Wicked Domestic

Whoopie pies are delicious.  I think we can all agree on that cold hard fact.  I was honestly a bit skeptical about pumpkin whoopie pies, just because I’m so loyal to traditional chocolate.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I made this recipe for Hocus Pocus night.  The whoopie pies were so easy and so good!  I didn’t make the frosting from the recipe since I had some vanilla buttercream frosting leftover from cupcakes last month, but I’ll post the recipe.  I got this recipe from one of those little books they sell in the supermarket checkout line.  Jackie totally called me out on it and I was forced to fess up to my addiction – I have about 20 of the supermarket checkout cookbooks.  Apparently, I get really bored while waiting in line.  But I have found some good recipes in those books, especially this one. 

Ingredients

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

Stir together the cookie mix and the flour (do not follow the directions on the cookie mix package – just use what’s in there), then add the pumpkin, butter, cinnamon, and egg and stir well.

Drop onto a baking sheet, and press lightly with floured fingers to flatten on the top.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Even though I didn’t use it, here’s the recipe for frosting.

Ingredients

2/3 cup marshmallow creme (Fluff?  I would think so…)

1/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, beat the filling ingredients with a mixer until light and fluffy. 

Dust the whoopie pies with powdered sugar before serving.  For pictures of the finished product, see the Hocus Pocus night post.

The vanilla buttercream frosting worked really well in the whoopie pies, and I’d definitely use it again… though I’m intrigued by the marshmallow creme frosting!  These were really moist and pumpkiny – I’ll make them again for sure!

- Elizabeth

Hors d’oeuvres are probably my favorite thing to prepare in the kitchen.  They’re small mouthfuls of savory goodness that get you ready for the main event: dinner!  I’m always up for hors d’oeuvre heavy gatherings and dinners (hello tapas!), so I thought I’d give my own little spin to my future mother in-laws recipe…thanks Kathy!  I was given this lovely jar of local honey from Crescent Moon Farm in Little Compton, RI and wanted to make a quick appetizer for my sisters get together last weekend. 

I’m not normally a huge honey fan due to its extreme sweetness, but when I paired it with savory ingredients, it was heaven on earth.  Without babbling on forever, here’s what I did:

4 T honey

4 T salted butter

1/2 walnuts, chopped

2 T brown sugar

1 T flour

goat cheese

slices of bread toasted

First, I toasted up the sliced baguette then put a good smear of goat cheese on it.  Good as is, right?  Not in this house. 

I then went to the stove and melted the butter, added the walnuts, honey, brown sugar and salt and pepper. 

Let the mixture cook on medium heat for just a minute and added the four.  The flour will thicken things up nicely so that the mixture stays put on top of the crostini and not dripped down the sides.  Once everything is combined nicely, dollop about a tablespoon over the goat cheese and you’re ready to roll.

Happy snacking!

- Jackie

Tart and salty never tasted so good.  That’s what I thought when my sister Chrissy and I made up this recipe a number of years ago.  We wanted to make a calzone that had delicious salty prosciutto, but thought it’d be nice to combine a sweet, tart crunch of spiced apple.  The Wicked Domestics clearly have a problem with mixing prosciutto with fruit (see our prosciutto wrapped grilled peaches here).  We created a autumnal inspired calzone of awesomeness.  Here’s what I did:

3 apples, diced (four are pictured, but only three were needed)

1/4 lb. prosciutto, sliced

1/3 cup orange juice

1 t. pumpkin pie spice

1/3 sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1/3 Gruyère cheese, shredded

pizza dough

First, I diced the apples and added them into the orange juice which I simmered with the pumpkin pie spice in a saucepan.

Let the apples cook in the orange juice for about 2-3 minutes so that it absorbs the flavor, but not  so that it becomes overcooked.  Meanwhile, shred all the cheese and roll out the dough.  Down the center of the dough, sprinkle the prosciutto, apple and cheese. 

Roll up the sides of the calzone to cover and cut slits to vent out the steam.

Thirty minutes (at 350 degrees) and a delicious smelling house later…

You have an ab fab calzone ready for snacking.  It’s spicy, it’s tart, it’s salty…what’s not to love?!

