Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Granola

Well I am at it again. You want to know something funny? You would think I really love granola with as much as I make it. I like it on vanilla yogurt and that is about it, I don't eat it otherwise. Why do I make it so much you ask? Two reason...one is I really love making granola and number two everyone always ask me to make them granola. So here are some pictures of my new batch of granola. This one has almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, orange flavored cranberries, raisins, banana chip, apricots, dried mango and real maple syrup, not that fake color sugar water. I think I covered everything that is in it.




Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars


One of the blogs I really enjoy reading is Bake or Break, you need to check it out, I have made a few recipes off of hers already.
I have been wanting to make these for awhile and figure tonight would be a good night to try it. I doubled the recipe since I am going to mail some of to the Soldiers we adopted and my oldest daughter. I used Raspberry preserve on one half and the Peach/Apricot jam I made. I have not decided which one I like better yet. I tried them while they were hot out of the oven. I will try them tomorrow after they have cooled and after my WW meeting, got to weigh in before I eat junk. LOL

Here is the recipe...

1 cup butter, softened, plus more for preparing pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing pan
1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 & 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 & 1/2 cups strawberry jam (or other flavor)
1 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9″x 13″baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment and dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed of an electric mixer. Mix for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add eggs and peanut butter, and beat about 2 minutes or until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to butter mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add vanilla and mix.
Transfer two-thirds of dough to pan and spread evenly. Spread jam on top of dough. Crumble remaining dough on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until golden. Rotate pan half-way through baking. Tent loosely with foil if bars are getting too dark.
Cool on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edges to loosen. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. Cut into
bars and store in an airtight container at room temperature.







Saturday, July 26, 2008

Farmers Market.

Today I went to the Aptos Farmers market with my oldest son David and then my daughter, her husband and my sweet grandbaby met us there. I will have to go to the Farmers Market in down town Santa Cruz and take pictures, Santa Cruz is a planet all by itself. I will admit it is a beautiful place but we have so many strange people. I guess that is what makes it what it is. I will try to get to the Farmers Market downtown this Wednesday.






Yummy, we have the best strawberries in the whole world!

These were so huge!!
I love Sunflowers I forgot to pick up the okra.



Mushrooms


String band

Veggies!

I hate egg plant but the color was too beautiful to pass up.



This kitten seemed to be praying someone would adopt him.

There is a string band that plays every week at the Farmers market.




This was one of the ladies in charge of the Salsa contest that I did not win. LOL I just like entering them. Next contest is Harvest, I have a few great recipes I might make for it.






I grilled these with olive oil and salt and pepper

these nectarines are really good.
Yum!
Some of my stuff I picked up
There was a balloon guy making some really cool balloons, I wish I could had gotten the shot with the huge spider he did.









Friday, July 25, 2008

Salsa





Well I decided to make salsa today, I have to wait for it to cool to really see if I like it or not. It seems to be OK while it is hot but hot salsa on chips is not to appealing to me. Then I thought why not make a fruit salsa for the salsa contest at the Farmers Market tomorrow. So I made the fruit salas with cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. I have to say it taste very good. Then again I really like fruit. I had to make a lot of the chips because they are also very good. I will post some pictures and the recipes.




Salsa



2 pounds roma (plum)
tomatoes
1-1/2 ounces roma (plum)
tomatoes, chopped
1-3/4 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon and 3/4 teaspoon
lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cayenne
pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 red onion, chopped
1/3 white onion, chopped
1/3 yellow onion, chopped
5 ounces jalapeno peppers,
chopped
1/8 bunch fresh cilantro,
chopped

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Briefly place 1 pound tomatoes into water to loosen skins and set color. Drain, peel and crush.

Mix chopped tomatoes, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin into the saucepan with crushed tomatoes. Whip to desired thickness. Bring to a boil. Mix in red onion, white onion, yellow onion, jalapeno peppers and cilantro. Continue boiling until vegetables are soft and mixture has reached desired consistency. Remove from heat. Refrigerate until serving




Fruit Salsa





2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples peeled, cored and diced
8 ounces raspberries
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.
I love this fruit one you really need to try it. I bet it would be good on chicken and fish warmed up.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

BBQ Chicken




I could not figure out what to make for dinner tonight, so as I was getting chicken ready for church tomorrow I figured I would throw some in the oven with salt and garlic powder, I let it cook in a 400 degree oven until it crisp up a little then I poured BBQ sauce on top and cooked it util it was done. It was really good and my husband said it was better then on the grill.




I really don't like to make sugar cookies. I use to have a really good cookies recipe but I still really did not like to make them. Maybe I think they are too much work. :o) But every once in awhile I will make them. I make them for Christmas with the boys and we frost them. These ones are good, I added about 1/4 cup more sugar and a few month ago I added some vanilla bean to a jar of sugar and decided to add some cinnamon to it and topped my cookies with this mixture before I baked them. I also added m&m's to some of them.


Sugar Cookies


2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Cream Puffs

Yes I am still at it this afternoon. I filled these with a coconut flavor and made them smaller. They were pretty good. I made Chicken cordon bleu, couscous and we had a Ceasar salad. Sunday's are always the big meals in our house, all the kids but Brandi is here and Brandon stays for dinner. Ryan comes if he is not preaching out of town or something going on at his church. Right now Aunt Kristine is sleeping on the love seat with Noah. One good thing about our huge family is it gives mommy and daddy a break from feeding and changing diapers.






Cream Puffs

2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix ( I added one of vanilla and one of banana in the large ones and all coconut in the small ones.)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

1. Mix together vanilla instant pudding mix, cream and milk. Cover and refrigerate to set.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
5. When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.