Robert William Johnson 4/15/19 - 4/8/14

 

My father, Robert (Bob) William Johnson died Tuesday April 8, 2014 in Gretna, Nebraska, one week shy of his 95th birthday.  Born in Kansas City, Kansas on April 15, 1919 to Swedish immigrant parents, Bob was the only one of their four children to be born in the United States. He graduated from Rosedale High School in 1937 before enlisting in the Air Force on December 1, 1939. 

On December 7, 1941, Bob survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  He continued his service in the Pacific theater throughout the duration of the Second World War before being honorably discharged on October 16, 1945. 

 Bob worked for various companies around Kansas City including Midwest Research Institute and King Radio, where he retired after 20 years. 

 Bob remained active into his nineties and enjoyed birdwatching, crossword puzzles and building vintage model boats. Bob will be remembered for his smiles and his songs. 

 

Dad, you will be missed!!!

Tie Dye Cake

A couple of weeks ago, Tim's boss was turning 50 and he inquired about my cake decorating "skills".  Although I did take a series of cake baking classes a few years ago, lack of time prevents me from cake decorating as much as I would like.  I agreed, under one condition, I could find a fairly easy cake to bake.

Turning 50, meant she was born in the 60's.  What was popular in the 60's?  How about tie dye?  There's lots of examples of tie dye cakes on line.  After reading about a few of them, I said I can do this??!!!

I decided to make a three layer cake, two 8" and one 9" layer.  In hindsight, I wish I had done three 8" layers.  It was really hard to get the frosting smooth on the ledge between the 8 and the 9" layer.  In addition I made one 8" layer as a test.  I wanted to cut into one and see how it looked.

 The process is fairly easy but be sure to allow plenty of time.   Start by preparing a white cake mix according to the directions.  (I used two cake mixes).  Divide them into 6 bowls, and make each bowl a different rainbow color. Line the bottom of two 9 inch cake pans with wax paper, and grease the side.  Layer your cake batter in circles.  The first directions I looked at suggested using a spoon, which is what I did on my test cake.  It worked okay but for the additional layers, I decided to use a measuring cup with a spout.  A little more work but a lot easier to pour into circles.  Use about 3/4 of the bowl for your bottom color, then use a little less of each color as you continue. Layer your second cake pan in the opposite order. 

 Bake according to the directions on the box.  Allow the cake to cool and frost with your favorite buttercream frosting.  My frosting didn't look as smooth as I would have liked and the more I tried to smooth it the worse it looked.  Then I remembered a technique I learned when I took cake decorating classes.  Once your frosting has developed a bit of a crust,  use a piece of parchment and use your fingertips to smooth the frosting along the parchment.  Works great!!!

Using food coloring gel in 6 colors, starting on the outside, make circles with the gel.  Using a small, flat paintbrush, starting at the center, brush towards the outside of the cake.  You'll need to clean your brush often, or use multiple brushes.  Continue until you don't really see any more gel patches on your cake.   Slice and enjoy!!!

Love Chicken...Tenders!

Tim's grandson Paxton, LOVES chicken!!  Usually when he visits on a weeknight, we have some form of noodles, also a favorite of his.  When he stayed with us a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to make something besides noodles.  After reading a few recipes for Chicken Fingers, I came up with my own version.  Alongside these Mac & Cheese Cupcakes, a perfect kids meal!

Chicken Tenders
1/3 cup pancake batter
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 egg
1 lb chicken tenders
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450°F. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix together pancake mix, breadcrumbs, cheese,  garlic salt and oregano leaves. Pour on large plate.

In shallow dish, beat egg slightly. Dip the chicken tenders in egg and then dredge in bread crumb mixture.

Place chicken tenders on the cookie sheet.  Lightly spray chicken with cooking spray. Bake 15 minutes.

Pacifier Cupcakes

One of my coworkers is about to become a grandmother for the first time.  We celebrated the event with a mini grandmother shower.  Being the baker of the group, I volunteered to make treats.  I wanted to make something fun and cute to celebrate the occasion ... something that didn't require a lot of work.

