Cheese & Chives Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes are one of my favourite foods, (I eat them like dessert y'all!) and I am a strong believer the only ingredients that should be added to mashed potatoes are milk and margarine...but since we are eating the last of our potatoes from last years garden, they are starting to taste quite bland and they need a little pick me up.  

So I tried this recipe for super last night, most of the family wasn't to fond of them because they don't like parmesan cheese, but there were a few of us who really enjoyed them!

these are super filling, so a little goes a long way!

3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 cup margarine

2 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 cup milk

4 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup fresh chives

salt and pepper to taste

- Cook potatoes in water until they are soft, but not falling apart.

- Drain potatoes, put them back in the pot and cook on low heat with the lid on for about 2 minutes (this helps the potatoes dry out a little).

- Add all ingredients to potatoes and mash (or mix with a hand mixer) until well mixed.

- It is best to serve the potatoes right away, but if you need to, you can put them in a casserole dish and keep warm in the oven at a low temperature.

- ENJOY!

Cherry Pie Bars

These bars are super quick and easy to make!

According to my mother the crust is similar to a sponge cake...since I don't think I've ever eaten one, we will just have to take her word for it! (She's always right ;)
I made the mistake of putting it in the fridge overnight which really dried them out, so it is better to eat these fresh.
According to my sister Jen "this dessert is way better than a blizzard from DQ!"...I wont tell you that Jen doesn't really like blizzards...but if that don't make you want to eat them then I'm not sure what will!! ;)

Photo credit: Jennifer

3/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt

2 (18oz.) cans cherry pie filling

3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp. milk

- Cream together margarine and sugar, add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
- Add flour and salt, mix well.
- Spread 2 cups of batter in the bottom of a greased 9x13 cake pan.
- Spread cherries on top, and dot with remaining cake batter.
- Bake @ 350F for 40-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean
- Cool.
- Mix together milk and icing sugar, drizzle over cake.
- ENJOY!

Photo credit: Jennifer

Coconut Waffle Sauce ~ Sugar Free ~ Gluten Free

Afew mornings ago I was craving our families Waffles recipe.
But since I've been working at eating healthier lately, I made these gluten free waffles and topped them with my version of waffles sauce, and some strawberries.
the sauce is not extremely sweet, so if you aren't planning on adding strawberries you might want to add a little more sweetener.
Coconut sugar has been my go to sweetener lately, but i have been wanting to start trying some other kinds, what's your favourite?

3 cups milk

3/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup cornstarch mixed with water

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp. margarine

- Bring milk, salt and sugar to a boil in a sauce pan on high heat, stirring every once in a while.
- While milk is heating, mix cornstarch with a little water (until it is smooth)once milk is boiling, remove from heat, add cornstarch mixture while stirring with a whisk, place back on heat for a few seconds until sauce is thick.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla and margarine, mix well.
- Pour over Gluten Free Waffles and top with strawberries.
- ENJOY!

*Disclaimer* I don't have a gluten allergy, so if you do, eat at your own risk.

Cream Cheese Rhubarb Custard Dessert

i love pretty much anything rhubarb. we have two really good rhubarb desserts that we have been making over the past few years (Rhubarb Crunch and Rhubarb Dessert) but this year i have been looking for some new and different recipes.
on sunday we had a picnic at the park after church, so saturday evening i tried two new desserts from pinterest and they both turned out really good! but this one was the favourite!!
I had never thought of putting cream cheese icing on anything rhubarb before, but it actually tastes AMAZING!

 Crust:

 2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup margarine

Custard:
2 cups sugar
7 tbsp. flour
1 cup cream
3 eggs
5 cups chopped rhubarb

Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cream

Crust:
-Beat together crust ingredients with hand mixer.
-Press into a greased 9x13 cake pan.
-Bake @ 350F for 10 minutes.

Custard:
- While crust is baking, mix together flour and sugar.
- Add cream and eggs, beat until smooth with a hand mixer.
- Fold in rhubarb.
- Pour over crust, bake @ 350F for 40-50 minutes, or until custard is set.
- Cool.

Topping:
- Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with hand mixer until smooth.
- in a separate bowl,  beat cream by hand with a whisk until it is slightly thick, but not as thick as whipped cream.
- Add cream to cream cheese mixture, a little at a time, until it is desired consistency.
- Spread over cooled cake, cover and chill for a few hours or overnight.
- ENJOY!

Banana Upside-Down Cake ~ Gluten Free

well y'all, I tried five times over the weekend to make a gluten free banana bread, and every single one of them crumbled when i tried to slice them. so i changed my plan and came up with this, its not banana bread, but it is super moist and just plain yummy.

i had to guard this stuff with my life just to get a picture of it...so i think it passed the test :) and hopefully my mother will forgive me for using so many of our bananas :D

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 cup white sugar (or 3/4 cup coconut sugar)

1 egg

1 banana

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

- Cream butter and sugar together.

- Mix in banana, milk and egg.
- Add all dry ingredients except for chocolate chips, mix well.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.
- Bake @ 350F for 20-3o  minutes, or until toothpick comes out almost clean from the center.
- Cool, and serve upside down.
- ENJOY!

*Disclaimer* I don't have a gluten allergy, so if you do, eat at your own risk.

Hot Cocoa ~ Sugar Free

i don't know if coconut sugar is necessarily considered "sugar free" but on my blog...it is. i used to use stevia in most of my recipes, then i figured out i was allergic to it, since then i have tried many other natural sweeteners but coconut sugar is my fav.
while i was waiting on my 4th and 5th attempt at gluten free banana bread (which i will post next week...if i ever get it right ;) to come out of the oven, i was craving some hot chocolate, so i threw some milk and ingredients in a pot and came up with this, it is quite cocoa-e (bet you didn't know that was a word!) which i normally don't like, but today i did....or maybe eating anything other than flopped banana bread tastes good to me right now... :)

      special thanks to my sis for being such a model :)

2 cups milk
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 tsp salt

- Whisk all ingredients together in a small pot, bring to a boil.
-ENJOY!

Rhubarb Crunch ~ Gluten Free

last summer we had friends over, and one of them was allergic to gluten, so we took this recipe and used oat flour instead of white, it turned out super good!

4 cups sliced (about 1/2" thick) rhubarb
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup old fashion oats blended, or 1 cup of oat flour (those with allergies be sure to use gluten free oats)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 cup margarine, melted

- Spread rhubarb in the bottom of a lightly greased pie plate.
- Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar over rhubarb.
- Mix dry ingredients together, add the egg and mix well.
- Spread over rhubarb (it doesn't spread evenly, but it will as it bakes).
- Pour melted margarine over the oat mixture.
- Bake @ 350F for 40-50 minutes until topping is cooked and golden brown.
- Top with ice cream and ENJOY!

*Disclaimer* I don't have a gluten allergy, so if you do, eat at your own risk.