Tiajuana Trash

I love the name of this goodie mix!!!  It is so fitting!  A little sweet, a little spicy and some tortilla chips!  

Perfecto!

This recipe comes from the MOPS cookbook from Central Christian MOPS in Wichita, KS.

Tiajuana Trash

2 sticks of butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 ts cinnamon

1 ts cayenne pepper

4 cups Crispix cereal

2 bags microwave popcorn, popped

1 bag bite sized tortilla chips

1 large can mixed nuts.

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan.  

In the meantime, mix together remaining dry ingredients in extra large bowl.  I had to use 2 bowls as it is a LOT of stuff.

Pour wet mix over the dry mix and stir to coat well.

Spread out on 2 greased cookie sheets and bake at 250 for 1 hour.

Store in ziplocks or air tight containers!

NOTE TO SELF: don't just dump the bags of popcorn in.  Do it by hand so you don't get all the unpopped kernels in your trash! Or you may break a tooth as you are pigging out on your trash.  Oops!

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls and GIVEAWAY

Welcome to DAY 2 of the 12 Days of Giveaways hosted by Mommas Kinda Crafty!!!

Santa told me that he doesn't want cookies this year.  He wants these:

Whole Wheat Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

(PS. This is the Recipe of the Month for December, go here for the Recipe of the Month Challenge details!)

Make Santa (or Santa's little helpers) happy this year and make them!  Here's how:

Dough:

1 cup apple sauce or apple butter
2 large eggs
2 tbsp warm milk
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 ts salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 ts cinnamon
4 cups white wheat flour (or 3 cups white flour, 1 cup red/"regular" wheat flour)

Filling:

2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 can apple pie filling

Directions:

Mix all ingredients, except yeast and flour.

In separate bowl, mix yeast and flour.

Slowly add flour mix to the wet mix.

Cover and let raise for 90 minutes.

Roll into rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

Spread melted butter on dough and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Add pie filling and spread out to cover the dough.



Roll up and slice into 2 inch rolls.



Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Watch them and take them out when the tops start to brown! 

Eat as is, or top with cream cheese frosting! "YUM" says Santa!

Now for the GIVEAWAY.

Momma Chef is giving away a set of these fun "FAMILY" blocks (clock and figurines not included):

Giveaway open to US residents only.  Three entries per person to win!  Leave a separate comment for each entry.  Giveaway open until Dec 4th at NOON.  Winner will be chosen at random and announced on the afternoon of Dec 4th!

1) Be a follower of Momma Chef (Mandatory), leave comment telling me so.

2) Be a follower of Mommas Kinda Crafty, leave comment telling me so.

3) Check out some of the recipes on Momma Chef and tell me which one you want to try.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Whole Wheat Pinwheel Cookies

Just so you all know:

Even Momma Chef has some epic failures in the kitchen... 

take these pinwheel cookies for example.

Had to scrap them off the cookie sheet with a spatula and eat the goop with a spoon.

I got this recipe from a Taste of Home magazine, which usually never fails.  But apparently this one did.  As you can see... nothing like the picture in the magazine!!!




Being the Momma Chef I am, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create my own  Whole Wheat Pinwheel Cookie Recipe!   Results were better than I expected!!!

Here's what you need for:

Cookie dough
1/2 cup butter, softened NOT melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Filling (same filling from Taste of Home mag... with a couple changes):

1 cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening
1 ts pure vanilla
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts almonds
2 tbsp red and and green decorative sugar (or sugar in the raw.


Make the cookie dough by creaming together butter and sugar. Then add all other ingredients and mix until you get a nice cookie dough.

Spray a 2 foot sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and plop the cookie dough on it.

Spray another equal sheet and put it on top of the cookie dough.

Roll the cookie dough into a 12 inch by 10 inch rectangle.

Place in fridge for 30 minutes, to firm up.

In the meantime, melt chocolate chips in the microwave with 1 tbsp shortening. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, sugar and almonds.  Mix well.

Take cookie dough sheet out of fridge and remove top layer of plastic. Spread the chocolate mixture on top evenly.




Then grab hold of the bottom piece of plastic wrap and starting rolling up the cookie dough like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls.







When you get your cookie dough made into a log, place it back in the fridge with the plastic wrap around it and let it chill for about 2 hours

When firm, cut into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch slices with a sharp knife and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Not as pretty as the Taste of Home picture... but at least my recipe actually worked!!!

Plus, they are whole wheat and taste delicious!!!

Wheat Berry Pie {Faux Pecan Pie}

Check out this

Faux Pecan Pie

It is made with wheat berries instead of pecans!!!  

 

All I know is that if I ever need to whip up a pecan pie and don't have pecans... I have a ton of wheat and I will make this!!! 

