Dirt Pie

Dirt Pie

Hi everyone, okay I know I am a terrible person that makes promises about my blog and never follows through.  I have no idea what it is, but it's almost like when I was more busy, I made it a point to post blogs, but now with more free time, I just don't feel like sitting and blogging? Does that even make sense? Haha, I don't think it does.  Also, I recently got really fast internet for our family and became hooked on YouTube, I mean I have always watched YouTube videos, but at home that meant waiting 10 minutes for a video to load before being able to watch anything. Now I can just watch video after video.  And my addiction are beauty videos and cooking videos! Okay now on to the recipe!

Okay, well I made this dish way back on Halloween and I am just getting around to posting it.  But maybe this will inspire folks to make this next Halloween? Or you can get white oreo cookies and some beachy gummy worm and make it for a summer themed party?  I actually made this dish for my co-worker who kept insisting that he really wanted some dirt pie.  And while I was at it, I made two pies, one for my office and one for my friend's kiddie Halloween party.  You can just half the ingredients and make one pie, or better if you have a trifle dish, then you can layer the oreo and creamy layers!  This was definitely a hit and believe me worth EVERY calorie ;)

Ingredients for Pie

Ingredients (2 - 9inch circle pies):

1/4 cup butter

2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

2 - instant vanilla pudding packs

3 1/2 cups milk

8oz Cool Whip

1 1/2 package of Oreo cookies

1 package Gummy Worms

Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl, make the vanilla pudding according the the instructions on the box of the instant pudding.

2. Fold in thawed cool whip.
3. In another small bowl mix the butter, cream cheese, and powder sugar.

4. Mix the ingredients from the small bowl (step 3) with the medium bowl (step 2). Mix so everything is well incorporated.

5. Smash the oreos in a Ziploc bag until they are finely chopped (should resemble dirt).  I used a food processor to eliminate the mess!

6. In your first circle dish, first lay out a layer of 'dirt' (orea crumbs), then lay out some worms for a surprise for people, lay with half the whipped creamy mixture (step 4), and top with 'dirt.'

7. Add some worms here and there to make it seem like they are coming out of the 'dirt.'
8. Repeat process for the second pie.
9. Chill for at least 2 hours.  I stored mine in the fridge overnight!
10. ENJOY!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Spice Cookie with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Hi everyone! I am blogging and look it didn't take me a whole month to do so! Wow, something weird is going on right, I guess it makes sense since it almost HALLOWEEN! So since it's pumpkin season and who doesn't love pumpkins, I thought I would blog about this AMAZING cookie that I made tonight adapted from mybakingaddition.com! It's beyond delicious and sooooo easy to make! Now you can totally leave out the frosting, it still tastes awesome without it, but I prefer my cookies with a tad bit of frosting! And you can also decorate it however you want! I didn't have any sprinkles on hand, so opted with just making my frosting orange! 

Anyways, try this out and see what you think.  I am definitely taking the extra into work tomorrow.  Don't want to keep these cookies around the house or I might end up eating them all! Oh and incase I don't get to blog again before Halloween (let's hope that isn't the case) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ingredients for Cookie

Ingredients (15 BIG cookies): 

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup canned pumpking

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup flour

----------Cream Cheese Frosting----------

4 oz light cream cheese

1/2 tbsp butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, and canned pumpkin.

3. Add in the egg and mix.

4. Sift together the baking soda, cinnamon powder, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, salt, and flour.

5. Add in the dry ingredients (step 4) to the wet ingredients (step 3). 

6. Take 1/4 cup of mixture and place on cookie sheet.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes.

8. While cookies are baking, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and milk together until they are well combined.

9. Place frosting in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes so frosting hardens (if it's already hard and easy to place on top of cookies, then you can skip this step).

10. Let the cookies cool for about 5-10 minutes before putting the frosting or any other decorations on.  

11. ENJOY!

Pesto Eggplant Panini with Avocados and Tomatoes

Pesto Eggplant Panini with Avocados and Tomatoes

First post of October! I know, I know, pretty terrible.  This is becoming a monthly update and not a weekly update which is what I intended this to be.  Anyway, with work, working out, and hanging with friends/family, there just isnt many hours in the evening to myself! I have also been pretty obsessed with watching Once Upon a Time (if you don't watch it, you NEED to).  All my shows started back up, so my evenings are back to watching all my favorite shows! Yay! Oh back to some cooking!

