Put away your battle gear, wipe the war paint off of your gorgeous faces, put down the booze – because you won’t need any of it any more when you head into the kitchen for your next pie-venture. I’ve failed at so many, its embarassing. I used to resort to the store bought crusts under the veil of convenience, but I knew I was buying them only because I was an absolute horror at making them myself. Compliments would roll in about how fantastic the crusts were, “just like mom used to make”,  “mmm, so flaky”, “Oh yeah Mmm, can I have this recipe? My wife needs to learn this one.” and I would conveniently forget it every time they asked… Yup, I’m a full on FRAUD. Or was. But making a pie crust was stressful, inevitably ending up with me just throwing my hands up in the air, falling down on the ground with the most exasperating of sighs and throw a full on adult tantrum. Huck would get concerned and grow an extra wrinkle on his forehead, Ben would shake his head and walk away never to be seen again. It was ugly.  But no more. And learning how to make pie crust was made easy in one simple step – USE A FOOD PROCESSOR.

Did a light bulb just got off for your, too? Oh good. My dear friend Kirsten introduced me to her recipe for her No Excuses Pie crust almost three years ago and it has been my pillar for all other pie crusts after it.

One thing I learned along the way, was to substitute a little vegetable shortening, like Crisco, for some of the butter in the crust. Crisco has a higher melting point than butter, and for me, it seems to help minimize the shrinking and drooping of the pie crust along the edges of the pan.

The other key to your fats is to chill them. And not just chill – but freeze them.  Cut your butters and shortening into small chunks before hand, place them in a small dish and stick them in the freezer until you’re ready to use them. I like keeping a few pieces tucked away in the freezer so I can just pluck them out when necessary.

In your food processor, pulse together your flour, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.

Add in your shortening. Pulse until it starts to resemble course meal.

Add in your butter and pulse in to combinem until it looks like course meal again.

For the water – just like the butter – make sure it is ice cold.

Turn on your food processor and pour in your water in a steady stream. The dough will start to form and right as it starts to gather and almost form a ball you’re done!

Remove it from the bowl, press it together into a tight ball. If you’re making a double batch, separate your dough into two even balls. Wrap your dough into plastic wrap and press down on the ball to form a large dish. I like to flatten mine as much as possible by hand – usually a 6 inch round disk, to minimize the amount of rolling I have to do later.

Place the disks into the fridge for at least one hour before rolling out.

Roll out your dough to a 12″ circle, based on a 9″ pie pan. Cut off any access crust and gently fold the edges under for a clean edge. For decoration, use mini cookie cutters to cut out seasonal shapes for the edges. For fall, mini leaves look festive. When the edges have been prepared and crimped, place the crust back into the fridge to chill again for at least 30 minutes.

If you’re making a crust that must be partially baked ahead of time – like with this Nutella Pecan Pie, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Gently line the crust with aluminum foil and pie weights. If you don’t have any, dried beans work speldidly and are budget friendly. Bake for 15-25 minutes (depending on the pie). Remove from oven, remove weights and foil then fill and bake again!

It really is so easy. No tantrums, fits, booze or war paint required. Ya hear? Now, I’m craving pie. Who’s gonna bake me one?

For more perfect pies, check out these soon to be classics

Nutella Pecan Pie

Mini Coconut Cream Pies

Cranberry Dutch Apple Pie

Perfect Basic Pie Crust

Yield: 1 9-inch Pie Crust

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 25 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Vegetable Shortening, cubed and chilled
5 Tbsp Butter, cubed and chilled
4-6 Tbsp Ice Cold Water

Directions:

In food processor outfitted with blade attachment, pulse combine flour, sugar and salt. About 10 pulses.
Add in vegetable shortening, and pulse to combine until the mixture resembles course meal. About 10 pulses.
Add in chilled butter, and pulse to combine until the mixture resembles course meal. About 10 pulses.
Turn on food processor and with a steady stream add in four tablespoons of ice cold water. Allow to mix until the dough has formed almost a total ball. If some extraneous crumbs remain, pat them into the ball.
Flatten the dough ball into a 4-6inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking.
If partially baking the crust before filling, preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough on a floured surface, and place in pie pan. Lightly line with aluminum foil and line with pie weights. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and fill with filling. Bake according to chosen pie recipe.

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Basic Single Pie Crust

The post How To Make Pie Crust appeared first on Country Cleaver.

This was the perfect weekend to devour an entire batch of this Earl Grey Ice Cream, because I came to the conclusion that I am a total and complete hot damn mess and definitely needed to eat my weight in ice cream feelings. I don’t normally think of my self as clumsy – but I proved myself wrong, and I have the banged up toes that I decided to kick into the wall to prove it.

Next, I proved how tragically short my short-term memory is. It’s embarrassing. Wait, where was this post going? Oh right, short term memories…  I went to the store list-less and came back with 99% of the items needed, but naturally the one piece that almost everything hinged on was the one thing I forgot at the store. Not only did it happen – it happened TWICE! *Slow clap for Keno* And nope, the forgetfulness didn’t stop there either because I also got my weekends backwards, flip flopped and switched around, that meant that I missed one of my dearest high school friend’s bridal showers, because I had it in my calendar for next weekend!! WHO AM I?!?!

