Take that Phyllo

I had this great plan of posting a delicious Jamie Oliver recipe for you guys, but as we all know, plans change. The recipe was very good, however my execution of it was not. Another time I suppose.

You know how when you buy the store bought pie dough, puff pastry dough or phyllo dough they always come in packs of two? Every time I end up only using one of them and the other goes in the freezer to die. Months go by, I forget I have it in there and then I buy more, literally life’s rotation. I am proud to say that I put my foot down and I was not going to put the leftover lonely roll of phyllo dough back into the freezer to meet it’s demise. Instead I made super simple apple turnovers. So easy there isn’t even a need for a recipe.

I peeled, cored and chopped two apples {I had Envy apples in the fridge} and sautéed them with a couple tablespoons of butter and a quick zest of lemon. I let those hang out at medium heat while I grabbed sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. I guestimated the measurements but I probably added in 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar, the tarter the apples you use the more sugar you will need. I tossed in about a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla. {Oh, the Mexican vanilla did make it home, Shawna put it in the pantry, phew!} Once the apples were pretty soft, maybe 10-15 minutes, I whisked in about one tablespoon of cornstarch to thicken it up, added a pinch of salt and then I moved on to the phyllo dough.

I took two sheets of phyllo, brushed with melted butter and then folded it in half lengthwise. Brushed with more melted butter and folded it lengthwise again giving me one long strip. I added a scoop of the apple filling on one end of the pastry dough and folded it in the form of a triangle. Remember the triangle notes we would pass to friends in high school? That’s how you want to fold these. The two apples I used made enough filling for four pastries. Once they were all folded, I popped them onto a cookie sheet, brushed one more time with butter and put them into a 350 degree oven. My oven is on the hotter side, you could probably get away with 375 degrees. I set the time for 10 minutes, but they needed a little more time. I’d say by 15 minutes they were golden brown, the apple filling was bubbling and the house smelled amazing.

Once they were cool, I moved them onto a plate and sprinkled with powder sugar.

Yes, they were good, really good and also really messy, This would be something Averi would have to eat outside.

Averi is on another level when it comes to being a messy eater. If she isn’t complaining about not liking something then she is dropping food. It’s unreal.

We took the girls to Belmont park to celebrate the older ones half birthday’s. They each got a set amount of tickets and they chose what rides they wanted to spend them on. When the tickets were gone, they were gone. That made for some serious planning and contemplating on choosing the rides they were going to go on.

I think they enjoyed themselves, I know we did.

Slowing Down

Things are slowing down after a brimful week of San Diego fun.  We tried a handful of new restaurants, ran into more than one Michael Myers, hit up Belmont Park and took too many pictures of baby face.

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Comic Con happened last weekend so we hopped on the trolley {Kaili’s favorite} and headed downtown. First, let me take a selfie or an USsie.?

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Culinary superstars Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich opened another Pizzeria Mozza in Seaport Village. A “must-do” on my summer bucket list. What a perfect place to have lunch  before people watching the entertainers at Comic Con. My father in law has a flare for dramatics when it comes to trying new foods. After having the menu translated for him and convincing him that bufala wasn’t actually buffalo and was just a very good, fresh mozzarella cheese, he decided to have his own panini while the rest of us shared a few pizzas. He just couldn’t leave his comfort zone enough to give the delicious pizzas a try.  If you go, I recommend the fennel sausage, panna, scallions and red onion pizza.

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pizza alla benno
pizza alla benno

 

After lunch we strolled down the street to take in all the sights and sounds. You don’t have to spend the big bucks on getting tickets into Comic Con, there is enough to see and do on the streets of downtown. We walked, stopping for some wine and people watching, then we ran into this guy times 5.

This was our second year hitting up Comic Con, I think it’s going to be a fun tradition to continue.

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Every now and then I have to stop and snap photos of this princess.

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One afternoon after Kaili’s nap I thought it would be fun to take her and the folks down to Belmont Park. Lunch by the beach followed by rides, what’s better than that? We ate lunch at Draft, the newest oceanfront restaurant and beer house. I had a french toast BLT topped with a tomato hollandaise sauce, it was something different and really good.  After, we let Kaili take turns dragging us on the rides, the carousal being her favorite. I really wanted to hit a few of the adult ones myself but I was urged to squash that idea due to my healing incision.

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Shane’s folks left us Tuesday and now we are getting back into the swing of things just the four of us. It was great having them here and it was more help than I could have wished for. Kaili now has Walla Walla on the brain and is eager to go up and see them again soon.

Baby break.

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