Apple Cider Baked Donut Holes

Fall in a bite! These are really great. We couldn't keep our hands out of them. If you run out of butter or don't want to use butter, you can roll them in cinnamon and sugar without it, but be warned you won't get as much coating. We also made a pumpkin version and they're amazing as well. They're baked, so they're healthy, right? :)
Link to recipe

Fresh Corn and Blueberry Salad

I'm probably getting obnoxious with talking about how much I love summer produce and how everything tastes like summer, but this is another one of those. I loved this salad and you could really customize it however you want as far as veggies and grain. Don't change the dressing--it's so good and a great balance with all of the other flavors! Enjoy summer produce while it's here!!!

Fresh Corn and Blueberry Salad

1 cup quinoa, rinsed very well (I used millet)

2 cups chicken broth


3 ears corn, kernels cut from cobs
1 cup blueberries
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup cucumber, chopped small (peeled if outside is thick and tough)
3 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped basil
1/2 jalapeno, minced


1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 Tablespoons lemon juice (about 2 lemons worth)
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey


salt & pepper


Rinse quinoa or millet very well in a fine mesh sieve under cold running water. Add to a saucepan with the chicken broth then bring the broth to a boil. Place a lid on top, lower the heat to medium-low, then cook until quinoa is tender and broth is absorbed, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely.
For the dressing: Combine lemon zest and juice, extra virgin olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper in a jar or bowl. Shake or whisk to combine. Set aside.
Combine corn, blueberries, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, basil, jalapeno, and cooled quinoa in a large bowl. Pour dressing over and mix well to combine. Serve with grilled or sauteed shrimp, chicken, or fish.


from Iowa Girl Eats

Light Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

I spotted bags of key limes at my grocery store for $1 a piece, so I had to snag a bag. No idea what I was going to do with them, and didn't realize how much extra time it would take to juice that many little limes instead of a couple big ones, but I was determined to make something out of them. Same store sold blood oranges for super cheap in the spring. Just have to know where to look there!

I really liked this ice cream--tangy and tastes a lot like key lime pie. I think it definitely needs a little crushed graham cracker on top of each serving just to make it taste more like the pie. It was so easy and doesn't require the patience of cooking the mixture, then waiting for it to cool, THEN freezing it. Just mix and freeze, and you could even eat it as soft serve if you don't want to wait for the second freezing step...you could have homemade soft serve key lime pie ice cream in less than thirty minutes! This is a perfect summer treat!

Light Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

serves 6

 

1 1/2 c 2% milk

1/2 c key lime juice (can use bottled)

1/2 c heavy whipping cream

dash of salt

14 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk

2/3 c crushed graham crackers, divided
lime wedges, optional

Combine milk, lime juice, cream, salt, and condensed milk with a whisk. Freeze in an ice cream maker, then stir in 1/3 cup graham crackers, then freeze until solid. Serve with remaining crushed graham crackers and lime wedges.

from Cooking Light

Handheld Watermelon "Margaritas"

Yep, saw it on Pinterest. I pinned it and my cousin commented that we needed to try them for July 4th. Done! This was a creative idea and people really enjoyed them. It says to soak the watermelon for at least 45 minutes. We found after about six hours, they were getting kind of mushy, so don't prep them the night before. You could make the spiked simple syrup the night before, then soak the watermelon the day of. These aren't strong in the booze area, which most people appreciate. Some reviewers said they added more liquor, but I don't think that's necessary. These were great, simple, and fun!

Handheld Watermelon "Margaritas"

1 inch-thick watermelon wedges (enough to lay flat in two 9x13-inch baking dishes)


1/2 cup sugar


1/2 cup water


1/2 cup tequila
2 limes, halved or cut into wedges


sea salt

Arrange watermelon wedges in a single layer on dishes with a rim.
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Don't boil longer or it will get really thick. Remove from heat and stir in tequila. Set aside to cool.


Pour cooled syrup over watermelon and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes (longer if you wish).


Remove watermelon from syrup and arrange on a platter. Squeeze limes over the watermelon and sprinkle with sea salt.

from Martha Stewart

Chewy Fruit Smoothie

Now that the hottest days of summer are setting in, cold breakfasts taste even better than they have the rest of the year. As soon as spring hit, I started making these smoothies in my new Ninja, and if I go more than a day or two without one, I find myself craving it. They're perfect to throw together and bring to work and I can drink/eat it without rushing. I like them best with a straw, but you can eat them with a spoon like ice cream, too! The "chewy" part of the title comes from the addition of oats. I think it gives it an almost dough-like consistency that I just love. You can play with the flavors of your yogurt and fruit (or even your milk!) to get your best results. My favorite combo is Yoplait triple berry torte yogurt, Great Value frozen mixed fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberries, peaches), and skim milk. Use frozen fruit so you don't have to use ice--between not using ice and adding the oats, I don't think the smoothie is icy at all, which I appreciate. My smallest Ninja bowl filled to the top makes exactly enough for my insulated cups!

Chewy Fruit Smoothie

1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup frozen fruit
6 oz yogurt
~1/4-1/3 cup milk

Put oats in bottom of Ninja, then add yogurt, then fruit, then milk. Process until well blended.

Blood Orange Sorbet

The two grocery stores closest to our house are Walmart and a locally owned grocery store. I prefer to give the local grocer my business and go there as often as I can, but sometimes they just don't have what I need. They do always have a better produce section and I was surprised and excited to see bags of blood oranges on sale for 49 cents (per bag!!) a few weeks ago. I don't know why they were so cheap, but I was really excited to see them and for that price! I had seen some different blood orange recipes, but the sorbet immediately popped in my head when I saw them at the store.
Sometimes the freezer is where things go to die in our house...leftovers that we didn't love that I think I'll take for lunch in the following weeks, leftover pancakes, even items from friends freezers as they were moving that we thought we would use instead of waste. This sorbet did not go to die in the freezer. I enjoyed it thoroughly and was a little sad when it was gone because I don't know when I'll be able to purchase blood oranges again. You could use any citrus fruit juice--regular oranges, grapefruit (yum!!), lime, lemon, whatever you think sounds good. It's a great dessert for this warm weather--it's perfectly light and refreshing. Plus, it's easy to make!

Blood Orange Sorbet

1 cup blood orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons sparkling white wine, optional (I used some leftover Riesling)

First--be sure you freeze the container of your ice cream maker for the recommended amount of time!
Combien 1/4 of the blood orange juice with the sugar over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in remaining blood orange juice and white wine. Chill thoroughly, then freeze according to ice cream maker's manufacturer's instructions.

from Dave Lebovitz via Annie's Eats

Spicy Mustard Shrimp

I'm going to make a bold statement here (well, bold for me and food anyway) and say that this is my favorite Cooking Light recipe to date! I have tried a lot of CL recipes and really enjoyed a lot of them, but wow, this was a winner. The couscous I put with it definitely has something to do with it, but this combination of flavors and textures was right up my alley! Plus, this is practically thrown together since it took all of fifteen minutes to make. It is fresh, light, and yummy!!

Spicy Mustard Shrimp

Makes 4 servings

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp canola oil
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce
1 cup diced pineapple
chopped fresh cilantro, to taste
4 lime wedges

Couscous:
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous
2 cups chicken stock

Bring chicken stock to a boil, add couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Allow couscous to cook for about 10 minutes while you cook the shrimp.
Combine mustard and hot sauce.
Heat oil in saute pan over medium high heat. Add shrimp and saute one minute. Add mustard mixture, stir, and saute another two minutes. Stir in pineapple and let heat through. If your sauce reduced too much, add a tablespoon or so of water (you want it to be on the thick side, but depending on your heat source, it may be clumpy...add water if you need it!).
Serve shrimp over couscous and top with chopped cilantro. Squeeze lime wedge on each serving before eating.

slightly adapted from Cooking Light

Pumpkin Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal

Mmm..fall in a dish, available every morning! Remember, I look for everything to use pumpkin in, and in my head, a baked oatmeal with pumpkin, cranberry, and apple in it sounded good. Behold the power of Google--typed in "my idea" and a whole bunch of other people already had "my idea"!! If you try this and you like sweet oatmeal, you'll want to add in more sugar. I like to sprinkle this with cinnamon and a touch of sugar or honey in the morning after reheating. The fresh cranberries are much more tart than dried would be, so follow your preference there, too. This is a healthy way to start a cool fall day!

Pumpkin Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal

adapted from My Kitchen Addiction

2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup fresh cranberries or 1/2 cup dried cranberries (chop up your fresh if you use them--but be warned, they'll be super tart!! I had fresh on hand this time but will switch to dried next time)
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup apple, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped (didn't use this, but it sounds good!)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a square 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray.
Combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
Combine milk, pumpkin, butter, and egg and stir well. Add apple and cranberries. Pour into oat mixture and stir to combine.
Pour into baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

Yum!!!I loved these so much. I think I liked them better the day after I made them after the caramel had a chance to set up and get thick like icing instead of glaze. I'll be making them again and adding walnuts...that would just take these over the top. 
 I used my regular cinnamon roll dough and followed her instructions for the rest, so I'll just link to her site for the recipe. Try these out this fall--be sure you have someone to share them with!!

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

Peach Cobbler

I should first say that no peach cobbler will ever touch my Grandma's peach cobbler. Seriously. Every time she makes it, I find myself standing by it taking "one more bite". So good!!
When in search of a quick and easy cobbler that we could use for our first cooking lab at school, I was also looking for something that the kids could do nutritional modifications to. (First unit after safety and sanitation is nutrition). This one fit the bill and although no Grandma's peach cobbler, it was really darn tasty! Believe it or not, it's from Paula Deen and we were able to adjust the nutrition stats to make them at least better than the original!

Peach Cobbler

sadapted from Paula Deen

4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
6 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1 1/2 cups skim milk
ground cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt butter in bottom of 9x13 in the oven.
Combine peaches, 1/2 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Combine flour, sugar, and milk and stir together to get rid of any clumps. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit mixture, including syrup, over top of the dough. Do not stir. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and bake for about 30 minutes.

Banana Peanut Chocolate Chip Muffins (Whole Wheat, too!)

Okay, these clearly aren't muffins, but they are the fruit of my first vegetable "garden"! It was really a planter on my driveway that I grew a few peppers in, but I was pretty excited that something came out of it. Apparently I did get a little bit of the gardening gene from you, Grandma and Papa! Wish I was as good at it as you guys are!!

Back to the muffins..

Quite a title....these hearty muffins are a good start to the day. They taste like a whole grain breakfast, not a cupcake, which is what I prefer in the mornings and for a snack anyway. Portable and perfect for a quick weekday breakfast!

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

from Taste of Home Cooking Light

makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup skim milk
1 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped pecans (I used peanuts)

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk, bananas, applesauce and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.



Coat muffin cups with cooking spray; fill three-fourths full with batter. Sprinkle with peanuts.


Bake at 375° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 1 dozen.

Vegan Blueberry Banana Breakfast/Snack Cake

I wrote the title as breakfast/snack cake because you could definitely have it for either. Norris and I both really enjoyed this, although I will admit that while I was making it, I may have covered the part of the recipe title that said "vegan" just so he wouldn't not eat it due to that! This was just as moist and good as any regular cake/bread, but much better for you!
Blueberries are so good for you that it says so right on the container! As for the bananas--if you don't already do this, once you see your bananas going south, store them in the freezer and you'll have overripe bananas anytime the banana bread/snack cake mood strikes! I was really accumulating them, so I might be making something else with them soon...or this again because it's excellent!

Vegan Blueberry Banana Snack Cake

from Weekly Bite via Prevention RD

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (in a pinch, you can use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup AP flour)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
4 overripe bananas, mashed
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar and set aside. With an electric mixer, combine the sugar, canola oil, and applesauce.
Combine wet and dry ingredients with an electric mixer. Add in the bananas half at a time, combining after each addition but do not overmix. Fold in blueberries.
Bake for 1 hour or until it tests done.

