Oreo Marshmallows {a recipe}

Honest to goodness, I eat clean.  I really do.  But lets be real for a quick sec.  Clean eating doesn't make for fun posts.  Put plain chicken on grill.  Grill.  The End.  See?  Boring. Therefore, I bake and make other goodness to blog about! My fabulous in-laws (how many people can say that?) were here over Easter and my father-in-law, well lets just say he likes his nighttime snack.  Because of this we now have a plethora of snacks in this house and among them is a new bag container thing of Oreos.  Ahh, my beloved Oreos.  I make a point of NOT buying these amazing cookies for one very simple reason reason:

I have no self control when it comes to Oreos.  I. LOVE. ME. SOME. OREOS.

So in my mind the logical thing to do to get rid of them is to make something out of them.  It was about halfway through the process of recreating these Oreos that I realized I was taking a simple cookie and like quadmillioning the sugar and fat, well maybe not the fat, but the sugar fo sho, content of them and would have probably been better off just eating the darn cookies as they were...  But I digress.

OREO MARSHMALLOWS

13 Oreos, ground into coarse crumbs
7 Oreos, ground into fine crumbs
3 packets unflavored gelatin
1 cup water, divided
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract


We start with a few of these.  YUM.

As the ingredient list previewed, in a food processor crush 13 cookies into chunky crumbs and 7 cookies  into fine crumbs.  I do not have a food processor so I did the coarse crumbs by hand and started to do the fine crumbs by hand.  Many minutes later I grew a brain and threw them in the blender.  PULSE PULSE.. crumbs.  FANTASTIC.

Lightly spray a nonmetal baking pan with cooking spray.  Mine was 8x11 or something. Take half the fine crumbs and sprinkle bottom of pan with them.  Set aside.

Now take out your stand mixer and with the whisk attachment combine 3 packs of gelatin and 1/2 cup water.  Ps. the gelatin stinks.  Just a warning.

Mix until blended.  Turn mixer off and go to next step.  This will become goopy, but that is ok.

In a sauce pan combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and water.  Heat until granulated sugar dissolves.  Now stick in your candy thermometer and boil on high until it reaches 240 (soft ball stage).

A side note on candy therms.  I did not own one so I picked up this piece of crap at WallyWorld for like 2 bucks. It sort of sucked.  The clip didn't clip to my pan and it was hard to read because it got steamy.  However, while I was getting steam burn holding the darn thing in my boiling sugar and trying desperately to figure out where 240 was, I noticed the handy SOFT BALL STAGE note on it and said, "well that's fantastic!"

Back to the marshmallows.  Take your 240 boiling sugar and with your mixer containing your now goopy gelatin on low, pour in your super hot sugar.  CAREFULLY. PLEASE.  Once all poured in turn your mixer on medium and mix for 15 minutes. Once again, its pewey.  But that goes away. I recommend cleaning the pot that contained your sugar during this 15 minutes.  I am not responsible for any ruined pots because you decided to watch tv at this point and didn't clean your pot.  A TIP: use hot water to clean.

Oh.. side note numba 2.  It is probably a good idea to switch your whisk attachment to the paddle attachment before mixing the sugar and gelatin, because THIS? was a bitty to work with.

After 15 minutes turn the mixer off and go "oooooooh" at the shiny pretty fluffy marshmallow you have made. Then add the vanilla.  Mix till blended.

Add the coarse oreo crumbs.  Mix till blended.

Spoon the marshmallow mixture onto your crumbs in the pan and spread out.  Top with remaining fine crumbs.  Sit on counter UNCOVERED overnight.  Yes, UNCOVERED.

The next day (or about 10 hours later) cut into squares and eat.

Steak Pizza {a recipe}

I tend to experiment with new recipes at two separate times 1. on the weekend when we stop eating clean and cram in our foodie cravings and 2. when company comes.  Risky, number two is.  These two times are my absolute favorite times to be in the kitchen.  Me, my music, a glass of wine and my family home and all around me.  All other times... I can't be far enough from it.

