Crockpot Applesauce Recipe

Hi!

A while ago I found a recipe on Pinterest for Easy Crockpot Applesauce (posted on the Frugal Girls website) and I finally tried it!  It's such an easy recipe, our apartment smelled wonderful while it was cooking, and there's almost no sugar in it, which is good!!  I eat too much sugar :)

Here's their recipe:

Ingredients:
Six medium apples (I used Gala apples, and they were pretty huge)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp - 1 tbsp cinnamon (I used 1/2 tbsp)
1 tsp sugar (this can be adjusted based upon the sweetness of the apples you use)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Crockpot

Directions:
Peel and core apples
Chop up into chunky pieces
Place apples in crockpot
In a separate bowl, combine water, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla
Pour mixture over apples in crockpot, and stir around, so apples are evenly coated
Cover crockpot, and cook on low for four hours or until soft 
Once apples are soft, remove from crockpot and mash with hand masher
This will make a chunky style applesauce
For creamier applesauce, mix with hand mixer (that's what I did!)

Makes about six servings









We had the apples in the crockpot on low for about four hours and then turned it to warm for about two more hours (I had improv rehearsal in the middle of the cooking!).  Then I put them into a bowl and used our Cuisinart Hand Blender to make it super smooth!





It is so yummy!!  It's tastes almost like there's cream or something in it (probably because of the vanilla, and because I blended it a lot)!  I would say the six apples made about six servings, so cost wise it's more than buying a six-pack of applesauce from the grocery store, but it's much more fun (and healthy, I'm sure), so I definitely want to keep making it!

The recipe says that it keeps well in the refrigerator for four or five days, and it freezes well for up to several months!

Especially now that it's getting warmer, this is a yummy cold snack to have during the day!  I think it would be fun to try adding other fruit to it sometime, like strawberries!

Thanks for reading!

Peanut Butter Cream Pie Recipe

Hi!

Alex's birthday was last week and I chose a recipe out of the Homemade Decadence cookbook (the December Birchbox Book Club book) to make!

Me with the birthday boy!

This time I made the Peanut Butter Cream Pie recipe...oh my goodness.  It's so good, and the recipe is not hard at all!



Here are Joy Wilson's exact recipes, one for the crust and one for the filling:

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Directions:
1) Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
2) In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt.  Add the butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is thoroughly moistened.  The mixture will not form a dough ball, but will stay a crumby texture.
3) Dump the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie dish and, using your fingers, evenly press the mixture along the bottom and sides of the dish.
4) Bake until the crust is slightly golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.  Remove the pie dish from the oven and let cool completely before filling.

Makes one 9-inch pie crust



Since the crust needs to be completely cool before filling, it would be good to make this a while before starting on the filling.  I'll do that next time!  Also, I'd take the cream cheese, used in the filling, out of the fridge a lot earlier so it can warm up a little bit more.

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Ingredients:
Filling
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup smooth all-natural peanut butter
Graham Cracker Crust or Chocolate Cookie Crust

Whipped Cream Topping
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 confectioners' sugar

Optional Garnish
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut butter cups (I used this)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped salted pretzels
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted

Directions:
1) For the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until it holds soft peaks, 4 to 5 minutes (it took a couple more minutes for me).  Transfer to a medium bowl.
2) In the same bowl of the electric mixer (you don't have to rinse it out) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on  medium speed until smooth and pliable, about 3 minute.  Add brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and beat well.  Beat in the peanut butter until smooth.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in a quarter of the whipped cream.  Repeat twice with the remaining whipped cream until the mixture is well incorporated but still fluffy (the consistency of mine wasn't right so I ended up mixing it all together in the mixer for a minute or two).  Spoon the filling into the prepared crust.
3) For the whipped cream topping, in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and confectioners' sugar until it holds soft peaks, 4 to 5 minutes (again, a few minutes longer for me).  Top the pie with the whipped cream mixture.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for ate least 4 hours before serving.
4) Just before serving, generously sprinkle with the chopped peanut butter cups or salted pretzels, or drizzle with melted chocolate.
5) The pie will last, well wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Makes one 9-inch pie











This turned out so so yummy!!  I've never made a pie like this...or actually, a pie at all, so this was really fun to try!  Alex loved it and he had a great birthday!  We had dinner at one of our fave places, Tavern on the Hill, and then came home for some pie!!



Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Banana Granola Bars Recipe

Hello!

I hadn't been on Pinterest in a while (weird, right?) so I got on a few days ago and looked through a bunch of the recipes I've pinned.  I saw this one from a blog called Amy's Healthy Baking for Strawberry Banana Granola Bars and decided to try it yesterday!

The recipe sounded very yummy, plus it's only six ingredients and we had all of them!  Bonus.

Here is her exact recipe:

Ingredients:
1 tsp coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup mashed banana (about one 8" banana)
1/2 cup skim milk (I used 1%)
1 tbsp honey
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats 
1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed slightly and diced (the strawberries I used weren't frozen, but that probably would have worked a little bit better!)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees, and lightly coat an 8"-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2) In a large bowl, mix together coconut oil, banana, milk, and honey.  Stir in the oats until thoroughly coated.  Gently fold in diced strawberries.  Press the mixture into a prepared pan and bake at 300 degrees for 15-19 minutes.  Cool completely to room temperature in pan before slicing into bar.  Cover the bars with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

I wrapped each granola bar individually once they had cooled so that Alex could take some to school for lunch!

They were a little crumbly when I cut them, so maybe next time I'll used just a little bit more coconut oil.  I think I might use milk that isn't so cold, too, because when I put the melted coconut oil, it cooled and started to turn into solid pieces again.

They turned out really good!!  I love strawberry and banana together, and oatmeal is always good, so I couldn't really go wrong with these!  Alex took one in his lunch today and he says he really liked it :)

This recipe was so easy, yummy, and healthy!  I will definitely make these again soon!

Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe!

Hello!

I wrote a post in December about a recipe I made from Homemade Decadence, which was Birchbox's December Book Club Book!  I won the book through Birchbloggers and I've been wanting to make another recipe!  The other day Alex and I went through the ice cream flavors and picked out one that we wanted to try!

There is a grocery store here called Harris Teeter.  We hadn't heard of it until we moved here and we finally went there for the first time last week.  It's really nice!  It is also in the same shopping center as Target and Michael's, so that's super convenient!  We went there the other day to get all of the ingredients for the recipe and we made the ice cream when we got home!

We used our Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream and Sorbet Maker to make this recipe.  This is the exact recipe from the book:

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups cold half-and-half

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp vodka (optional) (we didn't use it)

1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and coarsley chopped

1 cup coarsely crumbled graham crackers (optional) (we used them)

Directions:

1) In a blender, combine the half-and-half, lemon juice, vanilla, vodka, if using, cream cheese, sugar, and salt.  Blend on high until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup of strawberries to the blender.  Blend until smooth.

2) Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  During the last minute of churning, add the remaining strawberries and the graham cracker crumbs, if using.  Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

3) Ice cream is best served within 5 days of churning.

Makes about 4 cups

 

 

The amount the recipe calls for is just slightly more than the machine could handle, once the toppings at the end were added in. 





 Once the ice cream had churned for about 25 minutes, I started adding in some of the strawberries and graham cracker crumbs.  Toward the end it looked like it might overflow so I poured everything into a pyrex dish and mixed in the remaining toppings.

I put it in the freezer with a lid on it for four or five hours and then we tried it.  So delish!!  The  strawberry chunks are nice and frozen and the graham cracker crumbs make it sooo yummy!  That first night it wasn't quite as firm as ice cream normally is, but the next night when we had it again, it was perfectly frozen!

