INGREDIENTS

DOUGH:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tablespoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk

FILLING:

• 1 cup dried figs
• 1 cup dried dates (pitted)
• ¾ cup raisins
• ½ cup walnuts (chopped or ground in food processor)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup orange marmalade

ICING:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons milk (approximately)
• Colored sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar and combine well.
2. Cut in the shortening with a fork or pastry blender and work the mixture until it looks like cornmeal.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, vanilla, and milk.
4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix with an electric mixer for a full 3 minutes. Dough will be soft.

Ingredients

• 6 oz mozzarella cheese cubes (24 pieces)
• 1 can refrigerated pizza dough
• ½ c mini pepperoni
• ¼ c finely shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 T olive oil

Direction

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Open pizza dough; unroll on a lightly floured surface. Use your hands to press and stretch dough into a 12×8-inch rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut rectangle into 24 squares. Divide mini pepperoni among dough squares; top with a cheese cube. Wrap dough around filling to cover; pinch edges tightly to seal. Place balls, seam sides down and sides touching, in prepared baking dish. Drizzle bombs with olive oil; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden. Serve with warm pizza sauce.

So my daughter started junior kindergarten this fall, and while she’s allowed to bring nuts to school in her lunches (Hallelujah! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the win!), her lunch period is at 11:00 am– making it necessary for her to have a filling, healthy snack for later in the afternoon. Snacks, unfortunately, are required to be completely peanut and tree nut-free due to an allergy in her class, so I’m going to have to get creative this year to find things that will work for a quick pick-me-up.

I immediately thought of homemade granola bars– they’re easy to make, infinitely versatile, and can be tailored to her personal tastes as well as being reasonably healthy. I’d made these thick, chewy granola bars from Smitten Kitchen before with good results, so I decided to adapt the recipe to omit the nuts and substitute seeds and extra dried fruit (and…

These are amazing. Best nachos ever. Really, truly incredible. If you like Mexican Street Corn (also known as elotes), you need to make these as soon as possible. I made them one night for a last-minute dinner gathering and by the next morning I was already plotting when to make them again, calories be damned.

These nachos combine charred corn with a creamy cheese sauce, poured over toasty tortilla chips to form a rich, satisfying base, which is then perked up with tangy tomatoes, pickled onions, lime juice, and basically all of the fixings of your favorite tacos. There’s just something about the luxuriousness of the gooey cheese being poured over the tray of chips, layered with topping after topping… I think if I could sit out on my deck with friends, a 6-pack of Coronas, and these nachos, I would have my ideal late summer evening. (or you…

See the recipe below for making great pork meatballs for a sandwich or for pasta. It’s all part of the #PorkBucketList promotion from the National Pork Board.

Like many of you (if not every single one of you), I’m always looking for meal ideas that will please everyone in the family. I’m also always looking for ways to expand my children’s culinary horizons. Recently, I found a great source of help with that effort. The National Pork Board has created a beautiful and useful website and associated program called the Pork Bucket List. The idea is to encourage all pork lovers out there to tell the world the items they’d cross off their #PorkBucketList to inspire people to buy and eat pork. Examples include giving someone a bacon rose, eating pig ears from a street vendor in Vietnam, or, like me, learning how to prepare pork belly from a…

To me, the best parts of a BLT sandwich are the bacon, tomato and bread. Sorry, lettuce, you just don’t thrill me. So when a fellow blogger, Lynne Cobb, shared her recipe for “My Super-Awesome Bacon Tart,” which combines those three perfect ingredients, I asked her if I could share the recipe with my E.A.T. readers. 

Lynne took advantage of the best of her garden’s tomatoes, basil and oregano when developing this recipe. If it’s too early in the season for a great harvest, try to find the best tomatoes and herbs you can from the market to make this recipe really shine. 

Lynne’s recipe calls for easy-to-find ingredients: 

(Preheat oven to 350 degrees.)

1 unbaked pie crust shell (homemade or purchased)

12 oz of bacon – cooked until crisp. (Reserve a few tablespoons of bacon drippings).

