Catching Fire.

We had a Victor's feast before going to see the Catching Fire Premier.  It was fun to eat delicious food and visit with friends.  For our feast we had soup in breadbowls, bacon green bean bundles, some amazing brie, a puff pastry apple caramel pie, firey cupcakes, Nightlock berry fruit salad, a veggie rosette pie, and  various other delights.

The bacon wrapped green bean bundles are from our best bites. They were easy and a really good veggie side-dish.

The Veggie tart is from a European magazine I found online, pg 67.  I just used a premade pie crust instead.  Used a peeler to peel the veggies and for a 9 inch pie it took 4 medium zucchini and I believe around 8 carrots.  We peeled all of the veggies first.  then we made the rosettes and swirled them around.  We decided to make some small rosettes too and I liked the effect a lot.  After the veggies are done, I drizzled with Olive Oil, and sprinkled with thyme, pepper, and salt.  Baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The puff pastry apple caramel pie came about by accident.  I was attempting to make apple rosettes from a recipe in the same magazine pg 65 as the veggie tart and it suddenly went a bit Sweeny Todd in the kitchen as I almost chopped off a nail.  So I scrapped that idea and made my own.  I thawed a box of puff pastry according to box instructions.  I made caramel in a can, using the boiling method by Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Basically you boil a whole unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for 2-3 hours.  Every 30 minutes I would check it and pour about 2 cups more water in the pan, as the can needs to remain completely covered during the boiling process.  Allow can to cool and then open.  Inside is sticky-sweet caramel.  I spread the caramel over one rolled out layer of puff pastry (about 2/3 of the can) and then sliced 3 apples and laid out sliced apples over the caramel.  I sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, topped with other puff pastry and sealed the edges, pressing with a fork.  I egg wash brushed the top (beat one egg with some water and brush over top) I cut some slits in the top crust and then sprinkled with some sugar-in-the-raw I had on hand.  I baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Sliced when cooled a bit with a pizza cutter.

For the fiery cupcakes I simply bought premade red-velvet cupcakes and used Wilton's frosting spray colors in yellow and orange to make the frosting look like fire.  To make the mockingjay picks I used my stamp from my last party and just punched them out and taped them to toothpicks.

The brie is a top secret recipe by my friend Toni, if I get it I will post it! :)  And as for the berry salad I just made a traditional cottage cheese fruit jello salad (1 large container cottage cheese, 1 large container coolwhip, 1 box raspberry jello, mixed frozen blueberries and raspberries all mixed together when thawed).

 

We also enjoyed some photo-booth fun.  For the banners I used my Silhouette to cut the title "75th Hunger Games" using the Hunger Games font.  I made the various banners using district logos and pictures I found through tumblr and pinterest.  Props included Katniss' bow and arrows, and various colorful Capitol accessories (the skeleton and turkey hat were pure irony).

For take home goodies I made chocolate peanut-butter and white chocolate peppermint mockingjays.  I found the mold online on ecreater, but it is also carried at various baking shops.  I bought tiny boxes of matches and just printed little labels that say, "Every Revolution Begins With A Spark."  I found these silly bright mustache magnets at target.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Wilton had this adorable Turkey Cupcake Kit so I whipped up some Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.  An easy and fun treat for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix up all ingredients until smooth, beating for about 2 minutes.  Pour into cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese softened
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 cups powered sugar

Soften butter and cream cheese and beat together until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Mix in 2 cups powered sugar.  Add additional cup until desired consistency.

Taco Soup and other game day treats

Big football game yesterday...  The Holy War for Utah and my Aggies playing a big game as well.  Something easy and delicious for this time of year that can feed a crowd is, Taco Soup!

2 lb ground beef sautéed with onion (if onion desired)
2 cans corn (do not drain)
2 cans kidney beans (do not drain)
1 BIG can tomato juice (46 oz...which is a little over 1 quart)
1 pint Salsa
1 pkg Taco seasoning

Brown beef and then add other ingredients.  Mix and heat in a large pot on the stove. Top with Fritos, sour cream, and shredded cheddar. Also great to make in a crockpot after browning beef.  This is a large recipe but I would imagine it would be easy to freeze for later as well.

Another treat we made was Pumpkin Spice Chex Mix.  Pumpkin is all the rage and so Chex came out with a little spice packet to make the chex mix.  It was fine as is after following the directions on the packet but I would change it up a bit for next time.  Chex has a similar recipe not using the new spice packet that can be found here.

