Food Craft: Owl Sugar Cookies

Happy Halloween!

Since all of this stuff is pre-made, I didn't really consider it a recipe so we're gonna call this a food craft: Cute owl cookies!

I am always charmed by the clever things that people do with food, and the easy ones are the best! I saw the owl on one of those "20 fun things to do for Halloween" things online. It didn't have directions, just a picture, but it spoke for itself. The frosting used in the original looked like a glaze of some kind, or fondant, but my personal opinion is that cream cheese frosting makes 99% of all cookies and cakes better. So, I used cream cheese frosting. Duh.

This is a perfect craft to do with kids if you have them. I wish I had kids so I could claim that this was their handiwork. So many things went wrong trying to do these. I think that must just be what happens when I don't make my own cookies or frosting. Oh, well!

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: 13-15 minutes per batch of cookies (or whatever your cookie package says)

Thing you need:

-Owl cookie cutter

-Sugar cookie mix, prepared, or pre-made dough

-Cream cheese frosting

-Food dye

-Candy corn and/or Reese's Pieces

-Miniature chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Roll out your cookie dough into a flat sheet. As you can see I chose the pre-cut ones, but that's mostly because they looked like the best cookies. I just rolled out the dough and got rid of the pre-cut nonsense. ...After Hubby and I stole a couple would-be cookies.

Roll out your cookie dough, stamp a few owls out and lay them on a sprayed cookie sheet.

Then roll it back up and do it again!

The issue with this cookie dough that I used was that it spread out a lot in the oven, more than normal cutout cookie dough. So my owls ended up looking like this.

But have no fear! There is a plan B for that. Let them cool for a couple minutes and stamp them out once they're done!

Then take all the extra little bits from around the edges and snack on them while you finish your cookies.

Let these rest on a cooling rack for about five minutes so they don't fall apart while you're frosting them.

2. Separate your frosting into as many bowls as you have colors. For the ones I'll mention, that will be just one.

I had all the intent in the world to do orange owls, because the photo I saw online was orange. But...I was out of red dye, and only had a few drops of yellow dye, so I made teal-ish blue-green owls instead. At least I liked the color!

Add the dye...

Mix it...

And add more dye if it's not dark enough for you.

Now, before I say this, I know that some people will wonder "Why are you telling us this?" However, I personally know several others that may say something along the lines of "Thank God there's a list!" So, without further ado, here are some basic color combinations:

Red + yellow = orange. Go for more yellow drops than red.

Yellow + blue = green.

Blue + red = purple.

Blue + orange or Red + green or Yellow + Purple = brown.
And for what I did, use a teensy bit of yellow, then add tons of green + blue which = tealish. I just mixed it 'til I liked the color, really.

Mix a generous amount of dye into each bowl for whatever colors you need.

3. Frost your owls. (See? This is why you have me to tell you things. You never would have guessed that.) Then, add a candy-corn beak. I found that the candy corn was too large, so I sliced it in half. And finally, two mini chocolate chips for eyes!

Cute! ...If a little kiddish.

I also tried Reese's Pieces and sliced one of those in half, breaking one of the halves again, to make a little more of a realistic beak.

For some reason, this one looks surprised to me.

And I left one of the oversized ones in-tact to decorate him. He was large enough to allow me to use a full candy corn for his beak. I used Reese's Pieces for his eyes, and surrounded them with the mini chocolate chips.

I can't decide which one I like better! I think the expanding-in-the-oven made them like cuter, fatter owls, but the shape is only vaguely owlish now.

Hubby also did a teddybear-fish AKA he did an owl but it didn't transfer to the cookie sheet well, so he tried to fix it and it didn't work. He decided to just go with it and make it a little worse so it would be interesting.

I frosted a fish out of it for him.

I'm a hopeless romantic, I know.

Moral of the story: When things don't go as planned, look for a Plan B. And when Plan B still turns out not-so-great...At least you're still eating sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting.

Have fun, and enjoy!

Recipe Post: Chorizo Rice

When I am at home, I normally just call this "Chorizo Hash," but it's not really a hash since there are no potatoes. I changed the name, just for your guys.

This is one of the first things I ever made with the soy chorizo, when I was first experimenting with it after I first found out that it existed. It's still one of my favorites, and when I don't feel like cooking anything fancy it works just fine for a quick dinner. It's even vegan!

Here is my usual disclaimer for soy chorizo: You can use other brands, but the Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo is the best I've found so far. The other brands do change the flavor in a significant way. You are welcome to try something else, though!

