Happy Halloween

My Halloween menu this year was something simple yet festive for a week night meal that even my pickiest family enjoyed .

I made a 7 layer spider dip:

So easy to make. 

-Refried beans (heate/warmed up)

-Shredded Colby-Jack 

-Salsa

-Guacamole 

-Tomatoes 

-Lettuce 

-Sour Cream

I also made Nancy Fuller's (from Farmhouse Rules) Bloody Intestines. The recipe is here :
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nancy-fuller/meaty-bursting-intestines.html
I made the pork in the crockpot just for convenience since I had to work today.

  Then to end on a sweet note I made these Halloween Smores Brownies:
homeiswheretheboatis.net/2011/10/27/ghostly-peeps-fun-brownie-smores-and-peeps-hot-chocolate/

Happy Halloween!

Garden Vegetable Lasagna

Here is my recipe for Garden Vegetable Lasagna:

1 large red onion, cut in small wedges
1 orange pepper, chopped
10oz. baby Bella mushrooms, quartered
1 large white sweet potato
1 yellow squash, cut in half moons
2 small zucchini, sliced
2 cups fresh spinach
1 pkg. oven ready lasagna noodles
1 egg
15 oz. ricotta
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. parsley
1/4 cup salted butter
1/4 cup flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
4 large basil leaves, chiffonade
2 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
3/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)


    Pre-heat oven to 425.  On a large rimmed baking sheet, mix onion, pepper, mushrooms, sweet potato, olive oil, salt & pepper.  Bake 30 minutes, stirring half way thru.  Add minced garlic and stir again.  Bake 20 minutes more.  Add squash & zucchini and stir again to combine.  Bake 15 minutes more.  Add spinach & toss.  Bake 10 minutes.  Set roasted vegetables aside.

     In a small bowl, mix egg, ricotta, & parsley & set aside.
     In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, melt butter.  Whisk in flour.  Cook, whisking constantly for about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk.  Turn heat to medium-high and bring to a boil whisking often.  Turn heat to low and simmer 5 minutes still whisking often.  Remove from heat & whisk in nutmeg.
     Spray a 9 X 13 glass baking dish w/ cooking spray.  Ladle enough sauce to just cover dish.  Layer noodles.  Spread w/ ricotta mixture.  Sprinkle w/ basil.  Spoon on roasted vegetables.  Sprinkle w/ mozzarella & Parmesan cheeses (use only 2 cups mozz. and 1/2 cup Parmesan reserving rest for topping).  Ladle more sauce and repeat 2-3 times until you have used up all ingredients.  Make sure to end with sauce on top.

*Lasagna may be frozen at this time.  (If freezing wrap in double layer of plastic wrap then place in refrigerator 1 day before baking to defrost)

     Reduce oven temperature to 375.  Bake tightly covered in foil for 1 hour.  Remove foil and sprinkle with an additional 1/2 cup of mozzarella, 1/4  Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs if using.  Bake uncovered an additional 15 minutes.   Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
   

Chili Cook-off; Tres Carne Texas Red Chili

For the 2nd Time I won 3rd place in a Chili Cook-off with my own recipe for Texas Red Chili.  It was also the People's Choice in the first competition.

This time I won a coveted trophy:

Last time I won 2 beautiful aprons:

 

My chili started off with Inspiration from the following 2 recipes:

http://www.marthastewart.com/315350/texas-red-chili
    I used the technique from both these recipes where you toast dried chiles and then rehydrate with boiling water. Then puree into a wonderful homemade Chile paste of sorts. I really like Ancho chiles for this, then I add some canned Chiles Chipotles which really makes the secret sauce -the key to the flavor and coloring in my Chili.
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chili/texas-red-chili/
 I also added my own touch by using some similarities to my perfect Baked Beans - I started out with lots of Bacon.  Then I used reserved Bacon grease to cook the remaining ingredients in the chili, so no additional oil was needed.

   My chili is titled "Tres Carne Texas Red Chili", for "Three Meats".  I wanted to use chuck which is common in Texas Chili, but I made sure to cut it up into VERY small cubes.  The 2nd meat that I used was Boneless Beef Short ribs. These cooked nice and tender in the chili, then at the end I remove them, shred the meat and put it back into the chili. The tasters commented on this most and seemed to really enjoy it. For my third meat I wanted that traditional ground meat but in a play on the name I choose to use the meatloaf mix of ground meats. And the bacon was thrown in for good measure.

