Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

1	tablespoon instant minced onion
1	tablespoon cornstarch or use 1 tablespoon of potato starch
1 1/2	teaspoons salt
1	teaspoon granulated sugar
1	tablespoon parsley flakes
2	teaspoons green pepper flakes
1/4	teaspoon instant minced garlic
1	teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4	teaspoon italian seasoning
1	teaspoon oregano
1/2	teaspoon basil

Notes:

Spaghetti Seasoning Mix.
Just boil the pasta, and add the meat and sauce ingredients.

www.justapinch.com

I don't use the green pepper or red pepper flakes since I use stewed tomatoes and they have green pepper in them.

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Honey-Orange Chicken with Sesame Sauce

From www.delish.com who got this recipe from Redbook

That honey bear in your cupboard adds flavor and richness to both sweet and savory dishes, like this Honey-Orange Chicken with Sesame Sauce.

By Marie Simmons

Tina Rupp

Serves: 4

Yields: 4 servings
Total Time: 21 min

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 11 min

Ingredients

U.S.

Metric

Conversion chart

• 3/4 cup(s) fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup(s) orange blossom or clover honey
• 1 teaspoon(s) grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon(s) garlic
• 1 teaspoon(s) orange zest
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/8 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper
• 4 (6 ounces each) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 1 teaspoon(s) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon(s) toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon(s) toasted sesame seeds

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Directions

1. Combine juice, honey, ginger, garlic, zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add chicken; stir to coat. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot; add vegetable oil and swirl to coat. Lift chicken from marinade and let excess drip back into bowl. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook over medium heat 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.
3. Add reserved marinade to skillet and boil over medium-high heat, turning chicken once or twice, 3 to 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and sauce is reduced by half. Transfer chicken to a cutting board, cut into diagonal slices, and arrange on a platter. Stir sesame oil into thickened sauce and spoon it over chicken. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Ganache Stuffed Banana Pudding Cookie Muffins

Ganache Stuffed Banana Pudding Cookie Muffins

A couple of weeks ago I teased you guys with an Instagram of these Ganache-Stuffed Banana Pudding Cookie Muffins. Oh my word, I have never gotten such great feedback — or more requests for a recipe! — from just one photo! :) I am so, so sorry it took me so long, but I am thrilled to share the recipe for these bad boys with you today! It’s incredibly decadent, ultra swoon-worthy, and you can even use up leftovers to make it. Plus it’s got peanut butter, banana, and chocolate, which are Kev’s all-time three favorite ingredients. But you can totally customize these cookies to have YOUR favorite ingredients! Keep reading to see. Hope you love these as much as we do!

When I saw these Vanilla Pudding Cookies from Maria, I knew I absolutely had to make them. The secret ingredient in these ultra chewy cookies is a box of vanilla Jello pudding. You just dump it right in the mix for a totally unique and delicious flavor that leaves everyone wondering what your secret ingredient is. For Kevin’s birthday last month, he requested a variety of Peanut Butter, Banana, and Chocolate themed treats. Cookies are his favorite, and while browsing my Pinterest board of all the Treats I Want to Try I came across Maria’s pudding cookies. It suddenly hit me to use banana pudding instead of vanilla pudding to make him Banana Pudding Cookies! But I couldn’t stop there…
Let’s make these, shall we? :)

Here’s what you’ll need. Your basic cookie ingredients: Flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, and baking soda, plus your secret ingredient box of Jello pudding (in the flavor of your choice) and 2 cups of chocolate chips or mix-ins in the flavor of your choice — I used a combination of milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips here. Last time I used chopped up Reese’s Cups.

With a mixer, cream together your butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

While the mixer is running, crack open 2 eggs…

And add a whole tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Ready your Jello pudding, and by this time, your butter and sugar should be fluffy and lighter in color.

Dump the eggs, vanilla, and dry Jello pudding mix right on in, and beat on medium speed until ultra smooth and silky, about 2 minutes.

