The First Flub

The first few days of eating gluten-free resulted in my first flub.  

 I went to the store and found this pizza in our grocery store freezer section. It was a plain cheese pizza, and while it was half again what I would pay for a regular frozen pizza, I was excited to try it out.

I decided that I should "dress it up right" and have my favorite Hawaiian pizza instead.  "See, I can have it all!" Unfortunately, this was before I realized that the world puts gluten in everything, including meat sometimes.  I had a reaction to the ham and felt all sorts of crappy.  Lesson learned: processed anything (including meat) may contain gluten and needs to be checked.
Now to clarify, the problem was not the pizza (I've had it many times since and loved it), but my additions to the pizza. In the months since, I've learned that limited choices are not the worst thing; at least with said choices I can feel confident that I'm safe.

The First Recipe Tweak

This was my very first attempt at tweaking a beloved recipe to make it gluten-free.  I started really basic with substituting cornstarch for wheat flour.  It made the sauce just a slightly different texture (ever so slightly more gelatinous) and much thicker upon reheating the leftovers but aside from that wasn't noticeable (nothing a little extra broth couldn't fix). Now that I've been at this a few months and have a fully stocked gluten-free kitchen, I would instead swap my favorite gluten-free all purpose flour (Pamela's Artisan All-Purpose Flour) for the wheat flour.  Either way though, this ends up being delicious and really unnoticeably gluten-free.

Beef Stew
barely adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1 (3-lb) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes)
3 Tbsp oil
2 onions, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste (check that it's gluten free)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup red wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (Swanson brand is gluten free)
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
4 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
hot mashed potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Dry beef with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a oven proof casserole over medium-high heat until smoking. Brown beef in batches (as avoid overcrowding) for about 10 minutes a batch and set aside. 
2. Add remaining oil over medium heat and add onions.  Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in wine, scrapping up an browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Add broth, thyme, bay leaves, and beef (with all the juices).  Bring up to a simmer then cover and place in oven to bake for 1 hour.
3. Stir in potatoes and carrots and return to oven to cook until beef is tender (about 1 more hour).
4. Remove from oven and bring to a boil on stove. Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water until smooth.  Add mixture to boiling stew and stir.  Allow to return to boil for approximately 5 minutes or until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.  Serve over a layer of hot mashed potatoes. 

The New Year and a Reboot

It is the beginning of 2015 and like most people, I have some goals.  I want to exercise more, read more, and communicate better with others. One of my goals is to revive my food blog.  I haven't used it a lot but as I look back over it, I am able to watch my journey as a cook.  It's kind of cool to be able to see the recipes I was trying in a particular point in our life.  It's also cool to see, after my son was diagnosed with multiple food allergies, that I was able to adapt and learn and still provide our family with nourishing and tasty meals. In restarting my blog I'm hoping to document and allow others to reenter my cooking journey as I embark on my next cooking adventure.

A little over a week ago, I was diagnosed with celiac sprue, otherwise know as celiac disease.  I will be heading to a dietician on Monday and then onto a gastroenterologist on Thursday so I hope to know much more about celiac disease after those appointments.  Until then, here's a summary of what I know about celiac disease.  It means that my body responds to any gluten (a protein in wheat, rye, barley) by attacking the lining of my small intestine.  I'm sure there is more nuance there and I fully intend to correct this information when I understand it more clearly. They treat this disorder, not with medication, but by eliminating gluten from the diet.  With a gluten-free diet, my gut should heal and my symptoms subside.  Unfortunately, this gluten-free diet must be followed for life because there is no known cure for celiac disease.

The entire concept of gluten-free for life is overwhelming.  I rarely eat Oreos but the concept of never eating an Oreo ever again is a little difficult to wrap my mind around. I really enjoy making and eating food.  My identity is wrapped up in being a person who really enjoys trying new recipes and prides herself on providing really good food to her family and guests.  Gluten-free seems to throw a wrench in that.  Over the last couple of years I've learned that I often express love for others by making them food.  Will I be able to continue that?  I'm uncertain but I hope so.

