Slow Cooker Apple Sauce

        On Friday morning I had court in the North Georgia Mountains.  After court, I took the long way home and drove through the mountains to my little college town of Dahlonega.  Along the way I stopped at Bud's Pink Pig in Cherry Log, Georgia for a delicious BBQ lunch and Hillcrest Apple Farm in Ellijay Georgia to buy my annual fall apples.  I made this applesauce last year it was a hit for me and my husband.  Hope you all enjoy it too!

Slow Cooker Apple Sauce

Ingredients:

10 Apples (I used honey crisp)

½ cup sugar

½ cup water

Cinnamon to taste

Vanilla extract to taste

 

Directions:

Peel and core the apples, then cut them into chunks.  Place apples in the crock pot.  Pour sugar and water over the apples.  Add vanilla and cinnamon.  (I went light on cinnamon, probably ½ tsp and heavy on the vanilla, probably 1 ½ tbs) Cook on high for 4 hours stirring occasionally.  When done mash up any remaining chunks with a potato masher.

You can serve it warm or chilled.

 

We prefer it warm over vanilla ice cream. ENJOY!

 

3 INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE PIE

My fiance was having a particularly bad day at work, so I wanted to surprise him with a quick and easy dessert to make his day better.  I ran in the grocery store and didn't see anything on the baking isle that inspired me so I picked up a few random things and decided to make a super easy chocolate pie.  It ended up being a hit with the fiance and with my co-workers the next day.   The best part is this pie is only about 220 calories a slice, so you don't feel guilty eating a piece, or two.  Hope you enjoy.

3 Ingredient Chocolate Pie

 

Ingredients:

 

Reduced Fat Chocolate or regular graham cracker crust

Lite Cool Whip

Chocolate Cream Cheese

(This time I used milk, but it comes in dark and white.  Any flavor would be delicious)

 

 

Put the cream cheese in your mixer and beat it for a few seconds to loosen it up a bit

 



 

 Slowly whip in the cool whip.

 

Pour in pie crust and freeze for 1 hour or refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Enjoy!

 

 

Sugar-Free Strawberry Pie

I have been eating this version of shoney's strawberry pie since I was  little girl.  My great grandmother used to make this pie all the time.  Now we make it almost every weekend during the summer.  My grandfather LOVES this pie, but he is a diabetic, so we have adapted the recipe so that he can eat it.  We use splenda instead of sugar and sugar free jello.  I hope your family loves this pie as much as we do!

Sugar-Free Strawberry Pie

Ingredients: (this makes 2 pies)

2 ready made and prepared pie crusts

1 1/3 cups of splenda (1 1/2 cups of sugar)

6 tsp cornstarch

2 1/2 cups of water

2 boxes of sugar free strawberry jello

4 to 6 cups of cut fresh strawberries

Heat splenda, jello, cornstarch, and water on the stove stirring

constantly until the mixture is very thick.

Pour mixture over strawberries into the pie

crusts and refrigerate until set.

Top with whip cream or cool whip and enjoy!

White Chocolate Heath Bar Blondies

Baking is a stress reliever for me and when I get the itch to bake, I bake. When I get this particular itch I try to use ingredients that I already have on hand, and this is one of those recipes that I decided to bake on the fly with what I had in the pantry. This is why there is country crock spread in the ingredients picture (I DO NOT USUALLY BAKE WITH THIS) because butter was the only ingredient I was missing, and I was not about to go to the store for just butter so I improvised.  These are delicious yall! I took them to work and my co-workers (one in particular) ate them all in one day.  

Ingredients:

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup white sugar

1 cup heath bar pieces

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.

Melt white chocolate and butter on the stove.

Stir occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Whip eggs in electric mixer until frothy.

Add sugar and vanilla.

Mix all together and then add the dry ingredients.

Next whip in the melted chocolate butter mixture.

Add the heath bar.

Make sure everything is mixed really well.

Pour into greased pan.

Add more white chocolate chips on top and bake for 25 mins.

Cut into squares and try not to eat them all!

Starter Free Friendship Bread

Starter Free Friendship Bread

Have you ever been given one of those yeast starters for friendship bread? I have, and its one of my favorite breads to make and give away as a gift.  I was talking with a friend the other day about getting a starter bag going to give away, but it really is a pain to make, and who wants to wait 10 days to eat this yummy bread?  So I did some research, like any good lawyer would do.  I found a recipe here that is made without the starter.  I decided to give it a try. I made mine in a bunt pan because it calls for 2 loaf pans and I only have one.  The final product, is even better (in my humble opinion) than the one made from the yeast starter.  Make it today (because you don't have to wait 10 days), you wont regret it!

I put brown sugar in the pan before I baked it so it would have a nice crispy sugar crust.

Isn't it pretty?

Cindy's Crazy Good Fruit Dip

        My mom has been making this recipe for as long as I can remember, and it has become a staple on my go to list for parties and events. It is super easy to make because it only has 3 ingredients, and its so good you will want to eat it with a spoon right out of the bowl instead of dipping your fruit in it.  

Cindy's Crazy Good Fruit Dip

8 oz. of cream cheese

1 small container of marshmallow cream/fluff

1 tsp of vanilla (my addition)

Let your cream cheese soften for 2 hours at least before you make this.

Beat the cream cheese for 2 mins or until all the little clumps are gone.

Fold in the fluff and vanilla.

Serve with strawberries and apples (or whatever fruit you like best).

Try not to eat the whole bowl before the party.

Cake Batter Cheese Cake Squares

I made this recipe for a party I went to this weekend.  They are super easy and super delicious! I found the recipe on pinterest, you can find it here.  The only problem I had was the sprinkles sinking down to the crust instead of staying spread throughout the cake.  Hope you enjoy! 

Pink Lemonade Pound Cake

This recipe is another pinterest find, but the link to the pin was non-existent so I googled it to find a recipe so  I could make this cake for Easter.  You can find it here.  Mine didn't turn out as pink as I would have liked but it was so good no one really cared about the color.  Enjoy!