Turkey-Shaped Apple Tarts

Happy Thanksgiving! Parents hosted a Thanksgiving party this year and had me help with desserts so I found this cute and easy recipe from MirandaMade.

What you'll need:
2 egg yolks
Half a stick of butter
Granulated sugar
Apple butter
2 green apples
1 red apple
Raisins or craisins for the eyes
Unbaked pie dough

1. Preheat oven to 400°C. Slice apples into thin pieces.

2. Add 3 teaspoons of water to the egg yolks and beat.

3. Unroll the pie dough and cut out circles about 5" in diameter. I just used the top of an oatmeal box.

4. Add 2 teaspoons of apple butter to the circle and spread around, leaving about half an inch uncovered on the edges.

5. Arrange apples in a circle by alternating color to make it look like the feathers of a turkey!

6. Cut out circle pieces of dough about 2.5" and 1.5" in diameter. These will be for the body and head of the turkey. Use the egg yolk mixture as a glue to attach the head to the body.

7. Cut out triangle pieces for the beak and tear drops for little gobblers! I used craisins for the eyes. Cover the gobblers and beaks with egg wash. This will give them a darker color when put in the oven.

8. Melt and spread butter over the dough and apples and sprinkle sugar on top. Fold in the edges and add a layer of the egg yolk over them.

9. Bake on a greased pan for 15 minutes or until dough is golden-brown.

Gobble gobble :)

Bacon Quiche Tarts

My friend Calvin hosted his third annual Thanksgiving potluck dinner last night and it was a struggle trying to choose what to make. Nhat and I finally decided that there are very few things better than bacon so we decided to make bacon quiche tarts! We doubled everything to make 16 of them, but the recipe below will make 8.

What you'll need:
2 packages (3 oz. each) of cream cheese
5 tsp. 2% milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese
2 tbs. chopped green pepper
1 tbs. chopped green onion
1 tube (8 oz.) crescent rolls
5 bacon strips
8 muffin cups

1. Mix cream cheese and milk until smooth.

2. Add eggs, green pepper, onions, and cheese to mixture. Mix till smooth.

3. Cook bacon strips and crumble into pieces.

4. Preheat oven to 375°C. Open tube of crescent rolls and split into eight pieces. Press each piece down and up the sides of a greased muffin cup.

5. Add half of the bacon to the muffin cups.

6. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the bacon.

7. Top with the rest of the bacon.

8. Stick in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. Yay!

Tomato & Spinach Pasta Toss

I went home for fall break and it was wonderful. Well, besides losing my phone in Atlanta. But I got to have a kitchen for a few days which was awesome. Here's a quick and easy pasta recipe!

What you'll need:

2 cups penne pasta (uncooked)

1 cup water

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (undrained)

9 ounces baby spinach

1 cup shredded Italian Three-Cheese Blend 

1. Empty diced tomatoes, water, and pasta into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally so the pasta doesn't stick to the pan. 

2. Cover and let it simmer on medium-low heat until pasta is tender (around 10 minutes). Keep stirring occasionally. When pasta is tender, add half of the spinach and simmer until spinach is just wilted.

3. Add other half of spinach and stir.

4. Serve topped with cheese!

Oreo Truffles

I've been a bad blogger! I'm back at school now and cooking will be a bit harder since I don't have a kitchen or a car...but I brought my sewing machine!

I figured if I'm going to call my blog Truffles and Threads, I should probably learn how to make truffles. So...

What you'll need:
1 package of Oreos
1 (8 oz.) package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
2 packages of chocolate chips
1 package of white chocolate chips (optional)

1. Empty package of Oreos into large bowl. I used generic Kid O's cause they were less expensive...and I can't really taste the difference...

2. Crush Oreos. The end of a wooden spatula worked pretty well!

3. Add entire package of cream cheese to Oreos and continue crushing mixture into fine crumbs.

4. Roll cookie mixture into little ping pong sized balls.

5. Melt chocolate chips and dip the balls in the chocolate so that they are completely covered. Place them on waxed paper baking sheet.

