Lu soarus biscuits!

Late post but recently ( October 31) was my puppies first birthday! She got a trip to the dog park for the evening and ran her little heart out with all the other pups. Once we got home she got to enjoy some yummy treats I made up just for her very special day. Lucy is quite rambunctious besides the fact that she’s one it’s just part of her personality she loves to play and growl and so alot of the time we call her Lusoarus. Here are some yummy treats you can make for your fuzzy friend as well. These treat were initially made for a pooch named Einstein from the
Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk.Works best with a whisk. Add wet mixture to dry, and mix well.

Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness and cut out shapes.( I used dinosaurs!!) Place on a greased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Blackened Mahi Mahi

Reasonably easy evening tonight. I had to babysit for the family I nanny for. I consider it babysitting when its outside of my normal working hours when I ” Nanny”. I arrived at work at 6pm to the delicious smell of pizza… and ribs! I was already starving and of course I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, it was way to early for me. I was offered pizza but I turned it down hoping that I was making a healthy decision for my diet HA diet…. I probably would have devoured some ribs but the parents were taking it to their dinner party. Instead I waited until the kids had finished eating everything was cleaned up and ended up eating the piece that Mackenzie didn’t want to eat….don’t you love my restraint?

After all of that I decided to defrost some Mahi Mahi. Being the creative gal that I am I completely winged this dinner and it turned out quite good. I ate it with green beans but I would recommend either eating it with mashed potatoes or sautéed asparagusor both

What you’ll need
1 Piece of Mahi Mahi frozen then defrosted is okay
1 Teaspoon of Siracha hot sauce a.k.a rooster sauce I like it spicy and this wasnt quite enough so if you also like it spicy I suggest adding 1 extra teaspoon
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 Teaspoon of garlic
1 Tablespoon of McCormick Montreal steak seasoning YUM
2 Tablespoons of butter

You’ll notice I’m not shorthanding my words like normal.Its because im on an actual computer not trying to post via iPhone. Hooray! Note: If anyone has a lonely computer who needs to be loved I would love it to pieces and cherish it. My Mac pooped out on me at the beginning of the year and I have yet to been able to pay for a new one or see whats wrong with it. Hitting it doesn’t seem to be working.

The Steps

Place siracha, soy sauce, garlic and seasoning in a sandwich size ziplock bag. Zip closed and mix with fingers.

Add the Mahi Mahi to the bag.

Coat Mahi Mahi and let sit for about 15 minutes.

In a large sauce pan Heat 2 tablespoons of butter on High. Add Mahi Mahi and flip occasionally and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until Mahi flakes apart easily with a fork.

Enjoy.

For my Green beans I added them frozen directly to the sauce pan after the Mahi Mahi was removed and added an additional tablespoon of butter. Sautee. I personally didn’t like it because I don’t like green beans that much unless they are canned. Weird I know. If you did this same process with the asparagus untill you could gently pierce it with a spoon I think it would taste delicious.

Good Luck!

Corn Salad with Cilantro

Yummy, filling, I ate it as my lunch. It’s a great side dish or starter salad and super refreshing.

I originally saw this recipe as a dish I was prepping for my boss. The recipe called for grilled corn which I recommend but for today’s lunch I just boiled an ear for 11 minutes.
This recipe serves one.
What you’ll need:
1/4cup chopped cilantro
1 ear of corn (outside and silk removed)
1/4 cup of red diced red onion
1 half of avocado cubed
1 half of a freshly squeezed lime
1 tbsp coarse salt it really makes a big difference

1. In a pot of water place the ear of corn and cover with water. Cover. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile

2. Chop the cilantro, dice the onion, cube the avocado and place together in a small bowl.
3. Squeeze lime over contents in bowl and sprinkle the salt. Set aside.

Once corn is done

4. Stab one end of the corn with either fork or corn holder. Cut off kernels of corn into the bowl with the cilantro mixture.
5. Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.

Candy Corn Cookies

This week I made some sugar cookies ( store bought dough :/)for Mackenzie’s class Halloween party. I decided to shape them like candy corn. It was a bit harder than I expected since it’s a triangle but anyhow I succeeded.

To achieve the candy corn sugar cookie you must cut the cookies into triangles and bake. These cookies need to completely cool before decorating otherwise the frosting will melt off.

Frosting
The recipe for royal icing is very simple:

4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water

Mix all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing loses its shine. Add more water by the teaspoon if it appears too stiff. At this stage you want to be able to pipe it easily.

Now I use special fancy piping bags called ziplock. (Just a sandwich baggie). The tip is super fancy too.( Snip corner off said bag when ready to pipe.)

1.Place about a quarter of a cup of frosting into the conner of your baggy. Twist bag closed.
2. Snip off tiny piece of corner.
3.In the top corner of your triangle cookie pipe the outside border of a triangle filling 1/3 of the cookie. Continue on all cookies.
4. Repeat step 1 in another baggy. Drop one droplet of yellow food coloring and one droplet of red food coloring into bag. Mix and snip Continue piping a border underneath the white piped border an additional 1/3 down.
5. Repeat step 1 and add 1 droplet of yellow food coloring. Mix and snip. Complete piping the remainder 3rd of the cookie outine.
6. Let dry
7. With the remainder of the icing add 2-3 tablespoons of water and mixing until icing when lifted with a spoon drizzles off and disappears back into bowl.
8.separate into 3 baggies.
9. Set one aside for white and add food coloring to the other two and mix until it is your desired color.
10. Flood the cookies with the appropriate colors and smooth out icing with a tooth pick.
11. Let dry.
12. Enjoy!