While that’s going, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly combined and it has the texture of sifted flour. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until just combined.

Now it’s time for your chips! Stir in two cups total of whatever flavor suits your fancy. I used one cup of peanut butter chips and one cup of milk chocolate chips. Look how massive these Ghirardelli chocolate chips are compared to the peanut butter chips!!

Now we’re about to turn these bad boys into cookie muffins. Using a medium cookie scoop or a spoon, drop about 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough into a well-greased standard-sized muffin tin.

Using the back of a spoon, or clean hands, gently press the cookie dough flat into the pan. This dough is a little sticky, so if you have time to chill the dough in the fridge first (you can even make it the night before) it’ll be a little easier to work with. But if you don’t have time (seriously, who can wait that long when cookie dough is involved?!) don’t worry about it at all — it still works fine. I didn’t chill my dough here. I did find it a little easier to press it down with my hands instead of a spoon though! :)

Now here’s where the magic happens. I just so happened to have leftover milk chocolate ganache in my fridge from another one of Kevin’s birthday treats. My Sweet Milk Chocolate Ganache is my go-to recipe for a basic chocolate frosting for cakes and cupcakes. I made a half batch of chocolate cupcakes for Kevin’s birthday, but I forgot to halve the ganache, so I had plenty leftover. I stuck it in the fridge hoping to figure out something to do with it later! (Besides sneaking spoonfuls of it every time I walked past the fridge!)
I’ve always wanted to make my Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies with ganache in the middle, and since I had this in the fridge, I knew I had to try it with these Banana Pudding Cookies!

Swirl a spoonful of ganache on top of each cookie. Now, let me tell you, with the ganache, these turned out super chocolaty and gooey, but if you don’t have leftover ganache, and you don’t want to make ganache (it’s super easy though) you can use anything here. You could simply use melted chocolate chips, hot fudge topping, chocolate syrup, or if you wanted to be extra sinful… even Nutella! :)
And while we’re on the subject of semi-homemade, you can even use store-bought cookie dough here to make this the easiest most decadent dessert you’ve ever made! :)

Top with another spoonful of cookie dough onto each muffin tin.

You don’t even have to press these down.

Oh my gosh, how crazy are these going to be?!

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes and you have this ooey, gooey, bursting with chocolate, fabulously delicious mess. As soon as they come out of the oven, run a knife around the edges to make for easy removing later. If your cookies are a little overflowing like mine, just gently press the warm, soft cookie back into its tin.

When the cookies are thoroughly cooled and have set up (you can stick them in the fridge to speed up the process, but it’ll probably take at least an hour), run the knife around the edges again and gently remove the cookie muffins from the tin. If you can’t wait that long, don’t worry! You can still eat ‘em. You’ll just have to use a spoon and dive right into the pan. ;)

You’ll be rewarded with this ultra gooey, decadently soft cookie that’s absolutely exploding with peanut butter and melty chocolate.

It’s hiding right under the surface, just waiting to be discovered.

When you open it up the chocolate overload is revealed!

To make it extra melty, warm the cookie muffin in the microwave for about 20 seconds before serving.

So ridiculously good.

I even made a Nutella one! Here’s what it looks like on the inside. You have to try these!!

Ganache Stuffed Banana Pudding Cookie Muffins

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3.4 oz package Banana-flavored instant Jello pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly coat a standard-sized muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. With a mixer, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in dry pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes until silky and smooth. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate and peanut butter chips.
3. Using a medium cookie scoop, drop about 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough into the bottom of the muffin tin, and press down to flatten. Top with a tablespoon of chocolate ganache (recipe follows) and then top with another scoop of cookie dough. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges are just browned. As soon as they come out of the oven, run a knife around the edges to make for easy removing later. Cool completely before removing from the muffin tin, using a knife around the edges to help loosen.
Recipe slightly adapted from Vanilla Pudding Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod.

