{Romas and Onions and Chilies, Oh My!

It has been the week of salsa!!  I think I'm sweating it... garlic, tomatoes and chilies.  What fun though!  I look forward to this time of year when I can stock my food storage room with yummy, homemade salsa.  Last year was the first year I attempted it (thanks to a dear friend who held my hand the whole way.  Why is it that canning is so intimidating?)  We made up our own recipe and threw ingredients in based on taste.  It was good, but this year's salsa is FAB!  I've included a copy of the recipe we used below.  Now get some girlfriends together, fire up the grills and get canning!

It's a really good thing Todd likes salsa because he forgave me pretty quickly when he saw what I did to our dining room table!  I would highly recommend placing hot jars on at least 2 towels (or better yet, glass)!  I think another table painting session is in order! 

{S'mores Cookie Bars...

We had our first stake camp meeting this weekend (Yay for camp!) and I figured a camp meeting without S'mores was no camp meeting at all. So, short of building a fire in the backyard I found this recipe on the internet and it was a big hit. Just thought I'd share it for anyone looking for a fun new dessert for FHE or for this summer when your kids want to 'camp' in the backyard!

1/2 c butter, room temp

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

1 large egg

1 t vanilla extract

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c graham cracker crumbs

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

2 king-sized Hershey's bars

1-7 oz jar of marshmallow fluff (or I substituted mini marshmallows and it worked out fine too)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with Pam. in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Spread marshmallow fluff over chocolate (which is next to impossible, hence the mini marshmallows!). Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned. cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 16 squares.

{Thanksgiving...

What a fun holiday! We had the Berry's, Grandma Gege and Scottie for Thanksgiving this year and it was so much fun. We even enjoyed a little visit with my Rossell cousins from CA (apparently Broc moved to Denver this summer... who knew??!). It was wonderful to be with so much of our family! The boys played in the annual turkey bowl and the girls had some crazy success with desserts in the kitchen (recipes to follow...). What did people do for Thanksgiving prior to allrecipes.com? Seriously.

Here are a few snapshots from our time together.

Grandma Gege stuffin' the bird.

Our place settings on my newly painted table!

Thanks to Carolyn Draney for finding these awesome hand pie molds. They were darling and this combination of recipes for apple pie can not be beat. I challenge anyone to a throw down!

Carolyn Draney's Pie Crust

2 ½ c flour
1 t salt
1 c butter
2 T sugar

Mix until crumbly

1 beaten egg
1 T vinegar (cider)
¼ c ice water

Mix but do not over work. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

Makes 2 pie crusts (or 1 top and bottom pie)

Grandma Opel's Apple Pie (from allrecipes.com)

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Our Pecan Coconut Pie was a smashing success as well...

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add the sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt; mix well. Stir in pecans and coconut. Pour into pastry shell. Make a domed cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Last but not least we made these mini Pumpkin Cakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting... delish!

Pumpkin Cake

2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 12x18 inch pan (or a mini muffin pan). Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared 12x18 inch pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes (or 11 minutes for the mini muffins), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon honey

Directions: Melt butter and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Beat with an electric mixer. When mixture starts to stiffen, stop mixer and add honey.
Continue to beat until light and fluffy. Do not over mix, or it will collapse.
Spread immediately and store cake in refrigerator.

*Feel free to add 2-3 cups of powdered sugar if you want the icing stiffer to pipe on top of mini cakes.*

{Buttery summer in a bottle...

Last week in Utah my mom made this coconut syrup to die for. So, this morning I decided to whip some up and holy smokes! Delicious... You have got to try this even if you're not a big fan of coconut. This recipe comes from sisterscafe.blogspot.com

Coconut Syrup
7-8 T. butter
¾ c. buttermilk
1 c. sugar
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp coconut extract
Place butter, buttermilk and sugar in a pot. Then turn stove on medium and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Remove from heat and add soda and flavoring. It will bubble up; just continue to stir and give it a few minutes for the 'fizz' to reduce before serving.

These whole wheat blender pancakes are the companion recipe. They are pretty good too (and it makes me feel better having whole wheat waffles with the "out of control, I don't even want to know how many calories it has" syrup.)

