Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

We went over to my mom and dad's for a BBQ and to celebrate my mom's birthday this weekend.  I figured I would make a pie because we needed a dessert and I've been wanting to bake!  So, I decided to go for a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.  I have never made one before! Can you believe that?  Every summer, I see all these strawberry rhubarb recipes come out and I'm always like, "I'm gonna make a pie..." and then I never get around to it.  So, I finally did.  And, everyone LOVED it.  It was a delicious, freakin pie. The crust was flaky, the fruit amazing, and it looked gorgeous!  I was inspired by a recipe I saw on America's Test Kitchen and then I adapted from there.  I love how you make a strawberry rhubarb syrup of sorts to keep the fruit juicy, but also keep the crust from getting soggy.  It was really delicious!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
12 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4-6 pieces
cold water
2 lbs rhubarb, chopped
1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tbsp tapioca powder

Directions:
1. Make the crust: Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Then, add in the butter cubes and pieces of shortening and pulse until you have a sandy mixture.  Add in water as needed until dough comes together.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill.
2. Place rhubarb in a microwave safe bowl with the sugar.  Microwave for a minute and a half, stir, and then microwave for another minute.  Stir in 1 cup of strawberries and let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, drain the rhubarb mixture into a small saucepan.  Add the rest of the strawberries to the rhubarb juice and cook over medium-high until you can mash the strawberries.  Mash the strawberries, add in the tapioca powder and continue to cook until sauce thickens.  Add the sauce to the rhubarb mixture.
4. Take the dough out of the fridge, cut into two pieces.  Roll one piece out on a well floured surface and then place in pie dish.  Pour the fruit into the pie dish and place in the fridge.
5. Take the other piece of dough and roll it out.  When you are ready take the pie out of the fridge and lay the rolled out dough over the top. Press the dough together around the sides.  Then, brush the top of the crust with water, cut a few slits into the top, and sprinkle sugar over the top.
6. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.  Then, lower the temperature to 375 and bake for another 35-40 minutes.  Let cool.

Enjoy :)

My Dallas Adventure

This past weekend I was in Dallas hanging with some of Bri's Wash U besties.  Bri was roommates with Stephen and Amy and they are now engaged! We had a fabulous time exploring their neighborhood and eating tons of food.  It was a great weekend and here are some highlights:

We took a tour of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  This was super cool because you even get to go onto the field! I even did a cartwheel on the football field because...why not?

We had a couple amazing breakfasts as you can see below:  

We got breakfast tacos at Tacodeli.  This place was super great and even had a salsa bar where you could sample all of their salsas! They also do lunch and dinner. 

I did my usual Saturday morning run and then we went to Cafe Brazil.  I ordered the Vegetarian Migas and it was one of the greatest post-run breakfasts I have ever enjoyed.  They also have this amazing selection of coffee at their coffee bar and you are allowed to get as many cups as you want!  

Our final morning was spent at The Meddlesome Moth eating one of the best brunches I have ever had.  We had coffee from individual french presses, mimosas, and I ordered the omelet.  

We also went to some great places for Lunch/Dinner/Beer: 

This Bahn Mi Sandwich came from this amazing food truck that was parked alongside a bunch of food trucks in a park in downtown Dallas.  This was awesome and the park was adorable! 

This amazing BBQ came from the Lockhart Smokehouse.  When in Dallas, one must eat some BBQ! Get the brisket...do it.

Like Chipotle for Pizza lovers, Pizza Snob was a must try as Bri is a HUGE pizza fan! I got the Buffalo Chicken Pizza and it was so good I took a bite before remembering to take a photo! 

Go to Emporium Pies.  Eat all the pies....

The Highland Park Soda Fountain is a cute little dive that has amazing milkshakes and just plain good grilled cheese.  I got chocolate, but Bri got cherry and Stephen ended up with Strawberry.  We were all very happy. 

We went to a great bar called Luck and sampled a ton of good Texas beer.  Then, we walked over to the brewery next door, Four Corners, and tried some of their stuff as well! 

I swear we did more than eat!  We shopped, walked around cute areas, and spent a good amount of time at the Fort Worth Stockyards: 

Engaged Cowgirls :) 

It was a truly amazing trip!

Happy Pi Day!

I am such a nerd and this day is the best!

I made mys "famous" inception cookies for all of my students today.  I know this isn't pie, but hear me out.  Pi is the distance around 1/2 of the unit circle:

So, I made the inception cookies because you end up cutting them in half and therefore you have a Pi's worth of the circle. Isn't that cool??? I know, I'm a dork.

