Snickerdoodle Delights

It’s January 27^th. 

This day stands out to me for a few reasons. 

1)- It’s the day Boy proposed to me. Yep, just 2 short months from the time I brought him home to meet the family to the time we decided to take our relationship to forever. We’ve had our issues (believe me we’ve had our issues) but I’ll keep it all as they have helped us understand one another and  allowed us to grow closer than I ever thought possible. Love you, Boy.

2)-It’s the birthday of: my oldest brother, (Happy Birthday Jon) a good friend from high school, (Happy Birthday, Tiffany) and as I logged onto facebook this morning I saw that it was the birthday of not only a few of my real life friends but also of some of my new online friends  (Happy Birthday friends)

3)-It’s a day that in the past has hosted the super bowl. (Random I know but it all ties in.) As many of you know, I live in Indianapolis. Home of the 2012 Super Bowl and today marks the beginning of the events that our great city will be hosting.

To help kick off that event as well as say happy birthday to my brother (and everyone else) and commemorate the day Boy and I decided to join our family traditions together and be married…I’m giving you….

Snickerdoodle Delights

It’s a recipe that my family has been making for YEARS and one I was completely stoked to introduce to Boy as we began planning our life together. It’s also one of my brother’s favorite desserts (at least I remember it was- hopefully it still is) AND I think it would make an awesome addition to your super bowl spread. How’s that for tying it all together?

I’m not really sure how my family came up with the name; Snickerdoodle Delights. The treat has absolutely nothing to do with snickerdoodles. I think perhaps they have more to do with a Snickers candy bar than anything else and so explains the “snicker” part of snickerdoodle.

These have a soft cakey crust with a layer of roasted marshmallows topped with a caramel-ish, peanuty, crunchy top  that makes these little ditties incredibly difficult to resist….even for my peanut allergy kids. They are usually pretty good about rejecting peanut treats, but this gets them loathing their allergy every time I whip them up. For their sake, I rarely make them. Hopefully allergies will not restrict you from enjoying these delights.

Snickerdoodle Delights

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Yield: 32  1-inch squares

Ingredients:

BASE:

1 pkg/recipe yellow cake mix
1/3 cup softened butter

1 egg

3 cups mini marshmallows

TOPPING:
2/3 cup corn syrup

¼ cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

10 oz  peanut butter chips

2 cups rice krispies cereal

2 cups salted, roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350
2. With a pastry blender (or a fork) mix the cake mix, butter and egg until crumbly.
3. Press into the bottom of a ungreased 13x9-inch glass baking dish and bake for 12-18 minutes or until barely browned or golden.
4. Remove from oven, and turn oven to broil. Sprinkle marshmallow on top of base layer then put back in oven until marshmallows puff and brown (2-5 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool (turn oven off)
5. In a 3.5-quart pot, over medium heat, frequently stir together the corn syrup, butter and peanut butter chips until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
6. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla until combined. Then stir in peanuts and rice krispies cereal.
7. Spoon topping over marshmallows and spread to cover evenly. Let it rest on the counter or in the fridge to set. (if you set in the fridge be sure  to take it out  to come to room temperature before cutting or serving)
   

Source: Family File

Notes: I've included a link to a homemade yellow cake mix recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe - I've never tried it, but I want to and thought you might be interested as well.

Gwenevere

Orange Julius

Last week, this little buddy arrived at my house.

After a week of furious blending, I’ve decided it can stay.  Thanks to its low clearance, I’ve found a permanent place on the counter where it can always be found. (This feature was actually the selling point for me. I’ve been shopping around for this caliber of blender for a while and was sold on the Blendtec when I learned that the jar can be put on and off of the base without ever having to move the base from it’s resting place on the countertop, under the upper cabinets.)

I am a little worried that the other appliance might get jealous though, of all the appliances on my counter, this one seems to drum up the most conversation. I didn’t know a blender could do that. Truth is; once you start using a Blendtec you may begin to wonder if there is anything this thing can’t do. Seriously, it’s amazing (and I’ve only just begun).

Because I was a little overexcited to get started on blending I bypassed the instruction manual and just got to it.. I figured the advertisements I’d been studying were instruction enough.

Fill to the brim and blend:

Why bother with instructions? Let the sky be the limit.

Well let me tell you that if you double an Orange Julius Copycat Recipe and fill the blender to the rim, the sky will be the limit and that is how high your Orange Julius will fly when you hit the smoothie button.  J

Clean up on aisle 4! 

So how full can you fill  Blendtec jars? Well, if what you are blending is mostly liquid, I would follow the guideline in the instruction manual (yes, I did decide to read it) and only fill to the highest measure mark. After a quick clean up and wipe down I tried again.

