Honeycomb Chocolate Bars

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup water

4 tsp baking soda

Chocolate

In a heavy pan combine sugar, honey and water

Over low heat dissolve sugar and then turn up to 

Med heat. Continue cooking until it has reached hard 

Crack stage (295)   Remove from heat and gently stir

To bring bubbles down. Add soda and stir to get soda 

Dissolved throughout.  Pour out onto parchment paper

Let cool and then break into pieces.   Dip in chocolate.

Soft Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

 1 cup butter at room temp

3/4 cup vegetable oil

11/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup pwd sugar

2 Tbl water

2 eggs

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp cream of tarter

1tsp salt

5 1/2 cups flour

Cream together butter, oil, sugars, water and eggs.

Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to utter mixture. Roll a golf sized ball of dough and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Put 1/4 cup of sugar in a small dish. This is additional sugar.  Stick the bottom of a glass in sugar and then press down on a dough ball.  Let dough spill out beyond glass.  Continue with earh ball of dough.  Dipping in sugar earth time.  Bake at 350 for 8 min.  When cookies are cool store in frig.  

Sour Cream Frosting

1/2 cup butter at room temp

3/4 cup sour cream

Pwd sugar. I opened a 2lb bag but didn't use all of it

1tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

Cream butter, sour cream and salt. Slowly add pwd sugar.  Add milk and 1drop of red food coloring. 

Swig cookies are served cold and frosted just before serving with room temp icing

Crock Pot Pork Carnitas

***The perfect pork to use for tacos! Would be super tasty with some guacamole and a tortilla!***

Ingredients:

3-4 lb pork shoulder roast, 15 oz bottle green taco sauce, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 sliced sweet onion 1 TBSP chili powder, 2 tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 cup beef broth (or water), 1/2 cup milk (DO NOT ADD TO THE CROCK POT),

Cut the roast into 3-4 large pieces. Pierce the meat all over with a knife. Place in a greased crock pot. Stir together taco sauce, garlic, onion, chilic powder, oregano, cumin, salt, cayenne, and broth/water. Pour over pork, turning pork pieces to coat each one. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove meat pieces from cooking liquid and shred. Place shredded meat on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil that has been sprayed with vegetable oil. Pour 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and 1/2 cup of milk over the pork. Bake in a 275 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the edges are browned and crispy.

Copycat Reese's Peanut Butter Bars

I recently made this recipe from TheFrugalGirls.com. Warning: this is NOT a diet friendly recipe, but it is sooooo good. Pretty good copycat. No cooking involved!

2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (approx 2 sleeves)

2 sticks butter, melted

1 1/4 cups peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 bag milk chocolate chips (11.5 oz)

In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, melted butter, and 1 cup of the peanut butter. 

Spread mixture into a 9x13 ungreased baking dish. Set aside. 

Place chocolate chips and remaining peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds, stir. Microwave another 30 seconds, stir until smooth. If necessary, microwave one more time. 

Spread chocolate over peanut butter mixture in pan. 

Refrigerate for three hours to set. Then eat! Store leftovers in the fridge. 

Zucchini Bread w/pineapple

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking pwd

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple (I put pineapple in bullet to liquidify)

2 cups chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients and stir into egg mixture.  Fold zucchini, pineapple,e and chocolate chips.  Pour into greased and floured pans.  Bake at 350.  Small loaves bake in about 18 min. 

Brunch Sandwiches

***Adapted from Giada's recipe***

Combine the following in a mixing bowl:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup mayo

4-6 oz crumbled blue cheese, depending upon your level of love for the blue 

Zest from 1 1/2 lemons

1/4 cup or more chopped chives

Salt and pepper to taste

To assemble the sandwiches, toast your sandwich roll or bun, spread egg salad on and top with a slice of cooked, crunchy bacon.

Becky's Broccoli Salad

***Becky suggested using the food processor to cut up the broccoli, and it was so nice!***

Ingredients:

8-10 cups chopped broccoli

1/2 red onion, chopped small

1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

3/4 cup craisins

3/4 cup sliced almonds (I toasted mine to be fancy)

Toss together.

Dressing:

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup white sugar

3 TBSP red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

***

Combine all dressing ingredients and pour over salad and toss to coat. Allow to chill for 3 hours before serving.

Barbecue Roasted Mixed Nuts

Spice Mix:

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp sugar 

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/8 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 lb mixed nuts

1 egg white

Instructions:

Combine spices. Whisk egg white until frothy and toss in nuts, coating them with the egg white. Stir in the spices, mixing well to coat all nuts.

