summer apple blueberry tart

this past sunday, my parents were stopping by on their way back from las vegas. let me take a break here to say that my mom rarely cooked when i was in high school so i never cooked. in fact, upon graduating and attending college i moved into dorms so i still didn't cook. it was not until i was in my second year of college and moving int an apartment that i finally decided to try out cooking and i mean real cooking. not just macaroni and cheese or rice-a-roni. i mean actual, starting from scratch cooking. wanna know the first thing i really cooked? chicken rolled in bread crumbs with mashed potatoes (ok, those were from a kit i think. i know they were not real potatoes) and fried asparagus (sprinkle some olive oil and salt over the top and fry on a fry pan until bright green--so delicious!). oh the pride.

yes, my name is amanda and i didn't start cooking until i was 20 years old. seriously.

so, i have always felt a need to show people that while i've only been cooking for four years, i can actually cook. sort of. i've improved with time but i can cook. so when my parents visit our house for dinner, i try to cook something really yummy to attempt to impress. i decided on this visit to cook the baked ziti (remember it was my mom who introduced us to the costco ziti) with some salad and garlic bread and something delicious for dessert.

i wanted a dessert that felt summer with lots of delicious fruit. i thought maybe about an apple pie but couldn't find a recipe i thought looked good. finally in one cookbook that shall reman nameless due to the following story, i found a recipe for apple raspberry tart. i thought that sounded delicious but when i found that costco did not have a raspberry to speak of i decided to replace those with blueberries.

on sunday, shortly after feeding little e her customary rice cereal with fruit, i made the tart shell. after letting it chill in the refrigerator for a short time i made my filling of apples and blueberries and rolled out my tart to the necessary size. after placing the fruit in the middle. the tart shell met it's doom. it soaked up the juice from the fruit and turned into a soggy paper towel, basically. after throwing a small fit and being annoyed that i had done everything i was supposed to i decided to come up with my own dessert.

on sunday, shortly after feeding little e her customary rice cereal with fruit, i made the tart shell. after letting it chill in the refrigerator for a short time i made my filling of apples and blueberries and rolled out my tart to the necessary size. after placing the fruit in the middle. the tart shell met it's doom. it soaked up the juice from the fruit and turned into a soggy paper towel, basically. after throwing a small fit and being annoyed that i had done everything i was supposed to i decided to come up with my own dessert.

this was HEAVENLY. everyone loved it! it was gobbled up, literally in 15 minutes. it was delicious. the blueberries were the perfect compliment to the apples. and the pie crust turned tart shell was perfectly flaky. it was an amazing dessert and so easy! i plan on making this again with different fruits. it is the perfect summer dessert!

i wanted a dessert that felt summer with lots of delicious fruit. i thought maybe about an apple pie but couldn't find a recipe i thought looked good. finally in one cookbook that shall reman nameless due to the following story, i found a recipe for apple raspberry tart. i thought that sounded delicious but when i found that costco did not have a raspberry to speak of i decided to replace those with blueberries.

summer apple blueberry tart

makes 1 9-inch tart

ingredients

2 1/2 c. thinly sliced peeled tart apples (i used granny smith, this equals about 2 medium sized apples)

1 1/2 c. blueberries

1/4 c. sugar

1 T. cornstarch

3/4 t. cinnamon

1 pie crust (homemade or store-bought)

combine apples and blueberries in a large bowl. combine sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. add to the fruit and toss gently. put pie crust in pie tin. spoon filling into pie crust and fold the edges over the fruit so it holds in the filling. (i suppose if you really wanted to you could leave the edges up and make it a pie. it's all personal preference.) brush edges with milk, water, or butter, or egg and brush over top of fruit. sprinkle sugar over the top.

bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

chicken pot pie

there's a few things that I look at and think "oh my gosh, I could NEVER make that. it would just be WAY too far above my skill level." i used to think that about things like homemade pizza, apple pies, and chicken pot pie. well, i've since conquered the homemade pizza and apple pie (which are surprisingly easy as long as you have a good recipe) and felt it was time to move on to the chicken pot pie. i felt the heat of the challenge as i pulled "chicken pot pie" out of the recipe jar a few weeks ago. i was ready.