I did some searching on Pinterest and found these cute pacifier cupcakes.  They are so easy to make.
All you need are wintergreen lifesavers and jelly belly's.  The instructions I found used Royal Icing to glue them together.  I decided to use Wilton Candy melts, much quicker and easier.  I saw some recipes that used the color jelly belly of the baby and others, like mine, that used the color of the pacifier. 

Macaroni and Cheese Muffins - SRC

 It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  For those of you who aren't familiar with Secret Recipe Club, you can read all about it here!!!  I enjoy reveal day but my favorite part of SRC is getting to know my assigned blogger for the month and choosing a recipe!!!  This month, I was assigned Mostly Food & Crafts.  Danielle is a SAHM with two kids.  She enjoys cooking, crafting and says her kids are good eaters, yeah!  If you haven't visited her blog, stop by, she has lots of terrific recipes and fun crafting projects.  

After several nights of browsing, I settled on Macaroni and Cheese Muffins.  Paxton, Tim's grandson, loves anything with noodles so I knew these would be hit with him.  With the exception of the crackers, I followed the recipe as written.   I think I didn't bake mine long enough or it was a little too cheesy, I had trouble getting mine to stay in cupcake form.  regardless, this makes a delicious, creamy mac n cheese.  I popped my leftovers into the freezer, they'll be perfect for lunches.  

Macaroni and Cheese Muffins

Recipe Courtesy of Mostly Food and Crafts

 

Ingredients:

Round butter-flavored crackers

1 (8-ounce) package elbow macaroni

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1/2 cup cooking creme or milk (I used milk)

3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese  (keep 1/4 cup out to sprinkle on top)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or use muffin wrappers. Place a cracker in the bottom of each muffin cup and set aside.

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain and return to pot. Stir in remaining ingredients until well-blended.

Spoon mixture into muffin cups and sprinkle with extra cheese.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until heated through. Let stand for 5 minutes, remove from tin with knife if you didn't use the muffin papers.

An InLinkz Link-up

Biscoff Krispie Mallow Bars

I love trying new dessert recipes, there's so many to choose from.    Last week, Tim's office had a treat day.  With over 200 recipes pinned to my "Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth" board, which one to choose?  Since I needed to bake on a weeknight, I was in search of something easy.

Have you seen all of the different Rice Krispie treats recipes?  Rice Krispie treats are easy  to make, so I settled on this recipe.   With the addition of a crust, these are a little different than traditional Rice Krispie treats.  I substituted semi sweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips.  Tim said the crew at work gave them rave reviews. They were a little too sweet for my tastes and I love sweet desserts.

Biscoff Krispie Mallow Bars
Recipe courtesy of Julie's Eats and Treats
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Ingredients

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. melted butter (divided)
• 3 c. miniature marshmallows
• 1 c. white chocolate chips (I used semi sweet chips)
• 1 c. Biscoff
• 1/2 c. corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 c. Rice Krispies

Instructions

1. Mix the cake mix, egg and 1/4 c. butter. Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.
2. Put the marshmallows on top of the hot crust. Return to oven for 3 minutes or until puffed up.
3. Melt the white chocolate chips, Biscoff, corn syrup and 1/2 c. butter. Add vanilla and mix. Pour over Rice Krispies in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.
4. Pour over marshmallows. Refrigerate, but make sure to cut before they get to hard!

Throw Away the Bread Machine Instructions - Soft White Bread

Do you own a bread machine?  I do but I can't remember the last time I used it.  When I brought it in from the garage shelf today, the dust was pretty thick.  Which makes me wonder, have I used it at all since we moved into this house in October of 2011?  In fact, I came close to sending it to the Goodwill in my last round of clearing out things I haven't used.  Ask my husband, if we haven't used something in quite sometime, it's gone!!!  He joked when we were moving last time, if he didn't use something within a week, I'd give it away. 

After reading Lynn from Happier Than A Pig in Mud's post about this bread, I was so glad I didn't give my bread machine away.  I've never had great luck with making bread from scratch in the machine.  The best breads I've turned out have been from those bread machine mixes.  Until now that is!!! If you own a bread machine, give this one a try.  You won't be sorry, it makes a delicious loaf of bread.  Can't wait to make a sandwich with it this week!!!

