Apple Potstickers with Vanilla Creme Anglaise

Is this not the cutest, most creative and fun dessert you have ever seen?!?!?

It's an apple pie in a potsticker!

It's absolutely adorable and they are super tasty.

You are going to love them at your next dinner party.



Last Tuesday I went to a cooking class and the head chef of IZA made these for our class. Being a lover of apple pie, I was in heaven! So when my friend Megan and I had a "girl's night" last night, we made some Pork Lo Mein and these potstickers for dessert. YUM! It was tons of fun and our bellies were full from so much good food.

The filling for the potstickers is really simple and easy to make. If you need a tutorial of how to fold the wonton wrappers, check out my post on BBQ Wontons. I give a step-by-step tutorial on folding them that will really help if you are new to wontons/potstickers.

Also, the Vanilla Crème Anglaise you want to make a couple hours or even a day in advance. It’s pretty runny right after you make it, so put it in the fridge for a couple of hours and you will be good to go! If you store the Crème Anglaise in the fridge, it should last you a week. You can even drizzle some on top of fresh berries if you run out of Apple Potstickers….and you most likely will, because they are delicious!

Here is what you are going to need for 25 Apple Potstickers:
-2 cups of Granny Smith Apples (about 2 apples)-finely diced
-3/4 cup White Sugar
-1 tbsp Cinnamon
-1/2 cup Butter
-3 tbsp Flour
-1/2 cup of Water
-25 square or rectangular Wonton Wrappers (or just buy a whole package)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the wonton wrappers. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until the apple pieces are soft and the sauce has thickened.
Let the apple mixture cool to room temperature before filling the dumplings, about 10-15 minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled, spoon ½-1 tbsp of apple mixture into the center of the wonton wrapper and pinch the corners together to form a tight seal.
Bake the dumpling for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Now it’s time for the sauce!

Here is what you are going to need:
-1 cup Heavy Cream
-1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste or Vanilla Extract
-4 Egg Yolks
-1/3 cup White Sugar

In a small saucepan, heat cream and vanilla at medium-low heat until bubbles form at the edges.

While cream is heating, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth in a separate bowl.

Before we begin this next step…raise your hand if you have tried making a sauce, custard or pudding and it has turned to scrambled eggs???

*I’m raising my hand*

When tempering a hot cream into eggs, you must do this slowly so you don’t cook the eggs! It will ruin your sauce and you have to start all over again. I suggest adding the hot cream in a slow stream or even dropwise while you bring the eggs up to temperature.

Okay, let’s get back to the recipe…

Slowly pour the hot cream into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Pour the mixture back into the small saucepan and continue to cook on low heat, stirring constantly.

Cook the sauce until the sauce coats the back of the spoon.

For easy storage, I used my Wilton Candy Melting Bottle for keeping my Vanilla Crème Anglaise from spoiling.

Plus it allows you to do this when plating your Apple Potstickers!

I love how creative you can be with this dessert!

The huge reason I adore these Apple Potstickers with the Vanilla Crème Anglaise so much is because it gives a fun sophisticated spin on warm Apple Pie with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream!

Enjoy!!!

PRINT RECIPE HERE!

Little Me

In the past 2 days I have met so many new and wonderful people via Tasty Kitchen! My blog-reading list has almost doubled because I have found so many great blogs :)

Since I'm meeting so many new people, I thought I'd tell my old/new bloggie friends a little bit more about me than they already know!

Shall we start at the beginning?!?!

It's little me!

Born: July 6, 1988

Funny Story!

See the stuffed animal cow that I have in my hands? That would be my dear friend "Cowie." I use to carry Cowie upside down with its tooshie in the air and pet its tag. Apparently I was obsessed with the silky feeling of the tag and I would rub it until it would disappear! I've been an odd-ball from the start! My grandmother would go into local stores that sold stuffed animals and snip off their tags and sew it onto my Cowie! Sadly, Cowie is not with us anymore because my old dog Skooter ripped it to shreds.

R.I.P. Cowie!

There really isn't a story to go with that one, I just thought I looked cute! But I will tell you that when I was little, I use to love the movie "Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang." My poor mom hates the movie now because I made her watch it a million times!

When I was 4 years old, I was Minnie Mouse for Halloween!

Apparently nothing has changed in the last 22 years.

I do this every time I bake or cook now!

Oh geez.

Maybe I've shared a little too much.

Did you do anything funny or weird as a child?!?!

Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad

I love this salad!

Back in February I made this salad for Dusty as part of his 4-course Valentine's Day dinner and he was so impressed with this fantastic salad! Dusty loves it and I do too....it is just really good! Looking back I can't believe I made a 4-course dinner....what was I thinking?!?!? My kitchen is too tiny to have 4 different dishes going on at once! But Dusty sure did appreciate it, so it was all worth it :)

From start to finish, this salad takes about 20-30 minutes to make, so make sure you give yourself enough time and plan ahead when you are making dinner.

