Hello Again!

I've missed you! But, I am back with a fun and simple, super tasty recipe that is PERFECT for the holiday weekend! Fruit Salsa. My SIL Christine LOVES it when I make this and it's been years since I pulled it out, so it's time again. Enjoy your holiday and please be safe!


Apple Berry Salsa
from The Pampered Chef

2 granny smith apples, sliced thin, then chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
2 kiwi, peeled and chopped
1 small orange
1 tsp zest
2 tbsp juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp apple jelly

Gently stir together fruit. Mix rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over fruit and gently toss together. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with cinnamon tortilla chips.


Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

1 pkg flour tortillas
cinnamon sugar
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400*. Cut each tortilla into wedges. A pizza cutter works really well for this job. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Spray tortillas LIGHTLY with cooking spray and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Seeds

Rugby carved pumpkins at school on Friday. They take them to the Navarino Nature Center for their annual Fall Event (that's tonight, btw!). They have them lit and along a trail and it doesn't start until 6:30, so it's plenty dark to see them and the cool designs the kids carved into them. Normally, we don't carve our pumpkins. I have the kids paint them so that right after Halloween I can use them to make pies and the seeds are an added bonus. This year, the seeds are the main event since Rugby and Riley weren't able to be convinced to paint the pumpkins. Rugby was really excited about roasting seeds, though....he brought home 4 pumpkins worth after their carving event at school and we had 2 pumpkins that they carved here at home, so it's a nice amount of seeds to work with. Most of them were just olive oil and sea salt, but one batch I did get to make the "Martha Stewart" way. Years ago, I had seen her make these and tried them and INSTANTLY loved them. Then I forgot about them and now I haven't made them in a few years again. Today we made them and Rugby is also in love with them. Enjoy!



Martha Stewart Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from 1-2 pumpkins
5 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cumin
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tbsp oil (I use EVOO or butter for this)

Preheat oven to 250. Line baking sheet with parchment paper before placing seeds on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour or until dry, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

In a medium bowl, mix salt, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne (I do a little shake), and 3 tbsp sugar. Set aside.

In a non-stick skillet, heat oil. Add seeds and 2 tbsp sugar. Cook until seeds begin to caramelize (45-60 seconds-ish). Pour seeds into the spice mixture and toss to coat. Allow to cool before eating. They will last 1 week in an airtight container...if you can resist them that long!

No-bake granola bars

I made these last night to have for the kids lunches this week. Semi-healthy and completely easy to make. They LITERALLY took less than 10 minutes to make. Riley and TJ helped, too! You can be creative with what you add to them, too. I modified the original recipe (of course!) so you have the one that I made....go from there. :)

No Bake Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (could probably use turbinado if you wanted to)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips, raisins, dried cherries/cranberries, coconut, etc. I used chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine cereal, oatmeal and any non-melting add-in that you like. Dried fruit or nuts, etc. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and honey. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla; blend until smooth. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to combine. Allow to cool a bit before adding chocolate chips or other melty add-in. Press this mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with wax paper. (Press hard so that it sticks together really well or you'll have a crumbly granola that really isn't a bar) Allow to cool completely before pulling it out of the pan and cutting into bars. Originally recipe states that it makes 24 servings. I used a pizza cutter to cut mine and that worked really well. They stay pretty soft and chewy. Enjoy!