Like these:

See, first, I bake my tarts.

Then, I put a layer of something on the bottom. This could be a custard, marshmallow fluff or in today’s example, Nutella.

Once I layer the bottom, I decorate the top with lots of fresh fruit.

So summery. So choice. So pretty. So fabulous.

My second favorite size is about 4″ in diameter. This is large enough to cut into four pieces which is more than enough for nights when my husband and I share dinner with my parents. I always make fresh whipped cream to go alongside and it’s always divine.

The perfect summer dessert.

Here they are all plated up. My favorite ‘design’ for the little guys requires 5 blueberries, one raspberry and a strawberry slice. They look so pretty and patriotic.

My favorite tart recipe is from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything. I have the iPhone app as well and it is absolutely worth the $3 price tag. It allows me to save recipes for the future and comes with a timer function which is useful.

Here are three tart tips:

• Butter your tart tins like there’s no tomorrow. Be generous.
• Don’t leave them in the oven too long–really pay attention as they’re baking.
• Don’t make the layer under the fruit too thick. Whether you are using Nutella or something else, a too-thick layer can overwhelm the tart. Remember, a big part of why people like tarts is because of the crust.

Yum!

I know I am not the only one. Chocolate is wonderful.

I got lucky yesterday. The chocolate found me.

A new friend gifted me the chocolates I’m about to show you below. They are such pretty little things. I knew the second I opened the box that I just had to snap a few photos.

These chocolates happen to be handmade here in Cincinnati. I think most of us here in town are basically unaware of anything other than Esther Price, Ghiradelli and what’s at the grocery store.

Oh, and maybe my salted truffles?

This little sample box had six flavors. Don’t ask if you can have a bite, because I already ate them.

Above is the Ginger Lemon Zest.

Below, Tiramisu. The orange guy to the left is Mango Swirl.

The rosette is Raspberry Rose and the chocolate under the tiramisu is Passion Fruit.

My favorite, hands down, is the Sweet Violet, which you can’t see because it’s sitting under the Mango Swirl.

I promise, it was good.

Pretty, no?

This is basically a chocolate pop. They make them for weddings and that sort of thing as favors or desserts.

I think this would be pretty fun to make, or maybe a nice gift too.

They also hand-tie the little embellishments on as well.

The wedding pop was good too. ;)

Anyway, if you happen to be as taken with these as I was, you can find all the info you need on their website: ChozenChocolates.com

Now I bet you want some chocolate. ;)

Here’s a mini-cheesecake just for you.

This is delicious. Really. And, I believe that the deliciousness is enhanced by the recipe being incredibly easy, quick and simple.

And the cheesecake still tastes phenomenal!

Promise!

The recipe I used is from Cook’s Country. I find some of the best recipes in Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, Cook’s Country Magazine and then of course through America’s Test Kitchen. Just can’t beat it.

Here’s the link to the recipe which was featured in the April/May 2010 issue of Cook’s Country Magazine.

Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes

Makes 12

• 12 shortbread cookies (Keebler Sandies are perfect)
• 1/2 c. seedless raspberry jam
• 1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• 1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
• 2 large eggs
• Fresh raspberries for garnishing

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

1. Get our your muffin tin made for baking 12. Put a cupcake wrapper in each one. Put a cookie in each wrapper. Put a dollop of jam on top of each cookie.
2. Get out your electric mixer and beat the cream cheese until it’s fluffy. This takes about 2 minutes. Then, slowly beat in the condensed milk. After that is incorporated, add the eggs one at a time and beat it all until it’s smooth.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove and let cool for another 20 minutes or so. Pop them in the fridge for an hour.
4. Remove from fridge. Put a dollop of jam on top of each cheesecake. Place a fresh raspberry on top if you want.

PS: If your jam isn’t at room temperature, try microwaving it for 15 seconds. It makes it much easier to work with.

This beautiful photo is of Coca-Cola in its infancy. At least my husband’s interpretation. And you know what, what we came out with was pretty darn close.

Have you ever wanted to try to make Coke before; you know, from scratch? Did you even think it was possible?

Well, making soda from scratch is not a new thing. This whole soda-in-cans thing has really only been around for 50 or so years. Before then, people made any kind of soda like this:

Mix together:

• soda water
• syrup

Gee…..that’s it?

