Energy Balls

Makes 20 balls, eat 4-5 balls per day for a snack/energy boost.

1/2 Cup chopped nuts or seeds or a combination (ie: almonds, walnuts, sesame, sunflower)
1/2 Cup room temperature nut butter (ie:  peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter)
1/4 Cup honey or fruit spread or a combination
1/4 to 1/2 Cup of dried fruit (ie:  raisins, cranberries, dates, figs, apricots)

Mix ingredients together.  Form small balls, about the size of a quarter to make 20 balls.

Have fun with this recipe, roll the balls in chopped nuts or coconut, make it your way!

I keep these in the refrigerator ~ helps keep them firm.

pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

Almond Butter for this batch

Honey and Fruit spread

Building the mixture

dried fruit added ~ raisins and cranberries

mix mix mix

form the balls

time to lick the bowl

Kale Kale Kale

It's the magic green!  ;-P

How about some Kale Slaw? 

I made this tonight, I even put the onions in it, now most of you know I don't do onions unless they are fried into a nice beer batter ring but I forced myself and my mouth still tastes nasty.  LOL  Hope the living enzymes did some good regardless of onion breath.

So here's the recipe:

First mix up the dressing and let it sit until ready to pour it over the slaw.

dressing:
1/4 Cup EVOO
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
some coarse sea salt and black pepper

veggies:
1 bunch of kale
1/4 of a small red onion
1/4 head of purple cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds


Wash the veggies.  Remove the stems from the kale (stems make the dish bitter).  Chop the onion and cabbage.  Put the veggies, seeds and dressing in the bowl.  Mix well.  Eat up! 

Fermented Oatmeal

1/2 cup steel cut oatmeal

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

 

 

 

mix them together

put a lid on it

Let it sit out overnight and in the morning bring the oatmeal and yogurt to a boil in a 1/2 cup of water.  Heat it up and enjoy.

Why fermentation?  I'll post about that on my other blog!  ;-P
 

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Thanks to Ruth Ann Mason at the Waterside Inn in Chincoteague, VA....

I tried this dip over the weekend on top of a few corn chips....scoopers, too yummy!

I gave it a thumbs up and Ruth Ann quickly supplied me the recipe so I am paying it forward:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 Cup mayonnaise
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained
4 oz canned diced jalapeno peppers, drained
1/2 Cup shredded Mexican style cheese
1/2 Cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 Cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 Cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees & spray an oven safe serving dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Using an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese & mayonnaise until smooth.
Stir in green chilies, jalapeno peppers, and Mexican and Mozzarella cheeses.  Spoon this mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Mix together Panko bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese & sprinkle it over the cream cheese mixture.  Spray the Panko and Parmesan with a quick spray of non-stick cooking spray.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is hot & the topping is lightly browned.

Serve this dip with French bread, fresh vegetables tortilla chips, crackers...pretty much anything that pairs well with cheese (wine).

Broccoli Salad

I do not remember where I got this recipe so can't give credit where credit it due but here goes:

2 bunches of broccoli flowers (rinse and spin)
1 red onion, small, chopped fine (I don't put this in)
1/4 cup pecans (broken up works good)
1/4 cup sugar (the good old bleached out white stuff is what I use)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup mayo (real mayo I use Hellman's)
8 slices of crispy bacon (broken into pieces or cut into pieces before cooking)

Mix mayo, vinegar, sugar well.  Place rest of ingredients in a bowl and toss well.
Then pour the mayo mixture over the top and mix all ingredients well.  Refrigerate overnight at lease 24 hours for the best results.

Bacon Weaved Meat Loaf

First attempt to spiffy up my same boring meatloaf.....here goes:

I got this recipe from my Mom and I of course changed it up because onions are not my fav!!

Prize Winning Meat Loaf from the Oatmeal box
makes 8 servings

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef  (local store does a package mix for meat loaf...
                                             it has beef, pork and veal? so I use that)
1 cup tomato juice

3/4 cup Quaker Oats (uncooked quick or old fashioned)

1 egg or 2 egg whites, slightly beaten (I use one egg)

1/4 cup chopped onion (I don't add this)

1/2 teas salt ~ optional  (I don't add this)

1/4 teas black pepper  (I don't add this)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients; mix lightly but thoroughly.  Press into 8x4" loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.  Drain; let stand 5 minutes.

For the bacon weave I laid out 6 slices of bacon in one direction and starting in the middle weaved cross slices until it was almost like a square.  I put the meat mixture in the center, wrapped the bacon ends up and then flipped it over and baked it in a baking dish for about 1 hour and 15 mins.  I wanted crispy bacon.

Fruit Pizza

This recipe was shared with me by my friend Gin Moore.  We met in Groton, CT during our days as Navy wives.  This is a great dessert to take to parties.  You can decorate it different ways.  For 4th of July I like to make it look like a flag.  For other occasions I use more of a variety of fruits.  Don't forget the dash of love!

I use pre-made cookie dough like this:

I pat it into a pan like this:

I spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled baked cookie like this:

Then I add the fruit!

Here's the 411 from my recipe card:

Fruit Pizza from the kitchen of Gin Moore
1 8oz cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup sugar (just plain white sugar)
1 tube of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough  (next time I will buy 2 16 oz ones and make a bigger cookie bottom)

Spread the cookie dough on ungreased pizza pan (I used a small glass baking dish because I didn't have enough dough for a pizza pan).  Cook for approximately 15 minutes or until light golden brown.  (I set oven temp according to the cookie package).  Let cool.  Cream sugar and cream cheese together.  Spread mixture over the cooled cookie.  Top with fruit.

Suggested fruits:
strawberries
bananas (but they turn brown)
blueberries
grapes
pineapple
kiwi

Do not use canned fruit, that's just gross LOL.

Enjoy!

Made this one for Jamie's birthday: