Peach Salsa

We were blessed with a couple of bushels of peaches recently.And what a delicious blessing it was! I turned a bunch of the peaches into jam, which is my family's number 1 favorite jam. (Blackberry follows a close second.)

And today, I made this amazingly fresh, sweet and spicy salsa. I liked it so much that I made another batch and canned it.

Here's the recipe:

 

5 cups of diced peaches

1 cup of diced tomatoes

1 diced bell pepper

1 cup diced onion

3 jalapenos, minced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced*

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbs honey

 

*Be sure to use freshly minced garlic. That jarred stuff just doesn't pack enough punch!

 

Combine everything and enjoy! You could eat this with chips, over grilled meat, or with a spoon like me!

 

If you do wish to can this, just ladle it into hot sterile jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Makes 3 pints.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

I remember eating this dessert a long, long time ago before I knew much about cooking. I might even have been a kid at the time. I remember thinking when I ate it that whoever had made it must be the Best Cook Ever.

It combines refreshingly sweet strawberries, cream cheese, and a buttery sweet & salty crust. It is so good & worth the few steps involved in making it. If you take it to a potluck, maybe you will become the Best Cook Ever to someone.

Copied & pasted from allrecipes:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
• 4 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen strawberries [I used about 4 cups of fresh ones.]
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix together the pretzels, 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool completely.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Mix in frozen strawberries, and stir until thawed. Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.

Yummy Green Smoothie

Smoothie season is upon us! What a cool, delicious way to sneak in, er uh, enjoy lots of fruits (and even veggies) all at once!

I like trying different ingredients and combinations, but this particular green one is my mainstay. It is sweet and really doesn't taste like spinach at all.

You need:

2 bananas, peeled
1 apple, cored & cut into chunks
2 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup crushed ice
1/2 cup water

Blend until smooth & creamy. Serves 2.

Sometimes I add a few tablespoons of oatmeal and a pinch of cinnamon. It ends up tasting a lot like like an oatmeal cookie. If it's not sweet enough for you, trying adding a teaspoon or two of honey. Enjoy!

Rosemary Bread

Unfortunately for my waistline, my girl Sugar Baby loves to bake & try new recipes. This one was her latest and it was soooo good. I can turn down sweet breads and cinnamon rolls if I want to, but I cannot say no to good, crusty, savory breads. This one was so fragrant & flavorful that I was really hoping no one else would like it, so I could have it all! Unfortunately, it was popular with them all. The pepper gives it a nice, slight punch.

Sugar Baby found the recipe at our favorite place - allrecipes.com, of course. Here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary [she used about 2 Tbs fresh]
  
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select white bread cycle; press Start.

(Sugar Baby used her bread machine to make the dough, but shaped it into a circle and baked it in the oven at 350F until it was golden brown.)

Easy Nachos

I love easy meals, especially for lunch. We have some variation of this at least once a week. The sour cream sauce is what really makes it special. You can even double it if you're wanting a restaurant-yummy meal.

Spread these ingredients on a large pan or cookie sheet in this order:

• tortilla chips (about 1 bag, 12 ounces?)
  
• 2 cups of refried beans
• 1 to 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Bake at 375F for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the beans are hot. Meanwhile, mix:

• 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce (I use 1/2 of the small cans)
• 1/2 cup of sour cream

Drizzle the sour cream mixture over the hot beans & chips. Top with your favorite toppings, like olives, tomatoes and lettuce.

Very tasty and very easy!

Easy Granola Bars

I like these granola bars because they are easy, versatile, and all of my kids like them!

Ingredients:

4 cups of oats (instant or old fashioned)b
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup of applesauce (today I substituted pumpkin butter and no one noticed)
2 tsp of baking powder
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
1/4 cup of chopped nuts (today I used sunflower seeds)

Combine everything and press into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly before cutting into squares. Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I know it's not quite the right season for this recipe, but I thought I'd go ahead and share it anyway. We were given a huge white pumpkin last week. One of my favorite parts about fresh pumpkins is roasting the seeds. Here's how you do it:

Take your seeds out of your pumpkin and put them in a bowl of water for a little while. This makes it a little easier to separate the pumpkin membrane from the seeds and washes off your seeds. Drain them & rinse them (getting as much of non-seed off as possible). Pat them dry.

Melt a tablespoon of butter and stir it into the seeds, giving them a nice tasty coating.

Spread the pumpkin seeds out on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle them with salt. Roast at 300F degrees until they're golden brown. It may take an hour. Stir them once or twice while baking.

Enjoy!

