BBQ Recap & Sweet Links

A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I hosted an end of summer BBQ. (I know, I'm very behind on posting.) This summer has gone by so fast and so much of our free time has been spent on wedding planning that we wanted to get in one last summer celebration before the seasons change.

It was also the last BBQ at my house which was somewhat bittersweet. But we did it right – great friends and great food made for a great night!

We provided the meat and fixings, refreshments and desserts. Oh did we have desserts...but more on that later!

We asked guests to bring a salad or side dish to share and we had an overflowing table of amazing and delicious dishes. We have some very talented friends and I definitely need to track down some of the recipes!

Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of everything, but some of the highlights were:

Broccoli, Almond and Grape Salad – It might sound odd, but it was wonderful
Cha Cha Chicken Canapes – These were all gone by the end of the night
Deviled Eggs – A classic; they were gone immediately
Fruit Salad – Very refreshing
Roasted Vegetables – Delicious; they balanced out the sweets, or so I like to tell myself
Homemade Baked Beans – Perfect for a BBQ
Baked Jalepeno Cheese Dip – This is one of my favorites.
Pioneer Woman’s Bacon Jalepeno Poppers – Of course!

I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the fabulous dishes, so my apologies, they were all great and there were just too many to keep track of.

Also, my fiancé did an excellent job at the grill!

To finish off the menu, we had a selection of desserts.

Everybody had their personal favorites; which is the whole point of offering a selection of desserts. Even some of the items that I wasn’t thrilled with found a fan in the crowd. Below is a list of the desserts (with links to the recipes) and my editorial thoughts.

Italian Cream Cake (from Pioneer Woman’s Friend) – I was very much looking forward to this and thought it would be my favorite. Sadly, however, I wasn’t as thrilled with it as I anticipated…it was really, really sweet; perhaps a tad too sweet. I used unsalted butter in the recipe (because I always use unsalted butter for baking) but I’m wondering if salted butter would have balanced out some of the sweetness…the recipe did not specify.

Better Than Crack Brownies (from How Sweet Treats) – This were a crowd favorite, they were delicious and not very hard to make at all. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is a must try.

Chewy Lime and Coconut Sugar Cookies (from Two Peas and their Pod) – These were my favorite! I love coconut and the hint of lime gave them the perfect fresh and tropical taste. Very good!

Brown Butter Pound Cake Ice Cream Petit Fours (from July Daring Bakers Challenge) – I liked how the pound cake turned out; I wasn’t thrilled with the dark chocolate glaze. These were definitely not my favorite, but they did find a few fans that loved the dark chocolate glaze.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

My fiancé LOVES strawberry rhubarb pie, it’s one of his all time favorites and he rarely has an opportunity to have it. Last year I made him strawberry rhubarb crisp for his birthday because I didn’t have a pie plate. Until that time, I had never had rhubarb, but I ended up really enjoying the strawberry rhubarb crisp and so did the fiancé.

A few months back we passed the clearance shelves at a store and found a glass pie dish for $3. Remembering my excuse for not making pie, my fiancé bought it for me.

Not having a pie plate was a very convenient excuse for not making pies; truth is I was a little nervous about trying to make a pie. I had never made one before and I had this impression that pies were very hard and complicated to get right; everything from the dough to the filling was a potential disaster.

Since I no longer had my convenient excuse I figured it was time to face my fear and bake a pie…besides if the pie didn’t turn out it wouldn’t be the end of the world by any means. So I decided I would surprise my fiancé for his birthday for two reasons: 1) surprises are more fun on your birthday and 2) if he didn’t know it was coming he wouldn’t be disappointed if it didn’t work out and all he got was ice cream for dessert instead of pie a la mode.

