Cheesy Ham & Scalloped Potatoes

We usually end up having this every holiday because we usually end up with leftover ham… It’s pretty easy and for me, one of those comfort foods I just love!

First I really thinly slice about 6-8 medium potatoes with my PC slicer. I just slice them right into my greased 9x13 baking pan.

Toss in some cut up ham.

Then mix in about 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese with the potatoes and ham.

Then you need to make your white sauce.

Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook 1/4 cup finely chopped onion in the butter for about 1 minute.

Add 1 heaping Tablespoon of flour and salt & pepper to taste. Whisk together and quickly stir in 2 cups of milk. Whisk until smooth.

Heat until thick and bubbly and then continue to cook for 1 minute.

Pour over potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 1 hour.

While potatoes are baking, make breadcrumbs for the top. (You can also use store bought breadcrumbs.)

I just take a cooled piece of toast and run them in my food processor until fine crumbs.

     Mix 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar in with the bread crumbs.

After potatoes have cooked for 1 hour, remove the foil and top with breadcrumbs and sprinkle with paprika.

Place back in oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Buttery Blueberry Nectarine Cobbler

This is a variation on my blackberry cobbler and it’s possible I like it even more than the original! The blueberries and nectarines make for a very lovely combination in this buttery cobbler!

Eat it warm and store the leftovers in the fridge.

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

4 cups (total) of  fresh sliced nectarines and blueberries (blueberries may be frozen)

Preheat oven to 350. Once oven temp is reached, melt butter in 9x13 pan.

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, vanilla and cardamom; batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour half of batter on top of melted butter in pan. Spread fruit over lubatter and pour remaining batter over the fruit.

Bake in preheated oven for one hour or until golden brown.

Coconut Butter Mochi

For my group supper at Bible Camp this year, I did a Hawaiian theme. Since I wanted to be somewhat authentic and have two gluten free friends, this recipe was just the thing!

Much denser and richer than a cake, this dessert is pretty rich but super delicious! Be sure to cut the squares on the smaller side… Store it in the fridge to keep longer.

1 pound mochiko (rice flour)

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup melted butter

1 can coconut milk plus enough whole milk to equal 3 cups total

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix dry ingredients (minus coconut) in large bowl. Beat together milks, eggs and vanilla. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix in melted butter and coconut.

Pour into greased glass 9x13 baking dish.

Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour. The top and edges will be light golden brown.

Cool on baking rack and cut into squares when completely cooled.

Store it in the fridge to keep longer.

Omelet in a Bag

Second only to my boil in bag cooking, this is the best camping recipe ever! It turned out so well, that I even made them at home after our trip to Yellowstone! You can make these for 1 to 20, all you need is more eggs and a bigger pot!

Beat desired number of eggs with a splash of milk. I make our omelets with 3-4 eggs each, but you can make them smaller.

Divide the egg mixture evenly into heavy duty freezer bags. I use pint-sized Ziploc brand freezer bags. Don’t use cheap bags, they’ll melt!  At this point you can freeze the eggs in the bags for camping. Just throw them into the cooler frozen and use them after they’ve thawed.

Prepare your favorite omelet fillings. I sautéed onions, mushrooms and peppers. Then threw in crumbled bacon and grated cheese.  For camping, I froze all my fillings in a bag that were thawed when I was ready to use them.

Add your fillings into your egg bags. Squeeze out as much of the air as you can from the bags before sealing. Gently squeeze bags to mix up your fillings into the egg mixture.

Place bags into a large pot of boiling water.

Return water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until eggs are no longer runny. They may not take as long if you use fewer than 3 eggs per bag. You can check them and return them to the pot if they aren’t done yet.

They will probably float to the surface, but don’t worry they’ll still cook.

You can eat them from the bag…

Our omelet in Yellowstone

Or remove it onto a plate…

Our omelet at home

Rhubarb Bars

I went to make these on Sunday, got on my blog and couldn’t find the recipe… How could I have not shared this one already??? I’ve been making it for nearly 20 years and it has been a family favorite for even longer than that!

I was hoping to get a picture of a nicely cut bar with the leftovers from the church picnic, but there weren’t any leftovers. They cleaned me out! Everyone loved them! Some people didn’t even know what it was. A couple of people said they wouldn’t have tried one if I told them it was rhubarb while eating their second one…

Yeah, it’s a good one!

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups chopped rhubarb

Mix sugar and cornstarch in large saucepan. Whisk in water and vanilla. Add rhubarb. Cook over medium heat until thick, stir often.

1 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter or shortening

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter or shortening until crumbly. Stir in nuts. Reserve 1 cup and press remaining mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.

Pour filling over oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle on remaining crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Cut into bars while warm.

4th of July: Patriotic Treats

The 4th of July is possibly my favorite holiday of the year, after Christmas of course! I love the warm summer weather, picnics with family, and the FIREWORKS! I am an absolute sucker for things that blow up, shoot sparks or need to be lit with a punk or blow torch!

