Pumpkin Spice Rice Crispy Treats

It’s that time of year! And these are a delicious way to enjoy it.

3 Tablespoons butter (browned)
5 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup butterscotch chips

Butter a 9×13 pan (or 10×10 if you’d like thicker treats). In large saucepan on medium high heat stir butter until melted. Continue stirring until butter turns brown. Don’t overcook or scorch. Lower temp to low-medium and add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.

Add the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and stir together. Add the butterscotch cups and stir until mixed and is beginning to melt.

Pour into pan. Let cool, Cut into squares and serve!

Perfect for parties.

A Tale of Dos Tres Leches

Coconut Tres Leche

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c water

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 oz coconut milk
• 1 /2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup coconut creamer

Topping:  canned whipping cream, toasted coconut and maraschino cherries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In large bowl mix dry cake mix, butter, eggs, vanilla and water until well blended.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
5. Pierce cake with fork tines, chopstick or base of wooden fork, poke holes every couple of inches
6. Combine the coconut milk, condensed milk, whipping cream and creamer together. Pour over the top of the cake.
7. Prior to serving, spread whipping cream and your fruit of choice over the cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated until about 20 minutes before you serve it.

Strawberry Almond variation:  Bake as above.  For milk blend instead of coconut milk and coconut creamer, substitute 1 c Italian sweet cream.  Add a tsp almond extract.  Garnish with glazed strawberries and toasted almonds.

Enjoy!

Dented Brick Distillery

I recently visited Utah’s newest distillery Dented Brick. They opened March 25 in Salt Lake City. Their master distiller Ethan Miller is a longtime friend and it was wonderful to see him again, he is all grown up!

Named after one of Utah’s most famous landmarks, Dented Brick mashes, ferments, and distills onsite using only the highest quality ingredients – organic sugar cane, non-GMO molasses, aromatic yeast, and chemical free water from an artesian well, drilled by the original property owners. The distillery’s location, in an industrial area of South Salt Lake, was selected because there was a natural artesian well on the property. The fresh spring water “is something that sets us apart,” said Miller, who grew up in West Valley City. He worked at High West Distillery in Park City and New Deal Distillery in Portland, Ore., before local investors Marc Christensen and Celeste Royal lured him back to Utah to launch Dented Brick.

The company’s state-of-the-art facility is one of the few in the country built specifically for distilling. With a 28-foot-tall Vendome copper still from Kentucky, Dented Brick will be able to increase its capacity in the future, eventually reaching 3,000 cases a month. “We can make any spirit we want: vodka, gin or whiskey,” Miller said. Not everything about the 14,000-square-foot facility is new, though. Old bricks — even dented ones — were pulled from the site’s original structure and incorporated into the building, giving inspiration for the distillery’s name.

The business is expanding internationally and I am looking forward to seeing its success.

Dented Brick gives tours which end up in a tasting of the Antelope Island rum.  That’s never a bad thing, particularly with a rum of this caliber.

 

 

 

Froggie’s Cherry Pie

It isn’t your normal cherry pie. The glaze brings smooth, flavorful consistency which is unique to a cherry pie. The mix of sweet and tart cherries added while frozen keeps them plump.  You can just get a hint of the almond, and it is totally worth it.  Without even experimenting I am going to suggest you could add a bit of amaretto to this pie and it would work just great!

Try it.  You’ll like it.

2 pie dough crusts (you can make your own, or use store-bought.  In this case I bought the best prepared pie dough which is at Trader Joes. *pro tip, leave in wax cover to roll, otherwise you will get cracking.  This is the only downside to Trader Joes pie crust. Mrs. Fields is a good brand too)
3 cups Costco Private Selection Frozen mixed variety cherries.
1 box junket Danish Dessert, strawberry
Welchs white grape cherry juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter
2 egg yolks

Cover 9 inch pie pan with a circular rolled pie dough.  Prick bottom.  Slice butter thinly and lay on bottom.  Prepare Danish dessert over stovetop using 1 cup white grape cherry juice and 3/4 cup water instead of just water (as directed by instructions on back of box).  When thick and clear remove from heat.  Add almond extract and cinnamon.  Stir in cherries and pour into prepared crust.

Design top as desired and then brush top dough with egg wash.  Bake as directed on prepared pie dough.  You will want to use a cover on sides and top of pie to prevent overbrowning during the baking process.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream dashed with a spritz of nutmeg.

 

Southwestern Pasta Salad

It has all the best of ingredients. This New Mexican gal is very happy to be blending my favorite ingredients into this cool, crisp summer salad.  It has the added benefit of being absolutely  beautiful.

Ingredients

1 bag fusilli (spiral pasta), or pasta of your choice.  Prepare according to instructions, and leave in cool water while prepping the rest of the ingredients.

Chop the following:

green pepper
1/2 jalapeno pepper
1/2 red onion (long slices)
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1 large english cucumber
1/2 c cilantro

Then add:

1 can sliced olives
1 can black beans, drained

In saucepan heat olive oil (I used an infused jalapeno one) on medium high heat and add:

2 ears of corn, slice off kernels
1 cup chopped Hatch New Mexico green chile, or two cans of canned green chile
3 Tbsp chopped red onion

Cook til charred.  Remove from heat, cool and then add to freshly chopped vegetables.

.

 

Drain pasta and add to vegetables.  Drizzle two Tbsp of jalapeno olive oil and 11 oz bottle cilantro lime dressing (I used stonewall kitchen).

 

 

 

Add a little crumbled cotija cheese, or cheddar. Refrigerate for an hour or longer, it gets better the longer it sets.

 

Enjoy!

 

First Beach – La Push, WA

Post by @Froggie007.

Source: First Beach – La Push, WA

Madrona Tree