Apple Pies & a “My Bad” post…

Hey world,

Long time no? Yeah, I’ve been a busy boy lately… too busy to be in the kitchen bakng stuff…

For those who follow along w/this, I say… My Bad. Its tough keepin this thing a float, mostly cuz I’ve been preoccupied with work /interviewing for work/running outta of ideas sometimes…

Yeah I said it!! I sometimes run outta ideas! #dontjudgeme!!!

So what else has been goin on in my world? Ironically, losing weight by running.

I say Irony cuz I make dessert and I run…weird huh?

Actually, you can have your cake and work out as I find out as long as you dont over do it.

The eating that is… like I usually say, “Dont eat til you get a food baby”.

Anyways, I should think of more desserts ideas, but this is also where Y’ALL come in!!!

If you follow this sucker, and/or just want something random made, say so…

As a way of saying “My Bad” here’s some Apple “Pie”

Why I quote “Pie”, cuz it aint the traditional way at all… It’s a Free Form Tart.

I find this style is a lot more fun, than the traditional pie format.

When it comes to Apples, I use either Granny Smith’s or Golden Delicious…

Porque?

They hold their shape when you cook ‘em and they’re tart so you can make them how sweet you want to.

You use Apples with a lot of water in ‘em, they turn to Apple Sauce and it aint as pretty.

Pretty as this:

#BOOM That just happened.

So to do that above, you need the following

• 2 Apples (Granny Smith or whatevs), sliced
• 1/4 C Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp grated Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Lemon (juiced)
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• Whatever Pie Dough Recipe you got

Bake for 25 min @ 400 degrees

Sidenotes:

• Slice up the Apples and place in a bowl, coat apple slices w/ Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Lemon Juice, Vanilla, and Nutmeg. Let ‘em sit for about 5 minutes.
• Roll out pie dough crust and place on a cookie sheet or cake pan.
• Add the apples and cover up the sides in whatever fancy way you want.
• Brush sides w/ milk.
• Throw in the oven for about 25 minutes

And thats it!

You get this:

So, I realized this weekend, I dont have to work, go outta town or nothing.

This shall be my time to think of new ideas esp for the summertime.

Also I shall be continuing my quest for working out.

Swimsuit is almost upon us y’all!!! We gotta get that Bikini Bod together…

TMI??

Anyways, do subscribe/like/and or comment.. I do update this sucker (fairly) often…

Til then, Be sure to do y’all taxes…. I did, I felt all growed up too!!!

Part 2 of the Parfait Saga: Key Lime….y’all forgot about this “saga” too huh?

Oh hey world, It’s March…not only that.

It’s PIE DAY, PIE DAY….gotta get down on PIE DAY!!

SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!!!

Yes, that just happened….

So I’ve took a bit of a “Break” and by “Break I mean, I completely forgot about writing or cooking somethin new last week…. #whoops.

Sometimes I work cray cray hours or get pre-occupied w/stuff and I completely forget…

Please FORGIVE ME..I BEG YOU….ATTACA!!!! (HUH?)

So as you may not be aware of…I’m making dessert for a rehearsal dinner…for 100 peoples….yeah

And I gotta make 4 diff parfaits: Black Forest, Red Velvet, Tiramisu and (what this post is about) Key Lime.

Key Lime is technically a pie so…this ties in well!!! YAAAY!!!

So world, I would like to give some advice: Go with your Gut…

Pardon the pun/ fact this a “Food” site, but whenever you find yourself uncertain about stuff: Go with your Gut.

If you know you prolly shouldnt eat that last slice of pizza, go w/your gut.

If you not sure about a potential job opportunity, go w/your gut.

If you know you should try somethin different, go with your gut.

I say that cuz I figure somebody out there may need it…Idk…maybe.

I just realized theses 3 Sundays in a row are 3 monumental things…

Daylight Savings, St. Patty’s Day AND Easter?? Whaa???

Who decides when Easter is?? I always am confused by that…

So hopefully y’all have a good St. Patty’s Day…I got some tricks up my sleeves y’all!

And this time I’ll tell y’all what I did..

