Kitchen Adventures 14.3

Every week I get together with a handful of friends at a local establishment to relax, catch up and discuss a variety of topics (usually sports-centered). We typically celebrate things like holidays, big sporting events and other big days together. One event we almost always convene for is the MLB All-Star game. We have several faithful baseball fans in the group (and some others who are not so faithful) so this always provides a perfect excuse to get together.

This year, we celebrated the all star game a little differently. Normally we gather at a friend's house and have snacky food and beverages. This year, we decided to have a pie celebration for the event. We had a wide variety of pies, from blueberry to brownie with granola to apple to chocolate peanut butter. Needless to say we were quite full by the end of the evening!

This pie recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 14th edition on page 445.  You can find this in many libraries and bookstores as well as online.

This recipe is quite rich, so keep that in mind when slicing for serving. A tiny piece usually does the trick for most people.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:

1 chocolate wafer crust (you can make this or buy one. I bought one to save time.)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. peanut butter
1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. whipping cream
2 T. powdered sugar
3/4 c. miniature chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Prepare a chocolate wafer crust if you choose to make one. Chill a medium mixing bowl and beaters in the refrigerator.
2. To make the filling: in a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Add the 1 cup powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, beating until combined.
3. In the chilled mixing bowl beat the whipping cream and the 2 tablespoons powdered sugar with the chilled beaters of an electric mixer until small peaks form. Gently fold one-third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Fold remaining whipping cream and  miniature chocolate chips into the peanut butter mixture. Spoon into the chocolate wafer crust. Cover and chill about 2 hours or until set.

I unfortunately do not have a picture for this pie. It is extremely delicious, though!

Kitchen Adventures 4.1

We all have those delicious standby recipes that we can go to in a pinch for something bound to be a crowd-pleaser. One of my favorite recipes is something I first tried three years ago after a friend made it for dinner. It has also made me look at almost every recipe on food packaging, because sometimes those are some of the best ones.
I knew with my roommate from my first two years at Pitt coming to visit I would need something that would feed more than me but would not take very long to make. I turned to this enchilada recipe for something fairly quick, very easy, and absolutely delicious. We mixed things up a little bit by using whole wheat tortillas rather than regular flour tortillas, and surprisingly they were very good! The whole wheat gave them a little sweeter taste, which you don't normally expect with enchiladas, but I'd make them that way again in a heartbeat. As a caveat, I never remember the recipe, I always just look at the enchilada sauce can, so this is going off my memory. :)

Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 lbs. ground beef
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 bag shredded cheese
1-2 packages 8" tortillas

Directions:
Brown the ground beef and drain. Add 1/2 c. of enchilada sauce to the beef in the skillet along with 1/4 c. of cheese. Stir to combine. Grease 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill tortillas with enchilada mix. Place rolled tortillas in casserole dish, then pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and finish by sprinkling rest of cheese over enchiladas. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Here is a picture of the final product.



As a bonus, here are some pics from Steph's visit.

Zoo adventures, including being on lockdown while zookeepers try to find an escaped chimp











OKC Bombing Memorial









And of course a couple baseball games at the Bricktown ballpark.

Life as I Know It

Apparently me and blogging are not meant to be a regular event! Lots has happened in the last three months, but here are some highlights.

The highlight for March was going home at the end of spring break to go wedding dress shopping with Karen. It was a highly successful experience, since she found her dress! It's gorgeous and she will look lovely. I also got to meet up with my old friend and college roomie Jenny, which was wonderful since we had not gotten together for a couple years. The nasty weather that weekend was followed by lovely weather, so I went motorcycle riding with the boys, which was lots of fun. Gotta fill that need for speed!

April brought about the beginning of spring. It comes much sooner down in Norman than it does at home. Flowers bloom sooner, temperatures start climbing earlier, and allergies kick in early. :) But I love spring,so it's all good. I took on a little more responsibility at church by helping more with children's church planning, which has been a great blessing. Lots of social activities to keep me busy too, of course. Baseball began, so of course we had to take in a game. Here are a few pics from the outing.




Shaye and I


Shaye and Kate

Girls night and small group also kept going. We had some fun social outings together, celebrated birthdays and other fun times, and in general enjoyed each other's company.

May lived up to its reputation of stormy weather. Norman was threatened by tornadoes twice and actually got hit on the east side with the first one. There were also some crazy hail storms, but luckily those stayed north of Norman. Our friends that were deployed made it back, so small group has been wonderful with them back. We started a new Bible study called Lead Like Jesus which has been really good so far.

We also had lots of changes happen in May. Kate moved to Colorado at the end of the month to work on a dude ranch for the summer. Here are the cupcakes I made for her going away party, which was loads of fun.



I also moved since I needed a smaller place. Mom, Dad, and Karen came down at the end of the month to get me moved from the old place to the new one. It was a pretty good move, and it was great seeing the family for a bit. We even got to explore Norman a bit by eating at Hideaway Pizza and The Diner, two must-eats in Norman. I must say, living close to Campus Corner and work is definitely going to have its benefits!

So lots has happened, and lots of changes have occurred. But through it all, I still have my family and friends. I have applied for several jobs at different places, and though a part of me would like to be away at times, I keep hearing "Stay" whenever I pray about what to do. So, I guess I'll stay and see what God has in store for me here. :)

Here are pics from the latest baseball outing. Friday night fireworks-lots of fun!




Me, Shaye, and Marcus


Shaye and I