- Jackie

I’m a pretty big coffee drinker, but unless I want to sell my firstborn child to the gypsies, I can’t afford to hit up Dunkins or Starbucks multiple times everyday.  From making my own iced coffee (french press style) to flavoring my own cups, there are plenty of ways to make your Mr. Coffee machine give you a great cup.  I first started flavoring my own coffee over Christmastime a few years ago, but since I don’t like my coffee sweet (no sugar, please!) I’m not a fan of flavored syrups, so I had to find a way to flavor the coffee without sugar.  Since you can’t just shake cinnamon (my yule tide fav) into your cup of coffee without having clumps of dry spice floating on top, I realized you need to add your spices to the coffee grounds and let the flavor brew with the grounds.  So I first started adding a few shakes of cinnamon into the grounds…delicious!  Merry caffeinated Christmas, everyone!  So I was thinking a few weeks ago that I’d like to make me some pumpkin coffee, minus the sugar.  Hello pumpkin pie spice!  Here’s what I did (easiest recipe ever):

1 placed one scoop of coffee grounds into the coffee maker then shook about a 1/4 teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice on top.  Then just add the water and brew as normal!

Of course if you dig sugar and cream in  your coffee, stir away!  The cup of pumpkin coffee was so warm and spicy-just how I like it, it was the perfect autumnal pick me up that I needed.

- Jackie

I’m kind of ashamed of how much I love hearty, down home, traditional meals.  I wish I was the type of person who happily subsisted on lightly dressed salads… but I’m not.  Meatloaf, shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie, beef stew – I love them all.   One of my favorite hearty, easy meals is turkey meatloaf – more commonly known in my house as “turkloaf”.  Nasty name, delicious dinner.  I don’t remember where or when I got this recipe, but I love it – it’s lighter than a meatloaf made with ground meat, and the glaze is so tangy and sweet.   Jackie and Chris came over for dinner last Wednesday, and I figured that if I was making turkloaf, I might as well go full-on 1950s  and round it out with mashed potatoes and peas.   Still pretty healthy, and a hearty fall dinner.

Turkloaf Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey (or you can use real meat – I bet it’ll taste even better!)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup milk

1 egg – beaten

1 onion -chopped

1/2 tsp thyme

2 tbsp ketchup

salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and form into a loaf.  I like a free form loaf so that the glaze can drip down the sides.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.  While the loaf is cooking, prepare the glaze.

Glaze Ingredients

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mustard

After 40 minutes, take the loaf out of the oven and coat with the glaze, allowing some to drip down the sides.

I had pictures of this, but somehow my camera blogged up again and didn’t save them.  What the blog is wrong with it?!?!

I made my own mashed potatoes, as I normally do.  They’re not hard, just time consuming.  I only used a bit of skim milk and a couple tbsp of butter, then added some chicken stock for flavor.  I was winging it with the amounts, so they ended up a bit watery, but still good.  And I do love me some good old fashioned frozen peas!

There are ton of different meatloaf recipes out there, but this is my go-to variation.  I love the sweet and tangy glaze, and it’s a reasonably healthy version.  It reheats well, so it’s a good meal to make for a few night’s worth of dinner.  A few friends have tried this recipe and I’ve received positive feedback – give it a try!

- Elizabeth

This weekend I moved “Slow Cooker Sunday” to Monday this week because of the holiday, and I decided to try a recipe that wasn’t a soup, stew, or chili.  I found a recipe for Italian stuffed peppers, but I adapted it to Mexican since I had a lot of items on hand that I could use (and since I’m a Mexican food fiend).  As is my style, this dish was really easy to prepare.  It was four servings, so it fed us for two nights – two easy peasy nights of no cooking! 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

about 2 cups of rice (I used an impulse-buy pouch of a quinoa-rice mix)

4 peppers

cumin

cayenne pepper

chili pepper

1 jar salsa

Mexican cheese

(Forgot to take a pic of all the ingredients together before I started cooking!  Woops!)

First, brown the turkey meat in a sautee pan.  Once cooked, add the tomatoes, beans, rice, and seasonings.  Allow to simmer while you prepare the peppers.

Slice the top off the peppers, then carefully scoop out the veins and seeds.  I used a knife, a spoon, and my fingers (not all at the same time).  It’s easier than it might seem – everything scoops out right away.

Pour the salsa into the bottom of the crockpot.  Scoop the filling into the peppers; it’s okay if they’re overstuffed and some falls out.  Place the peppers on top of the salsa.  Cook on high for 3 hours, or on low for 6 hours.   Top with cheese before serving, if you like that kind of thing (I don’t!).  I served the peppers with a simple refried bean and cheese quesadilla and sliced avocado. 

I have found that even when slow cooker recipes require some pre-cooking, I kind of forget about that by the time dinner is ready.  It makes my day so much easier when I can come home to a homemade dinner that’s ready to eat. 

You can change up this recipe in countless ways – eliminate the meat, sub the turkey for sausage and the salsa for marinara and make them Italian style, add more veggies to the filling.  Before crockpot season is over, I’ll give a variation a try.  Stay tuned for more Slow Cooker Sunday (or Monday…) recipes in the weeks to come!

- Elizabeth