Rice Krispie Treat Eggs

Somewhere in this great, big world-wide-web I found this idea.

I can't wait until Aidan's old enough to appreciate little things like this, but then again that would only mean he'd be closer to being too old to appreciate them, so I'm not going to wish the time away.

To give us all an idea of how much he's grown...here are his legs in his car seat: then and now.

6/15/2009

 3/27/2010

Anyway...

I made the Rice Krispies as usual, per the box instructions.

3tbs Butter/Margarine (I tried margarine again...I think it might work out for this recipe but I haven't tasted them yet...if not I'm swearing off margarine for good) Edit: I've tried them, and they taste fine! The box wasn't lying on this one...

1 Bag Marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows

6 Cups of Rice Krispies

I bought some clear-glittery Easter eggs to make egg-shaped treats. I decided the clear would look nice for leaving them inside or taking them out. I considered getting the jumbo eggs, too, but I'll save that for a year that there is more excitement for the holidays.

First, I used some vegetable shortening to grease the eggs, I wanted to have these ready for the krispies while they were hot.

Then I melted the butter margarine, and added the marshmallows. LOW heat! I've made burnt marshmallow-rice-krispie-treats before and they're NO good..let me tell you!

Slowly melting...it takes a while to do it right but it's worth it. 

 Next I added the first two cups of Rice Krispies.

After adding the rest in, gradually, it starts to get very tough and webby...it looks pretty cool!

I coated my hands with some shortening, too, to keep from turning into a marshmallow-swamp monster. It worked very well. I didn't take pictures of this part, due to the busy, messy hands, but I stuffed the krispies into both halves of the eggs and then squished them together until they snapped shut. This made for a tighter, smoother egg than if I were to guess and fill out the bottom in the open top part.

There's not much to clean up, which is always a plus!

I had some extra, since I didn't use many eggs. I planned on having a mixture of regular Rice Krispie Treats and egg treats for this batch.

And now presenting...the beautiful (and fun!) finished product...

I'm definitely becoming a firm believer in home-made treats and entertainment (especially for kids) instead of buying candy and all kinds of toys and games. Don't get me wrong, Aidan's got tons of toys already...but when you can have just as much (if not more) fun with more creative, personal stuff, why spend more money on the alternative?

I also wanted to share with you the GIANT marshmallows my dad found at the grocery store (Meijer for those of you reading who can go to one). Apparently they were in the imported foods section, that's Spanish on the package, too so I'm guessing they're from Mexico but I know way better than to assume that automatically..they could be from anywhere. The smaller marshmallow is a regular sized one, for scale.

I don't even think these pictures give a clear idea of how humongous these marshmallows are...it's pretty amazing. I can't wait to get these on a stick and roast them around the fire. 

I'm so ready for warmer weather, and it looks like I'll be getting it soon!

Tres Leches Cake

Today was Luis' birthday dinner. Tres Leches is his favorite cake (and I have to admit mine too) and of course it's a bit complicated to make. The mexican store around the corner sells them I think from $40-100 depending on the size. I have a very hard time spending that much money on a cake, so of course I went online. The only recipe I could find similar to theirs with a filling is the one from Married To a Mexican. It's delicious.

I started around 9:30 this morning and was done around 1, though I kind of took my time a little bit.

In making this I got to incorporate the new recipe of the week: the butter cream icing that Ann suggested to me, it is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing!! I doubt I'll be buying icing again, except when I'm pressed for time.

FYI: butter cream icing doesn't work out well when you substitute margarine. You might be able to substitue it for baking but the icing is a no go (I can hear you saying "DUH" now, but I'm new at this stuff...). We had lots of margarine but were low on butter so I gave it a try; this icing was used for the decorating instead of the main icing because the taste was a little off.

Here's the un-iced cake. It split when I moved it...so I pasted it together with some icing. It didn't really work but it's better than nothing. The milk poured over it makes the cake very sticky...so it's easy to get crumbs in 

the icing.

The decorating wasn't as nice as I had hoped, but I was tired and ready to get it done. 

