Category Archives: Recipes

Recipe // thanksgiving inspiration and a chocolate mousse pie recipe

November 12, 2014

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner?
I’m excited to share with you a lovely spread of amazing recipes that will help you out this Thanksgiving.
It has been a lot of fun collaborating with some of my favorite food bloggers, and partnering with Harmons Grocery to bring you a few ideas for your Thanksgiving table, and a chance to win one of FIVE $100 gift cards to Harmons Grocery. (see details at the end of this post)
Thanksgiving is such a special holiday.  I love nothing more than to gather around a table of amazing food with people that I love and care about.  For me, food is a way I show love and I love to see people enjoying the food I have made.
It was a lot of fun to me to get together with a few of my favorite food bloggers, and set a Thanksgiving table with our readers in mind.  I hope you enjoy the recipes we share with you, and they become a part of your spread year after year.  And, trust me when I say that I tried and tasted many of the recipes, and was more than happy to have seconds.
My friend Becky of Vintage Mixer made these amazing Honey Whole Grain Dinner Rolls.  Not only tasty, but also a beautiful roll to serve to your guests.  
Becky also shared an amazing Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish Recipe.  A great alternative to a traditional cranberry sauce, it tastes so flavorful, fresh, and it only has three ingredients, simple! (photo by Becky of Vintage mixer)
My friend Si of A Bountiful Kitchen was so nice to let us invade her home with our dishes, cameras, props, and even my kids! (things you don’t see in the background)  (Photo by Becky of Vintage Mixer)
She made these amazing Savory Yams with Bacon, Thyme, and Cream.  Oh man, they were so good.  I ate my fair share, and she was nice enough to send some home with me, and I enjoyed them again the next day.  I am definitely going to be making this as a side more than just at Thanksgiving.
Si also shared with us some amazing Slow Cooker Mash Potatoes.  I loved them, and they seem so easy to make, in the slow cooker, and keeping the skin on the potatoes also helps save a lot of time.
Si shared with us some of her secrets to cooking Turkey in a bag, and her amazing simple pan gravy.
I always love to eat my Thanksgiving turkey with a little bit of fresh applesauce.  My Papy from France taught me that.  All you have to do is place peeled and diced golden delicious apples in a sauce pan, cover with water, and boil until tender.  Remove from heat, drain water, and blend in a blender or hand blender.  It is also good to keep the apples a little chunky.  Seriously try it with your next turkey, you won’t be dissappointed.
Jesseca, another Harmons blogger from One Sweet Appetite has shared a Sausage and Herb Stuffing recipe with fresh cranberries that looks so amazing! (photo by Jesseca, of one sweet appetite)
Another great side dish by Rachael of La Fuji Mama, she is sharing her Sesame Green Beans with Bacon and Chesnut recipe over on her blog. (photo by Rachael of La Fuji Mama)
My contribution to the Thanksgiving table was the pie.  Because it isn’t Thanksgiving without pie, am I right?
I made a homemade Chocolate Mousse pie.  It is just about my favorite pie there is.  Homemade chocolate mousse with fresh whip cream topped with some more chocolate shavings.  Talk about chocolate overload!  I love the selection of quality chocolates from Harmons Grocery.  They have gourmet chocolates from many vendors, some are even local companies that source their cocoa beans in South America and are very involved in the process.
Homemade Chocolate Mousse Pie
Pie Shell
Blind bake your favorite pie shell recipe, and allow to cool completely ready for the filling.
My favorite pie shell recipe for this particular pie is this recipe, except that I leave out the vinegar.  A little different with the olive oil, but trust me and give it a try.  It produces the flakiest crust, and it is a perfect compliment to the chocolate filling. It makes enough for two nine inch pies.  It is best to roll out the dough then place it into a pie plate, then freeze it or place it in the freezer before you blind bake it to avoid shrinking.  I usually blind bake mine at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, just before it turns golden.
Chocolate Mousse Filling
(filling makes enough for two nine-inch pies, or one and some left over chocolate mousse)
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
8 ounces milk chocolate
4 ounces water (about 8 tablespoons)
4 whole eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1 pint (or 2 cups) HEAVY whipping cream (the heaviest you can find, manufacturing cream is best if you can find it. It is a heavier cream with at least 40% fat)
1) Melt the chocolate with the water in the saucepan over low heat and constantly stirring until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Turn off the heat and set aside.
2) Separate the eggs with the yolks into a LARGE bowl, and the egg whites into the mixing bowl.
3) In the mixer with the whip attachment, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until medium-stiff peaks.
4) While the egg whites are mixing in the mixer, whisk the egg yolks in with the salt in a medium to large bowl until smooth and temper the melted chocolate in thirds so to not curdle the egg yolks.
5) Once the egg whites are ready, fold into the chocolate/egg yolk mixture one third at a time until light at fluffy.  
6) In a clean mixing bowl, with the whip attachment, whip the cream up to medium to stiff peaks, then fold into chocolate mixture a third at a time until light and fluffy.
Whipped Cream Topping
2 cups heavy whipped cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1) Whip the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixer with the wire whisk attachment until medium peaks form. 
Chocolate Shavings
High quality milk chocolate bar (There is a great selection of fine chocolates at your local Harmons Grocery)  
Shave pieces of the chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler.
Fill the pie with the chocolate filling, and top with more whipped cream topping, and chocolate shavings.  Place in the fridge overnight for mousse to set, or at least 2-4 hours.  Store in the fridge.
I hope this becomes a regular part of your Thanksgiving table!
Here’s the rundown of all of the recipes in one spot so you can start planning your Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving Recipes: 
Honey Whole Grain Rolls 
Easy Cranberry Orange Relish 
Now, for the fun part!  We are giving a way a chance at FIVE $100 gift cards to Harmons Grocery to help pay for your Thanksgiving feast!  Harmons is a local grocery store here in Utah, the best in the state really!
For many chances to win, be sure to enter below!  Giveaway closes Sunday November 16th at midnight!
{all photos by me unless credited otherwise}