Something easy – Orange Julius.

All of the views stated in this blog are my own.

If it sounds like I'm trying to sell you a Blendtec Blender, that is because I probably am. 

I think they are fantastic.

DON'T bet on this being the last post you'll see from me on the subject.  

Also if you want to win one (a Blendtec Blender)....click HERE.

Knockoff Orange Julius

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Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup water

6 -8 oz frozen orange juice concentrate

¼ cup sugar (completely optional)

1-teaspoon vanilla

24 ice cubes (of the skinny, orange wedge shape, variety. 12 if using the fat squares from a manual ice tray.)

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients into the Blendtec in the order listed, hit the smoothie button and ENJOY! 

If you don’t have a Blendtec do the following:

2. In a blender, combine the orange juice concentrate (thawed), milk, water, sugar and vanilla. Cover and blend until smooth. With blender running, add ice cubes, one at a time, through the opening in lid. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
   

Source: Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Gwenevere

Green Monster

Ok, so since September (through correspondence on my facebook page) I’ve been taunting y’all with a promise that someday soon I was going to write a blog post explaining what I’ve been up to that has slowed me down in the blog-posting department.

Well, “someday soon” has finally arrived and I’d like to make my first post addressing the “slow down” but before I do, I just really quick want to thank you for your continued support through all the comments, tweets, pins, stumbles and referrals. All that LOVE kept this blog alive and even helped it grow. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 

Now…. let me tell you about what’s been keeping me. 

No, it’s not a Green Monster Smoothie that's been keeping me from posting. This is just what I’m using to illustrate the story….it serves several purposes:

1)- it has the word “monster” in it so it adds drama to the story that otherwise would not be there. J

2)- It can be made in a Blendtec Blender (more information on that later)

3)- It may look scary, but once you try it you will find there is nothing to be afraid of…it’s wonderful, (kind of like the impetus for my story. It seemed really scary to me at first but now that I’m mostly through it…I can see that it was an experience I was grateful to have.) 

4)- it’s in a cup. (Ok, I know it’s not a "cup", it’s a glass….  but I wanted a picture of something GOOD in a cup so this picture will just have to do.)

So…a summation of the past 6 months of my life presented in parable form (so as to allow everyone the opportunity to relate. I see no good reason to alienate anyone just because they haven’t had a similar experience.) Here it goes....

Often I hear folks talking about “filling their bucket”. When I hear this, I think of a bucket that rests near a fountain that is used to gather water that can be used in case the fountain (from which it is filled) runs dry and there is no water to be had. The bucket holds enough water (i.e. goodness) to provide what is needed until the fountain flows again.

Well, I have a [figurative] bucket and in it I keep all the goodness I can catch. Truth, happiness, joy, love, giggles, hugs, kisses, laughter, experiences, memories, goals & hope…if it’s good, it goes in my bucket.

My bucket has never failed me. It has always held the sweet refreshment I needed, exactly when I needed it, until late last summer (2011).

Being wise (like I so often am) I decided that even thought the fountain was still flowing I should go and check on my bucket…you know,  just to make sure  it was filled and prepared for when I needed it. Well, when I took a peek inside, I was a bit astonished. There was nothing in it. It was completely empty.

“Someone must be taking my goodness.” I thought. “Oh well, I’ll just fill it back up.” So I pushed it under the full stream of the fountain. When I thought the bucket should be close to full, I took a second glance inside. That is when I began to panic (just a little). 

My bucket wasn’t holding water!

First, I tried to fill it up, again. When that didn’t work I thought that maybe the integrity of my bucket had been compromised so I began to inspect it for holes or leaks. When I found none, full on panic ensued.

WHY WOULDN’T MY BUCKET HOLD WATER?

WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO WITHOUT A PROPER BUCKET!? 

Quickly, I decided to put my bucket down and take a step back in order to give myself some distance to either calm down or get some perspective in order to see if there was something I had missed.

With each step backward the problem became increasingly clear. It wasn’t that there was a leak or a hole; it was that my bucket wasn’t a bucket….

IT WAS A CUP!

The force of water coming out of the fountain was so great that when it hit the bottom of the cup it immediately splashed back out! From where I was I had two choices I could either:

A)- take my cup to a slower running fountain or

B)-get a proper bucket!

I decided to stick with the fountain I was familiar with and set out to find a bigger bucket.

In a frantic effort to find what I was looking for I called everyone I knew who I thought might know anything about buckets or might have one for me to borrow until I could find my own. It seemed my peace was dependant on finding something big enough and sturdy enough to hold the goodness that came from the fountain.