The Best Collards EVER

Oh my! I always knew collards were good, but I had no idea they could be this good. I heard about this recipe a few months ago & I've wanted to post them here, but they're so good that they were never around long enough to get their picture taken. Seriously. If there are leftovers, I've found myself discretely tucking them away in a far corner of the fridge where they'll be safe until I can get to them again. To eat all by myself.

Actually I did save some for hubby. Once. And you know what happened? He put them in the microwave to reheat and forgot them. I found them the next day. It still pains me to think of the glorious greens... wasted like that. But, you know, love keeps no record of wrongs, so I'm over it. Now I'm just a bit more guarded about how leftover collards are handled.

Okay, enough rambling... here is the recipe, straight from allrecipes.com:

[note: believe it or not, you can even leave out the bacon if you don't feel like frying any, and they are still exceptionally delicious!]

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 pound fresh collard greens, cut into 2-inch pieces

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, and cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble and return to the pan. Add onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until just fragrant. Add collard greens, and fry until they start to wilt.
2. Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until greens are tender.

Enjoy!!

Sloppy Joes

I was searching for a sloppy joe recipe at allrecipes.com and found this. (They call it Pennsylvania Coal Region Barbecue.) It was really delicious! Sweet, tangy and easy! You can even make it earlier in the day and keep it on low in the crockpot until dinner. (I added a little more brown sugar than the recipe called for, but I like my sauces a little sweet.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 hamburger buns

Directions

1. Crumble the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until meat is no longer pink. Drain excess grease, and stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Serve on buns.

Breakfast Apple Cake

I saw this recipe on allrecipes front page this morning and decided it would be a nice breakfast treat for the kiddos. It came together really quickly and I stuck it in the oven. Twenty minutes later, I checked on it only to discover that nothing was happening. My oven wasn't working.

I ended up carrying it over to my sweet neighbor & she let me bake it in her oven. It was nice to catch up with her.

The kids surprised me by devouring it ALL when I got home. My neighbor tried it too and said it was very good. I will definitely be making it again (well, if my oven will let me, that is).

I altered the original recipe a little.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour (I subbed all purpose flour + 1 Tbs baking powder & 1 tsp salt)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups peeled, cored, and chopped tart apple (I used golden delicious, because it was all I had)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (left these out)
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour and cinnamon. Mixture will be thick. Fold in apple and nuts. Spread in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle top with butterscotch chips.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Salty Buckeyes

My personal chef, Sugar Baby, made these for us yesterday. They were good, but a little too sweet for most of us. I was surprised to find there was no added salt in the peanut butter mixture (only what already came in the peanut butter). So, to add some saltiness, I sprinkled sea salt on the finished product. That's more like it!


Sugar Baby got the recipe from allrecipes (just want to give credit where credit is due!)... Here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.
3. Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.(Or you can use the microwave to melt this - just be careful not to let it burn!)
   
4. Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Lastly, and most importantly, sprinkle each one with a little bit of sea salt. Mmmm...

Sweet, Sticky and Spicy Chicken

Sugar Baby found this recipe on allrecipes.com and made it for our lunch (or is that dinner?) today. It was soooo good! We will definitely be having it again. She doubled the sauce part of the recipe and it made enough for all eight of us. Here is the recipe, copied & pasted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl.
2. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken strips and brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, 8 to 10 minutes.

Warning!

You may gain several pounds by viewing the following picture. Proceed with caution.
It's worth it though, right? ?

Mmmm... that's Sugar Baby's Brownies topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream, and then topped with today's recipe: homemade hot fudge sauce.

This recipe, unfortunately, is very easy and fast to whip up. In a matter of minutes, you can add a hundred or so calories to an ordinary bowl of ice cream. Terrible stuff, hot fudge sauce...

Ingredients:
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine everything except the vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve hot or cold, but hot is best.

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs

We eat quite a bit of grilled chicken around here. It is so simple, delicious and reduces the amount of cleanup in the kitchen. (That last part is the most important.)

Usually, I marinate the chicken in zesty italian dressing or mojo sauce and then grill them and they are soooo good. Like, company good.

However, I am always on the lookout for new recipes, and when I saw this flavor combination, I was intrigued. Plus, it had about a zillion 5 star reviews on allrecipes.
I had never done kabobs before, but since we had a box of 1,000 wooden skewers (think cake pops), I thought I'd try them.

The results were definitely 5 star. We all loved them & it was a nice change from our marinades. I served them with pasta & homemade marinara sauce & it made for a really scrumptious meal.

From allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste (optional)
• 5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in the bowl, and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the grill for medium-high heat. Thread chicken onto skewers and discard marinade.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill skewers for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear.

   

Give 'em a try!

Popcorn Cake

Check out this new treat I recently discovered! It's like a giant rice crispy treat, only it's made with popcorn instead of rice crispies. The kids loved it (as did I) and it was really pretty and simple to make!

Ingredients:

About 4 quarts of popped popcorn, seasoned with salt & butter
1 stick of butter/margarine
1 bag of marshmallows (10oz)
About 1 cup or so of m&ms

Grease a bundt pan with butter or cooking spray. Melt the marshmallows and butter in a large pot over low heat, stirring constantly until the marshmallows are completely melted. Stir in the popcorn until it's thoroughly mixed & coated with marshmallow goo. Place 3/4 of the m&ms in the bottom of the greased pan. Pack (be careful - it's hot!) the gooey popcorn into the bundt pan, occasionally sprinkling with m&ms, until the pan is full. Chill for about 15 minutes. Turn over onto a serving dish or plate. Cut into chunks and wow your kids with this tasty treat!

Cucumbers with dill

Our garden is over-run with cukes and tomatoes right now. I've canned about 20+ pints of pickles, and we still have a bunch of cucumbers left. We stumbled across a variation of this cucumber recipe the other day and decided to give it a try. And, it was good! I love the sweet & tangy-ness combined with the dill.

Ingredients:
2 medium cucumbers, sliced thin
1/4 cup onion, sliced very thin
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried dill (use 2 Tbs if you're using fresh)

Combine everything and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Enjoy!

Cobbler

The summer fruit is here: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, etc...! This cobbler is an easy & delicious way to use them. Recently, my 7yr old son collected blackberries from our woods and he and one of his big sisters made a cobbler with them for Father's Day.

Here's how ya do it:

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup Bisquick*
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 cups fruit

Melt the butter and put it in a 9x13" pan. Stir together the Bisquick, sugar & milk and pour it into the pan. Sprinkle the berries or whatever fruit you're using evenly over the top. Don't try to push the fruit down into the batter. Bake at 350F until the top is golden. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream!

*If you don't have Bisquick, you can use 1 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in its place.

Black Bean Salsa

If you only make one recipe from this blog, let it be this one. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law several years ago and it is one of my favorite recipes of all time! It is sweet, tangy & crunchy and can serve as a dip for chips, a topping for grilled meats or even as a yummy summertime side dish. I love, love, love it!

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can corn, drained
1 jar diced pimientos, drained
1 bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup oil
a few dashes of hot sauce
salt & pepper, to taste

Combine the first 5 ingredients. Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour it over the bean mixture & allow it to marinate in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Serve with a slotted spoon. Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortbread Bites

The strawberries in the garden are still coming in! My girl Sugar Baby whipped up a batch of shortbread yesterday & just as it came out of the oven, one of the boys brought in another bowl of strawberries. I looked at the shortbread & I looked at the strawberries & the wheels started turning... there was cream cheese in the fridge... we could do some kind of fruit pizza! So eventually we ended up with these cute little delicious bites.

For the shortbread:
5 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of butter, cut into little pieces (yes, that IS a lot of butter!)

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms a dough. A mixer with a paddle attachment works well for this. Press it into a greased 15x10" pan & prick all over with a fork. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes or until set in the middle. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then cut into 1 1/2" (approximately) squares. Leave in the pan & let cool all the way.

For the cream cheese part:
2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the 3 ingredients together until smooth.

Place a dollup - about a tablespoon - of cream cheese on each shortbread square. Top with a strawberry slice - or even a whole berry if they are small.

Makes about 4 dozen.

French Toast Sticks

I posted this recipe on my Savoring the Circus blog over 2 years ago! I can't believe it's been so long ago...

Anyway... this is a really good recipe and I hadn't taken a picture of it since I got my new camera last August. I love the recipe because it makes french toast sticks that are sweet enough to be enjoyed without syrup. I do love syrup, but somehow it always seems to end up all over the table, floor, hands, hair, dog, cat, etc... whenever we eat it.

Anyway, I digress... here's the recipe:

1 loaf bread (The first time I made this I used homemade whole wheat bread & cut it into thick strips. I thought it was better than the store-bought loaf I used the second time.)
4 eggs (I used 5 because my chickens are laying small eggs right now.)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 Tbs pancake syrup
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
butter

Combine everything except the bread. Cut the bread (I recently used homemade sour dough bread & boy was it good!) into thick strips. Dip each strip into the egg mixture and cook them on a lightly greased griddle, turning every so often so that each side is browned.

Makes about 10 servings.