Vanilla Sugar
22 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Homemade
Ok, this is going to be super quick. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! Back in December, I participated in the “Secret Santa” at work. We had from the first of December until we got out for our Christmas break to give and receive a small gift everyday that cost $2.00 with the last gift costing $10.00. Everybody got that? Good! ‘Cause I wasn’t sure I explained that really well and I sat here and sat here, reading that over and over, and I just wasn’t sure I explained that well and I sure don’t want to be confusing anyone ’cause confusion is, well, CONFUSING!
Anyhoo, one of the gifts that I gave was some homemade vanilla sugar and I was worried that my recipient wouldn’t like her gift. Fast forward to yesterday, the lady who got the sugar came up to me and told me how much she loved her gifts. SCORE!!! It really made my day because I was having a bit of a bad day after dropping an entire pan of hot corn. Yep, the entire pan. Hot and ready to be eaten. It was terrible! But thankfully the ladies I work with are amazing and forgave me instantly! Now, I am a bit ashamed to admit how easy it is to make vanilla sugar. The hardest part is waiting! Ok now, don’t blink.
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need sugar, vanilla bean, and a mason jar or some sort of vessel with a lid.
Step two: Cut the vanilla bean in half so it will fit in the jar and slice it open lengthwise to expose the caviar.
Step three: Start filling up your jar with sugar. Insert the vanilla bean pieces and continue filling the jar with sugar.
Step four: Set jar in the cupboard and leave it there for the next couple of weeks until the sugar is vanilla scented.
I am not going to list the recipe here because well, there’s not much of a recipe to list! I hope you give this a try. Sprinkle the sugar in your coffee, oatmeal, on top of your toast, gift giving….. the possibilities are endless!
Thank you for reading.
Homemade Poptarts
21 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Ok, I admit it. My name is Allison and I am a blog junkie. There! I said it! My favorites are cooking blogs (Duh!) and home/garden blogs. I get inspiration and great recipes from these blogs, not to mention hours of entertainment! But I have to say that the ones who are uplifting are the ones I keep coming back to everyday and today I am sharing a recipe off one of those blogs for healthy homemade poptars from www.heavenlyhomemakers.com. I have only recently discovered this blog while I was wandering around the internet one day and I must say, it went into my favorites right away. There are so many healthy recipes on there that I want to try which brings me to the poptarts.
There are many things which retain a place on my weekly grocery list such as milk, bread, meat, soda, etc. but it is the poptarts which have me always going back for more. Not because I love them so much but because my son does. That boy eats poptarts morning, noon, and night. He’s gonna marry a poptart. He’s gonna turn into a poptart! He already is a poptart! So when I saw this recipe for a healthier poptart made at home, I was excited to try it with a few twists of my own! You know I can’t keep from tweaking recipes! Let’s do dissss!!
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need wheat flour, sea salt, strawberry jam, melted butter, and yogurt. I am also adding sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Step two: Mix the butter, yogurt, flour, salt, and vanilla together. Yes I know this is an insane amount of butter but it is necessary for the flakiness (Is that even a word?!) of the dough. Now on the blog that I got this from, Laura says that you can now leave your dough on the counter for 12 hours to let the acids in the wheat break down to be easily digested. I only left it on the counter for about 45 minutes which had nothing to do with the pizza I had just pulled from the oven. NOTHING.
Step three: Roll the dough out very thin, just like pie crust. Maybe even a little bit thinner and cut out an even number of rectangles. Place half the rectangles on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Step four: Put a small amount of strawberry jam in the center of the rectangles and spread out a little bit. Brush the edges with the egg that has been beaten with a little bit of water.
Step five: Top with the rest of the rectangles and brush those with the egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 22-25 minutes until golden. Let cool and enjoy!
Verdict: While these were good to me, my kids wouldn’t try them. I am thinking of trying again with a few changes. Maybe half milk and half yogurt? Half white and half wheat flour? More jam and definitely icing on top instead of just the sugar. Besides the choice poptart in this house is the chocolate one so maybe, mix cocoa into the dough and come up with a chocolate filling? I don’t know! The possibilities are endless! Here’s the recipe.
