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Boxing Day deserves a pie.

Dec26

This was the best pie on the PLANET, people, and Dawg and I made it from SCRATCH!

For any extra filling or crust dough you notice you have, set it aside to make mini pies or apple pie empanadas another time. Today you’re making the most delicious cinnamon apple empanada crust pie.

Filling:
6 Macintosh apples, peeled and sliced
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1.5 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons water
3 tablespoon butter

Place butter and water into pan, heat on low. Add rest of ingredients, stirring to coat apples. Continue heating on low for 6 minutes, stirring often. Let rest.

Crust:
4.5 cups flour
1.5 cups milk
3 tablespoon sugar
1 cup melted butter

Add all ingredients in bowl, mix on medium until combined and a firm dough consistency. Cut dough in half, roll out half of dough with rolling pin. Line bottom of pie tin with rolled dough, covering sides of pie tin with dough. Place apple mixture in pie crust, filling to brim of the tin. Roll out the other half of dough, place on top of pie. Pinch edges to make the pie look like a pie! Slit top of pie to vent, preferably in the shape of a smiley face. Place cookie tin under pie tin to catch the bubble-overs.

Bake pie at 425 for 15 minutes then 350 for 30 minutes. Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Yes, our Christmas was absolutely fantastically amazing. We spent it in sweatpants on our couch then later in sweatpants on Dawg‘s mom’s couch. We had Christmas Crunch, hot cocoa, pigs in a blanket, and filet mignon. Zomg. Hope your day was spectacular too.

And for all my Boxing Day celebrators: HAPPY BOXING DAY! Make this pie. :)

Alice’s Poppy-style empanadas

Nov30

My stepbrother’s wife gave my mom her recipe for empanadas. I asked for it. When I got it the empanada shell had quantities associated, but the filling didn’t, so I totally had to guess at amounts. Dawg thought the empanadas were delicious (I did too!) so I’m sharing my quantitied version of the recipe with you. :)

Shell:
4+1/2 cups flour
1+1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoon sugar
1 cup melted butter
Lisa‘s suggestion: Add cheddar cheese to the crust! (I of course recommend anything Cabot.)

Mix together, roll out and cut into 4″ circles. I used the top of my little cereal bowl for this, worked awesome!

Filling:
1+1/2 pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 large sweet onion, finely chopped
2 small raw potatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
dash salt
dash pepper

Mix all filling together in a bowl. Transfer to saute pan, brown all.

Assembly:
1 egg white, beaten

Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup filling to one half of each shell, pull other half of shell over onto filled side, close and crimp the shell so that no air goes into the shell. Brush egg white on each shell for shine. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 18 empanadas. Cut the recipe measurements by 1/3 or 1/2 to make less.

And here’s a flickr set of the glorious end result!

In the set you’ll notice I also made an empanada cupcake with the extra dough. It was delicious, although the meat itself was a little dried out so maybe lower the oven to 325 and/or cover with aluminum foil while baking those. :) Omit egg white for the cupcakes.

Enjoy!

The best pot roast in the entire WORLD

Nov16

Ingredients:
4-5 lb chuck roast
2 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 large onion, diced
2 large shallots, diced
olive oil
salt
pepper
onion powder
flour

Cooking directions:
Wash roast, rub with salt, pepper, onion powder, coat in flour. Brown roast in pan with olive oil. Saute diced onions and shallots in pan. Add beef stock, bay leaves, roast, onions, and shallots to crockpot. Cook high for 2 hours, low for 5 hours, warm for 30 minutes. Baste roast periodically during each cooking phase. EAT IT.

I could not get a photo that looks as beautiful as this roast tastes. Roasts are brown and funny looking, but they are amazingly complex in flavor richness, so you should EAT IT! EAT IT! #POTROAST

I have considered having a food and drink blog for all my recipes, I even have a domain for it, but I haven’t made it happen yet. Still debating it, but figured I’d at least start sharing my favorite foods.

Fresh salsa

Nov15

When I was visiting in Vermont I left my last day there for hanging out with Break Boy, Knitting Girl, and their two kids EZA and LLA. Somehow we decided that we would have Mexican food as our family dinner so KG and I went grocery shopping for ingredients then all of us together made the dinner. Included was fresh salsa, made from scratch. I loved the salsa so much that I bought ingredients to make it here at home. I could not find fresh cilantro or serrano chiles at my regular stores in NYC and chose to sub in some ready-made ingredients because I already had them. The two salsas were very different, but tasted very similar, so I’m going to give you both versions!

