Cream Cheese with Honey and Candied Pecans

Remember the graduation party I was doing all the baking for? It was on Saturday. I prepared breads, cupcakes, cookies and other confections, potato salad, Bacon and Ranch Pasta salad, fruit bowls and a few other things. I had to call for another driver to come pick up goodies because it didn't all fit into my car.

My friend's youngest child now has a diploma and is currently going at the speed of fast forward getting ready for his impending move to join the collegiate ranks at UND in the fall. Wow! When I first met them he wasn't even in junior high yet!

Speaking of little boys growing up too fast...look at Walnut in his tie. He woke up that morning and was so excited to dress like daddy. He was actually the one that picked out the tie! And he wore it all day too.

We had so much fun celebrating with friends. Laughing, eating and reminiscing the days when we were young and getting into trouble as teenagers. Those days seem like they shouldn't be that long ago, but this summer is my 10 year high school reunion already! 10 YEARS!

Here is a delisous spread I served with the sweet quick breads at the party. It was so good, my favorite was the spread on the pumpkin bread.

Cream Cheese with Honey and Candied Pecans

1 - 8 oz package cream cheese

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Melt butter in a skillet and brown slightly over medium heat. Add pecans and brown sugar and stir to coat the pecans with butter and sugar. Let cook about 3-5 minutes until sugar has melted and sauce is bubbly. Transfer pecans and sauce from pan onto a plate lined with parchment paper and set aside to let sugar and harden around the pecans.

In a bowl, add cream cheese and honey and whip with a hand mixer. Add pecans (you might have to break them up a bit) and mix just for about 10-15 seconds to break up the pecans a bit more and get them incorporated into the cream cheese mixture.

Spread on your favorite breads, bagels, french toast...whatever!

Enjoy!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

This recipe always reminds me of my childhood growing up in rural North Dakota. My mom and dad had a beautiful garden that fed us all summer long. My mom always had rhubarb and strawberries in the garden too. And she made this sauce all the time. We topped our ice cream with it! I like to use it in place of syrup now...and I still pour it over my ice cream...or eat it straight from the spoon!

When the rhubarb and strawberries are ripe I make up a big batch and freeze them in canning jars. They usually last about 6 months in the freezer...not that they stick around that long in my house.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

6 cup Rhubarb
½ c Water

Boil until tender.

Add 2 Cups Sugar and 1 Quart sliced strawberries

Heat over medium until boils, continue to boil for 2 minutes. Poor in jars and freeze.

Citrus Honey Butter

My kids are testing me this week...that is for sure. The "boundary line" is being pulled, stretched, twisted and torn. While it makes my heart sing that Walnut is finally gaining some independence from mom and doing such things as getting dressed by himself, buckling his seat belt by himself, fully participating and listening in swim lessons and putting on his own shoes...he is trying to push it as far as he can it seems. Saturday morning it was just me and the kids at home and I had to jump in the shower, which I've scientifically narrowed down to a measly 7 minutes since becoming a mom, Walnut decided that him and Peanut wanted to play outside. So, being the big kid he is now, he got his coat and shoes on, his sister's coat on her along with Grandma's boots. Just as I was turning off the shower I heard the outside door slam! So, knowing full well what he must have been up to I went flying down the stairs and outside just wrapped in a towel screaming and ushering the children back into the house telling Walnut every scary story I could think of that could happen to him had he gone outside unaccompanied by an adult.
Oh, and this is just the start of the weekend. On Sunday he was riding his bike outside and Dad's car was parked in the driveway. Well, the car happened to be in his way so as I rounded the corner from the other side of the house I see Aden jumping into the driver's seat and closing the door as if he was going to move the car himself! Ah! What are my children thinking? I think they are trying to give me a heart attack is what I think.
And on Monday, after a long day of work, a 5 mile jog and running across half the state to shuttle Walnut to ECFE and then pick Peanut up from Grandma's afterward I was finally home at 8:45 pm ready to drop into bed, only to discover Peanut was also discovering a sort of independence of her own...as in using the living room as her canvas! She colored the sofa, end table, tv, tv stand, picture frames and my dumb bells. I have no clue what type of marker she used either. So when I inquired what exactly my husband was doing during her little artistic episode he informed me he was in the shower and was so busy he didn't have time to clean it up. And that she also colored herself from head to toe. Upon further examination...she was indeed colored from head to toe, but it appears Grandma had attempted to scrub off what she could.

So, on days like these, I need something sweet, savory and fulfilling to give me the will to start over the next day! Stir together these three ingredients together and jump in the shower and by the time your done all the flavors have infused and you again will have a purpose in life...to spread this delicious butter on everything from pancakes to biscuits to whatever you have in your kitchen!


Citrus Honey Butter

1 stick butter, room temp
1/3 cup honey
zest from 2 oranges

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl and let set for 30 minutes before enjoying!

Biscuits
Recipe by The Pioneer Woman

4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/3 c shortening
1/3 c cold butter, cut into pieces
1 ¼ c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and whisk together.
Add the shortening and cold butter pieces and cut together with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in buttermilk and mix gently with a fork until just combined.
The biscuit dough will be sticky.
Lightly flour a clean surface and roll dough out to about ¾ to 1 inch thick.
Cut into any shape and bake 11 – 14 minutes until golden brown.