The Star Trek Party

We've been having some crazy movie marathon parties lately, and I've really been going all out food wise, but unfortunately I keep forgetting to take pictures. (If you have any food pictures from the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars party, please email me.) But finally at the Star Trek party, I remembered to snap a few shots.

The Star Trek cookbook didn't offer a whole lot of recognizably Star Trek themed food, so I had to improvise. There were originally going to be cake pops, my party staple, but my experimentation into brownie cheesecake pops was disastrous. Luckily in the 11th hour I remembered this recipe for blue velvet cupcakes, a little blue candy wafers for antennas and I was able to make cupcakes to look like Andorians (Star Trek aliens).
Also on the dessert roster and Star Trek themed, "blood pies". In Star Trek it's an organ pie eaten by Klingons, but that seemed pretty unsavory, so I opted to make tiny portable cherry pies instead. The dough gave me a little trouble, and I wish I could have used fresh cherries, but the end product was very tasty. The only real issue was that the name confused those at the party who haven't watched much Star Trek.
I've had a real love affair with ice cream sandwiches lately, and this time I decided no cutting corners. I made the cookies and the ice cream. Both are made with Earl Grey Tea (the favorite drink of Captain Picard), the recipe for the shortbread can be found here, and the recipe for the ice cream here. I like making ice cream sandwiches, but I feel like they get forgotten by the guests because they're in the freezer.
The dessert menu didn't feel complete though, I was convinced something was missing. Then I stumbled upon this recipe for chocolate tofu pie. I was intigued. I think it's time to start adding a healthy component to the menu, we have so many parties, I don't want to fatten up all my friends. The pie was delicious, who knew tofu plus chocolate equals delicious chocolate pudding? I used bananas instead of strawberries because of budget constraints and I think it was a better choice.
Alright time for savory snacks. I really had some super tasty Arancini (risotto balls), of course they aren't Star Trek, but a quick name change fixes that. I baked them instead of frying, because I hate frying food at parties (big mess, oil everywhere, food sits and gets greasy), so baking was an obvious choice. I think they were a little underseasoned, but I think that's just my over critical nature.
We used to make Taco Dip for our parties all the time, and I thought it needed a revival. If there's one thing I know, it's that people love cream cheese, they just can't get enough of it. However, they also don't notice if you replace regular with fat free (another attempt to lighten up the snacks), served with baked Tostitos Scoops it was practically guilt-free.
Now I don't want you to think I've gone entirely health crazy, the main event were the Photon Torpedos or meatball subs. Homemade meatballs baked and then smothered in marinara sauce in a crockpot. I wish I'd gotten a picture of one of the subs made, they certainly were delicious.Wait what's that in the corner of the photo? My dad mixed up a big batch of Romulan Ale (a distinctly blue Star Trek beverage). From the tiny sip I had, it seemed pretty tasty. I'm not sure what the amounts were, but I know the mix was Mountain Dew Voltage, Sprite, and Pineapple Parrot Bay. We served it in champagne flutes to give it a more alien look.

Banoffee Pie

Disney World was amazing, and admittedly I haven't been doing much cooking since I got back. Luckily though I threw together this amazingly simple and unique pie before I left (laziness has kept me from posting it until now).

I made homemade dulce de leche for some ice cream sandwiches for my Star Wars party, and I had so much leftover that I thought it would be nice to use it up in another dessert. I saw a recipe for Banoffee Pie ages ago and it looked like concentrated deliciousness. Banoffee Pie consists of a graham cracker crust, layer of sliced bananas, a layer of dulce de leche and then a generous helping of whipped cream, the whole thing is topped off with chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips.

Normally I would make my own graham cracker crust and whipped cream, but I was feeling lazy so I used a storebought crust and cool whip. It was delicious (and very fast), but next time I'll be making everything myself.

You can buy cans of dulce de leche or you can make your own with sweetened condensed milk (which will save you a couple bucks). I used this method to make dulce de leche. Be careful though, once you make dulce de leche, you'll constantly be thinking about making more. It's crazy delicious. The combination with of bananas and dulce de leche in Banoffee Pie is especially delicious and nearly addictive. (Seriously, this is my new favorite pie.)

Banoffee Pie
1 store bought graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cans of dulce de leche
1 tub of Cool Whip
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
2-3 bananas

Slice bananas.

