Spiced Apple Blueberry Pie

         My moms all time favorite store bought desert is this mixed berry tart that she will finish in less than 24 hours.  Naturally, the next time I was making a pie, I tried to recreate it.  Instead of a traditional thick crust like in a tart, I made a pie crust, but substituted half of the flour for ground almonds.  I also added all spice and cinnamon to the blueberry filling as well as some lemon juice to balance out the sweetness (these ideas found at: www.simplyrecipes.com). I was trying to figure out how to make fruit pies less runny, when I thought about apples.  Because of the pectin in apples, I figured it should help to thicken the syrup from the blueberries.  Sure enough, it not only thickened the filling, but added a thin, soft layer at the bottom that absorbed blueberry flavor, mostly adding texture:

Spiced Blueberry Apple Pie:

  Ingredients:

    Crust:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup very cold butter
• 4-5 tablespoons ice water

    Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (defrosted and juice mostly poured off)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 apples

  Instructions:

1. In a food processor, combine flour, almonds, sugar, and salt 
2. Slowly pulse in the cold butter until pea sized lumps form, then add water slowly until dough becomes cornmeal textured, then add one more tablespoon:
   
3. Remove dough and divide into two pieces, kneading each one minimally only until it sticks together:
   
4. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and place in fridge wile preparing filling: 
   
5. For filling, mix blueberries with sugar, flour, cinnamon, all spice, and lemon juice:
   
6. Peel and slice apples and set aside
7. Remove crust and roll it our on a lightly floured surface, then place in a lightly greased pie pan
8. Line bottom with overlapping apple slices:
   
9. Pour blueberry filling over apples and put small pieces of the 2 tablespoons of butter over the filling:
   
10. Roll out the other piece of pie dough and lay the dough on top, then roll edges under
11. Cut four slits in the center and place in fridge while oven preheats to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
12. Bake for 20 minutes, then bring temperature down to 350, for another 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown:
    
13. Remove and let cool completely before slicing and enjoying

       

         

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee

       My mom recently got a NutriBullet blender and is now obsessed with green or, realistically, brown "super" food smoothies.  I must say, I am impressed with how it blends, but I decided to use it to my advantage by using things like coffee and all natural organic "almond cocoa spread" (nutella) in it.  I adapted a nutella iced coffee recipe off of pinterest, and came up with:

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee:
  Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 2 tablespoons nutella (or almond cocoa spread)
• 2 tablespoons hazelnut flavored syrup
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 table spoon sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
• 6-8 ice cubes

  Instructions: 

1. Place all ingredients (including ice) in the blender, or in our case, the NutriBullet cup:
   
2. Blend for 45 second to a minute until smooth and frothy:
   
3. Pour over ice:
   
4. Enjoy!
   

                    

Fresh Oregano Lemon Salad Dressing

         This recipe uses mustard as an easy emulsifier to help hold the oil and lemon/vinegar together.  I used a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar base and added oregano and lemon to make it fresh and summery.  I put this dressing on a salad of tomato and baby greens but it could be used on any salad or to marinate chicken, though I would add sugar or honey as well as more salt to make it a quick marinade.

Fresh Oregano Lemon Salad Dressing:

  Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• juice from two lemons
• 1 tablespoon whole grain or dijon mustard (whatever you have on hand)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano 
• 1 clove crushed garlic (optional)

  Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, both vinegars, sesame oil, lemon juice, and mustard until no spots of mustard remain:
   
2. Add all of the seasonings adjusting to taste, enjoy!

Sweet Corn and Pepper Risotto with Chicken Skewers

       For Christmas, my aunt, a vegetarian, wanted a vegetarian dish to have instead of turkey.  That was the task I was given that day.  We decided on risotto even though I had never made made it before, but it turned out amazing!  Today it was 80 degrees out (yes, it's January) so while walking through the grocery I was drawn to summery things.  Things like sweet corn, bell peppers, and eggplant and what better way to combine them than in:

Sweet Corn and Pepper Risotto with Chicken Skewers:

6 servings

  Ingredients:

• 12 ounces dry arborio rice
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 medium eggplant
• one jar canned bell peppers
• 1 bag frozen sweet corn
• 4 tablespoons half and half or cream
• 4 chicken breasts, cubed
• salt and pepper

  Instructions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once melted add rice and stir until each grain is completely coated.  This is important so that the risotto doesn't clump together.
2. Heat the broth until simmering in a separate sauce pan and add two ladles of it to the rice, stirring the rice constantly:
   
3. When all of the liquid is absorbed, add another ladle of broth, stirring constantly.  Repeat until all broth is used; the rice should now have the consistency of risotto:
   
4. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in another saute pan and peel and cube the eggplant.  Add the eggplant and cook for about 10 minutes, remove and place in a bowl:
   
5. Dice and saute the onion in the same pan you used for the eggplant and crush the garlic, remove and set aside in a small bowl:
   
6. Microwave corn just until warn and dice the bell peppers.
7. Place the chicken cubes on skewers:
   
8. Stir peppers, corn, onions and garlic, and eggplant into risotto
9. Salt, pepper, and place the skewers on a baking sheet in the oven at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes; until the chicken has cooked through:
   
10. Remove from oven and place over a bowl of risotto, enjoy!
    
    
    

Fun Fact: Pareidolia is the ability to see faces in random places.  My moms friend takes pictures of pareidolia so now we compete, I have found faces in the back of picture frames, electric outlets, coffee pots, and tonight (unintentionally) in my risotto:

Bursting with Lemon, Lemon Bars

       What a better way to use up delicious meyer lemons than in these delicious golden bars?  Lemon bars are a popular, relatively easy dessert that are popular for parties and snacks.  These ones are naturally a beautiful golden because of the meyer lemons and I chose to use high omega 3 eggs making the yolks golden.

Bursting with Lemon, Lemon Bars:

  Ingredients:

• Shortbread crust (I found a simple one online, just combining flour, sugar, and butter but substituted half the flour for ground pecans and almonds)
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (I used meyer lemons)
• 6 tablespoons butter

  Instructions:

1. Line a casserole pan with parchment paper, and press the shortbread into it
2. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown; about 20 minutes:
   
3. Remove from oven and while the crust cools, whisk together egg yolks, eggs, sugar, and lemon juice together:
   
4. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and pour egg mixture into the pan.  Whisk constantly until a thermometer reads 170:
   
5. Strain lemon curd over the crust and place back in the 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until curd starts to firm up:
   
6. Remove and let cool completely before cutting, enjoy!
   

Sweet Dumpling Squash Slices

       Me and my mom were at the local farmers yesterday to do some simple Thanksgiving shopping when we found a small peculiar type of squash.  My mom, being herself, just had to get and try them so she asked the lady there and we found out how to cook them, and it turns out they are amazing!  You could probably do this recipe with any small edible winter squash but the kind we found were called sweet dumplings, and if you ever see them at a store I would definitely try them:

Sweet Dumpling Squash Slices:

  Ingredients:

• about 2 pounds sweet dumpling or other winter squash
• olive oil
• salt 
• pepper

  Instructions:

1. Cut each round squash into quarters like you would and apple (if using large winter squash then cut into one inch cubes)
2. Scoop seeds out of each piece and cut in half:
   
3. Coat a cookie sheet with olive oil and coat each piece of squash in oil.  Then place on the cookie sheet cut side up:
   
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven until very soft and fork tender, 40-50 minutes:
   
5. Remove and let cool, enjoy!
   

          

Starbucks Style Pumpkin Loaf and Latte

       Here in SoCal, yesterday felt like the first real day of winter.  It was "cold" (60 degrees), breezy, and overcast, rain threatening to fall. What better was to spend a day like that after school than at Starbucks reading and studying?  That's when I fell in love with Starbucks pumpkin bread, seriously, it is amazing! But the $2.50 for one slice is a major set back.  So the second I got home, I googled it and found an entire blog of recreations of restaurant food (you should check it out at: www.CopyKat.com)!  But then again, what goes better with Starbucks pumpkin bread than a pumpkin latte, which is equally amazing?  I found many recipes for it, and all were different do I ended up just creating my own:

Starbucks Style Pumpkin Loaf and Latte:
  Ingredients:
   Bread:

•  1 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons allspice 
• 1 teaspoon clove
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup salted/toasted pumpkin seeds 

   Latte:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 cups coffee (I used 2 decaf, 2 regular)
• cloves (optional)

  Instructions:

1. For pumpkin bread, whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bowl:
   
2. In a separate bowl, whisk all wet ingredients:
   
   *tip: if you Pour the oil into a measuring cup and then the pumpkin then the pumpkin won't stick and you won't have to use a spatula to scrape the sides
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk only enough to combine, pour into a greased loaf pan and Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds:
   
   
4. Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes
5. While the bread bakes, combine milk, half and half, pumpkin, sugar and spices into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer:
   
6. Add coffee and stir constantly while simmering for about 10 minutes to let it reduce:
   
7. Remove bread form oven:
   
8. Let it cool completely before cutting and strain and pour Latte into a mug with cloves, enjoy!