Marshmallow Treats - Captain Crunch

Captain Crunch Marshmallow Treats

Gooey & delicious. Peanut buttery yumminess.

That's all I have to say about that.

1 bag of big marshmallows

~6 cups cereal

3 Tbsp butter or margarine

Large casserole dish/rectangle pan

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add marshmallows, stir continously until melted. Remove from heat. Add cereal and stir. Pour into rectangle pan, allow to cool at least 10 minutes. Cut into squares.

Happy Sweet Saturday :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend xox

Hot Salsa. Made by an Authentic New Mexican.

This is one of my favorite recipes: Hot Salsa. And hubby and I like it really hot.  Growing up in New Mexico I learned to appreciate spicy foods. I especially love green and red chile, but let's save that for another day. Today, I'm going to show you how to make salsa with ingredients anyone can find at their local grocery store. You might think of salsa being red - and you'll notice that mine is almost completely green. This is because the ratio of tomato to other ingredients is much different than you'll find in most store bought salsa. But it's soon delicious!

Salsa has healthy ingredients - literally everything in it is a vegetable.
It is also vegan - again, pure vegetables!
Plus I can easily double the recipe and get a huge bowl of salsa for under $10. Pair with a Mexican dish or just with tortilla chips to please a crowd.

Hot Salsa


Ingredients (not all may be used)
About 5-6 large tomatoes, washed
1-2 bunches of cilantro, washed and stems removed
1 small onion, peeled & quartered
5 cloves of garlic, minced
About 6 jalapeños
salt


You'll also need
blender or food processer.

1. Blanch your tomatoes and remove their skin. In the same hot water, boil your jalapeños for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool in a colander or ice water. Chop the tops off of your jalapeños, and remove seeds from 3 of them.

2. Place 4 tomatoes in the blender and blend on a low 'chop' setting for about 30 seconds.

3. Add the following to the blender: 1 bunch of cilantro, half the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 seeded jalapeños, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Blend on a low setting until smooth.

4. Remove the blender from the stand and place in the refrigerator for ~30 minutes, or until salsa is cooling down. This is to allow the flavors to blend together.

5. Sample your salsa and use the guide below to determine if you need to add ingredients. Upon each addition, refrigerate salsa ~15 - 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend together. 

• If too hot, add in extra cilantro, garlic and tomato - they are 'sweet' and counteract the heat. 
• If not enough heat - add in a jalapeño with seeds.
• If  it tastes too sweet, add more jalapeños and onions.
• If your salsa has a raw taste to it, add 1 tsp of salt. 

Good luck in making your perfect salsa! I really hope you enjoyed reading this post about delicious salsa, and if you did please leave me a comment below! You are also more than welcome to post questions and comments and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Upside Down Cake

This is a pretty basic cake, fairly simple to make, with delicious results. I have used both peach & pineapples in this upside down cake - I personally still prefer pineapple though! The recipe is for peach upside down cake but I just swapped out the peaches for pineapple.
Recipe from Use Real Butter

I used a real pineapple, I prefer the taste of fresh pineapple compared to canned :)

Cutting a pineapple can be intimidating because... where do you start? First twist off the top leaves. Sometimes this can prove to be tricky, depending on the pineapple. Nice ripe ones should just twist right off and expose some of the sweet fruit. 

Once the top is removed, lay the pineapple on its side and cut off the top (about 1/2" to 1"). 

Once the whole top is off set the pineapple upright again, and being cutting off the sides. Cut into the top and slide the knife down the side, kind of like peeling a potato. Make sure to get all the little brown holes and pieces off - they are chewy and no fun to eat. 

Lay the pineapple on it's side again and cut off the bottom. Now you have all the fruit for you to cut as you like, just remember to cut out the rind! :)

**The original recipe gives more variations, that I'm not going to go into here, but seriously go check out the original!

For the Glaze:

3Tbs unsalted butter

3/4 C light brown sugar (okay I used dark brown sugar, oops)

Pineapple or peaches 

For the Cake:

1.5 C flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C whole milk, at room temp

1 stick unsalted butter, softened (8 Tbs)

3/4 C Sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs at room temp

I used a 10" cast iron skillet for this. Add 3 Tbsp butter and the brown sugar to the skillet and heat over high, stirring continuously until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat, let cool. Place fruit in pan, attempting to make it look pretty. I failed at that. Make the cake next. In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. With a mixer or by hand cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla, then beat eggs in one at a time until smooth. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine. Stir in milk, then stir in the rest of dry mixture until just combined - you do not want to overmix. Pour batter into pan, make sure the batter spreads into the crevices and completely covers the fruit/glaze. Bake 45-60 minutes (I let mine go the whole 60 minutes. Of course I baked mine in my toaster oven so that may have made a difference.) Let cool in pan at least 20 minutes. Use a knife to separate cake from edges of pan, then flip onto a plate - use a pot holder and be very careful because the glaze can be messy and burn you! Serve warm, with ice cream (if desired) :) Enjoy

My Favorite Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are what got me addicted to baking. I was always searching for my perfect lemon bar, and during the process I found my passion. Summer is the perfect season for eating lemon bars. These don't need to be eaten warm, they're good with powdered sugar, and it reminds me of a glass of cold lemonade. If you agree with that, you will love these lemon bars.