My students are raving about the cookies and it makes me so happy to share them with them.  I love to bake and it's so great when I get to share that part of me with my kiddos.

In class today, we watched Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi and then the students ate their cookies while working on Circle Challenges.  It is a nice change of pace and it is a great way to celebrate pi!

Tonight, Bri and I are planning on cooking dinner and, of course, making some sort of pie for dessert!

Happy Pi Day! 3.141592653...

Happy Pi Day everyone! Today is an especially epic Pi day as it is March 14th of 2015!  Since Pi starts with 3.1415 this is the first time this has happened in 100 years and I am pretty excited about it!  For school, I brought in oreo pie and chocolate chip cookie pie for my students and a ton of my kiddos brought in their own circular treats to share.  It was pretty great!

It also happens to be the St. Patricks Day celebration in Chicago and my friend Lauren's bday celebration.  Can today get any more epic?

The answer is yes.  Here is an epically delicious pie for you all!  This is like a "better than sex" pie and it was truly AH-mazing.  I hope you all have a fantastic Pi/St. Pattys/Whatever day and enjoy your weekend!

The Epically AH-mazing Pi Day Pie

Crust:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter

1 tsp white vinegar

2-3 tbsp cold water

Filling:

Your favorite hot fudge

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

8 oz light cream cheese

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Your favorite caramel sauce (I recommend salted caramel)

2 cups cool whip topping

Mini PB cups, M&Ms...and whatever other toppings you want!

Directions:

1. Make the crust: place flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Cut cold butter into cubes and place in food processor with vinegar.  Pulse until you have a sand like combination.  Pour water in, 1 tbsp at a time, while pulsing, until your dough comes together.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.  Once chilled, heat oven to 400 degrees and roll out pie dough so that you have a large circle.  I usually try to go for a circle with a 12 inch diameter.  Then, place pie dough into a 9 inch pie pan and form crust to your liking.  Place in preheated oven and cook for 10-12 minutes or until dough starts to brown.  Cool

2. To make the filling, melt the dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl.  Once melted, whip with the cream cheese and heavy cream until you have a light and fluffy filling. 

3. To assemble the pie: spread hot fudge into your cooked pie crust so that it covers the bottom.  Then, spread the chocolate mixture on top.  Next, drizzle caramel sauce over the chocolate filling.  Finally, top with the whipped topping and sprinkle extra hot fudge/caramel/other toppings on top.  Place in fridge to chill until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy :)

Happy Thanksgiving! French Silk Pie

I know, I know, I'm a day off.  However, I was too busy celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday, to really sit down and write a post.  So, today, I am taking the opportunity to say what I am thankful for and share with you this amazing French Silk Pie.

I have so much to be thankful for.  I am incredibly thankful for my family, Bri, and Benny.  The amount of love that surrounds me makes me feel grateful and blessed.  Last night, I went to Bri's thanksgiving with his amazing family and then, also my sister's house for thanksgiving with my family.  The fact that we have so many people in our life that are there for us is just amazing.  It was so great to see all the family (plus the food was fantastic!).  This brings me to my next point, I am pretty thankful for food.  I love how food has the power to bring people together and I love making food that can do that.  In addition, I am thankful for my school, the teachers I work with, and my students.  I love everything about my job and I am so happy that I am at this point in my life.  My second year of teaching is going great and makes me so relieved that I am living out the career of my dreams.  And finally, we can't forget about all my crazy, amazing, silly friends that stick by me no matter what.  I love them all.  So yep, I have a ton to be thankful for and I just hope that I can so everyone how special they really are to me.

Last weekend, I went to a "Friendsgiving" and I brought this French Silk Pie.  It was so cool to be part of this evening and see how we can really put together an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  I had a ton of fun and I hope that this is a new tradition that continues through the years.

French Silk Pie

Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbsp ice water
For the Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 heavy whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
Whipped Cream Frosting:
8 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy whipping cream
semi-sweet chocolate curls or chips for the topping

Directions:
1. Make the crust.  In a food processor, place flour, sugar and salt.  Process to mix.  Keep processing and add cubes of butter until you have a mixture that resembles wet sand.  Add in the vinegar and 1 tbsp of water at a time until dough forms into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
2. Preheat oven to 450.  Once dough is chilled, lightly flour a surface and roll dough out until you have a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan and, place in pie pan and trim edges.  Cover with foil  Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until dough is lightly browned.  Remove and let cool.
3.  Make the filling.  In a small saucepan, combine eggs and sugar.  Cook over low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and chocolate until chocolate completely melts and is well combined. 
4. In a medium bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in chocolate mixture and beat on high for 5 minutes.  Mixture should be light and fluffy.
5.  In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream with powdered sugar until it forms a stiff peak.  Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.  Pour into pie crust and let chill while you make the topping.
6.  For the whipped cream topping, in a large bowl, beat sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla until well combined.  Slowly pour in the cream while beating and whip until stiff peaks form.  Frost the chilled pie.  If you are using chocolate curls, heat up a chocolate bar in the microwave on 50% power for about 1 minute.  Use a peeler and gently scrape off edges of the chocolate bar to make your chocolate curls.  Place finished pie back in the fridge to chill and set.