Hand me a spoon, STAT.

See? Embarrassing. To say that I feel awful is the understatement of the CENTURY!  Have you ever done any of these things? Someone please console me and make me feel less jerky about all this whole scenario. I will be making it up to her next month though, because I am making her wedding cakes! She is a doll and a half, and sharing that little bit of her special day with her and her soon to be hubby means the world to me. July 27th is a day I will NOT forget. It’s in my calendar twice, with every possible and conceivable alarm, bell, horn and trumpet alert that can possibly go off leading up to the event.

 On to this ice cream now – because I have to tell you right off the bat – it tastes like FRUIT LOOPS. That’s okay, take it in for a second. I understand it’s a lot to process. Are we good? Yes, I said Fruit Loops. The cereal kind.

When I was growing up, my mom and I would often have a nightly cup of tea together. Her with a cuppa chamomile and me with orange spice with half a bottle of honey sitting on the bottom. It was what we did. Those were times I cherished. The woman is kinda awesome. But I’m also biased.  In college I picked up the Earl Grey sipping habit from my English chemistry TA, who always had a proper cuppa ready to brew for anyone who stopped by. Always cream and always sugar, and that’s when the Fruit Loops epiphany happened.

No. Joke.

Did anyone else eat Fruit Loops as a kid and feel like they chewed on a porcupine if it didn’t sit in the milk long enough? Oh, just me?

Well let’s add totally weird to the list of forgetful and clumsy as words that perfectly describe me. It’s okay I can take it.

And because you’re a weirdo rebel like me, melt some white chocolate and drizzle it over the top. Like the cream in the tea, you just can’t have a proper ice cream or tea without some white based sugar confection in or on it.

You’re welcome.

Try some of these other frozen confections – perfect for summer

Fluffer Nutter Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Magic Shell

Earl Grey Ice Cream

Yield: 1 quart

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 40 MInutes + Freezing Time

Ingredients:

1 pint Whole Milk
1 pint Heavy Cream
4 Earl Grey Tea Bags
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Vanilla
5 Egg yolks

Directions:

For Ice Cream:
In medium saucepan, heat milk and heavy cream until it begins to gently simmer. Remove from heat and add in tea bags. Allow to steep for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to evenly saturate the tea in the cream. Remove tea bags and discard.

Whisk eggs in large bowl along with the sugar, and then add the hot milk/tea mixture in a slow stream running to temper the egg and sugar mixture. Pour mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Stirring constantly. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill for at least two hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Scrape ice cream into freezer safe container and press plastic wrap to the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until solidified. Freeze about two hours. Serve when frozen through.

The post Earl Grey Ice Cream appeared first on Country Cleaver.

Do you ever feel compelled to ask someone to join you at dinner if you see them sitting at a restaurant eating by themselves? Do they look sad, or is that your guilt talking? I’m just curious, because I think I’m one of the only weirdos that actually enjoys eating alone at restaurants. Seriously. I actually throughly enjoy it. The first time I ate alone in a restaurant was in Georgetown at Pizza Paradiso after hours of meandering through all of the best tourist spots in DC, and devouring at Georgetown cupcake right at the counter much to the surprise of the poor kid behind the register. A box? Please kid, give it to me straight. Who do you think you’re talking to? But I needed more. And then I needed pizza. So for two hours I sat right at the open window with the whole restaurant to myself, with a pizza, a beer, a book and Georgetown walking by. Bliss! Ben says “Wow, that’s awkward”. Not at all! And I did it again after I came home from my latest trip to Portland on Mother’s Day weekend. The rest of the troupe was having an obligatory Mother’s Day breakfast and I was released from my duties of Celebrate The Mom’s to explore Portland on my own and did I ever! Stumbling into a new restaurant, Irving St. Kitchen, I grabbed a paper, ordered a mimosa and read away the morning learning far too much about Liberace and Sandra Lee’s waredrobe from the NYT Style section and ravenously devoured the most divinely caramelized french toast with cherry compote on top. And tasso bacon on the side. Who do you think I am? And I think that this absolutely needs to happen in your life too, because well, look at it it’s cashews crusted french toast with cherry compote. Duh. Right?

No joke, this was last night’s dinner. It has been on my mind for all these weeks, so I got home from work, threw down everything, didn’t unpack my gym bag, barely kissed the dog and petted the husband and then threw this together – with bacon, natch – for a super early still-able-to-photograph dinner. Then we became lions over a dead carb zebra to devour this in three minutes. No foolin’. It was sick, in the most ridiculously sinful of ways.

You will adore the crushed cashews that are sprinkled on top of this and toasted to a golden brown. The cherries are sweet and a bit tart, with just a little gleek factor. Don’t even get me started on the challah. Can we start a dance? Call it the Challah Hollah? No? Dang, I thought I was onto something.

