Flour Storage

My oldest sister came over this past weekend to make her cranberry orange loaf for Christmas presents. She didn't want to bring her mixer and cookie sheets back to her house so she asked if she can use our kitchen, which was of course fine. She brought all of her stuff in to bags and I help her unload it on the island. As she started working she began to pull out all of the draws looking for the correct utensils, so I had to help her find everything. And although she brought her own flour and such, I took out my bag of flour, just in case she needed it.

After she was done baking and I started to get my stuff together to make an apple pie for the Christmas party I was attending that night, I asked her if she had any flour left. She said she used up all of hers and all of mine, but was surprised that I didn't have more flour in the house. I told her that I keep my flour in the car with a bag of sugar. I further explained that if I bought too much flour my mom would kill me because I would be taking up too much pantry space, so to not get in 'trouble' I leave my extra bags of flour and sugar in the trunk of my car. So how do you store you baking essentials? :D

I've been on huge pie kick lately. Mostly apple since they are ready available and pretty cheap right now. But I might be pied out. I love making the crust but I think I might be pied out! This was the one I made for my mom. I wish I had taken an after picture.
Because that pretty edging that I did, well it disappeared when it baked. I don't know why but it puffed up! I noticed that when I brush the egg wash/heavy cream mixture on top of the crust to give it a nice golden color that the pie doesn't collapse and leave this huge space in-between. I hate that! Does that happen to you too?You know who this is. He's off of work this week so he picked up lunch and we had a picnic lunch in the park. I just wish the weather was nicer. :(

Creamy Spinach Lasagna

We had pot luck Christmas lunch yesterday. The spread wasn’t as big as Thanksgiving but still a lot of people participate. Since I can’t eat meat for another 3 or so weeks I need I had to make some for myself to eat. So I decided to make Spinach Lasagna. Actually I made two. One for the house with was in a 13x9 dish and one for work in an 8x8 dish. So the following recipe can make two, but if you have a deep lasagna dish, this could be used for that. It turned out a lot of people enjoyed it and I hope you will too. Oh my parents liked it, my sister not so much. I try to make everybody happy, but sometimes it just can’t be help.

Creamy Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) package of fresh white mushroom- wished and sliced
2 (16 ounce) bags frozen chopped spinach
2 pints of ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 onion- chopped
3 cloves of garlic - minced*
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 jars of roasted garlic Alfred sauce
½ cup of milk
1 package of uncooked lasagna
1 (8 ounce) bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Directions:

Put spinach in a large microwavable bowl and microwave until thawed ~ 3 to 4 minutes

For the sauce, add olive oil in large saucepan over high heat. Then add onion, garlic and a few pinches of salt and sauté until golden. Then add mushrooms until tender. Add Alfred sauce and milk. Add sugar and pepper to taste. Mix until combine and let it simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Put to the side.

Add ricotta cheese and eggs into the spinach bowl, mix until blend. Add a couple of pinches of salt and a few shakes of pepper. Mix until incorporated

Lightly oil the bottom of your 13x9 pan. Pour ½ cup of sauce at the bottle; place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. On top of the noodle spread on the spinach/ricotta mix then add another cup of sauce on top of spinach ricotta. Then repeat with noodles, spinach, and sauce. Top with 3 more uncooked noodles then sauce and sprinkle cheese on top.

Cover with foil and put in oven at 350-375°F until it’s ready (sauce is bubbling). Take off cover add more cheese if you like and cook it for another 5-10 minute until the cheese is lightly brown.

*I didn't have freash garlic but had roasted garlic. But I'm sure both will taste similar.

