John's Birthday Skor Bar Cheesecake

Hubby's request this year wasn't for your typical birthday cake !

He wanted cheesecake , but not just any cheesecake - Skor Bar Cheesecake !

So I found a recipe online and thought I would share ...

You will need :

~ 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

~ 1/2 cup of butter

~ 1/2 cup white sugar

~ 2 pkgs of cream cheese

~ 1 cup of white sugar

~ 4 eggs

~ 1 tbsp of lemon juice ( which I did not have ) ... oopps ...

~ 1 tsp vanilla

~ 6 skor bars

Start with mixing together in a saucepan:

2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

Stir until it's all melted together ....

Press it into a 9 inch spring foam pan ....

Then it's time to mix together the actual yummy part ....

First dump in your softened cream cheese and your sugar ....

Mix that until there are no lumps left ....

Then add the vanilla and lemon juice ( if you have any ;) ) ....

Add the 4 eggs one at a time ....

While those are whipping up:

Grab your skor bars and a hammer !

Not kidding! 

Now pound the bars into little pieces ...

It is best if you throw the bars in to the freezer for a few hours ....

Makes it easier for them to break apart instead of turning to mush ....

Add them to your mixture ....

Mix for under a minute ...

It should look like this :)

Pour over your graham cracker mixture and bake at 350' for just over an hour ...

Here it is !

The finished birthday cheesecake . Complete with a Wiggles candle because someones wife forgot to buy actual candles and that was the only one in the house :)

Enjoy :)

Storm Day Easy Chili

So it's been snowing here ....

AGAIN !

They actually called this one a blizzard ....

The kind where if you leave your house then you are CRAZY kinda blizzard !

The kind of day you need to make some comfort chili :)

This is the easiest chili recipe ever!

My former pastor's wife WENDY was sweet enough to share this with me. 

It seems like I've been making it once a week this winter.

The secret is making enough so you have leftovers for a few days.

I make a double batch, so if you don't want a lot cut this recipe by half.

First throw some hamburger in a frying pan.

The amount is totally up to you. Some people love lots of meat and others can do without !

Cut up 2 onions, 3 green peppers and you can use red peppers if you want, but I didn't have any today ..

And remember snow storm !! So not going to the grocery store anytime soon!

Brown your hamburger, then add your peppers and onions.

Then get your biggest pot and dump in :

2 cans of tomato soup

2 cans of mushrooms ( drain first )

2 large cans of diced tomatoes

2 large cans of red kidney beans

In the meantime, try not to look out the window at the freezing winter wonderland ....

Then throw in your cooked hamburger, peppers & onions.

Add salt & pepper to taste and depending on how hot you like it :

1-2 tbsp of chili powder ....

Mix it all together and let it simmer for hours ...

Since you won't be going anywhere .....

Enjoy :)

Zucchini Relish

So I didn't feel I had canned near enough jars of goodness yet to last us through the upcoming winter. I decided to tackle making relish :)

Made out of zucchini !

My Aunt Nancy's recipe, because she has an amazing garden and cans all things! Plus she gave me the zucchini - cause you guessed it - MINE DID NOT GROW :)

It really isn't hard, though it would be time consuming if you don't have a food processor to do all that chopping for you .

Thankfully I do :)

Your going to start out by chopping up 10 cups of zucchini.

Then chop up 4 cups of onions.

1 large sweet red pepper

1 can chopped green chilies ( I didn't use these )

Throw all this into a large bowl and add 3 Tbsp of pickling salt.

Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge to chill overnight .

The next morning, drain and rinse the zucchini mixture. It looks a lot like coleslaw and smells like it too .

In a large pot add :

3 1/2 cups of sugar

3 cups of vinegar

1 Tbsp ground turmeric

4 tsp celery seed

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Bring this to a boil.

Add the zucchini mixture to the pot. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes.

Then put in your already washed and sterilized warm jars.

Seal the lids on.

Put the jars in a pot of boiling water for 5-10 minutes.

Take them out and listen for the popping :)

Voila !!!

7 Jars of Relish :)

Enough to last our little family for 2 years !

ENJOY :)

Crisp Cucumber Pickle Slices

My friend Karen gave me a bunch of these cute little cucumbers the other day. I thought they would be perfect to make some more dill pickles with but talked myself out of it deciding that the 27 jars we already had would do :) So I started looking through some local cook books I had and came across this Crisp Cucumber Pickle Slices recipe, which also happened to have submitted into the recipe book by my grandmother Alice . I didn't think it looked too complicated, so it was the winner :)  

Wash all your cucumbers ....

Chop them up into slices ....

Add: 1 chopped green pepper ( optional )

1 red pepper ( optional )

3 medium onions ( chopped )

1/3 cup of pickling salt

Then cover with cold water and ice.

Let it sit for 3-5 hours.

Again, wash and sterilize those jars ....

Boil your lids ....

After the cucumbers have soaked in the water and ice.

Get a huge pot !

Add : 1 1/2 tsp turmeric

2 Tbsp mustard seed

1 1/2 tsp celery seed

5 cups of sugar

3 cups of vinegar

Stir those together,  then add your cucumber mixture after you drain and rinse them off.

Stir and bring to a boil.

Then pack them into your hot jars.

Seal right away and listen for the popping :)

ENJOY :)

Easy Dill Pickles

I bought some fresh cucumbers a few days ago. Notice I said bought not " picked them out of my garden" ...  So I dug out my recipes books looking for an easy Dill Pickle recipe. I found one :)

Start with fresh cucumbers. I used 10 for this batch. 

Wash them well .

Cut them up into strips and make sure to take the seeds out. Let them soak in cold water while you are getting everything ready ....

Wash and sterilize your jars...

Don't forget to boil your lids ...

Fill your jars with the cut up cukes ....

Cover with Fresh Dill 

Heat in a sauce pot :

~ 2 Cups of Vinegar

~ 1 Cup of Pickling Salt

~ 2 and 1/2 Quarts of Water

Bring to a boil , pour it in the jars right to the top! Make sure the dill is covered. Seal your jars immediately, and listen for the popping :)

Make sure you let the pickles sit for 4 - 6 weeks before sneaking into them :)

ENJOY !!!!

Jam ! Jam ! Jam !

Yesterday I made 4 batches of Strawberry Jam. I picked my strawberries a few weeks ago but I was way too cheap to pay full price for all that sugar so waited for it to go on sale :) It did! $1.49 per 2 kg! Got to be thrifty people !!!

To make 4 batches of jam, you need 16 cups of crushed strawberries, 28 cups of SUGAR ~  I know ~ so healthy ! You also need 4 packages of Liquid Pectin, 1 Cup of Lemon Juice and 2 tbsp of Butter .

First boil all of your lids ....

Then wash out your jars, fill them with boiling water, then put them in the oven on low while you are cooking the jam to sanitize them ...

Start with all those berries, throw them into a huge pot. I made a double batch at a time. They say not to make more than two batches at a time or your jam might not set. Can't risk that :)

Then dump in all that SUGAR and the Lemon Juice....

Stir it up nice and good ...

Bring it to a hard boil for 1 min. Keep stirring, then take it off the burner and add your pectin and I throw in a little butter, as it's supposed to help get rid of the foam. Then stir for 5 minutes to get all the foam out...

Put it in jars, let them set and listen for the popping :)

Heaven in a jar :)