Finally, after making a colossal mess from pulling everything off of my shelves, out of storage and from the places I go to look for lost things....I found what I was searching for. I can now report that what I found holds water very well.

Now, not wanting to repeat this event anytime in the future, I have decided to keep my eye out for bigger and sturdier buckets - you know, just in case there comes a day when the pressure of the fountain is turned up again and the bucket I have is no longer enough to hold what it needs to. When that happens, I’ll know exactly where to go to replace it.

The only real problem I have now (beside the mess that I made that I may never be able to clean up) is that I can’t get the goodness out as fast as it’s coming in, so it often… runneth over!

Thanks again everyone for sharing your goodness with me through this phase in my journey when I thought I had none.

Now get out your blender (a Blendtec if you have it) and blend up a delicious, healthy Green Monster so that we can raise our “cups” to the New Year. May this year be filled with enough goodness to share with everyone. May our world view be big enough to find goodness in every relationship. May our minds be open to new information and may our hearts allow us to receive it. 

Happy 2012!

Basic Green Monster

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Yield: 1 Gianormous Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 cups (packed) fresh spinach, steamed

1 to 1 ¼  cups milk (I prefer rice milk)

2 Tablespoons chia seeds

1 banana

1 - 2 cups of ice (about 10 depending on the size)

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients into the Blendtec, hit the smoothie button and when it’s done, ENJOY!

If you don’t have a Blendtec do the following:

2. Place the ingredients into your blender in the following order: 1) chia seeds, 2) spinach, 3) banana, 4) milk. The reason for this order is so the heavier ingredients weigh down the chia seeds and spinach and keep it from flying up around the blender and sticking to the side.
3. Blend everything on the highest setting for 1 minute or so. Finally, add ice and blend on the ice setting. Pour into a large glass.

Source: Slightly adapted from Angela at Oh She Glows and Green Monster  Movement.

Gwenevere

Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits

Finding the best biscuits on the planet is not as easy as finding the best hamburger buns, mostly because opinions are quite varied on the subject. Some like their biscuits, crumbly, some like them flakey and some prefer a tender, more cake-like crumb. The short of it, biscuits come in all kinds textures and flavors so it makes it rather difficult to find the best. So instead of finding very best, I’ll share the ones I really like.

The biscuits I’m sharing today are my vegan version of the sweet potato biscuits I found over at The Kitchn. They are tender and soft with just a bit of a crust. I thought the texture was actually fairly close to the KFC biscuits I’ve been trying to imitate but the flavor (obviously) wasn’t close, which is ok, because the salty biscuits at KFC wasn’t what I was going for either.

I’m seeing a lot of soup recipes being posted around and these biscuits would be a delightful pairing with just about any of them.

I’ve made these two ways; one with solid coconut oil and the other with earth balance soy free butter substitute….the version with the Earth Balance was my favorite. If you have a legume/peanut allergy or sensitivity in your family please be aware that Earth Balance Soy Free is made with pea protein. Because of that, I can’t use it for my family with legume issues. For the buttery taste, next time I think I’ll try soy-free Spectrum butter flavored palm shortening. 

Vegan Sweet Potato Biscuits

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Yield: about 18 2” biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour


4 teaspoons baking powder


½ teaspoon kosher salt


6 tablespoons chilled *Earth Balance Spread, cut into cubes


1 cup steamed and mashed sweet potato (approximately 1 large potato)


½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar

½  cup rice milk, plus additional as needed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Sour rice milk with lemon juice or vinegar and set aside (rice milk does not sour like cows milk so don’t expect the same texture)
3. In a large bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or your fingers if you don't have one) cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is a mix of pea-size balls and small crumbs.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed sweet potato and rice milk until well-combined. Fold into the flour mixture, adding more (up to 4 tablespoons) rice milk if necessary. The dough should form a nice ball, and be just a bit on the sticky side, as opposed to crumbly and dry. Chill the dough for thirty minutes, if desired, although you can bake them off immediately if you would like. I happen to like the way the biscuits look when the dough has chilled (a bit more crackly on top), but the flavor is not affected by this step.
5. Pat out the dough onto a lightly floured surface to about a 1-inch thickness (do not roll out the dough with a rolling pin). Cut out rounds using a well-floured biscuit cutter. (I prefer a square cookie cutter so that I don’t have scraps.) Gather the remaining scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Place the biscuits on a large sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes (or bake in batches).

Notes: The cooked biscuits will freeze beautifully and can be pulled out at a moments notice. Just bake at 375° until heated through.

*Any preferred butter substitute or butter will work just fine.

