easy

Easy Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Turnover Recipe

September 13, 2016 by rachelle 14 Comments

Easy Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Turnover Recipe

I have to be honest here. I really really really wish I was still at the beach. I’m sure you can totally get on board with that. Our last trip to Hilton Head for the long Labor Day weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends I’ve had in at least two years.

Granted, the Hilton Head trip was the second beach vacation we had this year and I’m grateful for that. This one was just Chris and me – trust me when I say it was much quieter than the one with most of my entire family and a whole lot of kids.

But sigh… Here we are. Back at work and well on our way through September. And that means apples. I know I’m late to the apple party, but my head is still eating peaches, grilling, and drinking beer on the beach. I’m trying to catch up so how about we try an Easy Slow Cooker Apple Sauce or some Salted Caramel Apples and come on ride this train.

We could also talk about some Easy Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Turnovers if you’d like. Because who in their right mind doesn’t love some caramel apples or puff pastry or just make you some caramel apples and stuff them right into a puff pastry, seal all that deliciousness up in here, and bake it in the oven. Y’all will absolutely want to be sure to save some of that caramel cinnamon buttery cooking sauce to ~~drown~~ drizzle over the top of all that warm and cozy apple stuffed pastry because it just wouldn’t be the same with out it. Seriously, who doesn’t love some caramel-y goodness on the inside and the outside of a caramel apple turnover?

You better get started. It’s going to be breakfast soon!

5 from 1 vote

Easy Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Turnover Recipe

Ingredients

5 small to medium apples peeled, cored, and roughly chopped into about 1/4 inch pieces - I used gala and granny smith
1/3 cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon to sprinkle before baking
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
2 puff pastry sheets 1 17.3 box, thawed
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400
Combine apples, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, water, and butter in a Dutch oven and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer
Make a well in the center of liquid and whisk in cornstarch until dissolved
Continue to cook until softened to fork tender, but not mushy, set aside to cool slightly
Roll out pastry dough to 2 even squares and cut each piece into 4 equal squares
Transfer 2 tablespoons of the apple mixture onto each pastry square - bring very little of the liquid to prevent leaking and soggy dough and reserve the remaining liquid for a finishing drizzle
Fold each square into a triangle
Use a pastry brush to lightly coat the top of each triangle with the egg
Use a fork to lightly press the edges together
Evenly sprinkle each turnover with the remaining teaspoon of sugar
Bake for 15 - 17 minutes or until golden brown
Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature
Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce right before serving

Easy Slow Cooker Homemade Apple Sauce Recipe

September 12, 2016 by rachelle 13 Comments

Easy Slow Cooker Homemade Applesauce Recipe

It’s apple season, yo!

I know that apple sauce isn’t the most sexy way to start out the week, but it’s a delicious and totally simple recipe that can be thrown together in a slow cooker. When you come home from work, school, soccer practice, car pool, all those places you have to be or whatever is keeping you busy, there will be the most beautiful fall cinnamon, nutmeg, and apple aroma welcoming you home when you walk in the door.

It’s like a potpourri for the nose and the soul.

Peeling all these apples lately reminded me of Sleepless in Seattle and how the mom and the Meg Ryan characters both could peel an apple all the way and keep it in one piece. I tried and tried. I’m not sure what in tarnation their secrets were, but I am completely incapable of peeling an apple in one fell swoop. If you have the secret to crack this code, I’d be most grateful if you could share the secret decoder ring with me because my life’s ambition lately is to master this skill. I want to ninja this dang apple peeling situation.

I usually just use a paring knife to peel apples, but every time I do I remember this contraption my gram had that was just a crank thing that you put the apple on and it would spin while pulling the peel off all in one piece. Whish I had that dang thang these days. Ummm, no that wasn’t a typo I meant to say thang. I have no idea why, but we’re going with it. k? So, anyhoo, we’re all about the apples here these days, so any help with peeling would be totally appreciated. Any takers? Didn’t think so. No judgments.

Easy Slow Cooker Homemade Apple Sauce

Ingredients

8 small to medium apples peeled cored, and cut into 1/4 inch slices - I used 4 each gala and granny smith
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup water

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker
Cook on low 7 - 8 hours, until very soft
Mash with a potato masher until desired texture is reached
Serve warm or at room temperature

Easy Weeknight Meals Recipe Roundup

February 19, 2016 by rachelle 20 Comments

Happy Friday, friends! I thought we would end the week with a special Easy Weeknight Meals Recipe Roundup.

What are we waiting for? Let’s go!

Skirt Steak Skewers with Sofrito from No Spoon Necessary

Farfalle with Peas and Prosciutto from Ciao Chow Bambina

Shrimp Diane from Tasty Ever After

Garam Masala Chicken Wraps from Spiced

One Pot Chicken Enchilada Skillet from Life Made Sweeter

White Wine and Garlic Shrimp from yours truly

Pasta e Fagioli from Hungry Healthy Happy

Mini Stuffed Turkey Meatloaves from The Beach House Kitchen

Chicken Cutlets with Mushroom Cream Sauce from Fashionable Foods

Cheesy Rice and Beans from Show Me The Yummy

Mushroom Stroganoff from yours truly

Vegan Whole Wheat Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce from Whisk and Shout

Easy and Fast Spaghetti with Vegan Bacon and Peas from Veganosity

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla from Pumpkin ‘n Spice

Roasted Butternut Squash & Beet Salad from My California Roots

Bacon and Spinach Bow Tie Pasta from Food Fashion and Fun

Almond Herb Crusted Salmon from Lou Lou Biscuit

Orange Chicken from Beyond The Chicken Coop

White Wine and Garlic Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta

February 18, 2016 by rachelle 21 Comments

This post contains affiliate links.

Hi friends! Thank goodness we’re on the homestretch to the weekend! Woo-hoo! I don’t know about y’all, but I’m so ready. Even though this was a short week it was still too long. 🙂

So we’re keeping things short and easy and continuing our theme of easy weeknight meals. It doesn’t get much easier than shrimp and pasta!

We usually have this dish a few times a month because it’s so easy. Throw in a salad or a vegetable and you’re good to go! Actually, sometimes I just toss some fresh broccoli into a colander and pour the hot water – pasta and all – over it. It steams up just perfect and you have a complete meal!

Who doesn’t love an easy weeknight meal that can be put together with little effort? Sometimes we plan and sometimes I just send Chris a text asking what he wants to have for dinner. I have to admit that it’s much easier when we have planned ahead! Sooooo……

I want to remind you about my friend Raquel’s Guide to Meal Planning. Raquel is a blogger from My California Roots and she wrote an ebook Guide to Meal Planning. She gave me a copy to review (and I’m totally going to put it to good use) and I’m super excited about it.

The guide includes:

Templates for meal planning
Recipe Keeper Spreadsheet (which is awesome and helpful!)
Meal Planning Toolkit
A mini book on tips for creating the best meal plans ever
Extra goodies!

The guide is just released this week and is only available until Friday. I honestly love this Guide to Meal Planning and would totally recommend it even if it wasn’t published by my friend! I am 100% confident that it will be a life-saver for anyone with a family to feed and for people who want to keep to a healthy diet – which is always easier when you have your meal plans in place so that you’re not hitting the drive-through on your way home from work because you didn’t plan.

I highly recommend you go check out Raquel’s Guide to Meal Planning. To do that, click here: Guide to Meal Planning

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This post contains affiliate links. I received a free copy of the Guide to Meal Planning to review and all opinions are my own. The only additional compensation I will receive is if you click on the affiliate link and purchase the Guide to Meal Planning, I will receive a commission. I only recommend products that I’ve tried, reviewed, and would totally (and do!) use myself.

Bourbon Peach Mousse

September 3, 2015 by rachelle 59 Comments

What do you do when you act like a lunatic at the farmer’s market and buy too many peaches?

Break out the bourbon.

I know! I know! I just made blueberry mousse like a week ago!

I couldn’t help it. Lisa was at our house and we were brewing beer. I made the blueberry mousse (maybe the beer kicked in?) and I had an epiphany.

Bourbon Peach Mousse. Yessssss! Lisa agreed!

Everything’s better with bourbon! Happy weekend, y’all!

Bourbon Peach Mousse

Ingredients

4 peaches pitted, peeled, and chopped
2-4 tablespoons bourbon
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream chilled
Mint for garnish

Instructions

Chill bowl of a stand mixer and the whisk attachment in the freezer for 20-30 minutes prior to whipping the cream
Reserve a couple of tablespoons of uncooked peaches for garnish, or reserve some after the next step
Combine peaches, bourbon, cinnamon, and sugar in a large bowl and let it hang out for about an hour at room temperature
Heat a skillet on medium high and add peach-bourbon mixture
Cook on medium high until bubbly, reduce heat and continue cooking until peaches are soft, 10-15 minutes
Remove from heat and cool to room temperature
Add heavy cream to the mixing bowl that has been chilling in the freezer and attach whisk
Whip cream on medium high until soft peaks form, 3-4 minutes
Transfer peach-bourbon mixture to the bowl of a food processor, add sour cream and cream cheese and puree until smooth
Add the peach mixture to the bowl with the whipped cream, fold gently to combine
Transfer the mouse to a zip top bag and cut a small piece off the corner
Pipe into dessert cups
Garnish with reserved peaches and mint, if desired

Adapted from Food & Wine July 2015

Cheers to My New Look!

January 23, 2015 by rachelle 6 Comments

I’m so excited to share my new look with you!

I’m so excited that I made you beer cheese! Actually, I made you Lisa’s Beer Cheese and it is fantastic!

I want to give a shout out and huge THANK YOU to Shannon at Theme Maiden for the new design. She is amazing and totally put up with my technological incompetence. She created this design, backed up my old site, moved everything to my new host, installed the new look with the old posts, and added awesome new features! I could never have done that on my own!

Cheers to you, Shannon!

So here we are. I’m back! And we are celebrating with beer and Lisa’s Beer Cheese. It doesn’t get much better than this!

You can use whatever kind of beer you like or happen to have on hand. I would recommend a good craft beer though.

I used this Dopplebock. I brewed with Lisa, so it seemed appropriate.

Cheers Lisa!

So cheers to my new look. And cheers to you!

Lisa's Beer Cheese

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese 1 block, softened
8 oz extra sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
a couple of dashes of Worcestershire
2 cloves garlic minced
beer I used about 1/2 cup of Dopplebock

Instructions

Add cream cheese, cheddar, Worcestershire, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment and pulse until combined
Slowly add beer a little at a time with the food processor on low.
Add as much beer to reach the consistency you want.
Serve with crackers, pita, bread, raw veggies or anything else your little heart desires

easy

Easy Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Turnover Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Easy Slow Cooker Homemade Apple Sauce

Ingredients

Instructions

Bourbon Peach Mousse

Ingredients

Instructions

Lisa's Beer Cheese

Ingredients

Instructions

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