No Bake Protein Energy Bites

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Pretty self explanatory, RIGHT?

 

Simple Blackberry-Raspberry Sorbet

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Guess what I had for breakfast this morning?!?  Sorbet!!!  It's good for you right?  At least I think  my version is.  Love knowing what is in my food and no preservatives.

Simple is as simple does....or something like that.  This is so easy and I can only think of the myriad of combos I can make with this simple recipe.  I see, Pineapple-Cantaloupe coming soon, after all I have some on my counter and all I have to do is freeze it...YAY bring on summer.

Blackberry-Raspberry Sorbet

• 1 bag of frozen blackberries
• 1bag of frozen raspberries
• 1/2 Cup of blueberry agave nectar (more or less to your taste, so make sure you taste along the way and you can use honey or another flavor or agave)

1.  Allow berries to thaw just a little....like about 10 minutes in a bowl on the counter.
2.  Add berries to the blender a cup at a time. Blend until smooth. (If you have one of those blenders that have the stick stirrer thing, this would be super helpful.)
3.  When berries are all blended add nectar while the blender is on.
4.   Pour into a plastic container, cover and freeze. 4 hours for a nice soft serve or overnight for firmer.  (If you do it overnight allow it to sit out for about 5 minutes before you scoop it up.)

This recipe filled up a quart sized plastic container.

Thanks for comin' over.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Pie

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I love a good pie and I love to experiment.  So this morning I got to do both.  Last night, I bought an Oreo cookie crust.  Surprisingly, I have never tasted one before!  As I thought about what I would make with this, I suddenly had a craving for PEANUT BUTTER!!!

Well, before church, I looked all around and started pulling together the ingredients I thought would make this idea of mine delicious.....and rich.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Pie

• 1 Oreo Cookie Crust Pie  or any cookie crust (graham, chocolate, etc)
• 1 package of cream cheese; softened
• 1 Cup of smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 C powdered sugar
• 1/4 C evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 C whipped topping (Cool whip)
• 1/2 C of mini dark chocolate morsels

1.  Soften the cream cheese for about 30-45 seconds in the microwave in a large glass bowl.  After cream cheese has softened add peanut butter. Mix on medium high until cream cheese and peanut butter are well combined.

2.  Add powdered sugar to the cream cheese and peanut butter mixture.  Mix well on medium.  Gradually add milk until smooth.

3.  Fold in whipped topping until well blended. 

4.  Pour into cookie pie crust and smooth out.  Sprinkle with the morsels and freeze for about 1 hour and serve chilled.

This pie is scrumptiously rich and will most definitely satisfy that peanut butter and chocolate craving!!...at least it did for me.

I hope you like the pie.

Eggnog Glazed Donuts

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This is what happens when your 8-year old asks for donuts and the kind he likes (Hostess) is no longer.
You learn how to make donuts!!  And I will have to say, they are so gooooood!!!

For many years in my cooking life, I have seen the most bizarre kitchen tool and for the life of me I have never been able to figure the thing out until......today, Christmas Eve.

Well, that darn thing was a donut cutter!!  The double rings, the big and little circles.  Well, needless to say, I have already thrown it away.....years ago. Foolish me.

I sat there looking at all that extra dough I had left from making a to die for roll recipe I found on how does she.  Highly recommend you follow that dough recipe for this. 

Anyway, this is what I did, but the best thing was the glaze.  I had the big idea that since it was Christmas season, why not make the donuts a little more festive.  So my Eggnog Glaze was born.  I hope you love it as much as we do....

 Eggnog Glazed Donuts

Donut
*Used the dough recipe for the dinner rolls from here.
*Roll out dough to about 1" think and use a donut cutter or in my case, I used a really large circle cookie cutter and a small biscuit cutter.  What ever you decide to you just make sure it looks like a donut. :-)
*Set the cut donuts and holes on a towel and cover and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.
*Heat a large soup pot with vegetable oil to medium high.  To check to see if the oil is ready, I take a pinch of flour and sprinkle it in the oil.  When it gives a nice sizzle you are ready.
*Place a couple of donuts in the oil and gently turn them.  Allowing a nice golden color to be on both side of the donut.  This will take about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. So stay near.
*Remove the donut and place on a wire cooling rack.

Glaze
1/2 C soft butter or margarine
3 C Powder Sugar
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 C Eggnog

*Mix together in a bowl and once your donuts have cooled for about 5 minutes...dunk em' in the glaze and place on a wire rack with a catch pan underneath.... ENJOY!!!

Merry Christmas.

If you try these I would love you to tell me what you think. 

By the way, what are some of your favorite donut glazes/toppings?

Nakia's Apple Pie Bites w/ Carmel Candy Sauce

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Sitting on the loveseat reading a book and what do I see out of the corner of my eye...the bowl of leftover Halloween candy.  I hate leftover Halloween candy.  It is always so tempting and I have a very low tolerance to saying no to the stuff.  CURSE YOU HALLOWEEN!!!!

