Munch Bars...

Ok..this recipe makes my top ten for sure!  I was going on and on about this recipe to friends over the weekend so now here it is for all to see/try!  I came across these yummy homeade granola bars when a fellow baseball player brought them to a game to share.  When I was looking for kid friendly recipes to try I remembered this one and emailed her for the recipe.  Thanks Sharon Z!  I've had a few winner recipes from this friend come to think of it....
Anyway, these bars come from the former head cook up at Camp Squeah.

3 cups oatmeal

2 cups rice krispies

2 cups coconut

2 cups sunflower seeds

1/2 cup mararine

12 cups marshmallows (mini)

1 cup chocolate chips (mini)

Mix oatmeal, rice krispies, coconut and sunflower seeds together. (BIG bowl)

In microwave, in large bowl, melt marg on medium heat.

Add marshmallows, coat with melted butter, and microwave on high until

nice and gooey!  Stir down and add to dry mix.

Mix well, press into greased 9x13 pan

(I used my large stoneware bar pan, but if I was using a 9x13 I'd probably split the recipe into 2 pans...it makes a lot!..oh, and buttering your hands is VERY helpful when pressing this sticky goodness)

Once pressed I sprinkled the mini chocolate chips over the entire pan and pressed them in on top of the bars.

I chilled mine in the fridge to set them.

Tip:  score or cut the bars before they harden all the way...

Try em out...let me know what YOU think!

They have become our new summer favourite!  Perfect for the beach, a hike, camping or the park!

Raspberry-Rhubarb Platz

Mmmm..this is one of our favourite ones around this house!  Traditionally this recipe is made with just one fruit, and usually plum or rhubarb, but I love the mix of raspberries and rhubarb so I adjusted this recipe a little to suit.  It is also excellent with strawberries and rhubarb!  This recipe originates from one of my favourite blogs, Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  So if you're a non-menno gal like me who married a very menno guy, this blog is a wifesaver!

Preheat oven to 350*

Grease a 9x13" pan

(I use my stoneware bar pan and double this recipe)

Combine:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

Cut in: 1/4 cup butter/marg

Once this resembles coarse crumbs add in a mixture of:

1/2 cup milk

1 fresh egg

1 tsp vanilla 

Mix well.  Mixture will be lumpy

Spread in greased pan

Top with finely diced fresh or frozen fruit of your choice.  I used approx 2 cups of chopped rhubarb and 1 1/2 cups raspberries (or strawberries.)

Crumb Topping:

(tip:  If you're doing a double recipe up to this point, you don't need to double this part..there's plenty!)

Combine: 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 1/2 cups white sugar

Melt 1/2 cup butter/marg

Drizzle butter over mixture and quickly combine to make small crumbs. 

Sprinkle over fruit and bake in the top 1/3 of your oven for approx 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Blueberry-Orange Muffins

This is a quick and easy recipe.  We like them because they're the perfect mix...not too tart, not too sweet!

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup orange juice

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (raspberries are great too)

Topping:

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

In large bowl, combine oats and orange juice and let stand for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, beat in the egg, oil and sugar until well blended.

In seperate bowl: combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Stir this dry mixture into the wet oatmeal mixture until just moistened.  Fold in blueberries.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.

Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 400* for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

Oatmeal Craisin-Chip Cookies

These are yummy cookies that seem to keep the kids happy!

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sqaures) room temp. marg or butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup craisins (or raisins if you prefer)

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup shredded coconut - optional

Preheat oven to 350*

In a medium bowl, whisk together: flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside

With mixer: combine butter and sugars until well beat and fluffy.

Beat in eggs and vanilla scraping bowl as needed.

Add craisins, choco chips and coconut.  Beat until just combined.

Place drops of dough on cookie sheets.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Tips: 

- I use parchment paper on my cookie sheets to make clean up a breeze. 

- I love, love, love my cookie dough scoop.  Keeps the hands clean and the cookies 'uniform'.