This is our 2012 fireworks show. I’m not the only junkie in our family… ;o)

It’s actually a genetic thing. My grandfather was a fireworks junkie! He loved them! He was anal about emptying the dryer vent to prevent house fires, but would shoot off bottle rockets with reckless abandon. Can your toddler stand on his own and hold something in his hand? Then he is totally ready for sparklers! I think all of my boys held their first lit sparkler before they turned 2…  I think I miss my grandpa the most on the 4th of July!

this is my grandpa at his fireworks stand in the early 40’s

I also love the food on the 4th of July! Not surprising, huh?

I made all red, white and blue treats this year…

fruit salad with watermelon stars

  

strawberries dipped in white chocolate and blue sparkly sugar

3-layer punch. Fill cup with ice. Pour in red Kool-Aid, followed by blue Gatorade, then topped with sparkling water or club soda. The secret??? Pour VERY slowly over the ice!

I wish I could say I made this gorgeous strawberry-rhubarb pie with the sweet little blackbird pie vent, but it was my super-talented little sister! But if I ever make pies, I’m getting a pie bird! You can buy your own at eBay, HERE.

Hope you all had as wonderful a 4th as we did! And remember to be thankful for this amazing country we live in!

Pineapple Salsa

Having 5 fresh pineapples this week (they were $1 each), meant thinking of new ways to eat pineapple. I had a fish taco once years ago that had pineapple salsa on it… I’ve often thought about that fish taco and figured this was the perfect time to make me one!

So I grilled up some tilapia and made up a batch of fresh pineapple salsa. I also threw in some white rice in the tortillas… I think these were even better than the ones in my memory banks! ;o)

Such a cool refreshing meal on a hot summer evening!

Here’s the recipe for the salsa…

1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 whole jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (you can seed it and use less for a milder salsa)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

juice from 1 lime

Mix and then chill for a few hours to let flavors combine. Serve with tortilla chips or with fish or chicken tacos.

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet

This refreshing, sweet, strawberry sorbet is so easy to make and so much better than anything I’ve bought at the store! So far it has been my husband’s favorite! If you pick up some fresh strawberries, grab a few extra to whip up a batch of this frozen berry delight!

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 quart fresh strawberries, washed and quartered

4 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice

1/4 cup corn syrup

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, stir and simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Process strawberries and lemon or lime juice in food processor until completely pureed. Press puree through a fine sieve to remove seeds (they won’t all come out).

Combine puree, corn syrup and sugar syrup.

Chill for 1 hour.

Pour into ice cream maker and make according to instructions.

Pour into container and store in freezer until ready to serve.

White Licorice Ice Cream

Licorice ice cream takes me to a happy place of warm memories of my grandpa. When we were little, every Halloween meant a box of black licorice and orange sherbet. I loved it! My lips, teeth and tongue would turn this ghastly purplish color that always made us laugh. Then the quit making it… Halloween didn’t seem the same after that. :o(

Years later, while touring the Tillamook Cheese Factory I discovered white licorice ice cream. It was like being 6 again! I fell in love! Every time we visited, I eagerly awaited a bowl of the stuff.

Then they too, stopped making licorice ice cream…

Thanks to my ice cream maker, it’s back in my life again!

1 1/2 cups half & half

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1-2 teaspoons of anise extract

Mix half & half and sugar with a whisk or mixer until sugar is dissolved.

Stir in cream and anise extract, to taste.

Prepare according to ice cream maker’s instructions.

Tea Party Scones

When we have a tea party, we always have these delightful scones that my sister makes! I’ve had so many requests, that I finally had to post the recipe…

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1 beaten small egg

heavy cream, as needed

Stir the sour cream and baking soda together in a small bowl and set aside until foamy (about 5-10 minutes)

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in butter.

Add in optional ingredients. There are so many possibilities! 

Variations:

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds and lemon zest from 1-2 lemons

1 cup dried cranberries and orange zest from 1 orange

Chopped fresh rhubarb tossed with sugar and zest from one orange

Stir in egg and sour cream mixture.

Mix together until it forms a dough. You may need to add some heavy cream for extra moisture. Be careful not to over mix the dough and make your scones tough.

Pat in a circle 1/2” thick. Cut with biscuit cutter or into wedges with pizza cutter (separating triangles slightly).

Bake on greased cookie sheet at 400 for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on bottoms.

Glaze:

If desired, make a powdered sugar glaze with milk, lemon juice or orange juice. Drizzle on top of scones when cooled.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Pretzel Bars

One of my favorite treats are chocolate and caramel covered pretzels. This combines those and chocolate chips cookies in one delicious square of ooey gooey goodness!

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup Mrs Richardson’s butterscotch caramel topping

1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed pretzel twists

Cream butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs together. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda and salt until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Press 2/3 of the dough into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. It should be a bit set but not golden brown.

Remove from oven and pour the caramel sauce on top of cookie. You may need to soften the caramel a bit in the microwave first.

Sprinkle caramel sauce with pretzels. Top evenly with remaining cookie dough. It will just be in small clumps over the top of the caramel and pretzels. Don’t worry, it will spread a bit while baking.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Don’t cut them too big, these things are pretty rich!