Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips!

This will quickly become one of your most requested recipes.. it is definitely one of mine!  

Fruit Salsa

1 lb. fresh strawberries

1 lg. apple or 2 small apples, peeled and cored

2 kiwis, peeled

1/2 can pineapple, drained or about 1/4 fresh pineapple

3 TBSP sugar

dash of lemon juice

Wash and prepare all fruit.  I like to chop my fruit separately, but you don't have to.. Put fruit in a food processor or "salsa maker" (as pictured) and chop thoroughly.  Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use!  Serve with cinnamon chips.

Salsa chopper makes it quick!

Stack the tortillas and cut a stack at a time

Cinnamon Chips

flour tortillas

1 stick butter or margarine

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Melt butter or margarine.  Brush butter onto flour tortillas and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  I find it easiest to do one tortilla, stack another etc.. until I have 5 or 6 stacked up.  Then use either large knife or pizza cutter to cut into triangles.  If needed, sprinkle a little more cinnamon sugar before baking. Place on cookie sheet (one layer) and cook until brown and crispy- about 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy with the fruit salsa!

Here is a printable 4 x 6 recipe card for your files! (I have made a few changes since I made this, either one is great!) Enjoy

Cranberry Relish

This relish is easily the fastest way to "WOW" a crowd! I'd had this at family gatherings but had never made it - mostly because my husband loves cranberries, but is allergic to them. I had to track down the recipe which originated with my niece, Donna. Without tasting it, you may wonder about the ingredient list - but trust me, it's amazing!

This past weekend, I hosted a bridal shower and made this as part of the luncheon. More than half of those attending asked for the recipe!

For all who asked, and those who didn't - here ya go.... Super Easy Cranberry Relish

1 12oz bag of fresh cranberries
1 c sugar
4-5 green onions
cilantro (about 2/3 of a bunch or about 1/4 cup chopped)*
2 seeded jalapenos
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
crackers (prefer Wheat Thins)

Rinse cranberries and pat dry. Place in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to mixing bowl. I chopped the green onions, cilantro, and jalapenos until very fine, but next time I will try them in the food processor, too. Combine veggies with cranberries, then add sugar, and mix well. Refrigerate at least an hour for flavors to mix. Serve over cream cheese. Enjoy!!

*Cilantro note: I've always wondered the best way to chop cilantro. My sister once told me to cut all fresh herbs with scissors, but that can be tricky. While making this relish, I searched for a better solution and found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuRhkopm06A. I found it very helpful - especially about what part to use!

Toasted Ravioli!!

If you have never tried fried ravioli- you are missing out!  We grew up in St. Louis where it is a local favorite, but lots of our country hasn't caught on that everything fried is better... It is super easy and worth the calories!

Toasted Ravioli
1 bag of frozen beef ravioli (you can use cheese, but then it is just fried cheese!)
3-4 eggs, beaten
Italian breadcrumbs
Oil of choice

Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Put eggs into medium to large shallow bowl.  Do the same with the breadcrumbs.  Dip frozen ravioli into eggs then breadcrumbs and fry in hot oil until brown on both sides.  Drain and serve with favorite marinara and parmesan cheese!

Caramelized Bacon

Several years ago, at my niece’s wedding reception, I was introduced to caramelized bacon. The reception was held at a beautiful country club, and as guests were mingling, the servers were offering plates of these delicious bites of bacon. Since then, I have been experimenting with recipes and cooking methods so we can enjoy this treat at home. Following is my recipe – which is pretty close to perfection (if you ask my kids):

You will need:
1 lb of bacon
1 cup of brown sugar

That’s all. As for kitchen “tools”, I use my broiler pan, a cooling rack, and some sort of flat plastic container with short sides.

I won’t lie to you - this can be a bit messy. So, I do a couple of things at the beginning to make the clean-up go quickly.

1. cover broiler drip pan with foil.
2. put foil or wax paper under a cooling rack (for drips)


OK let’s get started…. Preheat your oven to bake at 400. Pour the brown sugar into a flat container with sides. Cut the entire pound of bacon in half – just right down the middle.

Take each slice of bacon and press it into the brown sugar, covering each side. Then, lay the sugared bacon on the top rack of broiler pan – touching each other is fine.


Bake for about 16 minutes, flipping the slices over about halfway so they get about 8 minutes on each side. I prefer them very crispy, so I may watch closely and bake an extra few minutes. In this picture, I've been rotating some new ones onto the pan as others have been cooked and removed from the pan. The darker ones are ready to come off, but the others will need to cook longer.


Remove from broiler pan, and place each slice on baking rack while still hot. Let cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then enjoy! You can also store in the refrigerator for up to a week, but they are best served at room temperature.