All in all, it was a success...Luis' sister and brother in law thought I bought it at the store...so I suppose that's the best compliment I could have gotten, that is after all my inspiration.

Here's a slice of it to give you a better idea. The filling is like a pudding/whipped cream mixture with strawberries and bananas. I love it. Maybe a little too much...

I also wanted to add a picture of yesterday's lunch. I was inspired to take a photo of it. Though my mom made it, it's my grandma's vegetable soup recipe. Just the smell alone takes me to her kitchen. 

It looks quite messy, but it's delicious. I'm pretty sure this is one of the very few ways you can get me to eat cabbage.

By the way, we got a dog...and he STILL needs a name, a week later. He's Arlo according to the vet's office but I don't really think that fits him.

He's a very good dog..potentially. He doesn't bite at people, the baby included, but he's gotten comfortable around here and the puppy in him is coming out quickly. Tonight he's been running back and forth throughout the house and barking for attention. He finally settled down...hopefully for the night.

Apple Crumb Pie

This week I'm making Apple Crumb Pie for my new recipe. I hate to admit that I've never actually made an apple pie. I will one day soon try one with a classic pie crust on top.

The recipe came from The Better Homes and Gardens book from my other post.

I used frozen pie crust to save time, and decided to do a crumb topping so I could avoid making the crust at all this time..I'll save that for a day that's not before finals week.

I used apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cranberries.

I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples. The slicer/corer is great, it makes having apples as a snack easier, too.

Then I sliced the pieces in 1/2 to make them a little thinner. 

I measured out about 5 cups of apples (I ran out of apples, the recipe calls for 6 but my pie was very full anyway) and then I tossed them in a splash of lemon juice, I think it said 1 Tablespoon in the book.

Next, I combined the 3/4 C of sugar and 2 TBS flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg.

Then I added the sugar mixture to the apples...

Then I tossed in some cranberries...

And added the filling to my pie crust.

Now for the crumb topping...mine was very fine and I think if I would have used a pastry mixer..whatever that is...I would have had better crumble sizes. I improvised and used the food processor and pulsed the mix.

First I mixed together the 1/2 C of flour and 1/2 C of brown sugar..

Then the 3 TBS of butter to make the clumps. Mine got mixed too much and ended up with no clumps...

Then I added the crumbs to the top and put it in the 375 degree oven for an hour. Oh yeah...we have a new oven! We switched from electric to gas.

A little while, and several stories with Aidan later, I had Apple Crumb Pie...

I think it would have been a little more satisfying if it had hand-made crust and was traditional apple pie, but it's good. It falls apart when I try to slice it though, a fork is the best way to get all of it out for a serving...a very messy serving but just as tasty.

Now I have to go decide if I want to keep studying for finals or go to the hardware store and get ready for my vegetable planting...and do this while Aidan agrees with me..or I might just make the rest of today a lazy day and re-energize for the finals coming up, and St. Patty's Day (not that I'm celebrating much), and Luis' birthday all in this week...it's going to be busy, but fun (after finals are over at least)!

Goodwill Finds

I don't know about you, but I love shopping the secondhand store. Particularly for home goods and of course baby clothes. The thing about the secondhand stores I love so much is that you never know what you'll find. I love stumbling across things that just make me smile.

I found this for $2.50:

 

It's a cute little kitchen decoration of a Latin market. I can't wait to cook near it. 

I also found some bakeware that I had to have:

I can see it being used for serving rice more than baking in it, but it's a good addition.

I also LOVE buying kid's books at the thrift store, they're so cheap compared to retail and even Half-Price Books. If there were a specific book I were looking for in a bit of a hurry I would skip strait to HPB and then a book store, but if I'm just looking for something to pad the bookshelf with I'll browse the racks at the thrift store. Most books are $2 or less.

I actually found several books in English and Spanish which I love for Aidan and his brothers. I found enough I had to decide which ones I wanted to get the most. It made me nostalgic to find a Little Critter book for Aidan, he already has some of mine from when I was little but he's getting a few of his own, too.

On a separate trip I found some baby moccasins. I just had to get them, plus it's honoring Aidan's heritage, no matter how removed the Shawnee are getting with each generation. 