Well, the Challah Hollah might not be the next big thing, but at least I know this french toast like, totally is.

*Sidebar* For those of you wondering where the recipe is – you must click the “Read More” tab located below. So if you’re reading this from the main page of Country Cleaver, hit “Read More” and you’ll be taken straight to the recipe. If you’re reading this from the French Toast post the recipe will be visible straight away, no extra clicks necessary. The Recipe Box located here on Country Cleaver formats to allow only one recipe to be readily visible from the main page. Thanks for your patience – but make sure you make the click to get your mitts on every recipe here.

Make sure you get your breakfast on with these other favorites listed below, too!

Chorizo Breakfast Hash

Asparagus and Balsamic Onion Frittata

Breakfast Reuben Sandwich

Quick and Simple Cheese Danish

Cashew Crusted French Toast with Cherry Compote

Yield: 8 slices

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Total Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 loaf Challah, sliced into 1 ½" slices
5-6 Eggs, whisked
⅓ cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon, divided
⅛ tsp Nutmeg
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 cups Cherries, pitted
3 Tbsp Agave Syrup or Sugar
⅓ cup Crushed Cashews

Directions:

In a food processor, add cherries, agave or sugar and ½ of the cinnamon. Pulse to combine, until cherries have become small pieces. Set aside for topping.

Heat skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot. Spray with non stick cooking spray.

In a shallow baking dish or pie pan, whisk together eggs, milk vanilla, ½ of cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Whisk together until sugar dissolves.

Dredge sliced challah bread, completely coating in the egg wash. Lay onto griddle and fry until dark golden brown. Just before flipping, sprinkle and lightly press crushed cashews into the top of the uncooked french toast. Gently flip the french toast and continue to cook until the toast cooks through and turns golden brown. Remove from griddle and plate. Top with cherry compote and serve immediately.

Inspired by Irving Street Kitchen French Toast

The post Cashew Crusted French Toast with Cherry Compote appeared first on Country Cleaver.

How roux you do? Okay, you just had to know that there was gonna be a pun in here somehwere! This one in particular has been playing endlessly in my head for DAYS! It makes me giggle every time and felt compelled to subject you to it, too. Sorry, not sorry. And naturally it led to other lame kids jokes. Like, What does a nosey pepper do? Gets jalapeno business! BAM! Insta-funny. You’re welcome. Everything funny and cheesy has been compounded by me being utterly exhausted from last weekend’s trip to Austin for BlogHer Food Conference. I’m running on empty guys. No, past empty. It’s that funny stage of empty where your get-me-gas-now light comes on, but your little meter stick is hanging precariously below the E for Empty mark… Yeah, that’s me right now. But its been worth it. And you know what else is worth it? Roux. And a good roux can take a regular dish from drab to fab and learning how to make a roux is really easy. It can take a little while, but its a totally necessary step in so many great dishes.

Remember when we learned how to brown butter – and you had to keep a close eye on your simmering butter so it toasted and didn’t burn? Making a roux is a similar process. The butter and the flour mixture both have to brown – not burn. The butter solids and flour all get nice and toasty brown, but not black and gunky. Some rouxs can get to be a dark, deep rich chocolate brown and they are complex and utterly amazing. Depending on your dish, you can lightly toast your roux or almost-char it for whatever it is you’re making.

First off – you need two ingredients, butter and flour. Some use oil, again do what suits your dish and preferences. Oil will work just for soups and stews. I prefer butter and use it when I make pasta dishes like mac and cheese. Personal preference is what wins here.

For tools – A whisk and a skillet. Or a saucepan or pot. Whatever.

With your pan over medium heat, melt your butter and bring it to a slight simmer. You will want to whisk it so that it keeps moving constantly and doesn’t sit in one place for too long.

Slowly, start to whisk in the flour making sure that it has a chance to incorporate fully before adding more.

Keep whisking constantly and add the rest of your flour slowly until it becomes almost like a paste. Or at least like a thick soup, depending on your butter/flour ratio.

As you keep whisking it over heat, you will start to smell it and the butter starting to toast and brown. It will have a slightly nutty smell to it.

The longer it sits over the heat being whisked the darker brown it will get. Keep an eye on it for just the right color that will work for your. And when I saw  brown – you can get it B.R.O.W.N. For Julie’s Chicken and Andouille Gumbo that stuff got dark, I mean look at it! Gumbo-y perfection.

The one I made today has a bit higher butter content, but it works beautifully for making stuff like drippy mac and cheese. Test out your favorite butter/oil and flour combo to see what works best for your needs.

Now you know how to roux. It’s like doing the Dougie, but better.

Find out other handy how-to’s here:

How to Roast Peppers

How to Poach an Egg

How to Compound Butter

How to Make Chicken Stock

How to Roast Garlic

How to Infuse Olive Oil

How to Make Quick Cheater Puff Pastry

How to Make Chocolate Magic Shell

What can roux do for you? Check out these recipes below to see!

