Peanut Apple Butter Bites

When you go a little out of your head with the excitement of fall and all the beautiful apples and buy 3 bushel for your little family of 4, you end up with a LOT of apple butter, apple sauce, apple jelly, apple pie, etc etc etc.  :)

What to do with all that apple butter?  Well, I'm so glad I found this recipe and THANK YOU Crazy for Crust, because this is certainly a keeper. :)

Everyone is a HUGE fan....me and my crunch obsession would like to tweak them a bit to see if I can make them crunchy, but don't let my psychosis stop you from giving these a try - everyone DEVOURS them - I've had probably 6 or so! :)

Apple Butter Bites

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c apple butter
1 c graham crackers, crushed
1/2 c crushed nuts 

What To Do With It:
Mix peanut butter and apple butter til smooth.  Mix in graham crackers.  Chill for approximately 30 minutes.  

Roll into balls.  

Roll balls into crushed nuts.  

Refrigerate.  

Reclaimed Food Week #4

You can never have too much produce - at least we can't here at the Hive!. :)

Gotta love all the goodies this week!

Tuesday 1/22

You should see Ze-Ra devour those mangoes - they are all gone already!  And Te-Man has made pretty fast work of those Carrots and oranges.  As for the salads, those were gone in less than 24 hours as well.  The mushrooms, well some went into this Venison Pot Pie and the others are being saved for Spaghetti! 

Thursday 1/24

All of that beautiful lettuce and those peppers will very soon be turned delicious salads - yum!

Have you called your grocery store yet?  

Pickled Beets - Challenge 2013 Recipe #3

Wanna know a secret?  Until I made these beets, I had never had a pickled beet before.

The whole idea just is not at all appealing to me.  But, as I've said quite a few times on here - I LOVE being wrong, especially about food - especially beautiful jewel toned, food.

These were super simple to make and I can't say that I'll be jumping at the chance to eat them everyday, they were SO MUCH BETTER than I thought they'd be.  I can actually see myself reaching for them occasionally.  ;)

DIY Test Kitchen Pickled Beets*

*I can't find a link to the recipe and I'm not comfortable posting recipes out of the cookbook online - so I'll keep checking back periodically and I'll update this post if I can find a link.

Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake

I am a Sucker (with a capital S) for those $1 bags of bananas at the grocery store.  And really...they are awesome.  We go through bananas like nobody's business, but why do I buy so many! :)  I was in need of a way to use up those bad boys and I just wasn't feeling banana bread or banana pudding and I already have a ton in my freezer for smoothies....so....Banana CAKE! 

Wolverine, Ze-Ra, and Te-Man just couldn't get enough.  It was gooey and sweet and just really different than any cake I've ever had.  

Needing to mix it up this weekend?  Need the perfect cake to go with your Pina Colada on Saturday?  This is it!  I think we should all mix up some umbrella drinks, grab our suits, and head out to the pool (and pretend we aren't getting freezing rain and ice today).  Who's with me?! 

Banana Coconut Upside Down Cake
Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/4 c oil
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c water
6 bananas, sliced 1/4" thick
1 1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter
2 T lemon Juice

What To Do With It:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease 2 8" round cake pans.

Beat together cake mix, eggs, oil, sour cream, and water until smooth.

In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt butter.  Add brown sugar and lemon juice.  Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Pour into baking dishes.

Place bananas in a single layer on top of the brown sugar mixture.

Sprinkle with coconut.

Pour batter into pans.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to rest for about 5 minutes before inverting.

Unbelieveable Cheese Cake

Have you ever made something and been literally speechless about how fantastic it was?  It sure doesn't happen to me often, in fact, I think this is the only time.  I made this cheesecake for Wolverine's birthday last year and WHOA!

I'm not a big cheesecake fan, they all taste just blah to me.  Either the texture is wrong, or the flavor is off, or it's got some horrifying mixture of fruit and chocolate....but Wolverine - cheesecake is his favorite.  And I want my man to be happy - so I searched high and low for the perfect cheesecake recipe to mess up make for his birthday.

I have never, never, been so impressed with myself.  I literally sat there the entire time I was eating my slice just waiting for it to suddenly be terrible.  I mean, cheesecake isn't...good.  Is it?

Then I made it again....I even made it by halving the recipe and making it in a 7x7 ceramic baking dish....and it was still phenomenal!!!  WHAT?!

So now it's my turn for a birthday, and I can't find the bottom to my springform pan!!!!...the last time I saw it was in a hotel just before a 3 week camping trip this past June...and we've moved since then.  I can't find it in the camper and it's not in my cabinets.  So...I used 2 loaf pans.  hahaha.

