Inspired: DIY Gender Reveal Poppers

I had long thought it might be cute to do a gender reveal party. But…..I didn’t exactly have the time and energy for it. Not to mention, we no longer live close to family. Revealing the gender of your baby to all your local friends and then………. once your friends already know filling your family in? doesn’t seem ideal. So, we opted for making just two little poppers, waiting for our wedding anniversary, and taking photos that we could text or email to family and close friends that are mostly all far away. sigh and sad face

Anywayzzzzzz….. I got the inspiration for our cute little poppers from Hand Made Mood. They have a super cute post for DIY Gender Reveal Confetti poppers. That I just loved. Unlike many other posts that I came across, this post actually has some very helpful downloadable labels that say “mademoiselle ou monsieur” SO CUTE!!!! But, I couldn’t resist trying to make our own labels. So, I used the download  from Hand Made Mood to guide my measurements of the length of the label and then used my embarrassingly limited abilities to make my own in both English and Spanish.  I thought that would make more sense for us. And since we only needed two….I thought it would work out just fine.

Also, I was able to personalize it. That’s fun!!!!!!

The supplies I used included:

• Wilton Treat Pops – I found them at Micheal’s
• White card stock for the labels
• Tissue paper in pink, blue (for the inside), and black and white polka dots (for the lid and bottom)
• Washi tape in Black and White to make a little border along the bottom of each popper

 

After making the poppers, I then proceeded to cut out tissue paper in pink and blue, so that we could have a co-worker fill them up. That way we could both be surprised, rather than one of us knowing before the other.

Confession: At the moment, I may have been a little distracted and more concerned about whether the poppers would actually pop or get stuck. They do need a little bit of strength behind the push. Clearly, I’m not very good at “living in the moment”

Expecting a little one

We’re currently working on growing our family!

For those of you who are a little bit “punny,” you may prefer that I say – We’re expecting a little Juan!

Now I must admit, this is part of my reason for not blogging as much as I thought I would this summer.

Between nesting, going out of town to visit friends and family, feeling a little more health conscious than usual, and the extra part time work I decided to take on, I just haven’t been able to make this a blog filled summer.

However, I couldn’t resist making these due date cookies that I spied on chocolate and carrots.

I mostly just stole the inspiration and then used my usual favorite recipes from Sweet Sugarbelle

Considering the design may only gently imply “baby on the way,” (these could probably be used as a save the date for a variety of exciting life events) I decided to pair it with another simple design. Giving my poor hands a much needed break from piping several thin grey lines. I think the pairing makes the message a bit clearer.

And yes….I could have easily eaten them all. But, I shared.

Let’s hope all continues to go well. It would be so much fun to be able to post fun treats made for little kid birthdays. Yippee!!!!

Summer Snack #3 Blackberry Ice Pops

When you’re blessed with lots and lots of fresh blackberries, it’s time to make blackberry ice pops!!

’cause you’ll need a lot more that just one.

To make approximately 12 pops, use 4-5 cups

wash them well

place them in your blender with sugar and water. If you have a blender like mine,  the berries should probably reach the 5 cup line on your blender.

Set the blender to do it’s job

Pour the mixture into you pop molds

Or if you don’t have pop molds….use something less conventional

but, if they’re this small, you’ll need several (or half the recipe)

freeze in molds until solid (5 or more hours)

and then enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

makes approximately 12 blackberry ice pops

• 18-24 ounces (4-5 cups) of fresh blackberries
• 2/3 cup- 3/4 cup sugar depending on berries and preference
• 1 and 2/3 cups of water (4 cups of berries) or 1 and 3/4 cups of water (5 cups of berries)

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash and pick through your berries. Removing any that may look questionable
2. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. use a spoon to taste mixture for desired sweetness. Add sugar if needed.
4. Pour mixture into molds, place lids, and freeze until solid. If you are not using molds, pour mixture into glasses and freeze for about 2 hours. Add Popsicle sticks and then continue freezing until solid.
5. To enjoy, run the mold/ glass under tepid water for several seconds just until it’s loose enough to remove your ice-pop from its mold.
6. EAT!!!!

 

 

Empanada Dough: Cooking with leftovers

 

Mmmmm…..Empanadas…..made from leftovers!