In the next few months and years, I hope to master this disorder.  I hope to find ways to adapt recipes I already love and find new recipes that my family and I can truly enjoy.  I hope to get to the point that gluten-free for life isn't such a big deal.  That's the goal and I hope to use this blog to get there.  So away we go!

Elias' Birthday Cupcakes

I've made these cupcakes for Elias' birthday the last two years in a row.  As I rarely repeat birthday creations, that's saying something.  They are that good.  The pumpkin cupcake is moist and delicious and so appropriate as we enter fall.  The frosting is creamy and sweet (but not too sweet) and wonderfully spiced.  They are an awesome combination.  Try them out. You won't regret it.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes
barely adapted from Baked Perfection

3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup packed brown sugar (dark if you have it)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a saucepan, melt your butter over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling the pan, until the butter turns golden brown and has a delicious, nutty aroma.  Pour the browned butter into a bowl immediately (to prevent it from over browning) and let cool a bit.  Revel for a minute in the delicious smell. 
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugars, eggs and browned butter.  Add flour mixture to the wet and whisk until just combined.
Fill muffin tins until 3/4-full.  Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Transfer tin to wire racks and cool completely.
Makes 15 cupcakes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
not at all adapted from Baked Perfection

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low.  Add sugar, 1 cup at a time and then add cinnamon and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.

Honey Barbeque Meatloaf

I made meatloaf. That may not sound too exciting or revolutionary but with a kid who's allergic to eggs, that's not normally an option. I found this egg-less meatloaf recipe and decided to give it a try.  I was thinking it would taste much like our family favorite of barbeque meatballs.  It definitely has a different flavor.  It reminds me a lot of the honey barbeque chicken that they use to have at KFC when I was a kid.  Do they still have that?

Anyway, the kids (and Tyler) thought it was a little too spicy so I might cut down the spice next time I try it.  I will definitely try it again though.

Honey Barbeque Meatloaf
from Six Sisters Stuff

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
3/4 cup barbeque sauce, divided
2 Tbsp honey, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

1. Mix together beef, bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, mustard, 1/2 cup barbeque sauce, 1 Tbsp honey, salt and pepper. (Use your hands; it's good for you!)
2. Form into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan.
3. Mix together remaining barbeque sauce, honey and Worcestershire sauce. Spread half of this over the meat mixture.  
4. Bake in a 350F oven for 45 minutes.  Slice and drizzle with remaining sauce mixture.  Enjoy!

Serves 4-5 people.

Apple Cinnamon Donuts

We made donuts a couple of weeks ago.

This guy had never gotten to taste a donut before.  He was pretty excited to help out.

I made some very minor adaptations to Food Allergy Mama's recipe to account for the fact that Asher can now have baked dairy.  Here's the recipe as I made it:
Apple Cinnamon Donuts
adapted from The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book

oil for frying
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce (3/8 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar (3/8 cup)
1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 1/4 all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. In a large pot, heat 2 to 3 inches of oil until a candy thermometer inserted reaches 375F.
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the applesauce, vanilla, and the 3/8 cup sugar.  Add butter and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt with a wire whisk.  Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to the applesauce-butter mixture. If needed, add more flour until the dough is smooth and not overly sticky.
3. Transfer the dough to lightly floured surface. Knead for about a minute and roll out to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Dip a doughnut cutter into flour and cut dough. Remove trimmings, reroll and repeat the process as needed.
4. Drop a couple donuts into the hot oil.  Fry donuts until they rise to the surface, about 2 minutes, and turn over to fry other side. Once donuts are golden on both sides, lift out with metal tongs and drain on paper towels.
5. Mix the rest of the sugar and cinnamon and put in a bag. Place warm donuts, one at a time, in bag and shake to coat. Enjoy!

