Sour Cream Lemon Pie

I planned on trying this earlier, but things were busy last weekend. Busy in a good way. Family, friends, food... Thanksgiving! So snatching time between loads of laundry and while baby slept, today I made time to make this: 

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

{Maybe it would be better to make this at Easter. It looks a little out of place on my Christmas table cloth.}

I found the recipe on Pinterest awhile ago. And being a huge fan of all things lemon, I decided to make it. Pinterest is dangerous. It is yummy! We have not eaten it yet, but I had to lick the spoon after putting the filling in the crust. It is so tasty. I think I am going to add a little lemon flavoring to the whipping cream when I make it... Then it will be perfect. Well almost. Don't judge the pie crust. I am still trying to master a pie crust with my food processor. I missed the step of flattening my dough ball into a disc before refrigerating it {baby woke up}, and then he was in the front pack while I rolled it out. He is getting too big for the front pack. His head was blocking my view of the crumbling pie crust. Maybe that is best for more reason than one{cute head, ugly crust}. The texture of the crust is still nice and flaky, so the only flaw, looks. It is sweet spirit pie crust, perfect filling.

Pumpkin Roll

As you can see these delectable pumpkin rolls are on my lap in our car. We are taking them to Prince Eric. I think they passed the test. You see, Pumpkin Rolls are a sweet my Mom makes at Christmas time. Everyone loves them! When I asked my husband what I should make to take to his folks for Thanksgiving, this is what he requested. I'd never made them before, but I've been in the kitchen when Mom made them lots. So, I decided to make three of them instead of just one. Good thing Prince Eric came to town to help my hubby and I to eat the extra! Glad I didn't mess them up. We enjoyed their yummy pumpkin and cream cheese goodness!

Cream is a GOOD milk substitute...

I invited company over for dinner after deciding what I wanted to make. Good? Yes. Discovering that I was missing an ingredient after starting my preparations, bad! Not wanting to go to the store with kids in tow because I used all of my milk making a double batch of tapioca pudding earlier, I decided that I would use some leftover cream instead to make the "condensed cream of whatever soup" recipe I usually use to make Sour Cream Potatoes {aka Funeral Potatoes, but that is too morbid for my taste}. I like it better than the canned soup. And another plus, it is cheaper, too.  The recipe is as follows: in a sauce pan saute 2 Tbs butter and 2 Tbs flour. Add 1 cup milk and cook until thickened. Add seasonings. I use chicken bouillon and pepper for most dishes. For the Sour Cream Potatoes, I also add Lawry's seasoning {MIL does, hubby likes, and I like it, too}.  So back to the cream substitution for milk in my soup... it was incredibly thick and rich! The picture above is the cream soup mixed with the sour cream. Still pretty thick! I wouldn't use that substitution too often as cream is rather rich for everyday, but it was pretty tasty.

Other cooking fun for this week, I tried another recipe for homemade bread. This time I tried the recipe that came with my food processor. It was pretty good, and making it in the food processor, it was really fast. The family liked this recipe better than the last, but I don't think my search for a favorite bread recipe is over yet. Along the bread line, I also made biscuits in the food processor. I really liked them. They were light and fluffy buttery goodness. Perfect for our biscuits and gravy.

Oodles of Noodles

 I've been playing with my food processor. Today for dinner we are having homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. The house smells so good! I've got the vegetable stock on to simmer and the noodles are drying. Isn't nap time fun!

Soft Molasses Cookies

Here is this weeks baking experiment, Soft Molasses Cookies. I was looking for a recipe for the soft molasses cookie with icing like you can buy at the grocery store. I did not find one that looked good, so I made these. I substituted butter for of shortening. Yum! And while they are not exactly what I had originally wanted, they were very tasty. So tasty in fact that while I was up in the night with baby, I realized I had a stomach ache from eating too many.

And yes, those are indeed my Christmas dishes. I got them out this morning. Cannot. Wait. This. Year!

I'm Not Sure Why...

I have been so excited for Christmas this year. I know, Halloween is tomorrow, but I can't help it. Maybe it is the change of season that threw me off, because I have felt like baking ever since the weather turned. Maybe it is the urge to bake that makes me feel like I am ready for Christmas to come. So what did I do last week with left over egg whites from another baking incident? I got out last years leftover candy canes and made peppermint meringues. They were pretty yummy!

Oh, and I should mention there is bread in the oven right now...

