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Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Apple Pie

Posted in Desserts, Pie, Recipes, tagged , on June 10, 2011| 6 Comments »

Drizzle on some caramel sauce and enjoy!

Our local summer baseball season has started which always make me think of things like hot dogs and apple pie. All-American all the way.

Here is a simple and easy recipe for apple. Make some this weekend and watch your family savor every bite!

Peel, core and slice your apples. Although I usually prefer Granny Smith's, I think I had Fuji the day I made the pie.

Put apple sliced in a microwave safe bowl and stir into sugar, flour and cinnamon. Nuke a minute at a time until apples are soft and begin to cook.

Get your pie crust ready to go.

Bake until golden brown and juice is bubbling.

Cool slightly before serving.

If you can wait that long...

Drizzle on some caramel sauce and enjoy!

Apple Pie

6 firm, tart apples (I like Granny Smith the best)

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. butter, softened

Pie Crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out your pie dough and line the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. You can use pre-made dough or whip up a batch of your own. I love this pie crust recipe using Vodka.

Peel, core and thinly slice your apples. Put in a microwave safe bowl and stir in sugar, flour and cinnamon. Microwave a minute at a time, stirring after each setting, until the apples begin to cook. Spoon apples into the crust and drop in a few teaspoons of butter. Place the second crust on top, seal the edges and poke in a few air holes with a fork. Slather the rest of the butter over the top of the crust then bake  about 35-40 minutes until juices are bubbling and crust is golden brown. If you are worried about the edges of the pie getting too brown, cover them with a strip of foil and remove about 10 minutes before the pie is ready to take out of the oven.

To save myself from cleaning up a mess in the oven, I use a round pizza pan or a metal pan with a ring in the center made especially for pie baking to catch any juicy spills.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel.

She Who Likes Pie Way Too Much

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Easy Alfredo Lasagna

Posted in Comfort Food, Main Dish, Quick and Easy, Recipes, tagged , , on June 3, 2011| 7 Comments »

It’s all about lasagna today on Savvy Entertaining!This lasagna recipe is so easy and simple not to mention quite tasty. For a lazy slug like me, it is the perfect combination in making it look like I went to a lot of work when actually I didn’t.

A few other things to note about this lasagna – I make it in bread pans. Hubby and I eat one and freeze the other (because it makes two) but you could make it in a regular lasagna or casserole pan. This recipe also contains no tomatoes or tomato sauce.

I am about to share a little known fact, so hold on to your hats… I am allergic to processed tomatoes. A lot allergic. So that means no tomato sauce, paste, canned tomatoes, cooked tomatoes. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

There are many, many things I love to eat that involve processed tomatoes. So I have learned over the years to adjust my recipes and use alternate ingredients. It has been an interesting adventure in trial and error, for sure! But this recipe is one I’ve made many times and is always good.

So enjoy!

Ingredients for Easy Lasagna

Brown hamburger and sausage.

Stir up the cheese mix.

Pour Alfredo sauce into the bottom of a pan. I spray mine with non-stick cooking spray first.

Start your layers with a noodle. I use the kind you do not have to cook because they go straight from the box into the pan.

Mix your cooked meat with the cheese and layer over noodles.

Continue layering sauce, noodles, meat mix and shredded cheese.

Finish with a final layer of cheese and bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.

The edges will be golden brown and bubbly when cooked.

Piping hot, sprinkled with more cheese and ready to be devoured. Yum!

Easy Alfredo Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles (the kind you do not have to boil first)

16 ounce container of ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

2 eggs

1 pound ground beef

1 package of ground sausage

salt

seasonings

1 jar Alfredo sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine ground beef and sausage with your choice of seasoning and cook over medium heat until brown.  While it is cooking, mix together ricotta and Parmesan with eggs. Stir until blended, set aside.

When the meat is browned, drain as much grease as possible from it before stirring into egg and cheese mixture.

Spray a bread pan (or casserole if you want to make one big pan instead of two smaller pans) with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan, layer in a noodle. In the bread pan, one noodle fills the bottom and makes layering a snap.

Next, layer on meat mixture and top with shredded mozzarella. Repeat layering process with sauce, noodle, meat and cheese. Pour a final layer of sauce and then top off with cheese. Cover with foil and bake about 35 minutes, until mixture is bubbly, then remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and edges are brown.

Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes before plating. Serve with warm, crusty bread and a green salad for a lovely and simple meal!

She Who Can’t Eat Cooked Tomatoes

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Vanilla Bundt Cake

Posted in Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Recipes, tagged , , on May 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Vanilla Bundt Cake with Raspberries and Whipped Cream

I was in the mood for cake the other day and decided to go for a bundt cake. I don’t know why I love them so, but I do. It is hard to mess up a bundt cake and there are so many delicious ways to serve it up.

The recipe is simple and the cake was moist, flavorful and quite tasty. Captain Cavedweller even liked it.

The ingredients. I forgot to include whipping cream. And please ignore the fact the can of frosting was purchased in December.

Add a teaspoon of vanilla to the cake mix and pudding mix.

Lightly beat the eggs then add them along with water, sour cream and oil to the bowl.

Mix the batter in medium speed until well combined. It will be thick. Really thick. Do not be afraid of the thickness.

Pour batter into a greased bundt pan. If you don't have a bundt pan, an angel food pan will do. If you don't have one of those you need to get one! You could also, in a pinch, use an oven-proof bowl and an oven-proof cup - put the cup upside down in the bowl and pour in batter. I don't guarantee the results, though!

