Pear Cranberry bars

I saw a recipe similar to this in a Kids Cooking magazine a while back. I was burning a candle tonight that smelled like toasted apple butter and that made me want a sweet treat that comibined apples with other good things like oatmeal. I realized that I didn't have enough apples to make the original, but I had some pears that I peeled and sliced a while back in my freezer. Now this is what happens when I crave something and don't have the ingredients to make it!

PEAR CRANBERRY BARS

CRUST:

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup toasted almonds or pecans, chopped

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of baking powder

3 Tbsp mashed white beans (the recipe called for butter, but I wanted my healthy boost)

3 Tbsp applesauce (the recipe originally calls for oil, but why not healthify it??)

FILLING:

4 apples (or in my case, pears), diced

1/4 cup craisins or raisins

2 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup or brown sugar)

1 Tbsp whole wheat flour

Mix the dry ingredients for the crust together in 1 bowl. Add mashed beans and applesauce and mix until crumbly. Press half of the crust into the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan.

Add filling ingredients in a different bowl and mix well.

Dump onto crust and top with remaining crust from the bowl and pat down.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes for fresh apples or 30 minutes for frozen.

It tastes kinda like apple pie with a twist. When serving, I like to serve the pieces upside down. It just looks a little nicer to me!

This recipe has 215 calories for each piece, with 5 grams of fiber and 2.5 grams of protein.

MOODY bars (aka PMS Bars)

Every now and then people need a sweet pick me up. I wanted to share my new pick-me-up with others so they can satisfy that craving for sweet, salty, and a good amount of fat in there!

MOODY BARS!

(aka PMS cookie bars)

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter (I used I can't believe its not butter)

2 TBSP water

1/2 chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter chips (or if you want to keep it simple, use all chocolate)

topping:

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, heated in microwave for 30 seconds

1/2 cup hot fudge sauce

1/2 carmel sauce

1 chopped candy bar of your choice

mix the cake mix with egg, butter,water, and chips. Pour batter into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

While the cookie is still hot, pour hot peanut butter on top. Heat the hot fudge and carmel and pour over peanut butter. Spread toppings over the entire cookie. Chop/Crush cand bar and sprinkle over the top. It is a VERY rich dessert, but worth the calories in my opinion!

Sugar Free Mini Pavlovas

Perfect little place to put some fresh fruit! My mom actually made these a few years ago for me and I really like them! The vanilla in them takes away from the artifical sugar taste and these literally melt in your mouth.

Sugar Free Mini Pavlovas

4 egg whites

1 cup Splenda + 4 Tbsp

1 tsp vanilla

Whip in mixer until stiff peaks form. Spoon or use a ziplock to squeeze pavlovas onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes and 250 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool

Top with Sugar Free whipped cream (recipe below) and fresh berries.

SUGAR FREE WHIPPED CREAM

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp Splenda

whip until stiff

Sugar Free Sub"Lime" Strawberry Sauce

For my usual breakfast for dinner tradition on Sunday nights, My wonderful husband made me French Toast(with my favorite recipe!! :) ) To top the toast, I made a sauce/chutney the night before and was taken back by the flavor combination. I had heard that strawberries and limes went well together, but I had no idea how well.

SUBLIME STRAWBERRY SAUCE

1 lb fresh strawberries cut into slices (I actually like chunks to make it like a chutney)

juice and zest of 2 key limes

1/2 cup Splenda (I like it sweet, but 1/4 cup will do)

THATS IT!!!! Combine the ingredients in a bowl and let sit in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes. Use as a topping for pancakes, waffles, french toast, shortcake, etc... or as a filling for crepes and other yummy stuff!

Spring Cupcakes

I had my little girl's 1st birthday party over the weekend and had a fun time making her cupcakes! The frosting didn't turn out like I had hoped it would (for some reason, it wouldn't stay fluffed), but they tasted great and looked super fun!

I made 3 boxes of cake mix into cupcakes and a mini bundt for the birthday girl.
For the frosting, I added 1 tub of vanilla frosting and a couple of drops of food coloring with 1 tub of cool whip. You are supposed to fold it in and it should make a fluffy thick and whipped frosting, but mine just ended up a little too runny for my liking, so I topped it with jellybeans and put them in the fridge to set. This is what we ended up with. After chilling, the frosting tasted so good and creamy and the jellybeans added the perfect flavoring! I will definitely be doing this one again!

CUTIE Pies!!!!!

I was looking online tonight for recipes to use some CUTIE Clementines/Mandarins and I couldn't find any for a tasty dessert. I know those little CUTIES are sooo good to just peel and snack on, but I wanted to see if I could find more uses. I found a basic orange/lemon pie recipe and changed a few ingredients and added a few other and ended up with a DIVINE pie!!!
My father-in-law works for the company that grows CUTIES, so I have a few bags here so you might see CUTIES one here more than once!

