June 4, 2022
Welcome to the weekend, my friends! We’ve had a fun first week of summer over here. We drove up to Cleveland, visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (photos at bottom of post), and had lunch at Larder Deli and Bakery.
If you’re in the area, Larder is a must-try. We had the pastrami, the Reuben, and the fried chicken sandwiches. Every single bite was fantastic. Oh! The oatmeal cream pies, the stoner bar, and the chocolate rye cookie were all keepers too.
ON THE BLOG this week: Smoky chipotles, garlic, and honey are combined in this Chipotle Chicken Marinade. This simple marinade is packed with an awesome smoky southwestern flavor.
Bite-size Glazed Lemon Drop Cookies are soft not-too-sweet cookies dipped into a sweetly tart glaze. These cookies are so irresistible, that I happily ate cookies in lieu of my dinner the first time I made them. (Traditional and gluten-free variations are both included with this recipe)
Perfectly bite-size Marinated Tomatoes are seasoned with a combination of oil, vinegar, and spices along with just the right amount of sweetness. I’ve always liked tomatoes, but these tomatoes are irresistible!
Tender pasta and mouthwatering flavorful tomatoes are tossed together with a tangy-sweet dressing to make a versatile Tomato Pasta that can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature. This is perfect for summer barbecues and potlucks, as it can be left out for a couple of hours without any issues.
Fresh apricots are tossed with cinnamon sugar and then layered between a brown sugar and oat crust to make these Apricot Crisp Bars. Served on their own or topped with Vanilla Ice Cream this is a dessert that everyone loves.
What I’m CRAVING: A few weeks ago, I had the most amazing fish I’ve ever tasted while in Florida. It was Chilean Seabass and when I tell you it was unforgettable, well, it really was. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks now. So, when I saw my friend Courtney’s Lemon Caper Butter Chilean Seabass I put her recipe on my list to try soon!
We are not strangers to seafood over here, as evidenced by the number of salmon recipes and more on the website, but I haven’t been very creative with our seafood choices in a while. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at cooking seabass soon.
For those hot summer days or quiet winter nights Reeses Ice Cream Pie with chocolate crust is a cinch to throw together and absolutely no stress!
I know this makes me slightly un-American but I am not a huge ice cream fan. I am married to one and our kids are somewhere in between. After making our crazy popular peanut butter pie recipe the kids wanted an ice cream version and since it’s what we used to make for ice cream cakes minus the brownie bottom I decided to go for it.
I was shocked that out of all of us it was little Grayson who devoured slice after slice.
HOW?! I expected him to be sick to his stomach but ice cream does not phase the child!
Peanut butter chocolate ice cream and gobs upon gobs of reese’s are piled high in a chocolate graham cracker pie crust. And here’s the best part, you can do whatever you want to it to make it your own!
Ingredients for Reeses Ice Cream Pie
The ingredients are simple and all revolve around chocolate and peanut butter…heaven!! I’ve linked to the different Reese’s products on Amazon just so you can see what I’m talking about. You don’t need to order them from there. They come in packs of like a million, so you definitely don’t need that much. And like I said, you can make it your own! I have a section below on other ideas for toppings. These are the ingredients you will need for this recipe:
For the Crust
- Chocolate Graham Cracker Crumbs
- Butter
- Sugar
- Hot Fudge
For the Pie
The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Fresh apricots are tossed with cinnamon sugar and then layered between a brown sugar and oat crust to make these Apricot Crisp Bars.
Served on their own or topped with Vanilla Ice Cream this is a dessert that everyone loves.
Apricot Crisp
Almost firm enough to cut into bars and still fruity enough to resemble a crisp, this is simply a fruit crisp with both a top and bottom crust layer.
There’s no need to cut in cold butter or stress the streusel topping, just pour melted butter into the oat mixture and it will form the perfect crumb crust and topping. This might be one of the easiest fruit desserts you’ll ever make!
I can not sing the praises of parchment paper enough when it comes to recipes like this one. Let the bars cool completely and then simply lift them out of the pan to easily slice them.
Apricot Bars
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the fruit in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt, cornstarch, and almond extract. Stir to combine and then let the fruit rest on the counter while preparing the crust.
- In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the flour, oats, and brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.
- Press half of this mixture into a well-buttered or parchment-lined 9×13 pan. Pour the fruit over the bottom crust and then sprinkle the rest of the dry mixture on top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust turns golden brown. Serve warm from the oven or let cool completely and slice into servings.
These Apricot Bars are dangerously tasty. They aren’t overly sweet and they are filled with juicy pieces of apricot and crunchy bites of streusel crust and topping.
They were so tempting that I actually had a friend come and take the rest of them off my hands because I feared how many I might eat before my husband could take them to the office the next day!
For more great fruit desserts, check out these Pineapple Coconut Bars and this Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch.
These Quinoa Fruit & Nut Bars and these Strawberry Oatmeal Bars are on my list now too. Don’t miss the rest of t