Makes 6 donuts and 6 donut holes.

These are seriously delicious and they make your house smell awesome!  I think this will be a fall tradition in our house. 

Korean Beef

Originally this recipe was supposed to be a slow cooker recipe.  It would certainly work well as that but when I made it, it was 5:00 and I needed to get dinner on the table fast.  I know it sounds a little weird to use ground beef in an Asian recipe but I promise that it works.

Korean Beef
minorly adapted from 365 Days of Slow Cooking

1 lb lean ground beef 
1/4 cup brown sugar  
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp garlic powder  (or 4 garlic cloves, minced)
1/4 tsp ground red pepper  
1 tsp minced ginger  
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Sliced green onion, for garnish

1. Brown beef.  
2. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, red pepper, ginger and tomato paste. Pour over cooked beef and bring to a simmer.
3. Simmer meat and sauce, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until sauce has cooked down.
4. Serve over hot rice.  Garnish with green onions if you feel like being fancy.

Serves 4.

If you are interested in trying the slow cooker version, check it out here. 

Beef Teriyaki

Here's a new recipe that we tried and all really liked.  Yay!

Beef Teriyaki
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 sugar
2 Tbsp mirin, sherry, or white wine
2 tsp grated ginger
1 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 lbs top blade steak, trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

1. Whisk the soy sauce, sugar, wine, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, and red pepper flakes together and set aside. 
2. Pat the meat dry with paper towels, then season with pepper.  Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking  Brown the meat in batches, about 5 minutes a batch, and transfer to a clean bowl. Repeat with remaining oil and meat. 
3. Briefly re-whisk the soy sauce mixture to recombine, then add to the skillet. Simmer, scraping up any browned bits, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
4. Return the meat with any accumulated juice to the skillet and toss to warm through.  Transfer the meat and sauce to a serving platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Tacos!!

My kids like to complain about food.  I know that's not unique.  A lot of kids are picky eaters.  Unfortunately I have a group of them.  Luckily, my oldest is starting to come around and try some new things.  The middle two, though, will complain about the dinner presented virtually every night.  One doesn't like to eat meat.  The other is afraid of anything that might include a vegetable...or maybe an interesting sauce.  Many nights both of them will refuse to even try their dinners.  It's immensely frustrating, especially to someone who likes to express love through making food.  Why won't they accept my love?!!  In all seriousness, there is usually a battle at dinnertime...unless I make tacos.  For reasons unbeknownst to me, tacos is the one meal that all will happily eat.  Therefore, we have tacos quite a bit, at least a couple times a month.  We make them simply, without all the fancy toppings.  Mostly it's because that would be too much for me to plan and have on hand so frequently.  Also, I'm afraid if I try to put a vegetable or sauce on them, I'll spook the kids and break the magical spell.  If you're going to have some very simple tacos, you're are going to need some really good meat.  Here's a recipe for some really good meat.

Tacos
barely adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 pound meat (lean beef, pork, or turkey all work great)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar

1. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, spices and salt.  Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add meat, breaking up with a spoon, and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Stir in tomato sauce, broth, vinegar, and brown sugar and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.  
3. Serve with warmed (or homemade if you're feeling really fancy) taco shells and all the toppings your heart desires.

Pork Fried Rice

Pork Shoulder is on sale at our local grocery store so we've been having a lot of pork lately.  I stick the pork shoulder in the crockpot in the morning and we have some delicious pulled pork for sandwiches by dinnertime.  Mmmm.  A four-pound pork shoulder will get you quite a pit of pulled pork so I've been trying to find other things do with all that meat.  This is a great alternative to change things up.

