Raspberry-Orange Puree

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

 

 

 

After the heavy lake effect snow storms we had this winter, I was really worried about my fruit trees and bushes this year. I lost a huge chunk from the main stem of my cherry tree, my lilac tree split in two, and the raspberry bush just looked plain rough. Alas, I guess there's truth that sometimes if you beat the hell out of your plants they come back stronger than ever because short of the loss of my lilac tree, it looks like everything else is in excellent form. I even noticed a new blueberry bush stem popping up when I thought I killed the whole plant 2 years ago. Nature sure does surprise you at times. My excitement for garden fresh fruit has expanded tenfold and we can't wait to harvest from our yard this summer. My daughter is looking forward to the cherries, but it's the raspberries for me. 

 

Jason and I always start our morning with breakfast together. We've worked out a system that if it involves eggs or biscuits and gravy, then it's his job to cook. I get stuck with pancakes, french toast, or oatmeal. Yesterday it was a pancake day. I noticed we were out of maple syrup, but I did have a bag of frozen raspberries on hand and a lot of oranges left over from my Meijer haul. I thought that in place of our missing syrup, we could try something a little more summery while anticipating our own raspberry crop to come in, and ended up making Raspberry-Orange Puree, a Golden Blossom Honey Recipe, for the topping.   

 

This sweet puree turned out not only scrumptious, but beautiful too. It was a fun way to classy up a mundane breakfast item. Topped with whipped cream turns it into a sinful indulgence. The puree doesn't have to be used as a breakfast topper though. You could also use it as a summer dessert sauce on ice cream and pound cake, used as a fruit dip, or pour over a brick of cream cheese as a cracker appetizer spread. Who knew that 3 simple ingredients could hold so many possibilities? And if you want to really punch it up, eat it while singing to the tune of Prince:

 

Raspberry Puree. 

If it was warm she wouldn't eat much more.

Raspberry Puree. 

I think I love her.

 

Ingredients

 

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed to room temperature)

2 Tablespoons SOUTHERN BLOSSOM HONEY

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

How would you use this Raspberry-Orange Puree?   

Tri-Tip Steak with Blue Cheese

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. 

 

 

 

I was just running a crafting workshop at my friend's store last week and someone was grumbling about figuring out what to make for dinner. We all ended up chiming in about how it's one of our least favorite chores and about how trying to figure out dinner plans every single day is one of the worst things about being an adult. Feeding a family day in and day out is tedious, isn't it? As we're winding down into the last few weeks of the school year and gearing up for long summer days, I am always on the hunt for recipes that take some of the mental load off my plate. I need something that has just a few ingredients and not a lot of cook time because my days are already stressful enough, and I'm sure yours are as well. That's why I've been hoarding simple recipes, like this Tri-Tip Steak with Blue Cheese from Golden Blossom Honey, to help ease the burden of what to make for dinner on a busy weeknight. 

 

This is a recipe that you can have on the table in 20 minutes, so it's perfect for busy weeknights or lazy day meal planning. My husband remarked that the house smelled just like Christmas when I'm tasked with baking a roast and taking it to my mom's house, so this could even pass for a fancy-ish meal if you have guests coming over for dinner. I didn't have any bourbon on hand, but whisky made a great substitute for an amazingly delicious sauce. Since my husband is allergic to blue cheese, I didn't serve him any steak with it, but I do think you could replace that with brie, feta, or crumbled goat cheese and that would pair well with the beef too. Before long we'll be looking for grilling recipes, so while we're still in the chilly spring days (at least in Indiana), sooner rather than later would be a good time to give this recipe a try. 

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds tri-tip, sirloin or flank steaks

coarse ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup canned beef broth

1/4 cup brandy

2 tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

4 tablespoons blue cheese, crumbled

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

Blue Cheese- yay or nay?

Greek Honey Cake

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. 

 

 

My daughter and I love to watch baking challenges on television. We're especially into the cake competitions. Nailed It on Netflix is a favorite of ours because it makes us feel pretty good about our own baking shortcomings. But we also love the really creative ones. We're about to finish the second season of Wizards of Baking and boy do those contestants have talent! The bad thing about watching these sweets shows is that we always want cake about halfway through and there is never any in the house. My husband tries to curb our griping about not having cake during our viewing by bringing us an ice cream cone or something else sweet but not as satisfying. So, I decided I was going remedy our issue and make us one to enjoy tonight as we watch the last episode of season 2. I had this Greek Honey Cake from Golden Blossom Honey saved for the last year or two, waiting for a special occasion to try it out. For us, the season finale is special occasion enough, but seeing how it's Mother's Day weekend, it could work for those celebrations as well. 

 

Sticking with my goal of bringing you affordable recipes when I can, I chose to feature this cake this week because it is made entirely with pantry staples. There are no fancy ingredients or extra grocery runs to get it to come together so it's a perfect simple dessert idea. It's a tender, moist, and flavorful cake that's going to hit the spot when the cravings for sweets kick in. I paired it with an orange and cinnamon tea and the combination was divine! I would suggest lining your pan with parchment paper or investing in a silicone cake pan because the syrup is sticky and will make the cake stick to the pan even with the proper prepping ahead of time. I did make this a day ahead of time, then popped it into the refrigerator to let the syrup soak and set over night. Decorate with sliced oranges, whipped cream, or even edible flowers for a lovely finishing touch. While I'll never have the talent to compete on cake competition television, I was pretty impressed with how cute this cake turned out. If you make it for Mother's Day, I'm sure mom will be just as impressed, too! 

