caramelized onion & bacon quiche

I love quiche. But I like quiche that has flavor to it. Quiche Lorraine is ok, but really low on the flavor meter, unless a good ham was used, not a processed one.
This quiche recipe is full of flavor, so much so that a small slice will satisfy. There is a layer of caramelized onions in this quiche that will have your tastebuds come alive! So tasty, gently rich and the best part? The leftovers get better--meaning when all these flavors have time to sit and meld they taste so good you can even eat them cold. And cold I do! I adore cold leftover quiche.



There is a touch of balsamic vinegar to kick those caramelized onions up a notch (Emeril would be proud and there would be no onion police coming to my house). Gruyere cheese has the best flavor, but I added some strong sharp cheddar to it to enhance it even further.
I also added another notch to this by adding a double crust. I hate quiches that have thin, weak crusts; a strong flavorful, hearty quiche like this one needs a thick and hearty crust to support it.


caramelized onion & bacon quiche
semi-adapted by Simply Recipes
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1 recipe pie dough, pate brisee or you can use store bought pie crust
1 - 2 TB olive oil
3 large sweet onions, chopped in long strips, medium size
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups half & half
3 large eggs
Pinch nutmeg
1 cup Gruyère cheese, grated
¾ cup of sharp cheddar, shredded
4 - 5 slices of cooked bacon (I used thick sliced), crumbled/chopped

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 9 inch pie dish pressing dough into corners and around the edges. Transfer to freezer to chill for 30 minutes. (note, I made a double crust, since I like a thicker crust)
Preheat oven to 350°. Place parchment paper on pie shell then fill at least two-thirds with baking weights - dried beans, rice, or aluminum pie weights. Bake first for 15 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tines of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling. (Note: I did not poke holes)
Cook bacon to well cooked, place bacon on paper towels to drain. Remove all bacon grease from pan (do not clean the pan) and add in onions (I did not clean the pan as I wanted the onions to absorb some of the flavor of the bacon). Keep pan on medium heat, add on the olive oil then add the onions. Season with salt & pepper. Caramelize the onions, this should take about 45 minutes +/-; stirring onions every 10 minutes
On the last ten minutes of caramelization add in the TB of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan, combine thru. Remove from heat, set aside.
In a bowl combine the 2 cheeses. Sprinkle half the cheese mixture evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread onions over the cheese, then the crumbled bacon and then top with remaining cheese.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the half & half and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese. Transfer to oven, and bake at 350 degrees until just set in the center, 45 - 60 minutes (this all depends on your stove, mine took about 48 minutes).
Cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Serves 6-8.

Mint Chocolate Crunch Brownies

Over here on Cape Cod it is raining, dark and oh so humid today. The remants of Hurricane Hanna are crossing over our island; so this is not a day to be outside. The humidity is 100% and the dew point is 74., with a temperature of 77 degrees. (now I know what it feels like to be in the rainforest). Ugh. So crank up the A/C, turn on the oven and let's bake something yummy to cure this boredom. Days like this I crave a good brownie and I wanted a good, hearty frosting on top. So I made a buttercream frosting, then added in crushed Mint Oreo's (the whole cookies). Yes, it was good. Sinfully good

Chocolate Mint Crunch Brownies

1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (top-quality), broken in 10 pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (top quality), coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

minty frosting:
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners sugar
3-6 TB room temp unsalted
2-4 TB heavy cream
¾ ts peppermint extract
A drop or two of green coloring (optional)
About 20 +/- Oreo cookies with filling, coarsely chopped (plain or mint flavored Oreo’s)

To make the brownies:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 9x9x2-inch square cake pan.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper. In top of a double boiler melt chocolate and butter over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat.
In an electric mixer mix eggs, sugar and vanilla on high until slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture and mix on medium for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and mix on low 10 seconds, then on medium 10 seconds. Add sour cream and mix on medium 5 seconds.
Scrape around sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula to combine thoroughly. Use spatula to fold in chopped chocolate. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