Pork Fried Rice
minorly adapted from EveryDay with Rachael Ray (the September 2011 edition)

1/4 cup frying oil
4 green onions (white and green parts separated)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1 1/2 cups pulled pork
1 recipe rice pilaf (recipe follows)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

1. In an extra-large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil until very hot.  Add green onion whites and stir-fry 30 seconds.  Add eggs and scramble until set, 45 seconds; transfer to a bowl.
2. Add remaining 2 Tbsp oil, garlic and ginger and stir-fry 1 minute.  Add pork and stir-fry 45 seconds to heat through.  Stir in rice pilaf and soy sauce and stir-fry 2 minutes.  Return eggs to pan with sesame oil and toss well.  Top with green onion greens.

Rice Pilaf
1 Tbsp olive oil 
1 onion
1 cup rice
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1-2 bay leaves
2/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
5-6 oz frozen peas or corn

1.  Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepot.  Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add water, broth, bay leaves, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir, cover, lower the heat and simmer until rice is cooked, approximately 20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.  Sprinkle frozen vegetables over top of rice and cover for 5 minutes.  Uncover, stir, and let cool completely.

This recipe is really flexible so feel free to make your own adjustments.  It works great with leftover chicken or with other vegetables.  Since Asher is still avoiding eggs, I have to cook my eggs in a separate pan and then take his out before stirring the eggs back into the mix.  Luckily, that's the only alteration I have to make.  Yum!

Waffles (x2)

When we make waffles in our house, I make two batches: one batch for Asher and the kids and one for Tyler and myself.  Asher's are egg-free, whole wheat and generally pretty healthy.  Tyler's and mine are...not.  But boy are they good.

Whole-Wheat (Asher) Waffles
from The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book

2 Tbsp water
1 3/4 cups soy or rice milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups whole-wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees and heat waffle iron per manufacturer's instructions.
2. In a large bowl, mix together water, soy milk, and oil with a wire whisk until combined.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt with a wire whisk, and add to the water mixture.  Stir until just combined.  Do not overmix: a few lumps are fine.
3. Spray inside of the waffle iron with dairy-free cooking spray.  Pour enough batter to spread to the edges.  Close and bake according to manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer the waffles to the warmed oven and repeat with remaining batter.

Makes 16 waffles (or two four-sectioned waffles with our waffle iron)

Waffles
loosely based on my Mom's recipe

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 beaten egg yolks
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.  Mix egg yolks, milk and melted butter in a medium bowl (Unless your milk and butter are both at room temperature, the butter will start to solidify again. You will probably get some chunks from the butter but these do not have a detrimental affect the quality of your waffles).  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix well. 
2. Beat egg whites until just frothy and add the sugar.  Continue beating until smooth and glossy (it will look a lot like marshmallow cream).  Gently stir egg whites into batter.  
3. Pour approximately 1 cup of batter into waffle iron and bake according to manufacturer's instructions.

Makes 2-2 1/2 large, four-sectioned waffles (with our waffle iron)

Honey Chicken

This is a recipe that we use quite a bit.  It's especially nice when it's really hot.  It's a slow cooker recipe so you don't have to heat up your entire kitchen to enjoy this delicious meal. Yay!

Honey Sesame Chicken
barely adapted from here

3 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
1 onion
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced ginger root
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
4 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
6 cups hot cooked rice

1. Lightly season thighs with salt and pepper and put in crockpot.
2. Mince onion, garlic, and ginger in a food processor.  Whisk together with honey, soy sauce, ketchup, canola and sesame oils, and red pepper flakes.  Pour over thighs. Cover crockpot and cook on low heat for 4 hours.
3. Remove thighs and tent with foil.
4. Stir cornstarch and water together until dissolved.  Whisk mixture into sauce in crockpot and cook on high heat for 15 minutes.
5. Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces and return to thickened sauce to coat.
6. Serve over hot rice.

This is a fairly flexible recipe.  I used gluten-free soy sauce when Asher was avoiding wheat.  I've also adjusted the red pepper to meet our spice preferences (originally it was closer to 3/4 tsp).  You can swap the thighs for breasts (although it will be a little drier if you do).  You can also garnish this with roasted sesame seeds and/or sliced scallions if you're looking to impress.  Enjoy!!