That’s all I got this week, but hopefully this was an entertaining post.

I cant really guarantee your money back, since…well y’all know.

But if y’all like what y’all see?

Comment, Subscribe and/or Like this page…I do update this sucker frequently.

Til then, remember go w/your gut…

That thing knows what it wants… usually.

Carrot (Cake) Muffins…I’m seriously on Muffin Tear rightaboutnow….

What up world, its tha last day of February…dang.

Do anythin memorable in theses 28 days???

You do a “Harlem Shake” parody? Watch Beyonce’s Half-Time Show a dozen times?

Well 28 days later, we are slowly but surely headin towards spring…and that means here in the south, straight to summer.

#TexanProblems.

Anyways, I ran in a 10k race… and did not get trampled!! HOORAY!!!

It’s scary than y’all think esp w/over 6,500 peoples in it.

Esp. that first mile and a half, had to do a bit of matrix/parkouring on the sidewalks cuz it was SOOOO crowded.

But it was all good in the end, cuz it thinned out, but I also got a bunch of free food.

And free products….my inner klepto was quite thrilled.

Ole-Bill’s no thief, but you offer a bunch of free stuff, I’m 9/10 times gonna take it!

Anyways, I present y’all this weeks post: Carrot Cake Muffins.

Pretty no?

Well this came about a few years ago at a restaurant my pops and I went to for brunch.

They had a bunch of muffins and one of them was a Carrot Cake Muffin

Also a friend of mine apparently havin eye-issues and what better way to eat carrots than in muffins right?

Its things like that where I get inspiration from, no not from somebody’s pain…but just random things like that.

Although a lot of artist do use “Pain” a lot as their “inspiration”.

#artistproblems.

So how exactly you pull this off?

Simple, all you need is the following:

•  1 1/2 C Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar
• 1/4 C Reg Sugar
• 2 Eggs ( I FORGOT THE EGGS!!!)
• 2/3 C Veg. Oil (or Canola, whichevs)
• 1 Carrot, sliced n diced.
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until a fork comes out cleanly.

Sidenotes:

• Add everything but save the carrots til the end.
• It’s gonna look like it’s in desperate need of some more liquid, thats where the carrots come in. Carrots got liquid like Zuccini and will be enough liquid by the end.

Et VOILA!!

There goes my french for the week.

Hopefully y’all give this a try, i.e. make ‘em on the weekend and have for the week.

But make sure you put ‘em in a closed container,otherwise they dry out and turn into a weapon when thrown.

If y’all like what y’all see?  Comment, Subscribe/Like…I do update this sucker fairly often.

With that said, I leave you with another muffin

Note I didnt make ANY “Muffin Man” references, as bad as I wanted to…

Hold up I did mention it though…Crap.

Blackberry Muffins….THEY SO TINY!!

So world, I’m a tad cranky…

To whoever that it is thats doing that obnoxious tapping on the windows outside…

I will find you….and give you a STERN talking to!!! Maybe even a mean mug too…

Those are dangerous too.

SO…last week I did it!!

I pulled off cooking on V-Day!!! I cooked an entire pasta dinner for 50 some-odd people.

#victoryhuzzah!!!

I cooked Shrimp & Chicken Alfredo pasta and it came out quite lovely…or so I think.

Or what I’ve been told too…I don’t know. As for that Brownie Cheesecake as seen below?

That sucker was gone before I even got to look at it…guess that may be a good thing.

So to the post at hand… Blackberry Muffins.

Why did I make these?? I was too lazy to go buy Cereal so I thought I’d make muffins to eat instead…#bakerproblems

I like muffins, I don’t make’em too often. Not sure why thought???

Anyways, the recipe which I found on a certain “Pinning” site… I kinda took their recipe and twerked it a bit….

With Blackberries!! I find they get over shadow by the Blueberry waaay too much.

So with that I shall now share y’all the recipe, I know FINALLLY!!

Lemon-Blackberry Muffins

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• Juice of 2 Lemons
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• Pint of Blackberries
• 1/2 Cup Applesauce
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 Egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Bake @ 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Sidenotes(been a minute since I’ve done that):

• Gather all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl & set aside.
• With the Blackberries add the Sugar, Vanilla & Lemon Juice and stir’em around so they get coated.
• Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside. A lot of settin aside this time around.
• Combine the berries and stuff with the dry ingredients.
• Add the Egg Whites in thirds. First batch just mix in, next batch fold in nice n gently. Also fold in the Zest of the Lemon.
• Place batter  in muffin tins and toss that sucker in the oven.
• It should yield 10-12 muffins all together.

And you get this

I found this to be a fairly simple thing to whip up. Esp if you one of them “On The Go” folks.

Or in my case the last month n half, training for a 10k race.  I’ve been myself outta house and home

#runnerproblems?

Anyways, hopefully y’all get somethin from this recipe and hopefully on Saturday, I wont go out and get trampled…

That would suck.

So w/that I’ll leave you some muffins….

Anybody else realize February is almost over…dang.

The Parfait Saga/Adventures/Whateverword for “series” Pt.1: Black Forest

So…its February and you know what that means?

Whatever health goal you had last month has prolly gone by wayside now.

If you’ve stuck with it…more props to y’all.

So I kinda quit the whole “Healthy” Dessert thing, I may come back to it during the summer.

But I’ve got bigger fish to fry!! By fish I mean Parfait.

What the two got to do with each other???

No idea.

But anyways, I have to make Parfaits…Porque??

Well, yours truly has been hired on as not only a groomscake maker, BUT I gotta make desserts for The Rehearsal Dinner….thats right Desserts.

And I may or may not have to make Parfaits for at least 100 people.

The more I think about it, the more I think “Holy Crap, What did I sign up for??!!!”

So I gotta make Four different parfaits: Red Velvet, Key Lime, Tiramisu and (what this post is about) Black Forest. 

Fun Fact: Black Forest Cake is traditionally a dark Chocolate Cake with Cherry Filling. And the filling’s got booze in it. Booze= Liqueur or Schnapps. It also originated from Germany.

Currently mine is “Under Construction” as in I’m workin on getting a better Cherry Filling and Brownie.

I’ve decided to go Brownie route to make it interesting aka “Switchin it Up A Bit”

But needlessly to say I got about a lil over 3 months to prepare and it get it right…

I’m an artist and we artists are cray cray about being perfectionists.

#sadbuttrue

And hopefully I wont lose my sanity in the process of making not only a groomscake and Rehearsal Dinner Desserts.

A tall order, indeed. But I feel like this year is “Can Ole-Bill handle it???”

I’ve not only pulled off 3 dozen cupcakes (Holy Crap!) and V-day comin up, I’ve got to play “Chef” for a Singles event…

I thought Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) would be a fun way to say “Screw you V-Day!” for all us Single Folks…but NOOO!!!!

It’s okay, hopefully, it’ll work.

Anyways, that’s all I got for now..cuz I’ll just babel like I normally do.

Not sure if thats a good thing or not…still figuring that out.

But stay tuned for next week’s Parfait look.

In the meantime, if y’all like what y’all see?

Comment/Subscribe and/or Like this bad boy…

I do update this sucker fairly often.

Til then, remember this for V-Day:

You dont need a “Lover” for V-Day, You just need Love.

Hot right??

Raspberry-Orange (or Orange-Raspberry, whatevs) Cupcakes. Vegan Style y’all!!!

So I just realized, I’ve been failing miserably at updatin this sucker on a weekly basis…

It’s more like, “Ehh, I’ll update when I feel like it!! GAAAH!!!”

Never really saw the popularity of Napoleon Dynamite.

Well work kinda takes priority.

Fun fact: Long Hours working + Lack of Sleep = Massive Brain Farts.

#TMI??

Anyways in the last 10 days, yours truly won a radio contest!! Thats right, THIS GUY!!

It was this “Cash Clips” Contest of havin to guess what the 5 clips of songs were. And I did it..and won some money.

I honestly didnt even think about the money(for reals), I was all concerned about winning and getting the win. VICTORY IS MINE!!!!

