Pineapple Whips

I had some crushed pineapple that I needed to use up. I needed the juice for another recipe awhile back so I had just drained it and had it in a tupperware in the back of the fridge. So, what's a girl to do? I searched Pinterest of course, and came up with THIS recipe. There was just enough juice left in the pineapple to make this recipe. Kismet!

2 20oz cans crushed pineapple, drained. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice.)
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 8oz tub whipped topping (or 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped)

Puree all but the whipped topping together in a blender or food processor until smooth (I couldn't get mine completely smooth because of how fibrous pineapple is, but it was mostly smooth).

 Pour puree into a one gallon zipper seal freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer for one hour or until the mixture starts to become slushy.

Remove from freezer, dump into a large bowl and gently fold in the whipped topping until incorporated. Put the mixture back in the freezer and freeze for another hour or so until frozen.

You can serve this in a dish like ice cream or in a glass with more pineapple juice poured over the top. Sprite or 7-Up would be good too.

I've read that the original Dole Whips don't have any sort of milk or cream--just pureed pineapple reconstituted with water. I don't know how to do that so this version works for me. Also the copycat recipe I found used real cream which would be delicious for sure, but I only had Cool Whip at my house and it worked great too. I may try cream sometime in the future. I imagine it would be easy to make sugar-free too--substitute your favorite alternative sweetener for the sugar and voilà!

This is really refreshing and easy. I can see it becoming a favorite summertime treat.

Caramel Pecan Turtle Bars

This recipe was actually found among the coupons in our Sunday paper. Oh goodness, are they ever fantastic.


Prep time 25 minutes Bake time 22-26 minutes Chill time 2 hours
Makes 32 bars

Crust ingredients
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
4 TBSP Corn starch
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Filling Ingredients
14 ounces of caramels, unwrapped
4 TBSP butter or margarine
4 TBSP heavy cream
4 TBSP light or dark corn syrup
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Line an 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; let foil overhang edge of pan by 2 inches.
Blend flour, brown sugar, and corn starch in a large bowl. Cut in butter with two forks or pastry blender until crumbly.
Stir in pecans. Press into prepared pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 11 to 13 minutes or until crust in lightly browned.
Remove from oven.

Heat unwrapped caramels , butter, cream and corn syrup in a large microwave safe bowl on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Carefully spread over baked crust. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until caramel is just starting to bubble. Remove from oven.

Sprinkle bars with chocolate chips and let rest for 5 minutes until chocolate is melted. Carefully spread chocolate over the caramel using the back of a spoon for a swirl effect, leaving portions of caramel exposed.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or until chocolate is set. Remove by lifting opposite ends of foil. Place on cutting board and peel away before cutting.

Peppermint Bark Shortbread Bars

I have already made 4 batches of this during this year's holiday season. It comes together so very quickly, not much by way of ingredients, and people gobble them up! Land 'o' lakes butter company put out this recipe;

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of softened butter
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of peppermint extract

12 ounces of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
About 1/3 cup of coursely chopped candy canes

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, extending foil over edges; set aside.


Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and candies in large bowl. Beat at low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 19 to 21 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. DO NOT OVERBAKE.
Immediately sprinkle crust evenly with chocolate chips; return pan to oven for 1 minute to melt chocolate. Spread chocolate evenly over crust; immediately sprinkle with chopped peppermint candies. Cool completely.
Remove bars from pan using foil ends. Cut bars into 28 squares; cut each square in half diagonally. Makes 56 cookies!

Colonial Apple Cider Cake

I was asked to make this for Joel's class for the Colonial Week Celebration that the fifth grade has every year. It was amazing. I had trouble getting it out of the pans. I think maybe the apples kind of caramelize in the baking and make it stickier. Just generously grease and flour your pans and allow adequate time for cooling and you shouldn't have the same issues that I did.

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I used golden delicious)
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 pound butter, melted (2 sticks)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Glaze:

1⁄2 cup apple cider

2 tablespoons apple jelly

2 teaspoons cinnamon (I reduced this and only used 1 teaspoon. Two seemed like too much to me.)

powdered sugar, for dusting

Place apples in large bowl. Pour sugar over apples and let stand for 10 minutes to extract

moisture from the apples. Add eggs and butter; scrape bowl. Add all but glaze

ingredients; mix well. Pour batter into greased and floured bundt pan or two 9-inch

cake pans. Bake at 350°F for 60 to 75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes

out clean. Allow cake to cool. 

Dissolve the apple jelly with the cider by warming them together. Mix in one teaspoon cinnamon. Brush this mixture over cake with a pastry brush. Continue brushing until all the glaze is gone. Dust liberally with powdered sugar.

Easy Pumpkin Pancakes

These were lovely on a rainy fall morning! They are a slightly altered version of a recipe found on allrecipes.com

2 1/2 cups of pancake mix. (I used a wheat mix.)
3 TBSP Brown Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 egg
1 3/4 cup milk
2 TBSP Vegetable Oil ( I subbed about 1/2 cup applesauce)
2 TBSP Vinegar
1 cup Pumpkin Puree

I used a 1/4 cup to scoop up the batter onto my griddle. I made 18 pancakes with this recipe.
My kids ate them with a little bit of syrup. I thought they were fantastic on their own.

Best Oven Fries Ever

Okay, are you ready? These are seriously the best oven fries I have ever had. They are crispy-crunchy on the outside and fluffy baked potato inside. The ingredients aren't anything special; it's all in the method. Maybe you all knew this already, but I did not. My oven fries up until this point have been okay--kind of soggy really. Nothing to write home about. But tonight my life was changed (at least in the realm of oven fries).


3 large russet potatoes with peels,scrubbed
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided (you could use canola, peanut or whatever but I personally love olive oil)
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Scrub your potatoes and cut each potato into 8 wedges. Rinse them off and set aside in a large bowl of hot water for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 475 degrees. 
3. Spread 4 tablespoons of the oil on a large heavy baking sheet (like a jelly roll pan). 
4. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on the oil. Set aside. 
5. Now drain your potatoes. Dry them well using paper towels or a kitchen towel. 
6. Dry out the bowl they were in and put them back in along with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Toss to coat.
7. Spread potato wedges in a single layer on your sheet pan. 
8. Cover tightly with aluminum foil (this is important!). 
9. Bake the potatoes in the preheated oven for 5 minutes and then remove the foil. 
10. Continue baking for another 10 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the bottoms of them are becoming golden brown. 
11. Now remove the potatoes from the oven and using either tongs or a spatula flip them all over so the up sides are down. 
12. Return to the oven and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes depending on desired doneness. 
13. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper if desired. 

I doubled the recipe and my family of six took care of them without any problem.
These would also be awesome with fry sauce or ketchup.

*Recipe found on Pinterest and adapted from HERE.

Yummy Autumn Salad

Okay, so this isn't really a recipe as much as it is a list of ingredients.  Also, you may eat it at any time of the year.  Adapted from a not so yummy salad from Bruegger's.


Salad greens (I like a mix of baby spinach and field greens)
Apple, peeled and chopped
Pecans (toasting them makes them yummier)
Feta cheese
Cooked chicken breast
Balsamic vinaigrette (I love Newman's Own light balsamic)

Toss ingredients together and enjoy!