i have made a similar chicken pot pie from "Hungry Girl". (if you haven't tried any of her recipes, please do!) it was so simple and SO delicious. for hungry girl's you just mix a bag of frozen mixed vegetables with some cooked chicken and then mix that all with some cream of chicken soup. you let it bake and then put a crust of crescent rolls on the top and finish baking. simple right? so i felt a little concerned when i began reading pioneer woman's recipe that i was to accomplish that week. it was a bit more detailed but let me tell you...worth every last second.

i only made one change to the entire recipe. once i made the filling of vegetables, chicken, and cream (which is sinfully delightful, so much so that i could NOT stop eating it out of the pot before it ever made it to the pie) i felt it needed just a little kick. just a little something extra. so what did i add?

ladies and gentleman, only my favorite spice on the planet earth.

curry powder.

oh my gosh. i did wonders. now, i never measure curry powder. frankly, i don't measure any spices when i'm cooking or backing so i really couldn't tell you how much i added. it was probably somewhere close to a tablespoon. remember, i'm a HUGE fan of curry. mr. e is not, so i refrained from letting him know about my addition until after he'd consumed a second helping of chicken pot pie and given it a thumbs up. if you aren't as big a fan, i would still add just a little. curry isn't really spicy, at least not to me. it just has more of a heat to it. a nice heat that will balance out all the flavors in your filling.

this was truly heaven. it's going into my permanent collection. oh! and pioneer woman explained that this is a GREAT freezer recipe. so it's going in the "freezes beautifully" section of my recipe book as well. (note: i do not have a recipe book...i have three overflowing binders that scream "organize me" everytime i walk by my cookbook shelf. someday.)

pioneer woman's chicken pot pie

makes one 9 inch pie

ingredients

3 celery stalks

3 medium carrots, peeled

1 large yellow onion

4 t. butter

1/2 c. frozen peas

2 cups cooked chicken (dark and light) cut into bite sized pieces (i recommend just getting a rotisserie and ripping the heck out of it

1 c. AP flour

2 c. low sodium chicken broth

1 chicken bouillon cube

1 c. heavy cream

1 t. ground thyme

1 t. kosher salt, or more to taste black pepper to taste

1/2 - 1 T. of curry depending on feelings about said curry

1 pie crust (homemade or store-bought)

finely dice all vegetables. Melt butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. add the vegetables (including frozen peas) and saute until the vegetables start to turn translucent. add the chicken and and stir to combine. sprinkle the flour evenly over the mix and stir. cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly as well as the chicken boullion cube. (i should mention here that P-Dub also adds 1/4 white wine but we are a nonalcoholic family here so we leave those ingredients out.) pour in the cream and stir. let the mixture cook over low heat to allow it to thicken. let it cook for about 4 minutes. season with thyme, salt, pepper, and curry. taste and adjust as needed. (see! she gave me permission to add the curry! add whatever you want!) pour the chicken mix into a deep pie pan or small casserole dish.

roll out the crust so that it's 1 inch larger than the pan. place the crust on top of the chicken mix and cut small slits in the top. press the crust into the sides of the dish to seal.

bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. cool 10 minutes before serving.

Easy and tasty...that's my kind of treat

Confession time! A couple months ago, it was time for the semi-annual conference of our church. I got what I thought (at the time) was a brilliant idea. Actually, I still think it was a brilliant idea. I just never carried all the way through with it. My idea was to make a bunch of yummy treats for my neighbors and friends and put them in a basket to enjoy over the 2 days of the conference broadcasts.

I'd seen a recipe on a blog for a peanut butter crispy treat that looked intriguing and thought it would make a great addition to my "basket o'treats." Sadly, when I went looking for it, I couldn't find it. I did some searching around online and found a lot of recipes that seemed similar. I combined a little of this one and a little of that one and came up with my own version of this tasty, easy treat.

The great things about this treat are numerous: you can make the recipe in a matter of minutes, it utilizes ingredients you likely already have in your kitchen, it's very inexpensive, and the flavors really compliment one another. It's a great blend of crunchy and creamy, salty and sweet. Want to know how to make it? OK, I'll tell you!

Peanut Butter Cereal Treats
1 c. light corn syrup
1 c. sugar
1 c. peanut butter
6 c. corn chex cereal
1 c. salted peanuts
Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray; set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the corn syrup and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in peanut butter. Combine cereal and peanuts in a large bowl. Pour syrup mixture over cereal and peanuts; stir to combine. Press cereal mixture in to the pan. When cooled and firm, cut in to bars.

The peanut buttery sauce that glues the cereal and nuts together is heavenly. It's almost like a peanut butter caramel. It takes some gently stirring to get the mixture to go from this...

