Jack-Orange-Lantern Fruit Cups

Audra Simpson really impressed us with her offerings! Don't you just love these? I don't know where she finds the time to make these things so darn cute, but I'm glad she does! Again, this isn't really a recipe- more like instructions:


1 navel orange per person
favorite fruits, bite size


Cut the top of the orange in a zig-zagged circle. Use a small spoon to scoop out the orange pulp. Use a small, sharp knife to carve out a face in the orange rind. Fill with your favorite fruits.


You can use other oranges, but navel's are typically larger and have a firmer rind making it easier to carve. Another perk- the citrus of the orange will keep apples from browning, so you don't have to worry about opening the top and finding a bunch of brown triangles!

Caramel Apple (Nachos)

We LOVE caramel apples around here. LOVE. So when I saw a few different ideas for them, I combined them to this amazing new tradition! The thought behind doing it like nachos was that it would be less messy for kids. I think it just moves the mess from your face to your fingers! But it sure is easier to serve up!

Caramel:

1 bag Kraft caramels

1 tbsp milk

Unwrap caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl with milk. Microwave on high for 1 minute then stir. Microwave an additional minute or until caramel is smooth.

White Chocolate :

6 oz white chocolate or white candy coating

Microwave on high 30 seconds, stir, microwave an additional 30 seconds or until smooth.

Chocolate:

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

1 tbsp shortening

Place chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds; stir. Microwave an additional 30 seconds or until smooth.

For Nachos:

Wash and dry 4-6 Granny Smith apples. Core, slice, then arrange them on a platter. Drizzle toppings over apples slices making sure to get each slice. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar{ I usually do about two to three parts sugar, one part cinnamon}.

For Dipped apples:
Wash and dry{or the toppings won't stick} 4-6 Granny Smith apples. Dip in melted caramel then spin slowly over the bowl allowing the caramel to cool on the apple a bit. Place on a piece of waxed paper and allow to set in the fridge while you prepare the white chocolate layer. Carefully remove from the waxed paper by twisting. Dip in the white chocolate, again twisting over the bowl until it stops dripping. Place on clean waxed paper. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Allow to cool and set while preparing chocolate. Drizzle chocolate over the white chocolate and cool.

Leslie Nebeker's Applesauce

Ok, so I think I've used this in enough recipes, like this and this, and I actually had some of this tasty applesauce to take a picture of, so YAY!!! I have so many memories of full days spent peeling and coring apples, eating peels until we had the runs, heating up the house canning the finished product and having this applesauce with anything worthy of applesauce! I've been quite spoiled and think all store bought applesauce is garbage! I just don't want to commit to the work of peeling and coring and canning necessary to make it for myself. Maybe if some one wanted to team up to tackle it this fall... hmm.... It's really not that bad if you don't can, so don't be intimidated. Though I did talk it up to be atrocious... Good luck!

40 apples (half golden delicious, half johnathan)

5 C sugar

1 1/2 C water

2 tbsp cinnamon

Peel, core and slice apples. Put all ingredients in a large pan(LARGE!), bring to a boil and simmer on a medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until apples are soft and mushy. Use a spoon to stir and break up apples into sauce. Ladle into prepared jars, cook in hot water bath for 25 minutes to seal jars.

For pink applesauce with a little extra bite, substitute 1/2 C red hot cinnamon candies for the cinnamon.

Crepe's ala Sheree Mowers

Sheree brought some tasty chocolate chip cookies with her to the exchange, but since she got the recipe off a bag of chocolate chips, she didn't feel it warranted passing on. I thought they were great! If you want the recipe, I guess you'll just have to buy your own bag of Kroger brand chocolate chips! ;) I won't give her a hard time though, because she did get me the recipe for her crepes from our breakfast exchange. This is a little thicker filling than the crepes that Jayme had brought. They were both equally good, but you can try them out and see which you like better. I also liked that she served things separated- that way you can build your crepe just how you want it!

Crepes:

1 1/2 C flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 C milk

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients. Add the rest. Whisk until smooth.

Filling:

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 10-12 oz carton of Cool Whip, thawed

1/2 C powdered sugar (She adds more because she likes is sweet, but you can add more or less depending on how you like it)

Blend the cream cheese and powdered sugar, then add the Cool Whip. You can add lemon or orange zest for more flavor variety or you can add vanilla or crushed pineapple. Serve with your favorite fruit.

Raspberry Crunch Salad

When the sign up sheet went around for the dinner, I put my name down for a dessert. Then I thought about this. It's called a salad, but it's so good it's really more like a dessert. Plus, I was totally craving it! Voila! Don't worry, I made up for the fact it's a salad. This is a given at about every Mormon potluck. But really, if it wasn't there, I'd be pretty disappointed. The crust is salty pretzels over a sweet cream cheese layer topped with a tangy raspberry jello topping. The sweet, salty, tangy combo is just perfect!

