Cranberry Coconut Bars

Ingredients:
BASE:
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup flour
pinch of salt

TOPPING:.
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1½ cups fresh or frozen (unthawed) cranberries
½ cup shredded coconut
powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8×8-inch pan with nonstick spray.
2. Prepare base: In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Stir in flour and salt until well combined and crumbly. Press into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake about 12 minutes until just barely golden around the edges.
3. Prepare topping: In the same bowl (no need to wash it) combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add egg and egg white, lemon juice and stir until well-blended and smooth.
4. Smooth cranberries and coconut evenly over the base. Pour lemon filling over top. Bake 40 to 45 minutes until golden and set. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if using, before cutting into squares.

Cracker Jacks

Ingredients:
½ cups Unpopped Pop Corn Kernels
2 cups Spanish Peanuts
1-½ cup Brown Sugar
⅓ cups Light Corn Syrup
½ cups Butter
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions:
In an air popper, pop the kernels according to your machine’s manual. My machine only allows you to pop 1/3 cups at a time, so make sure you follow your machine’s capacity instructions. You should have almost 4 quarts of popped popcorn using 1/2 cup of kernels.
Dump the popcorn and the Spanish peanuts in a clean tall paper grocery bag. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a medium sauce pan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt over medium heat and allow to gently boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn off heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Carefully and immediately pour caramel sauce into the paper grocery bag and stir the sauce, popcorn, and nuts with a wooden spoon until the sauce is evenly distributed. Take the popcorn mixture and evenly scatter it between both greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Allow to cool and break up the pieces (if desired). Store in Ziploc bags or airtight containers.

Praline-Apple Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
1 (8oz.) container sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped, peeled Granny Smith apples(about 3/4 pound)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*. Bake 1/2 cup pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 to 8 min. or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 4 min.
2. Beat sour cream and next 3 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until blended.
3. Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to sour cream mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in apples and 1/2 cup toasted pecans. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9-x5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chopped pecans; lightly press pecans into batter.
4. Bake at 350* for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, shielding with aluminum foil after 50 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.
5. Bring butter and brown sugar to boil in a 1-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and spoon over top of bread; let cool completely(about 1 hour)

Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture, beat well.
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; then remove to wire rack.

Cauliflower Soup

http://cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2009/09/cauliflower-romano-garlic.html

Game Day Chile

Ingredients:
1 TB olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1 lb mild turkey sausage, casings removed
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
1 cup of grilled corn kernels, about 2-3 ears of corn
1 can chili beans, drained but not rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained but not rinsed
3 TB chili powder (I did a combination of regular chili powder, chipotle chili powder and New Mexico chili powder)
1 TB smoked paprika
1 TB cumin
1 TB garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 good pinches of salt
1 dried New Mexico chili, whole
1/2 bottle Sam Adams Octoberfest (if you prefer not to use beer, sub 1 cup red wine, chicken broth or water)
1 28 can of diced tomatoes
4 squares dark chocolate (about 1 oz), rough chopped

Directions:
Heat Dutch oven with 1 TB olive oil. Add onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened, season with salt and pepper. Add turkey sausage and crumble. Cook through, then add chopped peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes until peppers begin to soften. Add chili powder, spices, salt and dried chili and stir. Once all the spices have combined with veggies and meat, pour in half a bottle of Sam Adams Octoberfest (or any other beer you are drinking) and deglaze bottom of pot. Cook for 1-2 minutes then add in tomatoes and stir. Bring chili up to a boil then simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Add chocolate to chili and stir. Continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes on low heat. Taste for salt.Serve with your favorite toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream or Greek yogurt, grilled corn kernels, chopped cilantro, green onions.