Sweet Pepper Sauce

I am addicted to this sauce! It has deliciously increased my intake of fresh vegetables and has made sweet peppers, from Costco, a staple in my fridge. Enjoy over anything from tilapia (our favorite) to potatoes, or as a dip for pita chips or a butter toasted baguette. I like to serve this over tilapia with an accompanying dollop of mango salsa and fresh avacado bits, with buttered bread on the side. I just had it for lunch today over a baked potatoe with some sour cream.


INGREDIENTS
10-15 Sweet mini peppers or equivalent amount of red, yellow and orange bell peppers
*DO NOT USE GREEN PEPPERS they will make the sauce a very unappetizing brown color
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

It's that simple and it's delicious! Enjoy.

Oatmeal Pancakes

As per Anna's request, I am posting another recipe to our food blog. I have some more recipes saved up on my computer, so lucky for you, Anna- I'll be contributing a lot more hopefully! And soon.

Oatmeal Wheat Pancakes
Adapted from Smitten Kitten

Makes about 18 pancakes

3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or blender until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (may need more depending on how your batter looks)
1 cup cooked oatmeal (cook separately- 1 cup water with 1/2 cup dry oats)
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.

Heat a griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the griddle. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. Continue with the rest of the batter.

They taste delicious with buttermilk syrup and fresh fruit. How's that for Fiber? I love it!

P.S. Here's the syrup:

Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 TBSP corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla

Heat on medium heat: sugar, corn syrup, butter, buttermilk, and baking soda. Bring to a boil and cook for 7 min. Remove from heat. Add vanilla.

{ Deviled Eggs Get Even Better! }

Thanks to The Neely's, the latest library cook book on my shelf, I have found the next best thing to add to hard boiled eggs since mayonnaise and mustard were invented...BBQ sauce!  Just add a bit of this winning ingredient to you next set of deviled eggs or egg salad and man will you be saying pass me some more lickety split! 


This whole cook book is chalk full of delicious southern comfort food. And I must say I'm such a big fan of their show, "Down Home With the Neely's"! Can you see Hubby and I hosting something like that? Maybe?!

{ Traditional English Bread and Butter Pudding }

I'd like to give a big thank you to TLC for posting this recipe and hosting "The Take Hom Chef" show, and to Netflix for streaming it, so I could find this delicious dessert. It's wonderful.


Ingredients
3 1/2 C milk
3 C cream
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
9 whole large eggs
9 egg yolks
1 C raisins
6 croissants (each torn into 8-10 pieces)


1) Preheat the oven to 275°F.  Stir the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the milk mixture is warm, about 10 minutes.

2) Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Whisk the whole eggs and the yolks together in a large bowl, then gradually whisk into the warm milk mixture. Place the croissant pieces in a 13x9-inch baking dish.

3) Pour the custard over the croissant pieces and sprinkle the raisins over. Press gently to submerge the croissants and raisins. Let stand for 20 minutes to allow the croissants to absorb some of the custard.  Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan. Set the roasting pan on the oven shelf. Add enough warm water to the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish.

4) Bake until the pudding is firm to the touch, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Serve warm.

You can add an even more delicious and extravagant touch by melting some white chocolate and pouring it over the top as a sauce.


"Traditional English Bread-and-Butter Pudding"  30 June 2010.  HowStuffWorks.com.  03 May 2011.

{ Tex Mex Slow Cooker Soup }

I've been checking out a different cook book from the library each time I go and boy have I been finding some delicious recipes. This is my latest concoction based off a recipe from a slowcooker book. It was easy to substitute and like all good slow cooker recipes you just toss in the ingredients and leave it, unless you feel like giving it a good stir occasionally. Oh and slow cooking always makes your house smell delicious all day!


Ingredients:

1 onion (I didn't have an onion for once in my life so I just used onion powder and liked just as much.)
2 chicken breasts (Cubed and cooked or slow cooked then shredded. BTW the soup would be equally good without any chicken.)
16 oz of salsa (I didn't have this much salsa so I put what I had in and added some leftover tomato paste that I had in the fridge.)
1 heaping spoonful of minced garlic (I don't measure out cloves thanks to my Cost Co can of minced garlic.I'm under the impression that the more garlic the better in pretty much any recipe.)
8 oz Velveeta cubed  or 1 C cheddar
3 or 4 shredded potatoes or a bag of hash browns
1 can of chicken broth
1 package country gravy mix
2 C milk
Tortilla chips
Cilantro

Directions
Stir up gravy mix with 2 cups milk in a separate bowl. Combine the mixture, with everything else, in the slow cooker except the Velveeta, tortilla chips and cilantro. Cook on low for 4 hours if the chicken is already cooked. If not just cook longer 8-10 hours and make sure the chicken is no longer pink and the potatoes are cooked. Add the Velveeta in about 3/4 of the way through just so it can melt. Serve warm with tortilla chips, and cilantro. Enjoy!

{ Pina Colada Dressing }

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup pina colada drink mix
1/3 cup apple cider or rice vinegar
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil.

Blend all ingredients except oil. Wait till the end and add slowly while blending. Enjoy on any green salad, particularly ones with pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut and macadamia nuts. Mmmmm!

{ S' More Cookie Bars }

We found this recipe on the back of the butter package and it is a sure-fire winner!  I am a s'more addict so this was an amazing find. It's a super quick dessert that harnesses the finest of campfire flavors and brings it indoors. Please add anything you want...Peanut butter is delicious, white chocolate could be good, you could use a variety of other candy chips. Yum, yum, yum!

Ingredients
3/4 C butter
3 C graham crackers
1 package semi-sweet or milk chocolate chocolate chips
1 C butterscotch chips
1 C mini marshmallows
1/2 C coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt butter and crush the graham crackers In 13x9 inch baking pan, combine melted butter with crushed grahams and press into the pan to form an even crust layer. Evenly sprinkle with chocolate chips, then butterscotch chips, then mini marshmallows. Pour condensed milk evenly over mixture. bake 25 minutes or until bubbly. On wire rack, let cool completely. For easier cutting, refridgerate for 1 hour. Enjoy!