Smore Bars

I tried s'more bars for the first time while at Ramona's Table for dinner with Jenn. We split one and agreed that it was amazing. Ever since I had it I have been looking for a recipe for s'more bars but all of them just did not seem to be like the one we had at Ramona's Table. Finally when reading a food blog a couple of weeks ago I found this recipe and it did not disappoint. If I were to do it over again I would have added a bit of caramel like the one I had from Ramona's Table. This would be a great dessert to bring to a Labor Day cookout!

S’More Bars (adapted from a recipe on The Hungry Mouse)

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs or approximately 14 crushed up graham crackers
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6-8 milk or dark chocolate bars (I used both milk and dark chocolate Hershey’s bars)
3 cups marshmallow fluff

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9X13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.
Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (the easiest way to do this is by flattening the dough into small pieces and laying them together).

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

My mom has always grown a lot of rhubarb in her garden so I grew up with all sorts of foods with rhubarb, rhubarb cake, rhubarb bread, rhubarb pie, but none of them compare to this rhubarb upside down cake. Now that I have a house of my own, I also am growing rhubarb and made my cakes with half my rhubarb and half my mom's. Give it a try!

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Crumb topping:
4 tblsp. Unsalted butter, melted
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
Coarse salt

For the cake:
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for buttering pan
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut on a very sharp diagonal, about ½ inch thick
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Course salt
½ tsp. finely grated orange zest plus 1 tblsp. Fresh orange juice
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the topping:
Stir together butter, flour, sugar and ¼ tsp. salt, until moist and crumbly.

Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (I used an iron skillet). Dot with 4 tblsp. Butter, cut into
Pieces. Toss rhubarb with ¾ (or more) cup sugar; let stand for 2 minutes. Toss again, and spread in pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and 1 ½ tsp. salt. Beat remaining stick butter and cup sugar with mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in zest and juice. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, until smooth. Spread evenly over rhubarb. Crumble topping evenly over batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and top springs back when touched, about 1 hour. Let cool for 10n minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake, and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Tailgate Tuesday: Cornbread Two Ways

Our friends over at The SideLion Report recently recruited us for a series of posts dedicated to tailgating and football. Check back every Tuesday for a new recipe relating to football or tailgating. This week we will start the series off with two recipes for cornbread, a sweet family favorite from Catherine and a savory and slightly spicy recipe from Jennifer. For some Lions fans, cornbread has a special meaning as hopes run high for a good season so this is a great way to start off the series.

Catherine's Sweet & Easy Cornbread

1 box of Jiffy Yellow Cake Mix
1 box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
3/4 C of milk
1 T of water
2 eggs

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan or line muffin tins with papers.

Mix all ingredients well and blend for 3-4 minutes. Pour batter into greased baking pan or muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove when a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Jennifer's Green Chile Cornbread

1 c flour
3/4 c yellow cornmeal
1 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c fat-free buttermilk
2 eggs
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies, drained
3 tbs. butter, melted
1/2 c. low fat shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray.
2. Combine the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Combine the buttermilk, eggs, chiles, and melted butter in another medium bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Gently stir in the cheese. Transfer the batter from the pan and spread evenly.
3. Bake until the edges are golden, 17-22 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Cut into 12 squares and serve warm.

*Taken from WeightWatchers My Turnaround Cookbook.

Peach Muffins

The other week while I was at the farmer's market, I grabbed a bunch of local peaches. I haven't done much baking with peaches before and decided to give peach muffins a try. They turned out delicious! They were some of the best muffins I have ever had. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com and altered it a bit. Enjoy!

Peach Muffins

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten (I used 2 egg whites and 2 eggs to use up some egg whites)
2 cups white sugar (I used Splenda for part of it)
2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped peaches

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2.In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. Fold in the peaches. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.
3.Bake 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chicken, Cheddar, and Apple Wraps

I was excited to get my first bag of Michigan Paul Red apples for the season. As much as I love summer, I really enjoy fall foods, including anything with apples. I made Melissa D'Arabian's four-step chicken the night before and cooked an extra chicken breast without the sauce. The next day, preparing these wraps for dinner was so easy! The combination of cheddar and apples is amazing, and the honey and Dijon mustard sauce pairs it perfectly.

Chicken, Cheddar, and Apple Wraps

5 t. Dijon mustard
1 T. honey
handful of chopped romaine lettuce
12 slices of reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 lb. sliced cooked chicken breast
1 apple, peeled and cut into thin slices (the cookbook suggests Granny smith)
4 large flour tortillas
dash of salt
dash of pepper

1. Combine the mustard and honey in a bowl.

2. Layer the lettuce, cheese, chicken, and apple slices on each tortilla. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with the mustard mixture. Roll them up and enjoy!

*Adapted from Weight Watchers My Turnaround Cookbook.

Pork Loin with Peach Marinade

I am generally scared of cooking pork, mainly because I don't have much experience doing it. I needed a change from our usual summer meals and when I saw that pork loin was half-off at Meijer last week, I thought I would give it a try.

When I got it home, it looked HUGE, even though the entire five pounds cost only $7.50! I planned on making it for when Catherine and Aaron were coming over, and I knew that even with them we could not demolish the entire thing. I promptly cut it and put half in the freezer.

Because I had never had pork loin before, I had NO idea how to make it. I searched all of my cookbooks and didn't find much. I even consulted my mom, who always gives good advice. My Costco cookbook (Homecooking: The Costco Way) had "Ol' Gramma's Stone Fruit Marinade" for a pork loin. It called for any type of stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, or plums) and I had just bought some peaches from the farmer's market. Perfect!

I gave it a try and it turned out great! It was moist and flavorful. I was relieved that we had something edible to eat that night and I feel much more confident about cooking pork now. I can't wait to use the other half from my freezer and make it again!

Pork Loin with Peach Marinade
*Adapted from Homecooking: The Costco Way

3 peaches (or nectarines or plums), cut into chunks
1/2 c packed brown sugar
3 T olive oil
1/4 c cider vinegar
dash of Worcestershire sauce
dash of black pepper
1 clove crushed garlic
1 3-4 lb. boneless pork loin

1. Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until pureed. Pour 2/3 of the mixture over pork and marinade for 12-24 hours. Save 1/3 of the mixture for later.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. Sear the pork in oil for a few minutes a side. It helps if you can do this in an oven safe pan! Cover the pan (I just used the pan lid) and cook for about 1.5-2 hours or until the pork reaches 155 F. In the last 20 minutes, heat the saved pureed mixture in a saucepan.

3. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes and slice. Serve with the peach sauce and a peach garnish!

Desert for Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Pancakes

The best part of the weekend is making pancakes on Saturday mornings. We usually like adding frozen blueberries or bananas, but recently we had the craving for chocolate. We didn't think that chocolate would go well with my Wheat and Honey mix, so I made the pancake recipe from William Sonoma Breakfast (thanks to Patti). Instead of chocolate chips, I added decadent chocolate chunks that melt into the batter.

I liked the Williams Sonoma recipe so much that I decided to make a large batch of it to keep for the future. This way, I don't have to continually buy pancake mix, and it saves money. I highly recommend this homemade pancake recipe, and of course, adding the chocolate!

Homemade Chocolate Chip Pancakes (adapted from William Sonoma Breakfast)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tbs. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients, then slowly add the beaten egg and milk. Do not overmix the batter (it will be thick). Preheat a nonstick griddle and spray with cooking spray. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbles appear all over the surface. Flip, and let cook about a minute longer. Enjoy!

Makes about 2 servings (6 pancakes). To use for the future, mix several batches of the dry ingredients and keep in a closed container.