Bill Me Later

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Homemade Pumpkin Pie, Butter Crust, & Whipped Cream

My 7 year old has had a terrible craving for pumpkin pie for days when he found a can I had planned on making pumpkin bread with.  I put him off for days because my mother in law usually makes me crust and she is not here, so that means I make one or buy it!  The buy it part did not go well, I kept forgetting, today after he had tears last night I brokedown and tore through Pinterest and found an awesome recipe for pie crust.

Butter Pie Crust--This recipe uses a food processor, I do not have a large one so I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer.

The Perfect Pie Crust {Butter Recipe}
makes two 9″ pie crusts
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)--really cold
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
6-8 tbsp ice cold water
Directions:
  1. Pull out butter and cut into small cubes, place in a bowl and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
  2. In a food processor add the flour, sugar and salt. Pulse a few times to mix.
  3. Place the freezing cold butter into the food processor and pulse 5-6 times or until the flour becomes crumbly.
  4. Add 1 tablespoon of ice cold water at a time and pulse a few times between each tablespoon until the dough will stick together when pinched (it took me 7 tablespoons).
  5. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half to make two equal balls.
  6. Trying not to handle the dough too much, quickly shape into a small disc, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 
  7. When you’re ready to make your pie pull out the dough and let rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.
  8. Roll out to a thin 12 inch diameter circle. Carefully place in a 9 inch pie pan and trim the extra dough around the edges. Fill with your choice of pie filling, and bake!
To Pre-Bake a Pie Crust
If your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust, as many custard pie recipes do, follow all the steps above until you get to the point where it says to put in the filling. Note that you will need to make only a half recipe if you are only doing a bottom crust. Freeze the crust for at least a half hour, until chilled. This is an important step in pre-baking. Otherwise the crust will slip down the sides.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
When the pie crust is sufficiently chilled, line the pie crust with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil. Fill at least two-thirds full with pie weights – dry beans, rice, or stainless-steel pie weights.
Bake with weights for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes and carefully remove pie weights. Poke small holes in the bottom of the pie crust with a fork and return to oven (without the weights) and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is golden. Cool completely before filling. You may need to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil when you bake your pie, to keep the edges from getting too dried out and burnt

I use the Libbys Pumpkin Pie Recipe, always works great!

Ingredients


Directions

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.
 
Here is a picture of my pie with the homemade crust and picture of homemade cool whip!  Plus of course I had no cool whip, but did have heavy whipping cream I turned into homemade cool whip.  Use a cold metal bowl, put in a pint of heavy whipping cream, a tbsp. or 2 of powdered sugar and teaspoon of vanilla.  Whip this for a couple minutes till thick, its that easy!
 
 


 

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Springtime in Bloom

Spring has been here in Middle Tennessee for several weeks now and I have been taking pictures but not getting them posted.  Our new little farm is coming right along, please enjoy my pictures.


This is one of our new peach trees!!!!


This is a close up of an apple tree in full bloom, the smell is amazing this year!
 

Safe to Eat Raw Cookie Dough

My clan here loves cookie dough, I made chocolate chips cookies today and stressed the whole time while they ate spoonfuls of  my raw cookie dough.  As I thought I remembered my sister had posted an awesome egg-less cookie dough recipe to eat.  It is pretty good recipe try just eating it or I like to mix it in ice cream!  Egg-less cookie dough to eat. Not to bake. Just to eat. Every woman should have this recipe on hand... perfect for pregnancy. Eggless Cookie Dough 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup butter, softened 1/4 tsp. vanilla 1/4 cup milk 1 cup flour Pinch salt 1/2 cup chocolate chips....yummm

Baby Boom!

In recent weeks we have had a baby boom here on our farm in Tennessee, we have piglets, chicks, ducks, kittems, chicks that hatched yesterday, and most importantly a new addition in Ohio, my new nephew.

My sister gave birth on Wednesday evening to a 7 lb 14 oz, 19" baby boy.  He is a super cute little chunk, I had to share him with everyone!  Honestly, I am jealous but my baby factory is not in production!







Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Ice Cream Cake

I and my whole family love ice cream cakes, but they are pretty pricey!  I like to cook and bake, I am not always the best but I get by!!  So I have been on a mission to find an easy yet tasty ice cream cake to pass the families taste buds.  I found the following recipe, its cute and simple.  I think I will try this when I am in a hurry, but I am looking for something a bit more detailed, so if anyone has an awesome recipe send it my way!  Beware I have tons of blogs heading your way with new things I have tried but I have been unable to upload my pics, grrrr!