2 C crushed pretzels {I put them in a sealed ziploc bag and crushed with a rolling pin}
1/2 C butter
1 C sugar + 3 tbsp
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 can (16 oz) pineapples, crushed or tidbit
12 oz Cool whip
3 C boiling water
6 oz raspberry jello
10 oz raspberries, frozen

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix pretzels with 3 tbsp sugar and butter. Press into 9x13" pan. Bake 5 minutes and cool. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and 1 C sugar until fluffy. Mix in cool whip. Fold in drained pineapple. Spread over pretzel mixture and put in fridge to firm.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Mix raspberries into jello carefully. Place jello into fridge for 15-20 minutes or until syrupy. Pour over cream cheese layer and chill until set. Garnish with whipped cream if desired.

Grape Party Drink

Jen made this when she hosted our Dessert night and even though it obviously wasn't a dessert dish, it was so good everyone wanted the recipe! It's like a hearty grape cider. Someone was talking about making it for a bridal shower and we all thought it would look awesome in a punch bowl with some frozen grapes or grapes frozen in ice cubes.

1 can concentrated white grape juice
1 bottle white grape juice
1 liter Ginger Ale

Mix and serve!

Blueberry pancakes

I dislike blueberries. Give me a salad with blueberries in it and I will eat around them. BUT, cooked, they are amazing. Go figure. These are a special treat and only when blueberries are on sale, cause they are expensive! But you guys are worth eating the cost in order to share a picture with! ;) Side note- included in this picture are the Breakfast Bake and the Hawaiian Fruit Dip leftovers turned into a salad. I'm sure you could just add 2 C blueberries to about any pancake recipe, but: Fun Fact- Got this recipe out of a kids book I borrowed from the library for my son. It was about a cat that cooks. Thanks, Tallullah!

1 1/4 C flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg, well beaten

1 C milk

3 tbsp oil

2 C blueberries

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together beaten egg, milk and oil then add to the dry ingredients. Rinse blueberries {and double check for stems}. Add to batter. Cook on a skillet about 2 minutes on each side.

Raspberry Cream Cheese White Cake

Individually, neither picture seemed impressive enough, so I included both in hopes it adequately conveys how sinfully delightful this is!

A moist, heavy cake topped with a cream cheese icing smothered with juicy berries. Summer Heaven! I got this from a really good friend in Utah, Rachel Van Beekum. She was the head baker at a grocery store and was always good for some food advice. This is one of her crowning achievements! Sure do miss her...

Cake:
1 C butter {no wonder it's so good!}
1 C water
2 C flour
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C milk or buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter and water. Bring to a boil. Pour over flour, sugar and salt. Mix well. Beat eggs and add along with buttermilk, soda and vanilla. Beat. Pour into greased 9x13" pan. Bake 30 minutes. Cool.

Cream Cheese frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
2 C sugar
2 tbsp milk

Mix cream cheese, sugar and milk until smooth. Spread over cake.

Fruit:
The recipe calls for fresh fruit, but I like to use a 12 oz bag of frozen mixed berries. I thaw it, then mash it. This gives it lots of juice that's sweet and tangy. If you want lots of juice with fresh fruit, just sprinkle a couple tbsp over your fruit then let it sit for an hour or so. That brings out the natural juice of the fruit. Spoon the fruit over the cream cheese layer and you can serve immediately, but I like to refrigerate the whole thing for a couple hours.

One last tip- In case you hadn't noticed, there is a LOT of sugar in this. But the fruit makes it healthy. Right??? If you don't mix the cake or cream cheese mixture enough then you will get a little crunch of the sugar granuales in your cake. Some people don't like to be reminded of how sugar-laden their food is, but we kinda like it better with that extra bit of texture.

Think I'm going to check if we still have leftovers...

Hawaiian Fruit Dip

I jumped at the chance to make this scrumptious fruit dip. It is pudding based but the pineapple and lime give it a sweet, tropical twist. Careful, it makes a lot. Great for a party, but if you make it for dinner, plan on it for a couple of days. Not that that would be a bad thing....

3/4 C milk
1/2 C Sour Cream
1 lg pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple, with juice
1/2 C sweetened flake coconut, toasted and divided
1 lime

Combine milk, sour cream, and pudding mix in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Stir in pineapple with juice and 1/3 cup of the coconut. Zest lime to measure 1 tsp. Juice lime to measure 1 tsp. Stir juice and zest into dip. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve with fruit

Fruit Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

THE pizza from the party... One I made a while ago with regular chocolate chip cookie dough. Closer to how the recipe dictates...

