
5. Line bottom  of pie crust with banana so that there is almost not crust visible at bottom of pan, if need be add another.
6. Pour mixture over the bananas and the put plastic wrap on pie, carefully pressing down on the mixture. (This prevents the filling from getting a pudding skin)
7. Refrigerate for two hours and then serve with whipped cream.

Coconut Carrot Cookies

Do not let the name throw you! Seriously just don't.  I know I know the name sounds weird and coconut and carrots seem like a very odd combinations and coming along the recipe I adapted this one from  I was a little thrown off myself, but I thought, "Eh why not? I have carrots that are going to go bad if I don't use them soon, and I love coconut! I will make these cookies and pray they are yummy." Guess what! They were! The original recipe called for the cookies to be  topped with frosting, an I decided not to do so because I thought it may add too much. You can add it if you so choose though. These cookies have a subtle sweetness to them.  I hope you enjoy them.

The way I made the cookies they had 140 calories  calories and there were 26 cookies total.

Now here is what you will need: 

 1 cup mashed carrots (This is about 2 large carrots))
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shredded coconut

How I mashed my carrots was I just steamed them until they were soft and then put them in a food processor then let them cool.

Now what you will do

1. preheat the over to 400F
2. mix carrots, sugar, shortening, vanilla, and eggs together
3. Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder
4. Stir in coconut
5. Drop  cookies  onto sheet about a couple TBS full. ((I use the medium sized pampered chef scooper)) and bake  ten minutes.

And this is your final product!

Baked Potato Salad. Fully loaded!

Well today I had a picnic to go and I knew what everyone else was bringing, sorta, and I realized there was no potato salad, and so I figured, why not?  I knew, however, potato salad is one of those things that some people like and some don't, and I wanted something I thought everyone would like.  I cut out the usual stuff, well other than the potatoes, and made what  I thought everyone would like.  This dish has bacon and cheese in. I just gotta say that little tidbit is what made my friend Tobi smile and exclaim her belief of my beauty. I hope your friends exclaim the same.  You are all beautiful! And I hope you love this dish. Oh and please note this was made for a group of about  six people.

You can add more or less bacon or cheese depending on your preference .

What you will need:

3 large russet potatoes
1/2 cup Mexican style sour cream
1/2 cup of Mayonnaise
3/4 cup bacon bits ( or you can cook your own bacon and crumble it. I would say 6-8 slices would work)
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 green onions  slices cut about a quarter  of an inch, ((Only the green part))
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash of Cayenne pepper
1 TBS chopped parley

How to make it:

1:  Peel potatoes, wrap in foil, and bake at 350F for 1.5 hours. After they are done let them cool and cut into half inch pieces.
2: As potatoes are  baking combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and when potatoes are cooled add them,.
3: Refrigerated until ready to serve

Brownies

IT had to happen. Brownies had to be here. Now normally I am not a huge chocolate person. I know. SHOCKER! I mean I am a woman I must love chocolate right? Well, eh I am more spicy than sweet I guess, but I do like brownies. They are a quick and easy dessert. I have made these a few times and people asked for the recipe and so I just put this out here now.  I hope you try this and like them.

What you need

1/2 cup of veggie oil
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate (optional)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Here is what you do

1. preheat oven to 350F
2. in a medium bowl mix together everything but the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and walnuts.
3.   fold in the chocolate chips, and then the optional ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into a well greased eight by eight dish and make 20 to 25 minutes

Tortilla Soup

I am Mexican and  grew up have Mexican food at least once a week so it is no surprise that it is my favorite kind of food.  Unfortunately much of it is high calorie and I have two calorie conscious parents, and so when I found a tortilla soup recipe  that was also low calorie I was so excited!  This recipe is super easy.

The entire pot will be 1200 calories  so you can decide on that how many servings to have.

What you will need.

1 lb ground turkey. (Or, like me, you can use your turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving)
1 TBS olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 can  sweet corn
 1 can drained and rinsed black beans
2 seranno peppers diced
quarter cup of taco seasoning
Tortilla chips
grated cheese

How to make it:

1. Heat olive oil in a large  pan or pot and brown turkey.
2. Add the onions and garlic.
3. Once onions are translucent add everything else. (( if you want it soupier you can add more water))
4.  simmer for thirty minutes and enjoy  topped with grated cheese and tortilla chips.

