Let's Bake Again

So has everyone recovered from the holiday baking? I thought you might have had enough time to rest from all the baking that now you can start to bake again. LOL! :) 

This recipe has got to be the ultimate chocolate lovers dream recipe! It has everything I can just drool over! LOL! 

What you will need:

* Refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

* Package of Oreos

* Box of brownie mix

      (Amounts may vary per box of brownies)

               Eggs

            Water

            Oil

How to make it:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Spray 9"x 9" cooking dish with non-stick spray

3. Press cookie dough into bottom of dish

4. Line cookie dough with Oreos

5. Prepare brownie mix per directions on the box

6. Pour brownie batter over Oreo layer

7. Bake for 50 minutes

Soooooo......after I take off all the pounds I put on during the holidays I might give this recipe a shot. LOL!

Have a good week!

Colleen :)

Still Time To Bake

I know that the Christmas festivities are in high gear about now, but there is always time to do a little bit more baking. I was looking for new "simple" ideas for some different Christmas baking and I found this recipe at Diethood I thought I would share with you. They look absolutely delicious don't they! I make little mini cheesecakes that are a lot like these and those are really good so I thought I would try these. Oh my no wonder we put on those few extra pounds during the holidays.....all this great eating! :)

Happy Eating!

Colleen :)

Pasta Salad Recipe

Hope everyone's summer is going good. Can't believe we are almost through July! I am always looking for new recipes and trying out new one's and I found this one for a pasta salad. I love pasta salads and in the summer we eat a lot of them.  When I think of pasta salads I think of hot summer nights and even though we don't get too hot up here (thank goodness...hate the heat!) we still eat pasta salads. :)

Jessica over at Mad In Crafts has this recipe for make ahead pasta salad. It looks really simple (Yeah!) and I think I am going to try it. 

Happy Eating!

Colleen :)

Time For Strawberries

One of the things I like about summer is the wonderful fruits available even up here in the north country. So many wonderful recipes for using fruits. One of my favorite fruits are strawberries. Love the strawberries! So being that said I thought I would share this stuffed strawberries recipe with you.

What you will need:

24 large strawberries

1/2 cup strawberry flavored cream cheese

3 tbls light sour cream

How to make it:

1.   Rinse and remove stems from strawberries.

2.   Place strawberries on cutting board point side up.

3.   Cut a deep "x" in the top of each strawberry.

4.   Carefully spread berries apart. 

5.     In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth.

6.    Spoon filling into each berry.

7.   Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

So needless to say....these would be eaten in one sitting! LOL!!! :)  Looks pretty easy so why not give it a try. :)

Enjoy! :)

Colleen

CHRISTMAS BAKING

Wow....can't believe it has been so long since I have posted anything! :(    I have been busy doing my local craft shows so that is a pretty good excuse I guess. :)  I have finished with the shows and they were very successful. I am very happy with all the shows I did. Now I need to finish up packing the gift boxes to get them ready to ship then I can start baking. :)

Speaking of baking.....how about this recipe. It sounds absolutely delicious! Only bad thing is that I would probably only be able to make half the batch as I would eat half the cookie dough, half the peanut butter cups and half the brownie mix before I even got close to the pan!! HA!HA! 

Ingredients:

Refrigerator chocolate chip cookie dough

Mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Box of fudge brownie mix

               *egg

               *water

               *oil

Instructions:

Prepare brownie mix according to box using the eggs, water and oil.

Smash the refrigerator cookie dough into the bottom of the muffin pans

Unwrap and place peanut butter cups on top of the cookie dough. Top with prepared brownie mix.

Bake for 18 minutes in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Walla......you have a great dessert. Now.....if we can keep it from attaching to our hips when we eat them. :)  I may have to try these, but first I have to get those sugar cookies done!

Happy Baking!

WILD CRANBERRY SYRUP

We got our wild high bush cranberries picked and processed for the year. We didn't get the raspberries this year as they weren't very good and the tall grasses took over so bad as we have had so much rain over the last 2 years....hence...all the flooding around here. 

This year we picked wayyyyyy to many again for just jelly so we made syrup also. Hubby likes this on his pancakes. You pretty much make it the same way as jelly, but just leave out the pectin. Now these berries aren't like your store bought berries so I don't know for sure how it would work with those types of berries. 

Here is the recipe. 

Ingredients:

Wild cranberries
Sugar
Lemon Juice

Instructions:

Measure berries-4 cups of berries to 1 cup of water and put in saucepan. I use a stainless steel pan as it works best.

Bring berries and water to a boil. 

After berries are boiling cook approximately 5 minutes until the berries burst. The take a potato masher and mash all the berries in the pan. Pour the mixture into a cheesecloth bag and squeeze out the juice into a bowl. 

Then take the juice and pour it into the pan. I use 1-1 ratio of juice and sugar. I usually use 2 cups of juice to 2 cups of sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and bring all this to a boil. Cook approximately 5 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars or whatever you are using and seal tight. 