Sometimes It's the Little Things

Halfway into my preparations for dinner last night, I realized that I was missing a key ingredient, the teriyaki sauce. Not having time and not wanting to pack up the kids for a mad dash to the grocery store, I decided to see if I could find a recipe online for which I had all of the ingredients. Success! We had yummy homemade teriyaki sauce! I also decided to try to make sweet and sour sauce while I was at it. While I'd still rather make my mom's sweet and sour meatball recipe, this sauce turned out to be tasty. It will be perfect dipping the rest of the Costco sized bag of chicken nuggets in our freezer.

The recipes are here {teriyaki} and here {sweet and sour}.

Sometimes it is the little successes that make my day.

Smoothie

Frozen pink lemonade concentrate, frozen strawberries, ice, and water = my new favorite smoothie recipe. 

Milkshake

Last night I made a milkshake to go with our dinner. Let me just say, I want one for breakfast. It was made with vanilla ice cream, milk, chocolate syrup, caramel ice cream topping, and chopped up fun sized snickers bars left over from Halloween. Yum! (Sorry no pic... I was too hungry!)

What is Art?

To Judith G. Klausner it is an Oreo.  Were I a skilled sculptor and had the time, I would choose a more lasting medium.

Gourmet Ramen: Is it an Oxymoron?

I found the article below online the other day.  It reminded me of my college days. I really should have made a cookbook or written an article like this for other students, because I made some pretty unique dishes with ramen noodles. Super creative! Some I really liked. Others, well, were pretty gross.  So what do you think? Are you tempted to try one of these gourmet recipes? Can you really dress ramen up? Or is this just cheap creative college kid food?

{And if you are wondering why I am online right now... I'm home, sick. Maybe I'll go make me some plain ol' ramen...}

10 Ways to Eat Ramen for Dinner

POSTED BY BROOKE MCLAY ON JUNE 17TH, 2011 AT 2:14 AM

Times are tight, budgets are pinched. We had two dollars left in our food budget on Tuesday of last week, so I buzzed to the store and bought the only thing I could think of.  Ramen. At 17 cents a package, ramen has to be the best food deal out there. And, it’s a fun deal, too. Because a packet of ramen isn’t just soup waiting to be made. It’s actually a blank canvas ready to be turned into art. Here are 10 super-simple ways to {dress up} your ramen and make it into a simple, satisfying dinner.

1. Veggie Ramen (pictured above) . Toss a tablespoon of butter into a skillet. Add 2 tablespoons each of thinly-sliced carrots, frozen green beans, frozen white corn, and edamame. Cook just until softened. Add a packet of Pork Ramen, 2 cups of water, and cook until the noodles are cooked through, about 6 minutes. Add seasoning packet. Serve and enjoy.

2. Egg Foo Ramen. In a small bowl, whisk an egg with 1 tablespoon of water until well beaten. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour egg into the water, then add the noodles. Cook just until tender. Season with seasoning packet. Garnish with sliced green onions.

3. Chinese Chicken Salad. Shred 1/4 a head of cabbage, 1 breast of chicken, and 1/4 white onion. Add 1 package of crushed Chicken-flavored Ramen.  In a small bowl, whisk together the seasoning packet, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Toss dressing into salad, serve and enjoy.

4. Ham Fried Ramen. A simple take on Fried Rice, cook a packet of Pork Ramen until the noodles are tender. Drain completely. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon olive oil until sizzling. Add 1/4 cup diced ham and 1/4 cup of frozen peas & carrots to the oil. Immediately toss in the noodles. Crack an egg into the mixture and stir until well cooked and distributed around the noodle mixture. Season with soy sauce, garnish with a handful of diced green onions.

5. Parmesan Ramen. Cook a packet of ramen noodles. Save the flavoring packet for another day. Once the noodles are cooked, drain the water from them completely. Top with a pat of butter, a bit of freshly-shredded parmesan, and some chopped parsley.

6. Chicken Noodle Ramen. Boil 3 cups of water, 1/4 cup carrots, 1/4 cup of celery, and 1/4 cup shredded chicken. Once the carrots and celery are softened (about 6-8 minutes), add a packet of Chicken Ramen and the seasoning packet. Cook until the Ramen is tender.

7. Chili Lime & Shrimp Ramen. Cook a packet of Chili Ramen according to package directions. Toss with 1/4 cup diced scallions, 1 cup of cooked shrimp, and a lime wedge.

8. Easy Ramen Lasagna. Place 4 squares of uncooked ramen noodles into the bottom of a 9×11 baking dish. Cover with a layer of cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, your favorite canned spaghetti sauce, and a layer of cottage cheese mixed with chopped spinach. Top with an ample amount of spaghetti sauce. Cover with a hefty bunch of shredded mozzarella. Cover and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil 10 minutes before baking is finished to brown up the top of your cheese.