Zucchini Jam

First I thought it would be fun to show a couple of pictures of my grandmas who I grew up cooking with. Gram and I were featured in the "Cooks of the Week" cookbook with a few recipes we loved to make together. Blarney Stones are still a family favorite every St. Patrick's Day! Granddad always let me make applesauce on days I was "sick", too:) Lots of fun cooking at their house!

 While my other grandparents lived two hours away, we got to see them almost as often! We would always spend time with them in the summer (normally camping in their RV) and see them a lot during the year as they would drive up for almost all of our games. I was the luckiest kid on the field/court with all four grandparents in attendance at almost everything! (and they all still come to as much as they can!) We also cooked with my grandma, but we liked to sew with her more. My favorite thing she makes is fried okra every August...I eat more than my fair share!
She called us to see if we wanted to make zucchini jam, and while at first I thought that sounded pretty strange, it sounded fun, too. We went down this week and made zucchini jam---you cannot tell at all that there is zucchini in it since you use apricot jello. It tastes like apricot jam, which I love! It took less than two hours from start to finish to make two big batches of this and clean up. Not bad for a canning project!

Zucchini Jam

6 cups grated zucchini

6 cups sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice
1can 10 0z crushed pineapple drained
2 pkg Apricot gelatin 30z

Combine one cup water and zucchini. Bring to boil for eight minutes.
Add sugar,jello,pineapple,and lemon juice and stir to combine.

Bring back to a boil for 8 minutes, pack in jars, and seal.


Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes

I love to make breakfast on Sundays and just reheat every morning. Baked oatmeal is my normal breakfast of choice, but I wanted to change it up a bit. Once I realized that these pancakes took a lot longer to cook than my normal oatmeal pancakes, these turned out great. I ruined a few, so my recipe made less than ten, but I can see that it would make ten if you don't ruin the first couple batches:) Too many things going on in the kitchen at once--oops!

Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup quick oats
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 c nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk (I used 1/2 cup)
1 egg and 1 egg white
2 tbsp apple sauce
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped strawberries (original calls for frozen blueberries)


Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in microwaveable bowl. Stir in milk and yogurt. Microwave for 90 seconds.
Beat egg and egg white for about three minutes or until light and frothy.
Fold egg, applesauce, cinnamon, and fruit into oat mixture.
Heat skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbles are popping, then flip. These did take quite a bit longer to cook than regular pancakes, so let them cook!!


Makes 10 pancakes


from Kim's Kitchen

Nutritional Info: (2 pancakes) (Info from Kim; using blueberries and 1/4 cup milk)

Calories: 163; Fat: 2 g; Carbs: 30.5 g; Protein: 8 g

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I almost always have some rotten (err...super ripe--they just look rotten to me!) bananas in the freezer that I just didn't make it to when they were still yellow. They're easy to freeze, but I found myself with about 12 of them, so I decided to finally use some of them (and to buy less bananas at the grocery store). I used the whole wheat pumpkin bread recipe that I love and just subbed in mashed banana. It wound up taking about six small bananas to get two cups of mashed.

This is really great--Norris said he would only eat it if it wasn't soggy, and I came home to a good chunk of it gone, so that's a good sign:)



Whole Wheat Banana Bread

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup hot water

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Lightly grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, honey, and sugar for two minutes. Add in the eggs and combine. Add in pumpkin and vanilla and beat just until combined. Beat in the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, careful not to overmix.

Dissolve baking soda in hot water and beat into batter.

Stir in raisins.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake about 70 minutes, or until baked all the way through.

Nutrition Info (1 loaf=14 slices):

Calories: 187; Carbs: 37; Protein: 3.4; Fat: 5.5

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

I love cranberries--I can eat them plain, in a sauce, and definitely in any baked good. I like that they're really tart, which I know some people don't care for. If you're not a cranberry lover, these are very versatile muffins and almost any fruit can be substituted!

These are another Cooking Light recipe, and CL suggests blueberries and lemon (which sounds fantastic), chopped apple, pear, or pineapple and cinnamon (pineapple muffins? awesome!), or mashed bananas and allspice. A reviewer on their site also suggested apricots, which sound great!

I changed their recipe up a little, so I'll list it as I made it. The original is in the link.

These also freeze great--cool completely, then place in Ziploc to freeze. Thaw at room temperatue and reheat in oven wrapped in foil.

