Worldwide!

Wow!There are people all over the world reading my blog! Thanks, guys!! Germany, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and The USA. Thank you all! That is very exciting! I will be in Deadwood, SD for the Memorial Day Holiday, But I will be posting new recipes Monday and Tuesday. I have a butterfinger Dessert, Cucumber Garden Salad, and a few other things. I MIGHT share some of our Rib secrets, but we will see! Ha ha ha! I would also like to share my revised Rootbeer Cookies.. YUMMMMM! Thanks Y'all, Love my Followers!! Heather

MMM Fruit Pizza... AGK style!

MMM! Doesn't that look just light, yummy, and refreshing! To me, fruit pizza screams summer! I got all of this fruit from the walmart in Miles City (MT.). They have much better produce than our Walmart ( Williston, ND) I guess one is 55 miles away and one is around 100 miles away, so... it's a toss up lol. I like Miles City because we can usually meet our bro and sis in law as it is the half way point between our homes. However, this fruit pizza was for dessert for our mother's day bbq. It tasted as good as it looks!!! I used the air bake pan that my Aunt Donna gave me for Christmas two years ago... I LOVE that pan! Never burns anything... even if you forget about it!! This recipe was super easy and very yummy! I hope you enjoy this, even if you have had it before, each one is different!! Summer is officially here after this Memorial Weekend!!!

Fruit Pizza AGK Style (AGK= Almost Grandma's Kitchen)

You Need:

Mixed variety of fresh fruit. (I would only use mand. oranges or pineapple if I HAD to have canned)

1 package cream cheese(8 oz.)

1 small container cool whip ( I use cool whip free)

brown sugar to taste, probably about 1/4 cup or less

vanilla, 1-2 teaspoon depending on tastes, I like 2

2 teaspoons or so or less lol, just to gently sprinkle on top

Crust:

Sugar Cookie Dough ( make your own, or buy refrigerated, I will post a sugar cut out recipe later, cut out doesn't work as good for this)

First, you need to make your crust in a large, round shape. Don't be afraid of the sugar cookie dough, just work it and roll or press it out in a thin and even round shape. I like the airbake pan because it doesn't burn the crust. Feel free to use a pizza pan. Bake according to your recipe or package instructions.When your crust is golden brown take it out and set it to cool,

While you cookie is cooling, get a blender, food processor, or large bowl with an electric beater. ( I prefer a food processor, it is just easier for me) blend/whip your cream cheese until it is smooth. ( I set my cream cheese out to warm about an hour before I use it.)

add vanilla, and some brown sugar, blend again and taste to see if the sour "bite" has sweetened. Be sure not to make too sweet though, because you will be adding sweet cool whip. start with two or three spoonfuls/pinches. add entire cool whip (smaller sized container). add vanilla as well. you may add orange or lemon crystals ( like "True Lemon" or "True Orange") If you want to add a citrus kind of base. Taste the cream mixture to see if it is sweet enough for your liking. now frost your cookie with a thick layer, thick enough to press the fruit into.

Clean and slice all of your fruits, press into layer or creme, and sprinkle lightly, just dust, with white sugar. chill and slice! Yum! I like strawberries, kiwi, grapes, mango, blueberries, plums, and peaches, but you can use any fruits you'd like! I also have made a veggie pizza using crescent roll crust, ranch herb dip for the creme, and washed, sliced raw veggies, great appetizer or party pleaser! Have fun, guys and be creative!!!!

Roasted Vidlia Onion Wild Rice

Yes, this sounds yummy, however, we found it quite blah and had to add some watkins chicken broth to it to make it servable.. I was disappointed. However.... I know some people have different tastes than I do, so I will post the recipe as it was given to me and let you make your own opinion. I did add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup strong watkins chicken stock/broth and let it cook in the oven with the sweet potatoes until we were ready to eat. Here is the original recipe ( OH! and I used only 1 onion, and I just cooked them in butter with the fresh garlic chopped ( I doubled the garlic) until clear, then added the rice, instead of roasting the onion)

Wild Rice with Slow Roasted Vidalia Onions
Serving Size: 4 Servings
Ingredients:
2 Large Vidalia Onions, unpeeled
1 Cup Wild Rice
3 1/2 Cups Water
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Cloves Garlic, peeled
1 Bay Leaf
4 Tablespoons Butter
To Taste Salt and Pepper
3 Tablespoons Parsley, chopped
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap each onion in aluminum foil. Bake for 3 hours or until tender. Remove onions from foil and peel when cool enough. Coarsely chop; reserve.
2. In saucepan, combine rice, water, salt, garlic and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain excess water; remove garlic and bay leaf.
3. Over high heat, brown butter. Immediately add rice and onion. Stir until rice mixture is hot and excess water has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Ok, Well, it is 11pm and I need sleep, ha ha! So I will have to post the super delicioso Butterfinger dessert tomorrow! I know some of you have probably had it before, but it was new to me this year. I had it at Easter and oo-la-la! It is a winner, I tell ya! It's for sure a "you'll like it, you betcha" dessert! :) Have a good one y'all and enjoy cooking!!! Heather

Whipped Sweet Potatoe casserole

OOH! COLORED TEXT! HA! Ok, I am a big dork, and just realized this feature! he he! Ok so orange is fitting for the sweet potatoes! I don't like to use canned yams or sweet potatoes unless I have to. I love them fresh. They are packed full of vitamins and other good-for-you stuff, so don't tell the kids they are a veggie! ha ha! Seriously though, they are super healthy! I do add some not so healthy stuff to them, but all in all... not much! I like to cook for a crowd so feel free to cut my recipes in half, or whatever works for ya!

