Baklava

I've been wanting to make baklava for sometime. My Great Aunt and Grandma made it, but I do not have their recipe, I wish I did! Authentic Greek women's recipe would be ideal. Anyway, I have been searching around on www.foodgawker.com for the perfect baklava recipe, and I couldn't find one with all the makings as I desire. So, as usual I took a little from a few recipes and tweaked it to make my own.

Here's what you will need:
2 boxes of phyllo dough thawed out overnight in the fridge.
1 can mixed nuts = 4 cups
about 2 cups shelled pistachios
2 cups of walnuts
(I use salted and it tastes awesome)
5 cups melted butter (I know....lol.. I didn't say this was diet baklava)
1 large thing of the Honey with the bear on it
2 cinnamon sticks
And 2 cups sugar for syrup and 2 cups for the nuts.

Ok! Now lets make the syrup!
Go ahead and make your syrup, so start out by pouring all of your honey about 2 cups into a big pot with 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. Throw in the 2 cinnamon sticks as well! Heat on medium for 10 min until sugar is completely dissolved, then boil for about 10 minutes. Being sure to stir, stir, stir!
Set that aside and let cool.

Now for the ensemble!
Chop all your nuts, by hand or food processor, I do a little bit of both. They should be small little pieces easy to chew. Add 2 cups of sugar to the chopped nuts, stir thoroughly.

Lay down a piece of phyllo dough on the bottom. Then lay pieces over that to cover the sides, I did one on each side. This is so that the sides are covered when you cut it and take it out of the pan and it stays together. Pretty much, make it like a bowl in your pan that you choose. Now douse that with melted butter!

Lay 10 more piece of phyllo dough down with melted butter spread across each sheet.
Add 2 cups of nuts spread out
Add 10 more sheets over that with melted butter spread across each sheet. Repeat this 3 more times so that you have 4 layers of nuts with 10 sheets of buttered phyllo dough in between.  The top layer of phyllo dough should be heavily buttered.
Now, with a serrated knife cut either the diamond shape or what I found easiest, was just a square shape. It is VERY important that you cut the baklava before you bake it.
After all the cutting.....
Put in the oven at 350 for 2 1/2 hours. with a pan of water underneath it.
Let it cool completely
Heat up your syrup until warm - pour all over Baklava. Let it sit for a day - then enjoy!! 

Easy lunch!

Jared is by far the pickiest eater on the planet, so I struggle with new recipes to fix him. He always said he hated Chinese food, until we I got take out for him and forced him to eat it, and wouldn't ya know... He loves it now! His favorite is crab rangoon... He can eat like 50 of them. They have lobster and cream cheese, and so I ran with it, and made my own (baked, not fried ones) Here's how!



What you will need:
1 package Won ton wraps
2 cups cream cheese
1 package imitation crab meat
1/2 cup I can't believe it's not butter

How to:
Preheat oven 300
Melt butter
Finely chop or use food processor to chop crab meat
Once chopped - add 2 cups cream cheese -Blend
Add melted butter to the edges of the won tons with basting brush
put 1 Tbs of crab and cream cheese mixture
Fold over (triangle) You can keep it this way and make sure it is pressed down well - or-
Once folded over in triangle bring in all 3 edges to the center and press down making an envelope like pouch (they are easier to eat in my opinion)
Baste with butter and stick in the oven for 10 min. flip. and bake another 10 min.

Home made bird feeders

My in-laws live on over 100 acres of land out in Jay, FL. We absolutely love it out there, and plan to one day *fingers crossed* build out there. Jared and I were discussing what to get his mother for Christmas, because she told us not to get her anything, but that doesn't mean we won't! We decided blueberry bushes, a painting from Gabby that she can hang up, and what else? Bird feeders! And I had a grand idea to look into how they make those lovely handing bird wreaths you pay about $25 for at Lowes. It was a success, and we actually gave them to her already since it was going to be cold this week, and these will melt in the heat. (Plus, they don't smell awesome, so getting them out of our christmas room was for the best)

What I used:
1 package of gelatin mix
A package of small bird seed feed
2 cups of water
bunt cake pan
and cake pan!

