Strawberry Fields Salad

I love salads. I really love spinach salad, this is my second one on my blog. If you prefer arugula or spring mix, you can easily substitute spinach for something else. I did make a homemade poppy seed dressing and it has a little tang. If you prefer something like balsamic or any other vinaigrette, that would work also. This is a perfect spring/summer salad and it’s Popeye’s favorite! 😉

Salad

Ingredients:

2 packages (6 ounces) baby spinach

1 4 ounce container of feta cheese, crumbled 

1/4 purple onion, sliced into pieces

1 pound of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled 

1 cup of pecans, I used praline pecans I purchased at the grocery store

3 cups of sliced strawberries

Place ingredients in a salad bowl and toss. Serve with poppy seed dressing or your favorite dressing. 

Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup of mayonnaise 

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard 

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 Tablespoons of poppy seeds

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper 

Mix together and serve over Strawberry Fields Salad or your favorite salad. Dressing will last a week in the fridge. Enjoy!

Grammy’s Carrot Cake

This is a very old recipe. I adapted this recipe and added 3 cups of grated carrots to the original recipe. This is a very moist and delicious cake, a favorite of my Dad and my clients. People love carrot cake all year but Easter is also a popular time too. 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda 

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups carrots, grated (6 is not a misprint)

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with nonstick spray that contains flour or grease and flour your cake pans. You will need three 9″ cake pans or you can use two for thicker layers. Please line your pans with parchment paper and also spray the parchment paper. Set aside. 
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Blend together dry before adding your wet ingredients. Add oil, vanilla and add eggs one at a time. Add carrots and nuts and combine. Divide equally into your pans. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting. 

Cream cheese Frosting

2 blocks of cream cheese, room temperature 

2 sticks of butter, room temperature 

4 teaspoons vanilla

2 pounds of powdered sugar 
Blend cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla and slowly add powdered sugar. Frost on cooled cake. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy. 

Egg Nog Mousse

I love egg nog. I knew when I made my pumpkin mousse that eventually I would get around to making egg nog mouse. This recipe does not disappoint. A light creamy dessert that is perfect for the holidays. 

Ingredients: 
1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, room temperature 

1 cup eggnog

3 teaspoons of cornstarch

8 ounces of heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons of nutmeg

3/4 cups of powdered sugar

Whip cream for garnish, optional

Nutmeg for garnish, optional

In a chilled mixing bowl that has been refrigerated a minimum of 20 minutes (attachment too) blend cream cheese in a chilled bowl until smooth. Add egg nog and blend until smooth. Add cornstarch and combine. Pour in whipping cream and add nutmeg and whip into stiff peaks. Add powdered sugar. Pour into bowls and refrigerate several hours or overnight until set. Garnish with whip cream and nutmeg.   Makes  6  one cup servings. Enjoy!

Copycat Salted Caramel Cafe

After the hustle and bustle of shopping and preparing holiday meals, why not treat yourself to a holiday cocktail?!  This cocktail can be purchased at Tampa’s Hard Rock Cafe but now you can make one for yourself in the comfort of your own home. This could give Irish Coffee a run for the money. It’s like a caramel coffee drink that people order at the high end coffee shop with a kick!  This drink is very tasty. 

  

Cast of characters. 
Ingredients:

1 shot of Tia Maria

1 shot of Bailey’s  Irish Cream

5 ounces of Half and Half

3 ounces of Salted Caramel Syrup (I used Monin that I purchased from Amazon)

Whip cream for garnish

Caramel ice cream syrup

Caramel corn, optional

  
I used a glass that is often used for Irish Coffee. Tia Maria is like a coffee liqueur. Add the shots of Tia Maria and Bailey’s to your glass. Add half and half and caramel syrup. Stir to mix. Top with whip cream, drizzle with caramel syrup and top with caramel corn.  Cheers!

  
*please remember to drink responsibly

Chocolate Caveman Coffee Steak Rub

I have been thinking of creating a steak rub for a long time. I use a dry rub on my ribs so I thought why not?  Mixing my two favorite things in the world, coffee and chocolate was a match made in heaven. Honestly, this was the best steak I have ever eaten. I definitely will make this again. And again!  #Choctoberfest2016 #CavemanCoffee #CavemanCoconutOil #CertifiedAngusBeef

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon coconut oil, I used Caveman Coffee Brand
Season steak with garlic salt and pepper, fresh ground is preferred
1 teaspoon chocolate, dry unsweetened 
1 teaspoon finely ground coffee, I used Caveman Coffee
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, substitute chili powder for less heat

Look at that beautiful rub.

In a small bowl, whisk together chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, paprika and cayenne pepper. Set aside. Brush strip steak or rib eye with coconut oil on both sides and sides of steak. This helps the rub to adhere to the steak.  Season with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. Rub dry steak rub all over steak and let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour to let the flavors infuse. Take steak out of the refrigerator while your grill heats up. Grill to perfection.  Don’t let the dark rub trick you on how done the steaks are. The cooked rub will look very dark but the taste is so amazing. The spices, coffee and chocolate will please your palette. I honestly can say this is the best steak I have ever eaten.

