Monkey Bread

A few months ago our friend and neighbor Gabby taught me how to make homemade Monkey Bread.  This is nothing like store bought! This is a 100 times better the store bought! It's pure amazing with a little caramel crunch added!

 4 cans of refrigerated  biscuit dough (about 40 biscuits)
 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
 1/2 cup butter
 1 cup white sugar
 1 cup brown sugar, packed
 1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut (optional)

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.

Pour white sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.

Add biscuit pieces, shake to coat well.

Place pieces in a buttered tube or Bundt pan until all are used.

 
Sprinkle layers with nuts, raisins or coconut. (optional)

Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan.

Cool  for 10 minutes, then pour over top of biscuits.

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before
removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.

For the printable recipe click here.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

My daughter, Charlee hates milk so I have to make her chocolate milk everyday! I always feel a little bit guilty giving her the bottled stuff from the store because we try not to eat that many preservatives and the bottled syrup is loaded with corn syrup and other artificial ingredients! So this time when the bottle was done I looked up a recipe for my own! I was shocked at how simple it was to make and I don't know why people buy it from the store!

½ cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla

In a large saucepan whisk cocoa and water on medium heat until the cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and whisk until dissolved. Make sure the sugar is dissolved our it will make your syrup grainy. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Make sure and watch it or it will boil over and you will be cleaning up a huge mess like I did! Add salt and vanilla. Let the syrup cool completely before pouring into a clean glass jar. Store in the fridge. ENJOY!

For the printable recipe click here.

Pizza Crust

My family loves pizza and buying a pizza can be expensive, so I make my own! Here is the recipe for my pizza crust, don't be intimidated it's super easy!

2 ½- 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 package of yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees)

Makes 2 pizzas.

In a large bowl mix 1 cup of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add olive oil and water. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes. With a spoon, stir in enough flour until it forms a soft dough and leaves the side of the bowl . On a floured surface knead for 8 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and springy. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease pizza pan. Cut dough in half. Pat one half down to form your pizza. Add toppings of your choice. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden. ENJOY!

For the printable recipe click here.

Apple Crisp

If it has the word apple in it and comes in the form of dessert my husband will love it! For Father's Day I compiled all the apple recipes I could find and had him pick which one he wanted. He choose this one and it was a hit with the family The original recipe used pears but I just swapped them for apples and added oatmeal and it was a hit with the family! Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

The family also got into it before I was able to get a picture!

Filling:

4-5 Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced)

2/3 cups Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Topping:

1-1/2 cup All-purpose Flour

1/3 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 stick Butter, Melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together diced apples, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour apple mixture into a baking dish. Set aside

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, oatmeal, and cinnamon. Drizzle with melted butter and stir with a fork until all combined. Sprinkle on top of apple mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes. Place pan on the top rack of the oven for an additional 10 minutes until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

For the printable recipe click here.

1/3 Oatmeal

Lemon Bars

I had a few lemons that I needed to use up so I decided to make lemon bars to take over to my neighbors for dinner. I had no idea that they were my neighbors favorite so I had a tough critic, lucky for me he loved them and wanted the recipe! The original recipe was a little funky and the ingredients didn't add up so I tweaked it to work for me and it turned out super easy and delicious!

Crust:

1 cup flour

½ cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt (you won't have measuring spoon so just eye half of a ¼ teaspoon)

1 stick cold butter, cut into little pieces

Filling:

1 cup regular sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ vanilla extract

2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 ½ lemons)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat 350 degrees

To make the crust: Grease an 8x8 pan with cooking spray. In a bowl whisk flour, powdered sugar, and salt together. Add butter and with your hand mix until crumbly. Press crust mixture into the bottom of the 8x8 pan (If the crust starts to stick to your hand put it into the freezer for 5 about minutes and then press it into place). Bake for 18 minutes until golden brown. Set crust aside.

To make the filling: In a bowl whisk together sugar, flour, and salt. Add eggs until combine. Add lemon zest and lemon juice until mixed well. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust. Bake for 18 minutes or until the filling has set.  

Cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar. So GOOD!

For the printable recipe click here.

Strawberry Galette

My husband loves this dessert with vanilla ice-cream! It’s a very light dessert so it's perfect if you want something tasty but not to filling. It's great if your strawberries are looking a little sad and need to be used! You can also serve it with homemade whip cream if your into that sort of thing.

1 pie crust (pre-made or if your channeling your inner Martha Stewart you can make your own, I used pre-made)

15 strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar          

Raw Sugar for sprinkling (you can use regular sugar if you don't have it but it tastes slightly different and looks prettier with the raw)

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (optional, this is a little hard to find so if you don't have it don't worry about it)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 egg

1 teaspoon water

Preheat 350 degrees.

Serving size: 4

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Put sliced strawberries into a bowl, sprinkle with sugar, cornstarch and the very optional vanilla paste.  Mix until all the berries are coated. 

 Lay out the pie dough on the parchment paper.

Starting from the middle and working out overlap the strawberries forming a circle about 1-inch from the edge of the pie crust.

Fold the edges of the dough over the strawberries to form a square (the middle will have the strawberries exposed).

Now fold the corners over.

Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water (this is called an egg wash). Brush the dough with the egg wash. Sprinkle crust with raw sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Click here for the printable recipe.

Mommy's Pomegranate Margarita

Having a rough day? I suggest one of these!

1 shot Tequila

1 shot POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

1 shot Triple Sec

Sweet and Sour         

Lime (optional)

Sugar or Salt (optional)

Dip the rim of the glass in the lime and then into the sugar or salt (optional). Fill a glass with crushed ice. Put 1 shot of tequila, pomegranate juice, and triple sec in the glass. Fill the rest of the glass with sweet and sour. Do a happy dance and ENJOY!

P.S. If it's a little strong add a little more sweet and sour!

Click here for the printable recipe

Original Recipe