Sweet Refrigerator Pickles

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Pickles in a container

Ingredients
3 large cucumbers
1 medium onion
2 celery stalks
coarse ground salt
2 cups sugar
2 cups white wine vinegar
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp pickling spice
1/2 tsp dill

Slice the cucumbers, onion, and celery in 3/4 inch slices.  Toss liberally in your favorite kind of coarsely ground salt (sea, kosher, whatever), and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes, re-tossing occasionally.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. 

Pack the veggies into an airtight jar or other container and pour the pickling liquid over the top until your container is full.

The pickles (and bonus pickled onion and celery) will be ready after 8 hours, but they will only get better after that.  You can keep them for up to 2 weeks in your fridge.

Cowboy Baked Beans

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Cowboy Baked Beans, fresh out of the oven

Ingredients:
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
8 ounces lean ground beef
1 medium onion (diced)
3 15 ounce cans  kidney beans (do not drain)
1 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons brown sugar
¾ teaspoon onion powder
¾ teaspoon ground mustard
1 ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large oven-safe skillet cook the bacon, ground beef, and onion over medium heat until browned. Drain off excess fat.

Add remaining ingredients to skillet and stir to combine.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.

Ziti Bake Cake

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Ingredients:
9″ springform pan
1 lb ziti
spaghetti sauce (see below or use your own)
8oz shredded mozzarella

Sauce Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
2-12oz cans crushed tomatoes
1-6oz can tomato paste
herbs and spices to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the sauce, brown the ground beef on medium heat until fully cooked and drain the fat. Try to break the beef into the smallest pieces possible. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and spices and continue cooking on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Cook the ziti according to package direction. When the ziti is done, stand the noodles in a springform pan that has been coated lightly with cooking spray.

Pour the sauce on top of the ziti, trying to fill the noodles as much as possible.

Next add the cheese to the top of the dish.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Apple Pie Cheesecake

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Apple Pie Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Cheesecake:
2 – 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp allspice

Apple pie:
4-5 medium apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Crumb topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon

For this recipe you’ll need a 12″ spring form pan.

To make the crust, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and blend with a fork, pastry cutter or your fingers until well blended – it will look like big, soft crumbs. Press into the bottom and most of the way up the sides of a greased spring form pan.

To make the cheesecake layer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and allspice. Pour into the spring form pan on top of the crust.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Peel and core the apples, cut them into small pieces, and toss with sugar and spices to coat.  Pour the apple pieces over the top of the cheesecake.

Combine all of the crumb topping ingredients in a small bowl and blend like you did the crust.  Cover the apple pie layer evenly with the crumb topping.

Bake for 12 minutes at 400F, then reduce the heat to 375F and bake for another 35 minutes.  The apple pie cheesecake will have puffed up a lot and will be quite jiggly, but if this is your first cheesecake don’t let that alarm you – it will return to its normal size and firm up as it cools.  

Let cool in the pan, then refrigerate.

Serves 12-16.

Teriyaki Chicken Ramen

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Ingredients
1lb of chicken breasts
1 bottle teriyaki sauce
3 packages instant ramen, chicken flavor
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 large white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
sesame seeds
fresh chopped parsley

In a 350 degree oven bake the chicken breasts covered in teriyaki sauce for about 45 minutes or until the inside temperature has reached 165 degrees. Once the chicken has cooled enough to touch, roughly chop it into bite-sized pieces.

Fill a saucepan with 6-8 cups of water. Add one of the seasoning packets from the ramen, along with the sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Bring to a boil, add the ramen noodles, and reduce to medium-high heat.

Once the noodles are able to be separated from each other (about 1-2 minutes), add the mushrooms and chicken. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve in bowls topped with sesame seeds and chopped parsley.

Kiwi Peach Rustic Tart

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Kiwi Peach Rustic Tart

Ingredients:
3 ripe peaches
3 ripe kiwi
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 oz peach schnapps (optional)
1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed and unrolled

Preheat oven to 350. 

Skin and dice all of the peaches and kiwi and mix them in a bowl with the sugar and liqueur.  Let them sit together and marinade for at least 10 minutes. 

Lay the puff pastry out on a cookie sheet and pile up the fruit into the center of the pastry.

Fold the edges of the pastry up and around the fruit.  If you have completely covered your fruit, poke some holes in the top to let the steam escape. 

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the crust is flaky and brown. 

Serves 4-6, and is especially tasty served right out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Creamy Tomato Pasta with Zucchini and Meatballs

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Ingredients
1 container Philadelphia Tomato & Basil Cooking Creme  
8 oz pasta  
1 large zucchini  
28 oz can stewed tomatoes  
26 1/2 oz can tomato sauce with mushrooms  
24 frozen meatballs  
2 tsp olive oil  
salt and pepper to taste  

Instructions
Cook and drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking sautee the zucchini in the bottom of a large sauce pan with the olive oil.  Once the zucchini is limp add the tomatoes, sauce, and spices. Bring the sauce up to medium heat and stir in the cooking creme.

Cook the meatballs according to the instructions on their package.  Add the meatballs and pasta to the sauce and cook long enough to heat everything.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

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Ingredients
1 package frozen vegetables
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 can crescent rolls
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 325. 

Combine the vegetables, chicken, and soup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the filling into a shallow baking dish (8×12 works well). 

Unroll crescent rolls and arrange them on top of the filling so there are no holes ( little bit of overlap is fine). 

Bake for 25 minutes or until crescent roll layer is golden brown on top. 

Serves 4.

Apple Blackberry Pie

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Apple Blackberry Pie

Ingredients
2 tbsp lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 granny smith apples
3 macintosh apples
2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup instant tapioca
zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp salt
2 pie crusts

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the lemon juice and vanilla in a large bowl.  Peel and slice the apples in 3/4 inch chunks and toss them in the bowl with the liquids as you go.

Add the blackberries, sugar, tapioca, lemon zest, and salt to the apples.

Line a deep dish 9″ pie pan with one of the pie crusts.  Fill with the apple-blackberry mixture and cover with the other pie crust.  Trim the edges and pinch them together firmly.  Cut holes in the top pie crust to let the steam out.  Bake in the oven for 50 minutes and voila!

Ketchup Cake

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Ketchup Cake

Cake Ingredients:
2 cups All-purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup Water
2 tbsp Red food coloring
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Dark brown sugar, packed
2 Eggs

Frosting Ingredients:
6 oz Brick-style cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup Butter, softened
1 tsp Vanilla extract
4 cups Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease two, 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Stir the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and ginger into a bowl.

Stir the ketchup, water and coloring in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter and blend in the sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the eggs. Add the flour mixture and ketchup mixture. Beat on low, scraping down the bowl as needed, until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for one minute.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool the cakes for 15 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.

Frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar on low, scraping the bowl as needed. Beat on high until fluffy.

Frost between the cake layers and over the sides and top of the cake.