I made this a while back, but it was delicious.  I got a Panini Maker as a birthday present this year and every now and then I use it to make some pretty delicious paninis! This one is definitely one of them that I got from SkinnyTaste.com with of course my own twist! It's full of veggies, but believe me you do not miss the absence of meat at all! Give it a shot if you have a panini maker, and if you don't, I suggest going out there and getting one! You can probably also use a stove grill and a pan to press the panini.  Trust me, give this a try, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients for Panini

Ingredients (4 large paninis):

1 large eggplant

1/4 cup onion

1 roma tomato

1 hass avocado

1 french bread

cooking spray

2 tbsp pesto sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

salt, pepper, and chili to taste

Instructions:
1. Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Lay pieces on a paper towel and season them with the salt, pepper and chili on both sides of eggplant. Set this aside for about 30-40 minutes so that all the moisture is drawn out.

2. Slice the onion, tomatoes into 1/4 inch circle pieces. Slice the avocados into long pieces.
3. Preheat your panini maker.
4. Lightly spray the eggplant pieces.
5. When the panini maker is hot, place the eggplant pieces and onions on the panini maker.  Close the top and grill for about 8-10 minutes or until the eggplant pieces and onions are nice and golden brown.

6. Slice the bread into 4 pieces and open each piece to get ready to put the ingredients in (a little trick I learned from SkinnyTaste's Gina to save some calories is to pick out some of the breading).  Spread about 1/2 tbsp of pesto sauce on each side of the bread.

7. Inside each piece of bread, place 3 eggplant pieces, a few slices of onions, 2 pieces of tomatoes, and 2 pieces of avocado.  Top with about 2-3 tbsp of mozzarella cheese.

8. Close the piece of bread, spray the top, and put in the panini maker. Grill for about 4-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the french bread is toasted.
9. Cut diagonally and ENJOY!

Balsamic Double Tomato Bruschetta

Balsamic Double Tomato Bruschetta

Hi my lovely viewers, if I have any out there that is! Who knows, but I do this blog for myself so it shouldn't matter right?! (Okay it matters a little, but shhhh that is our little secret).  I am going to try real hard again to post a recipe a week, but again no guarantees.  With working full time, it's so tiring to get home and not only cook, but take pictures and blog about it.  BUT I am going to try my hardest to get back into it!

So I have made this recipe a bajillion times and love it every time.  This time however I made it a little bit more healthy? I basically left out the cheese part of it, but don't worry, that version will come soon enough! This one is super quick and the only real time consuming part is the chopping, other than that, you mix everything up and are ready to go! It's super delicious so go ahead, like RIGHT NOW, and give it a try!

Ingredient for Bruschetta

Ingredients (8-10 servings):

• 6 roma tomatoes
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup onions

• 1/3 cup basil

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/8 cup pickled jalapenos (optional)

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1 loaf of French baguette
• 
  

Instructions:
1. Slice the loaf in 1 inch slices.  If you buy from a bakery (I bought mine from Safeway), they will slice the bread for you at no extra cost.
2. Dice the tomatoes and onions, slice the sun-dried tomatoes, chop the basil, and mince the garlic. (I had some pickled jalapenos that I diced up and tossed in as well, but this is totally optional).

3. Mix the tomatoes, onions, basil, garlic, and jalapenos (optional) together in a bowl.
4. Add in balsamic vineger, olive oil, salt, and pepper into the mixture. Make sure that everything is properly mixed. Taste and add more salt and black pepper to your liking.
5. On a baking sheet, lay out all the pieces of the French baguette and broil on low in the oven for about 2-3 minutes. (Mine are a little darker because I forgot about them and had them in for 5 minutes!)
6. Top each baguette piece with the mixture (step 4) and you are ready to go!
7. ENJOY!

Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle

Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle

Hi everyone, I know, I know, I am terrible at keeping up with this! I don't know what is going on?! It's like with work and everything, I end up not having time to cook.  So this is my theory, I used to procrastinate studying by cooking and now that I don't have to study anymore, I have no need to procrastinate on anything! Makes sense?! No, yeah me neither :( No excuses, I need to get back to it!

Okay well I made this dessert a couple times already with different fruits.  The pictures today are from when I made this on Fourth of July! I used strawberries, blueberries, and a tiny bit of cherries just because we had some handy. Other times I have used kiwis, mandarin oranges, raspberries, all of which tasted delicious.  My best friend got me this dish for my birthday this year and it was perfect to showcase this beautiful trifle!  I also happened to see a skinny version of this delicious dessert on skinnytaste.com and had to try it for my self.  Oh one last thing, I always have a theory that good looking food always tends to taste pretty darn good! Anyways, enjoy!

