Perfect for a side dish for BBQ or indoor dining! I made these baked beans for a dinner party this summer and completely forgot to post the recipe . It’s not vegetarian friendly since I did use bacon and am afraid if you leave it out you would be leaving out an integral layer of flavor. These are sweet and delicious and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry. I love a well stocked pantry and always have canned beans, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, mustard, dark and light brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. I used dark brown sugar but if you have light you can use. You’ll need thick-cut bacon and a medium yellow onion. I love when I use ingredients that I have in my house.

I saw this recipe on Valerie’s Home Cooking on The Food Network.

www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

4 slices thick-cut bacon, roughly chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 15 ounce cans Cannellini or Great Northern white beans

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

Kosher Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the bacon in a large cold skillet and cook over medium heat until the fat renders and the bacon is almost cooked to a crisp. About 10 minutes.

Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally , until the onion is softened, another 10 minutes or so. Add 1 can of the beans with their liquid. Drain and rinse the second can of beans, then add them to the skillet.

Add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of the pepper mill. You’ll taste for salt and pepper again at the end of cooking.

Bring to a low simmer, then transfer to a small baking dish. Bake uncovered until thick and bubbly, about an hour.Taste for salt and pepper.

I cooked in my small Le Creuset from start to finish and served in my pot right to the table. Either way is fine.

Serve Warm.

I made this BBQ sauce and used it on chicken and ribs and it was so delicious. I put it into a bell jar and kept it in the refrigerator for a week. There are a lot of ingredients but it’s worth the effort. Nothing but good old fashioned ingredients. We like it spicy so this has a lot of kick because of the chipotles in adobe sauce, if you want it to be milder use only 1 chipotle or none.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup Molasses

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 chipotles in adobo sauce,  roughly chopped–you can eliminate this if you don’t like it spicy or cut in 1/2

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook , stirring occasionally, until onion is nice and soft, depending on your stove top anywhere from 5-8 minutes. You just want them very soft and translucent not browned.

Add the garlic, and cook stirring till garlic looks softened , another few minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and the ketchup. I mixed the water and ketchup before adding.

Add the molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, allspice, clove, chipotles and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and bring all ingredients to a low boil. Reduce the heat, and bring to a slow simmer, stirring occasionally. It will start to thicken up in about 10 minutes or so. I let it cool a little bit and the put into the blender until it was smooth. Store the sauce in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use. This sauce can be made up to a week in advance.

Chicken:

This particular night I made BBQ chicken–dark meat. I used thighs and legs.

I dried off the chicken on some paper towels. Prepared my grill by spraying well with Pam Grill Spray or whatever you like to use, you can also oil the grates.

Separate about 3/4 of a cup of  sauce for basting . You don’t want to cross contaminate raw chicken with sauce that you may want to use . I place the remainder of bbq sauce in the refrigerator and put some in a bowl for serving.

Lightly season the chicken with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Sear the chicken with no sauce on the grill , skin side down, until nice grill marks form, app. 5 minutes. Then flip over.

Reduce the grill to low. Cook the chicken covered, turning and basting with the BBQ sauce every 5 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Check doneness with a meat thermometer or cut into it.

Throw away any sauce that you used on un-cooked chicken.

Tomato Pesto!!!! Basil is just a garnish and not even necessary in this wonderful pasta dish. Lovely for summer nights and perfect for the colder seasons as well. Pretty easy to prep, you’ll need a food processor for this one.

Easy obtainable ingredients.

Ingredients:

2/3 cups walnuts

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup olive oil

kosher salt

6 oil-packed anchovies, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup Parmesan, finely grated (about 1/2 cup), plus more for serving

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 box spaghetti, use any type you prefer , I prefer a long spaghetti type of pasta

Fresh Basil for sprinkling garnish* optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once until slightly darkened, app. 10 minutes but check on them after 8 minutes–don’t want to burn the nuts. Set aside to cool.

Heat the broiler. Toss tomatoes with 2 Tbsp. of oil on a rimmed baking sheet; season with some salt. Broil tossing once .  I broiled until tomatoes started to blister and released some of their juices. App. 6-9 minutes. Let cool.

In the food processor fitted with metal blade pulse the anchovies, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese until finely ground. Add the walnuts and half of the tomatoes, then with motor running stream in 1/3 cup of olive oil; process until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook pasta according to the box directions for al dente. Drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.

Transfer pasta to a large bowl add the pesto and add a splash of pasta water. Toss adding more cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta. Add basil if you’d like and remaining tomatoes.