Homemade Poptarts
3 to 3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. sea salt
1 c. yogurt
1 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Strawberry jam
Sugar for dusting
1 egg, beaten with small amount water
Mix together flour, butter, salt, yogurt, and vanilla until a nice soft dough forms. Roll out very thin on floured surface and cut into an equal amount of rectangles. Place half of rectangles on lightly greased baking sheet. Put a small amount of jam in the middle of each rectangle and brush edges with egg. Top with remaining rectangles and crimp with a fork to seal. Brush tops with egg again and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until golden.
Thank you for reading.
Crayons from Kayla’s Kitchen
07 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Yes. Yes, I know you have missed me!! You have missed all of my grace and charm….. southern hospitality….. beauty and grace….. wait, I already said grace. Oh well! It bears repeating! And talent, my pure, raw talent. The pure, raw talent it takes to make you poo yourself laughing while imagining my body being overtaken by the jiggles of my belly fat while shaking my coffee creamer until my cats flee in terror. THAT’S talent. But, alas, you are going to have to wait because this post is coming from my “mini me.” Yes, my daughter, my spawn, my legendary mark on this world… will make today’s post. So get ready world, (Gulp!) because here comes Kayla!
Hello, world! My name is Kayla and I am going to be writing stuff on here from time to time. Hopfully you like them!(:
You will need: Old crayons you don’t use anymore, A little muffin tin, and also little muffin tin liners(:
Ok, pick out five crayons of one color.Not the same color, different types of that color. After you do that peel the paper off of your crayons.
After that break a crayon in half. Set one half down and break the other half in half. Set it down because you are only going to use half of a crayon in one thing of crayons. It is good if you have two kids so they will have a set for themselves. Break the other half in half and set it aside. Break the last four like you did on your first one.
Do the same thing for however many colors you want to make. Now is the time to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Afterwards, you will set you cupcake liners in your cupcake pan for however many color sets you set up.
Leave wrappers behind for your mom.
Set one set of colors in a slot in your pan.
When you have that done put your pan in the oven for 5 minutes.
When, your five minutes are up let your pan dry for about 10-15 minutes.
When they have hardened take them out of the liners and you are ready to color away!!(:
Thank you for reading.
Apple Butter
01 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Canning
This recipe makes the best dad-gum apple butter I have ever put in my mouth. And I have put a lot in my mouth. Wait…. that sounded dirty. Let me rephrase that. I have put a lot of good apple butter in my mouth. There! That’s better! (No Doyle, I don’t want to hear it!!) The only bad part about this recipe is the peeling and dicing of the apples. Seriously, that’s it. After you dice, you just throw it in the slow cooker and walk away for about 9 hours. Go take a bath, do your nails, eat chocolate….. the world is your oyster! However, if you are a mom like me, you would probably go clean house and do laundry while keeping your little monsters busy. What?! Monsters is a term of endearment in this house! Besides, have you seen Rupert?!
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, vanilla, and almond extract.
Step two: Peel and dice your apples and throw them in the slow cooker.
Step two: Throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir.
Step three: Turn slow cooker on high, close lid, and walk away for an hour. Come back and turn cooker to low. Walk away again for 8 to 9 hours.
Now, knowing me, I never leave anything alone for long so I decided to check out the apple butter half way through cooking time to show how it will break down into apple butter.
Now also knowing me still…. I don’t have a picture of the finished product. Why? Because we had some dear friends over for supper and I was busy socializing!! And where did we do most of the talking? In the kitchen of course! Everyone always winds up in the kitchen!
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
5 1/2 lbs. apples of your choice, peeled and diced rather smallish (smallish…… smallish…..)
4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Throw everything in the slow cooker, close lid, turn on high, and walk away for an hour. Come back, turn cooker down to low and walk away for the next 8 to 9 hours. When your apple butter is dark and thickened, take lid off, and let cook for a little longer to get rid of excess water. Now you can put this in jars and process in a canner if you wish but honestly, the butter never lasts that long in this house. I usually put it in a jar and store it in the fridge for a few weeks.
We usually put apple butter on biscuits or on a hoe cake. I found the recipe for hoe cake on Southern Plate. It is a giant fluffy biscuit with a crispy exterior. You must try it. It is life changing. You will be hooked. Quick time-saving tip: When you have time, make up several batches of the flour/shortening mixture, put enough for one hoe cake in a zipper bag, and store in the fridge or freezer. When it comes supper time on a busy work day, grab a bag, add your milk, and pop it in the oven. Mmmm….. goodness on an ordinary week night. Speaking of which, I need to go make more batches. Happy eating!
