Pecan Pie

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone had a great Christmas/Hanukkah! I know my family in particular, is always going in a million different directions so it is always a treat to spend time with them.

This one is a Christmas special for my family, pecan pie! My mom and sister's favorite holiday treat! This recipe has been in my family for years - my grandma tore this recipe out of the Dear Abby column of the newspaper YEARS ago and the recipe has been in my family ever since.

Ingredients:
9" unbaked pie crust
1 cup of light corn syrup (light karo syrup)
1 cup  firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs slightly beaten
1/3 cup of butter (melted)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of pecan halves

Baking instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. I chose to use a pillsbury pre-made pie crust because it is quick and easy but you can of course make your own and I have done it in the past. Put the crust into a 9" pie pan. When doing the crust, I use my fingers to make the crust look "ruffley" if you will. (refer to picture). Use a fork to place tint holes in the base of the crust.


                                             


3. I added all of the ingredients except for the eggs and the pecans into a large bowl.

4. Then add in the eggs. Try to stir the eggs in as quickly as possible but do not over whip the eggs.


                                              


5. Pour mixture into the pie crust. Then I line the pie with pecans, making rings until I reach the center. I do this twice so it has two layers of pecans.


                                                    


6. Then bake in the oven until the pie is firm. Stick a tooth pick in it just to be sure but it should cook for about 40 minutes.

7. Let cool and then enjoy!


                                                       


 I made this pie on Christmas and we brought it to a holiday party - it was a HUGE hit! Needless to say there were no leftovers which in my mind means success!!!

Who You Calling Slutty?

I had no clue that these bars were called slutty brownies. One of my co-workers made them one day and they were heaven.

So when my class and I were gearing up for a 10 hour bus ride to New Orleans, LA., I had to make these.

The first layer of the slutty brownie is chocolate chip cookie, the second is double stuff oreos, and the third is brownie.

Ingredients for chocolate chip of cookie:
2 packages of toll house chocolate chip dough squares

** I have a "famous" chocolate chip cookie recipe that I use that is "magical" so I don't want to share it. But any cookie dough recipe or pre-packaged cookie dough will do. I said the cookie dough squares because those will lay down the best in the pan.

Ingredients of brownies:
1 box of brownie mix
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of water (I used milk)
2 eggs

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350

2. Get a 9x11 pan. I lined it with foil so it is easier to get the bars out of the pan. Put Pam on the pan




3. Make the cookie dough mixture or lay down the dough. Make sure it gets in the corner of the pan. It doesn't have to be too thick - it's just preference.

4. Lay down the oreos





5. Make the brownie mix and then pour it on top of the oreos. I made sure it got in all the corners and covered the oreos.




6. Cook in the oven for about an hour. I just eye balled it. You want to make sure the middle isn't too runny.

The result - DELICIOUS!!




I mean just ask Dawon.

Chicken? Plain? Boring? Nah!

Chicken has this perception as a boring protein. Chicken does have a bland taste but when you add flavor to it then its great!!

I am all about marinades - marinades are the best way to impart flavor in chicken. Letting the marinade soak in over night allows it to soak up the flavor and then putting in the oven ensures that it will be tender.

As I do like to be healthy (disclaimer - I don't eat 99% of the desserts I make), chicken is high in protein which is important obviously.

When I am preparing for the week sometimes I will buy a package of chicken and make different marinades for each one. This helps make prep for dinner every night super easy and different flavors keeps things interesting.

This is one of my favorite chicken marinades that I just discovered recently.



Ingredients: 
2 Teaspoons of garlic powder
2 Teaspoons of rosemary (dried)
1/2 Cup of balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons of dijon Mustard
1/8 Cup of lemon juice
1/4 Cup of soy sauce
1/4 Cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 Teaspoon of black pepper
3/4 Cup of brown sugar
2 Teaspoons of salt
1/2 cup of olive oil

To start, I add all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix them.

NOTE: I personally don't like using dried rosemary because all the petals get everywhere and it is not especially pleasant to eat it.



I then trim the chicken of any fat or blood vessels (GROSS!) and then I add it to a plastic baggie with the marinade.














I like to marinade the chicken for at least 24 hours.