Asher Pancakes

I made some very good pancakes tonight and thought I'd share them.  They are Asher-friendly but are so good that I would highly recommend them to anyone, regardless of whether you have to be food-allergy conscious or not.  They are pretty healthy so to counter that (because they seemed almost too good for us) I added some blueberries or dairy-free chocolate chips to half of the batch.  Both were excellent combinations with this batter.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancakes
from The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelly Rudnicki

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat griddle on medium heat and oven to 200F.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk.  In a large liquid measuring cup, combine water, soy milk, and oil.  Pour the water mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until just combined.  Do not overmix, a few lumps are fine.

Spray the griddle with dairy-free cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the heated griddle, and cook until small bubbles start to form on top.  Flip and cook the other side until lightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack in the warmed oven and repeat.

birthday cake #1

Addilyn had a rainbow-themed birthday...mostly because I wanted to make this cake.  It wasn't super hard to make, just time consuming, but it was so pretty that it was well worth the wait.

I started with enough cake batter to make one 8-inch double layer cake.  You could double it and get much thicker layers (and therefore a lot more cake) but for our little party, this would be more than enough.  I used the white cake recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook but you could just as easily use a cake mix.  I divided my batter into six dishes and tinted them (I promise there was six; I just didn't take pictures until my first set was in the oven).  Despite the yellow lighting in my kitchen, the colors were really quite pretty.  After dividing and tinting came the tedious part.  I cut out a circle of parchment to fit in my pans and then greased and floured and parchmented  (I may have made up that word) my two pans.  I added two colors to their respective pans and baked them.  Since these layers were so thin, they took less time to bake so I had to watch them carefully to make sure they didn't burn or overbake.  Then I let the cake layers cool in the pans and removed them to cool completely on racks.  I repeated this two more times (wash pans, parchment, grease, flour, bake, cool, remove, cool) for my two other sets of colors. If you happen to have 6 pans that are the same size and shape, that would make this much less work.  It's doubtful anyone does though, so this tactic works just as well.

After all the layers have baked and cooled come the fun part: assembly and frosting.  I used the white frosting recipe from the same Better Homes and Gardens cookbook but, again, you could use the stuff from the can and be just as happy.  Look at all those pretty layers all stacked up! This could be another fun and attractive way to serve this cake...with all the layers exposed.  So pretty!

Now all the layers are hidden and ready for the surprise upon cutting.

My husband calls this view "Flamboyant PacMan".  I love it!

Here it is all cut up and ready for eating.  Such pretty colors and such rainbow fun!  This idea has been floating around out there for a while so if you haven't tried it already, get going!  It is fun for birthdays or whenever your day needs some brightening.  Enjoy!

Honey Roasted Chickpeas

Here is another Asher-friendly snack...although the other kids love them as well. They are especially great because of all the protein they pack into such a sweet and delicious form.Honey Roasted Chickpeas
Barely Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cloves (any or all are good)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and drain chickpeas. Let dry completely on a paper towel (don't skip this step!).
2. Whisk together oil, spices and sugar in a small bowl. Add chickpeas and stir to coat. Spread on a large baking sheet and cook 40-45 minutes.
3. Place hot chickpeas in a bowl and coat with honey. Spread coated chickpeas back on baking sheet and allow to dry.

The final product: these are a wonderful snack to have around. They make your house smell divine while they are baking. They are just a little bit sticky but if you wanted to coat the honey-coated chickpeas in some granulated sugar, I'm sure that would solve the problem and be absolutely delicious. As I would like to avoid the extra sugar for Asher, we'll keep the recipe as-is. Enjoy!

Kettle Corn

I'm not going to completely ignore the fact that it's been 3 months plus since my last post. I moved. That's the only excuse I have to offer. I'm going to restart though and we're going to ease our way back into things with this super-light, yet really fun recipe. This is an Asher-friendly snack that the whole family loves. It's super simple and makes your house smell amazing. Enjoy!!

