Monkey Bars

I have been enjoying summer and I will say, it is hard to turn on the oven when it is hot outside! But sadly, summer is coming to an end. But that means more cooking and baking which makes me excited, so I guess I goes I break even. 

These bars can be eaten as cookies or as breakfast! Behold the monkey bars!

Yummy!

Mix together wet ingredients in your mixer, then add in dry ingredients.

Now add the chocolate chips or raisins, whatever your preference.

Spoon batter into 8 inch pan, then put it into the oven. And...

It is done! All the chocolate chips sunk to just below the surface but they are there! And enjoy your monkey bars!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
• 3 tablespoons low-fat buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips/Raisins (Be generous)
• Cooking spray
• 
  

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2.  Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and the next 3 ingredients (flour through salt) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Set aside.
3. Combine brown sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add banana and next 3 ingredients (banana through egg whites), beating well. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Spread the batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool the bars completely on a wire rack.

Adapted from Cooking Light

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

This easy recipe can be used for almost anything and is to DIE for, at least in my opinion! These tomatoes rarely make it off the tray in one piece, some are always left behind or eaten before they make it into the dish being made. These tomatoes can be used for bruschetta, pasta, pizza, and lots more with your imagination.

Any small tomatoes will work for this recipe.

Start by slicing the tomatoes in half and putting them face down on a jellyroll sheet.

Next cut up either shallot or garlic, depending on which you like more. Or you can put in a little of both if you are super gourmet and prepared.

Next sprinkle shallot/garlic over your tomatoes distributing fairly evenly. Now pour the olive oil over the tomatoes distributing evenly. Salt and pepper according to taste.

This is halfway through the two hour cooking time.

And you are done with your slow roasted tomatoes. 

More recipes to use these tomatoes to come!

Recipe:

2 pints tomatoes

Head of garlic/shallot (use as much or as little as you like!)

1/4 cup  olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 275 F. Cut the tomatoes in half from the stem hole down. Place the tomatoes seed side down on the jellyroll pan. Once all over the tomatoes are on the pan, you can spread them evenly around the jellyroll pan. Cut however much shallot or garlic you want and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes. Salt and pepper according to taste and put the tomatoes in for 1 hour. After one hour turn the cooking sheet around. Cook until wrinkly and fragrant about 45-60 minutes more! Now you can let them cool a little so you don't burn your tongue and then you are done! Voila and enjoy!

Mixed Berry Crisp

Everybody likes berries in the summer, at least everybody I know. This mixed berry crisp has frozen berries that we picked earlier this summer. Crisps are super easy, kind of like pie, but no complicated dough necessary!

The ingredients

Mix together the berries, flour, and lemon juice

In another bowl combine the crumble topping with your fingertips or a pastry cutter

Layer the berries evenly in a 9 inch pan

Pour the crisp topping over the berries (Spread evenly, but it doesn't need to be flat)

And above, the berry crisp! This picture belongs to Epicurious because I forgot to take a picture... I remembered but only after it was all gone. Voila!

yield:

Makes 6 servings

ingredients

2 12-ounce packages frozen mixed berries (such as blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries; about 6 cups), unthawed

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, diced

preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine berries, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour and lemon juice in large bowl; toss to blend well. Transfer berry mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Combine remaining 3/4 cup flour, oats, brown sugar, spices and salt in medium bowl. Add butter; rub in with fingertips until topping holds together in small moist clumps. Sprinkle over berry mixture.

Bake crisp until berry mixture bubbles thickly and topping is golden brown, about 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Courtesy of Epicurious

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Parmesan

I know that when I first heard of this, my gears were spinning. I like bacon, I like parmesan, and I like dates. But all together was something completely new to wrap my head around. I will say these are hard to make look nice, but it is okay, because if you can get people to bite into them, it will not matter!

Picture courtesy of Food Network, because I could not take a decent photo!

This is before the dates were put into the oven

The dates are done being cooked, look at all of that delicious goodness (told you I can't take a good picture)

I got the dates, de-juicing on the paper towel

• 18 (1- by 1/4-inch) sticks Parmigiano-Reggiano (from a 1/2-lb piece)
• 18 pitted dates (preferably Medjool)
• 6 bacon slices, cut crosswise into thirds

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.

Stuff 1 piece of cheese into each date, then wrap 1 piece of bacon around each date, securing it with a pick. Arrange dates 1 inch apart in a shallow baking pan.

Bake 5 minutes, then turn dates over with tongs and bake until bacon is crisp, 5 to 6 minutes more. Drain on a paper bag or parchment. Serve immediately.

Ginger Cookie Recipe

Ginger Cookies

Makes about 50 (2 1/4-inch) cookies

With crunchy edges and a chewy center, beautifully crackled on top, spicy, and loaded with diced crystallized ginger, this is my favorite spice cookie. You can tone down the heat by omitting the fresh ginger and cutting down on the crystallized ginger and still end up with a great cookie. They also make an amazing wintry ice cream sandwich when paired with vanilla bean ice cream. Alice Medrich

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and still warm (1 stick)
1/4 cup dark molasses (mild or robust)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons peeled and finely minced or grated fresh ginger
1 egg
3/4 cup diced (1/4-inch) crystallized ginger (4 ounces)
About 3/4 cup Demerara or turbinado sugar or 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt and mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork.
In a large bowl, combine the warm butter, molasses, granulated sugar, brown sugar, fresh ginger and egg and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and crystallized ginger and stir until incorporated. The dough will be soft.
Form the dough into 1-inch balls. (Refrigerate unrolled dough between batches.) Roll the balls in the Demerara or turbinado sugar and place them 2 inches apart on lined or ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies puff up and crack on the surface and then begin to deflate in the oven. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and from back to front halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For chewier cookies, remove them from the oven when at least half or more of the cookies have begun to deflate; for crunchier edges with chewy centers, bake for a minute or so longer.
For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Cool the cookies completely before storing. May be kept in an airtight container for several days.
Milder variation: Turn down the heat by omitting the fresh ginger and decreasing the crystallized ginger to 1/2 cup.
Wheat-free variation: These are superb and also gluten-free if you use gluten-free oat flour. Make My Ginger Cookies or milder variation, substituting 2 cups oat flour and 1/2 cup extra-fine white rice flour for the all-purpose flour. Substitute 2 egg whites for the whole egg. After the flour mixture is completely mixed in, stir briskly for another 40 strokes to aerate the dough slightly.

Modified from the Oregon Newspaper