Fruit Pizza

This was served at a school function recently and I loved it. I have the recipe on a real piece of paper, but know that I will never remember where the paper is when I want to make it or look it up on-line. So I'm putting it here for my own reference!


18oz Refrigerated Cookie Dough (Sugar or choc chip)
8 oz pk of cream cheese softened
1/3 c of sugar
4 cups of Assorted Fruit


Preheat oven to 350*. Flatten cookie dough with your hand on a nonstick cookie sheet or baking stone. Finish rolling out the dough using a lightly floured rolling pin to almost cover the entire stone or sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown being careful to not overbake. Cool for 10 minutes and then loosen with a long serrated knife. Cool completely.
Wash and slice fruit as necessary. Combine cream cheese and sugar in bowl until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture onto completely cooled cookie. Arrange fruit slices in a pattern on top! Cut and serve! YUMM!

Turkey

I know, I know, it's February and I'm talking Turkey. Seriously I have a GREAT turkey recipe. Go here to learn why I needed a new turkey recipe in the first place. Anyway, I've noticed that my local grocery store has had Turkey's marked down recently. Today I bought one. So this week at some point I've got a turkey to roast. HERE is my recipe. I use about 1/4 of the salt, b/c I don't want it to seem like I've been licking a salt block. But it is OH.SO.GOOD.

Strawberry Sorbet

Yet another favorite in our house that I had forgotten about! I was making baby food today and found some strawberries in our freezer and decided to make sorbet out of them. SOOO good and a yummy treat!

2/3 c water
2/3 c sugar
5 c (or 2lbs) of fresh or thawed UNSWEETENED strawberries


Place sugar & water in sauce pan over low heat cooking for 3-5 min or until sugar has dissolved. Boil for one minute and then remove from heat. Cool completely in a heatproof container (about an hour in the fridge). While this is cooling puree your strawberries and then transfer to a large bowl and chill.
When both your sugar mixture & strawberries are chilled combine in a small container ~stainless or glass work best ~ and cover. Let freeze completely ~ 3 to 4 hours ~ and then let it stand at room temp until partially thawed.
Tranfer partially thawed sorbet to a food processor and process to break up large ice crystals & chunks that have formed. This is what makes your sorbet light & fluffy! Place sorbet back into a pan/container and freeze for three hours or up to several days. Covered I've had a double batch last over a week (simply because I should have never made a double batch!!). Serves 6-8.

Crusty Bread

So easy, and SOOO Yummy! I had forgotten about this recipe until last week and dug it back out. Good on those cold nights!

2 cups flour
3/4 c water
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt (I use just a pinch!)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Vital Wheat Gluten


Mix together in mixing bowl and kneed for 10 min (15 by hand). Cover and let rise for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size. Dump out and cut into two pieces. Form each piece into a loaf and then let rise again for another hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Bake on a heated baking stone or baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Try to let them cool for 30 minutes before slicing and eating...usually though in our house they get devoured pretty quickly!
Enjoy!

Baked Beans

A favorite in our house, and a great way to warm the house with the oven on! Smell's SOOO yummy

1 pk of beans
1 onion
1/3 cup of Molasses
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp dry Mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 stick of butter


Soak beans overnight in your bean pot ~ you'll want to fill it with water pretty much to the top.
The next morning add onion, molasses, brown sugar, mustard, salt & pepper. Stir. Put in a 250* oven for 7-8 hours. During the last half hour to hour add in your butter. This replaces the need for bacon or any other pork/fat product. You'll want to refrain from opening your bean pot often, as that will let more the water escape than necessary. If you notice your beans starting to go dry add a little bit of water, but it shouldn't be necessary.
Serve with pickles, homemade bread, cornbread, traditional Maine Red Hotdogs, or Ham. Our family likes it with just homemade bread and some squirts of ketchup!

Mocha Brownies

We love hosting small group at our house ~ simply so we can try out new desserts on them and not have to eat it all. This recipe is no exception and they all seemed to LOVE it. So I made it again for Guys night.
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
4 teaspoons instant coffee
4 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt


Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
2-3 teaspoons instant coffee

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F Grease a 13x9 inch pan. Melt shortening and butter over low heat or in the microwave. Remove from heat and add cocoa, blend well. Add sugar and mix well. Dissolve instant coffee in hot water and mix into creamed mixture. Add eggs one at a time, beat well, by hand, after each addition. Stir in vanilla, flour, and salt. DO NOT OVER BEAT! Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

For frosting, cream butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and mix in well on medium speed. Dissolve instant coffee in milk and add to mixture. Beat on high until light and fluffy.

Nasty Nachos

YUMM, YUMM, YUMM. I found the recipe here. Cheryl has TONS of yummy recipes! Oh how I'd love to sit in her kitchen! Here's the recipe:
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 bag tortilla chips
1 can cream style corn
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 jar of salsa
Preheat oven to 400. Brown the ground beef; drain well. Mix with taco seasoning according to package directions.
In a greased casserole dish, layer in the order stated:
1/3 package of crushed chips (about 2 handfuls)
½ hamburger mixture
½ can cream style corn
1 cup cheddar cheese
½ jar of salsa (about 2/3 cup)
Repeat layers.
Sprinkle remaining crushed chips over the top. Bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Cover with foil if the chips start to brown too much.

The guys loved these on guys night. It really makes a TON so you could even split the recipe in half and freeze for later. Also I added in a can of black beans with ours (just to get in an extra veggie) and it was so good!
Enjoy!