Food

SRecipes Featured on Food & Swine: (in order of appearance from  most recent to least recent.)

*Feel free to ‘search’ the site for various keywords that you see on the sidebar to the right.  “Baking”, “Savory”, “Cookies”, “Breads”, etc.  This will help you narrow your search as well.

11 Cookie Recipes

Bacon, Avocado and Tomato Deviled Eggs

English Toffee Cookies

Chocolate Milk Frosting

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: And 7 Cookie Baking Tips

Billionaire Spaghetti Casserole

Best Danged Mashed Potatoes

Classic Foolproof Apple Crisp

Open Faced Easy Pesto Burgers: Few ingredients!

Easy Strawberry Preserves

BBQ Pulled Pork

Lemon Supreme Pie

Simple Garlic Viniagrette: Top Secret Recipe!

Sea Salt and Chocolate Picnic Bars

Lemon Meringue Pie

Buttermilk Country Loaves of Bread

Classic Apple Pie

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream: Drake’s 2nd Cake

Iowa Beef Burgers

Blueberry Red Raspberry Pie: Amy’s Pie

Sour Cream Panna Cotta with Summer Berry Sauce

Cast Iron Ribeye Steaks

Speedy BBQ Chicken Legs

Simple Pound Cake

Blue Tin Butter Cookies

Pork Tenderloin and Baby Potatoes

Easy Monster Bars (gluten free)

Cherry Red Raspberry Cheesecake

Tractor Approved Energy Bites (no bake, gluten free)

Beef Bourguinon

Mouth Watering Pork Carnitas

Authentic Focaccia Bread

No Bake Cherry Chocolate Granola Bars

Sandi’s Butter Dips (aka: delightful biscuit fingers– one of my favorite recipes)

Church Cookbook Layered Lettuce Salad

2014 Top Recipes

Fancy Chicken Bacon Ranch

Pigged Out Patty Melt: Ground Pork Burger, Caramelized Onions, Melty Cheese, Bacon, Country Bread

Sugared Jam Tea Cookies

Easy Little Farmer Cake: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate and Vanilla Frostings and model tractors

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies: My cookies for The Big Show Farm Boys on NewsRadio 1040 WHO

Old Fashioned Dinner Rolls

Easy Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Snowball Cookies/Russian Teacakes/Mexican Wedding Cookies

Homemade Bread Bowls: bread bowls for soups, hot dips and more.

Ginger Spice Cookies

Made Better Pumpkin Pie

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Tallest Chocolate Cake (4 layer dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream filling)

Mom’s Fresh Apple Cake

Sour Cream and Chive Cornbread

Homemade Bacon

Top Secret Kettle Corn: Sweet and Salty Popcorn– my favorite snack!

Ground Beef/Pork and Veggie Pasta Skillet

Simple Farmhouse Bread

Triple Bacon Sweet Corn Mac N Cheese

Double Bacon Caramel Ice Cream Sundae with Pecans

Multi-Award Winning Caramel Pecan Sticky Rolls

Tractor Trail Mix

Easy Mini Corn Muffins, Stuffed with Honey butter and Jam/Jelly

Perfect Crab Rangoon

Iowa Blogger “Pork-Nic” Pork Recipe Roundup

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Malted Buttercream

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Tanna’s Dutch Letter Bars

Perfect! Fried Pork Tenderloin Sandwich & Pig Twigs for the kids

Peach Jelly (not Jam… jelly is clear with no chunks of fruit.)

Chocolate Float Cake

Homemade Chicken Alfredo

One Roast: Three Dinners

Fresh Peach Jam

$2,000 Cherry Danish

Freezer Corn

Traditional Iowa Sweet Corn

Blueberry Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

Pretzel Dogs (Homemade Pretzel Dough wrapped around hot dogs!)

 2 Minute Hot Fudge

Pavlovas with Lemon Curd and Berries

South of the Border Burger

The Bodacious BLT

Ultimate Pork Breakfast Burger with Peppers and Onions

Bacon Wrapped Crab Stuffed Shrimp

Peanut Butter Bars

Oatmeal Fudge Ribbon Bars

Pretty Oreo Pops

Girls’ Guide to Grilling and All American Burger

Cattlemen’s Sliders (Cheeseburger with bacon, pickles and onion strings)

Light Chicken Salad Cucumber Boats with fresh dill and blueberries

Old Fashioned Cream Cheese Mints

Perfect Pork Breakfast Burger

Honey Oatmeal Sandwich Loaf

The $17,500 Sour Apple Pork Burger Recipe (Alternative Burger Winner at Build A Better Burger (Sutter Home Winery) Slightly tweaked from the original. 