- This recipe also works great for freezing your pre-formed dough.  Just scoop your    dough onto your cookie sheet as you normally would, then throw in the freezer.

- Once frozen, remove from cookie sheet and place in ziploc bags.  Ready to bake!

- To bake from frozen: Bake 20-25 minutes.

Banana Bread...

I've been baking up a storm these past couple of weeks. I am providing snacks for a local summer camp for kids. It's been a fun challenge. The weather here has been anything but summer'ish' so spending time indoors baking hasn't been as hard as I thought it might be! I thought I'd share the recipes that I'm doing this week so you can try them out if you like. They're nothing fancy, but it's always fun to try other peoples recipes. Monday's Snack was Banana Bread. This is the same recipe I've made for years. As an alternative to nuts, I've been using mini chocolate chips.

1/2 cup butter or marg, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (approx 3 medium) ripe, mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup of chopped walnuts

(or mini choco chips if avoiding nut allergy issues)

Cream together: Butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth.

Blend in mashed bananas

In second bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.  Once mixed, add to banana mixture.  Stir enough to moisten.  Transfer to greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350* for approx 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

This is a favourite in our house.  We make it almost weekly.  My 'big' secret for successful banana bread is to use my stoneware loaf pan.  I only have a few stoneware pieces but this one was worth every penny!  My bread always comes out perfect!  I suggest letting your bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

Sweet & Sour Farmer Sausage

I promised my sweet friend Carolyn that I would post this recipe for her.  I found this recipe 15 years ago in a mennonite cook book that I was given at one of my bridal showers.  It has become a favourite in our house.  We usually have it once a month on a Monday night when Uncle Ken comes for supper.  Uncle Ken LOVES this meal!  This is a really easy recipe!  We buy our farmer sausage from a local butcher.  I usually peel the outer layer of 'skin' off the sausage first.
Recipe:
Pre-Bake Sauasge for 1 hour @ 350*  in a 9x13" pan. 
(Once it's baked for an hour I cut it into  2-3" chunks for serving size)

In large bowl combine:
2 cans tomato soup
2 cans pineapple tidbits (leave juice in)
6 tbsp. brown sugar
4 tbsp. vinegar
1 green pepper ( I use a red and a green)
1 onion chopped up in larger pieces

Mix well and pour over pre-baked sausage and bake covered with foil for another hour @ 350*.
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving over rice.
This recipe makes a lot of sauce so if you're using smaller farmer sausage you may want to cut the recipe in half.

Marinade for Chicken Souvlaki

This is just a basic marinade for Chicken Souvlaki that I use.  It doesn't need to be followed to the exact, but the flavours are great together. This is basically the recipe I followed for the Passover meal.

2 tsp minced garlic (I do 2 cloves)

2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp olive oil (I use extra virgin)

1/2 tsp dried oregano 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp pepper

1 lb chicken breast (About 3- 4 boneless breasts)  You can choose whether you want to cut the chicken into pieces for skewers, or leave them whole.

Mix first 6 ingredients in a ziploc bag.  Add chicken.  Let marinade for desired amount of time (at least one hour, if not 3-4).  I flip bag over a couple of times to mix the marinade up.

If using skewers, pre soak skewers in water, then thread meat and veggies on, or leave chicken breasts whole (that's what we do) and throw  on the BBQ and enjoy!

Easy Greek Salad

Really, the key to any good greek salad is the dressing, right?  That's where I cheat.  I run to the local Greek Restaurant down the street and pick up a bottle of their specialty dressing.  I know I'm not the only one girls!!!  Here's the recipe we used for Greek salad at the Passover meal.  We did all the veggie prep the night before.  I have NEVER cut up that many veggies in my entire life!!!  My whole house and car reeked like red onion for days...and oh did we all cry when we were prepping them.  Didn't we Rich?  Again, this is another recipe from allrecipes.com

Recipe for 4 servings:

3/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup cucumber - chopped (option: peeled & seeded )

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup diced red onion

4 large black olives, quartered

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Throw it together and douse it with your favourite dressing!

