Thursday, November 27, 2014

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Every year, for Christmas, I make eclairs from scratch.  They're relatively easy to make, and can be done the day before, so Christmas morning, a special breakfast is ready while we open gifts!  The only problem with them, is that my husband doesn't eat them.  I always feel guilty that we're tearing into the eclairs, and he's sitting there watching us (I do offer to make him something else, but he usually isn't worried about it).  However, this year, I think these little lovelies will be joining my eclair breakfast table....

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Chicken enchiladas with homemade tortillas

I know, I know, Thanksgiving is in 2 days, what am I doing posting a chicken enchilada recipe??  Well, I figured with turkeys, and all of the fixings would be every where over the next few days (not to mention the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving), I'd do something a little different.
I never ate enchiladas growing up, mainly because they have onions mixed into the meat, and as we're aware, I don't like onions.  But one day, I  wanted to try something different than our usual "Taco Tuesday", so I made up some enchiladas!  ...and I have never looked back.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Traditional Apple Pie

Hello, everyone!  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would do a post on a beautiful apple pie!  I know that different areas of the country do different types of pies for dessert after Thanksgiving, my favorites are pumpkin and pecan, but my husband prefers apple; since I'm not too terribly picky about pie, apple is what we have!  This pie really is very easy to put together, and comes together very quickly.  I'm not good at crimping pie crusts and all of that fancy edging, so I go with a lattice pie top.  Weaving the top pie crust is very simple to do, looks very homey and rustic, in a good way!  Looks like you took some major time to put together an honest to goodness homemade pie.  Who has time for that nowadays?  You, that's who!  This literally gets put together in about 30 minutes, if that, and bakes for 1 hour.  

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Flourless chocolate cake

Okay, okay, confession time!  I wasn't going for a flourless chocolate cake, I was working on a chocolate souffle.  This is a beautiful cake that did rise, but since I don't have a true souffle dish, it didn't rise as much as I would have liked.  The rest of the cake did preform like a traditional souffle, so I really can't complain too much!  
Souffles get a really bad reputation, people say that they are too fragile, easily fall, and are too difficult to make all around.  The only thing that is remotely true is that they easily fall, but really, that's only as they cool.  You don't have to walk around on egg shells as they bake, and all it takes is a souffle dish, and some very basic know-how, and you have a beautiful dish that people will be astounded that you made.  At home.  By yourself.  And, if you're like me, and don't have a traditional souffle dish, you can just call it a "flourless chocolate cake", and it is still impressive!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Sweet Potato Casserole....ice cream

One of my favorite dishes for Thanksgiving is sweet potato casserole, however my husband doesn't care for it.  For years, I made it anyway, just to eat a serving or two for myself, then it would get lost in the fridge and I'd end up throwing out the rest a week or so later.  This went on for years.  Years!!  Then I started thinking, "How can I still have my sweet potato casserole, that will keep for awhile without going bad?"  I thought that maybe I could freeze some, and thaw it out....and the more I thought about freezing it, I thought, "Hey!  I could just turn it into an ice cream!!  Yes!  A sweet potato ice cream, with layers of toasted marshmallow ice cream!  Oh!  Even better, I'll make up some candied pecans, swirl them into the sweet potato ice cream!"
I'm not going to lie, I was really on to something with that thought..

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Perfect-every-time Eye of Round Roast

Beef roasts can be an intimidating dish to make for a lot of people, because, really, how do you get it to be medium-rare in the center, while nicely browned on the outside, without the entire roast being tougher than shoe leather?  Have no fear, I have the perfect-every-time recipe for an amazing roast beef.  This is one of my favorites that I make for company, because the taste is amazing, and it really does come out looking impressive (if I do say so myself!)  Honestly, this is such an easy recipe to make, that after making it once or twice, you'll have it memorized.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Pumpkin sandwich cookies with Maple buttercream filling

Welcome to our first cookie of the month!  On the first Thursday of the month, every month, I'm going to post a new cookie blog!  As I have stated many times over, I love baking, and who doesn't love cookies?  So why not marry the two, and do a cookie of the month?
The cookie I have chosen to post about today is a pumpkin sandwich cookie, with a really lovely, smooth buttercream filling!  These cookies are more cake-like than cookie, but I still think they fit the bill for a "cookie of the month" post!  

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Rose apple tartlets

Have you ever wanted to make a pastry treat that looks mind blowingly difficult, but could not be easier?  You've found it!  There is no technical know-how involved with this at all, and yet, everyone will be scratching their heads, wondering when you had time to go to culinary school.  As I previously mentioned, my family went to an apple festival, and I brought back tons of apples!  So, I had to figure out ways to use them before they went bad.  These apple tarts are all over Pinterest, so I figured I'd give them a try!