The Weekday Chef – Page 10 – Featuring Chef Pattie

Mini Chocolate Eclairs

Yummy cream filled Chocolate Eclairs….super yummy for a summer BBQ….

My French born sister-in-law Danielle makes these TO DIE FOR ECLAIRS every year at 4th of July. Everyone has come to expect and love her chocolate eclairs. She actually can’t make a different dessert because everybody looks forward to these 4th of July Eclairs so much! Or they’d be great for a Summer BBQ too! These little cream puffs are so yummy I want one NOW!

My sis-in-law made the easy chocolate eclairs/cream puffs…..I made the fruity, chocolate cupcakes….both look great on our 4th of July table don’t they? They are great for any summer BBQ too.

Easy Eclairs or Cream Puffs Recipe:
1 cup water
1/2 cube butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Heat oven to 400. Heat water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour untilmixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Let cool a bit till batter is not hot. Beat in eggs one at a time. Drop dough 1 Tbsp size onto baking sheet using a pastry bag. Mine were about 1 3/4 inches oval x 1 1/2 and I got about 30 little eclairs.

Cook until puffy and golden. I did 14 minutes at 400 and then turned oven down to 350 for 5 minutes. I think from posts I read on other blogs 20 minutes is perfect for smaller eclairs. Larger ones about 20 minutes at 400 and 4 minutes at 350 but watch them the last 3 minutes. Your oven might be different as I am at high altitude.

Directions

Heat water and butter till boiling. Add flour and stir constantly until mixture is smooth.

The ingredients for cream eclairs are only 4….so easy!

Water, butter, flour and eggs….

Batter before adding the eggs…..I let it beat a little to let off some of the steam….

Then I added 1 egg at a time and beat for a minute in between eggs…..

The eclair batter is like pudding…

I piped the batter onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper….

I added a blob of eclair batter to each of the 4 corners…then pressed the parchment paper on top. It helps
“glue” the paper down to the cookie sheets.

Here are my finished Eclairs….just out of the oven!

Now they are ready to fill with the creamy, rich pudding filling….each one was a half a handful !

Cool. Cut a slit in the side of puff with a knife. Fill eclairs with a pastry bag filled with the french vanilla pudding mixture. Make chocolate icing and spread over top. Keep refrigerated. Makes 12 large or 24 eclairs (mine made 30 little round ones- bigger than the Costco size) I think this is a perfect dessert to bring to a party because if you have other desserts, this can be a side garnish and they are so cute and yummy too.

French Vanilla Cream Filling
1/2 pint whipping cream (smallest carton)
1 small box instant French vanilla instant pudding
1/2 cup milk
Whip until thick.

HERE is a link to a yummy eclair recipe from Annie’s Eats if you like mocha flavor.

1/2 cup milk, pint of cream and small box of french vanilla instant pudding….

The filling is really rich and creamy too…I had to pop an eclair in my mouth to taste test it!

Squeeze inside of your little puffs….so easy!

Chocolate Fudgy Glaze
1/2 slick butter
2 Tbsp. cocoa
2 Tbsp. milk
2 cups powdered sugar ( I used a little less, just add it till desired consistency)

Heat until melted, stirring constantly-add 2 cups powdered sugar until melted. Shake a fork
back & forth and then the other way to ice tops of eclairs if you want a cool design. Or just frost with a knife.

This was the most delicious chocolate glaze!

It was easy and quick….

And it tastes like the most divine fudge! Really!

Chocolate Eclairs….oh my yum! Wouldn’t these eclairs be cute with at little flag sticking out on a toothpick? I saw some at Hobby Lobby the other day….shoulda bought them now that I think about it…..

Wouldn’t you love a creamy, chocolaty, eclair bite? That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

French Bread Baguettes

And here they are, hot out of the oven! French Baguettes are light and crispy!

Awhile back I went to a great cooking class and listened to a master cook and teacher named
“The Food Nanny”. She was just delightful and fun to listen to. She had so many food stories I could have listened to for hours. Here is her book. It is less than $20.00 on Amazon.
ck out her book, she has such a great meal plan to help families eat dinner together and stay close!

I didn’t have my purse with me so I didn’t get an autographed copy of it! DARN! But I DID get her to take a picture with me, when I told her I had a food blog. Isn’t she cute?

