Super Easy S'more Pie

So, we had some impromptu family gatherings this weekend to celebrate my brother's 29th birthday and the fact that he was home visiting from Iowa. We went to my aunt's house this afternoon for a dinner cookout and I realized early this morning that I had nothing to bring - and no time to cook.

I tried to think of something simple, easy and yummy. I always stress about what to bring over to this particular aunt's house because she is a martha.. meaning her house is perfect, her food always tastes and looks amazing... so what does one bring to wow the martha herself...

Let me tell you... super easy s'more pie.. that's what.


I had the idea for this s'more pie this morning - I thought s'mores went with cookout food.. and even though I've never made it and didn't have a recipe, I thought it seemed fairly easy.


So this is what I did...

I bought graham cracker crumbs, mini marshmallows, 2 giant chocolate bars and marshmallow ice cream topping.

This is what I did:

I mixed the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and some sugar in a bowl until the crumbs were moistened. (You could just buy a pre-made crust - but remember we had a martha on our hands) So you pack the crumbs into the pie shell and bake it at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.

Then I took some of the mini marshmallows a spoonful of sugar and a little bit of the melted butter - but them all in a bowl and put it in the microwave for about 1 minute. I then mixed it up very well - it was super thick and sticky at this point. I also added a spoonful of the marshmallow topping. I bet you could go without this, but I didn't know what I was doing and just decided to add it. I spooned the mixture into the cooked pie shell - spreading it out as best I could. I then crumbled the 2 chocolate bars and spread the crumbs over the marshmallow mixture. I didn't think that looked "done enough" so I melted some more butter and stirred in some sugar and graham cracker crumbs and sprinkled the crumbles over the top of the chocolate. Then, I baked the pie @ 350 for about 18 minutes.

When I took it out of the oven it looked delicious! The chocolate was melty - you could see chocolate and marshmallow through the crumbly graham cracker topping. Yum!

Of course, the one downfall to pie is, you can't really test taste it before bringing it to the martha's house... so, I took a leap of faith and brought it with us... and it was a major success!!! It was just wonderful. It tasted just like a s'more. It made me think of summer and camping and bonfires and it was just incredible.

A Weekend of Plums

So, here we are at the end of the summer.  It's Labor Day weekend, and as a child, I used to pretty much hate this holiday.  It was hard to find any joy or frivolity in it at all, because, although it was certainly an extended weekend, school had already started and I'd be returning there the following Tuesday.  It was always difficult to approach Labor Day with the reckless abandon I'd jump into the 4th of July with.  Or any other holiday, really.  Labor Day to me was always a holiday that fell at the wrong time.


This, my friends, is one of the things I most love about being an adult.  Time sort of shifts, and months and occasions take on newer meaning since you aren't attached to a school timetable.  This Labor Day weekend of 2010 (how are we so far into the year already, I beg of you to tell me?) has been beautiful in Cleveland.  Chilly, perhaps, and brisk, which is a bright contrast to what I always associate with Labor Day: oppressive heat and humidity.  I think we got those two weather adjectives out of the way last week.  It routinely hit 90 degrees and going outside after noon was widely-regarded as foolhardy.  Now it's breezy and fall-like, and I'm wearing jeans for the first time in months, as opposed to skirts, dresses and capris.  Lovely!

To celebrate the end of summer, on Friday I decided to make some more jam.  I've already detailed here how I make jam, in this case, peach.  I decided to make another batch because summer fruit season is rapidly coming to an end.  I know I've talked about this before, but canning is funny because you're doing it in the heat of summer when you really can't stand to be over a pot of boiling fruit, or faffing around with piping hot glass jars.  In the cooler months of fall, when you would love to be inside messing around in your kitchen, it's too late.  You absolutely need to capture fruit at its freshest and most natural peak.


So, determined to seize the day, I made another round of peach jam.  There is nothing better than a late summer peach, in my book.  This batch of jam is exclusively for my pantry, where it will sit in cool oblivion throughout the fall, winter and spring, until I reach in and grab a new jar to top yogurt with, add to a Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich (thus elevating the kindergarten classic to a gourmet lunch) or use as a topping on ice cream.  


After making the peach jam, I set out to do some random shopping.  I went to Costco, which is dangerous.  My love for Costco runs way deeper than it probably should.  While there, I spotted a lovely, 4-lb box of...what else...Plums.  Immediately I recalled seeing a recipe for Plum Jam on my pectin recipe insert.  On a whim, I bought them.  So, for the second time that day, I made jam.  This time of the plum variety.

Pretend like, for once, this blogging program didn't switch my photos around from landscape to portrait.  Just imagine that, even though it's incredibly far-fetched and nearly impossible to visualize.  Ha! Anyway, here are the lovely plums.

