Presley's Pantry

Make way for the cranberry sauce… I never understood why anyone would serve cranberry sauce out of a can. That weird gelatinous tube with the indents from the can still imprinted in it’s side. No wonder I refused to eat it as a young girl. It wasn’t till my teenage years that I witnessed a friend of mine make it fresh. I was not only facsinated with the process, but couldn’t believe how incredibly easy it was to make. People add cinnamon and all sorts of other things to the versitale cranberry sauce, I decided to add tangy hibiscus to the tart cranberry for an exquisite side to my turkey this Holiday season. Enjoy!

Ingredients for cranberry hibiscus sauce:

• 1/2 – cup dried hibiscus flowers
• 2 1/2 – cups water
• 2 – cups sugar
• 24 – ounces fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. In a pot over a medium flame add in hibiscus flowers and water.  
2. Bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. 
3. Remove flowers from water. 
4. Pour sugar into the hibiscus water, and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. 
5. Bring mixture to a boil, creating a hibiscus syrup.
6. Add in cranberries. 
7. Mix cranberries to coat in hibiscus syrup.
8. After about 5 to 10 minutes you will hear the cranberries start to pop. At this point take a potato masher and smash the mixture down, until all cranberries have popped. 
9. Place mixture in a bowl, and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or until mixture firms. 
10. Enjoy!

Caramel apples make me weak in the knees. I like to think of them as my healthy snack, because let’s face it… I’m eating an apple. You can never have too much of a good thing. Last week I bought a few packs of Kings Hawaiian Rolls, and even though it is hard to keep them around the house very long, I found the last pack of 24 rolls sitting on my table begging me to make some bread pudding out of them. A smile quietly spread itself across my face, and a little voice in my ear whispered “caramel apple bread pudding.” Ohhhhhh! My heart jumped and thumped with an exuberance of love, I knew this would be a bread pudding with my name carved in it. Luckily, the weather has dropped to a cool 60 degrees here in Los Angeles, and It made it the ideal time to turn on my oven. Mmmmmm. The house quickly filled with aroma of caramel, cinnamon, apple, and a luscious smell of sweet Kings Hawaiian bread. I quickly pulled it from the oven and dug my spoon in. When caramel and apples are combined with Kings Hawaiian Rolls and baked into a bread pudding, it tastes like an apple cinnamon roll, and that my friend is an absolute AMAZING THING!

Ingredients For Caramel Apple Bread Pudding:

• 24 – Kings Hawaiian rolls
• 1 – cup chopped pecans
• 5 – ounces caramels squares, about 20 pieces (unwrap and cut into 4’s)
• 2 – large honey crisp apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
• 1 – cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 1/4 – cup sugar
• 4 – eggs
• 4 – cups half and half
• 5 – tablespoons butter (melted and brought back to room temperature), plus a tablespoon to butter baking dish
• 1 – teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 – teaspoon almond extract
• 1 – teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Cut each roll into 9 pieces. you will have an entire large bowl full of bread cubes.
3. Line the cubes on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes to toast.
4. Remove from the oven and set to the side. Lower the oven heat to 300 degrees fahrenheit
5. Generously grease a 9×13 pyrex dish with 1 tablespoon of butter.
6. Layer half of your toasted bread crumbs on the bottom of the pyrex.
7. Pour in the pecan and caramel pieces.
8. Layer the apples on top of the bread, pecan, caramel layer.
9. Top with the remaining bread crumbs.
10. In a mixer, add sugar and eggs, and beat for 5 minutes on high.
11. Add in half and half, butter, cinnamon, almond and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
12. Pour the liquid mix over the bread layers, then push down on the top of the bread to make sure all the liquid is soaking into the cubes.
13. Sprinkle the top with coconut.
14. Place the 9×13 pyrex into a larger pan and fill halfway with boiling hot water to create a water bath (Bain-Marie)
15. Bake for 1 hour.
16. Remove from oven and remove 9×13 casserole dish out of water bath.
17. Let cool for 30 minutes.
18. Enjoy!

Great holiday recipes start with KING’S HAWAIIAN® Dinner Rolls! Vote for your favorite KING’S HAWAIIAN recipe here for a chance to win one of three $500 gift cards! Sweepstakes Rules.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of King’s Hawaiian®. The opinions and text are all mine.

This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

This weekend I will invite little feet into my house…. They will come dressed in costumes. See my son is celebrating Halloween with a few of his friends. I anticipate to see little monsters, cowboys, witches and princess dresses floating around the house. I have all my candy bags packed and ready. I shall be old fashion and have a game of bobbing for apples, except I will add a new twist to it. For the kids who don’t want to participate in games, they can carve pumpkins or sit by the pile of donuts and enjoy a glazed gooey bite.

I wrote out all my invites and let my son decorate them with stickers.  As I handed the invite to one parent she started to tell me how she is trying to encourage her little one to drink more milk. I felt her pain and went over the details of how I got my son to drink milk a few months back. I told her I would gladly be serving milk at my Halloween party and in the meantime here is a coupon of $1.00 off 2 gallons of milk. She said she would share the coupon with her family and friends. I told her if she wasn’t able to get her little one to drink the milk she could always dress the milk up in costume by cooking with it. There is this wonderful collection of MILK recipes on the web just waiting for her to visit.  Or she could always bounce over to the Toma Leche Facebook page, and find a ton of information and milky milk recipes.

