Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival Fifth Edition!!!

Hi everyone!  The return of the Delicious Endeavors Blog Carnival looks like a great success!  There are recipes of all different sorts, which is always fun to see.  We here at Granny's house submitted our Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe which is incredibly awesome, if I do say so myself.

 Romanesco cauliflower – easy-peasy recipe was submitted and posted at Miss Thrifty.  This is so fascinating to me because I've never even seen Romanesco cauliflower and I worked in a pretty extensive produce department for a while.  Miss Thrifty has me curious, and I'm thinking of special ordering it so that I can try it.

Mr Salsa submitted a Red Hot Salsa Recipe posted at Salsa Recipes For You.  Homemade salsa is always a good idea for sure.

Wenchypoo posted In Advance of Thansgiving: What To Do With Those Leftovers at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.  There are a couple great ideas for how to use leftovers, one of which is a fabulous idea for a sort of Shepard's Pie.  Who would have thought to use stuffing as a crust??

Lisa posted Harvest Stuffing at akawest.  Another great submission that sounds like a guaranteed win for the holidays!

Celeste submitted Cooking Creation: Homemade Ricotta-Parmesan Ravioli in Marinara posted at Cooking Creation.  Wow.  I have an Italian husband so homemade pasta definitely makes my list of favorite meals!

Patti submitted ONION SOUP ON THE CHEAP by P.B.Lecron posted at A French Education.  Everyone should have a few "go-to" soups in their repertoire.. and what better than to have a French Onion Soup as one of them?

Last but not least Michele submitted Parisian Apple Tartlet posted at Fit Foodista.  This recipe looks fabulous, pretty simple yet delicious and would be a great dessert for any meal.

Thanks for playing everyone!  Be sure to submit again for next week's carnival, the link should be up soon... and speaking of links, be sure to check out all the recipes and to link back here to this carnival post so that everyone can benefit from these great submissions!

Pumpkin Spice Latte (who needs Starbucks??)

This recipe is great because not only does it taste like one of the expensive seasonal lattes from a coffee shop, but it's also available year round so if you find yourself missing autumn flavors in the middle of spring you can feel free to whip one up.  Plus you never have to go out in the cold on a coffee run if you don't want to!

Pumpkin Latte

1 1/2 c. Half & Half Cream

2 Tbsp Canned Pumpkin

2 tspn Vanilla

1 tspn Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 Tbsp Sugar

Very Strong Coffee or Espresso (one big mug's worth.. this recipe makes 2 mugs of latte)

whipped cream (optional)

In a small sauce pan stir together Half & Half, pumpkin, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and sugar over medium heat until blended and hot. (but not boiling) Remove from heat and whisk quickly until it gets foamy.  Split between two large mugs, and then fill them the rest of the way with the extremely strong coffee.  Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival

It has come to my attention that our blog carnival hasn't been active in quite some time... which is mostly because of the lack of participation, but also because of the busy lives we lead.  I think we're going to get the carnival back up and running and see if we can get some good participation this fall. 

With the holiday season approaching us, it should be easy to come up with seasonal favorites to share!  Please come out and join the fun!  For those who don't understand what a blog carnival is, bloggers of all types submit blog posts (in our case the post should include a recipe) and then since we are the hostesses of this carnival, we will post the carnival post here on the scheduled date.  We can all check out each other's recipes, which is so fun.  Not only do we learn some awesome new recipes, but we also increase blog traffic to our sites.

Want to play along?  Click on the submit link, and submit a recipe, along with the permalink to your post.
Then on the day of the carnival post a link on your own blog that leads to the carnival post.  Easy Peasy! 
The deadline for next week's carnival is Tuesday Nov 9th, at 8AM.  The carnival itself will be posted by Wednesdays.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

This recipe is a favorite, and while I've made it "by scratch" before, when I do it's never the same because I end up just altering any homemade chocolate cake recipe.  Because of this, I decided that in order to post it, I'll stick with the original recipe, which is essentially a doctored cake mix recipe but it's delicious just the same.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

1 Box(18 25oz) cake mix --

(devil's food)

1 pk Instant pudding mix --

Chocolate, 4-serv

1 c Sour cream -- (1/2 pint)

1 c Vegetable oil

4 Eggs

1/2 c Water

30 Mini chocolate peanut butter, crushed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, with an electric beater, combine all the ingredients except the crushed candies; mix well. Stir in the crushed candies and mix well. Pour into a well-greased 10-inch Bundt pan and bake for 60-65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake slightly, about 15 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and continue to cool thoroughly on a wire cooling rack. Yield: 10-12 servings

I usually drizzle on a glaze of some sort, in the picture above I opted for a Peanut Butter Glaze.

Peanut Butter Glaze:
 3-4 tsp water (add until thin enough to drizzle)
2/3 c. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter

Stir ingredients together until smooth and drizzle over cake. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I normally don't decorate it quite as intricately as I did this one.  This particular cake was baked in honor of my daughter's dedication which happened on a beautiful fall day, hence the fall theme.  The "harvest fruits" were made of marzipan that I had dyed and shaped appropriately, and the autumn leaves were actually made from spreading melted chocolate discs on top of wax paper using a maple leaf stencil and then letting it harden.

A recipe-less cookie post

I normally don't post "personal" posts on this blog.. but considering the content of the pictures, I decided to do it anyway.  This is what happens when you decide to bake some Autumn cookies for some special out-of-state family.  First you bake the cookies and let them cool on the rack:

Then you hear the pitter patter of little feet who have used their sense of smell to track down something that they've figured out they're missing out on:

And since they look so cute you agree to let them "help" which turns into more eating than helping so you send them on their way, each having consumed a satisfying amount of both sprinkles and frosting:

And after they are banished from the kitchen you finish frosting them yourself, equipped with fall colors.

And by late that night you'll be able to package up delicious little apples, maple leafs and acorns to take on your weekend visit which shall include a great-grandson's soccer game, lunch at Sonic, and whatever other surprises show up along the way.