Thank you for reading.
Peanut Butter-Toffee Cheesecake Brownies
01 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Desserts
I have to admit something. I lose things all the time. There I said it. I am a loser…. of things. I made this recipe during the summer and then I lost the book until now. Doyle and Kayla are my seekers. My all important finders of things. Poor Adam has inherited my genes of losing things. He can’t find his butt with both hands, a road map, and a GPS. Neither can I and my butt is huge. Yes, you may now feel sorry for us. *sniffle*
The cheesecake is long gone but the memories are still fresh. Ahhh….. memories. Speaking of memories, I got this book while we were in Harlan during our usual vacation in the summer. My husband’s side of the family from near and far comes together every summer for good food and good fellowship. We take the four-wheelers out for a spin, shoot guns (Yes, I said shoot guns.), picnic, and watch movies in the local theatre. Why movies? Because the movies up there are only 3 dollars! How awesome is that?! Anyway, it’s a chance for us to slow down and enjoy each other. In our hectic lives, we miss out on the little things. We all need to slow down and appreciate each other. You never know how long you have with someone. Ok, preaching is over. Let’s get to baking!
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need 1 box of brownie mix (the family size), oil, eggs, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter, chocolate coated toffee bits (Yes, I know that the toffee bits aren’t chocolate coated, but then I would have had to go back to the store. Ugh!), chocolate chips, and heavy cream.
Step two: Combine brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs in a medium bowl. Take your aggressions out and beat it for 50 strokes. Spread your batter in a greased 9×13 pan and set aside.
Step three: Whip your naughty cream cheese until he cries….. and is all fluffy and some junk. Add the milk and peanut butter. And just because whipping it the first time felt so good, whip it again until its smooth. Stir in one cup of the toffee bits to soothe any hurt feelings. Spread the batter on top of the brownie batter. You need to do this gently! Remember you are apologizing for being so mean.
Step four: Bake your brownie/cheesecake batter at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until the edges are light golden brown. Let it cool for half an hour on the counter and then put it in the fridge for around an hour.
Step five: Combine your chocolate chips and cream in a microwave safe bowl. Why? Because we are going to microwave it silly!! Microwave it for 40 to 60 seconds until the chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth. Yes, I know that the chips look funny. I had just enough of the swirled chips to make this so I used them. Why? Because I hate shopping! Sheesh! (Haven’t we already covered this?!) Spread chocolate over cheesecake and fight daughter for spoon. Give up and let her have it only because you are distracting her so you can lick the bowl. Sprinkle top with toffee bits. Spy mini peanut butter cups in candy bowl. Decide you want to add a little flourish and chop up cups and sprinkle on top. Store in fridge.
Update: I forgot to add the recipe at the end of the post! Bad blogger!! Here it is!
Peanut Butter Toffee Cheesecake Brownies
1 family size box of brownie mix
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. water
2 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 bag of chocolate coated toffee bits
1 c. chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
Stir together brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs in a medium bowl. (As if you would try to stir it together in your hand or in a teeny bowl!) Beat it for 50 strokes with your good old-fashioned wooden spoon. Spread the batter in a greased 9×13 pan and set aside. Now beat your cream cheese with an electric mixer until it all fluffy. Add in the milk and peanut butter and beat again until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of your toffee bits. Spoon cream cheese mixture over brownie batter and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Cool in pan, on a cooling rack for 30 minutes then place in fridge to cool for another hour. Take your chocolate chips and cream and place in a microwave safe bowl. Cook on high for 40-60 seconds until the chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth and spread on top of cheesecake. Sprinkle remaining toffee bits on top. Store in fridge.
Now that all your aggressions are out and you have a beautiful looking cheesecake thingy, go sit down and do what I do best. EAT!
Thank you for reading.
Edible Cookie Dough
19 Sep 2011 2 Comments
Yeah, that’s right. You heard me. Edible cookie dough. No, I’m not lying. I am dead serious. Cookie dough that’s ok to eat straight out of the fridge. Will it bake up into a wonderful cookie? Probably not. Will it be delicious to scarf straight out of the fridge in the middle of the night where no one can see the horrible sight? Yes. Yes it can. Lets get started. That midnight snack is calling your name.