A few notes on this recipe:

• The recipe calls for bread flour,  I used all purpose and it worked fine. 
• You can either use butter or oil in the recipe.  Tim just gave me some flavored olive oils for my birthday.  I used 2 T. of rosemary olive oil.  It added a nice subtle rosemary flavor to the bread.
• I've never let my yeast bloom when making bread in the bread machine.  It is reported to be the secret for a nice soft loaf of bread.

 Throw Away the Bread Machine Instructions-Soft White Bread
From Food.com courtesy of Happier Than A Pig in Mud

1 C warm water (110 degrees F)
2 Tblsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast (one package)
2 Tblsp melted butter
2 Tblsp oil (can use shortening or 4 Tblsp butter)
3 C white bread flour
 1 tsp salt

1. Place water in the bread pan. Tip: Lynn says "I like  to warm up the pan first by running some hot water into it then pouring it out."
2. Sprinkle the sugar and yeast over the water, allow to bloom for 10 minutes.
3. Add the butter, oil, flour and salt.
4. Select the basic or white bread 1.5lb loaf and press start. Or select the dough cycle and punch down the dough, form and place in a bread pan for the second rise.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cinnamon Ripple Muffins - Secret Recipe Club

After a break in January, Group B of Secret Recipe Club is back.  I always look forward to opening the email with my monthly assignment.  Will it a blogger I am familiar with or one I've never "met" before?  My assigned blogger for this month is Chaya of Bizzy Bakes.  I've "known" Chaya almost as long as I have been blogging! Check out her blog, she has some the best baked goods and lots of other recipes.  Stop by and show her some blogging love, she's experienced a personal loss recently!!!

It was hard to decide which recipe to make.  Recently, it was a coworkers birthday and I wanted to bring her treats.  Chaya's Cinnamon Ripple Muffins caught my eye.  I love all things cinnamon and these looked beautiful.  

My muffins took about 20 minutes to bake.  I always struggle with how to tell when muffins are done.  These are a delicious cinnamon filled treat!

Cinnamon Ripple Muffins  (adapted from Family Fun magazine)
Recipe Courtesy of Bizzy Bakes
 Ingredients:

cinnamon ripple
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup gluten-free flour (I made this with regular flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
 
muffin batter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:

Combine all the cinnamon ripple ingredients in a mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to blend them. Set the mixture aside. 

Preheat heat the oven to 400° F and put inserts into muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

 In a large bowl, beat the oil and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. 

Stir in the dry ingredients just until the batter is blended. 

Then sprinkle the cinnamon ripple over the batter and use a flexible spatula to fold it in a couple of times.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake the muffins for 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. 

Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing them. Makes 1 dozen.

Lemon Butter Baked Shrimp

 With Christmas falling midweek this year, Tim and I were home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We haven't enjoyed Christmas at home in at least 4 years.  We missed being with friends and family but it was nice to have a quiet day to enjoy each others company.

Since we're rarely home for Christmas, we don't have a traditional Christmas Eve meal.  I wanted to have something special that didn't require hours in the kitchen.  We both love shrimp but almost always grill it.  Grilling and Omaha winters don't mix.  I did a quick search and found this recipe.   I read it several times and read the reviews.  Although it almost seemed too simple and easy, I was sold.  Well simple or easy would not be the first word I would use to describe this recipe, delicious would be!

We will be having these again and this recipe could easily be served at a dinner party.  Be sure to have some crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce!!

 Lemon Butter Baked Shrimp

• 1 lb. raw shrimp, cleaned, peeled and deveined
• 8 Tbs. butter (1 stick), melted
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (my addition)
• 1 packet of Good Seasons Italian all natural seasoning
• 1 1/2 lemon, sliced into circles
• 1 Tbs. dried parsley leaves
• 1 tsp. black pepper, ground

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with minced garlic, and pour into a 9×111 inch glass casserole dish, spreading it all over the bottom of the dish.
3. Arrange the lemon slices on top of butter, forming a single layer.
4. Arrange the cleaned and deveined shrimp on top of the lemon slices.
5. Sprinkle the Italian Seasoning over the shrimp.
6. Sprinkle the parsley flakes and pepper on top of that.
7. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Oven Tacos

Happy New Year!!

