Tell Someone You Love Them No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

For those of you who may not know this, I love reading food blogs. My discovery of the purpose of Google Reader has saved my life (as well as lots of time). I am probably not a good blog follower. I do not write responses very often or “like” them. I just read them. Some make me laugh. Some inspire me with new recipe ideas. Occasionally, I do write in my own blog about something we made with a link to the original author. My poor cookbooks feel neglected as I often find it easier to search for a recipe I have read about online.

I am also always fascinated by online friendship culture. I read about bloggers who are great friends with other bloggers even though they have never met in person. It is clear there is a great support system out there if you seek it out. I stay in the shadows and do my own thing, and I am cool with that. Yesterday, though, I witnessed something beautiful that made me cry and tear up again and again. It also inspired me to contribute to the food blog community myself.

Innocently, I clicked on a post for No Bake Peanut Butter Pie. I love peanut butter. Although, we have not dealt with the blistering heat of the rest of the country, our lack of AC and good ventilation makes our little apartment pretty toasty when we fire up the oven (and all I seem to want to do lately is make stuff that requires the oven, go figure). So, my point being, I thought it might be a fun recipe to make this weekend that would not require heating up the apartment.

Then began the tearing up. The post was in honor of a fellow blogger who lost her husband to sudden massive heart attack last weekend. The full on crying began when I went to Jennie’s blog. She wrote about her and her husband’s last date and her intention for quite some time to make him his favorite dessert, Peanut Butter Pie. And sadly, she did not get this chance.

Shit. Not what I expected to encounter in the rare little pocket of free time I had to enjoy on my Friday morning. So, there I sat stunned and in tears. She wrote asking everyone to make Peanut Butter Pie on Friday and share it with someone they love. By the time I got home, my Google Reader was filled with bloggers and their version of Peanut Butter Pie as a tribute to Jennie and Mikey. I don’t know Jennie. I don’t even follow her blog. But I was blown away by the love and support demonstrated by her fellow food bloggers… some of who clearly had some sort of friendship with her, and some, like me, who just feel the need to honor Jennie and her request.

So, it isn’t Friday. If you had been my shadow on Friday, you would know why I am a Sunday pie participant. It’s the thought that counts, right??

My other takeaway from this unexpected experience is that I am bad about making sure my loved ones know I care. For someone so filled with empathy, I am terrible at expressing my feelings and my emotions. I am not good at giving consistent and regular assurance of love and appreciation to most of my dear friends. I just assume that they know I care about them since I keep them as friends. I guess I need to work on that. I also want to make sure that I am enjoying each and every day and being thankful for the experiences it brings me, whether they are good or bad. So this pie is dedicated to all of those special people in my life.

If you are now wanting your own Peanut Butter Pie inspiration or are just curious about how many people really cared enough to make their own, check out Picky Palate’s blog as she has compiled many others who were part of the Peanut Butter Pie memorial. I decided to just go with what Mikey had loved and used Jennie’s recipe. My only changes were leaving out the chopped peanuts and the chocolate drizzle on top.

No-Bake Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

For the Crust:
8 ounces Oreo cookies, crushed into fine crumbs
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup chopped peanuts

For the Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

To Finish:
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

1. In a medium bowl, combine the Oreo crumbs, pinch of salt and melted butter, tossing with a fork until the crumbs are all evenly moistened. Press into the bottom and about 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

2. While crust is in the freezer, place the 4 ounces of chocolate chips into a small bowl. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the ½ cup of heavy cream to a full boil. Pour over the chocolate chips, let it sit a minute, and then stir gently with a rubber spatula until completely smooth and glossy. Pour over the bottom of the crust, tilting the pan or using an offset spatula to ensure it covers the entire bottom. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

3. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the 1 cup of heavy cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped cream to a medium bowl and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

4. Again using an electric mixer, this time with a paddle attachment (or regular beaters if using a hand mixer), cream together the peanut butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once it is all added, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds to completely incorporate. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat at medium speed until everything is completely combined and smooth.

5. Using a rubber spatula, stir in about 1/3 of the whipped cream to lighten the mixture. Very gently, fold in the remaining whipped cream until no streaks of whipped cream remain. Pour the filling into the prepared crust.

6. In a microwave on 50% power, melt the 1/3 cup of chocolate chips with the shortening in 30 second bursts, stirring after each one, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Using a spoon or pastry bag, drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the pie filling.

7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight) before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

(Recipe adapted from In Jennie’s Kitchen)

When Life Hands You Grapefruits, Make Grapefruit Juice? No, I Can Do Better!

Apparently grapefruits are the April seasonal citrus that is arriving in our CSA. I don’t mind grapefruit. Occasionally, I like to eat one or have some Ruby Red juice. However, R hates the bitterness of grapefruits. Seven or eight grapefruits started seeming a little overwhelming, and I was just not in the mood for juicing and drinking them. I thought to myself, surely there are other options out there. So, I started perusing my favorite blogs for inspiration. We also had two different potlucks to go to on Easter Day. Perfect! Other people will like grapefruit, right? I won’t be stuck eating something all by myself that Robert rejects as to grapefruity.