9. Pad Thai Ramen. Cook a packet of Pork Ramen according to package directions. Just before you add the flavoring packet, drain most of the water from the pan (leaving about 2 tablespoons worth of water), then add 1/2 teaspoon cream peanut butter, the juice of 1 lime, 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, a pinch of garlic and onion powder, and a drizzle of sesame oil. Mix together until very well mixed. Garnish with chopped cilantro and peanuts.

10. Mandarin Ramen Salad. Cook Chicken Ramen according to package directions. Drain water completely, reserve spice packet for dressing. Toss cooked ramen with 1 small package of coleslaw mix, 2 stalks of diced celery, 1 can mandarin oranges (drained), and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with the flavoring packet and 2 tablespoons sugar. Garnish with diced scallions.

Matryoshkas for Making Cupcakes

 

I found these darling measuring cups for dry ingredients to add to my kitchen utensils.  I HAD to get them.  Yep, it is a set of nesting dolls that doubles as 1, 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 cup measures... Love it! I can use them to make more of these yummy cupcakes I made with my nieces over Christmas break.

Culinary Explorations

No, I have not made the vinegar pie yet, but I will. 

Instead I made another variation of a savory filled roll and sweet roll with cherry and lemon cream cheese filling. 

My idea for these stems from something I ate in Russia, пирожки (Pirozhki or Pirozhok singular).  In one of our visits to the country outside St Petersburg we found a little babushka selling these hot rolls filled with either meat and onions or cabbage and potatoes.  About a year ago, I decided to make a very Americanized version. Well two versions.  One with beef filling and one with chicken filling.  I used a very thick gravy, meat, potatoes and diced vegetables... they were good, but... I like this most recent version, too.  Note: This fed 6 adults and 7 children with some left overs, too.  Here is what I did:

First I made the filling:

Filling:
9 medium potatoes peeled, boiled and either whipped or mashed with butter and cream cheese (I used about 6 oz. of cream cheese).  Stir in: 3 chicken breasts, boiled, and cubed and 1 medium bag of frozen peas and carrots (or other frozen vegetable of your choice), cooked.  Season to taste. I used salt and pepper. I could have put a little more salt... 

For the dough I used a somewhat sweet roll dough recipe that I use for dinner rolls.  Much softer crust than what I had in Russia, but I like it.  I made a triple batch since I was making dough for both the savory and the sweet.  This will max out the bowl of a standard Kitchen-aid mixer... always more fun.

Basic Roll Dough (From the Better Homes and Gardens Plaid Cookbook)
Makes 2 to 3 dozen rolls

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cups milk, scalded
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg

Soften yeast in warm water (110 degrees). Combine milk, sugar, shortening, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour; beat well.  Beat in yeast and egg.  Gradually add remaining flour to form soft dough.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise till double. 

At this point I divided the dough up in uneven halves because I was using two different sized lightly greased bowls to let it rise until double.  I often put the dough on the stove top near the vent with the oven on to cut time in half.  Make sure you rotate your bowls if you do!  Once doubled, punch down and roll out.  I started with the larger of the two bowls.  I cut circles using a cup, even though the Russian version was a rectangle.  Place a large spoonful of filling in the center of each circle.  Carefully stretch dough around the filling and seal.  I use a well beaten egg to moisten one edge to get a good seal.  Roll in your hands to form a ball. Place on a greased cookie sheet sealed side down. Press down lightly with your palm to flatten a bit. Let rise again, about fifteen/twenty minutes. Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown. Brush rolls with butter right after pulling out of the oven.  Serve warm with chicken gravy.  (The Russians don't serve the gravy, but I liked it... since I did not add enough salt.)
 
Now for the sweet:
 
Next I used the remaining dough and made a sweeter variety filled with a cream cheese concoction and my Mom's most delicious homemade cherry jam.  (Yeah, it is more like cherry pie filling... so good!) For the cream cheese filling you need:
 
10 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp lemon extract (You can substitute vanilla here if you use a different flavor of preserves)
 
Combine the cream cheese and sugar and then add the egg and extract. 
 
Roll out dough as for the savory version and place a spoonful of the cream cheese filling and then the preserves.  Stretch dough over and seal as for the savory version.  Place on a greased cookie sheet seam down.  Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown. Brush rolls with butter right after pulling out of the oven.  I intended to sprinkle with powdered sugar or icing, but we just ate them. All.  Maybe I will try icing next time.
 