Yep.

You may not know this, but Coca-Cola is a citrus-based flavor. I know, I know, it’s kind of crazy when you think about it at first, because really, what does Coke taste like? Can’t really put your finger on it, huh?

Well, no one knows the exact recipe. Not even Simplicity Embellished. But, we do know what many of the ingredients that form Coke’s unique flavor profile are.

My husband developed the concoction pictured above.

It’s a blend of:

• lime peel (all the essential oils are in the skin, thereby producing the strongest flavor)
• star anise
• cinnamon
• sugar
• vanilla
• water

What’s great about this is that you can basically vary the amounts of each of the ingredients and it will still taste good at the end.

Here’s how we did it:

• filled a pot with water on medium-high heat
• put all the ingredients in
• stirred it until we could really smell it
• Let it come to room temperature, then put it in the fridge for a few hours (you don’t have to wait that long. Just know that the longer you let it sit, the more the flavors develop.)
• Poured a glass of plain soda water (Usually about 80 cents for a liter at the grocery).
• Mixed in, spoonful by spoonful, the mixture above, to taste.

And, my friends, you don’t just have to set out to recreate Coca-Cola. Try just a basic lemon-lime soda or another citrus (just create a basic sugar syrup over the stove and squeeze in the juice) or even something like mint.

Meringue is lovely. The flavor is simple, the texture divine and the experience–weightless.

Since I indulge myself fairly frequently, I thought perhaps it might be worthwhile to share some of my favorite meringue facts:

There are three types of meringue:
1. French (easiest)
2. Swiss (made over simmering water)
3. Italian (uses sugar syrup)

The recipe for meringues is just over 400 years old.

If you refrigerate them, they become soggy.

One of my favorite meringue desserts is the Dacquoise! Have you seen this before? Martha Stewart has a great section on meringue, including a few dacquoise recipes.

Motivated to cook. Actually, I think, motivated to be distracted in the kitchen for a few hours–do you know what I mean? Sometimes it’s really nice to be focused on one thing for several hours. And it’s even nicer when that one thing reaps quantifiable results.

I made yams.

I made roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips.

I made a lentil and rice dish.

And I made my husband a cake.

I used the yellow cake recipe from Cooks Illustrated and their Simple Vanilla Frosting recipe as well.

I felt so proud, staring across the room at my three layer cake resting peacefully on the cake stand.

And when my husband got home, he felt hungry. Which was perfect, because I had a lot of food.

And, I think they are lovely to look at.

The photos in this post feature a mixture of green lentils and french lentils; both of which you can purchase in bulk from places like Whole Foods, which is where I bought mine.

Lentils have a shorter cooking time (than, let’s say, beans) and these are a great ingredient to keep on hand. If you mix lentils with rice, you then are getting the full spectrum of protein (cystine and methionine are two proteins).

This past week, I made a dish in our dutch oven of lentils, rice and carrots seasoned with a sauteed shallot and garlic. Instead of using water, I used chicken broth.

Lentils are great cold or warm and I think they go best with either rice or quinoa.

Here are a couple good lentil-based recipes:

• Lovely Lentil Soup
• Stewed Lentils and Tomatoes
• Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes
• A Lentil Dessert

Stuff that they would have tossed down the disposal.

That is, most likely, until some dishwasher probably said something like, “Y’know, you could make a lot of money if you sold that.”

And some head chef went, “You know what, that’s a terrible idea.”

And then went and did it.

;)

Can you identify it?

That fleshy red stuff. Looks kinds gross when it’s just in a glass bowl.

Can you identify that?

It’s the center part of a tomato. The mushy, fleshy part.

Restaurants serve these on the side or as an appetizer. Some will sprinkle a little sea salt and pepper on top.

Man are they good. You just eat ‘em by the spoonful.

Try serving these in summer time. Use some delish heirloom tomatoes. Serve them in shot glasses. Or perhaps on a bed of greens.

They’re addicting. I promise.

*I took these photos at Sugar Cupcakery in Milford, OH (part of Cincinnati, OH). And, when I looked through them again the other day, they just made me smile. :)

Lots and LOTS of sugar plums!