Tim says we never have tacos. I stopped to think about it and realized he is right.  I think maybe because we never have all the ingredients on hand to make them.  I was intrigued when I saw this recipe for oven tacos.  We really liked these.  It's nice they're already assembled and baking them in the oven adds a nice crispness to the shells.  Maybe now we'll have tacos more often, Tim!

Oven Tacos
Recipe Courtesy of Mommy I'm Hungry

2 lbs ground beef (or turkey/chicken)
1 small onion diced
1 small can diced green chilies
1 recipe for Homemade taco seasoning (below)
1 (8 ounce) can low sodium tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) can fat free refried beans
2 cups shredded reduced fat Colby-jack cheese
18-20 hard taco shells

Optional Condiments-
Lettuce (shredded)
Tomato (diced)
Salsa
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Olives, sliced 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

In a large skillet brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny.

Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through.
Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving.

Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

In a small bowl, mix all together. Store in an airtight container.
I used all of this on 2 lbs of ground meat with a little water mixed in.

Snowman Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with friends and family.  With Christmas falling midweek, no travel for us.  We're enjoying a quiet Christmas at home.

When we cleaned out my Dad's house earlier this year, I brought home this white Christmas tree.  I love the ideas you find on Pinterest.  A perfect use for my little white tree.  This snowman was easy and fun to put together.  Here's what you need:

7 or 8" Styrofoam ball 

Dowel the height of the tree

Buttons for the eyes, nose and mouth

Top Hat

Scarf

Twigs for his arms

Ornaments for his buttons

Boots for his feet (I'm still searching for these)

Insert the ball into the dowel.  Using a twist tie, secure to the tree.  Glue the eyes, nose and mouth to the head.  Top with the hat and wrap his neck with the scarf.  Using a twist tie, secure the button ornaments.  My tree was already lit but if you have one that is not, add lights.  Plug in and enjoy!!!

Cranberry Feta Pinwheels

Are you ready for Christmas?  My shopping has been done for several weeks but the last minute things crept up on me.  The mailing deadline to get packages to California for my son and his girlfriend came and went.  Now before you think I am awful, we did have their big gift shipped.  What didn't get in the mail was a couple of smaller gifts.  We'll call them New Year's gifts, although I don't think they'll be there by New Year's either, since I haven't shipped them yet.  I decided to go homemade for my associates at work this year.  A cute mug, cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows.   If you've made homemade marshmallows, please share your recipe with me because mine were an EPIC FAIL.  Needless to say, they're getting cocoa and mini marshmallows instead.

Last week for my neighborhood holiday BUNCO, I made these pinwheels.  Fortunately, they were not a FAIL.  Everyone loved them, they were gone in a flash.  These are easy and beautiful for a holiday party!

 Cranberry Feta Pinwheels

1 carton (8 ounces) whipped PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, softened
 1 cup (8 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (I only used 4 ounces)
 1/4 cup chopped green onions
 1 package (5 ounces) dried cranberries
4 flour tortillas (10 inches)
 Directions In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, feta cheese and onions. Stir in cranberries. Spread about 1/2 cup mixture over each tortilla and roll up tightly. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Cut each roll-up into 10 slices. Yield: 40 appetizers.

Next time, I will sprinkle on the cranberries after I spread the cream cheese mixture on the tortilla.  It was hard to spread the cream cheese with the cranberries already mixed in.

Pumpkin Chip Bars - Secret Recipe Club

Hard to believe it's our final Secret Recipe Club of 2014.  This year has just flown by for me.  Seems I say that every year any more!!  Group B of SRC will be taking a break for the month of January!  Perfect for me because we're going on a cruise!  Warm weather vacations are the only thing that helps me get through these cold Nebraska winters!

I was lucky this month to be assigned the blog From Grandma Loy's Kitchen.  It was so hard to decide what to make.  She has an outstanding variety of recipes to choose from.  My recipe choice ended up coming down to a recipe to use that partial can of pumpkin in my fridge, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars!  Have you tried pumpkin with chocolate chips?  It's one of my favorite new flavor combinations! Nice this recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of oil and makes a delicious, moist bar. 

