Fantasy Island bars are the tropical version of the famous Magic Cookie Bars, starring Pineapple, Macadamia Nuts, and Coconut. Make sure to save one for yourself because they will be gobbled up quickly.
Desserts
Everything from candy, cupcakes, cake, and pies. We love sweets!
Blueberry Cream Cheese Lemon Tart
Recipes in this Post
I was thrilled when I went to the market and saw fresh blueberries on the counter. Spring is almost here! I had a box of cream cheese, and a can of sweetened condensed milk, and some frozen lemon cubes. I also had a chocolate cookie crumb pie shell sitting in the pantry that I needed to use up. Blueberry Cream Cheese Lemon Tart sounded like the way to go.
This pie is actually good for you. I put turmeric in it to increase the yellow color. Turmeric is a root in the ginger family, that makes things yellow and has a very mild peppery flavor. In the laboratory, the active ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, has been shown to have anti-cancer properties. The herb has been used in Asia for centuries for its healing properties. It’s also a great way to give a nice yellow color without using artificial color, which some people, like my son, are allergic to.
If you are wondering about the lemons, I have a friend who gave me a whole bag of lemons from his tree. I squeezed them all, and put the juice into ice cube trays. I also froze the skins to put in the garbage disposal to keep it fresh smelling.
Lemons also react with milk products. If you add lemon to cream, it immediately starts to thicken, and so does sweetened condensed milk.
I happened to have that chocolate wafer crust sitting around in my pantry. But, you can use whatever crust you want. The Stove Top Cooked French Sweet Tart Dough would be wonderful, as well as a Graham cracker crust would also be perfect.
1-2-3-4 Sheet Cake
1-2-3-4 sheet cake is a traditional American cake and is simple and elegant. It can be used as a sheet cake, or as seen here, 3-layered with strawberries.
Peach Pancakes with Marsala Rose Butter Sauce
Start your day with a taste of bliss by indulging in Peach Pancakes with Marsala Rose Butter Sauce. This mouthwatering breakfast treat combines the delicate sweetness of peaches, the fluffy goodness of pancakes, and the luxurious touch of Marsala rose butter sauce.
Sour Cherry Jellies for Valentines Day
You know, sometimes you’re a day late and a dollar shy. I found silicon heart-shaped molds at a resale shop back in November and saved them to make something for Valentine’s day. Spane came home from school on Valentines Day with a box of chocolate he was selling as a school fundraiser. After dinner, we went to the market to buy milk, and sell candy to the store owner. While we were there I got a bottle of sour cherry syrup to put in my coffee. Spane did very nicely selling candy on the home to people who were getting last minute Valentine gifts.
It wasn’t until the next morning when I was sipping my sour cherry flavored coffee, which was excellent by the way, and happened to look up and see the valentine molds, that I remembered I hadn’t done anything for Valentines Day, but I could be a day late and a dollar shy if I made Sour Cherry Jellies.
If you’re trying to find sour cherry syrup, look in Mediterranean markets. Zergut makes the one I use. If you can’t find it at your local store, visit Indo-European, and order directly from them. They make all kinds of really good, minimally processed foods.
Did you know that sour cherries are really good for you? Medicinally, sour cherries may be useful in alleviating sleep problems due to its high melatonin content, a compound critical in regulating the sleep-wake cycle in humans. These jellies have intense flavor, and a low in sugar and calories, so they make a healthy treat.
Chocolate Chip Fruit Muesli Cookies
Recipes in this Post
It was so cold and windy today that even with the windows closed I could still feel the wind! These are insulated windows, too. In Glendale, California, where we live, the wind sometimes whips up a storm as it comes across the valley. and then gets caught in our little bowl surrounded by Griffith Park in the west, Eaglerock in the south, the San Gabriels in the east, and the Verdugo Mountains in the north. As the wind squeezes itself out to Pasadena, it can start howling and really whirl itself into a frenzy.
That’s okay! It means that the oven can go on and have something to do. I know I’ve talked about this in the past, and I’ll say it again. I just don’t feel right lighting a heater on the wall when it does nothing but heat the room and dry out the air. At least an oven produces something for its efforts.
I wanted something a little healthy, and we have dried cranberries, organic chocolate and Blueberry Muesli from Trader Joe’s. I thought using that for cookies would a) make them better for you, and b) taste/feel similar to oatmeal cookies. I don’t like oatmeal, so I never have it on hand. I wouldn’t even have the little packets around, as those are GMO. Yes, you heard it right, Quaker Oats from General Mills are genetically modified. I think if that nice Quaker gentleman on the box knew about that he’d jump straight off the container.
Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Fudge for Valentines
Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Fudge is a great treat at any time of year. You may find yourself with extra candy canes at Christmas or be looking for a fun gift for Valentine’s Day. Look no further!
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
The other day, I had a hankering for chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted something a little different. Looking in my pantry, I spied a jar of Jiff Creamy Peanut Butter. Yes, I am a choosy mother, and I do choose Jiff. Believe it or not, with as much baking as I have done, I’ve never made peanut butter cookies, so I had to go to Big Oven and find a recipe. I found one that looked like what I wanted to make, got Spane, and got started.
Now that we have a Nook HD tablet, I take it into the kitchen with me so I can look at my recipe without having to lug the computer in there. All I do is put the Nook in a clear plastic bag, and set it up against the wall. I think this is much better than paying over $300.00 for a dedicated kitchen tablet, my Nook was under $200.00. I can swipe the Nook through the plastic, and when I was making Christmas dinner, and trying to inject a turkey, then liquid exploded and got all over Spane and the Nook. Neither Spane nor the Nook was injured in any way.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Eggnog Fudge
Ho! Ho! Ho! Eggnog Fudge!
As the Christmas Holiday rapidly approaches, it’s time to get into the kitchen and make some Christmas memories. I have been making fudge for Christmas presents for years, but this time, I wanted to do something a little different. Spane really likes Eggnog, and I do, too. We were invited to a potluck Christmas party at Entrepreneurs and Professions, and I decided to make Jambalaya, Hot Dogs with Bacon appetizers, and wow everyone with the Eggnog Fudge.
No Bake Mocha Fudge Pie for Halloween
Recipes in this Post
A few weeks ago, I got a few boxes of chocolate on sale at the local supermarket. I discovered that Spane and his friend, Noelle, had gotten into the chocolate one night when she spent the night. Apparently, neither one of them liked the unsweetened chocolate, but it was perfect for my Mocha Fudge Pie I made as a treat for my friend, Joanna Alexander of Strawberry Creek Crochet.
This has got to be one of simplest pies I have ever made, and it didn’t require any baking because I used a chocolate crumb crust I had in my pantry. It was just a matter of melting the fudge. I folded in whipped cream to make the pie silky, otherwise, it would have just been fudge.