To cook the chicken, I start out by cooking in a pan on medium heat. This helps to put some color on the chicken then I put it in the oven on 350 degrees.




Cooking it in the oven ensures that the chicken is tender. I think tough chicken is a deterrent for a lot of people to make it or want to eat it. But cooking chicken in the oven (what I call low and slow) is KEY!

Pumpkin Pie with Vanilla Whipped Cream

I just love the holidays! Especially this year I feel like I have so much to be thankful for!

I made this pumpkin pie for my grad school class' friendsgiving and it was a HUGE hit! I had never made pumpkin pie before so I was really nervous but everyone loved it. I also made some vanilla whipped cream.


Pumpkin Pie Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of (ice cold) water

Filling:
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree (I used Libby's)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs

Pumpkin Spice Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of cloves

** Note: I mix all of the pumpkin spice ingredients together and then took the 2 teaspoons from the combined mixture.

Vanilla Whipped Cream:
1 cup of chilled heavy cream
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make the crust: 
To start, make sure you are using ice cold water.

I also melted my butter.

Combine these ingredients together and it will become a doughy consistency.

Then roll out the dough on a cutting board. Make sure to add flour to the cutting board and rolling pin. You want the dough to be rolled to about a centimeter thick. If it is too thick then it won't cook all the way through.

I like to use the 9" pyrex glass pie pans. Apply pam to the pie pan and then add the dough to the pan.

To make the filling: 
I started by separating the eggs yolks from the egg whites. I like to whip the egg whites separately. I use a whisk or a mixer to whip the egg whites until the egg whites appear to be foamy or peaky.



Next, I add the pumpkin puree, sugar, heavy cream, evaporated milk, pumpkin spice, egg yolks, and salt into a bowl together. When it comes to adding the pumpkin spice - I sort of just eye balled how much I thought was enough so I think I ended up adding more than the recipe called for.




After mixing in all of the ingredients together, I slowly fold in the egg whites. You want to make sure NOT to overmix them.

Once all of the ingredients are mixed together, pour them into the dough.























Cooking: 
Set oven to 400 degrees

I cooked the pie for about 30 minutes. It is important to keep an eye on the pie.

The pie should be firm and the fork should come out clean when placing a fork in it.

If it is overcooked then the pie will crack.






To make the vanilla whipped cream:
To start, I put my mixing bowl in the freezer. This helps create stiff peaks.

I put all of the ingredients (heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar) in the mixing bowl and ran the mixer on low speed for 30 seconds before bumping the mixer up to high speed. I only need to run the mixer for about 1 minute. You do not want to over mix it.
It doesn't hurt to stop and check the consistency of the whipped cream and then whip it some more if necessary.
When looking for consistency, you want to make sure the whipped cream can stand on its own. So when you stick your spoon in it, the whipped cream holds its shape.



Any comments or questions - please feel free to post them below!

Peace Love and Pass the Shrimp

I love seafood, which is weird since both of my siblings don't particularly enjoy seafood. Oh well, more for me!

This dish was inspired by a dish that my boyfriend and I used to make in college. It is a ketchup-sweet-soy saucey thick sauce that goes on top of shrimp, roasted asparagus and white or brown rice. I like to be somewhat healthy so we always use brown rice.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
1/4 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
3/4 tablespoon of lemon
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes (I viewed them as optional)
Shrimp
Green Beans
Brown rice



First, put the rice cooker on. My rice cooker takes over an hour to make brown rice.

Next, I started by cutting the ends off the green beans. I usually dress them with some garlic and olive oil and throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes on 475 degrees.

Then, in a small bowl, I made the sauce. Add everything on the list EXCEPT: ginger, honey, water, and sugar.



After making the sauce, I put the ginger in the pan with some olive oil to brown slightly. Keep the heat on medium or low or else the ginger will get too hot and spray everywhere. I just browned the ginger for about 3-5 minutes.




Once the ginger is browned or fragrant, turn the heat to low and add the sauce mixture. After a few minutes, incorporate the honey, sugar and water to the pan. As the sauce is on the heat, you will notice that the sauce will start to thicken.
