She’s a mom and a grandma too! (and she loves being a grandma best!)

She made pizza dough and french baguettes both in under an hour….

Anyway, she gave us all this fantastic recipe for French Baguettes! It takes literally 5 minutes to make. She showed us this cool baguette pan too. I ran right over after the lunch class and bought one at Spoons and Spice….. my fav cooking gadget store. They are having a huge moving sale, so if you are in the Salt Lake City area check it out at Spoons and Spice.

They had so many french bread pans to choose from and they were surprisingly CHEAP!

My finished french breads…..Don’t they look great? They are crunch on the
outside and soft in the inside…perfect to my taste…..

French Baguette recipe….totally easy and seriously yummy!

Then I went to work. A half hour later here were my baguettes. They taste just like a crusty french bread should. And no fat! She gave us all kinds of tips about meal planning that I thought were fabulous! In a nutshell here is her plan….

Sunday is traditional day…roast beef, chicken, those kinds of things.
Monday is Comfort food…chili, mac and cheese, easy stuff like casseroles….
Tuesday is Italian night….she does all her pastas here…she has tons of varieties….
Wednesday is Meatless night….soups, salads, fish, or breakfast for dinner, waffles, french toast, pancakes, bacon, etc.
Thursday is Mexican Night. Tacos, Enchiladas, mexican casseroles, burritos etc.
Friday is Pizza night and all the kids invite their friends over for her out of this world pizza varieties.
Saturday is Grill night. They do a lot of hamburgers or chicken on the grill.

Doesn’t that sound fabulous and fun? I thought so too. Gotta give that plan a try. The thing she stressed, that I really liked was how she said it kept her family together while her husband flew planes in the military and later for an airline. He was gone a lot. She was like a single parent. And dinner around the table every night added structure to her day and a bonding with her kids. They still all come back for Pizza night. She has many gourmet types of pizza as you can imagine. Her favorite is arugula, fresh mozzerella, cherry tomatoes and olive oil on thin crust. I’ll do that on a later post.

Yeast mixed with warm water and sugar…..let it foam up a bit…..

Then add the flour and salt and mix up with warm water….a little at a time until it is a nice ball….Then knead
for a minute on the counter….

Here are mine kinda kneaded and waiting to be put into the pan….took 5 minutes to make and roll!

I went over to Spoons and Spice to see if I could find a “Baguette Pan”

HERE is a page full of coupons to Spoons and Spice. It’s a really fun place to browse around if you are a foodie like me.

Anyway it looks cool….it’s 2 long u shaped pans for breads….

The food nanny makes this bread and gives it away for people’s birthdays and special occasions. What a great gift idea and so quick. Who wouldn’t love some hot french bread homemade by you?

Here’s the Baguette pan. It was only $5.99 at Spoons and Spice! Or check these out!

Recipe for French Baguettes… SO EASY!
1/2 Cup Warm Water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups flour add a cup at a time
Add up to one cup warm water to get perfect consistency

Mix up first 3 ingredients in a small bowl and let sit for 2 or 3 minutes. (sugar feeds yeast so let it set awhile) Then in a separate bowl add salt and flour and add it to wet mixture, and then add the (up to 1 cup) warm water. Mix and then knead for a minute. Roll out in 2 loaves and lay them on greased baguette pan and let rest for 15 minutes under a towel (it will rise a bit). Then bake 450 for 15 minutes or until golden colored. This whole french bread takes about 35 minutes total to make and bake.

So here they are before the 15 minutes rising time…..Both have their own tube to sit in….

And here they are after the 15 minutes rising time….I put a line down the middle of each with
a sharp knife just before popping in the oven….it will look just like french bread when it has been baked!

Wha la! Ready for a hot 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes….watch it the last minute or so…..

And here they are, hot out of the oven! French Baguettes are light and crispy!

Well, they are just plain DEEE-LISH! That’s what they are! I sent one down to my friend Lauri down the street. Spread the lovin!
Then Spread some REAL butter and dig in! mmmm….Yummy!

Pulled Pork in a Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven Pulled Pork….so yummy!