Looks like I’ll be serving my milk in a boo-tiful way for the little parade of characters at my Halloween party.

What you’ll need to dress up your cup of milk:

• Clear glass or plastic cups
• Black tape
• x acto knife or scissors
• milk
• orange sanding sugar
• straw

 This is the first time I have ever tried my hand at making my own homemade calavera. It really forced me to step out of my comfort zone. For as long as I could remember I have always built my alter in memory of my uncle and then once it was complete I would run out and buy a calavera / sugar skull where ever I could find them. Not this time….. I wanted to personalize my calaveras in memory of my loved ones lost.

Ingredients for sugar skulls / calavera:

• 6- cups granulated sugar
• 6 – teaspoons meringue powder
• 6 – teaspoons water

 That amount made 5 large skulls total. A little bigger then my clinched fist.

Ingredients for royal icing:

• 4 – cups powdered sugar
• 3 – tablespoons meringue powder
• 6 – tablespoons warm water

Other supplies you may use:

• colored foil paper
• sequins
• beads
• soda pop tops
• seeds
• feathers

Directions:

1. First mix granulated sugar and meringue powder together.
2. Then slowly drizzle with water. The mixture should feel like beach sand.
3. Firmly pack sugar into mold, making sure there are no bubbles.
4. Scrape the back of the sugar mold with a knife for an even surface.
5. Invert the sugar mold onto a hard surface.
6. Let the skulls dry for 8 hours.
7. Once the skulls are hard enough to touch, use a spoon and scoop out the middle, it should still be soft enough to scoop. Leave a 1/2 inch thick wall around the edge. (I made more calaveras with the extra sugar)
8. Allow the hollowed skulls to dry for an additional 15 hours or overnight.
9. Make royal icing: Mix powdered sugar, meringue powder, and warm water together. A thick paste will form. According to the amount of colors you’d like to use, divide the icing into that amount of separate bowls and color with concentrated paste food coloring of your choice. Then place each color in it’s own disposable piping bag fitted with a decorative metal tip.
10. Then using a white royal icing trace along the lines of the two pieces of skull that come together. Make sure no to pipe the neck with royal icing.
11. Align the two pieces together and allow to dry before decorating.
12. Decorate the face as you desire. Some calavera have decorative eyes, and other use an inside down heart for the nose.
13. Enjoy!

Just in time for Halloween.  Check out my scary appetizers for your Halloween party.    Click here and go over to Babble to see the step by step instruction for these Ghostly Boo Sticks….

Need a good, hearty meal for Halloween?  Check out this bubbly baked rigatoni dish that’ll be great for any family dinner.  Click here for the step by step pics on how to make it on Babble…..

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Idaho Potato Commission. However; All opinions and recipe are 100% my own. Thank you to my Latina blogueras for their suggestions.

A few weeks ago, I was in New York as one of the top 100 blogueras of Latism. I was chosen along with 99 other Latina bloggers as one of the best Latina bloggers in the nation. We (all 100 0f us) were invited to the United Nations as part of our conference. We were there covering issues about education, health, business, and gender equality with top officials of the secretariat. While I was there I thought about potatoes and how they are so affordable and feed so many people. I remembered my trip to Idaho a year ago and decided to ask a few of my fellow Latina blogueras (Maura of The Other Side Of The Tortilla, Yoly of Savvy Mujer and Cuponeando, and Melissa of Hungry Food Love)  what they make with potatoes? I took what they said , then came home and made one of the suggested dishes. Check out the video below. Super fun, easy, and delicious…. three of my favorite things.

Ingredients for Papas Gratinadas:

• 7 – Idaho Potatoes (peeled and boiled for 20 minutes)
• 7 – anaheim chiles (roasted, peeled, and deseeded) (timesaver tip: buy them canned)
• 7 – 1/2 inch slices of pepper jack cheese
• 1 3/4 – cups of Mexican crema
• 1 – onion (sliced)
• 1 1/2 – cups sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
• 1/2 – teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 1/2 – teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 – cups pepper jack cheese (grated)
• 10 x 8 casserole dish (spray sides with non stick spray)

Directions:

1. Peel and boil potatoes for 20 minutes. Drain and set to the side.
2. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch slices. It’s okay of it becomes crumbly, you will use the crumbs too. Set to the side.
3. Slice chiles down the middle and stuff with pepper jack cheese slices. Set to the side.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
5. Pour 1/4 cup of crema on the bottom of the casserole dish. Smooth it out with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
6. Next place down a layer of potato slices.
7. Top with stuffed anaheim chiles.
8. Sprinkle the top of stuffed chiles with sliced onions.
9. Pour in a 1/2 cup of Mexican crema over the top of onions.
10. Generously sprinkle the top of the crema and onions with cheddar cheese.
11. Next srinkle in chili flakes, Lawry’s, and ground pepper.
12. Add another layer of Idaho potatoes.
13. Then add in another 1/2 cup of crema.
14. Top with remaining potatoes and another 1/2 cup of crema.
15. Finish the whole casserole layering with a 1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese.
16.  Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, then place the casserole dish on the top shelf of oven under the broiler (on high) for 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden crisp.
17. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.
18. Enjoy!