Fruit Salsa

This is a really simple, quick, healthy and tasty recipe that is perfect to take to a potluck or party and would be a great dish for this weekend to take to any of your labor day festivities. It is cool and refreshing and full of tart crunchy granny smith apples, sweet red strawberries, kiwi and orange.

Fruit Salsa:

-2 medium Granny Smith apples

-1 pint strawberries, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

-2 kiwi, peeled and diced

-1 small orange

-2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

-2 tablespoons strawberry jelly

1. Peel, core and slice apples. Coarsely chop them up. Dice strawberries and kiwi. Place fruit in a medium size bowl.

2. Zest orange, measuring out to 1 teaspoon. Juice orange to measure 2 tablespoons juice. Add orange zest, juice, brown sugar and jelly to fruit mixture; mix gently. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. Spoon into serving bowl. Serve with store-bought Cinnamon Chips or Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips or make your own (recipe following).

Cinnamon Sugar Chips:

-1 large bag of your favorite torilla chips

-cooking spray

-a mix of cinnamon and sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread tortilla chips evenly on a baking sheet. Evenly spray with cooking spray and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake about 5 minutes. Let cool and then serve.

Death By Chocolate Brownies

The title says it all! These are seriously Death by Chocolate Brownies and they are seriously, absolutely so fabulous tasting. These brownies are for serious chocolate lovers, absolute chocoholics, brownie and chocolate addicts, must-have-chocolate-now people......like myself! I have probably told you enough that I LOVE BROWNIES, I am in love with them, they are my absolute favorite dessert of all time! So, I created this super decadant brownie for all of you out there who feel the same way I do about  brownies!

These brownies have four wonderful layers of chocolate. You have a brownie base that gets swirled together with a lucious and smooth chocolate cheesecake layer which is studded with double chocolate oreos. Then you bake it, let it cool and top them off with a creamy chocolate fudge buttercream. These are very rich, moist and dense, chocolately and fudgey and they are just perfect...... in my humble opinion! 

Death by Chocolate Brownies:

For the Brownies:

-1 box of your favorite brownie mix, plus the ingredients called for on the box, or 1 recipe of your favorite brownie recipe for a 13x9-inch pan

-Chocolate Cheesecake Layer (recipe below)

-Chocolate Fudge Buttercream (recipe below)

For the Chocolate Cheesecake Layer:

-6 oz. cream cheese, softened

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

-1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spread half of it into a greased 13x9-inch baking pan; set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth. Add melted chocolate and eggs and beat on low speed just until combined. Spread evenly over brownie batter. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely on a wire rack. Once they are cooled, frost with chocolate buttercream. Store covered in an airtight container in the refrigerated.

For the Frosting:

-6 tablespoons butter, softened

-5 tablespoons cocoa powder

-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

-1-2 tablespoons milk

-1/2 cup hot fudge topping, such as Smucker's

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Cream the butter. Slowly mix in the cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Add the milk, hot fudge and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.

 

Zucchini Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting

Looking for a great way to use up some of that great summer vegetable that you probably have an abundance of right now?! Try out these zucchini cookies! They are very yummy, soft, cake-like cookies that are super moist. And they get topped off with a wonderful creamy and smooth cream cheese frosting that makes them even more perfect! I wanted to share these with you because they are a little switch up from your average zucchini bread. Enjoy!

Zucchini Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting:

-3 eggs

-1 cup granulated sugar

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 cup vegetable oil

-2 cups grated zucchini

-3 tsp. vanilla

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. cinnamon

-1 tsp. salt

-cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. 

2. Beat eggs until light and fluffy.

3. Add oil, sugars, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix well.

4. In a seperate bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

5. Add the the egg and sugar mixture. Blend well.

6. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes.

7. Let cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting. Store in an airtight container in the rrefrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

-1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

-1 stick butter, softened

-1 (1-lb.) box confectioner's sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla

-pinch of salt.

1. Beat together cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.

3. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined.

Chocolate Cherry-Coca-Cola Cake

I just purchased Paula Deen's Special Collector's Holiday Baking Magazine and there are so many great Fall and Winter recipes that I am dying to try. After Summer, Fall is my next favorite season. I love going to our local cider mill called Uncle John's Cider Mill and eating warm doughnuts and drinking cider....mmmm the thought of it is making me so very happy! I love the leaves changing colors and the crisp smell of the cool air and carving pumpkins and eating caramel apples and I love all the fabulous fall and halloween treats that I will be making and eating! I can't wait! What is your favorite season?

But, back to this Cherry-Coca-Cola Cake, this recipe was in her magazine and I have been wanting to make a Texas Sheet Cake for a while and I hadn't gotten around to it. This recipe caught my eye because it seemed to closely resemble a Texas Sheet Cake, only it was a little bit different because of the added Coke in it. So, I decided to give this recipe a try and instead of using regular Coca-Cola I used a Cherry flavored Coca-Cola. The cake turned out to be really tasty and it basically tasted just like a Texas Sheet Cake, the Cherry Coke flavor did not stand out in the cake or the frosting, but thats okay because it was still delicious. The cake was very moist and tender and it melted in your mouth. It had a very mild chocolate flavor and the cake itself was not overly sweet. The frosting is my favorite part, it is very sweet which complements the cake very well and it is almost produces a  fudge-like texture since the warm frosting gets poured all over the hot cake. Some of the frosting soaks into the cake a bit which gives you the very moist cake. This cake almost produces three layers; the fudge-like frosting, then a layer of a very moist and gooey-er second layer, and then the bottom cake layer. I even think this cake even tasted better on the second day! Give it a try and I guaruntee you won't be disappointed!

