Mini Caramel Apples

These Caramel Apples are so kid friendly. There's no way my son could eat an entire one. I mean, even as an adult I love them, but they are work to eat. So this solution has me thrilled! Can you imagine them rolled in nuts, drizzled with chocolates, or dressed up any other way? Too cute! Christy of From Glitter to Gumdrops gives us the instructions on her blog!

Easy Little Cakes

These little cakes are adorable and they're easy to make too! You can get instructions here on Zakka Life.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Before Ava was born I read that you must use hypoalergenic laundry detergent on baby clothes but when I saw the price for Dreft I decided to do something a little more cost effective. I found this wonderful homemade laundtry soap recipe and in 6 months I have spent about 7 dollars on laundtry soap and I use some of the ingredients for dish detergent too. This recipe is for liquid soap the consistency is not as nice as store bought but it works great! I don't add the essential oils because the soap already has a lemony scent.

1-bar Fels-Naptha soap

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA!)

Hot tap water

5 gallon bucket with lid

2 gallon plastic beverage dispenser

Light colored essential oils (optional)



Grate bar of soap with a cheese grater. Fill the 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with hot tap water. Melt the grated soap slowly over med-low heat in a large saucepan with 2.5 cups of water. Once the soap is completely melted, add this to the water in the five gallon bucket. Now add the Borax and the Super Washing Soda and stir. Now top the bucket off with more hot tap water. Loosely put the lid on the bucket and leave over night to thicken.


You can add 15 – 20 drops of essential oils to this if you like. (Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, etc.)

I use about 3/4 cup per load if you have an energy efficient loader you can use less.

I have a friend that makes dry laundry soap from equal parts fels naptha, borax, and washing soda. That seems to work pretty good too! If you make it dry you must grate the fels naptha very fine though since it dissolves slowly and you don't want it left in your clothes. Happy Soap making!!

Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach

I came across this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine. It is so delicious, I just had to share!!

Ingredients

4 cups chicken stock (not broth)

6 bacon slices

1 cup chopped shallots

1 tbs olive oil

1 tps chopped fresh thyme

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

4 oz oyster mushrooms, sliced

1 cup uncooked medium-grain rice

1/3 cup Madeira wine (I just used 1/3 cup of extra chicken stock)

4 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 tsp pepper

.

Instructions

1. Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a small saucepan (do not boil); keep ward over low heat.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon to pan. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon fro pan, leaving drippings. Add shallots, oil, thyme, and garlic to drippings and cook about 6 minutes, or until tender. Stir in mushrooms and cook 8 minutes. Add rice and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine (or extra stock); cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup stock; cook 4 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock ,1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total). Stir in the spinach and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.

.

Yield: 6 1/4 cups

April Fool's Day

I found this idea online and I can't wait to try it out on my husband for April Fool's day (so don't anyone give him a heads up! Or you'll be in trouble!)

Don't these look like yummy cupcakes? Would you really guess that they are meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top???

The first surprise here: there's not a grain of sugar in these cupcakes. The second surprise: your kids will love them anyway.

Ingredients

• MEAT LOAF
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 egg

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• POTATO FROSTING
• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• Food coloring

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).
3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Isn't that great? I think that instead of using food coloring I am going to add a bit of beet juice to the potatoes to act as the dye. Ohhh.... I can't wait for April Fool's day!

Check out the site for more wonderful April Fool ideas!

Melting Pot Recipes

Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:
1 ½ C shredded Butterkäse cheese (6oz) [can be found at Whole foods, but you can also substitute Gouda if you can't find Butterkäse]
1 ½ C shredded Fontina Cheese (6oz)
3 Tbsp flour
¾ C white wine
¼ C dry sherry
2 tsp chopped shallots
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ C crumbled blue cheese
2 Tbsp chopped scallions

Preparation:
Toss the Butterkäse and Fontina cheese with the flour in a bowl. Place a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water. You may also use a conventional double boiler. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and pour the wine and sherry into the bowl. Sit in the shallots using a fork. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Note: You can replace the alcohol with vegetable broth, Even though most of the alcohol cooks off it leaves its flavor behind.

Add half the cheese blend and cook until the cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add the remaining cheese blend a small amount at a time, stirring constantly in a circular motion after each addition until the cheese is melted. Fold in the pepper and Blue cheese. Pour into a warm fondue pot and keep warm over low heat. Garnish with the scallions.