Tip(s) and Review(s) #2 - Pecan Pie and Pie in a Jar

Our Best Bites had this great idea of making pie in a jar. It just looked amazing and such a cute idea, I just had to try it. Since my girlfriend invited us over for dinner this pass weekend I wanted to make it for presents for all that were attending the dinner. I went to two Walmarts and 3 Krogers before I was able to find the jars. They are pretty difficult to find and the person at Walmart told me that jars are seasonal items so they don't carry them in the winter, which makes sence, but I still looked. Finally I found them at the krogers closest to my house, how ironic is that.
I found doing the crust their way was a lot more difficult. I started to do that for the first few, but it just wasn't working for me.
So I rolled the dough out like I would roll pie dough, making sure it was big enough to fit inside the jar. Yes you will have some over lapping, but pressing it down should make the crust more even.
You really don't know how much filling you are suppose to put in them. I made apple, a combination of Delious Yellow and Granny Smith. I had cut them into slices since wedges for me did not do the trick. I think it's best to cut the slice in half so you can crame as much filling in there as possible.
As you can see there wasn't much filling inside. Some how it tasted different. I'm not sure why this pie was different from the pervious one I made for Tim's dad, but it did. It could be the apples I used. For Tim's Dad pie, I only used Granny Smith.

1)Roll the crust very thin, because as you can tell there is more crust than filling.
2)Cut the apple (if you are doing apples)in slices and cut the slices in half.
3)No need for pretty designs on top because when you put the cap on, the designs goes away
4)This is very time consuming, so if you are bored out of your mind or have at least 2 hours to spare, then do it. It's not something you would do if time is an issue.
5)If you are baking it in the toaster oven, cover the top with foil and lower the temperature by 25 degrees.

My last post I told you about how Tim wanted to make pecan pie for his dad and we used the Karo Pecan Pie Recipe and been waiting for his dad to cut it up so I know how it taste like. I don't like it. Sorry, it was way too sweet and we put 2 cups of pecans in there yet we can hardly taste it. Next time I will roast the pecan first, hopefully that will bring out some flavor. I found a recent recipe that called for honey! And athought that is sweet, but I think it's a better alternative. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
Uncut pie
Please excuess the messy desk. I was at my boyfriends house and that was the only surface I can put the pie on. It does look pretty on top no?
I perfer it to be a bit thicker in the middle.

Desserts I've recently made

These are some of the desserts/things that I've been working on. There is one that I had a whole post on, but too lazy to do now. So I'll just highlight the good ones.

Italian Cream cup cakes for AKT birthday at the Miller Outdoor theater. We watch ABBA Mania and had a picnic of pizza, hotwings, hambugers, cheese, wine, chips, and other snack food. We all had a great time!
Tyler Florence Crème Brulee for Thanksgiving. I thought we had enough propane, but we didn't, so I didn't get to torch it. It was yummy without the sugar on top. I didn't have any vanilla bean on hand so I just used regular vanilla extract instead.
Zan Can Cook Warren Pear Tart. Made this for Tim's Family Thanksgiving that I ended up not going to but brought it over none the less. As you can see I don't have a regular tart pan but I used what I had on hand. Tim's mom and her co-workers loved it. I used my pie crust and omitted the frangipane. Didn't have time for that. Maybe one day I will do that.

Tim wanted to get his dad a pecan pie for his birthday, since that is one of his favorite things to eat. I suggested that we make him one, since Tim recently gave me a huge bag full of pecan from his house. We also decided to make an apple pie since his dad likes that too. So I made the crust for both of the pies while he cracked the nuts. We need to get a nut cracker!
The Karo Classic Pecan Pie. I don't know how this tastes yet since this is my first time making pecan pie. And his dad didn't want to cut into it yet.
Grandma Ople Apple Pie. I've done this recipe a few times and always liked it. This time I layered my apple. I never did that before and noticed that the crust was always higher than the apples themselves. This got the approval from Tim's Dad. He eats a lot of apple pie. This recipe is a different since there is not the traditional cinnamon in it. I made this once with cognac. I liked how that tasted better and will defiantly do that again.
Don't they just look so yummy?!

A sad Thanksgiving

My mom's youngest brother, my Cau Thien, passed away this pass Sunday, three days after Thanksgiving. I thought of a menu for him, knowing that this might be his last Thanksgiving with the family, but we didn't even make it to that day. I don't want to get into it, but what I saw during the three days of his funeral made me feel hopeful.

