Bread & Butter

My madre bought me a bread machine a number of years ago at a garage sale.  It was a steal at $5, how could you resist the savings?!

I had grand visions of making homemade bread on a regular basis, but in truth, I think I've only used it about 4 times in the last 4 years, but I have dutifully transported it from apartment to apartment as I continue to move across city, county, and state lines.

So yesterday I decided to bust the sucker out and bake some whole wheat bread.

The contraption really is a marvel.

It does my mixing, kneading, rising, and baking for me.  All I have to do is add the ingredients then press a button, and a few hours later, I have freshly baked bread!

I was perusing some of the recipes, and I am determined to try some of them, and before another year has passed...because it's a shame to let such a lovely invention go to waste.

Enchilada Sauce

Bruce is a fan of my Shredded Chicken Enchiladas, but he's a BIG fan of the enchiladas when they are made with my homemade enchilada sauce.

If you have only ever had enchilada sauce from a can, I implore you to try homemade...it is infinitely better!  Possibly even life changing.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. flour
2 (14.5 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
2 Tbs chili powder
2 tsp Chipotle chili powder (or more to taste)
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
1 c. water
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oil in a medium saucepan.  Add flour and whisk to combine.  Add tomatoes, seasonings, sugar, and water.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened (about 10 minutes).

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Super Simple Rice Pudding

Rice Pudding.

The only exposure I had to rice pudding as a child was in the children's book "The Poky Little Puppy", where he eats the entire dish of rice pudding and gets sent to bed.  That's it.  I knew it was pudding, and I knew it contained rice.

My first taste of rice pudding came when I went to Salt Lake with a couple of my girlfriends in December of 2007, and I was completely taken with the sweet, creamy dessert.  Where had it been all my life?!

I actually ended up working at the restaurant that served the rice pudding for the next 3 years, but since leaving that employment, I have had to find other ways to get my rice pudding fix.  At first, I would buy the Kozy Shack pudding from the store, but I soon learned that I could make it myself, and have it taste even better than the packaged pudding.

So, look no further for a delicious dessert!

Super Simple Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. rice (cooked)

2 c. milk (divided)

1/3 c. sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 Tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine rice, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the milk. Cook 15-20 minutes or until thick and creamy. Beat the egg in the measuring cup with the remaining 1/2 cup milk and add to the saucepan, cook an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

You can eat this hot (how Bruce likes it) or cold (how I like it), it is delectable either way.

You can add a sprinkle of cinnamon, add fruit, or raisins (though why you'd ruin it with raisins is beyond me...)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Almond Tart

To thank my father-in-law for fixing The Justy, I decided to make him a cherry tart, since cherries are his favorite (mine too!).  I had a few ideas for it rolling around in my head for a while.

I knew I wanted cherries.

I knew I wanted chocolate ganache.

I knew I wanted a chocolate crust.

But I couldn't find a recipe that I was totally loving.

So I decided to make my own.  Behold!  Thus the Chocolate Cherry Almond Tart was born.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Tart

Ingredients:
Crust:

1 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa
1/4 c. toasted almonds, finely ground
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. + 1Tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
1 egg

Ganache:

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or chips are fine)
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbs butter

Topping:

Cherries (pitted)
chopped almonds

Directions:
Crust:

Combine flour, cocoa, powdered sugar, almonds, and salt in a food processor.  Add butter pieces and pulse until the mixture becomes course crumbs.  Add egg and pulse until the mixture comes together (about 12 pulses or so).  Form a ball with the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours (I let mine sit overnight).

Remove dough from fridge and let sit for a couple minutes so it is not rock hard as you try to roll it out (about 10 minutes).  Place dough between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll into a circle about 1/4" thick.  Transfer dough to a 12" tart pan and press dough into the sides and remove any dough that sits above the edge.  Pierce the bottom with a fork several times.  Place pan into the freezer for 1/2 an hour.

Preheat oven to 375.

Remove pan from freezer and lightly butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil.  Place foil, butter side down on the unbaked crust.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling the crust.

Ganache:

Chop chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat cream, butter, and extract until boiling.  Immediately pour the mixture over the chopped chocolate and cover with a piece of aluminum foil.  After a few minutes (I think I waited between 5 and 10 minutes), remove foil and stir the mixture until velvety and smooth.  Pour into your cooled crust.

Topping:

Place pitted cherries into the ganache and sprinkle with almond bits.

Allow the ganache to set before serving.

Sugar Cream Pie

Bruce is gone for the evening on a camping trip with his scouts, making this my first experience as a "Scouting Widow", as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law like to call it.

I decided to try my hand at making a sugar cream pie tonight since I obviously have some alone time on my hands.  My verdict is that it is quite delicious, but that I ultimately should have cooked it a little longer on the stove before pouring it in the pie shell so it would be thicker, and I'll be adding brown sugar to the top.  But I will definitely be making it again.

