Very Berry Salad

A few months ago we got Zupas for lunch at my work. One of the salads that we got was their "Nuts About Berries" salad. This is our take on the salad.

Fresh strawberries

Fresh blackberries

Granola

Chopped greens (we prefer romaine hearts)

Vinaigrette dressing (we like Briannas Homestyle Blush Wine Vinaigrette)

Just toss the ingredients together and enjoy.

White Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

This Christmas, we were given a popcorn maker by Kimber's brother, Vince and his wife, Jordan. Jordan gave us this recipe to go along with our new popcorn maker. Just a word of caution, this popcorn is highly addictive.

1 1/2 cups un-popped popping corn

1 cup margarine

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup white karo syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

almond bark

1. Pop the popcorn in a popcorn maker or according to the directions on the back of the bag.

2. Place the margarine, brown sugar, and white karo syrup into a sauce pan and cook until it bubbles. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute.

3. Remove the sauce pan from the heat and add the baking soda while stirring the mixture.

4. Pour the mixture over the popcorn and mix until the all of the popcorn is covered.

5. Spread the popcorn on a cookie sheet and bake at 200F for 20 minutes.

6. Melt the almond bark according the directions on the bag and pour over the baked popcorn. Make sure to mix well so that all of the popcorn is covered. Let the popcorn set and enjoy!

***This recipe makes a lot of popcorn. I usually just do up a third of the recipe for Kimber and me. We still end up giving a lot of it away.

Pizza Dough

2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

One 1/4-ounce package quick-rising yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Add 3/4 cup very warm water and the oil; mix until a soft dough forms.

2. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at time, until the dough becomes manageable.

3. Shape the dough in a ball and place in an oiled bowl; turn the dough over so that an oiled surface is up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 35 minutes.

You can use this pizza dough for pretty much anything. Kimber and I used this dough just the other night to make pepperoni and sausage calzones. This dough tastes great cooked up on the grill. Kimber and I love using this pizza dough recipe for grilled BBQ chicken pizza. Here's the recipe:

1. Split the dough into 4 smaller balls of dough and roll out on a table.

2. Heat your gas/charcoal grill to low.

3. Brush the rolled out dough with some olive oil and place onto your grill. Keep a close eye on the dough because it cooks up quickly.

4. When the dough has cooked (4-5 minutes) flip it over. Quickly spread BBQ sauce onto the dough and top with cooked chicken and mozzarella cheese. Garnish with chives.

Ginger Pork

This recipe is one that my mom taught me when we were visiting for Thanksgiving. It's a quick and easy dish for those nights when you don't have time to cook and don't want to spend the money to eat out.

1 pound of pork tenderloin

1 inch long piece of fresh ginger root

4 tbs of brown sugar

4 tbs of soy sauce

Tip: You don't have to buy a lot of ginger root. Typically, the store sells a huge piece of ginger root. I normally just break off as much as I need

1. Place a pan on the stove and let it heat up. Add a little bit of vegetable oil and let that heat up. You want the pan nice and hot for the meat.

2. While the pan is heating up, cut the tenderloin into thin slices. Throw the meat into the pan and let it cook until it changes color.

3. Mince the ginger root and throw it into the pan with the meat. If you have a zester you can use that to get the ginger into really small bits.

4. Add the soy sauce and brown sugar to the pan and coat the meat in the mixture. You can add more soy sauce and sugar if you want more sauce; just make sure that you keep the ratio of the two ingredients 1 to 1.

5. Let the sauce thicken up a bit and then serve along with rice.

Funnel Cake

A few weeks ago, Kimber and I were visiting Pioche for Lincoln County High School's 100 year anniversary. There was a booth at the football game that was selling funnel cake. There was a long line and we decided that we didn't want to wait in line to get any.

I searched around for a recipe and this is what I found. I'm never going to pay for funnel cake again. This recipe is very simple and delicious.

1 1/2 cups of milk

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

powdered sugar

vegetable oil

funnel

1. Heat the oil in a pot. You want about 1 1/2 of oil in the pot.

2. While the oil is heating up, mix the eggs and milk a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the egg and milk mixture. Mix until smooth.

3. While covering the opening of a funnel with your finger, pour a cup of the mixture into the funnel. Uncover the opening of the funnel, and pour the batter into the oil by making swirling motions.

4. Let the funnel cake fry until it is golden brown. Turn the funnel cake over and let it fry until it is golden brown on the other side.

5. Place the funnel cake onto paper towels and remove the excess oil. Sprinkle with powered sugar.

Italian Sausage Pasta

It's been awhile since I last posted anything. Between classes, homework, and work the recipe blog has been neglected. Hopefully this recipe makes up for the fact that it's been so long.

If you're looking for a nice, full pasta sauce, look no further. It's full of chunks of meat and veggies.

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup carrots, chopped

1 pound Italian sausage (Jimmy Dean works well)

2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Brown the sausage in a pot. Set the sausage aside when browned. Add the chopped onion, carrots, pepper, and garlic to the pot and cook in the grease left by the sausage. Cook for approximately 7-8 minutes.

Add the cans of tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and the sausage into the pot and cook over medium heat. Here's the key: After the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for at least 30 minutes. Simmering the sauce cooks off the extra water that is in the tomato sauce.

Serve over a pasta of your choice and enjoy!

Serves 6-8 people

Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake

So we went down to Pioche this past weekend and stopped by Kimber's grandmother's house. They have an apple tree in their front yard that it about to tip over it has so many apples on it. We picked a few and brought them home with us. there's nothing better than home grown veggies and fruits.

So I got thinking about what I could do with the apples. I came across this recipe the other day and I just tried it last night. I think that it's pretty good. It's not too sweet, but that's good because I don't have much of a sweet tooth.

Cake

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

5 Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples

1 1/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts

2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze

4 tbs butter

1/4 sugar

1/4 light brown sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13 cake pan.

Core and peel the apples. Cut the apples into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugars and the oil and blend. Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing.

Combine the remaining dry ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add the dry mixture to the mixture in the mixing bowl. Stir in the apple pieces, pecans, and vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 50 to 75 minutes. Bake the cake until you can stick a toothpick or knife into the middle and it comes out clean. Pull the cake out and poke holes into it using a toothpick or fork. Set aside to cool.

While the cake is cooling, melt the butter in a small pan. When the butter has melted, stir in the sugars and salt. Cook over medium-low heat for approximately 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream and stir. The glaze will eventually come to a boil. Continue to stir for another two minutes after the glaze has begun to boil. If you don't stir constantly, the glaze will burn.

Remove the glaze from the heat and pour over the cake. Serve the cake with a nice scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.