I thought about using store bought pie dough, but I figured if I was going to jump into pie making I might as well go all in, so I went in search of a pie crust recipe. Thankfully I didn’t have to search far, Pioneer Woman has one in her cookbook, “Perfect Pie Crust”…Woo Hoo! If Pioneer Woman trusts the recipe and calls it ‘perfect’ then it’s good enough for me; she’s never let me down before. I did have a slight hesitation when I realized there was no sugar in the recipe and it was recommended for her Chicken Pot Pie recipe, but at the end it also recommended the recipe for dessert pies so away I went. (Another reason why you should always read the full recipe start to finish before you begin cooking.)

I don’t currently have a pastry cutter, so I improvised and used a couple of knives and a large fork instead. This is something I’ve done before with other recipes that called for a pastry cutter…I really need to get one soon though if I’m going to be making any more pies…hint, hint honey ;)

This pie dough does require a little planning ahead, just an FYI. I also didn’t get my dough to roll out quite as smoothly and pretty as Ree’s but it still worked and it ended up delicious and flaky…it really is a “Perfect Pie Crust”.

For those of you that have the cookbook, the recipe is on page 128. For those of you that don’t have the cookbook, what are you waiting for? Go buy one right now!

Now onto the filling, unfortunately I couldn’t find a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie via the Pioneer Woman. I set out to Tasty Kitchen and a few other online resources; but I didn’t find one that completely won me over. So I combined elements from a few recipes, along with the recipe from last year’s strawberry rhubarb crisp, and created a version I hoped would work. Sure enough it did work and it was wonderful!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust
Follow recipe on page 128 of Pioneer Woman Cooks

Filling
3 ½ - 4 cups rhubarb, trimmed and cut into ¼ - ½ inch slices (~1 ½ - 2 pounds rhubarb from the store)
3 ½ - 4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced (~ 1-2 16-ounce containers)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
a little lemon juice squeezed from ½ a small lemon

Egg Wash
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Prepare bottom of pie crust and place in fridge until ready.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place sliced strawberries in medium bowl. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over sliced strawberries and stir. Place sliced rhubarb in a second medium bowl. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over rhubarb and stir. Let sit as you prepare and measure other ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine remaining ½ cup sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt. Add in strawberries, rhubarb, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix together.

Begin rolling out top pie crust and cutting strips for a lattice top. Once you have the majority of strips cut, take the bottom pie crust out of fridge.

Pour the strawberry rhubarb mixture into pie crust. Cover the filling with the pie crust strips in a lattice pattern.

Pre-Oven

Cut off any excess dough and pinch the top crust and bottom crust together to seal. (I tried to make my border pretty with this trick I saw on Martha Stewart one time, but I obviously still need some practice in that area.)

Pre-Oven

You could save some time and just roll out the second pie crust and cover the entire top of the pie, just be sure to cut slits into it for the steam to get out.

Place pie plate on cookie sheet; it makes it easier to get in and out of the oven (it also avoids a mess in your oven if your pie bubbles over, but luckily mine didn’t!). Brush the egg wash over the crust.

Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking until crust turns golden brown and filling bubbles, about another 1 hour and 30 minutes (I might have left mine in there just a tad longer). Transfer pie to rack and cool.

Just out of the oven

Serve warm with ice cream or let it cool completely and serve on it’s own as a refreshing treat.

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My strawberry rhubarb pie experiment was a huge success! My fiancé LOVED this recipe, probably more than anything else I’ve ever made him

Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's BBQ Jalapeño Poppers

These are delicious! You must try them!

I made the original Pioneer Woman Jalapeño Poppers over Labor Day weekend. You can find the basic recipe here. They were good.

However, my friend made the new and improved version from Pioneer Woman’s cookbook for her daughter’s birthday party and they were even better.

So I made some for my dad while we were hanging out on Father’s Day. He loves spicy things, nothing is ever hot enough, so I knew he'd like them.

Try them out for one of your summer events, you'll love them.

Party Post: Adorable Ladybugs

For my very first party post, I have a fabulous party to share with you!