This was last nights dinner and it turned out pretty good.  While it is pretty early for some to be looking a close up pictures of meat, I am getting it up here so you can get to the store and make it tonight!  or at least tomorrow for the game.  It is definitely game food.

first the crust.  HOMEMADE CRUST PEOPLE!!!  Wait... where are you going?  Don't run away!  It is easy, I promise.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon  Active Dry Yeast
• 3/4 cups Warm Water
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 3/4 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance. Or so they say.  I made mine after a shoot and had it sit for about 3 hours on the counter.  Turned out perfect.

Now for the toppings!!  This is man pizza my friends.  So if you are a man, have a man or want a man, make this.

Ingredients

• 1 whole Recipe Pizza Crust
• 1 whole Skirt Steak Or Flank Steak
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 2 whole Red Onions, Sliced Thin
• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 cups Marinara Sauce
• 12 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Thin
• Shaved Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup Good Steak Sauce (more If Desired)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Arrange rack in the bottom half of the oven.

Saute red onions in butter and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar over medium-low heat until dark and caramelized, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine marinara sauce with 2 tablespoons balsamic and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.

Grill steak over high heat until medium rare. Remove from grill and set aside.

Roll out pizza dough until very thin. Top with marinara mixture and spread to coat dough. Lay caramelized red onions all over the sauce, then top onions with slices of mozzarella cheese. Bake pizza for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly (but watch to make sure it doesn't burn.)

While pizza is baking, slice steak into very thin slices.

Remove pizza from the oven, then drape slices of steak all over the surface. Drizzle the top of the pizza with steak sauce (use squirt bottle if you have one) and top the whole thing with Parmesan shavings.

Cut into squares and serve immediately

NOTES:

This makes ALOT of sauce.  I did not put it all on my pizza, so don't just dump your bowl of sauce on your dough.  Spoon it on until you get your desired sauciness.

The bottom rack of the oven always makes me nervous.  I am convinced everything will burn down there.  I almost moved it up, but kept it there and the crust turned out just right.

I am no chef and a horrible slicer, so my steak pieces were on the thick side.  Hubbs said next time chop them up.  Yessir!

Please GRILL the steak.  It turns out sooo good.  And DO NOT overcook your steak.  It just won't be the same.

Spicy Steamed Broccoli {a recipe}

This morning I went though and updated the recipe page, which in turn, resulted in me sitting at the computer for a good hour and re-reading all my blog posts.  As I was doing this a few things went through my mind.

1. I don't suck at blogging.  I actually enjoyed reading my posts.  (toot toot)

2.  All the baby pictures and posts made me tear up.  I cannot believe how time has flown.

3. I am SO GLAD I started blogging.  Going through everything brought back memories that I never want to forget.  And the pictures just add to the beauty of our little life.

4. Milo is greatly neglected in the documenting of his life, blog style.

5. I have some good recipes on here!  I will continue to blog food.

6. Ya'll don't comment.  BOO.  Talk to me people!!

7. Max used to look like this...

Bwaahahahha!!!


On to the recipe.

The hubbs and I have cleaned up our diet a bit.  We a MAJOR foodies, and not in the  "we only eat organic" way.  Nope.  We just love. food.   Fatty, greasy, bad for you food.  While we realize we cannot eat like that every night, there are still nights were we will most definitely eat our weight in carbs.  And then have dessert.  Doritos Locos Tacos?! forgettaboutit.  

We are also quickly learning how boring eating clean can get.  Hubbs especially.  Veggies?  just not that exciting.  Until now.





SPICY STEAMED BROCCOLI

Ingredients:

1 broccoli crown, chopped into florets

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

Preparation:
In medium sized sauce pan over medium heat add olive oil
Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil
Now drop in the broccoli and stir until well coated
Cook for about 3 minutes
Add the water to the pan and top with cover
Cook 5-7 minutes or until tender
Use slotted spoon to remove broccoli from pan
Add to bowl and season with the salt

Note:  these are SPICY.  no joke.  Go small on the spice at first then maybe bump it up to your desired hotness next time you make.  The first time I made them, we couldn't eat them because our throats were on fire.  This time I toned it down a bit and.... perfection!

The Brothers Evans {Easter Pics}

And by Easter, I mean they were taken around Easter time.  Cause nothing else about them says "Easter".

I do think they look very close to being twinnies.. if Milo was older.  And had hair.  Bless his heart, never has had a hair on his head.

Milo.

Little Milo is 6 months.  And we love him.