new recipes

As many of you already know I'm obsessed with Pinterest. If you haven't already signed up do it do it, the more people the more fun. Click here to see my pins and sign up! 

Pinterest has become my source for new meals or treaties in our house. I have tried these three recipes. Some disasters and some delicious. 

Disaster. First of all I started making this at 4:00pm and realized it had to cook for 6-8 Hours, what the heck! I love fruit leather but this didn't turn out at all. I only let it cook for 6 hours at 170 cause my oven wouldn't go to 150. After 6 hours it was crispy and not eatable. Maybe I'll try and find another recipe. 

1. Purchase strawberries.

2. Feel sorry for yourself that you no longer live in California, minutes from a strawberry stand, where you are convinced sells the world's best strawberries.

(step 2 is optional)

3. Wash berries

4. Hull and half berries.

5. "measure". You don't need to measure at all--I just did this for he purpose of telling you how much I used (about 5 cups). But use however many you have. 

5 cups of strawberries = about a pan and a half of fruit leather.

6. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. Give them a few good mashes so the juices come out. 

Add a bit of honey (few TBS) if you're not using those amazing strawberry-stand berries.

7. Puree.

8. Pour and spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

9. Put in the oven at 150° for 6-8 hours, until leather peels away easily from parchment.

10. Using kitchen scissors, cut into rectangles, and roll them up. (you can even leave them on the parchment and roll them) 

11. Or just eat them right away.

YUMMY. One of the best desserts. The only thing I would recommend is making it the night before. 

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 

Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel topping, recipe follows

1/2 cup caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.

OK. Wasn't as great as I was hoping. We added tomatoes, maybe that made it not as good, doubt it. It was good just felt like it was missing something. 

 Roasted Garlic Chicken Pesto Pizza 

1 perfect pizza crust 

1/2 cup prepared pesto (store bough or homemade)

1 bulb of garlic

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, 

cooked Mozzarella cheese Parmesan cheeseDirections:

1. To roast the garlic: Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Remove garlic gloves and smash with a fork.
2. Spread roasted garlic over pizza dough. Do this to taste. I used almost the whole (small) bulb, but I LOVE roasted garlic.
3. Spread the pesto on the pizza.
4. Add the sliced, cooked chicken.
5. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
6. Top with fresh grated Parmesan.
7. Bake on preheated pizza stone for 8 - 12 minutes.