Whatever, I don't need my food to look pretty - especially when it tastes so good! 

Unbelievable Cheesecake

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:

15 Graham Crackers or 1/2 Recipe Homemade Graham Crackers, crushed 

6 T butter

2 T sugar

4 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 1/2 c sugar

3/4 c milk*

4 eggs

1 c sour cream or greek yogurt

1 T vanilla

1/4 c all purpose flour

What To Do With It:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mix crushed graham crackers, butter, and 2 T sugar.  Press into the bottom of a greased springform pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth.  Using a spoon or a spatula, blend in milk, then add eggs one at a time - mixing just until incorporated.

Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour.  

Pour filling onto prepared crust. 

Bake for 1 hour, turn oven off.

Leave oven door closed and allow to rest for 5-6 hours.  

Chill.  

*I wanted some lemony goodness for my birthday so I only used 2/3 c milk and filled the measuring cup to 3/4 with lemon juice.  I also added the zest from 2 Meyer lemons....and YUM!

Venison (or Beef) Pot Pie

The weather here in NC is a little bit like it was in the midwest....if you don't like it, wait a day or two and it will change. :)

That's so true here!  It was 70 degrees on Monday and then Tuesday it was 45.  What the heck is that?!  Well, with weather like that all I want is pot pie.  The Super Parents are coming this weekend and they are staying for week!!!  YAY!!!  They are bringing some venison to replenish the dwindling supply in my freezer, so I thought I'd go ahead and use the last coveted package of venison chops - I'd been saving it, but knowing more is coming makes me feel better about using it. :)  Oh...did I mention how amazing my parents are?!  :)

This was phenomenal.  Ze-Ra almost burned her mouth because she was too impatient to let it cool.  Even Te-Man was getting in on the "mmmm's". I ate enough to feed a horse - which is about how hungry I was yesterday. :)

This recipe makes 2 pot pies, but it would be easy to half the recipe if you aren't interested in making such a large amount. :)

Venison Pot Pie

What's In It:

2 T olive oil

1 1/2 lb venison, cubed

2 lb potatoes, diced

1 lb mushrooms, diced

1 lrg onion, diced

24 oz mixed frozen veggies, thawed

2 carrots, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

1 t onion powder

1 t garlic salt

1 t poultry seasoning

1/2 t mustard powder

2 t steak sauce

1 t pepper

1 t worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

6 c water

1/4 c corn starch

4 9" pie crusts

What To Do With It:

In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat.  Sear meat on all sides.  Add 3 c water and spices.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered for 90 minutes.  Remove bay leaves.  Add 2 c water and potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery.  Bring back to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer for 30 minutes or until veggies have reached desired tenderness.  Stir in mushrooms and mixed vegetables.  

In a small container, shake 1 c water and corn starch until smooth.  Stir into stew mixture and simmer until desired thickness is reached.  

Roll out 2 pie crusts to approximate shape of baking dishes (I used an oblong 10x7 and a rectangular 11x8).  Place one pie crust in the bottom of each baking dish.  

Pour half of the stew mixture into each dish.

Top with remaining pie crusts.*    

Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees F. 

*At this point I freeze one for later use.  If I remember, I allow it to thaw in the fridge the day I am going to cook it - but either way, I tent it with tin foil for the first 20-25 minutes and increase the baking time by at least 20 minutes.  

Overnight Steel Cut Oats

Do you like eating oatmeal?  I do, too.  Do you like feeding your family a more nutritious option than quick oats?  I do, too.   Do you like spending 45 minutes cooking steel cut oats for your family in the morning?  I don't, either.  What to do....What to do....

Here's the answer! Overnight Steel Cut Oats.  Start to finish, including clean up, I'm done in less than 15 minutes.  Say what?!  15 minutes....that's fantastic!

Overnight Steel Cut Oats

What's In It:
1 c steel cut oats
4 c water
pinch salt

What To Do With It:
Bring all ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat (can use high heat if you're willing to commit to stirring it pretty frequently).  Boil for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Cover and allow to sit on counter overnight, then refrigerate.  When you're ready to eat, heat through, add your favorite oatmeal toppings, and serve.   

TA DA!

I normally transfer the oatmeal to a storage container and wash my pan right away that night.  I can then, in the morning, scoop out what I need and put the rest straight into the fridge.  I often make a double batch and it will be good in the fridge for a week, maybe longer....just doesn't last around here. :)