Strawberry Crumble Bars

Summer is coming! Fruit has been on sale at the grocery stores and it is ripe for eating and baking. This crumble would also be great with raspberries or blackberries.

A not-too sweet dessert filled with fresh berries and sauce.

Strawberry Crumble Bars – adapted from a few different recipes I found on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• ¼ tsp. salt
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 stick cold salted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup cold Crisco, cut into pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Grease a 13×9 inch pan; set aside.
2. In a bowl, stir together 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the strawberries with a rubber spatula until combined. Set aside and let juices form.
3. In a food processor (you could use a pastry cutter or your hands too I am sure), combine 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, the baking powder, flour, salt and the lemon zest, and pulse together. Add the butter, Crisco and egg and pulse until the mixture is crumbly and the chunks are just beginning to come together. The mixture should be crumby. Spread about half of the dough mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan and press down firmly to form the bottom crust. It might not seem like it will stick together, but it will!
4. Spread the berry mixture evenly over the bottom crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the berries. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is slightly golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.

The food processor made this quick and easy. If you don’t have one, I bet you could use a pastry cutter or your hands even.

This is what my dough looked like. I thought it wouldn’t hold up but when I baked it, it all came together.

Before and after. Just let it get a little golden brown on top.

Let the bars cool completely and then cut them. Store in you fridge.

The amount of dough to berries is perfect, in my opinion.

I love that these are light, flaky and not too sugary. Please enjoy!

Taco Stack

This is a fun recipe I made for Cinco de Mayo – it is basically a twist on a taco. You could probably use whatever favorite toppings you like. This is what I used.

Corn tortillas with layers of refried beans, taco meat, veggies, salsa and more. So good!

Love all the fresh veggies and colors! I like to have just as many veggies as ground beef.

Taco stacks – would make about 6 stacks

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pepper, chopped (any color or multi-colors)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• Fresh cilantro, to taste
• 1 cup refried beans
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 6′” fresh corn or flour tortillas

Brown the ground beef about half way. In the same pan, add garlic, pepper, onion and jalapeno. Cook until veggies are soft, and beef is fully cooked, about another 5 minutes. Add salsa and chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir and continue cooking until incorporated. Add cilantro and stir. Preheat oven to 350. Take a corn tortilla on a sprayed cookie sheet and layer with refried beans, beef mixture and cheese. Cover with another tortilla and repeat. Finally, top with a 3rd tortilla, more beans, beef and cheese. Place in oven and cook until tortillas begin to crisp up and everything is warm, about 10 minutes. Take out and top with your favorite items – tomatoes, green/red onion, pickled jalapenos, salsa, sour cream and more cilantro. Enjoy!

Can’t forget seasonings either!

Layer by layer. Don’t forget to spray your pan or parchment.

How lucky am I that my husband cans jalapenos? We go through them like crazy. I love spice!

This is a party on a plate. Eat with a fork and knife. We really loved these.

Feel free to use any toppings you’d like. Chicken would also be great here.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Ganache

It is no secret to my friends and family how much I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER. Well, this peanut butter ganache just takes it over the top. This would be good on cupcakes, brownies, cakes, ice cream, ummm, nearly everything I’d say!

These are chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter chips, topped with Swiss buttercream frosting and peanut butter ganache with a few more peanut butter chips. Cupcakes are so easy to “dress up” with just a little drizzle of something and some sprinkles or chips. Easy, but fancy.

For example, at our garage sale we had a few weekends ago, I tasked myself with baking 72 cupcakes and decorating them all cute-like. I had to have some fresh ideas so I could sell all these cupcakes for Relay for Life!!

A little twist of twine was an easy way to decorate these clear top cupcake boxes. I am definitely not the most crafty person by a long shot.

But ultimately, I just wanted the cupcakes to look good!

 

Peanut Butter Ganache recipe from Confessions of A Cookbook Queen

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup

In a double boiler (would also work in a microwave I assume), combine cream, peanut butter, peanut butter chips and corn syrup. Heat for about 5 minutes, stopping to stir every 30 seconds or so until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool and thicken up. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge and reheated gently.

I also made chocolate chocolate cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips, buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache and mini chips on top) and white chocolate funfetti cupcakes (white chocolate flavored cakes with white chocolate chips, topped with buttercream frosting and multi-colored sprinkles and a few white chocolate chips.) Cute, but not too crazy I couldn’t do this the night before. Thanks to my bro for his help!!

Please give this ganache a try! It was wonderful and very pretty as well.

Ground Beef Stir Fry

One of Mr. FeistyEat’s best friends is a rancher just outside of Hazen. Lucky for us. So we bought a little calf and his friend let us raise the calf on his ranch until he was ready to be butchered. So we have a great problem on our hands – plenty of beef and a lot of ground beef!

I would have to say one of my favorite foods is a good old cheeseburger. But even I can get tired of cheeseburgers every day. I love stir fry and thought why not try using ground beef instead of chicken breast or beef steak like I have used in the past? I am happy to say it turned out great.

I just loved these gorgeous and huge peppers I got at Krause’s! So fresh!

To make things easy for supper, I put together the liquid part of the recipe the night before. Easy!

Ground Beef Stir Fry

• 6 cups of stir fry veggies of your choice – I used sliced peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, sugar snap peas and carrots
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 – 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef

Sauce – combine all ingredients together – can be done in advance

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 4-5 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes, depending on your heat tolerance
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon sriracha (optional)
• 4 chopped green onions, plus more for garnish

 

• Cilantro for garnish (optional)
• Brown rice for serving

1. Heat a large skillet on medium/high heat with olive oil. Once hot, add your veggies and cover to stir fry. Be sure to stir once in a while. Once they start to get a little color, pour about half of your sauce mix into the veggies and cover. The liquid will steam the veggies and start to evaporate some. Once cooked, remove to bowl and set aside.
2. Brown ground beef in the same pan, drain any fat if there is some. Once it is cooked, add the remaining sauce and veggies. Stir to combine and heat through.
3. Serve over rice and top with green onions and cilantro. Add more sriracha if you really like heat.

