Apricot Fruit Leather

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups pitted and diced fresh Red Barn apricots
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees F (165 degrees C), or the lowest setting you have.
2. Combine the lemon juice, apricots and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.
3. Cover an 11x17 inch pan or cookie sheet with a layer of plastic wrap. Pour the pureed fruit onto the plastic and spread evenly to within 1 inch of the edge.
4. Bake for 4 to 6 hours in the preheated oven, using a spoon or a pair of tongs to keep the door slightly ajar, or until the puree has dried and is no longer sticky. Once dry, you can cut it into strips and store in an airtight container.

Hawaiian Zucchini Bread

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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry French Toast

Today's recipe is from Real Mom Kitchen. You know it's a good one because she just landed her own cookbook deal - so snag this recipe while you can before it's no longer available for free!

Overnight Blueberry French Toast with Blueberry Syrup

French Toast:

* 12 slices bread, cut into cubes (Texas toast and cinnamon bread work well)
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut in cubes
* 1 cup Red Barn blueberries (fresh or frozen)
* 12 large eggs
* 1/3 cup maple syrup
* 2 cups milk (I use 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream)

Syrup:

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
* 1 cup Red Barn blueberries (fresh or frozen)
* 1 Tablespoon butter

1. Arrange 1/2 of the bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
2. Sprinkle cream cheese cubes and blueberries evenly over the bread cubes.
3. Top with remaining bread cubes.
4. Mix together eggs, milk, and syrup.
5. Pour over bread cubes and cover pan with foil. Let chill in refrigerator overnight.
6. Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until fluffy and golden. Top with sauce. Serves 8.

Sauce: Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. Stir in blueberries and simmer for 10 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Serve over the french toast.

*If you don't want to make your own syrup, make sure to try one of our many great syrup flavors. I think Red Barn raspberry syrup would be a fun twist!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tasty Tuesday: zucchini bread

Now that our gardens are actually giving off produce, I thought it would be fun to do a recipe using a vegetable that most of us are able to grow in our gardens. Today I bring you a twist on the traditional zucchini bread. It comes from the Real Moms Real Views site. We wanted to thank them again for hosting our giveaway last week. I will share the Hawaiian Zucchini bread, but they also have one for chocolate zucchini bread as well that you can check out here.

Hawaiian Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups gated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.

Step 1: In a large bowl mix together eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil, and zucchini. (I decided to do 1 cup sugar and 1 cup splenda to help cut down on the calories in case I end up eating both loaves. )

Step 2: In a separate bowl, mix together flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the zucchini batter and mix well.

Step 3: Stir in pecans, pineapple, and coconut. Pour into loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour, or until browned. (It only took mine 50 minutes).

Let cool in pan for 30 minutes before removing. Finish cooling on cooling racks. Eat and enjoy!

Blueberry French Toast

French Toast:

* 12 slices bread, cut into cubes (Texas toast and cinnamon bread work well)
* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut in cubes
* 1 cup Red Barn blueberries (fresh or frozen)
* 12 large eggs
* 1/3 cup maple syrup
* 2 cups milk (I use 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream)

Syrup:

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
* 1 cup Red Barn blueberries (fresh or frozen)
* 1 Tablespoon butter

1. Arrange 1/2 of the bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
2. Sprinkle cream cheese cubes and blueberries evenly over the bread cubes.
3. Top with remaining bread cubes.
4. Mix together eggs, milk, and syrup.
5. Pour over bread cubes and cover pan with foil. Let chill in refrigerator overnight.
6. Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until fluffy and golden. Top with sauce. Serves 8.

Sauce: Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. Stir in blueberries and simmer for 10 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Serve over the french toast.

*If you don't want to make your own syrup, make sure to try one of our many great syrup flavors. I think Red Barn raspberry syrup would be a fun twist!

Peachy Brean

3 cups sliced fresh peaches	1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons sugar	1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour	1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder	2 eggs
1 teaspoon soda	1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon salt	1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place peaches and 6 tablespoons sugar in container of electric blender; process until pureed. (Mixture should yield about 2 1/4 cups.) Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar and shortening; cream well. Add eggs and mix well. Add peach puree and dry ingredients, mixing until ingredients are moistened. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 well greased and floured 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Bake at 325° for 55-60 minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in pan; turn out on rack, and let cool completely. Perfect when topped with Red Barn jam!
Yield: 2 Loaves

Fresh Peach Dessert

Ingredients:
Graham cracker crust
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 Tbls corn starch
1 small package peach jello
1 package cream cheese (softened)
1 large container cool whip
5 large Red Barn peaches
Directions:

Make or purchase a graham cracker crust. In a small bowl, blend cream cheese and half of cool whip. Pour and spread over cooled crust. Now add a layer of fresh sliced peaches. In a sauce pan bring to a boil the water, sugar, and corn starch. Add peach jello. Once dissolved, pour mixture over the peaches and refrigerate until set. Top with remaining cool whip if desired.

Caramel Apple or Peach Topping

Ingredients:
6 Red Barn peaches, peeled and sliced
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Red Barn vanilla ice cream (optional)

In a bowl, toss together peach slices and lemon juice. In a slow cooker, combine brown sugar, butter, cream, and cinnamon; mix well. Add peach slices and toss to coat with sugar mixture. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until fruit is bubbling. If desired, serve over vanilla ice cream. Serves 4 to 6.

Note: Sliced apples can be substituted for peaches.

Caramel Apple Bars

Here is a great back-to -school bake sale recipe from Laura at RMK.

Caramel Apple Bars

1/2 cup cold butter
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1 egg
1 cup finely chopped peeled Red Barn apple
3/4 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, cut butter into cookie mix using fork or pastry blender. Stir in egg until mixture is crumbly.
Reserve 1 1/2 cups cookie mixture (I would do 1 1/4 cups) . Press remaining cookie mixture into bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle apple evenly over crust. In small bowl, mix caramel topping and flour; drizzle over apples. Sprinkle reserved cookie mixture over apples.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Heat oven to 375°F. In step 4, bake 23 to 28 minutes.

Pumpkin Praline

Ingredients:
16 oz. pumpkin
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
3 tsp. pumpkin spice (I use pumpkin pie spice)

Whip all ingredients with a whisk. Set aside.

1 yellow cake mix (dry)
3/4 cube of melted butter
3 oz of your favorite nut, chopped

Spray a 9 x 13 pan. Pour pumpkin mixture on the bottom. Spread the yellow cake mix on top. Sprinkle with nuts and spread the butter on top of the entire cake. Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once slightly cooled, this is great with Red Barn vanilla ice cream, whip cream, or just plain. I bet it would be great with a spice cake. Try adding a tsp of cinnamon for extra holiday flavor!