NOTE: The cheese is shredded and tossed with flour to aid din thickening and to improve the viscosity of the fondue. The fondue should be the consistency of warm honey when completed. Monitor the cheese carefully as it is being added. Not all of the cheese may be needed, and, in some cases, more cheese may be needed to reach the perfect consistency.

Recommended dipping accompaniments: Variety of breads, green apples, mixed vegetables.

On the website that I found this little treasure I also found a recipe for their Court Bouillon, which is what the meat course is cooked in but is an excellent way to prepare yummy vegetables like broccoli, mushrooms, and potatoes, and for a dark chocolate raspberry fondue. YUM!

Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

I had a lot of comments on my dgit blog for this recipe so I thought I would share on this blog. It is really quite delicious even though it is a vegetarian recipe. I honestly wish it made just a little more!

Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cans garbanzo beans (drain and rinse)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can vegetable broth
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro

Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2" cubes and microwave for 8 1/2 minutes. Meanwhile, put oil in stock pot and warm on medium heat. Add oil, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and salt.

Add garbanzo beans and tomatoes and veg broth. Mix and then add peanut butter. Once all mixed and sweet potatoes are done, add and stir in with cilantro.

*My sweet potatoes were not done from microwaving so I just cooked them longer in the stew- which I think next time (because there will be a next time because it is so delicious) I would try to cook the sweet potatoes completely in the stew.

Pie-In-A-Jar

I found these the other day and I can't wait to try them out.....

The best part is that these adorable little pies were taken from freezer and put directly in the oven. How easy. And how yummy!

Here is the link for instructions: Single Serving Pie-In-A-Jar

Happy Holidays!

Incredible Bread Pudding

My sister had this bread pudding at a hoity toity restaurant. It was so incredible that she begged for the recipe. And lucky for you I will share it with you as well. It truly is so so yummy!

Amazing Bread Pudding

1 1/2 loaves fresh french bread (if you are feeling ambitious...make your own!)

1 cup sugar

8 eggs

1 quart milk

1 quart half and half

2 tsp. vanilla

Cube the bread. Beat all other ingredients. Pour egg mixture over the cubes of bread and gently mix. Put in a 9x13 (or save yourself a bowl and just mix the bread and egg mixture in the 9x13 pan) dish. Cover with foil.

Bake at 325 for 2 hours. Or until the knife comes out clean

Serve warm with Vanilla Sauce and half and half poured over.

Vanilla Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup un-whipped whipping cream

1/2 cup butter

vanilla to taste

Add all ingredients and cook over stove top until nice and bubbly.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

As promised, here is the Pumpkin Pie Dip I made for the Halloween Party play group. The picture shows it being served with gingersnaps, but I served mine with sliced apples and pears.

Ingredients

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Gingersnap cookies

Directions

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the pumpkin, sour cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and ginger until blended. Serve with gingersnaps. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 4 cups.

Creamy Pumpkin Rice Pudding

(Sorry for the small pic - I borrowed it from the Internet)


For anyone that is a fan of rice pudding, this is a perfect Fall version of the dish!

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup uncooked long grain rice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2/3 cup Pumpkin Puree, or canned pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins
1 medium red apple and/or green pear, cored and thinly sliced (1 cup)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. honey

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In small saucepan combine water and rice. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring once.

2. In medium bowl combine eggs, milk, Pumpkin Puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt. Stir in rice and 1/2 cup of the cranberries. Pour mixture into 1-1/2-quart straight-sided deep baking dish. Place dish in baking pan on oven rack. Pour boiling water into baking pan until water comes halfway up sides of baking dish.

3. Bake 30 minutes; stir. Bake 35 minutes more or until outside edge appears set. Remove dish from oven. Cool slightly on wire rack.

4. Meanwhile, in bowl combine remaining 1/4 cup cranberries and boiling water to cover. Let stand 15 minutes; drain. Just before serving, toss together apple, walnuts, honey, and cranberries. Spoon over pudding. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.

