Lemons! :)

I have TWO lemons I smuggled in my suitcase back from Southern Cali. They are ripe and I have to decide what to make with them! NO I am not doing a lemon pie! (That would bring back way too many bad childhood memories) :0 lol... I am thinking lemon chicken!

Fresh produce at Paul's Patch in Brigham City

Squash! :]

It's getting late in the season but I have to say one of the best places to buy squash and other fresh produce is "Paul's Patch" along fruit way in Brigham City. It's one of the most northern fruit stands, on the east side of the road. :]

Halloween Cupcakes1 :]

Halloween cupcakes! :]

Make chocolate cupcakes and top with white cream cheese frosting. Crunch up Oreo cookies for "dirt." The spiders are mini-Oreo cookies with cinnamon eyes and chocolate licorice legs. To insert gummy worms, make an incision into the cupcake with a thin sharp knife. Poke gummy worm into cupcake, then top with Oreo dirt.

SCARY Zucchini Pie! :0 :0 :0

SCARY Zucchini Pie! :0 :0 :0

I finally made the SCARY zucchini pie last night! It never quite set up. The original recipe said 30 minutes. I left it in the oven almost an hour. Then when I stuck a knife in the middle, it really looked like it was breathing in and out. I think the zucchini pie is ALIVE! :0 :0 :0

Bizarrely enough, it tasted GREAT! It was kind of like bread pudding – without the bread. I ate it with milk on top, but I think it would also be really yummy served warm with ice cream.

I don't think I will make this again though. It was just too weird! :o

The recipe was from the Deseret News food page (see earlier post) but I tweaked it a bit.

Low-fat Zucchini Custardy-Pie

1 ½ cups peeled and grated zucchini

1 can (12 ounces) non-fat evaporated skim milk

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

3 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 unbaked graham cracker crust (1 ½ cups crushed low-fat graham crackers, 5 Tablespoons melted light butter)

1. Steam grated zucchini (microwave) until soft. Drain excess liquid.

2. Preheat over to 425 degrees.

3. Place all ingredients EXCEPT zucchini in blender. Blend.

4. Forget about the zucchini. (Just kidding! Put in blender and blend!)

5. Pour custard into piecrust.

6. Place on baking sheet. Bake 5 minutes.

7. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake another 45 minutes or until sharp knife inserted in center comes out clean.

I'm scared...

What could be scarier than Zucchini Pie? LOWFAT Zucchini Pie! These recipes totally freak me out... but I think I might try them! :0

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705333246/Cream-pie-a-good-use-for-zucchini.html

Check out the whole story...

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705333242/Pastry-chefs-dos-and-doughnts-at-Lion-House-Bakery.html

Kristina's recipe for "Sassy Orange Brownies"

SASSY ORANGE BROWNIES with TANGY ORANGE BALSAMIC FROSTING

Nonstick cooking spray or butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder (Extra Brut, 100 Percent Cacao)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup pumpkin

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray or butter square 8-by-8-inch glass pan.

In a large heat-proof bowl over double boiler, or simmering pan of water, melt butter and cocoa powder until smooth. Add brown and granulated sugar and stir together. Remove from heat. In a small separate bowl, combine egg and pumpkin. Temper pumpkin mixture by stirring in a little of the warm chocolate mixture. Then combine it with the rest of the chocolate mixture. Add vanilla extract. Stir in flour until combined. Mix in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and orange zest.

Pour mixture into prepared pan, smoothing out batter. Place in oven 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Tangy Orange Balsamic Frosting:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Peel from 1/2 orange, in large strips

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cream cheese

2 tablespoons melted butter

Orange zest from 1/2 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Simmer balsamic vinegar, orange peel and brown sugar in small pan, until it reduces in volume and forms a syrup. Take 1 1/2 teaspoons of this balsamic reduction for the frosting; store remainder for future use.

In a large bowl, whisk together cream cheese, butter, and orange zest from half an orange. Add juice and vanilla. Stir in 1/2 cup at a time of the powdered sugar, until mixture is smooth.

Divide frosting evenly in two bowls. In one bowl, add 2 teaspoons cocoa powder and stir until combined. In second bowl, add yellow and red food coloring to turn frosting orange. Frost brownies in 1-inch horizontal stripes, alternating between the 2 frostings. Run a blunt knife through layers of frosting several times to make decorative peaks. Cut into 9 large brownies or 12 smaller brownies.

— Kristina Fox of Salt Lake City, Big Brownie Bake-off

Kristina's "Sassy Orange Brownies"!

Funny, my brownies are never "sassy." They just do everything they are told, never say a word, then sit there and sulk! lol ;)
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Kristina! You will have to make the brownies and bring them to our next big event! :)
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705331787/Cooking-up-blue-ribbon-cuisine.html

Summer salads! :)

It's not too late for summer salads! I noticed Smith's still had berries on sale last weekend.
So easy and yummy: simply top fresh baby spinach leaves with various fruit (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, halved green or red grapes, blueberries) and feta cheese. Cashews also add nicely to the mix.
Dressing: oil and vinegar or my personal favorite, non-fat Maple Valley Honey Dijon.

Zucchini Season!

