King Cake #3

This is a combination between the more authentic King Cake (that took FOREVER to make), and the Pillsbury one that looks like King Cake but doesn't taste anything like it. 

So, this one tastes yummy but uses a cheat on the dough.

King Cake

Bonifacio Day

No recipe in this post. 

My kids recently learned about Bonifacio Day.  It's a national holiday in the Philippines.  I'm pretty that it's celebrated there, the same way that we celebrate President's Day here.  Schools and banks are closed but no one is having a party or making special food, except us.  :-)

Because our last name is Bonifacio, my kids thought that it would be fun if we started celebrating Bonifacio Day.  Here are some pictures of the food that we made. 

This is pancit:

Here are our egg rolls.  We filled them with ground turkey, potatoes, and green beans

We also made a few fried wontons with a couple of the wrappers.

Here is some info about Bonifacio Day

Pizza stuffed chicken

One of my favorite ways to make chicken, is stuffed.  I usually do a mixture of cream cheese and spinach.  On this day, I couldn't decide between pizza and chicken.

I usually use 2 chicken breasts.  This is an easy way to stretch chicken breasts.  I fillet them and then flatten them a little bit with a meat mallet. 

I put a thin layer of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a pan, just to keep it from sticking.

I put some sauce, cheese and pepperoni on the chicken.

In a bowl, I had one egg and a little bit of egg.
In another bowl, I had breadcrumbs and grated parm.  I make all of the ends of my bread into breadcrumbs for things like this. 

I rolled the chicken and then dipped them in the egg, then the crumbs.

This is what it looked like before it was baked.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 mins

Pumpkin Pie

I use the same pie dough recipe for all of my pies: Butter Pie Crust

The pie filling that I use is the Eagle Brand recipe, on the can of sweetened condensed milk:

Eagle Brand Perfect Pumpkin Pie

• 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin (about 2 cups)
• 1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

HEAT oven to 425°F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.

BAKE 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1-inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. 

I made a few changes.  I skip the ginger and I use 1 1/2 t. cinnamon and 1/2 t. nutmeg.  I also use 2 cups of fresh pumpkin.  I also bake my crust (empty) for about 10 mins at 400 deg. This helps to avoid a soggy bottom.

This Thanksgiving, I also added a Pecan Praline Topping from Better Homes and Gardens:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 T. butter
3 T. heavy cream
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans (I used 1/2 cup)

While pie is baking prepare the topping. 
In a medium saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, cream, and salt over medium low heat.  Simmer for about 5 mins, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and pecans. 
Cool pie for 30 mins before adding the topping.  If the topping hardens too much, heat over low heat until pourable. 
Topping will harden as it cools. 

Cooking Dried Beans

Besides being a lot cheaper, dried beans are alot healthier than canned beans.  Canned beans have sodium and preservatives and some cans contain BPA.  I've also heard that the dried beans create less gas but I have a really hard time believing that one.  :-)

Here is how I cook my dried beans.  I've done a whole bag, used half, and then frozen the other half for later.  Its always worth it to do the whole bag, even if you don't need it right away.

The beans can be split into 2 large yogurt containers.  Each container is the equivalent of 2 cans of beans.  I add some of the liquid to each container for freezing.

PLEASE SEE THE CAUTION ABOUT KIDNEY BEANS!! 

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/12/how-to-cook-dried-beans-in-crockpot.html

This blog has info about dried to canned bean conversions:

http://be-it-ever-so-humble.blogspot.com/2008/11/dried-to-canned-beans-conversion.html

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Almost every year, at the end of produce stand season, I buy a 20 lb box of sweet potatoes.  I thought this would be a fun way to use up a few of our sweet potatoes.  We didn't love them but they were a lot of work so I wanted to share the step by step pictures.  It did make me want to try more cinnamon roll recipes.

This is from It Bakes Me Happy  Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Yeast Rolls

This is a basic yeast roll recipe that I only made one small change to.  It is from Your Homebased Mom
Yeast Rolls

Mix 1 cup and 2 T. warm water, 1/3 c. oil, 2 T. yeast, and 1/4 c. sugar

Rest for 15 mins

Mix in 1 1/2 t. salt, 1 egg, 3 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 t. baking powder (my addition)

Form into 12 balls in a greased pan

Let rest for 10 mins.  Brush with melted butter (also my addition, everything is better with butter)

Bake 10 mins at 400 deg.