Raspberry Crumble Bars Recipe

There are lots of recipes out there for crumble bars, and these yummy jam filled treats are ones that I really love making for family and friends.

There is something about them that reminds me of being a kid. Maybe it's because I ate a whole lot of jam sandwiches growing up that my mom made for me, and that's where the association comes from. Food can bring up so many memories of the past for us. And fortunately for me, I grew up in a house where my mother was a good cook and we never went without full bellies and treats after dinner.

Sometimes you take things for granted and don't realize until years or decades later just how lucky you were.

Now as a grandmother, cooking and baking for my family is something I truly enjoy doing, and I hope they remember all of it with the love and affection that is put into whatever I make for them.

Anyhow, this is Ina Garten's recipe from her cookbook, Foolproof. Everyone who knows me knows I adore Ina, she has been a real inspiration for me for years now.

Recipe for Barefoot Contessa Raspberry Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 to 12 ounces raspberry jam
2/3 cup granola without dried fruit
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling if desired

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed just until combined. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla.
Sift the flour and salt together and, with the mixer on low, slowly add to the butter mixture, mixing until it almost comes together in a ball. Turn the dough out on a board. Lightly pat two-thirds of the dough evenly on the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan and about 1/4 inch up the sides.
Spread with the jam, leaving a 1/4-inch boarder. Mix the granola into the remaining dough with your hands. Break the dough into small bits and distribute it onto the top of the jam, covering most of the surface. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake the bars for 45 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool completely and cup into 9 or 12 bars. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar if desired.

The recipe is actually quite easy to make and other kinds of jam would work well here too. I love the crust on these bars, it's soft and a little chewy.

Be sure to let them completely cool before slicing them so that they don't fall apart. I cut into them too early and had this problem, and had to let them sit longer so they would be firmer.

If you're looking for a treat to take on a picnic or the beach, these are a great choice, and they travel well. And they are just so yummy!!

Usborne Passport to Adventure Summer Reading Club for Local Sacramento & Roseville Moms

My whole family has a love for books and reading. My son and I love to spend time reading books and making up stories of our own. With school out for summer vacation it is always nice to find creative ways to encourage summer reading. I was talking to a local Mom about summer reading and found out she is working with a few local Sacramento Charities and Usborne Books to promote not only summer reading but kids helping out other kids in need. I am not affiliated with Usborne Books but thought I would love to share what another local Mom is doing in our community.

It started June 6th but anyone who joins now can do it for a 10 day period up until June 29th and read for a minimum 200 minutes.

Here is some info on her Reading Club:

Join the Usborne Summer Reading Club!

During the summer it’s easy to let literacy and education fall to the side. Almost, all kids fall behind on their reading skills every summer, which can put them farther behind when the new school year starts.

The Passport to Adventure Summer Reading Club is designed to not only give the child rewards for their reading, but provides them an opportunity to give back to their community. It is open to children of all ages, including non-readers who are being read to.

This free program is being run by Waiyee Poon Jones and Ranin Zubi, Educational Consultants with Usborne Books & More. Local to Folsom and Sacramento we are working with charitable organizations in our area to provide books to children in need.

Readers will gather pledges for their reading. One part of the pledge goes back to the child in the form of books (of their choosing) and the other part will be donated to the selected charities. Once they sign up we provide the printables including pledge tracker and reading log.

People can ask for pledges how they like but we try to keep it simple with just a total pledge for completing the minimum (which is 300 mins over the 3 week period). The kids get 50% of the pledges and the other 50% is donated books.

The charities we are working with are 1) The Mustard Seed School 2) The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento and 3) Love, Talk, Read 4) A charity of their choice which we can contact on their behalf.

Sign Up ASAP on this form below to get involved in this great reading event.

http://goo.gl/forms/dQNaMmJvrGhvCvif2 

Want to know more? Email us at UsborneReadingClub@gmail.com and we will tell you

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding Recipe

I think there are two kinds of people in this world, those that love bread pudding and those that don't. I'm a bread pudding lover through and through, but most of my kids and grandkids don't care for it at all, which makes me sad that they don't love this homey and comforting dessert that is a favorite of mine.

But I guess that means that there's just more for me, ha-ha. This recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding is just beyond yummy. It's moist and rich, and tastes great warm or chilled.

Can you see that I made it extra fabulous and added a small scoop of chocolate ice cream? Of course it didn't need the ice cream, but I don't think you can ever have too much chocolate anything. It's a theory I'm sticking by!

You can also make this bread pudding in a 9x5 inch loaf pan if you want. I happen to like using my ramekins for individual desserts that I think are sort of special. And don't forget that good old whipped cream makes a super yummy topping for any kind of bread pudding you make.