6. Melt white chocolate chips. If you have a piping bag, fill it with the melted white chocolate chips. Or you can just use a Ziploc bag and cut the tip of one of the corners. A little more messy, but does the job!

7. Spread white chocolate over truffles and refrigerate for at least one hour, or until firm.

Enjoy!

Fruit-Topped Angel Food Cupcakes

I found this easy recipe when browsing for healthier desserts. For a fresh, light, and simple snack, try out these cupcakes!

What you'll need:
1 package angel food cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
2 8 oz. cans of Dole Crushed Pineapple in Juice
1 package (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
1 cup Cool Whip Whipped Topping
2 cups fruit of your choice (I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, mangos, and kiwis)

1. Heat oven to 375°. Prepare angel food cake mix and fill each cupcake tin 2/3 of the way up. Place on lowest oven rack and bake for approximately 8 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

2. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow them to cool completely. This should take around 10 minutes.

3. In the meantime, prepare the topping. Mix can of pineapple juice (do not drain) with the dry vanilla pudding mix. Slowly stir in the Cool Whip.

4. Spread across cupcakes and top with your favorite fruit!

Chipotle-style Guacamole

We made Chipotle-style burrito bowls again the other night and decided to add some of their famous guacamole this time!

What you'll need:
2 avocados
1/2 jalapeno pepper
1/4 red onion
2 tbs. chopped cilantro
1/4 lime
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Cut and peel avocados. Remove seeds from jalapeno pepper (unless you like it extra spicy!). Finely chop pepper and red onions. Add all ingredients to bowl and squeeze lime over it.

2. Mash everything together till smooth!

Pleated Paper Bag Waist Skirt

I love these types of skirts- they just look so classy. I found some floral fabric on sale yesterday so I decided to try and make a skirt out of it! Here is a quick tutorial.

What you'll need:
1-2 yards of fabric (see below)
Matching thread
1 zipper

The width of your fabric should be the width of your waist plus 10 inches (just to be safe). Let's use 28" as an example. You'll want a piece of fabric that's 38" wide. This extra 10 inches will be used for the pleats as well as the zipper.

The length really depends on how short/long you want it- I used 21". This includes a 3" allowance from the top and a 0.5" allowance from the bottom.

1. Lay your fabric across so that the "good" side is on bottom. Fold the top down 3 inches, and pin down.

2. Sew 1 inch from the fold.

3. Now fold the bottom part of the skirt up 0.5 inches, pin,  and sew along the edge. It may also help to iron this first.

4. Fold your pleats in. I did three pleats on each side with each being about 1" thick and 2" from each other, but you can do as many as you want! Pin the pleats and iron them down.

5. Sew your pleats in place along the 1" seam.

6. Now take the fabric and wrap it around yourself. Mark where you want the two sides to connect. Sew the two pieces together starting from the bottom of the skirt and stopping where you want the zipper to start. Leave about 3/4" of fabric and cut off the excess.

7. Sew down the two flaps for where the zipper will be.

8. Pin down the zipper with the outside facing down and sew along the edge.

9. You're done with the body of your skirt! Now for the belt loops. I chose to do four (two in the front, two in the back), but it's up to you. If you have a belt in mind that you want to wear with your skirt, measure its thickness. Add an inch to this measurement and that will be the length of your fabric. For the width of each loop, take however thick you want them to be and multiply it by 2. Fold the fabric lengthwise into a tube and sew all four sides down.

10. Mark where you want each belt loop to go on your skirt. Fold the top of the belt loop down about 1/4" and sew it an inch below the top seam line.

11. Fold the bottom of the belt loop down the same amount and sew it down. You'll want to give each loop a bit of slack so that the belt can fit easily through it.

12. Repeat steps 10 and 11 for the rest of your belt loops and you're done! :)

Let me know if you have any questions! :)