1) My uncle is very lucky and loved. Each day so many people came to visit him, to show their support, to show their love, to reassure my Aunt and my two cousins that he was loved.

2) My Aunt is stronger than any of us ever thought she was. She kept it together, mouring in her own way, standing strong for her two kids.

3) The Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Group stood up to their name. They showed their loyalty and love to my uncle and family. They traveled long distance to show their respect to him.

4) Childhood friendship is stronger than distance and time. People whom my uncle known since childhood came to pay their last respect.

5) Relationships born in GDPT are deep and everlasting.

I love you Cau Thien. I will miss you so much. From the way you walk and move. From you smile to your laugh. Cau dung co lo, hai em con co chung chau va mo.

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

Happy Birthday to my niece Minh Vien! She is 4 today!

Today I am having cold Spicy Butternut Squash Soup. Yes, I could heat it up, but I'm too lazy to get off of my butt. So I'll eat it cold, but it still taste good! I was planning to make this for Thanksgiving but things came up and it just wasn't importnat anymore. Somehow I did end up making it anyways and glad I did. It's a very comforting soup. Creamy, sweet and comforting. Give it a try, didn't think it was going to taste this good.

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

2 butter nut squash cut in half and seed scooped out
5 carrots washed and ends cut
1 large onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
3 cup of veggie/chicken broth
Heavy whipping cream
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Spicy chillie sauce

Preheat oven at at 400 degrees.

Drizzel olive oil and kosher on the butternut squash and garlic, roasted (faced up) in the oven for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and tender to the touch.

At 25 minutes til the squash is done, lightly brush oil on the carrots and add the carrots and onion to the roasting pan

When the carrots are nicely carmelized and butternut squash are tender take out oven and let sit until cool (enough to work with).

Add all the roasted veggie to food processor (there might be alot so you might have to do in two batches). Add a cup of broth and process the veggie until smooth.

Add veggie puree into medium pot. Cook over medium heat. Sir constantly. If the consistancy is too thick, add more broth. Add salt, pepper, chilli sauce and cream to taste.

Hints -
- put the garlic in the butternut instead of the roasting pan
- We had home made chilli sauce but you can use sirachia. We like it hot, but be carful. Letting it sit for a while before adding more chili sause. It's hotter the day after

It actually tastes really good! Better the next day. I'm eating it cold right now and it still taste so Yummy!

Sweet Potato Pie

Years ago when I was still working at MD Anderson. I had the pleasure of eating my first sweet potato pie made by Cynthia. It was just so good and so GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD. I loved it. When I asked her to write downt he recipe she would look at me and give me a look that was a cross from, I don't know and a deer caught in the headlights. After many many times of asking her she would physically give me the recipe. What I mean is, when I ask her for how much sugar, she would do cup her hand and show me how much and how many times she would put it in her mix. So I did my best to figure it out. I've done it a few times and everytime I've added some stuff and left out some stuff, so now it's become my recipe. I usually make 2 pies, but have adapted to 1. Also know that Cynthia's orginal recipe makes 3 pies.



My twist on Cythina's Sweet potato pie

1.3 lbs Sweet Potato quartered
4 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Evaporated Milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 tablespoon of Cognac
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 dash of nutmeg
1 pitch of fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 Large Egg
2 tablespoon Sour Cream

1. Boil quatered sweet potatoes for about 30 minutes or until tender to the touch

2. Peel Sweet potatoes (while still warm)

3. Add butter, evaporated milk, vanilla, sugar, ginger, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon to sweet potatoes and mix until butter is melted and potatoes are mashed

4. Add in egg and mix well (make sure the potatoes are not hot or you will cook the egg)

5. Fold in the sour cream

6. Pour into pre-made pie crust or My Pie Crust

7. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

Best served the day afterwards. I perfer mine chilled. Yummy! Enjoy!

To all that celebrates Thanksgiving... may you have a great holiday with your family and friends. May your tummy be filled with good food and your heart be filled with love. And for those who are not celebrating this food filled holiday, have a wonderful weekend. Won't be back to work until Monday!