CUTIE PIE!!!!

crust:
1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
2 Tbsp Sugar (or splenda)
3 Tbsp melted butter/ margarine

Filling:
3 Tbsp Corn Starch
2/3 cup sugar (or splenda - if you go this route, add a little vanilla)
2/3 cup Milk (doesn't matter which percent)
4-6 CUTIES, juiced and the zest of 2 or 3)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tbsp fresh Lemon Juice + 1/2 Tbsp zest
1 cup fat free sour cream

For the Crust, mix ingredients together and press into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake a 375 for about 7 minutes and remove to cool.

For the Filling, combine corn starch and sugar. Gradually stir in CUTIE Juice until smooth. Stir in Milk, egg yolks, and lemon juice until well blended. Add zests. Cook on stove at medium/ high for 5-7 minutes or until mixture thickens (a minute or 2 past boiling). FOLD in sour cream. Pour into crust and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until set.
Garnish with a dollop of Whipped cream and a lemon or orange curl or a slice of Cutie!

Little Lemon Tartlets

I was on the phone with my sister, Laura earlier this week and she told me about how she got some yummy lemons and decided to make my mom's FABULOUS Lemon Curd Pudding. As she was talking about it, I started to think of that tart goodness and how tasty it would be! That led me to think about Marie Callender's Double Cream Lemon Pie and it clicked.....tell Laura to make some of her own!!!! Apparently we were already on the same wavelength and as I told her how to do it, she said that she was already thinking of doing something like that with all these sleepover girls at her house with her daughter. She did it and sent all the lemony luscious details.

For starters, you need to make a Lemon Curd Pudding:

~Lemon curd pudding~

4 tsp. lemon zest

2/3 cup lemon juice( i juiced the lemons I zested yielding approximately 4 lemons)

1 cup sugar

5 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

add all ingredients into a blender, except for the butter, blend till smooth then slowly pour melted butter into it while blending. Pour into a sauce pan and heat till it bubbles and thickens (appr. 5-6 min) remove from heat and let cool, then refrigerate.

Then there's the cream cheese filling

~Cream Cheese pie Filling~
1 lb. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar

Whip until it looks creamy (appr. 8-10 min.) while whipping add powdered sugar or until it's as sweet as you'd like it.

~graham cracker crust~
about 10 graham crackers, crushed
2 TBSP Melted Butter or Margarine
1 Tbsp sugar
Mix all the ingredients together and press into muffin tin. Bake at 375 for 6-7 minutes.

Let the crusts cool and put the filling and the curd into ziplock bags with the corners cut out. Squeeze good sized glob of cream cheese onto the crust. IN a swirling motion, squeeze lemon pudding on top and serve with a sprig of mint and a lemon curl.

Grandma Norma's Blondies

Another recipe that I have wanted to do for a while, but never found time to until just recently.
When I got married, my mother in law gave me a bunch of family recipes that I am so excited to try out. Most of them came from my husband's great grandma who was a FABULOUS cook! This is one of the easiest recipes that I have made and it tastes soooo yummy!

Grandma's Norma's Blondies
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
6 oz chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Sift together first 3 ingredients. Cream the next 3 ingredients. Add eggs to creamed mixture. Mix in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Spread out on a greased shallow pan. (11 x 15 x 2) . Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Tastes even better served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce!

**a quick tip for these yummy treats...mix by hand instead of a mixer for a thicker cookie!
***To make them true blondies, use butterscotch chips instead of Chocolate.

Magic Mix and Homemade Pudding

SO I like to challenge myself from time to time, and this past week, I found a recipe that took me 4 attempts to make it right! I wanted to have some yummy homemade pudding and I had never even tried to make the store bought heat and serve stuff so this was my challenge.
So my first attempt yielded Chocolate soup.....tasted yummy but not what I wanted. Tried again about an hour later and used a different recipe. This time it was a little thicker, but not successful enough to call it a victory. Then I called my mom and asked for a little help. She told me to cook it a little longer, so I did. Wouldn't you guess it, it was almost pudding consistency on the third try. Finally I cooked it 5-6 minutes and it turned out! YAY!!!

I got this one from a cookbook called I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S FOOD STORAGE

MAGIC MIX

2 1/3 cups dry powdered milk (Morning MOOs)
1 c. all purpose flour or 1/2 cup cornstarch (great for gluten free)
1 c butter at room tempearture
combine ingredients in a large bowl an mix with an electric hand mixer until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Keep mix tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 8 months

Magic Mix Pudding

1/2 C. Sugar
1 C. Magic Mix
2-3 T. Cocoa (optional)
2 C. Water
1 t. Vanilla

Combine Magic Mix, sugar and cocoa in saucepan and mix well. Add water, stir over medium heat until pudding bubbles. Add vanilla and beat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Cover and Cool.

These and other recipes can be found online at everydayfoodstorage.net

Chocolate Chip and Toasted Coconut Cookies

A cookie that makes my day sooo much better!

Chocolate Chip and Toasted Coconut cookies

1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup margarine or shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted coconut

cream butter, margarine and sugars in a large mixing bowl and add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to sugar/cream mix. Once combined, add chips and coconut. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Let cool 1 min and transfer to wire cooling rack. This definitely hit the spot! To make it even better, you can swap the vanilla extract for coconut extract and enjoy a stronger coconut flavor.
Makes 36 cookies!
The recipe originally called for 3/4 cups of both white and brown sugar, but I have found that by reducing the white sugar by half and adding more brow, it makes the cookie a little chewier!