In a separate pan, saute the shrimp in a pan with olive oil and some garlic. Cook the shrimp until they turn pink, which should take about 5 minutes. If you over cook shrimp, it will get chewy.  (ALTERNATIVELY: put the shrimp on skewers and throw them on the grill).















 To assemble the plate, start by placing the rice on the bottom. Then add the asparagus and put the shrimp atop both of them. I then drizzled the sauce on top of the shrimp.



This dish is a lot of effort but honestly worth it.

For the Love of Pork

LOVE THIS DISH!!

Pork loin's are a great protein that can be cooked easily and even more easily be thrown in the freezer for a later day.

I have made this marinade multiple times and overtime I want to drink the sauce. I should bottle this sauce or something. It's so tasty.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of soy sauce
1/3 cup of balsamic
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of thyme
2 springs or tablespoons of rosemary
Pork Loin

I start by creating the marinade and then put in a bag with the pork to marinade it for a few hours (a day is ideal). I like to rose sprigs of rosemary. In the past, I have used rosemary "leaves"and it makes it a little messy as you don't want to eat a "leaf" of rosemary. So when I have use the "leaves" I make sure to strain the sauce first.

To cook the pork, I start by browning it in a pan on the stove for just a few minutes.

This just puts a little color on the pork before placing it to finish in the oven for about 20 minutes on 400 degrees.

Putting it in the oven makes the pork really tender and juicy and delicious. Grab and fork and dig in!

Artichoke Garlic Bread

This is sure to be a show stopper. I have friends who won't come over for dinner unless I am making my artichoke garlic bread. 

Ingredients: 
Bread loaf/roll
Jar of grilled artichokes
1 stick of melted butter 
1 tablespoon of garlic
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese


I typically use some kind of soft dinner roll. You can really use any bread you want though. 

Start by pre-heating the oven to 375. 

I start by finely chopping up artichokes . The finer the better in my opinion. I usually just eye ball how much I want to use since it depends how much you want.

After chopping up the artichokes, I put it in a bowl with some garlic and butter. If the butter isn't melted, then I put it in the microwave. Once the butter has been melted, I pour the butter and artichoke mixture over the bread. 

Then I put mozzarella cheese on top of the bread (depends on how much you want) and then sprinkle some parmesan on top of that and put it in the oven. 

It usually takes around 10 minutes for the cheese to melt. 

I finish it off by dipping the bread in balsamic as I eat it. 

I promise you that this bread is BOMB! 

Pan Seared Salmon with Parmasean Farro and Carrots

Whenever Chris is around we always end up making something what most people my age would consider to be "fancy."

This dish was inspired by mom who loves farro. Farro is grain similar to rice rich in fiber and considered a complex carb so it's healthier than rice. It is not very well known or commonly used and I am not quite sure why because it is delicious. And I love salmon so why not combine the two.

NOTE: the farro recipe was derived from a recipe I found in the New York Times but I made a few tweaks

Ingredients:
Salmon
4 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of farro
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of Paprika
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of Olive oil
3/4 cup of Parmesan
3 or 4 sprigs of Parsley

Cooking Instructions:
Farro: To start, boil 4 cups of water on the stove. I also add no more than 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to the water. This eliminates the very earthy/intense flavor that farro can have. Once water is boiling, add 1 1/2 cups of farro to the water. Cook the farro on low heat for 30 minutes until there is no more liquid in the pan.

Cut up some parsley (just a few sprigs of it) while the farro is cooking.

After all the liquid is gone, spread the farro out on a sheet tray. Drizzle olive oil, parmasean cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper over the farro.

Salmon: Before cooking the salmon, we put garlic powder, salt, and paprika on it. Then once the pan is hot, we put the salmon in the pan skin side down. Cook the salmon with the skin side down for about 7 minutes then flip it over for about 2 minutes. Put in the oven on 350 degrees for about 5 minutes skin side down. At this point, it really depends how you like your salmon cooked. I like mine slightly raw in the middle so it's pink in the middle.

Also, I made my sinful carrots (from my previous blog post) to accompany this dish.

I made this dish for my parents and my boyfriend and they loved it. The farro provided texture to accompany the salmon and the carrots were sweet and delicious.

Sinful Carrots

I really do not want to study for my microeconomics exam tomorrow so I decided to do a short post about one of my favorite dishes since I was a child.