5. To store, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Strawberry Dessert Soup

At the beginning of the summer, Craig and I went to Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake for a wedding rehearsal dinner. The mere mention of the restaurant makes my mouth water! But anyway, they had this delicious strawberry soup that was to die for. As I was going through some old cooking magazines the other day, I happened upon this recipe and decided to try it out. It was a little different than the soup we had at Rodizio's, but its still super yummy. So, here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water, divided
1 cup apple juice
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
2 cups strawberry yogurt
2-3 drops red food coloring (optional)
1/4 cup sour cream (optional)
2 tbs milk (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a large saucepan, combine 3/4 cup water, apple juice, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. Place strawberries and remaining water in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour into apple juice mixture. Stir in yogurt and food coloring. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until well chilled.
3. Ladle soup into bowls.
4. Optional: Combine sour cream and milk; spoon about 2 1/2 tsp into the center of each bowl. Using a toothpick, pull mixture out, forming a flower or design of your choice.
   

Funky Lunch Anyone?

I found this site via Hostess With the Mostess that has made me excited for lunch time again. It's not really an original idea for lunches: Sandwiches and Vegetables. It's just the amazingly original presentation. I don't know very many kids that wouldn't smile for a Funky Lunch. I know it's not an everyday thing, but when it will only take a few more minutes for a really happy lunch time, I'm willing to put in the effort. Check out more pictures in their gallery.

Please note that this is a start-up company. They are trying to get a book together to teach you how to make lunches like the ones in their gallery. I love their company goal and hope you all will share this site with your friends and family!

Thai Soup

(I don't claim to be a good food photographer :) )

During my last trip to Idaho, my mother-in-law made this soup for me. It was SO yummy and SO fast to make. I thought it would be a good recipe to share. It can be made with chicken, halibut, salmon, shrimp, crab, or any combination of the five. In the above picture, I combined shrimp and crab.

INGREDIENTS:

1 14oz can of coconut milk

2 Tbs red curry paste

2 Tbs brown sugar

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 of one red bell pepper (chopped)

2 Tbs fish sauce

1/3 cup water

sticky rice or jasmine rice

chicken, shrimp, crab, halibut, or salmon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Make rice according to package directions. In another pot, simmer coconut milk and curry for 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients and cook until heated through. NOTE: Because the seafood cooks so fast, you can just add it uncooked. If you are using chicken, cube and cook BEFORE adding to the soup.

Spoon rice into serving dishes. Ladle soup on top and serve immediately.

Tomato Sauce From Heaven

My sister in law is Italian. And this is her divine recipe just the way that she used to make it with her Nonna when she was a little girl. So you should make it (with homemade pasta) and feel like you took a step into Italy!

Amazing Tomato Sauce

16 Roma Tomatoes (dark red), cut into eighths

1 yellow onion (chopped)

extra virgin olive oil (about 1/2 c.)

4 cans 16 oz tomato sauce

6-8 cloves garlic (peel off the white paper and keep the cloves whole)

1 bunch of fresh basil (Carpinito Brothers located in Kent sells gloriously huge bunches of basil for only 99 cents!)

Salt and pepper

Cover large pot bottom with olive oil.

Saute onions, salt, pepper, basil and cloves of garlic.

When onions are tender toss chopped tomatoes into pot.

Don't stir.

When red water appears on top add the tomato sauce.

Cook 1.5 hrs on med/low and 4 hrs. on low (covered)

If sauce is too thin add a bit of tomato paste to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now take a chunk of fresh baguette and dip it into the sauce. Mmmmm. Enjoy! And let me know if you have any questions!

Breakfast Parfait

I love the idea of creating cute and fun lunches to encourage my son to eat. But when it comes to breakfast it always seems like I'm stumped. Unless it's pancakes or waffles or some special egg dish how do I make it appealing? Here's a quick and easy idea I found for dressing up a simple cereal breakfast.

The Breakfast Parfait

Cheerios

Yogurt Flavor #1

Rice Krispies

Yogurt Flavor #2

Banana Slices

Whipped Cream

Sprinkes

Maraschino Cherry

Assemble the layers in a parfait cup as shown above. Serve and Enjoy. Stacy Julian of Stacy's Big Picture suggests you speak in a lame French accent when you serve this to make it even more special!

Homemade Granola Bars

I occasionally like to watch this great cooking show on the food channel called Good Eats. The other day, they had an episode on making homemade granola bars and power bars that were much healthier (and without all the preservatives) than the ones you buy at the grocery store. They didn't look too hard to make, so I decided to try them both out. The granola bars were great and very easy to make, so I'm going to post the recipe here. The power bars were . . . . okay, but I wasn't a huge fan, so unless someone requests it, I'm not posting that recipe. As a WARNING, most of the measurements are done in ounces, so you'll need a food scale to make this recipe. Also, I found most of the ingredients in the bins at Winco.


