Baked Jalapeno Poppers

So, when I initially started this blog I thought it would be full of all healthy  stuff, but that hasn't happened too often because I mainly bake and baking healthy is hard unless you use artificial sweeteners, which I am not a fan of, if you are, it is fine, but me, I don't like the after taste, but these are a step in the right direction, sort of.  These jalapeno poppers are baked rather than fried so that saves few hundred calories.  I made these for a new years party that I went to and everyone loved them . They have a kick to them, but how can they not when I make them? The heat, however, isn't too overpowering. I hope that you try them and love them.  They use wonton wrappers and before you go to four different stores like I did let me tell you wonton wrappers are not in the Asian food section! They are in the produce aisle near the tofu.

Oh and if you have friends like mine who are MAJOR spice wimps (Love you Sonya and Tobi)  I suggest switching the jalapenos for a half cup of bacon bits for bacon poppers!

Now here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy.

What you need.

1 package of wonton wrappers.
4oz  dice jalapenos (I used picked )
1  cup hot pepper blend shredded cheese.
8 oz cream cheese

How you make them.

1. preheat of to 375F
2. Combine jalapenos and cheeses. I recommend using a stand mixer or hand mixer to make it easier.
3.  Put a tablespoon of the mixture into the center of the wonton and wet the edges of the wonton  with a small amount of water and fold in half so it is in the shape of a triangle.
4. Bake 10-15 minutes.
5. Enjoy!

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!