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need softened butter, milk, flour, salt, pecans, chocolate chips, brown sugar, vanilla, and almond extract.
What the? GUYS! Get outta there!
There! That’s better! Although I do love those silly faces!
Step two: This is gonna start just like a cookie. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the extracts and flour and salt. Don’t forget to turn your mixer on low when you add the flour! Don’t ask me how I know. Just trust me…… I SAID TRUST ME!! Set aside.
Uhhh…… pay no attention to the finger mark in the dough…..
Step three: Now its time to get all fancy schmancy! Take your pecans and give them a rough chop and spread them out in a single layer in a dry skillet. Now toast those suckers until they are golden brown and fragrant and all yummy and junk! Let cool.
Step four: Stir pecans and chocolate chips into dough. Sneak a bite. Distract children. Sneak another bite. Give in to temptation and eat dough.
Edible Cookie Dough
1 stick butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
3/4 c. pecans, chopped and toasted
1 c. chocolate chips
Cream together butter, sugar, and extracts. Add flour and salt and milk. Stir in pecans and chips. Eat. Eat a lot. If there are any leftovers, store in fridge.
Thank you for reading.
Strawberry/Raspberry Bites
18 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Desserts
I originally wanted to make something with chocolate but since I discovered that I was out of cocoa only after I came back from the store, I had to change my game plan. Why didn’t I go back and get cocoa, you ask? Because I loathe shopping. I despise it! Why? Because within the first thirty seconds after entering a store (and it doesn’t matter what kind of store it is), the kids start asking for stuff, my feet start hurting, and Doyle starts sighing behind my back. UGH! After that, I am ready to get the heck out of there. Yes, of course I know that I was alone yesterday but I still loathe shopping! So there! But back to my original point here. I decided to change my plan from making chocolate/fruit concoction to making a cream cheese/fruit concoction. I kinda liked it so here it goes! (Okay, I really liked it!)
Step one: Gather your ingredients. You will need strawberries and/or raspberries, cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. I usually add just a drop of almond extract to everything sweet but today, I didn’t. Why? Because I’m almost out! Why don’t I get more? Because I would have to go to the store! Geez!
Step two: Set your cream cheese and butter out to soften in a bowl. Let them hang out together. Get to know each other. Conversate. Start warming to room temperature. Begin their new relationship. Come back every once in a while to see how they are getting along. Bring cue cards if you have to. When you can press down on both bars easily, they are ready.
Step three: Unite the two new friends by whipping the tar out of them with your mixer because they were not getting to know each other, they were plottin on you. Add your vanilla and sugar to soothe their burn.
Step four: Wash your berries and drain very well. You won’t have to do anything to the raspberries but you are going to have to prepare your strawberries for cream cheesification. Start by cutting off the tops.
Step five: Now brace yourself. This next tool I am about to whip out is highly sophisticated. Daaa-daaa-DAAAAAA! Daaa-DAAAAAA! Its a straw! We are going to push the straw through the strawberry, starting from the bottom to create a little tunnel for the cream cheesification. Keep repeating until all the strawberries have tunnels. I also want you to know that its perfectly ok to suck the strawberry out of the straw periodically.
Step six: Set your strawberries and raspberries onto paper towels to dry.
Step seven: Put the chilled cream cheese mixture into a ziploc bag and snip of a teeny bit of the corner. Pipe mixture into tunnels and cavities of the berries. No, I don’t have a picture of the finished product. I was in the middle of cooking and forgot. Hey! I’m human! I also urge you to refrain from squirting the cream cheese into your mouth in a frenzy. Your husband will walk into the kitchen and catch you doing it thus shattering all the mystery you have spent years building up.
Cream Cheese Bites
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick of butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. powdered sugar
Strawberries and/or raspberries
Wash berries and set aside to drain. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together. Add powdered sugar and beat again until smooth. Chill. Cut tops off of strawberries and create a tunnel inside by pushing a straw through the berry, starting at the bottom. Let dry on paper towels. Put cream cheese inside plastic bag and snip off the tip of one corner. Pipe cream cheese into cavities of berries. Eat. Swoon. Eat again.
Thank you for reading.
