Cherry Dream Cream Pie-for Eddie

Did you see that mountain of whipped cream? Yummers.

There are two things you should know about me. First, although my family can drive me crazy, I love them more than carbs....and I love me some carbs. Second, I come from a family of major foodees. I realized it at Thanksgiving. The conversation always turns to food. ALWAYS.

So, who's Eddie? Eddie is my uncle. He is my mom's brother and an all around good ole' boy from back in the day. I grew up without a dad and being the first grand baby, you could say that I was a little spoiled. Okay, you can say that I was a lotta spoiled. No one spoiled me more than my grandmother *Nana* and my uncle Eddie.

Eddie is a hoot. Seriously. He likes to give advice, solicited or not. He always has my best interest at heart. I know he loves me and I adore him.

Remember what I said earlier, that we talk about food constantly? Eddie is of a different foodee breed. He can remember what he ate, when he ate it and more importantly, where he ate it and WHO made it. Eddie has eaten around the world...literally.

During Thanksgiving, Eddie mentioned a cherry cream pie from his past. Yep, I said it. cherry cream pie. Have YOU ever heard of a cherry cream pie? I hadn't. But, I knew in that moment, that I would spend the next few weeks trying to find a recipe so that I could surprise him with one at Christmas.

I bet your guessing I found loads and loads of recipes right? Uh..no. No one on the PLANET had ever heard of a cherry cream pie. So, I took it upon myself to make a recipe.

My first try was a good effort. I used instant pudding and cherry pie filling. Eh. It tasted a little like cherry, but not enough.

My second try, man I bought some awesome ingredients. Organic cherry preserves, real cherry juice, frozen whole cherries, and..oh yeah..instant pudding. Well, guess what. The pie had TREMENDOUS cherry flavor..with just one eency weency problem. It never set up. It was liquid. Looking back, I probably should have poured it in a glass and enjoyed it...bbbbuuuttt...I didn't.

Pie number 3 was just so so and I have admit that it finally hit me. I NEEDED CHERRY EXTRACT.

The picture you see above and below is the 4th and final pie. We dropped it off at Eddie's and I made him eat a piece in front of me. He enjoyed it! I now have the satisfaction of knowing that I have created my own savory and my own sweet recipe. Woot Woot.

So now, for your culinary pleasure, I present:

Cherry Dream Cream Pie

Ingredients:

Pie:

1 box Cook n serve vanilla pudding

3 cups of whole milk

1 ¼ tsp cherry extract

1 cup cherry preserves

2-3 drops of red food coloring

Crust:

1 deep dish prepared pie crust *or make your own*

Topping:

2 cups heavy cream

½ cup sugar

Steps:

1. Bake pie crust per directions and allow to cool

2. Following instructions on box, combine ingredients for pudding along with cherry extract. Cook and cool completely

3. Stir in preserves and food coloring. Pour into pie crust

4. In stand mixer, whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue whipping until it forms stiff peaks.

5. Top pie with whipped topping

6. Enjoy!

I'm feelin' a lil chili

I'm new to Texas. However, if there's only one thing I know about Texas it's this.....the weather is never the same more than 2 days in a row.

We've been hot, we've been cold..we've been EVERYTHING in between. During the most recent cold spell, I got a wild hair up my butt and decided that I wanted to make my first pot of chili....EVER.

I kind of had an idea of what needs to go in chili. Meat, spices, grease, etc. I just didn't really have an idea of what kind of chili powders, etc. I researched a few recipes and found that none of them really sounded like something I would be interested in trying.

I made a decision that day. A decision that would change my life forever. I made up a recipe for chili and here's the kicker.....IT WORKED! In fact, it worked so well, the hubs and I ate a whole dutch oven full on our own. *burp* It was good!

So, ladies and germs, here's my recipe for chili.

Misty's Surprisingly Good Chili

Ingredients:

4 lbs hamburger meat
2 small onions-diced finely
2 1/2 jalapenos-diced finely
4 cloves of garlic-minced
4 TBSP Chili powder
3 TBSP Chipotle Chili powder
2 TBSP cumin
2 TBSP dried oregano
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can beef broth
2 14 oz cans of tomato sauce
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Garnish(es) of choice: I just use shredded cheese!


Directions:

In a large dutch oven, sautee onions and jalapenos in olive over medium heat until the onions are translucent, approx 5 mins. Add garlic and cook until fragrant about 1 min.

Now, here is the most important step, add in all spices and cook for 2 minutes. Add in hamburger meat and cook until no longer pink.

Once the meat is fully cooked, add tomato paste and stir to combine. After one minute, add in all other ingredients.

Bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook.

Now, here's where you have some options. The first time I made this I cooked it about 2 hours, put it in the fridge until the next day, skimmed off the fat and then warmed it up. OMG so good.

The last time I made it, I cooked it for 6 hours on simmer and followed the next steps. It seemed better with the longer cooking time.

So, your option is to cook it 2 hours or more. HOWEVER, you don't have the option of eating it the same day. Sorry, no can do. We all know that chili is much better the second day.

Enjoy :)

Here we go again!

I tried this whole blog writing thing about 3 years ago. Needless to say, it didn't pan out well. Why am I back? Well, I find myself being drawn to cooking, baking and *gasp* crafting. If you know me at all, you know that those three things and I really don't get along.

I'm hoping to change that. I'm enjoying cooking, baking and crafting more and more. This blog will be a place for me to showcase my efforts.

An accidental cook? Well, it could refer to my ever present hiccups in the kitchen. It never fails and doesn't matter what I'm making. I make a whoops almost every. single. time. It could also refer to the fact that I got back into cooking quite accidentally. Who knew that I could make things that others would enjoy? Not I said the fat girl.

I hope you enjoy my many domestic adventures.