Date Bars

8oz chopped dates
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 raisins

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter melted

Cook dates with 1/2 cup orange juice in saucepan 5 mins or until thickens. Stir in remaining juice and raisins.

Combine oats, flour, baking soda, sugar in bowl. Stir in melted butter.
Press 2/3 of oat mix into bottom of a 8" or 9" square pan. Spread date filling over crust. Sprinkle remaining crust on top.

Bake at 375 for 20 mins

no corn syrup pecan pie

i'm intimidated by pie crust so i cheat and use a store bought crust (not pillsbury though, don't worry.)


1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour (any flour will do)
1 tablespoon milk (you could use non-dairy milk, i don't think it would matter, it's just for the moisture)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

1. preheat oven to 400* 
2. beat the eggs until they are foamy 
3. stir in the melted butter; stir in the flour and sugars; stir in the milk, vanilla and nuts
4. pour into your pie shell and 
5. bake @ 400* for 10 minutes to get the top crusty then @ 350* for 30-40 minutes until it's done

Dump Cake

1 box cake mix- white or yellow

2-4 cans of your favorite pie filling, or make yours from scratch

1 cup melted Butter

1 cup chopped nuts optional

Pre Heat your oven to 350*F. Grease a 13 by 9 baking dish. Pour your pie filling into the dish. Sprinkle the cake mix over the pie filling and cake mix. Then sprinkle the nuts to top it all. Pour the butter all over the to of the filling, nuts and cake mix. Bake for 35 min give or take. 

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

Wash & Dry (Pat dry it good enough. You just want extra water on them.)
Melt together 1 stick of butter & 4 TBS salt
Take off heat
Add in 3 1/2 cup seeds
Soak over night

Heat & stir till butter is melted again
Pour off excess liquid
Put seeds on cookie sheet and bake at 300F for 30 mins

Gluten-Free Banana-Walnut Muffins

wholeliving.com

With fiber-filled rice flour, potassium-rich bananas, and cholesterol-fighting walnuts, these gluten-free muffins trump breakfast bars.  Muffins can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.




Makes 1 dozen

• 1 1/4 cups brown-rice flour (bobsredmill.com)
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, finely ground
• 1/2 cup potato starch (bobsredmill.com)
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour (bobsredmill.com)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (bobsredmill.com)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup safflower oil
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (3 to 4)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups. Whisk together brown-rice flour, ground walnuts, potato starch, tapioca flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Whisk together yolks, oil, sugar, bananas, and vanilla. Fold flour mixture into banana mixture.
2. Whisk whites until stiff peaks form. Working in 3 batches, fold whites into batter. Fill each baking cup with batter. Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes. Let cool slightly. Turn out muffins onto a wire rack, and let cool completely.

homemade pizza

i make this pizza at least once a week. it's so easy.

1.) mix together the sauce
2.) mix/roll out the crust
3.) put the sauce/toppings on the crust
4.) bake until the cheese is brown



sauce:
half an onion - chopped and fried in butter(fry the onion in the pot and put everything else in on top)
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

mix everything together and let it simmer with a lid on while you make the crust

preheat the oven to 450*

crust:
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c ground flax seed
(or 3 cups total of your favorite flours) 
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of baking soda
3 tbsp butter (softened)
1 c ice water

whisk together all the dry stuff.
rub in the butter until it's pea size-ish.
mix the ice water in with a wooden spoon

rub butter in your 14"x20"cookie sheet

roll the crust out in the pan.

add your toppings.

bake until it looks done. like 10-15 minutes. it depends on how many toppings you put on.

fridge to table -> 30 minutes

broccoli cheddar soup

Ingredients:1 stick butter
2/3 c flour
1 onion
1qt 1/2&1/2
1 qt stock (i use chicken, but use what you like)
3 lg carrots
2 heads of broccoli
16 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese block (pre-shredded doesn't melt the same and is yucky)
1/2 tsp nutmeg

4 basic steps:
1.) make a roux
2.) mix the stock and 1/2&1/2
3.) cook the veggies
4.) blend


- chop the onion, in a small pan sweat the onion with about a 1tbsp of butter
- while the onion is cooking, make the roux (turn the stove on LOW and leave it there until the soup is ready.)
- melt the rest of the butter in a big soup pot. when the butter is melted, stir in the flour.
- pour in the stock and 1/2&1/2. stir
- set your timer for 20 minutes, stir once in a while
- while you are waiting, peel and shred the carrots and chop the broccoli
- when the timer goes off, dump in the cooked onion, shredded carrots and chopped broccoli, stir
- set your timer for another 20 minutes
- while you are waiting this time, shred the cheese.
- when the timer goes off, use your immersion blender and chop up the veggies.
- then mix in the cheese slowly so it has time to melt. (if you blend after you put the cheese in, your blender could get gunky.)
- stir in the nutmeg (ew. nutmeg? yes. trust me.)

this recipe makes enough for about 10 servings. we eat half and freeze half. the frozen half is poured into a 12 cup and a 6 cup muffin tin. i put the muffin tins in the freezer over night and in the morning i pop them out and put them in a ziploc.

fridge to table --> 45 minutes.