Big, Big News!!!

I have some pretty exciting news!  I am in the process of working on a cookbook!  Eeeee!  Doing the happy dance, doing the happy dance!  It won’t be anything super duper fancy, but it will be filled with a ton of my favorite recipes.  I hope to have it ready for purchase by the first of December – just in time for Christmas gift giving!  The price will be $15, and there will be well over 150 recipes in the book.  If you are interested in buying one, please leave me a comment here so I can get an idea of how many I need to get printed.  I will be adding a Paypal button to the blog soon so you can purchase it that way, or you can send me a check or money order as well.  All that info will be coming in the next week.  I can’t tell you how freakin’ excited I am about this!  Every time I think about it I just start smiling. 

Today’s recipe is one that will be in the book, and is one that I created in my own little crazy mind.  It was breakfast time and I was in the mood for oatmeal.  But I just didn’t want plain ordinary oatmeal.  No, I wanted something yummy and comforting.  So, I started plundering around the kitchen looking for something to give my oatmeal some oomph.  I opened the fridgyator door and I think I actually saw that little lightbulb come on over my head.  I had some leftover canned pumpkin sittin’ in there.  I’d made a cake with it a few days before and had just about a cup left over.  Okay, I said.  I think I’m going to invent a Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.  And I did.  And it was delish.  And I ate it again the next morning.  And the morning after that.  And then I ran out of pumpkin.  Then I cried.  It’s now on my grocery list every week because I don’t ever want to run out of pumpkin again.  

Eating this Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal is like eating dessert for breakfast.  I mean, come on!  Who wouldn’t want to be able to eat dessert for breakfast…and not feel guilty! 

So, let’s do this thing.  Grab some instant oatmeal (cuz I’m lazy AND impatient), brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, milk and of course, some pumpkin.  I also throw in a little flax seed for extra “cleaning properties”, but that’s totally optional.  You’ll also want to grab the jar of pecans for the topping.

Pull a microwave safe bowl thing from the cabinet and toss in 1/2 cup of oatmeal.  I’m making a single serving here.  Add a tbsp of flax seed if you want.  I wanted.

Now, add some brown sugar for sweetness.  I like mine pretty sweet because, well…I have a sweet tooth the size of Texas, so I put in probably 3 or 4 tbsp of brown sugar. Add less if that sounds like way too much to you.   (Just for the record…there’s probably only two tbsp shown in this pic…I added more later when I tasted it!)

Now, toss in about 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, a dash of allspice and a dash of nutmeg.

Add a pinch of salt. Some people think it’s wierd to add salt to sweet dishes…but it really does help bring out the flavors.

Now, the first time I made this, I did this next step in a separate bowl.  The next time I did it, I just added it to the oatmeal bowl, and it was just fine.  So, don’t dirty up another dish for this next step…learn from my mistakes, and just throw it in the same bowl with the oatmeal stuff.

Add about 1/3 cup canned pumpkin and 1/2 cup milk.  Throw in a tsp or so of butter for good measure.  Stir it all up.

Now, pour this mixture into the oatmeal mixture.

Stir it all up, and if it looks too thick, add a little more milk. 

**Here’s a tip for ya…I like to add a little less liquid than you’re supposed to when I cook my oatmeal.  That way, when it comes out of the nuker super steamin’ hot, I can add a little milk to it to thin it down and cool it off at the same time. 

Pop the oatmeal stuff in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes, until cooked well.

Now, while that’s cooking, let’s make a crumb topping for that oatmeal.  Why?  Well, cuz I like a little crunch in my oatmeal.  Wierd?  Maybe.  Delicious?  For sure.

Put some brown sugar in a bowl.  Add some chopped pecans.  Add in enough melted butter to make it a crumbly mess.

Pour your oatmeal in a bowl and top with this crumble stuff.

And dig in!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment if you’re interested in buying a book (Or two!  Or three!). 

Happy Eating!

White Chocolate Walnut Blondies

So, you know those amazing “sizzling” blondies you can get at one of the big chain restaurants?  The one with the walnuts and white chocolate chunks and is topped with ice cream and bathed in a sinful sauce that sizzles when it reaches the hot skillet they serve it on?  You know the one?  Sure.  I’ll pause a minute while you wipe the drool from your chin. 