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

3/4 - 1 package Trader Joe's soy chorizo (or comparable)
1 onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup brown rice
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Follow the directions on the brown rice package to make one cup of rice. Mine involves boiling water...

Adding rice...

And waiting with the pot covered, stirring occasionally, until rice happens. (P.S., this is not a brand suggestion. Use whatever the heck kind of boxed or bagged rice that you want to use.)

I am sure yours will be similar, unless you have a rice cooker in which case you are cooler than me. Still use brown rice, please. Brown rice is so good! And better for you! And just...better! (I may have something against plain white rice.)

P.S., If you're like me and you sometimes forget that you're not using a non-stick pan, you may get your rice stuck to the bottom of your pan. Once it's done cooking, add a teensy bit of water (maybe 1 tsp) and use the moisture to dislodge the rice from the bottom. It should get up most of the rice.

2. Take the skin off your soy chorizo. It's soy chorizo, so the "casing" is plastic and not edible.

I say this every time, but the one time I don't, someone will not remove the plastic. These are the things I think about.

Mash it up.

(This is only half of what I used, so ignore how much it looks like.)

Chop your onion.

Mince your garlic.

3. Spray a skillet and heat on low. Add your onions and garlic.

Cook those until soft and almost translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

4. Add your soy chorizo and stir in. Cook this for another 2-3 minutes.

Then add your rice, which will hopefully be done for you by now, and then the garlic powder and onion powder. And you're done!

Spoon into a bowl and eat it straight...

Or serve with tortilla chips.

Hubby and I do a little bit of both.

(Does anyone else see Mickey Mouse?)

Enjoy!

Kitchen hacks for less time/money:

-Substitute frozen packaged rice for dry rice. It steams in the microwave and is done faster than dry rice, though it is usually a little pricier. No risk of sticking to the pan here!

Recipe Post: Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

Here's something a little different for you guys: A super simple breakfast sandwich. This one is a staple in our house.

There are tons of ways you can do a breakfast sandwich like this: On a bagel (as we have), on a croissant, focaccia bread, sliced bread, English muffin...The possibilities are as endless as the bakery aisle. You can also add some extra stuff to make it "fancier," like sautéed tomato and Kale, or spinach and feta, or caramelized onion and shaved parmesan, etc., etc., but I wanted to go with the basic of the basic.

As a little disclaimer: I don't believe that American cheese has much of a place in cooking, other than in breakfast sandwiches and in grilled cheese. American cheese on either of those reminds me of my childhood, and of McDonald's, in a good way. (Should I admit that on a food blog?) If you want to substitute the American cheese for cheddar or provolone or even something sassier like pepper jack, you have my full permission and blessing.

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: < 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 1-2*

(*Hubby and I always split this one, since it is 3 eggs)

Ingredients:

3 eggs (1-2 if only serving 1 person)

1 everything bagel, halved

1 slice of American cheese

2-3 tbsp butter

See? Already easy.

Directions:

1. Spray your skillet. Please forgive the scorch marks on this pan from the Great Scald of '14. We don't speak of it.

Break your eggs into a bowl. I'm a fan of the good ol' fashioned break-the-shells-on-the-counter style, but feel free to use whatever newfangled way of egg cracking that you like.

Beat the eggs with a fork, or a whisk if you like being more traditional than me.

A couple side notes: If you want your eggs to be a little fluffier, add some soy milk or cow's milk and beat that in also. Also, if you will not be using cheese, add a little bit of salt to your eggs. The cheese brings enough salt by itself.

Pour the eggs into the skillet over low heat and cover. This helps the top of the eggs to steam at the same time they are cooking on the bottom, so they cook a little more evenly and don't get overdone on the bottom.

2. Toast your bagel while this is going on. (Rocket science, I know.)

3. Once the top of your egg is mostly solid (about 2-3 minutes), flip it like a pancake. I also do this with my omelets before I add any of the other ingredients because I'd rather have a nontraditional way of cooking eggs than undercooked eggs.

Cook for another 30 seconds-1 minute until the bottom is set and take off the heat.

4. This one is really up to you how to do it. I personally like to quarter the egg patty so that it is easiest to put onto the bagel, but feel free to just fold it, too.

Note: If you are making this into two sandwiches, slice the egg patty in half and use one half per each sandwich. Hubby and I just like to split ours on one bagel.

5. Butter your bagel halves.

Mmm, butter. (It's in my Top 5 List of favorite ingredients.)