My first adventure ended up being this recipe for Grapefruit Yogurt cake. After doing a bit of Googling, I found that this combination of yogurt and grapefruit in cake is pretty popular. I also found variations that use honey instead of sugar. Next on my list if we get more grapefruits is this scone recipe for scones: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/03/grapefruit-honey-yogurt-scones/

I ended picking this specific recipe since she made it as a loaf cake, and I knew it would be easy to slice into smaller pieces to share at a potluck.

I did make the syrup, but I did not do the glaze. Really didn’t miss it. The instructions don’t say to do so, but I pricked the top with a fork before pouring the glaze to assist it in soaking in and not running off the sides and being wasted.

It had a lovely texture and the grapefruityness was subtle. (Sidenote: Apparently my grapefruit adjectives are made up as spell check is hating on them!) Even R grudgingly admitted they weren’t bad. Everyone at both potlucks gave them the thumbs up. So super easy and super tasty!

My second contribution was this Grapefruit Guacamole. It was tasty, and grapefruit and avocado seems to be popular recipe combination. Unfortunately, it did not all disappear as hoped. People did say they liked it. It was just hard to compete with the elote and regular guacamole others had made! And of course, leftovers with avocado rarely keep. It was fairly chunky and juicy, so not too easy to eat as finger food on chips. I could definitely see it being yummy on a piece of fish. Of course, that will not happen in our house unless I happen to be cooking for myself. R did not touch this one at all.

It was a super simple recipe, but sectioning citrus is a royal pain in the @$$. I am not fan… I also added a little sugar to the pickling onions as a personal preference. As I was looking up the link, I found this version. If I did ever make it again, I think I might want to add the jalapeno and garlic it calls for to really make it seems more like a traditional salsa. I might also mash it up bit to make it more dippable. Probably would would not be as pretty looking, though. Oh, and I left the cilantro out because I think it is super yucky. I forgot to take pictures, but mine pretty much looked like the one in the picture with the recipe link.

PS I really love this resource when I have a random ingredient and am seeking ideas of what to do with it. It is a search engine for food blogs. Type in your ingredients and surprise! You get all sorts of ideas. http://foodblogsearch.com/

First Flagstaff Dinner Party

Last weekend, we finally finished decorating the apartment by hanging pictures and putting out some of our “pretties.” It finally feels like a real home and we are surrounded by things we enjoy. With a smaller space, it did challenge us to narrow down and edit. It also pushed us to be a little more creative with the arrangement of stuff, so we have put some items in new places this time around. Having the goal of finishing our decorating was motivated by the fact that we had invited over some of our new friends that helped us move of all our crap in a few weeks earlier.

We had a few menu challenges in that we had a wheat allergy and several veg heads. Really, I didn’t mind. It gave me a chance to push us from a culinary standpoint and do some online research of gluten free food blogs. J seemed very touched that we went to that extra effort and said normally she just deals with whatever is being served and works around it. It was really no big deal to us and I got some extra warm fuzzies from the appreciation she expressed in being able to eat everything that was being served without any worries of allergic reactions. I am not sure that I have really had any regular contact with anyone who has issues with gluten, but several of my new co-workers have to avoid them so it has been on my radar a lot more lately. I never realized what a challenge that must be until I planned this menu. The menu itself was not hard or unusual from foods we would normally eat, but it just took more intentionality in being aware of the ingredients being used. So, onto the food! Here is the menu with links to recipes. I have a couple of pictures, but I am still struggling with being in the mindset of taking pictures of everything, both in progress and the final products, while cooking.

Coleslaw with Peanut Dressing from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog: We followed this recipe with

the exception of changing the agave nectar to honey and we added some green onion. Our veggies came from the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market. Yum!

Toasted Quinoa, Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella Salad from Cooking Light: This has been one of our go to recipes for a couple of years now. It is a great pot luck recipe and is always well-received. Neither of us are big cucumber fans, so we tend to leave those out. The tomatoes came from the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market.

Indian Chickpeas and Spinach in a Tomato Cream Sauce from the Savory, Spicy Sweet Blog: This super simple recipe has become a favorite and staple in our house and seemed like the perfect vegetarian, wheat free main dish to serve. Typically, we only use one can of beans and use coconut milk instead of cream. It is ridiculously easy if you keep these types of ingredients in your house on a regular basis like we do. Seriously, try it, this week.

Flourless Chocolate Cake from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog: This was the icing on the cake, so to speak. I only have three words to describe it. OH…. MY…. GOD…. Seriously rich, seriously tasty, seriously easy. I made the whole thing in our food processor. The only problem with that is that it exceeded the liquid level of our processor bowl… so R had to help me lift it out with the blade still in the bowl to avoid it going everywhere through the middle hole part.