Brown your meat while the veggies sit on the side.

Once the meat is browned – everything goes back in the pot. I think the more veggies, the better!

Top with green onions and more heat. I loved this dish and plan on repeating it many more times.

Enjoy!

Cookie Dough Pops

You guys. I am seriously so over making desserts! This past weekend we had a rummage sale during Hazen’s citywide rummage sale day. I had the (not so) bright idea to also have a bake sale and donate the proceeds to my husband’s Relay for Life team. That is a great idea, but it was a LOT of work! Of  course, since it goes for a great cause it is no matter. But I might not be baking as much on this blog. You might see more dinner recipes! I need a break and this warm weather doesn’t help! I am happy the sale is over and happy we donated to Relay for Life.

This is a no brainer. Cookie dough balls, wrapped in chocolate with a stick in them. Sign me up. I did run out of sticks, but just dunked part of the cookie dough bits in the chocolate and I think that worked just fine!

Cookie Dough Pops adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe

Ingredients (I doubled this recipe and made about 60 bites)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• chocolate candy coating, for dipping
• 30 popsicle sticks

Instructions

1. In a large bowl using a mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3 or 4 minutes. Mix in milk and vanilla. Add flour and salt and mix on low until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Chill the dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.
2. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into balls, about 1 tablespoon of dough per ball. Insert a popsicle stick into each ball. Freeze balls for at least 15 minutes on a cookie sheet. You don’t want them totally frozen.
3. Melt candy coating following instructions on the package. Remove the balls from the freezer and dip into melted chocolate. Let any excess chocolate fall off. Top with sprinkles if you’d like and allow chocolate to set on lined cookie sheet.

I have no problem eating raw cookie dough with eggs in it, but I am apprehensive serving it to people. So for an easy solution, remove the eggs from the recipe. Looks the same though, right?

So much deliciousness in these little balls!

Be sure to freeze the pops for a while, it allows them to set up.

Be sure to cover completely with chocolate and let them cool. The chocolate dries and adds a bit of a crunch when you bite into these.

Enjoy this fun treat!

Frito Frittata

I was very lucky to inherit this wonderful (and who knows how old) cast iron skillet from my Grandmother. I knew I wanted to make a frittata and found a recipe that looked perfect! I mean it has Frito corn chips in it – winner!

Frito Frittata based on a Rachael Ray recipe – thank you to my sister for sharing her magazine with me!

Ingredients (Serves 8)

• 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2-pound ham, diced 
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 small sweet peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley (optional)
• About 1/2 of a 10.5 ounce bag of Fritos corn chips lightly crushed (about 3 big handfuls)
• 10 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce – Franks or something similar
• 4 ounces pepper jack, diced (about 1 cup)

Preparation

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 400°F. In a large, oven-proof skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ham and cook until browned. Transfer to plate.

Add the butter to the skillet and cook until foaming and beginning to brown. Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic. Cook until crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the tomato and parsley or cilantro. Scatter on top of this mixture the ham and corn chips evenly.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the hot sauce. Pour the egg mixture over the ham mixture. Scatter the diced cheese on the top. Cook until the eggs are just set, 3-5 minutes. Transfer the frittata to the oven and bake until puffy and cheese is beginning to brown, 12-15 minutes. Do not overcook as it makes a lot and you will want to warm them up. Serve warm with more hot sauce.

I just love fresh chopped veggies and the wonderful colors.

Brown the ham and remove. Next, add in your onions, peppers and garlic. Your kitchen will smell wonderful.

Throw your tomato and parsley (or cilantro) on top. Cover with ham and then the corn chips, slightly crushed.

Finally, add your cheese, let it set up a bit and transfer to the oven. Mine was done just as the cheese was starting to brown. Yum-o as Rachael says!

Look at that fluffy egg mixture and slightly browned pepper jack cheese! Come to momma! This would be a great recipe to prep in advance for overnight guests.

I am so happy to have this cast iron skillet. I wonder how many meals it has served??

So many textures and favorites in the one: The crunchy chip, the smooth cheese, the salty ham or the fluffy egg?

Oh, and not to be forgotten. That bottom layer of onions and peppers got just caramelized and was divine. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

These bars were a hit with everyone I shared them with and I bet you have all you need in your pantry. They were super quick to put together and I will be making these again for certain because they are so easy.

We have a puffy oatmeal layer, creamy and sweet peanut butter middle and topped with an oatmeal streusel and chocolate chips.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars – makes 20 bars, recipe based on the recipe given to me from my co-worker, Mary

2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 3/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
1 cup (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips (any size would be fine, I used mini)
1 large egg, beaten
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

HEAT oven to 350°F. Combine oats, brown sugar, flour, baking powder and baking soda in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or your hand until mixture resembles crumbs.

RESERVE 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture. Stir egg into remaining crumb mixture. Press onto bottom of 13 x 9-inch baking pan using greased hands.

BAKE 15 minutes.

STIR together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter in small bowl until well combined. Pour evenly over partially baked crust.

STIR together reserved crumb mixture and chocolate chips. Sprinkle evenly over peanut butter layer.

BAKE another 15 minutes. Cool completely and cut into bars.

The recipe says to cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, but I used my best tools – my hands!

Bake the bottom layer and prepare the middle and the topping just gets set aside.

Back in the oven it goes and you are done. Easy!

Cut into bars and serve once they have completely cooled.

The middle is so nice and soft and the chocolate chips are the perfect topping. Enjoy!