Ingredients (10-12+ servings):

10 oz angel food cake

2 pints strawberries

2 pints blueberries

-----Cream Filling-----

6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups cold water

1 package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix

8 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping (lite)

Instructions:

1. Slice the strawberries sideways into long pieces.

2. Tear the angel food cake into 1-2inch square pieces.

3. Whisk together the condensed milk and water in a medium bowl.

4. Add in the pudding mix to the condensed milk mixture from step 3 and let stand for about 3 minutes.

5. Fold in the thawed frozen whipped topping.

6. In you trifle dish, spread evenly half of the angle food cake on the bottom layer.

7. Add a layer of blueberries (and I had a few cherries that I added too) to the top of the angel food cake.

8. Neatly spread half of the cream mixture from step 6 on top of the blueberries. 

9. Add a layer of strawberries to the top of the cream mixture. 

10. Layer the angel cake on top of strawberries, then the blueberries, and then finally the last of the cream mixture.

11. Make a pretty design on the top of the cream mixture with the remaining fruit.  You can be as creative as you want!  With your trifle dish you will be able to see the different layers of fruits, cake, and cream.

12. Optional: I put my trifle in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes before serving, but you can serve right away!

13. ENJOY!

Coconut Cookies N' Cream

Coconut Cookies N' Cream

Hi, everyone! So it's been beautiful in Seattle the last couple of days.  I dare say hot even! Now if you know anything about Seattle, you know that we cherish over 70 degree weather like none other! I remember when I had school during warm weather, over 65 degrees meant students in the quad wearing bikinis! And believe me I wish I was kidding!

Haha so anyways back on topic, the hot weather made me think of making some good old ice cream in my ice cream maker! It's been a while since I have made any ice cream, but I saw this really easy recipe online (from twopeasandtheirpod.com) and decided, alright what the heck, let's give it a go!  It turned out so delicious! In fact, my best friend came over and she might have ate about half of the batch.  I didn't make too much, because I still have yet to get a legit ice cream tub to store my ice cream after making it, so I like to make enough to just stay in the freezer for a couple days.  More days in the freezer without a proper container means more frozen ice than ice cream! Anyways, so here is the delicious and SUPER easy recipe that is absolutely DELICIOUS!

Ingredients (6-8 servings): 

13.5 oz of coconut milk (Chaokoh brand is what I used)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

10-12 Oreos

Instructions:

1. Crush the Oreos into tiny pieces.

2. In a blender, blend the milk, sugar, and cocoa powder together until they are all well combined. 

3. Pour mixture in the canister of your ice cream maker.
4. Follow instructions according to your ice cream maker (each maker is slightly different).  This is where you will need ice and rock salt for your frozen yogurt to properly form (the measurements for this was according to the ice cream maker that I have, yours might be different).

5. Ice cream maker will churn the mixture for about 30-40 minutes before your mixture is turned into frozen yogurt. During the last 5-10 minutes of churning (mine starts to slow down slightly which is when I know it's time) add the crushed Oreos to the canister.   

7. You can eat the ice cream right away or store it in a air tight container in the freezer.
8. ENJOY!

Coconut Curry

Coconut Curry

So this is odd that I am posting on a Tuesday, but this is the request of a friend/co-worker who wants to try to make this.  I thought it would be better that I just went ahead and blogged since it's been again forever since my last blog.  My new goal is twice a month?! No, I need to start blogging once a week again! Anyways, this curry was a friends recipe that I slightly modified.

This turned out to be really good! I am not a fan of coconut, but this tasted pretty darn good! With the mix of all the different veggies, it turned out to have everything you need.  I served this over some rice, which complimented the curry very well. You could also very well make this a little more liquidy by adding a whole can of the chicken/vegetable stock instead of just half and eat it over some pasta.  Either way it's very yummy!

Ingredients for Curry

Ingredients (6-8 servings):
1 tsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp of ginger

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 head of broccoli

8 oz of vegetable/chicken broth (about half a 14.5 oz can )

13.5 oz of coconut milk (Chaokoh brand is what I used)

1.5 lb chicken breast

3 tsp curry powder

1 tsp chili powder (or to taste)

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Instructions:
1. Slice the onion, garlic, ginger, bell peppers, and broccoli.  Also, slice the chicken breast into square pieces (about 1-2 inches).
2. In a large skillet or wok heat oil on medium heat. Fry the onions, garlic, and ginger for about 5 minutes on medium-high or until the onions appear to be clear and translucent.
4. Add the bell peppers and broccoli to the wok. Stir for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the chicken to the wok and stir the mixture for an addition 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through.

