Guest posting, quinoa and DIY.

Go check out my guest post over at A Well Crafted Party! Jenni is crazy talented at having crafty and cute events. I am not so much gifted in the crafty arena of life. DIY is not a regularly used term in my life. It is actually never used. Unless I’m talking about how I don’t DIY. But isn't that the whole point of blogs? To compare yourself to others and feel inadequate!?... Just kidding. Kinda.

ANYWAY, you don’t have to DIY to dazzle at a party! You can still make a splash if you bring an awesome dish to share. Check out my post and some super-secret shortcuts in this quinoa recipe.

Yes, I posted this recipe a year ago. I'm lazy. Sue me.

Quinoa Summer Salad

This is an adapted recipe from Sandra Lee. She is the chick from Semi-Homemade. I was surprised to like one of her recipes because during her show they always seem kinda whacked. One thing about her show that cracks me up is how booze crazy she is. Think about it. "Now that we are done with the child birthday party prep, we can start on the treats for the grow-ups! *wink*" (as she pulls out a half-gal of liquor). 

I personally wouldn’t want to send my (hypothetical) kid to the "children’s parties" she is throwing. It would go like this: "Guess what mom!? The lady had so many grown-up treats that she knocked over the tablescape and passed out! Then we played in the bouncy castle unsupervised! It was awesome!"

She is on the same level as Giada for me. Sorry Everyday Italian, but I didn’t order a side of cleavage with my meal. Oh, and it’s pronounced pro-shoot-o. You are in America now.

Okay, enough rambling. On to the recipe!

Recipe:
1 cup of quinoa
- cook in 2 cups of water (or chicken stock, but water is less calories obv.)

Let cool completely before tossing it with the other ingredients.

Prep all of the veggies and toss them in a bowl together. (See above. Can you handle it?)

1 english cucumber (chopped)
¼ cup roasted peppers (chopped)
¼ cup red onion (finely chopped)
½ cup grape tomatoes (halved)
½ cup crumbled feta
1 tablespoon fines herbs
Balsamic dressing (to taste)

Add cooled quinoa to the veggie mixture. Toss in, feta and herbs. Add a little bit of dressing last and you are done!

You can take shortcuts wherever you want. I roasted my own peppers (because I had some on hand), and my mom makes her own dressing. But you can buy things already prepared if you want! Once it is all mixed together it will all turn out pretty much the same.

Gabe’s Bangin’ Breakfast Wontons

I have been MIA due to a “State Sabbatical.” My cheerleaders have their state competition this weekend and my schedule has been rather ridiculous. But this is too good not to share so I had to make time!

I want to share a recipe that has made my life so much easier! My fellow cheer coach, Gabe, came up with a clever breakfast item that is perfect for the commuter or the girl on the go. (I consider myself both)

You may be wondering, "why are they called 'bangin’ breakfast wontons'?" Well, it is because they are low cal! So, while it is bangin’ that you can take them to-go. It is even more bangin’ that they will help you on your journey to a super bangin’ bod!

Ingredients:
Wonton wrappers (2 per muffin tin)
Egg whites (just buy the carton. Way less work)
Turkey sausage (1/2 a sausage link per muffin tin. Cut into smallish pieces)
Salt and pepper to taste
Part-skim mozzarella (grated. Any cheese will work, but try to keep it low fat)

Optional:
Spinach (frozen or fresh)
Onion
Mushrooms
(Saute these ingredients if you would like to have a veggie boost in the morning! OR make it vegetarian by leaving out the turkey sausage.)

If your muffin tins are not non-stick you will need to use a teeny bit of cooking spray. 

- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place wonton wrappers in muffin tin. Alternate in a way that covers the entire cup.
- Spoon in sautéed veggies and sausage pieces.
- Sprinkle in a little bit of cheese
- Add a couple shakes of salt and pepper
- Pour egg whites into the cups until they are about half way full. Remember, they will puff up when they are cooking, but will settle again once cooled. 
- Use a spoon to mix the ingredients in the cups, so they are distributed more evenly.

- Bake in the oven for about 15-20min or until puffed up and no longer shiny.
- Let cool and move the breakfast wontons to the fridge!

I love having these ready for breakfast everyday. My muffin tin only makes 6, so it is perfect for my week. I make them on Sundays and put them in individual Ziploc baggies so they are ready to grab on my way out the door! I usually eat them cold in the car, but they are even better if you nook them for about 10 seconds.

Enjoy!

Denture warning: Salted Caramels

Every year since we were in high school my friend Caitlin and I have been doing what we lovingly call,  "Christmas cookie bake." We have some old standards for each year, but we also always have a wild card slot. Over the years we have done fudge, chocolate dipped pretzels, cut outs etc. This year our wild card cookie wasn’t a cookie at all. We made salted caramels. Candy is tricky to make, but I am happy to say that they turned out quite nicely.

Caitlin had done a trial run of the recipe the week before. They didn't turn out quite how she wanted. Which was good because we knew what to do and what not to do. We checked on a number of different recipes and blogs in order to get good advice and tricks to make sure our caramels would turn out just right!