Sweet Milk Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Place chocolate chips in a glass or heat-proof bowl. In a medium saucepan, whisk the heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar and bring to a simmer. Pour over the chocolate chips, let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until completely smooth. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or until the ganache sets up and reaches a thick, frosting consistency.

Makes about 20 cookie muffins.

Read More http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/#ixzz2B8JsG8Ha

Berry Hand Pies – “Pie it Forward” Cookbook

Berry Hand Pies – “Pie it Forward” Cookbook

This recipe comes from the cookbook Pie it Forward by baker/confectioner/pastry master extraordinaire– Gesine Bullock-Prado.  Perhaps you’ve read Gesine’s other books: Confections of a Closet Master Baker or Sugar Baby.  In Pie it Forward, Bullock-Prado shares both sweet and savory pies.  More on Pie it Forward at the end of this post.

This pie dough recipe was created specifically to be a “hand pie dough.”  Bullock-Prado describes it as a zippy and easy-to-handle dough, tailor made for small, handheld treats.  Something different about this one- it has a 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk in it.  I was a little worried about that… because what in the world would I do with the rest of the sweetened condensed milk?!  Not to worry though.  I discovered through some Twittering that you can place sweetened condensed milk into a little container and just stick it into the freezer until you need some more.  So that’s what I did!
The filling is a mix of strawberries and raspberries and a tiny bit of… fresh rosemary!


A brush of egg wash gives the pies a slightly shiny finish when baked, and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar (or any sugar) gives them sparkle.

The dough was pretty easy to work with (thank goodness!), and it turned out the best sort of rustic-looking pies with thick, syrupy juices oozing out in all the right places.
These hand pies were delicious.  The recipe makes 12 individual, hand-held pies.  I included them on a platter of desserts that I made for a gathering.  They were among the first to go!
————————————

In Pie it Forward, author Gesine Bullock-Prado shares the best dough recipes to use for each creation- from sweet tart dough to strudel dough to pizza crust!  And guess what?  There is an entire chapter devoted to perfecting pie crusts- all kinds of tips and tricks! She shows us how to master fillings too.  Yep, this pie cookbook covers both sweet and savory recipes.  As a pie-challenged individual, I’m happy to have this book at hand in my kitchen.  Recipes I’m excited to try:  New England Berry Galette, Blueberry Brown Butter Tartlets, German Apple Custard Tart, Buttermilk Peach Pie, Butterscotch Meringue Pie, Meyer Lemon Pudding Pie, Apple Strudel, Bavarian Calzones, Fried Green Tomato Tart and A Very Good Pizza Pie.  Everything looks so good!
Author Gesine Bullock-Prado is offering a copy of Pie it Forward to one lucky Recipe Girl reader. To enter to win, please leave one comment below sharing your favorite pie to make or eat- please do not include links! This giveaway is now closed.  The randomly selected winner is commenter #1: Karla G!  Congrats! One winner was selected and will be contacted via email. The winner will receive one copy of Pie it Forward.
Pie it Forward is available for purchase on Amazon, and it’s in bookstores too. You can visit author Gesine Bullock-Prado on her blog: Confections of a Master Baker and  Pie it Forward Cookbook (devoted specifically to the cookbook- tips shared and questions addressed) and  Twitter.