A dark thick crust on the outside and tender, flavorful meat inside. Delicious !
I would like to thank Caveman Coffee for the delicious coffee and awesome coconut oil. I love these products. The opinions expressed are my own.

Barleans Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

I was given Barleans Greens Chocolate Silk Powder to try and create a recipe for #Choctoberfest2016 This smoothie is healthy, nutritious and delicious. This product is full fiber and antioxidants. A great meal replacement in the morning or lunch. Perfect for in between meals. You and your kids will love this.

Ingredients:
1 8 ounce container of plain yogurt or vanilla, I used fat-free
1 scoop of Barleans Green Chocolate Silk Powder
3 Tablespoons Peanut Butter
1 Banana, frozen
1/4 cup milk, whole, low-fat, almond soy, whatever you prefer

Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. I use frozen fruit, in this case a frozen banana. Frozen fruit will thicken your drink without using ice. Makes 1 delicious smoothie. Enjoy!

*Opinions are strictly my own

Choctoberfest 2016

Today is one of my favorite days of the year… because it is the first day of #Choctoberfest 2016!

#Choctoberfest is a virtual event put together by The PinterTest Kitchen. Bloggers from around the world will be posting their favorite chocolate recipes, and you’ll get a chance to win some awesome prizes. What’s not to love?

Thank you to the sponsors who make #Choctoberfest possible! This year, Imperial Sugar is back as our Gold Sponsor. They have been a trusted name in kitchens since 1843, and their website is home to thousands of sweet recipes tested in the Imperial Sugar Kitchen. You can find Imperial Sugar on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube, or join their Sweet Community so you can share your own recipes, save recipes to a virtual inbox, print Imperial Sugar coupons, and connect with other sugar lovers.

Imperial Sugar and our silver sponsors have banded together to offer a huge #Choctoberfest prize pack, which you can enter to win below! One lucky winner will be chosen at random to receive the following:

• From our Gold Sponsor Imperial Sugar: 1 case of granulated sugar (40 pounds), 1 case of brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of dark brown sugar (24 pounds), 1 case of powdered sugar (24 pounds bags), and an Imperial Sugar red ruffle apron
• From our Silver Sponsor Nature Nate’s: 32 oz. Raw & Unfiltered Honey bottle, Honey Syrup, Honey Packets, a Nature Nate’s T-shirt, various kitchen supplies, and $50 Amazon gift card
• From our Silver Sponsor Barlean’s:16 oz Barlean’s Butter-Flavored Coconut Oil, 9.52 oz canister of Chocolate Silk Greens, and 8oz bottle of Essential Women Omega-Swirl Chocolate Mint
• From our Silver Sponsor Caveman Coffee: 1 Bag of Coffee (you choice of blacklisted or sabertooth), 1 coconut MCT oil, and 1 Cacao Butter
• From #Choctoberfest blog hosts The PinterTest Kitchen: 1 specialty chocolate gift pack (your choice of dark or milk chocolate), 1 tin (14 ounces) drinking chocolate, and Divine’s Fair Trade Gift Set

Enter now to win our #Choctoberfest 2016 prize pack! We’ll be picking a winner at random winner on Saturday, Oct. 15, so enter by Friday to make sure your name is in the drawing:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Here’s a list of all of the bloggers participating in #Choctoberfest 2016. Visit any of their blogs to get delicious chocolate recipes throughout the week:

The PinterTest Kitchen • 2 Cookin’ Mamas • A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures • addicted 2 recipes • Amy’s Cooking Adventures • An Affair From The Heart • Balancing Motherhood • Body Rebooted • Bottom Left of the Mitten • By the Pounds • Canning and Cooking at Home • Coconut & Lime • Cook with 5 Kids • Cook’s Hideout • Cookaholic Wife • Cooking with Carlee • CopyKat Recipes • Cricket’s Confections • Crumbs in my Mustachio • Elisabeth Jean • Fairyburger • Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice • Family Around the Table • Fantastical Sharing of Recipes • Feed Your Soul Too • Feeding Big • Frankly Entertaining • Full Belly Sisters • Get the Good Stuff • Grumpy’s Honeybunch • Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks • Hostess At Heart • Ink and Sugar • Jane’s Adventures in Dinner • Join Us, Pull Up a Chair • Karen’s Kitchen Adventures • Kate’s Recipe Box • Kudos Kitchen by Renee • Kylee Cooks • Letz Eat • Life Currents • Life on Food • Making Miracles • Monica’s Table • Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog • My Catholic Kitchen • My Gluten Free Miami • Our Good Life • Palatable Pastime • Restless Chipotle • Seduction in The Kitchen • Sew You Think You Can Cook • Simple Food 365 • Southern With A Twist • Sumptuous Spoonfuls • Take Two Tapas • Tampa Cake Girl • Teaspoon of Goodness • That Recipe • The Crumby Cupcake • The Flavourista • The Food Hunter’s Guide To Cuisine • The Freshman Cook • The Pajama Chef • The Redhead Baker • The Spiffy Cookie • Tramplingrose • Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen • Zesty South Indian Kitchen

I’m looking forward to seeing all of the yummy recipes posted on these blogs. Check them out throughout the week and don’t forget to follow our sponsors and bloggers using the Rafflecopter giveaway widget above for your chance to win our sweet prize pack.