Pumpkin Chip Cookies
Recipe Courtesy of Grandma Loy's Kitchen

4 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate or other flavor baking chips
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. ground cinnamon

Place eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Beat well.  Add pumpkin, oil, and sugar.  Mix thoroughly.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.  Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix until just moistened.  Stir in chips.  Spread in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.  Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over batter.  Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or till done.  Cool.  Cut into bars.  The recipe says 36 cookies, but I easily got 48.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

 
We had our first neighborhood dinner group a few weeks ago at my house.  I am envious of those bloggers who are members of dinner groups and mange to find the time to take photos of their dishes.  Needless to say, that wasn't me.  I made  Butternut Squash Lasagna.   Between trying to make sure the lasagna was the right temperature to cut and  the wine was on the table, no pictures were taken.

Whenever I make lasagne, I never seem to have the proportions the recipe says I should have.  I made a full recipe and a half recipe.  After assembling an oversized 9 x 13 pan, I had leftover noodles and squash mixture. What to do with the leftover squash mixture?  How about a mac and cheese?  I added a little Monterey Jack cheese and topped with bread crumbs.  It came out perfectly and makes a delicious and healthy mac and cheese.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family!!!  It's a quiet day at home for Tim and I.  We still cooked up a feast and ate in the dining room.

Smoked Turkey Breast

Michael Symon's Stuffing

Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Doni's Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

We brined the turkey breast in this brine, used a local rub and smoked it in the smoker.  It was moist and delicious!  Michael Symon's stuffing is unlike any I've ever tried before.  The addition of the juice of an orange and the zest adds an interesting flavor.  We liked the stuffing but I think if I make it again, I would just a little less orange.  Doni's Cranberry Sauce is the recipe of my son's girlfriend's mother.  We enjoyed it when celebrating Thanksgiving with everyone a couple of years ago and it's now my go to recipe for Cranberry Sauce. 

I can't comment on the bread pudding just yet because we'll be enjoying it a bit later.  Perhaps, it will become a post of it's own.

Did you try some new recipes today or make the family favorites?

Nantucket Cranberry Pie

For November's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Sarah's Kitchen.  It was hard to decide which recipe to make, there were lots of tempting ones on her blog!!!  Always looking for a new cranberry dessert for the holiday season, I chose this Nantucket Cranberry Pie!!! Why is it certain ingredients like cranberries and pumpkin seem to be reserved for October and November.  Delicious and versatile, why don't we use them more often?

This isn't your typical pie recipe, there's no bottom crust and the top crust is more like cake batter.  The recipe didn't say what size cake pan to use and my 8" round seemed small.  I decided to use my 9" springform pan.  While my cake was baking, I was watching the finale of Master Chef Junior.  Are those kids amazing or what?  When I started smelling something burning, I checked the oven and there was cranberry juice all over the bottom of the oven.  The good news, I use an oven liner.  The bad news, it's a two piece one so some juice had seeped onto the bottom of the oven.  What a mess!!  It's been a while since I've had a kitchen disaster!!  Note to self, springform pan was a bad idea!  More good news though, I have two ovens, so I finished the baking in the second oven. 

Despite the mess in the oven, the pie was a success.  The tartness of the cranberries combines nicely with the hint of almond and buttery dough. 

Nantucket Cranberry Pie
Recipe Courtesy of Sarah's Kitchen

Butter, for greasing pan
2 cups (heaping) cranberries 
3/4 cups pecans, chopped 
2/3 cups sugar 
1 cup flour 
1 cup sugar 
1 stick unsalted butter, melted 
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract 
1/4 tsp salt 
1 tbsp sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter a cake pan.  Add the cranberries and chopped pecans to the pan, top with 2/3 cup sugar.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, melted butter, beaten eggs, almond extract and salt.  Pour the batter over the cranberries.  Bake for 40 minutes, top with the tablespoon of sugar and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

We planted four jalapeno plants this summer and ended up with more jalapenos than we could count.
After freezing, smoking, candying, giving some away and using as many as I could in recipes, I still had jalapenos left. 

Why not try jalapeno jam?  I wanted the jam to have a nice color and it seemed wrong to use green food coloring.  Wondering what else I could do, I ran across several recipes for Cranberry Jalapeno Jam.  Perfect, the cranberries will give the jam a beautiful red color. 