There you go.................wild cranberry syrup. :) 

Now it depends on the ripeness of the berries and the growing conditions that year on how thick your syrup will be. The natural pectin in them will determine how thick the syrup is. 

Happy eating! :)

SUMMER POTATO SALAD RECIPE

Well summer is just rushing by for us. How is it going for all of you? Hope you are having a great summer. I have noticed that a lot of the west has been very hot lately and terrible fires going on. That is not a very good thing. Hopefully everyone is ok in those areas. 

There is still plenty of summer left to get those picnics and BBQ's in so I thought I would share my potato salad recipe with all of you. I don't remember where I got this recipe, but I have been making it for 40+ years (there I go again.....showing my age!) and what we like about it is it is made with Italian salad dressing so it isn't the "normal" potato salad. Has a little spice to it. I will give you the large recipe as I make a smaller one since it is just for the two of us now. Now I am one that does a pinch of this and glob of that and not exact measurements, so you will have to see what works for you. :)

Here it is......

Ingredients:

6 potatoes (red or russet...your choice)

4 hard boiled eggs

Appx 2/3 cups of bottle Italian salad dressing (I use Kraft)

Appx 2 large spoonful of dill pickle relish

Appx 3 large spoonful of Miracle Whip

Paprika

Instructions:

Boil and cook the potatoes until done. Cool to touch.

Peel the potatoes and cut into hunks.

Put potatoes in bowl and add the Italian salad and stir to coat the potatoes. Refrigerate for 2 hours. After the potatoes have been refrigerated hard boil 4 eggs, peel and add to potatoes. Add relish and Miracle Whip and mix well with the potatoes and eggs.

Sprinkle top with paprika and walla................you have a great salad for your picnic or BBQ. 

My family always likes this potato salad and I usually have some left over for the next day's lunch. :)

Enjoy those picnics & BBQ's!

BEAT THE HEAT RECIPE

Well summer is beginning to heat up and I am sure some of you are having hot weather. Can't say we get "hot" up here, but 70 degrees for us is pretty hot. We get a few 70 degree days a year usually in July. 

So if you are needing to cool off from the heat, why not try this treat. It is Lemonade with Berry Ice cubes. It came from Spoonful courtesy of Disney.

What you will need:

* 1 11.5oz can frozen concentrate berry juice. You can use a mixed berry juice if you like.

* Raspberries or sliced strawberries.

* 2 quarts+ of water.

* 1 1/3 cups sugar.

* 1 1/3 cups lemon juice.

* lemon slices if desired.

How to make it:

1.  Combine the juice concentrate and one can of water in a pitcher.

2.  Pour the juice mix into two ice cubes trays

3.  Add the raspberries or strawberry slices to the juice in the ice cubes. Freeze

4.  Combine the 2 quarts of water and sugar in a medium size sauce pan.

5.  Bring to a boil, stirring to combine sugar and water until dissolved.

6.  Combine the lemon juice with the sugar water. Chill.

7.  Put three berry ice cubes into a glass and pour lemonade in. 

8.  Garnish with a lemon slice if desired. 

This is a nice treat to cool off on those hot summer days. When my kids were little I use to also make lemonade ice cubes and then would just take them out of the freezer and crunch on them. These are really easy to make so give them a try! :)

Have a great day! :)

PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

Easter is getting closer and of course our minds go to all the Easter candy we can eat. I found this recipe in The Country Register of Minnesota. I love Reese's peanut butter cups and this recipe shows us how to make homemade one's!!! 

 What you will need:

1 11.5 oz package of milk chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 foil or paper muffin cups

How to make it:

You can trim the muffin cups to half their size if you choose too. 

Put 1/2 of the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave about 2 minutes. 

Spoon melted chocolate into muffin cups. With a spoon smooth the chocolate out evenly bringing it up slightly on the sides of the muffin cup.

Cool in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt together.

Spoon into the cooled, chocolate covered muffin cups evenly.

Melt the remaining chocolate and spoon over the peanut butter. Spread chocolate out to the edges of the cups. 

You can add these yummy homemade peanut butter cups to all the other candy that you will have around the house at Easter. Personally I would rather have the peanut butter cups than all that other candy.....well maybe not all the candy....chocolate can stay!! :)

Have a great week and enjoy your peanut butter cup! :)

CHERRY PIE BITES

I am working on my goal this year of getting lots of new recipes so I am coming across lots of good recipes. This is one of them. We like pies especially pie and ice cream, but we are only allowed to have a couple of them a year as we would be big as barns if we ate them as much as we would like to. I saw this recipe the other day and thought...oh my......little bitty cherry pies....I need to make these!!! Hubby likes cherry pie, but I am partial to peach. We both like apple so next time I think I will make these with apple. 