So, I won some money, IM RICH BIAA….Not really. Not enough to retire on, but I’ve got gas money…that’s a plus.

SO what does that got to do w/ Cupcakes??

Nothing. But as usual, half my post dont got nothin to do w/ the food of the week.

So a while back I was asked to make Cupcakes for a B-Day Party…but they had to be Vegan.

I know right? Vegan…sounds all odd….and weird. No offense to y’all Vegan peoples.

BUT, I somehow managed to pull it off.

Vegan Orange-Raspberry Cupcakes

Fancy huh?

Well I do try to be when necessary…

I’m finding out that the whole “Vegan” thing doesnt mean eatin dirt or Tofu.

Do Vegans eat Tofu??? Somebody explain…

Anyways, I digress…can y’all believe January is about done??!

Sad aint it?

We dealt w/ a cheating cyclist and a football player being duped into what was a juicy storyline for a soap now is just flat out odd and weird and done with.

At least I am now… stupid catfishin.

So the Super Bowl is almost upon us. Don’t really care…

I only care about the commercials and the Beyonce halftime show.

Usually the halftime shows usually are not that great, not after that whole “Boob” thing.

Remember when EVERYBODY flipped out about it…silly now aint it???

Anyways enough about that…here’s another pic

Well that’s all I got for nows…

I’ll try n do better about updatin weekly.

But if you like what y’all see, feel free to subscribe to this wacky thing here…

Also feel free to comment and/or like this as well… no pressure or nothing.

I always find it hard to find a way to end these posts…

Anybody got any good catchphrases????

I’ll give y’all a shout out.

Peanut (Butter???) Meringue Cookies

So….I had a moment where I thought

“Holy Crap! I forgot to post something!!” last week.. My Bad.

I apologize, I almost feel what Lance Armstrong’s going thru. Except I never lied & cheated and destroyed folks lives for so long.

So, Lance may be a bad example, figuratively & literally. But I’d been working so much where I literally said out loud “Holy Crap its Friday??!!!”

So, heres a post, on a Monday. Hopefully you dont have a case of it, but are like me enjoying this day off.

Honestly, I think they should make Monday a holiday, make it easier to deal with the rest of the week.

With that, here’s my latest wacky creation: Peanut Meringue Cookies.

Dont know how to describe how they look without sounding like I’m a 3rd grader but they do taste good though and not like Crap (HELLO!!!).

Anyways, this is for my Peoples on the whole “Gluten-Free” diet or can’t eat Gluten.

Hopefully, you dont have a Peanut allergy…cuz you can sub it for another nut.

Vegans, y’all gonna have to wait y’all turn.

This is one of the fewest ingredients I’ve used in a dessert. WHAAA??! HOW??!!!

Well Meringue = Egg Whites + Sugar.  It’s that simple. Whip up the whites til they look like styrofoam and then add the sugar til it looks like whipped cream.

There’s a couple of ways of knowing you’ve done your job:

A. Take some of it and rub between your fingers and if it feels nice and smooth and not grainy…then you’ve done your job.

B. If you’re brave enough, hold the bowl upside down over your head and if nothing falls on your head… then you’ve done your job!!

If option B scares the crap outta you, just stick with A.

So to get this:

You’ll need this….

Peanut Meringue Cookies

• 5 Egg Whites
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
• 1/4 Cup Grounded up Peanuts
• Pinch of Salt.

Bake for 2 hours @ 200 degrees. Meringue is very gentile. Remember that people.

Sidenotes:

• Put Egg Whites in mixing bowl with a pinch of salt and the lemon juice and start whipping (preferably w/ an electric whisk, unless you going for the workout version) til it looks like styrofoam.
• Once its at soft peaks (aka styrofoam) proceed to add sugar, GRADUALLY!!! If you dump in the sugar it’ll make the egg whites lose volume.
• Proceed to continuing beating in the sugar til it’s dissolved.
• Fold in Grounded Peanuts (or whatever Nut) into the meringue til you see specs throughout.
• Pipe out or Spoon on a  Baking Sheet and Bake @ 200 degrees for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, turn off oven and let them sit in there for another 30 minutes.