Source: Adapted from The Kitchn: Sweet Potato Biscuits

Gwenevere

Rainbow Jell-o

I left you hangin’ with my last post. I should have said something like, “and the rest is history”. Since there is no fun in that, I’ll just tell the rest of the story.

…So this boy that my heart was in love with drove home with me for Thanksgiving weekend. It was the first time I remember not hating the 4-hour drive. What did I say? What did we talk about? I certainly don’t remember anymore, but I do remember getting kind of nervous as we pulled up to my parents’ house. My brain kept trying to tell the rest of me that this guy was just a friend and it was no big deal (apparently my brain didn’t get the memo that this was a very big deal).

I was sure that by the time we pulled in, my mom would have heard at least heard one of the message I’d left on the machine (we didn’t have cell phones back then so there was no way to get in touch as we traveled) and so coming through the door with a friend wasn’t going to be a total shock. (This is where I need to insert my mom’s side of the story because I think she’ll remember it how it really happened and not how my flooded-with-dopamine brain recalls it.)

My friend and I walked in the front door and I remember everyone running to us all excited and patting my friend on the back and welcoming us into the home and he into the family. We recounted the details of the past 24 hours and had my mom fill in the missing details from her end. After all that we settled into our weekend and the reality of what was happening.

We enjoyed a fabulous meal for Thanksgiving (complete with layered jell-o …got to get the recipe plug in here) and by the end of the weekend faced that music that we were so sickly sweet in LOVE with one another that we didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves. We returned to school and decided to play it off casual (we didn’t want our friends to abandon us because to a person NOT in throws of a new romance, there is nothing more annoying than two people who are). You could maybe then imagine everyone’s surprise, when 2 months later, Boy asked me to marry him and I said YES!

You’re now thinking…Rainbow Jell-O? That is the tie in? I know it’s a stretch but lets be honest…what ISN’T a stretch with me?! J What can I say, it’s a memory, just like the one I’ve just shared, that is inalterably connected with our holiday feasts.

A few years after Boy and I got married the jell-o became my assignment for the meal. Much like my relationship with Boy, it’s a constant and every year I make some tweaks and adjustments to make it better. And like my relationship with Boy, It’s not too incredible difficult, just apply some patience and time and it usually turns out great. J

My Cousin Mickelle had the best seat in the house for the Jell-o Mold photo op. 

I lifted this picture from her blog - stop by and say hi.

Rainbow Jell-O Mold

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Yield: 1 bunt pan size jell-o mold

Ingredients:

8 - 3 oz boxes of various jell-o flavors (NOT sugar free)

1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Boiling water

Directions:

1. Spray pan with cooking spray
2. Boil water and pour 1 ¼ cup into a small bowl with 1 pkg. of gelatin (the color that will be your top layer). Stir until dissolved.
3. Pour ¾ cup of the dissolved gelatin liquid into the pan and refrigerate until set BUT NOT FIRM. This can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes and will vary as the layers are built. You know when you are ready for the next layer when the gelatin sticks to your finger when lightly touched. If it doesn’t it’s ok, it just means that your next layer will not FUSE to the set layer and may slip when slicing for serving.
4. 5-10 minutes before jell-o layer is set, refrigerate the remaining, dissolved gelatin until slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites).
5. Once the set layer is ready, gradually stir in 2-3 Tbsp. of sweetened condensed milk into the remaining dissolved jello to make the opaque layer. Carefully spoon or pour the opaque jell-o over the gelatin set in pan. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until gelatin is set but not firm (again gelatin should stick to finger when touched).
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for the remaining layers. Once the opaque layer is in the fridge setting, boil the water for the next layer/color, dissolve the gelatin and set aside to cool so that when you pour it into the pan you don’t melt the set layer.
7. Refrigerate the entire mold for 2 hours or until firm. Unmold and serve. Store leftover gelatin in refrigerator. 

Notes:

8. I used 2 boxes of 3 oz. jell-o for the middle layers of the mold so that the layers were thicker. To create the mold in this picture I used a total of 8 boxes of gelatin and my pan could NOT have held more.

HOW TO UNMOLD GELATIN

9. Dip mold in warm water for about 7-15 seconds. Gently pull gelatin from around edge with moist fingers. Place moistened serving plate on top of mold. Invert mold and plate; holding mold and plate together, shake slightly to loosen. Gently remove mold and center gelatin on plate.