Enjoy :)

Oatmeal Cookie Apple Pie

This is my 500th blog post! Can you believe that?  I can't!  I love posting here and although and don't post as frequently as I used to, I still love documenting a little about my life and all the fun food I make!

Last night, I had a great time with some of my teacher buddies.  We ran a 5K and then hung out after for dinner and drinks.  It was so much fun!  Plus, I cam in first in the 5K for my age group!  That was pretty funny and exciting.  We also played Cards Against Humanity which is just hilarious.

In honor of my 500th post and Thanksgiving being right around the corner, I have a yummy recipe for Apple Pie with an Oatmeal Cookie Crust!  I found the recipe on How Sweet It Is and then adapted it a bit to fit what I wanted.  I hope that you enjoy this amazing recipe and (hopefully) another 500 posts to come.

Oatmeal Cookie Apple Pie

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbsp ice water
Filling:
6 large apples peeled and sliced thin (I used Granny Smith)
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
Topping:
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:
1. Make the crust: place flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor.  Let pulse and add in the butter until mixture starts to combine.  Add in the vinegar and then the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the mixture forms into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill.
2. Make the filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the apple cider, brown sugar, butter and vanilla.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until mixture thickens.
3. In a large bowl, toss apple slices with the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Pour the cider mixture over the top and toss to combine.
4. Once dough has chilled, place on a lightly floured surface and roll out until you have a crust that is about 1/4 inch thick.  Place in a lightly greased pie pan.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6.  Place apples in the prepared pie pan.
7.  Make the topping: In a large bowl, whisk the oats, flour, cinnamon and salt.  Using a pastry cutter or your hands, cut in the butter until you have a streusel like topping.  Sprinkle the topping over the apples and press down to make sure that it stays in place.
8.  Bake pie for 45-50 minutes.


Enjoy :)

no bourbon- 1 cup apple cider
cinnamon
nutmeg
cloves

Weekend in Madison

I just had a super fun weekend! On Friday, Anna and I drove up to Madison, stayed with my friends, Russ and Ryan, and had a super fun time going out for amazing dinners, visiting a winery, and having an all around blast.

On Friday, my friend Tamara had the brilliant idea to go to Mariner's Inn for Restaurant Week.  That means, for $25 I got to have clam chowder, surf and turf, and key lime pie.  It was all delicious and it was a great way to kick off our weekend away.

On Saturday, we woke up and walked over to the Farmer's Market.  We picked up fresh raspberries, cheese curds, and a mini apple pie.  Then, we got Cosi sandwiches and salads and met up with Tamara to go to Wollersheim Winery. We had our amazing picnic lunch and toured the winery.  It was very interesting and, of course, we all got wine! It was a lovely afternoon.

After returning to campus, Anna and I walked around State Street and then got ready for dinner with Russ at the Old Fashioned.  This is one of my favorite restaurants and it did not disappoint!  Also, Anna got to try her first Old Fashioned Cheese Curds (the best in Madison!).

Overall, this was just a fantastic weekend and we even got to see Anna's grandpa on our way home in Milwaukee!  It was really fun to get away and see such great friends.  Next weekend, I will be moving to Chicago! Ah! Can't believe it is almost here!

French Silk Pie

How have I not shared this pie?!?!

I made this for Pi Day way back when and I haven't gotten around to telling you about it.  This makes me sad because this was an amazingly good pie.  Plus, I tried a new technique with my pie crust and it was amazing!

But, first, today is half marathon Monday and I am excited to announce that I am 48 days away from race day! I am two weeks into training and things are going great.  Plus, the weather is getting nicer out and I get to run outside again! This week I am going to run 4 miles today and Wednesday, 6 miles Thursday, 3 miles Friday, and 8 miles Saturday! Along with this, I am still doing my Jillian Michaels on Sundays.

Also, I have applied to even more schools and now I am just waiting to hear back! I will keep you all posted!

