Mango Salsa

My good friend Shelley shared this recipe with me. It is awesome! I love the sweet and hot flavors together. I am pretty sure I have eaten all of it by myself before!

Click here for instructions on how to pick a good mango and easy way to cut it. Click here for instructions on picking a good avocado and cutting it.

Thank you Shelley for sharing this recipe!

Mango Salsa

1 mango, finely diced

1 avocado, finely diced

1/2 a red onion, finely diced

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 T. fresh lime juice

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/2 c. cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 T. olive oil

salt to taste

How to Cut a Watermelon

One of my favorite food blogs to go to is www.ourbestbites.com. They have lots of good recipes. They also have tips and tutorials. One I have tried and really liked is their tip on how to cut a watermelon. Click here for the instructions.

Breakfast For Dinner

I like to make breakfast food for dinner. My kids love pancakes any time of the day. The husband not so much. Only at Walker Bros.! Anyway, my kids love these chocolate chip pancakes. They are light and fluffy. I love them served with Coconut Syrup.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 c. all purpose flour (half white and half wheat works well)

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine eggs, milk, and oil. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until second side is golden brown.

This syrup is my family's absolute favorite. My kids get quite disappointed when I haven't made any and they have to have maple!

Coconut Syrup

1 stick of butter

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 t. baking soda

1 t. coconut flavoring

Melt butter. Add sugar and buttermilk. Bring to a boil an boil for 2 minutes. Add baking soda and coconut flavoring. Stir.

I usually make a double batch and keep the leftovers in the refrigerator and just warm it up when I need it.

Rhubarb Pie

You might want to add some red food coloring to the rhubarb if your rhubarb isn't red. My rhubarb doesn't turn red. Eric commented that the pie looked like green bean pie. So if you don't want yours to look like green bean pie, you might want to add some red food coloring! It tasted great though!

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

4 c. chopped rhubarb

1 1/3 c. white sugar

6 T. all purpose flour

1 T. butter

1 recipe pastry for a 9" double pie crust

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate. Heap rhubarb over this mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust. Sprinkle with a little granulated sugar.

Place pie on lowest rack in oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Easy as Pie? Post 2

So like I said before, I don't know who came up with the saying "Easy as Pie". I certainly don't think they are easy! There are a few factors in making a good flaky pie crust. The shortening, vinegar, and ice water all contribute to a nice flaky crust. Avoid overmixing which can toughen the pastry. I used this recipe to make a rhubarb pie for Eric's birthday and he said the crust was the best I've ever made.

Extra Flaky Pastry Dough for a Two-Crust Pie

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. salt

2 t. sugar

2/3 c. shortening

5 to 7 Tablespoons ice water

2 t. vinegar

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut shortening into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle flour mixture with vinegar and the water, one tablespoon at a time, while tossing the mixture lightly with a fork. Add water until dough is just moist enough to form a ball when lightly pressed together. (Too much water causes dough to become sticky and tough; too little water causes edges to crack and pastry to tear easily while rolling.)

Shape dough into 2 balls. Flatten one ball to 1/2" inch thickness, rounding and smoothing edges. On lightly floured surface, roll from center to edge in 11-inch circle. Fold pastry in half; place in 9" pie pan, or 9 or 10" tart pan. Unfold; gently press in bottom and up sides of pan. Do not stretch.

Trim pastry even with pan edge. Toll out remaining pastry; set aside. Continue as directed in recipe.

Easy as Pie?

I don't know whoever came up with the saying "Easy as Pie". Piecrust is NOT easy. The crust for this wonderful pie is though. It is a cookie crust and I cheat and buy an Oreo crust!

Triple Chocolate Mint Pie

26 Plain chocolate cookies, crushed *

1/3 c. melted butter*

2 c. whipping cream, divided

10 oz. Andes Mints, divided

1/2 c. milk

3 1/2 c. miniature marshmallows

1 T. sugar

*Or just buy an Oreo crust!

Combine crushed cookies and butter; press firmly on bottom and up sides of 9" pie plate.

Over low heat, bring 1/4 cup cream just to a simmer. Turn off heat. Add 28 Andes mints and stir until melted and smooth; reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish. Spread remaining sauce on bottom of crust; place in freezer. Over low heat, melt marshmallows in milk, stirring constantly. Add 28 Andes mints; stir until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until cool. Beat

1 1/4 cups whipping cream until stiff; stir into marshmallow mixture. Spoon into pie crust; drizzle with reserved chocolate sauce. Refrigerate until chilled. Before serving, whip remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1 Tablespoon sugar. Pipe or spoon over filling. Chop remaining 4 Andes mints; sprinkle over whipped cream.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

My family loved these cupcakes. The cookie inside the cupcake gives it an interesting texture.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 c. sour cream

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla

18-24 whole chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos are the best of course!)

12 chocolate sandwich cookies, crumbled

1 recipe vanilla buttercream frosting

Mix together cake mix, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Place a spoonful of batter on the bottom of each paper liner. Place a whole cookie on the bottom lying flat. Cover with remaining batter until 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool on a rack completely.

Add crumbled cookies to buttercream frosting. Frost cupcakes.

Vanilla Buttercream

1 stick butter, room temperature

3 3/4 c. powdered sugar, sifted

3-4 T. milk

2 t. vanilla

Place butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add sugar, 3 T. milk, and vanilla. Beat on slow, increasing speed until frosting is nice and creamy. Add up to 1 more Tablespoon milk if frosting is too thick.

From My Kitchen To Yours

For those of you that know me, you know I love to cook and bake. I love to try new recipes! I have so many cookbooks and recipes I'll never be able to try every recipe in my lifetime!

I have shared some of my favorite recipes with some of you. I had someone suggest that I start a food blog. So here it is! To start, I will be just post a few recipes I made for our ward cooking class last month. It will be nothing fancy, no pictures to start, (some blogs have step by step pictures), just the recipe.

Feel free to comment if you'd like. Let me know what you think.

So here are some of my favorite recipes from my kitchen to yours!