Note: If there are leftovers, make sure they are completely cooled before refrigerating or your rolls will go soggy.

Oh, and I had too much of the cream cheese filling... so I made a peach cobbler {Paula Dean's recipe} and dropped by the spoonful on top before baking.  VERY good!

Should I be brave?

Several years ago I came across a recipe for Vinegar Pie.  I have always wondered what it would taste like, but I have not been brave enough to try it yet.  So what do you think? To try or not to try?

Vinegar Pie

2 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground allspice
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 9” pie crust that had been briefly baked (about 3 minutes) at 450 degrees

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Sift together flour and spices then add to flour mixture, mix well. Beat in egg, vinegar and water. Pour into a double boiler and cook over boiling water until thick. Pour into the pie shell and bake about 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Pioneer Vinegar Pie

1 egg
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 c sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat these ingredients together and add 1 tablespoon of sharp vinegar and a cup of cold water. Flavor with a little nutmeg and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Cover with second pie crust and flute edges. Bake for an hour.

Key Lime with Graham Cracker Gelato

I found this at http://www.epicurious.com/ and it sounds yummy!

Key Lime with Graham Cracker Gelato

Yield: Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients
Plain Base (see below)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, preferably Key lime
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers (see Note), frozen

Make the Plain Base and chill as directed.

Gently whisk the lime juice and zest into the base. Pour the mixture into the container of an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Just after churning quickly stir in the graham cracker crumbs. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

NOTE To crush graham crackers, place about 5 graham crackers in a large zip-top bag. Place on a work surface and roll over them with a rolling pin, heavy jar, or wine bottle. Alternatively, break them up a bit by hand, then process in a food processor into crumbs.

Plain Base

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the milk and cream. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn't form, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture reaches a temperature of 170°F.

Meanwhile, in a medium heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in the sugar until it is well incorporated and the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Temper the egg yolks by very slowly pouring in the hot milk mixture while whisking continuously. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and it reaches a temperature of 185°F. Do not bring to a boil.

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl and let cool to room temperature, stirring every 5 minutes or so. To cool the custard quickly, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water and placing the bowl with the custard in it; stir the custard until cooled. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies Recipe

I found this recipe on a blog called Simply Recipes.  I need to make these... Nutella always makes me think of Russia where we met for the first time.  Yum.

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup of brown sugar

3/4 cup of white sugar

1 cup of Nutella

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup of chocolate chips

1/2 cup of chopped hazelnuts

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and Nutella and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2 Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each.

3 Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda (do not skip this step as sifting eliminates clumps of cocoa). Mix into the butter mixture on low speed until fully incorporated, scraping down the bottom and sides at least once to ensure even mixing. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts and refrigerate the dough for ten minutes.
4 Spoon tablespoon-sized drops of cough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the sheets for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 6 dozen.

Yum

I liked it!

You might like it, too.

Yummy Goodness

Here is the latest from the kitchen:

Chocolates with a yummy peanut butter filling that Jenny W. and I made. Yum.

Chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles.

I love my new pasta maker attachment for the KitchenAid! The soup was mostly homemade. I cheated and used canned chicken, a bag of peas and carrots, and chicken bouillon, but I did use some wonderful fresh bay, rosemary, and garlic in my stock. (Thanks Jenny for helping me get those tasty herbs!) Madilyn, Emma and Garrett loved the noodles!

Garrett ate until his little tummy was hard.  He is a serious eater!

I almost missed getting the noodle in this shot.  Emma has noodle eating down, slurp. 

Sorry Madilyn!  The picture of you did not turn out. 

Culinary Explorations

I have an apron that I got when I was working in the sales department of the cruise line. They started a program for onboard culinary classes while I was there entitled Culinary Explorations and then they gave them out to the entire department... I think the culinary explorations embroidered on the apron is appropriate for me in the kitchen... here are a few of my most recent explorations in food:


• Pettit Fours
• Poured Fondant Icing
• Борщ{Borsht} (Made almost entirely of home grown vegetables courtesy of Mom, Wade, and Bro. Robinson.)
• Vegetable Broth
• Зелёные Щи {Green Shchi} (Made with the vegetable broth)
• Gum Paste Cake Decorations {Ballet Shoes}
• Egg Drop Soup

Next on my list to try: homemade noodles, rolled fondant, and chocolate buttercreams. Anyone know where I can get good candy flavoring?

Flowers and Frogs

Yummy cream cheese mints for our YW activity... too bad they are gone!