It's been a while since I've done a baking roundup on the blog! The last one was in June, whoops! (and check out part one.) I was going to share in order of what I made but then I decided since I made so many pecan recipes I would group them together for this post (plus some misc. recipes)
Maple Oatmeal Sticky Buns - my Aunt's recipe
I'm a big cinnamon bun fan and this recipe is one of my favorites (although I haven't tried to make many on my own.) I prefer maple sticky buns to ones with frosting - unless we're talking about tube cinnamon buns or Cinnabon at the mall, YUM!
My aunt's recipe uses a bit of oats for added texture. This was the first time I made them without my Mom and I followed the recipe and only rolled the buns out to 10x4. Next time I'm going to roll it out more so there will be more swirls.
This is one of two recipes I found a week or so before Thanksgiving that I decided to make. I ordered a couple bags of pecans to prepare and set out on my mission! I tried this recipe first because I figured I would like the second one better (it included chocolate!) I only made half the recipe because it used a LOT of butter. It was really tasty and a nice light dessert, we could have had it for breakfast too.
Brown Sugar Maple Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Here's the second recipe I made Thanksgiving week. Christian and I made it together for our solo Thanksgiving celebration. I really love this recipe because I love pecan pie filling but not pie crust (I'm weird) so having the cookie-like crust on the bottom made this the perfect combo. Plus - who doesn't love chocolate chips!?
Braided Pesto Bread - my own concoction
Christian and I attempted to make pesto with basil from our garden but unfortunately it didn't come out too great (we didn't have enough basil) and the cheese was too chunky - I don't like cheese to begin with. SO I decided to make pesto bread out of it! I used a super simple bread dough (1 cup
warm water, 2 tsp yeast, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp
salt,) rolled it out, spooned on the pesto, rolled it up, cut it in half
and braided it before making it into a circle.
I wanted to use up some shortening we had from when I made beignets earlier in the year and decided to see how it would work in a sugar cookie. A super simple, easy treat!
Something I make all the time and one of my favorite easy desserts! All you need is butter, chocolate, eggs, flour and sugar. I made these on my birthday with new Mickey Mouse ramekins Chrisitan got me, so cute!
Dutch Baby Pancake - various recipes (I think I used this one)
We love having breakfast for dinner and some nights I feel like making it extra special. I've made a few dutch baby pancakes and they get better each time! I don't think I've mastered the art yet but at least they taste good!
We only buy our meat on sale, so when we can get something for $1.99 a pound or less we pounce! This means we eat a lot of chicken, pork and sausages.
First up, I'll share one of our favorite easy meals: suasages and orzo!
Instead of just cooking the sausages whole and serving over rice I started to take them out of their casings and break them into pieces. I like orzo because it cooks quick and you can flavor it with pretty much anything you like. To finish it off I usually use onions and peppers but sometimes we'll opt for roasted broccoli if we don't have the other items on hand.
I'll try to get Christian to take some in-progress photos next time we make this, but I wanted to get a blog post up since I haven't in a while so these will have to do!
Sausage & Orzo with Peppers and Onions
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Servings: 4+ depending on your appetite
Ingredients:
- 4 Italian Sausage Links (hot or sweet)
- 1 cup Orzo
- 1 Onion (any kind)
- 3-4 Small Sweet Peppers (or more if you want)
- optional: bouillon
Supplies:
- Large Skillet (I use: Rachael Ray Hard Porcelain Enamel Nonstick 12.5-In Skillet in Marine Blue)
- Small Pot (for orzo)
Instructions:
- Cut up onion and peppers into small dices
- Remove sausage from casing and break up into smaller pieces, place into a bowl
- Pre-cook onions and peppers and place to the side
- Boil some water in a small pot and cook the orzo according to box (I add chicken flavored Better than Bouillon to the water to add a little extra flavor)
- Heat pan on medium high and cook sausages until browned and mostly cooked through, breaking them up a little more.
- Add onions and peppers and continue to cook on a lower heat
- Once orzo has cooked add it to the skillet and mix together
Broccoli Option: Roast broccoli in 425 degree oven with olive oil, salt and pepper until browned (we like ours REALLY dark)
Here are some examples where I just chopped up sausages. This was how I started making this dish, then I realized you get more bang - or bites - for your buck by breaking up the sausages into smaller pieces.
How to Freeze Peppers & Onions
Before all this virus stuff got really crazy Christian and I bought a little more than our usual amount of onions and sweet peppers. Normally I just buy what we need for a week or two so they don't go bad. Since we got our extra freezer I decided to start freezing them so we would have them ready at the drop of a hat and would last longer.
The process is pretty simple:
- Cut onions and peppers to your desired shapes (I did small chunks as well as thin slices)
- Place on a cookie tray and flash freeze for about an hour until fully frozen
- Move into plastic bags or reusable containers - I used old Talenti ice cream jars that we cleaned since they're plastic and have a nice twist on cover.
- Mark the storage container with the date you froze them on
On holidays we eat the kielbasa with toothpicks but for dinner I served it over rice pilaf. Easy, tasty and cheap! I made it again so Christian could take some more professional photos instead of what I shared on Instagram stories. The second time we made it for Christian's work meal preps. I made roasted broccoli and white rice with cilantro and green onions. YUM!
