4th of July was AWESOME!

I hope that you all had an absolutely wonderful Independence Day Weekend.  I know that our family did.  We had the pleasure of hosting my sister, Lisa, and my niece's, Abby and Maggie.  Oh, and I can't forget our furry little guest, Riley.

When I was planning the menu, I wanted something that could be easily made ahead and easily served.  I think my plans worked out just great.  Everyone had plenty to eat, with lots of flexibility and great taste.

Here's a shot of my bread while it was rising.

I mixed up several different salads: chicken salad; balsamic, feta pasta salad; marinated cucumber and tomato salad; and broccoli and raisin salad.  On Saturday, after everyone arrived, I baked a loaf of fresh bread and put all the salads out.  It was great and so simple.  Then on Sunday, we nibbled on left-over salads until dinner when we grilled out burgers and brats.

For dessert on Saturday, I had my super simple Chocolate Mousse.  For dessert on Sunday, I had Cheesecake Mousse Dessert Shots.  You can find that recipe here.

Glori's Super Easy Chocolate Mousse


6 cups mini marshmallows
1 stick butter, softened
18 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup hot water
1 large container Cool Whip
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.  Put the saucepan on the stove, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt, stirring every now and again.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Let cool.

Fold the Cool Whip into the cooled chocolate mixture and gently mix until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture.

Pour or scoop into dessert glasses or small dishes and chill until you want to eat.


For breakfast, I wanted something that I could sit out and folks could just grab when they were hungry.  So, I made Whole Wheat Cinnamon Muffins, Whole Wheat Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins; Homemade Granola; Homemade Vanilla Honey Yogurt; Fresh Cut Fruit and a big basket of Keurig Coffees to choose from.  My little coffee bar did look cute.  I have a "Glori's Goodies" Jar that held the muffins.  I used my Cricut Expression to cut out red vinyl for that jar.  I picked up a bunch of oil bottles to store my Sugar Free Coffee Syrups and used my Cricut to cut out the names of each syrup.  They turned out great.

Muffins fit perfectly into my Goodies Jar

Here are all of my syrup bottles lined up

The Coffee Bar with the Kuerig my two wonderful children gave me for Mother's Day/Birthday

Here is the Homemade Granola Recipe.  It is Yummy!

Glorified Granola

3/4 cup butter

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup agave

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

10 cups rolled oats, like Old Fashioned not Instant

1/2 cup sucant, which is natural, unrefined sugar, optional

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tb cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 cup millet

1/2 cup amaranth

1/2 cup unsweetened, finely grated coconut

In a large bowl, mix the oats, millet, amaranth, sucant and coconut.  Set aside.

In a medium sauce pan mix the butter, coconut oil, salt, cinnamon, honey, agave, and brown rice syrup.  Heat over medium high heat until boiling.  Boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla and almond extracts.

Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and mix well.

Pour into a greased slow cooker with the lid slightly ajar and cook on low for 3-4 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so.  I use a wooden spoon to keep the lid open so that the steam can escape and the granola can dry out.

Store in a cute container, just to make eating it that much more fun!

Be Blessed,

Cheesecake Dessert Shots

My son gave me the cutest dessert shot glasses for Christmas and I pulled them out for this amazing treat.




First I created a cheesecake mousse by combining:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 small jar of marshmallow cream
About 1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2/3 of a large cool whip container

(I did not say this was low-cal, low-carb or in any healthy :-) but oh sooooo good!




Then I thought what is cheesecake without a yummy, buttery crumb crust, so I mixed together:

1 1/2 cups Graham cracker crumbs
6 tb melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar




To assemble them, I sprinkled a
spoon full of the crumbs in the bottom of the glasses.



Next, I piped some of the cheesecake mousse into the glass using a decorator bag and a large round icing tip.




Then more crumbs.



And, more mousse.


Topped it off with a sprinkle of crumbs and refrigerated until after dinner, which I must say was delish: burgers & brats!




Yum!!! These were a hit with everyone and the perfect size.





Be Blessed,

Glori Winders, The 31 Woman

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Individual Jar Pies & Cakes

With the 4th of July upon us, I was trying to plan my menu for our neighborhood fireworks display. It is a fun event where we live. We are on a lake here in Georgia in a golf community that has an annual Independence Day Extravaganza!

On the 18th hole and behind the club house of one of our golf courses that sits on the lake, folks start piling in around 6pm with blankets and lawn chairs and picnics, and fun. On the lake, boats start piling in, grabbing their spot on the water for the show.

Our family loves attending this event each year and I try to make the food not only delicious but fun. So this year, I am making as our dessert little individual jar pies and cakes. I've seen lots of versions of these all over the Internet, but since I was in a hurry, opted to do a semi-homemade method.