I think dutch oven cooking is fun okay? It is a LOT of work when you are camping, but it is simply fun to watch the pots covered with coals do their thing. And kids love dutch oven stuff. It’s a great family “making memories” time. I would do it in the backyard on a cookie sheet if I don’t like to camp.
But if you don’t like outdoor cooking, try some pulled pork from the crock pot. Either one is really so delicious.

Tools for Dutch Oven Cooking…..

Pork Ribs we bought from Costco….So we didn’t have to pull apart the meat….they are cut already so they just fall apart in the cooking process….

Just dry rub and season with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders and some brown sugar….

Here are 3 recipes for dry rub. Take your pick. Each makes about a cup of dry rub. .

2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup paprika

Dutch ovens come in all sizes. I have 2 of the 12 inch sizes which are most popular.

1/3 cup paprika
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons cayenne
1 teaspoon white pepper

Lid Lifter for the dutch ovens…you will really NEED one of these…..

You can see the fire ring has the coals in a big pot to use for the ovens…..

1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne

Here is My recipe. It tastes sweet more than spicy …it makes about 1/2 cup of rub which is enough for my family. You can double it.

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoon Seasoning Salt (Lawry’s or Johnny’s)

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

11/2 teaspoons paprika

Rub it all over dry ribs and let them sit 1/2 hour before cooking. Add a little bit more brown sugar ( 1/3 cup) and the rest of the dry rub an hour before you want to serve them by pouring it on top of the cooked pulled pork. I love Cattlemen’s BBQ sauce over my ribs and Famous Daves Sweet and Sassy Sauce too. I would choose one of those to have on hand when the pulled pork is done.

Lodge Dutch Ovens are a very good brand. Check out my KITCHEN STORE at the top of my blog if you want some Dutch Oven tools and cooking products. They are ones that I have in my kitchen and home.

Dutch oven OR crock pot….pulled pork can be done either way.

Pour a 1/4 cup of oil into your pot to start and then add the pork in 1 layer. Add dry rub if you haven’t already. Then put the top on and add your coals to the top and bottom. I think most cooks will do dutch oven meats for around 3 hours. It is like cooking them in a slow cooker crock pot. You can also DO this in a crock pot for more like 5 hours. Either way they fall off the bone.

We had dessert in one, potatoes with bacon and cheese in another and pulled pork in another. The top one was just for looks. So cute, right? Dutch oven dinners are fun to do. The holder to the left is another way to put coals down for the first dutch oven. But they are really expensive. Another way is to use a dutch oven stand.

These are expensive and not as necessary unless you plan on doing it a lot. But they do keep the wind out of your dutch oven and the ashes out of your food!

Use a charcoal tower to light up the coals. When they are just gray on each of the 4 edges they are ready to go. Layer about 12 underneath and 10 on top depending on your size of pot. I like the 12 inch pots. Lodge is a great brand if you want to buy one.

You can also do dutch oven in the oven with one of these 9.5 quart Dutch Ovens. But they are VERY expensive.

SEASONING YOUR NEW DUTCH OVEN
Be sure to “season” it before using a new one. It will come with wax in the bottom of the pan. Scrape it out and wipe with a paper towel. Rub just a tiny bit of Wesson oil on the inside and outside surfaces with a rag or paper towel. Then put the lid on one rack and the pan on the other. Let it bake for an hour and a half on 450. It will smoke your kitchen up so be prepared and open windows or your smoke alarm will go off!! When the smoking is all gone, it is seasoned and should look more black than grey. It will continue to get seasoned as you cook with it. Don’t ever wash dutch ovens with soaps! Just rub it out with warm water and reoil it a tiny bit before you put it away or it may rust. Always let it air dry or oven dry before storing.

A close up of our finished pulled pork from a Dutch Oven. Boy I wish I had some right NOW!!

When they are done, pull the pork out of the pan and leave some of the sauce in the pan so you don’t douse your rolls with too much liquid. Add the bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce to the pork. Then serve in a foil pan or large casserole dish and keep covered. Here are our finished pans of pulled pork from a Dutch Oven.

Don’t you want a bit of delicious Dutch Oven Pulled Pork? Buy some soft sub rolls or sandwich type rolls and add pulled pork and maybe some extra bottles of BBQ sauce on the side. So decadently Yummy either from a crock pot or dutch oven, they are both wonderful!

