Chewy, Gooey Golden Rice Krispie Treats

Another once upon a chef recipe. Who does not like Rice Krispie Treats! Yum! "A few tweaks to the back of the box recipe make these Rice Krispie Treats the best ever." Highly recommend reading through her blog on the recipe...

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• Two 10-oz bags mini marshmallows, divided
• 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8-1/2 cups Rice Krispies

Directions:

Line a 9 x 13-in pan with heavy duty aluminum foil and lightly grease with softened butter. Set aside 2 cups of the marshmallows.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium high heat (save one of the butter wrappers to press the mixture in the pan). Swirl the  pan occasionally to be sure the butter is cooking evenly.

As the butter melts, it will begin to bubble and foam, and the color will progress from bright yellow to golden to finally a toasty-brown. Once you smell that nutty brown butter aroma, take the pan off the heat. Add the remaining marshmallows, vanilla and salt.

Place the pot back over medium heat and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the cereal. Stir until evenly combined.

Add the reserved marshmallows and stir until they are softened and partially melted. Do not overmix.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and using the butter wrapper, press mixture gently into an even layer in the prepared baking pan. Let cool at room temperature for at least an hour.

Use the foil overhang to lift the treats onto a cutting board, then use a serrated bread knife to cut into squares. Store in an airtight containers at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Freezer-Friendly: wrap in wax paper and freeze up to 6 months. Let stand at room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Fettucini Bolognese

This recipe is wonderful. Jennifer Segal from once upon a chef; maybe thanked. She says it serves four; so I doubled the recipe.  I had our good friends; Jim & Karen, over for dinner, took over a bowl for two who had surgery and put one more meal in the freezer! I did change up the recipe by using one cup of light cream and one cup 2% milk instead of the whole milk. I only bought one can of crushed tomatoes, so added 1/4 cup of paste and watered it down. I did not end up adding any pasta water to the sauce, as it was not needed and used gluten-free fettucini (Tinkyada). Below is the original recipe. Highly recommend reading through Jennifer's blog on the bolognese, plus she has other great recipes.


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef (85% lean)
• 3 ounces pancetta, chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 pound fresh fettucini
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Handful chopped parsley or basil

Direction:

Place onions in food processor fitted with metal blade. Pulse until very finely chopped but not pureed. Transfer to a separate bowl.

Add carrots and celery to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Transfer vegetables to bowl with onions.

Heat olive oil in large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and vegetalve mixture and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes.  Lower the heat if vegetables start to brown.

Add ground beef, pancetta, salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until meat is no longer pink, 5-10 minutes.

Add red wine and cook until liquid is almost dissolved, 1-2 minutes.

Add beef stock, crushed tomatoes and oregano. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover with lid slightly ajar and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir, then cover completely with lid and simmer 45 minutes more.

Add milk to sauce. Cover with lid slightly ajar and simmer until milk is absorbed, about 35 minutes.
If sauce looks greasy, use soup spoon to skim off no more than 1/4 cup. Taste and adjust seasonings.

When preparing the fettucini; reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, in case the sauce becomes too thick.

Serve with grated Parmesan and fresh herbs if desired.

Freezer Friendly Sauce!

Ally Harper turns 6!

Birthday shopping loot!

                                                                       

Peach Festival

                                                                         

                                                                         

                                                                     

                                                                         

Ava Grace turns 7

Shopping trip loot!

Butterfly Pavilion

                                                           

The Cousins

                                                                            

Happy 7th Birthday!

Easton Carter

May 20,2018

Easy Raspberry Habanero Sauce

This sauce is a perfect accompanyment to Grilled Chicken Cordon Blue (blog: 8/8/2013 label: grill it). A little spice, a little sweet. I did not use habanero peppers. I have some Boulder Farmer's Market jalepenos in the freezer; and that is what is shown in the photo. I did not tend to the sauce very well and it became too thick; so I just added more cider vinegar. Worked out great. I removed the jalepeno; just as the original recipe. Not to go to waste, cause I devoured along side the chicken. I did buy seeded raspberry jam and should have done seedless, just for visual purposes. The end product was delicious despite the seeds...

Ingredients:

• 1 habanero pepper, split in half and seeds removed
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Over medium heat, add all the ingredients; stir often while simmering to get the jam and vinegar to fully combine.

Continue stirring while the sauce thickens. 

Remove from the heat when the sause is to your preferred thickness.

Remove habanero halves and serve sauce.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

I believe I have pinned from this website before: gimmesomeoven.com Being as it is only the first of June; the roma tomatoes could have been better, but never the less I went ahead and made the salsa. It truly is great and with local tomatoes later, spectacular! Having folks over for fajitas and hope this will be a hit. Sue has a problem with cilantro so picture is not as green as normal. Definitely add some to the rest of the guests' salsa... Made some jalapeno poppers and of course homemade margaritas. Now you are talking!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds roma tomatoes (about 6-8), halved lengthwise
• 6 unpeeled garlic cloves
• 1 large white onion, peeled, halved and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed and halved (I had last year's in freezer, so did not broil them, but added fresh
• 1 large handful of fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:

Preheat broiler to high.

Arrange the roma tomatoes (skin side up), unpeeled garlic cloves, onion and jalapeno (skin side up) in an even layer on a large foil-lined baking sheet.

Broil 6-8 minutes or until tomatoes and jalapenos have blistered and blackened pretty thoroughly on top.

Remove pan and peel and discard the skin from the garlic cloves. Transfer all to a food processor or blender and allow to cool. Add the lime juice, cilantro, salt and cumin. 

Puree until desired consistancy. Adjust salt and lime juice if desired. 

Refrigerate up to 3 days; if lasts that long!