See I told you it was easy! And this is the yummy final product.

Cuban Pork Shoulder Sandwich

Now, I am a girl who likes all different kinds of flavors. There is  very little that I do not like, and so I recently tried out a little restaurant here in Seattle called Paseo. Let me tell you they were amazing!  They apparently have the fourth best sandwich in the country! Well I unfortunately do not live within walking distance to this little hole in the wall and so I decided to set out and find a recipe that could be similar to it, and I think I have done it. Now, it is not exact, but similar, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Oh and for those of you who do not like onions I beg of you to put them on the sandwich. The onion flavor is not intense and I think the caramelized onions make this dish.

I made this to serve three but had enough left overs for two more sandwiches. 

So here is what you will need:

Marinade
1 Pork Shoulder ( mine was 2.5 lbs)
15 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1/2 onion
2 teaspoons ground oregano
1 cup Orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup  lime juice
3/4 cup olive oil.

For the assembly:
Bread (I used the Costco  torta sandwich rolls)
Caramelized onions (Recipe is below)
Mayo (My folks used dijonnaise and thought it worked. It may work for you other calorie conscious people)
picked jalapenos 
Romain leaves
Fresh cilantro leaves

Caramelized onions:
1 Onion
1 TBS oliveoil
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar

Now for how to do it

1. In a food processor (If you don't have one a blender will work)  pulse the salt and garlic together.
2.  Chop up onion and pulse it with the salt garlic mixture.
3. Add the juices and oregano and pulse again
4. heat the olive oil on the stove and then add the garlic mixture.
4.5 heat the sauce through.
5. Put the pork shoulder in a bowl and poke holes all thorough it, with a knife or fork, on all sides.
6. Pour the marinade  over the meat.  Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or  over night.

The next park can be done in a  crockpot or an oven. I did it in the oven.

7. Preheat the oven to  325F
8.  Cook the meat uncovered for one hour per pound of the meat and then add a half hour.  ((Basically cook until it can shred easy))
9. Let the meat rest on a cutting board for ten minutes then cut the fat off and shred it up.
10. Drain the fat from the dish you cooked the meat in and them pour the yummy juices into a large pan, and add the meat with a half cup of water and  bring to a simmer. cook for ten minutes.

As the meat is simmering you can  caramelize the onions,

How you do it:

1: Warm olive oil over medium high heat.
2. As the olive oil heats cut the onion up into half moon about a  quarter inch to a half inch in width.
3. Sautee the onions in the olive oil and add salt and sugar until onion reduces and  turn to a light brown color.

Now you can assemble the sandwich!
I recommend toasting the bread in oven  for maximum deliciousness.

And this is your final product!

German Apple Cake

I made this cake not too long ago and it was so great! You see my mom isn't a  big fan of fruit pies, and for me it is hit an miss, ya know it all depends on the crust if the crust isn't great the pie isn't, but this cake filled with fruit hits the spot! Even my mom liked it. The cake is topped with strudel and I recommend trying it out, It really isn't too much work. Especially if you have an apple peeler/ slicer.  Eat it warm with a nice scoop of ice cream for absolute deiciousness.

Oh and part of this does need to chill for a half hour, so just a warning

What You Will Need.

For the Strudel

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 TBS butter diced

How To Make It.

The Strudel: 

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl
2.  use your hands to  combine all ingredients into a crumble dough ball.
3.  Wrap the dough in a ball and  twist the ball tight.
4. Store in fridge for a half hour.


What You Will Need

For the Cake

12TBS softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
zest of one lemon
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBS milk
2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into slim wedges.
((For this I just used an apple peeler/ corer contraption.  It does it all for you! IT even thing slices the apples for you. It is pretty awesome.))

How to Make It.