Chocolate Cherry-Coca-Cola Cake: (Paula Deen, adapted by me)

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-2 cups sugar

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1 cup butter

-1 cup Cherry Coca Cola

-1/2 cup buttermilk

-1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

-2 large eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cherry-Coca-Cola Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick baking spray and dust with flour.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a medium bowl saucepan, combine butter, Coca-Cola, buttermilk, and cocoa. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and add to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan; bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Pour Cherry-Coca-Cola Frosting over hot cake. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Cherry-Coca-Cola Frosting:

-1/2 cup butter

-1/2 cup Cherry-Coca-Cola

-1/4 cup unsweetened coca powder

-4 cups confectioner's sugar

1. In a medium saucepan, bring butter, Cola, and cocoa to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and gradually add confectioner's sugar, whisking until smooth.

Mountain Dew Cake

This cake was a very delicious and simple cake to prepare; you take a lemon cake mix and dress it up with a few ingredients; lemon pudding, Mountain Dew of course, hence the name of the cake! And some oil and eggs.

And let me tell you, this beautiful looking cake turned out to be delectably moist, very tender, fluffy and it just about melted in your mouth. It was very lemony and tasted like a lemon poppy seed cake, without the seeds! The Mountain Dew flavor didn't come through, but I don't really think it was supposed to. I think the Mountain Dew helped prouduce the ultra moistness of the cake!

Mountain Dew Cake: (adapted from Paula Deen Magazine)

Makes 1 (10-inch) fluted cake

-1 (18.25-ounce) box lemon cake mix

-1 (3.4-ounce) box instant lemon-flavored pudding mix

-1 (12-ounce) can Mountain Dew, plus more for glaze (I bought a 1 liter)

-3/4 cup vegetable oil

-4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 12-to-15-cup fluted pan with non-stick baking spray and coat with flour.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Add soda, oil, and eggs. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack, pour glaze all over the cake if desired, (you can do that while it is still warm).

For the glaze:

-powdered sugar

-mountain dew

-lemon and lime zest

Combine all ingredients to the consistency you would like; (I didn't measure, so just get the type of consistency you like for glazes.)

 

Give Me S'more Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Have you ever made a classic campfire s'more with a Reesee's Peanut Butter Cup instead of Hershey's Milk Chocolate? If not, you should give it a try before summer so shortly comes to an end, or you can try out my Peanut Butter Cup S'more Brownies! I must say....Delicious!

I had leftover marshmallows, ghram crackers and peanut butter cups from our vacation a couple weeks ago that I wanted to use up and I thought that brownies would be a great base to throw all of those leftover goodies into.

And I was right! The brownie itself was very fudgey, rich and chocolately, just the way I like them, which paired perfectly with one of summer's classic favorite treats, s'mores; chopped ghram crackers and peanut butter cups get mixed into the brownie batter and then it gets topped with large marshmallow halves that get that great toasty flavor and golden brown color; just as if you were roasting it over a campfire. If you serve them warm, the marshmallow gets nice and gooey and the peanut butter cups melt and it is just like eating a s'more but in a brownie! Give these a try, they are super yummy!

S'more Peanut Butter Cup Brownies:

Ingredients:

-5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces

-6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

-2/3 cup granulated sugar

-2 large eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-pinch of salt

-1/3 cup all-purpose flour

-6 regular size Reesee's Peanut Buttr Cups

-3/4 cup chopped ghram crackers

-8 large marshmallows, cut in half

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 8x8-inch pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Set a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put butter in bowl, top with chopped chocolate and stir occasionally until just melted. Remove bowl from the pan of water.

3. With a whisk, stir in sugar. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and whisk vigorously to bring butter together. Gently stir in the flour and salt; just until incorporated. Fold in the chopped ghram crackers and peanut butter cups.

4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and then layer the marshmallow halves evenly on top, leaving a little bit of space in between each one. Pour the rest of the batter on top of the marshmallows and spread evenly.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool completely. Cut into squares and serve warm (nooked in the microwave) or at room temperature, (I liked them best nooked in the microwave for about 10-12 seconds, it gives you the ultimate warm and toasty s'more campfire feeling)!

MMMM!!!! Marshmallow, chocolate, peanut butter and ghram crackers combined into one fabulous brownie! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies

I hope everyone had a great weekend! My family and I are heading off soon to my Aunt and Uncle's to celebrate my Grandma's birthday with a cookout and bonfire! I can't wait! So, here is a recipe for yummy

cookies chock full of plenty of goodies! 

Chocolate chips, oatmeal, sweetened flaked coconut, butterscotch chips, and pecans make up this cookie.