Recipe is here: http://simplicityembellished.com/2009/12/sugar-plums-a-recipe/

I do! I hunted and hunted for a traditional recipe; one that you could have easily found being traded among friends decades ago. Believe it or not, this is a recipe that really has no, well, exact recipe. I found a section in a book from the 1940’s that describes Sugar Plums as ‘any round or oval shaped candy coated in sugar.’ There’s a lot of room for interpretation there.

These are what I ended up with, and you’ll see in the ingredients below that you can easily add more of one thing, less of another and perhaps you’ll end up with a new family recipe you can closely guard and pass down through generations. I would like to note that I wish I would have made a very small batch first to really grasp what they’d taste like, because in my second go-round, I would have added more nuts.

Here are most of the ingredients. I purchased them from my local Whole Foods from the bulk foods section. Since you only need a 1/2 cup at the most of each ingredient, it’s a pretty affordable recipe.

I used Turkish apricots in this recipe. They are darker colored and I feel like the flavor is more subtle. You can use regular apricots though.

Those are Medjool dates up above.

And below, dried apple. (You can use dried pear or another dried fruit instead.)

Here are my nuts, all measured out and ready for toasting!

And just look at that orange zest. That is pure orange flavor right there. Next time I make this recipe, I’m going to use less orange zest.

I over-toasted the nuts. I’m not going to edit out my failures just for Simplicity Embellished, although, I would like to. ;)

I will admit that I took a bite of one of the burnt ones.

Don’t think you can use those. You can’t. They don’t taste good.

Then, you just dump it all in a food processor and pulse. It will then look like this.

Make a ball, roll it in sugar. That’s it!

Who knew Sugar Plums were that easy?

I dyed the sugar with a bit of yellow and read food coloring, but I think just leaving the sugar white would be lovely too—very frosty!

Here’s a before and after of a naked sugar plum, and one coated with just white sugar (taken of a different batch, on a day with better lighting!):

Here’s the traditional recipe:

Total time start to finish: 25 min
1/2 C. toasted pecans
1/2 C. toasted walnuts
1/4 C. pitted dates
1/2 C. dried figs
1/4 C. dried cherries
1/2 C. dried apple
1/2 C. dried apricots
1 tbs. candied ginger
1 tbs. grated orange zest
1-2 tbsp. of orange juice, as needed

1. Stick it all in a food processor
2. Pulse until it’s minced
3. Add just enough orange juice to bind everything together
4. Roll into balls
5. Roll in sugar
6. Set out to dry

Here’s my favorite alternate version:
(the new stuff is in italics)

Total time start to finish: 25 min
1/2 C. toasted pecans
1/2 C. toasted walnuts
1/2 C. toasted almonds
1/4 C. pitted dates
1/2 C. dried figs
1/4 C. dried cherries
1/4 C. dried pineapple (sugared is OK)
1/4 C. dried apricots
1-2 tbsp. of cranberry juice, as needed

1. Stick it all in a food processor
2. Pulse until it’s minced
3. Add just enough cranberry juice to bind everything together
4. Roll into balls
5. Roll in sugar
6. Set out to dry

Do people appreciate the ‘leavins’ (as I like to call them) as much as they should?

I mean look at this stuff. Doesn’t it just look beautiful?

So flavorful (and fatty), so colorful, so inviting.

This stuff should be pureed and blended into a gravy.

What do you do with your ‘leavins’?

My husband made these Thanksgiving morning.

They were really simple to make, quick to bake and are easy to make your own. We chose to add chopped almonds to the batter before baking along with some dried cherries.

Here’s the batter in the muffin pan. I sprinkled the top with more chopped almonds and some sugar. Just 20 minutes later, you’ve got this:

Go ahead, look a little closer….

Yum. If that isn’t inviting, I don’t know what is.

OK, maybe a warm bath. Or some champagne at lunch.

Oh gosh. These were so good.

Would you like to make some?

Here’s the recipe:
Prep Time 10 Minutes
Cook Time 25 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ cups Butter
• 1-¼ cup White Sugar
• 2 whole Eggs
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla
• ½ cups Milk
• 1-½ cup Fresh Blueberries (or whatever else you want)

How to do it:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Grease and flour a muffin pan or use paper liners.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Add milk and flour mixture.
Beat until combined.
Stir in blueberries. (or whatever else you want)
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

This recipe is brought to you by the Tasty Kitchen. ThoroughlyModernHousewife submitted this recipe to TastyKitchen so be sure to stop by and tell her thank you!