It's a very "naughty" dish - brown sugar glazed carrots. Sugary deliciousness - that's hard not to love. But since it is a little bit on the unhealthy side, I rarely make it.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make them all the time. I think back then, putting carrots in sugar might have been one of the only ways to make us eat our vegetables. Well I obviously loved the dish back then and now even have a greater appreciation for its' deliciousness since I rarely eat this dish.

Ingredients:
Brown sugar
Butter
Carrots

To start, I cut up the carrots into somewhat small pieces. I like to use the pre-peeled baby carrots.

After the carrots are cut, I put them in a pan with some water to steam for about 5 minutes (cutting the carrots into smaller pieces cuts down on the time it takes to steam them.



After they are steamed, I put a little olive oil in the pan to brown them a little bit.

Then I add brown sugar and butter at same time. The quantity of brown sugar and butter is up to you but I like it to be kinda thick so I add some butter and lots of brown sugar.

This dish is so yummy - my mouth is watering as I write this and honestly if it wasn't already 11 PM at night already I might have made a bowl for myself.

The carrots could also be substituted for sweet potatoes but I would cook the sweet potatoes in the oven instead of a pan. This is what my family makes on thanksgiving with marshmallows - a holiday requirement in my house.

NOTE*** when making this dish I ALWAYS underestimate how many carrots I actually need so go big!

Panko Crusted Chicken

I don't know about you guys but I am huge fan of the Food Network. Iron Chef America, Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay, Cutthroat Kitchen - I love them all!

Sometimes when it comes time to cook dinner I feel like I find myself in my own episode of Chopped. Trying to figure out what I have in my kitchen that I can use to make something that I would actually like to eat.


These days I have been so lazy and can barely make it to the grocery store once a week but I looked into my depressingly empty and pantry and refrigerator to see that I had some frozen chicken  in the freezer and panko bread crumbs in the pantry. This led me to the idea of crusting the chicken.

Ingredients:
Chicken
Panko bread crumbs
Italian seasoning (to go into the panko bread crumbs)
Flour
Garlic powder (to go into the flour)
Paprika (to go into the flour)

I started out by trimming the chicken and cutting into slices.



After cutting the chicken, I created a breading station with flour (I also added paprika and garlic powder), egg, and panko bread crumbs with italian herbs mixed in as well. So I dipped the chicken in flour first, then egg, and then panko.



After breading the chicken, I preheated the oven and put a pan on the stove. I started out by searing the chicken in a pan on medium heat. This makes gives the chicken a nice crunchy crust by crisping up the crust.



After I brown the chicken, I put into the oven. The chicken comes out being moist and crispy and delicious.




** Sorry the picture quality isn't great

Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Chicken can sometimes be so bland. I am always trying to find ways to make chicken more "interesting." Which this definitely is! I made it for my roommate and her boyfriend and they really enjoyed it.

To be honest, I was craving some kind of lasagna/manicotti dish but I decided to make a somewhat healthier version. So I decided to stuff chicken with ricotta cheese and spinach. 

First, I flattened out the chicken. I didn't have a meat tenderizer so I just put the chicken in between two pieces of plastic wrap and beat the chicken with a pan. 

Next, I washed some spinach and cut it up into small pieces. I just kind of eye-balled how much spinach I thought I would need and then mixed it with some ricotta cheese. 

Then I put the spinach-ricotta cheese mixture inside the chicken and rolled it up. 

After the chicken was rolled up, I dusted the chicken in a flour mixture with garlic powder and paprika before putting the chicken in an egg wash and panko bread crumbs. 

I started cooking the chicken in a pan on high heat just to get some color on the chicken and then I finished it in the oven. 

I made this dish for my roommate and her boyfriend. It was my first time making this dish as well as my first time cooking for them but this dish was a hit! The crust was crunchy and the cheese on the inside kept the chicken moist.  My only regret was not adding more spinach!!!

Recipe (depends on how many you are making for but I made 3 chicken breasts):

Filling: 

Spinach (a few handfuls)

Ricotta cheese  (about 1 cup)

Crust: 

Flour with paprika and garlic powder 

1 egg 

Panic bread crumbs  (1 1/2 cups)