Bacon Wrapped Dates

If you don't feel like eating a million of these then don't make them cause you will eat a million of them if you make them.

There. I said it cause it's true.

Now GO MY PETS! Make these ASAP!

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients:

Nitrate-free bacon (1 package (8 oz))

Dates, organic if possible (1 pound)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut the bacon slices in half.

3. Pit the dates with your fingers or with a paring knife.

4. Wrap each date with a half a slice of bacon. Use toothpicks if necessary.

5. Set on a baking dish, ideally one with high sides, so the bacon grease doesn’t spill all over your oven when it melts.

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bacon gets crispy.

7. Remove from oven and transfer the bacon-wrapped dates to a serving platter.Note: Make sure you save that perfectly good bacon grease — pour it into a cast iron skillet and use it for something else!

*I used regular bacon and dates. Nothing special. SUPER TASTY!

Zucchini and Beans with Salsa

It may not look pretty, but it sure tastes good!

I got this idea from my friend.  here is the "recipe"

1 Can of black beans (I actually used dry beans and pre-cooked them...)

 

1 Zucchini

a little olive oil

A little garlic salt

a little chili powder.

a little peach mango Salsa (I get mine at Costco)

corn tortillas (or flour if you are not GF)

Some cheese.

heat the olive oil in a fry pan with the garlic salt and chili powder.

Add the beans and cut up zucchini.  Saute it until done. Add peach mango salsa.

At this point we put it on plates and ate it.  BUT if you want you can put it on tortillas, and top with cheese and put it in the oven until cheese is melted.  I was thinking while eating it that instead of grated cheddar some feta might be nice over the top of it!

Fast and Easy Banana Cake

This is another recipe re-do that I have used again and again. It is made with a yellow cake mix and has just the right amount of banana flavor. For those reasons, this has become one of my favorite fast and easy cake recipes. In addition to being fast and easy, it calls for very few ingredients but still retains that sweet, melt in your mouth texture. You'll can serve this as a dessert or as a complement with your breaskfast or brunch. It works as well in any form from cupcakes to buntcakes. Try it for yourself!

Banana Cake:
1 box of yellow cake mix (I have tried it with a gluten-free cake mix too)
1 small box of vanilla pudding
2 bananas (mashed)
3 eggs
1/3 cup water
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons of oil
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Smash bananas in a mixing bowl.

Combined: cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, water , oil, and baking powder.

Blend together until well mixed.

Pour batter into greased and floured bundt pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes @ 350 degrees. turn over onto plate to cool and frost.

Frost and decorate as desired. It is delicious!

Here is the recipe for the cream cheese frosting I use regularly-

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz box of cream cheese
1 cube of butter
(both softened at room temperature)
Milk as needed (canned milk or cream works well too)
up to 6 cups of powdered sugar
(taste and check out the consistency as you go)

Add food coloring if desired

Banana Cake Recipe from my friend Stephani Ashcraft's book 
101 Things to do with Yellow Cake Mix

pineapple ginger pork roast and sweet rice

YUMMY!  This was really good.  My "recipe"
I took a can of pineapple in pineapple juice and emptied the juice into a caserole dish.  then I ran the pineapple through the blender a bit.  (You could use crushed pineapple and avoid the blender, but I didnt have any) I added a little bit of salt and probably a 1/2tsp of ginger (ground) I would use a little more ginger next time. I put a 3lb pork roast that had been cut in half on top of the juices and poured the pineapple over it.
I put it in the oven at 300 for just over an hour.  The internal temp was 150 when I took it out.  While it was in the oven I basted it a couple of times.

the sweet rice was really good too!  It is also called sticky rice.  I cook 1 cup rice in 2 cups water with a little salt.  It takes about 45 minutes to cook, and it is really sticky.

Meyer Lemon Raspberry Tart

The Crust
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon very cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Preparation:

1. Put the flour and sugar into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough is just combined. Turn dough onto a floured cutting board and knead to form a ball.

2. To roll or press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

* If you want to roll the dough, chill it for about 2 hours before rolling (unless you’ve used frozen butter and the dough comes out of the processor firm and cold, in which case you can roll it immediately).
* If you want to use the press-in method, you can work with the dough as soon as it’s processed. Just press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don’t be too heavy-handed – press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but don’t press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.

3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

4. To fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

5. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon (or prick it with the tip of a small knife). Bake the crust for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden.




