Fresh Lemonade

One of the great things about living in the tropics is the abundance of fresh fruit trees. I picked several lemons straight off a tree and made this delicious lemonade. I'm not sure how many lemons you'd need exactly, as they vary in size and how much juice they give. Another Foodnetwork recipe I saw said 12 lemons, but the ones I was juicing were smaller so I needed more. Delicious!!

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup hot water
2 cups fresh lemon juice
1 gallon cold water
1 lemon, sliced
Mint sprigs, for garnish



Directions

In a 1 gallon container, place sugar and hot water, and stir until sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice and cold water to render 1 gallon. Stir until well mixed. Pour lemonade over glasses of ice, squeeze slice of lemon on top of each, and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Recipe and Photo Source: The Food Network

Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars

So, when it comes to desserts, I'm a pretty lazy. Bars are the best invention ever because they take way less time and usually taste about the same. I'm just waaaayyyy too lazy to roll out sugar cookies and these taste just like them without the fancy shapes. There is value in doing it cookie-cutter style, but unless its Christmas or Valentine's Day, count me out. Thanks Mandy for the recipe!

Source: Cooking With Mandy

Frosted Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Bars
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
food coloring

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and egg until frothy, about 4-5 minutes. Add vanilla and almond extract and beat for 1 minute more.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat for about 2 minutes. Pour the dough into a greased cookie sheet. Spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl or stand mixer. Beat for 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, almond extract, and food coloring. Mix for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Frost cookies. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

When we first moved into our home, a neighbor delivered fresh, hot, pumpkin doughnut muffins as a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift.

It. Was. Heavenly.

And you can believe I've never forgotten them.

Fast forward two years and here are two ways of making delicious, pumpkin doughnut muffins:

Option 1:

I am in the process of getting ready to move, so I have been doing my best to use up any and all food we have left in our house. I was asked to bring mini muffins to an event recently and I didn't want to go to the store for any ingredients. Then I remembered the pumpkin pie filling in the pantry I had been trying to use up. And THEN I remembered the delicious pumpkin doughnut muffins from the neighbor and thought I may be able to recreate them so I could use the pumpkin pie filling. I kept trying to find recipes that used the pie filling in a muffin recipe, but every recipe I came across used pumpkin puree, not pie filling. I then stumbled upon a recipe (somewhere I can't find now) where they used only two ingredients to make their muffins-yellow cake mix and pumpkin pie filling. Say what?! No eggs, oil, or anything else was needed. Sa-weet!!! I happened to have both in my pantry :) I mixed the two ingredients together, baked them at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes or so (until a toothpick comes out clean) and they turned out great. They are NOT like a normal muffin and you can definitely tell it has cake mix in it, but I love me some good cake mix taste. :) I then used a cinnamon sugar topping on the muffins (recipe below). It was a great option to making super easy muffins. (note: The pie filling was the very large can, not the smaller can.)

Option 2:

Here is the original recipe that my neighbor brought over. It is a more traditional pumpkin muffin. She made it using the giant muffin pans, but any size muffin pan would also work.


Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

Makes 12

For the Batter:

•10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
•3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
•2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•1 teaspoon coarse salt
•1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
•1/3 cup buttermilk
•1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
•3/4 cup light-brown sugar
•2 large eggs

For the Sugar Coating:

•3/4 cup granulated sugar
•2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Make batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture and beat to combine.

Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture. Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack.

Fresh Vegetable/Fruit Juice

If you have Netflix, I suggest watching the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." It shows how juicing can be really beneficial to your health, even to the point that it can reverse sicknesses brought on by poor diet choices. By eating and drinking micro-nutrient dense foods, you will be a healthier person and who doesn't want that?! If you look around, you can get good deals on vegetables to juice. At our local Winco, 25 pounds of juicing carrots are just $6.98! The bag is huge so I split the cost with a friend. Score for both of us!