Homemade Granola Bars

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
• 1.5 oz raw sunflower seeds*
• 3 oz sliced almonds
• 1.5 oz wheat germ

Wet Ingredients:

• 6 oz honey
• 1 3/4 oz brown sugar
• 1 oz butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Other Ingredients:

• 6 oz of a variety of dried fruit (blueberries, cherries, apricots, raisins)

Directions:

1. Place all dry ingredients on a cookie sheet. Stir so all ingredients are mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine all wet ingredients. Stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Remove saucepan from heat and add dry ingredients and mix.
4. Chop all dried fruit and add to the mixture in the saucepan. Mix well.
5. Place in a well-greased 9x9 inch pan. Press very firmly and evenly into the pan.
6. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes.
7. Allow to cool completely. Run a knife around the edges and turn the bars out of the pan onto a cutting board. Cut into bars.

Properly stored, these granola bars will last in the cupboard for 2-3 weeks.
*The recipe calls for unshelled sunflower seeds, but I would recommend that you use the shelled seeds (unless you like eating the shells).

Barbecue Cup-cuits

This is an extremely versatile recipe. In other words you can pretty much change the ingredients to suit your needs and it will still turn out!

Barbecue Cup-cuits

2 1/4 Bisquick Mix

1 cup Milk

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 tbsp Dried Minced Onions

Water

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce

Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

Mix the Bisquick Mix and 3/4 cup Milk then add milk slowly until you get a good biscuit texture. I mixed in just less than 1 cup of milk total. Mix it all together and kneed about 7 times. Divide into 12 balls. Flatten and spread across the bottom and sides of each cup in the muffin pan, forming biscuit cups. Bake for 2 min.

Put the Onions in a small bowl and fill with water. In a skillet brown the Ground Turkey. Drain the fat, then drain the Onions and add them to the Turkey. Cook for another minute or so. (You can just throw in the onions dry, or use a fresh onion, I prefer to rehydrate them so the dry ones aren't too strong.) Remove from heat.

Mix BBQ Sauce in with Turkey and Onions.

Fill the biscuit cups with the Turkey mix, cover all with grated cheddar cheese.

Bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!

Like I said before these can be made with any variation you can think of: bacon or sausage and eggs, taco meat, use canned Sloppy Joe or Chili mixes (Manwich), use refrigerated biscuit dough or your own biscuit recipe, make your own BBQ Sauce, add your own special toppings (just like a taco if you use that, or gravy for breakfast ones), canned chicken with vegetables in a creamy sauce, or come up with your own family variation. Just comment and let me know what variations you try so I can know what works.

Watermelon-Berry Lemonade

I found this recipe in one of my magazines and it is tasty! Perfect for a hot summer day!

Watermelon-Berry Lemonade
Yield: 12 servings (about 4 quarts)

• 8 cups cubed watermelon
• 3 cups hulled and quartered strawberries
• 2 cans frozen lemonade concentrate
• 8 cups water

1. In a blender, combine half of the watermelon, strawberries, and lemonade. Cover; blend until smooth.
2. Transfer to serving container. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Add water.
3. Serve over ice.

Great Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

(Picture found on the internet not my bread, but it looks similar :) )
Whole Wheat Bread

Put all ingredients in your Kitchen-Aide mixer, always mixing on low speed with your dough hook attachment.

2 Tb. Yeast
5 1/2 c. water (very warm)
6 c. whole wheat flour
Mix these 3 ingredients together
Add:
2/3 c. Oil
2/3 c. Sugar
2 T. salt
6 c. whole wheat flour, add 1 c. white all purpose flour (or 1/2 c. gluten)

Mix all ingredients on low speed for 8-10 minutes. Cover w/ a wet tea towel, and let rise until double, about 30-45 minutes. Grease bread pans w/ Pam. Punch down dough and divide into quarters. With well greased hands (I use Crisco) pull apart each quarter, slap the top of the loaf and tucking the sides in, form loaves. Let raise until the top of the loaves are peeking over the pans. Bake in a preheated oven @350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until loaves are brown.

Makes 4 loaves of bread.