Spinach Artichoke Mac and Cheese – Country Cleaver

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo – Table for Two

Crab Mac n Cheese – Country Cleaver

The post How-To Tuesday : How to Make a Roux appeared first on Country Cleaver.

Pinterest is a dangerous place. I mean it! How many times have you been sucked in for hours, and totally zoned out not realizing it’s three hours later and you didn’t feed your feed your dog or take your husband out? Strike that, reverse it. There is no judgement here. I love Pinterest. And you wanna know who else loves Pinterest? Beka. And someoonneee decided to get all crafty one day and string me into her web of Pin-crafts one day, resulting in me having three new customized photo frames and a new magnet board for my office. Damn her. And damn Pinterest. But look at these? How fun are they? For a whopping $3 and 10 minutes of your time you can customized you craft store frames. We’re just crafting all the crap up in here today. So follow along and I swear you’ll be out to the craft store by the time you finish reading this, buying palets of these dang things.  

A What You’ll Need:

Plain Unfinished Picture Frames – Available at local craft stores

Mod Podge in Matte Finish – Or go bold with a gloss, its up to you!

Exacto Knife 

Small Paint or Foam Brush

Your choice of Scrapbook Paper

Cutting Mat or Cutting Board

Step 1:

Line up your picture fram into the corner of your scrap book paper. Press down firmly and using other hand, run Exacto knife along the edge of the picture frame. Repeat along remaining edge of the fram to remove extra paper.

Step 2:

Repeat process on the inner sections of the frame to cut out the middle square, where the photo will be placed.

Step 3:

In a small dish, add Mod Podge. Using foam or paint brush, pain the areas of the fram that the paper will be adhering to. This will glue the paper to the frame.

Step 4: Starting at one end of the frame, line up the edge of the paper cutout and gently lay the paper over the fresh glue. Careful to remove all of the air bubbles from the paper. The glue dries quickly, so move gingerly.

Step 5:

Once the paper has been laid over the first round of glue, repeat the process of brushing the Mod Podge over the paper to seal it to the frame. Swipe the brush over all of the edges of the frame and paper to give the whole frame protection and to make sure the paper stays down.

Step 6:

Resist the urge to make about 37 of these all at once. It’s hard, I know.

Step 7: Let dry for three hours – if you’re impatient like me, or over night is best.  Add photo memories and bam, you’re done! 
I adore my photo frames. I purposefully left the sides of the frame scrap book paper free to give it a little texture and a bit unfinished look. I think it’s fun. Of course, you can always wrap the whole fram – but repeat this process – but when cutting out your paper, factor in the width of the frame’s sides – so then all you have to do it fold the paper over and Mod Podge it into place. You can see that I did it with the Orange Frame in the first photo. But personally – I still love the unfinished sides.

TidyMom has a great how-to on faux-tiquing your frames like these. Go check it out, too. Super adorable, doesn’t even begin to describe it.

The post 10 Minutes Crafts – Customize Your Craft Store Frames appeared first on Country Cleaver.

Ohhh Schmidt, stop staring at my Fritatas!! — Okay, sorry I had to get that off my chest, metaphroically speaking. I have been making Ben watch all this last season of New Girl, and after watching it 1,738 times myself I can say that that is my Favorite line! Now that The Office is over, Ben and I need a new show to watch, and New Girl is it – not the least of which because my husband is Nick Miller. Not the bartender part, but the crotchety old Hey-You-Kids-Get-Off-My-Lawn Part. Oh, don’t worry Ben fully recognizes it in himself, too. It’s not me harping on my husband. But back to the main point of the story – this is a frittata, I love them, it was not made in a saucepan – because this isn’t prison (another Schmidtism).  Who wouldn’ love this fresh spring asparagus and balsamic glazed red onions frittata? No one, that’s who! Wait, double negatives on a Monday morning? Oh that’s just unkind before coffee. It’s glorious I swear and just so fancy pants, but totally not hard to whip up at all!

Later this week I am going to be heading down Austin way for the BlogHer Food conference – and girrllll, am I excited!! I’ve never been to Texas before, but I just know that Austin is gonna be my kinda town. It’s like the Portland of Texas, so I’m all set with the weirdness that will come. And BBQ. I’ve dubbed the five pounds I’ve been trying to lose for this week the 5 Pounds for Austin with the goal of losing it now just so I can eat it back in BBQ. Counterproductive? Sure. Worth it? Duh!! 

This year, I am fortunate enough to be sponsored to attend BlogHer Food by Star Fine Foods. I’ve worked with Star for the last couple of years creating recipes with their greats line of olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and multitude of other products, including olives like for this Artichoke and Red Pepper Tapenade. I still dream of this stuff.

STAR believes in high quality olive oils and vinegars, and is a staple in so many kitchens around the country and world. My cupboards are packed with their Garlic Olive, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegars and my most favorite, the Balsamic glazes.