Squash Apple Bake

Many, many moons ago I worked at a grocery store called Wegmans.  If you live on the east coast you may very well have shopped at Wegmans, but otherwise you wouldn't recognize it... yet.  (they are expanding at a fast rate)  Wegmans prides itself as being a shopping experience.  They often have great prices, but they also make sure they carry a huge variety of foods and they will make sure that incredible effort goes into the environment and quality of their stores and customer service.  Part of this customer service is to have a chef cooking during the day, giving out samples and teaching techniques. 

I was that person.  (back when I did it, they didn't require a culinary degree)  It was... interesting.  But I learned a lot, and picked up a few recipes along the way.  Often the recipes that they'd want taught were those that stretched the boundaries of how food is typically prepared in a home kitchen.  (I remember when I spent a month teaching how to properly braise different meats.. and you'd be shocked how many people don't do it effectively) 

One of the recipes that I taught was a Squash Apple Bake.  While I may not remember the exact recipe due to my habit of tweaking things along the way, I do know what I put in it now.  It's a butternut squash recipe, and the squash itself is sliced and cooked, giving it a slightly different texture than the mushy squash that you would typically find when one thinks of "sweet" winter squash. 

The other good things about it: butternut squash isn't hard to grow, keeps on the shelf for a long time, and is fairly inexpensive at roadside stands. The downside?  Squash is hard to "peel".  You have to take a really sharp knife and just slice off sections of the outside until all you have is the orange inside.  Don't cut yourself.  And then slice the pieces off, throwing away the stringy seedy section in the bottom.  It would confuse the texture of the dish if you kept the "guts" in there.

Try this recipe, you'll be glad you have.

Squash Apple Bake

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces (discarding the stringy core)
2-3 McIntosh apples, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
1 small onion, sliced
1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar, split in half
1 cup of apple cider (can substitute water)

Preheat your oven to 375*

In the bottom of a 13x9 pan, put a layer of squash, layer of onion, layer of apple and then scatter pats of butter on top.  Sprinkle one half of the brown sugar over this.  Repeat the process.  If you haven't used up all your ingredients after two tiers you can add a third.  It's not an exact science.  Then pour the cider over the top of it all.

Cover with foil.  Bake at 375 for about an hour, or until the squash is fork-tender. 

Halloween Hayride Cheesey Noodle Soup

Since it's that time of year again when the nights turn cool and crisp I thought of this soup. I love Fall with nature's warm array of colors and harvests more than any other season. My memory always takes me back to when our children were young and we would have huge parties and need a cup of something hearty when we would come in from a cold hayride. This was always a crowd pleaser. Enjoy !

3 cups water
3 pkt.s chicken flavored seasoning broth
1 med. minced onion
1 bunch chopped broccoli with trimmed down stem
1 cup noodles
1+1/2 cups cubed Velveeta cheese
2 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. milk

Bring water and broth
to a boil. Add broccoli,onions,and
noodles and cook till tender.
Stir in cheese, butter, and milk and heat through.
Soup should be of a thinner consistency so add
another Tbs. of milk if it becomes thick.
Serve with your favorite topping s if desired such
as oyster crackers,slivered almond, real bacon, or chopped ham .

Orange and Maple Cream Truffles

These homemade filled chocolates were my raffle item at the family picnic this year. 

Yes, they were as good as they looked.

I made two varieties.  The one that is dusted with confectionary sugar had an orange cream center and the walnut topped candy is maple cream filled.

The recipe is what I adapted from a peppermint patty recipe that I use at Christmas.

Cream Filled Truffles

1 8 oz block of cream cheese, softened

1 bag of confectionary sugar

2 bags of chocolate chips, I prefer dark

Extract/oil of your preferred flavor (I obviously had orange and maple extracts in the cupboard but peppermint obviously works as would a bunch of others.. if you use orange you can throw in some orange zest too.)

Food Coloring if preferred

1 Tbsp shortening

Blend the cream cheese and the powdered sugar together, and then blend in extract a few drops at a time until the flavor is as strong as you prefer.  Then add a few drops of food coloring to make it look like the flavor that it is. 

When it's all well blended and flavored, roll the mixture into bite size balls.  Cover and refrigerate for an hour. 

Then combine the chocolate chips and shortening and either melt in a double boiler, or microwave for thirty seconds at a time, stirring in between until smooth and melted. 

Dip each ball of filling into the chocolate  until covered and place on wax paper.  Then you can either refrigerate them as is, or top them with crushed nuts, sprinkles, etc. 

Keep refrigerated, and try not to eat them all yourself.  Seriously, they're that good.



Home Made Rice-A-Roni

I like Rice-a-Roni once in awhile for a side dish and had a craving for it. I didn't have a box in the house so I improvised and it turned out good. I made it from what I had in my cupboard but I'm sure it would be good with chopped veggies or anything you would like to add for flavor. Or you could use canned chicken broth in place of the liquid and add salt and pepper and add your own seasonings.


2 cups Uncle Ben's Converted Brown Rice
1 cup spaghetti broken in small pieces
1/2 stick butter
2 cups water
2 packets instant chicken broth seasoning
1/2 tsp pepper

Melt butter on med. heat on a large fry pan.
Add dry rice and spaghetti and brown in the
butter while stirring it so it becomes golden brown.

Add liquid and broth mixes and cover.
Simmer about 20 mins. until rice is tender.
If it looks like you need more water add 1/2 cup
while it's cooking.

Skillet Macaroni and Beef

Calling all you busy home makers out there... Does the thought of a one pan dinner interest you? Years ago as a new home maker myself I found this recipe for mac. and beef that didn't require precooking the macaroni and of course I had to try this one :) I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out, and that I could make it in a flash with very little clean up involved. Hooray for that! It reminds me of those box hamburger meals with all those preservatives in them that you add the meat to that I never preferred to serve in our house.(Plus I sampled a bite once somewhere and was not impressed !!!) We like it made strictly with the can tomatoes though recipe says tomato sauce will work too.The green pepper is a MUST too!!!! Pre -cooking the macaroni in the beef drippings first before adding the liquid helps to remove some of the starch as well.


1+1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 lb. uncooked macaroni
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup minced onions
1 cup water
1+ 1/2 Tbs. Worcestershire
2 cans whole tomatoes put through a food processor or
2 8oz. cans tomato sauce
1tsp. salt
dash pepper
Parmesan cheese.

