Cranberry Raspberry Jello Crunch recipe

Over Christmas, I made a classic Jello recipe but changed up a few ingredients and steps. If you enjoy raspberry jello crunch, I have a recipe solution to using up some leftover cranberry jam with raspberry and cranberry jello. A nice balance between tart and sweet. I opted not to bake the crushed pretzels as stated in a lot of recipes – only because I didn’t have time. Just make sure you buy butter pretzels. Otherwise, you ought to take the extra step and bake your crushed pretzels with 1/2 cup of melted butter in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

• 1 3-oz. pkg. cranberry Jello
• 1 3-oz. pkg. raspberry Jello
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups of fresh cranberry sauce/jam
• 1 cup butter pretzels, crushed (I used Rold Gold Butter Checkers)
• 1 8-0z. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 8-oz. pkg. Cool Whip
• 1/4 cup sugar (optional)

In a 4 to 6 quart glass serving container/bowl, empty contents of both Jello packages. Add the boiling water, and dissolve Jello. Mix in the cranberries after Jello is completely dissolved. Refrigerate until set (it may seem like a long time – give it 3-4 hours.).

Crumb topping: Mix cream cheese, Cool Whip and sugar until well combined. Spread on top of cold, set Jello. Top with crushed pretzels, and press down. Refrigerate until firm. Use a good size serving spoon when plating.

(I chose not to turn out (flip out) the Jello onto a serving platter… haven’t been totally successful with that.)

Tags: dessert, Jello, recipe

Eating Quinoa and Lentils :: Ready Made giveaway

Quinoa and lentils… not at the same time. That might not taste very good. But we are trying to include more healthy choices in our kitchen nowadays. Don’t you love light, crisp salads as we head into warmer weather? Here’s a pretty simple recipe for a tasty, Spring salad! My husband prefers this over couscous, and makes for a nice side dish.

Prepare 1 cup quinoa according to directions on package except include one carrot and celery, chopped coarse, and one bay leaf, ten peppercorns and thyme wrapped up in cheesecloth. It’s all for getting flavor in the quinoa… then I discarded all the veggies and herbs after it was done cooking. Set aside. Finely dice one cucumber and one celery stalk. Finely chop one or two green onions, and finely chop 1/4 cup cilantro. Blanch one 10 oz. package of sugar snap peas. Mix all this in with quinoa.

For the dressing grate or mince 1/2 to 1 tsp. of fresh ginger. Blend with 1/8 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp. rice vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Add a 1/2 tsp. of curry powder if you’d like, too. Serve room temperature or chilled.

For another healthy recipe, check out the scoop on my easy lentil recipe at Niles Patch.

Do you have a favorite Spring recipe you’d be willing to share with me and our readers? I would love to share with you a chance to win a one-year subscription to Ready Made magazine (one of my new favorite sites and magazines). It’s pretty simple – share your recipe in the comment section, and you’ll be entered in a random drawing. Don’t forget to include your e-mail, so I can get in touch with you.

Comments will be closed Wednesday, April 20 at 5 pm (CST)

Thanks much! Happy cooking (and crafting) as always!

Tags: cooking, giveaways, healthy, recipe, salad

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes

We had a great tomato crop this summer and with this fall heat-up, there are still tomatoes ripening on the vine! My family won’t keep up with all the produce even after sharing some with neighbors, so I decided to oven-roast them for use later. Oven-roasted tomatoes are great in salads, sauces… they’re great to substitute for fresh tomatoes in any dish, heck, they’re great for just popping in your mouth, but that’s just me. Actually, I used small slices in my turkey club sandwich the other day.

The tomato flavor is concentrated with a sweetness accentuated only by roasting. And you know, you can freeze your newly shriveled tomatoes for a long time (one of my cookbooks said “indefinitely”). I’d be interested to know how other people preserve their tomatoes.

Back to the oven roasting… if you’re so inclined to try, you’ll have to leave your oven on overnight. Relax. Don’t click to another website. Unless you know that your oven is faulty, (certainly, I don’t know your cooking equipment nor can I take any responsibility for it**), it’ll be okay. It’s worth the wait, and you’ll wake up to a delicious aroma. (Better than when I wake up to my little one’s morning breath which we so fondly call “baby dragon breath”.) Pop them in the oven after dinner, and let it go.

