Category Archives: Dessert

Apple Pie Filling, in the Freezer

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 Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year, I love the colors, the smells and the food.  I even love fall canning season.  I get a great sense of satisfaction when I have rows of pretty bottled food, baskets of potatoes and squash all stored away for the winter.  Apples are one of my favorite foods to process, so many things can be done with apples.  Apples can just be left alone in cold storage for months, if they are just wanted for eating, they can also be made in to apple butter, pie filling, jelly, cider and vinegar.  Every part of an apple can be used for something. 

 This year I bought a big box of apples, thinking I was going to bottle them into pie filling and sauce, then I saw this post about Freezer Apple Pie Filling and I was sold!  The thought of throwing everything into a bag and not having to get out the pots and pan to bottle Apple Pie Filling, made me very happy.  (As a side note, I do plan on bottling some of the apples, I like to have food storage that isn’t dependent on electricity).  They great thing about this method is that I can do a bag here or there when I have an extra 30 minutes or so, it is that easy.

I am not going to type the whole recipe here, Julia at Blissfully Content did a great job, you can find the recipe HERE.

 

 

 

It took me about 30 minutes to put one bag together, peeling and slicing the apples too the majority of the time, and if I had one of those nifty apple-peeler-corer the time would be dramatically less, I would say maybe 10 minutes at the most.

What is your favorite way to use apples?

 

 

Peachy Peach Crisp

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I love fresh fruit.
I love this time of year when the grocery stores are full of all sorts of fresh fruits.
I love how it smells
I love how it looks on my table
I love how it looks in my grocery cart
(you know…hey everybody look, I eat healthy)
anyway
I have a little problem when it comes to fresh fruit
it tends to sit on my table looking all pretty
and goes rotten while I am getting around to eating it.

This summer I promised myself things would be different

I am going to be a better steward of all the bounties that God provides.
I am going to show respect for all the hard work Dadzoo does
and I am not going to let good food go to waste!
So I have this really pretty bowl of peaches sitting on my table
and they look so pretty
and smell so good and peachy
but
they are starting to get soft
so I decide that for breakfast tomorrow I am going to make a peach crisp and I am going to blog about it too, since I have so much time…hehe…
(ok, fine, I don’t have extra time, but what the heck a girl had to play a little, right, and since I am too poor for pedicures and shopping trips blogging about my cooking is the next best thing)So here we go

the cast of characters:
8 nice ripe peaches
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup butter (softened)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg

Very simple, down home ingredients, not really expensive, but not diet friendly either.
 

First thing, mix all your dry ingredients

Then add your butter, I use my hands and mix it in really, really well. The softer your butter the easier it is to mix in.

Then I cut up the peaches.
This is the most time consuming part of the whole recipe.
I fill my clean sink full of hot water, as hot as I can stand and plunk all the peaches in it.
I will let them sit for a while, that is when I mix all the dry ingredients.

The hot water makes the skin come off easier.
I peal and slice them in to a bowl of cold water and the juice of one lemon
(or in my world, a good splash of bottled lemon juice, why bother measuring?)
The lemon juice will help keep the peaches from turning brown, if I was going to bake the crisp right away, I wouldn’t bother with the lemon juice, but since it is going to sit in the fridge overnight and be baked in the morning I don’t want yucky brown peaches.

Place your peaches in the bottom of an ungreased baking dish

Look at those lonely peaches, I think they need a little sugar
yeah, some sugar
(Pour Some Sugar on Me…Def Leopard…anyone else have that song running through their head?)

Maybe a little more sugar

and more….

Beautiful, looks just right

of course, you don’t need to pour any sugar on the peaches
it is yummy without sugar.
I just had a weak moment.
(don’t we all?)

Spread the topping on top of the peaches
(that is why we call it topping)

Don’t that look purdy
already the juices are starting to make a wonderfully yummy peachy syrup.

At this point I popped this puppy in the fridge.


When Dadzoo woke up I went and put it in the oven (400 degrees)
it was a beautiful morning
I should have strolled around the yard
or read scripture

But,
I didn’t
I climbed back into bed

about 45 minutes later it was ready
The top was crispy

The syrup was hot and bubbly
Perfect!

I served it in a bowl with some milk.
I figured since it was for breakfast, I should have something healthy to go along with it.
(I really wanted some ice cream or real whipping cream, but I figured it was loaded with calories as it was…)

There you go
Peach Crisp
This recipe works with any type of fruit, I do it with apples all the time in the fall and I have even had it with rhubarb.

Enjoy!

Now, run on over to Tammy’s site for more great recipes and kitchen tips!

Raspberry Sherbet

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I have a great summer treat to share with you all. It is fruity, frosty, cold and delicious! But first I need to introduce you to our guest chef, who is helping me out in the kitchen tonight.