Brown ground beef in large deep skillet.
Remove beef and set aside .
Add g. peppers, onions, and the macaroni and cook
on low heat until the macaroni is yellow.
Stir to prevent sticking. If beef is very lean
add a pat of butter or tsp of oil.
Return the beef back to the pan along with all the
rest of ingredients and cover.
Simmer on low heat about 25 mins. or until macaroni is done.
Stir once in awhile.
Serve with the cheese.

Fussy Day Crockpot Chicken

I found this while thumbing through a relative's (Thanks again Teresa)cookbook one day and the simplicity of it intrigued me so much I had to try it. I used a homemade B.B.Q sauce but what ever you fancy will work. This recipe sounds like it may have been created by a poor Mama of some fussy babies who had to come up with ideas to free herself up in the kitchen :)

1 whole chicken
1+1/2 cups B.B.Q sauce
salt
pepper

Preheat a crock pot to low.
Rinse and pat dry chicken.
Place breast side up in crock pot.
Pour B.B.Q sauce over top and in cavity.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
Don't peek!
The meat will fall off the bones easily.
The fat can be skimmed from sauce and
then you can turn sauce into a gravy.
This can be served with potatoes,rice or noodles.

Bacon Cups

I haven't been here lately.  My mom (bless her heart) has been posting recipes otherwise this blog would be filled with dust bunnies like my personal blog is.  What can I say, summer happens, kids happen, babies happen... life gets real. 

But I did find this today.  And I had to share it.  It's a bacon cup.  Like as in a cup.  Made of bacon.  Go here to see how Not Martha made these.  And can you think of a more delicious way to hold a salad.  (yes I'm aware of the unhealthy aspect of bacon.  And no I don't care.  It's still awesome.)  I just think this would be an awesome addition to a little BLT salad.  Or a brunch!  Can you imagine little scrambled-egg-filled-bacon cups???  Oh be still my pregnant heart.

Golden Baked Chicken

I found this easy recipe for chicken in the 1970's and have been making it since then. I throw in a few cut up potatoes around these sometimes to save time and mess.

2 halved skinless chicken breasts
4 tsp. soft butter
2 Tbs. dry minced onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp paprika
2 Tbs. snipped parsley

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Place chicken in an ungreased baking pan.Spread 1 tsp butter on each piece. Sprinkle with the onion,garlic power,salt and paprika. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes or until tender and sprinkle with parsley.

Bakery Style Maple Cookies

One of my favorite memories when I was a small child was living near by to a wonderful bakery that my sisters would take me to that made those large maple frosted cookies. And every diner in town would have a canister sitting there full of them. They were heavenly. Long story short a relative had gotten the recipe from a friend and she gave it to me. I tweaked it a bit to simulate what my memory remembered them to taste like. And she didn't give me exact amounts of frosting ingredients so I improvised there. I like to swirl the warm frosting in the middle of the warm cookies so the frosting spreads a bit and look glossy like the bakery type do. I know they are a little harder to make because they are a roll out but I think they are worth the effort if you fancy maple cookies and like a challenge like we do:) A wide mouth jar makes a great cutter by the way unless you have a big one. My daughter has done them in a leaf shape as well for special occasions. Please read the recipe all the way through first for the directions and feel free to ask questions. Hope this takes some of you back to your yester-years too and... Don't forget to share :)

Ingredients;
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 extra lg. eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup butter
2 tsp maple flavoring
5 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Cream sugars, butter and maple flavoring.
Beat in eggs, and sour cream.
Add all the dry ingredients to this well
and roll out 1/2 inch thick
on a lightly floured board and cut
in large round circles.
Bake for 10 Min's in 400 oven.

Frost warm with maple frosting.

To make the frosting warm in a pan;
1/2 stick butter
2 tbls. milk
1 to 2 tsp. maple flavoring
Beat in 2 cups or more confectionery sugar with mixer
to make a thin frosting and turn off heat leaving
pan on the stove to stay warm.
Frost the cookies right away to give them that
glossy smooth frosted appearance if you desire.
Frosting will become firmer as it sets up
and cools so make sure it's able to hold
it's shape but not real thick when you put it on.
It can be rewarmed and thinned if necessary.

Grilled Zucchini and Potato slices

If you need an idea for side dishes to cook along with your meat
on the grill this summer try this simple idea which taste great.

Stand 2 small zucchini up on end
and slice them lenthwise to make long slices
Do the same with 2 baking potatoes slicing thin.

Place them in a long container and drizzle with oil.
Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper and
turn to lightly coat each side.

Grill potatoes on one side and turn.
Close grill but watch them carefully.
Add zucchini and grill until lightly brown and tender.
These cook rather quickly.
Serve with parmesan cheese or sour cream.
I have also done them with Cajun seasonings as well.

Delicious Endeavors Blog Carnival

Hello out there in blogland!  An awful thing has occurred.  My laptop, my precious connection to the internet world has given up its will to live.  We went on vacation and it just died.  Well, we are back from vacation and while we have been doing what we can to rectify the problem, I just haven't been able to blog yet.  I'm here now to finally post an edition of the Delicious Endeavors Carnival, and it actually works out quite well this way because over the course of the last few weeks there weren't that many carnival entries anyway, so I'm able to lump them all together in a more meaty post here.   

Jenny Horowitz presents Sole Meurniere posted at Jenny Learns to Cook.

Squawkfox presents How to Cook Quinoa (with tasty quinoa recipes) posted at Squawkfox.

Fi presents Green Tomato Jam posted at Spaces Between The Gaps.

Dana presents Capture the fragrance of spring with lilac jelly! posted at Roscommon Acres.

Derrick presents Bacon Wrapped Grilled Chicken Recipe posted at Backyard Grilling.

Bobbie Whitehead presents Asparagus Casserole posted at The Backyard Grower.

Lori presents Tomatoed Corn posted at Two Southern Girls.

Jennifer Grass presents Shrimp Creole - YUM! posted at Momof2GreatCats's Xanga blog - Furballs and other mysteries of life.

Sidhusaaheb presents My Mother's Tomato Ketchup Recipe posted at I, Me, Myself.

Basia presents Chocolate Macademia Truffles posted at Inspired Living.

