Cherry Pie Bites

IT'S PICNIC TIME!!  With Memorial Day here, picnic season has arrived, and I for one am super excited about it.  I love getting together with friend and family and enjoying good food and great energy.  I love to see kids playing and even see some adults get in on the action as well. 

I for one am a huge fan of pot luck picnics.  Not only does it help out the host of the picnic, but it also gives other people the opportunity to show off some of their favorite dishes, but to try some new ones as well.  Oh sure you will have the usual stand byes, like hot dogs, burgers, and a variety of salads, but you will also have some new and exciting this as will; and that is what I look forward to.

Every years my sister and brother-in-law host and Indy 500 party.  It is a pot luck picnic and there is always great food and laughs well into the day.  I always make my pasta salad, which according to my family only I can make, I can give you that recipe in another blog, but I also like to bring something new and different. 

A few years ago I was doing just that, trying to find something different, but not to crazy to bring to the annual picnic.  I did not want to bring the usual side dish or even a main dish, so I thought a dessert would be good.  Being that it was Memorial Day, Cherry Pie came to mind, but I have to admit I am not a fan of Cherry Pie.  Don't ask me why I really have not explanation for it, it is just one of those things that I have never and probably never will be a fan of.  So why then would I even consider looking for a new way to make Cherry Pie you ask?  The answer......I have no idea, but I am glad that I did, because it led to one of my families favorite desserts that especially my one nephew insists that I make not only every year for this picnic, but as often as I can.

They are called Cherry Pie Bites and I will confess that I LOVE them!  For a person who is not a fan of Cherry Pie I really do like these bites.  I think it has to do with the fact that they are not only bite size, but that they are small enough to satisfy with just one.  The recipe is very simple and take no time at all to make.

What you need:

24 cup mini muffin pan
2 3/4" biscuit cutter
1 28oz can of Cherry Pie filling
1 box of Pillsbury Ready to use Pie Crust

Topping:
3 Tbsp. of Butter cut into cubes
1/3 cup of Flour
2 Tbsp. of Sugar

Simply allow the dough to come to room temperature and roll out.  Using the biscuit cutter, cut circles into the dough.  One pie crust will make about 10-12 circles.  Once the circles are all cut place them into the muffin cups.

Next take the Cherry Pie filling and using a teaspoon, fill each muffin cup with pie filling.  Then combine the topping in a small bowl using a fork to mix the butter with the flour and sugar.  Spoon a small amount of topping onto each filled muffin cup.  I like to use a baby spoon for this, but if you don't have one, a 1/4 teaspoon should work just fine. 

 


















Bake at 425 degrees for 23-25 minutes.  Allow them to cool for 5 minutes and then using a paring knife, gently remove them from the pan. 

To add even more sweetness to the bites, combine 1/2 cup of 10X sugar with 1 Tbsp. of milk and drizzle over top of the bites.  A dollop of Whipped Cream is also very good as well. 

This recipe will make 24 mini Cherry Pie Bites, but can easily be made for a bigger crowd.  It also works great with other pie fillings as well.  I know for a fact the Blueberry is a big hit.

Happy Baking and ENJOY!! 

Roasted Green Beans

With spring in the air, my children and I have been working on our vegetable garden.  There is just something very satisfying about planting a garden and watching it grow.  Knowing that you helped to create something that is not only good for you, but for your family as well.  It also gives my children a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they helped to grow some of the food that we eat. 

They were a huge help with me and my husband this year in planning where our garden was going to go and just how it should look.  Then they all gathered around and help to plant the seeds of some or their favorite veggies; like lettus, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and of course beans.  Green beans to be exact.  Every year these are the favorite vegetable to plant and every year more often then not, these are the first things picked right off the vine and eaten before they even make it into the house.  These are the one vegetable that no matter what I can get all three of them to eat.

All three of my children love green beans, but it is my oldest one who loves them the most.  She would eat green beans every day if I let her.  She is a vegetable lover all the way, but she has a weakness for green beans.  She is not very picky about how they are made, and will always be happy if they are on her plate, but by far her favorite way, and I have to admit it is both my husbands and mine as well, is to have them roasted. 

I decided to try them this way, when I noticed that my kids, along with not only my entire family, but also my nieces and nephews, loved roasted asparagus.  We would make the asparagus as a side dish for family gatherings, and they would disappear faster than you could imagine.  Most of the time the if the adults did not take what they wanted first, they were not getting any.  I have to admit I never imagined that kids would take to something like roasted asparagus, but they not only took to it, but devoured it as well.  The kids just loved them and it got me thinking that maybe they would like other veggies roasted.  So after some trial, and not a whole lot of failure, I came up with this.

Now I know that roasting green bean, or any other vegetable for that matter is not something new, but this is just my take on the idea.  This is the way that my family loved them, so I decided to share.

What you need:

About one pound of fresh trimmed green beans
2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Roasted Garlic and Sea Salt (if you don't have this, Garlic Salt works just as well)


Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
Clean and trim the green beans
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (this makes for a much easier clean up)
Place the green bean on the baking sheet and toss with the Olive Oil and Garlic Salt.  How much of the Garlic Salt is up to you.  It really all depends on how you like it.  For my family the more garlic flavor, the better.
Then place them in the oven for 20-25 min.
Once done remove and serve hot.

I can tell you that there is NEVER any left over in my house between my daughter and my husband, these a truly a family favorite.  They make a great side dish and I have even made them as an after school snack for my kids. 

Happy roasting and ENJOY!