Whole Wheat Blender Waffles
1 c. plus 1 Tb whole wheat berries
1 c. milk
2 eggs
4 Tb oil
2 Tb sugar (or honey)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Blend wheat berries and milk on high for 4-5 minutes, until batter is smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend on low for a minute, or until incorporated. Cook on hot waffle iron. (Stir batter before pouring into waffle iron, because the heavier wheat particles will settle at the bottom.)
Makes about 10 waffles.
(To make pancakes instead of waffles, use 1 c. wheat berries and 2 Tb oil.)

{Jammin' out!

I have been making jam like a crazy woman the last couple of weeks. Alicia came over and we whipped out a ton of strawberry freezer jam. Yesterday a few friends got together to make it again because strawberries have been so cheap, but I opted out because I still had SO much jam in my freezer... or so I thought. I am down to 5 pints because it makes such a nice gift. So today I made a bunch of it and thought I would share Julie's recipe because it is fast and calls for 1/2 the sugar of the SureJell recipe. (It is a little thinner, tarter but just as delicious)

1 c pureed strawberries
3 c crushed strawberries
1 pkg gelatin
1 1/2 c sugar

Add the gelatin to 1 c pureed strawberries. In a large microwavable bowl, microwave on high for 1 minute, STIR, 2 minutes, STIR and then for 1 more minute. While the mixture is cooking, add 1 1/2 c sugar to the remaining 3 c crushed berries. Combine well and pour into prepared containers.

Viola... enjoy!

{Thanksgiving weekend and my favorite soup recipe...

We had a whopper of a Thanksgiving weekend!

We hopped in the car and made our way over to Utah for a Thanksgiving with both the Hawker's and the Berry's. Liz, Anna and I ran the Utah Food Bank 5K Thanksgiving morning and then we made our way over to the stake center to watch the guys play football. We met up with our families at Northampton House for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a packed house! Todd's dad owns a reception center in American Fork Utah and that is typically where we have Thanksgiving. This year there were over 120 people! I usually prefer a quiet little family gathering, but there is something to be said of making a salad, showing up and having the rest done!

We managed to get in a little Black Friday shopping (at our favorite Utah stores), and of course attended the blessings of Max (on Sat.) and Stella (on Sun.).

We are home safe and sound and now I'm dying to get my tree up, listen to carols and everything else that goes with it!


Todd playing in a turkey bowl on Thanksgiving Day.


Stella.


Max.

Here's one of my VERY favorite (and SO easy) soup recipes:

Tortellini, Sausage Soup

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, sliced
5 c beef stock
2 c Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 large or 2 small zucchini, sliced
1 large or 2 small carrots, sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
½ c dry red wine
3 T Italian seasoning
8-10 oz. fresh cheese tortellini
Fresh parmesan cheese

Sauté sausage in heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling. Using a slotted spoon transfer sausage to a large bowl. Pour off all but 1 T drippings from Dutch oven. Add onion and garlic to DO and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Return sausage to DO. Add stock, tomatoes, sauce, zucchini, carrot, pepper, wine basil and Italian seasonings. Simmer until veggies are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add tortellini to soup and cook until tender (8 minutes). Season soup to taste with S&P. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve.

{My favorite new grain... Quinoa!

One of my favorite new magazine's is called "Clean Eating." I read the book The Eat Clean Diet last year and it inspired me (until little Sammy came along and you all know how a baby changes your life!) but I'm ready to be inspired again so I picked up an old copy and decided to make this Quinoa Black Bean Salad. It was so good! It is fresh and perfect as a side dish to fish or chicken. It would even make a great main dish for Meatless Monday's!

... this is best served cold!

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
1 cup quinoa, washed and drained
2 cups water
1/4 olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
5 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

-Wash and rinse quinoa. In a saucepan, bring quinoa and water to a boil. REduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
-In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cumin and red pepper flakes.
-Combine cooled quinoa, beans, tomatoes and onions in a large bowl.
-Drizzle dressing over salad and toss in cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

{Sweet tooth...

Today I woke up with a sweet tooth! I hate it when that happens... anyway I called my friend Julie (who is a fabulous cook and should write her very own cookbook) and got the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies. I don't think she would mind if I shared it with you... They really are some of the best I've ever had. They're even better frozen.

JULIE'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. brown sugar
1 lb. butter
3 eggs
2 T vanilla
6 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
3 c. chocolate chips
2 c. nuts (opt)

Bake at 375 for no more than 9 minutes.

.ENJOY.