Okay…now that you’ve composed yourself…I’m going to show you how to make that SAME awesome dessert!  Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Blondies:

4 egg whites

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

8 oz. white chocolate (coarsely chopped, or use chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts

 

Preheat oven to 325.  Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.  Add the softened butter, sugars and vanilla.

 Mis this until smooth. 

In a seperate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

Mix until smooth.  Stir in the white chocolate and walnuts.  Spread into a greased 9×13 pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes.

While the cake bakes, combine the following ingredients for the luscious sauce:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

1/4 tsp salt

Stir it all together.  When the cake is finished, pop the sauce mixture in the microwave for about 30-60 seconds until warm and pourable.

 

To assemble…Place a big ol’ hunk of blondie on a plate…

Oh man.

Now, plop a big scoop of ice cream on the blondie…

Oh my.

Now, smother the whole thing in that luscious, sinful sauce…

Oh yeah baby.  That’s what I’m talking about!

Heaven help me. 

Now, you can heat up a cast iron skillet and do it up just like the famous restaurant does…but I was too lazy for that.  But if you wanna…go ahead.  It won’t taste any different, but it’s a nice presentation none the less.

My ‘famous’ Kentucky Derby Pie

This is one of my most ‘famous’ pies.  Everyone loves this pie…especially my husband.  And when I had my business…this was a big seller too.  I even sold these pies to the hospital for them to serve in the cafeteria!  I thought I’d share the recipe with my blogging friends.  If you like chocolate and pecans…you’ll love this pie!

First off, let’s make the crust.  Of course, you can use a premade crust, but once you’ve tasted a homemade crust, you’ll never want to go back!  And this is a super easy crust.  It is a Shaker recipe – for those who are local, you’ll know who I’m talking about!   

For the crust, you’ll need:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

7 tbsp butter, cold

2 tbsp cold water

 

First, place flour and salt in large bowl.  Then you need to grate your butter.  I use a microplane type grater, but a basic box grater will work too.  Freezing the butter for an hour or so before grating helps a bit too.

Some people cut their butter in with a pastry cutter and that’s perfectly fine…but I’m just too lazy and don’t like doing it that way.  Once your butter is all grated, just stir it into the flour.  SO much easier than cutting it in with a pastry cutter, in my opinion!

Now, just add the water and stir with a fork until the flour is moistened.  Mix with your hands into a ball that cleans the bowl.  (You may need to add a bit more water of flour, if your dough is too dry or wet)  Don’t overwork it though, that will make it tough.  Just get it to come together.

Now, just roll it out into a circle large enough to fit into your pie pan.  Place it in your pan.  Crimp the edges to make them pretty.  You can either use a fork to make indentions, or make a fluted edge with your fingers.  It’s kind of hard to show you here because you need both hands to do it, and of course I had to have the camera in one hand.  But, to do the fluted edge, you’re going to take two fingers of your left hand and place them on the edge like this (I’ve already done the whole crust here, but hopefully you’ll get the idea!):

Then, place one finger on your right hand between those two and pull it inward a bit.  This forms the fluted edge.  Do this all the way around the crust.  For this pie, we don’t need to prebake it, but if you do need a prebaked crust, just prick the crust with a fork several times and bake at 350 until lightly golden brown.

Now, let’s make the filling.  You’ll need the following:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 stick butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup chopped pecans

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips*

1 tsp vanilla

 

First, put the flour and sugar in a medium sized bowl.  Then pour in the melted butter.

Sitr together and add in the eggs.

Stir those in then add the vanilla.  Add the pecans and chocolate chips.

Stir that all together and then pour into the pie shell.

Now bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes, or until a nice golden brown.  It’ll look like this…

I wish I could show you what it looks like on the inside, but I couldn’t cut this pie because I was giving it to our sweet neighbor as a thank you for all the vegetables she’s given us from her garden. 

*Note on the chocolate chips:  You can use any type of chocolate chips you like…bittersweet, semisweet, milk, it doesn’t matter.  But what I like to do, and what I think makes my pie a little different than most, is to combine milk and semisweet chips to make up the 1-1/2 cups.  I do about half of each, but just use what you have, it’ll be good no matter what kind of chocolate chips you use.

I really hope you try this pie…I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t like it!