Fruit Filled Oatmeal Bars

AKA Jam Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup margarine or butter
Raisin Filling, Apple-cinnamon Filling, Apricot-Coconut Filling, 10 oz (1 1/4 cup) preserves

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda. Cut in margarine or butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup of the flour mixture. Press remaining flour mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9x9x3 inch baking pan. Spread with desired filling. Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture.

Bake at 350* for 30 - 35 minutes, or until the top is golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 25.

Raisin Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 water, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Add 1 cup raisins. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly.

Apple-Cinnamon Filling: Peel, core and chop 2 medium apples (about 10 oz). In a medium saucepan, combine apples, 2 TBSP sugar, 2 TBSP water, 1 TBSP lemon juice, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, and a dash ground cloves. Bring apple mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or till apples are very tender.

Apricot-Coconut Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup snipped dried apricots and 2/4 cup water. Bring apricot mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 TBSP all-purpose flour. Stir into apricot mixture. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or til very thick. Stir in 1/4 cup coconut.

*D: If you skip making a filling and just use your favorite jam, this is about the easiest recipe in the world.

A few modifications: I greased the bottom of my pan! I also reserved about 3/4 of a cup of topping, and it worked out great.

About 2 years ago I made like a million half pints of plum jam, and I still have about 50 jars (not joking) left in my basement. This was a great way to use those! So I've had this recipe with strawberry jam and plum jam, both ways are delicious. I'm considering making a peach version as well.

Seriously, this is really easy and very delicious. It's not to heavy, so I don't feel guilty going back for seconds. :) Pin It

Pistachio Salad

1 package instant pistachio pudding mix (4 serving size)
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup small marshmallows
1/2 container of frozen whipped topping

Remember me telling you how you can say "Salad" in any recipe and it instantly sounds healthy? Yeah...this is one of those.

In a bowl mix pistachio pudding mix (NOT PREPARED PUDDING) and the crushed pineapple and juice. Fold in whipped topping. And marshmallows and gently mix.

Optional ingredients: chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds. Sliced bananas.

*D: This little salad has great flavor and color. It's very green which is festive for Christmas or St. Patrick's day. Let the pudding and pineapple juice thicken a little before adding the rest of the ingredients, and make sure it has a chance to set up in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Also, I use probably 2 cups of marshmallows when I make it. Pin It

Apple Cake

4 cups finely diced apples
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups nuts
2 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
4 TBSP flour
2 cups water
1 cup butter
 2 tsp vanilla

Mix apples and sugar together. Let stand until sugar is dissolved. Add eggs and beat well. Stir dry ingredients together. Stir in to apple mixture. Add nuts and vanilla. Pour into a 9x13 pan. Mix topping together and spread over top of apple mixture. Bat at 375 for 40 - 45 minutes or until done.

*D: This is a fairly easy recipe, but it takes a while to make, for some reason. Probably because you have to chop apples. It took me 5 small apples to get 4 cups. It would probably take 3 or 4 store-bought apples.

The cake mixture is very thick, and the topping is very runny. It's like pouring soup over a cake. This makes it hard to tell when the cake is done cooking, because the apples caramelize, and it almost turns out to be a custardy spice cobbler. It'd say when the top is cooked and crunchy the cake is done.

Put a cookie sheet UNDER the cake because it will boil over the edges.

Very delicious! Especially when warm. Serve with ice cream if you want, or just the cake. Either way it's delicious. Pin It

Snicker's Salad

5 red apples
2 bananas
3 Snicker's bars
1 package instant vanilla pudding (3.4 oz)
1 1/3 cup cold milk
1 container Cool Whip, thawed

 Cut snickers bars into small pieces (cut the bars lengthwise, and thin into 1/4" chunks) and put in freezer for an hour. Mix milk and pudding mix; whip until smooth. Fold pudding and whipped topping together. Chop fruit and blot apples on a paper towel. Add fruits to pudding mix and chill. Add candy before serving.


*D: Have you noticed you can put "salad" on the end of anything and it instantly makes it a health food? Snicker's salad, cookie salad, Jello salad (which is full of whipped cream and cream cheese). I'm just sayin'.

I LOVE Snicker's salad! Mmmm. This is a mishmash of a few different recipes and my personal preferences. My sister-in-law says her recipe calls for strawberry yogurt instead of pudding. That's probably the more healthy option. :)

Freezing the candy pieces is not necessary, but I think it helps them stay chunky instead of mushy and gooey. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can add all kinds of fruits! Peaches, nectarines, blueberries, etc. I'd say stick with the basics if that's what you have, but if you've got other fruits, go wild!

This is always a crowd pleaser. Pin It

Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas (mashed)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1/3 cup butter (melted)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease 10 muffin cups (or line with muffin papers). In a large bowl mix 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moist and combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

To make streusel - in a large brown mix brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and ground cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon of butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle streusel over the top of the muffins.

Place into the oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*D: I love these muffins! Anything with streusel is great, but these are fabulous. In all seriousness, don't over mix. You'll get whole-y tunnel-y muffins. Lumps are ok in the batter. These muffins do lack the crunch you get when you add nuts, so if you want to go ahead and put them in. But please, if you use anything other than almonds, don't tell me. Almonds are my nut of choice, and I couldn't bare to hear you put walnuts in this recipe. Shudder. Pin It

Strawberry Rhubarb Dessert Bars

Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Drizzle Ingredients:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Combine rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice in 2-quart saucepan. Cover; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fruit is tender (8 to 12 minutes).

Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch in small bowl. Stir into fruit mixture. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil (about 1 minute). Continue boiling until thickened (1 minute). Remove from heat. Set aside.

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all crust ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom of greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Spread filling over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Combine all drizzle ingredients in small bowl. Drizzle over cooled bars. Cut into bars.

*D: Rhubarb is a low maintenance plant that produces tart, fresh stalks (like celery) and poisonous leaves. :) We have a huge plant in our yard and you want to know how it got so big? Me too. Because we didn't do anything but water it once in a while. When the plant gets too big, we cut some stalks and freeze them.


So, this is a great rhubarb recipe for us to use all our rhubarb, both fresh and frozen. If you've ever had rhubarb you know it can be very tart. This recipe, although it doesn't call for a ton of sugar, is surprisingly sweet. I was almost a tad disappointed that it was so sweet and hardly tart. If you want more tart and less sweet, try cutting the sugar to a 1/3 of a cup.


We followed the directions to a "T"...because Tyler was baking :) The ONLY thing I would suggest is to follow the drizzle recipe and instructions. Tyler dumped a bunch of sugar in a bowl and added some milk. What we got was sugary milk that soggy-ed up our crumble top. So either follow the directions or don't do it at all. That might be another reason ours was so sweet, actually.


This is a great recipe! Enjoy!


PS. That is the picture from the recipe at http://www.landolakes.com/mealIdeas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=11158 but our dessert bars looked exactly the same except our icing was just a layer of sugary milk on top :) Pin It

Marbled Chocolate - Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute (2 eggs)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined.

Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

I made this last night. It was SO good!! Oh my gosh. I am not a banana bread fan, but I sure do love chocolate:) This is definitely a keeper recipe. It's pretty easy (hey, even I could make it!) and it'll impress your friends:) This recipe is for one loaf.


I did follow all the directions except I used milk chocolate chips (though I've had it with semi-sweet and it's delicious as well) and I didn't measure them. I just poured in a bowl until I thought I had enough:)



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