Pickled Banana Peppers

I visit the farmers market every Wednesday and the last few weeks I would buy banana peppers to put on salad or pasta. They tasted fantastic without pickling.

I decided to make my own pickled banana peppers. I must say, YUM! I can't wait to add them to my sandwich and salads. I have already been opening the fridge and sneaking a few here and there.

ENJOY!

Pickled Banana Peppers

The BRINE:

1 TB Dried Dill Weed
1 1/2 cps. of Water
Quart of White Wine
3/4 cp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. of Pickling Salt

4 LBS Banana Peppers (Washed Well)
Garlic
Fresno Pepper or Jalapeno (Washed Well)

1. Boil the jars and lids and the brine in another. While the brine is warming up cut the peppers.

2. When the brine is ready add a garlic to each jar and a Fresno or Jalapeno pepper.

3. Pour the boiling brine over the top and add the lid. Boil for a few minutes until really hot. Let cool. The lids should seal if they do not store in the fridge.

Chocolate Cookie Covered Oreo's and Rolo's!

What could be better then an Oreo Cookie or a Rolo Candy bar?

How about if they are covered in chocolate and sugar!? Needless to say my girls loved these. It is a good thing I made a vast amount.

I stumbled on the Chocolate Oreo cookies here. It is called my Tasty Treasures. It is about sex and food. What more could you ask for? It is very entertaining and will give you a little chuckle.

The ROLO AND OREO COOKIE RECIPE:
1 cp. of soft butter
1 cp. of sugar
1 cp. of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. of vanilla
2 1/4 cp. of flour
3/4 cp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder

1. Cream the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. Add one egg at a time. Add the vanilla.
2. Sift the flour cocoa and baking powder. Add it slowly to the wet mixture.
3. Place in the fridge for 2 hours.
4. Remove and flatten a small piece of the dough. Add a Rolo or Oreo in the middle and roll to cover completely.
5 Bake on 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. You do not want it to flatten. You want the Rolo still in form.

Apple Juice Pancakes with Sauteed Apples

Let me start by saying that it began with only 1 cp. of milk.



I woke up this morning with my husband and kids asking for pancakes. I pulled out all my normal ingredients for my pancake batter. When I started making the pancakes I realized I only had 1 cp. of milk! I needed 1 3/4! What was I going to do!? I decided to substitute with Apple juice. My husband hates fruit IN his pancake, so I made a Apple topping. I usually do not commend myself but I WAS SO PROUD! It turned out so so good. Put it this way, both kids finished there entire plate! That never happens! That is the greatest compliment ever! HAPPY KIDS, HAPPY HUSBAND, AND HAPPY ME! The morning is off to a good start!





APPLE JUICE PANCAKES

1 cp. milk
3/4 cp. apple juice
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 TB butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cp. sugar
2 cps. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt



1. I added the cinnamon, flour, salt, and baking powder and sifted it. Set it aside.

2. In the mixer I added the milk, apple juice, eggs, sugar, vanilla and butter. Mixed until combined. Slowly added the sifted mixture.

3. Cook on a oiled skillet. Add a 1/4 cp. batter per pancake. When it bubbles then flip it.



The Easy Topping: (Let me just say, I ran out of butter too! Haha. It is my shopping day today. But if you want to add some butter be my guest. But this turned out wonderful this way.



In a Skilled add two apples diced with 1/2 cp of apple juice, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 cp. Maple syrup. Cook only a few minutes. You do not want the apples to get to soft!

Bacon and Egg Salad

My husband and I love salads. I was raised where we had a salad as a side for every meal. I make a huge salad almost every night. Today, the husband came home for work and wanted something healthy but filling for lunch. I made this salad and it was perfect. He finished it quickly and then fell asleep for an hour before heading back to work.
I bought organic local grown Arugula, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Peppers that I could not wait to use. It was mighty tasty.


1 Head of Arugula
4 Cps of Mixed Greens
1/2 cucumber, sliced thing
1 Banana Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1/2 Red Onion, Slice thin
1 to 2 cups of Cherry Tomatoes
1 Carrot, sliced thin
2 Hard Boiled Eggs
4 Slices Bacon
Parm Cheese

Dressing of Choose.