So, we found a simple recipe and went for it! {the recipe is at the very bottom of the post}

First, bring a pot of water to a boil, then keep it at medium heat. Place a bowl over top of the pot to create a sort of double boiler.
Dump your chocolate chips into the bowl. Then, pour a can of sweetened condensed milk over top

Fold the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips together.{you also add a little vanilla extract into the mix}

By the way, I used Ghiradelli chocolate. If you buy the big bag instead of the bars, it’s a bit cheaper.

And once you get it all folded in, it will look like this:

Let this puppy sit in the fridge for awhile. It helps quite a bit. This is the center for your truffles, by the way.

After a few hours, or an overnight has passed, you can start working on the outside. Melt some more chocolate and make little balls out of the mixture you left in the fridge. Then dip them in melted chocolate, put on the tray, sprinkle salt on top and then stick it in the fridge again to set.

Here is a janky truffle. We were too rough with the fork and so it has wounds. However, it’s pretty easy to smooth out with the back of a spoon or the side of a knife.

We had a bunch of chocolate leftover and so I grabbed a bag of pretzels and we dipped and salted them. They were phenomenal, and way easier than the truffles. Now, the truffles weren’t that hard to make, but there are fewer steps involved with the pretzels. {you just dip them}

This is the salt we used. We picked it up at the local grocery store and it apparently is from the cost of Ireland and Scotland. It is good.

Here is the truffle and pretzel pile after they sat in the fridge for a few hours. It was a success!

———————————————————————————————————–

This recipe came to me from the fabulous cooking resource, Tasty Kitchen.

Here is the link to the recipe, brought to you by the site’s owner, Ree Drummond.

Here is the recipe:

Prep Time 2 Hours
Cook Time 15 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Servings 36

Ingredients
8 ounces, weight (up To 9 Oz.) Good Semisweet Chocolate
8 ounces, weight (up To 9 Oz.) Good Bittersweet Chocolate
1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
8 ounces, weight Meltable Milk Chocolate
Sea Salt

Preparation Instructions
Heat dark chocolates and condensed milk in a double boiler over medium low heat until chocolate is melted. Stir—mixture will have a slight marshmallow texture. Stir in vanilla.

Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate for two hours.

Once chilled, roll in balls, then roll in melted milk chocolate coating. Sprinkle with sea salt or other fine, coarse sprinkles.

If you go to the website, there’s an option to print it out in various sizes, like on index cards. I highly recommend it.

First, I gathered all my ingredients and tools.

Then, I blended all my dry ingredients in a separate bowl from my wet ingredients. I combined the two, popped it in the oven and bingo!

Pumpkin bread!

I cut off a slice, put a little homemade butter on it and all was, in fact, right with the world.

—–Here’s the Recipe——

Prep Time 10 Minutes
Cook Time 50 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients:

• 1-½ cup Flour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ cups Sugar
• ½ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 cup Pumpkin
• ½ cups Vegetable Oil
• 2 whole Eggs, Lightly Beaten
• ¼ cups Water
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoons Cardamom
• ¼ teaspoons Cloves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×5×3″ loaf pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugars, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until combined. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the loaf on a wire rack before serving.

—————————-

This recipe comes from Tasty Kitchen, one of my favorite cooking websites.

Tracy (SugarCrafter) is the chef behind this recipe, so be sure to tell her thanks!

Better yet, hot soup featuring beans is sometimes just the ticket during those blustery, gloomy, nippy days of autumn and winter.

I made this soup, a new recipe, over the weekend and it was really very good.

The full recipe is below, but here are some photos for ya.

How beautiful is this? I bought a big bag of different kinds of beans from an Amish market in Seaman, OH a few weeks back and this stew was the perfect usage for them. You know, now that I think about it, what the heck makes beans Amish? Nothing I guess. Oh well, the Amish got my $4 anyway.

To prevent beans from bursting out of their casings in soup, I’ve found that soaking them for anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour beforehand and adding them in last helps a lot. These guys soaked about 30 minutes.

OK, one more bean photo:
They just look pretty.

Here are some of the ingredients, besides the beans. Carrots, potatoes, garlic, herbs, onions, canola oil, chicken stock and diced tomatoes. I prepare everything before I start cooking; it helps me keep everything straight. Plus, while things are cooking, I do the dishes.