In today's juice, I used 2 celery stalks, a few swiss chard leaves and stems, 1 granny-smith apple, 1/2 cucumber (the no wax kind with the skin on), about 10 carrots carrots, 1/4 of a beet and a few leaves of kale. You can substitute many different items, but we usually do carrots as the base of the juice because they are cheap and super good for you. They are also sweet so it has a good flavor. Go easy on the beet-a little bit goes a long way. We have also thrown in there cutie oranges or a wedge of lemon and it has been good too....but also go easy on the citrus because it has a strong flavor.


Happy juicing!!

Monster Cookies

 These cookies are really good and I love that I usually have all of the ingredients in my pantry. They also are gluten free (aka...no flour)! Now I finally have something to put my oats and peanut butter to use, other than PB Bars.  Thanks again to Mel's Kitchen Cafe for another recipe keeper!

*Makes 2-3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), softened
1 cup M&Ms
1 cup milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly grease with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter and butter. Mix until creamy and well combined. Stir in the M&Ms, chocolate chips, baking soda and oatmeal. Mix well. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don’t overbake – the cookies should just be set and very lightly golden around the edges. Let the cookies sit for 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in a airtight container for 2 days (the baked cookies freeze well, also).

Recipe Source Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Photo Source Recipe Girl

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping

I first found this recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, then later from The Girl Who Ate Everything (see link below) and after reading through those sites, found out is is originally from Paula Dean. For those who know Paula Dean, she doesn't skimp on, well.....just about anything. This recipe did take a little more time than I had originally anticipated, but turned out really well and came together quickly. There are also two options I found for making it. One option is to have a thinner cheesecake layer and the other is to have a thicker cheesecake layer. I asked my husband what he preferred and he said, "The more cheesecake, the better!" So, follow the recipe below to get the look in the pictures above. The cheesecake layer is thick, rich and so good! Next time I might try the thinner cheesecake layer to see the difference. The thinner cheesecake ingredients are listed at the bottom of the recipe. 

Another note, the directions say to line the pan with foil before baking. I did this, but found the crust not as "crusty" as I would originally like. Next time I might try leaving the foil out and see how it turns out.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Choose either the thick or thin cheesecake filling, depending on what you like.

THICK Cheesecake Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

THIN Cheesecake Filling:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apples:
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel topping, recipe follows

1/2 cup caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Crust:

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cheesecake Layer (thick layer instructions below, but adapt to thin layer if that is what you are making)

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

Apple Layer
In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

Streusel Topping:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.


Photo and Recipe Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything, recipe adapted from Paula Deen

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Blondie Cups

I got this recipe somewhere really classy-the back of a package of Reese's Minatures. Anyway, I loved the Valentines look to them with the holiday sprinkles, but you could adapt these to any holiday or just leave the sprinkles off for a delicious peanut butter/chocolate concoction. Also, since you use the mini baking cups and they come out "pretty", I thought they would be cute for a baby shower or party. I'll be honest, my husband and I were worried we would be wasting an ENTIRE bag of Reese's on this dessert and we were so glad when we realized we didn't waste a thing! Enjoy!

REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER BLONDIE CUPS

33 Reese's Minatures Peanut Butter Cups, divided

1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1/4 C creamy peanut butter

1/2 C packed light brown sugar

1/4 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1 TBP milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 C all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

decorative sprinkles

COCOA DRIZZLE GLAZE

1 TBS butter or margarine

1 TBS unsweetened cocoa

1 TBS water

1/2 C powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(Makes 1/4 C glaze, see below for directions)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 36 small muffin cups (1-3/4 inches in diameter) with paper or foil bake cups. Remove wrappers from peanut butter cups. Coarsely chop 24 peanut butter cups; set aside.

2. Beat butter and peanut butter until well blended. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, milk and vanilla; beat thoroughly. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in chopped peanut butter cups.

3. Roll dough into 36 equal balls (about 1 1/4 inches); place in prepared pans. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set. Remove from oven; cool completely in pans on wire rack.