With help and recipes from Brown Eyed Baker and advice from David Lebovitz for opinions and temperatures etc. we came up with our own manageable/ less fancy version. Plus we exchanged some ingredients for what we had in the pantry. Both recipes said to use light, but we only had dark corn syrup. BUT, Betty Crocker says to use dark corn syrup...Who are we to argue with Betty!? It worked for us!

1 cup heavy cream

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

½ tsp vanilla

1¼ teaspoon fleur de sel, plus more for sprinkling

1½ cups granulated sugar

¼ cup dark corn syrup

¼ cup water

Important tip: Be ready for the whole recipe before you start cooking. Once you begin you need to move quickly!

1. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, lightly butter parchment.

2. Bring cream, butter, vanilla and sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

3. Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved try not to stir too much. Just lightly stir occasionally to check the bottom of the pan for any hot spots. Remove from heat when the mixture reaches 310 degrees.

4. Immediately stir cream mixture into the caramel. The mixture will bubble up and make a noise. Don’t be alarmed! Return to the heat and let it simmer, stirring until caramel registers at 254 degrees. Getting to the high temp will take a while. Don’t get freaked out, the mixture cools off a lot when you add the cream. If you remove the candy too soon from the heat you will end up with caramel sauce for your ice cream. If you let it get too hot you will end up with hard sucking candies ala Werther’s. Both fine options… just not the desired result.

5. Pour immediately into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle more salt over the top of the caramel and let sit until cooled (at least 2 hours). Cut into pieces by heating the knife and wrap each piece in wax or parchment paper, twisting ends to close.

We used holiday parchment to wrap them! 

We originally thought they got too hot and were going to be hard to eat. We were wrong! They were great and gone by the end of the weekend. Thankfully no one in my family has dentures! 

Founders and feathers! This is delicious!

Every Thanksgiving I make the pumpkin pie. My grandma has been trying to teach me how to make pie crust for a number of years but I still have not been able to master it. She can just feel when it is right! How does she do that?! On a few occasions she has tried to teach me, more often than not a some dough ended up down the disposal. So our solution is that she brings the pie crusts with her and I make the filling. It has been working out and our dessert is always a delicious team effort!

Over the years I have used multiple recipes and I started to combine them. Next year I will probably go back to a different method. But no matter what recipe you follow or whether you use heavy cream, half and half, whole milk or (cringe)…evaporated milk… (please don’t use evaporated milk), follow these additional directions and your pie will go from “great pie” to “holy founders and feathers! This is delicious!”

These are my two tips for a fabulous pumpkin pie.

1.) Spice it up!

I use a recipe from a cookbook, but I have written in the spices to use. I took them from my friend Tracy’s recipe.

From The Best Recipe cookbook (plus my notes)

Just replace your recipes spice directions with these!

For one 9” pie:

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp cardamom

¼ tsp lemon zest

½ tsp salt

2.) Process it!

Want really smooth pumpkin pie?! Toss your complete filling into the food processor. It will make it extra smooth and take out any left over "can taste" or lumps from the pumpkin filling. Then proceed to pour the processed filling into your blind-baked shell. Bake and Bon appétit! 

I know Thanksgiving already happened and that most of you aren't going to be making pumpkin pie. Just remember it for next year!

Best of the best: Bloody Mary Mix!

Within the past 6 months I started liking the bloody mary. I don’t love spicy things, but I love savory things. Having spicy tomato juice instead of orange juice suits me! OR save yourself some calories and money and make a “virgin mary!”

I have used a couple different recipes in the past. This time I took the best ideas from each. Now we have the best of the best!

2 lemons (all the juice you can get)

2 limes (all the juice you can get)

3 Tbsp olive jar juice (yes, the liquid from the jar of olives!)

3 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

3 Tbsp dijon mustard (I prefer country Dijon because of the seeds)

2 Tbsp horseradish (from the jar, but not the creamy stuff!)

1 Tbsp hot sauce (any pepper kind or something similar to Tabasco)

1 Tbsp Sriracha hot chili sauce

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp+ fresh ground black pepper (personal preference)

1 tsp+ salt (personal preference)

64oz of Low Sodium Tomato/Veggie juice

Mix all of the ingredients together. I go liquid first. It ends up being less messy that way. Once it is all whisked together, see how much there is and pour out that same amount from the Tomato juice jug. Now that there is spare room in the juice jug, pour the mix right into the jug and shake it up!

To serve:

Fill your glass with ice. Add vodka and mix! Garnish with a lemon slice and pickled veggies!

Tips/ reasons for my recipe choices:

The most important addition is the Sriracha sauce. You have the Tabasco for initial spice and the Sriracha gives you that after heat. I happened upon this by chance when I ran out of hot sauce once. It was my replacement sauce and it is now my favorite thing about the mix! I swear it makes all the difference. 

Also, I read a lot of recipes that said to use tomato vegetable juice. It is thicker and more flavorful/ makes a better base for your mix. I always go with low sodium because you are adding so much salt from the other ingredients! Plus, always tryna prevent being bloated. Am I right!? 

Try it out and tell me you like it! If your response is negative just don't tell me. Slater!