Funny Bone Cake

Of all the store bought snack cakes there are out there,there is only one I just can not resist and walk on by and that is Drake's Funny Bones. They are a chocolate peanut butter filled cake that is dipped in chocolate and not available in all stores. Well recently I decided to try and make a copycat version but then I thought no way could I do that without it being a really messy ordeal. So..... drum roll please.... I invented a cake that I think came out tasting exactly the same with a lot less work :) The first time I made it I got a little over zealous with the chocolate topping and made too much but after I made it much thinner it came out great :) I made a very moist easy homemade chocolate cake off the Hershey's cocoa can but if you want to use a mix or a favorite recipe go for it.
You will need;

One prepared ,baked and cooled chocolate cake in a 9 by 13 inch pan.
Filling;
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups confectionary sugar
7 tbls. whole milk
Topping;
2 cups melted semi-sweet morsels
3 Tbls. crisco shortning
1 tsp milk
Beat the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until
very creamy.Spread this over the cake.
Next melt the morsels and crisco in a microwave
bowl or double boiler stirring in between until pourable.
Add 1 tsp milk.
pour over the peanut butter layer spreading to the edge.
Chill cake for at least 2 hours.

Ramen Noodle Salad

A few years ago one of our relatives (thanks Beth) brought this to the family reunion and I thought it was so different and I requested the recipe. Since then I have tweaked it a little and make it frequently. Feel free to add some shredded carrot or whatever you want to suit your taste. If your watching your salt intake start with a tsp or so and add more at the table if you need it.

Ingredients
1+ 1/2 cup.s thinly sliced cabbage
1 bunch chopped green onions
2 cooked, diced,and chilled chicken breasts
1 pkg. chicken ramen noodles,broken,cooked and drained
1/2 cup canola oil
3 Tbls. cider vinegar
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 seasoning packet from noodles

Combine seasonings in bowl. Add oil and vinegar and seasoning packet and blend well. Mix with noodles and vegetables and chill 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

Shrimp Scampi

Here is my quick scampi recipe I make to serve over buttered brown rice or with a baked potato.

1 stick butter
2 to 3 lb.s shelled shrimp, de-veined
1 to 2 tsp. minced garlic
1 Tbs. Cooking wine or regular wine
1/4 cup parmesan cheese


Heat and stir shrimp in large fry pan
over medium heat a couple mins.to
remove the liquid.
Add butter , garlic and wine
and cook on high a couple more mins. Just
before serving sprinkle parmesan cheese
over top and serve shrimp over buttered rice.

Cherry Pie Bars

Here is a bar cookie that uses can cherry pie filling and is easy to throw together and perfect for picnics and parties.

Hope you enjoy it. 

Cherry Pie Bars

In a large bowl beat the following ingredients;

1 cup salted softened butter

2 cups sugar

Add ;

1/4 tsp almond extract

4 eggs one at a time beating after each one.

Blend in just until combined;

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt.

Spread 3 cups of the batter in a 15 by 10 or a little larger

well greased jelly roll pan.

Open 2 - 21 oz. cans extra cherries cherry pie filling

Spread that over the batter in the pan.

Next drop the rest of the the batter by tsp. over filling.

Bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven till lightly brown.

Cool completely and drizzle with a glaze made of:

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp. melted butter

2 tbs. milk

1 cup confectioners sugar.

When the glaze sets up cut into bars and serve.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

This is my very favorite banana bread recipe, I think because of the extra moisture that the sour cream adds.  My favorite way to eat it is sliced with whipped cream cheese on top.  Oh, and I'd double this recipe, because one loaf never seems to be enough.  Plus leftovers make a great breakfast snack.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

2/3 c. butter

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. bananas, mashed

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tspn baking powder

1 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 c. sour cream

1 c. chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar together; add eggs and bananas, beat until smooth.  In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.  Add dry mixture alternately with sour cream to banana mix.  Blend well.  Fold in nuts and pour into a greased 9"x5" loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes.  Makes 8 servings

Old fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

Here is another of those recipes from that cook book I told you all about in a prior post called "I found a treasure". It's just a simple peanut butter cookie recipe from years ago that I have used for many,many years.

Cream together;
1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar

Beat in;
1 cup peanut butter
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp.baking soda
3 cups flour.

Roll into small balls and place spaced apart
on cookie sheet. Press with a sugared
fork making criss cross marks on them.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 mins.
Cool before you remove these from sheet.
These will set up and be chewy as they cool.
Do not over bake or they will be too crispy.

Delicious Endeavors Blog Carnival

Welcome to the Delicious Endeavors Blog Carnival!  This week's carnival had some great variety. Check out these links

Jessica presents Roast Leg of Lamb posted at Countless Calories.

Darcy presents Bread & Cheese posted at Of Winds and Water.

Linda@NHE presents How To Tenderize Beef With Baking Soda posted at Natural Health Ezine.

Lori Vaughn presents Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Treats posted at Two Southern Girls.

YourLifEvents.com presents Wedding Dish Wonders: Create an Economical Menu by Creating Sophisticated Updates of Classics posted at Your LifEvents Lifestyle Blog for the Artsy Chic - Wedding Planning Blog, Party Planning Blog, Nesting, Kids, Parenting Advice, Dating Advice, Wedding Blog, Parenting Blog, Craft Blog, DIY Blog.

Lori presents 1st Birthday Cake Recipes: Allergy-Friendly, Gluten-Free And Sugar-Reduced posted at Parenting Squad.

Jessica presents Be A Little Cheesy: It May Improve Your Health posted at Healthy Theory.

June presents Yoplait Greek Yogurt Dip (Tzatziki) With A Coupon posted at The Digerati Life.

Jennifer  presents GREEN STUFF! (aka Lime Pear Jello Salad) posted at Momof2GreatCats's Xanga blog - Furballs and other mysteries of life.

Be sure to submit a recipe for next week's too!

Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival, Fourth Edition!