What you will need:

1 21oz can Cherry Pie Filling

2 tubes crescent roll dough

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray regular muffin tin with nonstick cookie spray. Unroll individual crescent roll dough pieces and lay them in individual tins. Put the widest bit of the dough in the bottom. You may have to do this in two batches if you only have the one muffin tin like I have. 

Scoop pie filling into each crescent roll dough pieces. Be be generous with the pie filling as you want to get the nice cherry taste when you bite into them. It is okay if a little seeps out during baking. I put in a couple of spoonfuls. 

Start folding the dough around the filling as best as you can. You should have three corners to pull in. The filling doesn't need to be completely covered. 

Bake about 13-14 minutes. Make sure the rolls are cooked all the way as you do not want to bite into them and have some of the roll be doughy. They should have nice tan-brown tops. 

Now for the frosting/glaze. In a bowl, whisk together powered sugar and milk until smooth and reaches desired consistency. I tend to like mine a little thick as it always runs down the sides of everything I bake. 

With a spoon, drizzle over the warm bites. 

And presto...........you have little cherry pie bites! They are really good I must say and could be eaten all the time if you let yourself so watch out! :)

Enjoy!! :)

RECIPE FOR SNOW...

I know many of you have been buried in snow and freezing temperatures. Surprisingly, and very uncommon for up here, we are warm and mild. Usually this time of year we are buried in snow and below zero weather, but this year it is just upside down up here. We are in the 40's (April temp!) and it has been raining for weeks...yep...raining in January! Bad thing is that when it rains it melts all the snow and since the ground is frozen all the water just sits and freezes at night so we have ice everywhere! Very treacherous walking. That is why I live in my cleats in the winter.

So to help some of you that have snow everywhere here is a little something to do with all that snow......

What you will need:

1 gallon of snow

1 cup of white sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 cups of milk

How to make it:

1. When it starts to snow, place a large clean bowl outside to collect the flakes or collect some already clean fallen snow in the gallon bucket or bowl. Do not pack the snow, just scoop it. 

2. Mix together the milk, vanilla, and sugar

3. Slowly add this mixture to your snow. Stir in just enough to desired consistency. Serve at once. 

This might be something fun that you and your kids or grandkids can do while passing the time when it is snowing outside. Oh my.....I just looked outside and it is raining again!! :(

Have a great day!! :)

CARMEL APPLES...LET'S MAKE SOME

Well fall is here and it is almost time for Halloween so I thought we would make a traditional favorite this time of year. So with the help of my grandkids let's make some caramel apples.

One of our favorite fall snacks is caramel apples. However, we tend to shy away from making them because not only are they messy to make, frankly they are a pain to eat. This fun new twist, inside-out caramel apples, makes them easy to make as well as easy to eat!


What you will need:

1 14 oz bag of caramels
1 1/2 tablespoons of water
2+ apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Nuts (optional)



How to make:

1. Heat the caramels and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Stir often.

2. Meanwhile, cut apples in half and remove the stem. Using a spoon or melon baller, remove the seeds and core of the apples leaving about 1/4" of apple.

3. Using a pastry brush, immediately brush "apple cups" with lemon juice.

4. After apples have sat with lemon juice for at least 2 minutes, use a paper towel to pat the insides dry.

5. Pour the melted caramel inside of the apples cups.

6. Sprinkle them with nuts if desired.

Once the caramel is completely hardened, the apples can be sliced into wedges.

 

 

Hmmmm....makes me hungry just reading this. I use to love to eat caramel apples and yes they were messy, but this sounds like a much better way to get that caramel apple eaten. So head off to the store and get your supplies and enjoy making and eating caramel apples!

  

Enjoy!

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

 

 

 

My grandkids are becoming quite the cooks. My daughter is the publisher of  The Country Register of Minnesota and she has a new section of the paper that she is calling Kids in the Kitchen. I thought maybe I would start sharing some of the recipes with you that maybe you could try out with your kids or grandkids.

 

Summer is starting to wind down, but there is still plenty of heat going on in a lot of the country so there is still time to make "frozen pops"!

 

 

Here is what you will need:

 

2 cups blue Powerade, Gatorade, or Kool-Aid

12 - 5-0z. disposable cups

1 cup frozen whipped topping

1 cup vanilla yogurt

12 craft sticks

2 cups cran-raspberry or cran-apple juice

 

How to make it:

 

1. Divide blue juice between the 12 plastic cups. Place the cups in the freezer until juice is partially frozen.
2. Mix whipped topping and yogurt together.
3. Divide the white mixture between the 12 cups.
4. Put a craft stick into the center of each pop and return to the freezer for about 45 minutes.
5. Add the red juice to the cups and place back into the freezer until fully frozen.

 

Looks good to me. Now...if I just had my grandkids around to make them for me! I sure do miss those grandkids of mine. :)

 

So give this a try and stay cool where ever you are. As far as me up here in the north country.......fall is starting to slowly move in and the rainy season is here so no more heat up here. :(

 

Enjoy!!