This dish is light and airy, but not calorie free by any means. You could use substitutions I suppose, and it would prob turn out just as good.

My husband loved these so much he ate the entire bag of left overs... cold...ugh! I can't do cold starches... I am a texture eater! HA! Oh well, he cracks me up! You would have swore I made candied yams! LOL. Surprisingly these have little sugar in them. I used the Emerald brand Pecan Pie Glazed Pecans, but any glazed or candied pecan would work, as well as plain pecans tossed on med heat with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and a spoonful of water until they were "glazed". but when cooking a meal this big... I don't glaze my own pecans! haha!

You Need:

6 Sweet potatoes (mid size range) or mix of sweet potatoes and yams. (the brighter colored orange are the sweet potatoes, the yams are yellow-er. Well Really, they are both sweet potatoes, just 2 different varieties and yams are actually a south american tropical tuber that can be up to 7 FEET in length and we don't TRULY have them here, but that's a whole other story, ha ha!) ok, start over, LOL!

5-6 mid size sweet potatoes, washed and peeled ( I know, I usually like to leave peels on, but these are very tough and thick, so we need to peel them) cut into chunks

just enough water in the pan to almost cover the chunked sweet potatoes

a pinch of salt ( to help bring the water to a boil)

3 T butter (Margarine would work, but will not be as good of consistency)

about 1/4 to 1/2 C brown sugar, reserve some to sprinkle on top

a smidgen of ground fresh or dried nutmeg ( just to very gently sprinkle on top)

1 package (about 3/4 Cup) Emerald Pecan Pie Glazed Pecans (or what I explained above)

1/2 C to 3/4 C heavy whipping cream ( not cool whip- like the cream you can drink)

2 egg whites

Okie Dokie...soooo boil the sweets until tender ( I cover mine and stir occasionally to prevent sticking) then drain them ( I know, seems a waste to drain that vitamin filled water! Feel free to save it for a soup or to cool and water plants with... or use it to cook your rice in) mash them with your spoon or fork just to get them started. Now... add the butter, salt and pepper to taste ( I like pepper alot) Now you can whip them with the electric mixer, or if you don't have one, just whip them good with your masher or sturdy whisk. Whip until creamy and smooth with no chunks, slowly adding your cream as you whip ( about 1 minute should do the trick) now if you want them thicker add a 1/2 C cream, up to 3/4 C to make them the consistency your family desires. ( I used a full cup and it was too much, I would use 3/4 cup for the perfect whipped likeness) Now whip in the egg whites and half of your brown sugar and keep whipping until you potatoes can hold the little waves shapes that the mixer makes ( about another minute or so). Take a teeny taste and see if you need the rest of your sugar or not. Remember, the nuts will add a small amount of sweetness too) Save a Small amount to sprinkle atop your dish. Crush the pecans. Spread the sweet potatoes in a glass cake pan, sprinkle thoroughly with pecans and the brown sugar. gently sprinkle nutmeg over the dish, very lightly. pop in the oven at 300 for 1/2 hour to 45 mins, until steaming hot in the center. This is a HUGE hit with EVERYONE, well.. unless they don't like sweet potatoes, or are freaked out by orange foods. ENJOY!!! Oh! And this easily feeds 6-8 or maybe even more, people, as a side dish of course. we had 6 and used about 3/4 of the pan... but we had 2 other side dishes as well.

Orange Essence Sugar Snap Peas

Ok! So that was the duck, my hubby also did some pineapple chicken breasts on the grill, thank goodness! Ha ha! Cause it was super yummy! LOL, But I will save that for the Hawaiian Luau Post! That will come later this summer, maybe in June/July when my sis IL, Bro IL and the nephews are up! The side dishes we made were all acceptable, the rice was nasty, but I don't like wild rice, and we didn't use all of the onion and the brown rice just never seems to get as soft as the white rice. But the Snap Peas were amazing, and the sweet potatoes rocked. SO here it is: lol

These are the Orange Essence Snap Peas, I thought they would be icky, but I actually REALLY liked them! It's super easy, you can use fresh or frozen, but fresh is much better. Frozen is good, but it is so easy to get them mushy on accident.



You need:

Sugar Snap Peas ( amount depends on how many people you are cooking for, use your judgement)

zest and juice from 1 half of an orange (really, just a half!)