Welcome to the March 30, 2010 edition of delicious endeavors recipe carnival.  This edition has been modified quite a bit by me... and I'm sorry to have to say that I've had to modify the rules of the carnival a bit.  From now on Delicious Endeavors will be a RECIPE and COOKING carnival.  If I read a submission that doesn't either tell us how to cook something, or give us specific food uses then I will not include it.  Please forgive me for the technicality but I've received sooooo many submissions from week to week that are not applicable for a recipe carnival.

Now on to the party!!!!!  There are some great submissions this week!

 

Ishtar presents » The world of solar cooking Esther Garvi: The Garvi Family Chronicles posted at Esther Garvi.  This post is positively fascinating.  She's cooking with a solar slow cooker and although the idea of liver stew doesn't ring my bell (I'm not a fan of liver) I love the idea itself and the method.  Now if only I could do this in NY, lol!


Tabitha Bee presents a recipe for a quiche in To Market posted at eats of eden.  I have to say that reading this post made me want to visit a fresh market so badly.  We aren't quite to that season here yet, but I'm so excited to be able to get some farm fresh ingredients on the table this spring.

Sarah  presents Company Worthy Side Dishes posted at NH Mommy of 3.  These side dishes are all fairly healthy and could easily be used for entertaining, or even just as a weeknight accompaniment!

Christy presents Chocolate Chip Pancakes posted at Well, bless your heart, 'eh?. Talk about a delicious breakfast!

Don't they look yummy?

We eat a lot of Mexican food around here so I was excited to see that Lisa submitted Crock Pot Refried Beans posted at 4-Ricks.

And last, but not least, Granny here at Granny's house submitted her Veggie and Barbecued Onion stuffed Pitas

And that concludes this week's Delicious Endeavors Carnival!  Be sure to join the fun and submit a recipe for next week's edition.  (I know that the Blog Carnival program has not been keeping my dates for scheduled carnivals but I'm trying to make this a weekly event, even if the dates don't seem to jive on the submission form.. don't be afraid to submit anyway!)

Submit your blog article to the next edition of
delicious endeavors recipe carnival
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

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Veggie and Barbecued Onion stuffed Pita Pockets

The combination of all the flavors in this healthy filled to the brim sandwich recipe I found in a magazine over 20 years ago makes for a very yummy sandwich indeed . The barbecued onions give it a great twist. This includes many summer time veggies and worth the effort to prepare and keep ingredients at the ready in the fridge.

Ingredients:
steamed chopped tender - crisp broccoli florets
steamed chopped cauliflower florets
grated carrot
yellow squash
red cabbage

1 sliced onion
barbecue sauce
avocado slices
mayonnaise
thin slivers of dill pickle
finely shredded lettuce
alfalfa sprouts
wheat pita or tortillas
oil for cooking onions

Put a small amount of oil in a pan and cook onions slowly until cooked.
Stir in small amount of barbecue sauce to coat onions.

Spread the pita or tortilla inside lightly with the mayonnaise.
Add the cooked veggies.Stuff with tiny amounts all other
veggies ending up with barbecued onions in the middle and avocado
on the top..These can be put together in plastic wrap
and refrigerated for 2 to 3 days.

Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival, Third Edition!

Welcome to the March 23, 2010 edition of delicious endeavors recipe carnival.  This post is a little lackluster, because after spending a lot of time at the doctor's office today it was easier to use the blog-carnival template and just edit it some.  **Once again, note that only one post can be submitted, per blog, per carnival.  Also, if I read your blog and it looks like your post is either just junk or an attempt to increase traffic without offering anything nutritional or an actual recipe I reserve the right to remove it from the carnival.**

That said... read on and enjoy some informative and delicious posts!

Cooking Tips

Kristin Conroy presents 5 Vegetable Tricks From Professional Chefs, Part 1 posted at Words Are Food, saying, "You can view Part 2 by clicking the link at the top of the post."


Wallet Blogger presents Quality Cookware To Save You Time and Energy posted at The Smarter Wallet, giving interesting input about cookware and gadgets.


Naturally Food Team presents Easy pasta | healthy for your kids and for you! posted at Cook's Blog at Kids Recipes, sharing, "Some ideas for simple and fast pasta dishes."

Nutritional Information

Maureen presents 10 Disgusting & Delicious Breakfast Sandwiches Destroying the Country’s Public Health posted at Online CNA Degree Programs.  This isn't a typical post for this carnival but I liked having the caloric numbers pointed out to me... or maybe I didn't like them.  But I needed to read it anyway, lol!


Organic Eating Daily presents Eating Organic on a Budget | Organic Eating Daily posted at Organic Eating, saying, "How to eat organic foods without breaking the bank"

Recipes

Lori presents Garlic Baked Potatoes posted at Two Southern Girls.  This is one of those recipes with the simplest ingredients that sounds like it would be a great accompaniment to so many meals.


NHEZ presents Gluten Free Lemon Pasta Recipe posted at Natural Health Ezine, saying, "This is a fantastically simple recipe that tastes great and is gluten-free to boot!"


axel presents The Healthy Salad posted at axel g.


Zhu presents French Cuisine | Correr Es Mi Destino posted at Correr Es Mi Destino, saying, "French food, from crêpes to quiches!"


Matthew  presents Mulled Pear Frangipane posted at Desserts.  It sounds insanely good.


Lisa presents Microwave Caramel Corn posted at 4-Ricks.  This recipe is so easy and everyone knows that caramel corn is a great snack so anything that makes it faster or easier to make definitely is an improvement right?



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
delicious endeavors recipe carnival
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

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Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival, Second Edition!!!!

This post is a little later in the day than I'd intended it but when I started creating it it came to my realization that there were a few submissions that were clearly spam... so I had to take care of that first and edit the post some. 

Also, it does state in the rules that there should only be one submission, per carnival, per blog.  Which means that y'all who submitted five or six different recipes will have to wait for other weeks to submit them.  I can only accept one at a time here.  (although I will admit that many of them looked delicious, so please resubmit them later!)

Remember:  the due date for the next edition is Monday March 22nd!

Now without further ado....

Welcome to the March 16, 2010 edition of delicious endeavors recipe carnival.



Ruben Berenguel presents (do ( ) (( ))): Gluten,dairy,egg-free dark brown cane sugar biscuit posted at (do ( ) (( ))), saying, "A delicious recipe, apt for almost everyone. Don't be shy and try it!"