Banana Macadamia nut muffins

We got some fun gifts from Hawaii this week!

My daughter came back from Hawaii and brought my hubs and I some yummy Macadamia nuts! I love them in cookies and stuff. So I wanted to use them in some kind of muffin or bread. Doesn’t this look good? Well it IS!

Banana Macadamia Nut Bread….it’s delicious!

I looked around the kitchen and I had some bananas, some were overripe too! So this is what I came up with. I mixed up a couple of recipes I liked because I wanted this to be rich and dense, fruity bread.

Most of my bananas looked worse than these, but those dark, spotty ones make the best banana bread! Don’t throw them out!

I hate it when my banana bread is dry. With the added applesauce and all that banana and egg it makes it really rich and yummy. I did NOT take a picture of my yucky brown bananas. But it is a GREAT way to use them up.

So I made this yummy Banana Macadamia Nut Bread with the Mouna Loa Macadamia Nuts!

Ingredients are all in my pantry, that’s the kind of recipe I love…..an EASY ONE!!

Here I added walnuts AND Macadamia Nuts from Hawaii to the mix….we love nutty breads!

RECIPE FOR BANANA-MACADAMIA NUT BREAD

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cups white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/4 cups mashed overripe bananas

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix up dry ingredients and set aside. Then in a mixing bowl, add wet ingredients scraping sides. Then add dry mixture. Finally add nuts. (You can add 3/4 cup chocolate chips to the mix for a fun variation). Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. It is done when top is browned and a few cracks show in the middle.

It was DEEElish. My son Devin is home for a visit from Chicago and he and Caitlin liked it a lot. Well, we liked holding little baby Lena a LOT!

Here is Little Miss Lena! She smiles non-stop 24/7

We took her to Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight and she sat smiling for over an hour in the high chair.
What more could you ask of a 6 month old? Not a thing!

These 2 girls love their Uncle Devin a LOT! He plays chase through the house with them.

Of course they had to do a silly picture too!

Yummy Banana Macadamia Nut Bread

Chicken Walnut Salad like Paradise Bakery

Walnut Chicken Salad with Fresh Parmesan Cheese…just like Paradise Bakery…

Have you ever had the Chicken Walnut Salad at Paradise Bakery and Cafe? I love that place. They give you a cookie with each order. I like a little sweet with my salad or soup, ya know?

The Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie at Paradise Bakery….

Yummy place for salads and a quick lunch….

I’ve actually gone there twice in one week once, just to eat their soups and salads. My favorite is the Chicken Walnut. And I can’t pick a favorite soup. They are all really good there.

The Asian Salad is pretty good at Paradise Bakery too….but….the Chicken Walnut is the best.

The only thing is….they DON’T put enough walnuts in the salad. No way. I always go up and ask, “Did you forget my walnuts?” And they ALWAYS tell me “NO”. I just like a lot of crunch in a salad….but that’s just me. 😀

Their sandwiches are pretty good too…

Chicken Walnut – One of my favorite salads there! Here is what they say is in the salad……

“Our famous Chicken Walnut salad on top of romaine lettuce tossed with Caesar dressing, garlic croutons & Parmesan cheese.

Use up lots of your fresh veggies….I added some purple onion to my hubs…he’s an onion lover!
I just got some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese from the deli…

I like sweet, red peppers in mine. We both love cucumbers too…and the Walnuts of course…

So here are the INGREDIENTS for 2 salads
Romaine lettuce cut into bits
1 tomato cut into wedges and then halved
1/2 cucumber cut into spears and then chunked
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese (or more to your taste)
Seasoned croutons
1 grilled chicken breast cooled and cut into chunks (or rotisserie chicken pieces)
ground pepper
1-2 Tablespoons of Caesar dressing to your taste.
1/4 cup walnuts (or more if you like)

Add some black pepper to it right after tossing….

Directions for Chicken Walnut Salad
Cut up all the veggies and lettuce and place into 2 salad bowls. Add the fresh Parmesan, the chicken and the walnuts. Add Caesar dressing and croutons and shake on some black pepper. Enjoy!

Yum…this is sooooo tasty and yummy!

Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze

Strawberry Pie…..so good it’s criminal! I use Jello for the easy glaze!

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze…don’t ya want a bite? Yes, you do!

I love fresh strawberries and I had a ton I got from the market for $2.00 a package! What a deal!! So I made a strawberry pie. This recipe is so easy and it was deeeeeeelish. You make the glaze with jello! It is SOOOOOO easy peasy.

I’m gonna do another one in peach as soon as they are in season.

Peaches from my tree last year were so yummy. It is just now filled with pink flowery blossoms!

Well, not as pretty as this little Peach at her Spring dance recital!

I like to make my pie crust with real butter. It just tastes better to me, like a yummy crescent cookie. So try your crust with butter to see if you like it too.

PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS…..
I used 1 cube butter,
cut in 1 1/3 cup of flour.
Add 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons ice water
(I add ice cubes to the water…it just works better to have COLD water!)

The glaze is easy..just jello mixed with sugar water and cornstarch…

Then I like to whisk it up mold it into a ball and roll it out on a large zip lock baggie. It just makes life easier and I was out of waxed paper. 😀 I rolled it out so it was about 1/2 inch bigger all around than the pie tin layed over it. Then I cut around it.

I rolled it out onto the gallon size baggie…you could use waxed paper too.

cuttin’ around the upside down tin…1/2 inch bigger for the cute edging…

It’s so easy to flip the pie crust into the pan and peel off the baggie…then toss it!

Making the beautiful edging is my fav part. Just pinch between your left thumb and your right thumb and forefinger to make the pointy peaks around your pie crust edge. Or opposite if you are a lefty.

Don’t forget to poke forkholes in the butter pie crust…then bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust was baking I did the glaze and cut off the tops of the strawberries and washed and dried them. The glaze is super easy.

Strawberry Glaze Ingredients and Directions
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons cornstarch Mix first 3 ingredients….

Put it in a saucepan on the stove till it is smooth and when it is bubbling….boil for about 2 minutes. Then take it off the heat.

Add 1 small 3 oz. strawberry jello into the thickening syrup.
Whisk it for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Boil the syrup for about 2 minutes….It’s a little bit thick…

Take it off the stove and toss in the small box of jello….

Then arrange the yummy strawberries with the pointy side up in the cooled pie shell. By the time I had the green tops cut off and them washed and dried, the glaze was cool! Pour the glaze over the top, coating each of the top strawberries. Then pop it into the fridge for a 1/2 hour until set.

Here’s my glaze before I refrigerated it for 15 minutes….

It was delicious because the top of the crust was still crunchy cookie tasting. I hate pie crust that is all soggy Ug! So we ate that baby up so fast!!! It was gone by morning. Yum is all I can say. But I wish I had made 2 of em.

Who says you can’t have a piece of Fresh Strawberry Pie for breakfast…NOT ME!

I’ll be dreaming of this Strawberry Pie for awhile……mmmmm good!

Cheese Steak Sandwiches

I like kind of soft inside crusty outside bread for my cheese steaks….

Here I am with the hubs at a backyard BBQ a friend had on a nice weather day we had.

I had a package of steak in the fridge I was going to have John do on the BBQ this afternoon. But I had all these tomatoes I wanted to use up. So I was thinking it might be fun to do Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches instead. I love them and they are really, really easy to make.

Philly Cheese Steaks are really easy if you find sirloin steak on sale….

The trick is to slice the raw steak really, really thin with a sharp knife. That is kinda tedious. It is easier if the steak is still a little bit frozen.

Slice it thin…son’t forget to season it….then just fry it up in a frying pan…and when it is almost done add the slices of provolone cheese so it has a minute to melt on top. I fry the onions and peppers in a separate pan and add them back in right before the cheese is layered on top.

These tomatoes and the big onion are straight from my garden!

I sliced the steak really thin on the cutting board and seasoned it with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Then I fried it up in a fry pan with a little olive oil. I fried the onions and green pepper slices in butter and olive oil with a shake of garlic salt until they looked caramelized and soft. You can also add mushrooms.

Coarsely chopped onions

I didn’t have green pepper but it is much better WITH it. Sometimes I add mushrooms if I have any.

But you can just do onions too. They are great on Philly Cheese Steaks!

I just buy a big loaf of french bread for the Philly Cheese Steaks or you can get day old
bread at Jimmy Johns and freeze it for use later. Their bread is great for sandwiches!

Then when both were about done I put them in a pan and added the provolone cheese, just like 6 slices all around the top of the meat and onion mixture. Then I got my french bread ready. The sandwiches really are better the more cheese you add…I know that’s not very healthy, but it is the truth.

Now don’t those Cheese Steaks look super yumm?

I really like fresh tomatoes on mine….my hubs loves mushrooms. I wished I had some!

You could add sauteed green peppers to this sandwich too and sliced tomatoes like we like it. That is just personal preference. But you could just go with the steak and cheese and onions on your rolls.

I don’t think these are low calorie…but they are so delish! Just try not to think about it…..

I always look for some steak on sale and this meal is really yummy but very inexpensive too.
Here’s our Tuesday night Cheese Steaks! I made some strawberry shortcake too. I had to do
something with all my frozen strawberries I’ve been keeping!

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches….yummy and easy!

They take literally 10 minutes!

Next time you are at the market get a small steak and try making your own. You will love them.

Broiled Pecan Crusted Salmon

Here is one of my very favorite dinners, baked Pecan Crusted Salmon!

My favorite way to make salmon I found at a favorite recipe site of mine called all recipes.com called Baked Dijon Salmon. It has bread crumbs, honey and mustard, and chopped pecans. It is wonderful!

Isn’t this Pecan Crusted Salmon just tempting looking?

I start by mixing up the bread crumbs with chopped pecans, a little mustard and honey mixed in…

Here is my adapted recipe:

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
Lemon Pepper a few shakes
Lawry’s Season Salt a shake

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a small bowl, stir together butter, mustard, and honey. Set aside. In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs, pecans
Shake season salt and lemon pepper on each fillet lightly, then brush with honey mustard mixture, and sprinkle the tops of the fillets with the bread crumb mixture.
Bake salmon 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until it flakes easily with a fork.

Then I spread them on salmon fillets and bake….DON’T BROIL!

I added some salad with fresh tomatoes

And a side of fresh fruits…

And here it is! Pecan Crusted Salmon!

And garlic parsley red potatoes….yummy dinner!

I love salmon fillets from Costco, individually wrapped. They are so easy and economical. And they always taste fresh. I am never disappointed. And the salmon is so delish. This is a favorite dinner of mine.

And I had to make a yummy dessert to go with it. I love this chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. If you want my recipe and how I make this devilish dessert link HERE

Don’t you want a bite? You know you do! Yummy……..

Bloomin’ Onion Copycat FAIL!

Right here is How to Cut an onion for battering and frying into one of those delectable Awesome Blossoms that I have had a craving for today. They are sometimes called Bloomin’ Onions. I’m going to try to copycat Chilis or Outback.

I think I need to make one bad! So I bought a Vidalia Sweet Onion as big as I could find.

I read somewhere that you need to put the onion in ice water after cutting and dividing into twelve sections. I tried it. But I think it made the batter not adhere. I think maybe I should have dusted it first with flour.

Anyway, the batter is easy enough. But I’d would dust with flour first, then the egg batter, then with the flour mixture third. That way you have a nice coating.

I have tried making these Bloomin’ Onions twice, but both times it was a massive FAIL!

It’s already coming apart. I guess I cut too close to the bottom or something.

Dust, dip and dust again……

It started out so good, right? But now it is all starting to come apart. I hate when that happens. So by the time I had placed this onion into the hot grease, it was quite the mess.I bet the restaurants have some kind of holder for them like those fish holders on a BBQ so pieces don’t get lost in hot oil.

I realized at this point it was going to be a messy Bloomin’ Onion. My grease also wasn’t deep enough to fry the whole giant onion. I tried cutting it into halves and doing one half at a time. No go. It was a sloppy mess. It is too embarrasing to even show!

MASSIVE FAIL ….. it wasn’t pretty….

but it WAS tasty!

