Kat's Recipe Box

As per your request…thanks mom.

1 ½ cups quick cooking oats
2 cups rice krispies
2/3 cup chopped dried exotic fruit
pineapple, mango, papaya
½ cup chopped pecans
1 stick butter
½ cup light corn syrup
3 ½ ounces white chocolate broken into pieces

1. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper cups

2. In a bowl, combine the oats, rice krispies, dried fruit and pecans. Put the butter, corn syrup and white chocolate into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Stir in the dry ingredients until they are coated.

3. Divide the mixture among the paper cups, pressing down lightly. Store in the fridge.

I have no specific measurements for this recipe…it is all based on how it tastes and how much pizzazz you want so I will give you the basic ingredients and you can take it from there.
Balsamic vinegar
Grape tomatoes
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
Garlic
Olive oil
Onion
Fresh mozzarella
Fresh basil
Onion

Wash and slice the grape tomatoes in half and set aside. In a bowl, pour in to start about a ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar and with a whisk gradually add while whisking your olive oil until you have about ½ cup of liquid in the bowl. If you have a lot of tomatoes you might want more liquid to cover the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the balsamic and oil and stir. Add the kosher salt and pepper to taste and at least on minced garlic clove…the garlic is to taste also. Chop a few leaves of fresh basil and chop onion and add to the mixture all the while tasting until it is where you want it. Add fresh mozzarella. I usually buy the small mozzarella balls in water and cup them in half or leave them whole…mix and serve.

You can serve the bruscetta on Italian bread or we sometimes put it over grilled chicken.

This recipe is great to use up some extra berries that you might have left laying around. I chose fresh blueberries and strawberries.

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/ 2 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ cup fresh berries
Beat the eggs and gradually add the sugar. Slowly pour in the oil and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients into a different bowl and add the sour cream and egg mixture alternately. Fold in the berries and spoon into paper lines muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping below.

Topping:
2 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; combine and sprinkle over muffins.

Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This is my all time favorite lemon cake!!! It takes a bit of time to make but it is well worth the effort. I usually make my husband help me with this recipe…he was he zester and juicer while I did the rest. Fortunately for him, I got an electric juicer so the job is not all that difficult anymore. This cake has three different steps so it seems like a lot of work but once you get the hang of it it isn’t so bad. Use only fresh lemon juice and zest for this recipe.
½ pound of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 ½ cups of sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup of lemon zest (about 6 to 8 8) I cant get rid of the smiley face…hmm?
3 cups of flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup of buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla

Simple syrup:
½ cup sugar and ½ cup lemon juice.

For the glaze:
2 cup confectioner sugar
3 ½ tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease two loaf pans with butter and flour them. I cut a piece of parchment paper and place it on top of the greased/floured surface just for a little extra help.

Cream butter and two cups of sugar in a bowl with electric mixer, beat until mixture is light and fluffy: I recommend about 5 minutes. While the mixture is on low speed, gradually add the eggs one at a time and the lemon zest. My mixer has a habit of collecting the zest on the paddle so I am constantly cleaning off the paddles to make sure the lemon zest is well incorporated into the batter.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the butter -milk, ¼ cup of lemon juice and vanilla.
Add the flour and buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture in an alternate pattern, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until this is well combined. Divide the mixture into the two pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Once the cakes are done, let them cool for about 10 minutes before you take them out of the cake pan. While the cakes are cooling, go ahead and make the simple syrup. Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and lightly pierce the bottoms of the cake with a fork and spoon the simple syrup over the bottom of the warm cakes and let set. Overnight would be great but not necessary.
Before serving, make the glaze with the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cakes and serve.