 

We here at Granny's House submitted this Strawberry Shortcake Cake that was delicious!

Wallet Blogger presents Organic Food: Healthy Food Ideas For The Ordinary Shopper posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Cathryn shared this recipe for Chicken Tortellini Soup on her blog, Lucky 10 Thirteen.


Christy presents Mama's Potato Salad posted at Well, bless your heart, 'eh?, and it looks like a no-fail recipe!


tosin presents Mushroom Onion Pork Chops posted at life, in a nutshell.  These chops sound so easy and can be made with stuff that's always on hand.



Sarah - presents Chocolate Mint Brownies posted at Sarah - NH Mommy of 3 - crazyredhead.  I had to include her picture of these.  Aren't they spectacular? 

Jennifer presents Appelkoek! (Dutch apple cake - a la my mother!) posted at Momof2GreatCats's Xanga.


Lisa presents Tortilla and Butternut Squash Soup posted at 4-Ricks.


Matthew  presents Lemon Tart posted at Desserts.


Lori presents Chocolate Cherry Candy Cakes posted at Two Southern Girls.


Jeff  presents Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sandwich posted at Andrea's Daily Dish.



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
delicious endeavors recipe carnival
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Share
|

Technorati tags:

delicious endeavors recipe carnival, blog carnival.

A Strawberry Shortcake Cake for Grandpa!

Recently my father had a birthday and I wanted to make him a cake, a cake that I was sure that he'd like.  My father likes fruits, and in the summer he really likes strawberries in the form of pies and shortcake.  Well February just isn't really the time for those desserts.  So I started scouring the internet for strawberry cake ideas that were a little more seasonally appropriate.  If you're familiar with the Pioneer Woman, she has a recipe for a strawberry shortcake cake that looked... well it looked like it would taste ok.  But her icing seemed rather sweet for my taste and the cake itself just didn't scream birthday to me.  Plus it was clear that her strawberries were probably much riper than mine from Wegmans would be.  So I decided to improvise, and this is the cake that I made.

The recipe that follows includes her cake layers (they seemed appropriately firm and absorbant which would give the testure of a shortcake) and let me tell you that they did turn out deliciously.

Then from that point I revised everything.  I added a package of frozen sweetened strawberries, along with 2 16oz packages of fresh berries.  (I do not think you would need the sweetened strawberries if you were making this with the fresh berries of summer... but in the winter it's necessary, not only for flavor but also because out-of-season berries tend to be dry and not give off the juice.  The juice is necessary because it should be absorbed into the cake layers, giving you that moist straight-off-the-picnic-table-strawberry-shortcake texture.

(Believe it or not the picture below was the lonely last remaining slice that was scooped up and eaten before I could even finish taking its portrait... so it's not the most photogenic but still as delicious.)

And the frosting was all my own concoction based on my love of cream cheese and all things fluffy.  Try making this cake, it's definitely worth your time.  Trust me.  It took all of 40 minutes for 4 adults and 2 little people to devour this.  It's that good.  Like better than any professionally made strawberry cake that I've ever tasted.  That good.  And you might question my use of both Cool Whip and Heavy Cream.  I know it seems redundant, but the Heavy Cream is there because of the flavor and richness, while the Cool Whip is there for texture and structure, not to mention sugar content.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Cake:

1-½ cup Flour

3 Tablespoons Corn Starch

½ teaspoons Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened

1-½ cup Sugar

3 whole Large Eggs

½ cups Sour Cream, Room Temperature

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Strawberry filling:

1 package (mine actually came in a little tub) of frozen sweetened, sliced strawberries, fully thawed.

1 16oz package of fresh strawberries for the filling

1 16oz package of fresh strawberries (for the top)

Icing:

1 8oz block of full fat cream cheese, softened

1 8oz container of thawed Cool Whip

1 Tbsp sugar

3/4 c. heavy cream

1 tspn vanilla

Instructions:

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and corn starch.

Cream 9 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just barely combined.

Pour into greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan. IMPORTANT: If you do NOT have an 8 inch round cake pan that is at least 2 inches deep (mine aren't) then split between 2 round cake pans instead. Cake rises quite a bit so you don't want the batter to fill in any more than halfway to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. They get to be a nice golden brown, so don't panic and think that you're burning them like I did, lol! Remove from cake pan as soon as you pull it out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.

Berries

Either while waiting for cake to bake or cool you can start the strawberry filling. Wash, hull and slice one package of the fresh berries. Combine the thawed sweetened berries, with their syrup and the fresh sliced berries in a bowl and mash them roughly. This will mix their juices, which is very important. Refrigerate berrie mixture until your cake is cool.

Wash, hull and half the remaining package of fresh berries and set aside.

When cake is cooled you can slice it in half and lay with the sliced sides facing up on a baking sheet. If you had to split them into 2 pans then just flip them out of their pans carefully and slice the rounded tops off so you have a cut flat surface on top and lay them on the baking sheet.

Take your berry filling mixture that should be nice and juicy and spread it across the two cut sides of the cake. It should make a nice juicy layer of filling on top of each. Then put them in the freezer for about ten to fifteen minutes while you mix up your icing.

Icing

Beat cream cheese, sugar, Cool Whip and vanilla until smooth and then add in heavy cream and beat that through also. The mixture should be a little thick but still spreadable and delicious. (You can taste it, I give you permission)

Pull the two cake layers out of the freezer. Place one of them on your cake plate and spread a thin layer of icing on top of the strawberry layer, carefully. Set the second cake layer on top of that and frost the entire cake with the remaining icing. It doesn't have to be perfect coverage, in fact it looks pretty darn tasty with a little strawberry showing through here and there.

Then take the remaining halved berries and arrange them evenly on top of the cake. Chill for 2 hours and serve!  (Try really hard not to eat the whole thing yourself)

And if you were wondering, yes it is possible to stand outside in 8 inches of snow holding a cake in your left hand while snapping a picture with your right hand... all with the purpose of good lighting, a snow white back drop and keeping prying fingers from dipping in before you can carry it in the house and set it down to take the picture....  The things I do in the name of blogability.

