Party food
Ready or not those holidays are right around the corner! I know I’m not ready yet although I do enjoy big dinners with family and friends. I’m always looking for something new to serve as appetizers or desserts. If I change my main menu much I’ll be in big trouble with my family.
Although I’m not a fruitcake person I have to say this fruitcake was really good. I shared with my parents and they too agreed it was very good and a recipe worth keeping! It’s not super dense like most fruit cakes but it is packed full of lots of goodies! This could very easily be made in the small loaf pans and would be a great hostess gift or giving to co-workers or neighbors.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup orange juice
1 pound chopped mixed candied fruit
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Beat in the extract. Combine the flour baking powder and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture alternating with the orange juice. Stir in the candied fruit, coconut, raisins, and nuts.
Press into a greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 80 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes before removing from the pan to a wire rack. Let cool completely. If desired you can sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Enjoy!
I came across this sauce at our local grocery store (Hannaford, this is a Hannaford brand product by ‘inspirations’). I decided to give it a try on some shrimp that we were having with friends and family while we were in our motorhome camping with everyone. I also made stuffed shrimp and although everyone loved and ate all of the stuffed shrimp everyone came back looking for the mango coconut habanero shrimp! The best part is that this sauce is also gluten-free so our family and friends that can’t have gluten could enjoy these shrimp along with the rest of us. The sauce is a wonderful mouth-watering combination of sweet and spicy all in one bite! You taste the mango and coconut but then you get the heat from the habanero. The habanero is not overwhelming but it does wake up your taste buds. This sauce was incredible on the shrimp.
I purchased a bag of uncooked e-z peel shrimp. I peeled them but kept the tails on and placed all of the shrimp in a Ziploc bag and poured enough of the mango coconut habanero sauce to coat all of the shrimp, about a cup or so. I placed the shrimp in the refrigerator and let it marinate for a couple hours. When we were all getting ready to start dinner I put the shrimp on skewers discarding the marinade in the bag and had my grill master grill them just until they turned a beautiful pink! You can also serve some of the remaining sauce in the bottle on the side for extra dipping.
We loved these so much I made them again at home when we got back from our trip! This is one of my favorite grocery stores finds of the summer and one my kitchen will not be without! Don’t walk to Hannaford, RUN!
Enjoy!
I am always looking for a new snack dish when the holidays start to roll around. This one is one that we will be making time and time again. This is a little bit of a spin on the Chex Mix that is very popular but in all honesty, I was never a huge fan of the Chex version, but I really like this version! It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and salty from the nuts. I am a sucker for the sweet and salty combination! I highly recommend making this in one of the throwaway tin pans as this mix cooks for an hour and the sauce mixture gets gooey and sticky. Your clean up will be a breeze with a throwaway pan!
INGREDIENTS
1 box (8 cups) Crispix cereal
2 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large disposable pan combine the cereal and pecans. In a medium saucepan combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter and cook over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and baking soda, stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the cereal mixture and combine well coating all of the cereal and pecans. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 20 minutes (my oven cooks a little hot so be sure to watch the mixture the last ten minutes as not to burn.)
Remove from oven and pour over wax paper to cool. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
I found this recipe on Pinterest through www.plainchicken.com
I’m back! It’s been a busy summer and I have a lot of catching up to do with so many delicious recipes coming your way. This German Apple Cake is perfect for any fall gathering you may be having. This is my favorite time of year to cook with all the fresh picked off the tree apples we have in New Hampshire. I made this cake using both Honey Crisp and Granny Smith because I love that apple combination but you can use any apple you love. Another variation you can do with this cake is using caramel sauce on the top instead of the frosting. No matter how you make it I know your family will enjoy it as much as mine did.
INGREDIENTS
3 large eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups chopped peeled apples, Granny Smith
3/4 cup chopped pecans
FROSTING
1 package cream cheese, 8 ounces
2 teaspoons softened butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add to the egg mixture and mix well. Fold in apples and nuts. Pour into greased 13×9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
For the frosting- in a small bowl beat cream cheese and butter, add the confectioners sugar and continue beating until smooth. Spread over the cooled cake and enjoy. Store in the fridge.
Enjoy!
I told you about the Lobster Rangoon’s we ate while in Old Orchard Beach Maine a couple weeks ago, well I knew I had to make them when I got home. Although I did air fry them you can certainly deep fry them or bake them as well. The lobster in Rangoon’s in Maine were diced up fairly thin but although I too diced my lobster I tried to keep it as chunky as I could but still being able to fit in in the wrapper. Jim took a bite of one and said the entire inside was one big chunk of lobster. I’m not toatally sure if that’s good or bad but I do know they were really good. I served these with the option on sauce. Either a sweet chili sauce to add a little bit of heat to the dish or a sweet duck sauce. I preferred the duck sauce but Jim liked the sweet chili sauce. These would be great in the summer as an appetizer or for a holiday party!
INGREDIENTS
Makes 20 Rangoon’s
6-8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
The meatbof 2 lobster tails, cooked through and chopped
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
1 Tablspoon scallions, chopped and using just the green part
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Rangoon wrappers
Water
Olive oil
Sweet chili sauce for serving-optional
Duck sauce for serving – optional
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl mix the cream cheese, cooked lobster, Worcester sauce, scallions and lemon zest well to combine. Using one Rangoon wrapper at a time place about 1 Tablspoon of the filling in the center of the wrapper. Using your finger wet two of the sides of the wrapper with water to help the side stick together.
Press the sides of the wrapper together forming a triangle and press firmly to close the entire Rangoon as you don’t want the filling to come out when frying. Do this for each wrapper.
When you are ready to fry pre heat your air fryer to 400 degrees, place the Rangoon’s in the fryer not overlapping them, spritz with olive oil and cook for 4 minutes, turn them over , spritz again and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Remove from fryer and continue frying the rest in batches.
Serve with sweet chili sauce or duck sauce.
To Bake- pre heat oven to four hundred. Spritz Rangoon’s with olive oil and bake for 4 minutes, turn them over, spritz and bake until your desired crispness, about 3-4 more minutes.
Enjoy!
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