Guava and Cream Cheese Empanadas.. yummmm

Easiest Recipe Ever.

Ok, so you buy the following ingredients (Puff Pastry Sheets, Guava Paste, and Cream Cheese)...





Then you're going to open up a puff pastry sheet and cut it into either 4 equal pieces, or 9 equal pieces, depending on the size you want your empanadas to be. I prefer 9 because the sheets are expensive and the desserts go fast.

You take a piece of guava and a piece of cream cheese, put them in the center of your square and then fold over so that you have a triangle. Then push down the edges with either your thumb or a fork to make sure it is sealed well.

Then you're ready to bake!

Bake them at 400 degrees until the puff pastry starts turning golden brown (10-15 min).

Make sure you cool before you let people eat them.  They tend to burn mouths.

Daddy's 50th Birthday

So this year was my dad's 50th birthday and he had decided he wanted a party. Between my mother and I, we decided that she would be in charge of food, while I'd be in charge of the theme / decorations. Since my dad's 2 favorite things are fishing and candy, I went with the fishing theme for the invitation and then decided to make the party an old school candy theme.

Here's the invitation:

I bought different shaped jars to fill with candy as the centerpieces and created my own can tops that i glued onto the lids:

Another idea I found while stumbling was the concept of making your own photo booth. I had to try it. We hung up a white sheet, I made a little banner for decoration, and then I made an assortment of lips and glasses as disguises. We also dug into the costume box for hats. It ended up being a huge success, because although not everyone is into taking pictures, everyone found this too fun to pass up. 

One last major decoration I made was inspired by Martha Stewart 

Martha's Version

As much as I loved the idea of the old pictures of my dad, I wanted it to be something that was usable after the party. Therefore, my version was a little different...

I scanned in old pictures and made a 50 in photoshop using all the pictures. I then had it printed at staples  on a board with a white border for everyone to sign.

Wedding Stuff

So after stumbling across a website all about unusual wedding guestbooks, there was one that I knew I had to try. However, since I'm currently short a fiance, I figured it'd be best to do it for someone else. This fingerprint tree was so fun to make/watch people use. I really love it.

Also, a friend of mine just got engaged and had an engagement party. I had absolutely no idea what an appropriate gift was, and surprisingly, the internet didn't help as much as I hoped it would. I ended up creating this personalized picture for them and framing it. I gave it to them, along with a bottle of wine. 

Perfectly Purple PB&J

I've already shared my PB&J cupcake recipe in an earlier blog, but I was pretty proud of this cute batch, so I thought I'd share pictures:

Perfect for Overripe Fruit

Ok, so I'm not a huge pie person. First of all, I feel a sense of incompetence in that I'm incapable of making a pretty crust. Therefore, I have to go buy them, which I never really feel like doing.. Plus, they're overall, kind of a pain if it isn't a special occasion. However, in my house, we tend to have fruit that goes bad a lot because it doesn't get eaten quickly enough... especially pears. This recipe was super simple and so tasty (especially with vanilla ice cream). Give it a try:

Easy Pear Cobbler
An easy pear cobbler recipe with butter and cake-like batter, along with fresh pears.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 2 1/2 cups sliced fresh pears
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 4 ounces butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Preparation:

Mix pears with 1 cup sugar and let stand. Put butter in 2-quart casserole and place in 325° oven until melted. Combine all dry ingredients, including the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix well. Whisk together the milk and egg; slowly combine with dry ingredients to make a batter. Pour over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon pears over the batter. Do not stir. Bake at 325° for 50 to 60 minutes, or until nicely browned and pears are tender.
Serve hot or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

Trying Something New..

So while searching for a new easy dinner recipe, I came across a website that's pretty great..

Cheap Healthy Good - 65 Cheap, Healthy, One-Dish Meals with Good Leftover Potential

The recipe I tried was Jenny Craig's Moroccan Chicken and Orzo. It was surprisingly delicious. The recipe is as follows (I left out the raisins):

Moroccan Chicken and Orzo
Makes 5 1-cup servings
Adapted from Jenny Craig's No Diet Required.


1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large clove garlic, minced
14-16 ounces chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (1" or smaller)
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
1-1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1) Cook orzo in salted water until al dente.  Drain and set aside.

