Homemade Poptarts

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We are in the process of moving, and cooking is the last thing on my mind. It's been a lot of sandwiches and free meals at my parents house. I need to cook though. I miss it.

Yesterday Little L and I cleaned out the freezer. We found one sleeve of frozen pie crust, and we had to do something with it. I saw a recipe on Pinterest a while ago, for homemade Poptarts, and I knew that was what we were going to make. All that was needed was pie crust and jam. Check and check! Little L loved making these and said they were DELICIOUS!

Ingredients
Pie Crust *We used frozen store bought, but homemade would be yummy as well!
Any flavor jam or jelly

Optional Glaze Topping
Powdered Sugar
Milk
Vanilla
Food Coloring
Sprinkles

Directions
This is kind of a no recipe, recipe. Measurements depend on how many you want to make, or how much pie crust you have available. Roll out dough about 1/8 of an inch. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife cut out long rectangles. Spread about 2 tsp. of jam (we used strawberry) and fold in half to create Poptart shape. Press edges with a fork, making sure they are nice and sealed. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-7 minutes or until nice and golden. Transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool completely. While cooling make the glaze. In a small bowl mix powdered sugar, a splash of milk and a 1/2 tsp. of vanilla. If you want to make your glaze colored you can add a drop or two of food coloring. We added a tiny but of pink gel coloring. After the Poptarts cool, spread on a little glaze, and top with colorful sprinkles.

These were so yummy! We will definitely be making these again and playing around with filling flavors.

Easy, Moist Zucchini Bread

I recently learned (after nearly 6 years of marriage), that Mr. L LOVES zucchini bread! He usually won't touch a green vegetable with a ten foot pole... but zucchini bread is a different story. I was so excited to learn this, and made him up 2 loaves of my favorite zucchini bread. Even Little L loved it! Score!

Ingredients
3 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Milk
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 1/4 White Sugar
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Grated Zucchini *Include any liquid that you get, while grating.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix. Add the zucchini, and give it one more quick mix to incorporate everything. Evenly distribute the batter into the 2 loaf pans, and smooth tops. Bake for 40-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaves, comes out clean.

Cool, and serve!

I like to steal a slice when it's still a little warm. Mmm... I also like to make a double batch and freeze the extra loaves. Just make sure to cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and then wrap in foil.

Crusty French Bread

We had soup for dinner, actually we had two different soups. Creamy potato and stuffed pepper (recipes will be posted shortly). I love to eat my soups with a big hunk of crusty bread. I use the bread as a second spoon. ...bread makes the most amazing utensil. 

This is our favorite bread recipe, and it's actually quite easy to make. Bread used to intimidate me. Actually, yeast used to intimidate me. It's not scary though! Give it a try, the end result is so amazing!!

Ingredients

2 1/2 Cups Warm Water

2 tbls. Sugar

2 Packages Instant Dry Yeast *About 2 tbls. worth.

1 tbls. Salt

2 tbls. Oil *I use extra virgin olive oil.

6 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Egg, Beaten *This is for an egg wash to give bread a nice shine and color. It is optional.

Directions

Add sugar and yeast to warm water, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let sit 5 minutes to activate yeast. It will get nice and foamy! Add salt and oil, and give it a quick mix. Then add flour, 1 cup at a time. Once all 6 cups of flour are added, let mix with dough hook for 3 minutes. Pull dough off hook, and remove hook from machine. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise 1 hour. Roll onto lightly floured surface, and divide dough in half. Shape into loaves, and cut 3 slits across the top of loaves. Sprinkle corn meal on a baking sheet, and transfer loaves. Let rise 15 minutes, while oven preheats to 400 degrees. After second rise, brush loaves with beaten egg, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Activated yeast.

Adding the flour in.

All mixed, and ready to rise!

\

Rising...

Perfectly risen!

 Little L shaping her loaf.

 One more quick rise.

Yum!!!

Easy Granola

This was a spur of the moment recipe, that I made this morning. We have a big tub of vanilla yogurt in the fridge, and it needed some crunchy granola sprinkled on top. Problem was, we didn't have any crunchy granola. I did a little searching on Pinterest, and played around with my own version. It turned out really, really good and I will definitely be making more!!

Ingredients
1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/4 Cups of Honey
1 tbls. Maple Syrup
2 tbls. Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a small saucepan add the sugar, honey, syrup and butter. Let melt and sugar dissolve. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Mix oats, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar mixture and stir to coat everything. Spread evenly onto a cookie sheet, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 1 hour, turning oats every 15 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool, and break into chunks. Store in an airtight container.

Onion and Garlic Chip Dip

I had a craving for french onion chip dip the other night. So, the next day I went to the store and bought some. I get home all excited, open the container and it's moldy!! Yuckkkk!!! I was then sad, and mad. My craving was not satisfied, and being 6 months pregnant, I HAD to have onion chip dip! I played around and came up with this recipe. Craving satisfied!

Ingredients
1 Container Sour Cream
3/4 Brick of Softened Cream Cheese
1 Large Onion, diced
2 tbls. Minced Garlic
2 tsp. Chives
3-4 Dashes Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Olive Oil

*Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder not pictured, because i'm a dummy.

Diced onion and cheater garlic.

Directions

Heat olive oil in a small pan and saute diced onion and garlic. Add salt and pepper. Cook until onions are soft and translucent. Set aside and let cool. In a food processor, add sour cream, cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, chives and garlic powder. Pulse until combined, but not liquefied. Add cooled onion and garlic mixture, and pulse a few more times to incorporate. Transfer to a covered bowl, and refrigerate for at least and hour to let flavors meld. Sprinkle a few more chives on top, and serve with your favorite brand of chips!

Onions and garlic sauteing.

 Getting ready to pulse...

 Yummy cooked onion mixture added!

Waiting for chips to be dipped!!

30 Minute Steak Marinade

It was a sticky, hot summer day yesterday. A little storm front came through, and thankfully cooled it down a bit so we were able to light the grill. No way was I (and by I, I mean Mr. L), going to stand at a hot grill in 100 degree heat. Yuck!

I ran to the grocery store earlier with my mom, and picked up some yummy looking steaks. I used my go-to steak marinade recipe, and they were perfect! It's a quick marinade to put together, and you only need to marinade the meat for about 30 minutes. I love easy prep!

Ingredients
*We cooked 6 smaller steaks. If you're using large steaks, or a big amount, you will need to adjust the recipe size.

1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbls. Steak Sauce *Like A1, or Heinz
2 tsp. Minced Garlic
1 tsp. Steak Seasoning
1 tbls. Red Wine Vinegar

Ready for the grill!

Directions

Whisk all ingredients, and put in a large Ziploc bag, or container with a lid. Add steaks and make sure marinade covers meat. Refrigerate marinated steaks for 30 minutes. Throw on the grill when ready to go!

Perfection!

Salsa

This is one of my sister's recipes, and it's become one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. It's highly requested by family and friends, at any get-together. It's sort of a mix between salsa and pico de gallo, and it's amazing.

Ingredients
4 Large Ripe Tomatoes, diced
1 Large Red Onion, diced
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 a Bunch of Cilantro, chopped
1 tbls. Garlic, minced
1 Packet Taco Seasoning
1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar *This is an about measurement. I add the vinegar little by little, and taste as I go. I usually end up adding about a 1/4 cup. So just play around and see what you like.
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Mix everything in a large bowl, seasoning and tasting as you go. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Please ignore my badly manicured thumb.