Nutella Hand Pies

I love Nutella...I mean who doesn't? I was first introduced to it years ago and have loved it ever since. I have eaten more than a few nutella sandwiches in my life and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. So when I had some left over pie crust dough from these chicken pot pies I knew exactly what to do with it! Make little individual Nutella pies! This way I can eat my little Nutella pie without a fork, and even on the who. I see this as a win win situation!

Nutella Hand Pies

Left over pie crust
Nutella
Egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tbs water)
Sugar (enough to sprinkle on top)

Directions:
Roll out pie crust fairly thin. Use a biscuit cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles in your pie crust. Place about 1 tbs of nutella on each circle. Gently fold the circle in half around the nutella making sure to to squeeze out all of the nutella. Using a fork crimp the edges to seal in the nutella. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Individual Chicken (Or Turkey) Pot Pies

Every year I get a turkey from work for Thanksgiving. It is actually a really good turkey. The problem is that we usually get it the day before Thanksgiving, and we have already made plans to eat another turkey. So what do I do with my turkey? Well it stays in my freezer until it's almost time to get another one. Then I remember a wonderful holiday called Canadian Thanksgiving. They celebrate Thanksgiving about a month before we do. It is a great excuse to get with my Canadian friends and eat a delicious turkey with all sorts of other great foods. Now what do I do with all my millions of pounds of left over turkey? I make these chicken pot pies, but with turkey! I made them 2 different ways. One involves more crust, and one involves less. You can choose how you want yours.

Individual Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pies

1 ½ pounds chicken (about three medium-size chicken breasts) cooked and shredded
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup potatoes cut into small cubes
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced (about 1 cup)
2-3 stalks celery, chopped (about ½ cup)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
½ cup flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen peas
Pie Crust - about enough for 2 pies

Place chicken broth and potatoes in a large pot. Cook on medium high until potatoes are tender. Time varies depending on how large your potato pieces are. Pour the broth and potatoes through a fine-mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup and reserve broth. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add shredded chicken to bowl and set aside. Return the pot to the stove top (no need to wash if you used it to cook the chicken).

Heat the olive oil in the now-empty pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 5 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking, shred the chicken into small bite-size pieces. Transfer the cooked vegetables to the bowl with the chicken; set aside.

Over medium heat melt the butter in the empty pot. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the reserved chicken broth and milk. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn the bottom. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Remove from the heat and stir the chicken, vegetables and peas into the sauce.

There are 2 options on how to make your individual pie:

Option # 1 - Less crust option:

Roll out pie crust to desired thickness. Place ramekins on dough and cut out circles to fit ramekins. Scoop filling into each individual ramekin. Place dough circle on top of each filled ramekin. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool slightly before serving.

Option # 2 - More crust option:

Roll out pie crust to desired thickness. Cut out a large circle, big enough to be able to fit into a jumbo muffin tin(I used a bowl and traced it with my knife). Place one circle into each jumbo muffin spot. Press down gently on each dough circle to get it to take the form of the muffin tin. Scoop approximately 1/3 cup of filling mixture into each spot. Cut out a smaller circle and place it on top of each individual pie. Press slightly with fingers to get edges to seal. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. To make them easier to remove from muffin tins you could line them with tin foil prior to placing dough in tins. This option you could also freeze and use later. You could bake them prior to freezing, or you could freeze them with dough still raw. Whichever you prefer.

 This recipe made enough for me to do 4 ramekins and 6 jumbo muffin tins with a little bit of filling left over.

Heavenly Hot Fudge

Years ago my sister lived in Chicago. My mom and I went out to visit her. We had a great time. We went through the city, saw Wicked for the fist time, and just had a blast being together. It was a short trips, but we had a great time. Do you know what made that trip even better? This chocolate sauce. I honestly don't remember if we put this sauce on our ice cream, or if we just ate the sauce with a spoon. It is that good! You don't get hot fudge that tastes like this in the grocery store. There are so many reasons to make things from scratch, but taste alone is enough for me!

Heavenly Hot Fudge

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 pint whipping cream
dash of salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbs corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and chocolate together over low heat. stir in whipping cream, salt, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally. For a thick hot fudge bring mixture to 235 degrees. If you like your chocolate a little thinner boil until mixture reaches 220 degrees. Serve warm over ice cream (or just eat it with a spoon).

Divine Caramel Sauce

I have been in an ice cream mood recently. I have mostly been thinking about ice cream toppings recently. Maybe its because we went to my favorite ice cream place this last weekend. Or maybe it is because I can't help but dream about sweet ooey gooey things. Either way I have been thinking about caramel sauce and all its wonderfulness. I absolutely adore a good caramel. None of this low fat or no fat stuff. I actually really don't like store bought caramels (most of them). I love the kind of caramel that is made with lots of good butter and cream. I mean if you are going to eat it on ice cream what is the point of going low fat? That's right, there is none, so go ahead, give in to your inner caramel snob self, and make this delightful caramel. You won't be disappointing!

Divine Caramel Sauce

*Makes about 1 1/2 cups sauce

1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream (room temperature or slightly warmed preferably)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Set the pan over low heat and stir the mixture gently until the sugar is dissolved. I don’t ever get a completely clear syrup but I let it warm over medium-low heat (a 3 on my stovetop) for at least 6-10 minutes before moving to the next step. To be sure the sugar is dissolved, I’ll dip a spoon in the sugar mixture and then gently slide my finger over the mixture on the spoon and take a taste. If the sugar is dissolved, the syrup will be smooth and not at all grainy. If you still feel grains of sugar, keep stirring over low heat until it is completely dissolved. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved before letting the mixture come to a boil. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, increase the heat to medium or medium-high and bring the syrup to a boil. Cover the saucepan and let the syrup boil for 2 minutes. Uncover, reduce the heat to medium, and continue to boil the syrup until the edges start to turn golden brown. Carefully and gently stir the syrup until it turns a deep amber, caramel color. On my stove, this takes about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the butter. Gently but quickly stir until the butter is incorporated. Stir in the cream. If the sauce becomes lumpy and isn’t whisking together, set the pan over low heat and stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and salt.

