SAE: My last meeting

Tuesday was my last SAE meeting ever! I am so sad that it is over, this has been one of my favorite parts of my college career. Definitely my favorite part about senior year! We announced the new Sweetheart later that night, and Elizabeth will do a great job! She's one lucky girl!

For my last meeting :( I made jalapeno poppers (because the boys love them), a tip I have for those is to make sure you only wrap the bacon around the jalapeno once, otherwise the bacon gets too thick and won't cook evenly. I also made spicy Mexican mini quiches, dog-food queso, and this incredible pineapple cake!

Spicy Mexican Mini Quiches

 INGREDIENTS

1 lb hot Italian sausage 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz) 1/2 cup mozzerella cheese (2 oz) 1/2 cup choped jalapeno chiles, seeds removed 6 eggs 6 Tbl Salsa 1 box refrigerated pie crusts DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned and no longer pink; drain. Set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, mix both cheeses and chiles. Stir in cooled cooked sausage. In another medium bowl, beat eggs thoroughly with fork. Stir in salsa. Remove pie crusts from pouches; place flat on work surface. With rolling pin, roll each crust into 12-inch round. With a round cutter, cut around 40 mini rounds from the crusts, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Press each round into ungreased muffin cups or fluted tartlet pan. (I made this with a mini muffin tray, but you can make it with a regular sized muffin tin.) Spoon one heaping teaspoon (tablespoon for regular size) cheese mixture into each mini crusted-lined cup. Top each with about one teaspoon (tablespoon for regular) egg mixture, divide any remaining egg mixture between cups. Bake 14-18 minutes or until filling is set. If you want, garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy! Dog-Food Queso This is a little twist to regular queso. INGREDIENTS: 1 lb ground beef 1 (8 oz) packaged cream cheese, room temperature 1 (8 oz) jar prepared salsa 1 (1 lb) Velvetta cheese, sliced DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring to crumble, until no longer pink, I seasoned it lightly with a grill seasoning. Drain off grease. Spread the cream cheese in an even layer in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Spread a layer of salsa over the cream cheese, then cover with a layer of ground beef. Top with slices of processed cheese and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through. Serve hot. Pineapple-Vanilla Cake This cake is so delicious and moist. You can make your own cake from scratch if desired. But since I was cooking for 60 boys, I took short cuts to make cooking easier and quicker. INGREDIENTS: 1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple 1 1/3 cups sugar 1 (3.4-oz) box French vanilla pudding, plus ingredients to prepare 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or premade whipped cream) 1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconuts INGREDIENTS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare yellow cake mix as directed using a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. While cake is baking, combine the pineapple and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding over cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar until stiff. Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.  To toast the coconuts, put the oven on broiler and lay the flakes on a cookie sheet. Put the coconut flakes in the oven and watch closely, take out when they start to brown. Enjoy! My last SAE meeting was so much fun, I will miss being sweetheart so much! I can't wait to come back to watch them in Sing, I heard it's going to be a good one this year!

SAE: Three Appetizers!

Only two more meetings left! :( I looked up a ton of new recipes this week and made three different appetizers for SAE. I think I am the first sweetheart to ever make a seafood dish, and it was delicious.

When I am searching for recipes for SAE meetings, I look for flavor, easiness, and quickness. I need something that the boys will enjoy, but also that I'll want to make again.

My favorite part about cooking today was when Ryan and I made homemade pastry shells!

HEB ran out of pre-made pastry shells, so I bought fillo paper and we made them from scratch. They are pretty easy, but really messy. We just followed the directions (for the most part) on the box and came out with some pretty good looking pastry shells and pastry crackers (aka: wantons for another recipe!).

First, we cut up the paper into squares, we had different sizes because we weren't sure which size worked. We dipped them in butter and wiped off the excess butter. Then we formed the paper into the mini-muffin tins and baked for 10 minutes! We thought it wouldn't turn out at all... But they did!

The three appetizers I made for this meeting were:
1. Spicy Seafood Shells
2. Cheese Blintzes
3. Blue Cheese Biscuits

Spicy Seafood Shells

This was so delicious, and the favorite of the guys at meeting. In the future, I think I might add a little more spice. But still so delicious this way!