To make the mint frosting: Beat until smooth 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3-6 TB soft butter, 2 TB heavy cream, and 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract. Add a drop or two of green coloring, if desired. Spread filling evenly over the cookie layer, cover, and chill until firm, about one hour. (you can add more of less of the butter & cream as you wish—I like a thicker frosting so I use more butter, less cream). Add in the coarsely chopped Oreo’s and mix well. Then spread over brownies. If desired you can then add a layer of chocolate glaze: Melt 1 ounce of semisweet chocolate and 1 Tablespoon butter. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Drizzle over brownies. Best to chill the brownies to set before cutting.

peanut butter & jelly crumb cake

It's back to school for a lot of my neighbors, clients, friends, and even hubby is back to school this coming week. Another year of grad school; let's just throw another $15K to the ever-growing pile of debt shall we? Seems like we'll be paying student loans for the rest of our lives: mine and his. And now we're buying our first home...are we crazy? No, we're just like every other person on this planet living and breathing debt.



To me the beginning of back to school means peanut butter and jelly. I can't remember the last time I had crumb cake, but I wanted to experiment and make a PB & J crumb cake for the longest time. It came out pretty good. It's really rich, a lot of that has to do with the thick peanut buttery crumb topping. I would love to hear from you on what meals remind you of Fall and what are you excited to bake/cook/experiment with this coming Fall season?


peanut butter & jelly crumb cake
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1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temp. (not natural)

for jam drizzle:
1 jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly (I used raspberry: seedless)
Confectioners’ sugar for decoration (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour an 8x8 square baking pan.
In a large bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Using a mixer (or by hand), beat in the softened butter until mixture resembles wet sand. No large lumps. If using a mixer, do not over beat. Remove between ¾ - 1 cup of the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside. (I did about a cup since I wanted a lot of crumb topping and thin cake; just like a crumb cake).
With the remaining mixture add in the buttermilk and egg, mix well. Then pour into the greased pan, spreading evenly. There is not a lot of batter; it does rise when baking so don’t worry. Take the remaining flour mixture that was set aside and add the cup of peanut butter to it.  Mix until you have a nice, almost dry crumbly mix.
Then drop or crumble large chunks of this onto the cake. Do not press the crumbs into the batter; just let them sit on top.
Bake for about 30 -35 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. While cake bakes make the jelly reduction. Take a small jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly, and let gently melt in saucepan over low heat. Do not boil. To make the reduction slightly thicker add a bit of cornstarch (a TB or so). But you shouldn’t need to do this as after it’s melted it does thicken a bit.
When slightly cooled drizzle cake with the melted jam. Then dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

coconut-caramel pecan shortbread bars

For those of you that watch football you know that one saying the announcer says before Monday Night Football. The one where he says "Are you ready for some foooooootbaaaalll!" I love that part. And then I can change the channel. Maybe if I understood the game of football I might appreciate it. It just seems all the football players do is get in a nice straight line, shout something out, then all run into a pile. When I bite into one of these caramel coconut goodies all I can hear is: "are you ready for some shhhhhhortbreaddddd!" These bars were amazing. They remind me of a samoa cookie in bar form with extra shortbread; if a samoa cookie were to mix with a twix bar.  Yes, that's it! The caramel and coconut melded so nicely together on top of the slightly salty shortbread. caramel-coconut pecan shortbread bars
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2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
¼ cup of toasted pecans
20 ounces soft caramel candies (or make your own caramel sauce)
5 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