Serve the sauce warm or at room temperature. Store the sauce in a jar or airtight container, tightly sealed, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Reheat on low power in the microwave or in a saucepan, adding a tablespoon of two or water, if needed, if the sauce is too thick.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

If you are having trouble you can also check out This site for helpful hints and tips

Cinnamon Ice Cream

My husband and I have been fortunate enough to go on a couple of cruises. We absolutely love cruises. Our 2 favorite cruises have one thing in common...ice cream! Now the ice cream itself didn't necessarily make the cruises our favorites, but they sure didn't hurt. The first cruise we went on together was a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. It was amazing. We had a great time, but here is where the ice cream comes in. On Disney's private island they had soft serve cookie dough ice cream! Soft Serve! This ice cream wasn't just flavored like cookie dough, no it actually had chunks of cookie dough in it. I didn't even know that was possible with soft serve. It was probably the best cookie dough ice cream I have ever had. We pretty much camped out by the ice cream lady for a while, but sadly we had to leave the island and now it is just a very very fond memory in my head. Now our other favorite cruise was our recent cruise to Alaska on Holland America. Everything was wonderful on this cruise (don't even get me started on their amazing ceramic loungers), but one day we went to the ice cream counter (a daily/multiple times a day activity for us) and they didn't have cookies n cream ice cream that day. Cookies n cream ice cream is typically my favorite. I was slightly saddened, but decided to branch out. The fun flavor of the day was cinnamon. We decided to try it, and it has forever changed our life. Cinnamon ice cream in a waffle cone might be one of the most awesome things in life. For the next few days of the cruise we got at least one (notice the at least part) of those ice cream cones a day. On the second to last day of the cruise they decided to switch out their flavors again. We were devastated. By this time we were on a fist name basis with the ice cream guy. His name was Zaldy (very cool name). At the end of the day we gave him such a hard time about not having the cinnamon ice cream he said he would try and find some for the next day. Zaldy came through for us! We got the eat one last amazing cinnamon waffle cone before we had to go back to reality. When I got home I just knew I had to search out and find a recipe for cinnamon ice cream. I tried a couple different recipes, but this one was by far my favorite and most similar to the wonderful ice cream on the cruise!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 cup (240ml) whole milk
¾ cup (150g) sugar *
pinch of salt
four 3-inch (8cm) cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup (240ml) of the cream in a medium saucepan. When it comes to a boil, cover, remove from the heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour – mine steeped for almost 2 hours.
Rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture; pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
Stir the mixture constantly over medium-low hear with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula – do not let it boil.
Pour the custard through the strainer into the cream and discard the cinnamon sticks. Set aside to cool then refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
Freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.


*If you prefer to use honey as your sweetener of choice reduce to 1/2 cup honey. The honey does give it a slightly different taste but is still amazing.

Here is another great way to eat this ice cream! I used my perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and voila! Heaven!

Recipe Source: Technicolor Kitchen

Browned Butter and Sour Cream Cornbread

Those of you that know me, or who read my blog frequently might know that I have an affinity toward browned butter. I have used it in several recipes, and have always loved the results. It adds such a richness to the flavor of things. Well today when I was at work I saw this recipe and knew I had to try it! This corn bread is not too sweet. It is a perfect sweetness for spreading some honey butter or just honey on top.

Browned Butter and Sour Cream Cornbread

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream

Instructions

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling often until lightly browned and nutty, about 4 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl, and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub an 8-inch cast-iron skillet with the oil; place in oven to heat.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add eggs and sour cream to cooled butter, whisking well. Pour into dry ingredients, and stir just to combine, taking care not to overmix. Pour batter into skillet. Bake until golden and a toothpickinserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in skillet 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Relish

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

Oh how I love food! There are a few restaurants at which I always seem to get the same thing over and over again. Olive Garden is one of those places for me. I have tried to figure out how they make such good Alfredo sauce. I have tried several different recipes, all of which have turned out good, but not quite the same. The other day I was talking with some of my wonderful co-workers discussing food (of course). Olive Garden, their bread sticks, and their Alfredo sauce came up. We were all stuck on the idea and practically salivating just thinking of it. I called my sweet husband and had him go pick us some up. It was wonderful! While we were on their website we realized that they had recipes. They actually have their Alfredo sauce recipe on their site. I of course had to try it just so I could share with all of you my results. I'm not really sure that it is 100% the same, but the taste is pretty much amazing. This is the best Alfredo sauce I have ever made. I will continue to try and tweak it to see if I can't get it to taste just like the real stuff.

Alfredo Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time:10 minutes
Serving Size:4
Ingredients

1 1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup imported Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup imported Romano cheese, grated

6 egg yolks from fresh jumbo eggs

Salt and black pepper to taste


Procedures

HEAT milk and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan until it begins to simmer. Turn off heat. Slowly whip in cheese, then remove from heat.

PLACE egg yolks in a separate bowl and slowly whip in a portion of the hot milk and cream mixture. Slowly add egg yolk mixture back into remaining cream mixture. Place back on very low heat and continually stir until simmering. Take sauce off heat so it thickens. (This will increase temperature of egg yolks, known as tempering).

SEASON to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Recipe Source: Olive Garden