This was so fun!!  I can't wait to try another recipe when we finish this flavor!  Or maybe a little while after...since it's just half-and-half and cream cheese haha :)

Alex's birthday is next week!!  I have an idea for a recipe we might make for that out of this book, too!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday Brownie Pie Recipe!

Hello!

There were a million reasons to make something yummy today, but then it started snowing!  So the oven heating up the kitchen didn't hurt, either :)

Like I mentioned yesterday, I won the Birchbox Book Club book this month, Homemade Decadence.  It is such an adorable cook book and the pictures make me want to make (and eat!) every single thing in it!  Since I got it in the mail the day after my birthday, I thought it would be fun to make the Happy Birthday Brownie Pie for my first recipe!



We haven't tasted it yet (I just finished making it, plus Alex isn't home from school), but our apartment smells sooo good.

Here is Joy Wilson's recipe, exactly as it is in the book (the parentheses after things are my notes/changes):

Happy Birthday Brownie Pie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3 tsp pure vanilla extract (2 are for the pie, 1 is for whipped cream)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (we had semisweet so that's what I used)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional) (I used them!)
1 cup heavy cream (this is also for the whipped cream, which I didn't make)
2 tbsp confectioners' sugar (this, too)
1 quart mint chocolate chip ice cream (I got vanilla ice cream)
Rainbow sprinkles
Birthday candles

Directions:
1) Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a 9-inch round pie dish.
2) In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
3) In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, eggs, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and fold together with a spoon.  Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.  Pour the batter into the prepared pie dish.
4) Bake until the top looks dry and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs, 20 to 22 minutes.  Let cool.
(This is where I stopped)
5) Meanwhile, for the whipped cream, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream with the confectioners' sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon of vanilla until in holds soft peaks, about 4 minutes.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.
6) Scoop the ice cream into the center of the brownie.  Freeze for at least 30 minutes, or until ready to serve. (We'll probably do this part!!)
7) To serve, spread the whipped cream over the brownie ice cream pie, sprinkle generously with rainbow sprinkles, and insert birthday candles.  Light the candles and sing loudly.
8) The brownies can be made up to two days in advance.

Makes one 9-inch pie

We won't get to try this until later tonight, but I'll add an updated section underneath this so I can tell you how yummy it is!!  I am so excited to make more of her recipes, too!  Here is Joy's blog, Joy the Baker.

I'm going to a special, super fun-sounding holiday class at Pop Physique tonight!  It involves tutus, so I'm excited :)

Thanks for reading!

**Update**

We just tried the brownies with vanilla bean ice cream and sprinkles...they're so yummy!!



I cut the pie into eight slices so I would say this recipe makes eight servings :)

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies!

Hello!

A few months ago I made Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies and posted the recipe here.  I got that recipe from Jamelle Bouie's newsletter, which Alex is subscribed to.  They turned out sooo good!  Alex forwarded me another recipe that sounded great (and perf for Thanksgiving!) so I decided to try it!  The surprise pumpkin recipe I mentioned last week was Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies!  This is Jamelle Bouie's exact recipe.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
1) Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper (instead of paper I used Pam only on both baking sheets).
2) Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about one minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.
4) On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended.  Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it.  Mix in the chips.
5) Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4 cup capacity - or a 1/4 cup measuring cup (that's what I used) - scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 and 1/2 inches apart.  Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.
6) Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes (this amount of time was perfect for me!).  Cool them on the baking sheet for five minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

He suggested dusting the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar but I didn't do this step.  Maybe next time!  Store the cookies at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to four days.  I made these last Wednesday night and we have just a few left (we brought them with us to Philly!), so you could keep them a little longer than four days!

These cookies are SO good!  They're more like little cakes than cookies, and they're just so yummy!  I will definitely make them again, especially since I have about half of a can of pumpkin left!  Since you use a 1/4 cup to scoop the dough, they're huge, too!

If you make these, tell me how they turned out!

Thanks for reading!

Fajita Friday!

Hi!