6. Add the coconut milk to the wok and mix up everything.
7.  Pour the chicken/vegetable broth into the wok and mix up everything.  (If you want a little more curry (liquid) add more broth to the wok.)

8.  Add the curry, chili, and salt powder to the curry. Simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-high.  Do a taste test and see if you need to add more curry, chili, or salt to your curry.

9. ENJOY!

Cheesecake Yogurt Cupcakes with Strawberries and Blueberries

Cheesecake Yogurt Cupcakes with Strawberries and Blueberries

It has been over a month since I have blogged! I feel so terrible about it! I need to get back to the rhythm.  I have been cooking, but I am always rushed and do not have the time to take pictures and record the process.  But I am going to try to find my routine of cooking again!  I am back at it and I hope that I can keep my promise of updating at least once a week. 

It’s been a crazy couple months, with starting my new job and getting into the groove of everything.  I love how my schedule is and having evenings and weekends free of everything.  It’s also wedding season with my friends which makes my extra time filled with wedding festivities! Life is good J

Okay back to the cooking! Tomorrow is Fourth of July, and I thought as a way to celebrate that I would post a red, white, and blue inspired recipe! I made this a while ago, but it was very yummy and I can’t wait to make it again.  I only made 12, but I feel as if the less amount I make of something, the bigger the hit it is in my household! Anyways, have to thank SkinnyTaste for this marvelous recipe! Try it out and I promise even though it may be low calorie, it will not disappoint!

Ingredients for Cupcakes

Ingredients (12 cupcakes):
12 vanilla wafers

8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 oz fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt

2 large egg whites

1 tbsp flour

8 oz strawberries

8 oz blueberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place a vanilla wafer at the bottom of each cupcake liner.

3. Gently beat, with an electric mixer on low speed, the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.

4. Slowly add in the yogurt, egg whites, and flour to the mixture in step 3.  Make sure and beat until everything is incorporated, but do not overbeat.

5. Pour mixture from step 4 into each cupcake liner, only filling the liner halfway.

6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the center is set and does not move.

7. Cool for at least 20 minutes before refrigerating it for at least an hour.

8.  Cut off the tops of strawberries and slice them.

9. After the cupcakes have cooled, top with fresh strawberries and blueberries. (Optional: I had some marshmallow sugar glaze that I had made which I also put on top of the cupcakes and fruits, but this is not needed!)

10. ENJOY!

Fried Couscous Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Green Bell Peppers

Fried Couscous Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Green Bell Peppers

So I recently discovered the amazingness of couscous.  I have been adding it to EVERYTHING! I make a simple salad, and then go ahead add about a fourth cup of couscous and voila, you have a fancy salad for yourself! Couscous is also VERY easy to make, when you buy the pre-streamed and dried one.  Literally takes like 5 minutes.  I was again watching Giada and found her making something with couscous which made me rush out the door to get some. I would advise getting the whole wheat one just to be a bit healthier! Anyways take a stab at making this delicious dish.  Mine turned out really yummy, but the couscous was a bit mushy, which was entirely my fault for not waiting the whole 5 minutes before frying them.  So be warned! Anyways hope you like it!

Ingredients for Couscous

Ingredients (6-8 servings):

3 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves

2 cups couscous (whole wheat is what I used)

1 3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 cup onions

1/4 cup of green bell pepper

1/2 cup cucumber

1 tbsp fresh basil

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

lemon zest (1/2 of a lemon)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1. Boil stock in a small pot. When stock is boiling, turn off stove and add couscous.  Cover and leave couscous for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork.

2. Fry 3 garlic cloves in a medium skillet (medium temperature) until golden brown.
3. Cut green bell pepper and onion into small pieces.
4. Add pepper, onions, and couscous and bell pepper to skillet and turn up skillet to medium-high.
5. Cook couscous for about 10-15 minutes, breaking up lumps. When done the couscous should be a nice olden to dark brown color. Set aside in a medium bowl.

6. Remove seeds of the cucumber and cut the cucumber in small pieces.  Add cucumber to couscous.
7. Cut the basil and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces and also add to the couscous.
8. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese to couscous.  Toss together.  Add more salt and pepper according to taste.
9. ENJOY!