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Berry Hand Pies

Yield: 12 hand pies

Prep Time: 45 min + chill time

Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

Hand Pie Dough:
2 cups Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour (cold)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons frozen vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
Filling:
1/2 pint fresh strawberries (170g)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of sea salt
1 cup halved fresh raspberries
egg wash (1 egg whisked with 2 tablespoons water)
turbinado or sparkling sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Prepare the hand-pie dough:
1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the shortening and butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and condensed milk. With the processor running, slowly add the milk mixture and continue to pulse until the dough just comes together.
3. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to turn the dough over a few times, until it no longer has dry bits of flour visible and is smooth. It's important the the dough be rather smooth- otherwise, when you roll it out for your pies, the dough will crack. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before using.
Prepare the filling:
4. Hull the strawberries. Cut them into small pieces, a bit larger than corn kernels. Combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon zest and rosemary in a mixing bowl and stir until the strawberries are evenly coated with sugar. Allow to strawberries to sit for a while until the sugar melts and the juices of the strawberries are running freely. Drain the strawberry juice into a small bowl. Add the lemon juice, then stir in the cornstarch until the mixture becomes a smooth slurry without lumps. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the berries, the cornstarch slurry and the salt. Stir over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens, 5 to 10 minutes. Allow the filling to cool completely in the refrigerator, about 20 minutes. Stir the raspberries into the strawberry mixture.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Assemble the hand pies:
5. Divide the dough evenly into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 4-inch round and place the rounds on a parchment-lined sheet pan. With a pastry brush, brush egg wash along the outside edge of the dough rounds. Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling onto the middle of each round. Fold the dough over, creating a half moon, and seal the pastries by pressing gently along the edges of each with the tines of a fork. Brush the outsides of the pastries with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado or sparkling sugar.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the hand pies to cool completely.

Tips:

*Most berries will work in a hand pie. Just be sure to cut the berry pieces small enough (not much larger than a kernel of corn).

Source: RecipeGirl.com (re-printed with permission from Pie it Forward by Gesine Bullock- Prado and barely adapted)

 

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

Try as I might, fall isn’t arriving yet in San Diego.  Let’s be honest here, we don’t really see much of any season here in San Diego.  The sun shows up much more often than not, and rain clouds (or any clouds at all) are just a passing fancy.  I’m strangely happy on dreary, cool days, desperate for a change… any change in the weather.  The last couple of days we’ve had a few clouds (yay!) with a spritz of rain or two spitting out the humidity in the air.  Fall weather calls for apples and baking.  I haven’t been apple-picking yet this year, so I opted for a mass-purchase of Gala apples at Costco instead.  Whipping up a super simple recipe for Apple Crisp was the right thing to do.

There isn’t anything quite like warm apple crisp, fresh out of the oven with a large scoop of ice cream served on top and melting.  It’s just about the easiest dessert to make with fresh apples.  Here’s how to make it:

Peel and slice 4 to 5 medium-large apples (I used Gala, but Braeburn, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Granny Smith, Jonathon, or Golden Russet work well too).

Spread them out in a 8×10-inch dish.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice on top and toss the apples in the juice.

Sprinkle a “crumb” mixture on top (butter + brown sugar + oats + cinnamon + flour + salt).

Bake until everything is nice and gooey and the crumb is a bit crispy on top.

It’s best served warm- and that’s okay because there’s no way you will be able to hold off on eating it as it comes out of the oven.  But it’s also very easy to warm up later.  And don’t even think about serving it without vanilla ice cream.
P.S. I’m really not bashing San Diego because I absolutely DO love living in this glorious city.  We have dream weather here year-round.  But I do get visions of how nice it would be to live in Seattle or New England and really experience what seasons are all about year after year.  I suppose I might think differently if I were there in the dead of winter, right?!  I suppose for now I’ll just have to satisfy the seasonal craving by baking with apples on cloudy days.
Is it fall yet where you live??  Do you get those crazy, colorful trees with leaves flying about and gathering on the streets?  Are you wearing plaid shirts and cute boots on cool evenings?  I’m totally jealous.

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Apple Crisp

Yield: 8 servings (or 4 generous servings)

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

4 to 5 cups apples (4 to 5 medium), peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup Gold Medal® All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray 8x10-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Spread apples in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and use a fork to combine. Use your fingers to sprinkle the crumb mixture over the apples.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes- or until bubbly and hot.

Tips:

*Great served warm with vanilla ice cream.
*Cover and refrigerate leftovers. Reheat leftovers to serve.

Source: RecipeGirl.com