Inexpensive HEALTHY popcicles

So I just finished a little venture in the kitchen when I decided to make some yummpy fruit and milk popcicles. My little guy loves it when I stick a little cup of yogurt in the freezeer with a stick so Ithought I might try to make some of my own and save a little.

Creamy Berry Popcicles

1/2 cup Grape Juice (or any dark juice- ie: blueberry, cranberry, etc...)
1/4 cup 1 % milk (or for milk allergies, you can use plain yogurt or lactose free)
1 handful frozen raspberries
1 tsp wheat germ
1 tsp soluble fiber powder
1 Tbsp protein powder

Blend well in a blender until berries are broken up. Pour into popcicle trays. Add popcicle sticks. Freeze until solid and enjoy.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I was watching TV the other day when they this recipe came up. I haven't tried it yet, but I will today. Another tip that I have heard is to mash up cooked white beans and use it in place of shortening or butter. What I would do is reduce the white sugar in half and replace the other half with more brown sugar, just under 1/2 cup of the mashed beans and 1 Tbsp. low fat tub margarine.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 6 ounces chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Using the paddle attachment beat until creamy and fluffy. Beat in egg. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix well. Still in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and let cook on a wire rack. Makes about 20 cookies.

Going to be on TV again

Hello again! I submitted yet another recipe to KSL5's Studio 5 and will be on TV again on July 21st at 11am. This time, I entered a recipe for Jell-o week. I do have to give credit to my sister, Suzi, as the recipe was hers. It it for

RASPBERRY PRETZEL JELL-O SALAD
Crust:
1 cup crushed pretzels
1/2 cup melted butter
4Tbsp sugar

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 cups cool whip

Topping:
1 large pkg. raspberry Jell-o
2 cups boiling water
1 - 12 oz pkg frozen raspberries
1 - 16 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

Combine the crust ingredients and press into bottom of 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 1o minutes. Remove and let cool completely.
Whip together cream cheese and sugar. FOLD in cool whip slowly. Take the filling mixture and spread over cooled crust. Place in fridge until topping is ready.
Mix Jell-o with boiling water until Jell-o is completely dissolved. Add raspberries and pineapple. Spoon carefully over cream layer. Chill in fridge until firm.

We always had this dish at our family Christmas eve party, or at other family gatherings, it is one of the requested items....ITs really good....thats why!

a day in the kitchen

OK so this morning I was feeling kinda ambitious and decided to make cinniamon rolls for the first time. It was a VERY easy recipe and they turned out awesome. I actually cut the recipe in half and it made about 18 rolls so make sure that you are going to be feeding a lot if you make the WHOLE recipe:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
3 Cups warm water
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 Cup oil (I use applesauce!)
1/2 C Honey
4-8 Cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbsp rapid rise yeast

filling:
1 1/2 C brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cube of butter or margarine (1/3 cup - I use tub margarine)
1 C finely chopped pecans (optional)
1 1/2 C seedless raisins (optional)

Icing:
1/2 C margarine, softened (or tub)
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

Combine warm water and about 4 cups of flour and mix with dough hook until a pastelike consistecy (if you dont have a mixer, using your hands works well). Mix in the yeast, then salt, honey and oil. Turn mixer up slightly. Add additonal flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Remove from mixer and hand knead, adding flour if needed to avoid sticky dough. Roll out onto a lightly oiled surface (about 16x36 inches and appx 1/4 inch thick) Melt margarine and spread over dough. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle nuts and raisins over the top(optional). Roll up dough to form a roll starting with the long side. Seal the seam by pinching dough together With seam side down, cut into 1 inch slices. Place rolls on a nonstick baking sheet. Let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 for 13-18 minutes.
To make icing Combine all ingredients in a mixer and blend well. Spread over the tops of the rolls.

Yummy Yummy Breakfast!

Deceptively Delicious

Ok so my first attempt at "healthifying" food has been purchasing Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook. I really like that book and reccomend it for most anybody who struggles when trying to include fruits and veggies in their diets. I think I will start thi blog with a yummy treat so here goes!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 c. fat free tub margarine

2 large egg whites

2 t. pure vanilla extract

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas drained and rinsed

1 ¾ c. chocolate chips

½ c. slivered almonds (I like mine toasted) - optional

½ c. coconut flakes (optional) - optional

2 c. flour

½ c. oats (optional)

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. salt

1/4 t. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixer, beat sugar, margarine, and shortening. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla. Then add the chickpeas and chocolate chips, almonds and coconut. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms. Drop the dough by tablespoonful onto the baking sheet spacing about 2 inches apart. Press flat with a fork .Bake 11-13 minutes (do not over bake)

HERES ASECRET - You can use it on any cookie recipe. When you take the cookies out, hold the cookie sheet about 2-3 inches from the countertop. Drop the sheet and the cookies should fall more flat. It makes the cookies just a little bit chewier. Transfer to wire rack To cool and enjoy!

I actually entered these cookies in a recipe contest and made it on tv to shw them off! It aired on Studio 5 on KSL 5 out of Salt Lake City, UT