The filling
2 medium meyer lemons
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup half and half
2 cups raspberries

Preparation:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Finely grate the zest of both lemons; set aside. With a small knife, cut off the top and bottom of each lemon and then carefully cut away the cottony white pith and a tiny bit of flesh from each lemon–the juicy sections of lemon should now be completely exposed. Lay the lemons on their sides and cut each lemon crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; remove the seeds.

3. Place the lemon slices, eggs, yolks and sugar in the container of a blender and puree until smooth. Strain the mixture into a bowl and whisk in the reserved zest and the half and half. Give the bowl a good rap against the kitchen counter to de-bubble it–if there are bubbles in the mixture now, there will be bubbles in your tart later.


4. Scatter the berries over the bottom of the crust and pour over the filling. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is set in the center. Transfer the tart to a rack and cool to room temperature.


To serve: Cut the tart into 8 wedges and serve.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

There are many variations when it comes to chocolate covered strawberries. This variation is one of the easiest and best I have found.
16 ounces chocolate chips (whatever kind you desire).
1 pound washed and very well dried strawberries, stems on.

Melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly until just melted and smooth.

Cool on wax paper until chocolate has formed a hard shell around the strawberries.

Enjoy!

My new favorite snack...

I am hooked on this snack...it might seem like an unlikely combination but it is DELICIOUS and good for you! Make sure to use a tart apple, like a Granny Smith, its great with the creamy peanut butter and sweetness from the raisins, give it a try!

Halloween Caramel Apples

Whoever you are, caramel apples are a must around this time of year! They are so easy to make and fun to decorate and 3 easy steps.

Granny Smith Apples are generally perferred.

Melt your caramel pieces and spread all over.  You can decorate from here or....

Pour white or regular chocolate all over cooled caramel apple and roll into candy or crushed cookies.

There are so many ways to decorate them!

I also made these for Easter Treats

Click HERE to see

Ginger Apple Pork Loin

It's that time of year when apples are everywhere. I love to cook with apples. Not just in pies either. I will add some tart apples to almost anything lately. My favorite recipe that I came up with years ago, is my Ginger Apple Pork Loin. I know that a lot of people use apples in their pork roasts but, this recipe is unquie because the other ingredients bring everything together to make a juicy semi-sweet loin that has the taste of autum in every bite. I actually made this one for a Halloween Harvest Dinner Party the other day and it turned out really nice.

Ingredients:

I don't really measure anything for this recipe, so I put some estimates.

*

Boneless Pork Loin (any size as other ingredients can be adjusted)

Celery- 2-3 stalks sliced

Apples- 3-4 samll or 2-3 large chopped

Wallawalla Onion 1/2-1 whole onion cut into wedges

Rosemerry- 2-3 sprigs or 1-2 tablespoons of dry

Ginger (grated or dry) about 2-4 teaspoons depending on how you like it

Nutmeg 2-3 teaspoons

Celery Salt 1-2 teaspoons

Garlic- You can put whole cloves, minced, or dry depending on how much you like it.

Pepper as desired

Apple Cider 1/2 to 1 cup

Worshire sauce 2-3 Tablespoons

1 pack of onion soup mix or other dry soup mix

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients (except soup mix) and rub all over meat.

Add Apples, Onions, and Celery all around meat.

Spinkle soup mix over all ingredients

Pour apple cider over all ingredients

Cooking Directions:

Cook your loin any way you prefer. It is usually cooked covered for a more tender loin.

Slowcooker for 3-4 hours or until done

Grill 20-30 minutes or until done

Stovetop 20-30 minutes or until done

Low Oven (about 300 degrees) for 3-4 hours or until done

High oven (350-400 degrees) for 30-60 minutes or until done

I serve my pork loin with Nichole's Balsamic green beans that she will be posting soon.

Judy's Banana Bread

This is a delicious and easy recipe for Banana Bread that a co worker, named Judy, gave me about 5 years ago. I am not a baker by any means, i seem to mess up even the easiest cookie recipes but i have managed to make this banana bread over and over again and its always perfect! The other thing reason i love to make this bread is because everytime I give my son, Gavin, a banana he only eats a few bites of it, so i started throwing the rest of the banana in a ziplock bag and sticking in the freezer. When i have three or four bananas I thaw them in the microwave and they are ready for the recipe and actually a little sweeter and easier to mash than before they were frozen. Hope you enjoy this recipe!






