Peanut Butter Cream Pie

So Perfect.

I have a confession...I don't like peanut butter all that much. I know I must be crazy. I think I've actually lost a few friends because of this (joking...I hope). Here's the thing though, I actually even enjoyed this pie. This really is more of a cream pie. Plus it's SO easy! The crust is yummy Oreo's and it's filled with peanut butter, cream cheese, and whipped cream! I make my own whipped topping because I'm not a big fan of cool whip, and I think it adds the yummy freshness. I can't deny these flavor combos, and I doubt you'll be able to either, and if you can I applaud your self control. My boyfriend is always telling me I never make enough peanut butter desserts. So I made this for book club and he got the leftovers. Everyone was happy!

I based my recipe from The Pioneer Woman .

Note: I make my own whipped topping for this and crust, but to save even more time you could buy frozen whipped topping and thaw it out and a pre-made crust. It's all up to you!

Prep Time:20 minutes Total Time:1-2hr Servings:6large-12small

For the Crust 

Ingredients

 Preheated oven at 350F

 9 inch pie dish

20-25 single stuffed Oreo cookies or chocolate creme cookies.

4 tbsp of butter melted

 Crust Preparation

1.Crush cookies until very fine in a food processor or put them in a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin

2. Add melted butter and mix with your fingers

3.Add crumb mixture to your pie plate and use your fingers to press the mixture into the pan (refrain from licking your fingers...it's hard, I know)

4.Place in the oven for 5-8 minutes

5.Take out and let cool completely

For the Filling

Ingredients

8oz pkg 1/3 less fat cream cheese room Temperature (you can use regular too)

2 cups cold heavy whipping cream 

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1-1/4 cup +2 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional for topping: 2tbsp chopped peanuts, pre-made drizzled chocolate sauce and/or peanut butter sauce, and chocolate and/or peanut butter chips. 

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with two beaters, add all of the heavy cream, 2 tbsp powdered sugar, and vanilla. whip cream on low for 3-5 minutes

2. When cream starts to thicken you can turn the speed up to medium

3. Whip when cream holds stiff peaks and is nice and thick, stop after this, do not whip any longer, or you'll start to make butter!

4. Remove the whipped cream from the bowl into another bowl and set aside.

5.In the bowl you made your whipped cream in, add cream cheese, remaining powdered sugar, and peanut butter. Mix on low.

5.Once the mixture is smooth, fold in 1 cup of the whipped cream. Do not mix after this, just combine.

6. Add the filling to your completely cooled pie crust and smooth out. Add remaining whipped topping and smooth again. Optional: Sprinkle with shopped peanuts, chocolate chips, and chocolate sauce. Or whatever pleases you!

7. Refrigerate for at least an hour. I put mine in the freezer for 30 minutes, then in the refrigerator for 1 hour, it was perfect!

Crock Pot Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Crock Pot Chipotle Chicken Tacos...what a mouth full. A delicious mouthful, if I'm allowed to be corny.

I don't spend a lot of time making the pictures of my food look great...I know that's frowned upon in the food blogging world, but oh well. I just want to spend my time making it taste awesome, be presentable, and of course eating it. Sounds fair to me. I got the chipotle sauce recipe from Red Book Mag, and I only changed a few small things, that's how good it was. I hope you enjoy these as much as my house did. 

Here are a few of my main staples, obviously a crock pot, fire roasted tomatoes, chicken broth, cilantro, and the chipotle sauce. The diced tomatoes with the chilies I used to make a quick pico de gallo. The chipotle recipe uses fire roasted tomatoes, but they aren't pictured here.

I don't know about you, but I love the taste of cilantro. The smell though... is so strong it gives me a head ache. Thankfully my taste buds won that war for this recipe though.

                                The picture is nice, but still does NOT do these babies justice. Tip: do not use corn tortillas for this recipe, because they instantly fall apart.

