Mint Jalapeno Jelly

Can I say that I'm super excited to try this today!  This is the first time I have made something out of my own garden.

I have never been a fan of hot foods.  Just didn't like that burning sensation in my mouth.  So the first time I was offered Jalapeno Jelly I refused.  Did not sound good at all.  Could not believe that someone would make jelly out of jalapeno's.

Then I caved and tried a bit.  Ended up eating half a jar by myself.

If you have never tried this, you must at least try it once.  On a cracker, with a bit of cream cheese.

The website I got the recipe from had these other idea's to use the jelly with.


1. on toast
2. as a glaze for chicken and pork chops
3. as a condiment for lamb
4. on a cold meat sandwich, especially post-Thanksgiving turkey
5. as a de-glazing sauce
6. on brie cheese baked in a puff pastry crust
7. peanut butter and jelly sandwich
8. on a grilled cheese sandwich
9. on vanilla ice cream
10. on steamed carrots
11. as a dip for won tons
12. as a dip for grilled sausage bites
13. on warm biscuits with breakfast
14. glaze for chicken wings
15. spread on cornbread
16. with cream cheese on a bagel
17. on pancakes
18. on a Dutch Baby (see earlier post)
19. in hot tea
20. put into the center of cupcakes
21. mixed with greek yogurt as a vegetable dip
22. on top of cheesecake
23. as a glaze for shrimp
24. between layers of a chocolate cake
25. and right off the spoon

Now I have a ton of ideas to use mine for.  Good thing I'm making more. :0)

Zucchini Brownies

These are on my list to make again today.  And they will probably be gone before I can take a picture again. :0)

You would not know that these are made with zucchini if I didn't tell you.  They are that amazing!  My children love them, my neighbors love them, I could eat the whole pan and not feel a bit bad about it. ;0)  If you have zucchini that your neighbors want to pawn off on you of you were ding-dong ditched and left a ton of zucchini on your door-step, use it up in these and you will be begging for that zucchini that no one can get rid of. ;0)

Frozen Hot Chocolate

I believe this will be my new favorite summer treat.  It made enough for all 5 of us.  It helped that I found out that my one son doesn't like chocolate.  He's 9 and I didn't know this!?!

Check it out and try it!  So good!

Coconut Fruit Dip

I am a coconut fan.  LOVE IT!  So when I had some friends over, I made this.  Yum!

Banana Muffins

We have gotten a ton of banana's lately.  We have eaten them all.  I've not even had some left to make banana bread with.  But there was one and I really wanted to try this new recipe from Pinterest.

SO GOOD!

Love them and can't wait to make them again.  I liked that I only needed one banana and I think I'll put just a bit more pecans in the next batch.

Glazed Orange Rolls

I think I need to put this website on my side bar.  I found a bunch of really good recipes.  Here is the orange rolls I tried.

The baby loved them, my husband said they were gross and he would just have to eat them all.  I liked them warm.  They were really good.  I cooked mine too long.  I did the 22 minutes but they should have come out at 20.  They were just a little brown.  Not really burnt but I would have liked them lighter.

Here is the link over for this recipe.

New Years Treats

7-layer bean dip and Roasted Red Pepper cheese dip.  We were so overwhelmed with dips on New Years but it was so worth it!

I made my own re-fried beans and I could have just eaten them with a spoon!  Add to that home-made guacamole and you have me in heaven!

This Roasted Red Pepper dip is a recipe from my Sister-in-law and my husband and I will eat the whole thing ourselves.  Chips, crackers, bread, you name it, we eat it with it.  Now I'm hungry. :0)

Moutain Dew Cupcakes

This year instead of cookies for Santa, we decided to make these babies. :0)  Found the recipe here and I think they were a hit.  I'm not a MD fan myself but everyone else I know that is loved them.  Santa included.  I really want to try the Dr Pepper ones.  Also found on Pinterest.  :0)

Popcorn

So last night we had a family movie night.  We had just bought popcorn holders for our kids and my husband wanted to use them.  He got in the pantry only to find I had used the last of the microwave popcorn for my caramel popcorn last week.  He was very sad.  But.. I remembered seeing this post from one of my favorite blogs I like to stalk. :0)  So cool!  We had never thought of trying to pop our own before.  I grew up with my mom using a hot air popper and I have always wanted one.  But now I don't need one.

Look what just a little bit of kernels make!  I even put cinnamon and sugar on it.  I didn't have coconut oil but I think I might have to get some.  The baby loves popcorn and loved that she had her own holder.

My other kids were not fans of the cinnamon and sugar but my husband and I were!  So yummy!  And popcorn is a healthy snack.  Depending on how much cinnamon and sugar you put on it. :0)

Lemon Herb Chicken Ring and a Cocoa Add-In

So when my friend came over to craft, we made this for lunch.  It is a Pampered Chef recipe and I love it!

You need:

2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
3 TBS chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
2 packages (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375*.  Zest lemon to measure 1 tsp zest.  Add 2 TBS of the parsley, lemon zest, garlic, mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise and Italian seasoning to the chicken and bell pepper and mix. Set aside 2 TBS or Parmesan cheese and add the rest to chicken mixture. 
Unroll crescent dough; separate into 16 triangles.  Arrange triangles, slightly overlapping, in a circle on a pizza pan.  (I use the Large Round Stone from Pampered Chef.) with wide ends 4 inches from edge of pan.  (Points will extend off the edge of pan.)  Roll wide ends of dough toward center to create a 5-inch opening.
Spoon chicken mixture evenly over dough in a circle.  Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under dough at center to form a ring.  (Filling will show.)  Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese over ring.  Bake 28-30 min.

So good!

I had some for breakfast this morning with my new favorite breakfast drink.  I usually add milk to my cocoa to cool it down to drinkable temperature but I had some Egg Nog in the fridge and used that.  OH MY GOSH!!  Never will I drink plain Egg Nog again or Egg Nog with Sprite.  It was so good!  You really need to try it. 

The other think you can try to dress up your plain cocoa, add pumpkin pie spice.  Plain cocoa is just to over-rated and Stevens is pricy.  So just dress up the cheap stuff and you've got your own gourmet cocoa.

Cookie Day

I am so sad that I am no longer in scouts for my church calling.  Today was suppose to be Den Meeting for my Wolves but since our ward split we had canceled it.  I decided that we needed one more get together as a group. 

So I have spent the day making these cookies from Our Best Bites.  LOVE THIS SITE!!!

I also cooked up a batch of Farmhouse Sugar Cookies that is my Great Grandma Winnifred's recipe.  They are so good the you can just eat them and eat them.  With or without frosting.

I'll be posting later how cute they all turned out and how my first attempt at Royal Icing goes.  I'm so going to make up a batch of Buttercream Frosting to go with the cookies I'm hiding for me to eat with candy corn faces. :0)