Sometimes I am so busy thinking up new ideas, or searching for inspiration, I forget about some real classics I have in my arsenal already.  Does anyone else do that?  Forget that they haven’t blogged about some all-time favorites?
Well, this recipe is one of those.  It’s not a “real” ice cream cake, it’s… cheater ice cream cake.  You do need a few hours to freeze it, but the prep for this awesome dessert is seriously 10 minutes or less, and it’s always a hit!
Like most of my favorite recipes, this is 3 ingredients. ;)
To make an 8″x8″ cake, you need:
1 box (12 ct.) ice cream sandwiches
1 tub of Cool Whip (the small one)
topping(s) of your choice – I use a handful of mini chocolate chips
Your Cool Whip needs to be thawed before you begin.  Unwrap all your sandwiches.  This step takes most of the prep time.  Now, take half of them and layer them in the bottom of your dish.  Some cracks between sandwiches are okay, because we will be re-freezing this, and the Cool Whip will cover any gaps.
Most likely, you will end up with a leftover.  I just cut a piece the size I need and set the rest aside, in case I need it for the top layer.  Most pans are tapered slightly, and you may need more sandwiches on your top layer than the bottom.  
Now, add half your cool whip on top of the sandwiches.
Then, layer the rest of your sandwiches.  Again – cut them to fit as needed.  Enjoy anything that won’t fit. :P


Top with the remaining Cool Whip, and sprinkles if you choose.  Now, freeze it for at least 3 hours.  (This is a great thing to make up the night before.)  And that’s it!  Super easy, and great for summer celebrations!
I link up to these great parties!



Canker Sores, Ouch!

I have been plagued with canker sores almost as long as I can remember!  They are no fun I can not eat or drink right, I get a pounding headache and I am just flat out GRUMPY!!!!!!!!!  This was me the last week and a half I had a sore that would not go away, I watch what I eat I avoid too much acidy foods but still I get them!  SO I have decided to take a break from the diet and just eat it even if it is acidy, like tomatoes, and just try to remedy the sore as quick as possible.  I do gargle with salt water and I have used mouth sore creams but they taste terrible and I just can not stomach the ingredients anymore.  I found a helpful list this past week that might help others troubled by this issue.  Please check out this website, they have anything and everything that you use on a daily basis to help the canker sore problem.

http://www.findhomeremedy.com/home-remedies-for-mouth-sores/

http://www.findhomeremedy.com/home-remedies-for-canker-sores/

Homemade Taco Salad Shells

Chicken Taco Bowls Recipe


Chicken Taco Bowls
Print, share and save this recipe!
Makes: 4 servings, 2 "bowls" each
Active time: 45 minutes | Total: 45 minutes
Equipment: Muffin tin with 12 (1/2-cup) cups
This chicken taco bowl recipe uses the underside of a muffin tin as a mold to bake cute little homemade "tortilla bowls." The "tortilla bowls" are filled with a zesty chicken filling and topped like nachos. If you have 2 large muffin tins, you can make all 8 "bowls" at once. Bake them in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, rotating top to bottom about halfway through baking.
8 6-inch corn tortillas
Canola oil cooking spray
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup prepared green salsa
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup thinly sliced lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons sliced ripe black olives
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Heat tortillas until warm (see Tips, above). Coat each side of 4 tortillas with cooking spray. (Keep the remaining 4 tortillas covered.) Turn a 12-cup muffin tin upside down. Nestle a tortilla in the space between 4 cups to form a "bowl". Repeat with 3 more tortillas, making 4 bowls total. Bake until firm and beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining 4 tortillas.
3. Meanwhile, toss chicken with garlic powder and salt in a bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until it is no longer pink on the outside, about 3 minutes. Add salsa and cook, stirring, until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle, about 3 minutes more. Cover and remove from the heat.
4. Fill each tortilla bowl with about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture. Top with 1 tablespoon each cheese and sour cream, 2 tablespoons each lettuce and tomato and a few olives.
Per serving: 401 calories; 21 g fat (7 g sat, 9 g mono); 74 mg cholesterol; 29 g carbohydrate; 0 g added sugars; 25 g protein; 4 g fiber; 707 mg sodium; 395 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (35% daily value).
What's your favorite filling for a corn tortilla or taco?