2) While orzo is cooking, get out a medium bowl. Add paprika, cumin, salt, turmeric, cinnamon and garlic, and stir to combine. Add chicken and stir until poultry is entirely coated with mix.

3) In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Saute about 4 minutes, until it's a little soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add chicken. Brown chicken, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 more minutes. Pour in broth and raisins. Drop heat back to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes.

4) Kill heat. Remove skillet from burner. Pour cooked orzo into skillet. Stir until the whole shebang is thoroughly combined. Top with fresh cilantro and serve.

Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
327 calories, 4.3 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, $1.18

Calculations
1 cup orzo, uncooked: $0.40
2 teaspoons paprika: $0.08
1 teaspoon ground cumin: $0.02
1/2 teaspoon salt: $0.01
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads: $0.02
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.01
1 large clove garlic, minced: $0.04
14-16 ounces chicken breast: $1.99
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil: $0.07
1-1/4 cup chopped onion: $0.30
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth: $0.50
1/4 cup golden raisins: $0.45
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped: $0.99
TOTAL: $5.88
PER SERVING (TOTAL/5): $1.18

Birthday Cake

This year, I decided to make Ryan's birthday cake, which started off better in theory than in actual execution. Not to say that I didn't like how it came out, I just vastly underestimated how long it would take to make.

 

And the reason you're supposed to wear gloves when you dye fondant...

Cupcakes!

    This week is the last week for Liz, a girl I work with, before she goes on maternity leave. In her honor (and because I found some really cute ideas), I made cupcakes! I've secretly been waiting for someone to get pregnant because I've found such cute DIY baby shower ideas, but in the meantime, this will have to do...

The cupcakes are regular vanilla cupcakes, filled with chocolate ganache, and covered with cream cheese icing. I also finally got a 1M tip so I got to make some pretty swirly tops. The chocolate powder sprinkle stuff is from a pack of crushed 100 calorie oreo packs.

The booties and pacifiers are made from a chocolate mold, while the little brown discs under some of them are fondant cut out with a shotglass.

Ok... time for someone else to get pregnant so I can throw the party...

JWCR Crop Dinner

This weekend was the Junior Woman's Club Scrapbooking Crop. I used a recipe from Kraft Recipes, but it kinda sucked, so I added a bunch of stuff to it and it came out pretty good.

Creamy Pasta

Prep Time:	30 minutes
Ready in:	35 minutes
Yield:	2 servings, 1 1/2 cups each
Ease of Prep:	Easy

Recipe Ingredients
	3/4 cup vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth (see Tips for Two)
	4 large cloves garlic , peeled
	4 ounces whole-wheat fettuccine
	1 small zucchini , cut into matchsticks
	2 teaspoons cornstarch , mixed with 1 tablespoon water
	2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
	Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
	1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper , or to taste
	3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese , divided
	1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Recipe Directions

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Combine broth and garlic cloves in a small saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the garlic cloves are soft, about 15 minutes.
2. After the garlic has simmered about 10 minutes, cook fettuccine in the boiling water, stirring often, for 8 minutes. Drop in zucchini (I also added 2 peppers, cut the same way) and cook until the fettuccine is just tender, about 1 minute more.
3. Meanwhile, transfer the garlic and broth to a blender. Process until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. (Use caution when blending hot liquids; see Tip, page 244.) Return the mixture to the pot and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add cornstarch mixture; whisk it until slightly thickened, about 15 seconds (I tried doing this, but adding a tiny amount of water to cornstarch just created a big lump that won't dissolve. Instead, I sprinkled little bits at a time and stirred it in). Remove from the heat and whisk in sour cream, nutmeg and pepper (Once I did this, I tasted the sauce and it just tasted like cream. I added salt and pepper, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, a bunch of grated Parmesan cheese and some Mrs. dash's Italian seasoning... much better). Return the pot to very low heat to keep the sauce warm. (Do not boil.)
4. Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Add the sauce and 1/2 cup Parmesan; toss to coat well. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately, passing the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan separately.

Health Advantages: high fiber, low cholesterol, high calcium.

