July Foodie Penpal Package

The anticipation is over to see what my foodie penpal, Gloria Evans, sent me.

Gloria has fallen in love with her new neighborhood store, Trader Joe's. She sent a wonderful Italian package with items all from Trader Joe's. The items were: polenta,white balsamic vinegar, three cheese tomato pasta sauce, spaghetti, balsamic vinaigrette, and ginger snap cookies. 


I had all the best intention to use most of the ingredients to make a dinner but just ran out of time. I hope to make it really soon!!!!


If you would like to see the package I sent to Jillian please take a peak at her blog, Bites of Balance


I just want to say how appreciative I am for Lindsay, The Lean Green Bean, for organizing the monthly foodie penpal exchange!!! If you would like to join in the monthly foodie penpal, you may sign up on The Lean Green Bean blog site. 

Chimichurri Steak and Garbanzo Bean Skillet Cakes

My sister has been talking about garbanzo bean (chickpeas) flour for the last year. I was very hesitant to try it but sometimes would look for it in the store if I remembered. Well a year later, and I finally found it. I text her asking her how to cook with it. And she replied' " you season it, mix with water and make little pancakes  that you top with shredded meat for a little open faced tacos." So that is what I set out to do :) They were amazing!!!! 


Chimichurri Steak and Garbanzo Bean Skillet Cakes
Serving for 2 people (6 skillet cakes)


Ingredients:
1/2 lb of meat (I used steak) cut into strips
1 hand full of sliced green and red peppers
1 hand full of sliced onion
Olive Oil
Your choice of sauce (I used a store bought chimichurri sauce)
2 cups of Garbanzo Bean Flour
1 1/2 cups of water (may need to add a little more to thin batter)
salt and pepper to season flour


Directions


1. In a skillet, saute the onions and peppers with a little olive oil. When cooked through, set aside in a bowl.

2. In the same skillet used for the veggies, saute the strips of meat with 2-3 spoonfuls of sauce. 

When cooked through, add to the bowl of veggies.

3. Mix 2 cups of garbanzo bean flour with 1.5 cups of water. Season with salt and pepper. If you feel the batter is to think, add a little more water.


4. In the same skillet used to cook the veggies and meat,  add a little olive oil to coat the pan. Place 1/3 cup scoop of batter on skillet. When to edges appear dry (not wet) then its time to flip your skillet cake. They do not take long nor form bubbles like pancake batter. 


5. To assemble your skillet cakes: place some meat, veggies and a little sauce on the skillet cake, then fold up and eat.

If you would like information on a few of my ingredients, continue reading and check out the links.





 Bob's Red Mill makes a variety of "flours"  to be used in sweet to savory dishes. For this recipe, I used Garbanzo Bean Flour which is ground chickpeas. Garbanzo flour is high in protein and especially good in gluten free baking. I found this particular flour at a local gluten free store. Regular grocery stores also carry Bob's Red Mill products too.

Wildly Delicious  makes a great sauce for any type of meat. I used the  Cilantro, Garlic & Chilli Chimichurri Sauce in my recipe. Chimichurri is a blend of fresh cilantro, parsley, garlic, chilli, oil, and vinegar. It is a staple in South America.














Shared on the following blogs:
Bobbis Kozy Kitchen: manic-monday-party-6

Apple Fritter Mini Pull Apart Loaves

Flour Me with Love posted a recipe to make apple fritter bread HERE on her blog that looked amazing!!! I would greatly appreciate if you visit her blog for the full recipe. I adapted the recipe in the following ways: To save time, I used frozen peeled, sliced apples. I used apple pie spice in replace of cinnamon. I added at least 5 large spoons of flour the dough to form a ball so I could roll it out. Lastly, I made mini loaves.

Strawberry Pie Cupcakes

I had some left over vanilla cupcakes, butter cream frosting and strawberry pie filling from my other recipes. The idea of strawberry cupcakes popped into my head and here is my creation. Next time, I will core out the cupcake to allow for more strawberry filling.


Ingredients:
dozen vanilla cupcakes
3 cups of buttercream frosting
3 cups of strawberry pie filling 


Directions:

1. Take cupcake and pipe frosting around the outside to create a wall for the strawberry filling. 
2. Spoon strawberry filling into the middle of cupcake. 
3. Add more frosting if needed.
4. Either serve immediately or refrigerate.

Shared on:

 

Dirt Cakelet

My good friend Kasey was turning 30 years old this year and I wanted to make her a special dessert! She has fond memories of her mom making dirt cake for her birthday, so I searched for quite awhile til I found the perfect recipe. I also wanted to present it in a non traditional way (ex. flower pot). I had purchased a Nordic Ware flower cup cakelet pan from T.J.Maxx awhile back and thought it would be perfect to hold a serving of dirt cake.


I used Jane's Dirt Cake recipe that was featured on Martha Stewart's website. You can view it HERE. This recipe made 12 dirt cakelets.


Pudding Mixture 

Ingredients~~~

• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 packages (3.9 ounces each) instant chocolate pudding
• 4 3/4 cups milk
• one 16-ounce carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 
  

Directions~~~

1. Using your stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine cream cheese and butter, and stir until creamy. Set aside in a small bowl.
2. using your stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk together instant-pudding mixes and milk; stir until well blended Then add the cream-cheese mixture into the pudding.  And lastly, add the whipped cream. Whisk until combined.
3.  Chill at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Nordic Ware Flowercup Cakelet Pan

Chocolate Flower Cakelets

Ingredients~~~

1 box of Duncan Hines devils food cake mix and ingredients listed on box

Directions~~~

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease and flower cakelet pan.
2. Mix cake mix and ingredients until combined.
3. Scoop 1/2 cup of cake batter into each cakelet and bake for approximately 18 minutes. 
4. When tooth pick comes out clean they are done. Let cool 10 minutes in pan then turn out on cooling rack.

Dirt Topping

Ingredients~~~

1 package Oreo cookies (16 ounces)

Directions~~~Place cookies in the bowl of a food processor. Process until mixture resembles dirt. Set aside.

Assembly of the dirt cakelets

1. Fill each cakelet with a large scoop of pudding mixture.
2. Sprinkle dirt Oreo crumbs on each cakelet
3. Place edible decorations on top. example: royal icing flowers or gummy worms

Blog Hop #74

                    Manic Monday Party #6