Well, I could see that there were those lovely brach's carmels I loved from my youth still in the bowl.  I must say that I noticed that they are a bit more smooth and softer than I remember.  They are sooo good.  Anyway....I started to crave apple pie, but I did not want to have to go in the kitchen and make a whole pie.  I wanted my pie faster than that.  Than the juices began to flow....

I had a leftover tube of croissant dough and some granny smith apples and I ALWAYS keep a bucket (yes, literally a ice cream bucket) full of my own mix of cinnamon and sugar...hey you never know when you're gonna need it. :-).  And I ran with that. 

Nakia's Apple Pie Bites w/ Carmel Candy Sauce

• 1 package croissant rolls
• 2 granny smith apples
• 1 C cinnamon & sugar mix
• 12-15 carmels
• 1 Tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1.  Open croissant package and unroll the triangles.  Cut each in half, lengthwise, leaving two triangles per reg. size triangle. You should end up with 16 triangles.

2.  Put your cinnamon and sugar mixture in a bowl or gallon size storage bag (storage bag=less mess).

3.  Peel each apple and core and segment them, into eight (8) pieces.  I use my corer segmenter apple slicer.  It allows me to have relatively equal slices.  Put them in the baggie and shake until coated.  Remove from baggie and place on cutting board.

4.  With the leftover sugar mixture in the baggie toss in 4-5 triangles and shake.  Remove and take an apple slice and roll em' up.  Starting at the wider end and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Repeat is step until you have all 16 'bites' on the sheet.

5.  Bake for 15-18 minutes. Serve warm.

Sauce

1.  Put the carmels into a microwave safe bowl with the butter and melt them down.  You need to watch this as each microwave oven is different.  But this should be roughly 25-40 sec.  Serve drizzled over the bite.

NOTE:  I love mine warm and with some ice cream (Apple Pie Bites A la Mode).  Sorry I didn't have ice cream to show you with it, but it's delicious alone too.

Happy Autumn!!  Thanks for comin' over.

If you try it please come on back and tell me what you think or tell me if this something you might try. 

Alyssa's 7-minute Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I don't know anyone who doesn't love a GREAT chocolate chip cookie.  A couple of years ago, I was lucky to be at my husband's grandmother's home when I got to try my sister-in-law's cookies.

These cookies are UNBELIEVABLY soft, chewy and delicious.

I am so so glad she is apart of our family and came with this super awesome cookie.

I've made chocolate cookies before, but I can say without shame that mine were never this soft and moist.  The best part is that they stay that way.  That's saying a lot since I live in Utah.

Thank you Alyssa for allowing me to share with the world your recipe.

Alyssa's Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 C. sugar

3/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 sticks of margarine or soften butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3 C. flour

1 package of semi-sweet chocolates

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1.  Combine sugar, brown sugar, vanilla & margarine.  Cream these together.

2.  Add eggs, baking soda, & salt.  Mix until blended

3.  Gradually add flour a little bit at a time.

4.  Mix in chocolate chips.

5.  Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet.

6.  THIS IS THE KEY!!!!!  Bake for no more than 7 minutes!!!

Red White & Blue Honey-Butter Cookie Pie

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I've always wanted to make a super awesome 4th of July dessert, but have never tried.  With it just under a month away, I thought I would give it a go.  This scrumptious pie I had to put the thinking cap on.  I wanted to create my own cookie dough and cream cheese base.  It turned out beautiful and YUMMY!

Red White & Blue Honey-Butter Cookie Pie

Honey-Butter Cookie Dough

• 1/3 C sugar
• 1/3 C soften salted butter (soft enough that you can work with it, but still cold. Margarine works awesome too!)
• 1 egg
• 2/3 C honey
• 1tsp. butter emulsion (or extract)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3 C. all- purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the sugar, butter, egg, honey & butter emulsion (extract) together.

3. Stir in the dry ingredients.  Adding the flour a little at a time.  When a soft ball is formed, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min or longer.

4.  When dough is cold and pliable like play dough, roll out on to parchment paper, getting the circumference you desire. (rolled my dough on to parchment paper I had measured to my pizza stone.  I know it's not "proper" but I used the lid of one of largest pots to get the perfect circle.) Peel the excess off and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Spread
(Below are the amounts I used for this size pie.  Heck use the extra to dip the rest of the strawberries in.) 

• 1 1/2 package cream cheese
• 1/4 C lemon juice
• 1 1/2 C of powdered sugar

1.  With mixer, blend all the ingredients together.  Make sure you add the sugar in a little at a time.  Adjust the amount of lemon juice and sugar according to taste.

2.  Once cookie is completely cooled, spread the cheese mixture all over the cookie.  Leave about 1/2-1in. of cookie unfrosted from the edge.

Berry Assembly

1.  Use whatever berry you like.  I started on the outside and worked my way to the center.  2 rows of blueberries, the 2 rows of sliced strawberries (us an egg slicer to get even cut thicknesses), then I filled the middle with the rest of the blueberries.  And just to make it pretty I used my cookie press to make the flower (I pressed some of the cream cheese spread onto a piece of parchment paper and set it to freeze and then placed it on top.)

Viola!!!

Happy 4th of July!!