And guess who’s going to BHF with me? Laurie from Simply Scratch! We’re teaming up to spread our love of STAR with our fellow bloggers. And while we’re there meeting all of our friends and taking in all that Austin has to offer we’re going to be giving away our favorite STAR products, too!

So if you’re a blogger in Austin this week – or a reader who’s in town - stop by and say “Hi” to me and Laurie. We’ll also be holding a SCAVENGER HUNT for free product! And these aren’t just for samples, we’re talking  full size bottles of olive oils, vinegars, glazes and MORE! To play along make sure you follow me AND Laurie on Instagram (M & L) and Twitter (M & L) where we’ll be sending out our locations! Just hunt us down and say you want to reach for the STAR! Sorry, you knew I had to throw a pun into this post somewhere!!

Be sure to check out my side bar all month long – and click the STAR banner to enter to win a trip for TWO to the Mediterranean! There are other prizes, too! Including a cooking trip to Napa, an Ipad and over 95 other great prizes up for grabs.

So, see you in a few days Austin! I can’t wait to eat you!

For other great recipes made with STAR Fine Foods, click the “Read More” Tab to see the list and grab this Asparagus and Balsamic Glazed Onion Frittata Recipe.

Cantaloupe Bruschetta with Balsamic Glaze

Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables

Apple Balsamic Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese

Homemade Ricotta with Infused Olive Oil

How to Make and Freeze Your Own Pesto

Asparagus Frittata with Balsamic Onions and Jalapeno Hollandaise

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 10 Mintes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

Balsamic Onions:
2 Tbsp Butter
½ cup Red Onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp Star Fine Foods Balsamic Vinegar

Frittata:
5 Eggs
¼ cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp Butter
1 cup Asparagus, sliced into half lengthwise and in 3" sections
Balsamic Glazed Onions
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper, or desired amount
¼ tsp Salt and Pepper

Vermont White Cheddar Hollandaise:
½ cup Butter, melted
2 Egg Yolks
2 Tbsp Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Water

Directions:

Caramelize Balsamic Onions -
Heat skillet over medium heat. Melt butter and when slightly bubbling, add in sliced onions and stir to coat. Stir the onions frequently over medium heat until they start to turn a caramel color. During the last minute, add in balsamic vinegar to deglaze pan and coat onions. Remove from heat and set aside.

Frittata -

Set oven rack nearest to the broiler. Preheat the broiler.
Let medium skillet (with oven safe handle) heat over medium high heat for about five minutes. In bowl whisk together eggs and heavy cream, set aside.
Add butter to the skillet and bring to simmer. Add in asparagus and balsamic onions. Pour over egg/cream mixture. Things will happen quickly - shake the skillet to ensure the eggs don't completely stick to the bottom. Run your spatula around the edge of the frittata to make sure it doesn't stick. Sprinkle cayenne pepper, salt and pepper onto the top of frittata.
Let the edge set in the skillet for about 2-3 minutes. Immediately transfer to oven under the broiler. Let cook until the frittata starts to turn golden brown on top. Remove from broiler and slice and serve while warm. Top with hollandaise.

Hollandaise Sauce:
In medium bowl whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice and water until light yellow. Set aside. In small saucepan melt butter. Add 1 tablespoon of melted butter into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly until all butter has been whisked in. Pour all egg/butter/lemon mixture back into the sauce pan and over medium-low heat continue to whisk the hollandaise sauce until warmed through and thickened. In last minute, whisk in the cheese and whisk until melted through. Serve immediately. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

The post Asparagus and Balsamic Glazed Onion Frittata appeared first on Country Cleaver.

This has been a long time coming – it’s been two weeks, geez I’m slow. But I have to tell you guys about my weekend in Orlando at this year’s Food Blog Forum. It was hot, sunny (my tomato skin can attest to that), full of inspiration, wonderful people, adventure, and me screaming like a sissy pants with my face buried into Rachel’s shoulder going down Tower of Terror – we’ll get to that later.

Food Blog Forum was held at Disney’s Victorian styled resort, The Grand Floridian. It was pure gorgeousness! Blog conferences can be a bit nerve-wracking, but if you haven’t gone to one yet – GO!! What are you waiting for? You’ll never know the connections and new friendships you’ll develop!

Carla and I arrived at the park at about 2 am, well before everyone else. We weren’t certain our rooms would be ready when we got there – but they were and sleeping in a real bed after we each red-eyed from the West Coast was wonderful. We were all ready to go sleep in the lounge chairs by the pool! At 2 am it was still in the high 70′s! After a few hours of sleep we headed down to the pool and I learned the hard way that me and the Florida sun are mortal enemies.

Then it was time for the park!! A big group of us girls all teamed up and headed out to see Magic Kingdom. Thanks to Amanda for the snaps of all of us. Bunch of hotsy totten hotties!

Left to right: Rachel, Gina, Me, Meagan, Carla, Erin, Julie, Amanda, Jenny, Katrina, Tina and Sommer.

