Bria's Never Fail Pie Crust

   by  ** RCB ** 

For Quiche or Pot Pie
(makes one pie shell)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
2 to 3 Tbsp cold water


For Apple Pies or Sweet Treats
(makes one pie shell)
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
1 large egg

For either recipe above combine dry ingredients and mix well.  Cut in butter until it resembles peas.  Add water and egg slowly.  Now you are ready to roll out and assemble your pie.

*I use white whole wheat flour for all of my pie crusts with wonderful results.

This crust is perfect, flaky, buttery goodness.  I use my food processor to mix my dry ingredients and pulse my butter and then I slowly pulse the water in until the dough just barely sticks together.  Makes beautiful crust every time.

Enjoy!

Homemade Honey Smacks

Sometimes I just have a hankering for a sugary cereal from my childhood.  Honey Smacks used to be a favorite of mine and I was bound and determined to try to whip up something healthy for the kids that could be a throwback to my youth.  The results were awesome.

Ingredients:
Bag of puffed rice cereal
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
sprinkle of cinnamon

Place puffed rice on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.  Meanwhile, melt the remaining ingredients in a pot on the stove.  Pour honey mixture over puffed rice and stir well.  Return to oven for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes.

Cool on baking sheet.  Cereal will crisp up upon cooling.  Once cooled, store in an airtight container.  I enjoy eating it plain but it was good tossed into yogurt, eaten as cereal or used in granola bars.

Leave a comment below and let me know what  you like to dish up for breakfast.

Gingerbread Scones

 On a rainy morning I enjoy serving up something warm out of the oven alongside a cup of tea.  As the children tottle down the stairs the smell of ginger and molasses entice them to make their way to the table and conjure up memories of Christmastime.  This recipe from Serious Eats was a big hit in our home.  We used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose and the scones were still flaky and delicious.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Brownie Cups

When my little man's second birthday rolled around I knew we needed to do something FUN for dessert.  I decided to give him the most bang for his birthday and combine two of his favorite goodies... brownies and cookies.  The results were EPIC!

Is your mouth watering yet?  

Okay so here is what you are going to need:

*Your favorite brownie mix or recipe (our favorite recipe is here, just do yourself a favor and click the link because you will never buy boxed again after tasting these bites of fudgy perfection.)

*Your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe or pre-made dough (our favorite recipe is by Ghirradeli and we use their 60% cacoa baking chips and always, ALWAYS use BUTTER.)

*2 Muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray.  This recipe makes a dozen Brownie Cups but you will need the extra muffin tin for the leftover cookie batter.  :)

*A crowd of chocolate lovers to help you eat the sweet rewards that are soon to come from your oven OR you can mail some to me.  :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray muffin tins liberally with cooking spray.

Mix up your brownie batter.  

Scoop into greased muffin tin.  I used a medium cookie scoop which is about 2Tbsp. The brownie mix will cover about 1/4 to 1/3 of each muffin cup.  Place filled muffin tin in fridge while you whip up the cookie dough.

Next mix up your cookie dough and pop it in the freezer for five minutes so when your "brookie" bakes the cookie dough will not sink to the bottom.

Pull out muffin tins from fridge and scoop (using same size scoop) cookie dough on top of each brownie batter cup.  If you have leftover cookie dough just fill up an empty muffin cup with it and enjoy the oh so gooey goodness that it becomes... you will thank me for it later.

Cookies made in a muffin tin = breakfast  :)

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until cookie is golden.  Let cool for ten minutes in the pans before running a knife around the edge to loosen and pop em' out.

Stack those cute little goodies up and take pictures liberally before devouring.

Am I the only person who thinks these are adorable?

nom * nom * nom

And because my boy LOVES Kipper - we made some "cupcake" toppers.

Enjoy the sweeter side of life this week and leave me a comment below if you tried this recipe!  :)

Lemon Blueberry Cake

In my neck of the woods Spring is the sweet song of robins,

the laughter of children playing in squishy squashy mud, 

and the vibrant violet burst of the crocus a midst the dead grass.

Spring is also a great time for bursts of lemon mingled with sugary sweetness and dotted with luscious blueberries.  

Oh you know you wanna... go ahead, indulge in a bite of spring, invite a friend over for tea and company as you savor each bite.

Or you can keep it all to yourself, I am sure it will freeze beautifully.  Head on over to Sally's Baking Addiction and make up a slice of heaven this week. 

*For the record, I made this as a two layer cake using the exact same recipe although I did substitute white whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour.*

Happy Spring and Happy Baking!

What is your favorite spring time treat to whip up for your family?

Perfect Pot Roast

As a person who has food allergies/sensitivities I try to keep the food in our house as whole/real as possible.  So when I went in search of a pot roast recipe online I was so discouraged to see that most of them had onion soup mix or canned cream of mushroom soup.  That is when I decided to check out PDub' and see if she had anything for me.  As if I even had to ask.

If you want a no nonsense, melt in your mouth, pot roast that screams "serve me with a side of mashed taters' PLEASE" then look no further.  Check out Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast and invite the fam over for dinner just so they can praise you to the skies.

Enjoy!

Fail Proof Pork Tenderloin

Oh how I love to cook...  and eat.  :)  I just love me some good ol' fashioned cooking with real ingredients.  When I stumbled upon an awesome sale on pork tenderloin at the store I had to snatch up several and then search for some variations on how to serve them.

Check out these amazing recipes for a memorable meal:

Teriyaki pork tenderloin - I prepped this meal and just threw it in a Ziplock bag in the freezer so I can toss it in the crock pot some night for an easy meal.

Pulled pork  - great for a weekend BBQ with corn on the cob and a gathering of laughter lovin' friends.  Don't forget to serve em' up with a side of napkins, or a shirt you don't care about.  :)  To keep the recipe more real/whole if that is your conviction then whip up your own BBQ sauce and find a natural rootbeer that does not have HFCS like Blue Sky.

Roasted pork tenderloin with apples - Incredibly easy and oh so delicious.  This dish is not only beautiful it melts in your mouth.  Perfect for Sunday dinner.  Instead of Dijon mustard I used the leftover honey mustard sauce I made with our homemade chicken nuggets and brushed it on the pork loin.  YUM!


What is a tried and true recipe that gets your family running to the table?