Green Bean Bundles

'Dressed up' green beans for Easter dinner... easy AND make ahead! ( I did NOT say anything about healthy - just yummy!)



Green Bean Bundles

2 cans whole green beans

bacon, uncooked

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 teaspoon minced garlic

salt & pepper to taste



Wrap 8 to 10 green beans in a bundle with 1/3 strip of bacon. (Secure with toothpick, if necessary.) Place bundles in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over bundles. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. (Or cook immediately.) Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Easter Activity for Children

Teach your children the REAL meaning of Easter. What better way to explain the resurrection?

JESUS IN THE TOMB - SUNDAY: Jesus promised that He would rise from the dead on the third day. He rose on the third day, Easter Sunday.

Supplies: Crescent rolls, marshmallows, cinnamon, margarine

Directions: Take one marshmallow and dip it in melted butter or margarine. Then roll the marshmallow in cinnamon. Have the children place the marshmallow in the center of the triangle of dough. Have them fold the dough around the marshmallow, so that the Marshmallow is "buried" in its tomb. Bake the crescent roll according to the directions on the package. Have the children take the role of the guards at Jesus's tomb. Have them stand guard at the oven. Take the roll out of the tomb (oven) and let it cool. The marshmallow will be gone; just like Jesus's body was gone!

Strawberry Muffins

Quick, easy and YUMMY - What more could you ask for??? Try different fruit/yogurt combinations: Blueberries & lemon yogurt or blueberry yogurt or Bananas & strawberry/banana yogurt or Peaches & peach yogurt.... get the picture?

Strawberry Muffins
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 carton strawberry yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped strawberries
grated orange zest, optional

Combine ingredients; stir to mix. Spoon into greased muffin pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes. Cool in muffin pans 10 minutes. Yield: 12 muffins. (These are vey moist muffins!)

Sweet and Sour Beef Stew

Don't let the name fool you.. this beef stew is different, but delicious! If you like BBQ, you'll like this. Give it a try.. its easy to make and will literally cook itself after you get it going.

Sweet and Sour Beef Stew
1 pound beef stew meat, browned in 1 tablespoon oil
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup sliced onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Hot cooked egg noodles

Brown stew meat in oil in large Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients except cornstarch and noodles. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and simmer for 2 hours. (Or put in crock pot on LOW for 8 hours.) Add cornstarch and cook until mixture thickens. Serve over hot cooked egg noodles.

Food Blog and Chocolate Chip Cookies

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/07/22/better-than-brownies-chocolate-cookies/

This recipe looks amazing for all you fellow chocoholics!!!

Oh My Goodness! You MUST visit this blog and see the recipes this gal has!
I made the Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon - they are scrumptious! Move over Otis Spunkmeyer - these are better!!

For those of you spoiled by me.. here's the recipe from her blog.... but, you really should look at the blog yourself.... :)

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Source: Baking Illustrated, page 434)
Makes about 18 large cookies.
These oversized cookies are chewy and thick, like many of the chocolate chip cookies sold in gourmet shops and cookie stores. They rely on melted butter and an extra egg yolk to keep their texture soft. These cookies are best served warm from the oven but will retain their texture even when cooled. To ensure the proper texture, cool the cookies on the baking sheet. Oversized baking sheets allow you to get all the dough into the oven at one time. If you’re using smaller baking sheets, put fewer cookies on each sheet and bake them in batches.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli)

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.
4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.
5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

Note: I tried the rolling method described, but finally just made very large rough balls of dough. They baked fine!

Oat and Fruit Muffins

Warm muffins on a cold winter day.... makes my tummy cozy!

Oat and Fruit Muffins
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oatmeal (NOT instant!)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark - no matter which)
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit ( I used SunMaid Fruit Bits)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you have convection, this is a great time to use it - same temp.
Grease 12 muffin cups. In a large bowl, combine flour, oatmeal and brown sugar; mix well.
In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add milk and vanilla; blend well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Batter will be lumpy! Gently fold in dried fruit and nuts. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (10 -12 in convection) or until golden brown. Serve hot!

* If you don't have self-rising flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to each cup of all-purpose flour.

Tuscany and a Quick Recipe

We're getting ready for our next BIG adventure. We're going to Tuscany for 10 days at the end of April. So far, we've booked our flights, booked a B&B in Tuscany where the owners are formerly from CA and are a cookbook author and and artist. They have an organic olive grove and press their own oil (for sale, of course). Then we will go north to Lucca, Florence and Siena.


Plans are still coming together for that part of the trip - stay tuned! Meanwhile, here is one of our favorite "Guilty Pleasures"... very Italian!

From an Italian Foodie Blog........

I don’t think Nutella needs any introduction, but what you might not know is that this famous worldwide chocolate spread passed through a series of transformations before becoming the nutella you know now. Originally it had a loaf shape and had to be sliced to be placed on bread. It then transformed to a spread and was named “pasta gianduja”. Pasta meaning paste, in this case, and gianduja was referring to the famous carnival mask from the Piedmont region. Its origins date back to 1940, just at the beginning of War World II. At that time chocolate was hard to find, so Mr. Pietro Ferrero added hazelnuts which were, and still are, abundant in Piedmont and created an affordable snack for everyone. In 1964 Nutella® became the creamy chocolate hazelnut flavor we all know. I’m amazed that after so many products disappeared over the years that nutella has remained and has become part of our Italian culture.
I have a special affection to nutella because it reminds me of my childhood. I used to eat it spread on a soft slice of white bread just like in the picture on the label, but my favorite way was, and still is, to eat it directly from the jar. I know I Know I shouldn’t but it’s such a delight. I’m not able to resist nutella, when I see a jar of nutella my hand reaches out for the spoon and there’s nothing that can stop it from dipping into the chocolate. That’s exactly what happened when I prepared these mini croissants. I finished the rest of the jar slowly a little bit at the time and at the end of the day, to my surprise, it was magically gone as well as all the croissants.
These croissants are fast to prepare and can be an energetic breakfast or a mid afternoon snack for your kids. They’re easily ready in 20 minutes and they can also be eaten at room temperature if you’re able to resist. Mine were gone before they could cool off.


Mini croissants with Nutella®
1 round or rectangular puff pastry sheet or 1 can crescent roll dough
Nutella
Powdered sugar (optional)

Yields: 12 croissants

Heat up the oven to 350°Cut the puff pastry sheet in 12 wedges if round. Or cut crescent rolls in half, making 16 triangles from a can. Place a heaping teaspoon of nutella on the wider end of the wedge and roll it until you form a croissant. Pinch the ends of it and give it a crescent shape.Place all the croissants on a baking sheet covered by parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes.Let them cool for 5 minutes, if you’re able to wait. Before serving them you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar, too.