Saturday was my friend Tiffany’s little girl’s 1st birthday party. She went all out; it was amazing how much time and love she put into every single detail to make this party perfect and special for her daughter.

Take a look, she did a wonderful job!

Invitations

As you can see, she even made return address labels on the envelope to match the invitation.

Silverware

So cute!

Favors

Everyone could take home a little ladybug.

Balloons

Balloons always make a party more festive.

Banner

So fun!

I didn’t get a picture of the food table, but she made everything herself, including Pioneer Woman’s Jalapeño Poppers (they were gone in a flash)! Tiffany also loves Pioneer Woman…it’s why we’re friends…not really, but it helps :)

Remember my grass cupcakes? Well, my talented friend made ladybug tags to match the rest of the party décor.

Right before the party started I added in the ladybug picks and stuck on some of my pink royal icing flowers. Aren’t they cute?

If you thought the cupcake was cute, wait until you see the cakes Tiffany made. Adorable!

Almost done.

Done and beautiful!

The little ladybug for the birthday girl. Super Adorable!

A big ladybug cake and a little ladybug cake just for the birthday girl. My friend did both of these cakes herself (and she’s never taken a decorating class)…like I said she’s pretty impressive.

Here are the ladybugs in the grass...aka the cakes surrounded by the cupcakes.

What a wonderful party for my first party post. Thanks Tiff!

Pioneer Woman’s Strawberry Shortcake Cake

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of Pioneer Woman.

She posted a recipe almost exactly one year ago that I’ve been waiting to try. You're probably thinking, "a year? seriously? why the delay?". Well, it is because it probably wouldn’t be too smart if I try out a cake recipe for just the fiancé and me...the leftovers would end up with one of us and we’d probably eat the whole thing. So I wait until an opportunity arrives that allows me to share.

This past Monday was our last session of pre-marriage class and we were having a little potluck to celebrate. What better way to celebrate than cake? Plus the strawberries have been so good lately. So I pulled out the Strawberry Shortcake Cake recipe from my growing list of awaiting recipes.

The cake is a pretty dense cake, which is good since it’s covered in strawberries and strawberry juices. Yep, each layer is covered in fresh strawberries, but it doesn’t end there.

(The cake and strawberries go into the freezer for a short amount of time before icing.)

Then, the cake and the strawberries are covered with cream cheese icing. I have to say, the icing is absolutely heavenly. It makes me want to bake a carrot cake or a spice cake just so I can have a reason to make this icing again. (I may have dipped some pretzels in the leftover icing and eaten them…I didn’t want to waste it!)

The entire cake is good and the class seemed to like it. As always, Pioneer Woman does not disappoint. Although, I think next time I might try converting the recipe into cupcakes, wouldn’t that be perfect for a summer BBQ? Yum!

Here is the link to the full recipe with all of Pioneer Woman’s wonderful step by step photos: Strawberry Shortcake Cake.

Enjoy!

Dinner with a Tropical Twist

A while back I asked the fiancé to go through a few of my cookbooks and mark recipes that he thought sounded good. One of them was Mango Chipotle Pot Roast from Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes. It is a gluten-free recipe which would made it perfect for dinner Friday night since my parents were coming over.

I also remembered a recipe I’d wanted to try from an old Whole Foods magazine; Pan de Coco (Coconut Bread). I thought the coconut would go well with the mango and thus started a meal inspired by a semi-tropical theme.

Mandarin Orange Spinach Salad
Pan de Coco (Coconut Bread)
Mango Chipotle Pot Roast
Brown Rice (to go with the pot roast and because not everyone could have the rolls since they definitely were not gluten-free)
Hawaiian Crispies (for dessert)

Details, reviews, pictures, thoughts and recipes are listed below if any of the above menu items catch your interest.

Clearly I’m still infatuated with spinach, I’m not sure this would even qualify as a recipe since it’s so incredibly simple, but it was very good.