I like to garnish the chili with crushed Honey BBQ Fritos, Shredded Colby-Jack cheese, Stonewall Kitchens Farmhouse Red Relish, Creme Fraiche, a pickled jalapeño, Lime wedge, and a pinch of pink Himalayan salt.

I also like to make chili pepper chocolates that I give out as a little dessert.  I use the candy molds and melt 1 cup chocolate melts with 1 tsp. Mexican style Chili pepper. The coolness of the chocolate pairs so well with the spice.

And I enjoyed this chili recipe so much that I even made it into a Chili Burger Recipe!

Finding Dory Party

My daughter just turned 5 this past September and I got so many ideas from Pinterest for a Finding Dory Party!

Here is my Finding Dory Party Menu which was a smashing success!

I planned out a 6 layer cake (I actually ended up doing only 5 layers):

The cake was regular white box cake, but with a twist:

PLUS I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 

Then I use the Wilton Buttercream Frosting recipe, which is amazing!

I also was determined to use a drippy ganache, which took me 4 tries during my practice runs until late I finally got it right. First off, don't use the microwave to melt the chocolate like some recipes suggest. Also a ratio of 50/50 cream to chocolate does NOT work either!

What worked was this:

Heat 1/4 cup heavy cream in a small saucepan until just boiling. Remove from heat and whisk food coloring if using (preferably gel food color), then whisk in 1 cup white chocolate melts and 1 tsp. vegetable shortening  (optional).  Stir until smooth. Wait a few minutes, then pour on cake (start at edges using a spoon).

*Make sure cake is chilled.

 Next year I will work on my Fondant and Macaron skills.

Dory Pies!!!

Top all the delicious food off with crafts for kids!

Long Time No Post

    I haven't been posting as much as I would like to because it's been a crazy past few months, but mostly because I was discouraged from pursuing my dream of sharing my creative recipes with you ever since I looked into a small but beautiful coffee shop in my town that I was dreaming of turning into a Pie Shop.  After some planning and calculating I was about to give up on my dream and just consider it a "Hobby" to be more realistic and keep my day job as a Logistics Manager.  But I have come to realize that you should never give up.  If you want something hard enough then you need to make it happen.  And why can't I do both?  So I will keep at it.  Posting new recipes that I try, creating my own recipes, and taking part in cooking competitions.  I will keep trying and maybe one day I will have my own Pie Shop or at least cook book.

   Anyways, here is an update of what I have been up to:

In August I entered the 4H Agricultural Fair for Hunterdon County and I won 7- 1st places, 1- 2nd place, and 1- 3rd place.
My entries were:
1st Place -  Pies, Appleberry Rhubarb Pie
1st Place -  Breads, Zucchini Bread
1st Place -  Relish, Zucchini Relish
1st Place -  Mixed Fruit Jam,  Strawberry Pineapple Jam
1st Place  - Apricot Jam, Apricot Lavender Jam
1st Place -  Pickled Peppers
1st Place -  Jelly, Plum Cardamom Jelly
2nd Place - Preserves, Golden Honeydew Preserves
3rd Place - Scones, Peach Scones

In September I won the NJ Peach Pie Council FINALS for the best Peach Pie in Northern New Jersey! This was so much fun and the judges from the Frog and the Peach had such nice things to say about my Peach Pie!

Just this month of October, I won an Apple Pie Baking Contest that was held at a Local Apple & Pumpkin Festival.  The judges also really liked my Apple Pie and I have to say that it turned out delicious.

Both my Peach & Apple Pies were my own recipes that I created.

This coming weekend I will be participating in a Chili Cook-off.  I have only participated in 1 prior and I won 3rd place with the judges, but also People's Choice!!!

 My plan for next year already is to send out a mass giveaway of Mini Lady Liberty Pies on September 11th.  Any proceeds that I get from the Chili Cook-off, as well as any other cooking competitions I will be putting towards my plan for my mini Patriotic Pie Giveaway!

I will keep you all posted!