Crock Pot Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Serves: 4

What you’ll need:

Taco shells (I prefer soft whole wheat)
1.5 pounds of chicken breast
1 14.5 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
2 cloves garlic

2-4 tbsp. of chicken broth (or water)

2 adobe chipotle chilies from a can

Plus 2 tbsp. of adobe chili sauce from the same can

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp. Cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 ½ tsp. chili powder

Salt and Pepper

1 tbsp. of fresh cilantro or 1 tsp dried (optional)

Taco Topping Options:

Pico De Gallo, Guacamole, shredded lettuce, Sour Cream, tomatoes, Pepper jack cheese, etc…

The Chicken

1.      Add your chicken to your crockpot. Sprinkle with S&P and chili powder

2.      Add enough chicken broth (or water) to just cover the chicken. Add the juice of half a lime and cilantro.

3.      Chicken cooks on low for 6 hrs or high for 4 hrs.

4.      You’ll know when it is done because it's no longer pink colored, and when you stick a fork in the middle, it starts to fall apart and shred.

5.      Remove chicken from the crockpot when it’s fully cooked through, set on a plate and allow it to cool.

6.      Shred chicken with (washed) fingers or with two forks. Once chicken is shredded put back in crock pot.

7.      20 minutes before serving, add your chipotle sauce (recipe below) till heated through and most of the juices are absorbed.  

Easy Chipotle Sauce

1.      Add following ingredients to a blender: fire roasted tomatoes, chilies and sauce, garlic, juice of second half of lime, cumin, and S&P. Blend to almost completely smooth.(A few lumps and bumps are good)

**This sauce can last in the fridge for up to 2 days, so you can prepare it ahead of time if need be.

Embarrassing Eats

Just picture a 10 year old girl in the early 2000's walking home from school. She lives in a small town with one or two general stores and a few gas stations. She stops in the corner store on her way home for an after school snack. She going through the 3 isles, pretending to sum up her choices, when she always chooses from 2 different things.
Now at 19, a fairly healthy eater who tries to make smart decisions about what she eats, she looks back and says "WHY?"  Well if you didn't figure it out, this kid was me. The cool thing about being a kid is that you just don't give a care. Now I just laugh at myself because my favorite snacks when I was 10 are repulsive to me now.

 Bug juice-
 The colored little drinks with critters printed on them. What kid wouldn't go gaga over them? 85% sugar. 10% food coloring. 5% I don't even want to know. That's an exaggeration. I guess they've revamped Bug Juice and it's a little healthier now, but still high in sugar. (I didn't even know they still made it?)













Fire Cracker pickled sausage-
This one  is even worse, I swear. I LOVED these things. The vinegary spicy smell of them would make my mouth water. They really were 2 for $1 too. Anything I could get for a dollar as a kid made me excited. Actually, that still counts for today too. The ingredients and nutritional facts make me cringe though. The one good thing is they are high in protein, but high in fat, sodium, preservatives, and are definitely over processed. This makes the child in me sad to the bone. :[

Ingredients:
Separated Chicken, Corn Syrup, Soy Protein Concentrate, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Dextrose, Flavorings, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Red 40.
Found my info on them here

My Gadget Obsession

Everybody has their favorite kitchen gadgets. My boyfriend would joke I have a specialty pan/gadget for everything. (not far from the truth.) A lot of girls are obsessed with getting new shoes, well I'm obsessed with buying kitchen products. I've come clean...That's the first step to recovery, right?



1. The kitchen aid mixer. This is the only brand of stand mixer I've used, so I don't know how well other brands work. Unfortunately the Kitchen Aid brand is expensive, but it's a great buy.

2. Non stick cookware- I know I know, you've probably heard this a hundred times, but it really makes a difference. The pans shown underneath are Rachel Rays, they can run expensive, but you don't always need to buy name brand non stick pans. Ikea, Target, and Walmart are three wallet friendly places to check out.

3.Specialty Pans- Being a poor college student I want to just point out how much I love Amazon. I have Amazon Prime(free 2 day shipping), so I search for all my specialty pans there. Recently I ordered a doughnut pan. Oh and it's MINI! It's going to be fall, and even though Orlando doesn't really do the whole "change seasons" things, the Vermonter in me needs her apple/pumpkin fix. Apple cider and pumpkin pie doughnuts? Yes please. (You can count on those recipes making an appearance soon)

What are your favorite kitchen tools?