Enjoy!

*Pesto can be made 1 day ahead. Keep in fridge.

This is a most amazing dessert. It can be made in a large bowl like a trifle, which is what I did or for a more spectacular presentation in an 8″ springform pan. I made it in a large glass bowl and while I don’t have a lot of photos I can tell you that this was a big hit! I even froze the leftovers and they were outstanding. I made it with Tates gluten-free chocolate chip cookies because a friend of mine who was coming for dinner is gluten-free. If you’re looking for a gluten free dessert for a crowd this is it!

This was surprisingly easy to make and no baking makes it a perfect go to dessert. This was a crowd pleaser for sure.

You’ll need an electric mixer with the whisk attachment for this.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream ( I didn’t say this was diet food)

12 ounces Italian Mascarpone Cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup coffee liqueur, I used Kahlua

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 packages chocolate chip cookies, I used Tates (gluten-free or regular) in the bowl I didn’t quite use the 3 packages but if you do it in a springform you’ll probably need them all.

Shaved semi sweet chocolate for garnish

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar , Kahlua, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and then slowly increase speed until it forms firm peaks (this could take up to 6 minutes so don’t get nervous if it takes a while)

In a large glass bowl, I broke the cookie into pieces for the bottom of the bowl, covering the bottom as much as possible. Spread some of the mocha whipped cream evenly over the cookies ( you’ll want about 5 to 6 layers depending on the bowl) so eyeball the whip cream so you’ll have enough. Place another layer of cookies on top, lying cookies flat and touching one another. Follow by another layer of cream, continue layering cookies and cream until there are about 5 or 6 layers and you’ll want to end with a layer of cream. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap , and refrigerate overnight.

Right before serving I sprinkled the top with chocolate shavings. Serve cold.

I did freeze this in small plastic containers and then just defrosted it in refrigerator and took out of fridge for a little bit and it was perfectly delicious.

I scooped into dessert dishes, a little goes a long way with this because it’s pretty rich. Will probably serve 10-12 in small dessert dishes.

Springform Pan directions:

You’ll need an 8″ inch springform pan.

Directions are pretty much the same – 5 layers will do it. When you are ready to serve run a sharp knife around the outside of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate, cut in wedges, and serve cold.

Now this is something I don’t often do but sometimes it is just the right thing to do. I bought a boxed Lemon Cake, yes that’s right with all my recipes for delicious cakes from scratch I bought a Duncan Hines Lemon Deluxe Cake because I saw a recipe that called for it, then I decided to go in a completely different direction with this recipe! In any event why beat myself up for using a boxed cake mix????? It came out delicious and was pretty simply executed. By the way I cheated on the topping too, I used Cool Whip Light!

So go ahead cut step 1 and buy the box cake mix, and then the rest of it you’ll have to do on your own.

Sorry for the poor pictures , it really was light and refreshing!

Ingredients:

1 box Lemon Cake Mix ( I used Duncan Hines deluxe Lemon Cake Mix) and you’ll need vegetable oil, eggs and water .

Lemon Blueberry Sauce:

I used 2 pints of fresh blueberries

1 large lemon or 2 small lemons, zest and app. 1 Tbsp. of juice , you will need the zest of the 2 lemons or 1 large one.

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. corn starch

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Topping:

1/2 jar lemon curd

1 8 oz. container cool whip–yep I used Lite and it was perfectly delicious

Directions:

Prepare the lemon cake according to the package directions using a 9×13 baking dish.

Prepare the blueberry-lemon sauce. In a medium-sized saucepan, add blueberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally , until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken ( it took about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Set aside and allow to cool.

Remove the cake from the oven when it’s done and allow it to cool down for a little bit, app. 10 minutes. Once it cooled down I used the handle of a regular wooden spoon and I poked holes into the top of the cake that are about an inch apart. While the cake is still on the warm side, drizzle the blueberry lemon sauce on top of the cake. Spread the sauce into an even layer over the cake making sure that some of the sauce and the blueberries get down into the holes. Let the cake cool completely (about an hour) See photos.

Add the lemon curd and 1/2 cup of the cool whip to a medium bowl and whisk together until smooth. Add another 1/2 cup of the cool whip and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining cool whip to the bowl. Using a large spoon or spatula , gently fold the cool whip mixture into the lemon curd mixture. Spread the whipped lemon topping on top of the cake into an even layer. Place the cake in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving. I kept it overnight. I took it out about 1/2 hour before serving.

Now this is easy.

Store covered in the refrigerator.

Yum! and beautiful.