V-Day Dinner Party: Chocolate Pie

 

Raspberry Ganache Pie

Recipe from Kraftfoods.com

What You Need

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup  whipping cream

6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam, divided

1   OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)

2 cups fresh raspberries

1 Tbsp.  water 

Make It

MICROWAVE chocolate and cream in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after each minute. Beat with whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Stir in 2 Tbsp. jam.

POUR into crust. Refrigerate 4 hours.

ARRANGE berries on top of pie. Microwave remaining jam and water in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec.; stir until well blended. Brush onto berries. Keep refrigerated.

Recipe from Kraft Foods

PB & J CUPCAKES

For these cupcakes, I use the Magnolia Bakery Cupcake and frosting recipe, along with some store bought jelly, ever since I ran out of the homemade stuff. I use mini cupcake tins because "it's all about the ratio" (-Jen). 

Recipe is as follows (Make sure to follow the directions carefully):

Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes
Magnolia Bakery
Makes 2 dozen cupcakes (about 3-4 dozen minis)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (not completely melted)

• 2 cups sugar

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature (stick eggs in a bowl of very warm water for a couple of minutes at a time, until they are room temperature all around)

• 1 cup milk (whole milk is best)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use closer to a tbs)

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.
• In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. 
• Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
• Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. 
• Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes (about 10-12 minutes for mini), or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. (Don't let these cupcakes get golden brown like other cupcakes, because they'll come out dry. Try to take them out just as the edges are starting to turn golden brown)
• Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
• For the jelly inside, poke a hole with your finger into the center of the cupcake. Fill an icing bag or ziplock with jelly and pipe into cupcake. Try to put pressure when filling so that you get more jelly. If it seeps out the top, don't worry, you can always cover it with the frosting. 

Vanilla Buttercream Icing
Magnolia Bakery

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6-8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of a good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

To make peanut butter frosting, just add a huge scoop of peanut butter and blend it into the frosting. Add until it reaches the flavor you like.

Ryan's Birthday Party

So, for Ryan's 13th birthday, he decided he wants a dance party, with a DJ and all. This is the invite I designed for him:

VALENTINE'S DAY DINNER

My Valentine's Day party this year came from a lack of a Valentine and excessive boredom at work. Add the discovery of some great crafting blogs, and you have quite an event. I got a lot of my ideas from  Hostess with the Mostess and then designed things on my own. 

Cupcake Toppers 

Paper Flower Tutorial

Hanging PomPom Tutorial

We also had some great food, if I do say so myself. The recipes are as follows:

We started with Italian Sausage Soup, which is a recipe from AllRecipes.com, but I changed a bunch of things, so I'll just list the recipe with my notes, but you can get the recipes from the website also.

Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 6-ish

• 1 pound Italian sausage (Half Sweet, Half Spicy)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 small zucchini, cubed
• 2 cups frozen spinach, somewhat thawed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of orzo noodles
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs bread crumbs

1. In medium bowl, combine meat, garlic, egg, bread crumbs,shape into 3/4 inch balls
2. In large saucepan, heat broth, salt and pepper to boiling
3. Add orzo pasta, chopped carrots, zucchini, onion and meatballs. 
4. Return to boil, then reduce heat to medium. Cook at slow boil for 10 minutes, or until pasta is al dente. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.
5. Turn off stove and mix in spinach.

Next, we moved onto salad. I made a regular garden salad with my favorite dressing recipe: Greek House Dressing. I significantly cut the oil it calls for because I don't think it's necessary, but it's up to you.

Greek Salad Dressing

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups olive oil (I use about 1/2-3/4 cup)
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
2 cups red wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients and serve on salad.

Eggplant Parm

Ingredients

• 3 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
• 1 (16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Slice eggplant and place on paper towels. Lightly sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes to extract moisture
3. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes on each side.
4. In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses. Sprinkle basil on top.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices ham
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Bread Crumbs
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. 
3. Mix the bread crumbs and paprika in a small bowl
4. Dip chicken pieces in eggs and then in bread crumb mixture
5. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the chicken until browned on all sides. Remove from heat and place in pan for the oven.
6. Mix together the wine and bouillon. Pour mixture over chicken and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. 
8. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk slowly into the skillet. Cook, stirring until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.