I made this for a gathering of some friends the other night and was bombarded with requests for the recipe. Even my hubby's cop buddy who got some of the leftovers requested it! And for good reason- it's hard to fail with cookies, cream cheese, fruit, or chocolate. But put them all together... Yeowsa! I was actually starting to make Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies for the party, then I remembered this recipe and used the cookie dough to make this instead. Is it terrible that I was on the fence about going (it started a half hour before my baby goes to bed. I LOVE when my baby goes to bed....) until I realized it'd give me an excuse to make this? I actually have two variations, an easier one, and one that takes a half second more effort but is just a tad better. The one I followed was:

Fruit Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

1 (18 oz) pkg chocolate chip cookie dough (Alexa's recipe here)

2 squares white baking chocolate

2 tbsp milk

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 C powdered sugar

1 C thawed whipped topping

12-16 oz of strawberries, cut in half

1 can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/4 C semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape cookie dough into a ball and place in center of a large pizza stone. Using a lightly floured rolling pin {aka, my fingers...} roll dough into a 12 inch circle, about 1/4" thick. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set. Cookie will be soft, do not over bake. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Loosen cookie from pizza stone. Cool completely.

Place white chocolate and milk in small mixing bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Microwave and additional 10-20 seconds if necessary. Cool slightly. In separate bowl combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture; mix until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over cookie. Arrange strawberries and oranges over cream cheese mixture. Microwave chocolate chips and oil on high 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over fruit. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

My variation

I used this recipe for the crust and made it in a greased cookie sheet, baked for about 7 minutes or until edges were set. I doubled the topping since it was such a large surface and then I added kiwi with the fruit. I think it the cookie base was so crumbly that night because it had been out of the fridge for a bit. After I put the leftovers back in the fridge, the cookie stayed firm as I kept piecing away at it....

Slightly easier, brownie version
1 box brownie mix

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/3 C sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C fresh strawberries, sliced

1 C blueberries, rinsed

1 C raspberries

1/2 C apple jelly

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 12 inch pizza pan. Prepare brownie mix according to directions on the package. Spread in the pan. Bake 28-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2" from edge comes out clean. Cool completely.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth. Spread evenly over the brownie. Arrange berries over the cream cheese{these berries make a lovely American flag design.}. Stir jelly until smooth; brush over the berries. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

Fried Bananas

This sneaky dessert manages to be delicious, but manages to make you feel like you made a healthy choice by having dessert! This is from Keathanne. She says it is best served warm over ice cream. I got the ingredient list, but the instructions weren't written down. When I get it correct, I'll update it. Until then, here's how I imagine it would go...

1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 C whip cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter

6 bananas, cut half once lengthwise and once in the middle

Stir together chocolate chips, whip cream and vanilla in a small sauce pan. Cook on medium low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. {Or you could probably get away with nuking it in a microwave safe dish. Nuke it on high for 30 seconds, then stir. If necessary, repeat until smooth.} Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saute pan. Add the bananas and saute until soft. Serve as-is with the chocolate sauce drizzled over the bananas or serve on top of ice cream or with cool whip.

Apple Cobbler

My super awesome neighbor, Catrina Bowers, brought this tasty dessert. The topping is a moist, almost cake-y treat that envelops the apples... Soo good! I just wish we'd remembered to take pictures at the actual Exchange. I totally forgot, so most of the pictures you get are from the plate of leftovers I brought home for Matt! I hope it all still looks as good as it tasted...

7-8 Large tart cooking apples (9 C), peeled, cored, sliced about 1/4 inch
3/4 C sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 C flour
2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 C butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place sliced apples in ungreased 9x13" baking pan. Stir together 3/4 C sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over apples.

Combine remaining cinnamon, flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Beat at medium speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Pour melted butter over topping. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and apples are tender. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.

3 Layer Jello

I got really excited, so I couldn't help myself from making a few different things. This is the first. A tasty jello recipe I give props to my mom for. This sets up in about an hour, so it's a great quasi-last minute jello side. It makes a frothy layer on the top that's almost like eating cotton candy jello. The lighting is pretty yellow, giving this an orange-y hue, though it was very red... Sorry for the weird color!

1 (6 oz) pkg Jello gelatin
2 C boiling water
1 small can fruit( or about 1 C fresh or frozen)
8-10 ice cubes

Pour hot water into blender. Add jello and blend until dissolved (30 seconds). Add fruit and ice cubes, blend until mixture looks smooth and foamy. Immediately pour into serving bowl and chill at least 1 hour. The layers form as the jello cools. You can mix and match the flavor of Jello and the fruit. My favorites are red raspberry Jello with strawberries (the kind pictured) and purple jello with pears.

Go- To Side Dishes

It is taking everything in me not to start flooding this thing with my recipes! But, since our theme is "Go-To's", I figure I should represent more than just the main dish! This is SUPER simple when I'm wanting to throw fruit in the diet.

1 can fruit(15 oz)

1 cup yogurt

Drain the fruit then mix with the yogurt.

That's it. Our favorite is peaches with strawberry yogurt.

This next one is from my mom. She is AMAZING in the kitchen, but she'd never let you tell her so! This is one of the recipes I grew up on and there was NEVER enough at dinner!

Cooked Carrots

1-2 carrots per person (or 1 lb baby carrots)

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 C brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

Peel and slice carrots, boil just until soft in salted water(about 10-15 minutes). Drain water thoroughly. Add butter and brown sugar, replace lid and let sit until they melt. Stir once before serving.