How I made them:
Boil 2 cups of water
Pour in 2 packets of gelatin mix
Let boil for about 10 min.
Let cool for 1 min.
Stir in bird seed
Dump into desired pan (put round object into the middle for a hole if not using a bunt pan)
Put in refrigeration over night.
Turn it upside down and give it a shake and you have got yourself a home made bird seed feeder!!

I cut up an old t shirt and tied it through the center so you can hang it on the tree outside!

Fancy mix

So, I'm a little behind posting. Even though I don't have any subscribers yet! This blog is just a good source for me to get my recipes written down so I can look back at them, and not have to keep scribbled pieces of paper everywhere, besides I can't read my own handwriting half the time!

I was going to make our traditional chocolate covered pretzels, that my mom and I make every year. But, when I went to dip the pretzels into the melted chocolate I decided I didn't have the patience this year to make chocolate covered pretzels! So here is what I did - I had read a recipe a week earlier called "white trash mix" it had chex cereal, m&ms and white chocolate. I tweaked it. I also renamed it to FANCY MIX. It sounds more appetizing. And this is too good to be called "trash" ;)

• I used one package of baking chocolate (any brand) I did some regular chocolate and some white.

On medium to low heat I melt the chocolate in a metal pot. I don't do the double boiler when melting chocolate. I just sit there and watch it and stir, and stir. By all means, use a double boiler!
And once it is all melted and smooth, I let it cool for about 2 minutes.
Once it has cooled down for 2 minutes I add (straight into the pot with melted chocolate)

• 1 cup chex cereal
• 1 cup pretzels
• 1/2 cup m&m (regular)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter m&ms

stir it all together and lay out on wax paper. Let it sit until hardened (about 30 min)
Once it is hard break it apart and wah-la!

I also substituted the M&M's for toffee, reeses peanut butter cup minis, hersheys peppermint kisses (which is my fav) you can really do any candy in it. It is so easy to make and just about everyone loves it!

A little natural never hurt

Recently we switched gabby to all organic farm raised milk..she loves it. And it tastes so much better. She takes better naps and sleeps wonderfully! I have been buying organic here and there... and everythinn in organic we think tastes so much better... the fruits and veggies are out of this world! I got celery that is all organic.... talk about yum!! Crunchy. Flavorful. Not stringy or rubbery. Crisp.fresh. organic! We can't afford to go full throttle organic.. but a little here and there I think helps :) and maybe once I'm don't w. College and get a job and we make more money we will be totally organic! I can't see how that would be a bad thing!  Have a great day everyone!

Greek? Pizza night.

Tonight for dinner I made Jared's favorite dinner of all time (that I make) he calls it Greek pizza. But, besides the feta there is nothing Greek about it! However! It is Capitol D - ELICIOUS!! Here are the steps to making it! Pics at the bottom!
1. Pan fry 1/2 lb of ground chuck
2. Saute on package of mushrooms
3. Take one package pizza dough and spread 1 cup pizza sauce on it
4. Sprinkle ground beef all over pizza.
5. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over ground beef.
6. Follow up w. Mushrooms over cheese .
7. Then sprinkle feta cheese (I heavy hand it on this part)
Bake 15 min. On 400 degrees.
Super easy! Super yummy!

Being a mother <3

As a mother, you will never hear me complain about needing "alone time" or a "break" and never  "I need to do something for myself". Alone time is when your child is napping, safe and sound and you run around the house doing odd end things. When you are an exceptional mother a break is when your child fills with laughter and joy over a toy they found at the bottom of the toy chest, what a break to hear the sweet giggles of a little one.  What I did for myself was start my family and give birth to my beautiful healthy child. What I consider doing for myself  is teaching my child all the things I know about the world and making sure they feel my love. That is what I call doing for myself. As a mother you give up alone time, a break, and doing something for yourself. Because you  had all the alone time, breaks, and doing for yourself that God saw fit before you conceived your child. Everything you do is for that child, consciously and subconsciously. So, next time you hear a mother say one of these things, remind her.. Everything she could ever need nor want is in that precious child she created.