Simple Muffins

Here is a recipe for a delicious basic muffin to accompany any meal. This is my go to muffin when I am looking for one I can make right out of my cupboard with basic ingredients and serve warm with a little butter. A Tbs. of orange zest and 1 cup fresh halved cranberries can be added for variation Yum !

1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1+1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 level tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottom of 12 medium muffin cups. Beat egg; stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter may be lumpy but if you over beat they will peak to a point.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake about 18 to 20 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from pan and serve. Makes 12 muffins

Marinated Vegetables

Combine these healthy vegetables in a clear glass bowl
for a pretty presentation.

1/2 head cauliflower, cut up
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced stalks celery
1 sliced green pepper
1 4oz. jar drained stuffed green olives
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup water


Combine everything in a large pan and bring

it to a boil stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Drain before serving.

Makes 3 cups.

Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival, First Edition!!!!

Welcome to the first ever edition of delicious endeavors recipe carnival!  I'm so excited that there were such great submissions, and so many!  Y'all have reinforced my opinion that this would be a good idea.  Please be sure to check out all the posts because there surely are some great ones!

First of all, here are a couple posts with some great meal planning, pantry stocking and money saving tips!

Cooking Tips

SVB presents Cheap Meals and Easy Dinner Ideas: Recession Dining For Under $10 posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"


TSW Blog presents Cheap Meals You Can Cook At Home To Save Money! posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Megan submitted this great post on Cheats for Ethnic Cooking and she includes a list of pantry must-haves in order to complete some great recipes!

 

And then here are some fantastic recipes!

Recipes

30 Minute Meals Blog submitted a great Taco post, saying, "The Recipe Blog is my way to keep you informed about new and exciting ways to use the secret ingredient in your 30 minute meals. Coyote Trail Sauces-make everyday gourmet."


Next there was a recipe from Lori for Sauvignon Beef Stew posted at Two Southern Girls, which not only sounds great but from wandering around on her blog I found a cupcake carnival that she's trying to get started! 


Jen submitted a recipe for  Moist Molasses Bran Muffins posted at Momof2GreatCats: furballs and other mysteries of life, and they sound great!

Karen (aka Granny here at Goodies From Granny's House) submitted her Pumpkin Square recipe... and it's out of this world, from experience.

Cathryn presents a Hearty Corn Chowder Recipe in Got Soup? posted at Lucky 10 Thirteen,

Sarah at NH Mommy of 3 submitted this fantastic sounding recipe for Mounds Bar Cake... I can't begin to tell you how good this sounds.  I'm going to have to try this one right away.

If you wander over to Life in a Nutshell you'll find a recipe for Ranch Dressing that sounds just out of this world.

Christy over at Well Bless Your Heart eh? has shared a post with a brownie post that I can personally attest to because I have tried her deep dish brownies and love them!


Anne-Marie presents Slow cooker recipes: homemade onion soup mix and a venison shoulder roast posted at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet.  It's actually 2 recipes in one post!!!


Naturally Food Team presents Home Style Baked Beans | Naturally Food posted at Naturally Food, saying, "A wonderful recipe for baked beans so you can cook yours at home. Homemade baked beans have more flavor and are healthier."


Then Lisa shared this recipe for her family meatloaf in the post Junk in the Trunk, posted at 4-Ricks.


Check out this recipe for Homemade Gluten-Free Oreo Cookies; Seriously, Delicious! posted at Parenting Squad.



That concludes this edition of the Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival!  Please feel free to play along with us next time!!!  We'll be doing it once a week on Tuesdays, with the deadline being Monday evenings!  Submit your blog article to the next edition
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

Pumpkin Squares

Here is a recipe for cream cheese frosted pumpkin bars. These are cake-like moist bars perfect for snack time or gatherings. Keep them covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Mix;
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour

Add;
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 15 oz can pumpkin(approx. 2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla

Beat until smooth and pour into a large jelly roll pan.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees and cool.

Beat with mixer until creamy;

1 softened Philadelphia cream cheese
3/4 cups confectionery sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 stick softened butter

Frost bars and place in the refrigerator to set frosting.
Keep leftovers in the refrigerator in covered container. Makes 15 generous servings or can be cut smaller for a party.

Introducing The Delicious Endeavors Blog Carnival

We've recently decided that while we love participating in the Make it From Scratch Carnival (and will continue to do so) we the owners of this blog (that would be Traci and Karen) would like to get together with some of our blogger buddies and create a food specific carnival of our own, which welcomes recipe posts or other how-to posts regarding food.

Which brings us to the new Delicious Endeavors Recipe Carnival.  We hope that our readers out there will enjoy the assortment of recipes that this will promote and that they will feel encouraged to jump in and submit posts.

The submission dates will be Mondays at 5pm.  Here is a link for this week.  The carnival itself will be hosted here on Tuesdays.  Please link back to the carnival so your readers can check out all the recipes.

And if you have a recipe or food related post please be sure to submit it!

Easy Pecan Pull Apart

This is just a fun recipe to throw together and bake
with children. They get to play too :)
And reminds me of the little ones you buy in the store.
Line a round pizza pan with parchment paper or greased
foil and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

You will need;

2 8oz. cans refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix in a pie plate;

1 cup sugar
1+ 1/4 tsp.s cinnamon
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans

Separate dough into rectangles. Cut each rectangle

in half lengthwise.
Roll dough strips into ropes about 12 inches long.
Dip into butter and coat with pecan ,cinnamon and sugar , mixture.
Starting at the center of the pan loosely spiral the ropes
in a circle around the pan joining together at the ends.
Bake at 375 for for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
Serve warm.

Corn 'N' Frank Chowder

Please give this yummy corn chowder a try soon.
Feel free to throw in a chopped
leftover cooked potato if you so desire it.


1 lb. beef hot dogs, sliced
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 TB. butter
1 16 oz. can cream style corn
1 cup whole white kernel corn
1 cup milk
3/4 lb. velveeta cheese, cubed
salt and pepper

Saute peppers , onions and sliced franks
in the butter in a 3 qt. saucepan.
Add remaining ingredients and stir over
low heat until cheese is melted.
Six 1+1/3 cup servings

Popover

Popovers

1 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. milk
1 T. melted butter

Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a second bowl. Then fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring very lightly until mostly blended. Pour into a well greased muffin or popover tin, (Make sure that the cups are greased all the way to the top edge.) Filling the cups about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450*, then 20 minutes at 350*. Serve at once with butter, jam, honey, etc.