So there you have it folks. Give this a shot.

Like I said before, this is for that “Health Kick” that everybody is prolly on for another week or so…

If y’all like what y’all see?

Comment, Subscribe and/or Like said page (here)

I do update this sucker fairly regularly…

So til next time,  have a cookie for the road…

Apple-Blackberry Crisp…my take on tryna be “Healthy”… allegedly.

Well y’all, it’s that time of the year…

Where we swear we gonna hit the gym and lose that weight from all the ham and cake we ate over x-mas but by 2 weeks in, we quit and try to do it again next year.

Well to that I say…. that maybe true. BUT it don’t have to be w/your food eating.

No you aint gotta go on a soy diet or starve yourself.

Or in yours truly case eat a lot of food w/ Flax Seed in it and have slowly come back to haunt you…. #TMI ???

I learned last year, you can drop some weight if you don’t overeat.

AKA “Don’t keep eating til you have a Food Baby”

Eat til you feel yourself get full y’all!!

With that said, for those w/a sweet tooth, I’m startin a MOVEMENT!!

I sound like Puffy/Diddy…(Don’t care what he calls himself, I know him as Puff).

Anyways for this month (or however long I keep y’alls and my attention in this) I will make desserts that can be seen as quote/unquote “Healthy”.

See what I did there…cray cray right???

SO I present the first one: Apple-Blackberry Crisp!!!

The word “Crisp” sounds fancy huh???

Well its  in the same style as say Cobbler, BUT crisp has a lighter topping on it rather than a biscuit dough up top.

It even looks pretty right??…. Maybe???

Anyways, it’s a bit of a fancier step than just putting a bowl of berries together w/some sugar and cream and sayin that’s dessert.

No, that is just bein LAZY!!!

Forgive me for my some-what outburst… if that’s what you call it.

But none the less, it’s fairly simple to pull off to get this:

You’ll need the following.

Apple-Blackberry Crisp

• 2 Granny Smith Apples (they SUPER tart)
• 1 Cup of Blackberries
• 1/4 Cup of Sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (Grated)
• 1/2 Cup Oats (ya know,the ones you make oatmeal with)
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1/4 Cup Butter (cold & cubed)
• pinch of salt
• 2 Tablespoons of Sugar

Sidenotes:

• For the topping start w/ the ingredients starting with the word “Oats” on down in a blender and pulse til it looks on crumbly and stuff.
• Peel the skin off the apples and slice ‘em up and place along with the blackberries in a baking dish.
• Pour sugar over the fruit and stir to coat.
• Add cinnamon & nutmeg. Thats important for whatever reason.
• Add the topping and place in the oven @ 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.

Pretty straightforward y’all. You can even eat it w/some (GASP!!!) Vanilla Ice Cream…

I know, I know “CLUTCH THA PEARLS!!!”, you can sub it w/yogurt if you must.

Welp, that’s all I got for this week….

If y’all like what y’all see? Comment!, Subscribe! and/or Like! this page

That’s me shoutin at y’all….

But I do update this sucker fairly regularly … you can insert a joke there somewheres.

But w/that said, here’s another look at the CRISP!!

I don’t know why I like that word “CRISP” so much…

The Oreo Cake…The Opposite of Your New Years Resolutions

Well world, Its 2013…

We survived whatever apocalypse we thought was gonna happen (but likely was all in our head) and got to 2013…

Hopefully y’all ate plenty of Black Eyed Peas on New Years Day, its for good luck.

If not, hopefully y’all didnt do your laundry that day, thats bad luck.

Apparently, Im chalked full of southern New Years traditions.

Hopefully y’all had a good time partying and bull… nevermind.

With that said, its a new year, for most of us, a chance to make resolutions.

I dug up and found mine from 2012… I accomplished a few and made strides towards others.

While others, I laughed at.

I did pull off a groomscake for a wedding and I was able to help out in a restaurant style- kitchen…

So Kudos to me!!