I'm always looking for easy recipes to make in our crockpot!  The other day I saw this recipe for chicken fajitas that someone had posted on Facebook and it sounded yummy!  I made it today and it was soo easy and delish!!  Here's how I made it.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 mini peppers (red, orange, yellow), sliced
About half of 1 yellow onion, sliced
1 package of taco seasoning
Tortillas (we used whole wheat)
Any toppings that you like (we used shredded cheese)

Directions:
1) Slice the peppers and the onion and put in the crockpot.
2) Add the chicken.
3) Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top.
4) Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for 3-4).
5) Shred chicken with two forks and mix everything together.
6) Add any toppings you like and eat!

We cooked it for about 7 hours.  The chicken breasts weren't frozen but if that's what you use, maybe just cook it the full 8 hours.  The taco seasoning turns kind of black because it's just on top of everything cooking that whole time, but when I stirred everything together it mixed in just fine!

We warmed up the tortillas and put the shredded cheese on top and it was so good!  Maybe every Friday will be Fajita Friday!  :)

Thanks for reading!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hi!

We picked Alex's mom and sister up at the airport last night and we had a fun day today!  Alex had class for most of the day but tomorrow he only has one class!  Carol, Grace, and I walked to Marie Louise Bistro for a late breakfast.  We got eggs (I got scrambled) with potatoes, bacon, and toast.  Yum!

Then we went to Target to get some ingredients to make peanut butter cookies!



Peanut Butter Cookies - makes 36 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar, plus a small amount in a bowl to sprinkle on top
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) In large bowl (we used our Kitchen Aid mixer), combine first 7 ingredients.  First Carol mixed the butter until it was very soft.  Then we added one ingredient at a time, making sure it mixed well before adding the next.  The dough should be nice and fluffy and shouldn't stick to your fingers when you pick up a piece of it.  Add small amounts of flour if it is sticky until it is the right consistency.
3) Shape into one inch balls and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (we did three batches of 12 cookies).
4) Flatten in crisscross pattern using a fork.
5) Sprinkle some sugar on top of each cookie.
6) Bake for 9 minutes, or until golden brown.
7) Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on cooling rack.

They turned out so good!  They aren't super sweet, just perfect.


Tonight we ate at Tavern on the Hill.  Alex and I are practically regulars there ;)  We went there with my parents last Tuesday night, too!  They have so many different types of food you can order!  I almost always get the Greek salad.  It's so good.

Thanks for reading!

Company and Cheesecake Bars!

Hello!

My parents are here!  Yay!!!  They got here tonight with doggy Dude :)  We ordered pizza from Viccino's which is right up the street and we showed them around our apt.  They had only seen it on FaceTime :)

I looked online for a sugar-free dessert to make for my dad because his birthday was Friday.  I found this recipe for Almond Cheesecake Bars and made my own version of it (I omitted all things almond because I had a little catastrophe when I was toasting them :) )!

Cheesecake Bars Made with Splenda

Ingredients:
Crust-
1/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, granulated
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (this is more than the original recipe calls for but I didn't use 1/4 cup of toasted sliced almonds, finely ground)
1/3 cup of butter, melted

Filling-
12 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, granulated (oops, just realized I used half that amount!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (more than the original recipe but I didn't use any almond extract)


Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Spray an 8"x8" cookie pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3) Mix crust ingredients together in a bowl.  Mix well.  Press into prepared pan.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until firm.
4) Mix cream cheese and Splenda together until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl, and mixing well after each addition.  Add Greek yogurt and vanilla extract.  Mix well.  Pour over prepared crust.
5) Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until firm.  

I let them cool for a little bit and then cut them into 20 suqares.  We had them for dessert and they turned out really good!  Sorry I didn't take many pics!

Everyone is going to bed now!  Alex has class most of the day tomorrow.  I'm not sure what my parents and I will do during the day but I want to show them all around Baltimore!  Then we'll do fun stuff when Alex gets home, too!

Thanks for reading!