To sustain ourselves through an evening full of rides and walking – we needed to load up on some protein! Giant smoked caveman club sized turkey legs filled the tummies and got us through the night, or until we needed another snack, which wasn’t long. It’s how we roll.

The next day at the conference we listened to some motivating speakers, including Scott and Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen and Diane Cu and Todd Porter of White on Rice Couple. Listening to Diane and Todd makes me get choked up every single time. Their sincerity is so evident in everything they create. I adore them.  Everyone in the room was soaking up all their words of wisdom and I was no different.

These were two of the most inspired sayings I took away from their talks. I want to print them and plaster them all over my walls. Or get them tattooed on my forehead.

Diane and Todd told us all about this cool website called Animoto where you can make free 30 second clips and videos. So I gave it a shot. What do you think? It took me only 20 minutes to create!

Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

Saturday night and all of Sunday we had all day to explore the parks – and we headed to Planet Hollywood and Epcot! I lost my ish on Tower of Terror, keeping my eyes shut like the woosy pants that I am the entire time!! I had a terrifying basement as a kid, so scary, faux-haunted, ghosty crap scares me to death. Don’t judge.

Thanks Rachel for capturing my humiliation.

And in Epcot Carla, Gina, Julie, Rachel and I played a little country hopscotch visiting Germany, France, Japan and Italy. We made sure to load up on (more) sweets at the little bakery in France. Hello Macarons, so lovely to eat you!

But then early Monday it was time to head home.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but one that I won’t be forgetting. I can’t wait until next year! If you want to catch up on everyone’s journey and see how they did Disney take a peek at some of the other recaps below! Or if you want to see photos on Instagram or tweets on Twitter, search #fbforl to see everyone’s snaps!

Jenny @ Picky Palate
Julie @ Table for Two
Karyn @ Pint Sized Baker
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel
Caroline @ Chocolate and Carrots
Audra @ The Baker Chick
Aggie @ Aggie’s Kitchen
Angie @ Big Bear’s Wife
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl
Meagan @ A Zesty Bite
Carla @ Carla’s Confections
Katrina @ In Katrina’s Kitchen

Amanda @ Kevin and Amanda

The post Happiest Place on Earth – Food Blog Forum Orlando Recap appeared first on Country Cleaver.

I’m a competitive person. It’s a sickness. I can’t help it. And as it turns out – so is Ben. Lately we’ve been playing some hard core, super intense games of Words with Friends and dang is getting ugly in the Keno household. With him being sick the last couple days he’s had some time to hyper-focus on this Words with Friends games and he’s royally kicking my ass!! But he’s not doing it in a fair way – says the girl who’s losing… but he’s playing some rediculous words. They don’t even sound like real words!! I mean UNIFACES?! How is that a real word? HYPHAE? Seriously? Bepaint? Come the heck ON!! If you can’t define it, it can’t be used. Yes, this is my bitter face. All is fair in love and war? Well this is war.

And then what do I get dealt – bu FOUR E’s. His gentle and loving response was something like “Well, sometimes you just get what you get.” Thanks so much Old Man Keno… I pulled off some uber lame word like “teed” just to use a couple of them up, hedging my best on the on U that was still in play right – because I had the word that would blow him out of the water on a Triple Word – with QUAIL!! And he beat me to that spot with “Bungee”. BUNGEE?!

Juanita the Weasel from The Bloggess

So if at 7:27 you heard a screaming banshee, that was just me raging about losing at Scrabble. That might been what it looked like. Clearly I need a manicure. And I love embroidered aprons. #obsessed.

This isn’t gonna end well. Watching me melt down over losing Scrabble is just something you don’t want to witness. To remedy this travesty – I’m going to go stuff my face with another double chocolate brownie ice cream sandwich before I start rageaholing all over again.

These are a cinch to make with just a thin sheet of brownies baked and cooled on a cookie sheet, sliced in half, topped with softened ice cream and topped with the other half of brownies and refrozen. You’ll love this recipe because it’s easy to customize with whatever ice cream you might have on hand. Ben’s request for our next batch is Mint Chocolate Chip, and I think I’m gonna go with Fluffernutter ice cream. Chocolate + Peanut Butter + Marshmallow Cream = MFEO. Sleepless in Seattle – anyone?!

For other chilly treats check these out!

Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream – Baked by Rachel

DIY Chocolate Magic Shell

Mango Mojito Sorbet 

Toasted Marshmallow Cookies and Cream Milkshake – Picky Palate

Brown Butter Ice Cream – The Novice Chef

Chocolate Sea Salt Dulce De Leche Ice Cream Sandwiches – The Novice Chef

Blackberry Sorbet

Double Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Yield: 6-8 Sandwiches

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 12 Minutes

Total Time: 25 Minutes + Freezing Time

Ingredients:

½ cup Butter, melted + More for Pan
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
½ tsp Salt
½ cup Flour
½ cup Cocoa Powder
½ gallon Chocolate Ice Cream, softened (Or choose your own flavor!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan with butter. Line with parchment paper (NOT wax paper) and leave 2 inches of parchment paper hanging over the short edges of the pan. Butter the parchment paper as well.
In a large bowl whisk together melted ½ cup of melted butter and sugar. Whisk in eggs and salt. Whisk in flour and cocoa until just smooth. Spread into a thin layer all over to the edges of the pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Using the overhanging paper, gently remove the brownies from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. When completely cool, cut the brownies length wise into two long pieces. Place one half of the brownie back into the pan and spread the softened ice cream and spread until smooth and even. Top with other half of the brownie. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for about two hours, until set. Cut into 6-8 sandwiches. Wrap each sandwich with parchment paper for storage and place in an air tight container until devoured.