These are chewy, moist, crisp around the edges, have a nice cinnamon flavor and are pretty much delightful to your tastebuds-so many flavors and textures that make up this cookie! Give em' a try, this batch makes a lot of cookies!

Laura Bush's Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies: (recipe courtesy Laura Bush, adapted by me)

Ingredients:

-3 cups all-purpose flour

-1 tablespoon baking powder

-1 tablespoon baking soda

-1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature

-1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

-1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

-3 eggs

-1 tablespoon vanilla

-3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

-3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

-2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

-1 cup chopped pecans

-1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in bowl.

3. In a 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla.

5. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut, pecans and butterscotch chips and stir until combined.

5. Drop 1/4 cup dough for each cookie onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.

7. Bake in oven for 17-20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are lightly browned. Remove cookies and cool on wire rack.

*Note: For 6 dozen small cookies, use 2 tablespoons dough for each. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 18 minutes.

 

Mmmm.....don't you want a bite?

Steak, Goat Cheese and Cheddar Quesadillas With Corn and Tomato Relish

 I found this recipe for Steak and Goat Cheese Quesadillas With Corn and Tomato Relish over at Picky Palate, which is an awesome blog that I have just recently found! Jenny has wonderful recipes for both savory meals and fantastic sweets and she has such creative and simple ideas, go check out her blog if you haven't already! 

These are filled with tender steak, creamy and tangy goat cheese, and I also added sharp cheddar cheese because it is my favorite and I just love th flavor of it! These were really tasty, flavorful, hearty, filling and a simple meal to throw together with very few ingredients. The colorful corn and tomato relish was absolutely delicious and so simple and my favorite part! The corn was super sweet and crunchy, the tomatoes were juicy and the cilantro gave it tons of flavor. This relish would be tasty with lots of different things and even just by itself.

Steak:

-4 Steak Cuts of choice, grilled or cooked in the crockpot (I cooked all 4 in a crockpot on low for about 6 hours, it turned out great)

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

-1/4 teaspoon Lawry's Garlic Salt with Parsley

Corn Relish:

-1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

-4 ears fresh corn, kernels removed

-1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered

-1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Quesadillas:

-8-inch tortillas

-butter flavored cooking spray

-1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

-1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1. Grill steak to your liking or cook in a crockpot on low for about 6 hours. Sseason with salt, pepper and garlic seasoning. After cooked, cut the steak into bite size pieces. Keep warm.

2. To make corn relish, heat olive oil into a large skillet over medium heat. Add corn kernels, tomatoes, cilantro, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, until warm and fragrant.

3. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and sprinkle one side of tortilla with goat cheese, steak, and then sprinkle the cheddar cheese. With a spatula, fold tortilla over filling and cook each side until browned and crisp. Transfer to a plate and top with spoonfuls of Corn Tomato Relish. Continue process until desired.

8-10 quesadillas

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Sorry, I haven't posted anything for almost 2 weeks! I just got back on Saturday from a wonderful week of vacation spent with my family! It was our annual trip to the U.P. that we do every year for vacation and it is something that my mom has been doing ever since she was a baby! We had great weather and a great time and I didn't want it to come to an end because then it is back to reality and it means that summer will shortly be coming to an end. It was a week full of sunshine, relaxation, spending time with my family and loved ones and cooking in the kitchen with my grandma who is a wonderful cook! I made a blueberry cobbler and blueberry pancakes with fresh, sweet and tiny wild blueberries that we picked on the side of the road and I have some leftover to make homemade blueberry jam which I will post soon for you! I have been itching to post a recipe so here is a yummy and quick one to try out and I will have more to come this week! Enjoy!

 This very simple, few ingredient and super tasty peanut butter no bake cookie recipe is calling your name if you or anyone you know is a peanut butter lover!

I made regular no bake cookies last week with cocoa in them for my family to take on vacation for the car ride and I saved a couple for my boyfriend, not knowing if he liked them or not because he isn't a big chocolate fan and he is really picky about foods.....he won't really eat homemade brownies or cake unless they are Little Debbie brownies or cake from a cake mix...I still haven't figured this one out! But, come to find out, no bakes are one of his favorite cookies! I was shocked and surprised that I didn't know this (since we have been dating for almost 6 years)...whoops! Anyway, he asked me if I would make just peanut butter ones the next time I made them because peanut butter is one of his favorite things in desserts!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it got really great reviews. They are sweet, peanut-buttery, have a great texture from the hearty and chewy oats and they almost taste like peanut butter fudge. If you are looking for a quick and easy sweet to satisfy your sweet tooth craving, a quick dessert for a party, or if it is too hot to turn on your oven, then you should give these a try and I am sure that you and whoever else gets a taste of these will be very satisfied! My boyfriend absolutely loved them!

 No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies: (allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

-3 cups white sugar

-3/4 cup butter

-3/4 cup milk

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 1/2 cups peanut butter

-4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, butter and milk. Bring to a rapid boil for one full minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and peanut butter. Mix in the oats, stirring until the mixture begins to cool. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let cool until set.