Now, I used fingerling potatoes in this stew. And to reduce starch, after I peel and dice them, I let them sit for a few minutes. Right before they go in the pot, I rinse them really well.

This is one of the funniest pictures I have of my beagle, Hairy. I do believe he is thinking “Why is she taking photos of her food instead of eating it?”

Here’s the garlic all chopped up. The bowl its in is part of 4-bowl set from Pampered Chef. They are excellent bowls for cooking.

I chopped off the ends of my stalk of celery and I just thought this was pretty. It’s like a beautiful flower!

I actually tripled the recipe so I had a bunch of extra veggies. Yum!

First, you heat up your pot, throw a little oil in the bottom and toss in your onions, carrots and celery. You let it cook until they all soften a bit.

The man at the deli informed me Bob Evans Kielbasa has been ‘reformulated’ and that he was excited about it. So, I went with it and let me tell you; it was no lie. This was very, very good.

I’d also like to mention a bit of knowledge I have about Liquid Smoke. It’s not a chemical. How that’s made is they actually smoke wood and collect the smoke in these big tanks and mix it into filtered water. Then, they package it up. This particular kielbasa has Liquid Smoke in it and it really adds something great to the soup.

Here it is midway through cooking.

Yes, it was good!

Here are the details:

Prep Time 30 Minutes
Cook Time 30 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
• 1 whole Medium Onion
• 1 cup Carrot Diced
• 1 stalk Of Celery, Sliced
• 2 cloves (large) Of Garlic, Minced
• ½ teaspoons Dried Oregano
• 1 whole Medium Potato, Peeled, Diced
• 2 cups Beef Or Chicken Broth
• 1 can 28 Oz. Diced Tomatoes
• 6 ounces, weight Lean Kielbasa, Cubed
• 1 can (19 Oz.) Black Beans, Or Your Favourite Canned Beans
• Salt And Pepper (to Taste)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large Dutch oven. Add onion, carrot and celery; cook and stir over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften.

2. Stir in garlic, oregano, potato, broth and tomatoes; heat to boiling. Stir in kielbasa. Cover and simmer gently for at least 1/2 hour to blend flavours.

3. Drain and rinse beans. Add to soup. Heat until hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty bread.

(It’s even better the next day!)

———————————
I picked this recipe up from one of my favorite cooking websites, Tasty Kitchen.

BeachMama contributed this recipe; here’s the original link.

Be sure and tell BeachMama you appreciate her soup!

I promise, you will impress people. Really.

Take a tube of those Crescents things. You know, the kind that comes in the tube? Then it thaws and you make little croissant-type things with it?

Just let it come to room temperature and roll out. Like this:

Then, cut the casing off of your brie. I do not like the casing of the brie although it is OK to eat. It’s a texture thing for me.

Anyway, if you don’t mind it, you can skip this step.

Then, in about the middle of your dough, spread out some preserves. I’m using apricot preserves here. Finally, pop your brie on top and ‘wrap’ it in the dough. Then bake for about 20 minutes. (full recipe is below)

Here’s what you get when you’re done!

I put sliced honeycrisp apples on top to just pretty it up a bit. Do you see the black smudge at the bottom? I broke off a corner so I could show you how important it is to really wrap the brie well; don’t leave any holes or anything.

Yours truly did and the preserves leaked out and burned. But hey, it was still really delicious, I promise.

And, I just used a spreading knife and cut little corners and notches out and ate it.

Here’s the recipe:

Prep Time 10 Minutes
Cook Time 15 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 1 jar Apricot Preserves (or Favorite Preserve)
• 8 ounces, weight Crescent Roll Dough (1 Can)
• 6 ounces, weight Brie Cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven according to crescent roll directions (usually 350-375°F).

On a baking sheet or baking stone, roll out the crescent dough to create one large piece, overlapping and gently crimping the sections together where needed.

Spread a thin (or not so thin, if you want to use more) layer of the preserves all over the dough.

Place the brie in the middle of the dough. (You don’t have to remove the casing, but if you’d like to, go for it. You could just remove the top of the casing as well.)

Carefully wrap the brie with the dough, delicately crimping the edges to keep them in place.

