Parlier Pie Perfection

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I immediately associate social gatherings with the need to overindulge on yummy food. Forget who will be in attendance, I want to know what there will be to eat, and can I bring I anything else! Like I’ve mentioned before, I have little to no control over my consumption of sugary treats, or delectable comfort foods. Out of site, out of mind. In site, in my mouth. Sorry! I would like to say, I’m working on it, but really, I am provoking it, by this season’s instantaneous desire to start baking! Last year around this time, I was withstanding all tasty temptations in preparation for my contest. This year, although still watching what I consume, I have to make up for lost time as I didn’t get to indulge in some of my favorite autumn dishes. With that being said, I have committed to trying a few new (and simple) recipes to kick off the fall season, but under one tiny stipulation. It cannot stay in my house. Luckily, our social calendar warrants a new recipe here and there for me to share with friends at THEIR houses. It’s also better that I am supervised; otherwise I will eat 5 pieces of pie because no one sees me in my own kitchen.   Two weeks ago, Vicki and I made Pumpkin Oatmeal (white) Chocolate Chip Cookies. YUM. I made the mistake of buying Pumpkin Pie Filling, not Pumpkin Puree, so I

 need to get rid of it before it becomes a sweet tooth disaster and gets eaten by the spoonful. I know, that’s gross, but I wouldn’t put it past me at my low points ;)

This recipe is simple with only 4 ingredients, but I have never made a pie before, so I see it as a challenge.

Fixins:

12oz. can Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling

2/3 cup (5 oz.can) Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 Large Eggs-Beaten
1 Unbaked pie Crust


Directions:
MIX pumpkin pie mix, evaporated milk and eggs in large bowl.
POUR into pie shell
BAKE in preheated 425°F. oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F.; bake 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Super Easy right!? Well, apparently I used a little more of the pumpkin pie filling than I thought when making the cookies, because my pie mix was SUPER runny when I put the ingredients together.  Having ZERO experience in Pie Perfection, I had no way to remedy this, so I prayed that cooking it longer would do the trick.  Add that mini disaster to  a super slow heating/cooking oven and "whipping" up a pie to take to a friend's on Friday became a 2.5 hour ordeal. GEEZ. Needless to say, my husband wasn't diving in for the first bite that night!  BUTTTT, to my disbelief, after a few hours in the oven, then an overnight stay in the fridge, the pie got raving reviews! So my Slushy Pie turned out to be alright and my plan worked, as I only had one piece....well maybe two ;)

                                                        

5 Houses + 1 Dinner = YUM!

It was such a blessing when a couple we met from our premarital class at church, Katy & Preston, were not only super cool, but gave us a heads up when a vacancy arose in their highly sought after community! We now live in a five unit complex, consisting of two duplex beach cottages and a main house, also known as, THE COLONY. All of us are twenty-somethings, and 4 out of the 5 units are young married couples, which makes it that much more fun! To further the fun and unity, two weeks ago we decided to do a Progressive Dinner. A progressive dinner is when you split up the courses of a meal and each location hosts a different one. In the end, you “progressively” dine your way through a full spread! Which in our case, was a delicious five courses with a California fresh cuisine spin!

Since all the houses are in a line, we kept it simple and started in the front and made our way to the back. Now on to the yummy eats, which by the way, were a surprise at each place! I took a few pics, but I havent been able to upload them yet, so sorry for the fabricated illustrations!
Carrie & Collin-Appetizers and Drinks!
Cream cheese stuffed figs, Pears wrapped in bruschetta and cheese, and homemade guac & chips accompanied by beer, wine, and strawberry lemonade! A delicious start to our evening!
Tim & Allison-Salad!
Gorgonzola, Pecan and Pear Salad with homemade mustard vinaigrette dressing. ( I even roasted and caramelized the pecans!) Served with sparkling lemonade (in fancy little glasses of course!).
Alyssa and Rachel- Side Dish!
Bowtie Pasta with green beans, tomatoes, and avocado. They also set out a cocktail bar with fun mixers and such.

Katie and Preston-Main Dish!
BBQ’d Ribs, homemade Ice Tea and Lemonade…and Napkins! (Which were actually homemade too!) I usually don’t eat ribs, but these were delish! It was such a nice night, we sat on their patio on these awesome benches they made for their wedding and ate under these fabulous party lights. Their side yard is so great! Then us ladies demanded we go into their house and watch their wedding video. Surprisingly, all 10 of us crowded around and laughed, cried, and almost watched it a 2nd time! K+P=Love. So Cute!
And for the Grand Finale…….

Haley and Steven-DESSERTT!!!!
Homemade Pear and Cinnamon Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream! We also sat on their side yard around the fire pit and ate while sipping on coffee and telling funny stories. DELISH x 10!
As you can imagine, we were all stuffed to the brim as we waddled back to our houses and rolled into bed. We had such a blast, that we want to do it again as soon as possible!

Cooking for 10-Slightly overwhelming

Cleaning dishes for 10-Never exciting

Eating one meal at five places: AWESOME!

"Lifey as a Wifey" Wednesdays!

Part of my growing role of being a Wifey is making sure I feed my hungry husband and I'm proud to say I have advanced my culinary skills since I last blogged about it. Like everything else, we have different tastes on what to eat, but since I’m the cook of the house, he is forced to eat what I decide to create! The part where he really likes it, is what I am working on ;) You see, I don’t mind bland, boring, healthy foods. I don’t think twice about what could make it taste better, I just make it and eat it and move on. I don’t consider myself a picky eater, because I like things plain, but again, Tim and I disagree on this too!

