Red Velvet Pie

A few weeks ago I made a Red Velvet Pie but I haven't shared the recipe yet. I think It would be a perfect dessert to make for Valentines Day!! It's red, it's sweet, and it's chocolaty. If you don't make it for Valentines Day that's fine but I strongly encourage you to make it because it's superb.

Red Velvet Pie

Red Part-Filling
1 pie crust baked and cooled
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup whole buttermilk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (1oz) red food coloring
2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together sugar, corn starch, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in cream, buttermilk, and eggs. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Boil, whisking constantly 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in food coloring and vanilla. 

Pour mixture into prepared crust, and cool 1 hour on counter. Cover and chill until set (about 3 hrs.

Whipped Cream Cheese Topping:
1 8oz package of cream cheese softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups heavy cream

Beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt at medium speed with a heavy duty stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add in the cream, beating at medium speed until soft peaks form. 

Food Frenzy

The past few days I've been in a baking/cooking frenzy!! I had class on Mon-Tuesday and then had clinicals for 13 hours on Wed (which I absolutely loved but that's a story for another day) which meant that I had Thursday off!! Then I didn't have to work at the nursing home all weekend so it gave me plenty of time to make some things. Free time like this almost makes me wish I could be just a stay at home mom!!! :) To bad I love nursing and money so much!!

First I want to mention something that I made last Sunday. I made a red velvet pie. OMG it has taken the place of my favorite pie for the time being. It was so good!!! Even though I almost cut my thumb off in the process it all turned out great.

Then Thursday I was rather ambitious. I made the Pioneer Woman's "Spread" which is a basic giant cookie topped with chocolate and what ever toppings you have on hand. I also made a balsamic vinaigrette. I made the "Spread" for bible study I came home with 2 pieces left in the box which my dad then devoured. I made the vinaigrette just as an encouragement for me to eat more salads and to play around with different flavor profiles. I ended up not having any lettuce/spinach to try my dressing on so I marinated some chicken in it and cooked it and put it over rice. It was really good.

Friday I had a hankering for oatmeal raisin cookies. So I set out in my vast collection of cookbooks to find a good cookie recipe. I was looking in a cookbook from 1964 and I found a recipe that sounded good so I gave it a try. It didn't have oatmeal in it but it was still really good and was nice to use a cookbook I haven't used before. 

Finally for Super Bowl Sunday. I made 3 different dishes for a party I went to. The first is a Jalapeno sausage popper wrapped in bacon and the second is a chili cream cheese chip dip and third I made chocolate no bake cookies. Everything went over well I would say I only came home with 1 cookie :)