The Cake:

1. Preheat over to 375 F
2. Grease up your  9x9 cake pan
3. cream the butter with the sugar with an electric mixer
4. Add the lemon Zest
5. Beat ion the eggs one at a time. Wait until previous egg is completely  dissolved before adding another
6. sift the dry ingredients together and then add to the batter.
7. Add in the milk and stir in with a fork or spatula. 
8. pour half the batter into the pan and spread evenly.
9: arrange half the apples over the batter covering completly
10. Put the rest of the batter over the apples and again spread evenly. Put the rest of the apples over  the batter.
11: Take out the strudel  fridge and grate. After pour  the apples
12: Bake in center rack of over for 50-60 minutes. When taking it out insert a skewer and if it comes out clean you are good! If not.....five more minutes then try testing it again. Then you are good.

And once again here is that little beauty.

Nutty Banana Muffins

Alright, I have to admit, I love banana bread with walnuts. I find it to be a perfect snack,  breakfast or dessert. The only problem for me is getting it out of the loaf pan in one piece. That is why I thin k it is great having them in muffin form.  You can of course take the walnuts out of this recipe, but then they wouldn't be nutty muffins which just sounds cute. Or could put chocolate chips in them like my friend Lexy likes, either way you should try this recipe out. Each muffin only has  160 calories.


This makes 12 muffins.

What you Need.

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons Baking soda.
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Very ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

How to do it

1. Preheat oven 375F
2.  Either line a muffin pan with the liner or lightly butter and flour one
3. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl.
4. Mix using a whisk attachment,  one banana with egg, brown sugar, and butter and vanillas until a liquified.
5. Mash the other banana with the nuts
6. Mix flour in with the wet ingredients
7. Fold in banana nut mixture
8. fill each tin about half way. and then tap the tin on a firm surface.
9. Bake fifteen-20 minutes

They are moist and delish! if I do say so myself.

No fuss mini pizzas

Now who does not like pizza? i love pizza! It is great, but ordering pizza can get kinda pricey, and really greasy.  Making pizza dough, well I have done it, and it can be a pain! If it is not done just right is can be a debacle. So, here it is! An easy no fuss pizza!

And as almost all my recipes this is rather low calorie for how much you get. 450 calories 

Now for one personal little pizza here you go.

1 pitta bread round.
1/4 cup  tomato sauce
1/2 cup of cheese ((Mozzarella, but I like cheddar so I used the mexican cheese mix))
All your favorite toppings. ((I went simple with only pepperoni))

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Put the pita on a cookie sheet.
3. Pour the sauce over the pitta
4.Add half the cheese
5. Add your toppings
6. Add the rest of your cheese
7: put in oven for 8-10 min
8: Broil for 2-4 minutes to crispy crust

See that was easy! And yummy!

Vegetarian Lasagna

Yes, another vegetarian dish. I am sorry, but I swear I do make food with meat in it often, but with the luck of the draw I just happen to have made these non meat dishes lately. Anywho this dish is very yummy, and you can control the calorie count. I only put a little cheese in it because of my calorie counting parents, but if you couldn't care less, and you love cheese, just load it on!

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1/2 green bell pepper slice
1/2 orange bell pepper slice
5 crimini mushrooms sliced
1/2 yellow onion diced
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup corn
seven lasagna noodles
1 cup cottage cheese ( Riccota works too)
2 eggs 
2 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce 
1 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. preheat over to 350F
2.bring a pot to a boil season with salt and add noodles.Once noodles are soft lay out on wax paper  until ready to use.
3. In a pan heal olive oil over medium heat, and then add the bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and garlic cloves. Saute until onion are slightly browned and bell peppers are soft.
4.add spaghetti sauce and corn to veggies and let stand for ten minutes.
5: Wisk together eggs and cottage cheese
6.  Start layering! Put a little of the veggie sauce mix on the bottom pf a nine by nine and then put a layer of noodles. (Note: Noodles will be a little big so just cut  them to fit in just the bottom))
Then put  a layer of the cheese egg mixture down, and another layer of the veggies and sauce. Then the noodles, and so on and so forth in this pattern making sure to and with the veggies on top.
7. Top with all the cheese! and then cover with aluminum foil, try tenting the top a bit so it doesn't directly touch the cheese.
8.  Put in over for fifteen minutes, and then remove foil and bake another ten minutes or until the cheese is all bubbly.