Thanks for sharing in our excitement over our finds! What are your favorite things to come by on the secondhand shelf?

Bob Evans Replica Pancakes

This week's recipe was the replica for Bob Evan's Pancakes...the recipe I found was for the Chocolate Banana Cream ones, but what I was really looking for was the filling. They make several and I love the blueberry ones. Upon "googling" the recipe, I found something here. Pressed for time and patience yesterday, I made the filling part only and dad made box-pancakes. I added a few banana slices between my cakes and a couple chocolate chips, and called it a success.

 

The filling is 1/2 vanilla pudding and 1/2 cream cheese. I made a box of vanilla pudding and scooped some of it out because I only had 1C of cream cheese...and I wasn't using monster size pancakes like they do at Bob Evans, so I wouldn't need much. 

My cream cheese wasn't softened very much, so it was very clumpy no matter how much I mixed it. Perhaps melting the cream cheese would be better next time. It was still pretty good though. I think I'll be trying the whole recipe one of these days.

I've definitely got extra and according to the recipe it keeps for 5 days in the fridge...it looks like we've got some easy breakfasts this week. It's a quick way to turn ordinary pancakes into something with a little more pizazz.

Latin American Chicken

My new recipe for last week was Mexican Rice from Married to a Mexican. I followed her recipe, except we didn't have any carrots so I had to leave those out, I substituted some orange sweet peppers for their color and texture.

Along with this I made the chicken that my boyfriend's sister has taught me to make. I'm not sure what it's called exactly...we refer to it as "his sister's chicken recipe" or "dinner".

Ingredients (most units are just however much you need/eyeball it...wonderful editing I know):
Chicken Tenders
Mayo (probably about 1 1/2 to 2 tbs)
Mustard (slightly less than the mayo most times, but I always just add some of this and that)
Worcestershire Sauce (still less than the mayo or mustard, but enough to make a difference...)
Maggi Clado Sabor de Pollo (Chicken bullion) I used Consomate, it's chicken bullion powder with tomato falavoring..gave it a few good shakes.
Sazon con Culantro y Achiote (see picture, and the whole package is pictured in the Gorditas recipe)
Onion (usually about 1/2 a white onion) I always use 1/2 a packet.
Green Pepper (again, usually about 1/2, until it looks about right)
Green Onion (I used three)
Tomato (I used one here)

I used chicken breasts for the recipe, but cut them up into smaller pieces. I prefer to use tenders, but it's the same thing just it's up to me to make them the right size.

 

From there I mixed in the mayo, mustard, and Worcestershire. I used a spoon here, but hands get it mixed really well, very quickly.

I didn't have as much mustard as I would have liked. It should be much more orange at this point, but it came out ok with what we had...

 

Then I added the Consomate and Sazon and mixed it all together.

  

Delicious looking, I know but it gets better.

Now for the vegetables, I diced up the onion:

Then the green pepper:

Then I roughly chopped the green onion, after cutting the roots off:

Then the tomato:

After heating enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, I added my chicken to brown it up.

  

I don't know if there is cullinary logic in this, or if it's just Salvadoran superstition, but I've been instructed to put the chicken on one side of the pan and add the vegetables on the other to cook them, and then mix them together after they've softened up.

  

  

Then I covered the chicken to let it cook through. The downside to using a humongus pan is that they apparently weren't selling humungous lids, so I had to improvise.

Along with the rice, I made tortillas to go with it, a staple in any Latin American meal. If you want to save yourself some time you can buy premade corn tortillas (traditionally they substitue homemade with the small corn ones). One of these days maybe I'll make a video of my "techniques" on how I make tortillas...I haven't been verbally taught...just watched and copied.

The rice was still steaming hot in my photos. In my opinion it was pretty yummy.

Here's a glimpse of my rice in the process...

  

  

It turned out well, but next time I'll make sure we have carrots. Oops. 

I'll share my boyfriend's sister's rice recipe (the one I know at least) one of these days, but I had to get my "new recipe of the week" in...albeit a day late. Shhh I won't tell if you don't.