 

Ingredients

Syrup:

1 cup SOUTHERN BLOSSOM HONEY

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cake:

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 cup milk

1 cup chopped walnuts

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

  

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

Happy Mother's Day!   

Chicken and Potato Barbecue Bake

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. 

 

One-pan dinners are the greatest invention ever, don't you agree? While I used to have a passion for cooking, some days I feel like fixing dinner turns into an all day event with the prep, cooking, and cleanup. For one meal, I'm just kind of over it. These days I'm more about getting in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible, so I've been relying on my slow cooker and recipes that only require one pan to get it to all come together without much work on my part. While we're still in the chilly bits of spring, I've been using my oven almost daily because I know once that summer heat hits, it will be put into hibernation mode. I found family packs of chicken and potatoes super cheap at the grocers this week and decided that since my husband finally has a full week off at home, it would be a great time to pop this Chicken and Potato Barbecue Bake (a Golden Blossom Honey recipe) into the oven.   

 

While this is technically a 2 pan meal since I needed to cook the sauce ingredients over the stove top, the return on my time investment made that extra pan to wash worth it. I filled up the roasting pan with extra chicken pieces and potatoes knowing that this recipe would be great for leftovers to help further save time and drive down costs. My house smelled amazing as it was baking and I know dinner is a good when my husband compliments it before I've had a chance to ask how he liked it.

 

I know many of us out there are worried with the astronomical rise in gas, groceries, and utilities that food insecurity is becoming a real issue these days. So when possible, I'm going to try to feature low-cost recipes to help stretch your food budget. If you have a Meijer close to you, the 5 pound bags of potatoes (as well as 5lb bags of oranges) are on sale for $1 each this week, so a perfect time to stock up. I also only bought dark meat for this recipe and ended up clocking everything right around $8 for the whole pan, so  $2 per serving. That made 4 chicken thighs, 4 chicken legs, and 4 potatoes with the vegetable sauce. Using white meat and vegetables not on sale will increase the total a little bit, but this still comes out to be a very inexpensive meal idea as well as a time saver in the kitchen. 

 

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup onion, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup celery, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup catsup

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 pounds chicken pieces

4 medium baking potatoes

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

What's your favorite one-pan dinner?  

Warm Bananas with Citrus Salsa

 Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. 

 

 

 

Some health complications landed me a stay in the hospital earlier this week. Thankfully all is okay now, but while I'm recovering, I've been instructed to stick with a low-fat diet until further notice. That didn't sound unreasonable until my sweet tooth caught wind of the limitations and realized we were putting the brakes on our late night ice cream and chocolate snacking. So that left me wondering what exactly I could exchange those unhealthy options for but still satisfy those sweet cravings I usually get as the day wears on. So I started flipping through all of the desserts on Golden Blossom Honey to see if anything would fit the bill and actually ended up with a fantastic option: Warm Bananas with Citrus Salsa. 

 

This low-fat dessert is warm, inviting, and sweet enough to to curb the cravings on those desserts that are higher in fat. I do love a good caramelized dessert, and this one is definitely a keeper. Aside from peeling the fruit, there's hardly any prep time involved in getting the recipe together, which I really appreciate since I'd rather focus more on recovery these days than spending a lot of time in the kitchen. While we still have some chilly nights ahead of us this spring, this is the perfect cozy dessert to indulge in without guilt. Honestly, it's great for summer, fall, and winter too. Because we don't need the weather to dictate when we can enjoy a tasty treat like this, do we?

 

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons slivered almonds

3 tangerines

2 navel oranges

1 mango, peeled and cut into chunks

2 Tablespoons RAW GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

3 Tablespoons brewed tea

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise

3 Tablespoons light brown sugar

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE  

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

What's your favorite low-fat dessert?  

Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

 Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

 

 

 

With the warm weather finally on our side, my daughter and I decided it's time to start plotting out the garden. We only planted a few things the past few years because our busy schedules demanded most of our time, but with the rising cost of groceries, we're going back to planting as much as we can to make the most of our yard space and relieve the strain on our wallets. We started our seeds a few weeks ago, and after this weekend's freeze passes, we'll be ready to get the starts into the ground. We eat a lot of salads year round, but more so in the summer months, so we're focusing on planting more salad types of veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, etc) and greens over other produce to capitalize on what we eat the most during the growing season. Knowing that this will be a salad heavy summer for us, I started saving a lot of recipes to help keep things new and exciting for the next 6 months. One of the recipes that caught my eye was this Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette that I came across on Golden Blossom Honey.   

 

What drew me to this salad was its simplicity, yet the ingredients are strong enough that you don't need to add in anything extra for maximum flavor. I find arugula to be one of the stronger tasting leafy greens, and red onion is particularly powerful to me as well, but even by combining the two peppery and pungent ingredients, the sweetness of the lemon and honey levels everything out so no one flavor overpowers the other. This is one of those salads that you can toss together in 5 minutes, so it's perfect for lunch or as a side dish to a main course meal. If you aren't a fan of arugula (my daughter is not), that's ok. You can easily swap that out for any greens of your choice (spinach and kale are both excellent options, in my opinion). This salad is full of flavor, refreshing, and budget friendly, so it's going to be a staple for us throughout the upcoming warmer months. 

 

Ingredients

1 (5 ounce) package baby arugula leaves

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

16 long shavings of Parmesan cheese

Dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons RAW GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

salt and pepper, to taste

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

Will you be expanding your garden this year or keeping things the same?