FRESH Berry White Chocolate Streusel Bars

I LOVE to bake.  Yes I do.  I also LOVE any kind of FRESH berry - strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries...they all make me happy.  When I have the opportunity to bake with berries I can't tell you how happy it makes me! VERY happy.  VERY, VERY happy.

That being said grab some berries and bake these bars!  If you only have one kind of berry that's fine as the original recipe only called for strawberries.  I just couldn't resist making these bars with all the berries I had on hand instead of just sticking with just the strawberries. 


What was really fun is that my alteration of this recipe created a RED, WHITE and BLUE dessert bar just in time for the up and coming July 4th holiday.  AND because this recipe makes such a large amount you can take this bars to a couple of BBQ's and still have enough for a stash to keep at home. :-)

Fresh Berry White Chocolate Streusel Bars
(recipe adapted from, Recipes from my Mom - a beautiful food blog that touches my heart and makes my mouth water )

Ingredients:

2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup COLD butter, cut into small pieces
4 oz. fluid strawberry jam
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cups FRESH berries (chop or slice strawberries if you use them)
3 oz. fluid white chocolate (I used white chocolate bark that I melted in the microwave)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl whisk together oats, flour, both sugars, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. Add in COLD butter that has been cut into small pieces.  Combine into dry ingredients either with your hands or a pastry cutter until butter is well incorporated as little crumbles.  Remove 1 cup of mixture and with remaining mixture carefully pour into a 15x10 jellyroll pan/cookie sheet.  Press mixture into pan to create an even crust.

3. Place in oven and bake for 12-13 minutes or until it is firm to the touch.  You do NOT want to brown this layer.  Remove from oven.

4. Warm jam in microwave for 30 seconds.  Add in lemon zest and then pour over warm crust.

5.  Spread berries over jam layer and then sprinkle with reserved 1 cup crumb mixture.

Pop into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until topping is a light brown.   Remove from oven and let cool 1 hour before drizzling with melted white chocolate. 

Cut into bars and then melt with happiness as you bite into one of these yummy treasures you just created.

My goodness these little treats are yummy if I do say so myself! :-)

Happy FRESH Berry White Chocolate Streusel Bars Baking!

Banana Split Dessert

Such a great dessert we have going on here.  FULL of good layers of creamy and fruity yumminess. The foundation of this dessert is made up of crushed cookies and then is built up with a creamy sweetened cream cheese layer followed up by a layer of crushed pineapple then sliced bananas, a smooth and decadent vanilla pudding layer, finalized with fluffy sweetened whipped cream which is garnished with chopped nuts and toffee bits.  So good.  SO GOOD!!!

Banana Split Dessert

(recipe comes from Butter and Oven Mitts)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Nilla Wafer cookies - crushed finely

1 1/4 cup sugar - divided

1/3 cup butter - melted

16 oz. cream cheese - at room temperature

28 oz. crushed pineapple - well drained (reserve a little bit of juice for brushing over sliced banana layer)

4 whole bananas

2 cups milk

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts...your choice)

1/4 cup toffee bits

marachino cherries (with or without stems)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl combine crushed cookies, melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar.  Press cookie crumb mixture into bottom of 9x13 pan.  Set aside.

2. Beat together cream cheese and remaining 1 cup sugar.  Beat together until light and fluffy then gently spread over cookie crumb layer.

3. Next spread the crushed (and WELL drained) pineapple over cream cheese layer.

....and then top with sliced bananas...

To avoid bananas from getting brown you can brush the tops of them with reserved pineapple juice.

4. In a medium bowl beat together milk and pudding mixture until thickened.  Set aside. 

5. In (yet another) bowl combine heavy cream, vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat until soft peaks form.  Take 1 cup of whipped cream and gently fold into pudding mixture.  Layer over sliced bananas.....

6. Spread remaining whipped cream mixture over pudding mixture and then garnish with chopped nuts and toffee bits.  YUM!

Chill for a couple of hours and then top off with marachino cherries (and mini American flags too if you want) just before serving.

Hello there yumminess.  Goodness to you look WONDERFULLY edible!

Happy Banana Split Dessert Making!

Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad

Ahhh the beauty of summer has arrived.  HOT days filled with trips to a near by beach, ice cream cones, the smell of sunscreen (and bug spray) along with BBQ's with good friends all make summer-time so special.

Yes, I am a lover of summer.  Another thing I love to do (as many of my friends know) is talk about food.  I LOVE to discover new recipes that friends have made.  And I especially LOVE it when they pass on those recipes to me.  There are some people out there that do not like to share their recipes...which I feel is a crime! - but that's just my feeling on that issue.  I honestly think that it is one of the highest forms of a compliment when someone requests a recipe of mine.  I always feel flattered that someone enjoyed the dish or baked goodie that I made and shared with them enough to want to eat it again AND to make it themselves.  Enough said.  I think you get my point. 