1/2 cup of chopped onion – saute in bacon drippings

6-8 oz of…

This week’s It’s Chili, Chowder, or Stew Saturday is a recipe for Italian Pasta Soup with Fennel. Release the Italian flavors with this Italian Pasta Soup with Fennel recipe! Some of the ingredients you’ll need are Small Fennel Bulb, Garlic, Vegetable Broth, Zucchini, Parmesan Cheese, and more! You can find this recipe at the Diabetes Self Management website which has a huge selection of Diabetic Friendly Recipes, Diabetes News, Diabetes Management Tips, and more all at the Diabetes Self Management website. Enjoy and Make 2019 a Healthy One. https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/

Italian Pasta Soup with Fennel

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (1 1/2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup uncooked small shell pasta
1 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 can (about 14 ounces) Italian-seasoned diced tomatoes
1/4 cup grated Romano or…

This week’s It’s Chili, Chowder, or Stew Saturday is a recipe for Summer’s Best Gazpacho. Easy to prepare and its only 127 calories and 11 net carbs per serving! Made using; Tomato Juice, Diced Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Cucumber, Chunky Salsa, Olive Oil, Garlic, Avocado, and fresh Cilantro and Basil. The recipe comes from the Diabetes Self Management website and Magazine. You’ll find a fantastic selection of Diabetic Friendly Recipes, Diabetes News, Diabetes Management Tips, and more! Plus you can subscribe to one of my favorite Magazines, the Diabetes Self Management Magazine. So Enjoy and Make 2019 a Healthy One! https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/

Summer’s Best Gazpacho
Ingredients
3 cups reduced-sodium tomato juice
2 1/2 cups finely diced tomatoes (2 large)
1 cup finely diced yellow or red bell pepper (1 small)
1 cup finely diced unpeeled cucumber
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ripe avocado, diced

This week’s It’s Chili, Chowder, or Stew Saturday is a recipe for Mediterranean Chili. Made using; Olive Oil, Onions, Bell Peppers, Garlic, No Salt Added Chickpeas, No Salt Added Stewed Tomatoes, Low Sodium Vegetable Juice, Red Pepper Flakes, Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, and Basil. It’s only 185 calories and 22 net carbs per serving (1 cup). The recipe is from the Diabetes Self Management website where you’ll find a huge selection of Diabetic Friendly Recipes, Diabetes Management Tips, Diabetes News, and so much more. Be sure to check it out soon! Enjoy and Make 2019 a Healthy One! https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/

Mediterranean Chili

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 bell peppers, coarsely chopped (1 green and 1 yellow)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (16 ounces) no-salt-added chickpeas, drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) no-salt-added stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 cup low-sodium vegetable juice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper…

I came across this salad, Bountiful Harvest Vegetable Salad, at the Diabetes Self Management website and wanted to pass it along to every one! Some of the ingredients you’ll be needing are Onion, Garlic, Brown Sugar, Turnips, Baby Salad Greens, and Walnut Pieces. Again you can find this recipe along with all the other Diabetes Friendly Recipes at the Diabetes Self Management website. So Enjoy and Make 2019 a Healthy One! https://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/

Bountiful Harvest Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
1 tablespoon hazelnut or olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup malt vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup chopped parsnips
1 cup chopped turnips
1/2 cup parsley and cilantro leaves
3 cups baby salad greens
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
1 cup chopped radish
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1 – Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook…

This week’s Wild Idea Buffalo Recipe of the Week is a SOUTHWEST BUFFALO BURGER. Made using the always delicious and always fresh Wild Idea Premium Ground Buffalo. Below is a recipe for the SOUTHWEST BUFFALO BURGER and also included is the recipes for the Pico de Gallo and Jalapeno infused Hollandaise. Then at the end of the post info on the Wild Idea Premium Ground Buffalo along with the web link. You can find this recipe along with all the other delicious recipes and purchase any of the Wild Idea Products at the Wild Idea Buffalo web site. So Enjoy and Make 2019 a Healthy One! https://wildideabuffalo.com/

SOUTHWEST BUFFALO BURGER
This fantastic burger was the winner and favorite in our buffalo burger cook off! This simple recipe makes one fantastic burger. (Makes 3 to 4 burgers or 8 to 10 sliders)

Ingredients:

1 Wild Idea 1 lb. Premium Ground Buffalo

The hardest part of this meal is cutting the chicken, broccoli, and making the rice. Seriously. It is very simple. When my daughter was making dinner she thought at first it was going to be too much but in the end she said how easy it really was.

Mongolian Beef is generally served as thin sliced beef in a brown sauce made of dark brown sugar, soy, ginger, and garlic .  This Mongolian chicken however is made with a brown sauce of brown sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil, with ginger and garlic. Similar yet a bit different.

Verdict:

This was so delicious! Both kids ate two helpings. That in our book is a win. The sauce was tangy yet sweet and the broccoli pared well with the chicken. Don’t like broccoli or have other vegetables you want to use? Give it a try!