Here is what you are going to need (4 servings):

-1 lb of Medium Carrots, scrubbed and cut in half

-2 tbsp Cumin Seeds
-1 dried Chile, crumbled
-2 cloves Garlic
-1 tsp Thyme
-Olive Oil
-Red Wine Vinegar
-3 ripe Avocados, peeled and quartered
-1 Orange, halved
-1 Lemon, halved
-Salt and Pepper to taste
-2 cups of Mixed Greens
-⅔ cup Sour Cream
-4 tbsp of Sesame Seeds, toasted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Take your carrots and scrub them until clean. Don't peel them! Just scrub them clean.

Then cut the carrots in half lengthwise and trim off the ends.

Blanch the carrots by boiling them for 5 minutes and shocking them in cold water. Drain the carrots and place them on a baking dish.

Combine the cumin seeds, thyme, crumbled Chile, garlic, dash of olive oil and red wine vinegar in a mortar and mash it up into a paste with your pestle....

Or if you are like me....small bowl and the end of a potato masher.

You don't have to tell me I'm classy...I already know!

This is what you want your marinating paste to look like.

Cover the carrots with the marinating paste and lay the halved orange and lemon upside down on the baking sheet.

Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are golden. Reserve.

Combine the cooked carrots and avocados in a bowl. Squeeze the cooked orange and lemon over the carrots and avocado.

In a separate bowl, combine the juice of one half orange, juice of one half lemon, dash of olive oil and dash of red wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and mix to incorporate.

Add the orange vinaigrette to the carrots and avocados. Mix to incorporate. Remove carrots and avocado with a slotted spoon. Set aside.

With reserved orange vinaigrette, toss the mixed greens.

Plate each salad with carrots and avocado. On top of carrots and avocado, place a dollop of sour cream and finish with toasted sesame seeds.

Enjoy!!!

Sorry some of the pictures are kinda funky. That's what I get for making this at night!

Print Recipe Here!

Tasty Kitchen Featured Member

This morning I had a very exciting surprise....I'm the Tasty Kitchen Featured Member of the week!

I pretty much started squealing at decibels that only dogs can hear, "I can't believe I'm featured member! AHHH!" and was jumping/running around my apartment like a mad women. Needless to say I am so honored by Tasty Kitchen for making me Featured Member this week. It means sooo much to me!

So if you have no idea what I'm talking about or what Tasty Kitchen is, check it out....HERE!

And because I'm a blogger, I might have taken a picture of my computer screen!

Thanks again Tasty Kitchen!

You made my week!

PW Book Signing: Great Falls

I'm so excited to tell you about my dream weekend! I got to see Pioneer Woman at her book signing in Great Falls, MT with my mom and sister! Before I get too excited, let's start from the beginning.

On Friday at 12:30 in the afternoon my mom and sister picked me up from my apartment and headed over for a tasty lunch at Five Guys Burgers (we needed our protein!) and then hit the road for Great Falls.

Around 3:30 we arrived in Great Falls, but we were completely lost because I was a complete air-head and forgot the GPS! That was a good one on my part....I had better things on my mind. I was going to meet PW!
So after getting help from a car dealer at Ford and a police officer, we finally arrived at our home for the night, The Collins Mansion Bed and Breakfast.

We had never stayed at a Bed and Breakfast before and were told that we should definitely go there for a fun experience. And boy am I glad we did! ;)

We stayed in a room called The Lavender Room.

And wouldn't you know, everything was "Lavender"!

And in the fashion of PW, I had to do a Hotel Room Tour!

Really comfortable beds and super cute room!

The toilet was so tiny and low to the ground that I think it was built for a toddler.

I fondly called it the "tiny toilet."

Besides the room being adorable, the entire place was absolutely beautiful!

The mansion was built in 1891, which made it really fun to stay in a gorgeous historic building.

This is the sitting room...

And dining room.

This is where we had the best breakfast and met some really great people!

We had individual Quiches, breakfast potatoes and fresh fruit.

It was delicious!

Around 5:30 we headed over to the Best Western Heritage Inn to check out the place where the book signing was occuring. Luckily we got there when we did....there were women already lining up! So we grabbed a quick dinner and jumped in line.

As we were waiting in line, all of us women were excitingly chatting about meeting Pioneer Woman and hearing her give her lecture.

It was hysterical, this one older lady in line said, "I'm not here for her, I'm here for Malboro Man!"

We all started laughing and agreed that we wished the "Silver Fox" was going to be there. But we were still super excited to see PW, even if her hunky husband wasn't present.

Finally at 6:30, the doors opened and we were allowed to be seated. I might have sprinted to the front and nudged some women aside. A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do!

We grabbed out seats and were dying of anticipation!

And we weren't alone!

There were over 500 people women here to see PW!

They even brought in extra chairs because they ran out of seating!

Could I be any more excited?!?!?!

I was about to see my blogging/cooking inspiration in the flesh!

I WAS SO EXCITED!

And then 7:00 arrived , Pioneer Woman took the stage!

Women were screaming and clapping, men were wondering what the heck was going on and who the heck this woman was. Why were these women going crazy over this one woman?!?!?

Pioneer Woman's lecture/comedy show was fantastic! She claims that she isn't a good public speaker, but I have to disagree. All of us women we laughing so hard we were crying, especially when she did this...