I bought all of these ingredients at the farmers market and I could not wait to make a huge salad! Throw everything together and top with the bacon and eggs and some fresh Parm Cheese.

Sirloin Steak Sandwich and Stir Fry

I have been nicknamed "Sandwich Queen". I make my husband sandwiches on a regular basis. He loves them and I love being creative with what I have in the kitchen. This week I made two loafs of sourdough bread! I made it from the Panera Bread recipe. It turned out perfect! I figured that steak would make an incredible combo with it.

I grilled the bread with butter and I could of just ate a the loaf of bread that way. So yummy. But I topped with with mozzarella cheese, then fries, and more mozzarella cheese and put it in the broiler. When the cheese was brown and crispy I added the steak. Then topped it off with carmalized onions! What a sandwich!
I marinated the sirloin with a bottle of A1, 1 cp. of soy sauce, salt and pepper.

We had a ton of steak leftover, so I made a stir fry out of it last night. It turned out really well.

Sirloin Steak Stir Fry

3 TB butter
1/4 cp. diced green onions
My leftover beef and carmalized onions
1 bag of frozen brocoli or fresh if you have it.
3 tsp. of garlic
3 tsp. hot chilli sauce
2 tsp. sugar
1 cp. of stir fry sauce
salt and pepper
Rice

1. Melt the butter and add the garlic and green onions until soft. Add the steak and carmalized onions until warm and brown. Add the brocolli until tender. Add the sauce and seasoning!
2 Serve on rice.

Spider Cupcakes for My Girls

My girls love Halloween. My oldest has been asks, "Is Halloween tomorrow?" Almost everyday. I figured I would create something special for them. I bought a book called Ghoulish Goodies. Wow, what a great book.

I created these cupcakes from that book! Not to mention, they are super simple and look terrific!


THE RED VELVET CUPCAKE:

1 3/4 cp. flour
2 heaping TB of unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Sift together and set aside.

3/4 cp. veg. oil
1 sugar
1 cp. buttermilk
2 eggs
2 TB red food coloring
1 tsp vanilla
1 cp. chocolate chips

In a mixer add the sugar, veg. oil and buttermilk. Mix well. Add one egg at a time. Add the red food color and mix until red everywhere. Add the vanilla and chocolate chips.

Slowly add the sifted dry ingredients

Put in Cupcake tins. Bake on 350 for 18 minutes. Cool for Ten Minutes.



The Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. cream cheese, soft
1 stick of butter, soft
6 cps confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extracts
1/2 cp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Beat the eggs and butter until smooth. Add one cup of sugar at a time. When all the sugar is used add the vanilla and cocoa. When cupcakes are cool top them with the icing


Use red licorice strings for the legs
I used Halloween M&M's for the eyes.
Chocolate Sprinkles

After icing the cupcake add as much chocolate sprinkles to make it look hairy. Press the legs and eyes in.
I let the girls decorate. If you look at the picture there is some cupcake with multiple eyes, my husband made those.....IT WAS A FAMILY AFFAIR!! SO MUCH FUN!!!

Autumn Cheesecake

I must admit, this is the best cheesecake ever! This is absolutely perfect for the fall. This is my husbands all time favorite cheesecake. I also brought this to my family friends Thanksgiving party and it was a favorite.




I found this on Allrecipes.com one of my favorite sites. I changed a few things. I honestly think this cake should be illegal. It is so good. I could eat the entire pie.

AUTUMN CHEESECAKE

Crust:
1 cp. graham crackers
1/2 cp. pecans
3 TB. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cp. melted butter

1. In a food processor mix the sugar, cinnamon, graham crackers, and pecans. After freshly ground add the melted butter. Push into a 9 in. spring pan. Bake on 350 for 10 min.



3 soft cream cheeses
3 eggs
3/4 cp. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cps. peeled and sliced apples
1/2 cp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cp. ground pecans

1. cream the cheese and sugar together. Add one egg at a time. Add the vanilla. Pour into the cool crust.
2. Toss the apples, sugar and cinnamon. Top the cream cheese with the apples. Add the pecans to the top.
3. Bake on 350 for 70 minutes.