Plum jam, to me, is genius.  The plums are soft enough to slice that they aren't a pain to prepare.  The only difference with other jams is that you have to simmer them for 5 minutes with water before you start making the jam.  AND this recipe yields a whopping NINE half-pint jars! Woot Woot!


Plums factored into my weekend again, when I had to think of a nice dessert to take to Nicole's house for a cookout on Sunday.  I briefly entertained the idea of making a cranberry white layer cake, the recipe I found and fell in love with in the current issue of Midwest Living, but I decided that would be a bit much for Labor Day.  As fall-like as it is right now, it's still early September and there will be plenty of other chances to eat cranberries and layer cakes up until Christmas!  I decided to use my favorite everyday cake, which I've also blogged about here in my Random Recipe buttermilk selection.  I got this cake from the fabulous Smitten Kitchen blog, and it's perfect.  I've used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries in it.  It's a light, moist easy cake that isn't fussy but tastes absolutely fantastic.  It reminds me of something you'd eat on a farm...on a nice plate of china overlooking the fields. (hey, don't get snippy with me about making far-reaching overtures about food...my grandparents actually DID have a farm in upstate New York, and some of my favorite memories as a child were eating food by the big bay window in the kitchen, which overlooked the corn fields and the horse track.  And then my siblings and cousins and I would go tear around the fields, getting into various forms of mischief and burning off all those calories.  Bliss!)


Anyway, even though I made 9 half-pints of plum jam, believe it or not, I still had several leftover plums.  Another plus to canning: you use a small amount to create a huge amount.  So, this time I decided to make the Buttermilk Cake with plums!  On that topic, you must check out a link to a plum cake on Smitten Kitchen.  I toyed around with the idea of making this one, but I don't have the right cake pan, and I really had a craving for this first cake.  She talks in a lovely manner about Plums and how they signify the end of summer and the beginning of fall.  Read about it, and make the plum cake yourself!, right here.  

How pretty is this?? Here is the plum version of the Buttermilk Cake.  This is just one plum that I sliced and arranged on top of the batter.  From this point onward, you sprinkle the whole cake with a tablespoon (or more) of sugar and then bake it.  The great thing about this cake is that the batter comes up over the fruit and bakes over it.  So you end up having a lovely surprise of fruit in the middle.  Like in this next photo...

Ta Da! Here is the finished Plum Buttermilk Cake.  Note that the batter came up over the plums and baked them right into the cake....yummy.  I hope this version tastes just as fabulous as the berry ones I've made, but I guess I'll find out at Nicole's tonight!

Avocado Love Part 2

Along with Meg, I am also experiencing a love affair with avocados. (Like the Avocado Green I'm writing this in?!)  

Avocados are simply amazing.  I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I had never tried them up until a few years ago.  That's when I went to my now-favorite restaurant, momocho.  This is a modern Mexican restaurant, and guacamole is one of their signature appetizers.  In fact, you'd be downright foolish to go to momocho and not sample it.  There's a basic guacamole which is fantastic, but then there are also more heavenly combinations: guacamole with goat cheese and tomato, with blue crab and corn, with pineapple and jicama.  I was hesitant about trying the guacamole at all, but my parents ordered a sampler on the first time we went to momocho and I fell in love.  Eating their guacamole is truly like eating the best thing in the world.  It is silky, flavorful and filling without being heavy.  It tastes so fresh.

Needless to say, after momocho, I fell in love with avocados.  I have since made my own guacamole at home on numerous occasions (pretty impossible to mess-up and insanely easy to personalize....mash your avocados, add salt, chopped onion, garlic or tomatoes and anything else you think would be fabulous! Don't forget to add some lemon juice so the avocados don't brown...)  

I have also been to restaurants where guacamole is a featured spread on the sandwich, instead of the ever-upsetting mayo.  I'm not a mayonnaise fan, and I doubt I ever will be.  But can I tell you how fantastic a layer of guacamole on a turkey, cheese and bacon sandwich was?? Thank you, bistro in Boston, for introducing me to yet another versatile use of the avocado!

I also eat slices of avocados on top of soup.  Layer some on top of a spicy tortilla soup, and you get cool and creamy mixed with hot and spicy.  Ahhhhhh....I need to whip up some soup as soon as it gets cooler!

And when Meg texted me that she was eating avocado gelato, my mouth immediately watered.  I am dying to try this! I've never had avocados in a sweet sense, only savory, but I can imagine how fabulous it must be.

Yay for avocados!

I Love

Avocados! 

I am completely in love with them right now, 

and will eat almost anything if one of the ingredients is Avocado.  

Anything.

Including.....Gelato!

I have a picture...in my phone.

Let's just say that Avocado Gelato sounds gross,

But is, in fact, amazingly

smooth,

creamy,

green, 

deliciousness.  

Loved it.