This year, Im gonna try and be a bit better about cleanin my kitchen.

Thats the downside about being a cook, I guess.

Also I’m gonna drop more weight, I’ve dropped about 15 pounds in 2012. I wanna drop some more.

Not bone skinny, Just enough to where my “Man-Clevage” up top gets flat…

I call it like I see y’all.

I hope y’all keep up w/the resolutions. But I present to you a cake I made for a cake contest on New Years Eve.

The Oreo Cake.

Fancy huh? Welp Unfortunately… it aint win.

I know WHAAA???!!!!

I wasnt TOO bitter about not winning nothing. It was all for fun, but I at least should’ve took home “Fan Favorite”.

I got a lot of compliments for it, but oh wells.I aint harping…. I don’t think….

But it was a fun night, I competed in a pie eating contest where I ate chocolate pie and got it up my nose… I still smell chocolate.

Not sure if that’s a good thing.

For this site, I plan on attempting (keyword there) on makin healthy desserts.

SO, for the next few weeks, I shall attempt this goal, to show y’all out there, you can have your cake and be healthy too.

I’m pretty sure somebody is gonna see this post and think this makes no sense what-so-ever.

Oh wells…

With that said, hopefully y’all enjoyed this random post and stick around for more wacky adventures in 2013 from yours truly Ole-Bill…

So please, Like/Comment/Subscribe to this sucker…I do update ever so often.

To further bribe you, here’s one more pic for the road.

Btw, anybody feel this whole New Years in the mid of the week is REAL confusing???

My Top 12 of 2012… Original aint it???

1. Welp, whatta ya know…

We survived y’all!!!

I’m pretty sure we knew that all along… although that John Cusack “2012″ is goin straight to the Comedy section on Netflix now.

That said, hopefully y’all had a good 2012… maybe it was full of laughter, maybe not so much…

But at the end of the day(or this case year)if you can look back and reflect and crack a smile and think “It wasnt so bad” then it was a good year.

You may not have accomplished ALL the goals you set 4 yo’self such as losing 15 pounds instead of 25 pounds.

#firstworldproblems.

But as long as your work towards them… then its all good (somewhat).

This year I attempted a lot of different foods and different styles.

From French to Southern to A Groomscake… I know that aint an actual “Style, but its a pretty freakin cool thing to pull off for 100+ peoples.

So I composed a “Top 12″ list of the things I made this year I found to be my favorites.

Now composing this list, I put together “criteria” (fancy right?)

Well it was more, what I liked and what got a lot of feedback from y’all out there…

SO heres my list… so read it backwards please.

1. Doughnut Holes (Why cuz it went viral..duh!!) 
2. Macarons (its harder than it looks…)
3. Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (quite delish….)
4. Tarte Tatin(Rolls off the tongue so eloquently…)
5. Vegan Whoopie Pies(see, desserts can be healthy right….)
6. Eclairs (This was durin my whole french obsession…)
7. Peach Ice Cream (My first attempt at Ice Cream for reals…)
8. Peanut Butter Cupcakes (I wing’d it on those…..)
9. The Practice Groomscake (figured it should make the list no?…)
10. Creme Brulee (Easiest thing in the world…seriously…)
11. Apple Pies (like the ones at the fast food place….)
12. Wildberry Pop Tarts (One of the greatest things ever…)

And there y’all have it…hopefully y’all enjoy my picks and pics (see the wordplay there…) and if there’s one you thought shoulda made the list…tell me!

Seriously… I take criticisms…to an extent.

Also if y’all got any ideas/suggestions for 2013…comment!!

I’m screamin as I write this…also I’m watchin my Texans play (my optimism for that Super Bowl run is slowly diminishing by the minute).

But y’all have a good new year!

And if y’all like what y’all see?

Comment, Like and/or Subscribe….I do update this sucker frequently.

I would say weekly, but that was a lie. Maybe that could be on my New Years Resolutions.

But here’s a pic of some Creme Brulee for the road…

 

Fun Fact: I’m a firm believer that Sipping any beverage from a wine glass automatically makes you classy… just saying.