Bake in the preheated oven according to crescent roll directions (about 15 minutes) or until crescent dough begins to brown.

When finished baking, transfer baked brie with a spatula to a serving dish.

Serve warm with fruit and/or crackers.

Yumjoy!

————————————————-

I got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking websites; Tasty Kitchen.

Here’s the link to the original recipe posted by MissAmy. Be sure to tell her thank you if you make this!

Here’s how I do it. No, it’s not amazing, it’s not fabulous, it just works.

In this particular instance, I made up a bunch of my Easy and Fabulous Apple Tarts to give to a few friends. Since I don’t keep many dishes around I’d be OK with never getting back (we’ve all lost a dish or two to a friend or family member; it happens), I wrapped them up in aluminum foil, punched a hole in a paper scrap and tied it with a ribbon. It’s not amazing, but certainly affordable and presentable.

I just wrote a little note on the inside and delivered them. Voila!

UPDATED: See part II of this post here: http://simplicityembellished.com/2009/11/how-to-wrap-food-with-stuff-around-your-house/

Anyone have anything more fabulous?

My husband, Victor, makes this heavenly delight on occasion.

It’s incredible. Incredible. The chicken is always juicy, the breading is crispy and crunchy and flavorful.

I’ve noticed that one of the main barriers to perfection for many a fried chicken platter is that the breading is all texture and no flavor. The  breading Victor makes has  just a hint of spice, just a hint of pepper and just a hint of buttery butter.

His isn’t greasy. And, if you eat it a day later, it’s almost better, believe it or not.

And you know, every stylish residential dweller needs a fabulously delicious recipe in tow right? Victor’s Fried Chicken is a crowd pleaser and you’ll find people will ask for it by name.

I’ve included Victor’s secrets for fried chicken success and a homemade aioli dipping sauce below:

Victor’s Fried Chicken Secrets
+ Marinate the chicken in buttermilk beforehand.
+ Make sure your oil is at the right temperature. If it’s too cold, it will soak up lots of oil. If it’s too hot, your chicken will be overcooked.
+ Use cinnamon, black pepper and cayenne pepper in your breading. Black pepper adds flavor and cayenne pepper adds some heat.
+ Only dredge once; not multiple times.

Victor’s Recipe | Breading
+ A couple cups of flour
+ About a tbsp salt
+ About 2 tbsps of cinnamon
+ Black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Victor’s Recipe | Marinade
+ Marinate in buttermilk for at least an hour.
+ Add cayenne pepper to the marinade to taste.

Victor’s Recipe | Oil
+ Use peanut, corn or olive oil. Victor is not a fan of canola oil.
+ Heat oil to between 350 to 375 degrees. Victor says staying on the higher side is better because when you put the chicken in, it cools it down.

Just place the chicken in the oil and let it cook until it looks done (about 5-7 minutes per piece.)

Victor’s Homemade Aioli Sauce
+ 1/2 cup mayonnaise
+ 1 tbsp Sriracha

Victor suggests Duke’s as the mayonnaise of choice and Sriracha is a phenomenal hot sauce that even me (a hot sauce hater) actually enjoys.

If you try this simple little recipe out, let me know!

Bring this:

This is an Easy and Fabulous Apple Tart.

Look at it.

No, look at it:

Look at these apples. Coated in brown sugar and a pinch of salt. That’s it.

Here’s the Recipe

Here’s what you need:
+ 1 sheet of puffed pastry cut in 1/2 or in thirds
+ 3 to 4 apples; cored, halved and sliced
+ 1 c. brown sugar
+ 1/4 tsp. salt

Here’s how to do it:
+ Preheat the oven to 415 degrees
+ Lay out your puffed pastry rectangles on a baking sheet with edges. I spread some olive oil on the sheet, but you might want to just use regular old baking spray.
+ Add your sliced apples to a bowl with the sugar and salt. Mix it up making sure the apples are coated.
+ Lay the apple slices out on the puffed pastry sheets.
+ Bake for 18 to 20 minutes
+ When it’s done, immediately take off the baking sheet or they’re literally get stuck.

Here’s what it looks like before it’s ready to bake:

Topping options:
+ Cinnamon
+ Ice cream
+ Whipped cream
+ Berries
+ Powdered sugar

If you make this, let me know how it goes!

Do you have an easy recipe you turn to frequently?