And then enjoy it!

And in case you forgot what this beauty looked like

Lemony Lemon Meringue Pie

I know I know. you are probably thinking, What two pies in a row!? Yes though. Yes, I am putting up another pie. I was kinda sitting around not doing much when I remembered that I had made my friend Tobi a pie for her birthday, yes her. I didn't make a typo, Tobi is a GIRL. The week before last I think it was.   When I had asked her about her birthday and what she wanted she gave me a smile and just said, "well, I always wanted to now how to make a lemon Meringue pie. It was then I put my baking cap on and got to work on getting a recipe that was both yummy and easy to make. The easy part may have not been needed because somehow I ended up making the pie alone in her house while she and the others watched TV. Oh well. I loved making it, and I hope you do too. This pie is sweet and tangy.


For the Pie Crust.

Now I really want to be lazy and just say go look at the  Strawberry Rhubarb pie crust....so...so I might just do that. Only you have to cut the recipe in half....hmmm hat is a lot more work on your end isn't it? Fine fine I will put the recipe.

Now, again, you can buy a premade crust,but it just isn't the same.

1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/8 cup butter
dash of salt
1 medium egg
1 teaspoons white vinegar
1/8 cup ice water

When I did this I had the shortening and the butter cold.

And that should work out.

Directions for the crust.

1. put the quarter cup of water in the fridge
2. Preheat oven to 425F
3. In a large bowl mix the flours, powdered sugar, shortening, and butter together and work it together with your hands, or if you have a paddle attachment to a mixer use that,  until everything is pretty well incorporated, but be careful to not over mix it.
4. In a measuring cup mix the egg, vinegar, and water.
5. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix, but do not fully incorporate the wet ingredients.
6. Make a ball out of the dough and put in the fridge.
7. After ball is in the fridge five minutes roll it out and put it in nine inch pie pan. Put it in the fridge ten more minutes.
8. Bake until the crust is golden, or twenty five to thirty five minutes.
9. Set out to cool. and bring oven down to 400F

As the pie crust  is cooling you can start on the rest.

Here is what you need for...

THE PIE DELICIOUSNESS!

3 egg yokes (Reserve egg whites for the meringue)
1 1/4 cups  sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
3  TBS butter, (I use unsalted, but in this case it doesn't matter)
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice. (Hint: Zest lemon first. Zesting a damp lemon is quite difficult))

Directions:

1:  Beat egg yokes in a small bowl
2:  In a..eh lets say..Medium saucepan mix cornstarch, sugar, and water, and stir continuously over medium heat until it turns into a gel like substance. Then stir another minute. And remove from heat
3:Add a quarter of the gel to the egg mixture
4: Stir the egg and gel together and then add back to the saucepan. (this prevents the egg from becoming scrambled eggs)
5: add lemon zest and Lemon juice; stir well.
6: Add butter and stir until it is completely incorporated.
7:  Set aside for now.

The Meringue that makes the pie what it is.

What you need:

3 egg whites
6 TBS sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions

Now I have done this with a stand mixer and hand mixer. It is easier with a stand mixer, but possible with a hand mixer, it just is a work out on your arm

1: In a large bowl beat egg white with the mixer on medium high.
2: add cream of tarter
3: Add sugar one tablespoon at a time,
4: After it is stiff, and by that I mean you can turn off mixer and it kinda has little peeks, you add the vanilla and  mix again.

If your meringue didn't turn out you probably accidentally let some egg yoke into your egg whites.  even one tiny little bit of egg yoke can ruin a meringue. 

Now, construct the pie.

You have the pie crust. Pour the  Pie yumminess, (The pie filling), into the pie crust, Top that with the Meringue.  The pie is constructed. Now you just have to make it.

Put it in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes. Then let it cool before indulging.

I recommend cooling on the counter for a half hour and then put it in the fridge until completely cool.

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Today I went to visit my Grandpa Frontz. 1so, yesterday I got to thinking. what could be a nice surprise for my grandpa? I thought about it and then my mom told be his favorite pie was strawberry rhubarb. It was convenient that we had just been delivered three large Rhubarb...uhm...things, in a box of fresh produce we get every other week. So I decided to make that. Now, I hadn't  made a  fruit pie in.....a while, and definitely had never worked with rhubarb, so I started poking around at recipes and found one called grandma's strawberry rhubarb pie, and so I tried making that. I did fudge a few things by adding a little extra or a little less of somethings, and didn't measure the fruit and rhubarb out completely, but this pie turned out great. If I do say so myself. In fact my grandpa even said it was beyond good. that is was better than my late great aunt Millie, who he was close to.  My dad liked it as well, and trust me this wasn't one of those 'they are your family they have to be nice,' things.  If they didn't like it they would tell me. Anywho, I am done blabbering. Let's get  on to the pie!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST!!!
Now, you can buy a premade crust, but come on, we all know it isn't as good as making your own.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3 teaspoon powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup butter
dash of salt
1 medium egg
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 cup ice water

When I did this I had the shortening and the butter cold.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING!!

3  fresh Rhubarb stick things, about a foot long each with ends cut off. or 2 1/2 cups, chopped,
2 1/2 cups strawberries cut length wise, so they are triangles not circles
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 TBS minute tapioca
1 TBS all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest...give or take
 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 TBS of butter cut into little cubes
1 egg white
1 teaspoon of water
1/8 cup of sugar,  (this one isn't exactly....exact. ))

Directions for the marvelous pie!

1. put the quarter cup of water in the fridge
2. Preheat oven to 425
3. In a large bowl mix the flours, powdered sugar, shortening, and butter together and work it together with your hands, or if you have a paddle attachment to a mixer use that,  until everything is pretty well incorporated, but be careful to not over mix it.
4. In a measuring cup mix the egg, vinegar, and water.
5. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix, but do not fully incorporate the wet ingredients.
6. Make a ball out of the dough and put in the fridge.
7. After ball is in the fridge five minutes split it in half and roll out one of the halves and put in in the pie pan.  Put back in the fridge, along with other  half of the dough

While the dough is in the fridge  start on the filling.

1:  Mix  Rhubarb, strawberries,sugar, tapioca, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, and vanilla extract all together, in large bowl.
2.  Put the  filling in the pie crust,
3. Put the chunks of butter all over the top of the filling.
4. Roll out the other half of the dough and put it on top of the filling. Crimp the edge to the other half of the dough
5. In a small bowl mix egg white and water, brush it over the top of the pie crust,
6: Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the crust.
7. Cover the outer edges of the pie with foil
8. Put it in the oven for fifteen minutes, then lower temperature to  375F and cook four  40-50 minutes

Let cool and then enjoy with vanilla ice cream or by itself.

Three Bean Chilli

I made this night for my family and it was a big hit! This chilli is flavorful and has a nice kick of spice. This is definitely one of those dishes where I will let you control your spice level.  I will put how I made it though. I hope you all try this and love it!  Here is a small note. There is no meat. I know I know. GAHHH NO! I need meat! I need meat. A meal is not complete without the meet!....That is an impression of a few friends that I have. *cough Cough* you know who you are. This meal is great despite the lack of meat.

There are eight servings at 225 calories a serving
A serving is about a cup and a half

Now here is what you will need.

2 jalapenos,  diced. (I use the seeds but if you want to mild the chilli down a bit you can throw the seeds out)
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper diced into inch lone pieces
1 yellow bell pepper diced into inch long pieces
1 green bell pepper diced into inch long pieces
 1 zucchini diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced.
1 cup of beer, ( I use non alcoholic. And if you want you can use vegetable stock instead.)
4 tablespoons of steak seasoning
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons cumino, (Or as others call it Cumin)
*3 TBS brown sugar
*3 TBS ketchup 
*1 tbs red wine vinegar
*1 tbs water
*1/4 tbs Worcestershire sauce
*1/4 tsp paprika
*1/4 tsp salt
*dash black pepper
 * dash chilli powder
((things with the * can be omitted if you want to use a 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce instead.))
1 15oz of black beans
1 15oz can of kidney beans
1 15oz can of garbanzo beans
1 28oz can tomatoes, diced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup or corn


Okay, I know that was kinda a lot, but gather all off that, and now here is what to do.

