Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Pine Nut Pie...A Twist on Traditional Pecan





Ignore the broken crust.







Before we get to that <--- Let me start off by saying that Christmas was wonderful! I got Keith some books, and he got me a knew knife set and block. Whoop! You don't know how happy I am to have functional knives. I've been living for 10 months with knives that might as well be plastic. Plastic may have even been better.

Look at us and our NFL pajamas!



Now lets get to the good part. I made a pie for dessert. Inspired by Pecan Pie-- which I love--and the delicious, mouth watering Pine Nut. Pine nut pie! It was a hit, let me tell you.
 It was sweet and nutty, and was easy to eat...unlike Pecan, which is difficult because of the larger size of the nut.

Also, it was super easy to make! Easy as...PIE. Har har har.


Ingredients

1/4 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup Dark brown sugar
2 extra large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 pure vanilla extract
8 Tbs Butter (1/2 cup), melted
1 Tbs Heavy Cream
1 Tbs Flour
Dash of salt
3/4 Cup Pine nuts
1 9in Pie Crust

Start off by lightly toasting the Pine Nuts. You must watch them the whole time! They brown very quickly, and usually burn the second you look away. That's just how it works. Pine nuts are kind of expensive so you don't want to make any mistakes. Take them out when they are golden. Set aside to cool.
ta-da

Combine Sugars, butter, eggs, vanilla, flour, and cream in a bowl. Whisk/mix until well blended. Fold in pine nuts.
Prepare the 9" pie crust by lightly coating both sides with flour. Pour pie filling in crust. Cover the crust around the pie with foil and place on a lower rack in the oven.
*Don't place anything on top of the pie-- like extra pine nuts, or extra crust-- until the last 15 minutes of baking. Otherwise everything will sink in and be lost. *

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350*
.
Leave the foil on until about 15 minutes remaining, then take off and add anything on top of the pie if you wish. I sprinkled pine nuts on top and placed a few decorations with extra crust.


*If made ahead of time, place the pie in the fridge and reheat it in the oven for about 10 mins at 350*.

Seriously, it was so good.
Feel free to share and Pin :]




Friday, December 21, 2012

Our first Christmas as a Mr. and Mrs. :D

Hooray! Our first Christmas as husband and wifey. I'm pretty stoked. We had decided not to get a tree this year...But...I just couldn't let that happen. So, I went to someplace classy to get a tree. CVS. I know, I'm a high roller. Wanna see it? Of course you do.

Gah, adorable. I even got stockings from the dollar store.
I was so proud of myself. My first tree. I even got tiny ornaments! Then something happened. Keith apparently had the same idea I had...but better. Darn him upstaging me! Seriously, minutes after I sat back to admire my Charlie Brown tree, I got a call from Keith saying he was on his way home from work...with a tree.

WHAAAAT. All that work for nothing. I was excited to get a real tree, but bummed we wouldn't get to enjoy my sad little tree that I was so proud of. Oh well.

Once we put up and decorated the 6 footer, however, I totally felt all better. Ignore the terrible image quality.

Look at that! Oh, Santa! Oh, Christmas! Sorry Jesus, we forgot to buy a star...so instead of the classic symbol of Christmas, we stuck a picture of ourselves up there. Cute.

We even have a nifty fancy-shmancy legit German Advent Calendar. If you don't know what that is, shame on you. You had a lousy childhood, obviously.
Advent calendars are much more fattening with only two people...




Sunday, July 29, 2012

My Fantastic version of bruschetta!

So I really love bruschetta. Suddenly. I haven't always liked it, but in these past couple years I've really grown fond of it! I've made it a few times, but last night I really hit the jackpot. The bread was toasty but not hard...and, and...well, it just tasted really great, okay? okay. Let me show you what I did.
First, I put some olive oil in a pan and added crushed black pepper on medium heat. Once the oil became hot, I placed my sliced baghette in the oil. I let it sit until it becomes golden brown then I flip to the other side.

I decided to toast the bread this way instead of in a toaster oven--which is how I had made it in the past--because I didn't really like how crunchy it was. Making it this way, it still has that crisp when you bite into it, but it doesn't crack and crumble like it would if it were hard.

Once I flip the bread, I added goat cheese to the pan.(My goat cheese was in a tube so I just cut it into flat-ish slices). That's right. I said GOAT. It's a new obsession of mine.  Now, quick! To the tomatoes! You only have seconds!
Slice your tomatoes as thick as you want. I prefer them a little thinner than you would slice them for a hamburger...but not so thin that they are all flimsy and wimpy. (Also, don't use super huge tomatoes...you don't want the slice to be enormous in diameter compared to the bread.) Then I added a dash of salt and pepper, and basil. I didn't have any fresh basil on hand, otherwise I would have used a leaf. Last, Asiago cheese. mmm.

*In hindsight, I would have prepared the tomatoes first. That way I wouldn't be rushing to get them done before the cheese and bread burnt. But I made it! phew.*

It isn't beautiful, but it sure is tasty! Fresh basil would have made it more attractive ;]


So, once everything is ready, I took the bread off the pan and set them hottest side up. Then I quickly placed the tomatoes on top with asiago side down. The goat cheese gets ooey-gooey, so a spatula or something wide may be needed to get it out of the pan. Now stick that cheese on the tomato! yeahhh, good.

Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette! I used basil flavored olive oil. Bomb dot com.

Eat it hot! =D


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Hello!

Okay...I have finally caved and made a blog! Woo-hoo! Lets see how this goes. To start, let me say how excited I am to be part of the blogging club. Now I can share all my secrets to being awesome! Just kidding...but seriously. I like to make up recipes and watch TV and try and re-create recipes. This is where I will show all my success stories! Yay!This will also be a place where I keep everyone updated on my LIFE...my MARRIED life. 


Above: marriage
  Alright I think this is it for my first post. I don't really know what to say yet...I'll get the hang of this, don't worry!