Go check out the recipe at Ucreate Foods HERE.

Cranberry Almond Scones

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I decided to make something that would be good for Thanksgiving breakfast.  It is a light on the go type breakfast, since the main focus of Thanksgiving is lunch/dinner.


Cranberry Almond Scones

Here's what you need:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup butter, cold
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 ts nutmeg
1/4 ts salt
zest of one orange, finely grated
1 cup brown sugar
1 ts pure vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1 egg

1 can cream cheese frosting or use the recipe HERE to make your own.

Prep:

Pre heat oven to 375*.

Mix chopped cranberries with the brown sugar and let sit, this will help sweeten up the berries.

In large bowl, cut the butter into the flour until it is the consistency of meal.  Then add all other dry ingredients: baking powder, nutmeg, salt, orange zest.

In a separate bowl, mix milk and egg and vanilla.  Add cranberries and sugar.  Mix.

Fold wet mix into the dry mix.  Mixture will be sticky.  Do not overmix.

Spray a plate or cutting board with cooking spray and spray your hands.  Form into a 1 inch thick round loaf. See below:

Cut into 8 piece like you would cut a pie.  Place pieces on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375* for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let them cool.  Then warm up your frosting and using a spoon, drizzle the frosting over the scones to make them extra tasty and extra pretty!!!

 I have a bunch of other holiday breakfast ideas:
Pumpkin Scones
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Pumpkin Spice Bagels

Ooooooo and come over and enter to win a prize in my 

Recipe of the Month Challenge.   

Basically, you make my recipe of the month, send me a photo and tell me how you liked it and you are entered! EASY as PIE!

Guest Chef: Caramel Swirl Hunks

 Rich! Chewy!  Yummy!

Hi, I am Shannon!  I am doing a little blog swap with 

The Best of Momma Chef!

I am looking forward to meeting some of her friends, I hope you will stop by North Dakota Kitchen and visit me too!






These are magnificent in my book, but then there is no such thing as a dessert that is too rich for me!

 2 cups of unsalted butter, yep that is right!
3 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c white sugar
4 large eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 c quick oats
4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chocolate chips- I used the whole bag...at this point you might as well go for broke!
1 (13 oz) can dulce de leche* (or half of batch recipe below) this is usually sold where you will find your sweetened condensed milk


 Preheat oven to 350 and spray 9X13 pan. In bowl blend butter and sugars, add eggs, vanilla and oats, blend well. Mix flour with powder and soda and salt and mix into butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread evenly into pan.

 Next place dollops of dulce de leche over top and swirl in with knife.

 Bake 40 minutes or until batter is set, if it is getting too brown and still jiggly in center, reduce oven to 325 and continue to bake another 10-15 minutes.
cool and cut into large chunks. Store in fridge or freezer.

* if you can not find dulce de leche  you may make your own ( a day ahead or more)
Spoon two 14 oz cans of sweetened condensed milk in top of double boiler. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally 3-6 hours or until deep amber in color, Remove from heat and cool in refrigerator, store 2-3 weeks in fridge.

This recipe from the cookbook A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

More Wheat Berry Recipes

I have been getting lots of requests for more wheat berry recipes.  I made a crock pot of wheat berries and decided to cook up some new recipes to share.

Need to know how to make wheat berries from the whole wheat kernels? Go Here.

The recipes I cooked up today are:

Cheesy Wheat Berry Burgers

Wheat Berry Pudding
 

Cheesy Wheat Berry Burgers

2 lbs ground beef

1 cup wheat berries, cooked

1 cup shredded cheese

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Form into burgers by grabbing a hunk, squishing it into a patty and running your thumb around the edges to squish any cracked parts back together.  

Slap them on the grill (I cheated and used the indoor grill).  Grill until they reach your desired "doneness". 

We sprinkled a little more cheese on, thru them on top of a salad and topped it off with some avocado slices! Divine!

And we MUST have dessert!

Wheat Berry Pudding

This pudding rocks and I love the little bit of chewiness that the wheat berries give it.  I love Irish Oatmeal or Steel Cut Oats because of the chewiness.  This is similar.

(this picture stinks... it DOES taste 100x better than it looks)

4 cups wheat berries, cooked

3 1/2 cups whole milk

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 ts cinnamon

1 tbsp pure vanilla

2 tbsp salted butter

1 tbsp lemon juice

Put all ingredients into a pot.  Simmer on med-low for about 40-50 minutes.  Stir occasionally to prevent   pudding from sticking to the bottom and to prevent boiling over.

Pour pudding into bowls or Tupperware to cool.  It will thicken as it cools, so don't be worried if it is still pretty runny when you transfer it over.  It is supposed to be!

Cool, then put lids on the put in the fridge.  We like it best when it is cold!  Nothing like a good cold pudding.