Oh and I suggest doing all the dicing before you start

1. If you are going to use premade barbecue sauce ignore this step
 Mix all the ingredients with the * in a blender until smooth.

2. in a big pan, at least two inches high and near a foot wide, turn the heat to medium and add oil.  Once the oil is hot add onions and saute them until translucent.  Then add the bell peppers and zucchini. Saute and cook for 3 minutes

3.  add garlic and jalapenos. cook for three minutes

4: Add the beer and stir, making sure to scrape the bottom.

5. After a minute add the sauce, premade or not.

6. Throw in the beans, the stock, and the tomatoes.  Lower the heat to medium low. Put a lid on the pan and cook for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally

7. Add the corn. Let cook ten more minutes

8:  AND FINALLY! ENJOY THE YUMMINESS!

Here was the final product.

Chocolate Cake

That is right! My  yummy chocolate cake recipe is out here! I will say I was inspired by other recipes that I got years ago, and the frosting is one my grandma taught me when I first started baking.

It makes 24 cupcakes or two nine inch rounds.

Now, here is what you will need

1. 1 1/2 cups cake flour ((it is important to use cake flour, but you may be able to get by with normal flour if you sift it a few times. Cake flour is finer than regular flour))
2.1 1/2 cups of sugar
3. 1 stick unsalted butter or eight tbs. At room temp. Not melted.
4. 1/3 cup baking cocoa.  ( I use Hershey unsweetened cocoa)
5. 1 teaspoon baking powder
6. 1/4 tsp baking soda
7. 1/3 cup unsweetened baking chocolate. (I use 2 1/2 or just over squares of Baker's, which is what I use)
8. 1/2 cup hot water. (not boiling)
9. 2 large eggs at room temperature
10. 1/2 cup buttermilk (don't worry taste is hidden, but cake is more moist with it)

now get all that together. I recommend leaving the butter out for a couple hours, better overnight, but if you are in a time pinch you can either cut it into 8 chunks. or you can unwrap it and kinda...hammer it down between to pieces of parchment paper and then use a rolling pin to make it thin, that should cut down the time fast.

Also why you don't want to melt the butter it will make the cake denser.

Okay now onto how to make the cake.

I suggest using a stand mixer just because it is easier for multitasking. 

1. Make sure there is a rack in the middle of the oven and then preheat  to 350 degrees
2.  Mix the dry ingredients together until they are combined.
3. Add the butter and mix on medium slow until smooth. About three minutes.
4.  Add the chocolate and hot water. Now if you buy the kind I use you have to melt it. what I do it put it in a bowl with a little water and microwave for thirty seconds, stir, and then microwave in ten second increments until it is melted completely, stir between each ten seconds in the microwave.
5. Add eggs one at a time. Make sure the first egg is absorbed before adding the second
6. With motor still running  add the butter milk. Mix for three to five minutes.
7. Grease up the cake pans or put the paper things in cupcake pans.
8.  Spread the batter between the pans.  and if making cupcakes fill each paper thing about 3/4ths full.
9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. If cupcakes bake 20 to 25 minutes.
10.  Let them cool a half hour. Take them out of the pants ad let them cool another half hour to an hour before frosting.

The Frosting.

This is easy to have, but it was hard to write because I normally just eye everything, but this is about what I do and use.

2 sticks  butter, soft.
5 cups powdered sugar
teaspoon vanilla
teaspoon milk.

and now what to do.

1. Beat butter until it is smooth
2. Add sugar. Blend on low or sugar will go everywhere, and then you can go up to medium speed.
3. Add vanilla and milk.
4. Once cake is cooled frost your cake or cupcakes.

Oh and if you want to make is chocolate frosting add  cocoa powder to it, about a 1/4 cup.

the flowers are made by melting chocolate  and then  made dots on wax paper and then cooling them. After they harden just place them on the cake in small circles with a  chocolate chip in the middle.

Here was the final product