I wouldn't exactly call this a recipe as you only need 3 things but here's how to make it. I used a 7" Le Creuset Rectangular Baking Dish since this is a small portion but if you're making it for more than 2 people you'll want to use more kielbasa and obviously a larger baking dish.
Super Easy Kielbasa with Chutney
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25-50 minutes
Servings: 2 or 3 depending on your appetite
Ingredients:
- 1 package kielbasa (I bought Smithfield Kielbasa on sale for $2.49, can't beat that!)
- 9oz. jar of chutney, any variety ($3.99 for Crosse & Blackwell Genuine Major Grey's Chutney)
Supplies:
Instructions:
1. Cut up kielbasa into bite-sized pieces.
2. Add kielbasa and half a jar of chutney to baking dish and toss to coat (you can use as much or little chutney as you'd like)
3. Bake at 375° for at least 25 minutes, longer if possible to let everything caramelize more
4. Serve with side(s) of your choice
November seemed like the best time to go because the initial opening crowds for Star Wars would have slightly dwindled and we could celebrate the Holidays by going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! We also knew that EPCOT would be having either their Food & Wine Festival or Festival of the Holidays! When dates were announced I was excited to read we would be there for Food & Wine.
Last year my friend and I went to EPCOT 4 times during our stay so we could get the Annual Passholder cutting board but this year we only went for 1 day so I had less time to try foods and had to be much more strategic. Here's what I tried this year as well as a few tips to get the most bang for your buck!
1. Download the WDW - Food&Wine app to keep track of everything you want to try and have tried! Before our trip I wish-listed everything I wanted to try so I wouldn't have to think about it while in the park. (this is not an official Disney app)
2. Buy the Festival gift card. I find it helpful to buy the special festival gift card on a wrist coil. You have to load it with at least $15 but we all know if you're going to eat around the world you'll spend at least that! Plus they always have a cute design, this year it was Remy. (Last year they had 3 separate Remy designs so I had to buy all of them!) It's a great way to control your spending because you can load it with whatever your budget for the day.
3. Pace yourself. If you can spread this out over a few days of your trip, definitely do! Park hop back to EPCOT once you're done at another park for a few bites. If you only have one day don't try to eat too much or you won't be able to enjoy what you do have.
4. When you're with a group you might want to share bites with others so you can sample even more! If 2 or 3 people want to try the same thing why wouldn't you split it so you have room for even more snacks? And, if you happen to really like it, go back to get a second if you're still hungry at the end of the day!
What I tried
The Donut Box
I had already had breakfast earlier in the morning but when my friend had time to kill while waiting for the other 2 members of our group (who decided to sleep in) I wanted to try the Strawberry-dusted yeast donut holes! It was $4 for 4 really big donut holes so we split them and it was the perfect portion.
Spain
Spain had this dish last year and it remains one of my favorite bites of the Food & Wine Festival. It's the Spanish-style Paella with Botifarra and Roasted Chicken for $5.50. The portion size is great for this price and it was delicious and flavorful!
China
Another repeat from last year was the Chicken Dumplings with Chinese Slaw for $4.95. The dumplings were delicious but you only get 2 for the $5 so it's not that big of a portion. I was going to try the black pepper shrimp with garlic noodles as well but figured I should try something different instead.
India
When we arrived at the India booth I decided to be brave and try the Korma Chicken with cucumber tomato salad, almonds, cashes and warm naan for $5.25. I say "brave" because I'm not a big fan of saucy foods (yes, even pasta.) But the flavor was amaaazing and I really enjoyed it!
France
This is not part of the food festival but every time I go to EPCOT I have to get some chocolate ice cream in France. I'm not lying when I say this is my favorite ice cream anywhere and it's totally worth the $5 for a single scoop. Every time I'm always tempted to get a french macaron with ice cream but I just can't quit my go-to.
Festival Merchandise
I was going to try not to buy any festival specific merchandise apart from a passholder pin and regular pin but they had some ADORABLE Mickey and Remy mugs in the Passholder merchandise section. They also happened to be 25% off (plus my 20% off passholder discount) so I couldn't resist!
What I wore
I wore my Passholder tee from 2018 because how could I not?! The perfect shirt for tasting around the world. It was a chillier - and windy - day so jeans were necessary. I also had my Mickey Sweatshirt on to save me from freezing.
Graphic Tee: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Passholder Tee, Jeans: FRAME 'Le Skinny de Jeanne' (Shopbop), Sandals: Ancient Greek Sandals 'Athanasia' in Croc (Moda Operandi)
Lydia and I tried multiple locations for these photos before the dinner so you get a mix of backgrounds to enjoy, ha ha.
Top c/o Simple Retro, Printed Pants: Proenza Schouler Black & White Graphic Print Pants (Yoox), Sandals: Lanvin studded leather 'City' sandal (The RealReal), Sunglasses: Gucci
Here are some photos from Eli's. If you go the Gypsy Chicken is reaaaally good!!
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