This is Chadd (yes with two “D’s”) he is my baby brother. He graduated from high school this spring and is getting ready to go to BYU in the fall. He is a smarty pants, like seriously, he is one of the smartest people I know. He can tell you just about anything that had to do with US history or politics. The great thing about Chadd is that he makes you fell smart too. He is one of the only smart people I know that doesn’t talk down to masses.

Well, anyway, back to the food. I invited my parents (soon to be empty nesters) to my house for dinner and since Chadd still lives there he came a long too, which is ok, I like Chadd. I hope I will get to see more of him when he moves away to go to school since I am only about a half hour away, and Dadzoo works in the same city. Whoa, got side tracked again…back to the food. After dinner (yummy Chicken and broccoli with a curry sauce) and after we cleaned up the dishes we had dessert and Chadd decided he wanted to help. So here goes, I could actually take pictures with both hands this time, usually I am balancing the camera in one hand and working with my other…very awkward.

This little snack doesn’t really have a name (I am open to suggestions) I just kind of made it up once and everybody that I have served it to has loved it. So here goes, the cast of characters:

Raspberry Sherbet
Sprite
Berries…
and that all folks, very simple.


You dish as much sherbet as you would like into some type of cup
(sorry the pictures are a little blurry, even though I had an assistant I was laughing too hard and my kids were bugging me to hurry up with the ice cream.)


Pour in the Sprite…very slowly, it bubbles up fast.


see those finger tips…those are Chadd’s


And here is the lovely guy himself

Then one the sprite is all poured in you top it with fresh berries, I like black berries and raspberries, but whatever makes you happy would work.



Enjoy

Strawberries on the Brain

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Once a month I get together with some “stampin” friends for a little “party”. Our leaders do a make and take (always something super cute that I would never think of on my own) then we order stamp/scrap stuff and talk a lot and laugh a lot. Everyone in the group takes turns hosting the event and last night was my turn. It is usually very low key, we gather around the kitchen table and do our little project, and maybe snack on a bowl of M&M’s.


When I got this months Country Living magazine and there was a whole section on strawberries, and a great recipe for strawberry lemon aid, I knew I had to do something different for my party. Then to my great delight in my Kraft Food magazine there was a great recipe for a strawberry dessert. I decided I was going to do both.

I like to entertain, I don’t do it very often, but when I do I really enjoy it. I like making and planning food that people will enjoy. I even like cleaning house and decorating so everything looks nice and comfortable.

Here is a picture of my strawberry lemon aid. I have never made “real” lemon aid before, I usually use the powdered variety, so this was fun for me.

It is such a pretty pink color!

I served it in clear glass tumblers, so everybody could really see how pretty it was.

Here is my recipe for Strawberry Lemon aid:

Boil 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water, let it cool a little and pour it into a jug (or picture). Add the juice of 12 lemons and 2 cups cut up strawberries. Then add 8 cups cold water and 8 cups of ice. I sliced up two lemons to make it look pretty and tossed in a few whole strawberries.

Very easy and it makes a nice presentation.

Then I made this for dessert

I love strawberries

Here is an inside view

This little gem of a frozen dessert is really, really good!

You can get the recipe here: Strawberry Whipped Sensation

It was a wonderful evening, we had a good time. Most of my family was out of the house which makes throwing a party much easier. The two littlest punks were in bed, punk #2 was at a Birthday Party and Dadzoo had punk#1 and punk#3, they were picking up this:

More about “this” in another post.

Cinnamon Knot Buns

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There has been a request to give out my cinnamon bun recipe, so here is it!

Cinnamon Knot Buns
2 cups milk scalded
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
½ cup warm water (120 degrees)
¼ tsp sugar
½ cup butter
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
5-6 cup all-purpose flour

For Dipping:
1 ¼ cup sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon
1 cup butter

1. In a large saucepan scald milk.
2. In a small bowl, set yeast to dissolve in warm water with ¼ tsp sugar
3. In a small mixer bowl, beat eggs well
4. Stir butter, salt and sugar in to hot milk and place in cold water in the sink to cool
5. To mixture n sauce pan add beaten eggs, dissolved yeast and 2 cups flour. Beat well with slotted spoon
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 30 minutes in sauce pan
7. Add enough flour (about 3-4 cups) to make a soft dough, beating with slotted spoon (I do this in my mixer). Turn on to floured surface and knead 5 minuets.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.
9. In a small mixing bowl combine sugar and cinnamon for dipping
10. Melt butter
11. Grease muffin tins
12. Roll out dough in to a long rectangle. With a pizza cutter cut 24 strips.
13. Dip each strip in melted butter, then the sugar/cinnamon mixture
14. Tie each strip loosely in overhand knot, as if you are starting to tie your show, and place in muffin tin
15. Let rise 30 minuets and bake 10-15 minutes at 375 or until golden brown. Remove from tins while still warm so they won’t stick.

Variation: This recipe also makes delicious dinner rolls, eliminate the sugar and cinnamon and simply dip the strips in melted butter, tie the knot and bake.