Place bananas in the graham cracker crust in an even layer.

Cover with dulce de leche.

Top with Cool Whip.

Sprinkle mini chocolate chips.

Let the pie set in the fridge for an hour (or longer, the longer it sets the tastier it is. It's amazing the next day.)

Slice and enjoy. You can slice small servings and feed a lot of people, because it's pretty rich.
Messy slices are just as delicious.

Forgotten Fruit Part 2- Nectarine Blueberry Pie

My pie crust luck lately has been pretty good and maybe I got a little bit cocky.
So the universe saw fit to punish me with some terrible pie crust luck.
My Nectarine Blueberry Pie turned out great (if a bit "rustic"), but my pie crust was disastrous. I meant for the pie to have a top crust, but I ran out of flour when I was rolling it out and it was just completely fused to my cutting board.
Why am I admitting to this pie crust catastrophe? Because even though it was a little tricky, the end result was delicious and if I hadn't admitted to the problems, no one would have known.

My dad was a little surprised by the nectarine and blueberry combination, but I opted to use the random fruit in my fridge to convince others not to throw away any less than pretty fruit they have. Although if I had my way, I would have used peaches instead. Use 5 cups total of whatever fruit you have.
Nectarine Blueberry Pie
3 cups of nectarines, peeled and chopped
2 cups of blueberries
4 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 lemon
3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of shortening
1 cup of flour
cold water
pinch of salt

For the crust:
In a large bowl, mix the flour, and salt, use a pastry blender or fork to break up the shortening and mix it into the flour. Once the mixture is crumbly and the shortening is in chunks roughly the size of peas, add a few tablespoons of water, until the mixture comes together and will form a ball. (Don't over mix) Wrap in plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Cover a flat surface with flour, and roll out the dough into as close to a circle as you can manage. Transfer the dough to a pie pan (whatever you do, do not spray the pan with nonstick spray) and crimp the edges at the top.


In another bowl, mix together fruit, sugar, cornstarch and the zest and juice of the lemon together. Pour into the pie crust.


Bake the pie at 375 degrees for about an hour, till the filling is thick and the crust looks light brown.

Strawberry Pie

Sorry about the delay, I'm finally feeling better!


Last weekend I made some wonderful tartlettes, they were filled with raspberry sauce, which was covered in lemon filling, and topped with fresh strawberries. They were excellent.
I planned to blog them, but they were just too complicated for most people to make.
So I decided to share this recipe instead, its simple, delicious and still pretty awe-inspiring.
My mother made these pies once for a family reunion and then was forced to bring them again for several years, because everyone loved them so much.

I know a lot of you will be tempted to use a pre-made pie crust, but I highly recommend making your own. It's simple and once you get the hang of it, no trouble at all. You could bake the crust a day ahead of time if you want. The crust recipe should be doubled if you want to use it for a pie with a top crust.

Strawberry Pie
1 3oz packet of strawberry flavored gelatin
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/2 cup of sugar
1 pint of strawberries (buy extra though, I didn't have enough)

1/2 cup of shortening
1 cup of flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
A few tablespoons of cold water

For the crust:
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt, use a pastry blender or fork to break up the shortening and mix it into the flour. Once the mixture is crumbly and the shortening is in chunks roughly the size of peas, add a few tablespoons of water, until the mixture comes together and will form a ball. (Don't over mix) Wrap in plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for about an hour.
















Cover a flat surface with flour, and roll out the dough into as close to a circle as you can manage.
Transfer the dough to a pie pan (whatever you do, do not spray the pan with nonstick spray) and crimp the edges at the top, poke holes in the bottom.
Bake the crust at 375 for about 10 minutes, basically till it's light brown.
Let the crust cool.















Whisk the gelatin, 1/2 cup of sugar, water and cornstarch in a saucepan, heat on medium till boiling, then let cool to room temperature.

Once the glaze and crust are cool, pour enough of the glaze into the pie to cover the bottom, then cut the tops of the strawberries off and arrange them in the pie crust. Once the strawberries are in place, pour the rest of the glaze over the strawberries. Let the pie set in the fridge for 1-3 hours.
















This recipe is a product of my grandmother's pie crust recipe, and a strawberry pie recipe passed down on my mother's side.