Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake recipe

Ingredients:

For the Streusel
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Cake
1 cup chopped pound rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup chopped strawberries
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter and flour parchment and pan, tapping out excess flour.
2. Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Make the cake: In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup flour. In another medium bowl, whisk 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time; turn the mixer to low speed and add in vanilla. Gradually add in the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with rhubarb and strawberry mixture and top with streusel.
4. Bake cake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Let cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake from pan. Cut into 16 bars.

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Coconut Flour Shortbread recipe

3 Tbsp coconut flour
2 Tbsp organic butter OR coconut oil (note that they do have a bit of a coconut flavour when you use oil – I prefer butter in these guys)
1 Tbsp honey

Variations: Add lemon or orange zest, cinnamon or vanilla

1. Mix the ingredients together until it’s a very thick paste.  You may need to add a little more coconut flour.  Shape into a ball and press down gently with a fork or your hand.  These cookie’s won’t spread when they bake

2. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes, until just browned on the bottom.  Be careful – they’ll crumble if you try get one off the pan too soon!

Note: This makes 4-5 cookies so double the recipe if you want a few more!    

Enjoy!

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Pizza Nachos recipe

Ingredients

• FOR THE GARLIC CREAM SAUCE:
• 1-½ Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
• ½ Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced (or Use A Microplane If You Have It)
• ½ cups Heavy Cream
• ¼ cups 2% Milk
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 pinch Cracked Black Pepper
• 1 pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• ¼ cups Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• FOR THE NACHOS:
• Your Favorite Crispy Tortilla Chips
• ½ cups Garlic Cream Sauce (Recipe Included)
• ¼ cups Onion, Diced
• ½ cups Pepperoni, Cut Into Bite Size Pieces
• ½ cups Black Olives Sliced
• ½ whole Green Bell Pepper, Seeds Removed, Diced
• 1 cup Colby-Jack Cheese, Shredded

Preparation Instructions

Start by making your sauce. Begin by melting the butter, along with the olive oil on medium to low heat. Once melted, toss in the minced garlic, and give a good stir. Raise the heat up to medium, to medium-high. Add in the cream and milk and give a good stir. Keep stirring until it comes to a boil. Toss in the salt, pepper, and chili flakes, along with the cheese, and continue stirring. The sauce will thicken pretty quick, so continue to stir. Once the sauce is thickened, remove from the burner, and set aside.
When you are ready to make your nachos, preheat your oven to 400ºF. I used a cast iron fajita skillet for this. If you do not have one, don’t worry, simply build your nachos on an oven-proof dish. First add your chips. Drizzle the garlic cream sauce all over the chips. Top with the onions, pepperoni, olives, and bell pepper. Make sure you get in there and do some great layering, leaving no chip behind.
Top with the Colby Jack cheese. Place in the preheated oven, and cook until the cheese is nice and bubbly and the veggies are warmed through, roughly 7 minutes or so.
As I sat down in front of the television to watch some football, I said to my wife that these could be my go-to nachos from here on out. Something about those deluxe pizza flavors when placed on a tortilla chip just gets your taste buds rocking. Give these a try and let me know what you think!
The great thing about these pizza nachos, much like any nacho, is that you can make them your own way. Don’t like pepperoni? Try something else. Don’t like olives? Try artichokes, or broccoli, or heck, you can see where I’m heading. Use your imagination. I can guarantee you will love them. By the way, the garlic cream sauce will keep in the fridge for a handful of days. Feel free to use the leftover sauce on a pizza.

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Chicken Thighs with Cilantro Sauce recipe

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds) $$
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro $
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha (hot chile sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind $

Preparation

1. 1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add chicken to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until browned. Turn; sauté 4 minutes or until chicken is done. Place chicken on a platter.
2. 2. Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, shallots, and garlic in a mortar and pestle; smash mixture to a paste. Combine garlic mixture, cilantro, and remaining ingredients. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro mixture over each chicken thigh.

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Avocado Hummus recipe

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz) can chick peas, well drained
• 2 medium ripe avocados, cored and peeled (13 oz before cored and peeled)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for serving if desired
• 1 1/2 Tbsp tahini
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• 1 - 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves, for topping
• Red pepper flakes, for topping
• 
  

Directions

• Pulse chick peas, olive oil, tahini, lime juice, and garlic in a food processor until smooth, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I did a scant 1/2 tsp salt and about 1/8 tsp pepper), add cumin and avocados and pulse mixture until smooth and creamy, about 1 - 2 minutes longer.
• Serve topped with more olive oil if desired and sprinkle with cilantro and red pepper flakes. Serve with pita chips or tortilla chips.
• Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

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The Best Vanilla Cake

• 1 1/2 cups cake or pastry flour
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar 
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup evaporated milk, undiluted.
• 4 tsp vanilla extract

Baking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. For this recipe it is very important to be sure to sift the flour very well before measuring. Flour that is too compacted can cause a denser, heavier cake. If you do not have a flour sifter, put some flour in a bowl and whisk it for a minute before spooning the flour into the measuring cup to measure. Do this for both types of flour in the recipe.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after every addition.
6. Beat in the vanilla extract.
7. Gently fold in the dry ingredients in three equal portions, alternately with the evaporated milk. When adding dry and wet ingredients alternately in any baking recipe, always begin and end with the dry ingredients.
8. Pour batter evenly into 2 well greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.
9. Bake in a 325 degree F oven for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Watch it carefully, you will not want to over bake this cake, as soon as the toothpick comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let it rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

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This Homemade Mint Sugar Scrub recipe

Ingredients

• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1½ - 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon peppermint extract
• 1 drop green food coloring

Instructions

1. Place coconut oil in a bowl and microwave on HIGH 15-25 seconds until softened.
2. Start by adding 1½ cups sugar to the oil, along with the peppermint extract and green food coloring. Mix until ingredients are well combined and food coloring is evenly distributed. If mixture is too wet, add another ½ cup sugar until scrub is to desired consistency.
3. Spoon scrub into air-tight containers (such as a mason jar) and decorate with twine or ribbon.

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