OR, you could slice them open and fill the inside with Chicken salad.

Favorite Minestrone Soup

Mmmmmm Mmmmmmmm Good ! This is a hearty meal- in -a -bowl soup with beans and pasta. I sometimes turn my leftover ham and cabbage dinner into this soup because the broth gives it an excellent flavor. And you may add any type pasta but the spaghetti is my choice.

1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 cup cubed ham or( low fat
alternative such as turkey bacon)
1 clove minced garlic
3 cups water or cabbage broth
1 14 oz. can chopped stewed
tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup canned chick peas,
( kidney ,lima or white
beans can be substituted)
1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
2 TB. minced dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 cup broken spaghetti

Brush bottom of large pan with olive oil.
Heat and cook the onions, celery, garlic and bacon
or ham until slightly tender.

Add the liquid and tomatoes in with the rest
of the ingredients but spaghetti
and simmer till tender about 1/2 hour.

Break the spaghetti into the soup and cook about 10 min.s until tender and serve.

Makes 6 servings

Just a little inspiration for you

It feels like it's been a while since I posted any links here. So I thought I'd share a link to a blog that is just too cute for words. It's called Bake It Pretty and it includes all sorts of cute ideas for baking, recipes, projects, etc. It's really worth stopping by.

Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

Recently I've been trying to cut back on certain high caloric foods. Soups are not something that I'm particularly fond of, but they happen to be an easy way to incorporate lots of veggies and healthy proteins, such as lean meats and beans so I've been trying to add some more soups to our weekly menu. I found a similar recipe to this in Martha Stewart's recipes and thought that sweet potato seemed like a great alternative to the typical white potato in soups. I changed a few things and this is what I came up with. It ended up working out quite well. We will be repeating it, probably even after I've given up on my mission to cut calories.. er... I mean, I'll be making it forever because I'm going to eat healthy for the rest of my life. Yeah. That's it. Definitely...

But seriously, try the soup. It's good.

Kale and Sweet Potato soup

1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt
2 cans of cannellini beans, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small green onions, rinsed, white and light-green parts thinly sliced
2 large sweet potato/yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 bunch kale, (3/4 pound) washed and chopped
6 cups homemade chicken stock, or canned low-sodium chicken broth, skimmed of fat
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

pinch of dried rosemary or a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary

In a large soup pot saute the green onions, garlic, onion and kale, until the kale wilts slightly. Add the beans, sweet potato, rosemary and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the sweet potato is fork-tender. Salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon Cheesecake Pie with Blueberry Sauce

I like to make this when fresh blueberries are in season but I do make it for special occasions sometime and make a double batch of both the recipes and make it in a 9 by 13 pan. I'm sure it would be good with strawberries as well.

8 oz. cream cheese , softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
2 tsp.s grated lemon peel
1 lg. egg
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. butter

Cream cheese and butter together.
Add sugar and egg and beat.
Add flour and milk and beat again.
Stir in the lemon juice and peel.
Pour into prepared crust below;

Graham cracker crust;
1 + 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

Blend well and press into a pie dish.
Pour in the filling and bake for 35 minutes
until set in a 350 degree oven. Chill.

Serve with Blueberry topping;

1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup cold water
1 + 1/2 tsp.s lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

Mix everything but blueberries well in a small saucepan.
Add the berries and bring to a boil
stirring gently until it thickens.
If it seems too thick add a drop or two of water.

Chill and serve over pie.

Orange Glazed Spiral Ham

Hello everyone and Happy New Year ! Please stop by and say hello to us this year won't you? Thanks for checking out our blog and God Bless all of you in the coming year! It's been a busy season for everyone so I apologize for not posting as frequently as I normally do. Here is my new favorite holiday ham recipe I use. I'm not fond of the spicy glazes so I decided one day to make something different.
Everyone seems to like it and I use it for chicken tender dipping also after I add some garlic powder and a tiny dash of cayenne pepper to it and cook it in a small pan for a few minutes.


1 12 lb. fully cooked spiral sliced ham
1 cup bottled orange juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. orange flavoring extract


Optional garnish ;
1 thinly sliced orange
marachino cherries speared with
toothpicks and poked through orange slices
into ham before baking.



Score your ham cross ways.
Mix all 3 ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.
Pour half the mixture over top of the ham dripping
it down over the sides.
Bake for about 50 minutes.
Remove ham from oven and brush remaining glaze all
over again and continue to bake until
ham is heated through another 20 minutes
or so according to package directions.

Apple Coffee Cake

I found a similar recipe for coffee cake from
Taste of Home and changed it up a
bit and was so happy with the results.
This is not your typical dry coffee cake.
The first time I took it to church
people were surprised at how moist it was.
It's the lightest crumbly coffee
cake I have ever made and I think you
will really enjoy this.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter 9 x 13 inch pan.

Cream till fluffy;
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar

Add:
2 lg. eggs
1 tsp .vanilla

Combine :
2 cups flour
2 + 3/4 tsp.s baking powder
1 tsp baking soda


Next add dry ingredients to
butter mixture alternately with
1 cup sour cream and beat.

Stir in 1+3/4 cups chopped Macintosh apples


Prepare topping by blending;
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbls. cold butter
1/2 cup pecans

Crumble topping evenly over the batter
and bake for 35 to 45 minutes
until toothpick comes out clean.

Serves 12.

Crack (Sweet Snack Mix)

Michael's cousin shared this recipe with me at a Christmas get-together and it was so easy and delicious that I think I've become obsessed with it. Just keep in mind that I said it was delicious, not healthy, lol!

Sweet Snack Mix

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

8 c. chex cereal

3 c. nuts (I prefer pecans)

Combine chex mix and nuts and spread on 2 greased cookie sheets with sides. Boil the butter and brown sugar for a few minutes. Pour over chex mix and stir through to coat well. Place in a 375* oven for 8 minutes. Let cool and enjoy. Store in an air tight covered container.