Culinary Chronicles: Berry Awesomeness

I have never used puff pastry in a dessert before. Ok, in all honesty, I have never used puff pastry for anything, but I have always wanted to try working with it in a dessert.



Puff pastry sheets are found in the frozen food section (near the pie shells). While unfolding the sheet that had been in the freezer for about a week, the three sections broke. I decided just to go with it and make individual desserts instead of one big dish. They have to thaw for about forty minutes (I just thawed them until they started to get all doughy) before baking for 15-20 minutes.



Don't even try to tell me that those don't look like little pieces of fluffy heaven. I used an egg wash to give them that pretty golden brown coloring on the top. They are perfectly flaky, and the smell... well, let's just say I had a hard time preparing the other parts of the dessert because of it! :)



Since it is Summer, I decided to use strawberries and blueberries. I love strawberries (a rarity for me, because I am not normally a huge fruit advocate), and my parents like blueberries. Also, they are pretty little berries, in my opinion.



Come on, tell me you don't think they are a lovely fruit! I suspect they are even lovelier covered in vanilla pudding. No, not instant vanilla pudding or the kind in the plastic cups that end up in little kid's lunches, but vanilla pudding cooked slow and steady on the stove. It tastes like the custard in my grandma's homemade banana pudding. Once you have tasted it, instant is no longer even a possibility... it changes everything. No lie!



The finished product. Layers of puff pastry separated by strawberries, blueberries, and pudding with a little cool whip for good measure. Experiment a success!

Enjoy the deliciousness! :)

Culinary Chronicles: Adventures with Asparagus

So normally, I am not a big fan of asparagus. Sometimes it can be too chewy and too stringy... and well, too gross. However, recently I ate a piece of delicious asparagus quiche at The Victoria tea room. I tried to mimic this recipe at home.

Surprisingly, asparagus gives an amazingly unique flavor to quiche, and combined with hamburger meat, mushrooms, onion, and cheese, it was quite filling!

This quiche recipe makes two:

4 eggs
1 can Cream of Celery soup
1/2 cup milk

1/2 pack hamburger meat
1/2 onion
1 small can mushrooms
1 can asparagus
As much cheese as you like :)

Cook hamburger meat. Chop veggies. Pour meat, veggies, and cheese equally into shells. Top with egg mixture. Bake at 350 for thirty minutes or until a knife comes out of the center clean.

Enjoy the deliciousness!