Kettle Corn
from sweetsavorylife at tastykitchen.com

1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt

1. Add the oil to a large (but light) pot. Throw in a couple of kernels and turn heat to medium. Wait for the kernels to pop and then add your sugar and the rest of your popcorn. Stir. Cover with a lid and wait for kernels to start popping again. Once they start, lift the pot off the heat and give it a quick shake every 3-4 seconds and then return to heat. Do this until the popping subsides. Immediately transfer popped corn to a big bowl and stir in salt. Enjoy warm (because it's heavenly that way) or store in an airtight container.

Mom's Pecan Pie

I don't really like nuts. I never have. My husband doesn't like them either which just kind of vindicated me. I've already adapted quite a few recipes to exclude them...banana nut bread becomes banana bread, cranberry nut muffins becomes cranberry muffin, etc. So why, you ask, would I even try making pecan pie? I don't know; it seemed like a good idea at the time.

My Mom has a really good recipe for pecan pie. Ironically she doesn't eat pecan pie either (although she does like nuts in general). Everyone she makes it for just raves over it though. I made it a while ago and I managed to mess it up. I misread her recipe. Well, that's not 100% accurate (and Tyler would be hugely offended if I wasn't accurate). This is actually what happened. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup butter but in parentheses it said 1 stick. I glossed over the 1/4 cup and just went with the 1 stick. After I had mixed everything up, I occurred to me that the average stick of butter is 1/2 cup and not 1/4 cup. I came up with 2 possible options for the discrepancy. Either my Mom put the wrong measurement down or she buys half sticks. While the pie was already in the oven, I called my Mom to see which it was (because I could do absolutely nothing about it then anyway). Unfortunately, it was the second option. So I stared at the pie and let it bake an extra 15 minutes and it turned out great! Really though, can you go wrong with too much butter in a dessert? So here is the adapted recipe.

Mom's Pecan Pie
with an accidental adaptation by Erin

4 beaten eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 1/2 cup pecans
pinch of salt

1. Mix eggs, sugar, syrup, flour, and salt. Add melted butter. Stir in pecans and pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes (start checking on it at 1 hour).
   

The final product: sweet, buttery and delicious. As this was my first taste of pecan pie, I don't have anything to compare it to but I thought it was ooey, gooey and wonderful. I took it to a potluck dinner and it got rave reviews from all the pecan pie connoisseurs there. And look how pretty it is! I'm a sucker for pretty and sweet so I'll probably make this frequently.

Elias' Birthday Cupcakes

It's a month and a half later and I'm finally posting about Elias' birthday cupcakes. Some might say that I should just have forgotten about them but they were so good that I can't.

I'll be honest...I don't really like cake. It's usually dry and covered in overly sweet frosting. I'd much prefer something ooey and gooey. I wanted to keep with tradition for Elias' birthday though. How can you not have cake on your first birthday?!! So I went in search of something yummy to make for him. I hit a spot of inspiration when I saw apple cake. Elias loves apples!! Although the apple cake I've had before was also dry and a bit lack luster in flavor as well. I decided to combine a couple different recipes I found to see if I could solve the too dry/too mellow problem of apple cake.

Double Apple Cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened (1 jar of baby food works perfect for this)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 apple, finely diced

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and beat to combine. Add applesauce and combine well. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and whisk together.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the batter and then add half of the buttermilk (or soured milk: stir together 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup regular milk and let sit for 5 minutes). Combine completely and repeat.
5. Add apple chunks and scoop batter into liners until they are each 2/3 full. Bake them for 22-25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

This most certainly goes best with a cinnamon buttercream frosting. Here's my own recipe for that as well.

Cinnamon Buttercream

2 sticks butter, salted, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat butter with mixer until fluffy
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until completely mixed.
3. Add cream and mix well. (Add a splash of milk if needed to reach desired consistency).
4. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon until completely combined.