Judy's Banana Bread

2 1/2 C. all purpose flour 3 tbs. vegetable oil
1 C. sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 C. milk 1 tsp. nutmeg
3-4 Bananas 1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 egg
*nuts are optional...use about 1/2 c. of your favorite nut*

Mash bananas and sugar together, add sugar, milk, vanilla and the egg. Mix untill well combined...then add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking powder. Stir just untill dry ingredients are incorporated. Pour batter into a greased and floured bread pan and bake for 45 -60 minutes...untill top is deep golden brown.

Apple-Walnut Loaf

Autumn means fresh apples. Yum! I got some apple trees for Mother's day a few years back and this is the first year I've gotten a real crop. Don't they look beautiful?

I still don't have quite enough to be worth preserving, so we've been enjoying fresh apple recipes. Here's a good bread that we had the other night.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups flour (it can all be white, but I do 2 cups whole wheat)
2 medium-large tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (2-3 cups)
1/2 cup dried fruit (I use craisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp oil (walnut is fantastic, but other kinds are fine)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 Tbsp salt

1. In large bowl using whisk (or a heavy duty mixer) combine the yeast, brown sugar, warm water, warm milk, and 1 cup white and 1 cup wheat flour. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

2. Add the apples, craisins, walnuts, oil, eggs, cinnamon, mace, allspice, salt, and 1 cup wheat flour. Beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough is formed. It will be difficult to stir, but needs to remain "sticky". The trick to good bread is to keep the dough slightly stickier than you think it should be. Using wheat will decrease the flour by just a little. I used about 5 3/4 cups.

3. turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and springy yet firm, dusting with small amounts of flour as necessary.

4. Place the dough in a greased deep container. Turn the dough once to coat the top and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled (1 1/2 to 2 hours)

5. Gently deflate dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Shape into loaves. Let rise in pans until tops are an inch above rim of pan (about 45 minutes).

6. Bake at 350 for 45- 50 minutes.

Original recipe from The Fresh Loaf

Tropical Fruit Pizza

At the end of this summer, I found all this tropical fruit in the produce section and I thought about making some juice.  Except, when I got home, and started to cut into these delicious fruits and I changed my mind. I decided to make it into a dessert. I found a pineapple cookie recipe and changed a few things to make this tropical fruit pizza. It turned out so nice. It has a light sweet flavor, chewy and nutty, and fresh to the taste.

The Point of the Colors of the Season Highlight is to demonstrate an array of color that you have made with a combination of foods. These colors shouted out  "summer" to me as a fresh and fruitful dessert. The fruits I used were: Papaya, Star Fruit, Mango, Kiwi, Banana, and Pineapple (I put pineapple in the cookie crust).

Ingredients for the Pineapple Cookie Crust:

From the Kitchen of Stephanie Perez

1 cup of butter flavored shortening (regular ok), ---1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 egg, 1 8 (oz) can of crush pineapple (undrained), 3 1/2 cup of all -purpurpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 cups of nuts (chopped)

Directions:

Cream sugar, egg, and shortening. Stir in pinapple, Mix in remaining ingredients. Chill for one hour.

Bake in  400 pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or until done. Cool and frost with cream cheese topping.

Cream Cheese Topping: 1 package of cream cheese, 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, a splash of lemon juice. (You might want to double this recipe if you like it thick).

                                          

Decorate as Desired :) I liked that there were so many different shapes on this pizza for my daughter to point out to me. I tried to cut some of them to make a different shape for each fruit. For example- Kiwi (Oval), Mango (triangle), banana (circle), papaya (cresent), pinapple (rectangle), and star fruit. The only ones I needed were a square and a diamond! You may even have some extra to make that juice after all.

Get Lemons, Make Raspberry Lemonade

August celebrates National Lemonade Day and what better way than to make it yourself.

Recipe for great homemade Lemonade:

(I try to remember in a rule of 6's)

6 large Lemons

6 cups of cold water

6 quarter cups of sugar

and Raspberries or Strawberries (crushed and whole)

Cooking Tool of the Week:

Citrus Press

All you need is 6 large lemons to juice.

and a couple of handfuls of some fresh raspberries (crushed and whole)

Add 6 cups of cold water and 6 quarter cups of sugar (more or less), mix and done!
Refreshing to the taste!
*

Has anyone tried to make homemade lemonade with lemon concentrate?