Spread onto parchment paper on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Shipwreck Casserole

2-3 potatoes, thinly sliced

1 small onion, sliced into rings

1 lb hamburger, cooked and drained

1 can tomato soup

1 can pork and beans

1 cup grated cheese

In a casserole dish or Dutch oven, place potatoes and onion in the bottom. Salt and pepper. Then add cooked hamburger. Then add the pork and beans, followed by the tomato soup. Finally, add grated cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are soft. If cooking in the Dutch oven, place the correct number of coals on top and bottom to achieve 350 degrees. I use the following guidelines:

8": 16 coals (11 on top, 5 on bottom)

10": 21 coals (14 on top, 7 on bottom)

12": 25 coals (17 on top, 8 on bottom)

Note: I used an 8" Dutch oven. I only used 2 small potatoes, and the pot was very full. If you make in a 12", you will have oodles of room. You can use larger potatoes, or even double the recipe. 

Baked Fried Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

12 chicken tenders, soak in buttermilk for 30 minutes.

Coating mixture, place all ingredients in a Ziplock bag:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP seasoned salt

3/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp paprika

In a baking dish, place 1 stick of melted butter. Take each chicken tender, letting the excess buttermilk drip off, and place in Ziplock bag. Shake until well coated, and place in baking dish.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Flip each tender and continue to cook. Depending upon thickness, it may be another 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Honey Berry Salad

***adapted from freckled-fox.com***

Walnuts:

Toss 1 cup walnuts, drizzle of olive oil, 1 TBSP sugar, 2 teaspoons salt and roast in the oven at 350 for 8 minutes or until toasted.

Honey citrus dressing:

Warm 3 TBSP of honey over the stovetop. Pour into a blender with the following:

Zest and juice from half an orange

Juice of half a lemon

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

2 tsp salt

4 TBSP olive oil

Chill before serving.

Salad:

I used arugula because that's what I had and I like arugula. The recipe called for kale, but I haven't jumped on that bandwagon yet. I bet spinach would be good as well.

Greens

Sliced green onions

Sliced strawberries

Toasted walnuts

Crumbled feta cheese

Toss with salad dressing

Salsa

***Kelsey's Signature Salsa***

4-6 tomatillos, husked and cut in half

4 plum tomatoes, cut in half

2 cloves garlic

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded

1/2 white onion

2 TBSP fresh chopped cilantro

1 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

Vegetable oil for brushing

Brush tomatillos, tomatoes, garlic, jalapeño, and onion with vegetable oil and place on hot grill. Rotate as needed to ensure grill marks on each side. Allow vegetables to cool, and place all in a food processor with the chipotle pepper. Pulse until mostly puréed but slightly chunky. Stir in seasonings to taste.

French Bread

In a mixing bowl add:

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 TBSP yeast

1 TBSP sugar

Let the yeast activate and get bubbly, takes just a few minutes. Then add:

1 TBSP vegetable oil

1/2 TBSP salt

3 cups flour

Turn on the mixer with the dough hook and let mix until a smooth dough forms and the sides of the bowl are clean. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

Then punch the dough down and let rest another 15 minutes. Do this a total of three times.

Turn the dough out onto a flour surface and roll into a rectangle. Then roll the dough up like a jelly roll, folding the ends in and pinching the seams together. Place on your baking sheet and cut 4-5 lines across the top. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes or until double in size. Brush with a beaten egg before baking 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Carmelized Sweet Onion Dip

This recipe can be found at OurBestBites.com.

4 cups chopped onion (about 2 large sweet onions)
1/2 T butter, melted
1/2 T olive oil
3 oz cream cheese
4 T sour cream
3 T mayo
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp garlic powder

The first step is to carmelize the onions.  You can certainly do this on the stovetop by tossing the onion in butter and olive oil in a sauté pan.  The recipe I found gave the following instructions on how to do it in the oven. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place onion in a heavy dutch oven or heavy bottom pot with a lid and toss with butter and olive oil.  (I used a stoneware pot with a lid, and it worked fine, although it took a bit longer.)  Cover pot and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes until a caramel brown color.  You might want to decrease oven temperature after about 45-60 minutes to 350 degrees and stir every 15 minutes to avoid burnt edge bits, but I didn't have a problem.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Place cream cheese in a microwave safe mixing bowl and heat for 15 seconds until warmed enough to be easily stirable.  Add sour cream, mayo, Worcestershire, salt, thyme, and garlic.  Sir to combine and then mix in carmelized onions. 

You can certainly eat right away, but the recipe suggests to chill overnight before serving to help develop the flavors.  Yields about 1 1/4 cups.

Note:  The recipe on OurBestBites.com called for 3 T cream cheese.  Not sure if it was a typo or not.  I used 3 oz, and it turned out great.  The recipe also called for low fat cream cheese, low fat sour cream, and low fat mayo.  I just used whatever I had on hand, whether low fat or not.

no ordinary week in the city

Call me a party pooper...I can handle it, but I've never been a "fan girl" of something to the degree that I would dress up like a certain character on Halloween, let alone on a random day of the week. It's spring in Utah, not fall, yet the streets have been packed with strange sightings.

Comic Con has come to Salt Lake.

Everywhere I look there has been something that on the average day would be picture worthy, yet this week has been very commonplace. I did manage to get video footage of Hello Kitty personified to send to my dear friend Jill, but today, I decided I better get a sampling so that people would actually believe me.