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

from Cooking Light

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

2/3 cup skim milk

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400°.


Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; combine. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg in a separate bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
Spray or line 12 muffin tins. Spoon batter evenly into the tins.
Bake at 400° for 16-18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.
Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack to cool.

Nutritional Info:

156 calories, 4.6 g fat, 26.3 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 3.4 g protein

Poached Peaches with Blackberry Sauce

I am always challenged in my ProStart class to come up with or find recipes that are a little different than the every day things the students eat, but something that is familiar enough that they will at least try it to realize they like it. Some of the students are more than a little out of the comfort zone food-wise, but I think that in the end they appreciate trying new things!

I needed a couple of recipes for our moist heat cooking section, and I decided a poached fruit would fit the bill, but knew I couldn't poach in wine at school, so I had to come up with a little different method. I looked around for a recipe, but wasn't finding one, so I just decided to use the information that I already knew to create something.

We have been working on presentation and plating lately also, and this was a really pretty presentation before the ice cream melted--oops! It would be just perfect with a sprig of mint on top!

As a bonus, the leftover poaching liquid can be used again for something else OR it tasted really great just heated as an apple cider!

Poached Peaches with Blackberry Sauce

Serves: 12 (1/2 peach with sauce each)

2 quarts apple juice

2 quarts water

1/4 cup sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

8 whole allspice berries

6 peaches, halved and pitted

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

~1/4 cup sugar

Combine juice, water, and sugar and bring to a boil. The poaching liquid should be a little sweet, but not overpowering (you still want to taste the fruit--not just the liquid!)

Reduce heat to simmer and add in cinnamon and allspice. Simmer for about five minutes.

When you poach, it should be around 180 degrees--bubbles a lot, but not simmering or boiling. You can check with the thermometer if you want! When your liquid is ready for poaching, place your peaches in the liquid. They should not be touching the bottom and they should be covered with liquid (they'll normally sit toward the top, which is fine, and you can push them down with a round parchment liner or lid if you want, but I don't worry about that).

Poach the peaches for about 20 minutes. You should be able to put a small sharp knife through it without any resistance, but it shouldn't fall apart--you don't want mushy peaches.

Once the peaches are done, remove the peaches from the liquid and set aside. Leave the poaching liquid over medium high heat to reduce by half.

While the liquid is reducing, combine 1 1/2 cups of blackberries and sugar in a blender. After liquid has reduced, add in 1/4 cup of the reduced poaching liquid. Taste and adjust the sugar as necessary.

Stir in the blackberry puree with the rest of the whole blackberries.

Slice peach halves in half and put two on a plate. Top with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle blackberry sauce on top--be sure to get at least one whole blackberry on each plate! Garnish with a sprig of mint, if desired.

Banana Bread

Or, as my cousin Amber says, this bread is banana, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!! :)

For some reason, I buy bananas almost every week and rarely eat them plain. I put frozen banana chunks into the smoothies I make a few times a week for breakfast, but only really eat a banana once a week or so, so I always wind up with more ripe bananas in the fridge. This should serve as my "note to self" for next week's grocery list!!
It's in my eventual plan to make banana soft serve, but banana bread sounded better at the moment, mainly because I knew we would want a carb-y side with our chicken salads that night! I got this from Amber's blog, and I really really liked it. It has simple ingredients and good flavor. You could add in chocolate chips, nuts, etc., but I liked it just as is!

Banana Bread

4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter (Amber used Smart Balance and it worked for her!)
1 cup sugar (can easily be reduced to 3/4 cup--I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda)
1 t vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Mix in the flour. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake for ~55 minutes. Cool on rack.

Fruity Cinnamon Rolls

I am warning you--if you read this, you might wind up with flour all over your face and glaze on your chin by the end of the evening! (or 2 days, however you choose to make yours)
These were awesome!! As I said before, we have Anika in town, and I wanted to make a few special things, so I decided to try a blueberry bread with some blueberries I had in the fridge. I searched for a while and found Annie's Eats version of blueberry cinnamon rolls, and they are amaaaazing! There is a little lemon zest in the dough and then zest and juice in the glaze, which just brighten up the flavor and combine so well with the fruit. I didn't have enough blueberries, so I subbed in some strawberries, which were also excellent! Even Norris liked them after he got over the initial shock that I didn't make my regular cinnamon rolls :)
The fruit practically turns into jam when baked, which was another added bonus. Try these soon!!