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups cubed stale white bread
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray six 3-inch ramekins with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread and chocolate chips, let stand for 10 minutes for bread to absorb liquid.
Fill ramekins 2/3 full, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until custard is set.
Serve warm from the oven or chilled. Top with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

Father's Day & Kid's Day at Wizard World Comic Con Sacramento 4 Pack of Tickets Giveaway #‎WizardWorldSacto‬

What could be more fun for a Dad that loves his kids and Wizard World Comic Con in Sacramento than winning a 4 pack of tickets?!?! Sunday June 19th is Father's Day and Kid's Day with a kid's costume contest at Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con at the Sacramento Convention Center. You can win tickets right here at Frugal Family Tree!!

WWE the Big Show will be attending the event on Saturday and Hall of Fame Baseball player Reggie Jackson will also be there. Super Man Dean Cain, William Shatner, Agent Carter Haley Atwell, Winter Solider Sebastian Stan and Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings are a few of the stars on the schedule for Sacramento. There will also be gaming tournaments for Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V. You can register for ‪‬ tournaments taking place at ‪#‎WizardWorldSacto‬ June 17-19. Free to enter with a chance to win CASH PRIZES. For more information and to register visit wizardworldgaming.co‪m

SACRAMENTO CA

June 17–18–19, 2016

Fri–Sat–Sun

LOCATIONSacramento Convention Center 1400 J St.Sacramento , CA 95814

SHOW HOURSFriday, June 17, 2016 – 3pm - 8pm

Saturday, June 18, 2016 – 10am - 7pm

Sunday, June 19, 2016 – 10am - 4pm

You can buy tickets here for any of the 3 days and there is even a 3 day pass option. Photo Ops can be purchased online as well.

My readers can use discount code WIZBLOG16 for 25% off all general admission!!

GIVEAWAY

WIN a 4-pack of Tickets to the Sunday June 19, 2016 Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con 


Rafflecopter giveaway


 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 10, 2016 and ends on June 14, 2016 at 12 pm PST. Winner will be emailed. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.
**Winner has until June 15th at 2pm PST to email back to claim tickets.

-Laura

A Pork Tenderloin Dinner With Honey Orange Broccoli Salad

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Great4Grilling #CollectiveBias

One of the things I love about warmer weather is grilling outside on our charcoal grill. This week the weather has been unusually hot for Seattle, so we decided to have dinner out on the deck one evening.

With all of the end of the year parties and events for the kids, and our busy schedules, we need to get dinner put together pretty quickly. But we still wanted to enjoy a great barbeque, so luckily I knew just what we should put on the grill.

When I was grocery shopping at Walmart I had picked up a couple of Smithfield® Pork Tenderloin. They are already marinated, and the Peppercorn & Garlic flavor sounded delicious. We marinade a lot of our grilled meats, but it can take hours, so this was really a big time saver for us.

Smithfield® Marinated Fresh Pork is 100% pork. It's available in different flavors in Tenderloins, Loin Filets, Roast, and Ribs.

Pork is one of my favorite meats, especially for grilling. It's much more tender than beef I think, and chicken can dry out while it's cooking.

How delicious does this look? My son-in-law grilled the tenderloins pretty perfectly, and they were so amazingly good!

I had bought two, thinking one would make great sandwiches for dinner the next day. But everyone had seconds, thirds even, that's how tender and good they were. And I really love it when I find something the whole family enjoys eating.

You don't have to sacrifice having a great meal just because you need to have a quick dinner. With the great pork choices from Smithfield®, it's an easy solution for any night of the week.

When you're barbequing, it's not just about what's on the grill. The side dishes are definitely important too.

So I want to share this very easy and very tasty recipe for Honey Orange Broccoli Salad. The combination of orange juice, honey, and olive oil makes it tangy and sweet.

I just picked up a bag of chopped salad and a small head of broccoli. Chop up the broccoli and add it to the salad.

Raisins, sliced almonds, and noodle crackers go on top. But you can add or substitute ingredients. It's also great with almonds.

I really like honey, so I buy different flavors. But just regular honey is delicious in this recipe. Grate in some orange peel with a zester.

After you've made the dressing and poured it on, give everything a big stir to make sure it's all combined.

Recipe for Honey Orange Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

1 12 ounce package of chopped salad

1 cup chopped broccoli

4 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons fresh orange juice

grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper

1/3 cups raisins

1/3 cup sliced almonds

handful of noodle crackers, if available

Directions:

In  large bowl, combine salad and broccoli. In a small bowl, combine honey, olive oil, orange juice, grated orange peel, and salt and pepper. Whisk together.

Pour over salad. Add toppings and mix together well.

Makes 6 servings.

My family and I enjoyed this Smithfield® Pork Tenderloin so much that I can't wait to try the other flavors. I'm sure it will be requested many times during the summer, and my grandson has already said he wants it for his birthday dinner when we celebrate it in July.



You can find Smithfield® Marinated Fresh Pork in the meat aisle at your local Walmart.

 Be sure and look for the Pork Tenderloins and grill up your own delicious and easy dinner.

And check out this video below for a great recipe from Smithfield® that you'll want to try. Looks so good!