Strawberry oatmeal bars

It's very rare that I see a recipe on the food network that I just have to make that day but Saturday was one of those days. I love the Pioneer Woman, she lives my dream life, a ranchers wife. Now I have my cowboy but we just need our ranch, one of these days!

Anyhow Bree is a woman after my own heart. She's not afraid of real ingredients. Saturday morning she had a recipe for Strawberry oatmeal bars. I didn't even get to see the whole segment but I was sold.

So I gave them a go that afternoon. Man can you say G. O. O. D. Good!!! They are like a yummy oatmeal cookie with delicious strawberry jam! Hey oatmeal is good for you!

I have to say I was a little disappointed in the recipe instructions on the food network website. Bree's recipes are normally so well written. I was glad I pulled the video up in my phone because there were a lot of details missing on the recipe. If you want to see the original recipe here is the link. In the video she said she put 2 sticks of butter, I went with the 1 3/4 sticks. I really don't know if it needs more or not. it was very crumbly so maybe the extra 1/4 stick would help with that. I used regular oats, but she used quick cook. I love oats so using the regular was fine with me.

So I decided to fill in the gaps. Oh and if like me you can't wait for them to cool they are delicious right out of the oven! They keep well in an airtight container.

Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:

1 3/4 sticks butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups oats, quick cook or regular

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz jar strawberry preserves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13 inch rectangular pan. I used a glass pyrex one.

2. Add the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt to a bowl and mix to combine.

3. Add butter to the bowl and rub into the flour mixture. You can use a pastry cutter too.

4. Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan.

5. Spread with the strawberry preserves.

6. Sprinkle the other half of the oat mixture over the top and gently pat down.

7. Bake until light brown, 30 - 40 minutes.

8. Once it has cooled, but into squares and store in an airtight container.

WARNING: If you eat it directly out of the oven, preserve might be hot, try not to burn yourself!!!! It's worth the risk.

Happy Home Cooking!

Home Made Blue Cheese Dressing

This dressing the perfect accompaniment to chicken wings. It is also delicious as a salad dressing or dip.

The longer you allow it to sit in the refrigerator the better the taste. It will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

Home Made Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 clove of garlic minced

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. To make the dressing thicker mash the blue cheese against the side of the bowl and stir it in.

Happy Home Cooking!

Strawberry Bruschetta

When we were deciding the menu for the shower, Gabby mentioned bruschetta. When we set it for dessert only we figured we had to be able to do a dessert version with strawberries. There are a lot of versions online ranging from adding Brie to cream cheese.

Well no one recipe screamed out to us, so we decided to get some French bread and a few ingredients and experiment. It was a hard job for us, he he he!!! I think we may have to make a regular date of this!

We tried nutella but it seemed to over power it but man was that good. While we were making the chocolate covered strawberries, we thought the melted Lindt milk chocolate might be a good alternative. But we will have to try that another day! What you find below is the end result of our initial experiment. It works well as a wonderful treat and a great brunch or afternoon tea dish.

Strawberry Bruschetta

Ingredients:

1 French baguette

1 pkg cream cheese

1 pint strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Chop strawberries into small bite pieces. Put in a small bowl and add sugar. Stir to evenly combine. Set aside.

2. Slice the baguette into thin 1/4 inch slices. Place on a baking sheet and place under a broiler just long enough to brown. Be really careful and stand watch, do not be tempted to walk away they will burn in a second!

3. Remove the toasted bread to a cooling rack and cool completely.

4. Spread each slice of toast with cream cheese.

5. Top each slice with the strawberry mixture and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

6. Serve immediately.

Makes about 2 dozen

Happy Home Cooking!

Guacamole!!!

I thought I'd post a nice healthy quick snack recipe and nothing fits the criteria like homemade guacamole. This is so simple but so delicious! Trust me there will be no leftovers!!!! And you are probably wondering how that fits with Irish/Cajun cooking, well it's GREEN!!!!

Ingredients:

4 large ripe avocados

1 tablespoon of finely chopped red onion

2 Roma tomato, deseeded and finely chopped

A few drops of fresh squeezed lime juice

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Spoon out flesh of avocados into a bowl.

2. Add the chopped red onion and chopped roma tomato. You can adjust the amount of both depending on your tastes, my husband isn't big on raw tomatoes so I only put one.

3. Squeeze a few drops of the lime juice into the bowl and add some salt & pepper to your taste preference.

Doesn't it look yummy!

4. Depending on your preference you can leave it chunky, or you can get a hand blender (a handy kitchen to own and very affordable) and blend the mix until you have the consistency you like, we like it creamy!

And voila!

Yummy homemade guacamole and ready as quickly as it takes to chop the ingredient!