Source: Family File/Kraft recipes (I got the idea to use sweetened condensed milk from the Jell-o Mold Mistress of Brooklyn)

Gwenevere

Mom's Apple Pie

Today is Pie Day.
(Not to be confused with Pi Day -March 14th)

On this day in 1997 I was preparing to go home from college for Thanksgiving break. I was almost 20 and I’d met this boy and my heart was in love. Without clearing anything with my mom I asked him to cancel his plans to visit a friend and come home with me instead. I left a dozen messages on my parents phone trying to see if it was ok if I brought someone home with me but finally had to bag it and just head home - with friend in tow. I knew my parents wouldn’t mind. I’d brought plenty of friends home in the past, but this friend was different and I wanted to give them the heads-up, but no one was home.

Pie Day is the day before Thanksgiving that is USUALLY set aside to bake pies and finishing any pre-Thanksgiving Day prep. Why my mom wasn’t doing the usual 14 years ago - I can’t say but that’s ok because I have plenty else to remember from that Pie Day. 

So, today is Pie Day.

While it’s not my turn to be bringing anyone home for Thanksgiving weekend, it is my turn to bake some pies and finish up some pre-Thanksgiving Day prep. I’ve got my list and I’ve got my ingredients and of all the pies that will be made, there is only one that MUST be made – Mom’s Apple Pie.

It’s time to fill up the pie crust with plenty of Golden Delicious Apples and then top it off with a buttery crumb layer that is way too good to pass up.

Mom’s Apple Pie

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Yield: 1 pie

Ingredients:

1 pastry pie shell

FILLING:

10 golden delicious apples

½ cup sugar

3-4 teaspoons cinnamon

CRUMB TOP:

1/3 cup sugar

¾ cup flour

6 tablespoons softened butter or butter flavored shortening

Directions:

1. Peel, core and slice apples.
2. mix sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle over apples. Put apples into pie pastry until heaping.
3. Mix flour and sugar in another bowl. Add butter/shortening and cut in with fork or a pastry blender until mixed to a crumb.
4. Sprinkle over apples.
5. Cook pie at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes

Source: Family File

Gwenevere

P.S. I know those aren't Golden Delicious Apples. But the Granny smith work too. Sometimes I use whatever I've got.

Basic Pie Crust

It’s not that I’m completely oblivious to the passage of time. It’s just that I can’t do anything to stop it so I’m having a hard time keeping up. Argh! It’s the middle of November. Thanksgiving is next week and I haven’t written a single list of what needs to be done and what needs to be purchased. So why not get started right now? Lets see… I’m in charge of the rolls, the jell-o mold (I’m Mormon remember)….what else? Drat! I’m forgetting stuff. I knew I should have started this list sooner. OH! The turkey. Good thing I remembered that one. Maybe I’ll throw a pie into the mix.…if I feel like it. But just in case I don’t I’m posting the recipe so you can.

We'll start with the crust because...I'm not makin' a crustless pie.

 

In my experience, the less you know about pie crusts, the better your pie crusts will be. When I started making crusts all I had to go on was a memory of watching my mom make the crust while I waited to eat the apple skins and the left over pie dough cookies –not so useful. (Basically I was on my own.) For my first few pies, I had to just follow the recipe. After I got the hang of it I tried refining my skill…that’s when things got screwy. Instead of giving you something that isn’t great I thought I’d go back to the basics and remember that while it’s nice to learn new things, sometimes its good to just leave well enough alone. (Yes, you did just hear me say that. You can now pick your jaw up off the floor.)

For real. Just follow this recipe as best you can interpret and DON’T knead the dough.  Do that and you will have a perfectly flakey pie crust for your Thanksgiving pie. Anyway, that’s what I did when I learned and that method worked for me…except for when it failed: once when I tried it in a food processor and once when I kneaded the dough. (Do NOT knead the dough.)

Basic Pie Crust

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Yield: 1 pie crust

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons shortening

5-8 Tablespoons ice cold water

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using pastry blender or two knives, cut in 6 tablespoons shortening until pieces are pea-size.

2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon ice water over part of the flour mixture then gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon of water at a time until all the flour is moistened. (Usually this takes no more than 6 tablespoons.)

3. Form flour into a ball (without kneading).

4. On lightly floured surface, flatten dough. Roll pastry from center to edge into 13-inch circle.

5. Transfer pastry to a 9 1/2-10" deep-dish pie plate with a ¼ - ½-inch rim. (if my crust is stuck to the rolling surface I run my frosting spreader between the surface and the crust to loosen it. 

6. Trim crust edge 1/2-inch beyond pie plate. Tuck the ragged or trimmed edge of the crust under itself.

 7. Flute the edge high.

Notes: If you need your pie shell cooked before you fill it preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Poke lots of holes into the crust with a fork to release steam, Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 6 minutes more or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Source: Better Homes and Garden Magazine, November 2008

Gwenevere