...to this...


...but it's well worth the effort. I've found that if I stir slowly with a rubber spatula, the cereal stays relatively whole and the peanuts distribute nicely. Also, if you don't have chex cereal, use crispy rice cereal. It will work just as well.

I've made this recipe both as bars and as individual cookie-type snacks; both work great. (For my treat baskets I was going to do the cookie-type.) Individual treats can be made by spooning the mixture on to wax paper to cool.

Please pardon, once again, the blueish tint of my fluorescent kitchen lighting.)

Back to my confession. I still maintain my treat basket idea was a brilliant one. The planning was a blast. Even the baking of several different goodies went off without a hitch. The problem I must confess is that the treats never made it out of my kitchen. (If you are my neighbor, I sincerely apologize.) Distractions kept me from ever putting together my baskets. Pathetic! I must sadly report that several (and by that I mean WAY more than should have) treats ended up in my own tummy. I eventually farmed the weekend's bounty out to Mr. C's co-workers. However, the good news is that conference comes twice a year, so I can start planning now to surprise my neighbors in October.

Note to self: follow through with your plan next time.

In the meantime, I think I'll go make a batch of these:

I bet my neighbors would be just as happy with a plate of them today as they would have been 2 months ago.

P.S. Welcome to any new friends visiting after hearing about this blog at my cooking class today! I'm so happy that you're here!

A no-fail family favorite

The summer potluck and picnic season began on Monday with Memorial Day. Ah, how I love it...sharing meals, coming up with special dishes to take to a potluck, and dining in the great outdoors. (Incidentally, I will publicly admit that eating outside--whether at home or at a restaurant--is one of my most favorite things in life.) I'm always on the hunt for a great recipe to take to a neighbor's house or church party. Quite often I try something new, but every now and then I take an ol' family favorite.

These little beauties have a lot of names in our family. My aunt calls them Abracadabras. Some people call them wraps or pinwheels. But, in my immediate family, we call them "Little Burrito Things." We love these things. It's rare for any family event to go by without little burrito things being there.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking there are 1,000,001 roll up type recipes out there. You're right. There are. I've found this one to be different than others I've tried because it's more of an appetizer type roll up than a meat and cheese sandwich type roll. Whether I've made them for a casual craft day with friends, or a formal open house, the recipe has been a hit. In fact, on year I made about 500 for a church Christmas party and not one came back home. (Good thing since I was sick of them by that point!)

The ingredients are few, simple, and cheap. Let me show you!

Little Burrito Things
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cans chopped olives
2 can green chilies (undrained)
1/2-1 t. Bon Appetit seasoning (or seasoned salt)
4 packages of pressed ham lunch meat
10 8" flour tortillas
Mix the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Add seasoning to taste. Layer 4 pieces of ham on each tortilla. Divide the cream cheese mixture among the tortillas and spread leaving a 1" border on one side. Roll up beginning from the edge opposite the 1" edge. Cover the wraps and chill. Slice before serving.

Could it be more simple than that? I think not! Let's review a couple things. First of all, the Bon Appetit. If you don't have this incredible seasoning in your home, RUN--don't walk--to the store to get some. It's a lovely combination of celery seed, onion, and salt. The not so lovely part? It can be difficult to find. And, when you find it, it can be 5.00-6.00 a the small spice bottle. I think it's worth the investment though. It will last you for a very long time, it can be used in other things, and I think it makes this dish. But, you can substitute basic seasoned salt if you prefer. Second, the ham. Buy the cheapest pressed stuff a the store. You know, the super thin stuff that is about 60 or so cents a package. Each package has 10 slices in it and 4 packages will divide perfectly among the 10 tortillas. Third, the chilies. Don't worry about them being spicy. They are mixed in enough cream cheese that they add flavor without spice.

Just a couple side notes. I ususally cut my rolls about 3/4" wide, but you can cut them as wide or thin as you like. Cutting them at 3/4" will give you about 70 or so little rolls. Also, this recipe is super easy to half or multiply (remember the 500 Christmas rolls), so it's great for small or large gatherings.

Want to know one of the best parts of making little burrito things? These:

The ends! The ends of each roll up never stay closed, so they get tossed aside. In our family, it's always a race to see who gets to them first! I suggest slicing the rolls when nobody else is around. That way you don't have to fight over the ends. They'll be all yours!