 This recipe came from a cookbook that I got for $5! If that isn't enough reason to love this recipe, after lots of taste testing this has been deemed my favorite lemon bars. They have a crispy crust topped with a lemon curd. My boyfriend calls it "jelly". Whatever, it's delicious and fairly easy to make.


Justine's Favorite Lemon Bars, adapted from The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook



Ingredients
Crust
1 Cup ap flour
1/2 Cup confectioners' sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon zest
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, in small pieces

Lemon filling
4 eggs
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour








First make your crust. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine in a medium/small bowl. Cut in butter. Combine, mixture should be like coarse corn meal. Press into the bottom of your ungreased baking pan, I used a square 8" pan. Bake about 8-10 minutes, until crust is golden brown.



While crust is baking, make the lemon filling.
With an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar and lemon juice until light, about 2 minutes. Add in flour and mix until just combined. Pour onto prepared crust, bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, allow lemon bars to cool in pan on a wire cooling rack. Cut and serve. Refrigerate leftovers, eat within 3 days.

Bon apetit!

Lemon Blueberry loaf

I'm a lover of bread. Anywhere from sourdough to banana bread, I like it all. Carbs keep me happy (my wasitline - not so much). Since the Spring is quickly approaching I decided to make something more suited for warmer months, even though it sure doesn't feel warm yet!

This lemon blueberry yogurt loaf is delicious. I eat it for breakfast actually. You may prefer it as a snack or dessert though.  Perfectly tangy, made with fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. The blueberries complement the lemon perfectly. It bakes up beautifully then brush on a lemon syrup, then on top of that is a delicious lemon glaze. Are you drooling yet?

Ingredients:

For the Loaf:
1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed

For the Lemon Syrup:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

For the Lemon Glaze:
1 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess. I personally like to use baker's joy.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.


3. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 3. In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.

5. While the loaf is cooling, make the lemon syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.

6. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup.If you pour the syrup on top, rather than brush it on, your loaf is likely to fall apart. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.

7. Make the lemon glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be heavy, but thin enough to pour. Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

Bon Appetit!
Recipe originally from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Gold Bars

Do you remember celebrating Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day in grade school? To me, it meant Winter was finally ending and Spring was coming. I could finally look forward to Summer break! Back to reality, these peanut buttery treats always evoke the feeling of shedding Winter and welcoming Spring.

This is a delicious treat for St. Patrick's day. They kind of resemble a bar of gold, but are rich and tasty.

Not only are these delicious, they are terrifically easy to make. These are NO BAKE!




Best served chilled, can serve 9-12.

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons peanut butter

Mix together butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup of peanut butter until well blended. Press mixture evenly into bottom of ungreased pan, or you could line bottom of pan with foil. I used a 9×13 in. pan. Chill in fridge while preparing chocolate layer

In a double boiler or in microwave melt chocolate chips with 4 tbsp peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Be careful not to burn it! When smooth, spread over chilled crust. Chill an additional hour before cutting into squares.

Yum! I Hope you enjoy them as much as I did and still do!

Intro!

 I can pretty much describe my life in 3 words: Cooking, exercising, and driving. Yeah, I've got my family and my boyfriend, but those are the things I probably do the most often. I will usually cook 3 meals a day and also provide snacks. I exercise when I'm home alone (oh and blog too). And I'm always driving around running errands. So I guess you could say I'm pretty average. Oh except I love to bake. I'll attempt to make any kind of delicious oven sweet. I started off with basics - cakes, cupcakes, and cookies back in high school. High school for me was also the start of some cake decorating - the pictures you see here are from high school (I'm 21 now). I've slowly expanded into bread and also into specialty cakes. I would love an opportunity to work in a bakery - my dream! But alas, since I don't I'm keeping my baking skills in my own kitchen, where I can be experimental and try new things and have my boyfriend and family be my taste testers. In the pictures here I have a chocolate strawberry cake for my mother's birthday, one of my favorite treats called a gold bar. I used to get them in elementary school and it was almost like a sign that Spring was here, school was almost over, and the pool was almost open! I'm also showing here my "homemade samoas". To me, nothing can trump a real Samoa from a girl scout. These were still pretty tasty though, and with the right ingredients can be amazing. The other picture is of sunflower cupcakes! They are all hand decorated by me, and again this was something I did in high school! I'm going to be doing a lot more decorating and baking now to get a lot more practice, and of course that means sharing my techniques, recipes and everything else!