I started with 24 half pint mason jars, 2 packages of refrigerated pie crusts, 2 can of cherry pie filling, & 2 cans of apple pie filling. I also mixed up this quick crumb topping.

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar or sucant (natural sugar)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 stick softened butter

Mix with a fork or pastry tool until crumbly.



Apple Pies

I began with the apple pies. I used the lids 0f the jar to cut out tops for each pie. Then I repeated the process for the bottoms of the jar, too.

And I had this great idea of using this little tool, I got from Pampered Chef.  I placed a dough round on the end and put the jar on top of it, flipped it over and easily layered the dough into the jar.

I cut strips of dough and layered on the edges - it will be easier if I show you real quick. Take a look at this quick video ...

I filled 8 jars with pie crust.   Now on to filling our pies. Of course, just because you start with store bought filling does not mean it has to taste store bought. I had some caramel sauce in the fridge, so I added that to the canned filling. There was probably not quite 1/2 cup of sauce. I also added a little melted butter, like 2 tablespoons, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice and about an 1/8 cup whole wheat flour. It gave me enough filling to do 8 of the jars.

I used a star cookie cutter to cut a vent out of the top circle of dough for the little pies.

Then I laid the tops on the filling and used my fingers to seal the edges. I placed the star cut back on top a little turned so that the vent hole was not covered. I brushed a little butter on top and sprinkled with a small bit of Florida Crystal sugar, which I like because it is not bleached.





I screwed the tops on and at this point and can freeze them until I need them. I will pop them in the oven on the 4th for a quick bake. I'll start with a cold oven, put the frozen jars in and then turn the heat on to 375 degrees and bake for 50-60 minutes.  If you are baking them fresh, not frozen they only need to bake for 45 minutes.

Cherry Pies

For the cherry pies, I used 2 cans of filling plus a can of drained tart cherries that I had on hand. I spooned a layer of the crumb topping into the jars, then the cherry filling and then more crumb topping. Very easy!

Again , you can put the lids on at this point and freeze like we did with the apple pies. I will pull them out on the 4th and bake with apple pies.


Red Velvet Cakes In A Jar





My son and daughter are not big fruit pie lovers, so for them, I mixed up a red velvet cake mix. I poured the mix into 8 of the jars, about 1/2 way full. I baked them for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. After they cooled, I used a grapefruit spoon and scooped a little of the cake center out.

Then I made homemade cream cheese icing, because nothing is as good as my homemade cream cheese icing. I'll add the recipe below. I added the icing to a decorator bag and piped it down into the little hole I made into each cake and over the tops.

I used a bit of the crumbs that I scooped out on the top of each little cake for decoration. They look yummy.

Here is my Cream Cheese Icing recipe.

Cream Cheese Icing


1 stick of softened butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 pound confectioner sugar
11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 to 3 tablespoons half-n-half, depending on consistency of the icing you desire: pipeable to pourable

Cream butter and cream cheese with a mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix well. Add the vanilla and cream until you reach desired consistency.



Be Blessed,

Great Apple Treat Recipe

For a great morning or late afternoon "pick me up" treat, I love to slice a granny smith apple up and drop it into a bowl or sandwich bag.  Squeeze 1/2 a lemon over it.  Then sprinkle a little cinnamon or apple pie spice and a packet of stevia over the top.  Close the bag and rub the apple slices around in the cinnamon mixture.  Enjoy.

The BEST Apple Pie Ever!

My daughter is home for spring break and her boyfriend has come with her.  His favorite dessert is Apple Pie.  So, I thought that I would bake one especially for him.  But, I wanted something a little different.  I searched around on the internet and found this recipe, which of course I had to tweak and add my own touch.  I have to say...It Is Delicious!!!!!  And, pretty easy to make.

Iron Skillet Triple Decker Apple Pie

A photo I was able to snap before it was
all gone!  Yummy!

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 6 Granny Smith apples -- peeled, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced 3 (9 inch) refrigerated prerolled pie crusts 1 ¼ cup sugar, divided 2 tsp cinnamon, divided 2 tb butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2	Place 1/2 cup butter into a heavy cast iron skillet, and melt butter in the oven. Remove skillet and sprinkle with brown sugar; return to oven to heat while you prepare the apples.
3	Remove skillet, and place 1 refrigerated pie crust on top of the brown sugar.  No need  to trim the crust, just press it up the sides of the pan. Top the pie crust with half the sliced apples. Sprinkle apples with ½ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon; place a second pie crust over the apples; top the second crust with the remaining apples, and sprinkle with ½ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Top with the third crust; brush the top of the crust with the melted butter using a pastry brush and sprinkle the top crust with ¼ cup sugar. Cut several slits into the top crust for steam.
4	Bake in the preheated oven until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.