Preheat the oven to 350°. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed just until the dough comes together.
Press evenly into a 8 x 8 non-stick baking dish. Then sprinkle the chopped pecans over the dough (do not press into dough). Bake until lightly golden, 30 – 40 minutes, depending on oven (mine took 35). The shortbread might be a still a little soft, that’s ok. Recipe by Dawn Finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com It hardens when it cools down.
You are looking for a very light golden brown. (this is not a cookie so you don’t want brown edges).
In a medium saucepan, melt the caramels with the cream and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt over medium heat.
Stir in the coconut, then spread over the shortbread. Let this cool before adding the chocolate. (I put it in the fridge to cool). I put the melted chocolate into a plastic bag, closed it up then snipped off a small tip at corner and drizzled the chocolate on that way.
Let cool completely before slicing.
This is really hard to slice when cooled, so use a sharp knife that is warmed up before slicing (run under hot water).
cook notes: If you don’t have a non-stick pan, then line your pan with foil (plus the edges) as you will need help removing this from the pan; caramel makes it stick. I found that removing this from the pan then slicing it on a cutting board was much easier than cutting it in the pan.
The next time I make this I might want to incorporate a layer of chunky peanut butter somewhere.
You can also make your own caramel sauce for these, I just didn't have time to.

cheesy reuben calzones

Who doesn't love a good Reuben sandwich? I know I love it when they are made right. You know what I'm talking about, one that is on perfect thick rye bread, piled high with corned beef, a good amount of tangy sauerkraut, and dripping with warm melted cheese. And with all that said, I like to have a giant side of thousand island dressing to dip each and every bite into. YUM. The last time I had a Reuben that good was in NYC last October at Juniors Restaurant.

We sat right outside, right in the heart of Times Square. And let me tell you, their sandwiches were HUGE. They did not disappoint at all. It was one of those mile-high sandwiches that you see on those TV Travel shows that leave you drooling, keeping a mental note to visit that place for sure. Obviously their sandwiches were way to big to finish, even my husband (who can eat) did not finish. But being as full as we were we knew we had to have Juniors famous cheesecake for dessert. After all that is what they are famous for is the cheesecake with fresh strawberry sauce. Just writing all this is making me so hungry. I have no clue what they do to their cheesecake, it's a decades old recipe: so creamy, light and tangy . And the strawberry sauce on top just complimented the tanginess of the cheesecake so perfectly. The pics on their website doesn't do this cake and sandwich justice. If you know about Juniors (I know Adam knows about them, he better!) then you know exactly what I talking about in terms of quality and exceptional taste. With all this said, I had a craving for a Reuben, but didn't have any rye bread, just pizza dough and melded the two together. That crust, dipped in a bit of Thousand Island dressing was delish.

cheesy reuben calzones
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1/2 pound sliced corned beef
1/4 pound Swiss or provolone cheese
½ cup sauerkraut, drained very well
Thousand Island dressing
Pizza dough
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line baking sheets with Silpat or greased parchment paper.
Cut dough into 2 even pieces, 4 if you want smaller calzones. Roll out into a circle to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Spread some thousand island dressing in the center of the dough, use as little or as much as desired. Place a piece of cheese on top of the mixture and top with 3 to 4 slices of corned beef, then a bit of sauerkraut, make sure to squeeze out excess liquid in sauerkraut before using.
Finish off the pile with another slice of cheese.
Fold dough over the filling and pinch the edges shut, making sure nothing can leak out.
Repeat instructions for remaining dough.
Gently spread a bit of olive oil on tops of calzones (plus the crust) before baking, and if desired sprinkle with salt & pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika (I did all these). I always think its better to season the crust and tops.
Place on baking sheet and slice 2 to 3 holes in the top of the dough so that steam may release.
Place the calzones in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes (depending on oven), then remove from oven and top with any remaining cheese. (I used cheddar cheese for variety).
Return to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes; keep an eye out for the dough to turn a nice golden brown color. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes then slice in half.