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped onion (about half an onion)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp hot pepper sauce (tobasco)
• 3-5 dashes Old-Bay Seasoning
• 1 (4 oz) small shrimp, frozen and thawed, or canned and drained (if you want to use a little more... Go ahead!)
• 1 (8 oz) can crab meat, drained and flaked
• 3 (2.1 oz) packages mini fillo tart shells
• paprika 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a medium baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mix together mayo, Parmesan cheese, Swiss cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, spice, and hot pepper sauce. Gently stir in shrimp and crab meat.

Form fillo dough into shells. Fill shells with the mixture.

Arrange stuffed shells on baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven 7 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. 

Sprinkle with paprika before serving. 

Cheese Blintzes

The best words to describe this sweet snack is heavenly. I know the sour cream sounds weird, but when you mix it with the blintzes when they're hot out of the oven, they are to die for. They were so good, I even forgot to take a picture of them... Ryan and I are already planning on making them at the lake next weekend!

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 lb) loaf white bread
• 4 Tbl white sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 pint sour cream

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. 

Trim crusts from bread and roll the slices flat. 

In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon to make a mixture. 

 

In a large mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese, milk and vanilla until smooth. Spread this mixture onto each slice of flattened bread. Roll each bread slice up. Dip bread/cream cheese rolls in melted butter, roll the blintzes immediately in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Cut rolls in half. Arrange the blintzes on the prepared cookie sheet. 

  

Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream. 

Blue Cheese Biscuits

These little biscuits are really easy and inexpensive. I had all of the ingredients on hand, and although I used blue cheese... You can try this recipe with any kind of cheese, that melts well. It was a great snack/appetizer, but you could also make it as a side/roll substitution.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 (10 oz) package refrigerated biscuit dough
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 5 oz blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate, or baking sheet, with non-stick cooking spray. 

Slice each biscuit into quarters, arrange then in the prepared pie plate. Pour melted butter over the biscuits, then sprinkle the biscuits with blue cheese. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. 

ENJOY!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Raspberry Butter

Happy Easter! I just got back from Sea Island, Georgia with my family. It was absolutely incredible. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and the view was amazing. We went deep sea fishing, golfing, laid out on the beach and we're busy all weekend.

Here is a picture of me teeing off, pretty much, into the ocean.

But back to the cooking. I bought poppy seeds for the salmon burgers and had a ton left over, so I got the idea to make lemon poppy seed muffins.

 Lemon poppy seed muffins

 Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tbl poppy seeds
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a standard 12-well muffin pan or a jumbo 6-well muffin pan.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and lemon juice.

Make a well in center of the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the well. Add the melted butter and use a rubber spatula to blend with quick strokes, being careful not overmix the batter; it should still be slightly lumpy. Gently stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. 

 Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each well 3/4 full. Bake until slightly puffed and golden, 20 to 22 minutes. 

Lightly sprinkle sugar over the tops of the muffins, if desired. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool slightly on a wire rack. 

Serve the muffins warm, with Raspberry Butter.

Raspberry Butter:

 Ingredients:

1 (6-ounce) container fresh raspberries, picked through
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Directions:

Place raspberries in a food processor and pulse until completely pureed. Place raspberry puree in a fine-meshed sieve set over a medium bowl, pressing to extract all the juice from the puree. Discard the seeds and pulp.

 Pour the strained puree into a medium saucepan and add the lemon juice and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and cool puree completely.

Cream together the butter, honey, salt, and cooled puree until smooth and well blended. (This may take up to 5 minutes on high speed.) Place butter in molds or onto sheets of plastic wrap and roll into logs. Refrigerate until well chilled and firm.

SAE: Sticky Buns and Ham-n-Cheese Spirals

I am sad to say my time as SAE sweetheart is coming to an end. I only have 45 days until I graduate... And less time than that as sweetheart :'(. So I thought I would try some new recipes, as I only have a couple more weeks to make them snacks!

I found both of these recipes when I was watching the food network while I got ready this morning. Sandra Lee made them for a bake sale... And I'm making them for meeting! All the originally recipes, posted below, yield about 12 each, which is usually perfect when cooking/ baking. But since I have a lot more boys to feed. I quadrupled each recipe!

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

Growing up, my dad always made us cinnamon rolls on Sunday. They were always very delicious, so I immediately thought of him when I saw these sticky buns with walnuts (another one of his favorites). And since he was an SAE not too long ago at SMU, I thought I would try them out for meeting. I might make them again for my family this summer one Sunday morning!