Greek Potatoes

I've tried a few different recipes for Greek style potatoes.  I alternate between this one (from Menno Girls Can Cook) and this new one that my good friend Shelley gave me.  The recipe below is the one we served at the Passover meal and it is our new favourite!  It comes from the allrecipes.com site.

1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I crush in my garlic crusher)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 cubes chicken bouillon
ground black pepper to taste
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered

Preheat oven to 350*
Mix all ingredients, except for potatoes, in a medium bowl.
Arrange potatoes in bottom of a 9x13" pan
Pour mixture over potatoes
Cover and bake for 1.5 - 2 hours.  Turn occasionally.

Lemon Dill Rice

This is the recipe I use at home when I cook Greek Food.  It differs a little from the one we used for the Passover meal.  It is also a nice rice to cook if you're serving fish.

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 cup long grain rice
1 cup finely diced celery
1 med sized onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (I use 2)
1 3/4 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
Scant 1 tbsp dried dill weed (fresh is great too)
2 tsp sugar
pinch salt
4 lemon slices

Combine olive oil and rice in a saucepan and cook over medium heat.  Stir often, cooking until rice is a nice golden brown. (4-5 min).  Add celery, onions & garlic.  Stir until softened.  Add stock, lemon juice, butter, dill, sugar and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Float lemon slices on top.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer until tender and liquid has absorbed.  Once cooked, allow to stand for 10 minutes.  Garnish with dill.  Serves 6

Baking for Teacher Appreciation...

Like many schools, our school picks one week each Spring to honour our teachers and the amazing jobs they do!  I am so grateful for teachers!  As a 'class mom' it is my job to make sure that these teachers feel special this week!  I ask parents to sign up for one day during the week where they will commit to doing something for the teacher...maybe a hot coffee/tea, flowers, a treat, or even a card or time in the classroom.  In the past 4 years I've always made a full, hot meal for Olivia's teacher so that they get one night off when they don't have to cook!  This year I was too 'chicken' to do a meal for Olivia's teacher because he's a vegan!   I respect it, but can't relate to it hunnny!  So...this year it was fresh, hot from the oven, pans of blueberry cinnamon buns for Livi and Abby's teachers.  Hope they enjoyed them!  It's a pretty easy recipe, and if you have a large mixer then it'll do the work for you! 
Here's my recipe:
-- Mix 2 tsp granulated sugar into 1 cup of warm water. Sprinkle scant 2 tbsp of dry yeast on top and let sit for 10 minutes. (I do this in my kitchen aid bowl so it's ready to have ingredients added)
-- Once proofed (poofed) stir yeast mixture to mix. Add:
2 large eggs
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/2 sugar
1 cup warm milk 2 cups all purpose flour
Beat together well.

Now work in 4 - 4.5 cups of flour (I switch to the dough hook for this one)
Work it in until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  You can let it knead in your machine for a good 5 minutes once it's all blended, or, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes.  Should be smooth and elastic.  I love working with the dough so I always opt for a few less minutes in the mixer and do some kneading by hand...work out those frustrations girls!

Place dough in greased bowl, turn once to grease top.  Cover with tea towel and place in oven with light on and door closed.  Let rise for approx 1 hour until doubled in size.
Filling:
1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup brown sugar mixed with 2.5 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cups blueberries. (I use frozen)

Now, divide dough into 3 equal parts.  Roll each into 9x12" rectangles. ( I do one at a time)
Spread 1/3 of butter on each piece
Sprinkle 1/3 sugar/cinnamon mixture on each
Scatter 1/3 berries on each piece

Starting on the long side of the rectangle, tightly roll up each piece into a log.  Cut each log into 9 even pieces and place in greased  8x8 pans.  (I always use pie plates)
Cover with tea towels and let stand in oven with light on and door closed for another hour.

Bake at 375* for 20 minutes...watch, they burn easy. 

Glaze:
Blend 1.5 cups icing sugar with:
1/2 cup softened butter, 2-3 tbsp milk or water
1/2 tsp vanilla
Drizzle over buns once they've cooled a little.

