Tag Archives: friends

Breads

sarah’s pizza dough

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To my recollection, I’ve only ever used 2 pizza dough recipes – at all altitudes. And they were both from friends in Peru years ago! This one is Sarah’s. It is the one I don’t use as much but it is the simplest. An extremely easy pizza dough recipe if you need something with few ingredients and quick!

Did I mention it is practically foolproof? :)

Also, here is a trick to getting it onto the pizza pan:

Once it’s rolled out,

Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and hold over the pan.

Now roll out across the pan. Reshape if needed. That’s it!

What are you favorite pizza toppings? I think, currently, mine are: tomato, green pepper, pepperoni & onion. I LOVE tomato on pizza!

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Sweets: Cookies & Bars

white elephant fortune cookies

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Dec 18, 2010.

Mike and I have hosted some sort of Christmas party since the year we began dating [2007]. Last year was the smallest – a dinner with close friends – as I was over 8 months pregnant and not up to putting on a big one!

A couple of the parties stand out in my memory and 2010 is one of those. I went baking crazy!

These were my favorite things I made though. There was a White Elephant exchange and I tried to think up a new way of drawing numbers, something to change things up a bit.

Each person received a fortune cookie – they got a yummy treat AND their White Elephant turn number.

And just for fun, I put some Christmas jokes in about 10 of them so the recipient could read them aloud to the group before they took their turn.

It was great fun.

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Main Dishes

chicken enchiladas with salsa verde

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Feb 11, 2011.

This was a scrumptious version of enchiladas our friends made us one night at their house. Glenda then shared the recipe with me (originally from Cooking Light magazine) and the rest is history!

A couple notes on it:
– I didn’t use a blender for the sauce so it was chunkier. Either way is good.
– The sauce doesn’t “drench” the enchiladas very much, so if you like it saucy, I’d double that part.

Serve it up with Mexican rice, black beans, lime chunks or whatever you like with this type of dish. Enjoy!

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Sweets: Desserts

pumpkin cake pops

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Oct 11, 2010.

I sure was cake pop crazy back a few years ago! These ones I copied from , but I’d bet they tasted just as divine.

Spearmint tic tacs didn’t appeal to me as a flavor/texture I wanted to include in my cake pop experience, so Mike & I went to the candy store. He found the perfect solution, which I humbly say looks more stem-like than Bakerella’s! Apple-flavored licorice – it’s even a “fall” flavor. ;)

Cake pops take a small eternity to make, so you better make a lot of them and then share them… Several dozen of these went to a big party (with zero photos!), but I managed to save a basketful for some close friends we saw the next evening.

Make sure you check out  for better instructions on how to make them. She’s the creator and pro!

Sweets: Desserts

queso helado arequipeño

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Feb 17, 2011

Verbatim from the original post:

It has been a COLD last several days here.  Not only that, but after receiving our first electricity bill since 9 months ago, our mouths gaped open and we turned down the heat even more.  I spend my days in at least 3 shirts, sometimes 4 – two of which are usually a thick sweater AND a heavy hooded sweatshirt.  A little crazy, right?

Well, I suppose there’s something even crazier…as you can see, I made ice cream.  It wasn’t on a whim and it wasn’t because I was needing a cool-off.  There actually was a reason for making it, but still – what kind of crazy person makes ice cream on a wet and frigidly cold Oregon day in the middle of winter?

I guess me.

So, my friend Erica asked us to help with her kids’ missions lesson on Peru this month.  Long story short, this was the reason I made Peruvian ice cream – for the children!  It is called Queso Helado Arequipeño, which literally means Cheese Ice Cream from Arequipa (the city we lived in).

Don’t worry, there is no cheese in it, although I’m not so sure how bad that would be?

 

It was fun to mess with the kids just a little bit, along the lines of “fear factor,” by pretending that this ice cream was really made from cheese.  We dared them to try it, and after the first one did [and loved it] they all suddenly were brave enough to try it, too.

I never perfected my Spanish vocabulary in the “food” realm so when I asked my dear friend Lely for her recipe, I definitely had to look up some words to make sure!  But, alas, I have it properly translated for you in an easy format.  And it’s authentic because she is, of course, Peruvian!

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Make sure you turn up the heat to enjoy this…or save it for the summer!

Note #1: For any of you who are mostly lactose intolerant (or just want to be), I actually made this with Lactose-Free milk and it turned out well!

Note #2: Have I mentioned how much I love my kitchen scale?  It’s just fun.

And, last but not least, check out  I found on YouTube to watch the more authentic way of making Queso Helado.  You can find these ladies in many places around Arequipa, Peru!

Sweets: Cookies & Bars

high-altitude oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

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For years I’ve tried to adjust my own “tried & true” recipes for high-altitude. They work so beautifully at sea level but at the elevation we live at, I can’t ever seem to perfect them with the suggested adjustments.

Well, I got tired of flat cookies and other issues related to living at 9800 feet (yes, that number is correct…oof). So I searched out a brand new recipe that someone had had success with. And is what I found.

It really worked! It was so fun having “normal” cookies to serve guests who came over later that day.  Now if I can just import in a suitcase full of chocolate chips, we’ll be good…

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P.S. Really do use parchment paper if you have it. It’s not available here (except sometimes in a fancy store for outrageous prices) so I used greased foil. It helps but the cookie bottoms darken quickly, so watch them!

Snacks & Appetizers

whole wheat goldfish crackers

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov. 7, 2011

Now THESE bring back memories, my goodness! It’s already been 2.5 years since my friend, Courtney, and I made these and shared them on the blog. It was fun to go back and remember… but it also made me miss my little fishy cracker cutter! Hope it’s safely in storage somewhere in the States…

From the original post:

Back in March, my friend Courtney and I were chatting about one of our favorite food bloggers and, in particular, about one of her posts – .  We had identical initial reactions…”Who in the world has tiny fish cookie cutters?!” 

A few weeks later I had to buy some ingredients online for a “hired cake pop job” and decided to get them from the same website as SK’s goldfish cookie cutter!  I ordered my sprinkles and my fishie and couldn’t wait to show Courtney what I had done. haha.

Well, us being us, our schedules clashed until the very end of the summer.  Alas, we were able to meet and make cute little fishies!  She bought another cutter of a slightly different shape so we had two breeds.

Seriously, you have to make these.  They really taste like goldfish crackers!

Here is the : 
Better print it now just in case…