Tip: To easily slice the…

An Upside-Down Cake with Autumn Personality

                        I used to make this in our cabin in the woods when I cooked a meal on the wood stove. Once the main dish was about to be served, I’d have this ready and would stick in the oven to bake with the left-over heat while we ate. It works great in a conventional oven as well, and it’s always a hit. It is a traditional “upside-down cake” where you cook the  fruit on the bottom and invert the whole thing to serve. This cake is soft with a delicate flavor.

A few changes along the way

I’ve modified this recipe a lot over the years, especially in the spice department. I thought the cinnamon and nutmeg were overwhelming the apples, and I was right. When I last made this incarnation, everyone raved! No nutmeg, and now just a…

The apple is the star of this dish, or rather, the “apples” of different varieties!

I’ve made apple cakes for years, and they are always a hit. When we head out to the orchard to pick, I know there will be a special dessert sometime in the near future, most likely served after Sunday dinner. Often I make an apple upside cake, it’s fun, but does take a little time, but I love to make it when I feel like fussing in the kitchen with the music turned up and the kitchen to myself. Sometimes we want something quicker.

When we lived in the mountains in our log cabin, my kitchen was equipped with a fabulous wood stove. How I loved to stoke that baby up in the fall and winter and play. Its cast-iron design using radiant heat created the best baked goods from bread to cakes, but you…

We love to have breakfast for dinner about once a week. They had breakfast sausage and eggs on sale this week so of course we needed to have eggs and sausage. My kids love breakfast sandwiches and we decided to switch them up a bit by adding a layer of sausage gravy to the English muffins before piling on the eggs, cheese, and sausage.

Verdict:

Oh my! This simple layer of sausage gravy raised the bar on breakfast sandwiches in our house. WOW! The flavor was amazing and added just a bit of creaminess to the dish. Taste and adjust the spices in the gravy to your liking. We like it a bit peppery so it had almost a hot bite to it. Amazing!

Hello again! I’m back with another yummy recipe for you all! This one came from Austin’s mom, Lisa. I am so happy that she shared this recipe with us, because it tastes so dang good! It’s easily become one of our favorite breakfast/brunch meals. Thank you, Lisa!

This recipe is fairly easy, and besides soaking overnight, takes hardly any time to do! So don’t be scared off when you see “Part 1” and “Part 2” below!

The berries and bananas used make a syrup in the bottom of the pan, and it works so well with the crispy French bread. My mouth is literally watering while I’m typing this…it’s that good.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below!

Ingredients

• 1 French loaf
• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• about 24 ounces (1 bag)…

So, lately I’ve become obsessed with my slow cooker (a.k.a. a CrockPot, whatever you prefer). Is it weird to love an appliance so passionately?? I mean, I had always loved throwing together a few ingredients, turning a switch, and hours later coming home to a deliciously perfect magic bowl of yumminess. However, after my little man was born, the ease and effortless magic of the CrockPot has revealed it’s tangible value to me even more so. Lack of sleep and lack of free time throughout the day contributed to my desire to be able to create meals from pantry staples, a hearty chunk of meat I could pull out of the freezer, and, best of all, minimal effort. Also, slow cooker meals are PERFECT for doubling, creating loads of leftovers that can be reheated in a snap. And that still taste, you…

I love having friends round for dinner and playing host and chef! I feel as though you cannot go wrong with a pasta dish as it’s a crowd-pleaser and it means you can still relax and spend time with your guests, rather than slaving away over a hot stove all evening…

Pasta dishes are so versatile and you can swap and change ingredients to suit the mood of you or whomever you’re cooking for. Thankfully, my girls love the same sort of ingredients as me so, my amalgamation of surf, turf and earth went down a storm!

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 150g Jarred Roasted Red Peppers, drained and sliced
• 0.5 tbsp Tomato Purée
• 0.5 tsp Caster Sugar
• 130g Pasta (I use GF penne!)
• 75g Chorizo Ring, sliced
• 100g Frozen Cooked King Prawns (defrost thoroughly!)
• 2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and minced
• 0.25 tsp Chilli Flakes
• 1 tbsp Sherry
• 100g Fresh Spinach
• 1…

These brownies are a healthy twist to the regular ones. They are low in sugar and carb.

This recipe uses healthy alternatives to butter, sugar and flour.

They are moist, chewy and fudgy. As I already mentioned this recipe does not require any flour, instead we use black beans. I promise you; you will not notice the beans. You do not get any taste of black beans once everything is mixed through, it just has the taste of the dark chocolate.

You can also use canned kidney beans instead of the black beans, but it might just lighten the end product and may not appear as dark. Whichever beans you use, just remember to drain and rinse them prior to use.

The almond butter is a beautiful substitute to regular butter and adds amazing flavour. The honey serves as a healthy alternative to sugar.

I used a combination of 90%…