Not exactly sure what this guy is...

But the Trax stops proved most fruitful in strange encounters:

Where you took distracted by the creepy clown to notice the chainsaw-wielding nose-picker seated next to him? Don't worry, you weren't the only one.

In other news, happier news...

Saturday was spent at the homestead with the family. Dutch oven enchiladas, Easter egg hunt in which I hid the eggs so well that my teenage nephews finally gave up on the last five eggs, and generally relaxing and enjoying the time. 

I learned how to drive the four-wheeler:

But my favorite photos of the day were of Little T talking his Poppa into getting on the trampoline with him:

That little guy's diet consisted of Peeps, fruit snacks, M&Ms, and Diet Coke today to the dismay of his mother, but Aunt Kelli, Uncle Lance, and Poppa couldn't help but give into his sweet requests.

And for my Aunt Vicki...I was so tired the other day after work that I did indeed go down to the food court for dinner because I was in no mood cook. And it was delightful. :)

Biscoff No-Bake Cookies

In saucepan, combine the following:

1 stick butter

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

Bring to a boil, and boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and add the following:

1/2 cup Biscoff spread

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla

Stir until combined and smooth. Then fold in 3 cups of quick oats. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto parchment paper and allow to set up and cool.

Sweet Pie Dough

For One 9-inch crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

3 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 sticks cold or frozen butter, cut into cubes

4 - 6 TBSP ice cold water

Instructions:

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Pulse a few times to mix. Then add in butter cubes and pulse until crumbly. 

Add one TBSP of water until dough just comes together, do not over mix. Pat into a disk with plastic wrap so to not work too much with your warm hands.

Chill for at least 15 minutes before rolling out.

Place pie dish on preheated baking sheet for best results. To bake just pie shell, bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes with weights. Remove weights and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.

Weeknight Cheddar Biscuits

These tasty biscuits can be made in under 20 minutes and are supposed to be similar to Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

1 c. flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 T sugar
1/2 T garlic powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt + 1/8 tsp kosher salt
6 T butter
1/2 c. milk
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp dried parsley

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Melt 4 T of the butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking pwder, sugar, garlic, and 1/4 tsp of salt.  Whisk until well combined.  Add butter and milk and whisk until flour is wet.  Add cheese and fold in with a spoon.

Drop heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

Meanwhile, melt remaining 2 T butter and add parsley and remaining 1/8 tsp salt.  Stir with pastry brush.

Remove biscuits from oven, brush with melted butter.  Eat.  Approximately 9 biscuits.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

1lb. Jumbo or large shrimp, cooked, peeled, deveined

1 med tomato, diced

1 avocado, diced

1 jalapeño, seeds removed and diced fine

1/4 cup chopped red onion

Juice of 2 limes

1 tsp olive oil

1 T. Chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a small bowl combine onion, lime juice, olive oil and pinch of salt and pepper.  Marinate at least 5 min to mellow onion flavor.   In a large bowl combine shrimp, tomato, avocado and jalapeño.  Add remaining ingredients from small bowl. Toss gently with cilantro.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Rosemary and Black Pepper Dinner Rolls

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

2 TBSP vegetable oil

1 large egg

3 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp freshly chopped rosemary

3 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 TBSP melted butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

In a stand mixer bowl, add water and yeast. Let sit for ten minutes. Add the oil, egg, sugar, pepper, and rosemary to the bowl. Add the flour and mix on medium low speed until the dough comes together. If the dough doesn't come off the sides of the bowl. Add 1 TBSP flour at a time until it does.

Increase the speed to medium and let it mix for 5 minutes. Then cover with a damp towel and let rest for 20 minutes. Add salt and then mix on low for an additional minute.

Cover either a damp towel and let raise for 90 minutes.

Separate dough into equal golf ball sized pieces. Place in a buttered baking dish. Cover and let raise for 20 minutes.

Combine meltd butter and garlic powder. Brush over the tops of the rolls. Bake at 350 for 20/30 minutes.

Classic Creme Brûlée

Ingredients:

1 quart heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split and pulp scraped out

1/2 cup sugar

6 egg yolks

Instructions:

In a heavy saucepan, add cream and vanilla bean and pulp. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand 15 minutes. Remove bean.

In a mixing bowl, add yolks and sugar. Beat until smooth and until just turns a lighter yellow color. Slowly add cream mixture in small amounts, continually stirring. 

Pour liquid into 8 shallow ramekins. Place ramekins into baking dish and pour hot water in dish until the water is about half way up the sides of the ramekins. 

Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes. Remove ramekins from water and baking dish.

Chill for at least two hours before serving, but I think it's best after 24 hours. Once cool, place plastic wrap over ramekins, touching the surface of the creme. 

To brûlée:

Caramel sugar is recommended, but you can always use a mixture of white and brown sugar if that is unavailable. Lightly dust the tops of the creme with the sugar and use a chef's torch to brûlée. Or you can place them under the broiler.