Recipe // pork carnita and avocado tacos

November 4, 2014

I just love gourmet tacos.  There are a lot of fun gourmet taco restaurants popping up all over the place, and they are just amazing! I took a few of my favorites and tried to re-create some at home!
I love pork carnets, and they are so easy to make in the crock-pot! If I’ve learned anything about preparing pork, it’s that low and slow it the best way, always.
Crock Pot (Slow Cooker) Pork Carnitas
serves 6-8
4-5 lb pork roast
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 can 14 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup beef broth
juice of 2 limes
1 dried bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
Place roast in the crock pot.  Place the remaining ingredients on top, stir, and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
For the tacos, I like to use the Tortilland brand uncooked corn tortillas.
I place some cojita cheese, pork carnets, radishes, green apples, and you can put sliced red onions and jalapeños and finish it off with some mexican crema, or mexican sour cream.
We also made some avocado tacos.  If you haven’t tried avocado tacos, man you are missing out.  They are so so good!
I use the tortillaland uncooked corn tortillas and heat them up.  Then add a layer of cojita cheese, then avocado, then some radishes, then some beets slice very thin with the mandolin.  Then I top it with a little mexican crema, or mexican sour cream.  Then, I finish it off with a little kosher salt.  Yum!
We ate these tacos Halloween night before we headed out to go trick or treat.
This year we had a cute Little Bo Peep.
A scary Frankenstein.
And, our little UPS guy.  
They had a blast, and would barely hold still for a few pictures.  The second they saw other trick or treaters out there, it was over.  No more pictures for mom, they wanted to get out there asap!
They loved every minute of it.  Halloween and holidays really are magical with kids!

{all photos by me}

Holiday // halloween feast

October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!
I hope you are having a great day!  Amidst all the last minute preparations I wanted to quickly share some of the details of our Halloween feast we had with my little family.
I don’t have the time to set a fun table all the time, but when I do I really enjoy it!  Making the holidays a little extra special for my children is one way I show my love for them (hello love language) so it was a lot of fun for me to set up and see how excited they were.  The little pumpkins on the table are actually bread bowl pumpkins from Harmons.  My kids loved that the bread was orange!
A quick and easy detail I added was adding a little sprinkle rim to the glass goblets I found at Tai Pan.  
It is so easy to do.  All you have to do is put a little corn syrup in a dish, then dip the rim into the corn syrup, then dip it into the sprinkles and pat them on well. And, there you go! So easy!
A lot of this I had already in my party box.  I know hoarder status, but it’s nice to have things on hand that you can pull out of your hat!
I placed little pumpkins on the plates with some wash tape with their names on it.
I had some mini easels, so I thought it would be perfect to put the cookies on it as a decoration as well as a yummy treat.
I went to Trader Joe’s and they had all of their fun pumpkin flavored treats, so I pretty much bought them all.
Mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin salted caramels, pumpkin scones.
I put some black and white gum balls from Orson Gygi into some beakers for table decor as well.
The cheese spread was fun.  I used those babybel cheeses and drew little jack-o-lantern faces on them with eatable markers, and rosemary crips, and pumpkin crasin crackers.
I decided to go simple on the food.  My local Sams Club had these darling pre-made pumpkin shaped ravioli that I added some thyme and pine nut browned butter sauce.
I also served some steamed broccoli rabe as “witches brooms.” The kids loved all the little details.
This was a fun new tradition for us that I hope we can do every year!  After we finally got a chance to carve our pumpkins. Traditions are the best!
I hope you have a Happy Halloween! We are excited to head out to trick or treat!
{all photos by me}