Note: I used Whole Foods pizza dough. For me it just always tastes fresh, and it truly makes a perfect crust. The next time I make this I will try and use a whole wheat pizza dough for the texture, and a bit more thousand island dressing inside. I do think the swiss cheese tasted best. I might even add dill pickles to the inside this next time for that extra bite of twang.

chocolate & peanut butter cake w/ ganache & reese's pb cups

Calling all peanut butter & chocolate fans! This, my friends, is the ultimate cake for you. If you are a huge PB & C fan then you must make this extremely decadent cake. This cake has PB & C in every pore of its being: in the cake, in the frosting and as a edible garnish.
I have been craving this cake for a while now, and I finally made it a reality. To be honest I ate so much of the ganache that I barely had room for a slice a cake, but don't worry I made room, I'm not dumb. You really need to have a tall glass of ice cold milk at the ready when you have a slice of this PB & C masterpiece, as it really is that rich, and makes you really thirsty. All good cake creations, if they are made right, they leave you thirsty.

peanut butter & chocolate cake w/ chocolate ganache & reese's pb cups
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for the cake: 1 box (18.25 ounces) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Good pinch of salt
2 cups mini Reese peanut butter cups, chopped, plus 1 1/2 cups more for garnish (about 2 - 12oz. bags) 

ganache:
12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 TB of confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
Line with waxed paper; coat paper. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil and salt on low for 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high; beat for 2 minutes, scraping down side of the bowl after 1 minute. Fold in 2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups.
Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let layers cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Turn out cakes onto wire racks and cool completely. To make the PB ganache place chopped dark chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and confectioners sugar, whisking all till nice and smooth.

To frost the cake, you can first trim the tops of you cakes (with a serrated knife) first to make them flat, I didn't do this. Put one cake layer on cooling rack and place on a baking sheet. Pour some ganache on top; spread evenly with a spatula.
Then place remaining cake layer, and pour remaining frosting over the top, allowing it to spill over the sides. Smooth top and sides with spatula (see Note below). Refrigerate 1 hour to set. Transfer cake to serving plate and garnish with the chopped Reese's PB Cups.

cook notes: I saved a bit of the ganache to put on the cake just before adding the chopped Reese's PB Cups to act as a glue, making sure everything adhered correctly, then chilled it again to let it set. So basically, frost the cake, then chill, then add a thin layer of ganache again, add the garnish, then chill again.

strawberry-pecan crumble bars

I love any kind of dessert or sweet treat with strawberries in it. When strawberries are in season I make special trips to Whole Foods just to buy their organic strawberries. The Whole Foods I go to (in Hingham, MA) has from the end of May, to end of June these giant, organic sweet strawberries from Driscoll. In my opinion they are the sweetest strawberries ever; known for having the very best color, taste, and texture. Driscoll farmers have one of the best reputations for producing the very best crop of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.. Look for the Driscoll name next time you grocery shop, I bet you'll notice a difference in taste; sweeter, juicier and by far way more appealing.
So, when I'm at Whole Foods I always buy three container of strawberries, two to take home, and one to eat on the way home. With one of the batches of strawberries I made this delicious little dessert treat. These bars taste really, really good with vanilla ice cream on top.




strawberry-pecan crumble bars
recipe from vanillasugarblog.com
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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 + cup pecans, toasted & finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup butter, room temp
1 large egg
3/4 cup strawberry puree (see below)

strawberry puree:
1 large container (bigger than a pint) of fresh strawberries, chopped into ½ inch pieces
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB cornstarch
1/8 ts cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

For the puree, in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat cook strawberries, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Stir frequently until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Let it cool for an hour or longer; it will thicken over time.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and pecans, then stir in the butter and egg until mixture is crumbly, like coarse and wet sand.
Put a half the layer of the crumb mixture on the bottom of pan, make sure to press it in good and get all the corners. Recipe by dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com Then add the strawberry filling, and then put remaining mixture on top; placing it as chunks or lumps.
Put the mixture on loosely, and evenly, No need to press down on this, we want it thick and airy like a crumb cake topping.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool bars in the pan before slicing. The jam filling is hot, please let it cool.
Makes 12 bars.

Chicken Kabobs

I have been craving these bad boys for a while, ever since Spring started actually. I've finally come around to making them. And I have to be honest, they were fab! They satiated my craving completely.

I did not grill them, although from the pics it looks like they were grilled, but in fact they were broiled in my oven. Yes, you can get these fab char marks from your oven if you experiment a bit. I have mixed thoughts on grilling poultry on the grill--some experts even say you should never really grill poultry on the grill because it does not cook evenly. The middle of the chicken might not get cooked through. I kind of agree with that statement. This broiling method I did in the oven came out great. It was my first time in the oven, normally I do the grill. I served these with baked sweet potatoes (I was going to do rice, but I'm not allowed rice on my diet unless it's brown rice and brown rice does not go with this dish.

Grilled Chicken Kabobs
Serves 4–6

Marinade
½ cup orange juice
½ cup pineapple juice
¼ - ½ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 3 - 4 limes)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 ts honey or sugar
2 ts ground cumin
2 ts ground black pepper, or to taste

Note: you might have to adjust the above measurements according how much you are making.

Kabobs
4 - 6 skewers, 10- to 12-inch
Assorted vegetables cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (zucchini, yellow squash, red and green bell peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms
1 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into 1-inch pieces

To prepare the marinade: In a large bowl whisk together the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and pepper until well blended. Set aside.

To marinate:
Use heavy duty plastic bags for marinating. Place all vegetables into one or two bags. Marinate all protein selections in separate bags. Divide the marinade equally among the bags, seal, and marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bag occasionally, for about 3 hours, or overnight.

Soak wooden skewers in water to cover for at least one hour before grilling.

Assemble the skewers as you like. I do piece of chicken, 2 or 3 pieces of veggie, then chicken, then 3 veggies, etc.. Throw away the marinade. Also, it’s good to wrap the ends of you skewers with foil before placing them on the grill. (I did not do this when I broiled in the oven).

Just before grilling I put salt & pepper (lightly) everything.

Grilling method:
Preheat the grill to 375°F (a medium-hot fire). Grill the chicken until just cooked through and slightly charred, turning often, about 8- 10 minutes.

Oven method:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. (mine was at 500 F). Arrange the skewers on a large rimmed nonstick baking sheet in a single layer. (I used the actual oven rack with a pan underneath to collect drippings; the poultry cooks better with nothing underneath. Cleanup was not that bad if you used a pan to collect drippings.)

Bake the chicken until just cooked through, about 10 - 15 minutes.
Transfer the skewers to a platter and serve.

Levain Bakery CC Cookie Clone

I've always wanted to make giant chocolate chip cookies, but I didn't want large and flat, I wanted big and thick.
Mainly because I'm so inspired by the world famous chocolate chip cookies sold at Levain Bakery in NYC.
Have you heard of them?  Been there?
The owners of Levain did a Throwdown with Bobby Flay.  I loved that one and I watched it with an eagle eye when they were in their kitchen, trying to spot secret ingredients--no such luck!
One of the best cookies I've ever had.

How to describe how good they are?
Crisp crust, almost-chewy inside, light in texture but dense (like a light shortbread with a hint of cakeness), very dense in flavor.
No one knows their recipe, it's a best kept secret, but there are some really good clones out there that come very very close to it.
After some research I found a recipe at Cookie Madness.
Someone said, along the way that Levain Bakery does not put the vanilla extract in, I seriously want to try that next time to see what it tastes like, and maybe a hint more salt.
One thing that I noticed, is they (the bakery) have confection ovens, so I know that makes a huge difference in making a really good crisp crust around the cookie.






levain bakery chocolate chip cookie clone
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2 sticks unsalted butter, cold (been rumored Levain uses European butter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts pure vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour (13 ½ oz)
3/4 ts salt (I used sea salt)
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 cup nuts (pecans or walnuts)

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. (I don't have a mixer so I did this by hand).
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
The dough needs to be chilled, so you can divide cookie balls out now and chill or cover bowl and chill. I made the cookie balls, set them on the baking sheet, and put sheet in fridge for about an hour.
Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time). (I chilled my dough balls BEFORE baking)