Ingredients:

• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 5 Tbl unsalted butter, softened
• 2 (8-count) tubes refrigerated cinnamon rolls
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 to 2 tsp water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 12-count muffin tin.

Peel, core and dice the apples into 1/2-inch cubes. In a medium bowl stir together the diced apples with the walnuts and brown sugar.

Divide the apple mixture evenly into the muffin tin. Put 12 cinnamon buns, cinnamon side, on top of the apple mixture. Put the muffin tin on a baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. 

Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Put a clean baking sheet on top of the muffin tin and flip to remove the sticky buns.

In a small bowl, combine 1 container of the vanilla frosting with the pumpkin pie spice and 1 to 2 teaspoons of water. Mix until very thick and of pourable consistency. Drizzle over buns and serve.

They taste just like an apple strudel yum!

Ham-n-Cheese Spirals

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbl olive oil
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• Flour, for work surface
• 1 pound refrigerated pizza dough, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
• 1/2 lb deli sliced ham
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbl water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pizza dough into a 12-inch square. Brush the entire surface with the seasoned olive oil. Top with 1 cup of shredded cheese and an even layer of ham. 

Starting from the bottom edge, tightly roll up the dough to form a log (make sure its tight or it will come unraveled). Using a sharp serrated knife, slice the roll at a slight diagonal into 1-inch thick pieces (you should get 12 spirals out of each roll).

Arrange the rolls on their side on a nonstick or lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to proof.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush the tops and sides of the rolls with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven, transfer to a serving platter and serve.

I found that if you put the rolls in the freezer 30 minutes- 1 hour before you start making them, they set a lot easier, otherwise they might fall apart. Enjoy!

Salmon Burgers and Rosemary Fries

This weekend was a lot of fun, but full of driving. We drove to Houston to see the Bears in the Sweet Sixteen! Then we drove to Dallas for Stephanie and David's wedding, and on Sunday we woke up and drove back to Houston to see Baylor play, for the first time ever, in the Elite Eight! It was such a fun weekend!

Since it is Lent, I've been making meat free meals on Friday. This Friday I made delicious Salmon Burgers with Rosemary fries. They were so good, they literally made my mouth water as I was making them! I couldn't find a particular salmon burger recipe I really liked... So I combined all my favorite parts of about 4 different recipes and came up with this recipe! The recipe will make 4 burgers.

Salmon Burgers with Scallion Sour Cream Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 (6-oz) skinless salmon fillets, cut into large chunks
• 1 Tbl grill seasoning (I used Montreal Seasoning by McCormick)
• 1 Tbl poppy seeds
• 1 Tbl sesame seeds
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh dill
• 3/4 cup ranch style or Italian style bread crumbs (thanks for the tip Dr. Tanner!)
• 2 egg yolks (to help everything hold together)
• extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
• Fresh spinach leaves or any kind of green lettuce, for topping
• Sliced tomato, for topping
• Sliced red onion, for topping
• Burger buns, split and toasted

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup softened cream cheese
• 3 scallions, white and greens, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Place salmon in a food processor and pulse to coarse grind meat (or if you are like me and don't own a food processor, I just chopped the salmon up as finely as I could, probably not as efficient as a food processor, but it got the job done).

 Transfer fish to a mixing bowl and season with grill seasoning, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dill, egg yolks, and bread crumbs. Mix and form 4 patties, Drizzle burgers with evoo. If you have time,  store in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to help all the flavors come together.

Cook burgers 4-5 minutes on each side for fully cooked fish.

While burgers cook, combine in a bowl the cream cheese and the scallions and fold in sour cream and lemon juice.

Top the burgers with lettuce, tomato, onion and sauce on crusty, toasted buns. Enjoy!

Rosemary Fries

Ingredients:

• 4 large Idaho potatoes, scrubbed (or 1 potato per person)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 to 5 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, divided (optional)
• 4-5 cloves of garlic

Directions:

Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut 10 wedges from each potato and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle a couple tablespoon of oil over the potatoes to coat them lightly then season with rosemary, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. Throw a couple of cloves of cracked garlic on the sheet with potatoes. 

Roast 25 minutes, turning once. Make sure you don't open the oven except to turn the fries half way through, so the oven will stay hot!