4. Cut remaining peanut butter cups into quarters; set aside. Prepare Cocoa Drizzle Glaze; drizzle over cookie tops, Immediately garnish with decorative candies, if desired. Before drizzle sets, top each cookie with peanut butter quarter. 36 cookie cups.

COCOA DRIZZLE GLAZE

Place 1 TBS butter or margarine in small microwave safe bowl. Microwave at Medium (50%) 20 to 30 seconds or until melted. Stir in 1 TBS unsweetened cocoa and 1 TBS water. Microwave at Medium 15 to 30 seconds or just until mixture is hot, slightly thickened and smooth when stirred. Do not boil. Gradually add 1/2 C powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, beating with whisk until smooth. If necessary, add additional water, a few drops at a time, until of desired consistency. Makes about 1/4 cup glaze.

Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles

I am always keeping my eyes open for good breakfast recipes. This one is a keeper and I'm going to use it as my new go-to pancake recipe. I haven't tried this recipe when making waffles yet, but the original recipe said it could be used as both. I will say that it is a great whole-wheat pancake recipe and I LOVE the fact that I have updated my old pancake recipe with this better one :)

Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles

Makes 12 pancakes

2 cups milk

1/4 c oil

2 eggs

3 TBS sugar

2 C whole wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Put all wet ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Combine dry ingredients into a separate bowl and mix well. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. The mixture should be slightly lumpy. Cook on hot griddle* or waffle iron.

*I put my griddle at 350 degrees and they cook perfectly! :)

Photo Source Inquiring Chef
PS  I really want to try her version of Light and Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes.  Click link above to see recipe.

Strawberry Footballs

Its a little late to use these for the Superbowl, but here is a fun idea for your next football party! I made these for a baby shower recently and the theme was football. Anyway, I loved the way these turned out! The link for the original recipe is below, but I didn't follow it exactly.

First, wash the strawberries and let them dry completely. I put them on paper towels and patted them dry. After the berries are dry, I melted Chocolate Almond Bark (found in the baking section) over a double boiler. I only dipped the front of the strawberry in chocolate vs dipping the entire strawberry. I was afraid of running out of chocolate. Looking back, I should have just went wild because I had a lot of chocolate left over. After you dip the strawberries, let them cool on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. When all strawberries are dipped, place the tray in the fridge to cool until the chocolate is solid again. It won't take long, just a few minutes probably.

For the lacing, I melted white chocolate chips and used a disposable piping bag. Using chocolate chips was tricky because it took about ten minutes of struggling with the piping bag to get it the right consistency. First the chocolate was too hot so it was clumping. Then for awhile it was just the right temperature and came out like a dream. Last it was getting too cool and started to get hard again. Looking back, using white chocolate chips looked good on the strawberries because it hardened well, but it was kind of a pain to produce. I might try frosting of some sort the next time I make the lacing. :)

Note: Do NOT make these ahead of time. Do them right before your event. If you put the chocolate covered strawberries in the fridge, they get all watery and weird. Trust me! :)

Original link:

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/01/31/super-bowl-week-chocolate-covered-strawberry-footballs/

We also made some peanut butter football bars. This lacing was produced using frosting.

Greek Garlic Lemon Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 2 medium cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound chicken breasts (I usually cut really thick chicken breasts down to thin them out and make the pieces a little smaller so they absorb the marinade better)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all marinade ingredients. Place chicken in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag and place in fridge overnight. Grill (or cook in frying pan). Serve with sides of your choice or cut into bite sized pieces and add to desired recipe (I’ll be sharing a few with you soon). Note: If you cut your chicken into smaller, bite-sized pieces and then marinate it, you can get away with only letting it marinate for 5 or 6 hours instead of overnight.