Bake times (I chose the latter):
Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, without opening oven or removing cookies, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set.
Otherwise, you can bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until done.
(Mine did 24 minutes, but I have a convection oven)
Makes 12 (mine made 14)

My kind of Chex Mix (full of flavor and goodies)

Ever go to a party and taste the Chex Mix they have out on the table of food and wonder what happened? Did they just throw a box of Chex cereal with some peanuts and pretzels and then throw some Worcheshire sauce on it? Even the stuff they sell in thr grocery stores is not that great. When I eat Chex Mix I want flavor, and I want variety. So, I created my own.

This version has lots of flavor, a variety of crunchy things like: sesame sticks, mini cheese Ritz, pretzels, dry roasted peanuts, roasted almonds, etc.... Try it, I know you'll love it, so will your party guests.

Dawns Tangy Chex-Mix

5 cups wheat chex
5 cups rice chex
5 cups Cheez-Its or other cheese form crackers
2 - 3 cups pretzels (mini size)
3 cups of mini Ritz crackers
3 cups of sesame sticks or oat sticks (can’t find these add what you crave instead)
2 cups peanuts, dry roasted
2 cups almonds, roasted
1 cup butter melted with
1 cup Italian salad dressing (I used Newmans Family Italian)
4-5 tbls. Hot Sauce (optional but gives wonderful zip)
7 tbls. Worcestershire Sauce
Sprinkle with: garlic powder, dried chives, onion powder, and paprika

Salt & pepper

Mix together the dry ingredients in large bowl. Melt together butter, dressing on low heat. Add Tiger sauce, Worcestershire, and remaining ingredients. Stir and turn off heat allowing to cool for a few minutes.

In the meantime, heat up your oven to 250 degrees and spray two or three cookie sheets lightly with a garlic or butter flavored spray (Spray is optional). Or you can use a non-stick cookie sheets.
In a very large bowl or several bowls drizzle slowly (a little bit at a time) the liquid mixture over the dry mixture (you can do this in batches if you don’t have a large bowl—it’s not good to put all of this in one bowl and overcrowd it, since you want all the little pieces to get evenly coated). Stir, drizzle some more, etc. I really take my time mixing so that I don't make anything soggy, and everything gets well coated.

Spread in a single layer on baking sheets, sprinkle with a bit of salt & pepper before baking, then bake about 40 - 60 minutes (mine took about 40 in a convection oven).

Every 15 - 20 minutes I open the oven, stir the mix a little and close it back up. Sometimes I reverse which oven racks the pans are on.

When done, shut off the oven and open the door slightly. I leave the pans in the oven to cool and continue drying. Store in an airtight container.

Serves: about 10 – 12+ as a snack

Sunday Morning Flap Jacks..

Mmm. These buttermilk flap jacks came out so tasty. They were soft and moist on the inside and a good solid crunch on the outside. They didn't need any butter, but loved a good warm coating of warm pure maple syrup. These never last long in my house. I used real buttermilk and another secret was a good pinch of salt. The salt brings out the tanginess of the buttermilk.

Can you hear the sizzle of the buttermilk batter as is bathes itself in the hot butter?

Turn me over...ahhhh

Success! Yum. All this with an ice cold glass of milk, followed with a hot cup of coffee. A very good way to start your Sunday morning. Yes?

Buttermilk Flapjacks

2 cups flour
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. fine salt
2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 beaten eggs

Put flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and whisk to combine; set aside.

Whisk together buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk together until just combined to make a thick batter. (For tenderer flapjacks, don't overmix the batter.)

Heat an 8" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp. butter and heat until the butter's foam subsides. Ladle in about 1⁄2 cup of the batter. Cook the flapjack, turning once, until deep golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total.

Transfer to a large plate; keep warm. Repeat process with additional butter and remaining batter to make 8 flapjacks in all. Serve hot, topped with butter and maple syrup and a dusting of confectioners' sugar.

Serves about 4