1 T Butter (or margarine would work just fine)

Cracked salt and pepper to taste ( I didn't even bother with salt)

Directions:



Simply bring some water to a boil (just enough to cover bottom of sauce pan about 1 inch deep) boil/steam until tender, if frozen, boil/steam until heated through, but not mushy. Drain water, add butter and keep on heat, zest your orange ( that's scraping the peel gently with a serrated knife or small grate, or zester just until the white shows, you only need the orange colored part of the peel) over the peas and give a gentle toss to the pan. Now, after you have a good visual amount of the zest ( so it looks pretty, like the picture... then it will be about enough zest) then give that orange a good squeeze or three and stir it all together. Let it heat up until the butter is melted and the peas are hot then dump into a serving bowl ( or serve out of the pan and save dishes, ha ha!) Voila! Done! And they have just enough sweetness to go with the buttery flavor. SUPER YUMMY! I would have never thought of putting oranges on peas without the internet, ha ha ha!

Red Plum Glazed and Smoked Duck

Here is the Glaze for the Duck (or chicken, pork loin or chops, or maybe even a beef loin) It is slightly sweet, spicy, and smokey. It is super yummy! gives a nice crunch and zest!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
•1 cup plum jelly
•4 cloves garlic
•1 tablespoon fresh ginger
•1 tablespoon soy sauce
•1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Place on ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. About 1 hour before you are done smoking the duck paint over the entire surface. Continue glazing about every 15 minutes until done.

Now we did this exactly every 15 minutes towards the end of the duck being smoked. Then we put the duck in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes to crisp the skin. It was Fabuloso! However, I don't like dark meat, so I just ate a piece of the skin, and a tiny piece of meat, ha ha! But everyone loved it, there was only one little short, fat leg leftover! (In case you have never had duck, they are slightly larger than a chicken, but have longer, larger wings, and teeny, tiny, short, fat legs! They look really funny without their feathers! They also have a TON of thick, nasty, fatty skin. If you are going to roast or smoke a duck, you need to take a knife or large pointed object and poke tiny little holes all over the duck to allow the fat to seep out. If you do not prick the duck, it will be, to me, inedible. The fat does not taste good like how beef fat can sometimes be flavorful, duck fat is too rich and funky tasting, ha! You should go to about.com or other websites to find tips on smoking duck, or email me and I can send you some resources. We also used a (beer) can cooker, like what most people grill or roast a chicken on. This allows the fat to run also, otherwise you will have greasy duck, lol! It took around 50 minutes per pound to smoke our fresh duck, it was juicy and tender.

Recipes to follow

Hello all! So, this last week and a half has been a little crazy. It's been busy busy, then sick, then busy again! LOL.so I have failed to posta recipe last week, however, I will make up for it by posting our entire dinner full of recipes after tonight. I want to try them all first before I post them! Ha HA! The menu includes Smoked Plum Duck, Wild Rice with Videlia Onion, Orange scented snap Peas, and Whipped Sweet Potatoes Casserole. If anything is gross, lol i won't post it ha ha ha!

Chippy Blonde Brownies

No, I didn't pick the name, LOL and I think if I were to name them, which, ok ok I will REname them now, I would/will call them : Golden Cash Brownies sounds funny, but I put cashews in them and mmm mmm mmm! So Here is my first food blog entry! After looking through Taste of Home's Cookie Cookbook ( I LOVE Taste of Home!) I found and modified a great blondie brownie recipe! We made it tonight, not sure if the power was going to stay on and cooperate or not... so far so good! ha! We have been having a string of crazy weather, and it has been accompanied by a string of power outages! I'm pretty sure the mayonnaise will need to be thrown out if it goes through one more power outage! Ha ha! Ok , Ok , on to "brownies". By the way, I didn't know that brownies didn't have to be chocolate! LOL!

Golden Cash Brownies

15 mins Prep, 25-35 mins Bake Time

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons Butter, softened NOT melted.

1 Cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Baking Flour ( I like Wheat Montana Premium Baking Flour)

1 Tsp Baking POWDER

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Cup semi sweet Chocolate Chips ( I like Godiva Milk Chocolate Chips) (or Hershey Mini Kisses)

1/2 Cup semi crushed or chopped Cashews

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy ( I use a hand mixer because I have wrist problems, but you can use a spatula or nylon mixing spoon, however you like to do it. A mixer is super fast and easier). add eggs one at a time, beating each one well. Beat in vanilla.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together and add gradually while beating/mixing mixture. stir in (by hand) choc chips and nuts. The nuts are optional of course, due to allergies, but they are good! I suggest adding them. Pour into a sprayed ( i use olive oil spray, you can grease your pan however you like) You can use a cake pan or brownie pan depending on how thick you want your brownies, they don't puff up very much, so as long as you have clearance in your pan, it shouldn't bake over! You could even use cupcake or mini cupcake pans if you want them to be pre-portioned. baked at 350 for 25-35 mins depending on your pan. A knife or toothpick should be able to be inserted into middle of pan and come out clean.

These are really good alone, but super good with vanilla bean ice cream! I plan to serve them with afternoon tea, Target had these GREAT Calypso Elephant Tea Pots! Yay for Tea "Parties"! Enjoy!