Add the cheese. I like to do this on the bottom so that the heat of the eggs melts it more thoroughly.

Stack the eggs.

Replace the top half of your bagel.

And there you go!

A simple and tasty breakfast sandwich. Slice in half if you're sharing like us.

And make sure to take a couple bites before you finish pictures.

Enjoy!

Recipe Post: Sweet Potato Pie

Remember what I said about it being the pie time of year, and how I hope you don't get sick of them? Can't say I didn't warn you!

Here's a guest chef post from Hubby! He decided to make me a sweet potato pie. I can only take credit for the pictures (and advising how to make the pie crust.).

I admit that I am historically not a sweet potato person, but this pie is delicious and makes me forget that I am eating sweet potatoes. When we were engaged and Hubby first told me that he was going to make me a sweet potato pie, I voiced my reservations and told him that I made no promises that I would like it. Luckily, things turned out like things did for him with my guacamole. Mmm.

P.S., Sweet potatoes are really good for you so that's an added bonus! Although with all the stuff you add to this pie, I am pretty sure this pie is as far from sweet potatoes as french fries are from normal potatoes.

But everyone loves french fries, so that's okay. (Except me, because I'm weird. I'm coming around to them, though.)

Let's get down to it:

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 40-45 minutes

Yields: 2 pies, or 16 slices (If you don't want to make two pies, just cut the amounts of all ingredients in half and skip cutting the pie dough in half.)

Ingredients:

For the crust:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil

For the filling:
6-8 sweet potatoes
1 cup butter
1-1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

Directions:

1. Boil the sweet potatoes. This is the longest part of the whole recipe. I wasn't there when he started boiling them, but they took another probably 20 minutes after I got home. My guestimation is about 30-35 minutes.

2. While those are going, make the crust. Start with the flour.

Add the salt.

Mix until combined.

3. Now for the soy milk.

And the oil into the same measuring cup. We went slightly above the line because our apartment floor is actually slightly lopsided, so measurements are never quite right.

As per usual, I always stipulate here that my old family recipe says underlined and bold do not mix these ahead of time. I don't know why this is important but I've never tried it another way. Would anything bad happen? Probably not. Do I want to risk it? Not today. I don't mess with the classics.

Add this all to the flour mixture.

Mix it up!

4. Roll the dough into a ball with your hands. About 3/4 of the way through mixing, the spoon will stop being very helpful anyway so you'll have to finish mixing with your hands.

Cut in half to look vaguely like a geodude (I think I just outed myself as a nerd.).

Roll out one half of the pie dough. (Look! Look! We finally have a legitimate rolling pin!)

We used our handy-dandy pie sleeve, but you can also use wax paper if you want.

Line the bottom of a pie pan with it by gently peeling the dough away from the sleeve or wax paper.

P.S., It's weird to have so many hand photos this time! I kinda like it. Maybe I should always have Hubby cook.

Gently push out any air pockets on the bottom so that the dough lays flush against the pie plate. Pinch and pull (delicately!) the edges if there are any spots missing dough so that no glass shows through.

Rinse & repeat with the second half of the pie dough, and set them aside!

5. Once your sweet potatoes are soft to the touch (test with a fork, these babies are hot), drain into a colander. Remove the skins with a couple forks. Since they are nice and tender, this is pretty easy at this stage.

Mash the heck out of them with a potato masher.

...until there are not very many chunks left.

Add the eggs.

Then the butter, softened.

And finally, the sugar.

Mix it all together until it's nice and smooth.

Pour half of the mixture into one pie crust, and half into the other. (I know, rocket science. You wouldn't have known to do that without me here to tell you.) This is an open-faced pie, so you don't need another pie crust on the outside like my pies normally call for.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until the crust is crisping and maybe even getting a little golden.

And you're done!

Unlike most pies, Hubby finally admitted that this pie tastes best fresh out of the oven.

I personally think it tastes good both ways.

If you do serve it cold, think about adding a spoonful of ice cream, too!

Enjoy!

Kitchen Credits:

-The crust recipe is a family recipe.

-The filling recipe is courtesy of Hubby's manager at work.

Kitchen hacks for less time/money:

-Substitute cow's milk for soy milk in pie crust.

or

-Substitute a store-bought pie crust for steps 2-4.

-Peel and cube the sweet potatoes before boiling; they will boil faster and peel a little more cleanly. Please note that you will lose some nutrients doing it this way, hence Hubby boiling them whole.