My version for next time...

3 cups cinnamon chex
2 cups corn or rice chex
1 cup honey teddy grahams
 mini chocolate chips
chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter
spice packet

In a large bowl toss chex, teddy grahams, chocolate chips, and pecans. Melt butter and mix with spice packet.  Stir over chex mix, until coated.

At this point the direction called for microwaving chex mix for 3 minutes, stirring every minute, to glaze...my bowl was too big so I spread onto baking sheet and baked at 350 for a few minutes until glazed, stirring it around.  This process takes a bit longer.

For an extra pumpkin kick I would melt some of Hershey Kisses, pumpkin spice kisses and drizzle over mix.  Allow to cool then break apart and enjoy!

Garden Brushetta

My mom's garden is growing like crazy! She planted a wide variety of tomatoes this year including Roma tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, Cherokee Purples, and a variety that is black. I had some amazing Bruschetta in Pisa, Italy last January and since it is one of the 3 ways I will eat tomatoes I thought I would try to recreate it. The recipe I decided to try was from Our Best Bites. It was stellar!

Everything I used was purchased at the farmers market or from my mom's garden, except the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Bruschetta by Our Best Bites:
2 C diced tomatoes, seeds removed... I used Cherokee purple tomatoes, an heirloom, and a roma.
1/3 C diced red onion
1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
a few cracks black pepper
1/4 C chopped fresh basil leaves
1 french baguette
additional olive oil
1 large garlic clove

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine tomatoes, onions, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and 1 tsp olive oil in a bowl and mix to combine. Add basil and gently toss to distribute. Give it a taste and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. Cover and chill. Slice baguette into half inch slices and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle or brush some olive oil on top. Place in oven for 8-10 minutes until just lightly toasted. Remove pan from oven. Slice garlic clove in half and rub cut side down on each piece of bread. Top with about a tablespoon of the tomato mixture.

Blueberry Lemon Cobbler

I had a bunch of frozen blueberries and was starting to make cobbler with them when I decided to throw some lemon in there.  Delish!

Basic Cobbler recipe:

1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter in a 9x13 pan and place in preheating oven to melt.  Remove from oven when melted.  Meanwhile mix together dry ingredients, and then add wet.  Pour/spread over melted butter.  Drop fruit on top.  Bake for 45-55 minutes until edges are browned.  Serve warm with icecream or whipped cream.

Fruits that are delish...cherries, peaches, peaches and raspberries, blueberries, mixed frozen berries, strawberries.

To make the cobbler crust lemon....

Zest one large lemon into flour mixture.  Use the juice from the large lemon and our into 1 cup (should be about 1/4 cup juice).  Fill the rest of cup with milk to equal 1 cup liquid.  Mix as per instructions above.

Pioneer Strawberry Shortcake

For Pioneer Day I decided to make some simple strawberry shortcake.  It is an easy summer dessert.

Shortcake:

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1 stick butter, chilled

3/4 cup milk

 

Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  Cut in the butter by cutting it into Tbsp sized pieces, and use a fork, pastry cutter, a food processer, or your fingers to mix butter with flour until it is a coarse meal.  Add milk and stir until just mixed in, don't over mix.  Form into 6-8 patties and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes (until lightly browned) at 425 degrees.  When cooled slice in half.

 

Strawberries and cream:

 

1 pint strawberries, sliced

3-4 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

 

Sprinkle sugar over strawberries, and stir with vanilla.  Allow to sit for awhile before eating.  Strawberries will get nice and juicy.

 

Heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

 

Whip cream and powdered sugar until it is at whipped cream consistency.

 

 

Apple Pie Burritos

We mixed up some recipes and ideas we had heard of and went for it with this dessert. Our main inspiration was the cheesecake burrito by Dishing with Leslie. We were making fajitas so we wanted a dessert along the same lines...

Tortillas, warmed up
melted butter for skillet
cinnamon-sugar to roll burritos in

Apple filling:
5 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp sugar

Cheesecake Filling:
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix up Apple filling in a small pot on the stove over low-medium heat for 10+ minutes.

Stir up Cheesecake filling.
Heat up tortillas to make them easier to roll.
Spread a layer of cheesecake filling on tortilla, and then spread apples on top.  Roll into a burrito with ends tucked in.

Heat up skillet and grease with melted butter.  Place 2-3 burritos and "grill" on each side. Coat in cinnamon-sugar mix after toasted.