Slow Oven-roasted Tomatoes

• 18-20 ripe tomatoes
• 1/4 olive oil (approximate)
• 1 tablespoon of each – salt, pepper, and sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons each – fresh thyme and rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sage or oregano (optional)

Heat oven to 170 degrees (or lower if your oven can do it – mine does not). Prepare tomatoes by slicing in half crosswise. Place on a rack that fits on your baking sheet, otherwise, just on the baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil on each tomato so that they are lightly coated. Sprinkle salt, pepper and sugar over the tomatoes. Then finally sprinkle the fresh herbs over the tomatoes. Place in the 170 degree oven, overnight (8-10 hours). Remove from oven and let cool before storing.

** Really, if you think it’s that unsafe to leave your oven on overnight, don’t do it. Be safe!

Tags: recipe

Midsummer’s Night Eve and Irish Soda Bread

I love Irish Soda Bread. Of course, it tends to get a lot of press at St. Patrick’s Day, but why not make it or eat it any time? Need an excuse? June 20 marks the eve of summer solstice, or longest day of the year for the northern hemisphere, where lots of festivals, fairs and concerts occur in Ireland (leftover from Pagan days) and Europe, for that matter. The dates change yearly, but is usually around June 20-22.

The recipe I make at home turns out all rustic looking, which is very different from a lot of Asian baked goods I’ve had. At the bakery the Chinese baked buns (bao or pao) and Filipino buns are typically these beautiful golden brown, rounded hills lined up on a tray.

from centurycafe.com

But, I love me a rustic bread anytime… the displays at Corner Bakery and Panera Bread are enough to make me want to carbo-load.

Irish Soda Bread recipe

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 c melted butter
• 3/4 c milk with 3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (let this mixture sit for a few minutes) OR 3/4 c buttermilk
• 1/2 c raisins or currants

Preheat oven to 425. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Mix until ingredients are just combined; don’t overmix. It’s okay to look lumpy. Fold in the raisins or currants. Transfer dough to baking sheet. Dough should hold its shape, but you can form your bread loaf how you want. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turn down to 375 for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean). Remove and cool completely.

My daughter told me it tasted store-bought. I guess that meant she liked it! Maybe next year, I can make a corresponding craft? Anyone out there make or bake anything to celebrate summer?

Happy Father’s Day to all tomorrow! I’ll be back next week with crafty tales!

Tags: baking, cooking, Irish, Irish Soda Bread, recipe

Lemon-Ricotta Cheese Cookies

Since we don’t typically eat or cook ricotta cheese in our home, and we had some ricotta cheese left in the refrigerator after our dinner party last weekend, I looked up a friend’s recipe for ricotta cheese cookies.

I just don’t like wasting food, you know? Here’s my twist on it… taken from the lemon-ricotta cheese blinis we made for our dinner party, I added lemon to the cookie recipe. And, it was lemon-y delicious!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese
• zest of three lemons
• 6 tsp. fresh lemon juice (juice taken from the lemons – save the extra juice)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, sugar and cheese. Add zest and 6 teaspoons of lemon juice to butter and sugar mixture, blend well. In separate bowl, mix salt, baking soda and flour. Incorporate the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Dough will be very sticky. Using a small teaspoon scoop (or just two teaspoons), drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until bottoms turn golden brown. After removing from oven, cool for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling racks.

Make glaze by slowly adding juice to the powdered sugar. Thin consistency will probably only need a couple of tablespoons of juice. Spread over cooled cookies.

Yields about 84

Tags: baking, cookies, lemon, recipe, ricotta cheese

Oatmeal cookie vs. oatmeal cookie

Smitten Kitchen versus Martha Stewart. Can’t go wrong really. Just depends on what you’re looking for. I like a hearty, chewy oatmeal cookie where the oatmeal is the star. My husband likes a thin oatmeal cookie – not sure if he likes crispy or chewy. In either recipe I needed to omit any nuts for the little guy and myself. We didn’t really miss it.

What I enjoyed about the Smitten Kitchen recipe: good chew, good body and texture. I chilled the batter, as recommended, for about one hour before baking (much easier to handle). I did need to substitute dried cranberries for raisins since I didn’t have any raisins on hand in the pantry.

As for the Martha Stewart oatmeal toffee cookie, the toffee makes the cookie. The “nut (toffee) free” version has no depth of flavor to me. We did not need to chill the batter prior to baking, but I’m wondering how that might change the recipe, if at all. We didn’t roll the dough into logs and cut as written because we were lazy. We just used our little cookie/ice cream scoop. This may be why our cookie looks nothing like the picture on Martha’s website. Pretty sure all our ingredients were fresh and measured correctly, too, but I found the cookie to be a little too dry and crumbly for my taste.

Regardless, the kids enjoyed taste testing… Ollie said, “MOM! Can I take a picture, too?” Sure, buddy.

Tags: baking, cookie, eating, martha stewart, recipe