With that, I tried a new recipe last night! When asked what was for dinner, I said, “Meatloaf!” My loving husband’s response was, “What did I do wrong to deserve that!?” Naturally, this sunk my confidence levels down as I chopped and minced away, but regardless, I was excited for this new yummy and healthy recipe! Without further ado, here it is, compliments of Miss Victoria Nicole ;)

Figure Friendly Turkey Meatloaf
Extra Lean Ground Turkey 1.25 - 1.5 lbs
2 Egg Whites
1 cup oats (quaker oatmeal)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 2 tbsp of garlic powder)
2 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. Chipotle Pepper Spice or Chile Pepper
1 tsp. salt

Optional Veggies (pick 2 types)
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 Cup red bell pepper chopped
1/2 Cup zucchini chopped
(I picked Red Pepper and Onion~YUM!)


Extra Seasonings if you have it:
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
2 tsp. dry yellow mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix everything together in large bowl. Using your hands is the easiest; just make sure you wash them before and after really well! Place in bread loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 40 minutes.
I steamed green beans and made a fresh salad for sides. Tim was skeptical at first, but to both of our surprise, he loved it! We agreed it tasted like a big delicious turkey meatball! ;) A little salty for my pallet, but I definitely plan to make this again!
Best part about it is that it’s super lean and healthy, and perfect for leftovers!

BevMo's Wine Cake

Another simple but yummy recipe from the Cargo Vault! This time it's compliments of my Mom, Beverly-aka BevMo. It's a delicious yellow cake with an adult beverage twist!


BevMo's Infamous Wine Cake

Fine fixins:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 large box of vanilla pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup cooking sherry wine (usually found near the vinegar at the store)
3/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Small details:
Preheat oven to 350
Grease a 10in bunt pan with butter/margarine and sprinkle with all purpose flower so its "Non stick."

Directions:
Add cake mix, pudding mix, and nutmeg in large mixing bowl, followed by the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix on low to medium until the batter is creamy-not lumpy!
Pour cake batter into greased bunt pan and place in oven for 45-50 minutes (aka my oven 60!)  Set the timer and stick a fork or toothpick in it at 45 mins to see if it's cooked all the way through.
When it's a yummy golden brown color and fully cooked, remove from oven and let it cool for 40-60 minutes, depending on how much time u have! (The longer the better)

Once cooled, give the edges a little swirl with a knife to make sure its not stuck to the pan, then flip the bunt cake over on to your serving dish, sprinkle with powdered sugar and ENJOY!!!

Note: If the cake is not cool enough you run the risk of it not popping out of the bunt pan smoothly- AND the powdered sugar will melt.

I made this for Tim's company Picnic yesterday and it was a hit!  However, I think Mike Firenze and I polished off 1/2 of it alone. BOOM! Yum :)

Casa de Cargo Enchiladas

I have been inspired by Jess and Amber to do a little cross blogging today ;) Here is a very simple recipe from my Dad that I prepare quite frequently at Casa de Parlier. I'm hoping to post it on Friends & Foodies Forever~A clever blog started by Stephanie and Jess to keep in touch and share yummy eats!

Casa de Cargo Enchiladas
*makes about 10*

1 package of ground turkey (or beef)
1 large pack of Mexican shredded cheese
1 small can CHOPPED black olives
1 bundle of green chives
1 pack of white mushrooms (you can buy them chopped or sliced too)
1 large can of enchilada sauce. (I like Las Palmas Medium)
1 pack of flour (or wheat) tortillas
Preheat oven to 325

Cook meet over the stove until 100% cooked. I sprinkle in a little Lawry’s Seasoning Salt for some extra flavor on the turkey-especially if I get the extra lean.
Chop up the mushrooms and chives and put in separate bowls.

Create an assembly line of all your ingredients. -Tortillas, cheese, olives, chives, mushrooms, meat, sauce (put in bowl with spoon or just in can with spoon.) If you are using beef, you might want to drain the meet and put it in separate bowl. Beef is much more juicy than turkey! On a separate plate take a tortilla and spread sauce on it like a pizza. Not too much, but just enough to get it moist and cover the inside. Load it up with all the ingredients, but no too much, so you can roll it back up. In order of most to least, I usually put meat, cheese, mushrooms, chives and olives. Roll it up taquito style and place in a rectangular Pyrex dish (sprayed with PAM). I put the folded side down so it stays closed. Once they are all packed in a row, I pour the extra sauce over all the enchiladas, especially the edges and in between each so they cook nicely. Then I douse more cheese over them (lots!) and finish off by sprinkling the chopped olives here and there.

Since the meat is cooked, the “cooking” part is really more of a warming/melting of the cheese. My oven sucks, so it can take over 20 mins. But I just keep my eye on it. I don’t like the tortillas crunchy, so I keep my eye on that too! I also reheat some sauce for dipping in case you want to wet your whistle more than what’s already on there. ;) Tim adds Tapitio too!
To make these enchiladas figure friendly, I always use extra lean turkey meat, low fat cheese, and whole wheat tortillas.
Any left over mix ins are great over pasta, or add lots of cheese and melt it into a tortilla chip dip! YUM!