A mock duet of "Endless Love" with the pictures of her dog Charlie.

If you read PW on a daily basis, you can appreciate this.

If you don't, then you just won't get it.

But let me tell you what....it was funny!

Ree told us the story of how her blog started and developed.

She also showed us pictures of her family...

And pictures of her husbands butt!

I'm sure the older lady from waiting in line earlier got quite excited over this!

She might have been the one whistling in the back!

Now for the main event....The book signing!

We waited in line for about 30 minutes (because we sprinted to the front of the line) and got to meet Ree!

We gave Ree a gift from all of us Carroll women.

Actually it was for her children....

We got her boys some Moose Poop (Chocolate! Not real poop!) and her girls some Montana River Rock Chocolate!

It was a good thing my mom was there because I kinda froze up. I didn't know what to say to Ree in the entire 30 seconds we got to be with her. What was I going to say to her?!?!?

 "Hi Ree! I know everything about you, but you don't even know who I am. Oh by the way, my boyfriend loves your meatballs!"

Lucky for me, my mom had something in common with Ree, so she did the talking. I just stood there like an idiot. My mom was also a city girl from California that moved to a rural Montana to a cattle ranch and dealt with the traumatic transition of city to country life. So they had a "connection" as Ree put it. They had a fun chat and we also got our books signed.

She signed my beloved cookbook...

And her new novel "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels".

I will treasure this forever!

After the fun lecture and book signing from Ree, I got to meet Megan from Wanna Be A Country Cleaver! You know, the girl who did the guest post making those mouth watering "Gimme S'more Cupcakes!"

I was just as excited about meeting Megan as I was about meeting Ree! We met online almost a year ago on Tasty Kitchen and have been chatting online via blog, Twitter on Facebook that entire time and didn't meet until last night. Megan is so awesome and such a sweetheart! You would have thought we had been friends since 1st grade with how much fun we had chatting and hanging out at the book signing.

If Megan weren't sweet enough, she took it to the next level and surprised me with a gift!

She got me the most adorable individual bell pepper casserole dishes!

They are so cute and I can't wait to use them!

Thanks again Megan!!!



After all of that excitement, us Carroll women headed back to the Collins Mansion (without getting lost) and had wonderful nights sleep in our super comfy beds with pretty canopies.

When my mom woke up the next morning and went downstairs to get coffee, guess who came out of the kitchen with her cup of coffee?!?!? 

REE aka Pioneer Woman!!!!

My mom squinted, rubbed her eyes and said, "Ree?!?!?!"

Ree was surprised by my mom too, "Yes?"

"Hi! I'm Shannon. The California/Montana girl. We met last night at your book signing"

"Oh yes, of course! We had a connection."

I'm sure my mom was dying at this moment and her heart was racing! Meanwhile, I'm laying in bed. Clueless.

Ree and my mom parted ways and went back to their rooms. My mom came in..."REE IS STAYING HERE AND HER ROOM IS ACROSS THE HALL!"

Pretty much my heart stopped and my sister shot out of bed like a rocket. We were so excited...we were going to have breakfast with Ree Drummond! I mean, this is a bed and breakfast, you have to have breakfast!!!

We got ready so fast and made sure to look our best for our breakfast with Ree. An hour later we headed downstairs for breakfast and sadly, Ree was heading out the door. She had to head back to the hotel where the book signing was for a special breakfast and art show auction. We told Ree good-bye and the lady picking her up from the bed and breakfast asked, "Have you met before?" and Ree looked over at my mom and said, "We had a jammie moment this morning!"

That's right everyone. Ree Drummond and Shannon Carroll had a "jammie moment" and I am totally jealous! I was actually just really excited that we got to see her again and say good bye! I was worried I would start talking about her meatballs out of nervousness. But we got to see her again and said good-bye. How great is that!?!?!?

Needless to say, I had such a fantastic 24 hours in Great Falls at the Pioneer Woman book signing. I got to see my blog/cooking inspiration and meet my very best bloggie friend Megan! Plus I slept under the same roof as Pioneer Woman! It doesn't get much better than that!

We love you Ree!

Thanks for such a memorable weekend!

Irish Treats

Today I went to the Black Cat Bake Shop here in Missoula to grab some treats for celebrating St. Patty's Day. If you live in Missoula, you gotta check out this bakery! They have some tasty treats!!!

It took me until today to finally go there because I had no idea where it was at! For all of you who are in Missoula with this same problem...it's next to Noodle Express on Broadway. Now you have no excuse to not head over there and get some goodies!

Here are some of the treats I got...

Irish Soda Biscuits

I've never had Irish Soda Bread before and I gotta tell you, it's really good!

Eat it with butter. It's the right thing to do.

Double Decker Guinness Brownie for Dusty...and me! ;)

I might have a bite....or two!

And a Shamrock Sugar Cookie for me!

But, if you are feeling more ambitious than me and want to make some fun Irish-themed treats for your loved ones (or yourself) this St. Patty's Day, check out my Creme de Menthe Cake or Grasshopper Pie!

Don't forget to wear Green tomorrow so you don't get pinched!!!