Adapted from Everyday Food Brownie-Ice Cream Sandwiches

The post Double Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches appeared first on Country Cleaver.

*Preface* – Today’s post comes in two parts. First - I made this cake. I danced around like Elaine Bennace with joy. Second – Ben’s birthday was yesterday and I might be reconsidering my “The Birthday person chooses what they get for dinner” Rule. Read on, its full of marital tumultuation and something you might call hilarity. Enjoy.

–

Let’s play a little word association game, shall we?

Strawberries – I bought four pounds.

Angel Food Cake – Can’t even touch the store-bought, chemical laden stuff.

Egg Whites – Why must they always fall down?

Hormones – Make me want to eat All the Strawberry Shortcake, Ever.

Bikini Season – That’s hilarious. My full moon eclipsing rear end is ROFL-ing right now.

But of all the things you could be devouring this summer, this is probably one of the better ones? Ish. It’s got egg whites, and fresh berries. So, healthy no? Healthy-ish? Yup. You will 110% fall in love with this, with the fluffy cake that makes you want to use it as a pillow and sleep in on a Saturday morning, and the roasted strawberries that taste like buttah, when no butter is involved.

Rachel’s how to on roasted strawberries made me swoon, so they were a natural addition to this. Yesterday’s How-to on Whipping Egg Whites set us up to bake this gorgeous cake. Only Cook’s Country could have led to me to the promised land.  You can’t fail with this recipe, because they did all the hard work, you just make it, bake it and bask in the glow of victory.

And don’t worry about the dozen egg yolks you’ll have left over – you can make creme brulee and ice cream from here ’til the 4th of July! You’re holiday treats are all laid out.

In other news – Ben turned the big ol’ Dirty Thirty yesterday!! Big day. And what did he want to do for dinner? Nothing special. A burger and green beans. That’s it? A new decade and he wanted steamed green beans on his birthday?

This is the man I married.

Oh wait…it gets better. Because once you find out what he wanted to top his greens with might make you want to commit violence. Ketchup. There, I said it.

You don’t top green things with KETCHUP!! The only viable option for topping a vegetable is ranch. Or butter. But Ketchup? He’s fired. So fired. No, no – they’re great he says. Wanna know why? “Because they taste like fries”, he said!! Ohhhh helll to the NO! Green beans don’t taste like fries. Wanna know what tastes like fries? FRIES!! FRIES goes with KETCHUP. Not green beans.

I can’t even stand it. This is a major point of contention in our marriage. Someone please coach me through this. I need another slice of angel food cake. Oh wait, I ate it all. Maybe I’ll hack off a slice of his birthday cake – Boxed Yellow Cake with canned Chocolate Frosting.

I don’t know even know who I am anymore. Send HALP!

Check out these other fruity treats to channel that summer feeling!

Blueberry Protein Smoothie

Homemade Angel Food Cake with Roasted Strawberries

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour + 3 Hours Cooling Time

Ingredients:

Angel Food Cake:
1 ½ cup + 2 Tbsp Cake Flour
¼ tsp Salt
12 Egg Whites
1 ½ cup Fine Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

½ tsp Vanilla
½ tsp Almond Extract

Roasted Strawberries:
2 pounds Strawberries
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Lemon Juice (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Divide sugar in half, setting aside ¾ cup of it, and combining the other ¾ cup and flour/salt mixture in a food processor. Process for 1 one minute to form a fine powder. Set aside.

With a stand mixer combine 12 egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed for one minute, until eggs become foamy. Increase speed to medium-high and whisk until stiff peaks begin to form. Just as eggs begin set and form peaks, slowly pour in remaining ¾ cup of sugar. Beat in vanilla and almond extract. This process will take about 5-7 minutes.

Sift the flour/sugar powder over the top of the egg whites in three separate additions. Gently fold the flour into the egg whites until combined. Pour the mixture into an non-greased tube pan or bundt cake pan. Bake for 40-45 Minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool UPSIDE DOWN until cool - about 2-3 hours. Set the pan over the neck of a wine bottle to hold steady as it cools.

Run a knife or thin rubber spatula around the edge of the pan to release the cake from the pan.

Roasted Strawberries:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash, hull and quarter two pounds of strawberries. Toss with sugar and roast for 15 minutes, stirring half way in between. Allow to cool, chill and then serve.