I found some more amazing wheat berry recipes HERE at Joseph's Grainery.  I can't wait to try them all!!!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cake

I made the most AWESOMELY, wonderful, sweetly, AMAZING cake the other night. 

We took it to a friend's house for a dinner party and it was the biggest hit.  From the Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting to the moist spiced pumpkin cake.... It was to DIE FOR!!!
 

Head over to Joseph's Grainery for the Recipe.  It is right HERE.

I made the recipe with 100% hard red wheat flour and it turned out amazing.  A big thank you to Joseph's Grainery for the WONDERFUL recipes that are right up my whole grain alley!!!!

If you haven't done it yet, go HERE and enter to win a bag of Whole Grain Cookie Mix from Joseph's Grainery!!! 

Giveaway open until Nov 21st, 2010 at Noon.  Don't miss out!!!

Whole wheat Turkey Cookies and Wheat Berries

 ****Don't forget to enter the Joseph's Grainery Whole Grain Cookie Mix Giveaway!!!****


If you are looking for the wheat berries... Scroll past these yummy cookies!








My daughter is signed up to bring snacks to preschool tomorrow. So I whipped up these cute little guys!

What you need:

A batch of THESE whole wheat snickerdoodles

A can of frosting or make your own

Candy corn

M&Ms or skittles

A few chocolate chips

Make your cookies, then frost around the outer edge where the candy corns will go.

Smoosh on the candy corn.

For the eyes and beak and gobble thingy, dab a little bit of frosting on each piece of candy and stick it where you want it to go.

Ta-Da! Turkeys!

Now for the wheat berries:

What are they?

Wheat berries are like cooked rice, only it is cooked wheat.

You take the whole wheat kernels and cook them in a crock pot or soak and boil them.

Here is my favorite way to cook them:

Mix 1 cup of wheat with 3 cups of water in a crock pot. Cook on high for 4-5 hrs (depending on your crock pot). When the berries are soft like cooked rice, they are done.

So what do you do with wheat berries?

You can use it as rice replacement, meat fillers, or in desserts.

You can make this Whole Wheat Hamburger Casserole.

Or go here and check out the awesome recipes at Joseph's Grainery.

Or stay tuned for a new Teriyaki Stir Fry with Wheat Berries I am making tomorrow. I have my wheat berries cooking as I type.

Maybe you should go get some started too!!!

Linked to this linky at Hodge Podge Friday.

Whole Wheat Banana Bars

OK, I am a big lush for sweet goodies.

I love baking. I justify my sweet bread tooth by converting everything into whole wheat or whole grain.

When I saw some over ripe bananas at my mother-in-laws house, I was more than happy to dispose of them for her.

I got this awesome recipe from a good friend, Angie. She made these one night when we had a family get together and I have been dying to make them again.  Here is Angie's recipe... knowing me... I just tweeked it just a little to make it whole wheat.

Banana Bars/Muffins

1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour     I used 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (red wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas)

Cream butter and sugar.

Beat in eggs.

Stir in sour cream/yogurt and vanilla

In separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients.

Stir dry mix into wet mix, do not over stir.

Mix in mashed bananas.

Pour into a 9x13 pan or muffin tins.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out clean.

Frosting:

1 package cream cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cup powdered sugar

2 ts vanilla

Cream all ingredients together and glob it on top of your delicious muffins or bars!!!

Low Carb Coconut Cheesecake

I have been dying for some dessert. I have been baking and whipping up all kinds of goodies for other people... things that I can't eat... well at least not more than a little nibble.

The hubs and I love us some cheesecake. So I decided to try a new spin on it and go with some delicious coconut! We bought some AWESOME unsweetened coconut flakes from my MOST FAVORITE local store here in Wichita, KS called the Nifty Nut House.  They have the most amazing nuts, candy, chocolate, trail mixes and more IN BULK for INSANELY cheap!  Jealous are you????  Don't be... they take orders.  Go to their website and check it out!  Here is the AMAZING unsweetened coconut flakes.  They are REALLY flakes and not little shreds like you get from the grocery store for triple the price!

SO.... do you want to make this!!!!

Low Carb Coconut Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/4 cups finely chopped almonds
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp Splenda

Filling: 
16 oz cream cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 cup half and half
1 ts coconut extract
1 ts 100% pure vanilla
1 cup Splenda
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

 Soften cream cheese by defrosting for 45 seconds.  Beat until smooth.

Add 1 egg, vanilla, coconut extract and Splenda and beat for 1 minute.

 Add final egg and beat again for 1 minute.  Set aside while you make the crust.

 

In a food processor, chop up the nuts! Melt the butter and mix into nuts with the Splenda.

Press into a 9" pie dish.  I like a thick crust, you can use less nuts if you want to.