Vermont version:
6 plum tomatoes, diced
3 large shallots, diced
12 cloves garlic, pressed
6 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped (stems removed)
2 small key limes, juiced
pinch of salt
2 serrano peppers, diced and set aside

Add all ingredients together and eat! Leave serrano peppers on the side if you’re in a crowd that doesn’t appreciate hot and spicy.

NYC version:
8 Campari tomatoes
3 large shallots
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
pinch of salt
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (keep the seeds!) and set aside

Add all ingredients together, refrigerate for one hour to merry flavors, and eat! Leave jalapeno peppers on the side if you’re in a crowd that doesn’t appreciate hot and spicy.

With the all-fresh ingredients from Vermont the salsa was incredible right away. With the ready-made ingredients added to fresh the flavors didn’t merry right away, so they had to sit together in the fridge for a bit. Delicious, though!

Permission to Peruse Poppy’s modified “manicotti”

Nov8

Back at the end of September Amy posted a recipe for Easy, Budget-Friendly Manicotti using jumbo shells instead of manicotti shells. It looked SO delicious that I went right out and bought all the ingredients to make the recipe! And then I found out that Dawg doesn’t like manicotti.

Bummer.

So, I’ve been waiting to make these shells for just me and finally got the chance on Friday. I modified the recipe from Amy’s, so I’m going to share my version since that’s what I’m eating. And I hope Amy doesn’t take offense, I end up modifying pretty much every recipe I make because … um, I just do … and so here’s what I made with Amy’s recipe guidance, which makes it not quite as budget friendly:

1 package (12 ounces) jumbo shells
1 jar marinara sauce
1/2 jar fra diavolo sauce
1/2 jar Merlot sauce

Ricotta filling:
32 ounces low fat ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar
2 eggs
salt
pepper
oregano
onion powder

Cabot cheddar shake cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Boil jumbo shells on stovetop for 12 minutes. While shells cook make the ricotta filling in a large bowl. When shells are ready drain and rinse with cold water so they can be handled. Place Merlot sauce into bottom of baking pan. Stuff each jumbo shell with ricotta filling to capacity. Place shell on top of sauce. Repeat this, adding as many shells to the pan as will fit in one layer. Top all shells with marinara sauce then top with fra diavolo sauce. Sprinkle cheddar shake onto sauce, covering completely. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.

What if there are a bunch of broken jumbo shells and extra ricotta filling? Just pull out another pan, spread some sauce on the bottom, place all broken shells on top of sauce, spread ricotta filling on top of broken shells, top with sauce and sprinkle cheddar, and bake for 25 minutes.

Delicious!

Here’s a photo of the end product of the unbroken shells:

And here are some flickr photos of the process, including the sauces and the shake cheese!

I even got Dawg to try the broken shells “pie” and he loved it. :)

I have half a mind to tell you what I think!

Sep15

That sounds so… confrontational. That was just to tie in the fact that:

1. in today’s Cereal Wednesday I literally set up the shot incorrectly and for much of the video you only see from the bottom of my glasses DOWN to the cereal. But, we do this in one take and that was my one take! So, enjoy.

2. I am now an author on Buy Her and have a review up today. Please go read it, I wrote it for you! :) Britt has a ton of new authors over there, so I highly recommend that you add the site to your feed reader if you haven’t already. I love it over there, an awesome collaboration of awesomer than awesome women telling you about products and services you might know about but haven’t tried or things you’ve never heard of… or things you have heard of and want to chime in about. It’s ok if you’re a guy, go chime in. We love guys. :)

3. my back has been doing much better thanks to something I can’t tell you about because I’m writing a review of it! :p You’ll have to wait a while for that. But, point being: My back is no longer SCREAMING at me on a minutely basis, and it is bliss… Did you know 80% of us will experience back pain at some point in our lives? I already had it for 2 solid years before, I think someone else gave me their turn. (Honestly, really, it’s because I’ve gained so much weight, and I know that, and I need to take care of that, but I adore food and haven’t quite yet gotten to my “hitting bottom” point.)

4. I had a group job interview last week and will know this Friday if I get to have an individual interview. I am SO excited to find out. I wrote my little heart out in the cover letter for it. Whether I get the job or not, I think I’ll post an image of the cover letter so you can see me in a nutshell. I’ve never written this kind of cover letter, so I’m hoping I stand out because I wrote from the heart.

5. some very important to me people are visiting soon (one this month and some next month). I’ll fill you in later. I cannot WAIT to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. TiMER was available as a recommendation to me via Netflix Watch Instantly so I watched it at bedtime on Monday night. It was a really great movie that forces you to think through if you’d really like to be told exactly who your soulmate is, thus discounting anyone else you might have a relationship with. The ending leaves me sad for the main character who spent a lot of time trying to find her one and just dropping people who she realized from the timer on her arm weren’t her one. If I am not currently with the person I’m “supposed to be with” I assure you that I don’t wanna know about it, cuz I love the guy I’m with to little teeny tiny pieces, reconstituted to a sheet of paper, then torn back up into even more pieces.

7. you look beautiful today. (Guys, it’s ok for you to look beautiful, I promise.)

Those annoying high school yearbook write-ups under the popular kids’ photos: My day in a nutshell

Sep6

Coffee in my bed clothes.
Meeting Bella‘s neighbors.
Meeting Bella’s mom.
Blue Moon, onion rings, and chicken quesadilla in mah belleh.
Tanger Skechy scents.
Walking in sunshine. As opposed to on it.
MACHETE!! (“Lo siento.” *bang bang*)
No high fructose corn syrup here! Except in the Guinness cheese.
Tip-toe through the handcuffs.

JFK exit 20 instead of exit 19 in 0.1 miles = 20 minutes less driving.

In other words: A great day with one of my BFFs. Thank you, lady.

I bring you the PARTY!

Aug1

So, I went all the way to Pennsylvania to hang out for the day. Why would I do that?

For Bubblewench.

Highlights:
I got to meet Shannon’s entire family, including her husband Scott (a mad cool guy), Grandma (a mad cool lady), and “Debbie aka Deb-o-rah” (another mad cool lady who demands your respect if you work with her). :)

I got to hug Shannon, Karl, Angel, Rachel, and Robin.

I GOT TO MEET LUCKY AND BOO-BOO! and the birdies! and another kitty! And Shannon’s mom’s dog Otter!

I did not get arrested. And neither did anyone else, even though the cops tried their very hardest to set Shannon’s husband off like the very fireworks they were telling us we weren’t allowed to set off. :)

I was escorted to the bathroom by the lovely Angel who is the BEST bathroom escort ever. She even peed a little laughing so hard when I told her my funny story about the cleaning lady not letting me use my own bathroom so I had to bring a bowl into my bedroom and pee in it. (True story.)

I am not sure this is a highlight, but more of a proud moment for ninja girls everywhere when I was told by Shannon’s brother-in-law to pole dance on the metal tent poles, TWICE, IN FRONT OF HIS GIRLFRIEND, so I told him off. Poppy is not a stripper, yo. Poppy is a respectable lady and demands that you treat her as such. Unlike that fucking dirty whore Molly Pitcher* who has the clap and splinters from riding the wooden pole.

I had Yuengling on tap and in a bottle for the first time ever, then chased it with a delicious Chick-fil-A spicy chicken sammie and waffle fries.

I had a pineapple and coconut concoction made for me by Angel. :)

I went to a party in another state with only my ID card and my Droid and a bottle of bug spray and some cash as personal possessions. That was nutsoid.

I watched badminton and horseshoes played in the dark.

I went home feeling completely sober and woke up with the worst hangover I’ve ever had ever ever ever but it was well worth it. :)

And here are a few photos from the event:

Click above to see the flickr set.

*I promise I only mean that the rest area off the NJ turnpike is all those horrible things. I never knew the wife of the wounded rebel soldier. I’m guessing she was lovely.

One more time, I wanna celebrate

Apr11

I wish my brother dared set foot in New York City, because then we could sing Daft Punk songs together when we get drunk on beer at:

Ginger Man Beer 2nd annual BeerHer
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010
6:00PM EASTERN
THE GINGER MAN
11 East 36th Street
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Borough: Manhattan
NY, NY 10016
Tel: 212-532-3740
Bring extra monies, these guys even have beer to go.

I told everyone the favor of your yes reply was requested by this past Friday at 11:59pm Eastern, but if you still wanna show up and haven’t mentioned it yet lemme know in a comment here or on twitter or facebook or email or txt before the day. At this point I think it’s staying small enough so we can just appear and hang out and drink and have fun without drama and without a reservation.

And to those who are having TequilaCon, SillyBring, or another event on the same day at the same time: CHEERS!



Let’s celebrate.