Often, I will double the marinade and chicken and grill it all up and freeze the extras to use later.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, adapted from Erin W at the Sisters Cafe.
Photo Source: Baltic Maid

Savory German Pancakes

I feel like I always need new breakfast ideas....so if you have any, let me know! Most people have had German Pancakes before. I personally don't make them often, not because they don't taste good, but because they are loaded with butter and white flour. Usually you top German Pancakes with syrup, fruit, Nuetella or whatever other sweet concoction you can come up with. I'm not dissing that, but sometimes it can be a sugar overload. Ok, it IS a sugar overload that nobody needs. :) This version adds in vegetables so it gives it a savory feel instead of a sweet feel. I changed the recipe a little to be a bit more healthy, but the original version is something I would make if I were serving this to a large gathering or company. I'll also add these were supposed to be more "puffy", but I accidentally mixed the butter in with the other ingredients so it weighed it down. It still was good, just not fluffy like its supposed to be. I gave the recipe for regular German Pancakes and then below that for Savory German Pancakes. Enjoy!

German Pancakes

6 eggs

1 C milk

1 C flour (I used whole wheat)

1/2 C butter (I used 1/4 C)

Mix eggs, milk and flour in blender until smooth (I just used my Kitchen Aide). In a 9x13 pan, melt butter. Pour egg mixture over butter and bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check occasionally and its done when browned.

Savory German Pancakes

Same as above, except cook pancakes for 10 minutes. Take the half-cooked pancakes out of oven. Top with whatever chopped savory ingredients you desire. Options may include:

mushrooms

green onions

onions

olives

ham

sausage

tomatoes

peppers of every color

Put pancakes back in oven and cook another 10-20 minutes. It is done when browned on bottom and sides, and cooked in the middle. Top with cheese if desired and place back in oven for a few minutes to melt. Serve with pico de gallo, salsa or ketchup. Fruit is also a great side dish!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

I made a few substitutions to this recipe. For one, I made them with corn tortillas instead of flour (making this dish gluten free, a change I had to make because I was taking this meal to a friend who can't have gluten). I was nervous about the change, but I'll be honest-it turned out really good! It had a more authentic Mexican taste to it and I will probably make them with corn tortillas from now on because I liked the taste so much. I also substituted sour cream for the cream and added a large can of green chilies to the sour cream mixture because I didn't buy a big enough can of the green enchilada sauce. It turned out great! I served this with corn and bean salsa and shredded romaine lettuce.

INGREDIENTS:

6 tablespoons honey

5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 3 small chicken breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream (to lighten them up, I have substituted sour cream with good results)

DIRECTIONS:
Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (I tossed mine together in a ziploc bag in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day). Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

*Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Banana Coconut Pecan Pancakes

Banana Coconut Pecan Pancakes:

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

Adapted from Cooking Light A

August 2009

• 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup of flour- I use straight whole wheat
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup vanilla fat free yogurt
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2-3 tbsp pecans, crushed
• 3 tbsp sweetened coconut flakes
• 1 large banana, smashed

Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, stirring well to combine. Combine yogurt butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs, coconut, pecans, and mashed banana in a small bowl, mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture, stirring until smooth.

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto a hot nonstick griddle or skillet. Cook 2 minutes or until the tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Carefully turn pancakes over; cook 2 more minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Top with freshly sliced banana, coconut, and maple syrup. Enjoy.

Photo Source: Jersey Girl Cooks
PS  Would love to try Jersey Girls version next time!

Tuna Casserole

Tuna Casserole

one 12 oz package egg noodles (I used whole wheat)

1/4 C onion, chopped

2 c shredded cheese (I used half cheddar, half mozzarella)

1 C frozen peas

2 cans tuna, drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Milk that fills the soup can

1/3 C sour cream (an estimate)

crushed potato chips or french fried onions (optional)

1. Cook egg noodles to package directions. Drain. Return to pot.
2.  Saute onion and celery in butter until tender.  

3. Add all ingredients (except optional topping) in pot and mix.  Place mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle chips or french fried onions over top if desired. Bake 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes (uncovered) until hot and bubbly.

Photo Source: Pinch My Salt