Black & White...

My mom gave me a great cookbook for Christmas.  It's a Good Housekeeping cookbook that has cookie recipes only.  Mmmm, cookies!  While flipping through the book I noticed a recipe for Black & White cookies.  This immediately sparked a memory from a Seinfeld episode where Jerry & Elaine are stuck in line at a New York Bakery for hours waiting for some kind of special bread that ends up being sold out, of course.  But, in the duration of their wait they have a debate about the black and white cookie and which side is better to eat.  When I saw this recipe I KNEW I had to make them for myself so I could see what all the hubbub was about!  They were super easy to make, and just a little time consuming.  But they were something different to try and really, quite good.  I took them to my post-Christmas work party and they seemed to be popular!  Here's the recipe:

Cookie batter (very soft):
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
10 tbsp butter/marg softened (this is equal to 1 1/4 sticks of marg)
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Buttermilk (easy to make by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of regular milk - let stand for 5 minutes to bind)

Icings: (keep in mind these ingredients are for BOTH icings)
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
8-10 tsp warm water
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 350*
In small bowl stir flour, baking soda and salt together.
In large bowl (I used my mixer) beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Reduce speed and add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. 
Drop batter by 1/4 cup spoonfuls onto cookie sheet leaving 3" gaps between cookies (I did 6 per sheet just to be safe)
Bake until edges begin to brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.  15-17 minutes.  Once baked transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

Prepare Glazes:
Start with white glaze: mix 1 1/4 cup icing sugar, 1 tbsp of corn syrup, and 5-6 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time.  Mix to good consistency, not runny, but still thin.  Once cookies are cooled, using metal icing spatula, ice the BOTTOMS of each cookie with white icing on half the cookie bottom.  Allow to set for 15-20 minutes.
Chocolate glaze:  mix remaining 1/2 cup icing sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, remaining tbsp corn syrup, and 3-4 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time.  Ice other half of cookies. 

Once completely iced, let them set for a good hour. 
These cookies get very soft if stored in plastic.  It's best to eat em' all, or freeze right away.  The above recipe makes only 12 cookies (or so) so I doubled everything and made a double batch.

Lower Rainland...

This beautiful part of British Columbia that we live in is often called the Lower 'Rainland' instead of the Lower Mainland.  This is what I saw when I looked out my windows yesterday.  The weatherman called for 2-3 inches of snow, but we ended up with a mixture of snow, rain and freezing rain instead.  Really, I can't complain.  We've had great winter weather so far with very little rain.  On days like this it's easy to stay inside and focus on comfortable things.  Yesterday I threw supper in the crockpot and enjoyed using the rest of the day to finish taking down Christmas decorations and do the regular household chores.  Here's the recipe if you're interested.  It's super easy, and tastes great!

Shredded Pork:

Place your boneless pork shoulder roast in the crockpot (3-4 lbs)

Mix together:
1 1/4 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp worcesterschire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Pour mixture over pork roast in slow cooker. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 4-6 hours or until meat is tender and pulls apart easily.  Once it's done cooking, use two forks to shred meat.  Serve over rice or buns. 

Easy Peasy.

A Favourite Appy..

Yes, I know, it looks awful.  Trust me sisters, it ain't.  This is one of my favourite appetizers to make, and to eat!  It's always a hit no matter where it is!  I believe it originates from one of my hubby's cousins, but don't quote me on that.
It's called Hot Ham & Cheese Dip.  Here's the recipe:

8 oz. Cream Cheese (1 block) - room temp works best
1.5 cups of sour cream (doesn't work as well with light sour cream)
2 cups grated cheddar
1 cup cubed, cooked ham
1/4 cup onion ( I think I use more like 1/2 cup)
2 tsp red pepper diced (I use a whole, small red pepper cuz that's just how I roll)
1 tsp Worcheister Sauce

Here's the easy part:  throw all of the above into a corningware dish, blend it with your electric hand held mixer, cover and throw in the oven for 1 hour @ 350*.