Enjoy!

Sugar Cream Pie

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell (baked)

3/4 c. sugar

4 Tbs. cornstarch

4 Tbs. butter (melted)

2 1/4 c. half-and-half

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. butter (melted)

1 Tbs. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Combine cornstarch and sugar.  Heat butter, half-and-half, and sugar/cornstarch mixture in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles and thickens.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Heat broiler on high.

Pour custard mixture into prepared pie shell.  Mix cinnamon and brown sugar.  Drizzle butter over the custard mixture and sprinkle with brown sugar mixture.  Place under broiler until butter begins to bubble (this will happen quickly, so watch it closely).

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting, longer, if you can resist it!

Still Truckin'

The Justy  lives again!

After almost a month, The Justy has returned home.

My amazing father-in-law was kind enough, and able enough to successfully resurrect the beast.  He is one awesome dude!

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Well,  I finished my accounting class.

YAY!

To celebrate, I took another stab at my Mexican Chocolate Cookie recipe.  I decided to go the non caramel stuffed route this go-around (largely because I didn't have caramel in the house--funny how that works).  But I did have Cinnamon Baking Chips, courtesy of my madre-in-law, so their debut is in these spicy, chocolate goodies!

Enjoy!

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. unsalted butter (room temperature)
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2/3 c. cinnamon baking chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Line baking sheets with silpat mats (or parchment paper).

Beat butter and sugars together until fluffy.  Add corn syrup, egg, and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and chili powder. Add to the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Stir in baking chips.

Roll into tablespoon size balls and roll in white sugar.  Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Delicioso!

P.S. I will attempt my foray into Caramel Stuffed Mexican Chocolate Cookies at a later date...stay tuned!

P.P.S.  That plate is one of my favorites, it's a platter actually, and it was given to be by my bestie a number of years ago.  Love it!

Be done already

Waiting for an assignment to be graded is agony.

Especially this assignment.

My final accounting assignment has been submitted, and I have watched it move slowly through the grading queue from 85th in line to 63rd in line, to 54th in line...and now it is 5th in line. Gah!  So close I can almost taste it!

Blueberry Lemon Shortbread with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

I am not a frosting person.

Never have been.

I can sometimes handle cream cheese frosting, but usually frosting and I just do not get along.

I am the type who will either scrape the frosting off of a piece of cake, spurring flabbergasted and incredulous expressions from those around me.  "How can you not like frosting?!", "It's the best part about eating cake!"

I vehemently disagree.

You might be surprised then, to see that I created a cookie that has frosting on it.  Not only that, but the frosting is my favorite part about this cookie.  I know!  I was aghast, myself!  You should give these babies a try, Bruce basically devoured them when he got home last night, so they are 100% husband approved.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Lemon Shortbread

Ingredients:

1/2 c. unsalted butter (room temperature) *if you only have salted, that is fine, I just had unsalted on hand

1/4 c. powdered sugar

2 tsp. lemon peel

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c. flour

pinch of salt
1/2 c. blueberry chips (mine are from Prepared Pantry)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and place the oven racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven.

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.  Add the lemon peel and vanilla and mix til smooth.  Add the flour and salt and mix til completely combined. Add chips.

Place dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and flatten into a large disc 1/4" thick.  Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Remove dough from refrigerator and cut out cookies into desired shape and place on a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate 10 minutes before baking.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Do not over bake.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1/4 c. butter (room temperature)

1/4-1/2 c pureed blueberries (mine were leftover from our wedding that have been in the freezer)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

4-5 c powdered sugar (I completely eyeballed this, add til you get your desired consistency)

With a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together.  Add blueberries and vanilla.  Mix in powdered sugar until you have reached your desired consistency.

Store frosting in a closed container in the refrigerator.

Fantastico!

Bruce was called and set apart as the Scoutmaster in our ward today.

He comes from a long line of Scoutmasters and scouting oriented individuals, so it really wasn't a shock at all, as Kelly put it, there really was no getting around that one.

I know he'll do an amazing job, the boys will love him, they'll have a lot of fun, and they'll uplift and inspire each other...amid many near death experiences, fart jokes, and treacherous tales that I am sure will not be relayed on the return home from scouting adventures.

But in all seriousness, Bruce will be fantastic!

Because let's face it, the man is just that...fantastic.

Lurve

I basically won the husband lottery.

He's pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself...and I do.

He came home from work today and took all the trash out without being asked (and when I say "all the trash", I mean, both bathrooms, both offices, and the kitchen).

He even changed SC's diaper today.

AND he went on a walk with SC and I to drop off the rent check.

I love that crazy amazing man of mine!