I sprinkled sprinkles on coordinating colors for a little bit of extra galm before I let each color dry.

Yum-yum-chadas (Enchiladas)

I probably make this recipe at least once a week. It’s easy, it’s yummy and it’s filling plus the boyfriend eats it so overall I win.
This recipe isn’t measured when I make it but for the purpose of you following it I’m going to guesstimate the ingredient amount. You’ll be okay if you go over or under with the ingredients as long as you have enough enchilada sauce.This recipe serves two( and you will be stuffed!)

What you’ll need is:
1/2 cup canola oil
6 corn tortillas
6-8 paper towels
1 10oz. can of enchilada sauce
1 12.5 oz. Can of canned chicken
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)
1 cup of diced white onion (to taste- I love onion)
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 375 degrees f.
Filling
1. In a large bowl. Pour 1/3 of the enchilada sauce. Mix in the chicken 1/2 of the onion and 1/2 of the cheese.Set aside.

Tortillas
1.Heat canola oil in a large sauce pan until it is hot.
2. Take paper towels and set on plate next to sauce pan.
3.Place two tortillas in canola oil and heat until they start to get firm( about 15 seconds. Flip tortilla and repeat on the other side.
4.Remove tortilla from the pan and place on the prepared paper towels. Pat off excess oil.
5.repeat steps 1-4 until all tortillas are gone.

Combine

1. Coat the bottom of a 9×9 casserole dish with 1/3 of the enchilada sauce.
2. Fill a previously heated corn tortilla with 1/6 of the chicken mixture. Roll closed and place seam side down in the casserole dish.
3. Repeat step 2 until all six are in casserole dish.
4. Pour the remainder of the enchilada sauce over all the enchiladas.
5. Spread it around with your finger a so the entire tortilla surface is covered.
6. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese along the tops of each enchilada followed by the remainder of the onions, then the cilantro and finish with the olives.
7. Cover with foil.

Bake
1. Place in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. ( this step is to heat all of the contents. Everything is precooked so you don’t have to worry about the time to much. )
2. Remove foil.Turn oven off and turn the broiler on high. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Enjoy.

I typically eat this with a side of shredded lettuce with a slice of tomato on top and a corona with lime. ( Why not right?)
You can prep. this recipe in advance of up to about 2 days. Prepare up to the baking step, cover and refrigerate. When ready bake as normal.

This recipe will freeze well. If you plan on freezing this; prepare this recipe as follows up until baking. Cover tightly with foil and freeze. Morning you want to serve for dinner defrost in the fridge and bake as normal.

Pumpkin Bread

Yay, more pumpkin! Yum, how can you go wrong with bread and pumpkin? Answer: You can’t. I found this recipe from one of my favorite bloggers Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker check her out shes amazing.She also found the recipe from an outside source see her website for further information. In the recipe it calls for nuts, I didn’t use any however I’m sure it would be godly, I’ve also heard of people putting chocolate chips in as well, I’m not quite sure why I didn’t? I must be crazy. You can also try an icing or cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Bread

Yield: Two 8½x4½-inch loaves

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Bake Time: 1 hour

3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup vegetable oil
2-2/3 cups granulated sugar I used bakers sugar
4 eggs
2 cups (15 ounces) canned pumpkinI used Libby’s
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts I didn’t use either

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two 8½x4½-inch loaf pans.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and sugar until combined. Add the eggs, pumpkin, water and vanilla and whisk until thoroughly combined and smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix gently until combined. Using a large spoon or spatula, stir in the nuts.

4.Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Remove the bread from the oven and place the pans on a cooling rack. Once the breads are completely cool, turn out of the pans. You can serve immediately or, for even better flavor and moistness, wrap the loaves in plastic wrap and store at room temperature overnight.

Does freeze well.

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin,… How you are my love. I discovered you last year when my boss was shocked on the fact that I had never tried it before and informed me that I was definitely missing out. Sure enough within a week I had my first taste of pumpkin pie, then pumpkin cheese cake, then I had some pumpkin cookies and I was in heaven. It wasn’t until this year that I started baking with pumpkin. Here is a simple recipe I found on the can of Libby’s Pure Canned Pumpkin. Libby’s also sells pumpkin pie mix, I didn’t feel like it was “home made” enough for me to make this but it’s super easy and time saving if your in a hurry. This pie turned out really yummy for me! The only mishap I had was forgetting to add the evaporated milk to the mixture before I poured it in the pan. Basically me being me and forgetting a totally easy super important step like 1+1=3? I hope I’m not the only one who makes these mistakes! Anyhow if you make this same mistake just simply pour it back into the bowl mix it in and re-pour into pie shell. GOOD LUCK!

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie
(makes 2 -9in. pies)

1 1/2 cups sugar( I used bakers sugar it’s finer than granulated )
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon ( I used 3 tsp. )
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 can (29 oz. LIBBYS 100% pure pumpkin
2 cans(12 fl. oz. each) CARNATION evaporated milk
2 unbaked 9in. deep dish pie shells

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

Pour into pie shells.
( I used frozen Marie Callendars shells; follow directions on whatever pie shell you use ) if you make your own pie crust I suggest making sure the dough is super cold as in almost freezing and work quickly. This will be easier to work with because it will be more firm, it won’t melt as fast from the heat on your hands.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted at center comes out clean. ( I normally check 5-10 minutes before given time. Mine was done at 40 minutes). Cool on wire rack for 2 hours and serve or refrigerate.

Pie does not freeze well.