Hollow out a sourdough loaf, save the 'guts' and cube them up.  I also usually buy a loaf of french bread and cube the whole thing up as well to serve with the dip.

After the dip has cooked for an hour, pull it out, let it sit for approx 10 minutes, and pour into sourdough loaf.  Note:  it will be runny right after it comes out of the oven, but it will thicken up fast!

It definitely ain't fat free, but it smells and tastes heavenly!  Perfect appy for New Year's Eve!

Crockpot Comfort...

I 'love' my crockpot!  I've done everything from soup to apple cider in it. I use it year round, but this is the time of year that I go back to my guaranteed comfort food recipes!  Olivia knows me so well that she bought me a special recipe book last year that's full of just crockpot recipes.  I tend to use it most on days that are busy, or days that I have to work. One of the recipes I make the most is Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder.  I start it off on the stove, and then let it sit and simmer and finish off all day in the crockpot.  It's a favourite around here.  Whip up a batch of biscuits and call it dinner.  If you're in the market for a new crockpot you may want to head on over to CSN Stores...they sell everything from crockpots to flat screen TV stands!

Here's my Chicken Corn Chowder Recipe:

6 slices of bacon (optional)
1 medium onion
3 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
6-8 cubed red potatoes (with skin)
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp pepper
3-4 cups cubed, cooked chicken breast (I have substituted with cooked farmer sausage in the past - but then omit the bacon)
3 cups milk (I use 2% for creamier soup)
1 package frozen peaches & cream corn

In dutch oven cook bacon. Using slotted spoon remove bacon and set aside.  Add onion to bacon drippings and cook, stirring occasionally until tender.  Stir in flour until smooth (will be thick).  Stir in chicken broth, potatoes, sage and pepper.  If you are going to put your crockpot on high, then you can transfer it all over to the crockpot now, but if you want to leave it on low for the day I would suggest continuing to cook on stove top until potatoes are fork tender (approx 20 min).  Add all remaining ingredients.  Let simmer in crockpot until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Pull-Aparts

A friend was coming over one morning last week and I wanted to try out a new recipe. I found this one for Cinnamon Pull-Aparts. I've seen it done in crockpots before, and this one calls for a bundt pan, but I broke the rules and did it in my 9x13 stoneware dish. Here's the recipe:

20 Frozen Dough Buns
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
7 1/2 tbsp Vanilla pudding powder (not instant) - I just used a 6 serving size box
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup hard margarine
2 tbsp golden syrup

Arrange frozen buns in greased 12 cup bundt pan

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, pudding powder, raisins and pecans. Sprinkle over frozen buns.

Heat and stir marg and syrup together in small saucepan until melted. Drizzle over sugar mixture on buns. Cover with wet tea towel. Let stand on counter for 7-8 hours or overnight, until doubled in size.
Bake in 350 oven for about 25 minutes (mine took longer) Let stand for 5 minutes, turn out onto plate.

They're gooey but they're good!

Homeade Potato Skins...

Last weekend we had some friends over for a wine & appy evening. I loooove having appetizers for dinner...it's so great to sample a bunch of little things that all have good flavour! I had been craving potato skins so I decided to make a batch. I don't think I've made these since the New Year's Eve party so it was more than time for another batch! Here's the recipe:
8 medium baking potatoes - bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. Cool for 15 minutes. Cut into wedges and scoop out the majority of potato, leaving about a 1/4 inch on the skin. Lay Potato skins on sheet for baking ( I use my stoneware)
Mix together: 4 tbsp oil ( I use olive), 2 tsp seasoning salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1/8 tsp thyme. Brush over potato skins.
Now the fun part....chop up a bunch of goodies to sprinkle over your potatoes. I used farmer sausage, green onion, red pepper, green pepper and cheddar cheese.
Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes.
I serve mine with salsa and sour cream.
Enjoy! (PS...the rest of the potatoes that you scooped out are perfect for shepherd's pie!)