Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Caramel Apple Dip

At the last minute, I decided to bring apples and dip to my youngest daughter's Shakespeare class this afternoon.  We always have lots of cut-up apples in the fridge, so they're easy to grab and go.  But all alone, they'd be boring.  Peanut butter is good with apples, but doesn't shout 'special'.

Back in the dark recesses of my brain lurked a recipe that my family used to make quite often when I was a young adult.  They may still make it, I don't live near them anymore and somehow this was lost from my immediate memory during one of our many moves.  I started thinking about it a couple of weeks ago.  Probably because I'm getting tired of apples with peanut butter!


As you can see from the container, my memory served me well!

Best of all?  It took me less than five minutes to make.  Really.




Apple Dip


1 - 8 oz brick of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tbs vanilla

Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients and whip until smooth.




Cream Cheese Dip (the original)


2 - 8 oz bricks of cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup shelled peanuts (salted or unsalted)

Using a hand mixer, combine cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Whip until smooth.   Stir peanuts into the dip by hand.


Serve dip with your favorite apple - my kids love Granny Smith, but I'm more partial to the Gala - or other hard fruit, like pears.  Apples are best, though.


In my haste, I did a quick Allrecipes search to come up with the first recipe (click on the recipe name to go to the Allrecipes version).  After we got back home, I had time to search my recipe box and I found the original recipe my family used.  Can't believe I forgot about the peanuts!

The handwritten recipe card says "Cream Cheese Dip" for the name, but I remember distinctly that we called it "Caramel Apple Dip" when it was mentioned by name.  The peanuts improve this dip from 'good with apples' to 'oh-my-gosh this tastes like a caramel apple".

~ ENJOY!

Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living hosts an Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!


 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!



Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Muffins with PEANUT BUTTER

I can't credit this recipe because I don't remember where I found it. Boo.

PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY MUFFINS

• 1-3/4 cups flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• jam or jelly, any flavor

  1. Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. 
  2. In a mixer bowl, beat together the milk, peanut butter, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla. 
  3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spoon. (I needed to add another splash of milk at this point, because the batter was too dry and stiff.)
  4. Grease a muffin tin. Put a tablespoon or two of the batter into each cup. Add a teaspoon of jam to the top. Put more batter over the jam to cover it. 
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing.


PEANUT BUTTER BANANA MUFFINS

Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat together the peanut butter, oil, eggs, milk and bananas.
  4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
  5. Spoon the batter into 12 well greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

All American (gluten-free) Meatloaf

My family loves meatloaf. In fact, I'd say that next to macaroni and cheese it's their favorite comfort food. Unfortunately, our love of meatloaf collided with my daughter's need to eat gluten-free.

Who knew you could make meatloaf with oats? This is my first attempt at gluten-free meatloaf and it's adapted from Maridele's All American Meatloaf shared on allrecipes.com (I have such a love/hate relationship with that site!)


All American (gluten-free) Meatloaf

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 4 slices Cheddar cheese, halved

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F
  2. Mix ground beef, quick oats, onion, milk, eggs, 1/4 cup ketchup, garlic, garlic powder, salt, basil, and black pepper together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined; pat the mixture into a 9x5-inch-ish loaf in a baking dish
  3. Bake meatloaf in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf should read at least 160F
  4. Remove from oven, spread 2 tablespoons ketchup over loaf, and top with Cheddar cheese slices; return to oven and bake until cheese has melted, about 5 more minutes

It was delicious and very filling.  I'm sure all that extra garlic is what makes it so delicious!  Now that I've had success with oatmeal in place of bread crumbs I'm looking forward to adapting my other meatloaf recipes.

~ ENJOY!

Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!


 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!