Parmesan Pork and Veggie Skillet

Perfect Iowa (Pork) Chops

Easy Cherry, Apple & Blueberry Crisp (Red White and Blue Crisp)

Cookie Slam-wiches (Cookies Filled with Buttercream Frosting)

Drake’s Cake (Chocolate Cake, Oreo Cream Cheese Filling, Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream)

Cherry Pie

Easy Parmesan and Garlic Breadsticks

Fluffy Biscuits

Perfect Plain Cheesecake with Fruit Toppings

Go-To Chocolate Chip Cookies with 2 Special Ingredients

Simple Veggie Frittata

BBQ “Pig Sticks” (Bacon wrapped Pork Loin strips with Whiskey Pear BBQ Sauce)

Fun Easy Veggie Cups with Semi Homemade Dill Garlic Ranch Dressing

My Favorite Drink: Old Fashioned Cherry Lemonade

Hasselback Potatoes

Banana Monster Muffins

Twice Baked Potatoes

Thin and Fabulous Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quick Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Healthier Midwest Ham Balls

Honey Vanilla Fruit Salad

Soft Little Snickerdoodles

Light Shrimp Pasta

Pear Pie & Perfect Lard Pastry

Korean Style Beef

Peach Crisp

Cattleman Approved Steak Wraps

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Quick Chicken Pesto Pasta

Corn Muffin Thumbprints

Ballpark Style Soft Pretzels

Scotcheroo Puppy Chow

Healthy Veggie Quinoa Frittatas

Spicy Apple Candied Bacon *Plus other candied bacon short recipes.

Kiwi Strawberry Healthy Fruit Parfaits

Apple Cranberry Granola

Customizable Monster Blondies

Easy Roasted Asparagus

State Fair Peppermint Ice Cream Bar *Copycat Recipe

Healthy Grilled Chicken, Pesto Pasta & Romaine Salad

S’mores Cupcakes

Fancy Stuffed Braided Bread

Tanna’s Banana Cake

Simple Cut Out Sugar Cookies: No Chill Time!

Fancy Flank Steak Rolls

Peach Sparkler-Non Alcoholic Drink

Blueberries and Cream Coffee Cake

Quick and Easy Cake Decorating Ideas

Tips on Yeast Bread Rising Times

Kid’s Easy Chocolate Cake

Homemade Potato Chips

Easy Sunday Brownie Pudding

Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Crunch Cookies

Homemade Pizza Dough

Beignets

Double Citrus Sugar Cookies

Peanut Brittle

Caramel Apples

Lemon Chess Pie

Flavored Butters

Blue Ribbon Butterhorn Rolls

Prize Winning Dinner Rolls

Girls and their goodies!

I took up baking in 2010 when my husband bought me a KitchenAid stand mixer for Valentine’s Day.  Once I started, I simply could not stop.  I had two ‘goal recipes’ in mind that I wanted to create because every great baker I knew could make each of these recipes fabulously.  #1 Cinnamon Rolls, #2 White Layer Cake with Vanilla Almond Buttercream.  Sadly the cinnamon rolls I made were disgusting and as hard as hockey pucks.  The white layer cake was so dense and wrong I still get a pit in my stomach thinking about it.  With stubborn determination, plenty of questions to my Mom and other ‘kitchen queens’ I respect, plenty of Food Network television, and lots of trial and error I’ve become pretty comfortable in the kitchen.In the past 4 years I have enjoyed entering baking competitions at the Iowa State Fair and this year I entered a contest at the Clay County Fair.   It is somewhat stressful (can we say paperwork?!) although I completely enjoy it because I get to meet new people who share the same passion I do.  I will elaborate in the future about the “Dogs” as I call them (my friends who have been entering baking competitions for years and are PDG ‘pretty darn good’ at it.)

Gathering people around a table and presenting them with food made out of joy is one of the most important things I can do.  The Midwest has such a rich food culture and everyday you can meet someone who has a new and intriguing food story just waiting to be relived.

I hope to share recipes with you that will give you confidence in your kitchen and will entice your family to join you.

Iowa State Fair 2013

Cayenne Candied Bacon Whiskey Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

(Gosh that is a mouthful… but a winner!)

Cinnamon Roll Contest2013

2 Comments

  • Reply Lois April 6, 2014 at 11:16 am

    Do you have a cooking school/class?

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