Pour filling into the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.

Cheese cake will look like this when you put it in the oven.  And when you take it out will will be puffy and look like this:

 Let it cool on the counter for about 30 minutes, then put in the fridge until chilled.  It will sink back down and give you pieces of cheesecake that look like the piece above!!!


Servings: 8 slices
About 350 calories per slice
About 5.5 carbs per slice 

I think the next cheesecake I make will be PUMPKIN or BUTTERNUT SQUASH!!! 

Harvest Pumpkin Brownies

Check out this fabulous recipe HERE at Everyday Food Storage.



Here are mine right out of the oven. We will see if I can get a picture of them frosted and served before they get eaten!

I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin.

Next time I will try the bean purée instead of oil! Yay for food storage recipes.

Autumn Cookie Samwiches

LOOK at this CREATION...

My daughter calls it "Cookie Samwich"

Here's what you need:

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Molasses Gingerbread Cookies (recipe below)
1 tub of pudding or a scoop of ice cream or frosting

Take 2 cookies, pop on your favorite filling and smoosh the cookies together!  Voila! Cookie Samwiches.  

I love this pic.... the cookie monster is lurking!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Molasses Gingerbread Cookies  (wow that's a mouth full and your mouth will be full after you make them.... or while making them in my case :)!!!)

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, salted (if you use unsalted, add 1/2 ts salt to the recipe)
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup molasses
1 ts vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (or butternut)
2 ts baking soda
1 cup red wheat flour
2 1/2-3 cups white wheat flour (or all purpose white flour)
1 ts cinnamon
1 ts ginger
1/2 ts nutmeg
cinnamon sugar with a dash of ginger


1) Cream together butter, shortening and sugar.  
2) Add molasses and eggs and vanilla.  Then blend in pumpkin.
3) In a separate bowl sift flours, baking soda and spices.
4) Mix wet and dry mixtures together.

5) Place dough in the fridge to chill. (or not, but it makes it a little more difficult to roll in sugar)
6) Spoon out big globs of the chilled dough and roll in cinnamon sugar.
7) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  Cookies will puff up.  When you take them out of the oven smoosh them flat with the back of a spatula.  This recipe makes the best cookie for sandwiches, nice and thick!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Scones

I have been playing around with a scone recipe.  I like scones to be fluffy and moist, like a good biscuit, only sweet.  I hate HATE when they are dry and crumbly.  These are a quick and delicious treat.  It only takes about 10 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook.  I love making these if I am in a pinch and need a delicious and unique treat FAST!  When I went visiting teaching yesterday, I whipped up some of these and took each lady a jar of THIS YUMMY PUMPKIN BUTTER! Perfect topping for the perfect scone.... not that these scones even need topping.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Scones

1 cup red wheat flour
1 1/4 cup white wheat flour
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1 1/2 ts pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 ts cinnamon, 1/2 ts nutmeg, 1/4 ts allspice and 1/4 ts ginger)
1 stick of salted butter (if you have unsalted add 1/2 ts salt)
1/3 cup pumpkin or butternut squash puree
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 ts vanilla

Mix both flours, baking powder and spices.

Cut butter into dry mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix pumpkin, yogurt, brown sugar and vanilla.

Add dry mix to the wet mix and mix just until combined.  Do not over mix.

Flour the counter and plop out the dough.  Shape into 2 flat circles about 3/4 inch thick each. Cut each circle into wedges like you would cut a pie.  A pizza cutter works great for this.

Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Here is the recipe I came up with for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. Actually I used butternut squash.... which I am obsessed with almost as much as I am with whole wheat.

Dough:

1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin (or butternut squash)
2 large eggs
2 TBSP warm milk
1/4 c butter, softened
1 1/2 ts salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1 TBSP yeast
1 ts cinnamon
1/2 ts ginger
1/4 ts fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 ts allspice
2 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c red whole wheat flour

Filling:

1/4 c melted butter
1/2 c sugar
2 ts cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together in kitchen aide mixer or knead together by hand. Knead for 5 minutes. Dough will be fairly sticky, DO NOT over do the flour. Spray your hands with cooking spray if necessary to knead the dough.

Let dough raise for 90 minutes.

Roll dough out into a rectangle and sprinkle with 1/2 c sugar and 2 ts cinnamon. Roll up and slice into cinnamon rolls.

Place into greased baking pan, cover and let dough rise for 1 hour. Or let rise for 20 minutes and then put in fridge to bake in the morning. Simple take pan out of fridge in the morning and let sit for 30-45 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Here is Daddy Chef eating his smothered in cream cheese frosting! Didn't his momma teach him to eat with his mouth closed!




  NOW: head on over to the Recipe of the Month Challenge to WIN a fabulous prize!     This recipe is linked to: