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.

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.

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.

Canning

So we got some fruit off of our new Apricot and peach trees, not a lot and they are not brand new trees, we planted them last year. We have gotten fruit off them since the end of My but this time they were all ripen so we had to pick them all. I did not want them to go to waste so I got out the canning jars.

I made some Apricot Jam and then mixed peach and Apricot and made a jam with the mixture. I also made some peach syrup. It is weird because it is red, I have never made jam that was red or red syrup.

It is either my taste buds acting weird or no one else can taste it. I taste garlic with the jams. They were cooked in different pans and I am the only one who can taste it.

I added a picture of something sweeter then jam on my blog. He just makes Grandpa and Grandma's day when he comes over Uncle Jacob's also. :o)

Cheesecake

I forgot to post the recipe sorry, here it is.
I made a brownie crust and cooked it in my cheesecake pan
Then I took it out to cool and made the cheesecake recipe in the same pan.

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving

I added strawberries and blueberries to this for the 4th and then I drizzled hot fudge sauce over it to dress it up a little more.

So I tried a new recipe for the 4th and wish I would had just stuck with mine. This one had such high ratings though o I thought I would try it. Cheesecake is the one thing I never mess up on, well until now. The cheesecake sunk in the middle and it was a mess. I tried to piece it all back together and it looked horrible, I did not have any whipping cream to cover it up with so what did I do...I flipped the brownie crust up and laid the mess on the bottom, well it looked too plain for me so I looked around the kitchen and knew I wanted to use strawberries and blueberries but I need something else, AH! the hot fudge sauce! I heated it and added some to the top. Needless to say when my men seen it they were so excited! Now we will have to wait and taste it. Am I upset I tried a new recipe, no, I like to try ones all the time and I always learn something from them.

So I will post more tonight or tomorrow about our 4th and show you more pictures and recipes.

My oldest daughter will not be with us she lives in Vernon Hills IL.

and my second to the oldest daughter and her boyfriend are headed to a baseball game, He likes the Dodgers and they are playing the A's he is having her wear a Dodgers hat and shirt while they are in the A's hometown playing. Not to wise if you ask me. LOL They are I believe she said four rows back row the dug out. I will find out how that went and let you all know also. But you know what this means right...well the guys will be playing basketball or swimming so I will get Noah all to myself. :o) am I greedy.....oh you know it when it comes to my grandson, I mean he is so cute how can you not want to hold and love on him all day.

Have a Happy 4th everyone!

Getting ready for the 4th still

So here it is Thursday and I was going to spend the day cleaning and cooking for tomorrow but I ended up going with my husband to drop off the boys, get tires we went to lunch at Green Valley Grill. (I love that place it is soooo good) Well I have a lot of cooking to do tonight and cleaning, but tomorrow is going to be a kick back day and we will just kick back, BBQ and play games, maybe swim, eat, watch TV but more important love on my grandson Noah.


My son wanted a Tart so I figure I would just play around and see what I would come up with. Then I decided to make a cheesecake for my husband but I wanted to do something different so I made a caramel brownie crust.



3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 ground almonds


Filling
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar


Glaze

Heated peach jam
In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour; mix well. Press into an ungreased 11-in. tart pan with removable bottom or 12-in. pizza pan with sides. Bake at 300 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.
For filling, in a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and heavy cream and beat until smooth. Spread over crust. Add fruit of choice and refrigerate.

Cheesecake crust

Getting ready for the 4th.

Well I am slowly getting ready for the 4th or in my house it is another reason to cook and decorate. Yesterday I got my meat in my homemade Teriyaki sauce and put it in the freezer or my Kabobs. Then my oldest son wants a fruit tart so I will make that tomorrow. I am going to BBQ chicken and maybe some burgers, I think I will make some baked beans and BBQ some watermelon.


I made some cookies today while the boys were at the Boys and Girls club, they had a blast and it gave them a chance to make some new friends.


So I tried to come up with a red, white and blue cookie and decided to color sugar cookie dough and add sprinkles, then I made my Watermelon cookies. I could not find my recipe so I looked one up and then decided to save time and use a package sugar cookie mix and add peppermint extract to it for the flavor I wanted. I have a lot to do and plan on dropping the boys off again tomorrow and getting the rest done.

Name Swap

I have joined a name swap on one of the blogs I belong to, it is going to be very exciting. I have So, What else, What else. what else? as the one I will swap with. If I have read her blog right she just moved to Chicago. I enjoy going to Chicago when we go to stay at our house in Indiana during the summer, we rented it out this year so we did not get back there. Then there was last year when I took out the side of my husbands brand new truck, when I say brand new I mean maybe he made one payment on it, but I don't think he even made his first payment yet. I was going to park it in one of those garages and the guy that worked there told me I was fine, well I was not. I did not take out the side I just put a good dent and took off the paint all the way to the metal. I had never had a ticket or an accident before so this was all new for me, and it had to be his new truck. It was not a good year for me. When we got back to California the next month we went into Starbucks in the mall to get ice green tea before we went for our birthday massage and I backed up into a lady in the parking lot. I was backing up very slowly so it did no harm, she wanted to get three quotes on her bug was the message she left on my phone and I was willing to pay whatever it was to get fixed. The auto shop must had told her it was nothing so she never called me back.
Well back to my name swap, I think this is going to be a lot of fun, I have a lot of ideas when I went to the farmers market and thought that would be nice to send out.
Well I did not bake today, something really sweet came into my arms and I did not want to put him down, so I will do it tomorrow.

Camp

Here are the Carmel Apples I made for my son Jacob to sell to earn money for camp. So far he has sold two carmel apples and a brownie and he has not even left the house yet.

Brownies

My son is trying to earn money to attend basketball camp again so we decided to sell a few things, first of all we will start with brownies, maybe watermelon cookies and caramel apples.

We made turtle and peanut butter cup brownies!!

I'm back

It has been a little while since I posted because life has been busy. We went on vacation, then the boys had basketball camp and youth conference. But the highlight of t all was our youngest daughter and her husband Eric had their first baby, our first grandson!! He is so cute.

Pear bread

I got this recipe off one of the blogs I belong to (bake and break). Since I love pears I had to give it a try and I am so glad I did. You have to try it you will not regret it.

Pear Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans (original recipe uses walnuts)
3/4 cup butter, softened (may substitute 3/4 cup vegetable oil)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or two 9″x 5″loaf pans.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of this mixture and combine it with nuts to coat. Stir back into the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, sugar, pears, and vanilla. Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until flour disappears and batter is evenly moistened.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until bread is browned and firm on top. A pick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pan and place top side up on a plate or wire rack to cool completely.

Camping at Yosemite

We took off for our

yearly vacation, needless to say it got cut short and we only went for two days, just enough time to be a little more stressed and not enough time to relax. The boys were not very happy about coming home so they fought so much the next day that it just ruined my day and I was so stressed we ended up canceling our anniversary dinner for that night. This will be an anniversary I will hope to never repeat. My husband and boys went to his families BBQ at the lake today and I stayed home and cleaned and cooked so I will have a few things I made today I will post. Here are some pictures our trip. We picked a bad week to go because all the school's were next to use and loud, when they stopped we heard the gun shots and yelling at the bears. Yes Davif slept through it. LOL