S'mores' Puffs - I Will Create Food!

We are avid campers and, by proxy, devotees of a good s'more.  Rather than yearn for the sweet, gooey goodness during the cold and rainy winter months, we create these puff pastry versions to tide us over.  

You will need:

1 package of puff pasty dough - you can generally find this in the frozen food section near the pies and frozen fruit.

1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff 

1 8 oz tub of cream cheese

1 egg 

1 package of your S'more chocolate of choice  (we prefer peanut butter cups or Kitkats to plain chocolate)

You will also need a cookie sheet, pastry brush, pizza cutter and parchment paper. 

Preheat your oven to 375°

Crack you egg into a bowl and add a few teaspoons of water. 

Whisk the eggs and water together to make an egg wash.  

Next line your cookie sheet with the parchment paper to keep the puffs from sticking.

Lay out your puff pastry dough and cut it into 3 even strips.

Add your chocolate of choice.  

Center them on half of the puff pastry strip, making sure there is room to seal the edges. 

Brush the edges with the egg wash to help the seal stick. 

Fold the pastry strip over the chocolate and line up the edges. 

Use a fork to press the edges and make sure the chocolate stays inside. 

Brush the pastry with the egg wash to get a nice golden brown finish during baking. 

Once all of your pastries are assembled, pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes depending on how golden you like them. 

Now combine your marshmallow fluff and cream cheese.  

Mixing them together until you have a nice smooth frosting. 

Take the pastries out and let them cool for a few minutes. 

Add your frosting and enjoy!  

Adding crushed graham crackers or using a kitchen torch to slightly brown the frosting adds to the campfire s'more taste, but they generally don't last long enough around here to take the extra steps. 

Onigiri - I Will Create Food!

Making lunches, both for school and work, has never been easier than when our family learned about onigiri.  Onigiri is a staple of Japanese bento boxes. Made of rice and fillings, sometimes wrapped in nori or sprinkled with Furikake seasoning, Onigiri takes little preparation and is quick to make.  The fillings can range from tuna salad and other fish to miso and pickled fruits. Our current favorite filling is smoked salmon, cream cheese and simple, pickled cucumbers. We like to make enough for several days worth of lunches to make our mornings easier. 

You will need:
Cooked white rice - we use about 2 1/2 cups at a time
Rice wine vinegar - an 1/8th of a cup for the rice, an 1/8th of a cup for the cucumbers and a bit more for preparing the onigiri
Cucumber - 1/4 cup finely diced (We prefer English cucumbers as they tend to hold their crunch)
Smoked salmon - 1/4 cup chopped
Cream cheese - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp 
Nori or Furikake seasoning to taste
Plastic wrap

After you have started your rice cooking, finely dice your cucumber. 

Mix the cucumbers with an 1/8th cup of rice vinegar and set aside. 

Next dice up the smoked salmon.  There is no need to be picky about the size of the pieces just as long as they are small enough to blend into the cream cheese.

Add cream cheese to a bowl and use a fork to mix the salmon in.  Once the salmon is mixed in, drain the cucumbers thoroughly and add them to the mixture. 

By now your rice should be cooked. Let it cool for a few minutes while you combine the rice vinegar set aside for the rice and the tsp of sugar.  Mix them together until the sugar dissolves.  We warm our mixture in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to help the sugar blend in.  Traditionally, onigiri is make with plain rice, but we prefer ours to be closer to sushi rice.

 Add the vinegar/sugar mixture to the rice and...

fold it in until it is mixed evenly throughout.

Using a measuring cup dipped in rice vinegar, 

scoop out a rice ball onto a small piece of plastic wrap.

Use the bottom of the measuring cup to flatten it out leaving a small depression in the middle.  Re-dip the cup in the vinegar if the rice is sticking to it. 

 Add the salmon mixture to the flatten rice.

Now grab the sides of the plastic wrap and fold towards the middle. 

After pulling all of the edges to the middle, use your hands to form a ball within the plastic wrap. 

After you have formed a solid ball, open the top back up and add a sprinkle of furikake or wrap the outside in a strip of nori. 

If you're not eating them immediately, close the plastic wrap back up and store them in the fridge. Around here we make some for the day of and several for lunches for a few days.

 These are fun to make and more fun to eat!

Reese's Pringles - I Will Create Food!

There are some flavors that weren't meant to go together: cotton candy and broccoli, salmon and ketchup, blue cheese and ice cream.  There are however some flavors that you wouldn't have initially combined, but, once together, create something special. We stumbled upon this combination when we were making chocolates one day and had leftover melted chocolate.  It led us to try just about everything enrobed in chocolate.  Most combinations ranged from acceptable to "probably not the best idea".  This combination was everything we wanted the other trials to be: sweet, salty, crunchy, chocolatey. Dubbed Reese's Pringles by our oldest, they have been one of our go-to treats ever since. 

You will need:

Ridged Potato Chips

Peanut Butter (we use natural just to make it a bit healthier)

Semi-sweet chocolate-melted

Start by lining a cookie sheet with parchment paper. It'll stop the treats from sticking. 

Next dip the chips in the peanut butter. Don't cover the entire chip, you want a spot to hold them during the chocolate step. 

When your cookie sheet is full, put them in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to dip them in chocolate. 

Once the peanut butter has hardened up a bit, dunk them in the chocolate. 

And off they go back to the freezer. 

Give them about 10 minutes or so and you can give them a try.  Just don't wait too long, they don't last long! 

Easy Banana Bread - I Will Create Food!

I hate wasting food.  If there is any way possible to reconstruct, reuse, re-purpose or recycle grocery items into another meal I will give it a try...even if my family hesitates at my Frankenfood creations.  One of best ways to breath new life into certain fruits and veggies is baked goods. Zucchinis, and especially bananas, are particularly adept at supporting this transformation.  Taking overripe bananas that most would consider far past their peak and turning them into a breakfast/snack that doesn't last long brings me an odd joy.  

In the past I made the entire batch from scratch, meticulously measuring out my ingredients into myriad bowls throughout my kitchen.  I have, however, learned of a shortcut - Baking Mix. Using pre-made baking mix saves so much time that it's just as easy to make two loaves as it is to make one. (You probably should, they won't last long.)

Here's what you'll need:
5-6 overripe bananas (about 1.5 cups mashed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
3 eggs
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce (you can use oil, but I like to avoid the oil in baking when I can)
2 1/3 cups baking mix
1 cup sugar (you can cut it down to 3/4 cups if you have particularly sweet bananas)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees to start.

The first step is to mash your bananas into a liquidy paste. 

Almost there.

Next add the liquid ingredients: Eggs, vanilla and apple sauce. 

Apple sauce makes it moist!

Now the dry ingredients. Stirring while adding the baking mix helps prevent big, dry clumps in your batter. 

Don't forget the sugar!

Now whisk it all together, making sure none of the dry ingredients stick to the bottom and sides of the bowl. 

Now spray your loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray so the loaf will actually come out after baking. 

Make sure you spray the sides too. 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake it for 50-60 minutes (it's done when a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.)  

Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes, it'll be easier to cut if you do.   It's great freshly cut, warm out of the oven (I prefer a bit of butter on mine).   As quick as it disappears, you'll wish you had made several loaves.