APRICOT PIE FILLING {Recipe}

We live in Las Vegas AND we grow fruit!!  Yes, its true.  A lot of people think you can’t grow anything in Las Vegas.  But, you can!  You can grow a ton of different vegetables and fruits.  We have an apricot tree and this was the week of harvest for it.  Well, I guess we started last week and finished this week.  We didn’t get to it quite soon enough and therefore lost a lot of the fruit to pesky birds.  But we did get about 5 cookie sheets of apricots.  So, I have frantically been trying to figure out how to use them all up because we just can’t seem to eat them fast enough.  Apricots get overripe very quickly.  But there is just nothing quite so yummy as a perfectly ripe homegrown apricot.  Store bought apricots are never very good.  So, even though dealing with the fruit can be a headache, I do love the tree and I’m glad we have it!

Here is one of the trays:

I decided to use some of them to make some apricot pie filling to freeze for the holidays.  I made an apricot pie last Thanksgiving but I believe I made it out of apricots that I had frozen, not filling I had frozen.  It was tasty but if I remember correctly it was a bit watery.  I am hoping making the filling now and freezing it will help the texture to be a bit firmer. 

Here is how I did it:

Wash all the fruit well and remove the pits.

Cut each half in half again lengthwise and place in a bowl.

Add lemon juice, sugar and quick cooking tapioca.

Stir well.

Place in pie plates, cover with foil, and freeze.  Once frozen, remove from plates and vacuum seal into bags.  If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, wrap them well in foil and then place in freezer zipper bags.  Use a straw to suck out as much air as possible before closing the bag completely.

Here is what it will look like when I go to bake it:

Copyright © 2011 Sunset Publishing Corporation

And hopefully it will turn out looking something like this come Thanksgiving:

You can find the recipe I used for the filling HERE on Taste of Home.  I will probably top mine with a lattice crust although the crumb crust is yummy too!

APRICOT PIE FILLING {Recipe}

We live in Las Vegas AND we grow fruit!!  Yes, its true.  A lot of people think you can’t grow anything in Las Vegas.  But, you can!  You can grow a ton of different vegetables and fruits.  We have an apricot tree and this was the week of harvest for it.  Well, I guess we started last week and finished this week.  We didn’t get to it quite soon enough and therefore lost a lot of the fruit to pesky birds.  But we did get about 5 cookie sheets of apricots.  So, I have frantically been trying to figure out how to use them all up because we just can’t seem to eat them fast enough.  Apricots get overripe very quickly.  But there is just nothing quite so yummy as a perfectly ripe homegrown apricot.  Store bought apricots are never very good.  So, even though dealing with the fruit can be a headache, I do love the tree and I’m glad we have it!

Here is one of the trays:

I decided to use some of them to make some apricot pie filling to freeze for the holidays.  I made an apricot pie last Thanksgiving but I believe I made it out of apricots that I had frozen, not filling I had frozen.  It was tasty but if I remember correctly it was a bit watery.  I am hoping making the filling now and freezing it will help the texture to be a bit firmer. 

Here is how I did it:

Wash all the fruit well and remove the pits.

Cut each half in half again lengthwise and place in a bowl.

Add lemon juice, sugar and quick cooking tapioca.

Stir well.

Place in pie plates, cover with foil, and freeze.  Once frozen, remove from plates and vacuum seal into bags.  If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, wrap them well in foil and then place in freezer zipper bags.  Use a straw to suck out as much air as possible before closing the bag completely.

Here is what it will look like when I go to bake it:

Copyright © 2011 Sunset Publishing Corporation

And hopefully it will turn out looking something like this come Thanksgiving:

You can find the recipe I used for the filling HERE on Taste of Home.  I will probably top mine with a lattice crust although the crumb crust is yummy too!

OREO TRUFFLES on a STICK {Recipe}

These are very simple to make and VERY yummy.

Grind up your Oreos with your food processor. If you don’t have one you can place them in a Ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Put your crumbs in a bowl and add a block of softened cream cheese.  Use a mixer to combine. (NOTE: I tried combining the crumbs and cream cheese with the food processor.  It worked but then it made everything too warm and I had to chill it before I could roll it into balls.)

Shape dough into 1” balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I used my cookie scoop to scoop out some dough and then used my fingers to divide that in half to get the perfect sized balls.)

Chill your dough balls in the freezer while you melt your chocolate.

I used Ghiradelli candy making chocolate I had picked up at Sam’s club at Christmas time.  You can use chocolate chips, but may end up with some white spots on the chocolate after it hardens.  No biggie if you are just making them for your family but if you want them to be really pretty I would suggest using candy chocolate.

Give your chocolate a rough chop.

Melt your chocolate.  I have this VERY handy chocolate dipping pot.  If you don’t have one melt according to package directions in the microwave.  I do not recommend using a double boiler or a bowl over boiling water.  I have had too much chocolate ruined by one drop of water getting into the bowl. 