DIRECTIONS:

1 Vidalia Onion (slice it for onion rings thick) Dust with flour mixture, then buttermilk mixture, then flour mixture again. Let sit for a minute in the flour mixture. Then drop in hot oil on the frying pan for about 2 minutes per side. Put on a paper towel. Use 1/2 Greek yogurt and 1/2 buttermilk ranch dressing mixed in a bowl for dipping sauce. Yummy!

So I started over! Yes, now it is going to be plain onion rings.

Buttermilk mixture: 1 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 egg

Flour Mixture: 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoons Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, 1/4 teaspoon paprika,

1/4 teaspoon pepper, a shake of garlic salt. Mix up.

Dip mix: 1/2 Ranch dressing mixed with 1/2 Greek yogurt.

Did the dipping and coating just the same, with the same recipe.

For Bloomin’ Onion or Awesome Blossom copycat

1 Vidalia Onion
Cut off the top and leave 1/4 inch at the bottom. Peel.
Then slice into the cut off top like a pie into like 12 sections.
Put in ice water for 1/2 hour to get it to “bloom”
Pat dry. Then dust with flour mixture and then dip into the buttermilk mixture and again into flour mixture. This is where mine fell apart. So be gentle. Then I would put it into a small deep fryer WITH A BASKET!

We used to have a Fry Daddy or Fry Baby. Those would work for your onion. Frying pans are not deep enough. That was my problem. Anyway fry that baby up and then lay on paper towels.

But the rings are just foolproof and delicious and easy.

My hubs snapped this pic of me as we were both chowing down on these yummy onion rings. See my
greasy fingers? Yeah, you can’t make these too often if you don’t want to have a heart attack!

But once in awhile is ok. So I’m sticking with them. In fact, I feel a craving coming on right now. Yummy.

It really tasted fantastic. So I decided after two tries, that I give up on the BLOOMIN’ ONION delicacy. I will just have to do it making only onion rings. They are easy. Just slice, dip and fry, eat and enjoy. Life is too short Bloomin’ Onion.

Cream Puffs for Easter

What will I have for my Easter desserts…..mini Cream Puffs!

And they were so cute on the dessert bar!

Yummy and easy Cream Puffs!

My French born sister-in-law Danielle makes these TO DIE FOR cream puffs every year at 4th of July. Everyone has come to expect and love them. She actually can’t make a different dessert or everyone gets all bent out of shape. So I have been calling her to get her recipe. I wanted to make them for Easter.

The ingredients for cream puffs are only 4….so easy!

Water, butter, flour and eggs….

Batter before adding the eggs…..I let it beat a little to let off some of the steam….

Then I added 1 egg at a time and beat for a minute in between eggs…..

The cream puff batter is like pudding…

Easy Cream Puffs: My French sis-in-law Danielle’s recipe
1 cup water
1/2 cube butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Heat oven to 400. Heat water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour until
mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Let cool a bit till batter is not hot. Beat in eggs one at a time. Drop
dough 1 Tbsp size onto baking sheet using a pastry bag. Mine were about 1 3/4 inches oval x 1 1/2 and I got about 30 little cream puffs. Cook until puffy and golden. I did 14 minutes at 400 and then turned oven down to 350 for 5 minutes. I think from posts I read on other blogs 20 minutes is perfect for smaller cream puffs. Larger ones about 20 minutes at 400 and 4 minutes at 350 but watch them the last 3 minutes. Your oven might be different as I am at high altitude.

These are darling cream puffs too. I LOVED these from HERE at Land O Lakes website.

I piped the batter onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper….

I added a blob of cream puff batter to each of the 4 corners…then pressed the parchment paper on top. It helps
“glue” the paper down to the cookie sheets.

Here are my finished cream puffs….just out of the oven!

Now they are ready to fill with the creamy, rich pudding filling….each one was a half a handful !

Cool. Cut a slit in the side with a knife. Fill cream puffs with a pastry bag filled with the french vanilla pudding mixture. Make chocolate icing and spread over top. Keep refrigerated.
Makes 12 large or 24 small cream puffs (mine made 30 little round ones- bigger than the Costco size) I think this is a perfect dessert to bring to Easter dinner because if you have other desserts, this can be a side garnish and they are so cute and yummy too.

French Vanilla Cream Filling
1/2 pint whipping cream (smallest carton)
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 half cup milk
Whip until thick.