Needless to say whenever my friend Diane and I see each other (especially just after the weekend) we most often chat about food and what we have made over the weekend or in the past.  Diane always surprises me with something wonderful.  Recently she passed along a lovely recipe for Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad.  As soon as she started listing off all the yummy ingredients of this salad I knew I had to make it.  Fresh broccoli and cauliflower...YES....chopped red onion...oh yeah!...crumbled feta cheese...for sure!...diced grape tomatoes...absolutely!....all tossed with a lovely dressing (that I thought I had ALL the ingredients for...not so much).  With all those yummy characters in mind I would like to share with you today my version of Diane's Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad.  I will also provide you with the original ingredients that are in Diane's salad...you know the ingredients that I didn't have on hand....;-)

Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad

(many thanks Diane for passing along this recipe to me)

1/2 head of cauliflower - chopped up into bite size pieces

1-2 good size bunches of broccoli - chopped up into bite size pieces

1/2 red onion - chopped

1 heaping cup grape tomatoes - cut into quarters

2-4 oz. feta cheese - crumbled

1 dry packet of Italian dressing (this is where I changed up Diane's recipe for lack of dry RANCH dressing on hand)

2 Tbsp water

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (Diane's recipe called for red rice vinegar)

1/2 cup olive oil (canola oil could be used in substitution)

Directions:

1. Place cut up cauliflower and broccoli into a large bowl.  Add in chopped red onion and quartered tomatoes.  Set aside.

2. Make dressing by combining dry salad dressing mix, oil, vinegar and water in a jar that can be covered tightly with a lid. Once lid is securely place on jar shake for a minute or two until well combined.  Pour dressing over veggies and toss gently to coat.  Fold in feta cheese.

3. Refrigerate salad for a good hour (if not longer if possible).  All the flavors of the dressing will melt into the veggies as it hangs out in the fridge.

Serve with happiness!

Of course you could always add in any of your favorite veggies to this refreshing summer salad.  Red peppers, cucumbers or black olives are a few additions that come to mind.  Go ahead be daring and toss in different veggies.

Happy Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad Making!

Sweet and Tart Rhubarb Cake

I am delighted to report that I am now officially an owner of a rhubarb plant! Yes, for years now I have been wanting my very own rhubarb patch.  Many of my friends have offered me a snippet of their patch as rhubarb very easily transplanted but for some reason I never got my act together and took them up on their offer.  A couple weeks ago Jeff came home with a couple of plants from a friend's garden and guess what, rhubarb was one of them!  Happiness, I will now have my very own rhubarb patch next year!

So quick, go grab some rhubarb that may be still left in your garden or in the grocery store and make this cake.  I love this recipe for not only is it packed with tart rhubarb (which is shredded rather than cut into small chunks) and a good helping of cinnamon but it also calls for 1/2 cup of yogurt.  In all my baking experience whenever a recipe includes yogurt in it the end result is always deliciously moist.  Needless, to say this cake was indeed moist....which I blame on the yogurt.  Originally, plain non-fat yogurt was called for but all I had was Greek vanilla yogurt - the substitution worked out great!

Sweet and Tart Rhubarb Cake

(recipe slightly adapted from Confessions of a Bakeaholic - gorgeous and scrumptious blog!)

Ingredients:

4 stalks of rhubarb - peeled, cut in 1/2 and pull into strips

3 eggs

1 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tsp cinnamon (yes, this is the correct amount...there is a lot of cinnamon in this cake - adjust if you so wish)

1 dash ground nutmeg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (I used vanilla Greek yogurt)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease pan of choice - BUNDT, 9x13 or two loaf pans.

2. Prepare rhubarb by peeling off thin stringy layer, then cutting stalks into 5-6" pieces and then peeling into strips (as seen in picture above).

3. In a large bowl beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract.  Slowly add in dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg.  Combine thoroughly.

4. Add in prepared rhubarb and yogurt - stirring until well combined.

5. Pour cake batter into prepared cake pan of choice.  Bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool at least 10 minutes in pan before removing to serving platter.

*I served this cake without frosting but of course if you would like to kick it up a notch, frost it with your favorite Cream Cheese Frosting....super yum! You could also add in a cup of cut up strawberries to the cake batter as another variation on this recipe.

Happy Sweet and Tart Rhubarb Cake Baking!



BUNDT Cake MAGIC

BUNDT cakes are fabulous in my world.  They are lovely to look at, always yummy to eat and made in jiffy. And you know what else I like about BUNDT cakes? - I like the way the word BUNDT cake sounds.  It's just fun to say.  I know, silly me!  

Who could ask for anything more in a cake?  Well, I guess the only thing I could ask for is MORE BUNDT cake recipes.  Got a favorite?  Please do share.  Pretty, pretty please. 

In my effort to share with you a wonderful BUNDT cake recipe I thought I would show and tell you all about a Root Beer Float BUNDT Cake.  Yes, you heard me right...this is a cake fully flavored with root beer soda.  PERFECT to make for this coming season of BBQ's and picnics! 