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

The final product: Elias certainly liked it. Granted he's one and that was his first taste of cake. I really liked it as well (as did the rest of the guests). The cake had good apple flavor (from the diced apples) and wasn't dry at all (from the applesauce). The frosting was really divine as well. The combination was all around good and is certainly something I'll pull out each fall when apples are especially delicious. It's a super simple recipe but add a drizzle of caramel sauce or a cute caramel candy and this is ready for even the swankiest party or dessert shop display case. Try it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate chip cookies are classic. Everybody loves them. How can you go wrong putting all that yummy goodness in pie form? You can't, that's how.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
From HowSweetEats

2 whole eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
1 whole unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Beat in flour, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Blend in melted butter. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell and bake for 60 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

You'll be pretty excited to know that I've finally found my pie crust recipe. I can credit its origins to Tyler's cousin, Denita (who can credit it to a chef friend). I'm pretty stoked because I've tried quite a few and was getting pretty frustrated. What makes this THE recipe is its forgiving nature. While I still add a bit of liquid compared with the original liquid (and I'm still tweeking a bit), it is still pretty dry. That might sound like a bad thing but in this situation it isn't. It may not be the easiest thing to roll out into a pretty sheet but it pinches back together so well that it doesn't really matter. It's pinchability (yeah, that's not a word) means no more holes and cracks that pull apart when you prebake a crust. Oh and the taste, it's far superior to all the others I've tried. Seriously good and flaky.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
7 Tbsp shortening, cold
4 Tbsp butter, cold
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 baking powder
1/4 cup milk
10 drops vinegar

1. Put the flour in a large bowl and cut in the COLD shortening and butter with a pastry blender. It should look like coarse crumbs (a little smaller than pea-sized) when you're down.
2. Mix in the salt, sugar, and baking powder. Mix in milk and vinegar and form a ball. It should be dry and crumbly. If you absolutely can't get the ball to stay together, add a few more drops vinegar and milk, 1 tsp at a time, until you can just get it to stay together (it normally takes at least 1 or 2 tsp to get the desired consistency).
   
3. Roll it out on a well floured surface and transfer to a pie pan. Chill for 15-20 minutes before prebaking or filling (to allow butter and shortening to cool and to help it keep it's shape).
   

The final product: decadent. I couldn't get this to bake up as much as the original recipe showed (even though I baked it longer than the recipe touts) but it was still SO good. The center was ooey, gooey and oh so chocolaty. This would be wonderful with a scoop of ice cream for sure.

Butternut Squash, Apples and Pasta

This is another Rachael Ray recipe. I actually pulled it from her 20 make-ahead meal plan and just adapted it a bit to fit my purposes. I looked at the ingredient list and thought, "I love all of those things, but will I love them together?" With all that fall flavor, I thought I should certainly find out.

Pasta with Apple and Squash
adapted from Rachael Ray

3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 3/4-inch cubes (about 1/2 a large squash)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 lb pasta (rigatoni, rotini, penne, etc)
8 oz bacon, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 shallots, minced
1 tart apple, sliced
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the chopped squash on a large rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Add salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread evenly in the pan and bake for until fork-tender, about 15 minutes.
   
2. While the squash is baking, cook pasta al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
   
3. In the same pot, cook bacon until just crisp; transfer to paper towels. Add shallots and apple and cook for 5 minutes. Add pasta, squash, cooking water, bacon and parmesan; season with additional salt and pepper and toss.
   

Serves 4.
The final product: homey and comforting. I'm a big fan of cooked squash (zucchini is a favorite but butternut is a close second). I'm also a big fan of bacon...and of cooked apples of any sort. Honestly, I'm a big fan of this meal. All of the ingredients, while delicious in and of themselves (except parmesan...it's really not good by itself), are even more delicious paired together. It might sound a little scary (especially if you're Tyler) but it really is good (even Tyler agreed).