Banana Cream Pie - TWD

PART ONE:

Here is the pie crust that I just finished. Do you think that I am proud of this? Think again. I have absolutely no idea how this happens. I followed Dorie's pie crust recipe EXACTLY and this is what happens. The same thing happened last time I used this recipe. I am going to write a note in the cookbook on this page to remind myself to just use this one. These always turn out perfect. Every.Single.Time!

Alas, I am still going to use this pie crust though. It just won't be the prettiest thing that we have ever eaten. I am sure that it will get eaten just the same. The custard tastes delicious.

The rest of the pie will be done later! Come back for Part Two.

Florida Pie - TWD

Another catch up......I made this pie a few weeks ago for a dinner date with our friends. The recipe was originally chosen back in May last year by Diane. The recipe can be found HERE.

This pie was good. It was a little too rich for me though. I love key lime and am not sure why I wasn't too thrilled with this dessert. It was easy enough to make and everyone seemed to like it. It sure was a pretty dessert too.

Another one down and only 20 some more to complete.

Buffalo Chicken Salad - CEiMB

We can thank AJM from You Eat Now for picking this weeks winner. The recipe can be found HERE or HERE.

This was one fantastic salad. Both the Hubster and I enjoyed it. It was simple to prepare and is quite healthy too. The spicy chicken compliments the salad (that was filled with scallions and carrots) and dressing very well. I surprised myself when I really enjoyed the bleu cheese dressing too. I am not usually one for bleu cheese but wanted to give it a shot. I also normally have salads with breaded chicken and have always thought that was the way to go. I was wrong. AND... I will be making this one again. I have already made up another double batch of the bleu cheese dressing to go with the leftover carrots and celery.

I expect this to be a winner among a lot of us!

Coconut Butter Thins - TWD

I can't stop eating these. They are so, so, so good. I love lime and macadamia nuts. With the coconut these are delicious cookies.

The recipe was chosen by Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 145 in Dorie's cookbook. Her post is very cute and you should really check it out.

These cookies reminded me of the Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread cookies that I made awhile back doing a "catch-up" post. I was disappointed in those cookies because they spread so much and were very crunchy. I didn't want these cookies to turn out like that. So, I didn't make them until today and read the P&Q section carefully to determine how to bake mine. I decided to cut out a portion of the butter and used only 1 and 3/4 sticks of butter. I also partially froze the cookies after slicing and baking them. This seemed to do the trick and my cookies didn't really spread too much. They are also a little chewy, just the way I like them.

I will make these again for sure. They are a hit in our house. Thanks for the great pick Jayne.

Root Beer Bundt Cake

What happened to the root beer? I participated in another bake-along with Megan and Nic. Nic picked this Root Beer Bundt Cake that I couldn't pass on. I LOVE root beer, especially root beer floats!

However, I couldn't taste any root beer in this cake. It didn't taste like root beer to me in the slightest. It should have...the recipe called for 2 1/4 cups of root beer in the cake and frosting. The cake was good, very moist and super chocolaty. I did get a little nervous while baking it because when I got the ingredients together I did notice that there is a ton of dark chocolate. Me, not being a huge dark chocolate fan, was a little unsure. However, it was a hit! I enjoyed it and so did the rest of the family. I am glad that The Hubster took the leftovers to our friends' house last night for dessert though.

Root Beer Bundt Cake - Baked Cookbook

2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

Root Beer Fudge Frosting
2 oz. dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup root beer

2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ½ cup powdered sugar

To Serve: Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a 10” bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs just until beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Do not over beat it, as it will cause the cake to be tough.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time, until a small sharp knife inserted in the cake comes clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

Root Beer Fudge Frosting: Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving, with the ice cream on the side.
Be sure to check out Megan, Nic and Leanne's root beer cakes as well. Apparently nobody's really had a root beer taste to it. Too bad!

Chicken with Mango Barbeque Sauce - CEiMB

Well....I had intended to quit CEiMB. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I do like making new and trying new recipes. I just don't think that I will be making the chosen recipes that I know my family will not like. I have no intention of wasting money on exotic (at least to us) veggies or things I know we will not enjoy. I know that defeats the purpose of trying new things because you never know what you may end up liking. But....oh well.

The chosen recipe this week was chicken with mango BBQ sauce. Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen chose the recipe. You can find the recipe HERE or HERE. It was a winner. I had fun making the sauce using an onion, red pepper, brown sugar, mango, red wine vinegar, worchestershire sauce and 3 jalepeno peppers. Although, there were some other ingredients that I just can't think of off the top of my head. The only variation to the recipe that I did was to marinade my chicken for approximately 4 hours instead of only 1 hour.

This was very good. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't going to tell my husband that it was an Ellie recipe because he has sworn off Ellie. However, just before broiling the chicken I let the cat out of the bag and confessed. This was after he mentioned that there was something good being cooked up in our house. He thought that the marinade/BBQ sauce smelled good. All of those good thoughts got kicked to the curb and he immediately wasn't excited for dinner anymore. After dinner he admitted that it wasn't bad. He said that he wasn't wildly excited for me to make it again though. I had a lot of leftover sauce that I froze and am going to try it with some type of grilled fish when we start grilling out more now that the weather is warming up. I should mention that I am not a fan of BBQ sauce and I didn't think you could really qualify this as a BBQ sauce. It was tangy, sweet and mildly spicy though.

Great choice Aggie!

Honey Fruit Salad

This recipe is fast, easy and so good. The Hubster can't get enough and eats it until it is gone. I made the recipe twice and the leftovers do not stick around very long in the fridge. I served it with chicken pot pies and it was such a good side for that dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium firm bananas, chopped

2 cups fresh blueberries

2 cups fresh raspberries

2 cups fresh sliced strawberries

5 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine the bananas and berries. In a small bowl, combine the honey, lemon juice and poppy seeds. Pour over fruit and toss to coat. YIELD: 8 servings.