Top cream cheese with this jam and you have a delicious, quick appetizer.  I also plan to use mine to glaze chicken or pork!

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

• 3 Jalapeno peppers, whole
• 2 cups whole cranberries
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 5 cups sugar
• 1 bottle liquid Pectin (3 oz)

Rinse whole cranberries and drain to remove excess water.
Trim Jalapeno pepper caps and tops, then slice lengthwise and remove all seeds and inner membranes. Discard tops, seeds, and membranes. Chop pepper halves.
Grind whole cranberries to a pulp with the food processor or grinder. Add 1/8 cup water to moisten the pulp slightly. Add chopped peppers and pulse or grind.  (I used the coarse chopping blade of a food processor.)
Spoon the cranberry and Jalapeno pulp into a stainless pot. Add vinegar and blend.  Slowly cook mixture for 10 minutes to blend flavors, then add sugar all at once, stir until dissolved. Cook the jam mixture, stirring constantly, until sugar is completely dissolved and boils. Once the jam mixture bubbles and the top foams, rising significantly, add liquid pectin. Boil hard for 1 minute, no longer.
Remove pot from heat. Ladle jam into sterilized half-pint jars, to within 1/2-inch of top. Add sterilized caps and screw rings on. Process in water-bath canner for 10 minutes. Yield: 6 half-pints.

Biscoff Brown Sugar Bars

I hardly ever fly Delta Airlines anymore !!  I don't miss their baggage fees or upcharges for a better seat but what I do miss is those wonderful Biscoff cookies they give you.  Thanks to Trader Joes cookie butter, I don't have to miss them any more.  With cookie butter, I can make my own Biscoff treats. Have you tried this stuff?  It's so delicious, I could eat it by the spoonful!!!

These Biscoff Brown Sugar Bars have a delicious shortbread like crust with a creamy filling.  I found the center of these to be a bit too gooey for my liking, although one of my coworkers said she loved them that way.  Next time, I think I will decrease the brown sugar and bake longer for a firmer bar.  Either way, they are yummy!!!

Biscoff-Brown Sugar Bars

Recipe Courtesy of Mississippi Kitchen

Crust:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Powdered sugar for sprinkling tops

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine crust ingredients on low to medium speed just until mixture is evenly mixed and moist.  (It will start clumping together.) Dump into an 8 x 8 inch baking pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Press mixture onto bottom of pan in an even layer. (Use wet fingers if mixture sticks to skin.)  Prick 6-8 times with a fork, then bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

Meanwhile, beat the ingredients for the filling on medium speed until smooth.  When crust is done, pour mixture evenly over crust and bake for 30 minutes or until middle is just set. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting into bars.  Sprinkle each bar with powdered sugar, if desired.

*For a firmer bar, decrease light brown sugar in filling to 1 cup, then bake for 40 minutes.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin and Bean Chili

It's fall and nothing says fall better than chili and pumpkin.  But together?  This recipe caught my eye as I was looking through the recipes on my assigned Secret Recipe Club blog, This Mama Cooks.  I love the idea of adding a fruit or vegetable to a traditional dish in order to add more nutrients. 

This is a delicious chili recipe and the addition of the pumpkin give the chili a nice creamy texture.  You will never know this recipe has pumpkin in it.  Although the recipe is designed for the slow cooker, you could easily make this stove top.

 Slow Cooker Pumpkin and Bean Chili
Recipe Courtesy of This Mama Cooks

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 pound ground venison, turkey, chicken or lean beef
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder or your favorite gourmet chili blend
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or ground chipotle chile (optional)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used beef broth)
• 2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin oil (optional)

Directions

1. Cook onion, bell pepper and ground meat over medium high heat until meat is cooked through.
2. Add salt and garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add spices (chili powder through cumin) and mix thoroughly. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Place onion, pepper, meat, garlic and spice mixture into a slow cooker.
5. Add remaining ingredients.
6. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
7. Dish chili into bowls and top with a small dollop of no fat sour cream or a large pinch of shredded cheese. 

I am linking this to Miz Helen's Chili Cook-off!!!