Now, you can stay simple or go fancy with this cake.  By simple I mean just sprinkling it with some powdered sugar. To make it fancy you could drizzle the cake with a Root Beer Glaze (recipe shared below).  It's your choice 100%.  I do have to say that by serving it with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side really took this cake up a knotch of yumminess.  Especially when I served the cake the day after it was baked for then the flavor of the root beer was much more pronounced than the first day.

  

Root Beer Float BUNDT Cake

(recipe found on Piece of Cake which was adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking - I can't wait to treat myself to this cookbook!)

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups root beer

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 cup AP flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

Glaze Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup root beer

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, VERY soft

Cake Directions:

1. Position an oven rack to the lower 1/3 of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 10" BUNDT pan generously with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a medium saucepan combine root beer, cocoa powder and butter.  Cook over medium and stir often.  Once butter is melted whisk in sugars until well combined.  Turn off heat and set aside mixture to cool.

3. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

4. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl and then whisk them into the cooled root beer/cocoa powder mixture.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour root beer/cocoa powder/egg mixture right into the middle of it.  Mix all together until just combined.  Batter will be slightly lumpy.

5.  Pour batter into prepared BUNDT pan.  Place in oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.  Let cake cool for at least 30 minutes in pan before inverting to a serving platter.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar or make Root Beer Glaze.

Root Beer Glaze Directions:

1. In a medium bowl wisk together powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and 1/4 cup root beer.

2. Add in VERY soft butter and mix until smooth.  Add in a little bit more of root beer if you find that the glaze needs to be thinned out for a better spreadable consistency (you don't want it to be too runny).  Spoon glaze over cake and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Keep cake at room temperature covered or refrigerate (it lasts longer if refrigerated).


Enjoy!


Happy Root Beer Float BUNDT Cake Baking!



Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I like chewy cookies.  I like oatmeal.  I also like peanut butter.  AND I even like raisins!  Some people don't like any of these foods mentioned above (how can you NOT like cookies?!...I mean really!).  Some people only like one of said foods from above and well, some people don't like the combination of oatmeal, peanut butter and raisins put together.  And that's just fine.  But, if you are into having a chewy and healthy cookie that fills you up and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner than this cookie recipe is for you.  Yes, YOU!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

(recipe slightly adapted from Heather on Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used smooth)

4 cups oatmeal

1 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream together softened butter and sugars.  Add in eggs and vanilla extract - mix until well combined.

3. Add in remaining ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla extract mixture.

4. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.  Scoop out cookie dough with desired size scoop (I used a small and medium scoop from Pampered Chef).

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are done.  Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheets for a couple of minutes before removing.

Store in an air-tight container with a nice piece of soft bread (which helps the cookies stay soft and chewy).

Enjoy!!!

Happy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Baking!

Baked Mac and Cheese

My goodness it has been a long time since the last time I posted a recipe!! WAAAY too long!  I am hiding my head in shame....but honestly my excuse is only because life has simply grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let me deviate from taking care of my kiddios by making sure they were feed, cleaned and most importantly HAPPY! I have often looked at my computer longingly , wishing to sit down in front of it and type out a blog post but then I suddenly get pulled in another direction and then yet another day goes by without a blog post.  I know you guys get it.  I'm sure you totally get it as the very same thing happens to many of you mommas or not.  But most importantly know that I've missed all of you! - my dear and precious followers and fellow bloggers.  I've so missed you!

Anyway, upward and onward with my recipe today that I wish to share with all of you...Baked Mac and Cheese!!!!   Like Chocolate Chip cookies I am always looking for a new and super yum recipe for Mac n Cheese.  I make it often (from the box and from scratch) so it's fun to switch it up a bit and make a different recipe every once and awhile from the one I use most often.

This recipe is great.  Full of good cheese, a dab of sour cream and even a couple eggs and viola the magic of pasta and cheese come together to form a lovely dish of Mac and Cheese.  The credit of this recipe goes to the fabulous Tina of Mommy's Kitchen who found the recipe from the good ole adorable Deen Brothers (Paula must be SO proud of them!!!).

Baked Mac and Cheese

(recipe found on Mommy's Kitchen from the Deen Brothers cookbook, Recipes From the Road)

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (or small pasta of your choice)

4 cups shredded cheese - I used a mixture of Colby Jack and Cheddar (yummy combo!!)

1 cup milk - whole milk is suggested, I used 2% and it was great

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 tsp salt

dash of hot sauce - optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish - set aside.

2. Cook pasta according to directions on package.  Drain pasta and return to pot that it was cooked in.

3. While pasta is still HOT add in the cheeses and stir well to combine.  Spread pasta and cheese mixture into prepared baking dish.

4. Whisk together milk, sour cream, eggs, butter pieces, salt and hot sauce (if you are using it) in a medium bowl.  Pour mixture over macaroni and cheese.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubble good.  Let stand out of oven for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Happy Baked Mac and Cheese!