Remove balls from the freezer and insert lollipop sticks.  Working quickly, dip truffles in the chocolate coating, tap them on the side of the bowl to remove excess, and place back onto parchment.  If using sprinkles, add them before the chocolate hardens.  If they slip off too much dip a couple more before adding sprinkles to the first on so the chocolate sets a bit more and then your sprinkles will stay put.

Allow to harden.  If using chocolate chips you will need to place them in the refrigerator to get them stiff again.  I placed mine in the baking cups after they were hardened just for decorative purposes.

Recipe: Oreo Truffles

Yield: about 40

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package Oreos
• 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
• 16oz. chocolate, melted

Directions:  Crush Oreos into fine crumbs and mix with cream cheese.  Roll into 1” balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill while you melt the chocolate for dipping.  Dip the balls into melted chocolate, shake to remove excess, and place back on parchment lined baking sheet.  Add sprinkles, if desired.

OREO TRUFFLES on a STICK {Recipe}

These are very simple to make and VERY yummy.

Grind up your Oreos with your food processor. If you don’t have one you can place them in a Ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

Put your crumbs in a bowl and add a block of softened cream cheese.  Use a mixer to combine. (NOTE: I tried combining the crumbs and cream cheese with the food processor.  It worked but then it made everything too warm and I had to chill it before I could roll it into balls.)

Shape dough into 1” balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  (I used my cookie scoop to scoop out some dough and then used my fingers to divide that in half to get the perfect sized balls.)

Chill your dough balls in the freezer while you melt your chocolate.

I used Ghiradelli candy making chocolate I had picked up at Sam’s club at Christmas time.  You can use chocolate chips, but may end up with some white spots on the chocolate after it hardens.  No biggie if you are just making them for your family but if you want them to be really pretty I would suggest using candy chocolate.

Give your chocolate a rough chop.

Melt your chocolate.  I have this VERY handy chocolate dipping pot.  If you don’t have one melt according to package directions in the microwave.  I do not recommend using a double boiler or a bowl over boiling water.  I have had too much chocolate ruined by one drop of water getting into the bowl. 

Remove balls from the freezer and insert lollipop sticks.  Working quickly, dip truffles in the chocolate coating, tap them on the side of the bowl to remove excess, and place back onto parchment.  If using sprinkles, add them before the chocolate hardens.  If they slip off too much dip a couple more before adding sprinkles to the first on so the chocolate sets a bit more and then your sprinkles will stay put.

Allow to harden.  If using chocolate chips you will need to place them in the refrigerator to get them stiff again.  I placed mine in the baking cups after they were hardened just for decorative purposes.

Recipe: Oreo Truffles

Yield: about 40

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package Oreos
• 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
• 16oz. chocolate, melted

Directions:  Crush Oreos into fine crumbs and mix with cream cheese.  Roll into 1” balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill while you melt the chocolate for dipping.  Dip the balls into melted chocolate, shake to remove excess, and place back on parchment lined baking sheet.  Add sprinkles, if desired.

LITTLE MAN BABY SHOWER {Party}

Well, the shower went off without a hitch.  I will admit it was a TON of work for me….much more than I anticipated.  I was exhausted by the time the party started!  But I think all the guests had a nice time and enjoyed themselves and hopefully my sister was happy and felt loved. 

So, I am just going to post a ton of pictures from the shower.  I had some trouble taking some of the pictures due to the time of day and lighting in the room.  Hopefully you will still be able to see all the little details.  In the coming days I will post recipes for the food.  Enjoy!

How to make this printable HERE

I wanted to do something a little different with the cupcake toppers than I have seen before.  So instead of just scalloped circles I did scalloped squares and pinked circles, each in 3 different colors.  I love how they turned out! HERE is my tutorial on making cupcake topper graphics.

Cupcakes made by my sister Melinda.  We use an icing coupler to pipe the frosting because we could never find a big enough tip.  The coupler is the little white thing that makes it so you can switch out the tips on your pastry bag.  You have to find one without a little notch in it though.

CUPCAKES!! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Garland inspired by THIS party.

The onesies were made with heat transfer vinyl I cut on my Silhouette.

GARLAND VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

These hanging garlands spun around slowly all night.  Here you are seeing the back side of several of the circles.  I connected the shapes using clear fishing line and clear tape.

This was a fall colored wreath that I had spray painted white.  I added the ribbon and fabric rosettes to match my color scheme.  The twinkle lights gave a nice effect during the shower.

FOOD TABLE VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Vinyl mustaches on plastic cups.

Stamped paper plates…how to HERE.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa (Made by my sister Molly)

Homemade Chips (made by my sister Molly)

Italian BOWTIE Pasta Salad (Made by my sister Laura)

Cucumber Water (SUPER refreshing!)

Oreo Truffles

Pretzel “Cigars”

Bowtie Sugar Cookies (made with a homemade cookie cutter)

Triple Dipped Strawberries (made by my sister Maggi)

Baby Caleb all dressed up + the favors.

Chocolate mustache molds can be found at Bake It Pretty

Four of my cuties in disguise!