Fruit Filled Cinnamon Rolls

Yield: 12 rolls

for the rolls:

6 1/2 tbsp sugar, divided

1 tsp salt

5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 tsp lemon zest

3 1/2-4 cups bread flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 cup plus 3 tbsp milk, at room temperature (I used 2%)

for the filling:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups fresh fruit (I used blueberries and chopped strawberries)

~3 tbsp softened butter or margarine

for the glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

~6 tbsp milk

1 tsp lemon zest


Directions:

Sprinkle yeast and 1 tbsp sugar over milk and set aside.

Cream together sugar, salt, and butter on medium high speed. Mix in the egg and lemon zest.

Mix in yeast/milk mixture and flour until a dough forms. Once you have a dough, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. When you hold your dough up from both ends, it should sag but not come apart. (That's how you know the gluten strands have developed enough). It should be smooth and tacky (not sticky!). It might take a little extra flour or liquid during your kneading to get it to that point. It typically takes me at least an extra 1/2 cup of flour to get there.
Place in oiled bowl and turn once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm spot to rise for about two hours OR put it in your refrigerator overnight and continue work the next day.

Spray a work surface with nonstick cooking spray and dust lightly with flour. Turn dough out, knead a few times, and let rest about fifteen minutes. Come back to it and roll it out to a 9x18 rectangle.

Spread melted butter or margarine over the dough. Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over the dough. Sprinkle the berries evenly across the dough.

Starting on the wide end of your rectangle, roll your dough into the actual cinnamon rolls. I had to roll these a tiny bit looser than I normally roll cinnamon rolls just because of the bulk of the blueberries. Seal the edge by using a bit of water--rub the water over the edge and it will work like gluey magic!!

Cut your rolls about 1.5 inches thick and place in sprayed baking dish about 1.5 inches apart from each other. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place for another 1.5 hours OR cover with plastic wrap and return to refrigerator until the next day!

Preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls (if you refrigerated them, take them out about 30 minutes before baking to come to room temp) for about 35 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on top.

Combine glaze ingredients after you pull rolls out of oven. Allow rolls to cool for about 10 minutes, then glaze them. Devour!!
from Annie's Eats

Apple Bars

For the kids' Professional Cooking final, we do our own version of Iron Chef. I lay out everything we have, and they have 30 minutes to plan out what they'll do, then an hour to cook their meal. I participated too this year, and it was so fun! I made a carbonara, and they made a steak with pesto and Israeli couscous, and another dish was fried tacos. Everything was great!
As I was looking at the ingredients, I saw caramel, apples, and a cake mix and decided something must be made of those. I based it off of the pumpkin bar recipe we all loved in the fall, and have to say that this was one of my best creations!! You could sub out regular ingredients for the cake mix, but we were following the motto of "work with what you have"!

Caramel Apple Bars

(a different version from the fall recipe, which was also great!!)


5 small (tiny, really!) apples, sliced thin
~1/4 cup sugar
~3 tbsp butter
~1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup caramel bits (I had the already unwrapped little balls and they worked great!)
1/2 cup butter, melted

yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar

Set 1 cup of cake mix aside.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
Melt butter over medium low heat, add apples, 1/4 cup white sugar, and brown sugar and cook over medium low heat, stirring frequently, until the apples are soft. Stir in caramel bits and remove apples from heat.
While apples are cooking, combine all but 1 cup of the cake mix with one beaten egg and melted butter. Press in bottom of pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
After removing crust from oven, top with apple mixture (it might mix up the crust a little bit, which is fine--just be gentle when you're spreading it so you don't mix it up too much so you actually have a crust still!).
Combine the reserved cup of cake mix, sugar, and softened butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the apple mixture.
Return to oven and bake 15-20 more minutes, or until the top crumbles are turning golden brown.