So anyways, back to pie.  For the crust, I made my usual all butter crust, but I added a tsp of Apple Cider Vinegar.  This made it easier to roll the pie dough out and I ended up with an amazing flaky crust.  The pie filling was adapted from Taste of Home and it was delicious! Plus, after you bake the crust, all you have to do is pour the filling in and chill it.  That's right, you don't have to actually bake the pie!  And, it was amazing!

French Silk Pie

Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbsp ice water
For the Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 heavy whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
whipped cream for topping, optional

Directions:
1. Make the crust.  In a food processor, place flour, sugar and salt.  Process to mix.  Keep processing and add cubes of butter until you have a mixture that resembles wet sand.  Add in the vinegar and 1 tbsp of water at a time until dough forms into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 450.  Once dough is chilled, lightly flour a surface and roll dough out until you have a circle about 12 inches in diameter.  Place in 9 inch pie pan and trim edges.  Cover with foil  Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until dough is lightly browned.  Remove and let cool.
3.  Make the filling.  In a small saucepan, combine eggs and sugar.  Cook over low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and chocolate until chocolate completely melts and is well combined.
4. In a medium bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in chocolate mixture and beat on high for 5 minutes.  Mixture should be light and fluffy.
5.  In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream with powdered sugar until it forms a stiff peak.  Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.  Pour into pie crust and let chill for 6 hours or overnight.
6.  Once chilled, top with whipped cream if you want and serve!

Enjoy :)

Oreo Pie

Today was exhausting.  I felt like I ran a marathon.  I taught all day, tutored after school, ran 5 miles, met up with Max for dinner at Roast and now I am, finally, sitting down and relaxing for a bit.

School was pretty great.  I set up 7 stations for the students to rotate through.  These stations had context problems to help the students apply new information, a few review problems on old information, and two mini quizzes to formatively assess the students on a variety of information.  One of my students even thanked me for the fun activity.  It was pretty great.  I wouldn't want to do this too much, but this was a nice way to get students up and moving around.  Plus, it allowed me to work with a bunch of students on problems that were more of a struggle.

After tutoring and my run, it was great to see Max for dinner and I had an awesome sandwich.  Now, I am chilling, watching Grey's Anatomy, waiting for a cake to get out of the oven, and getting ready to sleep! Tomorrow is a test day, so I am excited to relax a little and get caught up on some grading.  And then...SPRING BREAK...well, after Friday, but still, I'm so close!

I have yet another pie to share today.  This one was a huge hit and all the kids were asking for the recipe.  Well, here you go! Cookies and Cream Pie.  It's a no-bake pie that requires FOUR ingredients.  Yep, thats all.

Cookies and Cream Pie

Ingredients:
1 oreo pie crust
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups cool whip
1/3 cup sugar
8-10 oreos, crushed

Directions:
1. Beat cream cheese and cool whip until well combined.  Beat in sugar until creamy.  Stir in cookie crumbs.  Pour into pie crust and let chill for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Today was such a good day of teaching and I have such a good recipe to share!

Math today was all about inverse trig functions and reciprocal trig functions.  To ensure that every student had a sketch of the graphs of these functions, we did various jigsaw activities.  This was great because students were able to investigate one inverse trig function and one reciprocal trig function in depth.  That is, they worked in new groups to graph these functions without calculators.  They had to analyze domain and range for each and use the original trig function to help them to graph the new functions.  After their in depth analysis, they returned to their original teams and shared their findings while also learning about their team-mates findings.  Every student ended up with a sketch of all six graphs.  This way, they all had the information and the process, but did not need to repeat the process over an over.  This would have been tedious and unsupportive of the learning goals.  Instead, the majority of the time was spent investigating what these functions are, what they represent, and how we can use them.  We learned a ton of information and it was really great to see the students up and moving around.  Plus, we had time for a nice game of Flinch as a small break in the middle of class.  I felt really great about today!

Now, it was Pi Day last week and I brought in FOUR Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies since I was helping host FOUR Pi Day celebrations.  This meant that I needed a recipe that was not complicated and would not take a ton of time to make.  I found the perfect one.  This Cookie Pie, adapted from Nestle Tollhouse, was simply amazing.  I bought pie crust, multiplied the recipe by 4, and put all the pies in at once.  I spent 15 minutes making the filling and then had 60 minutes to plan for school and clean up while the pies baked.  There you go, simple and delicious.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
for one pie

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 2 cups of whatever mix-ins you want)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and place your unbaked pie crust in a pie pan.
2. Beat eggs until pale yellow.  Beat in both sugars until well combined.  Beat in flour, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Beat in the butter until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3.  Pour filling into the pie crust and bake for 55-60 minutes.  Pie will be lightly browned.  Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

What better way to celebrate Pi Day than with a Deep Dish Pizza Pie!

I was feeling a tad homesick and so I decided to make myself a Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza.  I found a great recipe over at Girl Versus Dough and then went to town adding my own flair and customizing the recipe to include my favorite pizza toppings.  I went with a whole wheat crust, yummy tomato sauce, a mix of low-fat provolone and low-fat mozzarella cheese, and spinach, mushrooms, and onions as my toppings.  Holy cow this was a good looking pie and it was even better to eat!  I had tons of leftovers that I continued to enjoy throughout the week.  I love that this recipe had a healthy whole wheat crust, ensured that I got enough veggies, and left me feeling full all through the school day!  It wasn't too difficult to make and it was a fun project.  Plus, I just love using my cast iron skillet, its a great pan.

Pi day is pretty much the second most exciting day for me, after my birthday.  It brings together food and math!  That is what I am all about!  Today at school, we have a Pi Day party planned where students can bring in any kind of circular treat.  We are going to do a little warm up where we find the ratio of diameter to circumference of a few different circles   Guess what?  They all equal Pi!  So cool!  Then, I have a great Pi Day Math Rap to listen to as we chow down on our circular desserts.  I, of course, baked for my classes.  I made EIGHT pies.  Two for each of my classes.  There are four chocolate chip cookie pies and four oreo cream pies.  Don't worry, recipes will all show up here.

Without further ado, here is the recipe for my Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza Pi.  Happy Pi Day!

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients:
For the crust:
4 cups white whole wheat flour
3 tbsp corn meal
3 1/2 tsp active dried yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup plus 4 tbsp lukewarm water
For the pizza:
28 oz can diced tomates, drained
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups sautéed vegetables (I used spinach, mushrooms, and sliced onions)
8 oz sliced low-fat provolone cheese
6 oz sliced low-fat mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
olive oil

Directions:
1. Make the dough, mix together the dry ingredients and then stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Knead dough for 8-10 minutes, roll into a ball, and let rest for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 425.  Coat 12 inch cast iron pan with olive oil.  Once dough has rested, punch down dough and place in pan.  Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.
3.  Prepare the filling: in a large bowl, mix tomatoes with sugar, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  In a separate pan, heat about a tbsp of olive oil with the garlic.  Saute vegetables in the garlic and olive oil until cooked.
4.  Place sliced cheese on the bottom of your slightly cooked crust.  Spread tomato mixture over the cheese.  Place vegetables on top of the tomato layer.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top and drizzle with olive oil.
5.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes.  Slice!

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Once again I am at work after a long day of school.  However, today was a great day, followed by a yummy lunch of homemade Sonoma Chicken Salad with a Chobani Bite for dessert, and then it was off to work.  Bri is visiting me and he is currently hard at work working on his thesis/making creme brulee.  We are having a little dinner/date night tonight.  I am going to cook up a delicious dinner after work and we both wanted to try making creme brulee for dessert. However, since creme brulee takes so long to set and chill, Bri is making that now and I will do dinner later! I can't wait! 

Today's post is quite the treat.  Over winter break, my dad requested that we bake something together.  I was a tad nervous about this experience.  I mean, my dad is awesome and I love spending time with him, but we are so similar that we tend to argue quite a bit since we are both so sassy!  I decided that the perfect thing to "bake" together, would be a "no-bake" chocolate peanut butter pie.  This way, there was no stress about it turning out okay and we wouldn't get into any arguments! It turned out to be super yummy.  I am going to have to remember this one for Pi Day! 

Dad did a great job mixing everything up and sticking the pie in the fridge.  Truly, it was impressive.  He also did dishes which was fantastic!  I ended up assembling the pie and decorating and it turned out fantastic.  I guess we made a pretty good team.  Maybe next time we will be able to handle something you actually need to bake! 

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:

1 9-inch Oreo crust

1 8 oz container of light frozen whipped topping

4 oz light cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp skim milk

1/4 tsp espresso powder (optional...but it's delicious)

whipped cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat the whipped topping, cream cheese, and peanut butter. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.  Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.

2.  Place the chocolate chips and milk in a small saucepan and double boil over medium heat, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Stir in the espresso powder.

3.  Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter filling and, using a toothpick or knife, swirl the chocolate into the top.  Place the pie in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until set.  

4.  Decorate with whipped cream and mini peanut butter cups.

Enjoy :)