YAY! I love squash! Here is my mom's excellent recipe for Zucchini Casserole:

3 medium zucchini

1 ½ lbs. Hamburger

1 lb. Grated cheese

1 onion

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

½ cup milk

Crumbled soda crackers

Peel, dice and boil zucchini. Brown hamburger. Spread squash in 13 x 9 glass casserole dish. Layer meat on top. Sprinkle on grated cheese. Mix milk and soup, then pour on top. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs. Bake at 300 degrees for 40 to 60 minutes.

Some interesting variations: turkey instead of hamburger; add Italian seasoning to meat; top with Macaroni and Cheese; then crumbled club crackers and dried Parmesan cheese; grill zucchini instead of boiling; broccoli and cheddar cheese soup.

Other things to do with zucchini: brush with olive oil or Italian salad dressing, sprinkle with garlic salt, lemon and pepper or Italian seasoning, grill. Serve with:

Sweet BBQ Chicken: marinate chicken breasts in Hawain marinade for half hour. Put on grill for 10 minutes. Turn over. Brush honey bbq sauce on top. Grill 5 more minutes or until done.

Serve with spinach leaves topped with feta cheese and red grapes. YUM!

zucchini recipes!

Just in time! :) I have three green zucchini, one yellow and a spaghetti squash!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705330289/The-zucchini-invasion.html

Recipe idea Web site

I haven't tried this out yet but it could be interesting. You list what ingredients you have in your fridge and it tries to find a recipe for you. Hmmm....
http://ow.ly/ptlS

Kristina's Award Winning Brownies! :)

My friend Kristina won FIRST PLACE in the Utah State Fair for her brownies! We will post her recipe soon! :)

My first pie! BLUEBERRY! :)

In honor of Utah's Pioneer Day (or Pie and Beer Day, as some people refer to it as) I decided to make my first pie on July 24!

I picked up a cooling rack and pastry blender at Bed Bath and Beyond. I already had a glass pie plate. Blueberries were on sale at Costco.
The recipe is in the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book" that my mom got for me years ago. I have used TWO recipes in it during the past TEN years: chocolate brownies and pizza crust.

The pie turned out GREAT! My favorite part was cutting the left-over crust into a decorative blueberry with a stem and leaf.

Putting aluminum foil around the crust for the first half hour of cooking was a good idea. The crust didn't burn at all.

The only mistake I made was rolling some of the crust too thin in one spot. Halfway through cooking, a few blueberries burst through and made a daring escape to the bottom of the oven. I patched the hole with raw dough and sugar.

Also, I think the pie was a bit too sweet. Next time I will use less sugar.

I actually used a pancake spatula to get the crust from the counter onto the pie plate. I may invest in a plastic pastry cloth.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

1 ¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening

3 to 4 tablespoons cold water.

In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening or lard until the pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat until all is moistened. Form dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with hands. Roll dough from center to edge, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Ease pastry into 9-inch pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim to ½ inch beyond edge of pie plate. Do not prick pastry.

For Double Crust Pie

Prepare pastry for Single-Crust Pie as above, except use 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2/3 cup shortening and 6 to 7 tablespoons of cold water. Divide dough in half. Roll out half of dough as above. Fit into pie plate. Trim pastry even with rim. For top crust, roll out remaining dough. Cut slits for escape of steam. Place filling in pie shell. Top with pastry top crust. Trim top crust ½ inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold extra pastry under bottom crust; flute edge.

FLUTING: Press dough with a forefinger against the thumb and forefinger of the other hand.

Blueberry Pie

1 cup sugar

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

Dash salt

5 cups fresh blueberries or 20 oz frozen unsweetened blueberries thawed

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

In a mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, lemon peel and salt. Add sugar mixture to blueberries; toss to coat fruit. Fill a pastry-lined 9-inch pie plate with blueberry mixture. Drizzle with lemon juice and dot with butter. Adjust top crust. Seal and flute edge. Cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more or until crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Makes 8 servings.

* If using frozen blueberries, increase the flour to 1/3 cup.

Welcome to my kitchen! :)

Hello All!
First, let's get something straight: I am NOT copying the movie "Julie and Julia"... even though I saw it yesterday. It simply motivated me to finally get started on an idea I had last winter! ;)
A few months ago I started taking pictures of food that I made. And then sometimes I would post the pictures on Facebook. But I thought it would be fun to put the photos all on a blog and include the recipes.
The problem is, I rarely, if ever, follow a recipe to the letter. Why should I? I see a recipe as a skeleton or an outline waiting for some fun and creativity -- or even a low-fat version. Case in point: the peach pie I made Saturday. Why not add cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and rum extracts? Why not sprinkle the crust with a cinnamon and sugar mix? Why not do only 2/3 the sugar and see if it's still sweet enough? Of course, forgetting to add lemon juice was a (not too disastrous) mistake. The peaches look kind of brownish. So this blog will include my cooking mistakes too!
I also want people to read the blog, look at the pictures and recipes, and see how quick and easy cooking can be. My first pie, on July 24, was a fun adventure and so much easier than I ever dreamed.
Also, I think it would be fun if my friends could post their favorite recipes. Such as Mat and Kristina's special hot deli sandwiches! My friend Kristina saw "Julie and Julia" with me and loves to cook as well!
So break out the oven mitts and spatulas... let's get started!