Even out the batter in the pan and bake for an hour.

Check to make sure the cake is cooked through. I used a skewer and it worked splendidly.

Let the cake cool completely then turn out of the pan. Notice this bundt pan is in a rose pattern. I'll give you three guesses where it came from... it wasn't the heinous cat, it wasn't the interloper but it may have been my resident cavedweller.

You need about 1/2 cup of the canned frosting. Put in a microwave safe pitcher (I used a cream pitcher and it worked perfect!). Nuke for about 12 seconds and you have automatic warm glaze!

Drizzle glaze over cake.

Yum!

Enjoy!

Vanilla Bundt Cake

1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

1/2 cup vanilla frosting

Raspberries

Whipping Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend dry ingredients. Add vanilla extract. Lightly beat eggs then mix eggs, water, oil and sour cream with batter. Beat on medium speed until combined. The batter will be super thick, so don’t panic.

Scoop it into a greased bundt pan, evening it up as best you can (I tap the pan on the counter to get out air bubbles and even up the batter). Bake for one hour or until it starts to pull away from the edges of the pan.

Let cool completely then invert on a cake plate. Put 1/2 cup of pre-made frosting into a microwaveable pitcher or bowl and nuke it for about 12 seconds. It doesn’t take very long at all. Drizzle over cake.

Serve with fresh whipped cream and raspberries. I had to add a drizzle of chocolate to the plate. You could also serve with ice cream.

Enjoy!

She Who Really Likes Bundt Cake

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Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted in Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Recipes, tagged , , on May 20, 2011| 8 Comments »

The other day I was overcome with the urge to make a lemon meringue pie. I’ve made them on numerous occasions using a box of lemon pudding mix but never lemon pudding from scratch.

I shall never open another box of lemon pudding again.

The burst of flavor, the fusion of sweet and tart, was positively wonderful. Not to mention the euphoric state created by zesting the lemons. The scent was beyond divine and delightful. I was afraid Captain Cavedweller would come home to find me still melted in a puddle across the kitchen floor.

Yes, it was that fantabulous.

Here are the ingredients for the pudding. You will also need cream of tartar and 1/2 cup of sugar for the meringue as well as a pre-baked pie crust for the pie.

Start by zesting your lemons. Rinse them off well then whip out your microplane and go to town. You need 2 tablespoons of zest. By that time, the amazing scent will have weakened your knees and made you a bit giddy.

Go ahead and juice those lemons. I used three and it came out to be right at a 1/2 cup of juice. Run the juice through a strainer before using to get out all the pulp and seeds. Squeezing them by hand is great therapy!

Next, whip up the meringue. You need 1/8 tsp. of cream of tartar for every egg white. I used three egg whites so I needed 3/8 tsp. of cream of tartar.

Beat until soft peaks form then add in your sugar. I added 1/2 cup to the three egg whites.

Continue beating until stiff peaks form and the meringue gets all lovely and glossy. It is beauteous!

Now we start on the pudding. Mix the cornstarch and sugar together then whisk in the milk.

Add beaten egg yolks and mix well, then add lemon zest and salt.

Place over medium heat and cook, stirring until your arm feels like it might fall off, er... I mean until the sauce is thick.

Add lemon juice and butter, stirring well, then pour into prepared pie shell.

Immediately top with meringue. You want the pudding hot to help cook the inside of the meringue.

Place in pre-heated oven and brown for about five minutes.

Let cool completely and refrigerate before serving. Then slice and enjoy! I added some lemon zest and a juicy strawberry for garnish.

Lemon Meringue Pie

1 pre-baked pie crust, cooled

Filling

Meringue

Meringue

3 egg whites

3/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

To start with, make sure your bowl is completely grease-free. Any oily residue will ruin your meringue. Go for a glass bowl if it all possible. You need 1/8 tsp. of cream of tartar for each egg white. Sprinkle on top of egg whites and beat with mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Add in sugar gradually and continue beating until stiff peaks forms and the meringue is glossy and lovely.

You will want to whip up the meringue before you start cooking the pudding.

Filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 1/2 cups milk

3 large yolks, lightly beaten

2 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

pinch of salt

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. butter, softened

NOTE: Three fresh lemons gave me plenty of zest and came out, when squeezed by hand, to be right at 1/2 cup of juice. Do yourself a favor and squeeze your own juice. The flavor is amazing! Also, separate your egg whites from the yolks and put the whites into a large mixing bowl. You’ll use them for the meringue.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place sugar and cornstarch in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Whisk to combine. Gradually add milk, whisking until smooth. Add egg yolks.

Stir in lemon zest and salt.

Place saucepan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick.

Remove pan from heat and stir in lemon juice and butter. If you don’t want the zested lemon in your pudding you can run it through a fine mesh strainer at this point. If you are like me and don’t care, pour the pudding into the prepared pie crust. You can make your own crust – I highly recommend the vodka pie crust recipe – or use a store-bought crust. Whatever floats your boat. Mine floated with the vodka recipe.

While the pudding is still piping hot, spoon on the meringue and bake in oven for about 5 minutes or until top is lightly browned. If you want mile-high meringue, double the recipe for the meringue. I’d recommend baking it at a lower temperature longer to make sure the inside gets cooked – 325 for 20 minutes or so.

Let cool completely before serving. Then enjoy!

She Who is In Love with the Scent of Freshly Zested Lemons

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