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Mandarin Orange Spinach Salad

Spinach
Mandarin oranges
Sliced almonds
Poppy seed dressing

Place spinach in bowl(s), top with mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and poppy seed dressing.
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Aside from the Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls, I’ve never made any type of bread/dinner roll. It actually wasn’t that hard at all. The majority of the time is spent waiting on the dough to rise. The rolls turned out very well. They didn’t taste as coconut-y as I thought they would, it was more a hint of coconut, they were still good though.

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Pan de Coco (Coconut Bread)

From Whole Foods magazine March/April 2009
The recipe is also online and can be found here: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2253

I would note that I did two things different from the recipe. One, I used Light Coconut Milk; it worked fine, but I wonder if regular coconut milk would have provided a stronger coconut flavor to the rolls. Two, I used sweetened coconut because I couldn’t find unsweetened.
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The pot roast was pretty good and pretty simple since everything went into the crock pot in the morning and just cooked all day. I will say though, I’m not a fan of recipes that have you place hot vegetables and juices into the blender. As the recipe instructed, I covered the blender with a towel but it still exploded hot liquid all over my arm and the kitchen.

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Mango Chipotle Pot Roast

If you like slow cooker recipes, check out Sandra’s book.
Make according to recipe in book; serve with brown rice.
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Since everything else was a bit tropical I wanted to keep the theme going for dessert, so I went over to Tasty Kitchen and searched for some recipes. Actually, originally I was going to try to spice up the rice that went with the pot roast so I entered rice into the search field and Hawaiian Crispies was one of the results.

If you haven’t checked out Tasty Kitchen you definitely should, it’s a lot of fun. It’s not just an online resource with TONS of recipes, but it’s also a community of people that enjoy cooking and sharing. If you sign-up, let me know and I’ll add you to my friend list. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe (noted below) and it turned out great; my mom LOVED them.

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Hawaiian Crispies

The recipe can be found here. Although, I did make a couple of changes to the version I made Friday night.

First, I halved the recipe. Second, I added a little bit of coconut milk in with the melted butter and marshmallow mixture, not a lot, I’d guess maybe about a teaspoon at most. Third, I didn’t cover the top completely with candy melts, I thought that might be a little too much sweetness, so I just drizzled some on top and then topped with shredded coconut.
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Hope you enjoy!

New Tradition

It’s no secret that I love Pioneer Woman. So back in November when she came to Colorado for a stop on her book tour, I knew I had to go. I convinced my boyfriend to go and keep me company on the drive and during the wait.

He didn’t understand why we had to go so early, until the crowds started showing up, it was packed! (The people went up the stairs and filled the second floor!)

Then he was glad we got there early and wouldn’t have to wait until the middle of the night for my cookbooks to get signed.

I have been waiting to try some recipes from her cookbook. I’ve tried a few recipes from her blog before and they were wonderful. So after Christmas I picked out my first recipe from the book and decided to give it a try for New Year’s Day…cinnamon rolls.

I’ve never made any type of bread dough from scratch, I was a little nervous. But I’m happy to report that it went very well! The yeast and the rising…nothing to be scared of anymore. I made the dough on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and let it sit in the fridge until New Year’s Day. On New Year’s Day I rolled out the dough, covered it with filling, rolled it up, sliced it, let it rest and then into the oven it went. Meanwhile I made the maple coffee icing. I should also note that I quartered the recipe. Pioneer Woman’s original recipe makes 40-50 rolls…and well I definitely didn’t need 50 rolls sitting around past New Year’s Day.

(Pre-Icing)

(Post Icing, sorry about the picture quality on this one.)

The cinnamon rolls were delicious! So delicious in fact that my boyfriend declared that it should be a new tradition to have these cinnamon rolls every New Year’s Day. He loved them!

Note: The cinnamon roll recipe is available on Pioneer Woman’s web site. However, I strongly recommend that you buy the cookbook, it’s great!