The two thing I like best about cooking with leftovers:

1. The work’s already been started, cutting back on time and effort.
2. Redemption!!! It you weren’t too thrilled with how something turned out the first time, here’s your chance to cook it up again and make the modifications you feel it needs.

Well, upon wanting to use leftovers from a dinner where I may have over done it on the appetizers, I came across a recipe for empanada dough that I’m quite pleased with. I had to make adjustments due to my need to use what I already had in the fridge,  my unwillingness to  do anymore grocery shopping, and the size/ quantity of the recipe. I’ve noted these adjustment below, in the event that you too need to make some adjustments. The empanada shells came out tender but flaky and buttery. I think it creates a lovely texture and the dough it easy to work with and stretch over your filling.

My left overs this weekend consisted of :

GREEN SALSA and COOKED ONIONS

I had made two kinds of green salsa, one that I clearly liked better than the other. I used the one I favored less for my empanada filling…it seemed like a good alternative to letting it sit sad and alone in the refrigerator as I proceeded to finish the little I had left of my favorite.

 

COOKED (and under seasoned) SHREDDED CHICKEN

In fear of doing my usual over seasoning, this poor chicken was left with a little less flavor than it deserved. The green salsa and onions really helped it out. Yay! happy marriage.

CHEESE!!!!!

It’s a pretty big bag for two people. I may need to come up with several creative uses.

And so….I made dough and then empanadas

 

Empanada Dough adapted from Macheesmo

Makes enough dough for approximately 25 – 4 inch rounds

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon taco seasoning (optional)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter – does not need to be softened
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup heavy cream (The original recipe calls for milk. All I had was cream. I had a scant cup of heavy cream to which I added a splash of water to complete the 8 0z)

Procedure:

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, the flour, the salt, and the seasoning.
2. cut the butter into large cubes and add to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, combine the butter into the flour until the texture is that of small crumbs.
3. Add the egg yolk and the cream or milk to the flour mixture. Using a spoon or silicone spatula, mix and combine the ingredients until a dough begins to form.  Use your hands to kneed the dough a few times and create a smooth dough. Separate the dough into two equal pieces.
4. Cover and refrigerate dough while you work on your filling.
5. When you are ready to make your empanadas, place one piece of dough onto parchment and roll out to 1/8 inch thick.
6. Using a round cutter cut out your rounds and place them on a baking sheet.
7. Place your filling onto the center of each round of dough.
8. Fold the dough over the filling, pinching the edges to create a seal, and forming a half circle shaped hand pie.
9. Using a fork, press down along the edges of each pie to improve the seal and poke holes on the top of the pie.
10. Repeat steps 5-9 with the remaining dough
11. Now you may either freeze or prepare your empanadas for baking.

Freezing your empanadas

1. To freeze your empanadas, place your prepared but uncooked empanadas on a baking sheet, in a single layer.
2. Place the sheet with the empanadas into the freezer and freeze until firm.
3. Transfer the frozen empanadas into a freezer bag, for prolonged storage. Write the date on the freezer bag.
4. Use within a month’s time

 

Baking your empanadas

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• Prepared empanadas

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Using a pastry brush, brush each empanada with an egg wash (make the egg wash by mixing one egg with a tables spoon of water)
3. Bake freshly made (unfrozen) empanadas for approximately 25-30 minutes
4. Bake frozen empanadas for approximately 35 minutes

Filling:(if you’re wondering)

For the filling, I just used leftovers. I reheated the chicken with the “salsa verde” aka green salsa, and caramelized onions.

I then set the meat mixture aside to cool for a bit, as I prepared my cheeses.

In a small food processor, I combined fresh mozzarella, low moister (aka regular) mozzarella, and the shredded cotija. I processed the mixture until the cheeses achieved a soft pliable texture of large crumbs. It will first form small crumbs (I didn’t want to use small crumbs of cheese because I thought they would roll off the top of my empanada filling), just keep processing. Then, it will eventually form larger crumbs. And if you process it long enough….you could possibly end up with a big soft cheese ball/ cheese dough. How fun!!! The amount of time it takes to form the larger crumbs, or a cheese dough….depends on the amount of moisture.  If it’s taking too long, just add more fresh mozzarella.

 

Happy Empanada Eating!!!