Top strawberries onto slices of angel food cake for strawberry shortcake.

Angel Food Cake - Cook's Country, Roasted Strawberries - Rachel Currier of Baked by Rachel

The post Homemade Angel Food Cake appeared first on Country Cleaver.

Who spent this weekend totally refreshed and inspired? And thankful, too? I hope you all had a great Memories weekend, doin’ your first official summer things – BBQ’ing, boating, or dare we say finally just relaxing and doing nothing at all? Not gonna lie, that’s exactly what I did. And I am so grateful I got to do that and spend some time reflecting on what this weekend really meant. Memorial Day weekend always seems like the official kick off of summer – even here in Seattle where it is a 99.9996% chance that it will rain – which it did, but I still couldn’t help but get into the summer-is-nearly-here-but-not-the-sun spirit with a classic Angel Food Cake recipe. I don’t know if it was the summer feeling itself or the fact that I bought 4 pounds of strawberries and I needed to find something to do with them all before they went kaput, but I got ‘em. And the only thing that came to mind as I was carrying that truck size load of berries through the store was, strawberry shortcake.

But no, I didn’t pick up angel food cake while I was at the store – because I have an abhorrence to said store bought angel food cake. Does store bought angel food taste chemically to anyone else? I might be crazy – it’s been firmly established here – but the after taste of it, with it’s chemical stabilizers and weirdness that I can’t pronounce just puts a bad taste in my mouth (literally) and makes me want to jump into the thick of things and make it myself. So I did. Yay me. You will absolutely love today’s How-To Tuesday because it goes hand in hand with tomorrow’s recipe of full on Strawberry Shortcake. You can’t have Angel Food cake with out stabilized egg whites, so that’s what we’re doing today – learning how to whip egg whites. And it’s cinch, with a couple of quick tricks. 
There is always debate on whether room temperature or chilled egg whites are better to whip – and you know what I found out – it really doesn’t matter. Cold egg whites just take a little longer to whip than their room temperature counterparts – but the end result is the same. Just whip it, whip it good. No? Lame joke? I know, but that’s why you love me.

If you’re hard core and want to whip an egg white or two into stiff peaks by hand go for it – you’re a better (wo)man than I – but I prefer to go the easier route with my stand mixer and whip attachment. For this job I went with my 5 quart KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer in Ice. The cool teal is my spirit color, if there is such a thing. It brings me unequivocal joy. And it’s a champ in every way. For the 12 egg whites that I whipped up for the shortcake recipe it did it all in just five minutes. And a dozen egg whites is no short order and this beautiful tackled it splendidly. They were light and fluffy, evenly whipped and they held beautifully. So whether it be whipped egg whites for a shortcake or macarons, this will do the job and leave you feeling like a rockstar.

Step one is to source your egg whites. One of the biggest keys to success or failure with egg white whipping is ensuring there is NO YOLK in the egg whites. It seems trivial but it’s not. Look into the how-to I did on cracking and separating eggs to get it right every time. Once your eggs are separated, add them to your stand mixer bowl outfitted with the whisk attachment.

Another key to perfectly stabilized egg whites is Cream of Tartar. It’s not just for snickerdoodles anymore people! This is pivotal in keeping those egg whites fluffy, even after folding in additional ingredients. It will be an egg-white-awakening here friends. Really. For a dozen egg whites I used 1 1/2 teaspoons. You can always reduce the amount based on your egg white count in your recipe. I am dying to make macarons and add some in there, because folding my almond meal into my eggs always used to deflate the eggs and it made me have a serious case of the sads.
Starting with your mixer on medium-low, beat the eggs and cream of tartar until they start to foam and air starts to incorporate into the mixer. After about 1 minute, up the speed to medium to medium high and let ‘er rip allowing the air to incorporate into the whites. They will increase in volume and really start to get fluffy. It’s the The Blob!!

Once the eggs have started to set and thicken, slowly add in your sugar if it’s part of your recipe. Slow is key, like a gold fish – you can’t just toss it into the water! Be kind to your egg whites and slowly pour the sugar in allowing it to incorporate.

Lastly, add in your desired flavor. My favorite combination is almond and vanilla. It makes me want to say things like, “I’m super keen on it”. Because, well – I am. It’s a great balanced flavor and not totally boring. I love vanilla, but some days you gotta switch it up.

Then after about 1 more minutes, the peaks will set into semi-stiff peaks and you’re done! If your egg whites start to look curdled you’ve gone too far. But that takes a lot of egg-fort – get it?! So in five minutes you too can have perfectly whipped egg whites that will stand up to folding, piping, macaron-ning, and shortcake-ing.

Now, beat it.

Sorry, not sorry. Puns make me happy.

For additional how-to Tueday’s check out this list below!

How to Poach an Egg

How to Make Chocolate Magic Shell

How to Roast Garlic

How to Roast Peppers

How to Season Cast Iron 

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post How-To Tuesday – Whip Egg Whites appeared first on Country Cleaver.